Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Rice, Trossard, Odegaard, Martinelli, Saka, Jesus
Subs: Ramsdale, Kiwior, Cedric, Jorginho, Elneny, Nwaneri, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah
—
Arsenal missed the chance to go top of the table after goals from Tomas Soucek and Dinos Mavropanos handed West Ham a 2-0 win at the Emirates this evening.
Leandro Trossard replacing the suspended Kai Havertz was the only change from the team that drew at Anfield, while 16 year old Ethan Nwaneri was handed a place on the bench.
Bukayo Saka had the Gunners first effort in the third minute, after a brilliant flick from Martin Odegaard, but he shot straight at the keeper. The opening saw the game settle into an expected pattern with lots of Arsenal possession and the Hammers sitting deep.
Trossard shot over after good work from Martinelli, but there was a 13th minute shock when the visitors took the lead. A West Ham cross came in from their left, it deflected beyond Raya and almost out for a goal kick but Bowen put it back in and Soucek was there to poke it home. A long VAR check took place, shades of Newcastle away of course, but the goal stood. 0-1.
The goal seemed to take some steam out of our performance, with not a lot of fluency going forward. Trossard took some bad corners and a bad free kick, Saka had a shot deflect wide, and the Arsenal number 7 almost equalised when he headed a Jesus cross on target but Areola made a superb point-blank save.
West Ham were forced into a 32nd minute change when Paqueta, who picked up a problem in the warm-up, had to go off – replaced by Benrahma. Martinelli shot wide after good interplay around the West Ham box, and Saka almost equalised when put through by Odegaard – his shot from a tight angle beat the keeper but crashed back off the post.
It was the closest we came to scoring before the half-time whistle blew and we went in 1-0 down. There were no changes at the break, and 10 minutes in the visitors doubled their lead, former Gunner Dinos Mavropanos rising highest to head in off the underside of the bar. 0-2.
Arteta waited five minutes and made a double change with Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson replacing Zinchenko and Martinelli. Jesus then had a header on target, again well saved by Areola, and moments later headed over from a White cross after brilliant work from Odegaard.
Nelson picked up a booking for a foul on Soucek, Odegaard was doing his best to pull the strings but there wasn’t enough support from those around him. The captain made a good chance for Trossard but his close range shot was cleared, Saka had a shot on target which was saved, and Emile Smith Rowe came on to replace Trossard in the 79th minute.
Saka wanted a penalty but VAR checked and said no, Smith Rowe had a shot on target but it was easy for the keeper, Odegaard had a shot blocked and it was tough going against a West Ham side who defended as well as we attacked poorly. Nketiah got no power on an overhead kick from an Arsenal corner, Odegaard’s powerful shot was tipped around the post, and Nelson curled a shot over.
The goal wasn’t coming, and there was almost salt in the wound when Rice slipped in our box, then committed a foul to give his former club a penalty. However, Raya saved from Benrahma, and the final whistle went shortly afterwards on a night of real frustration for Arsenal.
Crap
Got thumbed down earlier when I said we need a bonafide striker. Jesus turns in one of those chances and the game would have turned on its head. But here we are!
So frustrating that Man City would win only 1 in 7 and we really couldn’t pull away. Oh well
I said at the time and I stick by it, there was a reason wily old Pep was happy to let Zinny and Jesus move to a potential title rival
In fairness to both Jesus and Zinchenko they improved us massively when they joined and are a big part of why we are now title challengers. It might just be that like Raya for Ramsdale, we need those 2% upgrades in their positions to push us over the line from challengers into title winners. Certainly I think that was Arteta’s thinking when we signed Timber.
Hahaha Raya an improvement? Pls stop it
We weren’t potential title rivals when they sold them, and tbf they were a big part of the reason we challenged that season.
We weren’t title rivals at that point, however a club with our stature and history are always _potential_ title rivals so I stand by my point.
8 down votes ? Feeling grumpy back on the early tube home people & a bit bored !
Lighten up it’s true !
