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Burnley 0-0 Arsenal – at least Arsenal kept a clean sheet

One point is just not good enough for Arsenal in a poor overall display.

The first half started brightly for Arsenal, they dominated for the first 10-15 minutes and could easily have been two up with both Aubameyang and Lacazette squandering good opportunities.

However, the final 30 minutes belonged to Burnely, they only had one real clear cut scoring opportunity but they bossed the midfield and were the more eager team.

There was the usual wasteful passing from Xhaka and Guendouzi and a distinct lack of creativity from any of the players.

Laca simply could not hold the ball up, Ozil drifted out of the game following a good start, Aubameyang became more anonymous than the German, Martinelli was simply on the wrong side, he is far more effective with Saka behind him and Xhaka and Guendouzi offered very little going forward.

The defenders did fine, no huge errors and in fairness to Lacazette, I did see him racing back to help out as often as he could.

Leno did ok and made a decent save from Rodriguez, however, the constant passing out of the back is an accident waiting to happen. Simple truth is that Arsenal is no good at it.

All in all a disappointing first half.

I was expecting the second half to be different at the start. I would have bet that the lads would have received the hairdryer treatment from Arteta and if they did it made little difference as Burnely started off far better.

I have to say that at times it was men v boys and the men were not wearing yellow.

Burnley was attacking in waves and how they were not leading by the 60th minute I will never know, however, they were not and that meant Arsenal were still in the game. You cannot keep wasting chances and not expect to get punished.

Arsenal appeared to be set on counter-attack play and they did look dangerous when the opportunities arose.

Willock came on for Ozil and it was no surprise, he was largely ineffective and the way the game was going he was going to have little opportunity to make a difference. However, how Lacazette was not brought off first I will never know.

By the 70th minute, you could be forgiven for thinking this was an Unai Emery team such was the lacklustre performance from Arsenal.

Aubameyang should have done a lot better with a clear chance he had but Burnley’s Rodriguez missed an absolute sitter from one yard out, by far the best chance and worse miss of the game so far.

Arsenal did improve in the final 10 minutes or so but not nearly enough. That said, the second half was better than the first, even if it was not inspiring.

The game ended 0-0 and at least one positive we can take from the game is that Arsenal kept a rare clean sheet on the road.

But a point is simply not good enough when you are 10th in the table and just seven points above the drop zone.

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137 Comments

    1. Arteta has to start dropping him now. Our main issue is no penetration from central midfield. We have neither a playmaker, or anyone making runs from deep like Ramsey did. Ozil offers zero creativity, and Laca cannot score to save his life! Those two badly need to be dropped asap!

      1. Penetration is also Barcelona’s biggest issue currently

        Rakitic, Alena, Busquets and Arthur can only create merry-go-round passes, whereas Messi is not as quick as before. Suarez, Griezmann and Dembele are rarely able to get past the opponents

        That’s why Arsenal had better recruit a wide player who excels in one-on-one situations like Adama Traore. We will go nowhere if our supposedly creative midfielders can only produce predictable passes

        2. Pepe is that guy. I think today was a game to pepe and Ceballos and benched Ozil and laca.

          Ozil has to ve dropped asap

    2. Where are Lacazette fans, we keep telling them the guy is useless, they won’t listen. I dont kno what is really doing in the team

  2. Almost lost just because of a low quality cross from Burnley. This is why a towering CB like Mari and Saliba is important

    A tall target man is also crucial for plan B, in case Arsenal can’t score from open play like this

    And Arsenal lost their penetration after Saka was taken out. Good attacking fullbacks are critical in Arteta’s system, so I can’t wait until Tierney becomes fit again and hopefully Soares can do better than Bellerin

      1. I can’t believe it’s accepted that Guendouzi, Xhaka and Torreita are good enough for where we want to be. Ozil was finished long time ago so I excluded his name

        1. Kev, the problem in a nutshell; the least creative Arsenal midfield in some years. Also Arsenal continuously is bullied in midfield, due to the lack of size and physicality.

