Result: Sp*rs 2-1 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 12 July 2020
Venue: The Toilet Bowl
Starting lineup: Martinez, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinac, Bellerin, Ceballos, Xhaka, Tierney, Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Subs: Macey, Sokratis, Holding, Cedric, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Saka, Nelson
Toby Alderweireld’s late header capped a comeback win for Sp*rs as Arsenal endured a frustrating afternoon at White Hart Lane.
The Gunners played well in patches and took the lead through Alex Lacazette’s screamer on 16 minutes but the lead only last three minutes as Son capitalised on poor defending.
Either side might have won the game in a scrappy second half but after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had hit the bar and forced a great save from Hugo Lloris it was Alderweireld who found a decisive touch with nine minutes remaining.
First half
The first men’s north London derby at our neighbour’s new home was a very watchable affair from the off. Given we’d had an extra 48 hours to prepare for the match, you might have expected us to make the faster start but it was Jose Mourinho’s men who looked sharper.
Twice in the opening 10 minutes, they capitalised on Arsenal sloppiness. Inside 30 seconds, Kane got the better of Luiz to feed Moura who stung Martinez’s palms.
A few minutes later, Pepe lost the ball in the centre of the park, then failed to slow Moura who clipped a teasing ball over Luiz for Kane in the box. The England international tried to lob Martinez but the keeper plucked the ball out of the sky.
After those early scares, we started to grow into the game. Ceballos and Xhaka pulled the strings in the middle as we looked to take advantage of the width and pace of Tierney and Bellerin. The Spaniard had one nice dart down the flank that ended with a cross that Aubameyang missed. As it reached the far post, Tierney swung a leg at but his effort flew wide.
Pressing high up the pitch is something we’ve been working on under Arteta and again it paid dividends. On 16 minutes Xhaka closed down Aurier on the edge of the Spurs box and when the ball fell to Lacazette he worked it onto his right foot and unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top corner. Even in slow-motion, you could see it speeding up before it rippled the net. It was, for want of a better word, a thunderbastard of a strike. (1-0)
That the lead lasted three minutes will have infuriated Arteta. Under no pressure at all, Kolasinac played a suicidal pass towards Luiz that seemed to wrong-foot the Brazilian as he back-peddled towards his own goal. Son stole in, took the ball wide of Martinez and dinked in. It was defending from Arsenal. The type of thing we have to stamp out if we’re to have any chance of evolving into a Champions League side. (1-1)
With the wind in their sails, the home side came again. Aurier’s cross nearly found Sissoko before Mustafi scrambled clear.
On a warm day, the pace dropped a little after the drinks break but both sides continued to trade punches. Martinez flicked a Davies effort onto the bar and Pepe, after taking the ball on the half-turn, curled just wide. The Ivorian was a bright spark and had another decent effort after tenacious work by Ceballos. Aubameyang also flashed a free-kick just wide.
Second half
Arsenal certainly looked the better side in possession in the opening 15 minutes of the second period. Our passing was crisp and quick and when we moved into the final third, we always looked threatening. Ceballos was impressive, wriggling out of tight spaces to keep things ticking over.
We might have been rewarded on 59 minutes when Lacazette fed Aubameyang who crashed against the bar from a tight angle.
Mustafi had earlier tried his luck with a looping overhead kick. A Pepe free-kick was also blocked by the wall. Having gone into the book and after making a second foul in quick succession, the Ivorian was taken off to be replaced by Saka.
Into the final 20 minutes and it was Martinez to the rescue. Kane, after getting the better of Mustafi, laid back to Son but our keeper got down quick to smother and spring a counter.
The two sides traded clear chances again. On 78 minutes an Aubameyang curler forced Lloris into a great save. Martinez then denied Kane after he escaped Mustafi again. The reprieve was temporary. From the resulting corner, Son’s ball was met by Alderweireld who found the top corner with his head. (1-2)
Kane should have killed things off as he again got the better of the German. Martinez got down low. Another decent stop.
In desperate search of an equaliser, Arteta made a triple substitution sending on Willock, Cedric and Nelson for Tierney, Kolasinac and Bellerin. It didn’t make any difference at all. Spurs sat deep, continued to counter and looked the more likely to grab another goal.
Losing points from a winning position. It’s been a common theme all season and it could well cost us European football. Sp*rs now leapfrog us in the table. We’re now down in ninth two points adrift of them with Liverpool our next opponents in the league. Just when we’d built up momentum, we’ve lost it and our challengers are not letting up.