That reason was primarily FFP.
In any case, don’t fall into the trap of thinking Pep is some infallible genius who’s always playing 5d chess. His mistakes in the transfer market are too many to count, they just usually get plastered over with yet more hundreds of millions.
Selling those guys was amongst those mistakes; Arsenal are quite comfortably the best team in the league this season by the most important metrics, significantly better than City, and Jesus and Zinchenko are a big part of that. Don’t throw the baby out as soon as there’s a slightly difficult patch.
Not by the most important metric though. Which tonight was goals and in the league is points.
At the end of the season, points are most important, yes.
During the season, xG and xGA are more important, because they show the true performance of the team. Goals actually scored and conceded are subject to a large degree of variance, as we saw tonight, which means over small samples they can be very misleading. That variance evens out over a longer period, which is why the teams with the best xGD always perform better over larger samples.
We are watching a different sport : goals scored and clean sheets
We’re not watching a different sports; we just know different amounts about the sport we’re watching. One of the things I know is that xG is more predictive than actual goals scored, and the same is true of xGA vs concessions (clean sheets total isn’t even in the discussion- every manager would rather concede one goal a game than alternate between 0 and 6, meaning total conceded is much more useful than clean sheets). Based on the underlying stats that people in the know (such as the clubs themselves) use to evaluate performance and predict future performance, we are the… Read more »
Jack, I respect your opinion, stats etc (which has its place within football), but good old judgement, what you see etc can’t be replaced with stats alone, there has to be context behind them, otherwise your judgement can be ‘distorted’…..
Shots on goal are a perfect example, unless you analyse the detail the numbers can skew what we viewed & experienced, so I’m sorry stats alone done ‘paint’ a true reflection…..
I think that’s true and a fair point Chris. Stats, even the more advanced ones, are not perfect yet, and sometimes you do have to rely on the judgement of your eyes a bit to fill in the gaps. For example, xG might actually understate our level of chance creation today because it only counts shots, and therefore doesn’t capture chances where the attacker doesn’t get a shot away (like ESR failing to get his head on that Odegaard ball, or the multitude of times that we can’t quite find space for a shot in a crowded box). Plus it… Read more »
Again, Jack, I respect your opinion, & as previously stated there’s a place for stats & you make some very good points, but there still has to be context & as we stand no matter how good machine learning is, it still can’t replace the human element in all of this, yes, emotions run high after a game, but in the cold light of day, my feelings are still the same & have been for a number of years. I also stand by the fact that so many people & their similar opinions can’t all be wrong just threw same… Read more »
I got thumbed down too when I said replacing our goalkeeper was less likely to cost us the title than bringing in a killer in the box….No arsenal player is in the top8 for goals scored…most of those 8 would have buried west ham in the first half… we’re the least ruthless team in the top4…
My friend that’s in the cyberspace s’ called “Shadow banning” your opinion.
You can’t say things like that about an Arsenal player here, unless it’s immediately after a loss and everyone is fuming.
I’ve said from last season that Jesus was Adebayor Mk2, but that is disrespectful to Adebayor who actually scored goals, even though he missed 4 to score 1
Said this would be tricky, WHU like us were 3rd best in current form over last 6 games and so it proved, like last game Dec come on against his former club in CC his performance was by his high standards below par like tonight, along with the many up front, having had a difficult away fixture gaining a point going in to this one we were expecting 3 points, lets be honest WHU played well, we move on..
That was woeful.
Odegaard played well. That’s it.
Zinchenko was a fucking liability again
Z was a liability but MO played too slow and was ineffective
I’m not sure Odegaard did play all that well unfortunately. The whole team was off it from start to finish.
I thought he was good early but went to hero ball as the game progressed. That made us worse.
He was busy and tried hard but not great execution
Hairy balls Hammering against the arse! The blacksmiths forging an injustice to our rear-end. Forcing themselves on us. Grabbing on our lovehandles as we wrestle and bite the pillow! Woe! Terrible news!
