Match Reaction v Leeds (away) & Match Ratings

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Sounds like our second half was grim and Leeds played very well.

Even more delicious we came through it to what will be a monsoon of tears coming.

[mandela8]

Arsenal came up against a really determined and resolute Arteta today.

Arteta came to spoil and done an excellent job in ensuring Arsenal were denied any real attacking threat and creative opportunities. Completely nullifying the wide areas, Making the central players jobs incredibly difficult and ensuring Arsenal couldn't keep possession, Arteta will consider himself unlucky to be undone only by some crazy Leeds defending and poor goalkeeping.

Ramsdale 7. Only player with pass marks.

Saliba 3, Gabriel 2, Tommy 3, everyone else 4. Unfair to do much more analysis when the team are up against their own manager.

[Marc Overmars]

Another tricky away game next up at Southampton. Hopefully we don’t have to ride our luck again as much as we did today.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I think the power cut threw us a bit, but Leeds are the type of side we don’t like playing against and it was alarming the amount of space being left between defence and midfield. Arguably not only did we not deserve to win, we deserved to lose today and if Bamford and Sinisterra were more clinical than we would have.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Only one side deserved anything in that game.... and yes it wasn't us.

A sub par game from the lads but I feel Arteta's reluctance to ring in subs earlier or change shape when we are playing badly but winning, will soon come back to bite him royally in the ass.

We were lucky we scored against the run of play and then struggled from their as our weak midfield showed how truly useless they were by deciding to totally collapse with Partey having quite a poor game. Xhaka and Odegaard were both piontless and thats what really got to me...either he brings in more combative midfielders or preferably brings in a player like Viera able to carry the ball and be an actual goal threat.

This has to be the luckiest I have seen us in years as practically everything went our way especially with the decisions.

Leeds goal was a foul, but on another day and with other refs that would not have been called.

Their penalty was a penalty by law, but not a yellow card.

The last Gabriel decision had me wishing the red card stood (yes I am sick and tired of his brain farts) but in no way in the world is that a penalty, no way, and its ridiculous the referee needed VAR to tell him that.

Again I can't remember a game in the last 10 years we have been so lucky with all the decisions.

My takeaway is that if Arteta thinks he going to give a proper challenge by playing the same 11 players with the same tactics game after game....this should be the wakeup call. We need a good squad and changeable tactics, thats what we need to take away.

Also their was no need for Tomi to start on the left today their was no boogeyman Sallah to mark out. Tierney should have started and maybe our attack would have had more rhythm.

Pleased with the 3 points but clearly undeserved.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Arsenal came up against a really determined and resolute Arteta today.

Arteta came to spoil and done an excellent job in ensuring Arsenal were denied any real attacking threat and creative opportunities. Completely nullifying the wide areas, Making the central players jobs incredibly difficult and ensuring Arsenal couldn't keep possession, Arteta will consider himself unlucky to be undone only by some crazy Leeds defending and poor goalkeeping.

Ramsdale 7. Only player with pass marks.

Saliba 3, Gabriel 2, Tommy 3, everyone else 4. Unfair to do much more analysis when the team are up against their own manager.
Great post...not much more to be said.

It was more a test of his ability today as a manager, and IMO he failed woefully.

[selassie]

Sounds like we got out of jail today. I'll take it, a win, 3 points.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Just felt like a really off day. The defence was asleep…we were constantly pushed up too high and getting caught out by long balls into the box. Xhaka was completely pointless, Partey not much better. Odegaard did ok in the first half but like the whole team did nothing in the second half.

[mandela8]

Only one side deserved anything in that game.... and yes it wasn't us.

A sub par game from the lads but I feel Arteta's reluctance to ring in subs earlier or change shape when we are playing badly but winning, will soon come back to bite him royally in the ass.

We were lucky we scored against the run of play and then struggled from their as our weak midfield showed how truly useless they were by deciding to totally collapse with Partey having quite a poor game. Xhaka and Odegaard were both piontless and thats what really got to me...either he brings in more combative midfielders or preferably brings in a player like Viera able to carry the ball and be an actual goal threat.

This has to be the luckiest I have seen us in years as practically everything went our way especially with the decisions.

Leeds goal was a foul, but on another day and with other refs that would not have been called.

Their penalty was a penalty by law, but not a yellow card.

The last Gabriel decision had me wishing the red card stood (yes I am sick and tired of his brain farts) but in no way in the world is that a penalty, no way, and its ridiculous the referee needed VAR to tell him that.

Again I can't remember a game in the last 10 years we have been so lucky with all the decisions.

My takeaway is that if Arteta thinks he going to give a proper challenge by playing the same 11 players with the same tactics game after game....this should be the wakeup call. We need a good squad and changeable tactics, thats what we need to take away.

