Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy was once again the villain in North London, as he ruined Thomas Partey’s full Premier League debut for Arsenal with a party of his own.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta made the move to change the formation for today’s encounter, fielding a midfield three of Granit Xhaka, Thomas Partey and Dani Ceballos.
Fans had been asking for a return to a back four for a while, and seeing the trio given the nod today was always going to excite the masses.
We didn’t have to wait long to see the new system impress, as Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring, but the referee ruled it out because of Granit Xhaka’s position inside the box, although he didn’t make contact with the ball…
Arsenal continued to pile on the pressure, and Lacazette could well have found himself on a hat-trick had he been stronger in the air, but the opening goal continued to evade us.
Shortly into the second-half, we lost David Luiz to injury, with Shkodran Mustafi coming on, with Jamie Vardy coming on 10 minutes later on the hourmark. Both of these changes didn’t bring me much excitement, but our team continued to play positively.
While we carried on trying to push up the field, our rivals were starting to look more and more dangerous thanks to bringing on their talisman, and with just 10 minutes left to go, the daunting thing happened.
Jamie ‘I love to play Arsenal’ Vardy gets himself on the scoresheet…
The English forward burst forward alongside fellow substitute Cengiz Under, and the Turkish international didn’t disappoint by finding his team-mate open in the box to open the scoring.
The timing left us with only 10 minutes to get back, and you would have expected a fight-back in the dying minutes, especially when the officials gifted us five minutes extra to claw back a result. That wasn’t to be however, and the only real chance to score after the goal was from that man Jamie Vardy again.
The team was setup positively, the first-half was all Arsenal, but for the second time in two weekends, our players failed to be clinical in front of goal, and that is now two losses where we were very much the better side overall.
Does Saka need to work on his finishing? Does the whole team need to work on their sharpness in front of goal? Where do you think we went wrong?
Patrick
The perfect plan for Rogers and vardy. Dude just love scoring against us even when he aint fully fit. I knew Leicester might get something from this game once they stayed in the game for a long period of time
We changed formation for the first time this season in the league and lost our first game at home…
Is there anything more inevitable than Vardy scoring against Arsenal??
Arghhhhh…. more often than not, if Arsenal wins a game to get close to the top 2 on the table we bottle it. Gutted..
First win for them against us since 1973…
The formation is still the same, which is 4-3-3 when having the ball and 3-4-3 when we don’t. The problem is the role assignment of the personnel and we should’ve used 4-2-3-1 instead of 4-3-3 when attacking
Ceballos should’ve played as CAM when we were attacking and Lacazette should’ve come off earlier because he almost didn’t offer anything special as a false nine. I don’t think Lacazette could be as good as Firmino and Harry Kane in that role, because he doesn’t have the height and the pace
We had some golden chances in the first half, but no one could convert it into goals
gotanidea,
To be honest, at this point, I don’t think we have the firepower to compete for top 4.
Just look at our forward players, seems like they have never played together at all, Luiz has more forward passes than any of our midfielders, Partey was not in the game imo
Our squad is worth 250+ M, so we’re surely able to compete for top four. Tonight’s problem is the tactic
The media and fans pressure about Ozil’s exclusion must have affected Arteta’s confidence. His team played too cautiously and was rushing to launch direct balls to the forwards
So you think spending 250m automatically makes us a top 4 contender?
Only the lack of trying that can stop us from reaching top four
Sorry,it’s not the lack of trying but having No ideas which will cost Arsenal top 4as well. And for the amount spent the personally comes up short. Ozil would have been a prince standing along side this lot.
most fans think by spending big and signing big name and tag players means guarantee titles
Can’t blame Ozil for that defeat mate
Ozil’s fans shouldn’t put constant pressure on Arteta, unless they want Arteta gone. Thankfully most Ozil’s fans would likely follow Ozil to his new club next year, so Arteta can focus on his job
No , if ozil isn’t playing you can’t blame him for defeat
Fans having an opinion is part of football
If your telling me it’s effecting Arteta then he needs to leave
Gotanidea how on earth can Ozil fans put pressure on Arteta? Do you seriously think he reads this stuff and other fan site? Of course he doesn’t. What a preposterous assertion that fans have any effect on Arteta’s job focus.
Now peeps believe we are not close to title challenge ?lol
I think the game strategy is our problem. We have enough fire power and superstars. But we are only interested is ball possession. We dont counter attack quickly. When ever we get the ball we slows down the game with back passes. Never tries to counter attack quickly. This will give the opposition to get in position to defend properly. We are interested to play from back which is more often suicidal. We have swift wingers. But we dont utilize their pace instead we slows down the game. Those who watch Everton and Leeds game could see that they are not playing with 250m squad. But they counter attack quickly. Sad that Arsenal are again in old boring boring era. Not at all entertaining.. During Wenger era even a loss was very attractive to watch. It is true that Arteta has improved to some extent. But not to the level Arsenal should be.
Arteta just makes a joke of the team sometimes
Gabriel and liuz first choice CB playing against Vienna when we have 8 cb and Socratis collecting 100k a week for doing nothing Salina suddenly isn’t good for any game
This is embarrassing
Martineli couldn’t get a chance over nkettiah until auba got red carded and arteta was forced to use him
Saka clearly needed a rest after watching him against Vienna
Runarson has been here for up to a month yet can’t get a game. This decisions are just annoying and unjustifiable
Goundouzi was poor enough to be loaned but not Eddie or willock and Nelson
Why doesn’t Arteta include Saliba in our the team? Leicester brought on fofana age mate of saliba but has a smaller body to face Auba and laca but we are told saliba is not ready but will play Mustafi who has kicked a ball for the past 4 months
It could’ve gone the other way, but I think Arteta didn’t assign his players well. Ceballos looked awkward on the right side and he should’ve played centrally behind Lacazette when we had the ball
Arteta should’ve also substituted Lacazette earlier, because he didn’t play well. About Pepe, I don’t think he’s intelligent enough to be Arsenal winger and Arsenal had better sell him in the summer or train him in another role
Yea, Pepe’s got to go. Another player we have thrown high wages and big money at though. Hopefully he cares enough about his career. Arsenal will have to take a big loss on his sale, but thats what happens when we keep recruiting poor players.
RSH,
I just laugh when I see Pepe now, what a terrible player.
Aubameyang looked very upset, why was he on the right wing today by the way?
I am so confused right now, we really lacked ideas, it is shocking!
I keep trying to wish things work out for the guy, but it is blantly obvious he’s just not good enough for the EPL. Not just for Arsenal. He’s just not a good player based on what I’m seeing. He’s not got a footballing brain. He tries the same things every single game and every defender in the league can read the guy. If he didn’t already trip over his own feet and lose the ball. He’s got to be moved on and we have to cut our losses. Poor recruitment yet again.
I hate to break it to you that things will never work for this guy, at least not in Arsenal he can’t even lace Gervinho’s boots.
I am tired of doing this but what do you think about a front three of Nelson….Auba……Saka?
I like that one. Atleast proper wingers in place. We should give chances to Nelson and maybe Saliba now..
Nelson has done nothing
This is the issue
We won the cup and fans made out players were better then they are
Now we are shocked we are inconsistent
Why ? This squad finished 8th
This idea they suddenly challenge for title was arrogant
He did have a good game against Leicester in the cup.
In general buddy
Yeah, but I guess maybe if we give him a run of games then he can play well. We are giving Nketiah chances, he is not playing that well…
The Leicester b team you mean!!! The guy should have been part of a big summer clear out …
Better sell him while he still has value. He doesn’t even seem to know how to cut inside properly
I did see partey more forward than ceballos,nobody was given the free role(the kdb one).
