Match Reaction v Villa (home)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Our fearsome attack showed up again. :bow:

Back to negative GD for us.

Utter shite.

[Marc Overmars]

Great way to prove how redundant that result at Old Trafford was. Not surprised in the slightest with this, quite frankly we’ve looked every bit a mid table side and the results bare that out so far. Arteta is dining off the wins over City and Chelsea in the cup because the league results since he took over are bang average and that’s putting it kindly.

I’m fed up with these tactics and not being able to attack with any conviction or potency. I’ve no problem with playing conservative football but all the best defensive teams are still very effective up front and we just don’t have anything to provide there.

It’s weird not having the media cotton on to the shit were serving up, they’re normally quick to hone in on us. It’s probably because Arteta is a nice guy, either that or we’ve become totally irrelevant now in the grand scheme of things. Though the manner of this result is going to raise some eyebrows for sure.

We’ve got Leeds next and getting tanked there is quite feasible given how both sides are set up to play.

We won’t be getting anywhere near 4th on what we’ve seen so far and I’m not even sure we’ll be able to match our 8th place finish of last year either, given how vibrant some of these so called lesser sides are looking.

[Mac76]

truly awful - did we even have a shot on target?

we're 11th

Arteta needs to answer some real questions now

[Bumble]

Only positive is that i didnt pay to watch the game or even watch the game. Losing 3 zip at home is never a good result.

We are sort of more solid but it is dull. Just not sure arteta is the one to take us forward

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Did anyone pay the £14.95 to watch that of those in the UK? :lol:

That's the only thing that could somehow make it worse.

[selassie]

I don't think we even played this badly under Emery and Arteta has been given millions to spend.

What worries me more than anything is the ease in which we are getting outplayed, West Ham outplayed us a few weeks back and we got lucky. Our football is shite and we rarely control a match.

[Gooner23]

Did anyone pay the £14.95 to watch that of those in the UK? :lol:

That's the only thing that could somehow make it worse.

Na, found a stream and then it died in the 2nd half.. kind of apt.

That was truly dreadful though. Arteta responsible for picking the same under performing players. Partey our best player and he was injured, says it all really.

[Gooner23]

How old is Laca now? Seems to have aged about 10 years since he joined us, genuinely painful watching him lumber around.

And Willian's performances are really worrying given he was supposed to be a player for the now. What the fuck is he going to look like in year 2 and 3 of his contract!

[Letters]

Did anyone pay the £14.95 to watch that of those in the UK? :lol:

That's the only thing that could somehow make it worse.

£5 a goal. Great value :bow:

Can we claw it back on postal goals? :unsure:

[Xhaka Can’t]

£5 a goal. Great value :bow:

Can we claw it back on postal goals? :unsure:

You have us confused with ManUre

[Gooner23]

Arteta is pretty honest in post match interview which is something, hopefully he can find a way to improve us offensively.

[Letters]

Arteta is pretty honest in post match interview which is something, hopefully he can find a way to improve us offensively.

I find him very impressive when he talks.
And there have been some signs of being a bit more organised, it seems like Arteta has more of a plan.
But it's not working well. We are a bit more organised in defence but completely toothless up front.
None of our strikers would get in Spurs' team :sick:

[Marc Overmars]

I’m conflicted. I want to dislike him because of what we’re seeing on the pitch but he’s always open and honest when he speaks, he knows where we are and doesn’t try to sugar coat it and I like that.

His tactics are just not good enough by any measure and I think the benefit of the doubt period is long gone now. He’s not just working with the Emery scraps anymore, this team is moulding itself into his image and it doesn’t look like a team that’s going to make any great strides in the league. Mainly because inexplicably any attacking threat we once had has evaporated into thin air.

[Chippy]

I find him very impressive when he talks.
And there have been some signs of being a bit more organised, it seems like Arteta has more of a plan.
But it's not working well. We are a bit more organised in defence but completely toothless up front.
None of our strikers would get in Spurs' team :sick:
I know we have to give Arteta time, however, I just dont feel he is good enough for Arsenal. We needed someone with more experience. We are miles away from the top 4, bloody miles. None of our players would get into the Spuds team, let alone the strikers. Spuds, City and Liverpool in the mix to win the league this year, just to make it even more depressing. FFS.

