Robbed, but the future is bright.

by .

Arsenal frittered away another 3 points against a top 6 side when they were downed by two late Chelsea goals. The result is very disappointing, the way it went down was very us, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many fans in that ground that weren’t happy with the way things are moving.

When it came down to it, there were some very fair mitigating circumstances the new manager was dealing with. We were missing Granit Xhaka, say what you will about him, he starts in this midfield. We were missing 3 full backs, plus Holding, Ceballos and Gabriel. That’s 7 players, which is a crisis. Then when we lost Cal Chambers, who was having a great game, and had to replace him with the absolutely dreadful Mustafi, well, you’re always going to struggle.

Both goals we conceded were very poor. I think the context, outside our limited set of players, was the amount of effort we were putting in. The players simply haven’t worked at that sort of level for a very long time, after 45 minutes, the energy levels noticeably dropped. In the second half that meant the players started to defend a lot deeper, which gave space for Chelsea to roam. We gave up our first goal from a hideous Bernd Leno error, he came racing out of his goal for a one-handed swipe at a cross, he missed, Jorginho was in at the back post for a finish he didn’t know much about. He’s been our best player this season, you just don’t expect that.

I don’t like to complain about reffing standards, but there’s no way Jorginho should have been on the pitch. In general, the tactical fouling on the halfway line was ignored by the ref for most of the day… arguably, if we’d been street smart enough, we’d have engaged in some of it for the second goal. Matteo G went for a header he was never going to win, he should have been sitting far deeper in my opinion, which is something I have no doubt will be fixed. Chelsea were allowed to run at us, Luiz and Mustafi dropped, and dropped, and dropped, the ball switched wide, Abrahams didn’t have Mustafi tight, he turned and put it past Leno. A shoddy piece of defending, but look, we’re not going to shake that in 2 weeks.

If there was a criticism to be had, I think it was about making aggressive subs a little earlier. Lacazette and Nelson weren’t offering much, I think there was a limited case to made that we could have brought on Pepe or John-Jules to bring more energy to the frontline. That said, when Pepe did come on, to watch and £80m winger spurn a chance because he couldn’t shift it onto his correct foot was quite depressing. Jules, well, an unknown quantity for a big game.

If we go to the first half, there was a lot more to be happy about. Firstly, the atmosphere is directly linked to what the fans are seeing on the pitch. We are energised by the efforts of the players, it’s fair to say the fans were buzzing for a large part of the game. Even after the game, there weren’t any boos, everyone respected the fight on show.

Arsenal were very compact. It was very refreshing to see our defenders a lot further up the pitch, people knew their positions, everyone was putting in a shift. I thought this new attitude was typified by the selfless performance of Auba. He held a very wide position all game and he actually tracked runners. A lot of people constantly rattle off the ‘not that sort of player’ line… well, Mesut Ozil and our best fox in the box are doing yards and making tackles now.

There wasn’t a whole lot of creation in the first half, but I think the purpose was more about containing Chelsea and nicking a goal where possible. Building from a solid foundation is what we’ve asked for over the years, we know we don’t need a lot of chances because we have elite finishers, so it was an interesting game from that purview.

I also thought we were very good in possession, again, it didn’t lead to much, but the passing in general was unrecognizable at times. We were seeing a different team that could move the ball out of the back fluidly, and shift the ball between the lines with relative ease. Chelsea were mostly chasing shadows for that opening 45, but what I loved is that were starting to reap the rewards of good off the ball positioning… Chelsea players were ratttled into making unforced errors just by where our players were positioned. Not perfect by any means, but you could see that we were difficult to attack.

Our goal came from a George Graham inspired setpiece. Cal Chambers, who is a beast in the air, nodded on for Auba at who was hunting in the box. It really was a shame he limped off with what looked like a serious injury.

A lot of people lay the genius of Chelsea at Frank Lampard’s feet when he switched Chelsea to a back 4 and brought on Jorginho. I’m not sure that was the difference-maker, I think Arsenal running out of steam was. When you’re tired, your body defaults… as a team, we defaulted to habits that Arteta hasn’t fully dealt with yet.

