It has been quiet on the blog, and that when Arsenal are doing so well. Over the years, I have learned that there is more blog-traffic when things are not going so well, or when Arsenal have played well after a period of lesser results. There are even certain bloggers of whom you will not hear unless it rains the proverbial over Arsenal. Nothing queer as folk.
Arteta has built a group of players that works as one and for each other, and now he has the squad-depth to get results in almost any game. There is still a lot to come from this group: we can all see this, and yet Arsenal are top of the league by a decent margin and almost top of the CL table. Arsenal can play much better attacking football, but injuries and the embedding of new players have hampered us. With a bit of luck, we will soon have many of our attacking players fit and available, and then we will see some truly awesome football. For now, we will continue to rely on our rock-solid defence and moments of quality and genius up-front. Mikel Merino I salute you.
What the games until now have shown is that there is a real spine and structure to the team with a togetherness that is very rare, and very hard to achieve. In October Arsenal did not have to travel more than a few miles to Fulham, and then this month there are the triple away fixtures of Burnley, Slavia Prague and Sunderland (today). I loved the way the boys have scored early and then controlled the games, saving precious energy and avoiding to get injured as much as they could. It was all very professional. Today’s game, against the high-flying Black Cats, will be another challenge. I guess it is another one in which the opponent will need to be tamed after a stormy start; Arsenal can then take over initiative and hopefully control the game from then on. Three points today would be massive; Liverpool and Man City will then know that they cannot afford to lose tomorrow. And a draw in Manchester would just be bliss.
Today, Arsenal will play against the truly formidable Granit Xhaka. Even the British sports press have now warmed to the brilliant Swiss maestro: it took a long time! Regulars, the few that are left, know how big a fan I am of Granit. He is in my all-time star-11 Arsenal team because of his character, incredible ability to give (the all important) structure and shape to a team, his leadership skills, and his fabulous ability to constantly move the ball forward or sideways in the most efficient/effective way. Xhaka is one of the few players who looks around BEFORE he is about to receive the ball, and therefore he almost always knows what is the best passing option. It sounds so simple, yet so few do it. Many rather have an extra touch to find out what to do next, and (some) momentum is gone.
I was sad to see him leave, but understood why he did it. We got Declan and he is doing rather well too. The move to Sunderland came as a total surprise to me. I thought he was done with the UK but then he decides to move to a far North corner in Eastern England, and to a just promoted team as well! Why did he do it? I don’t think money will have been the key reason; a player like Granit can find easier teams and places to earn loads. I think it was a romantic choice, and players who make those sorts of choices – from the heart rather than the brain, and when he is still young enough to play for any top team – are rare and need to be treasured. That is exactly what they are doing in Sunderland, and the British press cannot do anything else but admire him for his choice. Everybody still loves a romantic, and I am really pleased for Xhaka.
Today we have to find a way through this well-structured Granit team and take all three points. Let’s watch out for his quick switches of play and that hammer of a left foot that can even take Raya by surprise. The Black Cats have nothing to lose and the crowd will be up for it. For 90+ minutes there is no time for romance and the Gunners will have to be ruthless. Even Granit will understand and quietly support it. He loved playing for us especially under Arteta, and he was a big part of the incredible journey this team has made under the Spaniard: he is in those Russian dolls. Let’s never forget it.
By TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
“This one’s from the heart”, T. – and on “reunion day” Granit deserved no less than such a vibrant tribute; thanks for it.
I watched Sunderland-Everton, and if I’m not sure there are so “few players who looks around before he is about to receive the ball” (I think it’s been quite some time since pros have been drilled into this, from a very young age – a clear improvement from “my” days when coaches didn’t bother with teaching you this) he’s probably one of the very best at doing the most of it. The great Raymond Kopa used to say that the sure sign of a great player is when you feel like counting the number of times he gives the ball away, because it so seldom happens. Obviously, Granit is one of them – helped out by his immaculate technique, the velvety touch of his left foot.
