I’m happy because big teams find a way when they aren’t playing well. We are turning the corner in terms of results, but our ship still has to turn a few times more to see what we want to see. It doesn’t happen overnight. – Mikel Arteta.
If the search for another pass by Mesut Ozil when the goal was calling him, wasn’t enough to convince Arsenal fans that old habits from the Arsene Wenger days still haunt certain players, then nothing will. As Mikel Arteta said, we aren’t going to be great overnight.
There was one move in particular which West Ham played during the second half that summed up a major flaw in our setup. Bowen picked up the ball just outside his own penalty area and ran with it all the way to the edge of our box. Not a single Arsenal player was anywhere near him until he reached the defence.
Our midfield is dreadful. Disorganised and without discipline. Arteta has numbers at his disposal, but in my opinion, he’s a long way off of finding the right combination. Personally, I don’t think he will because what we need, he doesn’t have. If the club don’t address this in the summer, we are never going to be challenging for anything other than a Europa spot in my opinion.
We might have bossed the game as far as possession goes. 69% to West Ham’s 31% but we had 9 shots to West Ham’s 14 with just 2 on target compared to their 6. I was surprised West Ham’s tally wasn’t higher as it certainly seemed like it should have been.
Alexandre Lacazette had his penalty appeal turned down later in the game, a decision backed up by VAR again. But later in the game, VAR came to our rescue. As Mesut Ozil guided his header into the path of the Frenchman to fire past Fabianski to give us the lead, up went the offside flag. Despite rerun after rerun of the passage of play, they had no choice but to overturn the original decision. Cue celebrations.
West Ham must have felt like Fagin had deployed his best men against them. Still, if you don’t take your chances, you don’t win a game.
Let’s be honest though, we were pretty awful yet again. The energy seems to have disappeared, the pressing game has dropped off and not much is happening really. Certainly not much to cheer about anyway. Not much to be positive about either other than Ceballos and Mari having decent games. Leno was the real hero though.
But we got the three points in the end and perhaps that really is the most important thing right now. As Arteta said, we’re getting the results but we just need better performances.
Burnley, Toots and Wolves all dropped two points today which is good for us. Sheffield Utd managed another win though.
Next up is our game in hand which is away to Man City who play later today at Old Trafford. A feisty, hard fought away win would do us nicely.
Catch up in the comments guys.
Morning all.
Rico, how often over the years have we complained about playing great football yet not getting the results?
As Arteta said, big clubs can get away with a result even when playing poorly and we are learning how to do that, and though we aren’t playing at a great level yet, it’s still a trait that’s very important.
There is a hell of a lot of improvement required but until he has the tools at hand to get us to where he believes we should be, should we be complaining about winning games, no matter the manner in which we do it?
I don’t believe so.
Seems to me that fans won’t be happy until we are playing free flowing, attacking football where our defence is also rock solid and winning games.
We’d all love that, but we are at least a year or two away, so let’s just keep chipping away and see what happens.
Morning all. It’s as if for years we have brought a training ground exercise onto the pitch. Triangle of players passing to each other, but each time we do it, opponents have more and more time to be in perfect defensive position. However, I’ll take any win this season, yelled out at final whistle as if we had won the cup final…. well, not quite, but it was a hard watch!
Nice report, Rico! When you compare the shots… surely that makes the victory even sweeter!! I’ve seen a lot of negativity on Twitter, but don’t understand why. All we ever want is 3 points, which is what we got, against a West Ham side that were really unlucky not to come away with a win at Anfield, yes Anfield!! Job done! Next up.. City 🙈 haha…..
Morning all.
I’m not moaning Scott, just stating the obvious. But, I didn’t and still don’t expect much difference until next season. I was thrilled with the three points, the determination to keep trying until the end, the clean sheet etc but the football? Awful.
Arteta needs a transfer window at least, a preseason, a couple of midfielders and time imo.
His ‘for sale’ list must be growing. 😆
‘Seems to me that fans won’t be happy until we are playing free flowing, attacking football where our defence is also rock solid and winning games.’
