Manchester United vs Arsenal goes down as the most frustrating game of the season. We lost. We shouldn’t have. That was a very hard dropped 3 points.
There are some pretty clear areas we need to improve in over the next 2 months if we want a realistic chance of winning things, and the first I want to talk about is confidence.
Arsenal controlled the opening phase of the game, we went a goal up (hilarious goal), then we replicated the familiar pattern of trying to see out a lead like it was the 88th minute. This is a confidence thing. It’s about the experience we lack at the moment. It is a problem because we let teams back into games when we shouldn’t. We’ve even played like this when we’ve won (Spurs / Leicester), the pattern is the same… we don’t know how to lead in games.
The next difficult topic we have to address is that once again, we’re in December, and it’s the senior players letting us down. Last year it was Willian and Luiz, this year it’s Partey and Auba. When I saw Big Mo on the teamsheet, I didn’t think he’d be bossing TP. But he did. The Ghanaian was at his imperious worst. His control was poor, he was giving the ball away for fun, and he just didn’t impose himself on the game. You can’t have that from your £45m centre midfielder. We’re getting to the point now that when Xhaka is back, it’ll be Lokonga partnering him.
Then there was Auba. Is he trying? Yes. Is he game for the cause? Yes. But he can’t player the Arteta system. He’s built for a counter-attacking side and that is not Arsenal. We need a brute. We need someone that can run the line, bully defenders, actually hold the ball up… finish. Our captain can’t do any of those things at the moment and it’s killing us. If Lacazette isn’t there, it’s like playing with 10 men. He was so anonymous.
Arteta gets rolled into this problem. He gave Auba a huge deal. Let’s be clear, there wasn’t another option. ‘I SAID SELL HIM’ doesn’t really wash, because if we had done that at the time, it would have been carnage. However, Arteta is now dealing with the burden of that decision. His richest player is also his captain… and our coach is shying away from benching him. In fact, he’s shying away from taking him off when he’s killing our game. If he’d removed him on 55 when he should have, maybe the game ends differently. The players don’t trust him with long balls into feet. They know he won’t keep hold of it. We spent 150m on defensive specialists that could hit a striker from 70 yards, now our issue is that the striker can’t hold onto it. The Odegaard penalty doesn’t happen if you have Lukaku upfront.
The last issue is errors. They’ve crept back into our game. All of those goals were avoidable. Ben White gifting United possession for the opener. Tavares and ESR having a total fail for the second. Odegaard with a wild slide tackle on Fred for the 3rd. It’s not acceptable to be doing that at Old Trafford.
All three of those goals were out of character for the squad. The sloppy passing with the most painful to digest because we’re too good for that. Part of the panic came from not killing the game off when United were looking extremely lethargic. We don’t have a kill mode at the moment. Part of that comes from not having a sharp point to our spear, part of that is that this team hasn’t had a lot of experiences together.
A few people were complaining about Mo Elneny starting. I’m with you, I don’t like to see him in the starting 11, but I suspect Lokonga had a tight muscle, so they didn’t risk him. Bit of a shame that AMN doesn’t have the trust yet… but let’s be real, he played well, he was the least of our worries.
We deserved to lose because we gifted a shite United the game for very little. The game was so weird. It was like a training match after 3 nights on the lash.
However, I have come out of that game pretty clear that we’re a much better team. United fans know this as well. We have better structure, our football identity is clearer, and the attitude is there. We just need to grow up a bit faster.
There were some good performances as well. Martin Odegaard is getting better with every game. He made a stupid error for the penalty, but that goal was stunning. He’s going to be good for us, I hope he gets more time on Monday to show his worth. There were a couple of United fans in my Twitch stream saying they were happy when he was subbed off.
Martinelli has his sparkle back. He’s powerful, creative, and he will impose himself on defenders. He was very naive not to pass when he was through on goal in the first half, a goal there kills the game, but he’ll make a better decision the next time. He should start the next game.
There were some good periods of dominance in the game. We controlled United and played some nice football when we had the bravery to do it. Problem is, we didn’t do it with enough intensity when the opportunity was there. Our game jolted back when we were chasing. That needs to get better.
So a painful loss. Some obvious areas of improvement. A chance to show what we’re worth on Monday against a very poor Everton side.
