Result: Everton 2-1 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 19 December 2020
Venue: Goodison Park
Arsenal: Leno, Holding, Luiz, Tierney, Maitland-Niles, Saka, Ceballos, Elneny, Willian, Pepe, Nketiah
Subs: Runarsson, Bellerin, Cedric, Mustati, Kolasinac, Willock, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Lacazette
Rob Holding’s own goal and a header by Yerry Mina piled pressure on Mikel Arteta as Everton beat Arsenal 2-1 at Goodison Park.
While Nicolas Pepe did hit the net from a penalty, the Gunners produced another toothless display that turns the volume up on the alarm bells that are already ringing at the Emirates.
Pre-game
Mikel Arteta was forced to shuffle his pack with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang picking up a calf strain that meant he stayed in London. Interestingly, he opted to keep Alex Lacazette on the bench which meant Eddie Nketiah led the line with Willian and Pepe working the flanks. In the absence of the Gabon international, Rob Holding took the captain’s armband for the first time. He was partnered in the centre of defence by David Luiz who replaced the suspended Gabriel. Otherwise, it was the same side that started against Southampton. The bench – now made up of nine players – included Hector Bellerin, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe.
First half
This was not exactly a rip-roaring, all-action affair from the get-go. It took until the 15-minute mark for either side to attempt an effort on goal; Keane unleashing from 30-yards. It flew past Leno’s right-hand post.
Another seven minutes of tentative sparring passed before the home side mounted another attack of note. Of course, they scored. A cross from the right by ex-Guner Iwobi was met by Calvert-Lewin whose header flicked off Holding and bounced past a helpless Leno.
The initial effort was definitely going wide, so it was ridiculously harsh on us. When your luck’s not in, blah, blah, blah. If there was a criticism it was that we didn’t put enough pressure on Everton in the build-up with Davies given all the time in the world to play in Iwobi. (0-1)
The Gunners battled back into things and should have equalised three minutes later but Nketiah made a hash of his shot after Tierney found him free in the box. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long for our equaliser.
On 33 minutes, Maitland-Niles attempted a cross that was cleared back into his path and as he collected the loose ball, Davies, who clearly hadn’t seen our right-back’s dart into the box, cleared him out with a clumsy hack. Referee Andre Marriner had no qualms about pointing to the spot.
Saka tried to persuade Ainsley he should take the spot-kick but by the time he was on his feet, Pepe had put the ball down. The Ivorian sent Pickford the wrong way. (1-1)
We really should have seen out the half and regrouped in the dressing room but this Arsenal side seem incapable of making life easy for themselves. Just before the break, Leno made a flying save to deny Calbert-Lewin only for Yerry Mina to head home at the near post from the resulting corner. (1-2)
Second half
Given our awful run of form, it really felt like a do or die moment for Arteta’s players. We came out determined and nearly equalised on 53 minutes when Luiz, pouncing on a loose ball after a Pickford fumble, bounced a shot against the post. Close, but no cigar.
We continued to pen in the Toffees but the closest we came to an equaliser was an ambitious free-kick by Saka that went well over.
Buoyed by energetic runs down the left flank by Godfrey and Richarlison, the 2,000 home fans in the Gwladys Street stand found their voice. Arteta reacted by sending on Willock for Elneny and Martinelli – his first game time since March – for Pepe.
We upped the tempo again briefly only for Willian to kill off any momentum with a shot from the edge of the box that was lashed over so wildly you couldn’t help but laugh. Somehow the Brazilian stayed on the pitch.
A deflected shot by Iwobi and a Willock header represented half chances for both sides inside the final 10 minutes. The home side didn’t seem overly fussed about trying to extend their lead, they knew we were so toothless that they could afford to let us have the ball.
We continued to huff and puff all the way through seven minutes of additional time. Pickford got down low to cut out a Saka cross and Lacazette, on as a sub, attempted a tame header. You sensed we could have played for another five days without scoring.
A few weeks ago, we were joking about surviving the drop. Right now, you wouldn’t bet against us being relegated.
We have been cursed since the club backed Raul over Mislintat. Our shady “black book” dealings with agents has resulted in shocking recruitment that lacks vision. Edu has to go, and needs to be replaced with a modern setup (statisticians, a cutting edge technical director) all aligned with a common vision of cutting-edge football, which is currently gurgenpress. The head coach would then be recruited based on alignment to that style – and if they were to lack competency, it wouldn’t set us back multiple seasons, as our recruitment would already based around a clear style of play, meaning that… Read more »
We need an experience DOF , ralf.ragnick, luis campos , overmars are all there for Edu’s spot. Tough to discard an ex gunner from his position but between him and the coach, i would replace Edu.
100%
I’d sack Edu and Vinai, the bloke who thought it a good idea to can Jerry Quy and made one of the incompetent PR decisions in recent sporting memory.
Oh, so it’s now Edu’s fault. I see 🙄. Our constant blaming of everyone and anyone is getting old and honestly not helpful. We should find a new way to deal with defeats other than looking for who to blame.