It’s great to see how his Sunderland teammates look up to him who sets their pace, orders the chaos, keeps sprits high even when their boat is rocked. And rocked it was by the Toffees, at the start of the game in particular … After 30 minutes Moyes’s boys should have been 2 or 3 goals up – if the Cats get off to such a hesitant start tonight, the 2025-2026 version of our Arsenal won’t be anywhere near as forgiving, I’m afraid.
I’m looking forward to the game, because you can feel the positive vibrations oozing out of the connection between players and Mackems; the Cats have literally nothing to lose tonight, they’ll play with absolute peace of mind, so that with the support of their fans and the agile mind of Régis Le Bris on the touchline (he’s great at spotting the “weaknesses of the day“ in opponents and adapting his setup to them), our lads are likely to feel like they’re quite the pebble in their shoe …
Tbh though, I don’t think it’ll be enough to put an end to our winning run, and I’d bet a few bucks on the extension of our CS record as well. No disrespect intended, but “spine, structure, togetherness, … genius“ I agree with; players and staff are clearly on a mission and I’d be a hypocrite if I pretended I consider the possibility of it being aborted tonight.
Funny indeed how difficult it appears to be to rejoice together when we’re treated to such a season – might have something to do with the written word, as though keyboards got their users under a spell of negative critical thinking only …
Anyway, two rugby tests on either side of our game – nothing but “ I see tress of green, skies of blue“ will get typed out of this keyboard today … COYG
Brilliant comment, DdN. We are lucky to read your beautiful insights. Will read again now.
Yes Granit has a silky first touch, I think almost all left footed players have this.
You are right, Everton were unlucky not to be two ahead at half time. I just think the Black Cats were more nervous v the Toffees than they will be v us (as per having nothing to lose today).
I am also impressed with Le Bris and I love the name, Régis.
Enjoy the Rugby too.
High praise, indeed, Total. Slightly hagiographic, but, tho’ I am surprised, I appreciate the reasons for the Swiss maestro’s inclusion in your all time Arsenal X1. He is certainly providing a role model for those young Sunderland team mates and I suspect this was one of the attractions for him, to cap an outstanding career with some superb mentoring. And, yes, our keeper will need to be on his toes anticipating one of Granit’s thunderbolts. He may well be playing on Declan’s side of the pitch this arvo, I suspect this could offer some of the decisive moments in the match.
Scotland v All Blacks followed by Sunderland v Arsenal. My grandchildren are playing second fiddle for the rest of the day…
I didn’t think I would see the day I get so apprehensive about a game against a newly promoted team. But that’s how crucial a win in this one has become that even the fans may be all nerves; hopefully, the players stay focused and win this before the game in Manchester.
Agreed, it took Xhaka leaving the UK and returning to a different club, for him to be so appreciated. What a player he was for us and now, for Sunderland. The fans there cannot believe their luck and it is said they reckon he is their best player now. I think he went to Sunderland for the romance of it and because they sought him out and showed him he would be respected……all he ever really demanded.
After the pleasantries, it has to be full focus on the goal and end of niceties on that pitch. We have to put out our strongest 11 and seek to score first (since we usually then control the game better) then ensure the 3 points to put pressure on the City v Liverpool match up. I would prefer a Draw in that one. What do you guys see as the best scenario for our ambitions?
Anyway, OGAAT. Let’s first get a win today, then worry about tomorrow.
COYG!!
LG, you’re even more positive than I am so, I’d draw from you. It is something about Grant that gives me the feeling they may just break our clean sheet record. However, if we can ignore old friendships and over-coaching to counter his influence, surely, Sunderland are no match for our defenders.
Glad to know someone here knows a thing or two about their manager. Never heard of him, but have felt he must have something in him to attract Grant Xhaka back to the UK.
It ends 2-2 at the Spurs stadium. Richarlison had celebrated his late goal like he’d won it only to see Manure get a late late equaliser. A Spursy result as any.
