Today it is my great pleasure to write a report on our first win in months, securing us the three points we so desperately needed. It is a marker of our disjointed return to football that I enjoyed this rather underwhelming match so much but at this stage I would have been glad of a lot worse as long as we won.
The opening ten minutes were quiet, until Auba was put through via a Tierney long ball for a chance he should have scored but which cannoned off the bar.
Mustafi had already seen a yellow for a daft challenge way out on the right wing. He really has no sense of when he needs to commit. Hearts were in mouths when the excellent Saka went down on 15 mins but thankfully he resumed play without any ill effects.
On 20 mins we went 1-0 up courtesy of a howler from the Southampton goalkeeper Jack Mcarthy. The ball was played back to him and he made a gift of it to the relentless Eddie Nketiah who followed it up to pass home his second league goal of the season on what was a good performance from the young man.
Our own keeper Martinez had a solid game despite not being put to work as much our defence usually ensures. He made his first save after 25 minutes and despite spells of Southampton pressure would have been reasonably happy with the protection offered to him by Mustafi and Rob Holding, who earned the nod from Alan Smith for Sky Sports Man Of The Match.
These two were augmented by Kieran Tierney who at times filled in as an auxiliary centre half. This was an interesting tweak to our formation as it meant Saka played a more wing back role, patrolling the entire flank, with Auba ahead of him in an inside left position. When Tierney switched into his usual left back slot we saw Saka push up and Auba drift inside further (into Eddie’s territory) so they were not constantly stepping on each other’s toes. In principle I think this nod to Total Football might be a good tactic to have up our sleeves, provided we keep hold of the players involved, although Eddie and Auba will need a bit more practice and communication to both stay open in space.
The match had started out fairly evenly but after our goal we got on top, albeit in a low-key kind of way. Southampton progressed the ball forwards reasonably well without creating any good chances. They had some joy down our right where Bellerin was not at his best, although he made a couple of good challenges and, despite having lost a half yard of pace, he is still our quickest defender. Danny Ings was their main threat and midway through the half he controlled a ball over the top with a touch that God would have nodded approval at, although, unlike Ings, he would have found a finish.
We never really looked solid in midfield where we had only Ceballos and Xhaka instead of our usual three (this so we could accommodate Saka, Auba and Nketiah, as mentioned above, with Pepe on the right). Xhaka added some solidity and security whilst the lightweight Ceballos showed some nice touches that counted for less than the times he went missing. He is a frustrating player. He has great technical skill but he does not take responsibility on the pitch for every action and so lacks consistency. It is well known that our midfield needs work so I’ll simply say that a better team than Southampton would have taken us to task.
Just before half-time we got a glimpse of what Pepe can do when a lucky deflection (Note: NOT a pass from our midfield) put him through ahead of his fullback. He played a gloriously weighted pass into Eddie’s path only for the young man to fluff his lines with a poor attempt at a shot. Auba had also been well placed for the pass. This brought Pepe’s quiet half to an end.
He is wasted in this team. By the time he was subbed after twenty minutes of the second half he had received 8 passes. I’ll repeat that. 8 passes all game. None of them were behind his fullback and it is pointless to play him passes along the centre line, when he has the entire opposition team between him and the goal, and then complain he does not do enough. This issue comes straight back to the slowness and lack of vision of our midfield. If we had vintage Cesc in this side Pepe would be scoring 15 leagues goals a season and assisting the same again. None of which means that Pepe always does everything he could, he is no Martinelli in his approach and I personally was disappointed that it does not look like he used his three months of lockdown in his home gym adding some much needed physical strength to his upper body, but he is the most underutilised player in our team as we just give him none of the service he thrives on. It is like having an exquisitely sharp sushi knife and giving it to the kitchen porter to slice the spuds with.
