Morning all.
When Crystal Palace beat Liverpool in the early game yesterday afternoon, the door opened for Arsenal to put a bit of space between themselves and Klopp’s team. But, to achieve that, Arsenal, including Mikel Arteta, had to respect the opposition and be aware of the threat they posed. Villa aren’t 4th in the league without good reason.
Some of our best performances this year have been with Jorginho and Declan Rice in midfield, Jakub Kiwior at left back and Kai Havertz up top. Mikel Arteta left two of the three out and with Jesus in the side, Havertz dropped back into a position he struggled to grasp when he first arrived at Arsenal.
Leaving out Jorginho and Kiwior was like saying we didn’t need them both because we could win without him, after all, we’re the home team and we were facing a side we should beat. Our back four, which in the league has been so so good, was disrupted because of Zinchenko’s inclusion.
As I’ve said before many times, there’s a reason the saying ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ exists. Mikel Arteta changed something which wasn’t broken and with it, broke Arsenal.
Without Jorginho or perhaps Partey, Rice had less of an impact on the game. Gabriel had little to no support from his left back, a left back often spotted in central midfield. Jorginho ended up coming on from the bench but by then, it was too late as Villa had found their rhythm.
Chances came our way in the first half, the best falling Leandro Trossard but Martinez kept it out. Saka went close but not close enough and other than that, our football was a bit scrappy in and around the box. Villa dealt with what we had to offer with relative ease.
Half-time came and I’d hoped the players would come out with a bit more about them, possibly with a change or two of personnel too. If I hadn’t have already known, I’d have thought it was Arsenal who’d played on Thursday night rather than Unai Emery’s team because it was they who had a spring in their step.
Having already hit the woodwork twice, Villa finally took the lead in the 86th minute. Deserved too in my opinion. Sloppy defending allowed the ball through and across the penalty area where Bailey stood on his own. He made no mistake with his finish. We went in search of an equaliser but left gaps at the back. A swift ball to Watkins who was lurking just inside his own half unmarked and off he went towards goal. Raya was beaten for a second time.
I don’t wish to take anything away from Aston Villa who were in my opinion, the better team by far in the second half, but Arsenal were awful. Possibly the worst performance I’ve seen this season, definitely this year. The defending was woeful, partly because Gabriel was covering both central and left side of the defence and without the extra defence minded midfielder, there was no protection for the back four.
Unai Emery must have been licking his lips when he saw Zinchenko at left back and just Rice in midfield. If his plan was to absorb the Arsenal pressure and go half-time at 0-0 before going up a gear in the second half, then his plan worked.
Basically, what’s worked for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal for the last four months was ditched yesterday for something which simply wasn’t good enough and that’s on the manager. He took a risk with his team selection and it backfired. I think he let the game go on too long before making changes too. Two top quality midfielders on the bench yet we didn’t see either until the 79th minute of the game. In hindsight, I imagine Arteta wishes he’d made his changes at half-time because they might have made a difference to how the second half played out.
I don’t think Arsenal are out of the title race though, just like I don’t think Liverpool are either but both clubs now need Man City to drop points. That’s the tough part though as it’s usually at this stage of the season when Guardiola’s players are at their best. Strange things happen in football though as yesterday proved for both Arsenal and Liverpool.
Next up for Arsenal is Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.
Catch up in the comments.
Morning Rico
I agree with your view about the change in personnel. It looked like we were a midfielder short for a lot of the game. Maybe if the Trossard shot goes in the outcome would have been different, with Villa having to chase the game.
I was surprised Tomi came on for White instead of Zinchenko.
An opportunity missed and we now must cross our fingers that City slip up.
Yes, I agree and I think most Gooners would too, that It was a strange team selection from Arteta. Was this the beginning of a choke or simply a dreadful day at the office after so many good ones over the last three months? Wednesday night at the Allianz is going to show what this team is really made of!
Morning Pete.
I really don’t understand the changes Arteta made. My only thought is he was thinking about Bayern which if I’m right, was foolish.
Agree re Tomi, Zinchenko needed replacing although White had been booked..