Our ladies just haven’t been hitting high notes this term, after becoming European champions last season.
It ended Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea. It could have been 3-1 if we had not been robbed of two good goals; the refereeing was horrendous for those disallowed goals, to be honest. Hopefully, it gives the girls the impetus to go on a run.
I hope you could hear this rendition of “Flower of Scotland” from your place, T.
“Little Big Man” McKenzie saved the day, didn’t he?
Tell me about games of two halves, at HT I thought the Scots were in for a thrashing … how could I doubt their pride, bravery, and … talent. What a game, eventually.
Bring on these Cats, now, COYG.
Raya
Timber-Saliba-Gabriel-Calafiori
Zubi-Rice
Saka-Eze-Trossard
Merino
(Kepa-Ben-Myles-Hincapié-Mosquera-Dowman-Nørgaard-Andre-Ethan)
Cheers guys!!
CoyrrGs
Over 20minutes in and the hosts have stayed solid. Not sure if it is us making them look so, or they are just that well drilled defending.
We are guilty of playing to their own game at times, or could it be they prepared well for this?
Time will tell.. We are on top though, save for some occasional forays they get into our area. I am not sure we have threatened them much. No need to conserve energy now. Let the national team managers worry.
It had to be an Arsenal old boy to deny us that record we sought.
What was Ballard doing so far forward though?
1-0 to the home side.
Bring on McKenzie!!
What a mess … but it was Lebris’s plan all along, obviously. Clearly on such a night, we could do with other attacking options on the bench. Zubi’s on a yellow already, Pawson will give him his marching orders at the first opportunity; so that it might not be a bad idea not to wait and go straight away for:
Raya
Timber-Saliba-Gabriel-Calafiori
Rice-Merino
Saka-Nwaneri-Eze
Trossard
Not worried yet, but we have to get unstuck from the silk of their web asap (more long-distance shots to start with, maybe, so they start feeling it to risky to keep camping on the edge of their box?) …
COYG
Very little going right for us, at the moment, but we must not allow it to frustrate us.
As I type, Bukayo Saka makes it 1-1.
An absolute rocket by Trossard. 1-2!!
Trossard again, Ole Ole! 🎵
Great turn around, now let’s hold on. The wingers deliver again for us.
Mr Brobby hurts us. What a shame.
Ends 2-2.
This game has tested us no end. 2 goals against our defence is no mean fit.
What a game of football. Credit to Sunderland, they kept going and defended like lions. Missed Gyo and Havertz today. Still a draw is not bad.
feat*
We kept lobbing balls up, though, despite not having g Gyokeres in place. Like we have now been wired to seek him out. Saying that, they have pressed us aggressively and not left us space to pass around to keep some control.
We gave it some and were guilty of trying to hold on to what we had, after we went ahead. It played into their hands, methinks.
A win was desirable; but a draw cannot be scoffed at.
DMac indeed, LG. What a try! If Leandro’s majestic strike had won the game for us, I could go to bed rejoicing, but that 94th minute equaliser has reduced me to a quiet, “It’s okay, the run had to end somewhere, sometime”.
All the best v the Boks, mon ami.
Great fun indeed – their fans have been outstanding, too.
I love it when the teams we’re supposed to be superior to jump down our throats from the getgo; I don’t want them to hold back, respect us – it’s up to us to find solutions to every problem, which we did today in the second half … for 35 minutes!
If The Arsenal were a team fighting for survival, not for titles, I would expect from our players nothing but keep in mind that ” A football game is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous and restrained …”, so credit to the Cats indeed.
Bring on the Spuds
COYG
TA wrote: _”Regulars, the few that are left, know how big a fan I am of Granit. “_
And it hasnt changed has it!? 🙂
Just stopping in to say hello, and that I still read along, am equally stoked by the development each year of the past several-ish now, and remain too busy to contribute much anywhere.
cheers for the great article, mate! As for the result, well we were due for some “deflation” after such a strong run. Can live with a draw to a tough Cats side at their place.
