Arsenal are out of the race for top 4.
Our season is over.
Let’s not pretend it can be any other way.
If you can be beaten by individual stupidity and the sheer drive of Brighton and Palace, you have next to no hope of finding the right tools against West Ham, Chelsea and Spurs.
There are a lot of hot takes as to why we failed. The main one is the January transfer window, but that is totally wrong in my opinion. If the right players weren’t available, then it was best we sit on the funds. I know that stings people because the obvious solution to everything is signings… but that mindset is old Arsenal.
The cold hard reality regarding our striker hunt is there are probably only about 5 players in the world that fit the profile of what we’re looking for. Vlahovic was one of them, but his agents pushed him to Juventus. Benfica and Sociedad both know the money will be the same in the summer as it is in January, neither is going to give up a season now. We’re not going to spend £40m on a backup striker, we’ll be looking at free transfers or promoting from within. If we get the striker signing wrong, we are fucked long-term. We don’t have infinite funds, so we have to be laser-focused on making the right signings.
The real problem is how Arteta has managed the squad. I’ve been writing for a long time that we need to give our backup players games. The striker solution is sitting in the squad, we didn’t need to buy, we just needed to give Eddie minutes. Those that say he’s League One are so, so wrong. He’s Premier League striker and when he’s given games, he will score goals. If he’d been given a 6 game run, we’d not be having these conversations about Lacazette right now.
Just think back to Tomi. He was overplayed, he broke down… and we all feared Cedric would break us. He didn’t. When he was given some minutes, he found a rhythm and he’s done an excellent job. Players need minutes, not everyone can hit the ground running. Just think back to Odegaard, the only reason he’s doing bits now is that we showed patience with him.
Nuno Tavares was the big one. He landed a run at the start of the season. He was so good, it was a legitimate question as to whether KT would get back into the side. Then Tavares was dropped for two months. When he came back at Forest, he was pulled after 30. Then he wasn’t given any time to address his performances. Is anyone shocked he hasn’t found his game?
If Arteta was as ruthless with Lacazette as he has been with Nuno, we might be in better shape right now. How Lacazette can offer up nothing for 3 games and face no recriminations is beyond me. Eddie did more in 30 mins than Laca has done in 3 games. The man hasn’t scored in open play in 2022. How is he still starting?
Arteta totally botched the starting 11 today. It’s not a hindsight thing here, putting Granit at left-back was a car crash idea. Sambi needed Xhaka next to him so he could do this thing. It was a tactical disaster. Granit can’t left back, Odegaard isn’t effective from deep, and because the system was so alien… the players performed like they didn’t know what was going on. That was all on Arteta.
We have learned many things over these past two games.
Arsenal are far too reliant on the brilliance of Thomas Partey. When he exits our system, our system crashes. We need to sign able midfielders this summer that can rotate with him. The Ghanaian is now officially injury prone. We cannot rely on him.
We need to put the Lacazette experiment to bed. He was a good bridge to get us on track, but he doesn’t score, he doesn’t cause problems, and now he looks dead to the world. Southampton needs to see Eddie given a run of games. Though the issue is now that Eddie is going to leave and he’ll feel the full force of being Arteta’s get out of jail free card. If he comes in and does what he’s capable of, we’ll see that a top talent was slept on. If he fails because he’s demotivated, we’ll be no worse off that where we are with Lacazette.
Arteta needs to think about his entire squad next season. He overplayed his favored 11 when he should have been giving out minutes to other players. That has bitten him. His ruthless approach to Tavares has now cost him top 4. It’s really sad.
I do have questions of some of the coaches around Arteta. Why didn’t anyone push an inexperienced manager on squad rotation? Seems like a real basic that should have been addressed. It seems like Arteta is the only voice in the room and his mistakes need to be learned the hard way. I’m a big believer in experience. Don’t make mistakes you don’t need to make. Overplaying the same talent killed Tomiyasu, that was the warning sign, but everyone watched on.
I also feel like we’re not as smart as other clubs, still. Why was KT allowed to go to those Scotland friendlies? He’s injury prone. He was crucial to our success. But he flew out anyway and broke himself. Liverpool would have faked a hamstring and given him two weeks rest.
Heading into next season, Arteta needs to take lessons from all of these problems, because tanking a great season against Brighton and Palace wasn’t the magical ending we had hoped for.
