"Yeah, I disagree how we had a bad performance last night as so many seem to say.
Some say the season is done.
Some want Arteta's head."
I don't want Arteta's head. I'm not a cannibal.
I just want him to start donning the head [brain] of a top manager...again.
It took him 10 minutes to make a substitution after Rice was set off against Brighton. There was gaping hole in out midfielder that the Brighton expointed with simple passes down the middle, one of which led to the equalizing goal.
He was shambolic with his starting team selection away at Bournemouth, then he folded with his post red card adjustments
He was shambolic against Newcastle. His team didn't compete at all. It was Newcastle's easiest home game of the season.
There's no point debating this player or that player. It is Arteta that needs to sort himself out.
Arteta will pick someone who allows him a lot of free reign on player acquisitions. IF this goalkeeper news is legit, I can only see the club hiring someone to get Mike his players.
This is a disaster. He has slowly gained so much power over the years that I hope we are not seeing another Wenger part 2. Old weng did have a lot that Mike doesnt though. Experience. Still, Im not feeling good about this
Anyone watching the Gala v Spurs games.... See the movement of Victor Osimehn and how early the balls are played towards him, he'll miss a few but he'll give you goals. That kinda movement we miss a lot
The manager deserves serious criticism for the following reasons:
- It's nearly a month since we last won a league game.
- If we lose at Stamford Bridge on the weekend the league is done. City lost 3 games all last season. We will have lost 3 before Christmas.
- He's running our star players players into the ground (Saka, Rice, Odegaard) and they are on the verge of physical breakdown and burn out. Declan is playing with a broken toe ffs.
- He can't a tune out of two Brazilian internationals (Martinelli, Jesus), and Trossard is bad body language FC.
- His endless defensive signings are injury prone (Calafiori, Tomiyasu, Timber, Zinchencko)
- He refuses to sign a striker, despite selling Auba 3 years ago. He thinks he's too good for an Ollie Watkins or even an Ivan Toney.
- He hasn't won a trophy outside of a FA Cup won during peak Covid.
"The first task for Arsenal’s football leadership team, in conjunction with the Kroenkes, will be to identify what sort of sporting director they want to replace Edu. Do they want an executive, or someone with a technical background?
Arteta will play a role in those discussions, which is surprising to some: conventionally, the sporting director sits above the manager in a club’s hierarchy. Arsenal, though, consider the roles to operate on the same level. The relationship between manager and sporting director is of critical importance. Edu and Arteta had great professional chemistry, and Arsenal will seek the latter’s input to find a similarly positive working relationship. They are not going to be hiring a boss for Arteta, but a partner."
~snip~
"Edu flew back to Europe ahead of Arsenal’s main travelling party from their summer U.S. tour and was a guest at Marinakis’ birthday party. When the Olympiacos owner held a celebratory meal before they played in (and won) last season’s Europa Conference League final, Edu was one of the invitees — as was their mutual friend, agent Kia Joorabchian.
Forest have been without a chief executive since Dane Murphy left almost two years ago.
Marinakis has been looking for someone with a wider remit — a CEO figure with football credentials, an international reputation and business acumen — to lead his growing network. For Edu, that kind of role has long held an appeal. Before he was a sporting director, he was a businessman: his first enterprise at the end of his playing career was a flooring company in Brazil.
Edu is settled in London, and his international role should allow him to still be based there. The new position may offer other lifestyle benefits: less direct involvement in day-to-day minutiae, more remote supervision and delegatory responsibility. He can also expect a significant pay rise. Typically, sporting directors earn considerably less than their manager counterparts. The scale of Edu’s new job will see his salary brought into line with the sums earned by top Premier League managers/head coaches."
~snip~
"In his proposed role with Mariankis’ group, Edu would take a role where he is likely to have regular, direct contact with the owner. He would possess greater authority."
----------------
The leadership hierarchy at Arsenal is linear, it seems, in organizational terms-- sounding almost democratic. Edu, according to this piece, wants more autonomy-- which was not on offer at Arsenal. Receiving a significant bump in salary, while having a personal and direct relationship with the owner.
Best of-- to Edu. Except when we compete head-to-head.
