Morning all.
Mikel Arteta opted for a midfield of one, defensively I mean and that was Thomas Partey. No Lokonga, AMN or even Elneny to help him nullify a Crystal Palace midfield which has been playing well. Instead, in came Pepe to add to our attacking force. Yes, I use that word rather loosely.
Credit where it’s due though, the team started brightly, and with lots of energy. Aubameyang was like a Duracell bunny as he went about his buisness of pressing from the front. When he fired home after Pepe’s shot was saved, it was no more than he and Arsenal deserved.
What happened after that is a mystery. Kind of, although we’ve seen it before. The opposition started to put the pressure on and Arsenal players couldn’t cope.
Mike Dean had a stinker once more. He should have booked McArthur for his cynical tackle early in the game, especially when Bukayo Saka went straight into the book for something similar soon after. When Gallagher kicked Saka in the back of his standing leg, making absolutely no effort to get the ball, he should have been off. Where was VAR?
Saka didn’t return after the break, instead, it was Sambi Lokonga. From then on, things went downhill. Two mistakes, the first from Partey, the second by Sambi Lokonga, gifted Patrick Vieira’s team of workhorses their two goals. Both players had been brushed off the ball far too easily. .
2-1 down and an equaliser didn’t look like it was coming. The final throw of the dice came from a desperate Arteta towards the end of the game when Gabriel Martinelli and Alexandre Lacazette came off the bench. I loved seeing the Frenchman turn cheerleader, trying to lift the fans. They responded and so did Lacazette. After Kieran Tierney almost broke the crossbar with his shot, Lacazette popped up with a goal before Dean could blow the final whistle.
Were Crystal Palace good or were Arsenal bad? Perhaps a bit of both. After going ahead, Arsenal dropped deeper and deeper, allowing Palace to grow into the game and they did. They were competitive whereas Arsenal were negative and often weak under a challenge. The sideways and backwards passing was back unless the ball was with Emile Smith Rowe as safety seemed to be first on the players mind. Arsenal’s pressing had lessened whereas Palace had stepped up theirs and it worked. They got stuck into the midfield battle and won it and that made the difference I think.
At the end, Mikel Arteta and the players celebrated as if Lacazette had nicked the winner. He hadn’t. At least the players kept going until the end I guess but if they don’t start showing a bit more character on and off the ball, this season is unlikely to play out any better than the last. I know there’s been an international break and sometimes that doesn’t help but I just think this is where Arsenal are right now. When an opposing team gets stuck in and puts pressure on the players, our own game goes to pieces.
See you in the comments.
Agreed why Arteta decided to go with so many attackers was confusing to say the least. Also the boys have to learn to move the ball quicker especially when in the final third. Too many touches cost us both in attack and defense. Twice two players to long on the ball lost us 2 goals last night. When laca came on and we started one touch football in around the box we look more potent.
Up until the first goal we looked okay but after we sat back isolating Auba. Is this the manager or lack of confidence in the team.
Morning Rico. The performances and results are the only real measure we have to go on when watching the Arteta/Arsenal story unfold. To me, things never move above a stutter. Up after the Spurs game, down after Brighton and down again after Palace. If we lose at home to Villa and we easily could, then the home crowd will turn. I sense they are on that path now.
Personally, I don’t think this lightweight midfield with 3 ball players flittering about really works for us. Perhaps for Man City but not at Arsenal in its present condition.
Morning all.
At least we didn’t lose I guess.
I was reminded of early Klopp Pool, dominant to start, then looking lost when the intensity drops. Xcept that they lasted til 60 minutes usually and were 3 up by then.
Our boys need to keep running til they drop ,then get subbed. Are they dropping off to conserve their legs for the 90?
I know he’s been good til now, but Tommy Asu was very sketchy under the press. I expect we’ll see Villa funnelling their press down our Right. Tommy P was also poor with ball control in the press , which is really worrying, as he’s the one I’d hoped had the strength and skill to make the pressers look foolish.
It is not with nonchalance that I revisit a previous position – Arteta is NOT capable enough for this role. It isnt a cheap soundbite – he just doesnt have the tactical nuance, coaching ability or man management nous to move the needle. On paper this team looks like a top 6 side but with our one game against the Spuds as an outlier – who is seeing a performance worthy of the team ability. Not for me. New faces, same old issues. This wont change while he is in charge- would love to be wrong.
Agreed Adam
The ball playing midfielders don’t seem to be able to protect it , which gives Tom P more to think about, though his confidence ,vision ,and confidence seem to have dropped from levels We’ve seen from him before. Tierney had the run of the left when we were pressed into the right, but we didn’t have the touch/ confidence to find. Can we get good enough to exploit this space before Friday ??
