Brighton & Hove Albion welcomed the Premier League champions to the Amex Stadium whilst celebrating some anniversary and wearing a replica of the shirts they wore back then.
There was a sizeable Arsenal contingent in what was later confirmed as a record attendance at the Amex, but the home fans for some reason seemed to smell blood and created a very excitable atmosphere, I’m not sure that febrile atmosphere and Sussex can really go together so excitable will have to do.
Arteta went with arguably his strongest starting XI although at full-time that statement would almost certainly come under some scrutiny. Brighton by comparison made a few changes but to be honest I didn’t really recognise most of their team, such has been the churn down that-a-ways. Max Dowman had a seat on the bench, Timber was back, Hincapie was back and Bruno started alongside Rice.
Now I don’t know if the players were all out on the sauce on Friday night but I cannot recall a more feeble and lacklustre 30 minutes from an Arsenal team than what they served up yesterday, for many a number of years. Raya, Bruno, Timber, Calafiori, the list goes on, the shoddy passing, lack of energy, lack of movement, continually losing their challenges, they looked worryingly unprepared for what Brighton actually threw at them. Alternately Brighton were snappy, rapid, had great movement, won their duels, took shots without dithering, pressed as if their lives depended on it and seemed perfectly prepared by Hurzeler. In fact I’d imagine that this game in particular had been in the back of his mind for weeks beforehand and mostly because of the history he has with Arteta.
Arsenal pretty much created nothing of note in those opening 30 minutes but despite the sloppiness in defence, the lack of zip in midfield and the inertia in the attack it somehow remained 0-0, we just had to keep it tight at the back.
After a torrid opening 15 minutes where Brighton had looked irresistible the Gunners were actually getting some semblance of control back. It looked as if the lads could see out the half when on 31 minutes Gross got the ball and advanced on the Arsenal box with Calafiori and Gabriel (I think)/ blocking his route to goal. Calafiori for some inexplicable reason backed off allowing Gross to take a few steps forwards and then fire in a low shot on goal. Raya actually did well to get across and down and got a slight touch but the velocity took it past him and into the goal off the inside of the post. 1-0
The Brighton fans were in full party mood and the Arsenal players looked a tad shellshocked. The Gunners responded as best they could but except for a few Saka dribbles and the odd run from Tzolis we had nothing up front, Havertz was a passenger and I expected a couple of changes at halftime. Saka had our best chance of the half but his effort went well wide and he was offside anyway for the umpteenth time. Brighton went straight down the other end and made it 2-0, a shot from Kostoulas as again we failed to press him and his low shot flew perfectly inside the post with Raya helpless. Half-time 2-0
Ok, the first half was pretty poor we all thought, well I did, but once Mikel gets into them we’ll see a reaction won’t we, er no!
The second half followed the same pattern, energetic Brighton vs lethargic Arsenal. Arteta had made no changes and when he finally did it was too late. On 57 minutes a Brighton corner was headed home by Chema and that was pretty much game over. On 61 an equally lethargic and probably mystified Arteta took off the ineffective Bruno and the clearly rusty Timber replacing them with our World Cup winners Zubimendi and Merino. Did it make any difference, hmm, not really.
On 68 minutes Brighton almost scored a 4th then 5 minutes later Arteta took off the ineffective Odegaard and peripheral Tzolis and brought on Eze and Gyokeres and to be honest they actually added a bit of urgency, in fact Viktor looked far more threatening than the powderpuff Havertz. On 78 minutes great work by Gyokeres put Havertz clear through on goal but with the whole net to aim for, Kai decided to fire straight at the goalkeeper, so nul points for him. Dowman came on and ran around a bit, a minute after Brighton almost scored again. But it all amounted to much ado about nothing.
87 minutes and 90 minutes saw Brighton substitute O’Reilly have two great chances to put the cherry on the Brighton cake but missed the first and Raya did well to save the second.
So ended possibly the worst 90 minutes by an Arsenal team under Arteta arguably since the days of Mustafi and Kolasinac.
It was a really bad day in the office all around, bad by Arteta and his coaches and bad by the Arsenal players. Brighton played really well and Arsenal did their best to accommodate them.
