Result: Brighton 0-0 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 2 October 2021
Venue: AMEX Stadium
Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Lokonga, Smith Rowe, Odegaard, Saka, Aubameyang
Subs: Leno, Cedric, Holding, Tavares, Elneny, Maitland-Niles, Pepe, Martinelli, Lacazette
Arsenal claimed a point at the AMEX as we shared a goalless draw with a dominant Brighton.
The home side played the better football and had the best chances on a night when Mikel Arteta’s side failed to produce the fluent attacking play that was on show in last weekend’s north London derby.
While another clean sheet, our third in four league games, was welcome, it came about more through luck than judgment.
Pre-game
In the absence of Granit Xhaka – out for the rest of the year with a knee injury picked up against Sp*rs – Mikel Arteta had a decision to make in central midfield. In the end, Sambi Lokonga got the nod to partner Thomas Partey with Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe retaining their places just behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. As was the case last weekend, Alex Lacazette, Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe provided attacking strength in depth from the bench.
First Half
In the pouring rain and with the wind swirling, the Gunners were quick out of the blocks from kick off. Bukayo Saka burst down the right flank, bundled through a couple of challenges and fired low at Sanchez in the Brighton goal. Anybody hoping that was a sign of things to come quickly realised the home side weren’t going to roll over that easily. Quite the opposite.
The Gunners spent much of the first half on the back foot and the hosts did everything but score. Cucurella, Brighton’s adventurous left wing-back, gave Tomiyasu a torrid time, Lokonga and Partey struggled to get control of the midfield and when we did win the ball back, we constantly gave it back to the Seagulls.
The first real sign of danger came on 20 minutes when a deep Brighton corner ended up at the feet of Maupay. The Frenchman played a dangerous cross into the six-yard box and under his crossbar, albeit under pressure, Ramsdale spilt the ball into the path of Duffy who blazed over. It was a real let off.
While Aubameyang did hit the outside of the post with a tame header after Saka, by far our best player, dug out a cross, the rest of the time, we were penned back defending our box.
Trossard had an effort closed down, White cleared a dangerous Lallana cross, Burn headed over, Maupay tried an overhead kick that flew wide and Duffy found the side-netting with his thigh. It was a veritable blitz and somehow we came out of it unscathed.
If anything summed up our first half performance, it was Partey lining up a free-kick from 35-yards and finding row Z. The Ghanaian did come closer with a second effort following a Smith Rowe cutback but his effort whipped past the post.
All in all, we were lucky to get to the break without conceding.
Second Half
While Brighton had the first effort of the second half – a Moder effort that went over – the Gunners did look a bit more assured. Lokonga embarked on a run that ended with an ambitious long-range effort before Partey played in Aubameyang who rounded Sanchez before being denied by an incredible Duffy tackle with the goal gaping. A late flag spared the captain’s blushes.
Partey’s desperate attempts to break his Arsenal duck continued as he found row Z at the other end of the ground. Someone really needs to take him aside and explain physics or something.
By the hour-mark, Arteta decided he needed to switch things up and sent on Nicolas Pepe for Odegaard. Given the Norwegian’s struggles in possession, it wasn’t a huge surprise. Smith Rowe moved from the left to accommodate the Ivorian but it didn’t really alter proceedings.
Another Maupay overhead kick was Brighton’s eleventh of the evening. Luckily for the Gunners, none of them had hit the target.
Arsenal’s real struggle was working the ball out from defence. Wary of Brighton’s high press we more often than not started lobbing long balls forward. Given the size of the home side’s backline that inevitably meant we surrendered possession.
Smith Rowe did go close with 15 minutes remaining as he fashioned an angle after Partey played him through on goal. Sanchez did well to block down low at his near post.
At the other end, Brighton started to find their range. Trossard, Cucurella and substitute March all tested Ramsdale’s handling. The keeper then stopped a March header reaching Maupay with a decisive strong hand. In the aftermath, another shot was blocked for a corner.
Smith Rowe, almost single-handedly, carried the charge in the final third and thought he’d won a penalty when Duffy seemed to clip his ankles from behind. Referee Jon Moss waved away the Arsenal claims. Brighton had claims of their own turned down by VAR as Gabriel grappled with some massive lump in our box.
In between, we lost Saka to injury and Partey picked up a booking. On a night when we really struggled, the referee’s whistle was very welcome. All in all, it’s not been a bad month’s work. That said, while we’ve come a long way, tonight proved we’ve still much to improve upon.
Didn’t deserve much from that game. After playing and beating three rubbish teams we weren’t great against a decent side. Will take the point though.
…and how many rubbish teams has Brighton beaten?