Also their was no need for Tomi to start on the left today their was no boogeyman Sallah to mark out. Tierney should have started and maybe our attack would have had more rhythm.

Pleased with the 3 points but clearly undeserved.

Exactly. Agree with every point. I have a little more sympathy with the CM 3 as they were starved of options...but they were still really poor, as you say.

[mandela8]

Sounds like we got out of jail today. I'll take it, a win, 3 points.

Best 3 points we'll get all season, man.

[Letters]

WE’RE GOING TO WIN THE LEAGUE!


:dance:

[LDG]

Four clear :dance:

[mandela8]

Happy invincibles day, everyone.

[Letters]

Happy invincibles day, everyone.

:gp:

City :haha:

Pep :haha:

Haaland :haha:

Wenger :bow:

[Mac76]

Definitely not a great performance, in particular Tomi, White, Partey all really struggled

Ram was heroic and while you might dispute it Gabriel actually wasn't as bad as he has been, he shouldn't have reacted in the way he did to Bamford's foul but it was correct it was a yellow and they both deserved one, he prevented at least one goal elsewhere in the game

Odegaard gets underrated a lot on here, he was among our better players

But Martinelli was the other standout performance again, offering the most threat going forward and then having the legs ro cover for Tomi once or twice when he went missing

As for Jesus, the amount of minutes Arteta is playing him for is definitely beginning to show

But anyway, all teams need luck, however Arteta needs to manage his resources better and we need to recruit further in January or this could all come apart quite badly

[Marc Overmars]

Gabriel is a hot head and loses composure very easily. This has been a feature of his game for a while now and sooner or later he’s going to cause a disaster we won’t recover from.

[selassie]

WE’RE GOING TO WIN THE LEAGUE!


:dance:

Arteta Out!

[LDG]

Didn’t think it was a red.

[GP]

Absolutely wasn't. Embarrassing theatrics from Bamford.

[cricketsi]

Definitely not a great performance, in particular Tomi, White, Partey all really struggled

Ram was heroic and while you might dispute it Gabriel actually wasn't as bad as he has been, he shouldn't have reacted in the way he did to Bamford's foul but it was correct it was a yellow and they both deserved one, he prevented at least one goal elsewhere in the game

Odegaard gets underrated a lot on here, he was among our better players

But Martinelli was the other standout performance again, offering the most threat going forward and then having the legs ro cover for Tomi once or twice when he went missing

As for Jesus, the amount of minutes Arteta is playing him for is definitely beginning to show

But anyway, all teams need luck, however Arteta needs to manage his resources better and we need to recruit further in January or this could all come apart quite badly

Think you're stretching for a stick to beat Arteta with there... Gabriel Jesus has played fewer minutes than Martinelli, Saka, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Son, Mo Salah, to name just a few. 20%+ fewer club minutes compared with most of those players from other teams that are in the CL, and he wasn't called up by Brazil for the recent international break, unlike most of them.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I’m prepared to give Arteta and the team the benefit of the doubt given we’ve played two hard away fixtures with not much time between them (and a lot of the players played in both games)

But we got away with one and the performances need to improve starting with at home to PSV

And I don’t mean because I’m listening to the title hype being spouted by overpaid commentators, it’s because City, Chelsea and Spurs are breathing down our necks in the race for 4th….we are going to lose more ground this week where teams play in the league and we don’t. We are fortunate that United and Spurs are playing each other and can take points off each other and that City aren’t playing at all.

Chelsea are away at Brentford not an easy fixture but neither was Palace or Villa…they are getting results

[Letters]

I did hear last night that the previous 4 teams who started like this ended up winning the title :sick:
But I doubt they had other clubs as close to them as we do now.
I think we all know that this squad probably doesn't have the legs for the long haul, but what I was looking for this season was improvement - Top 4 or Bust.
We are clearly seeing that, if we are anywhere near the title race come Easter then that would be a lovely bonus, but that's not the metric by which I'd judge Arteta this season.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I did hear last night that the previous 4 teams who started like this ended up winning the title :sick:
But I doubt they had other clubs as close to them as we do now.
I think we all know that this squad probably doesn't have the legs for the long haul, but what I was looking for this season was improvement - Top 4 or Bust.
We are clearly seeing that, if we are anywhere near the title race come Easter then that would be a lovely bonus, but that's not the metric by which I'd judge Arteta this season.

If we remain in the title race but lose out at the end I’ll be bitterly, bitterly disappointed and might become verbally abusive to Arteta but no rationally it’s not the criteria he should be judged on. The highest points total Arsenal have achieved in a 38 game season is 90…now the last time the title was won with fewer than 90 points was Leicester City in 2016

A title win for us would be the level of Leicester in terms of being unlikely, yes we’ve spent a lot of money recently but we’ve got a very thin squad, a young coach and younger players up against a side with a striker who looks like he was grown in a lab from the DNA of the top goalscorers in world football. Now we’ve seen they are not invincible, but we’ve also lost ten times in a row to them.

