Newcastle defeated Arsenal 2-0 in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final at St James’ Park this evening.
Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, Arsenal conceded an early goal again, but Alexander Isak’s strike was ruled out for offside.
The Gunners began to grow into the game, and Martin Odegaard had a good chance, only to see his effort crash against the woodwork.
Newcastle responded immediately, and Jacob Murphy was on hand to turn in a rebound after Isak’s effort blasted off the crossbar.
Leandro Trossard came close to equalising, but Martin Dúbravka made a fine save to deny the Belgian.
Arsenal continued to struggle against Newcastle’s low block, and things went from bad to worse when Gabriel Martinelli was forced off with an injury.
Ethan Nwaneri was lively after replacing Martinelli, but at half-time, Newcastle led 1-0.
Shortly after the break, Raya was fortunate to escape punishment for a poor mistake, as Anthony Gordon fired wide with an open goal to aim at.
However, when Raya made another costly error, Gordon capitalised this time, extending Newcastle’s lead.
Arsenal replaced Odegaard and Trossard with Raheem Sterling and Mikel Merino, but both struggled to make an impact.
Despite spells of possession, Arsenal failed to break down Newcastle’s defence, while the Magpies looked solid at the back and more confident in attack, securing a well-deserved victory.
If Arteta feels he can win a trophy without a world class striker then he should be checked mentally.
Pep saw he couldn’t win the champions league without a striker he went all out to get Haarland
I’ll defend our manager on this one
He asked for help
He’s just an employee
He asked for his boss to help him.
His billionaire boss
True…..but perhaps if he’d spent the £100 he paid for Havertz and Viera on a proper CF, there would be no need for a CF this window. I think there is enough blame pie for both parties here.
Good point mate
You don’t get much for £100 these days.
You’d still get a better striker than Havertz Jax. Just saying.
MA is to blame…he has spent millions in the previous two years but failed to get a top striker!!!
Apparently one of the reasons we didn’t get a striker on loan was Arteta didn’t want to work with a striker, he wasn’t going to be able to work with in the future.
Why… because he would flog him for another left footed CB or LB.?
And we all thought Bruce Rioch was sh!te.
You gotta laugh or you will cry. 🤣
Sorry missed the loan bit.👍
@NB
Bruce was a good manager. He just needed more time to show it…😂
Wouldn’t matter what striker we had… the way we play we could have haaland, Isak and prime Alan Shearer in our front 3 and they still would not be effective.
This obsession with possession is detrimental to risk which is how most teams score.
It just isn’t working hence why teams are happy to play low blocks and let us have possession as it is rarely threatening.
We play like the kid at school that does all the tricks and flicks but is not actually going anywhere.
I’m more alarmed by the fact that it is always rinse and repeat and I don’t think 2 weeks in Dubai will help this time.
Season is over and I’m just glad that my travelling days home and away are now over.👍
That was pathetic performance. Can someone tell me how we are better than what we were two years ago?
If Arteta should win a big trophy I feel like Arsenal may suffer for it in the long term because they will give him a pass for some years to be trophyless. I just get that vibe when I think about Arsenal. They are always scared to change.
Before we start with the “yeah, but we hammered City” thing, let’s please remember that this is probably the worst City team in over a decade. Today was the back dow to earth performance we knew we were capable of. After the first leg weak performance we all knew it was going to be tough. But, the lack of cutting edge in attack and the mistakes at the back are nothing unusual. Yes, we have injuries. But when you’re bring on Sterling for Havertz you know this squad is thin on quality. This squad has the potential to be better but is held back the lack of quality on the bench. On the plus side, our youth players are stepping up. Even if our seniors aren’t..
Thank duck for that… I’ve been saying the same since Sunday. Sh!tty just added a shine to Artetaball but Newcastle just applied the sandpaper, like Everton, Fulham etc…
The City game was Citys problem not our brilliance. Anyone think anything else is delluded. A statement win but for Citys detriment.
@Reggie
RealTalk. I saw this coming. We were on a high from beating City, thinking it was enough to run over NU. But they had a plan. And a plan beats a high any day…Just sayin
Hit the bullseye. We have not improved, City, Utd and Spurs have regressed this season. Anyways, we don’t have to win silverware, just Wenger’s Top 4 trophy will do like the good old years. As long as faithful pay the gate fees, sponsors and advertisers pay their dues, everybody is happy, be it 2nd place or 8th place. Feels like home except for those with ambition. For those who were optimistic, good for them, I knew that there was no way we could break NU lineup of 5-4-1 either through open play or corner kick, so I skipped this game and I do not regret my decision.
