Arsenal played out a 2-2 draw against Wolves this evening in a game they needed to win at all costs. The Gunners approached the fixture determined to avoid the struggles of their previous meeting with the bottom-ranked side, when they had produced a lacklustre performance.
From the outset, Arsenal set the tone. Bukayo Saka opened the scoring after just five minutes, signalling that the visitors were intent on controlling the game. Wolves, accustomed to chasing matches this season, responded with periods of possession and attacking intent, determined not to make victory easy for their opponents. Arsenal remained vigilant defensively while seeking to extend their lead.
Arsenal Take Control Early
After the interval, Piero Hincapie added a second goal for Arsenal, giving the team a seemingly comfortable advantage. At that stage, the Gunners appeared well placed to secure maximum points and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table. Wolves, however, remained competitive and quickly reduced the deficit within five minutes, reigniting hope among their supporters. The match then became a contest of end-to-end play, with both sides pressing for the next decisive goal.
Wolves Fight Back Late
The contest ended dramatically when Arsenal conceded a late equaliser, credited as an own goal to Riccardo Calafiori. The result leaves Arsenal frustrated, as they had been in a strong position to claim victory. Concerns also arose when Bukayo Saka was forced off through injury, with the Gunners hoping that the setback is not serious. Wolves, despite their low position in the table, demonstrated resilience and the ability to capitalise on key moments, ensuring a share of the spoils.
The draw reflects the unpredictable nature of the fixture and serves as a reminder that even top teams must remain alert against lower-ranked opponents. Arsenal will now look to regroup and focus on maintaining their position at the summit, while Wolves can take confidence from a hard-fought performance against one of the league’s leading sides.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
The amount of time we gave the ball away, didn’t challenge for 50/50s, we were static in reacting to transition, the players own this from their individual abject performances.
@Moon Girl
Real Talk…
Let me guess…..a point gained not 2 points dropped?? Some fans here will be thrilled about this
4 draws and a loss in our last 7 games, pathetic!
No one will be comfortable with this, other than maybe the Arteta out brigade. Honestly, and despite a lot of this sorry debacle being on the players themselves, given what our team is obviously capable of, the AO position is starting to look more relatable. If only we had any plausible alternative.
Fail to win the Premier League and or UCL in May? Arteta walks. I’ve had enough
You’re right
Reality is Arteta will stay and you are free to walk out from supporting the club. Rather finish second in the league than win a European trophy and be fighting with the relegation battlers (aka the white half of London). The League cup and FA cup do not bring in much revenue if you win it. Palace won the FA last year and where are they? 13th! To win either the EPL or UCL we need to spend another billion, will Stan sanction that spend? Trophies are not everything in the game or else there would not be 92 professional football clubs in the country.
oh it starts …..the trophies are not everything narrative
I am still waiting to see Arteta prove me wrong by winning either PL or CL. When some of criticised Arteta it seems we hate him. But the truth is, he is naive and sometimes don’t really know what he wants. He has anything and everything he wanted. Why is it that he cannot instill killer instinct to he his players? We have a PL proven second keeper, why can’t he rest Raya in some matches? Raya is good no doubt, but he is making a lot of mistakes lately. Those points we dropped at Forest, Brentford and Wolves will deny us the trophy except, it is already ordained that Arsenal will lift the trophy.
Another billion?? You must be absolutely kidding me. No way!
Another billion? Nah. What we need to win either the EPL or UCL is to give tactical genius Arteta a 20 year contract, unlimited phases and unlimited funds. That’s would make more sense than a mere billion.
You are right though. Trophies are not everything.
We have made close to £90m from CL. Top 4 is a bed of roses and certainly no need to rock the boat. Who needs a trophy?
We are playing some really boring football but we have the best goal difference in the league. Everyone’s chipping in with the goals that it feels like the Invincibles were overrated to have done it with a superstar forward like Thierry Henry. We have no need for a superstar like Henry in our current squad.
We are rich enough now and the Kroenkes are happy to spend unlike before, allowing us to offer obscene wages to retain our top players. Gone were the days of austerity when we kept losing our top players to richer clubs. There’s not a worry in the world if we don’t win a trophy. No one is leaving as long as we pay them well enough.
We are in such great shape so let’s all stop getting our panties in a bunch about winning trophies. We really don’t need to win anything to maintain the stature of this great club. You are absolutely spot on mate
sushi, don’t forget the super star No 10 named Denis Bergkamp, providing goals and assists.
Even spend a billion, we will not win anything with Arteta as manger…. he is a failure… all wriiten on his face….
The team played well. Some players like Martineli got knackered and should have been replaced to protect that right wing. Sad that we need to learn to mix it up, shoot from a distance is no crime. Rice should be encouraged to shoot. There games where you have to consider height in the midfield and give a chance to Norgard.
But but but the weather was bad, the ref gave wolves everything, we didn’t get to go to Dubai this year, this isn’t on the manager, we’re still top. No more excuses this club needs to move on from Arteta at the end of the season if we miss out on the league title which I think we will. This does not look like champions and the football is abysmal. I really don’t see why Arsenal fans are so protective of this manager, he has had everything at his disposal, money, the players he wanted, no pressure, a god like status and still we get served up this crap.
It wasn’t the rain or sodden pitch, the sluggishness was in the Arsenal players heads.
ARTETA OUT!!!
That clown has overstayed.
