The Mikel Arteta era started with a 1-1 draw away from home. The 1 point wasn’t ideal, but I think most fans felt very good about what they saw. It was a first step, but for 5 days work, it’s hard to argue there wasn’t progress on the basics.
We conceded a customary goal, looked shaky at the back on occasions, but the team showed far more fight than they have in a long time. We pressed, the boys looked hungry for the ball, they actually turned up for an away game. I enjoyed myself, which felt weird.
Arteta was fairly happy.
“I’m very pleased with some of the things I’ve seen in terms of attitude, character and the passion we showed, and the fight and the spirit the team showed. Spot on, and probably better than I expected over 90 minutes,” Arteta said. “A lot of things that happened in the game [that] we prepared and I think they [the players] understood them and they tried to take them on board and we liked the final product at the end.
“I did not know how long the players would last at that rhythm with the demands I made of them but the attitude was spot on. There are no negotiables at this club, there are standards that have to be done at this club and they held them.”
Outside the simple basics like effort, we also controlled possession like we used to. Our movement going forward had more purpose to it. We only landed 2 shots on target all game, but we had 17 attempts. I think our poor efforts in front of goal were more down to rusty players, youth, and a lack of confidence over anything else. Our chances were in good places on the pitch, and on another day, we’d have scored 4. I’m still having nightmares about Willock at the end. Just blame the rain and too much vegan turkey.
Our delivery was also really bad, even for us. Saka and AMN are not even full-backs, so to be expecting them to deliver like Liverpool was always a big ask. Had we started Hector and Kola, it might have been different. I also thought we missed the power, drive and confidence of an on form Martinelli.
There were a lot of people grumbling about Pepe not starting. For me, if the Ivorian record signing has been ignored by 3 managers all under huge amounts of pressure, I would suspect he probably trains very badly. If you’re not putting the effort in under Arteta, it’s clear he won’t play you. That said, Nelson is way off the pace. He looked a bit more confident than he usually does but his decision making was woeful and his delivery is nowhere near where it should be considering he went out on loan last season.
I also thought Lacazette was off the pace. He made lots of incorrect decisions and his timing was well off, that one-on-one he blew was nailed on in 2016… but he’s been Emeryfied and it’ll take some time to shake that off.
Things I liked…
Arteta managed to get a performance out of Mesut and he talked about it to the press.
“He worked and could have been the difference; we could have scored three or four goals from his balls through,”
“To be fair his attitude in training since the day I walked into the building has been incredible. I said I was going to give a clean slate to everybody and I went to give it to him.
The German was instrumental playing between the lines. His quick passing and clever movement off the ball was a real nuisance. I liked that when he was subbed off you could see his face was blotchy from all the effort. He might not be the #10 of the future, but if we can get him firing, he’d be very helpful to our end of season run… and yes, I am aware Bournemouth are very good to players like Mesut.
Full backs tucking in, a City special, was on show yesterday. It seemed to give our defenders more options as they moved forward and made us a bit more resolute when being countered.
I also thought Torreira had a really solid game, he’s gone from being anonymous to an absolute brute in a week. Long may that continue.
… and say it quietly, Xhaka did a very solid job. Bournemouth are perfect opposition for him, but still, his pass completion was 94% and there was some ambition to his play. Shite defensively and not suited to the league, but you have to give praise where deserved. Word has it he still wants to leave to go to Berlin and I really couldn’t care less, as long as we have a replacement lined up.
So overall, a shite result, but plenty that points to a brighter future. This season might be a write-off (I hope it’s not) but we should start winning if we continue creating that many good opportunities… it’s a promising start. The players responded well to the new demands and the early signs are that Arteta has a good vision of what he wants to do, with the authority to get it done.
I went hard on Emery who couldn’t create an identity in his first 4 months (or ever), many thought I was unfair for this. I personally believe any coach worth a sausage will have his players showing serious signs of their ideas within 3 months. I will stand by that view with Arteta. It’ll take longer for results, because we’ll need better players, but this is a good coach who will take us to a far higher level than Emery or latter years Wenger could. I think we’ll see good things this season, even from these players. I am still excited. You should be too.
