The games continue to come thick and fast. It is little surprise that the rollercoaster of emotions runs on a timescale measure in games rather than time, but when as now the time is much shorter the upswings and downswings are more violent when compared with other events in your life that continue at the same rate as usual. A little under a month ago, previewing the Southampton match, I was trying to rally spirits following defeats against Manchester City and Brighton (sic). Following an encouraging recovery, heads dropped again after a defeat to another small team, hailing not from not the Southern, but the Middle branch of the Saxon tribe. Now we are on a collective high, fearing the revelation of another false dawn following wins against Liverpool and Manchester City as I preview our game against Aston Villa.
I have history with Aston Villa; most of it pretty ancient history. I saw them in the last match of the 1980-81 season, a 2-0 victory at Highbury thanks to goals from Brian McDermott and WIllie Young. I wish I remembered more about the game than the rather odd atmosphere at the end when both sets of fans celebrated ecstatically – the Arsenal fans, for obvious reasons and the Villa fans marking their seventh and to-date, last, league title.
But May 1981 wasn’t the first time I’d seen them. That came at Christmas 1976, a match that I thought had taken place on Boxing Day, but the good people at 11v11.com tell me took place on December 27th. We were spending the holidays with my brother who was working at ICI Billingham (Where the Sparrows Cough) at the time and decided to take in the game at Ayresome Park. Another strange atmosphere at this one. I have to rely on memory since the page maintained by the aforementioned good people doesn’t give the times of the goals, but as far as I remember there were three or four goals in the first fifteen minutes or so, which is three or four more than their fans tended to see in a month of ‘Boro matches at that time, and several locals near us needed reassurance that it was actually happening as their team ran out 3-2 winners. (Not 4-2 as I had remembered, so maybe I’m making the whole thing up.)
I have a vague feeling that I may have seen them playing Derby County or Leicester City some time between the above two matches but I can’t remember any details at all with which I can put off starting this preview.
I’ve had a quick trawl around some Villa fan sites in search of ideas about their likely line-up, but had no luck as they are filled with people wailing and gnashing their teeth about the team’s likely relegation, that would become certain if they fail to win this match. This is a genuine problem for which it is worth rending your clothes and, having no particular beef with Aston Villa or their supporters, I sympathise. Failing in my search for useful gossip, I took a look at the players listed as unavailable on the Fantasy League site but other than goalkeeper Tom Heaton, I’d never heard of any of their injured players.
It seems, then, that our opponents have much more to play for than do the Arsenal. I choose to regard this as a Good Thing as it will allow us to judge the depth of the transformation Mikel has wrought upon the team. I think there will be little argument when I suggest that our previous rookie Basque manager would have struggled to get the team “up” for a match against Aston Villa after our recent run of games. Putting in a good, committed, performance approaching those we put in against “the two best teams in Europe” in our last two games will provide reassurance that the team has taken in what is required to compete for the Premier League title. It’s been a good few years since we’ve seen a team with that knowledge running out at Ashburton Grove for every game.
Even before news of his hamstring injury broke, I thought it was time to give Mustafi some time off, and surely Aubamayang deserves a rest. Here’s my pretty uninformed prediction for the team:
Martinez
Soares Holding Luiz Tierney
Saka Xhaka Torreira Willock
Lacazette Nkeiteh
The Holics’ Pound
I’m still an uninformed betting man – giving the heart full rein over the head, I would back an unfamiliar 4-0 to the Arsenal. I see signs that the defence is coming out of its prolonged funk and will have enough about it to keep out the Aston Villa front men and I think the attacking line-up is going to click.
In general, I prefer not to risk disappointment by being too gung-ho. Don’t let me down Arsenal.
Thanks Pangloss. A witty and interesting preview .
