Is our right side our wrong side?

December 7, 2020
Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney could rescue Unai Emery  from wrath of Arsenal fans - Arsenal.News

So it seems that we are letting quite some goals in from the right side with Bellerin often caught out of position, Holding outpaced or misplaced and with Willian/Pepe not necessarily supporting enough and same goes with our midfielders who are not closing the opposition down on that side…

I like Bellerin when he goes forward and I think that he has a good mentality and can also pass the ball decently but he sometimes goes missing defensively, at least one or twice in a match and we often get punished for his lapses.

As for Holding, well he can be superb one match and absolutely average or poor the next one. His main issues are his pace and his positioning on certain situations. He does not always know when to close down or when to cover the back post….He is good in the air and his passing is also good but is that enough to be a starter for us?

Now we come to our right wing. Willian has been disappointing and Pepe not much better. We have not seen enough from RN yet so I will give him some slack.

All that to say that while on the left, we have Gabriel – Tierney – Saka and we seem more solid defensively and coherent going forward from that side, we seem to be struggling on the right. There are players that could help us maybe and especially AMN. If we continue with our back 4, we could play with 4 midfielders to and one of them on the right side could be AMN.

Anyways, seems our right side is our wrong side…


Have the Arsenal Players Just Had Their Blackburn 1997 Moment?

December 5, 2020
A clearing of the air at Arsenal?

According to reports in the press (yes, I know) Mikel Arteta called a team meeting on Tuesday to try and get to grips with our terrible Premier League form.

After going over a number of issues he left the players to talk among themselves.

Apparently there was much finger-pointing and heated words were exchanged, but the meeting ended up with the air having been cleared and much hugging all round.

This brings to mind the events of December 1997 when, following a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Blackburn Rovers, the players had a meeting in which the ‘old hands’ like Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon laid into their recently arrived French colleagues (Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit) for not offering the defence enough protection.

The French lads got the message and Arsenal won their next 10 league games on the way to clinching Arsene Wenger’s first league title at the club in 1998. We also won the FA Cup that season.

Now, I am not suggesting that the current crop of Arsenal boys are going to go unbeaten and win the league (although hey, you never know). Sadly we don’t these days have players of the caliber of that famous back five, or of Petit and Vieira in midfield, or Bergkamp, Anelka, Overmars and Wrighty up front.

But if the 2020 version of a clear-the-air December meeting has any kind of positive effect we can at least hope for an improvement in performance, starting on Sunday at the Armitage Shanks Arena.

It’s a football fact of life that no matter how good a manager is, there are some things that can best be sorted out among the players themselves.

Any of us who’ve played (or still play) club football at a park or local level will have experienced some version of this phenomenon: you’ve had some disappointing results, people are blaming each other, factions are forming, it’s even got physical at times… but eventually it all bursts out into the open, you have a great big barney and then you’re all best mates again. In the next game you’re all suddenly trying that bit harder for each other and offering encouragement instead of criticism when someone makes a mistake.

There was certainly an added exuberance about our Europa League performance on Thursday night and that could be taken as evidence of a change of attitude following Tuesday’s get-together.

Yes, we have been generally performing OK in that competition (although not as well as we did on Thursday), yes the opposition weren’t up to much and yes, there was a live crowd for the first time in ages, but the performance of many of the players – Lacazette in particular – makes me feel the lads were particularly fired up.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if we can get a helping of that tomorrow.

RockyLives


We got our Arsenal back.

December 3, 2020


Rapid Vienna were not very good it has to be said, Arsenal had already qualified for the knock-out stages before the start and if you, like me, expected a game something akin to a training ground kick about you were wrong. The returning home fans were treated to a determined display of high intensity football the likes of which we have not seen in a while.

The team selection made sense although there was one thing that confused me, which I will come to. Mikel was able to be a bit more relaxed in defence and play a back line who all needed a bit of game time, this included the long awaited return of Mari who played well enough, he certainly took his goal well, the problem I have is I don’t understand why we signed him?

By contrast Soares whose signing is also questioned makes complete sense to me. As much as we take relegation or the absence of it for granted it is obviously important that those who have their hands on the reigns do not.

If Bellerin gets injured and is out for the season (it has happened) we need someone who knows what they are doing to steady the ship; Soares is an insurance policy, a small hedge if you like.

Mari on the other hand is playing in the same position as the best defensive signing we have made in years. Possibly covid wasn’t anticipated and Luiz wasn’t expected to extend for another year so we would have an interchangeable back line of Gabriel, Mari and Holding? Perhaps Gabriel wasn’t expected to hit the floor running quite so well as he has? I’m not sure?

