Arsenal’s Premier League season got off to a losing start as the Gunners went down 2-0 to Brentford.
Sergi Canos fired the home side in front in the second half, beating Bernd Leno at his near post, and the German keeper was fouled from a long throw which led to the second – although the Arsenal defending was weak.
Far from ideal for Mikel Arteta, who was without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alex Lacazette through illness, as well as the injured Thomas Partey and Gabriel.
Next up, Chelsea. Yikes.
Read the Brentford 2-0 Arsenal match report and see the goals here
Brentford 2-0 Arsenal – Player Ratings
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Might be the wrong time to say this but this is the sort of game that really needed Willian as false 9
There’s never a right time to say that.
Well, he is versed in being a false anything else, so that could have worked
You mean like a false decoy? As in “that guy there who looks like Willian can’t be Willian and must be a cardboard cutout, which is a really sneaky trick but it doesn’t fool us, so just play right through it” and on doing so realising it’s actually Willian but it doesn’t matter because the ball goes right through him anyway and they go on to score a brilliant goal while Willian leisurely jogs back into position awaiting the next attack from our opponent.
It could work. For our opponent.
At the moment he’s a false 1 moving on to false 2. We have 3 falses in total with him
Sadly, Willian may have actually scored more PL goals than the entire team we had available tonight.
False and NEIN!
Thanks Aterta for the memories. It’s time to take over at another relegation club.
Please tell me you are jesting.
His presence alone on Brentford’s pitch might have shocked them into submission.
That is a great comment. You have to laugh at this joke of a club
No striker in the current Arsenal squad will be able to consistently perform with the current tactics. Maybe a Giroud or Lukaku kind of player, but not the strikers we have right now. Our midfielders try 0 through balls in the final third. Only sideway passes to wing backs and cut back, so predictable. Martinelli made a few good runs but was ignored 100% of the time for a safer pass to Tierney. Artetaball is shitball. Laca may be able to do a job as hold up striker from time to time, but that’s a short term fix, nowhere near… Read more »
The only thing Willian is false enough is a player Arsenal thought worth giving a massive 3 year contract.
Someone, please tell me how many times Tierney crossed the ball hopelessly into the box? Not his fault no one was there or good enough to win it. He worked his socks off but these tactics are down to one man only. SACK HIM NOW!!! save the season!!!!
Yep, I think many people are starting to agree with the idea of getting shot of Arteta. This is beginning to look like a job that is bigger than him. There’s no way teams like Brentford and Leeds should be playing better football than us. We don’t create meaningful chances, we don’t play out from the back with confidence, we don’t attack as a proper unit and so much more. We actually look to be getting worse and worse. I like the man, but it’s time to go before this season becomes another write off. We don’t have Europe ffs… Read more »
The problem is ppl take too long to agree. It was obvious that Arteta was not good enough to be our manager. We had so much hate towards Emery that we welcomed Arteta with open arms. I was saying all last season to get rid of Arteta, but ppl kept saying calm the FK down and came up with every excuse. We took too long to sack Emery and we are taking too long to sack Arteta!! We need a Qualified Manager with experience!! I also don’t blame 100% of our problems on Arteta, most of our players don’t deserve… Read more »
Need a manager who simply has no ties to the club. Will just come in and be ruthless. No way people like Bellerin, Xhaxa, Elneny survive here under someone who isn’t there friend. He had to make Xhaxa captain because there are no other candidates..Which has been the problem since 2016.
We had that opportunity when Allegri was available.
Countless years of experience would have served Arsenal well.
Now we have the bloke who used to get the doughnuts in for Pep..
You mean someone line Emery?
Wait, didn’t Emery make Xhaka the captain? 🤔
Bellerin sat on the bench while a much younger LB came on to play RB. They’ve been trying to sell him and Xhaka. Problem is that all of our players crash in value after they join us because the tactics are so bad and the performances are so bad. When it comes to RBs unfortunately need to sell before we can buy.
Was my biggest criticism last season also. It’s just awful, not the crosses, they were brilliant, but who are they to?
I’ve been saying this for some time. I’d hoped he’d learnt some lessons as he claimed but clearly not. Rigid disjointed rubbish for the most part. If everything isn’t aligned exactly as he wants he’s useless.