Wouldn’t have watched this game if the Australian 7.00AM starting time hadn’t been favourable. Nothing really to look forward to. A routine win, Ha Ha. Artetaball sideways and backwards and the silky skills from the likes of Gyorkes, Mandouke, Martinelli and co. As I’ve bored everyone to death already, Arteta is not a good judge of footballers. He is after all the man who signed Viera and keeps bringing central defenders to ty club. He has overloaded the squad and starting eleven with centre halves. The attack along the flanks is static with so many passes being misdirected. Ncapie got a goal today but we’ll probably have to wait another three seasons before he scores again. We definitely shouldn’t take up the option to buy this guy. Let’s look for a real wingback with speed and passing skills. Similarly Timber is such a waste when coming forward. So many misdirected passes and off target shots which just slow the game down and hand the ball back to the opposition. The midfield is done., crumbling weak as, useless.Nothing, zilch zero. No bite no creativity, no control. Why is it that in the final stages of a game we tend to lose the majority of 50/50 balls. One of my takes is that we have too many centre halves whose main skill set is to nod the ball on rather than win it and steady play. Good luck for the remainder of the season lads but I fear the negative consequences are huge and it’s going y be a painful watch for us loyal fans.
Shocking stuff, 3 goals conceded home and away against one of the worst teams ever in the premier league era, we needed a last minute own goal to beat this lot at home! That game had league over vibes, if we lose the league cup final to city then I think it’s well and truly done, psychologically that will be a crushing blow to lose a cup final to them and I don’t see how the players would get themselves up for the rest of the season if that were to happen.
Tried to spare some of you this pain in January when all the signs were pointing towards this. I remain optimistic we can put in a performance for the league cup match and not end this without any trophies. Even UCL I am more optimistic than I ever was for the league after Liverpool match answered all my questions. Onward and upward. Silverware opportunities are still out there folks.
We canconcentrate on the cups and CL now. PL is Citys to lose so no need to stress it anymore.
What are you on about it being City’s to lose, it’s ours to lose. If we lose against spurs and City win against Newcastle we are still 2 points ahead and it’s therefore still ours to lose!
Not really when they have a game in hand
Listening to Alan Smith as I write this. He sounds as incredulous as I feel inside.
How could an early lead descend into such a diabolical show? To then get a second after an improving Wolves second half, how could they then dither and fart about and allow them back into contention?
Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful.
I don’t like to name names, but watching Eze clapping at the end with no obvious sign of dismay has left me cold.
Eze’s life time ambition is to play for a big club and champions league football before retirement.
He has already achieved his lifetime goal when arsenal signed d him. He is a fulfilled man already.
He careless about anything else. Any time he is on the pitch, he plays to enjoy himself not minding if his performance improve the team or not.
Why is he surprised. It has been story of our lives as Arsenal fans.
I thought it started early – if we’d been feeling ruthless we’d have scored 3 in the first 10 minutes (one rebound attempt from martinelli stuck out to me in particular, another chance that rice took which I thought was too casual) but we didn’t. Wolves looked beaten at the start but we let them grow into it by failing to be ruthless, then the pressure started to come from their ground.
It amazes me how teams like ours can become so complacent – this happens all the time, you can’t let poor EPL teams have hope because even the worst teams have good players who can do damage when motivated.
Well put
SueP do you see why I don’t trust this team and want this manager gone? Or do we need to wait till May when we are trophies again to talk about the real problems? They weren’t even angry at full time. I’ve seen it so many times before. I don’t have an agenda… I just wouldn’t miss nobody from this team if they left tomorrow.
Konstantin
Are you suggesting we give Arteta the heave-ho now? I hope not as there are still some miles left in the season and fortunes can change. Arteta should be judged at the end of the season as that’s when the trophies are handed out.
I’m just as disappointed as you are on this and a few other performances. Whether the media acclaim has gone to their heads, or nerves, I don’t know, but from an early lead to scrapping at the end needs addressing pretty damn quick by Arteta.
This is 6 seasons of this dross. I’ve seen better football with Denilson and Alex Song in midfield and I considered those player average… They would walk into our midfield right now.
There’s more to play, but watching how we’ve played since the start of the year, what gives you confidence Arteta will change anything? He’s been here 6 years. I’ve followed this club 22 years, because I like good football and I haven’t seen it in 8-9 years. If we don’t win one of the big 2 major trophies, he should go without question. No ifs, no buts…
I’d sack him now, to answer your question. I’d put somebody brave enough to try something new. Every attacking player we’ve signed has looked awful under Mikel. Who’s fault is that?
Come on the football club is surely bigger than Arteta? What charm has he cast on you that you back him so much?
Well said Konstantin 👍 me too I’d get rid of him last night he’s an average overhyped assistant coach pretending to be a manager! Bournemouth play better football than us and they don’t need a billion quid squad imagine what a competent manager could do with the funds this guy has had and blown? I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have wasted millions on Chelsea rejects over the years! Keep this manager and he’ll do more damage than good at this club.. Saka already looks to be finished! What will it be next season ? Garnacho, Jamie Gittens and 6 more CBS and goalkeeper! Nah I’ve had enough of Arteta 6 years plus and counting it’s time for a new direction.
It’s obvious that I have supported Arteta, but contrary to what you think, he has no hold over me whatsoever. I appreciate how he, with support from the board has improved the outlook.
Supporting Arsenal for 22 years is indeed a long time. I first started going to Highbury around 1968 with my parents so I’ve got a touch more longevity and I’ve seen a lot worse than you’re complaining about so I tend not to get hysterical too quickly which seems to be a state of mind you inhabit.
It was a terrible night. Can’t whitewash the obvious. Many are reacting to a poor performance. The opposition party in the UK can spout about what they would do but haven’t got the task of delivering. You are saying sack Arteta without naming names or considering how it can be achieved. It’s a hollow argument and is basically you letting off steam. I’m not suggesting that Arteta shouldn’t be looking over his shoulder but to consider sacking him now would send out the worst possible message from the board
Konstantin
I know you are angry like all of us, but come on, let’s be real. If Arteta is sacked now, which coach will help us win the league in the next few months
Again, as much as Arteta has blundered alot in those 6 years, why would you blame him for Martinelli’s miss and Raya’s school boy mistake. Let us get real sometimes
Finally, let’s forget about good football and concentrate on winning trophies. Good football will not win you anything. Between 2006 and 2018, we played the best football ever. But what did we achieve? Weren’t we receiving thrashings left, right and center Eg 8-2 against Man United, 6-0 against Chelsea? For me, I would wait until the season ends. If we don’t win the titles, then we get someone like Luis Enrique
Dire. I thought when we went 1 up it was going to be a goal fest, Wolves looked wide open. Then we sat back side/back passing as usual. That seems to be clear tactics. But the standard of play also dropped through the floor. Too many passengers. Gyokeres usual passenger, but plenty of bad performances today.
