Morning all.
If you was unfortunate enough to listen to that laughable excuse for a sports radio station Talk Sport this week, you’d have easily thought that you was actually listening to something like Aston Villa FM, such was their barely disguised one-eyed desire to see The Villains beat Arsenal. Now I know balanced, informative reporting has never been their thing and they most certainly would never let something like thought-provoking output get in the way of their low-brow content, after all they have total contempt for their listeners, but their reporting is almost reaching BBC levels of bias.
Anyway sod the lot of them, we all know that in general the sports media in this country are desperate to see Arsenal choke again, so they were happy at full-time. Despite the terrible Mosquera news from Friday to go with all the other chronic injuries we’ve suffered this season, Arteta still managed to field a top class squad to face the Villa threat. The Arsenal talent wasn’t in doubt only the energy levels.
Timber was retained as a centre-back alongside Hincapie, Rice dug deep into his energy levels – he really is an astonishing footballer – Odegaard kept his central spot and Eze replaced Martinelli. The Arsenal bench looked, attacking wise, super strong with Trossard joining Noni, Viktor and Gabby but the inclusion of Salmon showed clearly how injuries had eaten into the clubs defensive resources. It’s hard to take and that’s on the back of all the new recruits last summer!
The game started quite cagey with both teams feeling each other out but on 9 minutes Rodgers lost possession and the ball goes to Odegaard but he shot straight at Martinez. A minute later Watkins got free but fortunately remembered who he supports and his low shot was straight at Raya. Saka then had a shot on target but we weren’t finding the corners of the net. On 22 a nice move between Saka and Odegaard saw Eze sliding home but Saka was offside. Rice was digging deep into his reserves and he made a great block on Marty Cash on 29 but a few minutes later Cash found himself unmarked on the far post as Eze lost concentration and shot low and hard under Raya’s attempt to parry his shot, we looked a bit rattled.
The game became quite ragged but on 42 Saka skinned Maadsen and pulled a nice low cross in for Ben White but his shot was disappointing and Martinez collected it like a back pass. Two minutes later Rice shot but Martinez easily saved and the game drifted towards the break.
Half/time 1-0 to the home team.
Arteta made changes at half-time. Off went the ineffective Eze for Trossard and the tired looking Merino was replaced by Gyokeres and after 5 minutes Trossard fired narrowly wide of the far post after good work by Odegaard. Then on 52 a low Odegaard cross into the box was fired home by Trossard with Gyokeres attracting two Villa defenders to him and freeing up the space Leo utilised.
Arsenal were cooking then but we couldn’t follow it up despite some quite open play by both sides. Rice fired high over the bar after Gyokeres won a throw in and on 69 Saka combined with a Odegaard to create an opening but Martin’s drive was tipped over by Martinez. Saka came close from the resulting corner.
Fatigue was kicking in and Arteta made more changes with Madueke replacing the frustrated Saka on 79 minutes. Noni had a couple of dribbles but he didn’t really add much to the team which for me was disappointing. Villa now sensed Arsenal were tiring and a couple of defensive mix ups almost led to goals, one from a Timber deflection bobbled along the Arsenal goal line – phew!
On 86 it was a case of if you can’t win then don’t lose and Arteta replaced Calafiori with Myles and took off Trossard for Martinelli, neither sub had the required effect. Hincapie was getting pulled out of position, the legs must have been screaming and another penalty area scramble led to Villa scoring the winner. It was Anfield all over again.
Timber and Rice were amazing, to keep going as they do, Hincapie worked like a Trojan in the middle of our defence but the injuries beat Arsenal today so we now need to go away and regroup. The fixtures from here on won’t be as stressful and if we can get Saliba back and rest a few in midweek then we’ll hopefully be back on track next weekend. I believe that Jesus played for the U.21’s over the weekend so maybe he’ll make his long awaited come back over the next few days?
Arteta looked grim at full-time, he’s not had much luck recently so it’s understandable, I’m also looking grim as Sunderland do us a favour.
But….. we still march on.
By Kev.
Good morning all.
Thanks Kev, it’s never easy to sum up a defeat, let’s face it there haven’t been many chances to do so for Arsenal games.
Played 15
Won 10
Drawn 3
Lost 2
Unbeaten at The Emirates.
I’d have jumped at that before the season started.
A blip? Perhaps a tiny one.
Morning Kev, all.
Another cracker Kev, thank you. It must be the time of the year. lol
The way we lost disappointed me more than the defeat itself because I think I half expected it. We’ve struggled away from home recently, three centre backs out injured, and we’ve had a number of really tough matches to navigate. Factor in Villa were high in confidence, I always thought it would be a tough ask.
Add in Eze’s bad performance and it was like playing with ten men. Merino looked dead on his feet from the start. As you say Kev, the subs, other than Trossard’s, had zero impact on the game.
Morning Cicero, me too.
Had a read around the blogsphere last night. It seems the world has ended..
Morning all,
Thanks Kev,not easy to sum up and stay positive.
A disappointing game( although the media are saying it was a great game)
Hincapie was brilliant,Rice too but we didn’t show much going forward,Saka looked dangerous,Trossard when he was on.
You have to give credit to Villa,I’ve rarely seen an Arsenal team so wide open,they seemed to cut through us at will.
It seems obvious that several players look jaded,I don’t want to see Rice,Zubemendi,Saka,Timber,Trossard anywhere near Bruges on Wednesday. Norgaard and Nwaneri must be wondering when they will get on the pitch.
