Mikel Arteta was clearly frustrated with the performance of his players as Arsenal yet again squandered a lead on the road before succumbing to defeat.
After Thursday’s loss at Old Trafford, tonight Everton were the beneficiaries as Demarai Gray sealed the points with a painful stoppage-time winner.
After the match, the manager faced the Sky Sports cameras…
On the performance…
No, in the first half we were very inconsistent with the ball. We were in control of the game, we didn’t concede anything apart from the set-piece [which led to Richarlison’s first disallowed goal], but I didn’t like it. There was no penetration, no threat, totally contrary to what we tried to do. One of the few times that we’ve done it, we’ve scored a goal from Martin and we were one-nil up. In the second half, we tried to do more things but again we were inconsistent. We created four big chances, one from Eddie, two from Martin and at the end from Auba, but we conceded a very sloppy goal the first one when you have to manage the game. It’s not enough to win the game.
On why his side struggled…
We couldn’t take the ball into the final third, we kept giving the ball away, sloppy passes, sloppy touches. They’re not going to give you that time [on the ball], you have to know what to expect and the spaces were there and it wasn’t good enough.
On his players being too keen to protect their lead…
No. I think the team tried to go and we kept pressing high and their keeper was kicking the ball long all the time. We lost a few important duels in that moment and there was some pressure. But especially the way we conceded the goal from the throw-in, it cannot happen.
On whether Ben Godfrey should have been sent off…
That decision was made, I’m sure the VAR reviewed it and what I want is more from my team.
On how he gets more from his team…
By learning from what happened again today. Against [Manchester] United we deserved much more. Today, we had the game under control and even when you’re not playing the best, we weren’t having any issues and you have to find a way to win it.
On whether he’s concerned about the away form…
When you lose three in a row and the way we’ve conceded the goals, of course, it is. Losing a match with this club is always not something good.
On losing ground on other clubs…
It could have been very different but we haven’t managed to do that. In the Premier League, you have to manage the game when it’s there for the killing and the opponent for the taking. We haven’t done it today. When we had big chances, we didn’t put them in the net. When that happens, it doesn’t go your way.
On whether it’s because he’s using young players…
I don’t know. We can use anything to justify anything, we can find excuses. I’m concerned about the way we played, not about the structure but the way we executed what we wanted. It wasn’t good enough. If we want to find excuses we’re not going to get it right.
You weren’t good enough. You picked Xhaka, you substitute on Nketiah who’s not signing a contract instead of Pepe. You’re the one who instructs the team.
It’s going to keep not being good enough and then by chance it’ll be good. You’re making Saka and Smith Rowe carry the team. The burden on these young players.. Ödegård.. Playing Xhaka over Sambi was criminal. He was total dogp.. Sambi would’ve progressed the ball and … nevermind. I just can’t analyze all the errors in Artetas thinking and gameplanning. Can we please just get a german manager thanks?
And we have some numptys down voting you.
Without having the balls to explain why.
May be because he’s slaging off Xhaka like a broken record even though we know Xhaka wasn’t the problem today. Sambi was schooled in the last away game he played and Partey recently has been worse than Xhaka has ever been. Our problem is progressing the ball up the field and creating chances which we weren’t doing even when Xhaka was injured. Blaming Xhaka for everything wrong with Arsenal is like blaming immigrants for everything wrong with Britian. Arteta chose him and he stepped up, Arteta is the one who coaches this conservative style of football. We can complain all… Read more »
So for parity sake, you downvoted Xhaka for slagging off the fans too right?
Parity should worry about his own shit game, not the guy who played better than him tonight.
Partey on his worst day couldn’t play worse than Xhaka. Seems like the new boys have now been fully coached to play the Arteta/Xhaka way – no point complaining about ‘execution’ when the ‘structure’ is pretty terrible.
Xhaka has been going to school since he arrived. He has been a shit show since his arrival. Thiago, Keita, and Fabinho all took a couple of games to settle in, what made it easier for them was the manager knew what he was doing.
I think Xhaka’s last game was away at city. Lokonga was away at Liverpool. Please explain why one got schooled and dropped and the other who has been getting schooled for 5 seasons walks (literally) back in.