          1. @ozzigunner…why oh why three managers including MA failed to realise that we don’t have a creative midfield n that’s why we are struggling to transition from back to front, our football is slow as hell n bec Xhaka, Guendozi n torreria are all DMs their first instinct is to pass back wards n side ways. Ozil is not the kind of number 10 that can control the game n provide us that midfield calmness, he himself is dependent on a good CM who can feed him the ball n link everything up like carzola use to do. This team needs a creative spark in centre n a good organising authoritative CB but we know that will cost money n aparently we only do loan deals.

        2. Lol. I been commenting this always. Santi Cazorla score again. I have said last season, we will go nowhere with Laca & Auba. They can’t carry Arsenal. Even if we have (Ramsey, Santi, Rocisky or Fabregas). They both miss consistent solo scoring mind.

      2. Arteta has to accommodate Ozil and Ozil can only play as no 10, hence he is forced to keep using two DMs behind Ozil

        If Arteta has more versatile attacking midfielders, he could use two half-wingers in 4-3-3 formation as what Guardiola does at Man City

        1. I beg to differ, GOI, Arteta does not have to accommodate Özil, and he will soon realise that the team will be better off without him. He just needs to remember how they played against Bournemouth.

      3. and this midfield will take us nowhere till the summer of 2021. Mikel has no guts to drop Ozil and he gets paid to do nothing.Guendozi and Xhaka can only rotate the ball and nothing less. Overall did not expect anything from this lineup and got nothing, so I am not upset.Expectations met, we are a genuine mid table team.

      4. Only if we have someone like carzola to control the midfield… That guy is still on fire regardless his age.. I wish arsenal can bring him back so he can retire with us

    2. You can’t blame the back line if our highest scorer don’t put chances like that away as for Lacazette don’t know what’s the deal with him but surely now he needs some time on the bench very disappointing game

      1. Lacazette and Ozil definitely deserve to be benched, but I don’t think Arteta has the balls to do it

          1. You meant to get rid of Arteta? I agree with you, the day is quite far, but sure as the results are not going our way.Can you guess why? He is afraid to bench Laca and Mesut.Worst players on the field.

    3. I wonder some fans think Saliba will make a difference? He’s played something like 20 games in two seasons. Do we expect him to come in and make a difference? I doubt this very much.

    1. He should get a 12-month probation period like Emery

      Klopp also needed several seasons before becoming consistent

      1. Even the midtable table team ( sadly but our club is also in that stature)our club isnewly appointed manager has earned more point for their club than him

        1. Don’t just see the points. See the improvement in defense, ball possession and chances created

          Arteta has made us stronger when playing away and when fighting with ten men. Wenger and Emery couldn’t do that

          2. @gotanidea
            You are very right we can’t be too critical and expect too much from Arteta at the moment. I can imagine how many goals our defence would have conceded if Emery had not gone.
            We need next sumer to get some good midfielder and then see what Arteta can do .But the signs are good and the improvement evident.

      2. It’s statements like this that’s made fans accept mediocrity. Klopp had no honeymoon period, he came midway through the season and got to two finals though he lost both you could see a significant difference-his blueprint. His first full season he got the minimal expectation(UCL) while spending only on Mane and Wijnaldum.
        We haven’t seen any significant improvements since Arteta came on so if until the end of season and we haven’t seen any improvement to what we’re seeing right now, then Arteta no longer has my backing.

  4. It’s this kind of match that reminds me how much I miss Giroud. I would pick Mustafi for MOTM. No blunders for once and he made countless clearance. On the contrary, we escaped this one.

    1. Arsenal had better find another old tall target man who is willing to play second fiddle to Aubameyang and Lacazette

      Bas Dost and Wout Weghorst could be an ideal super sub

    2. Ys dear, giroud will surely bury those chances that missed by our so called world class strikers

    3. Spot on mate, what a performance from him. I’m actually one of his biggest critic but credit where it’s due. And a shout to xhaka who was the only hope we had in crossing a decent ball and he defended well.

    4. The issue is not players but formation +tac tic imposed by coach! It could have been a all different ball game if Arteta looked at last game’s 2 halves! Xhaka should had start as LB and Saka above him as an attacking midfield. As in last game’s dominant & attacking first hslf! Not the opposite we had in second half and for today’s game, Saka ending up injured, ran down, oblige to cover so much ground as LB/winger!

