Match Reaction v Wolves (away)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Look at us beating a Big Six team away. :ninja:

Only three points behind Wolves now.

Mostly did what Wolves tend to do to teams. :scarf:

Saka. :bow:

Finally Lacazette scores away from home again.

[Marc Overmars]

Top result. Probably our best since beating United.

Wolves don’t lose many so they should take a lot of encouragement from that. Nice to have another clean sheet too.

Keep it going lads.

[dazthegooner]

Finally Lacazette scores away from home again.[/QUOTE]

We'll probably offer him an improved contract now <_<

[I am invisible]

We had a defence of Mustafi, Luiz and Kolasinac today - just let that sink in for a second: Mustafi, Luiz and Kolasinac... with Xhaka protecting them - and we kept a clean sheet!

Away!

[Master Splinter]

Probably the best result/performance of the season if you look at Wolves' form.

Wolves had one clear chance, but apart from that we successfully shut down Traore and Jimenez barely touched the ball.

Martinez was superb again.

Arteta used the subs really well today and even Lacazette had a positive contribution.

Our professionalism overcame the cheatinng ref today, but it would be nice not to start with that handicap every game.

[Globalgunner]

Seems we play well when the crowds are not there to intimidate us. Is this the future?

Laca. Really happy for him. He is more composed a finisher than the kids, He needs to fight a bit more to get the goals

[Globalgunner]

We had a defence of Mustafi, Luiz and Kolasinac today - just let that sink in for a second: Mustafi, Luiz and Kolasinac... with Xhaka protecting them - and we kept a clean sheet!

Away!

Imagine what we could do with a step upgrade on all 4

[I am invisible]

Imagine what we could do with a step upgrade on all 4
For one thing we wouldn’t be locked into a single formation that is mostly designed to cover for their limitations.

[Unai Tea]

I wonder if our 4th win in a row will mean a thread about a win gets past 3 pages. Generally losses here lead to 7-10 pages of moaning, negativity and recrimination. Wins generally pass without much comment.

Arteta is doing a great job and he's been a breath of fresh air. He's not a magician but things are finally moving in a positive direction.

[GP]

I wonder if our 4th win in a row will mean a thread about a win gets past 3 pages. Generally losses here lead to 7-10 pages of moaning, negativity and recrimination. Wins generally pass without much comment.

Arteta is doing a great job and he's been a breath of fresh air. He's not a magician but things are finally moving in a positive direction.

Even write-offs like Mustafi and Xhaka are stepping up.

Lovely stuff.

[Marc Overmars]

I feel Mustafi is playing for his future and he’s certainly putting in a good case for himself. Xhaka has actually been quite consistent for a long time now and is by far and away our best centre midfielder, granted it isn’t saying much because of our lack of options, but quite a turnaround after the incident with the fans none the less.

[The Wengerbabies]

Good win.

[I am invisible]

I wonder if our 4th win in a row will mean a thread about a win gets past 3 pages. Generally losses here lead to 7-10 pages of moaning, negativity and recrimination. Wins generally pass without much comment.

Arteta is doing a great job and he's been a breath of fresh air. He's not a magician but things are finally moving in a positive direction.
I think Arteta’s doing a great job considering what he has to work with, which is basically bits and pieces of a side - been quietly impressed with how he keeps finding uses for problem players, and ways to limit exposing their weaknesses.

It’s not exactly sexy football - probably won’t be until he starts building his own side out - and we’re probably going to get schooled a few more times along the way because, frankly, there’s some much better sides than us in the league right now. But I’ll be happy for the rest of this season if we can keep getting wins in the games that we stand a fair chance in.

[Letters]

I wonder if our 4th win in a row will mean a thread about a win gets past 3 pages. Generally losses here lead to 7-10 pages of moaning, negativity and recrimination. Wins generally pass without much comment.

Arteta is doing a great job and he's been a breath of fresh air. He's not a magician but things are finally moving in a positive direction.

I imagine our whiner in chief will be in Zimbernation till the next loss...

Good result today, wasn't expecting that. As usual on here, people were writing Arteta off after the 2 losses when we resumed.
We are a million miles away from the top 2 but no-one else is that much better than us if at all. Arteta's done enough to get a transfer window and a full season.

[Mac76]

Anyone would think we won at the etihad the way you're talking, wolves had enough set-pieces and moves on goal to have scored more than once, but lucky for us they were utter trash whenever they got anywhere near our penalty area, they'd be relegated if they played like that every week

Good take from saka and one or two good moves but still not that great really, i think we can maybe overtake wolves but we won't catch any of the other top six teams

So it's the EL again for us :ilt:

[Unai Tea]

I'm just beginning to feel like amidst the wreckage and detritus of this season, and probably the last few, we have some pieces which, if you look hard enough, could become a decent team. There is a nice cadre of young up and coming players, a world class striker, a couple good keepers, and some players who have been re-purposed, recycled and re-invented. On top of that, I think we have a young, bright and talented manager who has a plan, has an ability to communicate that plan, and has been resolute in focussing on building something, rather than patching things up and floating around to different ideas and different principles based on expediency.