‘plods’ would be a better descriptor (literally)
Can the man not sprint?
For the record, I’ve now (finally, some would say!) decided that Arteta’s had his opportunity and has botched it. However – that does NOT mean that Granit Xhaka is one of the worst 10 players we’ve ever had. Criminally slow, predictably one-footed, ego-flawed (petulantly chops/yanks anyone down who skins his snail-arse, hence his appalling card-record), and his ‘famed’ long-passes are now few and far between. Having watched this younger, more energetic team over the past few months… his lumping around, cheap fouls and hopeless clumsiness was like the return of a bad dream. He is by no means the only… Read more »
Oops – ‘does not mean that Xhaka is NOT one of the worst 10…’
Talk about a key typo!
xhaka’s lack of athleticism is evident to anyone who has watched him huff and puff from 25 mins on in any game he’s picked for. he simply cannot perform at the level required in that position.
Stop blaming Nketiah. In the short 20 minutes that he played, he was more involved than Laca and Auba.
I don’t think Nketiah is good enough to be our starting striker but it is difficult to gauge how good he actually is given the disjointed, treacle-paced horseshoe ball that has dominated Arteta’s tenure. He seemed to have stepped up at the start of this season and seemed hungrier….or so it appeared to me, but he’s not been given much of a run which no doubt contributed to his refusal to sign an extension. He’ll be gone at season’s end, as will Laca, and I don’t think it will matter who we buy to play up front.
I’ll say this again:
Abraham… Eduoard… Giroud – we could have had all three for under 60m. Yet we botched the Eddie transfer (shoulda taken 10m from Palace and snapped up Eduoard for 19m); spent the 32m on Tammy and welcomed back HFB for 1m, as our tactical hold-up play front lamp-post when we need it.
He’s not blaming Nketiah, he is blaming Arteta for playing Nketiah – big difference and you should know that.
It is irrelevant how well he plays, he is leaving Arsenal and so shouldn’t be picked over players who are staying.
Eddie has had enough of this stink, we should be showing him the door not giving him valuable minutes over players who are willing to stay.
He was, you are right. He gave a couple of needless fouls away, lost the ball a few times and missed an absolute sitter. He did play a good pass at the end. I think the blame is really all directed at Arteta.
Xhaka, nketia, Elneny, dropping Lokonga and generally playing the most tepid football in the league. Trust the process 😂😩
Erik Ten Hag is still available. The biggest change would be a new manager who doesn’t start Xhaka though.
Are coaches scared to say to xhaka your on the bench in case he attacks them
No chance. More likely he’ll go to Man United at the end of the season. Getting paid more money isn’t a good enough reason to leave a well-run club, regularly in the Champions League (and with a chance to win it, btw) and winning their league, to join an absolute shambles of a club from top to bottom, drifting around in footballing limbo.
Should be in the job description…
If Eddie scores Arteta is genius , though he did not, Almost !
Like pep at man city playing Jesus wide. To compete in the air and hold the ball up.
That said I prefer Auba at left wing or Pepe.
Arteta interviews make a lot of sense, but his team selections, tactics and subs don’t reflect the same thought process.
Arsenal ambition ceiling is now top 6, so we are where we are and will remain here.
You didn’t like the first half; we saw the effort you made to change things.
Listen guys, I can tell you this for free: there is no process to trust at the Emirates, except you call a spineless, rudderless play a process.
Arteta is taking Arsenal no way so fast it’s difficult to catch up.
If the owners have any strand of ambition for this club, they have to put this overrated rookie out of His misery in the summer.
Ok, for people who defend Arteta, what exactly do you see in him? In my eyes, we play absolutely atrocious football with very little creativity and very little self-expression from our technically gifted players. To me this is an absolute non-starter for an Arsenal team because football is entertainment first and foremost. Our league position means very little to me as a fan if the team I support gives me literally nothing to cheer for game after game. So we play shitty football, barely score goals, our creative players are all declining. So what exactly makes you want to keep… Read more »
Arteta is all about FA – prime Auba gave him an FA cup and apart from that he’s done sweet Fuck All
Oh come on, one fucking loss and suddenly it’s game over? How about we sit somewhere between total catastrophe and success?
