{"id":1691,"date":"2020-07-11T09:36:41","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T09:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spursforlife.com\/?p=1691"},"modified":"2020-07-11T09:41:13","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T09:41:13","slug":"7-questions-for-a-gooner-fan-in-the-build-up-to-spurs-v-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spursforlife.com\/7-questions-for-a-gooner-fan-in-the-build-up-to-spurs-v-arsenal\/","title":{"rendered":"7 questions for a Gooner fan in the build up to Spurs v Arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today we spoke to Pedro who runs Arsenal fan site Le Grove<\/a> and asked him his opinions on all topics related to this weekend’s North London derby.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) First of all, how have you rated Arsenal since football has resumed after lockdown?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a mixed bag. I think you have to set the context. We\u2019re in our worst season for 38 years, we\u2019ve cycled through 2 coaches, our squad was thought uncoachable at Christmas, and then the pandemic hit giving us a whole heap of contractual issues to deal with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The start has been mixed. Manchester City away blew-up with 2 key injuries in the first 20mins, followed by the David Luiz shit show. We were beaten after dominating Brighton. Since then, things have picked up. We\u2019ve actually managed some away wins, we\u2019ve had longer periods of sustained good football, and our defence has started to look very structured. We beat a team above us in the table for the first time in 5 years (away)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This season is a write-off, but it has been very promising to see the club progressing before any major surgery on the squad has been undertaken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) How have you rated Mikel Arteta’s managerial performance since he took the reins?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a huge fan of Arteta. I led the campaign to hire him post-Wenger and was mortified when we hired a super-agent recco that couldn\u2019t speak English. Second time around, the club showed some guts and took a chance on an innovative young coach with a very high ceiling. My hope is that he\u2019s our version of Pochettino. We\u2019re a long way from that, but the early signs are positive. He\u2019s a brilliant communicator, the players seem to really like him, and he\u2019s at the cutting edge of where the game is going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had two important jobs for this season. Build a high-performance culture and make Arsenal difficult to beat. He\u2019s making inroads on both of those fronts. We were conceding 1.64 goals a game under Emery, we\u2019re down to about 0.8. He\u2019s also managed 10 clean sheets (4 short of Emery\u2019s total I believe). The team is much better structured, you don\u2019t see huge gaps in our midfield these days. There\u2019s also always a very simple tactical plan that is usually correct, even if not executed to perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The culture drive has also been very positive. Players look bought into the vision, the news out of the club has been very positive, and it looks like the players treat each other better on the pitch. We\u2019re also dealing with problems consistently and swiftly. Our version of NDombele is Matteo G. He\u2019s been problematic behind the scenes and he\u2019s being dealt with swiftly. Ozil, dealt with, he just doesn\u2019t play. If you don\u2019t hit the standards under Arteta, you pay for it. However, there is always a way back. Pepe and Ainsley Maitland-Niles breached the standards but worked their way back into consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) You have a good crop of youngsters coming through e.g. Saka, Maitland Niles – who are you most excited about?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My word there are some exciting prospects. The two that really stand out are Saka and Martinelli. The Englishman has been deployed all over the pitch, he is a great left-back, but he can also play across the frontline. He\u2019s fast, intelligent, and very productive (11 assists at 18 years old). Martinelli is also a very exciting player, he\u2019s a Brazilian, but he plays like a traditional English 9. Great in the air, explosive on the ground, and backs it with goals. We also have a striker called Eddie NKeitiah, he\u2019s English, spent some time at Leeds, and he looks very promising. A real poacher who can lead from the front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) Where do you anticipate both sides will finish in the league at the end of the season?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s a race for Europa. Jose seems like he\u2019s crashing Spurs to make a point about investment this summer. Arteta is just making the most out of his time so he can understand where best to deploy limited funds this summer. 2020 has been a bitch, I can\u2019t wait to see where we are next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5) Which Spurs player would you be least worried about facing on match day?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sat behind the goal when David Bentley scored from about 40 yards against us. There is no Spurs player in a NLD that is incapable of a moment of greatness. You also have such a rich squad of talented players. I find the demise of squad that made the CL final last year quite baffling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6) Which Spurs player would you be most worried about facing on match day?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HARRY F***ING KANE. It\u2019s always him. He could go 50 games without a goal and still be a threat against Arsenal. I also like Bergwijn, he\u2019s been impressive in the limited games I\u2019ve watched him. Very explosive and seems to be able to fashion something out of nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7) Score predictions for the game?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1-1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we spoke to Pedro who runs Arsenal fan site Le Grove and asked him his opinions on all topics related to this weekend’s North […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tottenham-hotspur"],"yoast_head":"\n7 questions for a Gooner fan in the build up to Spurs v Arsenal - Spurs For Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spursforlife.com\/7-questions-for-a-gooner-fan-in-the-build-up-to-spurs-v-arsenal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 questions for a Gooner fan in the build up to Spurs v Arsenal - 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