Let’s talk young players.
William Saliba had a run out in Europe against Galatasaray. It’s interesting to actually watch his impact on a game over a 90 versus the curated hype videos. His passing is fantastic and fairly measured. I don’t think he’s quite as ambitious as Ben White, but he has that in locker. I think his best attribute is his calmness in one vs one situations, he’s certainly no lunger. The thing he needs to work on is his passivity as a defender, I don’t mean fighting players or standing up for himself, I mean that fire that Gabriel and White have to snuff out danger and rifle into the back of players with a press as soon as a pass moves. That’ll develop, no doubt, but I think he’d have arrived there faster if he’d taken a loan in the Premier League. I’m still caught in two minds as to what was best for him… but really, hard to argue that 40 games with Marseille is better than 12 with Arsenal. He’ll come back ready to bang.
I also took in some of the U23 game against Brighton. The kids did a really good job. It’s clear that Balogun and Patino are miles ahead of everyone. Balogun pulled off an outrageous piece of skill to win a penalty and his execution was cold as ice. He’s quite a way off fighting for a first-team place, he needs a loan in Championship where he’ll get minutes, accrue some battle scars, score some goals, and adapt to the physicality he’s really lacking at the moment. Patino is a dreamy player, his movement is outrageous, he’s 3 seconds ahead of everyone else, and his passing range is simply stunning. U23 looks too easy for him. His launched pass is a thing of beauty, you just can’t believe a man of that size can hit the ball with such power. The reality is he’s a little light for the Premier League right now. A bit like Billy Gilmour was last season. He needs to fill out if he’s going to endure the rigours of the league. But he’s still very young, that’ll come, and I’m sure that’s why he’s not on the bench right now.
All three names I just mentioned are going to the first team at some point. Arsenal has so much talent coming through. The best thing about this summer strategy is the more chances we give to young players, the more elite young players will be willing to push for a move. There’s a reason Haaland went to Dortmund. He knew they’d develop him, we need to be that club for the Premier League when everyone else is sticking to older.
Arteta took a serious tone in the press conference. I think he’s likely acutely aware that there has been a little bit too much joy from the fanbase this week and the players could easily slip into complacency. Beating Spurs won’t feel quite as special if we drop 3 points at Brighton away. They are a good side, they’re where they are in the league because they deserve it, Arsenal needs to show up with energy and purpose.
The good news is Bissouma is going to be a late shout for selection. It’d be nuts for Potter to risk one of the best players in the league so early in the season, but we’ve seen crazier things. If he’s out, that’s good news for our day. They just aren’t the same team without him making things tick over.
We’re without Xhaka. His injury is serious. Young players need to step up. Thankfully, the choice this season isn’t Ceballos. The man who will likely land the nod is Sambi Lokonga. I think we’re all on board with that power move.
Some Arsenal Stats through Week 6 thread
Arsenal Final Third Entry Passes per 90, – 2021-2022
I think Partey can handle duties as the main guy getting the ball forward with the support that Arsenal has been able to add behind him. pic.twitter.com/MaFSGfzbyU
— Scott “says soccer” Willis (@oh_that_crab) October 1, 2021
As you can see from Scott’s thread, Granit Xhaka is pretty decent at a few things, and knocking the ball into the final third is one of them. Sambi isn’t quite there yet, but he’s close. He has to use this next three months to adapt to the pace, sharpen his game, and make the time count. What I love about the Belgian is the ambition in his passing. He doesn’t take the easy option. He’s also far more mobile than Granit, his movement after he passes is so smart. There will also be minutes for AMN, another player that needs to make this bad news work for him. If he’s called upon, he needs to find that semi-final concentration. It’s great to have him back in contention, but this is last chance saloon, we need the best he has to offer.
The goalkeeping questions keep cropping up in the pressers. Bernd said he didn’t know why he was dropped. He’d clearly missed the regression in his passing, the lack of dominance in his box, and the mistakes. Also, Arteta said that he’d spoken to the player, which I believe. Bernd only has himself to blame here. This #1 position is now Aaron’s to lose. Let’s hope the England back-up keeper makes it count again.
What do we want tomorrow? A full force game of the new Artetaball. Nice passing combinations, some long balls, some sharp counter-attacks, some great stuff around the box… and contributions from everyone. This is a big day. The pressure of consistency is on. Are we up the challenge? We’ll see.
Tune in after the game tomorrow for an On The Whistle with Johnny and Matt. Have a great night.
Well that wasn’t very good was it?
Yes, shit weather but that’s not an excuse to not want to battle for the ball and push forward. If you want it, you go for it, despite the crap weather.
