There are cries of hypocrisy from the comments section of Le Grove.
‘Pedro, you were spaffing xGA numbers all over the internet when you were anti-Emery, now you are SHOCKINGLY not. You sir, are a dirty muffin fancier’
It’s true, I have not performed a deep dive into any xG numbers for Arteta, but mostly because of my religious respect for data.
7 games is a tiny sample to start drawing conclusions from with xG data. The variables are so vast, no true Data Scientist would risk their rep by making appalling apples to dog biscuits comparisons between Unai and Arteta.
I’ve left the explanation to Champagne Charlie of the comments to point out why people looking to use xGA as a hangman’s noose are embarrassingly early to the party. This particular post starts because Emery’s last 7 games saw xGA of 1.42, versus Mikel’s 1.5… the argument is complemented by inane supporting commentary like, ‘both work with the same talent, so the situations are basically the same, and the data can be compared.’
Champagne Charlie: Why xGA comparisons of Emery and Arteta are very silly
The usual frontline warriors with the usual scrap gathering in yet another attempt to dismiss Arteta and instead drive a narrative they’ve long held. I’ll make a quick remark about the sample size of 7 games, it’s painfully low for any hard data to be exorcised from as it’s wide open to anomalous inputs. That should be pretty clear to all, alas.
Stats can paint several pictures, wield your brushes how you see fit:
Emery played 13 games this season in the PL, his average xGA was 1.62
– His highest xGA was Watford away at 2.83
– His lowest xGA was 0.38 against Newcastle opening day
– Number of games xGA was more than 1.5 was nine (9/13).
Arteta has played 7 games this season in the PL, his average xGA is 1.5
– His highest xGA came against Chelsea away at 3.27
– His lowest xGA is 0.31 against Palace
– Number of games xGA is more than 1.5 is three (3/7).
*The Chelsea game we played with 10-men for 70 minutes is the league-high xGA this season, without that match our xGA under Arteta stands at a 1.2 average for 6 games. So a 0.3 jump aka not a sample size to take seriously.*
+What none of the above tells you is one manager was 12 months into a job, and had two summers to nip and tuck the staff he had at his disposal. Whilst the other manager arrived a couple of days before Christmas Day and had to pick up the pieces and work on the fly.
+What the above also doesn’t account for is that Arteta took over and had 3 games in 5 days to contend with as an opener, followed by 4 games that have seen us reduced to 10-men in half of those.
But irrespective of that context we still have a manager that’s taken the basic average xGA number from 1.62 to 1.5 for the season. Yet I’m to establish there’s been no measurable improvement to support the visual evidence on display these past 6 weeks.
This comment on whether Arteta having an advantage as a native (kind of) was also very good (same poster).
Having any of the knowledge you’re talking about matters not one iota when it comes to implementing your own views on how YOUR side is going to play.
Arteta is doing this on the fly and trying to teach and cajole players between rest days and injury maintenance. The game is won and lost at the very elite by minor actions done on autopilot, yet there’s been nowhere near enough time for Arteta to ingrain his methods on any meaningful level.
I’m talking to the point each player knows his role and has a picture of the side in front/behind/to the side of him as he’s receiving the ball. This is huge, Liverpool are the example of this level of work that’s embedded now after years of constant training.
Every game we play early on inevitably throws up situations that are being met in our new approach for the very first time. A clanger at Chelsea, a red card in the early stages, a physical game of high balls, facing sides who press, those who sit deep, losing players to injury and having to rework it etc.
These things all upset the applecart until you’ve dealt with a few situations and learned what to do and what not to do in the respective moments. All the while you’re trying to establish a level of mastery over your new role in the side on a basic level all things being equal.
You simply don’t achieve that without logging hours in practice, the kind of hours we’ve not had the benefit of spending – hence the value of a preseason where it’s all about learning and perfecting. Idk what to tell you if that doesn’t register.
< End >
Context is king in all situations.
Having two full preseasons, £200m to spend, and 18 months working daily with players is a lot of time to make a measurable impact. It’s also a lot of time to do horrendous damage to an already broken culture – as well as the confidence of the players.
