Arsenal was hoping to end their poor run of form in the league this afternoon when they faced Tottenham, but they succumbed to another defeat against the Lilywhites.
The 2-0 loss was a smash and grab win, but the Gunners were taught a lesson how not to expose yourself against a Jose Mourinho team. Here is our Arsenal players rating.
Bernd Leno – 6
Nothing he could do about both goals and he was effective in coming off his line to clear the danger at times.
Rob Holding – 5
Should have closed Son Heung-min down better, that would probably have prevented the first goal. Otherwise, he looked ok.
Gabriel Magalhaes – 6
Wasn’t afraid to keep pushing the ball forward from the back and one of the better players on the day for Arsenal.
Kieran Tierney – 6
Made to work very hard all game. His second-half deliveries could have led to goals in another game.
Hector Bellerin – 3
Another performance that shows he is past his best. Wasn’t so effective on the attack and kept giving the ball away. Tormented by Son.
Thomas Partey – 5
Looked like he would make things happen, but got injured just before Tottenham’s second goal.
Granit Xhaka – 4
Cannot stop making back passes and just kept diving into challenges throughout the game.
Bukayo Saka – 7
One of the positives from Arsenal, he worked hard and would probably have scored or created a goal if Arsenal had a chance to do so.
Willian – 5
Had the chance to silence the boo-boys, but ended up proving them right with another average performance.
Alexandre Lacazette – 6
Had a fine game causing all sorts of problems for the Tottenham defence. Might have scored if it wasn’t Spurs.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 3
Another uninspiring showing from the captain who missed a fine chance to get back among the goals with his head in the second half.
Subs
Dani Ceballos – 4
Hojbjerg wouldn’t let him do anything meaningful in midfield, his second season is looking like a mistake.
Eddie Nketiah – N/A
Manager
Mikel Arteta – 4
He chose the same players that are just not good enough, the buck stops with him.
Leno 4, I do not agree that he could do nothing about the goals. Arteta 3, has little clue on how to beat opponents. Hotspurs had planned well how to beat us and they did not struggle to do so. Why pick Xhaka after a disastrous performance against Wolves. Niles and Elneny deserved to be in the team.
what a laim game rating review!
.Laca is a 8 or 9.
xhaka a 7
U keep blaming players but if coach puts a wrong line up in middle, does affects all attack!
partey should be played with a miffield defensive minded player, worked with eleneny! if not available, niled is most defensive one!
No; replaced dm rock by ceballos again!
We ard 15th with best team and no coach to match such club standard & players,; a laim board, kroenke incapable puppies !
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arteta tries his best but never coached ever before!
I must confess I got it wrong about Xhaka as he was one of the positives tonight but Willian is and will always be a waste of money. I warned against giving Auba a new contract because I saw this coming. For me, I say terminate the contracts of those high earners and you will see what those young but hungry kids can do.
It doesn’t matter if Xhaka played, good, bad or whatever, in the big picture he is just not good enough for Arsenal. Arteta is also too inexperienced for a big club like Arsenal.
Auber must be released waist of energy him and his friend mesut
Your right Kay big pay packets don’t care the young guns would run their and fight till they dropped Arteta dropped Ozil and guedounzi Herta Berlin have thanked Arsenal very good player arteta threw his dummy out the pram like a baby
They can still sell him for around 40 million easily. He’s on a long-term contract and could fit Barcelona well. I honestly hope they buy him.
MA is to blame for this game and giving him 4 is way too generous. I can understand his game plan, his formation because apparently that’s all he knows but I will never understand his substitutions.
Now is the time to say coaching in the EPL is way over his head.
I like Arteta but as of now I think we should cut our loses n accept that without experience he won’t be a top coach in epl. It’s really terrifying to be an arsenal fan right now now
To blame Holding for backing off when a player scores from nearly 30 yards, suggests to me ,someone who has not played the game at a decent level.Where were our central midfielders or Bellerin ? Leno was absolved from criticism but his starting position could have been better.Apart from Saka, none of our attacking players looked particularly threatening whereas, in Son and Kane Spurs have guys who can really hurt teams.
Grandad I have played and managed Holding was the nearest to him he should have closed him down the manager should have had that sorted before they went on the pitch
Bellerin was on the inside of Holding, who was covering the wide pass so it was Bellerin who should have pushed forward and closed. Had Bellerin been in correct position originally, then Holding should and probably would have pushed out. You cannot give quality players that much space on the edge of our own penalty area.
If he attempted to close him down, Son would easily have dribbled him. His best chance was to back off and see if Son would pass the ball or do the impossible.
Holding was not at fault for the first goal
Bit generous with the 3 for Bellerin don’t you think
I agree
Leno should not have been beaten from 30 yards.
Piss poor.
Touche
Oh dear, someone has probably never played in goal and obviously doesn’t have the ability to assess distances, 30yards 😂😂😂, maybe 25 yards, even so people who understand the game know it’s very unlikely any other worthy goal keeper could have prevented the goal, it really was a quality strike, comments like yours are piss poor.
Generous with xhaka who was as bad as bellerin and holding was decent all game so a 6 … Rest seems fair … For me worst was arteta who gets a 1 for showing up but hopeless selection and no strategy
Bellerin a xhaka are absolutely useless some of us have been saying for years, some cant see but it wasn’t their performances that were key to the defeat, it was the tactics and lack of know how in attacking and when to attack. For the record Bellerin did give the ball away 20 times apparently. Xhaka wasn’t far behind but we had enough possession still to produce far more than we did.
Arteta could see they were bad Reggie so why did he not change them inexpirence manager should be replaced A S A P
I don’t think Bellerin and Xhaka were that bad. Aubameyang tried, but he’s simply not a good target man
On the other hand, Partey got nutmegged and lost the ball that led to a dangerous situation. Luckily Holding quickly anticipated that
g o t, So “Auba tried!” I must have blinked and missed that then. I saw a lanky player hiding from the action for 90 mins but as I say, I MAY HAVE MISSED A FEW SECONDS HERE AND THERE WHILE BLINKING.
I am beginning to think he believes he is OZILS LONG LOST IDENTICAL TWIN, SEPARATED AT BIRTH. I SEE THE CLOSE SIMILARITY.