What I will say in his defence is this: Not many clubs could deal with injured first choice right back, left back, and central midfielders missing. Not to mention having no goal threat from a striker. This is a unique set of circumstances we hopefully won’t have to deal with next season.
That’s no help for today. This moment is one of sadness. Spurs are riding the luck train, they’ve scored 12 goals from 15 shots on target, Kane and Son are injury free, and their ascent to top 4 is now inevitable.
Right, I’m off for a beer and a cry. See you in the bar. x
Oh the fucking irony, I am in good company with doom mongers now namely Pedro: “Arsenal are out of the race for top 4. Our season is over. Let’s not pretend it can be any other way.” How does that sit with you Dark Hei & Midwest, Pedro being a doom monger, no? Pedro, let me fix a few lines in your post: We have learned many things over these past two games. We have learned many things over these past two years plus, Arteta is a dismal manager. Arteta needs to think about his entire squad next season. Arteta… Read more »
Pedro your post is so wrong. Liverpool, title contenders, flogging us home, away and everywhere they meet us, still found a forward in January and he’s been pulling up trees. Totts, found not one but two good midfielders, in the same team we were chasing a player that doesn’t play. Btw Juve let Bentacur go because another player was available for pittance – Dennis Zakaria. Even the tiny Burnley sold wood and got an international with a better pedigree – Wieghost. Any among those players would have improved us. Wieghost especially offers size and bullying that we do not possess.… Read more »
Arteta is Crap..
Kilroy-TM I don’t want to speak for Pedro but as a passionate Arsenal fan he is entitled to an emotional reaction to today as the rest of us. Might be the case of sleeping on it tonight, looking at the league table again in the morning and seeing that, technically, too 4 is still in our hands. Yes, I know, we have a mountain to climb due to a tough fixture list, injuries and player confidence possibly ebbing away, but stranger things have happened. Basically we shouldn’t throw the towel in just yet? And I’m sorry but I just don’t… Read more »
Xhaka playing LB made no sense whatsover cost us any control in midfield Sambi had been given same role against Burnley at home Odegaard next to him iirc and it didn’t work like today. We were better 2nd half more balanced but the damage had been done. Rewind a few seasons and Xhaka at LB under Emery was a disaster as well having a torrid game at Palace and giving a pen away and got roasted in another game may of been Brighton at home? 4 mins for the VAR decision can’t bring myself to watch the highlights again but… Read more »
personally Ishola, I can’t stand the notion of us relying whatsoever on anybody leaving on a free come the summer to get this things back on the rails…I would rather we now start being a bit more pragmatic in our organizational approach, by first giving Pepe a shot more centrally, maybe paired with ESR or even Marts, and stop pretending that MA gives a flying fuck about having a Striker and/or target man on the pitch….what we need more than ever is more players in advanced positions, in and around the box, to simply increase the odds of us scoring… Read more »
I have been reading all week how Arteta was correct in his treatment of Tavares due to tavares supposedly having a stinker.. Today’s result and performance was a consequence of Arteta over reacting to what he believed was a poor first half from Tavares. I’ve watched the first half of the palace game again and it confirmed what i first thought, Tavares did not have a stinker , far from it, and Gabriel was at fault for all 3 goals . The consequence of Arteta’s poor handling of Tavares led to a very unbalanced side today as he tried to… Read more »
Hahaha we were the Top 4 fave right before Palace. A game later and we are out of the top 4 ?
I guess we won’t win it all. All hope isn’t lost
Not much made sense about today. But ultimately, we will lose out on the top 4 to a team with a strike partnership that has been going for 7 seasons, we have no strike partnership whatsoever. If this is a building project, there is a long way to go . A control freak , over complicating manager scared to rotate, relatively little money, young inexperienced players, injury prone senior players, refs hate them and spend 5mins to find a way to deny a goal for a player , who to all intents and purposes, was level. As was tweeted, City,… Read more »
Wasn’t it the narrative that we stuck with arteta because no other manager with winning pwdigree woukd come to us? Then spuds went and got Conte. Btw, Contes PPG in his half a season is equal to artetas PPG after 2.5 years.
Matt, I didn’t blame Arteta at all for the Palace loss. The players came back distracted and had lost the work ethic they had built up for months. Also, I don’t give up at the first sign of trouble or setback and I dislike doomers and haters. I didn’t want Xhaka at LB and was worried it might happen.. but I hoped still it wouldn’t be Artetas choice. All season I have felt free to criticize Arteta when he deserved it. In December some haters were complaining because I was on Artetas case about lack of rotation with Sambi and… Read more »
Laca shouldn’t start any more games for Arsenal. He is too slow to do anything worthwhile. He could be a Sub in the 80 mins when the opponent is already tired.
