Arsenal lost the battle, but we haven’t lost the war yet!

Initial reaction to Everton loss – stay calm and do not overreact by Sam P

That was a bad performance against Everton today, there is no denying that, and there is almost nothing we can take from that game as a positive – but we need to stay calm and get some perspective.

I am angry, very angry, and I know my fellow Gooners are as well, but as it stands right now, we are fourth above Chelsea and Man Utd and I would have taken that just a couple of months ago.

Our away form is a massive worry and the route to finishing top four is away from home. But none of our nearest competitors is in great shape either, Chelsea lost to Everton, Man Utd lost to Wolves, Tottenham were losing to everyone at one point and remember who those three have to play in their respective run-ins.

So yes, today is a bad day, it was a woeful performance and questions have to be asked and solutions found and we are running out of time fast. But take a step back, look at the table, look at our rivals and their fixtures and current form and know that all is not lost, one defeat does not define us and will not determine our end of season.

We still have a top-four finish in our own hands, that is what I will hang on to in the upcoming hours when I reflect on what I watched today and inevitably feel a cloud of gloom creep all over me.

Sam

36 Comments

  1. Yes all is not lost……our game against Wolves at their home is the most important game. We have to win that game and I think the boost from can help us coast to at least fourth. Wolves are well organized team and home not very easy to win there. We have to play for at least a draw.

  2. All I have realized is that there are very few players who are deserving of being in the Starting 11 if we want to be a Top team. 2-4 maybe.
    Only 2 players could walk into United, Liverpool, Chelsea’s starting line-up. Aubameyang and Lacazette. None of the other players could get into United, Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea, City’s starting line-up.

    Ozil is such a huge expense for someone who plays brilliantly once in a while. He was very disappointing and Everton aren’t a Top team. Iwobi, Mkhitaryan are more consistent but still not good enough.

    If we finish in the Top 4 we will be very lucky. And credit will have to go to Emery. But not if he screws up the line-up like yesterday.

    What is certain is that we need to get quite a few new players for the Starting line-up in the summer. Probably next two summers if we want to be a Top team.

    Very depressing day yesterday

    1. Unfortunately Arsenal have to live with the aging and overpaid players for another two seasons, due to their huge salaries and contract durations

    1. Can’t disagree
      At least 3-4 maybe more would have probably started yesterday if they had been fit.

      1. Thank you both for considering the injury issue, plus Torreira suspended. Emery can only select a team from the players available. Socrates 10th yellow and consequent suspension doesn’t help.

  3. One of the reasons i have loves Emery is his ability to acknowledge his tactics are not working and change them. He may have had a plan playing 4321 but watching the first half should have signalled at least two things:
    1. Change to either a back four or stay with back three but adjust to 3-5-2. Everton where using the wing too much
    2. We need creative players, not defensive ones to push Everton so taking out Ozil and Mhky, was a bad call. I agree with Ramsey and Auba on, but he didnt adjust formation and they got trapped in defense. I would have take an overly offensive midfield and lose from counter attacks than the alternative. Elneny and Guendozzi was never going to work with Mhky and Ozil in front. Thats a disaster

  4. simply love the fans..1 lost and every players are crap

    another lost…fans will demand every player be released and replaced

  5. If someone thinks Arsenal would win four EPL away games in a row with the conditions below, he is naive:

    – Many first team players are injured
    – The manager has no EPL experience and this is his first season at the club
    – There are many aging players and some of them are not fit into the manager’s system

    Arsenal are bound to have more losses from those four away games. Let’s pray there would only be one loss, otherwise Chrlsea or Man United could overtake us

  6. That’s true. I was surprised when Walcott left actually because he had got a decent wage increase. Ozil’s is so high, he would be a fool to leave. Unless he gets a crazy offer from China or middle east lol. Other players have higher salaries than they should too
    Ozil contract ends in 2021 I believe

  7. It surprises me that Arsenal are in the top six they`re not an all round very good team, and with the departure of Ramsey won`t improve,they are a team of strangers and they play like it. Emery is probably a hell of a nice chap but how he unites a team of strangers without a control of the English language and English humour is beyond me. The Gunners have lost their charisma, quality and charm ; we need characters back in the squad.

