Morning all.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a weak and clueless Arsenal performance since that ghastly night at Old Trafford. Losing to Man City is not a crime but just like the Chelsea and Brentford defeat, Arsenal really were pathetic. Bottom of the Premier League is absolutely where Mikel Arteta’s team deserve to be.
Did anyone truly expect Kolasinac’s name to appear on the team-sheet, or Lokonga’s to be left off it? Three attacking midfielders in a team against one of the best sides in the League away from home? Bonkers in my opinion. We needed to stop City from playing, not hand them the initiative.
After a bright start by Arsenal, City opened the scoring before going on to score four more. I don’t think their second should have stood because of the smack in the face to Chambers, but the rest were probably some of the easiest goals Pep’s team have scored. All without a striker in their team. Granit Xhaka didn’t help the team at all with his reckless tackle which was only ever going to end one way. Off! P***k!
Inevitably, calls for Mikel Arteta to be sacked filled social media and NewsNow as soon as the game ended. The longer this awful run continues and the performances by an Arsenal team are as weak and spineless as they have been, the harder it’s going to be for the club to ignore the disgruntled fans.
Captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang faced the cameras after the game:
I think we need to talk between us players. I think this is now important because we are Arsenal and we need pride. That’s it. We have to talk and say the truth between each other, be honest and as I said, raise the level.
For sure [the re-building process] is going to be difficult, but we are a team. We have to stick together in this moment. As the senior players, we have to show the way as well to the young players. I know that won’t be easy but we will try to do our best.
I find his comments staggering really. We’re three games into the new season and already the captain feels a need for the players to have a clear the air chat. What’s there to talk about other than go out onto the pitch and play the game. Or is there more to it? Is Aubameyang trying suggest there’s a divide in the camp, that certain players aren’t behind Mikel Arteta, or have a problem with him?
Mikel Arteta:
I think we started the game really well and the first time that they came into our box we defended really poorly with the cross and the header and we are 1-0 down. In a few minutes we concede the second one and I think it’s a clear foul on Calum, he punches him in the face and the goal is allowed and then after 35 minutes at 2-0, you have to play with 10 men for 60 minutes. That’s a big ask.
When you are 3-0 down and with 10 men against this kind of opposition having the extra player, you’re going to find it so difficult to keep the ball at any moment because they’re going to go man to man, and mentally as well after two difficult starts in the season, coming here and starting and competing well and then going down to 10 men is mentally really demanding, so we have to manage the game as best as we could. We conceded another two goals and I’m really disappointed.
The bright start didn’t last long as City went ahead on seven minutes. The rest as they say is history. What seriously concerns me and no doubt you too but I can’t see how Mikel Arteta can get us out of the terrible situation which he himself has created. I know he’s had players missing through injury and Covid but even so, someone in his position should know how to set the team up to nullify an opponent’s strengths. By now he should know which players are best at doing what he wants/expects them to do.
Why, after being out of the team for so long and clearly on the the way out of the club, was Kolasinac even considered let alone starting at The Etihad? Mari was dropped yet City don’t have a big striker in the team, he wouldn’t have been bullied in the same Lukaku bullied him. Can’t Mari play in a back three with Holding and Chambers or Holding and Tierney? If not, why send Saliba on loan?
Surely the best way to improve a team’s performance is for partnerships to be formed and settled so they understand each other’s game? Chopping and changing the team around can’t do anyone much good. Certainly not the players, individually or as a group.
To rectify a problem, at first there needs to be an admission that something is wrong. I’m not convinced Mikel Arteta can identify the problems going on with the team let alone be able to correct them. I know there’s a process going on and great things don’t happen overnight etc but right now we’re bottom of the League and the football we’re playing isn’t at all good.
I’ve no idea what the club are going to do next but I’d imagine Mikel Arteta will stay put at least until he’s had a run of games with a fully fit squad. Even so, his Arsenal career must be hanging by a thread. A very frayed one.
