Has Mikel Arteta Broken the First Rule of Football Management? by Eric McConnell
Every medical doctor is guided by a principle known as the hippocratic oath. It says, “First, do no harm”. It means that if you can’t cure the patient, avoid doing anything that makes their condition worse.
A similar ethos also applies to managing EPL football teams. If you can’t make the team better, at least don’t make it worse. After David Raya and Kai Havertz’ tepid performances vs. Newcastle, one has to wonder if Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has violated football’s hippocratic oath.
Arteta, not VAR, Must Shoulder the Blame for Today’s Defeat
Yes, VAR was utterly shambolic on Saturday. There is no way Bruno Guimares should have been allowed to remain on the pitch. The shove in the back on Gabriel before the goal is a clear foul. And while Arteta has a right to feel hard done by that obvious missed call, the fact remains there is no good reason for David Raya to have failed in cutting that cross out.
Most pundits would expect even an average keeper to cut that ball out, let alone one who starts for a side with title aspirations. At this point it’s worth noting that one of the reasons Raya was bought here is that he supposedly “controlled his box better” on crosses than Ramsdale.
Simply put, if Raya does his job on that cross, there is no VAR controversy. Instead he whiffed completely, and left the club’s fate in the unreliable hands of VAR.
Arteta Has Created a Problem Instead of Solving One
The other advantage Raya was supposed to offer over Ramsdale, playing the ball out of the back, has also failed to materialize. He’s made countless amateurish mistakes with the ball at his feet. Imagine how ineffective he would be without Saliba, Gabriel and Rice protecting him.
Unfortunately, benching Raya now would destroy his confidence and force Arteta to turn to Ramsdale, who he obviously thinks is inferior to the error-prone Raya. But there may be no other option because Raya is playing so poorly it can’t be allowed to continue. How does that conversation with Raya and Ramsdale even go now? What do you say to Ramsdale after benching him for no reason and giving his job to someone with just as many flaws?
Can you say ‘awkward’?
In other words, Arsenal is now stuck with two keepers who will be looking over their shoulder after every misstep. It’s not a winning recipe. Arteta gambled by putting David Raya into the line-up without any real cause. He can deflect the truth by commiserating about VAR or “mistakes being part of the game”, but the fact remains that Arteta’s gamble on Raya is backfiring spectacularly.
The Havertz Gamble Looks Worse Every Week
Unfortunately, that’s not the only Arteta gamble that isn’t paying off. There was also a 65 million quid outlay on Kai Havertz, a player who spent the last three years at Chelsea looking more like a toothless housecat than a top class attacker. With no Odegaard and no Gabriel Jesus, wasn’t this exactly the kind of match Kai Havertz was brought here to win, or at least make a positive impact?
Yet his most notable accomplishment vs. Newcastle was “throwing his body around” and barely escaping a red card. You would expect a $300,000/week attacker to be making incisive passes and well-timed runs toward the goal in must-win away games. Instead, Havertz created next to nothing, and not for the first time this year.
Whatever upside Arteta saw in gambling on Havertz, the returns are simply not there. Kai Havertz and David Raya are collectively making Arsenal worse, not better. Both of them are players Arteta wanted. He needs to stand tall and be held accountable for that; or they need to start justifying their manager’s faith with quality play. Because the constant excuses and rationalizations from the manager are no longer cutting it.
Only Three People Can Get Arsenal Out of this Mess
To be certain, this is not an “Arteta out” article. He deserves credit for his role in bringing this club back to respectability and healing a very fractured relationship between the club and the fan base. He played a pivotal role in helping bring Declan Rice here, and it’s frightening to think of where this club would be without him. Collectively, Raya and Havertz have been so poor, they almost cancel out Rice’s brilliance.
The ugly truth is Arteta created this problem and it’s up to him to fix it. Unless there is a dramatic change of form, Raya, Havertz, and Arteta himself, are going to be remembered as having doomed Arsenal’s chances of winning major silverware before the season even started.