Very lucky to have ground out a draw. Brighton should have scored more than once and buried us.
Bedwetters back in force, obvs
Oh yeah forgot about Gabriel. Him and ESR did well. All of the rest – bad. But if 8 or 9 of your players are having a bad game versus bloody Brighton it probably all points to the manager.
Well this is what I feared. The spurs game was a one off. It was an adrenaline filled game aided by a poor spurs midfield. I loved every moment of it. And I still think deep down we need a better manager. I needed to see a good performance and we were awful. We just weren’t up for it at all. We haven’t had a consistent consecutive set of performances since he took charge. Brighton deserved the win. But I am glad we got the point.
No surprise Arsenal coming unstuck after beating the 3 worst teams in the league.
We could and should have lost that,but for Ramsdale.
With all of the young players,I think we will get a Jekyll and Hyde team.
We must fine Partey for every shot he takes,as they always end up in a different postcode.
Poor performance,ok result.
Here come the superfans… watch out
The problem with not playing in Europe is that Arteta gets a whole week to over-coach the players and make sure they are all too timid to beat a press.
“Bedwetters back in force, obvs”
For real? Any fan happy with tonight’s performance must have a look at themselves. Arsenal should not go to Brighton to defend. That’s shocking managerial approach to a game we should be at least trying to dominate in.
No surprise Arsenal coming unstuck after previously beating the 3 worst teams in the league.
The best thing after this shot results, we would have all the Arteta fan club hiding again and not fill up the blog worshiping the Con Man lol.
Welcome to Arteta’s ball lol.
Solid step forward not conceding.
xhaka a big miss in the press break but don’t expect it will take lokonga too much longer to figure it out.
Exactly the kind of game you expect to see, and hope not to concede in, when you have 1-2 veterans in the side.
Thought auba was decent but expected a bit more
Tierney looks sapped.
Ramsdale is going to be england #1 by end of season.
Partey’s gotta bury one of those thunderbastards before we really go on a run.
Oh no.. all the cunts are coming out again.
Five goals in seven games , top 5 here we come.lol
Tough game against a very good side, A few very poor performances — Partey, Tomy, Ode and Auba. But, we didn’t concede and leave with a point. Result all things considered
We should be scoring on that sequence when partey played ESR through with some neat football. Two on one. Wasn’t good quite good enough, but that should’ve been our goal
Habesha,
I compared the Spuds game to the several top performances Ole has managed to produce at Manure. It happens, but then next week it all goes back to normal and it’s just not good enough.
4 points off 2nd place
A young team will always be inconsistent.
Terrible conditions , not conducive for passing football
Another clean sheet
One goal conceded in 5 games
5 games unbeaten
We missed the control of xhaka.
My best impression of Pedro and his disciples
Matt B get lost you twat
White and Gabriel where good. Partey, Odegard and TT had a sub standard game. PEA was awful.
Most of this team has not played together for long and it shows. May explayn why the two old men in ESR and Saka where our best players.
Had a bit more pressure on them in the last quarter but overall it was a bit shit wasn’t it. Back to no goals Arsenal. Back to passive frightened Arteta. This game wasn’t about individual players today it was about Arteta’s approach to the match. Passive, frightened. If Brighton had better quality forwards they get all three points. Here’s a thought. If we want a young progressive team going forward how about getting in a truly progressive manager to oversee them. If tonight was not about individuals but Arteta I have had to have a little chuckle at posters terming… Read more »
0-0 flatters Arsenal
Holier than thou fans turning their noses up at other fans make me sick
@Raptora –
“For real? Any fan happy with tonight’s performance must have a look at themselves.”
You’re just not a superfan!! No matter what happens on the pitch you shouldn’t criticise the club!!! Especially now that the logo haired generational manager is at the wheel!
Why are my posts not showing Pedro….
White and Gabriel where good. Partey, Odegard and TT had a sub standard game. PEA was awful.
Most of this team has not played together for long and it shows. May explain why the two old men, ESR and Saka where our best players.
Missing Xhaka is like missing a toothache. Stop the capping. No decent team misses that lumbering shipwreck
It’s Atletico vs Barcelona in 30 minutes if anyone’s interested.
Atletico a huge favourite for the first time in decades.
Cannot be a worse game than this.
“against a very good side,”
The fucking state of that!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This game actually really is the epitome of the half full / half empty glass divide, when I think of it.
We definitivly should/ could have done better but we got away with a draw nonetheless.
We won the game against Spurs in the first half.
Arteta has to stop with this passive frightened approach from the first whistle.
Will he ever? Doubtful.
We asked yesterday whether Arteta was capable of fully taking off the handbrake on this team. The answer from today was a clear no.