I get it, these are hard and frustrating times for Arsenal and arsenal fans, but this too shall pass. We need to come together and give the boys our support, they need it now more than ever. Victoria Concordia crescit. COYG.
Totally agree on Edu, a director of football should understand that we are lacking creatively centrally and helped prioritise the signings.
Instead we signed a winger who could not adapt to playing centrally and overloaded the squad without sending out players on loan.
Putting ozil, Socratis and one of the other defenders on loan would have helped save money for future transfers and put them in the shop window
We actually just need a CAM. Don’t lose your hair.
No, we have been cursed since we forced Wenger from the club in the most publicly humiliating way. That is the point in time that splits a previous sustained level with this new low. Prior to that it was the decision to starve the club of investment and be “self-sustaining” as we moved to the new stadium.
One thing is certain – this Willian signing is simply the most catastrophic signing in recent Arsenal history. He has offered literally nothing and it’s incredible he lasted 90 minutes today. 200k a week, Arsenal have been well and truly robbed
Willian is poo….whoever got him to the club needs to be shown the exit.
Head above the parapet time. This Willian scapegoating is a bit much. He wasn’t much worse than Pepe or Nketiah or Ceballos or Elneny in the first half, and he was much better in the second. The Pepe recruitment irks me a lot more, at least he was a free.
£72m for Pepe. Biggest waste of money ever except perhaps that Kepa keeper at Chelsea.
While we paid significantly over the odds for Pepe, the Willian deal could plausibly be worse given that his market value will depreciate to the vicinity of zero by the last year of his contract, given his age profile. Pepe on the other hand will still be in his prime years for a cash rich club to take a punt on, based upon his fleeting flashes of brilliance. At least it can be argued that Pepe had the right profile of player we should have been coveting. Awarding Willian a multi-year contract on bumper wages at the expense of giving… Read more »
Wrong.
Willian was fuxking atrocious.
Pepe was okay.
Ceballos again just okay.
Elneny barely okay.
Stop it. Ceballos was rubbish enough with this Ceballos is great crp some of younfans think Ceballos is Cazorla you keep cutting him a lot of slack with his sideways passing and backward passing and did you see him literally pass the ball out for a throwing from 5yards of Saka ???? like you must be joking Ceballos was just okay load of crp Willian and Arteta need to go.
No, he was. He just adds nothing. And I am gobsmacked at his ability to play a pass in such a way that the receiving player almost invariably has to adjust his run -I.e. stop and in doing so killing any momentum we might have had. If we were in the ground he would be booed to the rafters and Arteta would not be able to play him. The manager is, frankly, taking the piss out of us.
The issue is most of these players are not good enough as starting 11 for Arsenal Football Club. Auba Partey Gabriel Tierney. That’s who you keep. It’s going to take several transfer windows to fix this mess. Is an inexperienced manager and DOF the right guys to lead us ? Who knows. But this is our reality, no matter how much stinks.
Couldn’t agree more. William is bad, but he’s not the cause of this mess. Take a look at our starting 11 and compare it to everton’s. Honestly they were – also on paper – playing the better starting 11. Wtf is going on with this club!!!
The issue is Pepe doesn’t start every game but Willian does so he affects us every game.
With pepe you have resale value. That’s the difference
One shot on target all season, Willian!
That is beyond dire!
Hey be happy we didn’t get a red card atleast.
Honestly, I thought it would be two yellows for Tierney. Andre Mariner not really the type, though.
Why does Arteta insist on playing Willian? Why does Arteta never substitute Willian? I actually thought Willian would be subbed when I saw Martinelli getting ready. Luiz I sht Ceballos is sht Willian is sht Pepe is sht Nketiah OMG he’s so sht its crazy did you see that chance he missed??? IF that was Martinelli or Saka that ball is in the back of the net. Atrteta VERY negative bad tactics combined with ssooooo many sht players is why were fighting relegation. ARTETA OUT I’m done. Its the tactics and stubbornness to change or drop Willian. MUST GO
Not whoever brought him, whoever brought him for 3 years.. 1 or 2 years was fine
Those responsible for recruitment need to join Mikel on the way out.
The Telegraph is not generally given to hyperbole but at the close of the match report, it simply stated : “Arteta’s team are rubbish !” Looking at current form, that’s impossible to deny.
The reality is that if it was Arteta who dropped our most gifted creative player then he has potentially cost himself his job. If it was the club (I suspect) who made decision then Arteta needed to back his player, in not doing so and lying to media he has lost respect of team. Either way it’s on Arteta. Shame as I had hope for him. P.s nketia is championship player at best I’m afraid.
I saw so many spaces that the ref was standing in where a number 10 on our side needed to fill. Sorry to say but Ozil would’ve filled those gaps. Whether he contributed wonderfully or not would’ve been something else but just standing in those spaces draws their defenders out of position. As soon as Martinelli came on he started filling those spaces through instinct and suddenly we found space in between the lines. We need a #10 with great movement. Martinelli has proven that he is starter at the expense of Willian and so is Saka.
There are people who have been long dead who should be starting ahead of Willian.