Onwards and upwards, a very messy Chelsea next, could be a good home debut for Mikel.
See you there!
Don’t think Arteta will deviate from what he wants to do which is aggressive high press. That will be tough against Chelsea who have quick attackers so we’ll have to keep our distances and spacing short to limit the space they have to play in behind.
Shame he couldn’t get some easier games to start but it is what it is. Chelsea also better away from home as they struggle to break down teams at SB atm.
Can’t believe people still argue against player poverty. Especially someone who literally complains about Mustafi, Xhaka, Özil etc etc. Makes sense
“” I can see Arteta getting fired in three month’s time and a desperate call to Allardyce or Hodgson before the end of the season. This team is complete and utter crap.””
Arsenal fans 2019
When you typed this , did you not laugh your head off before you pressed ‘post comment’
If you meant it , then you have serious issues – I hope you got a ‘10 therapy session’ voucher in Christmas card because it sounds like you need every single one
Think Chambers might come in on Sunday and maybe Martinelli if fit but don’t see many other feasible changes.
I think we’ve got to go with MAP and look to break with pace and directness.
Neither team is keeping a clean sheet it’s going to be one of those games where whoever has the more in form forwards win. For that reason I wouldn’t pick Nelson at all or Lacazette.
People saying it’s only Bournemouth. yes it is only Bournemouth but we let Watford have 31 shots on our goal earlier this season which is beyond criminal. A change in mindset is needed. Arsenal should only be getting outshot by a select few team in this league. We made over 500 passes and had more touches in the opposition’s box than we’ve had in ages. That is a shift. Yes we need better players and the manager will take time to get everything in running order like he wants. Will be tough and hard – difficult decisions will have to… Read more »
@ Edu me
You do not sound very complemenatry to Big Sam or Hodgson 😉
Big Sam sorted the defence at Bolton, hard to play against. Even appointed England Manager. he perfromed well considering his limited means.
Hodgson took Liverpool close to winning the league.
Romford
Chambers was suspended yesterday – I’d be shocked if he didn’t start.
“Hodgson took Liverpool close to winning the league.”
It’s not good to make stuff up.
There’s a reason Allardyce and Hodgson don’t get big roles.
And there’s a reason why people like Emery struggle in big roles too.
“I hope you got a ‘10 therapy session’ voucher ”
You think the idiot who posted that could be cured in 10 sessions?
Marc, you’d think so. I feel like he’s the least error prone CB we have (bar is incredibly low) but Sokratis is probably the most athletic.
@Romford
Chambers is miles ahead of Luiz in positioning. Our backline in future should be Chambers and Holding, supported by Mavropanos.
these guys are good, pity they are not given their chance.
Marc,
im the daddy of the Marc daddy
The only reason I’d want fat Sam at arsenal was if he was being used to block out the goal!
MGooner – Chambers and Holding should be kept because they’re HG, not because I particularly rate them. As squad players they are usable but we need athletic players like Saliba and another to be our starting pair so we can play a proper high line. Liverpool literally leave VVD and Matip/Gomez to defend by themselves because they have the speed and strength to deal with any duel. That’s the model we move to.
Mavrapanos is a bit of an unknown because of his injuries. At this stage would loan him out then reassess.
Romford
I think Chambers is operating on a bit of a last chance saloon mentality. We loaned him to Borough and then Fulham and most thought he’d be sold. With our current defenders he has a chance of putting himself in as an important squad player if nothing else.
Refreshing to see someone seeing an opportunity and trying to grab it.
Sid
Then I fucking glad I was adopted!
Marc, yeah you can’t fault Chambers’ endeavour. He’s a hard worker and applies himself well. I don’t think he’ll ever be a starter for a club looking to win the big things. Even though he’s technically competent, athletically he’s not good himself. We saw it at RB although he’s been better at CB (two clean sheets when he’s played there).
Sid is Marc’s daddy.
You heard it here second!
Words
As my mother doesn’t read Le Grove you’d better break to her gently!
