Wooooooah, the less said about that performance, the better.
Arsenal took 3 very undeserved points at home against West Ham, the game was won with a VAR decision that overturned an incorrectly flagged offside, but the 1-0 victory didn’t disguise a ‘revert to type’ performance from a group of players that didn’t show up.
It’s easy to criticise every single line-up Arteta puts out because there’s not really an ideal starting 11. We’re a mess whatever we do and you can argue every player and their role. The one that seems to irk people the most is Auba out wide, especially when we have options on the left like Martinelli. I also think we debate the midfield over and over, but the reality is, we just don’t have a lot of good choices.
We were awful today, that was the most important thing to note. The midfield struggled to keep to West Ham at bay, the spacing between midfield and defence was off, and there were a lot of very poor lapses in defence. We are not a creative team, there’s no spark, no magic, no nothing. It’s painful to watch. It’s also interesting that the heavy pressing has gone, with the penny dropping for another manager that the squad aren’t fit enough to deliver on that without dramatically poor second-half performances (or injuries).
It is telling that we’re back to Bernd Leno being the MOTM again. He made some crucial saves, commanded his area well and took high-risk chances in tough situations. He was very quick off his line. It’s simply not good enough that we’re battered at home by West Ham.
More worrying is that moving forward, we just weren’t at the races. No one seemed to find their range when it mattered. We took too many touches, made the wrong choice, or just fucked up the momentum in attack.
Dani Ceballos had a great game from a numbers perspective. He made the most successful tackles, he had the most interceptions, his passing was fairly accurate, but to my earlier point, we didn’t make it count for anything. Our front three managed 2 shots on target. That’s miserable, especially when you look at the players we have at our disposal.
Still, when it comes down to it, the thing that matters most at the moment is the 3 points. We took them. Auba fired a speculative ball into legs, the ball looped up, Mesut Ozil was sharpest, he nodded a header to Lacazette who swept home a clinical shot. The players thought it was offside, the lino did too, but after 37.5 minutes of painfully nerdish deliberation, VAR called it a goal.
It was a bit embarrassing to win that game, but we kept up the pressure in the league and now we find ourselves right in the hunt for top 4. At the time of writing, there are 5 points between Arsenal in 9th and 4th (6 points if you go to 10th). Win our game in hand and there will be two points. It is staggering that this season has been so terrible to us, yet we’re a fluke win at City from being deeply in the top 4 hunt.
On the players, bar a bit of an iffy attempt at a clearance in the first half, Pablo Mari looked pretty solid. The worry in the league is always that you’ll be beasted by hulking thug forwards. He dealt with West Ham’s aerial threat pretty well today, he also won 3 out of his 5 aerial duels. He’s a good passer, he has a bit more pace than we thought, and he’s very composed. A solid Premier League start and his second clean sheet in 2 games. Let’s see how he copes on Wednesday.
Mesut Ozil was the decisive factor in the game, his quick thinking and cushioned header turned the game. He worked really hard, watching him lead the press in the final 20 was a sight to behold. He’s lost a lot of edge with his game-changing passing. He just hasn’t looked very confident of late… it seems odd that a player can lose the sparkle, with him, you do wonder if he’ll ever return to what he was.
Overall, our midfield was poor. We lack power and a tempo setter. Ceballos had good moments, but it didn’t feel synced to the wider team. We created next to nothing, Arteta has to find a way of addressing that in the coming games if we’re to stand a chance of making the most of this top 4 race.
Reality is that we’re still shit and I have little hope that we’ll surprise anyone on Wednesday, but it’s nice to hope, and it’s nice to know that everyone else around us is just as capable of failing as us. The mighty Nuno dropped points, United will have a tough game against City tomorrow and Spurs just went a goal down at Burnley.
Who knows what will happen… but it’d be very funny if we shithoused to top 5.
1st here
DM
Clean sweep
And now 4th
Well…..
