Arsenal finally matched a good performance with a full 3 points. Mikel Arteta put on a well-choreographed win against a Leeds team that comfortably beat Leicester 3-1 a few weeks ago.
We pressed better than Leeds, boxing them in, forcing mistakes.
We controlled their attacking game with excellent off the ball work, closing down passing lanes and making it generally difficult for them to break against us.
We also took our chances, something we’ve been terrible with over the past month.
The game was mostly about the return of Auba. We’ve been waiting for a game like that from him for a while. He’s been off from a confidence level all season. He was then rocked by issues with his mother’s health. Yesterday, he seemed to shake all of that off with a really, really good game of football.
Arteta seemed to find a formula that works for his star striker. He built pace and creativity around him. Saka, ESR and Odegaard buzzed around him all game and gave him the freedom to do what he does best… score goals.
His first one was all him. He was found by Xhaka on the left, he dropped some Cristiano stepovers and dropped his shot into the bottom corner. His second was a penalty after Saka was fouled by the Leeds keeper. His third came from excellent ESR box work with a 6-yard cross he found. He also hit the bar with a first time shot.
There was also a fourth goal from Hector Bellerin. Dani Ceballos threaded a pass into him in a crowded box, Hector finished with a smashed low shot.
The first half was inch-perfect. We controlled the pace of the game, limited Leeds strengths, and played to ours.
The second half was always going to be tougher. Leeds didn’t ever stop. They came at us, they scored 2 within 11 minutes. We didn’t control the game in the way you’d have liked. Let’s be hoenst, most of us were watching that game through the lens of ‘TIOTE SCOOOOOOORES.’ It was unpleasant to say the least.
What also didn’t help the optics was seeing Mikel Arteta roll-on Willian as his ‘let’s control the game’ sub. The narrative of the game wasn’t on the Brazilian’s shoulders, but the sub just stuck in the throat for a number of reasons.
- You don’t control a relentless team of attacking kamikaze pilots with a player that doesn’t have legs, energy, or desire.
- Nicolas Pepe could have done with the confidence boost after putting on a show in his last few games.
- Martinelli could have done with the minutes after being dropped post-Villa after a drab performance
Willian didn’t ruin the game, I think we were on the way to that anyway… but he didn’t do anything to improve it. I read a stat that he lost the ball 5 times from 10 touches. If he was brought on for control, it didn’t arrive. Where was the value? Why does Arteta keep doing it?
The value should be in giving Martinelli and Pepe chances, not Willian, who is so obviously not part of the ‘non-negotiable’ set of principles everyone else has to abide by. Young players have to have perfect 10s every game to keep landing minutes. Willian? He can drop 6 after 6 after 6 and it just doesn’t change Arteta’s opinion of him. He didn’t even get dropped for going to Dubai unauthorised.
The story shouldn’t be about him. We just beat Leeds with Xhaka and Ceballos in our midfield. No Partey or Tierney. That SHOULD be the story… but we’re still talking about weird in-game management. We’re wondering if Arteta has it in for Martinelli? We’re wondering why the manager wants to die on the Willian hill?
We’re also wondering if the stories about Arsenal giving David Luiz a new deal are real? What could possibly justify that? His experience has us in 10th position in the league. Whatever he’s bringing to the table, it hasn’t worked, so why don’t we just cut our losses and give his place to a young player?
Dishing out deals to £160k a week Luiz as you cull jobs behind the scenes is why they fans get annoyed. Time to move on. It hasn’t worked for 2 years, this shouldn’t even be an agenda item. It might not be. It might be Kia PR trying to force a question in his next presser… the point is, it’s believable which shows there’s work to do.
Anyway. I hate that we have to talk about this.
Saka. What a fucking star. Once again, he was a difference-maker. His decision making was superb again, he was hard to mark, he won two penalties. We are a different beast with him in the side. He looks like he’s really enjoying his game.
Smith Rowe added another assist to his name with a world-class cross to Auba at the back post. I love how he passes around corners. He’s highly efficient, he puts numbers on the board, and he’s going to be a vital part of keeping Auba in the goals this season.
