Here we are, back together, ready to indulge in some peak-Barclays viewing today.
So what can we expect away at Manchester City?
A tough game. Sorry to be very obvious here, but Manchester City are hurting at the moment and they really need to impose themselves back on the league.
First game back can go either way. It’s an advantage in one sense, because teams have only had a couple of training sessions to crack the code. The fact that they don’t have KDB and a striker of note is also a big win for us.
Arteta has his side on better paper form, but really, we haven’t blown a game out the park so far this season. This would be a nice one to execute a sound plan really well.
Again, I wouldn’t be expecting us to express ourselves. We’re going to take our chances on the break, we’ll test their centre backs, and we’ll try and play very patiently.
The key is always defence. If David Luiz starts, you’ll know within 6 minutes which one showed up. We can’t have it be the Luiz who came on last time and had one of the worst performances of the season. We need the towering leader of a defender that took us to an FA Cup final win.
It’ll also be interesting to see how tempted the manager is to use Thomas Partey. Suspicion says it’s too early and he’ll go with Xhaka and Ceballos. Hopefully, he’ll see some minutes off the bench.
Nicolas Pepe, on form, could be interesting today. He lit up the last game with his energy and quick passing. Question is, does the manager really trust him? If we’re to have any sort of free-flowing football this year, it’ll likely have to include him. We know he has it in him to be world-class, we just don’t see it often enough.
I don’t have lot to offer today, but we’ll be back with a podcast and a match report tomorrow.
ENJOY THE GAME HAVE YOUR SAY BELOW! x
This loss is on Arteta. If he simply swapped Auba and Willian,our play in the final 3rd would have been much more threatening. Willian looked uncomfortable in an unnatural role. Brought on laca and Nketiah and we just couldn’t retain the ball in the final 3rd enough. Those subs killed the game. We are a team that creates less so this type of game is inevitable The final action was a bit off, whether it was the shot/cross/pass or the right run being made. We had got behind their midfield enough times. Just didn’t punish them enough. If Arteta made… Read more »
Horrible display. Horrible display of our manager. To go there to lose by a goal is pathetic. Real subs at the 83th minute, he was happy the way the game was going I guess. Relegation fodders like Crystal Palace go there for the win, but Arteta is happy to lose by a goal. How many good minutes have we had this season??? 10 good minutes vs Sheffield and 10 good minutes vs City. No desire from the manager to actually create a dynamic attacking side. He has a plethora of players now. Saka, Auba, Laca, Willian, Pepe, Nelson. Why not… Read more »
No cojones equals no points. Timid, timid, timid until we were behind. Same ol strategy against top teams. So much passivity for 30mins. Waiting for what? This City team was there for the taking. Dejecting.
The attacking play needs to improve for sure
Partey got a reality of EPL physical game. Players nor easily pushed out and he himself landed on the floor. Fortunately he is quite good technically..
But Saja was outstanding
How the f** k they get away with serial fouling to break up play every 60 seconds.with impunity.A joke.
Pool and City lead the league with fouls that break up counter attacks…… its ugly but the FA does not care…
Their entire defense had yellows today, shows that their press really comes from their mids, but once you get through, their defense is shit. we could have taken these guys with more direct football
TR7
I’d argue you can’t get champagne football with a novice coach.
By the time Diet Pep is through non of Arsenals players will be worth more than 10 mil
Before the ball was even kicked, I said that I just want to see a smart plan from the manager, and a good game from the boys. I saw neither. Over to you, Pedro. Let’s hear those excuses. Curious how you’re gonna spin this shit performance.
Luteo
The problem is no one takes the FA Cup seriously except Arsenal.
On that display, I think Saka needs to be starting at LW and Auba more centrally with the two of them interchanging positions. Saka is so much more dangerous going forward than either Pepe or Willian. Ainsley is more than competent at LWB these days anyway.
Most of our dead balls end back with Leno, then we scramble out with limited ability to make it worthwhile. Arteta culpable, with all the strikers we have we have no attacking force.
Btw. Why didn’t Aguero get a booking when he harassed the lineslady?? Arm on shoulder and all?
Did VAR check that none of his fingers touch her sensitive areas?
He thought it’s a pub?
And I forgot to say: the refereeing was a total disaster.
Unbelievable how biased the ref was.
If v, v, d is out for 8 months that is a big problem.. Spurs could win this fuckin thing, they’d beat that city side tonight… Seriously worried about this and we’re we are at… We was absolutely bollocks tonight no doubt.
