Arsenal lost Bernd Leno to injury, and lost to Brighton thanks to an injury time winner from the bloke who played a significant part in that injury. Neal Maupay’s unnecessary shove on the German saw him land awkwardly and stretchered off late in the first period with what is feared to be a knee ligament problem.
However, although the Gunners went ahead via Nicolas Pepe in the 68th minute, they conceded twice – first to Lewis Dunk, and then in stoppage time to leave the south coast with nothing to show for their efforts.
In truth, it was a disjointed Gunners performance, and although there were some moments of danger, we never had control over the game.
It’s back to the drawing board as a matter of urgency for Mikel Arteta.
Read the Brighton 2-1 Arsenal report and see the goals here
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Ratings
The ratings are now hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Bernd Leno. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Actually, Guendouzi seems very immature. Mouthing off all game but MIA in crucial plays. I think his explosion at the end was a result of Maupay suggesting he eat his words more than anger at Leno’s injury. The whole team – coach and management included – seem to have completely lost the plot. Honestly, the season looks lost at this point.
We Arsenal fans need to stop trading in passion merchandise. When we were good we had passionate players, yes, but they were, fundamentally and more importantly, great players. I mean, Vieira got loads of red cards but rightfully, that’s not what he’s remembered for. With Guendouzi types, all I see are shades of [the second coming of] Flamini: all passion, no point.
To be fair, Flamini had a lot of pointing in him.
Guendouzi is immature, he’s 19 or something isn’t he? I don’t mind him being pissed off at all… He’s just not ready to be a top4 midfielder.. That’s not his fault
No, his immaturity understandable. My point was that we (& I include myself here) have been expecting more from him (especially in high-pressure situations) than he is capable of delivering.
On an entirely different point: Martin Atkinson is a crappy referee! How the hell did Bissouma end that game without a single card?!
Easy answer. That’s because Bissouma doesn’t play for Arsenal
I honestly am starting to believe he never will be a top 4 midfielder, I just dont see what he brings to the team?
Good at being weak enough to get free kicks, I dunno what else.
On a good day, he is average. On most days, he is below in all aspects of top flight football. His only redeeming quality is he runs, which is a bare minimum requirement to play the game. Passing – well below average Shooting – non existent Positional Awareness – poor (who is this DeBruyne guy you want me to cover) Heading – well below average Emotional Maturity – poor His signature move of flop, flail and beg for a booking is annoying to watch. He belongs in the Championship at this point. In the 34th minute, he… Read more »
overstating the point. Passing – good. Ability to shield ball when passed it near to our goal (taking a foul if need be) – good. The rest you are correct. The main problem, given his position is his positional acuity. Promising young player who could benefit being 1st sub in midfield, and playing with & learning from someone we do not appear to have.
Thanks for the reply Moses. Agree to disagree on his passing. He rarely looks to pass forward and when he does, it is almost always intercepted or too hard to control. I don’t see him growing beyond what he is now.
He’s 21. Still very young of course but look at what
Other Arsenal midfielders at that age were producing. Ramsey, Wilshere, Diaby, Cesc, even Song.
At what point does it stop being immaturity and start being a fundamental part of their character/football profile?
Immaturity is one thing – and it is an excusable reality. His sense of entitlement and arrogance is an entirely different matter. And that is the real issue with him.
Spot on and well said.
Guendouzi have no right to starting on Arsenal! He cannot make a pass without running with the ball. He gets a ball and instead of playing a forward pass to release an attacking player he carry the ball into trouble. Emery’s start player and our “star”. Coquiline to me was more effective although less skilled/talented. A player not suppose to be doing an internship in Arsenal’s midfield!
Guendouzi doesn’t use his brain.Also he is not physically strong nor is very fast… Though he could still develop into a good player…..But he need to play at a good team on loan to gain experience.He also need to improve his physicality…..
