Morning all.
What is there to say other than Arsenal were the authors of their downfall yesterday evening. A terrible ball played by Leandro Trossard was read by Evanilson and as he tried to take advantage, William Saliba pulled him back and over. After showing the Frenchman a yellow card, the referee was sent to the pitch side monitor and there was only ever going to be one outcome. Off he went. We can question how the VAR review unfolded all we like but one thing I’m pretty sure of is that had an Arsenal player been brought down in the same fashion, we’d all be wanting to see a red card shown to the offending player.
Even before the sending off, chances at either end were few and far between. Semenyo had the best opportunity but blazed his shot high. The same player had another chance which Gabriel blocked and then up the other end, Mikel Merino put a shot wide.
The second half saw Semenyo miss another opportunity to give Bournemouth the lead before Kai Havertz headed a Declan Rice corner over the bar. Bournemouth spurned another chance and then Gabriel Martinelli replaced Trossard. Martinelli had a golden opportunity to score but with both sides of the goal to aim at, the Brazilian fired straight at their keeper.
Then came Bournemouth’s goal from a well worked corner which ended up flying past Raya. Before the end, it was 2-0 when Raya gave away a penalty. At least the referee thought he did, I thought it was harsh.
Before the end, Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri were on the pitch with the Brazilian showing some fancy footwork to beat a couple of defenders in the box but was eventually blocked off. Penalty? No chance.
Of course every Arsenal fan will be disappointed after losing our first away match of 2024 and the first this season but losses happen. Bournemouth away from home was always going to be tough to play against with eleven players let alone ten.
Declan Rice:
I could say a million things. But I think I’m proud of the players to be honest. I think the way we reacted again, going down to 10 men was not ideal, we knew that as a group of players, we’ve just said in there [the dressing room], that’s three times in eight games that we’ve let our standards slip and if you want to compete at the top you cannot let that happen. But again, the reaction we showed to that and the belief, even on the pitch at half-time, that we could go and win the game and the chances that we had. I’m proud of these boys and I’m proud of the mentality that these boys and the club show.
We’ll keep pushing, we’ll keep fighting on, I think that’s the most important thing. The fans were amazing. It’s so disappointing because we wanted to stay unbeaten, we wanted to win the game, but this is football and it’s a real rollercoaster, it was never going to be perfect, there’s ups and downs but we need to stick together because there’s another six or seven games coming up this month so plenty of positives to look forward to.
Three unnecessary red cards this season and each one has cost us points. Two against Brighton, two against Man City and three yesterday. As said at the beginning, Arsenal only have themselves to blame because if players give the officials a decision to make, they are going to make it.
William Saliba will now miss the Liverpool game….
Arsenal now face Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday evening..
Catch up in the comments.
The whole team looked dodgy right from the start with 11 and afterwards with 10 men .Raya had an awful game,no one to replace Saka’s in swinging corners and the whole team selection was wrong .We were second best and and as I have said before Jesus is a diving diva.Sterling looks really poor .Martinelli isn’t back to his best and shall I go on.One real effort in the whole game .
Before the sending off we were terrible,wrong team selection imo and have to give Bournemouth a lot of credit . I expected a hard game but not such a flat performance.
We deserved nothing and that’s what we got. To an extent I blame Arteta.
I hope this was a one off,hugely disappointed and won’t get drawn into VAR decisions.
It was certainly a performance to try and forget…
Our players need to sit down and read the rules. Three red cards before the end of October is dreadful.
A very poor day at the office but after only eight games, no need to panic. We do look a different side with Odegaard and Saka on board, so good news that they’re both close to a return.
3 red cards in 8 games and we haven’t won any of them is worrying . I just felt the team that started looked like they had never played together before .
As the post mortem continues on twitter ( X ) and on many facebook ( meta ) pages the media has gone silent . Sky have announced that all’s equal and that the courts are on the level ( Dylan ) and it fades into obscurity .
What we can talk about though is the last close season and Arsenal’s transfer window . From my perspective whilst we have been chasing for the title for two years , squad wise we have stood still whilst others have improved .
As much as I understand that we are suffering injuries in the flair department we are still making chances and not taking them.
I love Martinelli but he needs to have some serious finishing training ,he needs to slow down when the chance arises , he needs to study past players and see how clinical they were he needs to realise that a placed ball is more efficient than a first time blast.
I have watched Arsenal goalscoring forwards from Joe Baker onwards and Martinelli’s skill set relies on his meeting the ball at pace . So we can forget the Radford , Kennedy , Giroud type player ,he needs to look at Wrighty and dare I say it , Jimmy Greaves , they were just as instinctive but they seemed to find the time to know where the ball was going.
