Arsenal blew a huge chance in the race for #Top4 with a performance you could only really class as complacent.
We didn’t show up for the first half, we went for it in the second half, we blew all our big chances.
It was a bad point.
Burnley are the oldest team in the league, they had one game under their belt in January, Pieters was coughing up lungs in the first half, but we couldn’t break them down.
We know what Burnley will do against us. They sit deep, the cut off the midfield passing lanes, the break up play with fouls. Arteta didn’t have a meticulous plan to bury them and the team he rolled out with didn’t have the fight they had for City or Liverpool. That’s a focus issue and that is on the manager.
Individually, there were a lot of poor performances.
Gabriel at centre back was a bit of a mess, too many touches, a lack of desire to play through the middle, too slow on the ball.
Aaron Ramsdale kept another messy clean sheet. He looks like he’s dropped his level. There was a lot of chaos around him. His passing decisions weren’t great, his body language wasn’t supportive of his struggling teammates, and he made a couple of worrying handling errors. As Matt said on the podcast, we like our keepers dips to come with clean sheets, regardless, he needs to get back to basics. If he’s slow on the ball, so is the entire team.
The biggest fuck up of the week was Thomas Partey picking up a red card, and prior to that, Granit Xhaka doing the same things twice. If Arsenal have their full midfield available, we’re winning the game. Granit Xhaka takes risks, always shows for the ball, and has a know how Lokonga doesn’t have right now. If Partey is alongside Lokonga, he doesn’t get buried by Burnley players cutting off his passing lanes.
The biggest issue was finishing. 20 shots, 5 on target, no goals. We all love Alex Lacazette, but he doesn’t score goals or hit the target. If he’s clinical today, we’re taking 3 points, he wasn’t, and that’s been the story of his season. We don’t have anyone behind him who can add anything, the only way we get around this issue is by recruiting… and fast.
… it does frustrate me that we fall back on dim tactics when we’re not doing well. Why would anyone put high balls into the box today? Sometimes we play for a striker we don’t have, it’s so irritating.
Some folk are still talking about creativity being the issue and that is wrong. We have the 3rd best shots per game in the Premier League this season, but the 7th most goals. That’s an equation that will shift with a modern striking option.
There’s a lot of weak-kneed fans out there calling time on our season, these folk are so fucking embarrassing, it makes me want to gouge my eyes out. A draw was not good enough, but Spurs are losing the Chelsea right now, if we do well with our games in hand, we’ll be right where we need to be with 10 games to go. It’s in our hands. We need to do well in the next phase of the season and we need to beat our rivals.
Then it’s game on. Then it’s about freshness. Then it’s about the January recruitment drive.
That’s where the stress is with normal fans. Why did we loan players if we were going to be short? Why don’t we recall players like Saliba if the need is there? Why are there no bodies in the mixer right now?
We need to remember that Top 4 is a stretch goal this season. Europe is the key objective. The fact we’re in the mixer for top 4 is progression. The fact people are saying Arteta should be sacked if he doesn’t deliver it with the youngest team in the league with no striker is also a kind of progress. Currently, based on what we’ve just seen, we don’t have the depth to deliver top 4. But a couple of shrewd loans and a mega move for a big striker could change the thinking.
Let’s see where we go.
If you like podcasts, check out The Arsenal Opinion, this episode was a little spicy.
Graham, I understand why people blame the manager automatically. I’m frustrated, a lot. Mostly because we were finally playing a league game again, and that was my focus even when we still had the cup competitions. I was worried about Lokonga, but I didn’t feel he was the real problem today. I could see this same result with Partey and Xhaka. The whole team not being aggressive enough in the first half has to be on Arteta. I’ve been saying for weeks now, since Man City… games where we dominate our opponents, or have loads of possession, and end up… Read more »
Dissenter, apples to oranges.
The second yellow was missed by the ref but since it wasn’t even close to a straight red then it wasn’t reviewable.