Not me. Name change incoming…
Shout out to the geniuses who think we are somehow a better side without our second best midfielder.
And we would’ve won with Xhaka in the team? He could also get another red or lost the ball in midfield leading to a Brighton goal? This draw is nothing about Xhaka. We got a cleansheet today. We’ve never even had a cleansheet with Xhaka in the team this season.
Of course it’s totally unquantifiable. But we really looked bereft in the midfield, especially first half. Sambi was really struggling and Odegaard couldn’t get on the ball. I feel like an experienced head in there wouldn’t have done us any harm.
Good Brighton side though. I’m not by any means suggesting we win with Xhaka. Just asking that maybe people think twice before applauding injuries. Any player out of the squad is a miss. And one who has as much experience as Xhaka will definitely be missed.
Your shoutout to the geniuses did seem to suggest exactly that. Brighton was pressing us in midfield, and I actually felt less anxious about it tonight than if Xhaka was in the team. How many times have we seen Xhaka fail when pressed by smaller teams? Missed back passes, lost the ball and conceded yellow/red cards, etc etc? To blame a draw on a new young recruit is a bit unfair I think, especially when it was the forwards who missed a few good chances while we kept a cleansheet. If we buried one goal or the fat ref gave… Read more »
It’s fair when you’ve constantly been posting that playing partey and lokonga would solve the problem.
Last time I checked the game was 11 v 11? So definitely still unfair to me. I’ve seen enough of Xhaka to know what he’s all about. With Sambi I’m willing to give him time to develop and judge him on more than an away game under hurling wind and rain. Just like I gave Xhaka multiple chances season after season only to consistently finish outside top 4 – even after he threw away the Captain’s armband without ever apologizing. I never celebrated Xhaka’s injury, never wanted him to get injured at all, and I said we need him back… Read more »
The wind and rain? There’s a lot of that in England during the football season. You brought xhaka up in a post about a game he wasn’t playing in. He won’t be playing for 3 months give it up for fuck sake.
Johnny Hats brought up Xhaka and I replied. Again, check if your eyes need new glasses.
“For fucks sake”, you Better look up who brought up xhaka Al…
He’s not a for 3 months, give it a fucking rest. All day every day, give it up.
There’s definitely an over exaggerated theory that Lokonga is a ready to go, transformative midfielder. And it could hurt him.
He’s looked incredibly tidy, and really mature. But he should still be coming on as a sub at the moment, while he adapts to the intensity and quality of the premier league.
I’m not blaming him for anything. I just think an over inflated idea of what he’s capable of as a 21 year old who has only played Belgian football is asking a bit much.
Agree promising player, not at all fair to be expecting him to play consistently well every week.
Why should sambi be a sub in a youthful building team, but white, tomi, ramsdale, should play?
Fair point, but Rambo and White both have lots of Prem experience. And Tomi has come from Italy.
Look, this isn’t me shitting on Lokonga. I think he’s fucking rad. But for the next three months he’s our guy now. And that’s a lot to ask.
He’s going to be an amazing player, I can see it now.
Because when he plays he doesn’t look like he’s up to it.
Use your eyes. Watch the game. Don’t prejudge. Lakonga looks talented, brave, raw, inexperienced. He doesn’t connect well with the players he must link with (Partey and Tierney, primarily). It’s a hard position.
Exactly
Didn’t we lose to Villa and draw with Burnley last season, with Thomas and Xhaka?
Well I’ll say it’s fair to say, that Johnny may be wrong with his comment, which is aimed at me and a few others.
Where did I mention partey and xhaka.
Proud of you thinness? Could you ref a game?
Xhaka’s “experienced head” has never done the team any harm
I am thinking a big part of this game is down to 3 key things. 1) Brighton man marked throughout 2) Arteta chose not to force playing out….due to their press AND Weather conditions. 3) Arsenal and Arteta style and players do not thrive against big strong organized teams in situations like this and likely never will. Arteta and players need to realize this and adapt better offensively to survive a bit better if we cannot thrive. Our defense was damn good and White seems to be assuaging and ameliorating speculation regarding his aerial exploitation’s.
Nice observations.
It would have been all about xhaka if he was playing though. There’s a constant theme with the scapegoats, Arsene ozil, xhaka.
You beat me to it, he would have gotten a RED card
Brighton didn’t have their best midfielder (Bissouma), and arguably their best forward (Welbeck).
I agree that Xhaka is Partey’s best partner in midfield at the moment. When that’s broken up, we should expect to lose something in the team, especially in terms of the variety of passing. Whether that was the cause of the lackluster play today is hard to say. Very few had good games.
