Terrific game played by two teams with managers committed to entertainment. Those lucky enough to attend created a fine atmosphere which enhanced the fun.
Player Ratings are from a dodgy stream and if you disagree, please tell us why.
Leno. We knew when he was bought that there were questions about his ability with crosses and so it is proving. May have been unlucky for the goal insomuch as the ball deflected off Holding into Milner’s path. 6
Bellerin. Hector has rediscovered his Mojo. Against a very good attack he found time to get forward and be available as an outlet on the right. 8
Mustafi. His best game for some time but the fact that Van Dijk won so many headers is worrying. Made some important interceptions and tackles 7
Holding. Hard to believe he is so young and inexperienced. A commanding performance and evidence he will be an Arsenal stalwart for years to come. 8
Kolasinac. The first 15 minutes was a worry as L’pool found space behind the Wardrobe as he attacked but I guess Mr Emery told him to be more disciplined and he was. 7
Terrier. We were outnumbered in midfield and yet thanks to his energy and skill we dominated. Let us not forget that Fabinho cost more than double! Arsenal have found a Player. 131
Xhaka. Discipline is not a word I associate with Granit yet he was a rock in the middle. Passing very good, tackling precise and was usually where he needed to be. And didn’t pick up a card! 8
Mhiki. Non stop energy. Could and should have scored at least one. Faded as the game went on but is developing a fine partnership with Hector 7
Ozil. The Conductor. Some of his passing was sublime and he worked non-stop to find space. 8
PEA. Almost scored within 30 seconds of the whistle. Worked hard against the best CB pairing in the PL since Kolo and Sol. Rightly subbed (making fools of Fred and BR 😀 ). Unnecessarily caught offside a few times. 7
Lacazette. The goal was everything, comparisons with God 8 may be deserved. Worked hard without much effect until that point. 7
Subs:
Iwobi. Super-sub. Good on the ball, dangerous on the wings and solid at LB 7
Ramsey. Did his job but made little impact. 6
Welbeck. I love his enthusiasm but had only 10 mins 6
written by BR
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Thanks, BR.
Arsenal’s climb continues.
well done, Raddy. saved the day. 🙂
Terrier was excellent, but I would go for Xhaka and Laca. Why?
Xhaka had probably the most stable and robust, yet not over-the-top, performance that I have seen from him. And, most importantly, ….. that tackle of Salah (I think) in the penalty box itself deserves 10 points. For the boldness, timing and controlled risk taking. One of the moments that made my day.
Laca for the brilliant goal (it requires a page to describe it in its full glory, but I wont bother, you have already read the various accounts and no doubt seen it many times already). But more importantly, for working tirelessly all evening to position himself just behind and across from Auba, while Auba chased the long crosses hoofed across randomly from the back. It never quite paid off, but it also never quite allowed the Pool defence to maintain a high line except in dead ball situations.
Honourable mention to the wonderful combination of Kola and Rob that kept Salah completely bottled up, so much so that he tried first to change flanks and ultimately had to be subbed off. A priori Slah was the one of the the three-in-front that I was most worried about, but Kola-Rob were superb.
Emery deserved a 100 for the game he gave us. First, he has done brilliantly in figuring out fairly quickly what Arsenal stands for on the playing field. Brilliant attacking play with a touch of innovation. Results dont matter so much for us Gooners so long as the team plays an attractive brand of footie. Second, he figured out that one way to break the somewhat dopey high-line Pool defence was to spread crosses over the top and allowing the most pacy player upfront (Auba) to chase these. Unfortunately Auba’s distribution on the day was not perfect. Which brings me to third, bold subs. To sub a knackered Auba with Iwobi takes balls, as it did subbing Ozil the other night. Take a bow! And finally, just his actions and presence on the ground, his antics and also for sharing a birthday with Wrightey! 🙂
Finally, in continuation to Rasp’s comment. Yes, VAR would be very much welcome. But more than that, banning Scousers from the pundit and commentary box would be even more welcome. For years they have spread hatred against the honest and good ways of our club, to good effect. And now they also invent phony ref experts to argue why their correctly disallowed goal should have stood. This is beyond disgraceful.
