Why Can't We Win?

[Letters]

So here's the points per game over the last 3 seasons:

https://i.ibb.co/pw5rCfd/Arsenal-Last3-Seasons.jpg

The blue line is Wenger's last season.
Orange is Emery's first season - overall better and one impressive runs at the start (although results flattered us at times in that run).
Grey is this season. First 8 games comparable to the last 2 seasons. Since then...
We've not lost that many but we've won 2 out of 16. 2!
Why can't we win games?

Or rather, why is our inability to win games so much worse than the last 2 seasons.
We won 21 games last year. Even in Wenger's last season we were losing too many but we still won 19.
This year so far it's 6.

What the hell is that about? What is so different this season that we just can't win games?

[Mac76]

"Hmmm, tricky one......"

https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/19/b7/alexandre-lacazette-arsenal-2019-20_dxh0mvnujyzi1ju5imazq9f0c.jpg?t=311241390&quality=60&w=1200&h=800

[Marc Overmars]

I think our attack overall has been quite poor. I’d wager 32 goals after 25 games could be our lowest at this stage for a long time.

If Auba doesn’t score then it’s pot luck really if anyone else will. You can’t just rely on one player for goals. Our midfield is next to useless as well in terms of contributing.

[dazthegooner]

Think sometime's we've spent so long working on our defensive issues we've packed the team with defensive minded players even the forwards are having to defend more than they should.

[Letters]

I think our attack overall has been quite poor. I’d wager 32 goals after 25 games could be our lowest at this stage for a long time.

If Auba doesn’t score then it’s pot luck really if anyone else will. You can’t just rely on one player for goals. Our midfield is next to useless as well in terms of contributing.

Yeah, it's our goal-scoring

This season: 32 (A34)
2019: 51 (A36)
2018: 46 (A34)

So the defence has remained consistently crap, our attack has got significantly worse.

[GP]

We look more solid in defence since Arteta arrived but we are blunt in attack.

In short: Wenger in.

[Letters]

We look more solid in defence since Arteta arrived but we are blunt in attack.

In short: Wenger in.

:gp:

[Özim]

Personally I don't think the pass pass football suits our team, we've got a potent strike force and a game based more on counter attacking might put their skills to better use, our football is too slow.

We should be able to score and create plenty with players like Pepe, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Martinelly and Ozil.

Xhaka for me is just awful, slow at everything he does which hinders our games terribly, we need to move Luiz who is more dynamic into midfield next to Torreira.

[dazthegooner]

Xhaka for me is just awful, slow at everything he does which hinders our games terribly, we need to move Luiz who is more dynamic into midfield next to Torreira.[/QUOTE]

:gp:

[Letters]

Agree about the lack of speed moving the ball forward.
It is endless pass, pass, pass and by the time we get to the edge of their area there's 10 players in the box to get past.
We need a bit of pace to stretch teams. On occasion we score great goals where we do go forward with pace, we just don't do it often enough.
Matinelli got a bit of luck against Chelsea with the slip but that sort of pace going forward is really hard to defend and if defenders do make a mistake like get caught wrong footed and slip then you've made your own luck there. We need to do that more.

[Mac76]

yes it still seems to be down to single players deciding to take it on and run at people, a la Guendouzi earlier in the season

also our strategy at both taking and defending corners is still awful.

if i was Arteta i'd tell the players that not putting a ball direct into the box from a corner will mean they're left out of the next game

also not leaving a player up when we're defending a corner is criminal - I just can't get over how much these people are paid to make such a basic mistake

leaving a player up field means we have an outlet for when we (hopefully) clear the ball and then we can go on the attack, instead of simply giving the ball back to the opposition

it also means the oppostion has to leave a couple of defenders back to mark them

it's just so fuhking simple

[Özim]

Agree about the lack of speed moving the ball forward.
It is endless pass, pass, pass and by the time we get to the edge of their area there's 10 players in the box to get past.
We need a bit of pace to stretch teams. On occasion we score great goals where we do go forward with pace, we just don't do it often enough.
Matinelli got a bit of luck against Chelsea with the slip but that sort of pace going forward is really hard to defend and if defenders do make a mistake like get caught wrong footed and slip then you've made your own luck there. We need to do that more.