What a deflating day.
Arsenal’s centre-backs: The Three Stooges. Embarassing.
In the old days every player knew what this game meant. If the didn’t Ray Parkiur or Tony Adams would scream at them yill they realised. Hence the Wenger French brigade caught on pretty quick and gave everything on the pitch to win at any cost.
These players don’t have that fire. They don’t get it. I weep.
Ray Parlour or Tony Adams would both have been sent off within five minutes. Times have moved on.
Yes, they were embarrasing against Pool and City.
Arsenal: forever finding new and wondrous ways to shoot themselves in the foot.
Work in progress. This season is a write off and preparation for next season. Positive is we’ve been solid lately and made a terrible error for their equaliser but who knows if it hadn’t happened. I expect an overreaction since this was a derby. Same way I feel when we lose to united( given the geography they are the worst team to me and the rest here in most of Africa). But at 1-1 it was anyone’s game. Sadly we are the worst team in the league on counter attacks and in minute 22 whe Xhaka and Pepe are on… Read more »
Its not really a work in progress though is it? That would imply we are seeing some sort of progression. But we’re not at all. That game today Arteta basically killed us with all of his decisions pre game, and during the game itself. How predictable was it of Mourinho to play a 442 and hit us on the break. It was so fucking obvious that’s how they were going to set up. Yet for some unknown reason, we fell into the same old trap and lost the game on our own. Spurs didnt even have to try and beat… Read more »
In reality we are playing better and with a few improvements we will get there. People calling Arteta messing up pre game mean not playing Holding ahead of Sead mainly. I like Rob and he’s our future captain but we’ve been solid or relatively solid with these same guys.
We are simply not killing off teams but Arteta has definitely made us more solid. Like I said this is a derby so the feelings are understandable.
I think our recent run has been more down to good fortune than anything else. There have been a few key moments in games that have gone our way, but the mistakes were still there that cost us today. The difference being they just weren’t highlighted as much because we managed to not lose.
So are you really saying you can’t see a plan?
im disappointed but as another lad said this season is a right off,Arteta seems to have a plan in which direction we should go…..but more importantly he has reminded the players that it is a privilege to play for Arsenal.
in short I hope the board supports Arteta, or he’ll be at Barcelona in 2 years and we will only be saying what if.
keep safe.
Did you really watch the game I watched. There were so many mistakes in critical areas of the pitch bu almost everyone barring Laca and Auba. This was very tough watch after 55 minutes because we were in ascendancy and gave away all the momentum by giving away ball cheaply. Only positive which I see is Laca is getting back slowly and Martinez who was immense otherwise we would have been thumped by classic Jose tactics.
Auba? he’s our best player but that Bellerin cutback he should be tapping in. I watched the same game yes but we didn’t play worse than wolves second half for example.
We lost the derby and it hurts but I will agree with the coach. Small details
Kola doesn’t play that bad pass for their equaliser or Auba gets a better connection and we’d be talking about something else
Yes. Just like the wins against Pool and City.
Let’s hope this teaches Arteta that you cannot rely on Kolasinac and Mustafi. There are individual errors right across this backline.
and luiz as well.It was very difficult to trust prime luiz at psg,chelsea. Now we have an aging luiz who is in the middle with mustafi and kola.
I understand Arteta wanting defensive consistency and keeping the same back row, but I am surprised we have not seen Holding the past few games.
Holding and Sokratis are better defending but MA wants good passers to maintain the ball and mitigate def errors. It’s better if he had defenders that could defend And play football…
True but Holding is twice the passer that Kolasinac is.
I wouldn’t know, only ever seen Kola pass it backwards or square
He had an easy pass to a midfielder on the play when his back-pass mistake gave Spurs their equalizer. Dumb play.
I’m a bit surprised that all of a sudden it seems a common opinion that Holding cannot pass out from the back.
Last season when under Emery we were passing out from the back, he was our best defender until he got crocked by Rashford at OT.
MA may want good passers but are the three in situ really that much better than Holding, if at all?
Mustafi?
Nobody has more than 1 clearance today while he had 5 (coupled with 3 tackles and 2 interceptions).
True, but all that counts for nothing when he goes diving in after a simple ball played over the top. He has obvious deficiencies to his game, no matter how good he has been recently. Same for a lot of the players in this squad
I agree that he is far from perfect. Also agree that he made mistakes today but at their 2nd goal the dutch guy put away Tierney way too easily and their 1st goal was an obvious error from Kolasinac. And still: who we are talking about?
