Arsenal vs Brighton - Player Rating and Match Reaction

[Marc Overmars]

25 goals conceded at home.

Guess we should have suspected that will catch up with us. Can’t keep going life and death to win matches and expect to have any composure to win a title.

Better options in centre midfield are needed.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I said that a couple of weeks ago and got crucified

Good luck

You said it in response to a game where most of us expected to lose before kick off but despite the disappointment of giving up a two goal lead we got our first point there in seven years. But then as now, the problem hits a snag when you’re asked who you’d replace him with. If there was an obvious replacement, I’d have been metaphorically waving the Arteta out banner all season. I still haven’t forgiven him for games we lost over two years ago…Im bitter and spiteful like that.

We need someone who can take us further…ok who would that be?

There’s only two premier league managers who would definitely be a step up…that’s Pep and Klopp

Outside of the premier league? Well it’s not even worth considering…most of European football is a complete wasteland.

The issue is that anyone who could potentially be better than Arteta that we could realistically get, would potentially be a lot worse

Eddie Howe has managed Newcastle very well, but even if he keeps on improving with them realistically they will only let him go by upgrading him with a bigger name.

[HCZ_Reborn]

25 goals conceded at home.

Guess we should have suspected that will catch up with us. Can’t keep going life and death to win matches and expect to have any composure to win a title.

Better options in centre midfield are needed.

We haven’t come close to getting the balance right between defence and attack

We’ve scored 48 goals at home in 18 games, which is the highest total we’ve achieved in five years

But we make ourselves vulnerable to the counter with the attacking way we play. I still put this down to our central midfield not being good enough (people talk about the loss of Saliba but we had still only managed two clean sheets in 13 home games when his back went)

[selassie]

We haven’t come close to getting the balance right between defence and attack

We’ve scored 48 goals at home in 18 games, which is the highest total we’ve achieved in five years

But we make ourselves vulnerable to the counter with the attacking way we play. I still put this down to our central midfield not being good enough (people talk about the loss of Saliba but we had still only managed two clean sheets in 13 home games when his back went)

We've been suspect at home all season, even earlier on in the season when we looked really good we shipped goals at home in some matches.

I agree with you about Central Midfield, we need to invest relatively big there this summer. Also, I think we need a minimum 3 quality additions to the team / squad, first team player material.

Our squad is good but has many faults, we need to improve the quality significantly.

[Niall_Quinn]

Player ratings are easy. I’m giving every single player zero. The title may have been over but you don’t put in a performance like that, that horrible cunt Gary Neville can’t hide his delight. Where was the pride today?…fucking Estupinian scoring? Fucking Undav scoring…was this a charity match where we let spastics score and politely applaud because it’s all for a good cause.

I don’t want Arteta anywhere near this club anymore….feels like the whole stadium needs disinfecting after that rancid shit. The season we’ve put together and it ends like that?. What an absolutely fucking disgrace. Wouldn’t piss on any of those players if they were on fire and I had a bursting bladder

Yeah, it was hard to miss Neville twisting the knife. When you have wilfully blind commentators like this it's easy to fall for the narrative. In the real world, that foul for the first goal was part of the set piece, no doubt. Just. lunge at the ankle, the guy goes down and because he can't get up in the split second where is man is free Neville compounds his coy avoidance of the foul to focus on the inaction of the defender. Nice. He was also a little bit lopsided on the clear penalties that were waved away. I'm still confused about VAR. With VAR that first goal never happens. And the pens get given. So what actually triggers VAR?

That's not to disguise the shite performance and the fact Brighton, notwithstanding their "special" tactics, passed us off the pitch.

[Niall_Quinn]

If NQ was here now and not doing a stock inventory of water and tinned food for the day the globalist army takes over, he would (and in this case rightly so) talk about pride. Other results don’t make this acceptable, you fight to the end even if it’s a lost cause. We pull this kind of pathetic shit far too often

2001 - Losing 3-0 at home to Middlesborough

2003 - Losing 3-2 at home to Leeds

2008 - Failure to win five games in a row

2010 - Losing three games at Spurs, Wigan and Blackburn

2011 - Losing away at Stoke and home to Villa

2014 - Losing 6-0 at Chelsea, 3-0 at Everton

2016 - Losing 2-1 at home to Swansea, blowing a 2 nil lead at West Ham

I don't need to do an inventory. It's in my head.

Yes, the pride thing. And I mean the PRIDE thing, not the "pride" thing which was actually on display today. When Saka went down screaming because he was lightly bumped I almost puked in embarrassment on his behalf. But I held it back because I quickly realised the guy has no dignity.

But we're nowhere near pride. We're still trying to master the basics. And there has been some progress. But a long way to go. Which is why I said 2 years before a thought about a challenge, IF the progress continues. About half the team has to go though before that stage.

[Niall_Quinn]

Stupid little Liverpool supporting bitch on Twitter twisting the knife, the kind of person you know is a twat because even though they were born in England they claim to hate England (Irish parents)…sorry you hate the country you were brought up in…maybe fuck off and don’t come back?

