Another Blue Day

Football's a funny old game, as the saying goes. On Saturday we saw Arsenal ripped to pieces and two down after 20 minutes, level by half-time and probably unfortunate not to be at least two goals in front by that point, and then over-run by the oppostion's extra quality as the second half progressed.

So Arsenal languish near the bottom of a table - a table that nobody should look at until 6 games at least have been played - with no points, having been handed a nightmare pair of opening fixtures (as were poor Huddersfield, to be fair). I was hoping perhaps for three points, and would have taken two, and I do feel that despite the obvious current flaws they were a little unfortunate not to come away with something on Saturday evening.

I could mention Aubameyang leaving his shooting boots at the hotel, Kovacic's conning of the referee to win a free kick just before the winning goal, the usual set of individual errors, or even touch on the team simply dropping too deep in the second half to be effective and why they might have done that, but I feel that I need to focus on the fundamental issues that leave Arsenal languising at the moment. So this is what I've gleaned from these two matches:

1.  It's going to take a little while for players to get out of the bad habits they fell into over the previous year or so. I'm particularly thinking of Bellerin's game, of almost everything about Mustafi, and about certain senior players' perceived lack of urgency when the opposition have the ball (I'm thinking particularly of Xhaka, and of Ozil and Mikhitaryan further forward). We are really yet to see the famous Emery press in action, and as I said last week absolutely everyone needs to buy in to that or it won't work.

I am starting to wonder if Emery isn't going to sacrifice 'quality' for hard work quite soon - perhaps not yet as the next couple of games are considerably easier than the first two - but I wonder if he'll prefer to see Iwobi and even Welbeck working hard than watch certain others sauntering about.

2.  There is a case - perhaps not this week - for using both Torreira and Guendouzzi as shielding midfielders. I'd certainly think that he needs the former in the side from the start now, but not at the latter's expense. A bigger name should make way.

3.  There's little to worry about going forward - witness that we saw Chelsea's defence torn to shreds again and again in the latter stages of the first half - but the players who did that so well need to have it drilled into them that it's not correct to stroll back, and to rely on others to regain possession once lost. It's a cliche perhaps, but defending starts at the front.

4.  Matteo Guendouzzi looks like he's going to be quite the player. Whether he should be playing every game at 19 is doubtful; however, with doubts surrounding much of the rest of the midfield he must stay in the side.

5.  Petr Cech appears to have risen to the challenge of the presence of Leno. Whilst he does look dodgy with the ball at his feet, I'd suggest that he has made 5 top-class saves already in the two matches so far. Leno will have to continue to wait.

6.  Nacho Monreal - it's as if he'd never been away. Solid and reliable all down the left hand side for Arsenal; thank goodness he's fit again.

Without the knowledge of the players that Emery has, I'd be making changes for Saturday - even allowing for the opposition looking in total disarray already. I'd give Lichtsteiner a game as Bellerin looks devoid of confidence, I'd strongly consider Holding in place of Mustafi (I think that Sokratis would respond well to having a young player to mentor and frankly Holding can't do any worse than the 'mercurial' German), I'd leave Xhaka out for sure and I wonder how Emery can possibly drop Iwobi after Saturday. The situation with Ramsey remains unsettling, but as you can't start with 12 he may well pay the price for not signing his contract.

So Cech, Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Holding, Monreal, Torreira, Guendouzzi, Iwobi, Mikhitaryan, Ozil, Aubameyang. And I'm only playing Ozil and Mikhitaryan because the opposition are so poor (Jack Wilshere's return notwithstanding).

Other things that caught my eye over the weekend:

1.  Manchester City are really quite good, aren't they?
2.  Liverpool are an improving side, but beatable. And I'm yet to be impressed by Tottenham's form this season - 6/6 points duly noted, however.
3.  With Jorginho, Kovacic and Hazard in the side, and as they get used to their new manager, Chelsea can be expected to exceed expectations.
4.  It's looking like another third season sacking is on the horizon for Mourinho. The surly little sod. Let's hope so.
5.  Early days, but I'm tipping Cardiff, Huddersfield and quite possibly West Ham to go down. For all their spending, they look like a complete mess.

Until next week.

Oh, and please feel free to leave a comment. I've got broad shoulders.

Lessons learned

So the new era has started; unfortunately with the biggest test there could possibly be. I gave myself the summer - for all that it was a momentous one for Arsenal - off from blogging (there was still plenty for Arsenal fans to read, was there not?), so in this opening post of the season I'll cover not just the first game of the season but some thoughts on Wenger vs Emery, and also on our friend Mr Kroenke.

Firstly, what did we learn yesterday? And I'll preface this by pointing out what Basil Fawlty would have called "the bleedin' obvious" -  that Arsenal won't find themselves too often up against a group of players who are as comfortable as City are on the ball, and thus able to ping the ball about in midfield as they did.

