Arsenal have won back-to-back Premier League matches but Shaka Hislop is far from impressed by the side.
The Gunners beat both Norwich City and Burnley in their last two outings, but after three losses to open their league campaign there is still much to be done.
Both our wins of late have been by just one goal also, and both against sides who are without a win thus far, leaving plenty of question marks going into our next match.
Hislop insists that while it couldn’t have been a worse start to the season, but there is still plenty of work to be done before he claims they are back.
“Let’s be honest here, on the up in terms of Arsenal, it ain’t that up,” Hislop stated. “I’m just being honest. It’s easy for me to say: ‘Yeah, Arsenal are on the up’. They started by losing to Brentford, I’m not sure how you go down from there. But they had to respond.
“Without question, Arsenal had to respond. After Brentford, you had Chelsea, you had [Manchester] City, you had Norwich, which made Norwich and Burnley absolute must-win and they’ve done that.
“It was not spectacular, it’s not one that is going to lift all the doubt over the red half of north London. But it’s a step in the right direction and most important, Arteta is getting all his players back and fit after injuries to start the season.”
Arsenal have Wimbledon up next in the EFL Cup come Wednesday, before they take on neighbours Spurs at the weekend, and that will no doubt be a bigger test of what stage we are at in our recovery.
Are fans confident going into our clash with Spurs next weekend?
Patrick
Let’s just keep winning, the spectacular will come
Leicester are on 6 points, the same as us, Rodgers out!
Yes hopefully then we could nap him Declan
I hate it when people are so desperate to make a point,that they are ready to make the dumbest comparisons like MA tenure with us and Rodgers at Leicester,Rodgers has more credits in the bank that MA and rightly so,his team has not only won silverware,finished above us in the last 2 seasons but they are exciting to watch,have a clear identity and way to play, they’ve been on a constant upwards trajectory,they were unlucky to lose against Brighton at the weekend with 2 goals disallowed the exact number of goals we’ve scored this season in the PL ,baffling!!
Yes, the Spur game is going to be a real test for us and I am not confident going in this game, because we still have a long way to improve. We beat Burnley but they out shots us in this game, if that happen against spur, we will be in trouble.
Burnley “outshot us”.
Do you know Arsenal had 30 attempts on goal compared to 10 for Burnley?
Burnley had 21 compared to Arsenals 16 Pat
Oops, that must have been Norwich! My bad..
Hi Admin Pat
I can forgive you for looking at the wrong game, but to actually relate to that stat after the game we just saw knock me out. I mean if someone tells me after the game we had 30 attempts, I will say that is a lie because that is not the game that I just saw. But Like I always say blindness will kill you.
“damning”??? in my estimation, he was far too diplomatic about his critique of our club…the word “spectacular” has no place in any discussion about our club, at this juncture…that said, squeaking out 2 results is far batter than the alternative…unfortunately, these past two affairs provided us with the perfect opportunity to up the tempo and take a much more direct approach to our attack, especially with the Xhaka unavailable for selection, but even when opportunities arose against Burnley we butchered several qualities chances with our amateur hour final third passing missteps…it’s clear that Arteta’s desire to impose a possession-based offensive scheme has negatively impacted some of the player’s ability to be clinical when it’s needed most, as most are still passing to the backside of their advancing teammates, thereby destroying any forward momentum…this is what happens when you deploy a largely robotic scheme that is far too easy to defend against and likewise has the tendency to stifle the creative instincts of the players on the pitch
I’ve just got my hands on 2 tickets to the NLD (lower tier, first row!!!) Get in!!
Thank heavens for the ticket exchange 😊
So jealous! But good for you!
🙂👍
It was never meant to be spectacular. The point is we needed to consolidate after such a horrible start to the season. We did that and got 3 points in the bag. A stoic and compact defence and Partey shielding the defence was the key. Goals will come but it will take time. Its one step at a time and we are going in the right direction. Not conceding is the first priority and once we get fluid in our attacks, everything will start clicking. Looking forward to winning against the Spuds.
Like the spuds who were winning one nil and thinking all is well untill they started losing 3 nils. Let that not happen to Arsenal and I can see the players especially the defense playing with determination not to lose the game rather than anything else. This unrecognizable pattern of football is not sustainable. Soon the mental strength of the defense will cave in and we may start conceding 2-3 goals again. The attack is failing the team. Pepe is more interested in the man he is going to dribble than actually going direct with his runs. Saka who could create can no longer create, relies too much on his left foot and doesn’t have scoring instinct. Why not roll out the Calvary at this point in Martinelli, Nketiah, Lacazette and Auba to play together with Lacazette linking with the midfield and attack and Martinelli allowed to roam and play the free role? With Lokonga, Partey and Lacazette dropping deep to support and hold the midfield, their grit, strength and energy will make the midfield very strong first and foremost and then Lacazette can also create and link up with the attack which he is good at and then we can see his trade mark long range shots from outside the box. A 4-2-1-3 system is suitable for this and all 4 players can play direct football and can shoot with both feet. Dynamism from a manager is what makes him great. My 2 cents.
————————-Ramsdale——————–
Tomiyasu——White——Gabriel——-Tiern/Vares
——————–Lokoga——-Partey—————
————————–Lacazette———————–
Martinelli—————-Auba—————-Nketiah