Result: Brentford 2-0 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 13 August 2021
Venue: Brentford Community Stadium
Arsenal lineup: Leno, Chambers, White, Mari, Tierney, Xhaka, Sambi, Smith Rowe, Pepe, Martinelli, Balogun.
Subs: Hein, Bellerin, Cedric, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Tavares, Elneny, Saka, Nelson
Goals from Sergi Canos and Christian Norgaard helped Brentford to a 2-0 win over an injury-hit Arsenal at the Community Stadium.
The Gunners dominated for long periods and created far more opportunities but the home side’s ruthlessness proved decisive at vital moments of the match.
Given Mikel Arteta’s side face Chelsea and Manchester City in the coming weeks, this was exactly the start we didn’t want.
Pre-game
This time last week, Mikel Arteta could not have envisaged fielding such a young starting lineup for the first game of the season but with ‘illness’ working its way through the camp, the Gunners were shorn of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Lacazette and backup keeper Alex Runarsson.
Thomas Partey, Gabriel and Eddie Nketiah were already nursing injuries so, it was very much a case of make do and mend. The spine of the starting XI were making debuts; Ben White partnered Palo Mari in the centre of defence, Sambi Lokonga tucked in next to captain Granit Xhaka and Flo Balogun led the line. On the flanks, Chambers and Pepe worked the right with Tierney and Martinelli on the left. Emile Smith Rowe, our new number 10, was charged with creating our chances.
Karl Hein got the nod ahead of Arthur Okonkwo to take up a place on a bench that was packed with defenders and not much attacking threat. At least Bukayo Saka made the trip.
First Half
A sunny Friday night in West London, Brentford’s first game in the Premier League and a new stadium at full capacity; unsurprisingly, the atmosphere created by the home fans at kick off was absolutely electric.
Arsenal kept Brentford at arm’s length in the opening 10 minutes but Thomas Frank’s side gradually grew into things. Onyeka headed over the bar on 11 minutes and Mbeumo, played in by Toney, rattled the outside of Leno’s post with a shot from a tight angle.
Back came the Gunners. Pepe and Xhaka combined to find Smith Rowe between the lines and he was close to getting the ball back off Balogun who tried a deft backheel in the box. It was slick football coming in off the right flank.
The home side wrestled back control soon enough and a spell of pressure which included a couple of corners eventually led to an opener. Calum Chambers thought he’d cleared the danger when he hacked away but the ball was returned by the Bees midfield to his area of the pitch where Sergi Canos stepped inside onto his right foot and fired home a low drive that beat Leno at his near post. (1-0)
Nervous about Brentford’s high press, Leno’s policy was to go long on his goal kicks. It wasn’t necessarily the wrong decision but the fact we won so little ball in the air in midfield repeatedly left us on the back foot. Concerted spells of possession were few and far between in the first 30 minutes and that continued to buoy the home side. Mbeumo, the dangerous French forward, should have doubled the lead when he wriggled clear of Pablo Mari and White in the box before firing wide.
The Gunners continued to huff and puff in the final third and when we did play a penetrating pass, our touch or finishing let us down. Tierney fizzed a cross into Balogun who tried to spin but couldn’t keep the ball close enough before Brentford cleared the danger and Pepe tried two curlers; the first went wide, the second was blocked at close quarters.
Second Half
Thanks to the urgency of Smith Rowe and some bright touches by Lokonga, Arsenal took the game by the scruff of the neck in the opening stages. Tierney tested Raya’s handling with a low driven cross before Smith Rowe tested the Spaniard from just inside the box after a great turn and driving run through the middle.
Unable to find an equaliser, Arteta turned to Saka to add extra impetus to the attack. The England international, greeted by a rousing standing ovation from the home fans, took over from Balogun meaning Martinelli went up top.
Lokonga tried his luck with a shot straight into Raya’s arms and Tierney lashed one with his right foot that was deflected just wide. It was the closest we’d come. From the resulting corner, Martinelli flicked a header just wide.
At the other end, Leno beat away a Canos effort and then did very well to stop an Mbeumo effort even though the flag went up afterwards.
Arsenal kept plugging away and continued to win a lot of balls high up the pitch but our failure to finish proved costly. Xhaka’s half volley came within inches of an equaliser.
Two minutes later, the home side doubled their lead in the most agricultural fashion. A long throw to the near post should have been met by Pablo Mari but under pressure, he missed the ball and at the back post Norgaard met the bouncing ball to head in from three yards out. Leno was clearly being blocked on his line but VAR ignored the German’s claims of a foul. (2-0)
Norgaard came very close to adding a third with another header as he connected with a corner at the near post. With so few options on the bench, Arteta chucked on Tavares to sit behind Nelson, also on as a sub, on the right. It was a change made more in hope than expectation as the clock ticked down.
The Portuguese’s first involvement saw him shoot over as he cut in from the right. Xhaka sent another effort wide not long after. The frustration was clearly building. To be fair, we kept going. Saka and Smith Rowe combined to release Tierney whose cross was met first time by Pepe. Raya made a fantastic save. It was our best move of the match.