It’s more of MØ and Auba having a shit game tbh than to not have Xhaka in the team. MØ will learn from this game hopefully. I felt subs should have been made at the 55’mins mark instead of 70′ min. If ESR was able to score or pass to Pepe it would have been a different discussion.
Holy shit, so lokonga. One of our best players this whole season in his first few months at the club at 22 yo getting put in place by fans, but xhaka the prodigal son gets off again and again and again…
And WTF did sambi do wrong? He had a really strong game. If anything partey struggled a little as the game wore on as he looked to tire, sambi too a little. But both their work rates were massive over the 90mins. Would love to see comparisons of their distance converted to what xhaka does in a normal outlying.
Not a Xhaka redemptionist by any stretch, but I thought Sambi was really bad especially in the first half. Heavy touches, didn’t do much to provide an outlet for playing out the back, he was hiding/not confident. Not that Thomas/MO were much better. If you can’t keep hold of the ball or play through the midfield, it’s probably the midfielders’ fault. Also we can criticize his play today without saying he’s useless. And to say Xhaka gets off time and time again is ridiculous, majority of fans were ready to see him leave in the summer. That said we’ve been… Read more »
Lokonga hasn’t been one of our best players this whole season. He’s a promising young player that people have built up as the answer to all our problems by replacing xhaka.
No, he’s a promising young player that offers something different from than the same old same old. I guess you have more patience for the same old same old than a promising young player. Each to their own I guess.
He’s a promising young player, it’s not his fault he has been built up as the second coming on here because of some posters obsession with xhaka. A couple of weeks ago you told me off because I agreed with someone that thought potter would be a good candidate for an arsenal manager. You went into a rant about conte. You can hate watch arsenal all you want to hoping arteta and xhaka fuck up to prove your internet know it all persona right. I will hope we do well, and again give it a fucking rest.
Absolutely BS. I’ve never talked with anyone about Potter Or conte being manager. 110% bollocks.
But Xhaka is a problem we need replacing? Can we be top 4 contenders again while continuing to start Xhaka? Even against Spurs he had the nudge on Hojberg and some rather unnecessary fouls and pushes that could be judged harshly by different referees on another day. That’s Xhaka and it’s too late to change him now. Selling Xhaka without a better replacement than Sambi would be suicide in the summer window, but saying Xhaka/Partey duo in midfield is our savior is also missing the point. If Sambi is a promising young player, then he needs games to develop, just… Read more »
I agree we need to upgrade him, but I don’t mind him being a bit of a cnut. We are very lacking at mongrels. Bergkamp would be the hardest man on our team right now.
Weak sauce comment Johnny. I actually expected it from someone, surprised it was you. Sambi was excellent. Xhaka would have made no difference here. In fact having lokonga and partey at least made us less susceptible to their high press. Is that how it’s going to be? Anything short of a win, and it’s sambi’s fault from all the closet xhaka redemptionists. Weak. Brighton played a quality game and really the only thing lacking in our preformance was finishing and forward play.
Sambi was definitely not brilliant & we definitely didn’t deal with the high press, unless you think long ball – lose possession – rince repeat is dealing with it.
Big fan of Lokonga but I thought he was completely anonymous in the 1st (along with Partey). Neither could find Ødegaard, who was pretty poor today as well. We were better in the 2nd after Laca came on and gave us a bit of control but the Lokonga/Partey partnership did not work today. Obvs it’s early days and I’m sure the more they play together the better we’ll look.
There is a big difference between being forced to clear and turn overs. Defensively both partey and sambi were great. Going forward I don’t think they are to blame. Clearly we’ve upped our Tempo since city and apart from esr the forwards struggled to pick up the ball, their touch was rubbish and we had quite a few counter chance that just fell apart by bad touch or decisions. Brighton defended well and are strong across the pitch. Not winning this game isn’t on the Midfield. If you need someone to blame the issues tonight we’re further forward.
Oh I’m not looking for anyone to blame. Win as a team, lose as a team & grind out 0-0 draws in the rain as a team. But I disagree that midfield wasn’t partly to blame for lack of fluidity in attack. We looked scared to try to beat the press from the back, which meant we just automatically gave possession back. Neither Lokonga or Partey could get Ødegaard in the match (definitely not their fault he was also sub-par) & we lost possession quite a bit on the rare occasion we tried to build an attack from the back.… Read more »
Sorry for drawing attention to something I actually find quite insulting and “weak sauce” (whatever that is) such as assuming we will be better with a first team player out for 3 months.
And guess what, we weren’t better. Go figure.
Weak sauce is a pathetic American saying, believe it came from the equally pathetic awesome sauce.
Sambi was pretty bad. So was Odegaard, one of my favourite players. And others. I don’t blame Odegaard alone, and I don’t think anyone is blaming Sambi alone. But if you honestly think Lokonga was “excellent,” it’s not really worth talking about.