      Arteta is good mental coach, his job as an assistant, not pick team & tac tic! Simply pathetic, we are very lucky to draw, a miracle! Equal points with 13th’s spot! We should be 14th today! Unreal was how Burnley didn’t win! Even more so for people to not realize that we are in relegation’s fight; these 1 point taken as a time can be crucial for us!

      Spurs fans are trashing us as never! They got a coach, so did everyone, we got an assistant!

  5. Every game feels tough even before kick off…..This season is amongst the worst season for us as fans. Arteta needs time and patience from us.

    Positive
    Another clean sheet

    Negative
    Not clinical enough
    Another draw

  6. Haha clean sheet, my foot .how our club became a laughingstock. Paul merson is right we are no longer a big fish anymore.

  8. Typical trash away display today. Arteta should do the right thing and drop Lacazette who is out of form. Funny how our two so called world class strikers missed chances to win the match today. None of them have the class and inspiration of a true world class striker like Van Persie. It’s kind of funny because I don’t think there’s even one player in this squad who plays like a world class player. This is another match where our CM’s and Ozil offer nothing attacking wide due to lack of dynamism. At this point we are just playing for a better league finish. We still have more unpredictable away matches to come like at Southampton, Wolves, Aston Villa and Man City. I give the MOTM to our CB’s for surviving through the onslaught of crosses

    1. Ceballos has to start at the next EPL game

      Unfortunately he will return to Bernabeu next season, so I bet Arteta would keep starting Ozil till this season ends

      1. Wrong reasoning-where Caballos will be next season should have nothing to do with his possible contribution to the team this season. Otherwise why did Mikel insist that he stay?

  9. What a waste of sleeping time. Wow! I woke up early in the morning to watch this disappointing display. Terrible time to be an Arsenal supporter.

  11. Arteta obsession with ozil and Lacazette is killing us, aubamayang should have put that first attempt away but Lacazette didn’t even win a single header.

  13. Fully agree with this breakdown of the match. I can’t for the life of me work out why Laca wasn’t brought off sooner? Also for Nketiah on 88′ who is still working his way back into the team… Just seems completely pointless. Pepe for Laca, and putting Aubameyang through the middle should have been made on 75/80 mins at the latest, I can’t understand the logic in that substitution at all. Poor decision from Arteta to be honest.

  14. Arteta made a mess today. I knew we were not winning as soon as I saw the line up. Still don’t know what willock brings to this team, and guendozi is such a poor player, I play as a midfielder too and the first thing of a box to box midfielder is to release the ball as quick as you can. Guendozi don’t seem to know that even when he is a pro. I am so disappointed

    1. Always has the extra touch and it slows everything down. It’s so frustrating watching him hold onto the ball instead of passing it

    2. I don’t understand how a coach is blind to an obvious truth. Only Martinelli and Saka should have business with our first team. Nketia, Willock and the rest of our youth players should never be near our first team till they’re ready. How can Arteta play Willock ahead of Ceballos? Why should Nketia come in ahead of Pepe? Yes Pepe is struggling but a struggling Pepe is better than Nketia and off-form Lacazette and can still produce moment of magic. He (Arteta) has stabilized the defence, then what? Why can’t our midfielders run at opponents and shoot? Why cant they drive the ball forward and pick out the strikers runs? Why should we rely on Martinelli and Auba to score everytime?
      For me Arteta’s honeymoon is over. He should be criticised when he messes up and held responsible for the team’s performances.

  16. where are the pepe-haters?

    he might not have the best finishing touch but hes the only one capable of creating chances out of nothing

    guess what, he’s leading in number of Assists while only playing half of the games

    1. Pepe needs to learn how to cut inside more effectively first

      Can’t cut inside to shoot nor can he get to the byline to cross. Luckily he is still fast and he is quite tall for a winger, so there is still hope for him

  17. Why do people always criticize strikers. Yes, they missed few chances, but they were delivered from defenders. Where is the midfield where Arsenal used to dominate games? If Arteta cant see this problem, he is no better than Emery.