Arteta paced the touchline clearly seething. He’ll take some heart from the way we dominated the second half but the problems are the same as last season. Scoring goals is a problem. He has 19 days of the transfer window to find a solution or it will be more of the same.
ha. All our pre season hopes are short lived.
Sideways and backwards passing, no penetration thru the middle, wingers isolated, amateurish defense. Same sh*t, different season. 8th spot incoming.
I called it earlier, Arteta’s tactics are useless. He’s a poor man’s Pep. Even if he manages to get us playing like Pep, we’d be a second rate City. Pointless AF.
Everybody creaming about our second half of last season. Yet the two most important games (Villareal semi) we bottled it.
tbf we played like this during pre season too
Exactly why I said I called it. Slow labored build up play. And on the same day we sold our most energetic, box to box midfielder with an ability to score goals, for a mere £20M.
5 games in and if we’re still playing like this both Edu and Arteta has to go. The only times any decent corporation would take somebody in with no actual valid experience, is when they’re absolute geniuses. And at this rate both of them are a long way a way from being at an exceptional level.
The club is full of phoneys, from the top down…
Xhaka on verge of leaving club two weeks ago and today wearing captains armband. We have fallen so far.
I wouldn’t single out any player. It’s really Arteta and his stupid system. Watch what we do when we have possession, it’ll always be Leno – Mari – White – Chambers – White – Mari – Tierney – boot it long and lose possession. Or at best we get the ball up the wings to our wingbacks, and cross it in hoping for the best. Our wingers and number 10 are always left isolated or fighting for long balls which in most probability they’ll lose. Watch when Pepe has the ball, he’d already have 2 Brentford players on him. Always.… Read more »
The point is we are picking a player to captain the Arsenal who wanted to wants to leave the club. There’s a cancer running through the club. From the top to the team. In my lifetime captaining The Arsenal is a huge honour, not given to someone who don’t want to be here. Rant over. Season over.
Hmm, mot of the starting 11 were pretty bad, aside from ESR. Not really sure why Mari is picked ahead of Holding, is he really that much better? Leno should have been better for the 2nd, need to be attacking that one, at least go thru the player trying to punch it.
I think Holding is actually better than Mari and has been the more consistent of all our defenders. The only reasons i see for Mari starting ahead of him is because he is left footed and Holding only now returned from whatever injury it was that kept him out of the Spurs game.
EVERY single time Pepe had the ball on the right today, he was surrounded by at least 3 Brentford players with very little support from Chambers and intelligent movement around him.
The “system” is so lopsided and we will continue to struggle to create meaningful chances with it.
I don’t know why im met with resistance when i say the current Arsenal job is too big for a guy in his first ever job as a manager. Im the one that gets looke at like im crazy. When people have handed over one of the biggest clubs in the world in transition to a green manager and whatever title Edu holds.
The psychological term is called gaslighting – i.e when a group of people pressure you into thinking your own thoughts and beliefs are invalid nor based in reality when there are genuine grounds for said thoughts. One interesting sentence I noticed in the article was: “Two minutes later, the home side doubled their lead in the most agricultural fashion.” Brentford scored their second from a rehearsed tactic but according to the author, this is an “agricultural” aka rudimentary way of scoring a goal. I think this a mentality that is quite common in this fanbase. People and tactics that do… Read more »
Man, get over yourself.
He is right, though
Noted👍
Problem is people like yourself were ‘Wenger out’ and ‘Emery out… Now ‘Arteta out’ at some point we have to realise our decline is bigger than a change in manager.
But hiring unfit managers isn’t going to help.
Arsene needed to go, Emery went for not being great, also not being Arsene and was nowhere near as bad as Arteta. He actually has a track record to justify being hired in the first place.
.
But what’s mystifying was the irrational clamour for Arteta to replace Emery and the continued support for Arteta’s fabled ‘process’ despite the lack of evidence that there is a process
Xhaka is the least of our problems.
No. Xhaka is emblematic of our problems.
Hes total kack.
Absolutely. We might not be able to blame the manager for the poor recruitment strategy BUT we sure as shit can blame him for utterly disrespecting the fans and not judging the climate by making Xhaka captain. Pathetic.
We fell 19 places today alone.
From top to bottom in the blink of an eye
The world has ended.
Not yet…We will see after the Man city game.
Wenger In
Who had pre season hopes? We haven’t addressed any of the problems. No goals, no creators, no right back and no GK. Sambi is a pleasant surprise and looks really good but we are going to be exactly the same, if not worse than last season, unless we make some very good signings.
Goal keeper absolute liability and every team will just press and press as he is a bag of nerves.
Watched Martinez’s interview the other day where he spoke about being loaned out 6 times made him fall out of love with football. He comes back finally gets his break and is a MASSIVE factor why we won the Fa cup and finished that season impressively, which led to some of the faith Arteta has….so how does Arteta repay this…..Its disgusting. The other side of this is Martinez is the keeper we had to sell because no one was in for Leno and we need cash because our owner refused to stump up the cash for Partey.
Hindsight is 2020. At the time it was the rational decision to make with the sample size of data available. Leno played well until then and was better with his feet. Get over it. He’s gone. Look forward.
