As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
Let the fun begin !. We'll probably put out our aged superstars (in their own minds), & get thumped. But for me , who I'm sad to say watched the mighty Ian Ure in the 60's, this will still be a team wearing red/white running around looking just superb !!. At this stage of the season it doesn't really matter. Don't play any old fellas & just see what happens. Nice to be back.
There's likely to be a few surprise scorelines over the next week so maybe we'll nick a win against the odds. Some computer has predicted a 7-3 defeat for us which tells you all you need to know about our defence!
I too confess to having watched Ian Ure in my youth. On one occasion, as i recall, he controlled the ball on his chest then his knee and finally his foot to a huge roar of approval as it was totally out of character.
Let the fun begin !. We'll probably put out our aged superstars (in their own minds), & get thumped. But for me , who I'm sad to say watched the mighty Ian Ure in the 60's, this will still be a team wearing red/white running around looking just superb !!. At this stage of the season it doesn't really matter. Don't play any old fellas & just see what happens. Nice to be back.
Nobody can say for absolute sure that we wont get top 4 (although it is HIGHLY unlikely), and none of us would put too much money on these c.unts qualifying for next season's europa league either, so I too am tempted to throw caution to the wind for remainder of the season and use these games as trials for the young players at the club - I honestly dont know if there are many/any older experienced players that are in the "dont sell under any circumstances" category, so lets see what we have to work with if they were sold. Is nketieh good enough ? Personally I dont think so, but lets give him a run of games and see for sure. Same applies to nelson, holding, guendouzi and willock - give them game time and see if they are worth keeping or not. Personally I would liked to have been able to play smith-rowe in these games cos I think that there is a real player in him, but he will need another season away on loan imo.
Anyway all of that is moot cos 99% of managers are in the "win now" mindset, and surprisingly enough arteta is absolutely one of them - I thought that when you appoint a young manager with zero managerial experience and call him a head coach rather than a manager, then you are doing so on the basis of it being a medium to long term project, and with the head coaches responsibility to coach and build with youth, but nothing arteta is doing suggests that he is operating that way. Maybe he is feeling under pressure to win now, or maybe he doesnt know how to coach and communicate with young players that still need developing, cos lets face it, coaching sterling is easier than coaching nelson (and I am only using them as an example), and he has now experience of dealing with anything less than high quality players and we dont have them
Let the fun begin !. We'll probably put out our aged superstars (in their own minds), & get thumped. But for me , who I'm sad to say watched the mighty Ian Ure in the 60's, this will still be a team wearing red/white running around looking just superb !!. At this stage of the season it doesn't really matter. Don't play any old fellas & just see what happens. Nice to be back.
Nobody can say for absolute sure that we wont get top 4 (although it is HIGHLY unlikely), and none of us would put too much money on these c.unts qualifying for next season's europa league either, so I too am tempted to throw caution to the wind for remainder of the season and use these games as trials for the young players at the club - I honestly dont know if there are many/any older experienced players that are in the "dont sell under any circumstances" category, so lets see what we have to work with if they were sold. Is nketieh good enough ? Personally I dont think so, but lets give him a run of games and see for sure. Same applies to nelson, holding, guendouzi and willock - give them game time and see if they are worth keeping or not. Personally I would liked to have been able to play smith-rowe in these games cos I think that there is a real player in him, but he will need another season away on loan imo.
Anyway all of that is moot cos 99% of managers are in the "win now" mindset, and surprisingly enough arteta is absolutely one of them - I thought that when you appoint a young manager with zero managerial experience and call him a head coach rather than a manager, then you are doing so on the basis of it being a medium to long term project, and with the head coaches responsibility to coach and build with youth, but nothing arteta is doing suggests that he is operating that way. Maybe he is feeling under pressure to win now, or maybe he doesnt know how to coach and communicate with young players that still need developing, cos lets face it, coaching sterling is easier than coaching nelson (and I am only using them as an example), and he has now experience of dealing with anything less than high quality players and we dont have them
I have seen enough of Nketiah to know he's good enough, but he needs the service and a team behind him that can dominate games.
It's so good to look forward to footy isn't it Augie, and just to cap it off the Spuds and Pool games are around my bday. Never happened in my lifetime!