His effort in this season isn’t as good as his performances in last season’s FA Cup, but hopefully shifting him back to the left wing could solve that
Loving all the comments on this page and my sentiments are as of the general consensus. Arteta must take the majority of the blame as he is the man who picks the team.
Our team are so predictable, play boring sideways football and defensively naive.
It doesn’t help when the personnel are shite as well.
Who honestly think any of our players would get into any of their top teams, cos I sure as hell don’t.
The usual hotheaded suspects on here already , totally predictably , taking their vicious pleasure in sticking their knives into MA s back. I disassociate myself from these fairweather so called “supporters” (supporters who don’t and won’t support, I wonder how that is supposed to work!), as I see quite clearly the size of the task before MA and also know that doing an Abramovitch and sacking a manager every year will only further regress our club.
Of course, paradoxically, Abramovitch does at least CARE about his club. Our owner cares for nothing but his personal wealth. A vital difference is that for 15 years Abramovitch has properly funded his club and used to be there at most games. Our monster does not even like the sport his club plays. Conversely, in 13 years Kroenke has not invested one penny of his 8 billions wealth. Realists know exactly where the real problem lies.
So what chance does ANY manager have with Kroenke there, even if in reality he is NOT there but living on a remote continent thousands of miles away, worrying about other franchises which enrich his personal wealth and of which almost all fans of those clubs also despise and loathe him. No fools they!
So the REAL and PERMANENT solution to our problem is not to keep sacking managers but to force Kroenke out. PLEASE DANGOTE, RIDE TO OUR RESCUE!
I do not think we deserve where we are today because we are that bad. We are capable of being among the top 6 if not 4.
Lol🤣
Hilarious
No one can pull off like grandiloquence like you Jon….hats off to you!
Jon, the way we are playing is down to Arteta, players are not performing, the team is not scoring, is not winning, we are in 15th and a minus 4 goal difference. You can not call fans for saying what is being said. You or they may not be right or wrong but the opinion that Arteta isnt coping is not that far off reality which ever side of the fence we sit. There isnt a lot o plus marks at the moment.
TOTALLY AGREE JON, IN FACT WE COMMENTED ON THE “OWNERSHIP” ISSUE ON HERE MANY TIMES LAST WEEK.
STRANGE HOW TWO EX PRO’S HIGHLIGHTED AFTER-MATCH THIS VERY EVENING THAT UNDERINVESTMENT OVER SUCCESSIVE YEARS IS NOW COMING HOME TO ROOST.
BACK M A IN MEANINGFUL TERMS, AS OPPOSED TO SOUNDBITES AND UNFULFILLED PROMISES.
WE ARE WITNESSING “ABSENTEEISM OF OWNERSHIP” BEING TAKEN TO A NEW LEVEL.
FIDDLE WHILE ROME BURNS !
A J
We have a higher net spend in the last 5 seasons than Wolves, Leicester, Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea so a lack of investment cannot be to blame….that’s simply not a logical conclusion.
Totally logical I’m afraid.
If you understand, my argument is aimed at the “OWNER”.
The “net spend” you refer to is derived from match day revenue and commercial activities only.
Here’s a full breakdown of all 20 Premier League clubs and how they’ve been funded by their current owners.
(see below)
Do I see precisely 0 against Arsenal- AT OWNERSHIP LEVEL.
Also what your comment overlooks, is the current squad standing of teams you mention, and where their respective movers and shakers believe they need strengthening.
1. Chelsea +£440m
2. Everton +£299m
3. Aston Villa +£193m
4. Fulham +£186m
5. Brighton +£160m
6. Man City +£142m
7. Wolves +£131m
8. Liverpool +£75m
9. Leeds United +£54m
10. Crystal Palace +£45m
11. Sheffield United +£17m
12. Southampton +£1m
13. Arsenal £0
14. Burnley -£4m
15. West Brom -£5m
16. Leicester -£8m
17. West Ham -£11m
18. Newcastle United -£18m
19. Tottenham Hotspur -£40m
20. Manchester United -£89m
I completely understand the difference between net spend and what the owners have actually put into the club. A club is a business unfortunately so yes net spend is the metric you’d look at to see how successful your daily running of a club is business wise.
Imagine having a business and as the owner you continuously had to put money in and never got anything out. Would you consider that successful? Do you buy a business to make money or to spend money on it?
Fact is our selling of players has been terrible for years. When we do get funds we often buy poorly, our contract agreements are usually terrible and often comes back to bite us.
Would you want to put funds in when history dictates it’s often misused? …No
Have we, in the last couple of years had the opportunity and ability to buy a fair amount of players? …Yes
We’ve been wasteful, that’s the bottom line. I do think Kroenke is a tw@t though don’t get me wrong, I just think the situation calls for objectivity.
“Imagine having a business and as the owner you continuously had to put money in and never got anything out. Would you consider that successful? Do you buy a business to make money or to spend money on it?”
Very successful for both Stan & Josh who both take money out of Arsenal F. C.
And that is a fact, as I have posted on here previously.
I have to say P J -S A, you seem to be getting the ownership criteria of KSE (might as well be KFC) at Arsenal all wrong.
So the remit is “I own Arsenal Football Club one of the biggest brands in world football, but under my ownership I’ll simply let them wither on the vine ?
Arsenal has been spending a lot on players. Tons of players are overpaid. The recruitment is just total trash. The transfer strategies are trash. There are many teams above us with far less. We are waht, 15th in the table. You cant tell me ownership is the only issue. I disagree.
RSH.
Who said it was the ONLY issue ?
But for me yes, a major issue.
Why are we 15th ?
A squad that has fallen into total disrepair, and fallen behind through sheer negligence and underinvestment.
Who employs every single employee on the payroll, including those who make the “trash” signings you highlight.
You can argue all you like- the buck will always stop at the very top.
AJ Tonight, it feels like you and me against the GOONER WORLD. Surely we cannot be the only ones with brains, even though the evidence points that way. Sigh!
Hang on JF
You didn’t read mine or Winston or Trudeau – and Ken1945
It’s a small but elite bunch SueP 😉. Everybody on here are passionate fans but I must admit the negativity is getting to me. So here’s my vow (at least until the end of the season) – no negative posts from me and no rising to inevitable taunts of settling for mediocrity, not being a real fan etc etc. Im counting on you to hold me to it!
As I said in an earlier post, it’s a good day when I wake up and know I can watch an Arsenal game. I’d rather lose with them than win with any other team.
