Can Arsenal just stop playing on Sundays please?

Theory of our losses! (Opinion) by Shenel

Falling to another unsurprising defeat has become the norm for Arsenal nowadays.

So here we go with another loss to Spurs, and despite it being a better overall performance from our boys where they managed to keep the ball well and got more crosses into the box, as always the one thing that let us down was our finishing and as we know if you don’t score you’re never going to have a chance to win the game.

But here comes my theory, I know people will comment and have their own opinions but hear me out Gooners..

Every single game we have lost within the last few weeks have all been on a Sunday!

Now call it what you will but being in the Europa League means we have a game on Thursday and Sunday, so of course that’s how the fixtures fall.

I know we beat Sheffield United and Manchester United on a Sunday but my theory is for within the past few weeks and recently we have lost to Aston Villa, Wolves, Leicester and now Tottenham all on a Sunday. Like I said being in the Europa league means this is how the cookie crumbles and I just really miss those 3pm kick offs on a Saturday and whether it would make a difference to the result we will never know.

So it will be interesting to see how we perform on Wednesday the 16th when we come up against Southampton. It is not a Sunday so as it stands we should win, as we have been doing on a Thursday in the Europa League right? Well I hope so because if we lose that as well then I really have no answers to the poor form of our club that used to scare and blow their opponents away!

But really we need to change these outcomes on a Sunday especially and make sure we win no matter the day or the opponent.

One thing I can say though is I am glad I am old enough to be able to say I remember those days when losing to Tottenham was not in the clubs DNA and we never came away as losers in the North London derby home or away!

Shenel Osman!

Tags tottenham

23 Comments

  1. This is not an article honestly. Prior to this season, most of Auba’s goals came on Sundays. Going by that theory, he should be scoring every weekend. Let’s just stop grasping at straws. It won’t make a single difference if we played on any other day of the week. We’re absolute sh**, our young coach has no clue what to do with this team anymore. We seem to be a club that takes one step forward(Fa cup, shield, Europa league final with Emery) and 10 steps back. Breaking every unwanted record possible as we go.

  2. “Despite it being a better overall performance from our boys where we managed to keep the ball and get more crosses into the box.” ARE YOU SERIOUS SHENEL? We were absolute shite, we didn’t manage to keep the ball, spurs gave it to us to pass around the pitch so they could pick us off on the break and just sit there protecting their 2-nil lead, it’s what Mourinho does. As for the crosses into the box, they were aimless, meaningless crosses, more like Stoke than the real Arsenal.
    As for your Sunday theory, as Kstix said, you really are clutching at straws! Our manager has lost his way, continuously picking players who keep playing badly, Xhaka, Willian and Bellerin, who can’t even take a throw in for goodness sake. Aubamayang is woeful at present and I havent seen him smile in weeks which tells a story and needs benching. We need to play Cedric, AMN, Nelson, ESR and Elneny players with heart who want to play for the club not for big wages. Young players with pace and energy. Now Partey is out for who knows how long too. I’m done for today but good luck with your Wednesday theory against Southampton!

  3. The day of the week we play does make a difference. There are some teams that have not played mid week that have matches on Monday evenings. Others not involved in Europe quite often have more than a weeks rest between matches. It makes big difference when getting players fit to play.

  4. Are you superstitious? The problem is not playing on Sundays, but the head coach. Arteta doesn’t have a plan to turn things around. He should go learn his trade in lower leagues.

  5. When I first read the title on this post I thought it read “can Arsenal stop playing sideways please”.

  6. Not scoring goals, poor defending, no creativity in the midfield, and poor coaching will always put us on the back foot. That is to say, every department is in shambles. Its not about Sunday games

  7. Whether we play Sunday or Saturday if our young manager put soo much trust to Xhaka,Bellerin,William and Holding soon he will be looking for another Job

  8. If we finish our season outside top 6 and without Europa or FA cup win then next season we can play on Saturdays..
    Of Course Arteta will not there anyway..

  9. How about we just stop playing Bellerin and most of all Xhaka.
    How is it at this level he can’t take a throw in? Why is that all Xhaka does is pass backwards and look uncomfortable on the ball! While we are at it let’s drop Auba for a couple of games as frankly are the moment he is dreadful….movement and positioning is way off.

  10. Okay. The Gooners have unanimously agreed that Arsenal playing on Sunday in the PL is not the problem that has led to the Gunners losing 4 PL matches they’ve played on Sunday.

    But what could be the reason and issue that have cost Arsenal 3 straight home loses and one away lose in the PL in their recent outings?

    The Gooners agreeing that Mike Arteta has fumbled to have selected the Gunners who can’t play to Arsenal PL high standard such as Willian In particular who from all indications can’t play to the required high intensity needed at the top level of the game for Arsenal. And therefore he should in the time being be dropped from playing in the PL for Arsenal even as a sub. But against Dundalk at away on Thursday night in the Europa, Arteta could play him.

    I think Arteta will find it difficult to drop his club captain Aubameyang in for the Saints game on Wednesday. This is because his doing that will amount to him admitting he was wrong to have made Arsenal give a 31 year old player a high lucrative contract extension. Who isn’t a Christina Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi who all can still be trusted and relied on to deliver consistently even at their advanced football playing age.

    Nevertheless, but since the Gunners have at Tottenham last Sunday in the PL looked to have improved on their general playing fault to keep the ball very well. But however lacked the finishing strike in the final third. The general up game playing high performance they’ve attained at Spurs must the Gunners keep save in their game playing locker henceforth with. But not lose it or allow it to go on any errands. Then from this point, Arteta and the Gunners should from their next game in the PL strive very hard improve on their failings and lacking that are bedeviling the Arsenal team in the final third stopping them from scoring goals to win matches.

    But no matter how difficult it could be for Arsenal to overcome this difficulty facing them, Arteta and they Gunners have to work in tandem to overcome the difficulty to achieve their regular game winning objective in the PL, which of course they must have to unfailing start achieving as from their next PL game and onwards.

  11. I think the question might be framed better if you had ask: ‘Can Arsenal please stop playing so bad, please?’

    That said, I am sort of getting some perverse pleasure at how the team is performing under our saviour, the great Arteta. How a purported big club such as ours can appointed someone with no experience of the job is beyond me. Much less with the support from some of the fan base for the appointment.

    That, though, is not the fault of Arteta, it is whichever moron at the executive level that decided an inexperienced person is the best person to lead a high profiled club in transition.

    What I do blame Arteta for is his arrogant style of management before he has the credentials to back it up. ‘My way or the high way’ may work for mangers with a record of success, but not for someone with no experience of the role, and who was at best, a journeyman player during his playing career. Think of number of players he has discarded, including a 25 million pounds signing that couldn’t even get into the squad, or a highly promising young player sent out on loan because the great MA doesn’t like his manners. That’s not even considering the farce with Ozil. For those who believe these are for footballing reasons, please contact me, as I have a very nice bridge that I think would suit you to a tee, at a very reasonable price.

    Well, as I said, I do get some perverse pleasure at our current struggles, it’s sort of nostalgic really. It brings back wonderful memories of my misspent youth, which includes the Neil/Howe days of mediocre and the odd cup now and then. Let’s just hope that the great saviour doesn’t go too far, and emulate the great Man U and Spurs teams of the 70s, and actually win us the Championship next year.

  12. This sham of an article saying we should not play on Sundays despite the Europa league making any other day impossible, shows how the ability to think at all is denied Shenel. Why else could he ever come up with that question to which everyone else but he already knows the answer?

    In any case, next season that will not be a problem as we will not be in Europe or anywhere near it in Prem positions. i havealreadt writrtenoff this season and expect a finsh outside to ten probably around 12th. But I still back this manager 100% and recognise, though in a clear minority on here, the scale of the near hopeless task before him and before ANY other manager we have under Kroenkes ownership.
    I also recognise and allow for the fact that until we can shift the mountain of deadwoodhe inherited, none of which is MA s fault, there is no way he is going to get a full squad of his own chosen players . And until that happens he should not be judged.

    I also recognise he has make selection and tactical mistakes, as all new managers do and many older ones too, some who managed over twenty years at one club even! But unlike many, I am fair minded.

    1. Good to know Mr. Fox that you recognise the great task that MA has before him, and also recognise his errors, because in some of your posts I get the feeling that you completely absolve him of any fault, whatsoever. Now for me, based on his early impact, he is still the man. But sometimes while seeing the bigger picture we ignore minor details, and those details are that the owner and the management are not in charge of matchday activities. These fall solely on the manager’s, the coaching staff, medical staff and the players. Some of MA’s recent press interviews, though positive as always have been baffling. Why would he say publicly that his team is not good enough and then expect them to perform well? Why would he urge the injured Partey to the field and then say that he should have fallen on the floor and not come off? Will it make the Spurs players play the ball out for a throw? Why say that sending fruitless crosses into the box was a positive? I dont think commenting on his team selection is appropiriate as I dont see the players in training, so I wont know who would be better for a certain game or not. Also recently we have played better, so I think MA’s tactics may yet click into place and we would have a respectable season. Also, the manager can’t do anything on the field so some mistakes are the fault of the players too, like wayward passes or finishing. But what has been worrying me is that MA seems to make the same mistakes frequently. I hope he turns our fortunes around, but if not, then atleast be flexible enough to think about what changes he needs to make in the squad and tactics.

      1. Sid you make some very fair points and respectfully too, I am happy to see. I do not absolve MA of mistakes and have many of precisely the same thoughts on how he has handled things as many Gooners.
        But unlike many of them, I see his many good points, his honesty, steeliness of purpose and willingness (as with Pepe) to publicly condemn bad behaviour. I see more good than bad in him.

        But far more important than any of that, I also see the enormous difficulties that ANY Arsenal manager faces with this squad and with an absent, uncaring, uninterested owner, who refuses to spend what is badly needed. That is a huge ongoing burden and NOT the fault of MA.

        I ALWAYS TRY TO BE FAIR, WHETHER IN SUPPORTING OR IN CRITICISING and I make allowances when people do their very best, which is why I berate OZIL, AS HE REFUSES TO DO HIS BEST.
        I see very clearly that if we sacked MA now or at end of this seosn , we would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire and would regress further, not move forward.

        I am mature and honest enough to stand by my firm opinion and not run with the herd, many of who are scarcely thinkers at all. I urge you as a thinking man to take seriously what I say and decide for yourself whether or not it makes sense to you. I put a great deal of thought into all I write, for what that is worth.

  13. All the teams AW produced during his era, were fighters….a delight to watch even when they were losing. I wonder what is Arsenal about our present day team.

  14. We are rebuilding a team

    hence there will be losses…..

    once the young team gets the experience and form the spine/backbone

    we will start winning

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