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First and thats it
This team continues to show signs of progress, but yesterday absolutely was about lost opportunities and points. The team played naive football and Arteta’s selections were as senseless as they were naive, they just were. If, as Pedro espouses, you have to trust the process, then you equally have to accept that there are going to be games like these along the way. Thats fine and all, but i cant accept games like these because the team played stupid football against a team that actually is dumber than they are! This one rests entirely on Arteta in my opinion. Its… Read more »
I am gutted!
Errrrr, Pedro???????
Mo Elneny was dreadful! Sideways and backwards, quickly getting rid of the ball and often putting others into trouble with his passes.
None of this is new though, we know this is how he plays. To not go with AMN was shocking, and I can tell you it was shocking to the whole squad too.
I must’ve been watching a different game, because I thought Elneny and Partey were both shockingly poor for 90 mins. Especially Partey. It’s time to face the fact that he’s another expensive flop. He’s more consistency poor than Pepe. With these 2 stinking out the midfield, it’s no wonder that everyone else struggles and makes silly mistakes. There was no confidence in the midfield, so no security. It unsettled our defence and staved our attack of any fluency. It felt like 90% of Elenny’s passes were backwards – which is standard for him. I don’t recall Partey doing a single… Read more »
You’d have to think Pedro that eventually Arteta is going to have enough of his big name big contract players continually letting him down. But he doesn’t and hasn’t because he keeps starting and playing them. Thats not on the Senior players Pedro, thats on Arteta. Surely even you myst see that!
10th
Last night we lost a 6 pointer, it’s disappointing, and we’ve left ourselves an uphill struggle over the next 5 league games: Everton (Away) Southampton (Home) West Ham (Home) Leeds (Away) Norwich (Away) We need a minimum 12 points from our next available 15 The margins were always likely to be tight, I’d be surprised if there was more than a maximum of 8 points separating 4th + 8th at the finishing line We should be in that pack, but with no European distraction, we can’t afford another fine margins failure, we have to edge over the line into the… Read more »
Come on Pedro, Aside from the goal Odegaard was poor man. Btec Ozil
We were bossed by a midfield of McTominay and Fred, think about that! Possibly the worst United midfield that I can remember. Mo was ‘tidy’ but that’s not a good thing. Sideways, backwards, anything but forwards. We had zero aggression and little guile. The thought of a midfield of Xhaka, Mo and Ode is a thing of nightmares.
Inexperience doesn’t mean you go into your shell.
And though Partey hasn’t been really convincing he is still a better bet for this side rather than Xhaka.
You have to understand why the team had a bit of an upturn in recent times.
They are playing at an overall higher tempo than previously as a side and are now more physically imposing than before.
Xhaka will just slow down the tempo again.
Really! Screaming for that carthorse to return.
Being negative has nothing to do with inexperience.
This is down to Arteta.
Rich
Everton and Leeds aways will be difficult for this side. Extra crunch in the duels will put us on the back foot. I expect similar matches to Leicester away. That day we were able.to.score.early and survive being outplayed. Eventually, things even out.
Moyes has West Hame looking competent. That’s another difficult one.
Everton have been dire.
If Arteta sends out the players at Everton with a positive mind frame from the start Arsenal can win that match.
I find Mo Elneny was partially responsible for both the first and the third goal. For the first goal, he didn’t cover Fred, allowing him to set up the goal. For the third goal, Fred was his man in an area where he is supposed to defend.
Front foot football with purpose at 0-0 go 1 up and recoil like little pussies holding out for a clean sheet.
Go 2-1 down football with purpose again equalize within 3 mins then go back to shitting ourselves.
Negative manager who’s in play management is shocking, worst ManU team in donkeys and we shit ourselves. Trust the process they say well I believe we will never beat a big side especially away in the Prem under Mikel- not going to happen I know but I am in the Arteta out camp.
We are a dream for teams that are on a shite run and need a win, we are mentally weak. Everton are dire but you know what’s incoming because this team dont believe.