Pass me that crack pipe when you’re done with it.
Its not about the loss. Its the how and the why.
one loss? Have you not been watching other matches?
Fact check, there’s 6 losses already and we’re not even halfway thru the season. Half of those losses are absolute mauling against top 3 teams, when other mid table sides have managed a better fight than us. Some of the other losses are just downright inexcusable, playing teams who are out of form and we still lose. Also, our steady run of wins are mainly fluke 1-0 or 2-0 wins against relegation fodders. Spurs 3-1 and Leicester 2-0 are the only respectable wins and in one of those games we only managed to play decently for one half. At this… Read more »
TBH it’s not just the one loss. It’s seeing this team under Arteta take 1 step forward and 2 steps back every few games. Yesterday’s match may have very well been a game in Arteta’s first 3 months in charge or now after 2 years. There’s the same problems, no chances created, no speed of play and opposition teams just bypassing our midfielders with simple passing or forward running (which we suffered under Unai as well). The frustrating thing is I can see what Arteta wants and occasionally the team pulls it off but instead of more games = more… Read more »
It’s the midfield and our strikers. Both hugely inconsistent and just not talented or clever enough to play in his system. I think the defence has improved massively all round. But unless you have one or two game controlling midfielders in front of the defence, they are left exposed. Partey has been awful and xhaka isn’t good enough to do it on his own. Oh then add in some strikers who have forgotten how to score.
That sounds like the manager’s system of play to me no?
Outside Arsenal, Xhaka, Odeguard and Partey are quite a treat to watch for their national sides.
Because the supporting cast help too.
Exactly! The fact is no top manager in today’s football world would accept to work with our budget. They would rather stay out of job and wait for a big club then risk tainting their reputation with us. Emery was an exception (yes, I consider him a top manager) and look what happened. Arteta is not the optimal choice, but there is no guarantee the likes of Graham Porter, Eddie Howe, Hasenhuttle, etc. will fare any better than him. Nuno has done amazing stuff at Wolves and look what a disaster he had been with spurs. We can laugh at… Read more »
Laugh at Spurs? They made a poor managerial appointment and pulled the trigger three months later when it was apparent he wasn’t the man for the job. Then appointed one of the proven top managers in world football-despite having a far smaller budget than our outlay over the past two years. But here we are two years later being served the same tripe over and over- one step forward two back. Accept who we are my hole. We’re better than that and should not accept a this rubbish
Nuno was on his last legs at Wolves. They finished 13th last season under him. Many of their fans were complaining that his football was becoming regressive that season. After seeing Conte go to Spurs despite their worsening prospects, I just can’t believe this narrative anymore. It’s just something some of our fanbase tell themselves so Arteta seems like the best we can do. We’re talking about Arsenal here not Millwall FC. This is a job where a manager has more job security. A very competitive salary and budget. Control over backroom staff and recruitment. Less pressure than ever before.… Read more »
one loss????
Dude this team is punching well below its weight. Can you not see what is happening at Villa, West Ham and Palace? Those teams have a style of play, and it hasn’t taken the managers almost two seasons to instill their philosophies.
You mean mid-table?
No wonder you’re satisfied.
There losses mate
I can’t defend Arteta tonight, as he got some key decisions wrong during the match and he’s not marshalling enough consistency from the team. However, I do see a modern manager who is rebuilding the club from the inside out and I’ve seen enough, heard enough, read enough, and contextualized enough in the past year to believe that he will be a big success at Arsenal. That said, if the team continues the losing streak well into December, Arteta can have no complaints if he loses his job.
Sober judgement and I agree with it. I’ve always thought Mikel will probably end up a decent manager, but we’re his training wheel team. I doubt if he ever is that it’s at arsenal. Came too early and he still has too many lessons to learn.
Exactly my sentiments- came too early. He was still in school learning under Pep and we snatched him to come learn on the job at Arsenal. That is just the way it is.
What have you ”seen” and ”heard” that the rest of us haven’t? Football on pitch looks pretty abysmal to me.
It’s hard to argue with that. After 2 years our position on the table is largely the same, we still struggle to play with any cohesion and create a decent volume of chances, his team selections are questionable and his in-game management worse. We are also on target to ship 50% more goals despite dropping 100mil on our defence. If the level of performance continues then at some point the excuses, blind faith, and disclaimers have to give way to the weight of mediocrity on display most weeks.
Agreed. Tuchel, Conte, Vieira, all changed things in a couple of games, MA has has had two years and the biggest budget of the summer spend to go nowhere. No wonder he’d like Arsene to be around more!
I agree with Futsboller, I can’t defend MA after this one but also in the grand scheme of things haven’t given up yet. Might be down to a difference of opinion on what people value. Lots of people seem to say that they’re willing to be patient knowing that we’re in a transition period and the ups and downs that come with having a young team, and yet seem to be having a lot of trouble coping with that patience being tested in this way. This is one of the low ones and it’s miserable, no one can dispute that.… Read more »
He didn’t make any mention of his role in this. He defended and justified himself as he always does. I haven’t heard anyone say Arteta wants to play boring football, I’m sure he wants score loads and create. It’s just my eyes are not lying with what they have seen over two and half years. He does play boring football.
I would take what I’ve read and heard with a pinch of salt. Arsenal’s PR machine has been on full throttle for over 24months. What I have seen is a manager with a strong personality that has a lot to learn, particularly when it comes to game management, player selection, and strategy. Will he be a great manager someday, most probably; Arsenal are a top team that cannot afford a novice at the wheel. Just like Gerrard, he needs to cut his teeth in a lower league.
What I see is a manager who makes sudden rash decisions, falls out with players quickly, and seems unable to translate his repeated post match comments into practice.
Time’s up if he can’t change by month end.
You are more articulate than I am.
The jury is still a bit out for me. I had turned more towards believing in him a month ago, the doubts are back again.
It will be interesting to see where we are table-wise at Xmas.
One sane voice in the wailing, whining wilderness of Arteta is great today after a win and trash today because we lost. We humans are so fickle sometimes, but that’s just the road football has travelled.
Spot on. Having watched Arsenal teams over 5 decades since terry neil, howe, graham, even stewart houston, then rioch, arsene, emery up until arteta he is by far the most limited offensive and attacking coach we have had, he is dreadful ffing appalling rigid robotic over complicated he’s all narrow margins – everything has to slip into place and be absolutely perfect – the opposition the form of our players the passing the finishing. He is obviously in way above his head, a good coach devises a way to play that best suits the qualities and abilities of his players,… Read more »
Thanks flashman, the only thing I disagree with is Don Howe 😂, I was amongst thousands on avenell road as a teenager demanding he resign. Singing up to the changing rooms we were. That was when football seemed and was for me more important than life. 40 years later I’ve managed to change a wee bit 🤣😜
I can’t imagine how somebody like Graham Potter must feel watching this. The man went to coach in the arctic circle, built his reputation right from the bottom and massively overperforms with every club he manages, then has to watch a guy consistently receive free passes despite consistent failure in one of the top jobs in Europe just because he’s good-looking and did a 12 month internship with Guardiola
Potter has done a great job at Brighton but the Brighton fans are still moaning about their team, it’s what fans do, we moan, we love it, you only have to look at this place after a defeat.
If Godfrey gets a red card we probably go on to win, if Nketiah scores we definitely win, small margins I know but they make a big difference.
True.
the really criminal managing move was leaving Xhaka on the full 90 on a yellow card. It was obvious he should have come off to everyone for that reason alone. And it cost the winning goal b/c he couldn’t foul on the build up…
If the Godfrey incident happened the other way you’d be arguing that there is no way in heck it was a red. He’s not even looking at him. Sure it looks ugly but he didn’t intentionally stud him in the face. Just excuses for a pathetic effort.
I don’t know. I did think about it and I honestly would say, it’s feels like it was avoidable and maybe intentional. Not exactly step on someone’s face but to leave one in on the player and it so happened to catch Tomiyasu’s face instead of another part of his body.
If our own player did it I would have the same thoughts.
One big give away for me is the lack of remorse from Godfrey and not checking on Tomiyasu at all.
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher as professionals both stated that is was intentional but understood why VAR wouldn’t agree. The looking away came after he had registered where Tomi’s head was and designed to create the excuse.
