Morning all.
What did I say about the “Arsenal need a striker” debate? Well, just a few days after thumping City, Arsenal showed zero composure or real threat in front of goal during last nights defeat against Newcastle so it’s back. Not that it’s ever really gone away.
After all the pre match guff from Mikel Arteta about “going for it”, the only direction Arsenal were ever really going, was out of the League Cup.
Credit to Eddie Howe for once again getting the better of Mikel Arteta and the Newcastle fans for creating an incredible atmosphere, but let’s be honest here, Arsenal barely put up a fight. It was kittens against lions out on the pitch and at times, was horrid to watch.
Newcastle came out of the blocks quickly and in truth, we never really settled. Defensively, we were all over the place, William Saliba especially. An offside decision prevented us from going 1-0 down but even then, I believed it was only a matter of time before Newcastle scored.
By the end, we’d been beaten 2-0. We had opportunities to score ourselves of course, we often do but what occurred in the first leg, repeated itself only this time it was Martin Odegaard who hit his shot against the post just before we conceded the opening goal, rather than Gabriel Martinelli. Talking of the Brazilian, it looks like he could be out for a while with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. Who’d have thunk it eh……..?
I’m pretty sure every football fan wants to see their club in a final at Wembley and I’m certainly no different but the funny thing is, I wasn’t fussed about this competition at the start of the season so I’d be a hypocrite to get overly animated about our defeat. The way we played is of course a disappointment as well as a concern because you and I know, we’re better than that but if Mikel Arteta’s players use the defeat as a learning process and a wake up call, then no big deal in my mind. I know not every Arsenal fan will feel the same and that’s understandable but by the time the 16th March comes round, an extra fixture as well as the pressure of trying to win a trophy is something we as a club could probably do without. As it stands, on that date we’ll be playing Chelsea at The Emirates. A fixture which would have to be postponed if we had made it to the final.
Look on the bright side, if Liverpool beat Totts tonight then it’s another fixture for them to play and another League fixture postponed.
Newcastle have become a bit of a bogey team which is frustrating, especially when just recently both Bournemouth and Fulham managed to come away from St James Park with a victory and I suppose it was for that very reason, I’d hoped we follow suit but if history in this game tells us anything, it’s that there are certain clubs whose team can raise their game against the so called bigger clubs. Either that or those same clubs can be complacent when up against what they might to perceive to be “smaller” club. There’s no such thing as big or small club really though, it’s just the not so wealthy clubs against the very wealthy clubs. That’s why every club wants to be involved in the Champions League albeit most know they haven’t got a chance of lifting the trophy at the end of the competition. For as long as I can remember, all the talk on Sky Sports etc has been about finishing in the top four, yet there’s no trophy for finishing 2nd, 3rd or 4th.
Not for one minute am I trying to justify our dismal performance and result last night but if Arsenal were due that kind of shoddy performance then I’d rather it was in the League Cup than the Premier League and/or Champions League. If William Saliba was due a stinker of a performance, then yes, I’m glad he’s got that out the way.
Of course our attacking threat, or rather lack of it last night, will be heavily scrutinised by all and sundry and understandably so I suppose, especially right after passing up the opportunity to sign a player or two in the transfer window but I’m not sure even Messi or Ronaldo in their prime would have helped last night because from the moment the game kicked off, we weren’t really in it.
Thankfully the players and staff are heading off to Dubai where they can get some sunshine on their backs, regroup, recharge their batteries and hopefully, come home fit and ready to battle hard for the League title.
Catch up in the comments.
Bottled it.
Arsenal? I don’t think we bottled it, just never got started..
A bit of a reality check last night after the Man C euphoria and Martinelli’s hamstring is seriously bad news when we’re already down to the bare bones with our forward players. We might need Tierney to step in on the left wing.
Arteta will probably use Sterling.
Good morning Rico.
A lovely morning here in Norfolk now that the sun is gradually dispersing the thick, freezing mist.
Just as that mist clears, so do my thoughts on last night’s match. I think the initial problem was Arteta’s high defensive line and, probably, a further instruction to take the game to Newcastle from the off.
Unfortunately Saliba had, for him, an absolute nightmare of a game nowhere near his usual high and unflappable performance.
For much of the game we played, not with a back four, but with a back two. Both Timber and M L S spent most of their time in midfield or even more advanced.
We created enough chances to have won through to the final but the composure and accuracy were sadly missing.
Like you Rico I’m not too bothered at being knocked out, but I am concerned that our scoring options seem to be limited to corners and free kicks. Every coach and his dog are happy in the knowledge that they know what’s coming and how to counter it.
I won’t criticise the ref, he probably did his best but he fits right in with the present day mediocrity provided by the PGMOL.
Morning Cicero.
Same here weather wise, a lovely winters day.
I know the focus will be on last night but we lost this tie at home I think. We certainly had enough chances in London to at least give ourselves a chance. Howe said his team would be aggressive and they were, in footballing terms I mean as they went for us from the off. They unsettled our defence and from then on there was only one winner.