0/10 David Luiz
If the man had any decency whatsoever he would have insisted on fully taking the blame for this defeat as well! In fact if for some truly bizarre reason his contract is extended this should be his only role for the club; waiting in the dressing room and then coming out after the match to apologise.
This squad is so far away from genuinely competing for the top 4 let alone titles that it’s time to just admit reality and focus on youth. Sell laca/ Auba & look for young players with high potential in midfield in particular. Martinelli/Pepe/Nelson/Eddie/Saka look like they have potential to be our front line. Move on from Luiz immediately – don’t bother extending even for a few weeks given where we are. Seriously think about just paying Ozil off to end that circus. He contributes so little these days (works hard but no end product) and every time he’s out of… Read more »
Ozil = 25 created chances under MA. Only one was a goal. Even MA said he’s been unlucky with his stats, before the board told him to freeze him out of the team to convince him to leave. Time to get back to focusing on other players than Özil, others who truly are the problems.
He’s creating virtually no big chances which effectively means the chances he’s creating are very low quality/ low expected conversion rate. Ozil is washed up at this point. Cut him loose and move to a modern midfield
The board told Arteta to freeze him out? While we’re throwing baseless conspiracy theories out there, I reckon King’s Landing was an inside job! Gunnersaurus and Yoshi are also the same guy, you never see them in the same place do you???
A round of applause to you…… good, hilarious, Sir
I really admire your defense for Ozil but let’s be honest, second manager in a row is questioning him and even Wenger benched him. Is he responsible for our last two losses, No, but being senior and most paid player, he offers nothing outstanding. I think it will be better for both parties to part ways. He can still get good contract outside PL and get regular game time and Arsenal will get some money to spend on new players.
Just two problems with that sentiment:
Maybe we should offer to pay a percentage of his wages to whoever is interested in him.
He’d get his full salary for then remainder of the contract. We’d end the circus and free up the remainder of this salary for other purposes.
Not great to be paying money for nothing, but then again that’s pretty much what we’re doing with him now.
Third manager in a row actually, you forgot Freddie who benched him after a couple of games.
Consistently, the Ozil is shit argument misses out on one key detail. Just how shit are we without him.
He is still, by far, our best creative force. And the gap to the rest, creatively, is comically huge.
It’s obvious that he has become very limited and just won’t fit in if you want to pressure from the front. But our problem today was creating chances against a team sitting deep.
Arteta, and our fanbase, need to accept that Ceballos, Guendouzi, Willock are all very good athletes but have very little creative ability.
He’s the only pure number 10 in the squad so almost by definition he will be the most creative player in the squad. The more relevant question is if we’re better off playing a modern system or still trying to force the formation around him. The evidence is pretty overwhelming at this point that it’s not worth building a team around him anymore as his contribution is so minimal
LOL Ozil not even on the field but still you’re making this about him. FFS ease up on your agenda just a bit, pal
Great comment.
And is it just coincidence that Arsenals drastic slide in form coincides with Ozil not playing? Is it not obvious …?
Theres naught happening in our midfield. And yet Ozil sits.
And the numpties on here blame him for a dip in club form when hes NOT playing.
The worlds gone mad.
They create few chances with him, they create virtually no chances without him. It’s not like Guen, Ceballos and Willock wrap themselves in glory on a game by game basis. Xhaka and Torreria are more defensive in nature. Our few chances seem to run through Sako and the lad can’t play winger, midfield and fullback at the same time! Guen – belongs in the Championship Ceballos – I wouldn’t bother to buy and use the funds to take care of Sako Willock – I think there is a player to be liked in there, but the game seems bigger… Read more »
I see your point about our talented players, but they need to play with experienced players, winners. We had plenty talent with Wenger’s project youth, but not enough experience. So been there done that, doesn’t work.
I agree ! Maybe I would keep Auba knowing that with just one year contract left, we will get nothing from his sale. But he could be a leader and a mentor for our young forwards who needs
someone with experience.