While a win would be nice for us it is essential for them. I’ve been to Villa Park on a few occasions too and never seen us lose there . It’s a rough old area around Aston and I once had to kill several hours waiting for a match there . It was the killing I was worried abou
I think we will continue with three at the back and sadly that might mean Kolasinac returns to partner Luiz and Holding with Cedric and AMN playing at wing back . Torreira may well play and Eddie will return. I agree Auba deserves a rest and the front three may be Nelson , Nketiah and Saka but it’s hard to know who is the least knackered. I think it’s a 3-1 to us unless we go behind early .
This is the beginning of the ‘ perennial rumours that never happen ‘season . Older Holics will remember continual links to the likes of Dennis Wise and Andy Sinton that never materialised. How on earth did we survive ? Nowadays we regularly get Turkish clubs about to sign Mesut Ozil only for them to fail to ante up when money is discussed . Apparently Fenerbache tried to broker a deal last season where he would join them on a free transfer with us paying £200k a week ! Now another club are making noises about taking him to Istanbul but worried about the expense. Ozil is hanging around the club like a bad smell and while I think almost all Arsenal fans back Arteta’s tough line with him there comes a point where we will have to cut our considerable losses .
The other player who is always about to join us is Rabiot of Juventus. According to rumours Juventus are looking to swap him for Lacazette . We could part with Laca if Auba, Eddie and Martinelli are with us next season but Rabiot is somewhat flakey with an overbearing mother who is also his agent . I will believe that when I see it. Personally I think Dennis Wise is more likely
Thirst? 🍷
‘tabsed it’!
Sheffield United have lost to Everton . We now need Wolves to go down to Palace
Cheers Pangloss. It’s always nice to get some history and flavour of matches gone by. Since I’ve been following football Villa haven’t been close to a league title. If only there weren’t now Gooners who can say the same…
I still reckon we have a fair bit to play for. Two league victories will qualify us for Europe as long as Chelsea beat Wolves at home on the final day. And, although it is not looking likely he will be invited to the party, St. Totteringham is lingering around in case his day comes round. Whilst there is any chance of that I expect us to be giving it all we have.
pang, you’re funny. i totally understand the “casting about for info to keep from writing the piece” thing. a non-writer’s curse, or a writer’s curse, i can never tell which.
you did make me wonder why the coughing sparrows, which made me look up ici billingham, from which i learned aldous huxley was inspired in part for “brave new world” by a 1920s visit to sir monde’s advanced plant. where sparrows cough, indeed.
will villa be looking at our last two games and sit back, hoping to just keep us to a lone goal or two? or will they give up all hope and play attacking football, giving us the ability to utilize our pace on the counter? if the latter we could score your proposed scoreline easily (hell we could have had that at wembley if we’d taken our chances). if we take their relegation fodder and convert it to that sort of fertilizer, we’re in for a brave new world in the season’s final game.
A fine preview pangloss. Like you I have no beef with Villa, and can think of others I would prefer to be relegated. My first encounter with Villa was a picture of Gerry Hitchens and an illustration of their ‘villa’ type stand roof in the only Topical Times annual I ever received for Christmas. Probably 1959, ’60, ’61 or ’62. I would rather like to find that on e-bay one day.
You highlight well the key reason why we need to win tomorrow, to show that we have the focus and drive to win against the mediocre after the highs of beating the best. That takes a ruthless winning mentality the like of which we haven’t recently possessed. Furthermore it keeps 7th place alive . Your 4-0 win would nicely improve our goal difference too as the likeliest route to 7th place is Wolves dropping 3 points in their last game against the Chavs and us finishing level on points with them by winning our last two games. We are 3 goals worse off at the moment. As I type, Wolves are drawing 0-0 at home against Palace but I have little hope of them dropping points in this one. Schlopp just flopped in front of goal. All my Palace hopes rest on Zaha.
For tomorrow against Villa I tend to agree with TTG (as per usual) about our likely line up tomorrow. Three at the back seems the norm for Mikel while we have flakey defenders but with Sokrates and Holding flanking Luiz and Cedric and Kolasinac as wingbacks. I expect Xhaka and Torreira to be asked to command midfield and TTG’s front three of Nelson, Nketiah and Saha keeping the big guns in reserve.