Jota pen was was reviewed for three minutes and I don’t know of a single person (Liverpool fans excluded )who actually agreed with it.
Did you ?
Spanishdave
I really like your posts.
Straight and to the point.
Also make a lot of sense.
Although I respect what Pedro does, you just know that the next post is going to centre around the players and not the real issue, which is our mediocre manager.
Players like Tierney are a pale shadow of their former selves.
What does Arteta coach all week?
Run, stop, go backwards. Run, stop, go backwards.
Over coached players leads to boring and predictable football.
Tom
I didn’t think was a penalty but these things are subjective
It wasn’t even the winning goal, Liverpool were still up 2-1 before that incident.
Dissenter, Liverpool were lucky. Palace missed a shed load of chances and were still in it until the pen, which killed off the game.
This wasn’t the only sticking point either.
Firmino jumped for the cross Ox subsequently scored from while being in the offside position……..not exactly inactive then was he.
Didnt watch the game, it was on too early here. Checked when I woke up and it was 0-0 with a few mins left.
I can already visualize this game without watching it.
We really need some reinforcements. Its almost month end and no one is here.
A new CM, badly needed and of course Striker
5 great games whole season.
How is that positive?
We are going nowhere with Tets
From Harvey Downes on Twitter
“ Burnley are on a run of 111 Premier League games without having a player sent off, since Robbie Brady saw red against Huddersfield in January 2019. To put that into context, the next longest run in the division is Chelsea, who have gone 20 games without having a player sent off.
Compare and contrast, how they play, vs how Arsenal play and the cards they pick up.
How?
How have they had a run like this without a red card? Clear red card today as well
Its deja vu all over again. How many times must one keep watching this team play so poorly before realizing that those that keep telling you that what you are seeing is not what you are seeing? “Trust The Process” What exactly is the process and why again and again am i met with the same ridiculous statements that if I’m not on board with what Arteta is doing that somehow there is a problem with me? This team lacks discipline and lacks belief, and its beyond obvious now. To the point, they just are not an especially good team… Read more »
“Ask yourself these questions: Do you like having the youngest team in the Premier League? Do you like the ruthless deck sweeping that’s happened over the last two years? Do you like that we’re in the mixer for top 4 at the end of January? Do you like the new players we have and what they stand for? Do you like seeing youth prospects develop? Do you like the pride everyone feels for the club? Do you like that The Emirates is a fortress of noise? If you do, then I don’t understand why you’d be against a new deal.”… Read more »
“I’m worried about AFC Superfan. Missing after every shit result.”
Self flagellation with a rope full of Arsenal winners badges I’d assume, as he’s the top dog fan.
Flood of people wanting to vote in favour of Arteta getting a new contract today crashed Pedro’s server!
Either that or the server knew it was going to be in for it after yet another abject Arsenal performance. January cant come to an end soon enough.
“If we finish anywhere below 6th he’s done. Out. Final answer”
Milo I’d call a friend if I were you or ask the audience. Clearly you have been tempered by Pedro’s Arteta’s PR BS.
Another Arteta enabler just as Wenger’s apologists.
Since Wenger’s dismissal it’s getting close to 5 years and we still can’t make 4th and we’re stuck in ever increasing debt leveraged against us.
Just read the stat. Today, we had 31 crosses. We are back to those days where our only attack were crosses. We all know that it didn’t work. Why Arteta is doing it again????
What an absolutely shit show yesterday against the bottom of the league. Pedro ‘we absolutely needed White’. Why? He’s an average CD we didn’t need with Saliba and Holding. No doubt you’ll be here putting out fires and boosting Arteta in any way you can troll. Same shit different day with Arteta, ES and Pedro. The funniest thing from the game was when Burnley countered and we had little cover, so Arteta ran most of the way to our corner line waving his arm frantically telling our players to get back like a teacher would do with 5 year olds.… Read more »
‘Just read the stat. Today, we had 31 crosses.’