Iain. I reckon a lot of Arsenal supporters feel the same as you. I certainly do.
I really like Martin Odegaard, I liked what he did for us last season and I liked what he’s done at times this season, but against big, physical hands on (literally) opponents he can struggle. He, Partey and Lokonga all got caught in possession and it cost us twice with breakaway goals.
Both Brighton and now Palace have bullied us, it’s still happening and with the referees we have in England you simply have to adapt or get a kicking.
Both Liverpool and Man City adapted with big physical defenders and midfielders who can still play and Chelsea have always had physical types but we continue to play in a manner and with teams that are routinely roughed up – we don’t learn.
Morning Adam, all.
I think Arteta underestimated Palace. Their results tell one story but it’s a story their performances don’t support.
What concerns me most is that Arteta allows things to carry on during a game. When Palace we’re struggling, Vieira was getting a message to his players and they reacted. Arteta said after the game that they played with the handbrake on etc etc, so why didn’t he change things?
Why so late before Martinelli and Lacazette came on?
Morning Rico, there was a great atmosphere in the stadium yesterday even when Palace fought back in the 1st half still the fans stayed positive. But we, as a fan base, have been traumatised by so many poor decisions at the top in the Boardroom, ineffective management going back to latter day Wenger and poor coaching since.
We’ve seen Chelsea blast past us as our directors have acted like rabbits, caught in a cars headlamps, then we saw personality politics in the boardroom causing a schism from the top and we’ve not really recovered from that.
Man City blasting past us made it even worse as KSE focused solely on their battle with Red & White Holdings, and all the time our squad declined, gradually but declined all the same and other mid range clubs caught us up while our owners took their eye off of the real issue, the team and the manager.
Since Usmanov left the scene KSE have been trying belatedly, desperately even to catch up, but maybe it’s too late under this ownership, they allowed the golden goose to slip away why they were distracted.
We’ve seen all this, seen our great manager decline whilst Stan fiddled, seen the Invincibles become the Invisibles, watch Tottenham build a brilliant new stadium and overtake us, seen Leicester win the league, seen West Ham and Aston Villa catch us up and in West Ham’s case overtake us, seen ManCity, United, Liverpool and Chelsea disappear over the horizon and now we have the spectre of Newcastle blasting past us.
Is it any wonder that our fans are neurotic?
Well two Palace goals last night and the crowd turned.
2004, think about that, that’ll be 18 years next May, where are we going under this ownership?
For 20 minutes we were superb.
Why did the players go into their shell and slow things down?
Immaturity, inexperience.
These things will change with time.
Of course we got nothing from Dean and Palace took full advantage.
How McCarthy wasn’t sent off is beyond me as at the very least he should have been yellow carded for his earlier pull back on ESR, something Partey did not two minutes later and copped a yellow for, but the hack at Saka was a straight red.
Forget where his eyes were, he’d have missed the ball by 6 feet if he was truly trying to volley it so clearly he was after the player.
Hats off to Palace for having a red hot go, hats off to our boys for fighting back to draw a game we’d have lost last year.
It’s a shame so many fans don’t like the fact we are going through a rebuild, but it’s a rebuild fans asked for and was needed.
Hi Rico et Al,
If ever we needed Xhaka last night and Brighton showed we are missing his steelyness in midfield. I thought ESR had a good game and as usual was out on his feet at the end he was trying to break lines all night, Auba was MOTM for Arsenal and Pepe was electric for the first 30 mins but he doesn’t track back. Odegaard was very effective for the first 30 mins his passing was excellent but think he needs a little more time to build his aggressive side. It was the inability to shrug their players off the ball they need to be more aggressive in Midfield. I thought The back Line 5 had good games two mistakes aside and think Ramsey was excellent and he was probably offsighted for their second. I wonder whether Elneny and AMN would have faired better shoring up midfield. But we need at least one or two hard midfielders players like dare I say Torriera and Guendouzi heat seekers who enjoy and tussle. Lastly why the hell is Saliba not playing for us he’s lighting up the French league we need him for depth to start and have depth to replace the centre backs if required.
Morning Kev, I understand that the decision making over the last number of years has been poor and Kroenke isn’t the ideal owner but I still believe the squad we have now should be playing better than they are. Why are they being bullied, switching off, dropping too deep? Or starting well before surrendering to a bit of pressure…
Hi Mig, you ask questions only Arteta can answer. I’d add, why hasn’t Martinelli been playing, or Eddie on the bench. Why start with just one defence minded midfielder when even he is a box to box.
When he first came to the club we were reliably informed that Hector Bellerin was the quickest player in the club even quicker than Walcott and he started his career marauding up and down the touchline . He was important and exciting
.
