Morning all.
Well that was a shocker, again!
I just don’t understand why, when there’s a left back in the squad, he doesn’t play or that a midfielder without pace, plays in that position instead. Nor do I understand why, when a perfectly capable box to box midfielder in Mo Elneny, didn’t start alongside Sambi Lokonga if Granit Xhaka was the best idea Mikel Arteta could come up with for replacing Kieran Tierney. Then after the break, Gabriel Martinelli was moved to left-back. Not for long though.
When Mikel Arteta once said he learned a lot from Arsene Wenger, he must have meant the bit about playing square pegs in round holes.
I’ve tried to remain positive about Mikel Arteta over the last year or so, to believe in ‘the process’, mainly because being negative isn’t really my thing. If one looks at Arsenal close enough though, not everything is perfect, even though we’ve been winning. Squad shortages, lack of rotation, predicable substitutions, hauling off Tavares on a night when every player is poor and casting squad players aside. I admire a lot of what he’s done in relation to clearing out the squad but….
Mikel Arteta on the performance…
The first half was really poor again. The reaction that we wanted to show and everything that we talked about, we didn’t make it happen on the pitch. We were sloppy with the ball, we were second best again in a lot of situations, we didn’t show any purpose or build any momentum in the game, play with the right speed and transform the game that Brighton proposed today and with the first chance that they had, the only chance I think they had, they scored a goal and, again, we created a cold atmosphere, an atmosphere we weren’t comfortable with and when we tried to change it, it was too late. It was great not to give up, but it was too late.
And where did that first and only chance come from?
Ok, we lost two games, which in itself is no shame but the manner in which we lost both is my concern. From being a strong team, resilient, creative, albeit lacking goals, we’ve dropped two performances which have been awful and reminiscent of the Everton and Man Utd fixtures and others before.
We’ve gone from being a strong candidate for the financial windfall which qualifying for the Champions League football brings, to, “we’ll be lucky to finish in a Europa spot”. We’re still in with a chance because Man Utd are worse than us. If West Ham win tomorrow, we’ll drop down to 6th place.
Our goal difference is 9, Liverpool’s is 57. Let that sink in.
Alex Lacazette – I know it’s been said before but he doesn’t score goals. A statistic which perhaps doesn’t matter so much when he’s at his best and creating opportunities for others which are being taken but when he’s not on his game, we might as well be playing with ten men. Are we at the stage where he’s thinking about his next club? Perhaps, and the only striker behind him is a player in the same situation, Eddie Nketiah. Arteta talks well of him, suggests he wants him to stay but actions speak much louder than words. After a really good pre-season, Nketiah has been snubbed. Like any other player, all he possibly needed was the amount of time others have been afforded.
Nuno Tavares – In my opinion, he’s been handled poorly. He should have played yesterday against a Brighton team there to be beaten. The only message Arteta sent him was “you’re not good enough”. The last two occasions he’s played, he’s not made it past half-time. Fine if that same rule applies to one and all but it hasn’t and doesn’t. It’s ok for the manager to learn his trade on the job though.
Nicolas Pepe, Mo Elneny and Rob Holding. All in the squad to be used yet when they’re needed, they’re pretty much ignored. Five or ten minutes at the end of a game is almost not worth dirtying a kit for. Yesterday, Eddie Nketiah got 30 minutes playing time, Pepe 20 minutes but there was no third change.
If Arteta was so determined not to play Tavares, why not play Holding and push Ben White to the right so that Cedric Soares could play at left back? It’s not rocket science is it? If he insisted on playing Xhaka at left-back, why not bring Mo Elneny in alongside Sambi Lokonga? I know, I’m repeating myself now.
I wrote a day or two ago that this period of time is when Mikel Arteta needed to earn his coins. To prove he has what it takes to deal with adversity in the game, much of which he’s brought on himself through not rotating his squad enough. Yesterday, he got things very wrong in my opinion, certainly with his team selection. He talked the right talk prior to the game but whatever was meant to happen according to his coaching manual, didn’t and that’s the point at which I think he struggles. When his original plan doesn’t work, he doesn’t seem to know what to do about it.
See you in the comments.
Morning Rico. As ever, there are so many ifs and buts with Mikel.
I heard or read yesterday, “An elite club (which we aspire to be) needs an elite manager”.
As ever, the most complex situations are often distilled to a few words and then the debate begins and the most interesting debates usually begin with a couple of bad losses.
Morning Adam.
I agree, a bit like the run we went on under Unai, there was more to it than just winning I think. It’s the same now, yes we were winning but mistakes were creeping in in each game that went by.
The restart after half-time spoke volumes imo. We were only 1-0 down and yet the faffing around with ball between White, Gabriel etc etc, you’d have thought we were 4-0 up. We’re far too slow in our attacking play, very City like. But it’s boring. Where is the power, pace and swift passing which makes the game exciting?
Hi.
It’s really hard being an Arsenal fan. It defies logic to to do something repeatedly and expect a different outcome. Arteta has serious trust issues and he laid it bare yesterday. It was he that refused to bring in reinforcements in January so he must take all the blame here. I would have rather we overpay for a striker in order to get UCL than bank on Laccazete and Nketiah to bang in goals. I think he’s bottled it again due to his stubbornness and insecurities.
Morning Rico.. Last season we conceded 39 goals – can you believe with 8 games left to play (& 80m spent – CB/GK) we’re only 3 behind that?!! Goals scored 55 to 45 now… Have we really improved?
I bet Ralph and his Saints are looking forward to next week; they’re on a poor run – we’re the team you want to face after a spanking!
I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not.. when the going gets tough we go awol. We obviously weren’t serious about the CL (again). Most teams find a way to win, we just wave the white flag! Oh well, there’s always next season, right? 🤣
Now for those dirty scousers to win and finish off this thoroughly miserable weekend!
Hi Babajide. I’m of the opinion that a midfielder was much needed too but who? Same with a striker. Who out there in the footballing world would both improve the team and want to move in January?
Morning Sue, history does seem to have a way of repeating itself at Arsenal. Like you, I’m not surprised either and in all honesty, I didn’t expect us to beat Brighton because we do like to gift a struggling team a break.
Thanks for a great article Rico.
Well, the Jury is still out concerning Arteta’s shortcomings so far, but his messing up yesterday isn’t rocket science even to football novices elsewhere.
Performances like yesterday’s, also last Monday against PALACE, if not addressed sooner than later, could undo all the impressive progress we’ve witnessed lately at Arsenal.
I also think that Arsenal need to move on from their well documented strong affinity for signing “smaller” players in some key positions such as Lacazette’s…because once we play a physical side, we give in so easily! Surely, are we too slow in learning our lessons based on previous EPL performances against physical EPL post-invincibles?
Again, quoting you Mr. Rico, “….Ok, we lost two games, which in itself is no shame but the manner in which we lost both is my concern…” This giving up mentality seems to run through the entire system at Arsenal. Apparently, after an impressive run of recent results, empowered by our new signings and/ or clearing up of “deadwood”, I’d started imagining that we’ve turned the corner with respect to never give up attitude (matches against top 3 sides excluded- because we’ve all noticed the old mental frailties come up when playing them). Additionally, losing a match( bad day in office), even consecutive matches, can be acceptable, provided that you bounce back in the next- Chelsea’s last 2 EPL matches is a case in point..
Quoting Mr Rico again….”When his original plan doesn’t work, he doesn’t seem to know what to do about it…”👈 here, for reasons well known to him, Mr. Arteta could still be arrogant to acknowledge his mistakes and change tact, and this is quite sad indeed, because, why stick to a plan that’s not working?
Thanks Kyalo
I too think this small, technical player signing doesn’t always work in the PL. certainly not in key positions like the core of the team. Mrs Rico please. 🤣🤣
Good morning Rico.
The Tavares situation is certainly puzzling.
