Do you enjoy watching Arsenal? By Konstantin Mitov
It’s difficult to write a piece about Arsenal with a level head. We fell for Leicester’s trap like an animated character slipping on banana skin lying on the ground, but it’s really not funny if you are an Arsenal fan. They had one game plan. Survive the first half, and then when the pressure mounts on us, hit us with Vardy and it worked. Surely Arteta knows what their main threat is? We are not entitled to win football matches by any means, and I can take a sucker punch if we show a display of passion and desire.
Yet our only “attacking” plan was our centre backs passing diagonal balls to Saka and Tierney on the left. None of the three midfielders we had attempted a forward pass before we conceded. Xhaka should have never put that shirt on again since he flipped the fans off. Yesterday Ceballos was just abysmal. I hardly see how Mo Elneny would’ve done a worse job passing sideways and back, and I feel sorry for him, because he is a 5-million-pound player putting more effort than his overpaid colleagues.
Our right-hand side was non-existent. We should’ve sold Bellerin to PSG if they really wanted him. Ainsley was superb when called upon, why are we benching him for a player who doesn’t run forward and all he does in defence is drop back? He let Foden take him on too easily which cost us at City, yet he’s always a starter, why?
Laca is another player that should’ve been sold to fund a move for Aouar so we can balance our squad a bit. Then there’s Aubameyang, who’s been terrible since signing his new deal. Add Willian on 200k per week at 32 for 3 years and you see the problem.
Back in 2007 we sold Henry to Barcelona and that actually made the team better. It split the responsibility between young players, who produced some of the best football we’ve ever played. We didn’t have enough steel to win the major trophies, but boy were we exciting to watch. We were deemed a mini Barcelona, we would swipe lesser teams by 3,4,5 goals and we were full of players who demanded the ball at their feet and looked forward, asking questions and creating chances.
Point is, we shouldn’t be too attached to players who drove us to 8th pace. But the manager can’t get away with it just like that. It’s all too easy to blame Mustafi for the goal, and it was his fault, but why on earth are we playing him? He’s not played a game for months and we all know he has a mistake in him. Doesn’t Arteta see such things?
We could’ve brought Pepe on in place of Luiz, move to a back 3 and try to be more aggressive, change the game somehow. We could’ve subbed one of three DMs for Pepe again and move Saka in the number 10. I mean, there are options to change the game, but Arteta doesn’t have a plan B. Maybe he doesn’t trust the rest of the team, but it’s not like he knows his best starting 11 either.
What really annoys me though is that I actually thought this was a strong line-up, but quickly the lack of ideas became apparent. It’s looking like the Emery times all over again, but instead of that 22-game run, it’s the FA cup that hides the issue underneath.
The other major disappointment is that we ALWAYS resurrect teams in a slump. City beat only us in 4 league games, Leicester got their first win since 1973 and guess which team we are playing next, that hasn’t recorded a home win? Man United will slap us unless a pure miracle happens.
The real mistake is that I had any expectations at all. I thought that in a difficult time for me personally, Arsenal would lift my spirits, and it’s a shame on me that I actually believed that for a second. Football doesn’t connect people like Nokia, it does anything but. I was shouting, broke the remote by smashing it into the floor then failed to fall asleep till 5 in the morning, thinking how on earth we can’t create a single clear-cut opportunity and we fell for the same trap we’ve done for 5 years straight. All for what? I feel so sorry for the people who were robbed 14.95 Royal British sterling to watch this comedy.
I really need a break from this. Arsenal is depressing and exhausting. I don’t even see how this can change. I don’t see a new owner on the horizon although Kroenke did spend some money. We changed our board like 5 times in 2 years, we have a new manager, but ultimately, it’s the players. For as much I wanted Wenger gone, those players really threw him under the bus, for all the times he ate all the criticism for their mistakes. The same happened to Emery, Freddie failed to inspire them and now Arteta will quickly follow this trend.
The shirt is too heavy for them, but there are really only 3 outcomes. Either we improve drastically in a short period of time, or we spend in January big again, or pressure mounts on Arteta and the negativity will eat him alive in the end. Fans are angry and those Arsenal players are lucky there are no fans in the ground, let me tell you that and you can tell me which outcome you think is most probable?
I will now take a little break, because Arsenal is sucking the life out of me and I don’t want to chew over old topics I’ve covered time and time again just with different names. I want to wish you all good health and well-being in these strange times, and hopefully there will something more positive to talk about next time around.
Konstantin