Mustafi…
We should talk about Mustafi because his mistakes were of equal propensity with Kola’s. In fact mustafi made way too many. He lost balls in critical areas and Kane made a mockery of Mustafi whenever he had ball. This was terrible day for us except for Auba, Laca and Martinez who were good imo.
And yet he his positive stats are way better than any of the others and he did not make the errors that led to either Spuds goal. That’s squarely on Kola’s pathetic back pass (without even lifting his head to check Luiz’ position and movement) and Tierney’s complete lack of commitment on Aldeweireld’s free header.
I think the reaction against mustafi is largely in part due to concerns that he might be offered a new contract, maybe even lead the defence. he was poor today (they all were) but he made silly errors that left us wide open, and Kane shouldered past him or left him on the ground scrambling with ease. not good enough.
He completed lost his head in the second half
But fortunately not his ‘headers’… still the only consistent aerial defence we have. The others were dire today… not surprise their winner came from an uncontested header (but no, not Mustafi, Tierney!)
As soon as he is under pressure, the old errors come out. You cannot change a player at his age.
Likeable chap, but we are mid table for a reason or two…
It wasn’t him who left us open. We were poor man’s barca/man. city today. After their opponents realised they have to sit deep against them and counter-attack the main element that saved them was the super-quality of the likes of Iniesta, Messi, KDB, Sillva, Aguero etc. Today we had a tired Xhaka and Ceballos. I think Arteta made a mistake when he didn’t tried to shake up the team in time (not to mention that he had 5 subs).
Tired? We had 48 hours more rest than them.
We dominated the game so much but could have lost 4-1 without Martinez.
Seriously?? You actually are trying to defend Mustafi after this game?? He was not the worst but that tells you about our whole defense rather than his qualities…
You remind me of The Black Knight in Monty Python’s ‘The Holy Grail’ Keep on hopping around defending Mustafi. Hilarious.
I think Why is Tirnery picking up Alderwoman on the corner. He should be on the post.
Have we change from a zonal marking , under Arteta,?
Commentor just said would rather see Holding and Sokrates. Than mustsfi and kola.
I think Arteta plays them as he knows they will be there next year.
But there is more chance we can sell holding and Sokrates.
Imo mustsfi and kola , are on big wages and see them run out their contracts
Kola is such a liability, he doesn’t want the ball in the entire match, always points to someone else to pass and doesn’t receive the ball or make himself available. For a side playing from back, that’s a serious handicap. Mustafi had some stupid moments towards the end but Bellerin wasn’t really helping him out and Jose targeted all his attacks from that side, Bellerin should also shoulder the blame for letting Sp*rs run away with it on that side. We were not prepared and were too nervous and lacked creativity. But, it is kick to the balls that Jose… Read more »
Agreed. Can anyone name a worse regular Arsenal leftback than Kolasinac?
Andre Santos
Baddabing!!
Please don’t call him Jose – he is not your mate, his correct name is Maureen or simply The Cunt.
Too right you can’t depend on that combo in the back 3. Luiz did ok in the Conte/Chelsea back 3 because he had 2 solid defenders either side of him. Kolasinac is a liability. Not good enough anywhere on the pitch at this level. Mustafi ok but outmuscled by the likes of Kane and he will be by the Liverpool frontline. Why Kolasinac did not get benched I can’t understand. Painful result but we’ll see more like this if the personnel in defence aren’t improved. Saliba will help but he’s only 19 with no prem experience. Let’s hope they offload… Read more »
maybe because he is left footed where Holding might not be suitable. Although it is about time we should do away with Kolasinac, he showed some of the glimpses of losing the possession in last few games. Today he gave away a cheap cheap goal.
Too many touches from too many players to build up attacks is nice to see but opens up a team.
Don’t forget Luiz. Mr new contract himself.
What annoys me is that it’s taken a North London Derby defeat for the penny to drop. It’s been apparent for ages that our central defence are not good enough.
And yet – whilst his last half hour was hardly exemplary, It wasn’t a ‘Musti’ howler that cost us either goal… despite your repeated predictions?
Seems we have bigger issues of late.
Split hairs all you want – I have said our defence isn’t good enough for ages.
Yes Mustafi was a weak link against Pool and City. Can not be trusted.
I feel like none of the players were treating this like a proper derby apart from Ceballos. The rest of them just look like they’re going through the motions.