See you in the comments.
G’day Rico.
I can’t say much about yesterday’s game, it as just too awful for words.
Where was Pepe? Absent but, reportedly, not due to Covid.
Sorry Rico but that’s my lot until your next post.
Depressing isn’t it?
Morning Rico. Though I hesitate in calling it an art, there’s certainly a knack to this management game. Part tyrant, part psychologist, part parent perhaps. Certainly someone who can motivate, challenge and encourage plus of course someone who can read a game and select the right players to implement some sort of plan that is the on-field extension of their personal footballing ethos.
Afternoon Cicero, totally understand.
Afternoon Adam, I think the key is to be able to forgive and forget and not hold grudges. On top of knowing about the game of course. Lol
Rico. I’m sure Saliba would attest to that.
Indeed Adam. Perhaps one or two others too.
Yes. It’s hard to apply any rationality to Arsenal right now, though last night I did hear a strange story about a ghost from the 1830’s who still haunts and curses the land where the Emirates stadium stands.
It made more sense as anything I’ve seen at the club lately.
Morning Rico and all
I still believe the older player have no respect for Arteta as a coach/manager due to the fact that he is trying to tell them what to do when he has no coaching experience on his own.
If Arteta new as some say we were going to loose then why not bring on the new players at half time to give them some premier league experience. to me by not picking them shows he has no trust in the new players he just brought.
Does it travel with Arsenal to away grounds to Adam? 😜
Rico. No, it’s a malevolent fixture at the Emirates Rico where it enjoys concessionary rates on merchandise. That’s a cynical joke but it’s curse is very real and explains a lot.
Hi Rico.. I never expected anything from the game, but once again it’s the manner in which we lost that really irks me!!
A 6 pointer next (already 😆). Hoping Partey, White and Gabriel will return for it, otherwise I’m not sure I’ll emerge from behind the sofa!
Worrying times; wondering where our first goal/points will come from. Shame we can’t play West Brom’s U23s every week!
I don’t believe in ghosts Adam.
Certainly looked that way Potter.
Hi Sue, the way things are going, we might have to settle for playing the WBA first team next season. Unless they get promoted. 😆
With Xhaka now out for three matches, I wonder if the club will go all out to sign Bissouma. We need3d him before yesterday but we definitely need him now.
Anyone watching Burnley v Leeds? Shocking tackle on Bamford which should have resulted in a sending off for Mee imo.
Agreed Rico. Straight red. Oliver seems very confused over the new interpretations.
When people hey paid to do a job it’s their responsibility to perform to the next of their abilities otherwise face the consequences. Both Arteta and most of out players should by now have written warnings about their performance because it’s pathetic. There is something seriously wrong to have so many players lacking any sort of motivation is a massive worry.
What bewilders me is how Arteta’s presents himself as this continually serious person with the weight of the world on his shoulders, which I dare say it is. But you’ve got to try and motivate your team not so much berate them all the time. As for setup and tactics again I just don’t get it, and don’t get why we sign players who we leave on the bench.
I think all the officials do Adam.
When I say that Arsenal does not defend as a block, an example is M. City’s 1st goal: Gabriel Jesus had time for everything, including “to go for a coffee”, prepare the cross and play with whoever he wanted, with Thierney following with eyes because no one was helping to cover. Then, in the area, the forwards position themselves at will and deposition the defenders and the goalkeeper. This has been a recurrent problem for us at Arsenal. We may have good players, but if they don’t have a team that defends collectively and as a block, they will never be able to go far. This is in addition to the error of defending with 5 defenders with 11 v. 10. See how Chelsea played and didn’t “throw in the towel” when they got 10.
Paul Pogba goes over the top on Ruben Neves and nothing is given, no VAR, zero…
I needn’t ask any of you how Mike Dean or the Riley lads at VAR Towers would have reacted if Pogba had not been Pogba but Granit Xhaka or anyone in an Arsenal shirt instead? No they would have been off like a shot and if Calum Chambers had thumped a Man City player in the face on Saturday instead of getting thumped himself what do any of you think would have happened to him and would it have been ignored?
