It became pretty clear soon after the start that there was only going to be one winner and so it turned out to be with the good guys cruising to victory giving the endangered Emery three wins in a week. The penny is going to drop soon! The gulf of talent between the two sides was substantial and the game was in danger of becoming too one sided but as the saying goes: you can only beat who is in front of you and that is exactly what this young Arsenal side did – convincingly.
Martinez: touched the ball two or three times, didn’t have to make a save, clean sheet so 10
Chambers: three assists, what’s not to like? 10
Mustafi: in this parallel universe Skhodran is a cool, calm, thoughtful player: 9; he loses one just to keep the collective bias going.
Holding: Big Rob is back, and scoring goals to boot, interesting to see how UE reintegrates him into the first team:10
Tierney: oooh, oooh, this boy has a brain; he is so intelligent with the ball; his passing and crossing are superb, looks about 12 from where I was sitting, again should be interesting how UE introduces him into the first team but my guess is that he is not going to rush: 10
Torriera: playing the pure DM role tonight and played it well, is Emery going to take the risk of playing him there in the EPL, watch this space, great game: 10
Willock: all over the place; as in, covered every inch of the pitch, driving us forward and finding the back of the net:10
Ozil: Classy as ever but while everyone around him was giving 110% he still gives the impression that he would prefer to be on the beach. 8
Smith-Rowe (lab) Hope the going off was just precautionary: 10
Martinelli: started very brightly and getting on the score sheet but disappeared in the second half until he popped up towards the end to score the goal of the night.10
Nelson: I am writing this in bed so I have got to hurry now, she who must be obeyed is coming. Reis, got his goal, not going to jump back ahead of Saka but still on the right track:10
Subs
Saka: growing in confidence with every minute on the big stage that he gets: 10
Ceballos: offers more than Ozil in the Emery world of things:10
Bellerin: Hector is back yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy: 10
LB
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Thank you LB, what fun that must’ve been ……………. I’ll try and find some videos of highlights to put up.
I hope they all work.
They work really well.
Here’s the highlights from Arsenal.com
Wow … I hadn’t seen any of the game until peaches put those goals up.
Thanks to LB for his unbridled exuberance in the match report. I couldn’t make it last night but on reading your comments I ordered a ticket for next Thursday’s EL game in the hope we play a similar eleven.
Plusses all over the pitch … Holding, Martinelli, Tierney, Bellerin, Willock – the list goes on …after the doom at 5:45 on Sunday to sheer footballing bliss yesterday.
I’m beginning to love Freddie as a coach as much as I did as a player … he must take a lot of credit for the emerging players after his work in the academy … our next Arsenal manager? …. is it too early to hope?
My internet is a bit rubbish at the moment so I’m not sure if that has loaded properly …………… let me know if it hasn’t and I’ll load it again.
They are high scores.
What a game. Great to see a few returning players. I would be looking to completely change our defence as soon as possible.
Bellerin Chambers Holding Tierney
Chambers deserves a shot at a starting point, he’s been excellent. We have been led to believe the team would be picked on merit.
With Martinelli and Nketiah we have some potential successors to our teams mega stars.
Tierney looks to be what I’ve hoped he would be. He’s feisty and as you said very intelligent. He will improve the defence massively. Kola was targeted by Villa for good reason. He just doesn’t realise he’s a defender.
Happy days.
Rasp I’m with you on the Freddie love.
LB
Quality ratings – made me laugh 😀 😀
You can only play who’s in front of you, but Forest are top 6 in the Championship and have serious aspirations of being in the EPL next year.
Also, how many times have we played against “only X” or “only Y” and failed to dominate?
It’s hard to fault anything or anyone in that performance. Every player worked their socks off (even Mesut LB… he really did) and played well.
I put up a comment last night at 1-0 saying that that was a scoreline that normally (with recent Arsenal teams) leaves me feeling anxious. But last night we seemed so in control that I had no such fears.
The biggest takeaway was the connectivity between our defence and midfield, which provided a rock solid structure to our play.
Tierney oozes quality, Martinelli is going to be a beast and Hector’s back.