I’ll hold you to it Trudeau. We are all mortified to lose, but the negativity is so draining. COYG
I think we’ll win the quadruple this year ;
League
F A Cup
Europa Cup
Carabao Cup
COYG
Underinvestment? What a load of tosh. Arsenal FC have been on a steady decline since management started bowing to pressure to spend big. The best chance we have had of winning the league in the past 10 years was with Wenger, building a team over a number of years. Let down by quality players leaving the club every season.
But the fans wanted change, and now were a few points from the bottom 3?
Jon, whilst not a “MAxitist” yet I am starting to notice worrying flaws in his management, most of which seem to be due to his stubborness (aka “The Process”): 1 Team selection. Allegedly selects according to training performances, he has no favourites. Xhaka must be a terrific, and RN an awful trainer then 2 My way or the highway (Guendouzi, Toreira, Ozil) 3 Tactics. Players appear overcoached, rigid and afraid. Playing with 10 men defending only means everyone leaves it to someone else. Slinging in crosses from 4 wingers when none of our strikers can head the ball? 4 Subs. Used too late, too rarely and negatively. Drawn by lot? 5 “Trust the process”. Nobody knows exactly what this means. It is Arteta’s unique vision. And being a good coach under a great manager guarantees nothing when the buck stops with you. Self belief is good, but dangerous when accompanied by naivety and stubbornness. We ALL wish MA success, but please do not be so critical of others who doubt him. Football is a game of emotions, opinions and tribalism. We all have the right to have our say. You preach tolerance – it’s a two way street.
👍
The grandstanding and condescension from Jon Fox borders on the outright offensive, in all honesty.
I don’t like Arteta’s Arsenal right now.
I detest Kroenke’s ownership style, but I DO NOT believe that all our woes are down to him alone.
We watch the same harebrained tactics week in, week out.
The same lack of imagination. The same lack of purpose. The same repetitiveness in selections.
Sideways – leftward – backwards.
It’s all clockwork now.
Yes, investment does play a significant part.
But I DO NOT agree that Southampton and Aston Villa or Leeds are playing with far greater purpose and drive because their owners have been pumping in billions.
And I certainly DO NOT agree that any fan who does not share the increasingly incredulous notion that Arteta is the best thing to happen to Arsenal since Wenger’s Invincibles is “plastic”. That’s just childish.
👍
“But I DO NOT agree that Southampton and Aston Villa or Leeds are playing with far greater purpose and drive because their owners have been pumping in billions.”
Point totally missed..
Outlay is governed by your starting point.
Liverpool had the framework in place for Klopp to consider they needed a centre back and keeper i.e. just 2 additions.
His top 2 choices were provided for him. – the rest is history.
However, take Man City before ownership changed hands- they were nowhere.
Therefore the new owners spend was always going to be much higher, and so it turned out.
If you think for one second when Stan finally sells up the new owners ( if they have the requisite passion, drive and ambition) won’t know GIVEN OUR CURRENT SQUAD (remember starting point) they are in for circa 200M to establish a base to build upon going forward you are living in cloud cuckoo land.
Funny, isn’t it?
How you gleefully went all the way to the best two teams in the land, and ignored the ones I actually mentioned, who ALL sit comfortably above us, having played us (bar Southampton, for now), with – need I emphasize – GREAT success.
Leeds. Villa. Southampton. What do they have in common with the rest of the big 5, who seem increasingly out of reach with each passing game?
I’ll bet a few bucks it’s certainly not a pool of billions simply waiting to be dispatched on some imaginary perfect players.
I often wonder, for those of you who speak of some lofty, abstract “plan” or “process”, that, compared to the other teams which we watch as well, we seem to have neither – at least neither that ACTUALLY works?
I do not expect magic. But I do not consider it wisdom to keep hitting one’s head against a wall, expecting IT to cave open – unless you’re Goliath, which we’re clearly not, at this point.
We’ve already played a variety of teams this season. And somehow, bar Fulham (who are now, might I add, just 6 points behind us – a not very difficult gap to close given our ridiculous form at the moment), we haven’t quite seemed to figure out how to play, let alone beat, ANYBODY who poses even a slightly more organized threat to our team’s collective stupidity-cum-sloppiness.
Perhaps there is yet some promised land on the horizon. But I will emphatically state, until I am sufficiently corrected, that I fail (with no apologies to either of you) to see the same “visions” as you both apparently are.
If Arteta will come good at all, it will NOT be with these daft, predictable tactics that have now managed to stifle the life out of even our erstwhile best players.
I do not totally agree with you here. In the last couple of years, we have been mismanaging fund by buying wrong players. Xhaka 35m+, Mustafi 35m+,Laca 50m+, Auba 50m+, Pepe 70m+,Ceballos wages, Willian insane contract , Ozil insane contract, Auba insane contract, Papa 15+m, selling of a better keeper to keep Leno and to mention but a few. I’m not sure Kronke was the one doing all those. The problem of Arsenal for the past 10+ years has been mismanagement and not the owners, if a new owner comes and same mismanagement, the problem will continue. How can you freeze out Ozil for being lazy or being on insane wage only to give 250k + add ons to a certain Willian who was one player that has always slowed down or stop Chelsea’s attack? I’m not sure it was Kronke’s decision to do that.
When I tell people that Saka massively unbalances our team, they think am joking…
He gets no more than 3. He did absolutely nothing!!!!
Willian was by far the best Arsenal player for us, always willing to move forward and create chances. He gets a 6.
Bellerin should surely be joint-worst player along with Xhaka. Blind passes, foul throws, escorting people to goal etc. How Mikel even keeps picking these PUNKS is just beyond me. 1 for both.
Holding is not far ahead at 2. At times he looked like sleeping with the ball. Transitioning the ball with urgency is not in his DNA.
The rest get 3.
Mikel Arteta doesn’t deserve any ratings… HE DESERVES TO BE SACKED!!!
After 11 games,
6 losses (worst since 1981), 10 goals (17th), 32 chances created (20th), shots at goal (18th).
Tell me,,,, How is this even acceptable???????
Just get MAURIZIO SARRI before he’s snapped up. All these others ALLEGRIs etc are simply Jokers. They are no different from these PUNKS.
Leno also culpable for first goal 5.
Partey was class at times 6.
