With the arrival of the month of October, Penny’s Arsenal still was cruising. Since the beginning the season, they have known nothing but wins. The season opener against City still was the highlight because so far, other than them and Spurs, they got an easy calendar and they wouldn’t have a very difficult match before the beginning of November when they should meet Manchester United. The next match would be against Ipswich, on 17 October, and it would be the first televised game from the Emirates this season. The two other games that were on the telly so far were away and had been the opener and the North London derby because… of course the derby needed to be be televised!
Just before the game against Brighton, on Saturday 2 October, which would also be the last match before the international break, Penny got confirmation about her first signing for the coming winter window. After some work, she finally secured a young player that was full of promises: Andre Aas. This twenty-one years old Norwegian midfielder was exactly what she wanted. He would never be a superstar but he would be a more than decent box-to-box midfielder and she desperately wanted one! She had to trigger the release clause to steal him from Bristol City, who was in Championship, but she didn’t really care. In the grand scheme of things, seventeen million pounds wasn’t that much. She had another young midfielder in her sight: Francisco Amo. He also was twenty one and since he was playing in Portugal, she was pretty sure she could have him on the cheap… This was something she had to consider because with only seven million pounds remaining in her transfer budget, she needed something on the cheap. He primarily was a deep lying playmaker but since he had good mental abilities, she wanted to convert him into a basic midfielder. If something had crept up since she arrived, was that Endri, her second most important midfielder, had some shortcomings, especially regarding pressure. He was good but, in the two big games, she saw that he didn’t performed as well as he should. After some talks with the coaches who were at the club before she arrived, it wasn’t that much of a surprise, but a deeper review with the analysts showed that yes, especially when it was time to be good, his performances were dipping. It wasn’t catastrophic but still, he definitely was showing signs that he had problems with pressure.
After the international break came time to play Ipswich and she decided to bring a mixture of regular and some rotation players. The Tractor Boys had a good start of the season, yes, but they still were a team called for the bottom five of the table. A 4-2-3-1 was her choice if only because Ikechukwu Nwokolo couldn’t play anywhere but as an AMC. Leon took a knock with the Three Lions so she decided to keep him out of the line-up. Moreno would be the front man. The match was a lacklustre one. The Blues parked the bus… even going as far as playing striker less! Only twelve minutes in, Endri got almost knocked out of his shoes so she brought in Diego. It took a superb ball holding from Moreno, at the edge of the box, on the seventy second minute to finally get the goal. Ikechukwu got his chance and made sure not to miss it. Other than the goal, nothing good came out of the match. «Missed passes, bad decision making…» said Penny to the players after the game. «In other words, you guys didn’t played at the level you are supposed to on attack!» The only comfort she got was that they let them fire only three times on goal; two of the shots being free kicks!
The following day, as scheduled, Jon, Max and she made a thorough review of the players’ performances since the beginning of the season. Max was used to this sort of exercise; he’d done many of them with her. First, Domingo was performing very well, conceding only four goals, Carabao Cup included. For the central defenders, Tim, Reuben and Jack performed well but not great. The trio made eleven mistakes so far but none leading to goals. Jason Gillespie and Cenyr, the two subs, did ok when they were needed. What she noticed was that the captain really was showing his lack of speed. For her fullbacks, Ruben and André performed very well, especially the latter! He was a good signing for sure and his speed and decision making were displayed time and over with runs on the flank that created all sorts of problems for the opponents. On the left side, Pablo Fernandez and Alberto Ramirez did what they were supposed to do in an ok fashion but nothing exceptional. In midfield though, the story was very different. Diego demonstrated, game after game, that he indeed was a world class player! Only two games out of the ten played so far, did he didn’t shine… Endri played well also but never in the manner of Diego; he was good for sure but just not that good. Finally, Takashi Kumashiro, her rotation midfielder, did very well when he came in. He pretty much was a vertically shorter version of Endri. He played better but his jumping reach put him in all sorts of situations that weren’t the best. His mental abilities, his vision and decision making were truly remarkable though… On the wings, one on each side performed above expectations: Damian on the left and Bienvenu on the right. The best thing was that the latter also have some defensive skills; she liked that! In front, Moreno and Leon, literally, were on fire! The former scored eight goals so far and assisted in three others. As for the latter, he got six goals but was the provider of over twenty chances for Moreno; six of them becoming assists! As for Abdelaziz, he did his duty exactly as expected. He only got three goals so far but he managed to get four assists! Ikechukwu did ok but since he only played the lesser teams, she wasn’t convinced…
