Arsenal took a defeat away at the Etihad in the first game back after the international break. There are no two ways about it, the result was disappointing, but probably not the disaster performance many are trying to paint.
Our truth right now is very similar to what it was last season under Mikel Arteta. We are well organized, we are resolute, and we’re tough to beat. We are… good at defending. Arteta wants to build a side based on strong foundations. He’s not far off cracking that code. Before yesterday, under Arteta, we were top 4 for total points since he took over. This is our best start in the league for 7 years.
… we are, however, a little bit shit going forward.
It doesn’t really seem to matter what combination the manager uses, we’re one dimensional. Arteta tried Willian in a false 9 role yesterday and it wasn’t very effective. Our front three weren’t really given much to work from. We tend to deliver one type of move and it’s not that hard to defend against. I think it’s fair to say that we attack with the handbrake on.
The hope was that we’d get runners in behind City’s centre backs yesterday like Leicester did but it didn’t really happen. We lacked ball speed when passing. Our attacking moves seemed almost over-rehearsed. We didn’t possess that extra 5% that comes with confidence. You don’t feel that we have the extra gear to kill a game when there’s blood in the water.
That might be a little unfair. We did have some good chances but we fluffed our lines. Bukayo Saka, having another excellent game, forced a brilliant shouldered save from Ederson. Nicolas Pepe didn’t do well with two pretty sound chances for headers. The opportunities were few and far between, but we really should be doing better with the pace and pedigree we have in the side.
I think Pepe will look back and be disappointed with how he played. He was very meek again. His passivity is infuriating to watch and his pressing is very hit or miss. Quite often, it looks like he’d prefer to be fouled than fight and beat a man. Willian also didn’t seem at the races, not what I was hoping for after dropping such a huge amount on his contract, he looks less settled than Gabriel.
There has to be a way around it. I’d be excited about ESR if he could stay fit for longer than 6 minutes. Having someone that can run with the ball and play in the pockets is what’s needed, but it’s quite a reach to think he’s bailing us out this season. Saka is great out on the left, I’m sure he could play through the middle, but you’d be teaching someone on the job which would require a steep learning curve. It is always tempting to think that Mesut Ozil is saving you here… but be real, our dismal away record isn’t going to be solved by someone that has bottled tough away games for 5 years at Arsenal. Wenger used to let him have days off. If you can’t commit behind the scenes, what makes anyone think he’ll do it on the pitch in a game like yesterday?
I think my biggest worry is that we sold the wrong keeper. The mistake we made for the goal was a catalogue of errors, I don’t doubt that. Bellerin and Luiz both have to do better in that situation. However, I find it difficult to look past Leno palming a shot like that right back into the feet of Sterling. This is now a pattern. He repeated the same thing about 10 minutes later. Emi Martinez was very much a catcher and he mostly palmed shots away from danger. The keeping coaches need to get on top of this issue because it’s starting to look like a tactical opportunity to shoot from distance against him.
Outside the goal, our defence was pretty good. David Luiz was originally dropped, then had to be called upon when Rob Holding tweaked his hamstring in the warm-up. It seemed like he was sulking a little bit. He’s a player that you can’t really drop because he takes it badly. I think this will become apparent as he transitions behind younger models this season. Also… stop indulging the garbage freekicks. He’s not a specialist.
It’s still early days in the so-called process. You can’t fix everything at the same time. We’re solid defensively, it is an objective fact that we did not get battered like we usually do in away games. That is a massive shift forward regardless of how offended your sensibilities are. It is an objective fact that we were still in that game right until the death. It is objective fact that when we were battered by them in June, we conceded 20 shots and yesterday and didn’t hit the target ourselves… yesterday, we limited them to 5 shots on target from 13 attempts. We had 11 attempts and 3 on target.
This is a process and things take time. Let’s see what a difference Thomas Partey will make to our midfield. Let’s see what happens when Willian settles and Saka grows in confidence and experience.
Things will get better. I want to get over the novelty of Arsenal being a competitive team, because we can’t be celebrating failure like this past January. We want to be the best, there’s no glory in losing, Arteta has to learn from these games and push the team forward… because this attacking conundrum has to be addressed with the players we have.
Onwards and upwards… we have a month to fix these problems against two more top teams. Let’s see what the coaching staff can do to make good on this result.
I think my biggest worry is that we sold the wrong keeper.
