Match Reaction v West Ham (away).

[McNamara That Ghost...]

All changed when Cresswell decided to take Pepe out of the game again and just injured himself. :lol:

We've won a fucking game!

Front three eventually caught fire, for a bit.

Martinelli the catalyst and cementing his reputation as the best Brazilian of all time.

[Letters]

Staying up, staying up, staying up!
:scarf:

[Marc Overmars]

God did we need that.

Nice to see them turn a game around like that and also show a bit of swag.

Lets fucking do City now! :popcorn:

[Master Splinter]

Need energy, speed and directness against Citeh as United showed, so starting Ozil and Xhaka would be mental.

Guendouzi and Willock in and phase out the half-arsed, detrimental players.

Or just play four forwards tbfh.

[Niall_Quinn]

It's a win. An important one too because I doubt we're getting anything on Sunday.

What's this thing with Xhaka though? Why is he he playing? He's killing us.

Nice finish by Pepe, but he's going to have to toughen up a bit. Not saying he's not up for it, Cresswell's crazed axe attacks on him proved he can come back for more. But his upper body strength must be close to zero. Work on that and it'll give him a pub fighting chance in this league.

Martinelli came into the game more as it progressed. His finish was the first bit of class from us all game.

[Letters]

Lets fucking do City now! :popcorn:

:haha:

Although they’re a bit of a mess too.

[Mac76]

much less panic from Sokratis with Chambo alongside him - let's hope Luiz stays on the bench for Citeh

[AFC Leveller]

Good goals, good second half and some really good individual performances, notably Torreira, Pepe and AMN.

City next is huge.

[Niall_Quinn]

I think Rafa would prefer all 22 players to be crammed into the centre circle. Kom-pakt! Kom-pakt! Fuck-us! Fuck-us!

Now he's dancing with Carragher.

[AFC Leveller]

Lacazette wasn’t missed, he usually plays better at home.

Hi we beaten Saints and Palace we’d b 5th! Fine margins.

[dostoy]

That is more like it.

Martinelli and Chambers must be regulars now.Luiz must never play again as he is a clown.

I hope Tierney is not too bad but Kola did show a bit of fire when he came on.

It was a much better performance in general and I'm relieved, albeit temporarily.

Did anyone see Torreira give DTs son, his shirt at the end ?

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

much less panic from Sokratis with Chambo alongside him - let's hope Luiz stays on the bench for Citeh

That was probably the second most important thing Freddie got right today ( starting Torriera is the 1st)- breaking the calamitous partnerships of the three idiots: Sokratis, Luiz and Mustafi.

For our club to move on we really need to ensure they don't get to play together again and we ship each of them off as soon as we can (or do what Zim has been suggesting and only play Luiz as a DM).

I thought, Freddie lineup was an improvement, except for having Xhaka in it of course. I would have wished Tierreny could have done the whole 90 mins but hey.

Martinelli was really the guy who saved us today, one chance one goal. I'm really beginning to think we should give this season to our young guns as they seem to be the only guys who still have the fighting spirit in them.

[Chippy]

That is more like it.

Martinelli and Chambers must be regulars now.Luiz must never play again as he is a clown.

I hope Tierney is not too bad but Kola did show a bit of fire when he came on.

It was a much better performance in general and I'm relieved, albeit temporarily.

Did anyone see Torreira give DTs son, his shirt at the end ?
Great second half performance. Was shitting myself at 0-1.
Martinelli is great! Tierney is fitting in well being so fucking injury prone. COYG.

[fakeyank]

Sokratis looks absolutely shit with the ball. I wouldnt want him starting our next game. I'd rather play Xhaka in central defense tbh, or just do the bleeding obvious and play holding.

Xhaka in CM kills all our attacks. Guendozi or Willock needs to take his place.

Ozil is a luxury player.. I do not how we benefit from his presence tbh. If Ceballos is fit, I'd rather play him there.

Torreira looked solid playing the ball from the back. I think all 3 of the goals had him bringing the ball out of the back. Wonder wtf Emery was trying to do with him.

Pepe & Martinelli were MOTM for me. Leno solid as usual.

