Arsenal escaped Brighton with a point. I’m not sure if I’d call it a lucky point, Brighton managed 2 shots on target all game, but I would call it undeserved because Arsenal really weren’t at the races. The more experienced Arsenal fan was probably expecting a bit of hangover after the Spurs game. The hype was unreal and the setting for the next game was small, windy, and rainy. Doesn’t detract from the reality: It wasn’t the standard we expected.
There were two very clear problems.
We lacked courage
Granit Xhaka was absent and we missed him. That might hurt some people, but it’s true. The Swiss will drive you crazy with some of the dumb things he’ll bring to the table, but one thing you can never accuse him of is hiding. I thought Sambi and Thomas Partey hid today. Brighton gambled on a very high press. It worked, because our midfield couldn’t handle it. Brighton knew Ramsdale’s long balls to Auba were low risk because Auba isn’t big enough to battle lumbering centre-backs. So they went man to man and boxed us in.
Last week, Spurs tried that in the opening 20, but we had answers. There was always someone on call to receive the ball from the back 5. Xhaka started the move for a goal because we confidently played out the back. This week, we didn’t have that. Partey and Sambi were rattled and they hid. If no one shows, the keeper will go long. When your striker is Auba, you have to be accurate and in to feet. Ramsdale admitted after his kicking was poor in that regard.
The heavy press is about psychology. The best example of this was Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final. They pressed us hard, we beat the tactic 3 times early on, so they gave up, and we won the game. We didn’t have the cajones to do that against Brighton. The midfield didn’t want it and our striking options had no chance.
That set the tone for the game. The wind and rain made things even tougher, but really, for me, it was all about the midfield.
Awkward Press & Second balls
Our press wasn’t cohesive. Sometimes, Auba just isn’t ready to do what we need of him physically. He didn’t set the tone, nor did Odegaard. We let Brighton move the ball out of the back with ease, and we didn’t press as a unit.
The team also failed miserably with second balls. We were nowhere. They won it every time. That wasn’t the fault of one person, it was the entired team. Saka was nowhere. Smith Rowe wasn’t good enough. Everyone was a bit off their game.
If you let yourself get abused by the press and you don’t fight for second balls, you are going to struggle against Brighton, who are a very good team.
The Positives
There weren’t many, I have to be honest. That was the worst performance of the season for me by quite a margin. There was very little football to write home about, we didn’t create enough chances, and we were lucky not to get rolled.
… but we escaped with a point and probably had the best chances.
We’d have lost that game last October.
Our defence had some shaky moments, but it delivered. Brighton didn’t have many good chances for all of their good posession. Gabriel and Ben White were excellent again. They are starting to build a good partnership.
Kieran Tierney and Tomiyasu had games to forget. Cuccerella continued his good form and tied Tomi in knots. Kieran, one of our best players, dropped a pass completion rate below 60%. Those two are better than that and we know it’ll be a rarity that they do that again this season.
The bright sparks?
This is the youngest team in the Premier League. Glenn Murray said it right.
Glenn Murray speaking some common sense. Some ‘fans’ are looking to bring their own baggage to this young team. This is a game to move on from. pic.twitter.com/4Mx42g2LdW
— Hale End Fan Account (@ddoublepivot) October 2, 2021
We’ll have games like that.
If you don’t want to see Granit in the starting 11, accept that we’ll have bad days. Young players get better. People moaning about this team don’t understand that in football, it takes time for new players to suss each other out. This new iteration of Artetaball is 4 games old.
The subs also made a difference. Pepe sharpened things a little in midfield. Lacazette did a much better job linking play. We had some very good chances, we just didn’t take them today.
AARON WATCH: The keeper had a couple of shaky moments, but he stepped in, and saved us points again. He’s decisive, he’s always communicating, and he’s exactly what we’ve missed character-wise since Jens Lehmann. Another good 90. I wonder if anyone has gone back to the comments on his IG to shame the muppets that abused him?
Before I move on, the fact that Martinelli was trending shows you how meek some of our fans are. The Brazilian has been bang average when he’s been given chances this season. In a game where we lacked control, he wasn’t the answer. Lacazette is far better and he proved that. There is part of the online fan base that is just desperate to make victims of professional athletes and it’s absolutely painful to read. Martinelli will find form, he’ll get his chance, and he’ll be comforted by all the success stories we have at the club.