Still – considering these affairs usually have us losing by a margin of 3 goals at least, I’m not too pissed. Its a step forward IMO – albeit a VERY small step forward
This was pretty poor, basically emeryball with better defending.
Arteta is not like Pep or Wenger, both of whom play attacking football… that encourage creativity…
He is way to pragmatic for me. Closer to Mourinho with this style.
He has put all his effort into fixing the defense and now the offense is no existent most times.
Cant we fix 2 things at once at Arsenal?!??!?!
Sound defensively???
We are playing like a relegation fodder with 10 people behind the ball, zero creativity, zero ambition to get points, counter attacking football with 2-3 chances per game. It’s how a bottom 5 team would play.
Is this what Arsenal is? How can Leicester, Leeds, Everton, Villa do more???
Tell me more about it!
Partey is nowhere near Song or Diaby in terms of strength and is technically inferior to most top 6 EPL teams midfielders
Next 2 games are must win. Leicester at home and Ole’s United at Old Trafford.
I was encouraged by Pepe.
He is improving in his positioning and movement.
Getting bullied physically is expected.
Hopefully he would have developed physically by next season.
How many posts here saying we should go for it more, agree, rather have a go than concede a loss like timid kittens
So now we’ve started going for the “we did not get battered trophy” lol.
The only reason we did not get battered was because City had their b team and even with that they never went out of 2nd gear. They literally did not take us seriously enough.
It’SMS deja vu when it comes to Arsenal playing top 6 sides.
City did not look particularly good. Their back line creaks under enough pressure. Fortunately for them, we opted to forego the attacking side of the game today. Disappointing.
Neither of Pool, Chelsea, Manure, Spuds, Leicester, Leeds, Everton, Villa, Wolverhampton and half of the rest of the teams in the EPL would play the way we did today.
Atrocious side passing when you are losing the game.
What the actual fuck did I watch???
Not worried about that game. Int’l break blues and typical ref bullshit
Next 2 games are must win. Leicester at home and Ole’s United at Old Trafford.
Yeah, agree, We need to show up now.
“Glad we didn’t get battered”
Wow, Pedro. I now understand exactly what you see in Arteta because he’s probably going to use the exact same line in his post game press conference. Or at least thinking the same.
We’ve gotten the two toughest games of the year out of the way already as well with Anfield and Ethiad.
VAR replays suggest Agueros fingers crossed the line.
One more problem with our play is Leno passes very short. Takes ages to advance the ball to middle of the pitch from Leno to Luiz to Xhaka to Bellerin and to Ceballos. Ederson mixes it up well with both short and long passes.
Still SMH at the Willian as CF thing…. we wasted a half with this nonsense.
Everton and Spurs are looking strong…. getting top 4 is going to be really hard…. and with this type of lineup and plan I am not inspired
I understand being cautious but sideway passing when you are losing the game by a goal is some next level bullshit.
Our manager showed he was happy with the minimal loss. No reaction to what’s happening, team wasn’t risking more, subs in the 83th minute. Zero ambition to get points. Happy to lose by a goal.
Venga
You must be a troll, both Man City and Liverpool have been battered this season.
Really drab football from Arsenal. If we had watched football that drab while Emery was in charge, the Emery-was-a-bland-hire crowd would be fulminating endlessly about how a Europa League manager was slowly ruining a once-great club. No question. That was some of the most boring football I’ve ever watched in my life. If Arsenal are going to play like this all season, the club should be paying fans to watch, not the other way around. Also, I like Partey and I like the Partey signing, but did anyone see anything from him in his ten minutes that makes you think… Read more »
Guns of FS
In fairness to Jose his teams are usually ruthless going forward. Arteta’s style is just bland and pathetic. We should be doing way more with this team
Lets be clear the games we won vs liverpool and man c meant little to them,
Citeh had there b team?absolute bollocks.Were missing Debruyn & Jesus.Who is not always a starter.zThats it.fed up as the next fan but hey?
Fuck off to anyone making judgments of Partey based on those ten odd minutes of pitch time. Thicker than a bloated whore’s pussylips some of you.
It’s gonna get ugly here today isn’t it. Don’t have the energy for it, I’m going golfing you guys enjoy being miserable about Arteta and Arsenal.
Also, I like Partey and I like the Partey signing, but did anyone see anything from him in his ten minutes that makes you think he’s going to change things for us dramatically? Yeah, neither did I.
What a joke !
“Happy to lose by a goal”- no but happier not to lose 8- 2 any day of the week.yes.