Romford
Fergie had plenty of not so good but reliable players who won all sorts in his squads over the years.
@ Romford “Hodgson took Liverpool close to winning the league.”It’s not good to make stuff up. Apologies, it must be that bottle of wine 😉 In future, yes, we should have 2 mobile CBs. A bit like the Kozzer days. But we were unlucky with both Gabriel and Mustafi in that regard. I like Chambers and Holding. They play with character and there is no fuss about them. I’d take them ahead of Luiz and Sok all day long. If you go to the start of Emery’s days, he went 13 unbeaten with Holding in the side as far as… Read more »
Marc, like I said i’m not against having them as squad players. Always need HG guys who are happy to be part of the squad.
MGooner, Yes Gabriel was the right sort of profile but he wasn’t good enough. Mustafi was a disaster, same as his chuckle brother Otamendi at City. Like I said to Marc, happy for them as squad players but I don’t think they’re the solution.
As many have written, a new CM has to have athleticism/ dynamism as a prerequisite. Emery Can has technique but certainly lacks speed. Rabiot would be a reasonable stop gap but can he dominate opposition midfielders? I would imagine he is on ridiculous wages as he arrived on a free like Ramsey.
I guess January might be a case of a stopgap unless a target that satisfies Arteta’s vision becomes available.
One big difference in our defending was the fact that Arteta had integrated that our play would be lopsided because Saka is a winger. To compensate AMN was clearly told to be more defensive. Aubameyang was on the left coming inside on his right foot to shoot, leaving space for Saka to run on the outside. On the other side of play, AMN was tucking inside letting Bournemouth go on the outside but blocking any attempt to go via the middle. With his pace he was able to recover any overlapping run. However further up on that side Nelson was… Read more »
@ Bob
Rabiot would not survive in this league – good technically, but not strong enough.
Valentin, that is a Pep tactic and tbh even Wenger used to have one FB attack and one who was more reserved. AMN playing infield is a ploy to stop counters.
We purposely had Xhaka releasing Saka down the left for build up. That helped create an underload on the other side of the pitch where Nelson and Ozil would find themselves in good spaces.
Romford, I know those are not new tactic. As I mentioned before that lopsided concept is quite common in South America. In fact I was advocating that against Everton when I learned that Saka was going to be our left back. Best form of defense is attack, so let’s attack them on our left side. I am just pleased that we have a coach who is taking into account the strength and talent of our players and devise a tactic to use those instead of trying to shoehorn them in his tactics. Torreira is not an CAM. Asking to play… Read more »
Tear it down and start from the beginning
Mustafi
Xhaka
Chambers
Mkhitaryan
Ozil
Kolasinac
Maitland-Niles
Martinez
Bellerin
Sokratis
Luiz
Should all be sold
Valentin, no disagreements from me. Emery’s utilisation of Torreira was one of his many crimes and there was no real valid reason for it. I know we need to upgrade on quite a few players but i’m happy we have a manager prioritising positional play. That alone will bring incremental improvements. Obviously he can’t coach braindead players but as you say having a coach that actual leans into our strengths is a positive. Don’t remember the last time we had 17 attempts on goal let alone away from home. Hopefully we can get in 1/2 players in Jan and that… Read more »
We need HG players otherwise we won’t meet the quota so the likes of Chambers, Martinez and AMN shoud be retained.
We need HG players otherwise we won’t meet the quota so the likes of Chambers, Martinez and AMN shoud be retained.
This seems to be a common theme when it comes up about shit English/home grown players that shouldn’t be at the club. Martínez is fine Chambers is at very best a squad player and that’s it and AMN is a total garbage player so he definitely needs to go. Good thing about targeting 18 year olds is by the time they’re 21 they’ll be home grown. Saliba and Martinelli for example
MGooner
Hodgson took Liverpool close to winning the league.
When did this happen?
Marko, you’re right but they can’t be registered until then.
RP Thomas is a Chelsea fan. Don’t waste your breath. even then though he is right about most of them. I would keep bellerin, Martinez and Chambers. They are useful. The rest we need to sell.