‘Can we talk about how mean Arteta is to Martinelli’
It’s so embarrassing to read. Athletes don’t want to be perceived as sporting victims. That’s weakness. Pepe proved that last season. ESR did the same. Saka did after his penalty miss. These are strong young men, they don’t want Karen-at-the-school-gate making excuses for them on the internet. They want competition and they don’t need fan handouts from people that don’t understand what it is to operate in a high-performance culture.
Back to the club.
Look at the bigger picture.
You would have taken 10 points from 12 before the last international break.
You’d never have guessed that you’d love Aaron Ramsdale or that he’d keep 3 clean sheets
If I’d told you at the start of the season we’d be 6 points off top and 4 points off top 4 after 6 games, you’d have taken that.
This project isn’t for now. But, if it’s within spitting distance of top 4 come January, it will compete for top 4 this season. Simple as that. Last season, we smashed it after Christmas. That is what will happen this season.
We’re 2 phases into the season.
Phase 1: 0 points (from 9)
Phase 2: 10 points (from 12)
Phase 3: Palace (h), Villa (h), Leicester (a), Watford (h)
10 points from that lot will have us very close to the top 4. Can we do it? That’s a real litmus test for this season. I want to smash Palace. Villa is a weird internet rivalry, so we need to deal with them. Leicester is used against Arsenal, we need to bury Rodgers. Watford is a derby.
We need Arteta to win Phase 3, because Phase 4 is rough and runs for over a month.
Right, that’s all I have. Check out the latest podcast and wish Johnny a happy birthday. ALSO, last week was our best ever for the podcast. Ya’ll the best. Thank you for spending so much time with us. We truly appreciate the love. You are all so awesome.
ES stop digging
Pierre
I rate Smith-Rowe, Saka and Odegaard ahead of Willock.
As I posted many times before I considered Willock a 50-50 player for us and I suspect that
was the case with Arsenal as well. Newcastle’s offer was too good to refuse.
If he had stayed at Arsenal I doubt that he would have had much game time if other players
were “match fit”.
Stroller
“Willock has been considered to be a box to box/attacking midfielder”
The clue is in the word MIDFIELDER…meaning (used correctly) he could have been a solution to our lack of goals from midfield, however this season for some unknown reason, Bruce has played Willock in centre mid , hence he is not getting in the goalscoring positions as per last season.
Sid
Please enlighten me what is the “dig” in my posts.
What a Sunday:
PSG lose to Rennes.
Real lose to Espanyol.
Bayern lose at home to Frankfurt.
All leagues are becoming a bit more competitive with the emergence of a larger number of good coaches over the last 10 years or so.
stroller,
are your odd line breaks some progressive form of poetry or is there some other reason for making it harder to read?
Pierre
Willock was never going to be a starting X1 player at Arsenal. At Newcastle he is.
Arsenal are 16th in the xG table after 7 games. Superfans love to talk about how the squad is made up of young strangers, but our attacking line-up hasn’t changed since last January. No additions, and only Willian exiting a couple months ago. Auba Laca Pepe Marti Saka ESR Ode – 7 players who all been receiving generational coaching as an attacking unit for almost a year and are somehow still struggling to score goals. We’re also in the top 3 for xGA, which we’re thankfully outperforming against GA (13.47 xGA to 10 GA). If ‘expected’ stats are effective metrics… Read more »
I’ll give you my take on all those players that showed/show potential but were /are still being ignored by Arteta Because they have showed their displeasure at seeing crap being favoured week in week out and, amazingly, I include players like Aubameyang in all of this, they lost that genuine hunger to succeed. GX is self explanatory but then you add the likes of Willian ( gone) Bellerin ( gone) Elneny, Chambers etc. As a youngster watching from the side it is sole destroying knowing that the manager favours players that are detrimental to the teams progression. Give them game… Read more »
Some coaches practice two formations and can switch over during a game. Last game, Graham Potter has studied Arteta’s system. He sent his midfielders to eliminate Partey and Arteta’s system was stopped completely. Without Xhaka I would suggest to switch to 4 3 3 formation. Move Tierney back as a normal LB. Play ESR, Tierney and Ode in midfield. As for attacker, Saka is a must. Depending on Auba’s form, we choose from Auba, Laca, Pepe, Martinelli and Eddie to fill in the remaining two slots.