Andy Sinton not coming? I’m still waiting for Obafeme Martins and Shay Given. Maybe this summer?
COYG
A very enjoyable preview with history lessons and elusive allusions thrown in for fun. 🙂
About the starting line-up, I think we will stick to 3-4-3 as that is the formation we most likely to play in the final. Maybe Sokratis on the right and Holding on the left of Luiz, giving Tierney a rest. Xhaka & Torreira flanked by Saka & Cedric. Upfront Eddie down the middle, Pepe on the right, Reiss on the left. Villa will have to come at us to score goals and that forward line has enough pace and finishing to score a few. Auba & Laca on the bench and if we need goals they are brought on early in the second half.
The way Eddie and Nelson press and harass Villa’s defense will find it hard to build up play through the lines and will commit mistakes.
I refer the honourable gentleman@6 to the period 1953-1971 through much if not all of which the grown-ups here lived. Hope is beginning to emerge that we might not go longer this time around.
It’s worthy of note that during the earlier 18-year period, the league was won by 9 different teams – Wolverhampton Wanderers, Chelsea, Manchester United, Burnley, Tottenham Hostpur (gasp!), Ipswich Town, Everton, Liverpool and Leeds United – while only 5 have won the title over the past 16 years – Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Leicester City and Liverpool. I suspect that this reduced uncertainty about the ultimate destination of the title has contributed to the massive hype that is applied to it.
In the US, as I understand it, the National Football League (different “Football”, I know) attempts to regulate player recruitment so as to maximise competition. How different, how very different, to the situation in Blighty where recruitment is governed only by the free market, so that the rich get better players and get richer thus minimising competition. I appreciate that the situation isn’t exactly comparable and that as a consequence of Association Football actually being a game played all over the world, players come from a variety of sources so that a draft system simply wouldn’t work, but I’m sure The Powers That Be could come up with something, especially if pressured by their paymasters, eager not to have to bother to generate quite so much hype.
scruz@7 Thanks, I wasn’t aware of the Aldous Huxley connection. I was quoting a TV documentary about poor air quality around the plant that led to the company making some changes, which previous articles in the local press that might have mentioned the effects on human health presumably hadn’t.
pang@11 yer welcome. i can imagine they probably didn’t know there were potential health effects on their human staff, as sparrows aren’t canaries.
Cheers Pangloss !
A different and entertaining preview. I remember the 1980 Villa game at Highbury. I spent it on the North Bank wondering where the next crowd disturbance was coming from. A crowd of actual “Gooners” dressed in Villa colours, kicked up a mock rumpus at the back of the North Bank, in order to get themselves escorted away and along the West side of the ground and into the away support at the Clock End. Cue fight No 1.
Eventually they were extracted out of the Villa section and back to the North Bank, eventually followed by a Villa mob into the top west corner of the terrace. Cue fight No 2 (not for me personally – just – I should add).
At the end of the game, and season, the Arsenal fans poured onto the pitch from our end, and the Villa fans poured onto the pitch from the Clock End. The police spread a line of officers and horses across the halfway line to keep the crowds apart but luckily the real heat had gone out of the situation by then. Arsenal had won the game and Villa had won the league by default as Ipswich – I believe – had done them the necessary favour in their game against ??? (Can’t remember).
Happy days ! But often a nightmare on the terraces.
That certainly won’t be a problem tomorrow.
Scruzgooner,
Could I just wish the capital letters on your keyboard a speedy recovery 😆👍🏻
I remember the Villa title win especially as I was hoping Ipswich would take advantage and become champions. Villa really capitalised by winning the European Cup in 1982. As I was queuing at Wembley for the Marylebone train after the 2015 final a rather pathetic set of Villa fans tried to taunt us by singing that we’d never won the European Cup . We pointed out that they had just been marmalised and if we were going back in history we had much more in the last fifty years than them . Football fans can be sad bastards .
