It always stings.

by .

Losing a North London derby isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s not supposed to come with positives. It is always utterly shit. Losing to ‘that’ Jose Mourinho mess stung like a wet towel to the backside in a cold December Sunday League dressing room.

Everything about the loss hurt. The simple summation of the game is we didn’t take the sort of chances we normally would and individual errors cost us big again.

Kola was unable to execute a standard 10-yard pass to David Luiz. The Brazilian, low on pace at 33, didn’t have a recovery in him. Martinez, maybe didn’t make himself big enough for the Son chip. You cannot coach that sort of idiocy out of players (Emi is subtracted from that comment), it is absolute Sunday League basics. The second goal was another set-piece calamity. Kieran Tierney found himself picking up Toby from corner, no one else was paying attention, we conceded.

In attack, you saw Auba air shot from a cut back cross in the first half. The second half saw him rattle a fairly standard finish against the bar. He forced an electric save from Lloris on the half volley. Normally, you convert those. Yesterday, we didn’t.

We deserved the result. You know what Jose is going to do to you and he did it. At the highest level, you need to concentrate for the full 90 and we have players that are rarely capable of that. The Kola piece was particularly irritating. Arteta said that no one complained about his defenders when we were keeping clean sheets, I’d disagree with that. Kola was absolutely awful in the last game, so we knew something was brewing. What was alarming was how everything fell to pieces, particularly when we went a goal down. Mustafi was attacking shadows, the shape started to pick apart, and the usual suspects weren’t sharp enough.

The other absolutely key issue is the personnel in midfield. Dani Ceballos was excellent, he really put in a dogged shift, but we still struggled to create from midfield. I think part of the gameplay was to have Lacazette drop in as a 10, but that came with its own problems.

Someone asked me after the game if I still thought the players were coachable. Absolutely. It isn’t even up for discussion whether the players have been improved by better coaching. Our team is better structured, we’ve beaten some good teams on the road, and nearly all stats point to clear improvements across the board. Coaching though, will not solve for Kola making a mistake that bad from 10 yards. The mistakes, sadly, always wait in the wings with certain players. Sometimes you’ll see David Luiz have a towering game, other times, he looks like the least experienced player on the pitch. Mustafi had a great run, now he looks like he’s playing with fear again. The only way you solve for those issues is new players. The only way you deal with them this season is to continue to give them confidence and hope we see more games like those at Leicester / Wolves / Sheffield United… versus the messy output today.

On the match, I was a little confused with the post-game buoyance from Arteta. I thought we deserved the loss and couldn’t quite match his enthusiasm for the performance. I suspect maybe he knew there were a lot of tired legs out there and he knows if we go into the Liverpool game feeling sorry for ourselves, it’ll be a rout.

What I will say is the whatever you think about the game is at least we’re looking at that match as a lost opportunity. We weren’t battered or opened up. We were shithoused, but like, barely even shithoused. We should have won based on chances and not making stupid mistakes, and that’s the talking point.

We have 3 more games in the league this season and an FA Cup game that looks like it’s going to be very, very tough. Then the real work starts. This summer has to be big. If we don’t buy well and upgrade the clear areas we’re struggling in, we’ll have more games like this. Our summer needs end with a squad that is built for the vision of the coach, if it’s not, then what is the point?

Liverpool in 2 days. My word I hope we have something to give. See you in the comments.

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Receding Hairline

Na what’s basic Pedro is you picking and choosing stats to justify your progress line

Your using us finishing two points off third last season to wave away player poverty while in another breath saying we shouldn’t expect much without a good summer.

Or you insisting Emery spent 100m when it is on record he didn’t get one players he preferred here on a permanent.

Why do I even bother

Receding Hairline

No we are not better defensively, our keepers are the real heroes. You used to be big on xG and xGA check them out.

Freddie Ljungberg

Peep getting way too much stick here as usual, he’s our second most productive player after Auba and has been in and out of the team in his first season. How is he going to get any consistency like that? He’s also played with such esteemed RBs as Sokratis and Mustafi behind him and no Cam in the team that can pick him out. Is he living up to his lofty price tag? Not yet, but he’s still adapting to a new league under shit circumstances so a bit of patience is required. Arteta needs to get his head out… Read more »

Gentlebris

‘Cedric isn’t a bad player. Euro winner with Portugal, not a massive name. Nevertheless a good cover for right back during gruelling seasons. I have no problem with this.’

