There’s no way to package that game up positively from a performance perspective. That was a 3 out 10 and it’s really hard to argue that we deserved anything out of the 90. Three shots on target, two goals, and 3 points.
You do have to win ugly in the Premier League. All games are hard. That though, was Elephant Man levels of grimness. It’s hard to really understand why Arteta changed his winning formula from last week from a team that was so very impressive. Elneny, AMN and Tierney (hip injury) all dropped out of the starting 11. In came Saka, Ceballos, and Kola. It really broke the system and it failed to click for the most part.
Our midfield dominated possession but failed to make headway into the opposition box, a constant issue. Deeper than that, Ceballos held onto the ball too often, slowing play down… compared to Mo last week he just kept the ball moving at speed. Yes, Dani was a key part of our win, but I think the performance will not have pleased the manager. I can’t imagine he was following instructions, if he was, they weren’t very good instructions for the day.
Kola was a non-entity out on the pitch. I don’t know why he’s anywhere near the squad. He’s mentally weak, he literally can’t get up for the games, and he wants out at Arsenal. It was unfortunate that Tierney picked up a hip injury, but more worrying that Arteta puts Kola in his spot despite clearly knowing he’s a bad player. How many times must he be reminded of this? Why do we have a player starting that isn’t committed to Arsenal?
Saka landed the two pre-assists. That’s some peak Alex Hleb stuff right there. However, I think you’d only call his performance good if that’s all you saw. We needed more from him out there. It was a sloppy outing, below is standard, but the sign of a class player is they still deliver when thing aren’t going well. He delivered.
Bernd Leno showed why many people had a preference for Emi Martinez. I thought he was really poor. He looked nervous for a start. He was flapping for crosses, he more often than not opted to punch, and he didn’t look in control of his box. The cross that he came out for an nearly broke his neck for was a stark reminder of how close we are to having to go with a really unsuitable keeping option. Leno needs competition, that was not the sort of game we needed to see from him after selling a keeper in purple patch.
My big positive was that Eddie and Pepe came on and both looked really hungry. I was at a table with a bunch of Gooners and we were saying that Eddie in particular needs to start impacting those 15 minutes when he’s brought on. He certainly did yesterday. He worked hard and when his chance came, he buried it. He needs a big season. Hopefully that’s a stake in the ground in a 15 goal season. He’ll need that because Lacazette didn’t look at the races again, it’s clear there’s no new deal coming and the club is going to have to sell him this window to avoid another no-fee disaster.
Ultimately, we found the tools to unlock a West Ham that looked far more organized than they have, but that sort of performance is a reminder that the old Arsenal still lurks in the wings. Bumming victories like that can be both a good sign, because it shows focus and effort, but it can also be a precursor to deeper issues further down the line.
The good thing about this coaching setup is there won’t be a celebration of that performance. They’ll be trying to fix the issues there and hopefully we’ll see a response for the Liverpool game. For me, the mistake was tinkering with a model that was working. West Ham and Fulham could have been taken down by the same starting 11 and it could have built a bit of performance momentum. I also think Arteta thinks he can change every player, hopefully the Kola performance was a reminder that there needs to be more than two players on that blackball list.
So we move on. We have 6 points out of 6. The Liverpool game is going to be a roll of the dice, but maybe a shitty run out like that one will refocus the minds in the training ground. I’d rather learn a lesson with a win, than take that sort of complacency across the board into the Liverpool game and get our backsides handed to us.
See you in the comments!
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There seems to be a formatting issue cutting of the start of the article on iOS.
i went and read first upstate so yours dont count haha
In your face, biatches.
Damn, the competition is getting tougher and tougher. Unlike Arsenal’s performances.
Good round up of the game Pedro.
Arteta mystifies us sometimes with his selections maybe he thinks something might change.
Kola should be nowhere near the team. and with Xhaka they make a right dim pairing on the left.