The goal keeper had to play and should have played in all of the games in this competition, if Leno gets injured this is the guy that is going to be holding us together.

Elneny and Maitland-Niles in front of the back line was I hope a trial run for a start on Sunday, although I am not holding my breath. I am working on the basis, of course, that Partey will come up short for Sunday.

There was talk before the game about Arteta playing two number tens in the form of Lacazette and Nelson, I don’t think it turned out this way, to me it was a straight forward three up front with Lacazette playing in the pocket just behind. I was deeply sceptical as I just don’t think he has the close control to carry this off; he may or may not but he has got one hell of a thunderous shot and one was unleashed early on that found the back of the net that shut sceptics like me up. I expect him to play in that role on Sunday and then we will see if this idea has legs.

And of the attack, who would have thought that a left footed winger playing on the left and a right footed winger playing on the right could be so effective? Errr, our very own GB, but apart from him I mean. Both Pepe and Nelson both put in very impressive displays.

The last bit might upset a few but I am still not impressed with Nketiah, if you want a fox in the box then he is your man but I want to see far better close control and far better hold up play before I am convinced.

An easy victory really, we are good at going forward when there is space to run into but no one in the EPL gives us that kind of freedom and without it close control is everything — Martinelli has it Saka has it and even Willian has it but the list of players who we continue to persevere with who do not is long.

I tried to finish this on an up note but I clearly failed probably because I am worried about the weekend, perhaps tonight’s determination will be carried over to Sunday naturally I hope so. COYRRG


Arteta’s Dilemma: Vienna Preview & Predicted Line-Up

December 3, 2020
Oh, Vienna

The dilemma referred to in the headline is this: given that we have already qualified from our Europa League group, should we use tonight’s visit of Rapid Vienna to rest as many players as possible; or do we start some of the senior players in an attempt to rebuild confidence?

The down side to the second option is that we have a monster game looming on the horizon: away at the Armitage Shanks Arena in N17 against the table-topping Spuds, a fixture in which we can only hope that the opposition will be distracted by the nosebleeds they’ll be suffering from the unfamiliar altitude.

If we had a less high profile fixture on Sunday I think El Patron might even be tempted to start Aubameyang against the Austrians tonight to get his scoring juices flowing, with a view to starting him again on Sunday.

But given that there are only 67 hours between the end of tonight’s game and kicking off against the Spuds, I suspect Arteta will play it safe and stick with a similar team to the one that has started recent EL games. After all, caution seems to be our manager’s guiding principle at the moment, even though it’s not serving him well.

In fact Arteta may decide to send out an even weaker team this evening if, for example, he is planning to start Willock at Totteringham.

Kolasinac is available again after his stint in Covid quarantine, Partey is still out with his thigh injury but due to rejoin first team training. It’s highly unlikely he’ll be available for the weekend (sadly).

Here’s my guess at the team:

Runarsson

Soares – Mustafi – Holding – Kolasinac

Willock – Xhaka – Smith-Rowe

Pepe – Lacazette – Nelson

I’ve put Xhaka in the team in the expectation that he will not be starting on Sunday after his awful game against Wolves. And I have left Ainsley Maitland-Niles out because I am hoping he will start at the weekend and be given the job of marking Bale out of the game.

Vienna were disappointing in the first leg and whatever team we put out should expect to win tonight.

The Europa League is providing our only enjoyment at the moment so here’s to another entertaining outing and to us hitting our EL average of three goals per game.

In other news, I made the point in yesterday’s Post that I would like to see us get a fast, big, powerful centre forward in the January window. “Someone like Olivier Giroud from five years ago,” I said. I guess that must have rankled with Big Ollie because, as you may have seen, he banged in four goals for the Chavs last night.

RockyLives


Arsenal’s Game-Changing January Signing

December 2, 2020
Milik to N5?

Simple question: if we could sign one player in January to really transform our prospects, who would it be?

I’d like to propose that we keep our suggestions within the realms of the possible (so no Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi or Dennis Bergkamp please).

Do we prioritise a striker for our goal-shy attack?

A creative midfielder or Number 10 who can make the magic happen?

A defensive midfielder to let Partey roam forward?

A goalie who doesn’t make a habit of spilling the ball onto the feet of oncoming attackers?

Maybe you feel another defender is what we need.

Whatever you think, have your say in the comments below.

