I was like, totally off the train… ready to move on. Now I’m ALL ABOARD and ready to go again. I can’t do a summer of misery. I am back on the project and searching out the light. One last time for the vision.
If we win our next two games, the most we can finish off 3rd place is 9 points.
Think of the ways we’ve punched ourselves in the face this season. Think of the clubs we’ve failed to take points off. Think of some of the rough luck.
Since we added creative midfielders, our 22 game run has us in 3rd place.
That’s over half a season’s worth of data. It is now significant.
So, what happened in that run?
We added ESR. Then we added Martin Odegaard. Those two gave us faster movement in the final third of the pitch. They opened the game up for us.
We also added Thomas Party. Before January 14th, he’d only managed 360 minutes of football. He was our biggest signing of the summer. His form has been a bit messy, but reality is, he should have flushed that out of his system by October.
Then think about what we had brewing in the dressing room. We moved on Mustafi, Kola, Ozil, and Sokratis. 4 senior players, all big personalities, all very disruptive behind the scenes.
Mustafi and Kola went to Schalke, staged a coup, ousted Gross, then relegated the team anyway. Do you think that sort of mindset was easy to deal with?
Mesut Ozil went to Fenerbache and has registered 1 assist in 10 games. Remember when he was commentating on games just to be a pain?
During that December period, we also dropped Luiz and Willian. The expensive free transfer last summer never made it back after stinking up the starting 11 for the first half of the season.
Then think about how we’ve lost games this season. Look at the stupid red cards we struggled to recover from. Look at the unforced errors.
Then the big one… Auba went from a 30 goal a season striker to someone that could barely register 10. Family issues, malaria, a lack of form. We signed Auba to a big deal because goals are hard to come by, then we literally got the nightmare outcome, a different variant of striker that couldn’t score goals.
We lost twice to Everton, Wolves, and Villa. We only picked up 1 point against Burnley.
I don’t think we’ll lose 7 times at home with fans in the ground.
Yet, all the above… and we could still finish 9 points from 3rd.
The mission for next season is clear.
Improve defence. We have the 3rd best defence in the league currently, but 38 goals is hardly peak anything. A chunk of those goals were unforced errors, we can improve there drastically next season with better players.
Score more goals. We’re 10th in the league for that and it’s unacceptable.
Fix the midfield with press-resistant athletes that can move the ball at speed.
Find a ball playing centre back that can pick up the slack of Luiz, but without the errors. He made our attack better and we missed him because players like Holding and Mari can’t pass like him.
Find a right-back that can offer that side of the pitch what Tierney offers the left. We’re very addicted to the left side of the pitch, which makes us easier to plan against.
Find some extra ammunition in attack so we can add now numbers and goals. JACK GREALISH would be nice. Maybe even a cut-price Aouar after he tanked his form and lost out on the French squad. Whoever it is, they need to bring goals and creativity.
Unleash Auba. He should be scoring 25 goals when he’s 35. We need to create chances around him and work to his attributes, which is outrageous edge inside 8 yards.
Limit the unforced errors.
We’ve already gone a large part of the way by moving on David Luiz. His lack of focus and dying pace cost us big last season. Dani Ceballos won’t come back. There are also a number of other players I expect will be moved on. Better players make less errors.
We also need to address the backroom deficiencies. There were some awful decisions last season that a rookie coach shouldn’t have been making. Who is going to help Arteta be better with talent? Who is going to challenge him when he wants to try a false 9 in the semi-finals of an important game? Who is going to make sure average coaching is rectified with people that can create a better working environment?
City had a similar issue when Arteta first went there and took a beating from Wenger in the semi-final of the FA Cup against us. They finished 4th. They weren’t clinical enough in the final third and they made too many errors in defence. Everything else was good. They signed Bernado, Mendy, Laporte (Jan), Walker, Ederson.
Those signings gave them defensive stability, but also control from the base of defence where they build attacks from. They went from conceding 41 to 27. They went from scoring 80 to 101.