Those players seem like passages to many of us because Arteta’s football and tactics made them so. He complicates simple things.
To win a football match is easy, out score your opponents and kill the game when opportunities present themselves. We won’t tried to score unless the opponents have all their players in their box.
What I don’t understand is that we now have the ability with players like Eze, Gyokeres and Madueke added to play rapidly in transition, attack more directly and pummel defensively weak teams like Wolves. We showed it against Wigan, as an example. We play better in the Champions League.
Repeatedly for one or other reason – either Arteta playing it too safe (PL title trauma?) or players being complacent, or trying to take on too many opponents at once rather than pass, or not playing balls into the striker, etc, etc, we seem to have lost our attacking mojo in too many games we should be putting to bed. It’s not title contender behaviour!
or are players not as good as some make out ?
Gyokeres best example of that. Players who played with him in other English teams said he was just average, and he has indeed looked just average at PL level. Not a guy to unlock low blocks.
Premier League defenses are so good now, and we constantly come up against low blocks. We’ve looked better against teams like Wigan and Champions League teams where its more open.
They will talk about what a special first goal from Wolves. But it wasn’t. Just a straightforward training ground, given all time in the world, curl into top corner. If Califiori started at left back, we would not have lost tonight. Hincape shuts nothing down or gets tight enough. He put his hands behind his back and just stood there, yards from the player. He might have been a training ground traffic cone. And that was the key moment of the night, the first time on the night we lost control we never got back.
Oh pls stop and spare me those misplaced excuses. Was Hincapie the reason the entire team and choose to switched off after Saka’s goals? Didn’t Hincapie score
Hincapie DID score but then he switched off for the first goal, which started the rot.
It was poor defending.
That’s epl for you. It has to be competitive to stand above all. Arsenal will win the league. Say it’s crazy, but we re in crazy times.
😂 You must be trolling 😂
And it’s not even funny 😡🤣
II am truly devestated.. That feels like the end of it. I know iits not. But how do things get better from here.?
Support your team all season only for them to put in a performance like that
That is not 1 point gained but 2 points dropped. Why does Zubimendi play instead of Norgaard?
MA is not ruthless. He has his favourites and that is the reason why we could loose the PL.
As an AFC supporter I am still not giving up hope and praying that Arteta proves me wrong and I have egg on my face.
I would buddy! You can’t win a league title playing football like this, scoring a goal and defending for your lives! Arteta ball 👏 every game is a slug fest and once the pressure is on this team fold every time, come April and this team will be miles off it and then the Arteta cultists will write off another season like it’s nothing.. oh we just ran out of steam we go again next season rinse and repeat.
@ Kev
Your points are very clear and I agree with most of them especially the slug fest we play. This is worse than George Graham football when we were called the most boring team but we had a winning mentality. Now we have boredom without trophies.
I still cannot understand why Arteta will not play Norgaard. The defence gets proper protection.
Zubimendi should have been played in Saka’s position in the absence of Odegaard. He might even become better than Odegaard in that position but not as a DM.
This performance was the worst this season, slow , lazy, no ambition shown against a team that has been dreadful all season. Arteta has made these players believe that they have to just show up and defend and slow the play down and not play football. I think he has become such an arrogant leader who behaves as if he has won everything. What a load of crap
💯 agree with that 👌
I wouldn’t even have Gyokeres in the match squad once Kai is fit.
The amount of game time Goykeres is out there, is costing us the title push.
If we brought in someone for £25M who scored 5 goals in 35 games last season, but can hold a ball up, the team would be playing far better football.
Moon Girl
Maybe you are right.
But, isn’t the Arsenal fans who wanted the coach to sign the same Gyokeres? Yet we knew his style of play would force us to change ours?
Fair play to Wolves, but the game really should’ve been put to bed after Saka’s early goal!!! But no, there’s a pattern – going all defensive and allowing the opposition back in! I really do wonder if they want this title. As there was no desire to win this game – showed more fight after the final whistle!!! I’m so pi$$ed off it’s rinse and repeat every bloody season
Arteta is not reliable to win trophy he couldn’t win anything playing for everton, he should be sacked if he doesn’t win the premier league
Maybe if we give him more money lol. 1bill spent and we have the worst attack I’ve seen in ages. 65mill Gyokeres, 50mill Madueke, went into another season with Trossard/martinelli after both of them have failed to nail down a starting spot for almost 3 seasons. Saka ran into the ground, overpaid for Havertz, Odegaard ???, Eze flopping, Nwaneri deemed not better than what we currently have and loaned out. Lets see how many defenders we bring in again this summer.
Arteta is a Terminator. He is currently in self terminating mode. He just can’t put the pieces together🙆🙆🙆🙆
Timbers worst performance of the season.
Why?
Physical or mental?
Why just Timber, I could name more.
Please overlook her comments. She is just jumping from one player to another deflecting the blame the coach.
Always knew Gabriel will cost us one day,never rated him&Saka is too small to be playing in the midfield&definetely not a captain material.
I am not a MA fan but I have always given him the benefit of doubt but after this game, he has completely lost me unless he changes his approach. Really gutted as we are letting the league slip away from such a strong position.