In 1981 we had sold Brady ( and were about to sell Stapleton ) and still finished third . The board really did lack ambition in those days. Had Dein been on the board then I’m sure we would not have seen the side decimated. We did buy Clive Allen and then swapped him for Kenny Sansom in one of the weirdest deals of all time . We were left with Hawley, Hankin and Chris Whyte up front . That might explain why I did not attend a game in 1981/2
Splendid ramble through the mists of time, Pangloss.
Your memory serves you pretty well: Three goals in the first 19 minutes of that 1976 Boro-Villa game. David Mills opened the scoring for Boro in the 5th minute. Andy Gray equalised in the 14th minute. Mills completed his hat-trick by scoring in the 19th and 29th minute. 3-1 at half-time. David Hughes got Villa’s second late in the second half.
Trev@13: Middlesborough, as it happens. Panglossian gaia.
trev@14, they were absconded with years ago by the agent of one edward estlin cummings, never to be seen again. except rarely, or when i twitch wrongly. 🙂
An enjoyable meander through
days of yore Pangloss. Never
made it to Ayrsome Park or
Boro itself come to that?
Is Chemical City the shithole I
imagine?
My last trip to Villa Park was a
cup semi final in the 80s, a poor
game against Manure that we
lost 1-0 from memory. A tense
game was made tenser by being
stuck amongst a large group of
Manure fans. Not a good day and
I never went again.
I’ve nothing against Villa either
but I hope we win for the reasons
outlined by others – a more timid
2-0 would be my guess.
Relatively inoffensive preview, Pangloss, and quite historically minded, quite like Aston Villa as a club. 😉
Unless they take points off us tomorrow. COYG.
The team is a tricky one though
your guess is as good as any
Pangloss.
I do think Nelson will start but
apart from that I’ve no clue.
Anyone playing the full 90
in the last two games (excepting
Emi) could probably use a
break.
Laca has been finishing the season with the flourish and I’m hoping he does the same tomorrow. If so Villa can drown their relegation sorrows with a jug of claret with floral hints of prolonged championship mediocrity.
Pep’s sour grapes timing is impeccable.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53479675
oh, bite me, pep.
Though on one small point I do
agree with Pep. No need to whisper
especially now he’s raised the matter.
Let’s just say openly they were guilty
as sin. A little candour wouldn’t be
unwelcome surely?
An interesting and entertaining meander down memory lane, Pangloss.
Ah, that 1980-81 season. I lived close to Ipswich at the time and saw the excellent Tractor Boys of the day often. I travelled with them to see the crunch match at Villa which they lost meaning they finished as runners up. Interestingly with a tiny squad (but one with two excellent Scots and two brilliant Dutchmen) Ipswich managed to win the UEFA Cup, finish second in the league and reached the FA Cup semis. Rotation was something you did with the crops in Suffolk in those days when legs were made of steel and bellies’ capacity for Tolly Cobbold was unlimited.
Had our ‘first rookie Basque manager’ still been around, I have no doubt that this would have been a relegation scrap over which I’d be crapping it. The results on his watch are those that make it highly unlikely we’ll qualify for Europa via League position (I think we won’t). MA8 should use these final two games to rest every player who will start against Chel$ki at least once and give young players as much exposure to tough EPL challenges as he can in the interests of a magnificent 2020/21 season.
Pep should remember who he represents before he opens the “respect off the pitch” can of worms. Anyone with any moral fibre would decline to shield that medieval band of rogues. An old article but it sums up both Pep’s tendency to hypocrisy and his bosses’ moral turpitude:
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/sport/2018/03/guardiola-s-hypocrisy-over-man-city-s-owner-undermines-his-pleas-about
Thanks Pangloss for an interesting view on today’s match. Whilst we still can in theory finish in a Europa cup place I suspect MA will select a team strong enough to come away with all 3 points. Which players he selects / rest’s may well depend on who’s in the fabled red zone. This is a must win match for the Villians so they should be going at it from the start and hopefully leaving ample opportunities for us on the counter. It will also be a test of our mentality – the players gave their maximum effort and were fully “up” for the fantastic win against the scousers & Oiler’s, can they maintain that against lower opposition. I know MA won’t relax at all – if the team play at the level of those games then a comfortable win is likely…..2-0 seems good.
