Arsenal’s preseason preparations took a setback last night as the Gunners were beaten 2-0 by possible title rivals Man United in America in front of a packed 82,000 crowd. It seemed obvious that Arteta’s team was not as fully prepared as our opponents, but the boss is trying to integrate new players and new tactics ahead of the crucial season ahead.
At least his starters nearly all played a full hour before Arteta made a pile of changes, whereas Man United started the seccond half with a completely new team except for the goalkeeper, so it really was a game of two halves!
The game also showed that Erik Ten Hag is expecting his team to be very agressive, and they were a little too physical at times for a friendly game, and it was certainly a strenuous workout.
Of course Arteta was not a happy man, and he said after the game: “Having a tough match of this level in this context gives you a lot of information, and that’s always very positive. That information is obviously there are a lot of things we have to improve. How important the boxes are, that errors are part of football, you have to overcome them as well. And how painful it is to lose a game.
“Physically it’s been super, super demanding. Some players we want to expose a little bit more than they have done, because the way we want to build them, their physical state. Overall they had their moments when they were so efficient. We had ours, when we had more dominance and we certainly tried again in the second half, but the chances we had, we didn’t convert them, and they won the game.”
When asked what he learnt from the game, he replied: “That I hate to lose and we all hate to lose. That is the biggest lesson, that I don’t like losing and I don’t like the feeling that I have right now. So the boys have to train right now, in that space thinking how we are going to be better to win the next match.”
I am sure they will improve, but right now I’m feeling a little let down to be honest….
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Next up, Barcelona……
I wouldn’t say a lesson is that we don’t like to lose, that’s a bit silly. Certain tactics certainly didn’t work, that’s a lesson.
Hate to lose is alright. You better do and sort things out quickly, mate. Expectation is super high this season after the club have been massively spending to get the players you wanted. No time for moaning and sulking.
I’m sorry but starting Havertz in midfield is just asking for trouble. Our mid was sliced open like butter time and time again. That signing just baffles me. Going foward it should be partey rice Odegaard
I agree.
Lazio sold Savic to some pointless Saudi Arabian club for £42 million.
He would have been a perfect signing to fill the No 8 position vacated by Xhaka.
Instead, we spend a HUGE amount of money on a player who not only wasn’t very good before he came to the Premiership but whose confidence seemingly is rock bottom.
This is a massive season given the money spent on players – I don’t think Arsenal can afford to carry players and his cost will make it difficult for Arteta to drop him.
Can’t say much. It will only be farcical if it’s a waste spending that much on players who do not improve the team.
Last season I kept a “black book” to record the players directly culpable for conceding goals.The top three last season were Ramsdale, Gabriel and Zinchenko.I know the match against Man Utd was of little importance, but it seems Ramsdale and Gabriel are still at it.Let’s hope they both improve otherwise our prospects of winning the EPL are not bright.
Who cares, it’s a meaningless friendly!
These games are purely for working on fitness, integrating new signings and experimentation of tactics.
So it’s not meaningless then?
I meant meaningless in regards to the result.
Haha hahaha the humour is on point lol
It would have been better if we played a MLS team rather than a team who are a) a direct rival b) a team who would like nothing more than not only beat us but kick seven shades of shite out of our players.
Which they did, the ref was a complete joke, he allowed the scum to kick lumps out of us, and their keeper has just done the Wrexham player with a punctured lung, they have nothing just thuggery which we need to stand up to, and the refs have to clamp down on next season
We have the best squad Ive seen for many many years but our teamselection and tactics were a shambles. All the so called fans immediately lay the blame on Havertz an easy target but he did not stand a chance with the lack of support from his mate. The instant clogging by Man U of Saka and Nketia announced their normal tactics were to cripple and defend. It worked. We have to learn to just defend and break away with balls over the top more often. Man U knew that we would only play out from the back using 20 passes. Once they were proved correct our team seemed to freeze. Mickel mate you must give the players more of a choice. With our squad we shoud have beaten United quite easily.
Playing Viera and Havertz together is like having 10 men. Viera is a ‘pushover’ and Havertz needs to get stuck in as anything less than a 100% will not win the EPL. Mistakes have been our downfall for aeons. Ramsdale can make unnecessary mistakes. ESR looks good and should play before Havertz is chosen. We are still on course, but we look a midfielder short still, to replace Viera.
United looked two weeks in front of us fitness wise, but we will catch up by playing in the Community Shield against Man City.
Totally agree, Sean.
You know football. Kudos
watched the game eddie championship level player Balogun inter milan level why Arteta why…..
