Arsenal’s chances of making the Carabao Cup final hang by a thread after a calamitous 2-0 defeat at home to Newcastle in the semi-final first leg.
On a night when the Gunners dominated possession and created a host of chances they were punished for not putting the ball in the back of the net. In contrast, the visitors made the most of two clearcut opportunities with Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon scoring either side of the break.
Having called for a big atmosphere from the Emirates crowd before the match, manager Mikel Arteta will find it particularly jarring that thousands voted with their feet in the closing stages leaving swathes of empty seats by full-time.
After the match, the manager, not for the first time this season, lamented his team’s profligacy in front of goal.
“That was the biggest difference in the game because from any other aspect, probably we’re the better team,” he told Sky Sports.
“But this is about scoring goals, they managed with the chances that they had and very deflected goals to score two goals so credit to them because they managed to win the game like this.
“When we miss the chances that we missed and then concede a goal, it’s always tough. But I think the team reacted, the team was very willing.
“We tried it in various ways with different players and we generated a lot of situations but it’s true they defended their box very well with the lines.
“I think they blocked a lot of shots, credit to them. We can do better there in terms of our decision, timing to shoot and how we can do that.”
Arsenal have seven matches to play before an opportunity to rescue the tie at St James’ Park. It’s very difficult to say what state the squad will be in by early February but if it continues to play the turgid football on offer this evening you’d be foolish to lay even the smallest bet on them making it to Wembley.
“I have full belief that we can do it,” said Arteta putting a brave face on things.
Mikel looked crazy in that post match interview, almost shoulder checked the interviewer on the way out.
Frustration on Miki’s part, after 14 games without defeat , us looking a bit jaded even when we’ve spanked sone teams I senced a rejuvenated in form side like Geordies would be a hard task to get an advantage in what’s a two leg affair, yeah we had enough chances to get goals but was again wasteful when it mattered most, lets face it we are now out of this stupid 2 game semi final for a competition i have no clue who won it last year, it might mean something to Newcastle or Spuds to dust off their trophy… Read more »
No excuses, but the injuries, the illnesses, the fixture congestion seem to have left us running on empty.
In a way playing Jesus, Sterling, Mls on front of Zincks may have cut us some slack but I d say he literally put out the fittest team without them being near 100% fit as it’s all he has to play just now. Nobody can play top level football after a virus running thru u 3 days ago
This guy is a jk
It’s not just about scoring goals. It’s about the way we play. Right now and for much of the season we’ve been pedestrian. We persistently struggle to fashion meaningful chances in games and that indicates the system isn’t working. Arteta might think we need to play this way but the reality of what it’s doing to us would suggest otherwise. We’re slow, ponderous, one-paced and altogether unable to change the tempo of a game when we need a goal. Having a solid defense is important but being unable to construct proper attacks like this is suffocating.
Is this a joke? We had 3.2 XG and scored none therefore he’s correct it’s about putting the ball in the net.
Totally agree. The difference between us and Liverpool is that they have fast transition as key feature and keep the ball when they see that they’re not likely succeed. ( Under Klopp it was fast transition anyhow). We keep the ball ( and control) as first priority and only take fast transition when they’re screaming at us. They get more big open chances because the opposite team doesn’t manage to get into deep block, we wait until they have got the deep block and then try difficult passes or shots which need to get through a mass of bodies. I… Read more »
Totally agree again. It’s no use spending passes at the back to tempt opposition forward if we don’t quickly move the ball into the spaces created. Martinelli hitting the post was the one instance we did it properly.
Trying to break through the 8 man block in the 6 yard box was very difficult and needed a bit of luck that we didn’t get. Relying solely on corners is becoming an issue as opponents seem lifted every time we don’t score from one.
Not bringing Jesus and Sterling on earlier is almost criminal when we need a goal from somewhere/anywhere.
Right about everything except that even when fast transition is screaming at us we don’t. And we have the players for it in Martineli, Saka and Odegaard. In fact all season long so far I can only remember two or three fast transitions – Martineli yesterday, the Saka goal from Ben White diagonal and the Harverts goal from Trossard cross field pass. Unfortunately every time we face a low block there are opportunities to do have quick breaks that we miss over and over by our extra passing and tipsy tapping between Saliva and Gabriel while the opponent reset.
This frustrates me as well and has been evident for quite awhile. Has Arteta not figured out his system has been figured out.
God bless, “tipsy tapping between Saliva and Gabriel”, I’ve been saying that for months, but thats not how Saliba plays in the french national team. so they are following instructions,
my fcking words!
This is it. Also, I think Blogs was mentioning how many touches players takes. It got me thinking that has to be by design. Where Saliba or Gabi or whoever do that thing where they tap it forward ever so slightly 4, 5, 6 times. I think MA’s thinking is the old Barca tiki taka stuff. If we can suck players in and get them out of shape, lanes will open up. Good idea in theory, but it flat out doesn’t work when teams sit deep, refusing to engage us further from their goal. It also doesn’t work because the… Read more »
On point. Too many lateral passes. The team is more concerned with “meaningless” possession. The way Newcastle, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest are currently playing will always expose Arsenal.
Maybe someone can tell him what a difference a decent striker makes. Perhaps change 3 left backs for a goalscorer????
Maybe tell him yourself, I’m sure he’d love you to enlighten him, and that he has no idea about that and has been turning down all of the top strikers knocking on his door. There are so many of them everywhere and he just goes on preferring to field lesser ones…
Arteta has not signed any striker since Jesus. We have let Nketaih, Balogun, Bierith go. Not saying they are world class strikers, but pointing out that Arteta is happier selling strikers than buying them. Its not like no other team top 6 has signed strikers in the meanwhile
Right, because if Jesus isn’t the answer we should’ve definitely kept those players who are clearly worse than him. Sometimes I sweae people don’t think before they comment here.