Did most of us not complain bitterly when our most creative player was a ghost who contributed nothing in important games? When he sulked after a bad touch and refused to work hard for the team and repeatedly left us exposed on counter attacks? I loved his creativity too but I was done with the lack of leadership and zero toughness and grit he displayed. I think our problems are much bigger than focusing on the selection of one player.
Still our most creative player though and would love to see my beloved team creating rather than looking like a fat Sam team
Making him UNAVAILABLE is ego over protection of the club in my view. That was a calculated choice. Fine. Live and die by it
Thank goodness we still have toughness and grit of Xhaka and Cebellos.
You’ve obviously never had a boss. If the owners say “no Ozil” then Arteta has no Ozil.
Wouldn’t have happened under Wenger
Totally agree, nketia is absolutely rubbish. I don’t know what he is doing at our club, he fumbles and trips his way over the ball and then puts it wide or over. We are a shambles and there is no quick fix. I think Arteta needed to start at a smaller club and work his way up. We desperately need help. Oh to be a gooner.
Ozil is the cause of his own downfall he’s like a cancer in this club he made a mockery of wenger, emery the German national team now add arteta into that and still people think he’s the savior whereas he’s a fucking parasite that needs to be kicked out on his hole.
How can anyone disagree with this….
No it isn’t by a long shot, he’s still currently our highest assist maker in the league. For all the praise Saka is currently getting he doesn’t have a single league assist this season.
The problem with team is that we play with no pace or intensity, and that has nothing to do with Willian
In the game against Southampton, he created the goal, So for you Willock standing there before flicking the ball deserved all the credit above the player who dribbled through 3 or players, cheers.
You’ve given 1 instance in 14 matches
Stats have never told the whole story.
Saka literally created the opportunity for Nketiah’s assist in our game against Southampton, and you are here talking about lack of assist.
Take Saka’s contribution out, and there is no way Nketiah is having that assist.
How do you expext the guy to give an assist if we have just 1 goal from open play in the last 6 games or so.
And that one goal was created by Saka btw.
Exactly, no one is creating chances and we’re not creating chances because we progress the ball forward so incredibly slowly
Our bigger concern should be this relegation form. We are likely to be 16th after this round of games. And the team placed 17th will have two games in hand on us with probably only a point behind.
That said Willian IS pants and we’ve established that since a few weeks ago.
William is awful I agree, but our whole team has been a joke. BS tactics, players not showing up, manager is confused and limited in his ability. We need to stop the bleeding and get a new manager.
You nailed it succinctly.q
I genuinely wonder though, would any manager get much more than the “new manager” bump of 5 or 6 games before the players all regressed to what they are? They all claimed to love “Mikel” and his vision and they’ve given up on him. Any new manager would need to do exactly what Arteta must. Recruit heavily with the support of ownership and clear useless deadwood. Why not just let Arteta do that? Otherwise I fear a manager merry-go-round is coming bc we are never going to attract an elite manager.
Petr Cech started it by never saving a penalty, Luiz outdid him by getting red cards like they were collectable, and Willian is really stepping up for Chelsea now.
Was telling my young son today about how bad William Gallas was
Although I absolutely despise Willian, it can’t be more catastrophic than the Pepe one. Look, Pepe played better than Willian today, but there’s no way this guy is worth anything even close to 35m pounds.
The bottom line is: Arsenal’s transfer policy has been absolutely disastrous in the last years. It will take quite some time to rebuild.
Sorry my friend but our squad is better than Everton’s. This is an Arteta issue first and foremost
Is our squad better though? Keane, Mina, Doucoure, Richarlison, Sigurdsson, Calvert-Lewin walk into our team methinks. Godfrey a CB playing LB, shut down our star RW.
Better squad than Everton…really?
Better by a country mile mate. We just play shit football. Our squad is on paper quite brilliant, it’s currently a complete lack of tactical ability from the manager.
Okay, I’ll play.
Name 6 Arsenal players available today who are better “on paper” than the players Everton had available today.
I’d appreciate if you could also say what makes them better “on paper”.
And don’t give me legacy picks – I know Willian and peak Luiz were top quality like 8 years ago, but those aren’t the players we have now.
This is an article of faith and is not remotely based on reality. Look at our team today and tell me how many players make the Everton team better. I’ve got Saka, Tierney, and Leno. Pepe might have the talent, but he’s never produced at the Premier League level. Or are you seriously trying to argue that Everton would swap their midfield for Elneny and Ceballos? Calvert-Lewin for Nketiah/Lacazette? That Ancelotti is telling his transfer team to get him at Holding and Luiz? That somebody’s getting fired because they got James and not Willian? Our team is not REMOTELY better… Read more »
“and whatever the fuck Denis Suarez was supposed to be”
Hah, this made me giggle. Cheers for that!