And i do thinK ceballos is better as an 8 than a 10
Both Partey and Ceballos looked awkward
this is probably their first time playing together….
takes time to gel
When a few of us kept saying Zaha was a better player last season, people kept bashing us that we didn’t know what we were saying
Make that 7 defeats post lockdown
Where’s creativity ?
Pepe was the type of player we didn’t have, which is a specialist left-footed RW, hence the purchase. The scouts and the decision makers at Arsenal should’ve watched his bad performances in AFCON though
Wtf is up with the front 3? They’ve no proper link with the rest of the team. They have no literally 0 chemistry amongst themselves. Nobody makes runs. Nobody is available for crosses. There’s nobody for the crossers to aim at most of the time.
This is the part of Arteta’s plan that I’ve no idea about. He needs to sort it out.
Please don’t cry about creativity and Ozil. Cazorla had 100 times his creativity.
LOL! Ask a former Arsenal captain… you are wrong. You do not understand football.
Football isn’t algebraic topology. But it would be for someone of your wit.
…football is 3D geometry, that is if know angles… the way Ozil does. Most do not. Not only that, if have the skills to pass it through, which most do not… and among other things, the stamina to run for 11 km, which most do, but they do not know where to run, which Ozil does.
The pitiful fan with little knowledge of angles attacks an Ozil, even though if this German were English, they would make a statue for him. That is how low things have sunk.
Lay low on the homegrown stuff. Lmao
👍
Ozil has struggled to make 5 assists a season for the past 3 seasons.
Made about 2 assists for each of the last 2 seasons?
The guy has been stinking out the place for the majority of his time here. Has had chance after chance for 7 years. Enough is enough for him. Need to stop deluding yourselves and move on from the scrounger.
😊
So stop your Ozil delusion and cultism
JJ Pawn: Well said.
We were pooooooor. Really poor. Creatively we have the worst midfield I have seen in my life as an Arsenal supporter. We have too many robots. Xhaka and Cebbalos looked like a Hackney Marshes pairing. Sooner or later it will fall on Arteta to change ‘fear factor’ football.
Typical! I expect nothing of this Arsenal team anymore… It’s just so disheartening.. 3 defeats already and go to Old Trafford next week where we don’t ever win.. looking good 😣
And we haven’t won there in 14 years!!
What was wrong with Auba, taking tablets during the game? Should’ve got on the red bull like Vardy!!
Haha red bull and chewing tobacco and running around like someone possessed Sue 😂 not even gonna get angry it’s pointless we’ve seen this so many times Sue, we should be used to it! 14 years unbelievable… We’ve always been awful at old Trafford a few 1-0 wins and a 2-0 in the fa cup and that flying boot at Beckham’s head 😂
😂😂😂 Worked though!! Me either, Kev, absolutely no point in doing so whatsoever!
No MOTD for me tonight…
Yes and with VAR on their side, it could get messy. We could end up seeing that stupid skip on more than one occasion… and surely it’ll be Mike Dean or roly poly Moss….
Flying boot 😂😂😂
Vardy on Sedatives would work against us Sue, what’s that 20 goals against us ? 😆. VAR is the worst thing to happen to football.. I don’t think we’ve got any benefit from it lol. Yeah you can see Penchester getting one or two and Penandes skipping at least one past Leno 😩 what do you think Sue we need a new forward line ?
11/5 – Jamie Vardy has scored 11 goals in 12 Premier League matches against Arsenal, with only Wayne Rooney (12) scoring more against the Gunners in the competition. Vardy is now also the highest scoring away player at the Emirates in top-flight ties (5 goals). Snatched. (Courtesy of twitter, Kev!)
I just don’t know anymore, Kev. I honestly thought we were close to being sorted…then we’re.dished up a performance like tonight… 😬
Is it wrong to feel a little nervous about Thursday?!!
That is shocking Sue 5 goals at the Emirates? No wonder we’re a laughing stock! People call us banter club and you can now understand why 😣 oh Sue it wouldn’t surprise me we get another embarrassment, the first PL team to lose to a league of Ireland team 😂
Honest to god, if we only have 2 or 3 shots on Thursday, you will hear me screaming!!
I will get ear plugs for Coco Sue 😂 well they are 3rd in the Irish league surely has to be the equivalent of playing Inverness or some team like that? if we don’t score at least 5 or 6 then I will be seriously, seriously, seriously worried 😂😂
😂😂 She’ll need them!
At least we have a few days to get over this, Kev – and they’re needed!
Haha poor Coco was probably on cloud 9 when football was suspended 😂😂 I just listened to DT on YouTube and he has the same thoughts on that game and that team as me.. I will not let them stress me out anymore.. just expect nothing and we might be pleasantly surprised Sue 😄
😂😂😂 She was!!
Exactly, Kev, there’s no point!
Haha she’s hiding behind the sofa when Arsenal are playing now 😂 yes at least we can watch the champions League this week with no pressure Sue and some nice games on I fancy Leipzig to win at old Trafford
😂😂 A Leipzig win would be very welcome, Kev!!
MA is getting unravelled. He might not be all that top quality. He game plan lost to a superior one. This guy is not exceptional. He is full of gaffes. His game plans, tactics and choice of players to execute is always questionable. Because he gets away with bad game plans he always indulges in them.
The players he takes as key are most at times average players. Xhaka had no business on that pitch today. Nketia is supposed to be on loan elsewhere. Cebalos ought not to play for more than 50 minutes at most.
We should get a midfield partner for Partey or he too will become average player.
MA has to go. A poor mans Guardiola and an even worse version of Wenger in his last 5 years. Poor poor tactics with no ideas on how to change a game. Tinkering too much. Since he has arrived, its become George Grahams boring Arsenal but without the wins.
Most posters here blame the players but its the managers tactics. He has them playing defensively. And worse a slower version of tiki taka. Our players dont move and are playing in corridors. No point in having 3 strikers who arnt being fed the right balls. We bouhht Partey so play ceballos as an attacking midfielder but so far, Partey has gone forward more than ceballos.
Sadly because of his FA Cup win, he is safe for this season but if you remain just play it quicker Arteta.
We were so awful in the second half, I thought we would get better but I was wrong.
I hope the players are not trying to down tools because of Ozil
We have a serious problem here guys…Old Trafford next week!
We needed ozil especially in these games ie breaking down teams but some of you here are too blind in your hatred (why?) of and blame ozil. Ask yourselves, who selects the teams? Ozil?
Ozil breaking down defenses is a myth.
He has struggled to make 3 assists for each of the last 2 seasons.
He makes absolutely zero difference to our team. We win and lose in the same manner with or without him in the team.
Time to move on from this myth.
During 2019/2020 season, he wasn’t emery’s first choice, hence drop in the form. In 2018/19 he scored 6 and assisted 3.
Bad day for everyone at the office… Arteta went with the 4-3-3 we’ve been calling for and we were wasteful up front.
11 attempts in the first half, that’s better than we’ve been all season when it comes to the first half.
Lacazette did got his goal denied and didn’t take his other chances I’m the first half.
I won’t blame him for this, if I wanna blame any attacker, it’ll be Aubameyang.
Man needs to step up now, it’s how many games now?
He needs to step up quick. I don’t want to blame anyone today.
We got caught up playing the high line.
Ceballos should be allowed in the middle next time.
You really can’t fault the manager for this one. He went with his best team.
We had the chance to increase the gap between teams bellow us and we blew it.
Next game is United.
If Arteta doesn’t win that game, then it’s back to square one with the media.
Can’t play 3 big teams and lose all three.
We were wasteful today and Leicester parked the bus to hit us on counter.
Fair play to them for defending very well.
Hats to Fofana, that kid is going places. Solid buy.