“ I believe we will never beat a big side especially away in the Prem under Mikel“ We beat United for the first time at Old Trafford in the league in 14 seasons last year We beat Chelsea in the league for the first time in 11 years at Stamford Bridge last season Our away day woes against the big teams goes back a long time, the last time we won at City was Dec 2015 We haven’t won in the league at Anfield since Sept 2012 Last night was disappointing, we lost a 6 pointer, it’s a game we… Read more »
No disrespect intended but blah! blah! blah! blah! blah!!!!, There are two reasons for Arsenal faltering against the so called bigger teams…………….Mikel Arteta is, without doubt, the first to blame and secondly, Mikel… ……Oops! , sorry, my mistake, there’s just the one reason. He overthinks, over complicates and over reacts to everything. The team are shackled by his insistence to play a certain way. It is embarrassing. Aubameyang should not be playing. Elneny should not have played last night. Tierney should be ahead of Tavares and on top of all of this his in game management is atrocious. Open your… Read more »
I wonder if Arteta’s reluctance to change things up when it’s clear they aren’t working is driven by a feeling that it would be admitting he got his team selection wrong? It was a passive team sheet, not a side set up to take it to United and kill off their attacking threats. It is inexplicable that Auba gets kept on the pitch for so long when he is not threatening and when he gets chances and hits tame efforts at the keeper. It’s not a one off, there’s a pattern to this. Leaving it so late to bring on… Read more »
Ode played very well apart from the pen. The bit of skill to set Martinelli up in the first half was sublime.
Inside right
I agree ESR can’t play to his strengths with odegaard playing as our cam. We need to drop ode back in the midfield alongside partey so he can still create with martinelli and Saka on the wings with ESR in his preferred cam position.
I agree ESR can’t play to his strengths with odegaard playing as our cam. We need to drop ode back in the midfield alongside partey so he can still create with martinelli and Saka on the wings with ESR in his preferred cam position.
Sorry Pedro don’t agree with you about Odegaard. Didn’t see anything from him when he was on loan with us last season and haven’t thought much of him in games we’ve played. ESR Is a much better player.
Nelson “ I find Mo Elneny was partially responsible for both the first and the third goal. For the first goal, he didn’t cover Fred, allowing him to set up the goal. For the third goal, Fred was his man in an area where he is supposed to defend” What else are you going to blame Elneny for? The shooting of JFK or for jailing Nelson Mandela? United punished us for the systemic errors we repeatedly are during our build-ups, period. There were too many players who had off days; Partey for example but you’re singling out Elneny Even Saka… Read more »
** United punished us for the systemic errors we repeatedly make during our build-ups, period
Pedro, thanks for some optimism on here. I didn’t see the game against Man U, so I won’t comment. But losing was not a disaster, as the moaners and groaners on here would have us believe. We have a first team that, on its day, can match any team in PL. What needs to be done is to turn ‘on its day’ into ‘most days’ and ‘most days’ into ‘every day’. To make that happen, first and foremost a striker at the very highest rank is needed. Whether that happens in Jan is anybody’s guess. But if it doesn’t, for… Read more »
I wish we signed a young player with an all-action swashbuckling like Gallagher, instead of Odegaard.
That ship has sailed though.
Graham62 Every time a team lose, you can always say the manager should have picked a different team, or done something different… The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing, but there’s nothing to say a different selection, would have produced a better result… The reality of our situation is we’re 5th, 1 point behind 4th, after 14 games, and we’re in the mix for the European places 5th is about our level, we’ve got by far the youngest team in the league, at times we’ve fielded 5 new players in our starting 11, only 11-14 games into their Arsenal… Read more »
The way people talk about Lokonga, you would think that he too has nit had poor games this season.
It’s bit disingenuous to keep harping on Arteta’s selection without ting that the alternative was to maybe overplay a young player who we need to protect more than ever.
Elneny and Partey are not going to be available for selection in January so it’s perfectly understandable for Arteta to keep Sammy fresh for those sequence of games. Arteta has to rotate the midfield.
@Rich – “A few said CL qualification should be minimum requirement this season, but most said that Europa League qualification with a young team would be acceptable, and that’s where we currently are” But here is the thing, it was Arteta himself who has stacked this team with young players. Does this mean that he is now no longer accountable for results or where we end up in the table? If so, why doesn’t every new manager simply do this when they walk into a new team? We should be judged on the money we have spent acquiring this team… Read more »
Ode has plenty of awareness and can see a pass but with Auba not looking to move into space quick enough it becomes a battle of trying to move the ball left right and we know Ode is not someone to dribble past players.
I like Ode but he needs a motivated runner lime Marttinelli ahead of him. Auba is not that guy no more.
Jim
I don’t think it was Arteta who over-staffed the team with young player
The Arsenal back room, led by Edu over-corrected the mistakes of the 2020 summer bu rightly signing younger players.
Arteta didn’t come up with that policy.
