Mikel Arteta’s toothless Arsenal suffered an early FA Cup exit at the hands of Liverpool as the visitors snatched a 2-0 victory thanks to Jakub Kiwior’s own goal and a stoppage-time strike by Luis Diaz.
As has been a regular feature in recent weeks, the Gunners dominated for long periods but couldn’t find the back of the net despite 18 efforts at goal.
Three defeats on the bounce and only one win in seven games means the manager heads into the winter break with much to think about.
Here’s what he had to say after the game when he answered questions from beIN SPORT.
On the performance…
I’m really disappointed that we lost the game again, but we are not capitalising on everything that we are doing in the game against probably the best in-form team in Europe. The way we played, the amount of situations, chances that we generated, not winning the game again, not even losing, not winning it, is very frustrating. But when my team plays with that attitude, with that desire, with that emotion, I need to stick behind them. There is no other thing [to do]. Put your head up, face the situation and try to improve. The thing that we have to do is to put the ball in the back of the net.
On scoring one goal from 61 shots since Christmas and not winning at home…
I just explained that, it is what it is and it has to be changed to win football matches after football matches.
On whether Arsenal will sign a striker in January…
At the moment it doesn’t look realistic. What my job is and what we have to do is improve our players and try to get better results with the players that we have. I think that generally that match normally ends up in a really good way this season. Sometimes things happen for a reason that today we cannot understand them.
On whether it’s a good time for a break…
10 days ago we were in a really good moment and now we lost three games in a row and it’s very disappointing. We need to reset, it probably comes at a good time because it’s not that we are not playing well, it’s the opposite, that we are performing, we are being better than the opponent, I think we are better than them today again, but the reality is that we lost the game. So something has to be reset and we start again against Palace with a different mindset again.
This match and West Ham, may have been the case. Need to convert. Fulham was crap.
Harvetz is slow MA, get him to be quicker to capitalise on opponents indecision. There was one situation where he was like walking around the park with Allison in between him and the goal posts. Most players would have gotten a shot away.
Even his shots were super tame.
They are bro. They are. I just can’t make my mind up on him
Well well this is a simple case of wanting to prove that the potential ‘shady deal’ of Havertz deal is a complete success. MA already had his heart racing with Qs of Willian earlier, & this one feels Déjà vu to be honest.
I thought we were resetting after the last loss against West Ham and then again against Fulham?
we’re about to take the cartridge out of the nintendo and blow into it, after the next game, surely we’ll reset
I think he is right on the performance front, and the fans could help the team a lot in these situations.
After so many dire seasons, we are now at a level where nobody can take us lightly. If we manage to take one more step (or half step) forward we will be among the very best teams in the world.
COYG!
With no striker? I doubt it.
At the moment before games I’m wondering who is going to score goals. Going to need a hell of a turnaround in just two weeks to try and save our season from falling away.
No expert on ffp but the raya signing looks insane to me. The dif between 2 keepers is Tiny if it costs us chance of signing an attacker on loan, seems a terrible call
There is no way that Brentford would loan Toney out. It would take a big fee for them to consider moving him on.
Sure, agree I dont mean toney Just an attacker the raya fees means we have less to spend elsewhere
Exactly. Well done Mik.
Easy. Super Mik has turned the club around. he’s not perfect and is also a rookie manager don’t forget. Trust the process. Not every signing will work but we need to all rally together and support what we have
100%. Arteta’s biggest mistake this season has been to add Raya. He’s a very good goalkeeper but he’s not noticeably better than Ramsdale and it has just locked up valuable resources where they are not needed and made our two keepers look afraid of making a mistake.
Raya AND Havertz…we paid 3 mil initially for Raya with another 27mil to pay if we make him permanent at the end of the loan. So 95mil probably spent on two players we definitely don’t need or want.
Raya on loan so no money used for ffp yet. Problem is Havartz and 65 million. That is looking an absolute disaster to have used that money as he’s obviously not worth 10. To have used that money (65 million)looks like we have zero wiggle room now. It’s turned out a huge mistake by Arteta.
It’s Willian all over again.
Oh and of course can’t take another loan from Brentford as we already have Raya on loan from them.
Once again the team looked leggy and uninspired, and its starting to look a lot like the end of last season, but this time the manager is getting all his excuses out early. Its beginning to look like the coaching staff are trapped in an echo chamber and not willing to listen to valid criticism and make the necessary adjustments, instead just pushing on ahead and expecting a different result.
You cannot rely on ability alone- hard work is required.
I didn’t think we looked leggy at all, the first half was phenomenal, with the exception (the essential exception) of scoring.
On another day one of those goes in and we run riot against Liverpool (one of the best teams in Europe).
We can’t get away from the finishing, but we don’t need to hit the panic button just yet.
I watched with a bunch of serious Liverpool supporters. They were very grateful to get out of the first half at 0-0; they all thought we were battering them.
That was an energetic performance with hard work and excellent chance creation. But the finishing was painful to watch.
I didn’t think we played well at all. And this was against a half strength Liverpool there for the taking at home!
I don’t think we’re necessarily “leggy” but we sure as hell are not playing the free flowing football of last season. We play boring robot football these days which means opponents stick two men on Saka then sit back knowing we’ll never do anything despite long spells of possession. Personally, I think it’s fkn dreadful to watch.