We didn’t lose even though we were poor, so yeah, happy to come away with a point.
Expected more, but I ain’t gonna wet myself or scream blue murder — plenty on here who can do that, so go-ahead
Right lads. Training for this week is to work on how we string more than 2 passes together whilst moving the ball forward. Off you go…
Jim: Have you looked at the table recently?
On Xhaka we have seen so many passive performances from the side under Arteta with Xhaka many times involved.
And if he was truly missed which he really wasn’t then shame on Arteta for not building a squad that can cover for the great Granit Xhaka.
Raptora
To be honest I try not to be negative. But everytime I think we have turned a corner, we seem to be yanked right back in to a toothless performance. And I can’t be convinced we will go on to be a better team when my eyes tell me otherwise. Potter had worse players today and he still made them play enjoyable football. I expect a 5th to 7th place finish with Arteta. And the football will be a sterile junk like we saw today.
How is Pedro gonna spin this one? Shite football. We win three in a row and he is arrogant yet again.
Ishola
I’m no Arteta apologist but this shows you have some agenda here.
“Back to no goals Arsenal.Back to passive frightened Arteta”
It was the same fucking team that took the spuds apart – Xhaka…
Attacking formation like we wanted. Why can people not accept that at this moment Brighton are a settled team and it showed,
Has a Tierney lookalike stepped in for him this season ?
Spurs have had the least shots on goal and created the least chances.
@Matt B –
“Jim: Have you looked at the table recently?”
Yeah, have you watched football recently? I wasn’t aware that being 5th in the league after 7 games made you a “very good side”. Everton must also be a “very good side” right?! 😂😂
On Xkaha, I thought Sambi played pretty well, would like to see him get more game time!
Game has nothing to do with Xhaka missing, just folk clutching at straws. Under Arteta, we’ll pick up a good result v a “big” side then follow it up with a poor showing next time around. That was what we all knew would happen.
TT
We got comprehensively outplayed in the first half.
There is no fucking agenda. Just what we see on the pitch.
The “agenda” is from you.
Yeah let’s bum up Brighton.
We were not positive enough in our approach to the game from the first whistle and we have seen far too many matches identical to this from Arteta.
“Progressive”? Don’t make me laugh.
We become truly progressive once Arteta gets braver and stops playing chicken.
It’s very simple.
If Bissouma had been playing we would have lost. Guaranteed!
Brighton by far the better team.
No Arsenal positives whatsoever.
Every player was off, except ESR.
Passive, slow, negative.
Yeah but it was a young team. Sorry, don’t buy it! Just another excuse.
What has Arteta been working on for the past week?
Why wasn’t Lacazette on much earlier?
The dynamics was totally off.
Aubameyang was terrible.
Partey was terrible.
Overall then a really really poor show.
“We didn’t lose even though we were poor, so yeah, happy to come away with a point.”
That we are repeatedly poor is the crux of the problem.
For context Potter has been at Brighton just a little longer than Arteta.
Some credit has to go to Brighton … they were very sharp today.. passing was dead on acurate. and tackling well in the midfield.
That said we didnt push the boat out at all.. I think Arteta thought we could outplay them through the middle.. without high pressure. and he was wrong. Ramsdale was also very good besides Gabi. I was never actually very scared they were going to score.
Overall disappointed though. Nothing really clicked at all.
“For context Potter has been at Brighton just a little longer than Arteta.”
Yeah… but he doesn’t have top notch hair and a jumper though, does he?!
At least we’ll be spared a long sermon from AFC Superfan about trusting the process for a few days.
That silly fair weather slag always goes into hiding after a poor performance. Can’t blame the pitch, can’t blame the ref, won’t blame Arteta so he disappears as per.
Enjoy the sabbatical mate. Say hi to Englandsbest and positive pete.
We wouldn’t be missing Xhaka if Arteta/Edu sold him and brought Anguissa/Bissouma/Bruno Guimaraes. Having a 21 yo Lokonga as a first sub is such a gamble. Anyhow, we played bad and defensive as a whole. Not like Lokonga played worse than the rest.
Keep Arsenal at bay for 20 minutes and the team malfunctions.
“Nothing really clicked at all.”
Apart from 45 minutes last week, when has it?
It seems like it is not clicking a hell of a lot more than it is.
The young lads did well, superb effort in difficult conditions. Battled & never gave up. We all thought Gabriel & White did well. Tomiyasu was targeted but that’s because of his inexperience. We’ve lost those games before that is a good point. Hope Saka is okay. Another clean sheet against a big , tall side is a real positive. Off to eat my Madras & a few beers. COYG…..!
