Arsenal v Standard Liege Preview/ Line-Up: LT behind 2 Fab Youngsters, Ozil to Feed Martinelli/Pepe

92 thoughts on “Arsenal v Standard Liege Preview/ Line-Up: LT behind 2 Fab Youngsters, Ozil to Feed Martinelli/Pepe”

• Great post GN5, I grew up less than an hour’s drive away from Luik/Liege but lost most of my knowledge of the club over the years. So thank you for bringing us up to speed with SL’s history as it will help us to understand our opponent much more tomorrow.

  I am hoping that JGC, who has been working a lot in Luik over recent years, will give us his two cent on the city/club…

• Thanks again for an informative piece GN5!
  Learn each time you do one of these.

  TA– I’m hoping your lineup is the one chosen for so many reasons.
  But a bit more wary of Standard Liege than you seem to be. Sitting second in their league. Especially, after watching the Belgian First Division A leaders Club Brugge nearly fend off Real Madrid yesterday in the CL at the Bernabéu. Had it not been for an 84th minute red card– it looked like Real were beaten. Casemiro headed in from the ensuing FK. Ended 2-2.

  Interestingly? Watching Real Madrid last night was like stepping into The Wayback Machine. Looked like so much mid-Wenger-era Arsenal. With possession passing that was really sumptuous to watch. They were beaten twice by on counter attacks– playing a very high line near midfield. Yep, like AW’s bunch.

  But it was fun to watch. I miss seeing that. Win, lose, or draw– it was a fine thing to see skill on display– as an acolyte of Le Prof still. 🥂

  jw1

• You took the words right out of my mouth (quite literarily), jw1. In addition to how Club Brugge almost shocked Madrid at the Bernabeu, Genk (6th one table, now) held Napoli to a draw earlier tonight.

  Something tells me Emery will put out a fairly strong side to navigate this one. Bellerín may not be ready to start and Holding-Mustafi will be too much of a gamble. AM-N may not be risked in midfield either. So, for me, it’s TA’s predicted team but with Chambers at right back, Sokratis or Luiz with Mustafi and then Ceballos for AMN.

• N5 …. again well done. 2nd on their table (though have played one game more than the teams around them) says they are in good form. I wonder much changes they make for the EL. That would have a bearing on how stiff an opposition they would be.

  TA …. I like your line up but I’d rather Ozil is played on Sunday. I doubt he’d play Pepe today and on Sunday too.

  My guess is

  ———–Martinez———
  Bels. Musti. Holdn. Tierney.
  ——–Niles. Willock———-
  –Nelson. Ceballos. Saka–
  ———–Martinelli———-

  This XI, despite all the changes isn’t too far from an “A” team. It would be interesting to see how Niles would perform as a midfielder if fielded there.

• Lots of options on show here. Great warm up piece GN. Thank you for all the effort you are putting in to support this site. I’d r ally mike to see AMN get a run out in mid field. Your line up TA looks on the money to me. If the manager is testing Ozil then playing him in secondary games looks set to continue. I’m less sure about Pepe – but I agree with your inclusion. If anyone should be rested for the weekend it’s Saka. However Emery may want to start Nelson which will squeeze options further. I’m attracted by PEs setup here, in terms of youth quality, but it feels too much of a gamble to me.

  I watched the full game live on Monday. I confess I’m depressed by the quality of our play. Plenty of effort but no finesse. The antithesis of what we had before. Why does it have to move from one extreme to the other? Surely with the quality of squad we have we should be able to play creative football as well as work hard in defence!? Clearly I’m missing something. I remain hopeful, if not optimistic, that there will be some coming together of these fronts as our new squad gets more familiar with each other.

• JW1, I recognise(d in the post) the threat we face tonight, I think, but to further strengthen the line-up the likes of Xhaka, Auba and Saka would need to play and I reckon there is too much risk of injury for them after Monday night’s game. My view is that with Torreira, Willock and AMN in midfield we will have the right balance, especially with the wunderpasser Ozil in the hole. Auba and Saka should be on the bench though, in case we need them.