Everyone seems thrilled with Arteta, BUT
1) Why didn’t he keep Martinez as No 1 and let the two goalies do battle? He deserved it and Leno definitely didn’t.
2) Whatever you think of Özil, he is more creative than half the rest of the team added together. Is Arteta simply cutting off his nose to spite his face and freezing Özil out, simply because he can? It seems spiteful.
Any team with a decent crossing plan will easily spook Leno…. He almost broke his neck for a meaningless reason. This game are tailor made for Emi… How I missed him?
Fair write-up. Completely agree with the final sentence.
Jeanette, Emi asked to leave. Arteta wanted to keep him. Ozil is a bum.
The lack of clarity on Laca’s future is making me extremely nervous. It’s turning out to one the the classic Arsenal ‘piss money down the drain’ situations.
We haven’t been nearly ruthless enough this transfer window. I hope Arteta hasn’t caught the Wenger hoarding disease.It’ll severely undermine any good work he does on the pitch.
Playing the same players tthat were in the Fulham game would not have made any difference, probably would have performed worse.
If AMN had played instead of Saka theres no creativity.
This team will always have a problem against opponents that dont come out and attack.
It will get worse with fatigue when we start playing many games.
The trouble is we got results against pool and city by defending narrow and letting them cross and dealing with those crosses. In that martinez was huge: by holding on to those crosses and releasing the pressure and by being commanding in the box.
If we have the same game plan against pool/city (as we probably would since we can’t really compete with them man for man) Leno’s weak box presence will be a problem.
Overall we were shit, got the win but all it showed was you Tierney out of the squad and we look like chums.
That post is complete ?? Lol
Ridiculous celebration yesterday, just like if it was a trophy…
Jeanette
Wish we could extract the ‘creativity’ out of Özil and use it for something useful.
Right now it’s being wasted inside a retired footballer.
Arteta didnt have another option for CB once Tierney was injured, luiz fresh from injury would be worse.
Tierney is injured…. again ?? Lol same old Arsenal.
I thought Emi left because he wanted guaranteed play not because he wanted to leave. He didn’t want to sit on the bench and watch Leno.
It was a tragedy when Sanchez left. He and Özil were magnificent. I don’t know how to get the best out of Özil,, but, one thing is sure, not playing him is definitely not the way!!!!
Fair comments except that Lacazette worked very hard and had a much better game than you suggested. Game underlined that Leno is much more fallible than Martinez and that Tierney is one of our key players . Gabriel held the defence together because the other two CBs were poor ( very poor)
Very poor from rob holding, hes been at arsenal few years, not improved, permanent move away is needed.
As I said before and I will say it again, it’s a big season for Fat Frank, OGS and Mikel Arteta. Yet to be overly impressed by any of them. They all have their moments but it’s not enough at the Clubs like United, CFC and Arsenal. The manager at Brighton have a average set of players playing better. Let’s see who hire Poch first. Arsenal lacks ambition so Mikel might get the chance to hang around but I don’t think United or CFC owners will be content with making up numbers because that’s all is happening at the moment
I’m a little skeptical on Aouar. I know he was quite good in the champions league but his ligue 1 performance was nothing to get excited about.
23 starts + 2 subs – 4 assist (xA = 2, so he got 2 more than expected/should have) and 3 goals (xG = 3).
This is what we are being asked to pay £50 million for?
Happy to see Arteta critical post from you. Us fans need to be honest with each other! I thought AMN was lackadaisical in fulham game, so Arteta showed him the way out. Also, there are rumours that he still wants out of the club. The Ceballos-Elneny decision was confusing, definitely not out of the book of meritocracy. If you listen carefully to the game audio, arteta seems to call Dani numerous times (more than any other player) and spoon feed actions – Dani is like a teachers pet. Tierney change is unavoidable and i think this is the one that… Read more »
JK
Ozil is done, if he can’t get into this wreck of midfield then mikel obviously does not want to include him.