Arteta must take some blame for not using Elneny and AMN and constantly playing Xhaka and Willian.
Even if Xhaka looks like he’s having an ok game what people don’t seem to understand is that his positioning is horrific and is unreliable. That drags other players out of position immediately in case they need to cover him.
Blame firmly on Arteta for the team selection
But he didn’t look like he had a decent game.
Never said he did…it’s a general statement mate.
When was the last time he had a great game in the EPL. At least Ozil has one decent game in 10 so approx 4 decent games in a season, how many decent games has Xhaka had since joining? Xhaka has seen Wenger, Lumberg, Emery off and maybe wants to see Arteta off?What magic spell has he cast on the managers? Better we play with 10 men. Nevertheless, as a rational person I was expecting a spanking, lost 0-2, so the game was above expectations, no way I am dejected. I only hope BHA do not overtake us and we keep company with the wrong London neighbor – Fulham.
Well, if Xhaka and the team were scared of 20th place Watford last season, so expect nothing from this bunch. They earn the millions, I am happy with the quid I earn, so I should not lose my health and well being because of some irrelevant bunch of actors masquerading as AFC footballers.
How long we are going to play the card of players are not good enough? When Partey, Tierney, Pepe, Willian, Gabriel, Mari, Cebollos, Saka are new to the team and most of them have done pretty well with their old teams. So they can not be blamed as old players of Arsenal to have weak mentality and don’t fall into category of revolution either so they should be thrown out. Then who’s fault is it if previous players who are good as well as their international appearances n career status prove and new boys (quality players) as well are not performing. That’s like you now have two different generation of players in the club but still we are struggling. Players failing is manager failing to do his job properly and it’s easier to change the manager then all the players. It’s the manager who is suppose to make them play and get best of them not the other way around. No matter what some of the enthusiastic fans like SueP, Jon and other say the proof is there for everyone to see we have failed with our experiment project Arteta and more time n money we spend on it to make it work, will lead us into more trouble. Time to cut the losses and appoint a proper track record proven manager. We need to be ruthless and keep doing this till we find the manager who can take us back into elites of Europe. We need to be like Roman it’s not nice but then it did produce wanted results. Before every one start saying about him being the sugar dady then look at our spending in last 2-3 years n you will see we have spent a lot.
The majority of our team has masses of quality, that is what i keep saying but every player is playing below his abilities, that is the truth. We all have our favourites and not favourites but the better players in our team are floundering. I believe its tactics, not players with quite a few. And i agree with you.
I agree for the first time in quite a while we actually have quite a few decent players in the squad. Yes there are bad players too but overall our squad is good.
I think that’s whats frustrating is that we are wasting time with this squad. If we carry on like this we’ll lose Gabriel, Tierny, Partey, AMN….then we’ll be nowhere!
Pepe only played well in the Euro games he is out of his league in the EPL
Tbh I don’t feel like rating any of them… what a mess…
Will we even beat Burnley??
Thats a hard question to answer right now…😔
sue please get my comment bellow… i was replying to this comment but it appeared down there.
Imo it’s not about the players, but about the gameplan. I still cant believe how much MA is focussing on crosses. Ive never seen us play like this before, especially when we are lacking a targetman.
Gone are the days where we had short combinations.. Attacking play.
If you look at are gameplan, everything is played over the wings, waiting to see if we can put it in the box and hoping it falls in our favour.. This is not a gameplan and Im afraid this is the gameplan MA really believes in
Mr Lucky, that’s because MA views creativity as having as many crosses in a game as possible.
Creative players are a luxury it seems for his style of football and teams like Leicester, wolves and the spuds lap it up.
I have to agree with you Ken, in fact there were 32 crosses. Auba rarely scores with his head (a total of 3) and Laca is 5ft 9ins tall. I hope MA has a plan B because plan A is not working.
20 crosses into 3 attackers who hate attacking the ball in the air. You can tell Auba hates it. He closes his eyes every time he has to jump!!
So it is owners fault for putting Elneny or EMN instead of Xhaka,William should have played last 20 mins and allow hungry Nelson a star who was not not even in the squad. All owners fault who gave his money for Partey for improvement.
C’mon we all don’t like Kroenke but this is no way his fault how funny u are Jon.
Still won’t concede Arteta not good enough but happy to say players not good enough.
Right Dhoni, couldn’t agree more!
Our net spend is higher than Liverpool and Chelsea over last 5 seasons so that excuse is rubbish
But yes Kroenke is still a t@sser
Well said Dhoni
Dhoni I’d love to debate with you but it would be too one sided with which of us had anything intelligent to say. Don’t mean to be rude but I do mean to be truthful.
I never said the owner was at fault for picking theteam so that is a red herring introduced to change the subject from the vital problem of KROENKES OWNERSHIP to your own personal indulgence in blaming the manager for his choice of certain poor players instead of certain other poor players, which is NOT what I am discussing.
HENCE NO POINT DISCUSSING FURTHER WITH YOU, not until you accept where the real problem with our club lies, with the owner. Admit that on here and then but only then, will I debate further with you. Pointless otherwise!
.
This is condescending bullshit – with the utmost respect to you, personally, of course.
Nobody says Kroenke is a fantastic owner.
But just as we blame him for his myriad of flaws, we must be honest enough to admit that Arteta is NOT doing a great job.
We’re nearly halfway into the season, and are far worse off, with a supposedly better squad than last season, beginning from the back.
We were hard on Emery. To be soft on Arteta after worse performances AND results is sheer dishonesty.
Factually incorrect.
The owner SANCTIONED SPENDING THE CLUBS MONEY on Partey.
In reply to Dhabi first comment.
“Dhoni”
I do apologise.
This is to reply Jon’s early comments.
Arteta is out of his depth plain and simple! This squad of players is surely better than 15th in the table maybe soon to be 16th! We can’t keep blaming Kroenke because money has been spent, more money than most clubs yet we are dreadful to watch and don’t look like winning any PL club.. for heaven’s sake it took us 40 minutes to break down Dundalk and that was a goalkeeping error! Arteta done well in winning fa cup but that’s in the past now, Unai Emery was sacked when we were 8th so Arteta must receive the same treatment! If anyone thinks we’re all of a sudden going to go on a long unbeaten run and the team will find they’re shooting boots they are in Dreamland! We hired a novice and these performances are the consequences of that.
