The most predictable outcome of the season occurred in the first home game of season when the European Champions absolutely took advantage of our messy starting 11. They were better than us, they didn’t really step out of 3rd gear, and they took their chances with absolute brutality.
I’m sure I’ll be accused of excuse-making, but when you’re 8th placed Arsenal and you’re missing your best two strikers, your best midfielder, your best two defenders, and your most effective creative midfielder… there’s a chance you aren’t going to do well against one of the best teams in the world. You can give me the ‘standards’ chat, but reality is, that was always going to be a nightmare day out.
There were some bits that I liked. The most important start to the day was seeing Arteta come out all guns blazing, it’s a small thing, but after his carry-on pre-Brentford, it was nice to see him bring a bit of fire to proceedings. The start matched that intensity as well, for a truly glorious 14 minutes, we pressed hard, we tackled with power, and we looked a nuisance. The football was exciting.
Then BANG. Caught out on the right by the excellent Reece James, we failed to stop a cross that found Lukaku who finished with ease on his debut.
That took the wind out of a young side and we struggled to find our composure. The organisation went out the window, the gulf in class became more pronounced, and the weak links started to break in front of our eyes.
The second goal came 20 minutes later. Xhaka didn’t do well enough on the edge of the box, James was found in acres of space on the right that we didn’t solve for, Leno was beaten easily with a lashed shot that went high across his goal.
We didn’t totally fade, but you could see the players looked beaten. The ref didn’t help us, just like last season when we were on all the extreme ends of VAR decisions, against Chelsea, we were at the mercy of the new relaxed reffing on penalties, where apparently clattering through someone’s legs in the box doesn’t cut the mustard a season after a rogue bootlace would have the ref pointing to the spot.
The second half was marginally better in that we didn’t concede, but to be honest, Chelsea dropped into first gear because they knew we didn’t have much in the tank mentally or physically to move the needle. We dropped a lot deeper, which stopped the beasting, but it didn’t give us much in attack.
The fans, in fairness, stood by the team. When they showed some fight, there were cheers. Auba came on and looked pretty sharp, Tavares looked tidy when he replaced Tierney… but really, no one was saving that game.
It’s hard to pick through a game like that because most of the players we were missing represented starters, however, there are some things we need to discuss.
Cedric Soares isn’t going to cut it this season. We’re on game two and no one has a clue who our best right-back is… I have a sneaking suspicion it’s probably Ainsley if he can get his head on the project. There’s no position that needs a jolt more than that one.
Nicolas Pepe dropped another poor performance, as he seems to against big teams. He lacks a wingers instinct, he’s too slow making decisions, and most of the time his mazy runs end in him losing the ball. This is his 3rd season with us and he still looks like a raw 19-year-old finding his way. He had a couple of decent corners, but didn’t create a single chance.
Pablo Mari really is nowhere near the level needed even as a back-up. He has absolutely no idea how to handle Lukaku. He was too close, then he was too far, he had no street smarts about his approach, and his feeble collapse in the penalty box summed him up. How can you let another man do that to you when you are a professional athlete? That’s an Arteta and Edu decision though. They had him for 5 months, watched him train every day, thought he could handle the Premier League. He was shite against Brentford, then we let him loose on Lukaku and it was predictably bad.
Gabriel Martinelli was a 0 out 10 again. It was weird against Brentford and even weirder yesterday. Where is the beast from Brazil? Where was the nusiance press? Where was the player we saw burst onto the scene? It wasn’t good enough from him again and that’s a real shame. I can sympathise that he had to drop deeper because Mari was so poor, but he still didn’t shower himself with glory.
There were some bright sparks. Rob Holding might not be the best, but my word does he always give you a full-throated performance when you give him a sniff of the starting 11. He made some great passes, he was always in the game, and he did a better job than I thought he might.