    1. Arteta just can’t convince so far.. Everton is doing better.. Arteta is looking a bad choice already.. I reserve more criticism until after the break.. I am finding it difficult to see arteta way forward.

    2. Leka, the principal issue, as stated above by kev and supported by me, is the poor quality and lack of good creative bals from midfield.
      Arteta faces the same issues as Ljundberg and Emery; these players are not good enough to compete at the higher levels of the EPL.
      Scouting and recruitment is poor and major, well targeted investment from the Board is essential.
      My concern is these players will cost the job of another head coach.

  18. Here i heard some people saying that they write off this season , just look at the stats we only have won 6 in 25 games,only bottom 3 club have less win than us,that will tell the whole story of our club are going through

  19. Ok first of all we look more resolute and together defending and my MOM Mustaffi. BUT why am i sitting here thinking Burnley played better football than us, yes Burnley. We looked totally void of any attacking ideas, yes we missed a couple of chances but yo be fair we kept losing the ball in pressure situations attacking and looked totally lost and out of balance. With another totally ineffectual game by the bland and boring Ozil, Arteta has to bin him ASAP because he is taking more away than giving. Im a lacca fan but he is struggling big style and why on earth are we playing Martinelli on the right. I fear the best years of Arsenal football club are behind and the future is a light year away. It wasn’t a shocking performance, far from it but being out footballed by Burnley is a situation that shows us where we are heading and at a rate i dont like. Our attack today was poor, the build up and the finishing, Arteta has to get more out of this attack, we are under achieving big style with the money and players we have brought in and are playing for us. We have to play quicker, something else Burnley did better than us, yes Burnley.

  21. you can have 4 van dijk in defense but it won’t change the fact that xhaka torreira and guendouzi can only pass the ball sideways and backwards this way we should have singed cazorla back

  22. I can’t believe this is the Sh!!ty match my heart has been beating forward for since yesterday..

    Arsenal can easily increase the chance of HBP in an individual. I think Ceballos Should have left, making it clear his image ain’t around the club at all.!

    Martinelli’ could have scored one of those two chances missed by Auba! What that heck! Was he(Auba) thinking..
    Okay it now Crystal clear Auba Laca doesn’t work, Guenduozi Xhaka doesn’t click! But why is it hard for the coaches to observe.

    Gutted.

  24. It is time bring creative midfielders. Even from the academy, nothing is worse than what we have in the first team right now.

      2. @gotanidea
        I think Arteta is not pleased in training with Ceballos output;not denying his skills, I have doubts over his physicality. Arteta kind of prefer Willock aggressiveness and energy. But he should be given opportunity to prove himself in cup games. After all, Mustafi was given a chance which he has taken with a stride.

  25. When most of us try to be realistic, we are accused of being negative. While you are celebrating a clean sheet we are getting closer to relegation than top four. It was not about Wenger, Emery and is not about Arteta. We don’t have a team and for a long time there has been no sincere willingness to build a winning team at the club. Always the excuse of no money but when fans cry loud the rush to buy average players at inflated prices. If we don’t have money at the club aren’t our owner suppose to invest properly in the club until we gain financial stability or are they comfortable watching us deteriorate each season. For me nothing has changed at the club since Arteta took over. It’s still the same results on the pitch and the January transfer window has proven that nothing will change on that front, don’t be deceived by the summer window promise, we will still have the no money talk. It good most fans have accepted we are an average team because they won’t be making excuses for where the club is at presently.

    2. @ Angelo. I’m sorry mate I needed a win for $5500. All lost due to arteta’s stupidity. Lacazette was pass poor, aubameyang played rubbish, ozil was himself. The remaining players were OK. The attack lost us this game and really needed a win. Pepe should have been introduced, c embellished for penetration and martinelli should have played on the left with saka. Guardiola plays his best players not his pals so arteta should get it straight.

  27. Can’t understand why we substitute Lacazette in the 88th minute, surely Arteta could see he was struggling, and has been for a few matches, should have been done much earlier. What did he expect Nketiah to do in 2 minutes ?…Still, I suppose a point away to Burnley is not too bad.