• PE, inclusion of Ceballos makes sense, but imo Ozil needs game time (and I reckon we WILL see him more now as Emery was heavily criticised for the style of play against MU and the club will expect this now), and he could easily start both games. It would not be too hard to include both Ozil and Ceballos in the team either.

• AB, … am holding back my criticism of Emery hoping that the trio of Bels, Holding and Tierney might just be what his system needs to take off. Central to his system are full backs providing attacking width and also the playing out from the back. The trio would enhance these dramatically and am hoping it would make every other thing fall in place.

  If by Xmas it’s still more of the same, my patience already overstretched would snap. A part of me is in grave doubt about his ability, the other part of me remains optimistic. At this moment one me is in charge and the next moment the other. Emery has made a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde out of poor me.

• Hi AB, good to hear from you!

  Agreed re Monday night’s game. I guess I was less critical because the first thing needed was battling hard at OT and the boys did that; and that is also a credit to Emery. Structurally, I am really worried about where Emery is taking us and how he is using the qualities within the squad. I reckon we got the wrong man for the job, a bit like having an ALDI manager managing a Waitrose store, and it has all become about hard work and efficiency and nobody is caring about the displays and service to the customers anymore… It’s time he gets his available marketing expert back in the shop. 🙂

• Good self-reflexion, PE!! 😆

• TA, it’s my hope that Emery is focusing, at this stage of the competitions, on the EPL. For Ozil to go out and play in a good spirit, I feel Emery would assure him that he has also earmarked him for the Sunday game. In which case 90 minutes might be shared between Ozil and Ceballos to keep both fresh enough for the Bournmouth game.

• Yep good thinking, PE.

• I don’t think Emery will start anybody from Monday. That would rule Saka out. But replacing him with Özil would put 2 #10 on the pitch, unless Unai wants him to play winger…
  Mavropanos and Smith Rowe played on Tuesday, so if Emery prefers 4 midfielders, than he can recall Torreira, who played only 55 minutes. But he cannot play 5-3-2 either, unless Sokratis is recalled (to slowly withdraw him from the PL games and put Holding there with Luiz).
  My guess is the standard 4-3-3:
  ——————–Martinez——————
  Bellerin – Mustafi – Holdnig – Tierney
  ————–AMN———Willock———
  —————–Ozil/Ceballos—————
  ——–Nelson—————–Pepe——–
  ——————–Martinelli——————

  If Ozil starts, he could be the captain, otherwise the armband can go to Bellerin.

• I watched Valencia v Ajax last night and the final 15 minutes of Barca v Inter. Also saw the highlights of Pool v Salzburg and it was good to see that once the Pool defence got put under pressure they looked much less awesome as many of us believe they are. If teams dare to attack Pool (and Citeh) they can get something out of it, and that should be a lesson to all teams in the PL.

  Ajax played well but rode their luck at times. The difference between the two teams was confidence (and thus taking their chances better), and what a commodity this is on top of a good, clear to all system of football. We are miles away from Ajax and there really is no need for this at all. Ten Hag had only six more month than Emery at his current club (and they sold a lot of their starts this summer). The difference is Ten Hag fitted the culture and style of play of Ajax and he built further on it, whereas Gazidis got his own man and was fooled by his the ‘thoroughness’ of his own recruitment process without really understanding what sort of man was needed…

• Morning Pb, I like that line up a lot! How are things Budapest this morning?

• I think I understand what Emery is trying to do. Note, understanding is one thing, approving is another thing altogether. Clearly Emery does not want the orthodox creative #10. Klopp said that gengen pressing is his best #10. That is what Emery is searching for and that explains his use of Torreira in the advanced attacking areas. It also explains why he’s finding it difficult to accomodate Ozil.