If someone can explain why we took Sterling off Chelsea’s wage bill to not play I’d be interested. Bizarre, maybe he’snotfit enough to come of the bench but all season he’s been doing nothing. Meanwhile, we are scratching our heads wondering why the goals have dried up playing with no proper striker.
Apparently there is a significant difference between the Sterling who needed to prove something and the one who shows up for training. The couple of minutes he did get earlier on were unimpressive, he cannot separate anymore, he doesn’t defend and when put under pressure he falls over looking to buy a foul from the ref. He’s not up to the estandards.
Though they were still paying most of it. Really hope so
“it means nothing to me
This means nothing to me
Oh, Vienna…”
Misread that initially as “…oh Vieira”
Let him and ESR (& Nelson, Balogun, Bierith) go and we now need depth. We have to know that players will get injured – especially a 17 year old that we create a pathway for.
We need an ultrafox in the box
turgid is definitely the right word. we’re a tough watch right now and if you’re gonna be a tough watch you gotta be winning football matches
Sorry, but this started last season and was behind my view that we probably wouldn’t be Champs this year.
We didnt strengthen our attack in the summer aft letting go few of them. This is the reality now. We ran out of ideas and teams have found a way to contain us.
Can we go back to discussing Rosicky? 🙂
They need to speed it up and stop trying to pass the ball in the back of the net.
He’s right. All the criticism about the style of play is not applicable to this game at all. Arsenal created three massive chances, about six big chances overall, and missed every one. And most of them were from open play.
Newcastle meanwhile created very little, but made the most of two fortunate deflections by scoring from both of the chances that resulted.
I think Newcastle created at least 3 other what we would call big chances too. I agree we could have won 4-2 but equally could have lost by more.
So that has nothing to do with style then does it? If we had been less controlled then arguably NU would have had even more chances right?
Our primary problem is finishing.
i agree but there’s little to do, people have blinkers on, read the xg for arsenal and that’s it.
Analysts keep praising Eddie as a great tactician but as Gordon admired it was a predictable “smash and grab” strategy. Seems whoever turns out for Arsenal this is the winning strategy for opposition. Also changes in left side, despite excellent Lewis-Skelly have made us vulnerable. Both goals involved confused defending with Rice losing Isak on second. he should have blocked the cross to Isak’s feet in penalty box. Arteta needs a strategy to stop “smash and grab” and players need to provide more in each box. Striker quality not the issue, after all Havertz good enough for Germany.
I haven’t watched the game and the highlight yet, however, is this lost the same as our last season home lost against Villa, in which we were the better team however we just missed our chances while the opponent got luck with their lucky goals?
Yes, although we can’t deny Newcastle was also solid defensively and clinical in front of our goal. But grumpy people will tell you we lost because we did not sign Isak, Gyokeres, Wirtz, Musiala and Mbappé during last transfert window.
I’d say don’t waste time watching it (unless you’re MA in disguise) – if you’ve seen other games already this season. Their goals weren’t lucky, their defending was excellent.
bc we gave them the time to defend…
We’re a boring team to watch, opposition look comfortable playing against us and they’ll soon sort their defences out for set pieces. Arteta comes up with all these nonsensical tactics and how many times does he say the result is not a true reflection of the game! But it is Mikel
Rashford and Danny Olmo please. Quick!
We need top quality, not bargain basement. You buy cheap; you buy twice.
I’m sorry, but all of this is on the recruitment strategy of the past couple of years. We have come achingly close to the title in the past two years and at the time of writing are still in with a shout this season. Yet, once again, our decisions in the transfer market during the summer have largely impacted on what’s happening now. I have mentioned red cards, cuntish refs and VAR, but we haven’t helped ourselves by concentrating far too much on our defensive and defensive midfield reinforcements and stuck a plaster over our lack of an out and… Read more »
Can’t see it getting addressed in this window unfortunately. I think it’ll be a summer job. The pressure on who ever our next ST is will be immense!!
100%. Recruitment is an area Arsenal can improve massively, there have been too many complete failures. Willian, Lokonga, Viera, Tavares just to name a few. Injuries and illness haven’t helped but there needed to be recognition at that time that when talented strikers are available, like Isak, you buy them and not let them go to Newcastle.
Yes, this entire game was like a Powerpoint presentation about why we need a clinical striker.
A striker would solve some problems, but it is also a lot to do with risk averse tactics. The free flowing team of 22/23 is a distant memory and we watch a slow and ponderous team now. On the other hand, Liverpool now play like we used to and take every chance to counter at speed. Our only out ball is Raya to Martinelli. If anyone else gets hold of the ball, it is stop and wait for the opponent to restructure their defence, which makes it almost impossible to break down. Relying so heavily on the talents of Saka… Read more »
The Puma ball’s mistake 🙂
https://www.eurosport.com/football/league-cup/2024-2025/mikel-arteta-balls-carabao-cup-tricky-different-puma-nike-arsenal-newcastle-second-leg_sto20068955/story.shtml
Apart from all our obvious deficiencies please play Rice in the 6 role that’s where he wants to play (his words) as you will never get the best out of him on the left!
Hell yeah.👍
ARSE!
We have been here before…someone mentioned “super fox in box”. The fabled fox has been sought when we had a stella attack in the past, Jeffers anyone? This is an Arsenal thing, going back to early 2000s…late 1990s..for whatever reason, excepting the 2 x doubles, all cups and CL seem to disintegrate in the title hunt. You need massive amounts of luck to win the league and one or two cups. Maybe we can only realistically catch liverpool if we only concentrate on the League. Take Manure’s treble, how lucky was that? Less injury time or DB10 scoring that penalty… Read more »