#ESR, Partey and Ode
To clarify top 3 xGA isn’t good, and means only two other teams are expected to concede more than us – Norwich and Newcastle.
Early warning signs, but also encouraging that our new defensive signings are actually doing better than expected.
Poor coach + poor man-manager + poor leader = charlatan.
If the will is there and feet don’t drag, I don’t worry how long the process takes so long as it gets there. People talk about the transformation within two seasons that Graham Potter has made at Brighton. But the dimensions and circumstance are entirely different. Brighton is a small Club with a high ambition – to stay in PL. Arsenal is a major Club with probably the biggest impact on football of any Club in UK, and possibly in the world. Brighton numbers its fan in thousands, Arsenal in millions. The key factor – as ever – is the… Read more »
Englandsbest
You do crack me up.
‘ Brighton is a small Club with a high ambition – to stay in PL. Arsenal is a major Club with probably the biggest impact on football of any Club in UK, and possibly in the world.’
How on earth did you come to the above conclusion?
CL winner in 5 years Jesus Christ. EB has been drinking his mouthwash again.
“If everyone is being honest, the football has been drab for most of Arteta’s tenure, and he’s been splashing the cash since his arrival.”
Sssssshhhhhh Jamie!!!
The truth will get you killed
Graham62 I posted earlier today observations about progress, which has been made within the club at U23 and U18 level. At both levels we are turning out very young teams. We are applying a similar project with our senior level. I have expressed the view on a number of occasions that there is perhaps not enough senior players in the team and for that reason we should expect an up and down season. I have also argued that Arteta should react more quickly with his substitutions than he does. That was obvious in Spurs game and to an extent also… Read more »
I would sit down face to face with Auba and ask him why he gave an effort against the Spurs and not against BHA.
Pierre,
Willock (like Guendouzi):was never gonna prosper under Arteta.
Willock is an action, box to box midfielder.
Arteta hares that; he prefers his midfielders to have positional discipline and stay firmly in their little boxes.
Great for the “goals against” column; not so great for the “goals for” column.
Words on a blog
I don’t think that Willock was sold because he is a “box to box player”. He was sold because
Arsenal could not guarantee him a starting place in team AND we were offered a fair transfer fee by Newcastle.
Matt
I read my history books
Arsenal was the benchmark in England, starting with Herbert Chapman’s tenure. Tactically, the most advanced in the world.. It became the Bank o England club, a financial example to all as well.
Also the most innovative, copied the world over. Overhead lighting, undersoil heating – you name it, Arsenal started it.!
Emirates,
I don’t disagree that we were offered a fair price for Willock or that he would not have been an automatic starter under Arteta.
He didn’t start because he was (in Arteta’s eyes) insufficiently positionally disciplined.
Willock like Iwobi where never going to set the world on fire
both inconsistent average type players.
We got the right money for both.?
Jamie
”””’Auba Laca Pepe Marti Saka ESR Ode – 7 players who all been receiving generational coaching as an attacking unit for almost a year and are somehow still struggling to score goals.”””
How Arteta can extract only 5 goals in 7 games from that lot is a mystery.
Especially as Brentford have 10 from 7 and they don’t have that much firepower.
What a damp squib and disappointing manger Arteta has ultimately turned out to be.
Lacklustre in all areas.
Englandsbest
‘ I read my history books’
They key word in that sentence is history. We may have been one of the most forward thinking clubs in the past, but I don’t think anyone would aspire to be like Arsenal nowadays.
“Lacklustre in all areas.”
That hair though.
Graham
“”””””‘Poor coach + poor man-manager + poor leader = charlatan.”””””‘
Started off like a train with the FA Cup win but found wanting in all areas.
Currently 11th and making a complete horlicks of the season despite us having the huge advantage on our rivals with only playing 38 games.
”””That hair though.””’
Its champion hair,
But even that can only carry you so far.
If Arteta looked liked Jim Smith , Arteta would have walked 18 months ago!
Arsenal can not keep sitting in mid table while these international breaks happen.
its not good for morale.
It’s quite telling that both Arseblog AND 7am kickoff blogs who are both fair and down the middle have this morning questioned where we are heading under Arteta.