Spurs only got Conti because Utd didn’t want him .
He is not a long term solution to Spurs, nor would he have been to us
It is not the end of the world if we could at least play the EL matches. We definitely need to sign quality backup for striker, midfield and full backs. I prefer we win the Europa Cup than getting the ass kicked in CL games.Our team is not ready to compete in CL games.
Yeah VL I was thinking we may as well throw Pepe into the mixer in the run-in now for that extra attacking threat. Fully understand why Arteta doesn’t fancy him every week though throughout the season as his overall contribution can be shall we say a bit flaky. If Pepe has any personal playing pride you would think he would sit down with Arteta in the summer and ask him straight out whether he will be a first team player going into the new season or continue being this sideline player and if he doesn’t get the answer he wants… Read more »
Jeez, some links with Eden Hazard.! Must be a late April Fool, or the club being 10 years too late
Take heart and remain positive, all is not lost – 8th is still very much in play and with Arteta’s man management and decisive ability to freeze players out…Well heck, 8th is as good as ours!
Hey, at least we still have Man U we can all laugh at.
Biggest spenders in world football over the last decade looking at a two\three year time frame to become competitive again. If things go smoothly that is.
I’m still thoroughly convinced that the only way we achieve anything of substance with MA in charge is if we actually recruit players in the middle of the pitch and up top who are so talented that they can actually thrive in spite of the tactics being deployed,, which is quite an ask…otherwise, we need to cut the cord and seek out a viable alternative before our best young players have their respective heads turned and/or we lose out again on the best plausible managerial alternatives.
I don’t know about Hazard but Coutinho and Eriksen were both worth a shout. Didn’t get any traction on legrove for whatever reason, but a loan for either one was for me a no brainer.
Dont know whether to congratulate you Pedro for finally waking up or laugh at you for finally waking up??
Must be unsettling finally realizing that Arteta really is more a stubborn manager than he is an intelligent manager. Playing hand after hand with busted flushes eventually will catch up with you as it has with Arteta, it just does.
The donkeyfication of Laca has been completed today when Cedric pulled rank on the free kick from a spot Laca actually scored from a free kick in the past.
Since when is Cedric a free kick specialist anyways?
The worst free kick execution I’ve seen in a long while.
Must be such a feeling for Nuno to know your manager has absolutely no faith in you and you really don’t know why? You had to know that with a thin squad and Arteta’s penchant for icing out players who don’t meet his standards- not that many players left between now and week 38. I guess he could always play Laca at Left Back?
“Spurs are riding the luck train, ”
That about sums up your entire portfolio of street cred Pedro.
Why i keep coming back here to read this mindless drivel, well just plain shame on me for being this ridiculously dumb for thinking i might actually – ah forget it.
Know he had to go, and fully supported that, know he refused to change and was the author of his own misfortune, but did we really get rid of our greatest manager for some of the shite we have seen since?
Wenger had faults, they became increasingly multitude, but don’t think he would have ever given us such poor options up front.
I am not saying Wenger should have stayed, just, we should have done a bit better after he left, if not immediate, then certainly by now.
Pierre
“I’m not sure what a large percentage of le grove are complaining about as they foolishly agreed with Arteta’s treatment of Tavares , just like they agreed on Arteta’s treatment of Aubamayeng, his treatment o AMN , his treatment of Guendouzi , his treatment of Saliba and of course his treatment of Ozil.”
You were missed
Arteta is mainly responsible for whittling down his options to the barest minimum. He’s ostracized players that ought to be helping Arsenal right now.
Imagine what a Guendouzi/Torriera could have done for us today. They wont have cost us a penny more.
The goal was cancelled because Martinelli was deemed too be coming back from an offside position, not because he was offside when the header came in.
It was where he was coming from.
It has been revealed that after Tottenham’s 4-0 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday evening, they have now scored more Premier League goals under Conte, who was appointed as Spurs boss in November, than Arsenal have all season.
LET THAT SINK IN!
We do need like Viera lyn said, more players in attacking positions.
And we need Tavares back, ASAP
Swallow your pride Mike
Interesting, but That sounds like they contrived it Dissenter?