We didn’t get battered by a City team that’s struggling for confidence.
Losing by a goal and team kept playing like we are getting something out of it.
Mind you City are not the best team in Europe as the excuse was vs Liverpool, yes same Liverpool that got humiliated by Villa and just got a point vs Everton. Same City that got demolished by Leicester and got a point vs Leeds.
But no, our game plan will be that we’d happy to lose by a goal. Obviously we are behind in our development.
Arteta was a boring player… no wonder we end up like this. In this case, he should really try and be more like his mentors… pep and old weng play entertaining football… this fella is going to piss off a lot of his players with this shit. For ex, Pepe and Saka coming in to the middle on attacks, create space on the wings for the full backs…. Noope did not happen. Pepe is more dangerous cutting inside more than hugging the sideline…. basic shit like this… why does he not see it? Also I dont think Partey’s cameo is… Read more »
Arteta is being coward there! Keep playing xhaka who can’t move with the ball or without the ball for that matter If you don’t have mobile midfield and you rely on long balls ,you need strong forwards to win the ball We dont have that! Played Auba on left and didn’t change him despite his obvious ineffectiveness there .what a waste of a position and a player! Might as Well play Leno there Auba hasn’t showed up since he signed that contract May be he is pissed off not playing central! What the point of bringing Nketiah if you can’t… Read more »
TR7,
This is exactly what I have been saying. Leno distribution is poor. He is unable to kick the ball accurately over 30 yards, to the wingbacks. That make it a lot more difficult to beat the press.
Raptora, behind in our development, but the best start we’ve had in 7 years.
Saka was great though he worked very well and was the only creative outlet today. Which leads me to believe why not play him LW with Auba centrally? Higher up the pitch he looks far more potent than a LWB. But yeah I’m starting to think signings might be what saves Mikel from Mikel. Aouar or a Coutinho type tucked in from the left would be a huge benefit
Stinker from Willian, Auba and Pepe. But I think we had more half chances than City. Saka, Auba, Pepe. Saka in the First Half was very good. He fades in the second half. A very intelligent footballer. Should have scored the 1v1 against Ederson. No creativity in the side and thats again going to be the theme for the whole season. Ozil is the only creative player we have and he is not going to be registered. The next best creator we have imo is ESR. But he is still very raw and Arteta doesn’t like it raw (pun intended).… Read more »
No one should be happy losing. Period.
Uwot,
Same City that lost 2-5 at the Etihad to Leicester and ended 1-1 vs Leeds in the last 2 rounds.
City had 1 point in their last 2 games.
And you are happy you didn’t lose 8-2. Okay. Our fans are something.
Mourinho plays efficient football..he will never do anything that doesnt work like this passing out of the back bs which literally cost us the goal for no reason
A bit of perspective on here wouldn’t go amiss.We were playing the 2nd best side in the prem who’ve invested £500 plus million into their side.Whove been champions 2 of the previous 3 seasons who were desperate for a result.Yes Leicester spanked them but so f*** no what.A one off.shit happens.doubt it will occur in their next 100 meetings.Proves f** k all.Arteta can only work with the tools he has & it is a work in progress which on occasions is going to have hiccups.like it or not.We don’t have half a billion to throw at it straight away.
The games we beat Liverpool and Man C they didn’t expect us to beat their press but Arteta had improved that part of our game / we had better players that could pass the ball around the press. Also Auba took his chances. Both managers are now aware of our one trick game plan (hit Auba over the top) and are not going to be caught out again. Arteta has made us harder to beat but so would Big Sam and Sean Dyche and both of those managers were considered not good enough for us. The job of a top… Read more »
You can bet I’m happy we didn’t lose 8- 2 .Judging citeh on their last 2 games as a benchmark is taking the piss & you know it.
Pete
“Glad we didn’t get battered.”
You should just admit that you don’t think very highly of this group of players. If you really thought this group was bona fide top-four quality before we signed Partey, you wouldn’t be worried about our getting “battered” by a DeBruyne-less, Aguero-at-80% Manchester City.
Leeds played City without fear, and Leicester beat City handily — and both played City when City had DeBruyne in the XI.
It’s time for a little more honesty around here, I think.
Tepid performance vs Sheffield, Aubameyang moves to the center and in 5 minutes we decide the game in our favor.
Arteta: We should play Willian through the middle and Auba down the left.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
I was shocked Auba was starting through the middle when I saw the starting lineup.
Turns out Arteta will never try it, 10 months in his reign.