Fucking hope Leicester bury them tomorrow, arrogant bunch of shits.

Sounds a bit racist if you are a limp dick. But I get you. Love it or leave it - I'd rather pay for the ticket than pay for your rent month after month.

Would simply advise you reserve the passion for things that matter, rather than football. And yes, yes, two years ago you could have said the same about me. But I got better.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Sounds a bit racist if you are a limp dick. But I get you. Love it or leave it - I'd rather pay for the ticket than pay for your rent month after month.

Would simply advise you reserve the passion for things that matter, rather than football. And yes, yes, two years ago you could have said the same about me. But I got better.

Football is a classic form of escapism from the banality of life, and when someone sours that to the extent Arteta and the collective of Pansies on the pitch did so today you want to go full Begbie and glass anyone who accidentally knocks into you when holding a pint (figuratively of course, I leave such atavism to the truly mentally defective)

But in truth, the things that matter are not the things going on in the world most of which are tiresome anymore than it is football. It’s the things you can exhibit a measure of control over. The things you can take and build upon.

I spent my time away from here in pursuit of this and although frustrating at times especially recently (through no fault of my own) these are merely obstacles.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Yeah, it was hard to miss Neville twisting the knife. When you have wilfully blind commentators like this it's easy to fall for the narrative. In the real world, that foul for the first goal was part of the set piece, no doubt. Just. lunge at the ankle, the guy goes down and because he can't get up in the split second where is man is free Neville compounds his coy avoidance of the foul to focus on the inaction of the defender. Nice. He was also a little bit lopsided on the clear penalties that were waved away. I'm still confused about VAR. With VAR that first goal never happens. And the pens get given. So what actually triggers VAR?

That's not to disguise the shite performance and the fact Brighton, notwithstanding their "special" tactics, passed us off the pitch.

There is something to be said for playing to the whistle. But it seemed so blatant that they could be forgiven for simply assuming a foul would have been blown for.

Mitoma is an excellent player, his speed, agility and ball control have perturbed many a full back this season. But for all this talk of good football it was more a case of one long ball played out to him when we had foolishly pushed up too high

We should do a Bayern Munich and neutralise the threat by buying him

[Niall_Quinn]

I did actually watch the game, from about the 25th minute.

What happened to Matinelli? At a guess I'd say he was targeted early on and booted out of the game. Sensible, because he's the best player out there by a mile. Or maybe it was just bad luck, because it's very obvious that Trossard bloke is no replacement.

White though. Why is he playing at full back? He's so unsuited to that role. Are we really that short of options?

Brighton are dirty bastards, but they do it well. Not knocking them for that, it's part of the game. And they mix the agricultural stuff with a very tight passing game. Which we couldn't live with. Because we weren't prepared to boot them off the field too. Which we should have done. Fight fire with fire and leave it to the crowd to put the ref on warning. That's what home advantage is supposed to get you. But we let them play their game. So naturally they had the upper hand from start to finish. They looked like the home side.

We really, really, really need a striker. A player that can go in elbows and studs and win the ball in the air and just be a menace for every speculative ball punted up the field. Jesus is not that. He's a good player, but he's not the guy who is going to wrestle back the game when you are getting owned. Instead he drifts out of it. Bouncing back in with the odd moment of skill which makes you think he made a contribution. But it's the stuff that doesn't make the highlights reel that's so important. The stuff players like that scrote Kane does for 90 minutes. Every barge, every elbow, every header back to the central playmaker, every time he drags two defenders and creates a hole. We should sign him. Why not?

I don't want to jump on Arteta, because he's the first manager in two decades to demonstrate progress. But I was a bit perplexed by the subs. When your are being out-passed and out-fought, why do you take off the two players that maybe, maybe could have upped the effort and replace them with a lightweight luxury player like Nelson and a the footballing version of the invisible man Partey? Game was over, 100% for certain, when those two came on. And I'm not getting at Nelson (haven't seen him much this year in fact) but I just can't figure what he was supposed to bring. Partey needs to be sold while his myth still carries water.

Then he brings on a scatter gun trio including ESR who hasn't played since the dinosaurs roamed.

Seemed a bit desperate and lacking in thought.

Bottom line though, they were played off the pitch, at home, when the gypos still have Brighton and Brentford to play. So, as things stand, we can fairly safely say the players still don't care as much as they should and still take their incredible privilege for granted. They might claim otherwise, but we have the results to prove it.

Next steps come in the transfer window. A striker, if nothing else. Don't do that and it's another year wasted. Get rid of the deadwood like Trossard and Partey and White and replace with the finished article if possible, youth if not. And if the full back cover is really that light, do something about it.

NO CHANCE of winning the title next season. NONE WHATSOEVER. Guaranteed.

But another season of teaching this lot how to kick a ball and then coaxing them into believing they are men with balls? Who knows?

As for now, same old Arsenal. Apart from the 81 points. The 81 points is quite surprising really.