As Arsenal fell to their second defeat in just five games so far into the new Premier League season, is it time for Arteta to swallow his pride and make some changes?
Both of our losses have so far come against the top sides in the league, a 3-1 loss to current Champions Liverpool, at Anfield and the 1-0 loss to Manchester City.
So, should we be worried that having failed to beat two of the top teams so far, that it will be a recurring thing this season for our boys, or can we remain positive and take out glimpses and positives from both of the performances against those teams and finally believe that we can beat them next time round?
It is a yes and no answer to that question, no because there is clearly a mental block on the players when playing the top teams, they just don’t believe that they can win, but it is also a yes, given how the Premier League is going so far this season, with teams all over dropping points, conceding goals and with just how inconsistent everyone has been so far, we still have a chance to gain that top four spot we are always chasing. And I am positive that the further we get in the league with games played, the more settled we will become and the more wins we will pull out of the bag! Hopefully!
Looking how we have fared so far over the big sides I think had it been further along in a season and not straight after an international break, as it was against City, or three games in as it was against Liverpool, that we would have come out with at least one point for each game if not more. And I know that it is not an excuse, but it always seems to fall this way for us every season with fixtures!
Forward on a few games and I think the next top sides we will come up against, I have no doubt we will get something out of the games and if we don’t then maybe some REAL questions need to be asked again!
Despite our two losses though I feel that we have one of the strongest teams we have had in a long time and we can hopefully bounce back and finally manage to beat the big sides when we next come up against them! Gooners?
Shenel Osman
spurs above us in table already🙁
Thanks Flappyhandski.
they deserve it they are better team than Arsenal for a while now and they also have courage against the top teams not like us a painful one but it is the Truth
Agree
Even against the “smaller” teams, I have not been impressed with our game tbh
Our big players are simply turning up
Look at what Spurs are doing to a West Ham team that we barely managed to beat!
I’m afraid.
Which top team has spurs faced this season? Utd?
So Fabianski is now to blame for Spurs being ahead of Arsenal?…lol.
3 nil after 15 minutes and Bale is not even on yet!
Lanzini!!!!!
Well done West Ham ! They’re doing great this season!
Very painful watching Mourinho playing attacking football with a team full of average players and we’re playing safe football with world stars.
Son, Kane, Bale are ‘average players’?
Leicester will teach us hiw to win against them they thrashed cty poor arteta wont find a solution we dont open up deffences we dont have a player to do it ozil still suffering from his refusal to take pay cut
Well we beat westharm, westharm beat Leicester
343 system is killing us it makes us easily attacked out wide and kills our attacking ability !! 433 needs to be played asap !! partey Xhaka and ceballos !! ceballos the attcking midfielder infront of partey and Xhaka will give us more attacking ability where he can open teams up and link up our play !! tierney and Bellerin are full backs not center back and wing back !! playing them in a 4 will stop teams going out wide and make them come through the middle where they willl meet xhaka and Partey !! auba needs to play as main striekr through the middle with pepe and Saka either side of him !! 4 3 3 gives us our defensive base but also allows us to attacks freely !! Arteta needs to grow some and go for it !! we have the players to play 4 3 3 lets do it !!
Carl,we played 433 yesterday and lost
Carl yesterday it seemed to me 433 however the real probpem isnt the formation 433, 343 or 4231 the problem is what MA set these Players Mind that Liverpool and Chelsea are coming from Heaven and sitting back against these teams is the only Saviour from DEATH.
very coward. these players need to know every time they go in the Pitch that this is ARSENAL CLUB no one is bigger than but LFC and ManU.
spurs looking genuine title contenders and if it happens I will have to hide away for years but hoping they bottle it as usual.
We’ll all go into hibernation 😂😂
They didn’t disappoint. Lol. 3 goals in last 10 mins, talk about bottle FC. I know we’re not playing great either but spurs playing a draw with West ham that we beat is relieving the pain from yesterday. Well done noyes, that’s how u play a team that’s supposed to beat you on paper, you go all out for it when you got nothing to lose. Do you think arsenal would have done what West ham and Southampton did being 3 goals down. I think not. We need psychologists to examine the mentality of our players. They’re good but playing like they’re not.
i totally disagree with this statement !! the facts are this one the formation doesnt allow us to attack freely 3 4 3 it holds us back loads !! 4 3 3 now that formation will allow us to attack freely still with a defensive base but far more mobile in getting forward and with Ceballos playing as the attacking midfielder infront of Partey and Xhaka he will be able to lick up the play and open teams up !! but also we need to play Auba as our main striker through the middle and have saka and Pepe either side of him !! With the 4 at the back makes us stronger out wide to stop teams using their wide players and make teams come through the middle instead !! Bellerin is not a wing back he is a full back that can overlap for time to time ! that can be said about Tierney he isnt a center back he also is a full back that overlaps for time to time !! 4 3 3 needs to be played as soon as possible !! this 343 defensive crap is killing our attacking options dead in the water and puts us on the back foot for most of the 90 mins in every game we play !! time for Arteta to man up and go for it !! 4 3 3 all the way !!
