A not so happy Friday for most of us, the loss last night was hard to stomach. Olympiacos were not elite opposition and we’d already done the hard job in Greece, we really should have been able to drive that victory home and keep our Champions League hopes alive.
So where do we start on this one? For me, the key issue was fatigue. The players looked leggy and tired and that filtered into the stands. That was our 4th game in 11 days, which is a lot, but it’s something we knew about and unfortunately, we didn’t seem prepared for the realities of it.
The starting 11 should have been rotated. I understand that Arteta would have been critiqued whatever happened if a loss came out the back end, but I think he pushed the starting 11 too far in this one and the output was inviting for the Greeks.
That said, I don’t this was an effort issue. We weren’t witnessing players not giving a fuck, they just weren’t at the races physically. They still fought until the 2 minute of added-on time in extra time. The cost of fatigued players came in the form of a key injury to the freshly rejuvenated Mustafi. It’ll also now have a knock-on effect mentally. Tired legs after a soul-destroying loss will feel heavier.
The second criticism would have to centre around the subs. Ceballos for Torreira didn’t really do much for our attacking threat, LT just isn’t very good at penetrating the lines and when he’s pushing forward it takes him longer to get back. Joe Willock proved ineffectual when he joined the program, he’s just not there yet, he must be doing something incredible in training because we’re not really getting enough from him on the pitch.
The big one that we waited and waited for was the introduction of Gabriel through the middle. I really like Lacazette, he’s a good guy, offers great vibes in training, but he really, really struggles against powerhouse centre backs. Last night he was in the main totally neutralised by the Greeks hulking centre back pairing. I thought he’d turned the corner, that wasn’t clear last night. I thought the moment that summed up his season was a delicious fake from Ozil that fell to him in space, his shot blazed out of the stadium. 2 years ago he’s finding the net.
Arteta didn’t sub him until the second half of injury time. Now, I can see the idea here, the Greeks were fading badly, Gabriel is a hand-grenade on the pitch, and sure enough, he was, his nodded head in the box setup the Auba scissor kick. The game stays the same and it’s a celebrated substitute timed really well.
Football is a beast though, a Bernd Leno mistake started a domino effect of fuck ups that let them back in. Then, last gasp, Auba puts wide a chance he’d score 9 times out of 10.
Overall, we lost because of a lack of quality in the final third combined with customary defensive errors we’ve been making for 10 years (so, errr, everything). The attacking issues are of more concern. We had 19 shots and only found the target 4 times. This wasn’t a case of ‘well, we were reduced to poor quality chances’, this was bad misses (xG 1.5 (Ars) – 1 (Oly)).
two-legged xG map for Arsenal – Olympiakos
football is a good sport that people like for good reasons pic.twitter.com/3IFUHKqvUC
— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) February 28, 2020
The Greeks gave us possession and we didn’t know how to use it. We really struggled with the deep block and we didn’t have the confidence to invite them on. We chased the second goal because we knew that’s what we had to do. Imagine if that game was reversed, do you think the Greeks would have played like? Doubtful. They’d have sat back, invited us to attack, then spring a counter-attack.
… but we have to move on.
The ghouls will be out for the new manager, that’s just par the course these days. If you only come out of your box for the losses, you have to ask yourself some serious questions. The path to a brighter future was never going to be perfect, the damage to this season was set in motion 18 months ago. You don’t undo the problems in two months. Also, find me a single manager in the world of football that would pick up this group of players in this moment and breeze the season. You wouldn’t. All managers make mistakes, it’s how you find out what your squad is made of, it’s how you learn where the limits are. We are barely 2.5 months into this new chapter.
What did we really learn from last night? There is still a lot of work to do on the defence. We are terrible from setpieces. There are still a lot of individual errors that you can’t afford at the highest level. There are some players that don’t look capable physically at this current moment. Bukayo Saka still looks the business, but even he had his bad moments last night as the panic set in. Next season, it’ll be a different mix. Saliba will join, we’ll probably buy a player like Upemacano, and if Mari is any good, he might be a fixture. We’ll also be looking at right back.
