Match Reaction v Burnley (away).

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Another draw.

Fuck off.

They get their jolly up mid-season holiday and oh how they deserve it.

[Niall_Quinn]

Gay Winter Breaks :bow:

Mind you, at least it gives us a rest from watching this shite.

[selassie]

We are a mid table team now. Best get use to it.

Only way to build now is with youth, we won’t be able to attract anyone half decent in the summer window. Our squad is full of expensive DUDS too who are going to be nigh on impossible to shift ala Mustafi.

We are in deep shit guys.

[Mac76]

Arteta needs to sit down and realise the following:

1. Laca can't score
2. Pepe should play
3. Laca can't score
4. Ozil away to Northern scum doesn't work
5. Laca can't score
6. The team have already given up on running around really hard for 90 minutes
7. Laca can't score
8. Auba can't score either any more
9. Laca can't score
10. Martinelli can score

[Marc Overmars]

Roll on May. Can't wait for a few months off from watching this rancid team.

[dazthegooner]

Gay Winter Breaks :bow:

Mind you, at least it gives us a rest from watching this shite.

Well if it is a Gay winter break might not get a few of our players back alive...

[Letters]

Only one thing for it to cheer myself up

https://www.cameo.com/tonyadams

[Marc Overmars]

6 wins and a -2 goal difference after 25 games. Christ.

[Niall_Quinn]

Well if it is a Gay winter break might not get a few of our players back alive...

Should be okay. Won't make any difference to our movement on the pitch.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I think despite all the Ozil hate, he actually looked like he might create something and taking him off was not the right move. Laca and Martinelli could have both come off at any point as neither really posed a real threat the whole game.

No idea why Nketiah came on so late or why Pepe didn't see the light of day. I get that he is working hard, but this is getting painful with Laca now. Just bench him FFS.

[Niall_Quinn]

6 wins and a -2 goal difference after 25 games. Christ.

Can't see the Hammers getting 22 points. Can't see Watford getting 23. So our 46 points should see use comfortably safe.

Safe :trophy:

[Letters]

Staying up, staying up, staying uuup :scarf:

[Letters]

6 wins and a -2 goal difference after 25 games. Christ.

Have we every been this bad at this stage of any season.
We went down before WWI, so I guess then.
But since we came up after WWI (at the expense of Spurs, lolz) have we ever been this bad before?

[Master Splinter]

Ozil, Mustafi and Lacazette all starting.

Martinelli shunted to the right, away from his mate Saka.

Willock and Torreira benched after playing well.

Nketiah comes on with two minutes left to go.


Arteta trying to outdo Emery. At least he'd almost binned off Ozil and Mustafi.

The defence and midfield has certainly improved in terms of organisation and solidity, but going forward there's still no flow. Maybe playing a guy with scrappy technique, no goal threat, no speed and little confidence in the box isn't helpful.

Saying all that, if Laca and Auba score their chances, this would have been a comfortable win.

If Ozil and Laca start the next game, I might actually cry.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Burnley boss Sean Dyche talking to Sky Sports: "We had a good grasp of the game. Had enough chances to score and the balance of the side was very good.

"Another solid show of us continuing to improve. We wanted to be brave and set the press.

"No grand statements. We played some reasonable stuff and created chances.

"It is lovely to watch when people are falling over, it is my favourite part. The game is in a fantastic state. No-one wants to adress it apart from me, so I am absolutely happy with the state of the game."

Sean Dyche standing up for the good of the game.

Utter bellend.

[dostoy]

Another pathetic performance from fairycake.

I agree, Arsenal are a mid table team now.

How are Arsenal going to get rid of SO MANY average players in the summer, that is what I'm thinking ?

[Marc Overmars]

Have we every been this bad at this stage of any season.
We went down before WWI, so I guess then.
But since we came up after WWI (at the expense of Spurs, lolz) have we ever been this bad before?

This is the poorest team in my time for sure. Some of you older lot will probably know of worse though.

It's got so bad now that the team doesn't really have any identifiable strengths anymore. Like, what are we actually good at doing these days? We can barely defend, we can barely create chances or can't really construct decent passages of play with any consistency. When we do something nice it feels like a bit of a fluke or an anomaly. We don't have any flair players who are worth the price of a ticket alone either, where's the excitement? Pure mid-table dross.

