Manchester City clinched a 1-0 win at the Emirates today in a match where Arsenal had little ideas in the final third.
It couldn’t have started any worse. The first real action of the game and we were already behind. Mahrez received to ball in the wide right, makes his way forwards before cutting back and putting in his cross.
Raheem Sterling was the man to meet the header, all 5 ft 7″ of him, to calmly head home unchallenged from the edge of the six-yard box.
Man City followed up their goal by retaining much of the possession, taking their time to build up into the final third, and Arsenal appeared to have little idea on how to get at them.
Arsenal’s best efforts in the opening 45 came from just outside the box, with Kieran Tierney attempting one from distance, while our crosses simply weren’t of any danger.
I can’t say much changed in the second half. Our attacks were generally stamped out early, or were denied by the Citizens offside trap which caught us all-too often.
All the best chances were all coming at the wrong end. Bernd Leno denied Gundogan’s placed effort, despite limiting view on the ball, and we were second best from the first minute of the match.
The manager tried to change things up by bringing on both Smith Rowe and Lacazette, but to little effect (I can’t recall a single touch by the Frenchman).
The only attempt of note from our side in the second-half came from Mo Elneny and that wasn’t even kept on target.
The only other noteworthy incident was when Rob Holding had to replaced by David Luiz with a head injury, but you would imagine that he was only taken off as a precaution.
Man City played very well in defence, and their midfield also didn’t allow us any leeway. Arsenal had no ideas and were rightly downed.
You could say that we kept it respectable to this season’s runaway leaders, but this isn’t the first time that our attack has been nullified this season, and it doesn’t bode well ahead of the Europa League clash this Thursday either.
It is simply a personnel problem, or does our build-up play leave a lot to be desired?
Patrick
– Leno, Holding and Tierney: Switched off in the first three minutes and didn’t do much to stop Man City’s first goal process. Tierney’s attacking abilities are great, but Monreal was a better defender
– Bellerin: Similar to Tierney, it wasn’t his good day either
– Mari: Kept his composure and might be a better option to start ahead of Magalhaes in the upcoming Benfica game, if he’s fit
– Xhaka and Elneny: Did what DMs are supposed to do, but they were simply not as visionary as Ceballos
– Odegaard: Invisible again and Smith-Rowe should’ve started ahead of him in the CAM position, if Smith-Rowe is fit. I think there’s a clause to play Odegaard in a certain number of games, otherwise the in-form Smith-Rowe would be more clicked with Saka on the right side
– Pepe: Another invisible Gunner. He’s just not worth 72 M
– Saka: His options were limited on the left wing. He was thriving on the right, so Arteta shouldn’t have changed that
– Aubameyang: If the other attackers can’t swap their positions with him frequently, he’s useless as a CF. His hold-up play is zero and he lacked the fighting spirit as well
– Arteta: Our excessive long clearances in the first half showed a very low confidence level
So your final Arteta comment… what have long clearances got to do with him?
He must’ve instructed it to minimize the error in the back
Really, you don’t think the players on the pitch make actual decisions?
They do, based on the managers direction and strategy for the 90 mins. That kind of how football works, even on an amateur level.
Place blame where it is deserved.
Ozil,
Kolesniak,
Torrera,
Guendouzi,
Mustafi,
Socratis,
AMN,
Joe Willock
and of course Wenger..
I see what you did there. Well played my friend,
1. Witty
2. Petty
3. Sarcastic
4. Passive aggressive
5. And humorous of course
9/10 rating, more please
GOT- please explain how Leno was at fault for the goal. A perfect cross and a header inside the post. No GK would have come for the cross because it was too good. And no GK would have saved the header as it was perfectly placed. Look again PAL as blaming Leno is completely wrong
He could’ve catched or punched the ball before Sterling reached it, after watching Tierney and Holding slept
No you are wrong- look at it again. The cross was too good. Not one other person or pundit has called out Leno for this.
Another game where the opposition doesn’t take us seriously and barley play past 4th gear. Arteta’s got no excuse and the players acting like this was a pre-season friendly is pathetic. No confidence, no desire to actually try to get anything from the game. I can’t take half this team seriously.
Its not the players. It’s the manager. Things has to be done his way or you do not play the next game. He play people out of position and just make things up as he go along.
Peps cone carrier was happy just to keep the score respectable so in that regard job done! Might I add Aubameyangs hold up play is atrocious.. so many of these toothless performances but it’s ok we’re defending better 🙄
Aubameyang is like Vardy. If we can’t utilize his pace in counter-attacks, he’s useless
GAI yeah you are spot on mate with our style of backwards and sideways passing we might as well be a man down.
@GAI Exactly….this is how Xhaka kills our attacking opportunities before they can even happen. Glad you finally see it.
The biggest joke is starting Odegaard.
Why did he deserve to start? What did he do to merit a position?
That shows MA has no clue coming or going.
Saka should remain the right wing
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Don’t worry kev we just need to get rid of the remaining Wenger dross and we are back in business.
Mobella haha the wenger dross including Arteta 😂😂
You are damn right Kev82 but I don’t like talking about Arteta anymore because I feel depressed when I was all fans and pundits that want Emery out refusing to criticize size him even when it is obvious he has done far worse than Emery. 11 loses already and losing to teams who had not beaten us in decades along the way. I know we are going to lose to city but I don’t expect it to be this easy even when city is playing without any gears😀😀😀
I know Mobella we could have been playing until next week and we wouldn’t have scored I’m not even sure we would have had a shot on target lol. It’s so poor and I keep hearing we’re improving under Arteta, in what way ? We are a joke and must be 11 or 12 points behind west Ham.