Was it clear and obvious if they took 5 mins to decide it? Perhaps one day we will see Salah , Mane or Kane denied a goal under such circumstances?
After playing one game a week all season our players over played?. No, they didn’t. The Spanish Chris Hughton is just not good manager, simple as, no matter how much the love for him blinded you.
Next season he will fix that?. He should have no next season. He should be out, the man is at best is an assistant coach. We’ve a legend like Paddy doing better,
Arsenal more important than Arteta and Pedro still not apologising for not listening to people that ACUTELY UNDERSTAND FOOTBALL.
For me it’s not the lineup that bothered me the most, it’s that that not only was nothing learned from the palace game (a game I let slide provided it was a one off) but that it appears absolutely nothing was said at half time In the first seconds of the second half, Ben white receives the ball and proceeds to *literally* walk around with the ball, occasionally stopping then carrying on for all of 10 or 15 seconds. None of his team mates made any attempt to move and make angles for passes and he showed less than zero… Read more »
MA devalues players and his player management is dismal at best. Feel really sorry for Tavares, Tets crushed that young man and if he will ever play for us again is doubtful. Millions spent to get a whipping boy for this counterfeit manager.
Time Up, a bad week but don’t forget “ The Spanish Chris Hughton “ has won silverware, so deserves some respect, unlike others , and the manager you mock him with
Welcome back China1 everything OK in your universe, you have been missed but back just in time for the fireworks.
“and of course his treatment of Ozil.”
Arsenal and now Fenerbache, eh Pierre? Misunderstood genius Ozil is, understood only by himself and you apparently.
The problem is the top 4 have wc managerz or guys who have won trophies.MA is a rookie although under the tutelage of a great,not good,manager.
His project requires patience ,a virtue unheard of in the epl.
When the gunners are hounded they are unable to play their normal game as was the case with Wenger.
Arsenal dont have plan b and can easily be defeated.
Until this changes,4th will be a pipe dream. for a long time
Ernest
I think you have to look past Pierre’s fixation with Ozil to see what’s saying
I do all the time Diss, Pierre and i have an understanding dating back a while. He pumps up Ozil and I bust his chops over it. Truth be told, Pierre writes a lot of good points, its his fixation with Ozil that detracts from his otherwise sound opinion.
Wise words Malaysian G, at the moment, a pipe dream. Wenger stayed too long, too many mistakes when he left and we have a novice manager finding his way, and making mistakes. Sadly we are not top four material, and may not be for some time. Money is clearly at least part of the problem. Our players , board and manager are massively inexperienced and this week it shows. There should have been a much better plan on wengers departure, and Arteta needs his wings clipped by a strong DoF figure before his innate stubbornness causes more problems and wasted… Read more »
The main problem is arteta, he’s not good enough at this level .why are you still defending him talking about what he’s got to do next season, tell the truth he’s a shit manager. He should be sacked when he wakes up today. Bring in Graham Potter a far better coach
Hey Killroy. All good thanks! Hope you’re good too
Many have asked about you including Tony. The banter here has been at times shall we say, heated and posters are split in two separate camps. Soon to be hopefully united behind new executives to replace the three novices.
I don’t really feel like Brighton hounded us tho. That’s why it is concerning Against palace we got out played and you hope it’s just a bad day at the office and a sharp telling off will be the end of it. As frustrating as it was I didn’t read anything into it or consider it a big deal. It happens. But yesterday the team looked frighteningly feckless in a game that should’ve been hammered home was a cup final for us (all our remaining games are). Nobody intentionally misplaced a pass or makes a mistake, skies a shot etc.… Read more »
What really worries me is this. Nuno Tavares was a better player when he joined us. After training under our coaching staff for a few months, he gets worse. What has our coaching team done????
How can players like disinterested when in front of them they have a choice between playing in the worlds most prestigious club competition or playing against teams like slavia Prague in the EL? Or worse yet some Irish team in the conference league? Or none at all if we finish as lowly as last time?
After working so hard this season to get into this position that the team could look disinterested is beyond me
China1
I can explain this to you. Arteta has been taken over by his galaxy brain again. He has introduced a new system. The players need time to learn about this new system.
is it the last 5 games of the season curse or something?
Happened with Emery too….right when we need the wins.
Spurs running up the scores every game knowing this could come down to goal difference…4th place
Pedro you may not see this but are you finally seeing Arteta is learning on the job and this is the consequence of having a rookie manager.