If any team deserved to win 3 points it would have been them. They neutralized Odegaard all game, and same for Smith Rowe in the first half.
They were much better. Partey looked awful out of our bad side.
Jim: We played poorly, Brighton have been good so far this season hence their position. We left with a clean sheet and a point.
We’ve got a very young side and we would have lost that game last season or the season before.
Gutted like you that we didn’t Brighton, but a point is a good result with so many poor individual performances
Ramsdale stating that Brighton press really well.
Hello! Has anyone been watching Brighton play the past two seasons. They are a well oiled, disciplined and focused team.
Yes we dug in but that would be the only positive.
Potter doesn’t bang on about processes he just gets on with his work. Refreshing.
Habesha: “For context Potter has been at Brighton just a little longer than Arteta.”
Exactly. But somehow Brighton are now “a very good team” that we must defend with 11 players in our half versus.
Brighton’s goal shy forwards gifted Arsenal an undeserved point lol
Arteta needs to figure out another way to play other than this 325. Tierney was awful today. If it wasn’t working we should have tried a conventional way of playing through the middle with Lokonga and Partey. They nullified both Tierney and Odegaard today.
Fucking disgraceful gutless game. Had a week off, but totally outplayed. Shows you that arteta is a total fraud cunt. An absolute bullshitter.
It seems like it is not clicking a hell of a lot more than it is.
________
Jim Lahey.. yep…that is the crux of the problem. Its why I can never go all in on Arteta and sayhe is the answer. Still feels like we are searching and searching.
Overall the game demonstrated our team’s inexperience and lack of control and accurate passing.
The only players who came out of this game with a modicum of credit were Ramsdale and
Smith-Rowe.
People talk as if Arsenal are a newly promoted side finding their feet. lol
The excuses are unreal. Settling for a draw against Brighton.
Acceptance of total mediocrity.,
@Matt B:
Look, this has nothing to do with tonight. If it was a once off, we could all say “hey, good point considering how bad we played”. But is not, Its been two solid years of this shit now.
How do you see this panning out? Honestly? That one day its just all going to come together?
In reality, we were fortunate to get a point..
Tomiyasu struggled but he didnt get a lot of help from white.
White needs to speed up his passing to Tomiyasu as by delaying the pass he is putting tomiyasu under pressure.
Lakonga grew into the game and i thought he was one of our better players.
It didn’t help that Aubameyang and Odegaard.had an off day,plus Tierney looks off colour..
Credit to Brighton and their manager for the way they performed.
Sorry Ishola but we where not outplayed in the 1st half. They had shitload of shots that ended in the stands and how many on target? They had most of the possession and how many goals? It beggars believe the fucking hysteria that you and your ilk spew each time we don win by a huge margin. And as for my agenda I wanted Allegri all fucking day long. However to Artetas credit he is assembling a good team. Whether he can take them all the way still remains to be seen but for fucks sake stop spewing that all… Read more »
Ramsdale was fucking shit today, as was the japs eye, fucking terrible.
RecycledOldSock
“People talk as if Arsenal are a newly promoted side finding their feet. lol”
lol yeah have we accidently parachuted into a Brentford FC forum.
Seagulls 0 Arsenal 0. You can have all the coaching badges in the world and the slogans to match but the game has always been about goals and goalscorers and we simply don’t score them Many many millions spent and yet its 5 goals in 7 leagues games this is Artetaball/JPS cobblers. Last week , the boisterous Arsenal crowd won the the derby , this week Arteta , once again comes up short with his flawed ways. Brighton HA there for the taking in the South Coast rain- but the real specialist in failure , Arteta misses his opportunity again.… Read more »
I don’t mind if tets didn’t want us playing a wild game in pouring rain against players like dunk duffy and burn when we’ve got a tiny squad and we just lost xhaka.
Graham Potter is a great coach. Brighton are 3 points of 1st. Their team is settled and full of EPL vets- duffy, dunk and burn in D are all out looking for blood, still confused how that follow thru on ramsdale 5 mins in wasnt looked at.
I d
Arsenal should be turning up to places like here and getting a good result, but Mikel’s Arsenal cannot be expected to do anything like that.
Not much to enjoy in that. Still glad we came away with a (lucky) point though. Thank f*ck for that one handed saved by Ramsdale, and fingers crossed Saka is okay. It was the classic “men against boys” out there today, and how much of that is down to the manager’s caution I just don’t know. Brighton are settled, well organised, have more experience and are on a run. We just looked on the brink of being overrun for much of the game. If Brighton had been able to finish their chances we’d have been thumped. Meh.