See you next week United
It’s time Arteta put Auba as CF, Eddie. We’ve got nobody else, let’s be honest. Lacazette just does not cut it, and Eddie is not hitting the level we currently need him to be at.
At this point, only one name keeps coming to my mind.
Martinelli who’s out injured.
Sighs#
Eddie,
That is how it feels, fans will ALWAYS think the player that is not playing would have the made but it is not always like that. Our best outlets to nicking a goal were Luiz, Bellerin and Saka, can you imagine that?
Everything about Aubameyang has dropped, forget his goals, he has stopped trying, he has stopped working, nobody bar Luiz was trying to force things, if we had another 45 mins we still won’t score a goal I’m sure.
Now I see why Wenger would always buy more midfielders even if we had them plenty, the whole team is in shambles.
I want Arteta to play Auba in the middle so fans can see for themselves.
Having JUST Mahrez would have made a whole lot of difference this night.
you’re not wrong, but we’ve got to work with what we have. I’d rather get Auba off the wings and have Saka and Willian there. Or even try out Reiss at this point. The club went into the season knowing they weren’t going to use Ozil and were fine with absolutely zero creative midfielders on squad so dont know what was expected to happen. If you dont have midfielders that can create chances you wont score goals. Who in this squad is expected to create the chances exactly? Because its not the wingers, not the midfielders.. So David Luiz, Bellerin who has shoddy crossing, and Tierney?
Eddie really, you are going to put the blame on aubamayang, what about Lacazette that cant seem to score even if he’s one on one with an open met, I’m tired of all this aubamayang play better In the wing, we should start using him as our number 9. And arteta should have played Ceballos behind the striker not on the right side. This is our 3rd loss this season and we’ve only beating shiffield united and west ham, this arteta arsenal is fast becoming Emery arsenal 😓
Nah I ain’t blaming anyone tonight… I said I won’t do that, just that Aubameyang needs to step up now that his contract issue is out of the way.
Lacazette could’ve done better, but he also had his goal wrongly disallowed.
Arterta needs to fix this fast, it’s not looking too good.
Cant blame the manager? Really, who prepares the tactics ? True, we see individual errors but apart from the cup wins of which tactics are different from the epl, we have been playing the same style since MAs arrival and without the luck, have been caught out
Stars or bug names in Aston Villa or West Ham? None or not as many as us right? Yet who managed to get results at pool and city?
You are a die heart MA fan Eddie, you always come up with something to defend him…you have pack full of excuses my friend and each time there is a different one..ranging from we played a better team or a world class team, we don’t have a physical midfield player, does not have the right support by club board in transfer market….on n on. Why can’t you just admit we have improved under Arteta but just a little bit nothing special. We are still loosing points to top 6 in EPL wiat but we are losing by less margin that’s an improvement lol!. He has had a full transfer window where he brought his own players in, we even now have that physical presence in midfield and Willian on wing still we are the same. So MA has no excuse to hide behind he has been supported in transfer window, has one of the best strikers in world, has good squad with young players. You can not tell me that Leeds, Lescester, Everton and even spurs have better squad then us?. It’s clear as day light MA is a small club manager who is so negative in his tactics and wants us to play like small club (under dogs) in every match, does not matter if we play home or away we play same passive lethargic slow negative football.
It’s the same thing we have been complaining of, lack of creativity and going forward. We’re already on the 10th and it’s not looking bright at all. I can’t see the free flowing and threatening arsenal football again. Whoever back Arteta with this kind of football is simply disillusioned.
Arteta out with his defensive mind set
Why Auba on the right instead of the left?
Why not move Partey further forward if Cellabos is going to play so deep?
Tierney was the only one that looked like he was up for the game
Starting to look like Arteta tinkers too much. Auba on the right? Wasted chances in front of goal by Laca and Saka, but for me Arteta got out-managed by Rodgers.
Leicester sat back to defend, and players ran out of ideas and Arteta had no answer.
No intensity, no creativity, we played in 2nd gear all night and looked slow and plodding in the attack.
Luiz was spraying passes beautifully, but attackers were not making runs; very very poor in front of goal all night
👍
And everyone criticized Emery as being the “The Tinkerman”.
When are these players going to take responsibility for their performances and be held accountable?
Sick to death of the sight of Vardy… just like I was with Drogba, Rooney, Fowler, Hazard… and now Kane… 😫
every teams top striker always has a field day against us. Every one of them. So tired of seeing that dumb Rooney goal they play over and over too.
They do indeed! Me too, RSH – bloody shrek 😂😂
😂😂
Yes Sue. Its like whenever I see vardy against us I just know he got a goal in him against us..
The laca goal was a clear goal. Was up with the people behind VAR monitor. Xhaka didn’t block the goal keeper. Oh well, its over now. We lost and didn’t play well
Too right, Uzi… it’s sickening…I didn’t expect this, not at home!
Tbh we should have buried the game in the first half… isn’t that always the way though??!! 😤
Not looking forward to next Sunday now…
Sue: I am really sad but out of respect I won’t say a word except AW was right when he wanted to sign Vardy.
I’m gutted, Icw.. Ceballos (& his hair) let me down… not sure I can even pick a motm!!!
I’m not saying anything 😂
Sue you are the best and I mean it.
We really need to give MA time till he learns and bring in his own people. Hopefully the front office will stick with him.
😁 hehe!.I know and I am behind him, it’s just performances like tonight throw up a lot of questions… about all of them…. and I’m not sure what the bloody answers are!!
I just want to watch a decent game of football – fair play to Leicester, the only trouble was I expected so much more from us…..
We need ozil and Matteo
Too much sideways and back passes
Pathetic
ICW for the sake of all things good, stop all this Vardy obsession, even I will score that Vardy goal. Last season when we were winning games, we were winning with the same tactics this Leicester team used today, but now we don’t seem to know how to play at all again and when we does play all our big chances falls to Lacazette who can’t score an empty net. Look at that Tierney pass, all Lacazette need to do is stick out his leg and it’s a goal but he doesn’t know how or what to do. Its time we start using aubamayang as a central forward. All those chances that Lacazette has missed this season aubamayang will put them away with ease.
Auba did receive a cross as well and didn’t do much better than Laca from exactly the same position. They both need to step up.
Did you see the pass that Tierney have to Lacazette, even a division 1 striker will put that away, it was a simple tap in finish.
Bro. I’m not disagreeing with you .I’m saying both need to step up . If Auba hadn’t missed a chance in the six yard box, maybe I’d be a little easier on him. The cross was so slow that he had the opportunity to even head it back across to Laca and what he did is something even I can’t describe. Laca missed, Auba missed. They cost us more than 50m each. We expect goals.
There was a defenders boot right there that he was scared of.
Most players these days avoid injury causing situations and rightly so. Look Van Dyk is now gone for a year
Leno: Yes sir my lips are sealed. If that makes you feel happy, I won’t mention the V word again.
Icw,🤣🤣🤣🤣. But seriously bro arteta needa to sort out his tactics and be brave in his selection, drop Lacazette play a real winger and put aubamayang centrally, let’s see what he will do. I’m tired of hearing people saying Lacazette brings something to the team, that’s a minimum of 3 points he has cost us now, he could have also cost us in the Europa league with his poor finish.
I am frustrated with Lacazette and his holdup play too. People praise his holdup play to high heavens but what I generally see is someone always managing to somehow lose the ball and fall down with the slightest of contacts. Holdup play is what Giroud used to do, too bad he isn’t here and we wasted 50 million for a poor man’s Benzema…
But for the idiot in the Var box, lacas goal would have stood so please stop your bile at laca and direct it to the manager
So what about the 2-3 clear chances Lacazette missed? He was being supplied with through balls from the midfield. You can’t say it is entirely the manager’s fault when players give performances like that. Two-thirds of that forward line were not up for the game. Both Lacazette and Aubameyang need to do better.