Odgaard is worse back passer and his first touch very poor for a player considered messi-like
Mobella honestly did you expect a draw with Elneny and Xhaka? All pundits were expecting a drubbing we lost by a solitary goal. And who signed Xhaka and Elneny? Was it George Graham or Bruce? I’ve forgotten
What does that say about a fine job that so many people say Arteta is doing. Don’t blame me if I expect a better fight against a team that was held to 1-1 draw by a team we beat 4-0.
Mobella, unfortunately Mikel Arteta is judged by different standards and performance indicators to Unai Emery, Arsene Wenger, Bruce Rioch and Terry Neil. The saving grace for Arteta has been no fans in the stadium paying £100 to watch this.
I honestly cant wait to see the back of arteta. ok player, but a novice swimming in the big league, and learning on the job. by the way he’s not learning fast enough.
Me too Kori a big club like Arsenal and we go for a rookie while Everton go for a man with huge experience!
He learns nothing, he thinks what he does is perfect. Watch his press conferences.
Pepe back on the right is a perfect example.
PJ Sa yep he’s clueless and if we get dumped out of the europa on Thursday then surely that has to be it!
Ha ha Kev, i dont call midget Sterling out jumping and getting in between 4 players good defending, that was shameful.
Haha yeah Reggie something wrong when one of the smallest men on the field gets clear of 2 men 6 feet plus and heads one in 😂😂
Generally Arsenal players do not like heading the
ball.
Reggie, Bellerin and Holding asleep, allowing Manchester City a 1-0 lead early and then not get out of 2ng gear for the rest of the game. A slow start against Benfica on Thursday and its “good night Irene”.
Agree Ozzie and if thats the case it should be good night Mikel. He is hanging on by the skin of his teeth.
11 defeats, tick tock. Top 4 gone, top 5 gone. Tick tock.
Our season could end on Thursday huh. Imagine, its not even March yet!
We need to invest in a striker next season. Our general play isn’t bad we just can’t seem to put chances away.
What chances did create today? I can remember only one on target.
WHAT CHANCES?
None really. But I’m not talking just based on this game. We’ve been poor in front of goal all season. We need a STRIKER!
The service from midfield with Xhaka and Elneny (basically 2 DM’s) was non existent. Arsenal forwards were living on scraps at a home game.
Twig you just signed one Auba £350 000 a week
Play Balogan
City cruised it from the 2nd minute, dont think they got out of 2nd gear.
Maybe it’s time we start realising we aren’t a top 6 team even anymore. Only arrogance would suggest we belong to be mentioned as a top team anymore.
Why play Pepe on the right again when he is half decent on the left?
Why play Saka on the left when he is better on the right?
Why was Odegaard subbed late?
No shot on target in the second half, no urgency (again).
Arsenal will not end me!
I guess he wanted to confuse pep by playing the attacking player in there worst position,but only ended up confusing his darn self.
Pretty much what i wrote and pretty obvious and sad.
I guess in Arteta’s mind we played so well we only got 1 nil. We were pathetic today. we’ve gone back to playing in slow motion. where is the risk, 2 dm,gone back with saka on the left,pepe on the right. what is wrong with our team selection?. this team is not as bad as they are playing at times, just the right coach and the selection.
saka and KT tick better in attack, Pepe is finding it difficult playing with KT, same reason Martinali hasnt gotten his chance, i reckon, until Auba can play well in the middle GM may have to sit on the bench for long except we have another role for him
The Master against the tutor Man/City never got out of first gear stroking the ball around pure silk had it being a boxing match the ref would have stopped before Half Time
what do you guys mean they never got out of gear 2?, you think city never wanted more goals? you think its was an easy win for city?
Yes, a good save from Leno, at least 2 touch shots drifted past the post with Leno beaten, could have been at least 3-0. Did Arsenal have a shot on target?
Bringing Mari in was very risky considering he’d not played for 2 months.
Elneny in the team meant no transition to forward line, Bellerin is one of the worst right backs in the league, his decision making is atrocious.
Playing pepe on right and Saka on left was bizarre and shows that instead of playing to our strengths we picked a team more worried about theirs.
Set up to fail today.
Great summation Steven. The positions of Saka & Pepe on those sides has not worked, yet Arteta does it anyway.
It was stupid with plenty of evidence to know it doesn’t work. Did he think it would fool Pep or City?
Pair up the 2 slowest and least technical midfielders against City for what? Not possession or creativity, not even defense because how poor Xhaka is defending.
You are exactly right, set up to fail from the start, no heart, intensity, or motivation.
I’ve watched mudslides that are faster and more exciting. Geeky virgins at prom create more chances to score than this lot.
Why did we replace Wenger and fire Emery? Those 2 had better results with worse players than Arteta. They had to play the ones Arteta replaced and moved on.
Let that FACT sink in.
“Geeky virgins at prom” 😂😂 love it, Durand!
👍 👍 👍 Stephen, Durand and Sue exactly right.
Perhaps Arteta is on a learning session otherwise why should he have brought on Pepe instead of Emile Smith Rowe. Let me hope he was reserving him for Thursday’s game where we have more prospects.
Imagine hiring a manager to a club of Arsenals stature and the manager is still on a learning session..
every manager is learning. in fact everyone learn each day. no one is perfect.
However, he isnt doing badly
Overstating it aren’t you? He’s not doing badly. Are you asleep or something? If Arsenal are to get a anywhere soon, Arteta won’t take us there.