Is there’s anyone
we should be looking to nick
from the teams going down?
I read Ake may go to Shitty
and it set me thinking.
Although the bookies have us at evens to win at Villa Park, the home team’s odds of 13/5 suggest there are plenty of punters who think it could go the other way. The celestial ‘Holic pound would be attracted to the 19s available on a 3-0 away win.
OM
Norwich have several but they won’t come cheap . Cantwell is a Gooner a sort of Guendouzi without the attitude , Buendia is decent as are a couple of the young defenders . Pukki is too old nowadays . Bournemouth have bright forwards im Brooks,King and Wilson but Fraser who is available on a free is a squad player if you have Saka , Martinelli and Peos . If Villa go Grealish will confirm his move to Inited and Mings is a decent centre back . Best fit for us would be McGinn
If you are really cash-strapped you have to consider things like selling Leno and taking Krul as a back up to Emi but that may make you a little bitter towards the owner !
Ned
If we are going to qualify for the Europa through the league we have to win by about three goals . Do 3-0 especially if we score early might be worth having
It’s raining cats and dogs here, which is fine for me and the cats who will both be watching the game, at least until Arsenal score, I jump up in celebration and the frightened cats run out of the room. The weather doesn’t suit the dog so well though, his pre-match walk looking to be in jeopardy.
OM@29: Grealish at Villa is probably the prime asset among the clubs likely to be relegated, and he has deeper-pocketed suitors. There will be Premiership clubs looking at Tyrone Mings, including reportedly us. Between him and Bournemouth’s Ake, I would plump for Ake, but suspect we could do better for the money they are both likely to cost, especially if there is anything to Citeh’s reported interest in the Dutchman. Villa’s Brazilian centre-forward, Wesley, seems well regarded, but we are covered there.
Both of Norwich’s young full-backs, Max Aarons ad Jamal Lewis, are worth a look, although we are now also well-placed in both positions unless Hector or Kola leave. Todd Cantwell will probably be back in the Premiership next season, but not at a top club, and Tim Krul would make someone’s back-up keeper, but please not ours.
Bournemouth has a bunch of forwards and midfielders who will probably end up back in the Premiership — the two Wilsons, David Brooks, Lerma, Josh King — but none of whom would be an improvement on what we already have.
A very fair summary TTG.
Krul has always seemed a bit
of a dick really though he isn’t
a bad keeper. I’ve watched Cantwell
a bit and Grealish more, not sure
MA will want either. Though neither
seem suited to relegation battles
really so it’s difficult to judge. Do
Yoonited still want Grealish now they
have Fernandez?
McGinn was out for quite a while and
was a big miss for Villa but he’s struggled
since coming back. Bugger will probably
score against us tonight now I’ve said
that.
TTG@31: Fair shout on Villa’s McGinn. My concerns are that he has a dodgy ankle (not that injury is usually a deterrent to us buying anyone!) and that when Man U was reportedly in for him last season, Villa wanted £50 million. True, times have changed, but he would still probably cost £20 million-30 million. You’d have to sell Xhaka to fund that. 🙂
Sorry Ned, I hadn’t read @34
before I posted. A fair summary
too.
I remember us being linked with
Mings about 3 or 4 years ago when
he was at Ipswich.
I quite like King at Bournemouth but
as you say we’re full there just now
Ake has two other unmentioned attributes. Interesting hair, which could be useful as it appears Guendouzi could be out the door, and he has reason to perform against Chelsea.
TTG@32: Excellent point about goal difference. We need to win the last two games by a net seven goals if we are to secure sixth with the other results going our way, i.e., Wolves lose their final match at Chelsea and the neighbours get no more than a point at Palace. The three of us would then be on 59 points with Wolves’ goal difference at best +12, Spurs’ +14 and ours a minimum of +10.