We should jot have to rely on a red card to win but can you imagine if Xhaka had done it?
I don’t know, in the replays he looks at Tomi and then looks away and straight away his foot lands on him…. suspicious to me for the possibility that he might have been able to land somewhere else if he had wanted to. Granted it’s not nice to accuse people of purposefully stepping on someone’s face with studs. But the refereeing is another matter. There was that Auba red card where he clearly didn’t meant to step on a guy’s foot but he did and he got sent off. This whole inconsistency thing is all kinds of disappointing, taking intent… Read more »
This was probably the fairest game Mike Dean has reffed of us – not saying much because he wasn’t great – but by his standards it was fine. My point it you can make arguments either way and if it was our player (except maybe xhaka) everyone would make the opposite argument. Blaming the ref here is completely the wrong course of action. This one is about 70% on Arteta and the other 30% on the incompetence of our players.
I guess I disagree with you. While the loss is not all down to that call, (of course it wasn’t, we should have created more chances, we should have taken the chances we did create and we should have defended better), it was an influential non-decision that would have changed the direction of the game. We should have played better, yes, and no excuses there. But to be given red when others are not being given red also plays its part in changing the course of results and I wish they would sort that out. If our player stepped on… Read more »
The thing with small margins to me is that we’re just not good enough and these small margins have big consequences for us.
Like saying if Nketiah scores we win. That’s true but the other problems is that’s all we really managed to create (plus Auba’s chance). We should at least create 4-6 good goal scoring chances against teams that are mid table and below. And when’s the last time we did that ?
I know a lot of people were calling for Auba to be benched but I was really hoping he would get to start this game. He was finally starting to get back onto the end of balls and the other players were finally starting to find him with their passes, with a few good chances created mid-week last week. To me he seemed to be a game away from finding the net. (I guess you could say he’s been a game away for 4 games now but strikers go through patches, including those who aren’t ‘past it’ which seems to… Read more »
Small margins = two offside goals not given and it’s 4-1.
It’s just excuses now. It’s been 2 and half seasons and the man 👨🏻 just doesn’t have it.
And if one of the TWO disallowed goals goes in, we don’t win.
We were soundly beaten.
There was no luck involved today.
Besides, our performances have been like this for a while.
The reason fans are only moaning now is because we were usually able to get a lucky goal or two and the other team wasn’t.
The crazy thing is we were soundly beaten despite dominating possession and territory. We created so little despite that and played at a walking pace.
If me Aunty had bollox she’d be me uncle.
Not necessarily.
There are definitely building blocks in this squad as there are a number of good young players. I likely will never understand why we play so slowly under Arteta as it means we create so few chances, but given we’re on year 3 it seems apparent that’s how he wants to play. I also don’t understand squad management at this point – Pepe has produced fairly respectable end product yet we choose to play a player who isn’t good enough & doesn’t want to be here over him.
Are any of those building blocks thanks to Arteta the coach? As far as I see players who have been brought in have done well, and the longer players have spent with Arteta the more they’ve stagnanted. That, to me, says that we’re doing well identifying talents (and if Arteta is involved in that then it’s to his credit but that’s not the main part of his job) but that we haven’t managed to get the best out of those players. We should therefore keep with the recent transfer strategy, but bring in a guy who can use them better
Saka, ESR?
Arteta would be finished already if it wasn’t for them.
The Pepe benching is concerning. I can understand the absurd desire to play Nketiah to try and raise a modest fee in January from a sale, but it is coming at the expense of our most expensive signing, and a guy that can score a goal from absolutely nothing. I don’t know if Arteta is too much the manager and not enough the coach in these situations, but these decisions really hurt when we lose. I don’t think Arteta wants to play this slowly at all. I think it is frustrating as all hell to him, as his post-game interviews… Read more »
The thing is that he keeps saying it! Why has he not managed to get this across to the players? If he has decided how we should play and drilled his players that way, why not a like for like sub of Pepe for Gabi? If he has no intention of playing Pepe, why put him on the bench? Was Eddie sub just to try to get him to sign that contract?
There are just too many questions for MA.
It almost feels like Arteta would be a great director of football and not a manager.