Arteta is fighting on many fronts. He’s trying to build a high-performance culture, he’s building the players fitness and confidence, he’s implementing radical ideas and he’s doing it all in the middle of the season.
Confidence is a precious commodity. One of the most valuable in sport (and life). When it goes for you as an individual, it’s terrible. When it goes for a whole squad, it’s very hard to reboot and it takes time. We experience it in our own boring lives, watch a junior staffer deal with being reamed out in a client meeting. We’ve all had it, doesn’t matter how brash you are to the outside world, it impacts your performance. Arsenal fans are the client and we’ve been slaughtering the players for a year. We broke Unai Emery, he went from touchline crazy guy to hiding in his jacket twitching out like a recovering meth addict. He couldn’t make a coherent decision, his English declined, and he reeked of a deadman. Confidence.
This is going to take time. No coach can click their fingers and make magic happen immediately. Jurgen Klopp had a similar set of criticisms when he took over at Liverpool. Worth noting he took over a team in distress far earlier (October 8th) and took them to 8th position in the first year. He had a better squad of players to work with. Firmino, Coutinho, Sturridge, Henderson, Can, Lallana, Milner, Origi, Gomez, Lovren. He also had the same troubles Arteta is suffering right now. Liverpool fans on Twitter rolled hard with #KloppOut after his side were beasted by newly-promoted Watford. Fans spread this below graphic to make the point that Klopp wasn’t a good coach.
The problems look quite similar to those we’re facing now. Tired players and some noisy fans making demands that will embarrass them in a years time. This is Klopp after losing to Palace.
“It is not a problem to lose a game. It happens in football but we have to learn,”
“If we learn, we decide how strong we are, how good we are, how awake we are and how tired we are. Nobody else. We played on Thursday [at Rubin Kazan in the Europa League] but I decide if I am tired, nobody else. Today we needed a few minutes to come into the game. It was not enough. If everyone thinks we gave everything, then it is wrong.
“After the goal on 82 minutes, with 12 minutes to go, I saw many people leaving the stadium. I felt pretty alone at this moment. We decide when it is over. Between 82 and 94 [minutes] you can make eight goals if you like.
It’s a huge trigger for people when you mention Klopp because Arteta is not Klopp, but again, let’s give some context… no manager of Klopp’s standing was going to come to Arsenal in December. We took a chance on the future. If a manager of Klopp’s level needs more than 7 games to shape things up, you’d think some of our fans might go a little lighter on someone with a lesser squad with deeper problems.
If a manager like Klopp can bring in Grujic and Stephen Caulker as his first signings, we can maybe forgive the odd signings we’re attracting (we’ll talk about where Ornstein is unsubtly pointing you on the Soares story tomorrow). He took Liverpool to 8th in his first season. The next season, he narrowly beat us to 4th… by 1 point. They made it happen on the last day of the season. The mighty Klopp only just pipped Wenger on the decline.
Anyway, just a bit of context for the folk that are polluting the airwaves with shoddy takes on data and overblown expectations without the nuance of MAJOR CONTEXT.
See you in the comments. x
Morning
2
4
Tr4phy
It wasnt that long of a read. Do you normally get complaints from people with the attention span of a goldfish?
Rattled Pedro.
Two good posts Pedro – a counter-balance to the hysteria and pessimism on this site from those with ridiculous demands who are slitting their wrists cos we’ve drawn a few games.
The manager has until the end of next season I guessing . Unless we have dramatically changed the attitude of the players from a negative to a positive him gone. Project youth 0.2 with slick black gel cream needs to rapidly turn things around. Some posters say Klopp needed three seasons to urn Liverpool around. Klopp is and was a high quality manager for many years. This manGers is literally a single brush on a broom in terms of experience . If we are trying to pump up figures to make xhara look anything near decent then the games up.… Read more »
Great read. Appreciate the hard work CC and ofc Pedro.
I think Arteta can shut all his haters up with a trophy this season. We may not be very consistent in the league this season but we have a squad good enough to challenge for the EL and the FA cup.
And to be clear I dont expect us to win anything this but instead I hope we do.
Would be a great start for the new Pep-Wenger hybrid.
RSPC
You don’t have much patience do you?
