Morning all.
- Crystal Palace hadn’t won at home in 2022.
- Brighton hadn’t won any of their last seven games (D1 L6)
- Southampton hadn’t won any of their last six games and had lost their last four in a row at home.
Along came Arsenal and all three clubs put an end to their dismal run. One win in the last five fixtures is the best Mikel Arteta and his players have mustered up. Only one of the four defeats came at the hands of a club above us in the league.
Arsenal’s form resembles that of a club heading for relegation. Mikel Arteta’s team has gone from going toe to toe with Man City in January, to a team which can’t even beat a Southampton team who before yesterday, couldn’t buy a win. Chelsea put six goals past them last weekend, yet not one of our players could find a way past Fraser Forster.
Mikel Arteta on how difficult it will be to pick the squad up after this defeat…
They are really down today, and they are down because they cannot find the right answer apart from what we can do better around the box, and not to win the match. That’s the frustration – when somebody is better than you you shake their hands and you have to do something, you have to believe yourself you have to be critical of yourself. But when it’s happening the way it happened – apart from 25 minutes against Palace, and some period against Brighton in the first half – it’s very difficult to explain, and accept.
Or do something about.
Personally, I thought the warning signs were there when we played Watford. We won but Roy Hodgson’s team scored twice and had one ruled out for offside. Arsenal played pretty well but the defending at times wasn’t the best and Aaron Ramsdale was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers. That day we took enough of our chances to win. Now though, we’re neither scoring goals or preventing them from being scored against us.
I don’t want to start a “Mikel Arteta out” theme but in my opinion he’s standing firmly in dangerous territory as far as his Arsenal managerial career goes. The key word there is “managerial” because I don’t think he’s managed the Arsenal squad situation at all well.
Had Eddie Nketiah played more minutes this season, the players around him might anticipate his movements. Movement different to that of Lacazette. With Lacazette playing in a deeper role, why not play both our strikers? Or have Pepe on the left with Martinelli central. I’m not saying it’d work but surely, when something isn’t working well, it’s worth trying something a little different? Tactical flexibility I think it’s called and at least Martinelli has scored a goal or two with his head which might come in handy with all the pointless high crosses lofted into the box.
Arsenal decided in January, that the squad was strong enough to get through the remainder of the season. Not one signing, permanent or loan, arrived, yet Chambers and AMN were allowed to leave which I didn’t understand at the time. Ok, neither are doing much now but that can happen at a different club. At Arsenal, with their mates around them, it can make a difference.
A small squad means less competition for places which in turn can lead to complacency. If Ben White makes errors, which he has and plenty of them, his place in team has never been under threat. Gabriel has gone from being a rock at the back, to a dodgy looking defender but it’s ok as he probably knows Rob Holding isn’t likely to replace him. Alex Lacazette doesn’t score goals but there’s no point in him stressing because if he looks over his shoulder, there’s no one there breathing down his neck other than Eddie Nketiah, a player Mikel Arteta clearly doesn’t rate very highly. Nicolas Pepe is another player who’s constantly overlooked until 60 odds minutes of game has gone by and Mo Elneny must be wondering if he’s still on Arsenal’s books!
In a season affected by Covid and with players heading to the ACON, we as a club needed reinforcements in January, not more departures. Chambers and AMN are both capable of playing at right-back as well as in midfield and Alex Lacazette hasn’t just struggled to score goals this season has he? Letting Aubameyang leave in January wasn’t the issue in my opinion but not replacing him was. I don’t believe there wasn’t a player out there who we couldn’t have signed on loan if nothing else.
If Mikel Arteta went to the board and told them he needed a couple of players in January but the club said no, then we cannot blame him for the small squad but he could have kept hold of who he had available in midfield and defence. However, if the stories about Dusan Vlahovic are true, spending money wasn’t the issue. So where was the plan b in the winter transfer window? Probably in the same place as the team’s plan b. Missing!
As far as yesterday goes, Arsenal really should have won the game. Had Saka taken the first opportunity which fell to him, the floodgates might have opened but that’s the problem with Arsenal, they simply aren’t scoring enough goals.
Whether that’s the only problem is up for debate.
See you in the comments.
good morning
What is the justification for Saka and Martinelli to have played in swapped positions?
J.M Possibly to confuse Hasanhutti ? Saka first came into the team as a left sided player ? There’s quite a few possibilities and lets face it in a less regimented team players used to cross over throughout the game and there’s no reason that they couldn’t.
Normally that would be a captain’s call but as we don’t have one on the pitch it wouldn’t happen .
We are badly run tactically . We have been badly run regarding squad retention , we have been badly run in our negotiation department and we have been for too long left by our owners to swim on our own and not oversee their boardroom appointees.
Other than that that , we are fine.
I wish our players would switch more. Like Freddie and Bobby did with great success.
Morning all.
We played good football when Saka, ESR, Martnelli were in the team with the movement and understanding. So, why change a winning combination.