All aimed at the 5 feet 8 inch Laca marshaled by 2 x six foot +++ defenders.
Tactic of the year by Arteta.
Tony, you are more desperate to be right than you are to support the club. Two points off top 4 with a game in hand over United. Level points with Spurs, we still have to play them. The season’s destiny in our hands. ‘I’ll cast my judgement on valentines day’ you said. Well, we’ll be right in the mix for top 4 by then. Who is really dropping propaganda out here? The guy that said Arteta would make this team competitive over the season, or the guy who said the fans would be revolting in the stadium and Arteta would… Read more »
Honestly, the drama with some of you. It’s like a Real Housewives episode on here.
Like I said Pedro here desperately trying to put out flames was damage limitation, but the damage is continuing to be done.
You can massage stats all you like the table position is never wrong.
Ernest, are you really unsure what the process is?
Win our game in hand, we’re 2 points behind Chelsea, 1 point ahead of United, 5 ahead of West Ham… and you don’t know what’s going on and want to tear it all down?
Still, I guess if there were no hysterics, the comments wouldn’t be good.
I would have sub out Saka instead of ESR. Saka looked exhausted in the 2nd half while ESR looked stronger and stronger.
Eddie is not the solution. If we couldn’t sign any good striker next week, we have to get Auba back. A plan B with Auba is much better than with Eddie.
Tony, you are amazing.
‘You can massage the actual table all you like’
2 points off top 4. That is not a crisis. That is not a fire. You are in the mud, still. The shame of it is all the people with an axe to grind are here shouting fire in the theater as well. When will you all learn?
‘Who is really dropping propaganda out here?’ Only you Pedro, such as the post Xmas table. Those who read your posts get daily doses. I don’t because you’ve decided to throw your hat to run the Arsenal PR ring. Once of us will be right at the end of the season, Pedro. Not looking good for you, as you with last the last 2 seasons where you tried to laughingly massage figures to boost your narrative and failed with Arteta miserably. Serious question, Pedro? What were your thoughts on Arteta’s tactics and in-game management that led to a draw with… Read more »
Funny how your server went down after the final whistle Pedro.
Worried about the fall out?
Tony,
Reality check for you: The table has us 2 points off top 4.
If you want to get into it about data, the half-season table was entirely predictive of where we’d be now.
Bigger question, why are you here? You don’t read the work. You enjoy bad results. You are here to cause trouble and throw shade.
Is this what you would consider normal supporter behaviour? Maybe you should time out yourself.
Bills @ Chiefs
The greatest play-off game ever
Jeez, can’t believe what I’m seeing
Diss, the mentality of these players blows my mind.
To be sure I wasn’t accused of hiding,, I made sure to get on here and show my disappointment today, I was disgusted. I couldn’t even watch the spurs game which I usually love doing. Pedro showing up with the table reading gives me a little hope. But it looks like these problems will persist unless we buy a cf or try Auba in the middle, where I always said he should be. If we have nothing through the middle Saka and Martinelli will be blanketed with defenders. At least Øde can play more advanced when Xhaka and Partey are… Read more »
Nigel, after the break, we’ll have Tomi, Xhaka and Partey in the mixer. A new midfielder and striker.
Then we roll.
Mad that people who demanded top 4 this season think it’s over because we’re 2 points off it in January with 17 games left to play.
Same people that said Arteta would be sacked by November and the fans would be in revolt.
Always wrong. Always hysterical. Always seem to enjoy a bump in the road.
What a dull way to watch football.
Agree Diss
Kaiser buffalo is an amazing game
Pedro we need some of this mentality lol
If Arteta can replicate recent performances he’s demonstrated against man city and pool I’m in
I think he will and is only going to improve as a coach
We are on an upward trajectory as a team and I’m on of his fiercest critics
Sly, we need a striker like Mahomes. Deadly.
