Morning all.
I think trips to places like Anfield highlight many things and not just that there’s still a long way to go before Arsenal can truly compete for the Premier League title again. If we ever do of course. The likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City are way ahead of us as far as their squad depth and strength go and with the financial clout two of the club’s have, employing the best manager out there at their time of need is easy because they can pay whatever it takes to get them. As much as I might detest Klopp and Guardiola for their arrogant and self-righteous attitude, they are both masters of the game. Arsene Wenger was similar in a way because he thought he always knew better than others. At least that’s how he came across after a few years in England. In comparison, Mikel Arteta is still a boy in short trousers really and I hope he stays that way regardless of what he does or doesn’t win at the club, or however long he stays. He talks well but at the same time, he’s happy to be honest about where Arsenal are right now.
I think we all acknowledge the squad is still lacking in certain areas. Our midfield needs a reinforcement or two and up front, despite scoring a few more goals of late, we’re toothless. When an opponent pressing aggressively from the from, Arsenal seem to go to pieces.
I think Mikel Arteta tried to go toe to toe with Liverpool which in hindsight, was the wrong thing to do. Again, Arsene Wenger did the same during the second half of his reign and it seldom worked for him either. His early squads would certainly coped, with ease I imagine but it wasn’t until he decided to don his pragmatic hat in a kind of ‘for one night only’ show, he got the better of Guardiola’s Man City. Sometimes, just sometimes, a manager has forget all he’s trying to do long term and think about the here and now. If he wants to take something from the game of course.
We’re yet to go to Stamford Bridge, The London Stadium, Toots place, Selhurst Park, Villa Park and Old Trafford. Obviously other grounds too against sides who’ll be hard to beat but I think the above away fixtures will be the toughest because we’ll face a similar kind of aggressive press to Liverpool’s. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more bully boy tactics thrown into the mix either.
All the away fixtures listed above take place in 2022, barring the Utd game which is on the 2nd December. Chelsea, Wolves, Toots and Norwich are the away fixtures taking place at the same time we’ll be without Partey, Aubameyang, Pepe and Elneny. A fit, competitive and firing Aubameyang will be missed but the one who played at Anfield won’t be. Not by me anyway. A fully fit and in form Partey will be missed, even a slightly off form Partey will be missed but only because there is no one within the squad to replace him. Xhaka might be back but even the best of him isn’t the strong and mobile midfielder Arsenal need to take the team to the next level. He was great against Toots, however, look what a mess they were in.
Despite Arsenal’s extremely busy and positive summer transfer window, there’s still something missing. Strength and leadership on the pitch. An old wise head to calm things down when things aren’t going to plan. Someone who’s cunning enough to stay on the ground longer than he needs to, or boot the ball into row z etc, just to give his teammates time to catch breath and regroup. Row z is better than handing possession right back to the opposition. We lack a striker who Is strong, athletic and clinical and a midfielder who is equally as strong and mobile. Both in my opinion, need to have experience. Adding more youth to youth would be a recipe for disaster I think, especially as we already have a number of younger players coming through.
Then there’s the changes Mikel Arteta could make to try and stem the flow of pressure which is a topic discussed here before. Odegaard for Lokonga isn’t going to help the team defensively, saying that, neither did AMN much when he came on but by then it was perhaps too late. Aubameyang was clearly struggling to make an impact in any sense of the word. I’m amazed he lasted the 90 minutes. Hindsight is easy I know but where does Martinelli fit in if he can’t replace a player who was pretty much anonymous? The Brazilian would certainly have offered more support for Tavares.
I’m not trying to be hard on Mikel Arteta, certainly not after one defeat to a well established Klopp team, absolutely not but I do think that if he wants to try and take something from games against the top teams, he needs to be more pragmatic and think about the changes he makes during a game. Because as good as he’s been or as good as he will hopefully become as a manager, the boy in short trousers is still apparent.
See you in the comments.
Morning Rico.
Until we get a couple of enforcers in the team we will continue to get bullied.
Morning Adam, agreed.
But, is there a way to do better against the top teams with the squad we have? Liverpool haven’t been allowed to bully every team this season.
Rico. When you think that we have a striker that is ghosting through games and midfield that never seems to have all the components operating at the same time, we’re probably punching above our weight as it is.
