Once again, we’re here bemoaning dropped points in a game we should have killed off. We’re here wondering how Granit Xhaka can still be making errors in a system built to support his weakness. We are totally shocked how a refereeing decision can go against us, even with the support of a video analyst. We are pissed that we dropped needless points again.
Arsenal should have taken 3 points today. We should have buried Burnley after demoralising them in the first half. We didn’t. The big conversation point will be about Granit Xhaka. He controlled the ball in our penalty box after receiving it 8 yards from Leno’s line, he looked up, and played a pass to Chris Wood so perfect, the player barely needed to move to score. It was embarrassing, the 8th Xhaka error leading to a goal this season.
‘Unforced error’ has been the deadliest weapon in the oppositions attack for Arsenal since the Chelsea restart. We’re at the point now where it’s clear that the only way we alleviate the issue is to shift on the players that make them. Our main challenge is we don’t have the depth to do that at the moment, so it’ll be a next season thing.
The more concerning problem for me is the lack of goals. Before Christmas, we weren’t creating chances. Against Burnley, we had more big chances than shots on target. We hit the bar, the post, Pepe fluffed a stunning chance, whiffing the ball when a connection looked easier. It’s worrying how relaxed our players are in front of goal. I know Thomas Partey isn’t a striker, but a player of his quality should be keeping a shot on the edge of the box under the bar.
It’s also worth highlighting how bad our luck is with referees. Peters handled the ball in the box. By this seasons standards for handball, it was absolutely nailed on, but the VAR crew looked at it and took a hard pass on it. To make matters worse, the ref looked like he’d evened up things a little later when Pepe’s sublime volley was cleared by the same players shoulder. It wasn’t a penalty, the decision was correct… it’s just mad they spent that much time making sure they got the Burnley decision right, but not the easier decision for the earlier issue. At some point, someone at the top of the game has to make a decision, because the referees are still shit even with the best tools at their disposal.
When you combine fear in front of goal, with the mistake avengers, and you throw in bad luck… you’re always going to struggle.
… but, I will take positives from this game even if you hate it.
The system is working. It’s generating high quality chances, it’s largely limiting the opposition, the results will come. At this point, it’s clear that it’s a personnel problem and the backroom staff absolutely know this.
What fans won’t accept is this carrying on into next season. If Xhaka is the first name on the teamsheet in August, after all the data that supports an issue all the fans know, then you have to question Arteta. Our entire midfield needs a revamp. Ceballos isn’t the full ticket and we don’t have to buy him. Elneny is simply not good enough. Xhaka has great bits to his game, but the upside isn’t high enough to merit him continuing. He’s not young, he’ll never get better than this, errors are a feature of his game. That fact cannot continue to be ignored, and we have to see the correlation of him coming to Arsenal and our sharp decline as a force in English football.
There are lots of nice bits about the squad. We are controlling games now. Chances are coming from lots of places. There’s a lot of talent bubbling in the right areas. Plug the unforced errors this season and we’re 12 points higher in the table competing for top 4. Unforced errors like the Granit one today is a player thing. You can’t coach that level of dimness out of a player.
We really, really missed ESR out there today. It’s incredible how big his impact is on how we play. His off ball movement makes us harder to play against. His runs, his passing, his quick thinking… we missed it today.
The league is so done now. It’s all on Europa. It’s the only saving grace we have. Let’s see where to take it on Thursday.
Tune into the On-The-Whistle podcast with Johnny and Matt. It’s a good one. We debate the strengthening arguments for keeping Arteta and moving him on.
Anyone watching UFC?
That illegal knee to the head on Sterling was naughty.
China
You and I have played completely different type of football. At school level, I played as a defender and we were asked to hoof it up field. We played a 4-4-2 where the midfield and strikers attacked with no cover for the defenders and the defenders all played sweeper 😂😂.
I preferred playing ball to feet to the midfielders because we did that in training but come match day, we were asked to clear every time we got the ball.
