Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Martinelli, Trossard, Havertz
Subs: Porter, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Tierney, Jorginho, Calafiori, Merino, Sterling, Jesus
Arsenal suffered a significant blow to their Carabao Cup hopes after losing their semi-final first leg 2-0 against Newcastle at Emirates Stadium, thanks to goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon.
Mikel Arteta made four changes to the team that drew against Brighton on Saturday, with Jurrien Timber, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz all coming into the side.
Raheem Sterling (knee) also made his return to the matchday squad, alongside 16-year-old Jack Porter who was named on the bench with Neto cup-tied and Tommy Setford suffering a muscle injury.
Newcastle had the first sight of goal after just three minutes, when Isak ran in behind off the shoulder of Gabriel – before cutting back for Joelinton who blazed over the bar from 20 yards.
Arsenal responded with a shot of their own shortly after, when some penalty box pinball ended up with William Saliba firing a left footed effort towards goal that was blocked on the line by Dan Burn, with Havertz unable to stab home a rebound.
The game was being played at a frantic pace early on, and the Gunners should have been ahead after 12 minutes when Timber found himself free at the back post but couldn’t get over the ball and headed Declan Rice’s corner over.
But Newcastle looked dangerous in transition and Isak was causing problems every time he received the ball, although Arteta’s men were enjoying their best spell of the game and were inches away from taking the lead through Gabriel Martinelli.
Smart play in midfield saw Odegaard and Trossard combine, before the Belgian set Martinelli away with a brilliant first time pass – he was clear of both Newcastle defenders – but fired his near post effort onto the woodwork with Martin Dubravka beaten.
There was another goalmouth scramble minutes later when Dubravka came to punch a corner but completely missed the ball, with Sven Botman doing well to throw himself in front of Havertz’s close range effort.
But having absorbed all that Gunners pressure, Newcastle broke the deadlock when a simple long ball was flicked on by Botman, before Josh Murphy bundled the ball to Isak who finished clinically beyond David Raya. 0-1.
Just before half time, there was another chance for the hosts when Rice headed a deep Odegaard cross back across goal but Dubravka was out sharply to block from Gabriel.
It wasn’t a bad half from Arsenal by any means, who created enough chances to at least be level, but the difference was Isak who finished his chance with all the confidence you would expect – while Arteta’s side couldn’t take theirs.
The second half quickly settled into an attack vs defence exercise, with Arsenal dominating possession and Newcastle sitting back looking for opportunities to counter.
But with basically their first attack of the half, the visitors doubled their lead through Gordon who was quickest to react after Raya parried an Isak effort back into a dangerous area. 0-2.
The Gunners had a great chance to get back into the game when Timber’s cross deflected perfectly into Havertz, who was left totally unmarked in the six yard box but somehow headed wide with the goal gaping.
Replays showed it came off his shoulder and that moment seemed to sum Arsenal up in front of goal.
Arteta made two changes in hope of sparking some life into the side, with Jorginho and Gabriel Jesus replacing Thomas Partey and Trossard, while Newcastle also made changes of their own and swapped to a back five formation to defend their lead.
Arsenal continued to push in search of a lifeline but beyond some half chances for Saliba and Martinelli, they struggled to test Dubravka with time running out. Newcastle were playing a 5-5-0 formation by this point having taken Isak and Gordon off.
Jorginho was the next player to fire at goal, but he fired over despite catching a half-volley sweetly on the edge of the box.
It was a disappointing night for the Gunners who created enough to give themselves hope heading into the second leg, but lacked conviction when they needed it most – while Newcastle had attacking quality to capitalise on their moments.
This feels like a tired team who can’t maintain the performance levels needed to compete on all fronts this season.
All eyes move onto Manchester United in the FA Cup on Sunday.
A very, very bad result. Unfortunately, we haven’t learned much we wouldn’t know already.
23 shots, 3.09 xG and 0 goals to show for it.
