Mikel Arteta was left to rue missed chances as Arsenal twice surrendered a lead on the way to a 2-2 draw in the first North London derby of the season.
Cristian Romero was the central protagonist of an entertaining encounter. The Argentina international put through his own net on 26 minutes trying to clear a Bukayo Saka effort and later saw VAR penalise him for handball after he stopped a goal-bound Ben White effort. Saka stepped up to despatch the penalty with aplomb.
However, as was the case in the first half, Son Heung-Min wasted no time silencing a fervent Emirates Stadium. Assisted by James Maddison three minutes before the break, the South Korea attacker repeated the trick on 55 minutes as the visitors took full advantage of a bad mistake by Jorginho.
Here’s what was said after the match…
Mikel Arteta on his side missing chances…
In big games, the boxes are so important and we have to put those chances away and we didn’t. We had some errors in both goals to concede, and then it becomes difficult to win but honestly the effort, the energy that the boys put in, the attitude it was phenomenal. I think we today lacked certain composure on the ball to be more dominant, and to get set to get the structure we needed against a really good Spurs side.
Source: Post-game press conference | Hayters
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Ange Postecoglu on his side’s performance…
Credit to the lads, they were outstanding today against a top team, a difficult venue. We had to work our way into the game. I thought we showed all elements of it when we had to defend. I thought we defended really well. We played our football. When it didn’t work, we persisted, which was great. Underpinned by a real strong work ethic and outstanding character. When you come to a difficult venue you know that against a top team you’re not gonna control the game or dominate the game for 90 minutes or 100 minutes and there were times today where we had to sort of be really strong and resilient and I thought guys like Romero, Vicario, Bissouma, they all stood up in those critical moments. When we got a foothold in the game, I thought our football was outstanding. Because again, you’re playing a top team and I thought our possession, working our way through and we had the quality in the front third to capitalise.
Source: TottenhamHotspur.com
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Son Heung Min has scored six and assisted two more goals in his last eight Premier League games against Arsenal
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) September 24, 2023
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William Saliba on Arsenal’s performance…
Because it’s a derby we wanted to win, but at least we didn’t lose because we could have done at the end as we conceded some chances. We’ll do better, learn from this game and come back better.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Mikel Arteta on Declan Rice’s injury…
He had some discomfort in his back, and he was telling us during the first half that he wasn’t comfortable. When we assessed him at half-time, he couldn’t continue, so we had to change him. Hopefully [he’s] not [out long], but we have to assess him. It’s strange that a player like him asks to come off, because he wasn’t uncomfortable. Hopefully not, but we’ll see.
It was already a test today because we missed five big players, but it’s what we have. We need to give trust and opportunities to the other ones – we have a game every three days and that’s the level we have to show, so let’s go for it.
Source: Post-game press conference | Hayters
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Mikel Arteta on Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the season…
I think it’s a really good start, but today we have that regret, especially that we lacked some composure on the ball, to get set and have more passes. We wanted to attack too quick, too early. We were had so many balls in the final third and we didn’t do enough with them. Against these teams, we have to be more ruthless.
Source: BBC Match of the Day
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James Maddison on his first North London derby…
It was a proper Premier League game, a proper intense, fast-paced match. Both sets of supporters made it a great spectacle and a high intensity game. A point in the end is probably a fair result on balance but I loved it out there. It’s one of them when in the dying moments you kind of want to push everything to go and win it but you also don’t want to have the heartbreak of leaving yourself vulnerable and you lose it on the counter or something. On reflection, a point and lots of positives and we keep going, still undefeated.
Source: TottenhamHotspur.com
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11 – Cristian Romero is the 11th player in Premier League history to score an own goal and give away a penalty in the same game, and the first Spurs player to do so. Whammy. pic.twitter.com/AQaO52ee91
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 24, 2023
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Mikel Arteta on his players being over-excited by the occasion…
Playing in front of this crowd in a derby doesn’t get much better than that, and I think the players were so excited but sometimes you can be too hyped because then we lacked some composure on the ball to get more control, but we have to take the draw, there is nothing else we can do.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Jorginho on his mistake…
A painful mistake today, but seeing how everyone reacted after my mistake to support and lift me up, my teammates, coaches , staff and you Arsenal fans. It gives me even more motivation to work harder and harder, because all of you deserve the best version of myself. Thank you so much for the support Arsenal family.
