Why Aaron is So Good, Set Piece Joy, the Wall of Loko-Partey: 8 Arsenal Observations.

TotalArsenal

Eight Observations from a pivotal away win:

  1. For the second PL game in a row, Arteta and his team almost totally out-stratrigised and out-worked their opponents in the first half. And for the second time the boys were up by two goals at the break. Villa and the Foxes are good, established teams but we were able to outplay them with our newly put together team. Arteta is awesome!
  2. I am so pleased that Lokonga and Partey are working so well in midfield and that we are not missing Granit as much as I thought we would. The pair are awesome and just need to work on their stamina to last the whole 90 minutes. In the second half it became a bit too easy for the Foxes to receive the ball in the box or run into the box and our CBs were left a bit too exposed as a result. But the FBs were also guilty here. Still the Loko-Partey wall is a joy to watch.
  3. Aaron clean-sheet Ramsdale! He is the embodiment of the force of willpower. He just doesn’t want to be beaten and his sheets must always be Persil clean. He gave away his shirt and boots after the game. This man lives football in the moment like nobody else and that’s why he is so good!
  4. Emile got the all important second goal because he was at the right place and took his chance like a professional midfielder. Arsenal through their movement and intensity force mistakes on their opponents, and sooner or later, often with a bit of luck, we score from these. Emile is really benefiting from this right now and it is vital that our midfielders keep scoring from just inside and outside the 18 y box area.
  5. Auba and Laca worked their socks off and through their hassling and pressing the Foxes’ defence and midfield just couldn’t settle. It also resulted in a lot of space for the great again Bukayo and Emile and Co to run into.
  6. In the second half we sat too deep as a team and relied too much on the wonders of Aaron. Mikel made the right call by subbing Laca for Ode but we must learn to dare to push up and reclaim the midfield more when we are defending a lead.
  7. Another goal from a set piece and what a joy it is to watch these at the moment. It has been years since we have carried this set piece threat and our new set piece coach is doing a great job it seems. So pleased as well for Big Gab with his brilliant goal. He is another player who plays with all he has in the moment, just like Ramsdale.
  8. The Away Supporters were brilliant and could so clearly be heard on TV. They really made it sound Arsenal were playing at home and what a difference this made. Ooh to, Ooh to be, Ooh to be A Gooner!

By TotalArsenal

45 thoughts on “Why Aaron is So Good, Set Piece Joy, the Wall of Loko-Partey: 8 Arsenal Observations.”

  • Once again, I completely agree! When you watch these recent performances, it’s amazing to think how little time some of these guys have spent together compared to the teams that they are facing. And it’s only a few weeks since quite a lot of people were saying that Aaorn cost us way too much money. I don’t see anybody saying that now. He has made such a difference and, as we saw the other night, even seems to have improved Leno!

    I had to watch a recording of the match, as I had to do some urgent jobs for my mother but, I did listen to the last 15-20 minutes on the car radio. When I turned it on the Radio5 presenter was describing how much pressure Leicester were applying. It was of course already 0-2 to the mighty Gunners at the time but Chris Wilder’s ‘expert’ contribution was, “The next goal wins it”. LOL, I nearly drove off the road in hysterics!

  • Haha OX10, that’s hilarious. The commentary is in general very poor. This constant reading out of on screen, so often superfluous, stats also drives me bonkers. It compensates for a lack of tactical-analytical skills and we are better off turning the sound off.

    And yes Ramsdale was a very important signing for Arteta.

  • well said TA.

    Ramsdale has been an excellent addition. His passion reminds me of szcz…just without the errors. Capable of brilliance that can win matches. His double save yesterday is the best I’ve seen since Szcz’s penalty double save against Pool.

    I really like the laca and auba partnership. They’re working their socks off and they aren’t isolated up top like they were when we were playing with 1 striker. Good to see depth all over the park too. Fingers crossed the consistency stays and we keep relatively injury free.

  • Hi Oz, good to hear from you and I hope life is treating you well.

    We remain a work in progress but there is indeed plenty to be excited about.

  • The thing that made me happiest was that moon faced geriatric striker not scoring against us. I am also so happy that all the new signings have settled and the media has gone quiet on all the transfer fees.