You can’t tell me West Ham had a great defensive performance when they allowed 30 shots and 10 corners. Sorry. Not possible to convince me.
However, we gifted them a free half. The whole fucking first half we made it easy and casual. This is how you lose leagues.
30 shots but how many clear chances on target
6 or 7?
On target 8 but 6 were easy catches, 2 chances on target and Saka hit the post WH also had 3 chances and took 2,
The few on target were directly at the keeper. Saka had the only good chance.
We actually had just over 1 xGOT, meaning that an average keeper would have conceded one goal today.
Given that we had almost 3 xG total that’s poor finishing, but, for the same reason, it’s straightforwardly wrong to say that Saka had the only good chance. We had several- enough to score 3 goals on a good finishing day.
Their defence was better than our attack. That cannot be denied
Simple analysis that is 100% correct. When you boil down everything, stats, eye test, form, their defense was better than our attack.
A tale as old as time itself. Arsenal with all the possession but do nothing with it.
We have zero CF presence
Didn’t even attempt to shoot
We shot 30 times
How many troubled their keeper? Not enough.
I was responded to a guy who said we “didn’t even attempt to shoot”
martinelli stopped scoring. so saka stopped scoring. but jesus wasn’t about to let them hog all the limelight in the not scoring competion. sadly this means we’re buggered
Lack of firepower has been a discussion point all season. Luckily the window opens in a few days!
When you talk about excellent play without scoring, Hleb is one of the first players that leapt to mind.
Go take a peek at the article from yesterday of Arteta responding to the striker question. People were saying we don’t need a striker as much as we need another midfielder.
Saka and Martinelli are having stinkers game after game for a while now… That’s when you need a ruthless striker. But then we have Jesus who is great at missing big chances. Get a proper striker and shift him to the wings, not hard.
They are getting doubled up on out wide. You need a presence to offer the early cross and that also then frees up space for saka and martinelli
Don’t know exactly what Arteta tinkered with over the summer but it isn’t working. He’s got to earn his crust now and get us going again.
It is working. We are statistically much better than last year.
True, apart from goals and points.
We actually are better in terms of points than we were last season, look it up. 2.22/game vs 2.21/game last season. So basically identical actually, with the edge to this season.
We are 0.31 goals per game behind though, yeah. Hardly a huge decrease, and outweighed by our enormous defensive improvement, but sure.
We have less points after playing something like 5 games more 😀
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
We can’t win the league with Zichenko and Raya in this team… Just not happening. Absolutely awful players
What did Raya do wrong today? They had two shots on target that no goalkeeper in the world will save, so what are you saying?
Troll comment.
q-anon gooner…
We can’t blame the effort can we?
The lads tried but the last game wasn’t easy so you could see them tired.
No injuries so bring the next one!
COYG
That was meek
It was many things but not meek. The lads put an effort it, we just didn’t score, so we lost. But not meek.
Absolute crap. The only good thing?
A chance to make it right quickly. Oh and David Raya with a penalty save.
and watching esr again, my boy
We are clearly incompetent. But what on earth is VAR then?
Desgracia
We’d all be absolutely furious if we had a goal disallowed for that and it’s disingenuous to claim otherwise. We were crap, like in several other games this season.
I said the same after Newcastle, the lino aren’t making decisions as expecting var to sort it out but they don’t have the angles to clear it up so nothing happens. Prob both occasions with no var the lino flags it as out.
VAR is our kryptonite, we should rely more on converting our chances on the final third. Don’t make their keeper look like the best in the world.
The referring in England is nothing short of COMICAL. Just sad that we always the butt of their “jokes”.
Not why we lost today.
Incontinent
That was a shit sandwich with a side of shit fries
Shit going forward, shit at the back. A quite frankly embarrassing performance at home to a bang average team missing their best player. Only Odegaard comes out with any credit. I defended Arsenal when people called them bottlers… I won’t after that performance.
ps we need someone who can score goals. Not a defender, not a midfielder…someone who can actually put the ball in the net. No chance of a title otherwise.