For some fans who say they didn’t see any difference ,
https://arseblog.news/2019/12/bournemouth-1-1-arsenal-by-the-numbers/
I too didn’t want arteta but there was an obvious difference. We just lacked the killer instinct.
Marko, You may think that the current crop of HG players are garbage (I don’t) but they are what we currently have. No club involved in European competition can play a full season with only 18 players. BTW if you exclude the HG players, then the number of non HG allowed to be used diminished, so Martinelli, Ceballos may suddenly find that we can’t register them. Last season Mavrapanos was removed from the Europa List squad list to make place for Denis Suarez. So the choice is not between not having a full complement of players or play “garbage” players.… Read more »
You may think that the current crop of HG players are garbage (I don’t) but they are what we currently have. Val learn to read I said AMN is garbage. I don’t mind Chambers, Martínez and the likes of Nelson being part of the squad but frankly keeping such an awful player like AMN around because of the hg quota is a joke really. According to you AMN, Bellerin are all so bad that we should all sell them. Knowing that we are skint, who would you then play at right back? You know we can sell them right? Get… Read more »
Zlatan returns to Milan
Signing 38 year old forwards now is Gazidis
Home grown is an issue fine bin AMN cause he’s shite and replace him with Jayden Bogle from Darby. 19 English and highly rated. Fine problem solved upgraded easy
“People saying it’s only Bournemouth. yes it is only Bournemouth but we let Watford have 31 shots on our goal earlier this season which is beyond criminal. “
Yea some folk are wildly underplaying how low our general performance level for this season got, and I’m not talking outliers. We routinely gave up 20-25 shots on goal against all manner of opposition, creating fuck all in the process.
We had 17 shots on Bournemouth’s goal, which is more than any other away game this season, and only equalled/bettered twice under Emery in total.
Pierre
98 points
100 points
93 points.
That tells me that the premier league is less competitive as the gap at the top is widening compared to a few years ago .
Don’t confuse Bamford with logic.
Look if the most we can get for xhara is 25 take it, plus just put on a re sell value of 25 percent
1. I have watched these players carefully game in and game out for some time now and I have watched other PL teams’ players game in and game out now; our players lack quality
2. people who are talking about contending for top four this season are delusional.
3. In addition to it being the correct view
4. gulf in quality between our team and teams like Chelsea, United and Spurs.
Bamford’s back. All that’s missing is mention of Harvard, using the word ‘nonsense’ and offering a wager.
Bamford10 Just read your reply to my post. You believed that our players were bad. Let me remind you that our team was third in the League last season when there were eight games to go. IDK what happened to Emery. He suddenly became very timid. He was so worry of each opponent and kept changing the system so not to lose. If the General of an army is so timid, it would affect the spirit of the soldiers. This year, he continued to be very timid. The performance of the team went from bad to worse. And you are… Read more »
Arteta has inherited squad that made it to European final last season, I don’t know why we should not expect instant results if we using same metrics as we did to judge Emery. I think many gooners watching match yesterday were squinting, with their head slightly tilted, if they saw improvement yesterday. We struggled against Bournemouth, who had a lot of injuries.
“He suddenly became very timid. He was so worry of each opponent and kept changing the system so not to lose. If the General of an army is so timid, it would affect the spirit of the soldiers.
This year, he continued to be very timid. The performance of the team went from bad to worse. And you are saying that there is no fault of Emery.”
Nelson 100% fucking right – the worse we got the more he looked to inhibit our play which lead to things getting worse and over and over.
Bad result but lets give Arteta some time. On the other hand many ppl are lowering the bar now. Why?
In defence of Saka, he is normally a wide player who will look to take on the full back and then whip in accurate crosses. Yesterday , I can’t remember him once trying to commit the defender. My theory is that the amount of work he put in up and down the line took it’s toll, I just don’t think he had the energy to beat the fullback so consequently his crosses were hit and hope or blocked by the full back. He was rarely caught out of position defensively and when you consider the amount of times he was… Read more »
Guess we are all going to pretend Bournemouth didn’t have a sniff at goal yesterday then. Its still only Bournemouth, we literally beat them just a few weeks ago, also beat them on our visit there last season.
