Arsenal lost to a very solid Aston Villa team on a frustrating afternoon that was defined by 3 players that cost about £650k a week. Cedric Soares had his worst afternoon in an Arsenal shirt, gifting Villa an opening inside 2 minutes. I can live with the mistake as he’s been good lately, but that’s a £100k a week player there.
The real eyesore came in the second half. We played some sensational stuff at times, the young players were taking the game by the scruff of the neck, Villa fans were texting me sensing a goal, we looked ever so close to breaking the back of the game. The sub of Soares for Odegaard, with Saka dropping into left-back was a crafty move and it opened the game up… Auba slotted into the forward line for Lacazette, then horror struck as Arteta replaced Partey with Willian.
This sort of political move needs to stop. Willian is the worst signing of the decade. He can’t move, he has no concentration because he doesn’t care, he can’t even beat the front post with a corner. His play is all about slowing things down, he can’t beat a man, he makes ponderous decisions, he looks like he’s trying to sabotage the team.
Why does Arteta keep doing it to himself? Look at what is working for Arsenal at the moment. Young players. Motivated talent that is additive to the side. Players that can move. Willian does not fit into the vision.
Say it quietly, but we’re also moving into the same territory with Auba. I know he might not be mentally there at the moment. But even before his absence, did his game look like it suited this new short passing game we’re developing? He’s a bystander. He came on, tried to look like he was involved in the game, but he had zero impact. Was anyone excited about his introduction? Lacazette is better in our starting 11, he makes things tick, he brings out the best in the young players. Auba doesn’t have the game… but he’s here, on Mesut Ozil money.
The move in the summer was probably Suarez, someone elite in tight situations, great a passing around corners, an aggressive monster, a battler. If we’d planned our squad better, someone might have stepped in and asked deeper questions about the two contracts we had on the table. I can stomach Auba, he’s been excellent for us, but it was still based on emotion over suitability. Willian? There’s no world in which I can have that he was the right move. How often has he changed a game over the past 5 years? How was he suited to our system? What made us unlock £220k a week?
Everyone makes mistakes, the issue here is that we can’t admit it. Mikel Arteta needs to get real. He has something very exciting brewing at Arsenal. We’re close to having a break out moment with this squad. A bit of confidence, the right players, and some luck… it’s there. But it’s up to the manager… is he going to keep making decisions based on salary band, or is he going to assess the reality… the players keeping this going are the £40k a week crowd.
£500k a week on the books that isn’t suited to our style of play is a terrible look for Arsenal leadership… but we cannot will these players to be what they aren’t capable of.
Let’s look at the positives. This week has been deeply frustrating because individual errors have crept back into our game. Villa scored because of a massive fuck up. Wolves weren’t in the game until David Luiz stepped into the fold. We’ll get a grip on those things.
Then what do you have? There’s some really exciting football brewing. When Saka dropped into the left back role, we were sublime. The whole game opened up. Odegaard looks incredibly sharp, we need him on the pitch, he’s decisive, he’s the level we need. Saka and Pepe were causing all sorts of issues between them. Smith Rowe didn’t have his best game, but he was much better in the second half.
If Arteta brings on Gabriel M on for Partey, the outcome might have been different, and the mood amongst the fans certainly would be.
We are now a midtable side this season. There’s no chasing anything. This week cost it all.
Arteta needs to use the rest of the season to get to grips with the players he has in the squad. He needs to spend time trying to cultivate young talent, versus rehabbing old players that don’t care.
Who else do we have in the youth ranks that could make a difference? If Thomas Partey is out again, let’s not go another 5 games with Mo Elneny in the side, let’s try something new. Let’s continue to evolve our game, because I’m telling you, there’s something brewing and we’re not far away
The frustration I have is the details. The politics. The small things that could make a big difference.
Arteta needs to flush out these PR disasters his levelling on himself. If he ignores Martinelli for Willian in the stadium, the anger won’t be directed at the Brazilian, it’ll go towards him. If he continues to give young players the chance to flourish, if he nutures the exciting green shoots we’re seeing, then the fans will be on his side and we’ll move forward together.
See you in the comments.
P.S. Well played Mat Ryan, a truly excellent debut.
How do we slide to 13th Sid – the teams in 11-13 are two points behind with 1 or 2 games in hand. We are almost 13th already.
Arteta was brought up at Man City in a cheque book environment.
He tried to do the same with us and that’s why we are stuck with Willian and co.
He’s stumbled into using ESR , but is sidelining Martinelli as he has done before.
If this goes on the young players will leave, they can only put up with him for so long.