Aubameyang?
There will be no title this season. But I do fancy us to go far in the CL as relative unknowns.
Patience. The scored one lucky goal that changed momentum and one very lucky set piece.
Then they defended massively and given that they could kick us around with no interventions from the ref….it was tough.
there was nothing lucky about west hams 2nd goal.
MO also tinkered too much, did some nice numbers but little substance
It really wasn’t either.
2.68 npxG to 0.8. 30 shots to 6. A record for touches in the box without scoring. The finishing let us down, which we know is basically just random variance.
We are statistically the best team in the league- let’s all just calm down.
There’s always a nerd to tell you that your eyes are lying to you. We clearly need more goals, I don’t care what the stats say.
Yes, I am that nerd. If you think we didn’t create by far the better chances and dominate that game, then your eyes are lying to you.
does one fact speak against the other?
Sure, bad finishing is just random variance, as it was at Villa.
It demonstrably is. Over- or under-performance of xG almost always regresses to the mean over time, a telltale mark of something caused by variance. Over a large sample, xG predicts actual goalscoring near-perfectly, and is therefore what you should care about.
don‘t worry, jack, you will be proven right! 🤩🤩🤩
30 shots, only 8 on target 6 were easy catches, plus Saka hitting the post (1) I’d say we got three chances, Saka’s header and save on trossard, they also got three and put two away.
The point of xG is to measure the quality of those shots. So no, you’re wrong to suggest that the shots were low value ones or whatever exactly you’re trying to say here.
Amen, we maintained high intensity attacking football for about as long as you will see in 98% of games you will watch in any league. I love me some Martinelli but am not sure he is the best choice when the bus is parked all game. I would love to see some combinations of Trossard, Havertz and ESW or even Nelson where Gabby is the super sub. It would also be nice if fans were a bit less radioreactive.
Chance would be a fine thing
Does the “statistically best team in the league” get a trophy?
The wankers half filled cup !!!
Yeah, usually- they call it the Premier League Trophy
Jack, I appreciate your calm delivery of stats BUT if you watched the same game as me we never looked like scoring and without someone taller in the box, we never will.
I don’t agree; we do currently score a bit less than our title rivals, but we have the best defence in the league by a country mile, which more than makes up for it and gives us the best expected goal difference in the league. That will tell over time if we keep these performance levels up. I don’t deny we could improve our attack, but I personally think that’s more a result of Arteta’s conservative tactics than anything else, and the flipside of our outstanding defensive record. I think we have the players to have a more potent attack,… Read more »
Disagree, we looked like scoring the entire game. If you watch a game through a negative perception that we aren’t going to score you feel validated while I feel frustrated because we created so many chances it’s hard to believe we couldn’t score. We need to move the ball faster through the thirds, longer passes from the back to front attacking quicker before the low block has time to set like some impenetrable concrete. Agree with Jack’s comment about the not getting the luck from the variables. Over time and number of games we get those goals.
Our striker options are woeful
It pains me when we pass the ball around in front of the opposition goal and not score….Just awful football. All that possession for nothing.
People say we are doing fine and we took 30 shots
Trossard and martinelli awful. Putting on Nelson and nketia tells you how short we are. Some will call this knee jerk but I’ve felt it all season, we aint winning the league when you get beat by an injured ravaged West Ham at home.
remember when everyone thought we were fine with leno and then ramsdale came? the same is going to happen the day we buy martinelli a proper replacement. not his fault, he should be entitled to have a few bad months (he’s been average at best since the season began, awful these last few matches). but this team is always depending on out-of-form players to improve their performances. it was three months until havertz remembered how to play football, now other three months until martinelli remembers how to shoot, three months until trossard stops sending shitty corners, and so on. and… Read more »
What THE heck has gone wrong with Martinelli? Did we make a mistake letting Xhaka go without replacing him with a proper 8? That LCM is giving so much headache, even with Havertz recent uptick in form playing there!
