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EPL | Arsenal vs Chelsea | 24th of September at 17:30 (GMT)

What will the result be for the match?


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Batman

Head of the Wayne foundation for benching Nketiah

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
A performance that would otherwise be flawless, if not for Monreal's occasional recklessness. If I were to change ANYTHING from the game, it would be to have Monreal fitted with an ankle tracker, the moment he starts leaving his immediate area he gets an electric shock to remind him to stop marauding & leave it to the rest, just focus on defending.

That moment when Willian had a hectare of space to aim & shoot boiled my blood no end, we should be beyond such school boy errors:mad:.

On the upside, Chelsea have been given the thrashing they've been so richly deserving for a long time & it felt GREAT!!!:drool::drool::lol:
Monreal is the one aspect I'm not happy with this season. His play has regressed a bit this year. He was such a rock for us last year. You could actually argue that he was our most consistent performer last season but he's struggling a bit this year.
 

Sapient Hawk

Can You Smell What The Hawk Is Cooking?
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Monreal is the one aspect I'm not happy with this season. His play has regressed a bit this year. He was such a rock for us last year. You could actually argue that he was our most consistent performer last season but he's struggling a bit this year.

He certainly was, which is why I've singled him out for criticism. He's been a dependable squad member for the past 3 years he's been here but, as you said, he's somewhat regressed. Maybe regressed is a tad harsh, but he's certainly not as sharp as he was last season.

Arsène needs to have a word with him about abandoning his post, though with Koscielny & now an equally aggressive & fleet of foot centreback in Mustafi being there, it's quite reassuring that his occasional lapses can be covered for, but I don't want us to depend on such a crutch:lol:
 

Steps

Well-Known Member
Arsène needs to have a word with him about abandoning his post, though with Koscielny & now an equally aggressive & fleet of foot centreback in Mustafi being there, it's quite reassuring that his occasional lapses can be covered for, but I don't want us to depend on such a crutch:lol:

Hit the nail on the head. I am all for defenders having lapses here and there but he's been out of position quite a lot. Kosc and Mustafi have had a great start to their partnership but really don't want the full weight of an attacking side pressing on them for so long during matches.
 

4R5Emaniac

Always fresh from Bangladesh
Could be that we instruct our fullbacks to attack at the same time. Iwobi is still learning his defensive responsibilities as well. Nacho's recovery speed is a worry though. But its more of a collective thing we need to deal with. And Willian is no chancer and its a given teams and players will have their moments. But its also true that prior to this game our CBs had far too much last ditch defending to do which I don't like.
 

carlito'sway

Established Member
I think that Nacho is being unfairly singled out here. As a matter of fact, I think he had a good performance yesterday. He had the highest pass completion percentage with 94 % and was generally sound defensively.
The problem that some may have missed is with the lack of support from Iwobi. It is so obvious that all opposing teams have adopted the same tactics, overloading our right side.
I don't care how good a fullback is, there is not much one can do in a 1 vs 2 situation. At some point, Nacho had a talk with Iwobi and remind him that tracking back is also part of his job. Alex will need to work on the defensive side of his game.
Theo for that matter did a great job yesterday tracking back and covering for Hector.
 

Steps

Well-Known Member
I think that Nacho is being unfairly singled out here. As a matter of fact, I think he had a good performance yesterday. He had the highest pass completion percentage with 94 % and was generally sound defensively.
The problem that some may have missed is with the lack of support from Iwobi. It is so obvious that all opposing teams have adopted the same tactics, overloading our right side.
I don't care how good a fullback is, there is not much one can do in a 1 vs 2 situation. At some point, Nacho had a talk with Iwobi and remind him that tracking back is also part of his job. Alex will need to work on the defensive side of his game.
Theo for that matter did a great job yesterday tracking back and covering for Hector.