Yes, Martinelli did get a bit of luck but defenders hate players running at them at pace, they have less time to think and this in turn causes them to make errors a lot of the time, when you pass it around slowly it's much easier to defend against.

I'm not saying we should always attack at pace, but we certainly should be doing it far more often than we do as it really stretches defenders.

[Globalgunner]

yes it still seems to be down to single players deciding to take it on and run at people, a la Guendouzi earlier in the season

also our strategy at both taking and defending corners is still awful.

if i was Arteta i'd tell the players that not putting a ball direct into the box from a corner will mean they're left out of the next game

also not leaving a player up when we're defending a corner is criminal - I just can't get over how much these people are paid to make such a basic mistake

leaving a player up field means we have an outlet for when we (hopefully) clear the ball and then we can go on the attack, instead of simply giving the ball back to the opposition

it also means the oppostion has to leave a couple of defenders back to mark them

it's just so fuhking simple

Ive advocated this for years. There must be some law of nature that forbids coaches do this, i have no idea what. It doesnt even need to be your best striker left on the line, just someone who can move quickly with the ball at their feet and wont panic when he sees the keeper coming. That for us means no of course to Xhaka and yes to Martinelli or Bellerin even

[KSE Comedy Club]

Whatever the problem is that has happened, the answer is the same as it has been for the last 5+ years.

We need pace and revert back to quick counter attacking football.

I am appalled at how boring and slow our football has become

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Xhaka has been our most consistent player for a while now. I literally wanted him out at least 2 years ago, never mind recently....but I can't fault him lately.

[KSE Comedy Club]

He has improved somewhat but yesterday he was back to his worst when it came to passing again.

Solid defensively, but when we started to push up from the back, on at least 6 occasions, he was the most forward defender. He had options in front to on the wings and in attack, but instead he turned and passed it backwards. He kept doing it all throughout the second half and my god it was so frustrating. The thing is in the first half he put a couple of decent balls in towards Auba but then gave up.

[Özim]

Whatever the problem is that has happened, the answer is the same as it has been for the last 5+ years.

We need pace and revert back to quick counter attacking football.

I am appalled at how boring and slow our football has become

Definitely, I don't understand this obsession with pass pass football, it's so ineffective unless you have world beaters throughout your team, with our current team who have enough pace, pacey attacks would work very well and would certainly be more exciting and better to watch.

[fakeyank]

To give a simple answer to the question by letters.. our midfield is absolute garbage. They cannot transition between defense to offense in any way that is consistently effective. How we need a ball player like Cazorla now!! Xhaka and Guendozi might be positioning themselves better since Arteta has come, but they are 0% effective going forward.

And then you have our 'most creative player' in Ozil to who the ball goes to die. Sure he will have a couple of games where he reminds us there is an amazing player somewhere in there. Think of the number of times the ball goes to him on the left of the opposition box, and all he does is play a bunch of passes with the full back and Guendozi/Xhaka before it is passed back to the CB's.

If I had it my way, my midfield for the rest of the season going forward would be Torreira Ceballos and Willock. Might add Guendozi or Xhaka instead of Ceballos if we need to be more defensive, but no way am I starting two players with no offensive ability in the mix.

[Marc Overmars]

Boils down to confidence really. You can’t play fast and instinctive football if your forwards aren’t consistently making the runs or your midfielders don’t have the awareness to find them. You need the right players, players who do it as second nature.

[Globalgunner]

To give a simple answer to the question by letters.. our midfield is absolute garbage. They cannot transition between defense to offense in any way that is consistently effective. How we need a ball player like Cazorla now!! Xhaka and Guendozi might be positioning themselves better since Arteta has come, but they are 0% effective going forward.

And then you have our 'most creative player' in Ozil to who the ball goes to die. Sure he will have a couple of games where he reminds us there is an amazing player somewhere in there. Think of the number of times the ball goes to him on the left of the opposition box, and all he does is play a bunch of passes with the full back and Guendozi/Xhaka before it is passed back to the CB's.

If I had it my way, my midfield for the rest of the season going forward would be Torreira Ceballos and Willock. Might add Guendozi or Xhaka instead of Ceballos if we need to be more defensive, but no way am I starting two players with no offensive ability in the mix.

