Daily Bits and Bobs

Arteta’s plans take a hit, could be costly.

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

Thomas Partey is out of todays game. Such news was always coming but I just didn’t expect it so early in the season. That’s the game though, any time, any day, they can strike. Hopefully it’s nothing serious although he’s already been ruled out for Ghana, according to Ghana that is who released a statement saying:

He sustained a groin injury during training on Thursday, August 31, 2023. He is currently unavailable as Club Doctors predict he’s likely to be out for a couple of weeks.

Until we hear from Mikel Arteta, just how bad Partey’s injury is is not known. Hopefully it’s nothing serious and he’ll return to action immediately after the international break, but if it’s bad, why on earth didn’t Arsenal do something on deadline day.

His absence could mean Arteta reverts to the back four of last season. White, Saliba, Gabriel and Zinchenko. Mo Elneny and Jurrien Timber are the only other absentees.

Raphael Varane went off injured against Nottingham Forest last weekend and misses out today, as do Mason Mount, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia, Anad, Tom Heaton and Kobbie Mainoo. Three of them I’ve never heard of let alone seen play. New signing Rasmus Hojlund is set to make his debut after struggling with a back injury. I’m sure a firm elbow in the rib cage would sort him out if he does play…. Yes, they’d do it to one of ours.. Deadline day signings Sergio Reguillon and Altay Bayındır are available to play.

I’ve not watched a Utd game this season but I’ve read that they’ve been playing pretty poorly. Fortunate to beat Wolves on the opening day of the season, beaten away byTotts and then last weekend, were 2-0 down before making a comeback to nick all three points against a Forest team who were reduced to ten men before the referee awarded them a penalty. They get all the luck eh.

Mikel Arteta and his squad are getting no luck this season so far, certainly not in terms of injuries or decisions made by the officials. At some stage, I hope that changes. The shots we take creep inside the woodwork instead of flying centimetres past the wrong side, the clearances from defence land at an Arsenal players feet instead of an opponents and the officials see an incident for what it really is instead of assuming the worst. Not asking for any favours, just honesty and consistency.

If the pre-season ‘friendly’ was anything to go by, Utd will play tough. Or should that read rough? They’ll be all over us out of possession, no doubt crossing the line with their physicality and they’ll look to pounce on any mistakes we make, especially if/when we lose possession from our own attacking play and set-pieces. I know we as a team want to attack a set-piece but we have to be switched on to a potential breakaway. Utd have quick attacking players.

The main criticism of Utd which I’ve read is of their defending and looking weak through the middle. They’ll be weaker in defence now Varane is out and even though they’ve signed a left back from Totts, it’s still an area Arsenal should look to exploit. Saka up against Reguillon. Onana in goal is clumsy, his distribution can be excellent but get at him early and he can panic and make mistakes.
Martinez alongside either Maguire or Evans? Even Havertz, if he starts, should be rubbing his hands together at the prospect. Jesus or Nketiah? On form alone, it’d have to be the latter but I suspect it’ll be the Brazilian who gets the nod.

The match itself should be good but anything other than a home win will be disappointing.

Catch up in the comments.

 

 

rico

70 thoughts on “Arteta’s plans take a hit, could be costly.”

  1. allezkev says:

    Morning Rico, good post ‘Why didn’t we do anything on deadline day?’ you ask?
    Well I reckon it’s got everything to do with what we spent, balancing the books and the disappointing return on who left.

    For example Rob Holding who we got only £1m for (add-ons to follow) a player I thought we’d get £8 to £10m for, but it’s clear that I value our players higher than other interested parties? Then we have Kieran Tierney, during the summer I thought £35m would be generated from his sale, but we couldn’t even get back the fee we paid Celtic when we originally signed him…

    Who knows what we’ll get for him, nobody wanted Pepe or Cedric Soares or Lokonga and we couldn’t initially move Tavares although both the last two went out on loan for peanuts. It’s been a worrying theme all summer and KSE who were probably assured that we’d bring a few lump in from sales will have seen what happened and no doubt insisted that Edu would need to sell well for them to sanction anymore new arrivals.

