Mikel Arteta says protests outside the Emirates were not a factor in Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Everton. Instead, the manager pointed to another controversial VAR decision and his players’ inability to create clear cut chances on a night when they looked to be in the ascendancy only to self-destruct again.
On this occasion, goalkeeper Bernd Leno scored a calamitous own goal when he allowed Richarlison’s cross to squirm through his legs with just 14 minutes left.
On a night when neither side created any big chances, it proved enough to secure a first-ever win at the Emirates for the Toffees.
The Brazilian had earlier given away a penalty for a foul on Dani Ceballos only to have his blushes spared by officials in Stockley Park who ruled Nicolas Pepe had been an inch offside in the build-up.
“No,” replied Arteta when asked if defeat was linked to supporters protesting outside the ground over the club’s owners’ involvement in the short-lived plan for a European Super League.
“We knew that that was happening, we knew that our fans wanted to express their feelings and we made preparations with that in mind and it is not an excuse.
“We lost the game because we had to define the game in the crucial moment, we had the openings or the chances, no clear chances that we wanted, we didn’t do that and then we conceded an own goal.
“Obviously when we earn the right to score with the decision that was taken away.”
Arsenal could have climbed above Everton with a win last night. Instead, after five dropped points at home in a week and a thirteenth Premier League defeat of the season, we’ve been exposed for the mid-table outfit that we are.
“We knew that was going to be a crucial moment of our season,” said Arteta.
“To explain how we have lost five point, with the way we have performed in those two games and what the opponent has earned, is pretty incredible to describe. I gave you a few arguments but we need to find me.”
Having been sanguine about VAR decisions in the past, Arteta’s frustrations this time got the better of him.
“Well, this is because it is building up and enough is enough, and today, to be fair, I had enough.
“We have had many of them [decisions against us], and no one explains. When they explain, they say, ‘sorry, it was a mistake’ but unfortunately it is affecting a lot of people, and it is affecting our job and most importantly our football club.
He added: “I really like that we can make use of the technology, it’s just we need consistency, clarity and we want to see their faces and responses. We are always here in front of the media trying to explain the reasons why we do something, why we do the other thing and I think that has to be clear and explained.”
Well, at least he didn’t say that the latest defeat was no excuse for protests…..🙄
How is this not similar or worse than Emery’s?
Except that he speaks good English and able to articulate well after an excuse.
For me this goes beyond Arteta. Unless we have owners that care and are competent, can’t see this improving.
I’ve been saying this for ages (and collecting thumbs down by the millions).
Areta is only half the problem. This club will NEVER win the Premier League or the Champions League whilst Kroenke remains.
Meanwhile, I am not expecting to win the PL or CL. I just want to return to the CL through the much-maligned 4th place trophy, but that seems out of reach. Heck, even EL seems tough.
And that is on Arteta.
At least we can keep hold of the ball? I’m clutching at straws here, though.
I can’t really put this loss down to him though, in terms of management skills – it is however down to keeping a bang average keeper and letting one of the league’s best go for a pittance. Is that on him or Edu?
It’s worse Why didn’t the club go with Arteta over Emery to begin with? My guess, inexperience Arteta should never have been given the Arsenal job for his first full time role £72m for Pepe is up there as one of the worst transfer in premier league history Edu and Vinai aren’t as good at their jobs as they think they are. For years we never had a good enough RB to backup/challenge Hector. Tierney needs that now. Maty Ryan deserves another game or two ahead of Leno. Wasn’t really at fault for the goals he’s conceded Midfield is lacking… Read more »
Just to point out that it was Unai Emery that signed Pepe. Yes you could say that Willian is just as bad but you cant blame Mikel for signing Pepe
I really wanted you to work Mikel but you have completely fucked up this season with your insistence on playing out of form or not good enough players ( you did it again last night with nketia) your micro management of players has stifled them and our goals for evidence this, your decision to keep Leno who does not inspire confidence with his decision making and fear of catching the ball and terrible distribution, it’s all on you I’m afraid.
The same Nketiah who salvaged a point for the team just 5 days ago!
I’m not saying he played well but you can see why Arteta gave him a start.