Great to hear from you, professor! Hope all is well. Yes a bit of deflation was to be expected. Three games in 7 days left us with tired CBs and a few uncharacteristic mistakes were made. We move on after the break.
Thanks for the link, Eris; I didn’t think we’d get this “Breakdown” that fast, because Adrian had all the time of the interlull to deliver it. Look … it’s always hard to add something. He’s always right on the money, isn’t he? Moreover, he always makes a clever use of stats, which – even though I’m not exactly a dwarf – as a proper old, conservative, “Grumpy”, I always do without.
I couldn’t help but notice that, just as Total had done before him, he highlighted the difficulty of playing 3 away games on the rebound. What he didn’t mention about this is the little time which must’ve been left for proper training sessions between November 1st (Burnley A) and November 8th (Sunderland A) with Slavia A (November 4th) stuck in the middle of this. Understandably so, the game that looked like it hadn’t been as meticulously prepared as ours usually are was the last one, when we were drawn into Le Bris’s trap, as though his game plan hadn’t been studied, anticipated as thoroughly as our opponents’ always are.
Now, however disappointing this extra time equalizer might have been, leaving us feeling like having to catch our breath after being hit by a sucker punch, a simple look at the table should be enough to cheer up any Arsenal fan. How many of us would have predicted the look of it the day when the fixture list came out – not to mention we achieved this in the absence of six (!!) attacking players.
Adrian alludes to these absences at the end of his video, and rightly so, but I was surprised he didn’t even consider the possibility of Ethan having been brought on. Where will the kid – who scored 9 goals last season – stand in the pecking order two weeks from now, when our sick bay’s empty at last, if he can’t be given at least a few minutes when he’s the only attacking option on the bench, and the 2 guys he could sub off (Merino, Eze) aren’t having a great day, I wish I knew.
I found his “6“ rating of BigBill too lenient too. His volley right up into row Z was a terrible miss, he definitely should’ve put it away. More generally I wish he bailed us out more often … Raya, Timber, BigGab, Cala all of ‘em at some point have pulled out something unexpected, out-of-the-ordinary, just as Ballard did for Sunderland, with his goal and his extra-time block. William almost never does, he’s Mr. Reliable, that he sure is, but he should bring more, much more, either in defence or in attack. He’s only 24, I might be too harsh on him, but that’s only because I’ve seen so very few CBs with that much their lockers. Actually, I suspect Mikel expects more from him too, hence that Beckenbauer-esque part Bill was asked to play against Slavia, bringing an extra man in midfield … the lad can be the 21st century “Kaiser“, I have no doubt about that, but it’s high time he started being aware of it himself.
That’s an interesting take on Saliba, Duc. I still have to rewatch the game, so will have a closer look. A Beckenbauer I can see in Declan Rice if he were to play as a CB, but Bill I am not so sure.
LG, you make a good point, re the lack of playing time for Ethan. MLS falls into that situation too and this has probably cost him his England place, this time out.
On review, both are still young, with a lot of time ahead of them and they should have their time to shine, not too long from now; besides, we expect to see them in the cup games.
The thing is Arsenal have big big fishes to fry and sentiments have to be set aside, for now. I am certain the entire squad understands the goal, from which they will all be partakers.
Fully agree that Saliba should be more composed in that situation to ensure he hits target (force a save/block) at the least. That wayward shot was not a good look on him.
All in all, we are still in a good place with a few stars to return after this break. We should soon fly again to the shame of those rival fans questioning our staying power.
COYG!!
You know, when I step back and consider what it is I love about football (and which I love more; Arsenal or football) I arrive at the realisation that success is momentary and rarely sates the great thirst of the human spirit. Whereas beauty goes further in doing so… Arsene once said:
“I take pride in the fact that people go home having felt that for 90 minutes today, life is beautiful – and that’s it, basically. That’s why professional football exists”.
