Looking a Little Better; Man City Tomorrow Though

As it happens, I couldn't watch the last two games in real time.  I did follow along with the audio commentary at Liege.  Our defensive frailties are still evident, but finally the offense is starting to click.  The excellent performance of our young guys is especially heartening.  City will be a real test, but the men will have to believe they can win this game, despite our current injury crisis with both first choice fullbacks.  I continue to believe that Holding and Chambers are our best center backs now, and are the future, with Saliba of course.  But I'm resigned to seeing at least one of the older, error-prone guys in there who will probably be turned inside out by Aguero.

I have no confidence that our execs will choose the best candidate for the coaching job.  I like what Freddie's trying to do, but he's not allowed to hire a staff so there's a limit to what he can work on.  It's a case of trying to hang in there and not drop too many more points until the new guy can address what's wrong.  The January window might bring a little help, but I'm not expecting much.  Can we give Ceballos back and get a partial refund?

Well, hoping for the best.  Statistically, we outplayed Liege by a good margin.  In highlights, I saw their keeper make a couple great saves.  The first team should give City some problems, but our defenders will have to be harder to play against than they have been.  Torreira-Guendouzi in the middle of the midfield?  Laca maybe should sit this one out so Auba can fill the CF spot.

ARS 1-2 BHA

This is a lost season.  We won't be in Europe next year at all unless there's a dramatic turnaround, and we won't deserve to be.  I still believe we have a fantastic set of offensive players, and the talent is there to do a lot better.  But we're so easy to play against.

I will try to take a break from Arsenal.  If it's not fun, don't do it, right?  And watching these millionaires underachieve is not fun.

NOR 2-2 ARS : Freddie Couldn't Fix Everything in Two Days!

I'll get the negative comment out of the way early:  Luiz and Mustafi are a terrible CB pairing and Freddie shouldn't have picked them.  One or the other with Holding, OK. 

It's pathetic that dropping two points in a fair result away to a bottom-dweller looks like progress after dropping two points at home to a bottom-dweller we were lucky to draw against.  But there we are.  We were still ridiculously easy to play against, but the attack was more incisive and the ball moved quicker on offense.  The games come thick and fast this month, so there will be ample opportunity to see if we can improve under Freddie.  It was not going to happen with Emery.

I liked the classy way AFC and Emery parted ways.  The players were circumspect and respectful, and Emery was gracious.  His whole staff was ousted, which makes sense, so I hope we have cover.  Moving Per in was good.

Nothing to Say Except EMERY OUT

Kroenke Sports "Entertainment" serves up another steaming turd.  At this point, I'd trade managers with just about anybody.  Let Freddie take over.  Lure Eddie Howe to break his contract.  Snap up Pochettino if he's mad enough at his sacking to break his vow never to coach at the Emirates.  Ask Arteta if he'd consider the job.  Anything but more Emeryball.  Exactly why anyone thought that the man who managed to avoid winning Ligue 1 coaching PSG could follow Wenger is a deep mystery.  He had a good stretch last fall, but since then he's been crap.  The club bought excellent additions and our academy has produced several very good players.  For about two weeks, Arsenal was in the unfamiliar position of having no players injured, and we've never had an actual injury crisis in the Emery era.  Kos left in disgust and Ramsey beat it out of town.  Xhaka has been ruined.  Ozil was humiliated.  Torreira is played out of position.  Good players are getting worse every week under Emery's tutelage.  The past 30 league games or so have got to be the worst run Arsenal has had in decades--and this is a very talented team.

C'mon, Raul and Josh--pull the trigger.  You know Edu wants to.  If they haven't been talking to candidates for weeks, it's only out of stupidity.  Stan is losing millions of pounds a week at this rate; the Gunners are going to finish in 12th unless Emery is sacked soon.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Wolves

Pathetic.  Outshot and outplayed at home.  We were fortunate to get anything out of that game.  I won't bore you by repeating the obvious comments about team selection, tactics, and substitutions.  Saka for Torreira just before their equalizer and switching our left backs when we should have been chasing a winner were clown moves.  Every day that Emery is left in place is a day wasted as the team slides backwards.  He should have been replaced weeks ago.

I think Wenger had to go, but with this squad he would have at least 22 points after 11 games, not 17.  We downgraded in the manager position.  When's the last time Arsenal has been pretty much 100% healthy?  Mavropanos and Nelson are playing U23, Bellerin, Tierney. and Holding are back and rounding into form.  We are poised for takeoff, if we can find a decent pilot.  Let Freddie hold the reins until we can get a more experienced hand.  He can't do worse than Emery.

Sheffield United 1 - 0 Arsenal

Give the Blades some credit; they played hard and smart.  But as soon as I saw the starting lineup, I knew we were in for disappointment.  What is Emery waiting for with Bellerin, Tierney, and Holding?  Why no Ozil?  Why, oh why, Xhaka?  At this point, I'm eager to see what a better manager can get out of this very talented Arsenal squad,  It has to be more than Emery is getting.

Arsenal 1 - 0 Bournemouth

It's embarrassing that the Gunners scored just once in the first half against what looked like eleven sleepwalkers.  Howe woke them up for the second, and the Cherries could have scored, but they didn't, and we got the three points we needed to climb into sole possession of third place, just one point back of Man City, who got outplayed 0-2 at the Etihad by Wolves.  At this point, I just hope Liverpool loses a game somewhere along the way so they aren't Invincibles too.  It's their league already, eight games in.  Man U and Spuds also lost in humiliating fashion, so we have a little cushion in the early going.  We'll need it if we don't start playing better in the league.

After the international break, our first eleven should be:

                             Leno

Bellerin  Chambers   Holding   Tierney

                  Torreira  Guendouzi

                          Willock

Aubameyang                             Saka

                       Lacazette


...if Laca is fit, of course.  Xhaka, Ceballos, and Ozil could play in MF when the situation called for it.  Nelson and Pepe are quality threats up front.  I'd relegate AMN, Kolasinac, Mustafi, Luiz, and Sokratis to backup/cup status in defense, but any of them could supplement the starting central defenders in a back three if Emery decided that was his formation (and honestly, I'd like to see that).  This team is really deep now, with a great mix of veterans, players in their prime, and young guys still improving.  The only first team players who seem to have no future at Arsenal are Ozil, Mustafi, and Mavropanos, and we have to move at least the first two on at our earliest opportunity.  I was sorry to see Iwobi sold, but after seeing Saka, Nelson, and Willock this year, I get how Arsenal couldn't turn down the money.  It was very good business for us.  The jury's out on Pepe.  We have Saliba and Nketiah available next year, so I am not sure we'd need to improve the squad by buying players.

But we do need to improve the players we have, and I wonder if that's something Emery is equipped for.  I'm also not sure he's using the squad to maximum effect, either in team selection or tactically.  (That's being very diplomatic.)  But I really like this team, they're almost all healthy, and they should kick on from the less-than-impressive start to the season that has nevertheless left them in OK position early on in the league, and very much  alive in the cup competitions.