I’ve said all season let’s wait until the end of the season. Top 6 was the target. However seeing these rookie mistakes, finishing 8th twice. I don’t see Arteta being able to do better than 6th next season either. He can’t take us to the next level
Simple!
Rookie manager rookie mistakes
Please no more talk about Potter being the answer to our managerial problems, as his teams have struggled for goals for extended periods during his tenure; not to mention, his odd decisions late in matches, much like we witnessed today, look eerily similar to the usual Arteta late game model, which unnecessarily invites far too much pressure without a countering option baked into the equation if we’re truly serious about figuring out this Groundhog Day nightmare we can’t settle for what I would consider to be a slightly better than a sideways maneuver…we need someone who’s proven themselves to be… Read more »
No Europe, no cup run. Only the league to focus on, with all around us having extended European commitments.
Arteta should be doing better. He’s still making poor decisions and seemingly has failed to address the biggest problem of our loser mentality.
Perhaps he has one more window to address this, but the quality of what we can attract unfortunately now looks like limited as we aren’t going to be in the CL next year. At this rate we aren’t even a shoe in for top 6.
Fine margins, but that’s how all managers are judged.
We could sign Kane, Son, Salah, Mane, Benzema and all fo them will become single digit striker with Arteta at the helm.
None of this caliber dtrikers will sign for us, even Tammy Abraham and Vlahovic rejected us. Maybe we get an already 1 digit striker that will perform as bad a Laca and Nkethia.
Oh well, at least they’ve made a great script for the Amazon docu.
“After 2.5 seasons with Arteta, the best that can be said about him is that he brought in some very talented players this season. Not necessarily the ones we needed the most but we’ll get a lot of happiness out of this group eventually.” This sums Arteta up perfectly. The handbrake was back and the players felt uncomfortable playing with it slowing everything down, and so we got the result we deserved. Pretty sure we’ll see much more of the handbrake as Arteta falls further into mediocrity making the same mistakes that he’s becoming famous for and Wenger before him… Read more »
But Nelson no amount of new systems can’t justify players standing still for half the game, not moving into spaces to receive the ball, standing on the ball for seconds at a time and literally walking around with the ball. That shit is really concerning because it’s not system specific
“Oh well, at least they’ve made a great script for the Amazon docu.”
Something to keep the misery alive of this season especially if the culmination of the video is the new contract for Arteta.
Excellent analysis there Tony
China1 good to see you back. Hope life is good where you live.
1. Nketiah is quality, Diet Pep is holding him back.
2. It has taken 2 years + for Diet Pep fanboys to accept Partey is a crock.
3. This blogger asks, “”. Why didn’t anyone push an inexperienced manager on squad rotation?””
😂😂😂 they man has sorrounded himself with meek lambs, they lack longstuff just like Diet Pep.
Almost forgot,
4. Over to you Bob N69
Can anyone explain why Guendouzi is on loan, Willock was sold, AMN playing for Roma when we have Xhaka + Lokonga in MF?
To Arteta – If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must invent the universe first.
Hey China1, good to see back man.
i was really angy at tets when i saw the starting lineup. he really bottled it this time. It has been a pleasure and inspiration to watch arsenal this season after a loooong while but these last 2 games really hurt.
Smith rowe has been totally out of form and so has lacazette. yet they keep starting.
Saka is pretty much the only obvious option to a like for like switch for tierney.
yet tets would rather keep sitting pepe and nketiah on the bench and totally break down the midfield and defence just to keep his favorite strikers together…
What a shame , A back 3 with Holding White Gabriel , 2 wingbacks in Tavares and Cedric + Lokonga and Xhaka wouldve done the trick . Shame Arteta doesnt seem to have an alternate plan . Its the same thing with Pepe , manager says he is a different beast since AFCON and then proceeds to not play him at all .
Every single Arsenal supporter would have been very happy had Xhaka left last summer.
Problem is Arteta thought he knew better.
He doesn’t.
Guen was not wanted by Tets, he couldn’t handle the little shit as Guen was not taking any lip from him. There was no way that Tets EVER would put him on the team sheet again. The loan was with an obligation to buy for around 10 mill. We made chump change on that as Tets devalued him from 40 mill to 10 mill. He is in the senior France squad is spiky at OLM and gives the middle finger solute to Tets. There is a happy ending for one Arsenal player. Just wait until he is in his prime… Read more »
We are three goals (36)from equaling our goals conceded from last season (39)
Let that sink in!
