Morning all.
I read a headline about how Chris Sutton believes Mikel Arteta doesn’t trust his entire squad. An opinion based on how many times players are rested and rotated in comparison to Klopp at Liverpool and Guardiola at Man City. This subject wasn’t raised after Arsenal smashed Burnley 5-0, Liverpool 3-1 or West Ham 6-0 but a 1-0 defeat to Porto, a game which Arteta opted to make few changes in, his decisions are being talked about. I don’t think Sutton is being vindictive about Arsenal or Mikel Arteta, in fact I think he has a point. Would Eddie Nketiah, ESR or one of the teenagers made a difference? What if Mikel Arteta had made changes on 70 minutes and we’d lost 2-0?
The fuss made after our narrow defeat to Porto seems out of proportion. If we don’t overturn the result in March, then fine, let’s talk about why but at the moment, we’re still chasing down two competitions. The likelihood of winning one is slim, the chance of winning both is none in my opinion. Not because I think Arsenal aren’t good enough but because there are other clubs who have been there and got the t-shirt. They know how to win a trophy whereas only a handful of Arsenal players do. once they break the duck, assuming they will at some point, they’ll get the bug. The experience too which would help prevent things like what happened in Porto from happening again.
Mikel Arteta has held his pre Newcastle Utd press conference and he’s made a plea for the fans to be loud and proud.
We want to create an atmosphere in the stadium from the beginning,” Mikel said in his pre-match press conference. “I ask everybody to go there tomorrow night with full energy because the team is going to need it. We are in a really good moment in the Premier League and we want to continue to be there and tomorrow’s game is vital to achieve that.
It’s true, we haven’t lost a league game in 2024, we’ve been little short of brilliant during that time and there’s absolutely no reason to start having doubts about this team/squad. Not for one minute do I expect the Emirates faithful to be anything other than full of energy tomorrow night. The internet isn’t a true reflection of how Arsenal fans feel about Mikel Arteta and his players I’m sure.
The last time we played Newcastle was back in November last year at St James’ Park. We lost 1-0 to an Anthony Gordon goal. To say the decision to allow the goal was controversial is an understatement. Did the ball go out of play, Joe Willock said it did. Was there a shove on Gabriel? You bet there was and there was even an offside in the move too but VAR couldn’t find it in themselves to deny Newcastle their moment of victory.
The game wasn’t the best advert for football, especially after Newcastle scored because they went into defensive mode. Kai Havertz was rather fortunate not to have been sent off for a dangerous challenge on Sean Longstaff and equally, Bruno Guimaraes could have seen red for elbowing Jorginho in the face. Guimaraes plays on the edge, he’s good value for a red card if Arsenal players get under his skin. Dark arts Arsenal, dark arts!
After the goings on at St James Park, Mikel Arteta launched a scathing attack on the officials with the club coming out in support of him soon after. He was charged by the FA but escaped punishment which was a surprise. A welcome one I hasten to add.
Asked if he had seen an improvement in officiating and VAR since that day, he replied:
Well that is what we all wanted. That at the end the decisions are better and I think the last stats that came across show that there was a significant improvement and a lot of the decisions they were getting right, so hopefully that is the case and we continue to do that. I talked the way I felt. I was very straight and I did it in a way that was pretty strong but within the law because I didn’t get charged for it and I think that tells the story.
The Premier League have confirmed the match officials for tomorrow’s fixtures with Paul Tierney in charge of the whistle and Neil Davies and Nick Hopton holding the flags. Anthony Taylor is the fourth official, with Peter Bankes on VAR alongside assistant Lee Betts.
Catch up in the comments.
Morning Rico and all,
I agree with Chris Sutton, Arteta has had plenty of times when he could have started or brought on player but, he has chosen not too. ESR and Eddie are proof of that, It seems to me that Arteta has his favorites and the rest are their only to make up numbers, look at Elneny being paid good money to keep the bench warm, I would rather see a 17 year old player sitting their to get use to the crowds and picking up tips from senior players then Elneny.
I am surprised that ESR and Eddie have not left for more game time.
Afternoon Geoff. ESR has been out injured for a long time. I’d loved to have seen him on the pitch against Porto but considering the way they played, perhaps not.
I think Nketiah will be moved on in the summer.
Tease , I thought our left back had returned to get fitness.
The fall out from the last game will ensure that Newcastle will be fully up for it , not a game for the faint hearted.
It’s now one game at a time and every one is a cup final whether the players are fully trusted I don’t know but when Arteta arrived there was any number of articles about his ability to improve players. He has been here four years and I don’t see Hale End providing too many breaking through and the ones that have been on the fringe Nelson and ESR haven’t exactly stamped their names on the team sheet.
I think this is a very important few weeks for him the Porto match is career defining . He was out thought in the first leg and he needs to be much more aware and he needs to win just turning up and hoping the wingers will do better this time may not be enough.
My intention entirely Potter. lol
I think it’ll be a feisty match which Tierney will need to get a hold of early on. You make a very good point about player improvement. Either Arteta isn’t as good as reported or players simply don’t have what it takes to improve. The players he’s signed were already very good at their previous clubs. The younger ones are either out on loan, have gone or just make up the squad numbers.