Why?
👍
And Messi and he doesn’t even play in the same league he’s got like 50 goals against Arsenal 😂
😂😂😂 I’d bloody forgotten him, Kev…
Let’s not forget teams who are on a bad run or on a goal drought the curse ends when they play us Sue 😂😂
Oh sh*t, Shaw or Fred to score next week?!! 😄
Oh no are you forgetting twinkle toes Jessie Lingard, he hasn’t played this season, Arsenal are the perfect opponent for him 🤣
Oh no, don’t even go there!! Stupid bloody moonwalk/milly rock… now that I do not want to see, I think I’d cry hahaha!!
Haha you remember the dances Sue that’s how bad we are 😂😂😂😂 I think I’d lift the coffee table and chuck it out the window 😂 losing to united is horrible, multiple that when he scores and dances 😂
Oh I know, I can’t stand them….
I know Sue Mr Instagram only scores against us, I think Solskjaer will involve him at some point because it would be foolish not to given his record against us.. tbh I can’t see us winning, I can see slab head pocketing Auba he’s been truly awful this season.
Slab head will probably have one of our players in a head lock, just like yesterday and nowt will be done about it!!
Hahahaha yeah Sue I was waiting for the Chelsea player to tap out yesterday after that 😂😂 apparently nothing for VAR to see 😆
He could’ve squeezed a little harder, as it was Azpilicueta 😂😂
I forgot your a fan of his 🤪 tbh it was an awful game of football Sue that’s saying something coming from an Arsenal supporter as our football is dire 😄
Maybe that’s what we get for ripping it out of them, Kev!! At least they got a point!!
Ozil would be 100% better in that team than Ceballos. That’s a fact.
spot on mate.i am dissapointed because our midfield once had likes of fabergas, cazorla, ozil who could all make killer pass. its very pathetic now.
Not good at all, lethargic, pedestrian, non creative, sub standard. Sorry the manager has to take the blame of that style of play. Useless!!!!!!!!
Ponderous, no incisive passes forward, Xhaka back to usual side or back passes, then caught out with pace (why take off Tierney?) , Mustafis back to making mistakes losing Vardy twice- bang average, mainly down to Artetas set up and how they’re being told to play – too slow. I don’t see anyone else as slow as us in build up
Fat lacazette as to dropped he’s so bad and pea is no good as a winger put him in the middle saka left William right ozil just behind can’t be any worse
I’m so gutted…. was really looking forward to a 433 with Partey, Ceballos and Xhaka in midfield.
Should’ve known we’d lose, especially after teams around us dropped points, we NEVER capitalize!
What a disappointing night… thank god I didn’t pay for it!!
As usual we bottle it when other teams above have slipped up we fail to capitalize on it!! Unfortunately this team will never challenge for prem league and doubt will get close to making top 4 get ready for many years of doom and gloom cos Arsenal as a club challenging for major honours is well and truly over!!
I can’t believe it, that was the team I’d been hollering for….not sure I can defend any of them!
I think i really need to start lowering my expectations…..
That’s honestly the way to go now Sue. Lowering expectations and hoping for the best. What a shame
It is a shame, Kstix 😣
I seriously dread going to OT now, will this team ever get better. When we complained about losing to Liverpool and man City and how we played, people said they’re the best teams in Europe. Is Leicester now in the league of City and Liverpool?
I do too, Kstix.. 14 years since we last tasted victory there in the league. I love Cavani – he’ll probably score 😣
Exactly, Kstix, and at home too, not at all happy with that… always expect a decent performance at home.
I bet Dundalk are licking their lips – I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at that!! 🤪
Brighten up guys,I know we were dire yesterday and there will be a lot more pain to come, but Dundalk will be a boring,predictable win for us. Wegner spoilt us with some of the best football we’ll ever see in our lives,but that was then. Our biggest nightmare is that we are owned by the Kroenkes, and there is no escaping that. You just have to learn to live with it or get a life.
Right you are Sue. Dundalk would fancy a result against us at this point seeing as Rapid wien almost did it last Thursday. It’s a real shame. What do you think is the way forward for us at this point.?
To just hope and pray (😄) our forwards begin firing sooner rather than later, Kstix!! They’ve had more than their fair share of blanks recently!
Other than that I’m not really sure. For me, our starting 11 should’ve been more than enough to get a result.. however I never take into consideration that some of them may have an off night!! 🤪 Being at home, you kind of expect more!
How about you, what do you think?
Bad day at the office, Auba needs to step up, Laca needs to try to be a conventional forward, he ain’t no Benzema, Saka rushed his decisions a little today, KT had a mix of great crosses with avg ones and the backpass virus infected Partey too. I think it was the players’ fault that we lost this game. No one seemed up for it. Sporadic moments of quality and the first half showed some positives with chance creation and long balls.
Anyway, I hope we break our OT voodoo next week.
Onwards and Upwards.
COYG!
Arteta needs to be brave in his selection and substitution, why take of Tierney when we are still in the game, and Lacazette shouldn’t have played the second half. I really don’t get why all our big chances always fall to Lacazette.
It seems whenever Lacazette has a chance to score he is afraid of killing some random celebriyies and misses, unlike Ramsey who killed quite a few😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍
Umm because he’s the striker.
And hopefully it’s Aubameyang from now on.
It’s called throwing out the kitchen sink . Arteta was looking to increase our chance of scoring. Have Nketiah, Laca, Auba, Pepe I guess that was the thinking. Either way, I still blame Laca and Auba. This was a game in which our best strikers had to come up with someting. Anything. All laca was doing was behaving like a championship striker running into defenders. Much as we need his brawn , we paid over 50 million for an elite striker. We need his brains.
Tierney was the one finding a lot of space all game though. It was a bad sub. Nketiah offers nothing upfront, Pepe, I dont know what he does honestly. Auba and Laca, I agree need to step up. Lacazette did score I suppose but he had another chance he shouldve put away and theres no reason why someone of his caliber should not be expected to finish both those chances.
Both Laca and Auba got headers in the six yard box. I agree that Laca’s was easier, but I’m expecting goals from both of them. How is Bellerin able to get into shooting positions? Tierney? How are they able to do this, but Auba and Laca arent?
Why would you blame Auba for missing chances when he had just one chance all night, a high cross from the left wing that wasn’t within his control.
You didn’t mention Laca’s point blank miss or the other cross e needed to just head down for Auba to score in an empty net.
Joe Lacazette is a waste of money, I’m so tired of all the excuses people makes for him, auba should start as our 9 from now on.
Even that was a bad move and didn’t solve the problem of who would create something for this abundance of strikers. Looking back, it was a panic decision on the part of Arteta. A worrying lack of options. Clueless even.
Arsenal had no plan B. Leicester came with a plan and they perfected it. Defend and play Arsenal on a counter…
It’s hight time we dropped Lacazette.. He’s really poor.
Arteta is becoming clueless has day goes by.. He needs to tweak the formation a little bit..
It’s still a work in progress though, but I’m beginning to be pessimistic towards bringing back our glory days.
Leicester was look8ng for tgat oppurtunity all 80 mins.They knew that we have slow defenders and they executed the plan perfectly.
A good first half to be honest.
Luiz was superb hope he is not injured.
Partey was good
Xhaka was good but to leave him with a fast winger is not a good idea.
Ceballos is not fully fit i think…
Tielemans is easily the motm….