Haha gonsterous I still remember when I was 16 and my growing pains in my knees had largely subsided I went back to a local team and I was fucking appalled The manager told me (LB at the time) when I got the ball to just hit it at the opposition corner flag and hope our pacey (absolutely useless, think welbeck but selfish) CF would chase it. In the first game I cane on. Received the ball from the keeper, side stepped the guy pressing me, carried it 5m forwards and played a simple pass to the DM in space… Read more »
Haha gonsterous I still remember when I was 16 and my growing pains in my knees had largely subsided I went back to a local team and I was fucking appalled The manager told me (LB at the time) when I got the ball to just hit it at the opposition corner flag and hope our pacey (absolutely useless, think welbeck but selfish) CF would chase it. In the first game I cane on. Received the ball from the keeper, side stepped the guy pressing me, carried it 5m forwards and played a simple pass to the DM in space… Read more »
Gonsterous all this talk of kids football in England is bringing back dark memories
Really what a shit show English youthful was at least in those days! I’m proper triggered remembering that feeling of watching total football on the TV and the endless shouts of ‘WHEN IT DOUBT HOOF IT OUT’ from the managers in youth matches 😂😂😂😂😂
China I take the piss out of chaka but I was a passenger in the team as well. We had a monster of a midfielder, who went on to play for district level, another two that worked really hard off the ball and were technically very good, then we had pacy wingers and a lethal striker. Not to mention the LB was captain of the cricket team and was automatically made captain of the football team, 2 monster CBs and an average RB(me). The only contribution I had that year was a goal from a corner because everyone else was… Read more »
I still have the trinkets in my room highlighting one of the best moments of my school life. Apart from swimming and footie, I wasn’t really good at any sport nor did I have any interest in them. Much preferred drama and theatre.
Haha I know how you feel I bag on xhaka but my playing profile physically and technically is almost identical except I had/have a willingness to take on my man occasionally if there’s no better pass on But man youth football just made me angry. No one would pass the fucking ball. Everything had to go forwards at all costs even if a square pass was available and no one forward was free. I was never the best in any of my teams, but I was always someone you could count on to play with some culture where my team… Read more »
Yeah my happiest memory at school was when our team won inter house football playing the whole match a man down (fucking Pete cooper was sent off after 1 min when the red (our PE teacher) noticed Pete was playing in spite of him skipping PE that morning through ‘injury’
1-0 victory on the AstroTurf in front of the whole year against one of the best teams. Winning goal from Ashley Pike! It was proper Emery ball unbeaten run stuff but it was satisfying as hell
Gonsterous it sounds like you went to a much more cultured school than I did
In my school when we had drama class us boys would just take turns performing WWE body slams on each other. To this day I’m not sure why we did that
Just take turns perfoming WWE body slams on each other?
Was there lubrication involved?
I think most on here realise the EMI mistake was Arteta’s biggest mistake and he was so smug about it, it’s like old Lego head did not realise he just organised himself a train with Lex, mandingo and 10 South African inmates wanting to make him there wife, that set alarm bells ringing for me .To be fare to the disabled swan he has learned and seems to have cut out a lot of the flapping nonsense and assisting the opposition strikers but make no mistake we swapped an eagle for a disabled swan when it comes to a keeper… Read more »
Aww yea Sid
China1 Xhaka’s not a good turner. I’m sure Leno knows that. Buta simple 5-10 yard 1 touch pass is something even Xhaka can execute. Maybe seeing the pressing Burnley player Leno thought, one pass from Xhaka to Luiz and we have 3 Burnley players already out of the play. He may not have thought of the pass being on Xhaka’s weaker foot in that split second decision which is ofc falls on Leno’s part. Even then the absurdity with Xhaka gave the ball away was in the league of its own. Xhaka knows himself better than anybody in the world… Read more »
It’s 100% xhaka not sure why it is even being questioned
Xhakalson is a stain on Arsenal,
replace Carz or Diaby in the same situation and opposition players will think twice because they know if they commit they dont get the ball and their team is exposed.
Why are people talking about Xhakas weaker foot? If you’re a footballer, without taking that extra touch, you should be able to play a simple pass to Luiz using your leg, bottocks, bollocks, or any other part of your body.
Perceptions are what this blog is all about. “90% percent on Xhaka, maybe even 100 percent” I don’t think so. CT, if you’ve been watching Arsenal play this season you would have seen Leno do these things on numerous occasions. His dilly dallying and pussyfooting around is quite often the core reason why we don’t get the ball forward quickly enough. He is useless in so many aspects of his game, apart from when he doesn’t have to think. “ Yeh, but he made a couple of fantastic reflex saves”. Imo, Leno is as equally to blame as GX in… Read more »
I’m not going to be hard on Xhaka as he’s much improved but I have thought for a long time
now that as long as he remains at the club we’re have to accept his costly errors will stay
with us and cost us valuable points on a regular bases he can’t do anything about it it’s in his DNA only Arsenal & Arteta can change this by moving him on………he’s not irreplaceable.