Yeah very correct, Pie.

Southampton were such a tosser for booting out a world beater then.

And may I remind you that Ozil won the world(not Euro)with Germany as well?

Champagne charlie

“That’s not the point. If Emery added £100 million worth of players to a squad that was 2 points away from 3rd, then surely that squad should be good enough for 4th? Isn’t that why we sacked Emery because we thought he should be doing better than 8th with that squad?” It was, we’re 9 points off 4th and big man Emery can be thanked for 8 of those points. The form table since Arteta arrived shows we’d be in the hunt. “Now we’re 9th and the story is ‘that position is as good as it gets with this squad’.”… Read more »

CG

Wenger was a 9/10 manager.
The Clown was a 0/10 as a manager.

Arteta is a 4/10 manager.

(So Arsenal are theoretically improving.)

Any news on this Lewis lawyer?
Focus has to be on him.
From an Arsenal supporters viewpoint- he is Arsenal’s last remaining hope of salvation…

When does he sack Raul?

Champagne charlie

Man talks about being selective with stats after the absolute banger he dropped earlier?!?! hahaha no shame.

PieAFC

Not suiting an energetic high press that Ralph Hasenhuttl likes at Southmapton, post his injury doesn’t make him a shit player.

We’re talking back up cover here, not a starter. A squad player.

Ozil, let’s not even bring him into debate. The guys been in decline for years. I didn’t even mention him. That’s another debate entirely.

Freddie Ljungberg

CG

Wenger was a 9/10 manager 15 years ago and since then only in your wet dreams.

Lewis is on the board, they’re not really relevant nowadays except for maybe as a conduit to Kroenke, he makes the decision if anyone is getting sacked, not our decrepit board. You would know that if you had any clue at all about anything about the club, but alas, thou art CG.

jwl

I wonder how this is going to work – aren’t season ticket holders more than 50% of attendance each match? How do they work out who gets to see what match.
—————-

“Premier League clubs are aiming for stadiums to be at 40 per cent capacity for the start of the 2020-21 season, as they continue to try and get supporters back amid the Covid-19 crisis.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/premier-league-crowds-capacity-coronavirus-pandemic-latest-a9614751.html

Gentlebris

‘Are we better defensively? Yes
Does it matter where a team was 4 years ago? No
Are we doing better under Arteta? Yes’

Are we better defensively? No of course, our defenders have been coached out of their abilities to do a 5 meter pass.

Does it matter where a team was four years ago? Yes, without history football is nothing.

Are we doing better under Arteta? No, we are ninth on the fucking league table!

Freddie Ljungberg

Pedro we’re better defensively because we have 5 at the back and we’re sacrificing our forward play, with our shit defenders and midfield it’s probably the only way to do it but I really hope this is not the plan going forwards. our CBs are shite so we’re now playing 3 of them so they can all hold each others hand and they still shit their beds occasionally, they have very little protection from our traffic cone in midfield and even though Ceballos has looked much better recently and his passing is much better than anyone else we have in… Read more »

Receding Hairline

Pedro guess you missed the 15 points lost from winning positions stat. This absolute belief we will be in and around the top four places if Arteta started the season is laughable.

What games are we competing in we weren’t before? Olympiacos? Brighton? Wonder how that 70 points and an EL final came to be then. We never lost to spurs in the league either but here we are. Selective amnesia.

Enjoy your night. And stop with the wrong side of argument thing, you have been wrong more times than I care to remember.

Redtruth

Arsenal were 8th after 13 games and Man Utd were 9th and Spurs 10th, so why are both Man Utd and Spurs above us in the table lol lol

GunnerDNA

“You don’t have a rational view or coherent argument on Arteta because you are hurting over your Emery love”

Your only defence for the “sauce“ you was twerking about is labeling fans who question Mikel as Emery apologist. I’m hurting over Emery because I’m talking Arsenal and you’re defending Mikel like you’re a widower. It’s unbelievable you build a fans base off trashing AKB and suddenly in 2020 you’re a morph AKB, is it karma? I can’t believe how you find time to make up stories about this manager who’s doing OJT, I honestly hope you aren’t believing them.