  • Ta, this one is for you mate. Your positivity, patience and stead fast support of the manager is seems to be flowering. I am glad that iam eating humble pie and long may it continue.
    The result along with man City and Liverpool result provides us a bit more perspective. In our run till now the two sides we drew were CP and BHA who had a positive result this weekend. In hindsight the two points are gold.
    The team is performing excellent and we look like a team with new players making us forget some of the older players. Nobody can take thier places granted. Leno will struggle to get into this team. Now we know what a GK can give is in our defensive third. His commanding of the box , distribution and general organisation capabilities are a breath of fresh air. Ramsdale loves clean sheet and it’s infectious. His demeanor while playing and especially his smile makes a world of difference yk team mates and fans.
    The two full backs are excellebt. Tierney is not safe and he cannot walk into this team. Taverz bedding in means that we don’t need to shift a lot of.players around. Last season when Tierney wasn’t there we had to shift players around as there was no competetive backup. Same is the case for right back. Tomi has been excellent and the best part is that thier ceiling is higher as they are still young and learning thier team mates.
    Xhaka cannot expect to walk into the team after he is fit. Sambi has provided adequate and more cover in his partnerships witb Partey.
    Really excited with the possibilities and how can you not love ESR. He has scored three gaols in crunch matches spurs, vill and Leicester. What a player we have.
    Onwards and upwards gunners. Win against Watford next weekend will wrap up a good 4 games before another interlull. Take a bow Arteta.

  • I also miss PB. He and I were always saying the team was missing the slick passing Arsenal was always known for, and now we are finally seeing it…. but we’re seeing an even better version of it. All the passes progressing towards the opponents box. The pressing we thought we’d get from Mikel Pep Jr, is finally showing.. winning the balls in midfield and no fear playing the ball out or Aaron kicking long. Nice to see even Aubameyang pressing and competing for long balls in the air.

    I feared Arteta might not be capable of coaching this kind of ball… I didn’t understand why after him learning from Arsene and Pep training and techniques.

    I guess it was there all along, but he wanted to grow us methodically. Making us strong defensively from the back first is the preferred method I would choose myself. I never forgot when Emery said he preferred winning games 5-4. I never liked that quote. It might work a bit with PSG in France, but not in the premier league.

  • I guess J that as much as the players have learnt and developed their game that Arteta also and his coaches have learnt as well how to deal with certain situations better.
    There will always be areas where improvement can be made but if Villa, Leeds and Leicester are anything to go on the teams game management has improved a lot.

    And Peter is still around popping up on other websites.

  • Madhu, great comment and good point about Tavares being excellent cover for the tiger of Wishaw and not needing to mess the rest of the team about.

    We remain a work in progress and will face a few setbacks, especially with hard away games coming up in the North West. But there are structural positives now.

  • Eris, Stuart, Jnyc you are all very kind.
    But believe me, you are all better off without me.

    Social distancing working out perfectly even in the virtual world. Visiting the BK blog sometimes on an hourly basis for new posts and comments wasn’t sustainable, and being the negative, often cynical @$$hole was quite soul-consuming too. I’ll keep checking the updates every 3 days, but will not involve myself in the discussions.

    And you know what I would write anyway: the squad is too big, the chances created are too few, the academy boys are painfully neglected, and we will not get a decent price for the surplus-to-requirement players (Mavropanos, Elneny, AMN, Nketiah, Guendouzi, Torreira, Rúnarsson, Kolasinac), so we are as bad at selling as ever. Yes, there are improvements, especially with the defense and discipline (less cards), but it’s way too early to open the champagne, as we cannot know the balance of the positives and the negatives. Nevertheless the 64.6 points extrapolated from the first 10 games to a whole season would have been sufficient in 3 of the past 6 seasons for a top 6 place – if that’s the target – and not enough in the other 3.

    There is not much value added in my views on the last game, either. An away win in Leicester is something I would have accepted any day of the week, and don’t mind it being a lucky one, as I appreciated the formation, the first 20 minutes and the organized and diligent defense. But even if I take a “glass half full” approach on the Saturday game, I couldn’t have resisted to challenge the glass entirely full narrative, and pointed out that
    – all our goals and few chances had significant elements of luck, thus unrepeatable
    – our much applauded midfielders (and full backs) were limited to 35% of possession
    – the 14 shots conceded (8 on target) was too many, and with a less inspired keeper we wouldn’t have left with all 3 points.
    But worst of all, after I reviewed the highlights from the official website the autoplay moved to a previous encounter against Leicester, the one from October 2018 (I swear I had nothing to do with that):
    https://www.arsenal.com/video/leicester-city-h-highlights-2
    And while I admit up front that it’s slightly unfair to compare a home game with an away one, I do so as Leicester City played with Chilwell, Maguire and Ndidi (along with Maddison, Vardy, Iheanacho along with a 3-year younger Evans) and we played with Mustafi, Torreira, M’khi and Iwobi; so basically a weaker-than-today squad against a stronger-than-today opponent. If you revisit that game 157 weeks ago (only 8 minutes) you’ll understand why I doubt the progress of the past 2 years, as I’m not ashamed to reveal that albeit the current squad is much closer to my heart, the style and culture of play is hugely inferior to Emeryball in my opinion.

