***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

[Suntan Superman]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

I've been soured on Guendouzi for awhile. The stark difference between him and Torreira with the ball tells me a lot about the maturity levels of the two.

[JHedges2]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

I've been soured on Guendouzi for awhile. The stark difference between him and Torreira with the ball tells me a lot about the maturity levels of the two.

19 years old, French League 2 player vs a 22 year old Serie A Uruguay International.

Cut him some slack lol.

You're absolutely right, but I think we can all agree he's far exceeded expectations and has a seemingly very bright future.

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[Krebstar]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

Guendouzi's passing range is magnificent, which is enough to give me hope for the future. He's young, and will learn lots this season, but the raw talent is there.

[Suntan Superman]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

19 years old, French League 2 player vs a 22 year old Serie A Uruguay International.

Cut him some slack lol.

You're absolutely right, but I think we can all agree he's far exceeded expectations and has a seemingly very bright future.

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Cutting people slack constantly is what we did with Wenger. I'm off that boat. If you don't perform I have no qualms with showing you where the bench is. I hope we don't start him in important league games ahead of Torreira now that Torreira appears to be up to speed.


He started out like a house on fire, I agree with that, he seems a shade overwhelmed right now, I think what he really needs is some consistent game-time at a mid-tier side. He gets to be an important part of a midfield, while gaining valuable experience. I wouldn't be mad at all if we were able to bring in a veteran midfielder to replace him and bring him back in to the first team when he's 22.

[Krebstar]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

He started out like a house on fire, I agree with that...

To me, this is the most important part. He started very well, and was rewarded for it with playing time. Something Emery has done well is to have a meritocracy. He played well to start, trained with the team in the offseason, and was rewarded justly.

It's only natural that players of better ability have now slotted into his spot, but I like that he hasn't been cast out entirely.

Two things Arsene started to do more and more bothered me. First, too many players were guaranteed spots in the squad when their form did not merit it. Second, he would often entirely drop young players who didn't have amazing games then talk about how they're low on confidence.

It's not surprising Iwobi has been playing well under Emery, as it seemed under Arsene his confidence was shot.

[JHedges2]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

Absolutely love the line up...

Arsenal XI: Leno, Bellerín, Mustafi, Holding, Kolasinac, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Özil, Aubameyang, Lacazette.

I fancy our chances as long as we can survive the first 30 minutes.

I've not been this amped for a game in a long time. Come on, you Gunners.

[Krebstar]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

Let's look at our biggest matches this year in context...

Arsenal 0 - 2 Man City
First game of the season, against the defending champions and under a new manager. We never stood a chance here, and it should be nearly forgotten in terms of how we've played against our top six rivals. It was essentially an entirely different team.

Chelsea 3 - 2 Arsenal
Nearly a draw, came back from down 2-0 on the road in the second match of the season. Yes, it's Sarri's first season in charge, but if you look at the squad I'd say it's easier for them to adapt to attacking more than our squad adapting to Emery. Plus, their squad has become adept at working under new managers, where ours certainly had not. If not for a goal in the 81st minute, we would've come away with a great point on the road.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Liverpool
A game which wasn't supposed to be close. Liverpool would embarrass Arsenal and show everyone just how far behind they still are. Instead, we completely earned ourselves a point, dominated for a stretch, and troubled them on several occasions. We come away with a point in which is Emery's first true test against a top six side—the process is working, keep it up lads.

We have a long way to go, but we're not as **** as some would have you believe just because we're beating the teams we're supposed to beat and competing with those we're supposed to compete with.

[JHedges2]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

What a game.

I thought everyone was brilliant tonight. Miki didn't have his best game, but he was clearly working hard--have to give him that. The CB pairing of Mustafi and Holding were excellent.

Torreria. Wow. What an absolute gem of a player.

So good to have Kolasinac back at LB and Xhaka in his much better suited position alongside Torreria.

Iwobi came on and was brilliant (again).

There's admittedly still work to be done, but they are far ahead of schedule in my opinion, and I am absolutely buzzing about the status of the club. Can't wait to watch them play again. #COYG

[RoyceDa59]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

It was a fantastic match to watch even after they went a goal down I still felt like they were still in it. In the past I would have just cut that game off and would have expected Liverpool to just roll on afterwards. Was really impressed by Xhaka, looks like a completely different player under Emery.