First, do no harm. Don’t make the team worse. Sadly, Arteta is past that point with Havertz and Raya. Now, it’s just a question of mitigating the damage.
Eric
This is what Arteta does, confuses unfocused minds with his “I know it better” kind of deceit. Raya is not in the same bracket as Arteta and Havertz. He’s only on loan, not long term contract, doesn’t even have any influence in the dressing room. Arteta is the one digging the the club into an abyss. Self righteous, narcissistic, self worshiping hater. His attachment to Chelsea is sickening, and his profiling and hatred of certain races is beyond comprehension. There’s no shred of Arsenal DNA in Arteta. Zilch.
Thanks for the memories Mikel. Adios!
No sensible person can expect to win titles with failed players like Raya, Havs, Eddie, Elneny, Fabio or perennially sicknotes like Smith Row, Partey Or Gabs J. That’s 8 out of 25 or 1/3 of the squad.
Hope he gets fired tomorrow morning. I’d wish him luck for his next job.
…and how has Elneny entered the fray????
I guess VAR and Arteta have one thing in common; the ability to turn fiction into their own reality!!
I replied to another of your withering anti Arteta rants but won’t bother again after reading this unwarranted character assassination.
We’ll come good, smooth strategy over the course of our campaign this season in full flow, enjoy the ride i urge you guys.
Hold on, om just burying my head now🤣🤣
We’ll find out who is right or wrong but till then hold on to your weapons.
Vamos, there is no right or wrong!!!! Its opinion. What is right? And what is wrong? There isn’t an answer. I really dont know what you are on about. If we win the league, its because we are good enough, if we dont, its because we aren’t. Whats right or wrong?
You insinuated i’m refusing to see that things are not heading in the right direction while i think otherwise given what i observed, it’s bound to be right or wrong at the end of the day. I see no reason to moan while you think otherwise which is fine by me cos that’s your opinion. For us to then end up winning the league won’t mean we got better overnight, it’s what people like you have failed to observe that attribute to we ending up winning the trophy. Keep up with your player slating while i defend them, all i know is they can’t be good overnight it’s thanks to what we are building as a team. Don’t be afraid of being proved wrong, life is a learning curve.
No i am not insinuating anything. I am SAYING, its not a crime to talk about things that are not right. You just dont want to accept there is anything wrong. You dont win things without making mistakes, you want to bury them for some reason. Some of us want to talk about them. None of that will have any baring on what happens at the end of the season. Everyone makes mistakes.
Anyway Vamos, im going to let you go on your merry little way. Have a good night.
I insist we are right on course of achieving something special. If you think it’s otherwise then so be it. Right or wrong we’ll find out as the season unfolds.
If we had scored 2 goals then this would not be an irritant. If we had scored 1 goal yes. The fact that we did not score a single goal is the concern. Don’t get fooled by Mikel and his distraction antics.
Pass backwards Havertz should be made as part of a swap deal in our next player purchase. Only scores at home against weak teams Nketiah, should be sold before he gets worst. VAR should be sued for not asking the Referee to look at the inconclusive decision if they were not sure. Why they did not ask the ref to look at the video seems highly suspect and dishonest. Also why are uneducated journalist prepared to blame Arteta as ranting rather than what the fans are seeing as VAR being dishonest judging by their so obvious failings.
I completely agree. With the addition of Declan Rice we made the team much better, and potential title winners, but unfortunately Raya and Havertz have made the team so much worse. For me the Raya one is the most frustrating as it was so unnecessary. We had a young goalkeeper who was already one of the best around and still improving, and had made enough match winning saves to be named by his peers as the best goalkeeper in the league. Then the goalkeeper coach insists on bringing in his old mate from Brentford, and Arteta tries to justify the change by pretending his redefining the concept of goalkeeping, and now we’re stuck with Raya who seems to make calamitous errors in every big game. David Raya is not the goalkeeper for premier league winning team, but unfortunately I think we’re stuck with him as Arteta has dug such a big hole for himself on this one, that he won’t want to admit he’s made a mistake.