The fact that Xhaka is the least of our problems but still a problem is also irritating. I watched a Reuben Neves masterclass against Spurs, who were the jokers that said he was the same player? Far more ambitious with his instinctive forward passing, certainly a level above the player we just gave a new deal. He’s slow, he’s safe, he switches off to danger, and he’s never going to win you games. Yet he created the most chances yesterday with two. I really hope the long-term plan is Thomas Partey and Lokonga.
Mikel Arteta’s performance? He was caught out by Tuchel who exposed the left side brutally and he didn’t react. The tactics didn’t match our reality, if ever there we a time for a shit-house special, it was with 6 starters out the team. Two banks of four with a springloaded counterattack was the move. We tried to go at them, which worked for about 14 minutes. We simply didn’t have the personnel to play the way we tried to play.
So where are we now?
Arteta has spent all his fan capital. Boos at halftime isn’t cool but that’s football in 2021. Fans want to see wins, Arteta hasn’t been delivering them, and it doesn’t look like he has it in the locker right now. We’ll go into the international break rock bottom and that will be a painful week or so. His only hope after that is that the players aren’t broken by a brutal City spanking, and that the players coming back in can pivot the season right away.
Beat Norwich and Spurs, who were dreadful against Wolves, and you can slowly start to pivot the negativity. Lose those two games and it’s pretty clear the season is over before it’s started and Arteta will be out way sooner than he should be. Football is about winning games, if you don’t win enough at a club like Arsenal, you’ll be out on your arse and we’ll move onto the next manager.
Still, at least the next manager has some good players to work with. Sambi Lokonga looks an excellent signing, his passing range is a breath of fresh air. ESR looks like he’s going to go from strength to strength when he gets his more experienced teammates back in the mixer.
Those points aside, it’s bleak out there… not all of it is on Arteta, but the bad transfer decision of last year bit him hard again, and it’s hard to avert your eyes from Soares and Mari and who welcomed them to the club.
Right, we did a video, just me and Matt. Enjoy it. See you in the comments.
ACAST | SPOTIFY | iHEART | ANDROID
1st
And
The
Tr4phy
Rob Holding might not be the best, but my word does he always give you a full-throated performance when you give him a sniff of the starting 11.”
Therein lies the problem, too many players like that.
Rob Holding was another “meh” sign way back when that predictably didn’t turn out to be a world beater.
Too many “punts” on the squad.
Cedric was dreadful….
He wasn’t nearly this bad last year. I even thought he did OK when he had to fill in on the left.
Pedro Yes Arsenal do have a bunch of talented ‘young kids” in our squad. The real problem is the lack of quality “experienced” players to work alongside them. If you are going to develop young players then they need the role models to play alongside them. The lack of such players is a massive problem at the club now and will impact on morale. I have supported your viewpoint about the club, but the owners and senior management have got a decision to make and fairly quickly. The time for experimentation needs to stop and any further investment [if any]… Read more »
blargh
Anywhere I’ll be happy with…..
I think Chelsea were quite poor with their finishing and the scoreline could’ve been a lot worse. Because it was only 2-0 people want to give Arteta the benefit of doubt when really he could’ve had a full-strength team and still got whipped because his tactics are so bad
Give Arteta PSG and he’d have them fighting relegation. A god awful manager who’s on his way out thank fuck
Where’s the meltdown?Anyway as myself & a few have pointed out,Arteta & Edu need a quick fix & fast.His name is “ BISSOUMA “.won’t solve all of the problems ,I know.But it just might keep them in a job a while longer.How much longer? Who knows?