Partey, xhaka is definitely our best midfield combo. They make each other better and covers each other weaknesses. Watch them in most games they play together and you’ll get what I mean. Xhaka’ passing range is usually assured and gives partey a lot of confidence to perform. My thought
How many minutes have lokonga and partey played together?
Not many. Which is why it makes sense that a Partey/Xhaka partnership has looked better than what we saw tonight.
Think most are looking forward to both Lokonga & Partey stepping it up & making it work but what’s wrong with saying it’s not there yet? Thought that was pretty clear to see.
Too many if today is anything to go by.
We’ve looked so great with Xhaka, not just this season, but throughout his 5 years, haven’t we?
This is the type of match we’ve lost many times with him playing. At least we kept a clean sheet, as opposed to one of his fuck ups.
Give it a fucking rest lad, he wasn’t playing. He won’t g playing for 3 months.
You’re a right twat, aren’t you Alan. Won’t waste my time with you
There’s a very good chance you’re right about the twat thing, the xhaka thing not so much he wasn’t playing.
A scrappy affair. Two points lost. 0/10 dull rainy weather.
On the other hand, a decent point. They are above us and at home. Weather sucked, favoring the lumps.
And that is a good team. They impressed me. Don’t like them, but they’re pretty good.
I don’t see this as a disaster. It’s a decent point away from home against a side in very good form. Our record at the AMEX has been pretty poor, and I believe when the points are totted up at the end of the season, this will be seen as a point won rather than two lost.
I expected more from the performance I will confess, however, the result I can accept in the wider scheme of things.
The only bit I enjoyed of that match was when the Sky Sports commentary got cut off for 10 mins
“I hope you didn’t miss us”
No…no I didn’t
It was awesome to watch without commentators but with crowd noise. They really should broadcast games like that.
Aaaaand revert to mean.
‘Teta is bang average.
😂😂😂
4th match in 7 with no goals. Outside of the Spuds game, our attack is a mess.
1 goal conceded in 4. I’ll take that. The attack has enough talent to sort itself out over the course of the season.
I don’t understand this comment at all. How is the attack going to “sort itself out”? Isn’t it the job of the manager to devise an attacking scheme for the team? Otherwise, why does he have a job?
Yes, but you have to start somewhere and that’s from a solid base. Arteta didn’t inherit a strong defense. It’s also not his fault our attack played like club footed mules most of the evening.
Because we won 3 games in a row. Everything is great now.
I predict we will look back and realize conditions and our youthful player and manager profile contributed to us struggling against a big strong pressing team….I also predict this will always be a tougher “climate” for our success…as it always is for teams using skill, precision and quickness as their primary weapons.
Potter is a damn good manager as well
They were disappointing in the forward third, but we actually were pretty solid against a pretty impressive team through the middle and at the back.
Probably a change in the January window, Auba is too patchy, Laca and Nketiah will probably move on, someone will come in.
Hopefully that change is a new manager who can actually improve players. Auba had not had a patchy season since 2011-12. In comes Mikel and now Pierre is a “finished” player. Not sure it would be wise to give Arteta more signings to ruin. This team is much more capable than getting dominated by Brighton.
I believe Auba, especially this late in his career is not fully committed/suited to this full pressing style. I also believe had we started either Laca or Gabby we would have won.
Honestly, with that many players having an off day, I think we can be happy with a point. It’s a game we would have lost more often than not.
But give some slack to the young players. They will have good and bad days as they develop. Games like this will give them alot to work on and improve.
This.
Yeah quite how it’s Arteta’s fault that Partey and Auba had stinkers is beyond me.
Everything is Arteta’s fault Cheeza… at least, according to some.
Exactly. No player older than 24 in the back “5”
Interested in “off day” vs handbrake statistics
Maybe you can take this as a comment on the starters selections or his substitute timing but his choice of substitutions did have a positive impact on the game. Personally I think its hard not to go back to the team that won the NLD but maybe his subs could have come on sooner.
He’s worse than average. He’s simply not a good coach. I feel so sorry for Auba. In what should be the prime of his career, he plays for a manager who, despite having so many exciting young players, still can’t come up with an attaching scheme that produces even 2 clear cut chances per game! Absolutely shite coach
You put today’s result down to “the scheme”? How so? Today is on the players mon frere. Arteta even made early and correct substitutions to go for the win.
Today is a continuation in a series of disappointing performances. Us playing well is an exception to the rule, not the norm. We consistently play shite, boring, opportunistic football. When we play well like against spuds, it’s an anomaly. We’re more likely to play like we did today than like last week. My whole point is that today is a continuation of TWO YEARS of lack of attacking football.