I love a good joke as much as the next man, but being serious for a second….. Yes, Everton would take Saka, Auba, Ozil, Partey, Tierney, Gabriel and that’s half a squad. I will be the first to agree that our midfield is far too weak but Partey + Elneny + Ozil would be just fine this season. That was on the table for Arteta. Pepe hasn’t produced, I hear the same about Pogba all the time (another World Cup Winner). Maybe, just maybe, Pepe isn’t being given the right job with the right help? He is regularly isolated in… Read more »
Partey, Gabriel, and Auba weren’t available, so I didn’t include them. It makes little sense to me to argue that our team should be playing better because our squad is better – if you include the players who literally can’t play. I doubt they would take Ozil. It’s not like teams have been queueing up to take him off our hands. Maybe we would be better with Ozil, but a decision was made, and that decision was based on years of consistent underperformance and off-field issues. Like it or not, Ozil had become a problem. I would be surprised if… Read more »
We have had a bunch of dodgy phoneys running things, who have ripped the club and us all off. Disgraceful.
Willian has 1 shot on target this season. And he started most games. To be fair he sprayed balls around neatly in the last 15 mins, but this team just seems allergic to making through passes in the center. Crossing and praying isn’t working Arteta, and Willian has been ineffective.
It’s not about Willian. We had 2 shots on target in 90 minutes again (against Spurs – it was the same). Arteta is just unable to solve this problem.
He looked really up for it in the first game. What’s happened since?
Um, check the game stats.
No, he most certainly did NOT have 2 shots on target.
Borges surely got a strong fee for signing his contract too. Along with his agent.
People saying he makes 200K per week are including his signing on fee, whether they realize it, to help their agenda, or not. His signing fee was already paid, and is nothing compared to a transfer fee. He actually takes down about 100K per week in wages. He hasn’t been worth the spend, I agree. But facts are facts.
It doesn’t matter how you dress it up, it still equates to 200k+ going out of the Club every week for the privilege of having William in the squad. Transfer fee or signing on fee doesn’t matter a jot, it is still a total waste of money and a squad space
OP said he makes 200K per week, then Alex said he “surely got a strong fee for signing his contract too”. (Emphasis added) Pointing out that is not correct—he did not get a fee on top of 200K per week—isn’t “dressing it up.”
Both William and Pepe are not worth a start add that to a seriously poor squad who are not playing for their manager who also looks lost and a board who don’t seem to have any sense of direction and we’re truly in a dogfight with players who show zero fight it’s gonna be a long Xmas period it’s past squeaky bum time we’re looking at full on follow through 🙉
Yeh, except he isn’t on $200K a week.
The shit show continues… Worst part of 2020 to be honest
We are through the looking glass people. In an unprecedented year, this is genuinely insane. I’m 32 and I don’t even remember anything remotely like this. I’m resigned to the fact Arteta isn’t going anywhere. I don’t love that fact but to be honest, maybe now it’s best given that any other achievement apart from avoiding relegation is impossible. But please, given that this is now an absolute write off of a season, let’s blood the youth. No more Luiz, Willian or Laca. No more Xhaka and Ceballos can go home too. We are basically preparing for 2021/22 now. Let’s… Read more »
Good comment.
But we need to stay up.
Thats a real question now.
Yup. That’s a real question. It has to be.
Given that Willian, Xhaka, Luiz, Laca and co are responsible for this ensuing relegation battle, I would argue that the young lads can’t really do too much worse.
I want to see Saliba, Martinelli, Balogun and Nelson featuring regularly for the rest of the season.
Of course, it’s all pointless. We’ll play the same shitmunchers until we stumble onto the summer with our geriatric players and inept manager.
Agree generally, but not with Laca in that lot.
We were instantly more threatening when he came on. Not saying he’s been amazing, but he’s not as bad as many – including Blogs – makes him out to be.
Starting Eddie, who is fucking useless, was crazy.
Again, this is all on MA. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.
I agree with you, the only risk is that we are seriously in a relegation fight and this could actually get worse. There are about 8 players maybe even more that should not be allowed ever wear this sacred jersey again, I’m sorry to say this but I think Arteta needs to go also. I keep saying that we should go for pochettino, I know he didn’t win anything but he came close in the champions league with an average Tottenham side.
Free fall continues.
2nd half was so much better but why the funky can’t we play like that from the beginning.
Come on. You must lead a charmed life!
You can have 55 strikers on the pitch but if you have shit Willian running around for the whole 90mins you deserve to loose. Arteta has to take the blame….someone please send him out of context willian video from the first half.
Massive Shit, just being reactionary in second is what Emery did.
I specifically watched Willian for the first 30 minutes or so, determined to find some redeeming features to his game.
Nope, he just jogged about out of position letting Everton players breeze past him.
Get him out of this club.
Emery wasn’t that bad
Oh he was a massive poo…
The players had a couple of days of pride and won the FA Cup and the shield, but not thanks to Arteta.
Emery’s Villarreal is 4 in the Liga. They Haven’t been so High for a long while.
Arteta should have edged his bets at the beginning of the year. Fine to get Ozil and papa out of one competition , but not both. Okay not to register Saliba for premier league, but give him a chance if EL. Get rid of Guendouzi, but keep Torreira.