The last Arsenal manager to lose 10games was Terry Neil and he was sacked. Unai Emery had a fifth place finish, failed to win the Europa League final, lost 3 from 8 games in his second season, was 14 points to the better after the same number of games in charge compared to Mikel Arteta and was sacked. Mikel Arteta has now lost 11 games, with a lot more potential losses in the remaining fixtures.
Why is Arteta judged by different criteria?
Is there any other team in PL playing uglier and boring football than Arsenal?This is hard on the eye to watch,it is disrespectful to call this crrrap “ football”.The inept Arteta is losing most of the games playing ugly,not even trying to show some stule.Wenger was losing games,but always entertaining the eye.No style,no results either-why is Arteta still on the bench?Get rid of him .Coach Arteta is not different than player Arteta-boring,super-safe,ugly to see,slow,no imaginationno fantasy..Cannot take this ugliness anymore,enough.As a matter of fact,” prk the bus-Mourinho-style” is more entertaing than this shiite.
would you have prefer 4-3, or the usual 3-0 loss?
I suppose its the expectation of seeing better than we are that is misplaced. People will say we did well to only get beat 1-0 by city and i cant argue with that but to see a toothless performance that we have seen before and not of the quality of city is probably a true reflection of our manager and the way we play. I have lots of issues with Arteta, the slow deliberate negative football the lack of urgency and the way he puts players in the team. Why did Pepe start on the right and saka on the left, both have played well on oppositeflanks. What reason does Odegaard come into this team and keep better players out, i think he is showing nothing. Why did he wait until the 72nd minute to change players that we not working way before then. I think it was a toothless, scared display, even taking into account who we were playing. Its hard to watch this team under Arteta nowadays, sign of the times.
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We kept City at Bay and they could not go into Fith gear. If we did not concede an early goal might have been a different game. Some people seem to forget what Carlo Ancelotti said about Man city during last week. I think we did well. And I don’t think any of the teams we will be facing is of the same caliber as City. So we just need to become more ruthless in front of goal. Benfca will be in trouble come Thursday. COYG!!!
I just can’t believe Man City were toying with us, with Guendogan as their false nine!
city scored in the second minutes and to them in there mind this game could be played til infinity and arsenal would have no chance of winning.
spot on.
we played a city team full of confidence, and were slightly beaten
Ha ha ha slightly beaten, what is slightly beaten. 🤣🤣
we reduced city attack to just 3 shots on goal. thats not a coincidence. we were narrowly beaten
And 2 that missed by a whisker.
👍👍
Oh my….we were extremely one paced and boring. Poor team selection…..again.
this game is similar to Aston villa game.
who does our defenders always come late to the game? giving away useles goals so early.
to win city you need brilliant players with top individual skills, they are aware our players have average skills thats why 3 players are on the tail of anyone that got the ball.
the boys did their best, it was not enough, not a bad performance though. we are not at city level yet, man to man, muscle to muscle, skill to skill we are lacking.
we knew we were going to lose anyways, so why are people moaning?
It doesn’t matter or an excuse that we played like that against city, we have played this way against a lot of teams this season, it is awful negative football.
If we had attacked relentlessly and got pasted (by 4 to 5 goals) y’all would still have complained……. I’m not saying I’m impressed we lost, but it’s an in-form City for God’s sake….. what I’ll find disappointing is not giving it our all in the Europa league, as that’s our only shot at a trophy and champions league football.
spot on. i dont know what people were expecting? how are we going to play this city and get the better of them on possesion and creativity, with this set of players? and to think Auba and a lots of others were giving away possesion. was that the coach fault too?
But this is generally how we play against most teams!
If this is the new arsenal where we don’t believe we can beat any team,and I mean any team,count me out until the arsenal with some balls return. if the manager and the fans believe we can only beat city by some strange luck count me out. We need manager and players with stronger mentality than this lot and to some extent fans who believe we can beat any team without it been label a fluke. maybe am a fool for expecting more. coyg.
for one the coach fault is playing so many players in position that have not been there best position from the start of the season. saka have been better on right, pepe have been better on left. smith rowe have been good from team started upward trend against chelsea yet dropped to the bench for odegaard who have not given much attacking wise as yet. playing sluggish football. if your manager practice crap on the training ground you are going to play crap match day and it will creep into the players psyche. so there is a lot the coach can do but just don’t do.
You mean like how Arteta motivated the players to give their all in the last game? Europa is all we have to play for and we couldn’t put them away.
11 loses already, no style of play well after 1 year of Arteta in charge. The only certainty with Arteta is you get banished if you speak up.
We lost by the same score line to an out of form city. What say u?
They are the number 1 team in the Premier League so it’s better result than most of us thought
It’s not a horrible result considering that fact
We can’t expect to do better than a top premier League team. We are barely a top 10 team. It’s possible we could have drawn or beaten them but the odds were always that they would beat us
All we can do is support our team and hope the manager puts out the right lineup and that they try their best. But if we are barely a top 10 team than we shouldn’t expect to win
Exactly City did not have it all their own way. Now some people on here even suggesting that City copied Aston Villa. That’s really absurd.
I say it is a horrible result. 0 points. pathetic football, they say pep plays tiki taka at times, i guess arsenal was playing pass side way pass backward football.
Innit, the reason Arsenal aren’t a too ten team is down to the manager I’m afraid. He has a negative mindset which does not inspire his players. Lack of ideas and biased, slanted team selections also add to the mix.