My preference would be for Jack Grealish, although his star is rising so fast and ours is falling so fast that I think such a deal barely scrapes into the ‘realms of the possible’.

If not Grealish, I would go for a big, fast, powerful centre forward. I can’t give you a name that fits the bill (although Olivier Giroud from five years ago would be perfect if you gloss over the ‘fast’ bit) but I have it on good authority from my friend RC78 that the Polish forward Arkadiusz Milik, who currently plays for Napoli, is the sort of man we need.

RC78 is a keen watcher of European football so if Milik is good enough for him, he’s good enough for me.

Over to you.

RockyLives


Are Arsenal Now the Worst Team in the Premier League?

December 1, 2020
Arteta’s looking up… at 13 other teams

The answer’s no, by the way. But not by much.

I normally try to avoid hyperbole after a defeat, so the intent behind this headline needs to be understood.

I am not suggesting that we will be relegated. Nor that we will have a terrible season and never get above our current 14th place. I am more optimistic than that and I will explain why later.

My point is that right now – on the form of our last few Premier League games – we are very close to being the worst outfit in the division.

Incidentally, the one team worse than us is not poor Sheffield United, languishing in rock bottom with a single point. Oh no. If you cast your mind back to when we played the Blades earlier in the season, we were dead lucky to come away with three points. They matched us across the park and probably shaded things if we’re honest.

The only team I feel confident in saying we’re better than at the moment is Fulham, West London’s answer to the circus clown car. And even they have scored more goals than us so far this season.

The reason for my damning assessment of Arsenal is that we are currently rubbish at every aspect of the game. Even the relegation position strugglers are all good at something, even if it’s only ‘being hard to break down’ or ‘giving 100 per cent in every game.’

Not us though. We can’t defend. We have no structure. Our midfield is a disaster zone, our confidence is shot and when it comes to creating chances and scoring goals… well, let’s just say that we’re more barren than a bull who’s just had an appointment with the vet’s secateurs.

Our chance creation per minute is below every other team in the league. Our defence was looking pretty solid until the Leicester game. Now we have reverted to type, with all the security of a sieve in a rainstorm.

Even our goalie has taken to parrying every shot that comes his way into the path of the nearest opposition striker like a demented German Father Christmas. Santa Klaus.

If you want to hear some thoughts on how it has all come to this and what can be done about it I suggest you read the outstanding discussion in the comments after yesterday’s post (“Wolves Rip Gunners Apart”).

For now I just want to make the point that whoever we play these days – be it Leicester, Villa, Leeds or Wolves – I find myself watching the opposition and thinking: “I wish we played like that. I wish we could be that direct. I wish we could play simple, effective football.”

Our opponents seem to have a plan, they seem to know where their strengths and weaknesses are and how to work round them and, most importantly of all, they are all capable of making openings.

My view is that blaming our woeful form on the fact that our players are not good enough is silly. They’re who we have and, in any case, those same players were good enough to beat Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea en route to lifting the FA Cup exactly four months ago to the day.

Yes, that’s right. Just FOUR months ago we were on Cloud 10 and feeling full of optimism.

And there’s your silver lining: things can change mighty quick in football. For all the current doubt and despair, we really do have players who are much better than 14th place in the EPL.

They may not be of the standard of Liverpool and Man City, but they are better than they have been showing us and better than those at many of the teams around us.

We have a very young manager learning his trade. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger (although I’ve always wondered how traumatic amputation fits into that paradigm) and if it’s true, Mikel Arteta will emerge from this current hell to be a much stronger boss in the future.

In the immediate term the answer’s simple. We have to go back to the back five (three centre backs) system that steadied the ship for Arteta in the first place.

Yes, it will blunt our attacking options but it’s not like they’ve exactly been sharp in our recent formations, have they?

And as it’s now December, my letter to Santa is going to ask for one thing: a fast, big, strong, powerful centre forward who can hold up the ball. If we get that kind of player in the team during the January window, everything else will fall into place.

We’ll finish in the top six or seven this year – just wait and see.

RockyLives


Wolves rip Gunners apart

November 29, 2020
VIDEO: Two wolves eating an elk carcass in Big Sky – Explore Big Sky

There is not much positive to take from our performance but I will try to not be too defeatist…

A third home-defeat in a row. A 14th place in the EPL. Another game without a goal in open play. Another game without Auba scoring. Another game with toothless attacks and sterile possession. Another game where Arteta and his players could not find an opening to score one more goal than the opposition. Another game where we waited to be down to finally show some intent…Just another game in a very poor EPL start by our team. Some people are already calling for Arteta’s head and asking questions about his tactics and team selections.