Not me, I’ll be happy just to have a much better midfield because I truly believe that if Arteta, backed by the club, sort that out, the rest will fall into place.
Thanks Sue, as much as the football is poor, right now I’m happy with three points regardless of how we earn them. If by some miracle we get that 5th place, Arteta has more funds to spend. Win win imo.
I think it’s easy to forget what this group of players were doing just a couple of months ago. Expecting vast improvements with the same group is a bit too optimistic imo.
I hope Auba’s performance yesterday was just an off day.
Morning all, thanks for the post Rico.
I saw the remaining 30 minutes or so of Liverpool’s 2-1 home win over Bournemouth, the media’s favourite team are crawling up to the finishing line, Klopp’s team were bang average and Bournemouth almost snatched a draw.
Liverpool are head and shoulders above everyone else in the Premier this season, or they were earlier in the campaign, yet at this stage it’s all about grinding out the result, whether at the top or at the bottom, Liverpool are grinding and so are Arsenal.
Morning all.
A win is a win, no matter how dire the performance.
Can you imagine the vitriol that would have been spurted on here and elsewhere if the bubble blowers had won?
Wednesdays game may be more sobering. I don’t suppose many if any of the Arsenal supporters expect us to win. That is an indictment in itself. But probably quite realistic. Frankly, I’d take another dire performance and 3 points any day even a point would be quite a result, but a defeat would be very disappointing but not much of a surprise!
And, that’s where we are at the moment. Work in progress. Our glory days are long behind us, sadly. It’s our turn to suck it up and take the flack until such time as our performances improve and we deserve success.
Everything comes to those who wait. And, patience is a virtue!
Have a nice day one and all.
Rico,
I’m with you there.
The midfield, imo, has been making our back 4 look poor for years as the backs have been under constant pressure.
Where’s that Vieira type we so badly need 🙂
Wavy, I do have hope in Wednesday’s result.
A few months back, we’d have been no chance but now, I reckon we have a decent show.
I’ve seen three games at the Emirates this season/ actually this year, Leeds, Olympiarkos and West Ham and I thought that we played our best football against Olympiakos, so work that out?
I heard a comment on a podcast this week, I think it was Swiss Ramble and he said, imagine where we would be now, if Raul had accepted that he’d messed up and got rid of Emery during that long International break earlier in the season – when everyone and his dog expected it to happen and instead of installing Freddie had brought in Arteta then? Those wasted weeks could have seen us up alongside Chelsea by now, maybe above them, given the improvements we’ve seen since Arteta came in…
Wavy, all we have is patience, plenty and plenty of patience…
Hi Kev, I’m glad you said that. I too watched that game and Liverpool were awful imo. Fortunate to win imo but I suspect the media will say that’s what great teams do. Funny eh..
Wavy, I’m expecting three more points on Wednesday 😜
Agree Scott. We could have had a better/stronger set of defenders over the years but even the best would struggler without a midfield in front of them and right now, we haven’t got one.
Good point Sue, about how West Ham played at Anfield, we came away from the game saying that West Ham shouldn’t be where they are in the table and that they should be safe.
Antonio is a big unit, he caused us all sorts of problems, he was certainly more dangerous than Pepe, if he could finish then we might have lost that game?
Scott think that our midfield is pretty decent defensively it’s in the attacking third where we lack, Ceballos worked tirelessly, defensively he was fine, as was Xhaka, but not a lot happened going forward, Nelson looked good when he came on for our record signing (I wouldn’t start Pepe at the Etihad), Saka was good again, Ozil was average despite his first assist in a year, Aubameyang had his least effective game in ages.
Kev, for all the poor or average individual performances, we got the result and that wouldn’t have happened a year or two back so we are headed the right way, I reckon.
City aren’t that great so if we can lift, I give us a chance, though I’d take a draw.