Tbh I didn’t expect to beat them, but I thought we’d at least have a go!!
I didn’t think City were particularly good for their standards, but they didn’t have to be did they? We didn’t even look like scoring, sigh…..
Thursday is all or nothing!
city played like it wasnt their standard because we reduce them to back passes too, only diffence in the 2 teams are individual brilliance and high confidence which make the city players play with more intents and purpose.
the truth is we dont have a complete team yet, even we are not as good as Liverpool, we saw city against liverpool, everton and spurs. it was wise to be conservative, the game plan was to hit them on the counter but the early goal, destroyed the plan
1 shot on target the whole 90, adajim – that’s conservative alright!!!
city had 3 shots on targets too. its was a game for defenders
Yes.. and who got the clean sheet? Their job was done in the 2nd minute..anyway Benfica await and I hope we play much better than earlier
Sue, our football is toothless and uninspiring.
I didn’t enjoy it at all today, Reggie..
Sue, im not enjoying much of it, it is insipid stuff and we are not going to get back in the top 6 or even 10 playing non football football.
Agreed, Reggie. Be nice to be wowed once in a while
Arteta and Arsenal vs man city and guardiola is like Gilderoy Lockhart vs lord voldemort a complete mismatch Sue 😝
😂 Nice one, Kev!
😂😂
We need a striker in an Aguero style type of player. This is because our strikers are only good on the break.
Need someone with quick feet, in tight areas thats strong for when teams park the bus.
Lacazette is good in tight spaces, but he’s slow and short
How about playing the team on the break so we can capitalize on Aubameyang strength. Aubameyang has over 40 EPL goals in the past two seasons. Arteta Or Aubameyang who’s better.
Jah Son…Watched any of our games recently? Almost all teams just sit deep and it completely nullifies our attack, hence my comment. Teams have learnt, not complicated.
We hold majority of possession is a lot of games with a slow build up. Perfect recipe to make Auba useless.
Yes, someone else who sees we need a new striker!
You will soon have people calling me negative because I point out the obvious. Arteta is out of his depth. Stupid thing is losing on Thursday would mean what for our club. If Arteta can’t motivate this lot at the moment how will he fair if there is nothing to play for. Mind you this is our best squad in a long time.
wait till thursday
its a pity MA didnt bed in gabriel-saliba partnership early could have been good,bellerin hes just a joke like pepe mari holding,straight ball from city goalie panic stations
Where are all the “stop moaning ” brigade, quite happy to slag people off for having a moan but can you honestly defend that absolute crap we all witnessed today.
Our captain aubameyang did nothing to be kept on but never mind we have benfica Thursday and our season could be over in February
Well just stop the moaning will you! Ok for you to slag the team off but not ok for us to slag off the moaning little whiners on here. 🤫
Stop whining….both of you.
STFU ✊
What a berk you are
City worked their socks off for this victory it did not come easy and they were not allowed to hit top gear.
*didn’t need to
But they did
Until Chaka is gone for good,nothing is going to change in our game-this guy is a pure destroyer of our own team style,speed,desire,imagination.He is a. break for any effirt to attack,abusing the sideway and backward passing.Paired with snail Elneny,this is hard to watch-a festival of “ sideway-backward passing”.Get rid of both,now.Odegaard is not the anseer for the middle-slow1,one-footed player,just Arteta-style.Why keep Ceballos on the side for 85 minutes and play insipide Elneny?Just damage control,limiting the score?-this was the objective for today?Shame…
Odegaard is not deserving of Arteta putting him straight into the team, he is invisible and Arteta has no defence for doing it at the expense of ESR.
Xhaka did more than Odegard and Elneny today. its like you have personal issues with the guy
Adajim, he is 💩 he is not a good player, never has been and never will. It is not a personal thing, it is obvious.
he is a good player. in fact he is not the player we are supposed to be relying on, its unfortunate we dont have anyone better, and to think Partey has suddenly become injury prone. if we could get another olayer of better quality.
the truth is, he is playing based on his level, and doing a good job at that
No he isn’t, if you think he is, your standards are slipping.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣.. you gave me a good laugh after such a boring game. Arteta is simply not brave enough to take us to the next level but all the same he still has my support, at least for now.
Holding had a very good game overall. His critics should shut up. Our problems were the two fullbacks plus Elneny and Xhaka. Unfortunately Tierney was Bellerinesque today but essentially it all came down to the manager with his lack of ambition and creative ideas. Under Arsene Wegner Arsenal were never afraid.
Thats why we keep conceeding lots of goals? its called respecting the opponent. we knew they are better and then the coach came up with a plan to reduce thei threat. on another day they could have beaten us 5, with a lot of shot on targets. How many shots on target did they had overal?
to pick up the point that we lacked ideas – yes we did today but, generally, we need continuity of possesion for that and our technique individually is lacking in that department.
Odegaard – don’t be too hasty with him, he needs 2 things – someone to pass to him and someone for him to pass to. Arsenal, currently, have a huge problem with the latter.
Passionate Gunners fans have been too quick to sing the praises of ESR – he could be a real talent but he’s not really influenced a match this month.
And, Dear MA, why did Elneny spend 50% as a centre back. Unfortunately, I’m seeing a mid-table team that don;t look as if they know how to improve..
RJB58, your observations regarding Odegaard were spot on. He took up positions in space, yet didn’t receive the ball and when he did receive a pass, the forward options were limited. Xhaka/Cellabos would have been a better partnership in midfield.