Agree to your points regarding Torreira and Saliba but in years of supporting Arsenal i never thought there would come a point that i might not wanna watch the game and that is what happened during Emery’s tenure for me. He was a wrong signing for us and Arsenal was a wrong destination for him. But we had massive frauds selling us stories how he had a plan better than most and how he knew about all youth prospects in the team, only for Freddie to oust that lie when he recommended players from the youth team. Arteta has been… Read more »
well the front three of Willian pepe and nketiah was about as effective as we expected them to be…
look no matter how many times you say “he’s a poacher” doesn’t change the fact he doesn’t bring anything else to the game at all. we need to cash in on him fast. and I don’t know what to say about Willian and pepe that hasn’t already been said.
also while we’re at it here’s a positive: martinelli is back and he looked like our most lively player so there’s that. Give him a run at the starting XI and maybe our fortunes will change. welcome back gab
Pepe was not the problem here. It’s trite to pin things on him, he is trying while the other two are anonymous.
But Pepe is absolutely not a winner. He is never gonna make you win.
I think Pepe suffers most from our lack of movement. He keeps trying flicks and 1-2s but noone’s interested. Everyone just completely static, standing watching the ball. Until that changes, we’re not going to get anything better out of him.
I know everyone hates this idea, but Bellerin and Pepe need a run of games together (with a number 10–Smith-Rowe, Willock, maybe even Saka) to get the best out of each.
He’s also isolated out on the wing, he’s always trying to get past two or three defenders to get into a shooting position. I can’t see why we keep playing Nketiah, he’s absolutely lightweight, get Pepe a bit more central and he’ll score goals. Playing with Willian (I’m starting to actually hate the sight of him) and Nketiah is like starting with nine men. I think Mikel must like arsecreepers, the laid back personalities of AMN and Nelson clearly aren’t popular with him yet they can do a job, Ainsley in the middle can’t be worse than Ceballos and he… Read more »
I think you have a point that Arteta might be focusing on AMN’s relaxed attitude more than his performances. Then again, Willian couldn’t be more relaxed if he was on horse tranquilizers and he plays every goddamn minute.
THIS. I have seen this way too often. It’s too static. The opposition assembles easily because we are so slow and by the time Pepe has the ball, he has to beat 4 players to get something because our midfield is just staring deep inside. Absolutely no movement from there.
Eddie isn’t half bad, but he isn’t amazing and he offers next to nothing, except being a poacher as you said. I’d rather watch Balogun play or give Martinelli more minutes, really missed the kid. He and Saka (and Tierney) are the brightest spot on this team.
Disagree
Eddie is 1 dimensional.
If he wasnt an academy lad, wed all be rubbishing him.
Hes terrible. Get rid of.
Eddie has only been playing because of Martinelli’s injury. Let’s be honest Leeds had no use for him in the Championship. Time to sell him to QPR.
Balogun, Martinelli and Saka offers more based on what I’ve seen. All three need to start against Man City to see if it can work in the future.
This front line. So much.
I don’t feel like playing the vets gives us more of an opportunity to climb the table (and ack avoid the drop zone). I did before, but I don’t now. At this point I’d like to play those three in front of Ozil, Smith-Rowe, and Partey, and go with Hale End chemistry and energy plus a shrewd creator and a dominant deep lying force.
That could just be the “genius” touch that Arteta is crying out for. What’s the main reason managers don’t field a team of kids? Because they fear they will end up mid-table or worse if they do due to inexperience. Ironically, that’s where we already are. Therefore the academy graduates cannot do any worse. Especially when one of them is our best attacking player recently. Tierney, Gabriel, Saliba and the others you’ve mentioned above surely cannot do worse than this? They are also the future of this club (minus Ozil) so let them build chemistry NOW while we are already… Read more »
A soporific snore-fest from Arsenal until we are certain of defeat. Then they finally wake up in the last few minutes when time is up.
I have been tried to be optimistic and support Arteta, but why delay the inevitable now.
At least Willian is consistent. Consistently shit.
One point from 9 when you’re 15th is sackable for me for a club like Arsenal. Arteta can go on to win the CL with Barcelona and it doesn’t mean it’s the wrong decision for our club now. We have no creativity, players are mostly lost out there. The little bit of pressure we managed to create just reminded me that these teams used to worry about US. But it isn’t showing me signs of a bigger plan. Playing Martinelli felt a touch desperate today and probably was. If Arteta is given this season, it’s a gift now. It’s not… Read more »
I share your frustration but let’s stick to the facts. 8 points in 12 is what we’re looking at, still absolutely abysmal really. LWLLWLDLLLDL. No wins in 7 is really something as well.
8 points from 36
Imagine if we tried as hard for 90 minutes as we do for the final 5 minutes
At the same time, with better players, we would have scored on those opportunities.
Funny that before covid we would dominate the game and lose it in the last 10-15 minutes, and Artets would blame lack of fitness. At least he fixed that.
The only points we are getting this season are from Arteta’s fingers. Only thing he seems to know how to do is uselessly bark and point at the pitch as if he knows what he is doing.
Toilet
Lacazette should have started.
