A very quick post from me this morning as I am heading in for my first game of the MIKEL ARTETA ERA GET IN CAN’T WAIT WOOO #1 FAN OVER HERE WITH THE A4 BANNER SAYING #ARTETAIN!
I have no idea what to expect. The manager is dealing with something of an injury crisis, we could be missing a lot of players today. Tierney, Kola and Sokratis are certainly out. There are also doubts over Gabriel, Holding, Ceballos and Hector… there also might be questions over whether Xhaka plays if his mind is on the Hertha Berlin move.
The players he did have ready trained on the pitch yesterday. I like that. For no reason. If Emery had done it I’d have lodged a complaint with the local council, Arteta does it, I find it the sort of elite thinking a progressive young coach should be showcasing.
Chelsea are in a bit of a mess at the moment. They followed up a super defeat of Spurs with a shocking show against lowly Southampton. Some of their fans are predictably on his back, but I think the bleating will be ignored, Chelsea are building up with kids and shit performances are part of the deal there.
Arteta spoke about getting his players to think quicker and work harder off the ball. We saw a taste of that against Bournemouth, today, I hope that continues. I’m looking to see good structure, I’m hoping that against a really good counter-attacking team, we can concentrate, and I’m hoping the players put it in until the very end. Wouldn’t it be great to see us pressing for a second game in a row? I’m living for it.
I think we’re up against it today, it’s going to be hard to extract anything from the game, but at the moment, I’m just looking for progress as we build to a brighter future. A win would be exciting though, can’t say it hasn’t passed my mind.
It’s absolutely freezing out, so if you’re going, wrap up warm and hope the football on show gives us an added boost of warmth.
Right, that’s me out, see you at the game. xx
Valentin
Something has to change – it’s not just about Arsenal the level of officials is disgusting.
These guy’s are on £80 odd grand a year – do you know anyone who earns that type of money who has no accountability and is continually terrible at their job?
What exactly does Mike Riley have against Arsenal?
In my opinion we will look like real losers if we start an unfair treatment media campaign against referees to mask our poor form.
I have a problem with the scouting reports that are always been served up here.
They always highlight players playing for teams in the CL who may be out of our reach.
We need to start buying up good players who have done well in struggling teams, especially teams that are relegated. Last season, Anguissa looked good for Fulham but talk of him was poo pooed when I raised it.
This season, Max Aarons and Eric Cantwell are the types of players we should be signing.
RH
Arteta lost the battle of the coaches today. He will learn from that.
Yes, he did. And I’m afraid, No, he won’t.
Receding
If the Guendozi “penalty” incident is what I think you’re talking about from where I was it was outside the box and a free kick was given.
Surely VAR would have been used is the ref had called it wrong?
‘Martinez Amn. Saliba chambers tiernay ( for 10 games)Toor new dm Nelson. Ozil SakaTj or Eddie..’
Are you saying we’re in the Championship?
Cesc
You really have to wonder!
Had Leno not flapped needlessly, no one will be throwing tantrums that Jorghino wasn’t sent off.
Guen’s second yellow card offense was just as bad.
The referee’s are incompetent, that’s all. It’s not some big vast conspiracy against Arsenal. We aren’t that important. We do the self-sabotage ourselves.
Highbury this is his second match as first team coach or manager. This is where his more experienced assistants have to earn their coin.
I noticed it was the assistant at Chelsea that walked up to Lampard and told him something has to change and they got Jorginho ready
Marc
Guendo was a lucky boy. Stone cold 2nd yellow and a penalty to boot. Around 35-36 minutes on the clock. Definitely check it out.
Upstate
As I said I need to see the highlights – you don’t get the benefit of replays in the stadium.
RSPC
Out of interest – you new line up for next season doesn’t include Martinelli are you going to sell him as well?
But that’s why new managers should start at small clubs and work their way up. Win a few things, get some pedigree, some self-confidence and make the mistakes and learn from them at other clubs. This is supposed to be one of the biggest clubs in Europe but it’s not behaving like one. Yes of course it has a few decent players dotted around but nothing to write home about. In fact, you wouldn’t even call us a top 7 team anymore. And given that we also made a financial loss of about £23 million in the last set of… Read more »
Marc
I think the officials should earn a lot more than 80k weekly. Beating them up for that relatively paltry salary [compared to the amount of money the league is making] is a bit silly.