You wish to keep Auba but does Auba have any interest to stay after Brighton’s calamity?
Don’t you get it? Even the youth aside Saka and Martinelli are overrated, not good enough
Could Arsenal be the only club in the PL demanding and getting a pay cut, has had an effect on players’ mentality?
They’ve played like this the whole season. There’s just been more positivity bc we like Arteta
Earning 90000 instead of 100000 doesn’t make a difference on their match mentality (except if you’re ashley cole), the problem IS mentality, but different aspects
Why on Earth is the 2nd goal Mustafi’s fault? Martinez should have stood on the line. Maupay was not dangerous from that angle.
All goals are Mustafi’s fault lol
Apparently. I am not even blaming Martinez because those little things are the difference between a good goalkeeper and a great goalkeeper. In a split of a second Martinez made a wrong choice and went for the ball. From that angle a striker isn’t dangeorus because Mustafi was just behind the player to cover him.
Maybe he went for it for that exact reason, mustafi was there haha na seriously I don’t think martinez is great or ever will be unfortunately
Rubbish.
Mustafi let him waltz right past. Thats piss poor defending from mustafi the switch-off-artist. Again.
Blaming the keeper for a smart finish is mistaken.
Leno makes so many save because he is exceptional. Period.
And it should make everyone hope Leno isnt hurt. Because hes been valiantly covering fora crap defense fo a long time.
Arteta has done nothing to improve the team.
But – again! – both Mustafi and Martinez were left exposed by our tissue-paper midfield… specifically Guendouzi.
Mustafi is who he is but my question is……Is Holding really as good as some here make him out to be? I hear that he is steady….steady as in steadily poor? I still think Chambers who is not rated here is a better defender than Holding…..Its not a coincidence that Emery/ljungberg/Arteta preferred the calamity trio over him. I understand that when trapped in a dark tunnel, we tend to grab for anything resembling light but I don’t think Holding is that light.
And what about Guendouzi at the beginning of that move out of their half down our right: he stands rooted in no-mans land, no attempt to close down their early movement and no effort to block the ball into the box which sets up the nod-down to Maupay. Hugely ineffectual… again.
I agree, no fault of Mustafi’s there. It was excellent play by them and yes, Martinez should have stayed up and made himself big but can’t really castigate him for that. As I said during the week, that goal comes from the midfield/ poor attitude in general. Guendouzi MIA as usual, Bellerin jogging back despite there being clear danger. Abysmal.
Today’s Cunt of the Match Award shared between Maupay for the foul and Martin Atkinson for pretending it was OK.
And then carding Laca for a challenge on the keeper but not Maupay.
Any chance blogs of voting for the referee in future?
I’d use the Kolasinac comment for Guendouzi. We’ll do well to cash in on him before his hype dies down.
I’d love to see you say that too his face, you can even take a knife with you!
First of all… what the fuck? If you think any of that sounds remotely normal you should re-evaluate your life. Second of all I’m 6’3 and 200lbs, and even if I was flyweight frankly there’s feral raccoons more intimidating than Guendouzi. And lastly, I’m not one of those people who’d go after him to give him my two cents. I don’t like him as a player at Arsenal, to be honest I don’t like much of his personality so much as you can perceive it without knowing a person, but I’ve no interest in being nasty to him… Read more »
Firstly apologies if I offended. Reading my comment back it does not read in the lighthearted manner it was intended. My reaction to the disappointment of the shit show we had to witness is to make bad jokes… To clarify I was referring to Kolasinac and the time he took on the knife wielding carjackers at the start of the season. But I realise reading it back it sounds not unlike I’m telling you to go and cut up a baby faced, 20 year old, out of his depth French kid! I’m around the same size as you… Read more »
reading it back it sounds not unlike I’m telling you to go and cut up a baby faced, 20 year old, out of his depth French kid! Haha! I mean that’s almost literally what it said … I’m glad it’s just a terrible, as in horrendously bad (like I can’t emphasize enough just how bad), joke. “Say that to his face and bring a weapon”…thems fighting words you big goof! Well, no harm done mate, maybe save for a bit of egg on both our faces (your godawful joke and my “evaluate your life little man” response as… Read more »
Guendouzi may go elsewhere and do well enough to become a star within two years.It seems good players start becoming bad the moment they come to arsenal.It’s too frequent to be a coincidence.These players are scouted and signed from clubs where they were doing well and considered good enough for Arsenal.Something is fundamentally wrong with training and attitude to performance by whoever are concerned.