It is also very clear that our midfield needs work. We need better athletes. I think this has been an agenda item for years. We need to look towards power and pace. Players like Denis Zakaria and Wilfred Ndidi never seem to find their way towards Arsenal. Even Bruno Guimarães, a huge fave in the comments here, looked brilliant in the Champions League in the week. Arsenal need to go young and really make sure our midfield represents what the league looks like in 2020.
On the positives, the squad is still working for the cause. You couldn’t put that game down to a lack of effort. The players powered through the redzone in a game they were clearly finding very tough. I’m not here feeling disgusted, I’m just burned by the way things went down. The Auba chance at the end said it all about the new mindset, even if it didn’t come off.
Success is very rarely a straight line, if that’s what you were expecting from the new regime picking up this bag of shit season, then you were setting yourself up for a failure. This was always going to be a long preseason. There is plenty to do right now and there will be big changes in the summer as the squad is reshaped in the vision of someone that actually has a vision. The manager has found out that he pushed his squad too far last night, now he has to deal with the mess. In his press conference after he was very focused on the idea that he has to lift the players for Monday’s game against Brighton. That was our first loss of 2020, the next test is the character of the squad and the power of the managers leadership to get them back winning and making themselves a nuisance in the race for top 5.
A huge challenge, so let’s see where he goes. Onwards people, onwards. Podcast below and the prezzer from Arteta.
Obviously if Aubameyang stays, sell Lacazette and use that and the xhaka money to fund a new CM and use the Torreira+Guendouzi money to buy another DM and a young unproven replacement for guendouzi.
But in all these scenarios i dont find myself keeping Xhaka this summer. If however Arteta keeps him for another season, i would not go bonkers. The reason being we just have too many players to sell to rebuild and we will suffer one way or the other. If we keep most of them, we will suffer with their quality. If we sell all, their replacements will take time to gel and when u have such a high turn over, checks are that one of the 5 new signings will turn out to be not as good as initially projected.… Read more »
If we are going to replace a CM It should be Xhaka. In my view there has to be two players for every position and 1 or 2 utility players. Guendouzi/new Starting CM, Torriera/ alternative DM to torriera, CAM/ Smith-Rowe or willock. We could get all there by selling Xhaka, Mikhi, Elneny, Sokratis, and one of Mustafi or Holding. Although we might have to go a little cheaper at DM.
In theory yes that would work. But so could some other things. I will just give more time to Arteta in case we find there are no investments being made in the summer due to lack of funds.
In theory we can move on all those players, but I’m sure we tried to sell and mkhi in the last summer, but could find takers only on loan.
Newspapers talk a lot of shit and we have no idea what actually happened last summer.
Sell elneny and mkhi *
Pepe should track back to help out Bellerin. Look at Auba. He helped out Saka quite a bit. Of course, Saka is strong in attack. Bellerin is weak both defense and attack.
Football is really a strange sport . I’m pretty sure no one dared to imagine that Eden Hazard would be so abject in La Liga
That league looked ready made for him. He’s been terrible by any standard
He’s out with long term injury and they won’t miss his one goal in la Liga performance at all.
Dissenter
Ask Fred regarding Hazard, , he seems to think it’s much easier not playing in the prem.
And what about Ramsey , I wonder what pearl of wisdom Fred will come up with as to why its not a stroll in the park or Ramsey playing in Italy.
Hazard stopped being a protagonist a long time back. He had stopped taking risks a long time back, preferring to play conservative passes. Then when the defender least expects it, he would make space and setup someone. That kind of style play is very conservative for a team like Madrid that play on the front foot vs every team in the planet. Hence the purely creative output expected out of hazard is much higher at Real/Barca than at Chelsea. Add other factors like politics, it’s very difficult. Look at how Bale has faded there over the years inspite of scoring… Read more »
Or maybe you Pierre should give reasons why Mhki failed in United under two managers necessitating his getting moved on. You keep trying to sell Mkhi as an Emery failure yet he was one of Emery’s go go players. Played him in all the big games and got performances out of him.
Dissenter
I’ve not watched any of Madrid this season but’s it’s possible that Hazard has struggled because he’s not the main man anymore. At Chelsea he was the best or one of the best players in the PL at Madrid he’s just another player.
