Mikel Arteta says he’s hopeful that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Southampton will ease the pressure on the Arsenal captain, and lead to a more prolific period in front of goal.
The captain hadn’t scored in open play in the Premier League since the opening day against Fulham, but his smart finish early in the second half was enough to earn the ten man Gunners a point.
To be fair, he hasn’t had much service, but Eddie Nketiah’s smart flick after great work from Bukayo Saka created the kind of chance he usually thrives on, and afterwards the Arsenal boss was looking for the positives despite only taking one point.
“Hopefully it’s going to change everything dramatically and he’s going to score every game because this is what we need at the moment,” said Arteta.
“We need the points and in order to do that, we need to score many more goals and be more efficient when we have the chances.
“I think it’s going to make him really good. I’m sure that it’s going to take a lot of pressure off him and it’s going to release him as well.”
Clearly there’s a lot more to what’s wrong with us that Auba not scoring, but if this helps in a small way, then we can’t complain.
Next up Everton away, Gabriel will be suspended, but fingers crossed the skipper can do the business again.
At least we are consistent in the ways we drop points.
I find our reliance on crosses means we really haven’t figured out a way to get the goals flowing again. Today we had a moment of brilliance from Saka, and the goal came when he actually took players on and moving the ball thru the middle – both of which are absolute rarity for us as a team at the moment. This whole obsession about “overloads” and “numerical superiorities” out on the wings then whipping in crosses sounds like a bunch of bull-crap to be honest. It really hasn’t worked the past 6-7 games so why not revert to something… Read more »
We have been — we’ve been moving the ball much more quickly and it has enabled us to move the ball through the middle, hence why we finally saw some return today with Saka-Nketiah-Auba. We’re becoming more versatile, little by little.
Auba was superb at the end of last season and got us a cup and into Europe as a result. He’s a top quality striker and has consistently scored goals as well as anybody on the planet over the last decade. He’s struggling a bit at the moment, but hopefully today marks the end of the worst barren spell since pre-Dortmund days and he manages to turn it around
And how about that collective relief and joy from the entire team when he scored? Beautiful stuff, and it was a nicely worked goal. There will be more of that to come.
Auba never was the problem, although the barren run coincided with his contract renewal. He isn’t in the same mould as Henry in being able to create for his teammates or himself. He is a very clinical finisher. If someone is able to give him the ball around the box or put him in space, he’ll score. He is no Giroud either, for whom Arteta’s tactic of crossing would have worked a treat. Despite all the formation, strategy, tactical variations that Arteta has tried, he is yet to find something that suits the players he puts out. Sticking Auba on… Read more »
Technically it’s the Burnley game which has opened the floodgates for him. I would say for the Everton game – defend deep, let Everton have the ball and counter attack. Maybe have Nelson or some one with pace on the bench. And of course not get a red card.
MA also has to adopt his tactics to allow Auba – or anyone – to score more. Hoping that this goal will unleash Auba if we continue to play such shite is just wishful thinking.
To lose a dressing room you probably need to find it in the first place. I love Arsenal. We should all back it.
We lack players who can take on opponents on their own. Saka did well today but if we can provide that with Pepe as well on both flanks, this will be so much better a team. Currently we lack nuance and skill sets. Auba as mentioned cutting in from left is the best route to goal. That is how he thrives best. Laca in tandem playing the vertical darting in and out of box and Auba working from left supported by Aka (and Tierney) is our strong left hook. This is it, there should be no experimenting. Get more dynamic… Read more »
To an extent I feel your pain. Imagine Oriol Romeu pulling off a trick and later a flick against Arsenal at the Emirates. …an insult. Those are our things to do.
A bit harsh, Oriel Romeu is a La Masia graduate who was once very highly rated. Got all the attributes but lacks focus and consistency..
Disappointment haunted all my dreams.
now I’m a believer
etc, etc etc.
I’m exhausted. Dissatisfaction is probably a better way to describe us.
night
Do we still have AGMs where Arteta and Edu can take questions from fans?
There was one the other day, wasn’t there, with Edu and Vinai? Don’t think Arteta was involved though. Blogs included a link to some info/quotations from it yesterday or the day before …
“Mikel Arteta says he’s hopeful that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Southampton will ease the pressure on the Arsenal captain, and lead to a more prolific period in front of goal.”
And than:
“Hopefully it’s going to change everything dramatically and he’s going to score every game because this is what we need at the moment,” said Arteta.
No pressure whatsoever.
If he wants Auba to score more goals, he needs to make sure that other 9 produce chances for him to finish.
Anyway, Go Gunners!
