Arsenal will be frustrated to have had to settle for just the one point despite coming from behind to lead, before seeing Fulham reduced to 10 men.
The Gunners were shocked early on when Andreas Pereira punished us for an early mistake, with the former Manchester United graduate taking full advantage from outside the box to beat an out of position Aaron Ramsdale.
We swiftly moved to try and get ourselves level however, carving out a number of opportunities at the other end, but Gabriel Martinelli was denied twice, before what looked a certain goal when the ball was falling into the path of Kai Havertz right in front of goal, only for the defender to rescue with a block in the nick of time.
We thought we may have had our breakthrough when Martin Odegaard fired in a low drive into the goal from outside the area, but offside was called on Kai Havertz who had initially broke in behind the defence, and unfortunately VAR wasn’t to prove in our favour.
Unfortunately we went into the break a goal down, but there was plenty of reason to believe there was more to come from our side after the amount of chances we were creating.
We decided to replace Leandro Trossard with Eddie Nketiah at the break, but it was the changes 10 minutes later (Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira replaced Thomas Partey and Kai Havertz) which seemed to make the difference.
On the 70-minute mark, the Portuguese midfielder managed to force a foul from Tete, and Bukayo Saka made no mistake in sending the goalkeeper the wrong way. Almost straight after, we then find ourselves leading after Bukayo Saka laid it into the path of young Eddie to smash it into the net of the goal.
We continued to push forward, and looked destined for all three points when Bassey got a second caution to leave his side with only 10 men, but Palhinha certainly didn’t get the memo as he beat the defenders to get onto the cross from the corner and fire inside the far post.
Despite a couple of late efforts, we couldn’t find a winner, and had to settle for just the one point.
Did Arteta make some mistakes in his selection? Is Kai Havertz proving to be a wasteful signing?
Patrick
So disappointed with the sloppiness of some Arsenal players in the first half, but the skills of Vieira and Zinchenko changed that. The tactic was good, but our players need to minimize the misplaced passes
What was good about the tactics. Millions of fans, sport analysts and pu sits who have criticized this tactics can not all be wrong at the same time.
Man U will punish use seriously if Arteta fail to drop that poor rejected roll royce he purchased from Stamford Bridge and revert to our winning tactic.
Please keep quiet you don’t have anything to say… Arteta is clueless and useless what is the essence of Benching Gabriel Maghaless
If Arteta was clueless, he wouldn’t have played Nketiah, Vieira and Zinchenko to make us score twice
3 matches, 3 unconvincing games, same lack of productivity. We are dead now. Our season is gone. Thought Havertz will do good from midfield but today game showed he is total waste, his reaction is slower than sloth and his most effective pass were only backward passes. Time to honor him his deserved bench role. Only after he was substituted we played well. Now Partey at right back is enough! And enough is enough. We should bring him back to midfield and let white do his job at right back. Why should we even try changing formula which had been so effective??? Too much tinkering ruins. Keep it simple.
Wow you are a complete fake fan. 3 games and you’re giving up. Cry baby!
It’s not 3 games, but it’s the manner we played those games that is more concerning. Time to improve otherwise the competition is so high that in blink of eye we may be far behind the pace especially when our only target is to win the league.
Yes…maybe he’s up for sale to recoup some of the £200 million spent…have to wait and see
The skills of Zinchenko helped Fulham, not us.
ZInchenko’s skills and creativity broke Fulham’s defense
But then broke us.
to be fair Reggie, we had a team full of mistakes out there today. He and Saka just drew the short straws.
Hardly surprising as Arteta keeps moving them about. Tempted to turn my TV upside down to get a more recognisable formation. Looking forward to Saka being moved to left back v United…
Agreed. But Zinchenko does lack consistency…remember the game against Liverpoo…gives the ball away and they score…happens too often…he has sparks of brilliance but gets caught too often. Same with Ramsdale…loses focus easily…need to give David Raya a chance
Zinchenko was good as a super-sub. It’s too risky to make him a starter in the Man United game, but he could come in after the Red Devils get tired
Just as he came in today and assisted Fulham to equalise.
It wasn’t his mistake. Nobody marked Palinha properly in our penalty box
He lost the ball, not for the first time, that led to the corner. If he wasn’t trying to be so clever, they would not have won the corner.
It still led to a corner, not a goal. What happened in the corner situation was other players’ mistakes
But we had the ball and if it wasn’t lost by Zinchenko, there would have been no corner. He should have controlled the situation and he didn’t.
Gai, you need to face reality at times even in a bid to see the positives.
The truth is Arteta should stop too many tactical tweak and perfect a already working tactics of last season. Stop playing Pathey in Right back he is about our best midfielders who should do what he does best with Rice., White should return to right full back where he always overlap and support Saka. The Boys lacked speed in first half. Havertz should be benched to allow him seat up. However, I am impressed with Viera and Zichenko. We still need Gabriel at the back because of his command at the back
Not a good preparation for ManU game.
But that is too obvious!!!!!!!!!
Reggie, obvious to everyone except for the apoligists for Mikel Arteta. Praise him when he gets it right and criticize when things go wrong. Thomas Partey at RB and Gabriel not at CB will be a disaster against Manchester United. Two points thrown away at home.
And to add on this why should he even bench in form Nketiah and keep on playing Martinelli and Havertz who has been just average through all these matches. Why not bring ESR in left wing and Trosaard in place of Havertz where he was so effective in preseason. 2 hugely important points lost from minor opponent. Can we really keep up pace when we face major opponent!!!!
Biased reporting! You should have at least made mention of the injured Fulham player that was on the floor leading to our second goal .
Lack of sportsmanship disappointing.
A supposedly title contender does not lose the three points at home while ahead against ten men.
Sitting back when we are ahead cost us the title last season but we continue where we left off.
Arteta needs to get off his high horse and stop the stupid experiments because he has not won anything yet and a bit of humility will go a long way.
Yes…maybe he’s up for sale to recoup some of the £200 million spent…have to wait and see. Arteta’s ego is Arsenal downfall… need a more mature manager
@Redd, you are on point, I was surprised that people don’t even notice it. It is so surprising that a top team like arsenal will be playing defensive when it’s leading by a slim goal against a smaller opponent with one man down. I don’t know the kind of mentality that Arteta has created in this team. In the past, arsenal used to be more deadly once they go in front, but today with Arteta the reverse is the case. Though I’ve said it before and still maintain it that Arteta that I see has limits and can not go beyond it. He is not Pep, he is not Klop, he is not as hungry as those two men.
Awful finishing, awful touches all game from essentially alll the starters outside of Rice. Arteta has to take the blame for his bad lineup to accommodate a bad player. I know we’re all going to do this constant back and forth debate the next few years just like we’ve done with many other players. But I don’t see any way Kai Havertz succeeds here. I never rated him at Chelsea where he got exposed for being an inadequate player and now he’s brought it here. The longer Arteta doesn’t realize he made a mistake with this signing the more points we’ll drop. We can’t beat United with 10 men and that’s what it feels like with Kai in the lineup. Partey has to go to RB for this and it’s ridiculous. Play zinny, play Gabriel, drop Havertz and put an end to these silly experiments. A shame that 65mill could’ve gone towards getting a player with actual talent that fits into the team. That said, we’ll done to our subs, especially Vieira!
Havertz’s height would likely come in handy when the Red Devils’ attackers press us high up the pitch and force Ramsdale to send the ball to Havertz’s head
He missed two sitters and he wasn’t as skilled as Zinchenko, but we’ll need his physicality against big teams like Man City/ Liverpool
Hes a passenger and we cant accommodate him the way he and we play. Totally ineffective.
He was only ineffective in this game. He made us dominate Crystal Palace
No he didn’t!!! Where did you get that notion from? He has been ineffective…..