Arteta is trying to refloat a sunken ship.
Let’s be positive.
Pedro
Your beginning to sound like the kid whose Christmas toy has broken at the end of January …. and the 30 day receipt is invalid.
This manager will do for the next 18 months by then we will be in full man united mode.
Or in 5he championship.
The divorce between Pedro and Gambon is a fun sight to see.
CC is Pedro’s new lover.
Graham 62
I think my patience went 2012 to 2017.
This board had used up all the time allocated.
When people are trying to spoon feed us with stats regarding dross awful players what are we hoping to achieve .?
As I have said previously
If it’s true this manager turned down the chance to lodge off ozil,
Going against what the club has been trying to do for the last 18 months.
That’s a strike down.
Two to play.
Play ball.
“And against Burnley on Sunday afternoon, the play-maker was once again virtually anonymous, having just one shot on goal, registering 51 touches, and losing possession 12 times as per Sofascore” “Mesut Ozil hasn’t assisted a Premier league away goal in 2 years. Lacazette hasn’t scored a Premier league away goal in almost a year. One plays as chief creator and the other plays as centre forward and we’re out here scratching our heads as to why we struggle to score away..” “Mesut Ozil’s last goal assist in the Premier League away from home came the day before he signed his… Read more »
Graham
Would you re float the titanic ?
The Belgrano ?
No
You would build a new one .
This manager has had that chance and has ignored..
Arteta was a huge mistake. He continues with Lacazette. You don’t even need to be smart to see Lacazette is a waste of space and he can’t play with Auba. Freddie dropped him as did Emery. Arteta is a wasteman continuing with this slow, weak ‘striker’ that has literally no benefit as a footballer. Lacazette starts without doubt for Arsenal but Auba, Martinelli and Pepe are sacrificed for this slow useless waste of space. Lacazette isn’t even good enough for Millwall
Gambon right on his twitter feed. We need to start winning games!
raptoraFebruary 4, 2020 09:34:51
The divorce between Pedro and Gambon is a fun sight to see.
Pedro should pay alimony, apparently he’s been fornicating with CG
Arteta blocked the deadline day move for Ozil. Ozil would have been very much happy to play for oil rich club owned by an Islamic nation.
So Emery finishing 5th, after inheriting a broken squad from Wenger, is abject failure.
Arteta taking 8/21, and out shooting his opponent in 2/9 games, is progress….
And Arteta needs windows to fix his broken squad is the narrative, when none of the players bar Suarez were Emery signings….
And Suarez is what you get, when you’re told you can only have 1 loan, and you have big injuries to Holding, Bellerin and Welbeck.
In a squad that’s by Pedro own right calculation, is a mess, due to a decade of mismanagement…..
Drop Ozil and Lacazette and try playing with a 4-3-3 with Auba up front and Martinelli and Pepe on the wings.
Great post Pedro and Champagne Charlie.
Any coach in the world knows most important thing is team selection. Klopp/Pep rarely pick rubbish teams neither does Mourinho. Wenger used to, hence why he lost so much. Arteta got it TOTALLY wrong on Sunday and will continue to do so playing Lacazette. Better to sack him now and let Freddie have it until the end of the season
I just don’t get those who are knocking Arteta and totally agree with this post. Do you think the board are going to chuck out MA after 7 games because some non entity posted a flame comment on a blog? All concerned concurred that Mikels appointment would take time to bed in, if you cannot appreciate that he is a marked upgrade on Emery you must live a life of perpetual disappointment all due to your totally unrealistic view of the world. If you want to appreciate the value of Arteta just look at what has happened to MCFC since… Read more »
Pedro, good post… very Neitzchean on context is all.. your anti- MA posters are bringing out your best.. you sway between senior manager and art school persona,.. this is Arsenal… So anything possible. Let’s stop the bollox at a pinch, we could well be on a slide similar to the one after Lord Emsworth managed our twenty something unbeaten run. If that happens from our present place we are in the Championship next season, no problem.Then we will lose who I consider easily our best poetntial manager. The fault is in the dressing for goodness sake… the patterns are too… Read more »
“CC is Pedro’s new lover.”
@Raptora : this is not funny at all, man.