Hank, I think Arteta as a coach will never learn anything new until he rids himself of Steve Round and Albert Stuivenberg and hires new assistants. He can do this at whatever club he ends up at but there’s a reason why we resemble United when they were under Moyes and LVG..
The man chose to hire people he was well-acquainted with instead of the newest maverick with a UEFA Pro license. He didn’t do himself any favours there.
Not to mention the goalkeeping coach who backed Leno over Martinez and recommended Runarsson ffs. We got rid of Andy Woodman because Mikel wanted to support his useless fucking mate and now look where we’re at. Mikel has surrounded himself with yes men.
Allegedly, this is why we can’t sign Freddie Woodman as a backup GK. As you said, the club has burned bridges with his old man.
He’s arrogantly inflexible.
And without a track record to back it up
Tbf I thought Tierney could’ve just got his head up and driven in to the box a few times rather than just crossing.
It’s ironic that we finally have a great crosser that really whips the ball in over and over from the left, but the one player we’ve had recently that deals well with those balls was Giroud. Would be interesting to see Tierney and Giroud on the same squad when Giroud was in his prime.
Merson suggested sign Chris wood, think a decent shout, or a striker over 6’2 with ability in air and floor .
I said that a couple of years back and was laughed out of the conversation! I am a kiwi so bit biased…
Kia kaha, bro
Honestly I’d not considered him but I’d agree with the concept. I was disappointed we were not in for Ings. CalvertLewin also I think could fit, but both maybe come with premium.
Maybe this is why Abraham is linked so strongly. How are his aerial stats? I think he’s decent in the air.
His aerial stats are pure vapour
Apparently he’s rubbish at heading the ball.
In fact, Giroud was less a true “target man” and much better at quick combination play than given credit for (quick feet, not pace). He was centrally involved in some of our best team goals and, of course, he never had a single shot on goal, header or otherwise, while combining brilliantly with Mbappe and Griezmann as France won the World Cup.
The Premier league is not a place to experiment. Appoint a quality manager with experience and the results will follow.
This.
I will concede and say Arteta looks befuddled. But who replaces him? If you say Conte, please remove yourself from the Internet. Conte won the serie A and fucked off because they couldnt back him in the transfer market. You think he’d come to Arsenal and deal with those Kroenke cunts? Let’s be honest, Sp*Ed have done better business recently and he wasn’t even interested in that project. This team is not better than last year. As I’ve said before this team is essentially the same one we had last season. Ben fucking white is the only possible upgrade to… Read more »
Spot on Virginia, xhaka has been with us for 6 years hahaha
Or you could have a coach that plays a system that gets the best from the players the club has. Xhaka is to slow with the ball, so why is he looking to play it slow and short instead of long over the top to pull defense back away from him? The manager decided the style of play. The players fit a faster transition game but we play short slow passing. That’s a manager problem. Wenger kept the team top 4 for years with the same cash flow, if not worse restrictions, how can Arteta backers not see this?
Who does he ever cross for, please tell me. We haven’t had anyone who can do shit with crosses since Giroud.
0/10 for Arteta on the day.
Buy stock in Amazon, its going straight up after this world class doc.
Amazon stock it going up no matter what. Except if the FED decides to break it up due to capitalism laws.
His record when losing at half time is 4 draws and 11 defeats. He simply doesn’t know how to influence a match if things haven’t gone to plan. I would add that things seem not to go to plan quite a lot, only that would suggest there is a plan, and the evidence of that is sadly lacking too.
Was there even a plan in the first place, he’s body language says it all..get rid ASAP
The few good players we had are becoming worse under him, that tells you alot.
Clearly we are rolling down a steep, the whole club is rotten, coaching is our number one problem not signings, when arteta started, he was very bullish, in interviews, he will be like ” we would go there and beat them” now he’d be like ” we would go there and try to get something” that tells you alot
It all starts at the top with the owners. They obviously can’t be sacked but Arteta and Edu can be. Both are phoneys.