Also as soon as we go 2-1 down, you just know with our mentality there’s no way we’re going to be able to get a goal back which is really sad
Think some of them do not have the ability to even if they want
I think you could say Tierney, Martinez and Hector knew what it was about.
Martinez is a Gunner and a Gooner.
We got well and truly shafted there.
Absolutely fucking shafted.
Proving, perhaps, that Satan is a Gooner.
And there was I thinking he was Mourinho
We started slow and our weak links truely showed there demerits today
Utter shite, slow pointless passing, no goal threat, hideous at the back, we’re such a bang average team. A bunch of overpaid lightweights and a manager who talks great but his judgement on players is just poor, very poor
To be fair, I hope Arteta is just trying to make a few players worth selling.
He gave Luiz a new contract,he plays kolasinac as a centre back, refuses to put Auba up front, signs Soares on a 4 year deal, poor judgement
Errr – just a few points:
Luiz got his contract through Kia’s cosying with Edu and Raul – Mik just has too much dignity to wash that grubby jockstrap in the media;
Auba had 2 great chances in the centre today and didnt finish either;
Cedric has already scored one, made one, whipped through some deadly crosses and long passes and has hardly played a full match yet.
But don’t let the facts get in the way of a good winge, though?
nah sorry, Arteta still has my trust entirely – he was handed a broken team and he has done well so far, I remember seeing a stat a week or so ago that arsenal were behind only city and Liverpool in points in 2020. yes we’re still a long ways away from where we need to be, yes we were piss poor today, but let’s not give up on Arteta before he’s even had a decent go at the transfer market!
Have you e actually improved under Arteta? We’re going to finish 9th or 10th would Emery of finished lower? He’s a great talker but I’m not sure about his ability to manage, I know he was handed a pile of shite but he gave Luiz a new deal,plays kolasinac ahead of holding, plays bellerin all the time,refused to play Martinelli, poor desicions
Do you understand the term club finances? If he has been told there is no money to buy players, what he is supposed to do?? He can only maximize on what he has and to that point, I think he is doing great job. I agree we dropped points from winning positions in some matches yet this is under development. And don’t forget players playing almost every 3 days which is a tough ask too. This run of games has a handicap to it and Arteta should not be judged on this.
Yes, with Emery we would have finished lower, you have a short memory of how bad we really were.
We’re still shite, what has changed apart from the fact that Arteta sounds great? his team selections and substitutions are poor, he’s trying to play a pep style game with terrible players. Wenger tried to copy pep too with much better players and failed, we’re going nowhere
At least he’s trying – what would your astute advice be to him, with the scant player resource he does have?
Stamp his feet and refuse to work with any of them till he gets a new train-set?
Arteta “Things are starting to click for Pepe” – No they are not.
” We can’t be tactically predictable” – Yes we are. Everyone knows we will pass it backwards and fidget at it.
” Everyone in the club loves Tierny” – Doesn’t mean you should play him a ground. The boy is knackered.
Sad day for me today. End of European dreams for next season. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise….who knows.
Without Europa League how are we going to be able to afford players? And who is going to want to come to a team that can’t even get into the Europa League?!
Well ozil is a prime example. If you give them enough salary they’ll just come and play fortnite.
How on earth can you blame a player who isn’t even on the bench for a team’s failings…..? Unbelievable…….?
I’m so tired of blessings in disguise! next time please come in a bright pink tutu with a big sign that says “Blessing!”. preferably in the form of a solid centre back
Comment of the month – Blogs give that man a free subscription (to something!)
It will be a curse to not being able to play in Europe. The same league has given us Saka and we were able to enjoy Martinelli. I hope we do get 3 wins or reach semi final of FA cup to secure EL.
We didn’t take our chances. They took their chances after 2 instances of poor defending. Disappointing.
This. We had so much more of the ball, intent, and danger. I was encouraged but Auba needs to finish one of those two bangers. We were playing balls through the lines much more today, into the zone 14 area mentioned in the Tactics Column this week. That said, I pin this one on Kola. That back pass was essentially a through ball to Son. If he doesn’t do that I think we keep the momentum and win since Spurs are a broken team. Mustafi was ball side on the unfettered Kane run that led to the corner. Could say… Read more »
Come of it mate. There were far more than ‘two’ instances of poor defending. Two hundred might be more near the mark. Another side with a better forward line, such as City or Liverpool, would have helped themselves to double figures today.
Yeah – maybe a forward line that won the CHampions League, or something?