That wasn’t hindsight. It was money and disloyalty.
When a player is playing better than another in the same position that player plays. Leno better with his feet’ FUCK OFF. How many mistakes did Martinez make with his feet? Better then Leno in every feasible department of goalkeeping. Which does not make Leno bad just not as good.
It wasn’t a rational decision to sell the better goalkeeper because nobody wanted the other one. We actually weakened the team and created a massive problem which wasn’t there. Leno has always been poor with his feet, his distribution is crap, the team don’t trust him.
Leno was never better with his feet. Infact his distribution( with hands and feet), speed of thought and decision making was poorer than Emi’s generally.
Well said. Well said. Why would you let that guy go when he played like he did winning the FA Cup? I don’t understand the moves this guy makes
Dude. WTF are you on about?
Jaysus. Wale up. Its 2021. Hes gone. Deal.
Oh dear. Someone’s tired.
Look, everyone (except perhaps Arteta) knows we sold the better keeper and that’s a contributory factor as to why we’re struggling now.
What part of that do you not understand……?
And we’ve not had Partey either, £45million and he’s always bloody injured,
Do you think he goes out into training or takes the pitch actively wanting to get injured………………?
Before he joined us, he had a clean bill of health.
Go figure.
If you had hopes that’s really on you at this point.
We shouldn’t need good signings to beat Brentford comfortably. It’s really not about spending more money
Excellent point.
This was a massive embarrassment.
MA on thin ice. This bullshit is on him.
I’ve been saying this for ages.
It’s not the players – it’s the way they’re being ordered to play.
Signings won’t do it in my opinion. At this rate I haven’t seen anything from Arteta that convinces me. Not even our second half of last season when we fluked it.
Amongst Martinelli, Pepe, Balogun, then Reiss and Saka I’m almost certain none of them had a shot on target. Some didn’t have any shot at all. That’s purely a game approach and tactical or training error. You really can’t be saying it’s the players.
Pepe had a wonderful shot towards the end of the game that was saved by Raya.
Yeah I forgot about that one. Just goes to show there really aren’t many shots in the game.
I remember we were meant to buy that guy as back up last season but we brought Runarsson. Another fantastic piece of business by Arteta.
Yeah I agree. Same old team. Not much different from last years mess. Can’t even score on a newly promoted side. No threat anywhere. Sad
Well that went exactly as expected. Long season ahead of us…
Dare I say it, we have massively overspent on White. To small for cb.
Even with English Tax, it was obvious that we have spent probably £20m too much on him. He’d literally have to become one of the world’s best CBs to make his price tag worth it.
You think? Completely bossed by Toney today. Where was the ball carrying press breaking pass master. Can’t cut it against Brentford then what hope against better teams.
Don’t trust Arteta’s judgement on any player TBH, so I never thought it was a good deal. Especially when we’ve got other areas of the pitch we could’ve spent money on. Burnt bridges with Saliba now, so we’ve not only wasted £50m on White, but are going to lose a shit-load on Saliba as well.
Absolutely no signs that Saliba was anything other than a piece of Sanllehi chicanery.
Funny thing is Saliba seems exactly what we need, like a bigger more physical White who’s good in the air, yet we loan him out and spend 50m on White….
and then complain that we cant score goals even thats been a problem your entire tenure. But You have brought Nothing but shit Cbs and still have 3 shit RBS on the books. Arteta is trash.
Thats not his remit tho.
Slow your roll there, sparky.
White excellent as right side of three at the back. Like he was at Brighton.
Utter tosh.
Rubbish. He played well.
Neither goal was his fault.
We’d probably NEVER be a serious club again until the Kroenke’s pack their fucking bags. What a useless owner we have got ouselves
Who would down vote kroenke out? That is obviously desirable
#artetaout.
guys not kidding, if we want europe nxt season. we need to get edu and arteta out of this club as soon as possible.
xhaka being xtended, and we gona bring odegaard – who with all due respect is an current arsenal level player.
We being managed badly. Its gng to be a long season.
I disagree with “as soon as possible” – going into the remainder of the transfer window with no manager and no director of football would be madness. I mean, who’d be identifying the players the team needs in that situation, Josh Kroenke? But once the window’s closed, if things haven’t improved then I fully agree that they’re on very thin ice.
And who comes in to replace them?
Big Sam 🙁
Someone who isn’t Kroenke, Edu or Arteta.
Not sure what tactics he plays tbh, isolates our forwards dead and makes Tierney our number 10. May be we should accept that Arteta is out of his depth here..
I wonder who makes the footballing decisions at Arsenal? Whose idea was to appoint edu and Arteta who’ve never manager a club at any level in their life..
It was the Holy Trinity of Raul, Ivan & the Kroenkes.
Kroenkes don’t know sh!t, they know nothing about football apart from maybe when someone scores. I think Ivan had already left and Raul wouldn’t really pick his own replacement. I am just wondering who’s the football man in the boardroom. Who will pull the plug on edu or Arteta and has the knowledge and contacts to bring someone more competent in. Who is higher than Edu and if there’s one then what does he/she know about football. Absolutely clueless whoever that is.. no amount of money will change anything. Arteta is not the man. He hasn’t improved a single player… Read more »
Exactly. Glad somebody else sees that too.