—————————————-
Of course we bloody did.
Morning
3
Tr4phy
Pierre Nah I disagree. City were vulnerable in transition throughout 90 mins even after gundogan replaced Aguero. Their settled shape wasn’t good too. Just not compact enough. They were very beatable. I would have said Pep tactically outwitted Arteta if he had 1) managed to create sufficient chances against us 2) they would have stopped our methods of chance creation. They struggled to create much against us. We shot ourselves in the foot in regards to our chance creation rather than Pep’s brilliance. Neither their pressing nor their settled shape was great. Arteta playing Auba Lw and Willian false 9… Read more »
Don’t know if we will be able to coach catching the ball into Leno now, Martinez probably had it drilled into him when he turned up at the club as a teenager. Will maybe have to change the centre backs train of thinking, and have them ready to hoof away those palm downs.
I don’t like to go on and on about things once their done, so haven’t mentioned Emi Martinez since my original outrage at letting him go. But yesterday was a fine example of why it was a huge mistake. Leno is not a bad keeper, but we’ve known for pretty much the whole (calendar) year that Martinez is a much better catcher than him – when Emi was playing for us and he held on to difficult shots, we were always saying that Leno would’ve parried that and put it back in danger. And there you go. What’s done is… Read more »
Martinez was by far the better overall keeper. Only thing Leno has over him is probably being a better shot stopper and the gap ain’t that huge even at that. We actually contained them really good. Deserved a draw at least. Not sure if we should have been experimenting with Willian down the middle in a game like this. Partey coming in should solve the creativity issue through the middle to some extent as he is a box to box player and pretty quick at releasing the ball in transition, something others refuse to do. But we still need to… Read more »
Pedro, you are bang on with Leno! He makes good saves but I have lost count now of the times he pushes the ball back into danger rather than deflecting it wide or for corners. Martinez as you say was much better at this but it’s too late now. If we are seeing this then you would hope that the coaches are working on this with him! I think we need to move back to a back 4 now we have Partey to protect the defence. I still think Ozil can do a job with the protection behind him &… Read more »
LFC “I would have said Pep tactically outwitted Arteta if he had 1) managed to create sufficient chances against us 2) they would have stopped our methods of chance creation.. 1) Pep wasn’t interested in creating chances 2nd half . His remit was to control the game with possession, do not allow a quick transition and close the passing channel through to Saka ….and it worked perfectly as he strangled the life out of the game. Expansive football was not on pep’s agenda in the 2nd half. 2) they did stop our method of chance creation in the 2nd half… Read more »
Martinez wanted to leave, he trebled his wages, arsenal made good money and that’s that. I cannot recollect any rumours about any team being in for Leno or him wanting to leave. One of this had to happen prior to a move
Arteta being tactically ourwitted by Pep is not a crime..
Arteta had the upper hand in the semi final and Pep learnt from that game.
Yesterday was a good learning curve for Arteta..
I will repeat, City were not interested in scoring a bucketful of goals , it was a case of win at all cost as Pep knew the importance of the 3 points and building team confidence .
Pierre is bang on with his assessment as I watch the highlights even Gary Neville just said the same thing. He learnt that from the Leceister drubbing not to allow us to play our quick transition football. Fouling was one thing. And the ball over the top to Auba Walker had the pace to narrow down Auba attacks on the left.
Good list but I’d have to disagree with you and the commenters Pedro, how can you say with a shot like that straight down your throat that you can parry it anywhere else bar into the path of an o rushing attacker? Look at the shot again it was at his chest his pushes it away the only way he could of. I’ve been on that situation as a goalkeeper and no matter how you are coached you have to get the ball away. Funny that everyone has short memory loss in regards to Leno, a 10/12 game run for… Read more »
Of course we sold the wrong keeper.
A monumental mistake by Arteta and AFC.
YET AGAIN, It’s like Arteta is trying to be the smartest guy in the room… How can you possibly, possibly arrive at the conclusion that Willian at no9 is a good idea? Furthermore, what made you think a game away against City would be the perfect time to try it??? Wenger used to do stupid things like that and for me when I see a man do that, I have to say it… Get the basics right – do that and if things don’t go your way then fine – but how can you justify Willian at 9 auba wide… Read more »
Any additional attacking output will need to come at the expense of the stability and discipline Arteta has installed at the back and through the team. Right now we’re competitive, I don’t think this squad of players is designed in any way to play free flowing attacking football, week in and week out. Yesterday’s performance was far from the disaster class some are making it out to be. How many times have we gone behind, then gone gung ho, yen completely capitulated at the back? Yesterday we were largely disciplined throughout, against a team who whilst not at the level… Read more »
Samesong
But that’s Pep’s job. If you lose 5-2 at home, you don’t want a repeat.