Something I hate from Arteta, is his ability to panic and throw defenders and stop attacking in the last 20 minutes when Arsenal is leading the scoreline.
Kai has never been good this season
Never
Never
Never
I watched Crystal Palace match
He was not good
Without been biaz
He did well in the preseason against Man City
But in the league he’s been piss poor
He is a minus 1
He contributes almost nothing
He’s playing in himself
Stop defending him for now
We know what he can bring
I watched him in that year Chelsea won the Champions League – He was great that season
But can’t u see he’s still not sure of himself
Last year’s stint at Chelsea seem to have really hit his confidence
He’s playing in himself
It’s obvious
Stop talking light of that
He’s not playing to his best yet
And we have to bench someone playing at his best just to accommodate him
It’s not fair
He won most aerial duels at Selhurst Park. Imagine if he didn’t win them for us
@gotanidea
Please 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁 stop making me laugh 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I can’t stop laughing here ooooo
Please Admin block @gotanidea from because he’s making jest of our best player in Kai whom is the best for our mid field till now till we’re almost clinging the big jar.
Can I bet anyone here that Kai will come good and prove Egoist M.A right 👍
Can you please stop this nonsense with Havertz height and duels thing…
Please just stop with that..
This Havertz will not make the first team of the top ten premiership clubs..
Havertz and kiwior should never be in arsenal first team..
I disagree. Although, not great his play at CP was fine. His contributions were important in helping us win the game.
His contributions as you put had no effect on us winning the game. Not even winning 4 headers that three ended up not going to an Arsenal player. His general play was ineffectual. As it was today.
Not at the cost of him being constantly offside (just like he was at chelsea), poor in the buildup, no chemistry with any other player on the pitch. How can we bench ESR, trossard, even Veiera now, just to put in a tall player. That hasn’t even scored yet. Not to mention he forces Partey into RB. He shouldn’t get near the XI next week. We may as well get Peter Crouch out of retirement if we only want a player with height and cannot do anything else effectively. 65mill for height. There’s so many other players we could’ve spent that on
He’s actually quite technical, but he needs to improve his positioning and finishing skills. Let’s give him a few more games to see whether he can get accustomed to our tactics or not
He’s not shown it at all then. And I’ve seen enough of him at chelsea. He isn’t constantly technical at all. Random moments from time to time. His passing is nothing special at all. It’s as impressive as a lower mid table midfielder. He has no qualities that cement him as a starter. As others have said, have him earn his spot. He is only starting rn because of the price tag. If I was ESR or Trossard I’d be furious that Kai is benching me for no reason
GAI, let Havertz earn a place in the starting 11, otherwise the continuation of lost points will critically damage Arsenal’s season.
What physicality GAI
Stop saying this naaaa
Do u know what physicality means
It means Drogba, Giroud, Antonio
Kai is just a taller Ozil
He’s the least physical player we have
YES, the least
He has the aura, demeanor of Ozil
But even Ozil was way proactive
Stop this physicality talk
Is Kai more physical than Nketiah?
Tell me when we saw Kai fight-off defender, tussle with CBs to win balls off them
Kai & Physicality are Word & Opposite
If u are as tall as Iroko Tree and have the wrong mindset, even Cockroaches will defeat u
Ask David & Goliath
Kai has his head & mind in the wrong place at the moment, let’s ease him in
This forcing him into the team is not working out well for him
He looks like a gradual shiner (that’s how I am also) – let’s give him that time
We don’t urgently need him,
Even Smith-Rowe, Fabio can presently give us more than him
Let’s give him time to bring himself out
Not force him into the team as if we don’t have other way way way better options
He won most aerial duels at Selhurst Park. Imagine if he didn’t win them for us
Sometimes I ask myself where you get your nonsense from….
Kai Harvertz would turn out good for Arsenal but right now he is our worst player, deal with it.
Actually, GAI has stated some verifiable facts. It is inaccurate to call this “nonsense”.
I am imagining it, GAI. And guess what? It made no difference. Just like Havertz, unfortunately.
“Physicality”? WHAT PHYSICALITY!!?
I disagree with much of what you have written.
Kai has attributes that suggest he can be a success. Evidently, he still needs to prove this but he is not an “inadequate” player.
Partey at RB is not solely to accommodate Havertz.
It is ridiculous to solely blame the manager for poor finishing and bad touches.
James Madison is better than Harvetz
Every body is better than Kai..
Absolutely no chance of challenging for tittle won’t even make top 4 pathetic!
Haha, can I meet your crystal ball supplier. I want to know who is going to win the EPL, FA Cup and Champions League at the end of the season.
If we get kicked out of UCL, we can still win EL. That would be an achievement
Fans just get ahead of themselves every season and wear themselves out with the expectation of hoping to win every single game. Does 2 points dropped against Fulham mean the season should just end today?
I really feel for these players in this age of social media where every fan even the dumbest one has an opinion. Players and managers get subjected to abuse on a daily basis for not winning a game. I imagine what life would look like if everyone of us gets televised daily at our different jobs. Is anyone ever gonna want to do their jobs for the fear of making a mistake?
I don’t think those highly-paid footballers care much about the comments on social media, because they know anybody could make the nasty comments and they will still get a lot of money regardless of their performance
They surely know the real fans are the ones at the stadiums
So Arsenal have only 60,000 fans?
So only real fans go to the Emirates!!!! Ive heard it all now.
Lol… I go to the Emirates, and quite frequently over the last 15 years I wished I hadn’t 🙃
How can a supposedly top team sit back to defend against a team who is one man down? I always question Arteta’s mentality…. With a man advantage are you not supposed to try and kill off the game? Jeez! I’m so freaking pissed right now
We need to stop this inverted fullback experiment and go back to what was working LAST season. From the shambolic performances I’ve seen since the start of the season, we won’t beat ManU.
We used an inverted FB system last season.
Yes we did David. You can look at it anyway you like. It got us second. Or it lost us first.
There is much more nuance to such considerations than the binary positions you are positing.
What is Arteta doing forcing Partey to play this inverted role it’s not working. Then Mageleas on the bench our backline looks disjointed without him why is Partey not playing next to Declan in the middle of the pitch with White as right back Saliba and Mageleas in the middle and Kewior as left back and let’s be honest Kai Haverts don’t work in that role and Viera just proved it today this draw is on Arteta the players can’t play this system just look at the amount of mis passes from various players one led to a goal against us we 3 games in with 3 goals against us come on Arteta stop tinkering put our best team on the pitch so we can build momentum rant over
Let’s give Havertz more time as his physicality would likely be useful for the Man United game. Vieira just made an impact as a super-sub, but I doubt he could make the same effect if he played ahead of Havertz
No lets not give him any time. Let him earn hus bloody place!!!!!
His.
👍Reggie
And by that time we could possibly lose 8-10 points and be out of the PL race. Gel him Slowly in the team for the UCL or FA games. Partey, Rice and Odegard should be in the mid field with ESR getting minutes. These dropped points were coming and Arteta is to blame.
👍IG
I agree,that’s why Havertz should have been gradually introduced in the team.giving him time to get used to our tactics…like Vieira.
@gotanidea
You’re making feel so over the moon 🌝 here but chill with me… I am feeling your vibes 😘😘😘 here
You seem to be the only one am always looking forward to hear from because you’d seen it all even before M.A could sight Kai whom is getting to gel well with the less tactical short gunners around him… Though Let’s be honest I blamed Saka for the 1st Fulham goal but trust me Kai almost scored too so don’t you think 🤔 Kai definitely 😁 deserve another trial next match .
Please Admin what’s your take on #gotanidea
I don’t always agree with GAI abut he is clearly one of the more considered contributors.
Unfortunately, there are far too many armchair managers.
