Arsenal’s two big central defenders, David Luiz and Sokratis, stood firm against Man United last night and helped the Gunners to get another clean sheet under Mikel Arteta.
The pairing also stood together after the game to be interviewed by BT Sport, and Luiz candidly admitted that the team is not yet fit enough to sustain our pressure for the whole 90 minutes and had to call on their “hearts” to get them through to the finishing line.
The Brazilian said: “We did a great first half and we were a mature team in the second half because we have to be honest and humble to admit that physically we are not ready,” he told BT Sport.
“We showed that second half [in the 2-1 loss to Chelsea] and we showed that today. But when physically you are not there you have to put your hearts and this team is in the moment now to change a lot of things,”
“We can not change zero to 10 in one day. one week, or one month. But it is beautiful to see the kids how they start to understand the commitment, the behaviours and what they have to do every single day to achieve big things in life and big things in football.
“So I think we showed that today and we are going to do big things in the future, but step-by-step.”
It is obvious that the players have responded well to working under Mikel Arteta, and once they manage to increase their fitness levels we can only get better….
Watch the whole interview here…
It was a good performance, but there was never a single time I expected them to keep it up for ninety minutes. They’re just starting with the high intensity pressing game. I hope the board don’t get carried away and we bring in players fit enough for what Arteta wants.
Most of our players are old and most won’t be able to keep it up for 90 minutes.
As long as Ozil keeps performing like this, even if it’s for 75 minutes, he deserves to play.
We could’ve scored a lot yesterday.
I really want our players to be clinical and always go for the kill very early. It’s what City does, it’s what helps them, once you kill the game very early then you can drop the pace and play freely without burning lots of energy.
If we had scored up to three or four as we could’ve, even United would’ve given up and we’ll save our energy.
All in all, it’s all good signs of things to come under Arteta
Chief Eddie,
Spot on!
Killed the game early and preserve energy, that’s the way to go!
It’s good to see us creating chances after chances, we need to be a bit more clinical though.
This is not to blame Lacazette, but I dunno why I have the feeling that Martinelli should replace him, Aubameyang then moves to the middle, we would score more goals that way am sure.
Martinelli under Arteta is gonna be a BEAST!
I’m all for Laca dropping too, but if Arteta sticks with him then I understand why. Lacazette as much as he works and press, needs to learn to release the ball on time, lately he’s always holding on to the ball top much and suddenly acting dramatic whenever he goes to the floor.
Pepe need to keep starting.
I don’t buy the bullshït that he should hug the byline more.
We need goals and he’s always cutting inside to push forward, long may it continue. I don’t see Sane or Sterling hugging the byline when playing.
I really hope Arteta speaks to them about scoring and taking our chances as it’s for their own good
It is nonsense hugging the byline, if he was, he wouldn’t have scored that goal, the byline in my opinion is to be occupied by the fullbacks in their overlapping runs…
Exactly my thinking. Spot on.
“Every player now like the way we play…the fun is back” – Sokratis
Yeah, it was evident and the festive schedule has been tough. The energy levels were still far better than against Chelsea, kudos to the guys for digging deep.
I suggest we go with this line-up against Leeds, so we can rest some of our players.
………..Martinez…………….
……..Tolaji Bola………Mustafi…….Holding………Saka…………..
……….Guendouzi……….Xhaka……………..
…..Ceballos………
……….Pepe……….Martinelli………..Nelson/ESR
Xhaka had a day off against Chelsea due to illness and he is very fit anyway.
Pepe have not had much football so should be ok for this.
This team should be able to handle Leeds imo….
Biggest regret is that the board didn’t fire Unai during the last international break when EVERYONE except them knew his time was up.
We could have had a realistic chance at top 4.
Still, lots of positives:
– Ozil is playing well, which bodes well for Ceballos as well. And some will doubt this, but under Arteta even Mkhi could be useful if he isn’t sold. There’s a decent player there, but just like Ozil, Ceballos, or Pepe — basically anyone creative — he completely withered under Emery.
– Midfielders defend better – less space between defense and midfield and also Torreira playing to his strengths, Xhaka playing with more focus
– Youngsters will definitely progress under Arteta, although I still feel Nelson will never be good enough for us
– AMN has seemingly realised that he can be a very good fullback and that it’s his best chance to be a starter in a top team (too many awesome MFs even in midtable teams for him to succeed there perhaps)
I’ve not been following the serie A closely….. but has Mkhitaryan been playing well at Roma?…. goals?, assists?…..;some stats to put things in perspective for us
Only 424 minutes played due to injury and scored 3 goals, 1 assist. He’s reportedly played quite well in Roma’s midfield.
Though to be honest, when his loan expires he will have 1 year left on his contract and it would be best to sell him being 31 y. old.
But if no takers, he would probably be a good sub under Arteta as he would be a good backup option…
The distances between the players became closer and the passes became better after Arteta came
They defend and attack as a unit now. Previously there were many misunderstandings and bad passes, but they become more compact now
So proud of them all!
Great result but i hate to pee on peoples parade. It was one game, it was a very good game against a sorry utd. All the same yesterday’s game shows with the right “attitude” we have a competative team. My problem and i dont yet trust this bunch at all (i don’t change my mind that easily) to play with the intensity required over more than a few games. Yesterday was great, beating utd is great but lets see how we get on playing, first away (we have a few homers) and second every game. Im sorry boys and girls, im not convinced that easy. Kola, cant keep that up, Bellerin cant keep that up, ozil cant keep that up, torreira cant keep that up, xhaka cant keep that up. Playing eyeballs out takes its toll, im not yet convinced with this lot that we have the new chapter just yet. Im just keeping my powder dry.
And before anyone blasts me for Bellerin not playing last night, im on about fragility mentally and physically. Many of our players are not what i call robust.
You could well be right Reggie so let’s hope the board back him financially this month to strengthen the squad. The positive thing is we are once again looking like a team and the confidence is coming back again which is entirely down to Arteta. It will take time but I believe that we have found the manager to take us forward again.
I believe Arteta has something but im not sure a lot of our players are trustworthy, mentally or physically. I go back over a few seasons and a few occasions recently and im sceptical of a few. Arteta is putting his faith, probably because at the moment he really has no choice in players that i believe are tainted in various traits and its a wait and see for me. We have a few good time Charlie’s who characters have been in question a lot over the years, there is a reason for that. But i wish Arteta all the luck because he deserves it. I am hopeful rather that convinced.
👍 👍 👍 👍 Arteta must be backed in the transfer market.
I don’t know why I doubted Arteta at the time Emery was hired. Come to think now that he was the one.
At the time a lot of supporters on this website, including me, had doubts about him. Looking at it positively, he has had a further 18 months experience under Pep.