₦airaland Forum

Valencia vs Athletico Madrid is gonna be some game. That's what I'd be watching this evening.

Rooting for Athletico for the league title...all of a sudden I'm a fan of Diego Costa. Anyone who causes that as..hole Sergio Ramos pain is a hero in my book.

A 19 year old from ligue 2 has been our best player so far. Other positives are Cech and Iwobi. The best paid players haven't been doing much. Next 8 fixtures are against relatively weaker opponents so hopefully we pick up at least 20 points.

COYG

12 points in the bag. 8 more points from the next 4 games please (I see us getting 10).

Unai is on the right path.

COYG

Boring

Strange lineup.

COYG

RB007:
Europa League scares the Jesus in me [color=#A912A5] Anyone got 2odds tonight? [/color]

Braga 1, Poznan 1x, Apoel 1x

I think that's more than 2 odds and e go green

It's a work in progress.

Pep and Klopp didn't have great first seasons either. Let's give our coach time.

COYG

sod09:
same here too
The only thing I'm sure of is ozil , Aubameyang
The formation and players I don't know, guendouzi may start ahead of xhaka while torriera may start ahead of Ramsey

So many questions (that's the exciting part; things got too predictable and stale under Wenger in his latter years), we'll get answers in few hours.

patrickmuf:
Every other season, you find Arsenal fans in their numbers here during the preseason with so much optimism before the season kicks off but when the season begins, they desert this place like it's a cursed thread...

Oh, most Arsenal fans I know are excited about the new season. They are probably in other Arsenal fans' forums. This isn't the only Arsenal fans thread you know.

Too many trolls on here; after a while you just get tired of feeding the trolls.

For the first time in a long long while i have absolutely no idea how Arsenal will be, that in itself feels odd, and kinda exciting.

Just wanna see a team

1.that doesn't look defeated before kickoff like last season against city

2. With better defensive organization and structure

3. Where Xhaka is not left alone in midfield to stop a counter attack

COYG

How many goals for this duo

I say 30+ for Auba and 20+ for Lacazette

pazienza:
Makes sense, if we are clearing space to land Vida of Croatia and Besitkas.

How are we sure Vida is an upgrade on Chambers. World Cup performance isn't the best yardstick to judge how good a player is....

Ornstein just confirmed that Chambers is going to Fulham on loan. Jeez doesn't make sense.

Pataki:
LOL!

It is pathetic and at the same time joyful to watch the shameless lamentations going on in the manure and shekpe threads.

Scummies trolling Shekpties, only for a few hours return to their own thread and start cussing their own sad garrulous manager.

My prayer for scummies is that, may Moaninghoe finish and perfect the disastrous work he has began in Manure. Long and hard shall the agony of scummies be this season! Insha Allah! L'oruko Jesu!

Meanwhile to better team oh jare.....any insight to this news that Calum Chambers is going to Fulham on loan?

Chambers is closer to the first team than either of Holding or Mavropanos IMO so this doesn't make any sense. Besides if any of our CBs needs loaning, I'd think it's one of the latter two.

The news was first reported by the mail, one of the most unreliable papers around, so I want to believe it's all BS.

sod09:
lacazette...auba should cf

kokaneprodigy:
u wanna bench a 50M player that's bad for business

Not only because of the price tag, Lacazette holds the ball better than Auba. They can compliment each other, Auba coming from the left. Wenger tried it last season to good effects.

sod09:
can we sell Ramsey already...we don't want any bad blood since sanchez

I agree. And they should be fast about it. Short window, not enough time to get a replacement.

Roland17:
Baba,
You are correct!!! Unlike Bellerin, his positioning and field awareness is still top notch while his conditioning is still good but [b]I am not sure he can play 3 consecutive 90 min games, that may be asking too much from him. More so, I have wondered if we could partner him and Sokratis in some games. [/b]I think he would thrive as a CB also.

I have also observed that we are transitioning quicker from defense to offense with long balls and it’s not just Lichtsteiner, I think it’s Emery’s way of catching opponents unawares. I saw lot of quick long passes from deep and they were mostly accurate.

Overall we had a good preseason, however, that may mean nothing as we also played a lot of young players who may not see first team action. Hopefully, we can enjoy a decent start to the season, build momentum and confidence from there especially away from home where we have struggled.

We won't be needing him to play so many games. Just those against the better sides where his better understanding of the game, tactically, would come in handy. His experience will offset the yard or two he's lost in pace. Bellerin should play against the Bournemouths, Palace, Brightons etc.

In other news, we probably won't have any of our natural left backs for the start of the season and Ramsey doesn't look like signing the thing.

sod09:
sarri ball style is interesting but risky I was thinking same thing if they play city or Liverpool...too much body in midfield, they choked arsenal

Antidote; have your best passers (e.g Silva, Fabinho, Erickson, Guendouzi ) lob the ball over the midfield bypassing the press and a winger (e.g Salah, Mane, Sane, Son, Aubameyang) run at the acres of spaces available. Voila.