The game finished, but there were no boos. That was a heartening performance from a depleted team that’s about 2 weeks into a journey. We felt robbed, a bad feeling, but I didn’t expect to feel like that considering the circumstances. That’s a good sign.

I’m positive, I know most will expect me to be, but I think I’ve seen enough to know we’re heading in the right direction.

Arteta has taken over Arsenal in a chaotic fixture pile-up, with a broken squad, and very little confidence.

We’re seeing a huge amount of effort already. I read some people pondering whether Arsenal are capable of playing with intensity… absolutely. We’ve been playing with the handbrake on for well over a year, Arteta isn’t pushing Arsenal players to unachievable levels of effort, he’s bringing them up to a normal standard. It’s going to take time. We have a World Cup winning S&C coach who will be frontline shaping our intensity, we will be fine.  Key thing for me, I was unsure if Arteta would be able to motivate players to push themselves to breaking point, he can, that’s good news.

The players are responding well. I thought Luiz had an immense game, Torreira is playing like a proper DM, and Mesut Ozil has turned up for the second game in a row, Auba is defending, and AMN is looking very solid.

David Luiz had this to say.

“For me he will be one of the best coaches in the world,” Luiz said.

“I am lucky to have have had many good coaches in my career, he is intelligent, he is clever and I think he will be one of the best.

Sure, I can take that with a pinch of salt, but no one was saying this about Emery. My point here again is that the players are showing you they believe in Arteta with the effort, but they are saying they believe in his ideas, which is even more important. It takes time to learn a new way of playing. It took Klopp and Pep a while to bed in the way they wanted to play, it’ll take Mikel a while, but you’re seeing good signs.

I’m also positive that the manager can raise the level of the squad. We have good players, saying we don’t is lazy, it’s also usually peddled by people that liked Emery. We matched Chelsea fairly comfortably with 7 players missing, with a brand new manager… they’re 5 months into their project with a fully fit squad. We haven’t had proper fullbacks for two games, even the addition of Kola will help. Holding is going to be immensely welcome when he joins, a ball-playing centre back with athleticism. I’m sure Arteta will draw more from Ceballos and I’m pretty sure Martinelli is exactly the mould of player he wants in his side.

The second part of having fit players is being able to select from a bench. A lot of criticism was levelled for his subs yesterday, but really, how many game-changing options did he have? Pepe can’t get a start ahead of Nelson, we can keep hoping he’s the real deal, but all logical indicators point to him not being that player right now.

We’ve also lost our ‘ex-captain’ to Hertha Berlin. 1) This is his level 2) We will have to replace him. Hopefully we find someone with the power and pace he lacked. They also need to be able to pass. That signing needs to be a game-changer, there has to be a good plan there.

Results have to come, they will come, but there need to be a level of realism. We’re in the most intense part of the season with a new manager who is having to communicate most of his ideas in meetings and one on ones. Still, we’re seeing the beginnings of an identity, which is what we all wanted. The players are fighting for the club, something we’ve not seen for years. Fans in the stadium are backing the approach, lots of positive sentiment during and after the game. Good things will come, the next 6 weeks will be rough, but we are moving towards something very exciting.

Right, see you all in the comments. x

 

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Tr4phy

DM

“we know we don’t need a lot of chances because we have elite finishers”

I don’t think this has been true for quite some time, unfortunately (not that we don’t have elite finishers, but we def need plenty of chances because we miss more than our fair share)

MrT

Hello

Ishola70

Pedro

Your post is full of contradictions.

You tell us Xhaka was a big miss in the team but then you go on to say that Arsenal in the first half were “unrecognisable” in regards their passing and moving the ball more fluidly. Basically quicker and more direct.

I wonder why they were “unrecognisable” in these aspects?

Mourning the loss of Xhaka in this game is classic fans grasping on to anything to dismiss the defeat.

Blaming defeats on missing players is nothing new though is it.

Colney Gooner

Top 6?

NJ Gunner

Thank you Pedro.

