Another poor performance escapes with a point by Konstantin Mitov
Hello lovely Arsenal people. Arsenal entertained Wolves and repeated a lot of trends that have been going for us all season so far. First of all, we started slow. Honestly the only game where we were up to the tempo from the get go was Liverpool.
Wolves had more chances and shots on target. Games like Palace, Everton and Watford had similar character and could’ve gone either way, but then we created chances and today we were really lacking ideas forward.
We’ve been over relying on impact subs to get results. We find it difficult to break a team from the start which is very well reflected in the fact we’re the only team not to have the lead at half time.
And again it was a sub that saved us with a bit of fortune as a cross failed to find a player, but found the net instead. We missed Welbeck’s energy from the bench and in January I think we will need a wide player.
After our equalizer it was again the visitors who had the chances but Leno was excellent and saved a point which is still better than none. That said the break that comes is good for us to reflect on things and rebuild confidence for the tough games coming.
We may have not lost in 16, but 4 draws on the last 5 is not the kind of form that will get us a top 4 place. There are simply too many big fish for a small pond of champions league places and we need to improve.
Honestly there have been very few league games where we’ve been really dominant and while I enjoy this more than the Wenger days where Ozil would’ve played the entire game no matter what and we would’ve dropped heads when they score, this is yet another reminder of that work that needs to be done for us to challenge for the top places.
Some of the players will need to change too. For a 300k player Ozil really should be dominating teams like Wolves. Iwobi was a super sub against Liverpool and very poor when he started today. Ramsey will be leaving the club and can’t be trusted to do his absolute best but you can see why we are letting him go.
If we give him 200k/w we are killing the remainder of our wage bill which we can use to add a good player on the wing. And we already have a 300k/w problem at number 10, making Ramsey unnecessary in the squad.
And in terms of CM, Xhaka again made a mistake leading to a goal after playing a blinder against Liverpool. We have too many players who are unreliable. It’s true Auba missed a sitter to equalise sooner and give us a chance to win, but during our 11 game winning run, we were scoring 25 percent of our chances which is ridiculously high and can’t be sustained forever.
We’ve only won against two teams who were in the top half of the table when we played them and this is also something we need to improve. The road to the top is a long one. Even Pep failed at his first attempt. Hopefully we’ll finally take a deeper look into those matters and prepare for 3 huge league games coming up after the break. We simply must start winning again.
Konstantin
You know it’s bad when Admin bails on us ?
How is your hand now Admin btw?
It seems at my age the body takes a lot longer to heal itself!
Seen people yesterday criticing Iwobi and it was laughable tbh.The expectation placed on some of our youth is really serious.Iwobi for Arsenal’s standard is bench quality at best.However,it’s clear as daylight that he’s is by far and easily the best LW we have currently.How Auba starts over him out wide I do not know.The only thing that makes him keeps his place is the stats(goals) he has scored out wide despite being average anytime he gets the ball out wide.But of course goals are very important.Auba is a direct competitor for Lacazette and ideally he should be the backup to him tho imo I prefer him to Lacazette.Iwobi despite being bench quality is still our best LW and because he’s the only and I repeat only one who can beat his man very well I the team he must start from the LW.
Agree. I didn’t watch the match, but the performance looks really awful from a YouTube highlight. I also agree with Konstantin that expensive players with huge wages should do better against a team like Wolves at home and they should not avoid duels
Because the next game is an away match, I suggest Arsenal exclude the no 10 player. Since none of our no 10s perform consistently, even in a home game against a poorer team or a ten-man team:
………………….Leno
Bellerin . Mustafi . Sokratis . Monreal
…………………Torreira
…..Guendouzi ……… Maitland-Niles
………………..Lacazette
Aubameyang ………………Iwobi
lucky you, i wish i didn’t watch that game either!! here are the five lessons i took from that mannequin challenge game!!
