Arsenal are yet to find their groove, but early signs are very good.

TotalArsenal

Four games played and so far so good. 1o/12 points is a great return, just ask Manure or East Coast Oiler fans! Football-team-supporting and high expectations are of course a common and lethal combination. However hard one tries to keep the latter down, they have a tendency to creep up on us, and before you know you are expecting your team to always play beautiful, winning football. This is asking for unhappiness.

It certainly has not been beautiful football until now. The players are re-finding their balance and it is taking time. We often look laboured and lacking that extra gear. The good thing is that this Arsenal team still knows how to fight for every point, and this has seen us through three games already, and almost secured us all the points in the other one (v Fulham). At this stage we just cannot ask for much more.

We are missing Xhaka on the left and Rice and Havertz just need a little time to settle. Declan is getting better every game and Kai is needing a bit more time. Unfortunately, patience and perspective are rare commodities among the general fanbase. Just as well Mikel is a people manager and will be working hard with Havertz to get him into the right frame of mind. The rest will sort itself out normally; the only thing that can mess Kai’s career up at Arsenal is a lack of support by the fans. Let’s hope that a few good performances will turn things round for him.

I also think the players have learned that a season is long, and with CL football on the mains-menu and the European Championship in Germany as a mouth-watering desert as a prospect as well, it is even more important that the players don’t overdo it early on. Slowly but surely does it.

The coming round of games before the next interlull – Everton away, PSV at home, Spuds at home, Brentford away, Bournemouth away, Lens away, Citeh at home – will be a big test, and, dare I say it, a good sequence of games to play ourselves into the groove again. What a treat for us Gooners, hey?!

Fingers crossed our players return uninjured from this international break and that Mikel can work his magic with the non-travelling players as well. I cannot wait for the season to resume and see the boys in action again.

Keep the faith!

Come On You Rip Roaring Gunners!

By TotalArsenal.

27 thoughts on “Arsenal are yet to find their groove, but early signs are very good.”

  • TA, fine write up, and very apt word in season for the fans and for the club. Tomiyasu was man of the match in the game between Germany and Japan, with Havertz not having a great game for Germany, again. The point being that we can still depend on Tomi, especially when you recall there was a time some of our fans got on his back a lot, and he did say he lost confidence. He looks like he is back to form, on the basis of that outing.
    Fans need to support Havertz and Arteta also needs to bed him in slowly and soon enough, he could become a key part of the team.

    There is some advantage in not hitting form too early. We did that last season and faded a bit towards the end of the season, when it mattered. If we can rack up 10 points in 4 games, not playing at our optimum, it does bode well for the number of games we shall have to play in Europe and domestically.

    Just think about the players we haven’t even began to see much of: Trossard, ESR, Reiss Nelson, Vieira, David Raya and Gabby Jesus. Fingers crossed, we get better even as we return to the formation (4-2-3-1) and personnel we achieved the modest “success” we had last season.

  • T, you’ve got the right attitude. This is a long season with multiple competitions.
    There was an article by Jamie Carragher in the telegraph saying how Arsenal fans need to stay calm because the fear Man City puts on any challengers can destroy any hopes. Knowing how dominant they are plants seeds of doubt and immense pressure not to drop points.
    We know this is real because most of us can feel it.

    Your post helps if I can really stay balanced. Eris makes some nice positive points too about more good players in the squad to step up.

  • A nice wee post indeed, Total. Thank you for it.
    Yes, that run of games are a treat to look forward to. If I could choose three to attend, they’d be Lens away and Spuds and City at home. I only ever got to one European night and that was when Benfica sucker punched us 1-3 at Highbury. This after Kevin Campbell had earned us a credible 1-1 draw in the first leg in Lisbon. Going to Lens might give me an opportunity to find the missing Gaul.

    “Keep the faith”, is the catch cry of our New Zealand Warriors, who play in the Australian Rugby League comp. It’s a fabulous sport and our Warriors, with huge support from our South Auckland Polynesian community are having a great season.
    This and the rugby is helping me thru the interlull. Be grand to see Eddie make his bow against Scotland. He’s a smashing lad.

