Good Evening Positive AFC fans,

The first game of the 2018/2019 season under the belt, so to speak, and I feel a lot better with that opening obstacle concluded. A real thumping would have cast a pall over my week and I could not have that. Not the result we hoped for but a team performance that I thought was good overall.

Of the parts that impressed me most our teenage debutante Guendouzi stood out, and he earns his first MoTM award. Matteo was able to cope with the physical demands of the game, tackle cleanly, and showed himself able to control the ball with no time or space. There was some pre-match discussion on SKY about the speed/pace of the English PL game troubling foreign players. He had no obvious problem I saw. For the young Frenchman  to put in the full 94 minutes with no obvious slacking toward the end also suggests good stamina. Lichtsteiner’s introduction at left back, although the circumstances of it were unfortunate, showed us what the highly experienced Swiss can do. He reads the game well and has that edge of cunning that we need in a cruel, cruel football world. In Michel Oliver’s face, pointing, shouting, even tearing a strip off Mesut at one point. On another day his goading of Aymeric would have seen the opponent on his way back to the dressing room with a red card for his cranial lunge. I like him.

I thought Petr pulled off a string of good saves today, and for a period in the First Half kept us in the game.. The notion that he should have done better on the Sterling goal is bollocks. The kicking out or passing out from the back though between Cech/Matteo/Sokratis/Skhodran ? THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES!! Sort it out Mr Emery.

Of things we could have done better ? We created a number of half chances and potentially useful positions on the Citeh final third that we did not exploit. We looked rusty. At the key moment the pass to an Arsenal attacker went astray, too long, too short, Auba went left as the ball went right et cetera.At 0-1 we all know a goal for us would have left Pep’s boys reeling. Against good teams like Citeh we can expect only limited possessions around the opposition box and I felt today it was not used as it could/should have been. Scoring goals eh ? That is a thing.

I would also like to see more of Mkhi on the ball and challenging in midfield and  that it was Aaron who got the hook first and the Armenian playing the full match was a surprise. He did OK but in the first 35  minutes he did not provide AMN with enough support. He worked better with Hector after the changeover but even then he had a air of Theo at times, always available but never involved.

Onwards to the Bridge next week to meet the currently table-topping Chelsea. Probably a busy week at Colney, identifying the parts of the machine that need to be sharpened, tightened and oiled.

Enjoy your week.

As I cant be bothered writing a load of rubbish about all things Arsenal, I’ve talked a load of rubbish instead.

A guest post from Seebs

Well the new season is only a few days away and the real stuff is truly upon us. Arsene has really gone and the new breed are bedding in. I’m not totally sure there are more differences than matches in the way things are set up now, of course apart from the set up which has evolved over the last couple of seasons and is now totally different if you know what I mean.

The preseason has ended, and the season starts with us, as are most other clubs, still looking like we are in preseason, its all very strange. We certainly look like we need another four games to gel the starting eleven as these half a half games really don’t give you a good idea of how the team will perform over ninety minutes and against sides that will perform over ninety minutes, the whole thing is one big anomaly.

Would anyone have said Unai’s reign would start with Ainsley as the only sure-fire starter in the whole squad? I know there are other players probably with their name already on the first team sheet, however, the strength of the squad that has been build up over the last few seasons  is such we really have different players for every position and again those players could interchange depending on the system we decide to adopt.

We know Cech is approaching his twilight years, but Leno is a top-quality keeper?  Although I think the more experienced man will get the nod the decision will be close. As time goes on Leno’s distribution above anything else will make him the clear winner as we play the ball out from the back more and more and just as happened at city the necessity to have a footballing keeper will determine the pick.

At right back its close again but Stephan’s lack of game time with us will see Hector get the nod. As for the CB’s I am a massive fan of the Rob and Callum partnership and I believe they are the best footballing pair we have however, I again think the more experienced duo of Shkodran and Sokratis will start the first game.

The Midfield becomes difficult to call as systems, fitness and cohesiveness all come into play here. I’m guessing that as were at home and judging by the friendlies the midfield three will be Aaron, if fit, Guendouzi and Granit although Elneny could cover anyone of these three if needed.

Up front It would be Pierre, Henrikh and Mesut in quite an attacking line up and Laca unfairly missing out but that’s the quality we have at present.

That would leave the bench looking like Leno, Stephan, Callum, Lucas, Elneny, Alex and Lacazette. So, most of the new lads starting their ARSENAL careers from the bench and most the youngsters missing out for the first game.  I do think Eddie is very close and will get game time soon as will they all in Europe.

So, in conclusion, we’re not ready, but maybe readier than some of the unready we are playing early. There are things to be worked on and ironed out but in the main the preseason has gone well, and the integration of players has gelled quite nicely. Of course, I’m massively excited for next Sunday and will very nervous coming up to kick off.

Enjoy it everyone here we go again.

So the great new dawn is upon us. We have rid ourselves of Arsene Wenger and his gang of incompetents, and replaced them with high class people that can bring us the success we deserve.

It’s absolutely fantastic. The players are drinking water, smiling,training hard, young players are involved and the manager is hands on on the training ground. These things never happened before , now did they?

That there have been major changes in personnel is undeniable. That they are all top people in their fields of expertise appears to be the case, they are certainly experienced with good track records.  Its more people with more individual responsibility and a coach with much less. Modern football? Or should I not say that because “modern football” is frowned upon by the “we want our Arsenal back” hoards. But I digress.

The point is almost every fan is happy, us included, the future looks bright. But what has actually changed other than our perceptions?

We have spent about £70m up until now, I suspect there will be outgoing and our net spend will be considerably less. So are we spending more? Is the new regime spending the money Arsene refused to? Seems not ?

Have we dipped into the £250m in the bank that should be spent on making the team as good as it can be? Seems not ? Perhaps that’s not for spending then, or not anywhere like that figure?

Are we competing for the likes of Marhez ,with City, or are we still buying from the second shelf ? It seems we are not and we still are  ! So what’s the big change?

Have we tied Aaron Ramsey down to a new deal, or is it dragging on? Dithering?

Now here is the rub, the moment many readers start shifting uncomfortably on their seat, searching for an answer that doesn’t destroy all their hard earned narratives.

If you are happy with all things Arsenal now, you have a certain Stan Kroenke to thank.

Without spending any more of the clubs money, and of its reserves ,or dipping into his own pocket for a single silver dollar, he has given everyone what they wanted ? Without being a football man or spending time at the club he has granted the wishes of the permanently malcontent.

His useless puppet (Ivan) is now the dogs bollocks. We are Kroenke FC , being driven by Ivan, and he is the very image of a none football man.

So if everything is rosy in the garden, and I hope it is, then we should be very much KROENKE IN ? He has come through big time and perhaps all the hate was for nowt?

I was reading through the comments and found this from Eduardo, it perfectly explains my own thoughts on the subject. For anyone calling bullshit on it , Shotta has given us data to back this up in several of his blogs.

“I would say that we did not approach away games any different than home games, but two things, three as the season went on, altered the results

1. The biggest one for me, the refs away from home really did give us an awful time, lack of clear cut penalties, phantom penalties against us, the non calling of fouls for us cos Arsenal don’t like it up them,

2. Simple mistakes by our players, we seen our players make some crazy decisions in away games that we just did not see at home, we also played with a little less tempo away, meaning our attack was blunted,

The third thing was as the season went on, and the away form struggled, the players’ confidence away from home fell apart, it might only have made a 10% drop in performance, maybe even less, but that was enough. Our players got to the point where it seemed they just expected the officials to not give us the penalty, to flag us offside, to hand a penalty to the opposition, or for one of our guys to fuck up royally, if you like a self fulfilling prophecy. At home we were winning, so they played expecting to win, away we were losing and so it continued.
Its a new season, a new dawn, it could very well be that we will go the season unbeaten away, and struggle at home. A lot of this can depend on how we start the season, get the early wins and things can flow, struggle either at home or away and not only can it get in the players’ heads, but the NARRATIVE will be set in the media, in the blogs, etc, and it will make it so much harder. Of course get on a run of wins and maybe, just maybe, the Narrative will be Emery to lead AFC to title in first season.”