"Ayto began at Arsenal as a video analyst and worked his way up to become Edu’s right-hand man. Last year, a reshaping of the recruitment team led to Ayto being named assistant sporting director, with James Ellis becoming head of recruitment'
..."Arteta will play a role in those discussions, which is surprising to some: conventionally, the sporting director sits above the manager in a club’s hierarchy. Arsenal, though, consider the roles to operate on the same level. The relationship between manager and sporting director is of critical importance. Edu and Arteta had great professional chemistry, and Arsenal will seek the latter’s input to find a similarly positive working relationship. They are not going to be hiring a boss for Arteta, but a partner"
And by that, with Jason Ayto having been groomed to handle some of Edu's responsibilities this past year-- and reading elsewhere that Richard Garlick will assume others?
It seems possible that the talent search may be many months in the decision making-- with Arsenal designed to absorb just this sort of shock. The only aspect off-kilter is it being a chaotic org like Forrest. Not as if the leadership team were unaware of Edu and Marinakis' relationship.
Inside Edu's Arsenal exit - The Athletic James McNicholas and David Ornstein
"Having grown frustrated with some of the limitations of his role at Arsenal, Edu is expected to have more signatory powers at Forest — in part due to his close relationship with the owner. Those who know him believe he is seeking more autonomy. At Arsenal, there is now considerable oversight and due process on all matters related to transfers. Having to seek board approval on transfer activity can mean, however, that certain deals become protracted. Edu agreed a move for Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori, but the Arsenal board were only prepared to sanction it if a major sale balanced the books. In the end, the club only pushed ahead on Calafiori in July when Real Madrid emerged as a potential rival bidder.
Edu and Arteta have always enjoyed an excellent personal relationship but, in recent windows, members of Arsenal’s coaching staff have exerted an increasing influence over first-team recruitment. That came to a head late this summer, when the club found themselves embroiled in a convoluted deal for Joan Garcia, a goalkeeper at Espanyol in Spain’s La Liga. In the final 48 hours of the window, an exasperated Edu had to extricate Arsenal from that negotiation and pivot to signing Bournemouth’s Neto on loan."
Many of us knew that stupid bid came from Arteta and his goalkeeping coach. No sporting director would have done that shite. Same way no sporting director would have kept buying left footed central defenders to play left back.
There were definitely encroachments from the manager and his staff into the sporting director's space.
I saw that, we now learning what kind of chaos happens when you leave novice manager in charge of purchasing even tho Kroenkes hired Edu to fill that role.
"Before Arsenal flew to Milan for their match against Inter last night, there was time for an emotional goodbye at the training ground. On his final day as the club’s first sporting director, players and staff gathered to bid farewell to Edu ... Arsenal were aware of Edu’s ambition to work in a role with true international scope and had held discussions regarding his future in the weeks preceding the news of his departure — but there was always a hope he would stay."
Throwing 46 crosses at an Inter team that has kept 9 clean sheets in their last 11 home champions league games isn't playing well, it's being out of ideas.
If Mikel thought he would beat Inter by just throwing crosses after crosses, he doesn't know what he's doing.
Inzaghi doesn't even rate us. 5 of their starting 11 players were on the bench. Probably more concerned about Napoli.
Mikel wouldn't even bench 3 of our starting 11 against Southampton.
How did City equalize against us? A corner into 17 rebounds. After a full half against an Arsenal team of 10 for 55 minutes. The best team in the world ran out of ideas. Against 10 players?
Inter scored from a penalty out of thin air. Then defended for their life and got lucky that none of our chances went in.
Some think going away to top teams is a piece of cake. City were pummeled by Sporting ffs. They are also sitting on 7 pts in 4 games. The best team in the world.
Lol. Did Merino touch the ball or not? The way you're saying it, I'm almost thinking Merino's hand touched the ball in Inter's box 18 and not Arsenal's.
Inter defended for their lives but they managed to get a free kick close to our box that led to the penalty.
We could have played that game for another 30 minutes and Arsenal would not score.
Inter defended well. Defence is part of the game.
Arsenal dominated the game but didn't even score 1 goal. How does that sound?
FYI, Arsenal has not scored in our past 4 away Champions league games. So, yesterday wasn't a one off.
Yeah, I disagree how we had a bad performance last night as so many seem to say.
Some say the season is done.
Some want Arteta's head.
I'm not having any of that.
