Morning all.
Arsenal’s women didn’t turn up at Wembley yesterday and were battered by Chelsea in what was last year’s FA Cup Final. 3-0 was the final score but it could so easily have been double that and by halftime. A bad day at the office that’s for sure.
Arsenal take on Everton tonight and we need something much better than our dismal and disappointing surrender to one of the worst Man Utd teams in years. Mikel Arteta said in his press conference on Saturday afternoon that his team should have got more from the game and he’s right. Mistakes cost us the game, mistakes in both defence and attack. Tonight we face another club who like Utd, are in a bit of a mess this season which their league position of 15th confirms. Yet they’re only 7 points behind ourselves. Everton haven’t won a game since the middle of September. Rafa Benitez is without key striker Calvert-Lewin and midfielder Davies. Rondon is also a doubt after suffering an injury against Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta on Everton’s recent form…
There are a lot of teams that are going through that because this is a league has become that competitive that the moment you lose a game or two, the pressure is coming for everybody. It is no different there, obviously it’s a very special place to go back there because I had some amazing years there, so I’m looking forward to it.
For Arsenal, Emile Smith Rowe is a doubt, Kolasinac remains on the sidelines but Granit Xhaka could make a sooner than expected return to the bench.
This week he (Granit Xhaka) has progressed again to a different level, and tomorrow we will assess how he is, have a conversation with him and decide when is the best moment to start to give him some exposure in games. Yes, it will be (a boost) and we miss him, he is one of our leaders, one of the senior players who adds something very valuable to the team and hopefully we can have him back soon.
I too think the team has missed Xhaka. He may not be the long term solution but I think his experience in midfield is what Arsenal have sometimes lacked. Saying that, it’s not always been the experienced players in this Arsenal team who’ve led the way, in fact I’d go as far to say that they’ve been disappointing all too often.
What I said is that the senior players are the ones who have to lead and the younger players are the ones who have to follow. We need that balance in the performances on the pitch and as well off the field. We are getting that balance right and we haver to continue not to rely too much on the rest and this is a team, it’s not two teams that are split, and we need that balance and to manage those moments.
Mikel Arteta has been saying that since the beginning of the season but how many times have we looked back at a game and thought the younger players in the squad are out of their depth? Not often if my memory serves me well.
Arsenal have swiftly dropped down the table into 7th place and we’ll stay there if we don’t come away from Goodison Park with all three points. It’s really tight from 4th place through to 11th, with just 4 points between ourselves and Leicester City in that 11th place.
We have six league fixtures to get through this month and one League cup match.
Everton – Away
Southampton – Home
West Ham – Home
Leeds – Away
EFL Cup – Sunderland – Home
Norwich – Away
Wolves – Home
16 points from the above fixtures is achievable I think. On paper, West Ham is the most difficult fixture we have between now and the New Year but if we’re to finish this season in a better position than last, we really need to be beating the rest on the above list.
Just as we really should be capable of beating a struggling Everton team tonight. Mikel Arteta’s team has to bounce back after what was a terribly disappointing result and performance at Old Trafford. Toothless is how I’d describe it, certainly after going ahead so early on.
I hope we see something much better tonight.
See you in the comments.
.
Posted this on yesterday’s post .
Perspective and expectations.Kev.
Comparing us with our near neighbours . If we win tonight we go 5th one point behind West Ham and if Spurs then win their game in hand later inthe season we drop to 6th . which is about where we should be . We are in a fight with those two and Man Utd for 4th , 5th , 6th and 7 th as the top three are miles away
I am not sure that finishing 4th and Champions league is a good idea until we have discovered how to score goals , a series of crushing defeats against middling European teams will do us more harm than the ones we suffered against Bayern .
I think we have to accept our position and look for gradual improvement , if we can maintain that the chances of keeping our young players will be stronger . If we send them out to realise just how far behind we are , the bids for Smith _ Rowe , Saka and Martinelli will be landing on our doorsteps all the time.
I’m glad you said that Potter because out of the two European competitions, I think Europa would probably be better for us because Arteta will be able to field a few of the younger players. The only benefit of CL would be the money. Ideally, we’d get 4th and finish 3rd in the group so we drop to Europa. 😅
Good morning Rico and all.
The big question for me is will Arteta drop Aubameyang?
Morning Cicero, no is my opinion.
I doubt it too , I don’t think that Arteta fully trusts Lokonga and can’t wait to get Xhaka and Aubameyang back together again.
Did you read that Ragnick was about to sign for us before Emery but when we gave Ozil the new deal he walked ?
Morning Rico and all.
Evertons last 8 games
Drawn 2
Lost 6
You know what’s going to happen tonight.
Hope I’m wrong but I’ve got a felling I won’t be.
morning Rico and all
Looking at the List above we should have a good run and pick up a few points.
I did read that, he doesn’t like having older players I read. Shame Arsenal gave that deal to Ozil. Aubameyang too imo.
Morning Mog, Geoff.
They knew that if we had lost Ozil on top of losing Alexis the fall out would have been tumultous .Instead of studying the situation and coming clean with the fans they took the easy way out and tied us into a deal that did us no favours. However just like our esteemed government that seems to say we need to learn our lessons on virtually everything we went and repeated it with Aubameyang.
Still the referee tonight is that lovable cheeky chappie from Liverpool , none other that our old friend Mike Dean who can look forward to an early night as he lives approximately 9 miles from the ground. neutral ??
Now, SportsMole (citing Spanish outlet Fíchájés) believe Aubameyang will be the first domino to fall in January.