Martin Odegaard looks top-class. He was fairly quiet today, but I love the way he probes and searches the game out. He moves really well, his passing is fast and sharp, and I think he’ll be decisive when he finds his role in the league.
Big shout out to Granit and Ceballos as well. I thought they’d be in big trouble today. They weren’t. They were smart in possession, both had an assist, they were ZERO drama which is what we wanted.
Arteta still has a lot of work to do. We didn’t manage the second half as well as we could have. But overall, let’s look at the positives. The football was really good at times, our front 4 looks exciting, we kept the most productive team in the league to under 10 shots, and we continued our good form with chance creation clocking 13 shots.
We have a rough month of games coming, but we’re more than capable of delivering some good results. City is a write-off, but Leicester, Spurs, West Ham, and Liverpool are gettable.
It is ridiculous, but we’re 6 points off top 4. Liverpool lost. Everton lost. Spurs lost. Villa drew. I don’t think we have much of a chance, but a good run out of this batch of games, who knows. At least we’re in the mixer.
Listen to the on-the-whistle podcast with Demian and Matt.
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Tr4phy
Europa
Arteta keeps playing Willian ahead of Pepe/Martinelli despite those two being infinitely better options because Arteta is desperate to avoid another Ozil situation. He knows he won’t be able to sell him on because he earns 10x more than what he offers – no-one will buy him or offer him a two year contract on wages more than 50k.
Sad thing is, it’s already done. He won’t improve. Ozil mark II is already here and the saga continues.
Yes unfortunately the Willian substitution spoilt the game for me. if I was Pepe I would be well pissed off. I can only assume that his contract perversely has a clause saying that he must play if fit! Given some of the contracts that we have entered in to in the last few years this is quite likely!
Ben The difference is that I think Willian would not sit on his fat contract like Ozil did for nothing. Willian will do what he can. I just fear he is “done” now, and reduced to a sub, who is NOT a game changer as Pedro alluded to. SO what is he? A cup player mostly I think now. Mike needs to explain why he continues with him…. he is actually hurting the team by doing this over and over. At least Xhaka, has stepped it up for the most part and cut out his errors quite a bit. Willian?… Read more »
Starting to lose patience with Arteta. Leads through that match there was no progress
Leeds ffs*
@Guns of SF
Not just Martinelli though is it. I can’t see Saliba wanting to play for him, and by all accounts is doing a good job at Nice. Arteta is definitely a bad judge of talent. He only played ESR because he’d exhausted every other avenue, suspensions, injuries etc. Yet how many months on here were people asking for ESR to be played.
And to give luiz another contract is fucking madness. One good game every 10 games does not deserve a new contract.
Great 50 mins and then willian came on. No one except arteta knows why the fuck he gets to play before pepe an martinelli. Especially when we would one of these to start soon with the fixture congestion. Arteta is not very bright.
In other news saw the nice vs psg match. Saliba did well agsinst mbappe and company but Isint ready to get into the europa squad people would have you believe. Staft the potential wonderkids to give a new contract to Luiz.
@Guns of SF I’m guessing you haven’t looked at Willian’s stats then. In footballing terms – he’s sitting on his arse even worse than Ozil. Goals, assists, chances created, dribbles, interceptions, tackles, lost possession…. his stats are near the bottom in every category. I’d speculate that a player plucked from League 1 and dropped into the Prem would have better stats. Given Willian’s undoubted ability, that means he isn’t trying. He runs a little so he can’t be fired (although personally I reckon Arsenal would have a case to unilaterally terminate his contract – it certainly appears on the balance… Read more »
Pedro
You want us to celebrate that we beat a newly promoted team with a squad filled with championship players.
You want us to forget that Arteta is incapable of learning from his mistakes and is denying the younger squad members of opportunities to move ahead by persisting with Willian.
We are firmly in the midtable and have tougher games ahead of us so lets just keep the Champagne on ice for now.