Oh please he tapped one in from two yards. Cheese and bread Lord help me
He got the start because he’s being sold in the summer. Not because he was the best option available. Balogun should have started. He offers more in terms of hold up play than who’s currently available
He is still learning on the job (just a little over a year!). We need to have more patience. We can’t just go through a new manager every year and a half and start from scratch. Damage is already done for this year. If we did not have individual fuck-ups and VAR referees fucking us, we would be vying for the fourth even after a horrendous first half of the season. “The Board” should look into improving the squad before changing the manager…a world class miffielder (partner for Partey) and a right back, a back-up left back and genuine competition… Read more »
I do hear ya and if you were manager and owned the club then the next manager might have a better squad, as it is the ne y manager inherits Willian on 200 grand a week who Arteta and board brought in. So let’s trust them with more money
I hate this narrative, willian was Chelsea pots the year before.
if he had a good season with us the money would be nothing.
and 3 year deal means if he was not complete shit we could have sold him.
it was a 70% chance of being a good deal..unfortunately we got the 5% chance of it being a diabolical decision.
If me aunty had bollocks she would be me uncle 😆
Correct. I was glad we signed Willian, and he had a really good season last year. On top of that, the 250k stories are probably not true – we should really stop jumping on anti-Arsenal tabloid talk that suits our agenda.
Middle stump me thinks 😂
The Willian transfer completely sums up this whole operation.
It was born out of cheapness, not wanting to splash the cash on a proper player. But by being tight fisted, we’ve actually cost ourselves a lot of money. We could say the same for so many deals.
We overpaid Ozil instead of accepting he was going. We’ve overpaid Auba instead of investing in a new CF. We sold our best goalkeeper in years and bought some more ok players.
Every decision this club makes is cheap,
stupid and eventually expensive.
Good points. Regarding Ozil, the board decided to award him that ridiculous wage deal because they thought they couldn’t allow another “top” player to leave. Sanchez (valued at around £70million) had left earlier, because stupidly his contract was allowed run down, in exchange for Mkhitaryan – a player worth only a fraction of that. We certainly don’t seem to have learned any lessons from this.
This is our biggest problem the last 10 years or so: Players do not show valiancy and conquering attitude.
We need to make sure we buy players who have these qualities. Auba has none of it. Not even pride. He is proud of his sport cars.
Willock is so valiant and has conquering attitude. He should play next season.
Colonialists need not apply.
Auba is a proven International goal scorer who is probably sick to death of ‘The Process’ being constantly played out of position and the almost non existent service this season from the midfield.
No, we can’t afford to waste next season on the off chance that Arteta learns how to become the manager we need. There are several managers who are far more likely to regain CL and play exciting football than MA is next year. Do you really want to stick with him just loyalty sake? It’s easy to say changing managers won’t solve our problems. But just look at the problems Chelsea have solved when they removed their managerial novice for someone with more experience, better ideas and methods. It happens all the time. Just because we’ve made 2 poor managerial… Read more »
And appoint another emery
Oh yeah because out of the entire world of football managers – great, good, mediocre and bad – we can only choose between Arteta and ‘an Emery’?
Come on, where’s your imagination
There are only few coaches that are suitable for Arsenal imo. Progressive and attack-minded. 1. Julian Naggelsman 2. Bielsa 3. Potter 4. Rodgers (least favorite) None of these four guarantees you any success although they play good attacking football. And i don’t believe any of those have experience managing a big club with huge expectations like Arsenal except for Brendan Rodgers whose teams seem to choke big times when expectations are high. The Liverpool team he managed choked big time when they were so close to winning the title. Same with Leicester last year when top 4 seemed a forgone… Read more »
Massimiliano Allegri
It’s exactly the same as these ‘fans’ who think it’s either Kroenke or bust. The fact that we’re a global brand is neither here nor there – only Stan Kroenke is able, apparently, to own this club. Were he and Josh to ever pop their clogs, so would Arsenal….
It’s pathetic.
Emery wasn’t given the time he needed. He achieved top six and took us to EL final in his first year.
That’s a terrible argument. Emery at this point actually had a materially better record than Arteta. He needed to go as he lost the players but the fact that he didn’t work isn’t a good reason to stick with a manager who is clearly flailing. I really hope we win the EL but there needs to be a serious review of Arteta even if we do as this season has been a trainwreck. Squad construction has been really iffy as well
Agree wholeheartedly with this. I also think we have to have minimum standards if we are a big club. Like if you don’t achieve top 4, you’re out. Chelsea take this line, it’s not just brutality – its standards!
In all fairness, Chelsea are not a great example, as its usually new manager + millions and millions to spend on top of an already expensively assembled squad.