[Mac76]

I know we have to give Arteta time, however, I just dont feel he is good enough for Arsenal.

me neither

maybe he would be in five years but we shouldn't have taken the risk on a rookie

[Mac76]

just saw this on twitter: "It's actually six hours and 26 minutes since Arsenal last scored a goal from open play in the Premier League."

:faint:

[Letters]

just saw this on twitter: "It's actually six hours and 26 minutes since Arsenal last scored a goal from open play in the Premier League."

:faint:
Rubbish. We weren’t even playing at 5pm today.

[Xhaka Can’t]

:lol:

[Niall_Quinn]

Don't know about 6 hours since the last goal in open play, but the rest of it has been going on for a decade now. One step forward, two back. Except in our style of play, which is now 3 steps back. It's the whole culture of the club, from the ground up. There's a second rate and second best mentality all around the place which, IMO, set like concrete when everyone allowed Wenger away with his top 4 trophy. We went from battling it out for the title, to not really having much of a shot but still getting 4th safely enough, to having no prayer at all and scraping 4th. And then the inevitable trend saw us become a Europa club. And it'll just keep trending down.

Even now, some fans say getting 4th would be a sign of progress. No it wouldn't. It would be meaningless if we were still playing tip tap shite with nailed on failures at every significant hurdle. We wouldn't be in the CL to win, we'd just be making up the numbers.

Until the club, the players and the fans all resolve that the goal is to win the title and to CL and the FA Cup and every last competition we play in, no excuses, then nothing's going to change and we'll be mid table because mid table teams accept their position. They also tell their fans to be realistic, despite Leicester actually showing them all that anything is possible if you want it enough.

We might not win every match, every competition, everything - though some clubs seem to be able to manage it, so it's not impossible. But we can't be hearing any more shit about striving to be also-rans in the CL. Either we're a "big" club or we're not. If we're not then fine, settle down and accept this is normal. Otherwise play matches like we mean to win them, rather than fucking around to ensure we don't lose. At the top level of sport there's no no place and no time for a loser's attitude. And that's what we've had for a decade or more. Play the kids and let them play. Can't be any worse than what we've been seeing and there doesn't seem to be any other plan.

[Globalgunner]

I don't know who is going to call time on this gifted rookie experiment. The team is completely incompetent at its basic functions. Scoring goals. He has Lacazette fighting for the ball in midfield and the wingers firing balls in to players who are nowhere near the box. No possession in midfield and no shots on target ever. We will be lucky to avoid relegation at this rate. I pray it doesn't take a home humiliation against the Spuds to see the obvious.

[Marc Overmars]

First thing to do is get Lacazette and Willian out of the team, it’s a joke how ineffective these 2 are as an attacking threat. I would bring in Pepe and Ceballos. Pepe can be a bit amateurish at times but can still make things happen and most importantly is capable of scoring goals from nothing. I’m not a huge Ceballos fan but he tends to see passes others don’t, which makes him the best of a crap supporting bunch in the centre of the park.

Put Auba in the centre and gear everything towards laying chances on for him. I can’t believe how much of a passenger he’s been this season, an absolute waste of the one guy who can make the difference for us.

[Letters]

Put Auba in the centre.
Definitely agree with this. He's completely ineffective on the wing and that's not his fault, it's not the right place to play him.

[Globalgunner]

Auba in the middle is another myth. Laca spent most of the match in the centre battling Villa midfielders. Auba always plays on the wing as far as I can recall especially with Dortmund where he made his name. Henry was a winger who could play centre,, he dovetailed with Pires because they actually knew how to play football. Auba is a good footballer but he is not the difference maker we dream he is. He wont battle big CBs, he cant dribble. If he cant run behind the defence, he cant score. He is not that guy.