We won’t win sod all unless we get rid of Arteta, I’ll probably get slaughtered for saying it but he is so negative. Man city massive favourites now and tonight was just plain and simple EMBARRASSING for our club
No fight
No heart
No desire, and all 3 not for the first time. Spurs, Liverpool and all of the other haters will be laughing there heads off tonight after watching us bottle it yet AGAIN
After 80 mins Martinelli looked really tired. I was thinking: Arteta, give Norgard a few minutes! But Arteta is a stubborn average manager, keeping the same tactics, incapable of reading a game.
He was stubborn to keep Nketiah for years and lose at least one title. Now he insists with Gyokeres. It looks like both have to go in the summer.
Between them,Gabriel and Raya messed up big time.Strange how a number of our opponents have managed to score from around 25 yards.? Could our Keeper,s lack of stature have something to do with this?.A hugely disappointing result which could cost us dear i’m afraid.
He is a great shot stopper but not great at controlling his area.
Very very bizarre and embarrassing, a disappointing performance from a lilly livered team that do lack ruthlessness, not truly ambitious for glory, group of pretenders, no proven desire, thirst or hunger for laurels. The product of over pampered and over protected average manager. Unimaginable insipid performance, it’s only these clawn of Arsenal manager and players will prefer to switch off ignition of a boarded plane that is already in flight and believe that they’ll alight safely at their destination. Thank God all excuses by the Arteta cultists have been exhausted because we have squad debt now. Arteta and his players by choosing to switch of, remove legs from throttle pedal while match is still on shows lack of purpose and commitment and it’s only in Arsenal that it’s a norm. Arteta would have been long gone in other clubs by now.
Facts 👌
You’re right. Raya positioning for the first goal was awkward. Always quick to go off his line. If he had been within his line, he would have been able to tip the ball over
Lets get this straight NOW. If we win the league it will be down to Arteta. BUT if we don’t, IT WILL NOT BE DOWN TO THE REFS, IT WILL BE NOT DOWN TO INJURIES, IT WILL NOT BE DOWN TO A WEAK SQUAD, AND IT WILL BE DOWN TO THE TACTICS AND NEGATIVE WAY WE PLAY FOOTBALL. And that is yet again as it has been these last 3 season, down to one man. The architect!!!!!
Yeah exactly. If he gets it over the line, we bow to the Architect. If he doesn’t, it’s because when one goal up his team didn’t win enough games from there.
So when a player makes a mistake that leads to a goal and costs us points it’s down to the manager ? 😂😂
When we have been so negative before then, and (proven in the past) when it breaks down time and again under pressure, yes. We were 2 goals up and could not control the game. It should have been egg and milk against a poor Wolves team from that point but one goal goes in and we look like amateurs. Wolves looked better than our £ 1billion outfit.
Yes. Gabriel made a mistake tonight, it’s a simple catch for the keeper who’s shouting at him to leave it. That’s on Big Gabi.
The fact we didn’t build on the two nil up, we don’t play these games like it’s a cup final, we coast on one goal leads we can turn into bigger ones, so every last minute goal is a disaster, and draw too many. That’s on the manager.
The TV blamed Raya, Gabriel had it easily covered. I tend to agree. I Raya didn’t come Gabriel clears it.
If Raya doesn’t come.
Wolves late attack, rightly as they have no prem quality strikers, has failed. There is zero danger on the Arsenal goal.
That’s a keepers ball if defender obeys shout. Keeper then falls on it… one minute later boots it right up the field.
Big Gabi heads it where,? And then what?
But we played from the very first minute like a side happy with a one nil or two one win, away at bottom club Wolves. And it’s that mentality that cost us the two precious points.
That’s not what I asked. A manager is not to blame when players make mistakes.
3 seasons ago Arteta broke the club record for goals scored in the prem 91. Invincibles scored 73, with 1 more point than that 91 team with 3 less conceeded (suggesting actually more defensive) that would have had them 2nd that year too to City by 1 point instead of 2, 91 team would have won the league by 10 points invincibles year.
Currently we are top scorers in the cl, top from open play in the cl and 2nd scorers in the league. 4th from open play 1 behind united and 2 behind Liverpool (Liverpool are top for setplay goals in the cl by 3 btw and way behind open play.) Not sure where this idea we are negative comes from.
Such a weird narrative that doesn’t add up when compared to Wenger when you look at goals. I always suggest everyone goes and watchs Henry’s goal against spurs that the celebration of is immortalised in a statue outside the stadium. Burnley wouldn’t defend that poorly now. Zidanes best scoring season was 10 in Ligue 1, only time he ever hit double figures in a league in a season, best assists was 9 with Madrid once. Bergkamp magic as his touch was, had his best season with us scoring 16/7 assists. In 11 years he hit double figures for goals in the league 4/11 times, 11/11/12/16, never went above 7 for assists. People’s memories are wonky when it comes to that era. Gyokeres needs 4 goals in the league to tie Bergkamps 2nd best scoring season, 3 for his 3rd.
Theo Walcott is our 12th highest goalscorer in history. Saka is 26th just and will take over Sanchez this season and likely Pires too. Walcott/Merson/Giroud have more goals for Arsenal than Pires/Ljungberg/Auba/Sanchez.
Not like for like, Bergkamp was a No.10.
That’s just silly. Winning a title cannot be down to just one person; though the manager is important. You need a whole team. Likewise, if you don’t win a title there are several factors that can influence the outcomes over the course of a season.
Why do managers get sacked then?
Reggie,
At the end of the day the buck stops with the manager. How many times have a complete team been sacked, never.
So the obvious target is the manager. Always has been and always will be.
👍 we talk so much sense😇
I disagree it’s in Man City’s hands now,win every game and it’s theirs – it’s illogical Captain. One of those matches is against us. If we win every game it’s ours.
Moon Girl,
It’s in both their hands at this moment in time.
Yeah. That’s more logical. It’s in both their hands at once.
Face it – we’re not winning sod all this season.
Arteta might as well face the facts: he’s not good enough to take us to another level. That is, winning cups consistently. Getting fed up with this. The ribbing will be endless. Just wake me up when the season is over.