I’m just very frustrated when we have no solution to a creep like Mane
Morning Rico and all
I guess I’m going to disagree with everyone, For years we kept complaining that we get bullied on the field yet we have done nothing to prevent it, It’s all ok to say we need to rebuild a young team to take us forward and give the young players time, but at the same time we need more mature and experienced players on the field who can guide these younger players and also protect and stand up to the dirty players of other side’s.
As I said yesterday It was good to see Arteta stand up to Klopp and show support for his players however our players didn’t stand up and show support for Arteta all they did was let the Liverpool players fire up for there coach.
No one expected us to beat Liverpool, but the score line could cost us more in the final run home, now we need the players to settle down and regroup as the next few matches are still winnable.
Possibly Adam, we’ve certainly had some good fortune over the last few weeks, that and an excellent keeper.
Morning Geoff, I agree in that a squad needs balance and I’d like to think the club know that also. If we go through January and then the summer without addressing the needs of the squad then I think we’ll have a major problem.
The premier league is unforgiving , once your weakness is exposed everyone charges through the gaps . Don’t be surprised to see Eddie Howe working on a system to nullify Saka and ESR because if you keep them quiet you stop any feed to an Aubameyang that is increasingly becoming a liability.
So far this year we have scored 13 goals in 12 games and let in 17 . That in itself just ain’t good enough.
With Partey being largely unfit and playing at about 80% it’s asking too much of Lokonga who effectively should be the 20 minute replacement when Partey seizes up after 70 minutes to hold off a premier league midfield snapping at him. The idea of bringing Lacazette deeper to help works to a point but he runs out of steam at the same time it’s just one place where we are short.
We need to find a 6 footer that can come on and not get pushed around who can win a few headers when we clear the ball and stop it coming straight back onto our defence but where is he ?
i think it has become time when the fringe players start to get more time , we can’t rely on ESR and Saka all the time apart from the fact they need a break they are getting high profile and will be worked out.
Surely with Pepe & Elneny going it’s time to get what we can from them now and give our kids a rest.
Afternoon to all those in doubt and all those with a furrowed brow because there is a bright new sunny dawn and it’s just across the brow of the next hill, it’s called Newcastle.
Afternoon Rico, I managed to negotiate the Cookie Monster.
Niles instead of Smith Rowe on the left perhaps, unlikely I know given Emile’s current star status atm but three in midfield might have just given us more bite for our buck and support for Tavares?
I’m really really hopeful that when Aubameyang returns from his sojourn to the ACoN that Arsenal will have a new No.9 in situ, someone who we can hit to bypass the press because we aren’t quite at that level to play through the type of press that Liverpool put on us.
I thought that our defence did really well given how little support they received from our outnumbered midfield and virtually zero support from our forwards.
Great point Rico regarding being more pragmatic in these type of games we need to be, we’ve come up short vs Chelsea, Man City and now Liverpool the three teams who are clearly better than us, after them I think that this Arsenal can cope but KSE need to help this January to maintain our progress.
Given the state of some of our rivals for 4th place it would be criminal if we let January slide by without reinforcements coming in. Over to you Josh…
Totally agree Potter. It’s great we seeing more of ESR, Saka etc but when does more become too much? Especially after a Covid hit condensed season and an international competition.
Afternoon Kev, I’m glad you did.
I suppose that’s what I mean about doing more with who we have. Playing a different way, more defensively in a few sides who will otherwise just go straight through us time and time again.
I wonder about Chambers in midfield like he did for Fulham
Yes Rico, I knew what you meant, even Wenger admitted in the end that he needed to compromise in these games and that’s how we beat Man City and Chelsea in our 2017 FACup run. Liverpool are several years ahead of us in development and Man City/Chelsea have short cut that by spending enough to pay off our National Debt, we can replicate Liverpool for sure but it won’t be for a couple more seasons. So yeah, some tweaks to the process in certain games is the way to go, that and KSE continuing the investment this January and in the summer. If we get that 4th spot then the influx of finance will follow and so it goes, one leads to another, it’s their baby now so no excuses.
Me too Potter and perhaps it’s time to try it, before it’s too late. Mind you, I think he’s on the exit list.
Final point on Liverpool, they have a fantastic team with the right balance of skill, energy, physicality, goalscoring and spite, but they’re a team that is ageing fast with many players approaching their thirties. I think that in the next 18 months that they could replicate the Liverpool team managed by Kenny Dalglish, that won the league in 1990 and then suddenly became very old and drifted into what we see with Everton now.
In that 18 months this Arsenal team will be at just the right age and level to replace them as the major fiscally run competitor to the artificial duo of ChelCity.
