Morning all.
The injury to Bernd Leno needn’t have occurred. Neal Maupay probably didn’t intend to cause serious injury to our keeper but the bloke down the pub who pushes another, probably doesn’t intend to hurt him badly either, before he falls back and hits his head on the corner of a table and ends up in hospital needing urgent medical treatment. What would those same pundits, including Ferdinand have said if the toe of Lacazette’s boot had caught Mat Ryan in the face and broke his nose? ‘If he was on my team, I’d want my striker going for that?’ No, of course not! In fact VAR would have been on it in a flash and Lacazette would have seen red. Maupay made a choice, the wrong one in my opinion. Saka took a slap in the face, Pepe was kicked whenever the opportunity presented itself and yet Atkinson just waved it all away. Dreadful officiating.
That aside, we weren’t particularly good. Again.
Pepe’s goal though was incredibly good, Saka’s shot which rattled the crossbar was the sweetest of strikes. Aubameyang forced a good save once in think but anything else just found the legs of a defender. Something like that anyway.
Much of the rest was something to forget. The rest being something which Mikel Arteta has to improve on but how he manages to do that with the players he has, or rather the attitude they appear to have, will take a miracle. By attitude I mean the lack of fire in their belly, the lack of determination to get to the ball first, the halfhearted tackling, the lack of movement off the ball and the slowness or misplacing of passes.
When will someone just collect the ball in midfield and drive at a defence, play a defence splitting pass for Aubameyang, Pepe or anyone with a bit of pace in their legs to run onto before sliding a shot past the keeper. Having pace through the middle might help. Where is Gabriel? Every other player is getting game time so where is our Brazilian? He’s the kind of player this team needs desperately. He’s fearless, will run at players, he shoots, heck, he even scores sometimes.
Arsenal still lack leadership, fight, concentration and spirit. Mikel Arteta says he demands a high work ethic, well it’s not visible on the pitch. There’s not enough passion out there on the pitch, proved when Leno was fouled. Where were our players? Where was our captain? Granit Xhaka would have been right in there that’s for sure, as would AMN because both have done so before but yesterday it was like ‘oh dear, never mind’ – in fact only Leno had something to say about what happened to him.
I’ve no idea how Mikel Arteta can turn things around with this group of players or even if he can but six months in, three of which were in lockdown, hasn’t been the ideal start for him. Losing Xhaka, Mari and now Leno hasn’t helped either. Nor did the red card against City or Sokratis being injured. Torreira isn’t fit either. All tough situations to deal with. He needs support from the board/owners this summer.
After the game, our head coach had this to say:
On how difficult it was to take this result…
”Obviously after a defeat you want to put the next result straight away to winning. I think we did a lot of things today to win the game comfortably, but we haven’t competed like you have to compete in the Premier League. We gave first goal away and we lost a few important duels afterwards, so I think it’s all our fault.”
On whether he has concerns about the team’s character…
“Not about the characters, it’s about how you compete in a Premier League match and it’s for 100 minutes in this case. It’s for every ball, it’s for every action and the moment you lose attention, the opponent is going to punish you. It’s not the first time it has happened and if you want to win football games consistently at this level, it’s a must and it’s a non-negotiable.”
On why his players didn’t compete…
“I think they competed for large parts of the game, but in crucial moments when you don’t, you pay the price and that’s it. It’s all my fault obviously because I’m the one that has to make sure they do.”
On what happened after the final whistle…
“I don’t know, I haven’t see the action. I’ve seen a lot of players getting together but I don’t know what happened. It’s the frustration because we’ve thrown the game away and that’s a reaction that can happen but I always believe that a player has no intention to get someone else injured.”
On Neal Maupay’s post-match comments…
“He can say whatever he wants, I know my players and one aspect that they don’t miss for sure is humility.”
The full interview with Mikel Arteta and Emi Martinez is available on Arsenal.com.
I’m pretty sure Mikel Arteta is fibbing about the players characters because if I were him, I’d have concerns over a number of them. If he’s not fibbing, then my concerns are for him.