Gai, I just hope Havertz won’t be shipped out next season. The only place he can flourish in the squad is where he is playing at the moment and he is really not impressive there. Other players are waiting to challenge for the same position. He can’t bench GJesus as No 9 or Nketia who is playing well at the moment. Havertz need to step up his game. The sub that came to replace him played better than him.
Cannot understand why Arsenal stopped playing after going 2-1 up. Had we remained on the front foot we would have won it 3-1.
Saka at fault for both their goals as there was no attempt at a block against Paulhino’s shot.
Vieira and Zinchenko were excellent as impact subs.
Fulham played brilliantly against us and in my view they deserved the point today.
MA needs to play his best team and players in form which means Nketiah ahead of another striker and stop playing Partey @ RB ad bring a solid back 4 that involves Gabriel.
I really do not know what Mikel is smoking. His experiments are confusing a bright team. The best(arguably)defensive midfielder in the Epl at right back is laughable.
Why is becoming sooo sturbon.
So you didn’t notice Zinchenko giving the ball away and Fulham scoring from corner?
Name a player apart from Ramsdale who did not give the ball away on today’s performance.
The main issue is to not go on the front foot when we were 2-1 up and a man up. You mean you did not notice the lack of pressing by the whole team (i.e. 72 min – 87 minutes).
Then taking off MO and bringing on Jorginho. Sends the wrong signal to the opposition.
2nd issue is the tactics with TP @ RB.
IGL a sensible and pertinent comment . Why on EARTH does ANY team , when its winning and also better on paper than the opponents, then sit back and try to defend a well earned lead?!
I never understand such negative thinking and were I a manager, I would NEVER use such daft and often failed tactics. Better far to press home your superiority and keep the ball and as far as possible, and as much as possible in the opponents own defensive area.
Its madness to give awa y momentum , esp when you CHOOSE TO DO IT but are not forced by a better team to do it.
Crazy thinking and its not just our team, but most teams, most of the time, when leading by one goal late on. It makes NO SENSE AT ALL!!!
Arteta’s stubbornness to put Party as a right back all in a bid to give Havert a chance has come back to hunt us. Then why use Trossad as a striker when you have Nkieta fit? Arteta is to blame for this lost point.
I’m just saying that Zinchenko was far from being excellent today. As for the pressing, I believe that they were told so, and the buck stops at Arteta anyway. I’m aware that he has the point to prove, but this is just too much…
We desperately need a finisher. We can have all the possession but if we can’t put the ball in the back of the net it’s no good.
And Arteta is making it worse with his stupid tactics why is he tinkering 3 games in its clear we don’t have to players for this system you can see basically our whole team is confused they stuck between the movement based on the tried and tested system used last season and this new whatever its called we have two brilliant deep lying players let’s use them now he shifts one to the right back position and leaves Mageleas out its madness
If Arteta doesn’t change formation of using Partey at right back and back to his usual position, there will be no miracle, arsenal would surely go down the pecking. Arteta’s deaf ears will hunt him come May.
Havertz has been terrible signing
Arsenal play with 10 men when we play with Havertz
Arteta also need to fix his tactics soon..
Arteta trying prove himself right by playing Havertz because he has spent huge amount of money…
Rice and Partey are undroppable
Only Positive is our bench today
Viera looked really good after coming on
Havertz has been terrible signing
Arsenal play with 10 men when we play with Havertz
Arteta also need to fix his tactics soon..
Arteta trying prove himself right by playing Havertz because he has spent huge amount of money…
Rice and Partey are undroppable
Only Positive is our bench today
Viera looked really good after coming on
Today’s game sums up everything. Arteta should stop experimenting. Harvertz should be dropped, he’s not adding anything to the team.
Im afraid the stupid inverted RB and trying to accommodate an ineffective Haverz has come and bit us in the ass. The signs were there in the previous games. I really didn’t get Trossard starting ahead of Nketiah, not saying Trossard should not be starting but not at the expense of Nketiah. With Partey at RB and Haverz in midfield, we are out of shape ( which was so obvious this game ) and the pace we play at because of is far too slow. Saka and Martinelli are snuffed out by our system. It was so obvious the difference in pace of play the minute Zinchenko, Nketiah and it has to be said Vierra quickened noticeably. A poor home result and in the end performance against anaverage Fulham side. Arteta has all of a sudden become a tinkerman but not in a good way. Our brilliant wide play is being blunted and we are getting caught out at LB last season and RB this. This inverted crap is ruining our play. Great goal from Nketiah and great work from Vierra. Haverz has to be benched and we have to go back to basics and sort our shape out, he gave us nothing today at all. Partey has to be restored to midfield and stop making schoolboy errors.
I very much wanted trossard to start. Over havertz tho. He’s best when we can get him on the ball and into half spaces. Arteta made many many errors today and cost us 2 points. Hopefully we see a classic and predictable lineup next week. There’s nothing wrong with predictability if it’s effective !
👍
But the predictability did not win us any trophy last season. Infact, it made us lose the league for lack of rest for key players. What exactly do you think Arteta should have done??
We’re not in that situation currently. We’re in the situation where we need to build early momentum and stability. Yes we now have more tools to be flexible and unpredictable when needed. But it’s not been needed yet. What is the added value of not playing Gabriel? What’s the added value of playing with Havertz in midfield? Yea, trossard at CB is “unpredictable”, but if it’s not to our benenfit then all it is is unpredictable for the sake of it. Arteta tried some stuff but it’s not working and the best we played so far this season is when zinny came in and we went back to a recognizable back 4, and holding midfielder with two progressive minded midfielders.
No, it was the inverted LB that lost us many goals, the shape of the team and lack of solidarity it causes, when we are under pressure. Which also was our problem today. We are fine when things go our way but the minute something goes against us, our system an confidence sink.
I agree to some extent that the inverted LB that cost us some goals, but the control it offered us allowed us dominate, score more goals and win more games, which is what we want as fans. It’s left to the manager to decide his playing style and philosophy, not the fanbase.
The manager could decide to play like Nottingham Forest and decide and stay compact to prevent goals which doesn’t really work in big sides, then counterattack teams, but I do not think that will be a joy to watch for a club of our stature. We will keep having arguments as this as long as we have Arteta as our manager and it is what it is.
It’s his job and he knows what is at stake for every dropped point.
What exactly is stupid with inverting Partey at RB with Zinchenko just returning and Timber out for the season. He started his career as a RB at Athletico. You need to check Partey’s heat map to see he operates predominantly in the midfield when we have the ball.
If he places Havertz on the bench after paying 65M, we would blame him for not trusting Havertz’s ability and his own coaching ability. It’s only early in the season like this that the manager can implement his tactical ideas not in the middle or business end of the season.
Do you think you can predict the tactics he’s going to use against United next week? The answer is no! Same with United manager. Even if he drops Havertz in the next game, it’s not because he read your comments on JustArsenal. It’s for the good of the team and not to pacify. Please support your team and stop your over-the-top criticisms!!
NO HE DIDN’T!!!!!!!!!! Will people stop making things up. He was a midfielder at Athletico and played the odd game when injuries to other players kicked in and he played a couple of games at RB. Its the inverted system that keeps being our undoing. It was last season with Zinchenko and it is this with Partey. Today was a glaring instance how teams exploit it.
At least we agree Partey playing at right back is not a new thing. You probably will fail to agree Partey still plays predominantly in the midfield most times we have possession while Rice drops a little deep to form a back 3. The tactics is probably too complex for you to wrap your head around at this point.
To my next point, why do you think he started the season playing Partey at RB for most part of the game? Then prove to me this creative tactical blueprint has not made us utterly dominate teams and created tons of goal scoring opportunities.
But the position of Partey in midfield today, when Saka played it back, left the RB open, Partey does not think RB first, he thinks midfield and they were ALL confused today when the first goal was conceded. Partey is not and never will be a RB. Plus he doesn’t get involved in overlapping and working space with Saka. It isnt working.