They state the striker is on the radar of five European powerhouses ahead of a proposed January switch. Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan and AC Milan are all listed.
Aubameyang’s days at Arsenal are deemed ‘numbered’. What’s more, they claim selling now will give Arsenal genuine hope of recouping a ‘sizeable fee’. At 32, waiting any longer could severely diminish his remaining market value.
If the report is accurate and Arsenal are exploring a January sale, several new recruits could be on the agenda.
Agree again, losing both would have looked really bad but in reality, the worst option was the one the club took. Starting with not accepting the reported £60m offer for Alexis.
Mike Dean? Deep joy.
Anything Arsenal can get for Aubameyang would be a bonus I think. Really hope he does move on in January although why would any club sign a player who is going to be at the ACON…
Afternoon rico, House. Hope we see Tierney back, and Laca. Surely not more if the same after ManU. If so, pretty demoralising for those on the fringe.
Afternoon Andrew. Never know who will start these days. Lacazette dropping out of the starting eleven was a surprise as we’d been doing better with him in the team.
I think Lacazette’s problem is with the job he is having to do because we have no-one else capable he is blowing by the hour mark so he got rested.
he might get a run out tonight or not, I don’t think anyone can safely predict anything at the moment.
I hope Lacazette starts this one because we need to win, worry about the next game when it comes which is at least at home and he can rest for the next few days..
Auba and Tavares out , Xhaka, Tierney and Lacazette are back. Esr injured.
Wow, finally!
Hoorah, wanted those two back. As for Xhaka, have we really strengthened our midfield from 18 months ago if we are happy to see him back? No one all season has deserved to be benched more than Auba, but would we have more points if it had happened 6 matches ago when most Arsenal fans, well not Henry, were calling for it?
Think Henry has done us a favour. Soon as he criticised Arteta, it occurred to me, with Arteta being almost as stubborn as Arsene, this might push him into finally seeing sense. And who knows, Auba might come off the bench and score!
I thin’ we’d have scored more had Auba been dropped. Some of the chances he’s missed would have been taken by others I’m sure.
I wondered if Aubameyang has been dropped to go against Henry.
A very prescient headline Rico just Aubameyang instead of Calvert-Lewis. 😉
Lewin not lewis
Ha ha Cicero.
Seeing how West Ham broke the other day, in comparison we are so slow, laboured and predictable. Even Tierney looks to turn backwards, he used to be our biggest threat.
Let’s stamp on Saka’s foot because Lino, few yards away doesn’t see it!
We’re making Everton look good.
Red for Godfrey?
Dreadful VAR!
Phew…
Excellent finish..
Thank you Tierney! He was just teasing he wasn’t going to go flying and cross anymore. Well put away Odegaard.
If that isn’t a red, then wtf?
Lovely goal.
Adam, imagine if that had been Xhaka… or Luiz!
What totally a frustrating first half, sideways passing, backwards passing, our players rarely receive a pass when they are facing forward, so it’s control the ball, turn pass the ball backwards and repeat the process ad infinitum.
Two pieces of quality, two kicks of the ball a pass by Tierney and a volley by Odegaard are the only piece of positive football in the match so far.
Thank you VAR twice over.
Now we have to wait and see how Dean is going to even things up.
Got away with it twice now control this game
Xhaka’s standard yellow
Yep that’s the first, a yellow card for Xhaka.
We just can’t defend a lead why do we try to do it
In God’s name we cannot even throw the ball to our own f*****g players. I despair, if Arteta can’t coach this group of players better than this he has to go.
We are the gift which keeps on giving…..
That’s it . Arteta’s tactics are totally flawed. Even from the front we don’t know how to win
Oh shit!
Good night all.
What are his tactics? Or game management skills?
Awful, absolutely awful.
Aruba’s last touch, a chance to salvage a point, sums up the whole sorry night. Surely Tierney should have stayed on, he’s played games for Scotland, trained fully? Pathetic not trying to get a second once we luckily went in 1-0.
We are crap Auba could not hit the side of a barn from 1 meter out with no one in front of him, no game play, Time to start to look for a new manager.
What more can you expect from a rookie coach?
That’s it for me I’m turning the light out and snuggling down under the duvet.
Sweet dreams…….of George Graham’s defence. 😴
You mean one that pushed up and forced other teams to play in the midfield instead of going back onto the edge of their own box and try to hold out for 30 minutes. One that didn’t even though they could. Mind you Partey and Xhaka had more holes than the Titanic and were just as effective.
Terrible performance but if Ben Godfrey is sent off it’s a different game, VAR is a paradox, it correctly if harshly rules out two Everton goals, but those decisions aren’t a judgement call, your either offside or onside, with the Godfrey stamp and the Gordon over the top on Tavares it’s still down to how the referee feels and VAR won’t interfere now as it did before, usually at our expense.
Small margins again, Nketiah misses a sitter, a chance that he should take and if he does we probably win. Aubameyang misses a chance he should score with his eyes closed at the death and we miss out on a certain 2-2 draw. These players, for all the other issues be they coaching, tactics, substitutions, style of play (cautious) have cost us points and they keep on costing us points so if KSE really think that Arteta is their man they’d better act in January.
Of course if they don’t then it suggests to me that maybe KSE are not as certain about their manager as they previously said they were…
Rico I’m putting my humble pie back in the freezer as I will not need it this year.
I’ve not even bought mine yet Geoff.
I’m not surprised Eddie missed his header, how much football has he played this season? If he’d have been afforded the same time as Aubameyang, he’d have scored that imo. However, now he’s going, he’s suddenly getting game time. Beggars belief really.
New post up now