Criticize the performance against Newcastle all you want. When we play bad, say all you want. All fair and square. But not last night's. It's a disservice to the effort the boys put in (imo).
City needed us to be a man down to equalize in the 98th minute. With 17 rebounds. At the Etihad.
It's tough attacking a defensively solid team. Inter are a top team. At home. 11 v 11.
We had a dominant performance and we came back to London with nothing to show for it. We dominated them in every stat invented but we couldn't put the ball in the net and they did after a penalty out of thin air. It's football. But fans should be able to see that their team tried and gave everything. Else, we're just fair weather fans.
In defence and in midfield we were superb in both games. In attack as well but when you don't score goals obviously something happened..
Just last night's we had:
Timber not ready for a full game.
White just back and out of rhythm.
Odegaard basically still injured.
Calafiori injured.
Rice injured.
Tomiyasu injured.
Tierney injured.
Now we've got Havertz with blood pouring from a head wound.
Red cards left, right and center in previous weeks.
Against a top club in form.
And we still dominated the game. Convincingly.
We lost and I'm so frustrated because we deserved more. We wanted to win, we tried our hardest and it didn't work out in the end. But we need to keep our calm and know that it was just one of those days in a bad fkin month. When it rains, it pours. The boys gave their absolute all. It wasn't enough. What can we do but try again next time and hope our effort is rewarded.
I think if you going to write about how brilliant we were after a loss, you should also mention that Milan were playing their B team last night and rested their important players.
Ode and Rice were missing, that's it, and we have good cover for basmati so we were only missing Ode really while Inter purposely rested half their regular starting xi.
Our starting xi was nearer to our best than Milan were.
Also, I think it means something that Inzaghi was correct in believing he could rest half his preferred starting xi and still feel comfortable playing against us.
Calafiori is in our ideal lineup, wasn't available.
Our bench was bare-bones.
Their players were available on the bench and actually played over 30 minutes. Thuram, Barella, Dimarco, a 35 yo Mkhitaryan. They played and you couldn't say they did cause they didn't touch the ball in our half of the pitch.
It's a goals game. You can do everything right but at the end of the day, if you don't score a goal, it's a doomed game.
Inter got a literal gift with that pen out of nowhere, so unfortunate. Their best chance of the game came in the 2nd minute. Similar chance to Havertz's shot in the 2nd half when their keeper saved it - https://dubz.co/c/51e169 .
But we had 2 clear chances from Saliba's free header that he mistimed and Havertz' shot towards the goal that was saved by a last ditch tackle. We also had a few half chances and a clearance of the goal line.
Again, Inter managed to score without creating anything but that one half chance in the 2nd minute. It was all Arsenal for about 80+ minutes. I think they managed to go past the halfway line once in the 2nd half. We were dominant, we just needed luck in front of goal. But it's a results game and I get that.
I just wish the fans could see how a game like last night's could happen and support the club in a tough moment after an exemplary performance all things considered including us missing big players and being low on confidence. We had a great performance but we lost. We move on to Sunday with the hope that luck will not be against us like it was last night.
XG doesn't always tell the full story. While we may say their only attempt on target was the penalty, Dumfries shot that hit the bar was better than any of our attempt even though it didn't count as 'on target'.
Inter matched us in the first half despite having important players on the bench.
And they probably had their mind on the Napoli game on Sunday. They needed a win and they got it.
It's also dishonest to say our bad performance in front of goal is just bad luck. We only had one strategy: put in a cross or take a set piece.
Apart from player problems, I think our attacking system this season has been poor (even before Odegaard got injured).
And Arteta needs to man up and drop Trossard or move him to left wing on Sunday. He is been in poor form and he is drowning in midfield. We need to play Nwaneri if we have to or Odegaard if he is fit.
Merino needs to be on the bench too, if Rice is fit. He isn't playing particularly well at the minute.
If we do those things, I think we can beat Chelsea who are very porous at the back.