They have to maintain the same level of fitness as the players and it takes a lot of of work to become a premier league referee.
Marc it was a second yellow nonetheless and VAR did look at it but felt maybe Abraham went down too easily. If they wanted to “please mike Riley” to keep their jobs it was a decision many wouldn’t argue with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM747L9Wf8M
“I noticed it was the assistant at Chelsea that walked up to Lampard and told him something has to change and they got Jorginho ready”
Lol receding, you just gave an idea of excuse to Pedro for his next post.
It was Lampard assistant who made us lost the game… Bravo!!
Dissenter
I would look to take a chunk of the TV money from each club – say £2 million that would give you a £40 million a season fund to both pay, train and recruit new refs, ones who don’t perform are binned.
The only conditions are that we get rid of the useless fuckers we have now and a performance review made public after each match.
The players need to man up. Why are they so unfit, weak and slow? They get paid a fortune.
Get in the gym. Put the playstation aside. Your meant to be ‘professional’ footballers.
Let’s see if Arteta has the balls to tell them to shape up.
And as for the referee conspiracy theories against Arsenal, these are really scraping the barrel. We are already 12th in the league – what need is there for dark conspiracies? Whatever happens to us is the result of our own mistakes and misfortunes period. Remember Occam’s Razor – the simplest answer is nearly always the right one.
Val Think your Leno breakdown is overboard. Thing about these base level stats is they are rarely, if ever, weighted to reflect anything resembling a bigger picture. Leno has the most errors in Europe’s top 5 leagues? – What constitutes an error? – How many shots is he facing per error? Because we had conceded the most shots on goal in all of Europe early in the season, and his ‘saves made’ is the highest number in the PL. Stands to reason he’d make more errors by virtue of having greater interaction with the ball. 7 errors in 200 saves… Read more »
Pierre
As I said to the guy next to me – If you saw 6 skin heads kicking the shit out of a PL ref not only would you buy them a drink afterwards but you’d give them an alibi as well!”
Cc
Leno is a decent enough keeper – there are plenty of other positions that need improvement first.
Dissenter, You could clearly see that the Arsenal players were getting upset by the persistent niggling rotational fouling that was not punished by the referee. Lacazette got a yellow card for complaining too vehemently about it. Some fans are so skewed for or against managers or players that demanding to be treated fairly and competently is now viewed as an excuse. It is not. The club made mistakes, our players made mistakes but to have a constant negative treatment at the hand of referees should still be investigated and stopped. Pundits are unknowingly part of that conspiracy, because if Liverpool… Read more »
Nah Valentin wants this lafont kid so Leno is now gash. That’s how he operates once he doesn’t fancy something or someone, he runs them down by any means necessary
Just so I’m not labelled or caught up in a “ref watch conspiracy” my position is that the refs are shit full stop.
I want to see the right decision given as often as possible whether it’s Arsenal playing or any other team.
There will be decisions that got for us and decisions that go against us.
Val
Rotational fouling is indeed an art of the game. City are masters of it so I expect that Arteta will have thew players imbibe it at some point.
Had Mustafi [who was not on a yellow card] dragged down Abraham, they may not have scored the winning goal . Good players read the game and also the referee.
Chelsea were cautioned for fouls in the first half and we had fouls awarded to us. Guendouzi was cautioned first because he made two fouls in quick succession.
Frankly I don’t think failing to send off Jorginho was such a big error. Rotational fouling is a tactic if done correctly and maybe we should give it a go.
We are not any more hard done by that any other team in this league.
Jorginho should’ve been sent off. He got booked for pulling back Lacazette, there’s no sense in him being spared for pulling back Guendouzi.
AMN was booked for pulling a player back and Neville said in commentary it’s for this reason folk tear their hair out about consistency.
Having said that the game changed because of a huge error in the 83rd minute, the remainder of the game plays out differently without that. The lack of a sending off became relevant following that moment and not before. Shitty, but we move on.
