Anzac wrote:

Sicario wrote:

I want Chelsea in the final to get revenge for Baku. However, I do think Man Utd will be ‘easier’ to beat in the final.

We also owe them in regards to the UEL Final.

Baku is the UEL final. 

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Anzac wrote:

We also owe them in regards to the UEL Final.

Baku is the UEL final. 

Yup - too tired to read it properly = been up since 3am after less than 4 hours sleep = running on fumes as the rush from the result wears off.

Before my brain shuts down just want to say the most impressive thing for me from this performance was the 18 pass move to score the opening goal going the length of the field and using both flanks.
I'm seeing a lot of talk about the defending as being the primary focus in both games v LFC and MC, but for me the first goal today is the key difference and an indication of where we are heading.

Didn't we score a goal just like that near the beginning of Emery's reign? Merryball, was it? This team is still who they are, regardless of Arteta whipping them into shape for a few games. Some of our best performers are still our biggest problems, in the grand scheme.

Coombs wrote:

Didn't we score a goal just like that near the beginning of Emery's reign? merryball™, was it? This team is still who they are, regardless of Arteta whipping them into shape for a few games. Some of our best performers are still our biggest problems, in the grand scheme.

Iwobi's goal @ SB combined both build ups seen v MC.

Agreed with your last comment.

Just wanted to make the distinction that we showed there is more to our game plan than not allowing either LFC or MC to play through the middle, as IMO that passing move for the opening goal was better than anything either LFC or MC managed to come up with against us.

On Ozil: making a firm decision has been good. The work rate we have seen in these past 4 games is beyond Ozil. Arteta is putting his stamp on his team. What’s great is that during the first halves of both Leicester and Manchester City, we played fluid exciting attacking football. Also encouraging that we played so well without Saka yesterday and Pépé was integral to both Auba goals.

Shady wrote:

Beating Chelsea won't avenge Baku but if they finish 5 AND lose to us, it will be extra sweet.

To be honest I rather Chelsea get top 4 than United. Fuck Ole and his cheating cunts

Anyway, on the idea of who we want to face...

[Twitter]

Didn’t realize that was part of the plan. That’s why my heart’s in my throat the whole time

It wasn’t just for the goal, our passing out the back has been great over the last few games. Emery failed badly with the tactic with pretty much the same set of players. I wonder what’s changed? Is it just composure?

Arteta is calm and thoughtful in the pre- and post game interviews, but he's very intense during matches. Screams "dale, dale!" at players and tell them where to pass the ball. I like it. Seems he has a very specific and detailed vision for how he wants us to play.

Coombs wrote:

Didn't we score a goal just like that near the beginning of Emery's reign? merryball™, was it? This team is still who they are, regardless of Arteta whipping them into shape for a few games. Some of our best performers are still our biggest problems, in the grand scheme.

I think it's easy to forget that at the start of Emery's reign,  we looked organised and played some decent stuff. We were also unbeaten for a while. Then he lost the dressing room,  his confidence and we started showing the same drab display regardless of opposition. So far,  we've seen much more tactical flexibility from Arteta and his communication is a lot clearer than Emery's. The performance yesterday got me excited as I'm now starting to think we may actually have a genuinely special manager on our hands, the kind that can turn water into wine (and I was definitely at the more sceptical end of the spectrum when we appointed him). I think none of us are under any illusions that there is still a lot of work to be done but I'm crossing my fingers that there's more to come from Arteta and that we can look forward to next season with some guarded optimism. 

goon wrote:

It wasn’t just for the goal, our passing out the back has been great over the last few games. Emery failed badly with the tactic with pretty much the same set of players. I wonder what’s changed? Is it just composure?

Mustafi gifted them a goal they just didn't take it at 10 minutes. They would have pounded us if that went it. 

With emery the players had hardly any options to pass out. Now were sat a lot deeper with tons of passing options now. 

Luiz is running the show at the back. 

We would never hear the end of the pass for Auba if he scored that. It was pure brilliance from Luiz. You really need a great and calm passer from the back to play this brand of football, especially starting for the keeper.