Our only escape route is higher and fire till we get it right, copy the Chelsea model, plus tuchel minus lampard equals champions league, no one can argue this model, it’s been tried and tested by Chelsea and the results are there to see, I never believed I will be suggesting this, I thought we had the best method, but it’s lled to our decline. See the trophies they have won, why our loyalty to coaches makes us a complete failure
We still have Wenger signings in our squad. Isn’t that strange? 4 managers later?
This was apparent when comparing us to Everton today. They came out in the second half, and started winning challenges and pressing the play aggressively.
Regardless of all the other shit going on in our club, Arteta is not good enough. Changing manager won’t solve the Edu and Kroenke issues but it will help the team improve on and of the pitch
Hear. Arteta out, Conte in
And Luis Campo can also replace Edu
Campos?🤣 That man would just be a less sleazy version of Don Raul. He allegedly makes more money off outgoing transfer than the clubs who employ him do.
Imagine he bought Martinelli and sold him for £100 million. £80 million of that would go to Campos’ shell companies or business partners🤣. Why not Marc Overmars instead?
EDU has to be sacked! His actions are beginning to show he is clueless. Get a proper footballing brain in and save this club.
Unfortunately, we have a clueless owner as well, so not hoping for much.
Clueless owner side. What is Tim Lewis, Arsenal fan and board member doing in all of this?
‘Beginning’ to show? He’s looked like a pretender from day one!!!
bonus rating: edu ?/10
i’d like to hand him a proper rating but he’s out of the office until september
Did you get his out-of-office email or did he post the details on Instagram?
his assistant told me i could leave the rating at the desk or wait until he was back in the office
I do hope he’s enjoying his holiday. Perhaps he and Torreira could hook up on a beach somewhere and share a cocktail and a social media snap.
Torreira tweeting a pic of him chilling at Disney Land when we are losing at halftime says it all. The level of banter has peaked.
I lost patience with him last season. The only good will he had left with me was THAT goal against Celta Vigo but that turned to ash today.
Sambi, Kieran, Emile, Pepe and Saka are the only ones who can hold their heads high.
The manager especially really needs to get his work in otherwise he has to go.
Pepe?
I thought he was marginally more effective than Balogun in the first half (A kid making his Premier League debut).
Pepe really needed to stand up tonight as the Senior player and I’m disappointed he didn’t.
But to be fair, I think Pepe struggles might be down to Arteta.
🤷♂️
Pepe had very little support from Chambers. I honestly think Arteta’s tactics are holding many of our players back. That’s why I am.excited for guys like ESR. He’d play 10X better than he is currently playing under a manager who sets up his team better than we currently have.
Agree with this. The tactics were weird – Tierney was without any support on the left and Pepe same on the right. It looked like Chambers had been told not to venture forward and Martinelli told to play center.
That’s exactly right, we’ve been playing this weird 3-2-5 (on the ball) thingy ever since Arteta took over. Probably a leaf from Guardiola’s book but executed, you know, without the players and the manager for it.
Can’t stand this 5 channel rigid nonsense.
And if Chambers had been given free rein to go forward and combine with Pepe–as Tierney did with Saka when he came on? He is simply not quick enough, nor a good enough technical player, to do both.
Tierney often seemed to be most forward on the left which may have resulted in Chambers staying dropped back. Honestly he didnt have a lot of chances to overlap
Chambers kept making good overlapping runs and Pepe wouldn’t pass to him. He had the ball far more than Martinelli and did very little with it.
I’m also not sure why people were so positive on Lakonga in this match; thought he looked in over his head and ineffective.
He’s always doubled up and receiving difficult balls, and he still manages to work something out most times. Arteta tactics always has our wingers isolated, you can’t really ask for much more from Pepe.
Balogun did nothing. Totally nothing. This kid is arrogant and really pushed the club n his contract negotiations. He has to show us why. I didn’t see anything from him.
You are right. How dare Balogun ask for money and playing opportunities
it was his first match. Wasn’t good, but this year he was supposed to be an understudy and late game spark, not a PL starter.
Anyone who doesn’t push their employer in contract negotiations is an idiot.
Pepe is just too predictable. Needs to do something other than cut inside on his left.