The Saints started the second half brightly but the first good chance fell to us when a long ball from Martinez got Auba in only for the defender to cut out his pass to Eddie for a tap in. Close. He ended the day without scoring for a fourth league game in a row, a first in his Arsenal career, but no-one could say he was not well into the game.
Bellerin and Pepe managed to combine for once as the record signing pulled a lovely cutback for the Spaniard who saw his shot blocked. Ings and then Redmond both had decent chances soon after and on another day we could have conceded. Fortunately we did not, even when the old enemy Shane Long forced an excellent save from Emi, although I suspect he might have been VAR’d offside if the net had bulged.
Laca, Kola, Willock and AMN came on at various points for Eddie, Tierney, Pepe and Ceballos. Of those I simply cannot see what Kola adds. The fact that he makes exactly the same mistakes as when he arrived shows a struggle to learn or adapt that I don’t think will be appreciated by Arteta, for all that he seems a solid professional. We rejigged our formation and although it gave a disjointed impression we seemed to have bodies in the right place to keep the Saints’ uninspired if workmanlike attack at bay.
Five minutes from time Jack Stephens saw red for fouling Auba when he was through one-on-one. This law is rubbish. The challenge was not malicious or dangerous, he had to attempt it, he was unlucky not to make contact, and I think red cards in these situations are not good for the game. On this occasion his punishment was confounded when Willock side-footed home the rebound after two quickfire efforts from Lacazette. The game was safe and played out quietly apart from a great headed chance for Laca at the death which he failed to connect with properly. His lack of form is a worry.
So we took the points, both goals came via our academy, we kept a clean sheet and we have something to build on. Although we have plenty to work on it was a job well done yesterday and we can celebrate that today. Enjoy it Holics!
I will end with congratulations to Liverpool who have deservedly won this weirdest of league seasons after an outstanding string of top performances. And a reminder to everyone reading this that there is still one, and only one, Invincible team ever to grace our league. By far the greatest team the world has ever seen.
First? Have not done that in a while now 😀
By the way Happy Birthday GSD 😀
Second? Happy birthday big Dino.
Great stuff thanks GSD, and
happy birthday wishes from me
too.
Agree with nearly all of the
many opinions though I
thought Stephens deserved
his red. It may be over-
complicating things but Auba
was clean through but outside the
box so no penalty. A penalty and a red is
probably too much but free kicks have
a much lower conversion rate.
Can we make an emergency signing of Cesc before the Tottenham game so Pepe can use his exquisitely sharp sushi knife rather than giving it to the kitchen porter to slice the Spuds with?
Cheers gents.
OM. Maybe you are right. A free kick does not seem enough, but a red is harsh. I guess intent may be important. A cynical foul should be a red, even outside the box. But a genuine attempt to play the ball, against an opponent whose position you are not sure of because he is behind you, which is not malicious or dangerous, still seems like a really harsh red.
Fortunately I don’t know any
Liverpool fans in Japan so I
don’t have to congratulate them
though gritted teeth.
But they did do well
Great stuff, GSD and Happy Birthday.
COYG
That’s a very fair report, GSD. Last night’s was a game which, had it been lost, would have brought down intense floods of woe. I was stealing myself for the worst, particularly as St Mary’s has become a bogey, so was relieved to see us manage a competent performance which we never really looked like losing. An important building block. An important quantum of confidence fro MA8 and the squad.
Any talk of Cesc sets me aquiver – never mind talk of vintage Cesc. While they are very different players, Saka comes close to being the prospect that Cesc was at Saka’s age and it really is essentially that his new contract isn’t cocked up.
I’m in harmony with the assessment of our current midfield but your perspective on Monsieur Pepe is currently more positive than mine. For £72M (some of which might have been used to buy Upemecano last summer) I expect more than someone who needs to be spoon fed sashimi with a razor sharp sushi knife. We need someone who can serve up perfect tempura without having to have a bevvy of sous chefs heating up his oil for him. 🙂 I’m pleased Arteta is persevering with him however.
