Aston Villa inflicted significant damage to Arsenal’s title hopes with a late double in their meeting on Sunday evening.
The match, which appeared to be heading for a draw, sprang to life in the dying minutes when Leon Bailey (a second-half substitute) and Ollie Watkins scored in short succession for the 2-0 Villa win.
Mikel Arteta’s team selection raised many questions, but Gunners who played but fell short of expectations must take accountability. Some players were disappointing, and here are three I thought were below par:
Oleksandr Zinchenko
Zinchenko was poor. He struggled in a game where he should have established himself as the reliable option at left back. With his inverted left-back role, he became a liability, providing plenty of room at left-back for Villa to exploit. He also struggled to win his duels.
Leandro Trossard
He initially demonstrated quick feet and good pressing. But he squandered a clear chance. He received a rare opportunity to start but did not take advantage of it. His lack of influence on the left wing led many to remark that he should have come off the bench yesterday; he’s better as a super sub.
David Raya
He was decent at first, but there wasn’t much to do, he didn’t even make a save. The first Villa goal was entirely his fault; he was unable to contain a cross from the Villains’ left flank, and Leon Bailey appeared on the other side to push the ball and give the visitors the lead. His catastrophic errors towards the end of the game overwhelmed any previous accomplishments.
Darren N
ADMIN COMMENT
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You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
Jesus wasn’t so great either. He’s always busy, but his effort led to nothing and he did miss a very easy chance for a headed goal from Saka’s cross in the first half. Jorginho made the pass that led to Villas’s second goal, which let him down for me.
I have read the last article and refrained from commenting as so many negatives.
Zinc was our weakest link and in.my mind went walk about for the first goal and possibly 2nd
There were to many players who played below par a d especially 2nd half
Saying that we should have put villa to the sword in the First half and didn’t take our chances.
A bleak weekend and on reflection villa deserved the win based on the 2nd half performance
Out of our hands now and we pray city slip up
They draw and we win and we go top again
We dust ourselves off and go again
A few more twists and turns to come so we are not dead and buried as many are saying
Onwards and upwards
This analysis would have been better if backed by stats.Otherwise it’s a hollow analysis based on your preferences. There were worse players in this game who failed to make meaningful impact. Harvetz is an example you spared bcz he is the manager’s favorite
@Paul Redwing.
“This analysis,,,,,,”
I believe the title said “disappointed ME”. It’s just one person’s opinion and you are certainly allowed to disagree.
You’re line of “Harvetz is an example you spared bcz he is the manager’s favorite” is yet another example of simply being your opinion, and is certainly not an “analysis” either!
I’m totally heartbroken, how did we lose an opportunity like this.
For me Mikel Arteta,zinchenko and kai Havertz disappointed me against villa
I just hope we have a rethink on gifting Brentford 30 odd million for Raya ,hes complete liability when we are under the cosh .
It would just be nice to know the reason. If the players are too tired and had nothing more to give fine. If it was about Zinny not performing or Havertz out of position fine. But having gone through all those epic battles with Liverpool and Man City, and demonstrated that we could compete at the top level, it feels utterly ridiculous that having a chance to go clear top at home, we lose to Aston Villa 2-0. Same happened at home with West Ham, chance to go clear top and we again lose 2-0. Why????
Didn’t we just have a 2-3 week break ?
Villa played Thursday night they didnt look tired .
It just seems we are. As soon as we had the rest we were on fire. Then gradually we came down and down, last week against Brighton we again dropped off in the second half, similar to this week, we just got the goal on the break which put it to bed. We don’t seem to be able to cope with two games a week, as the resumption of Champions league coincided with our drop in form. Maybe this is to do with rotation, I don’t know if other teams rotate a lot more than us, I don’t follow them that closely, Arsenal is enough to do my head in!
Jesus is not the striker Arsenal need he simply does not score enough goals and I for one would sell him in the summer Nketiah Nelson Partey and Viera should also be sold as just not good enough for, a team challenging for the top prizes We need a striker completely different to likes of Saka Martinelli and, Trossard I would not be surprisee to see Arsenal sell Martinelli in the summer as well if an offer deemed acceptable for him ead tabled Martinelli has been a big disappointnent for much of the season and could be on way out Im afraid to say Smith Rowe could also go unless he gets his game together before tthis, season concludes The title has not completely gone but i think tge Villa defeat will lead to more dropped points I hope not but thats my feeling at present
Jarman, Nketiah should be given a chance just like any other player. You think Harvetz ,Raya,ZINCHENKO and CEDRIC are good enough?