Green shoots of promise only at this stage. We still need to add 3-4 high quality players (maybe Saliba is one of them), and ship out 3-4 players who are dragging us down. Then time and hard work should slowly allow us to work our way back to respectability. I think Arteta is doing what needs to be done on the pitch and on the practice field. My biggest concern is the backroom - can they step up and recruit well, manage our contracts more effectively, and generally, give Arteta the ammunition he needs to implement his plan.

[LDG]

Arteta is a good manager. It’s clear he has given the team a shape and we’re starting to make it harder for the other team.

However, you can only do so much with some of the crap we have on the pitch.

Kolasniac and Cedric were appalling yesterday. Can’t pass, can’t defend.

The passing in general was absolute dogshit. To play posession football with any potency, you need to be able to move the ball quickly and with forward momentum. Our lot mostly pass backwards and sideways, with too many errors costing possession.

It’s easy for the opposition to break up play where square passes are the norm. We lack the brains to carry out the instruction.

Saka, Willock and Tierney are class. They give loads of hope...fingers crossed we can shift a few players for cash and reinvest in players who can make Artetas vision reality.

Green shoots

[I am invisible]

Honestly, I’m not sure beautiful, possession football is even on the agenda this year? If you listen to his interviews, I think Arteta knows full well that he’s working with a limited set of attributes here (both technical and physical), and it looks like he’s come up with a plan to simply get us through this season that should be within this group’s capabilities: work hard, stay organised and hope we still have enough quality up top to put away the chances that come our way.

I think the main goal for the second half of this season was to re-establish professional standards and culture, and I’m really glad he’s starting to see the rewards for that in the results. It’s meant sacrificing some talented players when they’ve not been putting in the effort, and that’s meant we haven’t always been able to pick our (on-paper) best XI, but I’m really glad he’s stuck to his guns and not gone crawling back to problem players, cap in hand, when we’ve been desperate - it’s left us with a group that have all ‘bought in’, and are at least giving their best effort, even if they don’t always have the quality to beat some opponents.

And look, there’s going to be games like Brighton along the way - we’re battling 10 years of gradual decline under Wenger here, on top of the absolute ruination that was Emery, so there’s going to be days where we regress - progress is never perfectly linear. And Arteta himself is still a rookie - I actually rate his coaching ability higher than a lot of his direct rivals, but he’s unquestionably still got a lot to learn about in-game management, which might cost us at times. I’m ok with that, though - realistically, we’re looking at a 3-5 year project here, so we’ve got time for him to pick these things up as the team grows around him.

[Marc Overmars]

I’ll settle for an improvement in standards, culture and functionality. Creatively we don’t have much to offer right now, every game we win can only be described as functional, but hopefully that comes in time.

This season was always going to be disposable. Next year should be the making of Arteta, if he’s good enough of course.

[Niall_Quinn]

Just a slight twist of the dial for more tempo in the play - that would make a huge difference and bring out the best in players like Auba. Slow and plodding all over the pitch means players who have a little bit more in them than the basic square pass have to generate momentum themselves from a standing start, rather than latch on to it and use their edge in talent to waste the defender. We know we can up the tempo if we need to, we know we score goals when we do it. But it's such a rarity, once and if we're very lucky, twice, a game. Otherwise, tap, tap, tap, and constant probing - but sideways.

What's with the continued use of the ruinous tactic that sees the keeper pass short to a player on the edge of the box who is immediately under pressure? Why would we ever do that, and why do we continue to do it?

[Penguin]

Arteta is a good manager. It’s clear he has given the team a shape and we’re starting to make it harder for the other team.

However, you can only do so much with some of the crap we have on the pitch.

Kolasniac and Cedric were appalling yesterday. Can’t pass, can’t defend.

The passing in general was absolute dogshit. To play posession football with any potency, you need to be able to move the ball quickly and with forward momentum. Our lot mostly pass backwards and sideways, with too many errors costing possession.

It’s easy for the opposition to break up play where square passes are the norm. We lack the brains to carry out the instruction.

Saka, Willock and Tierney are class. They give loads of hope...fingers crossed we can shift a few players for cash and reinvest in players who can make Artetas vision reality.

Green shoots

Our passing is appalling. Arteta said he was going to give us back our identity but from the looks of it he won't be able to with the current squad. Lack of quality all over the pitch, not just the defence.

Hopefully we can make some shrewd signings in the summer, if we go into next season with the same core of players (maybe even minus Auba), Arteta has no chance.

[Master Splinter]

The league table in 2020:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/LB-FOOTBALL-JAN1ST.jpg?w=670


It reflects what some have already pointed out, in that the Brighton result was a blip. The two defeats on top of one another made the situation appear worse than what it was. We really shouldn't have lost to Brighton, but in both that and the Citeh game, we lost players to injury and were victims of self-harm and dreadful officiating.

The fact that Arteta has done all this with a ramshackle squad and so many injuries is really impressive. You hear so much about all-conquering perennial 5/6th placers Manchester United, Lamps' wonderful "youngsters" and Brentan's Leicester, but Arteta is outperforming them all.

And before the inevitable nuance-less miserablist responses, no-one thinks we're a brilliantly run club and that our football is attractive at the moment, but it can't be denied that Arteta is doing some really good work so far.

[Niall_Quinn]

Spuds :haha: