Result: Arsenal 0-0 Burnley
Competition: Premier League
Date: 23 January 2022
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Lokonga, Ødegaard, Smith-Rowe, Saka, Martinelli, Lacazette
Subs: Leno, Tavares, Chambers, Alebiosu, Patino, Salah-Eddine, Hutchinson, Biereth, Nketiah
Arsenal were held to a frustratingly poor 0-0 draw at home against Burnley, as they failed to reclaim fourth place in the league and it became glaringly obvious just how short the team were in terms of clinical finishing up top.
The first half saw Arsenal struggle to create many clear-cut chances, despite having the lion’s share of possession. A couple of fine passing combinations ended in somewhat toothless end product, as the need for a ruthless striker appeared more and more evident.
The Gunners turned up the heat in the second half, with a succession of oppurtunities that were simply not taken. And as the team toiled, the crowd grew ever more frustrated – demanding more urgency as the game drifted into stoppage time.
PRE-GAME
Following the midweek home defeat to Liverpool, which dumped Arsenal out of the Carabao Cup, the Gunners were looking to end the month on a high in the Premier League against bottom-placed side Burnley. A win would put them back in fourth place, with a game in hand on Manchester United.
Mikel Arteta was forced to make one change in Takehiro Tomiyasu, who was evidently playing through the pain barrier on Thursday. The right-back has also withdrawn from Japan’s World Cup Qualifier squad as a result. Rob Holding came in to partner Gabriel in central defence, whilst Ben White shifted to the right-hand side.
‘Play the kids’ was a popular phrase thrown at Arsenal, who have the youngest squad in the league, following their postponement of the North London Derby last weekend. The subs bench for this game included five youngsters who haven’t played a single minute of Premier League football, and four of those hadn’t even played senior football for the club.
FIRST HALF
Arsenal dominated the early possession with Lacazette dropping in to receive the ball and slip a nice ball through for Martinelli, which came to nothing, but it was Burnley with the first chances of the match. A ferocious Dwight McNeil shot was palmed over the bar by Ramsdale, before the following corner fell to Ben Mee, who fired over the bar from the edge of the area.
After the early scares, Arsenal tried to build some pressure but struggled to penetrate the Burnley defence. Some shouts of ‘faster!’ rang round the Emirates as the fans called for the team to up the tempo. However, the crowd were lifted in the 17th minute when Lacazette made an uncharacteristically mazy run into the opposition box before firing his effort wide.
A couple of minutes later, it was all aboard the emotional rollercoaster for Arsenal fans when Ramsdale flapped at a Burnley corner, before the bouncing ball was eventually hoofed clear. And within seconds, the Gunners put together their best passing move of the game as Ødegaard and Smith-Rowe orchestrated a ‘tiki-taka’ style attack which ended with the former’s effort being saved.
There was more than a fair shout for a potential red card when Ashley Westwood stamped on Tierney’s leg after the ball was gone, but VAR saw no reason to overturn David Coote’s infield decision of a yellow. This was then followed by Burnley’s second booking of the game when Josh Brownhill unsubtly scythed down Smith-Rowe in the middle of the park. To top it all off, Ashley Westwood escaped a second booking, just after the half-hour mark, when he appeared to strike Gabriel in the face with his arm.
As the first half edged into 2 minutes of stoppage time, Arsenal produced one more sweeping attack, which ended with Saka shaping up a left-footed effort inside the corner of the box, but he fired just wide.
SECOND HALF
It was a quiet start to the second half and the Emirates held it’s breath as Saka stayed down after a clash of knees with Erik Pieters, but much to the crowd’s relief, Arsenal’s favourite son was able to carry on.
Arsenal were laboured in their approach up until the hour mark, when Saka was brought down by McNeil to give them a free kick right on the edge of the Burnley box. Ødegaard was the man to take it and his clipped effort just cleared the crossbar, kissing the roof of the net on the way over.
Not long after that, the Gunners produced a fantastic corner routine that saw Smith-Rowe catch the low-driven ball sweetly, but it was brilliantly saved down low by Nick Pope. Then Smith-Rowe came close again after some nice sustained possession, when his shot was deflected wide.