They had 4 shots on target and scored 2. We can’t blame anyone outside Arsenal today. Poor finishing, poor defending, slow passing till the 92 minute, minimal movement, pointless crosses into the box. Reminds me of the same tactics we used when we finished 8th.
Timber missed a sitter, Martinelli hit the post… early signs of defeat. We were uninspiring on the final third, there’s no one to bail us from this type of performance expect Saka, which we will miss until Feb?
February if we are lucky and above all let’s hope he comes back the same when he does come back. The medical science is better but it’s hard not to be concerned by the history of explosive young talents like Michael Owen before and after their serious hamstring injuries.
Am I the only one that has more to say than you do? Utterly disinterested performance for the first 60minutes. We don’t do the basics well again.. slower passing,less commitment to winning first and second balls. Like there’s nothing to play for. Zinchenko still gets in our most creative side.. reason the left side suddenly seemed impotent.Other teams have improved but we’ve also regressed a bit….all of this was also evident against Brighton and most half decent sides this season. Arteta found something in Dubai last February…needs to find it quickly again this time. Why bring sterling it you won’t… Read more »
We don’t just need a signing, we need a spark….
some good efforts but failed at the basics, it was another shitshow, no if no, buts,
They had Odysseas on the bench, and we played like the duped Trojans.
Would be nice if we had Nausicaa, but was more like nausea
We just couldn’t put the ball between the Styx.
Arteta owes us an Apollo-gy for that disgrace
Left us with plenty to discus
This is what we get for spurning Nike for Adidas.
Definitely plenty to discus
Excellent
they scored with 3 men against 3, we didn‘t score with 10 men against 10. logical, isn‘t it?
Arteta needs to Ajaxtupose the two teams. Iphigeniunely believes we need additional firepower, the club should go to Helenback to find it. Otherwise there will be no laurels this season either.
(bonus points for the Ajax connection)
And we were playing at Home(r)
More like the Simpson dad than the Greek lad.
Looks like they found our Achilles heel and they hectored us all night.
It will take a herculean effort in St James’s Park to get back in this tie
Ok, ready? Ajaxtuposition of the two teams shows that Iphigenianely believes bolstering the attack isn’t a priority, Arteta could go to Helen back and still not win any laurels.
Win or lose, Arsenal are way too slow and ponderous. The only time we ever take a chance to break is Raya to Martinelli. The rest of the time opposition are allowed to reset themselves in perfect formation.
This inhibited style of play is no fun to watch and largely ineffective.
Very true. In these situations I want to see chaos in the box. Shoot meaningful from distances create stress and panic in defences. Far too calm
We created 3.09xG against a really good defensive side. I don’t see how you can blame our style of play.
The game was decided in the boxes where we were not good enough.
Look at this team against the 22/23 side and they didn’t need to rely on missed chances or margins.
Saka is not there. Odegaard, Rice and Havertz are clearly not fit. Players missed big chances and were sloppy at the back.
Excuses FC. Keep fooling yourself.
Not sure they even got to the semi final
How much of that xg was from corners?
1.67 came from set pieces. Cannot find the information you are looking for at the moment!
So more than half
From corners solely no but from set pieces yes. I don’t see how this is a problem. When it works, everybody is part of set pieces FC but when it doesn’t than it’s the stupidest idea on earth.
No, corners are an extra not a game plan if you want to win the league.
Again we scored 20 out of 91 goals (22%) from set pieces last season and 10 from 39 this season (25%).
I don’t understand where the narrative that we solely rely on set pieces comes from.
From peoples eyes
Then I suggest people to buy glasses
Go trade stocks or something. This obsession with statistics in football is creating a dull product and arguably isn’t improving results. It’s just a crutch used by people with limited football IQ. Anyone could see how bad our style of played as today, be serious.
Funny when the man whose name you took in your username had been an advocate for data in football for over 20 years.
I guess it’s easier to say that we lost because we lacked passion.
I don’t think he would advocate for prioritizing data over basic fundamentals..