He’s right about not competing though. We didn’t. Not enough anyway.
See you in the comments guys…
Good morning Rico.
We do not have players capable of effectively winning the ball with a tackle. In fact we do not have players who know how to tackle, period.
I would go further and say our players are afraid to tackle, either due to a fear of injuring themselves or of getting booked by over zealous referees.
Arteta will have to change the mindset of our defenders and midfielders and make ball winning a priority.
Hi Rico and All I’m trying to like Arteta and these young kids how ever except for a couple of good shots on goal i’m finding it hard to keep supporting them. Hope Leno’s injury is not a bad as it looked after all there was no need for that challenge he was never going to get there before Lenno
Morning rico, all. It was a game where we really needed Torreira snapping away in midfield, and that distant memory of an Ozil working and spraying passes. Sadly without either, we lack bite and invention. Which doesn’t leave a lot. Two flashes of brilliance, not enough to win a game.
Morning all.
What do we, as a side really have to play for during the remainder of the season?
Nowhere near as much as our players do as individuals imo.
Many should be fighting for their Arsenal careers and if they don’t realise that, then we don’t want them at the club.
If they DO realise that, and still can’t lift, we don’t want them at the club.
They’re all on trial, imo, but you wouldn’t know it.
I’ve always rated work ethic over ability and it’s been a long time since we have we needed some players with work ethic more than now.
Show some courage you pea-hearted Prima donnas ffs.
Imagine Paulista’s reaction if Leno copped that, and we shunted him out the door?
Tell me you wouldn’t want him at CB right now.
Have a go!!!!
Hi Rico.. thanks for the post (and not even a curse in it 👍 well done 😀)
So gutted about Leno… so on Thursday, we’ll be without Torreira, Xhaka, Leno, Sokratis, Luiz, Mari, Soares… Ozil and Martinelli probably won’t get a look in, so not looking forward to it at all!! Danny Ings masterclass incoming! Why isn’t Martinelli playing? Is there an injury issue we’re not aware of? Because he really should be playing!
In all honesty I think we’ll be dumped out of the cup next Sunday.. we couldn’t beat Brighton so will have no chance against SU!! And more than likely will end up finishing in the bottom half of the table! I so badly want this season to end. Our bad luck and poor displays really are relentless.. not a happy bunny!
Morning Rico and all. It seems that we have been here many times before and the remedy the club has come up with is to apply small sticking plasters to the wounds and somehow hope for the best. Well, right now I think we are at our lowest point for quite a long time. We are still suffering from legacy issues, dating back years. But, barring some sort of miracle, this season is spluttering out to a psychologically damaging finale. We are so far away from competing at the highest level that someone surely has to get a grip and say enough is enough. To perhaps realise that the road we are on is leading nowhere except towards more of the same. We could all debate who is and who isn’t good enough or committed enough. There’s plenty of evidence for both.
Despite a lot of good and heartfelt support I don’t think we have really improved much under Mikel. We’ve had a few decent results under him, but a lot of disappointments. He has been handed a poison chalice really and is probably discovering that sitting next to Pep is very different from actually making the decisions. I like him too and completely get his frustrations but he knows he has seriously underperformed and has been let down by his ‘big’ players who look to me as if they want to move on. I don’t expect any of them to accept much responsibility themselves.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but, considered carefully, it’s often all we have to make some sort of judgement as to where the club has or hasn’t gone wrong. To evaluate whether, given the playing staff, we should be doing better. Speaking from a personal point of view I think we could. But I also think that, from the depths of despair, great things can grow.
We should use this season’s end as a new beginning but we need the owners to take proper and probably brutal advice (not from Raoul or Vinai) and to back the regeneration. Most of us don’t believe Stan will come up with the money to do so and I get that. But what is the alternative? Should we carry on, buying a few expensive players to fill the gaps of those who are going to leave, back the nice-guy that is Mikel Arteta and see where that takes us or is there another way that will be financially painful for the Kroenkes initially but might lay new foundations for the next five years?