I don’t think there is one player who showed up yesterday
How many mistakes is that for Raya
Tangential to a lackluster performance how long before EPL adopts fair play. City’s bloated wage bill makes title a foregone conclusion
Now HERE Dan, you have hit the nail on the head and made one of the few meaningful and non moany, but to the POINT comments on this thread.
As we are all devoted Gooners on JA and that includes SOME serious minded thinkers – who see no point in simply posting to say we are heartbroken , as that OUGHT to be taken as read – I have waged a sort of campaign on JA and on other football sites for years past about the unfairness and obscenity of virtually ALL Prem players receiving ludicrous salaries.
And then some people spend their time talking about unfairness of some refs but ignore or never even notice the gross and constant unfairness of SOME clubs, City and Chelsea in partuicular, being able to BUY the title and CL, with tainted and corrupt money awarded by corruptly OWNED clubs.
CITY being the prime one, in recent years.
I have to ask myself WHY it is that fans are SO wilfully blind!! Are they stupid; or dont care; or ignorant of the facts?? SOME are ALL of those things and others are one or another of them.
Why dont you – as I HAVE ALREADY DONE SO COUNTLESS TIMES, THOUGH ACROSS THE YEARS- write an article about this unfairness?
I would certainly read it and back you up. Just a suggestion DAN, MEANT IN GOODWILL.
It would be much easier to take a loss against Man City, Liverpool etc., but we always seem to lose when you would expect us to win against mid league non-entities like Aston Villa, Fulham and West Ham at home, makes it all the more frustrating when the first PL title for over 20 yrs is on the line.
Not sure Villa are a mid-league non entity this season or are you looking at a different league table?
They started off well, but have had some major defeats, and I really wouldn’t class their current squad apart from Watkins, possibly Bailey and Martinez (as much as it pains me to say it) as anything special. Really hurts that we got rid of him to keep Leno, who we later sold for nothing. Maybe because of his massive attitude, Arteta sold him, because we all know he doesn’t like players with an ego, but in all honesty, ego aside, he is probably better than Raya, so we’ve blown 60, well ok, 40 million when you take into account the 20 million we got for him for nothing, but if we are comparing ourselves to Aston Villa there’s no way we’d win the league … ever. I was comparing us to Liverpool and Man City .. what a blow that’s taken.
Arsenal FC is a dyfunctional team as long as they haven’t got a first class striking forward – GET ONE! GET GYÖKERES!
Knowing this team they might win only 2 games out of the remaining 6, when they decide to nose-dive they really do it with intent. Am not even angry, got used to it.
Gutted about yesterday. I thought we’d be well up for it. From my point of view, for a defender, Zinchenko can’t defend. In fact when was the last time he actually made a tackle. Almost gifted Tielamans a goal by bottling out of a tackle. I saw Havertz and white all bottle out of tackles as well. What’s that all about. Also Arteta has a squad of players on the bench he doesn’t really trust. Not sure why we have an array of players who the manager doesn’t want to play when the outfield players look tired or have run out of ideas. And I really hope we buy a centre forward as, as proven for the past 2 seasons, Jesus is not the answer.
If only, Arteta new how to rotate well the players won’t be so tired.
I know our bench players are not the best but if you give one first team player a rest and bring in one bench player then the starting player has gotten a needed rest without depleting the squad too much.
It’s only in defence that the drop in quality would be very massive.
Havertz – Jesus
Martinelli – Trossard
Saka – Nelson
Odegaard – Fabio
Rice – Smith-Rowe
Partey – Jorginho
Timber – Zinchenko
Gabriel – Kiwior
Saliba – Tomiyasu
White – Cedric
Raya – Ramsdale
Why change player positions in the starting lineup?
Havertz at midfield when he is producing as a striker? Big mistake from Arteta.
Jesus as striker? Are we trying not to score? yet another missed attempt from him, poor header when put on a plate from Saka.
Zinchenko at LB? Always a disaster, playing the 3rd best LB and expecting any kind of defense.
Pep let Jesus and Zinchenko go because Jesus is not a striker and a decent winger but can’t score from anywhere. Zinchenko is a disaster at LB and not good enough to start in their midfield.
Jesus lost his striker spot to Havertz on form, and is not good enough to replace Saka. Zinchenko is the worst LB in our team, and would not beat out Rice, Partey, or Odegaard in the midfield.
We should sell both this Summer and reinvest to bring in a clinical striker and a backup RB for White. I’d rather Tomiyasu be CB, as he is so injury prone when played as a fullback.
The manager takes the blame for insitently playing Zinchenko as a left back whereas he is a midfielder who can truly impact the game from an position.