Dee, if what you say is true, then MA should be nowhere near our club, but do you really believe that he would put his own job on the line to prove a point regarding Raya?
Remember he’s on loan, so there has been no real expenditure (apart from the salary).
If you had mentioned Havertz then I could see your position, but remember, he has done this with other players, Gabriel, Willian, Martinelli and ESR come to mind.
Even Martinez and Leno divided the fanbase, but MA stuck to his guns.
I just think he believes Raya is the better keeper – until that changes, we should support him
Every time I watch Raya make a blunder I wonder why he let Martinez go. Had he made him No 1 we wouldn’t be in this position.
Raya is a very good GK. Raya is not the issue, it’s the philosophy that MA insists on forcing players simply not good enough to pass it around at the back. Why do we only take chances with our passes in and around our own area with the players least gifted to complete them, yet when we get near the opponents box it’s all safe and % passes until the opponent gets bored or falls asleep and allows us to score just so the game can continue.
Raya is good. Havertz is good. Arteta is the problem. He manages to combine the worst aspects of Wenger and Pep without any of the success. He is inflexible, arrogant, and narcissistic and has absolutely zero Plans B. Plan B for Arteta is just Plan A but with Havertz up front. He spent bought some good players but doesn’t use them effectively. Jesus isn’t a striker and Havertz isn’t a midfielder.
Totally disagree with your comments. Raya and Havertz are poor, very poor. They add nothing to the team. Last season we blew the Premiership, this season we will be lucky to stay in the top four. The team performances so far are not a patch on last season when we were playing the best football in the division, at least up to February. Now it is boring to watch.
I agree, it is boring but that isn’t Raya or Havertz’s fault, they don’t see the directive. I don’t agree with your assessment that they are poor. Playing poorly, yes. But they are good players.
The absence of key players such as Partey, Jesus and Odegaard is the main reason for our poor form of late and most sensible fans will recognise the lack of impact from Havertz, Raya and Vieira.On the other side of the coin, Rice has been a huge success and the description of “world class” can justifiably be applied to him and one other England international, Mr Kane.To be fair to the new acquisitions they are not the only players who are not performing well.Saka and Gabriel come into that category but of course they have a lot of credit in the Bank and are not under the close scrutiny paid to Raya, Havertz and Vieria.Fans are entitled to criticise, but the shortcomings should be applied fairly and without bias and obvious favouritism.Personally, I would not fix up Raya on a permanent contract and while I do not expect Havertz nor Vieira to come good I hope they prove me wrong.
Nah, even when they were available we were poor and our wins were hardly won, dont let the table decieve you, we are a shadow of what we were last season performance wise. Huge question mark on buying Havertz and a bigger one on keeping neketiah as our number 9
It was a tough one to take given the ridiculous VAR decision. Even Dermot Gallagher said it was a foul. But these things happen. Eventually there would be a loss, and away at Newcastle in the rain was always a high-risk place for that to happen. So as disappointing as it is, it doesn’t mean the title race is over, or anything like that. There are some things to sort out or course, but hopefully they will take shape as the season goes on.
Look it’s too early to use a word like doomed but you know that when even calm rational people like Jon Fox and Sue P are scratching their heads you have to be concerned that something just ain’t working.
Okay so Rice was great for West Ham over several past seasons, and at Arsenal I feel like he’s got even better. We paid a lot of money for him but we knew exactly what we would get, except he’s been better than expected.
For some strange reason MA bought Havertz as well, for a frivolous amount. Havertz has performed EXACTLY as he did for Chelsea for 3 years which is way below average for what you’d expect for 70 million player. So what did MA think would happen with Kai? I can only think of some strange egoistic reason behind this, thinking Arteta would be the manager to unlock his talent or whatever. Whatever the reason is, Havertz has performed EXACTLY as he has for the past 3 years.