It’s not really a dig at him. I do truly appreciate how he has made it a priority to fix a culture/discipline problem that he identified on day 1 of his time here.
Also from watching him speak for the last 2 years, how he made it known that there were severe unbalanced areas in the squad which has led to our current transfer strategy (i assume)
Get Arteta out! Its 2
Years in and still we play ineffective negative football
Why is arteta accepting VAR’s decision on the violent attack against Tomi? Be outraged, stand with your player, say something, don’t minimize it!
I’ve never been so embarrassed or ashamed to be an Arsenal fan. NOT because we lost but in your attitude and the way we played. Time wasting tactics from early, relying on VAR to save our skins…. We are pathetic. Playing like a relegation team clinging on for dear life. Get this manager OUT!
He talks up a good presscon, and basically is admitting he is clueless, after a diabolical team selection & substitutions. No wonder he wants Wenger next to him. Just when most of us thought we were improving, down we go backsliding.
Horrendous feeling to be a gooner.
Arsenal played very badly. This is not the first time their performance was bad. I have seen it in a number of games. Once they are in front they stop playing and defend . One wrong pass and they are well behind. The buck doesn’t stop with the players but with the manager. We have evaluate his training methods. They players don’t press after the ball and let the opposition dictate the game. Many of the players lack fitness and also doesn’t know how to distribute the ball . The attack stops in its infancy as someone misplaces the ball.… Read more »
This has nothing to do with young players. Its the senior players more than anything letting the team down. Overall the team lack fluidity, no structure in our play and this land squarely at the coaches feet. As an ex midfielder, I thought especially in the middle of the park we would see some pattern to the team play. Some plan on how to navigate the high press and move the ball into the final third.
A better manager would get way more out this group of players
Question – bar a few seasons of Auba, who was the last player we bought in their prime playing years who we spent over 20 million for who we can call a genuine success?
Saliba, he’s been great for three French teams now!!!
Maybe Leno? Most likely it’ll be Gabriel moving forward. But that’s the issue isn’t it? From Wenger’s final couple of seasons to now, we’ve not brought in a successful game changing player. (minus auba like you said) I look back and there were a number of players that had relative instant impact/success that our recent signings are no where close to achieving. These mid-high end transfers from the top of my head; Nasri, Arshavin, Podolski, Santi, Eduardo, Adebayor, Nancho, Giroud and Sanchez. What I’m trying to get at is that our recent transfers at all price points are no where… Read more »
Leno? Jeez…how standards have fallen if he is a successful transfer.
That was pretty much the point.
Alexis Sanchez? He did well whilst he was playing, so from that perspective it was a success.
I miss his spontaneity and I think the team does too. Question is Would he be allowed to play like that in this team? Answer is no.
This was a sobering experience after convincing myself we had improved and it could easily have been 4 – 1 to Everton without VAR.
I know their left back could have been sent off, but that is a mere detail when we look so unlikely to score. Without Smith-Rowe we look even more toothless.
I don’t understand this thing about being untop of a team, scoring and then just decide to invite pressure. Some of these games the other team is offering much and arteta just decides to let the team grow in the game. I don’t get the tactics.
Isn’t *
“it wasn’t good enough” boss captain obvious
Why can’t Arteta motivate his players. Look at Steven Gerald and Veira. How the team runs for them. Why did we change the team from last week. The rhythm has gone
Said we shoulda got Vieira when we got Arteta. We can still make amends for that. More than anything this team needs accountability. Arteta’s selection choices alone show zero accountability.
We should try to keep our upcoming players like Nketiah who will become a great player. Young players should be given at least 20 mins per game and that way we retain them. If u don’t give them game time they will leave and we lose a player and then we have to buy another one
Arteta needs to look in the mirror. HE wasn’t good enough. Starting Xhaka for a full 90 at the first chance after his awful, stupid red card? What are AMN and Lokonga supposed to make of that? And then leaving him on after another daft yellow that made him a statue when we needed a tackle in extra time? that’s 100% on Arteta…
Could this not really be about the manager? I think MA should begin to take responsibility for the sloppiness, his inability to communicate with the team as the game progresses.