Agree Kev, as said in the post, Klopp, Pep and Chelsea are years ahead of us and all with vastly experienced managers in place. I don’t think Arteta will sacrifice his playing style though for defensive/pragmatic football.
Maybe Rico, maybe, he’s still learning and he has to compromise otherwise he’ll fail as Wenger did on the hill of stubbornness.
My point exactly Kev. We’ve seen it happen so many times in football and sport in life in general really. To succeed, one has to recognise when something isn’t working and be prepared to adjust.
Agreed Rico, Wenger was longer in the tooth and less likely to change whereas Arteta is younger and more tactical than Arsene and will I hope be more open to changing things, I guess the next 18 months will show us either way?
I’d still go for the big midfield lad at Brighton but probably next summer and a dominant centre forward in January if we can do it…
Everything seems fine now Rico. 👌
While I’m fully in favour of selecting an unchanged starting eleven as often as possible, there are times when variations need to be made. When facing the top teams we need to be a bit more pragmatic, trying to compete with them on their terms is just not the sensible option. I hate to say it, but on occasions, the best option may well be parking the bus.
Hopefully we can pick up a good quality striker who is also a good leader on the field that the players look up to, Auba is not a leader.
True Kev, re Wenger anyway. But from what I’ve seen so far of Arteta, he’s pretty stubborn too.
Glad to hear it Cicero. Lol
Absolutely agree re parking the bus if we can. Boring as heck but it might be the difference between 4th and 8th come the end of the season.
I hope we can find more than just a striker in January.
I’m looking forward to finding somewhere warm and sunny with a pool and a bar in January. 😎
Good evening Rico and all
after last Saturday’s game I have seen a statistic…..since the beginning of 2021….Liverpool and Arsenal have each played 34 games. Both have won 18 games, drawn 7 and lost 9. That means that with regards points both teams have acquired 61 points.
Are we really that faraway from Liverpool? As you and many have said…..we have a young manager, a very young team with 3/4 of it under 24 years. And to be on equal points and wins as Liverpool it must mean something.
Good post Rico. And even though we got a drubbing last saturday I still think that we will finish in the top four come May.
I’m envious Cicero…
Evening Devil. I don’t think the points tell us anything more than where we are on the League table. The games tell us a lot more imo. The way we were battered for long periods by Leicester, Brighton, Liverpool and even Palace suggest to me that the squad still needs work doing. Also, we need a way to stop the constant wave of attack against before it gets to Ramsdale, or even the defence.
Each game to its own story Rico. We lost to the dippers who were beaten by WHU who in turn lost to Wolves. If we manage to beat WHU and Wolves what does that tell us?
We just need to focus on the next game every time. It makes no sense to keep comparing us to them all the time because they have the cash, their team has been a long time together while we are still building the team. Klopp took a good amount of years to build the present team and yet we are equalling them in points this calendar year.
True Devil but Liverpool’s losses do tend to occur less than 3/4 times a year and until we’ve beaten both Wolves and West Ham, if we do of course, I don’t think either team can come into the debate.
I’m not criticising Arteta or what this team is achieving, I’m just saying what I see. Like Catchphrase. 😂
But isn’t that what we’re all doing? In the post I’ve suggested how far ahead City and Liverpool are ahead of us in years, Chelsea too but it doesn’t mean we should or need to ignore what you, I and/or others think the club or Arteta could do to improve the team/squad.
Until we get a couple of enforcers in the middle, as Adam pointed out, we will continue to suffer and that is the only way to stop the ball reaching the defense and Ramsdale.
And enforcers who pass the ball forward not sideways.
Exactly. And until we get a more prolific goal scorer, we’ll struggle to score goals.
What we saw last Saturday confirms one thing…..both Auba and Laca need to go. I realized Auba was in the game at the final whistle when he climbed out of VVD’s back pocket
We are quite sorted out wide but going forward we need to strengthen the spine.
Partey needs experienced help and as I said earlier although Lacazette is doing his bit he isn’t the answer and it’s hard to argue that Aubameyang is not either over the hill or very near the top.
I think that we can all see the weakness,hopefully so can the people that sign the cheques because although we have other young alternatives it’s experience we need.
It’s been said before by others and I’ve said it before, Calumn Chambers would be an ideal partner to Partey in place of Lakonga. While there is still the option of AMN we shouldn’t need to spend money in January on defensive midfielder.
Priority must be given to signing a striker.
An early start in the morning, so good night all.
New post up now.