The Arsenal team and crowd were lifted by their flurry of chances and had their tails up as the game approached the 67th minute. Once again, it was Smith-Rowe at the heart of the action, with a lung-busting run to the byline, but Lacazette couldn’t turn in the cut-back – much to the audible frustration of the home faithful.
Arteta’s first substitution came in the 76th minute, when Eddie Nketiah came on to replace Smith-Rowe. One would assume it was a case of preserving Smith-Rowe’s fitness rather than a reflection of his impressive performance. But even with two strikers on the pitch, Arsenal continued to look devoid of any cutting edge in the box.
A total of 4 minutes was added on at the end of the game, and Arteta’s flailing arms signalled his desperation as his players continued to lack that crucial quality on the final ball – right up until the final whistle.
When all was said and done, Arsenal failed to bounce back after a poor run of form and couldn’t continue setting pace in the race for Champions League football. With 18 days before their next game, and a week left in the January transfer window, there’s an awful lot of work to do for Arteta and Edu.
Such a naive performance. All game long it was obvious Burnley wanted us to cut inside and get crosses in because they knew we couldn’t beat them in the box. Martinelli and Saka should have swapped sides a couple of times – in the first half all the chances we made were on the outside, but they kept slowing down, coming inside and finding 6 northerners in the way. That’s on Mikel. We had no presence in the box and it’s going to cost us the top 4. That’s on Edu.
Lacazette also sits far too deep for my liking. I know he’s playing as a false 9, but just look at how far behind he is when ESR passes him the ball for his failed shot. We desperately need a new centre forward.
“A new centre forward”?
We don’t have a fucking centre forward
Ergo we need one.
I don’t think it is about a CF in the first place. We are playing like a tipical Guardiola team without Messi or without the squad-depth of City/Bayern.
Our first 11 are good enough to produce 80-90% of a that tipical Guardiola team but we don’t have Iniesta, Eto or Messi to add that plus 15-20% and we don’t have Sterlings Mahrezs, Fabinhos on the bench to continuously produce at least the 80-90% of that level.
Your sense of proportion is weird. Iniesta, Eto or Messi for 15-20%.
I swear, the chance in the first half where Lacazette played it back to Tierney (who was equally useless today) to hump over the bar instead of taking a shot had me screaming at my laptop.
amen.
Same here. Think I scared my dog with the howl I made when Laca cut that chance back.
I can’t believe we sent niles away. Lokonga needs a senior partner, I felt sorry for him, but he does not look an epl mf as of now, guendouzi did. Also, I love tierney but just like kolasinac he does not open up his left side to pass via his right foot. So many progressive passes to be made and he passes back bcoz non existent right foot. How the fuck do all this players go on to play high level football without decent weak foot is an mystery to me.
You’re trying to put a 0-0 loss where we had 75% of possession on Lokonga? Sorry man, but nah. The fowards are where we lost points here. Without Question. Saka had one of his worst games of the season, Gabriel blew hard, but lacked the end product and Laca blew our best chances.
Have to say, I agree with the point about Tierney’s non-existent right foot, though.
The NLD will be a big one looking at the way other results are going today.
You lost me at “bcoz”
Can’t like b/c I disagree about Guendouzi but I do feel the same as you about the whole weak foot thing. Unless you’re as unstoppable as Robben’s left I don’t know why so many pros are so one footed
There is still a part of me not convinced about Arteta. Probably won’t be popular comment on here with many who will say knee jerk bla bla. One big chance created against Burnley. Never looked like scoring. Two semi finals against Liverpool, never looked like scoring. We shall see.
The attacking buildup, the formation, the late Eddie sub (in futility) all so repetitive and predictable. Other teams must see this as well surely. Try something different ffs.
Yep. Taking off our top scorer Smith Rowe, for Eddie with 10 minutes left says it all. Clueless
Nketiah will be a good striker one day. The problem is we can’t wait for him to develop.
He needs a full season in the championship or lower league. Since he’s not signing a new deal, I guess he’ll get that next year…
Nketia is garbage, he is a poor man’s Chamahk.
He was clearly unfit but you know you’re in trouble when you’re bringing on Eddie to change a game.
Yes. Because YOU know so much about ESR’s fitness, and about all those really great subs we have there just waiting to change a game.