This leaves us with somewhat useless Havertz and ever-injured Partey, which then leaves us with a gaping hole in midfield.
MA has only himself to blame for this mess.
About Newcastle’s goal, I think the ball was out of play and Magalhaes shouldn’t have relied on his acting skills to win a foul against Joelinton
As for our title winning chances, Arteta will be fully responsible at the end of the season
There’s no way Kroenke won’t call for his head if we don’t win any trophy this season, after spending hundreds of millions for player transfers
Why don’t you try having Joelington shove you from the back, while your feet are off ground and show us how much acting skills you got? It’s a whole lot easier to use your mind than your fingers, don’t you think? Let’s use our minds before we head to our gadgets. Some players are actually affected by our comments, except of course, Havertz.
Magalhaes obviously jumped forward before Joelinton pushed him, otherwise Magalhaes would’ve won a free kick
Gai, if what happens to Managihaes in the box happens to a striker would he not be given a penalty? I bet he would most likely get a spot kick. Same should be considered in this incidence as a foul on G mangalheae.
Not if the striker jumps first as Magalhaes did
The fact is he pushed him, hence a foul.
Watch the action and body language of Joelington – he didn’t celebrate immediately and knew EXACTLY what had happened.
GAI, have you ever played the game?
Yes Ken, I played football in my younger days. Joelinton’s touch looked minimal at the beginning of the incident and it’d been checked from various angles
Based on what I saw, Magalhaes jumped first before Joelinton really pushed him
Well there you are GAI, you describe the touch as “minimal”, so it was a foul wasn’t it?
The fact that Magalhaes might have jumped first, makes no difference.
Once Joelington put his hands on his back, a foul was committed and either the referee or the VAR officials should have disallowed the “goal”….. is that correct?
Touches are allowed in a football game and Magalhaes started to fall because of a touch, not a push
FANBASE ROLE????
Does this club sometimes try to make a survey of the opinion of the fanbase???
The fanbase was obviously for Maddison and not a failed Chelsea misfit but Arteta is obsessed with German internationals having already failed with Leno.
Now that is passed because the experiment has failed woefully but Arteta is still believing that a miracle will happen around Havertz while time is running out.
To dismantle the whole team that was winning last campaign by selling Xhaka and then ruthlessly taking out Ramsdale from no serious fault is still not understadable. He needs to decide really fast and bring back Ramsdale.
Time is running out and Arteta needs to fix this fast. Even when playing against the weakest teams, Harvertz is still lost. Evidently, Vieira has produced resultls of some kind when called upon. So why not use him and play Harvertz from the bench?
WHY NOT PLAY ZINCHENKO IN MIDFIELD. HE’S NOT EVEN A DEFENDER. The defense thing was a Guardiola experiment. USE ZINCHENKO IN MIDFIELD please.
Arsenal is still on course for the league trophy, but now there is a slight change of doing things, which is to field players who have highly winning mentality who play for 90+ minutes with no stops. Arteta needs to instil this in his troop because we do not have any other players except what we have. Newcastle’s game should not have got to unreasonable VAR decisions had our players used the opportunity we had in the game to the maximum.
For all the VAR and Havertz preoccupations arising from this match, we lost 1-0. Bad luck we go again.
However, one shot on target in 90+ minutes plus an attacking team firing blanks is hardly a worthy part of any CV for a team touted as potential champions. Can’t see the other being worried about our finishing/attacking prowess.
Put up or shut up!
Although Raya doesn’t seem to be passing the eye test, he’s ahead of Ramsdale on every, or almost every metric statistically. So he is outperforming Ramsdale at the moment. Performance wise he’s a slight upgrade, but all the noise around this move is clearly constant distraction we could do without.
