Unai Emery makes a weak excuse for the Gunners having just one shot at goal.
Arsenal’s match against Vitoria was a very poor showing in all aspects as they showed yet again why they have struggled to win games lately.
Arsenal was held to a 1-1 draw by the Portuguese side despite taking the lead. However, it was their overall showing in front of goal that was very disappointing.
Despite starting Nicolas Pepe, Bukayo Saka, and Gabriel Martinelli, Arsenal recorded only one shot on target.
The home side had four shots on goal and made 16 goal attempts, five more than Arsenal who made just seven attempts.
The Spaniard was asked why his team could only manage the one shot at their opponent’s goal. He unashamedly complained about the shape of the Portuguese side.
“They are very defensive with a big defensive structure. It is not easy because they were defending very deep and together, and to find and create small spaces was not easy against this team,” he said.
The excuses have to stop, the fans can see how poorly the team is playing and will not be duped. This is hardly the first time that Arsenal has had fewer shots than their opponents. Big teams break down defences all the time, yet Arsenal struggle week in week out.
Arsenal takes on another defensively disciplined side when they face Leicester City at the weekend. However, this Leicester side is also very good on the attack. One wonders what Arsenal will face against a team that is absolutely flying right now.
This man is delusional
If we can only get 1 shot at goal against Vitoria, we have no chance against a top side. No disrespect to Vitoria.
When the day comes that Arsenal are struggling to near a goal mouth it’s time to reassess. There is a huge problem. This is Arsenal. The Gunners! What a sad day this is for Arsenal fans around the globe because if Emery thinks Victoria’s defense was difficult to break down he really is sub-standard management material!!🤨🙁
Imho just realised that Emery is more stubborn than Wenger..
Stop bashing Wenger, some ppl still don’t learn…u guys wanted him out n he left now look where the club is n what attractive football we are playing but some dumb heads like you will never learn.
The team were sinking under wenger. The problems were already there but Emery is unable to turn things around!
Wenger had to leave. He went as far as he could. Very far in fact and we thank him.
Not a good excuse. They are bottom of the table and we should be able to penetrate defenses. We can also take a few long shots. One shot on goal against Vitoria was unacceptable
We must start
Pepe,
Tierney,
Holding,
Bellerin,
Ceballlos,
Torreira,
Guendouzi,
Aubameyang,
Lacazette,
Luiz/Chambers and
Leno
against Leicester City to stand any chance
Positive thing is that we are still Top of the group with 10 points. As long as we are Top of the group I’m happy
Not really though, we played 1 defender plus 2 wing backs and 2 passengers. Holding must never play on the left of a 3 ever again. If we are to play 3 at the back surely Chambers(right) and Luiz(left) flanking Holding(centre) would be much better. If you play left of the 3 you need to be able to play with your left foot. Only Luiz, Mavropanos and Medley can use their left foot.
Let’s get our best x1 out against Leicester and stick with it in premier league games. The rest can be sub’s and play Europa/FA Cup.
Leno
Bellerin
Chambers
Holding
Tierney
Torreira
Guendozi
Ozil
Pepe
Lacazette
Aubameyang
Martinez,Luiz,Kolasinac, Niles,Ceballos,Willock,Martinelli
That reply was to gotanidea
That is a good line up but who do we have in dugout? I laugh every time fans suggest lineups and formations for matches because that isn’t our problem at all. Our problem is the man that thinks Vitoria defended deep and still have more shot on target than us. Different formations, same “shity” performance
Arsenal were the defensive team, because they played five defenders
One shot on goal is pathetic, considering the resource and quality differences between the teams. I know the players rarely play in a three-CB formation, but it shouldn’t be an excuse
The good thing is we have prepared the players to play in a different system and I hope it’s enough to surprise Leicester
@gotanidea
There won’t be any surprise against Leceister Arsenal would not win the game. Leceister will press very high. They also have good defensive midfielders.To me, its a loss or draw if Emery is lucky.
Arsenal need to have a pattern of play under Emery that the players can master every time they play. He can’t keep changing formation every time and expect the players to understand his tactics.
FIFA are a disgrace with their scheduling of this match. Changed to a Wednesday impacting on travelling Arsenal supporters, who had pre arranged flights, accommodation, time off work etc, then the starting time for the game, similar to the Emirates, was early so working people home fans had difficulty seeing the game.
It’s all about TV money, the paying public attending games will only be considered once they are playing in front of empty stadia. Even then they will “photo shop” the crowd in.
Ozziegunner, you are flogging a dead horse battling with fifa and eufa.