Why is city a write-off for us
Didn’t Brom get a result against them
What’s the fun in having sauce when to doesn’t make things better
Great result, super first half
So far Willian is a misfit. i hope Arteta plays him because he thinks he’ll come good and not because the guy is wildly overpaid.
If Chelsea and West Ham also drop points tomorrow, then this would be a perfect week for us.
Nice to see Auba thru the middle put in two form open play. Can’t put a number on how many were slating Xhaka’s potential inclusion yesterday against Leeds active attack on here. Again he’ quietly put down another solid overall performance putting Auba thru to open scoring and maintained throughout balancing it out. Auba gets the glory with hat trick but the trio behind him in ESR, Ø and Saka were electric with an average age of what 20? Add Tierney and Partey to that lineup could quite a fun run in. Interesting in Bielsa’s post match he said… “You… Read more »
We have seen that even Fulham, WBA and Sheffield can take points from the top half teams. Let’s celebrate this win. I am realistic. I would put higher priority in the two Europa cup games than the game against MC.
City isn’t a write off, they’re favourites
but…..
We’re capable of getting a result against anyone on our day
Particularly when we get our best players on the pitch, hopefully Tierney + Partey will be back for it.
I’d go for mass rotation against Benfica
Saka has played a lot of football, hopefully we can see off Benfica without him
Pedro-the David Luiz new deal rumors actually make sense. Not to you or me but maybe to Edu and Arteta. This doesn’t even have anything to do with Kia. Right now, we have 3 locked down CBs for next season in Holding, Gabriel and Mari. We probably need five to cover for the schedule and injuries. Here are our other options: Chambers, Saliba, Mavrapanos. 1) Chambers made the bench today but with his deal up in 2022, it makes sense for us to try to sell him in the summer as there’s way too much risk in renewing him and… Read more »
I’m not writing City off, nobody’s invincible this season bit it doesn’t help that they have a mid week in Liverpool and we in Roma I believe.
When things like bringing on Willian happening over and over again despite his inadequacies in playing football then there are only 2 reasons, first he has dirt on Arteta OR he is giving the mos fantastic blow job nothing else fits as Arteta can read and is not blind. Is Arteta still Arsenal’s manager should be trending 😆
MD-Gunner
I think this might be Arteta’s masterpiece moving forward. Bring on Willian when we’re up 3 goals and we might find a team that can take some of his salary of our hands for the last two years of his contract.
Eternal optimism!
I am struggling to remember a player in recent times who has made less of an impact when they come on than Willian. He literally does nothing. I am actually starting to feel embarrassed for him.
The frustration with willian is that for 60mins we saw perfect football from arsenal.
We could all see it was calling out for pepe or martinelli. Willian comes on and stinks the place out half running around aimlessly.
They nearly scored a 3rd when he lost his man.
This is why there’s frustration – we were so close to a great 90 mins but we lost it due to that switch
Arteta’s refusal to show same kind of ruthlessness for Willian’s shit performance and lack of discipline off the pitch is annoying as hell when he fucked over Matteo and Mesut over similar issues.
With the Willian show continuing it is now crystal clear that the whole Ozil dropping for footballing reasons was a farce, unless Arteta can’t tell the difference between good flowing football and a hatchet job which of course judging by today’s last 30 minutes performance is a real possibility.
Just seen some of the comments that sourness made about us. He’s not wrong. He has. A soft spot for arsenal, you can tell he realises how frustrated most arsenal fans are.
Once again Arteta shits on his own parade. I just don’t understand it any more. A fantastic opening half full of attacking verve then Willian is introduced and the rest is history! And Luiz being out muscled in the headed goal – lets give him a new contract! Does Arteta have shares in the restaurant? Arteta gives with one hand and takes with the other. Is he actually capable of managing a whole game from start to finish? The first half was almost vintage Arsenal with a fast, buzzing attack and pressing to induce mistakes; Abu ‘repaying the love’ with… Read more »
According to spotrac, Luiz’s annual salary is £5,250,000. The weekly salary comes to £100,962. Of course, that doesn’t include bonus which will not be much if we doesn’t get Europa football next year.