Spend some fucking money
Was that chant going around today?
I could be wrong but i just dont trust the kroenkes
That said bummer game today but im not wet, laca is laca, saka looks mentally exhausted he needs a rest thank god this break is here even thiugh we enter it in a bad way
Pedro
I admire your defense of Arteta , but come on some of the decisions he has taken over the few days has been shocking . Playing Tomiyasu and Partey in the Liverpool game . Both change the way we play significantly , because of Holding’s lack of play we couldnt press high up against Burnley . There was minimal support to Saka at Right wing and Lokonga didnt have an option to pass to in midfield without Partey .
Lack of pace*
Damn the bills lost
What a game tho
Divine,
We dominated today but didn’t finish our chances. 20 shots, 5 on target, we should have won.
Plenty of defence of the season.
We’re in the top 4 race. Calling time on the season is weak. Especially as it’s from all the folk that have a dead opinion to save.
Also Divine, amusing that today you think it’s shocking to have Holding at CB, but 3 days ago, that’s who you wanted to play against Liverpool.
Point here, there’s no easy decision when you have injuries and players on the brink.
Yes because it was a cup , the league is what I want us to be serious about . What stopped Arteta to play Holding there in the cup and Ben White at RB ?
Divine, I suspect he had the same intentions Klopp did… he wanted to win something.
What does it take from here to finish with European football? Players to fill the needed midfielders reinforcement or playmaker?
Decent results will make Stan & Josh open the purse strings, drawing against the bottom of the table Burnley will not necessarily do that.
8 days + hours to go in the TW.
Arteta seems to have a split personality. His sound bites are – Arsenal needs to score more goals and new signings need to raise the level. He might just be blind in game and gets a summary of the game after it.
if we came back from the break w another decent cm and a better cf we can get mometum
Back. But kronekes need to spend now to get momentum or its gone til next year
The thing the ownership needs to consider at a moment like this is whether you start to unsettle players you need for the future by continuing like this. We are flying dangerously close to the sun right now, obviously after not beating burnley at home.
Its hard to argue with the 2 points off 4th place……..
For now.
After 2 years , the sexy football we were promised is rarer than an Essex virgin.
On to phase 69 of the project
Looks like the right back situating needs addressing again unless Tomiyasu improves. Lamptey had an excellent habe against Leicester worth a look.
I hate mahomes
Martenelli and Saks already being openly sounded for future moves to Liverpool. May probably leave on free or cheap if they get disillusioned like Chamberlain. Arsenal needs finished article players to support the young squad achieve trophies and play in the champions league. Otherwise Arsenal will be a feeder club that makes no money from player development.
ok, so a conspiracy theory
Burnley, a cynical dirty team have gone 111 matches in the Premier League without a red card.
They have traditionally had by far the fewest black players of any team in the league. The referees have been all white since Uriah Rennie retired over a decade ago.
It might not be intentional but maybe the exclusively white refs side subconsciously with the almost all-white team?
Sambis positioning was a suspect. He didnt look for space ahead of the first line of press from Burnley and was almost standing in line with them. He needs to work on that and not sure what the coaches are doing. Also the Man City game had faster passing today was lethargic. Also the Man City game didn’t have Arteta on the sidelines.
bacary why is that conspiracy? its called institutionalized racism
The EPL reffing is sorry.
No women main refs, no refs of color…
Burnely are “Not that type of player”
The big question is, then who is?
Give Answers for free!
Hard to get red-carded when you are defending deep in banks of four. Situations where you need to make rash challenges, last ditch tackles etc are a non-entity
Guns of SF, this is precisely the reason i want an Englishman to captain Arsenal. It has to be either Aaron or Ben White. That’s the only way we can get some decisions going our way. An englishman in native English accent in the ears of all White English Ref. Music to years as apposed to an Frenchman English in an alien accent. One of the many dark arts that Arsenal is yet to master.
Madhu you think that will make a difference?