We March On – after the Interlull
By Kev
I hope he stays there too..
Alvarez came on for the last half hour of the Madrid derby,maybe being integrated back into the team.
I wish there was as much focus on our attacking football as there has been on defence.
Potter is responsible for the photo Stuart, great isn’t it..
Bit of a knee jerk reaction, boys (and lady). Our lads have been magnificent thus far and simply hit a bumptious Brighton bump in the road. The Seagulls (great header photo, Rico) were excellent and we simply had an off day.
Some news to cheer ya’all up… you have another Kiwi cricket coach. 🙂
Back to yesterday , still hurting . Our midfield was non existent neither Rice or Guimareas knew whether to push or pull they had no cohesion and they spent the whole game leaving it up to each other and in consequence did nothing going forward or back . Attacking wise we have no drive through the middle , oh for a Patrick Vieira to run the pitch and up the tempo . As we have said before we are way too predictable , slow and easy to defend against and up front there is no pace and because of the slow build up no space. For me neither Havertz or Gyokeres are the full answer . Havertz has the ability but not the instinct he often drifts and vacates his position and because our midfield is so static frequently we have no-one to take advantage of any half chance.and Gyokeres is more direct will score goals but doesn’t receive the ball where and when he wants it.
The frustration is that all of the players are quality but more and more I am becoming of the opinion that the problem lies with managerial inexperience.
5 – 3 82 mins.
Ethan Nwaneri has scored again ( 3rd time?)
4 – 3 now.
Jesus,Martinelli,Trossard and Nwaneri are not in the squad.
The only arival was Tzolis, whose characeristocs differ from all of them.
Is that enough for a season with so many closely packed matches?
Couldn’t Richarlison be a solution (considering there is also Gyokeres, whose situation… remains unknown)?
Saka is gradually ling pace,explosiveness and dribbling ability.He will increasingly tend to play in the central areas of the pitch.
That’s a better idea Cicero..
4-2 now.
3 – 2 now.
Just a thought, should we get in touch with Monaco and make a pre-emptive bid for Balogun?
And without their star man.
2-2 at H/T at The Etihad.
Impressive energy from Bournemouth,especially as some of these players would have played on Thursday in Spain. Liverpool look poor
Here’s a thought and don’t batter me but Totts cancelled Richarlison’s contract, what him for the next few months? He has a point to prove that’s for sure. 😜
Most weeks we’ll probably get away with not having oodles of pace but up against teams who are going to press high, it’s essential imo. I can remember the days when many of us, certainly Wath and I moaned when Wenger used to take pace off the pitch by subbing Walcott and all it does is play into the opposition hands. Then we drop deeper and deeper…..
I think we tried to replace Martinelli but couldn’t get those moves over the line, I think selling him was a purely financial decision given how little we get in sales, it was an opportunistic transfer (as you all know as I state the obvious) but it’s left us with a lack of pace up front, a lack of pace that Alvarez wouldn’t have solved.
We need a left-winger from the academy, maybe the Georgian lad eventually or Scanlon?
https://theanalyst.com/articles/brighton-pressing-machine-arsenal-test-premier-league-stats
I think not keeping/replacing Martinelli was always going to bite us on the backside..
Around the internet I’ve seen lots of people say the game was crying out for Martinelli,I kind of agree with that but not helpful,I wonder if Madueke could play on the left?(I’m sure we were told that) At least he has pace and will dribble.
Don’t expect much end product but worth a try?
Also I agree with JM I think,we’ve lost Trossard and Martinelli and replaced them with just Tzolis ???
I like that idea Cicero. lol
I don’t think Arteta had much choice Limey but yes, I’m glad he gave Brighton the praise they absolutely deserved.
I wish Arteta would be a bit more proactive. He said he thought about making changes at halftime but didn’t think it was the right time. Baffling.
That’s what I mean Kev, we have little to no pace up front unless Madueke plays. More pace and opposition would be reluctant to press so high as much. Another problem we can tend to have is if we don’t start well, we can’t always pick it up.
At the end of the day though, it’s just a defeat against a very good side. Learn from it and move on I reckon.