This could be a strange season because we don’t know how the World Cup will affect teams. We also without doubt need to enter the transfer market if possible in January.

[Marc Overmars]

I feel like a drop off is inevitable but if that means we course correct to a top 4 fight then that’s what we all expected anyway. Of course if we bomb completely then that’s another matter entirely. We can dream of course but the title talk is just pure fantasy land at this stage. The goal is and always will be top 4 this season but if by some miracle we find ourselves top or close to the top after 25 games or so then I’d start to believe something great could be possible.

[selassie]

I did hear last night that the previous 4 teams who started like this ended up winning the title :sick:
But I doubt they had other clubs as close to them as we do now.
I think we all know that this squad probably doesn't have the legs for the long haul, but what I was looking for this season was improvement - Top 4 or Bust.
We are clearly seeing that, if we are anywhere near the title race come Easter then that would be a lovely bonus, but that's not the metric by which I'd judge Arteta this season.

Yeah I'm with you on this, it's how I feel too. Basically a top 3/4 finish would be job done in terms of the progress of this team and Arteta managing it.

Title talk is not even in my thoughts right now, it's all about us picking up as many points as possible to ensure we finish in the top 3 / 4.

[Mac76]

Think you're stretching for a stick to beat Arteta with there... Gabriel Jesus has played fewer minutes than Martinelli, Saka, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Son, Mo Salah, to name just a few. 20%+ fewer club minutes compared with most of those players from other teams that are in the CL, and he wasn't called up by Brazil for the recent international break, unlike most of them.

Well different players have diffeent energy levels, plus i'd argue he covers more ground than some of those others - i think a lot of them were looking tired yesterday, I still would argue that we shouldn't play crucial players when they aren't needed, e.g. that last 35 mins against Bodo/Glimt at home when 2-0 up

[selassie]

Well different players have diffeent energy levels, plus i'd argue he covers more ground than some of those others - i think a lot of them were looking tired yesterday, I still would argue that we shouldn't play crucial players when they aren't needed, e.g. that last 35 mins against Bodo/Glimt at home when 2-0 up

We are certainly going to need to dip into the market in January to pad out the squad a bit more. Loans or Buys, whatever....but we will need more bodies and players that can come in and do a job now. Our squad will be stretched to its limits after the world cup and we do not want a repeat of the end of last season.

[Mac76]

I feel like a drop off is inevitable but if that means we course correct to a top 4 fight then that’s what we all expected anyway. Of course if we bomb completely then that’s another matter entirely. We can dream of course but the title talk is just pure fantasy land at this stage. The goal is and always will be top 4 this season but if by some miracle we find ourselves top or close to the top after 25 games or so then I’d start to believe something great could be possible.

yes the aim's still top 4 and even there i'd say all we've done is improve our odds a little at this stage - I'm more worried about the 'bombing completely' end of things, last season we'd started riding our luck even before those three straight defeats that lost us our CL place

unless they recruit big in January it could be even worse - i think we're still short in midfield, we also need another proper left back who doesn't want to drift in-field, so we can play Tierney in the PL and someone else in the EL and cup games. and a striker - Eddie is still just 'ok' for me, we need someone better

one other thing - Arteta needs to play 100% kids in the League Cup when it comes

[selassie]

yes the aim's still top 4 and even there i'd say all we've done is improve our odds a little at this stage - I'm more worried about the 'bombing completely' end of things, last season we'd started riding our luck even before those three straight defeats that lost us our CL place

unless they recruit big in January it could be even worse - i think we're still short in midfield, we also need another proper left back who doesn't want to drift in-field, so we can play Tierney in the PL and someone else in the EL and cup games. and a striker - Eddie is still just 'ok' for me, we need someone better

one other thing - Arteta needs to play 100% kids in the League Cup when it comes

If we are serious about this season then we should write off both the domestic cups and fill the team with kids. I don't care, the League and Europa are the prime competitions here and that's what the focus should be on given our squad is small.

[HCZ_Reborn]

If we are serious about this season then we should write off both the domestic cups and fill the team with kids. I don't care, the League and Europa are the prime competitions here and that's what the focus should be on given our squad is small.