New tro4phy?
fair enough on the recap.
i would like to see nelson put pepe to shame in the near future
Managed to wake up at 6:30 am to catch the Liverpool game, after which had me some breakfast while getting ready for Arsenal’s.
Fell asleep after 15 minutes or so and slept through the rest of the game.
Had the weirdest dream VAR awarded us a goal which turned out to be not a dream at all.
Now watching Burnley dominating Spurs.
Jose is in real trouble.
I really feel for him lol.
Tom, you feel for Jose?
Pedro
Did you just admit player poverty?
No Azed, quite the opposite and more controversial. We’re not maxing out the talent. 2 shots on target with the players we have is appalling.
Aside from little p, anyone happy with Ozil playing in an Arsenal shirt is either blind or trolling. Yet again another abject performance. He’s been thieving a living for 3-4 years now.
Arteta’s team selection is concerning.
Wow what a terrible tackle by Ben Mee. Basically a Christmas gift to the Spuds.
UT, Ozil with the assist for the win.
Ohh man… that was questionable pk… looked outside of box. Where was the VAR measure to the millimeter on that one?
Appreciate that the report didn’t gloss it over and try calling it saucy. Think people have more of a problem with Xhaka and Ozil starting more than Auba on the left though, really.
Well said Pedro . Good analysis. I also thought the lineup was fine. Regardless of the players that start the 1stt 11 will always be imbalanced . Especially for the midfield. Ceballos tried to do a “fabrepass” too many times and he was indecisive at times.
Vladdy P
“Appreciate that the report didn’t gloss it over and try calling it saucy. Think people have more of a problem with Xhaka and Ozil starting more than Auba on the left though, really.”
People moan about Auba on the wing because Arsenal actually have options for wing and CF. And decent ones.
On the contrary there is no real good option in relation to Ozil and Xhaka.
There’s your squad povery right there = midfield.
The full backs are vital in attack for any attacking minded team. Starting Sokratis there at home to West Ham doesn’t make much sense.
that was a foul against Sanchez. Anywhere from the box 18 and it is a freekick. No VAR.
Pedro, so is that the metric you are going to judge him by ? Cos if so that’s 2 assists in how many games ?
Or are you going to watch his performances and see with your eyes that he is a ghost for most of any match he plays ?
Pedro, good and honest report on the game.. One of the ugliest 3 points earned, but I take it anytime at this stage. We need to improve our forward passing and movement and certainly shooting. Its easy to blame the Emery’s effect, but the truth is we were served the same crap football in Wenger last 2 seasons Ceballos was good in possession, but takes too many touches and often misses the attacker run and fails to make that vital decisive pass . Ozil as usual not offering enough Xhaka could only do his long passes and can not run… Read more »
RH
Who would u have started in place of Sokratis at RB. ?
We haven’t played this bad at home since emery days.
Every single player had an off day barring luiz i think.
Leno is mostly staying around 3 yards from the goal line inside the 6 yard box. Not sure how defenders can keep up with clearing the crosses this way. He is way too deep and stays deep.
I think we have too many individuals in our team and not enough workers.
Nobody really puts in a shift and off the ball here is a lot of walking about.
Gone is the two touch passing and the big gap in midfield has come back.
Our players have drifted back to type as Arteta has also gone into Wenger mode , playing his favs over being pragmatic.
Martinelli should be playing he keeps moving and is hard to Mark.
Sorry but Arteta is not doing anything different.
Who would I have started?
You did see Bellerin come on didn’t you?
Or a certain young man who has played RB for the club many times…Maitland Niles. You can talk about his attitude in training all you like but give him a few games now and again. He can’t be worse than all the other players at the club.
West Ham only had Pepe to worry about on that flank.