Did you even watch the game or you just make your mind up what your opinion was before kick off and then write it on here
do you often engage in personal attacks or are you just judgmental
Pool had the upper hand From the restart, we were leggy and out of ideas
Buy Raya for the 30m get Toney on loan
Funnily enough I once got sacked even though I’d tried my nuts off put the hours in but I just wasn’t up to the job in hand ! …… Just saying !!!
Unai? Really still coming on these sites?
Don Howe mate ! I never lived up to Bertie Mee standards & couldn’t see Terry Mancini wasn’t the answer at centre back !
Surprised they didn’t roll out Johan Djourou for the ‘we must do better’ media duties
Not realistic. I agree with Arteta because to comply with FFP, we have peanuts surplus cash. However he made the problem by committing to signing another goalkeeper when we didn’t need one. Spending 65 million on Havertz when it’s looking more and more like Arteta doesn’t know what to do with him. He was perhaps unlucky with Timber, but then again he dropped Gabriel and played Partey at RB for some bizarre reason. I think the unnecessary tinkering this season looks like it’s made the players look indecisive in the final third. Arteta has caused his own problems, especially with… Read more »
Wow, I think I preferred previous excuses not this tired and openly untrue ones. How many resets do we need? How many more lacklustre scoring performances do we need for you to admit the Havertz purchase (& possibly raya if we buy) is money urgently needed for a goal scoring striker. The sad thing is I think the players are aware of that too. Can you imagine going out to play a game like this when you had a Wright or Henry? You go out with expectation that you will almost definitely score. This team doesn’t believe that with Havertz,… Read more »
I can just imagine the strategic analysis meetings that took place when making the decision to improve ball advancement and control metrics starting with goalie distribution…Arteta: “ As a team we ranked 10th in the league on long ball distribution and 7th on shorter distributions. If we intend to play from the back we need to try and improve those numbers, we also need to upgrade our backup goalie at the same time, right? “ Kronke says “ but what about the dude who really loves bald men, if we get another goalie and in 6 months we are not… Read more »
Losing to a Liverpool team without VVD.. Salah..Szoboszlai…
Misfiring and missing chances after chances is really frustrating
One win in seven games. Pathetic display again from the team. MA should make things simple for our forwards and let Nelson n trosard n Rowe back to the fold. Let us lose the game with different set of players and formation. Not trying the same thing again n again and expecting different results.. pathetic…
Havertz is 60m down the drain. Not just a striker we need but the others need to step up. Anyone watching Saka now would think ‘how the fuck is he an England international’! Odegaard shooting is awful, more worried about the goal looking good instead of just putting it in the net. Perhaps some of them haven’t got over bottling last years title
Are u an arsenal fan?
I don’t think we need to buy a striker. Last season Saka martinelli and odegaard had scored loads of goals. This season hardly any. Need to get them rested and firing again.
I thought there were some positives today. I like Jorginho rice and odegaard together allowed odegaard to be more dangerous. And Ben white had his best game for ages.
I don’t think we need to buy a striker for the sake of it, if there’s a good one at a decent price then sell Eddie and go for it, but I don’t think it’ll happen until the summer. We do need something though, a new face or two would encourage the players and fans alike. We need another wide player, two proper fullbacks, a defensive midfielder and a striker. Getting even one of those in would help. If we can bring in a top level fullback I’d also sell Kiwior, he just isn’t good enough, Mikel only plays him… Read more »
we need 3 things: speed, speed and speed!
Spending money on a kepper we dont need as the one we have is better and splashing out more on Havertz instead of buying a striker in the summer.
Keeping the subs on the bench too long and give the only striker we have only 5 min.
You can see the hesitation in finishing and one touch too much, one pass to much.
Bring Ian Wright back.
I have corresponded this before and I repeat, Arteta seems to over coach these players. They are too ponderous, it’s as if they have no instincts or are averse to being instinctive due to outside influence. Example is Rice; the previous game he refused to pass it to the left, regardless how much space Martinelli had, he is coached to look for Saka. The coaching staff must have said something because during this game he kept looking left as opposed to playing what’s in front of him. Not a single through ball from Rice. Reiss Nelson and Nketiah are not… Read more »
Arteta hit the game plan 100% last year. Then self sabotage crept in, he replaced Ramsdale the best keeper in the country. and he replaced xhaka with havertz. Havertz I’ve supported all the way, but the balance is off. The balance of being a player who’s trying to make it and activate the potential; that balance is well off since he’s on a whopper of a contract, and he plays game after game. It’s an old Wenger strategy of giving a player a chance again and again in a well oiled team. The team can not reach to higher levels… Read more »
BAMFORD!!!
The misuse of money in signing Havertz is now coming back to haunt Arsenal. He is an ok player but does not replicate what Xhaka offered and is not clinical or sharp enough to play at no 9. We now can’t afford a top striker, and it is hard to see who is going to step up and score regularly. A bit of a mess of Mikel’s making.
I really wish Arteta would have said “ we need the fans to remember and stick with the ones who have gotten us here, “ instead of “ we need to stick with the ones we have. “ If We take a long look at team sports as well as individual performance we know that “ streaks “ happen, both good and bad. Attitude, support, hard work and a focus on the basics is the primary winning combination to exit poor streaks, as well as examining what the actual definition of each individual “ poor streak “ is, right? Ours… Read more »