Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal Player ratings and match reaction

Raya 5 - Looked more like the Raya from a year ago


White 5 - Looked shaky against pace


Saliba 4 - Gave PGMOL an excuse to fuck us over


Gabriel 6 - Did his best after the sending off


Calafiori 6 - Didn’t offer enough going forward


Partey 6 - I don’t get why he’s not played further forward as he’s a better passer of the ball than Rice but worked hard


Merino 5 - Demonstrated the difference between English and Spanish football, in the former you’re not going to get time to dwell on the ball


Rice 5 - Frankly has been poor all season


Sterling 5 - Isn’t good enough to be starting for a side going for the title, not even as a squad option


Havertz 6 - Largely isolated


Trossard 4 - Fucking mong



Subs


Kiwior 4 - Can see why we were looking to sell in the summer


Martinelli 5 - Sums up our problem, we need clinical attacking players


Jesus + Nwaneri - N/A



I just had a bad feeling about this fixture from the outset because of the injuries we had going into the game, which meant that we’d be reliant on sub par players in attack. Trossard lacks the explosive pace of Martinelli and despite his strops he’s far better as an impact substitute. Sterling is finished at this level….that he is the understudy for Saka leaves me very concerned if the latter is out for any time.

In principle I can get the argument that when we go down to ten men we should go for it, but because we don’t have clinical players we have to push up more and in doing so leave ourselves more exposed. Nothing would have guaranteed a defeat this evening more than going gung ho. We have to accept that referees are going to be dicks to us and not give them an opportunity.

But the fact is if we had stayed at 11 men, would we have gone on and won. Maybe…but we are struggling away from home creating chances and this was the case even before Odegaard was injured. The 2-0 win at Villa belied the fact that we were terrible and deserved to lose then. Arteta has become so monomaniacally obsessed with being defensively impregnable that we have sacrificed a proper attacking philosophy.

It’s fine to dig in and be defensive away at places like City, but we were having to defend far too much for my liking against Bournemouth for the first half hour because our midfield just couldn’t cope with the closing down they were doing.

Ref sent off a player for denying a "goal-scoring opportunity" from the halfway line. That's the whole story of the match. Everything else is maybe. Blatant cheating right in everyones' faces.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Raya 5 - Looked more like the Raya from a year ago


White 5 - Looked shaky against pace


Saliba 4 - Gave PGMOL an excuse to fuck us over


Gabriel 6 - Did his best after the sending off


Calafiori 6 - Didn’t offer enough going forward


Partey 6 - I don’t get why he’s not played further forward as he’s a better passer of the ball than Rice but worked hard


Merino 5 - Demonstrated the difference between English and Spanish football, in the former you’re not going to get time to dwell on the ball


Rice 5 - Frankly has been poor all season


Sterling 5 - Isn’t good enough to be starting for a side going for the title, not even as a squad option


Havertz 6 - Largely isolated


Trossard 4 - Fucking mong



Subs


Kiwior 4 - Can see why we were looking to sell in the summer


Martinelli 5 - Sums up our problem, we need clinical attacking players


Jesus + Nwaneri - N/A



I just had a bad feeling about this fixture from the outset because of the injuries we had going into the game, which meant that we’d be reliant on sub par players in attack. Trossard lacks the explosive pace of Martinelli and despite his strops he’s far better as an impact substitute. Sterling is finished at this level….that he is the understudy for Saka leaves me very concerned if the latter is out for any time.

In principle I can get the argument that when we go down to ten men we should go for it, but because we don’t have clinical players we have to push up more and in doing so leave ourselves more exposed. Nothing would have guaranteed a defeat this evening more than going gung ho. We have to accept that referees are going to be dicks to us and not give them an opportunity.

But the fact is if we had stayed at 11 men, would we have gone on and won. Maybe…but we are struggling away from home creating chances and this was the case even before Odegaard was injured. The 2-0 win at Villa belied the fact that we were terrible and deserved to lose then. Arteta has become so monomaniacally obsessed with being defensively impregnable that we have sacrificed a proper attacking philosophy.

It’s fine to dig in and be defensive away at places like City, but we were having to defend far too much for my liking against Bournemouth for the first half hour because our midfield just couldn’t cope with the closing down they were doing.

---

Saliba is over rated tbf. He fucked up for France in the week as well. We have been pubbing it in the early stages of the season. Arteta for the England job......please.

This was truly one of the worst games I have seen from us in ages and I can't even blame the red card for it as the rot had started way before then.

Arteta played with 3 DMs and 4 defenders and still managed to get beaten 2-0. Yes you could point out the red card but he still played with 3 DMs and 4 defenders when he brought Kiwior on and still managed to get beaten 2-0.

IIRC he did the same with Brighton by playing with 7 defensive players after the red and still conceded. I think with City he upped it to 8 players or so and still conceded.

The problem is he doesn't even understand what makes this team difficult to beat. It has never been sitting deep, we've never been good at it, even in the days of AW.

IMO, what he did, that was so radically different and got him instant results and props where Emery (a far more experienced coach) failed was realising that we could defend better when we press and make the opposition play in their half and not ours. Those early days where Odegaard led the press and continually forced the opposition to give the ball away in their half, and thus be forced playing a game of ping pong mostly in their half was the trick. Soaking up pressure has never been good for a team like us, and especially now that we can't even counter due to the kind of personnel Arteta has chosen to recruit.