They aren’t really much of an opposition and they also had chances to win it yesterday. Just calling a spade a spade.
jwl
The biggest two issues we’ve suffered this season have been team selection being poor and a huge loss of confidence.
Team selection can be altered fairly quickly, obviously injuries will impact that to a degree but the basics can be sorted without to many problems.
Loss of confidence is all about what Arteta can do.
And premier league is much more competitive now than it use to be. Liverpool and Man City are probably two best teams in world at the moment but it is much more even with the rest of teams. There are no easy games anymore, tv money gives English clubs huge budgets to sign best players from anywhere in world. I saw stat couple of months ago that said Huddersfield was paid £92 million from tv when they were relagated while Bayern earned £86 million and Juve got £77 million from tv and they were both league champs. English teams have… Read more »
jwl
The last TV deal basically made the richest clubs in the world the 20 PL clubs plus PSG, Bayern, Madrid, Barca, Juve etc.
Sup ladies? Well I for one saw some improvement We didn’t give up shots on our goal like a freaking shooting gallery for one thing. . I mean I’m not gushing giddy about it or anything but you can see what we were trying to do. Arteta has had like ten minutes at the club so it will take a little time. I’m absolutely giddy as hell over the rumors about Xhaka leaving.. Hot damn.. now we are talking. Our play should improve 10% just from replacing him with somebody who can even tackle even moderately well. I mean we… Read more »
I reckon Wolves be up for this one.
Marc I don’t know whats happened to Arsenal this season it is odd. We had decent season last year except for last month, obviously, but there seem to be major issues this year. I tend to believe there are problems amongst the players that we not hearing much about. Emery alienated senior players by trying to introduce youth and fallout from that decision is effecting squad?
I thought Emery did decent job with what he had to work with but our squad is major problem.
“Our play should improve 10%”
Are you serious? I’m expecting a 70,000 % improvement in my mood alone!
jwl
I think Emery got wrapped up in trying to fix things by changing to much to often.
It wasn’t amazing last season but how many matches did we have where an early substation made a difference.
Marc-
Haha Well I was going with he is one of 10 outfield players. hence 10% but if he ends up leaving I will be throwing a mini- party.. And Tequila always improves my mood. 😀
The premier league has more strength in depth I would say but I’m afraid this season could end up being one of the least competitive seasons ever unless city can win all their games in the run in. Relegation normally provides the excitement if the top is sown up, however this season we could see the bottom 3 confirmed with a number of weeks still to play . Failing that, the top 4 is the last resort for excitement, however liverpool, city and Leicester are already close to being uncatchable , so it would only need Chelsea or spurs to… Read more »
Pierre
I’d love to know which season had the highest turnover in managers?
If it’s not this season (so far) then 19/20 has got to be close.
Marc-
I don’t know but didn’t Swansea and Aston Villa replace their managers about every 2 months a few season back? Or I might have hallucinated that ..
MC got a red card. Their GK!!!
Don’t anyone on here rate Wolves Midfielders?
Midwest
Not sure on that but aren’t Watford on their 3rd manager already!
Agurao is subbed out after 10 minutes. Everything is going Loserpool’s way.
I feel like City are missing their cone boy in this match.. 😀
Troare has been hitting the curl bar at the gym though. Should that be a card for simulation? Mahrez with some bad acting.
That’s a penalty. The defender stepped on the attacker’s foot.
Nelson
Injury or tactical?
“Guess we are all going to pretend Bournemouth didn’t have a sniff at goal yesterday then. Its still only Bournemouth, we literally beat them just a few weeks ago,” Home and Away teams are different animals, doesn’t take much experience watching football to grasp that. Stoke away was a literal meme for us. We beat them 1-0 at Emirates: – 12 shots to their 10 – 53% of the ball to their 47% – 443 passes with 75% accuracy The game just played finished 1-1 at their place: – 17 shots to their 12 – 62% of the ball to… Read more »
Pfft looked soft to me… he took a few steps then threw himself in the air.
