2014-08-22 00:25#191277 joethequin : Sounds like a pretty food pre-season. Congrats!

Preseason went very well and will stand us in good stead for the upcoming season.

Arsenal fans will have taken a look at the fixture list to see when they would face their North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. Some of the fans expressed their anxiousness at facing their fiercest rivals in the first game of the new Premier League season. Arsenal had had a positive preseason with new formations being introduced and the players implementing Tony Adam’s approach to football. Despite their anxiousness, a number of the fans expected their side to come away with three points to help them get off to a great start to the season.


Arsenal fans could not have imagined how the match would turn out! Arsenal were abysmal from start to finish and just didn’t turn up to play a game of football. They fully deserved to be beaten by a far superior Spurs side two nil. This was something acknowledged by Tony Adams (Arsenal manager) at the end of the game who came out and made a public apology to the Arsenal faithful for their shoddy performance. He explained to the Arsenal followers that he set the team out in a formation that he felt could attack Spurs on the counter as he had faith in the defensive line to snuff out the Spurs chances. This unfortunately didn’t pay off for the Arsenal manager in his first taste of a North London derby as a manager. The likes of Ozil and Wilshere didn’t turn up and despite the formation being changed and Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and new signing Kevin Volland being brought on in the second half, it was little too late for the Gunners.


The Champions League Best Placed Playoff game put Arsenal up against AS PAOK Salonika of the Greek Superleague. The Greek side put up little fight against Arsenal who are unbeaten in this stage of the competition which they have become accustom to in recent seasons. Arsenal dispatched of the Greek side two nil in the first leg of the Emirates Stadium which went some way to repair the damage inflicted by Spurs earlier in the month. The second leg was a much tighter affair with Tony Adams relying on some of the players who hadn’t featured thus far to see them into the group stage. Marc Bartra made his much awaited return and came away with his second man of the match award. Tomas Rosicky put in a great performance and helped himself to a goal which saw Arsenal progress to the next round three nil on aggregate.


The two remaining Premier Leagues of the month went according to plan with one notable feature of the North London’s performances, which was a significant lack of goals. They faced Swansea at the Emirates Stadium and created fifteen shots on target. However, only five were on target with one them being a third minute goal from Mesut Ozil who was delighted to score on his Emirates debut. The rest of the game was a dull watch with both teams cancelling each other out. The Arsenal fans were pleased to come away with three points but felt apprehensive about where the goals were going to come from. The final game of the month came up against a tough to beat Stoke City. Arsenal came away with a 2-1 win from the Britannia Stadium with Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla opening their accounts for the season. For the fifth game in a row the Arsenal manager set out a changed side with some fans pointing to this fact as the reason the players are not gelling together on the pitch. Tony Adams would do well to take note of this opinion and look to decide on a preferred starting eleven for future games.

Shame about the loss to Spurs, but the other results went to plan and I think you can continue to progress next month!

Sad loss to Spurs 2-0, especially since you played so poorly, but I'm sure you can bounce back!

JasonRM:It was an awful way to start the season but I am so glad that we picked up points in the later games!

Neal:Very sad loss. Shocking way to start.

As part of the monthly football review, Gary Neville met up with recently appointed Arsenal manager, Tony Adams, to discuss how his side of performed so far this season and his hopes for the remainder of the season.

Gary Neville: When you signed on the dotted line to become manager of the club you served for so many years, did you expect to make such an impressive start to the season?

Tony Adams: If someone had said that by the end of my third month in charge that we would have sit at the top of the league I wouldn’t have been too surprised. We possess players of real quality who share my determination to bring silverware back to Arsenal as it has been long overdue. Do I think we can maintain this run of form? I don’ see why not as the players are committed to what we are trying to accomplish this season.

Gary Neville: What are you trying to accomplish this season? Where do you hope to finish come the end of the season?

Tony Adams: Our aim is, just like all the other teams in the league, to win the league and get our hands on the trophy. We have tasted success in this league many a time so it isn’t something brand new to the club. Yes a lot of the players currently at the club haven’t tasted that kind of success but it is one experience they won’t want to go without season after season ever again.


Gary Neville: Do you think your club possess the quality to maintain this great start to the season? You haven’t exactly been scoring a lot of goals which ultimately win you games and get you the points to achieve your aims for the season?

Tony Adams: I have to admit that 2-1 appears to be becoming our favourite result. We started off this month with that result against Hull, and then against Leverkusen in the Champions League. I have to admit it was then a nice change to manage to get three goals on the score sheet in the win against Norwich. However, our best performance so far this season has to be the five nil win against Fulham with Olivier (Giroud) helping himself to a very impressive hat trick.