Pierre It usually takes time for players to adapt to new new environment, it’s also never a ure bet that they will work at any given club. Real Madrid is a notoriously difficult club to settle in. Pretty basic stuff really, not everyone is the same. Doesn’t change the fact hat Mikhi was never good in the PL for 2 different clubs, he wasn’t very good under your God, he wasn’t before that and he wasn’t after. Never really rated Ramsey so ask someone elses to explain that for you. Has a handful of good performances a season surrounded with… Read more »
Pierre
You’re the one who mentioned Ramsey, not me
I’m just trying to Paulinho-proof myself for today. 😂😂😂
Although slower, all those leagues are a lot more technical. Defenders actually try to defend players like Messi, Gnabry etc instead of just hacking the players down. Of course in trying to do it legally, they get spanked 4-5 goals many times, but it improves their defensive work without resorting to the dark arts. Its one of the reasons defenders /GK playing in the EPL get carded a lot in European /National competitions cause the fouls that are not given /carded in the PL will be given /carded in other leagues. Consequently hazard is facing a lot more tactical, political… Read more »
Freddie
Regarding the time needed to settle for Eden Hazard
He didn’t need any time adapting to the premier league from Ligue Un so why should he need that much time in La Liga. We are talking about one of the best players in the world here not some 19 year old.
It may be that the premier league isn’t as good as many like to think.
Hazard is struggling non a league where Coquelin and Gabriel Paulista are flourish ing
Marc]
Madrid bought him to be the main man. They haven’t had a main man since Ronaldo left. There was a hole waiting to be filed. He just hasn’t clicked at all.
Marc
You are right. I have watched Real a few times. He only got a small share of the attack. Real is a team full of star players. Hazard won’t receive special treatment there. Also he is a winger. He relies on services to function.
Dissenter
Sometimes things just don’t click for reasons that can’t be tied down.
https://arseblog.news/2020/03/arteta-players-have-to-fight-for-their-places/
Unless your surname begins with an ‘O’ ends with an ‘L’ and rhymes with ‘over the hill’.
Dissenter. The language, the culture, playing for one of the most iconic teams in he world, different playing styles, higher expectations etc etc. There’s many reasons a player may not work in a different league/club, all we can do is guess. I’m not too interested in what Hazard does anyway, if he tanks I don’t really care. The main point was about Mikhi and Pierres penchant for reimagining reality to suit his agenda, Mikhi was never a very good player in the PL, we needed to lower our wage bill nd it would have been counter productive to keep him.… Read more »
Ozil is the best passer in the team and best at getting into half spaces. As bad as he is at other things and what ppl call disappearing acts, we have seen what happens when he is replaced by Guendouzi, Willock, Ceballos. Ceballos looks like he is driving the team forward cause he is good at evading the press and passing into channels, but once you get into th final third, the space available contracts, and ppl will no longer press and will allow you to pass from side to side. Ozil plays because we have absolutely nobody that can… Read more »
If we lose tonight’s game then it’s curtains for Arteta…
Freddie but mkhi is was for a few cut backs /goals and key passes unlike willock and guendouzi. Yes we needed to loan out mkhi. But what we did is we removed mkhi, ozil and ramsey altogether from the team at the start of the season and hence started struggling with trying to bring the ball out. Willock and guendouzi neither have the experience or the skill that mkhi had. And while i agree he doesn’t represent value for money, when u take the salary out of the picture, he would have made a nicer difference coming on in the… Read more »
CazOn
What is it now 1 assist and 1 goal in nearly 2 years for Ozil lol
I believe that the team had complacency against Olympiakos and thought the job has done and the game was just a formality. They were surprised by a Greek team who came fully prepared. They defended deep and assigned someone to cover Saka. Our plan B was Pepe who didn’t cross a single ball to our two strikers. After we were trailing 2 – 1, Ozil sent two crosses which almost resulted in two goals.
