Pre-Season 2018

1-1 FT. A forgettable second half after all those subs from both teams.

Time for penalties to see who gets an extra point.

Three shit pens from Mkhi, Willock and Nketiah give Atleti the extra points.

AMN scored a penanka.

Penalty is really not easy for kids

Thanks for the updates.

Looks like Guendouzi had a promising match which is good to hear.

We need a left back quite urgently tbh

Maghrebi Tom Huddlestone

Mislintwat did it again

Interesting to note that Ramsey had the captain's armband yesterday. He then handed it off to Cech when he went off in the second half.

Emery's spoken about having five captains, including Koscielny. So maybe the hierarchy will be

Koscielny > Ramsey > Cech > XHAKA? > Monreal?

I read that Cech was bigging up Ozil for captaincy but I don't think that'd suit anyone. Last thing the most scrutinised player on the planet needs is yet another means to be scrutinised.

If he signs a new contract it should be Ramsey, I'd like a starter to have the armband now.

Feel a lot better and optimistic about our midfield that I have since Nasri, Fabregas days.
I just hope Emery can get the best out of Ramsey and XHAKA as well. If not, at least Torreira and Guendouzi seems like prospects. It will be interesting to see who asserts themselves firsts into their roles in this new midfield, and how Emery structures and drills it.

I’m afraid th defense will once again be our weak point, not as weak and brainfart as Wengers team but the slowness of our CB now that Kozz is out worries me. Chambers is really important for us this year imo, he seems to be the most suitable partner for the other three. Sokratis & Mustafi pair yikes, not me putting Sokratis down just that he’s slow, he needs some1 quick there.

As much as we can read into pre-season games, it's notable that Sokratis and Mustafi have yet to be paired together. Chambers, Holding and Mavropanos have gotten a half each alongside one of them.

It might take a few games to find our best partnership back there without Koscielny.

So Koscielny is 100% done?

Yeah i’m just armchairing from those games couldnt help but feel our defense slowness even against lesser opponents

El Gunner wrote:So Koscielny is 100% done?

33 and coming back from a torn achilles? I'll be surprised if he's anywhere near his best.

Phasing him out a bit this season might be good for him. It'd let him build his fitness back up to a proper level. At this stage he'll likely have to limit his load if he wants to prolong his career.

Going by how the players were separated during the live training session, tomorrow's starting line-up could be:

Cech; Chambers, Sokratis, Mavropanos, Osei-Tutu; Elneny, Willock, Maitland-Niles; Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Lucas

Fully expecting to be proven wrong, though.

I got 4 out of 11 right

Ozil with the armband

We'll see if it's more of a 4-2-3-1 shape this time, with Ozil playing his customary role.

Nice to see Sokratis and Mustafi together, for better or for worse, we need to know if they are compatible.

If Ozil, Micki and Iwombi interchange constantly, it will keep the attack fresh and consistently moving.

1-0 Arsenal. Auba squares for an Ozil tap-in.

PSG had started very well. They've been running through us quite easily and winning the ball in our half one too many times.

Other times, we've played around the press well and put some good attacks together.

We're playing some brilliant one-touch football at the moment. Worth watching the highlights to see.

Granted, it's a very weak PSG side.

Guendouzi ffs. Kid looks great.

Can't wait to see him play against some European farmers this season.

Still 1-0 at half-time.

This game has seen a lot more transitions from both sides. PSG started with a lot of energy and put us under pressure. We struggled with it early on but grew as the half went on and ended it in complete control.

It's very refreshing seeing both holding midfielders come deep and make angles for our defenders, something that just became non-existent by the end of Wenger's reign. Guendouzi has been class again, and Elneny has played some great forward passes into the forwards.

Notably, our front-line is staying high up the pitch. We're not seeing Ozil drop behind the halfway line since our midfield is giving him better service. Iwobi has attacked space well on the left. Mkhitaryan struggled to make an impact and didn't hold the width very often on the right hand side, but has had the odd good moment. Auba's link-up and movement have been very good.

Without the ball, I think we found PSG's shape difficult to press (they're playing 3-4-3, so it's not a natural fit for our 4-2-3-1), and their wing-backs have enjoyed a lot of space. Rabiot has been able to run through our midfield a couple of times, and Bellerin let their LWB run off him a few times as well. Kolasinac has been a lot better.

Those things will probably get better when we actually start analysing the opposition and coming up with counters.

Very nice game even though at times susceptible defensively. Attacking wise Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Mustafi missed easy chances.

Loving Guendouzi so far, I missed having a CM who is comfortable on the ball and can launch a throughball with ease. You would think having Aubameyang as a forward would mean more attempts to put him through on goal but we are only now seeing such a sight thanks to Guendouzi.