[Suntan Superman]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

Lucas Torreira is the EXACT person we needed next to Xhaka. His passing frees Xhaka's excellent forward movement, and his responsibility means that we don't get caught out. I think this is very close to our best XI. and perhaps with a few more minutes to gain cohesion, it just is our best XI.

[Krebstar]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

Lucas Torreira is the EXACT person we needed next to Xhaka. His passing frees Xhaka's excellent forward movement, and his responsibility means that we don't get caught out. I think this is very close to our best XI. and perhaps with a few more minutes to gain cohesion, it just is our best XI.

His performances will also hopefully put an end to the nonsensical notion that our recruitment policy is simply bringing in players that Mislintat brought in at Dortmund.

He's an absolute joy to watch play.

[JHedges2]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

He's an absolute joy to watch play.

His anticipation, positioning, and work rates are just exceptional.

Yes, an absolute joy to watch. And he's only 22.

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[KG]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

The frustrating thing about the winning streak ending is the "see, we all knew they were playing against awful teams, and playing awful, it didn't matter" nonsense. If any other top six side won that many games consecutively right now I don't know if it would've been met with such meh. But, due to last season, I get it, and I know it's not as if we were dominating each match.

Still, that's a hell of a stretch. It wasn't eleven undefeated, it was eleven wins. It has put us in a great spot in terms of fighting for the top four and has certainly helped build confidence.

There's a ton to work on, but that was a fantastic run. Play the damn kids in the cup this week and give everyone a rest. Huge match on Saturday which we need to get something from.

Not too discredit ya'll because 11 on the bounce is impressive as hell no matter who it is but the "meh" is probably due in part to City, Chelsea, and Pool all starting the season off unbeaten.

Personally though, if I was a Gunners fan I'd be extremely happy with where you're at and the fact that no one expects you realistically challenge for a Top 4 spot. Emery seems to have his best lineup figured out and you're deep enough to rotate in Europe/Cups plus you've actually shown heart (coming back against Chelsea and Pool) against Top 6 sides for the first time in forever. Had the schedule makers not screwed you with the opening 2 fixtures you might have even run off more wins in a row.


/enoughwiththeArsenalpositivity

[jb12780]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

This has been the first season in a while where I’m excited for Arsenal matches on a weekly basis.

Emery was the signing of the season for Arsenal.


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[Krebstar]

Re: ***The Official Arsenal Gunners" Thread***

Not too discredit ya'll because 11 on the bounce is impressive as hell no matter who it is but the "meh" is probably due in part to City, Chelsea, and Pool all starting the season off unbeaten.

Really, it's just a symptom of my massive annoyance with the complete laziness of the media when they've had to discuss the club for the most part. I know, football media is quite lazy and reactionary.

However, it's frustrating to hear people not even be willing to realize that this is not the exact same squad with the exact same issues. More than just the manager changed, and it is showing. The notion that we hadn't done much by beating all the teams we should beat, which was our issue for years, was just incredibly annoying.

As is the pathetic coverage any of our performances receive. Today, I heard someone mention that it was a good thing Guendouzi got a red card, as the Torreira / Xhaka partnership really worked so it let them do their thing. If I were being paid to talk about that match, I'd surely know that it was very clear Guendouzi was not in starting contention.

Today I also heard "you're not winning the league with Xhaka and Holding." One is a very young defender, the other is a massively improved player still trying to overcome the bias that has built up against him. Plus, we're not aiming to win the damn league this year or next year.

I know, it's pointless to be annoyed or even mention such things, but it's just down to pure laziness. Journalists finally have new things to discuss when Arsenal are the talking point, but they're still reverting to the same jokes and incorrect stereotypes.

Personally though, if I was a Gunners fan I'd be extremely happy with where you're at and the fact that no one expects you realistically challenge for a Top 4 spot. Emery seems to have his best lineup figured out and you're deep enough to rotate in Europe/Cups plus you've actually shown heart (coming back against Chelsea and Pool) against Top 6 sides for the first time in forever. Had the schedule makers not screwed you with the opening 2 fixtures you might have even run off more wins in a row.

I'm ****ing thrilled. We're a legitimate contender for 4th, which is what we need. We can not miss out another year, and I don't expect us to do anything above 4th, but we're showing we're capable of it this year which honestly I didn't think we would be at the start.

Even if we finish below that, we're showing progress, and building towards something instead of stagnating and sinking deeper.