That LCM position WAS not trossard ‘s role, but who do you play for MA it has been hard to trust ESR without minutes under his belt
Perfect game to start ESR and find out where his level is at with the squad. In terms of understanding where his team is at, MA missed an opportunity for potential squad growth and confidence for conservative team selection. This conservative approach doesn’t build confidence in the squad players and MA is demonstrating he hasn’t progressed in this area. Not playing players doesn’t maintain their squad value, playing them and have them contribute increases squad value. This is an area IMO that Arteta can improve his performance. Also changing tactics mid game might help. If our forwards can’t come inside… Read more »
David Moyes channeling his inner Man United manager..
74% possession, 30 shots, 10 corners and couldn’t hit a barn door. This team needs a kick up the arse.
This team needs a centre forward.
Jesus & Nketiah ain’t it.
So instead of Rice haunting his former club it was Mavropanos who came to haunt us. The fans leaving towards the end is a disgrace btw, SUPPORT YOUR TEAM, win or lose.
Absolutely agree. That was shameful to see.
Some of those fans are with kids leaving to catch the tube home. Not being funny but 2.0 down with a few minutes left poorinh with rain and an hour train ride home with children in tow I don’t blame them one bit after that ball ache of a performance
But would they have stayed with their kids if Arsenal was 3:0 up
Consider it from that angle
But they weren’t..
What life lessons are they teaching their kids?
More about putting thier kids 1st I think is what I am getting at
I’m completely with you on that. How much less likely are our players to pull off any comeback with the sight of their own fans leaving?
Although I see your point, fans are frustrated. Arsenal have been one step forward two steps back for far too long. We can’t be shut out at home by West Ham. Past seasons it was Brighton, 2 seasons ago it was Southampton. Things like that can’t happen if you want titles. Team can absolutely destroy a team one week and lay an egg next week. It’s like team is bipolar.
Lack of experience, lack of solid squad rotation options, too dependent on a small number of players for goals and when they’re misfiring we’re screed.
Fans feel frustrated, so they shit on any chance of an unlikely (but still possible) comeback by leaving early, thus giving themselves even more reason to moan. Makes sense.
Don’t blame fans leaving the stadium when we play so poorly. People need to go home and do something important with their time than watching this awful performance. Yet again Arsenal could go on top with a win at home but we lose. That’s the story guys. Let people go home early. Their decision. Yes we need a striker but we aint getting one in January except we sell players (no one is buying from us in January to help us – mark it down) or if we get another loan from Brentford. Doubtful. Like someone said at the live… Read more »
desgracia!!!
a side whose answer to being losing is to bring on eddie nketiah and reiss nelson doesn’t deserve to win the premier league. sold mavropanos for 3 million last year btw. all you need to know about this club in a single comment. also fuck pgmol
I think it’s time we gave Zinchenko a break. Also wtf happened to Trossard magic?
Z has 2-3 mistakes a game, was also ineffective going forward
He’s really started to irritate me. The very best full backs are allowed to be bad defenders, but is he one of them?
Yeah Zinny was ponderous and untidy.
Fo who, we have no cover now at Full back, centre back or a no 6 all gone or injured. Squad is no better than last season.
Shambles
Zinchenko and Jesus need to be permanently replaced. City won titles despite their presence, not due to it.
This habit of creating 100 chances, scoring 0 and the opponent scoring with every chance they get, needs to stop. It is not the stuff of champions.
Agreed. MA showing his hand by favoriting them. I think MA is the great pretender of Pep and not his usurper.
I think he has no choice. We barely have backup for either position. They are not very good and there’s a reason Pep got rid.
They helped the rebuild and restoration to top four. They don’t feel like they will be around when we win the league, or at least not featured. To be fair, Tomi was on his way to taking Zinchenko’s spot before injury and as someone else said, Timber is coming. Zin as a spot starter rather than regular seems inevitable.
Bring back Wenger
I think late-era Wengerball was brought back tonight!