What’s all these lampard outwits artera when we had to make an unexpected forced substitution? Who do you think was on that bench that could have changed things apart from pepe? The whole team is in its skeletal state owing to the injuries we have. Agreed artera could have done better but let’s be frank with ourselves here, the team put out today is bare to the bone. I think I read a poster who complained about our bench today. It’s left to edu and Saul to try and support arteta by trying as much as possible to locate and… Read more »
Funny enough,I’ll take Éver Banega on loan till the end of the season.
I just pray the players, due to the fact that they are Lilly livered, don’t give up on artera.
He should start working on their stamina.
Tee
Someone seriously moaned about our bench?
Who the fuck did they suggest Arteta put on it?
CC, Those are errors, not grey area of maybe he should/could have save it. This season he has committed two big howlers that directly resulted in goals. The same number than David de Gea. The problem is that people confuse good shot stopper with great goalkeeping. Leno is second in number of saves made during the season. But the number of saves does not indicate the quality of the saves. My problem with Leno has always been the following points: 1) his distribution is poor and slow. By hand or feet. Martinez may not be as good shot stopper than… Read more »
Marc
The poster was actually saying we had nothing on the bench. The poster wasn’t using it as sticks to flog anyone but just saying there was nothing in it.
If players like martinelli, and rest were available, I believe things would have been a little easy
Valentin
I can’t believe you are blaming Emery for the fitness level of the players. That’s lower than low.
We are four months into the season and any player not in shape should be blamed.
Like we saw last year, Torriera is not cut out for the pace of the EPL, same as Ozil.
Lacazette never played 90 mins under Wenger
We do not have a team fit for purpose but you had an agenda against Emery so you were blind to the player issues.
I think with a Ceballos today, we control the midfield better.
We can’t seriously be blaming the ref for today – what we need to do is get that 2nd and 3rd goal and not make stupid mistakes – we can’t be trying to defend a 1 goal lead when we have been so poor defensively. I was so happy to watch that first half but I just knew we couldn’t sustain it , as that’s how top clubs play for 90 minutes , we’re not at that level , and haven’t been for a while. For me it’s highlighted some in game fitness issues , we can’t be wilting like… Read more »
Azed three years from now Valentin will still blame Emery for anything negative about this club.
Valentin
Sorry but your grasping at straws now.
“So on average every 10 games he will commit a howler that will lead to a goal.”
Well that would mean he’d be responsible for 4 (I’m rounding up) PL goals a season – we’ve conceded 30 and he’s made more than 4 point saving saves already this season.
I’m not saying he’s the greatest keeper going but we have plenty of other more pressing issues.
We need a player in midfield like Diogo Jota.
What a player. Technically skilled, quick and always looking to link play and attack.
Great dribbler too.
We need him or this type badly
Edu
That’s a reasonable balanced view of todays match.
You do realise that this is a football blog – we don’t’ do balanced or reasonable OK!
Receding, I made my view known at the time we bought Leno. Same about Pepe, Emery, Raul I made my view known. The difference with you is my opinion are unpopular because they dissent from the main stream. But your opinions have systematically proven to be wrong. Leno is a great goalkeeper – Goalkeeper with highest numbers of errors that lead to a goal. Emery is a great coach that will revive the club – worst start of the club in decades. Raul is a great man who will recruit intelligently – saddled the club with extra debts without fixing… Read more »
Tee
I can’t even be bothered to list of the number of players we have missing due to injury at the moment.
It looks as if we’ve added Chambers to that as well.
Receding,
“Azed three years from now Valentin will still blame Emery for anything negative about this club.”
Are you not the one still blaming Wenger for all the woes of the club?
People in glass house…
Just watched guedousi foul, it wasn’t
a pen. He actually fouled him outside the box
Edu surely you don’t find it strange there are fans of a football club not convinced appointing a coach without experience was the way to go? I don’t find that unreasonable at all nor do I consider them lesser fans.
Trust me everyone will love it if he turns out great.
Enough with the divisions. Humans are allowed to have doubts
Marc
No
Forgot bout him…
Team yoot all the wAy to go next season…
We didn’t take advantage of the 7 min over time the ref gave us…
Laca can’t start against united… for sure.
Either gabs or tyreece.
Up front.
It be lovely to batter united.
