{"id":278,"date":"2020-02-12T14:38:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T14:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arsenaltalk.co.uk\/goonerholics\/?p=278"},"modified":"2020-02-12T14:38:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T14:38:42","slug":"can-mikels-gunners-shoot-down-the-magpies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=278","title":{"rendered":"Can Mikel\u2019s Gunners shoot down the Magpies?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Newcastle\nUnited\u2019s visit to the Home of Football terminates the first Premier League two-week\nwinter-lull. It pitches 10<sup>th<\/sup> against 12<sup>th <\/sup>with both teams\non 31 points, the Gunners sitting two places above the Magpies by virtue of a better\ngoal difference of -2 compared to their -12. A true mid-table six-pointer! Two\nother teams share 31 points: Burnley and Southampton, none of these teams being\nour usual company at this stage of the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal\nhave now gone seven games without defeat under Mikel Arteta but the team\u2019s\nstarting position when he took over on 26<sup>th<\/sup> December and a solitary win\nand four draws in the Premier League explains our present company despite a\nclear improvement in team spirit and defensive organisation since his\nappointment. However so far, there has been a disappointing inability to play\nwell for 90 minutes and a paucity in chance creation and conversion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over\nthe season to date we have an unusual record of six wins, thirteen draws and\nsix defeats. Only Liverpool have fewer defeats and only the bottom two, Watford\nand Norwich have fewer wins! We sit ten points off fourth place but only six\npoints off the relegation places. Hopefully the training camp in Dubai will\ngive Mikel a chance to work his magic on the squad as we desperately need to\nturn draws into wins, starting with this match. Mikel said of this trip:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>It was like a mini pre-season. I wanted to use it to work on our principles and our styles of play, and as well how we live together. There are things I want to implement together as a group, not just for the players but for the staff as well. It has been really useful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>It is our principle, our style of play and how we manage the games, how we manage each section of the pitch and clarity. That the players have clarity, that they know and they can recognise the scenarios they are facing and they have the tools for the solutions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Newcastle\nare relegation candidates on possession, chance creation, passing stats,\nexpected goals and goals scored but have risen to mid-table due to their goalkeeper\u2019s\nform (Dubravka wins their MotM nearly every week) and a high spirit,\nband-of-brothers approach. Their style of play under Mrs Doubtfire is to\nconcede possession, sit deep, prevent chances and hope to nick something on the\nbreak. Their attack is reassuringly blunt and twelve of twenty-four PL goals\nhave come from defenders, mainly from set-pieces. Joelinton, the striker bought\nto replace Rondon has been firing blanks and is by no means a classic Geordie\nnumber 9. Saint- Maximin their new creative force adds pace and trickery \u2013\nno-one knows what he\u2019s going to do next, including himself. The Longstaff brothers\nand ex-Gunner Isaac Hayden add midfield muscle and the odd goal. Almir\u00f3n adds a\ntouch of class up front and must be watched. In the January window the Magpies\nadded one of our <em>b\u00eates noirs<\/em>, Danny Rose. No doubt the ex-Spud will be\nfired up for this match now he\u2019s playing for a big club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leno\nwill clearly be in goal and Hector has reclaimed the RB slot with improving\nform since his return from injury. In recent matches Arsenal\u2019s main attacking\nthrust has come down the left with Saka more than a mere deputy for Tierney and\nKolasinac, providing beautiful crosses, assists and goals until he was kicked\noff the park by Burnley. Tierney remains a long-term absentee but Kolasinic was\npredicted to be available after the winter-lull. Can he dislodge Saka from the\nLB slot? A further question is whether Mustafi retains a centre-back spot after\nhis impressive performance against Burnley or loses it to Sokratis or\nnew-signing Pablo Mari (there are lots of rumours that Mari has impressed and\nis going to start), presuming that arch nose-pincher Luiz holds his place and\nHolding remains lower down the pick-list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Midfield\nwill probably be anchored by the recently reliable combo of Torreira and Xhaka but\nthe key question of \u00d6zil remains uncertain. I suspect Mikel will start \u00d6zil on\nthe basis of recent selections, news that he blocked a permanent January move\nto Qatar, our need to create more chances and critically, the absence of\nanother natural \u2018number 10\u2019 in the squad. Up front I would pick the speed\nmerchants Pepe, Aubameyang and Martinelli, but I suspect Mikel will prefer to\nkeep goal-shy Lacazette in the centre for his hold-up play and Aubameyang\nwide-left with licence to cut in. Has Pepe done enough in Dubai to convince MA8\nto select him over Martinelli on the right? I sincerely hope so. The work done\non the training field during the winter-lull may see Mikel change his formula\nfor this must-win match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\n\u2018Holic pound? I think Dave would be very optimistic that two weeks of intensive\nwork on the training field will have allowed Mikel Arteta to address many of\nthe problems he has identified since taking over at the beginning of the busy\nChristmas schedule. So, the \u2018Holic pound seeks out the value-bet and is placed\non 4-1 to the Arsenal at 18\/1. COYG!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Newcastle United\u2019s visit to the Home of Football terminates the first Premier League two-week winter-lull. It pitches 10th against 12th with both teams on 31 points, the Gunners sitting two places above the Magpies by virtue of a better goal difference of -2 compared to their -12. A true mid-table six-pointer! Two other teams share [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}