  28. 90 minutes of my life I won’t get back best way to sum that game up! Who do we play next? It’ll definitely be a draw whoever it is lol

    1. That is exactly what I said last night after watching United!! Didn’t for one minute think I’d be saying it again today☹

        1. Ah Sue I don’t have the words to describe Arsenal anymore because anything I say I’ll just sound like a broken record 😂 6 wins from 25 games that is disgusting 🙄 The toon will have no fear coming to the Emirates no team would really, we can’t beat anyone 😂

          1. We beat Burnley on the 2nd game of the season to record our 2nd win and have only won 4 since then and it’s February 😂😂😂

          2. I bet they’re relishing the thought, Kev… all their players in the middle of goal droughts will be sorted!
            To say I’m disappointed is an understatement.. the women also lost, Price was thrashed, all we need now is for the spuds to win to finish a crap weekend off!!

          4. Oh Joelinton will probably score a brace then Sue 😂 the only improvement I see from Arteta is maybe more stable defensively? I don’t know but we are very poor! God, you are having a bad weekend Sue and you might right, Man city looking a little flat 🙄 and Liverpool crushed Southampton too and we have to wait 2 weeks for another game 👀 dreadful Sue 🙄

            1. I hate that lot and the first penalty was spot on even if VAR took a stupid amount of time but that was not a second penalty, Lloris pulled his hand away and Sterling dived. Do not let hatred blind you. But VAR what a joke that was. It took so long that Spurs or City could have scored, what then? Imagine if City scored, it would have been disallowed and then they miss the penalty.

          9. I’m not sure its hatred Admin I didn’t see a close up so I’ll take your word it wasn’t a pen but yeah VAR is an absolute joke, that was laughable before the penalty was given almost as bad as Graham poll handing Simunic 3 yellow cards at the world cup lol.

          13. Haha Sue they would all follow each other equally as bad as one another 😂😂 so Spurs 2 up turning into a brilliant weekend isn’t it 👀

          15. It’s just one of those seasons Sue, nothing is going right 👀 I think we’ve actually lost the same amount of games as City.. unbelievable

  30. Wtf … u accommodate Ozil by providing a decent b2b nidfielder who is comfortable on ball and has half a football brain … xhaka and gundouzhi would struggle to play for halifax town … ceballos needs to start in that position … closest we came to having that midfield combo was Ozil santi and Wilshire sadly injuries and wenger got in way of that combo

    1. why must Ozil be the one to be accommodated. It could also be we accommodate Xhaka and Guendozi by playing a more industrious AM

  31. Let’s all hope that we won’t get relegated. That has been my wish ever since I carefully scrutinized our team and realized we are so crap.
    My only worry is that our penny pinching owners will just paper over the cracks and take us through this shit again next season.
    Football has moved on while we are still stuck in Disneyland. This team is crying out for personnel,we have no choice but move on a majority of this lot and get a new group that can compete. Without which it can only get worse.

  32. Look at our midfield, there is no creativity and also we don’t expect any goals from them, they are killing our counter attacking play too many slow players in this team. Our youth academy is pure shit. So many overhyped players like willock, niles, after one decent game they got the contract extension.

    1. Non of our midfielder can be a regular player in any EPL team including the mighty oxil.That tell you how crap we are

    2. I agree 100%. These overhyped academy players are why we don’t seem to admit we need top players to fortify this team. Nketia, Smith-Rowe, Niles, Willock (worst of them) and Nelson are useless to firt team ATM. Martinelli and Saka have potentials. Guendouzi is average. The earlier Arteta realizes this and pick Pepe/Ceballos ahead of these lot the better for the team.

  33. I can’t even believe that Burnley players were much eager er to win the match while Arsenal players were enjoying their back and sideway passes. Pathetic.

  34. Passing to slow. Dwelling on the ball. None of the intensity we’ve seen in recent games. Not enough movement from offensive players to make themselves available. Laca and Ozil should of been hauled off at halftime. Martinelli being played on the wrong wing. Wrong team selection and tactics. Arteta has to take the full blame.

  35. That was a pretty depressing watch and certainly feels like a step backwards. Fortunately though we’ve taken at least a few steps forward under Arteta so not time to panic. Solid game by Mustafi and always nice to keep a clean, albeit lucky, sheet.