Way more mobile than Nketiah. It baffles me how Arteta picks Nketiah and leaves Balogun completely out of the squad. Nketiah offers nothing. Laca should have started and Balogun should have been an option for the last dozen minutes.
Eddie has attributes but he’s a wisp of a player and hasn’t shown any ability to make an impact in league games, based on physicality alone. The ceiling with Balogun looks so much higher and maybe he’d actually put a head on one of these crosses.
Exactly this ^^^
I don’t know. That guy was my favourite player. He has to ask himself a lot of questions. He was a prolific top striker for Lyon and now can’t even be the replacement when the lead striker got injured.
Maybe. But part of it is obviously Arteta has decided he can’t play 9 – probably thinks he gets too isolated or doesn’t press enough or whatever. This might be harsh, but I’m just not convinced Nketiah is a premier league striker.
True. Despite his positioning and finishing(?), Eddie lacks physicality, speed and technical ability.
Do u honestly think that would change the outcome?
I mean Nkeitah is not that great as a lone striker but I don’t think Laca could do any better. He would just needlessly foul people a few times and get a yellow
Truly, Truly we are in deep shit overdrive
How bad does it have to get before everyone admits there’s a problem?
I don’t know. You have diehards like Futsboller who seems to live in an alternate universe.
Not alternate, just hopeful. Arteta is shooting himself in the foot by sticking with Willian, but I don’t necessarily see a lineup that suddenly makes us better right now. Clearly having Gabriel, Partey, and Auba gives a much better team, but there weren’t available. I don’t see a different manager solving the problem aside from the immediate bump, so I remain with supporting Arteta as difficult as it is.
I’m done. Any ‘big’ club with standards and a plan would have put an end to this bullshit weeks ago. I don’t want to watch Arteta ball anymore.
Can’t blame you mate. I’m happy to be proven wrong but our off-field decisions this season has made Arteta & Edu look like dumb and dumber.
So many bad decisions at executive level for year. Arteta just continuing that trend. Bet his job on shite players like Xhaka and Willian. This is desperate now, they need to do something because we are in a relegation battle, make no mistake. Fucking dross.
In the absence of Auba, agree. Nketiah has done nothing, not just in this game, but season thus far.
#delete
Then piss off. Why do so many supporters expect change to have immediate effect? The house is being demolished yet whilst the wrecking ball swings, you want to lounge around in an immaculate living room. Weird.
Weird analogy. Made me yawn a bit.
“I’m entitled to my opinion, and will proclaim it loudly, but you better not have a different perspective” jfc dude calm down.
Nobody is enjoying this.
Willian for 3 years..i don’t have the words
There’s only two and a half years left of him actually. Yeah I know, we should have given him a longer contract.
It’s pure comedy between Arteta and Willian. Willian trying really hard to get out of the squad with Arteta not falling for it.
🤣🤣
On some level maybe I should be thankful that despite how bad 2020 has been, the worst aspect of this year in my life has been Arsenal. I feel sorry for anyone who’s essentially clinging on to this joke of a club for comfort this year, I truly do and I wish them better.
(I should probably clarify that I’m not thankful that Arsenal are poor, more that I’ve not been upended too much by how 2020 has gone. Not everyone has been so fortunate.)
I don’t know about comfort, but when you don’t have as many distractions as usual in your life, it really amplifies just how incredibly frustrating and disheartening it’s been being a supporter since September.
Incredibly unsurprising. So lightweight, no physicality. Vacuous midfield. Pains to quote the prick Evra but Men v boys out there.
Am clutching at straws I know but could things be better if Willian played a no.10 role with Martinelli and Saka out wide and Auba up top, with Partey (and Elneny) behind? I know everyone hates Willian but it’s worth a try surely. 4-2-3-1 in attack switching to 5 at the back for defence with Saka dropping back in is my thought.
I’m just trying to give myself a glimmer of hope for the future in this very dark moment.
I mean Willian pretty much played the coveted no 10 today. Do you really expect Willian to do any better when Auba is there?
Every once in a while I have a vivid dream that I’m playing for the Arsenal, yet in the dream I’m completely aware that I have no real idea how to play football.
Am I turning into Willian?
I’m happy to see Martinelli back. I’m not particularly happy about anything else, really.
AMN was also really good. But I somehow feel Bellerin and Xhaka will be back in the starting line up before long.
If he survives he doesn’t deserve to. He should live and die by his decision to ditch Ozil. With a team that can’t create he shoves a creator out, can’t get the most out of Guendouzi or Torreria. Everton are not very good but we made it easy for them. We could go down, survival is not God given.
If a very good Leeds got relegated, if two times european champions Nottingham Forest got relegated, If one of the most succesful clubs in River Plate got relegated what make people think is our god given right to not be relegated?
Arteta should have been bolder with the starting line up. Elneny did not have to start. Nketiah failed to impress I’m afraid. Not good enough. How I miss those triangles in midfield.
