Brentford 2-0 Arsenal - Friday 13th August, 2021

[Tommy]

I have Leno in my fantasy team. Piss off, Arsenal cunts. 

[carefreeluke]

1 hour ago, Lucas said:

Arsenal's next two games.

Chelsea (H)

Man City (A)

It's going to get worse before it get's better.

Arsenal will be superb next week, no doubt, one of their cup finals.

[Reluctant Striker]

I think there is something deeper at Arsenal that needs fixing beyond just Arteta. Ok, perhaps a top manager could have them doing better, with the players & budget they have.

But it had felt for several years that Wenger was just about maintaining them, almost beyond their means, in the new Man City era. Essentially Man City bought the Arsenal Top 4 spot. Liverpool have moved beyond them under Klopp.

If things don't start turning around soon, they could certainly be looking at a really long time before they're up around the top again.

Right now, I'd hope for Arsenal fans that their players & Arteta are looking around with determination they need to be ahead of Spurs, Leicester, West Ham, Everton..etc.. and take every match seriously. Because if they are trotting around assuming 5th or 6th & a decent cup run, because they're Arsenal, then sooner or later Arteta will have to be the fall guy for that. I'm sure I remember one guy (Guendouzi?) boasting to Brighton players of his salary. To me that seems an issue of culture in the club as big as any coaching style or available transfer funds.

[6666]

23 minutes ago, Tommy said:

I have Leno in my fantasy team. Piss off, Arsenal cunts. 

At least we've found our silver lining.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

4 hours ago, 6666 said:

Not sure what's going on with Auba & Laca. Hope it's not Arteta once again starting the season by falling out with a couple of players. I am looking forward to seeing what Balogun can do though. Especially with Pepe, Smith-Rowe, and Martinelli behind him. A couple of starters in Gabriel and Partey out, but it will be interesting to see how new signings Lokonga and Ben White do.

Even as someone who expects us to finish either 7th, 8th, or 9th, it's still difficult not to get excited for the first game of the season.

Oh you poor fella. 

[Honey Honey]

Unless you are a title winning side you don't want to be playing a newly promoted team away on the first game of the season. 

[Stan]

3 minutes ago, The Premier Steve's said:

Unless you are a title winning side you don't want to be playing a newly promoted team away on the first game of the season. 

I can speak from experience even as a title winning side I didn't want to play a newly promoted side away from home

 

[Danny]

Will write up some more formed thoughts on the game at some point. But just come home and watching the game on the Tele, god it felt good to be in there tonight. The feeling of being around your fans, the joy, the goals, the celebrations and hearing just how good a fucking stadium it is that we’ve built. Proper little ground, could happily put Hey Jude on a loop until I fall asleep. What a moment.

[Spike]

@Danny just so you know I’m pleased as punch for you and I instantly thought of you when I saw the score, especially given you  are around 30% of Brentford’s fanbase

[Spike]

2 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

Nobody should be surprised by this result. Wish I'd put money on it.

I see so much of Everton in Arsenal. Disjointed team with no direction or joined up thinking that have a certain minimum level of attainment just on account of how much money they have. Nobody from the club's owners down to the under 7s coach has any idea what steps the club have laid out to get where they want to be over the next 3, 5, 10 years and it shows every time they take to the pitch.

It's tempting to call for Arteta's head and it's probably true that he doesn't have the experience or impetus to take any sort of leading role in restoring Arsenal to where they need to be but at the same time, he's surrounded by such dysfunction and mediocrity I think it's hard to even tell whether he's actually a decent coach or not.

Don’t be so cruel to Everton and lenient on Arsenal

[Danny]

Was going to do this tomorrow but it's 1am and I'm watching a rerun of the game on Sky so here we go.