(I am prepared to eat my words – but I’m not counting on anything any more)!
Can’t I have trust or hope with Arsenal? Am about to have heart attack God help me. If Man City is at the top of the league table with 6 points, no club will come close, but when Arsenal is leading with 20 points even 4th position will stil have hope of wining the league.
Martinelli and Timber had no business playing 90 minutes as they were both visibly tired&uninterested and we 2 extra subs in the bench.I wonder how Arteta and his coaching staff view football because i see to be clueless.
Absolutely woeful they may as well hand City the trophy. We are dithering every time we get the ball. The tank seems to have run dry no free flow football. True champions have desire where is this teams? Maybe we should get the ladies to show us how to win champions league.
I still reckon Arsenal for the title. Computer gave it to us by 8 points the other day, and I’m sure we will still get more than the 82 points the computer reckoned.
I also disagree Man City will finish strongly because the club finished strongly the last 4 years. This Man City team has not finished strongly the last 4 years. It never has. It’s not full of title winners. It’s not settled in obvious first 11 and how to play like the previous 4 seasons. It’s a new era at City.
And Haarland is injured.
You said we were going to take off now and win 11/12 and only lose to Man City. Here we are in the first of those 12 games already dropping points.
I would’ve said they could still win it but there is no style of play. Only way to win is to hope Man City also stay inconsistent which I doubt.
I think they can stay inconsistent but we are not doing our job.
Yes. I said we would win every game except defeat at Man City. But putting in the worst performance of the season tonight made mockery of that run in prediction, because this is the easiest match of our run in!
Tonight was a massively disjointed team performance. Off ball sluggish movement, sluggish press, lack of challenges. On ball far too slow. Losing possession and wayward passes is off the benchmark the team has set itself. There was little joined up team play from 20 minutes. Both goals conceded were from horrendous mistakes from us. The first we conceded easiest the worst, the amount of our players letting Wolves play so easily.
But so much of the season played, we can see patterns the management should be learning from – if they weren’t wedded to such favouritism. We all agree, it’s not a one off tonight that –
It takes an age to move the ball, by then players are marked out of space or double teamed. The ball needs to switch flanks quicker, and it so easily can, if Manager tells his players to do that.
Gyokeres is a flop. Despair if he starts any remaining Prem game this season (certainly his last season at this club) as it’s just wasting our time and title chance.
Zubimendi can’t tackle or defend so shouldn’t play every game or situation at 6 for us. Why isn’t he subbed more?
We were better at Sunderland against a better side than Wolves, but the finish is identical – two points dropped because shattered players still on pitch, when fresh legs on bench allowed opponents time and space to play.
Why did you think we would win 11/12 of the remaining fixtures? The negatives you mentioned in the comment above is the story of the season barring a few good games here and there. There have been too many poor games compared to the number of good games.
Then first game against Wolves should’ve been a great warning. Own goal scored a double for us at the Emirates. We should have already grown as a squad by now since the first game vs Wolves, but we are worse.
They are not a good team, there’s a reason why they are going to be relegated. We were atrocious apart from the first half hour, by the second half hour we had got our slippers on, even though we got a goal, and by the third we were fully in bed asleep.
But can we do our job?
but no longer a mountain to climb ?
that’s changed after one game ?
The league is a mountain to climb and City still can’t win it. Arsenal can only lose it.
makes zero.sense
it’s Feb and in City’s hands now as much as ours so of course they can win it
have a manager and and players who know how to get over the line in a Prem title race
No its 100 % sense. You choose to differ just for the sake of it.
Reggie,
I agree with quite a lot of you’re posts to be fare. But regards you’re quote that City can’t win it, Arsenal can only lose it.
At this moment it’s simply not true my friend. Their both in the same situation. Win all their remaining games, and the title is theirs. If that happens for one of them, they would have won it.
I personally doubt that either of them will go unbeaten for the rest of the season, but sadly if one did and you pushed me to choose, I think City would be more likely at this stage.
That said, I truly hope I’m wrong. 🤞🤷♂️👍
The league is still in our hands if we do our job. City can not do anything, if we win our games.
If we do not win the league this season, we never will with Arteta. He has every advantage and had every advantage.
@Reggie
But, he’s the guy “everyone” wanted. The right fit for the club. Just sayin…
Then prove it, thats what I say.
@Reggie
Yep…👍🏾
Arteta is so stubborn and naive you have Norgaard,Mosquera and Ben white at your disposal yet you can’t use them… it’s the high time you drop Saliba,Martinelli,Timber and Zubimendi.
Such a disappointment, both in the style of play and the result.
Can only hope that this awful display will make the manager and players realize what they are in danger of throwing away and the best way to show they understand, is to win the local derby.
It’s still in our hands, but it’s slipping away – we need to respond!!
Code red. Inexplicable performance against a team with one of the worst records in PL history – especially given what is at stake.
They should’ve learned after first game vs Wolves. Two own goals were needed to win that match at Emirates.
They will not learn.
It is just amazing @Ken1945 that, it seems the players and coach aren’t into grips what is on the line. We should by now be strolling to the title but alas!! We score and then fail to control the game. We are trying hard bottling this one, and there is no excuse for what we are witnessing.
Ken1945,
This is becoming a common theme regards draws. And as yet the team and the manager don’t seem to be learning.
Must we always wait to respond Ken. Those points lost at forest, brentford and now wolves will hunt us and make us to lose the PL. The problem with this team is Arteta. He is naive and arrogant. Most coaches in premier league will win the trophy with his squad. Why would he have players without playing them? What is the offence of Nogaard? Give all your players game time in order to boost their confidence but he would not listen. He continues to play certain favorite players and when they got injured, he will play the forgotten rustic players who go on to play rubbish. This has been the story Eze. Today, fans are blaming him.