I thought the midfield was dire defensively Kev, hence West Ham having so many attacking opportunities. But I think it’s shocking creatively too. No one runs with the ball, looks for the quick pass and as for the shooting- don’t get me started. Lol
Exactly Rico, Klopp and Co can do no wrong, this really is a very very average Premier season and Liverpool have taken full advantage, all their better performances were in 2019.
Yeah Scott, I agree, those final few weeks of Emery were agony, we expected to lose every single away game no matter the opposition, now we’re far more optimistic.
I’d be absolutely delighted if we got a point at the Etihad, we’ve not had a good result against them in ages, probably the FACup S/F in whenever it was, it’s long overdue.
Totally agree Kev, even City are miles off their best. Next season could be worse after the Euros. Teams without international players or those who don’t play much could have an advantage. I know people will think I’m bonkers saying that.
And there you have hit the problem . If you dominate midfield you dominate the game .If you have the ball the other team can’t score once said Arsene Wenger . It seemed obvious but really it’s a lot more complicated than that .
Sue mentioned triangles and triangles keep the ball but they are not static and what tends to happen is the draw players out of position and you find the play compressed into a small area . One slip and the ball is spread and there is no cover.
Every succesful team has had a midfield , talk about Fergies United and how long before Roy Keane’s name comes up. What of Vieira and Petite , McMahon , Whelan , Gerrard , Lampard, Wise, Makélélé the names are endless but the point is the same and in this squad apart from the now injured Torriera we do not have this player.
We have had plenty of players that are like satellites but we do not have the nucleus . Get that right and we can play .
You can tell Saka and Nketiah have come through the academy together, that little move where Saka cut in onto to his right foot and played a little through ball to Eddie was good. Trust Fabianski to ruin it.
That’s interesting Rico, just goes to show how differently we can see the game, yeah our midfield made mistakes, gave away soft possession, Luiz was quite average as well, but I don’t see the opposition flooding through our midfield like they used to, or opposition players running into acres of space whilst our midfielders just stand and watch. It’s not the finished article for sure but compare our midfield to what it used to be – and West Ham are a good side, they’re bound to have chances.
So there…. 😁
Rico/Kev, I don’t think Arteta has found his best line up yet, and the midfield is the one where chopping and changing is most affected.
That’s if we get the Euros Rico?
I’m thinking of getting an antivirus mask, one of those Chinese types that look like they’ve come out of the Western Front, Adam said he thinks it would suit me… 🤔
Agree Potter. 100%. We have bossed the midfield for years. Not consistently.
Kev, West Ham did yesterday, Everton did too in fact any team with a bit of pace has imo. It’s not as bad as it was I agree, but in all honesty, I don’t think it’s that much better either.
I know Willock has his critics but I’d love to see him be given a run in the team, in the kind of role Ramsey used to play because he’s energetic, he’ll run all day and his keen. He’ll tackle too.
Trouble is though, it’s like Emery’s first season all over again, CL football is in sight so the chance to take more risks is over.
Said the same the other day Scott and as harsh as might sound, with the players he has, he’s scrapping around really.
Good point Kev, the way things are going it’s unlikely. Italy is really suffering and things aren’t looking as if they’re about to improve any time soon. ☹️
Scott, despite the tight financial position we find ourselves in, I’m sure that a few million could be divi’d up in the summer, we still have reserves of cash to fall back on according to Swiss Ramble, enough to do some business this summer but it’ll need to be smart.
So I’m really looking forward to how Arteta moulds this squad, who goes and who stays and who Raul brings in on the recommendation of the manager because I don’t think that Arteta will accept a player he doesn’t want…
Give him the summer Scott and then we’ll see where we’re going.
We’ll have the CL money to add to our small budget. 😂
I still think one or both of Lacazette and Aubameyang will go.
Kev, I have the utmost faith in the man.
He will do great things.
I agree about Antonio, Kev… he’s huge!! And Bowen looks decent too… they can’t go down surely… and like you, I’m surprised they’re down there!
Looking forward to the Manchester derby later…only downer is Mr Dean strutting his stuff again… twice in one week urgh!!!!
Hi everyone, thanks for another fine post Rico.