*Any PL game.
Sadly, no one will touch arsenal with a bargepole unless they’re really desperate to prove something. Something which has nothing to do with us usually. Do we have credible reports that arsenal have hit the panic button and are interviewing potential candidates? Because if they aren’t, they’ll look stupid when they eventually do sack Arteta.
Remember that we only won once under five matches in caretaker charge…
Going to be a long season, Kev..
Haha Sue it’s already a long season, I wish it was done already 😒
It has been an absolute nightmare!!
Gutted about TP… bet he’ll be out for a while now and miss the games he should’ve been fit for!! I wonder what he thinks about Atletico topping the La Liga table…
When will our bad luck end, Kev?!
Yeah absolutely Sue 👍 he must be regretting ever leaving Atletico to join this utter mess and rookie manager 😒 he’ll probably be out to February now and we’ll probably look to sign Denis Suarez on loan again 😝 not anytime soon Sue as I’ve said for a while now, I don’t expect anything from that Arsenal team, I really wasn’t all that disappointed today as I knew we would get beat.. it’s ok beating Rapid Vienna and looking silky but when it really matters that team is just not good enough and Aubameyang is looking like prime Lucas Perez, I would consider selling both him and Lacazette to get younger and more hungrier players.
What you’re saying is we’ve only got Thursday nights to look forward to?! 😄 I can’t believe this is the same Auba, he’s a ghost of his former self ☹
Haha no no Sue come the knockout out stage they will be a rabbit in the headlights and probably sent packing in the last 32 again 😝 yeah shocking Sue he just looks so disinterested doesn’t he ? 🙄 At least Pepe will be back next Tuesday or Wednesday for Southampton and Martinelli can’t be far off either 😄 in the middle of digging my Christmas tree out but I can’t be bothered to decorate it tonight I’ll attempt that during the week 😂
We’ve got to get past Burnley first!! We can’t lose again – the 4th at home on the spin, surely not??!!
Leno-5
Bellerin-1
Holding-4
Gabriel-6
Tierney-6
Partey-6
Xhaka-5
Saka-6
Willian-5
Laca-8
Auba-2
Ceballos-4
Arteta-1 – Any lineup with Xhaka & Bellerin against pacy forwards is suicidal. Arteta should know this by now. Willian has done nothing so far to justify his regular inclusion & Auba needs to step up big time. It’s the manager’s responsibility to sort all that out hence my generous ratings.
Well I made some grammar errors it was playing Xhaka instead of Elneny or Niles rather and Nelson start not star.
When u lose it makes …………and DAT is wat I feel now.
Plan B or some fans call a target man is not a priority right now in my opinion.
Ya we did manage plenty of crosses so does teams like liverpool but their wingers and midfield know that sometimes that wont work and will have to penetrate through middle(or even long balls) and they have tge ability and technique to do that…
We do have that ability but we need a creative midfielder to link the dots because oyr wingers are not salah and mane.Ceballos,willock,ESR,Laca i dont care who it is but we cant rely on the crosses always,sometimes its about picking a pass,there was one when laca picked a pass for auba which he couldnt convert because of some superb defence, and those passes need to occur on regular intervals,runs must happen, spaces must be found…
Its not about working hard, its about playing with a football brain.
COYG
Hope MA will turn this around soon✌
Arteta is doing his best and should be given enough time to drill this team to he able to perform week in week out
Pep and Klope(his case even longer) won nothing in their first season in charge and were not sacked
Pls let’s not put too much pressure on him and push him out before he even gets the opportunity to do his work
Yes he’s young and inexperienced
But we’ll be lying to ourselves if we say we can’t see potential in him
Before all this losses we could see how he galvanized this team last season finishing off with two trophies and many of us we’re singing his praises
Lets remember that form is temporal
Pep and Klopp weren’t nearly this low on the table. Even when they lost you could at least see the plan and direction they had. Not even slightly a decent comparison to make.
We have no plan and no direction, that’s the difference.
Klopp in his final season at Dortmund only got them to 7th place with title-chasing form that undid the disastrous first few months that took them bottom. A Dortmund featuring Sokratis, Mkhitaryan and our £250k captain. Think about that for a while.
I don’t think we are worried about not winning anything this season, we are worried about staying in the Premier League.
We need to get auba laca willein out the club pepe martinelle baka as our 3 up top 50m plus acm Thomas partey and a 35m to 50m dm kt and anl as full backs gabby and William salba as cd Leno in goal and were good to go thats max spend 100m that we can get from selling our shit players
The ONE thing you can guarantee with this Arsenal squad are the continuous AVERAGE ratings week after week.
How ever much I hate to say it (and it pains me), I’m not sure MA has the team believing. I still believe he should at least be given until January. I have said that since the season started and I remain in that frame of mind. However, looking at Auba sink into the same slump as most of the others is not nice to watch. We have been watching the same thing for years now. New players come in and quickly they settle into a style of play that is a million miles away from the football we have all associated with Arsenal over the years. Our global potential for fan base must be diminishing by the day. Revenue suffering!
I still entrust MA to turn things round and demand from his team with every ounce of Arsenal blood that runs through his vains. As it is, it looks like we are going to be flirting with teams in the relegation zone soon. Maybe that can be the one thing that finally makes the club realize how far they have fallen? The players also need to know that they too are accountable and professional. Take Bellerin for instance. For any “professional footballer” to make so many foul throws in the space of a few games must surely justify the need to reflect on their game personally? This is simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!
No one should mention Auba.
What do Arsenal fans expect him to do?
How many balls did he receive as a CF. Do you think Kane and Lewandowski could flourish with our sideway passing?
If you have to blame someone, blame the system. Do we always have to create from our left?
Is Auba good in the air?
How many passes with put through the middle for him?
All our passes were down to the left. Auba has never had a drought like this in his carrier. Auba can never score goals until the midfielders start to feed him.
We lost simply because of the tactics employed by our coach. A tactic that allows our cbs to spend most of the 90min around the center will expose our keeper. The pattern of play is not so arsenal. It is obvious Arteta learned nothing under Pep. This spurs team is not special and we made them look like world beaters. This is a team that conceded 3 against a team from nowhere.