Some moons ago, good friend GoonerSince54 (where art thou, Clive?) pronounced “Any club with ambitions to win the title doesn’t recruit the likes of Mustafi, Xhaka, Elneny, Kolasinac and Lichtsteiner”. I thought he was right then, and…….. but we still have all but one of them on the books and Xhaka and Mustafi look like they may settling in for a longer stay.
So, yes, something to build on and, on this day, yours is a timely reminder that ONLY ours is golden.
Good stuff, GSD !
Really pleasing to see Rob Holding regain his pre-injury form. In fairness to Mustafi, he has been a lot better since Arteta took over and was generally quite good yesterday – if only he could iron that random rashness out of his game …….
Some promising signs from our young players again but, as you said, worryingly not from Lacadaisickalazette 🤨
Three points at the moment though is a very welcome return. I failed to notice whether they were sufficiently celebrated by the visiting sound effects … 😳
BtM,
£72 mill would indeed have bought us Upamecano last summer. I suspect £72 mill this summer will see us Upagumtree.
That’s a great report GSD – you have managed to make the game sound more interesting than it actually was. Your observation about Pepe’s qualities being underutilized is spot on. It has a lot to do with the fact that our attack has a left sided bias owing to Arteta’s decision of playing Auba on the left wing. Since the left is our more adventurous flank – Bellerin on the right does not venture on forward runs in the opposition half. This tends to isolate Pepe completely and also in situations which do not suit his strengths as you rightly pointed out. Arteta definitely feels that Auba leading the line with his back to the goal will negate his strengths and therefore deploys him on the wing. If we were a team which dominated midfield and created chances through the middle then we would ideally have seen Auba through thd middle, Pepe on the right and Saka/Martinelli on the left forming a very balanced attacking trio also capable of interchanging positions deceptively.
Trev,
Sticky enough right now without adding in gum trees, fruit gums, toothless octogenarians or anything else gummy to gum up the works of this beautifully balanced perpetual motion machine that Mikel is building.
Very fair and enjoyable report GSD . Like Btm I believe Pepe is a luxury player and not in my view a special luxury either . He is a one trick pony albeit his trick produced identical goals at West Ham and Brighton . He doesn’t work back in the way that Saka and Aubameyang do . We could have spent that fee much more wisely but Raoul’s mate may not have trousered such a large cheque if anyone else had bought him . I’ve already praised Xhaka and chastised Ceballos but I do want to also defend Mustafi who looks a decent player recently ( since January)
I find the lionisation of Scouse culture odious and part of the BBC’s obsession with the North – West . A lot of Covid was potentially spread around Anfield last night but I’ve not heard a word of condemnation. Would have been very different if it had been in London
Top report, GSD. Happy birthday.
We saw the same performances.
Your observations on Pepe are spot on. Happenstance, the one player we have with Cesc-like passing vision that could get some return on the £72 million has been banished/banished himself to sit under the red umbrella.
I hold a higher opinion of Mustafi than many in this establishment. His problem was not his general standard of play but the prevalence of schoolboy errors that invariably proved costly. Arteta seems to have coached those out of him. He is now a decently consistent Premiership centre back. Upgradable? Yes, but only with top-drawer talent.
Excellent report GSD. It was, if truth be told, a rather dull game, but a dull two nil away win is manna from heaven at the moment and was accepted gratefully. St Mary’s is a functional stadium set in a rather unpleasant industrial area, with pride of place opposite their Directors and VIP entrance going to a very run down cement works. The last time I was there, not only were we crap and got beaten, but I was completely soaked to the skin walking back to the car. The place is a shit hole (albeit with a half way decent University) and I hate it. It’s usually easy to get a ticket but I was going to give it a swerve this year as I was so bored of going there.