Redtruth, Is not just about final balls and goals. Beggars can’t be choosers, our other players can’t string 3 passes together in a row with the right weight and direction. I’m not saying Ozil should not be replaced. I’m just saying he certainly cannot be replaced by guendouzi, torreira, Ceballos, xhaka, Willock, esr. Emery literally tried everyone but they are absolutely shit at passing consistently and accurately in the final third which is the basic requirement. It was so bad that Emery not only brought ozil back but actually tried playing him as a false 9, as Lacazette and Aubameyang… Read more »
Ozil’s contribution to the team is zero, any player playing his role would have better stats than him…
Caz
Good take on Ozil, totally agree and have said for some time about the neglect taken by the systematic removal of Jack, Santi, Rambo, even Mkhi with no last-third player coming in to replace them.
It was ozil s cross which Martinelli headed on for auba score. He started coming deeper to collect balls and launch attacks as there was no space between the lines of Olympiakos and the other midfielders weren’t finding him between the lines whenever he created space.. Lacazette also blazed over with his dummy.
Arteta is great communicator, looks to have clear vision and to be fan of the club. He can motivate but rest is to be seen.
Ppl who argue we are better without Europa clearly have no clue. Its big hit to club profile and financials.
Redtruth
What are you saying man, its a fact that Emery ditched him and tried every single person i mentioned in that role only to bring back ozil.
Let me exaggerate and explain, would u play Sokratis in ozil ‘s position and expect him to perform well for the team?
Not every player can play every position. That is what surprised me about emery. If his plan was always to freeze out ozil, then i did not understand loaning mkhi, the only other player who can pass decently well in the final third.
rollen
100% right on the financial losses going out of the EL – we could also be looking at matches being closed behind closed doors due to the Corona virus – that’s £2 – £3 million per match as well.
People forget Rsmsey’s contract saga impacted on the teams overall performance towards the end of last season.
Fred “. The main point was about Mikhi and Pierres penchant for reimagining reality to suit his agenda, Mikhi was never a very good player in the PL,” Mhkitaryan Premier League Appearances 78 Goals 13 Assists 14. That’s a goal or assist less than every 3 games . Ramsey Premier League Record Appearances 262 Goals 40 Assists 46 A goal or assist at just over 3 goals a game , slightly worse than Mhkitaryan Of course,he is not as prolific as players like eriksen, Fabregas and Ozil who had a goal or assist at just over every 2 games though… Read more »
As reported in football.london
A deal taking Mkhitaryan to the Stadio Olimpico could see the Gunners pocket a fee in the region of £10m. That was the figure which Forza Roma reported was rejected during the January transfer window. Should the Giallorossi return with an improved offer then the north London outfit are likely to pocket a decent transfer fee.
Recalling Ozil ultimately got Emery the sack..
Pierre, Emirates Stroller, There are reports we’ve agreed to activate Partey’s £43m release clause. Upamecano will go for around £50m because he hasn’t got long left on his contract. Grealish will be available if Villa go down. Jeminez will be a stretch admittedly. We will have around £50m available from our annual revenue before player sales. If we sell Aubameyang, Lacazette, Xhaka, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Sokratis, Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Elneny that would easily raise the money needed and then some, not to mention the millions a year we will save in wages. It’s not rocket science and is actually very doable.… Read more »
Nope. It was ditching him early when we hadn’t lost the confidence that got him the sack. Had he played ozil early in the season in place of willock, guendouzi and Torreira who aren’t meant for that role, we would have beaten teams we should beat. In fact ozil was one of the best players on the pitch in the away game at watford before emery took him off and then we drew 2-2 cause we just couldn’t string 2 passes together to even bring the ball out of our own half. Then we be did bring him back, it… Read more »
benny
We’re not going to get any money for Ozil – I don’t know why people think we’re even going to be able to get a nominal fee.
I personally feel signing Pepe was a mistake. We should have used that money to get Upamecano and let Nelson and ESR have the right wing between them and kept Mkhitaryan.
Emery wanted Maguire, Partey and Zaha but ended up with Sokratis, Lichsteiner, Tierney, Torreira and Pepe.
I suspect had we actually signed the 3 he wanted we would have done much better.
Still, the main thing is we have the right man in charge now and I’m very optimistic for next season and believe we’d be in the hunt for top 4 this season had Arteta started the season.