Holding looks better than white and Mari is an absolute nightmare and this is the guy the le grover’s are saying should be starting over Gabriel …madness , I did not think Tierny or Soares played well. Saka is getting there and yes Auba looked sharp .ESR was also at it again .Arteta better hope Gabriel comes back soon and it’s a shame we did not see white as I really wanted to see if he could battle the likes of Lukaku
The manager’s office, the Emirates stadium. Mikel Arteta sits at his desk,plotting. There is a large tin of industrial strength shoe polish, black,on the desk beside him. Almost absent mindedly, he dips a comb in and runs it through his hair. He continues this process but his thoughts are elsewhere. He is focused on a document gripped in his left hand.He stares into the mirror on his desk. MA: Think,God damn it, think. You weren’t nominated ‘Liverpool Echo Player of the Month October 2014’ for your good looks alone you know, although you are an admirably handsome man, I can’t… Read more »
The thing is since wenger we’ve never had a style, we just play the game no style, i weep inside anytime i watch clueless football from arteta. No style of play, no positioning to receive passes, chelsea wasnt as good as i thought yhey were. We play bland football, thats why the fans are mad, we can believe in a non existent process
Tbh, tavares and lokonga are quality signings, arsenal need to hire wenger as either DOF or something
‘If we lose the first 5 games of the league and lose to West Brom in League Cup, Arteta will be gone.’
If we have to wait to lose first six games of the season for a change to happen then no need to wait. Arteta will get his odd win somewhere like he did last season. If that meant he would be here the whole season, then brace up for 8th or worse.
The entire article sounds like one big excuse machine for Arteta. Reminds me of the good old days of AKBs. Starring at white but insisting it’s green or some other bright colour. The facts are that Arteta was a mistake and 2 seasons in, there is absolutely nothing to suggest he will come good. Picking a rookie manager (no matter how highly placed Pep thinks he is) was a disastrous decision. Picking a rookie manager to come fix the mess that was/is arsenal after Wenger and Emery makes the decision even more ludicrous. From what we saw last season, through… Read more »
Yesterday was a bad combination of average players poorly setup against a very, very good team. Can call players out individually but the system wasnt there to help them out nor in game changes from the manager. Everyone slating Mari for being unable to handle Lukaku but he will do that to 90% of CBs in the league, especially if there is no-one cutting off the supply into his feet. I like the look of Lokonga but AMN in the squad and played 6 months in CM for West Brom last season..Why not use him yesterday? Big issue in the… Read more »
The only way this team will improve is with a new manager. All of our players have regressed, Arteta hasn’t improved a single player. We have a non existent playing style. We are woeful in the transfer market.
Arteta is a horrific manager.
And to compound all of that, you have our very own Willian liking Chelsea’s post on IG about the result. What a cretin also.
A very accurate assessment of the game and the circumstances from Pedro – which of course won’t quieten the whiners and wailers. Arteta has asked for patience and, heavens knows, he deserves it. A rebuild with several players newly-arrived, others wracked by covid, more out through injury. Yesterday’s game turned out pretty much as we feared. Arsenal’s season has not started yet. The good news is that the game revealed that the newcomers – GK, attack MF, Defensive MF, CH, cover LB – are what the squad lacked – and also showed what the team still needs. To a large… Read more »
englandsbestAugust 23, 2021 09:54:07 A very accurate assessment of the game and the circumstances from Pedro – which of course won’t quieten the whiners and wailers.Arteta has asked for patience and, heavens knows, he deserves it. A rebuild with several players newly-arrived, others wracked by covid, more out through injury. Yesterday’s game turned out pretty much as we feared. Arsenal’s season has not started yet.The good news is that the game revealed that the newcomers – GK, attack MF, Defensive MF, CH, cover LB – are what the squad lacked – and also showed what the team still needs.To a… Read more »
Lol Pedro. If we are honest tets should have gone way earlier than after he loses the next 3 games
Almunia you are an absolute crack up mate!
EB how do you manage to type with your head in the sand? That’s quite impressive!!
Almunia that is gold – best one yet. I hope you are saving these somewhere.
Pedro I’m sure I’ll be accused of excuse-making, but when you’re 8th placed Arsenal and you’re missing your best two strikers, your best midfielder, your best two defenders, and your most effective creative midfielder… there’s a chance you aren’t going to do well against one of the best teams in the world. What a load of horseshit ! Thomas Partey and Gabriel were injured in pre season, did we not account for it then ? Our most effective creative midfielder ( I am assuming Ødegaard) why didnt we move early for him then , so he could play from the… Read more »
Almuniasaynomore clever satire for yet another morning after.