I didn’t know so many of our fan base are blind with weak bladders…
Or maybe everything isn’t currently as rosy as stated by some on here aye
To question the process is fair game in my book. I hope it works out well for all our sakes, but it’s fair to question it
The main difference between Emery and Arteta was political ability. Bullshitting in other words. The former did not know that by putting Saka, ESR, and Martinelli into the team, he should have sold the owner a bright distant future even if the present was shit. Our new guy is a master of words, though. Would love to have been a fly on the wall during his meetings with Josh. Josh must have got a hard-on. But, I agree with Pedro when he said that this season Arteta has no excuses, so if things don’t pick up by the end of… Read more »
CG
Funny how the wheels have turned.
I’m in agreement with you 100% on Arteta.
Laughable that there are those that buy into all this crap.
As you rightly highlighted –
“found wanting in all areas”.
Arteta may be able to talk a good game but the reality is what we see.
Bar 30 minutes against a poor Spuds team, we have been awful.
It’s been that way for far too long.
The only reason anyone buys into all of this can be based on one of six things.
1. They don’t understand the game and are a poor judge of character.
2. They have an ulterior motive.
3. They benefit from rocking the boat.
4. Future job prospects at AFC.
5. They don’t have sufficient life experiences.
6. They are a troll.
Am I being harsh?
“””If ‘expected’ stats are effective metrics used to map trends (in this admittedly small sample of 7 games this season), we need to see a marked improvement on both fronts (xG and xGA) in the next few games.””””””
Winter is coming! My fellow bedwetter!
Graham
“””””CG Funny how the wheels have turned.
I’m in agreement with you 100% on Arteta.”””
The Bedwetters are a broad coalition and come from all wings of the Arsenal supporters spectrum.
They are growing in number too.
The Bedwetters are in agreement that Arsenal can do better than Arteta and Artetaball/JSP.
Still can’t believe we’ve scored only 5 goals in 7 games.
3 in one game.
That means we’ve gone 4 games without a goal:
The only people we’ve outscored in the league is Norwich city and they’re rooted firmly at the bottom with a staggering massive 1 point.
I genuinely can’t believe people are defending Arteta with a straight face.
What are you guys seeing that I am not?
Please show me the light
Personally. I’ll prefer to that tactics. The game wasn’t as bad as someone like dissenter,cg and rh will make you believe, but brighton came to play and impressively made us work for the draw as it seemed our application and technique was short. The few times we strung couple of passes we easily by passed their press. Going long was useless especially with auba and the wind also. Arteta imo should have brought laca and removed ode sooner as apart from the fact that he was having a very bad game, smithrow works best with laca and it showed almost… Read more »
Graham, can you be very clear are you saying you don’t rate Arteta?
I saw comments along the lines of “Brighton are a more settled side so that’s why they can play better together than we can even though our players are better”. I’m not gonna dig really deep into this, so feel free to pick holes in the data but… – last season, Brighton had 15 players who played a minimum of 20 games across all competitions – of those 15, only 8 were in the starting line-up against Arsenal – last season, Arsenal had 16 players who played a minimum of 20 games across all competitions – of those 16, only… Read more »
For me at least, the Bedwetters are the ones who moaned and bitched about pretty much every Arsenal transfer this window — before said players even kicked a ball in red and white The one’s whose absences were noted in the aftermath of a NLD win — who suddenly reappeared after a disappointing performance this weekend. The one’s who trawl through past blogs to make their point against Pedro. The one’s who mock the reputation and standing of AFC — suggesting that teams such as Villa and Leicester are ‘bigger’ Just because you don’t like Arteta doesn’t make you a… Read more »
Just saw a compilation video of great goals and that wilshere goal where the team played about 6 on touch flicks in a row before he finished first time is one of the best goals of the last decade
5 of the 7 teams we have played so far have bottom table xG
Winter is coming! Fellow bedwetters!
Sid what brand do you swear by? Pampers? Huggies? Or one of those weird Japanese brands?
I swear that’s a Japanese diaper brand called Gimp or something 😂😂😂
I’m assuming we all saw the Pool v City game yesterday or even the City v Chelsea game a few days back. Can you see Arsenal transplanted into any of those teams or Arteta doing any coaching of any of those teams. We thank God we no longer have to witness the comical spectre of Arteta telling players who to pass to in the silence of an empty stadium. All I hear is how we should wait for Arteta to tell this team. No doubt with Xhaka at the fulcrum of it all. How long are we going to wait… Read more »
“Arteta to gell this team”
Autocorrect doesn’t recognise gell as a word
Arsenal fans have woken up from their striking slumber a little too early for next season. Good luck lads!!