I think we’re the poverty version of what City were going through. Too many errors in defence. Not enough edge in the final third. But the bit in-between is generally pretty solid. There aren’t many games we haven’t controlled since the turn of the year. That’s a positive to build from, we’re solid and we hold onto the ball well.
Do a budget version of City’s summer and things could bang.
What we need to do has never been clearer. We’re not a million miles away from being a really good side. But… the summer needs to be perfect. Do I trust Arteta and Edu? Not really, but there doesn’t seem to be another option.
So let’s see.
Also, when I write posts like this, we tend to lose. So I’m bracing for impact on that one. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, see you in the comments x
1st
And
The
Tr4phy
Nice! Now to read the post….
Really slow day on le grove today
Pedro I really need one of those Costa Rican beers to fully grasp this position on the state of play.
In fact give me several of those sexy beings.
Guessing Bankz and DM finally got a room?
Gotta ruin Roy’s leaving party….
Sal, we are going to the MOOOOOON
Exe won’t be playing. Did I hear that right?
Eze*
“We’re not a million miles away from being a really good side.”
I seem to have been watching a different Arsenal team this season whether you’re talking pre or post Christmas.
Pedro – Don’t worry though I promise none of us will blame you if we lose tonight – Palace away isn’t an easy match I wouldn’t be surprised to see this play out as a draw.
“If we win our next two games, the most we can finish off 3rd place is 9 points.
Think of the ways we’ve punched ourselves in the face this season. Think of the clubs we’ve failed to take points off. Think of some of the rough luck.”
Lol, Pedro – you’re sounding full-on AKB paid-up Untold member in late Weng days!
Let’s do it I can’t wait for this season to finish and see what kind of summer we have
I can’t wait to go back to the stadium next season and cheers the boys on.
Eze is out for 9 months ruptured achilles
MOOOOON
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te_3gfOoh8c
“Then the big one… Auba went from a 30 goal a season striker to someone that could barely register 10. Family issues, malaria, a lack of form.” And Pedro, while I get your position and how you’re feeling spreading Arsenal positivity, you have gone from noting that Auba’s xG under Emery was unsustainable (where he was scoring every half chance) and that there had to be mean reversion, to arguing that under Arteta it’s only bad luck preventing him returning to those ‘unsustainable’ numbers. Any idea how many good chances he’s getting this season compared to before? I do think,… Read more »
sal
Well at least that launch was entertaining for anyone watching – more than can be said about your average Arsenal performance at the moment.
“”Do I trust Arteta and Edu? Not really, but there doesn’t seem to be another option.””
Loooool
Tbh I was expecting Artetas debut season to be a bit of nightmare, but in the galaxy brain sense where we finished top 6 at least. Turned out even worse.
Pedro A fair summary of our season. We had too much deadwood in the club which proved difficult to shift last summer + of course some transfer mistakes like Luiz and Willian who should never have been recruited in the first place. I do not believe that Arsenal needs to recruit yet another centre back. We have been experimenting in that department for far too long. We have on our books 5 centre backs and we need to find a settled partnership rather than the constant changes of personnel. We do need to find a replacement first string right back… Read more »
Hmmm, decent mitigation but we have seen some things which worry for future. Saliba sit Willian Freezing out Pepe for half a year Not working out a preferred cb pairing Changing systems at least 3 times during the season Getting done by Emery playing esr as a striker Martinelli frozen out Auba shunted wide and out of team after a massive contract Horseshoe football, only getting any central threat post Xmas Recalling Eddie, binning him and then playing him in advance of balogun. The above is very much in arteta gift, can’t be blamed on outside influence. I want clear… Read more »
Actually subs, and general lack of threat for large portion of games. Fine margin football is shit and prone to failure, high chance creation is the route to winning
forget all this 3rd since Xmas stuff, bottom line we are going to finish outside Europe and lost meekly to Emery in the EUL.
There is some mystique around a 1 nil win like only a clever manager can do it, it’s nonsense, a one nil win is a game you scored one goal short
What gives me hope is that Arteta has admitted that he has made mistakes. That is the first step for improvement. I remembered that he has defended playing Xhaka as the LB until he convinced himself by playing Saka as the LB.
