Garth Crooks says although Arsenal has been winning matches in recent weeks, their performances haven’t been convincing.
Mikel Arteta’s team has suffered a slump in the last five matches and had three losses and two wins from those fixtures.
Before losing to Liverpool, they had been on a ten-game unbeaten run and had looked impressive.
But Crooks isn’t getting carried away and after naming Gabriel Magalhaes in his Premier League team of the week, he claimed Arsenal wasn’t even at their best when they beat Southampton 3-0 at the weekend.
He writes on the BBC: “Arsenal weren’t at their best for much of the first half against Southampton but I don’t think they have been at their best at any point this season. In fact, how they are sixth in the table is a mystery to me.
“Ever since they beat Spurs in the north London derby they seem to be grinding out games without playing particularly well. One of the reasons they have continued to improve under Mikel Arteta is the performances of Gabriel. Whenever the Brazilian is available, Arsenal look solid at the back and also a threat in attack.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
We know this Arsenal team can perform much better than it is doing now, but what counts in football is the result.
There have been matches where we have been the better team, but have still lost the game.
As Arteta looks to get the club back inside the top four, the focus should be on winning matches even on days when we play badly. That is a recipe for success.
FULL POST-SOUTHAMPTON PRESS CONFERENCE
Pretty obvious to any reasonable thinking Arsenal fan Mr Crooks ,I would say that’s been going on longer than just this season
To quote AdMartin- “ There have been matches where we have been the better team and still lost matches”.
Really?
Brentford
Chelsea
Man City
Man Utd
Everton
Do you honestly feel we were the better team in any of those games? I don’t. And there have been other games this where we have won yet been second best.
The reality is we are winning games, never against the better sides, (Spuds and Leicester are NOT big sides) and sometimes just getting over the line.
Arteta is holding this club bak
Arteta is holding this promising team back with poor tactics and football.
Yeah read the part about “better team and still lost the match.” Couldn’t help but chuckle at that, saw nothing in those games where we were the “best” at anything.
It’s fine being optimistic, but not at the expense of honesty and the truth. Let’s try and avoid rewriting history, shall we?
Our position is better than last year, I’m pleased about that, but lets get through the grind of December before we start talking too loudly.
this one’s a bit of a mixed bag, in that I agree with some of what Crooks has to say, like not being at “our best” for most of the season and our propensity to unnecessarily “grind out games”, but he might be pumping Gabs tires a bit too much, even though I’m a fan of his, and AdMarts fictitious claims regarding the notion that we have outplayed the opposition on occasion and still lost is borderline delusional
I dont think admin is claiming the games mentioned above as games we were the better team , i think any arsenal fan can surely admit , we have played so so so many games that we were better but lost . To underline the fact that the result is the most important thing. We have have lost many like that under this manager , and the managers before him
Not this season PAL- forget any other time it’s the NOW we are discussing. Arteta is being judged on this season and what is happening at this time, not anything previously.
AdMartin even states we looked impressive during our 10 game unbeaten run of games before the annual Anfield humiliation. We did not. We played well for the first 45 minutes at home to the Spuds and away at Leicester and that’s it. Everything was mediocre and nothing more.
That’s how I am reading what the article was saying and there is nothing written to suggest anything other than this.
Arsenal have to play better than they are playing right now to have any chance of beating WestHam. The Hammers are really playing well and although they were held by Birnley, that was mainly due to Birnley being physical and stoic in defence. WestHam had a large number of shots on goal but Birnley held firm. Arsenal have to not only find a way through the WestHam defence but also hold firm against Antonio, Benramma, Bowen and Lanzini.
I have to agree with the consensus – we have won way more matches without deserving to than lost when we should have won. Especially true too with draws – no way we deserved a point in a couple of games.
Our peformances don’t merit where we are now – partly due to good luck, partly due to a general inconsistancy anywhere below the top three.
I’m not fooled into believing that simply buying a top striker will make it right. Arteta has been unable to coach how to break down deep sitting teams – our only bright point there are set pieces.