Arteta would/should have known that.
Playing high school football, you follow the same coaching principles.
Get stuffed at home, don’t get stuffed again.
Pedro The way we played yesterday may work well in Cup games, but it has so far failed to work in similar fashion in the league. The reason is clear Arsenal are not prepared to take any risk even when we are a goal down as was the case yesterday. There was no attempt whatsoever in second half to put Man City under pressure. On paper we had significantly more fire power on pitch than our opponents who had only Sterling and a half fit Aguero. Yet there was the instinct to take absolutely no risk whatsoever and that was… Read more »
If it’s deemed not safe to play Party, seemingly because it’s somehow too early for him – he’s just arrived… Then how was it deemed safe to try and play a man who has never scored a League goal for us at no.9… away to City against Pep??
Someone really should’ve had a word!
Emi Martinez, one of the true footballing greats.
Has to be the laziest and lamest takeaway from the game going for me, this hyper-analysis Leno is getting now is nothing short of pathetic.
The cult of Emi is really quite incredible a sight. Not only would we concede less with Emi, we’d score more, he really did it all in his 12-game Arsenal career.
Our xG was o.84, let that sink in
Arteta is doing a great diservice to last seasons joint EPL top scorer.
Yea im sure its the goalkeeper that is at fault for our inability to sustain nore than 5 minutes of pressure on the opponents goal even at a goal down
I want to get over the novelty of Arsenal being a competitive team, because we can’t be celebrating failure like this past January This is the key. Arteta has attended to priorities with little money and he has largely fixed a disastrous defence that Emery had ruined . We were pulverised there in our last game under him and to counter it we brought on ….Dennis Suarez! This time we brought on Thomas Partey. I also think you were too tough on Luiz, he played well yesterday . Gabriel and Saka played well. Our biggest disappointments yesterday were Willian who… Read more »
It’s shear brilliance isn’t it… Can’t you see?
Keep your most potent goal scorer – further and further away from goal, meanwhile, benching your leading goal scorer this season and a man who has just broken Alan Shearer’s under 21 international record, and play a man who actually hasn’t scored a premier League goal for your club, as a number 9.
The insightful canny… The raw acumen… Mikel, you sir, must be an intellectual leviathan
He has to stop trying to be the smartest person in the room the manager. Willian at 9? Lcazette basically being a midfielder when he came in. It is not going to be sustainable in he long run, he has to find the right balance and allow for certain games and times during the game for the players to be on the front foot. All great he making us hard to beat e.t.c. but goals win you games and at the moment we never look like we are going to score a lot of them this season. Something has to… Read more »
Spot on with all your points Pedro.
No two ways about it, Leno lost us that game yesterday. Yes we could have done better with our chances, but if Martinez was in goal yesterday I think we come away with a point from that game.
I hope overtinkering doesn’t become a regularity for Arteta, him playing Willian as a false 9 just didn’t make any sense, willian doesn’t have the aggression offensively or defensively to play that role, yet another game that Artetas tactical selection has affected us right from the off.
Bertie Mee
I’d like to remind you Arsenal had the best defensive record against set pieces and corners under Emery, it was in open play that Emery struggled to get the balance between attack and defence right.
Sometimes keep it simple
ES
Yes, yes and yes again.
“It just beggars belief” that some folk on here are praising Pep and yet not criticising Arteta.
Surely he isn’t beyond criticism.
This “no risk” approach can only take you last for so long.
Aubameyang/ Pepe/Saka/ Willian/ Ceballos/Lacazette and even Nketiah are being restrained far too much.
It also creates extra problems for our GK.
If he needed any more.
Why on earth would Willian play as a CF and Aubameyang as a LW? Pretty sure even an alien just arrived from Mars would get that right. I really don’t think Arteta will last through 2021. His decision making is way off.
delete “take you”
Matt
Agree.
Thought it was a new dawn…But alas Wenger “the phoenix” has spawned. The sooner management realize the new horse has no teeth the better.