We blamed Emery for changing his squad every week, for not being able to identify his best 11. The only person starting every week now is Auba. Agreed we have a lot of shit players, but can we not find our best 11. I also do realise rotation is necessary now, but this was the case before lockdown as well. Leaving Martinelli seems like Arteta just doesn’t prefer him, and why does he not prefer the youngest player in the team who’s the second best scorer of the season is just is a question only he can answer. The criticism… Read more »
That’s it. No one including Arteta (or Emery) knows who our best 11 are. And they can’t stay fit long enough for a run of games, even if we did know who they were.
The only hope is the younger players. Saka, Smith Rowe when he comes back, Martinelli – certainly – Matt Smith, Holding and a few others. Equally, we desperately need to cull the deadwood who are just hanging around drawing a wage and going through the motions.
That was the case under Wenger. And it still is, two years on.
Freddie was consistent with his selections and the results were the same. The sad reality is we maybe don’t have a good enough squad to have a proper first 11, i.e. we don’t have enough players that can play a single system consistently well enough to justify being in the team week in week out. Instead you’ll always be able to make a case for one player over another, or one formation over another, because individually and collectively they’re not good enough to take a spot and really make it theirs.
Guendouzi. Bellerin.
Let’s keep in perspective we’re without most of our senior CB’s, we lost Xhaka to injury, Torreira is out with injury, and we’re in a schedule that is the equivalent of 3 holiday schedules back to back with players that haven’t played in 100 days. Rotation is a must, and we’ve had a lacking squad even before injuries.
Personally I think he had written off City and was hoping this would go better. The injuries at City shot that plan in the foot.
Generous evaluation
Xhaxa and Torreira may be are best midfield pairing but they weren’t exactly great either. We simply are not good enough. Teams in the bottom half of the league have several players better than we do. We once had a top 10 player IN THE WORLD in every position.
Whatever be Xhaka’s weaknesses,he is the best midfielder Arsenal has got…After that Torreira, Ceballos, Guendouzi and lastly Willock.We should sign atleast two great midfielders to get our team to top 4 level….Willock has no future and Guendouzi needs to go on loan and prove himself to stay in contention.Ceballos has to leave as we need quality Midfielders…
I don’t know what the hell to make of that game. As against Man City, we played some nice triangles when moving the ball forwards, actually creating some good chances this time, and the defenders are a lot less jittery passing out from the back than they were at the start of Arteta’s reign. In the 85th minute I was thinking we were mainly going to regret Lacazette’s rustiness and Atkinson’s perennial incompetence as the reason we didn’t get the 2nd goal and 3 points. But then we Arsenal it up, again. I want to say something about how… Read more »
Admittedly we were without two injured, probably starting midfielders today, but this display made me feel like midfield needs to be prioritized over defense, actually, with whatever the hell Kroenke is willing to spend this summer. At least we already have Saliba coming in (though of course I’d like it if he could partner with someone new and better than what we already have to help make his transition easier).
I just know people will turn on Arteta faster than they did Emery. And I don’t mind one bit. I don’t mind if we miss out on Europe too. In fact I want us to. The club must sink like it has never sunk before to get Kroenke out. We’ll rebuild it from its ashes when he has fucked off forever.
Pass to the keeper, then to the full back, then to the center back, to the keeper, to the full back, repeat…… Fuck this shit
I narrow it down to one thing. We literally have no midfield. We have a top 4 forward line, relagation side defence and midfield.
