Our defensive issues are still glaring and it is not having a go at the defenders but rather at our team set-up or cohesiveness on defensive and attacking phases.
We have an amazing strikeforce with Auba, Laca, Pepe and now supplemented by Martinelli and even Saka.
We have a midfielder who seems to have what it takes to be our box to box in Guendouzi and we have two very slicks passers of the ball in Ozil and Ceballos.
We also have some pace in our full-backs that are good going forward and our CBs may not be the best but they are rather robust and have heart and two of them (Holding and Luiz) have a decent passing range so why is it that we are still conceding chances for fun?
I believe it comes down to the set-up and instructions to the team and although we do not have the most talented squad, I certainly think that it is more talented than Leicester’s and more capable than the current Chelsea and Utd’s squad this season.
Finishing outside the Top 4 this season would be a massive disappointment to say the least. I am hoping that Emery is going to have the wits to try something else vs Wolves, who almost beat us at the Emirates last year.
Wolves have a good squad with some good players like Traore, Jimenez, Neves,Vinagre and Jota for example not to mention Moutinho, Dedonker and Boly. They are strong, good at handling the ball and offer a pacy yet physical opposition.
Here is my team:
Leno
Sokratis, Holding, Luiz
Bellerin, Douzi, Torreira (or Chambers or Willock), Tierney
Ozil
Laca, Auba
Emery’s team:
Leno
Chambers, Sokratis, Luiz, Kola
Douzi, Torreira, Ceballos
Pepe, Laca, Auba
I am hoping for a 2-1 win but recently we have given up leads so…it may end up as a 2-2.
COYG!
RC78
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Thank you for the post RC78
I think we already know the answer to your question ……. no probably. It’s just so sad to have that great forward line and they’re just not getting the service.
It’s going to be wet and wild in N5 this afternoon, hopefully everyone will have the right attitude and the right boots on.
Despite the rain, let s avoid another slip up 😉
Ole and Lamps are saying that the mood in their team is good. Am hoping to hear the same from Emery too
Thanks, RC (What on earth happened to PSG last night??!)
This is a tough fixture.. last season, we were very lucky to scrape a draw! I don’t see today being any different. Nuno has a very good side.. As we all know, our defence isn’t great (🤪) Just have to hope PAL have their scoring boots on!! Otherwise it could become ugly….Michael Oliver is officiating, so it’s a dead cert!
Surely we’ll see Ozil… ? I hope so anyway..
Haven’t got a scooby what the score will be 🤷♀️
COYG!! And please don’t concede any more penalties… the amount we have is staggering ☹
Ian Wright & Roman Kemp have been confirmed for I’m a celebrity get me out of here!! Get in there!! 😍😍
Thank you for the Post RC, and your suggested team would get my vote.
There is something not quite right with the Arsenal defence, but I am not sure I know what it is that makes them so brittle when they come under pressure, which they will do again this afternoon.
The defence and that rubbish strategy of playing around our own penalty area does not help, of course, but a new, classy CB would not hurt.
I am not as convinced as you are about our attack.
Both Auba and Laca are great goal scorers, on their day, but both can have days when they ‘go missing’, and in addition Pepe is only just starting to show why we bought him.
Without them, though, we would be heading straight to the relegation zone.
This is a very exciting day for those of us who like to try and guess the team.
I fully expect Arsenal to put in today one of the best performances in ages.
Xhaka forces the issue on one hand but makes it easier for Emery on the other.
Torreira will be told to stay deep while things are even but will be under instructions to move forward to help create or score a goal should needs must.
We will win this game and people will be shouting at Emery for not playing the following team earlier, those people will have failed to acknowledge how much Guendouzi has improved, how Torreira is now fit, how long it has taken Pepe to get into gear and how long it has taken for Ozil to “fancy” playing football again.
Today’s team will be:
—————–Leno
Chambers, Sokratis, Luiz, Tierney
—–Guendouzi—–Torreira
————-Ozil
—Pepe, Lacazette, Aubamayang
Nothing like putting your neck on the line. lol.
Just thinking about the Rugby World Cup, and have to say well done to South Africa, but hugely disappointing for England.
The opening running game that has done so well for England in the earlier rounds just did not happen today, because South Africa took a grip on the game and bulldozed England into a physical game they could not handle, and it reminded me of the way that other teams can, and have, railroaded the Arsenal team by using a high intensity pressing game which the dopey strategy we use playing out from the back is a disaster.