I think it’s too late to coach weak parrying out of Leno now. It’s too instinctive when the moment comes; it’s like muscle memory in a way. What keeps worrying me is Pepe’s lack of hunger. People who say he’s weak forget something. Watch his youtube highlights from France: see how he overpowers players, many of which are strong enough for EPL, even though they look bulkier than him. The lad is not as weak as he looks. But after joining us, that aggressive hunger seems to have been lost. Worrying. Also, Auba seems to have gotten worse after his… Read more »
Batistuta completely agree
Sounds simple , but with 5 minutes to go ( plus added time) , if the passing game is not working (it wasn’t) and we need a goal , why not put Gabriel up top as a last resort and hit a few diagonal long balls for him to flick on to Aubameyang, Lacazette and Nketiah..
At least it will it would het the city defence out of the comfort zone…
This Leno crusade is simply too stupid . The fact is Martinez wouldnt even be playing for us if Leno hadnt been injured . I expect Arsenal to improve in attack in coming months simply because we wont be playing City or Pool everytime.
Yesterday was disappointing. City were down a few players and were embarrassed recently. We had a good chance. But let’s not forget that they are still Manchester City, with a hugely expensive team and the coach widely thought of as the best in the world. Expectation management and all. For us to win the league we still have a lot of work to do. Lots of the squad to change out. But to compete for top 4, we are good enough. Last season we had three draws and two defeats against bottom 6 teams. If we win these games this… Read more »
I Agree Mr. J
Seeing Auba on the wing trying to work the ball into the box with Tierney just grates my eyes. When Lacazette finally came on, Gundogan said something that made them chuckle… Arteta needs to get out of Arsenal ASAP
“ He’s not far off cracking that code.“ If i am being honest rather than being a fan and wishes… it’s unlikely any time soon judgitby the approach and philosophy Arteta takes to the job. As novice as a head coach now manager is, if we moatly amateurs could spot these fundamental issues,, why wouldn’t a PL team of supposedly high calibre pros, led by and advising Arteta?? Of course most if not all of us wouldn’t know what’s done in training, talked about in the dressing room, but based on the show we put on worldwide, it wasn’t pretty… Read more »
Often when we attack players have no support. Man City attack they have options, one twos etc.
Arteta played crab football no he’s getting us to play sideways, backwards negative football.
We are simply not scoring enough to be a threat.
When his tactic using Willian didn’t work he continued to carry on.
Rookie stuff, very poor.
Nail on summary Pedro.
The glaring obvious Leno error had my head in hands, EMI would have caught. I don’t think it can be coached out of him, he has been doing it his whole life.
The Luiz free kick spectacle is just a joke now, I am amazed he is indulged by other more capable takers.
I thought we deserved a draw but we must take our chances, city were not actually that good.
What a boring post..the same old BS narrative every time we lose..sounding like Untold under Wenger..you backed a manager and now you’re letting your ego come though in your posts. Arteta is to be blamed fully for yesterday’s defeat: Who let Emi go? Who played Willian through the middle to sacrifice Auba? Who put out that horrendous 343 against a weakened City? Who failed to get any subs in till the last 10 min? Who keeps on insisting on the silly build from back thing again and again? (cost us the goal) This is not even the boring version of… Read more »
Losing to Liverpool and City is acceptable at this stage of our evolution; Next game against Leicester will paint a truer picture of what to expect this season – win it we have a good chance of fighting for top-4 but lose it then we are back to square one. What is the point of defensive solidity if we can’t win against Leicester. Let see!
I am disappointed with Willian after all the hype.
Maybe he is not going to solve our creativity problems.
I don’t blame Willian…what was Arteta thinking? At this rate, I am confident the players will turn on the manager pretty soon. The coaches had the players preparing to go to the Etihad with Willian as centre forward for two weeks! It just so plain stupid…someone needs to give it to Arteta, Edu maybe?
Calypso,
We already had the best defensive record at set pieces for Wenger last two years. Under Wenger that was the only bit in training that Steve Bould was allowed to direct.
Only when inexplicably Emery decided to switch from zonal marking to man marking did our team of midget started to concede. It was against Crystal Palace when Guendouzi and Torreira were tasked to man mark Benteke and Scott Dann. Benteke who had not scored for a year scored his solitary season goal against us.