Nobody does nor should but this does not mean it should be ignore neither.
Right but you’re saying there was nothing wrong with our play style because our XG was good. You’re excusing poor fundamentals (ball watching, static movement, finishing) because of positive statistics. So no, don’t ignore them but don’t use them to excuse horrible football.
Because the play style was not inefficient. We created several huge opportunities and conceded less but players were not effective enough in both boxes. It’s that simple.
After Jorginho came on, all he and Arsenal did was slowly bring the ball up from the back to half way, condensing the play so there was no space. We saw this on repeat and that is exactly what Newcastle wanted so our central defenders could send in hopeful balls from deep into their crowded area. From then I knew we wouldn’t get anything. That tactic would only be ok if we had players suited to it with physical presence, tenacity and killer instinct (fox in the box) on knock downs. I don’t think we have that player right now.
Wenger was the most ideological manager I’ve ever seen manage Arsenal, hardly a pragmatic bone in his body
This “xG was high but we were unlucky” nonsense washes for a game or two, maybe. But when it’s over and over again it’s much deeper than just back luck.
No plan B
if you are slow there are always at least two defenders to block you!
We reality that we started with a front 3 that is not as good as the scums front three. We have lost all fluidity. Trossard is sub end of. If he don’t like it he can fuck off. Rice is not a number 8. Havertz is not clinical enough to play striker. You see the difference in Isak. Chalk and cheese. Oh well. Don’t be surprised if United knock us out of fa cup Sunday. Injuries and suspensions have derailed us and some poor investment has cost us.
I think this is the key point. Havertz has quality up front, if not perhaps as an out and out striker. Saka does too. But the rest of our front players are Europa League level.
You get “lucky” when you have great strikers…..and other teams can defend brilliantly (which in fairness the Newcastle defenders did) when you are up against manageable strikers…..but players like Henry, RVP and yes maybe Isak make brilliant defending impossible
I was resisting this notion that Arteta is after control at the expense of attacking verve but this specific complaint I’m starting to agree with, and you could hear the crowd at the Emirates do so too today. It was really apparent how when there was a chance to break as soon as a pass became slightly risky we stopped and played the safer pass, I guess trusting that we can break down the low block later? Well we obviously often can’t so it’s really time to start being a bit more predatory in those situations, go for the jugular… Read more »
Main reason why we’re not able to break their press as we did on Martinelli’s chance is simply because there was no run from our forwards that would create such opportunities nor any passes from our midfielders that would reach anyone offering such opportunities.
constant lack of speed, no surprise at all… 🐌🐌🐌
Ebo you’ve come around
* Denzel Washington voice: “my man”
lol not fully around to your “we’re boring and predictable” claim old sport, just that as Karl said we’d do well to break more aggressively when those chances come around. I’m not an xG expert but it sometimes feels like we accumulate a lot of xG from fairly low percentages chances against a low block, each of them might only give us 0.2 xG but we end up having many of those despite never looking likely to score, whereas one fast break chance might give you 0.4 xG but feels maybe ten times more likely to get converted, if that… Read more »
No I think we’re on the same page. I’m not suggesting abandoning all sense of tactical rigidity. Exactly as you say I just expect we move the ball forward at pace when the chance presents itself. We move the ball so slowly that while we gain territorial advantage, we’re still left with 11 players between us and the goal, with even less space to play in. Prime barca wouldn’t break that down consistently. It’s a fatal flaw in our game plan
fair enough, then I might have misunderstood you. If that’s what you’ve meant all along then yes, I suppose I am coming around! Though I do also still think we’re lacking creatively too, especially with Odegaard not at his best and Saka out. We’re too dependet on those two, and the more secondary semi-creative players like Jorgi, Partey and Tross aren’t delivering either.
Do you think that Rice in the left 8 role is an issue? For me he’s world class defensively and has great delivery from set pieces. But he’s just too stodgy in live possession to play the 8 role in a team who is going to be on the front foot. For me he has to play as a 6 or nowhere.