I don’t know whether to focus on the bad decisions, the bad play of Leno and especially Mustafi, or the bright future.

So I will focus on making the first eleven for a second day running.

Samesong

Beating United will make the future brighter until then it’s a work in progress.

Marc

A major concern I do have is how will the players physically recover for Wednesday night?

We don’t have many options to rotate either, another poor result even if performances are improving will begin to be a “thing”.

A win and some movement in the transfer market will bring some welcome relief all round.

Ray in LA

If we build on the improvements that we saw yesterday, I will be very heartened

Auba was terrific…an inspiring lead-by-example performance

Exploiting our early dominance better and the game could have been out of reach at half time and Chelski too demoralized to mount their comeback

But, agreed, lots to be done

Graham62

1 million % we didn’t miss GX.

Jamie

“we know we don’t need a lot of chances because we have elite finishers”

And just like that, xG goes in the bin.

HighburyLegend

“We were missing Granit Xhaka”
lol

Cesc Appeal

You’re being far too kind to Arteta. What you said about positives was spot on, but you kind of skipped over a lot of negatives yesterday which I do hope you’re not going to do for the entirety of Arteta’s tenure. He didn’t react to clear fatigue and Chelsea taking ridiculous levels of control over the game as if this was a Carabao Cup game for them…it was that one sided in the second half after about the 60th minute. He also never seemed to react to Lampard sending on Jorginho and a lot of our good work ended when… Read more »

Victorious

Chavs didn’t dominate shit until Leno’s brain fart happened We naturally had to sit back and wait for the counter as the players were physically sacked after the first half effort Simply put without the Leno howler we would have easily seen out the winThat first performance was unreal though, we totally outplayed Chelsea playing some orgasmic football, we could have added a second if we didn’t have a very average ST in LacaOne thing is though clear Arteta is a wonderful hire and time will prove as much

Micheal

Mightily encouraged by the first half performance and the positive rection by the fans. But this will be like travelling by train these days – we’ll get there in the end, but it will take longer than we expected.

HighburyLegend

“You’re being far too kind to Arteta.”

==> BINNED.

Cesc Appeal

Jamie

Haha.

I didn’t even pick up on that!

Naughty, naughty, Mr Pedro.

CG

PedRo “””Robbed, but the future is bright”””” What with Raul in charge of transfers? Edu in charge of the Teck Decking.? With Steve Round coaching us? With no money to spend because of FFP? With David Luiz? With KSE? With VAR? With us sitting in 12th ? Dont look too bright to me… Look very dark. Sure we have some glove wearing youngsters coming through- but then so does every club in the land. Maybe the brightness would reappear if the idiots who have overseen our total collapse- paid the price with their jobs? And we employed people who know… Read more »

Danny

Lampard’s tactics for the game were to foul us constantly. Chelsea have one of the lowest averages for fouls in the league but yesterday they committed nearly 20 which is the average per match for 2 teams! They were a bloody disgrace and ruined the game, yes they got the 3 points but it was awful to watch. Fuck them. As for us, we wont go down, there must be at least 3 teams shittier than us, but we of course wont get top 4 or the europa cup place. Arteta should go hard on the europa cup and the… Read more »

Gonsterous

The real question should be, why was martinelli not in the squad yesterday? I get it, he’s Brazilian and not used to the weather, but it’s not like we are going to use him for 90mins. Should have bought him on for laca in the 60th min, when it was clear that laca was having a mare, Then when we needed to pin back chelsea’s defence, should have bought on pepe, who even if he doesn’t score, would have kept the chelsea defence on their toes and not been so adventurous. Those 2 were on arteta, the leno and mustafi… Read more »

Micheal

“With no money to spend because of FFP?”

Bollocks.

We have no money to spend because the sleaze-bag Kroenke does not invest in Arsenal. FFP is only part of the issue. The real problem is that Kroenke has never invested a cent in Arsenal and shows no sign of changing. I hope I am wrong, but don’t bank on it.

