Another lowest Arteta stat that hasn’t even been mentioned

Another Wenger record broken By DAN SMITH

Arsenal used to have a reputation among Europe of, if nothing else, being one of the most entertaining teams to watch.

Even in Arsene Wenger’s declining years, you could trust that the Gunners would always make chances.

Anyone who witnessed the majority of our performances against Crystal Palace and then Brighton will know there was a genuine struggle to create opportunities to score.

That unfortunately has become the norm, with the Gunners no longer considered to be a side who play a beautiful brand of football.

I used to give our manager the benefit of the doubt, in terms of maybe he was thinking he would fix the defence first and then build from there.

Arteta can claim that he’s made us harder to score against and his squad are now capable of grinding out narrow wins.

Yet for a man who often preaches about the club’s values, he should know there are principles that Arsenal used to have in terms of how the game should be played.

He has tried to educate younger Gooners into thinking that getting to half time goalless with Liverpool is something to be proud about, or that wins over Wolves and Villa are considered progress.

Creative talents like Ozil and Aubameyang essentially had their contracts ripped up while Pepe is being frozen out.

Our young coach prefers to micromanage, barking instructions on the touch line instead of trusting players to have freedom to express themselves.

It’s always been the case that if you want to qualify for the Champions League, you need a striker who is prolific. Arsenal have tried to go against the norm by trying to reach the top 4 by relying on two forwards who won’t even be in North London this time next year.

Pundits, including ex-players Paul Merson and Ian Wright are blaming our lack of firepower for Spurs now being favourites to finish above us.

I have long argued we have regressed since Mr Wenger left, backed up by our two consecutive lowest positions in a quarter of a century.

We have fallen so low that I expect a section of our fanbase to argue this summer that top 6 is progress.

All I ever want is Arsenal to try and be the best version of themselves.

I no longer enjoy watching us.

We have failed to score in 9 fixtures this season with still another 8 left to play.

The fact that it is no longer newsworthy again shows how far the standards have fallen.

Not including Europe, Arteta’s set a new low last season with the team failing to score in 14 domestic games. That never happened in 25 years under Mr Wenger, who’s worst record was two seasons where there were 12 domestic fixtures, we failed to score in.

So, if Arsenal fail to score in three more games this season both of Arteta’s first two full seasons as manager will see us having scored in the fewest games in 25 years.

Dan Smith

How Many Games (Domestic) We Failed To Score In Under Mr Wenger…

17/18- 8

16/17- 5

15/16- 10

14/15 – 5

13/14 – 7

12/13- 8

11/12 -7

10/11-7

9/10- 5

8/9- 10

7/8- 3

6/7- 8

5/6-12

4/5- 6

3/4-6

2/3-2

1/2- 1

00/01- 10

1999/00- 6

1998/1999- 12

1997-1998- 11

1996-1997 – 10

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Tags games goals Wenger

44 Comments

  1. A solid defence is only actually good if you have a balance.

    I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve seen guys are here boasting about how good our defence is. In my opinion a defence can keep a lot of clean sheets but still isn’t good if not part of a fully functional system, which we do not have up front by any means.

    1. IMO the defence(not including Ramsadle ) actually isn’t as good as people keep telling us ,without the heroics of Ramsdale this season and saving our asses we would be a lot lower down the table .
      I see no improvement from the back four than any other time over the last 10 years .

  2. In as much as we all thought we have improved at the back and there’s a a little to back that up. But when you realize how much that our backline cost, then compare to the team below us, then I don’t think it all worth the hype. I mean apart from Man-u and westham. From spurs to Brighton. The goals conceded are very similar and none of them spend close to 100m on their backline including Man-u and westham.
    So the defensive record is nothing but a hype considering how much we spent on them.
    I don’t want to talk about the goals record at all.
    When we couldn’t score a single goal in 4 matches against the same opponent then you know we have real problem at the front.

      1. Why because I don’t write everything is brilliant after a 3-0 defeat to Palace and home loss to Brighton

  3. Your defense is only as good as your midfield and Attack,

    Our defense is under fire because there’s no midfield to break the opponent’s attack, they just keep coming and coming till our 4 man defense breaks down.

    We had better get Miguel Azeez and Elneny into that midfield fast, else we’ll crumble.

  4. Lies lies and cherry picking statistics. Such is the life of the football fan. When the team is doing well the footy fan extolls the virtues of the manager and his charges. When the team is doing poorly the same fan exhorts the manager and players to pack their swag. To prove our point we simply cherry pick the stats. So after two disappointing defeats fans are now dredging up stats “proving” the team has been on a downward spiral throughout Arteta’s reign. Yet six weeks ago the same fans were rolling our stats “proving” Arteta was on the same level as Pep and Klopp. Statistically this is what footy fans do.

    1. If you torture the stats long enough, they’ll tell you what you want to hear!

      Only 2 things matter to me:

      1 – Do I enjoy watching our football on game day (we have patches of brilliance but overall we rarely play well for a full game so no)

      2 – League position at the end of the season (potential ending spot looks to be dropping)

      1. Agree with this post. I too, no longer enjoy watching games. I would like us to win the league, champions league and the FA cup, but we’re way off of that. We’re going to lose games, I accept that, but at the end of the game even if we win, I want be elated and say great game we played really well, and if we lost, at least we played well and maybe we we’re just unlucky. At the moment all I get is a feeling of despondency.

        1. I too had an acceptance sometime before that the days of enjoyable football are long gone. Nonetheless I was enjoying our run and was even dreaming of 3rd. Now not so sure anymore.

    2. If the team wins the coach gets the credits and applauses. And when the same team loses the coach should get the criticism simple. Or are the fans to blame for Artera and Edu not recruiting during winter transfer to replace the players they sold and loaned. Only one injury against CP and the center could no longer hold.

  5. Next game why not try this team…
    Ramsdale
    Cedric. White. Gab tavares
    Elneney. Xakai
    Odegarrd
    Saka. Pepe. Martinelle

  6. Arsenal and Arteta has gamble

    The jury is still out on this one.
    Playing with such a dangerously thin squad, is always going to be risky.

    We are not beautiful to watch and playing well now and that could be down to the disruption of our starting eleven.

    Their is a massive problem that has nothing to do with how the team is coach, how can we allow Guendouzi, Mavropanos to leave for peanuts, now we are sweating on Saliba.

  7. If people want to be entertained try going to the theatre or a concert, as professional sport is all about winning.

  8. Wenger was a better Manager than Arteta is, agreed

    Wenger never compromised with his attacking approach, agreed

    Wenger did very well to finish top 4 on many occasions with that attacking approach, despite no longer having players like Anelka, Henry, Bergkamp, Pires & Ljunberg, agreed

    Spurs have more chance than us now to finish 4th because they have Son & Kane and we don’t, agreed

    Aubamayang let Arteta down by not being able to score goals prolifically after signing his new deal despite Arteta’s loyalty in continually picking him, agreed

  9. Here’s a stat for Dan Smith and all the other AKBs. Wenger is the only Arsenal manager in the long history of the club to go 9 years without winning a trophy and not get the sack !

      1. If Arteta went 9 years without a trophy the Arteta fan club would call it progress and demand a statue outside the Emirates.

    1. But which top manager would have sacrificed there career sky rocketing when real madrid et al wanted him. Only Wenger. Respect. That’s all I will say. See how quick Conte jump ship when Inter couldn’t spend big. See how quick Ancelotti left Everton. See how soon Xavi jump to coach the great Barca. See how quick Pep jump to coach the richest club in the world Man city cause he knew he would get loads to spend. See how fast Champions league winner of Porto grab the chance to take over oil money Chelsea. Respect. That’s all am saying. The man made some mistakes with arsenal but please,RESPECT.

  10. If you guys can disrespect our legends like Henry and co, I can’t be surprise of that of wenger.
    He got pep idea.
    He’s the new klopp.
    Now he’s better than Wenger simply because wenger went 9 years drought??.
    Who’s next ? That must be Alex Ferguson.
    I forgot many use Ferguson not getting fired as an example too. So he’s going to turn sir Alex
    How about Mourinho?? Well our new goat has fix our defence. It’s high time he’s compare to Jose too .

  11. Our football have a lot to be desired of. The reason why we concede less and even score less is not that the defense is made much better by arteta. The fact is that when arsenal have the ball we pass between defensive midfielder to defense to the keeper and again and again for like about 45 seconds each time which eats up about 25 minutes of the 90 minutes. That leaves arsenal with less time to attack and less time to be vulnerable to the opposition as well. This to some may seem like it is been in control of the match and bossing possession but in reality it’s being scared of the opposition and in essence blunting arsenals attack. I say it a lot the build up play from arsenal is passive and most time reactive when the opposition scores. Arteta needs to change that but I don’t see it happening with his micro management.

  12. Like the possession stat, the entertaining stat is not only meaningless, but extremely deceptive.

    Yes, under Wenger we played the most attractive in Europe along with Barcelona, but we did go 9 years straight without a single trophy. We did nothing in the league for 13 years straight, we were consistently humiliated in Europe.

    1. but surely playing enterttaining football and not challenging for the title is better then boring football and not challeging for the title

  13. “Even in Arsene Wenger’s declining years, you could trust that the Gunners would always make chances.”
    Really? I remember a lot of stinkers when wenger was still in charge. We might make a chance at the end, but we weren’t always good to watch at all. As with this team, many games where the team couldn’t get any cohesion in their passing, and when the wrong players were out injured, the games could be a real difficult watch.

    I don’t exactly disagree with the points about arteta, although I think it’s a bit overblown – last two games have been awful, but we were on a good run before that and weren’t bad to watch. It’s obvious the squad is paper thin, and heavily reliant on certain players being fit (as above).

    Should mention though, Arsenal had traditions before wenger and the next time we do become a top level side, I don’t expect it will be through following the wenger-way, at least not the late stage wenger-way. We’re missing a bit of mental toughness (although that has improved imo), experience and squad depth.

  14. Let’s wait till end of the season, qualify for the champions league keep him, failure to qualify then sack him.

  15. Your such a bunch of moany b,tches. It takes time to build a team. Have some patience, idiots. It’s a young side with gifted players who are fighting for champions league spot.
    Who honestly thought we would be fighting for fourth at the start of the season.
    2 to 3 years and these players will be more mature and hitting peak times in there careers. I don’t know what kind of miracle manager signing you think is out there, that will get us competing against liv/ Manc after one transfer market.

  16. Defence is getting poorer with injuries and MA’s non-working formations and offense is terrible.

  17. I don’t believe it is useful to compare different situations and periods because of changing circumstances. It is not helpful to mourn about missed opportunities. We need to focus on the immediate future. What must Arteta and the team do to return to winning ways? My view is that we need to shore up the midfield because it the weakest spot currently. This means Xhaka should return to midfield and team up with Lokonga. Tavares should return to left back because he has not been given enough chance to play. All of us remember how good Tavares was at the beginning of his Arsenal career. At one time he was even preferred to Tierney! So what has gone wrong? I think he is rusty because of not playing competitive games. With a few more games he will return to his best. The same generosity should not be extended to Nketiah who has failed to justify why he should be in the starting line up. Every time he is brought on he never shows up. The manager should also begin to give Pepe more playing time because he is by far better than Nketiah. In fact I think Pepe has a similar problem to Tavares, lack of playing time.

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