What went wrong against Chelsea?
Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad were the standout favourites to win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night but in a surprise turn of events, Chelsea looked to be the better side for 70% of the game. Although Arsenal had a lot of possession, they didn’t do much with it and after such a huge win against Manchester City a few weeks ago, you can’t help but feel we dropped a needed two points.
Arsenal came out looking tired and not like the same side we’ve grown accustomed to seeing so far this season, a real lack of energy and desire and after being so solid in the first few games, it looked like there was something missing. Saka, Gabriel and Martinelli all started after coming back from injuries, should have brought a boost to Arteta system but for a lot of the game we looked completely lost.
Arteta again made the right changes at the right time that ultimately won us the point, but it still wasn’t the Arsenal performance we’ve got so used to seeing. A lot of our lads went away and played with their countries in the international break and could be tired after playing, travelling etc…but after a few days back at London Coloney you’d expect Arteta to notice if some weren’t up to the task.
But I personally think that having that two-week international break stopped our momentum, after such a great performance against City, where we walked away surprise winners, having a two-week break stops that momentum and can cause disarray in the dressing room and on the pitch. Maybe we thought going to Chelsea who have been an easier task than it was, Chelsea have been struggling since last season and maybe we underestimated Pochettino and what he’s doing at the club.
Chelsea also won their last three games and have looked to have started to gel properly together, and we’re also walking in with the momentum from winning after having such a rocky start to the season. Chelsea set up to 4-2-3-1 in attack but were set up in a 4-4-2 formation when defending ,which created a low block that for most of the game we couldn’t get through.
Ultimately, we were lucky to grab a point and Chelsea looked to be the better side, im not sure if its just an international break hangover or what happened but it doesn’t look like the side Arteta’s built up over the past few seasons. Although it was a tough match we still remain undefeated in the Premier League and a draw is always better than a loss. To come back from 2-0 down in the dying minutes of a game shows character and show’s the fans that they won’t stop fighting for the badge till the final whistle.
A lot to improve and a lot to take away from the match and hopefully we see a more confident side when we face Sevilla mid-week.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
Cucurela couldn’t make one cross because he’s stocked with Saka.
Gusto couldn’t make one cross because he’s stock with Martineli.
don’t expect same energy from a team who need to face Sevilla in space of 3 days with a team who have a mid-week rest.
We’re lucky to get a point it’s not more than enough,but it’s enough.
What went wrong was the selection process, and we yet to hear from the world class player Partey exclusion.
This game show more of how weak Chelsea are rather than how Arteta subs worked.
Chelsea of Old would have wallop us cause that’s the typical way they always beat us back them concede possession to us and just take their chances and that’s how Poch as always played us but the Chelsea teams was weak that’s why they can’t hold on to the win.
Lots is going through the minds of our players Brazil lost, Norway are almost out of Euro contention, saka coming back from injury, Martineli also still showing signs of not yet getting his rhythm maybe it would have been better to play Nekitiah and trossard from onset.
Also it looking more likely that this season goals will be our undoing and Jesus and Nekitiah are not scoring and once Saka and martineli are choked game up for us. We really need a striker come January ASAP
On paper our starting lineup looked good
But I think we should have started Trossard and Partey instead of Saka and Jorgino. Because Partey is our best Defensive Midfielder and Saka was a bit rusty due to injury.
I’m going to harp on for a while about how good Trossard is. I’m sorry but I’m a big fan of his lol
Lucky? I don’t think so! Yes we were poor compared to our performance against City, but we had the determination to come back, deservedly get the draw and Nketiah was inches away from winning it for us. I really don’t understand comments saying it was a selection problem as Partey wasn’t picked over Jorginho, but he’s obviously not 100% fit (has he ever been though?) and we have some tough games coming up. The subs worked and we got a hard earned point, in the end. My only criticism is that there is not an adequate cover for Saka. Do we need another striker? Yes but I’m thinking a mistake was made selling Balogun, as he’s now doing well again in France and spending another £100 million plus on Toney, Vlahovic or someone else will be us being accused of buying the league, as other teams have been accused of on here.