“United punished us for the systemic errors we repeatedly are during our build-ups, period.“ Bullshit. – 1st goal came because of a poor half volley clearance from White on the edge of our box under no pressure. 9/10 that finds the halfway line and not a United player 10 yards in front of him. – 2nd goal was poor between Tavares and ESR, Nuno too ambitious trying to cut a ball inside out the air AND advance in the one motion, while ESR was daydreaming and watching the game instead of being alive to the five and go. – 3rd… Read more »
it was Arteta himself who has stacked this team with young players
Surely this is a decision made from Ownership level down.
@Dissenter –
So Arteta has no say in who we sign now? Or that he is told that he has to sign young players? Or what is it?
Bit of a gut punch yesterdays result but it doesn’t hurt our aspirations this season too much. A good performance against under pressure Everton on Monday is a must however. Positives Martinelli – Still looks to be a great prospect, the lack of playing time hasn’t affected his mood or motivation and with AFCON around the corner and the likely departures of Eddie and Laca if he continues to get minutes he’ll go from strength to strength. Team Cohesion – As Pedro said we are 100% a better “team” than United which is why it feels like 3 points dropped.… Read more »
We have a first team that, on its day, can match any team in PL.
Not yet. Apart from the top three maybe.
Diet Pep played majority of his football in an underdog team, Everton, he will always take that mentality when facing man u, liverpool, chelsea, Arsenal(loool)
Pedro “Bit of a shame that AMN doesn’t have the trust yet… but let’s be real, he played well, he was the least of our worries.“ Get your standards up mate, taking you an age to see the wood from the trees with AMN and midfield. Elneny typifies our toothless midfield, he’s full of running and offers no influence on the game either in build up, or end product. If you recognise the value of Ben White progressing the play from CB, then you shouldn’t be talking about Mo Elneny as the least of anything. He was a major factor… Read more »
Everton is a must win, unless Diet Pep has a soft spot for the club where he played majority of his football.
Charlie
‘ Get your standards up mate, taking you an age to see the wood from the trees with AMN and midfield. Elneny typifies our toothless midfield, he’s full of running and offers no influence on the game either in build up, or end product’
I don’t disagree on the Elneny aspect but have you considered that Partey my easily be described in the same vein for majority of the games he’s played for us.
I saw the litany of excuses you put up for him yesterday likes he’s an endangered species.
Rich, yes you can always blame team selection but in this case it’s certainly valid. Just about everyone thought that Elneny was a bad pick. Even Pedro said in yesterday’s blog that Arteta had to be brave and he wasn’t.
It’s the blindingly obvious errors that irritate. Wenger’s achilles heel was stubbornly refusing to even attempt to fix weaknesses in the squad (Almunia, no DM, and so on). So far Mikel’s seems to be a negative safety-first mind set which he needs to abandon if we’re going to play to our potential.
Thomas Partey, oh dear, Atlético Madrid fucked us over big time there and he’s only 28, we’ve got probably 3 or 4 more years of him giving the ball away, shooting like a wanker, slow as shit etc.
In January we’ll have no Partey and The Mighty Elneny, The Amazing Xhaka could still be injured so what will our great leader do then? Torreira and Guendouzi? No chance, Arteta doesn’t like them, wanker. Niles and Lokonga?
8th place here we come for the 3rd year running……
Elneny was rubbish , tactics were crap , probably like most arsenal fans I saw the line up and thought that’s a loss, really not a big fan of ODE either , think he made one tackle all game and look how that worked out for us ,he is not offering anything close to being useful and the master stroke of bring on that twat enketiah come on .The defeat is clearly on the coach and his galaxy brain bullshit ….this was much more annoying than the Liverpool defeat as we should have cleaned up with these idiots .they are… Read more »
Auba signed a three year deal in 2020 so he will have only one season left after the summer of 2022.
That’s a pay out that can be managed easily.
I will excuse losing to Carrick, but Not winning against Rafa is treasonous
Do people realize that there’s a strategic reason for protecting Lokonga and AMN now?
Just asking because is seems completely lost that those two will be the only viable options when Partey and LaternalElneny leave for the AFCON.
Arteta is right to keep AMN and Lokonga fresh this December.
Gawd< I’m beginning to souls like englandsbest
Dissenter
That’s not true at all, but unsurprising that you’re preying on his poor performance given you’ve been dismissing him since day zero.
Let’s remind ourselves you’re the poster who rated Holbjerg highly and said that Saul was the real baller in the Atletico midfield, and not Partey as a line of criticism. Yea, exactly.