I will not get tired of saying it. Not giving a single chance to Martinelli, Auba, Pepe front three has got to be a next level of stubbornness. Especially when you have 1 shot on target for 80 mins vs WH at home. Vs Olympiacos was the same and forgot who else we had no shots on target for 75 mins. Obviously we aren’t doing phenomenally well in attack. Why does he not try something different. Like you know… Using your world class CF in the CF position. Then you see that Ozil has started in every single one of… Read more »
Well some teams play the false 9 formation.. we play the false 10 formation.. 😀
Jokes aside it was probably one of Ozil’s better performances lately.. which isn’t saying much.. He did actually attempt a shot and got an assist. He was more around the box then usual in scoring positions letting Ceballos play from deep. That said if we announced he was leaving this summer, I would probably have a celebratory drink or 2 or 3.
There is no way Nketiah should be starting ahead of even an out of form Lacazette.
That’s just pandering to the yoot lovers out there.
Martinelli yes probably. Nketiah no.
Pedro
I like nothing more than watching Mourinho squirming under pressure.
–Arteta is going to run some players to the ground. Did it to Mustafi.-
WTF
Ozil stats for the season:
1812 minutes played, 1 goal, 3 assists. That’s 1 goal every 20 games, 1 assist every ~6,70 games.
20 full games, 3 assists. lul
Elite numbers.
To those who.watch French league religiously – Is Saliba really worth the hype ?
Can only hope he runs Ozil into the ground. Need such a massive clear out this summer its ridiculous. Hard to think of any players outside Saka and Martinelli that are likeable.
Undeserved 3 points but 3 points nonetheless. But Id say we kinda dererve these points after the horror refereeing we’ve witnessed in our games this season. I think we’ve lost about 9 points due to bad refereeing this season. And if Karma is real which I believe it is we should have some luck towards the end of the season. Also its not like we won due to a poor referee decision we actually nearly drew because of bad refereeing again. Leno was solid today. Many have been berating him a lot this past week. Maybe they’ll shut up now.… Read more »
“And NO in the Arteta system Auba cant play striker. His hold up play is very poor. He cant even keep the ball on the wing . Its just plain as day.”
You got to be kidding if you think Nketiah has great hold up play cause obviously according to your logic he does. LOL?!
If you think about it if Arsenal would not have won today and they were so close in not doing so Arteta would have been quite rightly crucified in starting Nketiah as CF when he has options like Auba, Lacazette and Martinelli at his disposal.
Arteta is coming close to a proper scolding. Naught boy Tets. Naughty boy.
Yes Eddie has potential but doesn’t merit getting more game time than Laca. I’d love to see a front three of Martinelli, Auba and Pepe at the Etihad.
That isn’t a game for Ozil either.
I beleive* Arteta is the man…
Raptora.
Nketiah’s passing , hold up is very much better than Auba’s.
You gotta be ‘not paying attention ‘ to think otherwise. LOL?!
Why are Alli and Dier still not banned ?
Because they are the pride of Ingurland
In a aerial duel that the ball was going towards Nketiah, an opponent defender was close and our boy got thrown to the ground like it was the Rock vs Elijah Wood. But if you say so.
Nketiah’s passing is better than Auba’s. This is gold.
Anyone’s passing is better than Aubameyang but this is not really the point.
Nketiah has yet to show the true sauce in proper first team matches and he didn’t today either.
A player like Martinelli has.
Raptora
According to Whoscored.
Auba has 6.4 inaccurate short passed per match.
Nketiah had 3.2.
Thats literally half.
But according to Raptora.
‘This is gold ‘
Lol.
As I posted earlier today we should recognise that we don’t have a great team
and our defence is vulnerable and the midfield is weak.
So any win in the current circumstances is a good result even if we don’t play particularly well.
What is important is that we continue to play to best of our ability and then plan properly for next season.
If we finish 5th this season that is frankly the best outcome in current circumstances.
Spuds losing points after we won. Feels good man!
UN
His control, first touch, dribbling, running off the shoulder, crossing. The dads in my 5 aside league are better.
According to Raptora. This would be diamond.
Well damn.. Burnley really should have won that. But still points dropped.