Scott ……… Of course we can complain about our performance. I’m over the moon with the win and 3 points but I’m bloody poxed off with our shabby performance. We were very lucky and didn’t deserve to win. Arteta has done a great job on the defence, thank goodness. I know he may not have the players he want’s in midfield but crikey, they could work a bit harder and not be so lazy. Without Ceballos where would we be? The first few games under Ateta we used to press and sprint about, Now it looks like Emery is in charge again.
Arteta needs to start kicking this lot up the backside again and soon because we won’t be lucky all the time.
Mike, yes, we can complain but no matter what happens, we can find reason to complain if we look hard enough.
Each to their own mate.
No big Pepe style signings I suspect Scott, more in the Martinelli, Mari, Torrieira region I reckon and I’m fine with that, the only big signing in recent years who consistently delivered in my view was Alexis, we got our money’s worth from him for sure.
I don’t think Dean is a City fan though Sue, he might just favour us.. lol
Nothing wrong with those signings, Kev-we’d be rapt to emulate them at the price 🙂
We’ll have Dean lined up for the NLD for sure Sue.
We should have Michael Oliver for the Etihad but we’ll probably get Kevin Friend.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-arsenal/schiedsrichter/verein/11
The above should be the refs we’ve had this season…
Thanks Mike, I can’t see Arteta accepting the lack of energy etc for too long. Shape up or leave, that might be his motto..
I’m all for quality over fee too. I’m fed up with these big egos, big fee players.
It’s worrying how far Lacazette has fallen from the fans’ Player of the Year 2018/19 Rico, a year ago selling Laca wasn’t a popular view, now it’s pretty much everyone’s view!
CL money would be brilliant, it would be like winning a trophy… 😉
Mike, maybe Arteta has accepted that there are players in our squad who really can’t press as he’d like them to, but that they bring other attributes that he can use in the short term, until he can bring in the fresh faces he needs and moves on some of the old ones he doesn’t want whilst working with those he wants to keep, we really won’t know until then?
I think we press more when we’re away from the Emirates tbh and defending, we’ll certainly need to do that on Wednesday.
Those stats re referees Kev certainly adds a little grist to the mill that Untold have been grinding about corruption and match fixing . I see today they are starting a campaign on the subject . Now I often take their site with a pinch of salt but usually when they investigate things they come up with some interesting theories.
One thing that I found concerning listening to Swiss Ramble was the poor performance of our business side and how much we earn or don’t earn from sponsorship. We are really miles behind Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea it seems.
Having the stadium naming rights and shirt sponsorship tied to one sponsor is a mistake I feel, if we had different sponsors then we’d have more leverage in what we’re looking to earn.
Apparently we’re not allowed to sponsor our training kit because of our deal with Emirates, it’s a flipping great deal for them but for us I feel we’re undervalued.
So what are KSE doing about it?
Are they reviewing the performance of our business dept, maybe considering poaching some staff from Chelsea or Man Utd or even Liverpool?
Does Josh have a handle on it, can he bring in some KSE staff from his fathers organization to oversee how we’re doing things, make suggestions etc, or are we just drifting as usual?
Of course it’s all connected to what we do on the pitch, CL football means you earn more from sponsorship, but did we take full advantage of that when we were in the CL every year before?
Emirates used to sponsor Chelsea, but Abramovitch and his advisors paid them off and bombed them out taking Samsung in their place.
Arsenal then accepted Emirates as shirt and stadium sponsors, but did Chelsea know something we didn’t?
😂Kev re Cl.
Lacazette is certainly an odd one. Could it be the service, or is he simply unhappy I wonder but he’s certainly dropped off.
Yeah Kev , Scott, Rico. My main gripe is that I see a lack of commitment from the midfield up. The other so called lesser teams we play ,look like they are busting a gut to get to every ball. It just isn’t in the mentallity of some of our lot I suppose.
The Emirates might go belly up if people stops flying..
