I loved it how he said "Jay Lay-no", with very careful german pronounciation on the Leno bit, not realising he'd just said Jay...
(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread
5.55am kick off on Friday, should be over by 7.50am which is normally when we're leaving for work! Dream result, apart from the squad flying 5 hours away. I'm expecting heavier rotation for this match with more of the big names left at home and of course no Mhiki due to the Azerbaijan vs Armenia guff.
Perhaps something like:
Welbeck
Nketiah Emile SR Iwobi
Elneny Guendouzi
Kolasinac Holding Mustafi Liechtensteiner
Martinez
Load the bench up with youngsters, hopefully give Laca, Xhaka, Auba, Ozil, Ramsey, Torreira, Sokratis a rest.
With Mavropanos injured I wonder if one of the young CB's like Pleguezuelo might get a run, or one of the young full backs like Osei-Tutu, Bola....or Bramall!!
Also check out https://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php. Sp*rs leading the charge with 8 players injured, with 6 of them first 11. We're only at 4 players currently, with 2 of them first 11.
Osei-tutu is injured at the moment. I understand that Plezeguelo played with the U23s this morn so will not travel most probably.
Sort of on the DL of late but Kolasinac is back from injury, he was on the bench at the weekend, hopefully he's fit enough for a start tomorrow. He was looking decent early doors until he got that injury.
Of our squad Monreal's the one most in need of a break!
Agreed; hopefully Kola can slot back in. Don't rate the guy, but should be okay for these Europa group games.
From stalking the Arsenal pics of the team boarding the flight the following look to be traveling:
Sokratis, Mustafi, Elneny, Laca, Guendouzi, Ozil, Kolasinac, Leno, Torreira, Bellerin, Monreal, Iwobi.
Those are some big names to be traveling all the way to Azerbaijan with most of them possible starters for Sunday's match...
Terrible deicison by Emery.
2-0 up despite being outplayed yet again. Loving the result but the process is a tough watch!
Sums it up Buffy. 3 goals for 3 players yet to score, well done to all of them - especially Smith-Rowe, what a finish on the angle.
What an interesting game. We looked to be dominated most of the match, but Leno and some terrible finishing from Qarabag kept us in it. The early goal probably saw us taking the foot off the gas, but from what I've read the 3-5-2 (or however we structured it beyond the 3 defenders) worked well for the first 20 until Q figured out how to cope with the wing backs. The goals were good, and it could have been more towards the end with some chances from us not put away, sloppy passing. Hard to complain at 3-0 but I recall Welbeck blasting one over and Ozil having so many options but managing to dribble a pass directly to a Q defender. It's those moments I'd hope we start doing better with and use those moments to show we can be ruthless.
Kolasinac seemed to be very exposed at left wing back.
Appreciated Emery's half time magic once again, reverted to 4-5-1 at the expense of Monreal for Torreira, with Elneny in the hole and Iwobi/Smith-Rowe out wide.
With Leno, Sokratis, Holding all playing the full 90, and Monreal, Torreira played a half each, I'm hopeful they can all back up for the weekend.
Martinez*, but yes, this was similar to the last handful of games where we played poorly but still got the result. Quite strange. If this happens for the entire season, then so be it!
Playing with a back 3 was weird too and didn't seem to have much of a meaningful positive net gain.
Kolasinac is terrible and the sooner we ship him off, the better. He is not an able backup to Monreal.
Martinez? We played the full 90 with Leno...
Leno had a good night on reflection, the same for Sokratis & Holding.
My concern is though, Mustafi out Holding in didn't seem to make us more solid.
Our problems continue to come for out wide, with players getting in behind our full backs because they're pushed high, or they're overlapped because they have not enough support from our wide players.
If this is the format going forward we're relying heavily on our goal keeper, our CB's clearing the crosses, and the defensive mid/s tracking the late runs.
This is the stat block I enjoy looking at the most for analysing whether we were deserving of the results from a stats perspective. For a game I felt the opposition were all over us, they didn't have as many good chances as we did. Bit like the reverse of when we dominate possession but create sweet FA only to be hit on the counter.
Also, I thoroughly enjoyed this from Iwboi:
Iwobi nutmegs their captain and pushes him over #AFC pic.twitter.com/6XLVF2brRR
— ArsenalGIF (@ArsenalGIF) October 4, 2018
Really enjoying the change of style right now to efficient performances and winning games, a great change from recent times. I believe the performances will get better, however if someone had told me we'd win 10 games in a row with Emery in his first few months I'd have taken it in a heartbeat. We probably won't win anything this year, but I'm happy knowing we have a chance in any game we walk into.