Buzzy – “Arteta is a bit immature and arrogant”
Not sure about the immature part but he is definitely arrogant. Even legendary players like Zidane or Pirlo don’t show this arrogance in the interviews and in their decision making. Let’s just hope that he has some sauce to back the arrogance and doesn’t end up like Nicklas Bendtner
“Losing to Liverpool and City is acceptable at this stage of our evolution…”
Perhaps to you it is…
To me, if you can honestly said you had a go at it and loose, fair play… But when you start pulling stunts like dropping our best defender against the league champions, then play a man with no PL goals this season at number 9… Then NO it’s not acceptable!
Spot on Buzzy… if there ever was turd polished to look like gold! At this rate, Arteta will be leave fairly soon and no he won’t be going to City. He just gave them their easiest league game of the season so far.
This is from earlier Morning,Pre warned, sorry for the long post After yesterdays game its pretty clear how far off the likes of City & the Bindippers we are. squad wise and first eleven. it was a problem under Emery and still a problem under Arteta. I like Arteta (He wasnt my choice i wanted Don Carlo or paddy) but now hes here you back him You can see the defensive improvements that he’s managed, but that does not give him a free pass for some of the errors hes making. you dont spend 45 million on Partey to bring… Read more »
The football to watch has been poor under arteta, this is a project for him, plus he’s just trying to stay in a job. hope he gets sacked.
Yes let’s stop this losing to pool and citeh is fine bullshit
Atleast with the way this season has started we cant keep churning out excuse after excuse.
I am getting a feeling that this season going to be another open season where the likes of Leicester and Spuds will have a go at it.
If we cannot take advantage of the mess at Chelsea and Utd then it’s a bias for sure.
Chance Creation Arsenal scored 56 goals this season, their lowest tally since 1995/96. Most of those were netted by Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who finished runner up to Jamie Vardy in the race for the Golden Boot. When they do create chances, Arsenal are good at taking them. Only Liverpool converted a higher percentage of shots into goals than Arsenal in last season’s Premier League. And under Unai Emery in 2018/19, the Gunners set a Premier League record for the highest conversion rate of any team in the history of the competition. The problem seems not one of quality, but quantity.… Read more »
wrt assessment of the season or manager that is
Up for grab, The problem is that some people see criticising Arteta as a personal affront. It is obvious that he is making mistakes. Tactical and personnel wise. The problem is that he does not seem to learn from them. The notion that it is a long process only make sense when there is progression and a sense of direction. With Arteta, the only direction I can see is making us more difficult to beat and that’s it. There is no grand plan to make us better at attacking. In fact he is making us worse attacking wise by isolating… Read more »
That result was more about the decisions Arteta got wrong than it was about our goalkeeper. We offered Martinez a new deal and he declined because he wanted a guarantee that he would be our starting keeper (his words, and nobody deserves any guarantees).
There was more than enough time to affect the scoreline. Willian doesn’t merit starting games at all at present, let alone in the false nine position when we had three strikers in the team selection who could have done that job.
Let’s be honest it turned out to be a training drill for City. We made it easy for them. Being powerless in attack with Willian as a 9, Abu way out west/left and Pepe not appearing to know what he was supposed to be doing, made it very easy for them to just chill and control the game particularly in the second half when we should have been chasing the game. When every second pass we made went backwards, even from well within the City half, how they must have laughed! I know it was only 1-0 but it would… Read more »
Hopefully Willian has a fall-out with Arteta and tears up his contract. He’s a meh signing because our 18 year old 25k weekly wage academy product outperforms him consistently.
him.
It wouldn’t be so bad if we signed him to a 3 year contract.
Nicolas Pepe didn’t do well with two pretty sound chances for headers.
Pepe was pretty anonymous but that was harsh.
Also, some say he is too skinny while City’s main threat all game long was Mahrez, who’s hardly Mr Universe
I would be more worried if we played like this against the likes of Southampton , Brighton Wolves etc . Its Arteta guys , he makes specific plans against specific teams , sometimes it will work sometimes it wont . Atleast he isnt rigid , he will rectify his mistakes next time . Worrying if he doesnt .
What’s the point of convincing Auba to sign an extension when he’s going to play Willian and Pepe ahead of him?
Arteta’s tactics didn’t get the best from the team yesterday. He needs to stop playing too many people out of position.