I have the feeling that Luiz is supporting Arteta when there is question in defense. I wouldn’t mind offering him an one year extension with Pablo Mari’s salary, £85,000 per week, take it or leave it.
https://www.spotrac.com/epl/arsenal-fc/payroll/
Diss, sometimes, there’s not a both sides argument… give it a rest today. Arteta has learned plenty of lessons. Willian is his weakness, but outside that, I’m struggling with the lessons thing. > Too defensive > now we attack > boring football > now it’s fun > relying on seniors > now it’s kids leading the charge > overcoached > he’s giving players time off and beating teams We’re 6 points off 4th. Suck it up man, that agenda you were running is over. There’s something simmering at Arsenal and you can’t stop it now. Rich, true… I’m just bracing… Read more »
Aussie, it wasn’t that bad… shaky, sure, but let’s be real, by Leeds standards, we kept them quiet.
4-2 is a beating.
The Willian sub has soured what was otherwise a fantastic performance from the lads. Will arteta learn the lesson this time or will he still pay Willian at every opportunity? The guy has free reign to do as he wants with the team, he has more rope than Wenger had cause Wenger wouldn’t have survived what arteta has survived this season. What is forcing him to play Willian? Arteta could even play omari Hutchinson instead and even if the lad was woefully out of his depth we would be far more patient than we are with the most experienced project… Read more »
Arteta would either have been forced to deviate from his present stubbornness or would be out of a job IF there were FANS in the STADIUM. I can already see and imagine the banners and choruses.
Just a word on Martin Ødegaard. He played his first game with the team. The players didn’t know his game yet. Midfield is the most difficult position to play. There are opponents all around you. I have to give him credit that he managed to find his teammate every time he got the ball. We can see that he has good technique with the ball. I am sure that we can benefit from his game once he is fully integrated in the team.
Add to that the media always in search of a headline story his press conferences plus the camera panning away over stadium crowds would have been a devastating PR debacle.
Ben
He won’t give up on him because he’s worried what that will say about his judgement. Either way, it’s bad news.
I agree with this…. he feels like he needs to play willian at all costs since it was he who wanted him… another stubborn issue that he has.
The fans will praise him rather, for playing Martin and benching Willian…. he just is out of touch with the fan base… or does not care
Nelson
Re Odegaard
Is it possible that by the time he’s in tune with his team mates, the loan deal will be almost over.
That’s why I just see these 5-6 months loan deals as a bit silly. The duration is so short and whatever good comes out of him, it doesn’t translate to next season
…unless he wins us the EL [which is highly unlikely]
Madrid want 22M for dani
I mean, I like him but he will not be a starter if we pick up another DM like Bissouma or similar.
I say send him back.
If Ode works out, they would want at least 35 for him… not sure we need that or have that.
If we do win the EL, which I hope, then lets see…..
Dissenter
You are right. But we manage to keep Ceballos for another year. Edu probably is counting on keeping Ødegaard for one more year. The plan would be getting top4. next year. After that, we could sign players instead of getting players on loan.
Xhaka was mostly good yesterday but he was also asleep at the wheel for their second goal and had another one or two moments in the first half where he was not paying attention and got let off by good cover from the defense
As with any good xhaka performance there was an asterisk attached so it depends if you wanna acknowledge that
Willian has been putting up 6’s??
We need players like Ceballos and Ødegaard to complement the likes of ESR and Saka. They are all ballers and these are the types of players that will thrive in a sucessful EPL team.Unfortunately we appear unable to purchase players of this calibre out right so we will be loaning them for some time to come. False economy, but that is our position for now.
Who else believes Willian is putting in a 6/10 every week.
I certainly don’t.
Its understandable Arteta wants Willian to find form and he just might given the number of chances he is getting.
But is it worth it playing him above Gabi and Pepe ?
Definitely not.
Willian is finished. There’s no value to be found there.