Watch inept Arteta playing the same “ super-safe” game on Thursday,against Benfica.90 minutes of sideways and backward passes.With 5 defenders and 2 DM,playing counter against a mediocre Benfica team.This guy is scared to breath,he will never be a real coach.I expect our season to be over on Thursday night.He tried the same with Olimpiacos,we all know the result.I just hope Arsenal is already looking for a real manager,the one we have is a joke.Unai Emery was really a giant mastermind compared with this big-zero….
I think defeat on Thursday will be the perfect time to sack Arteta:
Theres nnothing to play for, gives the new manager see the state of our players without any pressure to perform right away, and a full summer to prepare.
Perspective is needed before anything. City at full strength, we were not. They have far better players than us, and are in ridiculous form. We performed far better than Liverpool, Everton, and Spurs as well, so at least we didn’t get smashed.
The defeat as fully expected, but what is so frustrating, is that we beat ourselves. Shocking marking for the goal, then constantly giving the ball away when not even under pressure.
Yet another one that constantly praises mediocrity….we performed better than Liverpool,Everton and spurs….so we got one point for our performance against them ryt….go support mid table teams with that mentality of yours….the Burnleys and Newcastles of this world will accept that performance always…. ARSENAL won’t and wouldn’t…….
I NEVER praise mediocrity!
I was Wenger out for so many years, because he was the one that hoodwinked a fan base into thinking mediocrity was acceptable.
It was unrealistic to expect anything from the game. As for Arteta’s overall performance, maybe not that great this season so far, but then again, look what he inherited and what he’s working with. Remember that he’s had to completely gut entire club, along with the board, because of the horrendous mistakes and culture from the previous regime.
Arteta decided what he wanted to work with. Mari, Gabriel, and Luiz his choice to bring in. Kept Bellerin even though he’s a poor defender & grown complacent.
Talked Xhaka into staying, Brought ElNeny back when Torreria and Guendouzi are better players.
Willian has been worse than trash, Martinelli is healthy but hasn’t been given a chance to build on last years success.
Arteta has a better squad than Wenger and Emery (who didn’t get to pick his transfers, remember?)
Shocking Arteta promoted to manger in spite of drowning in the league. Another cheap option to coach and more excuses for lacking ambition as a club.
F-ing Everton showing more ambition, add Leicester City to the list as well; both with managers, transfers, expectations, etc…
I’m not saying MA hasn’t made mistakes, find me a manager that hasn’t, but you’re not taking into account the shocking state the club was in. We are where we are because of a decade or more of gross mismanagement.
Tell me how its possible to make something look pretty whilst simultaneously gutting it?
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My thumbs up was for Durand.
TMJW, you are obviously judging Arteta on different performance criteria than Emery:
Didn’t have a say in transfers,
Achieved 5th place and lost Europa League final in first season,
Sacked after losing 3 from 8 games in his second season,
After the same number of games as Arteta, Emery had Arsenal with 14 more points.
Terry Neil lost 10 games in a season and was sacked. Arteta has now lost 11 and it is difficult to see more not being inflicted.
When he won the fa cup with this so called what he inherited, you guys were all full of praises of how he has improved the team…. Fast forward some months later the likes of Aston villa,Leicester , Westham etc have a better team than us in regards to the league table..in your imaginations bro will you say this team is as bad as Mikel has made it look.. Have you asked yourself if it is these players that are these bad or the manager managing them coz obviously this has bin our best 25 man squad since arsene left and even in the last years of arsene and yet the best we could come up with is 11 losses already at this point of the season…. Maybe you should open your eyes to the fact that your beloveth arteta has bin a disappointment as he lacks structure as I have pointed out in my other comment….for me the Europa League is the last chance for him….if he doesn’t win it he should be kicked out
Well if you miss 14 yrs straight of doing nothing in the league, why don’t you campaign for the messiah Wenger back then!
4th place junkies is why we have such a poor fanbase!
Go boys
I don’t know why we always complain anytime we lose. Do you expect us to have it easy against the most in form team in Europe. Man City has been beaten the teams above us. If we had drawn I know some people that are complaining will not be complaining. Arsenal is in transition
You don’t understand obviously….it’s not about the result always, often it’s about the performance!
Courage, intensity, team work, playing fof the badge. If fans see this dnd we still lose then all good and credit to the opposition.
Have you seen those things recently in our players?
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Yes…. transition into a proper mid table team under arteta….ryt….am sure thats what you want with how you embrace this mediocrity called transition…
For those who keep saying City didn’t have it difficult. Please listen to Pep had to say. Listen to someone who knows what his talking about.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f4vH2v6XgM0
If city had xhaka and elneny starting they would lack ideas as well … 2 of the most clueless footballers ever to don an arsenal shirt … neither comfortable in the ball an endlessly looking back … throw in Pepe and aubemayang … and bellerin … and half your outfield is clueless
Absolutely gutless.
Keep hearing ESR needed rest for Thursday whereas I said he shouldn’t have started last thursday as there was always the second leg. Ffs it is Benfica and the second leg was always gonna be the tougher tie. If he is a positive in this team then he needs to play. Our best 11 should always play. Looking at our best 11 shows how poor we really are.
Today was nothing but a pure embarrassing defeat from the 1st minute to the last. 1 SHOT ON TARGET FFS.
Just throwing this out there Spuds are 2 points better off with a game in hand. Maureen looks like he will be lucky to survive the month. Levy has been tapping up Brenda and I have a feeling he will end up there.
What do we have… a rookie chief exec a dithering director of football who is way out of his league and MA.