We were just terrible on working the motions in front of 82,000 capacity stadium that’s unacceptably, one thing I like about Eric ten hag no matter what or where his teams will always come fighting
And kicking, fouling same old scum team with peanut head Tag, he will do nothing
One positive for me, perhaps the only one, was to see the energy and urgency of Smith-Rowe injected when he came on. I don’t know why Arteta spent £65m on Havertz when we already had a better player on the books. I just hope Emile gets more chances to show what he can do
Manure played like they did at old Trafford last season. Sit back and counter with balls over the press… same tactic and same.result last night.
So lessons learned… obviously not.
They didn’t treat it as a friendly.We did.They always raise their game when it’s us.Such is their hatred of us.If lessons learned,fine.One should be that in future we’d better match them in physicality & effort.They were running around like Energiser bunny rabbits .
The same old story whenever we play them.Dumb mistakes or gifts.Hopefully have got them out of the way before we face off for real.Then we’d better mean business.
Did anyone else here pay the Early Bird fee to Arsenal.com., were refused access to watch the match after logging on & advised to pay again, but at a higher rate? I’ve read elsewhere that some people have had issues with the Early Bird scheme. I didn’t bother after the failure, and in the end was quite relieved not to have missed a great result for us, and shan’t ever buy anything from Arsenal again.
I know they’re looking at ways to generate more income, but cheating loyal supporters is a bit shameless IMO.
I paid it and to be honest… it has been a complete pain in the arse.
You can’t put it on your fire stick like you could last season and have to watch it either on a lap top or your phone. You have to make sure PC requirements match theirs and that your browser is upto date. I spent over an hour trying to get the poxy thing to work and in the process had to reset a load of passwords.
But in answer to your question, I wasn’t requested to re pay the fee, but I won’t be doing it again.
I saw it mentioned on Le Grove & Untold, so probably an Arsenal cock up rather than my accusation of cheating the customer😜
Agree with the comments of NB and Pp above.
It is just good luck that the physicality with which Manchester United approached this so called “friendly” and the leniency of the officials, that Arsenal didn’t suffer a number of injuries.
It is obvious that Arsenal is not there yet. We need a proven goal scorer in this window. 2. Arteta need to work on the plyers work rate which is very low. 3. Arteta needs to work on their stamina and let them train well and feed well. 4. No winning teams again depends on their skills alone not even Barcelona. Our players need to be strong on ball. Arteta should not rely only on one tactics of playing from the back. It allows teams to take advantage of us. We should be changing tactics on the field to decieve opponents. The mach against Manchester United have given us the advantage to know our problems and profound solutions. Complacency at this junction will only spell doom to our aspirations. Please let Arteta take notes of these observation and respond quickly.
If you are good then you are good. No ifs or buts. Last season we brought 3 new players into first team and they instantly gelled with the rest of the team. Players can of course improve over time as they learn new tactics or being trained by a new coach but still doesn’t make them very good players from the get go.
Still find it weird that Arsenal had 200mil to spend this summer and only came away with Rice, Havertz and Timber. We all could see that, with the system we operate, we need a like for like backup for Partey to a replacement for Xhaka. Talking about Xhaka, who obviously had his limitations, I knew he would be difficult to replace let alone upgrade, because that you will need a very physical, athletic, defensive player who can also arrive in the box to also chip in some goals. That’s too much to ask of a player but he was still able to do that last season. Upgrade on him will mean that on top of the above qualities, the player is also able to dictate play, dribble infield, combine passes with the other midfielder while being a very fast— think of a non‐injury-prone Diaby or a Yahaya Toure.
Moving forward, I think we should try and hijack the Caicedo deal then train Havertz as a Giroud, play Rice in the Xhaka role (and pray he performs) rotate Caicedo between Odegaard, Rice and Partey depending on the opposition and state of the game.
Timber is a very good player and has been impressive on the 2 games he’s played. I really hope he os strong and physical enough to be out Caicedo and come in to replace Odegaard under some circumstances, in addition to his role as an inverted full back playing beside Partey.
Meedo
Agree….
What Arteta sees in Nketiah over Balogun I don’t know. I wish we could keep Balogun and give him a chance to prove himself
Havertz hasn’t filled me up with confidence with his performances but hopefully he will in the future. Maybe a different position will help
I suggest we play with two defensive midfielders (for example Partey and or Rice/Elneny/White) when playing against the ‘big 6’ in order to add steel to the midfield, considering that we play a high press and our full backs invert or overlap leaving us vulnerable to counter attacks. Two defensive midfielders rather than one would easily cover the massive gaps in our defence when we press high.
Against weaker oppositions playing with two #10s like Havertz/Trossard /Vierra/ESR and Odegaard in the midfield, and one defensive midfielder should suffice since the weaker teams lack the quality to exploit the gaps in our defence when we high press.