Tee
From where I was sat it didn’t even look close to a pen – no idea how people watching of TV with the benefit of replays are claiming it should have been but I will watch the highlights later and give an honest response.
ValentinDecember 29, 2019 18:43:10 Last season Emery overtrained and overused the same players resulting in injuries during the winter month. This year, he changed the conditioning to a lower regime and the result is that the players are 70 minutes players. Past the 80 minutes mark, they all suffers from cramps and can’t run. That was already the case when Emery was still here. Today we could see that Saka could not run. The fact that a 18 years old boy can be over ridden of cramp when his much older direct opposite winger is still running is entirely due… Read more »
Wenger was here for 21 years. Wenger brought Xhaka, Mustafi and co to this club at considerable expense Wenger mismanaged the contracts of Ozil,Sanchez and Ramsey we ended up offering one a ridiculous contract to save face, the other a swap deal that didn’t really work out and lost one for free ( no emery didn’t force Ramsey out of the club, young man wanted out). Funny thing is my beef has always been with the players their attitude and application. I was a Wenger fan but saw his flaws too. I wasn’t really an emery fan but appreciated his… Read more »
Samesong
Are you looking to deep fry them or thrash them?
Marc, “Well that would mean he’d be responsible for 4 (I’m rounding up) PL goals a season – we’ve conceded 30 and he’s made more than 4 point saving saves already this season.” I am clutching at straw, I am looking vat the stats. Strangely enough last season’s he was directly at fault for 5 goals in the premiership. This season 20 games he is directly responsible for 2 goals already. Again you confuse the number of saves made with the quality of the saves. I remember only one game where he made saves that I did not expect him… Read more »
“You should be a politician”
Please God no!
According to BBC after 13 minutes Arsenal had just 3 shots but none on target
Think about that
Once Lampard sussed what was going on it was only a matter of time.
Far more likely relegation than CL.
Valentin
My point is that according to your stats Leno will be responsible for 4 odd goals a season that he shouldn’t concede.
We’ve already conceded 30 goals in 20 matches.
As it stands our major defensive issue isn’t Leno making 4 cock ups a season, although todays was beyond frustrating.
Yes we have improved but we are not working goal keepers. Two games now where the opposing keepers weren’t really tested
xG has died a natural death on here but still early days though
Val on a roll tonight. Them paragraphs are long sure but it’s all faff and waffle.
Terraloon
With the players we have, it’s not hard to figure us out.
Ozil thrives in space, block the space and we are down to 10 men because he’s a non factor of the ball.
Aubameyang is not a winger that would put the opposing defender under pressure.
We have zero athlete in midfield so we get over run easily.
Benny, You are trying to resuscitate a discussion in which those claims have been later confirmed by Emery interview. There were extra training sessions. Emery admitted that they stopped the afternoon sessions. BTW some of those sessions were used to play games against the U21 in the same configuration than the opposition. Regarding Ramsey, if your medical team tell you the headcoach that the player is in the red zone you bench him. No matter what Ramsey tell you. Of course he wants to play, but Emery’s role as a manager is to tell the player sit down. Wenger made… Read more »
So Jorginho didn’t get his marching orders and that’s why we lost? Did we need Chelsea to go down to 10 men in order to make the 3 points safe?
I generally don’t complain about referees because sometimes decisions go against you and sometimes they’re in your favour.
For instance, against Leicester, Guendouzi was lucky not to concede a penalty early in the game when he needlessly tugged on a Leicester player’s shirt.
He needs to cut out such stupid and blatant fouls. Again, he was lucky, just like Jorginho, not to receive a second yellow himself today.
Azed
Indeed
The quote from Arteta about fitness is frightening.
Valentin Yea I’m not sure I but that as anything more than your own preference. I mean talk about distribution being slow is only relevant if the game plan is for quick releases – I’ve seen very few cases of that being our mandate. The crosses/commanding aspect again feels overblown and more a question of your own tastes for a goalkeeper. You talk quality of saves etc but the Arsenal GL should’ve be making the 2nd most saves in the league, that’s a clear and obvious suggestion the protection afforded is minimal at best. That means shots, crosses, general pressure… Read more »
Guen is such a liability at times. He does chase and press but not much else it seems. Im getting a little irriated watching him do the same shit over and over.