Get off it, man.
This month we’ve played 5, lost 3 and drawn 2, and that includes games against the team at the bottom of the Premier League and one from the Championship. We’ve literally had more red cards than goals scored. Something needs to change.
Life is full of ups and downs so is football. Take it easy- we move on.
Trust the process loool good ebening
Completely agree with swapping Martinelli and Saka. What harm could it have done to give them 5-10 minutes and see how it goes? I get that the bench was thin, so try to make use of what you have, at least.
I also like the suggestion of putting on Tavares near the end, so we could go to a back 3. It would have given Burnley something different to think about, at least.
I desperately want it to work for Arteta but he does some very bizarre things like constantly putting on nketia when he doesn’t want to be here and is not good enough anyway, he is also to slow to react with substitutions and some of his in game management is terrible.
He is learning on the job. Growing up can be a pain.
I’m sure with time Arteta will catch up to all of your managerial skills lads, Keep the faith. 🙂
Can Pep’s former ball boy be paid like the rest of us in the meantime?
Disclaimer: I don’t play FIFA or Champ Man so may be unqualified to comment, but IMO the substitution should have been Tavares for Laca, move Martinelli up front with Tavares on the left wing. Either way, our senior CFs no longer cut the mustard
Well that was nothing short of atrocious. Quite honestly, we haven’t played a single bit of decent football since the City game over 3 weeks ago.
Speaking of which why did Gabriel get a second yellow and the ref today doesn’t give that Burnley player an obvious second yellow for an elbow in Gabriel’s face. Sour loser and all but we lost to city because the ref followed the rules to the dot but just 30 minutes in and Burnley should have been down to 10. They even out over the course of the season my foot. We weren’t very sharp today but so were city that day.
That aside we so look a midfielder and striker short.
Yes, we should have been 11 v 10 for two thirds of the match. Yes, if that was Xhaka… etc. But look, we would not have scored on today’s performance, even against 10 men.
Cumulative my friend, cumulative. I would have loved to see us fail to score against the 10 same way city fans witnessed their only shot on target in open play.
Burnley came to do exactly what Burnley always do and did it well. Their defence just snuffed out any cross and so many defenders in the box makes intricate passing difficult. If only we had players who could have put doubts in their minds by shooting from outside the box. The only surprise is that Burnley didn’t score a late goal!
Thing is, we know what Burnley are about, we know their back 4 is all 6ft3+ so why continually put in cross after cross when we don’t have that target man(ala Olivier) anymore? It’s a lack of a Plan B/C/D etc
More signings needed
I mean yes, but the team on the field should have been more than enough to defeat the mighty, bottom of the league Burnley. The tactics were wrong and the complete lack of urgency was infuriating. All our rivals edging away from us, and what looked like a chance at top 4 is now looking like a scramble for Europa League at best. Really, really poor.
Wow, we humans- so fickle. Fairweather friends we are.
Yes it was disappointing not to beat bottom of the league Burnley but they are a low block outfit and it was always going to be tough. We rarely score more than 1 goal against them when we beat them. In truth those boys are knackered. It didn’t help that most of them had to play with a man down versus Liverpool (thanks Xhaka) and it might have helped to have Partey available today after 2 days rest rather than rush him into playing on Thursday after a flight from Africa. Madness! Saka must be running on empty and hopefully… Read more »
We definately need an striker now, Midfield can wait. Partey,xhaka,elneny will all be back by next match.
Not to presume, but those upstairs know which player is being investigated over the betting stuff.
They should get someone in their position, otherwise we might be desperately short.
Really disappointing. Any team we put out should be able to defeat this last placed, broken, depleted, winless-in-eighteensomething games Burnley. Missed a crucial opportunity to cover som ground here, so so frustrating. Get a midfielder and striker in ASAP for god’s sake.
Everton game kinda
Hopefully Chelsea pump The Yids or this weekend has been as shit as the rest of them we’ve had this month
Only good weekend we’ve had this month was the one where we didn’t play
No point in the midfielder now. We will have Partey, Xhaka and Elneny back by the next game and we’ll be playing once a week because we’re out of every single competition. I’m sure the guy who wanted Emerson over Tomiyasu and Neto over Ramsdale will sort us out an unnecessary midfielder on loan, 4 weeks too late and replacing the guy we sent on loan for no fucking reason.