As for martinez, I belive he would have stayed no. 1 based on his performances, if he would have stayed BUT regardless of how great you were for 15 matches you CANNOT hold the club hostage by demanding a guaranteed starting position.
The purchase of all those players has cranked up pressure on Lampard, but also create a problem for him. He has to find a system that allows him to play all the new players, but it won’t be easy because none of them will already be acclimated to the frenetic pace of the EPL.
Xhaka was gash yesterday but regardless of how he performs if he is fit mikel will play him.
GunnerDNA, your last warning was that Arteta was a novice that would fail and you couldn’t see the improvement.
Now, after beating West Ham, you are warning us about Brighton and suggesting trophyless Poch is the real threat.
These hot takes just get hotter.
After this Arsenal performance some posters will probably need to revise their Arsenal top four predictions.
From league winners to runners up, unless of course we do sign Mbappe , right CG?
Chelsea have had a lopsided purchase on players in regards attacking over defence so it will be no surprise to see them stumble.
I suppose they will just hope to blow the mediocre teams away.
We’ll score more goals than you Lumps.
The good thing about this coaching setup is there won’t be a celebration of that performance.
Pedro, he was all smiles and high fives after the win. OF course he should be happy but the way he went on was like he won the world cup or something.
Personally I dont care, I just need him to see the game for what it is, and make adjustments.
AMN out of the team is really becoming a detriment IMO. We need those legs and ability to also move into attacking space.
Also don’t agree with your opinion on Lacazette, he never gets any love from you pedro 🙂
For me and many of the Gooners in my circle, Lacazzette was in top quartile performance-wise in both the games so far. You should try to forget his transfer fee and just look at his performance objectively. Also remember what you expect from him is may be not what arteta asked of him. The coach seems to be happy with him in general.
1) Why didn’t he keep Martinez as No 1 and let the two goalies do battle? He deserved it and Leno definitely didn’t.
He did. It was Martinez who didn’t want the battle.
One of the reason why I feel good about top 4 this season is that it looks like we have two very good CBs Saliba, Gabriel. Agile, quick, dominant in the air.
While most of the other pretenders (ManUtd, Chelsea, Spurs, …) seem to lacking in that department.
With ozil, we don’t get to hear hes side of the story, the club have been trying hard to push him out the club for few years now, I think arteta should put him on the beach.
I think Pepe is in real danger of becoming a failed buy.
He’s not the type of player who can come on for ten, fifteen minutes and make an impact.
Good. Post, not a great harbinger dropping these kind kf performances. 6 points on tbe board but we meed to lokk a tbrwtening side kore regularly to atop the cycle kf 10 plus draws
I’m going to hire a plane with a banner saying Arteta out if he ever select kola again in the PL
Shocking!
Laca is a bit of a non entity, he cant scare defences. Got in the goals which is good but hard to imagine a setul where a more comlete cf dows not improve us.
Pepe right willian left auba middle is still a dream we want to see but probably wont
Pedro,
“GunnerDNA, your last warning was that Arteta was a novice that would fail and you couldn’t see the improvement”
Everything you was mad about last season with Emery are happening now, what’s your explanation? Where are you’re xGs and graphs? Is it because Mikel is bilingual? What is it? At what point should fans expect the team to look like they know what they’re doing?
Very fair post.
Despite the FA Cup heroics the last 2 home league matches against Watford and West Ham respectively have arguably been the worst performances ever seen at The. Emirates Stadium
Relegated Watford battered us.(Martinez.kept us in the game)
Relegated threatened West Ham battered us at stages too.
This much vaunted super coach has clearly much work to do.
WTF was this team selection. Zip midfield creation, last seasons U shaped passing and who did MA have on the bench to come on, Elneny or Willock to create something? Epic failure and don’t give me the crap about attitude and what you show in training is the criteria for making the squad, last time I looked we were still selecting a team that wins games. Yesterday was an excellent time to put Ozil and Guendouzi on the bench. We did not deserve 3 points from that game. The pundits were livid in their criticism of yesterday’s Arsenal team. Watched… Read more »
Leno makes me nervous. Sure he has speedy hands but on set pieces I cringe.