Source: Instagram
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Mikel Arteta on Jorginho…
I love him, and we love him. We all love him. That [his mistake] is a part of football, and they are allowed to make errors because they play. We don’t play and for us it’s really easy, but if there is someone who is there that will help the team and do the most, it’s him. He’s got it, and for Jorgi, we’re all with him.
Source: Post-game press conference | Hayters
Complacency in both boxes cost us the 3 points. Poor finishing from our forwards, coupled with poor concentration in key moments in defense. Everytime we went a goal up it seemed like we were overconfident. What was Jorginho doing? Busy pointing players where to go ffs.
It was not complacency it was lack of quality. Nketiah should be playing in the Championship. Havertz is a huge mistake. Saka can’t defend . We don’t have a striker.
No he shouldnt. Its still to early to say. Yes he can. Yes we do.
I’ll give you nketia is championship player (at best) havertz did alright when he came on so let’s not throw under bus yet and saka was very poor in getting wrong side of Maddison but he is so so good going forward I will accept all day long. COYG
Havertz was poor, sorry. He’s got a long way to go. And this is classic Jorgs. He’s always a liability in an open game. Eddie is what he is. Much better than championship, but he shouldn’t be starting games like this. He was below his usual standards, which aren’t really enough of we’re pushing for a title. Really disappointing ESR wasn’t given a chance on left. We looked very susceptible without rice. Hope he’s ok. With him and Partey out we’re really short. Disappointing dropped points, but on the match overall, it’s hard to say it wasn’t the fair result.… Read more »
We’ve been saying that about Nketiah since forever but bcos he seems to score in patches, most arsenal fans suddenly develop short term memories. What makes it even more obvious is that Jesus isn’t a much better finisher…..
But Jesus brings something to the game. Nketiah runs around like a headless chicken.
I think Arteta should take the responsibility for this one.
Nothing is guaranteed, but Ramsdale could have saved the second goal. I don’t complain about Jorgi, as we didn’t have Rice and Partey, but he could give ESR and Reiss more time.
I don’t want to see Eddie start another league game for us.
TBH, it would be great if he didn’t have to, as it would mean Jesus stays healthy and Martinelli and Saka. They’re all a class above Eddie. We really missed Martinelli and trossard. Havertz was really disappointing in the second half. He did nothing, turned it over and just didn’t look up for it. Not good enough.
Havertz is early days still for me. I don’t give a toss what he did or didn’t do at Chelski. It’s what he does for us over the course of a season. I have concerns for sure but I’m prepared to give him the season to find his place. Arteta has earned that much from the supporters. If at the end of the season he’s the same, then off with his head.
Maybe. But I heard that, more than a few times, about Granit Xhaka.
Saka has played 7 games in the last 3 weeks
United
2 for England
Everton
Psv
Spurs
We have almost an entire 11 of the injured Players
Zinny is always vulnerable and so is Tomiyasu. Jesus always seem to carry that knee problem.
It may be unpopular opinion but players should not playing more than one match a week.
More of an impossible opinion – it works in fifa to have effectively 2 teams and rotate 22 entirely twice a week but thats not how the real world works.
I really hope none of the players who started today starts against Brentford in the league cup on Wednesday. Except Eddie. That back four, Saka and Rice (fingers crossed on him) need a night off.
I think one of Gabriel, White or Saliba will play. From senior players, we only have Tomi and Kiwior to bring in to the back line unless you count Cedric. Could be a good game to have a look at Ruell Walters. So most likely we use Tomi at LB, Kiwior at LCB, maybe White or Saliba at RCB, and Walters or Cedric at RB. El-Neny as an inverted FB has a chance if he’s fit enoug. Man we miss Timber.