Dissenter

Auba and Ozil are not going to sustain that frenetic energy for too long.
Arteta has to be careful not to break players that may be key to protecting his job. Too many players appeared stretched to breaking point already.
It’s just a friendly word of caution. Players can be broken, We can’t play United the same way we played Chelsea.

Vegas Gooner

The way we lost should never have happened. Jorghino should have been sent off much earlier – we have var canceling out goals because a toe was offside then why can’t it be used to let the ref know a bookable foul has occurred. But that aside, a howler from Leno and poor defending let us down.
On a brighter note, it was refreshing to see the midfield not passing the ball back to Leno.

CazOnARola

First time commenter. I think the players physical abilities are going to be capped for a while till we chsnge the squad. Arteta ‘s decision is to expend most of the energy in the first half of games vs soaking and saving for a late charge. Both approaches are used by top coaches for different games, so it will be interesting to see what he decides for the 4th game in about 12 days with so many injuries. I highly doubt the same players would be able to put the same kind of effort for even the first 60 min… Read more »

Ishola70

CA

“He didn’t react to clear fatigue and Chelsea taking ridiculous levels of control over the game as if this was a Carabao Cup game for them”

Good point.

The game was reminiscent as you say of a cup match where the underdogs give it to the favourites in the first half and then decide to keep what they have and are eventually reeled in and lose by being basically “dominated” for most of the second half.

Are Chelsea that good this season to have such a scenario?

Dissenter

It’s ding discussed already but a quick fix could have been to man mark Jorghino the second half.
Arteta’s in game management needs to improve. Hopefully he’s a quick learner.

Victorious

I think the players were physically gutted after the chavs match,they all knew they deserved something from the game, I hope that anger spur them on against United

If they put half the effort I think Arteta will get his first win

Champagne charlie

The resident Swiss stalker doing his mid morning stretches on the subject. I agree with your take Pedro, it seemed apparent to me that after the 60 minute mark the team were sitting deeper in fear of holding onto a win they’ve not had for some time (1/15), but also because the legs were going. These are things that time and repetitions take care of. Ceballos is hopefully someone to show another level under Arteta because we missed a player capable of getting on the ball and finding an incisive pass second half to release pressure and get us up… Read more »

NT

In a game of such high intensity, we need to start with our quality, experienced front three, when they are all available. We could have killed the game in the first half if we had started with that combination. Arteta made a mistake by starting inexperienced Nelson ahead of Pepe, and bringing on Pepe very late in the game. The likes of Mourinho, Ole and Klopp don’t joke with a game like that; they use their best XI. I remember, Wenger’s last game in charge at Antfield; he made a catastrophic blunder by removing Bellerin from right back and using… Read more »

Wasi

So many positives again but no points to show for it unfortunately. Shoutout to Luiz, Torreira, Ozil who imo had very good games. Auba and Nelson were also very positive and Amn. Many people will righlty criticise Leno for the first goal but I think equal blame has to go to Lacazette and Auba and I think somewhat to Arteta. Lacazette’s gas was over at 75-80 mins. It was Laca who lost the ball very easily in our own half and then went out to foul the Chelsea man in a dangerous area. He has to limit the numbers of… Read more »

Major_Jeneral

Apparently Arsenal need new reinforcements. The moment chambers was injured it was only a matter of time before Chelsea had the breakthrough. What Luiz did in the first half was quite okay for a defender so far he connected with the ball to clear it out. We have have players from other teams(including Chelsea yesterday) defend or clear ball physically like Luiz did and fans have advocated Arsenal do the same. Rather than dilly dallying on the ball, the players ought to be smart about it. Kante on one ocassion also went hard for the ball but didn’t connect smartly… Read more »

Wasi

I think equal blame has to go to Lacazette and Torreira*

CG

Michael “”””We have no money to spend because the sleaze-bag Kroenke does not invest in Arsenal”””” I give you he is a Sleaze Bag. But money has been spent on utter, utter trash( our money not his- granted) Tierney- 30m Saliba 30 m ( jury still out) Pepe 72 m Cebolla 10 mi Luiz 8 mill Paying off Clown and his 9 Goons 160 million not including wages. Astronomical amounts and we have won one match in 15 attempts. And the Head of Football Operations is not feeling the Heat? He will buy another load of gash in January too.… Read more »