  Observe that our goal against United was created from Pepe pressing a Man U defender forcing him into a faulty pass. What is beauty? Some big minds talk about beauty existing in symmetry: physical symmetry, conceptual symmetry. I think the concept of gengen pressing as a creator is sublime. Klopp would have seen that our equalizer against Man U as creative and beautiful because he would have recognized it as a child of a philosophy. Hey at this moment Dr Jekyll is very much in charge of me and he’s asked me to plead that we sheath our knives and hear Emery out.

• Don’t be suprised (HT, are you there) if my next post is Mr Hyde talking.

• Well, PE, they say you have to look for beauty even where you think there isn’t any. 😆

  There was and is no need to try and copy Pool. We are the Arsenal and had our own Wengerball that many have tried to copy over the years. And Emery has failed badly if he is indeed trying to emanate Kloppball. My point as per above is, we need a manager who could build further on what Wenger set up. By the way, Citeh and Spuds have an Ozil like player in their team and they need them badly. I have said on a number of occasions that Emery’s inability to make peace with Mesut and incorporate him in the team will get him the sack this year.

• TA, I am putting my money on the same lineup as you. Ceballos instead of AMN maybe?

  We should not underestimate this team, as underdogs have their days too. Ozil needs to dictate play and the team have to work around him. Pepe should play this one to boost his confidence, so that he can start scoring more and more for us.

• Hattrick for Pepe, 84!

• Congrats to Dina – what an athlete!!

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/athletics/49911719

• TA, the indian summer is officially ended in Budapest, so it is grey and cold here.
  And some of my fellow citizens are sad because Salzburg’s surprise comeback didn’t earn them a point at Anfield. (Hungarians are not against Liverpool on general principle, but our best player at the moment is a young CM – turning 19 on the 25th of October – playing for Red Bull Salzburg. I think there were even some rumors that he is on Arsenal’s radar: Dominik Szoboszlai.)

  About the Emery-Ozil conflict, I agree with you. If Unai manages to offload Ozil WHILE ensures TOP4 finish (and maybe a EL-title on top), then good for him: let’s renew his contract, increase his transfer budget. But if gets rid of our not only our highest earning player, but a world cup winner, vastly experienced, capable of producing magic, and no longer risked by injuries in the international breaks WITHOUT improving our league position, then he fully deserves to be sacked.

• Right from the title I like your thinking N5. Ozil feeding Pepe resonates because I could really picture that being something that could help get Pepe started, and then going with some confidence.
  PE, great points about Emery, Ozil and creative midfielders. I understand torreiras value in winning the ball, including higher up the pitch, but I don’t really like seeing him as far forward as Emery is encouraging him to go and it’s hurting our defense and midfield. There is compromise possible on all these things, and I don’t like the way he’s handled Mesut. I know he’s the boss, but he’s getting next to nothing out of a great talent. He should be in the mix in more league matches.

• Martinez

  AMN Holding Mustafi Kolašinac

  Torreira

  Ceballos Özil

  Pepe Martinelli Willock

  We don’t have too many fit options in the attack. Maybe Balogun gets his chance to shine at some point of the game. A victory would mean 99% of the job in the group stage is done.

• Morning all,
  AB, thank you, I appreciate your comment.

  I’m very happy to support Bergkampesque; there’s a good cross section of opinion and the various opinions are debated with all due respect to other bloggers. It’s very unusual in this day and age to find such a well administrated site where ego’s are kept on the back burner.

  Well done TA et al.

• Thanks for the update, Pb. I have been to Berlin and Prague in wintertime and know how cold it can get there, and I would imagine it gets similarly cold in Budapest in winter. What is your favourite time of year in Budapest (and when is best to come and visit for tourist who likes it relatively quiet and not too warm)?

  Thanks also for update on Dominik Szoboszlai – I will keep an eye on him from now on.

• That is a nice line-up, Admir. I think Ceballos would love to play next to Mesut, and it may calm him down a bit.

• Cheers GN5, and also for the efforts you put in producing the historical previews!