You have Holding and even Sokratis to play CB, you use your worse ball playing player out of his position. There are so many better options than this, Tierney CB Saka LWB for example.
*maybe a bit unpopular but Pepe was our “something different” and when he came off our game became much more predictable
Pepe was making good runs but Bellerin wasn’t even looking and just kept passing backwards. If we can get someone to partner Pepe he will cause chaos.
True, and bellerin always seems to take the safe option, and never take a forward risk anymore. He has no chemistry with Pepe, but on top of that he really seems to have lost so much pace. He was struggling to keep up with Lo Celso at one point when the spuds were trying to break
Mark these words – if Cedric gets the chance to build an understanding with Pepe,we will all have a very watchable 2021 season lads!
this, really. im no football genius, the manager and his staff probably know way more than i do, but you have an unreliable defense that constantly makes mistakes that lead to a goal, and you play an out of form player with 65% average passing rate in a position he’s never played before and that, coincidentally, coincides with the position that makes the most passes for us almost every game. that mistake was absolutely predictable, statistically obvious. kolasinac’s bad (can’t recall him doing anything good for us ever, aside from a few first touches and that backpass that he successfully… Read more »
I thought Saka should have come on for Kolasinic and moved into midfield where we needed another link player.
Really stupid goal to concede the equaliser. And it was 100% on Kolasinach. He can’t kick accurately with his right foot and it showed.
That kills European football for next season. It aint happening. And Arteta has some serious rebuilding to do.
European football is easy – we just need to win twice at Wembley, first against Man City and then against Man United or Chelsea. Never in doubt! 😉
While we expect a cleanup within the team and releasing the dead wood, we renewed Luiz. If that is a start for rebuilding the team then the signs are pretty bad.
Arteta talks a great game and has many fans thinking he’s the business but he makes bad bad desicions
Totally agree. Arteta talks a good game, but is a sh*t manager. That is why Arsenal won against Pool and City. Go support Spurs instead.
he’s got a team full of scared kids that just lost cech, monreal and koscielny last season and is about to lose sokratis and maybe aubameyang. can you blame him for wanting to have around one of the most experienced defenders in the world? he’s one of the few leaders this team has, and in a team in which most players are around 22 years old that is needed, at least for now. surely he shouldn’t be our leading defender but you can at least understand why he’s been renewed. if you want us to stop shooting in the foot… Read more »
David Luiz is shite, why have a leader who’s fucking useless?
he’s not useless, he’s just not the defender we need. he could be a good backup. and he’s a good influence to have around, so that’s why.
Well, my day is ruined…
Mustafi with a perfectly timed reminder that renewing his contract would be insane
4 year deal on the way no doubt
That’s 39+ more thumbs up I should have had a fortnight ago! ? Just saying…..
Yeah – not that Hector went awol 2nd half and continually left him one-on-one against one of the most dangerous CF’s in the PL
Surely Holding can’t be worse than Kolasinac? And the non-negotiables should be extended to include “not making amateur mistakes and knowing how to kick a ball. What Kolasinac displays week adter week is basic imcompetence ffs.
Arteta can improve his game management (should start soon) bit honestly I dont want to see Kolasinac next season. Non coachable.
Too right mate!
Well that sucked. Where was the fight? Still passing backwards even with 2 mins left in the game.
Auba unlucky off the bar….but our entire back 3 were absolutely dreadful.
Possession means nothing if you don’t use it. Also think we were missing Eddie today.
Argh!!!!!!!
Playing keep ball like City, but without the talent.
What kind of team concedes within three minutes of scoring? Consistently, for over a decade now.
Ceballos and Emi the only players that looked up for it.. the rest seemed quite sluggish. Laca’s spectacular goal was nullified so easily.. we need a clear out. Don’t expect a player of Aubas caliber to sign it. This team is an absolute shambles with so less creativity
I expect a player of Auba’s caliber to have scored twice today!
Troodat!
And that entire defence will still be here next season.
Absolutely shot ourselves in the foot yet again. If it aint side show bob then its one of the other clowns.
Spurs are really not very good but somehow we managed to lose to them.
Not sure where we go from here as we all know it will be the same next year
Sheffield wiped the floor with them, they are not that good just pumping long balls for Kane to chase. But that was a dreadful game by us defensively. Any Arsenal team from the 90’s Highbury period would have wiped the floor with them. Dixon who was commentating just could not believe the lack of passion shown by players who clearly do not know what a NLD means to us. Even if we are not there! Bollocks.