One-eyed view mate – Bees had 2-3 players on Pepe every time he got the ball. The real point being that they were only able to do that because the rest of our forward movement offered so little threat: no creative mid-field engine, no aerial CF option, no laser-sharp striker to make incisive box-runs…
Easy to mark a good player out of the game when you don’t need to worry about anyone else on the field!
Exactly right.
Sambi was rubbish, mispassed a lot in the first half, and when he didn’t, he just played a safe backpass instead of turning in space or trying to pass between the lines, physically a weak presence as well despite the height. That one shot aside, Pepe barely did anything, and Saka ran around I guess, but didn’t really do nothing in his half an hour either… Tierney and Smith Rowe the only good performers today, Xhaka wasn’t shit either, unlike everyone else. We need to move soo many of these inept fuckers out of the club, and maybe bring in… Read more »
Lol, our opinions are our own and as a result, subjective. However, Xhaka almost had another error leading to a goal when he was dispossessed. That one is a fact and not an opinion.
Yes, and everything everyone says is always subjective, what’s your point aside from trying to fake smarts? That one is Leno’s fault for passing to him in a ridiculously tough position, the funny thing is that horrible twat does it every game and the fans still don’t notice the pattern and simply choose to blame whoever player he passed it to in an impossible position game after game… by far the worst number 1 we’ve had since Wenger got to the club, costs us at least 10 points every season with this type of bullshit, I guess he is so… Read more »
My point is we see what we want to see. Take whatever gripe you have against that, it’s cool. Besides the time when he was dispossessed I think Xhaka had a decent game that is typical of a Xhaka performance. To then turn around and say Sambi was crap is a bit much when both CMs had a quite identical games. Sambi: Acc. passes – 63/72 (88%) Key passes – 2 Crosses (acc) – 1(1) Long balls (acc.) – 5 (2) Shots on target – 1 Shots off target – 1 Shots blocked – 0 Dribble attempts (succ) – 0(0)… Read more »
“We need to move soo many of these inept fuckers out of the club, and maybe bring in a few new ones too.”
You’re a certified genius – why hasn’t anyone else thought of this master-plan?
Thank you mate!
Dunno… maybe they have, but just aren’t capable of doing it, ever thought of that, or is that just me, the genius, who can see things from that angle?
Mikel is that you?
Lool, I wish… I mean, I wouldn’t trade myself for him, but definitely my life circumstances right now with his cushy ones and the position of Arsenal manager…
I can see where you’re coming from though, ever since he became the Arsenal manager, even if we look at a lot of things differently, personality wise I thought there defo are some similarities between him and me…good at connecting with people ( when I choose tobe, as for him, you hear nothing about nice things from the players about him, and it doesn’t sound fake to me ), kinda obsessive and somewhat philosophical… I just wish more of his philosophy that underlines his approach to his job was filled with a tad more common sense and cut-throatiness that he… Read more »
nothing but* nice things
… but he only seems to have done something about Aubameyand now… over a year later, nearing the end of the transfer window, and on the day of the season opener.
sorry, what the hell did saka do tonight, aside from fluffing a chance in the box?
For one, that 1-2 with ESR which sets us for probably the best moment in the match. Saka added instant urgency to the team.
On second thoughts you’re probably just hating on Saka, probably one of those idiots from the Euro finals.
Exactly, he should have at least scored a hatrick with each of his little toes and won all the headers in the box and brought you a G&T
Agree with all, but Pepe. Im tired of watching him dance on the ball until he runs out of space or simply loses possession easily.
Iwobi-idh
Arteta – 1
Friday night shites
I remember many managers using the first game of the season to get the owners to open the purse strings. All of them were experienced and knew what they were doing.
I’m not sure. That was awful to watch.
It wasn’t that awful to watch. Brentford were quite good. They were organized, fast and efficient passing, had good overlapping runs, players looked like they were in the right position. They could have easily won 4-0.