Southampton now looks a dodgy game.
Makes you wonder why all the focus was on defensive acquisitions,, we still concede silly goals and we don’t score enough.
A draw is the most we get out of the Soton game
For all Arteta’s faults I’m praying, which for an atheist is not easy, Arteta will decide to go back to his winning ways or at least the more exciting football we produced where our lads rarely took more than 2 touches on the ball. That is harder to defend against than any handbrake mode. It instills fear for opponents as they have no time to think/react; only playing on their footballing instincts. Genuine skills come to the fore for those who possess such talent. Those players are few in the middle of the table down, but far more prevalent in… Read more »
Arsenal’s top four challenge is not over. That’s not to say I think the team will make it. I do not, but before the Crystal Palace game, Arsenal had their destiny in their own hands. Now, they do not. Arsenal also have a tough run in, with games against West Ham, Tottenham, Chelsea, and Manchester United. Earlier in the seaosn, when West Ham were riding high in 4th, I commented that they would not finish 4th because of their thin squad. Then Arteta went and turned his squad, which was admittedly bloated, into West Ham. A good, though not great… Read more »
Heard Pedro on the pod mentioning that Saliba will be back next season. That shows the sense of entitlement. Give me one very good reason why any young player will be willing to come to Arsenal after seeing the treatment of Guen, Saliba himself, Nuno, Pepe etc. Why would any young player jettison his career at the altar of Artetas man management skills. The older player are no different either Ozil, Auba, Willian, Holding etc are the long list of.players who have been at the receiving end of Artetas alleged man management skills. Saliba will not return and any agent… Read more »
Forget top 4.
We should be worrying about who can actually beat before the end of the season.
Can we beat Southampton?
Based on our last two performances, I’m not so sure.
“”Arteta needs to think about his entire squad next season. He overplayed his favored 11 when he should have been giving out minutes to other players. ”
Pedro. Wait! What?? He’s getting next season?! For real? To do what? Make worse mistakes than he has this season? Dude needs to leave this season. You can’t be “learning on the job” and then making worse mistakes in year 3 that you made in year 2!
These young players feel over burdened by the over training and tactical voices in their head when they want to make a move or two. That’s why we play shit. Even in the matches we were winning, I just found ways to celebrate the results cos we weren’t really playing well. We haven’t played like how CP player against us on more than 1 occasion this season but yet I have seen CP play against us and spurs like that. The only good game we legitimately had without handbrakes and full of invention was when Arteta was not standing by… Read more »
Arsenal need to seriously think about this. Pedro you see Arteta as our saviour, when it is clear to everyone that he just isn’t good enough. It’s embarrassing for me as a supporter that other fans put the good of the club ahead of one individual. We did it with Wenger and because of that we’ve paid a heavy price. Arteta will continue being Arteta because that’s in his DNA. Give him one more year……to do what exactly? The only thing in his favour is his command of the English language. Take that away from him and I think you’d… Read more »
This collapse was always going to happen, we had very favourable fixtures the last few months and managed to grind out some wins but it was never going to last. Now we have more tricky fixtures we are getting exposed because arteta has built a very average and disjointed squad. The lack of goals should be a sackable offence, what manager is at a club for 3 years and buys no striker despite spending hundreds of millions…
put an individual ahead of the good of the club.
What a depressing weekend.
2 defeats back to back.
This collapse of our run to top 4 looks identical to the one under emery.
Its depressing because we were given hope that this manager knows what he is doing , that he knows how to get back us to the top . Meanwhile he cant manage to get his squad up for the run in , when the pressure is on . Any manager worth his salt would be able to motivate the players .
China It wasn’t that we had no urgency. It was also the fact that white and Gabriel had no options to pass it to. It looked pedestrian because they were being snuffed out. All Brighton had to do was cover Sambi. I love ESR and Odegaard but they aren’t players who come deep to receive the ball and progress it. They aren’t CMs. They looked lost and they had no effect on the game. It was a tactical disaster that made it impossible for us to get out of our half. Our attackers barely got the ball. What made sense… Read more »
Arteta is fraud, but real culprit in all this is that smug faced cnut Josh Kroenke.
Arteta is a part of the problem. Like the players he is inexperienced and makes mistakes.
Sadly this collapse will completely alter our transfer strategy in the summer. We are unlikely to be able to attract the top players we need. How long he stays in the job might depend on how well the Spuds do. Once the Emirates goes he’s a dead man walking as Wenger found.
