Morning all.
I cancelled my BT Sport agreement back in November last year when the World Cup kicked off so the biggest decision I had to make yesterday morning was whether or not to sign up for for the month. No sooner had I thought about it, £30 was on its way to Sky. Tempting as it is to say I wish I hadn’t bothered, one has to take the rough with the smooth in life.
Arsenal were far from smooth against Everton. The team’s usual slick and quick passing game deserted them. There were errors, misplaced passes and as the Everton players, clearly determined to prove they are better than relegation fodder, got stuck in, Arsenal couldn’t find their rhythm.
I thought we were fortunate to go into half-time at 0-0 as Everton had three really good opportunities to take the lead. We had opportunities too, Nketiah fired high and wide, Saka had his shot cleared off the line and then Nketiah, after some lovely footwork to get past a couple of defenders, teed up Odegaard perfectly but his effort was better suited to the oval ball game.
In the end, a corner undid us. Tarkowski was the goal scorer but Dacoure was all over Gabriel as the ball was crossed.
I think Eddie Nketiah summed things up rather well.
It was a difficult game. They made it very tough. Personally, we weren’t at the standard we needed to be at today and we’ve got to improve and make sure we bounce back in our next game. Credit to them, they put out a good gameplan and executed it well today. I felt like we just didn’t execute ours to the best of our ability, we were a bit sloppy at times. These games happen, it’s a long season and everything’s not always going to go your way and we know that.
The internet will probably go into overdrive, the media will tell us how poor Arsenal were and playing like that, there’s no way we’ll win the League, but as Eddie Nketiah said – things can’t go right all of the time. As ‘you do’ I had a read around the internet to get a feel of the reaction to yesterday’s loss and what surprised me was the negativity towards Mikel Arteta and his decision making. Yep, the same man whose decision making has us sitting top of the League table.
It is a long season and it’s only just halfway through. Even though we’ve seen Arsenal’s name sitting top of the table for a while now, it doesn’t mean we’ll win the League in May because funny enough, another 19 clubs have their own goals to achieve so they’ll be fighting hard for them. I’m sure Mikel Arteta’s team will lose again this season, just as I’m quietly confident Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, Newcastle Utd and Tottenham will too but it doesn’t mean disaster has struck.
What’s weird with Arsenal though is seldom do just one or two players have an off day, the majority do at the same time and in the same game. Another day, Nketiah would have at least hit the target, Odegaard would have buried his chance and someone other that Tarkowski would have got his head to that corner but it was one of those days when little was going our way.
A couple of snippets from Mikel Arteta’s post match interview on the club’s official website:
What he wants the team to do in the next game:
I want the team to know how much I love them. I love them much more now than three hours ago, a week ago, month ago, three months ago. It’s very easy to be next to the players when they are winning and performing. This is the moment I love my players more, the staff more and now we stick together. This journey is going to be difficult and challenging, and there’s going to be bigger stones in the middle that we’re going to have to overcome that. And now we’re going to prepare really well in the week to get to Saturday in the right emotional level and right spirit to be perfect.
How to stop one loss from turning into more:
You can try a lot of things on the pitch to try and deserve to win the game.
How the team can respond after only our second league defeat of the season:
The best way to do it is to understand who we are, why we’ve gotten to where we are and then start to do all the basic things right, play the way we want to play, and how to do it better individually and collectively. Then you’ll earn the right to win games.
And don’t panic. Arsenal have showed enough grit, determination and passion to win football matches over the last six months to know that yesterday was just a blip. This group of players are too good to just collapse after one minor setback and Mikel Arteta is too good to let it happen. Who knows, we might look back on the Everton game and be grateful one day because sometimes, a loss can bring with it a reality check. What’s important now is the next game, Brentford at The Emirates where it’ll be our own 58 odd thousand fans behind the team and manager.
Let’s hope this afternoon’s later game ends in a draw, or even a win for the home team….
Catch up in the comments..
Morning Rico and all.
I didn’t get to see the whole story, but apparently Everton goal should not have counted as Alex Iwobi touched the ball first from an offside position.
Can we please start our Japanese right back. This 50m guy is just NOT it
Morning Geoff, all.
We were just well beaten imo. Everton had a plan to not allow us to settle and we didn’t. Scrappy game really but imo it was just one of those days.
Harsh Crispen.
Time to move on , that weak underbelly was in evidence yet again , Partey played because we could’nt start Jorginho and was not 100% and so the midfield didn’t operate properly . I would not be surprised to hear that Dyche stopped the grass preparation during the week .
Stop us passing and you are halfway there combine it with a fast press leaving your foot in wherever you can and drop like stones holding your head and hope that a weak ref with a well publicised anti Arsenal agenda is compliant.
Gabriel was baulked for their goal and Odegaard was shoved out of the way by Tarkowski but you will never get that sort of decision in a bear pit. We need to stand up and be counted and work on how to stop Toney and his mates doing the same.
For the next couple of games we will play on a well manicured pitch which will help our style and the game against City should be a game for purists.
It’s too early to say that the wheels have come off but 6 points from the next two games should put us back on track.
Agree and Everton did that perfectly. They allowed us little time on the ball and we didn’t like it. It was always going to be that way imo, once Dyche was appointed. I think we Arteta and the players should have expected it.
Morning Rico. Yes, there were a lot of things that didn’t go our way, like the incorrectly awarded corner from which they scored. But, we had our chances and never took them so we have to suck this one up and make sure we are back in the groove for the next game.
Morning Adam. Let’s hope we don’t have many more 12.30 kick offs.
Arsenal’s misfortune was that Everton had changed coaches, just when we were going to face them.
Arsenal tried to play with their style of play but Everton were very well mounted and knew how to nullify Arsenal’s strengths.
So who do we want to win, Spurs or City?
A draw..
It’s a hard one if Spurs win it’s a get out of jail free card but I get over my natural desire for them to lose .
can’t
@Crispen why quote 50M in your comment? Thought that’s abit overboard in trying to describe one of the most versatile
Players in the squad,,,….just because he had an off day?-And so was the entire team, but as for me, I choose not to criticize players and a manager who have given us 50 points from 20 games and are 5 points clear at the top of the table. I’ll offer my unwavering support with the hope that we bounce back in the next game. No room for negativity.
That’s the only time I’m going to be glad to see Totts win. 😂
Still five points ahead then…
Kaylo, it’s what happens when we lose sadly..
Can’t believe Tottenham helped fix our crap weekend.
It’s not we lost that upsets fans, it’s how we performed that annoys fans.
Went to church today to be cleansed, after hoping and thanking Toots for winning, never again.