Following the debacle of last years europa final ( not the way we played-the venue!!), they didn’t acknowledge any regrets whatsoever and gave a completely unworkable guarantee that Myk would be safe, again offering no remorse regarding the political side of the argument either.
Ken, with FIFA, EUFA, Mike Riley ruling the English FA with officials and VAR and gambling on football results, it amazes me that people still believe that football is a fair playing field.
It is only entertainment for the “give them bread and circuses” brigade and they take all the bread
The reasons for the shift had little if anything to do with money in this case. Safety and congestion was the concern seeing that another Portuguese Europa league game was due to be played same night not far away.
However, where UEFA is concerned, they should have seen this coming when they did the draw, and switched games around there and then, not days before the game.
What attractive football?losing the ball from playing out from the back then conceding
I just finished watching the movie Joker. Unai Emery would have made an excellent clown in that movie
Lol. Good point Roshan
It was an uninspiring performance but we are still 4 points clear top of the group. I hope we can get out of this winless rut vs Leicester! Our midfield is mediocre and cannot beat Leicester’s. However, we have the fire power to match them and some pretty decent fullbacks. We just might nick a win..if we are lucky.
Unfortunately, unless we’re close to relegation, Josh will probably not sack Emery regardless of the worsening of our performances.
Josh might think we’re fine as long as we make the eastern conference playoffs. 😀
I’d say right now that Pepe is on par with Iwobi.. so bloody frustrating!
It was an awful game.. Felt sorry for our fans out there, as I nearly fell asleep watching at home.
We’ve been crap for so long now.. I’d say the most excitement I had this season was the transfer window, but apart from Martinelli, that hasn’t lived up to the hype, has it?? They’ve all been poor…..
Tierney has made a good start too mate. In defence of Pepe our service is shit, evident by our lack of chances created. Even Aubameyang has dried up a little he scores 1, but does not get the same volume of chances he did in a Wenger team. Lacazette does not seem to get any chances either.
Basically Emery has screwed up our tactics and our midfield with constantly changing things. Playing players in weird roles alla Torriera as a 10. He has slowly turned us from a beautiful attacking team who didn’t like defending to a Burnley that cant defend
Yeah, seen glimpses from Tierney..
Hoped he’d play more though.
I totally agree with your Burnley comment, James. So, really we can’t attack or defend! But who cares, as long as we’re top of our Europa group 🙄☹ Gets worse…..
Emery is a complete disaster and a joke.
But i keep hearing people going on about how we have lost our beautiful attacking football under Emery.
What kind of Arsenal have people been watching since 2010? Because since Cesc era ended we have not played any so called attractive or beautiful football. It’s been individual player’s performances that have kept us in there since 2010.
It’s been pragmatic, mechanical and boring no directions kind of football for 9 years. Losing 8-2, 6-3, 6-1, 5-1, 5-2 etc has been the consistent trend.
So this notion that we have lost our beautiful football under Emery is a bit of revisionism.
We are still top of the group and if Frankfurt do not win today, we qualify for the next round. Emery should play his best 4-3-3 against Leicester with:
Lenno;Belarin, Louis, Socrates, Tierney;Guendouzi, Torriera,Ozil;Pepe, Laca, Auba.
The only reason I watch arsenal game is because it’s arsenal. We just look like a shadow of our selves under this man. Imagine giving an excuse that they were very defensive. Our players look confused and our coaches looks out of his depth. We look like a team that has run out of ideas. Even Mustafi questioned the back 3 formation. Why do we keep changing formation every game. I’m sure he will change formation again and confuse things even further. I’m so ashamed of myself for wishing for a club I love so much to lose a game so we can get rid of a manager but it just has to be. I will still watch the Leicester game, I’ll still support arsenal because they have already bought my heart. No matter the result let’s keep going guys
You should rightly feel ashamed, so don’t wish for Arsenal to lose games.
Attack is our best form of defence. We will not be able to defend against Leicester. Emery should play Ozil behind Auba-Laca-Pepe. We will have to outscore Leicester. We are still the Arsenal, still the Gunners. We have to support the team, come what may.
Can you please not waste more time and sack Emery.
He is absolutely clueless.
We need to move on.
New manager required.
Must look as though he knows what he’s doing
on the touch line a priority.
Able to muster a defence would be helpful
in his selection.
Being authoritarian could boost his application also.
As the commentators said on tv, the way round the packed midfield was to hit balls wide to the wings but of course Emery doesn’t like expansive football. The man is a plank.
no starting eleven . no style of play no identity. even if emery wins this weekend he is done fam. all i want is to win . as far as am concerned though the truth is attractive football has not brought us a champions league or epl title in the last 15ysrs
Well that was dull!