Gary Neville:But do you have the quality to complete on all fronts? Like I said your players don’t seem to have had their shooting boots on until the final match of your third month in charge...

Tony Adams: I don’t quite understand how you can sit there and say that when we have scored the most goals so far this season. Yes the Fulham result has contributed a lot to that fact but we have shown we can score goals and get the three points that we need to be sat at the top of the league.


Gary Neville: You have been pitted against Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid and Olympiakos in the group stage of the Champions League. How do you think your team will fair?

Tony Adams: If you look at the other groups, it is one of the more difficult groups drawn in the competition. It is going to involve a number of difficult trips, especially to Madrid and we will have to be at the top of our game to come away with three points. I am confident that we will progress from the group stage and will be looking to those more experienced players to lead the way.

Gary Neville: If we were to arrange a date to sit back down and do an end of season review with you, what do you think the focus of our conversation will be?

Tony Adams: I firmly believe that we will be discussing our title challenge with the possibility of success in the Champions League; not necessarily our hands on the trophy but we will have reached the latter stages. We may have had a good cup run with us already progressing to the third round of the Capital One Cup after beating Swansea in this month. I have a good feeling about this month and I really will be looking to the fans to continue with the support they have shown us so far.

Nice update but a rough start to the season

2014-08-24 15:04#191647 k1rups : Nice update but a rough start to the season

It hasn't been the best has it. It surely can only get better?

Many an Arsenal fan has taken to radio phone-ins to express their delight at the way their club have started the season. After a rocky start against their North London rivals at the beginning of the season, the Gunners have managed to string together a fifteen game unbeaten run, culminating in thirteen wins and two draws. Not too shabby for a side that haven’t topped the Premier League table for some time. Despite this on-going success, Tony Adams (Arsenal manager), has called for calm around the Emirates Stadium and has made it clear to his team that they must take each game as it comes as every match is different. This was something that became evident in the latest month of matches as each of Arsenal’s opponents set up differently and posed different challenges to the Arsenal line up.

First up was the visit of Olympiakos in the Champions League which resulted in a 3-2 win for the North London club. However, the result was marred by an horrific challenge from Matieum Flamini that resulted in a straight red card. It appeared that Flamini had become frustrated by the outstanding performance of Olympiakos midfielder, David Fuster and took it upon himself to try and take him out of the game. Tony Adams has since slammed Flamini for his actions and has reassured the fans, and Olympiakos, that the challenge would result in action being taken by the club. Fortunately for Arsenal they were in control of the game and they really should have run out more comfortable winners. At the beginning of the group stage it looked like it would be a difficult challenge for Arsenal to get out of the group but having already seen of Leverkusen and now Olympiakos, things are looking up for the Arsenal fans.


It is no surprise to followers of the Premier League to see Roberto Martinez doing so well in his first season in charge of Everton. Everton have made a very impressive start to the season and were unlucky to only come away with a point when they faced Tony Adam’s Arsenal. This was something that Adams acknowledged in his post match press conference stating that, ”We didn’t play to the standard that I know we are capable of. Instead we gifted the ball to Everton many a time and didn’t put away the few chances we created for ourselves.”Arsenal fans were disappointed with the result and hoped that their side would put greater effort in against teams around them in the table in the future.

Aston Villa were the next visitors to the Emirates Stadium with it being a much easier match up for Arsenal who restricted Arsenal to not a single shot on goal all game. Adams singled out Kieran Gibbs for his man of the match display and said that, ”He has a very bright future ahead of him and he will have given Natxo Monreal something to think about.” In the game Gibbs helped himself to his first goal of the season despite it appearing to have been more of a cross into the box. Mikel Arteta stepped up late on in the game to cooly slot away a penalty to secure the three points.


Arsenal will feel disappointed that they managed to let a two nil lead against Atletico Madrid slip away and how they allowed David Villa to steal the show. It was clear from the way that Arsenal set up that they weren’t going to allow the Madrid attacking players into the game and closed them down at every opportunity. This ultimately restricted the likes of Villa, Diego and Adrian to shots from long range, which Szczesny dealt with comfortably. Two minutes of inspiration from Arsenal resulted in a two goal salvo which appeared to put an end to the game. However, Madrid came out in the second half fighting and there was only one outcome, which was that they were going to get back into the game. Villa stepped up and slotted away a penalty after a rash challenge from Bacary Sagna, who has since apologised to the Arsenal fans and has taken sole responsibility for the side’s downfall in the game. Five minutes later Villa took it upon himself to attack the Arsenal defence resulting in a goal that sealed a point for the Spanish side. Tony Adams stated after the game that, ”This was always going to be the most difficult match of the group stage and I am proud of the lads. We have done well to come away from the game with a point. Yes three points will have been nice but to play so well against such tough opposition is credit to the players on the pitch.”