As time went by the coaching he received and an injury seemed to slow him down , he became less effective , the crowd got on his back he lost heart and became a liability.
Fast forward to last week and a story emerged that Tierney is now the fastest runner in the current squad and last night was a direct reflection of what happened to Bellerin on the other side . Suddenly he doesn’t try to run defenders , he never goes outside , he cuts in most of the time and passes backwards.
Towards the end of the match we introduced Martinelli who took on players , twisted , turned , in tight spaces and had more impact and started pulling the defence around and on one occasion in the corner as he twisted doing drag backs he had attracted three defenders to him .
He also put in a couple of reasonable centres . We need more of this.
The question is why ? Is it the tactics ?, are the players told that possession is all important because certainly if you look at Palace’s two goals both came from losing the ball , but again I ask why ? .The man that gets caught always gets the blame but just as we went through a spate of Leno giving hospital passes and there being no-one available for the second pass , when the ball broke to Partey , he was facing the wrong way and had 4 players standing with no movement on the touchline. He got caught from behind and appears not to have got a call of man coming on.
The second once again Lokonga was sacked by a player coming from the blind side. Is it communication ? because that can be fixed but I fear that Pepe , Saka and Odegaard are forward looking players that tend to run away from markers and leave the midfield anchor stranded.
Maybe I am being too critical but I do believe that we need to upgrade some of the players that I fear are just good squad members .
Reading the comments that have come in since I started writing this it looks like the fans can see it so again I ask Why can’t the manager .?
Excellent questions Potter. I believe it’s tactical. I think Arteta is trying to play the City way by passing the game to death. Even against the Toots we reverted to style after halftime which funny enough coincided with them upping their game a bit.
Afternoon Rico and all
Yesterday’s match could have gone anyway, yes we were lucky to draw the match, but I still feel that it was a fair result, In regards too both coaches I recon Arteta was out coached.
Have we improved this season or is it due to the results of other matches not involving Arsenal that has helped us a lot, personally I think we have improved but only a little, however I am still not fully convinced Arteta is the correct coach for us.
Afternoon Geoff, me neither and never have..
If as you say he is trying to play the Guardiola way then he needs to put more than half of his squad into touch. He has begun building a group with youngsters but to get to the level at City he is going to need a lot more experience with a lot more talent.
It’s not so much the talent that starts the games but the ones that sit on the bench . Where Pep can leave Sterling and De Bruyne out can we really leave Smith Rowe and Saka there and if we do , who replaces them ?
Building a team with a certain style takes time but during that period there has to be a flexible approach to get the best of the players that you have .
Yesterday we saw Vieira sitting on the touchline and really we have never really replaced that power that he and Petit gave the team. We have what I call an abundance of sattelite players that come from a long line going back to Wenger’s desire to play the Barcelona way. but still the nucleus is not strong enough . Watching both Partey and Lokonga getting shoved off the ball yesterday was a clear example that shows we need more power in the middle of the pitch .
I would like to add that we might point to the absence of Xhaka but , in himself ,he is not strong enough either.
Just why I can’t understand if his plan is to play that way yet the players aren’t Pep like at all. I understand he needed time, the new signings to bed in and all that but as I said to some friends earlier, other than playing four at the back, I really can’t see what the plan is.
All I’ve seen in the Brighton and Palace games is a group of players who when pressed, retreat into their shell, get barged off the ball too easily and have lost the ability to pass forwards.
And totally agree Potter, Xhaka is not going to be our saviour.
I can remember Chopper Harris’ brother Alan yelling at us ” Look , receive , pass and move ”
Strikes me that our players have got the first three about right but the movement is missing and that’s why we get caught .
https://www.justarsenal.com/video-full-highlights-goals-from-arsenals-four-goal-thriller-with-crystal-palace/293857 on 27 seconds look at the touchline just as Partey loses the ball . four players standing still and Smith Rowe coming back but Partey is facing the wrong way.
Movement off the ball has been lacking for a long time. Look at when we have a throw-in, they take an age because the players are just walking about.
That clip went straight to our first goal.
True , but if you freeze it on 27 seconds you can see the build up of Bentekes goal
Just seen it and get the point you are making. What are they being coached I wonder?
now.arsenal
@now_arsenaI
·
Oct 19, 2021
Nicolas Pepe lost possession 22 times against Palace.
He competed in 15 duels & won only 3 of them.
He had 1 successful dribble out of 6.
Is it an agenda? Or am I just saying what I see?
His ball retention isn’t anywhere good enough for him to be starting.
I’ll stop now.
Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT
Staggering Kev but not surprising.
Morning all.
New post up now