Stopped watching at half time.
Already knew there was no way back with the way we were playing and how Newcastle was able to neutralize us completely upfront.
Having Havertz as our main striker was already a major disadvantage going into this game.
But am I surprised with the outcome? No, always knew It’ll require something special to overturn that first leg deficit. And a lot of times this season we’ve crumble when it matters most.
At least there people here who are please with the outcome. Based on their thinking; we’re competing, it’s not a must we win trophies.
For an ambitious fan like myself, it’s a pity another season is already ‘going’ to waste.
Worse performance this season without doubt
Losing the first tie weakly sent alarm bells but I hoped for better as a follow on from Sunday.
Newcastle were better and as the minutes went on it was only Newcastle going to the final. Their second goal summed up a miserable night and we looked ragged in the end
This season Saliba, Gabriel and Raya have been pillars of strength, but like the first leg, our centre backs seemed completely unnerved by Isaak who was well supported by his speedy wingers .Perhaps the weekend off will give our Manager sometime to consider where he went wrong as playing with inverted full backs may win you the possession stakes ,but it sure leaves spaces on either side of our centre backs which intelligent ,quick forwards will exploit.In the case of the first Newcastle goal, neither Gabriel nor MLS were within 10 yards of Murphy who is a very underrated player.Such basic defensive failings have to be sorted out even if it means reverting to a conventional back four where wingers are actually marked by our full backs.I could go on and on about our poor performance tonight but I’d rather end on a more positive note and draw attention to Nwaneri, who was by far our most dangerous forward and has a great future ahead of him.
💯 I agree with you @Grandad
Agreed Grandad, but can you admit where the consistent problem lays without me giving you the answer?
Too much time, too much money and still no solution.
Personally, I think the champions league has hindered any chance of silverware (although i think we have a fair chance of winning it if we don’t meet any other EPL clubs). We don’t have the strength in depth, the plan B and now allegedly a lack of strikers (even though we had none in the first place)
With Edu gone…. is this a Kronke problem or lego heads?
Saliba is looking like a flat track bully.
Amazing 🤣😂
Well said @Grandad.
I think the problem with Arteta is that he is regimented in his tactics and not flexible. After playing Eddy Howe twice, he should be aware of how they play with pacey wingers to explore space left by our inverted full back. Thieney is good at dealing with such wingers because he rarely inverts and not MLS..
Losing thrice to New Castle in all competition so far this season is a dent on Arsenal status. And it gives psychological edge to New Castle.
The difference across those two legs was the manager. Even if we had a decent striker, I think we would have lost.
If the table was turned and Arteta was managing that Newcastle squad, could he have beaten Howe managing our squad, over 2 legs?
I seriously doubt Arteta could get the Newcastle squad playing like that! Don’t get me started on Arteta’s nonsense substitutions.
I’m sorry, for me it’s more than just needing a striker, I’m actually starting to believe this, is as far as Arteta can take us. The amount of money that has been spent whilst he’s been manager is crazy, even Sam Allardyce could have won the league with that budget.
No more excuses for Arteta, deliver the league or the Champions league or do the honorable thing and admit you can’t take us further.
@AndyE
🎯👍🏾
+1
Yet another injury, to yet another attacker. We’re losing players almost on a game-to-game basis now. I have never seen anything like this when it comes to injuries.
The board have totally screwed Arsenal for the rest of the season.
That aside, it was a poor performance. I never thought we could overturn a two goal deficit at St. James Park, and worrying trend continues for Arteta – in two legged ties, we almost always perform poorly in the second leg.
Hopefully we can get a bounce after the upcoming break.
First of all, as a cup, this is not that important, its not got the kudos of the ones we are still in. BUT!!!! As if we needed one ( because a pattern has emerged with Arteta ball) it was another huge reality check tonight. We stumbled yet again when there is a bit of heat on. Massive Massive worries. Haverz, it is getting embarrassing watching. Saliba, not for the first time looked a quivering wreck. Raya, not for the first time, looked dodgy with the ball. Odergaard not for the first time missing a sitter, that a top player HAS to score and straight away they score, just to compound our problems. We are not in any shape to be talking about winning anything. Lets not delude ourselves to the state we are in. Flimsy thats what our season is and this was supposed to be the season we shwhat we were all about. Truth is we are showing exactly what we are about as a club. Good BUT way short to see it through. On the pitch and in the dug out. On a note (and this is an Area Arteta fails) Howe and his players spoke about how they changed tactics and formation, to stop us. For this one game, on Monday. TACTICS and flexibility. We don’t have that. We have rigid schemes and flimsy set ups. The future looks like the past.