I don’t think that Arteta will be sacked at the end of this season regardless of what happens in the EL – although it would strengthen his position if we won it and got CL football next season (assuming there are no post-ESL sanctions). It wouldn’t surprise me if the owners loosened the purse strings (read: increase the club’s debt) to allow a couple of high profile signings in the summer. I agree with your general point about changing managers. It’s easy to do (although expensive) but the trick is to bring in the right replacement. That assumes there’s a… Read more »
I don’t buy into the idea that our problems are coaching or tactical I have no emotional attachment to Arteta, it’s not out of a sense of loyalty of idealism’s that I’m against the club sacking him Fans default position to problems is always sack the head coach, but if we sack the head coach, and the problem isn’t coaching, then the new head coach just inherits the exact same problems, and all that’s happened is an expensive game of musical chairs Our issues are, we went into the season with 8 centre half’s, but no fit or registered attacking… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more. We need proper direction from way above the manager. Anyone will gace the same problems, bloated, overpayed squad with over reliance on a few players.
Let him find a new club to safely remove his training wheels. Ridiculous to have the entire club suffer so that a key individual may become less useless.
About Leno, he can’t drop a keeper like that. You never know, the No 2 who only played one PL game can make more errors.
You’re not a health and safety officer by any chance ?
May I remind you that the season hasn’t been totally “fucked up” as we are still in an European tournament and can still qualify for the Champions League. His biggest mistake I would agree however was letting the wrong keeper leave.
This man should just shut up!
I feel sorry for this man, honestly.
Imagine the amount of pressure he has to carry on his shoulders. It’s such a mess right now and he is so young and inexperienced. A cool lad all in all and I don’t know atm whether we could really benefit from the attributes of a proven, world class manager under such a poor management.
Agree with you to a point, but he’s his own worst enemy at times. He persists with the same players who let him down time and time again. His in game management is atrocious.
Yes, usually he is.
Wonder whether they still check on each other with Pep on a regular basis 🙂
Napoleon famously said something to the effect that he preferred his generals to be lucky rather than good. I think Arteta is a seriously unlucky general. Every game a different player sticks his hand up and says “I’ll throw away the points this week Guv”. I’m not quite sure how any manager deals with that other than showing those players who keep messing up the exit doors when the transfer window comes around. I also feel we rarely get the right end of the stick with VAR. I’m not claiming conspiracy but just plain bad luck. I’m also frustrated that… Read more »
Fuck the lines. They’re completely ruining football.
Napoleon – wasn’t he the founder member of an earlier ESL but with just one member?
Ligue of Un
Without 2 ridiculous decisions from VAR in last two matches we could have been within FOUR points of a top 4 spot. I do feel bad for Arteta in that regard. But this is the first time in a year I am thinking he sold the wrong keeper, persistence with mediocre performances from likes of Willian and Nketiah these are on him. If pepe didn’t have an injury issue, what did he expect when he put Willian on for him which also pushed Saka further behind ? What was the point ? Instead of that, had we brought in someone… Read more »
Could not agree more. As terrible as we have been Fulham and Everton both at home and we would have been 4 points off 4th. It’s fucking mental that the team and he can’t get this team to beat Fulham and Everton at home.
Not the first time either,var has taken about 10 points off us at least this season.
Interesting point about VAR. However, I haven’t checked but I’m pretty sure if other decisions had been changed for other teams in similar circumstances at particular times in the season, we could equally be exactly where we are now, or possibly lower down. Your “calculation” assumes that it’s only our poor results are changed in our favour.
Bollocks. Ceballos took a grand dive and if we won that penalty it would have been a joke and he and the team World have rightly been slammed for it. We complain no end about Kane, alli, and son cheating and diving away up the road and yet everyone wants to blame VAR because they just can’t handle the embarrassment we are right now on and off the pitch.
Agreed. We should be expecting to WIN the PL. That is the standard we are short of and at this point of the season I could accept a battle for 3rd or second but not this.
Not this.
to all those people asking for arteta to be fired i would love to ask .. who do you think can come in to this depleted squad and do much different?
until kronke actually invests in this team it would not make a difference if pep or klopp was here .. furthermore of the top of my head i can recall 4 games in which var has had a direct influence on the games result which would of changed our league table standings significantly we have been ridiculously unlucky
I’d give Arteta one more season and back his transfer plans to the hilt.
After that, if there is no remarkable improvement, that would be that.
Not much else he could say as clearly the pre-match demonstration had nothing to do with another disappointing performance or Leno’s moment of madness.
How many of us could honestly say that they thought we’d be in our position now way back at the opening game of the season? I certainly didn’t. We obviously weren’t going to win the PL, but not this. Still, everyone has said sorry, so what more can we ask for? [Answers on one side of A4.]
I did. I said in August, when we signed Willian and Ozil made way for him, that we wouldn’t make the ECL and would finish mid table at best.
I have also said throughout this season that this club’s fortunes will remain the same – if not worse – whilst we still have both Kroenke and Arteta stinking the place out.
I stand by every word and warn that it will get worse if they are both here next season.
What a fraud this guy and the management is. My hopes for this club are gone as long as those 3 musketeers are in charge.
Sure MA makes mistakes. But I do respect what he has done with a strange squad, under shit club management, a f#$%n pandemic, and inheriting so much crap due to previous bad decisions. Yes we are mid table, but we have also seen creative beautiful(not often, but still) football since a very long time. We all knew this was going to take time. He also needs to shovel shit against the tide and try do his job. I feel for him. And I’m fucking angry.
So many fans keep mentioning the pandemic as a reason to give him more time – worth pointing out that literally every other PL manager has had to deal with the exact same circumstances. Some of the squad building was clearly a mess – but some of this is also Arteta’s mess as well. Willian. Signing Auba to a massive contract and then not playing to his strengths. Saliba – that could not have been handled worse. The primary job of the manager is to get the best out of the squad he has. Can you really say he’s done… Read more »
Changed your mind on Leno yet ol’ mate?
I still think he’s good keeper. He’s out of form but honestly this whole team hasn’t been good for most of the season. We’re comparing it to some of the worst football any Arsenal team has ever played this fall & relying on U 18s & loan players to regularly perform moments of magic. We’re an astoundingly poorly coached team
Well said. He’s a good keeper who has performed miracles in the past when we had clowns like Mustafi and Kolasinac doing their hilarious level best for the opposition.
I actually feel for the guy. He has had to put up with some seriously shit defenders in front of him. The lad is merely having a bad spell that all keepers go through. He’ll come good again. It’s clowns like Willian, Ceballos, Luiz and Xhaka that have really cost us this season. They’re the bigger fish that need frying.
Sure he’s a good keeper. That’s just it though. Good, nothing special he is far too error prone to ever be a great let alone world class player, he was at Leverkusen and is at arsenal. Our great goalie now plays for villa…
So arsenal accepting the middle of the road option.
Not every manager was trying to fix a crock of shit when the pandemic hit. Go back and watch some of the last Emery games, people have very short memories of how bad they really were. Mikel isn’t perfect by any means, but he’s had so much to contend with it’s ridiculous. Even when we did strengthen in the summer by getting Partey he’s been injured for the best part of the season. Sanllehi was fired after the Willian signing,Saliba was a weird one but nobody knows what really went down, hopefully he can be back and do well next… Read more »
The football we played all fall under Arteta was worse than anything we saw under Emery. We were the worst team in any division in England at creating chances. A lot of the sense of improvement the 2nd half of the season is simply down to how appallingly bad the first have was. Even if he wins the EL I’ve seen nothing this season that makes me think he can make us competitive in the PL immediately which is the bare minimum.
Over so many games in the league we’re are in the position we deserve, unlucky or not. We blame the “self destruct button” our players seem to adhere to, but all boil down to a risk/reward analysis. The best teams have a calculated approach to this suited to their players. Liverpool with its gegenpress,City with “pass-em to death” approach or Leeds with a totalfotball style.(Ok,Leeds are not a best team,but Bielsa get max out of limited players) If I shall describe our style ( if we got any..) is a pale copy of City,but without the right players and most… Read more »
Well said. Also we don’t play very direct or progressive, which together with “recieve-control,multiple touches, then pass”, we let the opposition regroup in defense.
Can someone please explain the basics of luck management to Arteta – he seems to be stacking up a terrific set of bad luck moments:
I don’t mind the lines if they are imposed equally to all teams. Much better to have an exact point of offside.
It is the vagueness about what constitutes a passage of play and also what is considered intentional handball. Once you introduce interpretation for referees you get decisions like Luiz at Wolves and plenty of others for us this season.
Poor though English officials are, it is more likely the vague rules that facilitate more inconsistency than before VAR arrived.
All that said, we deserve to be mid table on form.
Responding to a question on Arteta’s appointment at Arsenal Wenger was his usual pedantic self. He said that it typically takes one about 10 years in the trenches to get a managerial gig at a club of Arsenal’s stature. In that respect, MA has been extremely fortunate and privileged. However, it’s apparent that this is an experiment gone wrong. His record in the league speaks for itself.
10 minutes and my post is still waiting for approval?
Best thing on here today son. 😉
Last two results are just unacceptable. Although the results were in a big way down to pathetic VAR VAR decisions.
Goodness, this man is disconnected from reality.
I could have told you that last August.
Responding to a question on Arteta’s appointment at Arsenal Wenger was his usual pedantic self. He said that it typically takes one about 10 years in the trenches to get a managerial gig at a club of Arsenal’s stature. In that respect, MA has been extremely fortunate and privileged. However, it’s apparent that this is an experiment gone wrong. His record in the league speaks for itself.
He should never have been appointed in the first place.
But, as usual, every decision with Kroenke at the helm is done on the cheap, with no strategic thought whatsoever.
3 SOG, 0 big chances. 18 goals in 17 home games. The problem is the coaching, and any other ambitious club would cut bait on Arteta now.
Here’s what I wrote last week… what a surprise it still applies!
”[sigh] Arteta-ball simply does not create enough chances. 3 vs 2 shots in the first half. Against a club headed down.
Rinse and repeat. Same story every week.”
Completely agree, his style of play is making supposedly lethal players impotent.
It’s not a coincidence that all our players are shit. Look at willock scoring for Newcastle.
I hope if they get a new manager in he does a wenger and brings like 8 players with him
I’ve had enough of “we could’ve done this” mikel. What matters is what we did do what did happen and what happened is we choked. We were too frustrated by the VAR decision and fell apart. If making mistakes makes you better than we would be the best team in the league.
This whole season has been an utter crock of shit – and it’s down to him, his selections, his brand of ‘football’ and his inability to manage or motivate the players.
ARTETA OUT
I don’t think MA would be able to answer if anyone asked him why he started Nketiah ahead of Matinelli. I doubt. He might find a way by talking of training and no one will be able to argue because we don’t attend. Besides that he wouldn’t have any other answers I’m sure.
He´ll be back sitting alongside Guardiola in the City dugout before the end of next season.
As long as it’s not the Arsenal dugout, I couldn’t give a shit.
Arteta has more resource and spend at his disposal than Leicester, Everton or West Ham all above us this season. His football frankly looks more insipid. 1) Over cautious. Whilst he has improved the team technically, some of the passing to get out of the press was impressive plus retention numbers look decent, we were too slow in transition. Many times when there was a break, the player on the ball had to slow down and turn back bc there were no options higher up as players took to long to break forward and provide options. but we also take… Read more »
Ancelotti was appointed similar time as Arteta. Many wanked off to Arteta. yet it is the Italian that has a far humbler resourced Everton team punching with a hope of making europe ahead of us. People had it in their heads Arteta was some sort of genius. I mentioned that working out clever tactics under the skirt of Pep at City was one thing, managing players and a club very different altogether. Arteta is work in progress. You add in Edu with his Brazilian Geriatric club, Venkatashem, Josh Korenke you have a cast of people who really think they know… Read more »
Blogs, any news from Joe -clutsh scorer- willock? 😉
The funny thing is if we’d given Willock and AMN more game time we’d have aided their development and I can’t imagine we’d be any worse off playing them in comparison to Elneny and Ceballos
How does anyone know who is responsible for any decisions ? Clearly selling Martinez was asinine and Willian looks appalling. However the Arsenal goalkeeping history includes Wenger selling WS and no one brought Emi into the first team until injury allowed it. Does Willian have a reason that is played so much ? Who knows. At the end of the day all we have to go on is what we see on the pitch and what we hear Mikel say. I see enough hope in the form or BS, ESR , GM and KT who should be made captain going… Read more »
I don’t suppose you looked at the League table and checked out how many ‘L’s we have. A mere 13.
Now I’m calling for both Kroenke and Arteta to go.
Explain to me why I’m wrong. I’m all ears.
Off topic, but I’m sure you’ll all join me in a hearty laugh at one Tottenham Hotspur.
🤣👏😜👏😜👏😉👏😂👏🤣