2018-19 PL MATCHDAY THREAD

Arsenal 0 - 2 Manchester City

R. Sterling (14) Bernardo Silva (63)

NEW MANAGER, BUT SAME STORY!!!

Unai Emery was given a harsh lesson on life in the Premier League as he started his reign as Arsenal manager with a comprehensive 2-0 defeat at the hands of defending champions Manchester City at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

Emery has a lot of work to do...

Little bit niggle

Ramsey, Lacazette, and Torreira benched again. Gonna be fun.

It look like Auba feel for Laca, he is trying to make space for him

Proper banter

Xhaka is a disgrace.

All 5 of the summer acquisitions should be starting. Move Bellerin to the wing so his brainfarts on defense aren't quite as costly.

Mkhitarayan, Ozil, Rambo, Bellerin, Lacazette, Auba, and Iwobi can compete for those 5 attacking spots. There is more than enough to accomodate all of these players, since they are clearly expected to be active in pressing up the pitch, so it's great to have depth.

But most important is to get Xhaka off the pitch. Let him engage in his over-aggressive nonsense in League Cup games or something. And sell at first opportunity. I would rather an academy player take his spot. Dreadful.

A narrower spread of talent – instead of a more dramatic difference – is crucial in determining a team’s chances of success. A decent team who all have roughly the same level have a better chance of winning a game than an average team with one superstar. Which category would you place Arsenal in?

“It is better to have a team of all 70% players than it is to have a team where two players are 100%, the majority are 70s and then there is one bumbling 50% and one dreadful 30%”. “Strong links don’t win matches. Weak links lose them.”

That’s not to say the stronger players can’t do more. The likes of Ozil have got to promote a winning culture through their actions on the field and their dedication off it. Granted, there have never been many grumbles out of Arsenal about the latter. And, on it, he has been consistently one of the most productive players in the league.

Since he signed for Arsenal in September 2013, he has given the most Premier League assists (50) and created the most big chances (61). He is second only to David Silva in assists from open play (37 to 35).

He is second in most chances created to Christian Eriksen (480 to 478), although the Spurs man has played 29 more matches in that time. In the chances created from open play category, Ozil (353) is second only to Eden Hazard (410). Those numbers are all according to Opta Data.

In that same time frame, no team has committed more errors that led to shots than Arsenal (145). Arsenal winning and losing football matches depends less on Ozil than it does on the mistakes committed at the back.

The degradation of the Arsenal squad over the past few seasons is not Ozil’s fault. It’s not Emery’s either but it is a problem he has to solve.

Full article here

Arsenal 3 West Ham 1

Unai Emery claimed his first win in charge of Arsenal as Marko Arnautovic stuck first for West Ham but Nacho Monreal levelled and Arsenal won Issa Diop's own goal and Danny Welbeck's late third.

CARDIFF 2 - 3 ARSENAL

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette's burgeoning strike partnership came to the rescue as Arsenal eventually shook off Cardiff City to claim a 3-2 win in the Welsh capital.

Keep this up for another 8 months.

Anyone watch the Leicester game? Damn we looked slick af

Buy wan bissaka

2nd most goals scored so far, but they haven't really had a game where the attack has come together to its full potential.

They really need to buy defenders tho.

We have to buy the league like ManShitty..

Is it though

And do not just buy for the sake and ask for more, like ManU

Proper banter

agree. Don't buy for the sake of buying, but don't let all the quality up front go to waste out of cheapness.

Lichtensteiner and nacho are out of contract this summer and are in their mid 30s. There's no promising youth players at fullback that appear remotely close to first team players for 2019.

Though Emery has made some improvements, we still feel Déjà Vu of Wenger era...

Uh, "no"...

Spurs. Ha!

Mourinho dreading the upcoming tie against arsenal for the first time ever.

Good tactical switch by Emery through the game.. Lets do it against Moaninho!!!

Proper banter

Lucas torreira is a fucking legend.