We need that to be +15 to avoid the next tie-breaker, which is goals scored: currently Spurs 60, us 53 and Wolves 51, and after that head-to-head record, which would leave us below the neighbours but above Wolves.
Our best hope is for the neighbours to really Spurz it up at Palace and Wolves still to lose at the bus stop in Fulham. A couple of 2-0s in our last two matches would then squeak us sixth. A Spurs win or a Wolves point, and it is all moot.
Palace are on a long losing
streak. And Leicester were
totally useless to us.
Annoyingly.
We have emptied a full cartridge
into both feet this season.
OM
My friend was briefly an adviser to Krul and spent an evening with him and a few other players when he was at Newcastle. He said he was incredibly defensive initially about opening up socially because he had been burnt by people releasing stuff on social media in the past. Once he got over his initial reserve he said he was a very interesting and intelligent bloke but very Dutch in that he was not afraid to pick an argument !
Ned
Thanks for the maths. The need to qualify for Europe is so great that we have to think about the imperative of boosting our goal difference. Given Auba also wants the Golden Boot and is presumably very lifted by events on Saturday I suspect he may start tonight . If things go pear-shaped tonight he can rest on Sunday .
An awful lot of stars have to align for us to end up sixth. Too many, I fear, but while there is hope…
Win the last two games and we cannot finish lower than eighth. And we can’t fall lower than the 10th place we are in now whatever happens — though that would be a pretty dismal end to the league season.
Winning the FA Cup looks our best route back to Europe and would come with the added bonus of having turned over Chelsea in the process.
Cheers Pangloss!
Evening All and UP THE ARSE!
In Premier League – sp*rz cannot fail to beat Palace whose form is absolute dogshit, so will finish on 61 points for sure. No St Totteringcunts this year I’m afraid.
Good news is though 61 points is nowhere near getting them CL for next season. Which was the whole point behind parachuting scruffy, moaning, lying porto cunt in, so that went well then.
The general consensus appears to be that we have a man who is, or will be a great coach and that we should keep hold of him. A few years ago, the general consensus was that we had a man who was a great coach. We hung on to the last bloke but then, so the consensus has it, it all went, at least a bit, wrong.
Should we do something to prevent the same happening again, and if so, what?
Discuss.
Team: Emi, Rob, Dav, Kol, Ced, Ceb, Tor, Sak, Lac, Ed, Auba. Sub: Macey, Hec, KT, Sok, AMN, Joe, Xhak, Smith, Pepe
Arsenal: Martinez, Holding, Luiz, Kolasinac, Cedric, Torreira, Ceballos, Saka, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Nketiah
Subs: Macey, Bellerin, Tierney, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Xhaka, Smith, Pepe
Tempus fugit, pangloss and waits for no man. Sadly time caught up with the last great coach both in terms of his own powers withering and ossifying and the football world in which he plyed his trade moving on, including the new funding sources for two clubs who suddenly became powers while his own resources were stagnant. We can be eternally grateful to Arsene Wenger for his first ten years, his commitment to the club during the years of penury and his vision but it was time for change.
The new fella has huge promise and deserves to be supported to the utmost possible for the club and its owner. We shall be extremely fortunate if in the fulness of time he is remembered as a peer of Arsene.
Wow! Strong forward line.
Go win, Arsenal!
we have to have a smith sighting today.
3 at the back, then, cedric and saka on the wings, dani driving us forward with lt11 shielding. i hope eddie has been watching auba’s workrate and our front three does its magic.
i think we should hearken back to this by our own faustus, with its prediction of how señor arteta’s effect on arsenal f.c….
Pangloss
Looks like a very attacking side!
Not quite sure about your point or quite who you are referring to ?
Wenger was magnificent until about 2007/8 and even after that was still very effective but he definitely declined in the last five years of his tenure despite winning three FA Cups and qualifying for the CL every year but ( the last) two. He should probably have gone after the 2014 win although we did make second in 2016. He was so respected I think that was tough to do but Kroenke should have eased him out earlier.