The final third efficiency blogs wrote about this morning was lacking again. We desperately need a striker, we should have done better with the chances we got. We were slow and laborious, loads of ball but zero cutting age. We cant afford this if we really wanna push on. Kudos to West Ham though they defended excellently.
Kudus to West Ham.
He was excellent. His holdup play and strength on the ball was really great. It hurt us badly.
Martinelli didn’t stand a chance against him
No chance at all, Martinelli is out of form, needs a sit out for the next game. I give him a 1 rating for this game.
He was poor but at least he holds width
Martinelli’s crap form is putting SO much pressure on Saka and the whole right side. Saka is working so hard but it’s evolving to triple teams against him now, and of course the endless kicking.
Nelson looked like an academy player.
I was disappointed we didn’t go for him, he wasn’t even expensive.
Also, I see what you did there.
This has been a discussion in some quarters all season.
The gaffer knows more; I don’t ever want to hear negative talk about Havertz. Please get Toney so we can play Jesus out wide. Saka was denied a clear pen.
Ivan Toney? You’ve got to be joking.
Yes Toney. The mans hold up play, speed, and skill is what we need upfront. Name someone who can hit the ground running?
Not sure Toney will hit the ground running himself after such a lengthy lay off. But I do think we need someone, I’ve defended Jesus to death but he was diabolical today, pun not intended. Martinelli hasn’t been pulling up trees lately either.
We need a striker and Martinelli and Jesus to fight for a spot.
For someone who was nailed to a cross, there was none of that last night as he struggled to even hit the proverbial barn door. But seeing as it was his birthday only 3 days prior we can hope that he rises from the dead (of this performance) and is the self-annointed king that is crowned come season end.
*Gets coat
Got very tired of that overplayed Saka-Odegaard-White triangle, just keep doing same thing over and over again, gets very easy to defend..we are not winning any major title with current CFs, no hunger for goals!
Ben White was so slow and scared to pass forward.
It’s time we sold Zichenko. Offers absolutely nothing
I think Trossard was really poor and we miss Havertz and having options in the full back positions. Also thought lack of a proper striking plan B was really evident tonight against a block like theirs. Wish changes were made sooner.
The atmosphere stank tonight. There was a lot of the game left to play and going 2-0 down does not help, neither does the weather but slightly embarrassed that the place fell silent.
We absolutely do not miss Havertz.
Artetas obsession with control has caused this club to regress. We are ten points worse off than we are at this same stage last season. Our vibrant attack has become blunt. We have three players who scored 15 goals last season and only one of them has scored 5 so far while the other two has not scored 5 combined. If Arteta does not rethink this ponderous possession and control strategy we are about to fall off the cliff and go out of contention for the league totally.
Other team have found us out ; sit back and double up on Saka; MO takes too long on the ball, Gabriel and Saliba excellent in defence , but unable to shift a fast ball forward
Regress to what? Finishing 5th, 6th, 5th 8th 8th in the league? Do you remember we finished 2nd last year and we are currently in 2nd place and 2 points of the top. Nonsense.
Different season. The competition this season is far worse than last year and by performances we most definitely have regressed. Numbers don’t tell the whole story
Well if you are talking about regressing from last season, if you remember Arteta was the manager that season playing a game based on control. The fact that we achieved 2nd place was in large part down to him. So if the performances have regressed this season, they are only regressing from a standard he set. If you are talking about the club regressing under Arteta, you are just talking a load of old dogs bollocks.
Dogs’
Yes we regressed from the standard he set but that point is moot. We regressed from last season. Call it a victim of your own success if you want, the point still stands.
We have progressed defensively, somewhat regressed offensively and virtually tied statistically when ranked against others. We have accomplished this two years in a row in a sport and league largely dominated by a few clubs or 1 club who dominate for very specific unethical and illegal reasons. We now compete at their level … thanks to all who help make that happen and a big dose of Old Dog Shriveled and Infected Bollocks to the others.