Again, i don’t agree with moongirl. A coach should know how to play to accomodate a particular player. The issue here is lack of killer instinct. The coach is afraid of killing off the game. He is always contented with low scores. A chelsea or man city team would have roasted Wigan over the weekend and Wolves. He likes defending one goal advantage.
I want to repeat my opinion on Arteta i have held in the last three seasons and that is: Arsenal will not win any major title under Arteta unless he become less of arrogance and favoritism and is ready to listen and learn. Without him changing approach to games, he will not win PL. Let him prove me wrong.
Henson Gunner
City are huge threat. The two summer hires have fitted in seemlessly, refreshed the team, and Haarland back in form. Meanwhile, we are rapidly advancing backwards. Tactics too negative and too many passengers.
Harlaand injured the last two games.
Let’s keep an eye if he turns up and looks okay Saturday night.
Cherki, Dogoo and Reindeer blow hot and cold in the most frustrating way, yet Foden can’t shift them for starts, which is a managerial mistake.
And there has been nothing seamless of, in or around the Man City defence for 16 months now. Whoever they play, there’s alarming moments of being wide open.
@reggie and moon girl
I few draw or loose Sunday the title is CIty’s
We can dream but the group is absolutely in shambles
except Declan who should be captain tomorrow.
Everyone jumped on the band wagon that we recruited
well but lmk if Eze/Gyokeres/Madueke have produced anything to help us get over the line . Whoever paid this
$$$ for these players must be hang in city square at high noon.
We should have sold Martinelli when he had some value along with Jesus and bought a CF and a winger that can produce goals. Watch CL yesterday and the variety of attacking options at clubs like PSG/Bayern/Real/Barca
is miles ahead of ours. And our famous defense can’t hold Wolves now for 30 minutes. I said after the Brentford game that we looked nervous and especially Gabriel and today’s equalizer proves the point. No communication and rushed decisions.
Arteta can’t influence the match as the subs are like for like and have no effect. The Saka experiment is such a brain fart and is testament to Artetas own inability to understand that experimenting vs Wigan is not the same as playing PL in a horrible conditions away game.
But what do we know . He is smarter than all of us.
Pathetic from mangers to players aside from Rice AGAIN.
Although exactly the same outcome, The Brentford game cannot be compared to the Wolves one, as Brentford are very strong team. City won one nil there, Chelsea drew, Liverpool, Villa, Man Utd all lost. We played well at Brentford. Apart from Gyokeres. The two performances were chalk and cheese.
It’s not a huge amount of goals this Arsenal Team needs from a number 9, it’s the technical ability and strength to hold the ball up would make all the difference to quick attacks against low blocks.
Our title hopes are diminishing. The players and manager are putting shit performances recently. How many cheap balls we gave away in the second half? Particularly, Timber and Martineli. The biggest worry is Trossard’s decline. I wonder why Arteta never trust Nørgaard and latter’s experience is made for these kind of matches.Arteta”s controlled tactics will never take us anywhere.
Wolves had 1 shot on target and scored 2 that’s just unlucky. We are still clear in the league by 2 if and it is if City beat Palace. A lot is being made of the trip we have to the Ethiad but they haven’t won a game against us in 3 years. Last 104 games in the league they are 5 points behind us if they beat palace it will be 3 behind 105. Stop worrying so much.
Its fascinating how the narrative from social/msm media has made Arsenal fans not realise how good we are and have been last 3 years. Obviously counts for nothing without trophies but we are in everything and have been top of everything you can be top of this season.
no mate the opposite
we are not as good as we think we are
Or even most of the pundits think we are.
Because we look good on paper, but we’re just not consistent enough, and obviously not great in attacking phases, at least in the Prem.
mate fans on here said our manager was tactically superior to Mr Wenger, had surpassed Pep Guardiola and why can’t we win quadruple ?
And Arteta is not so good as so.e fans made him to believe
Angus they hadn’t won at Anfield since covid.! Our so called best defense has dropped quiet some points from winning positions. That’s of great concern now. And we haven’t even started on how we are currently playing! Even after our formation change
Declan Rice looked like the only one who was motivated, to be in with a chance of winning the league for the first time in 23 years and 2-0 up, to flush it away in a spineless performance against the worst team in the league is just unforgivable. Those travelling fans were magnificent, and should be handed their money back. DR and BS were the only one who were a shadow of their normal selves. To be clearing our own penalty area straight back to team about to be relegated is SHAMEFUL, for a team with two full top class teams.
Even Rice looks ridiculous at times. Did you see how casually he take the corner kick before the equaliser? Instead of curling that corner kick into the box, he was passing that ball aimlessly. These are the little things even a star player must notice.
Who place a curse on Arsenal after winning the league unbeaten in 2004?
This is a very serious issue that needs to be solved spiritually.
The league is surely gone now because we will surely drop more points in this remaining 11 EPL games.
Arteta’s immaturity as a coach always shows up at the second part of the season.
He instills fear in the players.
If he goes trophy less this season, then he has to go.
I guess our only hope for a title is the FA Cup, that is if we have easy draws to the final.
We will lose the Caraboa Cup final match to City, the EPL is gone already, the Champions League is way out of our reach and strength.
Arteta might just have to go.
Berta and Josh Kroenke should do all they can to get Klopp while he is still available and don’t let him go to Real Madrid next season.
SJ they won’t though they are more than happy with champions league qualification and so is Arteta’s cultists the we go again next season crew! The only way we get shot of Arteta is if he decides to leave and he should if he bottles another league but his ego won’t allow that, the cultists have made this man think he’s better than he is.
Oh, please Arteta has to go. I beg of him to step down by himself since the Kroenke’s won’t sack him.
Let us try someone else, especially a coach with the experience of winning a League title and the UCL title.
At this point, it’s that type of manager we really need.
Arteta handed a title over to Pep as a parting gift.