They clearly had no idea other than “let’s get previously liked players to shield our decision-making process”. If it worked with Wenger, how badly could it get after the terrible mistake that was Emery?
Well, now we’re seeing how badly…
Get the excuses out the way early: First game of the season rust, injury and illness affected squad, playing a team full of confidence…
That was still a dreadful performance, particularly in the first half. The only players to come out of that with any credit were ESR, Tierney and Saka
Do not forget that handbrake!
Saka did the square root of fuck all when he came on. Not that I blame him, I just find people decide how players played based on their own preconceptions.
You tell your fellow Gooners over and over again that we’re not getting anywhere with this manager. Yet they still expect a miraculous turnaround. 2.5 months of pre-season and we’re still passing it to Tierney for chance creation. We would still have lost this game with Lacazette and Auba available.
“poor man’s Pep” – Spot on!
or Pep without the billions of City, without the german mega-machine Bayern, or without the genius of Iniesta, Xavi and Messi.
And the funny thing is: when Arteta gave up this tiki-taka mania – We/He won the FA cup and the Community Shield…
Spot on.
Mate, he’s not even a poor man’s Moyes atm. Moyes is doing much better with a worse squad..
A poor man’s Juande Ramos, then?
I honestly wouldn’t even trust Arteta with billions. How have we spent 50M on White and refusing to spend 25M to get a creative midfielder like Auoar?
Thank the heavens they pulled out of the Ramsdale deal. That would have been more money wasted.
Pep at least coached a b team or two before he got the Barca job.
I would take 8th place any day, because this team can just as well get 18th place!
Haha. My heart can only take so much.
I’m thinking 8th might be a bit optimistic
We will be lucky to get 8th the way things are looking with the transfer business (or lack of it) that we’ve done.
Appointing a coach who has never been the head coach ever before…anywhere, tells you that the powers that be no fu** all about football and our club.
This is the first ever arsenal match without positives, one conclusion I’ve made from this game is coaching is holding arsenal back and not about signings, if we played a City or Chelsea and lost, I would have gone for the latter, but Brentford just proved that arteta is a liability rather than an asset, at best he’s a youth team coach, since becoming arsenal coach (1)No football Identity (2)Poor game plan and tactics, (3) Poor player development (4) Poor player purchase. Tell me which player have developed under him, very very negative football… He’s reaction said it all, that… Read more »
Wow, you really are fabulous. What a caller you are. Would you call me a taxi while you’re at it.
Can I just ask… how did you not see that coming? The only reason I am not fucking absolutely raging right now is down to the fact I saw this result coming a mile away. Our entire preseason we played with that same lack of creativity and lack of potency. This is Arteta — it’s how he plays at the moment, because he’s a hugely inexperienced manager. So much so, I’d even argue the Championship is too difficult for him. It’s not his fault anymore, it’s the incompetency above him that couldn’t tell he should’ve been moved on in November… Read more »
Arteta or tactics are not the problem. Its the absence of chance creators.
Smith Rowe is not a high volume through ball chance creator. He is a link-up guy. We have no chance creator in our team.
We actually need two players who create. One starter, and one 10-15M young player to deputise and grow. From zero, to two creative players in the squad. This team is a chore to watch. Arsene wouldn’t give us DM safety but the football was always exciting. This is worse.
Out of curiosity would you call Ozil a chance creator then?
Yes, amongst the elite chance creators. But the game left him behind and he couldn’t adapt to the modern game. Ozil is not impressing in Turkey right now, and neither would have worked here anymore.
Thanks Aterta for the attempt. Wish you the best.
“leaving arsenal is such a big step”
How have the mighty fallen
The other P.L clubs would have been laughing at this match, arsenal have become a laughing stock, can DStv please refund my subscription money?
How did you manage to reverse what he meant🤣🤣🤣
We play like two different teams combined; and they’re both mid table..
You are being too generous
We have decent talent in a lot of areas, but our tactics are just so poor. We looked like the freshly promoted side while Brentford had a clear plan to put us under pressure & counter. We dominate possession but do so little with it.
My thoughts exactly. Like it was said in commentary ESR and Tierney didn’t deserve to be on the losing side, and a few of our other players has decent games like Lakonga, but we just don’t seem to be able to string it together into an effective performance. So few real chances. Brentford seemed to do so much more with the ball when they had it and make it so much more difficult for us when they didn’t than we did to them. We’ve got decent players, they’re not individually playing horrendously, but we just never looked effective
Its pretty clear the team doesn’t have the quality to dominate possession and break down a deep, organized defense. To be fair, that’s hard for any team, but this team doesn’t seem to have a plan.
Maybe sit deeper and counter. Of course, the way we defend and play out from the back makes me shudder at the thought.
Lol. And to think our fucking technical director is gallivanting all around the place when he should be fixing things.
I know, he should have his alone time. But I don’t see key decision makers of other clubs gallivanting all over the place at a crucial time like this.