I’d still like to see the following
Ramsdale
Timber Saliba Gabriel Tierney
Rice Partey
Ode
Saka Jesus(need better) Martinelli
Solid with 6 defensive players and great mobility…the top 4 have ultimate freedom to unleash havoc
Until last season we did play with two DMs, and then Xhaka was moved forward to a box-to-box role, so I would imagine that this is the way Arteta intends to continue. But wouldn’t be surprised to see both Rice & Partey out there together in some tougher games.
My takeaways from the game, wow we missed Xhaka in the midfield.
1. Rice looked like a newbie, still in West Ham form with sideways and back passes
2. Havertz was shocking, drowning in midfield; lost in positioning, watched Bruno when he scored, little impact
3. Timber was best of the 3, never exposed but never threatened Utd offensively
4. Ramsdale and Gabriel are flakey and always have a brain fart every game. They should earn starts not be automatic.
5. Our attack easily shut out by pressing and physical play. Saka kicked to death, Martinelli double teamed, and Odegaard disappears, just like last year.
6. Sell Nketiah. Terrible as always with misplaced passes and missed a goal from inside the box. Got bullied, and was worse when Arteta shifted him to LW.
Rice, Havertz, and Timber were new to team and tactics, so didn’t expect much.
Surprised Arteta couldn’t adjust to Utd’s tactics and had no answer.
No one should be a guarantee starter this year, competition for starts would serve us best.
Lastly, 70 million should have went to B2B, not spent on Havertz without knowing where he fits in.
Pre season matches can be misleading, but your are spot on Durand with regard to your observations concerning Ramsdale and Gabriel..Against Barca I would like Arteta to play a back four of White,Saliba,Timber and Tierney ,using the impressive Dutchman as a sweeper.He may lack the aerial power of Gabriel but he is quicker,has better positional sense and is much superior in terms of ball control and composure.The fact that he is not left footed does not matter a jot as ,historically virtually all the great centre back partnerships consisted of right footed players.
If Arteta insists on playing Harvertz and Vieira in his starting line-up, he will greatly risk losing his job. Arteta is anxious to justify the purchase of these 2 individuals for a combined 100M pounds but it’s not working.
All of Ten Hag’s additions have worked the magic he expects but Arteta keeps on bringing in flops. A lot has been spent on them since his arrival: Lokonga, Pablo Mari, Tavares, Vieira, Luiz Soares and now Havertz!!!!!! That’s too much spent on guys not meant for the league.
Ten Hag on the other hand has been very thoughtful about who he brings and all his additions are working.
You are being a tad to generous to Ten Haag.
I wouldn’t class Antonio as a success. The poor, overated brazilian had a whooping 6 goals 2 assists in 39 matches. Malacia was no longer trusted to start matches after initially starting ahead of Shaw when he arrived.
Weghorst scored a grand total of 2 goals in his 29 match 6 month spell.
The idea of playing an additional attacking midfielder in midfield when you already have four excellent attacking players will never sit well with me. We should be targeting a player who can provide more control and a good linkup between midfield and attack. We have been here before, and I thought we had learned our lessons with this two AM issue. Ordegaard and Smith failed; Ordegaard and Viera failed; and Ordegaard and Havertz will fail.
Please what’s Mohamed Elneny’s place in this Arsenal squad?
He’s not playing any games and we are not hearing of anybody wanting him. Neither is the coach saying anything about him. Even the press don’t include him among the potential outgoings
He has recently signed a contract extension and is currently recovering from a long term injury…
Odegaard is a great player but his lightweight makes our midfield weak,adding Havertz to it makes it weaker.
I see Arteta gave them more time to click yesterday but it didnt work,maybe because Rice hasn’t adapted,
I think we need to be ruthless, Rice would need to play alongside Partey, if we playing Havertz, then Kiwior plays LB,I don’t see how Salah or Anthony will get pass Kiwior.
Nketiah, Vieira need to leave on loan or sale,
Havertz cant learn on the job as a midfielder, midfield is a team’s engine room, see how shambolic we were because our midfield was disjointed, he needs to either play as an 8 or become our supersub CF, Rice,Jorginho and Partey should handle Xhaka and DM roles for now,
Smith-rowe was fantastic, trossard too,
Just my thoughts.
Spot on Longbenark!
I have to see more of Kiwior before I start to rate him. From what he showed last season I wouldn’t want him anywhere near a wing back role. I fear not having proper wing backs will be our Achilles heel. Central defenders playing along the flanks just don’t cut it Last season White and Tomiyasu had their moments but they also cost us points and restricted our attacking options. And yes Zivchenko can also be a liability when playing full back