An AM needs to be someone who can receive the ball, even under pressure and extricate himself and move the ball forward at at least 10 yards and find the forward players consistently. Has anyone ever seen Xhaka stride forward with the ball at his feet?....Ever. All he does is collect the ball and redistibute it from a sedentary position. (To quote the former parliaments speaker). We are going nowhere with this turd as our AM. His partner is Guendouzi who can move the ball a bit, but falls down within 5 paces. Cannot shoot and cannot break up opposition play. How can you pair 2 such ineffective turds in your team. The 2 of them can barely do the job of 1 limited player like Jordan Henderson. Its so painfully obvious, but still we roll on. Pepe is a total waste of money. We should have spent that 72m looking for a better CM and adding whatever pennies we could have got from selling Xhaka.

Xhaka must have a Men in Black like brain bender that makes all his managers see peak Vieira/Keane instead of what he is a sloppy hacker who occasionally unleashes a cannon of a shot.

[Özim]

Boils down to confidence really. You can’t play fast and instinctive football if your forwards aren’t consistently making the runs or your midfielders don’t have the awareness to find them. You need the right players, players who do it as second nature.

I think we do have some of the right players, as mentioned if we move Luiz into midfield and get rid of Xhaka for good then have Pepe and Martinelli (or Ozil) with Auba and Laca up front we could do it, we have players with pace and some skillful players, the setup isn't perfect but we could certainly apply it and look to improve at it.

Trouble is Arteta is set on Xhaka being in the first team and that really hinders us, I'm not convinced Arteta doesn't just want us to play that boring passing football as well, that was what he learnt under Wenger, thats one of the reasons I never wanted anyone who played under Wenger in that era to take charge, it's almost like they're brainwashed into thinking that's the way football should be played.

[Özim]

Our attack has definitely suffered under Arteta, statistically we're taking less shots 9.5 rather than 12.6 under Emery apparently, so that won't help us score goals.

I feel Arteta came in and people were expecting him to turn us into a free flowing attacking team, instead he's turned us much more defensive minded, whilst it's sured up our defence our attack has suffered as a consequence.

So far Arteta reminds me of Emery in a sense that almost every game is a struggle, we never look capable of scoring more than 2, which is odd given our quality in attack, we seem very limited going forward.

[Niall_Quinn]

Personally I don't think the pass pass football suits our team, we've got a potent strike force and a game based more on counter attacking might put their skills to better use, our football is too slow.

We should be able to score and create plenty with players like Pepe, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Martinelly and Ozil.

Xhaka for me is just awful, slow at everything he does which hinders our games terribly, we need to move Luiz who is more dynamic into midfield next to Torreira.

Yep. Wengerball. Barca-Lite. Both euphemisms for dog shit. It will take a long time to scrub Wenger away. The whole culture has to be changed. With modern footballers you can't just storm in and throw a boot in their faces. Which is a huge shame. You have to coax the little lambs to accept change. If they fancy it then they might play along. Otherwise they'll go all chav dressing room and the manager gets the boot.

This is compounded by the financial situation. We don't have a blank chequebook so we can't take the hit of dumping the whole squad and buying another one (which is what's needed if we want short term solutions).

We were plunging down a chasm when Emery took over. He seemed content to let the players decide how everyone was going to hit the bottom. Arteta, at least, seems to have recognised parachutes are a top priority. Slow the fall, maybe come to a gentle landing that doesn't involve Championship football. Then begin the slow climb back up.

Winning ways will return when we have forgotten every last aspect of the Wenger nightmare and learned how to crawl again, then walk, then run. Do that and we can learn what a football is. And how it can be used to play a popular sport. And how best to organise and train to be good at that sport. And we'll need players with character, rather than characters who had it easy under Wenger and forgot how to be competitive professionals and winners.

[Niall_Quinn]

Xhaka has been our most consistent player for a while now. I literally wanted him out at least 2 years ago, never mind recently....but I can't fault him lately.

He's not alone in killing the momentum of our play, but he's one of the better practitioners. Mustafi too. And, I've noticed, Bellerin seems to have caught the infection. Torreira. Pepe almost 100% of the time. Sokratis. Most of them.

When we get some space and the opportunity to move the ball up the pitch is clear, many of our players will immediately shun the option (or not even see it) and instead look for the safe sideways or backwards pass. It's as if possession is a prize in itself. I know what we're trying to do. In theory. We're trying to shift the play left, then right, then left, probing for a mistake and a gap that gets too wide.