From the very start of Aertea appointment I’ve said that he’s not good enough for the position and he never gives talented players the freedom they thrive on. You might not say Aertea out but I DO.
Good morning Rico and all.
It strikes me that Arteta’s selection policy is about effective as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. He has too any similar players and consequently the side, allied to his unchanging tactics, is entirely predictable. The entire squad appear to be lacking in confidence and so are risk averse, rather than taking the ball forward into contact with opposing defenders, they make safe lateral passes or play the ball back from whence it came.
A bit of variety would not come amiss.
Morning Rico and all, happy Easter
Well put Rico, The only thing I disagree with is the head line, We have not sprung a leak we have hit a land mind and going down fast with several more in front if we don’t watch out.
MM, I wouldn’t she’d a tear if he was gone by 1pm today. Deep down, I always thought his appointment was a huge risk.
Morning Cicero. Agreed.
Hi Geoff, I wouldn’t say we’re there yet but I can see a few massive icebergs ahead.
That holiday sorry training camp they went on has really worked a treat
Regarding the question I asked earlier: one thing is that winger players regularly switch sides, which doesn’t happen at Arsenal (and in my opinion wrong); another is not to switch, usually for two reasons: a) they adapt better to playing on that side; b) Collaboration with the defender is more efficient and much more profitable for the team.
Switching sides during the game is good for several reasons, as long as there is rapport with the full-back, regardless of which side you play on.
He probably thought that as he was playing Tavares that Saka was more likely to be the better bet for security purposes because that’s how Arteta’s mind works . Which in itself is a little strange seeing how he played , but then Georgie was a stroller in midfield but built the best defence that I have witnessed so there’s no logic in that.
However little makes any sense in this current set up especially his after match comments which bear little correlation to the things that we all witness. His managerial inexperience shows as he seems to bemoan his luck and then promises to work on the teams shortcomings.
It’s becoming a boring broken record and we have heard it all before and I suspect so have the players .
The plot thickens West ham drop two points against Burnley and the next round of matches pitches all the contenders against each other.
Man utd away to Liverpool , we are away to Chelsea, then home to Man utd , West Ham go to Chelsea and then are at home to us .By the 1st of May a lot will be revealed.
I don’t think I was exaggerating when I implied that a team from this blog couldn’t have performed much worse than Arteta and his bunch. (But I’m an arrogant @$$hole, so feel free to be humble and disagree.) Yet I don’t think that we would have done much better either.
I beginning to tend towards a hypothesis that the competency portfolio of Arteta & co. is seriously imbalanced. And this is not malpractice, just a limitation. On one hand there is somebody in the coaching team that is a master on how to defend set pieces, and due to his work the lads are defending corners and free kicks with an unprecedented awareness and concentration. This is something new. And I don’t know if it is Arteta himself or somebody from the backroom stuff (to be honest: I don’t really care as they are a team) but the credit goes to Mikel, as he found and brought that guy to the Emirates.
But before we start celebrating, I think the guy who is supposed to train the players how to conduct the attacks is doing a piss poor job. With all the creativity and passing skills in the team we are forcing the ineffective wingplay with crosses from the byline to our center(s) who don’t have any aerial presence whatsoever. And probably this isn’t Arteta himself either, but he is ultimately accountable, as he either doesn’t see/understand the problem or cannot bring someone to the club who is capable to addressing it.
But this is good new in disguise. If eventually Kronke would finally fire his ass, and a new coaching team would come they could train the lads how to attack properly without having to forget how to defend against set pieces.
Team selections, substitutions, tactical changes, finishing, injuries, transfers, confidence, form, competence, I could go on (oh God no I hear you cry in unison) but when all is said and done you sometimes just need a bit of luck, maybe a VAR decision that goes in our favour for a change or a referee who waves a card at an opponent instead of ignoring another foul on Saka, a red card for them ffs that would be a first, a penalty even, a goalkeeper who dives over an Arsenal shot instead making a worldy or a deflection that goes in, yeah, when all is said and done we’ve had a lot of luck this season with pretty much most of it all being bad…
Hi all,
I personally didn’t see any worldie saves from Foster. More like poor shots at the keeper and scuff shots but I guess strikes from Wingers.
Xhaka was good but went over without a save.
I think it’s clear that a finisher is required as we create so few clear cut chances.
Like in the comment I saw earlier we have no coach to develop our attackers and for all Martinelli and Saka potential, that is still all I see so far this season. Ronaldo was raw too so they have too. To develop, just never seen any forwards develop further at Arsenal.
At the end of the day it’s Arteta who has to take the blame, He is The Manager, he brought most of these players and it his selection and game plan. The only thing we can’t blame him for is a player who misses a goal from straight in front or a clear mistake by the keeper.
Morning all.
New post is up.
Spookily, it asks the question about individual players improvement and what your thoughts are. Little did I know you and Pbarany touched on that subject Brad.