Pedro man give it up it’s over for arteta , we just delaying the inevitable. Being number 1 at a club isn’t for him , part of the back room staff is his absolute limit . 2nd full year in and he still cannot ( and never will) coach a cohesive fluent free flowing attack whoever he plays . It’s over
Almunia, keep them coming – you will have lots of opportunities until this club realises that Mikel Allardyce is the problem.
Patience ? Arteta has managed 60 league games for us. If a manager can’t sort out either our defense or attack or can’t instill any identity in 60 games he can’t do it in 600 games. He looks absolutely out of ideas. I was a fierce critic of Emery but God Arteta is like 10 times worse. Absolutely clueless. Can’t do man management or in game management, can’t attack, can’t defend and can’t even identify the right players. The worst manager in Arsenal history. Should have been sacked in December 2020. We are already 8 months late. Patience really ?
England best is clearly one of Pedro’s aliases, introduced to stir up conversation/debate/argument. NOBODY is that deluded.
Matt, sadly people are.
You have another idiot Gentlebris claiming he was the only one against the appointment of a no.2 who never managed a football club before when most of us on the site were wholly against Arteta’s appointment. If that’s supposed to be trolling, its not even a good attempt.
Yes the squad was weakened but only compounded by Arteta’s seemingly awful decisions. e.g. Why was Cedric played instead of Chambers at RB when we were going to be up against it defensively. Cedric’s strength is as an attacking RWB with a back 3, which everyone except Arteta would have gone with. Why are we extending Xhaka he showed yet again he will never get us into the top 6 let alone top 4, I just hope we go with Partey and Lakonga in MF. Tierney looks physically not up to an overlapping FB/RWB role, only future for him looks… Read more »
Matt
How long was it between Bertie Mee and George Graham? Sixteen years? Now that required patience from fans.
Show some, pal.
Despite missing 6 to 9 players Arteta could have setup the team much better, from formation to mentality it was all very poor. That’s on him 100%. The fact he again cannot make in-game tactical adjustments despite Chelsea targeting glaring weaknesses in the back line and with the Arsenal attacking setup shows a limitation in his ability that cannot be dismissed as first time manager teething problems. After the City game we have Norwich, Burnley and Spurs. If as to be expected we lose to City, anything less than 9 points against those 3 and we’ll be hearing about mutual… Read more »
Arteta has been hampered with the start of the season with covid and some injuries, no doubt. However we have to be honest, he hasn’t made any players really kick on since he has been here, they all look confused about what to do and he never seems to be flexible with his tactics throughout a game.
Yesterday was a case of just hoping that Chelsea didn’t score more. We never really looked at trying to stop the supply into Lukaku which is embarrassing.
Englands best What is the point of comparing that period with now. The two are not remotely comparable. You didn’t have billionaire owners with limitless funds able to chuck money at any problems. We may have dragged ourselves back to the top table in previous decades, but that is not going to happen again unless every decision is spot on and nearly every important decision in recent times has been wrong and they continue to do this time and time again. We have fallen so far behind that were we to actually achieve top 4 it would almost be a… Read more »
Things are getting toxic
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9918385/Arsenal-fans-surround-manager-Mikel-Artetas-car-outside-Emirates-Stadium-telling-leave.html
It would seem that Palace are bidding £10 million for Nketiah
Martinelli and Balogun, for me, need to go out on loan. Both get a lot of fan hype but neither anywhere near good enough to be starting.
The few opportunities we did create we ruined by poor decision making. At this level you’ve got to be more clinical and at the moment Saka, Smith-Rowe, Pepe, Martinelli are anything but.
Basics of a team is someone in the side who is respected
preferably the captain BARKING AT PLAYERS.
There is no one doing that.
Do you think Adams / Keown / Campbell would let TIERNY/ Saka
get away with that yesterday.
The FOCK would they.
Know one with any stature in the side.?
