Mikel Arteta was pleased with the effort of his players after a bruising 1-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor today.
The Gunners had a sumptuous Martin Odegaard free kick to thank for the only goal of the game, but it was a typically difficult game against physical opposition.
Arsenal weren’t helped by some lack of precision in the final third, and a couple of iffy moments at the back – not least a penalty decision which was overturned by VAR – but the manager was sanguine about how hard a task it is take all three points from The Clarets at home.
“It’s a really hard-fought victory in a place that it is tough to come to and win,” said Arteta.
“They do really well with what they do. They put you under a lot of pressure but I think we started the game really well, controlling and dominating the game.
“We had some big phases where I saw a lot of things that we want as a team. We scored the goal, had some opening chances and then there were moments where we lost control and started to give balls away after the second or third pass.
“Then the game becomes open and there is no control. They split the two blocks very much and then you have to defend crosses and long balls. I thought that we did that really, really well.
“We have players that are not in the best quality to play that game but I think that they did terrifically well and the commitment and the attitude that they showed throughout the game to find a way to win was the most pleasing thing for me, after the game.”
If there was something missing from the attacking side of our game today, there was certainly no lack of effort or defensive commitment to the performance, and in games like this that can be the difference between points and no points.
Sometimes you have to win ugly.. These wins boost your confidence more than where you win convincingly..
I get that we are at the point already where its all about getting consecutive wins under our belt by any means necessary after that truly dreadful start.
So on paper back to back 1 nil wins and accompanying clean sheets are really positive building blocks that the side can take a lot of confidence from.
Although with that being said, we are still really goal shy in the league, which is quite concerning given the consistency in which we are regularly struggling to find the back of the net.
We should have put at least another 2 past Burnley. Whenever we got into the attacking third following a good counter attack, the final ball in would miss the mark
And that, my friend, is down to the system this manager is commanding his players implement.
We are nowhere near attack minded enough or fast enough.
This system will be found wanting time and time again as the season progresses.
This team is still not clicking as a unit. Very very happy with the win as usual, but I’m still not convinced that Arteta is doing all that a manager can to get more out of this group
If it was Mourinho, it would have been a masterclass.
All I’m sayin…
Everybody hates Mourinho’s football.
But everyone loves winning. If we had 15 points from 15 with Arteta playing ‘Mourinho’s football’ very few would complain…
If we ‘park the bus’ and take 3 points next weekend I’ll be delighted.
But we don’t.
And people were getting worried when Emery came in and had the undefeated streak without the team playing very well.
Yeah but it’s Burnley away. Ok, if we play like that every week it’ll be dull and drab.
But we had 30 shots against Norwich and we line up very attacking. So we aren’t always going to play like this.
But as regards chances, we kept them very quiet and nicked a goal. Textbook.
If we can dig out these sorts of performances against teams like Burnley and then play more expansive football against other less physical teams, then Mikel is really onto something.
A team that deals in IFs and boring football.
Be excited now.
So you’re prepared to (quite rightly) slag off Mourinho for his boring football, yet hide behind Arteta’s coattails when he produces the same kind of pap….?
Why don’t we take Klopp, or Tuchel for example. Or even Graham Potter, Trossard is an unknown and is outscoring our strikers (and he’s a midfielder). If those managers had delivered a 1-0 at Burnley I would definitely call it a Masterclass, given the blueprint they consistently deliver on a normal basis. The proof is actually on the pitch, and attacking coherence has always been an issue under Mikel. You can’t say we’re offensively very fluid 90% of the time, it’s not even remotely true. It’s easy to use Arsenal’s most hated manager as an argument point to diminish the… Read more »
1-0 away to Burnley, I’ll happily take it
Lots of positives from the future prospects..
The Lord leading the way on the positive train. Attaboy.
Happy with the 3 points and Dyche’s red angry face….
But gosh, it looked like we went there to showcase what a “last 3rd poor pass” means in every possible fashion!
Anyway, on to a bright sunday😅
nice to have won another game but i expect us to struggle against better teams
No shit Sherlock?
youd be surprised how many miss the obvious!
Heh.
Frank’s one of them!
😂
I agree, it was a much needed win but we were digging our own graves again with that Ben White back pass. Better teams have the quality to walk past us as we saw with City and Chelsea. We make too many stupid and unnecessarily mistakes in games. I also feel we were missing that physicality in midfield till Sambi came on. Lets hope they can improve and get a good result next weekend.
Great result, stifled performance. Ramsdale was MOTM for me along with Gabriel. Still feels like this season is teetering on the edge of being a disaster or being sufficient. The players still look way too much over-coached and they’re every move is scrutinised too much. Sometimes you just have to let good players play and trust them.
Its the Coach Job that is at stake. Better over coached than under coached
You can tell they are over-coached. I know White was purposely ignoring playing to the RB even when it was on. I saw 3 different players drop a ball then start a run only to check themselves and drop back. The refusal to play any slightly risky passes to players making a run is so obvious. Its horrible to watch and just plain boring. We all fell in love with Arsenal for their free-flowing play not this timid, safe,and over-calculated play.
