Thursday, December 5, 2024

Arteta frustrated as sub-par Arsenal lack answers

Mikel Arteta spoke to TNT Sport after Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Newcastle this afternoon.

Here’s what he had to say.

Thoughts on what wasn’t right …

Well, I thought we started really well. We were very dominant until their best moment. Direct play, second ball. We didn’t defend the box well enough.

Credit to them as well. They put an unbelievable delivery and header in the box. And from there, the game changes. You know, when you have to face this team, the moment they go ahead, you’re going to start to play a different game. You have to adapt to that.

We didn’t do well enough. We didn’t find enough answers to a lot of the questions and situations that you have to resolve better. So I am very frustrated.

Did Arsenal show their teeth today?

It was more related as well with certain situations. Obviously we didn’t cope with them well enough and we got dragged into a game that they are looking for constantly. We didn’t have enough consistency to get out of that game to play the game that we wanted.

We had moments too that we created two or three big chances, because they didn’t really create much at all. But that was the difference in the game.

Why didn’t Arsenal make more chances like Rice’s header at the death?

We had two big chances. Mikel had another big chance. Gabriel Martinelli had another big one. But yeah, in these games, especially when you are away and they defend after that so deep, we lacked those chances.

How do you stop heads dropping with Inter and Chelsea to come?

Well, it’s time to do it on the pitch. We can say whatever we want. Probably we’re not going to find the right words today because after losing a game, you are hurt.

But we have to show it on the pitch on Wednesday night.

On the margins being tight when challenging for the title …

Yeah, it’s always the case in this league. And you understand the position that you’re playing and the level is raising. You have to be at our best in every department to give yourself the chance to win, especially when you play, again, away from home against this kind of opponents.

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felician

Missing key players and playing down to 10 has had a significant impact on our season so far, but those would be cheap excuses masking today’s abysmal, likely season defining performance.
We’ve regressed significantly in terms of the quality of our play which is also backed up by most stats.
While I’m beyond grateful for how Arteta has brought this club back from the dead, I’m becoming less convinced that
we can take the much needed final step with him.

BillyKrystal

I’ll get downvoted to hell and this is premature, but this is exactly the type of situation where a manager like Arteta will jump ship for Madrid. If we have a lukewarm season and things start feeling a little too stale he’d be stupid not to cash in before his stock falls.

Funsho Patrick

We had enough on the bench to win this game…on what planet does Raheem not replace martinelli and keep his shirt? Offers more penetration and he’s been in these kind of battles…merino and rice somehow stifle creativity when paired alongside trossard…not sure we should ever start that midfield again.. TP and Rice or Jorginho who was largely instrumental to a run of games last season where we scored 4,5,6 goals…. Nwaneri like when ESR broke into the team isn’t starting becoming mikel is conservative…then keep ben white at RB…you cant undo 2years of chemistry with saka for an experiment….zinchenko’s creativity… Read more »

Greg in Seattle

Your rant is fantastic and on point.

El Mintero

“Zinchenko’s creativity is irreplaceable”. Thanks I needed a laugh today 😂

Dr. Gooner

I can 100% guarantee that is not happening.

Qwaliteee

Erm…he’s just signed a new deal….?

BillyKrystal

And? When has that stopped managers moving? Not saying it will happen, but if it continues like this and Madrid came calling in the midst of or after a down season, you don’t think Arteta would consider it? I don’t think he’s as wedded to Arsenal as we might hope, and he has big ambitions. Staying at a club a season or two after things plateau isn’t good for a manager so early in their career. He could go from hot property to Europa league manager very quickly, there are plenty of examples. So yes, he’d be foolish not to… Read more »

Henkamp

He has shown that he has what it takes to do really well. But I feel the last two season’s near misses have made Mikel more pragmatic. In my opinion, we need to find a balance, and I am confident he will make the necessary tweaks. Plus, it doesn’t help that we have been fuvcked by referees TWICE (arguably thrice) in games this season and they massively affected results. When you add the constant injuries at full back, Odegaard missing etc you can cut the manager some slack. I have noticed that our press is sh*t without Øde and that… Read more »

Jack

This will end the exact same way it did under Emery. Except we never gave him the time and resources that Arteta has been given.

The most backed manager in Arsenal history – what do we have to show for that?

Kevin Richardson / Jorginho

I’ve really enjoyed the last few years which h think counts for something. One of the best Arsenal teams of my lifetime and I’m 51

RedHotHornBlower

Spot on. The whiners are out in force today. Difficult to hear the telly for the sound of toys being jettisoned from prams.

El Mintero

Nah more toys thrown when we are victims of the big ref conspiracy etc etc

Greg in Seattle

Agree with you. I will say, it’s often the players that make a manager look good or bad, and we’ve (and Arteta/Edu) caught lighting in a bottle with the Odegaard acquisition. Now that he’s unavailable it’s been interesting to see how Arteta has approached things. I’d say the jury is out.