The injuries to both Centre Backs has been devastating,although both played at Sunderland when this blip started.
The only blogs I read are this and Arseblog news,I had a look at the comments on the BBC sport report,most fans of other teams are deliriously happy we lost. I had to laugh one person(must be a Spurs fan) said Rice is a waste of money and offers nothing! Also a Villa fan said the Ref was biased and let our fouls go,and punished all theirs!
We move on,back at the Emirates next week.
Morning Gooners, morning Rico, thanks fellas.
Yeah my son told me that Facebook exploded with angry Arsenal fans and maybe that’s why I’m not on Facebook!
I find more and more difficult to deal with the babyish reactions to a defeat or a draw by some fans, yeah have a moan by all means, whatever works for you but don’t sound off like a plonker…
Declan Rice needs a week off, he needs a good rest because he looked wasted yesterday – and he was still our best midfielder, Zubimendi is struggling also, but he might have to carry on, Merino was wasted as well. Arteta, who also must feel mental fatigue btw, has to rotate seriously in midweek. Obviously he can’t do it in defence so the attacking guys coming back from injury need to take up the slack and take the pressure off of our creaking defence.
A couple or three or four wins and yesterday will be forgotten, also you wait and see Villa lose their next couple of games!
Agree Limey, Villa are a strong side and were on a good run. With you on the Wednesday game too. If Arteta plays those you mention, he really needs someone to have a word in his ear..
I’m just writing about that for tomorrow Kev. 😝
How the Arsenal world ended at Villa Park.
Afternoon Rico and all. Thanks for the write up Kev, this is the only site that I look at or comment on, even though I disagree with others a lot of the time. yes, we lost but on the positive side we are still on top, and we will bounce back.
Good to hear that Jesus played in the under 21 hopefully he will be back in the seniors soon, I also heard that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also played in our under 21 side although I believe his best days are well behind him.
If he did Geoff it was a long time ago, he’s thirty-two years old.
Morning Geoff, Oxlade-Chamberlain has been training with the club as he’s out of contract. The way our injuries are going, signing him up for the rest of the season might not be a bad thing..
Pay as you play kind of deal..
Good takes in the article and comments
Thanks Mark.
Following on from Cicero’s earlier comment I thought that I would add to it.
Played 15 , Won 10 ,Drawn 3, Lost 2 Unbeaten at home.
2 losses away to last years winners and the team in third ,
3 draws 1 away to the team then second , 1 away to the strongest of the newly promoted , and one at home to the now media favourites .
Still top albeit much tighter than it looked and playing with an injury list affecting the part of the team that has been most important.
We all have our own opinions and some are totally intransigent but I would rather be where we are as we approach the Christmas fixture nightmare.
It’s a long way from being over but I do believe that the media and some of our supporters are waiting for us to fail so that they can say “”I told you so “”
Liverpool beat us with a once in a lifetime free kick , Sunderland then exposed a weakness and bullied us for 90 minutes and this was then repeated by both Chelsea and Villa , unless we come to terms with this approach we will find our selves under this pressure for the rest of the season .
Ironically of course as Chelsea kicked us off the park we received 6 bookings to their 1 straight red and 1 yellow so it doesn’t seem that we can look to the officials for a solution .
I spent time yesterday looking back at the days of Vieira , Petit, Parlour , Bergkamp etc and compared them to Eze , Merino , Odegaard , Zubimendi and were I playing against those midfields I am sure I know which group would not get bullied.
Arteta was a good but not overly physical in his game as a player and he was bought up in the Xavi / Iniesta mould but they always had Busquets who was as hard as nails playing just behind them whereas we are using Zubimendi to do the deep lying play maker position .
I would like to see Lewis Skelly get that job in the upcoming cup matches , maybe just that slight adjustment could give the answer after all Zubimendi is quite capable of going forward if Eze or Odegaard are having poor days like yesterday.
I think that if Jesus doesn’t integrate into the team now, he’s a player to forget about. As I’ve posted before, it seems to me that there are players on the bench who need more minutes to gain confidence, develop chemistry, and make the leap to starting. Only then can you have a deeper team with more solutions and, consequently, the ability to manage the squad at all levels.
What happened with Mosquera?
JM, he landed awkwardly and twisted an ankle. Nobody’s fault, just a football injury.
Good comment Potter. It’s almost like we’ve gone back to the days when Arsene Wenger let go of the invincible squad and went for smaller technical midfielders. I like the thought of Lewis-Skelly in midfield but I’m not convinced Arteta thinks he’s ready.
Why was Saka being booed throughout? I know he plays for Arsenal but surely one of the nicest guys in football?
Congratulations Lando Norris 🏆
That’s Villa fans for you Andrew.
Speaking to a number of Northern supporters , Saka has gained the reputation of being overhyped by a social media .One comment was about him being called “Star Boy” and although they concede that he is a good player they believe that since his penalty miss for England he has been over protected by media and officials .
It’s a load of crap but that’s what they are saying.
I put it down to jealousy.
I think they boo Saka because they know and see him as a threat, but over protected?
What a croc of shit.
It’s the exact opposite if anything.
Saka overprotected? I’d laugh if it was funny. He’s targeted by nearly every opponent.
What are they smoking…
Exactly, every game seems to start with someone (Cucurella etc) going through him straight away. And often not only once. Then we wait …….. for the Arsenal player being booked as soon as we commit a foul
Cucurella is one of the worst, but given a licence to foul.