Isn’t Walters a CB? For the League cup:
Ramsdale
Cedric-walters-Kiwior-Tomi
Elneny
Havertz-ESR-Nelson
Eddie
Rice has played too many games too, and almost always 90 minutes. And at the intensity he plays… so no wonder he’s gotten injured. It’s amazing that Saka and Ode haven’t honestly, but you can probably see it in how they’ve played. End product has still been there for both, but for the most part they haven’t dominated matches for us the way they did last season. The way football is played these days, especially with what Arteta expects from his players in terms of intensity and pressing, and now with 100 minute games, one full match a week is… Read more »
Imagine what the £65 million spent on signing Kai Havertz and the £85.8 million that Arsenal will be paying him could have bought us?
This is on Arteta and Edu.
No matter how hard he tries or what Arteta says or the fans who scrape the barrel trying to find some positive aspect the player brings Kai Havertz will never be good enough for Arsenal.
If you look closely enough you can see Kai Havertz in the Zapruder footage, and he’s the one took that sock you lost.
Pathetic words on Jorghino.
It was actually quite wise what he did. Declan is most certainly injured. Partey is out. We’ve only got Jorginho. He’s what we’ve got now. We better manage his confidence because our season depends on it.
Elneny is back and considering the attacking flair we have on offer, and the fact he’s WAY more mobile than Jorgs, he wouldn’t be a bad shout IMO. He’s never let us down either. Freaking love Mo. Jorgs is just a mercenary, and one fading out.
Yeah no I’m gonna have to disagree. Elneny’s good at protecting the backline but isn’t a progressive passer, isn’t press resistant, meaning he will always pass back as a safer option which kills any momentum we need to progress to the third, which isn’t bad per say but when we need to progress the ball forward and have better control of the game, Jorghino is literally the better player for that. Elneny is the best option for seeing out the game in the dying minutes. Plus frankly speaking, at the risk of annoying everyone in this blog, Jorghino’s a far… Read more »
Zinchenko at CDM with Tomi at LB pls. Zinchenko is faster than Jorgi, better at defending and dribbling, has the same range of passing. Jorginho shouldn’t be near the pitch playing as a 6 if we’re playing two players in the 8 position for whom defending isn’t the strongest suit.
Jorgi is good enough to close out games alongside Rice/Partey and start league cup games and that’s about it.
Backing your own after a mistake can hardly be deemed anything other than basic human decency.
Saliba and Saka, though? Class again today!
Except for their first goal.
We all love Jorginho? Yeah sure.Most likely. Id love it if he was sold the next day. The sooner the better.
And there we have the classiest and most intelligent form of being a fan of a football club. When the team or a player does well and wins the game, cheer them on and say you love them. As soon as they do badly the next game, say they’re shite and need to be sold.
Results based analysis is the worst.
We don’t all love Jorginho. Arteta seems to be in love with all these ex-Chelsea players
I dont get it. I just dont. Id rather play Ben white in midfield than Jorginho. Id even put Ramsdale there and tell him to boot if at first chance. At least he would have done what the beloved Jorginho did.
If you don’t get it, maybe you just don’t watch. Jroginho controls the game, sees the play, and is a brilliant passer. He is also slow and can be bypassed. Arteta thinks that trade-off is worth it but of course he may be wrong. You don’t see any upside at all, which is just blind.
You don’t control a game like that by bringing j20 on. He’s not the guy for that. The game was open, you need physicality to snuff out their attacks, and gradually bring the temperature down to a simmer… then you bring on jorginho for control. In a wild game like that J20 is gonna be hopeless. I would have played tomi there instead.
Too late though… so gutted with this result.
Spurs were really good to be fair to them… can’t believe I just said that.
Who would you bring on instead after the Rice injury?
Exactly, rice injured, partey out. Jourginho had a blip but he’s still a big upgrade on our next choice elneny.