Disagree. We actually played a good Tempo and had enough chances. Forwards were just pretty rough. ESR should have passed. Auba was awful in possession and build up. I think arteta did the right things here. Finish one of those chances and it’s a different story.probably should have, but Brighton deserved a point too. Tough team. Tough game. Solid point.
Correct – ESR squares a routine pass and we have a tap-in.
TSFW. This team bears no resemblance to 2 years ago. Hell, it bears no resemblance to the team we had four games ago. It’s a new team, a different team. So, again I ask you, looking at THIS game, how is the result the fault of “the scheme.”
Absolutely spot on, quite obvious after a season and a half that attacking wise Arteta lacks knowledge, experience and tactical nous.
Bollocks, Auba isn’t putting the effort in, he turned up for the NLD and now a hard game in rubbish weather he’s invisible again. He’s lucky Mikel has so much patience with him. Our senior players are the ones letting the team down, Auba and Partey were dreadful today.
This is an unnecessarily mean comment.
Mean word-play mate…
A game of heavy touches and way too many turnovers (from our point of view) against a horde of mopes, burners, dunces and dunderhead in miserable rainy conditions . In recent years we would have lost it. So that’s progress right there – I’d take the point all day. Welldone boys!
Maybe not an inspiring result, but I think we might look back on taking a point here as quite decent, all considered.
I agree they’re a very decent well coached team. Our midfield was shit. The thing I would take out of it is the attitude of a lot of our players, particularly odegaard. I wasn’t overly keen on signing him but he’s won me over with his attitude and work rate. He didn’t play particularly well but put in a shift. Hopefully the next time he’s standing over a free kick with partey he tells him to go away.
Midfield didn’t look great I agree. But Arsenal sides always look terrible in bad weather/pitch conditions. It’s partly just not executing well. But it’s also because the things we’re trying to do – precise narrow forward passing (ideally) – are more difficult in these conditions, but also more efficient at getting goals over the course of a season. Big learning game for Odegaard and Smith-Rowe. The forwards (Auba and Saka) were winning long goal kicks but getting crowded on the second and third pass. In that situation, the ‘creatives’ need to take the risk, run in behind and stretch the… Read more »
They need help from midfield. Our midfield was nonexistent. There’s a narrative on here that all our problems are due to xhaka, and that the team is set up to cover for him. Four consecutive managers might be picking him because he’s the one doing the covering. The weather is no excuse was the same for Brighton. They didn’t play a lot of long balls they played right through our midfield. They also tried to get at our fullbacks, something better teams do regularly.
‘Non-existent’ is strong. Not great decisions, sure. But the season is long. I think we’re just a bit on edge because we lost the Brentford game that we really really should have won. Since then, though, none of the results have been insane deviations from expectation. Xhaka is not an Arsenal quality midfielder. Mid-table PL player, sure. It’s not a coincidence that his ‘era’ saw the club practically become a mid-table club. 4 managers picking him is a genuinely staggering fact, one that cannot be logically explained. Wish him well, hope his recovery goes smoothly, but Arteta has lucked out… Read more »
Agree that a lot of that, but not the xhaka thing. I don’t think he’s a great player but come on, do you actually think that 4 managers would pick him if they thought they had a better option ? That just doesn’t make sense. I have no doubt that Arsene Emery Freddie and arteta have forgotten more about football than any of us posting on here have ever known.
Not sure about anyone else but I for one was relieved that – on a slippery, soggy pitch – we didn’t have Granit sliding into last ditch tackles. It would’ve been a recipe for red all night long!
Finally someone who clearly understands!
Xhaka type playing conditions in this game as well. He has limitations and attributes, this game likely would have suited him. This weather fully suited them, Arteta and players adapted by refusing to make mistakes playing out from the back if not safe…we adapted but can still do better.
Agree that the Midfield was nowhere today. Odegaard had a blinder last week but was easily snuffed out today by their press. Might have put Pepe on at half time rather than wait till later. All in all though pretty flat and insipid. Disappointing considering last week’s performance.
I would like to see pepe getting a few games upfront. We’re not close to challenging so why not. Maybe there will be a bit of something between him saka and Smith rowe. It’s not as if auba plays any sort of hold up/ link up game anyhow. Maybe it would suit pepe to be furthest man forward.
Get with narrative El Mintero, the partey sambi is press resistant. Even when klopp let partey have the ball and man marked odegaard the stats don’t lie.
I like pepe, don’t think he’s arteta’s type of player. Same with martinelli not sure if he’s going to play a lot under arteta.