CazOn
Ozil played the full 120 minutes against Olympiacos where we were a shambles…
Bennydevito, We tried to sell all the players you mentioned in the summer but it doesn’t work out as nobody was willing to pay enough. The 10mn bid for mkhi is completely low ball as well considering what players like Iwobi are sold for. 15mn is about right, but clubs know we are desperate to sell and sell low ball. It is not as easy as u think to shift all those players in one window. Just think about the amount of offers one has to listen to, reject, hash out the Financials, the legals. Just like our squad, I’m… Read more »
Great another make believe debate about Ozil. I say make believe because it’s pure fantasy to talk about him being anything else than a complete garbage player these days.
Ozil is staying put don’t bank on any transfer there.
Marc,
Yes I know we won’t get a fee for Ozil but we would get an extra £18m a year on our transfer budget with his ridiculous unwarranted wages off our books.
Wenger and Gazidis really fucked us over signing Ozil on that deal and refusing the £60m Sanchez bid from City. We also lost Ramsey because of them as he wanted the same deal as Ozil.
What a mess.
Marko,
The point was a response to the post that “any player in our current squad will create more chances and pay better as a 10 than ozil”.
1)we suggest tried everybody else and failed. Infact each thing willock comes on can neither pass nor defend.
2) if ozil is garbage as 10 in the current team, Torreira (a perfectly good CM), guendouzi, Willock, xhaka are toxic waste as nos 10s.
Id take garbage over the toxic waste thank you!
We had tried everybody else *
But he does a lot for charity.😂😂😂😂😂😂
benny
No we won’t get another £18 million a year on our transfer budget is he goes – our last set of figures showed a £27 million loss all cutting Ozil’s wages does is reduce the losses for the following year.
Marc,
It won’t be a £27m loss every year – that is a loss compared to the year before. Next year’s financials will be based on this year so if Ozil goes we will have made an £18m profit.
Marc That is last seasons numbers right? Before the adidas deal and before we cut 40m from the wage bill. We had more EL money then but we made gains in other areas so don’t think it’s quite that bleak. Getting Ozil off the wage bill will be an enormous benefit no matter where the money ends up. Pierre Not sure why you keep comparing Mikhi to Ramsey in your responses to e, I already told you I never particularly rated Ramsey either. Yes, we may have benefitted from having Mikhi in the team this season in place of Ozil… Read more »
2) if ozil is garbage as 10 in the current team, Torreira (a perfectly good CM), guendouzi, Willock, xhaka are toxic waste as nos 10s. Id take garbage over the toxic waste thank you! I mean garbage is garbage you don’t really make a case for Ozil by bringing up other players who aren’t CAM’s it’d be like saying Mustafi is shite CB but Reiss Nelson is an even worse CB. Besides we don’t need a number 10 anyway especially considering the productivity we (kinda) have from out wide. Bottom line is is Ozil playing poorly? If the answer is… Read more »
Freddie. Not quite sure there ever was a cut in wages to players indeed in the year ending 31/5/19 wage costs rose from £218.9 million to £227.3 million. In the year that will end 31/5/20 I can’t see how the wage bill will be less indeed I suspect it will have grown further having signed the likes of Luiz and Pepe. EL money that is going to be down by several millions as for the big two commercial deals both will see an uplift but non CL qualification will have reduced the value of the deal and going forward should… Read more »
Terraloon
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/arsenal-save-45m-after-henrikh-mkhitaryan-leaves-on-loan-to-roma-hm08fw3cj?fbclid=IwAR3LBxB0vtkiVeIc1wvNueSn0mAKEvSAYzqw5WI4chmuvWdchSLKE2Tm83M
Paid article but still, it’s easy to find that we cut 900 000 a week in wages we added to that slightly with our incomings but nothing close to that. Pepe is on 140k and Luiz on 125k a week. The rest is on significantly lower wages.
Still plenty of scope to cut it much further, Xhaka, Mustafi, Kola are all around the 100k a week mark, Laca on 180k and then there’s the 350k a week elephant on the pitch…
There’s no reaction from our loss on Thursday.
We are picking up right where we left if last week. The now familiar Arsenal malaise has overtaken Arteta too.