They are over-coached. There’s no adaptability, no plan B and, worst of all, the players still seem unsure of what they’re being asked to do. We’re now coming up for two years since this guy has been here – and his game plan is still pie in the sky. We are still being bossed about in midfield, the forwards are chasing after scraps and the defence is still prone to massive errors and lapses of concentration. I honestly don’t know why people are surprised, because, as I’ve said all along, no change of personnel is ever going to change Arteta’s… Read more »
My thoughts exactly.
I feel like we’re seeing the green shoots of leadership developing within this re-made squad and the young players who are starting to assert themselves. Tierney, obviously, and we’re seeing more of this already from Ødegaard and maybe a bit from Sambi, among others. But with Gabriel back in there, full of confidence and, I hope, good health, you’re seeing a player who seems to have such an inspiring mentality–determined, physical, communicative, just completely engaged. He’s still quite young for a CB, so to see his development is such a big positive. And I can’t help but wonder if in… Read more »
Rubbish.
White was panicky, Saka was all over the place and Auba was still nodding off up front from a lack of service.
We had one great free kick and a solid performance from the keeper. The rest was garbage.
I’m the first to admit it wasn’t a great overall performance, a lot of players were far from their best, and I don’t know if it’s all from the grass but there was considerable sloppiness in the passing. Having said that, there were certain things worth highlighting as mentioned by others, and it was a good team performance (particularly when we were defending) to hold onto the clean sheet. I agree that this is a game we could easily have lost some points in previously. Also, while it didn’t last the whole game by any means, I could see a… Read more »
White was not panicky….that was most definitely not his problem at Burnley
I see your negative attitude is still thriving and your obsession w the manager because he didn’t play Ozil is still burning brightly. Cant even enjoy a win away against Burnley. Why not just check out until the manager leaves in another decade.
Never mind me leaving until the next decade, let’s just see if you’ll be here this time next week if the Spuds turn us over.
The only reason we can enjoy this win is because we were so shit under Arteta. We won 1-0 against bottom teams and you couldn’t help starting to have a wank.
Good win for Arteta. For his own health im happy for him.
Those just about Unai Emery wins come to mind…but I’ll convince myself there’s progress.
Not a great performance but we take the 3point. Brilliant Freekick from Martin and a monstrous performance from Gabriel a beast and a nice game for white as well but should be careful and no delay his passes to put the team in danger. Ramsdale wow what a beautiful game he has,command his area, very confident I love what am seeing. Tomiyasu incredible a warrior performance. Overall the team fought together but we need to do more at the final third score more goals to kill the game off. From every difficulty there’s always a relieve. I won mind winning… Read more »
Sorry, but for the last year or so, it’s been tough to win anywhere.
Under Arteta, we seem to either grind out narrow wins, or get battered.
I’m not sure that’s sustainable.
Hardly a blueprint for top four, ECL and EPL tilts.
Good win. Happy with 3 points.
Would like to see ESR on the left.
Inverted wide men on both sides would help both fullbacks. We can definitely get better
Saka should be on the left, Pepe on the right. ESR should play as an out and out number 10, just off Auba, who should be up front central, period.
ESR is stifled on the wings, left or right.
I don’t know…Burnley only lost almost half their home games last season.
Its not more difficult to win at Burnley than win at elsewhere. This is Arteta telling us what incredible achievement it is to win at Burnley, but team was disorganized and unfit, display was nothing but hanging in there while passing in the defence for large chunck of the game.
Performance wise we are miles away from top 6.
Well said.
Until we are actually in the top six, I would take everything Arteta says with a pinch of salt.
Talk is cheap.
Just you wait! (tongue in cheek)
(I don’t know if we’re going to manage it, getting into the top six, I hope we do, but also I’m finding that ‘hoping for the best’ is the only thing I can do to stay afloat these days amidst the difficulties we have had since the start of the season.)
0-1 away to Burnley is a result that should not be under estimated. Two consecutive clean sheets are very good signs as well. Six new players at the club, five of whom are immediate fixtures in the starting rotation—it represents a total overhaul of the team. A lot has been made of how young the team is—the average age of the starting eleven today was 23.7 years. But consider what perhaps is a more telling stat regarding the team overhaul and cultural reset, that being the average number of full seasons the starting eleven have had at the club: Ramsdale… Read more »
I really enjoyed your analysis. I hadn’t thought of it in terms of seasons spent at Arsenal but it’s quite striking to look at it that way. This really is MA’s team. Like others have said, a real test of his mettle will be what he decides to do when Xhaka returns from his suspension. I hope we stick with the midfield rotation we’ve had the last 2 games. The analogy at the end was excellent too – though I might not have put it so bluntly myself, I think it captures what has happened very well. These players will… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more with your last point. And yes, was blunt, possibly too much so, re. the analogy about some of the former senior players. Was also possibly a bit harsh on Burnley fans in a different post about the bottles thrown at our supporters after the match. But in both cases, it’s born of my desire to shore up full support for the club both internally and externally. I fully support our players who are proud to wear the shirt and our supporters who travel to difficult venues to back them. Forgive the zealotry…just love Arsenal Football Club!
No problem – the club is built upon ardent fans like you!