Like you, I’m seriously concerned about our attacking force, which isn’t really a force at all but imo, this scenario was quite likely to unfold.
If Martinelli is out for a while we will be deep in the s**t with only Sterling to replace him. 😕
I hope a couple of under 21 players are on standby…
Salah-Eddine and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji are the older of the under 21 players if reinforcements are required..
It’ll be interesting to see who travels to Dubai.
Morning Rico and all.
I blaim the ficture for a lot of our injuries, too many matches, too close together.
Morning Geoff, I think it’s a knock on from last seasons fixture schedule and international football. Players are playing too many games.
Eddie Howe/Jason Tindall have Arteta’s number, to me Arteta got the tactics all wrong. Newcastle had previously shown that in Gordon, Murphy and Isak they have the players who can exploit the space we leave when we’re pressing, Arteta needs to modify those tactics because playing the same way against an opponent who continually exposes you and expecting a different result is very Arsene Wenger vs Mourinho.
As for the right wing, Ethan can fill in and fill in well.
Exactly Kev and they’re not the only ones.
Agree re Nwaneri but he can’t play in every game, neither can Trossard…
Nor can Havertz but who can replace him?
What stood out was one team that was physically and mentally fresh and another that was not. Hopefully, not acquiring a player (at least) won’t be fatal. Postponing until the end of the season, personally, is not an answer, because we don’t know what things will be like in a year’s time. Until yesterday, we had our eyes on 3 competitions. I also didn’t notice the sale of the central defender to Manchester United. It seems to me that he would logically be the replacement player for one of the central defenders next season. And it was already on this side
Someone who is already knackered no doubt.
He’s only 17 though Jm, way off a first team start imo. I think he’ll be at another PL club in a few years time..
I’m pretty sure that Arteta wanted a striker in the summer and a striker in January and wouldn’t have refused a loan or two from europe.
The recruitment team gave us Neto and Sterling and both have been poor signings, signings that prevented us bringing in anyone on loan domestically. Edu was there in the summer so he can’t escape criticism, but it’s been generally a poor show by them.
By all accounts Ollie Watkins was initially offered to us by Villa, we weren’t planning to recruit him!
Which makes me wonder wtf they were doing all January?
The entire recruitment team spent the whole of January on a diversity workshop to ensure that all woke requirements are fully incorporated in the club’s Aims and Ambitions Statement going forward.
I read somewhere that once Duran agreed the Saudi deal, Villa decided not to sell Watkins.
A whole month do do nothing..
It would have been very strange to sell both of their strikers at the same time. I think Watkins got injured in their final January game so I wouldn’t have expected Arsenal to buy what was effectively a pig in a poke. When Watkins is fit again he will have the honour of playing second fiddle to Rashford. I’m sure he is looking forward to that.
Perhaps if we’d been a bit more determined on the 1st January, we’d have got Watkins done and dusted, if that’s who we were after. Or the younger of the two, Duran.
ON the dark side, we failed to bring in a striker.
ON the bright side, Tottenham done us a favour by getting beat by Liverpool.
I’ll tell ya what Geoff, if Tottenham had got to Wembley and won it then KSE would have been under enormous pressure to improve the squad next summer instead of just talking about it…,
Good Morning everyone
I am still pissed off. not only the manner of defeat but also because we lost. as I have said in the past, I care more about the domestic trophies than anything else. Plus unbeaten runs.
I hate it when we lose…to anyone. whatever the cup it is.
I think only one thing……if Arsenal really wanted a striker now they would have got him soon after the champagne was shaken and long before the cork left the bottle. That is just a mere second after midnight on 1st January. The longer it went on without them buying someone the more convinced we became that they were not going to buy anyone.
I think the intention was there but sadly the right body wasn’t. I’m fairly certain they knew/had a definite target but he was, quite simply unavailable at this time. January is never a good time to sell a well established player who has only played half a season. Equally buying a new player, star turn or not that they will settle in to a new club and his new mates without suffering a fall away or is slow to get the fans onside etc etc.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Sesko arrive in July for example if he is the anointed CF but that his club were not going to release him at this time!
As Mikel said buying a player who you know is not what you want is both a waste of money but also a waste of playing time! And they’ll have no future in the summer! Or subsequently!
But, we’ll see.
As previously said who we bring in is relative to those that leave plus this seasons deficiencies . We already have a squad short on numbers and if Tierney , Jorginho , Neto , Sterling and anyone else goes we are looking at 7 coming in . The last few windows sre catching up on him.
Premier League executives are meeting today to discuss cutting the January transfer window down to two weeks and to close the Summer window before the new season kicks off. If they vote in favour they will have to get agreement with the F A, UEFA and FIFA, so it’s not going to happen for some time.
Personally, I would rather be in the final, thinking that Liverpool have one more game to play, which they can even afford to lose.
Morning…
New post up.