Thank you and goodnight
I can see Saka wanting to stay in London bit for a better manager and with more chance of European football. I can see him being a Hammer next year.
No way will saliba come back to play for Arteta. Us fans might as well get used to fact that while Arteta remains, saliba will be leaving us.
Cant believe the improvements Arteta has made with the squad. Even though we lost, we played good Football and maybe with a better final ball player in there ( Odegaard ?) we win the game. Villa have been a monstrous defensive side this season and we broke their press n number of times and created 3/4 v 4s against their backline. What was lacking was the final pass. Pepe, Saka, Esr all got in very good positions but couldn’t take advantage. There was also a bit of inexperience in there. Ryan looks a great backup. Always rated the guy at… Read more »
TheBayingMobFebruary 6, 2021 14:26:29
“ Why do players like bellerin and willian never get injured? Why is it always partey Tierney and martinelli”I suppose it’s the same reason Kurt Cobain offs himself, Freddie Mercury dies from a disease that is considered treatable now but the Jonas brothers will probably be releasing a double live album …
Sad, but oh so true
Oh, and Arteta out please !
Cant believe others cannot see the improvements Arteta has made with the squad. ***
@Graham
Hammers lol . Currently they’re better than Arsenal so who knows lol
Bacon roll sauce was another highlight too 😂
If I was any player with a bit of ambition to succeed at the highest level, I won’t be thinking of coming to Arsenal to play. There’s nothing going on there. No ambition, no pressure, no challenges. Just paycheck and cruise.
Marc
I’m with you there, once we are in our new position of 10-12th by December or January, Arteta will probably be shown the door next season.
Go cut your teeth elsewhere why use us as a springboard.
TYAG
I could see United being interested, he’s a better player than Greenwood who isn’t a RW as is, his future is as a CF.
They need a RW with Martial and Rashford both better out left, Cavani up top and Bruno CAM.
Sancho is likely their preferred pick but he’d cost more.
Btw, just look at this.
Ref gave a fould against Arsenal. Like always we didn’t appeal. Var Didnt even have a look.
https://mobile.twitter.com/LacazetteAlex/status/1358106353877803017
TYAG
It’s not just Saliba, Arteta has fucked up Guendozi’s resale value, Balogun is going to walk with us getting compensation, Saliba will go on to be a huge player and it won’t be long before Saka, Martinelli and ESR are looking for a move.
Imagine getting a phone call from your mate Willock telling you Steve Bruce is twice the coach Arteta is?
I reckon when Ozil told fans to stick with Arteta, it was a tongue in cheek comment.
Another interesting thread.
https://mobile.twitter.com/VipArsenal/status/1358086882463203328
“Cant believe the improvements Arteta has made with the squad.
Even though we lost, we played good Football and maybe with a better final ball player in there ( Odegaard ?) we win the game.”
I wish you wasn’t serious Cap. We will be 13th by the end of this week and probably 15th in 2 weeks time. What improvement?
Depressingly the club see Arteta as a young dynamic manager. Stan hasn’t a clue.
We are not an ambitious club any more , we were big once but not now.
Aston Villa have won the EC we hav’nt.
Derby and Nottingham Forest have also, never Arsenal.
That’s bad
“Once eliminated from the CL the players will count the season as finished and we will slide to around 13th”
Sid might have a point here – if we go out of the EL against Benfica then between the Euro’s going ahead in the summer and players not seeing anything to play for we could see them completely switch off.
Saliba named nice’s player of the month, yet according to our once in a lifetime coach , he wasn’t good enough to displace luiz, Mustafa, Mari 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Arteta should do stand up
TYAG
He does do stand up, at least once a week for months now.
Mystic The football has greatly improved from what it was under Emery. Our defense is only second to City in the league. The only thing left to click is the attacking side of the game, which I believe will happen sooner rather than later. Auba is massively our of form, Saka and Esr are inexperienced and Pepe is only just starting to find his feet. Gabi is also going to make his long awaited return to form soon I hope. We also have Odegaard now. Even Laca is starting to play well. Just hope Arteta learns his lesson and stop… Read more »
Marc, leftside
Which December/January y’all talking about? We in February already fam
🤣🤣🤣
I think my favourite Arteta sketch is the one were he pretends to be a football manager….. pure comedy gold
Tierney will also massively help with the attacking side of things , we are bloody unlucky with injuries, but seeing the kicking our players get, perhaps not surprising
And it looks like we’re going to lose the rugby. What a shit day of sport.