Are Arsenal as bad as everyone is making out, are they in the mess we are constantly being told they are? 

On average to win the PL you need 87 points, Arsenal last season finished with 63 point which on the face of it is miles behind that total, but let’s look at the games Arsenal lost :-

Liverpool away 

Stoke away 

Watford away*

Man U home 

Man U away 

City away 

City home 

Spurs away

Swansea away*

Newcastle away*

Brighton away

Leicester away

Bournemouth away*

*lost from winning positions

Drew :-

Chelsea away

Southampton away

West Ham away

Liverpool home*

West Brom away*

Chelsea home*

*drew from winning positions

So from those results can Arsenal pick up the 24 points they need. If and yes it’s a big IF, if Arsenal can hold on to winning positions in games then they are looking at 18 extra points. Okay I accept that you can’t always hold on so if we say in 2/3rds of the games that’s 12 points.

That leaves games in all honesty they should not be losing, Stoke, Brighton and Leicester all away, if you are looking to win the league these are game Arsenal should be winning, the last two loses near the end of the season we more of an issue with out woeful away form and a lack of confidence. Stoke was down to appalling officiating was it 2 or 3 penalties we could & should of had?  So that is another 9 points, that leaves three points needed to get to the 87 points, I know it’s all ifs and buts, but are we not capable of gaining those results with the squad we have?

Are we in the mess that everyone is saying we are and has Wenger left us in a bad position? Confidence away from home ,as seen above was a major issue, for all the mental strength Wenger used to bang on about in his press conferences, we lacked that last season away from home. With a change of manager can he improve that confidence, it will be interesting to see how he handles the inevitable bad decisions Arsenal get (stoke & Watford away for example)?

Going forward Arsenal are as good as spurs, 74 PL goals each last season and that was good enough for them to be in 3rd. Emery needs to improve the defence, but allow the attack to continue scoring as it is and by the sound of the rumour mill defenders and a defensive midfielder are high on his shopping list. 

We have also been accused of being a mess behind the scenes, but over the past 12 months we have seen

Sven Mislintat – Head of recruitment

Raul Sanllehi – Head of football operation

Huss Fahmy – Contact negotiator

Darren Burgess – Head of high performance

Jens Lehman 1st team coach

Sal Bibbo – Goalkeeping coach

Per Mertesacker – Academy boss

Lee Herron – Academy football operations manager

Richard Allison – Performance Nutritionist

Tom Allen – Lead sports scientist

brought in, plus  Emery and whatever backroom staff he is bringing in with him.

To me that looks like the board have had a plan and are executing that plan to make Arsenal less reliant on one man (Wenger) and creating a proper structure to the club from top to bottom. Does that sound like a club in crises or a mess like Wright, Morgan and the rest in the media are saying. 

We were accused of being in a mess around the appointment of a new manager, but again this was more to do with the media creating headlines because they didn’t have a clue what was happening. In business is interviewing all available candidates and then having a second round of interviews not showing organisation and planning does that not show due diligence and responsibility to the club and fans? 

So are we a mess, are we as bad as our league position shows? 

I don’t think so, but I do always try to have a positive outlook on Arsenal and as we know it’s negativity that sells and creates headlines. Some prominent bloggers/vloggers are already laying the foundations to criticise the board if things do not start well with transfers, but if we look at the club from a positive angle, we are not as bad as everyone is saying.????

@Swales1968