Cesc Appeal

Ishola Interestingly when teams sit back Chelsea tend to struggle which might be worrying. When they go all at them Chelsea tend to do better as has been pointed out on here numerous times. Perhaps it was a tactic (being very kind) but the amount of last ditch tackles, blocks and headers suggests to me it was bad tactic particularly given this Arsenal side. In that sense then given Pedro’s fart-like quick and hidden mention of xG in his post was this any different to Emery? Elite finishing and then just hold on and ride your luck a bit? As… Read more »

Ishola70

All that can be said about yesterday’s match really is we hope Arteta can build on the first half display seen yesterday.

And do Arsenal need it.

As someone pointed out there are only two teams in the EPL at present who have less wins than Arsenal this season and they are in the bottom two places.

Mucky Burnley and mucky Dyche have two more wins than Arsenal this season, Brighton and Southampton have more wins than Arsenal at present. And this is before we get to teams like Crystal Palace, Everton and Newcastle.

We need win Mikel. Win.

Victorious

Arteta either don’t trust his bench much or has gotten a leaf from the Wenger’s book of late subs

Bournemouth and now Chavs are games where he really seemed on not making a sub or at best very late subs

Worrying

Nelson

With all the criticism on Nelson, he is improving. He has delivered a few crosses right on the money. Unlike Chelsea, our #9 couldn’t finish all the chances presented to him. AMN is also improving. The same cannot be said of Guen and Saka. Guen still needs a lot of coaching. You can see the difference between him and Torr in the midfield. Torr released the ball fast with purpose. He tackled with efficiency. Guen ran around with limited effect both offensively and defensively.. I don’t want to criticize Saka. Left back is not his position. But an experienced LB… Read more »

Micheal

“I give you he is a Sleaze Bag. But money has been spent on utter, utter trash( our money not his- granted)”

We all agree that AFC has spent badly over the past few years. No question. But all the funding has been self-generated by the club.

I repeat, the owner has not invested a cent in OUR club. He is not fit to be involved in the club.

Ishola70

CA

tbh I am wary as well that this level of pressing that we saw in the first half will be sustained over the longer period.

It may be the case that we will need player turnover to reach that level of consistency in this aspect down the stretch and in the future.

Victorious

If Matinelli is fit enough I will start him against United and remove Laca..he’s been awful this season

Major_Jeneral

Arteta needs to find a way for the team to know how to win a game asap despite all the problems. They need the winning mentality.

Ishola70

Charlie

Arteta has never talked about being a “progressive possession ” side.

What he has talked about is fast flowing football.

It seems this is more your fixation than Arteta’s.

Dissenter

I hate to be a wet blanket here Can we just be mindful that’s it’s a 90 minute sport so harping only being great for the first 25 minutes of the match is meaningless. Arteta is a young manager, He’s still in the phase of learning as much as he is teaching. I hope he learned a lot from the loss. There has to be other dimensions to a game other than the starting plan. He didn’t demonstrate any executive function after Lampard made his big move. Fate tied his hands too I have to admit. Had Chambers nit gotten… Read more »

Jonathan

If you recall, when Pochettino took over at Spurs they weren’t managing to last 90mins. They were flagging by 35, had halftime and were flagging by 70. Very much like Arsenal yesterday. The intensity is up, far too high for the fitness, but that will come. The movement is much more fluid and the formations are balanced. Covering runners, looking for space, all take energy. If Arteta can continue on this upward curve then the board have, belatedly, made a very good decision.