Of course not…
No that’s three games that I’ve witnessed in the EPL so far this season and I’ve seen opponents foul Arsenal players and nothing has happened to them whilst the yellow card has been brandished with abandon to our players for similar or lesser offences.
It’s so open and obvious now that we hardly comment on it anymore and our club just takes it…
When we play Norwich I reckon we’ll get a few decisions going our way but it’s a game with no importance as far as the top tier is concerned despite how vital it is to us, so the refs will give us a bit as if to say ‘there ya go you stupid Arsenal fans, you can see that it evens out in the end’…
But you wait until we play any team competing for the top six because that’s when we’ll get shafted…
Premier League manager salaries 21/22
1. Pep Guardiola £20m
2. Jurgen Klopp £15m
3. Brendan Rodgers £10m
4. Marcelo Bielsa £8m
5. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer £7.5m
6. Rafael Benitez £7m
7. Thomas Tuchel £7m
8. Nuno Espirito Santo £7m
9. Mikel Arteta £5m
So forget Brendan Rodgers taking over, or Antonio Conte who was on about £25m per season with bonuses, that’s also why Allegri was never a realistic option for our Moneyball owners.
That’s life under KSE folks.
If you go for the cheap option be prepared to pay twice or three times, so we’ve had Emery who was out of work and cheap and now we’ve got Arteta who initially was cheap given he was a Head Coach, therefore I guess it follows that we’ll go for the Brentford manager next time….
Morning Kev, all.
There’s a manager out in the big wide world who is currently unemployed and that’s Lucien Favre. I was reading about him yesterday and he’s known for playing attractive football whilst being hard to beat because of his defensive abilities. Whilst at Borussia, he did the double over Bayern apparently.
Until one of the big newspapers decide to put their name to something relating to the officials, or managers/clubs get together and go to Riley with their complaint, I can’t see anything changing.
Untold Arsenal do their bit I know but sadly, their voice isn’t loud enough and if just one or two managers speak out, they’ll be labelled moaners as Arsene Wenger was.
Their needs to be a thorough report of complaint with video evidence showing the discrepancies within the game.
I like the ref review now on Sky, their presenter seems to ask the hard questions of Dermot Gallagher. Points out the inconsistencies of all the ref decisions.
Not that that will make any of them stop obvious poor decisions
Best was Tottenham, love they not falling for their shit dives
Rico, up and running👍
It is but I don’t think it’s 100% Cicero.
Morning Rico and all
Lee Dixon believe that The Kroenke family will not sack Arteta and they will give him 2 years to get us back on top I wonder if that counts relegation.
Morning Geoff, let’s hope Lee Dixon is wrong.
2 days 2 deals ?
Where and when
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Potter answer Willian and ANM leaving
Today’s post “not available”
A problem?
It’s being fixed Wavy, give it time.
From AMN’S instagram account. “All I wanna do is go where I’m wanted and where I’m gonna play” ten minutes ago.
If the rumours are true that Arteta wants to sell Willian and he wants to leave and even said that we will not have to pay him £20 million for the rest of his contract if he goes to a club he wants then I say thank you Willian and good luck to you and your family
When i published today’s post, HH crashed and the post went into a big black hole.
Can’t blame AMN for that… He should be playing at rb. Imo.
Niles needs someone to be prepared to pay a fee for him and pay his salary and if they’re not then why?
Don’t blame Arsenal have a look in the mirror Ainsley…
I think it’s pretty obvious that AMN’s time at Arsenal is all but over. Clearly Arteta either doesn’t trust him or have any intention of playing him on a regular basis. His message on instagram makes it abundantly clear, he doesn’t feel wanted but wants regular football and who can blame him.