Gabi and Pepe have a world class ceiling, especially gabi.
Willian’s best bet now is to be a good rotation option.
Its a no-brainer.
Pedro As you quite rightly suggest we were missing yesterday Partey and Tierney who are most definitely an upgrade on Ceballos and Cedric in Central Midfield and Left Back positions. I agree 10% with your analysis of Willian. It beggars belief that we are bringing on this player when we needed to “control” end game. At the end of this season we need to beef up our squad. a] We need to replace Lacazette. Nketiah is not the replacement. b] Willian needs to be offloaded. His performance level even as bench player is subpar. c] We need a quality “Central… Read more »
100% NOT 10%
‘He can drop 6 after 6 after 6 and it just doesn’t change Arteta’s opinion of him” Not meaning to be disrespectful, Pedro, but that’s the first post I’ve read in detail for some time, which is a shame because previously I pretty much always looked forward to your posts. I’d go further to say Willian drops 3 after 3 after 3. Not buying into that we were going to drop our excellent levels in the 2nd half, it was Willian that created the regression. Arteta’s in-game management is still very, very poor although the team selection improved for the… Read more »
China1 “Xhaka was mostly good yesterday but he was also asleep at the wheel for their second goal”
Xhaka was not asleep. He is just too slow letting opponents run past him. I find that he can now make accurate short passes with his left foot also. That’s why he is less liable when he has the ball. He’ll make long passes with his left foot when he has time and space. Defensively, he is always a liability when facing fast and athletic opponents.
AussieGooner I disagree with the notion that we cannot buy these players. If your idea of “buying” is repeatedly seeking to shop at Harrods then we damn well will fail. With good scouting we can sign players with a high ceiling for affordable fees. Villa signed Sanson for about £14 million this January, They signed McGinn fir less than ™2 million from Hibernian in 2018. These loans have their downsides too. They create an artificial “high” or false sense of achievement because big clubs don’t behave like shop windows. This season is all but gone in the league and I… Read more »
We’re 6 points from safety not 6 points from fourth. Our next 6 games with this generational manger are…..
City lose
Leicester lose
Burnley win
Spud draw
Westham lose
Pool. LoseWe would be lucky to collect 5 points. After that we’ll need 1 point to stay up..
Great win, but in spite of arteta. The smooth play definitely down to player quality and nothing else. Saka is a baller, odegaard looks a great signing and xhaka had a good game for once.
Edu showing once again that he is the right man to keep after getting partey and ode in, as well as martinelli.
Willian (before anyone brings it up) sounded great on paper before the start of the season but has backfired. Can’t get everything right.
#right foot
What’s Artetas excuse for not playing Martinelli and basically wanting another young player out of the club, he can say…..
Lazy like Ozil!.
He can’t say homesick like LT!.
He can’t say trouble maker like Guen!.
He can’t say up to the standard like Saliba!.
He can’t say he won’t sign a contract like Balogun!.
I’m sure he might say, he mentioned he wants number 14 and that’s disrespectful to Auba while his mom sick!. Or he said Fxxxxxx Hell to the Newcastle donkey for elbowing him!.
Maybe Arteta’s young teen daughter told him she fancies Martinelli.
Luiz is signing another year extension to his contract. Just by studying Arteta’s personality, you know Saliba is not coming back, Chambers out, Balogun out and maybe Martinelli will ask for a move. Ramsey could be coming back in a season long loan.
I actually dislike Arteta more than Wenger.
Lots of our youth will want to move this summer. Shame.
WIth a shitty season, they are not seeing minutes at all. Its a terrible place to be in for a young player ( at arsenal)
His love in with vets is really going to backfire…
I am sure he thinks he has fixed auba after today’s win.
Klopp called martinelli a generational talent I believe.
If this is true, its a simple decision for him….
and a shame for us
https://talksport.com/football/623673/jurgen-klopp-arsenal-gabriel-martinelli-liverpool/
Talent of the century, my bad
All this talk of generational shit- sheesh been hearing this too much LOL
Quite possibly the worst signing of the decade , Willian . On paper it seemed like a good idea , on pitch its terrible. Andre Santos contributed more than him . I would even give minutes to Reiss Nelson over Willian .