1) I’m gonna say this saed should start looking for another club everytime he plays on the left that wing is ruined, yes he drives forward and outmuscles oppenents but his passing is shocking, and his defending always wrong footed…he looks like he never wants the ball when the team is pressured, and will only be happy when he has a ball to chase in the final third so that he could smack it in, no aim no thinking no skill just hit that ball!! and whatever happens happens!! i don’t know why but he reminds me of santos, his decline has been so rapid i’m in awe watching it, a Tank ? he’s a car crash waiting to happen, montreal needs to get back after the break, as for Saed he is perfect for a team in turkey!
2) Auba is podolski on the left if he isn’t playing upfront or in a two upfront system we are wasting him… yes that’s what happens when we buy two players with very similar qualities WC or not one of them will have to be on the bench , and as laca is better at holding the ball and defending from the front. that’s gonna have to be auba for the time being it’s all about form and rest when it comes to those two…i’m not dwelling on the past but that game was screaming for a target man it would have been nice to have an option B a fit welbeck would have helped as well as he’s ok in the air. a few of those crossed in the last 15 min ( the only time we realized we where playing a football match) they where begging to be headed in.
3)i’m probably the biggest fan of bellerin, but son you got to start watching some videos of Dani Alves or Marcelo, yes that run in the final third is great but it’s becoming predictable, he needs to add more to his repertoire, learn a trick or two to get past your player, stay behind after training and practice shooting and crossing with both feet, it’s not much to ask for someone who beleives in you 🙂
4)we need a winger, we need a natural winger, no nelson or rowe comments he/they are the future we need a winger now!!
5) I don’t trust mustafi, and i hate how he always looks for something or someone to blame for every decision. half of which he is to blame for in the first place!…i don’t care your not the captain to talk to the ref every decison for or against us, just get back on defense!!! that is one thing i admire with kos always focused on the job, no chit chat focused.
so whomever skipped that game lucky them, still painful to me after a day!! no work rate, no passion ,no runs, slow passive football a different team, nothing to be proud of 🙁
Not to mention Mustafi’s “defence-splitting” passes that he whacks up there 3-5 times a game. Inevitable goal kick every time and they’re not even close.
I seem to recall him starting wide left on Thursday evening against Sporting Lisbon.And he did what exactly?He might well be our best left sided attacker but that’s only because we do not have anyone else.If Thursday and Sundays performances from Iwobi do not convince you he just is not good enough nothing will.He is a trier and a useful squad player and nothing more.If only we had signed Tomas Lemar mate we would not be having these discussions would we?But you got that one completely wrong (as most of your predictions) So you will excuse me from even trying to take anything you say seriously
You seem to have preferred to use sentiment rather than actually reading what I said .If you read it then you’d know from the get go I said Iwobi is bench quality at best for Arsenal.Lemar is not a world class player and never has been.Im not saying you said so though.Cant believe the Arsenal board were prepared to sanction such a huge amount of money for his signing.On my transfer predictions,please spare me that.You seen to have chosen to have a short memory on some of the recent signing a and contracts I predicted.I have stopped making such predictions and this will eventually be shown in the transfer window.I have now learnt not to take you seriously too fro now on as I’m viewed as a nonsense talker by you.
@kev ,youth you say ,he’s been around the squad for a few years now ,I’m sorry but you must be watching a different player to me ,I suggested yesterday that he shouldn’t be in the squad and again was shot down ,even had one fan say that it was hatred towards him ?it’s not that I hate him it’s the fact that he’s crap ,another fan said that he had improved his strength,dribbling and some other stuff but forget to mention his dribbling usually turns into him running the ball out of play ,his shooting is absolutely terrible,his passing yesterday was Walcott like and for fans to say he should be ahead of auba is a joke ,I would rather have auba who is not. Natural winger in the squad if it keeps me from seeing iwobi play at least auba can still find the net playing out wide .if we want to be winning trophies these are the type of players that shouldn’t be anywhere near the staring line up
I will say though that he wasn’t the only player who played bad yesterday but obviously from him being taking off at half time he was the main culprit
I thought he should have been taken off before half time… Yes he has pace…. but his decision making can be dire. He gets so far, then flaps & doesn’t know what to do & it ends up with the opposition & this happens time after time. He has had good games, don’t get me wrong, but you know it isn’t going to last. And before all you Iwobi fans slaughter me, he wasn’t the only player that was poor yesterday, I’d say the majority were!