Old Dog Shriveled and Infected Bollocks!
Nah, these are the new fogging estandards set by the man himself. He doesn’t want your excuses.
Well actually they do. At new years last year we had 43 from 16 and now we have 40 from 19.
Much worse this season unfortunately. Partey a huge miss.
Truth!
Need a striker and a lb if Timber isn’t back really soon. Zinky is terrible and has been for a long time now. Mistake after mistake and I don’t care what he brings in the attacking third if we keep shipping in goals on his mistakes. Both goals today was his today. Jesus needs 10 chances to score once. He wouöd be better on the wing. We also need to stop believing our own hype. We went in to the game playing pretty and neat. Looking like a day at the beach. This is not a team that will win… Read more »
So – again – can someone ask the question why the offside lines can’t use a similar view to any offside decision to compare ball to line? Is that somehow not possible with the VAR system? Here and Newcastle should have been able to have a decisive ruling using the same technology they use in every other offside review.
Not blaming this result on their goal – I’d just love to hear the question actually answered.
Agreed. Richest league in the world, if this is the stuff you’re going to check have the technology to check it. Linesmen and refs are defaulting to VAR so pretty embarrassing if VAR says inconclusive.
We can whine about the horrendous decisions against us. But this is on arteta. The pattern is there. Anytime he comes up against Moyes, first praises Moyes so profusely you’d think Moyes was his spouse. Then something scrambles in his brain. He adopts a slow, timid, tentative and predictable approach all game and loses the match ultimately.
He used to do it with Pep but seems to have got over that one, it irritates like hell when he gushes over Moyes, I thought I was the only one who noticed it.
Do you think he’s in love?
Not sure ‘Controlling’ the game was working – maybe be more direct, have a quick shot, try a cross – something that might even let them win the ball back so we could counter press and create a different scenario/space.
Blasphemy! We need more control! More!
Perhaps. I wouldn’t mind controlling VAR.
The problem is arteta ,he is no tactician.peroid.
No clue át all!
Think like an adult.
He absolutely isn’t. He honestly would be better suited as Football Director or on charge of transfers but his tactical mind is nowhere near the level required at this level.
Explain?
He knows the ingredients needed for winning but doesn’t have the ability to combine those ingredients the right way. He’s following a recipe but doesn’t have the talent to actually create one.
Huh?
You must take a step back and look at how competitive he’s made us
An absolutely clueless comment.
Spurs let in 4. That means we are twice as good as them. Now lets get drunk.
I’ll drink to that.
Let’s get Dunk?
So many disappointments, Marty the only player that looked dangerous for us.
Martinelli, Trossard, Saka and especially Jesus were poor. He had to score one of them headers. Subs should have happened earlier.
Although I have no doubt that ball was out that is the second time in as many games that Gabriel has not been positioned right due to a lack of faith in Zinny, that Tomi injury has hit us hard.
Poor yellow card decision that led to Kai’s ban has really affected us today.
Huge game at Fulham now, could unwind now.
Dunno we will get to see the day that I’ll say “we miss harvetz”
You notice when he’s not there
Why does Jesus whine so much? It’s hard to watch.
Because he’s not very good. 14 goals in 40 games. Not good enough stats for a striker at any club in the PL let alone one pushing for the league and creating tons of chances. Strikers score goals, he does not. I don’t care what else he does. Replace him please.
Dare I say this ? Compare him to a similar sized forward ? Sanchez !!! He wanted to score more than anything Jesus wants to do pretty stuff that’s all ! Been coming all season this
Dont think he needs to be replaced. Just need another option, or play him up front with another striker
Sorry, to be clear I meant replace him in the starting line up (specifically the striker berth). Happy for him to remain in the squad.
Agree, let him duke it out on the wings with Martinelli
He can’t help the shape of those eyebrows. Even when smiles it looks like a moan.
Two old style cross from West Ham to the box; one result in goal other result in corner which leads to goal. I wonder why modern football left this and switched to inverted winger
Painful to watch…
How come Zinchenko is trying to defend on Mavropanos on a corner???