• Hey fellas…

  If I’m reading it right there’s no TV for this one… The Spanish stations seem to be favoring Porto-Feyenood and Besiktas-Wolves in the early matches and APOEL-Sevilla and LASK (Linz)-Sporting (Lisbon)…Or maybe, they think English fans will pay to watch the Arsenal (and ManU) matches… Not me, I watched those teams on Monday and it’s not worth it…

  But now I’m not sure as they are talking about OGS en el ojo del huracan… on something called TUDN futbol central… Oooh to be a ManU supporter… 😮 Not a ton (tonne?) of fun (funne?) since that PSG upset, I’m guessing…

  I’m pretty sure that (TUDN) is not on my DirectTV channel list… Another reason to cut the cord…

  GN5, cheers (again) for the historical stuff. When I’m in the right mood, I try to picture those early days of the game and how fellas got around to organizing games, clubs and the like…

  When it comes to the actual match and how Emery (and the other managers/finance people?…) rotate and instruct the players… I’m sorry, but I just watch rather than try to anticipate or suggest what they ought to be doing. With our win at Frankfurt we should be free and clear to advance to the (extra) round of eliminations, so, any 9-11 changes from the PL matches work for me. We can’t do that if we get promoted as those 7-2 scorelines can leave bruises… 😀

  With Wenger it was fun to try and understand his methods–mostly about creating confidence in his playing assets. With Emery, I guess I just don’t want to get under his hair hat in the same way. And, I’m with JW, hoping that he’s just a place-holder, though I’m also with Admir in that I have (serious) doubts about using younger ex-players who the fans will allow more rope… If Emery is our Sarri, I won’t be (sorry)…or something…

  So, no live-blog, C’mon people (who do get to watch), tell me what’s what… pre, during and post match…please…

  A couple of other things… Is nobody with me that Ozil (as in a year ago) is being held in reserve for the more business end of the season?… (Remember, if all goes to plan, we play until May 27, in Gdansk…) I didn’t see all the matches in our stumble, er, run, in, but didn’t he play in most of those? Or maybe I’m thinking of another expensive guy (who wanted Mesut-money), one Aaron Ramsy… Management successfully ran that fellow off…

  Finally, PE (who might be reading…), I think it’s quite a stretch to try and imply that Torreira (I think I’ve finally remembered e before i in his surname) is part of some sort of Klopp-esque pressing idea. From what I see, the little guy is there just trotting around as part of the first line of defense, trying to disrupt the other team’s deep lying creator type (i.e., Pogba for ManU). Calling it “creative” seems optimistic (in the extreme) but, if you’re satisfied with the results (the real reason for your Jekyll and Hyde problem, I think…) then enjoy what you see in the mirror, I guess. As always, my complaint is that if you wanna play at being manager, you need to think beyond each and every (last) result and look at the longer term implications (rather than ride the roller coaster, which, frankly, I just find too exhausting)… But don’t worry, you’re not the main target of my ire (here on BKesque)… At least there’s an understanding (I think, maybe…) that you can’t play your best (read as what each blogger thinks as BEST!!!) players every match (which would actually mean not using any subs either, right, as then quality would suffer at the end of games, as BEST players, at least in video games, don’t actually get tired)… Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure Gino doesn’t read my comments… 😀 😦

  Anyhow, enjoy the match…

• I live 400m from Parken stadium and FCK’s home ground,. Yet I am a staunch Malmo supporter and regularly attend their games (Malmo is less than an hour by train from my home).

  Hoping for a Swedish win – if only to annoy my Danish brethren!

  But … do I watch the Malmo game or AFC?

• HT … looks you missed my first two sentences…… “I think I understand what Emery is trying to do. Note, understanding is one thing, approving is another thing altogether.”

  To me though the concept of gengen pressing as a #10 is interesting. Of course the implimentation by Emery (via Torreira etc) could be faulty.

• Martinez
  Bellerin
  Holding
  Mustafi
  Tierney
  Torreira
  Willock
  Maitland-Niles
  Ceballos
  Nelson
  Martinelli

  Substitutes
  Leno
  Chambers
  Kolasinac
  Guendouzi
  Xhaka
  Pepe
  Aubameyang

• Looks like a very strange mid-field to this observer?