Thanks Raddy,
I agree with most of your ratings but I feel you were to harsh with Leno and too generous with Mhiki.
Why? – well Leno was confident and well positioned and made several key saves although he di make one major blunder in fluffing a cross that we luckily got away with and the goal was very unfortunate – but i would love to hear the view of an expert like GIE.
Mhiki looked lost for a good part of the 1st half losing the ball and making poor passes on many occasions – he improved in the 2nd half but should have been subbed earlier.
Torreira, Xhaka and Holding could easily have been rated as a nine.
But overall the team displayed more energy, teamwork and confidence than we have seen for several years and it bodes well for our future and kudo’s to Unai Emery for achieving so much in such a small amount of time. He has transformed the team and worked wonders with Bellerin, Ozil and Xhaka.
Really impressed with how the subs comes on and make a difference
Interesting facts from BBC Sports.
Liverpool are unbeaten in their opening 11 matches to a Premier League campaign for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign.
Arsenal have won more points from losing positions than any other Premier League side in 2018-19 (8).
Arsenal are winless in their last seven Premier League meetings with Liverpool (D3 L4).
Arsenal have not led at half-time in any of their 11 Premier League matches so far this season. However, the Gunners have scored more goals after the break than any other side (19).
Liverpool midfielder James Milner’s opener was his 50th goal in the Premier League – 14 of them have been for Liverpool, more than any other side he has played for in the competition.
Milner’s strike was his first from open play in the Premier League since March 2016 v Man City – ending a run of eight successive goals from the penalty spot in the competition.
Following Alex Iwobi’s assist for their equaliser, Arsenal’s subs have now been involved in 10 Premier League goals this season (6 goals, 4 assists), more than any other side.
17 of Alexandre Lacazette’s 23 goals for Arsenal in all competitions have been scored in home games.
GN5. It was not just the goal which concerned me, it was Leno’s inability to cope with corners and his positioning when Van Dijk hit the post. It was early Fabianski-esque.
Maybe I was generous with Mhiki but I like the Big Nosed little chap. He reminds me of a bloke I knew in the Lower 6th.
RA. Good to read a lengthy comment from you once again.
Agree about 100 for Emery,. If the BoD really did interview many candidates they made the correct choice. Unai has made a wonderful start.
I guess we saw it differently Raddy but in reality I don’t feel any of our goalies are of the calibre that we need long term. We have seen in the past just how important it is to have a 1st calss keeper and we have been blessed with may going back as far as Jack Kelsey 1949 -1960.
Mhiki typically makes amends for his errors but he gives the ball away and breaks down a lot of moves he also loses the ball in many one on one situations.
I thought Kolasinac looked leaner and fitter, he seems to have slimmed down from a double to a single wardrobe.
I also got the impression that Xhak’s stint at LB did his self discipline the world of good.
And further, I thought we missed Guendouzi and the usual thrust he gives to the team when he makes his late cameo. I feel he would have been more effective than Ramsey.
Leno made 3 blonders by my count
Can we recall nelson from loan surely he might of buried some of the chances mkhitaryan failed to capitalize
No one mentioned mustafi passing
Fred. You have mentioned it!
LB. Agree about Douzi
Top work Raddy, something’s wrong … I find myself agreeing with just about everyone 🙂
… except, I think Leno is our best number 1, he seems to make the defence more solid. We seldom looked in trouble playing the ball out from the back yesterday, so much so that pool seemed to give up on their high press as we kept playing through them.
Top marks to Iwobi for the run and sliderule pass for Laca’s goal, and what a great finish. I think as much as anything, Iwobi’s vast improvement this season has meant that Ramsey is no longer the ‘must start’ he always was in the past.