Emery did ok last season but the last month especially Baku was a disaster. This season many ( including me ) lost faith in him quite early and by October I thought he was clearly struggling .
Arteta has a longer contract and I feel ( and I think this is shared by most Gooners) that he has done really well. I’m not sure what we need to do beyond giving him backing in the market . We can’t give him a longer contract or a rise in the current conditions. Tellingly at this stage of Emery’s tenure he was in the midst of a 22 match unbeaten run and looked very promising but it’s a dynamic, ever changing game.
What were you suggesting in your post?
Cheers Esso !
Looks like a team set-up to go for goals. Good.
I will be watching Ceballos because I need to figure out if we should sign him.
we’ll leave the decision up to you, then 😉
COYG!!
Plane flying over Villa Park. “Back Arteta – Kroenke out.”
Jaybus this is dull
grealish goes down easier than i’d imagine a strong young lad like him to do.
Nothing interesting has happened in the first 24 minutes. We don’t look very cohesive or creative. Need a spark from somewhere. Agree with everyone that Auba needs some rest.
COYG.
Not sure how much to pay for him even, scruz. In 22 minutes I have learned nothing
Shit! Villa lead off a corner.
i was just about to say they need to score to inject us with some urgency. great shot by trezeguet.
we are incredibly passive.
don’t buy him on that row z basis, though.
No stopping that. Great hit.
Just goes to show all possession we had didn’t account for anything. Against run of play but we seemed to have fallen asleep during that corner.
They have started to managing time by Someone going down feigning injury. This is going to be a tough game.
Awfully boring and the first shot of the match goes in .
We really don’t control midfield well enough. We have three offensive players but only Ceballos and Torreira centrally and they are both quite deep. I would expect Mikel to turn to Xhaka in the second half
are we *gulp* missing xhaka right now?
Torriera booked for a silly challenge
Now we have Kola on one side and Holding on the other side passing backward. Kola is a poor player.
ttg knows.
This just isn’t working. Xhaka for Torreira and Pepe for Eddie.
add tierney for kola.
Bizarre that you set up with three forwards and then don’t give them the ball. We’ve not got near having a shot even. We are building up far too slowly – funereal pace allowing Villa to get set
We have been lackluster and sterile in the first half. Arteta will have to find a way to get them going.
really poor first half. arteta rocket at half and some subs…let’s hope it is a game of two halves.
Meh not good enough
We appear to be playing as if we are trying to prove we belong in 10th spot in the table. Ceballos had our only attempt on goal that I recall, from a corner routine , and he fluffed his lines badly. Villa bossing, or at least nominally controlling the midfield against weak Arsenal representation.
The only player who tried was Cebalos, left flank not very productive same on the right. Laca huffing and puffing but not really getting any service.
A much improved second half please lads!
TTG@53, Bath@49 – I was indeed referring to Arsene Wenger rather than our previous rookie Basque. A genuine question. Surely there is some lesson to be learned; hanged if I know what it is.
As ever, I’m not watching the match. The half-time score is, to say the least, disappointing.
COYG
Drawing Ceballos into a DM role gives us no B2B midfielder . Torreira is a holding player but not what we need now , he isn’t penetrative enough . I think we may need to play Xhaka deep and push Ceballos forward . We also need to use the width we have effectively . So far we’ve made no headway on the left although we have two of our best players there . .
Arteta reads this blog. Xhaka on for Torreira.
Pangloss
Thanks for the clarification.
I think there is a huge value in stability but as the lesson of Emery shows you can’t paint yourself into a corner too much . The Arteta contract is longer than Emery was given and maybe the lesson is to back someone you believe in and show patience . These days patience tends to be in short supply
Kola is just not technically good enough to play out from the back in this way.
better from arsenal.
oooh, saka you had time!
auba might have done better. good move.
Why Saka and Luiz?
Not sure how Kola stays on. He’s a liability.
Strange subs indeed
Tierney and Pepe on Luiz withdrawn.
Bloody ref is quick to book Arsenal players but very lenient to Villa. He was the one who sent off Eddie last time.