• Hey PE, I still don’t quite understand… I see zero implementation, but, if you see something (anything?…) after a season plus under Emery, good for you…It seems to me it’s all about the results, if he gets us promoted, then you’re looking (in the mirror) at Jekyll…if not, Hyde… Maybe it’s because I’m old (or older than most, not as old as some…and, on that account, hi there, AB… 😉 ) but I don’t have time for this…

  So (like) Sarri, just show me that thing that rhymes with Hyde (Emery’s back-side)… Like with the
  Wenger Out folks (during the great man’s tenure) I win either way… 😀 😦

  On the other hand, I’m gratified that you (PE) seem to agree with me that getting goals, winning matches, etc. under Emery, is mostly about playing it wide (and/or long) perhaps after a bit of passing around the back (the lure…) and then up to our scoring players. In other words, the FBs or wingbacks, if we play 3 CBs) are the only players allowed to sacrifice fore-aft positioning in search of attacking play…

  Nonetheless, thanks for (trying to) clarify… Where’s Gino? On that front I’ll even say the following…

  IMO, if there’s ANYTHING to admire about Emery’s, er, management, it’s that he’s resting Lacazette (until the bottom drops out of our results) and Ozil (in matches that matter, where the fans will want them to actually go in on 50-50s). Soon enough (my friends…) he’s also gonna rest PEA (or he will suffer a Em-jury…) which could be the true test re: our promotion campaign…

  But, hey, let’s get goals (lots and lots) and a clean sheet (tonight vs the team from Jupiter) and we’ll go on to win the ‘druple…

  Still, I’m not gonna pay for it…or even try clicking on TUDN…unless J-Dub tells me too… 😉

• 17H

  Is DAZN available in your area of the U.S.?

• Cheers for posting the line-up GN5…

  Why do y’all keep saying midfield and/or midfielders. Aren’t those the players who connect attack with defense (American spelling)?… I think we should call them “first line of defenders” until we see them at least somewhat near the opponent’s box. Hopefully tonight a few of them get there…

  Admir almost picked the line-up… Ozil left out (completely), Pepe to the bench, with Willock and Nelson instead… To me it looks good for boys who shouldn’t be afraid to run at the Belgian team…

  I think a Dutch team just scored… 🙂

• The Ozil situation is getting stranger and stranger!

• Midfielders are the connective tissue between defense and offence.

• Hey GN5… Yeah, I could get a month free, I think… Then it’s $20 or $100 for the year…

  When I get down to Mexico (end of October) I’ll be looking more deeply into “cutting the cord” and spending some money for content–if I can get internet with high enough speeds for streaming. It’s all pretty new to me and I don’t really know how what a gigabyte is but I could probably figure it out if the matches seemed worth watching.. (A byte is what you get if Luis Suarez wants out of Liverpool, I think…)

  The sun’s out today (here in the mountains of California) so I should probably make hay instead…

• Right, so why do you keep using the term regarding (the current version of) Arsenal?… Should we start calling our FBs (or wingbacks) midfielders… I guess when they’re wingbacks–or part of a 5 man back line–they’re sometimes listed as MFs…so that’s a start…

  Porto hit woodwork when it looked easier to score!!

• I guess if I’m gonna watch neutral football (instead of making hay in the sunshine) I ought to watch Wolves and the CF of my (adopted) national team (Raul Jimenez)…

• 17H

  In Canada DAZN is $20 per mth or $50 for the year, I pay $20 mth as you can cancel and restart at any time. You get 100% of all PL, CL and Europa games. It’s a great service and easy to understand.

• Man U are being outplayed by AZ it’s 0-0 with 13 minutes to go,

• Oops – $150 per year

• It sounds good, GN5… Like I say, it’s all about the internet speed… (I’m hoping over the next couple of years to be moving around quite a bit more, so having my subscriptions net-based will make a lot of sense.)