The stadium rights etc was sorted long before Kroenke took over though. Perhaps there’s a very long term agreement in place re the stadium. I don’t understand why we can’t have other sponsors, as long as it’s not another flight company.
That’s what irks me Mike.
I hope City batter United!
So do I with a few tasty challenges with red cards for Utd… 😂
A couple for City as well , straight reds with Wednesday in mind . A mass brawl would be handy hopefully with someone cracking Mike Dean on the head just for fun.
Indeed, that would be ideal.
Oh how I’d love to see Mike Dean taken out – I bet that’d receive the loudest cheer of the afternoon 😀
It would be here in west Berkshire 😂
A mass brawl, Sterling chins Rashford, de Bruyne goes over the top on Rashford, basically the whole Man City team beat up Rashford
Yeah, that would make for an enjoyable afternoons viewing.
Oh dear Theo, who does your hair? 😂
😂 Rico… it is gross, just like their kit! I was hoping they’d draw haha!! Damn it!
Oh Kev I just checked who’s refereeing on Wednesday…. urgh, it’s Jon Moss… I can’t stand that little chubster….nothing will go our way then!
In my opinion, the midfield does not work.
I don’t understand how Ozil and Ceballos play at the same time. Basically, they do the same, because Ozil should appear as a false forward behind No. 9, but he doesn’t appear, he doesn’t shoot, he is easily covered, he does not print speed. If we join Pepa to the previous two to make “parties” to the ball we understand why we are exchanging the ball for others and we did not reach the goal.
I make an analogy: if we have a Brazilian in the midfield it is good; two, it’s complicated; three, it is a Samba School.
What worries me most is that there is no substitute for Torreira in terms of coverage. Ghendouzy and MNiles do not seem to me a solution.
Jon Moss has reffed us once this season when we beat Villa 3 – 2 . We had six yellows and 1 red ( AMN ) . Not my favourite either.
Just reading up on it and it seems that since the Premier started only 9 times has a team won after having a man sent off when they were losing . It appears that we head the list having done it 3 times which I suppose is not surprising seeing how often we end up with 10 men.
I hope City play like this on Wednesday! They’ve been really poor… KDB was a huge loss…
What a disappointing day it’s been ☹
Hope we get that keeper ! City played like us all possession with little penetration.I never thought that they looked like scoring If we defend well nil – nil could be on the cards
I take it Utd won… darn.
Moss is worse than Dein I reckon. Poor old boy can barely keep up with play..
2-0 Rico…City were poor. I don’t rate Zinchenko or Gundogan (or Mendy who came on later!)… Ederson had a nightmare, Sterling was awful… I think you get the idea, Rico haha!!
Potter has made me nervous, reminding me of all those cards Moss brandished against Villa! We’re sure to go down to 10!
Haha, can barely keep up with play 😂 Rico, he can’t even keep up with the warm up 😜
Yes, I get the idea Sue. Lol
Ramsey has just scored for Juve.. playing behind closed doors…
That’s a bit harsh on David Dein isn’t it Rico? 😉
Arteta should try and bribe Moss with a KFC bargain bucket…
Is Pep a chance of getting sacked??
Not sure where his contract stands but damn, they’re miles behind Liverpool.
We are miles AND miles begins, admittedly but they’re expectations right now would be a lot higher than ours
Kevin de Bruyne has a shoulder injury and is a doubt for Wednesday’s game. Sergio Aguero had an ice pack on his leg after being subbed at Old Toilet. Guardiola looked shell shocked after his ‘keeper’s brain fart for the second goal. Things are looking good for a result against Arteta’s old club.
City have lost more than us – only by one – but even still, never thought we’d see that!
😂 Kev, my spelling let me down there…
Scott, did you watch Liverpool huff and puff against Bournemouth? They too have been off their game the last couple of weeks. We have too as far as energy levels go which I find interesting really.
I know as far as football goes, we’re still very much behind City and Liverpool but if all three clubs players are knackered, perhaps the coaching methods/demands have something to do with it. Pep, Klopp and Emery/Arteta.
Just a thought.
New post up now