We have to hope a teenage Saliba can play beyond his years and Chambers/Mari can recover and win places. Mari should be where Kola is playing in a 3.
We need a Van Dijk-level signing, but those don’t grow on trees. Our defense is made up of complementary pieces, not one cornerstone in the bunch.
Depressing but true. Good post.
Kolasinac doing back pass all the time and still manage to create an assist
Jose will feed of this for the next 6 months. Sods law, we just cannot beat the mans team.
Arteta needs a good clear out. Give the man time
You could see on his face how desperate he was to win. Really stings knowing he’ll be extra smug for a while like you said
They showed up to wipe our arse without even trying. Possession was 80-20 and still i knew this wouls be most likely outcome, because we are what we are. I think its going to change for better under Arreta, but it takes time. This was not ruthless performance, it was nothing short of toothless.
Mustafi is back baby
Back? He was never away. He just is. And will continue to be so until we finally get rid of him.
Arsenal don’t get beaten. They beat their selves. Bellerin good game today. Tierney consistent. Martinez take a bow, more than a no.2. Arteta can’t do much more until we get rid of the error prone players.
He just rewarded one of them with a new contract..the signs of a clearout dont look great
Then stop giving them new contracts FFS
This team would be better off without EL next season.
Clearly can’t win it, the income is marginal compared to the CL and it is just another couple of extra games where our players might get injured.
We should be focusing on the PL with a tighter but more quality squad without the huge amount of deadweight in our squad such as Luiz,Kola,Mustafi etc.
I’ve got news for you. Thanks to the contract situations that are only marginally less embarrassing than the players they represent, The Three Stooges will be here for the immediate future. Hopefully Arteta is finally taking note of what an absolute joke this club has been allowed to become in terms of the centre of its defence. He needs to act fast and decisively next season. Holding, Saliba and Mari have GOT to take precedence above the three numpties out there today. More fool him if he doesn’t take the enormity of this responsibility seriously. Thanks to Mustafi and Co,… Read more »
Can Saka play center back? Oy! 21 points dropped from winning positions. Maybe the club will finally decide to buy some world class centerbacks but I doubt it.
That’s a stunning stat.
With this error prone defense.. We are heading nowhere
….As I’ve tried to explain on here for months.
Back to normal then after that little run of handy results. And a quick return to pathetic from players like Kolasinac and Mustafi that time and time again are given chances to prove that they’re not a big bag of shite. Luiz wasn’t much better mind and a faster more decisive defender tackles Son for their equaliser. I’m sorry but Arsenal are not going to improve with players like Xhaka in central midfield either. He plays every game in 1st gear, strolling about. Yes, he can pass, but put any pace against him and he is bypassed. He offers little… Read more »
I think Xhaka had a good game today, have a look at his contribution to our goal…to start with.
Having one positive contribution once in a while isnt conductive of a good player. He is slow, never shows for the ball, cant receive the ball under pressure because he cant dribble. He is symptomatic of Arsenals decline, along with Mustafi and Kolasinac. We’ve then mainly invested top dollar on average or underperforming players. Cant argue with it, we’re 9th for a reason.
He did have a good game in the sense he kept possession ticking about, but his lack of forward passes from deep is concerning. Wenger chose him over Kante for that reason all those years ago, and he always has had good passing ability, but under Arteta he seems to be focusing quite a bit on his defensive side at the expense of this forward thinking play. Which ultimately means that our frontline is starved of any service. Can’t expect Ceballos to do it all the time, it’s too one dimensional, and can’t expect your centrebacks to be creating chances… Read more »
It’s been the story of the season since the restart, we’re relying on our centrebacks and wingbacks to create chances, and completely bypass the midfield. Couple that with some absolutely comical defending, and this is what we have. Serious rebuild obviously on the cards, but I feel like Arteta could have forced the initiative today and made changes a bit sooner, rather than wait for the last 10 mins.
Oh well.
mustafi has improved massively under Arteta, yes, but please let this serve as a reminder that we absolutely cannot be taken seriously as a team with a defence like this. so much needs to change, we are just so so uninspiring.
Well, it seems that we’re all finally in agreement that Arsenal and ‘Musty’ need to part company and move on. Phew….
I think the team really let their confidence take a knock after Sp*rs first one given how we conceded it. It was Brighton all over again, minus a smug youngster grabbing peoples necks.
Why is Tirnery picking up Alderwoman on the corner. He should be on the post.