My forward line up would be:
Laca – leads the line
Auba or Pepe -play them just behind Laca drifting in from the left.
ESR in the middle, Saka on the right.
sub in odegard if ESR off the pace. Sub in Martinelli for Laca when required.
I will get lots of downvotes for suggesting aubamayang is not striker but look at where he played for us when he scored every game 2-3 seasons ago…not striker.
I would play different players vs different teams/conditions. Scrappy fighting players like Laca and Gabby in rough weather
I couldn’t disagree more. I like the point, but our style of play is not sustainable at all for any team that has any kind of aspiration. I can count on one hand the number of games we’ve played under Arteta in which we’ve created even two clear cut chances for our striker. We’re never joining the big boys playing like this
Agree
Whole of last season and the first three games of this season, I am with you 100%. Terrible management. But the patterns of play have changed since the Interlull, and we are creating much better situations.
Re clear cut chances thing… I partially agree, but I’d also argue that a lot of the statistical ‘chance’ measurements (and even the eye-test evaluations) rely on a team taking shots. We’ve just always been conservative shooting, for better or worse.
The patterns of play don’t matter, most goals come from mistakes or a great player. Arteta’s main claim to fame is pep. Pep just spent 100 million on jack grealish. You need good players to be able good team,.
Most goals come from skill, effort, teamwork and individual ability or commitment… and luck or mistakes. I will take the opinions of the players and coaches who work and have worked with Arteta as both a player and coach for years over that of fans….every single day.
Are results not more important? Don’t think it’s wise to judge him on the opinions of people that like him. One thing I will definitely give him is the players are playing hard for him, if they keep doing that we have a chance.
Ramsdale has the hands as well as the gloves.
Kudos to Brighton. they were way the better team and should have won this one. I do not see Arsenal coping with this intensity. with Liverpool could be another 5-0.
Sp*rs fan spotted
No mate, 110% Arsenal fan. only a bit disappointed to see us outplayed by Brighton for large parts of the game.
Have to agree with that…we were second best for long spells today.
Very worried about the energy levels of this team. We play once a week. Way too much ball watching and walking. We were 2nd to every ball. Failed to adapt to the press. We were thoroughly dominated.
The NLD was just a one-off- the home team usually wins in NLDs anyway. Big deal. The facts are under this manager Arsenal NEVER look like scoring or making chances consistently. Everything has to be perfect for this manager. We play disgusting, boring football every week, and he does just about enough to keep fooling people that he has any idea how to manage a football club. Sick of it. We should be going all out for Potter, but does anyone in management ever proactively use their brain at this club? Don’t think so.
Wondered how long it would take for someone to throw their toys out of the pram.
Hey, you seem thrilled with this. Good on you mate
Realistic mate. We are a big club in name only, Brighton are above us in the league playing better football and we have a young squad trying to learn how to play together. We’ve lost against way worse Brighton teams away in the past.
The coach has had TWO YEARS and hundreds of millions of pounds to mold the squad to his preference. I have seen ZERO improvement to our style of play under him. We are definitely better defensively, I’ll give him that. Otherwise, we play absolutely shite football. Zero coherence, can’t create chances, and midfield is almost nonexistent. We’ve had squads way younger and cheaper than this one and they played much better football, consistently made it to the champions league, and everyone was calling for Wenger’s head. Why make excuses for this manager? What gives you any confidence that he’ll get… Read more »
I’m convinced they either have a crush on Teta or are just insane. There’s no other reason they can back him when we have all the evidence and statistics to back that evidence up that Arteta is nothing but mediocre. Give him Brighton’s squad and he’d relegate them, meanwhile Potter has them creating chances at will in every game
hard to make sense of your illogical rant but I’ll try…
‘TWO YEARS and hundreds of millions’ – errm – sorry to but in with boring reality, but he only got the millions a few months ago?
‘ZERO improvement’… ‘We are definitely better defensively’ – so you don’t class defence as part of our play? (Glad you’re not managing us!)
‘squads way younger and cheaper’… When exactly was this halcyon youth era?
Yawn….
Big club in name only huh? What happened to the club’s finances, calibre of players and fanbase size?
Is it not because of Arteta that we’re below Brighton and playing worse football? We’ve spending a bucket-ton under the guy only for fans to say we have worse teams than Leicester and West Ham. Won’t be long before fans are soon saying we have a worse team than Brighton.
I give it a few weeks Jeremy before your opinion starts to change again.
A lot of people have been saying the same for a year or more, we struggle to score goals. That’s a fact easily checked by looking at our results.
You are right Arteta’s football is ffing crap it is as simple as that. It so frustrating, he has the attacking talent but lacks the real ability to utilise it to its optimum.