Hopefully, we can now get a good bid for Xhakalson.
Auba proves he can play CF just like Vardy does in the right set up.
“Arteta has learned plenty of lessons. Willian is his weakness, but outside that, I’m struggling with the lessons thing.”
The point is, the lessons he has learnt is basic stuff obvious to most and an experienced coach would know. We have wasted opportunities and its likely we will be playing catch up as Diet Pep learns his lessons.
Nelson xhaka is left footed. Hes always been a good passer on his left
Yeah yesterday was on balance a really fun game to watch and there were loads of positives we should enjoy. Full credit where it’s due for that. On the negative side Luiz must not be humored any more as a first choice player let alone with a new contract. This obsession with picking him does us no favors and has no long term value. He’s our 4th best CB. He should only be getting minutes to keep our other 3 fresh which I hope (but doubt) was the case yesterday And yeah arteta really does have a hard on for… Read more »
that second goal from Leeds signifies everything wrong about Arsenal. Both Bellerin and Xhaka are complete balls watching fakwits.
And one has to feel for Pepe especially the way he has been playing that last month. Arteta is one frustrating noob.
For the record I’m all for easing martinelli in. He doesn’t need to play every week etc
But for him to be constantly overlooked for the abject misery that is Willian on a weekly basis is miles off being a logical decision and is clearly based on non-footballing reasons – something which arteta seems to be particularly influenced by
Let Xhakalson Not fool anyone, one assist and a couple of games of regular performances doesnt redeem him.
Our aim for CM should be the skillset of Carzola, Diaby, Silva, Gundogan, Toure
Socrates my hope is Pepe was just being rested for the EL. I can live with that
Well said Sid and people will be absolutely shocked and outraged when he next drops a howler, gets a red card or costs us a game. Never underestimate his ability to wipe people’s memories with a few ok performances
China,
I would have thought Emil Smith would have been rested for the Leeds game as MO was playing centrally.. It actually boggles the mind at some of Arteta’s decision making.
When have Arteta’s in-game decisions won us a game? his subs are amateurish at best, at worst they are downright sackable.
Where was Martinelli?
Socrates yeah if we were resting players we should’ve not played ESR and saka should’ve come off at half time
Instead we have these guys busting a gut deep into the second half when we have a significant lead in an unimportant league game with a critically important EL game in the week
China1 The benching of Pepe was definitely not for him to get a rest. Although the starting 11 was very positive thinking so cant be any qualms there. Even tho I think Arteta is a superb coach and can go to the very top, some of his decisions are just mind boggling. Old, slow, dumb players keep getting chance after chance. Luiz has again become a starter after a little spell out of the first team. He is not the future. He is a poor defender especially in the air. Lost the aerial fuel for the first goal which someone… Read more »
“We’re 6 points off 4th. Suck it up man, that agenda you were running is over. There’s something simmering at Arsenal and you can’t stop it now.” We won a football match against newly promoted Leeds united, good game of football and that’s just about it. All this “something simmering” narrative whenever we string four passes together is tiresome. Fulham just comprehensively decimated Everton at home, is something simmering there too? You also keep contradicting yourself, one minute the league is a total write off, the next we are six points off fourth and are in the mixer, which exactly… Read more »
It took 24 eague games to find a formular that works for Aubameyang by Arteta and this should be celebrated. Leeds are a wildly inconsistent team so sighting their win against Leicester as some sort of yard stick to show how awesome and unexpected yesterday was isn’t on. This season is an abnormal season for all, everyone is struggling for consistency and the empty stadiums don’t help, but that doesn’t in anyway mask the fact Arteta is at best an average coach, we are not going to hit any new levels under him. He has too many character flaws as… Read more »
The whole world kinda heard Arteta praising Willian before his signing. It’s practically a face saving exercise that Willian plays ahead of Pepe and Martinelli.