Trossard is not a left winger. He can't run, cross or dribble. Also why are we letting him take corners, he can't even beat the first man, just like he couldn't when he tried to last season. He is only an impact sub sometimes, he should never start. Prefer Martinelli any day. One day, Arteta might realise he cannot play as Odegaard's deputy, constantly giving Nwaneri 8-10 minutes at the end of games is mindless. Also, giving Jesus minutes up front and moving Havertz back does not work, but of course, Arteta knows best. Lose on Sunday and the season's over. As for the CL, our away form these two seasons is P7 W1 D2 L4 GF4 GA7. Somebody tell me what our away tactics are? Play for a draw, last night excepted where the 1-0 deficit forced the manager's hand and we then had 46 crosses to no-one in particular.
raptora
"Yeah, I disagree how we had a bad performance last night as so many seem to say.
Some say the season is done.
Some want Arteta's head."
I don't want Arteta's head. I'm not a cannibal.
I just want him to start donning the head [brain] of a top manager...again.
It took him 10 minutes to make a substitution after Rice was set off against Brighton. There was gaping hole in out midfielder that the Brighton expointed with simple passes down the middle, one of which led to the equalizing goal.
He was shambolic with his starting team selection away at Bournemouth, then he folded with his post red card adjustments
He was shambolic against Newcastle. His team didn't compete at all. It was Newcastle's easiest home game of the season.
There's no point debating this player or that player. It is Arteta that needs to sort himself out.
I agree. Far too slow with substitions
Arteta will pick someone who allows him a lot of free reign on player acquisitions. IF this goalkeeper news is legit, I can only see the club hiring someone to get Mike his players.
This is a disaster. He has slowly gained so much power over the years that I hope we are not seeing another Wenger part 2. Old weng did have a lot that Mike doesnt though. Experience. Still, Im not feeling good about this
This is where it is all wrong.
Why should Arteta be picking the DoF?
As you say. This reeks of a Wenger like power grab.
The problem is, Arteta has 0 credits in the bank having won nothing bar an FA Cup.
As you say, if they let him have too much power, this may become problematic.
We are going to hire a Gazidis like person for this role, a yes man to Arteta.
Anyone watching the Gala v Spurs games.... See the movement of Victor Osimehn and how early the balls are played towards him, he'll miss a few but he'll give you goals. That kinda movement we miss a lot
The manager deserves serious criticism for the following reasons:
- It's nearly a month since we last won a league game.
- If we lose at Stamford Bridge on the weekend the league is done. City lost 3 games all last season. We will have lost 3 before Christmas.
- He's running our star players players into the ground (Saka, Rice, Odegaard) and they are on the verge of physical breakdown and burn out. Declan is playing with a broken toe ffs.
- He can't a tune out of two Brazilian internationals (Martinelli, Jesus), and Trossard is bad body language FC.
- His endless defensive signings are injury prone (Calafiori, Tomiyasu, Timber, Zinchencko)
- He refuses to sign a striker, despite selling Auba 3 years ago. He thinks he's too good for an Ollie Watkins or even an Ivan Toney.
- He hasn't won a trophy outside of a FA Cup won during peak Covid.
Per The Athletic piece linked below by jwl--
"The first task for Arsenal’s football leadership team, in conjunction with the Kroenkes, will be to identify what sort of sporting director they want to replace Edu. Do they want an executive, or someone with a technical background?
Arteta will play a role in those discussions, which is surprising to some: conventionally, the sporting director sits above the manager in a club’s hierarchy. Arsenal, though, consider the roles to operate on the same level. The relationship between manager and sporting director is of critical importance. Edu and Arteta had great professional chemistry, and Arsenal will seek the latter’s input to find a similarly positive working relationship. They are not going to be hiring a boss for Arteta, but a partner."
~snip~
"Edu flew back to Europe ahead of Arsenal’s main travelling party from their summer U.S. tour and was a guest at Marinakis’ birthday party. When the Olympiacos owner held a celebratory meal before they played in (and won) last season’s Europa Conference League final, Edu was one of the invitees — as was their mutual friend, agent Kia Joorabchian.
Forest have been without a chief executive since Dane Murphy left almost two years ago.
Marinakis has been looking for someone with a wider remit — a CEO figure with football credentials, an international reputation and business acumen — to lead his growing network. For Edu, that kind of role has long held an appeal. Before he was a sporting director, he was a businessman: his first enterprise at the end of his playing career was a flooring company in Brazil.