Suarez last season, Ceballos this season, next season I reckon we’ll pay Odengards wages for Madrid. He’s technical, slow and lightweight.Surely we should start looking to the Championship instead of trying and failing with ill fitting foreign imports, such as those mentioned, Douzi, Pepe etc etc
80% of the prem and 60% of the championship is foreign this isn’t about nationality lol
Not nationality but the league they are usto playing in. They just cant hack the physical
I meant foreign based as opposed to nationality, ie players who have had no experience playing in Britain. They tend to work as either a luxury, or when they are exceptionally good. We currently can’t afford the exceptionally good and the 350k a week luxury we have on the bench can’t get a game. Therefore in our current predicament I think a few of the better Championship players, experienced pros, would be a lot better than the “foreign” options we have been trying.
I guess you were complaining when Pepe scored?
It was a cracking goal and he occasionally has scored cracking goals this season. In our current position I’d rather have a tenacious Mark Noble or Jorghino type leader/battler. Or a solid seasoned no nonsense centre back. Pepe would have been fantastic for our squad 5/10/15 years ago. At the moment he is an overpriced indulgence we could have invested more sensibly else where.
It was a good goal.. What else did he do. My problem is other teams with less funds have better players in general. Look at what Traore is doing at wolves for example. They have well and truly taken our lace as a top 6 side. Our true rivals are Palace Watford Newcastle and Everton and you know what they have better cms and wide players than we do.
This. This comment exactly.
How can Edu not see this? Hes a football man.
Raul is not even a man – hes a walking corruption case in a toobig suit.
Pretty much. They have me crying out for Alex fucking Song which says it all.
Gutted for Leno ???
As for the rest of the game…. Saka is a baller nothing else
Same old same old. Our defenders do seem to enjoy slowing the play down and moving it backwards far too often. Needed a goal and they were still doing the chuckle brothers ‘to me, to you’ amongst themselves.
There will be a lot of talk about Martinelli and maybe even Ozil but our real issues are actually in midfield and at the back. No pressure on the ball, ponderous in possession, no one breaking forward apart from Saka. I’ve been a fan of Ceballos in general but that was his worst performance for the club, his head might already be back in Spain. Guendouzi we don’t need to talk about, it’s simply too much too soon for him. That our best central midfielder today was actually an 18 year old winger says it all. Defence, what can you… Read more »
Ceballos is not what we need. Just another good footballer that doesn’t do anything really impactful. All our centre mids are a different variation of the same player. What do any of them really do or even specialise in except recycling the ball in squares and going nowhere. How many goals and assists have are cms got combined this season.
for some reason or another all criticism of arteta seems to be meeting strong disapproval, early in his tenure or not. But unlike the man city game where the blame fell squarely on a blithering brazilian, it must be said (and the first time ive believed this) that Arteta takes the heat for this loss. Sure mustafi ‘mustafied’ it for the second goal and etc etc…but that squad is 100% good enough to be dispatching of brighton. arteta is GUN-SHY and real sloth-like with his substitutions. I took a look at the table before the game and SHOMEHOW, a win… Read more »
Their winner was more Holding’s fault than Mustaffi’s.. I’m not saying Holding did much wrong either but there’s no way Mustaffi can do anything about it. You claim to be a CB blogs? :p
Any stats for number of back passing.. We seem to have an urge to go back always rather than forward
“ It was a very good thing, but we need more than that.”
How about the other 2 that has 9 shots combined, maybe try one in goal then? Lacazette was one of the most clinical strikers in the world when we bought him, Aubameyang had 7 shots!! Two atleast high danger chances, a 30 goal scorer. Both incredibly wasteful today. We can’t defend you have to score one more atleast.
You’re right, he was up there, it’s easy to forget how much we’ve broken Laca!