Until Arteta is gone we will continue to see atrocious players like Xhaka, Cedric, Mari & Pepe put on the Arsenal shirt.
He seems lost & inept tactically. It’s sad the club cannot see it yet when it’s obvious to see?
Just wasting time not sacking him now. Xhaka should be out of AFC!! It’s a disgrace he’s captain & embarrassing he’s got a new contract.
Arteta Out. Xhaka Out. Kroenke Out.
Anyone still pleading patience and that Arteta needs more time, may I suggest you switch sports? Because anyone who has witnessed the shit fest served up from Arteta these last 12 months AND still pleads for time is seriously lacking in any football knowledge whatsoever
I keep saying Martinellis best position is LW, that’s where he can run at defenders. He is not a CF, but everyone keeps insisting that he is. He can play as a second striker, and kind of fills the role that son has at spurs. Sambi was another positive light today, which goes to show that coming from the Belgium or French league and having no PL experience doesn’t matter, if you are good enough, you are old enough. Saliba and Willock would make this team so much better. I said at the start of the season, we would have… Read more »
Fans shouldn’t be harassing him like that even if you do want him out. It’s all a bit much and most of it is for social media
He would have been sacked last season if we had fans int he ground
englandsbest What are you taking because, whatever it is, it’s making you delusional? Yes, we were missing players and yes certain things have conspired against us in recent weeks but, all those players out on the pitch yesterday looked devoid of ideas and genuine belief. There was no cohesion, no chemistry, no leaders and yet, aren’t these same players supposed to be absorbing Arteta’s methods and game plans? Aren’t they supposed to look comfortable and at ease with our tactical set ups? You are deluded if you think Arteta is the answer to all our problems and you are also… Read more »
I’m in the apathy stage now, don’t believe we can score don’t believe we can win. Supported the team for first 20, once we were 2 nil down after seeing Mari and holding get roasted basically didn’t want us to score. I want arteta out , his name is all over this , he bugged up these cbs, he bugged up xacka. I don’t want to hear about absentees, these guys he wants in his squad. He dropped gabriel for Mari last year!!! Ideally Mari would be his 1st choice. Martinelli so a ghost, why? Manager never backed him, does… Read more »
I don’t want to pin absolutely everything at Arteta’s door, but you have to wonder where Martinelli might be at now had he been handled differently. The kid was raw, but so direct and fearless and it looks like Arteta has tried to coach it out of him. Never mind what impact playing second fiddle behind fat man Willian all season had on the kid.
Can you imagine Martinelli under prime Wenger.
Paolo
You are spot on, it is “embarrassing and a disgrace” that GX is still at the club.
Matt
Read your own post, you just made a strong case for a rebuild. And rebuilds take time.
Show some patience, pal.
Have they fired the bum yet?
Don’t care any longer what excuses you want to give for Arteta, Pedro….he’s a bum manager, period. The longer that they persist with him the worse things will become. Its going to be almost impossible to reverse the damage done from such a terrible manager.
But hey, thats my opinion all the same.
Good point Matt, 18yr old bagging regular goals , got shafted – he won’t be here long
DUIFG
Brilliant post!
You explain it perfectly, unlike others on here.
Still trying to get used to the idea Arsenal spent over 100M in a single TW
Too many things wrong with the players on the pitch. None of them look like they have played football before. When a player stops enjoying the game, is the minute they stop giving a 100%, it’s kind of like me back in my school days. I loved football and never wanted to stop playing in the evenings. But come match day and I hated the game, the coach barking orders from the touchline. As soon as you got the ball, everyone screaming at you to do something. Kick it here, kick it there. Follow the game plan. Hell, just let… Read more »
Arteta has asked for patience and, heavens knows, he deserves it.