You suggest that Pedro could have cheat on Mikel ??
How dare you launching pathetic rumors like that ?? This is the private life of people we’re talking about, a bit of respect, please.
Nobody:
Arsenal fans : why hasn’t arteta gotten us into the knockout stages of the CL and why aren’t we 48 points clear at the top of the league after his first 7 games in charge ?
Not potential manager, potential long term successful manager
I am surprised that no-one else has picked up the point that I made that LIVERPOOL have made no significant signings in last two transfer windows.
Also that Liverpool have historically profiled players recruited by club looking
not only at their ability, but also their psychological profile and ability to fit into the club and team.
Arsenal has made a HUGE TURNOVER of personnel in the summer transfer
window and that has clearly impacted on our performance this season.
“I am surprised that no-one else has picked up the point that I made that LIVERPOOL have made no significant signings in last two transfer windows.”
Yeah right. The need of rebuilding their squad is obvious.
lol…
HL
So you think that the stability of their squad is not a significant factor in this
season’s performance.
Can you recall any other major club i.e. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich
or Man Utd not buying players when they were at top of tree?
Pedro While I do agree with a lot of what youre saying, I dont feel that you are very objective on this, because of your love for big Mikel Arteta. I think Arteta should have said to AFC that he will join in May once the season is over, because its hard to make a real difference mid-season, especiallly with regards to tactics, fitness and overall game strategy. So I do agree, its too small a sample, and we wont really be able to form an opinion until about 10 games in to next season. However its absolutely true to… Read more »
I was having an interesting discussion with someone today about the games we can win and I have to say am not overly optimistic if anything other than a good cup run.Lets be real here,Everton, Spurs,Leicester,Liverpool,City and Watford…how many points are we getting from these games?
Everton, Spurs,Leicester,Liverpool,City and Watford…how many points are we getting from these games?
Ill guess there be a few draws in there!
Pushing the envelope
Make Matteo have a number one crop, play him as shithousing centre forward along side Martinelli and Eddie
Arteta replaces Ozil, Santi hired on loan
Has to be enough to actually win a match ot two and keep us afloat.. cost.. nothing
Seriously.
This constant reference to Klopp when discussing Arteta and his progress isn’t really helping Klopp was a two time winning coach and Champions league finalist before arriving at Liverpool, he had a body of work people can relate to. His players knew who he was and what he achieved elsewhere before he came to Liverpool so even when it was not working they had something to fall back on. I said a while back that if we do not start winning games under Arteta will the players continue to listen? Will they still believe his way (not yet sure what… Read more »
Pedro (and CC) Cc’s use of XGa data represents a proper and considered use of statistics, much more than Gambon’s attempt to extract (negative) conclusions from a tiny unrepresentative sample. Also, as you both say, context and timing matters, and Arteta came in at a point when Arsenal, was in an extended negative spiral rather than the 4-5 match mini-slumps of old Wenger days, so his ideas will take time to take hold and implement properly. What is clear so far is that: – Team shape has improved – Defensive structure has improved – Quality and intensity of pressing has… Read more »
Samesong where do you see the draws?Because personally I am only seeing us scrapping a win against Watford and getting a draw against spuds and everton…I think Leicester,city and Liverpool will beat us
But I maintain what I said on twitter…
We NEED to start winning games.
Its no good Arteta being some cerebral manager that talks about left footed Centre Backs “opening up the pitch” – if we keep failing to beat Palace, Sheff Utd, Bournemouth & Burnley.
At no point in my lifetime have draws against mid & low table teams been acceptable.
Arteta needs time & money, but if he doesnt start getting results he wont get money, and if he doesnt get money his time will be up by October.
“We NEED to start winning games.”
Even Arteta himself has said the same many times so don’t know why that statement is treated as not wishing the manager well
He wants to win games, he isn’t winning them, questions has to be asked as why.
As Vesus said in the last post: The table don’t lie!
It is not about hating on Arteta, however it has become the new norm to accept mediocrity. I watched the Spuds game after ours and they are well ahead in terms of effort and commitment. This is not acceptable. They to have under gone similar trauma – new stadium, new manager, loss of key players, new recruits etc but don’t appear to be too phased by this. Why then are we? Can someone please answer this question.