That said:

  1. Saka has been dangerous as always
  2. Tierney was combative and Willock also tried
  3. Ceballos managed a few good passes (too few) that created a bit of danger
  4. Willian had another assist and Gabriel another goal
  5. Leno was not a disaster

Leno – 6

Bellerin – 5.5

Holding/Luiz – 5.5

Gabriel – 6

Tierney 6

Xhaka – 5.5

Willock – 5.5

Ceballos – 5.5

Willian – 5.5

Auba – 4

Saka – 7

Nelson: 6.5

Laca: N/A

Probably the grades are a bit inflated given our defeat but then again, I did not want to be too negative…


Wolves Pose a Foxy Threat: Pre-match and Predicted Line-up

November 29, 2020
Fox and Wolf: two predators with the same plan

Just over a month ago we got mugged by the Leicester Fox, hitting us on the break and taking all three points after soaking up our (mostly toothless) pressure.

Tonight we entertain the Wolf, and his game plan is going to be very similar: defend deep and pounce when we are over-exposed. 

Leicester did it with Jamie Vardy. Wolverhampton Wanderers will be hoping to pull the same trick with Raul Jimenez, who is another dangerous striker.

What’s the old saying, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me? Well, will be fooled twice? Will we be cursing the sucker punch again come the final whistle this evening?

Given our recent league form, Wolves will be feeling pretty confident about keeping a clean sheet.

But if El Patron can just release the handbrake even a little, I think they could be in for a spanking. In fact, I am going to make the bold prediction that we will win 4-1.

Yes, I know, the idea of us bulging the onion bag four times in 90 minutes when we haven’t managed it once from open play in nine hours of EPL action does seem a bit bonkers. But when a damn breaks, it breaks big. And our scoring drought is due to end with a flash flood of goals. Or even a flood of flash goals, which will do just as well.

I believe this will happen even though we are likely going to be depleted in terms of available players.

Partey, Saka and Willian are all doubtful through injury and Pepe is suspended. Kolasinac and Elneny are both in the Plague House (although asymptomatic) having been in contact with someone with Covid.

However, this gives El Patron an opportunity to change a few things and to try and inject into the Premier League side some of the positivity we have seen in the Europa League team. One way of doing that would be to include some of the players who have been doing so well in Europe.

It’s way past time that our goal scoring problem was addressed and we know that Arteta will have been devoting every waking minute (and probably some dreaming minutes too) to figuring out how to do it.

I’m going to assume that the ‘doubtful’ players will not be in the starting eleven (although hopefully one or more may be on the bench) and predict the following line-up:

Leno

Bellerin – Holding – Gabriel – Tierney

Willock – Xhaka – Ceballos

Nelson – Nketiah – Aubameyang

I would like to see a starting role for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, but I can’t see Arteta being that cavalier. He will probably stick with Xhaka and Ceballos.

Ceballos is a strange player. In some games he is the best player on the pitch; in most games he works very hard and is, well, average. If he could get more consistent he could become one of the first names on the team sheet: he certainly has the potential. Maybe tonight?

Right, here’s hoping we send the wolfpack scurrying back to the Midlands with their tails between their legs.

RockyLives


The Secret Messages in Arsene Wenger’s Desert Island Discs

November 28, 2020
No man is an island, but there is an island called Man. Funny, that.

The great Arsene Wenger recently appeared on the BBC radio show ‘Desert Island Discs’.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, a celebrity guest is interviewed about their life. Along the way they  are asked to name eight songs they would like to have with them if they were stranded on a desert island.

We’re not meant to ask how they would play these songs on their desert island, given the presumptive lack of electricity, smartphones, decks and the like. You kind of have to just go with it.

Our most successful ever boss made his choices, and I don’t think you have to delve too deep to find the hidden messages relating to his time at Arsenal.

Here are his songs in the order they were played, along with my psychoanalytical decoding of them:

Could You Be Loved? (Bob Marley and the Wailers)

This is obviously a reference to his arrival at the Marble Halls back in 1996. We had transitioned from the George Graham era by appointing Bruce Rioch for a short-lived stint, only to wake up one morning and discover that our new boss was going to be some French bloke we’d never heard of who had recently been plying his managerial trade in that footballing mecca that is Japan. The London Evening Standard famously greeted the appointment with the headline “Arsene Who?” Arriving to a tidal wave of skepticism, swiftly followed by some scurrilous, untrue and libellous personal attacks mounted by Spuds fans working in the City of London, Arsene must indeed have wondered whether he could ever be loved in this new and hostile environment. Well, there’s no need to wonder any more. Yes, Arsene: you could be loved. And you were.