Nice to have a fuzzy warm feeling the day after a game…
I think Emery is gonna have tk integrate Chambers, Torreira and Willock to tje first XI now. Bellerin, Holding and Tierney once they sre fully fit. Martinez also has a shout at GK…
Leno – Bellerin, Holding, Chambs, Tierney – Gwen, Torreira, Willock – Pepe, Auba, Laca
Leno – Chambs, Holding, Luiz – Bello, Guendouzi, Torreira, Tierney – Pepe, Laca, Auba
Thanks LB, great write up
Minus 1 point just to keep the collective bias going 🤣. Personally I think you were a tad stingy in your ratings 😀
Tierney was quality last night. Showed tenacity and is a quality crosser of a ball. Good opening game for him.
Would love to see UE give Chambers a chance in the DMF position instead of Donkey Xhaka,
Martinelli is a star in the making. Played extremely well before he tired towards the end, but scored the best two goals of the night.
COYG
VCC
Chambers really deserves a run as a defensive midfielder, but I suspect if he gets to start against ManUre on Monday night it will be as right back.
VCC / Rocky – With AMN out, I think Chambers will play RB.
Do you think we would be rock solid with a back 3 of Chambs, Holding, Luiz? Then we could play with Torreira-Douzi or Torreira-Willock in front of them as a double-pivot…And then basically, a lot of our threat comes from our FB and our front three. I d like to see it in away games…
Chambers has been our best defender when he played so how Emery is not playing him as a starter yet baffles me.
Imagine our defense could be
as starters: Bellerin, Chambers, Holding, Tierney
our back up: AMN, Mustafi, Sok, Luiz, Kola
not too bad…
Didn’t AMN serve his suspension last night?
That back three could work RC, especially with FBs of the ability of Belli and KT.
RC
I’d go with that defence as our first choice.
Leno (or Martinez)
Belli-Chambo-Holding-KT
Willock-Torriera-Gwen
Pepe-Laca-Auba
Back-ups:
Martinez (or Leno)
AMN-Sok-Luiz-Kola
Ceballos-Xhaka-Ozil
Nelson-Martinelli-Saka
The story was that Luiz left the chavs because he wasn’t likely to be in their starting 11. I do hope we didn’t give him any assurances on playing time. I still like what he brings to the team offensively and in terms of spirit, but he wouldn’t be in my best back 4.
Super ratings, LB 😁
How many positives from last night?!! Was absolutely brilliant! Raining goals!! A top notch Brazilian 😜 Holding, Bellerin are back! Chambers was superb! And how bloody good was Tierney?! I think last night proved how good our transfer window was!!
As much as i lurve Sead.. we finally have a proper left back!!! Woohoo!! And he’ll get better & better! Brilliant buy!
Just hope Emile is ok….and tonight, I’ll be praying for Rochdale & MK Dons to win, to make this the best hump day ever!!!
I wonder who we’ll draw in the next round? Well… it won’t be the spuds 😂😂😂😂 That night of the 4th round, seeing as they’ll have a free night, maybe Eriksen & Moura could practice taking penalties 😜 hahahaha!!! Thank you, Colchester 👍
Rocky. With AMN out injured I agree with you. Chambers will probably fill in at right back. I feel for the player as he deserves a run out in his best position, which imo is CB or DMF ( where he played for Fulham, and voted their player of the season).
I like your first line up. That would trouble most teams. But my line up on Monday away to ManUre would be.
Leno or Martinez
Chambers…..Holding…..Sokratis
Bellerin……. Luiz Tierney
Pepe Torriera Guendouzi
Auba.
Stifle them with numbers at the back and midfield and hit them on the break with our pace.
COYG
I’ve sent a conversation starter about Chambers to the inbox. Hopefully it carries over from today’s chat.
Thanks FGG, we will publish it tomorrow undoubtedly
VCC
Very decent looking team, that.
The season hasnt started until a double pivot comment emerges. nice one RC78.
Thanks for the write-up LB and thanjs for the goal posts Peaches.
Any good organisation needs strong succession planning. Freddie could be being groomed to seamlessly replace Dick. I like that idea. And so much talent emerginging indicates a depth we havent had in a long time. It bodes well for this season.
I liked reading this in the Independent –
Five-nil, and an extremely puzzled Sabri Lamouchi, who in his post-match interviews bore the nonplussed look of a man who had spent the whole night closely guarding his wallet, only to look down and realise someone had stolen his trousers.
I think that Saka is also giving us options amd seems Martinelli will also add value to the team.
In terms of balance, i think that Chambs, Willok bring some balance to our squad and should start. Add Holding and Laca and the spine is robust
Leno – Holding, Chambs – Douzi, Torreira, Willock – Laca
No push overs here. They fight and run.