Daniel
I was being sarcastic. I’m not sure where we will get our next win. Watford is not a given.
“He wants to win games, he isn’t winning them, questions has to be asked as why.”
“Mesut Ozil hasn’t assisted a Premier league away goal in 2 years. Lacazette hasn’t scored a Premier league away goal in almost a year. One plays as chief creator and the other plays as centre forward and we’re out here scratching our heads as to why we struggle to score away..”
Yeah, a real head scratcher that
We stay up If we get 11.
Need to make up our mind.
Is rest of the season a write off? Says who?
I recall Arteta in multiple interviews sayinf to the effect that we still go for what’s there to win this season and he’s after wins …
In which case Arteta is trailing on his own expectation. Perhaps as he also admitted though he knew it was a big job but he has discovered more challenges etc.
So the club is more rotted than what meets the eyes?
Hey gambon, welcome back!!
Our patience will be rewarded, just wait for the Liverpool game.
Pedro how many games of emery’s reign did it take before you started highlighting XG?
I don’t remember but I do remember you weren’t exactly waiting for 6 months to start
This comment on whether Arteta having an advantage as a native (kind of) was also very good (same poster). Having any of the knowledge you’re talking about matters not one iota when it comes to implementing your own views on how YOUR side is going to play. This is not true. Like I said yesterday, knowing your opponents is half the battle. Arteta already knows the EPL as a player and coach so he knows what to expect from most teams away from home. Arteta knew the grass at Burnley was going to be long because he’s been there before.… Read more »
Yes we do need to start winning games, but realistically this was going to be a “transition season”. We offloaded ELEVEN players from our squad [not including loans like Ospina]. We have promoted this season FIVE Academy players plus Martinelli into first team squad. When you add in other new players like Luiz, Tierney, Ceballos, Pepe and in January two more players that is a huge turnover of players. The reason that Emery was offloaded was necessity. First he had a very poor communication level both with players and also media and supporters. Second the team was leaking like a… Read more »
Football is a statistics game, but it’s become so nfl like, with a stat for EVERYTHING.
Finally realism understanding it’s subjective and related to the context.
All this new age stat stuff has done is be used to help sub par performance as good ones for fans favourite players.
Pierre Freddim is a walking contradiction. Wants results now but will write the season off for the future. Complains that we concede too many chances then is unhappy when we correct that. Says there are too many big gaps in the team when there aren’t then says the players are too close together. Wants us to attack more but backs Arteta’s defensive structure without thinking there will be trade off initially in the attack. Thinks it’s possible to swap half the team out in January when acknowledging we have no money but doesnt know what a budget is. Dont get… Read more »
Arsenal is in Damage Control mode. It is pure fantasy to think we will still be fighting for top four come the end of the season.
End of story.
Fred “Arteta needs to sort this asap, and no, I don’t mean on the training ground, he needs to start picking a team that can actually get points on the board.No more negating our best attackers so to accommodate Laca. No more Ozil chances, he’s had about a million of them now and does nothing.If the season really is a write off then start playing players with a future at Arsenal to get them ready for next season. Can’t be any worse than we’re seeing now.” Slightly contradictory there fred . You want a team that can get points on… Read more »
Pedro
This is another example of your bias
“The Spaniard clearly has preferred players he wants to bring to the club. Denis Suarez, Ever Banega, and Yannick Carrasco have the odor of Emery as I can’t imagine for one moment Sven would be pushing for journeyman hacks lost in their careers.”
With Emery, they were hacks and journey men, with Arteta, it’s what the club needs.
Can you see the point I’m trying to make?
R.S.P.C.A. you are a wind-up merchant and it’s almost succeeding 🙂 we were in desperate straights before Christmas and it looked like we were slowly but objectively moving into a better zone — until the Burnley game [Burnley’s previous results not-withstanding] I take very few positives from the last game, it looked like a total reversion with the youngsters not impressing and the highly-paid experience not showing up but we are where we are, I am hopeful that Arteta will learn from this and that he can re-energise and continue to organize the side The Athletic had a nice lead… Read more »
Lego brain and Pierre
I’m not the one saying this season is a write off, learn to read. That’s Pedro and your lot making excuses to why we’re failing to pick up points. I know it’s the same players letting us down that has done so for years.