UN
We’ve lost 9 (maybe 11) points due to bad refereeing. I Hope we’ll get some decisions in our favour at the tail end of the season to maybe make up for that a bit.
Mee gave a comical pen. It wad their game to lose.
Lo celso is a good player.
TR7March 7, 2020 18:16:23
SAF overrated
___
Lol.
Always great to see the lilyshites drop points
Still shit run for Spurs.
A win is going to be rare for them until the end of the season.
Best they cherish the sparse wins they will see that come their way until the seasons end.
Lol at finding a stat like that. You know that players who take more risk are doomed to have lower passing percentage?
Aubameyang – 53 assists in his career or more than 5 assists per season.
Nketiah – 0 assists.
Sokratis’ chance that Papa should have scored but hit the bar from? Auba.
Remember the several goals Lacazette has cost us vs Chelsea last year and who was it against this year with his back passing in our own half? Now try to remember a bad pass by Auba that lead to us conceding? I know.
I’ll tell you flat out what arteta does differently from emery
he wins the fucking game
lily-livered lilywhites.
Zacharse
Emery won games as well in his first season.
Arteta has another season and a half yet and if he doesn’t undertake a makeover of some of these areas of the team I fear for him. I really do.
I do. I do. I do.
Peculiar how a scrappy and disjointed win can give such a voice to some on here when it was those same people telling everyone about how results were most important thing going for Arteta coming in. Hard to keep up with the script. Asking about his philosophy just about takes the biscuit though, the managerial breakdown is being dissected with every passing minute apparently – having eyes optional. When he’s had 5 picks in a transfer window and done a full preseason with the group let’s revisit the predictable questions. Right now he’s put a structure in place, has bandaids… Read more »
Where is Graham?
Hope he is well…..
Spuds without Kane, Son and Eriksen are obviously going to suck D. Their reserves are not terrible but the skill gap is there. Their whole game has been based around whipping in crosses for far too many years. It’s curtains for spuds tbh. I don’t see them getting to play UCL football next year, and when Kane leaves in the Summer they will most probably go in decline.
Spurs might be able to recover somewhat next season but for this season they are done.
They still have a decent group of midfielders at the club, Son to return who is very good and it will be interesting to see who they get in to replace Kane if he goes.
But they could continue to suck next season as well. Yes please.
Auba has been in the game for more than 10 years. This is Nketiah’s 1st season and he is only really starting to get games in the past month or two. ‘Lol at finding a stat like that. You know that players who take more risk are doomed to have lower passing percentage?’ Must really be a smart person who laughs at real stats and then posts this. ‘Remember the several goals Lacazette has cost us vs Chelsea last year and who was it against this year with his back passing in our own half? Now try to remember a… Read more »
CC, Same people that were bringing up xG and how bad we are playing during our unbeaten run under Emery (22 games I believe) are now saying that win is all that matters. But it wasn’t enough before now was it?! I don’t really care though. I’m excited to watch every game we play. There is a breath of fresh air. Arteta is doing a lot of things right. But I see a lot of mistakes he repeats time and time again. Now I know he’s a rookie. I also noticed that he made an early change today (59th min… Read more »
Lo celso is a very good player
From whoscored:
Eddie Pass success percentage: 73.3%
Aubameyang Pass success percentage: 72%
Wow you proved me wrong. Just like when you said that Auba can’t play CF for Arteta cause his hold up play sucks. Apparently Nketiah is hustling defenders left and right. LOL
Incredible. Indeed some fans are not good managers.
Bellerin is not in form at the moment as shown in recent matches played.
AMN is a not a guarantee at RB.
Lo Celso showed his real quality probably for the first time since he joined spuds. Lovely player. Still questions if he will adapt well.
Mourinho throwing players under the bus in his post match interviews. mainly Ndombele. Only a matter of time now before they quit on him.
Eddie Pass success percentage: 73.3%
Aubameyang Pass success percentage: 72%
Here, you proved yourself wrong.
And then go on to type LOL.