Gentlebris

R.H,

At some point you will have to leave those two to their buffoonery.

What i have realized is that counterspin, like counterintelligence, is actually very draining.

Should be fun seeing those two weaving and ducking when Arteta is still far from 4th six months from now

Aussie Gooner

We are mid table where we belong – fact! With the ‘axis of evil’ starting every game in defence then this is where we will remain. Face the facts – we do not have the quality of players to progress any further and very little likely hood of acquiring any quality players any time soon. We offer new contracts to those who contribute comedy defending, play players constantly out of position and expect them to perform, have a dictatorial owner only interested in the ‘business model’, make appalling substitutions during games, show naivety during the closing stages of games and… Read more »

Redtruth

So Solskjaer had a worst start to the Premier league than Emery and now he’s 9 points clear of Arsenal, how are Arteta apologists going to argue that.

Gentlebris

‘It’s unbelievable you build a fans base off trashing AKB and suddenly in 2020 you’re a morph AKB’

The things men later become in life.

Pierre

This is my analysis on the Pepe situation. Pre lockdown he was more or less a starter in every league game since Arteta arrived and as we all know, Arsenal were the only team unbeaten in Europe in their domestic league this year pre lockdown of which Pepe was an important part of. Playing next to him was a player going by the name of Mesut Ozil , and as we all should know, Mesut Ozil is a master at bringing his team mates into the game . Alexis Sanchez was a similar player to Pepe in that he took… Read more »

Redtruth

Pedro

Yes but Arsenal were ahead of Man Utd just before Emery was sacked so by your reasoning the Arsenal players must detest Arteta.

Gentlebris

‘GunnerDNA, I called for a young progressive manager and we landed one.’

He didn’t interview here as a manager, he did as Pep’s errand boy aspiring to be a manager. So you are wrong unless what you actually called for was an errand boy with the tag of an ASSISTANT manager

Dissenter

Aussie Gooner
Don’t blow your gasket mate.Wait until Arsenal renews Mustafi’s contract at Arteta’s persuasion.

It’s hard to plead player poverty these days because Arteta seems to be intent on surrounding himself with the players that create comedy moments for us.

Just Another Customer

Pierre of course world class player needs world class teammate but Arteta doesn’t see it that way thus playing Kola week in week out.

Words on a Blog

If we set aside the (boring) Arteta vs Emery comparisons what’s worrying at present is that what with the prospects for Champions League qualification having disappeared and even Europa League looking unlikely, coupled with match day revenues disappearing entirely, the reality is that there will be no money for transfers, and the money we receive for sales Of arguably marketable players (e.g. Laca/Guendouzi) will be reduced. Arteta’s ability to mould the squad to his liking is gonna be hamstrung next season. It’s possible of course that Raul and Edu might be able to weave some magic, but everything I hear… Read more »

Champagne charlie

“we’re better defensively because we have 5 at the back and we’re sacrificing our forward play“ Here’s a a quick snippet of goals FOR and AGAINST we’ve seen throughout the season at different points…. Week 13 – Emery’s last game: 18, 19 Week 18 – Freddie’s last game: 24, 27 Week 35 – now: 51, 44 Which breaks down as… Emery: 18, 19 (-1) Freddie: 6, 8 (-2) Arteta: 27, 17 (+7) Or… Emery: 1.38 goals per game, 1.46 goals against per game Freddie: 1.2 goals per game, 1.6 goals against per game Arteta: 1.59 goals per game, 1 goal… Read more »

Redtruth

We’ve compiled the Premier League table if it began when the competition restarted in June. 1. Manchester United – 14 points 2. Manchester City – 12 points 3. Wolves – 12 points 4. Chelsea – 12 points 5. Liverpool – 11 points 6. Tottenham – 11 points 7. Burnley – 11 points 8. Southampton – 11 points 9. Arsenal – 10 points 10. Sheffield United – 10 points 11. Newcastle United – 8 points 12. Everton – 8 points 13. West Ham – 7 points 14. Watford – 7 points 15. Brighton – 7 points 16. Leicester City – 6… Read more »

Redtruth

The above table shows Arteta having a worst start than Emery

GunnerDNA

“GunnerDNA,

I called for a young progressive manager and we landed one.He is progressing the club. He is the right coach. I think you know it as well.You just don’t like him and you are getting worse and worse at articulating why”

You honestly doing a poor sales job 😀😀😀

Champagne charlie

Woab

Absolutely why EL is imperative and missing out for a season isn’t the right move.