You can’t look at the way teams like Leeds and Brentford play and not argue that we CAN do better as a team, even with all the average players we have. Maybe it’s time to start admitting that the job is way beyond Arteta’s league at the moment. Even when we used to be bad some few short years ago, we were capable of racking up a hatful of chances against ANY team. Now, it’s nothing. Just harmlessly move the ball round and round, then wait for Tierney to be free on the left hand side and put him through… Read more »
I’ll give you Leeds last season (though we finished above them) but Brentford didn’t play well. Their chances from open play were no better than ours they just benefited from our poor defending and I don’t think it’s defending you’re getting at.
We just lacked quality all over the pitch, it’s not really a style thing for me.
True we finished above Leeds but they outscored us due to superior chance creation. If Arteta was the current manager of Leeds last season, would have he have been able to avoid relegation?
I would prefer Bielsa for sure
They pressed better than us, made intricate attacking plays better than us, made more intelligent runs better than us, defended better than us, exploited opposition weaknesses better than us. All that with less-fancied players than the mighty Arsenal’s.
And saying their chances from open plays were no different from ours is way off the mark, in my opinion. I lost count of the number of times they sliced us open and had free shots at goal. Apart from the Pepe chance which Raya saved, can you remember any clear cut chances we created? I think not.
You need to go back and watch the match again. They really didn’t do any of those things you’re talking about beyond defend better.
Maybe not ideal, but the players we have and the money spent should equal a significantly better performance. With City and Chelsea coming up, I don’t like Arteta’s chances of getting a point out of those games. Do you trust him and Edu to buy more players?
honestly, who could save us from this terrible mess? the people occupying positions of influence in our board/executive structure/ownership suffer nothing of the emotional distress we suffer with. bin the manager and continue with edu would not be as effective as we need, and who would make those decisions anyway, vinai? we are simply fucked
Our players are individually decent, but they’re not playing as a team, and that’s down to Arteta. As soon as they take a second on the ball, they overthink and we lose momentum. I hate saying it, but imagine what someone like Brendan Rogers could do with this team?
Our players, Tierney, Tavares, Partey, Smith-Rowe and Saka aside with jury still out on White in my eyes, individually are overhyped shite, and have been for years now.
The manager is so, so, but it’s mostly about the team, you can’t get more than average results with a barely average squad, and it’s time us gooners stopped deluding ourselves that we’ve got anything more than that on our hands.
We didn’t play against psg, we played against brentford, manager is 100 percent the problem.
Fired up upstarts such as Brentford against the squad that we have minus Partey, Gabriel and our best striker Nketiah ( which says a shit ton about our squad as it is ), are legitimately player wise a better squad than ours… that’s the harsh truth right there… now a top manager might’ve managed to pull of a win nonetheless, but a top manager Arteta is not, though that’s not to say that he is the main problem if you ask me, the main problem is the fucking shit squad filled with bang average players that our fanbase has somehow… Read more »
We finished fifth under **emery** with a worse team. Let that sink in.
There was still a lot of Wenger in that squad he got, Emery made sure he killed it and destroyed it leaving the club the mess it is, he is the main culprit, the guy was fucking clueless, Arteta is just proving to be inept at changing the slide down the table that Emery kicked off…
Agree completely, the team looks lost and has for some time.
I’d be surprised if Arteta and Edu are still in the club by Christmas.
Make no mistake, we’ll have to look to our fourth game to get some points on board.
Chelsea and City are going to be humiliating.
World record for the saying “just need the season to be over” 😞
Might be, but that doesn’t make the shout any less spot on.
Martinelli looked really tired
Makes sense based on his last month! Poor lad.
Martinelli didn’t look tired, just out of place… right now he’s neither a winger, cuz he hasn’t really got the technique and the passing for that, and is just basically too raw for that role, nor a striker, because he hasn’t still learned how to play that yet at all, and being a midget in such a physical league doesn’t help either… there’s something there for sure, but based on last season and the start to this one, I’m doubtful it’ll ever come out and that we’ll know how to extract it.
Martinelli is 183cm in height and was the only Arsenal forward to beat a Brentford defender to a cross in the air.
No doubt he’s very raw but if Emery were still here, he’d be looking a lot more refined than He does now.
I guess he’s deceptively tall, but still, there’s no denying that he lacks physical stature to be a top class centre forward at this stage in his career…
Oh God, Emery is why we’re the mess we are, he made us a mid-table club that we are, Arteta is just unable to get us back to the level we’re supposed to be at…
0/10 red socks.