Edu is settled in London, and his international role should allow him to still be based there. The new position may offer other lifestyle benefits: less direct involvement in day-to-day minutiae, more remote supervision and delegatory responsibility. He can also expect a significant pay rise. Typically, sporting directors earn considerably less than their manager counterparts. The scale of Edu’s new job will see his salary brought into line with the sums earned by top Premier League managers/head coaches."
~snip~
"In his proposed role with Mariankis’ group, Edu would take a role where he is likely to have regular, direct contact with the owner. He would possess greater authority."
----------------
The leadership hierarchy at Arsenal is linear, it seems, in organizational terms-- sounding almost democratic. Edu, according to this piece, wants more autonomy-- which was not on offer at Arsenal. Receiving a significant bump in salary, while having a personal and direct relationship with the owner.
Best of-- to Edu. Except when we compete head-to-head.
Culled from the Atheltic
"Ayto began at Arsenal as a video analyst and worked his way up to become Edu’s right-hand man. Last year, a reshaping of the recruitment team led to Ayto being named assistant sporting director, with James Ellis becoming head of recruitment'
..."Arteta will play a role in those discussions, which is surprising to some: conventionally, the sporting director sits above the manager in a club’s hierarchy. Arsenal, though, consider the roles to operate on the same level. The relationship between manager and sporting director is of critical importance. Edu and Arteta had great professional chemistry, and Arsenal will seek the latter’s input to find a similarly positive working relationship. They are not going to be hiring a boss for Arteta, but a partner"
See the pattern of the quiet take over.
Arsenal will seek Arteta's 'input"
The club want a "partner' for Arteta, not a boss.
drip, drip, drip
I read that as-- Ayto being Edu's right-hand, not Arteta's.
stand corrected, duly changed
And by that, with Jason Ayto having been groomed to handle some of Edu's responsibilities this past year-- and reading elsewhere that Richard Garlick will assume others?
It seems possible that the talent search may be many months in the decision making-- with Arsenal designed to absorb just this sort of shock. The only aspect off-kilter is it being a chaotic org like Forrest. Not as if the leadership team were unaware of Edu and Marinakis' relationship.
We are still an AKB club even tho that failed massively, you'd hope Kroenkes would have noticed but apparently not.
Inside Edu's Arsenal exit - The Athletic James McNicholas and David Ornstein
"Having grown frustrated with some of the limitations of his role at Arsenal, Edu is expected to have more signatory powers at Forest — in part due to his close relationship with the owner. Those who know him believe he is seeking more autonomy. At Arsenal, there is now considerable oversight and due process on all matters related to transfers. Having to seek board approval on transfer activity can mean, however, that certain deals become protracted. Edu agreed a move for Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori, but the Arsenal board were only prepared to sanction it if a major sale balanced the books. In the end, the club only pushed ahead on Calafiori in July when Real Madrid emerged as a potential rival bidder.
Edu and Arteta have always enjoyed an excellent personal relationship but, in recent windows, members of Arsenal’s coaching staff have exerted an increasing influence over first-team recruitment. That came to a head late this summer, when the club found themselves embroiled in a convoluted deal for Joan Garcia, a goalkeeper at Espanyol in Spain’s La Liga. In the final 48 hours of the window, an exasperated Edu had to extricate Arsenal from that negotiation and pivot to signing Bournemouth’s Neto on loan."
Many of us knew that stupid bid came from Arteta and his goalkeeping coach. No sporting director would have done that shite. Same way no sporting director would have kept buying left footed central defenders to play left back.
There were definitely encroachments from the manager and his staff into the sporting director's space.
Who will check Arteta now?
Great minds think alike, Dissenter.
Negotiations were started with Espanyol, not by the sporting director but by the Arteta wing
It was Edu that "extricated" Arsenal from the side negotiations
I saw that, we now learning what kind of chaos happens when you leave novice manager in charge of purchasing even tho Kroenkes hired Edu to fill that role.
Mike thinks he is Wenger. The all powerful Wenger Arsenal allowed to run havoc
The Athletic - Inside Edu Departure
"Before Arsenal flew to Milan for their match against Inter last night, there was time for an emotional goodbye at the training ground. On his final day as the club’s first sporting director, players and staff gathered to bid farewell to Edu ... Arsenal were aware of Edu’s ambition to work in a role with true international scope and had held discussions regarding his future in the weeks preceding the news of his departure — but there was always a hope he would stay."
https://archive.ph/Qw9S0
Throwing 46 crosses at an Inter team that has kept 9 clean sheets in their last 11 home champions league games isn't playing well, it's being out of ideas.