Smart man you must be.
LOL.
MidwestGun
“Only a matter of time now before they quit on him.”
Well they quit on Poch at the end so likely they will do the same to the man previously known as the Special One.
He will get time though because of the injuries to Kane and Son. But more time for Mourinho is good for us.
But more time for Mourinho is good for us.
_____
Yep, I agree with that. He simply can’t help himself.
From Whoscored again:
Eddie passes per game: 11.4
Auba passes per game: 23.6
BUT EDDIE HAS 1.3% HIGHER PASS SUCCESS PERCENTAGE!!!!!
“Same people that were bringing up xG and how bad we are playing during our unbeaten run under Emery (22 games I believe) are now saying that win is all that matters. But it wasn’t enough before now was it?!“
Don’t think comparing a manager from the start of a season, and with a squad to his liking, is the same as comparing to a guy that’s come in midseason at the most embarrassing of lows.
But that’s just me I guess, apples to apples for some bizarrely.
Im not entirely convinced about Arteta’s special sauce but at least one thing is clear by now , Arteta is definitely the sharpest dressed PL manager.
He dropped his Winter threads – a stylish tightly fitted puffer jacket …. for the Spring line sweater and sport coat.
Still all in black of course.
Raptora
“Lo Celso showed his real quality probably for the first time since he joined spuds. Lovely player. Still questions if he will adapt well.”
No questions from me , he’s quality .
Man utd (fernandes) and tottenham (Celso) have bought top quality..makes you wonder what Raul, vinaii and Edu are doing. They have spent 200 million and I dont believe we have come close to buying anyone remotely close to what they give their teams.
Pierre,
True. But our faith was sealed the moment we gave Ozil the outrageous contract. It shouldn’t be normal to buy expensive players in the position of your highest paid player.
Not so sure you should blame Raul, Vinnai and Edu for it though. Wenger and Gazidis were the main guys at the time. And at the time we had glaring holes in our squad all over the pitch because of years of buying and selling bad.
I didn’t think game was that bad. We play much worst lately.
Granit hacker is a problem. Lack of DM too.
Fuck spuds and Moureen.
lol Un cut this Jack crap, over hyped, only good because he was at Arsenal. Same with Ramsey.
Xhaka was imo one of the better players today. I missed the first 15 mins of the game, but especially in the 2nd half he did pretty well.
I haven’t watched or kept track of the game today, but I would agree with the people saying that, at this stage of the season, results are absolutely the most important thing, even if they are accompanied by somewhat disjointed performances. Quite simply, winning may be enough, depending on others, to get us where we need to be in terms of Europe, and then i don’t think many people would deny that serious work would need to be undertaken in the transfer market with whatever funds we have or can generate, to change the team. Sure, it would be nice… Read more »
Is Jack Wilshere still a professional footballer?
Who let Ramsey run his contract down?
Are we seriously suggesting Cazorla should have had his deal renewed after two years out injured?
Yes we should have brought in a playmaker but we already had one on 350k a week.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing when lamenting players we have released. I would have loved to have seen Cazorla weave his magic again, open to debate whether he could have coped with the pace again in England, good for him he is enjoying his football again. Wilshere has been constantly injured so I don’t think he is a miss at all, no denying his talent, but he is now unable to harness it. Highly doubtful he would be able to help us now. Ramsey is the one I wonder about the most. Would be interesting to read the absolute truth… Read more »
Receding
So Ozil stopped us buying a competent #8 in the last two summers? Makes sense.
Personally, I think west ham are in a false position in the league.
They are a strong physically imposing side that are not lacking skill and are a well balanced side.
Their 2 centre backs are built like brick Shithouses and look to have good enough pace.
They were also without the talented Yarmelenko and Anderson so I can’t see any way they will be relegated .