Chance to go to Wembley and win something mate
We are not good enough to be saying that’s not important
Thats not what I said. On a scale of 1 to 4 in the quadruple, this is flat out number 4.
That’s the point
We are not in a quadruple
This was it tonight
Our most realistic chance of a trophy this season
You can’t tell me you truly think that attack wins a prem or CL ?
Do I need to answer that. And what was realistic about winning this trophy?
Well said Reggie, but I’m just playing the same record on repeat since phase 2.
I’m just hoping that now Edu has gone he is losing the allegiances.
I always thought that Arsenal, my team, was a great club. A great power in England at least. Pfft at one point when I was a teenager I only believed that looking back on history I was Unborn when we won the last title, then… and I thought we were among the first in winning championships and first in winning cups, but I didn’t celebrate the championship.glorious past be it….at some point when I was almost 20 I saw the championship win at Anfield, where the pleasure was as if we had won ten championships together that day..However, when We won the championship again with Wenger, I had already reached thirty plus…..well, the competition is tough in England, my friend….now I don’t know what to think anymore, when I was 33 years old when I celebrated the championship title It seems like yesterday, and now hoping to see it again, I’ve reached 54…..No guys, this is not a big team. How many championships have we won in the last 55 years? After all, we have a very glorious past. May the 30s be blessed. And as for European titles, a little better than….Leeds United. I think we are more stupid as fans that I am not required…but I wonder if I will see another championship until I close my eyes….disgraceful! As they say a lot because they have now assimilated it …..with the characteristics of a top four championship with the polyniki Wenger, and champions in millions of pounds of revenue, while we are untitled….because millions of people worldwide pay subscriptions to be members, thousands of people pay to watch the matches, very good income from advertising, sponsors …. huge amounts for salaries of football players, coaches, etc., in the end the only ones who suffer are those who are this club, that is Blood-donating sports fans….what a disgusting conclusion. We rejoice in nothing, with illusions and as if we were Indians who were given garlands and mirrors. And life goes on!
Couldn’t agree with grandad more about the folly of living by your inverted fullbacks. Yes, the big talls are good for blocking ( or are they?, our defence hasn’t been great this year) but we are too vulnerable on the counter and our attack can be so one dimensional because players like Timber add nothing to an attacking move. I don’t think the return of White will change much either. A better option than Timber going forward but often too slow and ponderous. In addition, Martinelli’s absence will hurt us. Yes, he is struggling to make an impact in attack but his running backwards and forwards to support our flat center backs has been underestimated.
1. I have… when players are overplayed. Also Bournemouth, Forest, and an over aged Sh!tty.
2. Club consolidated the season after the first leg and the knock out of the FA Cup. So we threw in the towel before the second half began.
3. Artetaball cannot deal with counter attacks when we lose possession. We are too one dimensional and whatever natural no 9 we may buy (but I don’t think it will ever happen) will be a false 9. Artetaball is about possession, possession and duels. Basically we ride our luck for the goals.
Shame really as they are really good players but fear attempting a shot at goal. So I’m unsure what Artetaball is really about as I always saw football as your score more goals than the opposition but maybe I’m the idiot?
Sorry response to Lucy78
Our football is very naive at times and that is down to the coaching. One thing you can NOT say about Arsenal under Arteta is. We are clever.
@Reggie
We still don’t have an answer for when we get pressed. Once a team presses us, we fold up.
A lot of our problems can be solved by just getting an out and out goal scorer in this team. Salah masks so many issues for Liverpool because he just wins them a bunch of points. Nobody in this entire squad comes close to having a similar impact. Now that goals have dried up for Trossard we offer zero consistent attacking threat. We’ll have more games like this before the season ends where we just don’t produce goals. Edu and Mikel botched the summer transfer window and foolishly thought Kai and Jesus were enough
I’d literally just go down the list of highest scoring forwards/wingers and find who is available. Arsenal should’ve been all over Marmoush before city dug their claws in
Lastly, Arteta has to rethink how he utilizes fullbacks. There’s never any real overlap. Why not put KT on and have him drive forward and take people on? Too much passing, stalling in the way we play
agree the use of KT in a plan B approach/tactics should have been considered.
It begs the questions – why didn’t we let KT go and save the wages as Arteta doesn’t want to play him? We have MLS , Calafiori & Zinchenko ( and even Kiwior at a push) at left back that will play in his system. Of course playing KT brings his management into question
Well what can I say about that absolute disaster? Battered 4-0 over two legs by an average Newcastle that’s just lost at home to Bournemouth and Fulham. That’s now five defeats to Newcastle in the last six meetings, one of them at the Emirates, embarrassing! Looks like the Man. City win was just a freak result, when it really matters this Arsenal team just continues to disappoint, when will things change under this manager?
Another semi-final loss for Arteta, the blokes becoming a serial trophy dodger and I don’t think he’ll ever win anything with Arsenal, sure he won the FA cup in his first season but that was a freak season due to covid and the players were from the Wenger/Emery days, he’s won nothing with the players he’s bought! 🙄
I didn’t bother watching, so can’t comment on the play, but does anyone have any idea of the thinking behind the subbing of Ødegaard & Trossard? Had we given up by then?
@Jax I’d have made 5 subs at half-time and fetch anyone on, what harm could it have done? The game was over after Newcastle scored so Arteta may as well have just made subs and rest a few, a total waste of effort to go there and play a strong side.
Agreed
Yeah, I was very surprised at the strong starting eleven too. It did seem pointless considering we were already two goals down.
Jax
I’d have started strongly but it was clear early on that Newcastle wouldn’t lose.
It was a generally subpar performance and curiously Newcastle have become something of a bogey team for Arsenal under Howe.
I also think we needed to start strong but it may have been useful to change a few things. Unfortunately, we have a rather thin squad at the moment which may have influenced the decision to go with the same team that started the last game.
We struggled to get to grips with their wide players and Isak once more, which has been a recurring theme. There was also a rather surprising lack of composure at times.
Arsenal will need to regroup well after this as there is still much of the season left and two difficult titles left to fight for.
Well we have failed on the two easiest.
My beloved club.
Netflix FC. Next season FC.
We go again next season.
It’s high time I agree with the fact that we won’t win any major trophy with the Kroenke’s and Arteta in charge.
Already thinking of the summer which Arteta might mess up with the transfers again.
Sesko and Zubimendi being his main targets.
It’s high time I put less emotions into thinking that Arsenal will ever win a trophy and have peace.
Please note that transfers are the business of the club’s sporting director. Arteta may (or may not) indicate which players he’d like to buy and then the SD has to make it happen. Currently, we only have Jason Ayto temporarily doing this job.
Not Arteta’s fault.
Please also note that Arteta had a couple of seasons to indicate that he needed a striker who he never prioritized, even when Edu was around and supposedly had a great working relationship with him.
If we delay solving a problem till the last minute. Should we really blame others like the owners and the SD for failing to come up with a quick fix and take zero responsibility for procrastinating season after season?
Like I said a few times before, the time to sign a striker was two summers ago, but Arteta chose otherwise and then again last summer
top4,
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Jax, Arteta wanted Sterling, Arteta wanted Vierra, Arteta wanted Merino, Arteta wanted Jesus, Arteta wanted Zinchenko and Arteta wanted Jorghino. Those players and maybe more, where HIS wants. Says it all.
We can’t win them all but it’s now time to question Arteta’s tenure at this club. Should he be allowed to stay after a 5th consecutive trophyless season? Arne Slot is about to do the double in his 1st season.
It’s not quite a “trophyless season”. Still three months to go.🤣
Maybe if Salah/VVD got injured Liverpool could see a drop in form but that’s wishful thinking. It’s time to plan for next season. A top winger and a top striker plus Partey extension, even then I’m not sure we will win anything.
Can I just say first of all, well done to Newcastle. They were by far and away the better team over the two legs, Lets get that straight.
Now on to our rabble. We saw early in the game what we are missing. It may have been offside but what a finish by a striker, yes you heard me correctly a striker. Even the shot against the post that led to their first goal, from behind the goal the curl he got on it.