  • Last weekends results:-

    For the week:-

    1st GN5 with 3/6 plus most correct predictions = 7 points.
    2nd Total, Eris and Stuart with 2/6 plus 1 correct score = 4 points.
    5th Kev & PB with 2/6 = 2 points.
    7th Madhu & OX10 with no predictions received = 0 points.
    “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
    Season to date:-

    1st Stuart with 27.00
    2nd PB with 21.33
    3rd Total with 19.00
    4th Eris with 16.33
    5th OX10 with 15.00
    6th GN5 with 14.00
    7th Kev with 13.33
    8th Madhu with 10.00
    “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

  • Next weekends selections:-

    Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
    Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion
    West Ham United v Manchester City
    Newcastle United v Brentford
    AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea
    Inter Milan v AC Milan

  • Thanks Total it’s good to be off of the bottom for a change.

    I agree with your post Total we scrapped our way through a few games and managed to get the 3 precious points. The most gratifying for me was the results against Man U. I loved to pure joy shown by the Arsenal players and the looks of despair on the faces of the Man U players.

    Four of our next seven games are amongst our rivals (Spurs, City, Chelsea & Newcastle) for the top league spots – so lets hope that our fluidity is back and our new guy’s have settled into their roles.

    Also thank you to responding to my competitions results – I guess that due to the timing differences I seldom get any responses to my posts.

  • Good comparison between Tomiyasu and Havertz, Eris. Let’s kick the sofa rather than Kai when he misses a sitter, and soon he will be very good for us.

  • J, I like Jamie C. He allows doubt in his thinking and is humble enough to say he was wrong when warranted. Takes a man to do that; and he is right: don’t focus on Citeh but on our own performances. A season is sooo long.

  • Yes T, now that I think about it, the Carragher article was made for you and your OGAAT philosophy.

    GN5,
    TA has me so wrapped up in OGAAT that I never look at that many upcoming fixtures… that 4 out of 7 is a tough run.

  • Nice post Total, yes Arsenal are a slow burner this season probably due to the fact that we aren’t the surprise package anymore. The deep block and dealing with it is going to be our modus operandi this campaign, so a grinding 1-0 win at the Toffees for the Highbury Raiders will suit me fine.

  • Havertz needs a goal, it’s really as simple as that, a goal will transform how he is viewed by the fan base and how he feels between his ears and a goal will lead to even more goals, it’s a tried and tested process.

  • Thanks for the excellent and dutiful reporting on the predictions game. Good job, coming off the lower rungs of the table too.

    Yes, TA. Fingers crossed on Kai becoming important for the club soon.

  • Aston Villa v Crystal Palace H (2-1)
    Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion A (1-2)
    West Ham United v Manchester City D (1-1)
    Newcastle United v Brentford H (2-1)
    AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea D (1-1)
    Inter Milan v AC Milan H (2-0)

  • Aston Villa v Crystal Palace 2-2

    Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1
    West Ham United v Manchester City 1-3
    Newcastle United v Brentford 2-0
    AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea 1-1
    Inter Milan v AC Milan 1-2

  • Thanks GN5

    Aston Villa v Crystal Palace 2-2
    Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1
    West Ham United v Manchester City 1-2
    Newcastle United v Brentford 2-0
    AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea 0-1
    Inter Milan v AC Milan 1-1

    Interesting selection choice for this coming week. Fabio has done enough to earn a start, and Kai always did well in Europe for Chelsea, but his height and strength would be handy against Dyke’s boys. Love to see Leandro back in the mix, too. Jesus needs a start to get him up to speed for the spuds game.

  • GN5, here goes…..

    Aston Villa v Crystal Palace 2-1
    Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion 2-2
    West Ham United v Manchester City 1-3
    Newcastle United v Brentford 1-0
    AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea 1-2
    Inter Milan v AC Milan 1-0

  • Aston Villa vs C Palace……….. 3-1
    Man United vs Brighton……… 2-2
    West Ham vs Man City………… 1-4
    Newcastle vs Brentford…….. 2-2
    Bournemouth vs Chelsea…. 2-1
    Inter Milan vs AC Milan………. 1-1

  • Aston Villa v Crystal Palace 2-1
    Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion 1-2
    West Ham United v Manchester City 1-3
    Newcastle United v Brentford 2-1
    AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea 2-2
    Inter Milan v AC Milan 2-2

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *