Arsenal’s first home game of the season ended in defeat, as goals from Romelu Lukaku and Reece James gave Chelsea a 2-0 win.
In truth, it could have been worse, the visitors dominated the game, with the Belgian striker denied a second by a sensational Bernd Leno save in the second half.
All in all, a bad day at the office.
Read the Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea match report and see the goals here
Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea – Player Ratings
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Same old story. Bright sparks coming from our young talent. Senior players found wanting. I’m not sure I can remember a CB get so twisted by a CF in living memory. Ok, Holding and Mari aren’t first choice. But Lukaku played like they weren’t even there.
I did like the interesting tactic that Chelsea used of passing to their CF though. We need to think about utilising something similar.
Drogba on Senderos you might be thinking
Drogba vs first season Koscielny. Drogba vs…
Every time I log on to Facebook I seem to get greeted by Koscienly getting brutalised by Championship Jason Roberts in the League Cup, we let in 5 that match!
At least Mari can say Lukaku is the most(accumulatively) expensive footballer of all time!
Eden Hazard against the whole back line
Was trying to forget, actually.
The manager choose the players and makes the defence look and play like this.
It’s true. He also chose to focus (once again) during the week of the importance of Granny Xhaka. At what point does a manager start to wonder when all he has to do with a player is defend him due to criticisms of his short-comings, perhaps those short-comings might be legitimate and something different is required? IMO it’s a coin toss of what happens first: (1) Xhaka is finally made a squad player (backup to a Partey-Lokonga midfield – even now an Elneny – Lokonga duo is at least mobile enough to compete), or (2) Arteta loses his job as… Read more »
But Xhaka was man of the match vs France though!!!
The facts that everything is about Xhaka in you PoV makes your opinion not so credible. Not even a fan of Xhaka but most of your comments are about hating Xhaka, Stop it now, it’s creepy and probably unhealthy too
We let in 2 goals from oyr left. Reece james scored in a 352 formation.,he was xhaka’s man to mark but twice that dude was nowhere to be seen. Criticism justified.
Spot on Daveo. I’m tearing my hair out over here. It is so clear for the world to see that he is the main problem with this team. He is so un-dynamic, so ponderous, yet so ball-hungry and touch heavy that it is physically impossible for us to play a fast tempo for 90 minutes with him in the side. Maybe he gets plaudits once in a blue moon in an International, but in the premier league you will get rinsed week after week by faster, more athletic midfields playing like this. It’s not as if this is new. He… Read more »
We played an 80% 2nd string (at best) lineup today. We got the expected result. End of story for me. Move on to better days to come.
Same old story because we are playing the same old players. I’m asking myself when will these Xhaka lovers wake the hell up? He is not good enough for this league, this level and this team. It’s been over 5 years and I still cannot believe how many idiots I see making excuses for him. I had no idea where he was playing today. Constantly getting dragged to the right and leaving Mari exposed. If you’re offering nothing out of possession at least offer something with the ball. But no, the 21 year old next to him made him look… Read more »
Many fans are saying that the players are shite and all that, to an extent I agree. But I am 100% sure this same group of players would be playing wayyyyyyy better football and creating a hatful of chances if someone like Graham Porter is coaching them. If you have watched Brighton for a while now, you’d understand what I am saying. No way do we have worse players than theirs. Arteta’s “system” is not working. It doesn’t matter who is playing at RB these days, Pepe always looks isolated. No one is making overlapping runs behind him, no smart movements… Read more »
Mari and Holding were terrible today. Especially Mari. When that happens, Xhaka gets even more exposed. He was nowhere for the first goal and tierney was left tracking inside because of it leaving the wing completely unmarked. Tierney more at fault for the second goal but it was the same thing…Chelsea did not look that dominant but it was so easy for them to keep charging down our left flank knowing they could easily drag our defense all over the place by doing so. We should have pulled Saka back after that first goal and tried to shore up that… Read more »
I can remember Wenger leaving Chambers to get roasted by a winger at Swansea but to see a full back given the whole of our left side to himself without any intervention seems far worse. Surely players have enough nouse to see this and take action.
Montero, I believe his name is. That was vile.
From about the 5th minute, I saw and said that James is the free man and somebody needs to help out there. Why didn’t the players and manager see and do something about it
See my comment above – Saka looked way off the pace, no tracking back to help Tierney. But why does Mik not (a) know he’s not yet ready for a big game and/or (b) notice it after 20 mins and do something about it!!
This will no doubt get its share of red thumbies – but… Saka did not look anywhere near fit today. Because he’s Bukayo, I’m giving him the benefit that it’s a fitness lag after the off-season (and the other crap he had to deal with). However – he was trudging back at best, while Tierney was trying to (a) cover Mari’s haplessness and (b) contain James’ pace! You state ‘we should have pulled Saka back’… he’s an international player, with a seriously sharp football mind – he should have SEEN what was going on and helped Tierney out. He was… Read more »
Negative Xhaka comments will be upvoted until thursday and by then apparently we’ll be a top 4 side waiting to happen again and any one criticising our ridiculous dependence on the guy will be called a moaner and a pessimist. Rinse and repeat. It’s all becoming a bit of a ground-hog day.
I agree that xhaka isn’t the answer but who would you have played in his place today?
Elneny. He’s actually proven himself in bigger games where his relentless running stops us getting overrun. He is just such a poor partner for Xhaka that everyone bases his games with Xhaka as his everything. Pretty much every time Elneny played with Partey he looked good and also (lo and behold) Partey was free’d up to play a more dominant box-to-box role without the handbrake half on like he plays with alongside xhaka (as he always has in the back of his mind the caution of needing to cover him).
Completely agree. As ‘excused’ as Xhaka is, Mo’Nenny is slagged off.
It’s just weirdly irrational and bears no relation to the on-field displays of the past 2 seasons.
That’s not the point, he should have been sold replace years ago. He is so poor even the master Wenger couldn’t hide the cracks with him in the team. Even Wenger had to regress to slow crab football because we cant play on transitions going forward or back because our ‘best’ midfielder, Captain and Leader is slow as fuck both in thought and in practice. Then you have people giving Auba a hard time when his goals have carried us since hes been here, one poor season (where he still was nearly top scorer) and we should sell him and… Read more »
Granit is an okay player. But if we want to move he should be the squad option NOT first choice. It should be Partey + Xxx CM signing. Then lokonga ang Granit on the bench. And Elneny to Fernerbache.
No, it should be Lokonga and Partey. No question about it. Sambi has shown in two games he has EVERYTHING to be a fantastic midfielder. To block his path with Xhaka or some other mercenary like Neves (also overrated and slow) would be so
criminal[no doubt Neves will be arriving this week…facepalm].Partey was shite for 60% of last year, 20% injured and half-decent for the rest. Lokonga has played two Prem’ games and you think he’s the messiah?
Get a grip and stop scapegoating Xhaka in every single comment you make, your ridiculous bias renders every other thing you say worthless.
Taking any emotion out of it: is Granit Xhaka a top 4 (or even top 6) PL player? Reviewing his displays in an Arsenal shirt over the seasons, I doubt anyone here will categorically say yes?
That’s it then. We want top 4 – we can’t build a team around a midfield engine that can’t meet that standard.
‘Nuff said.
Xhaka is shit. That’s a fact that’s not being bias
Agree, but who is going to play that hold-up role. Lacazette is the only one who profiles as a target man.
Imagine if Chelsea had Lukaku, Azpilucueta and Jorginho out today? Would we honestly expect the same result?
Probably.
I liked this Lukaku kid Chelsea had. We should bid 35million+elneny for him. I think they’ll accept
Little known fact: Grimandi scouted Lukaku and Arsene really fancied him as a teenager. But dithered on the price (too expensive, as usual, during the ‘fund the new stadium’ years) and he went elsewhere.
SImilar story with Eden Hazard – we could have had him for 17m euros but Arsene thought it was over-priced.
Kante would have filled in for Jorginho… and maybe Thiago Silva for Azpilicueta, and they’d have still beaten us. They took their foot off the gas pedal in the second half and still looked more likely to score than we did.
Enough of the excuses, we are shite. Simple
We lost to Brentford 2 -0, so players missing is not an excuse.
You don’t need to look for your striker, it happens naturally when your dominant all over the pitch and the inverse happens when you got no stuffing in the middle.
To be fair to Mari, after he had been done a number of times in the first 30 or so minutes and lost us the game, he decided he wasn’t going to take any more of his shit and was much stronger with Lukaku from then on.
He’s still nowhere near good enough for a CL push.
I was at the hand today. It was insipid.
But Mari & Holding did fine & were far from
Our biggest problems.
Not marking their RB for the whole 1st half was not their idea as far as I can tell. Lacking any threat in the final third also not on them.
There’s a lot riding on Partey & Odegaard to stitch this together now…
The central defender pairing was terrible today. Thing is if our big money signing was available today it would have been no better. Given the treatment White got from Toney it would have been Drogba v Senderos all over again. Or like the time Jonah Lomu ran through that fella in the rugby. The most telling thing about Lukaku today, was how seamlessly he integrated with his teammates. His been there a week. 20 months later and we’re still looking for some cohesion in attack.
Speaking of CFs, a certain chiselled French fella already has 4 for Milan…
And I got slated for saying he was a steal at a million quid?
Those who red-thumbed the above… so you’re then saying we couldn’t use 4 Goals For right now??? At a cost of 250k per goal, getting cheaper with every match he scores!
Arteta gets a zero, again.
sacked in the morning
He won’t be sacked until December.
I don’t understand what we’re waiting for? He’s been absolutely diabolical for well over a season now.
We will be bottom of the league next weekend.
It takes the board 5yrs to see what majority of the fans have seen in just 1 year, such knobheads.
There’s absolutely no potential in this team whatsoever. And the squad is not bad at all, but we’ve put our faith in the wrong man
Lampard had the same squad Tuchel just conquered Europe with.
If the squad is not bad, then surely there must also be potential there?
Yeah — that Chelsea side cost the best part of £400M to put together.
We’ve spent chump change in comparison really.
There’s no way a manager can lose 3 on the bounce in their opening fixtures and turn the season around. That just doesn’t happen. The most likely turn of events is we’re potentially sucked into a relegation dogfight with him I charge and the young squad that we have right now.
A tough pill to swallow, but that is reality.
People can thumb this down all they want, but it is the genuine reality of what we are facing.
Everyone is presuming its easy sailing after City thump us next weekend as if they have not been watching us play the last season and a half under Arteta.
We struggle in basically every single game to get positive results under him, especially at home. Norwich in two weeks time will be absolutely no different.
I think Ben White’s Covid test changed his plans to go with a back 3
Even if that’s true why go with a back 4 over playing KT as the LCB with Nunes LWB or Chambers as the RCB and AMN (something Arteta has also done in the past) as RWB. It isn’t as if Arteta hasn’t played a 3 back system with the players at his disposal before.
Its because it made logical sense which goes against Artetas ‘process’. I have seen Arteta got to 3 at the back for no reason. He had actual reason today and doesn’t and then both goals come from the same side, simple overload. Tierney and Saka in no mans land for both goals. Terrible play and weakness in the build up to both.
But why would that change those plans? We have Chambers, who is basically the same player, who could have played RCB instead
If you coach your team to be meek and passive you’ll lose more than you win however you set up anyway
In a back 3/5, I thought he would have gone with either:
AMN, Chambers, Holding,Mari, Tierney
Or
AMN, Holding, Mari, Tierney, Tavares.
He had plenty options.
It shouldn’t have though
Clear plan. Trust the process. Working hard in training. Made a lot of chances.
I would love Arsenal to be better, but in this game we were against the current European champions who have just improved by buying one of the best CFs in the world. Our best two CBs were both out.
We lost 2-0. I’m not surprised. And it is really not down to Arteta. They had more quality on the pitch than us.
Who’d have thought that a team that’s consistently bought some of the best players in the world over the last 15 years would be better than a team that’s been doing the bare minimum?
This is a 5-10 year job, we need to be patient
That doesn’t excuse Arteta’s persistent mistakes.
It does, we’ve hollowed out all the quality in our squad over the past decade and he, or anyone else for that matter, has a very difficult job.
Is August the new November for us? Can’t wait for it to be over!
Well, we go to the Etihad next. We definitely are going to end
NovemberAugust on a fucking high!Nothing like a good ol’ 4-0 defeat
We need to go younger. Play the 12 year olds, give them a chance.
Obviously a shambolic performance. But, we started four, maybe five, guys who would normally be in our starting 11 if everyone were fit, healthy, and had their work permits. Let’s see what the next few weeks hold.
I like voices of reason, we are still missing key players that should improve us. If we look as bad against Norwich then I’m all for panicking.
Voice of delusion you mean?
…but we looked just as bad against Brentford with pretty much the same squad? And they havent been in the PL since the 40s
The only upside of Partey getting injured is that we get to see how good Lokonga is.
I know I’m dreaming here but if he keeps performing this way, maybe Xhaka could be the one to make way when Thomas comes back.
I so hope that’s the case. Partey & Lokonga is worth a try, for sure.
I hope so too, but Arteta clearly said how important Xhaka is to the team. Who will pass backwards and sideways without Xhaka? He’s irreplaceable for Legoball.
Sambi was very good I thought. I think he’d be even better with both Odegaard and Smith Rowe ahead of him.
If Xhaka doesn’t, then – and you can quote me – I will, for the first time, say #AretaOut.
Not much expectation for next week but god help him if we dont spank Norwich!
Our players
Sambi-Partey double pivot? Yes, Yes.
Seriously. And their bench was loaded with players who would be starters for us. And Tuchel is a class above right now. So this wasn’t really a surprise. Whether you like Arteta or not, any manager is going to need some time with the players we’ve got and just signed.
You realize White is the only player we signed who will be new in our starting 11. Everyone else has been here a minimum of 6 months or was signed as a backup.
The primary issue is how bad our tactics are week after week
I think Ødegaard will be in our starting 11.
Lokonga too, before the season runs out.
I think we’ll sign a right back before the window closes.
Our first team will look something like this:
Leno, RB, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Lokonga (Xhaka), Partey, Ødegaard, ESR, Saka (Pepe), and Auba.
Odegard isn’t new. He was here the last 1/2 of the year. I was responding to the comment that Arteta hasn’t had a chance to work with a lot of his starting 11
This is quite sad to see. It’s not that the excuses aren’t valid but the amount of leeway being given to Arteta that wasn’t afforded to Emery is outstanding. The period in which it started to go bad for Unai was also plagued with injuries/ absences. He had to deal with injuries to Tierney, Lacazette. Xhaka, Luiz, Holding Ceballos and Bellerin affecting his team selection too. We had less back to back defeats in the league under Emery than Arteta but he wasn’t given any grace period to turn things around like Mikel has been. Like with Emery, the negative… Read more »
This is why I was against sacking Emery, and why I’m against sacking Arteta.
Both managers have been trying to fix a fundamentally broken, Imbalanced and unmotivated squad, it’s going to take quite a while for a clear picture to emerge. It definitely won’t be fixed constantly changing managers and direction.
It won’t be fixed giving contract extensions to Xhaka and Aubamayang or by signing Willian and 50m White while sending Saliba on loan. We had the chance to build a new identity and get new leaders in the dressing room (Tierney and Odegaard etc) but that xhaka extension and giving him the armband back makes me question whether anyone there has a clue.
We have had a list of transfer priorities over the past 18 months first of which was getting rid of the disruptive players, second has been replacing them, third has been starting to rebuild the squad. All this takes time and we still need to maintain a squad and remain competitive.
If a club spends a decade or so signing the likes of Squilacci, Chamakh, Jenkinson, Gervinho, Perez, Welbeck etc etc etc it’s going to take a similar amount of time to rebuild!
I agree but since December we were really good. Why have we regressed now?
We were ok since December, we also got schooled by Emery.
One could argue that those injuries to Xhak, Luis and Ceballos actually should have improved things!
*cough* The week after.
I commend your optimism..I mean it. I have none left myself but i admire your strength to still have some.
How sad it is that my favourite part of the year has become the period between the end of one season and the beginning of another.
Please wake me up when this mediocrity is over and we’ll be competitive again
You’re in for major hibernation mode then. Set alarm for 2032.
Tbh need to start including an Arteta rating because the insistence today to defend so narrowly when Xhaka is utterly incapable of covering any space was exploited over and over today.
Not to mention Mari and Holdings lack of pace. All three got dragged all over the place, in slow mo.
We just found our starting pair of CBs.
No. All we know is who not to play.
I feel Cedric covered his wing well. 6.5 for me
Blogs hates Cedric for some reason. His ratings are always ridiculously low. Was he one of our worst players today? Hell no…we got ripped a new one down the left all day…fck all to do with Cedric!
Both things can be true. He’s woeful.
You know why they always attack us from the left side right yesterday?
Tierney and Saka are the golden boys. Awful today but have been our bet performers otherwise. Cedric has just been crap and useless since he got here. Oh he did his jobv today wooh oo.
Because he was not an outlet, cannot dribble past a rocking chair and that’s why he was safer. Still, played everyone onside as he forgot to move with the rest of the defense for their first, then missed several tackles for their second. ESR passing to him is a punishable offense FROM ARTETA as Cedric always delayed the 1-2, almost as slow as Xhaka. Cannot cross well, ask Holding about the cross he made, took ages to fall down and allowed everyone to defend it. Mari was thrown somewhere off the pitch by Mount trying to cover him, so he… Read more »
No other choice for width other than Pepe? Eh? Saka is on the left to do exactly that…and you’re blaming Cedric for both their goals??!! Come on dude get the blinkers off. Cedric was not our problem today.
Maybe Cedric will become our new fall guy, doesn’t matter what he does well or for how long – just one perceived error and he can become the very next biggest arsehole on the planet.
That’s because he didn’t even venture forward.
I wouldn’t go that far but he was better than Tierney until he went off.
He did a better defensive job than Tierney that’s for sure
He wasn’t our main problem today by any stretch. But he’s completely average. Same as AMN, Bellerin and Chambers. We won’t be getting anything out of that position attack wise all year long. But at least Cedric wasn’t leaving gaping holes.
Why do our strikers never get enough help. Been going on too long now
It’s the “system.” Yet, people are expecting the strikers to work magic.
We have seen Auba, Balogun, Martinelli all played upfront now to no effect. Shouldn’t that tell us something? They are not even getting a sniff.
Martineli isn’t a striker. You know that. Don’t you? Balogun is an overrated inexperienced kid.
‘Syetem’. That stops the ball going forward, and avoids the strikers at all costs as we continue to play horsehoe, donut, crab or whatever semi circle football weve been producing under Arteta,
I don’t think Martinelli touched the ball in the first 27 minutes. Amazing.
Because we play 4 defenders and 2 DMF in the middle. It’s such a negative way to play that we don’t get forward and either invite pressure at the back or slow it down, pass it in horseshoe round the area never threaten to get in the box
I thought that Sanbi us pretty decent too. Esp in a high pace match like this that he didn’t allow the match to go past him
That’s probably the only positive
Poor Martinelli running his socks off with no support around him.
Tbh, Pepe work rate has improved. Chasing many loose balls
Pepe was all over the pitch. Pressed, tracked back. Picked out passes. Whatever he was in the past, he’s a top forward now.
There were some real strong positives and we anyways knew the result wouldn’t be in our favor. Need the injured players like Partey, Auba in his full fitness, Saka again in his full fitness and even Laca. Would be exciting to see Odegaard to add more end product to this team. Strongly hope by December we will be in a better position.
I find it hard to believe Saka was just ignoring his tactical instructions by not covering the right wing back for both goals – he just doesn’t seem like the type to go rogue like that. So that means he was either totally unfit – in which case it’s the manager’s fault for playing him – or that it was a deliberate instruction – in which case the manager is insane. Not encouraging either way. Arteta is looking increasingly like Emery did in his last days, out of his depth and lost for ideas – aside from very bad ones,… Read more »
Well, I would love to see his battle against the likes of Lewis Dunk and Coady. Those are proper old school, no-nonsense fuckers. Rudiger looks like another who’d relish a battle against him, unfortunately, he they are in the same side.
Big Rom has played against both Coady and Dunk before. Just watch a Man Utd vs Brighton/Wolves highlight.
Rüdiger would probably nibble on Lukaku’s shiny head if they faced each other.
Lol. Rudiger plays dirty and he does it subtly.
Do you honestly think Lewis Dunk is better than Bonucci and Chielini? That’s who Lukaku was scoring against last year. Mari did no worse than many defenders; he needed help, preferably from Holding. He got some from Tierney instead, which left the Chelsea right completely free.
I only said I would love to watch the battle between him and those guys. I didn’t imply that Dunk is better than anyone.
Agree with the Mari comment, I think some people get too influenced by the crap that commentators come out with when they’re watching at home or reading on here. Before you know it the narrative takes over the group-think and confirmation bias follows and then any semblance of impartial judgment gets lost. Even when it creeps through it tends to get crushed by the inevitable pile on from people defending a position formed via someone else’s prejudices. If more people had the chance to watch matches without someone pouring poison in their ears and eyes we would get a much… Read more »
“If more people had the chance to watch matches without someone pouring poison in their ears and eyes…”
Everyone has the chance – just turn the sound off.
I remembered Mavrapanos gave Lukaku the foot when when he was at MU
Interestingly, if you compared our defenders stats from last season, Mavropanos had the best defensive stats but quite some distance for some measures. Not saying he would have made a difference (and yes stats can be selective etc) but you have to wonder whether our players on loan get a look in.
https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/comparing-ben-whites-2020-21-stats-to-arsenals-current-centre-backs/
Fella called Saliba killing it (again) across the Channel… you cannot, for love or money, tell me that he wouldn’t be better than Mari in that position?
Re: Saka…
It’s clear to see that he is not up to speed yet. Let’s just say the injuries and absences forced Arteta’s hands. Auba only started training a couple of days ago.
It’s all Xhaka’s fault.
See Myrtle and Rex above.
Xhaka picks himself, appoints himself captain, cooks up the tactics.
Woe is Xhaka…
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I do feel kind of sorry for Xhaka. He does his best, not his fault he get’s picked to play in these tactics etc etc
But why sign the contract extension? He must know by now we’re bad for him and he’s bad for us. He’d probably be pretty decent in Serie A, but no one will ever pay us a £20m+ transfer fee to get him
Even Mustafi had the sense not to sign his extension. Nice one Shkodran
The funny thing about the Mustafi contract is that if my memory serves correctly, he was also included in the squad at the expense of Saliba while injured. It was during this time that he was offered a new contract. Absolute farce.
It can be both. Xhaxa has been shit under three managers, Four if you count Ljungberg. Also think your right that its not Xhaxas fault for being selected, being made Captain. What is does is show the dearth of character and leaders we have here that he is always the first name on the team sheet and captains list.
Within 18 months, Ode will be our captain… you heard it here.
Chelsea took pity on us, they just tried to manage the game in the 2nd half. The City match is going to be a classic. I hope Amazon have enough cameras.
City and especially Pep usually take pity on us, can’t see them scoring more than 3 goals.
Sambi the only positive today. And I love me some Saka, but 6.5 is very generous, poor today.
Gotta go with the narratives. Martinelli was also hopeless, yet the only player looking capable of making anything happen, Pepe, gets the same as him (and less than Saka).
True.
Pepe beat 2/3 players, played him (almost) in.
Had to shoot first time, or beat Azpi.
Fumbled the ball.
Narratives.
For the Arteta out crowd (not saying I disagree and am tending to agree more with each performance), the one thing I can’t seem to reconcile is that smart people with their own interests invested in the man seem to believe when they don’t have to. Auba didn’t have to come back and decided to stake the rest of his career in the man. Odegaard, who due to loans has a good deal of experience with a number of managers and styles, spent half a season with the man and ran back to commit his future to him. Ben White… Read more »
They’re footballers. Maybe they’re thick.
“It’s just a flesh wound”
Do you watch us play? Seriously if you see how we have been out coached especially these last two games. Or do you believe Brentford had the better players?
Fair enough. Can someone please identify this year’s Nagelsmaan or Nouveau-Wenger so I can commit to the movement!
Erik ten Hag of Ajax would be a good coach to play the right style (total-football) that Arteta hasn’t managed to do so far. He also has experience in the Champions League and has improved both young + experienced players. Just look at de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, van de Beek, Dolberg, Kluivert, Dest The man has had a couple giant killings against Real Madrid, Spuds and Juventus. All this with a young squad and a modest budget. I’m sure he would like a project where he doesn’t have to sell his best players all the time He would have… Read more »
would overmars come with him?
One could hope. I’m not sure Ajax would be comfortable with that
Auba perhaps signed his last big deal. Odegaard was given plenty of game time and there’s no indication anyone else was interested. Also he only wanted to come back after his future or non-future at Real was clear. Ben White might be ‘well thought of’ but again there’s no indication anyone else was serious about signing him. Especially for the money we paid. These events don’t need to be interpreted as endorsements of Arteta.
Auba was not getting 350 thou a week anywhere else. Nobody was in for Odegaard or White. The last time a player chose to come here when they had other offers was Wenger convincing Sanchez.
Your optimism is welcome and needed right now. I don’t have any left.
We all knew Mari was sub-par, we didn’t see the sense in giving Cedric 4 years, Xhaka is now extended for 3/4 years? Who cannot see that that will be a contract we can’t get rid of in a year or two? It’s like the Ministry of Truth, except we see right through the spin. Now the narrative will be young players to get the fans to accept mediocrity.
Xhaka is only a problem because we have nobody better. If he wasn’t there it would be Elneny… Agree with you on the other two though.
It’s a sad state when on our fanbase taken as a whole (with all it’s overreactions, moodswings and ignorance) have a far better understanding about how to build a squad than the actual professionals given the responsibility
I feel like they didn’t play enough Football Manager growing up
Not very surprising our shit back four had problems today. But our lack of threat going forward is really concerning, with most of our best offensive players starting. Chelseas back three is really good though.
Wish we’d not get so bullied physically.
Rudiger would bully Mike Tyson.
Pablo Mari is making me miss Mustafi
Cudos to Holding for at least showing some pride and fight! eaven if on the wrong end of the pitch, but still…
Everything you want to see in a centre back, Mari is none of that! Weak, no aggression no fight.
Arteta might be a good manager, but it’s clear there is a missmatch between his plans and the talent available. You can’t force total/dominant football, you either have the team or you don’t, you can NOT fake this style!
What’s Arteta’s philosophy? playing from the back bad, defending bad, attacking worst. I will wait till October/November before Arteta out. COYG
We may as well pull the plaster off now. Let’s not write off another full season.
thus is genuis from arteta, lead all teams into a false sense of security with a weakened team THEN BAM!!! we go on a 30 game win streak
We seem to have reverted to where we were at the mid-point of last season: timid, tactically clueless, and bereft of any creativity. I hope the new signings can make a difference but it looks like it’s going to be a long and dispiriting season.
Really disappointed to hear the crowd boo the team off the pitch.
Yes we lost, yes we were outplayed, but how can booing like that possibly help?
What would you preferr? a ‘there there’ chant? It’s Kitchen heat pal!
It got Emery fired, it almost made Xhaka leave the club.
Our manager being fired and Xhaka leaving would both help the team.
(Not that I’m advocating booing the team)
That was bad from the crowd.Honestly, we played better than the Brentford match, its just that Chelsea had every player playing at their best.
We also have major injury crisis at our hand,so such result are expected.
While I dislike Liverpool fans for being insufferable twats, one thing our fans can learn from them is to rally behind the team always, whatever be the circumstances.
After conceding those goals, team looked like they lost confidence,and this may be due to known toxic nature of our fans, otherwise we were doing okay at start, just needed better finishing.
You call that ok? So it’s all good then yeah? plenty of time to get points later when it’s gets easy? Boy is your excuse gona be sweeeet when we draw with Brunley and Norwich(0 0)
“I don’t know how we can expect to move forward with this man at the heart of the team. One of his classic indifferent games.” The fact at the manager sees him as such a key player to hand him back the captaincy brings the whole situation to a whole different level. Its one thing when a team is going through a rough patch, a rebuild, working things out. Its clearly another when you’re just jamming in the stuck screw and saying that that’ll hold the broken table leg up. We have pace on the wings, we should be scary… Read more »
The Tierney-Martinelli combination was dynamite under Emery … .
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted it’s true. Look like complete strangers under Arteta. We should give him to Xmas and wave goodbye if things haven’t improved by then.
I’m assuming we will lose the next two games. If so, it’s time to go.
This was the perfect game to park the bus and nick a goal. Play 3 at the back, ask everyone to defend and nick something from a corner or get a penalty.
I think we were going 3 at the back and then White tested positive for Covid.
So play Tierney LCB and Saka/AMN at LWB or play Chambers RCB and AMN at RWB.
Exactly. Lets not act like were down to the bare bones and he didn’t have numerous options.
Arteta…Logic….NO
Mari is not good enough for the Premier League. Can’t be bothered to write anything else.
With the players that we have we should be smashing lesser teams. Losing to the second best team in the league tells us little.
Losing to Brentford is shocking. We need to destroy Norwich. If we don’t, that spells doom for arteta
We need to beat West Brom mid week!
This is correct, but in my opinion unrelated to the statement of The half.
Beating West Brom shall not be used as an excuse in case we really lose to Norwich and might have 0 points after 4 rounds in the league.
I’d say best in the league, they’re fire, but we should at least match them in some areas, not roll over.
TO 45000 FANS THAT WENT TO THE GAME AND NOT THE PROTEST, THIS IS WHAT YOU DESERVE, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM
What a load of nonsense. If the club are doing their job well, fan sentiment should mean nothing. They should know how to act themselves. That they don’t has got nothing to do with fan apathy and everything to do with their incompetence. If the owners don’t know anything about football (and they don’t) they should put in place a proper board of directors with at least some football knowledge in it. They would take responsibility for hiring a proper director of football and assist them in making the decisions around appointing managers. Instead, we have Josh’s mate as manager… Read more »
The protest was literally about the points you have raised.
10/10 for the fans making their feelings known when Leno tries to timewaste instead of counter attack at 2-0 down, and for Xhaka taking the backwards safe pass every time
Arteta is an experiment- one that has clearly failed. We know his level- 8th or below. There’s been almost 2 years of watching absolute garbage in nearly every game other than a couple of Auba-inspired games in the FA Cup and a fluke win with youngsters (that he hated using in the first place) against Chelsea.
GET. RID.
OK but realistically, who comes in?
Potter
Potter, Ten Hag, Conte
Conte would be a dream, but it’s not realistic, we would’nt dare ask and he’d not respond
Roberto Mancini, Erik ten Hag, Mayor McCheese???
Anyone that can turn these players into a cohesive and progressive unit on the pitch will do tbh
What about Paul Daniels?
There are alot more people suited to this role than a green manager in his first job. A particularly difficult job in itself.
gerardo seoane!!!
The rumble of boos at the end were ominous.
Talk about distant thunder….
So many variables to try to sort through, to try as a fan to figure out what the deeper issues are. Obviously the missing and out of form players hurt us. Obviously Chelsea are UCL champs and with Lukaku look frighteningly good and dominated without trying. Our players just objectively aren’t as good as theirs and their depth is staggering. But it does become obvious that tactically they toyed with us and we were floundering, even before we account for the talent gap. Our pressing looked disorganized, Martinelli on an island and I’m most dismayed that Arteta has put every… Read more »
I love KT but I hear opp supporters talk about they don’t rate him, and sometimes if you’re too bias to really have a look at a player, opp fans will tell you the truth since they have no loyalty or fondness towards the player. Based on his first two games I’m starting to at least understand what they see. Going forward and leadership wise he’s class, but he’s a left back and his positional play in the first two games when defending has been horrendous. He’s either trying to cover others positions when they aren’t where they need to… Read more »
I think/suspect he was told to slot in more centrally and help cover Mari who was targeted by Lukaku. I’ve also heard he’s got long covid (hence the signing of a back up LB despite no European football)
But I am also biased cos I like him 😂.
I miss Giroud. He would be really good holding the ball and distributing it to the youngsters. Such an underated player although he was almost in all our best goals of the last decade. Went to Milan for just 1mil. I know he is 34 but, come on, he is totally worth 1mil.
Probably, but he might not be worth the wages anymore.
Already has 4 goals for them
Today 3 (holding, Chambers and Tierney) at the back with tevares and Niles wing back cos of their athletic ability would have reduced the embarrassing result
We definitely need to invest in a front 3
{Doku, Cunha, Solomon}
And get weston mckennie for CM
Sport isn’t linear. Losing is painful and it hurts , but it’s ✅ done. Arsenal and Arteta needs to play football with the players he has and not the players he thinks he has. Most of them are average especially our B team. He needs to know how to adapt tactically. He doesn’t have the B team of Mancity in his locker. Saying that SmithRowe Sambi and Tavares were technically great. We have some time for our players to rest and heal before Mancity. We move On
IMHO – Bad day at the office for Blogs too. Defensively, Soares was better than Tierney, Mari was better than Holding. ESR definitely differentiated himself more than any other player. Saka was off the pace and dint show maturity to help Tierney. Did Martinelli tough the ball?
Not sure why we’re expecting this Arteta project to suddenly spring to life and bring good football and/or results. Very little evidence to suggest it will. Anyway hope there’s some sort of miracle! Well done fans at the stadium for bringing the positivity.
Not good enough. That was men against boys and could’ve been 7-0, had Chelsea been bothered. Too many are accepting mediocrity. Saka 6.5? Love you Mr ArseBlogs, but no way was he a 6.5. He was fucking shit. And I’d drop him for the next game after that. And we fans need to start saying when players play shit. No matter what Don’t get me wrong, I rate him and think he’ll become a good player…as long as we don’t moddy-coddle him and accept mediocrity. Others were worse than him btw today, Mari and Xhaka were worse (or as bad).… Read more »
Damn, we need a fit flipping squad!! It was always going to be tough beating Chelsea, but it doesn’t help when 3 first team players can’t start cause they got flipping COVID. That along with Gabriel and partey always out injured and us postposing getting Odegaard over the line until the last moments is making us lose points. We need people fit and cracking or this season is going to be so painful!!
“10/10 – the Arsenal fans got behind their team throughout” – bizarre comment considering the fans booed the team off at half-time and full-time.
Yeah they were behind the team for about 15 mins in the first half then Lukaku scored.
I think the crowd were generally as positive as you could expect while the game was played. Getting behind the team with a couple of deserted groans for the usual stupidity.
But the boos at the end of each half for me were more aimed at the manager/club. The players were clapped off both halves too.
They are paying a lot of money to watch trash.
Maybe they were saying “Boo-urns”?
Why could not Arteta Just go for a draw. If we knew we were short in the attacking department. His arrogance or lack of tactics is the issue. It’s not what u have is what u can do with what you have that make a difference for a mid table to move top or bottom
A fairly good start in the first 10 minutes or so but no ‘killer’ punch upfront. It might turn out to be a long season because Arteta seems to have run out of ideas. I cannot possibly see how the new signings so far are going to improve this team. A change of direction might be needed after the City game where I do not anticipate a positive result. The recruitment has been dire and Edu has not helped either.
I’m still trying to figure out how some of these players ended up at Arsenal. Cedric? Mari? Willian, who probably will never play again for Arsenal. Then there are others who had good starts and then grew worse: Torreria, Sead K., Holding. Bellerin (what happened to him). Laca and Auba are no longer productive. Laca obviously hasn’t played, but he was average last season. AMN is probably our best right back but Arteta refuses to play him. Xhaka is not the worst player, but not the best. However, why is he being asked to slip back into the left back… Read more »
Love Saka, but shouldn’t he have provided some cover on the left, considering we were getting ripped on that side? For both the goals, he is not tracking back at all. It’s not his fault, but I found it strange that the team didn’t make some in-game changes to cover the gaps on the left.
This job is bigger than arteta
Dog Shit.
As poor as the defence was today, i think more efforts had to be dedicated to bringing in a pres-resistant central midfielder in the Cazorla mould, a quality right-footed winger to and a center forward. I’d have loved for us to go for someone like Arkadiusz Milik, who, if nothing, would provide us with some kind of focal point to our attack.
Generally agree with your point of view but today I would be rating some players differently 1) Cedric wasn’t exposed defensively as much. Almost all attacks were coming from Tierney’s side and positioning issues between Mari, Saka and Tierney. Him and Rob Holding were at the same rating for me. I thought they both did the job 2) Tierney’s form is a worry. Whether that is support behind or presence in the box, I can’t say but he showing flashes of Kolasinac. He gets the balls on the wing and is lumping into box. If he has been getting found… Read more »
Tiernay was certainly found out in defensive position today, otherwise whenever he played in back three, his defensive positioning was good. But it was more due to the kind of tactics we employed. Since Tiernay is forward almost like a winger, we can’t expect same defensive duties as a traditional defensive fullback. Xhaka or Saka should have been covering some of the Tiernay’s position , but Xhaka mostly gets left behind is transition due to his restricted mobility while Saka was clearly not match fit either physically or mentally. Only strength of Xhaka is considered to be passing and long… Read more »
News flash, we played back 4, he just got sucked in and make it seem he was lcb, never got close to his James.