Fuck off to anyone making judgments of Partey based on those ten odd minutes of pitch time. Thicker than a bloated whore’s pussylips some of you.
Yeah I mean yeah
Bamford
Arteta is Pedro’s unicorn. No way he criticizes him.
Bamford, I think if you were honest, you’d accept that we’re a solid team defensively that needs to work on final third play.
If you can’t see the progress, and you are bored competing against teams that were battering us before, I can’t help you.
I’M CALLING FOR CALM CALM CALM! NO NEED FOR MELTDOWNS
Uwot
How come Leicester managed to thump City and if you recall Arsenal knocked Man City out of the Cup.
Zero flair boring play, endless back passing .
That’s sums up how Arteta used to play his football.
He thinks it’s good stuff .
Gotta score twenty more goals than last season to get anywhere.
CalypsoOctober 17, 2020 19:41:17
VengaYou must be a troll, both Man City and Liverpool have been battered this season.
—————————
Nowhere did I say that they weren’t battered and I don’t think it’s controversial to say that going away to City and Liverpool are the two hardest fixtures of our year. Don’t know why that makes me a troll, mate…
Leeds play without fear and took two seasons under Bielsa to get back to the Premier League. I love Bielsa, but the guy has never won a trophy. Let’s see where his football takes them this season.
I like Arteta but we are very safe in our play. All sideways and backwards. Leno had the 5th highest number of completed passes for Arsenal today. It’s not at all enjoyable to watch.
Arteta really needs to change things up now as both Klopp and pep has sussed his system already and what the hell as auba got to do to play central , absolute bonkers decision to play him wide open when William is central .
One thing that’s starting to worry me though big time is after working with wenger and pep I thought arteta would start to play progressive attacking football but it’s clear to see we’ve got the next mourinho
Sadly, Arteta used the wrong sauce to marinate the food, again. The dish was poor. Wasn’t the first and probably not the last. A glimpse of Partey mode in added time though. Partey got the ball just into Ciry’s half and drove forward while shielded it from a City player, eventually passed it to Tierney for a cross. Assertive play. Too bad we had 7 + 4” of Partey. Game over just when we started getting some fun! With the collection of attacking talent and special sauce, Arteta can’t continue to put on these largely disjointed, mostly inconsistent and often… Read more »
Auba is a target man, not a winger… I think this entire running in behind the defense thing is getting overcooked now.
He can keep the CB’s honest and from moving too much by going center!
we have good wingers. he is not one of them.
Who the fuck is Auba crossing too when it should be him that is getting crossed to?
ugh
Seems we play every game not to get battered
Glad we are somehow building from the back but some time during the season we will have to kick on a be a bit more adventurous.
Still a good start to the season but we haven’t put in a decent performance except at Fulham and we have all discovered they aren’t ready for this level yet.
Next few weeks games will come thick and fast, we will need to rotate. Willian has been a pointless signing so far.
My judgment wasn’t about Partey. It was about what difference Partey will ultimately be able to make within this highly inadequate Arsenal side / squad. The answer, sadly, is … very little.
You lot should try facing facts occasionally rather than constantly lying to yourselves.
agreed Guns. Think we need to move Saka to LW and Auba central. It’s a no-brainer IMO
Uwot: Yes Leicester spanked them but so f*** no what.A one off.shit happens.doubt it will occur in their next 100 meetings.Proves f** k all.Arteta can only work with the tools he has & it is a work in progress which on occasions is going to have hiccups.like it or not. City lost 9 times in the EPL last season. 9 times. They lost points at the Etihad vs spuds, Wolves beat them, manure beat them, Crystal Palace too. This season they had 3 games, 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss. But we go there and we’re happy we lost by… Read more »
The thing is ,le grove slaughtered the manager when we lost 6-3 away to city a few years back . We conceded a couple at the end but we gave them a proper game, we scored 3 had 2 perfectly good goals disallowed for offside and we threw the kitchen sink at it to try and get a result. What we have now is the same fans complaining that we were too negative. Make up your mind, do you want to see the team throw bodies forward, leaving us open to the counter or do you want to see the… Read more »
Arteta has not improved our defence as most people believe he has. Putting ten behind the ball is not improving defence.
Can he improve defence without sacrificing offence? That would be real improvement. The evidence so far says no.
Playing like Fulham with 10 men behind the ball hoping for a flukey break in the game is nowhere near good enough.