Leno is good with his feet but Martinez is outstanding. There was this moment my heart was in my mouth when 2 City players closed down Martinez but he actually took a touch, stopped the ball wait for them to come before passing it out to Xhaka. its insane

Claudius wrote:

[Twitter]

Didn’t realize that was part of the plan. That’s why my heart’s in my throat the whole time

And I'm glad he's sticking to his guns on that. Yes it gives us fans the occasional heart palpitation, but we've also pulled it off beautifully quite a few times under Mikel.

The convictionless Emery tried it (laughably) and then stopped it, like he's just flicking a light switch whenever he felt like it. No wonder the players were so confused and fed up under him.

Claudius wrote:

[Twitter]

Didn’t realize that was part of the plan. That’s why my heart’s in my throat the whole time

Draw the man to the ball and then make the pass.

goon wrote:

It wasn’t just for the goal, our passing out the back has been great over the last few games. Emery failed badly with the tactic with pretty much the same set of players. I wonder what’s changed? Is it just composure?

I think the change of shape has helped in that we no longer see a case of Xhaka or Guendouzi used as the first receiver from the GK, and that has made a huge difference so far as confidence goes.

It will be interesting to see on Tuesday if we will shift gears and be the ones trying to press Villa. We will need to rest the squad after last night - so Kola, Nketiah and Saka could have big roles to play in this one.

Claudius wrote:

It will be interesting to see on Tuesday if we will shift gears and be the ones trying to press Villa. We will need to rest the squad after last night - so Kola, Nketiah and Saka could have big roles to play in this one.

Saw a stat that we out ran LFC mid-week, and then backed it up again 4 days later (meaning the similar levels of effort - no idea what the distances were for each team).

Don Pacifico wrote:

Coombs wrote:

Didn't we score a goal just like that near the beginning of Emery's reign? merryball™™, was it? This team is still who they are, regardless of Arteta whipping them into shape for a few games. Some of our best performers are still our biggest problems, in the grand scheme.

I think it's easy to forget that at the start of Emery's reign,  we looked organised and played some decent stuff. We were also unbeaten for a while. Then he lost the dressing room,  his confidence and we started showing the same drab display regardless of opposition. So far,  we've seen much more tactical flexibility from Arteta and his communication is a lot clearer than Emery's. The performance yesterday got me excited as I'm now starting to think we may actually have a genuinely special manager on our hands, the kind that can turn water into wine (and I was definitely at the more sceptical end of the spectrum when we appointed him). I think none of us are under any illusions that there is still a lot of work to be done but I'm crossing my fingers that there's more to come from Arteta and that we can look forward to next season with some guarded optimism. 

its really help not having our fans their. Their nervous tension spreads to the team. Remember they used to all scream at almunia each time he came out to sweep up. Then he'd make more errors and theyd all scream more. That really helped.

ohboy!!! wrote:

speedy wrote:

its really help not having our fans their. Their nervous tension spreads to the team. Remember they used to all scream at almunia each time he came out to sweep up. Then he'd make more errors and theyd all scream more. That really helped.

Sorry but that is doing our fans, who pay massive amounts of money, a huge disservice.

Fucking Almunia used to make mistakes, guess why, because he was shit. End of

If the players can’t take tension from our fans, then they shouldn’t be at the club. Even though the club has been poor in the last 10 plus years, we still have had world class players here, people who have stepped up to mark and performed, no matter what was going on around them.

Those are the players we need. A manager who can get the team playing in the tough times.

If you look around world football, there are clubs who give a lot more abuse, and clubs whose expectations of their players are a lot higher.

What you're saying doesn't change anything. Speedy's not saying whether our players should be at the club or not, but that the fans not being there helps the players we've got. You're not arguing that.

Speedy you talk a lot of shit about our fans. Think you need to get off your high horse.

These players are paid very handsomely, while the fans pay a lot to attend. They deserve to vent their frustration when it is evident that certain players are going through the motions.

Martinez took plenty of flak from our fans as well before he went on this run in the team

Sorry for posting an old interview, but I only just saw it myself.

Loved his answer about the gap between the teams- the gap in quality is still huge and cannot be made up in two months, but in accountability, commitment, energy and fight we're now equal and if we keep it up, we can go places.

Shady wrote:

Speedy you talk a lot of shit about our fans. Think you need to get off your high horse.