We have been a bastion of international players for the longest time.
Doesnt matter if Aaron or Ben is captain, the rest of the team are mostly foreign or black.
This is a bigger issue with the EPL refs… i dont know what can be done to change the culture. its like locked into yesteryear
Guns of SF, i think its worth a try not that Lacca is setting the house on fire due with the armband. You look at Kane and his constant chomping on Refs ear. The kind of misdemeanours he gets away with, it makes you wonder why not try it out with Ramsdale. If nothing else he will give a kick on everyone’s backside. He will be in Refs ears all the time with his English accent.
Refs will have a bias just like 99.99% of human beings. Generally they favour winners in my opinion . So if Arsenal won more they probably be favoured too.
And when we inevitably lose away to Wolves and end up 8th, what will defence of PE teacher Arteta be then?
Pedro you keep mentioning the fact that we have youngest team. I wasn’t aware you get extra points for it ? Age doesn’t matter a jot what matters is where you are in the league. If we bomb in the league I’m not sure fans will take comfort from the age of the squad.
“Pedro you keep mentioning the fact that we have youngest team. I wasn’t aware you get extra points for it ? ”
What a dimwit comment
EdTheRed. What happens if we win away at Wolves? i get it, if your red line has been crossed and he just has to go. But what would make you change your mind? Top 4. Top 5? Top 6? by when? or is it just too late?
Comment on the match. its boring just endless back and forth between those who want Arteta to stay and those who want him to go. Anyway for me:- Ramsdale is looking dodgy – is that a coaching thing? Is he losing form or is he just not that good? id be happy to see him dropped for Leno. Meritocracy and all that Aubameyang – Needs to be reintegrated if we fail to get a striker Midfield needs so much work – just no movement for the centre backs to pass to Tierney – flipping crosses “into the mixer”. WTF. get… Read more »
Pedro
I have been catching up on some of the comments from last night.
Many posters highlighted that Arteta acts “like a PE teacher”.
They are right.
If that’s what he’s like when the cameras are rolling, imagine what he’s like in training.
Your own justification of things does crease me up though.
Arteta is just not good enough.
Graham That PE teacher analogy rings true. You probably saw that film ‘Kes’ based on the novel by Barry Hines. Tets as a rather less portly, immaculately groomed but oh-so-less interesting and likeable version of the Manure supporting PE teacher in that film, played by the late, great Brian Glover. Our PE teacher persistently walked around with his hands down the front of his nylon tracksuit. A fine example to the kids! And when he bought himself a Honda C50 to follow us round on our cross country run, I knew my cheating days were over. A complete and sadistic… Read more »
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dc47vDh1xH0
Here he is in full splendour. I think he’d be an up grade on the present incumbent.
No goals in 4 games is a momentum killer. We need a striker urgently.
What was always going to happen was that a chunk of the players were going to either be in the red zone or indeed out with injuries. When I read that clubs like City and Chelsea have decided to give as many players as possible a full week off ( some International Federations have WC Qualification ) then I read that Arsenal are taking the full squad to Dubai, I struggle because players need time away from the rigours of full blown training they need time to chill, time to spend with their families. As a kid I always used… Read more »
It doesn’t help that our current striker plays 95% of his minutes as an advanced midfielder, and the other 5% up front missing the target.
If we aren’t reintegrating Auba, a striker is an absolute necessity this window. Says nothing of our bare central midfield though.
How we plan on playing more than 1 game a week next season without recruiting 5 more players is beyond me. Our ‘youngest squad in the league’ will be broken/in the red zone by the end of November.