“Better players make less errors.“ This sounds anecdotal. Leading the league in errors to goals is Chelsea and Liverpool last time I saw that table. Both have top talent. Don’t think any strategy for improvement will involve ‘make less errors’, it has to be proactive and aimed at creating chances and greater levels of control/domination throughout the 90 mins. We will still make errors, players will still make have wtf moments, but it’ll be less impactful because we’ll be readily scoring at twice the rate (ambition), and not failing to score in half our home matches which renders every mistake… Read more »
Good post Pedro, agree with most of that Like you, I don’t think the gap in front of us is insurmountable with good recruitment and a better balanced squad Unfortunately just like you, I also don’t trust the people who are tasked with addressing the quality and balance of our squad Hopefully we can clear the decks, our squad is bursting at the seems with dross, and Arteta bluffing saying: “I expect everyone under contract to be here next season” Isn’t fooling anyone, we’ll be weak sellers because it’s a weak market, everyone knows we’re desperate to move players on… Read more »
Pedro, So what you mean is that if we win the games we lost, we will be higher. Did it not occurred to you that every clubs think along the same line and that it cannot happen for every single one of them? Think about the games where we luck our way to an undeserved victory. Do you seriously think that a repeat of the victory against ManUtd and Chelsea is on the card next season? Replace Kai Havertz and Timo Werner with clinical players (and Chelsea will do that) and the Chelsea game result would have been different. Kane,… Read more »
Nelson,
Of course he’s going to say he made mistakes. He can hardly say he didn’t make mistakes when we finished so low in the league. It would give him no bargaining power with the fans.
Mr. Serge,
Miguel Azeez?
We should have let him learn the managerial trade somewhere else and then get him in if he was any good.
As it stands we have an apprentice in the top job winging it. Making it up as he goes along. Making mistakes at the expense of our club and its future.
😞
Thanks Pedro, the glass half full approach is always better for ones sanity!
While I do think he has made a lot of very obvious mistakes I don’t see the point in being negative all through the summer. It really is a massive massive summer for us. I hope they(Josh, Arteta, Edu and Vinai) deliver.
Left Testicle
Those Arteta supporters are saying that it is all the fault of the players….
Sorry Nelson, that wasn’t meant as a dig at you.
Just seen it’s a 7pm kick off time!
Evening all, Good balanced post Pedro, but your a little heavy on the optimism, yes we can’t be as bad as this season. a full season of ESR and saka together will help. But don’t bank on auba being back to 30 goals and season. Or much changing without some heavy investment. Even the deadwood will be tough to move on since outside of the premier league and oil clubs everyone else is skint. Odegarrd may not be here next season, but I’m still not 100% sold on him. He did go missing in some games and yes he’s better… Read more »
All good Pedro…
However, the real question is does Mike have a system for attacking and creating more goal chances? ATM it seems its basically individuals making things happen. We need 1 and 2 touch football again. We need a right side attack and our mids need to have free reign to shoot, and get into the box as well. No more U shape passing endlessly. Its disgusting
There you have it… he better make this happen. The natives are more than restless now
I would use a huge chunk of the little money we have on the RB and CAM… those are the most critical areas. CM as well….
Im good with a LB as cover for Tierney that is cheap, but we can count on him missing plenty of games. is Bertrand good enough? He will def see minutes next season there.
Hoping Partey can stay healthy as well… he needs to really step it up
Sign Harry Kane! He’s terrific, come on we all know it. A Sol Campbell coup, v2.0.
Not one mention of Harry Kane wanting out of our hated rival and the pending implosion… admire the restraint and self control of this bunch.
Pepe starts tonight.