But we play at such a low tempo the mistake or the gap is highly unlikely to materialise. We make it so easy for the opposition, and Xhaka's one of the worst offenders. I could literally scream when I see him with the ball, Auba or Martinelli will be moving ahead, looking for the space and looking for the pass. And Xhaka... takes a touch. Takes another. Turns this way. Turns that way. Taps it five yards sideways. Or literally turns his back on goal and hits it back to the safest possible option.

Pepe is even worse.

This is why Saka and Martinelli are looking so exciting. But they're only doing what everyone should be doing, showing a bit of ambitions and a willingness to take a gamble in return for a pay-off.

[selassie]

For all of Wengers’s faults and he did lose his way in his final years, at least his team had a bit of identity and a moderate amount of stamina and pace.

The current team which is pretty much Emery’s has no distinct qualities whatsoever. Central Defence lacks pace, stamina, strength and any semblance of tactical awareness. Arteta has them more organised, still a shite central defence.

Our first choice full backs are crocks. Bellerin hasn’t improved since he first came through, he has arguably regressed.

Central Midfield is shite, Xhaka slow, Torreira headless chicken, Guendouzi headless chicken, Willock not sure what to make of him, sometimes great, sometimes gash. Ceballos? What is he?

Central Midfield lacks consistency and direction.

Ozil is Ozil. 350k per week, Jesus Christ!

Wings, Martinelli is a great prospect but will and does blow hot and cold. Pepe right now is Pepe, sublime to the ridiculous.

Auba is obviously great, without him we would be fighting relegation. Laca is Laca and looks to me to be on the slide.

We are just not very good. Our players aren’t very good and we are where we are.

P.S Oh and our players are criminally unfit. We use to be one of the fittest teams in the league, we look to be one of the unfittest now.

P.P.S Now is genuinely the time to blood our academy graduates, I see no reason to not play Saka ahead of Kola or Willock ahead of Xhaka or Nelson ahead of Ozil, Martinelli ahead of Laca. Most of our senior players are shite.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

He's not alone in killing the momentum of our play, but he's one of the better practitioners. Mustafi too. And, I've noticed, Bellerin seems to have caught the infection. Torreira. Pepe almost 100% of the time. Sokratis. Most of them.

When we get some space and the opportunity to move the ball up the pitch is clear, many of our players will immediately shun the option (or not even see it) and instead look for the safe sideways or backwards pass. It's as if possession is a prize in itself. I know what we're trying to do. In theory. We're trying to shift the play left, then right, then left, probing for a mistake and a gap that gets too wide.

But we play at such a low tempo the mistake or the gap is highly unlikely to materialise. We make it so easy for the opposition, and Xhaka's one of the worst offenders. I could literally scream when I see him with the ball, Auba or Martinelli will be moving ahead, looking for the space and looking for the pass. And Xhaka... takes a touch. Takes another. Turns this way. Turns that way. Taps it five yards sideways. Or literally turns his back on goal and hits it back to the safest possible option.

Pepe is even worse.

This is why Saka and Martinelli are looking so exciting. But they're only doing what everyone should be doing, showing a bit of ambitions and a willingness to take a gamble in return for a pay-off.


We certainly don't have a Tomas Rosicky in the ranks, who's main skill was taking the ball on the half turn and just driving towards the oppositions goal.... though when he was here, plenty complained about him too. Same again with Santi at times because his stats weren't what fans wanted them to be.

Guendouzi was taking far too long to play simple passes (backwards like you say Xhaka is prone to) and Willock was taking far too long to release the ball when he came on (which is seeming like a habit of his). I'm not sure why there is any real clamour for Douzi or Willock to start. There is the athleticism, but we seem to scoff at this as a tangible attribute when we see Sissoko for Tottenham play for this very reason.

For me, the glaring omission is Ceballos. Someone will tell me he's been average but who hasn't really bar what's gone on the last month or so. He has real technical ability, an eye for a pass, likes a foot in, looks after the ball generally. Didn't we bring him here on loan for a reason and decide to continue with it despite murmurs he wanted to go back?

Real Madrid with never ask for Guendouzi or Willock on loan for us, but we have a young Spanish player who is fairly highly rated in Spain. Anyway several decisions Arteta made in this game was odd.

Martinelli looked as poor as he has all season but that was not his fault imo.