  36. OT. Did anyone see Raheem Sterling’s tackle on Dele Alli in the Tottenham v Man City game? Please tell me what is the difference between that tackle and Aubameyang’s foul on the Crystal Palace player that earned him a red card? Sterling only got a yellow card for that tackle. English referees are very inconsistent.

      1. True MARTIN, which is just one of several reason why the whole concept of faceless people undermining the refs decisions with mere opinions, not facts but opinions, at least quite often, makes the whole concept of having VAR at all stupid and damaging to our enjoyment and by definition to the game itself. Wise fans would be uniting against accepting having VAR at all! It was a stupid and damaging idea. When matters are left to someones OPINION ONLY, then that person should always and only be the onfield ref! REALITY!

        1. Oh I agree entirely with VAR, however, I also agree it should only be the ref on the field of play making the decisions via a monitor. It was his opinion in the first place that gave a penalty or red card or whatever and so it should be his opinion only whether to overrule himself or not. Worked perfectly well in the world cup like that. This going to a third party and relying on their decision is si9mply wrong.

    2. According to Souness it’s because Sterling isn’t that type of a player and he stayed on his feet… hmmmm. Can’t make it up.

    3. First of all sterling got the ball first and then caught ali on the follow through after. Second of all sterling was on his feet when he made the tackle. Nothing like aubas tackle for me, i dont think its even a yellow for stirling, he won the ball and was stood up when he made the tackle, the follow through was unfortunate.

  37. I see us complaining about the Areteta but we must accept the fact that our team is filled with a lot of poor players that are physically weak and technically naive.

  38. i am beginning to seriously question atretas credentials as a manager. not just because of todays game, but the least few games i am asking myself where are we actually going under arteta.the answer to my own question is nowhere !!. he repeatedly playes our worst players game in and game out. this sniffs of emery, only arteta has better hair !>todaYs game was a bore fest, i had enough by halftime and i switched the radio to the france v england game.the radio commentators did their upmost to turn it into a good game , but even they ran out of ideas by the break. i am preparing myself for a long hard struggle in the bottom third, if we continue to play like this .

    1. Hi Gerry
      I have a serious question
      Where did you think Arsenal were heading before? Same players, same lack of money coming through.
      These players that you refer to have been on the payroll for a while now, so this is not Arteta’s fault just yet in my opinion.

      2. hi SUE P, how are things . what i basically meant , was, that , the way i saw it , was, that arteta was`coming to save us, and that was just my view on it . now, with him not dropping the under achievers, i am actually beginning to doubt his skills as a top class manager. why cant he drop the players who are having it so cushy that they dont bother playing for the shirt anymore. surely this can be seen by more than me .i can see your poing though, the same players but a different manager. well i was led to believe that all would change, not evernight mind, but they would change. but here we are in february and we are still playing dreary football. bring in the academy players if these super footballers are not living up to their reputations, simple as . surely the kids will play their hearts out.

  39. Feel like Arteta for Laca in to the team to give him confidence. Completely backfired. Should have started Auba down the middle and Gabi on the left and we might have seen a result.

    Laca and Ozil need to be dropped. I would actually like to see Xhaka get played as a CB. He plays really well in defence compared to midfield.

    I was very disappointed with the subs as well, especially Nketiah’s, far too late.

  40. How is it possible to play 1 week like we did against Bounemouth, then dish up complete crap the next week against Burnley? My own answer to my question would be team selection, THAT’S IT! Lacazette is a shadow of what he once was, and Özil, well…, is Özil. Creativity, my backside. We might as well play with 10 men for all he contributes. Where was the energy and running off the ball today? Bring back the youngsters!