I was so pleased and so impressed with Rob Holding’s performance. He was so dominant in the air. So many of the less ambitious sides put pressure on us by crosses into the box. Indeed, on this very turf a couple of years ago (I’m sure the monks will help me out), Ings (I think, though it could have been Long) scored two with headers from around the penalty spot. Rob dealt with anything coming his way in the air last night with a top performance and Smudger was dead right to award him MOTM.
I whole heartedly congratulate Liverpool. They are a fine team, with a fine manager. Their current team vs the Invincibles in their prime would have been one hell of a game.
FA Cup next. Now where’s that badge with the yellow ribbon ….
Another great report, GSD. “🎵oh oh oh Rob Holding! You know – he’s won more than Pochettino🎵”. I thought Rob had a really good game; I’m glad he’s working his way back into form (although it’s not that difficult to look better than Mustafi ……..)
Hello Jane, and welcome to the bar.
I hope we see you here regularly. Your first drink is on the house, please speak to the chap in the check shirt over there.
COYG
Jane!
So good to see you here… Please don’t be stranger!
Good point well made Pangloss… There will probably be enough free drinks on the bar to get you rather tipsy today Jane.
Excellent report GSD. The match I saw except that as Desi says @11, you’ve made it more interesting than it actually was. I think you are overly generous in your assessment of the red card. Without such sanction, players would be getting chopped down regularly as they broke through the lines. I think it’s an important disincentive to cynical professional fouls. Just watch the reckless challenges that follow a referee’s failure to impose discipline in any game we play against the physically inclined teams in the PL!
I and a few other will remember Willie Young’s high profile contribution to the genre of professional fouls. I must add that he was not the worst culprit in his era. I must confess that though his memory is not greatly beloved amongst Gooners (who have seen many more cultured exponents of the centre half’s art in the Arsenal defence), I watched him come through to become a regular in the Aberdeen defence as a young player and have fond memories of his contributions there before the halcyon era of Miller and McLeish.
Young Mr Holding has the look of an even better bet as a top centre back. Those two games under his belt and a dearth of decent competition may see him cement his place as a first choice if he keeps up his form in the remaining games of this strange season.
Who did you say won the league?
Let me add my welcome Jane. I understand you know a certain eight feet high green dinosaur with a penchant for match reports. I hope we’ll see you often and do tell your friends.
A fine report GSD – a birthday glass of vintage Dom Pom awaits you on the bar.
Although the game itself lacked excitement the team put on a solid display that rightly earned them all 3 points. There was the basis of a team plan and the player stuck to it for the whole match – no relapse here. I thought this time Mikel got the substitutions spot on whereas as against Brighton he rather messed it up.
Most of the esteemed drinkers heave praised Holding, Martinez & Saka for top performances and I fully agree. It will be very encouraging for the rest of the season if they can maintain this form. Now can we get on a roll?
,
It’s the hope that kills you, Uply
As a man accelerating (?) towards the title of one of the oldest Gooners in captivity I can echo Bath’s fond memories of Willie Young. I particularly remember an appallingly wet night at Loftus Road in about Feb 1978 or 79 . We won 2-1 and the pitch was unplayable . It was the quagmire’s quagmire . They subsequently replaced it with the plastic pitch . They had a decent side with Bowles, Givens, Francis etc and it was a full-blooded game. Willie Young never missed a header or any sort of clearance all night in extraordinary conditions. He was immense . When I think of Willie ( oo-er) I think of that night .
Excellent report GSD.
Some of the intensity that had just started to become a signature of the team under Arteta before the break made sporadic appearance last evening. The tactical fluidity by itself is nothing remarkable, but it is heartening to see the team is willing to do all that is asked for.
Holding was very good, hope Chambers too can return early next season and find his pre-injury form.