[I am invisible]

Good to finally see a balanced team selection - looks like it took a while to shake off the nerves and relax into it, but you could see the difference it makes by the end. Hopefully that turnaround will be our ‘fuck it!’ moment, where the players stop being so bloody self-conscious and lose some of the self-pity.

Just a shame that Bellerin, Tierney and Holding can’t stay fit for more than 5 seconds - really limiting our options at the back (and maybe midfield too, if Chambers and AMN are still options there)...

[GP]

I don't mean to downplay the kid but Martinelli is the greatest Brazillian player ever.

[Özim]

Good win, helps when you pick the right playerts, though Xhaka is a waste of space and should never play again, the amount of times he gave away the ball, a real liability, what is the managers' obsession with this guy, he's hopeless.

Martinelli who most fans have wanted to start for a while got us back in it, Pepe who again fans thought should start then put us ahead, almost as if the fans know better than the people in charge, having said that it really isn't that hard to pick the most logical team.

[Özim]

Good to finally see a balanced team selection - looks like it took a while to shake off the nerves and relax into it, but you could see the difference it makes by the end. Hopefully that turnaround will be our ‘fuck it!’ moment, where the players stop being so bloody self-conscious and lose some of the self-pity.

Just a shame that Bellerin, Tierney and Holding can’t stay fit for more than 5 seconds - really limiting our options at the back (and maybe midfield too, if Chambers and AMN are still options there)...

Very true, amazes me how we've had a succession of people in charge now that are incapable of differentiating between our better players, they're getting paid to do this and can't do it properly which is strange, the average fan seems to have a better idea.

[Mac76]

Sokratis looks absolutely shit with the ball. I wouldnt want him starting our next game. I'd rather play Xhaka in central defense tbh, or just do the bleeding obvious and play holding.

Xhaka in CM kills all our attacks. Guendozi or Willock needs to take his place.

Ozil is a luxury player.. I do not how we benefit from his presence tbh. If Ceballos is fit, I'd rather play him there.

Torreira looked solid playing the ball from the back. I think all 3 of the goals had him bringing the ball out of the back. Wonder wtf Emery was trying to do with him.

Pepe & Martinelli were MOTM for me. Leno solid as usual.

agree with most of that, though i think Ozil does a bit more than people give him credit for, but he was guilty of lapsing into Wengerball too often

on Holding, the website says he has a bruised knee but was being considered for the Hammers game so would be great to see him back alongside Chambo for the next game, even if Citeh isn't the ideal return game i'd rather a 90% Holding was in there ahead of Sokratis...

You're right that Torreira played a part in all three of the goals, moving the ball forward well, i also think his tackling decisions are getting better

[dostoy]

Mustafi and Luiz must leave, even if its only on loan, in January.

Another CB must be brought in on loan until the end of the season unless Mavropanos is deemed good enough, which surely he is.

I'd forgotten about Ceballos, I hope he is fit soon.

I'm not sure if there is a place for Lacazette now as Martinelli and Pepe must play either side of Auba.

I'm a bit surprised and a bit disappointed that Rafa Benitez is not going to be the next manager as he has a lot of experience of English football at all levels.

[Özim]

Mustafi and Luiz must leave, even if its only on loan, in January.

Another CB must be brought in on loan until the end of the season unless Mavropanos is deemed good enough, which surely he is.

I'd forgotten about Ceballos, I hope he is fit soon.

I'm not sure if there is a place for Lacazette now as Martinelli and Pepe must play either side of Auba.

I'm a bit surprised and a bit disappointed that Rafa Benitez is not going to be the next manager as he has a lot of experience of English football at all levels.

That team was good other than playing Xhaka, I just don't get he fascination with this guy, he's hopeless, the guy will cost us goals mark my words, he's somehow ome out of that incident as if nothing ever happened as well, the fans are way too forgiving at Arsenal, we need this guy to be sold ASAP, falling that given away!

As for the CBs' it was pretty clear to anyone with eyes that Sokratis and Luiz just aren't good enough and make too many mistakes, so why it's taken so long to try someone else is beyond me.

Luiz should have never been bought, but since he has he should never be played in defence, he should be played as DM instead of Xhaka as he can do a job there.

