Arsenal fans have been spoilt rotten this season as they can boast the Gunners are far away at the top of the League and, after winning 12 of our 14 League games so far, we seem to be shocked when the stars are against us and we lose a meaningless friendly against Juventus..
The game on Saturday was useful to help us keep up our fitness levels ahead of the restart of the season, but of course after winning our two games in Dubai very easily, we naturally expected another routine winning performance.
But the fact is that we lost this one 2-0, and the only two goals we conceded were by our own players in Xhaka and Holding. We had 19 shots on target to Juventus’ 3, and we had an incredible 75% posession. It was simply just a bad day at the office where nothing went right.
Mikel Arteta was right not to be too concerned after the game. He told Arsenal.com: “The scoreline probably doesn’t reflect at all what happened in the game, but this is football. They had one shot and scored two goals.
“We did a lot of really good things, especially from box to box but we weren’t ruthless enough in either. I think we had 19 shots and only two on target, so it’s clear what we have to improve, but we did a lot of positive things in the match to get a much better outcome.
“I think the way the boys are training and playing, it’s really positive. Today is a setback but perhaps it’s better to happen today rather than in any competitive match, but we’ll work on it, talk about it and improve.”
And there is no doubt that we could have done with Saka and Martinelli down the wings, which we will hopefully have when back by the time we face West Ham.
So, come on Arsenal fans, let’s just get over it and have faith that Arteta will have everyone ready to get back to winning ways on Boxing Day, shall we?
Sam P
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Yep…teams lose and we need to get over it. We were way below strength. and Nketiah is not up to being our Jesus. We discovered that Ethan Nwaneri and Amario Cozier-Duberry are going to be stars. We will not win the EPL if we do not buy at least two top players….that is as clear as daylight. ASAP please. Forward and midfield. If we can somehow not lose to the Hammers and Brighton we will still be top and could have our reinforcements ready. Get the chequebook out EDU/KROENKE….if you MEAN it. We can still do it, but really and truthfully need reinforcements. City would have made their signings already, in the background. I hope we have the same, troubleshooting philosophy..
Hopefully Cozier-Duberry’s performance will make Arsenal stop chasing Mudryk. 40 M would be too much for another LW and we’d better spend it for a new CF
Wow!!! Some people, they are friendlies, nothing more, to get fitness, meaningless. Only important if a player gets injured, the rest means zilch. They are a training exercise!!!!!!
The real thing starts on boxing day. REALLY!!!!!!!
It isn’t coming from one of our players Reggie. Xhaka said ‘it doesn’t matter if it’s a friendly, we need to win every game’. I watched the game no one was taking risks going forward, too passive and side way passes, remindend me of some games last season.
As far as results, its a meaningless friendly that nobody will ever remember or want to remember. Its a fitness exercise nothing more.
Nwaneri was impressive, and if duberry was the guy playing on the left wing he was equally Good. We do need reinforcement . Urgently!
As a statement of the depressingly and insultingly bl….ng obvious, has there EVER been a headline to beat this one!!
I now Jon, I told Arteta it was a bit of a cliche when he said “perhaps it’s better to happen today rather than in any competitive match”
Some people just say ‘bleeding obvious” stuff don’t they?
I suppose the next thing you’ll say is the headline was ‘misleading’…
PAT What you always refuse to see , let alone admit , is that when you knowingly and blindly report ANY utterance or statementwhich is clearly nothing of substance( as JA constantly does!!) and which is just a statement of the completely obvious, then you lower the quality of debate on your site and attract, MAINLY, like minded intellectually challenged posts, from dullards.
IF, which you plainly do not,you wish to attract a better quality of debate, you would not pander to the lowest intellect on here.
It is akin to choosing to read say, The Sun or The Star, instead of a proper newspaper with informed opinion and a decent quality level of debate.
(NB: I do of course accept that NO newspaper, in this age of instant global communication, can ever actually impart RECENT news.)
Essentially PAT, what I SO MUCH DISLIKE, IS HOW YOU ENCOURAGE SO MANY DOWNMARKET ARTICLES AND POSTS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE MANY EDUCATED AND INFORMED PEOPLE ON HERE, many of whom , unlike myself, choose to ignore almost all these “nothing” articles.
Why not , if you even care, scan through many of these more recent downmarket reports or so called articles and then see how FEW contain posts from people of any real intellect!
There will of course , always be SOME, but as a long term regular on JA I am well placed to see the steady drop off in quality that JA DID, at one time have.
I accept that I care for quality and truth so much, that I WILL ALWAYS BE LIKE A DOG WITH A BONE iN FIGHTING FOR IMPROVEMENT IN JA. Just as we ALL expect our team and manager to fight for similar improvement in our team!
Either you accept and promote dross, in order to simply get posts or you fight for BETTER and MORE TRUTHFUL QUALITY.
It pains me to see this steady drop off of JA quality. You do have SOME article writers who write extremely well, but alas for you, not often enough.
Your choice of course PAT, but I see very clearly the danger you bring JA’s future by encouraging quantity at the expense of quality.
If you wish JA to last, in this age of more expected quality(in many things)then you will do well to take this post seriously. But I predict you will not. Sigh!
Jon
This article is a nicely put opinion post which has used Danny Murphy as an example. Seriously. I don’t know why you come on except to criticise every single headline. Writer and posts.
Yes Pat, of course it is an opinion piece using Murphy. Another obvious statement .
But no answer of any substance to my long and detailed post.
The SUBSTANCE once again ignored, as me being a “nuisance” instead of YOU seeing the danger I outline to your own site!
There are none so blind as those who wilfully REFUSE to see!
Believe it or not I am only trying , even though clearly failing, to help you see the danger in encouraging JA to become still more downmarket and largely pointless.
Predictable sigh!
If the gaffer is happy am happy, these friendly serves their purposes well, its where you experiment, a tweaked here maybe suspected square pegs and round hole there .
But they are friendlies, and should use to get your tactics right.
The team performance against Juventus was very encouraging. Despite losing almost all first team players, the whole team keep playing the Arteta way. 13 to 2 shots and 75% possession with squad and youth players is actually brilliant against Juventus. They say losing gives you humility and extra determination. There’s no shame in losing to the wily coyote that is Massimiliano Allegri in that circumstances. World class players gives you the cutting edge and with players coming back from World Cup and possible transfer additions, we are still safe and competitive. No worries fellas. COYG!