@Matt
Scotland have been improving year after year. You have to give them credit for executing a great game plan. But England need to take hard look at themselves, who knows, maybe Eddie has taken them as far as he can
I think we are in a false situation regarding Arteta’s future,as I believe if the fans were in the stadium and all of the antics that go with that along with the empty seats-our owners would sit up and take notice.
There is no way we would be silently accepting what is going on at the moment.
I cant see a way forward for Willian,he just looks so off the pace and is entering Gus Caesar levels,Auba has at least some credit in the bank-for the moment.
I wanted Brendan when we sacked the waiter that’s who we should have got
Now we have MA the board will back him until it becomes impossible to do so
Fair play to Scotland. Hogg has been awesome. They look like they have had an extra player on the pitch all game.
Gabi is also going to make his long awaited return to form soon I hope.
Yeah, as soon as Arteta plays him !
“MysticThe football has greatly improved from what it was under Emery. Our defense is only second to City in the league.” Cap I want to believe you but Emery’s football wasn’t as bad as Arteta has been this season. Never ever was. We aren’t actually playing wow stuff…you just feel we are because the football has been horrible since Arteta took over bar few games. Our defence is 2nd to City, that’s true. But we were an ultra defensive 7-0-3 team until recently that we changed to 4231. If not for freak 7-2 and 6-1 results of Liverpool and man… Read more »
If I’m correct Partey was only missed 3 games for Athleti due to injury issues. For us he’s been like an upgraded Ramsey/Wilshere. Hope he can get back to 100% fitness soon.
What is the VAR even for?
Emi clearly drags Laca down with a shirt pull. Not even a review.
Willian Jose kicks Luiz and falls down. Pen and res.
Awful
Mystic,
December this year, or Jan next
“Our defense is only second to City in the league.”
Wrong the Spud’s – you know the ones we’re laughing at because they are rubbish – have conceded less than us and Chelsea have the same defensive record.
It’s all lies, damned lies and statistics the real truth is we have the worse goal difference in the top 10 with plus 4, Everton and West Ham are on plus 6 everybody else is well into double figures.
@ Matt
Yeah Hogg has been outstanding, I think the whole Scotland team have in fairness
Right and now left back as our weaknesses.
No real cover and putting Saka there is criminal but he does his best.
Arteta has an agenda and he is arrogant, but whatever he does he will see the year out.
Poison
I really didn’t have a first choice even when Wenger was dismissed but Brendan was very interesting and I thought he would have been a good fit to start a revamp. It’s definitely not too late. He won’t do anything extraordinary with Leicester but he could with Arsenal.
Mystic
This is a long term projects and I honestly believe Arteta is the right man. I dont know if he can win the big trophies yet, but he can at least do a Poch like job for us. We need to give him time.
The squad management has been poor for a decade, only new we are trying to make proper moves.
Ofc there are a lot of negatives, results being the primary. But I do believe we’ll start getting those right too. It may take 6 more months and another TW, but we’ll get there.
Well deserved Scotland.
Marc
We have played more games. Take out average, only City has a better record.
CT
Are you trying to defend our poor goal difference by stating we have played more games!?
Stretching massively.
S23
The owners could find themselves with a real problem – as much as many will be gagging to get up to a match there will also be people who have got used to not going and with the meh football and shitty results we could see quite a number of people not renewing ST’s.
If we don’t get EL football they’ll also have to knock a number of matches off a ST – my guess is 4 so again more lost revenue.
Left. You mean we will start a new season with Arteta in charge. I might just give up on football… depressing thought
YES Scotland 11:6 what a day for the underdogs. Forgot Arsenal is now an underdog but they still loose 🙂
If our manager doesn’t know what’s wrong with the team, how can he fix it?.
He’s not even learning and he picks the team according to age. I predicted his 3 subs at half time, because I and many knew the man is average and he has no idea why we couldn’t score. It was just put as many older players as you can up front and hope for the best.
9 wins and 10 losses
31 pts in 23 games
Yep, in great shape we are,
Wasi
How about we look at Arteta’s average result which is a loss and sack him?
Matt
No just pointing out the obvious. We do have the 2nd best defense in the league which apparently Marc didn’t understand.
Win 9
Draw 4
Loss 10
From any angle we are looking at it this isn’t good enough,I’m wondering if there’s any club among the top 6 that will still keep the same manager seeing this
This is me wishing this faith in Arteta pays even though it’s hard to see it
Marc
You were all for giving Emery time and I was too.
Need the same for Arteta. At least 18 months is the minimum.
