Winning ugly can also be beautiful
The resurgence under Mikel Arteta has been astronomical, relatively speaking of course. We would have been in way better circumstance if we had appointed him earlier in the season. Today, we got to see the Unai version of Arsenal; slow out the blocks, lethargic, sideways passing, depending on dumb luck and Leno's saves. But we won, and you know what? I'm not mad about how things turned out because if this were during the dark days, we would have drawn or even lost a game like this.
The starting lineup had Sokratis playing at Right back, and I wanted to start pulling my hair. The Greek defender is a marauder on his day, but he's NOT a good right back. Okay, even "good", is pushing the limit, he's barely decent, but alas, he got the nod over Bellerin. I reckon that decision was based on the fact that we have a crunch game against City on Wednesday. Bellerin's fitness isn't still assured of giving us his service twice in a week. Starting Eddie Nketiah is probably to have a fresh Laca for the City game at hand, and of course a challenge to Laca, who scored the winner, so we can say it worked.
David Moyes showed his tactical acumen today as he set his team up to counter on the break. That was also helped by out defenders who couldn't cope with the pace, strength and industry of Michail Antonio. We were lucky to not be behind a few times, especially in the second half when Antonio had that glaring header that was reflexly saved by the brilliant Leno.
Our game plan was to keep the ball, kick it around the field and take advantage of potential gaps that may arise. Those gaps didn't come, and as usual, we were the orchestrators of our own demise, as we gave away possession in typical lax fashion. The midfield pairing of Ceballos and Xhaka left space in the centre of the park for the Hammers. They took advantage of our errors and came close to scoring a couple of times.
Our January signing, Pablo Mari, seemed to have made quite the impression on Arteta, as he started alongside David Luiz today. He looked assured in possession and lofted those floating crossfield passes with pinpoint accuracy. He was bullied by Antonio several times but then again, so was everyone else.
This was a good rehearsal for the City game and knowing that we can win games, despite not playing at our best is very important. The match against City on Wednesday will be tight, and I expect us to be at the backfoot for most of the encounter. If we stay resilient, compact and play on the counter, I think we can get something positive from the match. Today, we kept a clean sheet, defended "valiantly" and grafted out a victory in circumstances we usually wouldn't. Three points and climbing, that's all that matters right now. Until we meet again, up the Arsenal
!COFFEEA & !TRDO :)
did i miss what Martineli did to Arteta? he saved his ass against Chelsea and then he was just gone.
He had an injury earlier and I guess he's just being careful with him now
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Excellent! An Arsenal blog on steem! Love it! @chekohler, are you following? We can moan about them here as well!
Our family have had season tickets from before Wenger was in charge so have been through a lot haha! Yesterday was Emery-esque but the difference being that we ground out the result!
Mass exit needed over summer to lose the dead wood but Arteta has definitely had a great impact, still prone to the Wengery/Emery f up with the players he acquired
Yes I've been following it for some time now, dropping some banter here and there. It was an ugly win of note, but we need a little ugly and after this season I appreciate every clean sheet we get these days. I really liked the look of Mari, he looks like something worth making permanent. Ceballos was a little sloppy but I think with more game time he will really become a player we need.
I would like to see what we look like once Cedric, Holding, Tierney and Kolasinac are available again. Since we're out of Europa we can focus on making a big push for top 4 I don't think its impossible
Axe Soktartis, Luiz, Mustafi, Elneny and Mhki in the summer, bring in some cash and reduce the wage bill. I'm still 50/50 on Ozil and Laca won't be sad if they leave though
Send Willock, Gendouzi and Nketiah out on loan
Lets MAGA - Make Arsenal Great Again
Ozil can be shipped out as well, luxury player.
We're only 5 points behind Chelski so it's well within grasp... Can't see us doing too well at Man Shitty on Wednesday with our game in hand but you never know with Arsenal...
Half time at Old Tradford and they're losing, I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. "you never know with Arsenal", it is our mantra lol.
Ozil has lost his pace, it's time to cut him loose. Going to be an emotional decision but one we have to accept. What do you think about making Ceballos permanent and moving him up the pitch? With some training, he could excel in the number 10 position
Hahaha, definitely! Let's hope City put in another performance like they did against Man Utd today! They don't really have anything to play for now so we can capitalise on that... sorry, forgot we were talking about Arsenal there :D
I think Ceballos as a permanent move would be a great decision, he's a bit more positive and is just as creative as Ozil I'd say. He's only 22 (I think?) so plenty of wiggle room there
I completely forgot we had Elneny and Mhki on our books. There will be a massive clearout next season. Arteta needs to get a team in his own image.
We need serious clearout man, especially Ozil. He's really not been good enough/playing well enough to earn that money. Can we get him out and bring Ramsey back? Unlikely but I miss him
It's sacrilege that Ramsay was allowed to leave on a free, I guess when you see that sack of crap Ozil getting paid what he's on whilst you're the one providing the chances, you might feel like you should be on more than him. Priced himself out but I think Ramsay has been injured or on the bench since he moved right?
He's only benched when he's unfit, which has been the issue with him. However, I watched one game where he scored a beautiful Ramsey type flick and I got so emotional. It didn't help that Scsezny started the attacking move 😐
Ramsey scored today 😭