Havertz is more of the worry because MA s trying to shoehorn him into the side, and it’s just not clicking as of yet. However, he put in a very good performance against Newcastle, which gives me some hope that he’s finally settling in.
We all saw a side of him we didn’t know existed. He worked hard, battled, some tough tackles, and really got stuck in, whereas I think most of thought he would go missing in this type of game.
You are pleased easily, if that was a VERY GOOD performance. I will ask again, What did Haverz actually achieve?
Did he influence the result in a positive way?
Players who have a very good game, actually influence the play.
I’m not pleased easily, I’m just stating the obvious. Rice, Saliba, and Gabriel we’re outstanding, Tomi was very good, and then it was Havertz.
If you think Havertz had a poor game, then clearly you have an agenda and are refusing to be objective.
We must have been watching different games!!
I was actually shocked that MA had the guts to bring the guy back for the second half, even after narrowly escaping a straight red card.
The card would not have mattered much anyway because when Havertz plays, we are effectively a man down!
Exactly right Reggie. Those who think HAVERTZ had a “good game” must be seriously unwell, I reckon!
Every game he has played in, he has been a completely ineffective waste of money, IMO!
All realists among us have him down as a really bad and foolish buy.
MA had three years to see him regularly underwhelming at Chelsea and yet he STILL bought him and for all that money. One question; WHY????
I agree he’s been poor so far, but you’d have to have a pretty poor understanding of football and the type of game that was yesterday to say Havertz had a bad game.
It was a game of few chances, and our three attackers were awful and offered Havertz and others absolutely nothing to work with in the final third.
Saka was dreadful especially considering his quality, yet people pick out Havertz? Clearly agenda and no objectivity.
Declan Rice had a VERY GOOD GAME, he was a one man midfield alongside two who didn’t do anywhere near what he did.
Reggie, I’m not defending Havertz in any way, but you cannot equal Newcastle if the eleven players on the pitch are not contributing.. and Havertz did do that.
Mind you, he was very lucky to stay on the pitch, as that was a definate red card – yet another absurd decision!!
Ken, im sorry, his contribution and ability is giving us nothing of any worth. He put him self about a bit against Newcastle, some wreckless, some not but he contributed actually little. I expect more. Plus maybe if he did, we could have won, not unluckily lose. He is supposed to be a top player, not a fill in.
I don’t get how people can be defending his mediocre performances and slag other players off.
Well considering the recent challenges from Palmer, Kovecic, and Bruno, clearly the ref was right to not send off Havertz. Some consistency for once! 😂
Actually, Havertz challenge was poor but for some to suggest it as a definite red card is ridiculous.
Bruno’s strike on Jorginho is a different matter entirely and that should have been a red. There were at least two other instances where he could have been given a yellow card.
No David, it’s not ridiculous, it’s in the referees rule book.
Any tackle that sees a player with both feet of the ground is considered dangerous that could, potentially, be a career ending tackle.
Two footed tackles have been outlawed for ages, I’m surprised you didn’t know that fact.
Havertz did just that and should have been red carded.
Bruno struck an opponent… it doesn’t matter if it was an elbow, forearm, hand or even a headbutt!! That was also a red card offence.
Gabriel was pushed in the back by a two handed shove – doesn’t matter if it was a light, medium or heavy shove, the rules state it was a foul and the goal should have been disallowed.
Three straight forward incidents that the referee failed to act upon and VAR should have seen as a reason to call the referee over to review.
If we want VAR to work, we shouldn’t ignore it when it suits our club and then complain when it goes against us.
My position stands. A number of referees (not general pundits) have also seen and commented on the Havertz foul and none have stated that it is a definite red card offence.
Havertz did not hit his opponent with his feet in the air. It was his trailing leg that caught the other player.
I know the rules and we seen how this is usually interpreted. That kind of tackle is rarely given as a red card.
They are different types of player that have different positions and roles. The fact you don’t even realise that speaks volumes!