  I think Pbarany (above) more or less understands the Ozil situation, except that I think Emery and Arsenal are likely to part ways at the end of season, no matter what. If he gets us promoted, he gets a “better” job… As I remember from my working days, sometimes “new” = better (at first)… And, as I recall, haven’t Spurs coaches landed at Real Madrid?…

  At this time, however (actually always…) management is under direction from ownership, and for our Wal-Mart people, I believe, the bottom line is king. (To quote or at least paraphrase Josh Kroenke. “We’re a Europa League team on a Champions League budget…) As such, getting promoted w/o Ozil is the best scenario, 2nd best is not being too reliant upon him, thus resting him for the business end of the Ropy League, which might feature football (or refereeing) more to his liking makes (perfect) sense…

  …To me at least… 😦

• DAZN is available in the following countries: Austria, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Italy and the United States.

• If I were Ozil I would not go out on loan – I’d simply sit out @350 a week.

• Wolves win on (just about) the last kick in the heartbreak part of Istanbul… And ManU get their result (nil-nil) at AZ… Like I said, ooh to be a ManU supporter… 😀 😮

  GN5, nobody would take Ozil’s salary on loan, I don’t think…(Although Inter did take Alexis who got similar wages at United…) and keeping him healthy may be an important part of being able to sell him this next summer… He’s on the books until 2021, I believe… Mesut has a good mindset about the whole business, it appears–and now that he’s not playing–he’s gaining fans too…

• I’m watching the game in my office so I can comment if anyone is around.

• Super headed goal by Martinelli @ 13mins

• 2-0 on 15 mins — Martinelli strikes again

• We are witnessing the emergence of a super star!!

• Making hay…or something… but following with the Guardian…

  Can you add anything to this, Mr, N5?…

  GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Standard Liege (Martinelli, 16 mins)
  And another one! This is so, so smart from Martinelli, who has the ball in the area on his left foot and looks set to head for the byline but suddenly changes his mind, checks back, and curls a right-footed shot inside the far post!

  Facebook Twitter
  5m ago
  20:15
  GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Standard Liege (Martinelli, 14 mins)
  A fine, long pass from right to left, Tierney’s cross picks out Martinelli right on the corner of the six-yard box. That was a tough chance, but he flashes his header past Milinkovic-Savic and in!

• Edu knows?…

• Nelson 3-0 @ 21 mins

• I don’t do a commentary 17h – just quick text.

• No worries, N5…. Sounds like a romp… Keep the clean sheet and start the same 11 vs B-mouth…

  😀

• Mustafi is trying really hard to gift them a goal!

• Superb half. We marmalised them

  BTW if you want to see almost any football for free use Hesgoal.com. Best use a VPN for safety.

• 3-0 at the half, the passing started to get sloppy after the 3rd goal. Bellerin and Tierney are both playing well; I feel that we be watching them along with Saka, Willock, AMN and Nelson for many years to come. Ceballos is not very impressive so far. I hope we see Pepe in the 2nd half.

• Well that is going well. 9/11 of my preferred line up so I cannot be too unhappy (Pepe rested was to be expected and dont start me on Ozil). Key is that Emery is opting for a strong midfield and then the rest will come, as it is doing today. Martinelli has a very fine eye for goal. Want to see him against PL teams next.

• You are missing a cracker, 17HT 😆

• What a classy finisher martinelli is and tierney`s crossing is top notch

• Martinelli sent a curler over the bar.

• Oops–Willock scored our 3rd not Nelson

• Howe things have changed. I keep noticing Bellerin’s black football shoes… they stand out nowadays!