Maybe Emery was watching the rugby, and perhaps it might make him change a strategy that has not worked this season – and might be the end of him at Arsenal if he continues asking the team playing that way.
Hi Sue,
Who the heck is Roman
NoseKemp?Do I need to know, as I have never watched any of the ‘game shows’. 😳
Off to watch a local team playing ‘proper’ football.
Laterz
Thanks RC, as usual I haven’t got a clue which Arsenal will turn up today.
I’d like to see out guys playing with freedom and a smile on their faces and defending like South Africa did today when necessary.
I’d like to see Ozil in the team. He had a great game against Pool, let’s give him the chance to show he’s back with a new thirst and determination … oh … and let’s give him the ball early because he’s by far the most likely to find our strikers … but early … early … early … no faffing about passing it between our DM and back 4.
I’d like to see Ozil, not sure we will.
Rest of the team I’d rather keep Willock in for Ozil in LB’s side above.
Hello RA.. 😀 Roman is a DJ on Capital.. he’s also a gooner, just like his Dad (the one and only Martin!). He’s really funny, so with him and Wrighty, it’s going to be superb viewing!
Well worth a look, RA.. and not just to see the celebs eating penis & testicles 🤪
Enjoy your match 👍 I shall be basking in the sunshine, hoping the Mancs lose 😜
Go for it LB …… I hope Emery does too 🤞🤞🤞
Morning all. I for one should be happy today since I’m getting my wish (by default I guess) of a Xhakaless team. Again I want to make it clear, I have nothing personally against him, I just don’t think he brings anything to the table for us on the field.
This will be a hard game.I can’t predict a line up since Emery is so hard to read. Here’s what I hope: Guendouzi plays in the centre of midfield and shows Emery why he should be in as first choice. 2 or 3 of the rest of the midfield take defensive responsibility and we get enough men behind the ball. Our forwards take their chances.
C’mon you Gooooooners !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ozil in…. No PAL, as Pepe’s benched.. COYG
Thank you, Josh King 👍
Narrow! Tierney only natural width, unfortunately on flank PEA likes to occupy, Ozil will go right looking for space but will drift out of game unless he can be found. That freedom to roam necessitates as very central looking midfield three behind him.
No Xhaka, thought it would be a yellow accumulation, but it was his own undoing.
But, here we go again, no pace at all in the back, in front of them Guen and Ozil, who are not all that either. It is this teams downfall, along with the inability to get the ball forward to a player in space with time.
Hopefully, Auba is not shuttled off to the left to die again with no service, if he is then everyone should be questioning Emery’s sanity.
If Wolves score 1st, it will be tough on the team, even at home.
The Arsenal have a chance to gap manure, and others who are snarling at our heels.
Actual passing, open play goal.
OK start, and now again with the lead.
Let’s see what the team are made of.
Fortunate to be up really.
Given up 11 shots.
There are moments, but just something seems off.
21 shots- it was coming
Dang it.
Liverpool and city both come back to win 2:1 after being 1 nil down after 70 minutes … and we are 1 up for 70 and then we concede!
What is it we are lacking? It can’t be ability?
We all agreed it was a good team before kick off (as we usually do) …. but we were wrong. It was 11 good players but a below average team. Another nail in UE’s managerial coffin I fear.
So not only do we blow a lead, jammy Liverpool just won…. argh!!!!! Gutted! ☹😭😩😡 When will they ever bloody lose? Sickening……
We’re on cruise control to mid table mediocrity… ☹
Still no plan, I don’t know what else to say …… 10 shots to their 23!!!!!
At the of the first half I thought it had been better but second half was pants and then the subs didn’t help.
Özil played 90 and got an amazing cheer when he came to take the corner underneath me.
I still think the front two play too far apart
How did he play Peaches? More importantly how did we set up around him?
My guess is Emery in his own head can’t play him Laca, PEA and Pepe, too little defensive options.
Hi GiE
Ozil didn’t hide, I thought he was too deep first half but maybe he and Torreira had an agreement to dovetail each other. He chased down a lot of balls and was always looking to thread a great pass forward. On another day one or two would have worked for him but today the Wolves defence stood firm.
I don’t know what the stats were for the first half but 2nd half felt very slow.
Leno made a couple of great saves in the 2nd half to save our blushes.
He basically had his usual free role popping up all over the pitch.
Martinelli was targeted when he came on and play often broke down when he lost possession.