Another season of this and attendances will fall and every step down that road will mean it’s going to be much harder to come back.
I hope that Stan and Josh look for that very experienced and wise person who understand the PL and can explain to them exactly where we are and what we need to do to turn things around and that he does so in the harshest terms. To bring them face to face with the stark realities of how we can re-establish Arsenal to compete with the best. We’ve tried the alternative and it has been expensive and disastrous. And I hope that someone levels with the fans and tells them of the journey we are about to embark upon. If, after all this, Stan decides that the price of planning for the future really is too great, then so be it. He could always walk away with a nice profit and leave the investment and decisions to someone else. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s difficult to envisage, but what is the alternative? More of the same? A sudden turnaround in attitudes on and off the pitch? Is that really any more likely that just admitting it’s broken and making the changes required to fix it? At the moment we are, at best a mid-table team getting mugged off by just about everyone. We are looking downwards instead of up and this will go on and on because we have no foundations within this squad or indeed, the club. It simply has to stop and there will be casualties but the very future of the club demands that something very, very serious and profound starts now.
My local A League club has an owner who is happy with the club just plodding along, with no demands or expectations of on field success, as long as off the pitch, things are ok.
Matt Ryan was at our club, and was sold as soon his profile grew, and for a pittance.
Another year or two and he’d have helped the clubs performances, plus seems his value grow but no, we copped a massive $1.2 million Aussie dollars.
We have become very good friends with a guy over here currently playing for the club, and he’s amazed at how relaxed and almost amateurish everything is at the club and why, because the owner doesn’t care about such things as trophies.
Crowds are dwindling.
Kids in this area have no ambition at all to play for this club and why would they?
Sound familiar guys?
Even a little bit?
Oh and our mate would show more heart on the pitch than just about anyone we have, and earns less a year than plenty do in a week!!
Onto something positive so obviously not Arsenal related 🙂
The player we know is doing strength and conditioning training with my lad and a few of his mates.
Today, he told us the boys (aged 14-16) all completed a certain drill in the set time period professional players are allowed.
This guy is one of those hard working toilers who makes the very best of his ability through hard work, and is racing about our lads.
All is not lost-they can come and show these million dollar earning 20 year olds what heart is soon enough 🙂
Morning all and thanks Rico.
One of those cracking comments from Adam I only wish I had the ability to write.
Two things I will say on it……….1) I dont think Kroenke will ever sell, it would need the fans to be……..well, fanatical, the residents of this country are too laid back unlike our french counter parts who if something is not to their liking protest with venom and get change!……………we would have to import some french militants or at least some cardbourd cut out look-a-lkes obviously with Beret, curly moustache,striped jumper and onions.
2) My understanding is FFP has been relaxed for this season, so Kroenke as far as I know has no reason or excuse to fall behind to not invest some real money of his own and let me be clear, we may well have spent some money over the last few years, but it has been based on self-sufficiency and the “never never”, he has never put a penny/dime out of his own pocket into team investment, this will be one of the few oppurtunities where he could invest without the probing eyes of FFP, if he doesn`t then he answers without any doubt what sort of owner he trully is……………………..dont hold your breath!
Happy Fathers Day to all who are.
Maupay knew exactly what he was doing , it was a cynical push designed to put Leno off balance out of his area and sent off. Bissouma 8 fouls at least putting it about on Pepe especially , where was his card / , where was a little reminder to keep him self under control ? Maupay got a few verbals apparently but ” Sticks and Stones ” come to mind , Who stuck him on the asphalt with a cut it out ? . Riley’s puppet the 49 year old Atkinson ( aren’t they meant to retire at 47 ? ) was never going to do anything about it . He never has and never will . Someone had to step up and take a yellow , I doubt that he would have got away all mouthy and scott free if Sokratis had been around.
Just as the media and football in general are calling for more home grown influence in the game we have a bright young English manager resorting to the rough em up tactic .Shame
We are the perfect recipients for this , we look attractive on the ball , we dominate possession but are we a team ? Pepe scored a great goal ( individual ) Saka hit the post ( individual ) we play with a tepid rather languid style but who attacks and takes players on ? who shoots from distance ? who turns defences ? on yesterdays showing no-one.