The month ended with a comfortable 4-2 against Sunderland in the Premier League and a 3-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup Fourth Round. Most people had expected Adams to put a weakened side but instead he didn’t hold back and used a number of first team regulars in the game. He explained afterwards that his decision to use the likes of Ozil, Ramsey and Koscielny was that he wanted to test out a new formation that he hoped would bring the club more goals and allow them to retain more possession of the ball. This approach worked out for the Gunners in this game but some pundits put it down to Sheffield Wednesday simply not having the quality to compete. They expressed their interest in seeing how such formation would work against the bigger teams, starting with Manchester United at the start of December.

Fifteen game unbeaten run is not bad one bit

2014-08-24 23:30#191706 Neal : Fifteen game unbeaten run is not bad one bit

It isn't too shabby and we will need to keep it up if we want to achieve anything this season.

Prior to the Arsenal Manchester United match, David Moyes unleashed a tirade against his fellow manager, Tony Adams. The basis of Moyes’ rant was his opposition to the way that Adams’ side had approached their games so far. He accused Arsenal of a negative approach and that Arsenal’s creative spark had been lost since Tony Adams took over. To make matters worse, the United boss stated that he, ”felt sorry” for the Arsenal fans for having to watch boring performance after boring performance, especially as they have to pay a fortune in his opinion to watch the Gunners play. It is not clear what provoked Moyes into making these statements but Arsenal fans have taken to social media to air their views on the matter.


A high percentage of Arsenal fans have shared that they believe Moyes’ rant was to take the focus of his players who have underperformed so far this season with them sitting in fifth place and twelve points behind their Gunners. Shortly after the game, Arsenal fans called for an apology from Moyes after their side demolished United in a 4-2 win at the Emirates Stadium. They expressed their delight at their side shutting up Moyes and the United fans who had reached out to support Moyes shortly after his rant.


Throughout this whole debacle, Tony Adams has remained silent and has refused to answer any questions about the situation or comment on his fellow manager. Instead Adams has publically thanked the FA for choosing him as manager of the month for the third successive month and dedicated the award to the club and its fans. He also spoke of his delight that Olivier Giroud’s recent performances had been acknowledged through the player of the month award.

Life couldn’t have got better for Arsenal as they continued to prove David Moyes wrong for the remainder of the month with them creating an eight point gap between themselves and second place Everton, who have continued to love life under Roberto Martinez. Arsenal helped themselves to a two nil against Crystal Palace, a 3-1 win against London rivals West Ham United and a 2-1 win against Cardiff after a ninety-second minute winner from Theo Walcott. Arsenal fans have said that these set of results are evidence that Arsenal are playing attacking and creative football resulting in them achieving all points available to them in the Premier League.


The only disappointment for Arsenal this month has been a two nil loss against Atletico Madrid. The Arsenal fans didn’t express any frustrations with the performance but had hoped their side would have put in a little more effort. However, this was forgotten when Arsenal managed to get the win against Leverkusen that saw them qualify for the knockout phase of the competition with a game in hand. Adams has expressed his desire to give some of the players who have not featured much so far this season a run out against Olympiakos and has challenged them to prove to him their worth to the side. This appears to be a hint that Adams may be looking to move some players out in the upcoming transfer window.

Arsenal fans have been devastated at the news that Mesut Özil has been ruled out for up to 5 weeks with after suffering a badly sprained ankle during Arsenal’s game against West Bromwich Albion. It appears to be an accidental injury that has been suffered as Özil has turned to sprint.

Since joining the North London club, Özil has found it difficult to settle into the English way of playing football. His career at Arsenal started off poorly resulting in him being relegated to the Arsenal bench. However, since a change in formation at the club, which some are saying is based around Özil, his fortunes have changed dramatically and has started to show off his ability. Arsenal fans will have to do without seeing Özil for the coming weeks, with some fans tipping Jack Wilshere as his replacement. The injury has come at unfortunate time as Arsenal have Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester City to face during Özil’s absence.

You are gonna need him back ASAP. Hopefully some other players may get a chance with him gone.

2014-08-26 23:21#192055 xander_dunlop1 : You are gonna need him back ASAP. Hopefully some other players may get a chance with him gone.

He is definitely a key player, especially as he has really stepped up his game recently!