We’ve got a fucking yellow kit if we can’t wear the 3rd kit.
You should add ratings for the manager too.
This isn’t a personnel problem, it’s a system problem. When’s the last time any player got better after coming to Arsenal? It doesn’t happen. We sign good players and make them worse, and we take cast-offs other clubs don’t want any more, and somehow inspire them to be even worse.
This is a team being set up to lose, at a club that is set up to fail.
You got half a point there, Tierney and Partey aside we’ve got no fighters at the club at all, and lack of transfers with a decent character aside, one whiff of the club culture tells most of the story really, “Ooh poor Willian, the fans are being dipshits to him ( they are though ), that’s why he sucks, and he has every right to…” “Oooh, our poor boy Saka, he is a victim of racism, hatism, a hundred murders and a world conspiracy, it’s not his fault he missed the pen…” and then we expect them to man up,… Read more »
So take racism on the chin,man up!
victim culture…where do you get the idea that racism is victim culture?
I find your argument, that we lost because saka can’t take racism on the chin.
just terrible to read.
I was meant to put all in the one one message, but so used to typing on WhatsApp.
But yeah, this is why football is dying, at leas a big part of it, a sense of entitlement from the clubs and an attempt to condition the fanbase into acting only in a way they find pleasing and to ban them from any sort of negative feedback… it is already, and it’s going to even more bite the clubs in the ass as the fans are after all, even from the financial viewpoint, the sole reason the game exists on such level, and what this is doing is only creating a resistance between the two that can ultimately only… Read more »
finding a pastime* that allows them full expression of what they are feeling.
what it leads to*
You think it was some cultural impetus that lost us the game and not tactics? Did you even read the statements by the players who missed their penalties? The first thing they did was apologise for missing so stop this falsehood that they didn’t take responsibility. Personally I think the virtue signalling is a bit much but Saka didn’t ask for it and it’s not harming anyone except the delusional. You should be able to miss a penalty without getting death threats. I don’t really see how wanting less unnecessary stress makes you somehow less of a man. In case… Read more »
Fuck off you are speaking from your ass
A few Diego Costa-esque vile cunts ( not saying him in particular, there’s bad blood there, and he’s past it now anyway) and a manager who doesn’t pander his players would transform that, and bring much more out of what still are very average players, but alas that’s but a dream.
To be fair, Tavares gives me that looney-aggresive vibe, but being so young and a backup player it’s hard to imagine him having a strong influence on the culture at the training ground overall… we need much more of that.
You get enough of those cunts, and the whole squad feels safe and protected enough to fully express themselves, not to mention that they just transmit some insane-o energy that can really spur the whole team on a bit, especially in crucial moments… but instead, we’re stuck with a bunch of scaredy cats that freeze up in every game with at least moderate stakes to it.
You need help boy
Well, only four more years
One of our best performers today ( which is to say he was bang average ), so I’m not sure what your point here is… we’ve got at least 15 players in the club we oughta think of shifting out before he gets to be the real weak link.
Biden or Xhaka, I can’t tell the difference anymore.
Both are actively making my life worse but still somehow better than the alternative (Elneny/Trump)
😂😂😂.I was just joking (quiet badly) about how Xhaka and Biden are already expected to get an additional four more years way ahead of schedule.
I didn’t know it was that bad across the pond. Hopefully it gets better. If there’s anything supporting Arsenal teaches us, it’s being resilient and having patience😁
The comment about sky pundits is so true. Shows the bias clearly and how every pundit wants us to lose. You have a job to do, not get along with the crowd and celebrate.
I’m willing to give them a pass due to context (fans returning after being absent due to the pandemic).
I agree. But I think there just as bored with Arsenal as we are. They watched and played against our greatest sides now we are a byword for shite.
Eh… Quite a few English commentators have always found something to drag Arsenal about on Live air. Whether it’s too many foreigners in the starting line-up or the lack of spending. I was a bit too young then but I remember they used to heavily criticize the team for passing or not taking long shots and all this when we were a dominant side. Carragher is just another era of that type of commentator. To say he lacked any tact tonight is an understatement. I’m still surprised he kept his job after the spitting incident. That man wouldn’t know professionalism… Read more »
Arteta might not be the right manager but he’s not the problem
He and Edu are a good part of the problem. We should not be losing 2-0 to Brentford. Not with the amount of money we’ve spent in recent years.