We miss out on EL and Auba gets sold imo.

DaveB666

21 points lost from winning positions this season and Bellerin wants to go. I’ll pack your bags and drive you to the private jet terminal at Luton airport given your recent performances. Tierney, Holding, Saliba – not pinning my hopes on others tbh!

Pierre

Pedro
“Pierre, how can you play someone with a sore back?”

My analysis was of Pepe not Ozil..

Just Another Customer

our midfield is nothing without Ozil must fit him in somehow the know nothing might not see it but he’s actually integral to our play

very underrated player

MidwestGun

Red your trolling has slipped some lately not gonna lie.. good attempt to up your game though. and where would we be in the pts if Emery was still here after all the players had quit on him.? Gonna go with zero pts down there with Norwich.

jwl

Seems a bit fantastical to me too, Pedro, we shall see what happens.

I wonder how season ticket sales are going, I would not give £1, 000 to club not when you have no idea what you going to receive for your cash.

Just Another Customer

or any creative CAM for that matter

we don’t have anyone else but him

Freddie Ljungberg

CC We haven’t really played with 5 at the back for that long, do you deny that we’re doing it because our CBs are shite and so is our CM defensively? And that sacrificing a midfield player to add to our collection of misfits at the back affects the forward play? Wing backs can be useful to an extent but it gets predictable when we offer no threat through the middle and playing players out of position in attack just to squeeze in inferior players doesn’t help either. The Emery vs Arteta discussions are boring, most of the failing players… Read more »

Dissenter

I suspect we won’t get another point in the league till we play Villa away on July 21st but hey…it’s okay because we have a “progressive manager”.

A ‘progressive manager’ that’s hell bent on retaining all the misfits.
Waiting for that Mustafi contract extension.

Redtruth

What I do know is Arsenal would still be in the Europa league had Emery remained.

Pierre

Dissenter
“I suspect we won’t get another point in the league till we play Villa away on July 21st but hey…it’s okay because we have a “progressive manager”.”

Surprisingly, you are correct.

It really doesn’t matter if we win, draw or lose the last few league games.

The FA cup is slightly matter though .

Pierre

*different

Words on a Blog

Dissenter,

If Mustafi gets a contract extension, that won’t indicate that Arteta loves him and rates his defensive ability.

It’ll mean that the club is unable to sell him or too broke to replace him.

Champagne charlie

For further context….

*Runaway Champions*
Liverpool: 2.2 goals per game, 0.77 goals against.

*CL hopefuls*
Chelsea: 1.8 goals per game, 1.4 goals against.
Leicester: 1.86 goals per game, 1.03 goals against.
United: 1.74 goals per game, 1 goals against.

– Arsenal under Arteta: 1.59 goals per game, 1 goals against.
– Arsenal under Emery this season: 1.38 goals for per game, 1.46 goals against.
– Arsenal under Emery LAST season: 1.92 goals per game, 1.34 goals against.

Overmars

Pierre Agree. People may not notice or look too closely at his assist record, but he’s a master of bringing his team mates into play. As you say, look at the pattern, it can’t be a coincidence: Pepe without Ozil post lockdown – not as effective. Sanchez at Utd without Ozil- useless. Walcott at Everton without Ozil – Disappeared. Even Giroud since joining Chelsea without Ozil – Can’t even get into the team. Arsenal were never the same when Fabregas was injured, same with Dennis Bergkamp. As simple as it may sound, every team needs someone who can keep the… Read more »

Words on a Blog

Dissenter,

And if you ask why Arteta feels compelled to big up Emery and other drowsy defenders, well, any poker player will tell you that sometimes you just have to pretend that the hand you’ve been dealt is a full house.