[Marc Overmars]

Auba on the wing is another myth. Laca spent most of the match in the centre battling Villa midfielders. Auba always plays on the wing as far as I can recall especially with Dortmund where he made his name. Henry was a winger who could play centre,, he dovetailed with Pires because they actually knew how to play football. Auba is a good footballer but he is not the difference maker we dream he is. He wont battle big CBs, he cant dribble. If he cant run behind the defence, he cant score. He is not that guy.

Most strikers get their goals running in behind the defence anyway, it's bread and butter for them. For whatever reason the service has dried up this season and now he can't get a sniff. If he was missing sitter after sitter (like the French Heskey is) then I would lay the blame at his door, however it feels like he's barely even in positions to have shots at goal anymore. We know he can deliver, even with limited service, however this team is now completely devoid of any guile and strikers like him who feed off that will inevitably be left to rot. This is why I want Laca out of the team because I think he's just a lump of crap taking up the areas Auba would be better off operating in.

[Marc Overmars]

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/total_scoring_att

According to this, Auba and Laca have only managed 10 and 9 shots respectively. In 8 games, so a little over 1 shot a game! Blunt as fuck.

There is something fundamentally wrong with how we’re playing. It’s too rigid and methodical to the point where we can no longer create chances and our strikers for one reason or another can’t even chance their arm at goal often enough.

[Globalgunner]

Most strikers get their goals running in behind the defence anyway, it's bread and butter for them. For whatever reason the service has dried up this season and now he can't get a sniff. If he was missing sitter after sitter (like the French Heskey is) then I would lay the blame at his door, however it feels like he's barely even in positions to have shots at goal anymore. We know he can deliver, even with limited service, however this team is now completely devoid of any guile and strikers like him who feed off that will inevitably be left to rot. This is why I want Laca out of the team because I think he's just a lump of crap taking up the areas Auba would be better off operating in.

Maybe but how did Watkins get his goals yesterday? He battled and he was precise. None of which applies to Auba or Laca. Goals are created by the team not individuals unless your name is Messi. This team, this coach cant create viable goal opportunities. They play like strangers. ball comes in, no one to get in on it. Basic incompetence. This is what you get when you hire a nobody. What is his football philosophy?. Does anyone know?. Does he?. Willian misses the target completely from 6 yards out. Eddie comes in and is worse than the player he replaced. This is a motley crew of average players shepherded by a novice.

[selassie]

just saw this on twitter: "It's actually six hours and 26 minutes since Arsenal last scored a goal from open play in the Premier League."

:faint:

That's sackworthy even for a manager of a club fighting relegation. The fact we are supposed to be a top 6 club. Laughable.

[selassie]

First thing to do is get Lacazette and Willian out of the team, it’s a joke how ineffective these 2 are as an attacking threat. I would bring in Pepe and Ceballos. Pepe can be a bit amateurish at times but can still make things happen and most importantly is capable of scoring goals from nothing. I’m not a huge Ceballos fan but he tends to see passes others don’t, which makes him the best of a crap supporting bunch in the centre of the park.

Put Auba in the centre and gear everything towards laying chances on for him. I can’t believe how much of a passenger he’s been this season, an absolute waste of the one guy who can make the difference for us.

I agree with this but I don't think it will happen. He will likely replace Laca with Nketiah and keep Willian in the team. He loves Willian, I'm not even sure why, Willian adds nothing to this team right now, absolutely nothing.

[Letters]

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/total_scoring_att

According to this, Auba and Laca have only managed 10 and 9 shots respectively. In 8 games, so a little over 1 shot a game! Blunt as fuck.

There is something fundamentally wrong with how we’re playing. It’s too rigid and methodical to the point where we can no longer create chances and our strikers for one reason or another can’t even chance their arm at goal often enough.

Ozil must be laughing his tits off.

[selassie]

I know we have to give Arteta time, however, I just dont feel he is good enough for Arsenal. We needed someone with more experience. We are miles away from the top 4, bloody miles. None of our players would get into the Spuds team, let alone the strikers. Spuds, City and Liverpool in the mix to win the league this year, just to make it even more depressing. FFS.