• watching on rmc sport
  third cup game, third enjoyable night
  joe, martinelli, reiss: night of the youngsters – a real joy to watch, would be the night of hale end if ainsley wasn’t a little bit under the weather, but it’s been a long time since he played in midfield/right-wing
  i like the torreira-ceballos pair too, lucas’s the man we need in front of our back four, many of you pointed that out before the game, i hope this’ll be the end of the “box-to-box”- lucas nonsense
  tierney’s really impressive, at the end of last season, i felt like the club should make an offer for chilwell, but boys what a find this lad is!!
  emi’s a bit shaky, i guess he had to go through a game like this, he’s probably digesting the – well-deserved – praise he got after his first two games, not to mention the argentina call-up
  last but not least – don’t tell anyone, don’t turn me in – i find shkodran cool, calm, collected, strong … quite impressive, in fact, definitely better than our “papa”
  enjoy the second half, friends, i certainly will, cup games this year are a treat

• 17HT it is a hopeful theory that Emery is resting Ozil to use him a bit later into the season… I cannot see it myself but who TF knows.

• Martinelli’s finishing is superb, but his positioning in the box is top, top notch.

• Ceballos 4-0 @ 57 mins

• AMN fine pass to Martinelli and the Brazilian dinks it over keeper and defenders for Ceballos to stab it in. 4-0 North London is RED> 🙂

• Then, TA…in order to sell him (with a directive from above)…

  And…in a similar (cynical) vein, for N5…who wrote:

  “Bellerin and Tierney are both playing well; I feel that we be watching them along with Saka, Willock, AMN and Nelson for many years to come.”

  Yes, we will (like with Gnabry…) or might…but with what clubs?…

  You can buy anything at Wal-Mart, after all… 😦

  Sorry, just trying to balance the “over-positivity” of which the site sometimes gets accused… 😀

• don’t worry seventeenho, you are doing a sterling job at that already 😀

• Pepe on @ 65mins

• 17h – They were very different times and circumstances when we sold players to reduce our cost or create income.

• Emery wants five goals, Auba on next?

• it’s quite ridiculous to risk Auba @79mins???

• Just keeping it real, as they say… 😀

  Who came off?… Are the looking boys looking tired?… C’mon Pepe, earn your cafe (i.e., don’t make me look for a new avatar)…

  Playing the full 90 is something that comes with time, as does playing the year round season (for 10+ years in a row)…especially if you’re as wispy (wimpy, coddled, choose your own adjective) as Ozil (or have the tender hamstrings of a Rambo or Alexis, for example)… (But that’s why they call it “management” instead of playstation…)

  And, what’s with our resident French fellow (Le Gall)? Please don’t say anything nice about Mustafi or we’ll soon be seeing that “beating a dead horse” thing JW puts up that gives me vertigo…

  More smileys, winkies or whatever…

  I dunno about that, N5… Josh said as much…and the history of Walmart is ALL about cutting costs… If the “national” (i,e., spending corrupted money for PR purposes) clubs want a player, they will get them…but, yes, we are a “bigger” club than before everybody sold their shares to the Kroenkes…

• Auba on for Nelson. And he is hungry.

• AMN, Willock and Nelson came off

• Where’s the description of the 4th goal?… I wouldn’t worry about PEA… He seems to be playing at a level where he knows how to avoid injury… (i.e., nicking a living, I believe it’s called…)

  Had to go to the Guardian for this one… It sounds like Martinelli has a streak of Carlos Vela to his game…

  GOAL! Arsenal 4-0 Standard Liege (Ceballos, 57 mins)
  Ceballos scores his first goal for Arsenal, with Martinelli this time getting the assist! Played in on the right of the area he chips the ball over the keeper, and it might even have gone in and become one of the all-time most glorious keeper-chipping goals had Ceballos not turned it over the line (or a defender hooked it clear).

  28m ago
  21:09
  Ooof! Martinelli gets his studs on Nelson’s low cross, but can’t divert it into the net!

• see 21.15 comment… keep up teenho! 😀

• It is a shooting range at the fair but the ball isn’t going in anymore. Ceballos, Auba and Pepe all with efforts…

• 4-0 to the Arse but Sunday’s game will be a different affair I would imagine. Really good test for all players involved, even though the early goals made it less of battle.

