Arsenal vs Brighton - Player Rating and Match Reaction

[Letters]

Dropping 12 points in a period of 7 games…suggests there’s something very wrong indeed with our mentality

I hate to go all NQ because frankly if I believed all he did, I’d just hang myself from the futility of it all

But we’ve become far too used to this, winning two games from seven is not something you can do and expect to win a title no matter what you’ve done before hand in a season…it’s just untenable.

There’s no caveats to be found here, no bigger picture….this is plain unacceptable….and there’s no yes but to act as a qualifier

Well, allow me to retort. I think there is a "yes, but", and here it comes.
Yes that run isn't good enough but...
2 of those points dropped were at Anfield. Yes, we were 2-0 up but Liverpool have a very strong home record and with the penalty miss and Ramsdale's heroics at the end we could easily have lost it. You could see it as a point gained just as much as 2 points dropped. 3 of the points we dropped were at The Ethiad where...I mean, I was disappointed we didn't do better there but they're basically walloping everyone right now, they're in that mood and they've certainly got the measure of us. And you're counting yesterday's 3 points when the title had already all but gone. My guess is the Everton result got to them yesterday. I was talking to someone last week and said I was still deluding myself that City could yet slip. He agreed but said that the first slip had to be at the weekend. As soon as City cruised through that one the game was up. We knew it, the players knew it. And look at the players they rested and still easily got a result. We just don't have the resources or squad depth to do that.
So that leaves the West Ham and Southampton results. Both unacceptable. Although if we're talking about mentality, coming back from 3-1 down to get a point...obviously we shouldn't have been 3-1 down, but would we have come back like that in any other season of late? Not a chance.

So sure, we've had our wobbles but even with all that if we'd just drawn one of the City games then all other things being equal we'd have started yesterday 3 points ahead of them with them having a game in hand. With their better goal difference they'd still have been favourites but we'd have had a chance. As it was a point behind and them having a game in hand and them winning yesterday...

I'm not happy about yesterday, you run to the line. But we're seeing a lot of strange end of season results right now. They've won enough "must win" games this year to make be believe that our mentality is significantly better than it has been. We always knew that injuries and inexperience would most likely cost us, and so it's proven. But it's not normal to be winning 15 out of 17 as City have, they can put out a 2nd string who would win most games. We just don't have that depth and we all knew we didn't.

There's a big summer coming up. We've got the CL place now which brings the money and prestige to attract big players. We have to make a statement this summer and push on next year.

[Mac76]

@NQ

100% correct about the striker, it's what we need the most

Partey is clearly going to drop down the pecking order given we're looking to get Rice or Caicedo

White seems to divide opinion almost more than any other player, personally I think he's been great this season but as things have gone on and Arteta has predictably played both White and Saka into the ground, that partnership has lost its energy

I've seen him be very good defensively but without Saliba we've been shot at the back

And i suspect you missed the earlier Trossard appearances where he was really effective, I guess Arteta's been busy coaching it out of him

So no, we don't sell any of them except maybe Partey, as he's injury prone and we could get decent money for him before he's too old

[Mac76]

@Letters

Past results are irrelevant, we did enough in the first 40 minutes in the Anfield game to win it, it was the only time i thought we really could win the league

But we showed we weren't mentally ready when Xhaka acted like an arsehole and broke our focus - coupled with the terrible subbing of Odegaard for Kiwior, which was a clear demonstration of Arteta losing his nerve, plus his failure to replace Zinchenko with someone who can actually play left back far too late in the game, that was why we only drew

Our confidence was then gone and the West Ham and Saints results were, IMO, a direct consequence

We, in particular Arteta, simply weren't ready for this title challenge

[Letters]