Is it the training ? I don’t know . Opening up to place the ball Henry style is one way , but as Rico intimated goals are scored in the corners and a blast to the middle is easier to stop .
I am not putting myself in this class but we were always told to look , receive , note where the keeper was and aim for the stanchion and place it in a corner . Sometimes it goes wide ( in my case ) yes . but most often not.
Our alternatives to play wide left are limited . Trossard is not a winger and all the rest play on the right and if Havertz is not available we are seriously short down the middle .
We all knew this during the window but relying on Jesus to resurrect ( bible ) himself and hope that Chelsea were wrong to cast Sterling into the wilderness seems to have left us short when the first 14 are not there . We asked for rotation but really the alternatives are not cutting the mustard.
I feel better now , hope you are not too bored.
Not bored Potter, just in total agreement.
How many of us suggested we needed a goal scorer back in the summer? It’s all very well wishing and hoping players regain form but it’s not going to happen in my opinion. Jesus, Martinelli and Sterling have never been prolific goals scorers so it’s bordering on madness to think they will suddenly start scoring goals.
It’s all very well being strong in defence (cough) but if we lack goals, we’ll win nothing.
Good morning Rico and all.
I had my say on the penalty earlier this morning (previous post), repeating it might be considered libellous.
Jesus and Sterling combined don’t make up one reliable striker. There doesn’t seem to be one in the current crop of youngsters so we have to wait, and hope, that Edu can find us one in January.
Morning Cicero.
Agree re Sterling and Jesus, certainly from what they’ve produced so far this season. As suggested yesterday though, they will be needed for the domestic cups I guess.
Arteta must be very tempted to start using Nwaneri earlier in games and do I dare suggest that a player like ESR would haven handy yesterday…
I can only conclude that ESR was sold to fund Calafiori.
I thought it was a mistake at the time and his first few games at Fulham seemed to confirm that , however he seems to have gone backwards a bit and my Fulham supporting relatives are not exactly singing his praises at the moment. Perhaps he is missing Arsenal and is a bit homesick but that’s his bed and he has to get on with it.
As suggested by all and sundry moving Jesus to anywhere in January for a few bob would be good if there is a replacement ready and could we persuade Chelsea to take Sterling back ? I would rather we put our hope in young forwards rather than let those two stand in their way .
Perhaps we could get Biereth back , We only got £ 4 million for him.and I know it’s only the Austrian league but 12 games ,9 goals and 1 assist so far shows that he knows what 8 yards x 8 foot is used for.
Biereth came to my mind too earlier, a proper striker who might have brought more to the team than Jesus. But then I thought that about Balogun too, although neither were really given a chance to prove they would or not.
I know it’s easy after a match to moan and groan and reflect on the players who’ve left but the reality is, the players are making things difficult for themselves by getting sent off.
I don’t think we’d have lost yesterday had it stayed 11 v 11.
We were dismal yesterday, even before the Saliba sending off. One got the feeling from the kick-off that we were in for a very difficult afternoon. The guys looked fatigued and less motivated than usual, having returned from the international break didn’t help either. Merino looked sluggish, Sterling looked lost, Leo had a stinker, and Kai Havertz wasn’t at his best either. And for good measure, Raya looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable on the ball. Having said that, I don’t think we would been beaten should we have had 11 players on the field for 90 minutes? It’s always tough to visit those “unfashionable” teams with tiny stadiums and smaller than usual pitches. The compactness of the field suited them too, especially because the likes of Martin and Bukayo were missing, and they are two our best players when it comes to playing in tight spaces. It’s obvious that we need a 20 goal per season striker but who and where is that player …….?
I am no expert on all things Arsenal despite going to Highbury since 1958 the first time and have seen the good ,the bad and the dire but I do get to know many things going on at the club and Rico will confirm that I sent her a photo two weeks ago of my son,and grandson being photographed with Timber who is a gent, on the pitch after The saints game and he is having Spanish lessons with my daughter
.Calafiori is also a very nice young man (as some are not) and he is having weekly lessons with my daughter to improve his English.
ESR wouldn’t knuckle down to discipline and for that reason after injury he had 8 consecutive games on the bench as an unused sub and then got minutes in the last two games of the season. he was always going to be sold whilst Arteta was in charge and Fulham bought him.
There now comes a point having had 3 red cards in 8 matches and no wins from any of them for Arteta to stand up and be counted . I question his team selection yesterday and generally his use of subs and when he makes them .
Every game White takes an eternity to take a throw in and yesterday he got booked,totally unnecessary.I am not at all convinced he
M A will lead Arsenal to a major trophy.
Kelsey, I have been saying the same thing for a while now about Ben White being too slow with his throw in’s.
and eventually it will cost us.