That is what is happening. Many Good/Excellent players becoming progressively poor at Arsenal.Something fundamentally wrong.
dare we finish in the bottom half of the table ….
We are awful
Was hoping the break would be good for us to regroup and get our ideas together. But we seem worse. No real shape or plan or cohesion. No idea why Martinelli gets no minutes. Not sure what Arteta is seeing at the moment.
Hes a poser. Arteta. Whats he doing, he doesnt seem to know.
I wonder if what he’s seeing is some players that didn’t keep their fitness during the lay-off, and there is some punishment being meted out to send a message about professionalism. These lineups and ponderousness were not the way our momentum was going pre-COVID stoppage.
Guendouzi had been largely benched, Toreirra and Xhaka were getting more stable behind Ozil, and Pepe and Martinelli were emerging with Auba as the main strike force. Laca was being given spare moments to rediscover form but was also benched. I thought Arteta was slowly dialing it in. I have no idea what happened.
Thank you. One of the few comments that isn’t rewriting history. We had a good thing going pre lockdown in the 4231 (apart from a few poor games where I believe we played 433.) It was based around Luiz Mustafi, and Xhaka passing from deep, Torreira protecting the defence, Ozil bringing the ball forward and Pepe, Laca, Auba decent up top with support from Saka at LB. This switch to a 433 and losing Luiz, Ozil and Xhaka is actually disastrous it’s a totally different set up and removes all our fluency. If you lose your key players and change… Read more »
Well that was a sack of shit. Putting aside all the caveats – rusty due to lay off, injuries etc I feel we were a top team we would be able to accommodate this. There’s so much else I could say but I just can’t be arsed. Apart from Guendozi should have chinned Maupay – bit of rough justice and and the useless fucker would then be suspended. He needs a haircut – the David Luiz locks have leaked incompetence into his very core.
Big question for me is, what is fucking going on. Martinelli……no sign……….Luiz instead of Holding v City……. As well as in house issues, there is the Elephant in the room, getting no protection from the officials ( recent examples Leno today , Sanchez shoved into a tv pit, Holding shoved while in the air…..Debuchy, same)……..I’m not sure why our lads don’t take the law into their own hands……….there was no protection for the wonderful Leno today from officials. Time to lash out at blokes who perpetrate cowardly challenges……go down to 10 men for once……make a statement, “ we will protect… Read more »
Im no fan of shithousery. Its a great to seriously injure a man.
But back in the day, Vieira wouldve knocked that shithead dupiay (whateverthefuckhisname) to the floor, stomped on this face and taken the red. And then that shit starts happening less to outr players.
Its a damn shamble.
Shows how weak are players are mentally and physically. Bunch of pussies. All of a sudden they wanted to get angry at the end of the game because they lost and had their pants pulled down by seasiders. Where was that energy when Leno got initially injured.
Remember when we were the ‘dirtiest’ team in the league. We played the most beautiful football but had real characters and real men who could handle themselves. Perfect example being Bergkamp. The smoothest and classiest operator we have had but the man could be a nasty bastard as well. Back then we never set out to injure players but they made sure other teams knew not to try and kick us and outfight us off the park. Too many fairy players and youngstas worried about how slick there hair looks.
Ah… the days when the Arse – as a team – would front up and get docked league points, rather than let the Manure scumbags of that particular generation dictate terms.
If you have to lose the match, at least win the battle….
How are you giving auba a better rating than Pepe ffs the bias against pepe and guendozi on this website is crazy.
Its not agains them, its for Auba. I noticed blogs loves Auba no matter how shit he plays.