I'll start with Arsenal. I don't think they're as bad as they came across tonight and I think they will definitely get better, it's important to remember that they've had a really shit pre-season and I think that showed in their lack of intensity. I have one question really of Arteta and that is tactically, the only time I felt truly threatened by Arsenal today was on the counter and that happened about twice all game. Arsenal kept looking to play the ball slowly from the back and eventually pinball it up the left hand side for Tierney to put a cross in. We were playing 5 at the back, Ajer and Canos almost acted as joint right backs at times. Arsenal got absolutely nothing from that move time and time again and yet persisted with it, they need more in the middle when attacking a low block and Arteta didn't really react to that.

I feel sorry for Ben White, he really got bullied tonight by Ivan Toney. Unfortunately he's not that sort of centre back, he was paired with Mari who is just an older version of White and had no protection from a bruiser of a defender. When Arsenal get Luiz or Gabriel back their defence will seem a lot more solid physically and White can focus on the ball playing stuff, he was almost fed to the lions tonight in how he was expected to deal with a man who would eat him for breakfast...but Arsenal won't let that happen a lot injuries permitting. There was one moment tonight where Ben White got pressed in his own area, it look shakey but he kept the ball, turned towards goal and then scooped it out wide to Tierney perfectly which set up a counter attack. Arsenal have a hell of a ball playing defender there and £50m will look like money well spent eventually.

Kiernan Tierney was class down the left, he did have a battle with Canos and Canos got the better of him more often than not, but Tierney was still a threat and just oozes class. It was a shame for him that our defence was so organised, also a shame he didn't have Auba or Laca to play with.

Albert Sambi Lokonga is absolute top quality, Arsenal have a midfielder and half on their hands there. So assured and confident on the ball, technically proficient, skilful, wants to play the ball forward, if he plays it wide he plays it quickly and to the widest man to stretch the game. Him and Partey will be a partnership to look out for.

Emile Smith-Rowe much like Lokonga oozed class tonight, made Arsenal tick, everything went through him, he reminds me of a Foden or Greenwood except he's playing with shit and they're playing with top class players. Arsenal desperately need an in form Auba back to take the weight off of the boy. Saka coming back into the side will help him out too.

Otherwise...Nicholas Pepe, never have I ever seen a player not worth their price quite like him. Paul Pogba and Harry Maguire are both players you could consider underperformers in terms of how much they were paid for, they're both tenfold better than Pepe. When he's good he's good, but he's been in England too long now to be putting in a shift like he did tonight. Looked distinctly average and easy to mark out of the game. Gabrielle Martinelli? Balogun?  Anonymous. Calum Chambers? Steady, but clearly not a first choice right back, just the best they currently have.

Arsenal will get better and we will see some great performances once Lokonga, Smith-Rowe and Saka spark some energy into the likes of Pepe and Auba. Still good for a go at top 6 imo. Arsenal will continue to get bullied the longer the White - Mari partnership holds, surely Gabriel will get chucked in when he's fit.

 

Now, onto the Bees. I couldn't predict a win tonight, I felt like we could get one, and actually am owed £50 from a very easy bet I took that was Brentford won't win any of our first 5 games, I said I'd be getting that money tonight and it's happened. But in terms of writing it down, I couldn't, even though I felt confident it's just difficult to stick to a prediction like that. We were definitely helped by the fact they didn't have Lacazette or Auba, but even then...their whole team bar Lokonga and Smith-Rowe looked slow.

David Raya was brilliant tonight; calm, assured, measured. Saved what he needed to, caught everything in the air and his kicking was perfect. He also made an effort to come back from the warm down to give some kids his gloves, sign them and take pictures with fans. Lovely bloke.

Sergi Canos was a man possessed tonight, he's finally found his position within the club. Started as a winger, wide-forward and struggled for consistency...is now a right wing back and it just works. Tierney had a couple of crosses into the box but overall he struggled to get the better of Sergi tonight, of course there was his goal too. He had Chambers on toast and beat Leno with ease

Ajer/Sorensen/Jansson were all solid tonight, good performances. Jansson specifically for our second goal, just bowled his way into the 6 yard box and stood in front of Leno like a year 11 bullying a group of year 7's, allowed Norgaard a free head on goal. Cliches can get boring but Carragher calling it men vs boys was not wrong. Ethan Pinnock was our best centre back by a distance, the man is made for this level. Great tackling, heading, passing, dribbling, he does it all. Scores goals too. Rico Henry had a quieter game than Canos, but he was visibly being marked out by Arsenal, at times being smothered by 2/3 players. Clearly other players benefited from that tonight, but defensively very solid.