I think Xhaka’s panic was largely due to the fact he found himself so close to the goal that his trademark impetus-killing back pass wasn’t on.
Captain Tierney Yes every team that plays out from the back takes a risk. The fact is that for all the criticism of Xhaka in yesterday’s game we have conceded far too many goals in similar and costly fashion. It should not be forgotten just how many mistakes have been made at the back by different players. How about the short back pass from Soares to Gabriel? My main concern about yesterday’s incident is the shortcomings of Leno. The goalkeeper plays these short passes, because he has poor “football” ability. On the rare occasions that he kicks the ball upfield… Read more »
He was having a decent game up to that point, but 8 unforced errors leading to goals at this stage in the season is shocking. (Cedric is joint second in 5). Nevertheless, Luiz gave away the highest number of penalties last year and hid won him a new contract. Arteta is nothing if not generous. It’s not one thing but Xhaka is my least favourite Arsenal player of all time. You don’t win trophies of note with this guy playing for you. Is it really not possible to train and drill these behaviours out of the team? I notice Bellerin… Read more »
Tippitappi, Xhaka gets away with a lot, because he some some abilities which occasionally shine. He is always slowing down our breaks by playing the wrong pass. It must be soul-destroying to be Auba or Saka and transitioning at pace only to see Xhaka play a backward pass to a CB or hold on to the ball too long. I think we would play better with ten men, I really don’t.
Arsenal are a badly damaged brand, and getting worse. They have gone from being a hugely respected club on the world stage, to a mid-table nonentity who now provide comedy moments for opposition fans to rip the piss out of, and who continuously disregard and disappoint their own legions of loyal fans. Arsenal’s only hope of regaining their respectability and having any footballing significance in the future is forcing the Kroenke’s to sell. If they don’t, this current version of Arsenal will continue to seriously underwhelm and slowly destroy it’s fan-base. I have no evidence to support this, but the… Read more »
Moray
Xhaka was yesterday one of the best players on the pitch until he gave away the silly goal.Frankly the question which needs to be asked is why it was necessary for Xhaka to
be the last man in defence and not the Centre Backs?
Despite some defensive improvements this season there is still a lack of organisation and
leadership at the back.
I dont think its prerequisite but jeez people on this blog have you ever really played football match before ? So you wanna criticize a goal keeper for making a pass ? whats next , Aubameyang being criticized for taking a shot ? Its not Leno’s fault that Xhaka is a dumbfuck of a player , he takes an additional touch that enables him to take it on his weaker foot and decides to become Prime Pirlo with it . Its team game Leno relied on Xhaka to make a smart decision based on how we played out the back… Read more »
Stroller, most of the team was poor yesterday so it’s more a question of everyone else descending to Xhaka’s level. Partey for instance is capable Of so much more but he has to hang around wiping Xhaka’s backside.
Get the right player in there and we would be a different team. Every lateral or backwards ball he plays kills off another attack. Not losing the ball should not be our only
Goal.
Emiratesstroller I consider you to be a man with good knowledge of football but man havent you paid attention ? The centre backs usually split wide so the full backs move up the pitch and then one of our CM comes inside essentially making it a 3-4-3 , which we do it so we can beat the press. Sometimes its a fake and we dont pass wide instead we pass through the centre , like the one where Saka missed his chance in the first half. All pretty basic but effective if only that stupid Midfield error prone Xhaka wasnt… Read more »
Eight goals he’s given away. It’s hardly an isolated incident which may or may not have the keeper
Partly at fault.
Should we really have players on the pitch whose serious liabilities need to be taken into consideration?
I preferred Xhaka when he was hiding from passes.
Divine Sherlock
I pose a question to you.
Was Leno’s pass to Xhaka the best option when you have three Burnley players pressing?
As Keown pointed out the correct option was to hoof the ball upfield. Leno has made far too
many poor decisions in last two years on account of his poor kicking.
How about the poor distribution against Benefica which cost us a goal in first leg?
If I was playing with Xhaka I wouldn’t ever pass him the ball, so on this judgment call Leno was at fault.