Have we change from a zonal marking , under Arteta,?
Commentor just said would rather see Holding and Sokrates. Than mustsfi and kola.
I think Arteta plays them as he knows they will be there next year.
But there is more chance we can sell holding and Sokrates.
Imo mustsfi and kola , are on big wages and see them run out their contracts
Shit performance. Defensively inept and very weak going forward. We barely created anything in the second half.
We badly need two quality centre-halves.
Fantastic goal by Lacazette but we almost immediately threw away the advantage.
Our season now is the FA Cup.
City will fucking destroy us as usual
Might just give that one a skip. Call me what you like but I’m not into BDSM and that’s going to be some real D.
Arteta needs to play Ozil for us to have any chance against City. That said, with Mustafi and Co. at the back, they’ve more or less got the game in the bag already.
Ozil is finished at Arsenal.
Arsenal is finished at the moment mate. Our best player not even getting a game, whilst out so called central defence pour precious points down the drain each week. Pathetic.
Who is our best player?
Mesut Ozil. No other player currently on our books has the ability to influence a game like he can. He is one of about ten players on the planet who can do that – influence the actions of the other 21 players on the pitch. We have great players, such as Auba, Laca, Saka, Pepe and Hector – but Ozil is the best. Having him on the books and left out with ‘a backache’ and no further medical explanation is, quite frankly, a joke and, given the team’s current inability to polish off the opposition from strong positions, extremely poor… Read more »
He doesn’t have a back problem – and he’s not our best player.
He used to be a brilliant player. He’s not anymore, he hasn’t been for some time, and while I know this is a team which lacks creativity, the fact people continue to make excuses for Ozil’s lack of contribution is part of the problem.
He needs to go, we need to move on, and let’s start again.
Whilst I agree his game has declined in recent seasons, it still seems an incredible waste of resources to not even have him available on the bench. His pre-lockdown performances this season against Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool were no worse than the performances of our other midfielders – and against Leicester at home last season he was sublime. Yes, only a handful of games, but they showed that he still has a contribution to make to this team. If it’s the club’s intention to deliberately ostracise him for the remainder of his contract, then fine, but they should grow… Read more »
Oh, it’s a huge waste and it’s actually quite sad, but we have to move on. There’s no other way. His decline as a player has been as sharp as anything I’ve ever seen
That’s fair comment. And I’m glad I’m not the only one who seems to find the whole thing sad too, Blogs. A lot of people seem to have taken great delight in slagging the guy off – the same happened with Wenger and it’s not needed. They’re entitled to their opinion, of course, but it’s a shame nonetheless. There’s more than meets the eye with this one, I guess we’ll all get to the bottom of it one day. And if it’s the end then let’s hope it can resolved ASAP, for the benefit of all parties.
Ozil our best player? I just won’t waste any of my time to answer you.
No ,Geordie Armstrong is our best player. We are playing who is the best player if they were fit, in their prime, dead or alive.
Well that’s a result. Cheers. ?
‘No other player… influence a game’… Blathering out such sweeping and entirely unsubstantiated statements – even if your repeat them ad nauseam week after week – does not make them fact.
A one-eyed show-jumping fan would be able to tell you that both Auba and Leno have most certainly ‘influenced’ more games, more consistently, than Ozil, who stats have plummeted since 2016/7.
Stats – those numbers that are based on what actually does happen week on week? You might want to have a quick gander at your Top 10 on the Planet’ player there…
Been to any show jumping meetings lately, One Eye?
I would give almost anything to get rid of Kola, Ozil, Luiz and Mustafi. Such wastes of space… and money.
You’re blaming Ozil?!!!!!!!????????????
I partly blame Ozil. For our general situation, not just today. He lacks ambition, knows he isn’t wanted and remains for a pay cheque. If he leaves, that money can be salary for new, better players but his stubborness is a detriment to the team.
Let’s break this down: other than bits of poor defending that our defence is capable of, there were one proper circus clanger each from Kola and Luiz, and two from Mustafi, after having a decent game. Only one got punished. Yes we played well for parts, but defensive errors gave Spurs confidence to go at us. If this was liverpool we would have lost by 5. Glad we’re not playing them anytime soon…
Apart from one shot that went in the top corner our attack was terrible. The missed chances and poor performance from all of our attackers cost us today.