We moved the ball quicker today I thought. Chance creation less an issue than concersion
Conversion
to the point! 👏👏👏
Rational head: The first 25 minutes was poor, but after that we created the better chances and probably deserved to win the game. Despite the loss, it wasn’t our worst performance.
How I actually feel: Jesus Christ this team would age you looking at them. Why is everything like pulling teeth? Why can’t we fluidly attack? I need a whiskey…
Spot on
That latter feeling is a culmination of all the other shit performances we’ve had, we barely tolerate it because we’re still holding out for something this season but that feel has been brewing and unless this season is salvaged, I imagine the floodgates will rip open.
Yeah I agree. I actually feel worse mentally looking at us this season than I did in the covid times when we were in the mud. I don’t know, maybe it’s because we have so much potential, but I just feel like pulling my hair out at the moment looking at us play, I”m not deriving any enjoyment from it whatsoever.
Salvation this season while not impossible, is highly improbable. Need upgrades in some key positions and depth in some other. This needs to be acknowledged, instead of referee blaming and putting everything mostly on injuries. This has not been a bad season at all, just very frustrating that when City fell, this team has failed to capitalise. Injuries have played a big part, but for me it is more to do with the ineffectiveness of a lot of key players like Martinelli, Kai, Trossard, Rice and even Odegaard has not been his usual standards.
What I would give right now to see a classic Kolasinac cutback
When’s Ben White back
End of January at best
Or Xhaka with Rice in midfield.
>3 xg 6 missed big chances. Ouch..
We could have played for days without actually scoring.
Can we just forfeit the second leg and save our next batch of injuries for later?
Maybe we get some players back or bought by the next game in February. We own this team at St James Park.
At this point our whole season has been all about maybe, if, could’ve, would’ve, should’ve.
We only have 2 of our starting 11 injured i don’t know where this “injury crisis” comes from, we are missing saka and Ben white, the other 3 players injured are squad players and a youth player
What the players are missing is a week off in the sun
It’s a failure of this club as well as the consistency of Saka, that him being out injured seems a injury crisis. Need proper quality backups as well as better attackers.
We win this game 99 times out of 100.
Today is definitely an outlier.
Hmmm not sure it’s an outlier. You won’t be saying that when you see exactly the same game unfold against Utd on Saturday.
Previously, we created only a few chances and missed them…. today we created tons and missed them anyway.
It’s not an outlier. Arteta last season said we lack box efficiency… then bought Raheem Sterling.
This is what we are at the moment mate.
Loaned*
and then don’t play him when we need a goal. Bizarre
Last season we scored 91 goals from 77,4xG but if you wish to continue saying we lack finishing feel free to do so.
If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.
It’s an undeniable fact that our goal scoring stats last year were padded by big wins versus piss poor teams like West Ham and Sheffield. That’s the problem with stats, you can use them to prove anything but they usually lack context. For example if my number 10 had 8 assists this season but none of them are from open play, he’s a good set piece taker but a poor creator. On paper however without context, it looks like he’s performing his role.
So we over performed and got lucky. That luck has changed and our underperformances have come home to roost.
We’ve played this game, with similar results, against Everton, Bournemouth, Brighton amongst others, it’s not a one off i’m afraid.
Against Everton chance creation was the main issue, Bournemouth we played with 10 players for 60 min and we would have won easily against Brighton if Anthony Taylor stopped his career after his Rome’s aftermath.
We struggle to score goals and we let too many in. We struggle even more against teams that set up in a low block. Im not going to defend a referee but we can’t blame them for our faults.
All refs should retire and let conspiracy theories ref the game
Even if that’s right, we DIDN’T win that’s the most important stat there is.
I wish I agreed. We win this game at a canter if we had Isak up front and Gordon left wing. Saka’s injury (which was always in the post given we could never rest him) has laid bare how poor our strike force is compared to other top teams……and with a weak front line one keeps being “unlucky”
Out of interest if you remove Saka goals, all 5 of them of in the league, it’s only changes the result in 1 match
And what about his goal involvements?! Please stop this nonsense about Saka. He is our best player.