Dont be a dick and disrespectful. I have an Opinion!!!!! And you have no idea how much i do actually understand what i am saying.
If you are happy with Haverzs performance then you have no room to critisise me.
It’s not being disrespectful calling someone out for their nonsense.
It’s actually you who was being disrespectful about Havertz by claiming he was poor for not doing what Rice was doing, even though he’s a different player with a different role. Compare like for like if that’s how you judge players.
No!!! Rice had a very good game for what he did. Haverz can not be described in the same context as Rices efforts. I will say again, Haverz did not have a very good game compared to Rices, very good game. Rice pushed the game on. Do you think Haverz did?
You may not want better from him but i definitely do!!!!! And if we do, we will be a better team.
Jen maybe i am not as blind as you might make me out to be. Haverz lost the ball 15 times during the game and his pass success rate was 70%. Not great reading.
So happy you posted those stats. Even without counting how many times he lost the ball you could tell he didn’t contribute anywhere near enough to say he had a ‘good game’. Personally, my opinion is that he is s***! I base my opinion on his performances in an Arsenal shirt so far. He’s done nothing, scared to get into spaces to receive the ball, is not good aerially and mistimes his jumps, afraid to take chances and turn towards opponents goal when he’s on the ball no endeavour, no courage, not skillfull and lacks pace. Trossard is a much better player and deserves to be ahead of him in the pecking order every single time.
So what we are saying is that The Arsenal played the game with a passenger who contributed nothing – then we should be praising MA for his tactics!!
In actual fact, we could make the case that Nketiah’s contribution made it 9 against 11..12 if you count the referee.. 13 if you include VAR.. I forgot Raya, so that makes it 8 against 13.
Honestly, the absurdity regarding Havertz in yesterday’s game is akin to a witch hunt and I still believe he should have been sent off for that horrendous tackle!!
What and how Arteta has dealt with the goalkeeper situation, is one of THE worse situations created for the wrong ressons and outcome. Raya is NOT better than Ramsdale and Ramsdale did not deserve binning, the way he was. It HAS ACHIEVED NOTHING POSITIVE. Haverz has not deserved his place straight into the team at the expense of others and again has achieved NOTHING POSITIVE. Two out of many decisions that are not working out this season. Raya is not looking anywhere near a top goalkeeper and Haverz looks exactly the under performing player he was at Chelsea, maybe worse. What have they both improved in the team since they have come?
Firstly I would like to say….football is broken. Over the past few weeks football has become so absurd, full of such stupid decisions that ordinary people could make better decisions. Until something is done to replace the PGMOL football will stay broken.
Regarding Arsenal, Havertz, Viera = £100 million down the drain. Spurs got James Maddison for £40 million. Arteta is a good coach but totally deluded and believes his own player delusions.
Arteta has created a mountain of problems trying to bury a molehill. Signing Havertz was a big mistake, and trying to blend his bad performances into a young team of players working their socks off to reach the top only weakens their efforts and that’s unforgivable. The man has psychopathic delusions of self grandeur. He ruthlessly shreds the confidence of hardworking players into bits, to cover for his own mistakes.
Arteta should have gone after we bottled the league last season, continuing to play the likes of Nketiah, Havertz and Raya will just doom this club, none of them are good enough to play for a club as big as the Arsenal, wake up and smell the coffee Arteta you muppet!
HI,I dont agree on on our keeper mistakes as layed out. our front man being three meters behind our play maker in the final 3rd on more than 2 occasions when a cross rom the right side is imminent .that is a problem. Havart going in on a slide tackle is a big gamble, leaving the last man in a spot
There’s a fair few well considered posts on this article but several are borderline thoroughly unpleasant slurs against our manager.
Such short memories and decidedly so when considering the deserved win against City. There is a long way to go until the season’s end and there will be many twists and turns ahead – not only for Arsenal but for other teams as well.