I am starting to think the same TBH, the early signs were promising but we have progressively got worse as an attacking team. With the talent we have up top it's totally unacceptable that we can't even create chances from open play. Yes Laca is on the slide, but surely we have enough with the likes of Auba, Saka, Pepe, Nelson & Willian. How has it even come to this? It's like we have just improved in one area and totally regressed back to that story state in another area, it beggars belief.

[selassie]

Ozil must be laughing his tits off.

Ozil's numbers when he was actually in the team last season were nothing to write home about. Sure, we are at a point where we should probably try and integrate him back in the team but he isn't the solution.

[Marc Overmars]

Ozil isn’t the answer but he is obviously good enough to play for this team. Anyway he’s done for so no point talking about him anymore.

Arteta needs to find a way to integrate the front line properly, they don’t always need to be tracking back, wrestling with defenders and making tackles. You’re taking away their natural instincts and I feel that’s what Arteta’s heavily disciplined and regimented style of play has done. It’s a huge oversight on his part and he looks every bit the rookie because of it.

We probably won’t even finish in the top half if Auba and Laca don’t score at least 25-30 goals between them.

[selassie]

Ozil isn’t the answer but he is obviously good enough to play for this team. Anyway he’s done for so no point talking about him anymore.

Arteta needs to find a way to integrate the front line properly, they don’t always need to be tracking back, wrestling with defenders and making tackles. You’re taking away their natural instincts and I feel that’s what Arteta’s heavily disciplined and regimented style of play has done.

We probably won’t even finish in the top half of Auba and Laca don’t score at least 25-30 goals between them.

This season is already a write off for me, we have Leeds, Wolves & Spuds coming up, honestly how many points are we going to get from these games? I woudn't be surprised if we managed 2 at best.

The issues are not so much that we are playing poorly, it's more that we have structural problems with this team that I am not sure Arteta is capable of fixing or at least not to the extent where I am confident of us going on a deep winning run to challenge for top 4.

I know it sounds all doom and gloom but straight up I can name 5 teams that are definitely better than us, 5 teams that I believe will finish above us no matter what. That is deeply worrying considering the amount of money we have been spending the past 2 seasons and the calibre of player we have been bringing in, we are actually getting worse.

[Niall_Quinn]

Maybe but how did Watkins get his goals yesterday? He battled and he was precise. None of which applies to Auba or Laca. Goals are created by the team not individuals unless your name is Messi. This team, this coach cant create viable goal opportunities. They play like strangers. ball comes in, no one to get in on it. Basic incompetence. This is what you get when you hire a nobody. What is his football philosophy?. Does anyone know?. Does he?. Willian misses the target completely from 6 yards out. Eddie comes in and is worse than the player he replaced. This is a motley crew of average players shepherded by a novice.

Arteta is a very typical proponent of Shitzerbal, which is the official term for the boring, death by a thousand passes, nonsense that has replaced football. Guys like Guardiola and Wenger thought they were advancing total football when all they did was build a pale imitation of it. And they only got away with it because football became a non-contact sport.

The emphasis in the Dutch game was joy. The emphasis in the modern game is control. Control the ball, move it, create pretty patterns, try to gain the advantage on energy, set up pre-defined overloads like opening moves in chess which then dictate the rest of the game like it's on rails. And the standard of the players is lower, because it doesn't have to be high in a game where there's always a safety pass available and you can't get tackled.

When Cryuff and Pele were providing their unique brands of entertainment, they were being kicked from pillar to post and slogging through mud and snow in the process. They had to have genuine technical skill, with other good players around them, and some steel to back it up. Much like Wenger's last watchable teams. Now we cream over players like DeBrown and Ozil, who wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes on proper football pitches. Watch Stanley Matthews play football. Or, hate to say it, Ryan Giggs. They wouldn't be able to play today because they'd be hanging around on the pitch waiting for something to happen. Or they'd be too busy doing their defensive duty shit.

Unfortunately, Shitzerbal is very effective at ensuring football doesn't happen. And when you have more money than everyone else you can buy enough gifted bore-merchants to ensure your tedious shit is more mechanically precise. We have "top" players now who, if they can kick a ball straight 33% of the time, are considered legends.