The first goal is criminal. This is the coaching to use only one player to block 2 other players. Not bringing on Martinelli and bring another poor ball player in the person of Nketiah is also criminal. Having Auba and Eddie on the pitch is wasteful as they can’t bring other players In play. I don’t think Eddie will be a top player. Ceballos is useless. Guendouzi was our best player, available, cutting opponents attacks and recycling the ball properly despite not being in is best position. Saka is unbelievable, the kid can play anywhere, sign da thing! Holding was… Read more »
A great deal of overreaction on this website today. I thought we were the better team this afternoon but didn’t take our chances. Then our perennial problems with defending emerged again and cost us the game. We haven’t had a top-quality back four for at least a decade and nobody seems to want to do anything about it. The “Arteta out” calls are ridiculous: he is a young manager who needs time. We brought potential when we signed him. It’s ok if he makes mistakes provided that he learns from them. And he needs at least three transfer windows to… Read more »
I take your point about Arteta, but do you genuinely see any improvement over Emery in either performance or results? It’s fine to give people time if you can see what the plan is, and see them moving in the right direction.
Your right. But Brighton haven’t won a game since……Oh when they played us last.
Agree and I’m surprised people are talking about Martinelli so much when Aubameyang and Lacazette both had enough chances to win the game. The problems were in centre midfield and defence where were lacked urgency on and off the ball.
@arseblog can you let us know what you think we should do? This is a club heading straight for one place next season in my view. Not the big R, but certainly the bottom half. If Newcastle are taken over, funds make the difference. How did we get here? I’m gonna take everyone back tonight, September 2015. We’re playing Manchester United at home, nervous day. Alexis, Ozil and Walcott up top though. We ripped them apart. Remember better days
Cazorla and Coquelin in the midfield that day, plus Ozil and Ramsey (I’m assuming one was playing out wide). What a difference between that group and today’s. We know what Santi brought, such a maestro who could make things happen progressively in midfield. Ozil at his top level for us. Ramsey always looking to push the attack forward. And Coquelin, when surrounded by that group was almost a perfect fit, despite his flaws–full of energy and guts and the kind of intensity that a team like today’s could seriously use.
Our midfield is worse than our defence. No goals No protection No control No physical presence. Someone explain to me what any of them do.
These bunch of players have me crying out for Song Ramsey and WIlshere let alone Santi Fabregas Vieira and Gilberto. There are several teams like Sheffield utd, Palace, Wolves, Watford who have better centre mids and wide players. Were no longer a top 6 side.
Interesting point about those other teams. And I’d argue that’s why it’s been so hard to beat them this year, no matter who’s the head coach/manager. If you can’t boss the midfield, you’re not going to be able to control play and you’re going to have a hard time generating a lot of goal-scoring opportunities, no matter how much talent you have up front (hence the bad shot totals and high-danger chances this year).
Our midfield is woeful. It’s bad when a manager has to game plan ways for the midfielders to NOT touch the ball. 2 passes by the opposition and they are 30 yards up field and attacking our defense on a regular basis.
Whats scary is that we were already considered a fragile inconsistent side then.
On the bright side Saka is looking like a genuine superstar in the making, he is electric and so composed with good vision, such good workrate also. If he don’t sign soon we need to organize a little mob visit for our friend Raul…an ultimatum if you will.
…. ah well. On to the next one.
We are finished.
Why do I persist watching this club? I love Arsenal, and I want to watch the matches, but it’s just not the same club I grew up watching, and it puts a real damper on my day. If I’m being truly honest, I lied to myself thinking I missed watching Arsenal play. I didn’t and I’m done. With so much disappointment in this world, I don’t need 11+ millionaires compounding that feeling further. Let me know when a rich oil oligarch buys the club out of vanity and maybe then we’ll have a chance.
Cheer up…if you look past the current state, I think there is plenty of things to be positive about. The thing that makes us frustrated is our high expectations being unrealistic due to the fact that the quality of players we recruit have slowly slipt down over the years. Now though, for the first time in ages it feels like we have some genuine talent again, both from within and through the market, but this process is only beginig, and it will take some time for Arteta to rise the standart of the club and hold incoming players to that… Read more »
Can’t believe the bonus rating wasn’t -1000000/10 for Martin Atkinson, who continues to challenge Mike Dean for worst referee. At this point, as soon as Arteta sees one of those two is on for the match, he needs to think Arsenal are starting the game down to ten men and behind 3-0.
