Arsenal came away with a point from Elland Road last night, although it must be said that Leeds had 24 shots on Bernd Leno’s goal and had many real chances squandered through terrible final balls. Mikel Arteta, although not happy with dropping two points, was full of praise for the resilience shown by our defence when we were reduced to ten men after the stupid sending off of Nicholas Pepe.
Arteta told Arsenal.com: “Yes we have to take a point considering the circumstances. I’m never happy with a point but we know what a challenge we faced in the second half for 45 minutes with 10 men. The way we reacted to it, the resilience that we showed, the effort that all the players put in to try and overcome their advantage, it was phenomenal. At the end we have to take a point because, credit to Leeds, they had chances to score.”
Arsenal did though have rare opportunities to score, and one very good chance to actually get all three points when Saka was put through by Hector Bellerin to leave him one-on-one with the Leeds keeper. Although Arteta was pleased with the defence he is looking worried that we haven’t scored from open play for nearly 8 hours now. “I think we’ve been working really good defensively.” he continued. “That flair, that creativity and that momentum that the players need to make the last action, it’s the most difficult thing in football. It’s not that you’re not creating the chances, but we have to create more and we have to be more consistent in the final third with the amount of things that we finish and how we finish them. But it will come, and the reality as well is that we haven’t had much continuity in a lot of the players for various reasons, which is very important to get the understanding right with them.”
So that seems to be the stories of our lives lately. Arsenal have improved incredibly in defence, but our chances of scoring are few and far between. With Wolves and Tottenham coming up next, we have to hope that Arteta can find a better balance very quickly…
Arsenal and Everton have claimed just 4 points from the last possible 15. Only the bottom 3 have collected less. Yet Everton sit 3rd equal and Arsenal are 6th equal. So let’s see if we can beat Wolves and the Spurs before pushing the panic button.
What impressed me immediately Popeye 😜 was sent off was just how the players knew the job they had been drilled to do. Saka came on and we were 531, and immediately we settled into a system. That’s not something we have known at this club for a few decades.
Arteta is under enormous pressure and his decision to have Ozil as not part of the squad is now showing just how ridiculous that is.
But Arteta will still have the support of the players as and Owners so let’s give him support snd trust him to turn this around.
We will soon see if Arteta had the cojones to deal with this. I believe he has
I’ve supported Arteta from before Emery was appointed but yesterday’s performance was a complete car crash in every respect. Wolves next at home and spurs away and if we don’t get at least 4 points from 6 then I will be starting to really wonder whether Arteta is the right man for the job.
And btw, Everton are 6th and we are 11th, not joint 3rd and 6th respectively. Talk about clutching at straws!
Declan, I haven’t seen football like we’ve played at Leeds for a very long time, We wont even last in the Championship. Again we were not supposed to start Willian, Nelson. Smith Rowe are better options. It all boils down to the coach, we have no creation, our strikers are isolated. Mikel isolates Mesut, Dick move for a coach.
Its the boards decision to not play Ozil (as it saves them a fortune) not Arteta’s.
Does Ozil get less remuneration if he doesn’t play, Peter? Is there some kind of playing bonus or performance pay which he won’t get?
It had better be a big saving because the cost of the current situation is very damaging to Arsenal.
It was reported (Athletic) every game he doesn’t play we’ll save 35k…
So we can blow a sigh of relief knowing he’s only actually costing the club 315k a week for nothing then! 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
Agreed and unlike your emojis, that is not a laughing matter, as it is still 90% of his wage wasted for nothing at all. Just wish he had some personal honour and would leave but no such luck.
Phenomenal??? is that that’s another word for for inept or lucky?
When you consider the times our woodwork saved us and the missed chances from Leeds, we were damn lucky not to lose by four goals! Yes we have improved. But, Leno put in some great saves when our defense failed to stop the Leeds attacks. We were lucky in parts and the fact that our attack has gone on holiday is all the more incentive for teams to attack us!
I’m not sure what MA can do to improve our attack because it’s getting close to “kitchen sink” time as far as options go!?
Just a final thought; what the hell do the squad do in training? Obviously they don’t work on set pieces and crossing. They don’t look like they work on retaining the ball and possession. They don’t look like they work on movement off the ball. They don’t look like they work on one touch football. They.. Hang on, this is getting repetitive. Just like our brand of football! 😒 😒 😒