I don’t know why people keep saying it was a mistake selling Balogun? We didn’t have a choice!
He wasn’t signing a new contract, meaning he was down to his final 12 months at the end of the season, and we all know how that goes! Plus his value was as high as it was ever going to be whilst with us, and we do have to sell some players at some point.
Jen, you are wrong about Balogun not wanting to sign a new contract. He did sign a four-year contract in 2021 that would have expired in the summer of 2025. The problem was he didn’t want to play second fiddle to Jesus or Nketiah.
That was the first time this season I felt that we were a bit lucky to get anything from a game. There has been some other iffy performances, although we’ve always been the better team, until today.
That said, Palmer could have easily got a straight red for that terrible challenge on Jesus, it was never a penalty, and Mudryk scored a one in a million fluky goal.
Overall, it was our first big away game of season, and we came away with a point despite a terrible performance – the sign of good team.
We had a below par performance. Not having the freedom to play our free-flowing football and some players not looking 100%.
I commend Chelsea for their performance but that penalty awarded to them is debatable. I listened to Ian Wright gave an in-dept analysis and Chelsea legend, John Terry not also agreeing to the penalty. Saliba in that situation had no choice being that he was on the air and what could have given him the balance on air is his hands. It’s more like expecting someone to fly without wings. I thought what would have been case is if the ball was going directly to the goal post and the hand stopped it which I think was not the case or if it was a deliberate act which was not the case rather a deflection.
This will add more to the controversies regarding referees decisions on hand ball. Anyways it is what it is but I’ll as well commend Arsenal character and mentality in staging back a comeback. It might actually prove to be decisive this season.
Arsenal don’t really thrive against teams that are very physical,Chelsea were very physical yesterday, especially in the midfield,
IMO, Trossard should have been in for Odegaard, Saka 2nd half with Havertz as CF,
Well, I’m glad we fought back and Arteta made the right changes, shows we’ve progressed well,
I really do not believe in Ivan, I would rather take a chance on Gurissay of Stuggart,he’s fast and skilful,
I would also get Mason greenwood as Saka’s backup.
Raya went wrong, Zinchenko went wrong, Jesus went wrong, Jorghino went wrong and slow backwards passing went wrong. The fact we haven’t got a number 9 that holds the ball up, heads crosses and deals with central defenders went wrong. That what went wrong.
Reggie
A lot went wrong and lot of players out there were 2nd best
As I said it before in another post is that a few seasons ago we would have gone home with nothing. 2 down a bit of a gift for our opener but chelski were better then us on the day up until our goal.
This team has an inner belief of not losing
We will lose at some point but the change in us from having a soft under belly and rolling over to lesser teams is diminishing
Ps
Onwards a.d upwards
😊
Agree, we have a bit of grit now. But the question was, what went wrong?
Nothing, just the plan.
Very lucky for a point, Arsenal was very poor in all positions. I had washed my hands for this game, thanks to the players off the bench who made it count.
And to think Arsenal could have nip it at the end, with Nketiah brilliant effort while the tap still on.
To be honest we did not look like scoring until the keeper error thought penalty was very harsh on Saliba not a lot he could do definitely wasn’t deliberate but var is a total waste of time and should be scrapped lastly Reya looks totally out of his depth and had a shocker Ramsdale must start the next game!
They were’nt “tired”. Just the boss in action, absolutely nothing to worry about.
The boys were’nt tired at all, they’ll bounce back as usual. Nothing to worry about if you ask me.
My call is that Ramsdel should return as no1 immediately. Raya is not an upgrade, he is making same mistake i believe Ramsdale was dropped for, if not even worse. He is making too many mistakes from high press which was the week side of Ramsdale gave.
Justice should prevail. #Ramsdale back as No1.
Palmer scores from Raya mistake, 3 nill, game over!