To expect a dramatic change on the back of one goal is wishful thinking. I’m not concerned about Auba, because he will always be a quality striker, but the implications that this is, in some way, a turning point for the team is grasping at straws. Let’s have a little more of the ‘one game at a time’ mantra.
Release pressure? He is still a Mediocre striker..bring Lacazette back.
Check out his goal stats prior to this season – and you’ll see that without his goals, we would have been in a similar predicament to the one we’re in now.
I don’t call that mediocre.
I call that practically carrying the team.
Lacazette’s legs are beginning to go; on the hour mark he is knackered and blowing like an asthmatic Darth Vader. If you think he’s the answer, then we really will be relegated.
Still Auba needs to do a bit more. He had ball when he could make a telling pass in the final third. He is not that kind of player. God now we know what a player Henry was. He could create, score goals and single handedly drag the team out of a mess. Guess those kinds were rare and we were lucky to watch him.
All strikers go through a lean period – his goals during the past few seasons have kept us afloat and papered over the gaping cracks that have been made by the poor defending of Mustafi and Co.
I honestly dread to think where we would have been without him and Ozil’s creativity- probably in a similar position to the one we’re in now.
Some people still think we can squeeze key passes out of stone after kicking creativity out of the squad.
ozils creativity when exactly. his stats are a shit show the last few years
Dear God. Here we go yet again, “The last few years” myth…
Ozil in 2020 before the first lockdown – creating infinitely more than Willian, Ceballos, Willock or any of the other midfield clowns we currently have masquerading as Premiership quality attacking midfielders….
https://youtu.be/ZuP3HNOYZoc
Great point against a Top of the table team yesterday
Let’s fight to ensure we retain our top flight status
Auba = £400 000 per week…
I watched without sound and access to social and thought there was improvement in performance, in terms of linking play, chances created and looking like we give a shit – including body language from Auba.
I know it’s from a low base but let’s take that as a positive – need to stop the constant negative discourse – and build from here.
Back Arteta and support the team
100% with you on this … understand that a 1-1 draw at home to S’hampton doesn’t exactly set the world alight but it’s certainly an improvement on the dog shit we’ve been served up recently. Also watched without sound/social – maybe this is the key! Green shoots of improvement … COYG
Completely agree. There is such a big impact on shaping fan opinion that the commentary and echo chamber of social media negativity gives. I also watched the match without sound and you can give much more of an objective eye-test. Thought we at least improved our play in terms of passing and movement, and after the goal you could see a huge lift in nervousness and the passes started to flow much more naturally. Such a shame about the red card, but with a bit of luck in the next games, with the same sort of improvement in performance, we… Read more »
We can all talk about Willian, laca, pepe, Aubameyang etc not performing but in my lifetime watching arsenal since early 90s I have never seen such a non existent midfield. The only shining light I see is if we can bundle through to January we can get a grip in midfield with partey fit. The United game showed that. And then we have to grind it out till the summer for another revamp of the squad
With just a fabregas or a carzola, I’d be happy with just a couple of good forwards I.e Aubameyang and Pepe, because you know it would be put on a plate for them at least 2-4 times a game. Or they’d start a move in our half that the rest of the team could work with. I see nothing from our midfielders that inspires
Yeah, it’s scary. Emery started the process of bypassing the midfield and no longer building up play through the middle. Even having Ramsey this season would have given us a driving force from and through the middle, and someone mentioned on here a few weeks how dynamic a Partey-Ramsey midfield would have been — imagine the ground those two would cover, and then chuck in Elneny when we want to tighten things up. Bonkers. I know it’s unpopular and it won’t happen, but I still would love to see Ozil out there with Partey + 1 in midfield. I know… Read more »
It’s not just the ones you mentioned, it’s all the others that went without being replaced: Rosicky, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, even Iwobi and Mkhitaryan. We’ve gone from a team full of attacking midfielders to not having any.
The whole season hinges on getting and keeping partey fit in my eyes, because at least teams will stop trying to play through us. It won’t put us where we want to be but it’ll take the pressure off Gabi coming into midfield and hopefully stop the rot till we get to next summer. Once again I’m not worried about the attack Willian Aubameyang and laca are getting old, but with a good midfield Pepe martenelli, saka Eddie or baluguen would suffice
The other thing that will stop teams trying to play through us is scoring goals on the counter attack. We have Auba and Pepe, two experts in counter-attacking goals, and if we can get them both on track, teams will absolutely stop taking liberties with us and guys like Walcott will keep their mouths tightly sealed after matches and their heads down.
Putting Auba as central striker for the past few games has conincided with an implosion in the teams form and he has less touches of the ball.
He is and Saka and Gabriel are our only quality players with consistency.
Partey maybe.
But with these stars, how can we squeeze Saka and Auba into the same side when they both work best in the left channel/wing?