We really are not a serious club at the moment.
A club owned by a clown and led by clowns.
I think this is the point, we are not a serious club anymore.
The owners are only there for the investment, the players and their agents only for the easy money, the management for their own egos.
The club appears to be run by agents out to fill their pockets and rotate their ‘stock’ around top division clubs.
Wenger famously refused to deal with these parasites, and because of this we missed out on signing several players. But we were then a club with dignity, now we’re an empty shell.
Send in the clowns..oh..they’re already here
We are very good at making the opponent look good. The only thing missing from the defense today was Mustafi. Also, I miss Wenger.
You can only dream of that 4th place trophy!
Wait but mari played
But we replaced Mustafi. We got Mari now.
What is even worse; we replaced Sokratis, a very limited player who at least could defend, with Mari, who is a very limited player, but at least can not defend. Best deal ever.
The English Mustafi was there.
odds on arteta being the first manager sacked this year?
abysmal performance; no tactics; no organization; no preparation; no plan
Amen to that. Our biggest threat was Kieran Tierney, absolutely abysmal. If I see 5 or more passes being strung around our back 5 again I’ll lose my f*cking mind.
I absolutely agree, what other team constantly passes around the back? all the while we let the opposition regroup. We do it over and over again, it’s absolutely insane and infuriating to watch. I really wanted it to work for Arteta but we’ve had a horrible pre season and we probably won’t even make top ten. From the last two to three years of the wenger reign we have done worse year after year, we keep dropping down positions every year. I predict 11th position sadly 😥
But you see we didn’t get to fly to Miami so it wasn’t a proper pre-season. Let’s give him another year.
Not with KSE running the show.
they own 3 of the sports teams in my area, i know how awful they are at basically everything when it comes to sports management- always after a quick fix instead of addressing substantive problems (just like american corporations are run) and building a structure for success.
They keep pouring money in but have fools running the show. I guess as long as it’s profitable they just don’t care.
Arteta out
Yep, first time I’ve agreed with this but he’s not up to the task. When did Arsenal become a club that rookie managers cut their teeth? How low have we sunk?
Everyone out! This club needs an enema!
A full on Kroenkenoscopy
The highlight of the game was having 3 RBs on the bench and then bringing on a LB as RB
Yea, I realised the same thing.
Wonder if this was sending a message to Bellerin and his agent…
Would have been better to have sent a message to the fans by having someone start at right back who is capable of playing there.
¡jajaja! But Cedric is a specialist, we need a team of specialists.
Thumbs up for Artena in…
I’d give Artena a shot, can’t do much worse than Arteta
Artena sounds like a vaccine. Arteta sounds like a loser right now. Thanks for the FA Cup trophy but it seems you’ve hit a ceiling. Time to go.
More like a mish mash of ayrton senna
we could have zidane by monday!
Name a manager that can do anything with the shit we have.
Mari, Chambers, Pepe, Xhaka, Nelson, plus those that we didn’t see today are just not good enough.
Enjoy the season guys
You think Brentford have superior players?
There are 19 other managers in the PL who could do a better job with the players we have.
any coincidence every player that leaves arsenal becomes a superstar? Players might be looking bad but its the setup and how they are managed IMO
It’s not the players, it’s the way they’re being ordered to play by the manager.
Most of these guys are internationals, a good many of them full internationals.
They didn’t get to become full internationals playing for Mikel Arteta.
Just shit.
Might be nearly time for Edu to finish his holiday and get some frickin work done
I wouldn’t mind giving Edu a extended leave of absence.
Yeah. Permanently.
Edu’s position is becoming untenable. We need a proper and established football director. Arteta has not been great, but you haven’t given him enough new players. We are playing with essentially the same team as last season.
And they’re even worse now. Isn’t anyone coaching them?
Fucking embarrassing.
ARTETA OUT.
Majority of the fans on this platform hounded you last season.
Right. Because qeualitee is a douche.
The main problem is the lack of accountability at the top level. The owners don’t care if this team wins or loses as long as the money keeps rolling in. Hate to say it but Chelsea are a perfect example of an owner actually giving a shit about the club, along with the likes of Man City, owners who care more about the honours than the dollars. Now Villa and Everton are heading in the same direction, more competition for us. The likes of Arteta, Edu and Vinai know their jobs are safe because they don’t really have anybody to… Read more »
You’re preaching to the converted. I’ve wanted Kroenke gone for a decade and Arteta gone for a year.
Arteta sent Saliba away and bought a short centre back. Then we get bullied in the air and lose £50m when we needed a creative player. Mikel has already spent a fortune since he took over and we are definitely worse.
I’ve seen enough of budget City triangles and pre-planned slow manoeuvres that don’t bother the opposition. How much more do we have to watch?
I’d guess a full season at least. Unless we are literally flirting with relegation at any point past Christmas (which is possible since we are safely on track for 0 points by the international break by my estimations), they just won’t fire him. Spineless owners who really couldn’t care less about the club.