    So be honest, Jnyc, isn’t that a win-win resolution that I gave up being active, and shutting the feck up? 🙂

  • Morning all,

    I have to offer my apologies as the competition we were running to predict Arsenal points has been lost in the ether. My system crashed a few weeks back and I had to use 3 week old back up files to recover all of my Excel files, I thought that al was well until I went to update the first ten games only to discover that the spreadsheet was missing. Unfortunately the only answer would be to create another spreadsheet – but frankly that’s too much work – so I’m. afraid I’m going to have to call the competition null and void.

  • PB, you (and I) are just a reflection of life. You are drawn to the negatives and if you look for those you will find them of course. The good news is that you are not alone. Many on here appreciate your stats of ‘doom’ and pulling us back down to earth. You regularly make valid points and you are welcome to keep commenting on BK. I promise to leave you be unless you break the BK rules of course (which I am not xpecting). 😊

  • Here are the results of last weekends competition:-

    For the week:-

    1st OX10 with 4/6 plus 4 points for most correct predictions = 8 points
    2nd Kev with 2/6 plus 2 points for a correct score = 4 points
    3rd Gn5, Total, Eris & Madhu with 3/6 for 3points
    “””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
    For the season:-

    1st OX10 with 57.13 points
    2nd Eris with 55.46 points
    3rd GN5 with 49.13 points
    4th Madhu with 41.66 points
    5th Total with 40.13 points
    6th Kev with 36.33 points
    “””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

  • PB – I too hope that you will return as a regular blogger on BK as I’ve always found your comments to be very astute.

  • Here are next weeks selections:-

    Manchester United v Manchester City *
    Crystal Palace v Wolves
    Arsenal v Watford *
    Everton v Tottenham
    West Ham v Liverpool
    AC Milan v Inter Milan *

  • PB, I’m another who hopes you return to be a regular on this blog, when you feel able to. I welcome your insights. I come here because I want to hear different viewpoints, as long as they are expressed in a mature civilised way which so far TA has done a wonderful job in maintaining.

  • Manchester United v Manchester City * D 2-2
    Crystal Palace v Wolves H
    Arsenal v Watford * H 3-0
    Everton v Tottenham D
    West Ham v Liverpool A 1-2
    AC Milan v Inter Milan * H 2-0

  • Well done OX10. You are on a roll! 😁

    Manchester United v Manchester City * 1-3
    Crystal Palace v Wolves H
    Arsenal v Watford * 8-0
    Everton v Tottenham D
    West Ham v Liverpool A
    AC Milan v Inter Milan * 2-1

  • Well, a predicted 8 0 scoreline v Watford most certainly reflects your glass overflowing mentality, Total. I will be happy with 7. You flavour the goulash, PB. Stay in the kitchen, mate.

  • Hah Stuart, I don’t like predicting Arsenal scores so if I have to do it, courtesy of GN5 ‘s continuous inclusion in his match selections, I like to go overboard. 😃😃😃😃

  • PB,
    I learned in history and political science classes that a good leader would have all different points of view chosen in their cabinet, to avoid group think, and yes men. Dissent is good. It’s by far the best way to consider matters of all sorts.
    Obviously everybody here enjoys the back and forth debate with you, so that’s why we’re looking for your contributions still.
    On Arsenal, I always have been saying I doubt Arteta because we saw no expression of creative play or strong pressing, all of last season. Now I am encouraged that maybe he can coach more than one way. Things are looking up for me, and it’s not so much about stats. Also enjoying some of the new players.

    TA, remember me saying a few weeks back, that the team needed to pass the eyeball test, rather than the simple points test. I like what I’ve been seeing.

