Morning all.
We didn’t lose. ✔️
We are through to the last 32. ✔️
We topped the group. ✔️
No Inter Milan, Ajax, Porto, RB Salzburg, Benfica etc. ✔️
We played really well. ✖️
Two great moments from young Saka. Firstly his cross for Lacazette to head home, secondly his goal. Both excellent. As was Martinelli. The rest of the game was awful from an Arsenal perspective.
More concerning than the performance, particularly from the senior players was the comments made by Freddie after the game:
“We played really well to our game plan in the first half. They didn’t have any shots on target. We should have maybe been one or two up at half-time. We got sucker-punched a bit, they scored two deflected goals… you can’t really slam the players for that. We could have folded but we didn’t. 2-2, we could have got a 3-2 but I had the information about the other score, so we didn’t go too hard.”
On the character of the team, he added:
“It’s tremendous. I’m really proud of them. They showed belief in how they can play football. It’s good for us in the future. The energy, they go and go. They don’t stop.”
I don’t know what Freddie saw in that game but whatever it was, I missed it as I didn’t see much energy until Martinelli came on. ESR and AMN tried a few moves down our right hand side but without really threatening their goal. Saka too showed promise and had a couple of chances saved but the highlight, or rather lowlight was how bad our midfield and defence were. Sokratis and Luiz were woeful, a terrible terrible combination in my opinion. Martinez could do little about the goals we conceded because of the deflections but prior to the initial shots, we were all over the place. Yes Freddie, they should be ‘slammed’ for that.
As should Guendouzi who was booed by the home fans after his antics at the start of the game. His reaction to being caught in the neck/chin area by what looked the softest of connections, was pathetic. It’s cheating and not nice to see.
All that aside, I suppose we should bear in mind the number of changes made to the team yesterday, the lack of playing time for a few of them and playing out of position too which can create problems. But as Freddie and many of us have said before, it’s the experienced players who need to set the example, to help the younger guys as they find their feet on the big stage, especially on the pitch.
On whether the impact of young players changes his thinking about needing experienced players to step up…
What I meant with that was no disrespect to the older players, but I was a young player myself once upon a time and if you are in deep trouble, that’s not fair to put that young pressure on a young player. You have to change it for us, players that play for many seasons, that are experienced pros, those are the ones that need to take the lead. Of course we’ve had young players that have played really, really well and have worked really hard, so I think as well that’s a little bit hopefully that the experienced ones help them to feel that freedom and they can express themselves and they can go but of course some of the young players have done really, really well.
Our senior players simply aren’t doing enough in my opinion. Captain Lacazette was barely in the game bar his goal, Sokratis and Luiz, well no wonder panic sets in every time they have the ball at their feet inside our own penalty area. Hardly ideal surroundings for the returning Mavropanos who soon caught the ‘play it out from the back badly’ bug.
But, we did fight back so a little credit there and we have topped the group thanks to Frankfurt mucking their game up worse than us.
Here’s a few minutes of the match in case you missed it.. I would say highlights, however….
Man City next. I can feel my knees knocking already..
See you in the comments guys..
Hi Rico and all.
From 2 down, we did pretty well to fight back but then, we should’ve 2 down against this standard of opposition.
I guess Freddy is trying to be as positive as possible and that’s understandable, but we really do need these more senior guys stepping because they’re being shown up by kids!!
That’s a massive positive on one hand, but very disappointing on the other.
HI Rico The more Freddie speaks the more worried I am if he feels the senior players are not pulling there wait and we have Man city this week I am wondering if it would be better as they say to send the lambs to the slaughter and tell them to sink or swim and pick our kids to play and rest the senior players
Good morning Rico.
Without knowing precisely what Freddie’s plan was it is hard to criticise our players for the woeful performance.
In the last match he said it was his plan to retain possession and tire the opposition out by making them chase the ball. It worked against The Hammers and, to an extent, it worked last night. But for a Greek tragedy, Mavropanos and Sokratis both turned their backs on shots and both defected the ball wide of Martinez, we perhaps could have had a more comfortable evening, albeit against a pretty average team.
I hope Freddie has a plan B because his plan A wont work against a better side, least of all against Manchester City.
Morning Scott, Geoff, Cicero and all.
I get Freddy is trying to be positive, probably more so for the younger players than the older.
Morning all.
Freddie’s arm around his players and generally begging them up, is, I think from what he said, in stark contrast to the previous coach who dissed some of the influential players. Eg look at what Ozil said about the help he’d given him in contrast to being humiliated by little Dick.
No wonder the team is short on confidence. Dick Emery sucked the life out of them. (One for LC there).
The more I think about Emery Wavy, the more I realise what a terrible appointment he was…
Hi Rico I guess we are not going to agree on this but I feel we have to stop wrapping the young players in cotton wool yes they are still learning but we have to make them responsible for there actions lets face it they get better pay then most of us will ever get and if we stuffed up at work we will get sacked.
what about putting the senior team in a bus and drive them to a small local club and make them watch a match so they can see young 10 year old kids playing on crap ground and dreaming of making it in the big league and the adults playing for the love of the game knowing they will never make their dream come true of playing in the big league and remind the players that they are living there dream.
Another poor performance,Luiz – ouch,his signing has to be one of the worst of recent years.A few positives though and the team will be much changed on Sunday,if we persist with playing out from the back,it could be carnage though.
Europa League draw is on Monday,we avoid all the big guns.
Afternoon Rico, busy busy for me, but great post.