There’s always a point in signing a midfielder when the alternative is xhaka.
You know how we sometimes say “This was a game we would have lost under Wenger?”
Under Wenger, we would have battered them.
Arsene would have brought Salah-Eddine and Biereth on at wing backs and chucked everybody forwards, and we’d probably have won like 5-1
Lokonga has invented a new role in football: Hiding midfielder. Ødegaard had numerous very good serves into their goal area, but we lost all air duels. What does Giroud do these days?
Seriously, thought I was the only one who noticed. Instead of him to be opening up for passes he kept hiding behind opponents. That’s why our midfield didn’t work effectively.
We almost played with 5 forwards in this game. If he doesn’t sit deep who is going to? Mind boggling that Lokonga is the scapegoat here?!
He’s far from the only culprit. He is a young, fresh player. But Arsenal’s intrinsic problem is speed on the ball. For the ball to move faster, players have to be available and visible. Lokonga was neither today.
Give him a break. He was a one-man midfield today.|
Thought he made a couple of great switches, but you didn’t notice them clearly
You are right Lokonga wasn’t very good, but to be in this position where he is the only midfielder is just poor planning. Is there any other team in the league where a twenty year old who is new to the league is playing as a lone central midfielder.
Arteta tried to be really tricky here by playing White almost as a 2nd midfielder from RB and holding really deep, but it actually stunted our attacks and forced everything left again because Saka had ZERO support down the right. We were horribly unbalanced. The only time the ball when to Saka was a rapid switch to the right. Barely anything through right-sided build up.
I actually think Lokonga had a solid game. Even as a lone midfielder we controlled possession and he helped brake up a lot of Burnley attacks when they came. Kid can’t do everything.
The real problem is our complete lack of movement up front and attacking midfield. Yes, our defensive 5 battled to find any penetrating passes and/or to transition it through the centre of the park – but that’s because countless times they were forced to stop, look hopelessly for a run, and then pass it back. Likewise from most of our throw-ins.
MO was the only player who looked like he understood the need to run into space!
Talk trash about us and how he was only able to achieve all his life’s aspirations after his move to Chelsea because we were holding him back.
Yet again a lack of urgency in the first half comes back to bite us. All very familiar and the horseshoe passing is back.
Disappointing, but this is a young team without any first choice midfield.
The moment Eddie came on I knew it’d be 0-0. What exactly is he going to be able to do that Smith Rowe isn’t?
I hate to criticise our own players too heavily- especially academy graduates- but my god he’s bad.
He’s a poacher who can’t poach. Palace dodged a bullet in the summer.
He isn’t arsed at all because he knows he’s off on a free in 6 months, and he was never that good even when he did care. Only bloke who cares less about the club is Dusan Vlahovic by the sound of it
Leave on a Bosman.
So now it’s Eddie’s fault that he couldn’t do in 20 minutes what 10 other players couldn’t do in 90 ?
Only insofar as it’s his fault he isn’t good enough to play the full 90.
Probably ESR is still coming back and no point risking him.
Inevitably the end of the match would entail long balls towards our forwards. I guess Eddie came on for air power. Our attacking players lost all duels in the air.
Still a long way to go. And we will continue having these conversations if we don’t add a bit of depth this January.
That was atrocious!
Shouldn’t we get players in and only then clear the decks of unwanted ones?
What is the end goal of Arteta here? I don’t think he’s ever going to finish in the top 6 for Arsenal, let alone the top 4. Why is a total newbie allowed so much leeway and control of this great club? He isn’t even a legend! Still don’t know what type of manager he even is. Attacking? Nope. Defensive? Not really. Just a totally bland manager who likes the chequebook as much as his mentor Pep – that’s all he’s seemed to have learnt off him. No amount of PR that he gets out can trick me. People that… Read more »
We were sleep walking through the first 60 minutes and then complained for time wasting.
Tierney’s form is puzzling.
Fatal blow for top4. Maybe now investing is to save top6.
time to admit that that City loss killed our momentum. We ought to stop deluding ourselves with top 4 aspirations. Thid month has been handled atrociously.