We’ve scored some great goals this season. Unai has proved that we can still score amazing goals and be solid defensively.
Our next 8 games to reach the mid -point of the season.
Wolves h
Bournemouth a
Tottenham h
Manchester U a
Huddersfield h
Southampton a
Burnley h
Brighton a
In my mind we can win 7 out of the 8 games the only banana skin being away to Man U – without checking I believe that our worst away record is at Old Trafford. But it has also been th site of a few spectacular wins – so lets hope the Emery effect is in fully entrenched by then.
Leno – 5. He made 3 blunders, 1 leading to goal. However, his overall performance also had positive points so it is a 5 with shades of 6.
Bellerin – 7. Did well although the goal comes from his side. Great energy throughout.
Mustafi – 6. Had lots to do and for large of the game, he did it well. However, he did not cover for Bellerin properly on the goal and was repeatedly beaten on corners, which almost led to goals.
Holding – 7 – Good display but same as Mustafi, needs to be better on set pieces and also had 1 or 2 hazardous passes from the back
Kola – 7. Did well, full of energy but also struggled in the first 15 minutes but for a first game back, very nice.
LT – 8 – What to say? The guy really brings stability, sternness and energy to our midfield. Could have even scored.
Xhaka – 8 – his best DM display ever. Disciplined, hungry and no non-sense passing. Only issue was his anger management towards the dying minutes of the game where he wanted to hurt the opponent that fouled him.
Miky – 7 – great first half and average second half. The guy is a bright footballer, shame he is not quicker.I think he will add pre-assists, assists and goals to his game shortly. Worked hard and unlucky not to score.
Ozil – 7 – good work rate, some good passes/flicks that create good chances but would have been great to see him shoot as well
Auba – 6 – good work rate as well but not so effective yesterday.
Laca – 8 – a great goal, great hunger throughout and some good passing as well
Iwobi did well when he came into the game and was decisive – 7
Wellbeck was full of running but not effective – 6.5
Ramsey – a quiet game. 5.5
A lot of positive points and some areas to improve but definitely our landmark game under Emery. We can build on this game and move forward with a smile on our face. I still think we re 3 starters-players down (1 CB, 1 DM/CM, 1 winger) from being real EPL contenders but the players are playing with heart and purpose and this may give us some reasons to believe in a Top 4 finish and a trophy
GN5 – if we get between 17 and 24 points from the next 8 games, I will be happy. 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss I predict but I am hoping for 6 wins and 2 draws 🙂
Once Sok and Kos are healthy, do you think that Mustafi will play? It seems that Holding is flourishing under Emery and a definite starter.
Arsenal thinking of another swap deal with Man Utd:
-> Mata or Herrera for Ramsey
If Ramsey goes though, I think he should go to Juve or Bayern.
Would you take Mata or Herrera? I d take them, maybe a preference for annoying Herrera though
I was listening to the pundits and they had a point that we were more lethal when playing 2 up front. I think we should test it more often
I would sooner have my nails pulled out with pliers than have Herrera at THOF
RC78,
Maybe Mustafi will get some one on one’s with Emery because notably other than Ramsey, whose mind had been elsewhere – what with new born twin boys and having his contract removed, most of the other players all appear to have improved under Emery.
LB 3.43
“With a rusty and blunt pair of pliers”.
RC now you know you should never listen to pundits!! They said 1. We would be beaten heavily 2-0,3-0, several times
2. Arsenal would “park the bus” and play five in midfield, with one up front.
3. ” The highlights showed Liverpool dominated the game”
4. Said Liverpool’s disallowed goal should have stood because Sane was not interfering with play.
5. Made no mention of bookings, penalties etc, etc.
There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job it was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses.
One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no address. He thought he should open it to see what it was about.
The letter read:
Dear God,
I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had £100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension cheque.
Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner.
Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with. I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope.
Can you please help me?
Sincerely,
Edna
The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few pounds. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected £96, which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman. The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends.