Keeping AMN fresh? How many minutes has he played mr anaesthesiologist
We are only average. Manager and players
Charlie
‘ Let’s remind ourselves you’re the poster who rated Holbjerg highly and said that Saul was the real baller in the Atletico midfield, and not Partey as a line of criticism. Yea, exactly.’
Absolutely and Partey hasn’t disproven that notion I had.
When are you going to give Partey the vintage Charlie Pepe treatment?
Partey’s Arsenal career is on the same trajectory as Pepe.’s.
Ask any neutral if the Partey that plays for Arsenal has been better than the Hoyjberg that’s played for Southampton and Spurs?
Sid
Keeping him fresh for January, you rascally numpty.
When Partey and Elneny leave on January 2nd, who lease will be left.
He has to manage AMN’s minutes
By the way,I’m not an anesthesiologist so cut out the crap
Talking about shooting , what dumb fuck honestly put Partey in charge of taking s free kick last night in a promising area. Surely they must have seen the 10,000 plus shots he’s blasted over the bar in an Arsenal shirt since we signed him. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him taking it
Listening to Arteta’s pressie it would seem we were in total control and dominated the game. He is getting boring saying this shite like Gerry Francis in his prime zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
We lost against a piss poor United side beacause we shit ourselfs and the manager is too cautious and over complicates a simple game.
Really really gutted about last night. I despise United and we were by far the better team before we decided to give them a helping hand. They created next to nothing before that goal. Gutted
I’m not happy but like I said last night, we flattered Man United with that score line.
“We have a first team that, on its day, can match any team in PL.” That’s very much the same for every PL team on their day and if the opposition don’t play to their ability then you are in with a good chance of getting a win. People need to grasp some reality. After 14 games 5 defeats. Think about that It’s the same number as Utd, Spurs,Leicester , Leeds , Wolves and Southampton and more than Palace, WHU & Brighton . Reality needs to kick in because there isn’t any sort of gap between Arsenal in 5th and… Read more »
I want to know what genius thought it was a good idea to let Partey take a free kick. Fuck me, might as well let Ramsdale smash one!
TYAGN
That Partey free kick wasn’t a poor one actually
De Gea was already fooled and the ball may have been goal bound. That ball was stopped by Auba who appeared not to get the memo
Sorry, we can’t have midfielders not making tackles, I also find arteta wanting Wenger at the club an admission he is lacking self confidence in himself. An observation from last night, if samba was playing there is a chance he would have been covering Nuno on the second goal, I notice he steps in most times over that side when nuno goes forward, in fact I think that’s why nuno was not really trying to push forward that much last night, the one time he attempted ,they scored, elneny and partly seem stuck on the right or middle, not shifting… Read more »
The team mirror Arteta’s way of thinking. He was a slow laboureous player , sideways and backwards, it’s in his dna. We seem to start well then drift back to a tippy tappy routine. Auba is very stationary up front and simply cannot keep the ball when pressurized. His shoot now is feeble and mostly straight at the goalkeeper. Martinelli has to be cf for now he a least hassles the defenders and keeps the pressure up. Our midfield remains a mess and Arteta doesn’t seem to manage it at all. If we do not get into Europe in the… Read more »
I have nothing against arteta, but could it be because he never used to be in teams that beat the top sides, he has brought that baggage into his management career? Just asking. Can’t recall him being in an Everton side that beat us or United back in the day. It seems he needs to work on his mental side before he can help the team if ever we can consistently get good results against these big teams.
Tbf that freekick looked like it was heading for the top corner but hit Auba instead.
TYAG
“Surely they must have seen the 10,000 plus shots he’s blasted over the bar in an Arsenal shirt since we signed him. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him taking it”
Odegaard was standing with Partey over the freekick.
That’s where Odegaard has to show that he is boss in that situation.
I take the freekicks especially ones in such a promising position.
He shouldn’t be meek in those situations.
Perhaps we convert Auba to a defender as he has stopped two goals going in lately!
The team mirror Arteta’s way of thinking.
He was a slow laboureous player , sideways and backwards, it’s in his dna.