We don’t play triangles. More like sideways and backways. No through balls ever. Always making the safe pass to the wing backs for a cross. Even idiots know how to defend against this monotone pattern. When we’re behind we do the same thing still, only faster.
Arteta made us weaker with every transfer window and the football we play is boring.
We are in decline ever since he has taken over. Just have a look. The best footbal Arsenal played under Arteta was december 19/ january 20. Before he was promoted manager.
We want get anywhere near 8 spot with him in charge. We may lack real quality in few positions but even average manager would have tthese players plaxing better and more attractive footbal.
ARTETA OUT!
Sad we will see more games like this before action is taken
ArtetaOut
Knew this was gonna be tough and it proved to be.
We will be bottom of the league after three games. I’m already done with this season, in record time.
All you guys need is to adjust your expectations. I now watch Arsenal games as clown shows. Trust me you’ll feel better. I especially enjoy the second goal. Although I must admit our short corner routines are not far behind that
We’re already bottom of the league, so we’ve exceeded your expectations.
The amount of potential in this young team is endless.
Now I only want to see it being utilized by the right man which is clearly not Mikel…
Some of these young kids are overrated. Martineli is on top of that list. Extremely disorganized footballer. Balogun is another overated dude. He needs to organize his skills. Lokonga is pretty organized though. I can see in him what we thought we had in guendouzi. And why can’t arsenal just sign forwards. We are extremely needy. Unfortunately the sick duo of aubameyang and lacazete can’t save us.
It’s not the players. It’s the way they’re being asked to play.
One of these days the penny will finally drop…..
Spending 50 mil on ben white, when there are clearly bigger issues in this team. Arteta getting fired will be completely his own doing.
And when we get bullied in the air by teams lumping it into the box.
No particular method of playing? No verticality? No chance creation from the center? Just the LB making crosses and cutting back relentlessly?
This looks like Emery. This feels like Emery.
I think the down votes are because it was more entertaining with Emery and he won more matches:-)
at least the press conferences with emery were fun
Emery lost the Europa cup final,scored a few goals and finished 5th, miles ahead of this lego headed sham
Emery beat us not to long ago with an inferior team and just gave Chelsea a real good game. Also finished 5th and got to the Europa league final. Better than anything Arteta achieved. Fa cup was a stroke of luck aided by Martinez who he decided to sell and the last greatness we saw off Auba.
I remember when people used to bemoan the fact that we did that but with Kolasinac instead. We’re right back there now.
I refuse to let Arsenal ruin my weekends 🙂. We are dross, and I’m learning to live with it!
Same here. I used to lie awake all night feeling angry, but think I’ll sleep fine tonight.
Arteta’s helped me immensely with not letting Arsenal affect my mood. Win or lose we play like shit anyway.
Speechless. We had all summer for this!!!!!!
Positives. The all or nothing series gonna be funny. That midfield looks so boring I swear. No excitement. I don’t see a team looking at us and be scared one bit. And that bench strength…
Oh right, yeah that could be a blast, imagine if he’s sacked while they’re filming it…
They’ll just minimise his camera time just like they did Pochettino
Mari and Chambers are not good enough.
To play against Brentford?
To play for Arsenal. They were dire.
So was White. Totally bossed by Toney.
I really like Sambi
First start and he’s our best player. He’s probably already looking for a way out of this.
KT was clearly our best player.
I thought we had got ourselves the next Santi Cazorla on Dani Ceballos’ first game too.
A real good player in there only going ot be dragged down byu the trash beside him. Players used to grow up at he heels of Vieira, Fabregas and even Cazorla. Now They have Granit and Elneny.
I didn’t expect anything else. Sorry to say it.
Arteta has been an absolute disaster from the very start- make no mistake about it. Forget a flukey FA Cup win, the league is what matters and he’s simply shocking. 2 years and we still have no coherent style and our attack is non-existent. He’s been with Pep for years yet he’s the most negative manager I’ve seen at Arsenal, even Emery wasn’t this bad. Get rid of this clown, we have no loyalty towards him, he’s not legend, just a mediocre player for us and a mediocre manager.
This is a coach who is apparently excellent tactically, yet I’ve never seen Arsenal so poorly coached in all my years supporting them as they are under Arteta. We’re a club with a limited budget but apparently this guy needs money to succeed? What’s the point in hiring a novice then if he needs a fortune of money?
Dear Arsenal Fan: for your health’s sake get some other hobbies (have you tried playing the guitar), talk to your family, get a pet, go for long nature walks. This is going to be a very testing season.
Feel like there should be 90 minute hobbies for Arsenal fans arranged on match days.
How about we all just knit or paint. It’ll be more appealing than the sideways football. Who knows, we may even sell a painting before the players Edu is trying to sell.
Might take up gardening. Probably more interesting.
Talk to my family? Things are bad, but not that bad.
Absolutely fantastic start from the boys this season! So glad we learned our lessons, bought 900 centre backs and have them defend from set pieces properly. Fantastic.
Chelsea and City next and we will absolutely crush them! That midfield was so good, we really controlled the game with the new youngsters. Champions League next season and maybe even the treble??? Looks like it!! Amazing!