DaveB666

“Arsenal would still be in the Europa league” despite all the stats showing that absolutely wasn’t the case this season. Did you watch the match in Baku? A poor Chelski squad took us apart. Arteta has a huge challenge on his hands to get this club anywhere near being competitive to get into Europe never mind compete in those competitions. We are getting nearer to being Spurs-like in our delusions of grandeur!

RockyRoe

Typical post. So Pedro, you aren’t going to mention the team selection? Who’s head should that be on? Picking kola After his foxes performance and leaving holding off, who’s head should that be on? Not making subs to impact the match, who’s head should that be on? Bringing 3 in at 84th minute, who’s head should it be on? Does a manager need a transfer window to look at kola and see its a mistake waiting to happen? People here saw it against foxes why couldnt arteta? Does a manager need a season and half and 200 million to understand… Read more »

Guns of SF

We need new players
Badly

Champagne charlie

Freddie

We’re playing the current system imo because the composition of CM wasn’t addressed in the summer and there’s nothing close to the technical level in there for Arteta to play ‘his way’ – so he’s adapted to what he’s inherited.

Graham62

Southampton looked good tonight.

Solid cohesive unit.

I like Hasenhuttl.

Amazing turnaround for them.

Thorough

Salparadyse.
Do you remember Ribery threatening fire and brimstone because he wanted to leave Bayern for Madrid? They said No. Then had a wonderful summer. Indeed, I think that was the rebirth of Bayern.
See Pogba in Manu? I bet he doesn’t wanna leave no more.
When you buy topnotch players you indirectly show your players you’re serious about competing.
And that’s what they all want. Nothing less.

Graham62

RockyRoe

Shite, when you put it like that, it all makes sense.

Tell you this now, if the 3 stooges play against MC, we’ll ship in six.

Freddie Ljungberg

Putting Ozil in this team to fix the creativity issues is like putting on a band aid when you need a triple bypass. He’s nowhere near good enough and hasn’t been for years. The best we can hope for is paying half his wages and hope someone takes him for a free, doesn’t that tell you people about his standing in world football nowadays? Fenerbache and MLs are the only ones even remotely interested in him, he’s not the solution by any stretch.

RockyRoe

Graham

Makes me shudder what can happen against pool and city

Overmars

After 4 good wins in a row, if we loose to Spurs, Liverpool and Man City all in the space of a week, then it suddenly becomes a crisis and Arteta will get looked at.

At the end of the day, having Luiz, Mustafi and Kolasinac as your CB’s isn’t Arteta’s fault. They simply aren’t good enough and we’re not going to win anything with them lot.

Guns of SF

Ozil is a destabilizing force at Arsenal.
A fat rat, getting fatter and fatter. smiling while eating all the cheddar.

MidwestGun

I’d say putting Ozil back in the team now is more like calling your ex-wife for a date and then expecting a happy ending. But when she shows up for the date she is in a wheel chair and asks for her 350k alimony check before she sues you for pain and suffering. .

But maybe that’s just me.. 😀

Words on a Blog

Middy,

Oh, does your ex-wife suffer from a bad back?

Sorry to hear that.

MidwestGun

Words-
Only after she fell off her broomstick.

Seriously, though I would be surprised if Ozil is still on the roster next season at this point.

Guns of SF

Midwest – dont do it man. Just dont do it

Guns of SF

can we package Ozil with another player? 2 for one special?
at this point, he simply cannot stay on anymore. The distraction and media circus around him is just draining…
Pay a chunk and get him out…someone needs to tell him and his agent that he has no place in the team next season

His Brand will be hurt and he will leave

Guns of SF

now on Wednesday, I want to see something from Arteta.
I want to see us beat Pool.

Although we will likely be beaten… I want to see us do something different. I want to see the team fight and play with a plan.

Cannnot be more of the same.. we need to defend and create chances and play with the hand brake off!

Sid

“Red, if you took a table from when Arteta took over to now, we’d be 5th by 10 points”

Last week we were 3rd on on the table since Arteta took over, by thursday we will have slipped further, by end of next week this stat will be conviniently forgotten.

You heard it here 1st!

Guns of SF

Pool are there for the taking.
However, teams always get up for wanting to beat our ass. We are Arsenal of course. teams want to beat us…

Arteta needs to show me his plan.
Show the fans….. get the team fighting like a wounded dog….