[Marc Overmars]

Apparently this is the first time in 8 years we've come back from a half-time deficit to win. :wacko:

[Globalgunner]

Apparently this is the first time in 8 years we've come back from a half-time deficit to win. :wacko:

The mind boggles. Says it all about what a weak willed bunch of wasters we have become. 8 years and probably 150 different players and no bottle to be found anywhere.

[Özim]

We've been bottle jobs for years, probably goes back to 2008, no heart for the fight, we could use some players with more desire to win.

[Bumble]

thought we were pretty poor for an hour until we scored... but at least we know a team who are worse than us in West Ham. They were awful.

think you go with the same team against City if Tierney is fit. otherwise Kola for Tierney.
Lets have a run of games with the same side.

[Bumble]

That team was good other than playing Xhaka, I just don't get he fascination with this guy, he's hopeless, the guy will cost us goals mark my words, he's somehow ome out of that incident as if nothing ever happened as well, the fans are way too forgiving at Arsenal, we need this guy to be sold ASAP, falling that given away!

As for the CBs' it was pretty clear to anyone with eyes that Sokratis and Luiz just aren't good enough and make too many mistakes, so why it's taken so long to try someone else is beyond me.

Luiz should have never been bought, but since he has he should never be played in defence, he should be played as DM instead of Xhaka as he can do a job there.

think the obsession with Xhaka is that the other options are Gendo who I just think is a worse version than Flamini and Luiz who is toilet and even at 8m a waste of money. Xhaka plays because he is the best option of a bad bunch.

[Letters]

Apparently this is the first time in 8 years we've come back from a half-time deficit to win. :wacko:

Really?! Can that be true?
That can't be true...can it?!

[Letters]

Apparently this is the first time in 8 years we've come back from a half-time deficit to win. :wacko:

I don't know if this counts but weren't we 2-1 down against Hull at half time of the FA Cup? I guess we only won in extra time, but still.
There must be other examples.

[Letters]

Oh, it's PL away games. Given our rancid away record maybe less of a surprise
Still a bloody awful stat though! :lol:

[fakeyank]

think the obsession with Xhaka is that the other options are Gendo who I just think is a worse version than Flamini and Luiz who is toilet and even at 8m a waste of money. Xhaka plays because he is the best option of a bad bunch.

Luiz is definitely better than Xhaka at CDM. Xhaka is absolutely useless. He is a 'nothing' player like Denilson... probably worse because he also makes a ton of mistakes. Denilson on the other hand was just shit, never made a risky pass.. always sideways and back.

Guendozi is also better than Xhaka. Guendozi is able to bring the ball out from the back better. Plus he is 19, so he is only going to get better.

If not for Guendozi or Luiz, I'd play AMN there.. thats his natural position. Anyone but Xhaka... I'd give Leno a chance there before putting Xhaka on the field.

[Globalgunner]

Luiz is definitely better than Xhaka at CDM. Xhaka is absolutely useless. He is a 'nothing' player like Denilson... probably worse because he also makes a ton of mistakes. Denilson on the other hand was just shit, never made a risky pass.. always sideways and back.

Guendozi is also better than Xhaka. Guendozi is able to bring the ball out from the back better. Plus he is 19, so he is only going to get better.

If not for Guendozi or Luiz, I'd play AMN there.. thats his natural position. Anyone but Xhaka... I'd give Leno a chance there before putting Xhaka on the field.

True dat. Leno actually uses his hands less than Xhaka anyway who is forever dragging players back when they run past him. Utterly useless

[Mac76]

Luiz is definitely better than Xhaka at CDM. Xhaka is absolutely useless. He is a 'nothing' player like Denilson... probably worse because he also makes a ton of mistakes. Denilson on the other hand was just shit, never made a risky pass.. always sideways and back.

Guendozi is also better than Xhaka. Guendozi is able to bring the ball out from the back better. Plus he is 19, so he is only going to get better.

If not for Guendozi or Luiz, I'd play AMN there.. thats his natural position. Anyone but Xhaka... I'd give Leno a chance there before putting Xhaka on the field.

:gp:

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

True dat. Leno actually uses his hands less than Xhaka anyway who is forever dragging players back when they run past him. Utterly useless

I hate that particular part of his game soooo much.... really gets to me anytime time he does that.