Yeah, sound. But every Tom, Dick, and Harry has been calling for Balogun, Martinelli, and Nelson to start. Saying that if Arteta had a backbone, he would start these young players. Saying these players are the answers. Well, he has and he did. And apart from 1 or 2, they were all shite.
Maybe give them a chance before turning on the youth players. The last crop saved us from being bottom half last year
You could play Neymar, Messi and Mbappe in this system and still not score. Our plan is the dreaded horse shoe and I have no idea why we are treating the opposition D area like it’s the fucking Pentagon and going all around it instead of straight in.
Also, our build up resembles a pregnant lady trying to deliver a baby than the free flowing footbal that Arsenal are known for – it’s just painful to watch.
Lol spot on mate. We’re playing like a bunch of pregnant ladies passing in a horseshoe pattern.
As annoying as it is that’s the beauty of football. Fair play to Brentford..they took their chances
Terrible performance all around. They looked completely and utterly lost. This isn’t good for my health. Time to reach for some potent alcohol.
😂😂😂😂
I believe it is unfair to have player ratings because it is clear the players are being hampered by the poor tactics. ARTEA OUT!!
I kept saying last season that arteta cannot improve this team. Buying odegaard with 50m woulda been a better option than Ben white whose team finished just above relegation last season. I think we should just keep joe willock cos he’s gonna make Newcastle stronger as we are no longer a top 6 clubs and their likes are our rivals now.
I am not entirely convinced by Odegaard.
Ben White, our 183cm tall £50million centre-back, struggled in the air against Ivan Toney who’s shorter than him, at 179cm. I knew Ben White was poor in the air for a centre-back, but fuck me, what’s gonna happen when he goes up against Lukaku?
Would be so Arsenal if White struggles while Saliba tears it up at Marseille
To be honest I wasn’t expecting anything other than a loss tonight. We are so average it’s depressing and frustrating. It is hard to see beyond mid table this season, and we look about as far away from competing at the top of the EPL as we ever have. Its getting to the stage where beating us is not such a big deal – plenty of teams did last season… Arteta really needs to go.
Did Nelson even play in pre-season? It seemed inexplicable bringing him today, whichever way you wanted to look at it.
Catch me if u can, here we go again
This was AS bad as feared. Tragic from start to finish. Outplayed.
Feel for Tierney and ESR. Also Ben White was our worst player today along with Chambers. He simply didn’t even challenge for the aerial balls.
The ratings page always gets stuck for me on iPhone… like I can put in scores for 4 or 5 players and then it won’t scroll further. Am I the only one?
Only positives I can take from the match are Smith-Rowe and Tierney certainly look to continue building on what they did last year (Saka too when he is ready to start again) and Arteta didn’t go with the Xhaka-Eleneny pairing. Not much else to get excited about.
Arsenal lost by 2 nil to a newly promoted team and Blogs is handing out 7s and 6s to players. In a game we lost. I dont even know what to say. Nobody deserves a 7 based on today’s performance.
.
ESL deserved a 7 and Tierney a 6 but no one else deserved better than a 5
When you eat caviar every day….
Honestly it felt like watching a team (Brentford) vs an AI controlled team.
Dynamism, teamwork, guts etc etc vs Robots going through the motions that were preprogramed.
I never really called for Arteta’s to leave but at this point it seems like he needs the perfect players for his system and we can’t afford to change 5-8 first teamers in one go.
Easier and cheaper to replace Arteta and get someone in that can create a system of play that works with what we got.
You have hit the nail on the head.