Villa/southamton/foxes/Leeds – taking points of the top 2 sides within the 1st 5 games
Arsenal on the other hand need to feel relief and optimism with 3-1 and 1-0 defeats, because we were playing the 2 best teams.
I like a good rear guard as much as the next bloke but man we are turgid going forward. An xG of less than 1 against a city side that shipped 6-7 last 2 games is dire. Jose lite?
We were at Emery’s neck for this stodgy play.
Someone really needs to have a word with Arteta
Agree wholeheartedly with what you’ve said Pedro. Pleased to see Pepe starting but hoped he would have proved why he should be regularly. Willian looks like a dud so far. Hope he picks up sharpish, not sure we have room for another mickhi situation. Understand why we sold Martinez over Leno but he’s not proving that it was the right decision. Easy to say now it’s all done yes but palming shots back into danger is a recurring theme. Equally do think we need to move on from the narrative of ‘at least we’re competing’. We know Mikel has got… Read more »
And his comments post game is exactly the wrong mentality. Completley wrong. It’s how Emery responded.
Which sadly means I don’t think he will do the common sense things.
I think yesterday 10 minute intro for Partey showed why Arteta was right not to start him.
The premier league is a very different beast; He needs rime to get up to speed with the league.
He’s also a yellow card magnet too and we have to start practicing how to play one man down because a combination of Partey and Xhaka will draw lots of cards.
Diet Pep is a passive aggresive guy, but its easy to see the inner Mourinho bubbling below the surface.
And what is it with playing players out of position? I’d like to see something similar to the below for our next Prem game.
Leno
Bellerin Luiz Gabriel Tierney
Partey Elneny
Ceballos
Pepe Aubamayang Saka
Or
Leno
Bellerin Luiz Gabriel Tierney
Partey Elneny
Pepe Ceballos Saka
Aubameyang
Partey will soon find out the difference of having Saul and Koke playing next to you vs having Xhakalson or just a single midfielder next to you.
Im telling you for free!
Valentin
I wouldn’t worry about us missing the top-4 just yet. The season is still young and we do have lots if potential.
I wish we didn’t have Willian clogging the pathway meant for some of our youngsters. He’s not deserving of a start ahead of the likes of Willock or Nelson.
We have to find a way to bring Auba into these games. He’s had no shots in two defeats against Pool and City in the league.
There were so many times yesterday when Xhaka had the chance to get the forwards run onto something but he slowed tHings down time and again.
Partey and Ceballos for me going forward.. with or without Elneny..
We are just wasting Ceballos pro points atm
Sid
‘ Partey will soon find out the difference of having Saul and Koke playing next to you vs having Xhakalson or just a single midfielder next to you.’
Nah you need to pay me first.
I’ve been making that point forever that Partey’s job was to largely win the ball and move it to Saul at AM. Saul was the quintessential box-to-box midfielder.
Partey will do very well crus but only when he’s settled in. Arteta needs to handle him like Klopp handled Fabinho.- don’t throw him in too early. The premier league is a strange beast.
It’s clear that Arteta wanted to try something different against City after being absolutely crushed by them back in June. You have to look at it in context. Back in June, City had 12 shots on target to our 0 but then they also had De Bruyne. I can understand why Arteta felt like taking a risk with the formation but it failed. That’s ok, because at least he tried. However, City without De Bruyne is a totally different team. I would have liked to taken the game to them from the start and pressed relentlessly but perhaps the slower… Read more »
Ceballos played behind Xhaka because Xhaka is just too slow, can not tackle with out fouling and prefers to pass backwards and sideways. Poor Ceballos will be counting down his loan period if this continues. If we are to progress Xhaka needs to be benched, we need more creativity in the midfield. Bring in ESR or Azeez from the under 23’s!
Buendia would do a better job as a #9 or on the wings than Willian.
Oh and cost less in the long run
Sergio Aguero ought to have been punished for grabbing the shoulders my the female assistant. It just seemed ….odd and wrong.
Had he grabbed a male assistant in that manner, the ref would have booked him.
Good post and write up.
One thing though, I agree going up a gear comes with confidence but equally you see guys on a 6-aside pitch locally attack with impetuous. Where’s the competitiveness to just have a go!? I mean it’s sport
valentin,
i dont mind loosing if we actually tried, but it was like dont risk anything lets nick a draw,
then one nil down its was dont concede another and its only a 1 -0 defeat.
partey with 6 minutes left, what was all that about?
at least wenger used to bring em on 67 minutes all the time.
im sure he used to have a tenner on with betfred when he would make a substitution!