Fully agree with you about Pepe. In addition Auba being stationed on the left side of the pitch means we tend to attack way more down the left and our game has a prominent left-side bias. Which also means we get counter attacked more down our right requiring Pepe to drop back far deeper — though he is still a terrible “defender” 🙂 — and as a result he rarely gets the chance to lead our counter attack. With better service to him and a team structure allowing him to stay more forward, and runners outside of him he will get us goals and assists much more consistently.
gsd, thanks for your fine report. i saw pretty much the same thing, but wanted to touch on a couple of points. a bottle of ireland’s finest (ok, red spot 15 will do) on the bar for you…but you have to share it with the other baffday boy…
if you watch the replay of stephens on auba, it’s not the tackle, it’s that he raises his right (up) leg to catch auba at the right ankle. the movement wasn’t natural, and was clearly to trip him and stop his opportunity to score the goal. so having a red for that (as that is the law of the game – whether it should be is a different debate) was entirely the correct decision. that said, advantage could have been played, given laca was also there and they might have scored outright even with stephens’ foul. stephens knew what he’d done, and didn’t even protest his walking red.
the other point is pepe. as with özil, he’s a high-cost contract, but unlike özil hasn’t given us much return on our investment (though the sight of the german with his little red umbrella and sad face was both pitiable and farcical). if he’s not getting service from his teammates in the positions that best serve his abilities he needs to make more for himself, and while his goal against brighton (and the two freekicks i saw at the grove v. vitoria in the fall, thanks again ttg!) was lovely and well taken he doesn’t seem to fit well the “total football” you point out arteta is seeming to want to play. i like his ball sense, and he can hit it (clearly), but for £72 million his tendency to run into cul-de-sacs, and have his dribble taken from him seems a bit, well, shit.
don’t get me wrong. i’d love to have a prime özil feeding passes through the defensive lines to an onrushing pepe…but we no longer have a prime özil. or a cesc of any kind. esr might be someone to fill that spot, but i think we’re moving more towards a set of versatile players who can move all over the field and do all the work they need to do. i don’t see pepe playing in that way. nonetheless i do hope he comes good (and continues to get better and better), and that he and hecate figure out how to get the best out of each other going forward while making sure to be secure in defense.
jane, welcome to the bar! totally agree about holding, and am really happy to see his pass sharpness has returned. the heading is a relatively new aspect to his arsenal (ahem), and i am so glad to see it. just in case i hadn’t mentioned it to the bar denizens (once, or twice, maybe…) here’s one of me with rob last spring…
Scruz that pic of you reminds me that squeezing you into coach/economy is unconstitutional. Something about a cruel and unusual punishment …..
C100@15: All three goals were headers, two from Ings and the other by another long-standing thorn in the side, Charlie Austin, who had come on as a sub replacing Ings.
Whilst I have shelled out to put WoB and myself in World Traveller Plus when flying to Hong Kong, China, Japan and India and once (just after the 2007 crash) being bumped up to Business each way, I object to the much more gargantuan price hike applied for WTP and business on transatlantic flights and have only flown WTP once when by some stroke of luck Crystal included those seats on a skitrip to Breckenridge. I believe the funds involved in the upgrade from coach are so much more useful at the other end and Melatonin and a Zopiclone on the homeward flight generally ensure a tolerable night and waking in time for breakfast being served.
c1000@27, yeah, and it’s gotten worse over the years. when i was 14 stone it was easier, though back then the seats were 9 across and had much more legroom. now at 17 stone the narrower seats are killers, and since i’ve only shrunk an inch from my 6’2 height then the legroom is disastrous. bulkhead seats are needed, in any form; we’ve taken to travelling to europe in world traveller plus, then home in cow class…because we’d rather arrive on vacation rested and return home wasted. just the opposite of baff, apparently. 🙂
we only got bumped to business once, for small change, because we’d just missed our return to home at lhr due to traffic up from devon on a sunday being at a standstill from roadworks. she at the counter took pity and we ended up with three seats front right of business class, big nearly lay-flat seats, one in the first row (by the curve of the airframe, so only one seat in that part of the row) two in the second. our son was 3, and we had him on the window in row 2, and he could play along the wall all the way up to where i was sitting in row 1. perfect containment system that kept him occupied until he woke from his nap as we descended into sfo and he screamed because his ears weren’t popping…
it’s going to be interesting to see what direction travel takes in the future…there can’t be as many flying on a plane, and there won’t be as many flights (it’ll take longer to turn them around due to cleaning). i expect prices to triple, but comforts to increase (at least seat comfort, they’ll stop feeding for free, so prices will effectively more than triple). fingers crossed, though.