Consider the last gasp win for an under pressure Utd and the recently much heralded Aston Villa losing to Forest. Just now Liverpool were on the brink of losing to Luton. To think that after losing to West Ham I was reading that Emery should return to us! Such reactionary comments after a hard to swallow loss yesterday evening.
Exactly! I read that comment and i was like “confusion at it’s peak”. Some even mentioned Martinez, someone who conceded a goal such as Notts second of the game,lol. another tittle rival in pool have dropped points as well, hopefully same goes for spurs tomorrow.
Havertz signing made me scratch my head a lot. So did Raya.
We did fantastic with Rice and Timber. Rice improved us but the signings of Havertz and Raya have done the opposite
Instead of these 2 Arteta should have got a really good striker and backup to Pàrtey
I think we would have been better title contenders
I thought Havertz should have had a red card for that tackle and perhaps it would have helped as we wouldn’t have to suffer him for 2 or 3 games! Apparently bought to replace Xhaka but played like the old Xhaka, reckless tackles and hot headed.
i absolutely love football, and, needless to say ,i love arsenal.i dont understand just one thing about our team. and this is not a dig at anybody involved with our club. i would just like to know what is havertz ?, i mean what is his position. i certainally dont know and this is why it confuses me.what is his gameplan ?, what is artetas plan for him ?.strangest signing, by a long shot ,from our club, but,thats just my opinion, and , i know very little about the game.
This is an article simply to discredit the manager and continue the general theme of negative propaganda supported by a number of contributors to the site.
The article paints as negative a picture as possible and then disingenuously claims that it is not an Arteta out article.
It is also clear that the author is looking for scapegoats as there were several players whose performances could have been criticised but he has picked on a few in particular which highlights the ulterior motives behind the article.
👍
Hang on, one minute it’s an article that’s simply written to discredit the manager, the next second the author is picking on certain players to highlight “ulterior motives”.
Make your mind up please!!
Football is played on a pitch for +- 90 minutes, Arteta spends much more time with the players on the training ground, and that time is where Arteta forms his vision and his opinion of the players. Games don’t always go the way we plan for various reasons, but whatever we think about Arteta, he his playing to win and he calls the shots. Havertz looks more and more like a mistake and the under performance of other players mean we simply can’t afford carry any passengers. That said, Saka is not playing to his best, neither was Odegaard. Jesus and Partey are injured and Nketiah and Jorghino are band aids at best. I know it’s ‘ifs and buts’ however with fit and in form Partey, Odegaard and Jesus we are on a much higher level. Rice and Timber were great signings but Rice and Raya dampen that. I think Arteta has made mistakes with Raya and Havertz, we didn’t need another number one keeper, but we definitely needed a striker. We didn’t deserve to win the game yesterday, but we didn’t deserve to lose either. If a defender pushed a striker in the back the way that Joelington pushed Gabriel, it would be a penalty, no question. If Havertz had seen red for his flying tackle it would not have been a big surprise, but it was judged, with the benefit of slow motion, to be a yellow. Bruno G’s elbow to the head of Jorginho is a red all day long. Consequently, they should have been down to 10 men for the second half, and that would have changed the game completely in our favor. I don’t blame Arteta’s for yesterdays performance, but I do question his wisdom regarding Havertz and Raya. There is still a long way to go and it will be tight at the top if the first 10 games are anything to go by, and there is no need to panic IMO, but we have to solve the left side of midfield, sort the GK situation and bring in a prolific goal scorer to compete with Jesus, period.
Guys, let us calm down and support the team. We are 3 points behind Man City. There are many games to play.
We need to be positive. My advice to Arteta is to play Havertz as a CF. In January, we should sign Ivan Toney.
My advice to Arteata is start picking the team based on merit. What has Havertz done to merit him starting? He was shoehorned into the team from day one and that was a mistake. He should have earned his right to first come on for a few sub appearances and if he did well as a sub, then he gets to start.