Spot on Spanish Dave
Terraloon “Reality needs to kick in because there isn’t any sort of gap between Arsenal in 5th and Leicester in 10th” It’s very close from 4th down to midtable. If people are being totally honest I don’t think they would say with any certaintty that Arsenal are going to stay in 5th or make a challenge for 4th or slip by the wayside again like last season and finish out of the top 5 or 6. I think it looks better than last season so a place in the top six at least has to be demabded from Arteta. We… Read more »
Andy Sambi could have been carrying a knock, then Arteta had a decision over Elneny or Niles, we’ll need to use our squad He went with Elneny, that pivot worked well at Old Trafford last season, and he said he’s been good in training We lost a game against a team with a lot of quality, away from home, I’m disappointed, we certainly could have got something from the game, but it’s not the end of the world either We now need to go to Everton and win, which is certainly within our capabilities Martinelli did enough last night to… Read more »
Dissenter
The very fact you put Partey and Pepe in the same sentence speaks volumes.
Partey is everything we need in midfield when he’s on form and playing alongside an established partner. Pepe on his best day isn’t the player needed for us at all.
Have to laugh at my Pepe treatment’ being labelled a thing, even the Pepe fan club has fuck all left in the tank to defend him. It’s nothing to do with form as is the case with Partey.
“”First of all to show the character and the personality and the courage to play the way we did at Old Trafford [was pleasing],”” — Arteta
No body gives a fuck about Character and Personality and Courage. It’s a game – you win and that’s it.
Ishola 70. Your question about the level of ambition at Arsenal is a good one. The current PR which Pedro buys into is that we have clear strategy and are moving in the right direction. At the end of the season Arteta will have been in charge for roughly 2 seasons and currently we are on course is to be exactly where Emery took us 6th. Not sure that’s progress.
I’ve stopped worrying myself with odd decisions anymore. Too time consuming and numerous.
But bringing on nketiah who is mugging us off ahead of Pepe is ducking mad
If you hate Pepe use balogun at least, he’s out player , nketiah isn’t
Terraloon
Quite right. The big gap is between City, Liverpool, Chelsea and the rest. Teams like Leicester, Spurs may bridge the gap, but if they do, it’s temporary.
Arteta’s stated intention from Day One was to make Arsenal elite again – in other words, to join the three at the top. IMO he is well on the way to achieving that. The Arsenal squad is young – very young – with the best yet to come.
“We can’t keep continuing lowering the bar all the time for Arteta.”
Duuno, some of Pedro’s Acolytes are doing a damn fine job doing just that.
Rich, agree that Martinelli has been a positive. Although Mo was good at United last season fact is we still shithoused a 1-0 win and the odds on doing that twice in a row aren’t high and we’d have been much better with a more positive approach to which he isn’t suited. I’d have gone for AMN if Sambi wasn’t fit.
I have more hope that the team this season will last out better but of course it is not said with real certainty.
Everyone should be demanding at least 6th position a Europa League placing. At least.
If not it would be hard to defend Arteta.
“His richest player is also his captain(…)The Odegaard penalty doesn’t happen if you have Lukaku upfront” Don’t know why but this section of the article was hilarious to me. Much like Auba is now, Lukaku used to the subject of jokes for having the first touch and control of a bouncy castle. Especially with his back to goal. Then he went to Inter and there was a massive improvement in that aspect of his game. Of course Pedro doesn’t rate the coaching staff responsible for that change because he knows more than we do. But imagine the wonders actual competent… Read more »
Klopp and Tuchel never played counter-attacking football at Dortmund. It was possession based and that was the system Aubameyang achieved top scorer in. Auba played with his back to goal and on the front foot interchangeably in the Bundesliga. The difference is he wasn’t as isolated at Dortmund as he is here at Arsenal under “Positional Play”. Reus and Mhkitaryan were allowed to commit themselves forward compared to here where players are restricted to “zones”. A better argument would be to say that Pierre is simply off-form or that he has no specialised role in a team yet to find… Read more »
Auba’s decline is down to one thing and one thing only, he is not suited to playing in Arteta’s offensive system whatever it may actually be. It’s been more than obvious for some time now, he’s lost in an ambiguous system that has yet to define itself or materialize.
Im thankful to Diet Pep for Not getting European football, the humiliation we’d go through is just insufferable
Diet Peps great coaching can be seen in Parteys perfomance
Pedro I honestly think you need to watch the game again, and look at both what Elneny does, and what he doesnt do. Receiving the ball in midfield, at least 50% goes straight backwards to the player that gave him it- most usually the defender. That invites the press, we inevitably go long and lose it. The rest of the time it goes horizonally- typically to Partey. I only remember I occasion when he received, turned and looked to play a progressive ball forward. That puts huge pressure on Partey- who had the worst 45 minutes I can remember- he… Read more »
Aubameyang is not a good leader of men and also a piss poor captain He considers himself as the “ coolest captain in the league, maybe in the world!’ – We need a street wise leader who’s. Not afraid to get. a yellow card to protest to referees. We don’t protest enough when there are 50-50 no calls . VAR definitely gets activated by a proper bolloxing of the official. That non-call of the blatant pull on Tomiyasu would have been reviewed if we acted with some disgust. Instead, we just played on like meek sheep. That was a 100%… Read more »
Arteta has learned a lot over time.