If they are flanked by Bello, Tierney, Pepe and Auba – we have good width and trickery. And we d still have AMN, Kola, RN, Saka plus Ceba amd Ozil that can add to our creativity and width so at this stage.
Mustafi, Sok, Mavro, Xhaka, ESR will need to show more to be considered as part of the squad.
I am hoping that Mustafi, Sokratis and Xhaka will be shipped out next summer and maybe we d have to part with Mavropanos as well but he could be loaned out…
Now –
is there a case for Martinez as our Number 1?
is there a case for Laca or Holding as our captain?
And when Xhaka leaves next summer, I think we should maybe approach Dortmund to discuss a deal including a fee + Xhaka for Delaney. Xhaka still has a good reputation in Germany and he is also liked in Italy. So in Italy, there is always the temptation to get Milinko-Savic and Brozovic…
Anyways – a long way down the line…Let s get in top 4, win a Cup and then we can talk about next summer 🙂
Morning all. Brilliant LB. I commented to my son last night that there would be people reading too much into this performance and others making major assumptions about team selection based on this match. So a match report in my mind was going to be tricky. Not for LB. He nailed it !!!! Absolutely a game to marvel at the talents coming up, injured players coming back and a game just to savour and enjoy. Everyone on the pitch indeed deserves a 10 (actually I would agree with Mesut’s 8 too). Why? because the attitude (almost even Mesut but not quite) was refreshing, the football was fantastic and the entertainment value was a 10. (I do wish ESR had played a little more freely, he seemed somewhat intent on not making a mistake than displaying his considerable talent). This one was for the fans. Even the Forest players seemed to enjoy it (except for that donkey Jack Robinson who takes himself way too seriously). As for as I know, it wasn’t their first 11, they’re more interested in their game on Friday.
Brilliant – brilliant !!!!!!!!!!! Go Gooners !!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah. And a couple of words on the Totts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – Colchester United !!!!!!
We should be all in for Declan Rice imo.
Fun and games that!
Now onto the serious game right in front of our noses.
Will Emery give Chambers a chance? Leave Xhaka, Sok and whomever else does not compliment each other back there out? Have the patience and wisdom not to push our injured guys into playing every 3 days too soon.
The Arsenal are loaded up front, just want to see Emery bring up some more youth in defense and for once play the players in their positions they are made for. Novel idea I know.
Highlights of that game and older ones can be found on the “arsenalist” if it is ok to plug that site.
Looking forward to the next game.
In case no one noticed, holding mustafi partnership aka CLEAN SHEET
Well, after reading all the positive and hopeful comments above, I am sorry but I cannot share in all that enthusiasm about the game.
The game did nothing for me.
I had a ticket promised to me, but my friend put it away safely at home, and was on the train, halfway to the Emirates, before he realised he had forgotten to take it with him, to give to me. 😩
I did not see anything of the game, I did not hear anything about the game, so I knew nothing about what was going on. Boo, Bollix, Bah!!!
Now, after a busy work day so far, I get to read today’s Post and all your comments, and to watch Peaches’ goals highlights and I wow, I am thrilled skinny!!! Love it!!! 😛
To hear about, and see the youthfulness of the team, albeit in a truncated has been special, as well as hearing about the returnees from injury and also the newbie, Tierney, as well as realising we still have some more youngsters available who would not let us down, like Zech Medley and John Jules and that is such a good feeling.
Sometimes it seems like the Arsenal of Old are trying to emerge again in the form of this ‘back up’ squad, and I cannot help feeling the worm is turning!! 👍
Oh dear, poor you Redders how mean to have a ticket and then be forgotten about 😦 😦 😦 I sympathise whole heartedly.
Don’t worry Redders, I am often forgot about. In fact by the time you finish reading this comment you’ll be thinking “who said that?”.
I was just thinking “I could do a post on Chambers”, and was conjuring up what to say then saw that Slim had already done it and popped it in. Will save my thoughts for a post sized comment instead 🙂
In fact it may go a bit hand in hand with a question that Fred asked me a couple of days back that I became aware of a lot later when I talked about the need for a lynchpin in our midfield and Fred asked me who is that lynchpin at the other top clubs.
Well Fred sorry to reply late but I will save an answer till tomorrow, but also I would ask you on what basis you asked that question. Is it that you don’t see that type of player in other teams who are still being successful and are suggesting it may be a redundant role? Would be interested to know what angle you were coming from.