And now the broadcaster is showing the top 5 goals of Lacazette in an arsenal shirt. I like Laca but we are paying the most ridiculous subscription fees for anyone watching premier league football anywhere in the world here in Sub Saharan Africa.
Afters a 0-0 they decide it’s the best time to remind me of 2018 goals 😬
Just not good enough. Mikel keeps getting control and then the wheels come off. What an awful January for the club. AFCON players should be avoided, not signed. If you couldn’t have 11 first team AFCON players then it has to be a serious consideration to have any in key roles.
Nevertheless, at home against the worst team in the league Arsenal have to be winning those games in hand. Top 7 here we come
“AFCON players should be avoided, not signed”?? Reactionary comment if there ever was one
Awful performance and we won’t get top 4. We are not good enough for that.
Very disappointing. So laboured and lethargic. Nothing like enough energy or desire except for a 5 or 10 minute spell in the second half, when at last there was something to wake the crowd up – and then it was blighted by poor, poor finishing. Arsenal did not take a limited and toothless bottom-of-the-league-for-a-reason Burnley seriously and did not do nearly enough to earn the three points.
I wonder if the club still thinks it’s a smart move to offer Arteta a contract extension right now.
Considering how much control he has, think it’s almost certain he will get an extension irrespective of where we finish.
Sounds like Wenger all over again
good.
Brutal. Sambi isn’t good enough to be starting at the moment and it’s a big burden on him, he’s just a kid. I don’t want to see Eddie coming on ever again, just sign the striker and midfielder or we are doomed to slip back to 7th/8th
It’s today Arsenal really needed a striker.
No signings (and I mean 2 proper signings), no top 4. Simple as that. I have some sympathy that it’s difficult In January and we’re not in the position to waste funds, but if we don’t try something we’ll simply give away 4th spot to one of the worst spuds or Utd teams I’ve ever seen.
Drawn a blank for a few matches now. The Arteta Aubameyang feud is starting to look costly.
Obviously not getting Dusan but a new striker is an absolute must before the window closes.
Failure to prepare is preparing to fail. Just look at our bench u21 players, and you can tell he’s not prepared to play any of them either. One change when the front line looks lackluster.
Almost entirely predicable, but also bitterly disappointing. Almost simply because I was convinced Arsenal would lose three match 1-0.
We had a 10-15 minute spell in the second half when they picked up the pace and actually looked like scoring. Then, sure as anything, Mikel made the change everyone expected but presumably no one wanted. Why not replace your best creative threat on the day with a want-away striker not quite at the requisite level? To be fair to Eddie, he applied himself well, but just isn’t the solution we need.
Frustrated.
Two games in hand and 2 points off top 4. Terrible result but not the end of the world. Need to buy a striker.
Not sure you were watching, games in hand are no good if you’re not going to win them.
Also only 2 points clear of Wolves in 8th, who we’re away to next
We can single out individual performances all day. But it was always going to be a difficult afternoon against an 11-man brick wall. We just didn’t have the bench to play differently and upset their shape. Hope this isn’t lost on Edu and company
We are well short of a team that can finish top 4. In fact, if we’re this much out of puff in January despite no European football we’ll probably struggle to finish top 6.
I know we haven’t been able to rotate that much, but why do we seem so unfit at the moment? Have we been unlucky with Covid cases affecting the players?
They only had 2 days training this week, Wednesday & yesterday. I know we didn’t close the training ground down but maybe Mikel limited the training sessions post Liverpool first leg when we only had 7 fit players to minimalise those 7 picking up injuries. Hopefully this 2 weeks off can get them rested up & ready to take on Wolves
Sack the useless Arteta now FFS
For who?
Fuck’s Sake.
Can we sack you instead?
No excuse for that glaring Laca miss on 67 minutes. We were very poor, but how the fuck was Westwood still on the pitch? Ref showed fuck all inteeest in booking them for time wasting which started in the 17th minute.
All round a shit show.
I was losing my shit watching Gabriel carry the ball out from the back at a snails pace all match. Why? Why?!?
Apologies for rant. Absolute stinker of a performance..
He’s missing absolute sitters every fucking game now.