Just to emphasise the fact Wenger is gone, just saw the stat that Soktatis is the first player to score for Arsenal who hadn't played competitively under Wenger. Then we had the 2nd and 3rd to do so too.
Martinez? We played the full 90 with Leno...
Leno had a good night on reflection, the same for Sokratis & Holding.
My concern is though, Mustafi out Holding in didn't seem to make us more solid.
Our problems continue to come for out wide, with players getting in behind our full backs because they're pushed high, or they're overlapped because they have not enough support from our wide players.
If this is the format going forward we're relying heavily on our goal keeper, our CB's clearing the crosses, and the defensive mid/s tracking the late runs.
Oh wow, I must've been bleary eyed ; think I just assumed it was Martinez. Going crazy.
Fudgeing hell what a performance! Torreira, Iwobi and Laca all superb for me. Auba and Ramsey both brilliant off the bench.
9 in a row lads. COYG!!!
What I'm loving most of all is that the level of camaraderie in the team is huge. Watching the goal celebrations, especially Laca running off to celebrate his first with Auba on the sideline, is just awesome to see and a totally different mentality than we've seen before.
I think we can all see the plan is starting to come together now. Yes our opponents haven't been of the highest quality in this winning streak but we still haven't had that many streaks this long, regardless of the opposition.
The way Emery wants them to be playing is becoming clearer and clearer. Some of the football this morning was very easy on the eye, the team are starting to know where players are supposed to be, they are able to play first time passes without looking up. That Ramsey goal was an absolute work of art.
Very promising stuff.
Lets not get too excited though! Saw some talk of challenging for the title on twitter, that needs bringing back down to earth, quick smart.
I think this winning sequence has shown us that the top 4 is the right goal at the moment. Baby steps!
Very promising that Aubameyang, Ozil, Ramsey and even Sokratis were not in the starting eleven this morning, yet we turned in that performance.
An excellent thing about Emery is that he's very experienced with the difficulties of the Europa league schedule. Our guys did not look tired one single bit this morning, I was very surprised. I thought he had gone too strong with his squad for Qarabag, but it seems he knew what the team were capable of.
Darren Burgess working his magic perhaps? I think the day off he gave them would have helped too. That consistency is squad across both competitions will be helping that sense of togetherness too.
That is the most fun I've had watching Arsenal for quite a long time.
For me, it is no surprise that our most cohesive performance came without Ozil and Ramsey in the starting lineup. I love both players, but I simply think that the modern game doesn't have as much of a place for 'free roaming' players like these who do not suit a specific system or role.
Guys like Welbeck, Iwobi, Lacazette and Torreira all had clearly defined roles on the pitch. Torreira, especially, was an absolutely dominant force in midfield - obviously it's just Fulham, but I feel like Torreira has the ability to play like that against anyone. Perhaps our most important player already.
I am unsure whether it was Emery's master plan or if it was just forced because Ozil/Ramsey were out, but the slight formation tweak to 4-4-2 really worked wonders. I've been thinking for a while that two up top would suit the squad we have, and it was nice to see it work so well.
Bellerin didn't struggle as much because he had someone helping him, and was able to get up and down without looking over his shoulder every two seconds. Mkhi and Iwobi provided a balance we haven't had all season.
I also think Welbz was a bit of an unsung hero, his runs in the first half made the difference, and his link up play with Iwobi was outstanding.
Onwards and upwards - it's a shame we have an international break now. I still think there are 3 teams better than us in the prem, but that makes a good change from there being 5 teams better than us.
Yes Torreira looks an absolute beast. He just seems to read the game better than anyone, always a half step ahead of things. When most of our guys are retreating backward, there he is, darting forward and winning the ball.
That is the most fun I've had watching Arsenal for quite a long time.
For me, it is no surprise that our most cohesive performance came without Ozil and Ramsey in the starting lineup. I love both players, but I simply think that the modern game doesn't have as much of a place for 'free roaming' players like these who do not suit a specific system or role.
A bit unfair on Ramsey as he ended up with a goal and an assist and his positional flexibility ensured he was a big part of one of the most aesthetically pleasing team goals I have ever seen.