……………….Leno
……..Holding Gabriel
Chambers……….Tierney
………..Partey Elneny
Saka Smith-Rowe Pepe
………..Aubameyang
Boring team
Arsenal: Leno, Chambers, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Elneny, Saka, Smith Rowe, Pepe, Aubameyang
Subs: Ryan, Cedric, Mari, Xhaka, Ceballos, Odegaard, Willian, Lacazette, Martinelli
Pepe on the left… lets see , I have felt he is better there… than the right
No way in hell should that kind of money be given to Arteta unless this budget is available ever year so that a new manager can have the same. The buying is only a small part of our problem. Its poor management..not getting the best out of quality players, and a complete inability to see the wheat from the chaff within his squad.
Arteta was fairly backed last year.
New manager, huge spree. That’s the way to go.
Every team in the Prem can come up with the same analysis.
If we had done this or that, hindsight is 20/20.
We are poor badly managed and drifting down.
Unless there are real changes we will be no better next season
Pedro You’ve flip flopped twice over Arteta in recent weeks. Re read your post mortem of the loss to Villareal and its a million miles editorially from what you’ve written now. Ker-ay-zee. Your sentiments are fluctuating every few days and the vacillation is undermining your credibility for being ITK. I hope the team takes 6 points in the last two games but I cannot see how there’s been some sort of turning point to justify a 180 degree change. The next uptick in emotions and positive sentiment can only fully materialise with a successful t window. At the moment it’s… Read more »
Greg, We all want to see the spuds implode, but we’re not in a better position to be bragging at the moment. let’s see what happens with Kane. He has three years left on his deal and wants to stay in England. City want haaland. Chelsea spent big on Werner. United seem the obvious move but have just resigned cavani with rashford Greenwood and martial on the books as well. Would be amazed if the bindippers have the money for him. Maybe he sticks it out one more year then with two years left on his contract the spuds have… Read more »
Safe to say he hates Martinelli! absolutely a moron this arsenal coach.
I think that team beats ‘who the fuck is’ Palace. G-Mart and Laca to replace Pepe and Auba if neither are firing on 60 mins. COME ON YOU FUCKING RIP ROARING REDS!
Probably our best eleven at the moment.
Intrigued too see how partey and elneney work together.
Our most solid midfield performance was them two together at old Trafford.
Don’t know how many games they played together but it can’t be many.
Pedro is such an embarrassing flip flopper that this platform has turned a pitiful joke
Fits arteta like a glove to a hand this guy! A completely incompetent blogger backing an absolute joke of a coach.what a sad combination.
……….
….
…..or kick Arteta out, and we need not keep on scavenging for glimmer of positives..
Fans will be eloquent in the stadium.. Arteta needs to know
You have to remember Pedders is in marketing. 😒
Kroenkephobe
I think we’re experiencing the new MAGA-Make Arteta Great Again
Hey Y’all how’s things? Think this is about the first season in forever.. I”m like just get the season over with… Excited for it to end.. just end please.. And yep we will see about this summer but I still think our weakest link is our manager .. due to game day decisions or lack thereof. He might be an incredible training grounds coach and motivator .. but his in game tactical decision, subs and just general ability to pick the right lineup and decide who his in-form players are at any given moment is abysmal.. Maybe he will get… Read more »
How are you doing Mid. What time is it there?
Hahaahaa nevermind Spuds Own goal.. comical.
Reguillon – goal of the season contender – hahahahahahahahahahaha
Quality own goal from Spurs.
What a finish from Reguilon
Hi Left.. Ummm lets see it’s half hour past noon.. 12:30.
Why does everyone think City want haaland? Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein just confirmed city are interested in Kane. He is the right player for Guardiola too. Haaland is more of a deadly finisher. And kane is the more rounded footballer. I knew city would go for kane. And they will get him eventually. Anyway back to our club. I don’t mind the line up today. It is fine. But I don’t trust Arteta to make good decisions about the quality of players when all season he has shown that he is a poor judge of talent. Saliba, Guendouzi, Martinelli,… Read more »
Grealish is a joy to watch, what a player
Grealish would be even better if he didn’t fall over with the slightest touch.
Grealish needs to move on to a better club
Reguillon trying hard to top Diaby’s own goal v United for quality and bizarre factor.