Speaking for myself it wasn't really about yesterday as the whole campaign thus far. He is by no means doing terribly but it is a step back from last year. I don't think anyone is calling for him to play the bench (or maybe they are but I can't be arsed to read all 76 pages) but rather that it is something that the team needs to address.
 

Sapient Hawk

Can You Smell What The Hawk Is Cooking?
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I think that Nacho is being unfairly singled out here. As a matter of fact, I think he had a good performance yesterday. He had the highest pass completion percentage with 94 % and was generally sound defensively.
The problem that some may have missed is with the lack of support from Iwobi. It is so obvious that all opposing teams have adopted the same tactics, overloading our right side.
I don't care how good a fullback is, there is not much one can do in a 1 vs 2 situation. At some point, Nacho had a talk with Iwobi and remind him that tracking back is also part of his job. Alex will need to work on the defensive side of his game.
Theo for that matter did a great job yesterday tracking back and covering for Hector.

Alex is young & he'll listen to his seniors & be eager to improve. I do agree though with @4R5Emaniac in that it's starting to become a worrying pattern for our cbs having to pull the teams collective arses out of the fire. Walcott covered Hector extremely well yesterday.

Thankfully we were up against a Chelsea side rife with ineptitude & not a very rampant Liverpool, who I'm quite eager for us to turn over & pay back the opening day defeat with interest. We were mauled back in May 2014, cheated out of victories with last gasp draws in December 2014 & January of this year. Our last victory at Anfield in 2012 came during a time when the team was led by a rather unsavory person. Time to put this right.
 

carlito'sway

Established Member
Speaking for myself it wasn't really about yesterday as the whole campaign thus far. He is by no means doing terribly but it is a step back from last year. I don't think anyone is calling for him to play the bench (or maybe they are but I can't be arsed to read all 76 pages) but rather that it is something that the team needs to address.

I have watched the second half again and noticed that Iwobi for the 25 minutes he played did a much better job supporting Nacho tracking back and Azpilicueta. For that matter, the right side was basically shut down the second half even when CFC switched to a 3-4-3 formation.

One thing mentioned as well earlier by maniac, our fullbacks are playing really high up the field this season, so it is incumbent for whoever is playing on the wing with them to do the tracking job.
 

carlito'sway

Established Member
Alex is young & he'll listen to his seniors & be eager to improve. I do agree though with @4R5Emaniac in that it's starting to become a worrying pattern for our cbs having to pull the teams collective arses out of the fire. Walcott covered Hector extremely well yesterday.

Thankfully we were up against a Chelsea side rife with ineptitude & not a very rampant Liverpool, who I'm quite eager for us to turn over & pay back the opening day defeat with interest. We were mauled back in May 2014, cheated out of victories with last gasp draws in December 2014 & January of this year. Our last victory at Anfield in 2012 came during a time when the team was led by a rather unsavory person. Time to put this right.

Alex will be ok, as mentioned above he did a much better job the second half. I am not too concerned about the Pool game, that was an accident and a "write off" game. We had Holding/Chambers as our CB's and were not up to speed, so to speak.
 

carlito'sway

Established Member
By the way, I enjoyed the second half as much if not more than the first one. We could have scored one or two more goals but more importantly the team looked composed, mature and focused the last 45 min as well.
Loved the pace of our counters, our ability to switch gears, break their lines with one or two passes and change the point of attack.
Some of the exchanges, one touch passings, triangles were textbook quality!
Tactically, we responded well to the CFC formations changes (to a 4-3-3 and 3-4-3) and we were rarely in trouble. Encouraging for the future.
 
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logic DC

Well-Known Member
bit disappointed we didn't really bash them you know. when you are a arsenal fan and you have witnessed the humiliation of getting beaten 8-2, 6-0 you kinda want us to do the same to those teams, like pac said, revenge is the sweetest thing next to getting *****.
 

4R5Emaniac

Always fresh from Bangladesh
Alex is young & he'll listen to his seniors & be eager to improve. I do agree though with @4R5Emaniac in that it's starting to become a worrying pattern for our cbs having to pull the teams collective arses out of the fire. Walcott covered Hector extremely well yesterday.