Re Nelson, I think he’s been good when he plays but he’s not going to oust Saka, Martinelli or Trossard unless they suffer injuries imo. Especially now we’re only in two competitions.
This lose to Porto could be a blessing in disguise, the players and Arteta both got a reality check, you have to be switched on or you pay the price. As for the return leg I reckon we will win it with the fans behind the team.
Has ESR bin injuried that much or is it just an excuse to why he has not been selected and if he keeps picking small injuries then the question should be asked, did he come back to soon and who gave him the all clear to play.
As for the academy didn’t Arteta get rib of most of the staff and fill it with his mates,
It’s what managers do when they arrive at a new club Geoff. A number of academy players have been moved on since his arrival, maybe they just didn’t measure up to his standards or couldn’t play the way he wanted them to. When you sign a player like Havertz, for example, you don’t put him on the bench and pick rookie in his place just fit the sake of it. I don’t doubt that Arteta and his cohorts watch the progress of the youngsters very closely and will introduce them to the first team as and when circumstances allow or demand.
Thanks for the post Rico. Sutton, who isn’t the sharpest knife in the box, is just another faux journalist trying to earn a crust by trawling the internet for something controversial to say.
He’s been injured Geoff.
Hi Cicero, I think that if Arteta believed in players other than who we see regularly, he might not have needed to sign Havertz. Perhaps the answer is that simple and Sutton isn’t too far off in his opinion.
He wasn’t being bullish about it, he actually thinks we’ll have another busy summer.
Profit and Sustainability Rules will mean we can only sign modest players in the summer unless we can sell some high profile, and high price, squad members. Partey, Jesus, Zinchenko and, dare I sat it, Ramsdale.
Don’t forget both Elneny and Cedric will be out of contract so money saved there. That’s before sales..
The only way this overrated Newcastle could surprise me is by coming out and actually playing football, trying to win. I don’t expect that. All they do against a superior team like us is to limit the actual amount of football that’s played from the 90. In that way, Porto was good preparation.
Yep, fully expect time wasting, feigning injury, rough and tumble tactics from Howe and just all round ghastliness.
Sturm Graz are now hoping they can keep hold of the striker, although their loan deal has no option-to-buy clause in it.
“It has been a really good start. He arrived late to our training camp in Turkey, but he still scored in his very first training match,” Sturm Graz sporting director Andreas Schicker told Tipsbladet.
“He has been well received by his teammates, and my impression is that he is happy to be here, even though he obviously lacks some understanding of our playing style.
“It’s completely normal for it to be like this, and we are very happy with Mika so far.
“Arsenal was not willing to include an option to buy, but nevertheless, we will still explore the possibility of keeping Mika longer than the summer.
“Right now, we are just focusing on having a really skilled attacker that we can benefit from in the current half-season. What happens next, time will tell.
“He was already on our radar when he played for Arsenal’s Under-21 team. Since then, he has been on loan in both Holland and Scotland.
“We have been in continuous contact with his representatives, and when our striker Seedy Jatta got injured in January, we contacted Mika, and we are extremely happy that we could reach an agreement so quickly.”
Afternoon all, can’t wait for Newcastle, going to be a long day. Balogun apparently not doing great, certainly not scoring many, well 4 in 17 games. Looks like Arteta sold at the correct time.
Hi Andrew, I wonder how many opportunities fall his way though.
I don’t think that Arteta has any control over the coaches in the Academy, that’s in the remit of Per Mertesaker
Chris Sutton is a classic wind-up merchant, you only have to listen to him winding up his Co-commentators to know what he’s all about, everything he says is designed to get a reaction (clicks) on the BBC website and X account.
I never take anything that he says seriously because I know he’s simply taking the piss…
That’s not to say that he isn’t on the anti-Arsenal part of the spectrum but he isn’t a cnut like Carragher and Neville.
I think that what happened in the January window with P&S and the Everton points deduction could well have a knock on effect in the summer window also – and that may well affect the prices we can get if we want to sell Nketiah or Nelson or Ramsdale or even Smith Rowe?
Wolves will also soon discover that they’ll be few and possibly no takers for Neto if it’s true that they’re demanding an inflationary £80m fee for their injury-prone winger and for Wolves see Brentford and their gambling centre-forward.
European clubs, players and agents may also have to re- access the kinds of monetary demands they have been thinking about as the money tree that is the Premier League might no longer be able to subsidise the rest of world football with the same kind of gay abandon from recent times?
Of course there will still be deals and maybe a few player plus cash deals between English clubs, but what Arsenal can afford next summer will almost certainly be determined by how much they earn in sales especially if we crash out of the Champions League (I’m shuddering as I type).
I wonder if we could interest Wolves in Marquinhos, especially as it was they that was on the point of signing him when we’d gazzumped them?
I think that Biereth could well be just the type of different Plan B tall, mobile and physical striker that we could do with so I’m hopeful that we don’t sell him to Sturm but bring him into the senior squad as a replacement for Nketiah.
Me too re Mika Kev. He’s a strong lad already but I thought that Balogun would get his chance so I’m not getting overly optimistic about Mika. Arteta does seem to favour signing players rather than bring them through. I suppose what Mika has over Balogun is that he was signed under Arteta.
New post up.