Wasi

Nelson Nelson definitely improved from his Bournemouth performance. Dribbled well and with purpose. Also was a good pressure release in the second half until he got tired that is. Maybe right sided attacker is Nelson’s best position. Arsene used to play him there too. But Emery always deployed Nelson on th left side. Here he would always try to receive between the lines and try to make play instead of using his burst of Speed to go past defenders which he is doing very well on the right wing. Also Wenger continuosly reiterated that Nelson is very good in 1v1s… Read more »

Dissenter

Torriera isn’t built for the English game
He’s always going to the ground because he can’t handle the physicality and should have done better against Joghino.
You would think the club would have worked in his strength conditioning over the past year. It’s nit like he was Marking Andy Carroll, Joghino shouldn’t be too hard to mark.

Induct14

I was effectively encouraged by what I saw. We the fans only need to get be patient with both the coaches and the players. Yes of course except Mustafi

Useroz

Can’t agree more about the prolonged lack of brutes ( good ones of course) in the team that has plagued our results. Physical and aggression aside we have fuck all aerial abilities in/ beyond MF and renders long ball useless practically. Doesn’t exonerate Leno’s consistently slow and poor distributions though he did more long kicks yesterday. Youth teams are not going to solve the physique issue. The few tall kids aren’t big just lanky and probably brushed aside in PL games. And yes it’s a Wenger legacy problem that takes time to eradicate. Guendouzi is the tall lanky type with… Read more »

Cesc Appeal

Hertha Berlin apparently want to loan Xhaka until the end of the season with a £26 Million obligation to buy.

If they want that deal push them to £30 Million. Money off if they offer to buy now.

Ishola70

Jonathan

“The movement is much more fluid”

Ah fluidity mentioned again.

Yes it was noticed.

Cesc Appeal

The club have to give Arteta someone like Partey or Zakaria in January. An athletic brute with a great engine but also tidy general play.

Dissenter

United have an exciting young striker too in Mason Greenwood. He’s so good that losing Harland wouldn’t have felt so bad.
United seem like a more difficult team to beat. Expect the same struggles with United at home.

Champagne charlie

Ishola

You don’t think Arteta wants a possession based side? That’s cute, guess he means something else when he says he “wants the ball”.

Graham

Two games in even with the benefit of new manager bounce we are five points down on Emery in the same two fixtures last season.

Two shots on target in his first two games. What was Emery’s average?

Huge upgrade.

Pick a manager who was captain when Wenger had lost all direction and you get a Wenger clone.

Ishola70

CA

Partey good.

Not so keen on Zakaria tbh.

He is loose in his play.

Cesc Appeal

Adding Upamecano and Partey/Zakaria in January would drastically improve our chances.

If we can negotiate the sales of Xhaka, Lacazette, Elneny and Mkhitaryan either with money in January or delayed until the summer we should be able to pull it off.

The club cannot keep on keeping the core of this failure of a squad and trying to tack on pieces.

Wasi

CA
Sounds right. And with and obligation to buy at the end of season we can take 26-30 mil out of the reserves to invest in the current window and put it back when the Xhaka money is paid. Xhaka needs to be binned and replaced with a better player.

Dissenter

Mustafi showed great courage and commitment yesterday
He has to get a reprieve because he didn’t stop heading the ball alter his head injury. He stayed and played on.
If Leno got a pass then so should he. We are still going to need him going forward, as scary as that may seem.

CG

Great post Dis

Not sychphantic , cheerleading twaddle.

I like Arteta , a lot.

But he has to remember he ain’t Pep nor has Peps unlimited resources.

You crank up the the work ethic too much with this absurd pressing nonsense and the consequences will be injuries to Martinelli and Chambers.

Most games are won in the last 15 minutes- so you need to be at your optimum then.

Think Wenger and all those late ,late goals and cup finals in May – when we were the fittest team in England

Emiratesstroller

Pedro I have no issue with our performance in the first half of yesterday’s game. The team were better organised than in recent games. Also we are short of personnel with 3 full backs, 2 centre backs [ with Chambers now also injured and 2 experienced midfielders [Xhaka and Ceballos] also missing. As I wrote yesterday Arteta was not to blame in any way for outcome. However, our performance declined in second half and our defence was as usual brittle. I am also very concerned about Leno’s performance. His distribution and kicks are very poor and he is putting defence… Read more »

Cesc Appeal

Ishola

Partey is my top choice as well.