Thankfully we were up against a Chelsea side rife with ineptitude & not a very rampant Liverpool, who I'm quite eager for us to turn over & pay back the opening day defeat with interest. We were mauled back in May 2014, cheated out of victories with last gasp draws in December 2014 & January of this year. Our last victory at Anfield in 2012 came during a time when the team was led by a rather unsavory person. Time to put this right.
Agreed. I forgot that in all the euphoria but we rode our luck prior to this game. Lets hope it has started clicking and it just was a matter of adjustment. Way too many last ditch defending. Getting lucky is a good sign and hopefully, it carries on through out the season but I agree we need to grab that luck with both hands. Keep on improving instead of getting caught. Every game is a different challenge now and should prepare accordingly.

Must say, Wenger has been pretty damn good in rotating. Something he couldn't and didn't do previously but we do definitely have more balanced options with a rounded squad.
 

carlito'sway

Established Member
Agreed. I forgot that in all the euphoria but we rode our luck prior to this game. Lets hope it has started clicking and it just was a matter of adjustment. Way too many last ditch defending. Getting lucky is a good sign and hopefully, it carries on through out the season but I agree we need to grab that luck with both hands. Keep on improving instead of getting caught. Every game is a different challenge now and should prepare accordingly.

Must say, Wenger has been pretty damn good in rotating. Something he couldn't and didn't do previously but we do definitely have more balanced options with a rounded squad.

Disagree with the "we rode our luck prior to this game", we were very good vs Watford and Hull.
 

nicky47

Established Member
It's been such a joy reading through this thread. Its great to see such positivity and praise going around! Like many have said, the whole team was superb, faultless even... I could speak about every single player, but Walcott and Mustafi in-particular stood out for me. I'm really liking the look of this potential CB partnership we have on our hands guys.

Anyway, let's just hope this is the beginning of something good. I think many agree that we have a very strong squad finally, and a lot of quality too. This team is absolutely capable of doing this more often.

Last thing, I just hope Coquelin's injury isn't as bad as it looks. I do fear the worst though.
 

4R5Emaniac

Always fresh from Bangladesh
We "did not rode our luck prior to this game", we were very good vs Watford and Hull.
I'm talking PSG and Soton. Teams with a stronger possibility of nicking points off of us though Watford do have that capacity too. But in the 2nd half we lost control and unlike against Chelsea it wasn't that we decided to just shut up shop. Just couldn't assert ourselves.
 

Makingtrax

Worships in the house of Wenger 🙏
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Off the top of my head Theo missed a bread and butter chance and he also spurned a cross to Alexis which would certainly have been a goal had the cross been better placed.
You could tell the crowd yesterday were baying for blood, it was the result of 3 years worth of ****e coming the other way.
Don't think 2 X FA Cups and a runner up place is 3 years worth of sh*te, they were just enjoying brilliant football.

And who cares if Theo missed a bread and butter chance and spurned a cross from Alexis . . . because the lad gave his all for the club in that match and scored a great goal ffs.

No wonder you think my posts are all bollocks and quite honestly I'm glad.
 

carlito'sway

Established Member
I'm talking PSG and Soton. Teams with a stronger possibility of nicking points off of us though Watford do have that capacity too. But in the 2nd half we lost control and unlike against Chelsea it wasn't that we decided to just shut up shop. Just couldn't assert ourselves.

Technically the Hull game was the prior league game, not counting the Forest encounter. ;).
Anyway, it is a work in progress and we are indeed progressing.
 

4R5Emaniac

Always fresh from Bangladesh
Technically the Hull game was the prior league game, not counting the Forest encounter. ;).
Anyway, it is a work in progress and we are indeed progressing.
Yeah, we are. Hull and Forest are hardly testing. Though I have a liking for Nottingham Forest because of Fifa and Montaniere who plays some good football.
 
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