He’s learned to play the individuals approaching good form. I was glad he played Martinelli yesterday, I expect that he will get a sustained run of games now.
That also why he’s persevered with Tavares because the benefits of having him outweighs his rawness.
Can anyone on here explain to me the following.
1. Why was Aubameyang playing?
2. Why was Elneny playing?
3. Why was Tierney playing?
4. Why did Arteta wait so long to make the changes?
The reason is fear.
Arteta is not up to standard and if you can’t see that, you must be blind.
This comes from an “amateur”.
Ish We’ll be in with a good chance of edging into the Europa League places, it’ll likely be tight and go to the wire, but we’re in the mix Agree if Arteta doesn’t get us over the line, then we should make a change, but I’m not too bothered right now, KSE are unlikely to make a change mid-season, so it’s pointless stressing about it Arteta would leave behind a good collection of young players if we need a change, young players that’ll have already been through the early teething stages of development We’ll have a settled back 5, hopefully… Read more »
What an embarrassment de Gea was last night for going down like a sack of potatoes and turning his back on a live ball after a stud rake.
How has Atkinson managed to stay in his job this long is anyone’s guess. The most clueless ref in the PL.
It took Marriner in the VAR room almost 5 minutes to correct the situation………must’ve been on the phone to Riley asking if there was a scenario under which they could disallow that goal and the answer was sadly no.
Testing
Rich
We lost a game against a team with a lot of quality —
We lost against a shit United team, before the game the opposition had scored the last 9 goals at OT
Let that sink in
I notice there is very little narrative on De Gea’s part in the first goal. He should have stayed on his feet and played until the ball was clear, although I suspect if he had known it was Fred he wouldn’t have folded like a menu. Here’s a question. IF Atkinson had seen De Gea was injured and blown to stop play before the goal went in, what would have been the restart procedure? Is it an uncontested drop ball and do Arsenal kick it back to Man U? Do Man U get to punt it long back to Arsenal?… Read more »
Testing again.
Ernest
‘ Auba’s decline is down to one thing and one thing only, he is not suited to playing ’
I agree partly.
The system doesn’t suit Aubameyang definitely but he’s also been utterly shite, . It’s like he fell off a cliff. He’s always been a limited footballer but excellent goal scorer even in his heydays.
He’s missing penalties and missing tap-ins from 3 yards. That’s totally on him.
Oops! Why was Tavares playing?
Graham62
What were you testing?
In game management of Arteta is shit. He is the handbrake , asking us to play negative football once we get the lead . To everyone saying Aubameyang is shit etc , we would struggle even if it was Haaland . How many chances did we actually create last night ? Its because he gets just 1-2 chances per game that the poor finishing gets amplified . Any striker playing for Arsenal right now would struggle because we create jackshit .
White delivered some killer balls last night………….. pretty much the only thing he’s done consistently for us since arriving, but I can’t point to a single goal Arsenal have scored as a direct consequence of his forward passes.
Arsenal went into this game on a high after a complete performance against Newcastle.
Sure, Newcastle are shit but still, there’s only one person to blame when a team puts the kind of performance we did last night.
United were shit because they’ve had no manager to speak of for over two years.
What’s our excuse ?
Elneny was following instructions, Diet Peps tactic is to use Ben White to progress the ball. Its Not a coincidence that Partey does the same. Invite the opposition then hoof the ball upfield
Man u didnt fall for this tactic.
What other PL club would Elneny start for, just curious.
The decision to play Mo was absolutely shocking. Just because he didn’t make a mistake leading directly to a goal doesn’t mean he was decent. Every time he gets the ball there’s headless chicken running, 4 touches, and a backwards pass. It’s impossible to play on the break with him in the side because he gives the opposition the time to get organised. This “mistakes from individuals” narrative is so reductive. Team selection and tactics is what creates the circumstances for those mistakes to occur. Like reverting to negative football every time we score. Or trying to “see the game… Read more »