Geoff, don’t be worried, Freddie is trying to repair the confidence of our players, you don’t do that by ripping into them in the Press. It’s going to be a long long job repairing the damage that Emery inflicted on our squad, I think that Freddie is doing it very carefully.
9 changes, carrying a lot of injuries, conceded two unlucky goals, but fought back again to salvage a result.
It’s not great, but then Arsenal haven’t been great for years, we all know this.
Man City is going to very very difficult and we’ll probably lose, but if we get a draw I will swim naked in Loch Ness…
Enjoy that thought…. 😁
Hi All, Great post Rico.
I’m all for keeping the players happy and united, I like to see the togetherness, But…… These are not little kids, they earn a fortune and if they don’t pull their weight they have to be told. I’m sorry but if you can’t take a bit of advice/ criticism then bugger off.Too many lightweights in the team I’m afraid.
Evening Rico and all.
I am always accused of being negative but this team is beyond a joke.Freddie deflected the abysmal defending by praising Saka who with Martinelli were for me our best two players.
Kroenke has a short list of three and as he knows nothing about football who knows who he will chose, probably the cheapest option.
We need to offload several players and replace them but if Freddie is really short term whoever is chosen will have different players in mind to buy or sell.If Freddie stays until the end of the season mid table at best. It will take several seasons and money to get back in the top 4 regularly.The players are showing a bit more on the field and playing for him but too many are just crap.
One can practically right a match report without seeing the game.
I have seen enough of many of our squad of defenders that can’t be improved.
I thought Smith-Rowe was very good last night,he worked really hard.
Unexpectedly a season ticket has come onto the market early this morning from an eminent politician who is about to leave his job and join Arsenal Fan TV 😎
Afternoon Kev, Kelsey, all.
Thanks Mike, if these younger players were playing week in, week out then yep, perhaps they’d deserve a bit of stick but it must be difficult coming in and out of a team and be expected to perform to a high level. Especially when those they are playing alongside are the likes of Luiz etc..
Thanks Kev. Agree, this is ten years of decline which no manager imo will fix overnight. Whoever gets the job permanently really needs to be allowed to choose his own players too and sell those he doesn’t want.
Kelsey, from what I’ve read, the board will make the managerial decision and then take that to KSE for rubber stamping. I very much doubt the Kroenkes would be involved in any original selection process..
Evening all and thanks Rico.
This is an Arsenal long term project as everyone seems to agree on, so with that in mind it`s my humble right opinion that we need a young vibrant coach, one that knows The Arsenal andd can speak English with a slight Jock/Spanish twang……………………….I give you Artetatatatatatata see you Jimmy he`s from Barcelona…………….
I bet the Loch Ness waters are cold this time of the year so a naked Kev would give numerous sightings of The Loch Ness Midget ! 😆
It’s quite unusual and it makes me feel a bit queasy but I tend to agree with you Cocker. 😁
Hi Rico, I agree with you Re younger players.. If they have a bad game or make mistakes of course, but for not trying hard enough, not sprinting back , tackling and helping out the defense. They have to be told. There are too many lazy players in the squad who need a kick up the backside in my opinion.
Players like Martinelli and Smith-Rowe ran themselves into the ground, while others were only interested when they had the ball.
If Kev’s going swimming in Loch Ness he needs to watch out for the Sturgeon, she’ll have his Sassanach balls in a frying pan quicker than he can blink an eye. 😉
sorry to disagree with most of you but if the young players are not ready for senior football or get told off then they should not be picked in the first place after all we don’t have to be nice to these kids it is not a wright to play for arsenal it’s a privilege to play for arsenal or any other club lets face it even if we get Arteta like most want does not mean he will keep the kids
Geoff,
Imo, it’s down to the fans whether or not we give the kids a fair chance.
If we demand results here and now, then the kids won’t get a fair go.
If we have patience, They will.
I believe Ruth Davison said that she would swim Loch Ness naked too if the SNP were successful so I would choose my day carefully.You wouldn’t want her behind you .
Sadly, Potter the skinny dip was conditional. The SNP had to achieve 50 + seats if you were to be rewarded with the questionable delights of Ms Davison in the buff, swimming with her lookalike character, Nessie!
Yet another disappointment for a long time Arsenal supporter, I’m afraid.
On a happier note I see that Gentleman Jezza is refusing to take responsibility for the disaster that has befallen the Labour Party, and insists he won’t resign until a new leader is in place. (The last leadership contest took more than four months to resolve.) so, no quick fix there then! A bit reminiscent of Pensioner Wenger?
Albert Steptoe for PM anyone?
Even more sad to say is that it sort of reflects the disarray that the Arsenal find themselves in, both on and off the pitch. But at least they Don’t employ Len McCluskey as chief scout/headhunter😂
Meanwhile, in the real world the dippers are one up v the Hornets. We nearly beat the Watford warriors didn’t we, Liverpool should get home quite comfortably then?
Afternoon all. A nice day today, no Arsenal results to worry about.
My thoughts on Ms Davidson and her impromptu bathing habits were the basis of my warning to you to not enter the water at the same time .
As for watching her in action . Wwe get enough idiots in the Norfolk Broads without traversing the country to see another.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/dec/14/arsenal-reminder-place-in-elite-for-granted
Morning all.
Great to see Arteta heading back to the Emirates.
Well, I’m hoping it’s the first step towards a more permanent residency 🙂
Can we have any confidence at all today???
Morning all.
New post up now