Presumably Arteta had some say in his purchase and was, initially, happy to have him stand in for when Tierney was injured but something has caused his relationship with the player to break down. I believe that at the time of signing JM raised doubts about his defending and attitude and that may well be the case, but there has been sufficient time for Arteta and his coaches to overcome the difficulties, although it appears that he is not trusted so have the coaches failed him? Or is it a case that his signing was a mistake?
Either way it looks as though the transfer fee was a waste of £8 million and there is no way back for the player.
@Rico, at Arsenal we emphasis so much on small, talented, “nice” kind of player, who easily throw-in-the towel when the going gets tough facing Viera’s Palace & others, and so clearly ignoring the physical demands of the EPL.😔.
…and in don’t understand why you’ve just dragged Mrs. Rico into this debate😃😊.
Just read Arteta said he is not worried about they amount of players he sold or let go or how small our squad is as he plans to beef it up for next season, so what about this season
Morning Cicero. I’m not sure Jm is right about Tavares having an attitude problem because you can see he’s trying. He started ok I thought. Perhaps his confidence was shattered against Notts Forest after being hauled off before half-time.
Ha ha Kyalo. I didn’t understand when Arsene switched away from pace and power but it’s clear to me why Arteta has gone down the same route. Look no further than the blue side of Manchester
Hi Rico (regarding your last reply to me) yes we have all made those type of comments that Le Grove made but they possibly need repeating to remind us. Football is emotive, we go with the results, feeling like top four after a couple of wins and to feeling like it’s all sh*t after a couple of losses. For example many of us are relieved that we’ve not given Arteta a new contract whereas prior to the Liverpool game it was high on a lot of fans agendas.
I’m still seriously pissed off after yesterday more so because of the selection of the team and it’s tactics, we needed to grind out a result and instead got caught out.
Lacazette had been key to our recent run and I’d be interested to know how many of us predicted that he’d still be goal- less now from open play in 2022 back in February. I certainly didn’t and I was certainly on board with not signing another David Suarez type in January to keep the fans happy, after we failed to get the player we really wanted. Arteta rolled the dice and tbh it’s the players who let him down prior to yesterday where I think it was all on him.
Hi Rico, great post. Spelling out a lot of facts that a lot of fans have been thinking.
The Palace match, the way that Palace attacked, quickly and passed the ball at pace, made me think, why can we not play like that? We were caught cold, could not string more than one pass together, and Palace won every second ball. Arteta said it was a blip and back to the training ground to work on it.
Brighton I believe have scored one goal in their previous 7 games yet score two against us. We look devoid of ideas, and Arteta appears devoid of ideas when we are on the back foot. I watched the Villa v Spurs game, Villa should have been 7-1 up at half time, had so many chances, but Spurs ground it out and come away winning 4-0.
I can never see us doing this.
10 defeats in 30 games hardly progress from Emery days ..we will do well to get top 6 now tbh
Hi Kev, his team selection is what’s cheesed me off too. The whole approach to the last two games too.
Where did you read that Geoff?
Hi Marinello, thank you. I was envious of how Palace played against us…
I am not going to comment on Arteta directly as every one knows what I think of him.
It’s not so much that we lost but the way we keep losing, like being behind with only 20 minutes left and instead of attacking the goals we keep passing backward and wasting time.
It’s hard to see how we have improved if we keep losing to the teams in the bottom half.
I agree Geoff.
And I understand when people say that with a young and inexperienced team, results like Palace, Brighton etc will happen.
But with the games in hand and the position that we were in before the Palace game, we should have done so much better. Look, I never like to see us lose but as Geoff said and Rico too, it’s the manner in which they lost these two games.
Rico it was in a couple of sites but the only 1 I can find again is CNA ( channel news asia ) it’s sounds like there sports paper
Ok, thanks Geoff.
As i said yeterday , I have concluded that I don’t understand the modern game . To me football is simple . Defenders defend , attackers attack , the midfield has two jobs firstly to support the defenders and then to supply the attackers with the amunition to score goals . Of course Goalkeepers are there to provide miracles.