Yeah would be good to try and win a European competition even if it’s a b side competition

Win on Thursday and we are pretty much assured of a bye into the last sixteen

[Mac76]

If we are serious about this season then we should write off both the domestic cups and fill the team with kids. I don't care, the League and Europa are the prime competitions here and that's what the focus should be on given our squad is small.

unfortunately i think Arteta is from the Pep G 'let's try and win everything' school, but let's hope he does see sense with the cups

[mandela8]

Think you're stretching for a stick to beat Arteta with there... Gabriel Jesus has played fewer minutes than Martinelli, Saka, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Son, Mo Salah, to name just a few. 20%+ fewer club minutes compared with most of those players from other teams that are in the CL, and he wasn't called up by Brazil for the recent international break, unlike most of them.

Yep...Jesus just isn't as good as some like to think, unfortunately.

Crying fatigue in October is pathetic, man.

I've never seen Xhaka, who plays significantly more than anyone on the entire fuckin planet, seemingly, get such excuses made for him. Not that he deserves it either, but the double standards are fuckin laughable.

[mandela8]

yes the aim's still top 4 and even there i'd say all we've done is improve our odds a little at this stage - I'm more worried about the 'bombing completely' end of things, last season we'd started riding our luck even before those three straight defeats that lost us our CL place

unless they recruit big in January it could be even worse - i think we're still short in midfield, we also need another proper left back who doesn't want to drift in-field, so we can play Tierney in the PL and someone else in the EL and cup games. and a striker - Eddie is still just 'ok' for me, we need someone better

one other thing - Arteta needs to play 100% kids in the League Cup when it comes

Don't really get the LB comment. It's the same with the Xhaka comments, around him being out of position/too advanced. They're following Arteta's instructions here so any LB moving into CM is being directed to. They're not doing it of their own free will, ffs. Zinchenko probably would, tbf, but that's why he was bought.
Same with Xhaka...he's not "vacating his position", he's following Arteta's instructions.

So buying a LB who doesn't drift inside makes zero sense in Arteta land. Same for (hopefully) Xhaka's replacement. It'll be someone who plays in the position Xhaka is failing to play now...I don't buy this improvement talk at all. He's still fuckin shit and takes an age to transition.

[mandela8]

Just Arsenal's luck that the season they start so strongly the other 'big' teams have too. One arsenal loss and those teams win then the league position is precarious. Moreso that Liverpool are the team furthest behind but most capable of closing that gap when they, inevitably, turn it around.

I'd bite your fuckin hand off for 4th place right noo. Absolutely no doubt about it.

[Mac76]

Don't really get the LB comment. It's the same with the Xhaka comments, around him being out of position/too advanced. They're following Arteta's instructions here so any LB moving into CM is being directed to. They're not doing it of their own free will, ffs. Zinchenko probably would, tbf, but that's why he was bought.
Same with Xhaka...he's not "vacating his position", he's following Arteta's instructions.

So buying a LB who doesn't drift inside makes zero sense in Arteta land. Same for (hopefully) Xhaka's replacement. It'll be someone who plays in the position Xhaka is failing to play now...I don't buy this improvement talk at all. He's still fuckin shit and takes an age to transition.

I get what you're saying re it being how Arteta wants them to play but Tomi couldn't seem to help drifting in and Arteta was silly to think just because Tomi did a job on Salah it meant he's the best player to have there permanemtly.

As for Xhaka, agreed he's not good enough but he does far less damage in that advanced position and for as long as he remains teacher's pet I'd prefer he played there than DM

[mandela8]

I get what you're saying re it being how Arteta wants them to play but Tomi couldn't seem to help drifting in and Arteta was silly to think just because Tomi did a job on Salah it meant he's the best player to have there permanemtly.

As for Xhaka, agreed he's not good enough but he does far less damage in that advanced position and for as long as he remains teacher's pet I'd prefer he played there than DM

Aye, agreed. Arteta almost never changes the team after a big win. Pure stupidity but that's Arteta. He won't even acknowledge that the reason there was so little attacking threat was the fullbacks...he'll be patting himself on the back celebrating the clean sheet.

[selassie]

Yeah would be good to try and win a European competition even if it’s a b side competition

Win on Thursday and we are pretty much assured of a bye into the last sixteen

Yep, a European trophy would be very nice.

Thursday's game could be potentially tricky if we don't put out a fairly strong team, PSV are a good side, not great but good.

[selassie]

Just Arsenal's luck that the season they start so strongly the other 'big' teams have too. One arsenal loss and those teams win then the league position is precarious. Moreso that Liverpool are the team furthest behind but most capable of closing that gap when they, inevitably, turn it around.

I'd bite your fuckin hand off for 4th place right noo. Absolutely no doubt about it.

A strong start is still great. As are the victories against the Spuds and Liverpool back to back, it will give the players that extra bit of confidence and determination to keep this run going.

I'd bite your hand off for 4th place too given our history when in promising positions. It's still very early into the season and lots can change between now and the business end of the season but finishing in the top 3/4 should be the number 1 priority.