We, in particular Arteta, simply weren't ready for this title challenge

This is true, but given that last year we were flailing around failing to finish Top 4, despite that being in our hands at this stage, I don't think we had any reasonable expectation of a title challenge this year.
The goal this year was Top 4, it's been a nice surprise that we've been genuine contenders this year and therefore a bitter disappointment that we haven't finished the job.
But holy shit, 15 wins out of 17. Win the next one and that will be half a season where they've got 50 points out of 54.
Sure, we've wobbled but don't all teams? We knew injuries would cost us, they have. We knew inexperience could cost us, it has.
I'm disappointed, but it always felt like a bridge too far this season. It's actually because we've been so unexpectedly good and stayed in the race so long that it feels so disappointing. There were a couple of times where I started to think "holy shit, we might actually do this!", but there was always a nagging doubt.
We need a good summer in the transfer window and push on next year. But I don't know how you stop this City team. It's not like we're failing where others have succeeded. Liverpool only beat them by being basically perfect till the title was all but wrapped up in February.

[Marc Overmars]

Well, allow me to retort. I think there is a "yes, but", and here it comes.
Yes that run isn't good enough but...
2 of those points dropped were at Anfield. Yes, we were 2-0 up but Liverpool have a very strong home record and with the penalty miss and Ramsdale's heroics at the end we could easily have lost it. You could see it as a point gained just as much as 2 points dropped. 3 of the points we dropped were at The Ethiad where...I mean, I was disappointed we didn't do better there but they're basically walloping everyone right now, they're in that mood and they've certainly got the measure of us. And you're counting yesterday's 3 points when the title had already all but gone. My guess is the Everton result got to them yesterday. I was talking to someone last week and said I was still deluding myself that City could yet slip. He agreed but said that the first slip had to be at the weekend. As soon as City cruised through that one the game was up. We knew it, the players knew it. And look at the players they rested and still easily got a result. We just don't have the resources or squad depth to do that.
So that leaves the West Ham and Southampton results. Both unacceptable. Although if we're talking about mentality, coming back from 3-1 down to get a point...obviously we shouldn't have been 3-1 down, but would we have come back like that in any other season of late? Not a chance.

So sure, we've had our wobbles but even with all that if we'd just drawn one of the City games then all other things being equal we'd have started yesterday 3 points ahead of them with them having a game in hand. With their better goal difference they'd still have been favourites but we'd have had a chance. As it was a point behind and them having a game in hand and them winning yesterday...

I'm not happy about yesterday, you run to the line. But we're seeing a lot of strange end of season results right now. They've won enough "must win" games this year to make be believe that our mentality is significantly better than it has been. We always knew that injuries and inexperience would most likely cost us, and so it's proven. But it's not normal to be winning 15 out of 17 as City have, they can put out a 2nd string who would win most games. We just don't have that depth and we all knew we didn't.

There's a big summer coming up. We've got the CL place now which brings the money and prestige to attract big players. We have to make a statement this summer and push on next year.

That Southampton game was diabolical and the moment I felt the title had got away from us. Even if we had miraculously won that game 4-3 it wouldn’t have changed anything. That’s the worst team in the league and remains the only result they’ve got in months FFS. The fact we were even 1-3 down to begin with told us a lot more than snatching a point at the death did. You can’t be involved in as many ping pong games as we’ve been this season and expect to have any composure at the finish line.

City are a machine and maybe it was inevitable but there’s no doubt we badly let ourselves down when it was in our hands.

[Letters]

That and the West Ham games are the ones that pissed me off most. Anfield I can accept, they're a good side at home. But those two, nowhere near good enough.

[Mac76]

all true, though I do think there was something about how we got battered in the second half at Anfield, after doing so well in the first, that left scars

I cracked open a bottle of beer when i got home last night (after going to the pub first ofc...) and sat quietly thinking about it all - I did feel a sadness for the players - we can have a go at them for some of these performances but it's just been a tough lesson in, as Letters says, what you need to do at this level to contend with a team like Citeh

My views on Arteta are very mixed but I do respect most of the players and they will be hurting right now - yes, yes, I know people will say that they can sob into their big piles of cash etc so who cares, but still it's all relative - I don't think they 'bottled' this season but they did freeze at times, there's a difference

I'd like to feel more optimistic about next season, but with Arteta in charge my jury will be out until he proves that, instead of heaping all the blame onto the players as he appears to have done yet again yesterday, he's prepared to take a long hard look at himself also, as I believe our falling short has at least as much to do with him than any player

[Letters]

I believe our falling short has at least as much to do with him than any player

I'm not that sure you can blame either.
City could get 94 points, I think we all know that if they needed to win those games then they would.
So I don't think that us not getting 95 points is much of a failing.
You can certainly look at games here and there where we could and should have done better, but overall I don't know how we compete with a side who have the squad depth to compete in all the major competitions at the same time and can rest players like they did yesterday and still cruise through games.

