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Up the Arse! Goons Thread

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It has been quite amusing, the same types who clutch their pearls about Arsenal's behaviour - shithousery, time wasting, sitting back defending a lead - are now suddenly all in on it as playing Arsenal at their own game.

I wonder what Rodri thinks of a team setting up this way away in a big match, he’s been very vocal on this point before :D
 
Arteta playing a Merino, Rice and Zubimendi midfield again, after it has already shown over the previous two games that it lacks any creativity - and then defending the decision, is pretty laughable. Get Eze in there until Ødegaard is ready.
 

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Went to bed at the 76th minute mark so missed the equaliser, so that's what I get for being a little bitch.

I still think rightly that Arteta needs to be criticised for his starting line-up against City. I get it, I know he's pragmatic and after having been 2nd best to teams like Liverpool and Man City for a number of years, its natural to want to be compact and defensive minded first so we don't get battered 4-0 but this is a different Arsenal team now. We should be backing ourselves to dominate games.

We should be taking it to these teams, especially City. Last night they looked poor and, apart from the Halaand goal and a couple of Dorku runs, looked like a £2 billion Stoke team.

Arteta should have started Eze in place of Merino, or, started Eze and moved Merino out into Trossard's role if he was worried about being exposed. Then Merino could drop back into midfield when needed. As soon as both Saka and Eze came on, we looked like team with purpose. I was super disappointed Noni was taken off, hard to argue if he had a knock though.

Althought, I also think Arteta was caught off-guard with how negative and poor City were. I think he was expecting them to be way more attacking than what they showed.

Also, we were super poor for Halaands' goal. I know he's fast but come on.....literally 3 touches for City to go from virtually their own box to scoring isn't good enough. Halaand runs in straight lines, its not like he's zipping, dodging and weaving in and out of space.....Gabriel should have chopped him down as soon as he realised he was going to be on the break. Take the yellow card for the professional foul. For a Dark Arts team we really missed that cynical chance.

Also, **** you PSG for being a shitty oil team refusing to pay Donnarumma what he's worth being now you care about "wage structures" and all that bullshit, allowing City to get one of the best keepers in the World for basically a bag of chips. Must be nice getting free hits on generational talents, Donnarumma for £23m + Halaand for £50m.

Newcastle away next, at least no Isak to deal with. I rate Woltemade and at nearly 2 meters tall he's going to be a handful for Saliba and Gabby but hopefully we can get 3 points. If we do then it's been a decent start to the season having taken 7/12 points from Liverpool (away), Man United (away), Man City (home) and Newcastle (away) within the first 6 games.

Then some breathing room (although 3 London derbies in a row) with West ham, Fulham, Palace, follow by Burley and Sunderland.
 
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I was a little surprised Trossard started. I thought it may have been Martinelli, but more likely Eze.

I like Merino, but that midfield three lacks creativity, and it showed that's what we needed last night.

I don't think anybody expected City to play the way they did. We were poor for 35 mins, and then we started to find our feet and take the game to them. Noni was great, and despite his knock, it was handy to have Saka come back. Eze was very good and he must start against Newcastle.

Doku was very good. When Nunes came on I thought he would be great to be targeted, but he was excellent I thought.

Donnarumma wasted a lot of time and I thought he would have got booked in the first half for time wasting.

The whole Trossard/Bernardo exchange was ridiculous from both of them. Dickheads.
 
Right on half time he looked a bit proppy on his feet and was walking off with a grimace. I’d be staggered if it was an ACL or anything like that, he was moving fine during the first half and I cannot recall any standout moment where he twisted or fell.
 

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2 months, damn. At least there’s two international breaks without that time period, however that’s still a hell of a blow.

Arteta needs to be cautious not to then completely overload Saka. Dowman hopefully to start getting some minutes, he should start at Port Vale.

Martinelli another option to share some minutes on the right, I wouldn’t mind seeing him given a run in the middle as well by the way.
 
Hincapie has a groin injury, supposedly happened in his 6-7 minutes against Athletic Club. That’s a shame as surely he would’ve started tomorrow morning. Means that one of Saliba/Gabriel/Calafiori likely needed as a centre half alongside Kepa, White, Mosquera and MLS in the back 5.

Gyokeres should sit this one out entirely I feel. I imagine Saka will feature in some capacity too.
 

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Lovely from Trossard. 2 nil. We really should play that ball more often.

Gyokeres should have hit his first time when played in by Dowman.
This is where I believe Gyokeres excels. Need to release early balls when there is space in behind every now and then. Makes it easy for defenders when they just pack the box. If we have them being nervous that balls will go over the top as well, that will make us a much more threatening side.
 

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Up the Arse! Goons Thread

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