These players are paid very handsomely, while the fans pay a lot to attend. They deserve to vent their frustration when it is evident that certain players are going through the motions.

The point isn't what fans deserve / should or shouldn't do. The point is our fans may be having negative effect on the team, which is opposite to what fans are supposed to be doing.

The players have a negative effect on the fans, which is opposite what players or the team is supposed to be doing

flobaba wrote:

The players have a negative effect on the fans, which is opposite what players or the team is supposed to be doing

Right but players / teams can be replaced to better players, fans can't be unfortunately. Our fan base in particular are toxic.

Unsurprisingly so after the 12 years we've endured.

It's a symbiotic relationship.

The fanbase definitely doesn't help at times, especially on things like playing out the back. But they will respond when they see something works. If we get really good at doing it and start trusting our players to get it right they'll stop screaming to 'clear it'. If we start winning regularly and stop fucking up, they'll become less cynical and and more trusting/supportive.

The fanbase is what it is, it's up to the club to shape it's opinion and you can't do that by asking nicely like Gazidis tried to do.

est wrote:

Sorry for posting an old interview, but I only just saw it myself.

Loved his answer about the gap between the teams- the gap in quality is still huge and cannot be made up in two months, but in accountability, commitment, energy and fight we're now equal and if we keep it up, we can go places.

it's so refreshing to hear an arsenal manager constantly put it out there that money needs to be spent.

If our fans were so terrible we wouldn't have the excellent home record that we do.

It also doesn't square with the fact our away fans are always fantastic... but our away record is awful.

RC8 wrote:

If our fans were so terrible we wouldn't have the excellent home record that we do.

It also doesn't square with the fact our away fans are always fantastic... but our away record is awful.

That's probably got more to do with how teams approach us at the emirates compared to in front of their own fans.

Shady wrote:

Speedy you talk a lot of shit about our fans. Think you need to get off your high horse.

These players are paid very handsomely, while the fans pay a lot to attend. They deserve to vent their frustration when it is evident that certain players are going through the motions.

It's a nobel stead. Almunia, eboue, ramsey and gervihno were as hard working as anyone we've had surley? Why do you put those in the going through the motions bracket? 

Almunia suffered from depression, probably wasn't helped by the abuse he took. Wenger went on record talking about shielding Gervinho from the home fans. Same with Eboue

Our home support is abject but so is every big club's, doubly so in England.

There's a very obvious way to improve on that by reorganising the stadium and facilitating the North Bank as a supporters' zone with affordable tickets, etc. The 'inconditional' types are there if you want them to be heard, but right now they are diluted and neutralised around the stadium and/or outpriced.

Unfortunately it's a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare to sort this out.

Well worth doing, mind you.

Denilson has spoken about his depression that set in here aswell. He never recovered.

A lot of these fans are adults so they should realise the consequences of their actions. If a players plays poorly then he knows it. The fans feel anger because that poor performance is hurting their teams chance of success. They spit that anger back at thr player and they give him some abuse, so short term they get to vent so they feel better for a few seconds. The players form dips further and hurts the team more. And then thr fans get more and more angry. As an adult you have to realise the consequences of your own actions.

speedy wrote:

Denilson has spoken about his depression that set in here aswell. He never recovered.

A lot of these fans are adults so they should realise the consequences of their actions. If a players plays poorly then he knows it. The fans feel anger because that poor performance is hurting their teams chance of success. They spit that anger back at thr player and they give him some abuse, so short term they get to vent so they feel better for a few seconds. The players form dips further and hurts the team more. And then thr fans get more and more angry. As an adult you have to realise the consequences of your own actions.

Well Denilson could have tried passing forward from time to time, it would have saved many people from suffering depression too.

swider wrote:

speedy wrote:

Denilson has spoken about his depression that set in here aswell. He never recovered.

A lot of these fans are adults so they should realise the consequences of their actions. If a players plays poorly then he knows it. The fans feel anger because that poor performance is hurting their teams chance of success. They spit that anger back at thr player and they give him some abuse, so short term they get to vent so they feel better for a few seconds. The players form dips further and hurts the team more. And then thr fans get more and more angry. As an adult you have to realise the consequences of your own actions.

Well Denilson could have tried passing forward from time to time, it would have saved many people from suffering depression too.

This