Where Arsenal had surplus, Arteta created scarcity. Where Arsenal had needs, Arteta created desperation, where Arsenal were fine, Arteta upgrades (or tried to).
Excellent points
Why I am annoyed so much at this isn’t the fact that he made a mistake. Mistakes are bound to happen. But you need to learn from them. Everytime we have a crucial game, and we have a couple of injuries, Arteta seems to go full galaxy brain and shoot ourselves in the foot. Whether it is ESR at false 9 vs Villareal or letting Sambi anchor the midfield on his own, it always comes to Arteta’s ridiculous decisions in crunch time. It is very upsetting.
Cheers guys much love Habesha yeah but the blame lay on all sides for us The players off the ball have zero movement. No one showed for the pass, no one wanted the ball. It was embarrassing. Our entire midfield was standing still, bolt upright facing towards their own goal. But on top of that it’s unacceptable to have the CBs literally taking 10 seconds walking around and stopping on the ball, wasting time in a game we are chasing. If there are no passes on because the movement sucks (that’s the case) pass it to whoever is in space… Read more »
The fact that for the final 10 mins our entire team played with urgency makes it even worse because if you know how to do it and didn’t that’s just a choice and laziness. Our players looking disappointed at the final whistle really irks me because where was the disappointment 20 mins into the match that we were so far off the pace? This was a late wenger performance. The whole team strolled through the match without a care in the world and for the last 10 mins put in some token energy so they could walk off the pitch… Read more »
Two pieces of inside the club info, and you can quote me on it: 1) The club’s no1 target this summer is to KEEP Saka. Yes, you’ve read that well. 2) Martinelli gets regular coaching tips via texts….from Klopp. In the words of my source: “He’s all over him” You see, this is how this Josh/Mikel experiment will eventually end, in utter disaster, turning us into a new Everton. Modern football doesn’t have 3-4-5 seasons to wait for a fake fucking messiah Arteta to learn football basic, despite the best efforts from deluded Pedro and other PR man the’ve so… Read more »
China The CBs don’t pass it fast enough because they are instructed not to lose the ball. But our CMs in that game that were anchored by Sambi were Odegaard and ESR. It is not in their game to show up deep to recieve the ball. They are young N 10s. I can’t blame them anymore than I can blame Giroud for lack of pace. Arteta should have known what they are good at at this time. He just thought Sambi was Rodri, ESR was Debruyne and Odegaard was B. Silva who are experienced enough to play in deeper areas… Read more »
Lokonga at some point decided his option was making runs with the ball.
He will be punished by Diet Pep for that.
You can take this to the bank!
Luck train or not, Conte is a pretty good and proven manager who has won league titles in recent years. He was always going to get top 4 over Mikel this season who is still learning his trade.
When Spuds were losing 3 in 5 or so, we knew there was another level in performance and tactics. With Arteta there’s nothing. We can’t do better than we have done this season with him in terms of tactics, performance or style (there’s no style apparently). If we don’t get top 4 this season,…we won’t get it next season.
Telling you for free
Individual stupidity. Perfect way to sum up yesterday’s team selection!
He is going to lose the dressing room very quickly, blaming the players when he and his novice mistakes are the real problem……. and all the players know it!!!
VIERA!!!!!!!!
He comes from The Senegal
He belongs at The Arsenal!!!
When Spuds were losing 3 in 5 or so, we knew there was another level in performance and tactics re Conte. We all know how good a manager he is. We basically just hoped he won’t click.
Post explanation
SidApril 10, 2022 08:04:25
Lokonga at some point decided his option was making runs with the ball.
He will be punished by Diet Pep for that.You can take this to the bank!
partey and white also make similar runs from the same position in matches.
this has to be an instruction from diet pep because it is performed by multiple players every time they get into that grid position and do not get straight fronted by a defender.
so you are wrong basically.
Pedro ridiculing Conte really looks like a smart thing to do in hindsight.
Habesha I disagree. I don’t expect ode esr and lokonga to beast CM. As you said it’s not their game (it is in lokongas case but he’s young and never even plays) But not moving to make yourself available for a pass doesn’t require tactical smarts and genius, it’s schoolboy stuff. They didn’t show for the ball because they didn’t fancy it. Re the CBs being instructed not to lose the ball, then just pass to each other and the full backs and whoever in defense is not currently on the ball should be shouting at the CMs to move.… Read more »