Dr. Gooner

The Odegaard absence is being over indexed. Yes, we are a better team with him, there’s no doubt. There’s also no doubt that he would not magically just make us win at Bournemouth or Newcastle. This team is really good with or without Odegaard, it’s just been a brutal start to this season with injuries, the difficulty of the fixtures, and red cards. That’s the real story so far. Big picture, Arsenal are missing more than just Odegaard. Two of our top summer targets were Sesko and Neto, explosive transition players both. We ended up with Sterling, and he hasn’t… Read more »

Qwaliteee

I agree.

The ‘Lee Gunners’ of this world don’t have a clue.

‘Fuming Lee Cam.’ ‘Emergency Meeting.’

Oh my life, that bloke is a total knobhead. You just know that back in the day he threw himself all around Tesco’s when Mummy wouldn’t let him have his way.

“I want an Emergency Meeting! I want one! I want one! ARSENAL LOST! WANT AN EMERGENCY MEETING! I WANT ONE! I WANT ONE NOOOOW…..!”

Dr. Gooner

The real tragedy is that people like this have a platform, and a following.

RobC

Hopefully it will end differently but the second part is sacrosanct.

Ebo

Didn’t we finish last season with more points than we ever had in our club’s history? Was the fact that wasn’t enough for a title Arteta’s fault? Seriously? Or that we’re up against the best manager and the richest club in the history of football, and one which is allowed to cheat freely?

portugunner

last year we created often 30+ oportunities per game, yesterday 3, 1 on target… that‘s the difference!

A different George

Yeah, I think Ebo is saying that Arteta gets credit for accomplishing a great deal very quickly. In a “normal” environment, he probably would have won two titles. The same, by the way, was true for Liverpool–a manager who only won the league once. Yet Liverpool fans thought Klopp was brilliant. I believe the overwhelming majority of Arsenal supporters similarly understand the real-world situation and support Arteta.

Ebo

Exactly. Though portugunner does make a reasonable point if we want to scrutinise on a micro level without looking at the big picture, then sure, you could say he hasn’t done as good a job this season, or in preparation for it, to ensure that we continue to progress or at least stay on that insanely high level that we were the past two seasons. He’s not beyond critique, but I also trust him more than anyone else to analyse and learn the necessary lessons from his mistakes and get us back to that level.

ALBangbang

Klopp also won the CL

ALBangbang

Most points in our history means absolutely nothing mate come on. I’m not Arteta out but it’s still using that as some kind of trophy. We lost the league last year because we shit the bed over Christmas, not because of city. We just shit the bed a bit earlier this year.

Dr. Gooner

Coming within a few points of a PL title in back to back seeaons is a lot to show, IMO.

dinosauras

Spot on – back in the champions league every year, pushing to win a trophy or two in the cups, and competing with we all know what at the very top of the prem is really all we can do isn’t it? All the talk of ‘is Arteta good enough’ is absurd. Point me in the direction of all the managers that have beaten these city teams and pep. Today sucked, Bournemouth sucked, but this is a very good Arsenal and folks should be enjoying the fight (except today which sucked).

Martin

Toxicity personified. Arteta has transformed Arsenal after the Emery debacle. He’s already won the FA Cup in his first half season as a manager and we were the only challengers to Man City in the past 2 seasons.

s.p2

FA Cup was over 4 years ago. Two sustained title challenges against City demands respect but expectations have risen. I find it odd that the lack of deep runs/finals in cup competition isn’t flagged more often.

A different George

On the other hand, every time there is a cup tie, every post here and elsewhere screams that Arteta should start the kids and on no account risk Saka.

SharpasFc

What we have to show for it is the fact that we are now very disappointed when it doesn’t look like we will win the PL Title this season. I’m pretty sure that most of us spent many years longing for the time when we would be up there challenging again. Emery wasn’t right for Arsenal, although I agree that he probably wasn’t backed in the right way.

Matt

A fantastic team of players we all like who give everything and play with passion and intelligence? Every team loses sometimes. Even the mighty cheating pep monsters. Even the invincibles. We’ve lost a couple of games during an extremely trying period. Seriously, grow the fuck up.

Comedian

Think we should pre pone our Dubai trip.

Comedian

Let’s go to Dubai.

Ebo

When you say it twice like that it starts to sound a bit Dub-ious

Ebo

or maybe in the transfer window we should do-buy

Emi Rates

At least I went for a shit in the second half so the game time wasn’t entirely wasted.

Sephirothevic

Dear Lord! I almost spat out my fried rice when I read this.