[Master Splinter]

Alexandre Lacazette's last Premier League goal away from home: 9th February 2019

Mesut Özil's last Premier League assist away from home: 30th January 2018

https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1223983983198904321

Incredibly, you'll still find people making a case for them though.

No-one hates them. I think any sane person can see that they're completely ineffective and often a detriment to the team.

[dostoy]

Until Ozil and a few others leave, there will not be any significant improvement.

Ozil is a pathetic player in every way possible.

How on earth is he still here and on 350k a week ?

Only Arsenal.

[Dial Square Old Boy]

Have we every been this bad at this stage of any season.
We went down before WWI, so I guess then.
But since we came up after WWI (at the expense of Spurs, lolz) have we ever been this bad before?

Yes, around 1974 or so. Flirted properly with relegation then.

[Letters]

Yes, around 1974 or so. Flirted properly with relegation then.

Yes, I’ve been having a look.
In 75/76 at this stage we had won more games but under 3 points for a win would have had fewer points
At this stage it was

P25 W7 D7 L11 so that would be 28 points.
We had a GD of -2 and were in 18th place.

The team 3rd from bottom would have had 21 points were it 3 points for a win so we weren’t in too much danger but was a pretty pathetic effort.


Least they weren’t charging £60 to watch them though.

[Letters]

Only the bottom 2 have won fewer games.
It’s only the draws separating us from the relegation zone.
What a car crash :doh:

[Bumble]

Only the bottom 2 have won fewer games.
It’s only the draws separating us from the relegation zone.
What a car crash :doh:
on a positive note only Liverpool have lost fewer games.

[Letters]

on a positive note only Liverpool have lost fewer games.

*checks*

:haha:. Bloody hell, you’re right too.

:doh:

Maybe we didn’t get the memo that it’s 3 points for a win these days

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Arsenal. :bow:

Tough to beat.

[Mac76]

Well it was only because Bumley were so woeful in front of goal - having said that we could have won it in the first minute and on several other occasions if Laca wasn't hopeless and Auba rusty

I really am questionning Arteta's judgement for the first time, he surely should know by now Laca can't hit a barn door - if he wants to play him back into form why not do it in the cup games

And it means leaving out Pepe which isn't good - maybe he still isn't 'training hard enough' - it seems like being a good player means nothing if you don't run around the correct amount of traffic cones....

[Niall_Quinn]

Pepe hasn't been any better than Laca tbf.

[Chippy]

We are a mid table team now. Best get use to it.

Only way to build now is with youth, we won’t be able to attract anyone half decent in the summer window. Our squad is full of expensive DUDS too who are going to be nigh on impossible to shift ala Mustafi.

We are in deep shit guys.

Are our players just not very good?
Is Arteta the right man for such a big job?

Whatever it is, we are years away from being a good side.

[hobson's choice]

Arteta has to understand our experience midfielders(Ozil & Xhaka) offer us nothing.

It's time to go with the youngers

[I am invisible]

...The defence and midfield has certainly improved in terms of organisation and solidity, but going forward there's still no flow...

...Saying all that, if Laca and Auba score their chances, this would have been a comfortable win...

Tbh, I’m expecting more of the same for the next 4 or 5 weeks (at least!) - the team might look much improved when it comes to shape and structure and organisation, etc (and tbf it is), but I think we’re still very much in a place where it takes conscious thought and effort on the part of the players. We need that to go from conscious effort to automatic behaviour before we’re ready to move on to the fun stuff, and unfortunately there’s no shortcut to this part of the process - you just have to keep putting in the hours until it’s second nature.

Until then I think we’re just hoping that the attackers will have enough experience and talent between them to create chances and nick some wins, but it’s all going to look very unscripted and opportunistic going forward for a little while yet.

I’ve got to say, though, I am a little disappointed that we haven’t been able to ‘nick’ a few more points recently - as you say, Laca and Auba had the chances to win this one (and others), and it feels like we might have got more out of other games if it weren’t for things like red cards and conceding deflected goals. Just got to keep plugging away at it...

[Niall_Quinn]

Are our players just not very good?
Is Arteta the right man for such a big job?

Whatever it is, we are years away from being a good side.