Torreira today was like the Torr we expect. Great intensity and aggression.
We need Diogo Jota in Jan to help our midfield.
Mustafi must be sold in Jan.
Arteta using fitness as an excuse
For those who were expecting Arteta to change something, the question is what do you change?
The options were ERS, Willock and Pepe….
“I think with a Ceballos today, we control the midfield better.”
Guen is still a boy and Ceballos is a man. Guen forgot how to play football once the pressure was on. In the last 30 minutes, almost every player (except Nelson) was in panic mode. Even Auba didn’t hang on to the ball. He just booted the ball away. I was surprise to see that Nelson still had energy to go up and down the wing. Unfortunately, he still need to improve his skill quite a bit to be more efficient in the final third.
This midfield does a lot of damage?
Torr Guen Ozil?
Azed bring in Pepe much earlier and find someone to sit on Jorginho. We beat Chelsea here last season because Ramsey sat on Jorginho, hassled him all game.
Maybe Willock on earlier to mark him as no one in the starting eleven could do that job.
The pressure kept building , that they would score seemed a matter of when not if. I expected us to hold out for the draw though
Marc, You are right that GK is not our main issue. However he should be part of the discussion , because even we discard the occasional howler, he does not command his box like he should. Also he does not organise his defense. In the stadium on corners or set pieces you can hear opposition GK screaming away, Keeper. Leno hardly says a word. That does not contribute to a more coherent defense. The less said about his distribution the better. My point regarding the recruitment was that this summer we had an opportunity to upgrade our playing personnel in… Read more »
whats up with Willock.
Every game late on he gets a gimme and he scuffs the shot for the easy goal.
This young man needs to work on his shooting big time
Receding,
Please refresh my memory about your answer to my comment saying the players are not currently fit to play the Arteta demanding style for 90 minutes.
Because clearly regarding the fitness level of the players that new Arteta guy does not know what he is talking about.🤔🤭
https://arseblog.news/2019/12/arteta-questions-fitness-levels-after-chelsea-defeat/
🤔
Guns of SF
Good observation. Willock had a very good chance to score for two games in a roll. The first time, he kicked a softie. Today, he went for power but missed the net.
CC,
Maybe we like different style of goalkeepers, but for me a good goalkeeper has to be more Pro active than Leno.
He has to be vocal, be a good organiser on top of being a good shot stopper.
The world class one can use their feet nearly as good as an outfield players. For me a good goalkeeper should be able to kick the ball with both feet to bypass the press. Everytime Leno is pressed I am tense thinking that he will concede with a stupid block a la Foster at Watford last season.
“”” surely you don’t find it strange there are fans of a football club not convinced appointing a coach without experience was the way to go? I don’t find that unreasonable at all nor do I consider them lesser fans.””” Of course there will be some fans that aren’t convinced , of that I’m well aware , and it is perfectly reasonable to have doubts — but for me , it’s the way they voice their concern and jump on any little thing to try and prove that Arteta isn’t the guy for us , before he’s had a significant… Read more »
Valentin
Emery said Ozil was dropped because of his work rate but you were part of the people that wanted Ozil to play because you felt Emery dropped him because of ego.
If the players are not fit, it’s because they bailed on Emery knowing they had an army of fans behind them ready to throw Emery to the Wolves.
I played basketball at college level and I can tell you for a fact that if players are not physically fit 4 months into a season, then it’s on the players not the coach.
Nelson
Our midfield contributes no Goals to the team
Only dependent on Auba. That is what you call pressure.
I hope Auba stays and we upgrade our midfield
Sell laca- im done with him now
This entire fitness thing is just an excuse. These fellas are fit as can be.
We do not have the players who are strongly built for the pressing game Guen yes but not much else he brings…
Torr yes- improvement today
The rest? not really
This is a season where the young guns are really getting a lot of experience.
Im am so baffled at how far we have fallen? Basically the same team as last season and its just collapsed.
Why and how??
3 coaches and the same results.