Just wondering about the competition in the squad we heard about this Summer. All the talk about “earning” starts and places, and selections based on performances.
So how’s the GK competition going? Is there even a competition, or is it Raya playing until one can comfortably say “see, I told you?”
Is Havertz “earning” his chances like Arteta talked about at start of season, or is he still “showcasing?”
Nketiah yet again fails to impact despite chance after chance. Hardly the “talent” that Arteta hyped after lowly Sheffield win.
Don’t expect goals every game from Nketiah, just impactful in some way. Creating chances for teammates, holdup play, something to influence the match. Unfortunately, 6 years is proof enough he’s not at the proper level.
Injuries hurt our squad, but Nketiah, Havertz, Jorginho can’t step up and get it done while better players are absent.
Many wanted a striker and legit midfielder, and their absence is looking more pronounced with each passing game.
At AndyE
Did Rice come as a sub?
That’s a fair point. Now answer this, Does Rice’s performances justify him starting and do you consider Havertz’s performances justify him starting?
Rice has been “world class” all match day; on the other hand currently Harvertz isn’t doing well….
I believe he will come good.
And that goes to his replacements …
Smith Rowe , Viera
My final take is that all players should be played on merit.
Bruno should have been red carded on deliberate fouls on jorginho…
1) The deliberate rush to hit jorginho from behind and told him to stood up
2) The elbow on the head of jorginho.
My take is did VAR not see that to call the referee.
On the other hand
1) Saka is not in form.
2) Zinchenko should play the left 8 for arsenal to control game more zinchenko can give that killer pass or split pass.
3) white should be rested and
Tomiyasu giving a chance.
4) Harvertz play as a 9 when Jesus is
injured and Nketiah come as a sub.
5) No one criticize Ben White? on his display in the game sorry to say this Ben has been OFF WHITE LATELY.
Whether we believe it or not, Arteta’s know it all is killing the club. If the interest of the club is paramount to him, he would have swallowed his pride and stop giving Harvertz and lately, Raya game time. Granted that officiating and VAR was disgusting, the coach should have the greatest blame. Why must Arteta continue to pursue his personal interest in promoting his country man to the detriment to the club? Am talking about Raya. What upgrade has Raya being to Ramsdale? Raya has cost us more matches than Ramsdale this season yet, he continues to favour him against Ramsdale.
Again, White is a very big weak link in the team. His ball sense is below his hype. Since the beginning of the season, his confidence is very low yet Arteta continues to play him. Next is Saka. Every one that follows EPL agrees that Saka need rest except one all knowing coach. The fatigue was responsible for the injury he had and after that, he has never been thesame. Today he plays with utmost caution. The question is: why is it difficult for Arteta to spot these things and give others chance to prove himself. If White had closed up Willock, that cross would not have come for Raya to expectedly fumble and we would not have complained about VAR.
This player needs an upgrade. this team overachieved last seasons I see that arteta is clearly over estimating those players and his making poor buying instead of massively upgrading on them clearly he needs help with his buying from the club rather than his ideas
Agreed.
Arsenal seems to be out-thinking himself.
Raya and Harvertź are liabilities. It is all very well having a keeper who can pass accurately at 50 meters but means nothing if he can’t save a shot.
Thought Harvertz was useless at Chelsea, even more so at Arsenal.
Bring back Ramsdale, at least he can save.
Harvetz is not only a very poor player, not remotely fit to Don an Arsenal Jersey but he is actually a liability… I’ve been saying this for months now… When you perform poorly for 4 seasons it’s not a matter of form but clearly a lack of ability… Arsenal fans are entitled to demand better from their club and rightly so… We are way past the stage of making excuses for Kai, crossing our fingers and hoping he eventually comes good somewhere along the way.. There is simply too much at stake… This Harvetz thing has potential to do harm to Arteta’s standing in fans eyes as it appears to be a vanity project at this point… With Harvetz we always play a man short… Enough is enough