Havertz has consistently failed as 8 but done better as false 9.
Why keep experimenting with havertz when it’s not working. In my opinion these 2 positions dealt us a big blow
Kiwior was dreadful against Bayern, and Zinny had a positive impact after coming on, and Tomi isn’t fully fit, hence he only played a small role in the game.
So I cannot see any real issue with Zinny starting, unless fans think it’s a wise decision to start glass legs Tomi who is barley half fit.
I don’t think Raya has been a great upgrade for us, but it would make zero sense to suddenly bring Ramsdale back in, especially after he almost singlehandedly threw our season away with his horrendous mistake against Brentford.
Trossard deserves to start over Martinelli, and there can be no argument against that given the latter’s poor form this season.
Trossard is always someone we can introduce when things start going south so should start on the bench. You could see yesterday when we made changes that we were not going to score, I would rather Trossard remain our super-sub.
Yes but tough to keep him happy if he’s always a sub, especially when he’s outperforming Martinelli, and Martinelli won’t improve if he knows he’s always starting irrespective of his form.
Your are absolutely right.
Very disappointing display of football from would-be champions of EPL. This should have been succeeded in the first half.
I think we all need a lift so a bit of gallows humour:
“The three Arsenal players that didn’t disappoint me against Aston Villa”
Ramsdale
Partey
Tierney!
Odergaard was great, a leader leading by example in every way. We only conceded when he had to go off. He was the only one to come off with any credit.
I have mentioned this before, but again, have we reached the same point as Man City with Zinc and Jesus?
If we are ever to match City, do we also need to replace these two?
Just when I thought Arteta had finally realized Havertz is not a good enough midfielder for Arsenal (and is a very poor substitute for Xhaka) he plays him in that role against Villa; who have a very good midfield.
By the way, Xhaka scored an absolute beauty for Leverkusen this weekend!!! (how we could have done with that goal).
All in all, I think we have done well so far this season, but I hope we don’t let ourselves down and allow the rest of the season to just fade away
Come on lads let’s stick it to Bayern on Wednesday!!!!!
The only player for me to blame is kai havert he is not good enough in the midfieid
Darren, you forgot, Haverz, Jesus, Martinelli, Saliba and Gabriel, who failed to lay a glove on Villa.
It’s in such games where a good goalkeeper saves the team. I don’t think there would be any difference playing Smith Rowe as a goalkeeper over Raya, if being good with passing is what Arteta wants. Raya barely makes any saves. All clean sheets are due to our defensive prowess. He also seems to get very nervous when the going gets tough. That’s not Arsenal quality. I hope we return him to Brentford
I am in full agreement regarding Zinchenko; I’m sure any Arsenal fan who has watched a single match over the last 2 seasons would be. His lack of positional awareness, physical strength, and aptitude for defending result in him being a total liability playing a LB. It is he who was at fault for the first goal, as he often is. Why was he on the other side of the pitch? Declan Rice was at the back post and has every right to expect his LB to be outside him, instead, it was Leon Bailey.
Leandro Trossard has many fine attributes: he’s a good finisher, he’s two-footed, he has a trick or two. But he is not of the requisite quality for a team with aspirations of winning the Premier League. I have said it before but it bears repeating: he is a Poundland Eden Hazard. That’s not a bad thing, he just isn’t good enough for this club and what it aims to achieve.
I stated when he came into the club that he was joining to play, not to be back-up and so it has come to pass. Raya is a fine goalkeeper. Ramsdale is a superior shot-stopper but in this day and age where the GK has to play such an integral part in the build-up, Raya stands out above Rambo. His range of passing is excellent and he is generally comfortable on the ball. Of course he makes mistakes, he’s a goalkeeper; it’s the nature of the role. But his general play has been excellent and he is at the back of the best defence in the league. I challenge the assertion that he was at fault for the first goal. When a player is crashing the near post what else is the GK meant to do other than hold his position? He must rely on his defenders and once again Zinchenko had gone wandering.
This is a good Arsenal team but it has its flaws and most of them are Zinchenko. I like his as a player and think were he to just play alongside Rice or in Xhaka’s old role we would get far more from him, but playing at left back opens the team up to so much danger and puts Gabriel under unnecessary pressure to cover more ground than he should have to.
For the 2nd Goal, the error of Declan Rice is massive. How on earth would a player as costly as Rice sleeps while the duel was on.
A loose ball got past three Arsenal players; Raya inclusive and Rice was in the six yard box watching the film. The Aston Villa guy came from behind to jab the ball into the net.
Honestly, Rice reaction for me is unacceptable.