Not a choke imo, just wrong players for a very good Villa side. I cannot for the life of me work out why Arteta opted for one midfielder when two has worked so well.
I don’t fancy our chances on Wednesday.
Good morning Rico. I’ve just read the match report in today’s Telegraph, I put of reading it until after breakfast not wanting to spoil it, and it makes pretty grim reading.
There’s little point in repeating my comments from yesterday evening, a night’s sleep didn’t alter my opinion one iota.
Perhaps the most telling point is demonstrated in the photo of Watkins’ second goal, the only two Arsenal players in the shot are Raya and Emil Smith Rowe, just where were our famed defenders?
Arteta’s team selection for the Bayern match on Wednesday will be interesting to say the least.
That’s a pretty fair summation of how the wheels dropped off and why. The Arsenal media is quite damning this morning but there is a common theme and that is that despite his likeable nature Zinchenko at left back is a liability.
Once again we saw that having Havertz up front is the only way that the ball sticks unless we get it to Saka and he plays his tika taka with Odegaard otherwise it comes straight back to the back line and yesterday Arteta’s selection left the route to that wide open.
As suggested yesterday it was a bad day but with Wednesday on the horizon , we need to make sure it doesn’t become a habit .
There was a lot going on yesterday with quite a bit of personal grudges on display . Obviously Emery having beaten Arteta once wanted to do it again and the Martinez / Raya comparison . I know who I think is better.
It would be nice to blame Coote but although having booked Rice for a high boot he was not consistent when it went the other way with an overhead kick , and just a question , does Martinez handle the ball outside his area when he drop kicks upfield.?
Morning Cicero. I’m steering clear of the back pages for obvious reasons.
Perhaps the frustration/anger of losing yesterday will be channeled into beating Bayern. 🤔
Interesting you should say that Potter as I had the same conversation at home during the game. Martinez is often outside of his area when releasing the ball. I suppose one day VAR might start looking a bit closer.
Agree re the better keeper too, I think it’s highly likely we’ve picked the same one. He’s ghastly now but would have been great for us long term. If only eh…
Morning Rico and all.
Rico you and me will disagree about us choking, However we all need to look forward to Bayern match and see what happens.
As for the keepers, it’s hard to blame them sometimes when there is no defenders to help them out. as you mentioned before ESR one on one had no chance against a player that has warmed up.
I believe Unai Emery still wants to show the Arsenal Board that they sacked him too soon, and what better way to do it than beat us at home.
Morning Geoff, I don’t re Emery as I think he’s moved on in every way. He’s at a club who values his input with signings and he’s doing really well. He’s a very good manager imo who landed at Arsenal at the wrong time. Any manager with the board he worked under and the terrible squad he inherited would have struggled.
Zinchenko awful yet again, if he plays there on Wednesday we are in trouble. no one is saying anything about the Jesus header miss from three yards. How did the ref allow the the team wasting on ever villa goal kick. Villa were the better team and deserved the win
Hey Larry. I guess we’re too used to Jesus missing the target. Seriously though, you’re right, it was a big miss. Not to even hit the target sums him up in front of goal. He’s a frustrating player.
I said the same thing yesterday, in other words.
Raya was bad for the 1st goal and less good for the 2nd.
Afternoon Rico and Co and here comes the devils advocate 😁
Ok, I didn’t have any problems with the team Arteta selected before kick off, in fact I thought ‘with Bayern on the horizon it’s wise to rotate’ not least regarding the fact that we (or I) grumble about Arteta not rotating and resting players enough, something that was apparent in the 2nd half when we ran out of gas.
Jesus very recently stated that he’s playing in pain and will probably have to have an operation this summer, so you can’t really disrespect his commitment.
Trossard is usually accepted as our most accomplished finisher, Havertz in midfield shouldn’t be that bad and I thought he did ok overall, Saka was decent in the first half. At half time I wasn’t worried despite Villa hitting the post and Arsenal wasting so many chances. In fact Villa hitting the post with the ball running along the line and out, made me think even more so that it was going to be our day!