Frank the Tank, Christian Norgaard and Vitaly Janelt helped run the show. Arsenal may have had more possession, but they couldn't do anything with it. These 3's pressing was so key to our game, snuffing out Arsenal's creativity and forcing them to go wide and cross into a box of very tall defenders. Janelt seemed to be playing within himself tonight, he had two very clear chances on goal from the edge of the box and played an extra pass on both. Last season he would have drove them home, let's hope it was just a bit of nerves and he can be a bit more free as we move on.

Ivan Toney....man of the match, destroyer of men. His work rate is phenomenal, sometimes it's like watching someone run fast whilst everyone else is in slow motion, because the effort he puts into sprinting to cover a position whilst others are jogging is just so normal to him. He brings so much more than just goals to our team, his performance was as good as a goal tonight. Bryan Mbeumo unlucky not to be on the scoresheet, that run on from Toney's flick and hitting the woodwork was brilliant. I think he's found his confidence and his level now.

Overall I think we were fortunate that Auba and Lacazette didn't play, but with that said Arsenal looked flat and 2-0 flattered them, we could have easily won this 3 or 4-0. Everything we done tonight we done it better than Arsenal, but don't believe that this is the start of a bad season for Arsenal, they're going to come around in a month or so and look good imo.

[Dan+]

There has surely never been a worse Arsenal XI named in Premier League history. That wouldn't look out of place at Brighton.

[Dan+]

6 hours ago, Lucas said:

"Yeah we lost to Brentford but there's no reason why we can't still challenge for the title"

Did you see the clip of this clown doing the rounds yesterday? Comedy gold.

[LFCMike]

9 hours ago, Cicero said:

Funny to think that amid the Arteta sacking rumors last season, Tuchel was rumored to replace him. Arsenal beat us at the Emirates and they stuck with Arteta. We sack Lampard and got Tuchel..

Would Tuchel have ever gone to Arsenal anyway? I'm not sure he would have

2 hours ago, Dan said:

Did you see the clip of this clown doing the rounds yesterday? Comedy gold.

Is this the one from the Overlap? Comedy gold indeed. That programme was a decent watch overall though.

[Honey Honey]

23 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

Would Tuchel have ever gone to Arsenal anyway? I'm not sure he would have

Depends how much he knew about English football. I reckon Arsenal could still get a top overseas manager providing that person still has a romantic conception of the club as some beacon of great free flowing football. Anyone who follows English football however has long since lost that view of Arsenal and would see them for what they are for. The Wenger era could keep giving for Arsenal but time is running out. Especially when it comes to signings, as each year passes the next cohort have even less knowledge of Arsenal than the last. 

[Stan]

3 hours ago, Dan said:

There has surely never been a worse Arsenal XI named in Premier League history. That wouldn't look out of place at Brighton.

Or just in the Championship. 

[Stan]

Adorable. Predicted the score right. 

 

 

[Stan]

 

[MUFC]

Any truth in the news that Arsenal fans are marching on Downing Street to demand a return to a full national lockdown?

[Chaaay AFC]

Didn't watch, don't have any intention of watching Arsenal at all this season. Why bother with all these clowns running the show. Not only does Arteta need canning, the Kroenke's need to get rid of the useless Edu and Vinai. Sweep the whole club, get some actual experienced men in and try and steer the ship in the right direction. If this doesn't happen soon, will be sinking to the bottom. 

[carefreeluke]

Ben White won nothing all game. 

[Danny]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

Adorable. Predicted the score right. 

 

 

Woody’s story is incredible, feels right at home with us. Also still loves Ollie Watkins

[Bluewolf]

[Inverted]

Tierney deserves so much better than this. He could play for any team in the world and he’s plodding away in an ultra-defensive mid-table side.