Once Mertesacker takes over Xhakalson will be the 1st out of the door
The main issue with Xhaka is he thinks he is a better player than he actually is
(6 ft 6 in) Mert has better view than the vertically challenged diet Pep(spanish Napoleone)
HerbsArmy you’re post is spot on mate. We won’t be going very far while they own the club. They have no knowledge or interest in Football. Arsenal are security for other projects. If we really want to make a change we need to boycott games when football opens up. Liverpool got rid of Hicks and Co., we can do the same.Empty stadiums are bad for the brand and ultimately finances.
Bard
Dark time to be an Arsenal fan, and no sign of any light.
I think Partey has fitness issues, he can barely play 60 minutes of football. From 30 minutes his input starts to drop off and after the initial 15 minute burst after half time …he’s shot to pieces. I’m not sure he has the energy for a CM or box to box type role and would probably be better used as the holding DM, where he can patrol the area in front of the centre backs , take the ball from the keeper and do what he did for our goal yesterday , which is, take the ball under pressure, stay… Read more »
Leno could have passed the ball to one of the players to his right instead of Xhaka. Playing out from the very closest player is not a bloody mandatory choice. It is his awareness or lack of it that put Xhaka in the position… but blimey. Under what circumstance is it cool to cross the ball across your own goal while being pressurised by the opposition ??? FFS.
The first handball should have seen the player walk. No contest.
Come on folks, let’s be honest here, Leno is just not good enough. Unfortunately though we have to make do with a GK who’s only real attribute is that he has good reflexes. 1. Does he communicate?……No! 2. Does he command his area and the back line?……..No! 3. Is he brave?…….No! 4. Do his teammates trust him?…….No! 5. Does he make you feel comfortable, when you’re sitting watching, , when opposing teams have corners/ free kicks or are crossing the ball into the area?…..No! 6. Is he a monumental liability in many aspects of his game?……….Yes! 7. Is Arteta culpable… Read more »
Divine
All well and good, in theory, but your forgetting one thing.
Theoretical situations, as per yesterday.
Leno caused the problems.
GX just finished it off.
Pierre
Agree………again!!
🍺
Sorry, I meant practical situations!!
English plonker.
We spent 45million to upgrade our midfield yet we are 10th,
These type of decisions lead to downfall of organizations.
Agreed Graham62 but this is a manger who got rid of Martinez and agreed to bring in runnerson which is something only Arteta can explain .Even so with all the bad decisions from the manger and the players that was a stone wall penalty . It seems to me that Arteta just can’t produce consistency no matter what he does. I would really like to see those players come out breathing fire next weekend at the emirates as I don’t think I can take another loss to the spuds and mourine
Aston Villa have the best record of mounting fast attacks from the back.
Why?
Their goalie distributes the ball quickly and properly for midfielders to build an attack.
Oh forgot he used to play for us.
Pass it quickly to dickxhaka as he would pass it back.
Arteta just loves the guy.
Doomed
Did we buy partey to play CM? Then loan a specialist DM Torreira?
Cluelessness
Emirates stroller
Spot on with your assessment of the incident. I don’t get people saying Xhaka could have just played it back to Leno – really?
Herbs Army, also spot on. I said it yesterday. Lacazette screaming was one of the most pathetic things I have seen. Not sure if anyone saw the piss taking they did on MOTD, not once, but twice. Pretty sure they wouldn’t have done that to a player of City, United, Chelsea etc. We are fast becoming a very unfunny joke.
Tbh there seems to be a shortage of high quality keepers these days In years gone by 80% of the teams in the PL would have high quality between the sticks even if not all were world class Players like van der sar, friedel, schwarzer and co spent much (in edwins case) or all their careers in mid or lower table teams. Cudiccini was a bench player at Chelsea at one period. Shay given was quality. I’m not sure why in the last maybe 5 years there seems to be a new order where there are a handful of genuinely… Read more »
Matt in what universe was xhaka unable to play it back to Leno? Why wouldn’t he be able to do that? What would you have done if you’d received a poorly judged pass from Leno in those circumstances with players breathing down your neck?
Would you have tried something risky and clever or just been like no thanks and give it back? It’s the easiest pass in the game
Anyone seen the video of bellerin at the Grand Prix being handed something and when the camera goes to him he walks off looking seriously shady. The title of the video was bellerin being handed gear.
Not sure when it was. He has his hair in a dodgy man bun so not sure it was recent as I don’t think his hair is long enough. Very dodgy though.
Matt
I can’t imagine a top club accepting such pathetic behaviour.