So many seem to believe Iwobi to be the saviour of AFC.He isn’t and never will be.He is a squad player at best as proved by his performances against Sporting and Wolves.All I keep hearing is how talented he is.He played a good ball through to Lacazette (note-a good ball nothing more) and it’s as if he is the new Pirlo.Lacazette had it all to do.It was hardly delivered on a plate for him was it.Ineffective against Sporting.Hopeless against Wolves.For those who say he should start ahead of Aubameyang should actually ask themselves how many goals have they each scored?Who delivers the most?
Answers on a postcard please to
Iwobi
somewhere on the pitch
Emirates Stadium
London
NOTE-if He is missing just leave it on the subs bench where he belongs
Completely what I said yesterday in a post Phil then I was jumped on ,I keep hearing about his dribbling skills as a winger ?a player like pires is what I call a winger someone who could breeze past players and have an end product ,I have no hate for iwobi “like someone accused me yesterday “I just don’t rate him ,I see hardly no improvement from last season but fans think he should start ahead of auba a player who can actually find the net ?♂️
Isn’t this whole Iwobi debate becoming too polarised? He is neither hopeless nor brilliant but to listen to both sides you might well conclude he has to be one ofr the other. WeLL, HE IS CLEARLY NEITHER AT PRESENT. I SAY HE IS A DEFINITE(not small, nor huge improvement on last season) and think that is nearer the truth than any other comment I have read about him on here.Most “Iwobi is the next Messi” type comments come from his fellow countrymen or from Africa. Most “I think he is still hopeless” comments come from certain, mainly non African folk on here. Isn’t the truth that he is just one player trying to fit into a totally new system, – involving, GLORY BE, intense detailed coaching, which must come as a huge surprise to ALL WENGERS PLAYERS STILL HERE – as all our players are also trying to do and that SOME players, Iwobi included, HAVE improved, to varying degrees while others have not or even regressed a bit. This total change in expectations from the manager and need to play out from the back, in order to properly succeed, will need many better players than the nine WENGER BUYS WHO STARTED YESTERDAY. NOT ALL OF THEM THOUGH. I would certainly be trying to get rid of these as soon as proper replacements can be brought in: Xhaka, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Bellerin, Elneny, Ramsey, Welbeck. A little further down the line, we also need upgrades on Cech, Monreal, Kos(as he is SINCE HIS CHRONIC INJURY ROBBED HIM OF HIS LOST TOP QUALITY) Sokratis, Ozil , Mkhi. We may not get an upgrade on Ozil at his best but we need an upgrade on how he plays most games, which is why I would let him go but in good time. He clearly cannot be relied upon to be consistent and we cannot go on and on like this, even with our most talented player. REALISM!
@Xxnofx-I was with you yesterday if you recall and so many jumped on with the HATE card.Not quite So gobby this morning are they.I just don’t see it with Iwobi.The player tries hard but that’s it as far as I’m concerned.
No one “hates” Iwobi. He divides opinion but no one HATES- or perhaps I should say no PROPER human HATES – any mere footballer. This tedious, inaccurate and childish use of “hate” when “doesn’t rate” is meant, is beyond stupid. I would have hoped you Phil, of all people, were on the sensible side, as you have liked my posts in the past saying just the very same. Can we now ALL stop it, at least us mature ones? Words and using them for their correct meaning are of vital importance if we are to sensibly debate without polarising debate in Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee style.