So Jorgs can pick a pass. Whoopty do, but he’s a liability against fast open play, which we face week in week out and even more if we play Jorgs. Elneny is not a liability against open play. Sure he’s a much more compact distributor, but play him alongside Zinchenko, Odegaard, Vieira/ESR, Saka, Raya, Saliba, Whie etc. and we don’t need him to be blazing passes all over the pitch – keeping things tight is FAR more valuable. Other players provide the creativity. Really, we just gotta hope Rice and Partey get back to fitness ASAP, but if we have… Read more »
Tomiyasu; Zinny –> midfield, Tomi providing the Zinny-lite role from LB.
Not the worst idea in the world but Zinny is still not suited to 6. Obviously Jorg made a mistake so its easy to retrospectively say it was the wrong call but I still think its the correct decision at the time (when it was still 1-1 dont forget)
If we are at the point that Tomiyasu has to invert from fullback then the game plan should be adjusted accordingly. He is more likely to be a minus in that type of role when in possession. No, if he plays there it’s purely for his prodigious off the ball ability and in possession he should be no more than a bumper for passes to actual midfielders. I would think BW would be ahead of him in the pecking order of who gets to tuck in from FB. Jorginho can be a valuable piece, but he needs to partner with… Read more »
Granit Xhaka!
If you don’t bring him on you shatter his confidence which the manager has been building up over the last 9 months. Hindsight analysis is a fairly simplistic affair. We brought in J20 a couple of games ago when we lacked control and we immediately went on a 20 pass rondo that controlled the game, so I don’t buy J20 can’t help control games.
This is a bit of a strawman from the original statement from Ashburton Patriot. His claim is that as a lone #6, especially in an open game, Jorgs cannot control the game, and I totally agree with that. Play him alongside Rice or Partey and that is a different argument, in those circumstances he isn’t protecting a backline by himself. Three different managers tried and failed playing Xhaka in that exact role – in that sense Xhaka and Jorgs are very similar. Neither should ever be played as a lone #6, as they are so easily by-passed and both get… Read more »
Well lets all be grateful that you arent managing the team then.
One poor result and the negativity squad come out of hiding. We move.
Always there lurking, waiting for MA or a player they don’t like to mess up. We move together or we don’t move as far as we could. Loved the stadium crowd supporting Jorginho, that help him, which is the only power supporters have, to positively or negatively impact player performance inside the stadium. Everything else on the socials is just noise.
Well said. If you can only cheer when the team or player is doing well and stop or even boo when they do badly then you’re not actually supporting the team, it’s supporting you.
I thought Willian had a good match. We all love him.
4 point dropped at home against two sh*t teams. Just not good enough against a City side that rearly drop any points. Next Arsenal fan who says we will win the league should be locked up. We should just make sure to finish in the top 4 and put all our eggs in Winning the Champions League.
What a loser mentality you have. It’s a shame City didn’t have the same one when we were out in front much further in the season last year. Fortunately I don’t expect the team or staff to be so negative after 6 games and no losses.
This fan base has so much psychological trauma.
You hide behind your phone/keyboard and call people names just because you don’t agree with them. There is a special name for people like you 😉.
I was wondering if the half time substitutions were a result of being overly cautious after what happened with Timber but it sounds like Rice might be really injured. Really hope at the very least that was the case with Vieira and he’s available for the next game, thought he did quite well and helped us control the game in the first half. That said I think he tends to do better on the left than at the 8, so if Martinelli is out again I’d like to see Vieira there and maybe ESR or Tross (if he’s healthy) in… Read more »
I’d like to interject in all the Eddie, Havertz and Jorgihno slating and mention Maddison. For all his qualities as a player, what a nasty piece of work he is. He’ll be a good one to hate over the years.
Agree. He could have also done a job for us at left 8. How much did he cost?