[Marc Overmars]

all true, though I do think there was something about how we got battered in the second half at Anfield, after doing so well in the first, that left scars

I cracked open a bottle of beer when i got home last night (after going to the pub first ofc...) and sat quietly thinking about it all - I did feel a sadness for the players - we can have a go at them for some of these performances but it's just been a tough lesson in, as Letters says, what you need to do at this level to contend with a team like Citeh

My views on Arteta are very mixed but I do respect most of the players and they will be hurting right now - yes, yes, I know people will say that they can sob into their big piles of cash etc so who cares, but still it's all relative - I don't think they 'bottled' this season but they did freeze at times, there's a difference

I'd like to feel more optimistic about next season, but with Arteta in charge my jury will be out until he proves that, instead of heaping all the blame onto the players as he appears to have done yet again yesterday, he's prepared to take a long hard look at himself also, as I believe our falling short has at least as much to do with him than any player

He’s made mistakes for sure. Main one being yet again failing to use his squad when certain players weren’t delivering anymore. I think we all agree Kiwior and Jorginho should have been starting games before they eventually did. Saka has gone AWOL for a month but somehow still finds himself starting every game while Trossard who’s generally done well with the limited game time sits on the bench. Tierney, who looked like a bum yesterday but who can blame him has been frozen out while Zinchenko’s effectiveness wore out after teams began exploiting the space he’d always leave.

Big summer ahead, we need to go hard and be ruthless with the squad.

[IBK]

Yesterday was a debacle, but for me the game had the feeling of being one game too far. We ralllied against Newcastle when - for all of the release of pressure in the title race - there was something to play for. Not just the slim hope that the unexpected could happen in the title race, but desire to atone for last season.

This team has been running on fumes for weeks. Certain players have been run into the ground, and it shows. I am not going to go all out for Arteta in this - but I have heard people liken the league to a marathon type race where you need to pace yourself for a strong finish, and I am not sure that we have had the nous, or the players, or the squad size to do this. With our first choice 11 fit and firing we are a match for anyone - including Citeh at least at times in our home game against them. With key players absent, the replacements mean a drop in quality - at least playing the system that Arteta prefers. The shock yesterday was that we also fell well below the required level in terms of mentality and desire - and I feel that Citeh's result at Everton was partly to blame for this. We had all seen that game at Goodison Park as a Hail Mary that on obdurate and counter-attacking Everton with relegation to avoid might just get something (as they did against us). The fact that Citeh not only won but blew them away must have been deflating for our players as well as us fans. Without the league title, we basically had nothing to play for, and once we went a goal down we looked like this.

So I feel resigned rather than angry today.

I do hope, however, that we can learn from this game - and from our drop off over the past month. We to recruit need 3 or 4 players above the level of most of our current ones if we are going to push on next season - a striker; in MF and at RB in particular. We need another Saliba type CD. We ned to learn how to rotate before players blow up. And we need to learn to focus at home like we often manage to do away. I do think that there was an element of underestimating Brighton - or at least their energy and desire. we seemed so flat and ponderous yesterday - and have been too vulnerable in a number of home games this season.

I have to say that for all his defensive frailties it looked like we missed Zinchenko yesterday. But also I feel that we have become over dependent on him; Partey (our decline has coincided with his form going off a cliff), and Martinelli - just as we were on Saka earlier before he ran out of juice.

It actually wouldn't surprise me if we win our final 2 games, but this end of season has shown the need to reach another level in terms of sustaining form and focus if we are to improve again.