Christmas came and went.
A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady to God.
All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened.
It read:
Dear God,
How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift.
By the way, there was £4 missing.
I think it must have been those thieving b*st*ds at the Post Office.
great joke 🙂
Herrera is a bastard but rather have him on my team than against my team 😛 What do you make of Mata?
Agree about the pundits..
I am really curious to see what will happen with Sok and Kos fit and also, I thought Kola played really well so maybe Monreal is also to feat about his starting spot…
GN5. Very funny.
Why would MU sell us Mata or Herrera? Ramsey is on a free unless he leaves in January , which I doubt.
If we are to sign an old out of contract Spaniard there is one at Chelsea.
Herrera. I know little about him but if LB feels so strongly then so do I, though I need my nails for playing guitar.
Herrera is a lean and mean version of Xhaka…
Mata will not be renewed by Man Utd and I think that AFC would like to cut their losses with Ramsey so why not do another swap deal?
The best deal for us would be Ramsey for Douglas Costa though 🙂
Peter comes very drunk home late at night. He wakes his sleeping wife: “Emily wake up! You know what just happened!?”
–
“No”, she replies sleepily.
–
“I went to the toilet and the light switched on all by itself. And when I went out of there, the light switched off again without me having to do anything. I think I’m getting super powers!”
–
Emily replies groans: “Oh no, Peter! You pig, you just peed into the fridge again!!!”
A point of view from another Arsenal fan that mirrors my own opinion.
–” Downsides for Arsenal include Mkhitaryan, who was disappointing yet again. He didn’t necessarily have a bad game but he’s such a frustrating player to watch. His understanding looks completely off with the rest of the team. Time and again, this results in him either giving the ball away too cheaply or dawdling on the ball too long and letting the chance die”.
Nice one RC78.
Swap deal with mnu surely sanchez and mkhitaryan
Who was the 2 upfront RC78
Player rating fron a BBC Sports poll.
Lacazette 6.76
Torreira 6.72
Aubameyang 6.59
Xhaka 6.28
Özil 6.20
Bellerín 6.09
Leno 6.05
Iwobi 5.96
Holding 5.93
Mkhitaryan 5.87
Mustafi 5.85
Kolasinac 5.80
Welbeck 5.71
Ramsey 5.49
Well done Fred @ 6:46
How able we never do another deal with mnu they never seem to do good for us
Thanks for the prolific writers on this blog, I do not know how you guys do it. Are you all retired?
Ratings are solid, maybe a little higher for Leno as his attempt to catch which turned into a push was unfortunate.
Read somewhere that Xhaka ran the most, had very high pass numbers, and looked a lot faster than many say, as he caught Salah who is very quick.
The broadcasting booth for the game was insipid. The first pass was to Mane was offside by a mile, so all the rest is moot-no matter how one spins it.
The Arsenal dominated the game for long stretches and maybe should have edged it, but with the D limping to the starting line it was an amazing performance all around including Emery.
Ok I have been asked for opinions and seen a couple of things of interest…..
Going back to tail end of yesterday Rasp you said Laca was inside (behind ball) for disallowed goal, he was, unfortunately Mustafi had crept offside before heading it back across.
I think Mane was offside correctly too, if he hadn’t run towards the balm in first instance I think they may have case but he lost race with Firmino otherwise he would have tried to play it. Even lifts a food to play it from memory so must be active.
But Rasp I agree with you on Leno and playing out from back as I said yesterday it’s biggest change from Man City game.
Morning All,
GIE. I have taken the remainder of your comment for today’s post. I hope that is acceptable to you.
Oh dear hope you tidied it up a bit and sorted the typos?
GN5 0650
Another thing to ignore…..BBC polls. It was their highlights that ” showed Liverpool dominated the game. Pooooof!!
Oh dear, sorry BR, I didn’t look on here before putting something up already.
NEW POST
Just trash it if you like.
We can use GIE’s for tomorrow … It is still relevant