Morning guys.
“Liverpool have emerged as Arsenal’s biggest title challengers” says Jamie Carragher. “Victory over the champions at Anfield would make Andoni Iraola’s team the leading candidates to dethrone Mikel Arteta’s side” he added.
Having watched Arsenal this season as well as parts of a few Liverpool fixtures, I’m far from convinced that either will end up lifting the Premier League trophy. But, with the other so called top league clubs seemingly in a bit of a pickle and Man City expected to be handed a points deduction early next year, the contest is likely to be wide open.
We are just three months into this campaign so talk about the title is futile.
Knowing a performance like the one we all witnessed on Tuesday night is still in Arsenal’s locker is not only a huge disappointment but also disconcerting. I know the “tomorrow will be different” suggestion will be voiced but what about when we played Brighton? That wasn’t good either, in fact I’d say we were weak, disorganised and looked nothing like a team trying to defend a Premier League title. I thought that performance might be a one off but no, along came Fleetwood Town.
As for Mikel Arteta, well, this is when he needs to wake up and smell the roses! We can all see something isn’t quite right but it’s his job to put it right because the buck stops with him. The “low block” is an excuse, a poor one now because we’ve been facing such tactics for a long time. So much so, we should have found a way around now instead of doing the same thing but expecting different results.
Do Arsenal have an attacking coach at the club I wonder because from the outside looking in, in doesn’t look like it. Was Carlos Cuesta that guy I wonder because we’ve not been the same since his departure in the summer of 2025. Surely it couldn’t be that simple, could it?
Whilst it’s easy to sit back and chuckle at Totts start to the season, Man Utd’s struggles under Carrick and City’s 114 guilty verdicts but more important to me, as I’m sure it is to most Arsenal fans, is sorting our own game plan and style out.
It doesn’t make a difference who the opposition is, the performance has to be the best it possibly can be. Yes, footballers are human, they can have an off day but when more than half the team of senior players drop stinkers, something is amiss. Complacency, disinterest, the thought that they are too good to be facing a league two side – I’ve no idea but it was embarrassing and I hope Arteta has laid into each and every one of them this week because they deserve it.
Mind you, Arteta himself isn’t above criticism either, far from it. These are his players, his tactics, his starting eleven and his preparation each week and it’s his job to get a lot more from his team than we’re seeing right now. I know we’re winning our league games and doing well in the Champions League too but we should be doing better with the players we have. At least I think so.
Catch up later…