Whatever the game plan and tactics (if any) were doomed when we played 90% of the time at snail pace, against the bottom team, at home！ Fans shouldn’t have booed Pope (not.literally) for his goal kick.time wasting, the amount of back &forth passing at our own half probably wasted 10, 15 minutes easily… Agreed Saka has become rather predictable, but so is our one dimensional plan of attack. What’s Tierney doing half the time “attacking” is beyond me. Why’s Gabriel bringing the ball up field just to make a 3, 4 yard pass (and then back& forth) to Tierney when… Read more »
Not much to get upset about. We dominated the game and the boys gave it their all. With a proper Striker we would have nicked all 3 points
City defeat definitely had a bad effect on the club, cause its been going downhill from there.
Btw, the crosses we put into Burnleys box esp in the last 10 minutes were painful to watch. Which of the forwards have a half.chance of winning a header, let alone scoring one?
We should be able to create more with a trio of ESR, Saka, Ode.
Could they be worse than Iwobi, Ozil Mikhi? Or is it a tactics problem?
KP –
That clip is hilarious
@Steg Top4 should be a minimum in the season when we get to play 44 games as opposed to most of our rivals who will have to play 70+ games. But alarm bells should be ringing that team lead by a manager in his third season at the club is incapable of scoring a single goal in 7 (seven) hours of playing football. I also believe that Man City is indeed interested in ex Arsenal player taking over from Pep, and his name is Patrick Vieira. I will never forgive this fucking board if that happens. So yeah, my mind… Read more »
Sid
We should be able to create more with a trio of ESR, Saka, Ode.
Could they be worse than Iwobi, Ozil Mikhi? Or is it a tactics problem?
Maybe, maybe not.
Raw talent wise they should be able to create more but talent in itself is just part of the requirements
“””””Raw talent wise they should be able to create more but talent in itself is just part of the requirements”””
What are the other requirements? Answering that may help us solve the problem of lack of chance creation.
It just struck me, maybe we didnt replace Ozil properly because it surely cannot be Iwobi and Mikhi
Damn! Pierre might have a point
Sid
The other difference is the manager.
We will struggle to make top 8 let alone top4 which is a pipe dream. But alas, it won’t matter where we finish when you have a fan base as dim as ours
Intelligence, composure, patience , vision and technique are underated on Le grove… For instance , if i had a choice between Olise of palace or Martinelli , I would choose Olise as i like a wide player with guile and balance who can beat a player with a simple drop of the shoulder and always looks in control of the situation when he’s on the ball….very difficult to defend against… But that’s just my preference, i can understand why some like the more energetic player who looks like they are putting in more effort. It’s the same with the comparison… Read more »
Tony posted
“The funniest thing from the game was when Burnley countered and we had little cover, so Arteta ran most of the way to our corner line waving his arm frantically telling our players to get back like a teacher would do with 5 year olds. My son and I laughed out loud at that pathetic behavior.”
I saw that too and almost collapsed. Spanish underwear was definitely bein g soiled at that moment.
That McNeil chap had our players all over the place. Ran at them with purpose every time
The painful truth is that Lacazette has scored 2 goals from open play and 1 penalty in the 960 mins in the EPL this season. Even counting the penalty, that’s a goal every 320 mins. Horrible stat for a CF. Vlahovic has scored a goal every 109 mins. Someone like Giroud has scored 73 goals in 11.267 mins of EPL football or a goal every 153 mins. It’s brutally obvious that he’s not good enough to rescue us in games where the CF has to take responsibility and somehow get the goal. He was never able to do it at… Read more »
Pierre
It is a pity that Arteta did not retain the services of KFL. Freddie had worked with Saka & ESR (still meets with them) and would definitely have them constantly playing together .
Pierre, you’re talking trash about Martinelli and I’m not even surprised. You are the guy that called him a head-down merchant, if I remember the term correctly. It’s so unfair to throw dirt at Martinelli when it’s obvious that he should be much closer to the goal than being wasted so close to the side line. It’s why Pepe was ineffective and why Martinelli was yesterday. It should have been Tierney + Loko or Gabriel to occupy the wing entirely and let Martinelli be entirely inside the penalty area so we have a player with fast reflexes who could punish… Read more »
New post duh