The whole football nation laughing at us, even Wrighty, and he’s one of us!
China
I don’t think you have ever played football mate. That called a hospital pass and the keeper, your team mates and the fans would be going mental if you played it back to the keeper in that situation. Seriously, if he did that, what would you have expected Leno to do with it then?
People keep doubting the back pass to Leno but I’m yet to see anyone explain why an easy pass back to Leno was some difficult, impossible or risky task.
It’s literally the easiest pass in football
Herbs, yeah I meant to say that even Wrighty was joining in. Disgusting to see, but you can’t argue that it wasn’t deserved. Lacazette should be massively embarrassed, but I’m not sure he will. It’s his MO to come and and throw himself to the ground in writhing agony.
Matt how is it a hospital pass? Leno is not being marked and had a few meters between himself and the strikers What could Leno have done when he receives it? What any keeper in that situation would do if they aren’t trying to fanny around with clever play which is hoof it clear It’s astonishing that anyone would think this a big risk or challenge. This kind of shit where you get a bad pass in or around the box under pressure, give it back and the player hoofs it clear happens all the time it’s not some alchemy… Read more »
It is a weak mentality that runs through the whole club, Matt, and something that has been obvious for a few years now.
Bottom line, Arsenal have no balls, no stomach for battle.
And if xhaka is scared of passing to Leno there’s a team mate called row Z which is always more than happy to receive the ball and infinitely preferable to blind dinks across the penalty spot on your weak foot
Again this couldn’t be more basic
China
So you want Xhaka to pass it back to Leno and you think Leno would clear it? I am highly
Doubtful given the fact that he didn’t clear it in the first place.
Matt you’re literally telling me it’s smarter to play a dink across the area on your weaker foot in the PL than to hoof it out of play or pass to the keeper?
Is that what would’ve gone for? Honestly?
Spanishdave
Spot on.
Matt he might not have cleared it but it wouldn’t be xhaka’s fault if he didn’t would it? If he passes it back and shouts CLEAR and Leno fucks it up it’s not xhaka who will be taking blame on here right now because it would’ve been Leno playing the silly pass in the first place and then fucking up again after. And again if he’s worried about Leno fucking up what stopped him hitting row z instead? Nobody forced xhaka to play an extremely risky pass on his weaker foot. It was a choice, and an extremely dumb one… Read more »
Arteta said that he accepted the risk of playing out from the back. I think he should add some variations to the play. Currently, he has two CB’s and a midfielder forming a triangle to receive the ball. The opposition sends three attackers waiting to tackle or intercept any pass. One of the fullback should comeback along the touch line to give Leno another target for a pass.Yesterday, Leno and Xhaka just acted spontaneously even when there were opposition players still inside the box. There is advantage to have players following a system. It can give players more confidence. But… Read more »
ET Agreed that we did not deserve to lose or drop points in the last 2 months apart from the City game. This goes to show the improvements Arteta has made with this squad. Leno is not the best on the ball but he is still good and is rarely responsible for us conceding goals. He has also saved us countless times with his elite shot stopping. Even yesterday he made a crucial 1v1 save. Look at City and how they play out. Xhaka should have played the ball first time to Luiz or back to Leno. Arteta is adamant… Read more »
CT
The problem is that Xhaka is a repeat offender. He could easily make another vital mistake and make us dropping out of the Europa Cup competition.
Bearing in mind the state of the pitch yesterday, it beggars belief that Arteta didn’t instruct his keeper to hit long more often and distribute the ball more quickly. The pitch hadn’t been watered since 1879, we all saw that, so why didn’t Arteta change things slightly. Shite, even the Burnley players were struggling with the bounce of the ball. Think of a tennis analogy. You can play on Grass, Clay, Rubber(indoors), Hard. Can you play the same way on each surface? Of course you bloody can’t. You adapt your game. For some inexplicable reason though , Arteta can’t get… Read more »
Not a single word of praise for Emi when Villa lost against bottom of the table Sheffield mid-week, but Xhaka makes one of his routine errors-leading-to-a-goal yesterday and the daggers are out for the keeper who chose to stay with us.
I wonder how many legit Arsenal supporters there are left on this blog.
I did wonder whether (unfortunately) politics came into Emi (who didn’t cost tens of millions) and Leno (who did). Also we really don’t know the players feelings on the matter. After having been an afterthought for years, it’s entirely likely Emi would have preferred to go somewhere where they treated him like he was important. I honestly don’t think it would have been possible in the same way for him to get that respect at Arsenal having been taken for granted for so long. Did we sell the better keeper? Yes. Just not sure it would have been very easy… Read more »
Captain Tierney.