I’m saying that if it the results doesn’t matter anyway play the kids. Better both in the short and long term. Results would probably improve anyway.
Not even going to respond to Lego brains other claims, he’s as stupid as he is clueless at anything other than getting banned from le grove.
My posts are being deleted!!!!!!!
Pedro this was you in SEPTEMBER last year (a game we won against Cardiff) Headline ‘SHAMBOLIC arsenal struggle with basics’ ‘Outside that, there were a lot of problems for Unai Emery when there shouldn’t have been. His starting 11 brought Mesut Ozil back ’ ‘Real shoddy in-game management’ ‘A really sloppy goal to concede.’ ‘On top of that. The way emery has decided to start the ball moving is a lot less intense than I’d hoped’ On September 4th Headline ‘ emery struggling to see past reputation’ Start of the blog ‘A lot of the chatter I was reading yesterday… Read more »
‘It is not about hating on Arteta, however it has become the new norm to accept mediocrity. I watched the Spuds game after ours and they are well ahead in terms of effort and commitment. This is not acceptable. ‘
Pedro’s pre game comment:
‘A wounded City side versus Mourinho sinking ship’.
Yeah, sure.
Jose will soon burn down Spuds, we just have to wait for it. At least that way we can find some justification for choosing a complete novice over a CL×2 and PL×3 warrior.
What has changed? In the last few months of UE, we go into every game in panic mode as supporters. It does not matter who we are playing. It was difficult. Under Arteta, we know we are not likely to lose because we have become hard to beat. Going forward, we need to keep outscoring our opponents. I prefer what Arterta is doing. Confidence is being restored. Xhaka, Mustafi, Torreira, etc are playing again. And are happy doing so. Before Arterta, non of these three players will attract 25million pounds if they were to be sold. By the day, their… Read more »
@Gentlebris : I suppose you are not pro-Mikel.
‘Arteta is trying to refloat a sunken ship.’
Of course.
But he seems to struggle with it when the tide(fans, media and players)is on his side.
What then happens when the party eventually and inevitably begins?
@TheMightyGambon
·
23h
If we let Arteta come in and disregard results, we will find ourselves fighting relegation next season.
HL,
I’m only pro common sense.
Freddim
Your words:
‘If the season really is a write off then start playing players with a future at Arsenal to get them ready for next season. ‘
Then:
‘I’m not the one saying this season is a write off, learn to read.’
Clueless AND contradictory
@Gentle : good answer.
Pedro Unfortunately you have a comments section that has far too many posters who carry an agenda beyond wanting Arsenal to win – if they were open and honest about their positions it would be more refreshing – my minor agenda is Xhaka out I don’t’ care what he’s doing now I won’t him gone. What some of us are doing with the “criticism” of Arteta is less about wanting him out but having some fun at your expense because of your hypocrisy. “Having two full preseasons, £200m to spend, and 18 months working daily with players is a lot… Read more »
“Under Arteta, we know we are not likely to lose because we have become hard to beat” We all thought the same for 22 games last season until we went away to Southampton and everyone realized we weren’t really that hard to beat. This was ESPN’s take on the weekend’s game at Burnley “Quite how they escaped from this one with a point is a mystery that could potentially make for an in-depth, 12-part Netflix documentary, the sort that people say you should watch (and you probably should), but really, who has the time? By the end of the game,… Read more »
“Under Arteta, we know we are not likely to lose because we have become hard to beat.” Well with the context of Pedro’s piece in mind that’s not the brightest of comments. We beat a ManU team that’s all over the place, managed a draw and a loss against a Chelsea team that’s beyond inconsistent and then have drawn against Bournemouth, Palace, Sheffield Utd and Burnley. We’ve only managed to score more than one goal twice and if you’re sitting on either a nil nil or a 1 goal lead then you don’t know you’re not going to lose when… Read more »
Good post Pedro, but it’s wasted on the keyboard moron wimps,
I wonder how many of these wankers have ever been to a football match at any level never mind an Arsenal one.