Redbaron

Worrying part is our defense is looking shaky despite apparent upgrades in summer. Timber got roasted by Gordon multiple times (inc goal) and Saliba seems to be making uncharacteristic mistakes.

Kevin Richardson / Jorginho

It’s shaky because it changes every fucking game. Five different players have appeared at left back already!

Vonnie

And half of them aren’t fully fit.

Fred Tkach

Time to have a rice discussion

Joker

Fried with chicken curry and chips.

portugunner

risotto con funghi

Naked Cygan

I was wondering before the start of the season, what happens if Odegard is injured. Surley he can’t go playing all season + 8 pointless games for Norway. Looks like we didn’t, and don’t really have a plan. Merino seems to static right now and needs more time to adjust. Zinchenko is collecting his pension at Arsenal. Partey was the only player that really put in a shift. We really need a solid plan to replace Odegard when he is injured.

Zack

And we sold/loaned his two natural replacements and we don’t trust the third to start

Edzo

Man City lost. So back in the title race.

My Arse-nal

It’s not just City we have to compete against though, we are 7 points off Liverpool which is a worry.

BLUEBERRY

Pool won though. And we have bigger problems than the Title Race atm.

Greg in Seattle

Yup. Title race isn’t a thing with the performances we’ve had.

Dr. Gooner

Don’t be so sure. Liverpool won’t last at this pace. They will have their own injuries, they haven’t played nearly the same type of fixtures we have, and teams will figure out Slot. I give them until January to start limping. Meanwhile, City look as vulnerable as they have ever been under Pep. It could get interesting by April/May.

Greg in Seattle

Yes of course others may have their stumbles. Point was that with performances like these…well, we need to take care of our own business first.

portugunner

maybe it should be an option to take game by game, with less pressure, just play to enjoy?

Graeb

Happy Invincibles Day – small crumb of comfort today🤔

Henkamp

That’s more than a little crumb of comfort. Liverpool, I think, are very catchable unless they spend big in January. The next run of games for both teams are brutal. We just need to beat Chelsea go for the international break, have the likes of Øde back, go on a solid run, and many people will have egg on their faces for their overreaction.

Qwaliteee

Exactly. It’s not even Christmas, and we have ticked off Man City Away, Tottenham Away, Villa Away, Newcastle Away and Liverpool at Home – losing only one of those ‘big’ fixtures. That’s not bad at all. With Odegaard’s continued absence, that’s definitely not a bad return. If our current ‘blip’ proves anything at all, it is the how fundamental our Norwegian captain is to our success. Not only does he bring his own ingenuity, creativity and goals (not to mention good old fashioned leadership) but his ability to link up the others (particularly our front line) and get the best… Read more »

Qwaliteee

Cheer up folks, it’s not all bad news.

Bournemouth 2 Utter Cunts 1. Happy Invincibles Day!

Jean Ralphio

Those red cards early this season completely destroyed our momentum or any chance to build it. Results have been kind today but we need to get our act together and hope a few more go our way. A win at Chelsea would be massive.

PTAFC

Big chances? Only Rice I can remember. His persona on the side of the pitch manifests onto the players and they totally lose it when things don’t go their way

Bill Hall

Sorry team, that was a rubbish performance today, deserved nil points. Better get your act together fast. Can’t even enjoy the fact that Man City lost!
Nice to see that Bruno is still a weaselly cheating little cunt! Somethings never change

Larry

His in game management has been poor this season, even if we go a goal down we still keep playing the same way. Backwards and sideways,

Joker

We must move forward! Not backward. Upward! Not forward. And always Twirling! Twirling! Twirling! towards freedom.

Sephirothevic

Had to look this up to remember where it was from. Thanks for the chuckle!

truj

We are missing just one important, but very important player. Last year’s excuse was Timber`s injury. I do not get it.

Chopra_Gooner

Without Odegaard we create little to nothing in attack and rely on corners and free-kicks. This is unsustainable. We were too reliant on Odegaard. The decision to transfer both Smith-Rowe and Vieira now looks pretty bad. It’s almost like Arteta thought that Odegaard will be available for all the games. We need a proper attacking midfielder and an upgrade on our left-wing.

SharpasFc

Sorry I have to downthumb you because Smith-Rowe and Vieira would definitely not be the answer today.

s.p2

You can debate his quality but Smith Rowe would have offered much-needed directness – let’s be real.

ALBangbang

Then don’t sell both backups and not buy another one. Or trust Nwaneri to do a job. You don’t just sell your back up players for a position and pray a player doesn’t get injured.

DatGuyWelbz

I’ve resigned myself to be a football fan. If Arsenal wins a trophy – that’s just a bonus.

Collibosher

By the way…….. Happy Invincibles Day!

Sephirothevic

If anyone is looking for Martinelli, he’s probably in Livramento’s pocket. Our guy saw almost zero daylight.

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