It's several things. One of the key problems that doesn't just affect us, but most teams, is the bullshit style of football that's being played now. Slow, negative, sideways, endless fucking passing with no end product. We've had the era of the winger, the era of the two big strikers battering away, the golden eras of high tempo, direct but technical football - and now this shit which is by far the worst style I've ever seen. And the more adept at boring the shit out of everyone a team becomes, the more they are lauded as masters of the art.

Pep's Barcelona. Pep's gypos. Wenger, at the end, with his tippety shit world record passes per game. We are still fucking around playing Wengerball Mk II. They even showed a stat today about us taking most passes to stick the ball in the net. It's all viewed as cultured football, despite its coma inducing lack of entertainment. We're always dangerous when we pick up the tempo and drive directly. Aggressive, positive movement. Pinging the ball. Taking the opposition on. But we do it so rarely.

Doesn't surprise me at all to see a team with at least five forward thinking and aggressive players tearing up the league. Even when they are playing badly, bang, bang, bang, in the net. Crossing balls. Running the touchline. Taking opponents on.

The opposite has been bred into our lot over a long period of time. It will take just as long to change it. That's if Arteta even wants to change it. I was encouraged by his first few games but now I wonder if he has enough to get the better of these wasters.

Mustafi, Sokratis, Chambers, Holding, Gwen, Torreira, Xhaka, just some of the players who are nowhere near good enough to hold together a serious team over an entire season. Not the world's worst, but none of them would have been within a mile of Arsenal teams of the past.

Ozil, Pepe, Lacazette, Bellerin, decent on their day, far too inconsistent to fire bullets for a proper title challenge.

I agree with others here. Saka, Willock, Martinelli, AMN and I thought Nelson did well too (bar one game), these players seem to have so much more about them than the seniors. Not saying they'd win us anything yet, but I'd rather the manager sink time into them rather than players that have had chance after chance.

Aubu - he's our genuine world class talent. But he'll surely be off in the summer. Last years of his career, he's not going to spend them here languishing in mid table.

This season is a write-off. We aren't going down, but we won't be winning anything the way we're playing. I'd write off next season too. Arteta has to do major work in the summer transfer window. He has to clear out a whole shed of dead wood. Then he has to build a team. So we won't be in the hunt next year either. See where we are the year after that when all the dross (hopefully) has been ditched, we have a good mix of youth and experience (hopefully) and the players that reek of Wengerball are gone.

If Arteta lasts that long. Because if he's another tip tap admirer then he won't last long.

[Globalgunner]

Auba can fk off too. totally 1 dimensional. Couldnt get past a grandmother standing in the centre circle with a walking stick. Barca dont tolerate duds. Lets hope we can find someone who simply lives for scoring goals like Ian Wright did. None of these players actually gives a shit...or maybe they are just shit.

[Letters]

Auba can fk off too.

:doh:

He's pretty much the only reason we aren't in the relegation zone.

[Chippy]

:doh:

He's pretty much the only reason we aren't in the relegation zone.
Spot on!
Which is worrying because can we afford a quality striker in the summer when he leaves? Still not massively convinced Martinelli will be the answer.

[Mac76]

I think martinelli's a great prospect - also from NQ's list i think torreira and holding are worth sticking with, but agree there's a lot of others who aren't good enough, just hoping arteta can see it as there are worrying signs he can't

[selassie]

Are our players just not very good?
Is Arteta the right man for such a big job?

Whatever it is, we are years away from being a good side.

I personally don’t think outside of Auba and maybe Leno we have any decent senior players.

Martinelli and Saka are great young talents, the rest are open to debate.

We are going to need a smart rebuild to move forward.

Arteta is a decent coach IMO and given proper support could be the right man for the job.

[Özim]

I think Arteta has done pretty poorly personally, yes we're a bit more solid in defence, but that's at the expense of the attack and we've picked up 8 points from 21 since he arrived!!! Poor lineup, poor subs, Burnley with a decent striker would have won this.

As for the style of football, that's the style he likes, he learnt it under Wenger and we're seeing it now, pointless sideways passing, 30 passes to get near the goal, I thought those days were over.

In contract Ancelotti has come in at Everton who we below us and picked up 14 points in the same period with a team inferior to us (with players like Walcott and Iwobi!!!), so questions have to be asked about Arteta because frankly if you'd told me we are getting a new manager in and in the 1st 7 games he's get just 8 points, I'd tell you to keep looking for someone better, many of the teams we've played have got inferior teams, so it's down the the manager.