  • Manchester United v Manchester City 0-2
    Crystal Palace v Wolves H
    Arsenal v Watford * 3-0
    Everton v Tottenham A
    West Ham v Liverpool D
    AC Milan v Inter Milan * 1-0

  • PB mate, you are not alone iam in the same category of glass half emplty. We do have our concern on Mikel and we have been highlighting the points that in our opinion is wrong with the team and the manager. There is nothing wrong and at the same time I sure we will be more than happy that we are proven wrong and Mikel achives great success.
    TA provides a platform that is open yo diffident views and we all can have a healthy debate. As Jync mentioned having varying views is a necessity for Arteta to achieve his goals else it will become sycophancy. So PB mate please come to this blog regularly to provide your views. We all learn from each other. But credit where it’s a due and league table never lies. Let’s see where we end up after half way mark. Iam still gunning for 30-35 range after 18 games.

  • Manchester United v Manchester City * A (1-2)
    Crystal Palace v Wolves H
    Arsenal v Watford * H (3-1)
    Everton v Tottenham H
    West Ham v Liverpool A
    AC Milan v Inter Milan * H (2-1)

  • Morning all, awoke this morning to the first snow of the winter season, not much but just enough to stick and remind us of what is to come – Brrrr…………………….

  • Man United v Man City…….. A (1-3)
    Crystal Palace v Wolves….. H
    Arsenal v Watford…………… H (3-0)
    Everton v Tottenham………. A
    West Ham v Liverpool…….. D
    AC Milan v Inter Milan…….. H (2-1)

  • I decided to take the time and re-create the Excel spreadsheet and go back to pick up all of the predictions for the first 10 games.

    Here are the results.

    I would prefer to show you my spreadsheet but unfortunately it will collapse into a jumble of numbers – so instead I will list each person’s total points predictions and how many games they correctly predicted.

    GN5 20 points 5/10 correct
    Total 23 points 4/10 correct
    Eris 19 points 5/10 correct
    OX10 19 points 3/10 correct
    PB 12 points 5/10 correct
    Kev 21 points 5/10 correct
    Madhu 19 points 3/10 correct

    Actual points = 17.

  • Here are the next 9 games for you points predictions:-

    Watford H
    Liverpool A
    Newcastle H
    Man United A
    Everton A
    Southampton H
    West Ham H
    Leeds A
    Norwich A

  • These are my predictions:-

    Watford H 3
    Liverpool A 0
    Newcastle H 3
    Man United A 1
    Everton A 3
    Southampton H 3
    West Ham H 3
    Leeds A 3
    Norwich A 3

  • Watford…….Win.
    Liverpool…..Win.
    Newcastle…Win
    Man United.Win
    Everton”…..Win
    SouthamptonWin
    West Ham…Win
    Leeds Utd…Win
    Norwich……Win

  • Watford H 3
    Liverpool A 0
    Newcastle H 3
    Man United A 3
    Everton A 3
    Southampton H 3
    West Ham H 1
    Leeds A 3
    Norwich A 3

  • I like kevs attitude. Good Azeez article. Sounds like the manager has the players best interest in mind.

  • Great comment Kev. I have deleted it and used it for a post. Hope you are OK with it. 😊

    I am in the Netherlands with Fam and friends this week.

    New Post 🙂

  • Watford H 3
    Liverpool A 0
    Newcastle H 3
    Man United A 1
    Everton A 3
    Southampton H 3
    West Ham H 3
    Leeds A 3
    Norwich A 3

  • Hi, guys. I shall only be putting up my predictions, for now. I have to be off to a program next week and have been handed a lot of pre-program work, which is quite demanding. I should be done in a couple of weeks and may have limited time to do much else. Bear with me.

    Manchester United v Manchester City A (1-2)
    Crystal Palace v Wolves. H
    Arsenal v Watford *. H (3-1)
    Everton v Tottenham. A
    West Ham v Liverpool. A
    AC Milan v Inter Milan *. A. (0-1)

  • GN5, not sure how you do it but you’re doing a fantastic job, keeping these records along with the scoring. God bless and keep you, man.

  • Watford…… 3
    Liverpool…..1
    Newcastle…3
    Man United. 1
    Everton”….. 3
    Southampton. 3
    West Ham… 0
    Leeds Utd…. D
    Norwich…… 3

    Really sleepy, now…..😴

  • TA, please ignore or take down my last entry! I didn’t reckon with the “home/Away” information. This is my final take:

    Watford H 3
    Liverpool A 0
    Newcastle H 3
    Man United A 3
    Everton A 1
    Southampton H 3
    West Ham H 3
    Leeds A 3
    Norwich A 3

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