Arteta is religious about having a left footed centre back . I absolutely agree about Kola . He’s a liability
He just won’t book any Villa players
Saka had a very quiet game and it must be hard for him to be constantly switched around Don’t like the referee . Didn’t book Luiz for a blatant block on Pepe but took Laca’s name for a little nick at Grealish . As I write he is booked eventually
FFS Xhaka just turn with the ball
That should have been 2-0
sets it up …….
Unlucky Eddie
Eddie almost scored. Bad luck.
Grealish best player on the pitch by a country mile. Eddie unlucky.
Premature Countryman – scores before the cross arrives.
Another case of premature congratulation….
Willock on for Cedric.
Kolasinac looks every inch a competition winner. Can’t imagine how else he got on here
I have no idea what formation we’re playing now.
We look toothless
After the Lord Mayor’s show.
I said before the referee is utter shite . I wasn’t harsh enough . The decision on Pepe summed him up . He gave no foul and then booked Targett
We’ve been awful tonight. A big reaction from Saturday
Losing to Villa, after beating Liverpool and City, is so on brand for us this season.
We aren’t good enough against teams which park the bus. We cross backward or sideways and are not creative or penetrative enough to break down such teams. Many of our players are not good enough at this level. Hope we keep our players safe for the cup final and play the second team against Watford.
Well after the confidence boost against Pool and City I have to admit I’m very disappointed with this performance it was truly awful.
that was disappointing.
Caught with more than half a mind on the Cup Final MA8 picked a team he thought might be just good enough (and no more) to win that game.
They weren’t and he got it wrong tonight.
Should either have started with his strongest team or played the youngsters and given some very tired legs a much needed rest.
We got the result we deserved there.
Guess we are just going to have to win the Cup.
I think we were always going to have to win the Cup, Ned. MA8 has done a wonderful job since he arrived. A Cup victory would put some pretty nice icing on the cake before summer strengthening begins.
We should rest Auba , Ceballos and Tierney on Sunday . I’d even rest Emi.
How about ?
Macey
Cedric Holding Sokratis Medley AMN
Torreira Willock
Nelson Nketiah Saka
I thought we would win tonight.
We defended their goal very poorly and were lucky not to concede a second when Emi got his positioning all wrong as their striker ran through.
If Eddie’s header had gone in with ten mins remaining I would still have backed us to win it. I thought we probably deserved a point (mainly because Villa were not good either) but not the three that we needed.
I thought Arteta got it all wrong today, notwithstanding how much I rate the guy.
Kola is just diabolical. Please no more of him.
Xhaka showed why he is not someone to build a team around. He came on and did nothing, slowly.
All the problems are in midfield transition. With the players we have that won’t change.
Now we have to focus on the cup final. Play all the kids in the last league game. And Kola. The useless shitheel.
Me: the latch on the gate at the side of my house has broken.
Local supplier: I am sorry sir but it will take us a day to get a replacement in for you due to Covid issues.
Me: Fair enough. Do you have any suggestions for how I can keep it shut and secure until then?
Local Supplier: We could send Sead Kolasinac over to press his shoulder against it and elbow away any intruders?
Me: (sighs) Well, I suppose he has to be good for something…
Dismal stat of the day: We will now finish outside the top six for the first time in 25 years.
#113 Ksn.
Nail hit on head IMO. I think we’ll hear a lot of discussion about this tomorrow I.e., we have a team that that can soak up up pressure and play on the break but can’t take the initiative. Anyway, onwards and upwards etc.
No comment on the game
other than it was abysmal.
On the bright side we have
pushed Watford into the bottom
three and I’d rather they went
down than Villa.
agreed, matt, that’s the only bright side, is that villa might stay up and we will have incentive to gut them twice next season.
sigh. it’s really the hope that kills you.
Either we will have poetic justice with Arsenal being the club that relegates Arsenal, or we will probably have to endure more Troy Deeney gloating over is. Poetic justice please.
… that relegates Watford (of course)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>