Not too sure what you are implying Jon-There was a number of posts BEFORE yesterday’s game saying to anyone that was critical of Iwobi did so because they HATED the player.This was not the case.Because he was not RATED it was suggested he was HATED.Big difference.But some continued to argue the fact even though he had a stinker of a game.I had continually said he had shown signs of improvement but still needed to find end product and consistency.Not one single use of the word HATE from both myself and @ Xxnofx.Yet these self appointed disciples of Iwobi felt justified in bringing their views into discussion with no thought of accurate comments.
Not too many have said too much today after another inept and hapless display that followed his performance Thursday evening.What a surprise that is
iwobi was not the worst player yesterday far from it he was our best player in the first half, nobody took it upon themselves to do anything in that half of the dead!!
iwobi tried with some runs and some terrible predictable passes, it was a static half, i’m not gonna be the guy that puts down fighting spirit in an awful team performance
the change was made, and he was removed because we had to get an additional mid to control the game not because he was playing badly.
we needed both strikers to get back on level terms and our creator to wake up and find the killer pass so tactical change not because he was awful like some of you are saying!! maybe we watched it differently i don’t know? again awful team performance!!
ps: some people want from him pires performances, he will never be pires don’t beleive those expectations of him. he has the skills but not the vision pires had both and was a genius at reading the game, what he could be is hleb or an okacha player so i don’t see him removing any value from us i want him in the squad, both those players contributed to Bolton and Arsenal respectively they aren’t world beaters, but even messi had a pedro alongside of him, and yes i beleive be could be better than pedro with hard work, if anyone is asking 🙂
for the time being beleive this: he is by far our best winger!!
Please read my comment well.Iwobi is bench quality at best but by far Arsenal’s best LW right now.He might have been bad in this game and Sporting but was out of position against Wolves.Its better to play him at LW.As the only dribbler in the team he must be played because all the other players tried in his position have been worse.
Ok so let’s look at the facts-Aubamayang is not a winger.We all accept that.Emery seems to want to have both him and Lacazette in the side.Two quality strikers.Why wouldn’t he?Some seem to feel Iwobi is the best option on the Left wing.He has had most of his performances there.Iwobi ONE GOAL.Aubamayang EIGHT GOALS.So surely this alone proves Aubamayang is FAR MORE EFFECTIVE playing wide left than Iwobi even though he is not classed as a natural winger?Just saying
An Arsenal fan said it:
“Results are starting to match the performances instead of the other way around.. The warning signs have been there and logic said it wasn’t sustainable, but I wanted to believe..
Individual quality has made the difference for us too many times, need to start dominating these kind of games and not rely on moments of brilliance.”
I disagree on results matching the performances.We have still been lucky and we should have lost about three or four matches.Luck is still clearly on our side because even though we we have not lost yet despite performances showing we should be.Wolves are good defensively and I still see us winning many matches against small teams even though we might not play well.
I have to say that I agree we would have lost several more games but for inspired shot stopping from Cech in earlier games and all round better keeing than last few seasons from Leno. Leno and Torreira are clearly the most outstanding successes of the new players bought in the summer. I would put Guendouzi, in the highly talented but first needs to fill out his frame and find more consistency bracket. But he is clearly a good buy, even so. We also have had a deal of luck and could well have lost at least four/five league games already. Simply put , the whole defence is not working and cannot do so until many Wenger defensive duds are gone. Realism!
I believe Arsenal would dominate EPL again, once Emery buys new players in several transfer windows and when he can enforce his high pressing system to the attackers
I have been constantly shouted down whenever I said Emery has not improved the team. People forget easily how dominant Arsenal were at home last season and unlucky with some away games like Watford and Stoke. This season we have scored goals, like we used to do in the past, however, for all the noise about Torreira and Guendozi, our midfield is weaker in terms of quality of play. There are fewer intricate passing around the opposition box which creates dangerous moves and we tend not to control games like we did at home last season. Everton and Watford dominated us at home in the entire first half and should have been ahead by more than a goal. Our second half quickfire goals masked how dire those performances were.
Defensively, we are actually worse than last season, and it is also related to our weaker midfield control of games rather than just individual players in defence.