If it wasn’t working, we would not have earned 7 points out of possible 9. The fact that Saka lost concentration today and made the wrong pass into the open space already vacated by Partey does not mean the manager will dump his tactical blueprint to begin a fresh.
Also, Arteta is smart enough that he will not play the same tactics all season. There will be points in the season that these mistakes are what the players will learn from as they better understand their positional roles and go on a run of wins.
The game is fast evolving and so are the caliber of players that can understand the oddities of these tactical philosophies. Tierney is on his way out of the club because he cannot cope with the demands of the modern game. Gone are the days of only functioning in one role as a player. There were points early in Arteta’s managerial career that he used Tierney predominantly as an old-fashioned LB and was putting record number of crosses into the box, which was so laughable and did not work.
Get behind the team or you will be left behind!!!
You last sentence, im afraid is disrespectful and ignorant. Having an opinion of what went wrong is not not getting behind the team. Grow up.
How are such normal words either ignorant or disrespectful? It was simply his straightforward and perfectly legitimate opinion.
Whetherof noty he is right, it is his allowed opinion. IF you truly find such ordinary words either “ignorant or disrespectful, ” thenplainly you do not understand the true meaning of ordinary English words.
That you dont understand their true meaning is not someone elses fault, except possibly your parents or teachers who failed to teach you language properly!
Dentrite, go back to Gaga land. Arsenal have played none of note so far this season yet you are crowing away. Is it so difficult to admit that our manager is a bit confused at the moment and has wasted a lot of money on second raters. Rice excluded of course. He will come good long term once this mess has been cleaned up.
Dendrite, at the start of the season, based on last season’s form, wouldn’t you have expected Arsenal to be on 9 points? Our home form is a concern with the goals being conceded. The Emerites has to be made a fortress. Arteta cannot afford to tinker against Manchester United, nor can Arsenal be as sloppy. Midfield Odegaard, Rice and Partey, Nketiah up front (2 goals from 3 games) and Saliba and Gabriel as CBs.
You also need to stop making things up. You previously claimed that Partey only played as a RB in an under 12 team.
It’s Partey’s versatility that the manager is seeking to exploit by using him as an inverted RB who joins the MF when we are in possession.
Evidently, this approach comes with certain risks and it is essential the whole team understand how to manage transitions and the adjustments required when the ball is turned over.
Arteta’s approach is a variant of a system used by a number of top managers in world football.
The fact is that every system has its strengths and weaknesses and that is part of what makes football so interesting. It is overly simplistic to suggest that the system was our undoing last season as any alternative would also have its own weaknesses.
I have no problems with an inverted left full back but last season we had White as RB who offered something else.we are missing his overlapping,not only that but without White,we no longer stretch defenses and Saka loses options and unpredictability.also White used to stay back allowing Zinchenko to go roaming.
Wow! What an intelligent response. When we win game by effectively exploiting opposition weaknesses due to our fluid system, it is okay for some section of the fan base, but the moment opposition teams are finally able to exploit some of the weaknesses of our style of play, these fans flood this site blaming the manager for his inventiveness and tactical philosophy, which they do not even understand in all likelihood.
Their simple-minded understanding of the game is having a stable and predictable starting eleven of players who only succeed at on role. With such setup comes no flaws and should win us every game. I feel sorry for such fans. It’s going to be a really long season for them.
Is it a reply to my comment? because if it is,let a simple minded person like me simplify it for you.last season we had a proper inverted full back and not TP who was in midfield covering our back 4 and starting most of our movements.while on the other side we had a defender as a right full back who was only overlapping when Zinch was staying put and vice versa .all this meaning that we always had a back 3 mostly of White ,Saliba and Gabriel M all CBs covered by a DM.as i already said White used to stretch defenses giving Saka more options.we also had Xhaka in midfield who was way more involved in both sides of the game than Havertz(not that it is difficult to do).so i’m sorry but it’s nothing like today or this season.lastly,before calling us simple minded, I’d like to know at which levels dud you play the game?
Well said Si. 👍
Fact is Si, the first goal today was down to the inverted RB today and Fulham exploiting it. Partey is not and never will be an inverted RB. He is one of the best midfielders in the world. Why would you want to compromise that?
TP was not only our best midfielder but one of the best in the PL,simple!!
David now you are showing yourself up. I NEVER said he only played RB in an under 12 team. I dont or didn’t have a clue what he did at twelve. It was a reference to your wrong statement he WAS a RB. I replied back, if it was it was under twelves as a bit of banter. I cant believe you are trying to make out that thas was something i said. I do get fed up of pewho twist things to make a point. He played a couple of games because of injury to the RB at Athletico but played ALL his professional and international career at midfield. He isnt or never has been a RB.
Unsurprisingly, you misrepresent what I wrote which was that Partey had experience playing as a RB. I never suggested that he played regularly as a RB.
You tried to undermine my comment by suggesting that he only played in this role in the under 12s; this is something you wrote.
As for insisting that he only played there a couple of times this is incorrect.
He did only play a couple of times at RB for Athletico. He played midfield not RB. Why are you saying something that is not correct.
Arteta should play his best midfielders in the midfield. Partey should not be anywhere in the rb. I don’t care whether it’s inverted or whatever. Let him play in the middle where his full potential is shown. Havertz should be on the bench he is a man less. Rowe can be more productive than him
I said he will take Trossard out before 60 mins
He did it at 46 mins
We are struggling with this new overtinkering
We have been since first match
The tough teams will find us out if Arteta doesnt stop the nonsense
Inverted LB worked bcos u put someone their who has been playing such before he joined us and we didnt not have to sacrifice an important playing in an important position to do it (Partey)
and we did not have to include a passenger into the team to do it (Kai)
We are weakened with this new setup
and if I was Trossard I would start considering leaving
he’s been too unfair to that guy
He clearly doesnt appreciate him
if a day comes and Trossard does on of the many rubbishes Kai has done, u will see how Arteta will blow up such incidence and use it as a viable reason to punish him
While some will be overpampered
Title says shock…..it really wasn’t!
Those with even 1% foresight could see we weren’t playing in a sustainable way at all! Some on here still have huge blinkers on 🤣 and will be proud.
But we were told we were talking crap. I think we were pointing out the bleeding obvious.
Are you talking about a guy named gai?
🖖🏿🤨
Hey Twin – don’t drag my name into this! Please refer to GAI as a chap or they will ban me from Youtube!
Arteta should know that when pep started he did the simple things first.
All these experiments will cause as problems. How do you justify this harvetz stuff.i mean three games and still missing
I have told you guys time and time again Kai Havertz is no baller! What continually frustrates me is to think of many talented players across Europe Arsenal could have bought for £65m. Sigh! A £65m player should be shaking things up, HIT THE GROUND RUNNING. This is what you pay premium price for. I hope some fans will now wake up. With Kai it’s like playing with 10 men. If things don’t change quick, this will surely end in tears. I don’t know what goes on in the heads of these decision makers. They get paid millions yet the simple decisions cannot be made. Everyone could see.that Kai (no insult to him) was not the player Arsenal needed except After and Edu. Guys this might be a long season
It’s a shame really. Listen, if they wanted to take a gamble on Havertz fine. But if the price is over 30mill I’d be running for the hills. He flopped at chelsea. Idc about his UCL winning goal, he was consistently not good for them. You don’t pay 65mill for a player that flopped in your league. It’s like United paying 65mill for Pepe. Literally nobody in world football wants Pepe, who isn’t even worse than Kai.