None of us are Kelsey, or on football in general. Yes, we all have our opinions but if we were that smart or knowledgeable about the game, we’d be managing a club rather than blaming x,y and z. At least those of a certain age anyway. 😜
The red cards and some yellow cards were, in my opinion, a reflection of the players’ physical and mental fatigue. On a first line, Arsenal has 14-15 players who guarantee some reliability (?) and maintain the balance (?) of the team. When the number of unavailable players assumes that there are not 11 first-line players available, we have a lot of difficulties. Against Shacktar, I hope it’s Saliba and 10 more. The “plus ten” is that I don’t know who can be found.
Jammy City. 95 minute winner.
I don’t think so Jm, I just think it’s sloppiness. Both Rice and Trossard knew they had been booked. Saliba’s, well hindsight is a wonderful thing in the game.
It went to Var for the winner but Stuart Atwell was the VARman , strange how the same names come up time and again.
No doubt Gary O’Neill will be livid , I wonder where Webb was.
That City goal is a real sickener,especially after the VAR sent the ref to the tv monitor.
My Chelsea supporting brother has just texted me to remind me Chelsea will go above us with a win.
Just about everyone was below par yesterday,mind you the more times I see the Saliba sending off it’s a joke,the ball was only a few yards over the halfway line.
Anyway we were poor,no choice but to look forward.
I’m not surprised Kavanagh stuck to his guns. The VAR review seemed more like going through the motions than actually looking at the offside etc.
Webb was in Pep’s pocket I suspect…
Hopefully you’ll be texting him in May Limey…
Arsenal Women beat West Ham. Routine 2 – 0.
Touch and go until the second very late in the game.
Didn’t watch it Rico, just read a report or two.
Liverpool one nil up against the Chavs, Salah penalty, second penalty ruled out, correctly, after Var advised the ref to look at the monitor.
2-1 Liverpool now Cicero..
Didn’t see the end Rico but Liverpool go top. We’ll just have to take them down a peg or two next weekend. 😉
I watched the last twenty minutes which means I missed the drag down on the half way line that resulted in a yellow . However they are both beatable but not if we play like yesterday.
It was all a bit messy on Saturday. The players looked sluggish from the start, but Bournemouth did very little until the sending off. Have we been taking the ‘smaller’ sides a bit lightly recently?
The blame for the sending off lies with Trossard. What the hell was he doing trying a Hollywood 70 yard pass to Raya?
The card could have been yellow or red. The ref gave a yellow, but the image of Webb listening to the VAR feed and texting somebody frantically was unusual to say the least (Maybe he was asking his wife to pick up some peas from Sainsburys). The red card decision seemed inevitable once the ref was called to look at it. Again a lack of consistency compared to the Chelsea incident, which was very similar, but a yellow was given.
Kiwior at CB seemed a strange decision. I thought he would have gone at left back, with Calafiori switching inside.
Time to stop picking at the sores of that result and concentrate on the next game.
afternoon Rico and all.
I wonder if the wolves manager will get suspended for say the ref are bias towards Man City and some other top clubs.
Good afternoon Rico and all
To say that I am utterly disappointed at the way we played is an understatement. Rico and Kelsey pointed out practically everything in the post and in the first comment.
Certain points about the formation…..why put Merino in the AM role when Trossard was doing quite well in there??? Did anyone, let alone Arteta, honestly think that a midfield three of Rice, Partey and Merino could produce in the creativity department? As soon as I saw the line up I knew we would struggle from midfield going forward. Trossard as a winger yes but only if he is an impact sub. But beginning the game on the wing is a no no for him. He should have began the game alongside Havertz.
Sterling should NOT begin the game against Liverpool if Saka cant make it. Put Nwaneri there. He is better than Sterling who can only play against the likes of Bolton and Preston or be a sub to rotate and rest others.
Was the sending off really a red?? No it never was and never will be. Its not open to interpretation. Because he was less than ten yards over the half way line plus Saliba only brushed his hand against the player’s arm. The latter fell as if he was pole axed.
Anyone who watched City’s game against Wolves know that the latter’s manager is right. City get away with certain situations because they are city. Would the same situations be given to any other team?? I doubt that.
Just give City the trophy they have already paid for before the season began
I hope that in the next game Timber takes the place of Saliba for the match suspension.
And Arteta goes back to the 4-4-1-1 formation he was using recently before the last game. Trossard in place of Odegaard. Hopefully no Sinclair in the beginning line up. I would go for White, Timber, Magalhaes, Calafiori in defence. Midfield of Saka (nwaneri) Rice, PArtey, Martinelli. Trossard behind Havertz.
Afternoon Geoff, Devil, Pete, guys.
There’s a new post up.