Not a big goalie and does not have the strength like emi has.
Pedro is right, Leno needs competition now for that spot. He need to be pushed…. i do hope our new goalie can push Leno
CG
Despite the FA Cup heroics the last 2 home league matches against Watford and West Ham respectively have arguably been the worst performances ever seen at The. Emirates Stadium
Wrong again
The performances against Southampton and Eintracht last season were MUCH worse than last night and the Watford game . The Watford game was just before the Cup Final. . Don’t know how often you actually go to the ground but I saw some awful performances under Wenger too
Pedro
Can you put people in the box for grammar, spelling and typing with boxing gloves on please?
Easily as offensive to anyone who stayed on at school beyond 8th grade as anything Redtruth The Troll has contributed.
Wenger let standards drop in training and look what happened. Please don’t be a lazy old man on your forum or you’ll be dropping 6Th place finishes in the bloggers table.
“Despite the FA Cup heroics the last 2 home league matches against Watford and West Ham respectively have arguably been the worst performances ever seen at The. Emirates Stadium”
We won both of those games.
Off the top of my head, guess you missed the 1-5 vs Bayern and the 1-4 vs Chelsea at the Emirates.
The new goalie, Runnar ain’t going to provide any competition for Leno.
His stats suggest he’s a calamity waiting to happen.
As Radio Raheem started, we’ll be looking for a goal keeping coach when the Icelandic experiment is over.
Ozil apparently training with the under 23s If he doesn’t get in the squad for Leicester? And we don’t register him? Maybe he’ll jump, it’s beyond ridiculous at this point. Yesterday was a new formation, the other formation took a little time to refine. Guardiola inherited the most expensively assembled squad in history, had months to plan his arrival, spend £200mill, and finished third, then spent another £180mill. Then another €65mill in the January, to win his first two trophies. Hopefully the FA cup win hasn’t put expectations too high, we’ve got the basis of a good young squad, but… Read more »
Pedro
Not sure if this is affecting anybody else but the first part of the post appears to be missing. I am reading on iPhone, perhaps it is fine on other platforms.
GunnerDNA,
Two games in. One impressive win. One ground out win. 6 points from 6.
Guns, Klopp celebrated beating palace like he’d won a World Cup. Let’s not pretend anyone is above celebrating a shithoused win. That felt good at the time. Analysis comes after.
However hard Laca works he is unsuitable for the team, lacks physicality for EPL, lacks speed, average at bringing teamates into play.
Edourd would do better
Let’s hand Arteta some rope. The reason he gave for making the changes was that he wanted to give everyone playing time. I believe what he meant was that for some this was their last chance. For sure Kolasinac has used up his and – if I am honest – so has Xhaka. That early mistake of his set the tone of the team’s drab performance. Neither of them should be around for much longer. Nor should Bellerin, for that matter. Three hangovers from a dismal past.
Yeah 1st part of the post is missing
It’s a formatting error. The text is squeezed to the right of the photo.
HR
“”””Don’t know how often you actually go to the ground but I saw some awful performances under Wenger too””””
Only my annual visit now
Normally the last home fixture.
Undoubtedly, under AW we had some shockers at The Emirates.
But technically and fluency we were on a different level to the last x 2 matches I mentioned.
We only had x 3 attempts on their goal last night.
This is West Ham!!!! Newcastle beat them last week.
Until Arteta starts to drop Xhaka we cannot move forward.
He is laboureous and clueless a real one trick pony.
Has Arteta no other option?
“This is West Ham!!!! Newcastle beat them last week.”
We beat them yesterday.
Well I don’t want to be negative but it feels like double standards pedro. You would have slaughtered Emery for that. And I wasn’t a big fan of Emery after giving him time too. My biggest concern is I think Arteta thinks he can improve every player to a point where he can extract amazing performances from them and we can become a quality side. I don’t get why Holding’s loan was cancelled. Our midfield is really poor in terms of creativity. They can be solid if instructed but they won’t improvise anything like top players do to win us… Read more »
I like lacazette as a geezer rather than a player.