ET
Agreed that we did not deserve to lose or drop points in the last 2 months apart from the City game.This goes to show the improvements Arteta has made with this squad.
What does this mean actually? We could have qualified for UCL if Subs had buried the penalty against Tottenham. That would have shown how amazing Emry was?
“At some point, someone at the top of the game has to make a decision, because the referees are still shit even with the best tools at their disposal.“ Agree with you Pedro, but unfortunately nobody at the top will do anything because these refs might be shit, but they are also regularly shit in favour of the most politically powerful clubs in this league. Self inflicted as many of our problems are, Arsenal are on the end of these sort of decisions too regularly for my liking, somebody at the club should be making representation, but unfortunately, we no… Read more »
ET
Are you blind?!!?
Leno was responsible yesterday. He was very nearly responsible against Benfica in the first leg when we were 1-0 down and against Leicester last week.He has been responsible on numerous occasions this season for utter cock-ups at the back.
Just a crying shame that we don’t have a manager that sees this.
Note: If you are blind, I sincerely apologise.
Yeah it wasn’t really that bad a performance. We missed several clear cut chances that we’d probably score another day and we handed them a free goal. Burnley were not value for a draw by any stretch of the imagination and will have been thanking their lucky stars when they got off the pitch if we’re honest. Plus the ridiculous hand ball that was ignored But the result is what it is. Thankfully in a way we’re too far behind in the league for it to matter. All remaining league games are dead rubbers and have been for months now… Read more »
Burnley had more shots on goal than Arsenal, means arsenal were playing with ze handbrake.
CT not ET!
If we can’t put team away we don’t deserve anything.
If’s and but’s var and maybe’s is all you hear from the fans these days.
Matt,
Bellerin was being handed a paper bag of vegan flapjacks.
Well dodgy
A man who cant beat sean dyke(burnley) cannot by trusted to beat unai emery(villareal)
Spanglish proverb
Lest we forget, emery’s 5th place and EL final season included the following as important players Iwobi, child troublemaker guen, torreira the not fit for this league DM, welbeck who doesn’t even need an introduction he is so poor, an overweight and disinterested mikki, and zero wingers in the entire squad. Sok was a mainstay. Mustafi played a lot. AMN who was on poor form and looked disinterested at the time. I can’t even remember who was LB. kola??? Xhaka played a lot as well. Ozil played a part. And emery still got criticized (rightly) for failing to get top… Read more »
If you even just put current saka in that emery first season team we come third very easily
Welbeck or iwobi out, saka in and we’re probably 8 points better off
From Football365: Despite keeping more clean sheets than anyone other than the runaway leaders, Villa have allowed 117 shots on their goal – only six clubs have given up more. But Martinez has forged his reputation with a Premier League high saves percentage of 78.6 per cent. More impressively, Martinez also leads the league for defying expected goals. Villa have conceded 27 goals whereas xG models suggest they should have let in 34. Bernd Leno is also performing positively in that metric and the keeper Arsenal put their faith in over Martinez is hardly having a bad season. But his… Read more »
andy1886
That’s because Arteta was wrong.
Can the nightmare just be over?
How arteta still has the job is anyone’s guess.
China I am not absolving Xhaka of any blame. It was his mistake that led directly to the goal, but that is what you get with Xhaka. Leno should not have put him in the position where that mistake was even possible. You talk about Xhaka having the option to pass back to Leno but I just don’t agree that is an option and if you think it was, why would Leno not skip the middle man out and just hoof it himself? If you compare it to the goal we scored where Partey drops deep and collects the ball,… Read more »
Imagine this.
1. Martinez was given the number 1 jersey and offered £50000 a week.
2. Leno was benched or, better still, sold for what exactly? £25+ million.
3. Arsenal players feel very happy.
4. Progress is ongoing.
5. More points assured.
Hypothetical I know but imagine where we could be if Arteta knew what he was doing.
Also would have sold xhaka to Berlin if arteta knew what he was doing.
State of the club is just depressing.