Great night for mustafi. Almost 2 goals to his name tonight in just 45 minutes. lol
I hate to throw blame, but Auba and Laca got some ‘splainin to do. I love that pair to death, but we can’t keep blaming people who didn’t screw up just to cover for them. Even Bellerin planted a better effort on target than that pair. There’s some thinking required. In all honesty, right form the liverpool game, I blame the forwards. How many chances do they want before they can score? If there is a creativity deficit, how did we create 11 shots, and somehow have only two on target? put 5 out of 11 on target and maybe score one and let’s whine about the quality of the chances. But you really can’t say the chances aren’t there. I don’t think any team in the league is throwing as many bodies in attack as us, and yet we ain’t scoring the goals. On every attack , arsenal litterally had 5-6 players in the opponents final third and it’s sad to see that the fullbacks had better chemistry and movement that the front 3 . With how long Auba and Laca have played together, they should be ashamed at not being able to string a give and go . Not one time did I see a half dangerous combination from them. Bellerin just kept getting into dangerous positions, but it looked like no body expected him to be there. All the time he’d pick the ball up in space and would have next to no support. How is that happening ? Are Laca and Auba even attending training sessions? I’m dissappointed. Not so much because we lost to lescester , but because all the players as individuals looked competent, but there were just pods of players playing as a team.
I could name Leno, Luiz and Gabriel as one pod, Xhaka, Tierney and Saka as the other pod, Ceballos and Bellerin as the other, and then everyone else just seemed to have been thrown on the pitch to make the numbers. This is arsenal. I’d rather have Nketiah and Balogun upfront if Auba and Laca won’t produce.
So you see too. There’s no chemistry with the forwards and the rest of the team, and amongst the forwards as well
Yeah bro. Auba and Laca used to have chemistry, but only God knows where that went, Honestly, Bellerin makes really good runs, but none of the strikers makes any secondary runs off of him. There’s that long pass he received form Luiz in the first few minutes. After the controlling touch, You see him glance across to look for a striker, and there’s none . He gets caught trying to shoot , and just like that, the chance is gone. How are both Auba and Laca not noticing this? I also here all this jazz about Auba playing on the wing. How much narrower can he play? Today, he had both Ceballos and Bellerin outside him . What wing was he playing? He was as close to Lacazette as he could get without both of them occupying the same exact spot. That whole wing excuse only works for someone who didn’t watch the game. Today, he was played even more central than usual and couldn’t even get a give and go between himself and anyone. Those two are becoming pathetic. Very rarely do losses make me emotional, but when we loose so often because our best players slacked off, I get really mad.
But out of those 11 chances how many did aubamayang had, I’m not making excuse for him but think back a little, we used played Liverpool and used Lacazette, he had 2 good and clean chances but wasted them, against city we used Willian as a false 9 instead of auba, again today we used Lacazette as a 9 and he had 3 good chances, the one that upset me the most is the Tierney cross all he had to do is just stick out his leg and score. If something is not working you will change it, let’s try aubamayang Willian and Saka and see what will happen.
@Lenohappy, I agree with you on the fact that he had fewer chances. I however blame him in part . When in attack , we had Bellerin wide right, Tierney wide left, Saka, Laca and Auba in the box . All the three got at least one opportunity to shoot but they all had really really poor attempts. To be honest, I’m not just angry at Auba . I’m angry at Auba and Laca. These two have proven to be prolific before joining arsenal and we need those goals now. We paid above 50m a piece . Time to pay back.
Well I already gave my verdict some months ago for Arsenal to get a proper coach.
I’ll come back when Bielsa or Rodgers is in charge at our club…
It’s clear as morning sunshine that there’s absolutely NOTHING these players are learning or doing in training.
Expecting to win with walking pace, backpassing football
Herbz, it looked like they had never even trained together, yet how long have these players (with a few exceptions) been playing together?
This is on MA. Why put Auba on the right. Pepe thrives at RW but was on the left.
If we stop those back and sideway passes, we will create. Our attackers make runs whilst our laterals then and pass back. MA is losing it gradually.
At least today, every time a meaningful run was made, we saw a forward pass find it. The sideways and backwards rhyme doesn’t suit today. The issue is , when the forward pass comes, what do the recipients do?
Phenom I don’t get your sideways pass talk, are you talking about today match or a different match, we didn’t play any sideway pass today, in case you didn’t notice we had 11 chances today.
We lost at home. We lost 3 games out of 6 now. And we aren’t scoring goals. It is beyond frustrating and very natural to call off Arteta’s head.
Here’s an assessment of the game without the emotions taking their toll:
The team setup was good. I don’t think Arteta chose a bad team. 4-3-3 with Xaka, Ceba, Partey in the mid: everything we were asking for. I don’t think it was a negative setup which the fans are slating Arteta for today.
So where did it go wrong:
Front 3: Laca is fast becoming another Giroud without a good head. Which is worse. He has no creativity in front of the goal. Lacks adventure and looks confused all the time. Lets not forget extremely wasteful.
Auba looks out of place on wings. He needs a run at the center with good wingers.
Saka can be a good winger.
Pepe doesn’t add anything to the team even off the bench. Runs across like a headless chicken and can’t keep the ball for more than 3 seconds.
Xaka: I have always supported him under Arteta. But not today. He slowed down our attack immensely with constant sideway passing to the defenders. Wasted lot of forward movement.
Ceba: He was confused about his role today. Maybe the effect of a new 4-3-3 or tactical changes? Not sure.
Defense: They were fairly decent. Can’t blame them much today.
How do we get out of this mess/ can we ever get out of this mess?: its a billion dollar question and i wish I could answer it. Few suggestions though:
Auba needs to play in middle. OR
Pepe could be tried in middle. Since he has fairly good finishing and he is wasteful across the pitch anyways. Maybe the role of striker could change his fortunes and ours?
# Midfield needs revamped tactics. Players should have their roles defined. Today the whole mid looked confused and unclear about their roles:
Ceba should be tried as CAM. Partey as DM. Xaka as CM.
Sideway passes need to be stopped.
More shots should be tried on goal.
I have been saying, and I’ll reiterate, no matter how big the mess is right now, Arteta needs to be backed atleast for this season. We can’t keep on changing managers after a bad spell. We would never come out of this incessant circle otherwise.
Back him this sesson. Slate him next. He deserves atleast a full season with the team. Give him a chance.
I love your analysis, but for one point. People complain about sideways passes, but I fail to understand the reasoning behind that complaint. There was a visible effort from the team to play the ball forward at every feasible opportunity today. Obviously , it does the team no good to play a forward pass and loose the ball . It’s better to play it sideways or backwards to a free teammate until a space opens up . People make it sound as though every individual sideways pass is wrong. Do you realize that there are times when a sideways pass carries more value than a forward pass?
Take an example of a moment in the game, when Xhaka had the ball with Tierney and Saka outside him. Tierney was already at the byline and would have been closed down just as he received the ball . Saka was being tracked. Would playing the ball to them be a good idea? I don’t think so . Most of the time, It is better to maintain posession than play a forward pass that will just result in a back pass. However , I do side with you on the rest.
Mustafi gets selected after one week return from injury, then fails to track Vardy. This man is an international CB and finds himself so far up the pitch against a fast forward (albeit returning from injury) like Vardy.
In addition for Vardy’s goal, Xhaka has no clue defensively and a specialist DM is required in the next window to partner Thomas Partey as box to box CM. Elneny is currently better than Xhaka.
As for Leno what is he doing not dropping back into his goal mouth, when Gabriel was coming back quickly to close down the angle?
The most useless player in that arsenal team has to go to PEPE definitely…i cant remember him touching the ball except for that foolish last cross.. So lackadaisical…Not energetic… Always killing the momentums of attack…thank God he’s been benched already
Playing on the wrong side!