Really, really disappointing. People will talk about missed chances, but I think even more fundamentally we really struggle to turn the screw on games when we’re on top. Far too many backwards passes, far too passive. When Saka came on, I really thought it should be for a centre back to push the initiative and give us another option in midfield. Big opportunity missed against a very poor Spurs side.
Shit defenders. Period. Flog those clowns all three of them. Kolasinac, Luiz n mustafi. We will instantly become a better team. Just. stop. fucking. playing. them. Fuck. How demotivating.
My how this page has changed its tune.
? We go match by match because that’s all there is right now.
Still a believer in arteta.. But not when he keeps picking these three ass clowns.. When you have holding n sok. Wtf. Also this horseshoe style passing n zero incision from the cneter of the park is just infuriating.
This REALLY hurts in the context of the hope we developed in a team that showed signs of growth, with our shiny new coach and brimming with young talent. Also, losing to our most hated enemy under management of an insufferable coach. I can’t bare to think on that much. But I am here to put in writing that I should not be surprised by this. I had no hand in the loss, but the level of pain, I do have some part in. What short of willful self-delusion could lead me to out faith in players like Mustafi and… Read more »
If I had to pick just one revelation from what we’ve seen today, and just one, it’s this: Arsenal have made a huge mistake signing Luiz.
I get his skill on the ball and the drive forward he brings, and his long ball ability. But you can’t tell me that’s so unique of skill set that we can’t find someone with similar attributes with a bit more pace who is less prone to sloppy errors. That’s not Virgil, that’s any number of decent mid-table CB’s.
The Arsenal board has to wake up and realise that Mustafi and Kolasinac and dare I say it even though he played well today, Xhaka are not the Arsenal players that will take us into the future. Too many backpasses yet again and we were lucky not to go 3 or 4 down thanks to Mustafi (who had played well up to 70 mins), first the slip and then he almost hacked Kane down in the box. I felt sorry for Kieran Tierney. He looked like he wanted to bomb down the wing but was given no service. We were… Read more »
Dedicated to all of you that with 3 g good ames you thought our players (the Mustafi, Luizes and Xhaka) were suddenly actually…good. We have no CB worthy of playing at Arsenal and we have 7 or 8 in our payroll…
Another one on here finally sees the light. Hallelujah.
Well what do you know. Mustafi fucked up, Kola fucked up and Luiz fucked up. Who would have known.
Me
Pepe was slow. Not sure what he is. Saki instantly caused havoc by persistence. Defensively we have to be honest we came up against a hungry Harry Kane an Son. You can’t gift quality teams opportunities. Groundhog Day just never ends for Arsenal. Arteta needs help. Needs better options
Just popping my head around the door to say that I warned you all. I said that Mustafi would return to type in a big game and that he, Luiz and Kolasinac aren’t fit to wear the shirt. I’ve said it a billion times on this site and I’ll say it yet again. This team, for all the brilliance of it’s forward line, will not progress until whoever coaches it can sort out the centre of the defence. And that means getting rid of the three aforementioned clowns. I rest my case. I’ll now leave you all to thumb this… Read more »
But you are still deluded about Ozil’s role in the team.
The Premiership table doesn’t lie. It’s a good job it doesn’t laugh too. I bet Ozil is laughing his bollocks off.
If we have to look for scapegoats how about Pepe doesn’t even try to go past people and Auba should have scored twice. Let’s not look for scapegoats there are far too many in this team. 🙁
I think your old mate Mustafi needs to be in the queue before Pepe…..
At least I have Lacazette’s goal. No one can take that away from me, despite Kolasinac’s effing back pass trying it’s utmost… FFS
Arteta is unable to build any momentum with his subs. Most of the time, they are defensive in nature, and maybe nick goal on the counter attack.
And what has happened to Bellerin, he seems to have lost all his speed and stamina.
Ok, we lost, but we are beginning to look like a team, apart from our Achilles heal.. our defence switching off, we kept possession, ping balls and didn’t take our chances, set backs I was expecting, hurting but taking positives..
Disappointing result and performance. I think it puts the improvements of some players that we´ve seen under Arteta into perspective sadly. Kolasinac plays it back so often and looks uncomfortable on the ball. I don´t see that argument that he plays there because he is left footed, it´s tough to see what he brings into the team. I think Mikel should either try to play Holding there or go to a back four with Saka in that left midfield 8 position frankly. Mustafi showed again that any extension of his contract shouldn´t come to mind. We must move on from… Read more »
That’s outlet season over. Fucking shit show and will be until we get some actual defenders.
Another convert. Keep ‘em coming lads! ?