[Özim]

I personally don’t think outside of Auba and maybe Leno we have any decent senior players.

Martinelli and Saka are great young talents, the rest are open to debate.

We are going to need a smart rebuild to move forward.

Arteta is a decent coach IMO and given proper support could be the right man for the job.

Torreira is decent but he dropped him for this game. Not convinced with Arteta, I mean thinks Xhaka is the best thing since sliced bread and starts him every match and thinks he can turn around Mustafis' career, he's too similar to Wenger for my liking, I wanted someone with some new ideas not a mini Wenger.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

on a positive note only Liverpool have lost fewer games.

fuhking hell!!

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

The defence hasn't improved at the expense of the attack. Our attack hasn't been great most of this season and the problem has just continued.

I thought this was one of Arteta's poorest games as manager, if not the poorest.

[Özim]

The defence hasn't improved at the expense of the attack. Our attack hasn't been great most of this season and the problem has just continued.

I thought this was one of Arteta's poorest games as manager, if not the poorest.

We were scoring more goals before he arrived to be honest,, so far we're incapable of scoring more than two goals (usually it's one) he's brought back that pointless sideways passing as well and that's on him.

As mentioned Ancelotti has outperformed him with a team that was below us, so there's no sugarcoating it, if a manager is good enough he delivers results, he doesn't complain about the length of the grass.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I don't think the spread of games he's had is enough to draw any lasting conclusions and obviously AUba has been out for 3 games. He was rusty today but had he been playing recently he'd easily had taken at least one chance today.

[Bumble]

The defence hasn't improved at the expense of the attack. Our attack hasn't been great most of this season and the problem has just continued.

I thought this was one of Arteta's poorest games as manager, if not the poorest.

that's what I was going to say in response to Ozim. the attack hasn't gone backwards... it was already pretty backwards before hand. We are more solid defensively but we don't have a creative midfielder or goalscoring midfielder. We really should have kept Ramsey and let Ozil go on a free.

[Letters]

I think Arteta has done pretty poorly personally, yes we're a bit more solid in defence, but that's at the expense of the attack and we've picked up 8 points from 21 since he arrived!!!

It was 7 points from 27 before he arrived.
Overall we have won 2 out of the last 16 league games. 2!
It's a horrible run.
I'd vaguely agree Arteta hasn't had much impact but I don't really think it's fair to judge him yet. We have some serious issues scoring goals this season.
With our talent up front it's pretty ridiculous, I'm increasingly thinking we made a big mistake letting Ramsey go.
I don't think it's fair to judge Arteta yet, he gets a free pass from me this season, I want to see a big improvement next year.

Looking at the stats, the first 8 games this season were comparable to the last 2 years, since then it's gone off a cliff.
We aren't losing many games but we just can't win them either. It's bizarre.

[Marc Overmars]

We’re slightly less shit but shit is still shit.

It’s been quite disappointing that we haven’t really seen a new manager bounce but maybe that shows just how bad things had got. Don’t care about the remainder of the season, hopefully we can go far in the cups but otherwise roll on the summer. You can’t sensibly judge Arteta and the overall picture at the moment but if we don’t pick up a few wins soon you’d be forgiven if you thought about revoking his free pass.

[Özim]

It was 7 points from 27 before he arrived.
Overall we have won 2 out of the last 16 league games. 2!
It's a horrible run.
I'd vaguely agree Arteta hasn't had much impact but I don't really think it's fair to judge him yet. We have some serious issues scoring goals this season.
With our talent up front it's pretty ridiculous, I'm increasingly thinking we made a big mistake letting Ramsey go.
I don't think it's fair to judge Arteta yet, he gets a free pass from me this season, I want to see a big improvement next year.

Looking at the stats, the first 8 games this season were comparable to the last 2 years, since then it's gone off a cliff.
We aren't losing many games but we just can't win them either. It's bizarre.

Yes it has been a horrible run no doubt about that.

For me though, we needed a manager who could make an instant impact and get some results, Spurs got one and even if people say they have better players, there's also the example of Everton who were actually below us when Arteta took over and are now above us with Ancelotti picking up 14 points and winning games, so Artetas' performance is underwhelming to say the least.