I think he just might’ve done it.
She fell over again.
The referee is wise to it. It’s gonna work against him.
The real reason Arteta has not been sacked, and struts about like a peacock despite Arsenal’s Annus Horribilis is because of his role in getting to players to agree to a 12.5 percent cut in salary, then getting rid of 55 long serving staff members.
He got promoted from coach to manager immediately after that.
He is not a manager. He is Josh’s henchman.
Wengaball,
Probably like where I work. Managers get big bonuses for cost cutting.
Damn… there are so many teams playing out of the back now horribly. I know why teams want to do it.. but so few are actually good at it.
Left – absolutely.
There can’t be a footballing explanation to getting rid of all your scouts.
And they probably realise it now. Doing another corporate number by appointing head hunters.
Head hunters who have never head hunted scouts. A manager who has never managed. A CEO who had never led.
Blimey.
1-2
Evening all. Nice post Pedro, agree with much of it. Sorry to hear about Eze, I was looking forward to watching him tonight. I hope I didn’t curse the lad for praising his talent yesterday because an Achilles is not a nice injury, I can tell you. Did mine in my twenties and didn’t play for something like two years. I wish him well, he could become a very good player. Tough match at Palace with their fans there. Very athletic team and Zaha is a royal pain in the arse and he likes to fall over too. Need to… Read more »
Reguilon is on a mission lmao Tierney miles clear
Arteta has to admit he made mistakes — not for the fans — but for his bosses
If we end up 10th, KSE can’t avoid saying, “Well, if that’s his best it’s not good enough”
Admitting mistakes provides the [faint] possibility that there could be improvement under him
The main problem is what does Arteta think were his mistakes? I bet they are very different from the consensus view here on the Le Grove 🙂
Not playing a striker against Villarreal? No, my strategy was perfect I was let down by the players, etc., etc.
Grealish staying on his feet more would probably be good for his game but so too not wearing his hair like the sixties house wife.
Tottenham falling apart
Sp*rs being spursy – nothing to see here move along…
Car crash from Reguillon
Go on Villa. We still might finish ahead of Spuds in our worst season in 3 decades.. Got to love the Mourinho effect… leaving a wake of destruction wherever he goes. Good luck Roma.
You have to admire Watkins though. He has been very clinical whenever he has a one on one chance this season. He is very rounded too. I think he can play at a higher level.
I have to agree that if we improve our defence, midfield and attack plus stop making any mistakes and win all our home games we will do better next year. Top class analysis there.
I think getting a proper manager might be a trifle quicker though.
Reguillon with a goal and assist for Villa
If results stay like this, then West Brom can get something against West Ham, and we do our job tonight
Then there’ll still be something to play for on the last day
A lot of things still need to go our way, but God loves a trier, and while it’s mathematically possible, we’ve always got to aim for the maximum
I thought Emi was supposed to be good with his feet
Midwest
“Damn… there are so many teams playing out of the back now horribly. I know why teams want to do it.. but so few are actually good at it”
I know what you mean it’s a high-risk strategy – if you play that way you have to expect mistakes will happen. Some players just make bad decisions it’s not always about their ability but how they handle pressure. The difference between a good player and a great player is often just their decision making and that gets exposed when you play a high-risk possession game.
Willock again!
El Ghazi should have scored and we might put pressure on spurs.
Willock scores again!!!!
Valentin
Did he score? Did he break the record?
AFC-
Yep.. It’s a high risk strategy designed to create a favorable counter attack once you break the high press.. Just not sure it’s for everyone.. En Vogue footballing strategy, I guess.. we will see how many seasons it lasts. as a trend.
Willock’s header is better than both Auba and Laca.
Lol, Spuds fans boo their side off at half time in the first game with supporters back at the game.
Guess I should switch over to our match now.. Is good to see fans back at the stadiums.
Who are the pillocks that don’t rate Willock.
Eddie next .
“Who are the pillocks that don’t rate Willock.“
Arteta?
Is this old man Woy’s last home match? guess so.
Coyg Spurs are slipping up