WTF? NO NO and NO. Jesus
Englands best I think you completely missed the points of my post. We may have had the luxury of time to rebuild decades ago, but that is not the case now and all the time we are ‘rebuilding’ and sticking with a manager who evidence would suggest is nowhere near good enough, we are slipping further and further behind. None of the other top teams will allow a rebuild to happen. If they are slipping, they will address the problem and stop the slide. The closest any other top team came to rebuilding in recent times was Liverpool and they… Read more »
Graham62
You appear to expect a car on three tyres to steer straight. I’d say that was dangerous as well as delusional.
Gonsterous, I think you are right to a degree. There needs to be tactics and structure but the player needs to make decisions for himself and express himself. The only one I see is ESR who really makes decisions based on the situation and not solely on Artetas instructions. The experiment has failed with Arteta, it’s a shame for all but the business people should be making a decision. Hopefully they wait to get the City game out of the way first and then replace him. The sad think is many teams in the league would have a worse eleven… Read more »
Gonsterous
Definitely not helped by Tets on the touchline barking all game long
‘Cedric Soares isn’t going to cut it this season. We’re on game two and no one has a clue who our best right-back is… I have a sneaking suspicion it’s probably Ainsley if he can get his head on the project. There’s no position that needs a jolt more than that one.’
“No one “ = Arteta
Thou shall not be named.
Sad times when Almuniasaynomore’s excellent satire seems almost as plausible as Arteta backers’ arguments.
Spin, spin and more spin!!
You would think they’re paying you for this!
For shame for shame!!
We have to cut the losses on Pepe and sell him right now. A lot of EPL clubs would be interested as he fits directly into their level. Pepe would look like CR7 for West Ham for example if Lingard could look like Messi for them.
I say sell for £30m and let’s move on from that heartache already.
Pedro You have to know that you’re too invested in Arteta to be remain objective. As much as I like you, I think you’ve veered too far out and are now lost in the woods. Surely this can’t be the elite project you were pointing at one decade ago. Arteta is atrocious. He is clueless and this season, he won’t have the freshness of the youth to save him. Everyone not called Arteta knew the tactics wasn’t working after 10 mins because Tierney was getting stranded. What did Arteta do to address the imbalance on the left?… nothing. He did… Read more »
Matt
Stop sounding like the ultimate in pessimism.
And you are wrong, there are endless examples of Clubs rebuilding to a greater or lesser degree every season. I will give you right, though, that Arsenal have been in decline long-term. Which is why an almost total rebuild is happening. Or would you prefer the usual odd add-on here and there?
The Club is heading in the right directin and, yes it will return to the top tier where it belongs.
Pedro I’ll just like to point out that Chelsea became European champions because they fired an inexperienced coach/manager. I’ll also like to point out that Arteta is a poor man’s Pep who needs 11 world class players to make his system work. We had a week to prepare for Chelsea. We knew Lukaku would start. Ben White is the only player we didn’t know that was going to miss the game by Monday. How did Chelsea find it so easy against us when Arteta knew the players that were available? Did anything you saw yesterday point to the fact that… Read more »
Sad for Arteta to be confronted like that in his car. The dude can’t possibly fire himself and run away. That anger should be directed at the jokers who hired him and didn’t think it was time to let him go after two 8th rank seasons.
englandsbest is definitely Arteta’s cousin
Xhaka didn’t do well enough on the edge of the box, – where have we heard that before.
More and more excuses from someone who was on Unai Emery’s throat for a style of play from game2 of his very first campiagn in English football.
The excuses for Arteta never seem to run out, utterly irritating at this point
Even Matt Candela couldn’t agree with what Pedro was saying. Imagine if Jonny was on the podcast as well
Moral lesson in this:
Ozil must be loving life now.
I know Ozil was not again the player he had been, but for Arteta(an actually far inferior Everton legend)to have treated Ozil with so much lack of respect like that is social injustice.