65 million for kai was a waste. They could have gone all out and bought Madison,he could have been productive than kai. Kai doesn’t even look better than xhaka who was sold for less. It would have been better to keep xhaka and not buying Kai. A 65 million player is one who causes havoc to the opponents defense, has defense splitting passes, can go past two or more players like cones, can make a bullet of a shot from outside the box, can press players and make important tackles. That kind of a player should be an enigma, when he gets the ball, you smell danger
Picked up the Arsenal App audio in the second half
From what I listened to we should have won but were sloppy/went to sleep twice. Aliadiere praised Ramsdale’s save which could well have resulted in 3 lost points had he not made it. According to him, Vieira had bulked up a bit and played well. I hope he’s found his feet and that Havertz does so PDQ
Disappointed not to have won when we should.
Fulham could easily have been and probably should have been 2-0 up. We started like we didn’t know each other in the first 30 mins. I dont think the players understood the system.
He’s certainly a lot broader now and was probably our most dangerous forward player in the second half.
Sue, if you’re still trying to get games on hesgoal and not having luck, try crichd.tv. I got the game on a South African TV station and it was quite solid throughout.
Thanks Jax
Time and again, Havertz is proving to be a wrong buy. Playing your best DM (Partey) to accommodate Havertz is not working. I hope he learns in the next game
Four things learned today,
The gaffer will always plays the Ukrainian when fit.
Vieira is way ahead of Smith Rowe in the pecking order.
Arsenal can’t afford for Havertz to fail.
There are still a few issues to iron out with the inverted full backs
A few issues?? Are you joking! Everything with this inverted fullback experiment is wrong. Our wingers have been totally snuffed out by this tactic. Everytime Martinelli or Saka receives the ball there is no overlap no support. It’s backpass galore now for our wingers, no outlet no space. Arteta better drop this quickly coz we are running out of patience with him and I think he should be sacked if we don’t win a trophy this season after all the money we have spent.
Yes we experience some challenges with the right back experiments, but I understand what the gaffer was trying to do.
Havertz just wasn’t up to it this afternoon, the gaffer seems to be pushing him a little too much
IM having a harvetz nightmare
Arsenal at best will finish in top four this year, there is no chance they will win the title, and it’s going to be very bad after arteta gets the sack because they are not gonna spend again and arsenal will get back to mediocre level , kroenke decided to spend money but all those money have been wasted with arteta in charge to get a draw against 10 man fulham in home, same fulham that lost to brentford 3 – 0 at home.
Harvertz should be benched.
Why are we going on the defensive when we are 1 goal ahead, and they are down to ten men?? We always lose or almost lose when we do that. City would just keep scoring and finish them off.
We will not make it out of the UCL group stage with this type of rubbish football. Even qualifying for Europa will be a herculean task.
I’ve been one to defend Arteta’s new formation and his inclusion of Havertz but today there’s really nothing positive to say about the formation or Havertz. The players looked lost out there in the first half and Havertz was awful for the most part. There was a remarkable difference in the second half when we switched back to basics. It is such a shame that we conceded two very avoidable goals. On a more positive note,Nketia and Viera had very good performances-which is good for them because the two of them get a lot of flak from some fans. I hope this performance will be an early wake up call for Arteta.
It’s ok, not everyone would understand this was coming even though it was obvious.
Surely ALL Gooners noticed the very sudden improvement when the subs came on around 56 minutes. I am prepared to give Havertz the time he needs to show the qualities that MA clearly sees in him, even though few , myself very much included, do NOT see such qualities.
To be clear, thus far HAVERTX HAS LOOKED A FISH OUT OF WATER and as much a passenger as Ozil often was . But I cannot envisage that MA wil start HAVERTZ against United. Whatever may or may happen in the future with HAVERTZ, for CERTAIN, it is nowhere near happening yet.
And as we are already two points behindf City, we cannot possibly forfeit more dropped points to make what strongly seems to be a misfit, fit into currently, a mostly non fluent team.
Just my take!
Playing players out of position to accommodate someone so obviously doesn’t work. Arteta is a vindictive manager who once you fall out of favour you are history. People will say its only one game but our performances in the last 3 games have been shambolic and the results just paper over the cracks. Just my opinion but Arteta needs to stop all this inverted nonsense and just play football and let’s all be honest most of us haven’t got a clue what all that crap means
Maybe you should just own up to the fact that the tactics is too complicated for you to understand. The “inverted nonsense” gave our highest league finish in decades and goals scored in our history.
Dendrite, you need to wake up….you don’t just play any system with any player. Seems the game is too complex for your head. The issue here is about players on the field, not the system employed. Havertz would still pull us back even with 15 players in the field. He literally kills every single move.
Are you not getting it?
I hope you will be magnanimous enough to eat the humble pie when he steps up later in the season to win us the three points? In your wisdom, Havertz was signed without any idea of what he will bring into the team even though you might never see it.
You are correct that I know naff all about tactics but I’m really willing to be educated by you please. But can you make it so myself and maybe others can understand it 😊
I’m afraid you have to go through the ordeal of learning about “Positional Play” :-)). It’s all over YouTube. You can start from here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhmCwI5vAlE
On a serious note, the better understanding you have of modern football and the tactical drills that goes on behind the scene, the more enjoyable you will find the game, and gain better insights into why managers make the decisions they make and the reason behind some “unpopular” signings, like Havertz that the fan base is currently divided about.
I’m afraid you have to go through the ordeal of learning about “Positional Play” :-)). It’s all over YouTube.
On a serious note, the better understanding you have of modern football and the tactical drills that goes on behind the scene, the more enjoyable you will find the game, and gain better insights into why managers make the decisions they make and the reason behind some “unpopular” signings, like Havertz that the fan base is currently divided about.
So you don’t really understand it yourself. No problem
Very poor team setup/shape. Havertz should be starting on the bench and working his way into the team. I genuinely do not understand why Gabriel did not start. We finished last season with the basis of a potentially great team….and then bought Havertz for 65 million….I don’t get it. He makes us 10 and a half players.
Where did you get the half from Sean? lol
Still, it doesnt look like Havertz will miss many sitters – he runs offside so often that missing chances is not an issue…
Totally agree – he may bed in but while Vieira has had to train and play himself into form as a sub, Havertz gets a free pass every game. Makes no sense.
MA moving everybody into their unnatural positions perhaps shows he doesnt want us to accidently finish in second like last season? Or could it be he wants to bankrupt the Kroenkes by proving we need more players?
As for Gabriel, nobody gets that one…
The challenge is I love all arsenal players but I think we shouldn’t make it too easy for harvetz.he should earn his place.
Arteta should wake up or we are in trouble.
Kudus is a better player than harvetz
This game was a blessing in disguise. Why do I say this? Because Arteta has started to make experiments in serious games and has started the stupid habit of underrating teams. Could it be that he is fearing to be the pace setter again and is letting others be ahead? At least we didn’t lose neither did we win. This will now be a wake up call to Arteta. There is no way you can leave Gabriel Maghaleas out of starting lineup for three consecutive games if you are a serious manager determined to win the league. Thus this setback will arouse Arteta from his slumber back to reality! Remember next week we have our nemesis Man U. I hope this is the end of Arteta’s gimmicks.
David Rusa, Arsenal’s performance last season was outstanding. If we have a manager who would rather we lose games at the beginning, hoping that we will play catch up and overtake whoever is leading in December, then it’s a suicidal game he’s playing, and very dumb because we’re definitely not at Man City’s level yet.
Arteta needs to be called out now. Gabriel, Nketiah, ESR, Viera, are all on the bench to accommodate new signings. What happened to easing players into a system? I bet Neaneri could offer ten-fold what Havertz is giving us, at absolutely no cost.
DAVID, YOU ARE A BRIGHT MAN and I read and lIke most of your posts. But your astonishing self asked question, intimating that MA might rather wish be to chasing the leader ,rather than BE the leader,is unworthy of the true intellect of a man such as you.
I was, to put it mildly, SURPRISED TO READ THAT comment and hope it was meant in jest. I agreed with everything else you wrote however.
So a billion dollar squad and this is our level, mid table. My oh my how some blindly follow Arteta is unbelievable.