Matt I don’t slate all the new signings (tho I have said we overpaid heavily for white and ramsdale) however I tinkle every time I see the club make dumb mistakes do please count me in with the more insidious bedwetters of the blog
It’s so frustrating to watch the few decent attacks we managed to structure well, end up with a Tierney cross or a Partey shot to the sky. Big managers hate low percentage moves because they end the attack and you are back to defending and trying to win the ball again. Klopp has 2 of the best full back crossers in the world, so it’s a real weapon for Liverpool while at City, mainly KdB is allowed to shoot from far and you don’t see them crossing the ball much except for low fast balls in the small box or… Read more »
“Our midfielders hid because of the cautious passive approach to the game from Arteta. It comes from the manager.”
yess yess yess: arsenal MFs played soft because the manager wanted them to literally lie low
Correction: ‘cautious passive approach’ is actually defensive, lame and slow approach
Arsenal’s strikers are Championship class. Accept that.
China!: You might need an additional layer of Sudocrem
“Our midfielders hid because of the cautious passive approach to the game from Arteta. It comes from the manager.” Yes. Versus Brighton we should have went to their box, moved the whole team higher up the pitch and press them in return. Arteta didn’t want to do it because he was afraid that we can’t handle their attacks. Isn’t that the reason we bought White, Tomi, Lokonga and we got Partey, Gabriel even Ramsdale? They are all mobile, fast, very good at pressing and chasing. We took the pussy approach versus Brighton of all teams and we went back to… Read more »
When your biggest cheer leaders is CH & P/M You know you should give. Bedwetters indeed. Maybe obsessive?
Bankz
Apparently it’s a process.
Is there a prize going for the youngest PL team? Lots of people banging on about it.
That’s all be winning under Arteta. Clueless when setting up the team to attack.
Even against Spurs, we reverted to his favourite formation of parking the bus.
Partey’s shooting is really erratic
He seemed to be turning the corner in the NLD, he had shots that cruelly required the goalkeeper to intervene
Against Brighton he was atrocious, his shooting is still better than Tierney’s crossing though.
The irony of being called a bedwetter by self proclaimed holier than thou fans. Bedwetters are the kind to get upset by other posters, thats the online definition no?
Pot kettle..
Being in support of every decision made, even if the decision is a bad one makes you a lot of things, but a super fan is not one of them.
Leftside: Not holier than thou, just irritated by people who slag off Arsenal relentlessly. I’d call some of you lot worse than bedwetters, but in the interests of politeness.
Arteta has made a lot of mistakes and its quite possible that we could do with a better manager, but its also clear that he is re-building and that the club needed it
“Is there a prize going for the youngest PL team? Lots of people banging on about it.“
The youngest PL team is the new third since Christmas trophy.
Matt B,
By now you should really be able to tell the difference between slagging off Arteta and slagging off Arsenal.
I complete disagree with Pierre’s Ode/ESR analysis btw. The only thing he got right in it was that they are two different players. Yes, ESR gives the team more athletic presence especially running with the ball, but on the ball Ode is a much more refined quality. I could go game by game and list all his passes, short to mid range , made with just the right weight and direction, which ESR and other Arsenal players don’t have in their locker yet. A bit surprising this coming from the biggest Ozil fan in entire universe to dismiss a player… Read more »
Tom the young team mantra allows you to write off shite performances by saying they are young team and has to be expected. It’s PR mate.
‘Arteta has made a lot of mistakes and its quite possible that we could do with a better manager, but its also clear that he is re-building and that the club needed i’
So people are ‘bedwetters’ for calling out the BS; They point out the same mistakes you’re alluding to and want him held to the standards used for the managers that preceded him.
It’s the club that’s starting a new project, not the manager. It doesn’t have to be Arteta that completes the project.
WOAB
‘ By now you should really be able to tell the difference between slagging off Arteta and slagging off Arsenal.’
Actually not, some see any perceived critique of the manager as personal affront.