TTG@24: Feb 1979.
Always rather liked Loftus Road. Terrible pitch wet or dry, but intimate ground of the old school. I can just about remember when it had open terracing on three sides. I had a school chum who was a QPR fan for some inexplicable reason. He went on to be a referee.
Dismal update from the club on the treatment room. Martinelli and Mari both had surgery this week. Luiz available for the Sheffield United cup-tie with suspension completed.
Nice stuff GSD. I missed the majority of the game so nice to get a proper insight.
Some interesting comments above. Especially about Pepe. Some think he is a luxury player? I’m not even convinced he’s a player. £72 million seems a massive overspend at the moment I must say.
For all of those suffering from intolerable scousers at the moment let’s not forget who the last team to actually win the league at Anfield actually were? On that note, it was sad today to read of the sad passing of Theo Foley, George Graham’s loyal and trusted assistant back in the day. An underrated man who was a bit of an unsung hero in my eyes. Someone who was well liked and always described as a gentleman. Rest in peace Theo. I’m sure that there are many that will remember your contributions to this great club with real fondness.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/theo-foley-dead-title-winning-22258019
RIP Theo Foley
That is a shame about Theo
Foley. RIP.
On Willie Young, my own memory
apart from ‘that’ tackle was the
endless semis against Liverpool. We were
leading 1-0 I think in one and they were
throwing the kitchen sink but
Willie was at his best hammering
everything back whence it came.
His finest hour for us.
I think I’ll give Pépé a second
season though at the moment
I agree with GSD – we don’t get
him the ball in the right place
enough and also I think his
actual output in terms of goals/
assists is not bad for a first season.
The price tag (like Ozil’s wages)
is immaterial once he’s on the
pitch and if we can get a
better balance in how we attack
Pépé could have a great season
next year.
The Ozil situation will resolve
itself next season but in the
meantime I’d point out that
several players were using
umbrellas and it was a wise
precaution in that heat.
@13
I’m with you TTG – the beeb’s
football bias to Liverpoo has
annoyed me for years too.
NBN @31
I’m with you on Loftus Road. Most of my cousins were Hoops supporters and I watched plenty of games there, particularly in the late 60s / early seventies when the Arse were not in town. With Rodney Marsh and later Stanley Bowles there was always plenty of entertainment. I went with my cousins to the 67 League Cup final, the first to be played at Wembley where they beat West Brom 3-2 – a much more enjoyable day than the one I had at the same place two years later!!
UTA.
C100@27 – now you have me confused. Is Scruz on the left or on the right?
🤣🤣@potsticker…on the basketball court…”they call me santa”…
Scruz @30, in practice I had arrived at the same strategy for transatlantic flights as you for our now aborted road trip this July starting at Denver and taking in Utah (barely visited) and New Mexico (much visited and much loved) culminating in the Santa Fe Indian Festival (now cancelled for 2020 and God knows what they’ll be allowed to call it when it hopefully revives in 2021). We were flying cattle class into Denver – a daytime flight that is a few hours too long but a good book and a couple of movies passes the time without too much discomfort – and WTP into LHR on our return flight as despite my positive noises above, I did aspire to more space for the overnight flight home and decided that at my age it was worth the extra.
I am sure you are correct about the prices in future. That extra will look small beer in retrospect when the new basic prices emerge. Long haul travel will probably once again become the preserve of the very wealthy and those who have long saved for their trip of a lifetime.