From my seat in the lower tier, I felt that most important thing that Emery should be taking away is that if he wants to play the high press he is going to think very hard about whether he can play both Ozil and Mikhitaryan in the same side. My personal view is that he cannot. If you want to play like that, then everybody has to participate; otherwise there is always an outlet for the opposition, but neither did it consistently and the personnel have to be right.  Plus on the attacking side I thought that the latter, in particular, had a poor game and is even less consistent than Ozil. Having one in the side is a luxury one can live with against most opposition. But not both.

If he agrees with me on that, then Emery should be looking instead at playing both Aubameyang and Lacazette up top. The latter certainly made a difference when he was introduced, but I also feel that it was unfortunate that Ramsey wasn't fit enough to last longer than he did, because he's a much better option for the press than either the aforementioned German or Armenian. As to how that leaves his bench, then either Welbeck or Nketiah will have to take up a spot there.

Additionally, I believe that Ramsey is absolutely key to this Arsenal side. Now, some people might look back and see that I have in the past called him "a square peg in a round hole", but I feel that in the system that Emery wants to play somebody with his energy - and the ability to break the lines with an eye for goal - is just as important as somebody like Ozil who has the ability to play the killer pass. Whatever is needed to pay him, I feel that the 'IRS' (that's 'IvanRaulSven' for those who didn't follow) need to find it.

Defensively, there are clearly issues. But you'd expect them to be exposed by a side like City. The semi-absence of Mikhitaryan (who gave Maitland-Niles no help whatsoever in the time that the latter was on the pitch) meant that not only did he have to deal with Mahrez but also the overlapping Walker. This was simply impossible for a kid playing out of position, and he deserves no criticism for his performance; merely sympathy. As an addendum, I was impressed by Lichtsteiner; a proper professional. I'd like to see more of him, please. Sokratis and Mustafi lack pace, clearly, but didn't do too badly in the circumstances, and I thought that Bellerin did OK. The thing is this; City are really slick, so it's unfair to judge on Day One.

In midfield, Guendouzzi did well for somebody so young, but clearly has a lot to learn and at times looked a little out of his depth (his hair, however, did not!). This is, of course, perfectly understandable. And I was impressed by Teeny Tiny Torreira's little cameo late in the game. He's my new favourite player, I think.

Once again, for me, Xhaka disappointed. But I will say this; it takes a short time to get into bad habits and a considerably longer time to break them, so whilst I'd criticise his performance in the same way as I criticise those of Ozil and Mikhitaryan, I feel that we need to give the manager time to break the bad habits that these players developed in the Dog Days of Wenger.

Up front, Aubameyang was fairly anonymous, but he was ploughing a lone furrow - with a little help from Ramsey - until Lacazette appeared. Give him/them time too.

So on the whole it wasn't great, but it could have been much worse. We had a few chances, after all, even if some would suggest that City were coasting.

However, I do think that Emery needs to revisit the tactic of playing out from the back at all costs. It was agonising to watch at times - and City didn't do it too well either - and almost ended in embarrassment and disaster. On the subject of goalkeepers, I'm not really sure why Cech started once £26m had been spent on Leno, but the manager watches them every day and we don't.  Leno will get his chance soon, I'm sure.

So onto the next easy fixture - Chelsea away. Goodness me! It will certainly get easier after that.

Just to cover the end of Wenger and the beginning of the new regime. This will have been written elsewhere, I am sure, but what I would say is that it was time for change - well past time for change, frankly - and whilst M Wenger gave us some of the most wonderful football memories we will ever have, what we saw over the past few years was an inexorable decline, with nothing but more of the same to look forward to. I'm sure that what what led to him going was that Kroenke saw, on top of the decline in football standards and the speed at which our so-called peers were moving away from us, were the empty seats and the mismanagement of player contracts and sales that led to huge sums of money being flushed away. So it was more than the slide down the table; it was a holistic thing. Everything had stagnated.

As for 'IRS' (assuming that 'I' stays, that is, in the face of the offer from AC Milan) and Emery, we must give them time. It might take weeks, but it's more likely to take months or even years to get back where Arsenal fans feel the team belongs. That is the legacy of the end of the Wenger era, I'm afraid. The signs, despite yesterday's loss, are not bad. We must be patient and it might take quite a bit more work on the training pitch, and more personnel change, to get there.

Now quickly on to our friend Stan. I'm afraid that taking the club private was inevitable, and there's nothing we could have done, or can do about it. It's sad, but (contrary to pretty much all the evidence) we just have to trust that he'll do right by the club. If there are any positives to take from what's happened recently at KSE, I'd cite these two: a) he took the necessary action on Wenger (and perhaps listened to his son before he did it - maybe, just maybe, Josh is going to be less dispassionate than his father about the sporting empire that he is going to inherit), and b) the LA Rams are going to be Superbowl contenders this year, and KSE have spent a hell of a lot of money on the Rams in the past year or two. Hopefully, Stan will at last acknowledge the correlation between investment and success. Be sad. Be angry. But don't lose hope.

Until next week.