Not a great game. I think all this “we are going to smash them” talk from Arsenal folk was very premature, saying they had a kind fixture list up to this point…yet so had we, and we looked bang average against Forest, Fulham, United…it’s a wake up call. They can clearly play some decent football and came away from the game with more possession, and just one less shot. Periods of the second half they made us look bang average. Havertz isn’t working, we are shit without Rice, and we need Partey back asap. It would be nice to have… Read more »
This game flipped on three major factors: poor finishing, the injury to Declan Rice and Thomas Partey, and the crazy mistake by Jorginho. And we still didn’t lose. Rice. When he was fit and firing, Spurs did nothing. He was on Maddison detail and the lad hardly had a sniff of the ball (except to present it to Jesus) until after 38 minutes. I suspect Rice was already playing injured at that point. He doesn’t look very mobile tracking back on the Johnson chance or the Son goal and plays uncharacteristically passively in both instances, choosing to protect an area… Read more »
Honestly a really bizarre game. Sp*rs were not very good but we were just lethargic in a way we absolutely are not in general, let alone for this specific fixture. It was like much of the squad were playing through illness such was the extent of arrant passing and running, both well below a standard we have come to expect. Injuries might be catching up with the squad too. Hopefully an aberration.
Champions league midweek hangover?
its really unlucky for arsenal today that rice got injured. arteta probably hooked viera cause he was bringing jorginho on for rice meaning it would’ve been viera and jorginho in the middle and they would struggle physically against spurs. but nketiah doesn’t have the footballing ability to help us challenge for the title. i’d prefer havertz at 9 over him.
We need a striker badly, Jesus is not a great goalscorer, a lovely footballer yes. Eddie way out of his depth. I was surprised when we went in for Havertz as he was not what we needed. We are not clinical enough and sit off teams to easily inviting them on. Never see us winning 8-0! I’d love to see the stats on teams giving away goals by individual errors as we must be top! Liverpool will be City’s main challenger this season. So 3rd or 4th it will be.
As depressing as it is to say it, I don’t think City will actually have a challenger this season. They will be 11 clear at Christmas. Liverpool are no great shakes either I’ve seen a few of their games and they are not much different than ourselves. Last year was the chance but there is absolutely no shame in finishing second to those cheating soulless bastards.
ALL of the team were poor on Sunday gk included so I hope they got a stern talking to after the match.
I dunno what it is but the Arsenal injury curse strikes again. I hope neither Rice or Trossard are out long. No doubt Zinny will be injured next 😟
The feeling after this game gets worse the more time that passes.
My thoughts:
That was a dive by Kane– old habitsIf you really want to read in more detail, I cover it here: https://theoddfather.co.uk/arsenal-2-2-sprs-5-thoughts/
Cheer up folks. Watch the first half performance before Rice gets injured, that’s what this team is about, not that bizarre second half with a Jorginho-Havertz midfield.
So frustrating that injuries are racking up again. By and large we seemed to have turned the corner on injuries last season (Partey, Saliba and Jesus excepting) but to have 4 or 5 players out so early in the season is going back to the bad old days when we were virtually always top of the injury league. Bad luck, or does Arteta need to look at his training methods? The other recurring theme on many of the comments is our need for a proper number 9 – which I can only agree with. Good as Jesus is, he’s never… Read more »
We have a bunch of players on the team who don’t get injured e.g. Saka, so why bring up training methods?
Injuries happen in bunches sometimes.
For once I agree with Gary Neville. Overcelebration after a goal does distract concentration. Then they score . All players know that. You’ve not won anything til the fat lady sings. Save it for the win. I managed many champion youth teams, produced Arsenal players and always taught that.I scouted for Arsenal. Being ready for the next step is a top attribute, and the next step is the step to victory. Then CELEBRATE !
A world class striker who can turn games around with a moment of brilliance has to be a priority. Eddie isn’t one, no disrespect to him and neither is Jesus. If Rambo can be benched fior a better (debatable) keeper then so can Jesus.
For me it’s understandable Jorginho mistake as mistakes happen but why did he not take a yellow for the team and foul Maddison. That for me is his biggest mistake
Pulling of a below par Eddie, an average Raya and not putting on Havertz would have helped composure. How about that boss?