It must be the players are not good enough
Azed, Three points 1) I did not want Özil to be reinstated just for the sake of it. I said if we play better with him, then it is obvious that he should play. Regarding Özil ostracism, he had no credibility because the way he flipped flopped on the reason for it. 2) Emery’s story with regard to Özil changed every week. One minute he wanted him out and the next he was part of the vice captain. It was clear that there was an interpersonal issue there. It was the same at PSG and in Ukraine. Emery tried his… Read more »
“Arteta using fitness as an excuse”
Because in the 2 games he has had he somehow should of whipped this team into PL title challengers who take 12Km marathons for a warm up.
The Arteta haters really are opportunists.
I dont hate Arteta but to use fitness as an excuse is a new one in the playbook this season
These fellas are like fine tuned race cars… look at Auba- 30 years old and still going all the time.
Its not fitness- the team sucks shit. the defense sucks the most and that is why we lost. Boneheaded plays.
Arteta should be honest and call it what it is…. defensive blunders for 2 goals… that could have been prevented
Valentin
Our players are not built to press.
Ozil shows up for 30 mins.
Aubameyang is not a player that runs around.
Wenger used to take Lacazette off after 65 mins.
Torreira is all action but doesn’t have the stamina for the EPL.
Saka has played the last 3 games at left back, this is his first season in the first team and he’s playing more games than he should play.
Nelson actually did well today and was the only one still running till he was taking out.
Tell me how it’s Emery’s fault.
lol Valentine still hates Emery ??
Azed,
Last season at the beginning of the season the team was top in term of average distance run during 90 minutes, we were also top in number of sprints run by 90 minutes. However because the extra training session took their tolls, Arsenal level dropped.
This season it has been the complete opposite, we don’t run. The conditioning training has changed from one extreme to another:
From too tough to not hard enough.
Valentin
You are just making stuff up.
Aubameyang was superb in tracking back today but do you think he can do it for a whole season?
Like I said, our squad is not fit for the pressing game.
If you think professional footballers don’t know the required level of fitness to last 90 mins, then I have nothing to say to you.
Seen on Twitter Lucas happy again…
That’s good news…
Look
Art is boss for a few years..
Just get behind the fucker…
Only Chelsea can afford to keep changing the manager even when the win trophies..
Love the art
Or fuck off..
Benny If VAR was the judge on whether Emery has left us in a complete mess. It would be in the affirmative and would deem it “clear and obvious” It wouldn’t need 2 minutes to come to that conclusion , more like 2 seconds.. Anyone that would defend Emery’s at Arsenal football club is fooling themselves as he has possibly set the club back at least 2 years. Arteta , in the limited time he has had at the club has made improvements in our all round game . However, if there is a fitness problem ( and there may… Read more »
Laca is useless he needs to be sold and give auba a new deal
He hardly presses him and ozil don’t work well as they are both lazy
We did play with no full backs today they will help but I would live a proper cm to come in and help LT
yeah just look at Saka he can’t keep up with Willian after 80+ minutes the kid’s gassed already for that second goal
shows the stamina that he lacks and the fitness level to be improved so he can achieve the intensity required for full 90 minutes
Last season no wingers and we did better what gives???!
I said it yesterday
Play martinelli in the hole
Pepe starts and Nelson put Pepe on the left
Auba in the middle
Gabby can create and press from that position and use speed to attack the box
“Play martinelli in the hole…”
Figures the guy from SF wants to put it in his hole.
Azed, “If you think professional footballers don’t know the required level of fitness to last 90 mins, then I have nothing to say to you.” Ditto if you think that every players will be professional and stay in peak conditioning form all season. Sometimes it is the player’s fault, sometimes it is the coaching staff’s fault. Look at Saka who was gassed out after 70 minutes. For the second goal, He had cramps and could not come back quickly enough to help out. Meanwhile his direct older opponent Willian was leaving him in his trail. That is not talent that’s… Read more »
Cutter you funny lil shit
Just Another Customer
Yes I to noticed that he fell off and couldn’t keep up with Willian. Not a good look for a youngster! I was a crap player at that age but I had energy to burn! What is going wrong with the training? Where are the fitness coaches? Lack of energy across the whole team in the later stages.
Er
Just thought I’d mention. Oles “new manager bump” delivered a little bit more than draws at Bournemouth and losing leads with 5mins to go. Just saying.
If this is our “new manager bump” in performances? Then man oh man we better get ready for a serious relegation fight.
2 new managers and no bump