Decent point in the context of things. Defensively sound but attack shite. Auba, Partey and Saka all poor today.
Saka was okay. Odegaard was awful!
Thought Saka was one of our better players, especially in the first half.
I completely forgot the first half tbf. He might of been, but it was a pretty low bar. Saka now gets judged on a higher level.
I hear that, he needs to be a match winner for us and I thought he faded physically in the second half. Has happened a few times this season so that’s a bit worrying. A couple of occasions in that half where I thought he could have applied more pressure off the ball or been more aggressive on the ball.
Bukayo has only just turned 20. He’s so important to us that opposition teams are now man marking him and smashing him up, yet he’s still dangerous. He was taken out and hurt, but you want to judge?
Yep, reality check. Brighton ain’t a bad side, do rate Potter as a manager. Spurs are definitely shit. Peace out ✌🏼
That was absolutely terrible. I was embarrassed watching that. I understand us celebrating like we did after last weekend as fans but I saw a picture of the whole team in changing room like they had won a cup. First half we couldn’t put 3 passes together until last couple of minutes and yet they were playing like city. Aubamayang needed to be subbed at half time
Wet and windy good point I’d say. Agree that Lacca is better suited and stronger than Auba on nights like this, but we can’t win them all and we’d have lost in previous years. I love Ramsdale 💪🏿
It was wet and windy for both teams, no? Usually those conditions favour teams who lump the ball forward and hope for the best, which was exactly what we did for most of the game, while Brighton set out to play decent technical football despite the conditions and thankfully were crap at finishing.
Back to square one
Hope Smith Rowe would had passed to Pepe.
Partey should really stop taking long shots/freekicks. I can’t remember him ever hitting the target let alone scoring from range.
IIRC he hit the target against Spurs, but point taken, he really needs to improve his shooting if he’s going to insist on it.
We didn’t really look like we were up for it. Brighton wanted it more and we have a really hard time playing against a high press regardlessof opposition.
We need a second plan when the first doesn’t work and that’s up to Arteta to fix straight away. I really thought we had turned a corner but this was as bad as Brentford and we are really lucky to get a point.
But it is a point and Brighton are really good so not a terrible day.
I thought we were up for it just not good enough. I don’t think you can question the effort, especially odegaard. He didn’t play well but he was a one man press a lot of the time.
We were quite poor.
that said Brighton are a decent side under potter.
the rain made us worse than it looked and a couple of our main stars looked off the boil.
I think Arteta got his subs kind of wrong, if he had brought off auba instead of ode, then things might have been different.
The rain? Come on I hope you don’t believe that. It was raining when Brighton had the ball as well.
We weren’t at our best…rode our luck and scraped out an away draw. Take it and run.
One thing someone needs to remind the lads. If one of the opposing players is down with a minor niggle….do not put it out. As Brighton did not when Saka was down. Always remember that. Fuck them.
You can say that twice!
Looked like we were wearing different boots to them. The pitch looked so slippery for us.
You may be onto something there….
There are still going to be folks wo after watching this game, are still going to balme individual players. Partey’s name is probably going to come up a few times. To those folks I’m going to ask a simple question; how many such performances or even worse have we seen over the last two years, with completely different lineups? Besides Auba and Tierney, nobody else in today’s starting lineup was a starter two years ago. And yet, our perfomances have not improved even one bit! We still play like absolute shite! We play scrappy, opportunistic football with no clear direction… Read more »
Performances like this are already the norm under Mikel. It’s just tiring at this point to see excuse after excuse when its almost been two years. I just want a manager under whom we can confidently beat (or dominate) most teams in the league. This unpredictability is not good enough given our wage and transfer spend.
Just how good is Ramsdale?
Very goooooddddddddd
Definitely struggled against a physical side, I am sure it was tough running in those conditions, but boy did we look slow and weak out there (from the midfield forward). That’s a point you’ll take along with a clean sheet.
I think Aubameyang should be benched…his lack of hold-up play will cost us this season. Lacazette to me Is a better option than him, and link up very well with the midfield in these kind of games.
Also, ESR, Odegaard and Saka no tracking back is an issue.
Finally, Arteta is an average coach.
Arteta is a great young coach, he’s just learning on the job at being a manager. Give it a rest mate, 10 points in 4 games….we are back on track
“Genius”! That’s the word you looked for ?
Give a rest with the anti Auba crap, FFS.
Sambi good in my opinion, much more decisive and quicker than Xhaka, Pepe disappointing…
Think you might be pushing an agenda there. Sambi was poor in this game: dismal first and and a little less crap in the second. Not a bad player; just had a bad game.