Not a chance. Mourinho complimented Arteta during his post match interview today, it means he no longer sees us as a threat and instead feels sorry for us, while Arteta might see it as an excuse to not do things differently. Obviously Mou is meant to show “respect” in front of the camera, but we all know he gets away with sarcasm whenever possible. He would not have given Arteta a vote of confidence if his Tottenham did not beat us.
It is nuts! A top squad and club with a coach board & owner appointing them, ruining this club as no one would imzgined.
finally some are smelling cofee now, bmaming Arteta, but no that kroenke board lunatics…
Kroenke tried to save on top coach wage wich is minimum of 10M, Paying Arteta 5M and abble to tell him what to do as they spoted his desperatkon state of mind.
As Pepe 80M splash to full us but actually payement plan to Lille as Gabrizl in 4 years, he costed 20M
And look how that vicious boomerang came back at him.
Pepe is a flop qo far, shine in cup games and molde among youngstaz is nothing; he is a lost ovef year gime in EPL. numbers dont lie…
what a catastrophy! Pleade a coach adap before no one wants to come to fight for relegation!
we still can make ot to 4th, not woth Arteta, we wilm temain bdllow 10,12
I doubt Xhaka’s standard to qualify in the 20 something squad. His level is much below Arsenal’s standard. I also dont understand why a player like willian is playing as althe best 11. what i see is a player who doesnt know how to kick the ball towards the sticks. I cant even understand saka’s substance. i think he is overrated. whatsoever tonight’s perfornance is, auba and partey + leno and gabreil are a class, and will soon proof class is permanent. But i am ready to learn how saka is impressing, if anyone is willing to enlighten me. but i believe he can become a very good player in the future. 💪💪✌✌ VICTORY for THE ARSENAL!!!
It is painfull to see some players wearing that SHIRT. Seeing xhaka making useless fouls unlike veira and gilberto, willian shooting up to hit the roof of the stadium while he is besides the sticks, and others playing unattractive foitball is indeed not ARSENAL’s CHARACTER. But it is better to hope things will change and that incomplete transition from THE INVINCIBLES TO THE POST WENGER ERA WILL BE FULLFILLED AND ARSRNAL WILL BE BACK TO ITS GLORY!
They’re going to have to improve.. as we’re heading for the relegation places at an alarming rate!!
In our last 7 PL games we’ve scored 2 (yes 2) goals!! And we’ve just lost to the spuds who are at the summit with the best defence in the league and have scored loads more than us… but when you highlight this and question why we’ve been so poor, you’re labelled negative!! Well, should we be happy with this then?? As I’m really not enjoying what I’m seeing right now – it hurts! This isn’t us… we’ve NEVER been this bad…
I guess the only thing to be thankful for is Fulham, West Brom and Sheff Utd having also been awful, otherwise we’d be even lower!!
Oh and btw, back to back defeats against them for the first time in donkeys years!!
@Sue
Things are looking bad but if we can drop Bellerin, Holding and Xhaka I believe we can turn this season around and even sneak into top 4. 8 points behind is not very bad I’ve seen Man Utd recover from such a gap and even worse. We just need to get on a good winning run and bring back some confidence.
I know 8 points doesn’t sound the end of the world.. but we’ve already lost 6 😳 In the whole of last season we lost 10….
Just have to see what happens in the next game. Hopefully if we score a goal and maybe keep a clean sheet against Burnley, it will ignite something in them all… been tough so far, QD…
Holding did his best impression of Hoyte in that League cup game against the Spuds years back.
This proves fans have players they favour
How was Leno a 6
Spurs have 3 shots on target and scored 2 of them
“One of the positives from Arsenal, he worked hard and would probably have scored or created a goal if Arsenal had a chance to do so.”
Strange comment as it IMO his job to create and score goals. The much hyped lad was meh! I’d give him a 5 at best.
@jon fox and aj
The only thing Kroenke is guilty for is that he has allowed
the 3 stooges to run the show. Edu Arteta and Vinai seem
our of their depth. The club has spent a serious amount of money in players and all the recruitment is sitting on the bench. Yet you do not blame Arteta for been instrumental giving Auba a 350k a week pay but blame Auba now for not playing up to his wages like another Ozil.
Hmm… Clearly you blow as the wind goes..
and BTW you say nothing on Willian getting 200k a week to walk around. If you take Xhaka and Willian’s heat map it will still be less than MO . Strange things happening at Arsenal and it gets more depressing by the minute to hear blame go to the ownership all the time. The rest of the idiots ike recruiters and managers need to share the blame not just your favorite targets.
For get about Jon Fox this dude has completely lost it, we will get relegated and he will still come out with excuses to keep Arteta in the hot seat. Problem is he has made too big of statement early on when he said Arteta is on his way to greatness and called ppl stupid for not buying his version so now even if he wants to he can not go back on his words.
“@jon fox and aj
The only thing Kroenke is guilty for is that he has allowed
the 3 stooges to run the show”
Ah, at last a chink of light.
That is part of our whole argument.
Remember the owner is responsible for EVERY employee (and their decisions concerning Arsenal Football Club) on the payroll.
We happen to have an individual (and son) who is not fit for purpose!
Ahh?
I find it funny, though, how that this version of “responsibility”, according to you and Jon, always seems to apply to the Kroenkes as Owners, but stops just short of extending equally to Arteta as direct Manager (no longer mere “First Team Coach”), of said club.
You’d think the logic ought to apply “mutatis mutandis” to Arteta’s case with the squad – but according to you sirs, apparently, somehow, not.
Hmm.
You are simply incapable of grasping the entire point..
ARTETA CAN ONLY WORK WITH WHAT HE IS GIVEN – AND AT OUR CLUB WHAT THE MANAGER IS GIVEN COMES FROM ABOVE.
M A CLEARLY WANTED BOTH AOUAR & PARTEY – BUT GUESS WHAT, ONLY ONE WAS SANCTIONED FROM THE CLUBS COFFERS JUST HOURS BEFORE THE WINDOW CLOSED SIMPLY BECAUSE ADDITIONAL FUNDS WERE NOT RELEASED FOR BOTH PLAYERS.
SO DON’T QUOTE ARTETA TO ME – THE CURRENT MISMANAGMENT COMES DOWN FROM THE VERY TOP.
M A HANDS ARE TOTALLY TIED !
EVER HEARD THE SAYING “SILK PURSE FROM A SOWS EAR” ?