What a game, we were undone by the referee and his assistant. But, nevertheless, we were wasteful, that is the penalty you paid for being wasteful at goal mouth. I hope united next week will not be worse. Mustafi should be sold in January transfer window. He is not Arsenal standard.
I have been calling for a clear out since last season and renewed of Auba was a shocker to me. If Arsenal will move forward, there’s a need for a total clear out to bring in the young and hungry unlike most of our players that are with the club for money and not for what they can give on the field. Auba has been below average since his renewal, Laca has been below average since after being voted player of the season and you can count on and on. Lastly, Arteta has been so negative that even Villarea is playing a far better football than his team.
MA tactics had been poor at Liverpool Man City and Rapid Vienna he just doesn’t set up to win ….no midfielder to pull strings behind from 3 . Dani was poor all game as was Xhaka did MA spot it no he just doesn’t have any other options . He shipped off 2 midfielder signed 1 and has banished another to just training without chances of being played. That’s genius
Funny to see the same people bashing Ozil are the same ones complaining about Auba, Peppe and Lacazette. So who did Ozil play with for 2 years? Yet he is held responsible for all what’s wrong with the team. Go figure.
Spot on 😉
No surprise really…
Lol
The Ozil cultists as always trying to inject a deadweight into the conversation. Your cult hero has had 7 years to prove himself and has failed.
Been given chance after chance but same old.
The question remains. How is Arteta going to replace Özil’s 2 assists per season from now on?
Gonna be a tough effort for him.
😊
The Ozil haters are complaining about the same offense who did not convert what Ozil created. Saying he only has 2 assists is disingenuous.
What is it on here with the constant talk of formations, 433, 343, it’s all total cobblers. Anyway, back to the game, very disappointed. I thought Tierney, Bellerin, Gabriel and Partey had good games and Luiz was excellent. When he went off it unhinged the balance of the team. Ceballos was terrible and Xhaka inconsistent. Saka was our best forward but Laca was like a headless chicken at times and Auba was just not in the game. If he had to take tablets during the match, what was that all about? Our next league game is Man U away, we are 10th at present and likely 11th tomorrow. I hate to speculate where we will be next Sunday.
“What is it on here with the constant talk of formations, 433, 343, it’s all total cobblers.”
Yep. when you run out of excuses you start focusing on “formation”. Football is a fluid game.. defense. midfield, attack..these so called formations impact alot less on the game then folks here would have one believe…
It’s common belief that changing formation or signing a player will do wonders.
There’s no magical formation. Tactics make formations work
I believe Elneny , Ceballos , Partey would be preferable and quicker to advance the ball. For inventiveness Smith Rowe should be getting some chances.
Same old beautiful football of late. Simply mesmerizing. There’s no place for urgency and intensity in our team
👍
We have too many fairly good, consistent players in midfield that never do any anything worth noticing.
Elneny
Xhaka
Cellabos
All can play average to decent footy but bring nothing special to our play, especially against decent opposition. Elneny for example, could play 20 PL games without making any errors but what does he bring to the table that wins you games?
Didn’t watch the game and I wont watch them again while we are paying ridiculous amounts of money to at best average players and we are getting at best piss poor performances from players and it’s not there fault but there just are not good enough to play for arsenal. If anyone disagrees with me then you are deluded and deserve what this shit team is serving up
Passive Arsenal as I have come to expect after a post european match.
The top teams perform perform perform every 3 days.
We are not a top team. Yes we are a top club but not a top team yet!
Leicester made us passive. They had 2 blocks and didnt offer anything until vardy came on. Credit to their tactics, we need to find solutions to this if we want to be better at winning these kinds of games.
Our top 3 wanted the rest of the team to bring them something but they couldnt because there was no movement. So our passing was passive and sideways.
Something for Mikel to think about…
Technically this was our strongest team out and as a 4 3 3 and the players offered 20 mins of the sort of football we needed 95 mins worth of.
This was a day when the team needed the fans in the stadium to remind them at nil nil on 70 mins we need to push more. Give them the lift.
The showman Auba is missing the crowd. Hard to be an extrovert when there is no fans to applaud you!!
No Panthers lurking around tonight, only foxes!!!
Mustafi is back to haunt us.
Maybe Özil alone was not the only laziest player after all? At least he was creative
Creating 2 assists per season. Isn’t it?
The same ozil that makes zero change to our outcomes. But one can argue he causes more negativity than positivity on and off the field.
He has had more than 7 years to walk the big Ozil walk but has failed.
Need to move on from his individual failed time as an Arsenal player.
Even the great Wenger had run his course before being sacked.
When a few of us kept saying Zaha was a better player last season, people kept bashing us that we didn’t know what we were saying
I’d take back Theo Walcott at this point. 😂
😂😂
I will take back not only Walcott but also Wilshere, Welbeck and Ramsey. They at least tried and played hard.
No.. I think the excuse was it was his first season. He needed to ‘settle’. This excuse dragged on to the last game of the season although he hardly improved for a whole season…
That will still be said a month before his contract expires….😄
@sue.
Same as you guys when it comes to Ozil.
We are still waiting for this world class best No10 in the world ozil. You have been promising us since 2013. It’s coming to 8 seasons and you guys are still making excuses for him.
The irony and hypocrisy.
And to say. I agree with you on Pepe too. What another waste of money.
😊
Oh give it a rest, Goonster…. he wasn’t even in the squad and won’t be ever again, yet any given opportunity you keep harping on about him – and you say I’m obsessed with him?!!
I’m p****d off about last night, the players let us down big time, I don’t want to argue about MO, ok?!! Try elsewhere….
Tired of even hearing that excuse anymore.
Yes, I was bashed on many occasions!
Always wanted him…. and look at the season he’s having…🥺
I don’t see his so called fans coming out now to support him. Imagine if it was Zaha we had. A player who was desperate to come here and was even ready to force a move. I can’t believe this is our record signing.
We were so close to getting Zaha, I was so bloody excited, Kstix. He would’ve been amazing for us… would’ve looked lush in the famous red and white… gutted… and now I’m watching him rack up the goals/assists for Roy….
Sorry to say but 72m down the khazi…
Cheers Raul…
We blamed Gazidis for gross incompetence. We shouldn’t let Raul of the hook so easily. He was so incompetent as well.
Elneny is playing better football than xhaka currently. Neat football, creative to some extent than the former who has mastered the art of sideways and back passing. I would rather we played Elneny alongside Partey or at worse Niles. Problem is all the managers that have trained Xhaka feel he is a top player, and I’m starting to think dude has got a powerful charm hidden in his left shoe that gives him direct entry into first team.
Xhaka was playing well until that Luiz injury and the subsequent shuffle. I love Elneny but think the initial setup was quite good.
Without Ozil this Arsenal team will never create chances .Mikel’s formation we see more of back passes with no effective build up play as was more evidenced when Vardy scored the only goal there was lack of penetration into the Leicester’s 18 yard box
What if the team are downbeat with the way Arteta treated Saliba, Ozil and Guandeousi?
Wow.
Everyone keeps talking of what is wrong with the front 3 . There is no link/no supply/no connection as well as they are tasked with tracking/defending etc.
Even the best forward players when they expand so much energy to do everything else their levels/finishing will drop.
Add to this the fact that no one in the current squad has the creativity to connect the lines and now we have current status. Arteta changed the system but no system worths anything without the right players in the right functions.
Tactically the group does not function and technically a couple pieces are also missing.
Did everyone count how many times Ceballos was behind Partey to receive the ball? And Lacazette dropping off is not efficient if he has no time to find the runs of mids or wingers . With loss of Ramsey/Ozil I have not seen any midfield runs from this group that can cause problems. I tis all too safe. Worst part is it is not even entertaining.