I had a lot of time for him, but man that dude is done.
Apology accepted. Sambi alongside him seemed to look first for the backward pass when we needed to press. Horseshoe football returns.
I hate the “1 more or Ill book you” when the keeper time wastes, if his purposely doing it, as most away keepers for lesser teams do when drawing at Emirates then book him straightaway, that’ll stop it. I think it was Sunderland a few years back, their keeper was time wasting as soon as the game kicked off. Least when Ramsdale time wastes, he doesn’t make it obvious to the point where his booked for it(think he has 1 booking for time wasting this season)
Terrible performance, we looked out of ideas and fatigued. BUT Ashley Westwood should have been shown a 2nd yellow. We get another clown referee with a punchable face
Can we get Welbeck back, or anyone?
After Lacazette’s display today, I’m wondering if we can get John Hawley or Lee Chapman back….
The only “good” thing about this match: it proved beyond any shadow of a doubt we need a striker with presence who changes the shape of the opponent’s defense. Without one, we fall back on crosses, which we’re comically bad at.
And those sort of players typically cost 80m-plus.
HFB was ours for 1 million. And/or Abraham for 32m. And Edouard for 19m.
Wtf was Edu doing???
We should forget about top4, this manager doesn’t learn. We would be lucky to make top 6. Why he didn’t start White in the midfield as part of a double pivot is beyond me. Lokonga was limited and isolated in the middle, ESR shouldn’t be starting with Odegaard. Both of them are weak. We needed physicality in middle of the park but there was not. If we can’t grind a result against a team bottom of the league well that tell you everything you need to know about Arteta management, and we’re we will end at the end of the… Read more »
Wow dude. This is a terrible comment. All the way around.
Who would you have played at rig back?
Let’s extend Artetas contract! He’s got ehT lanesrA on the right track. Backwards. That starting XI has the talent to be most every team in the PL.
At least we don’t have to sit through anymore of this for the next 2 weeks
time flies
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2021/dec/23/how-mikel-arteta-and-arsenal-brought-back-the-emirates-feelgood-factor
It’s not the end of the world. Fans talking like we’re out of the top four race but we’re still in it. Our midfield is a big big issue and that’s on two senior players who cost us with their red cards. Sambi is a good ball over the top passer but he needs someone near him who can make quick passes on the ground. Tierney is tooooo left footed and though he improved in the second half you can see why Tavares has been selected over him a few times. Still all to play for. I’m going to stay… Read more »
Sound analysis. Where is the bone of contention from everyone? The part where you’re staying positive? I prefer that to being miserable…
Laca will not be able to carry us to anything other than disappointment before the end of the season. He is basically a non-scoring midfielder now.
We have to buy a striker this window, there can’t be anything more important than this.
I see a lot fo this is on Arteta…what is exactly? He doesn’t shout “Cross without looking!” to Tierney and then he follows orders? There were loads of chances for us that weren’t taken to drive through the middle and exploit a gap but they either passed back or passed wide. Most teams in the premier league can defend that style of play all day.
I miss Pepe
The trouble is Arteta doesn’t….
I’m more and more convinced that the “good run” was a consequence of us having a full squad which was overperforming while we were facing depleted bottom feeders. The lack of creativity wasn’t fixed, it’s just that Saka, Martinelli, and ESR were all lights out at the same time. The midfield and defense provided a solid base on which they could thrive. But if the team loses a few pieces, we create nothing and even if we did, there is no one there to score. Wenger got constatntly criticized for tactical naivete, but he was almost always working with severely… Read more »
Very disappointing performance and, once again, the only positive to take is that it further highlighted who needs to be shown the door – and fast. Lacazette. Been a good servant but now clearly finished. Lack of pace, lack of confidence, lack of finishing – the guy is done. Eddie. I had high hopes for this lad, but now I struggle to understand why he is given so much game time ahead of Auba. He just cannot be bothered and game by game he’s becoming the all-original waste of space. After today, I cannot wait to see the back of… Read more »
He’s probably miss the door.
