I heard a nerdy historical point on an Arsenal pod recently (maybe handbrake off) that most of Arsenal’s title winning seasons in the modern era have had excellent output from the left. 90/91 Limpar, 97/98 Overmars, 01/02 Ljungberg (post Pires injury) and 03/04 Pires. Noni 2025/26 👀

Besides the point, an absolute incredible voice on him

Size of the squad and that’s without Trossard and Dowman (silly to even be saying that). Lots of players won’t be making the bench for match day squads. We really need to make some sales

When Arteta was forced to play him as LW/9 in that second half at Anfield we saw him at his best - out to in on the last line. He’s best as a transition player - reckon he’ll go Forest after this season.

I think fans concerns are that this pre-season nothing looks different to last season. The same football, the same slow build up, the low number of proper chances created.
Fans want to see progress. Hopefully we see something different Saturday but it's a bit of a worry in terms of performances.

My point was more watching us this pre season has felt the same as last season, just worse defensively. We have played the same way (more or less) with similar attacking principles and patterns for three seasons now. We’ve moved from a 9 will fix it to we MUST sign Eze/LW to fix it. Is it deeper?

Instead he brought in an old mate who sounds a bit nuts by all accounts 😂

I get that it’s pre-season and we haven’t seen the full XI, but what worries me is the familiarity of it all. The inverted LB, Saka glued to the wing, Martinelli isolated. As well as new players, I was hoping for some new ideas & a different way of playing. Seen a lot of stale comments and I agree

Just look at his 'reporting' of the Jota tradegy. Post after post after post. There's absolutely no moral compass there. Everything he does is to farm clicks and engagement, which is ultimatetely £££.

Pretending it’s a match day ⚽️🔴

Totally agree. Think Elliot is being a Iittle petty here. Aaron is a good bloke and clearly loved playing for us. Was part of a team that got us back into the CL and nearly won the league. I wish him nothing but the best for his career

“Behind every pass there must be a thought” - Dennis Bergkamp

Really hope we can get Eze or a left winger. I've stuck with Martinelli but it's kind of sad to watch him play at the minute.

Eek, it's happening. Wirtz, Isak, Salah. Crumbs.

Terrible game, pitch, ref etc. but the same issues were there for all to see. The horseshoe. Martinelli and left side looking clunky. Over-reliance on Saka breaking teams down. I’m a Mikel fan and appreciate we’re a very good team, but think it’s fair for fans to be worried is all 🤷‍♂️

For me, our biggest issue under Mikel has been creating. That’s not been solved this summer yet. The horseshoe was back again yesterday. I’m interested to see what Madueke can do off the left. Really hope we get Eze too 🤞

This is underplaying it. I don’t like the pre-season is just a fitness exercise crowd. Football has moved on from the Underhill friendlies and fans absolutely have the right to be concerned at what they saw imo.

And I get it, we’re still really good, but it hasn’t been quite good enough. I was really hoping for something different. Will wait till we see Madueke and Gyokores integrated but I’m quite worried from what I’ve seen in pre-season. It’s just the same thing again

That’s the worrying thing. We are playing the exact same way… 😬

Like watching a repeat of the 2024/25 season that. Horseshoe football. Spurs made it tough, but that’s the template to frustrate and beat us. We still haven’t solved it.

Clive, I work for Sky and I’m annoyed I wasn’t in when this was filmed! Great to see the social team recognise you as a proper representative of The Arsenal over AFTV. They’ve done too much damage to our reputation as a fan base. Great to see and long may it continue

And still only 15!

Blimey this kid is good

Yeah, by the time he did his hamstring he’d been run into the ground. It’s great we’ve got genuine options now!

Those two goals show how important Kai is to the team. Annoys me when I see Arsenal XIs and Kai is the ‘B’ option. Such a good team player and having Gyokores as another option can only be a good thing

Their influence is everywhere isn’t it. Grim

How do they keep getting away with it? 😭

If we’re talking sliding doors moments, what about our window last summer? We were so close to getting over the line and Edu’s parting gift was Sterling because his head wasn’t with us. I understand the nervousness about Gyokores but this is what Berta’s paid to do. It can’t all be on Mikel.

Love this. Not sure we've had a crop of youngsters this talented since late 80s.

first pass - always thinking how can I play forward. Loved it.