If Mikel thought he would beat Inter by just throwing crosses after crosses, he doesn't know what he's doing.
Inzaghi doesn't even rate us. 5 of their starting 11 players were on the bench. Probably more concerned about Napoli.
Mikel wouldn't even bench 3 of our starting 11 against Southampton.
How did City equalize against us? A corner into 17 rebounds. After a full half against an Arsenal team of 10 for 55 minutes. The best team in the world ran out of ideas. Against 10 players?
Inter scored from a penalty out of thin air. Then defended for their life and got lucky that none of our chances went in.
Some think going away to top teams is a piece of cake. City were pummeled by Sporting ffs. They are also sitting on 7 pts in 4 games. The best team in the world.
'Inter scored from a penalty out of thin air.'
Lol. Did Merino touch the ball or not? The way you're saying it, I'm almost thinking Merino's hand touched the ball in Inter's box 18 and not Arsenal's.
Inter defended for their lives but they managed to get a free kick close to our box that led to the penalty.
We could have played that game for another 30 minutes and Arsenal would not score.
Inter defended well. Defence is part of the game.
Arsenal dominated the game but didn't even score 1 goal. How does that sound?
FYI, Arsenal has not scored in our past 4 away Champions league games. So, yesterday wasn't a one off.
Sporting xG 2.87 Man City xG 2.23
Sporting shots 9 Man City shots 20.
Pummelled, yeah? Or is xG only cool when talking about how Arsenal should’ve got something from a game?
I haven't watched the game. I know there were a few penalties and it could have been a different result. I was going off on the result mostly.
Pep subbed in Stone who is 6 '2"
Arteta subs in Jesus who is 5' 9"
Comprende mucho?
'How will Arsenal handle sporting director Edu's shock exit?'
James Olley | ESPN UK
https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/42246160/how-arsenal-handle-sporting-director-edu-shock-exit
Good piece with some depth.
Raptora about to tear a spleen trying to convince anyone else that we played brilliantly yesterday
Lmao. Comical TBH
Yeah, I disagree how we had a bad performance last night as so many seem to say.
Some say the season is done.
Some want Arteta's head.
I'm not having any of that.
Criticize the performance against Newcastle all you want. When we play bad, say all you want. All fair and square. But not last night's. It's a disservice to the effort the boys put in (imo).
City needed us to be a man down to equalize in the 98th minute. With 17 rebounds. At the Etihad.
It's tough attacking a defensively solid team. Inter are a top team. At home. 11 v 11.
We had a dominant performance and we came back to London with nothing to show for it. We dominated them in every stat invented but we couldn't put the ball in the net and they did after a penalty out of thin air. It's football. But fans should be able to see that their team tried and gave everything. Else, we're just fair weather fans.
Yea sure we tried but we lost, nothing really to see there asides that
He's going propaganda in it's crudest form.
PSG had 0.27 xG against us.
Inter had 0.40 xG minus the penalty.
In defence and in midfield we were superb in both games. In attack as well but when you don't score goals obviously something happened..
Just last night's we had:
Timber not ready for a full game.
White just back and out of rhythm.
Odegaard basically still injured.
Calafiori injured.
Rice injured.
Tomiyasu injured.
Tierney injured.
Now we've got Havertz with blood pouring from a head wound.
Red cards left, right and center in previous weeks.
Against a top club in form.
And we still dominated the game. Convincingly.
We lost and I'm so frustrated because we deserved more. We wanted to win, we tried our hardest and it didn't work out in the end. But we need to keep our calm and know that it was just one of those days in a bad fkin month. When it rains, it pours. The boys gave their absolute all. It wasn't enough. What can we do but try again next time and hope our effort is rewarded.
I think if you going to write about how brilliant we were after a loss, you should also mention that Milan were playing their B team last night and rested their important players.
And you think this was our best team?
Close to it, yes.
Ode and Rice were missing, that's it, and we have good cover for basmati so we were only missing Ode really while Inter purposely rested half their regular starting xi.
Our starting xi was nearer to our best than Milan were.
Also, I think it means something that Inzaghi was correct in believing he could rest half his preferred starting xi and still feel comfortable playing against us.