I was told to trust the process… if this is the process then I think I am done as I see no progression since AW has left. If anything, all I see is disarray and the club that I have loved over 45 years going down the toilet.
It is a bad state of affairs where Thursday will make or break our season. If we get kicked out of the Europa League then Mikel Arteta should be sacked immediately and Edu not that far behind him.
I accepted before today’s game that we would lose but to lose without turning up is absolutely disgusting and not one of those players that played today should wear the shirt again.
Rant over
Please listen to Pep’s post match interview. He does not agree with those folk who come on here insisting Man City had it easy.
Who cares what Pep thinks?What we care is what we see,and what we see is disgusting….
When you aren’t a threat it’s easy to compliment.
25 games in and 11 defeats already…..not good enough….arteta simply is turning…. Sorry has turned arsenal into a mid table team with supporters unconsciously accepting this mediocrity….city didn’t even need to turn up to get all 3 points ….all they need do is to just show a little intent in scoring which they did in the first 5 mins and they scored and since then tuned down and we refuse to ask them any question for the remaining 90mins….am sorry, arteta for me simply is a bad coach and has obviously learnt more under David Moyes than Wenger and pep put together with this sort of football that we play….he football has no structure yet we keep blaming the players…. Have always said 2 things makes up a good team….. Structure and personnel…60 percent goes to structure 40 percent to the personnel…. The structure of the team all lies on the coach 100 percent while personnel lies on the players 100 percent….a good structure can accommodate few bad personnel and there will still be a good team but a bad structure can’t even accommodate very good or even world class players all over…. Such is the case of arteta…. The structure under him has bin very bad that’s if he has any at all… He has bin here for over a year and I still can’t lay my hands on what he has brought to this team to improve the team….a lot of people make references to our defense….but guess what….we have conceded 26 goals already this season in 25 games…. That’s an average of a goal per game this season…. Absolutely not good enough for me…. We’ve scored only 31 goals in 25 games this season…. Absolutely not good enough… You wonder what this so called manager has brought to this team other than aimless passes at the back and tons of backwards/ sideways passes from our midfielders…. He has built a team of robots that lacks flexibility ….. Simply not good enough….I have said at the beginning of the season I was going to give him till the end of the season …. But at this point for me…. This is a very clueless manager…. The earlier we do away with him the better…. Obviously the only way he is taking us is down the championship…..#ARTETA OUT FOR ME….
We look like a team that is just happy to play football.
What football 😂😂😂
Usual over reaction tempered by the sensible comments from TMJW.The Europa Cup route must be our priority so let’s hope Partey, ESR and Ceballos start against Benfica.Apart from being caught flat footer for the goal, Holding played well as did Saka,The main problem for Arteta is the complete lack of pace in key areas.Mari is a good footballer but he is painfully slow as is Elneny and Xhaka.While the Tierney, Saka axis was our main threat, Bellerin and Pepe were very disappointing and Odegaard ,I’m afraid was not effective.As for our Captain, his limitations were clearly exposed today.
So what happens when we drop out of the Europa, Rely on our league position?
MA has had enough time to stamp a way of playing “The Process” is what he calls it. What I see is a manager that doesn’t have a specific way of playing and is setting up his teams to nullify the opposition with little to no success.
Although I agree with what you say about the inadequacies of the players you have mentioned. Surely a good manager would set the team up to play to our strengths. The question I have is what strengths does A, the manager and B, the team have as all I see is us continually roll over waiting for our belly to be rubbed.
I’m sorry Granddad, this is not an over reaction. This is reality.
@N Bender
You say MA has had enough time, really?
He’s only been here 14 months, and look at the absolute mess he inherited! It was only a month ago he managed to get rid of a lot of bad apples in the squad as well.
Klopp inherited a far better situation, yet was less successful than MA early on, until achieving what they have in recent years.
At least wait until the end of his first full season before judging him.
Rogers and Ancelloti have been in jobs how many months. Your defense of Arteta is biased. We have got rid of a coach with better result in Emery.
True Mobella. Some of us defending Arteta that he has been with us for only 14 months and yet we have Rogers and Carlo who have been with their teams for a lesser period of time than Arteta, yet their teams are competing very well. I hope our coach’s rebuilding process bears fruits.
It has to be said that we were sloppy – often unprepared to receive the snappy pass – not incisive enough, and as usual, we were too fond of passing the buck (ball), sideways and backwards, rather than take the forward initiative when the opposition midfield and defence were not quite ready to do their job. This shows a lack of self belief.
I totally disagree with mainstream and pessimistic moaning opinion on here. I thought our lads acquitted themselves well against probably the single best world team right now. To read the moaning minnies on here makes me ashamed to be a Gooner.
Obviously, so very many of our fans had completely ridiculous expectations. I did not and was pleased that we were well in the game after the opening twenty minutes.
Looking forward to continued progress and I remain firmly with the minority of TRUE fans on this thread who will keep the faith.
Frankly, our great club does not deserve to have to put up with so many juvenile so called “supporters” like most of these little spoilt kids on here.
SHAME ON YOU!
Looking forward to continued progress and I remain firmly with the minority of TRUE fans on this thread who will keep the faith.
I couldn’t have said it better Jon Fox.
As soon as MA goes then hopefully we may progress as a team with an identity😉
I agree Jon, we should settle for mediocrity like you.
Is wanting to finish in the top 6 a ridiculous expectation? Or is top half of the table progress enough as you say?