Pedro February 6, 2021 15:54:04 Matt, because I’ll be right on this ————————————— Bendtner levels of confidence right there! My counter is that Arteta will never finish top 4 with Arsenal. He’s just not good enough. Wenger was able to get some good football out of his teams, beautiful at times. He was terrible at contract management and had an inability to cull deadwood. He was also utterly wedded to certain players for inexplicable reasons. Arteta is unable to get good football out of his team. There’s the occasional flash, but most of the time it’s turgid. He doesn’t have… Read more »
CT
I honestly don’t get why you even feel the need to make that point. What difference does it make when we are currently sat 10th and there are 3 teams below us with a game in hand who could go above us.
He should go but Stan won’t pay the compensation.
We won’t finish in the top half of the league.
Matt
Just read the previous comments to understand the context.
Mystic
Of course but then when do we act decisively in timely fashion? Even though our ceiling is 8th under this manager this club will still delude themselves that we’re going places under him.
Wasi
“You were all for giving Emery time and I was too.
Need the same for Arteta. At least 18 months is the minimum.”
Emery was given 51 PL matches before being sacked – Arteta had 20 PL matches last season and has done 23 so far this season. I’m more than happy to judge him in 8 matches time – are you?
I fucking guarantee you Pedro won’t be!
Never in my lifetime would I think I’d see Arsenal losing more league games than we’ve won..
Marc
End of the season is when I will. I honestly do believe we’ll be at a much better place then.
“End of the season is when I will. I honestly do believe we’ll be at a much better place then.”
Not sure safe from relegation was my target for the season but whatever floats your boat!
WHEN we lose to City and Leicester, we would be the first team in history to lose four double against four teams consecutively.
This is will TOP any record our generational coach has broken.
He keeps them coming lol.
Look at villa a bad var decision from going down
Last season the board backed him
He bought a keeper striker AM and a winger and look at them now 2 games in hand and could go top 4
Well this game showed why most fans that wanted arteta out are now sitting on the fence rather than support him fully. There was some promising stuff but there was also ridiculous stuff on show. If Arteta’s way to improve is only spending we won’t go very far. We need him to show his coaching ability. I fear with every game a Europa league spot is getting further away.
@Marc
I would currently say aside from West Brom, if we were to play sheff Utd or Fulham right now we’d lose
Covid will be a distant memory well before Willian finds any decent form
“ Never in my lifetime would I think I’d see Arsenal losing more league games than we’ve won.“
This has been coming a long time, the club has been mismanaged for a decade at least, they will do well to recover this in 5 years under this ownership.
Lesser opponents and incompetent/ bent officials can now have a field day at the expense of this club.
Goes way beyond Arteta.
Marc,
Arteta will start next season, but as predicted, by December we would still be mid table and he would get the sacked.
The right thing to do is, start looking for a manger now and sack him end of may after the last game of the season immediately.
Can’t understand this reluctance to get rid of Arteta, Lampard got fired and in 9 days Tuchel with the same players got results. The problem is in the coaching staff to get the best out of the players at hand. Oh forgot you need experience to do that MA kind of short on that.
Cap, that’s not fair but sentiments. He already has 43 games. He hasn’t shown any signs he can be that person. I am not sure what will suddenly change. Klopp used the season he he came in to feel the squad he had, next season (his first full one) he qualified for UCL. The progress was evident, style of play, plan, recruitment…. everything was together. I just don’t see that with Arteta
Marc,
I totally agree,regarding season tickets.
That is the way the Kroenke’s will look at it,when the cash cow stops paying,they will change things,
Probably end up with Eddie Howe or someone cheap.
What has to be said re Bellerin is this: he is another MA favourite. He is Spanish and he arselicks which means he gets to play every match and be Captain!
Bellerin is no longer the player he was. And he was just a speed merchant. He never really was a great defender.
And what actually makes him Captain material? Can someone please explain this to me?
Arteta can’t even complain about resources, he’s paying two 32 year old bench Warmer players 600K a week, during Covid-19.
That is exactly it S23, it will be an Eddie Howe coming in. It does feel like this club is addicted to pissing off its fanbase.
That being said, Howe is a better manager than Arteta. I’m not interested in how well you speak, I want a manager to make the right choices and learn from any mistakes he makes. Arteta is stubborn and will continually repeat his mistakes in the hope that one day it will all click and come together.
Mystic
Its not sentiments. I believe a manager should at least get 18 months before the board starts making bug decisions like offering a new contract or finding a new manager.
I stood the same ground with Emery.