[Niall_Quinn]

We certainly don't have a Tomas Rosicky in the ranks, who's main skill was taking the ball on the half turn and just driving towards the oppositions goal.... though when he was here, plenty complained about him too. Same again with Santi at times because his stats weren't what fans wanted them to be.

Guendouzi was taking far too long to play simple passes (backwards like you say Xhaka is prone to) and Willock was taking far too long to release the ball when he came on (which is seeming like a habit of his). I'm not sure why there is any real clamour for Douzi or Willock to start. There is the athleticism, but we seem to scoff at this as a tangible attribute when we see Sissoko for Tottenham play for this very reason.

For me, the glaring omission is Ceballos. Someone will tell me he's been average but who hasn't really bar what's gone on the last month or so. He has real technical ability, an eye for a pass, likes a foot in, looks after the ball generally. Didn't we bring him here on loan for a reason and decide to continue with it despite murmurs he wanted to go back?

Real Madrid with never ask for Guendouzi or Willock on loan for us, but we have a young Spanish player who is fairly highly rated in Spain. Anyway several decisions Arteta made in this game was odd.

Martinelli looked as poor as he has all season but that was not his fault imo.

They're all terribly frustrating. Lacking confidence. My guess is, you get brought up in an environment where it's all about bullshit like, "Express yourself, you decide, train yourself." I think Emery was probably worse than Wenger in that respect. "pick your own captain." What a crock of shit.

What these players need is, "Do this you cunt! Then do that! And shut the fuck up!" But, like I mentioned before, players have all the power these days. If you upset them they have their little cliques in the dressing room and can bring the whole house down if a single feather is ruffled.

I'd back this up by noting the first few games with Arteta in charge. There was a tangible difference. They were really pressing, in an organised fashion. They were working until they cramped up. Was that a willingness to work for a new manager? Maybe. The novelty of it? Or did it coincide with the January transfer window approaching and each of them wanting to ensure their comfortable perch and overly generous benefits?

Whatever, they are back in their groove now. Sloppy, sub-par, negative. One minute Ozil is running marathons and putting in tackles. But before long we're all playing Where's Ozil again. It's not good enough, nowhere near. These are privileged individuals who don't appreciate it. On the contrary, they're all crying about winter breaks and mental fatigue and getting rid of cup replays. It's appalling.

Managers have a thankless task these days, trying to tease 100% out of pampered twats. That's at any club. But at Arsenal it's worse, because we've spent a decade building that lazy, unprofessional and counterproductive culture. And you can't stick your foot up anyone's arse these days because that would hurt their feelings or impact their mental health.

We know that all of these players are better than their performances suggest. Because if they aren't, why are they "earning" five and six figures a week?

I blame the players. We've had two new managers in now and Freddie in-between and hardly anything has changed. I didn't expect miracles, but when I'm still watching the tip tap bullshit that our lot claim is football then it strongly suggests nobody can get through to these players.

Xhaka stands out because of his other issues. But, for me, Pepe is the worst offender. An absolute waster, so far anyway. Weak. Lazy. Negative. And 72 million quid. What a joke.

Again I'll say, let's go with the kids and try to get these seniors out the door as fast as possible. The younger players still seem to have some heart and may have more manageable egos so they can be shaped into a decent team. I saw AMN in the middle a few times and he was hot and cold. But when he was hot, he showed a lot of promise. Himself and Willock, that's who I'd pick for the middle. It would have no impact this season, but give them some time and let's see what they can do.

[Chippy]

So here's the points per game over the last 3 seasons:

https://i.ibb.co/pw5rCfd/Arsenal-Last3-Seasons.jpg

The blue line is Wenger's last season.
Orange is Emery's first season - overall better and one impressive runs at the start (although results flattered us at times in that run).
Grey is this season. First 8 games comparable to the last 2 seasons. Since then...
We've not lost that many but we've won 2 out of 16. 2!
Why can't we win games?

Or rather, why is our inability to win games so much worse than the last 2 seasons.
We won 21 games last year. Even in Wenger's last season we were losing too many but we still won 19.
This year so far it's 6.

What the hell is that about? What is so different this season that we just can't win games?

With the risk of stating the obvious, today is a must win game.
There can be no excuses for tiredness.
We have most of our senior players fit and well rested. Arteta must start bearing the fruits of labour. A win is needed, not a draw.