‘ Sambi was another positive light today, which goes to show that coming from the Belgium or French league and having no PL experience doesn’t matter, if you are good enough, you are old enough.’ Check him out in 6 months when Arteta has had his way Gabriel came to us a beast, felt like he was genetically engineered for the premier league when he was winning player of the month repeatedly. Once Arteta had his way, he was a bumbling ghost, There’s a point where any proper football administrator understands that a manager has given as much as he… Read more »
“ You appear to expect a car on three tyres to steer straight. I’d say that was dangerous as well as delusional.” What makes it worse is we got a blind man driving the car. Look anyway it’s the end for arteta no matter who wants what , you can always tell it’s it the end when the negatives outside the club grow . Fans booing at half and full time . Fans approaching arteta telling him to leave . Journalists who are arsenal fans like John cross saying arteta is out of his depth Ex players ( big name… Read more »
Gentlebris
Ozil was shit at Arsenal in his last 3 years.
Nothing happening at Arsenal now has anything to do with Özil.
Think im gonna give Arenal a break for a bit, not at all healthy really. Weirder when eveeywhere you turn there’s excuses being made in some sort of Us against the world thing for Arteta, like he’s facing some utterly unique set of problems that no one has before
Arsenal xG 0.63
Chelsea xG 3.64
Sad days really when our biggest chance was Holding’s header in the 59th minute. They valued that at 0.43 xG.
Losing at home for 80 straight minutes, we had 0.20 xG other than Holding’s header.
In addition to being dominated across the whole pitch, it was men against boys.
‘The excuses for Arteta never seem to run out, utterly irritating at this point’
I don’t know why Pedro does what he does…but it just doesn’t make any sense to me if he’s not being paid for the endless spins.
Why troll your own blog for the benefit of a man who is probably not aware of the self injurious efforts you think you are making?
Mikel Arteta after 18 months incharge doesnt know who his best RB is . And you expect him to put the best XI every week .
raptora
Sad days really when our biggest chance was Holding’s header in the 59th minute. They valued that at 0.43 xG.
To be expected honestly when our main mode of attack is crossing. Fucking Moyes Everton wannabes
Azed
“ We had a week to prepare for Chelsea.
We knew Lukaku would start.
Ben White is the only player we didn’t know that was going to miss the game by Monday.”
So much for being out of Europe giving us full weeks to work on stuff . Fuck knows what he was working on all week because that was utter dross
Arsenal should be all over Mancini or any competent and successful coach.
People still crying poverty when cash has been thrown to the dogs? Whoever thinks Arterta needs more time, needs to get his cranium checked.
I couldn’t watch the match beyond 30mins.
Jeez, Emery is superior to this beautician who’s masquerading as a coach in the person of Arterta. Pedro, please your excuses are becoming nauseating!
This rookie experiment has become a total disaster.
Bankz,
‘Ozil was shit at Arsenal in his last 3 years.
Nothing happening at Arsenal now has anything to do with Özil.’
I know that for a fact.
W
I was just saying Arteta treating Ozil like he never had a day for us was total disrespect as Arteta himself never contributed as a player to Arsenal half of what Ozil contributed.
And now the moral lesson is that Arteta as a coach still tanks his job way worst than Ozil ever did as a faded player.
Arsena1 0 Chelsea 2
Season 20/21
x 17 defeats
Season 21/22
x 5 defeats already and its only August.
(Hibs, Chelsea, Spurs, Brentford, Chelsea)
Arteta , the only manager in the world , that would prefer Pablo Mary over Saliba.
Absolutely inept in all areas of management and coaching.
West Bromwich next and they have started the season assertively with their talented new manager.
How many other premiership clubs have been so badly impacted by Covid infections? The pandemic is hardly breaking news and the precautions needed to avoid infection should have become second nature to a squad that has the benefit of top grade medical support on tap.
To have so many players affected cannot be put down to bad luck. It suggests a culture of casual indifference, failure to follow instructions and no consequences for failing, sound familiar?
Not sure if Pedro is just trolling us at this stage as Pepe was the only guy with some drive yesterday, he started counters and fed saka I believe for a breakaway.