• too bad really wanted martinelli to get his hat trick but 2 goals and an assist not too shabby, I thought he was the outstanding player together with willock and tierney

• It is a good outing for the lads, and Martinelli the MoTM. He is on hot form now, so why not play him in big games? Tierney did well too, as well as all playing on the pitch for us. What a hooked cross from Tierney to start the scoring.

  Pepe’s ball did not come with a positioning system sadly, but he worked really hard to get things moving.

• Watched the match on a replay site (HT) that is bug-free: replaymatches.com
  Been visiting here for a few years.

  B/R Live carries Arsenal’s EL matches for either $3 or $4 per.
  Probably would have watched it there– had I not been in my Dr’s office.

  ++++

  An oversimplified version of this week’s play?
  Monday, raining heavily, disjointed, joyless = Unai
  Thursday, raining heavily, fluid, joyful = Freddie

  I don’t have an explanation otherwise.
  Had the respective scores been reversed (4-0 over MU, 1-1 v Liege)?
  Would much rather have watched the one today. Expressive, entertaining, effusive.

  ++++

  HT– is Verizon your carrier by chance?
  If not, you may want to think about making a change for South-of-the-Border purposes.
  IIRC? 5 devices, unlimited data for approx $180 USD mo. (for you, I’d see 3 phones, 2 5G mobile hotspots covering all of your needs.) That’s high-speed wifi anywhere on the hotspots. Used one in both Manzanillo and Playa del Carmen.

  jw1

• New Post New Post 🙂

  But good comment, JW.

  Did you manage to see the game this time, 84?

• @JW1

  It’s also down to the fact we are officially the only club in Europe that fields better XI in EL than in Premier League. We played with two top full-backs, our arguably best central defender (and Mustafi next to him), Torreira as ball-winning midfielder, Maitland-Niles in a position that suits him much better than the one he had to play at earlier this season, Willock, Nelson, Ceballos and Martinelli all adding movement, energy and creativity.

  Now, there is a huge caveat and it is a thing that I haven’t seen too many people talking about: intensity. Standard – even more than Eintracht or Napoli and Valencia last season – come from a league where intensity is nowhere near the level of Premier League. That’s why our players feel less comfortable playing, say, Wolves or Leicester than playing teams like, say, Championship side Nottingham Forest. Playing from the back is easier because they don’t put pressure on our back-line like PL sides do.

  When I watched a rerun of our victory against NF, I noticed a detail from the first half when Holding gave a heavy pass to Mustafi who had to run all the way to the place where a RB would normally sit to pick the ball. If that Holding’s pass had been played in PL, we’d probably conceded a goal as the opponents’ player would pick the ball and run onto our goal freely.

  Just two more things, I promise:

  1) Martinelli – wuf. Top, top talent. There is something Vela-sque about him, a Latin lover making love with the ball before making Gooners ecstatic.

  2) Özil – it’s getting sick now. Emery should enjoy working with Mesut because he will never be given another chance to manage a player of his talent unless Albacete, Almeria or some other Eibar he gets to manage next suddenly become the richest club in the world (in which case they will fire Emery and appoint a top-shelf manager).

  Couldn’t help myself thinking Emery’s Özil looking more and more like Arsene’s Arshavin.

• Admir–

  Occurred to me as well. Especially after that 3rd goal. Liege were in damage control mode with no pressure being applied on the ball. But even then? The passing of the ball was crisp. And this in wet weather. Those young guys are familiar in a playable style.

  jw1

• We thrashed an average side. The Liege right back will have nightmares thinking about Tierney, Nelson and Martinelli. Serves him right for being Belgian (even though he is actually Kosovo Albanian).

  I thought Torreira was fantastic last night. Others grabbed the headlines but he was the man who allowed others the freedom to excel.

  Everyone played well and we had another night to remember – we have scored 16 gaols in the last 2 weeks!!

  One can only agree that SL were way below PL standards and B’mouth will prove far more difficult opponents but let’s enjoy this victory without any “Buts”. The players were superb and generate real optimism for the coming years

• Agreed, agreed, Erik

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