But I have no idea what went wrong at half time…
I also thought that Raya, whilst not to blame for the first goal, could have done better.
I actually think that he may have saved the 2nd goal but the ball took a wicked deflection off of ESR and looped into the net – that was unlucky.
Where I think that Arteta let himself down was his slowness to react to the way we were playing in the 2nd half, he seemed bemused by how poor and listless we were. I thought he should have made changes on the hour, we were that bad…
We looked tired,most of the Villa players played Thursday night but were by far the stronger in the second half. Probably as much mental as physical. I guarantee if we win in Munich,they will be running arowaund like Usain Bolt.
Loads of negativity online .
Funniest comment I saw –
Emery was always good at stopping Arsenal win trophies.
Afternoon Kev, well, it’s an agree to disagree kind of day. lol
If Jesus is playing through pain, why is he even being selected?
Why worry about Bayern when we’re playing a crucial fixture at home against a good Villa side?
Why sit and watch us get overrun instead of making changes early in the second half?
I thought we’d moved on from those days. I blame Arteta 100% for yesterday because that game was there to be won. It would have been too had the balance of the team been better.
Just my opinion of course. lol
If the players were tired, then again, only one person is to blame for that imo. Lack of rotation, something which hurt us last summer too.
ESR has been fit for ages, Partey was fit yesterday, Nelson has been fit for ages too as has Nketiah. Kiwior only played half a match on Tuesday so he must have been good to go otherwise he wouldn’t have been on the bench.
Give these guys more minutes throughout a season and others wouldn’t be feeling it now although.
That’s funny re Emery though. 😜
Oh, I forgot to mention in my post that we’re without Havertz now for two league matches after he picked up his 10th booking of the season.
Was Ben White subbed due to injury or because he had been booked?
Another worry, not just for Wednesday, is the fitness of Odegaard.
Tomiyasu can fill in at right back, but if that is the case, Kiwior should replace Zinchenko.
If Odegaard is unable available it will be an opportunity for ESR..
What is the point of Fabio Vieira, £35m splashed out on him and he’s like the invisible man.
Regarding Jesus, I think because of the impact he made vs Bayern in creating the equaliser for Trossard that despite his knee he’s going to play in pain when Arteta needs him and sort his knee in the summer. Playing him up front allowed Arteta to play Havertz in m/f and rest Jorginho.
The odd thing is if Douglas Luiz hadn’t been suspended then Arteta wouldn’t have rested Jorginho.
A sliding doors scenario. 😉
Ben White has been playing with a knee/thigh problem which is why he was taken off I’d guess.
Yes, as mentioned above the worry over the fitness of Odegaard is Saliba proportions…
Perhaps Arteta should have kept Jesus for Bayern and stuck with what’s been a good formula for the PL…
Agree re Odegaard and Vieira, the latter has been a disaster signing. It happens though, albeit someone should have spotted how lightweight he is.
If Odegaard is missing then I hope that ESR gets the nod over Vieira as his relationship with Saka is inbred and it will be important to get the best from him as he is our most dangerous player . I have to say that I fear the worse for this game although it appears that they will be affected by injuries and suspensions to Coman , Gnabry with Davies suspended and Sane either rested against Koln or said to be doubtful which means he will be fit on Wednesday , I reckon at home they will be too strong for us.
Having said that I don’t believe that at this stage of the season there is any room for resting players , that time was earlier when we were scoring for fun against the bottom 4 . Now we have to put out the best and make sure that we give it the best we have.
These were the games we all wanted again Rico, I’m looking forward to it come what may…
Arsenal U21’s lost 3-5 at home to Aston Villa, disappointing but the biggest let down was no Jurrien Timber in the squad, so he’s not close to a return yet. Maybe he’ll get a run out against Everton on the last day?
I would leave Timber in the under21’s and let him get match fit and ready for next season, unless we suffer any injuries.
what do people think? if we don’t win any silverware this season, will next season be a make or break season for Arteta.
I’m looking forward to it Kev but with low expectations 😂
New post up.
I think your hope will be in vain Potter..