Off topic blogs but you ever gonna sort out the scroll action on the player ratings for iOS? Surely I can’t be the only one to have difficulties with it ??
We have what we have on hand because we did not sufficiently reinforce when given opportunity in January. We needed to be in market putting on table a real offer for Emre Can now on loan at Dortmund at very least. Instead we fuss in areas we did not need to. I’m not going to be too harsh on the players bc this malaise is more than just them. 1) Leno – A worrying loss. How we prepare for restart fitness -wise is beyond me. We seem to have porcelain ankles. 2) Bellerin – Seems untidy… Read more »
Our midfield in is the root of our downfall. I do not want to talk about Ceballos because he will not be here next season. Then again, why start him? On the other hand, Matteo Guendouzi is simply a crap player and does not deserve to be in the team. There is no protection given by him to the defenders and there is no ammunition given to the attackers. When defending, he backtracked nearer to our own goal and when attacking he was too slow and holding the ball at his feet, passing sideways or backward. How this boy played… Read more »
Simple question: if McLare or Kean had gone in on Seaman like Maupay, what do we think Keown, Adams & Co would’ve done for the remaining minutes? Therein lies a major issue. For all his talent, Guendouzi seems to have a toxic mix of arrogance and immaturity that is becoming increasingly problematic. ZERO tackles over 90 mins, but more than a little gesticulating and histrionics. Watch their final goal – he is standing in no man’s land in the build-up down our right. Watches them advancing but doesn’t even take a step forward to close the space early and then… Read more »
Ceballos was absolutely awful, broke up every single counter by cutting back. Guendouzi at least drove us forward. Giving him the same rating has DC is nonsense
This ‘team’ is just pure dogshit. We need to stoop expecting results because we are no better than the Brighton’s of this world. The people that have assembled this squad on the wage budget available need their P45’s handed to them. There’s probably 4 or 5 players I. The whole squad who are actually at the level required to play for arsenal, truly pathetic.
Now I love technically good football and playing the game the right way as much as the next Arsenal fan but if someone had done that to our keeper on a Sunday morning we’d have let the lad know it wasn’t on soon after. I’m not talking Keane Harland stuff or even headless chicken “passion” just take it in turns to do a number on the lad and share the bookings. Dead legs, studs on toes, one in the nuts. If you’re not going to shut them up by rinsing them with skill and technique, lose the game but win… Read more »
To put things into perspective – if that had been RUGBY FFS, it would have been a penalisable offence and possibly even a 10min sin bin, if deemed dangerous.
Playing a big fella in the air, when momentum is involved, is cynical and bloody dangerous. Even the 15-man game knows that.
Let’s just accept the fact that until the dross is offloaded and new signings made, we will continue to be an average mid table side no matter who the coach is.
If Emery was responsible for this, the pitchforks and torches would be out. Arteta needs to take a look in the mirror and remind himself what he’s doing here. Not selecting the best XI, playing players out of position and inexplicable substitutions – he’s looking like a real amateur, which, let’s not forget, is exactly what he is.
We’ve had a problem in midfield ever since the Cazorla injury. Not having Ramsey, Rosicky, Chambo, Wilshere anymore and Ozil declining just exposes it more. We actually have plenty of fire power just no control in the middle of the park. Before we had we were always short a decent striker with plenty of midfielders. We could actually really do with Arteta right now to steady the midfield.
Haven’t you noticed Ozil has to drop deep and bring the Ball forward because Xhaka and Torreira both sit back deep. They have to because they both can only do one aspect of a DMs job and our defense is poor. But this has the knock on effect of causing Ozil to get pre assists instead of assists. Of course then braying mob don’t appreciate that and just talk about assists. When Ceballos came in in the 2 Ozil scored and assisted. The problem is against better opposition we will be exposed without Torreira