China1

Pierre

‘Could it be…’

No, Pierre. No.

China1

Rocky stop it. Kolasinac is REALLY professional in training! All the back 3 are. That’s why they must play irrespective of actual quality or performance each week

China1

Arteta suffers from the wengerism of being allergic to playing players in their best positions

We could’ve had holding LB, Tierney LWB and Saka LWF with auba at 9

But that’s lesss fun than having our infirm winger on the bench only to come on on his weaker side and replace our other dangerous winger, and to have our most dangerous goal scorer on the wing, and to have kola at LB because he has a nice beard, so w/e

Sid

Algeria winger Farid El Melali has been arrested again after reportedly being caught masturbating in public for the second time this year.

China1

I’m also a bit wary that as long as you’re attentive and a good boy in training it’s new contracts all round

Mustafi, kola, xhaka, Bellerin, laca?

I am worried we will only shift one or two of these and be left scratching our heads when we continue to see calamities on the semi frequent next season

China1

Sid

Lad

LOL

Nelson

On Wednesday, I would field a team of substitutes. I would play ball possession and slowdown the game as much as possible. The trick is: if they don’t have the ball, they can’t win.

Overmars

Let’s be honest, the only reason Kolasinac warrants a start against Liverpool will be because he logs in on time for his weekly Zoom meeting with Arteta.

Dissenter

Sid
You’re an incorrigible rascal. That last post cracked me up, my ribs are hurting.

CaliGooner

Reason united is above us now is they spent a fortune on the right player in Fernandes and he’s changed their entire team.

Pogba coming back helped too. Add those two to our midfield we would be in champions league.

Dissenter

Actually, Kolasinac is a model player in training, always blows smoke to the right places.

Dissenter

CaliGooner
“Reason united is above us now is they spent a fortune on the right player in Fernandes and he’s changed their entire team.Pogba coming back helped too. Add those two to our midfield we would be in champions league.”

They aren’t extending the contracts of shitty/average defenders too
They offloaded Chris Smalling, same time we are restocking up oldies

Guns of SF

Kola as shitty as he is on the field, did great defending Ozil. Dude has guts…
crazy shit that was

Frank C

With the management team of Raul & Edu coupled with KSE as the owner it will be a few years before Arsenal are back in The Champions League.

China1

Guns if only arsenal were a WWE tag team then perhaps Kola’s bravery would translate into success for us!

Guns of SF

he should take up MMA fighting… UFC perhaps?

China1

Fernandes is ‘dat guy’

Huge huge signing for utd

China1

If they were still at arsenal, we’d be signing up iwobi and Walcott and new long term contracts along with welbeck. Professionals til the end!

China1

Bamford was right about utd

There I said it.

Who else has the balls to admit it 😂😂

Goobergooner

Why can’t Pepe play on the left wing? Actually utilise that space in behind he always makes to put in a cross while the attacking players are moving towards goal. Rather than the usual turn and pass back which mostly ends up with the ball in our own half again passing between CBS or a half assed Lob into the box when the defenders are now on the front foot. If he complains about missing that part of his game cutting in from the right to make a shooting opportunity to curl it past the keeper, tell him he can… Read more »

Guns of SF

Good points, i also noticed a lack of connection with our defenders and mids. Who to pass too? Dani, seems to be the only one wanting and getting the passes. or a long pass to a winger… We played keep away with the ball going from one defender to another to the goalie. repeat repeat. If this is Arteta ball its absoultely terrible. we need players that can move the ball with speed up the field. We have no center which is a big issue … who to pass to? Dani cannot do it all. He breaks up play and… Read more »

Ishola70

Goobergooner gets it.

Very succinct and insightful your breakdown of the continuing problems in the midfield.

Ishola70

Apparently though this snail midfield play is what Arteta is all about according to some on here.

I don’t see this at Man City though. I see quick combination passing in their midfield. Give and go passing combinations.

It’s a pity that Arteta didn’t bring that aspect of Man City play with him or at least think about getting in players that can perform this.

Guns of SF

anyone rate Emi Buendia from Norwich as a CAM?
He is a through ball specialist. Very good dribbler- does not go down easy

Guns of SF

cheap… Norwich will sell. aged 23
They got the drop