Don’t take this out of context,
Fuck off somewhere else and moan
lol
Yes buckagh we are keyboard warrior wimps who have never been to the emirates before because we have critical faculties, but you sir are a beacon of (real life) manly strength and vigor.
Please do go on
Gambon
Emery was like a termite undermining the Club, making ennuchs out of players. It is entirely Raul’s fault he kept on giving him a rope. Naturally he hung himself with it.
Please don’t talk of should have continued with that a Fraud till May.
This is Arsenal , in spite of Kroenke owning it.
Marc
This Man Utd side that’s all over but are still dangerous.
They’ve beaten city twice away, Chelsea away and Tottenham. They’re still dangerous. So stop down playing the result, if we’d have lost you’d be saying we should be comfortably beating these cunts.
Yeah, we have never watched football before. Infact what is football?
RH
ESPN talking shit again and you’re eating right up.
Outside of the Jay Rodriguez chance at the back post can you tell me another one of these ‘many chances’ Burnley missed?
Did you even watch the game?
Backpass I gather it’s called feetballs and it involves 20 atheletes and a goal tender but don’t quote me on that
Arteta can do umpteen training drills to the cows come home, for as long as he wants, we won’t see any MEANINGFUL improvement until half our side is ditched, and we bring in a certain level of midfielder that has the ability to respond to these mythical drills. There is a reason why the likes of Freddie Roach only take on World Champion boxers. You only need to tell world level boxers once and they will carry out what you’ve asked. Same with top class footballers. You can try and coach average midfielders about spatial awareness, “what’s around them”, but… Read more »
Did you even watch the game?
Yes i did
the whole uninspiring 90+ minutes
If you neutral observer which of the two team do you believe left that game feeling they should have won it?
This dialogue is absolutely ridiculous – the expectation of some of you beggars belief. The guy has been in charge for what – seven games? We have gone unbeaten since Chelsea and he still has to cope with the fact we have the same shite players. It is quite clear to me he is working wonders in getting high performances out of dross players such as Xhaka ad Mustafi and thereby upping their transfer values. That is sensible planning and demonstrates great coaching. God knows what some of you are like in your personal and business lives – you must… Read more »
“If we let Arteta come in and disregard results, we will find ourselves fighting relegation next season.” This is absolutely right. The only thing standing between us and a relegation fight at the moment is Auba. If we finish 10th-12th, which is looking likely, Auba will be gone and next season is a relegation fight. If we finish 6th-7th and in the EL, we may be able to convince him to stay. The £50m we make from the EL also gives us a tranfer budget. If we dont get European football next season, you will see Mustafi, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Ozil… Read more »
Receding Slightly biased report on the game from ESPN don’t you think. Besides the shot that hit the bar , Arsenal had the 4 most clear cut chances from Aubameyang and Lacazette. They had a few balls into the box that caused problems, they say ,and I quote ““Quite how they escaped from this one with a point is a mystery that could potentially make for an in-depth, 12-part Netflix documentary, the sort that people say you should watch (and you probably should), but really, who has the time?” This comment is so ridiculous in the extreme that and I’m… Read more »
Now I understand what Emery said. I was pushed out by the noisy Arsenal fans. They are part of the problems.
We had enough chances to win easily but auba and laca were both awful unfortunately
“There is no way the board appointed him expecting to win 1 in his first 7, and no way they wouldve expected to fail to beat the likes of Bournemouth, Sheff Utd, Palace and Burnley.”
Take out Sheffield United arguably and all those other teams are easily beatable
RH
If you watched the game, name me one of these ‘many missed opportunities’ Burnley had other than the Rodriguez one.
We were unlucky not to be out of sight in the first half hour with the Laca and Auba sitters. Burnley hit the bar and were unlucky not to score near the end, not unlucky to win the game. In reality that should have been a consolation.
9/10 LAca and Auba don’t miss those chances.
Lego brain You’re getting dumber by the minute, didn’t think that was possible, are you ok, should we call the nurse? “If the season really is a write off ” Keyword being “really” as in per Pedro, CC and yourself etc seems to think. You claim the season is over but you also want us to cling on to the same failures that we have to ship out sooner or later if we want to see results pick up in any meaningful way. Far better to play players with a future at the club, defend Ozil all you want you’re… Read more »
How did I guess.