There is a lot of haste to praise Emery and lower the standards for him. You often hear people say “we would have lost this game last season”. At home last season we beat all teams outside the top 5 plus Spurs. At home we were a beast, second only to City. We wouldn’t have lost. Again, there is talk of Emery having to get his own players before he can succeed. No, that’s only true to some extent. Every coach inherits players while adding his own. Sarri inherited players as well. Don’t tell me how much they are better than Arsenal players. They may be in some departments and not in others. Emery inherited an attack much better than Chelsea’s and Chelsea’s defence (looking at individual players) isn’t great either.
What troubles me is the lack of identity. Beyond the passing out of the back obsession, I don’t know what it is Emery has introduced into this team. You can see what Sarri is doing and the direction he is going – there is an identity. With Arsenal, I scarcely see that. I watched PSG under Lauren Blanc and they had one thing – midfield control of games. Emery’s PSG, despite having better players than Blanc’s, didn’t have that. Same is what I have seen in his Arsenal team so far. We may have had a run of wins (even Man U won about 3 or 4 games recently while playing quite poorly), but we have been largely unconvincing. At times you lose a game but it shows your quality than another you won. This is same reason optimism was high after the Liverpool game despite that it was a draw. Results matter, but performance even matters more. It tells more about the future than the results.
Another narrative I find shallow is that Emery would take a few transfer windows to build his team just like Guardiola and Klopp had to. Firstly, both have been given very large transfer budgets to play with. Before Guardiola came to City, they had the likes of Kompany, Otamendi and Managala in the centre back position. He has since bought two 50 million pound centre backs to add to the mix. Need I say more about full back positions, midfield and attack? Kliopp has equally spent hundreds of millions of pounds. In central midfield, he has spend 40 – 50 million pounds on Chamberlain, Keita, and Fabinho to add to what he had. This season we all know how much he spent. At Arsenal, the coach is never afforded a transfer mistake. Look at how we all talk about the 35 million spent on Mustafi but no one mentions that 50 million pound Stones got benched for 50 million pound Larporte with Otamendi and Mangala not even in the equation. Will Emery be given funds the likes of Guardiola, Klopp and even Mourinho get? Your guess is as good as mine. Seven and Raul are not going to perform any miracles. The days when very good talents were hidden is long gone. Scouts are active all over the world. Besides, such unproven transfers are always risky and may or may not work out. Guendozi and Torreira may have done well so far but so did many youngsters bought like that previously at Arsenal like Holding (He kept Costa in his pocket in a cup final in his first season). There is little guarantee they would turn out more than decent. No transfer is a guarantee, but proven players come with less risk. Arsenal will find it difficult to compete in coming years because our transfer strategy is built on high risk player recruitment. Kronke has this matter of a 500 million pound loan from Deutsche Bank to pay off over the next couple of years.
Let me just stop here. It is become too long.
i think i tried to get my point on why emery has improved us on past forum, you might not have checked the response 🙂
Mov, and matteo are two players i personally have never heard of before we got linked to them, so i think we might be doing something with the scouting deparment and our diamond eye, holding is playing every game does that answer you on how he is progressing? too loom and gloom there is no way out in your post, what is the solution to become a fan of another team?
also laporte and stones are man city future cb i think they spent well , i wouldn’t say no to either of them 🙂
At times, reality may be too grim that those who proclaim it may sound alarmist or apocalyptic. The truth is that the football landscape in England has altered significantly since 2004 with Chelsea and later, City. It would be very difficult to compete for a sustained period without massive investment. Seven was at Dortmund but that didn’t stop Bayern dominating for the last decade. Diamond eye can only see as far as the dim light shines.
i still remember klopp lifting the league title with that team and reaching the champion league final don’t you?, and those signings at dortmund well you can see how well they are doing, and how much they are worth today? i see that as plus don’t you?
not a bad model dortmund, they are doing well this year and that’s after tuchel and klopp gone, so to me in germany it’s the team i relate to the most, i personally would love if we had a similar minded fan base, i have been there to watch us and beleive you me they are fantastic with the noise and the support, and that’s with bayern pinching their players every season!!
if we can emulate dortmund with our signings i will be thrilled, results will come eventually like they did at dortmund!!