Other than SmithRowe, the only decent thing about tonight was the bar by the Emirates selling 2 jagerbombs for a fiver. Glad it wasn’t a home game
Things I learned from this game. Lokonga is the real deal. If he’s not fully ready for the pl yet, he will be soon. Smith-rowe is really fun to watch, and really good. Mari is pretty poor to me. I’m skeptical about white, though I’ll give home the benefit of the doubt for now. I feel like saliba couldn’t have done worse in this game, but it’s the first game. Give me 11 tierneys and we may not win every game, but you’d at least think we belonged there and look determined. I’m not sure there was anyone else on… Read more »
I would say fire arteta, but at this point i just want to lose every hame so Kroenke will sell.
Kroenke will never sell.
Kroenke isn’t affected by winning or losing games
Boycott tickets, merchandise etc, it’s the only way
Game. Goddamnit.
Lose the next 2 games horribly and hopefully fans will reignite protests outside the Emirates. It would be very humiliating for the Kroenkes once Amazon has no choice but to cover persistent mass protests by fans. All or nothing right.
Leno was fouled and should have had tow penalties. One with a push on ear and the first dangerous play on balogon.
He is going to be great btw
Xhaka I just xhaka commentator said he thinks his on the Italian league doddering on the ball like that.
I thought Ben rated high than that
It’s too soon to make a final judgement on Ben White but on tonight’s showing there must be concerns. The first job of a central defender is … to defend. It seems he was bought because of his ability to deliver telling passes out of defence (David Luiz’s main asset). However, that is worth nought unless he can defend corners and long throws in the six-yard area. Rob Holding is very good at that, but gets caught out of position if asked to press up the field. I really fear that Mikel Arteta is asking too many players to play… Read more »
Would return to five at the back , bring in holding , along side white and Mari or thineny in a back five with amn.or bellerin.
Chambers poor in both goals.
Play counter attack football , likevahen we win the fa cup with Arteta , play to strengths imo
Tbh, Mari was so poor today that White had to leave his position and cover for him on numerous occasions.
Slightly generous ratings for midfield and defence!
Oh man, the Negativity in these comments! It’s been 1 game, guys, 1 game. I know last season wasn’t great but come on let’s support the team / manager for at least a month before the outrage. Brentford were excellent today and deserved to win but we weren’t completely rubbish. There were some positive individual performances and in the 2nd half we were a bit more progressive as a team. But hey its football, performances / results can’t always be top notch. It’s a new season! Let’s support the team a bit and rightly come out if there’s been no… Read more »
I should say that I do understand why fans are unhappy particularly after how poor we were last season but like I said it’s a new season. Let’s have at least a bit more optimism before everything descends into darkness. It maybe hard to see it now but things could really get better, 38 games left.
False hope, like religion? No thanks! Better we face reality and demand change.
39*
37 games 🤦🏿♂️
Based off on last night do we even need to be looking at Maddison / Odergard? ESR was fantastic. We need to spend badly but I’m not sure that’s the position we need to strengthen. We need a GK, RB, a CB that can actually defend and a ST more than a no 10. The problem is we won’t bring world class in. Gone are the times when we would be linked with players like Haaland which is part of the problem. We have fallen so far behind top four levels we are now a middle of the pack team.… Read more »
I am not sure Arteta has done enough to be entrusted with the job of building this team.
There is no clear-cut plan, and his technical and tactical know-how is not evident.
He is a Guardiola without the Pep.
All talk and excuses.
Pablo Mari should be ‘not on long enough to rate’ considering he was running at 0.3x the speed of everyone else
Tough night at the office for the lads. We need that locksmith upfront and a real clinical finisher.
Watching Pépé be surrounded by 3 Brentford players every time he had the ball was tough to watch. But if he’s drawing that many men in it should open up some space for others.
Anyway onto the next week. Hoping we can give Chelsea a run around. Although Tuchel is far more tactically adept than his predecessor.
my obivious question after the game was: what did Arteta teach his team during pre season?!
To my naked eyes it is passing faster in a horseshoe pattern. We seem to do that rather well.
You can take this to bank:Total meltdown beckons with this continuous insistence on Arteta.. Enough, enough of arteta’s relegation process….
predictable movement with the ball- north/south east/west on strong foot
and
no squad depth
I said at the time that Arteta’s appointment was yet another sign of the club’s lack of ambition and frankly judgement.
It was wishful thinking that we could unearth a talent with no managerial experience or success under their belt.
This is the Arsenal ffs.