Waste of 65mil on that Chelsea flop.
Allowing Tiernay one of best lb in world to leave and use make shift LB and Zinny that can’t defend.
Mid-table? Actually, we’re top with Spurs, but likely to drop to 5th when BHA & City results are in. Still not mid-table though.
KT treatment is crazy. Even if he’s not part of the plan Arteta has destroyed his value for no reason. Mikel has done many things right but he has his faults and still needs to keep learning as a manager.
Currently not mid-table sws, although I concede that we are PLAYING like a mid-table side!
Arteta can’t save face by pushing Havertz into the team when he’s clearly not deserving. It only makes matters worse, magnifies the blunder of signing the flop 2x over. Why’s Arteta now spreading the pain and accountability throughout the team? Non of the Players, nor fans, ever asked for Havertz.
What’s Arteta telling us about our upcoming journey in Europe? 🤯🤯🤯🤯
We are set nicely for the Manchester game . That’s all I can say
Hey, we are second ……… behind spurs, unfortunately ☹️
It’s clear Arteta new tactic is not working dispite the new signings we look no stronger than last year except more numbers carry on like this won’t get anywhere Arteta will need to go!
I most definitely have been underwhelmed so far.
@Reggie
Same here. Seems more like regression instead of progression…Jus sayin
Stop playing fantasy football this is the real world you are complicating a simple game we have one of the best teams if Arteta plays the correct players in the right positions using tactics that the players actually understand and execute perfectly anything else is just a pipe dream we are currently looking a shadow of what we were last year
Why is our comments shifting out of place ??
If Arsenal can’t beat Fulham at home they may as well throw their hat at the Premiership top spot. Arsenal never fail to disappoint.
Probably,they want to force him out to Saudi Arabia.Remember,Kroenkes started spending big on transfers only after pressure from the fans
I think many of us owes Dan Smith an apology of things are this way.
Why is Gabriel on the bench, makes no sense at all
I’m hardly trying to be an Arteta apologist as there have been warning signs. All I can say is that he has a very limited time to sort it out before there are serious mutterings because there will be little patience on display now that he has his choice of players and drills the squad.
I can only go on the fact that we were losing and then took the lead. This has to be classed as a positive until sloppiness intervened. Hopefully it is a wake up call
Two points lost at home against currently the worst side in the league down to 10 men, there is nothing positive in that apart from apology.
At least you support him in sickness and health something which can’t be said for some.
Fulham are not the worst side in the PL.
This was a home game, Sue. And we are getting results more from guts and spirit than from playing well. Nice to see but draining and not sustainable.
I simply don’t get why MA is moving so many players away from their best positions, and I don’t think this is simply to fit Havertz in. There’s no guarantee that White will EVER be as good a CB than RB, Partey as good a RB as DM, Saliba as good a LCB as RCB etc. Versatility in emergencies or to spell tired players I can understand, but when you dont have to? They all look confused, and perhaps Arteta is too – some managers are just not suited to working with more than a skeleton talented squad – just study the history of Real Madrid or PSG!
Havertz is starting to remind me of the Willian disaster, both ex Chelsea, both an Arteta mistake, and Arteta refuses not to play them no matter how hopeless they are … Why was it when Crystal Palace were all over us at home, the excuse was that we were down to ten men, yet when Fulham are down to ten men and we are only one ahead, we do the same old rubbish?
This is not fair to the fans.
Arteta please don’t fix what is not broken. This loss of points is due to your poor outing and tactics
And in the meantime our only quality left back is being moved out.Sad situation .
Tavares?
We all like Tierney Grandad – but I also used to love “Tupper of the Track”. He’s a good foraging left back but an anachronism in many modern teams, including Arsenal. For me, whilst better as a defender than Zinchenko (not difficult) he is not great either. But that is hardly surprising as Zinny plays almost exclusively in midfield, whereas KT doesnt and isnt comfortable there unless usurping Martinelli’s position on the flank. It’s horses for courses, and I think with our current setup (at least if Arteta stops bu**ering about plays Big Gabby to cover the left) he’s not as essential as he was two seasons ago.
@ DK: Great Banter.
@ Grandad and Guy.
IMO our best left back is Timber and he is on the injury table and out for the season.
There is reported interest in Gabriel from Saudi and Real Madrid.
This is why a loan deal for KT without an obligation to buy does not make any sense at all as he can play as a left CB.
I just hope Gabriel does not leave in this window. If he does this window is a very poor one for Arsenal.
In my opinion, Arteta should move G. Jesus to RW position as a competition for Saka.
G. Jesus should be moved to RW to provide competition/Rotation for Saka.
Arteta has a weakness. He doses not utilize/trust his players enough.
Same predictive starting 11 week in week out.
LW: Martinelli, Trossard
RW: Saka, G Jesus, Reis Nelson
AM: Odegaard, Viera, ESR
CM and DM: Rice, Partey, Jorginho
CF: Havertz,Nketiah
The following players should be sold asap
Holding
Elneny
Lokonga
Pepe
Tavares
Gabriel should be in the starting 11 going forward. This new formation won’t work. You have to be winning these kind of matches
433 formation
Martinelli Havertz. Saka
Rice. Partey. Odegaard
Zinchenko. Gabriel Saliba. White
Trossard. Nketiah. Gabriel
Rice. ESR. Jorginho
Zinchenko. Gabriel. Saliba. White
We have the squad depth. The issue is the selection.
Finishing 2nd last season does not guarantee anything. The desire has to be there again. The decision making in the final third. The composure and calmness of the attacking players is key.
This game should tell us something: that this new formation makes no sense. Gabriel should be in The starting 11
Are we in phase 5 of the process or stage 4 1/2? Jus askin 🤔
Nope, process is complete and phases are over.
Arteta is in the tinkering portion now.
Rather than strengthen and reinforce to build on a second place finish,
Arteta has decided to reinvent the wheel.
Are we really so concerned over Forest, Palace, and Fulham?
Imagine making subs to correct his hybrid nonsense, take a 2-1 lead, and then puss out and go defensive against a 10 man Fulham AT HOME.
Some will try to defend or justify that horrendous decision. Arteta doesn’t have that killer instinct, never did as a player either.
Rather than boot on throat to finish them off he sits back like a turtle in a shell.
Durand
REALTALK…
Spot on, Durand. I see Arteta’s main two faults as being:
1 His inability to leave well alone. Pretty sure he got this from Guardiola, who often loses key games through unnecessary tinkering.
2 His supreme belief in his own ability (aka stubborness!). Remember the early days when we all wanted him out? He stuck to his approach rigidly and was proven right. All well and good, but what happens if his new “rotate all players away from their best positions and out of their comfort zones” approach doesn’t ever work? Will he back off? Is he actually any good at dealing with more than 16 decent players?
Those are my biggest worries – far bigger than his Havertz fixation!
There is no point sugar-coating these last 3 performances but everything from the tactics, the team, the aggression, defence and the in the game management was wrong, wrong and wrong.
I am hoping this serves as a kick up the arse to MA as the last three games have been poor with Partey as a right back and a complete waste of a player with his talent and skill set. Don’t get me on Havertz or the most nonsensical substitution of Odegaard for Jorginho when we were on top and against 10 men. Wtf is the point of seeing out a game when we all knew there was at least another 15 minutes left and should have pushed for more, goals count in the long run ffs.
How can a team that was pushing for the Premier league regress to the team from the season before, is beyond me.
Call me old fashioned but If ain’t broke, don’t fix it. What a mess.
Also, my next two trains have been cancelled, ffs.
Maybe ESR should have replaced Odegaard at that point.
Arteta should cut this knee jerk substitution.
He is trying to fit all his new signings into the starting 11 at the cost of the team balance and effectiveness.