Willian should only start on right wing against team we will be guaranteed 60% or more possession…. against big teams, pepe is more of a threat. Laca’s record against big team is better than the rest of the squad… I dont understand his omission. Also rob holding hurting during warm up didnt help … he could have done better than luiz in covering the right side for the first goal.. Martinez would have caught the goal which leno blocked that led to the goal.. I’m a supporter of MA but he needs to learn A LOT from his MANY mistakes… Read more »
Pierre, no one is asking for Mesut to come back. He’s had enough chances to prove himself in away games against top 6 sides. Our minds are made up, keep him in the bin.
“Really drab football from Arsenal. If we had watched football that drab while Emery was in charge, the Emery-was-a-bland-hire crowd would be fulminating endlessly about how a Europa League manager was slowly ruining a once-great club. No question.“
Pathetic take as per from ‘Mr.what’s failure this season’.
Emery was a fucking mess, there’s nothing remotely messy about us right now and it’s clear as day we’re improving the defensive and structural foundation of the side.
You’re typically full of verve after an Arsenal defeat and aiming to rekindle Emery as a fallen hero. Just fuck off you wet wipe.
I think the level headed view of that game is that it was disappointing not to impose ourselves more in an attacking sense, as other teams have recently done against City, but it isn’t games like this that will decide our top 4 ambitions, it will largely be our record against the teams outside the top 6, and I expect us to be competitive once again in the home fixtures against top 6. But the lack of attacking verve by in large this evening was sad to see. I think Saka on the left needs to be a permanent thing,… Read more »
Arteta has to grow some balls and be more adventurous!
This is as timid and negative as it comes
It’s just about bearable when we get a result, but we ain’t winning shit with this kind of football!
Pierrd
The art is throwing bodies forward and not get exposed at the back.
Some quick fixes for Arteta that anyone can see.
1. Play Auba centrally up top. The team rev to life and it is no coincidence.
2. Stop starting Xhaka and Cebellos, the correct double pivot is Partey and El Neny as a double box to box. Do not stop them taking it in turns going forward!! Very important!
3. Get Leno to kick it long, train him to do it.
These 3 changes make us menacing, solid and dangerous.
Someone send this to Arsenal HQ
Arteta needs to apologise for the rubbish 🗑 football, ozil can’t be any worse then the trash we already have on the field. bring ozil back.
Bamford you need to face facts too my friend. The main one being that you’re not an Arsenal fan and a follow up would be how little of football you truly know. I mean you’re the most pointless poster around here it’s not even funny. You make excuses for rivals and their signings while you make a proclamation about an Arsenal signing after a 10 minute cameo. Just pathetic commentary since you were allowed back in from the wilderness.
We were unlucky, game could have gone either way, Arteta has made us competitive and compact, and the players look comfortable in possession in deep areas.
Saka is magic, but relying solely on a 19yr old for some spark, will always come back and bite us eventually.
Gutted we didn’t get in a top class creator, with Van Dijk looking like he’s out for the season, the titles there for the taking.
Let’s hope the unthinkable doesn’t happen.
LOL Man Utd already conceding.
That’s fucked us up, Poch on the way.
Also hope there is more to come from Willian, and that Pepe can achieve some consistency but at the moment the latter is really starting to look like an underwhelming signing.
It’s hard to believe the Aguero incident with the lines woman didn’t get more condemnation from the commentators. I mean it was seriously wrong.
no bite, no fire, no fight and who do i blame? Arteta
Bamford has to be the biggest cunt ive seen on here
Look, I get the idea.
Have a stable 60 mins, try to limit their chances and have a chance to get something in the last 30 minutes. It’s alright.
But when the last 30 mins happened Arteta showed NO ambition. Zero.
He didn’t push his team forward, he didn’t make any big substitutions. He was perfectly fine to let the clock run down. Like what??? Minutes ran down and we were sideways passing. ?????
Newcastle 1 – 0 United
Someone’s going to be tetchy.
Also am I the only one who is really impressed by how Ceballos has transformed his game these last few months. Really good at holding the ball in tight areas and his tackling and duals have gotten so much better since the restart. Lad looks like a baller for us.
raptora
“we were sideways passing. ?????”
Who were the biggest culprits in this sideways passing?
Ozil my foot
Ozil don’t create any more
Saka is the better creator now
Saka should’ve scored though
Arteta should’ve kept Martinez
Leno
His distribution is poor
The GK and Bellerin were at fault for the goal
Leftside
There are plenty of bloggers trashing the team not just Bamford.
Marko
I literally just explained that it wasn’t a judgment about the player but a judgment about how much of a difference he will be able to make within this highly inadequate side / squad.
You do your thing, though.