Saka was also given a torrid time when he came on but he rallied and managed to
Oops fat finger ……..
Saka did manage some good defensive work and a couple of tricks going forward.
I’ll be interested to hear what LB says ……. maybe he saw a bit more of a plan
Matt Lucas just tweeted “Even though everyone dies, it is still more fun being in Les Miserables than watching this Arsenal team”
And there was I trying to be upbeat 🤪
I hope you’ve had a nice bit of sunshine Sue 😉
Well we can’t blame Xhaka this time. It becomes more evident where the problem lies as every game passes.
Very nice, thank you, Peaches 😊 I did spare a thought for you earlier, as I remembered how gutted I was on the train home last season, and that was levelling against them. To let the lead go today, certainly feels like a loss! ☹
Blimey did Emery really say the tactics worked just not the result 🙈🙈🙈
I can try and write something, I don’t usually do this, I usually wait until it is written. Anyway we shall see.
I am not going to be kind to Saka though.
Wolves didn’t even play that well Sue, at least last season they deserved the point. This game we gave them the point, not enough from us to try to score more ……. and we love giving away possession and letting them run onto us ☹️
LB I thought he improved in the last few minutes but I agree, I was very cross with his positioning when he came on. Not up to speed with the game?
Anyway see what you can come up with, thank you.
@Sue – Tuchel does not get our teams ready to play vs lower teams. 3rd defeat already this year and the most defeat in a calendar year since 2010, or before we were bought by QSI. That said, the team shows up vs tougher opponents so far…
@Rasp – The heat is getting closer to Emery now. Douzi played DM and Ceballos played CM and playing Ceba and Ozil doesn’t make sense especially if we play one of them as a CM. Ceba at fault for last 2 goals we conceded. We didn’t have one shot on target after the 32nd minute and we conceded 25 shots including 16 in the box. We knew that Jota and Neves would be hard to manage and they really bossed us around. Being dominated at home is quite sickening especially when we don’t put up the right level of efforts. Anyways… Another 2 dropped points and the top 4 can now we forgotten. I wish that the board starts asking Emery the right questions like what s your game plan? Why aren’t you trying smt new?…
I think the Torreira for Saka sub has to be the poorest of late, but someone might remind me of a worse one.
Another disjointed performance, another poor result, and guess what….another different starting XI. Hmmm, I wonder if those things are linked….
This season we have not started the same 11 in back to back games in the PL. That’s 11 games, 11 different starting 11’s. Still with me? Eleven.
Emery is trying to be too influential in what we do and is not allowing our players to do what they need to do in order to thrive. I imagine a lot of them just really want to play, but he keeps changing the bloody side and none of them are able to get a good run together. I imagine those stats are even higher if you introduce the cup matches. I’d love to see how many different ways we’ve lined up already this season. It’s mind boggling. Just stick your best eleven on the pitch and have a bit of faith that they can get the result. Oh, hang on, isn’t that what got Wenger sacked…!? 🤷♂️
FGG it’s why I thought we wouldn’t see Ozil today, we were forced to change Xhaka so in terms of PL team why make more changes than necessary? But should know better.
As much as I have enjoyed watching the exploits of the younger players when they have started games expecting them to come on and change the game is putting a lot of weight on young shoulders.
Well I haven’t seen it but probably the stats tell me all I need to know. A game against a team that is 11 games into its 2nd season back in the EPL with a fraction of our ability to attract top players and a top manager and we are bested 25 to 10 and 8 to 4 shots on goal and shots on target respectively…….and we are at home.
I always liked Emery and his character but it seems the EPL has found him out. It is not about calling for his head in a knee jerk ranting type way but it is about asking whether we can see him developing a team in this league back into challengers?
The bigger issue is keeping the key players with us and we have just over 2/3 of the season left to show this club is at least heading somewhere exciting or I fear we will have a massive rebuilding project on our hands as oppose to adding quality to a squad that is already close to being there.
Agreed GiE,
The fact Özil is suddenly starting stinks of desperation to me. Maybe he’s doubled his efforts in training to the point where Emery thinks he deserves a place…but I doubt it. The only areas where Emery has stuck with his selections are ones where we have very limited options ie CB and ST. Everywhere else it’s like he’s doing a raffle in the changing room.
The players need to start being more vocal too. At Psg, the players were vocal and emery started to change his tactics to suit his very best players and get the best out of them.