    1. Aussie Jack-I see where your coming from but we have had games where Emery has got the tactics formation and line up right and we have looked a good team.Granted these have all been at home,Liverpool we could have won,Chelsea Spuds and Utd we did win.Chelsea and Utd away were games we could also have won.But even though out home form has been good in terms of points its the away form and defence that continue to hold us back.
      The disappointing thing for me is that nobody realistically thought we could challenge for a CL place this season and now we have given ourselves a chance we all realise that with 4 away games to come we are right to doubt the team has the mental strength to get us there.
      With Napoli a must win game I can see why Emery wanted to protect Ramsey and to a lesser extent Aubamayang but there is no excuse for having Elneny and Guendouzi playing as a two in midfield when we all knew Everton would be at us in the middle from the off.He had opportunities and players available to change things and still be stronger in midfield.
      Emery has to take the blame for this one and he has to get it right for every other game otherwise it’s back to the EL next season again.

      1. I should also have noted 5pur5 away was a game we should have won.
        And while we are on this we can’t ignore the fact that we continue to be refereed by complete morons.WTF is happening with the standard of refs in this country?
        Kenny Rolfe is forever saying how bad the standard is and he is right.Not just our games but all Premiere League matches.
        I read a comment recently that the Premiere League is the best League in the World with the worst standards of officials in the World.Kenny will have facts and statistics to back this up in sure.Until this is addressed and standards improve then nothing will ever change.We continue to see every week how decisions go against us that costs us points and I do not go with the “it all evens it’self our over the course of a season”.That is not the issue.Refs are human and make mistakes but if highlights how serious the situation is in this country when VAR is being brought in to assist them.Good refs used to be respected in this country.How many have earned the right to be respected out of the bunch we have now?Not a single one in my opinion.Im not saying our bad performance yesterday was down to the re.It was a bad performance full stop.But if we had been given the penalty in the fifth minute for the most blatant foul on Lacazette the game would have taken a different course.

        1. Phil, I’m with you and Kenny on the atrocious standard of officiating in the EPL, aptly demonstrated by the fact that no referees from the EPL were selected for the panel at the last World Cup.
          The main criteria for any transfer prospect for Arsenal, regardless of position has got to be mental and physical toughness. The current squad are a pack of wimps. Adams, Keown, Viera, Simpson, McLintock, Bergkamp et al must be driven to hand wrenching and tears.
          Maybe the result against Everton will emphasise the importance of the Xhaka/Torreira partnership

          1. OG-Xhaka has had and continues to have his critics but it is proven that he and Torriera are without doubt our best centre midfield pairing.Emery I believe would play a back four if they were both available it shows to me how little confidence he has in his other options that he continues with a 3/5 whenever one or the other is out.
            We have missed Torriera.He brings a calmness to things when he plays and this has helped Xhaka’s game improve.
            As for the referees-your point re World Cup selection says all there is to say in my opinion.Kenny must have been boiling with the rest of us watching that game yesterday.
            OT-I saw a scuffle in front of me at the game between Arsenal fans and found out after as I was coming out that a “fan” was about to throw a bottle onto the pitch or aiming at someone.He was pointed out to stewards by his own supporters and thrown out of the ground.What a prized KNOBHEAD of a so called supporter and a big shout out for the fans who reacted as they did.

  8. This article reflects the looser mentality and our standard decline over the decade.The battle was not lost on the pitch it was lost when the team sheet was declared. Every team(except invincibles) does loose, but what is disappointing is the manner in which we loose.Expecting Ozil Xhaka/Elneny Mustafi and Saed K to win you matches is the most daft thought by a daft manager, at the least he could settle for a draw. Mid table teams play physical games so a strong youthful team was expectedinstead we get Monreal Mikhi along with the above mentioned sweet baby faces.
    What is Dennis Suarez doing? Could he do much worse than Elneny? One in a blue or blood moon Ozil turns up and he is selected over Ramsey?
    Sorry gooners, Ozil looks charming, but is not in the World Class league of Messi or CR7 .Except that.
    And Emery is no Pep to know his players.
    Hope to see the end of Ozil Xhaka Mustafi and Saed this summer, but alas we will see the end of Ramsey as an AFC player!

    1. Nobody has ever said Ozil was in the same class as Messi and Ronaldo.Both these players have been in a class of their own for the last decade and beyond.
      Ramsey has been inconsistent and injury prone his whole Arsenal career.This season he has had just as many games where he has been anonymous as effective.That is why he had his contract offer withdrawn.And despite me being a MO10 fan I agree he would have found himself in the same position if his contract was up this season and not ladt

      1. I lay the blame for the defeat solely, whitely and completely on Emery’s feet. He set that team up for defeat yesterday and I’m not gonna sit here tearing through the players for something that was not their fault. We all know Ozil here, he’s been here for the better half of a decade. We know his weakens very very well and we know his strengths, playing him in front of the midfielders he had yesterday behind him was suicide. Emery is suppose to minimize his weaknesses and maximize his effectiveness, yesterday he did the opposite. Now everyone is saying Ozil is useless? No the way emery used him yesterday was useless! . Elneny has been less than even a squad player this season, he’s not even a player you bring on to make up numbers and see out a game nd emery chooses to start him? Where’s willock? Where’s Sanchez? Did anyone ever inform emery that AMN is actually I cm? And a good one at that? And guendouzi we all know is young and still learning, he does well alongside a senior cm and yesterday it was like he was alone in that middle. Against an aggressive and hungry team like Everton with the ref on their side he had no chance. I’m not going to speak about the other areas on the field, we crumbled in the middle and it was a knock on effect, and we were away. Emery killed that team yesterday and I hope he learns from that, that was unacceptable. Mkhitaryan I don’t care much for, the fact that he came from Manchester even makes me less sympathetic for him, get rid! We have many talented young am/wingers in the academy I’d much rather be seeing them cut their teeth than mkhitaryan, what has he ever done since coming to England really?? He’s finished.

  9. let’s hope xhaka & toreira will be available for the remaining matches otherwise I don’t see us getting any points away from home

  10. After the first 10 minutes, you just knew it was going to be one of those days!!
    I really hope Xhaka is back asap… as starting Guendouzi with Elneny ? jeez!! I know our options were limited, but that was never going to work!
    Another away game lost, 3 points dropped (against a team we’ve beaten more than any other)
    This away hoodoo is a real pain up the arse & with 4 others to play, it doesn’t bode well for our top 4 chances!
    I’m sorry to be all doom & gloom, but right now I’ll be amazed if we make it! Gutted ?

    1. I agree sue, i can’t see us beating wolves and watford. Leicesters defense is terrible so we probably have a chance and i expect us to beat burnley. Our top four chances isn’t looking good.

      1. If only we’d played like Watford (in the semi final) yesterday…. to come back from 2-0 down to win.. fair play to them. Deulofeu came off the bench & changed the game completely… they had fight & determination in them…. why the hell didn’t we?
        Not a hope in hell of beating them or Wolves (I agree with you Lupe) Vardy loves to score against us… no doubt Ashley Barnes will revert to the wrestler in him when we show up… so yes Lupe it isn’t looking good at all…..

  11. Lions at home and kittens away….how pathetic. The problem with most of the players is that they are incapable of putting the extra shift to overcome the opposition away from home. At home we have the fans to push us to win but away the opposition fans do the same for their team which means we have to play 120% at least to get a result. But we barely put in 70% not to talk of a 100% away. This is were the problem lies really. We need to start signing players who are quality and natural fighters in the way they play to have a real chance of challenging for the EPL title.