GOODBYE VICTOR.
AND BY THE WAY – I DO NOT SPEAK FOR JON ABOVE AND BEYOND OUR ORGINAL POINT (OF WHICH YOU SEEM NOT TO HAVE A CLUE).
it’s been few games arsenal players positioning has been awful on and off the ball. how are they losing the basics so easily. when xhaka, partey or ceballos gets the ball in the middle nobody is there to play the link for forwards. in every recent games, the team splits in half as soon as they get the ball. all the forwards are along the box, waiting and not doing much and the rest of the team is behind the middle line. leaves a huge gap.
One other shocking thing: how is a team allowing one single player to commit 5 foul throws when there been a total of 11 in the league this year. it shows how bad is Arteta training.
Can we stop hiding behind the this owner excuse??? Our net spent in last five season has been 443million, so any one with common sense and logic will agree that we have been well supported in the transfer market by the owner. Liverpool net spent has been less then us. Now coming to difference between a great manager like klopp and avg manager like Arteta. Klopp made star out of players like Robson, Arnold, Salah, Firminio n Mane, name a single player in Arsenal who has excelled under Arteta in same way or if there is any sign that any of arsenal player will reach that level at the moment. Klopp finished in champions League spot ecery single season apart from first one where he reached UEFA cup final, not to mention winning league and champions League on his way …Arteta won an FA cup and the way things are going will be fighting for relegation in his second season. I remember some of Arteta fan boys even going to lengths of saying city success was all Arteta n it had nothing to do with pep. As usual arsenal fans hyped their manager and players too early with out assessing them properly, now we are a laughing stock for all the fans from other clubs Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, Spuds you name it..some are taking a mickey out of us with regards to Willian, some on having the best defence, some on having the best front three, some on having the best manager who is in same league as pep n klopp etc etc. Even still I see so many stubborn fans here who are portraying them selves as positive n optimistic divas while blaming sensible n realistic fans as fake n negative. We blamed Wenger for being stubborn over fan base is worse then him..just because they don’t want to accept defeat and hold their hand up to say they made an error of judgment, they keep arguing even though it’s clear as day light not only to all of us fans but even fans of other clubs n neutrals which direction we are going in and how bad we are. I won’t blame the squad as we have a squad which has quality players n we can easily finish in top 4.
I dont think anyone is on the Willian hype train still and the best defence claim has not been made since gameweek 8 or 9. Yeah some people totally absolve the manager of all faults and blame everything else, in particular the owner, but at the moment do you think firing Arteta will do more harm than good, bro? First is all the payments that Arsenal has to make to MA and his coaching staff, then if they havent had a successor in place, then they have to take a caretaker coach and then pay him, then if by some miracle top experienced coaches agree to join us, then there is the top coach fees, new system and all that. If said coach has followed us for most of this season and knows player strengths, then it will be easy, otherwise another adjustment period. All this during Covid times. I dont think the Arsenal Board are willing to take that risk.
I think there is a lot of truth in that Sid.
@Sid, I know it’s a hard decision n will cost us financially but if you look at the bigger picture it will not cost us anywhere near if we finish out of Europe all together. I know it’s COVID but did we not go out and buy Partey for staright 40 odd million so I guess paying of Arteta n his staff should no where near that amount manageable for the club. Performances drive the club fortune n finances. If we start doing penny pinching now we can end up loosing more. We need to decide now to keep him and suffer in present as well as future or get rid of him n take a gamble with a more experienced plus proven manager. It’s indecisiveness that will kill us, you can not sit on the wall for too long sooner or later you need to choose a side.
Agreed about the indecisiveness. But honestly I don’t know what Arsenal will do now. Maybe they fire MA, if so I hope they do it in a systematic way, not like the shambles that UE firing was. And if they back him, and I am personally leaning towards this side, then please atleast properly supervise him and his decisions. Maybe one way would be to get someone who knows football and is a financial genius in the board. And if the board dictate decisions based on some random off field issues like the speculation here, than God help us!!
Personally I think a director of football appointment, like Ralf Rangnick, along with Tim Lewis’s joining the board, would be a better course of action. Though whatever can be done to improve Arsenal’s fortunes ought to be done quickly!
Common sense here.
Yes, the owner has sanctioned the spending of the clubs money – poorly !
So re-investment will not bring in players superior to what we have ?
If we can of course sell deadwood that no one wants.
Remember – we live in “sell to buy” folks.
If we don’t sell “dip into the CLUBS coffers”.
You’ll be delighted to hear I’m off this “need for investment thread” – too bloody painful.
Jon and I will wait to hear from you when Stan finally has an offer he cannot refuse, and we may just may get an owner who gives a *hit about Arsenal Football Club.
Check out AFTV for the current “Owner” stance, from people who actually travel over land and sea with arsenal !
Holding is not Arsenal’s quality, very slow, not aggressive, always driving back at opponent, if he is with a football brain, he only need to mark down Son instead of giving him that large space to shot at the goalkeeper that was not expecting an unusual shot from such a distance. Elementary football taught us that do not allow your opponent to be in advantage position when the ball is being played on an attacking position. Holding gave the advantage to Son, even the second goal was not far from this same mistake just that it was at a close range. Xhaka, hmmm, William, hmmm,Belerin hmmm – he was out of position for the first goal. Artetar – a learner, l hope he learn fast and turn things around.
Arsenal have to take a bold decision and fire Arteta. Otherwise by January we’ll be fighting relegation
The first goal was purely the fault of Leno. He left the six yard box which made Son to capitalize on it. Son saw Leno out of the six yard box and he (son) knew that Leno wouldn’t be able to positioned himself for the flying ball. He (Son) quickly took the kick before Leno could track back his position on the line.
Xhaka and Bellerin should get less than 3 each. Xhaka is a massive liability even when he isn’t playing badly. He has no positioning sense, no tackling ability, and slows down play constantly for no reason.
Bellerin looks worse than a decade ago and still can’t cross or use his left foot, making him ridiculously predictable for the opposing defender.
Auba doesn’t seem interested anymore. I’d bench the shit out of him because we are actually playing well in Europa without him (Or play him in Europa instead and get his goal scoring back)
Sidenote, Pepe’s red was terrible, but since then he has looked so much more dangerous than anyone starting in the PL.