Saved anyhow… that’s karma dude.
Retake penalty.
Var replays… killing me. Are Wolves fan chanting Fuck Var? hahaha nice.
I feel sorry for the Wolves’s GK. Saved two penalties for nothing.
“Should that be a card for simulation? Mahrez with some bad acting.“
Good shout mate haha
CC-
Well I would have given him an academy award. … guess in slow motion the time between when he was hit and when he went down seemed shorter instead of longer.. Like the Matrix.
Marc
It has to be tactical. They have to sub in their spare GK. Now they changed the formation to 4 4 1 with Sterling the lone attacker.
Midwest
Some premier league stats this season:
Tackles:
1. Ndidi 80
73. Xhaka 26
Interceptions:
1. Ndidi 51
162. Xhaka 9
Fouls:
1. Wesley 39
4. Xhaka 31
On whoscored statistics page we find Xhaka in 151 overall place
Middy
Game is soft as shit sometimes, does my head in
Nelson
Yeah I just wondered whether Aguero just back form injury had pulled something as well.
City aren’t making life any easier on themselves.
Goonah _
Thanks… pretty well what I thought. I really cant tell you how excited I am at the prospect of finding a replacement sooner rather then later.. I was shocked Xhaka has made 26 tackles.. I must have missed about 20 of them.
VAR is part of FIFA plot to make football a non contact sport
Who’s the hot sauce assistant next to Pep?
I agree with jwl,
It’s obvious that some posters try to twist and turn facts to suit their narrative of Emery being a shit manager, Arteta is the chosen one and there was improvement of our play in the last game..
I thought we were just as inept, clueless and spineless as we were under Emery and Freddie, but whatever suits, we have to move on and hope Arteta and the cnuts upstairs get us out of this hole!
Dissenter
He is our new manager should Arteta fail 😂
Someone from “school of Pep” must be the next him.
Midwest
Better get an eye check.
All of Xhakas tackles were made in slowmotion
“Come with me and I will show you the power of the dark Sauce.
Together we will run the football galaxy, as father and son.”
*Extract of the Guardiola interview with Arteta before he hired him
On reflection the DLP should have been scrapped at the start of this season (season prior not a lot of transfer kitty around) and the 75m put out on Pepe should instead been used on a few additional midfielders that are conventional in their play. The DLP has been harmful to Arsenal not only from a defensive viewpoint but also offensively. When your CBs are continually looking for the DLP to pick the ball up from them deep and short it means first transition attack can be slow. They also forget how to play out from the back themselves when… Read more »
Rollen,
Fans are lowering the bar because Emery wrecked the squad of confidence and presided over a comically bad 2018. We started the Bournemouth game bottom half of the table.
This squad would be finishing top 4 if we’d fired Emery in May.
Now we have a good coach in, he comes with lower expectations because he has a harder job. Has to teach basics, build culture, deal with players with precarious contract issues, and he’s having to do this with no preseason.
The game now definitely looks up for Man City.
Poor Pep
Liverpool have the title in the bag. Fair play. They’ve been so good for 18 months at least.
Mendy will have to pick up a lot of soaps tonight!
The DLP has been the big elephant in the room.
But the trendies liked the sexy continental aspect of it.
The time Arsenal go back to being a more conventional EPL side instead of trying to be a european satelitte side playing in the EPL and failing at it the better for Arsenal.
Pedro
“Now we have a good coach in, he comes with lower expectations because he has a harder job. Has to teach basics, build culture, deal with players with precarious contract issues”
That could have been said about Emery!
Great comeback from Wolves
Wolves get the job done.
No Arteta no party
This commentator is firmly sat on City’s dick
The scoreline aside Wolves fans are throwing objects at City players, the Spud’s are chanting racist comments?
What the fuck is going on?
I know there were always individual or isolated incidents but it now seems to be becoming a regular weekly occurrence.
If Pierre thinks Arsenal fans are vile for telling Xhaka to move his fat lazy arse fuck knows what he makes of all of this.
My real worry this season is that Liverpool could equal – beat ? – our record.
Someone must stop them, ffs.