I read a stat that over the two legs, we had 34 shots to their 17. Double what they had and we still lost 4-0. If that doesn’t sum up the negligence that this club has shown over the past three seasons regarding a striker nothing will.
Now to our keeper as good as he is, his positioning at times is down right stupid. Gordon lobbed him and thankfully it went wide. But it’s not the first time he’s done this, and one day we’re going to pay a heavy price for his antics.
The game itself was uncomfortable from the start. You could see that Newcastle wanted it more, which is a sad thing to say. But it just seemed obvious to me.
The only thing I will say is, that in both legs we hit the post before Newcastle scored, had they gone in then who knows. But I’m really clutching at straws there if I’m honest.
Now we’ve got the sight of Martinelli holding his hamstring, what a gamble the club have made by not adding to their squad. Something I fear will come back to bite us on the backside.
But don’t forget people, that the possible reason we went out, was because of the ball. Don’t forget it’s a different ball to the normal one. 🙄🤦♂️
Now we’re out of the League Cup and the FA Cup. And how are the team rewarded with a trip to Dubai that’s how.🙄🤦♂️
Makes you wonder what their reward will be when they don’t win the League and the Champions League. A trip to Disney World in Florida perhaps. 🙄🤦♂️
Spot on DEREK, a trip to sunny Dubai after getting dumped out of the only competitions we could have won by two average sides, one of them the worst Man. United side in living memory and that was in our back yard! This club is used to awarding players for glorious failure, pubbers like Havertz, Trossard and Martinelli getting massive wages for turning in dross performances up front most weeks, it’s a total disgrace and Arteta needs to be held accountable at some stage, how long are gooners willing to put up with this?
Can’t fault your post Derek other than I’m in favour of the Dubai trip. It worked wonders last time
Sue, and they’d have gone to Dubai regardless of the result. It’s been arranged for weeks🤣
SueP,
Here’s an idea, maybe Arsenal should move their home games to Dubai. Just a thought. 😉👍
Derek and Jax
Knowing that we lost the Cup 3rd round, what is wrong with winter training in Dubai? As long as they’re doing that and not hanging out at the Wild Wadi with the kids then I’m all for it.
SueP,
I’m getting on now, so I’m no longer down with the kids. Not that I ever was to be honest. 😎😂👍
I get that guys but it’s also not a great look every season getting a little break because we are so rubbish in the cups
And while it helped we didn’t win anything
I think if your own manager is saying we are short in attack ( some on here don’t agree ) then helping the squad is more likely to catch Liverpool then warm weather training / team bonding
3 out of 5 of Havertz , Martinelli ( of okay ), Trossard , Sterling and Nwaneri is not good enough to win a title or CL so Dubai won’t change that
Why pay Arteta the second most in the world ( found money for that lol ) but not listen to him
Because peeps ….. ambition is not there
Everyone assumes MA asked for a striker and was disappointed we didn’t sign one. Many media outlets reported MA was disappointed we didn’t sign a forward, but if you watch his recent interview carefully, not once did he mentioned a striker or a forward. He only mentioned “certain kind of players”.
What if, as crazy as it sounds, he asked the owners for another defender or midfielder, only to be ignored? Some of his decision making can be so shocking, nothing surprises me anymore LOL
Not true
He clearly when asked more then once had said we are short in that position and we need help then will say we lost Saka and Jesus
Only people in football I heard we don’t need an attacker is a couple of ‘ fans on here ‘
It is true that in his recent interview about being disappointed with we didn’t sign anyone that he did not once mentioned about a striker or a forward. I watch it and read the the transcript from start to end. Do you have another source?
You started by saying everyone assumes MA asked for a striker ?
That means your doubting he’s ever said it
There’s lots of interviews where he’s said we are short up front and need help
Looking at some of Arteta’s recent buys I’m gonna assume the Kroenke’s don’t trust him to buy any quality, take Calafiori and Merino as a fine example, both brought in for big fees and neither of them can get into this average Arsenal side and hold down a regular spot, what does that say about them?
Better spend big of a couple of bench warmers than a striker. If you ever attended a course on how to be a legendary manager, that’s one of the first things they teach you. MA certainly knows his stuff lol
But they gave Arteta a new contract so must trust him ?
I think they do trust him but the contract extension was months before the winter transfer window. A lot can change in a few months in football so who can tell for sure?
12th September
So after the last transfer window so they must have been happy with who he brought in summer ?.
So lost faith 3 months later?