Love this
I was watching a spider weave a web marvelling at the brilliance and tenacity of the tiny creature. What remarkable creatures they are.
Years ago I seem to remember everyone bemoaning the fact we couldn’t get our transfer business done before the season started it was after the trashing at Old Trafford and we had just bought arteta etc.
Here we are again starting the season probably 9 points behind the leaders after 3 games and what we do the second half of the season won’t make any more difference then it did last season.
I honestly feel like a Newcastle supporter and krone is the USA version of Mike Ashley.
To be fair to Newcastle, they needed a dynamic, goal scoring midfielder and signed Joe Willock. We also needed a dynamic, goal scoring midfielder and we… erm.. sold Joe Willock??
Christ how shit this is! I’m paying 40 quid a month to watch this feeble bollocks until May? Thank fuck I get Bundesliga, movies and series with my package because Arsenal are a TOTAL waste of mine and everyone else’s time.
Don’t worry lads, we’ll pick up points in our next two games against *checks notes* Chelsea and City!
Wake me when it’s over….
Depending on the manner of the defeats, Arteta could be gone earlier than expected.
Arteta is the Teflon Don of football. It will take more than three consecutive defeats for the board to send him walking.
Should stop all the transfers now. At least save some funds for the next manager.
It’s Kroenke’s money anyway, I stopped caring.
how the fk does auba and laca manage to pull a sickie together on the day of?
Unfit.. It’s the same team but a bit worse.
sambi showed some glances of… .. uh we need a right back an ödegaard a.. oh wait no i’m too mentally fractured to .. confused. I’m broken. This is total arse.
Sure there’s another VAR decision or indecision that will get overlooked, but what’s it matter 1-0 2-0,. we were still nilled.
I think I’ll give it until the end of the season to make sense of it all.
Only then will I know what happened. Until such time I will ostrich my brain and emotions because this is not worth my mental health.
is your name reference to the place or the syndrome.
Covid
How do they manage.. Where are the precautions. How come they aren’t vaccinated anyhow? I don’t understand anything..
I had expected us to lose. They are pumped, positive, just enjoying playing football, at home. In PL after how many years, 50? And we are a shambles, on and off the pitch. With no plan, heart or any idea who we are or where we wanna go. It comes from the owners and then to the management of the club, then to Mikel, who has shown he is not the guy for us. And I was over the moon when he came. He is also just a day younger than me, I loved him on so many versions of… Read more »
Was at the match tonight sitting in Brentford seats, courtesy of a friend. It was one of the most painful nights I can remember, sitting among fans who have every reason to feel positive about their team. They bossed it for most of the first half and even though we played better early in the second half we couldn’t deal with their forays into our area. They are ruthlessly efficient and we are a mess. Lots of individual talent. No cohesion from us. Arteta is out of his depth.
New season, same old shit.
This is what happens when you fail to address deep-rooted problems.
We’ll finish outside the top six again.
Arteta, Stan and Josh out now!
And Edu!
👍
Yep, director of football who lets the manager make decisions for him. The only reason we got those relatively cheap deals for Lokonga and Tavares was because Thierry Henry and Vincent Kompany recommended Lokonga and Tavares has links to Jorge Mendes. Only knows how to use his little black book.
We look Worse. Others below us look better. We will finish lower than 8th.
“We announce today that the decision has been taken to part company with our head coach Mikel Arteta and his coaching team. Speaking on behalf of the Arsenal board and our owners Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, Josh Kroenke said: “Our most sincere thanks go to Mikel and his colleagues who were unrelenting in their efforts to get the club back to competing at the level we all expect and demand. We wish Mikel and his team nothing but future success.” The decision has been taken due to results and performances not being at the level required. We have asked Per… Read more »
The truest thing about this is that rather than talking to someone ahead of time, they’ll have nobody lined up for when he inevitably does get sacked, and there will be no coaches left to take control of the team.
Do you put a newly promoted team on the back foot from the start by playing your best (international) forward, or offer them up a complete tyro (zero league goals; ditto starts)?
Do you buy a central defender who can take a few steps forward before releasing a pass, or one who might win the odd header against a centre forward?
Look, a better manager could still win or draw with this team! Arteta is clueless
100% agree. The players are on the whole so much better than the oppositions. So it must be how they are managed.
Beaten by Brentford, friggin Brentford.
Why disrespect them? Did you see how we played? Did you pay any attention to them? Of course they won. They deserved it!
I forsee a Yazz song title for tomorrow’s blog
Totally irrelevant but how the fuck wasn’t that a foul on Leno? We had 5 clear camera angles.
Not even a mention from commentators. Clearly not part of their narrative tonight that VAR/ Refereeing is going to be better
Because it’s Arsenal, like the foul on Balogun that should’ve been a pen. Brentford and their fans are carrying on like they’ve won the fucking Champions League, and we allowed them to do that.
Fair play to them. They took us on and ripped us a new one.
We didn’t lose because of the ref. We lost because we are utter shit.
This club is being run by an owner who doesn’t give a shit, a technical director who wants to spend his life on the beach and a manager out of his depth and intent on boring us all to death with LEGOball.