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Just before the game against Brighton, on Saturday 2 October, which would also be the last match before the international break, Penny got confirmation about her first signing for the coming winter window. After some work, she finally secured a young player that was full of promises: Andre Aas. This twenty-one years old Norwegian midfielder was exactly what she wanted. He would never be a superstar but he would be a more than decent box-to-box midfielder and she desperately wanted one! She had to trigger the release clause to steal him from Bristol City, who was in Championship, but she didn’t really care. In the grand scheme of things, seventeen million pounds wasn’t that much. She had another young midfielder in her sight: Francisco Amo. He also was twenty one and since he was playing in Portugal, she was pretty sure she could have him on the cheap… This was something she had to consider because with only seven million pounds remaining in her transfer budget, she needed something on the cheap. He primarily was a deep lying playmaker but since he had good mental abilities, she wanted to convert him into a basic midfielder. If something had crept up since she arrived, was that Endri, her second most important midfielder, had some shortcomings, especially regarding pressure. He was good but, in the two big games, she saw that he didn’t performed as well as he should. After some talks with the coaches who were at the club before she arrived, it wasn’t that much of a surprise, but a deeper review with the analysts showed that yes, especially when it was time to be good, his performances were dipping. It wasn’t catastrophic but still, he definitely was showing signs that he had problems with pressure.
After the international break came time to play Ipswich and she decided to bring a mixture of regular and some rotation players. The Tractor Boys had a good start of the season, yes, but they still were a team called for the bottom five of the table. A 4-2-3-1 was her choice if only because Ikechukwu Nwokolo couldn’t play anywhere but as an AMC. Leon took a knock with the Three Lions so she decided to keep him out of the line-up. Moreno would be the front man. The match was a lacklustre one. The Blues parked the bus… even going as far as playing striker less! Only twelve minutes in, Endri got almost knocked out of his shoes so she brought in Diego. It took a superb ball holding from Moreno, at the edge of the box, on the seventy second minute to finally get the goal. Ikechukwu got his chance and made sure not to miss it. Other than the goal, nothing good came out of the match. «Missed passes, bad decision making…» said Penny to the players after the game. «In other words, you guys didn’t played at the level you are supposed to on attack!» The only comfort she got was that they let them fire only three times on goal; two of the shots being free kicks!
The following day, as scheduled, Jon, Max and she made a thorough review of the players’ performances since the beginning of the season. Max was used to this sort of exercise; he’d done many of them with her. First, Domingo was performing very well, conceding only four goals, Carabao Cup included. For the central defenders, Tim, Reuben and Jack performed well but not great. The trio made eleven mistakes so far but none leading to goals. Jason Gillespie and Cenyr, the two subs, did ok when they were needed. What she noticed was that the captain really was showing his lack of speed. For her fullbacks, Ruben and André performed very well, especially the latter! He was a good signing for sure and his speed and decision making were displayed time and over with runs on the flank that created all sorts of problems for the opponents. On the left side, Pablo Fernandez and Alberto Ramirez did what they were supposed to do in an ok fashion but nothing exceptional. In midfield though, the story was very different. Diego demonstrated, game after game, that he indeed was a world class player! Only two games out of the ten played so far, did he didn’t shine… Endri played well also but never in the manner of Diego; he was good for sure but just not that good. Finally, Takashi Kumashiro, her rotation midfielder, did very well when he came in. He pretty much was a vertically shorter version of Endri. He played better but his jumping reach put him in all sorts of situations that weren’t the best. His mental abilities, his vision and decision making were truly remarkable though… On the wings, one on each side performed above expectations: Damian on the left and Bienvenu on the right. The best thing was that the latter also have some defensive skills; she liked that! In front, Moreno and Leon, literally, were on fire! The former scored eight goals so far and assisted in three others. As for the latter, he got six goals but was the provider of over twenty chances for Moreno; six of them becoming assists! As for Abdelaziz, he did his duty exactly as expected. He only got three goals so far but he managed to get four assists! Ikechukwu did ok but since he only played the lesser teams, she wasn’t convinced…