Is all of the current speculation around Mateo Guendouzi’s future Media driven? Or is there a hint of flame beneath the hot air and depressingly grey clouds hanging over him?
In the Beggar’s Opera that Arsenal is rapidly becoming, nurturing home-grown talent and identifying unpolished diamonds from football’s depths will be essential for squad development in the next few years of austerity.
The emergence of Saka, Willock, Nketiah, Martinez and Maitland-Niles is a success story to be proud of. The acquisitions of Martinelli and Mari, from the bowels of Brazil, look like shrewd moves too.
And surely we should be celebrating, as the icing on the cake, the arrival of a talented young French internationalist at a price point almost lower than L’Orient’s ranking in that nation’s Leagues?
But in true modern day Arsenal fan fashion many seem untroubled by the prospect of Guendouzi being ‘allowed to leave if he wants to’. And this is not because of disciplinary issues, but a perception of inadequacies in his passing, tackling and tracking back.
Really?
In a mid-field pool of Xhaka, Elneny, Ozil, Ceballos, Torreira, Willock, Guendouzi and Maitland-Niles only Mateo looks to have the potential to be driving title-wining performance within the next four years. Is his game complete? No. There is much to be worked on by him and his coaches if that potential is to be reached. But that’s work that he and the club should be taking on willingly.
Give him a new four-year contract, Arsenal and subject him to the full gamit of Mikel Arteta’s expectations and coaching expertise. Make him one of the cornerstones for future success.
Yet more good sense being talked by BtM above.
A drink on the bar for you, Sir.
COYG
Hear hear Btm!
In my match report last week at Brighton I singled out Guendouzi for his passion( not condoning grabbing Maupay but it w as hardly a choke hold and the dubious Maupay made much of it) and his commitment. There was a lot of quality too although he is not ideally a defensive midfielder . His suitors appear to be Barca, Real and United not Norwich or Grimsby which suggests to me he is highly regarded in football circles .
I went to Craven Cottage last year. Those who know the ground will be aware that the players have to walk across the pitch to the dug-out. Guendouzi was a sub and spent the whole time poking, prodding and joking with his team-mates the rest of whom were quite sedate . One of my companions suggested ‘ Guendouzi looks a real pain in the arse ‘ and the other pointed out he was about eighteen or nineteen settling ( very well ) into a tough foreign league and lest we forget he is on the fringe of the World champions international squad . Remember back to the early matches against I’ll and the Scum where he dragged us back into both games . Unless the price offered is silly I’d try to keep him and watch Arteta turn him into a really top player . He is also one of the few players whose Barnet hasn’t been ravaged by the lockdown!
Autocorrect knows nothing about football. That other team were Villa where we trailed twice and came back to win 3-2 with ten men .
A few fitness issues as i don’t see them mentioned above, ahead of our F A Cup tie at Bramall Lane tomorrow.
Leno – 4 – 6 weeks
Mari – had ankle ligament surgery on Wednesday
Martinelli – has had arthroscopic surgery on a cartilage tear in his knee
Torreira – due to return to full training soon …?
Soares – recovering from a facial (nose) injury
Tierney – FIT !
Luiz – available following suspension
Ahem ….
Just watched Villa or the 2nd
half anyway. They were poor
though Wolves gave them
nothing and defended a 1-0
win comfortably.
BtM,
I largely agree with that. Guendouzi is maybe though a bit of a loose cannon. I think any issues are to do with temperament and discipline rather than technique. He does show traces of the Mustafi rashness gene at times and I think he might be a nightmare to play with. He does show terrific drive and energy and always shows for the ball. The problem is you never know where he is likely to be next and the shape of our midfield can suffer badly as a result.
As you say though, there is enough about him at 21, and in our current financial situation, that the club should be looking to Arteta to settle and improve him. That should result in at least a one year contract extension now though, if we are not to be looking at another player with 12 months left on their deal next summer.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>