And his assits? His general game play, drawing players towards him? Does that change the results?
we had quit a lot of outliers recently…
I doubt that, not the first such game
We were not perfect, but I just don’t think their luck should be excluded from the equation here… Both goals were extremely lucky, first a loose ball falls into Isak’s feet in the penalty box, then a rebound with no keeper… We had like 10x chances that could’ve ended the same way, an in even better positions than theirs
They finished theirs, we didn’t.
Tbf theirs were lucky and easier though
Amazing how luck tends to work in favour of teams with elite strikers 🤔🤔
Yes the reason why Murphy’s missed control ended up in Isak’s feet is because the latter is great at football.
I guess that’s also why we missed big chances, because of Isak’s aura.
I wonder why isaak was in the perfect position when the ball came to him…….look how often haaland seems to be in right place when balls ping around……so often tonight havertz was hugging the right touchline and we had no one in the box
Yes because he was playing right winger when Jesus entered the pitch. Did you watch the game?
We lost because our only tactic is to push it out wide in a desperate attempt to get a corner so we can put our centre halves in the box cos we don’t have a striker.
Don’t you think that stretching a double defensive curtain is the best solution to create space ?
love your optimism, estimate your expertize, but i think speed is the solution!
Deep runners like over lapping fullbacks is what was needed in this match and to get our best finishers, Martinelli and Trossard into the box and not out on the touchline
It’s not because we don’t have a striker but because our game plan is to strangle the opposition.
We don’t commit enough men forward or into the box and our wide men, both of whom are our most efficient scorers are instructed to hung the touchline
I applaud the spirit but but the difference between their lucky bounces and our misses was their defenders being in position to block and ours being beaten. It was similar to Villa home last year, we are vulnerable when blunt in attack
I do agree, we were unusually sloppy at the back and seemed nervous.
Yes – but elite strikers get in those positions where defenders can’t make the block.
And in fairness to you – Havertz (the only forward of ours I rate in Saka’s absence) missed a gilt edged chance
You won’t see unless you open your eyes, that’s it. We were never close to winning this game and that xG number is as shit as out style of play today.
Martinelli hits the outside of the post; Isak crashes his shot in off the bar
Two different players in two different situation.
Timber missed a sitter, Gordon scores one. What does this tell us?
Not when we had them. Eye of the beholder thing that I think. 45 yo so remember smudger, wrighty, Bergkamp and Henry. Would even say Ade and VP were that before they sold there wretched souls
In reality this team lost its momentum after the early 3 red cards. Since then we rely on scraps and are stuffed when either Saka or Odegaard are not available.
thats what top strikers do, make goals out of nothing. we don’t have one
Luck, refs and injuries. Those are the only problems, not poor football! Perfect? There have been few if any games where we have been perfect
No killers without Saka, no threat.
We struggle to score with him on the pitch as well.
Arsenal scored 91 goals in the past calender year alone. Even if you put aside his GA, teams can stay in a better defensive shape because they don’t have to man-mark or put 2 people to contain one players.
The truth is mid-blocks have always troubled Arteta. We don’t have accurate long passer to play over them.
That’s the problem isn’t it, it’s more about how we play rather than who’s in the team. It’s both our strength and our weakness, we are a team.
If you remove any one of Saka’s 5 league goals this season it changes the result in only 1 match, that’s not a criticism of him but can actually be applied to all of our players.
Our goals are not only spread across the team but also when we win it’s often by more than a single goal, our strengths and weaknesses are systemic
Saka became the most creative player in the league in Odegaard’s absence, and it’s not like his assists came from mostly corners, one or two at most. so just counting his goals is a bit unfair. Players like bim give you that marginal difference in tight games. Even if he doesn’t produce GA, his threat alone still attracts an extra man which makes it easier for others. Very little we can do about mid-blocks, we just don’t have the profiles. No one with that decisive creativity, or long range passers to pick out outlets over the top. No one to… Read more »
No he isn’t, 3 of his assists have come from corners, 4 from long range shots. Both of Parteys long range goals were Saka “assists” each had a xg of 0.04 (1 in 25 chance of going in!) and 0.07. Saka has 3 real, non set piece assists this season, his expected assists this season is 5.8, and that includes set pieces.