Brentford’s joy is neither here nor there.
Agree that was a totally blatant foul obvious in real time and clear in the replays. Leno could have cleared it at the near post.
I have my doubts if he would have cleared it but I think he would have tried (and possible punched air).
Which still means he was impeded; hence, a foul.
Jannsen’s silly foul ruling outa great chance to put the game to bed…
TBH Leno has got to put his big boy pants on and not get pushed out of the way, he’s got to be stronger/better than that. Why is he in the net when they score?
It might be a foul but why are Leno letting himself be obstructed? He’s just standing there accepting being bullied.
The tackle by Onyeka on Tierney should have received a yellow card but Michael Oliver is statistically the EPL referee who is most lenient with fouls on Arsenal players. He is also joint first for handing out cautions to Arsenal players. In the days of yesteryear, most of us wouldn’t have paid as much attention because we’d usually already be 2-0 up by the time Leno was obstructed. I think the match commentary tonight was a little too one-sided and a bit unprofessional at times. I don’t know what all that VAR referee praise was all about as it didn’t… Read more »
Well, that went well didn’t it! Something is terribly wrong at Arsenal, and I’m not sure it’s all Arteta. To send out an Arsenal team like that for the first game of the season, after last season’s diabolical performance, is a slap across the face for every Arsenal fan out there. The weird thing is, the club have spent some decent money over the past few years. But it’s all been pissed away by criminals lining their or their friend’s pockets, or just plain criminal ineptitude. It starts at the top, but someone has to answer for this mess and… Read more »
Edu is on holiday, so can’t be blamed.
Saka, ESR and Tierney don’t deserve this.
Only a matter of time before they’ll be getting their agents to look elsewhere.
As I keep trying to tell everyone – this club’s hierarchy are a fucking joke.
We don’t deserve this!
I would disagree. When we have fans thinking this team is drastically different because of two signings and a reserve team striker starting that’s a level of acceptance of this mediocre nonsense. We needed an 8 a 10 a right back and a striker. We got two kids and White and some are gassed. Pathetic
“When we have fans thinking…”
For what it’s worth I’m not one of them. I’ve been whining for the last 2 weeks about where the necessary transfers are. I include a striker in that.
I really hate to say it, but another season or two out of Europe l, will they want to stick around? Smith Rowe was absolutely Rolls Royce tonight.
Man City will come for Saka eventually. Martinelli is a Klopp type player if I ever saw one. ESR? I hate to say it but I could see him in a Chelsea shirt…..urgh.
Jeez what am I saying. I’m going to bed.
we continue like this and kse will be looking to cash in (on the players, not the club)
Who bought Tierney. Who developed Saka and Smith-Rowe and have them a chance?
The much criticised Arteta who was a genius when he won FA Cup
Emery bought Tierney. Emery blooded Saka and Smith-Rowe.
Emery. And unfortunately, Arteta is no Emery.
Freddie Ljungberg, Ryan Garry, Steve Bould, Dan Cowley, Unai Emery? I’m surprised you think Arteta is anywhere near responsible for developing these guys.
He’s just a coach that played them due to injuries in the squad until they became undroppable.
The bitterest of bitter pills is knowing that nothing will change with a new manager. We need the Kroenke family to evacuate the premises before any real change is possible, and that’s just not going to happen without a biblical level of protests brought down upon them.
Of course things would change if the new manager was a better manager. We can start there.
That’s the whole point of managing, improving your team and winning games.
What do you think it will take to get Kroenke to sell a tax-free asset he allegedly intends to pass unto his children.
ordinary…..pRETTy ordinary.
and I’m trying my utmost to be kind here…
Nothing new.
What on earth was that? This was just like watching a game from last season. I don’t get what Arteta is doing on the training pitch. We don’t seem to be progressing at all. Same insipid football, different season
he’s got to go
I mean, to be fair, that wasnt exactly the favoured starting 11
That’s no excuse.
Right but the team setup was dire, so negative and lacking in ideas, and why is he so obsessed with crossing the ball
That Brentford player was literally holding Leno. Why the heck didn’t the other Arsenal players complain? Players from any top team would have pressed the VAR into giving a favourable decision.
Arteta and Edu out. There isn’t anyone in their clear minds who can defend this dross he has been serving since his appointment. Dont tell me about the FA Cup because he surprised his opponents by being anti- Arsenal and played defensively. The players body language tells you all you need to know. Don’t get me started on the practice videos. This man isn’t a manager nor coach, he is an analyst and nothing else. This job is too big for him….
We need someone to put it all together. We have some talent on that team but no cohesiveness and too much side to side movement with no ideas. We need new players at GK,RB, ST, CF, CAM and new manager no way around it. We are going to be stuck in the same pattern of losing to teams that are expected to finish below us again. It’s just a 1st game of the season but we have not made much progress because this is as far as Arteta can take us – oblivious mediocricy. I’m sorry but I cannot accept… Read more »
Wenger needs to come back and run the club and select his preferred manager.
Wenger lost it for so many years before finally leaving/getting sacked and he was basically running the club. Why would he now suddenly know how to do the job?