They have only beaten Leeds home and away this season.
More points are to be dropped.
The elite occult and their demons are feasting on almost every Arsenal Fan’s energy now from the negative energy of anger, sadness, pain and disappointment the majority of fans are letting out after the match.
It’s just like Arsenal FC has been programmed for failure every season in order to cause the fans pain and anger.
I’m not sure a change for the better can ever come now. So the expectations of every Arsenal fan should be no trophy each season.
That acceptance might be useful for the health of every Arsenal Fan.
Well the majority of this fan base think this club can’t function without super duper mik so I guess we’ll have to get used to winning sod all because this manager isn’t it and never will be. If bottling 3 out of 4 league titles doesn’t open their eyes nothing ever will. Majority of Arsenal fans are just happy challenging unfortunately! Arteta is more important to them than Arsenal.
Your last sentence will apply for my health as i do lost all my hopes with this team.
I will watch my football without anxiety and probably I will enjoy it much more.
👌A Health and Safety tip of International standards. It’s the best for us.
Many of us are gutted for several reasons: style of play; players seeming jaded and clueless; manager totally confused and uninspired etc. What is Arteta up to? It was obvious after their first goal that we needed Norgaard in midfield because the rest seemed completely clueless! Why were Gyokeres and Madueke substituted so early? This was a panicky decision especially considering that the substitutes were worse! The players lacked motivation and looked disinterested in whatever they were doing. Arteta has no room for error! Either he delivers or something has to give! You can’t repeat the same mistakes over and over. He seems to be obsessed with fear of losing rather than the desire to win. He is not adventurous and wants to play it safe so that he can at least get a point! I was wondering whether the manager has priorities or he is just playing for the sake of it! By this time he should have prioritised EPL and Champions league over those other minor trophies since he has no capacity for all of them. Why should Ben White and Norgaard be on the bench even for cups like Carabao where they would give relief to other players? For the moment the situation is not promising! The team needs to wake up and deliver.
I don’t think I’ll watch any more football if Arsenal don’t lift the premier League! , how on earth can you fail time and time again and never learn from it!?
Our famous collapse in Feb/ March is on then, loose carabao, cede top spot in the league and out of Fa Cup………. Too familiar,! We really need to change this Narrative but aren’t even trying. Am really mad, this is unacceptable,. Maybe we need somebody else to see us over the line! We should be relishing being on top, teams should be fearing facing us not the other way round. If we are giving our all out there and loose doing that I’d be more than happy. If I fail and look back and say well I gave it my all, I did everything I possibly could…..
You’d think the manager and team would want to prove everyone wrong (ie being labelled bottlers every season), but no, they play right into their hands every time. The nervousness throughout the team, no response after a poor result, no fight, it really begs the question do they really want it? If we don’t win it this time, I wonder if we ever will! Pity we can’t play Wigan every week 🙄 I agree with you, Kenya, they’re far from giving their all and that is totally unacceptable, especially at this stage of the season
Absolutely sue, I could forgive them the couple of seasons gone, but this season has no excuse , we got the squad to go the distance, we have put ourselves in a good position to go ahead and run with it, but no, the players aren’t on the same wavelength. We need maximum concentration at this stage
Me too,not watching any more of our games in the league this season.Perhaps i will watch the champions league and the latter part of the FA cup if we get there.I will try&avoid the Carabao cup final because i have no confidence on us winning.
Comes across as a cowardly remark
It’s bad enough being known to be bottlers, even worse knowing that you are capable of winning something and just letting it slip away. We have the squad to go the distance. 90 minutes of total football and not letting the foot of the gas. Why we are scoring and stopping playing literally is bufffling
I bet if we win our next 2 league games and City lose their next 2 league games you will watch league games again.
Glasner will be available in the summer and Iraola won’t say NO if we knock on his door.
We actually need a manager with experience of winning big trophies, that is the UCL and the league.
Klopp
Zidane
Allegri etc.
Those are the caliber of coaches we need. We can afford new young manager experiments.
SJ
Of the 3 suggested- who you think are the right type of managers, the only possible one would be Klopp due to his record in the UK. Zidane hasn’t coached in 5 years and I can’t see that Allegri has managed outside Italy.
I understand the tried and tested approach, but apart from Alonso who didn’t last long in Madrid, is there any other manager available? Would you, at this point think he would be any better than Arteta? How about Kompany? He was manager when Burnley went down but has found his feet at Bayern who are virtually in a one horse race.
Experience matters a lot that’s why I want a coach who has won trophies.
Well, every coach once started somewhere, but Arsenal is not in a position to experiment with new coaches when we ask for a big trophy after 22 years.
Those young coaches can still get us over the line but is more of a gamble with them than with the experienced coaches.
Brand new day back in Europe and hopefully most fans have got last night’s rubbish out of their systems. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with it during the day and it doesn’t feel any better. One thing has stayed in my head. Isn’t it funny or not how quickly Saka became Eze when given to number 10 role. Meaning that he quickly disappeared into anonymity. I don’t know what that tells us but it appears that neither player is comfortable with whatever it is their manager has set them out to do.
I don’t think it’s a 10. I think there’s a lot of 8 about it.
Whatever it is, Zooby should do it as back up to Ode, with Norgy at 6. Wouldn’t it be nice occasionally to have a 6, who can take the football off an opponent?
Interesting point JS.The fact is that neither player has lived up to their overstated hype this season and clearly they do not have the energy and drive to make a meaningful impression as an attacking midfielder .They lack the stamina and defensive awareness which is still required of a number 10 and neither takes kindly to the more menial , but vital tasks, of tracking back and matching their direct opponent when running off them.They can be explosive when attacking in the final third, but this season they have failed to produce on a consistent basis.Saka will be included in the England World Cup squad but i very much doubt if Eze will be included.