Just wonder whether he would be interested? Perhaps wage incentives to get him.

He was Emery’s top CDM choice in the summer. Exactly what we need.

Upamecano also has some issues as a CB but he’s still very young for a CB and really his on the ball work is very good and that is going to be a necessity in Arteta’s very City like style.

If there’s the potential to get Upamecano and Partey for £80-85 Million then the club has to do whatever it can.

Thomas

Tear it down and start over

Mustafi
Xhaka
Chambers
Mkhitaryan
Ozil
Kolasinac
Maitland-Niles
Martinez
Bellerin
Sokratis
Luiz

All out

habesha gooner

Pedro you have been banging on about arteta before anyone. But Some of us including me were sceptical. If he gets a couple of wins on his belt things will look a lot more rosier. I have been impressed with him so far. If mustafi and Leno didn’t go brain dead for moments and the likes of willock and lacazette took their chances the news and perception of the whole game would look a lot different. If he wins 2 out of 3 of the next games we will see an upturn in form.

Thomas

As long as Kroenke remains Arsenal will continue to be a complete joke.

Cesc Appeal

Wasi

Completely agree.

That’s money you know is coming.

Just a question of how that settles with the rules of spending and fiscal years etc.

Ishola70

Champagne charlie
“You don’t think Arteta wants a possession based side? That’s cute, guess he means something else when he says he “wants the ball”

Of course teams that aim for the top have to have some form of possession capabilities.

But you seem obsessed by it.

You like to go on about “control” a lot. How does “control” coincide with fast and flowing?

And the whole world knows that Arteta stated he wished to see in his side fast and flowing football.

Emiratesstroller

One further point which needs to be made.

I do not doubt that the Kroenke family has a commitment to the club’s wellbeing but the fact is that they seem to lack the background and knowledge to run successfully a European/English Football Club.

That has been blindingly obvious since they took control of the club. I think that most people now recognise that that the club is not well run.

Rich

More nonsense from Pedro, who’s just looking to confirm his biases.

No team covered more ground than Unai Emery’s Arsenal in the PL last season.

Spurs were second, who covered just under 12km less.

Left testicle

More spin than Alastair Campbell.

Graham62

Forrest Gump syndrome comes to mind.

Keep running, but where are you running to.

Question: What has happened to Matt Macey?

Whenever I saw him play, looked the real deal.

Paulinho

The second goal was typical Arsenal for the last few months and decade. Have the ball in a good position high up the pitch, throw in a hopeful cross to a no-hoper (Willock) that Chelsea deal with and, in contrast to us,they attack with pace and conviction to score the winner. Rinse and repeat. It seems like we are never going to rid ourselves of this naive and weak way of playing the game, and it will carry on as long as we continue to churn out gormless youngsters, and buy limited experienced players whose flaws always seem to exposed… Read more »

Cesc Appeal

There is, or has been we hope, a real problem with our academy.

When you look at the physical state of Chelsea’s academy products versus ours…something very wrong.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

We need to get a kind of vining Jones type attitude player,
That sort of thug player that can play a bit as well.

Toor is good but some times you need pool balls in the sock attitude, we are still seen as a pushover on the pitch…

Thug it.

To move on.

Bamford10

We tired in the second half because Chelsea dominated possession and controlled the match from the 35th minute onward, and as Arteta himself says, you work twice as hard when you don’t have the ball. Chelsea controlled possession and the match because they have a lot more quality than we do. Arteta can continue to work with this group of players on any number of things, including fitness, but we are going to struggle for the remainder of the season — including against teams 11-20 — because this group of players simply isn’t good enough. While some Arsenal fans are… Read more »

Guns of Hackney

Arteta can’t be blamed for that abomination. That’s poor decision making and individual error. Hopefully this will be coached out of the new set of players.

That said, an injury to Auba and I think we’re in a relegation mire. We cant defend and only one player scores our goals. That equation sucks.

Either way, next season will will a) win the championship b) start fresh will a whole load of hungry new players.