– [ ] It’s unpleasant to watch us lose game after game but this is a long-term change. It is necessary we endure the bottoming-out and understand processes take time. As long as we don’t get relegated, the moronic chorus advocating for a change of manager are deeply ignorant, probably largely comprised of people who do not have spectacular careers themselves, people who offload their shortcomings onto those around them. You know the type, the bloke who expects perfection from others, from other colleagues, partners, road users, call centre handlers, etc. yet is living the most average life himself. –… Read more »
Soooo, my missus threw me out of the living room. I was making too much noise apparently. Not worth it in hindsight! So where do we go from here?
Sorry, man. That’s tough when the pub down the street is closed too.
1 win in 10 matches.
Things I’ve learnt so far:
-Aubameyang is finished
-Arsenal are finishing 19th
-Ozil is bigger than Arsenal
-Partey is average at best
-Arsenal are the new Brexit Ball FC
-Moyes ball is clear of Arteta ball
-Arsenal are still the smallest club in London
Trust the process my Ass
Wut?.. Partey has been brilliant from what I’ve seen. Auba finished?
Oh wait, I see the last one.. why are tottenham fans on here?
Brilliant?
Certainly hasn’t been.
The random word generator you’re using is great. Well done.
Been a gooner for over 40 years but I really don’t know what to think about this current situation. Even if Arteta gets 4 new players in and shifts out the deadwood, I cannot see us playing attractive, winning football. He seems intent on us playing it out from the back and going side to side. I so want Arteta to be a success but losing faith in the project.
Ive been a fan for 60 years! Take a look at mid-70s for comparison. Team did double in 71 then slid with players like Ball, Brady, Armstrong, Rice, Radford who we all remember favourably .
Mee went, Terry Neill did not much better. Took until Graham before we really recovered our position despite some Cup wins then disappeared again until Wenger.
In all that time Spuds, Manure, Citeh, Newcastle, Villa and other big teams were relegated but we cannot afford that!
This is the worst league position we have had since Mee’s last season 1975/76 when we finished 17th and had to battle against relegation.
I was only a kid, but I remember two things – that we brought in Terry Mancini to try and steady things at the back and that we were bloody awful nonetheless.
The current situation is swiftly going from laughable to serious to critical with every game.
It’s now on the board to act and act swiftly.
The entire future of the club is at stake.
This is beyond belief…I’m numb
Looks like dropping points in every EPL game is now a non-negotiable.
Trust the process.
Only one game left and then Xhaka comes back to really slow us down. Can’t wait!
I would not sack arteta. Hate to say it but I agree with carragher. We have a really poor quality squad. No midfield. Except Saka he can’t do it by himself. We are truly horrible to watch. Give arteta time. We should just about stay up. Then rebuild.
I don’t know what should be done in terms of coaching/admin personnel (and I’m sure whatever is done will be the wrong thing, on some level), but that midfield issue is urgent. Wenger stayed too long, true, but what truly got him out the door was the midfield – or lack thereof. No coincidence that once Cazorla went down we first failed to win a wide-open league, then never finished in the top 4 since. Midfielders came in under Emery but having/not having midfielders wasn’t our entire problem. Having said midfielders function as a unit (i.e. a midfield) was and… Read more »
‘Just about stay up’
You can guarantee that, can you?
Do you honestly believe this team, playing as they do, can win the six-pointers in a relegation fight?
Sorry mate. We either get rid of Arteta or we are in serious, serious danger of going down.
Squad is not actually poor quality. How can the team be on one of the highest wages in PL if the squad is poor? Economics doesn’t work that way.
If Burnley can beat us at home then we can’t complain of a poor squad. We can play AMN, Willock, ESR in midfield or play the upcoming kids from the academy if needed.
It’s on player selection and sticking to the shitty players like Xhaka and Willian so that’s on Arteta.
I wish we would have signed Carlo Ancelotti
What the fuck is wrong with you downvoters. Everton 2nd Arsenal 15th
Possible reasons:
fixing the bit of Arsenal that is arteta’s fault wouldn’t have this team in 2nd.
the squad needed Partey’s quality in midfield. Desperately so. But he contracted AFC-itis and has not been fit.
the club needs a coherent transfer strategy. It may take a couple windows to see that working with the group now in charge. Personnel switched mid-window last summer.
ancellotti can’t fix KSE. No guarantee he would have taken the job, either. AFC no longer the prettiest girl at the dance. Hasn’t ever been, really.
Arteta wanted to take on this project. Let him do it.
This is a mess years in the making, many of us accept that. However, when you see the manager failing to hook off badly performing players who are jogging around the pitch without a care in the world, its not too hard to see that fixing the mess has to start with a change of manager. His obsession with Willian is beyond comprehension.
Open questions to MA
1 why did Willian start?
2 why did he stay after first half?
3 why did he play the whole game?
4 where are your non- negotiables?
5 do you think you’re the right man for the club?
We are relegation club. Before I always hoped the big clubs lost points to teams in bottom half, now I’ m hoping they get all three. I’ ve come so low that I would like Sp*rs to beat the like of Fulham of Brighton now… It’s sad times indeed.