Rice is rated at €120m.
Ode at €110m.
Calafiori is in our ideal lineup, wasn't available.
Our bench was bare-bones.
Their players were available on the bench and actually played over 30 minutes. Thuram, Barella, Dimarco, a 35 yo Mkhitaryan. They played and you couldn't say they did cause they didn't touch the ball in our half of the pitch.
Who is Calafiori replacing in our ideal eleven?
XG score from open play in the premier league this season (source: xgscore.io)
Newcastle 0.63 - 0.58 Arsenal
Arsenal 0.5 - 0.73 Liverpool
Bournemouth 0.78 - 0.64 Arsenal
Arsenal 1.89 - 0.51 Southampton
Arsenal 3.67 - 0.32 Leicester
Man City 1.76 - 0.24 Arsenal
Spurs 0.77 - 0.44 Arsenal
Arsenal 1.94 - 1.55 Brighton
Aston Villa 1.17 - 1.09 Arsenal
Arsenal 1.11 - 0.48 Wolves
Key points for me
Arsenal got superior XG open play in 4 out of 10 games.
Arsenal had inferior XG open play in all 5 away games.
We've had a few games where Raya was man of the match this season. That showed the opponents actually troubled our goal.
Their keeper wasn't even one of the contenders for player of the match.
I didn't see any save by their keeper that most keepers in the Champions league wouldn't make.
Nobody here last night was talking about the crazy saves their keeper made.
All I'm saying is, we can't say our attack was so good when their keeper wasn't even troubled.
It's a goals game. You can do everything right but at the end of the day, if you don't score a goal, it's a doomed game.
Inter got a literal gift with that pen out of nowhere, so unfortunate. Their best chance of the game came in the 2nd minute. Similar chance to Havertz's shot in the 2nd half when their keeper saved it - https://dubz.co/c/51e169 .
But we had 2 clear chances from Saliba's free header that he mistimed and Havertz' shot towards the goal that was saved by a last ditch tackle. We also had a few half chances and a clearance of the goal line.
Again, Inter managed to score without creating anything but that one half chance in the 2nd minute. It was all Arsenal for about 80+ minutes. I think they managed to go past the halfway line once in the 2nd half. We were dominant, we just needed luck in front of goal. But it's a results game and I get that.
I just wish the fans could see how a game like last night's could happen and support the club in a tough moment after an exemplary performance all things considered including us missing big players and being low on confidence. We had a great performance but we lost. We move on to Sunday with the hope that luck will not be against us like it was last night.
Their keeper is 1.83 M tall, like Ospina
Let that sink in
2.3XG from 20 attempts = 0.115XG per attempt.
XG doesn't always tell the full story. While we may say their only attempt on target was the penalty, Dumfries shot that hit the bar was better than any of our attempt even though it didn't count as 'on target'.
Inter matched us in the first half despite having important players on the bench.
And they probably had their mind on the Napoli game on Sunday. They needed a win and they got it.
It's also dishonest to say our bad performance in front of goal is just bad luck. We only had one strategy: put in a cross or take a set piece.
Apart from player problems, I think our attacking system this season has been poor (even before Odegaard got injured).
And Arteta needs to man up and drop Trossard or move him to left wing on Sunday. He is been in poor form and he is drowning in midfield. We need to play Nwaneri if we have to or Odegaard if he is fit.
Merino needs to be on the bench too, if Rice is fit. He isn't playing particularly well at the minute.
If we do those things, I think we can beat Chelsea who are very porous at the back.
Trossard is not a left winger. He can't run, cross or dribble. Also why are we letting him take corners, he can't even beat the first man, just like he couldn't when he tried to last season. He is only an impact sub sometimes, he should never start. Prefer Martinelli any day. One day, Arteta might realise he cannot play as Odegaard's deputy, constantly giving Nwaneri 8-10 minutes at the end of games is mindless. Also, giving Jesus minutes up front and moving Havertz back does not work, but of course, Arteta knows best. Lose on Sunday and the season's over. As for the CL, our away form these two seasons is P7 W1 D2 L4 GF4 GA7. Somebody tell me what our away tactics are? Play for a draw, last night excepted where the 1-0 deficit forced the manager's hand and we then had 46 crosses to no-one in particular.