Arteta could dish out his favorite excuse that Willian is hungry (thought he owns a restaurant ! ) and works so fuckimg hard in training etc.. Yeah right. …so Willian left everything in training and he has nothing more to bring to real games. What a disgrace.
Receding Hairline,
100% spot on. What with all the contradictions one could think Pedro was just as confused as Arteta.
I find it astonishing that Arsenal fans think Arteta is going to be a top’ manager, based on what?
In-game decisions are poor
tactics are poor
subs are poor
Player management is poor
What is it that Arsenal fans think Arteta is good at? I can’t think of a single thing.
You give any of the PL managers the Arsenal job and they’d all be around the same position in the table at worst.
@Pedro
“It is ridiculous, but we’re 6 points off top 4.”
Not quiet spot on. Later on Monday Arsenal will be 8 points of top 4 and if Everton win their 2 games in hand it will be 9 points. As it was already posted in this thread “Eternal Optimism!”
China1
You have missed my correction to my typo. I meant to say that for short passes, he can now use both his feet. He use his left foot only for long passes. That’s why he can pass the ball faster when being pressed. In the past, he had to adjust the ball to his left foot and gave the opponent time to take the ball away.
RH,
Just about sums up my view to a t as well.
We have just beaten Leeds,comfortably and all posters can do is moan about Willian and Saliba. Everything that could be said about Willian has been said a million times. Drop it and focus on the positives. There is the nucleus of a very good side there but it’s going to need a couple more transfer windows to get there. Yesterday was the best first half I’ve seen in a while.
“We have just beaten Leeds,comfortably ”
Leeds have lost 11 league games and conceded 40 goals, beating them at home isn’t cause for a national holiday
“Yesterday was the best first half I’ve seen in a while.”
What happened in the second half and why should it be ignored while we focus on the first?
At risk of jumping the gun here but what’s the plan with Odegaard? He looked solid today and I’d like us to sign him but Arsenal didn’t include a buy-in option in the contract. Madrid apparently want him back so it’s just a loan for 6 months?
Quite disappointing to have someone come in and develop with us to leave. Guess we have really fallen as a club
Our best run of form in the last year have been with Xhaka and Ceballos in midfield. I’m not sure why their performance yesterday is a surprise.
Arsenal fans are indeed a special breed.
Leeds are that team that are just as likely to be thumped as they to dishing out the thumping. Didn’t manure put 7 past them? You catch them on their off day and this can happen.
Nevertheless, we were proactive in forcing them to make mistakes and took advantage of those mistakes. For that Arteta and the boys deserve credit.
Criticism can rightfully be aimed at Arteta and the boys for not maintaining those standards all through the match. But it’s got to tempered as we did win after all.
6 points off 4th……6 points off 15th. Arteta is a poor, inexperienced coach, out of his depth at a ‘big club’ with big expectations. He’s dangerous, because just like Wenger, he is, and will continue to, make decisions that are detrimental to the club to satisfy his own ego. There are no excuses for Willian, there are no excuses for wanting to give Luiz 100k+ a week for another year. The treatment of Martinelli is strange to say the least and rather than give Saliba a chance, he shipped him out and continued to play older and proven unreliable players… Read more »
Leeds were poor, Arsenal looked good with some nice movement: just what we’ve been lacking this season. I turned off when William came on, so I can’t comment on the part meltdown. It just depresses me to see him doing 50% for 200% of what he used to be paid. And then rumours about Luiz being extended. He should have been cut years ago. Political moves or not I don’t think many supporters trust Arteta and Edu’s decision making, which is a real shame and undercuts any goodwill he might otherwise have. Willian and Luiz I don’t see in any… Read more »
Leeds market value is a third of Arsenal’s , so this entire most people believed we were underdogs for this clash narrative is super weird to say the least.
Who would we even want at Arsenal from their starting eleven on the day is a question worth asking.
Personally, I can’t think of anyone.
