Match Reaction v Villa (home)

[selassie]

Ozil must be laughing his tits off.

Ozil's numbers when he was actually in the team last season were nothing to write home about. Sure, we are at a point where we should probably try and integrate him back in the team but he isn't the solution.

[Marc Overmars]

Ozil isn’t the answer but he is obviously good enough to play for this team. Anyway he’s done for so no point talking about him anymore.

Arteta needs to find a way to integrate the front line properly, they don’t always need to be tracking back, wrestling with defenders and making tackles. You’re taking away their natural instincts and I feel that’s what Arteta’s heavily disciplined and regimented style of play has done. It’s a huge oversight on his part and he looks every bit the rookie because of it.

We probably won’t even finish in the top half if Auba and Laca don’t score at least 25-30 goals between them.

[selassie]

Ozil isn’t the answer but he is obviously good enough to play for this team. Anyway he’s done for so no point talking about him anymore.

Arteta needs to find a way to integrate the front line properly, they don’t always need to be tracking back, wrestling with defenders and making tackles. You’re taking away their natural instincts and I feel that’s what Arteta’s heavily disciplined and regimented style of play has done.

We probably won’t even finish in the top half of Auba and Laca don’t score at least 25-30 goals between them.

This season is already a write off for me, we have Leeds, Wolves & Spuds coming up, honestly how many points are we going to get from these games? I woudn't be surprised if we managed 2 at best.

The issues are not so much that we are playing poorly, it's more that we have structural problems with this team that I am not sure Arteta is capable of fixing or at least not to the extent where I am confident of us going on a deep winning run to challenge for top 4.

I know it sounds all doom and gloom but straight up I can name 5 teams that are definitely better than us, 5 teams that I believe will finish above us no matter what. That is deeply worrying considering the amount of money we have been spending the past 2 seasons and the calibre of player we have been bringing in, we are actually getting worse.

[Niall_Quinn]

Maybe but how did Watkins get his goals yesterday? He battled and he was precise. None of which applies to Auba or Laca. Goals are created by the team not individuals unless your name is Messi. This team, this coach cant create viable goal opportunities. They play like strangers. ball comes in, no one to get in on it. Basic incompetence. This is what you get when you hire a nobody. What is his football philosophy?. Does anyone know?. Does he?. Willian misses the target completely from 6 yards out. Eddie comes in and is worse than the player he replaced. This is a motley crew of average players shepherded by a novice.

Arteta is a very typical proponent of Shitzerbal, which is the official term for the boring, death by a thousand passes, nonsense that has replaced football. Guys like Guardiola and Wenger thought they were advancing total football when all they did was build a pale imitation of it. And they only got away with it because football became a non-contact sport.

The emphasis in the Dutch game was joy. The emphasis in the modern game is control. Control the ball, move it, create pretty patterns, try to gain the advantage on energy, set up pre-defined overloads like opening moves in chess which then dictate the rest of the game like it's on rails. And the standard of the players is lower, because it doesn't have to be high in a game where there's always a safety pass available and you can't get tackled.

When Cryuff and Pele were providing their unique brands of entertainment, they were being kicked from pillar to post and slogging through mud and snow in the process. They had to have genuine technical skill, with other good players around them, and some steel to back it up. Much like Wenger's last watchable teams. Now we cream over players like DeBrown and Ozil, who wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes on proper football pitches. Watch Stanley Matthews play football. Or, hate to say it, Ryan Giggs. They wouldn't be able to play today because they'd be hanging around on the pitch waiting for something to happen. Or they'd be too busy doing their defensive duty shit.

Unfortunately, Shitzerbal is very effective at ensuring football doesn't happen. And when you have more money than everyone else you can buy enough gifted bore-merchants to ensure your tedious shit is more mechanically precise. We have "top" players now who, if they can kick a ball straight 33% of the time, are considered legends.

Doesn't help either when the whole media world buys into Pep, which in turn means the refs buy into it. Another huge advantage right there. And the money men and TV people needing a myth on which to hang their marketing efforts.

But, you can sum it all up in one observation. Pepe is a 70mill player. That tells you all you need to know about the modern game. Arsenal can't afford to buy enough control, even when silly amounts are being shelled on silly players like Pepe.

[Letters]

Ozil's numbers when he was actually in the team last season were nothing to write home about. Sure, we are at a point where we should probably try and integrate him back in the team but he isn't the solution.

Agreed. Ozil isn't the answer, but I can imagine a player famed for creativity and assists being pretty smug about being left out of a squad which isn't creating chances.

[selassie]

Arteta is a very typical proponent of Shitzerbal, which is the official term for the boring, death by a thousand passes, nonsense that has replaced football. Guys like Guardiola and Wenger thought they were advancing total football when all they did was build a pale imitation of it. And they only got away with it because football became a non-contact sport.

The emphasis in the Dutch game was joy. The emphasis in the modern game is control. Control the ball, move it, create pretty patterns, try to gain the advantage on energy, set up pre-defined overloads like opening moves in chess which then dictate the rest of the game like it's on rails. And the standard of the players is lower, because it doesn't have to be high in a game where there's always a safety pass available and you can't get tackled.

When Cryuff and Pele were providing their unique brands of entertainment, they were being kicked from pillar to post and slogging through mud and snow in the process. They had to have genuine technical skill, with other good players around them, and some steel to back it up. Much like Wenger's last watchable teams. Now we cream over players like DeBrown and Ozil, who wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes on proper football pitches. Watch Stanley Matthews play football. Or, hate to say it, Ryan Giggs. They wouldn't be able to play today because they'd be hanging around on the pitch waiting for something to happen. Or they'd be too busy doing their defensive duty shit.

Unfortunately, Shitzerbal is very effective at ensuring football doesn't happen. And when you have more money than everyone else you can buy enough gifted bore-merchants to ensure your tedious shit is more mechanically precise. We have "top" players now who, if they can kick a ball straight 33% of the time, are considered legends.

Doesn't help either when the whole media world buys into Pep, which in turn means the refs buy into it. Another huge advantage right there. And the money men and TV people needing a myth on which to hang their marketing efforts.

But, you can sum it all up in one observation. Pepe is a 70mill player. That tells you all you need to know about the modern game. Arsenal can't afford to buy enough control, even when silly amounts are being shelled on silly players like Pepe.

I hear you.

Pepe was a 70mill player to Arsenal, we were the only club stupid enough to bite at that ludicrous price. He was coveted all over Europe but any sensible club such as Bayern Munich and Liverpool ran a mile when they heard what price Lille wanted for him.

Ironically, our manager at the time didn't even want him, this is the kind of shit that has been and is going on at Arsenal right now, it's why we find ourselves in this gigantic mess.

We repeated the same mistake again this summer by bringing in Willian, yeah he was free, shame he is on 200k per week for the next 3 years....he can hardly run for christsake! Millions down the drain again!

[Letters]

[Globalgunner]

I saw that in real time and was like WTF!. I put it down to a soggy pitch. I like Tierney

[Letters]

I saw that in real time and was like WTF!. I put it down to a soggy pitch. I like Tierney

He's actually one of the few Arsenal players I really rate but a mate sent me this and I have to concede it was pretty funny.

[Niall_Quinn]

I saw that in real time and was like WTF!. I put it down to a soggy pitch. I like Tierney

Hopefully that wasn't our best attack of the match.