Little wonder he lost to Man city home and away in last season's UCL. His system is pretty on the eyes though. He's like Wenger without the trophies

Yeah, Sod09 read it somewhere he was injured.

BTW, both teams played a suicidal high line yesterday (especially Chelsea). Teams like Liverpool would be salivating at the amount of space they'd be afforded with such tactics. Both coaches would probably adapt to such opponents? Time will tell.

Build up leading to the goal showed what a genius Ozil is. Most playmakers would have chipped the ball into the box and hoped for a 50-50 header. Ozil however had the presence of mind to pick a free Nelson and ultimately increased the chance of Arsenal getting that equaliser.
Most times the vilification and criticism he gets are undeserved.

Ramsey actually had a "minor" muscle problem before the game during warm up and got replaced by Smith Rowe.

And that's another issue with the guy, doesn't stay healthy for long and his constant flux in and out disrupts the team's chemistry. You can't build your team around such a player.

I won't be averse to the idea of having Guendouzi Torreira and Xhaka as first choice midfield three. Take the money for Ramsey if it's a decent offer.

Bellerin, Kolasinac were horrible, mehn. They were the major negative in the game in which I think we played quite well and deservedly got a draw (and a win if you count penalty shoot out). Thankfully we have a significant upgrade on Kolasinac with Monreal; tried, tested and reliable. Litchstener might get more game time than I envisaged, will probably be first choice.

Guendouzi and Elneny seem to possess similar qualities with the former seemingly superior IMHO. I think Guendouzi might end up being a first team player, probably why Emery is giving him so much game time during this preseason to further build up his confidence. I see him being paired with Torreira who brings something different to the two mentioned.

BTW, almost every outfield player got some minutes except Ramsey. Contract talks not going so well? Welshman on his way out?

eph12:
So Emery is now the second coming of Jesus? These gayners never fail to amuse me. We shall see

Oasis007:


Emery reminds me of LVG, the Niggä is blowing Teams away in Pre-Season Matches, guess what?! Spy360 already rated him above Wenger.

They are firing recklessly while the War is yet to begin, wonder how they gonna reload their Arsenal when the War fully begins.

These two Manyoo fans have been tormented and tortured by their manager.
Your sufferings haven't even started yet.

A great tweet I found using the @OnefootballEN app

https://1.ftb.al/KgorK82TWO

Torreira left Uruguay for London yesterday. Should be joined by the Swiss boys, who exited the tournament earlier, for training tomorrow.

That's everyone in then, except Welbeck (no disrespect, but he's not being hugely missed). Having few players going far in the World Cup is turning out to be a blessing.

Aren't Xhaka and Torreira supposed to be back by now? I'll really love to have Torreira in the first two matches.

Roland17:
yup

It hasn't started yet, has it?

osazsky:
anyone who believes asenal can still win the premier league in this modern era of football competition can believe anything ,like The Russky Bridge in Vladivostok which has a central span of 1104 metres is for sale and dangote is the buyer

I believe Arsenal can win the premier league in this modern era because that's what true fans do; believe. I mean even Liverpool and Spurs fans whose teams last won it several decades ago still believe their teams will win it soon. It's not out of place for an Arsenal fan to believe (without believe it's pretty pointless being a fan. I might as well throw the towel and start following F1)
You probably won't understand what I'm saying because you are probably another Chelsea/Man city/* insert state sponsored club* glory hunter.

Now sue me Mr osazsky

jorhney:

The Kante guy is a likable dude.

In the institution I work, employees are required to pass an exam before they are promoted. Recently just found out that my boss sends the questions and answers to her favourite employees. SMH. Explains why dundee heads get to rise up the ladder at the expense of genuinely brilliant guys.

Lost every ounce of respect I used to have for her.

Happy with the performance. Love the pressing and aggression. Smith Rowe, Guendouzi and Reiss Nelson were good; funnily enough the former two outshone Ramsey who probably overrates his abilities and importance to the team. Not that I want him gone, just don't think he's worth breaking the bank for. If he doesn't sign soon, sell him and get a replacement.

sod09:

I like them sha...
How did we steal guandenzou for 9m dude look sharp and full of potential also that Smith howe

Guendouzi could prove to be a steal.

The kids should go and do more penalty practice.

Smith Rowe with a super goal.

Some really talented youngsters coming through

sod09:
I was telling you guys lacazette is lacking confidence

Nothing in this game showed lack of confidence in Lacazette. More like lack of match sharpness.

And I really do hate playing Athletico Madrid; they just strangle the joy out of football with their ultra defensive system.