Solid point
I think the international break has less to do with our performance. However, I have growing concerns how often Jesus and Odegaard do not feature well when the pressure is on, and also with the weak areas of ZInchenko’s game. We all know what Jesus does well, but what he doesn’t do well is score enough goals. Odegaard has great speed of mind and speed of foot, but he does not play well in a pressure cooker game. Zinchenko is not a left back, period. While the strengths of his game are well utilized when we dominate, he gets caught out and turned over when we play against teams with strong and offensive wingers. I know there is a tactical element to this, but he is an average defender at best.
Can’t play Jorg with Ode, and play Rice higher up.
Mids will get swamped by teams with Athleticism….
My call is that Ramsdel should return as no1 immediately. Raya is not an upgrade, he is making same mistake i believe Ramsdale was dropped for, if not even worse. He is making too many mistakes from high press which was the week side of Ramsdale gave.
Justice should prevail. #Ramsdale back as No1
Chelsea play the best game of their season or even since last season is what happened. For most of the game, we played to their tempo and not ours. Another issue i observed is how Rice’s positioning in forward spaces to accommodate Jorginho left us vulnerable in the middle of the park and lacking in progressive power to push up from defence. Things stabilized much more when Rice returned to the base of the midfield. Partey would have been a great asset to solve both issues given his significant on the ball abilities and calmness. Playing ESR from the onset instead of Jorginho would have also made sense to improve our ball retention, combination play, and goal threat from central areas. However, I have to hand it to the gaffer for making spot on decisions about the subs although I thought they came a bit late.
Nothing went wrong. Chelsea were better, fresher and hungrier. They have a bigger squad with equal qualities. That maniac midfielders of Gallagher, Fernandez and Caicedo were pitbull terriers in disguise. The referee did help them to get away with a lot of heavy tackles. We cannot dominate and control all teams in EPL. What we can do is to persevere and get results, which we almost did in the end. One point was good considering the circumstances until the 70th minute. We pounce on them when they got tired.
A night when almost everything went wrong.
Tired looking? Nah
The guys were as fit and condition as a young lime.
Probably the only thing went right is that brilliant substitution after Rice scored.
Smelling blood the gaffer went for the jugular off went Odegaard and Martinelli and on came the big German and Tossard, who quickly found the equalizer.
The lack of Partey really lowered our level against a strong and athletic midfield. Great substitution in taking off Martinelli for Trossard as he had ran out of ideas. Odegaard too, was unable to affect the game so I was happy with ESR finally getting minutes. But why is it as the last throw of the dice? Raya made mistakes but also did very well against Jackson and Palmer let’s not forget. Rice is working overtime for us to cover for Jorginho. Saka gets another assist despite looking rusty, pure quality. Well done Tomy for defending well after Zinchenko had to be replaced. Let us not forget Eddie had more shots in 20 minutes that Jesus did in 70. Maybe he can be our replacement for Saka and Eddie and Toney (assuming he comes) playing centrally.
People are wondering why ESR, Partey, Tierney weren’t starting for Arsenal. I think this is due to their proneness to injuries. You see what happened to Tierney at Sociedad when he tried to start 5 matches straight: he immediately got a serious knee injury.
Some players just aren’t meant to play 50-60 matches a season. We have Partey who’s missed months of action during his 3 year stay and we have ESR who missed the whole last season. I think MA is being EXTRA cautious with these two as they are no use to us injured.
That being said, I think Partey will start vs Sevilla or against Sheffield next weekend. I hope to see ESR as well.
Che did well in stifling our passing from the back For the first 70 min I do not remember one instance when we passed the ball from deep and made it all the way up the field before losing the ball. Che set up well to stop us and they seemed more determined
There was no luck. In fact we were unlucky not to win with Eddies late shot going just wide.
Is it me, or has Jorginho turned into Ray Wilkins
The Crab!!!
It seemed like 90+% of his passes were sideways!!!
What is worse, he is slowing down our attacks allowing a young team like Chelsea the chance to get back on defence, !!!
He has to go.
Looking at Arteta’s recent purchases:
Jorginho, Havertz and Raya (Timber is still an unknown quantity) I feel we have gone backwards, nor forwards.
I am thankful we got Rice, or we would have been in trouble this season.