I think that our squad could maybe be more cohesive with 3 at the back and this will put Luiz and Holding in a great position. It will also give Bellerin, AMN, Tierney and Kola a better platform to perform. The front 3 is more or less know and now it s down to our midfield partnership or who is going to play next to Douzi and I think that we have 4 options with Torreira, Willock, Xhaka and Chambers. The front 3 can include Ozil if we need his passing ability in certain games more than Pepe s directness.
Emery needs to question his tactics because the results are not there
Emery has until X-mas to find a good set up. After that, I think he s head will be on a platter…
I guess this shows that the fans know diddly squat, running on emotions with no sense, we need Mustafi and Xhaka back
Also Wenger still has no coaching job, wouldnt that be funny if he came back
anyway, enough stirring of the pot, I’m off for a bike ride
I can’t believe we’ve dropped 7 out of 9 points against the ‘mighty’ Blades, Palace & now Wolves, Peaches…. and Leicester await… omg can you imagine Sok or Luiz up against Vardy?? Penalty incoming?? Oh I’m sure Vardy really will be having a party next week! He always scores against us…
Isn’t November usually our worst month?
Oh I’m full of the joys tonight…. 😂😂😂
Hello VP
What kind of bike ride, who far, on what bike, is this a usual thing, so many questions, I will be riding tomorrow, London – Cambridge and back 204k.
We have to talk………..
Oh I forgot, there is a post of sorts in drafts.
RC.. I did like Mbappe’s goal 👍
@Sue – Mbappe s goal was delightful indeed. We could have scored 3 goals in the second half at least. We hit the post, the bar and Icardi missed 2 sitters while Di Maria missed one… So the score is a bit unfair but reflects Tuchel s bad habit to try new game plans vs lower opposition. Navas, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Paredes, Gueye and Bernat were out of sorts yesterday while Icardi left his scoring boots at home… A game to forget. I think if Tuchel kept his usual system, we d have done better… I also think that Paredes is out of his depth in our squad. Our best XI comes February will be
Navas – Meunier, Marki, TSilva, Bernat – Gueye, Verratti – Di Maria, Neymar, Mbappe – Icardi or Cavani
Our most balanced one (used in CL) will be
Navas – Meunier, TS, Kimpembe, Bernat – Gueye, Marki, Verratti – Di Maria, Icardi, Mbappe
Neymar and Cavani on the bench…
That really is some team, RC 👌 I’ll tune in to watch them on Wednesday, hopefully see Cavani. Although they lost last night, you know they’ll bounce back! Arsenal, on the other hand…….
@Sue – watch PSG demolish Brugges…I also think that Sarabia, Cavani will start ahead of Di Maria and Icardi. There is also a slight chance for Draxler so we can end up a Sarabia, Cavani, Mbappe up front with Gueye, Marquinhos, Draxler in the middle…Let us see
For AFC – I have no doubt that we will continue to have poor form until Emery decided to chance his system.
Hi LB
My main activities are running and futsal but I’ve done a bit of mountain bike riding and do the occaisional road ride. As I live in Kew, a few hundred meters away from my home is the start to one of Melbournes best bike rides, the Kew Boulevard. So I got my road bike – a 2003 Norco CRD 3 (entry level and old but lots of fun), serviced and headed to the Kew Boulevard. Went for a quick ride and with summer weather on the way and a back ache from too much running, I’m going to do a few more road rides. If your ever in Melbourne, aim for Octobers Round the Bay in a Day. Biggest cycling event here of about 250km with thousands of cyclists. You just have to find your best matched peloton of riders and off you go. Now that my son is finishing year 12 and I will have freed up another set of private school fees, I plan to buy a Cannondale Lefty Slate so that I can combine road and off road.
Anyway to give you an idea of the Kew Boulevard course, refer attached youtube of Shane Miller (Lama) doing a time trial on it. What you dont see in the video is the city skyline. One of the the hilliest and most picturesque rides around and used quite a lot for training rides.
LB 204km London to Cambridge? Is that a challenge or just a hobby, I mean that’s 126 miles in a day, with fading light.
Tried my first 100 this year, quit before I bonked at 88 miles. It was on that ridiculously hot August weekend and I was getting through around three bottles an hour and goodness knows how many gels and flapjacks.
Have a winter/spring plan starting with a 47mile gravel ride towards end of November.
Morning all
We have a New Post ……………… I expect the author is already on his bike 😉