Don’t know why you are leaning into arteta signings like white but bag on names which aren’t his faves, auba , Pepe saliba etc etc
Pedro: “Lose those two games and it’s pretty clear the season is over before it’s started and Arteta will be out way sooner than he should be.” He should have been sacked last December when we were 15th with 14 pts from 14 games. Then he should have been sacked when he lost to Villareal, our season effectively ended. He should have been sacked in May when he lead us to another 8th place. The notion that he will be sacked too early is a shocking take. Mind you, the same gulf in class was not there when Lampard was… Read more »
Englandbest
‘Matt
Stop sounding like the ultimate in pessimism.’
I’m sure I do sound pessimistic to you, but you also sound completely unhinged to me when you talk about us heading in the right direction – based on what exactly?
The difference between pessimism and realism is all down to perspective. I cannot see things from your perspective and I think it’s fair to say, my perspective aligns with most on here.
Arsenal focused on tying Nketiah to fresh terms, which has so far proved unsuccessful. Crystal Palace are believed to be ready to pay around £10m & such valuation is said to be shared by an unnamed German team, as #afc attempt to achieve a price of around £20m. [@David_Ornstein]
“So much for being out of Europe giving us full weeks to work on stuff . Fuck knows what he was working on all week because that was utter dross “
The only thing I can come up with defensively was for the entire back line to collapse around Lukaku as soon he got the ball.
There can’t be no other logical explanation for leaving James all alone, repeatedly in miles of space on the right.
If Tierney did that all on his own, then he’s even worse defender than I thought.
Cg “ Arteta , the only manager in the world , that would prefer Pablo Mary over Saliba” He’s not ready , that’s what you here half the time . All utter horse shit . He should’ve got bedded in last season , wouldn’t have impacted our season one bit and like you’ve said before cg Liverpool , Utd and co have giants at the back , not just tall but bulky tough guys and saliba is perfect premier league profile player , and absolute unit . Put Mari and saliba up for sale for exactly the same price and… Read more »
Pedro, “ Arteta will be out way sooner than he should be. ” If you can’t see that he was the wrong hire in the first place by now then “I can’t help you” To even intimate that he should be in this job for any longer is laughable. Your inability to face reality and admit it was a mistake to clamour for him like you have over the past 3 years to have the job is also pretty sad. The egg is firmly on your face, just take the hit and move on and let’s try and lobby the… Read more »
Pedro just cant help himself. He has to add ‘way sooner than he should be’, when it should have ended with ‘Arteta will find himself out’.
In any other top team, he would have been long gone so he should thank his lucky stars he is at Arsenal.
‘Arsenal have been in decline long-term. Which is why an almost total rebuild is happening. Or would you prefer the usual odd add-on here and there?’ Obviously part of the rebuild is to fire an actual manager to hire an assistant coach, sneaking around his house midnight thinking you are planning a coup to hijack a world class manager? And when the manager you fired used an inferior team to dump out your team from Europa, right under your ‘world class’ manager and your world class manager couldn’t manage a win over two legs, part of the rebuild is to… Read more »
First of all, that was hilarious Almunia. I really did snigger out loud at the oval test bit. For me the entire game plan was clearly very naive and shows that Arteta just doesn’t have it. We were missing players all over the team AND we were facing a team who are one of the favourites for the league, with a fresh record signing with a point to prove. Rather than come up with a formation that mitigated the pressure we were going to be under, we just stuck with the usual 4-2-3-1. You could have played a back three… Read more »
Not just the game plan was wrong that can happen to even the best managers but it’s the complete lack of game reading not to tweak the formation in game to stop the problem but he done nothing absolute NOTHING to change it . He couldn’t even see what was happening. Shocking stuff
Haha ‘way sooner than he should be’. That is genuinely one of the most hilarious sentences I have ever read on here. You didn’t disappoint with the spin today Pedro lad! Gabriel who barely got a kick in our run-in of our fabled post Xmas table run is now our second best defender? And Lauba which you have consistently pointed out as being horrendous as a duo being 2 missing starting players as opposed to 1? As if the lean and short Ben White would not have also been thrown around like a butcher’s dog toy by the 6 foot… Read more »