🤣👍🍺
It’s time to start looking down now. Next game away to Wolves, who are now only 2 points behind us
No lack of effort but just not quite on it with the final ball, and just lacking that quality up front. Massive chance for Laca that he simply just has to score. It’s the third game this year where the opposition should definitely have been down to 10 in the first half (after Palace H and Everton A) – we’ve dropped 7 points in those games. Not in any way excusing our performances in those matches at all, but given how easy refs find it to dish out red cards to us, we have had the shitty end of the… Read more »
Just like that. Top 4 race is over. Need sp*rs to bottle it again for us to make it.
I just don’t understand the ‘cut off your nose to spite your face’ mentality of Arteta. Fine if you’ve decided Aubameyang needs to leave, but why not use him to help the team win until such time? It’s all or nothing with him. You’d hope he’s be smarter then that. Put the team’s success over his supposed ‘non-negotiables.’
An interesting comparison is how Tuchel handled the Lukaku case: consulted senior players, made his point by sitting him for a game – and reintegrated him. Arteta freezes people out. Stripping Auba of captaincy, having him train alone, and scratching him for 4-5 games would have been sufficient punishment for pretty much any indiscretion. That results in this bizarre situation where people are questioning if there’s a “way back” for Auba and are wondering what further terrible things he must have done to deserve his punishment. Mind you, there is no evidence whatsoever that he did anything other than what’s… Read more »
Your comment is wrong on about everything. That itself is amazing.
Pretty sure Auba isn’t currently available to play.
Juventus made it clear Arthur Melo was available but only upon a suitable replacement. Arsenal was in a hurry to rush off AMN ( at that to a Jose Mourinho team ) with Partey and Elneny off to AFCON. That singular decision I believe cost us at least two games this month. Imagine having AMN available for Liverpool last Thursday and today and then sending him off on loan by Wednesday. That would seem to me like an organised way of doing business.
Hmmmm, why is everyone shocked about this result? This is Arsenal in January. For the last decade and a half, this scenario has repeated itself: go out of cup competitions and season unravels. I’m not surprised. Arsenal usually crumbles under pressure and high expectations, they well when no expects anything from them. However, management must shoulder some of the blame for this: they failed to prepare for a thin squad in January. Stop worrying about this team, they aren’t the most talented batch we’ve had in the last 16 years, they will disappoint again. I would be very glad to… Read more »
Hmm, slightly dramatic that our season has unravelled every January for 15 years as we exit the cups – especially given we’ve been in 8 cup finals in that time.
And last season we had the second best record in the PL after Xmas
Chance to go top four. Home fixture. Opponents are bottom team. Pathetic performance.
My doubts that Arteta is the man to get us to top 4 was strenghtened today. We knew that Burnely would defend deep,being cynical and waste time whenever they could. No surprises today. We know also that our offensive line pose little aerial threat in the box against the solid Burnley defense. Solution : move the ball fast and precise turning the play from side to side, get into the box from the sides, play low 45 degree out or lift at back post. When we win the ball when Burnley are on the offensive, immediate long balls towards Martinelli… Read more »
Injuries. Suspensions. Absences.
MA played what he had.
To blame him for today is silly.
Saka was very off today. ESR invisible. Laca missed a great chance. MA cant actually play himself.
He can’t play himself, true. But he can play Aubameyang, yet chooses not to. He had no midfielders, true, but that’s because he sent AMN on loan without securing a replacement. Partey couldn’t play, because Arteta had chosen to chuck him on in the last 20 minutes of a game he was nowhere near fit for and did what someone who is completely fatigued might do. And are you really suggesting that a team with Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, and ESR can only play by lobbing crosses in the box? That there’s no other way in which they can try to… Read more »
Terrible to draw against a team that are sitting bottom. We know they are going to fight tooth and nail because their premier league survival depends upon it. I for one cannot wait to watch Burnley get relegated and we no longer have to suffer their brand of football and their piss poor manager who can always find something to moan about. I do feel that not only are we not getting the rub of the green lately, injuries, a bare squad, terrible refereeing decisions but we are also not helping ourselves sending people out on loan. Perhaps there is… Read more »
With that team today would Klopp or Conte or Tuchel have found a better system to win that game comfortably ? Answer honestly because although I can see a club vision I can’t see a manager implementing a win at all costs mentality ? Maybe just me but they look frightened to play outside of the script set for them ?