Title challenge over? By Vivek Julka
That was a bad result, wasn’t it?
The loss on Wednesday against Manchester City has now left us winless in our last four games including two defeats to our title rivals.
Now it begs the question, are our title hopes over?
They probably are, as I think this defeat will damage us mentally and Man City are most likely now going to go on a winning streak.
I don’t see us winning nearly every game until the rest of season, which is what we have to do if we are to win the league.
Mikel Arteta has got to change things now. He cannot keep persisting with players like Zinchencko and Nketiah. They did a great job for a few games after the World Cup but now it has stopped working.
Zinchencko does not offer anything going forward nor is he particularly good defensively.
He should be dropped for Tierney, but that probably won’t happen as Arteta does not even bring him on as a substitute.
He overlaps our wingers and will help Martinelli out massively.
Also, Nketiah is not good enough to start every week if we are serious about winning the title. He misses key chances which are costing us points.
I have never been a fan of Nketiah and wanted him gone last summer. He has improved post World Cup but is still not good enough to lead the line at a title challenging club.
Trossard should start ahead of him or even Martinelli down the middle with Trossard on the left.
It is showing now we are missing Gabriel Jesus, he may not be the most clinical but he brings so much energy to our team and our wingers play so much better with him.
If we do fail to win the league this season it is a failure.
To be top for that long and have nothing to show for it at the end will be embarrassing.
Yes, some of you fans will say we never expected to be challenging, this is a loser’s mentality. Objectives change throughout the season and our objective should be to win the league now.
This season is the best chance we will get for a long time as other teams like Liverpool and Chelsea will be stronger next season.
Most of the blame should be put towards Edu, as he completely messed up the January transfer window.
He didn’t get the target that Arteta wanted in Moises Caicedo, instead he panicked with the Jorghino signing.
Jorghino did not play that bad against Man City, but it is clear he does not bring the mobility that Partey does so Caicedo would have been a more adequate back-up.
I hope we can stay in the title race until the end but it will be hard now, even with a game in hand as we still have to go to the Etihad and win there but that is very unlikely considering our record against them.
Vivek Julka
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Yep we need to rest NKetiah, and bring in Leo Trossard. I see Martinelli playing down the middle. Rest Xhaka. Just IMHO
Ramsdale
White, Saliba, Gabriel Tierney
Odegaard, Jorginho, Zinchenko
Saka, Martinelli, Trossard
It must be really tempting for Arteta to put Martinelli in that central position, although it’s not his own preference, and he could even find that’s where he’s eventually best suited. Seeing those three in the same forward line would be so exciting and I hope Mikel goes for it.
It’s not over yet, as long as we win the remaining games this month to boost our players’ mentality
I beg to differ on dropping Zinchenko for Tierney. Man City have been using a similar tactic when they have the ball in the games, yet they did it better than us because they utilized the half-spaces and their inverted LB very well
Making Tierney overlap, dribble and cross through our left wing is like reverting to Wenger’s old tactic with Sanchez/ Monreal on that side of pitch. I’d prefer to exploit the half-spaces with our attacking midfielders and instruct our inverted LB to make late runs
As for Nketiah, he just needs to work on his header. I wouldn’t be surprised if he scores today
I don’t often read about the negative Zinchenko effect.
Bottom line he’s not a left back, his heat map clearly shows he struggles to stick to his position.
This has a negative effect on Martinelli.
We miss Tierney.
Zinchenko would be a revelation filling in for Partey or Xhaka.
That “mentally” word again😃.
How can a title challenge be over for a team that is equal top with a game in hand?
Get real, there’s almost half the season yet to play and we have some key players to return from long term injuries.
Considering that Arteta only promised Champions League qualification this season I think we’re doing remarkably well in what is in effect a practice for next season’s real assault on the Premier League title.
Jax. Oh you poor but wise REALIST!
WE REALISTS NEED TO OUTNUMBER THE MANY SELF ENTITLED SPOILT CHILD, FAIRWEATHER ONLY TYPE FANS, ON JA.
Please can you tell me the winning numbers for the Euro MILLIONS whilst you at it with your magic ball seeing into the future @ Vivek Julka!!! It always seems like doom & gloom the first chance y’all prevliged enough to write up these articles. It’s almost like you’ve been wanting with itchy fingers for the first chance we falter to have a go at what we trying to achieve Instead of supporting the team/fans when we down nd NEED THE SUPPORT!
Like True supporters should :/
COYG!!!!
Shak, Superb post.
Clearly you are a mature adult! Sadly, to their huge discredit , other so called “self entitled spoilt child type Arsenal supporters” have not the first idea what actually SUPPORTING even means!
I will classify Arteta as stubborn and not as tactically-aware/knowledgeable as we thought today if Trossard doesn’t start
And, for as many matches as Trossard doesn’t start from hence, winning will be very difficult for us cos the right wing is our only dangerous/working wing …
…so it’s easy for opponents to silent us
And somehow the team members seem confident and eager to play to the left whenever Trossard is there – they seem not to trust Martinelli that much anymore
Trossard starting is a no-brainer now
Way too much negativity on here folks from all self appointed experts. Get a grip folks, joint first still with game in hand. We were close to Man City apart from a few individual errors/misses from tommy, Gabriel and nketiah, and all from youngest premier team.
Positive please or else go back to playing FIFA
Pat, Well said!
Of course it’s not over yet, but surely we need to use overlapping fullbacks as an option rather than the obsession with inverted players at the back who are just slowing things down when we get into attacking positions. We don’t always need high crosses either as cut backs from the byline produce most goals, (both for us and Haaland at City by the way) and you can’t be offside either.
What a pathetic sham of an article from an archetypal spoilt child type so called fan.
So little master Vivek considers it “a failure if we now fail to win the title and that such”failure” will be an embarassment”
What a wimp. What a snivelling WIMP!
It is little Vivek and his wimpish ilk who are REAL EMBARRASSMENTS.
How MUCH I crave that these awful types did not class themselves as Arsenal SUPPORTERS. Because they are NOT!
What a wonderful strike from Zinchenko…… Let the coach decide who players in a particular position, because we’re not there in training. Well done gunners the table toppers.
What a wonderful strike from Zinchenko…… Let the coach decide who plays in a particular position, because we’re not there in training. Well done gunners the table toppers.