My comment prior to the Burnley game was quite prophetic though it looks like Marko has been binned.
“My prediction for the day.
If Arsenal fail to gain a victory, expect Marko, receding ,freddie , cesc appeal and a few others to suddenly reappear on Le Grove sprouting their usual nonsense.”
So predictable.
Our creator in chief has turned into David Batty but Arteta still selects him for every game as a ’10’. As much as I dislike Ozil it’s not his fault that he gets selected after very average performances. That’s on the manager.
“This comment is so ridiculous in the extreme that and I’m surprised that you would lower yourself to those depths to prove a point ” Says Pierre who has gone as low as possible to first defend the indefensible in Wenger and Ozil and now to be the chief pom pom waver for Arteta. You keep posting we will remain unbeaten till March but you have not dared to suggest we will actually win a game, says a lot on your faith in this team at the moment. These clear cut chances you speak of was Auba shanking a shot… Read more »
Lego
I wasn’t slagging off the result against ManU – I was making the point it’s the only league win Arteta’s had against a team who’s results aren’t even close to consistent and responding to a comment that said we don’t expect to lose now. Whilst we’re only scoring on average 1 goal per match and capable of conceding too easily I for one do not take any game as being a forgone conclusion.
Left
Agree on Ozil and why is Arteta still starting Laca through the middle when it’s clear there’s a problem (apparently in his personal life) why not bench him and bring him on against tired legs. A goal would do him the world of good.
Pierre
We have 13 PL matches left – how many do you think we’ll win and how many do you think we should be winning?
“Far better to play players with a future at the club”
We’re now being told that Arteta is playing some of these players to increase their values.
Can you imagine if someone had said that about Emery?
I feel a bit sorry for Arteta because he is going to get a shock in the summer, when he’s told theres no money. There is no chance at all that scum bags like Sanllehi and Venkatesham would have been honest with him during the hiring process. We will limp in to 10th place, then when he goes to discuss transfer plans, he will be told there is nothing. There is no way Kroenke will bankroll another summer splurge. We’ve spent £70m and £140m in the last 2 summers and sank like a stone in the table. Theres no way… Read more »
If you compare Emery’s last 7 games in charge to Arteta’s first 7 games in charge, our xGA is higher than it was. Also, we’re perhaps only marginally harder to beat, but we’re also marginally less likely to win if you look at the xG trend of teams playing against us: xG Stats: Bournemouth 1.55 vs Arsenal 1.42 (we drew 1-1, fair result, lower xG) Arsenal 0.79 vs Chelsea 1.50 (we lost 1-2, fair result, lower xG) Arsenal 1.85 vs Man U 0.72 (we won 2-0, fair result, higher xG) Palace 0.31 vs Arsenal 1.02 (we drew 1-1, unfair result,… Read more »
gambon
Pedro is convinced we can mount a top-4 challenge next season even though we won’t be able to use the Arteta months of this season as a trampoline.
It’s seems like all the optimism for next season is based on the notion that there will be a clear-out.
lol Pedro is still here, watching us, in the hope that only CC, Un Dos Tres and the few members of his sect will survive the carnage.
RH
“These clear cut chances you speak of was Auba shanking a shot from a fairly difficult angle and Pope coming out to claim a ball he tried to lift over his head. They were all ball over the top during a period when Burnley sat off and we picked passes ”
” shanking a shot from a fairly difficult angle” ……if you regard that as in anyway a difficult angle then maybe you watching the wrong sport.
In terms of how realistic a top 4 finish next season is, I would say the following would need to happen: 1 – Still need a great Centre Back to command the backline 2 – Need to keep our full backs fit for the season 3 – Need a complete rebuild in midfield including: 3a- Replace Xhaka 3b- Replace Ozil 3c- A midfield athlete (Torreira is too limited) 4- Pepe needs to improve dramatically 5- Buy another wide attacker (Grealish?) 6- Replace Lacazette 7- Keep Auba So realistically we need to keep hold of our best player, replace at least… Read more »