We are half way through and there’s still plenty of football, though my title illusions have vanished tonight
We’ve got the most goals from set pieces in the league but we get so many corners and don’t seem to be very good at them. The balls into the box seem to get worse instead of better, maybe the coach is trying too hard to be innovative at the expense of being effective? It’s the first time in a very long time that I’ve been so frustrated with these players. We need Tomi back, Zinchenko is so poor it’s becoming annoying.
Despite The Shit Result.
Ally McCoist is an utter bellend.
Raving about how West Ham played brilliantly ?
We played badly but dominated 85 minutes of that game playing against 10 West Ham defenders.
If West Ham or any team get credit for playing such boring football then Football itself is doomed
I agree, but I think relative to their resources, West Ham did play well against a technically superior team who rarely lose at home. Defended brilliantly (without kicking lumps out of us) and attacked efficiently using their strengths well.
So disappointed
A game where too many of our players lived up to their caricatures. A fullback who can’t defend; a left-winger who can’t get his head up; a striker who can’t finish.
But another issue is we need to figure out how to better use Saka. Teams are doubling up on him and nullifying his threat. Maybe a free role across the front three?
A free role? In an Arteta team? How dare you sir.
Output beats fancy footwork Unless it suddenly turned into an ellipsoid, the ball was plainly out of play. However, it is faintly ridiculous to be so far superior in attacking play (for fifteen minutes) and have nothing to show for it but one poor shot (Saka). For Pete’s sake, too, give Smith Rowe a proper game – in place of Trossard or Martinelli, take your pick. He is more direct, and quicker thinking, than either of them. The output of certain players leaves much to be desired: Jesus. Finally, I never did think Mavropanos was given a proper chance at… Read more »
Biggest mistake in the game was not starting ESR at left 8, Jesus for Martinelli and Trossard up the middle. Martinelli is not good at breaking down low blocks but ESR is with his movement and Jesus was drifting out where he is more comfortable anyways. The manager seemingly likes to drive a car without changing the oil until the engine breaks. Starting the same old lineup doesn’t build a squad. The manager needs to be a little more unpredictable with his tactical approach for the attack and use more of the squad.
Tomi’ s injury again is costing us dearly. Zinchenko shouldn’t be starting. Give Kiwior a chance.
Zinchenko is showing that he’s a liability lately but we have no plan B. Arteta will keep playing him until Timber comes back. Timber is the one that’ll bench Zinchenko.
Don’t shoot don’t score ! Don’t take a chance don’t score ! We have NO presence up front nothing to hit & no hunger to score a goal ! Jesus great footballer but a poacher of goals ? Na !!! The wide players look shit coz they’ve got nowt to hit and the rocket up the arse from a passionate keeper ?Nowhere to be seen but Raya did do his job ! Ramsdale might have made others do theirs better ? And that’s what I’ve been saying since Arteta went possession control mad ! Shit day at the office !!!
Probably just an emotional response, but our finishing for the last three matches has been horrendous. For a team that is supposedly title contenders, we really need to shape up in the box if we want to have even a sliver of a shot of lifting a trophy this season.
A sliver of a shot that we’d probably put wide.
We could have played all nite and we still wouldn’t have scored, fuck playing defensive players in January, cleary we need someone who can put the ball back in the net most importantly.
Yeah we were shit tonight and West ham nicked all the points. Very boring gameplan from the visitors. Extremely well executed, they are in their full rights to play how they want to get a result, etc etc bla bla, but… I’m glad Arsenal actually tries to play football, not negate it.
West Ham won the game. Isn’t that what football is about, winning games?
Three games, one point. We lacked intensity, subs made minimal impact. We do need a proper striker. Last season we were strong on set pieces, Conceding few chances, now we let in goals at corners. Saka being isolated against two defenders while White stays back should have been addressed with in-game management. Quite frankly, we will struggle to win major trophies this season.