Diss: See my earlier post — slagging off the club, suggesting the likes of Leicester are ‘bigger’, complaining relentlessly about signings before they even kick a ball, complaining of gloating after a NLD win…
If people complain non-stop about everything Arsenal, then don’t chuck your toys out the pram when you get called out for it
Matt B
You admitted he’s made a ‘lot of mistakes’ so why are you so self-righteous to think you get to determine the terms of the criticisms that come with the errors?
That’s the common characteristic you third party moaners share- self righteousness. At least, the one s who moan have REAL reasons to complain about…you know ‘lots of mistakes”
You’re just here telling them to shut up because you are the better fan, at least in your own heads.
Afternoon, The NLD win bought Arteta a bit more time, but now you have to see what he can do with it. you cant forget last season or the start of this.so now is the time to really put a run together. the wins against Burnley and Norwich are expected wins, and if a decent spuds side turned up we might not have got the result we did. so its not like we won any games that we wasn’t expected to. I expected us to drop points against Brighton though because were not top four quality. now, those are the… Read more »
Your bizarre attitude to what is going on (i.e. the process) is not because you don[t understand football, or have poor judgement, or benefit from rocking the boat, or want a job at AFC, or lack life experience. or are a troll.
It’s because you are impatient.
Just for a change, try to be constructive, not destructive. Tell us what your alternative is to the process. And simply suggesting another manager simply won’t do, the problems the process is dealing with are too deep-seated.
Really frustrating also that we have no European games this year, so the difference was supposed to be felt in games like the one the other day. I know that after a European game, there would have been excuses of heavy legs and no energy due to tough graphic. Although we would play mostly squad players, the excuse would have been somewhat valid as the manager and the players still have to travel and think about the game and spend days on it. But this fall/winter, we have 8 games less to worry about in the midweek. I couldn’t even… Read more »
pp: “conveniently disregarding the mess he inherited or tthe amount of deadwood accumulated”
You mean the team that played a Europa League final and placed 5th in the EPL 1 point away of Champions League football? Yes?! Glad we’re in agreement.
I think it’s all pretty obvious. Would we have done a great deal better with the new signings in our first 3 games? Let’s take a Brighton-like draw against Brentford but we still likely lose to Chelsea and Man City. 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats for 11 points from 7 games. Our probable range is 5th-8th with unlikely outliers of 4th and 9th. If the needle has been moved as far as our league position goes, then we have raised our ceiling and floor by a couple of positions. If that gets us back into the Europa League… Read more »
englandsbest My whole life is geared around being positive. Why should I come on a blog to promote constructive points of view when I have zero faith in the manager and his abilities to coach the team and lead us forward. Some people on here are exceptionally good at bullshitting their way through things, I’m not! I know the game and have my own experiences and knowledge to fall back on. I don’t rate Arteta and whether he stays or goes, I will keep coming on here to give my honest opinions whether you and others like it or not.… Read more »
2 weeks with no arsenal games. Ffs, what’s the point of all this international breaks??
englandsbest; your’e right changing the manager doesnt make a whole lot of difference if the structure around him is shite. What needs changing are the owners. We need to get rid of them. Its not that they dont spend the money its because of the neglect and their lack of any footballing nouse. They are the architects of the longstanding rot. They are responsible for allowing Wenger to go on for too long. They are responsible for employing Emery. They are responsible for rubber stamping all the deadwood we have signed. They have used the club to leverage money for… Read more »
G62
Arteta positive – he has a magnificent Barnet
NORG
Thanks!
Lol!!
Matt B.. Good comment : “Diss: See my earlier post — slagging off the club, suggesting the likes of Leicester are ‘bigger’, complaining relentlessly about signings before they even kick a ball, complaining of gloating after a NLD win…If people complain non-stop about everything Arsenal, then don’t chuck your toys out the pram when you get called out for it” Everything you pointed out is true. Pedro is on to it. He calls them bad takes on Everything Arsenal. I call it putting the most negative spin on everything. Either way, the hatred of Arteta has transformed them into Arsenal… Read more »
So it’s a ‘no’ from you Graham- just so it’s clear?
Graham,
Can you explain to me why,if you’re such a positive person, don’t you ignore Arsenal matters for a bit, as we’re going through such a negative(Arteta) period, until things become a little more positive(he gets sacked)?