When a team sits deep it’s still very difficult to break them down with a good creative player on to be fair. What you need to do is run at defenders and make them have to make challenges, no defender in the world wants players running at them. Add some give and go’s while running and you can create space and chances.
What we do is let a team sit deep and then we just move the ball side to side and put in the odd cross. Unless Fabregas is playing you aren’t going to find space for a through ball with 10 men behind the ball. Hence why we get the ball wide(slowly) and then just pass back and repeat.
Buy attacking midfielder with skills we refused. I continue to say it Shaka is not the answer. Ceballos too. The earlier we sell PePe the better for us. I kept laughing at people that says give him time. Mustafi should go. Lacazette must go. Arteta has to teach them to play more attacking football
The same old predictable moaning nminnies, most blaming MA as well as many of the players. If only they did not have such an unrealistic opinion of the quality of many of our players!
I can easily see that so many of theplayers MA has to pick as regulars are never going to be good enough They are not his fault as he had to inherit them, BELLERIN XHAKA, PEPE, EVERY CB BAR GABRIEL.
Gooners have such unrealistic expectations and no one can make a silk purse from a sows ear We have several sows ears and MA NEEDS PROPER TIME, WINDOWS AND KREONKES BACKING TO HAVE A HOPE TO BRING IN THE QUALITY HE NEEDS. His own buys of GABRIEL AND PARTEY ARE THE TWO BEST PLAYERS IN THE CLUB RIGHT NOW. That proves MA’s JUDGEMENT IS SOUND. I believe in him, pity so many have silly doubts , born out of being out of touch with the reality of the unbalanced and moderate squad he inherited and can change only slowly.
TIME AND PATIENCE IS NEEDED. Many Gooners will give MA neither, FOOLISHLY!
jon, at this rate Arteta will last longer than Emery, because he is an ex Arsenal player and he is a good communicator, but the EPL Table does not lie.
10th… any further space to go? There is United, Spurs, and City, and another team below us… who are capable of making a come back. So we will around 10th this year.
Bring back Wenger! Give him this team with highly talented players, and let us play Wenger ball!
DMF? Check!
CD? Check!
RW? Check!
LFB? Check!
Wenger would win more with this team than Areta. Wenger will use Pepe properly with Ozil’s unselfish supply. Auba will prosper.
Laca for Giroud was not a good move. But, we can get another tall striker… better than Giroud.
JJPawn, in fact Arsenal are currently 8 points behind, where they were under Emery at the same stage of the season 2019/20.
Bellerin had good attacking moments though was not perfect, Xhaka was good before the Luiz injury, Luiz was by far our best player, Gabriel also made mistakes like being dispossesed on the halfway line and misplacing passes and Partey didn’t exactly have a great game, maybe could have closed doen Tielemanns for the long pass for the goal. Maybe you are selective in your blaming the players, Mr. Fox?
That said, I also think the players as a whole let our manager down and it is not entirely his fault that we lost the game.
You forgot Arteta bought Mari, cedric, Willian and extended Luiz contract which technically is not the same as inheriting.
Unfortunately, as a scientist, I do not have the luxury of avoiding the truth – that Arsenal have suffered in 6 games since dropping their #10 from a lack of creativity. That is self-injurious or dumb. I really do not care about the Ozil Affair. Ozil can write that later in his book. If Arsenal wants to drop him for political or economic reasons – they must show me his replacement. If we wish to pretend that Partey is a #10 so be it. But I am offended when my 10 year old son says “Dad we got Partey, we now need a #10 – and Arsenal does not see that. At the new stadium Arsenal peaked in the middle with Santi clearing the way for Ozil. But our back was poor. Now the back looks decent; one more CB needed. But there has been no attempt to find a #10. Saka is the only #10 material but he plays to one side. What a funny set up. So now Arsenal is predictable. They only feed 5 or 6 balls upfront. They are not potent so you can park a bus and wait them out and put on a lethal striker fresh from injury. It is not even brilliant – just obvious. Let me illustrate: 2 betting friends just made US$1000 by predicting we would lose by 1 nil to be scored by Vardy after the 80th min. Good for them. I tell them I do not want even a drink from their winnings. I am so saddened that Man Utd people can bet on us to be this predictable. Games are played on probability. If you have one of the best forwards you keep him in form by feeding him balls – a #10. Soon Bamma will starve that his form is lost. I guess the Man Utd people around me can bet we will not make top 4 again. We need a damn #10. And I do not car if he is called POZIL or ROZIL. Jus give me one.
$1000..I bet your friends won’t let you hear the end of that… oh and our next league game – United!!
“Arsenal have suffered in 6 games”
I count 7 games.
Right on ‘herb of the earth’!
We don’t have a number 10, our strikers lack footwork like henry, van persie n even Eduardo, we keep using xhaka why not enleny, ozil is sidelined, I mean many things are wrong yet we have the legs that can propel us to greatness but the coach just don’t get the right blend when the board av to make him ditch his only creative midfielder ozil. I just want the beautiful arsenal I’ve known all my life back coz this present one is a fat parody
Unlike henry, VP…I mean
First the good, i thoight Luiz, (while on) Tierney, Partey and Gabriel were really good. Now the bad, Bellerin, Xhaka and Ceballos were shocking. What was xhaka in the team for? He was a non entity. Auba, Lacca and Saka just looked lost and short of confidence, which i do not understand. We are treading water and sinking. That was a game we should have won hands down but in the second half we were shocking. We are trying to keep the ball, not very successfully and forgetting how to get into the opposition box. Our set plays were a disgrace and we did just run out of ideas. The midfield except for Partey did not work at all, it was so negative and clueless. We will struggle to get top 4 because we are just not good enough, cleaver enough or determined enough.
Spot on, Reggie..
What does AMN have to do to make this team?
Elneny comes back from loan and is playing well. What is his reward, it is to sit on the bench.
Why is Pepe played on the wrong side?
Leicester plays their young St Ettienne CB and he does well; Arsenal doesn’t even register his ex CB partner Saliba.
How about Arteta selects his best 11 (subject to availability) and sticks with them yo develop teamwork?
Reggie: You can pick on xhaka or any other player (rightfully so) but one day you will realize it is not the players. It is the coach and the system he is using. Good coaches play to the strength of their players. MA takes away that strength.
lcw, currently 8 points behind the position at the the same stage of the season under Emery in 2019/20.
Barring Tierney, none of our players just run hard at any defense and place them under pressure. Ask any defender from amateurs’ to pro and they’ll all agree there is nothing worse than someone running directly at you with pace. Can’t remember the last time I saw Bellerin actually take on a defender 1 v 1.
Partey and Cellabos sitting so deep. Needed to be pushed up and make defense/midfield have to make challenges to stop them.
This Arsenal just always seam to retain the same soft under-belly that gifts the usual teams or players a nice goal or two. Leno had his usual suspect moments. Xhaka was too slow again. You just know that Mustafi will be caught out of position! How can you leave Vardy so much f**King space to himself?
The usual brain fart moments from the same players. A team is only as strong as its weakest player and we still have too many!!!!!!!
You can guarantee that when other teams slip up we do the same?*! MUPPETS…
👍
Vardy reminds me of an insurance advert. He is Mayhem. You will need to have a good defense (bumper) and midfield (airbags) to withstand Mayhem (Vardy). But the aim of the game is to beat Mayhem – not just survive him. This means you car needs an engine (#10). In the match I just watch Arsenal pushing the fancy car with Mayhem on the pitch. No engine – no damn #10. Saddest damn cartoon I have seen for a while.