You obviously do NOT agree with me ! So please don;t say that you do, cos you do not! OK? You are one of the spoilt children I was referring to.
Was about to write something similar – no point now as you’ve said it all. It just seems to be difficult for people to trust that this is a process of gradual improvement, which involves instilling the necessary values and standards to win games consistently – doesn’t happen immediately.
On another note, I do enjoy seeing Saka grow – even in this game you can see how he wants to take responsibility more and more. He will be critical in any future success we may have.
Shame on you fox if you call 10th position after 11 defeats in a single season progress…. ridiculous
Jon you usually have a point, even if it is different or rude but not this time. What you are saying to back up your opinion is total rubbish. There is no progress as yet, out of both domestic cups, our worse position for years, our worse number of defeats and drab football. You are obviously entitled to your opinion but your reasoning is not right. Back Arteta that is not a problem, saying you look forward to continued progress is just not whats happening.
keep faith Jon… keep faith in mediocrity. you say city best team right now. let’s see him win champions league until then I beg to differ. we just have poor manager and structure. sad how you love the mediocrity Jon. I will never accept it though as an arsenal supporter. even Geoege Graham one nil to the arsenal would have done far better today than this rubbish that arteta persist with.
I am pretty disgusted with the negative attitude on hear. Playing arguably the best club side in the world at the moment. A team who had played out 17 EPL victories on the trot while conceding I think 2 goals? We lost 1-0 not 10-0. Just trot out the usual – we should sack arteta, get rid of Xhaka (who held our midfield together) and slag off almost every other player while you are at it. Why are you trolling your own team? Pathetic.
Common misconception from people like you.
No one cares if we lose playing well and, like you say, playing one of the best team tonight then that’s ok if we gave it a proper go.
Do you think there’s something wrong with wanting our players to show mpre passion and grit? We know the kind of performances this team can put out, we don’t want to see another gutless performance like many this season.
We want players that play for the badge, why would you settle for less if I may ask?
It isnt all about today, today was a syptom, the illness is was we have nearly every game under this manager. Bull like we have to go down to come up, its a transition etc is just flannel. We are in a desperate state with a desperate manager.
Illness is what we have every game.
it’s not trolling. most fans on here have a point. when the team was in a bad place a lot of fans were saying we need Smith rowe to start. the first game smith rowe started the team looked better. fans were on hear again saying we cant rely on Tierney crossing to no mans land. saka shift left and the attacking third looked better. a lot of fans were begging that. the fans again said the play is sluggish too much back pass and sideways passes,it improved a little and then slowly reverting back. so a lot of fans know what they are talking about. it’s not trolling it is making valid points that only the coach tend to ignore. arteta seem to learn a lot from Wenger. Wenger usually ignore valid points that the fans see.
With you there NB. Amazing Mr Fox,your argument seems to be that everyone should remain Umble and be grateful for what our betters have done.
Well said Guy.The mentality of some of our fans makes me sad, but we have to accept the fact that Social Media can bring out the worst in people.
As this thread, sadly, proves so well Grandad. I feel ashamed to be around and among these young spoilt kids, as a fellow Gooner.
No positives in that game what so ever .
Man City are top for reason ,but that does not give us an excuse to just roll over an except it ,watching this team tonight was an embarrassment,where was the fight ,determination the honour for playing for this club ?
I’ve been nothing but supportive of this team this season but there is only so much you can take .
Mari spent 3 seasons at Man City ,never got a start ,all of a sudden he’s first choice against the best team in England ,why if he wasn’t good enough for them why is he good enough for us .
Martin odegaard ,fancy feet work ,absolutely no pace and no finished product and no different from what we have seen over the last 10 years at Arsenal ,a poor mans wilshire
Why are we given him game time .
15 mins left and we bring in another Madrid reject ,after being on Laca who let’s be honest was completely pointless unles we was playing for points not trying to win them .
Biggest gripe ,where was Martinelli once again ,I’m shocked that he cannot get game ahead of some of these players, IE Madrid rejects .
Absolute dogsh1t from us tonight and the last 4 weeks ,watching them go off laughing and joking at the end really top off how sh1t we have become .
Maybe at the end of the season the club should have a hard look at themselves and decide if they want to try to be the Best in the world or they just want to make money .
Disgraceful is a word I wouldn’t use normally but watching th players after the game is what I feel ATM .
Let’s hope we have saved our best football for the EL .
We agree again Dan, thats getting eerie. LOL
Reggie 👍😂
👍 And on top of all that crap, you lost your bet – what a pi$$er!!
We’d better see an improvement on Thursday, to go out with a whimper will be unforgivable
I’m not a pro better Sue like some on here ,so maybe I’ll keep my money in my wallet next time 😂
Atleast we both got 3 points for the Man Utd result (yes I checked your prediction )👍
Hallelujah!! 3 points at last!! The only time I wasn’t moaning about the Mancs getting a penalty 😂
Dan, your argument creates a paradox that perhaps you could resolve. Any player who is let go by his club (no matter how big that club is) is not good enough for Arsenal. Yet any player who is wanted by that club will be kept by them. Therefore we will buy no-one. Sound good to you? And please don’t say “we will make them an offer they can’t refuse”. Because we have NEVER had that kind of money.
I’m talking about a player who was playing Brazilian football after being let go by a premier league club and not getting a game ,what was the reason he wasn’t given chance over here ,and why are we now given him game time when he hasnt hardly played this season and comes in against the leagues best team .
I’m not singling him out but this was just one of many weird decisions tonight .