In some parts of the world it a bigger offence to caress a fellow man
Pedro said about pepe fluffing his lines with the two chances he had, if auba is playing in the middle you would rather hes on the end of them chances than pepe. even lacazette would have been better. i remember the days gone by when arsenal or utd were chasing a game. Wenger and Ferguson would have 4 strikers trying to get an equalizer or even a winner. if you lose 1-0 or 2-0 its still a loss, but meekly not even trying is not. if we cut out the playing out from the six yard box and just tried… Read more »
Leicester (h), Utd (a), Villa, Leeds (a), Wolves, Spurs (a) our next six PL matches.
Scheduling wise, FA is doing the right thing today. The least attractive game should come first. Now we can take our time and enjoy our breakfast. Yesterday’s best game was Everton vs the Pool.
Played 2, lost 2. Against the top two. Anyone that says “well what do you expect”…is a born loser. The only improvement is the number of goals we concede in the defeats. No more to say. Our £100m forward was anonymous once again. Our new signing didn’t play until we were chasing the game…he’s a DM so how was that going to help? Very Wenger. Nothing more to be said about Pepe. The guy is unadulterated shit. Sell up and get what we can. He’s done. Willian is looking like good business. Worry noises from Arteta as well regarding Arsene.… Read more »
I think Pierre said yesterday, we used to quite rightly lose the plot when we were hammered 6-0, 6-3, 5-1 away at the top sides, now we lose narrowly in a more competitive fashion and again we are unhappy which is fine because we lost. But what we are seeing as the defensive bedrock taking shape with the gellling as an attacking unit still to come. We still desperately need an attacking midfielder who can create and drift past opposition players with speed and skill. Hopefully we see that in January but if not that has to be the absolute… Read more »
@Guns
100 percent agree. 8 years of shite from wenger to fix but instead we hire sanhelli and his mates and are lumbered with a 72 million flop. Money for the boys I suppose. The kroenkes have really fucked this once great club up
To the people slagging off Arteta, you’re deluded and don’t understand football.
This rebuild will take years. You really expect Arteta to come in after the mess left by Wenger & Emery…and beat Man City & Liverpool straight away?
Some people! He’s building from the back with a limited budget and many useless players on massive wages!
I’d really love to see you guys in his position. This isn’t as easy as football manager. This is real life.
Samir
So football managers shouldn’t be criticized?
Got it since the rebuild will take years, maybe we can check into legrove in October 2022.
I think ultimately there are a lot of issues at Arsenal at the moment – only one of them is a major issue the others are all small problems that stack up creating the overall problems we’re seeing. A few examples. Pepe – obviously a confidence player but we’re leaving him too isolated, he receives the ball and seems to have 2 or 3 opposition players on him in seconds. We need the Bellerin to offer more support and overlap drawing some of the opposition players away. Playing out from the back – I know the reasons for wanting to… Read more »
“I’d really love to see you guys in his position. This isn’t as easy as football manager. This is real life”
Comments full of hot air and not saying anything.
The good news is small problems are relatively easy to fix and as you solve one it makes it easier to fix the others.
It’s over to Arteta to fix them.
TYAG
You really think all of our problems are down to Pepe?
Chris
I think we understand all of that but sometimes you can become consumed by dealing with the weaknesses and forget all about the positives.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Arteta and what he’s done but it seems we are forgetting we have players that can hurt the opposition and we’re not seeing enough of them.
I just hope the players don’t get in a rut playing this regimental brand of football.
Fingers crossed.
Graham
100% agree.
We can blame Leno, we can blame willian and Pepe, we can blame Auba, the buck stops with Arteta The gameplan as boring and negative as it was, was fine until we went 1 nill down Arteta didn t do anything to change formation, kept willian and Auba in the same positions despite zero output from both. Pepe on the other hand didn’t get any meaningful service, he spent 95 % of the time in our own half, that’s not his game 2nd half was really poor, kept doing the same over and over again He was happy with it… Read more »
Arteta is a professional and paid a lot. I’m sure he can handle some criticism.
His decisions, although mostly okay are starting to show some dangerous patterns in his team selection.
No one expects miracles but we do expect something different than what we’ve seen from late Arsene and Emery.