Pre-Season 2019

Very poor display so far from the kids.

Angers lead after one of their players ran through the middle of the team under no pressure from Burton or Guendouzi. Medley was caught ball-watching and allowed the goalscorer to run off his shoulder.

It's a static showing with the ball as well. Hardly any progression, Nelson and Martinelli are having to drop deep to get on it, and the front two aren't dropping off, either.

Looks like Emery is trying out his Carabao cup team already

Going out in the third round to a Championship team, by the looks of it.

Sokratis, Maitland-Niles, Thompson, XHAKA and Willock are on.

Medley, Chambers, Monreal, Burton and John-Jules have come off.

1-1. Guendouzi's cross found Nketiah, whose shot was deflected to Nelson to tap-in.

Jay29 wrote:Going out in the third round to a Championship team, by the looks of it.

Trash competition anyway, can't wait until the FA comes to their senses to end it.

Squad for tonight:

Leno, Martinez

Chambers, Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal, Kolasinac, Thompson, Maitland-Niles

Torreira, XHAKA, Guendouzi, Willock, Ceballos, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Nelson, Saka

Aubameyang, Nketiah, Martinelli

Kolasinac and Ozil are back from their break and will probably play most of the game to catch up on minutes, Thompson gets another chance to cover at left back as Monreal will likely feature at centre back, and a return for Torreira.

Pepe not included presumably because he's only just returned from the AFCON. Lacazette seems to still be feeling that sprained ankle he got against Lyon. Jenkinson is... who knows?

That defence looks so bad.

Leno; Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Sokratis, Monreal; XHAKA, Willock; Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Nelson; Aubameyang

Neto; Semedo, Pique, Umtiti, Alba; De Jong, Puig, Rakitic; Perez, Griezmann, Dembele

Swap Willock for Guendouzi and Nelson for Lacazette and you've pretty much got our starting eleven for Newcaslte next Sunday.

Arsenal winning 1-0 at half-time thanks to a great Auba goal.

It's been a decent performance, too. Passing has been crisp, Nelson and Willock have been lively, and the defending hasn't been awful.

We'll see how they get on when Messi and Suarez come on, though.

Willock is good man

Really really really not a fan of AMN at RB.

lost for words

AMN with a comical own goal, and then some vintage Arsenal marking allowing Suarez the freedom of Catalonia to score.

Hate to say it, but that second was Mustafi watching the ball and not the movement behind him. Which, you know, is a very Mustafi thing to do.

But hey, at least they made chances, even if the second half was mostly a painful exercise in how to give the ball away under pressure on the edge of the penalty area.

...Liverpool are going to molest Arsenal again, aren't they?

Mustafi and English Mustafi at the back. Not surprised they scored.

I was impressed with Saka when he came on. Martinelli has good movement too.

But it really doesn't feel like we are ready for the new season. Still no set starting 11 or system. Defence still an issue.

We really need at least one fresh defender. Either at LB/RB or CB.

There was one moment when Chambers stood there waiting for AMN to come across and mop up a situation, when he could have easily just booted the ball away himself. Stuff like that is why he played for Middlesbrough and Fulham.

A reminder that last year people freaked that he was sent on loan. The guy doesn't have the quality.

Besides the lack of quality at the back, the lack of composure and communication are massive concerns. Barca put on a stronger press in the second half and Arsenal were just leaving the ball to each other, nobody took control or organised the team, etc. The players are backing their quality under pressure but a lot of time they just give up the ball. At which point, somebody has to say "enough of this".

In general, it's difficult to get hyped for this season because even with the attacking talent, I'm still seeing Mustafi making errors, XHAKA making bad square passes that turnover possession, Mkhitaryan doing one good thing and immediately following up with a bad thing, Monreal having no pace whatsoever anymore, Kolasinac failing to understand the concept of positioning, and so on. These guys are going to get a lot of games.