Throughout almost his entire time at the club he has been swapped about from right back to midfield to left back to the bench and so on. He’s been sent out on loan and effectively had a for sale label hung round is neck. Wenger started it, Emery followed suit and Arteta has continued the treatment.
The club has let him down.
Wherever he goes I wish him well.
Totally agree Cicero. I wish him well too although according to Sky, the club aren’t prepared to let him go.
I thought it was harsh dumping him so soon after the FA cup run and win Kev..
How did anyone dump him Rico, he wanted to play in midfield, apparently refused to play full back anymore and that’s why he went to West Brom where Allardyce said he was more suited to full back/wing back.although it seems that that story has now changed and apparently it’s Arsenal that wanted him to play in midfield and he wanted to play full back, it’s very confusing?
I reckon that a lot of our players have cotton’d onto the Mesut Ozil ‘let’s attack the manager and club online’ policy, which leaves you in a quandary, because someone is being economical with the truth, the club/manager or the player/agent/ social media guys working for the agent. 🤔
One minute he was playing Kev, the next he was out of the team. Has he actually refused to play fullback though or just stated his preference is to play in midfield?
It’s all just guessing really..
That’s all any us can do Rico, but I don’t recall anyone saying it wasn’t so when Niles dropped out of the picture, he’s gonna stay anyway because we can’t afford to let him go tbh.
We have two foreign spaces to fill now that Willian has left and I’m not considering Runarsson, that’s if Bellerin and Kolasinac stay. Nketiah looks as if he’s going to stay as well.
We’ve moved on Luiz, Willian, Torrieira, Mavropanos and Guendouzi, positive or negative, you all decide…
we need a right back quickly.
Bellerin go no where
Nelson probably on loan to Feynoord
C. Palace bought the Celtic center forward. So no space to Nketiak
Who wants Runarsson?
Kolosinac – Fenerbache?
I don’t get this club one minute we’re selling a player because we never pick him next minute his not for sale because we might need him, no wonder the players and fans Are confused.
Arteta and Edu have no plans on or off the pitch except how to fill their bank accounts.
Ozil message can be taken several ways, but it makes you wonder what Is really going on in behind closed doors.
Good Morning Rico…..and all those who are confused like me
Deadline day.
I think that transfers out and transfers in will all be on-loan with an obligation to buy.
Bellerin seems to be going on loan to Betis. Not exactly Barcelona is it? Or Atletico Madrid.
Nketiah and AMN are hanging in limbo.
Willain has increased all the fans respect by about a hundred notches. I really respect and admire the guy as a person. I did not agree that he was played and imo should not have been signed given his age….and the fact that he was earning that much but not giving it all on the pitch……however what he did has shoved all the comments we said about him up our throats.
who would I like to see come in?? Well tbh if the UK were still in the EU I would have liked to see Emerson of Barca….strong, very technical and fast. However, I prefer Max AArons of Norwich. I would also love to see Wout Weghorst and all 6ft 6 inches of him spearheading the attack. Yes he is 29 but he is very experienced. Houssem Aouar is another for the AM while Guimareas is a good option for CDM.
However, the confusion that we observe going at the club will put paid to any transfers coming in
True Kev. If only only of us were a fly on the wall within the club eh. Perhaps then we’d have an idea of what’s really going on. From the outside, it all seems a bit of a mess really.
Morning Devil, Geoff, all.
So this is it . Deadline day .
From tomorrow morning we have what we have and Arteta’s job is to get a tune from them.
No more of the I did not want him or him , it doesn’t wash .
Time to show your coaching skills and those of your appointed back room boys .
If he turns things round then great, He has 17 league matches before January 1st and the next window . At this point , if things have not picked up , he either falls on his sword or the board sweeps the whole project away and goes for anyone that can shore the thing up.
Spot on Potter and surely we all want him to turn things around. I foresee the NLD being a pivotal moment. The Emirates faithful will go berserk if we lose that one.
New post up now