What a shocker,so many normally reliable players had a bad day,the worst of days as someone once said.
I would have started MLS,captain hindsight says Bruno should have played against Ipswich and MLS this one but being honest I thought that was a pretty good team.
I thought Arteta spoke well after,to first give credit to Brighton,it’s a pity he had no clue whatsoever during the game. To make no substitution until the usual time was inexplicable.
It’s just as well we have a 20 day break now,I need a break from football,Leeds won’t be easy oppositon,at least it’s at the Emirates. I’m sure Arteta will have the players ready for that one.
At least my 2nd team,Southend United won 6-1 away.
Any chance of Sunderland getting something at Man City? That would cheer me right up…
Good morning all, I can’t comment on the game as I haven’t even seen the “highlights”. Rice and Bruno are too alike in the way they play, M L S would have been a better option than Bruno as he is more forward thinking and carries the ball more effectively than either of the other two.
A bad result thoroughly deserved.
Could it be part of Arteta’s cunning plan? Show how easy it to beat Arsenal by playing open attacking football. We may never again face a low block defensive formation. 😉
I see that after a forgettable season in Ligue Un that questions are being asked about Ethan Nwaneri in Germany and not positive questions..?
Weaknesses Rico, hmm that’s a question we could debate, no Gyokeres, no Martinelli, no outlet perhaps?
Why did Raya look so nervous?
Why didn’t we go long and bypass the press?
Did Bruno and Rice work?
Did Saka miss Ben White on the outside?
Why did Odegaard look so ineffective after such a good start to the season?
Where did Tzolis disappear too?
How’s that for starters… 🫤
Simple answer imo is no Potter. Certainly not in away games against a team as good as we all know Brighton is. MLS needs to be playing in yesterday’s kind of fixtures because of his defensive qualities and his ability to move the ball forward.
Hi Geoff.
Ive always worried about Arteta’s in game management and that’s not just an easy “after the game” opinion. It’s like he’s too afraid to make big decisions like oiking under performing players off earlier than 60 mins and beyond. He needs to put his big boy pants on sometimes, as he’s quite happy to do when casting his non favourite players aside…
Or did Brighton just highlight our weaknesses Kev? Start fast, unsettle us and go from there.
I have had time to cogitate on yesterday’s fiasco and to put a finger on it is almost impossible because there are more than a couple of problems with a side so unbalanced and seemingly unprepared as this one was.
2 stills of their first two goals tell a story on both goals our back four is about right about but they shoot from 20 plus yards and there is no midfielder in sight . Begs the question that does Rice and Guimareas as an axis work and were they both reiyjng on each other to cover . Desite thisRice spent lots of the match between Gabriel and Konsa it was disjointed .
It is also noticeable that on both occasions Tzolis has a man marked but Calafiori is out of position and coming back.
my next post will concentrate on going forward but we need milk and I am going out.
Morning Rico and all.
Still pi–ed off with yesterday result, I except that we are going to lose or draw matches that we should win, but that performance yesterday was not acceptable, and the looks on Arteta and his assistance face was a look of not knowing what to do. half time break sore Brighton players run back out full of energy for the second half, only for them to look and see our players walking out with no energy must have been a big boost for them.
I have confidence that in 3 weeks’ time we will see a change and restart our season.
Morning Rico and gang, it was so shocking because it was so out of character by Arsenal, I mean did Brighton do anything out of the ordinary?
They certainly didn’t do anything that different from Sunderland and we played through them and won 2-0!
It was almost as if the team was suffering from something, you know dodgy lasagne…
It was also the first time this season that Myles didn’t start in the PL in midfield? I’ve heard it mentioned recently how we played most of last season without Havertz and Odegaard and won the league, with them we always came runners-up!
Both were worryingly ineffective…
Morning Kev, all.
Very good and honest post, thank you.
How often do we read or even write ourselves about how a low block is the cause of our attacking problems? Well, there was no low block yesterday, just a strong attacking side which blew Arteta’s team to pieces by playing good old fashioned football and I don’t mean that disrespectfully of Brighton. Hurzeler had Arteta’s number and by all accounts, it was possibly one of the easiest 3 points Brighton will win this season.