    Look at teams like Barcelona, Juventus, Man City for example, their players would first of all match the opposition’s strength in terms of physicality, pace etc before having the freedom to impose their game based on superior quality players. Thats what Arsenal needs to start doing.

    1. And you only need to look back to the Invincibles to justify exactly your point.Fabulous players but knew how to take control of ANY game

      1. I wouldn’t have wanted to run into any of the 1970/71 team on a dark night in back streets, particularly John Radford, Peter Storey and Peter Simpson.

    2. Good point franko, i have always thought that if a quality team matches the lower team in work ethic, physicality and pace, it becomes easier to win because the superior quality prevails. We will continue to struggle in difficult away games because the majority of our players prefer to play when there isn’t pressure both on the pitch and mentally. Arsenal has always neglected this side of the game especially when buying players but it has to change this summer.

  12. This loss was down to emery but lets admit the fact that we have we have a pitiful squad.
    We have the fifth highest payroll in the league, even above the spuds, and can just about put together eleven players.

  13. The blame on our loss to Everton was on team selection.Unai knew Everton was on form and decided to field a weak team.A friend of mine told before the match Elneny will make Guendozi get a yellow card and it happened.There are players who don’t deserve to play for arsenal again.The second half team was better.

    1. BernadoM a friend told you Elneny will make Guendouzi get a card and you believed him, so having watched the match was Elneny the reason why he was carded?

      1. The argument was that Elneny exposes other midfielders playing alongside him coz of his work rate.

  14. Some one the comments I read here make me wonder if actually we analyse things well. Ok let’s assume he start Ramsey and he picks up or aggravate his injury since the doctor said he wasn’t fit enough to play 90 mins and we loose him for napoli for me hell no, He did the right thing with Ramsey. Those of you saying why didn’t he put aubameyang and lacazzette what if one gets injured and with the quality of napoli, the man was managing his squad considering how thing it is at the moment. If not anything the players should be ashamed of that performance. Everybody is busy saying ozil this ozil that,what did lacazzette do all game? Don’t even say mustafi was bad because I thought he played well bar his mistimed challenge on Calvert,he won most headers. I thought the 2 cb did well and the goal keeper. The people who let us down are the midfielders and our full backs. I will say this AMN is an ok player there is nothing special about him,he can’t cross,he can’t pass the only thing he has is speed. To kolasinac I can’t make excuse for him, remove his attacking sense he becomes useless. He offers nothing defensively and his positioning sense is that of a 10yr old.
    What is more pathetic is we have almost 6 attacking players on the pitch for the last 15mins but Rockford wasn’t tested. Lacazzette this has to be his worst game in arsenal shirt the guy was cheap but having played well for a while he is allowed to have a bad game. I’m more disappointed in elneny,who on earth scouted this guy? He has been piss poor he doesnt have a forward pass always passing backwards. Oh granit xhaka we need you asap. Thank God Lucas is back now and hopefully we will have boss and xhaka back sooner.
    Everton didn’t play that great it was a case of us being so poor. Emery I think for all he is saying about his mind not in napoli bla bla bla I think his mind was solely there giving the line up..mourinho did it the season man u won Europa he played his youngsters in epl to avoid injuries and at the end it paid off. Hopefully we win eroupa..
    Wishing you a great week ahead
    Coyg

    1. You couldn’t have said it better Lucia. I hope Napoli are dealt with on Thursday, I would rather Xhaka don’t play that match and be ? for other matches.

  15. At the end of the day it all boils down to the fact that we do not have enough top quality players available to overcome our injury problems.Simple!Quite frankly I’m amazed we are still in the top four given the poor quality of our so called defenders .

  16. Arsenal shouldn’t even be in the mix. In terms of the quality of players you are well short. However you do have a better manager than Chelsea or United even if many of your fans don’t seem to recognise it. Emery is actually getting all he can out of the players he’s got. Spurs have been running on empty all season. Between England and Belgium going deep into the World Cup ensuring most of our players had no pre season and the problems with the stadium this was always going to be a difficult year. So the race for third and fourth remains open, its about who drops least points at this stage.

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