Imagine (John Lennon)

The key words in this classic are the following:

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will be as one.

When Arsene took up his tenure it would have been hard to imagine the revolution he was about to inspire at Arsenal and in English football in general. And the key to his revolution was that he was prepared to dream: he was not just going to accept the limitations of the hand he’d been dealt. Turn a squad of boozing, brawling bad boys into paragons of broccoli-eating virtue? Why not. Turn “Donkey” Adams into a player who would stride forward and bang home a goal in a league title winning game? Why not. Arsene was a dreamer, his dreams came true… and so did ours.

Avec Le Temps (Leo Ferre)

This French song is all about loss, and how time inevitably brings loss to us all. It is quite clearly a reflection on his later years at Arsenal, when success was harder to come by, some sections of the fan base turned against him and players in whom he had placed such high hopes let him down. It is one of the sadder songs in his selection and indicates that the wounds from his Arsenal departure are still painful.

Your Song (Elton John)

I like this one. It is about the giving of a gift. In Elton’s case, at the time he wrote it he was a struggling artist trying to make it, down on luck and out of dough. The only gift he had to give was the gift of a song:

I know it’s not much but it’s the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one’s for you.

Arsene’s gift was a way of playing football that was pure lyrical beauty on a pitch. It was something that had never been seen in England before – football as pure art. He gave that gift to us, and boy were we happy.

Evidemment (France Gall)

Another example of Arsene smuggling in his angst by way of a song sung in French. This one has some pretty traumatized sentiments:

There’s like a bitter taste in us

Like a taste of dust in everything

And the anger following us everywhere

There are silences that say a lot

More than all the words we admit

And all these questions that don’t make sense.

At whom could this be aimed? Ivan Gazidis perhaps? Certainly against the Arsenal Board who, he felt, had pressured him to leave before his contract was up – something he vowed never to do. Subsequently he would say that the hostility from the Board was unjustifiable and that his exit was “very hard, very brutal.”

The Wonder of You (Elvis Presley)

On the face of it this tune was chosen to represent Arsene’s Arsenal experience, given that it’s the song played before every home game these days. But, as you and I know, ALL the songs in his selection are about Arsenal, our club being the defining relationship of Arsene’s life. So what is he really saying with this one? To me there’s no doubt. This song is dedicated to Thierry Henry, perhaps the greatest of all Arsene’s signings.

Ne Me Quitte Pas (Jacques Brel)

Another French language misery melody, this time about the singer being dumped. So, this is quite obviously a song about Robin van Persie. 

Don’t leave me

I beg you.

Brave Sir Robin was nursed through year after year of injury problems (and was paid handsomely every limping step of the way). He then had one amazing season where he stayed fit and played out of his skin… then immediately decamped for Old Trafford, the ungrateful so-and-so. As the song says:

I offer you pearls of rain
From places in me where there is no rain…

Please don’t leave me.

My Way (Frank Sinatra)

Regrets? He has a few, but then again, too few to mention. I love that Arsene chose this as his final song (although somewhat surprised that he did not opt for its French equivalent, “Je ne regrette rien” by Edith Piaf). It is his metaphorical two fingers up to all the critics and doubters who have plagued him all his career. It’s a triumphant song that takes responsibility for everything he did at Arsenal: the good, the bad, the frustrating, the extraordinary. Yes Arsene, you did it your way. Au revoir, mon ami.

RockyLives


Arsenal Remember How to Play Football: Molde Report & Ratings

November 27, 2020
Pepe’s Redemption Song

Molde 0 – 3 Arsenal (Europa League Group Stages)

After our constipated recent outings in the Premier League, we once again used the Europa League to rediscover how to play attacking football: and the key factor was a good dose of the runs.

We passed and moved, passed and moved with positive intent for much of the game and, crucially, we did it with runners off the ball. A stark contrast with our EPL form where we pass and stand still, pass and stand still, pass back to the ‘keeper.

Overall it was an encouraging performance with good outings from some of the young starters and pleasing cameos.

As expected, Mikel Arteta made numerous changes from the team that ground out a dour nil-nil at Elland Road.

Runarsson started in goal again, David Luiz (back from celebrating the birth of his baby girl) and Mustafi were at CB, with Cedric and Maitland-Niles as the fullbacks. Xhaka, Willock and Nelson were in MF behind a front three of Pepe, Nketiah and Lacazette.