And also Guy ,if you know my posts ,I’ve been nothing but supportive of the manager and team all season ,tonight rubbed me up the wrong way though .
Arteta is a poor manager . there is no way to sugarcoat it .
He may win games but it shows .
His selections are terrible , he is terrible at nurturing players , he is terrible at handling egos , he is terrible in scouting , he doesn’t learn ,his substitutions are hopeless , he cant read a game and he is not creative ,
You cant say Saliba wont make a difference in this team ,the only reason Bellerin is playing is because he is Spanish . You can either use one of Xhaka or Elneny never both against a city team . Auba is the most one dimensional striker to wear an Arsenal jersey, while he may be a good finisher he just really does nothing else can even head the ball. , our star man was pocketed by John Stones . Odeegard is still only a potential no different than ESR and to be honest never deserved a starting 11 spot. I would rather have gone for Puig as he would have influenced our midfield play more .
Tierney was bad today but he has enough decent performances in the bag to forgive this one . We need to get a LB in the summer. Pepe should never cost 30 million let alone anything above that but there is a player in there Arteta is just cant bring it out . Willian did not play but to see him make the bench annoyed me .
We have the players in this squad they are just mismanaged .
The clear out would only be complete when
Auba , Willian, Luiz ,Xhaka leave .
Arteta will ruin poor Martinelli and Balogun .
It would be a horror story if Saka leaves Arsenal as it will spell the end , the impact would be like Messi leaving Barcelona , i exaggerate but you get the point.
Rant over
Gizzle, you seem to think that we have bottomless pockets, that every player in the world wants to play for us, that we can easily sell any player we dont want, that contracts mean nothing, that Arteta signed every bad player at this club and that everything is Arteta’s personal fault. As the saying goes – you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. We are borroing players because WE HAVE NO MONEY. We cannot sell players because NOBODY WANTS THEM. We don’t get some players on loan because THEIR CLUB REFUSES. bolugun does not play because he refuses a contract. Arteta did not sign Pepe. I agree with most of your comments on players but your solutions are not realistic
@ Guy this is not a matter of money. our scouting has been shocking . we have the talent in this squad . a better coach would have let Azeez have some game time by now. surely i cant be the only one to see that Arteta is poor can you compare him to a Brendan Rogers . Now for solutions . its true we dont have the money and we are rebuilding , the decisions being made are sad . Arteta is bias but who am i to criticize him. Personally i would get rid of him but lets give till summer to prove me right .
Would you say Arteta is a better coach than Emery?
Amen! gizzle. There’s nothing more to add.
Arteta is a fraud,he doesn’t know what coaching is all about….. I don’t think Arteta can take Arsenal to a promise Land. mark my words Arteta will not win Europa league and Arsenal can never finished in top 6… When Soton remove us from FA Cup they said we are fighting for Top 4 and Europa league.. look at where we are today.. let him thank God that fans are not in the stadium..
I think there would be bedlam if fans were in the stadium with that football on show.
If progress is taking two steps forwards and three backwards, then WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS.
lol.
Can somebody please answer this question. If Arteta is the awful manager that most of you say he is, why are the overwhelming majority of football people saying he is doing a great job? I include the general sports media, tv pundits (both ex-Arsenal and other ex-players), football tactitians, other managers. Perhaps its because you know more about football than them? Or perhaps you are all conspiracy theorists and believe the lizard people or Spurs fans have brainwashed them? I am serious about wanting an answer, as it is boring being called delusional so often by you for standing up for him.
Where are we in the league ? Should we be better? Are we better than last season? Is the football good? Are there signs of improvement? Do we have more points than last year? Are we higher in the league than last year? Answer them honestly and you will see why some have lost patience. END OF!
because pundits say something,and media personal say something means they are right. we arsenal supporters have brain too that we use and I for one think he is poor as can be. if pundits and sports personnel say we are going to win the league would we believe them. we can decipher for ourselves. we watch the games too,some of us are better analyst than those paid on the tele.
@ guy no one has called Arteta a genius or an entertainer or anything relatively distinctive . What we hear is give him time , support him . he is improving ,etc. Lampard had similar from a bunch of Pundits where is he now . while im not trying to say we should change managers like switch . Im saying we need to play football with purpose and direction that clearly shows the future we want , Arteta is clearly not offering that , apart from the Leeds game which could have ended funny if 10 minutes was added can you call an arsenal match that was entertaining or pleasing , For Godsake a 20 year old kid carries us through games week in week out . We have lost more games than we have won in the league this season . let that marinate and sink in deep.
After this game anyone who has hopes Arteta is the right person for the job should reconsider.
The players are scared shitless to play freely.
It was evident that no one had the composure/
confidence or support take chances. Circulating the
ball sideways inside your third of the field is inviting trouble and it is not efficient or productive or cutting edge football. We played to avoid getting blown away and although I hated the Wenger years with the blow outs I can honestly say at least we played to win. The trajectory of this club is going backwards. Does anyone see us even with 2-3 transfer windows, challenging for anything? The player selection is questionable all the time and the fact a player like Martinelli is not getting any time on the field makes me wonder
what is Arteta’s mind set. The emperor is naked.
Whoa! That was a bad game. Glad I didn’t see the second half. I think defensively in the first half, after the initial carnage where citeh were pillaging us repeatedly, we did put up a good show. But attacking wise we were horrible, with all those misplaced passes and bad touches. I agree we are not better than Citeh, but people were saying the same thing about Chelsea. I had hoped for a different setup, but I guess we are all in for the Europa League.
COYG!!