Havertz should play as a CF. since he has a good movement and awareness in the box. He has to improve on his shooting ability. Weak shots most times. He gets into promising positions but his finishing is poor.
Partey has no business at right back.
Saka must not start every match.
Maybe ESR, maybe anyone except Jorginho when our GD is pretty atrocious considering we have played the “alleged” whipping boys in our first 3 games and Fulham at home down to 10 men with at least 15 left minutes on the clock.
Kai Havertz is a typical MA player. Pretty on the eye without being explosive and it appears the whole culture of the way we play is without explosion. Even Martinelli appears to be taking too many touches to take him down a cul-de-sac.
Instead of being direct let’s pass 6 or 7 times press to far forward and get caught naively on a break.
You can’t make it up. 🤬
Well bringing on Jorghino didnt work.
Arteta, Kai’s time will come, just relax
There are still plenty plenty matches to play
He is not a Rice-type of player
Players that are assertive in their play & will put in all just to enforce their authority
He’s the gradually-shine type of player
Ease him in like u did with Viera last season
This is Viera’s year, he’s used last season to learn, he’s ready now
I know Kai has been in the Country for over 2 year’s but the very bad stint at Chelsea last year seem to have made him really crawl into his shells
He’s at a new Club and is avoiding a repeat of the many bashing he previously suffered with his old Club
He wants the fans to like him
So he doesn’t want to do any overly zealous things (become the reason the team didn’t do well)
He’s not fully ready
Arteta work with him according to where his mindframe is currently positioned
And that’s to come in and make contributions when there will be absolutely no pressure on him
He’s not amongst the main line-up for now
You can tinker with Fabio, with Smith-Rowe
And Arteta, u won’t Trossard to drop form so that can boldly come out to them say “this is why I don’t use him” ?
Even Reiss Nelson used to be a great sub
There was a time Holding used to be a great sub too
A substitution is someone who comes in when the opposition players have played over 1 hour and are already wearing out – with his freshness he can find weakness to take advantage of to the benefit of his team
U should start with your absolute best
Almost any professional can be a good sub
U don’t need to be Messi to be a good sub
A Messi should be starting
Trossard is arguably the most creative brain we have, he should be the one you should be trying to accommodate whenever, wherever u can
At last, this is reality check to Arteta. Can he stop this madness called experiment? Why would you bench our best defender last season even when Adama was introduced? Can somebody tell me why should play Harvertz in the first half? Why Partey at right full back? The Arteta has started again. Any coach would have known that it is risky experimenting with such tricky fixture. He has just threw away precious points and this not going to be the last as long he remains stubborn. Play your best players in their rightful positions. You can be at liberty to experiment when you are leading comfortably.
Again, why would he bring on Jesus? I don’t whether there’s any understanding he has with Jesus other than player – coach relationship. Nelson was there to be thrown into the fray.
Some fans will want to know if he has any problem with Meghales because he’s always problems with players. If he continues to ignore him, the club may lose at last. Let his supporters remind him that we are no more in pre season.
No emotion pure facts.
AFC top 3 defense and offense through 30 games last season.
Felt calm when we had the lead late in games with White, Saliba, Gabriel, and Tierney/Zinc…most of the time.
We lost the league because players broke.
So, what does Mikel do, change the formation and not give the team anytime to bed in.
Just play with a back 4, go on a run and save the mutli-dimensional thinking when 2-3 goals up.
AFC scored many goals last year and had many games won by halftime.
AFC cannot and will not ever win league by drawing the bottom 5 teams at home or on the road while the oil scum are still in the league.
Reset the team and go back to a back 4 with players who know each other…
Say it again, need 2 more players at the back including a lb as Tierney is gone and White, Saliba and Gabriel need rotating….
DAMN!!! I hate to lose.
Oh sorry, i forgot it’s a draw,kinda felt like a defeat.long week ahead.
One day @Vamos you will run out of words to defend this nonsense. Unless you are a disguise and not a true Arsenal fan
Havertz is not working in this our arsenal team, midfield has no balance and right now havertz is offering nothing……. Partey is a DM not RB…… Havertz is crap bench player……
Aren’t those the type of points that denied us the title last season?
I think he should be sacked if we don’t win a trophy this season after all the money we have spent.
KAI CONUNDRUM
Everyone, pundits, fans and their dogs were shocked when Arteta went for Kai Harvarts, a flop at Chelsea bought expensively but struggled for 3 years. Chelsea didn’t believe they would have been able to offload him let alone get as high as 65 million, they quickly bit off Arsenals hands and definitely still in shock. A 65 million player will get you a near world class performer that will definitely excite and improve any team.
KAI’s INABILITIES:
Many talented players from Spain Italy and especially Germany struggle to perform in the premier leagues because they struggle with the pace and work-rate it demands. The premier league is undoubtedly the fastest, fiercest and toughest league, more than talent you need hardwork, pace and urgency in defending, transitioning and attacking. Every skill wether dribble, press or pass must be executed with pace, quick thinking, effort and endeavor. Kai Harverts has non of these, no pace nor urgency. His play is lanquid and lackadaisical and doesn’t suit the premier league let alone our team.
ARTETA’s STUBBORNESS
We love Arteta but we all know he’s a stubborn coach. He purchased Kai against every pundit’s bewilderment and fan’s outcry, and now feels the pressure of justification to force Kai into the team. To acheive that, he has to play favouritism and tinker his team formation and tactics. The negatives to this is that it will confuse the players (the recent misplaced passes), the players will perceive favouritism which will cause bad blood, ruin efforts, and disrupt team spirit and cohesion, and it will ultimately cost us our form and point.
FAN’s COMPLAINTS
Fans all want the coach, players and entire team to succeed, wether we argue and banter or not. And we agree the coach is more competent than all of us and he more than everyone wants to succeed, but sometimes the overwhelming pressure of the job can blind them away from the simply things and cause them to overthink things, when sometimes even an ordinary fan or pundit can see they just need to keep things simple. Besides, our complaints here will never get to Arteta or the players, but as fans, celebrate, bant and vent we must! So let’s stop shushing ourselves, some of us clearly don’t know ball, and some of us on here have had coaching classes and are or were professionals ourselves.
MY TAKE
Nobody will complain if Kai or the team was playing better. We all wishes Kai surprisingly plays well. But everyone’s frustration is that he isn’t only playing badly, his inclusion is disrupting the team, and we are now playing needlessly poor. What does Kai contribute offensively or defensively. Our counter slows when it’s passed to him. It’s as if we are playing with a man short because he’s sluggish at everything. Because of his inclusion, Partey is at RB and Gabriel is out, no fullback support for Martinelli and Saka, no fluidity in our midfield, our defence is vulnerable. And this will affect players confidence, mentally and eventually their form. We said on here that every half decent team will target Party at RB, and Fulham did today. It’s frustrating because even in this same formation, Trossard, Smith Rowe, Viera, or Jesus would do better in that Kai’s role and we’d be fluider in attack though still vulnerable defensively.
CONCLUSION
Arsenal is not only about winning, but winning beautifully. We complained about our performance but some of you said we should shush until we lose, some were looking at just the results, and performance always catches up with results. It’s time Arteta goes back to the basic, our winning formation of last season, Xhaia could easily have been replaced with Zinny, but since Tierney is out, either of Rice/Partey or Trossard will do great there.
Play Smith Rowe for crying out loud… much better than Havertz who does nothing. And stop the boring 3-2-4-1 Man City copy paste style.
4-3-3
Ramsdale
White -Saliba-Gabriel-Zinchenko(or Tierny)
Odegaatrd-Rice-ESR
Saka – Nketieah – Martinelli
First things first – both Bergkamp and Henry started badly and were labelled flops at Arsenal, so all is not yet lost. But Havertz doesn’t look promising. Caught offside too often, not finishing well and regularly stealing better-posioned teammates’ space are three obvious faults. We have yet to witness this fabulous technique that he apparently possesses, and his defenders are clutching at straws when claiming his only non-poor performance (at Palace) was real progress. Merely running a lot does not merit a first team place in a group with many better performing players – unless you are an Arteta favourite (Willian, anyone?).