We can become a slave to success where every mistake or perceived failure unleashes a torrent of self condemnation within or criticism from without. As our teeth grow longer we hopefully learn to live with a dissatisfied satisfaction and yet find contentment. “Godliness with contentment is great gain” as the Good Book enjoins us. To paraphrase we might say, “beauty with contentment is great gain”.
Wenger is a slave to beauty. He brought great success to our club, but how I best remember his reign is for the poetry, the plethora of number 10’s he paraded before our eyes, the handbrake off, gallivanting, cavalier, heart on sleeve, flow of consciousness football which so often had my heart expanding in my chest and me sighing smilingly with head shaking wonder.
I enjoyed that second half up on Wearside as much as any this season, despite the conceding of goals and dropping of points. All four goals were, each in their own way moments of beauty.
Mikel coaches a healthy dose of pragmatism into the mix, suffocating teams with power and precision, but, thankfully, this Arsenal also throw up those moments of excoriating skill and technique which conjure up Milton’s L’ Allegro, “Come, and trip it as ye go, / On the light fantastick toe”.
And, yes LG, I’d also love to see William develop into a Beckenbauer. I’ve always been “in love with (that) German (football)star”. Perhaps the most beautiful German of all time, tho’ I admit to soft spots for Claudia and Heidi.
Amen to all of this, Stu.
Not long ago, we talked about the ’82 WC.
Through his “plethora of 10s” I think the pot of gold Arsène was chasing, at the end of the football rainbow, was the re-enactment of the Giresse-Platini-Tigana-Genghini quartet’s magic. He was a benevolent Ahab, his obsession was beautiful, and he sure didn’t deserve the hate that was thrown at him in his last seasons at our helm.
We know now some kind of leprechaun always kept the pot hidden away from him, but I think his quest was all the more beautiful since it failed, eventually; it’s the voyage he took us on that really mattered.
Through a totally different approach, which we don’t have to love every aspect of, that’s what’s thrilling about Mikel’s current tenure too: the journey we are made to be a part of, thanks to a Board that scoffs at the merry-go-round of managers …
The Arsenal Ladies team have just had a shocking second half in the Women UCL, losing 3-2 to Bayern Munich, after going into half time 2 goals up.
Not good for the defending champions. They will need to go on a run to be in the automatic qualifications places.
Rocheteau, too, LG. Up there with Grzegorz Lato during that era.
“That exquisite quest
ever let it be there but unseen
that touchless wonder
ever let it be beyond my grasp”
Fab comments, guys.
Arsene was indeed about beauty, the French way. Slick design, luxury everwhere, speed and ooh lalaa… and built on Graham’s British defence. The fortuitous arrival of Sol gave it all extra life. And who knows how it all would have developed further without the financial constraints of the post Highbury era?
Unfortunately, he lacked the ability to evolve and adjust to the Mourinho, Pep and Klopp threats. Beauty became too one-dimensional and a major paradigm shift never happened. Arteta is our saviour and brings us beauty in all areas: total football for the 21st century. Thank you Arsene for being a big player in our Russian Dolls of continuous improvement.
One down, one to go, Eris.
Osimhen on a mission, isn’t he? What a player.
Saka in space is such a delight, and what a fine goal he scored. I really like the way Kane collects the ball and then passes deep to a fellow attacker. I can see our Gyo do this more and more for Arsenal too.
One from Bukayo and one from Eberechi. Gunners on fire. 🔥 🔥
Yes, LG. One to go in Africa. One to go in the intercontinental play-offs. Osimhen was immense for us the last two games. Nigeria shouldn’t even be in this situation, all considered, but for some early team disruptions and Osimhen’s absences.
We live in hope we would be at the 2026 mundial, fingers crossed.
Are you on your way to Rabat, Eris? Am I correct in assuming DRC are the slight underdogs for this play off? Beating Cameroon was quite an achievement.
New post 🙂