Assists are a bullshit stat and no indication of creatively and heavily dependent on the finishing quality of the player the ball has been passed too.
Depressing watching an average team like Newcastle being clinical due to one world class striker.
I do think Arteta has made us a bit too turgid this season, a lot less flair.
The set pieces need to be an additional tool, not the main plan.
We have 6000 defenders & not enough up top.
We badly need a striker, attacking midfielder and some pace in this team.
Verve.
Va va voom
Apart from Isaak and Gordon it was really clear how much better we were man for man. Let’s smash these wretched holes in the second leg COYG!
Everything you just said i agree with. And everything you just said we have known for years. And everything Arsenal does is the opposite.
Is anyone surprised?
genuinely yes i am. newcastle are a bit shit and i’m not going to point to xG but our lads couldn’t finish for toffee tonight
Newcastle are in far better form than us at the moment. 7 wins on the bounce for them.
I mean at this point I just expect Arteta to inform us tomorrow morning that half the team got injured on their way back home
With how decimated our squad is no. On the balance of play yeah. We were so much better than them from 1st minute to the BS injury time played due to cheating again… yawn
No – it felt like it was in the post.
I have an overwhelming desire to laugh deliriously for 3 minutes straight. What a season we’re having
Total focus on possession all the time, but feels utterly sterile and easy to defend against. Nothing exciting… Arteta is stubborn, and this style of play is top 4, not top 1. So I can’t see it changing…
You saw a different game I think. Overall I get what you mean in some games but not this one at all.
XG backs my argument. I know that is still somewhat subjective but the eye test said we got behind created plenty and buried nothing
Arteta is too conservative to take this team to winning the PL. Watching the last 20 minutes or so was depressing. Boring, play by numbers football. No pace, no verve, no panache. Dull.
Dogshit football. Cross after cross after cross to a non-existent striker.
Cross after cross to mahoosively tall Toon defenders who won pretty much every one.
It seems to me that we have a harder time with results when Saliba’s hair is a bit unkempt. Might need to get the data folks on it to verify…
I thought the same. Anti Samson. Cut it now!!!!
Yeah saliba’s xh (expected haircuts) is 6.3 thru the fkn roof! Get it cut man!
We’re such an average side going forward. Oh, here come the stats.
In the 19th minute our peak xg regressed 0.0046 indicating a period of play where we firmly had control until the 21st minute when xg climbed a whopping 0.08 indicating someone had a mental breakdown and forced a pass forward which fortunately was quickly dealt with by the opposition allowing us to once again perform at an average of 2.78934 xg which matches our best xg trends of last 36 months indicating our style of play is world beating and will surely win us the league in 2029.
At this point, I did gladly take 2029.
If you have a front three that can’t score and only buy defenders- this is where you end up.
Everything went their way, nothing went ours.
15 years since their last win at our place. I have no words. I will go to bed and suggest we all do.
Lewis-Skelly is brilliant and has enormous balls. I love this kid
what didn’t go our way exactly?
What did go our way?
xG, apparently
We are extremely unlucky atm and it makes us look a look worse than we actually are… The reaction from the fanbase is not proportional to the game we just watched honestly
I do agree but it seems some people wait for games like this to spread as much hatred as they can.
We don’t wait for games like this… With this style of play , games like this are guaranteed every time they play
When has been critical to performance on football field started being equivalent of spreading hate?
Yes that’s it, we’re just persistently unlucky. It’s all one big coincidence.
Perhaps the reaction is not solely down to the game the fanbase watched, but the overall football and results this season