None of this seems to apply to the world of Arteta apart from the keeper.
Yesterday the defenders had no-one to pass the ball to, no midfielders were showing for the ball and consequently we spent most of the first half giving away the ball with hopeful long diagonal passes to no-one in particular.
The midfield turned back as soon as someone breathed on them , sure we had possession but did nothing with it. We reverted to the very slow sideways/ backwards passsing of the past and as usual found our selves wanting as a quick albeit fortunate ball went over everybody and gave them their first goal.
We kept up the slow pace , Brighton lit cigars and let us pass amongst ourselves They pressed and nobody thought to run in behind and stretch them and we tried a lot of needle threading and Lacazette hardly saw the ball. Martinelli and Saka were double marked which to my mind means there should have been space for other players , but no they were forced to play back into midfield who eventually sent it back to the defence.
As I said I remember players taking on defenders and getting the ball into the box where on rushing forwards came to meet it .Similar to their second wich I should say nine times out of ten would have hit the clock however no longer is this the style but in my opinion it sure as hell should be.
As you may have gathered I am beyond thoroughly pissed off.
Excellent Potter. Football is simple but it’s the managers and their overthinking which complicates the game. Or at least some of them.
Southampton , Chelsea , West Ham , Spurs and Newcastle away .
Man United , Leeds and Everton at home.
A couple of draws away and 4 points at home is all I can see . unless there is a major change in attitude.
very optimist potter.
….
I reckon 9 points from the home games left and 7 away.
Potter you do understand football but unfortunately for us Arsenal fans it seems to brake down some were between ( Arteta I know it all ) and the ( I’m confused Players ). then there is the bench players who understand but don’t get the chance to show it.
Leicester are 2-0 ahead against Palace..
West Ham losing too. Good.
Ooh I wish I shared your optimism, Rico!
Ha ha Sue, I’m always optimistic..
Palace lose at Leicester, that Vieira doesn’t know what he’s doing… 😉
West Ham lose at Brentford, Moyes out! 😄
Moyes is soon to win the Europa Cup Kev. 🤣
You wanna have a bet on that Rico? 😉
No Kev. 😂
KDB 🙂
City play it about at the back too but when they break they do it at speed
Perhaps that’s what we can look forward to seeing once MA has shipped a few more players out and others coming in. 2024? 😜
Jots is everything that Lacazette isn’t
Yesterday was disappointing not just because we lost but the manner in which we lost.We all expected a reaction to Monday s loss but in my opinion Arteta botched it yesterday,how many times do we have to see Xhaka at leftback, everyone knows it has never worked and that switch weakened the midfield at the same time. I feel sometimes Arteta like his mentor Pep overthinks and ends up making some baffling decisions. His inability to rotate as also come back to bite us as now with injuries to KT and Partey the replacements who have had no game time before yesterday were not ready to hit the ground running.How is a player who has played 15 minutes in 3 months supposed to perform. Am not Arteta out but I think he’s running out of time
Anon, gives us a name to call you. 😀
Ditto, not an Arteta out tomorrow either but if we finish outside of Europe in May, I think it’d be hard to justify him staying.
Oh sorry Rico,got carried away ranting ,Kudzi here
Just teasing Kudzi.. I think we’re all having a bit of a rant today.
Potter at 5:42, do you see the service that Jota gets though? Lacazette can only dream of getting that type of service. In most of their games, defenders are double marking Salah and Mane which frees up Jota. In most Arsenal games defenders are double marking Lacazette, coupled with slow build up play. And the support from the wing is none existence, especially with Saka slow plays and consistently falling. If you know you are going to get kick, play the ball quicker.
If true the Daily mail are claiming, Chelsea have spoken to our under 18 striker Edwards who has scored 17 goals about joining Chelsea, It appears Edwards has not signed a new contract with us and all we would be entitled to is the academy fee.
New post up.