Going nowhere under the present management. Having the same thing happening he after game and expecting a different result is just sheer madness. Xhaka keeps having brain farts partially because there is no price to pay and because of the system of slavishly playing out from the back no matter what the cost. At times you just get it out of there long and high and at best the opposition head it back and you start from midfield. Anything inherently wrong with that. This is a anagement issue and not being addressed. The picking of the team shocking again picking… Read more »
Graham
Are you blind ?!
It was Xhaka who avoided a simple one touch pass then hit Wood trying to clip the ball over him which resulted in a Burnley goal.
ps- If you are blind, I sincerely apologise.
About Arsenal not having depth in the midfield at the moment, recall ANM playing there ,when Xaka was fortunately red carded. ANM was MoM that time , and when asked what takes, replied legs . ANM is no great shakes consistently, but has not played there consistently to pick up the tools either. ( forget Fraudeta coaching, by now we can realise that was a PR hype from Pep ). Yes, we do not have City class midfield ( ESR , ahem), but have better than most teams, some higher in the League than us. But then we have Generational… Read more »
S ASOA.
That should be Arteta’s alias henceforth – VINDICTIVE FRAUD.
Graham
Yep Arteta is trying to get us to become Man City Mark 2.
Trouble is he’s not capable, he’s delusional.
He hasn’t got the players to do it and so far he has been responsible for purchasing some very expensive crap players, and he is forsaking talented youth to shore up his ego.
We are in a mess and this will go on and on.
If we had crowds in the stadium he probably wound have gone by now.
Don’t know how being average, safe, not losing the ball ( compulsively making back passes), translates into Xaka being the best player on the pitch ,except for brain fart. Dhaka is costing the team personnel who have to protect and nursemaid him all the time. No wonder Partey keeps on getting injured either with exhaustion or likely with exasperation.
CT
Goal fault is Leno’s, he should just clear the ball rather than pass it to xhaka.
There is no getting around that.
Why would anyone expect xhaka to be able to do some one touch wizardry in traffic with the ball like he’s been doing that all season is beyond me.
Leno has first decision to make, he makes the wrong one, it’s his fault. Xhaka just an easy scapegoat for anyone still convinced by arteta but both players at the end of the day are concrete examples of his ineptitude.
Jamie
What’s your beef with Emi
The lad spent q0 years at Arsenal and doesn’t deserve the stick you beta him with.
Emery vs Arteta debate 😴 Emery put us here. The football under Emery was an absolute joke. Arteta has 100% improved the standard of football. The league is crazy this season, more competitive and generally tougher. Do you not recall how many shots we conceded against Norwich under Emery? We were an absolute shipwreck which Arteta is attempting to fix. This season is a write off, he hasn’t had a decent run of the mill yet. We, much more than any of our rivals were in need of a squad overhaul last summer which wasn’t completely possible due to pandemic.… Read more »
Someone needs to have a word with Laca
He’s embracing himself and the club with that hyper-reaction dives he’s doing.
Just watched the replay of that goal. When Leno had the ball, there were two Burnley players in the box on both sides of him. Xhaka was running back from the 18 yard line being chased by another Burnley player. When Xhaka received the ball from Leno, he was surrounded by three Burnley players. After watching this replay, Leno should not play the ball to Xhaka. He should kick the ball to the midfield or to the full backs.
Emery Vs arteta debate
5th Vs 10th
Leno’s pass was diabolically stupid. He had the full view of the situation and should never have passed the ball to a player that had THREE players bounding on him 8 yards away from the goal. It was a 3 vs 1 situation….clear the ball out. Xhaka’s reaction was just as bad. Why not kick the ball out of touch or pass it to the kicking leg of the goalie for him to clear it out, Arteta’s comment about accepting the price of playing out if the back was puzzling and just goes to show that he does have his… Read more »
Laca’s screaming is ripe for piss taking, but sad to see Wrighty joining in. Will forgive him though.
Complaining about Martinez is wasted energy. The guy asked to leave. What can we do to change it? Exactly, nothing.
Could someone put together a compilation of dodgy var decisions this season that have gone against us & then send it off to the club asking them why they haven’t made a formal complaint to the prem league for incompetence & blatant bias from the PGMOL and VAR & asking for an independent investigation.Maybe that would put the cat amongst the pigeons.
Martinez wanted first choice minutes, he had earned them after the cup run.
You know, I would love to have been wrong about selling emi and for villa to be behind us on the table and for us to have done the double over them. But that isn’t reality now, is it.
It was the first major decision arteta had to make and he whiffed it when it was honestly a layup. It was a layup.