We played well and deserved to win but if Leno had the type of performance their pre-pubescent keeper had we all would’ve said he cost us the game.
I can see Arteta giving luiz another one year deal. There will never be progress with 30 something players unless they have been class for you and their level never drops. Even then there is an upside to young players. The frustrating thing for me is Arteta thinks kids should make an instant impact and seniors need patience. It is in fact the other way around. If you played Nelson or Martinelli instead of Willian you would see a rise in performances game from game. Pepe being inform and being benched for willian is also a disgrace. I don’t think… Read more »
Receding hairline I’ve no problem with tempered criticism of our second half performance but to keep on moaning about Willian and Saliba to the exclusion of all else is blinkered. Anyone would think we are Man City. We are a midtable outfit at best this year so suck it up like we had to for most of the 60’s some of the 70s. I suspect most on here have only been supporting Arsenal since Wenger arrived. If you’ve followed them for as long as I have ( 1st match 1955 ) you get used to the ebb and flow of… Read more »
I’m hoping that Holding was just rested for yesterday’s game as he is our most reliable, dependable, solid centre back Also hoping that putting Smith Rowe out wide is not the first step to him being demoted to the bench.. Smith Rowe has been pivotal in improving our attacking play , he is a better CAM than wide player. Playing him out wide regularly will ultimately see a dip in performance from him. I like the look of Odegaard but he must earn the right to replace ESR at CAM. Odegaard played OK yesterday , nothing special , but you… Read more »
But Tom we were the underdogs 😂.
Went from a top 4 team 2 seasons ago to mid table with a better squad and manager. You can’t make it up
Brilliant Arsenal performance, especially in the first half. As Bielsa admitted, Arteta did a job on him tactically.. The fluidity & interchanging was similar to how City move the ball, albeit they have been doing it together a lot longer & with serious investment. You could see our players had been coached to beat the Leeds press, we were getting between the lines at will. This video’s really well because last year although defensively sound, we were struggling to create. Fact it, we have also been carrying Aubameyang who we all now know had personal issues going on. Xhaka was… Read more »
Arteta has this squad under achieving. He has a golden boot winner under achieving. Despite the claims we have improved defensively we have still lost 10 games with 14 left to play.
13 losses and we are going backwards from Wenger’s last season.
We may well have conceded less having 11 men behind the ball but we were shocking going forward.
Now we are opening up again to play more attacking and our defence reverts to type.
We have progressed in terms of how we press. But that’s about it for me.
Not sure why everyone is worried about Pepe and Holding not playing yesterday. Along with Laca, they’ve both played a lot of minutes recently and getting all three of them 10 days rest is great. We couldn’t afford to rest Saka too but I don’t mind Arteta making dodgy in-game decisions if we’re going 4-0 up in 47 minutes.
That game swung on the subs, Leeds brought on 2 regular starters. If they had started I should imagine that game would have been very different in the first half. I thought the first Leeds goal was a towering header, I don’t think Luiz could be blamed for that, because whatever you say about him he is as strong as an ox and he was flattened by that defender. Also Helda was ran rings round Bellerin as soon as he came on.
I expect the recent starters who didn’t play yesterday to play on Thursday.
We are Kings of the midtable so y’all moaners shut up. Only 6 points from tr4phy is the new tr4phy y’all moaners are so negative.
“I agree with Pedro.”
We know.
Bacaryisgod. Yes. Arteta isn’t playing a computer simulation game. This is reality. He will have to use medical science and advice from his team to ensure players are not overplayed & have recovered physically This is key but some people don’t understand thus. Every manager this season has been complaining about fixture congestion damaging players etc. Overplaying & lack of recovery time are important parts of player management. These are fine tuned athletes, they break under stress. He needs to rotate players for the run in and Europa League. These 2 weeks coming up are a nightmare because we have… Read more »
Lui did Ok yesterday but that doesn’t mean he deserves an extension. He should have an assist and made a crucial block which prevented Bamford from scoring to make it 4-3. Had that one gone in it would have been panic stations all over