All to discuss tomorrow Fred 🙂
Bromance
Fred – Declan Rice is indeed a good option. I like Ndidi as well.
GB not sure exactly the question I asked but guessing we will discuss tomorrow
Under the weather so not caught up on all the comments
Thank you G Bee, and Peaches for your sympathy for me missing out on the chance of going to the Ems for the first time in a long, long while.
I do not deserve such kind and considerate friends like you — but it is very much appreciated!!
It may have been belated – but my spirits were restored by fellow Gooners, and I am going to try hard to get a ticket in the near future, and dance around the Ems when we win!! 😛
COYG
At first glance those pictures seemed quite nice, but the more I looked at them the more troubling they became in a “get a room” way.
Awww Fred, hope you’re feeling better soon, unless of course it’s self inflicted, then i have no sympathy 😂
GB.. 😂😂
Peaches
I’m looking forward to FGG’s Post about Chambers.
I’ve popped another one in drafts that could be run later in the week.
Wow,
Liverpool v Arsenal
Chelsea v Man U
Great draw.
Don’t be excited about my post! 😂 just some quick thoughts to fill the week.
Rasp/Peaches
I’ve sent my post again and added a bit more meat to the bones as it was a bit rushed earlier! Thanks!!!
Damn wanted not a great draw in my opinion
Thanks FGG …. we will use version 2
Think it gas sue, my shoulder is killing me
RA get one for the city game so we can dance together
Seeing hector holding holding like that got me a bit jealous
Morning all …
… New post …
Emery must not miss the moment!!
In football, as in many other aspects of life, there comes that moment when new possibilities present themselves and a new direction maybe needs to be seized upon. That moment is not always so patently obvious. You are potentially aware that you may have arrived at the moment, or equally maybe you are not quite there yet but are somewhere near it, so is it really the right time? Is this the actual moment or are we still approaching it? Stick or twist? If you go too soon then it could all go very wrong but dither and you miss the moment which may not present itself again for a long time.
Right then, my ears are burning. I can hear you all saying, “enough of the Machiavellian, Cantanaesque seagulls being thrown from the trawler ramblings GoonerB, what the hell are you on about?”
Well football clubs are often no different to big corporations in other industries, and also even all of us as individuals as we progress through life, in that they/we reach a crossroads at times in having to decide whether to stick on the road you are on, because its familiarity feels safer, or to take a different road that is more unknown and is full of uncertainty but that may well just have that pot of gold at the end of it.
Still too many seagulls and trawlers?……sorry, I digress.
What I am referring to is our promotion of the younger players, or the more untested ones, into the 1st team, and as importantly, into their strongest positions. Sure we have been integrating some of them recently, but is now the time to really go for broke?Is now the time to take that different road, and really push them through rather than just flirting with it?
Yesterday’s discussion threw a lot of debate up about this. Here are a few snippets:
This from JM
Chambers’s best long term position in our 1st team will be the DM/HM position, this season and the next season onwards.
He has shown to be able defend and attack competently whenever he played in our matches (EPL, EL, EFL cup).
– That all important equalising goal against Villa (collecting the cross from Guendouzi and after his intial cutback was blocked, he was first to steal ahead of the defender, calmly controlled the ball with one touch and lifted it back into the net over the GK with his next touch.
– 3 assists in the match against Forest (the first a no hesitation 1st-timed cross to pick up Gabriel from a right-side position; next a measured cut back from left-side position to Nelson; a last a nice pass to Gabriel for his 2nd goal and our 5th.)
– he has not made too many errors when he played so far in defence (CB, RB and LB in the matches against Newcastle, Villa, Frankfurt and Forest).
This season, when every 1st team player is fit, our defence and midfield could be:
Tierney, Holding, Luiz/Sokratis, Bellerin;
Chambers, Guendouzi/Torreira/Maitland-Niles, Willock/Ceballos/Ozil
Next season onwards, with Saliba coming in (excluding any newer additions),
Tierney, Holding, Saliba/Sokratis, Bellerin;
Chambers/Luiz, Torreira/Maitland-Niles, Willock/Guendouzi
This from FGG
Football moves so quickly these days and I think everyone gets caught up in the last 3 games and forgets everything that’s come before! I agree that there is absolutely no telling how good or bad we will be with Xhaka and Sok being replaced by Chambers and Holding, but I do think that given our current defensive frailties, it’s certainly worth finding out.