No need to panic
Wolvs shared the points even with City…A very good team indeed.
Yes my daughter reminded me of that!
Bad loser mentality,
We lost to City, drew with Fulham, Drew with Liverpool, drew with Wolves, Drew with Sporting Lisbon etc and most of these performances are similar to the performances when we were winning. We have had so much luck with the amount of clear cut chances we always allow against us.
Just because City had an off day against Wolves does not give us an excuse to do the same just because it happened to City.
Just because the smartest pupil in my class did not pass their Aerodymanics exam does not afford me an excuse to perform bad. I too should not expect to do well in it? 🙂
Did city give away multiple clear cut chances against Wolves like i hear we did all game?
I just want to see improvement from the team. But the amount of chances we concede in most game are starting to get me nervous.
When did we draw with Fulham?? Don’t you mean Palace!!
I missed the match but from the final score of 1-1 and the comments from my fellow gooners it is obvious we were really really bad.
And going through some of our fans comments on different Forums, a few fans keep saying we are playing bad but we are not losing, we have sneaked drews in our previous games. Smh
I can see a pattern here. At the start of the season after our City and Chelsea games, we played so bad in the next games but we nicked 3 points even if we were giving away far to many clear cut chances to all the teams we played. We said “we are not at our best but are getting 3 points and winning games. Stop being negative and grumpy old fans”. Lol
Now that we are not winning anymore but instead are just drawing on top of giving away clear cut chances to our opponents, I am hearing “At least we are nicking draws even if we are not playing well. We are not losing. It could be worse”.
I can tell you the next step when we start losing, we will say “”Yeah, we are losing games but are not being battered, we are losing by a one goal margin. It could be worse”.
Then “Yeah we are so bad and keep giving away chances but we are losing by a 2 goal margin”. Lol
But seriously. I don’t want to hear this nonsense about “We are not playing well but are winning game or are nicking a point / a draw”.
Let’s get serious once again.
Come On You The Arsenal.
wish i didn’t watch the game either, time stopped and i started questioning everything? lucky you!! one of the worst performances i’ve seen from the boys, and trust me they where boys out there.
against city and chelsea there was something, we could all see it something to cheer for!! not yesterday even our lively manager, could not lift this team at one point he stood there mouth open for what seems to be an eternity!! like the perfect O pout i swear!! they just didn’t want to play yesterday shocking!! my gut told me to avoid watching the lisbon game so was lucky with that but this game was pure torture!!
let’s get back to the training ground is more like it, i fear for our momentum with that display!!
november curse strikes again…
It does indeed
So much frustration among so many of us on here and the last topic too. What else can we ever expect. i said from the very start that Emery can not be expected to work miracles with so many of Wengers duds still here; 9 of his from the 11 started yesterday. I have repeatedly also said that our main obstacle is and will remain , KROENKE. He is the war we need to win before we can EVER seriously think about challenging at the very top again. Little point moaning around thr edges of thr problem about Ozil, Iwobi, Xhaka, Musatafi or who ever your bette noire player(s) is or are , WHILE kROENKE OWNS THE CLUB. THE BOTTOM LINE, WHICH BEING A REALIST I never overlook is that we ALL have to force our Kroenke, whatever it takes- a near empty stadium for two years, would be the only method, short of murder, that we can use to succeed. Since no one condones or considers murder, then we either declare all out war on Kroenke OR we continue to hope for fourth place and perhaps a cup. Either THAT level satisfies you OR you take the only action that can possibly work to rid us of our SNAKE OWNER. Up to all of us which we choose, but I say this ; JUST MOANING ON HERE , MERELY LETS OFF STEAM BUT ACHIEVES NOTHING. ONLY ACTION WORKS! We clearly have a top manager and backroom set up BUT miracles need action by ALL OF US. YOU CHOOSE!!!