In fact if they do escape relegation I can see them having a pretty strong next season
For me the worst thing today was how predictable our game was
Knock it about a bit and then get it out wide. All match the same even though it was obvious it resulted in no threat on goal
Not once was there a through ball for one of our strikers to run onto
Playing Auba on the left has neutered him
Out of all the teams down there, I would be concerned if I was a Brighton fan (I love nearby so know a few).
They have lovely build up play, but struggle to score goals. That’s a big problem when in a relegation fight.
Tbeir upcoming fixtures could be perceived to be horrendous. Although a draw today is a decent result for them considering everything.
If they don’t start winning soon I think they will be one of the two joining Norwich in falling through the trap door.
Raptora “Xhaka was imo one of the better players today. I missed the first 15 mins of the game, but especially in the 2nd half he did pretty well.” Why? Just why? All this does is just encourage those few that still believe this team can seriously go places with Xhaka leading the midfield as he has been. He made one very good pass out to the flank on about 30 minutes. He made a decent defensive play in the later part of the second half. He was responsible for two very bad passes which should have been simple that… Read more »
Pierre It seems like West Ham are perennially in a state of challenging for Europe one year and then fighting relegation the next. They can’t sustain a consistent challenge to the top six. Like you say with the players they have, they should be doing far better. To have to call on Moyes again to save them is a little embarrassing for them given their stated lofty ambitions. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them do well next years, that just seems to be the type of club they are. For next year I am very intrigued as… Read more »
Ishola,
I don’t like Xhaka at all and for what now? 4 seasons running? He’s a super liability and his negatives outweigh the positives. He did okay today though. I’m always there to give a good word when due.
Rap
I would say none of them had a good game today except Leno. As Pedro said Leno being the best Arsenal player summed up todays match.
Even Ceballos who people are saying had a very good match was sloppy in his passing a few times as well.
So Pedro’s gone from these players should 100% be finishing third, and anything else is abject failure.
Finishing 5th and losing the Europa final last season was failure.
Onto accepting these players, particularly our midfield, isn’t up to much, and we’re actually quite sh*t….
Is he going to apologise for trying to get Emery sacked for 15 months? And admit he read the situation hopelessly wrong?
I doubt it, but this post says it all.
Un Ramsey is the one for me, he would be huge in our midfield right now. It was a shame about Wilshere and all the injured he has suffered. When he was playing somewhat regularly in his last season with us you could still see his talent, but the turn of pace was gone and it seemed he was only operating at 75% of his capability, even though you could see it in his body language, he was frustrated with himself I think. Difficult decision to let him go, points off and against. He certainly should have been replaced adequately… Read more »
Xhaka is not solid . He is prone to mistakes , is very immobile , unimaginative in his passing, stupid and immature in his judgement, a poor tackler, lacking in character and while he is in the side we will not progress. He never creates an assist and he makes game-changing mistakes. He needs to be sold in the summer
“Is he going to apologise for trying to get Emery sacked for 15 months? And admit he read the situation hopelessly wrong?“
Do enlighten, Emery shouldn’t have gone? Should be good.
Rich, as Connor McGregor once said…
‘I just want to apologize… for absolutely nothing’
How fucking bad at football analysis do you have to be to want an apology for the sacking a manager who gave us the worst start in 38 years? Very bad.
Staggering comment.
Haven’t read the comments, but super fair piece this evening. Top post.
Xhaka is really limited, first half he was playing left fb, second half ok but nothing that affected the game. Our midfield today felt like Ceballos was on his own. Couldn’t understand why Ozil stayed on the pitch.
Really slow.
Happy to get three points.
Pedro has just admitted player poverty. If not he is saying Arteta isn’t as saucy as he thought. The players in vital positions were never good enough. It was just used as a stick to beat Emery. Arteta has also made very questionable decisions. Moving Auba out wide for Nketiah is grossly criminal. He just moved his best striker out wide for a lesser version. With Martinelli you will get harassing of opponents, Headers and elite finishing. Lacazette brings more people in to the game. All Nketiah can do is score in some games and that doesn’t merit moving auba… Read more »
Thanks Jamie