Yeah but he’s very young……makes you appreciate Xhaka on nights like this
Mate – Granit charging in 2-footed on that ice-rink-cross-swamp would’ve been a recipe for red for 90 minutes!
Agreed. He was anonymous in the 1st & only really improved when Laca came on.
Big fan of his & I’m sure he’ll get that partnership going with Partey but today was not that day.
In my opinion he was better than Partey today, and yes he didn’t produce any crucial plays, therefore, like the rest of the team was average. However, his passes were overall decent and more important he showed decisiveness and pace. He seems to be an exceptionally agile player. Just to make myself clear, I have nothing against Xhaka, I have supported him as every other Arsenal player and will continue to do so, but I am of the opinion that his slow pace is a major weakness that outweighs all his strengths. Anyway, hope that Sambi will start the next… Read more »
Potter has done wonders with this Brighton side so this was always going to be a real test and a barometer of where we are. But it was surprising how poorly we competed physically, having mid-weeks free doesn’t seem to be making any difference to our sharpness. Was ESR and Saka leading the charge for us again, and we improved a bit more when Lacazette came on. Arguably Ødegaard’s worst game for us. Ramsdale excellent and saved us, but kicking radar was off.
Re Ramsdale, not easy when you are playing to a target man one foot shorter than the CB in near gale force conditions and driving rain. It took Laca coming on who dropped into the space in midfield for us to start profiting from longer kicks.
That’s a good point, kicking was difficult for both keepers in fact.
Potter has got them playing better football but he still hasn’t finished higher than his predecessor, Chris Hughton. That’s a fact.
In perspective, lots of big teams draw or lose against teams like Brighton on occasion. There are no guaranteed wins in this league.
Think we missed Xhaka today. Had no degree of control in midfield in the 1st & neither Partey or Lokonga could find Ødegaard, who had a pretty bad game himself. Early days but both Partey & Lokonga have to step it up if they’re gonna forge a partnership to rival the Partey/Xhaka partnership.
Also, Tomiyasu is human after all & Cucurella’s a hell of a player. Looked good at the Olympics & under 23 Euors & have carried on the good form
Since Wenger left, we only play Arsenal brand of football once in 5 matches. Every time we have an opportunity to close the gap, we either widen the gap or maintain the gap. Gone are the days when beautiful footballing was a normal for us. I just don’t know when all of this abnormal will come to an end, I hope real soon!
This game is a reminder of how rubbish is the Tottenham.
Thank you, Graeme Souness. 🙄
I didn’t think the rain helped and apart from Laca looking industrious, once again Pepe’s performance was wanting. It never came.
All things considered a decent draw against a horrible bogey team, they’re my local team and I can’t stand them. The weather is disgusting, the wind is really strong and very gusty, it didn’t help with our style of play. We didn’t give up and there was some very determined defending, we took a point with a clean sheet. We need a lot more from our senior players.
This young team will learn from this game. With a little more composure, we could even have snatched a win.
I am certain we would have lost that game last season, but there is a fight within this team even in the face of adversity.
It was a ground out point, and for me, it is a sign of progress, although many won’t see it that way.
Thomas Partey without Xhaka. A lot of “fans”wished for ut. I didn’t.
Well done to the lads for fighting against a better team to get a point. These points against the top sides will be precious at the end of season
Thomas Partey without Xhaka. A lot of “fans”wished for it. I didn’t.
I’m the “fan”! happy with the point and the fact we finished game in 11. Not so much with the performance but you can’t have it all,right?
Very concerning performance.
Report: Brighton 0-0 Arsenal (Inc no goals).
Terrible conditions, Spurs hangover, a very good team and we grab a point.
Well done boys.
Well done Dark!
Shout out to Gabriel and Ben White. They were grand.
Phew! Happy to leave with a point from that.
A tired display, but I’m not going to start frothing at the mouth because we gained a point in a game that we would have definitely lost not so long ago with clowns like Willian, Mustafi and Luiz in the side – and I would definitely have had something to say. Yes, we weren’t at the races and struggled on a nigh waterlogged pitch; our first touch non existent and our ability to keep possession made us our own worst enemies. Partey looked at least a yard off the pace. That said, however, I think ESR had a really good… Read more »
*inability
Wow – who is this kinder, gentler, qwally?! 😂
Your self-restraint at being able to conjure up a post on here without burying Martin Odegaard, is also to be commended.
Well now you mention it he was fkn shite yesterday!
Interested to read that Maupay’s overhead kick was the eleventh of the evening, they clearly like to go for the Hollywood finish down there.
This is a great result, difficult place to come, inform opposition, shit weather.
Even the invincibles had 12 draws!
Poor performance the only positive Brighton were wasteful as we been so we grabbed one nice point!!