In a way I am looking forward to it cos I will be able to see all of our games on a proper tv instead of a poxy laptop monitor, but I'll be honest and say That I am also nervous about the immediate future too - in wenger's last number of years we knew that we were gonna be fcuked as long as he was here, and in emery's last few months you knew he was fcuked cos he had lost the dressing room and a large percentage of the fans, but for me arteta is still teetering on the edge and could go either way with fans not sure whether to buy into him or write him off. The free pass that he has got on some debatable decisions will disappear quickly if he doesnt appear to have learned from it. I suspect keeping faith with xhaka and ozil will be 2 deal breakers with most fans, and whilst fans will be patient with young players mistakes, there will be little or no tolerance for those 2 players or arteta if he continues to pick them.
I know that I keep stressing the point, but his commitment or lack thereof to developing our young players is the biggest deal breaker for me - drift away from that and he will have little or no wiggle room for mistakes with me
In a way I am looking forward to it cos I will be able to see all of our games on a proper tv instead of a poxy laptop monitor, but I'll be honest and say That I am also nervous about the immediate future too - in wenger's last number of years we knew that we were gonna be fcuked as long as he was here, and in emery's last few months you knew he was fcuked cos he had lost the dressing room and a large percentage of the fans, but for me arteta is still teetering on the edge and could go either way with fans not sure whether to buy into him or write him off. The free pass that he has got on some debatable decisions will disappear quickly if he doesnt appear to have learned from it. I suspect keeping faith with xhaka and ozil will be 2 deal breakers with most fans, and whilst fans will be patient with young players mistakes, there will be little or no tolerance for those 2 players or arteta if he continues to pick them.
I know that I keep stressing the point, but his commitment or lack thereof to developing our young players is the biggest deal breaker for me - drift away from that and he will have little or no wiggle room for mistakes with me
You recent posts reflect my view Augie.I am willing him to work out but in the back of my mind I keep thinking we have another late years Wenger on our hands with his tinkering of players position s.I am hoping I am wrong and it is great to talk about football again.
To be honest whilst I understand Augie and John Fs viewpoint I personally dont expect anything from Arteta for the rest of the season, there has been too much disruption to the season, and this goes for all teams. I genuinely expect some very odd results to be thrown up for what remains of this season.
Much in the way that I will be very rusty when I go back to work properly I expect many of the players will have lost any rhythm they had as the season progressed, add to this neutral grounds, no spectators, on off social distancing in training and no matter how professional, or not, the players are it will be more like pre-season than the final quarter of the season, for the first 3 or 4 games anyway. The only advantage is that there will be none of the usual interruptions for internationals or other competitions.
To be honest whilst I understand Augie and John Fs viewpoint I personally dont expect anything from Arteta for the rest of the season, there has been too much disruption to the season, and this goes for all teams. I genuinely expect some very odd results to be thrown up for what remains of this season.
Much in the way that I will be very rusty when I go back to work properly I expect many of the players will have lost any rhythm they had as the season progressed, add to this neutral grounds, no spectators, on off social distancing in training and no matter how professional, or not, the players are it will be more like pre-season than the final quarter of the season, for the first 3 or 4 games anyway. The only advantage is that there will be none of the usual interruptions for internationals or other competitions.
Just a thought but may see some big scorelines as well...
There will be some novelty factor the first few games I’m sure but basically the end of this season will probably be a bit of a bore.
End of season games are bad enough anyway but with no fans, and every match kicking off at a different time it could be especially bad.
I’m still of the view as well that all euro/international football should be cancelled next season and that countries should just aim to complete their domestic fixtures. The plAyers might then get some kind of rest before the Euros. I did read somewhere that UEFA still plan to run the Nations league next season. Complete madness!
Totally disagree with Merson on our defenders needing the crowd on their back to get them play better. I believe they'll play better without the crowd. He highlighted Luiz for losing the ball in the friendly against Brentford, but failed to observe that we had the opportunity to challenge for the ball at least four times before the goal, yet no one made a challenge. Was it due to being a friendly and no one wanted to risk injury?
Personally, I think we will benefit on our travels with no supporters. It will be much more difficult for the home team players. Saying that it is City and behind closed doors they are a still better team than us.
I thought season ticket holders got free access to the games via arsenal player ,how wrong was I !
I predict a massive bumming by City by 5 or 6 goals !
Last edited by Herd on Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