Danny ings would be better though
In 2020, Arsenal have won 74% of their domestic games when Xhaka completes 90 minutes.
In the games where he hasn’t been involved for the full 90, our win percentage is 22%
London Gunner
Lacazette just looks leggy, it’s like he’s got cement in his boots.
Any types of bids £25-£30mill? And I’d sell him.
Move Aubameyang centrally.
I’m glad Arteta celebrates every win. I’m glad he’s not a grump like Mourhino.
Nothing is a given in football. He knew we won a game we had no business winning Hence the celebration.
GunnerDNA that’s a low blow, you need to have points deducted for that.
Rich
“In 2020, Arsenal have won 74% of their domestic games when Xhaka completes 90 minutes.In the games where he hasn’t been involved for the full 90, our win percentage is 22%”
What is this all about?
Considering it has been noted by everybody that Arsenal don’t win enough football games and Xhaka is like teflon and is virtually ever present just how useful is this stat that you have graced us with?
Jamie
“”””Off the top of my head, guess you missed the 1-5 vs Bayern””””””
The way Bayern are dropping 8 goals a game these days, those 5-1’s are looking respectable results.
Sid.
Turn your phone on it’s side. Whole post is there in landscape.
There were a few occasions yesterday when xhaka didn’t press and sat off. He doesn’t have the legs for playing teams that counter.
Danny+SSeptember 20, 2020 20:01:11
Sid. Turn your phone on it’s side. Whole post is there in landscape.
Is this for free?
Is Simeone interested in Torr while diet Pep doesnt play him?
Torreira to Atletico rumours hotting up
‘“This is West Ham!!!! Newcastle beat them last week.”
We beat them yesterday.’
Arsenal beat Fulham away 3:0 but – “Fulham are filth and easily top pick to go down”
Leeds give Liverpool a scare – “ Leeds are a club with a proper coach and a top six contender”
Fulham give Leeds a scare while outshooting them- crickets.
Anyone who’s watched the Prem for longer than five minutes should know better than to make sweeping judgments based on single match days results.
Sid
Nope, my invoice is in the post.
Nothing for free here I’m afraid.
Tom
Fulham are going to go down comfortably and you know it.
Why mislead folks.
Looking at how Son performed for Tottenham yesterday also, I wonder how Maureen is going to accommodate both him and Bale in the team seeing as both play off the left.
Danny
Landscape didn’t work my end, in fact lost more of the post.
Works on iPhone by going to reader view, but that cuts out the comments section, which may be a good thing!
Ish
I never said they weren’t.
Sam Dyche dropping F- bombs on sidelines , a proper manager that lol.
Chris
I’m iPhone. What’s the first sentence of the post?
Maybe I’m not seeing it all but definitely see more landscape than portrait
Check the formatting now
Karim, face saving move for Atleti there.
Thought Laca would be the makeweight
It’s working now, see the whole thing with different picture at the top, cheers.
Can someone explain why AM are so insistent on Arsenal meeting Partey’s release clause, while they are rumored to be interested in LT.
A swap + cash just makes life easy for all!
So Torreira close to Athletico, Kola told to pack his bags, Chambers being shunted out the door and no new contract for Laca, can we finally start to see some movement this week? That would be fucking great because we’ll need it. Just read the missing part of the post, thanks for the tip Danny S. Ceballos got some undeserved criticism imo, was far better, again, than Xhaka and actually tried to make things happen while being better defensively, again, and didn’t constantly give the ball away in dangerous positions. He didn’t headbutt anyone though so that’s a minus I… Read more »
Pedro
Yeah, that did make sense although I’m glad to keep Laca ( who’s ok for us as long as he’s not the main goal scoring threat ) and send Torreira to Madrid while we’re getting Partey tbh.