LC, Adam certainly can throw something together 🙂
Too good to be wasting effort on some of our imposters though lol
Thanks guys.😃
Frustration really.
Frustration.
Resignation.
I could go on lol
Morning to you all, too many to mention. 😂
Good comments as always. Adam, you should have emailed me yours, it would have spared me from writing this morning. I wrote several but screwed them up and binned them. Or I would have pre iPad days.
Wenger, Emery, Freddie and now Arteta has struggled to get an Arsenal squad in the right frame of mind. Youngsters have players who couldn’t give a toss as their mentors so no wonder lethargy is stinking the place out.
This season is done, drop the players who want out. Send them on gardening leave and then get rid in the summer. The remaining group need a broom handle up their backsides, they need reminding what Arsenal are about. Get on board or get out.
This needs to come from the top, from Josh, Edu and Arteta. Raul, well he can bugger off too as far as I’m concerned.
Potter, I think he did too, just as Luiz did on Wednesday.
Seems that Monchi dodged a bullet?
Sue, I wish it’d never restarted. The finish seems more than just a few weeks away now.,
As i said yesterday this is not a new beginning just a continuation of the old. The problems we had then are the ones we have now. Nothing has changed ,, We still have the same group of underachievers interspersed with a few youngsters that need guiding and our experienced players cannot or will not do it.
I don’t think it matters who we put in charge of them , we see photos of them laughing and smiling on the training ground , Is it all too easy ? If Arteta can get to the kids and give them a work ethic then he may survive but already the knives are out and being sharpened
The support would do well to keep their collective heads down , let the season play out , were not going to win anything soon . it’s a long rebuild and with an owner not know for being proactive in building winning teams who sees sport as a social event with dancing girls , singers and popcorn and ultimately profit rather than what the fans really want . Just ask the fans of his American franchises . They are split too between the winners ( supporters ) and spectators there for the day out.
Yves Bissouma conceded six fouls against Arsenal and did not receive a yellow card. Only Jordan Ayew has made more fouls without being booked in a Premier League game so far this season (7 vs. Arsenal).
Still the FA Cup left though and if there`s one thing we`re good at it`s that cup and we all know it`s THE cup that throws up shocks and with our current ability to be shocking we must be the favourites!
😆
Arteta really is in an awkward situation.
I’m sure he’s made his mind up on a few players he wants out, but not playing them doesn’t help us at all, so he’s almost forced to give them game time.
I can see a real fire sale at the end of the season.
Enough is enough, surely.
Ditch some of the older guys who’ve aren’t going to get any better.
Bissouma would have been off had he been in our midfield.
Exactly, Rico!! Can’t believe he ended up with MOTM… laughable
Watching Newcastle… I’d love Saint-Maximin at Arsenal.. what a player!
Nice to see SU getting thumped 😉
It was Keown deciding Sue. 😂
Unbelievable, Rico 🤪
Come on Villa 👍
That’s Merson’s favourite line Sue 😆
The position so far……………………………
1) Le Cog Monster trees planted since lockdown………..8
2) Hector Bellerin trees planted since lockdown………….0
So after 30 games of this PL season Arsenal have the most yellow cards (65). The most red cards (4). While being only 14th in number of tackles made (477).
Would love the pundits to figure out how we are such a ‘soft’ team but yet punished so heavily by referees.
Graham Scott is officiating on Thursday, Rico.. he’s from Abingdon… I wonder if he’ll have our blood boiling before no time, just like all the others!!
He can’t be any worse Sue.
Oh Everton….. I was willing them on!
Have you been watching football all afternoon and evening Sue? 😂
Um….yes 🤣🤣 Normal weekend for me, Rico!
I used to do the same Sue, however.. lol
😆 maybe I’ll take a leaf out of your book at some point, especially if we carry on the way we are!!
Now is a good time Sue. 😂
New post up…