Doesn't help either when the whole media world buys into Pep, which in turn means the refs buy into it. Another huge advantage right there. And the money men and TV people needing a myth on which to hang their marketing efforts.

But, you can sum it all up in one observation. Pepe is a 70mill player. That tells you all you need to know about the modern game. Arsenal can't afford to buy enough control, even when silly amounts are being shelled on silly players like Pepe.

[Letters]

Ozil's numbers when he was actually in the team last season were nothing to write home about. Sure, we are at a point where we should probably try and integrate him back in the team but he isn't the solution.

Agreed. Ozil isn't the answer, but I can imagine a player famed for creativity and assists being pretty smug about being left out of a squad which isn't creating chances.

[selassie]

Arteta is a very typical proponent of Shitzerbal, which is the official term for the boring, death by a thousand passes, nonsense that has replaced football. Guys like Guardiola and Wenger thought they were advancing total football when all they did was build a pale imitation of it. And they only got away with it because football became a non-contact sport.

The emphasis in the Dutch game was joy. The emphasis in the modern game is control. Control the ball, move it, create pretty patterns, try to gain the advantage on energy, set up pre-defined overloads like opening moves in chess which then dictate the rest of the game like it's on rails. And the standard of the players is lower, because it doesn't have to be high in a game where there's always a safety pass available and you can't get tackled.

When Cryuff and Pele were providing their unique brands of entertainment, they were being kicked from pillar to post and slogging through mud and snow in the process. They had to have genuine technical skill, with other good players around them, and some steel to back it up. Much like Wenger's last watchable teams. Now we cream over players like DeBrown and Ozil, who wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes on proper football pitches. Watch Stanley Matthews play football. Or, hate to say it, Ryan Giggs. They wouldn't be able to play today because they'd be hanging around on the pitch waiting for something to happen. Or they'd be too busy doing their defensive duty shit.

Unfortunately, Shitzerbal is very effective at ensuring football doesn't happen. And when you have more money than everyone else you can buy enough gifted bore-merchants to ensure your tedious shit is more mechanically precise. We have "top" players now who, if they can kick a ball straight 33% of the time, are considered legends.

Doesn't help either when the whole media world buys into Pep, which in turn means the refs buy into it. Another huge advantage right there. And the money men and TV people needing a myth on which to hang their marketing efforts.

But, you can sum it all up in one observation. Pepe is a 70mill player. That tells you all you need to know about the modern game. Arsenal can't afford to buy enough control, even when silly amounts are being shelled on silly players like Pepe.

I hear you.

Pepe was a 70mill player to Arsenal, we were the only club stupid enough to bite at that ludicrous price. He was coveted all over Europe but any sensible club such as Bayern Munich and Liverpool ran a mile when they heard what price Lille wanted for him.

Ironically, our manager at the time didn't even want him, this is the kind of shit that has been and is going on at Arsenal right now, it's why we find ourselves in this gigantic mess.

We repeated the same mistake again this summer by bringing in Willian, yeah he was free, shame he is on 200k per week for the next 3 years....he can hardly run for christsake! Millions down the drain again!

[Letters]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEA9idHiMwo

:haha:

[Globalgunner]

I saw that in real time and was like WTF!. I put it down to a soggy pitch. I like Tierney

[Letters]

I saw that in real time and was like WTF!. I put it down to a soggy pitch. I like Tierney

He's actually one of the few Arsenal players I really rate but a mate sent me this and I have to concede it was pretty funny.

[Niall_Quinn]

I saw that in real time and was like WTF!. I put it down to a soggy pitch. I like Tierney

Hopefully that wasn't our best attack of the match.

[Mac76]

He's actually one of the few Arsenal players I really rate but a mate sent me this and I have to concede it was pretty funny.

agree with all of that, and what the f**k was he trying to do anyway? a pirouette mid-sprint?

[Letters]

Yeah. Sometimes you watch something in football and think
"I don't even know what he was trying there"
This is one of those occasions.