I'm also not particulalry impressed with his subs who seem to have little or no impact (and often seem like the wrong ones) and yesterday his lineup was wrong as well. Then there's the very vocal public support for Xhaka who plays every game and seems to be a guy he's building his team around, even ignoring his appauling behaviour (which has just been swept under the carpet btw - something that seems too easy at Arsenal) his performances for 4-5 years have been poor, yes he's been a bit better, but we still have to accommodate him and his limitations by playing certain players around him because he's so slow and can't tackle. He's also not convinced he can turn Mustafis' career around, that ship has sailed sell him and move on.

All in all if I had to rate him out of 10 so far he's get 4-5 out of 10, below average to average at best, IMO he should be getting some wins and goals should be easier to come by for us given our firepower, I'll credit him for improving the defence but for me the attack no lacks something and is struggling for goals somewhat.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

that's what I was going to say in response to Ozim. the attack hasn't gone backwards... it was already pretty backwards before hand. We are more solid defensively but we don't have a creative midfielder or goalscoring midfielder. We really should have kept Ramsey and let Ozil go on a free.

...or a goalscoring goalscorer for that matter, for the last few games.

[Penguin]

The lack of quality in our squad is shocking. We hardly create chances these days. Same old story against Burnley, slow sideways and backwards passes and it's a struggle to even get the ball into the final third, let alone make something out of it.

Pepe has been a massive disappointment. It's not just that he's not playing well, but it's because he goes missing. When Alexis was having a bad game it never stopped him from demanding the ball, trying to be proactive, getting in the box. Pepe's got the Ozil mentality. Hands on hips, shrug the shoulders and hide in a corner somewhere.

There's not even much to look forward to in the summer window either cause we know we don't have money to spend.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

There are no more free passes. I will see how he goes but free passes have been discontinued. To exaggerate the point, if the draws suddenly become losses and we end up in the lower half of the table, Arteta can leave in the summer for all I'm concerned.

Our front line is probably the most expensive in the league. Just mull that over for a second. We should almost have a minimum level of output on that fact alone and yet we are 10th. It's been a ridiculous season.

Arteta managed the game very poorly yesterday and I think our press the last couple games has been drifting which is a concern....not least because the point of pressing is to force opportunities on goal you'd never otherwise have.....which is of particular use when you've failed to take every chance presented in a game.

[Mac76]

Arteta managed the game very poorly yesterday and I think our press the last couple games has been drifting which is a concern....not least because the point of pressing is to force opportunities on goal you'd never otherwise have.....which is of particular use when you've failed to take every chance presented in a game.

i agree with that though it must be soul-destroying to try to create chances when you know Laca will fluff them anyway...

i knew after that miss in the first minute it wouldn't be a good day, it just set the tone

[Özim]

The lack of quality in our squad is shocking. We hardly create chances these days. Same old story against Burnley, slow sideways and backwards passes and it's a struggle to even get the ball into the final third, let alone make something out of it.

Pepe has been a massive disappointment. It's not just that he's not playing well, but it's because he goes missing. When Alexis was having a bad game it never stopped him from demanding the ball, trying to be proactive, getting in the box. Pepe's got the Ozil mentality. Hands on hips, shrug the shoulders and hide in a corner somewhere.

There's not even much to look forward to in the summer window either cause we know we don't have money to spend.

Yes but that's also down to the manager and how he wants to play, Liverpool don't play this way and Klopp implemented his style from the start, even if it didn't work as well then, Emery tried too with his passing from the back.

[selassie]

Torreira is decent but he dropped him for this game. Not convinced with Arteta, I mean thinks Xhaka is the best thing since sliced bread and starts him every match and thinks he can turn around Mustafis' career, he's too similar to Wenger for my liking, I wanted someone with some new ideas not a mini Wenger.

Torreira isn’t decent. Not compared to say Ndidi, Fabinho or Rodri.

He’s not good enough for a top 4 team.

Yeah Xhaka is shite, we all know that. He has improved under Arteta though.

[selassie]

The defence hasn't improved at the expense of the attack. Our attack hasn't been great most of this season and the problem has just continued.

I thought this was one of Arteta's poorest games as manager, if not the poorest.

Have you seen how unfit our players are? Most of them are exhausted by the hour mark, it’s been like that all season and it’s unacceptable and embarrassing.

The point I am trying to make here is you can’t be a press efficient team with a bunch of unfit players. Fitness is the most critical aspect in this, our players are clearly and I mean visually unfit.