——————-Leno———————
—-Holding—Gabriel—-Tierney——
Cedric—AMN——Partay——Saka–
—-Pepe—–Laca—-Nelson/Nketiah
At least this team will be up for it against Burley.
Oh, and Arteta should be lower for playing Willian, Auba, Bellerin, and Xhaka, none of whom have played even slightly well in multiple matches now.
I can’t see Partey making it, Bob..
Oh, yeah, should have checked. Both Partey and Pepe are out.
Probably replace Partey with Elneny and have AMN play the more forward role and then move over Nelson to the right.
Would be nice to finally see AMN get a start, as well as Nelson!
It baffles me how some players have a great game then don’t get a look in..
Yeah, it’s giving me nightmares of watching Wenger play the same team over and over even if a player came in and played much better than anyone in his locked-in starting XI. “No, Wenger, we don’t want to see Ramsey on the wing again ffs.”
Then again, I’m sure we would all love to see his kind of results again at this point 😂
I have to watch old games to remind myself we were good once!!
Bloody hell, what a state to be in, Bob…
Yes I remember those days, such and such had been awful for weeks, yet was still the first name on the team sheet!! Things never change 😄
As for choosing the same players, there is a quote attributed to Eistein: “keep doing the same thing and expect a different result is the height of insanity”
maybe not a perfect quote but near enough.
Our worst start since 1981. 1981. The real widerness years under Terry Neill. We have not performed this poorly in nearly 40 years. Something needs to happen.
Simple fact is that good players (and some bad ones) are not performing under Arteta at the moment. Aubameyang is the prime example, but Lacazette, Pepe, Xhaka, Leno, Luiz, Bellerin (and I could go on) have all been poor. In fact, the only players that have performed are Tierney, Gabriel and Saka (it’s a bit early to say with Partey).
I don’t buy the “the board have got to invest more” argument – we’ve net outspent Liverpool, Tottenham and Leicester over the past 5 years, but we’re nowhere near their levels. I can only blame the football staff for picking the wrong players to buy, not being able to get the best out of them or just getting it tactically wrong. I think that sacking Arteta should definitely be on the table, as should sacking Edu (along with any of their reports). But act in haste, repent at leisure.
You have to give Arteta until Christmas. No real point sacking him before then – any new manager will want a transfer window to sort out some of his own choices to come in. They’ll also like the slightly easier fixture list in that period to get their feet under the table rather than being asked to play 4 or 5 games in 2 weeks straight off the bat.
Also, if we do replace the manager, let’s not half arse it again with someone who isn’t the level we want. Not the likes of Tuchel or Hassenhuttl or (even worse) another ex-player because we’re feeling nostalgic. The only two real options are Allegri or Poch, IMHO – the board should probably put out some feelers to them now. If neither of them are available, stick with Arteta and hope that he can turn it around. Back him in the market in January.
Minimum in January we need a central playmaker and (IMO) a defensively sound right back (because Bellerin – a pace based player – lost his pace with his ACL). We could also do with another striker and possibly another B2B midfielder. Loath to buy ANOTHER centre half, but the right centre half spot doesn’t seem to be our strongest, either. Playmaker and right back aside, however, we can probably promote from within in the slightly longer term (the likes of Miguel Azeez, Matt Smith, Nikolaj Moller, Folarin Balogun, Daniel Ballard, Mark McGuinness). Under the circumstances, judicious loans would not be bad moves.
*wilderness
To all who deemed the lack of investment argument “tosh” ?
I guess our current manger knows nothing also ;
“At some stage you have to make a decision’: Mikel Arteta urges Arsenal to take a gamble and invest to help the club return to Champions League… as he insists Gunners will still attract top players despite being out of Europe (CL).”
Hahaha…so true …we must be dreaming we will attract top talents of world without Europe at all. Only way it will happen is pay crazy wages which we can’t n won’t. Manager is another factor but then Arteta is not well renowned n does not have the padigree for players to just sign the dotted line to be managed by him. Before anyone points to Partey get this fact he did not sign for Arteta he signed bec we paid 3 times more then what he was earning.
@AJ
Even if they make an investment again in this window he MA more likely will piss the player off like he did with Saliba or Guendouzi. I am not sure whether you like MA because of his very nice hair or his ability to manage because the latter is not evident yet. His player management skills are worse than UE .
@CFArsenal#10.
No contest – his nice hair every time !
Sincerely, I want Arteta out not because of anything but because of the way he uses these players…. Many of you Arsenal fans were saying Saliba is not ready but Leicester bought Fofana who is younger than saliba and in the same league as him, the coach started using him immediately and we all saw the way he out muscle and out played every of our players and he has been there best defender since he arrived.
Well I stopped watching Arteta game after the match against Aston villa in our home ground, we did not have one shot on target and they had how many shot against us that I could not even count .. In that match, I asked myself that is this my arsenal team playing like team that didn’t train at all without any tactics or pattern….
After Aston villa game we went for break and came back after that and played Leeds united again but what happened, the same rubbish without training mentality , tactics and patterns, then wolves same and Tottenham and the below average coach still insist on the same set of useless players as if there is only 11 players in the league…. I don’t think either saliva, souares, amn, nelson, balogun, or even smith can do or play worst more than these set of useless players and the clueless and stubborn coach still insist on these same players.
At the end of the week, they we go to bank and collect thousands of pounds( millions in my county’s currency) for performing woefully… They didn’t have human feelings at all…
Majority of you fans are blaming owner for what? Not signing enough or what…
Do you know how many youth players are playing very well and perfectly for Chelsea (James, Abraham, Mount, Gilmour etc), Manutd( Mactominay, Henderson, Greenwood etc), Liverpool and city but where is our own Jordi Osei( loan) no where to be found and some of our talented players are not giving chance and others too are loan out…. Apart from Saka, Willock and Nketia( who are all average players because of the below average coach we have)…
Sincerely, I supported Arteta and his coaching staff in the beginning of the season but NOT ANY MORE WITH THIS KIND OF GAMES…..Thanks ..
And although Arteta is much better looking than Klop let’s face it we watch the footie not the manager!!!
Your ratings are ok except for Leno, Bellerin and Aubameyang. Leno was far too out of his line for Son’s goal so, could have prevented it .I would give him 4. As for Bellerin and Auba they don’t deserve anything at all so I would give both of them 0 out of ten. As for Arteta the coach, no comment.