I don’t know why people are getting triggered when someone says Leno is a nervous wreck whenever a ball is crossed into the area.I mean,it clear for all to see..it has nothing to do with Martinez some of us have been saying this even before Martinez came into the fore last season.He has this bad habit of punching the ball straight back into opponents paths and it always pisses me off…No point in arguing though,we are going to find out pretty soon,up next,we are playing against a manager whose main tactic is Alexander Arnold and Robertson crossing balls into the… Read more »
Anyone watch Leicester-Burnley? Very enjoyable. Leicester look quick, athletic, clear-minded about how they want to play, and very much at the races. They did give up a lot of shots to Burnley (16), but Burnley looked decent themselves and it’s worth remembering that Burnley had 15 shots against us in our 0-0 draw with them in February. It’s also worth remembering that Burnley only finished 2 points behind us in the league last season. Anyone have thoughts on how we will fare against Leicester next weekend? How would you set up? What must we do to counter their strengths? What,… Read more »
My bad. I mean Wednesday in the league cup. We don’t play Leicester in the league until late October.
indeed, got the three, big test. passed. just. Got some video footage, need to get some man out the squad, yesterday. Jay Leno’s face irritates me, soft as butter that lad. like art said (not verbatim). They have many strengths and a few weaknesses, like all teams. Well done Mikel, you just added another one unnecessarily. I expect nothing but ariel balls and teams playing for corners now. Please God, only David raya can save us now lol. Reckon he’ll eventually take Lenore’s spot given that he’s seen as a more modern sweeper keeper and Spanish. Arsenal don’t know how… Read more »
The Torriera to Atletico rumors may very well be true.
Atletico have a hard-on for these Uruguayan players, it’s like some kind of ritual. They buy them as castaways and make them great players.
Since we know they are desperate to sign Torriera, hump up his value to £30 million and use it to ease the Partey deal or just take the cash and go buy someone else.
If we sign Partey + Aouar? I hope they live up to the hype.
They’ve both been hyped for so long at this point, it’s almost like they’re both destined to be complete let downs.
The Athletic saying Torreira to Atletico is a one-year loan.
at least the rumours are hotting up. nobody in the squad can do what the two linked can do. For me I’d love to see raya, eduoard and aarons. These injuries are becoming to regular to be relying on Kieran. hope I’m wrong on that one.
loan? not cool.
A loan isn’t great. Would take it if it made a straight swap Laca for Partey possible though.
If not sell him elsewhere. He’s one of the few players we have that isn’t on astronomical wages, still has a good reputation and is relatively young, shouldn’t be this hard to sell him really.
CG
“Don’t know how often you actually go to the ground but I saw some awful performances under Wenger too”
You don’t get much more awful than 8-2.
Absolutely no point in loaning players, we need cash to fix the midfield. Unfortunately buyers for our over paid and over rated (by some AFC delusional fans) are hard to come by. Apart from AMN and Emi have we actually had a reasonable cash offer a single player? And neither of those was north of £20m.
Our negotiating ability is weakened because if the high wages we pay these players. The reason why the Martinez deal happened so quickly related to the players desire to leave and also the fact that he was on very low wages.
PapSok, Mustafi and all the other high wage earners know the burden is on Arsenal to move them on, not the other way around. More so when they see how Ozil,has conducted himself. He’s stared down three managers and the higher-ups …and he’s still around.
andy
There are rumours that Lazio are interested in Mustafi for a decent enough fee, fortunately though we’ve refused to deal because agents were involved and would expect payment.
I’m glad I’ve been converted from a “getting shit done” perspective to “I’d rather see Arsenal stagnate for decades than deal with an agent” view.
Really don’t know what I was thinking.
Freddie
Laca’s on £180k per week and 29 – he’s hardly a spring chicken on minimum wage!
Marc
Could I have possibly been talking about Torreira there? Laca is another of the Wenger wage mistakes.