  41. Ot- I don’t usually comment or post here but am a regular reader follower of this site and my vein flow with arsenal blood am not a fan but am a faithful cuz I remain loyal till the end. I once commented about a young beast goal machine who is cheap and processes everything u want in a striker .He is erling Haaland the goal demon,a real beast of hight ,speed and control who score for fun and he is only 19. Dortmund snap him so cheap 18m and guess what he’s already bang 7 for Dortmund in just 3 appearance. I say we sell abu, sell laca, activate is buy out clause if possible add extra cash and snap him sharp sharp next season

      1. Yeah sue just imagine how dangerous he is who does that in a top German league . And to mention where in d world do you get a prolific goal machine who score 5 goals in two substitute Soo cheap at 18m. We need to make this beast our number one Target next summer by activating his Buyout clause

  42. Having read the many, mostly, woefully pessimistic and rather unthinking comments on this post I take a completely different view from most on here. Firstly, I was thrilled, yes, thrilled to see the tight defence and overall refusal to be bullied by the single most physical Prem team and on their own patch too. Of course we still have holes in the team but we already knew that.

    To read some of the foolish moaning comments on here, you might well conclude that fact has only just dawned on many of the “children” who moaned so much. What does anyone expect,(I ask, as an arch realist!). For over a decade we have suffered under the dreadful handicap of having Kroenke own us. This has not just happened; he has been here for 12 years approx and we all know he cares nothing. BUT in the context of having perhaps the worst owner of all Prem teams- only the Glazers begin to rival Kroenke – we have one of the most wise, dedicated and inspirational managers in the PREM TODAY. I call him manager because it has already become clear that he is acting as a true manager, not just the insulting and silly “head coach” title.

    On the plus side wehave a growing and talented band of thriving young players fast coming through and MA is rightly giving them their heads. It seems, by all comments from pundits and journos who know, that in Mari we have a real top CB and bought for a steal along with Saliba who was much and widely rated by many in the know, to come next season. As that realist I spoke about and unlike the pathetic moany “children” on this thread, I had long ago written off this season for a top four place and even top six. Top six MIGHT STILL HAPPEN, THOUGH I doubt it. But it is all about next season and with Arteta, the young players and the prospect of at least SOME decent spending money this summer, we can and I firmly believe will, LOOK A FAR MORE POTENT TEAM NEXT SEASON. Try being realistic with your expectations folks and then you will not stupidly drive yourself into needless depression when your unrealistic hopes for THIS season let you down, as I ALWAYS SAID THEY WOULD. ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY BUT IN 9 GAMES, MA has transformed this club and the realists among us, who NEVER self fool ourselves, can clearly see it. KEEP THE FAITH AND FORGET THE PROZAC!!

  44. Finally, a comment I wholeheartedly agree on, Lacazette should be sold, average at best and overrated. How is he a top striker when he can’t score 15+ goals a season, giroud was better and underrated

  45. Too early to judge Arteta. He has addressed our perennial defence problems and we are harder to beat and for that alone, he deserves a bit of credit. The two new signings should add a bit more stability allowing him to concentrate on the other issues.

    The players seem to be buying into his ideas and so should we at least until the end of the season. Emery got 18 months and we ended up, arguably, with a worse defence.

  46. I think a draw was a fair result, though the chances we had first might have changed the course of the game.

    Top teams are clinical!

    But in truth were we not surprised by the result? Still a lot of work to do so we just have to take the process as part of the journey.

    Defensively we kept a clean sheet which, against when you consider our LB is actually a LW then taken up by a DM.. its not too bad…not long ago we looked like a sunday league team..

    I do feel slowly its coming together from this side of things.

    Still think we need some attacking shake ups.

    Maybe Laca needed to start because of the toughness of burnley and Eddie might just of got bullied but I hope this break allows Arteta to get his teeth into the way they should be doing things..

    Laca scoring…
    Ozil creating…
    …

  47. A Quality CM and CB are absolute must in summer. If we keep buying cheap solutions or keep loaning players of the kind of quality we do there is no way out fortune will change next season. If we think playing 2-3 DMs in the team with liability like Ozil will make mefield run smooth n provide much needed creativity then we are the most delusional of all. Atleast Man U are spending money as part of solution to get out of the situation what are we doing? No change in failing Academy structure n no investment in world-class talent.

  48. The one thing I can`t understand is people buying season tickets, are they dreaming? Arsenal couldn`t hold their own in the Championship League.
    Address your season subscriptions direct to Kroenke, to hell with Arsenal.

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