But honestly, like every other Arsenal fan ( bar Azed and a few others) gave up on Emery when he lost the squad. Which was around 1 month before his departure iirc. Once you lose the squad be it 18 months or 18 days it’s over.
DB10
Didn’t Bellerin stay with Arteta and his wife when he first joined Arsenal?
Mystic
To be fair, turning a joke defense into the second best in the league are definite improvements. Once the attack clicks, the results will come.
Why is there this constant view that the Kroenke’s are tight with money?
Our wage bill is fucking astronomical – even without some of those who have left in the last couple of weeks. We spent £60 odd million during the COVID summer.
Have we spent badly – fuck yes.
Have we not spent much – fuck no.
Leftside,
Howe is a much better manager-but my question to the board would be what is our ambition-to stay in midtable mediocrity or back to where we were promised when we left Highbury,cue blank facs from the board at the mention of Highbury.!!!
Marc
All clubs do indeed have the same number of games in the league but it’s the additional toll that suspensions and injuries have had
faces
It’s the hope that kills Cap….
Better players is what’s needed. Not another manager.
“That is the way the Kroenke’s will look at it,when the cash cow stops paying,they will change things,”
Well they thought they were going to see £30 odd million in EL money turn into £70 million of CL money.
They’re actually going to see £30 million of EL money turn into a 15% reduction in ST income.
The FA Cup win bought Arteta the following full season. No chance he isn’t seeing out this season at least.
The best we can hope for is that we start improving for longer than 4-game spurts, because the cherry-picking of a few decent results against shite sides while we sit in mid table tells me we’ve been objectively poor for the last 18 months.
No sense in going over xG at this point. Those stats aren’t hot anymore.
If arteta finishes in the position we are right now with out a Europa league run that shows he has more to give then he needs to be sacked at the end of the season. I know our standards have been poor but accepting a 10 th finish without any consequences sends the wrong message. The only way we should accept that is if he shows tremendous football but not results. This isn’t decent football at best for now. And that is not enough. Show something great till the end of the season or be fired is what I say.
To all those giving Arteta a chance including Cap T. a song by Hank Williams Jr – It’s All Over But The Crying, says it all starting about 25sec into the clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_-C0jC6B0s
“All clubs do indeed have the same number of games in the league but it’s the additional toll that suspensions and injuries have had”
Sorry don’t buy that – everyone’s getting injuries as for suspensions? Who’s been the major loss? Xhaka’s red card self inflicted, Pepe’s the same, 99% on here spend most of their time bitching about Luiz being in the squad let alone the team so his ban should be seen as a bonus. Leno’s was one of those things and Gabriel got 2 yellow cards.
MD
I think this is more appropriate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzC_rGX-XyM.
Marc
I don’t know but it clearly stinks of favouritism.
That’s the poorest form of management.
MA is a big 0 in man management, that much is clear.
Not to mention that he can’t seen to see the underperformers like Willian, who still somehow gets game time.
Results after the win at OT in November: [H] Aston Villa- Loss [A] Leeds- Draw [H] Wolves- Loss [A] Tottenham- Loss [H] Burnley- Loss [H] Southampton- Draw [A] Everton- Loss [H] Chelsea- Win [A] Brighton- Win [A] West Brom- Win [H] Crystal Palace- Draw [H] Newcastle- Win [A] Southampton- Win [H] Man United- Draw [A] Wolves- Loss [A] Aston Villa- Loss I mean Captain Tierney, our pathetic stretch of form was 7 matches, longer than the positive stretch that we just saw which was 6 matches. We also got knocked out of the FA Cup in the middle of that… Read more »
Spare a thought for Ozil’s fan, his team Fener lost their derby and top of the league clash to Galata 1/0, he came on and like Auba didn’t even touch the ball, he was playing at walking pace.
Hmmmm does anyone remember the spat I had a few moons ago with Pedro when he tried to smear William Saliba even in spite of visual video evidence.
Oh well guess who just got named Nice Player of the Month.
So much for Pedro and his sources
Has Arteta been fired yet?
@WE
Remember the Blip, those 6 games were a blip not the norm, whatever it is don’t mention the Blip.
Average teams go through spates of good form every season, that’s how they finish with 45, 50+ points.
The really good teams are defined by their consistency.
If Mike Dean shows a red card for that he should never be allowed to watch a match again let alone ref one.
Time Up
You just know that Ozil’s creepy Superfan on here shed a tear when his assist was ruled out for the goal being offside, lol.
Probably was ready to gloat.
Don’t mention the blip. I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it!
Oh my God how the fuck was Soucek shown a red for violent conduct for that?