Your last statement summed it all up for me, we’re in serious trouble!
At least we didn’t get a red card.
Ceballos did his best.
The best thing is I have lost my feelings when we lose.
Earlier all my family and friends used to know when Arsenal lost from my anger and behaviour.
Now no one even guesses if Arsenal even had match.
That, plus I don’t need to interrupt my sleep at 4am to watch games.
Eh Bobby – what is the french word for relegation?
Relégation 😏
Relégation.
We will lose perhaps 20 league games this season. That actually seems a little generous because it means only losing 12 of our last 24 games. Whatever. We’re basically going down unless West Brom and Fulham manage to somehow do worse than that. I just hope that unlike me the average fan’s mental health is holding up because it’s hard to cope with this and everything else going on. Pure misery. I just don’t get it anymore. Can’t find the words for what is going on with this club.
Seems this team is sliding swiftly from Farteta into Sharteta territory. FFS.
Even without a red card we could have had Arsenal Bingo from this one:
I’m sure there were more (like the dreaded horseshoe). This team is so predictably depressing to watch these days.
Looking forward to all my amazing fellow Gooners coming out with the gigantic balls of dogshite excuses about why the manager should be given more time. Yes, it’s the players who should be doing better. Yes our squad is mostly average at best. But the tight fisted Kronk will in no way spend the £200M needed in January on 4 players to stop the rot. It’s easier/cheaper to get rid of the manager. Something must happen in the next 2 weeks or we go down.
There’s two reasons to keep him as I see it: 1) the hope he turns out to be the real deal. 2) is Arsenal in a position to attract any manager who’s better and who would that be?
Arteta in!
The offshoots of a good team is there.
Put Auba for Nketiah, Partey for Elneny, and we won’t lose that game.
Let’s keep the faith.
Look at the Premiership table.
Look at the figures.
Look at the stats.
Then make yourself a cup of coffee, inhale the aroma – and for goodness sake mate, wake up.
Agree on William. He simply should not be in the side!
Looks like it’s time to sack Arteta
We shouldn’t even been thinking in sacking him. He himself said that if he thought he wasn’t rhe right for Arsenal he wouldn’t be here (back when he signed for us), then he should know isn’t the time for him right now, maybe in the future when he have more experience, but for now he isn’t the right for us and he should know it
Supporting Arsenal is fucking painful
This is now on the board.
The manager is clearly out of his depth and needs to be replaced.
The board have a choice.
They either get in a caretaker manager to reinstate Ozil in January and allow the players the freedom of expression to create and do something other than pass backwards and sideways in a horseshoe – which they did almost non stop tonight.
Or they ‘keep the faith’, bury their heads in the sand, pretend it’s not all happening and risk this club falling into a relegation dogfight.
Simple as that.
What Board, there’s only the Krankies left isn’t there. 1 year ago Everton & Arsenal appointed new bosses where are they now with the experienced Ancelloti and were are we.
Well, be it Edu, the Kroenkes or Gunnersaurus – someone needs to get a grip, because game by game, under Arteta we are digging ourselves a fucking great hole.
Arteta Out.
Somebody needs to tell Mikel Arteta that you’re allowed to try to start winning a football game before the 87th minute.
And that you’re allowed to sub players any time you want to!
My overwhelming feeling at the moment is that it’s quite simply a shame. The hope that the FA cup win generated as well and truly evaporated, and as much as we all wanted Mikel to succeed the writing is on the wall here, quite clearly. A primarily defensive team that still concedes with regularity and can’t score. That will get you absolutely nowhere in the most competitive league in the business. There’s only one way this will end up, regardless if Party is fit or not. Under Emery we could score, but conceded 30 shots a game. Under Mikel there’s… Read more »
2nd half wasn’t bad. Unlucky not to score. Tierney played a good game and I was glad to see Martinelli back on the pitch. No red card thats also a positive. I really don’t see what people see in Nketiah. He brings absolutely nothing. When a team needs a goal in the dying seconds they send their tall defenders to the front trying to create chaos. Our defenders were playing the ball around at the back trying to cross the ball. It’s simple things like that that In miss in our game. It just looks like we have absolutely no… Read more »
Diabolical! We can’t break through the lines. They’ve clearly been drilled not to take a risk with their passes hence the dismal horseshoe parade. The lack of movement is astounding. I think this is due to Pep approach to tactics of players having to inhabit spaces on a pitch at all times. There’s no movement and no vision with the passing. It’s actually painful at a time when football should be offering us an escape from difficult times. I can’t even see Partey coming back and transforming this shit show. It’s a relegation scrap at this rate and this lot… Read more »
This isn’t the Arsenal I have supported for the past 50 years. I care more about my grandson’s under 8’s team now. 🙁
Me too, and I’ve never seen them play!
Ha! Could have written that myself (supporter for 20 years, though). I was coaching my son’s team this year and enjoyed watching all the games at the park before and after, more than the gunners. Weird, sad season so far.
This 2020 we will remain in the bottom half of table. That’s mathematic. and if things don’t change we will remain bottom half till after we get out of Uefa league,