    So we go with what we have and maybe it opens the door for our academy boys to take up the slack because Arteta is going to have to rotate heavily or risk more Timber and Partey scenarios…

  2. allezkev says:

    Mo Elneny began light training in early May, at the time it was reported that the club hoped to have him back in time for the USA tour, but his recovery has obviously been more problematic and there’s been no news regarding him since May 9th. Hopefully we might hear something positive about him after the Interyawn. 😴

  3. rico says:

    Morning Kev, thanks.

    If Partey is a long term, why not get someone on loan though? My only conclusion is that Partey’s injury cannot be that bad.

  4. rico says:

    Re not selling our players well comes from them not playing much imo. It’s clear to everyone out there that we want rid so other clubs will offer low. If Saka went on the market, a very different story would unfold I think. Other first team players too.

    I understand why Arteta freezes players out (awful expression) but it’s bites the club in the backside in the end.

  5. allezkev says:

    Nicholas Pepe and Cedric Soares are into their last year, both are on salaries that have prevented their departures from Arsenal and so it’s been suggested that Arsenal will cancel their contracts, but if we have to pay up what is remaining on their deals for them to leave and probably pay their agents a big wedge into the bargain then I see no point in releasing them. If it’s going to cost the same to keep them and we have the space in the squad (25) then just keep them, use them in the League Cup and FACup?

  6. rico says:

    Re our injuries pre deadline day, back in the Wenger days, he’d have been ripped to shreds for not finding cover for two long term injured players yet now it seems that different rules apply.

    Yes, we spent money but we’ve wasted a lot too. Just my opinion of course. 😆

  7. rico says:

    Said the same yesterday Kev, especially re Pepe who we know is a really good footballer but his playing style is simply disliked by Arteta.

  8. allezkev says:

    Maybe Edu tried to bring players in on loan but it was so late in the day that he probably couldn’t get the deals over the line, I’m sure we were in for additions

  11. rico says:

    Another thought, Partey was never going to play in this game as he needs a rest so we’ve claimed injury just to prevent him going off on international duty. Jorginho the holding guy, Rice the CM and back to the best four at the back. 😂

    Cunning Arteta. Lol

  12. Cicero says:

    Good morning Rico, we know Arteta wants to be unpredictable so his cunning plan could see Saka at right back. Wotcher fink? 😉

  14. Aussie Geoff says:

    Afternoon Rico and all, Man U are their for the taking as long as Arteta picks the right players in the right position and we tighten up on loose passes, and Ramsdale doesn’t go walking too far out of the box as Manu U will kick it long over head knowing that he will not be able to get back in time to stop the goal.

  16. potter says:

    We all wanted our buying done early and we got it but what it meant was that we had a book balancing act to undertake . Consequently we were flagged as in need of selling which meant that the values went down .
    The problem was that we did not have a diamond to sell and the ones we did want to shift were extremely comfortable in their current contracts. The only real money that we got in was for Xhaka who everyone knew was leaving and his destination was agreed therefor no auction and Balogun whose only real market was France to clubs that were not going break their structures for a young player that had just had a brilliant first season.
    It seems that the euphoria from last season is dissipating and Arteta’s seagulls and trawler style driving simile shows a surprising lack of understanding of the fans quite rightly held concerns.. Instead of addressing the problem in plain language , gobbledegook will only make things worse.
    At the end of last year the fans were fairly happy with the centre backs and goalkeepers , we knew we were going to replace Xhaka , we had ESR waiting in the wings and various alternatives in the squad , we all knew that we need a forward. we replaced Xhaka bought a full back and another keeper but ignored the striker.
    Now the injuries are starting to hit and we are getting stretched already.
    Today is an incredibly important game , I don’t care how but we need three points.