Although we ran out comfortable winners it was not all plain sailing and in the first half (just as in the fixture at the Emirates) Molde did pretty well and should have gone ahead when one of their players managed to miss an open goal tap-in in an embarrassing manner seldom seen before (although Gervinho away at Bradford comes to mind).

But the encouraging thing right from the start was the way Arsenal were prepared to play with attacking intent.

Our passes were forwards-looking, our players were making runs off the ball and were also remembering the “go” part of “give and go.”

Until the opening goal from Pepe, we looked positive, exciting and dangerous… except for our final decision making, where things invariably went wrong. Mistimed passes in the penalty area, failing to see the killer pass, wayward shots, inaccurate crosses… we were doing it all.

It was annoying but the mere fact we were playing attacking football made up for it to some extent.

The breakthrough came via Pepe on 50 minutes. Up until that point the Ivorian had been incredibly busy and involved, but was also a bit frustrating. Comments here on AA during the game referenced his apparent unwillingness to take the first time pass or first time shot. He always seems to want another couple of touches.

Pepe continued to be influential and industrious right to the end and I found myself reappraising his performance. The jury is very much out on him and he has been in the doghouse this week since his red card at Leeds. He has the burden of being our record signing. Also the ‘too many touches’ issue is definitely a thing.

But he had been threatening the Molde goal, particularly when cutting in from the right and shooting with his left. His first attempt went a few feet wide. His second hit the woodwork, but by his third attempt he’d obviously got his range right and we were one up.

Often we football fans have to overcome our positive bias (every trip on one of our players should be a red card, every trip on of theirs is just a ‘coming together’), but we also need to overcome negative biases as well. When the narrative around a player turns sour, even his good qualities can be unfairly dismissed. So to be clear, Pepe was very good last night.

If I imagine that performance having been put in by, say, Raheem Sterling, people would be raving about how good it was.

Willock and Nelson also had excellent outings, Runarsson did not have a huge amount to do but what he had, he did well. Nketiah was busy and hard working but did not stand out as much as some of the other youngsters.

The biggest disappointment on the night was Lacazette, who (one suspects) was in the team to try and get his goal scoring rhythm kick started. On last night’s showing he should be nowhere near the first team on Sunday.

Two of our young stars combined for our second goal, Willock crossing for Nelson to fire home from the six yard box.

The icing on the cake came late on, with the arrivals of Emile Smith-Rowe (whom many of us had hoped would start) and Folarin Balogun. ESR showed some impressive touches and passing range and made our third with a neat pass for 19-year-old Balogun who turned well and fired home for his first senior Arsenal goal.

So we have 12 points from 12 and are more or less certain to top our group.

The Europa League continues to provide enjoyment in an up and down season.

And several of the young players are now very clearly knocking on El Patron’s door to be included as regulars in our Premier League starting line-up.

The million dollar question is whether we can convert the attacking-mindedness of our EL form into our EPL games.

RockyLives

Player Ratings

Runarsson – 7

Did all that was asked of him

Cedric – 7

I have my doubts about Ced but he was pretty decent last night.

Mustafi – 7

Nothing to dislike about the German’s performance.

Luiz – 7

Replaced at half time by Holding, presumably for an injury. Was comfortable until that point.

Maitland-Niles – 7.5

I would like to see AMN used more in our EPL campaign. He seems to have matured considerably since last season.

Xhaka – 7.5

Sat deep, worked very hard and allowed the more progressive-minded midfielders to do their stuff.

Willock – 8

He started our last league game and should be in the 11 for Sunday after this performance.

Nelson – 8

How he’s not being started ahead of Willian is a complete mystery. Nelson has bags of skill and looks strong and decisive. More first team minutes please Mikel.

Lacazette – 6

It’s just not happening for the Frenchman at the moment.

Nketiah – 6.5

Things didn’t really go his way and his opportunities to make an impact were limited.

Pepe – 8.5 (MoTM)

Notwithstanding some issues with dwelling on the ball too long, Pepe was by far the biggest influence on last night’s outcome.

SUBS

Holding – 7

Played all the second half and was comfortingly reliable.

Ceballos – 7

Came on at 62 minutes and slotted in well.

Tierney – 7

Who doesn’t love Tesco?

Smith-Rowe – 7.5

Positive cameo including an assist.

Balogun – 7.5

Well done son, may that be the first of many, many first team goals for the Arse.