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Ah Sue. It is hard life been a supporter of Arsenal all your life. Beating Arsenal is so easy – just park the bus. If Man Utd do not show too much ambition and leave us lucky space, we will lose again. They just need to frustrate us with a very defensive team, then make late changes and crush us. You can only push a car for so long. Arteta needs to experiment with Saka as a #10 and allow Pepe and Bamma to flank Laca up front. Then we can ask Niles to work with Partey behind them. Too many players out of position. This might not solve it but it we have to try something
If Luiz doesn’t make it, Mustafi will be in..imagine him up against Rashford…😳
I’d like to see AMN, beginning to wonder why we haven’t!
Dreading it if I’m honest… the only thing going for us is it’s been a crazy season, with the form book being burned…. we couldn’t get a result, could we? Maybe you should place a bet, yeah I’m getting ahead of myself I know 😂
At one time AMN played in every game and in multiple positions. Suddenly he is sidelined. Maybe he doesn’t fit the system anymore?
Why is so pain full to support this club is:
1. the decision making seems wrong most of the time
ex :buying players is a reaction than carefull planning to fill what are obvious needs
look at the top 7 most expensive players we bought
how many of them have significantly affected the
position of the team in league standings
2.no corrective actions when thingsgo bad\
Wenger took to long to replace/Unai took to long to replace/ no proper long term plan to find the right manager
Whether this is a combination of mismanagement or lack of proper planning the results seem to have gotten worse the last few years.
We have gone form a top 4/possible challenger to a top 6 maybe Europa hopeful.
Trending the wrong way/
The majority of these players have now let down four Manager/Head Coaches; Wenger, Emery, Ljundberg and Arteta. When are these highly paid, supposedly International “professional” footballers going to perform to their status, play for their Club, the shirt, the badge and the supporters, if they are not prepared to earn their money and play for “professional” pride?
As for Arteta, select your best players in their best positions and give them an extended run. If they fail to perform or to follow instructions, sit them on the bench or leave them out of the squad.
100% correct……tinkers too much
Hi ozziegunner
It’s very difficult for me to post much at all when only being able to listen to the radio. My first half impression was that we were on top and a goal would soon follow. Was VAR correct? Did the injury to DL cause problems? Listening rather than seeing obviously gave me a sense that the team were better than almost everyone’s comments suggest.
I have been an Arteta fan from the outset and you clearly respect Emery as a coach
I am not blindly supporting Mikel at all. It’s a results business but I have a couple of points. – Is he as bad as being painted or was it an off night by the players?
Also as fans have we expected too much too soon? It’s almost that he was the Messiah after the FA cup but a few iffy performances later he has to go.
I think the initial setup was as near as a complete 4-3-3 that we were hoping to see. The first half alone, we created 11 chances, out of which only 2 were on target. The VAR call felt unjust, but I think instead of taking it on the chin, the players dropped their heads. The players let down the manager is the narrative that I will back, though MA should have another plan rather than try someone like Xhaka at LB!
Thanks for stepping in!
No one of any of Mikel Arteta, Ian Wright, Alan Shearer or any other pundit I have seen, has been able to explain why Lacazette’s headed goal was disallowed. Arteta has openly stated that the match officials did not give him a reason, which even based on past performances of Mike Riley’s boys and girls, is farcical.
I could see what both Rodgers and Arteta were trying to do. If that goal had have been given, Leicester City would have had to be more attacking and brought Vardy on earlier. This would have made them more open at the back.
Arsenal lost this game because we didn’t take our chances or they were ruled out, Leicester City could continue to sit deep rather than having to chase goals and the defending by Mustafi, Xhaka and finally Leno was appalling. How do experienced internationals like Mustafi and Xhaka not see the danger when Arsenal lose the ball ans allow Vardy so much space to run into. Players like Gilberto Silva, Tony Adams and Martin Keown must be tearing their hair out, let alone what they would have said on the pitch. Then Leno comes out and leaves Vardy on open goal.
Experienced players shouldn’t need this coached into them.
ÎSue, yes I believe (as do many more expert than me) , Unai Emery is a good coach. It will be interesting to see how Villareal goes with him in charge back in Spain, without the problems of communicating in a fourth language. I also believe that a lot of the criticism of Emery at Arsenal was unfair and the players were let off the hook. I don’t want Arteta to suffer the same fate.
My comments on the game in response follows your response to Sid.
I have been reading a lot of comments on this site but rarely post anything. I think it’s time I need to comment. First of all I like Arteta but I don’t think he’s that great like every thinks he is. The guy won a Fan Cup and Community shield and now people want to compare him to Wenger. Yes, I will admit he has improved us against bigger teams. We are now much harder to beat. Hence,we beat Man City,Liverpool and Chelsea at the end of last season. But we have regressed on our attack under Arteta. We now struggle to beat the likes of West Ham and Sheffield United at home. I definitely think this team is good enough to make top 4 but I don’t think Arteta is good enough to get us there. I hope I’m wrong but I doubt we will make top 4 this season.
We are at blame for not having killer shot. Vardy shows us how to do it.
Barring Tierney, none of our players just run hard at any defense and place them under pressure. Ask any defender from amateurs’ to pro and they’ll all agree there is nothing worse than someone running directly at you with pace. Can’t remember the last time I saw Bellerin actually take on a defender 1 v 1.
Partey and Cellabos sitting so deep. Needed to be pushed up and make defense/midfield have to make challenges to stop them.
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Uninterested owner defensive manager overpaid unbalanced uncreative squad … what could possibly go wrong??!!!
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I don’t know what the arsenal fans want again, but what remain to me our players need to train for goals, we need to slow small bcoz our strikers don’t use to fast attacks, supposed we have mattinelli that night, he is the only fast striker we have, others used to technicality not pace ball, and auba is not fit, but this is our best performance so far against top six epl, and painful that results still remain the same
We don’t need a deep lying forward and his hold-up play in our system. What we need to do is to quicken the tempo and be more direct as we have a lot of pace up front and the wings. We don’t have a player with exceptional technical ability to play short passing possession football. As a result, we mostly pass sideway and backward. Sort it out or get out dear Mr Arteta.
Arteta can not take arsenal to anywhere. He has tried his best but he hasn’t got the quality. I said the same thing when I watched first ten games of Emre but people never believed me. The only improvement I see in arsenal now is our defense and nothing more. Our team has because so static, no off the ball movements, no defense splitting runs, no fast interchange of passes and no quick forward passes. I don’t think we need all the best players in the world to play good and fast attacking game. Let’s just take a look at Leeds united, just show me the so called super star in that team, but they play the best football in the league. What of the saints who do the have, what of west halm. The problem is not largely on the players, its more of how the team is coached. Further more we need to get laccazett out of the team because he does nothing, he can’t score, he can’t dribble and can’t even pass. Am depressed.
Luiz has more forward passes than Partey, Xhaka and Ceballos. It shows u how bad our midfield is. We must fix that midfield with skillful dribblers like Nasri or Carzola. PePe must be sold. Lacazette and Mustafi should leave as well.
I’ve lost words. We have lost our beautiful football, but we’ve been getting the wins to counterbalance. Now the loses are beginning to pile up. Incidentally some people have been shut out/and continued to be used for not so convincing reasons.
It’s still early but we haven’t won any top team this league season. We’re in for a very looong season.
I just hope something changes immediately, otherwise the noises will start again.
There was no enthusiasm, no willingness to run at defenders, lack of creativity and wrong tactics by MA. The Laca goal not given added to our misery. Hope there is a deep scrutiny and wholesale changes are made both in tactics and personnel henceforth.
Thomas Partey offers nothing going forward.
Disclaimer: I am not an Ozil fanboy.