Football just seems to be so black or white these days and it becomes embarrassing at times. Saw an article the other day with Merson questioning wether Spurs should sack the manager. If they win a few games he will be calling them title challengers again! It’s utterly ridiculous.
I must say though that I do like the idea of 3 of our back 4 being British players. I think a bit of an English injection wouldn’t be a bad thing, and with Willock, AMN, Saka, ESR and Nelson in the squad we seem to be getting back to that a little bit.
This from LB
Some people seem to think that things can’t get worse by removing Xhaka and replacing him from within the present squad — they can, they can be an awful lot worse, same goes for Sokratis and Luiz, the idea that Holding and Chambers are some how our saviours in waiting is absolutely ridiculous.
This also from LB
Slim, I must say that I think I would be a liar if I didn’t admit that there is a part of me that would really like to see if Holding and Chambers could do better than Sokratis and Luiz.
Over the coarse of a long season I feel certain at some point we will find this out.
Should be interesting.
And finally, this from Rocky
For what it’s worth LB, I accept the caution that goes with thinking that any returning player or non-regular starter is going to be the Messiah to answer all our problems. Usually they just turn out to be a very naughty boy.
But I feel Chambo has already shown enough for us this season (on top of his ‘player of the year’ at Fulham last season) to be a serious contender for a starting place.
Context is always important. The context at Arsenal is that we are leaking goals like a sieve that’s been hit by a shotgun. We concede more attempts on goal than just about any grown-up team in Europe.
So I’d say let’s see if Holding and Chambers can do better. They don’t have to be the answer to all our problems but if they can make us 20% better defensively that will probably translate into extra points we wouldn’t otherwise get.
And I know, I know, our defensive weakness is not just about the defenders…
There were many more examples, so my apologies if I have left you out and you’d hoped to be immortalised on here. Similarly my apologies go out if I included you and you wanted to remain more incognito 🙂 I actually agree with every statement from those I put up. The general consensus is that we should try something new and exciting, but that we have no guarantee at this stage as to whether it will work out for us or improve us.
There was something else to consider from some of yesterdays comments. There was a fair bit of talk about other potential players in certain positions that we may need to bring in. How do we know we don’t already have those players in the likes of Chambers, Willock, Guendozi and ESR? If we bring in 2-3 others in the midfield department then I doubt we are asking these new players to be back up to our emerging promising youngsters. We are effectively replacing the above. How long before our own boys move on?
It is indeed far from certain whether those players mentioned, that we already have, can give us the world class we need in certain positions, but the only way to know is to find out directly. We need to play them to find out and to ensure we do not miss the moment.
What is the moment in this case? Well for me it is the next two transfer windows. We need to play these boys so that we know what we do or don’t need before we arrive at that point. Failure to do this and the uncertainties that we have currently will still be the same and we will have missed our moment. I actually felt we missed moments or opportunities in the latter Wenger years to try an alternate route, keeping on the same old comfortable pathway, but ultimately still as oblivious as ever about what we really had once transfer windows came about and decisions needed to be made.
We have literally had a failed generation of promising young players that have not been played at the right times but often, more importantly, when played were not played in their best position, the position they could potentially become world class for us in. Let’s not make the same mistakes with the class of 2019.
It is a risk assessment exercise with no guarantee. A judgement call. I personally feel the risk is at the lowest it could possibly be right now to push through the young and the untested players for a couple of reasons. As many have pointed out the experienced and the tried and tested are far from perfect anyway. Also the tried and tested will still be here, there is nowhere for them to go right now, so why not move them into becoming the back up players for the moment and try the new. The risk of it being far worse feels low to me.
As we approach the next two transfer windows we will then know far more, but with greater certainty rather than with wishful thinking. It is also the easier way of moving on certain more players that may not be quite right for us. Keep playing them and they often sit tight and refuse to budge, but let them see that someone younger and better has emerged and that their time as the head honcho is over, and they make that decision to move on themselves, with less drama, and with all parties coming out of it reasonably well.
It does indeed seem that the majority of us feel that Emery and the club have arrived at their moment. We do indeed stand at the crossroads, and I for one hope that we don’t go straight on down the more comfortable, better known, but also far from perfect road. Lets take the alternative road, with all its uncertainties because it may just be the road to something far greater.