As said above by ‘someone’, we played 4-3-3 yesterday !
Personally I find some Arsenal fans are too easily agitated,as they lack patience and forget very fast. Arteta has only been on the job for ten months and is still trying out different formations, with different players given different roles. It’s not a perfect world, and Arteta nor his critics are perfect. I just wish that more fans would chill and instead of complaining about everything, be more positive and give respect in all aspects of life . Arteta has turned Arsenal fortunes around in record time and we are on the right trajectory. We can criticize, but, must be objective and positive. Imagine stepping in his shoes for one game.
Wayne, Great post from a sensible, mature but rare fan! What a relief to know there are ASOME fellow realists on here. I was feeling lonely til I read your fine post! Some of the dismal nonsense on here is pathetic, so thanks for being an antidote to it !
👍
I totally agree with u!! 🙂
Same question I asked going into this game. Can Arteta make this team believe and overcome this hoodoo. His reponse was to be super conservative which shows a lack of belief in the players he has. I understand he’s trying to instill a solid defensive structure in the squad, but with 10-15 minutes to go in the game, you’d think the scoreline was 0-0 with the way we were approaching it. Can’t be so scared to put your foot on the gas all the time. There was something for us in that game but we never looked like we were bothered to find out because we were so scared of the opposition. Fearlessness from the opposition is actually how sides have been stealing points from City and Liverpool recently, and United for YEARS now. Yet we always drop points at OT still. I will be not be pleased if this is our same approach against United in a few weeks. Another side that is there for the taking if you are bold enough. And being bold does not mean forgetting defensive responsibilities, it simply means having the will to win and belief to win and not being so afraid of the opposition.
West Ham just proved my point exactly. They went for it and didn’t try to just mitigate the damage. Bold.
Exactly, RSH. That was my frustration from yesterday, I was expecting us to throw the kitchen sink at them, but no!! Just have a go, like Lanzini did!!
I couldn’t help but say everyone is scoring goals for fun, except us 😂😂
Guess what I feel like singing? 3-0 and you ****** it up!! 😉
I was just saying this above RSH. I don’t want to believe Willian who was chelsea’s best player last season and has been consistent for at least 5 years in England will suddenly start to flop for us. There’s something massively wrong with our setup and tactic atm and I’m backing Arteta to fix it soon
I think we need to be positive and play to our strength. Two youngsters namely Tierney and Saka has shown us how to play our style of football rather than playing the ball around Leno. We allowed them to play a attacking game by just rolling the ball in our area. Arteta should think about playing Ozil as No.10.
Well spurs certainly bottled that🤣
No need to hide away just yet 😝
I just replied that above. Lol
Empty stadiums have changed the balance of power. Every game is like a pre season friendly. The normally fragile mentality of Arsenal players has been greatly advantaged by empty stadium football. Arsenal are now favourite to win the league. Covid19 has been Arsenals best signing since 2004.
Arteta, is actually experimenting with players and in positions you actually need stability, 1st it’s a fact, Elneny’s impact can’t be denied and he’s actually proved to be the difference in arsenal’s team this season, he’s what we’ve lurked and it proved again, he needs to put Elneny with Partey/Xhaka/Ceballos, preferably Partey and play xhaka/ceballos in a more advanced role, we will actually hit and miss this whole season till! Arteta sorts out his central defense and central midfield, he needs regular starters in these positions, based on performance merit. Then actually it’s high time he stops! favoritism, the attacking third need to start on merit too, then we have a top 3 and maybe title contender in our hands, yet again Elneny proves his impact is too huge to ignore and he should be the core of the midfield and he is indispensable in the current arsenal team
Well Shenel, your latest daft conspiracy theory without a shred of evidence to support it(typically for you!!) is that “the players have a mental block and don’t believe they can win against top six sides”. What complete nonsense!
When will you start using evidence for your extraordinary theory ! I am talking about THIS seasons side, since MA came in and transformed the whole teams and sensible fans belief. If you cannot see that huge belief and it seems you can’t then more fool you.
Your article was a good one APART FROM, THIS NONSENSICAL THEORY , but if you want to put forward views of your own, the proper thing to do is to support them with facts which make sense.
Good article overall but with a rubbish section about “non belief” which spoiled the overall effect!
Jon!
Ok you don’t like ” latest daft conspiracy theory without a shred of evidence to support it(typically for you!!) is that “the players have a mental block and don’t believe they can win against top six sides”. What complete nonsense!”
The EVIDENCE is we have not won away in 29 games.
3 – West Ham are the first team in Premier League history to avoid defeat in a game having been 0-3 down as late as the 81st minute. Comeback. #TOTWHU 😁