The jury is still out, Lampard, Ole then …. ….. Are we bracing for a new year present?
The fans who have access to the emirates are partly to be blamed because there is no way fans of a top club should be accepting the drivel being dished out week in week out by this novice. Don’t let the wins fool you. We have been terrible; a top team cannot be 15th in the league for chances created. Under Wenger chances were not the issue. This man team reflects the way he use to play; boring!!
I have some access to the Emirates, I just reserve that for when Arsenal Women play there.
At least there’s still a part of this institution that still cares about its standing in the world of football.
I’m starting to think the good run was the result of so many of the players being new.
They clearly have quality, and when they’ve been allowed to play their game, they’ve looked good.
The more time they’ve spent being coached Arteta’s “system”, the worse they’ve looked.
In a nutshell !! Been saying it for ages Jeez even Nuno looked like he was thinking processing and trying to do what he’d been coached !!! Instead of the instinctive bold exciting Nuno we first saw would have just let it happen Arteta is like a dementor he’s just sucking the spontaneity creativity out of good players and making them look a lot worse than they are ! Hence Pepe sits and watches the Arsenal shitshow because he won’t or doesn’t want to conform to Artetas negative ways ! Too many confused players crunching numbers in their heads instead… Read more »
Not at all surprised by that result. Numbers have shown we were no5 by happenstance. Reminds me of the infamous Emery’s unbeaten run
Sloppy on the ball ? Heard it before ? Mikel can stop tinkering with his team sheet trying to squeeze square pegs into round holes and instead ask why this happens ? Football is a game of time and space ,our players don’t get the time on the ball because there no obvious space to play the ball into. That’s because we lack plan and movement around the ball forcing us to long passes or the worst passes of them all, parallell with the sideline. If you recieve the ball and then need to plan your next pass,you’re lost. To… Read more »
Devastating loss! I was foolish enough to have started believing in possibility of top four. That is a pipe dream now. Midfield is a shambles. Xhaka was Xhaka and Partey, unfortunately, was Partey. Finishing was poor and lacked confidence. But none of that makes me angry at the Arsenal players. You know what makes me very angry at our team…? They watched one of their own get stomped in the face and bloodied up and there was no fight, no “F-U” to their opponents, no uptick in the collective intensity…no response at all. How can you get behind a team… Read more »
How are you surprised my friends? Remember how some wet behind the ear people were waxing lyrical not too long ago. Our problems are our own making from this last summer. Instead of getting in a proper Director of Football (never mind manager) we relied on a wet behind the ear know it all Edu. Squandered 50m on White (not much difference in defense) Neglected to add proper quality to midfield, rely on (until recently) an over imagined new Torreira ‘world class’ Partey, never mind Sambi lokongo, Elneny and AMN…that Xhaka is even our best mid says it all. Instead… Read more »
As predictable as Arteta’s hair.
Edu and Arteta should NOT be given another window to further compile problems at the club.
But likely the club will saunter along with acceptance of mediocrity and frankly create further damage down the line.
This was a slow train wreck always coming.
said it before and i’ll say it again…..the problem is the manager or rather mismanager, poor man management, poor team selection, poor tactics , poor in game management, poor substitutions, poor excuses……he’s way below the level of pretty much every other manager in the league and it shows. more poor results to follow imo.
Agree with this entirely – last night was like a trip back to early Arteta. We aren’t good enough to defend a lead and despite the obvious shortcomings up front should have scored twice in the last ten mins. But then I just expect auba to miss now…
The more I think about this the more I think the Spanish way, the Pep way, doesn’t work in England – unless you are Pep and with the exceptional technical players at his disposal.
I think we are seeing that the German durect and fast way really works well in the Premier League.
I would like to see a decent German manager come in.
Enough of “it was not good enough”. It was your own selection and substitutions that were not making sense.
Arteta’s own non-negotiable killing his own selection. Why the hell Pepe is not playing, at least he can contribute while we were chasing the game.
Deserved much more? What planet is he on? What game did he watch?
lets be clear about this, and the previous match, both are on arteta- he picked the teams and then failed to adjust tactics, inspire the players, or make subs when even the casual viewer at home could see the problems on the pitch. his inexperience has cost us at least 4 points here.