the new era

"You'll miss me when I'm gone" were one of Arsene Wenger's most famous words. As enigmatic as he was, one thing about him was very clear, his footballing philosophy. Possession based attacking football was Arsenal's approach throughout his 22 year tenure as the gunners' boss. Even though some of it faded away in his final years, Arsenal whenever were on their game, tore apart and dissected any team and won handsomely and with more 'control'. Something that cannot be said and hasn't been seen under Unai Emery's reign for the past year and quarter. Emery talks about control a lot but has failed to establish that on the pitch for the large part of his tenure. The last game that his Arsenal side won and entrenched complete dominion on the opposition was when the gunners beat Bournemouth 5-1 in the premier league way back in March this year. Since then Arsenal have just scraped wins in the premier league and haven't excercised any form of...

by Omkar Rege Summer comes, summer goes but Arsenal always get beaten at Anfield. 3-1 this time around, but you could argue for the gunners' sake that the margin of defeat is getting smaller than previous years. The Arsenal boss Unai Emery said in his press conference that despite the defeat, they are closing gap on Liverpool, but are they really? Because despite the Pepe moments, the defeat felt awfully similar to the ones they have had in previous years. Still defensively fragile, and some of the silly errors that Arsenal made yesterday leading to 3 goals just makes you wonder if the coaching staff is really working on them. First half, Arsenal started with a 4-4-2 diamond formation which I thought was a bit dubious, as being so compact like that naturally afforded acres of space to Liverpool fullbacks Trent and Robertson. They pressurized Arsenal with their crosses and that eventually unsettled the gunners' defence leading to Joel Matip scoring Liverpool's fir...

by Omkar Rege A victory over Burnley has sort of become like the gift that keeps on giving to all gooners as Arsenal yet again got one up over Sean Dyche and his team of bullies on Saturday afternoon. Goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang who has a 100 percent scoring record against Burnley ensured that Arsenal started their new campaign with a second straight league win. It was a fast start from the gunners as they looked sharp and ready for a very physical Burnley side, which is not to slag off the clarets but the fact is that despite the wins over Burnley in recents years, Arsenal have never really triumphed the physical battle against them. The big change this time around was Arsenal's new loanee Dani Ceballos who put a major shift in their midfield and beat the Burnley press quite effectively by his trickery and finesse on the ball. He looked really motivated and always seemed to be asking for the ball and also took the mantle of taking set pieces...

by Omkar Rege Always felt that an athlete's want for change is justified. As ultimately, they are humans and if a person is not happy in a certain environment, he would long for a turnover. Yet there's something that feels awfully wrong about Laurent Koscielny's behavior yesterday. The Arsenal captain's refusal to join the club's pre-season tour to the US raised many eyebrows and hit all gooners 'in the feels'. Which in itself says a lot of Koscielny as a man. Someone who is always smiling and in a lot of ways represented the values of Arsenal football club. Him going rogue like that is really shocking and embarrassing for Arsenal. Plucked from obscurity by former manager Arsene Wenger way back in 2010, Koscielny was an integral member of Arsenal's FA cup winning spells in 2014, 2015 and 2017 and was also a solid backbone of the 2015-2016 season when he formed a formidable defensive partnership with former Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker as the gunn...

by Omkar Rege Been thinking a lot about Liverpool lately, their renaissance from a top 4, top 6 club to a side pushing a champion Man City team to a fantastic title challenge dragged on to the final day of the league spell, cherried with a champions league winners medal this past season surely is up there with football's greatest stories. People always tend to cite star trio of Mane, Salah and Firmino as the reason why Liverpool are so good. Yes those guys are world class but on one fine night at Anfield, Liverpool showed the world that they can function without their franchise players and that they aren't a one dimensional team. Being 3 down at the Nou Camp, no one gave the reds a toss as they looked to fight back a battle that many thought they had already lost. From the start Milner and Henderson held their positions higher up the pitch with Fabinho staying behind to help his centrebacks. This led to Busquets and Rakitic dropping deeper leaving Messi and Suarez upfront...

It was an emotional start as Arsenal hosted Cardiff on Tuesday evening, with both sets of players and the fans payed tribute to Emiliano Sala. The atmosphere in the stadium was a bit flat as was Arsenal's play especially in the first half. The gunners never seemed to slip into the second gear as boring, sideways football was the theme of their first 45 minutes. It has been the highlight of Arsenal this season, they have labeled themselves as a second half team as they always seem to amplify their intensity in the later part of the game. However after the rubbish performance against Manchester United in the FA cup last Friday, many expected a rapid kick off from the gunners in front of their home crowd. Arsenal better hope that Dennis Suarez kicks on from the start as despite Unai Emery picking up a strong side with Lacazette and Aubameyang starting upfront with Mesut Ozil playing behind them, the North London side's lack of width clearly shone in this game as the two strik...

by Omkar Rege Gone are the days when Arsenal vs Chelsea used to be a war for the number one spot. it used to be a battle for London supremacy. A fixture so historical and filled with so many legends that doing an all time combined 11 of these two clubs will be a massive debate. But this season with Liverpool and Man City playing a league of their own and Tottenham slowly tagging along, it has all been about the battle for the fourth place which virtually guarantees a team a spot in the champions league next season. A win for Chelsea would've strengthened their position in 4th as they would've been nine points clear of Arsenal who were in 6th place before the start of this game. The Gunners however had a point to prove after their substandard performance against West Ham the week before which they did by putting on a resilient show against Chelsea that saw them beat the blues 2-0 on home territory on Saturday night keeping the gap to just 3 points between them and 4th.  U...