TT
“Sorry Ishola but we where not outplayed in the 1st half.”
Sorry end of conversation.
Didn’t bother to read the rest when the first line is so blatantly untrue.
If we are honest we were second best to all the balls in the midfield. If you lose those battles you do your chances of winning the game no favours.
I consider this game as a breather and nothing to complain about personally.
We pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and look forward.
The key is the next three games, we need to win them – if we do we nullify this result.
Matt B
Count yourself as lucky that you’re content with your life and can handle an away draw for your team
Bedwetters do not have this
Imagine being a Leftside , a Time Up, a Jim Lamey or a Spanish Dave. Dear God. Poor sods
How did Brighton outrun us is my big question. Did we actually showed up for the spuds game just because it’s a derby? We looked like we didn’t want to win. Like we are happy with a point. Like the game doesn’t matter. Like a draw is good enough. Like we are playing in the Carabao cup or something. Why were we not up for it? And why did we defend with 11 people in our half versus Brighton? At times it was like it was City against us not Brighton.
It’s time for a reset and a new batch of players.
The experiment of winging it has been a disaster. lol
Jamie
“ from AFC Superfan. That silly fair weather slag always goes into hiding after a poor performance. Can’t blame the pitch, can’t blame the ref, won’t blame Arteta so he disappears as per.”
Mate, bit of advice. If you can’t respect other people at least respect yourself.
“But is not, Its been two solid years of this shit now.”
This is the BS. It’s been two years if you wanna deliberately overlook the fact that the squad has definitely not been together for two years.
If it had been two years of this solid shit we would not have drawn today we would have lost
Arteta. Itdobvious that cunt will take us nowhere. Coward cunt of a player, coward cunt of a manager
Utter gutless cunt.
It’s not about young players.
We saw the same passive approach from Arteta in his first and second seasons with a more experienced side.
Arteta needs to move the fuck on from handbrake and passiveness.
@FB
Sorry, I’m just not a superfan like you… 😢
Or FB imagine being a loser happy to accept a point against Brighton.
None of you can superfan me, I pay my hard earned money to go to games. If I don’t like what I see I’m well within my right to voice that.
what is this “we got lucky” bullshit
they took what 20 shots and 2 were on target. GET A GRIP.
We have Ramsdale in goal now
Ishola
Excellent. So for the rest of the night please shut your gap or debate and set forth some proof of how we where outplayed.
I have lost the count how many times we outplayed the opposition and still drew or lost under Wenger. He is still our greatest manager but even his teams had the lion shear of possession and shots but got fuck all from the game.
Let’s give Arteta 2 years and then judge this project. If it fails, then he can sell all of the current players, buy new ones and brand it a new project. Rinse and repeat.
The most disturbing aspect of the game from Arsenal’s point of view was Brighton were actually below par.
It’s not this game in isolation is it FB.
It’s a pattern now with Arteta.
That’s all the so-called bed wetters are pointing to when they shout after yet another passive performance.
They are shouting where is this all leading to.
It wasn’t about the result for me today. I wouldn’t have been annoyed if we played very good football and lost today. It might have shown me that we can play good football for consecutive games and their is a style emerging. And good performances overtime will lead to results matching them and paying dividends. But this was a total shit performance. The result is good considering the performance. And longterm we will pay for consecutive average performances. There is no way to hide from that. Good performances eventually will turn to good results. But even decent results with poor… Read more »
Ishola70October 2, 2021 19:53:48
It’s not about young players.
It’s absolutely about young players.
PArtey is the only decisive vet we have in the team now. Sorry Auba is just not that type of captain/leader
Wrong Lahey
My life can cope with Arsenal drawing a game.
FB: Haha nice one mate
“This is the BS. It’s been two years if you wanna deliberately overlook the fact that the squad has definitely not been together for two years”
What….. is that the new moving of the goalposts now? All players must remain for two years? What other managers get to have this leeway? “Sorry, I need two years to put together a team and two years of them all staying together”. The man inherited a team that finished 5th in the league, its not like he had a team that just came up from the Championship!
Just look at zach saying it hasn’t been 2 years. Arteta’s getting a clean slate just cause he branded it a new project. The state of this!!!
and partey hasnt even played a full EPL season
Leeds
We exactly. As we all said the other day, these lads have only played two gam s together. They will take time to adapt and develop their partnerships & tactical awareness anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t have a clue. They dug in & put in a lot of effort in challenging conditions. That’s a big point because over the years we’ve lost games. Thought we defended well. Brighton are a good side & they’re a threat at set pieces with their height but we coped well. Gabriel was superb. .
Gurney+gun: Talking of cunts…