Let’s hope that most of us here are proven wrong, both on Havertz and Arteta’s kamikaze mission to play everybody out of position. This season’s motto seems to be “if it ain’t broke, let’s change it until it is”. Three games in so no panic yet – just serious concerns.
Arteta needs to lose this whole Raneri/Wenger ‘I can get players to perform any role’ thing. Modern players aren’t 70’s Ajax, or the Netherlands of Cruyff. Messing about with players out of position for some ‘grand plan’ is really not working. Partey looked lost today, as did Trossard as Arteta insists on playing Chelsea’s latest ‘gotcha’ (they must think Arsenal are the gift that keeps on giving) until it was obvious the starting lineup wasn’t going to deliver. In fairness, Viera looked much better than last season, but Eddie, bless him, is still a willing trier but not the finisher we desperately need. Yes, he put us in front, but either side of that he missed his usual hatful. To cap off a frustrating afternoon, caused in no small measure by the manager refusing to play his best side, they then concede to a side down to ten men. I said before the game this would be key moment. Win narrowly or draw, and questions would be asked of the manager. A good win and his tinkering would be justified. Now we are over the easy start, and the tough games are starting. What does Arteta do now? Because we haven’t exactly set the World alight, and yet none of our opponents are expected to do more than finish mid to bottom half.
Not sure if it was 2 points dropped or 1 point gained
They had a chance at the end to kill us off
I had to sit in the away end today and all credit to there fans who gave it some through out the game.
Will be positive and say it is 1 point gained and one step closer to us winning the big one
I am a supporter of Havertz, but I think we are forcing him a little too much, he needs a more gentle introduction, today is is his worst game for us.
His physicality size and hold up play will be needed against Man U, but the gaffer should break him after.
You think he has”physicality”? Seriously?? Surely you require all out effort,in order to have physicality?!!
This 65m$ could have gone a long way in assisting in charitable course rather than waste it on buying Such a garbage player. (Making matters worse from Chelsea).Even a high profile striker like Ivan Toney wouldn’t have to cost that much.
Two more blunders and show this clueless coach the damn door.
Am a little worried now Ramsdale may not start against Man United.
Didn’t think it could get worse….quote from MA:
“If I compare the game this season to last season, we were 10 times better than last season. At least 10.”
Absolutely delusional.
Just putting it into context, think he maybe talking about what he’s looking for.
I said it. There’s some level of arrogance in Arteta’s decision on team selection. He thinks he can setup the team anyhow and still go on to win games. Almost caught up with him today.
It’s plain and simple. Revert back to the old system, let’s see what a midfield of Rice-Partey-Odegaard will produce, improve our defending, and stop forcing Havertz on the team.
That is the delusional result when someone is surrounded by enablers and sycophants.
To tell such a blatant lie, knowing it won’t be challenged, refusing to admit mistakes and ignore the predictable train wreck fast approaching.
Bet not a single assistant challenged him about blowing up the successful system he used last year to implement this disastrous monument to ego.
3 mistakes Aterta should rectify before man utd game; 1. Don’t play Partey at right back cause Rashford will tear us apart, 2. Start Gabriel maghlaes as center back to partner Saliba since this was the rock solid defence last season and 3. please please Don’t start Kai havertz cause this guy has no role in this team get a combination midfield of partey, rice and odegaard
Madness. Kiwior, Party and Viera. Any time with those players in their lineup is second rate. Oh and then there is Nketian. The stuff of champions?
I don’t think there was a person watching the game who could not see that the team setup was totally lopsided. Gabriel benched was crazy. Defensively we were totally out of synch. I do hope Arteta sees sense and realises his Havertz experiment that puts Partey at full back instead of White (who had developed a great partnership with Saka), has failed miserably. So sad to see. Sorry.
Arteta doesn’t know how to rotate players
And it’s also because he doesn’t trust players
Before the World Cup, Foden was on fire and was playing almost every match till his form went down after World cup and he went back to the bench
Mahrez got into form around Jan/Feb and Guardiola used him steadily until the form dropped & he went back to the bench
Same with Rico Lewis, same with John Stones
Even Silva is not a starter until he starts delivering top notch week in week out
Guardiola seems to be able to smell form and he’ll use it up till you’ve exhausted it
That’s the Guardiola style Arteta wants to copy but he feels Saka cannot sit, Martinelli cannot sit, Jesus cannot sit
Yes it hard to sit those guys
But Trossard at a point showed form that was good enough to make Martinelli (or even Saka) sit till the form wears out (or at least to merit him rotating starting roles with them)
Nketiah is currently playing confidently, use him steadily until that form starts to dwindle
Jesus will become available now and Nketiah will just go to the bench
It’s like Arteta cannot smell form
It was Trossard blazing last year & he just benched him immediately Jesus got back
Many forms lasts just weeks, or just around 2/3 months, it’s few players that can take their form for long periods of months
(Respect to Rashford last year, though we can see he cannot find it at the moment)
Most players will start tiring out after 6-8 weeks of blazing form
Then u can start rotating them with someone else
Use up their form to your team’s advantage till it starts dwindling
Nketiah is in a troublesome mode now
Keep using him,
From last season (and even upper season) we know his form lasts about 5-6 weeks,
Let him exhaust it
Then Jesus (or anyone else who’s picked form) can begin starting afterwards
From pre-season, Trossard – Fabio & Smith-Rowe we’re looking very hungry
Arteta obviously does not notice those kind of smokes
Or he’s just too obstinate
Smith-Rowe’s hunger will be killed by plenty benching
Find space for the ones in-form
Well…
U need to have to ability to notice it
Even in his press conference, Arteta mentioned that it was Nketiah that walked up to him and said to him:
“If U Don’t Start Me Next Match Then I Don’t Know What U Are Seeing”
I don’t have a problem with getting Havertz, my problem with Arteta is the price tag. Chelsea needed to unload to balance their finance and Havertz didn’t do so well at Chelsea. A 35m tag would be the highest for me to be called a professional. You go in there to create value for our team and club. 65M is almost criminal. Imagine we redirected that money to Lavia, Kudus, a proper CF or other rumored targets. He lacked financial shrewdness. Now he has to prove he spent that amount of money right, and Havertz is on the spot. This situation is detrimental to Havertz, to MA, and to our club.
As someone who started following this club since 1994, last season was so close to the top yet it tuned out to be so far. This season, our trajectory unfortunately doesn’t seem to be on the right track.
Well, whatever reasons Arteta has, it seems his Harvertz experiment is not working and will never work. He’s not strong and swift enough to be an 8.
Arteta’s not being fair and both the experience and Harvertz himself are not helping the team.
If he’s stubborn and keeps playing Harvertz at 8, the whole thing will blow at this face, just as he was stubborn playing William.
We’ve seen enough from Harvertz to start from bench. His transfer was a disaster in the first place. We just helped Chelsea.
Unnecessary panic and histrionics from the usual bunch of naysayers on this site.
Terrible set of fans.
There was clearly a fair amount of sloppiness. However, we had enough chances to have won the game and the Fulham goals were down to poor defensive mistakes rather than the tactical setup.
Fulham deserve credit for their approach and Palinha in particular played well.
DAVID, Well I, almost alone on here, am firmly with you and your correct take on our so called “supporters”.
Can we just please go back to what worked last season !!!! White, Gabrial, Saliba, Zinchenko. Partey is not a right back and does not combine well with the others. He also does not provide Saka with the type of service White provided last season. I also believe that Party and Rice cant play in the same team !!! Not sure where that leaves Party ???