  18. Wavy says:

    Me too, Potter and Rico.
    One thing is, for sure, Havertz is no Xhaka and never will be. I think Arteta has to find another from within! ESR perhaps or is he more of a winger? Or Nelson is surely our turn to replacement winger for either flank? Not sure what Mikel is smoking presently. And, while I’m at it, if Gabriel is not first pick today then the writing’s on the wall in terms of his career at Arsenal, or rather the lack of it….Saudi here he goes!!

    Anything but three points today and I suspect that there will be no top four at the end of this season. The first three games have been little better than ordinary a rerun of the last 12 games of last season. We seem to be in a bit of a rut, or a sort of spiral downwards. Today is the day to turn it round, I think.

    CoyGs

  19. rico says:

    Hi Wavy, ESR played there before I think. He’s more of a midfielder than winger imo. Arteta probably wants the height of Havertz but he’s forgetting his footwork has left him, in fact it’s probably still in Germany….

  20. Aussie Geoff says:

    If Arteta does want to sell Gabriel then starting him today might be the spark we need to get some one come calling for him with a decent offer.
    I am trying to keep my glass half full, a good win today could be the turning point to a good season.

  23. allezkev says:

    Last season Arteta was criticised for using the same players game after game and for not having the mythical Plan B, this season he’s trying different set ups and now that’s wrong, it’s just three games, three games!

  24. rico says:

    Not saying it’s wrong, just wondering why a proved excellent midfielder is playing in defence and a good centre back pairing is broken up to allow it to be.

  25. rico says:

    Arsenal team news

    Team to face Man Utd: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli.

    Subs: Raya, Jesus, Smith Rowe, Kiwior, Tomiyasu, Trossard, Jorginho, Vieira, Nelson.

  48. AndrewH1313 says:

    Saka always has 2 men on him, to be fair Rashford did, but they still let him come inside both of them to shoot. And of course Ramsdale’s hand pushes onto post but goes in.

  56. Aussie Geoff says:

    What a finish, at last a VAR decision in our favour, we deserved it.
    Well it’s 3.30am in oz, good night all

  59. Sue says:

    Hi Rico.. I’ve just got my breath back haha! That was brilliant.. 3 superb goals.. The Butcher (Martinez) butchered himself 🤣 And the codswallop ETH came out with afterwards!! I love Rice, what a performance.. and Jesus is back – how cool was that goal? Brilliant…

  62. AndrewH1313 says:

    I was already in a state after running the Big Half in London, just got back in time (90 minutes trains from Cutty Sark) to watch that, and I’m in even more of a state, mentally! My son now has a season ticket, not been able to get through to him, reckon he’s in a noisy pub somewhere 🙂

    Agree rico, what a horrible man TH is, and of course didn’t mention Arsenal once.

  63. Sue says:

    That’s great, Rico – hope you enjoy it (& we win of course).. 👍
    Now what time is MOTD2 on? At least Gary Neville or Mike Dean won’t be on there 😅

  65. potter says:

    If they can get a game Rico . It was nice to see Nelson come on but the young ones must be looking at ESR and wondering .

  66. rico says:

    I did think that as I wrote it Potter. Seems Vieira is in front of ESR and Trossard now but I guess once the CL fixtures kick off, we’ll see more of them. Hopefully anyway. Not sure for how long Havertz will be given a starting place…

  67. Cicero says:

    Moments before the third goal I was trying to remember if Jesus had actually done anything significant apart from getting booked, then he got that goal and showed what he can do when he wants to.

    For all the United manager said, I really think he should look in the mirror. He will get a good look at one of the major causes of his teams poor start to the season.

    With Varane out and Martinez also injured ETH will have to rely on Maguire, Lindelof and Evans, things aren’t going to improve anytime soon.

  68. allezkev says:

    Ten Hag whenever he loses always blame everyone else and everything else, he’s nowhere as good a coach as he thinks he is and the media think he is, I don’t reckon he’ll be in charge at Old Trafford in a couple of years time?

    I can’t stand him…

  69. allezkev says:

    Apparently that was the first time that Jesus has scored against United…

    Now we definitely owe Everton some payback after last season so a Goodison trashing send-off over the Toffees would be very enjoyable.

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