Already I’m thinking that Barca or Real will be coming after Mikel in a year or so. He really will be a very good manager.

Cesc Appeal

‘Arteta can’t be blamed for that abomination’

I’d just change your name to that on here so you don’t have to say it every time.

Guns of Hackney

CA

Will do 👍

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Cesc

If we get upcampo and Saliba together on paper it’s good.
However with no proper defence training we will still be in same situation…

Useroz

Rich. Tbf coverage isn’t the only facto also depends on how and where on pitch the team covers. Hope Arteta could add that missing bit about structure. Partly is good but why would they sell unless for a large premium that we likely couldn’t afford? Another Pepe type finance structuring?? Upa is great but unsure how quickly he’d adapt to PL rigor. Still young after all. But will be brilliant if works out with Saliba partnership to look forward to. Hopefully can take advantage of his last year contract situation and grab a deal in Jan. Partly is a half… Read more »

Cesc Appeal

RSPCA Have you not been listening to Pedro? We’ve now got Saucey McSauceFace from Sauceshire on Sauce-Sea. Of course the defence is getting trained. I think, in all seriousness, we will see better defensive coaching as Arteta has added some EPL/English football experienced coaches. Having Upamecano and Saliba is also no good if our midfield stays the same, they need a player like Partey in the middle there as well. Said it before, we could have Van Dijk in our side and he wouldn’t look as good because he’s being asked to do 5 or 6 times the work he… Read more »

Cesc Appeal

Guns of Hackney

Just thinking about you.

Saves some time.

raptora

The people (I saw two) pushing the narrative that we are in real danger of getting relegated need to get their brains checked.

CG

Pogba v Torreira will be fun Wednesday

Think doberman playing with a chihuahua.

Question: Why did Little Legs plays so well against Bournemouth?

Answer: because their pitch is so small.

Torreiera on the bigger pitches equal trouble.

Torreira would have been ideal had we stayed at Highbury.

Bamford10

Pedro

I think Arteta is super smart and very much the right man for the job, but if the future is “bright,” then said bright future involves Arteta and some other group of players, not this group. I challenge anyone to look at the current squad and name even six players (never mind 14 or 15) who are good enough to form a top-three-PL-caliber team. It will be several windows before we have such a team, in my opinion.

Cesc Appeal

Club can’t sit on its hands this January.

Potential to get in there and get some good deals done while most clubs aren’t paying attention. Even if you pay some now and only get the player in the summer.

Players like Kulusevski, Szoboslai etc whose clubs could be tempted by offers like that.

Lego Hair

Bamford

Have Wolves got a better squad than Man City?

Alexanderhenry

Pedro We just need a win. Arteta needs to concentrate on that for now. Also, to quote you: ‘We have good players, saying we don’t is lazy, it’s also usually peddled by people that liked Emery’. Sorry, but it’s crystal clear that the current squad is no way good enough to make top four. Much of that is actually down to Emery as well as Sanlehi for buying poorly. It’s actually the weakest most disjointed squad we’ve had for years. Comparing it to arsenal’s last PL winning squad reveals the depressing truth that not a single current player would make… Read more »

Cesc Appeal

Pedro

Goodness me, what a faux pas on my end.

Apologies, Senor Sauceface.

Cesc Appeal

‘We have good players, saying we don’t is lazy, it’s also usually peddled by people that liked Emery’.

The peddling is starting to come from far more people than just those expressed in this statement as well…interestingly.

Guns of Hackney

Rap

Do the maths old bean. Lose to Liverpool, probably, and the three below us win and we’re around 16th. A couple of injuries and some cold nights up north and this bunch of flanges will fold faster than superman on laundry day.

To suggest it can’t happen means you may need your brain testing. I can’t imagine too many Leeds fans thinking it would happen after the champions league escapade and their league position previous the their relegation.

Paulinho

Cesc – What’s the saying, first it is ridiculed, secondly opposed, then accepted as self-evident.

Give it a few weeks/month and all will be on the third stage.

Wasi

Whos the S&C world cup winner coach we have?

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