I must admit I was not able to watch the game, but by comments beyond Just Arsenal, it seems the same old story of missed chances. Maye there are too many players who do not have the winning mentality streak every top, successful professional sports person has in their chosen field.
If we don’t win the Premier League, Arteta needs to go, because this would not be the first case of us leading the league and losing.
Arteta has built a strong team but we need to go up to the next level
That said I’m hoping beyond hope that we end up winning the Premier League this year
Seriously? Merino, Trossard & Havertz injured. They are our best weapon recently, not saka, Odegard, eze or etc. I just cant relate injury issue with Arteta, ofcourse he should overcome this problem with proper selection and management. Let’s keep support until end of rope. This is our best season.
The league was lost last night.
They will drop more points against Tottenham, Chelsea, Brighton, Newcastle, West Ham and Man City.
No miracle can make them win 10 games in a row.
The hope of a trophy now turns to the Caraboa Cup, Fa Cup and Champions League which will be a mountain to climb.
Another trophy less season awaits yet again.
And Kroenke will not sack the problem which is Arteta.
It’s the London fans I pity the most, who pay the highest ticket prices in football just to watch disappointments after disappointments.
I just have to try and reduce my energy I put into watching this club and the expectations I have for this club moving forward.
Martineli has missed two glorious chances in two consecutive PL games, both ending in a draw. I am really having a hard time comprehending his value in the team. He simply runs out of ideas most of the time when he has the ball.
Almost every time Gyokeres is subbed, Arsenal’s opponents score at least a goal. Look it up. Any time Jesus replaced Gyokeres, our opponents did score at least a goal. Happened other times that Victor was taken off. Never happened when Kai played with Victor. I suggest Victor plays the whole game or come in later in the game as a replacement for Jesus. Check the pattern in previous games.
testing
I just cleaned up comments held in moderation. There were a number of yours, I think you know why they were held back by the filters. You managed to post your comment in the end by changing that particular word.
Admin Martin, My apologies. 👍
OOPS! 2-0 up and we messed it up as the song goes. It seems that Arsenal are determined to give City encouragement to overtake us.
That’s 7 draws now, 14 points missed out on. And should we lose the league by 1,2,3 or 4 points, the 2 draws that will haunt us is the 2 away draws against Sunderland and Wolves, as they scored time added on equalizers.
Now our games against Spurs and Chelsea take on even more significance. Should we slip up, the league table could look different in a couple of weekends time. I hope I’m wrong🤞.
Now just a word for the loyal away supporters who traveled up their on a cold and winery evening. You have my sympathy’s. I wonder how much you had to pay for you’re tickets and travel there and back. Just think next season, you’re loyalty will be rewarded with ticket increases, and if you’re lucky you may get to see the team throw away more 2-0 leads. As I say you have my sympathy’s🤷♂️.
The word bottler’s is being banded about as you would expect. Any pressure you’re feeling now Arsenal in February, is nothing to what it will be like in April and May.
Can you prove the doubter’s wrong?. I hope you can, but the doubts are strong and seem to be growing game by game.🤷♂️
No Derek a draw is a point gained remember! It’s apparently a good thing according to quite a few on here over the past few weeks
Odd thing is they seem to not be mentioning it as much as the weeks tick along 🤐
PJ-SA,
On this occasion I would be very interested to see if anyone thinks that this was a point gained. Because being 2-0 up it’s clearly 2 points dropped. 👍
Technically speaking it is a point gained. As bad as the result was, the team didn’t lose.
And i guess you are extremely delighted by the 1 point gained…
Its better than losing and worse than winning. I think that is a case of stating the bleeding obvious, don’t you?
Better than winning???.It seems you will now go to any length to defend Arteta and his anti-football with no end result.
Right
Let’s get this clear. Wasn’t a point worse than winning? We would have had 3 if we’d won.
SueP, please stop for God sake!
SueP,
Here’s a scenario that would have been better. Our last two games have been draws and therefore we’ve picked up 2 points.
I would have preferred us to lose one of the draws and win the other one. We would have picked up 3 points.
But as the saying goes, If if ‘s and but’s, and I can’t remember the rest. OOPS!. 😂🤣👍
Please stop embarrassing yourself
😂👍
And you don’t?
OOPS! On a cold and wintery night. Sorry about that, my fingers are cold.😂
Those players looked like they had visited a winery before the game Derek 🤪
Kev,
Very good. 😂👍
We have very good players but a bad coach,because there’s no how you can explain how Geokeres that was scoring for fun last season suddenly become very ordinary playing for us or Eze that was excellent with Palace being so useless with us,Nogaard was a proven premier league rock solid defensive midfielder but Arteta has done nothing but damage his reputation,Odegaard,Saka&Martinelli have regressed so much that fans are asking for their head.What we need is a new Manager with better ideas&knowledge of the game and the players will start performing to their full potential.
I believe so too. Well said.
Could care less about being right, want the League and Champions league and be proven wrong!
People on here saying the experts know better than all us regular folk who are just meddling around in life, with no experience in sport.
The drop of of 1-5% in performance due to the number and intensity of games, gambling on fine margins, conceding off of .005% xG because of a tactical retreat or tactics of absolute control, lack of rotation of high level professionals who can do the job, and a strict adherence to the “system” no matter what is happening in a live game, inevitably leads to AFC breaking records of the wrong kind-“losing” a 2-0 lead to a bottom scrapper who are going down with the title on the line.
The General is in deep, can he and the team recover, not unless Mikey goes to a therapist and has an epiphany that makes him trust himself to complete actions that are ingrained and against his nature. I do not even know if he can recover to rebuild scoring confidence, letting the team play on the front foot and express themselves in a constructive way in the moment.
Can everyone believe that spuds might do us in? I do and the writing has been on the wall for all to see for years.
This team’s psyche is not built to withstand brutally tense moments and allow themselves to win things over the long run.
Have a feeling these last 12 games + the quad the fans will see a meltdown of epic proportions.