The game changed only when we were 2-0 down and Arteta decided to bring in Jesus and Nwaneri to force them to play pin pong in their half.

IF ARTETA HAS ANY IOTA OF SENSE, NWANERI MUST PLAY IN EVERY GAME TILL ODEGAARD GETS BACK, EITHER THAT OR PLAY HAVERTZ DEEPER.

He caused all this by allowing his wet dreams to get the best of him. I mean how the f**k could we have allowed him to spend all our money on defensive players and ship out the few players that could allow Saka and Odegaard to have a just a bit of a breather (without even attempting to replace them). The rookie keeps doing stupid shit that shows his learning curve is still going on......man what a wasted opportunity this season is going to turn out to be.....

BTW I'm still 99% certain Citeh will not win the league this year....we might even see a surprise and see Emery laughing at us by the end of the season!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE

This was truly one of the worst games I have seen from us in ages and I can't even blame the red card for it as the rot had started way before then.

Arteta played with 3 DMs and 4 defenders and still managed to get beaten 2-0. Yes you could point out the red card but he still played with 3 DMs and 4 defenders when he brought Kiwior on and still managed to get beaten 2-0.

IIRC he did the same with Brighton by playing with 7 defensive players after the red and still conceded. I think with City he upped it to 8 players or so and still conceded.

The problem is he doesn't even understand what makes this team difficult to beat. It has never been sitting deep, we've never been good at it, even in the days of AW.

IMO, what he did, that was so radically different and got him instant results and props where Emery (a far more experienced coach) failed was realising that we could defend better when we press and make the opposition play in their half and not ours. Those early days where Odegaard lead the press and continually forced the opposition to give the ball away in their half, and thus be forced playing a game of ping pong mostly in their half was the trick. Soaking up pressure has never been good for a team like us, and especially now that we can't even counter due to the kind of personnel Arteta has chosen to recruit.

The game changed only when we were 2-0 down and Arteta decided to bring in Jesus and Nwaneri to force them to play pin pong in their half.

IF ARTETA HAS ANY IOTA OF SENSE, NWANERI MUST PLAY IN EVERY GAME TILL ODEGAARD GETS BACK, EITHER THAT OR PLAY HAVERTZ DEEPER.

He caused all this by allowing his wet dreams to get the best of him. I mean how the f**k could we have allowed him to spend all our money on defensive players and ship out the few players that could allow Saka and Odegaard to have a just a bit of a breather. The rookie keeps doing stupid shit that just shows his learning curve is still going on......man what a wasted opportunity this season is going to turn out to be.....

BTW I'm still 99% certain Citeh will not win the league this year....we might even see a surprise and see Emery laughing at us by the end of the season!!

---

Absolutely agree with everything you said.
People still think Arteta is going to be the next City manager if Pep leaves! He still isn't fit to lace Peps boots FFS. That was like watching the last of the Wenger reign, terrible.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

Ref sent off a player for denying a "goal-scoring opportunity" from the halfway line. That's the whole story of the match. Everything else is maybe. Blatant cheating right in everyones' faces.

---

My issue with the red card is that there is no way VAR can argue it was a clear and obvious error. The referee had a completely unobstructed view and made the call of yellow card. There is no evidence to show that it was a clear and obvious error so it was VAR actively wanting to make the decision a red card (and lets not forget that Jared Gillet is a self confessed Liverpool fan who we just happen to play next week….). Conversely though, if the referee had given a red there would have been no clear evidence to overturn the decision either.

Howard Webb has banged on this season about “referees call” and only involving VAR when it’s clearly wrong otherwise stick to the on field decision. That process was not followed yesterday

Saliba was last man. White wasn’t getting there.
The other two sending offs this year were bullshit but this one is on us.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Letters

Saliba was last man. White wasn’t getting there.
The other two sending offs this year were bullshit but this one is on us.

---

Last man isn’t an automatic red, stating that you’ve denied a clear goalscoring opportunity from just past the half way line is to say the least speculative. Plus what on earth are you going to have seen on VAR when the on field decision was yellow

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Last man isn’t an automatic red, stating that you’ve denied a clear goalscoring opportunity from just past the half way line is to say the least speculative. Plus what on earth are you going to have seen on VAR when the on field decision was yellow

---

There’s a potential grumble about VAR overturning the on field decision, but there’s no covering defender. Had that been the other way around and an Arsenal player in that position I guarantee you that everyone on here would have been screaming for a red.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Letters

There’s a potential grumble about VAR overturning the on field decision, but there’s no covering defender. Had that been the other way around and an Arsenal player in that position I guarantee you that everyone on here would have been screaming for a red.

---

Arsenal fans would have probably screamed for a red for Trossard and Rice as well had it been another team. I seldom agree with NQ about anything but he had it right when he said everyone else is officiated by the spirit of the law and we are officiated by the letter of it. If that had been the other way round, it would have stayed as a yellow

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Arsenal fans would have probably screamed for a red for Trossard and Rice as well had it been another team.

---

Would they, though?
I mean, you could argue by the letter of the law and all that but I don’t actually think football fans want games being spoiled by players being sent off for kicking the ball away. Especially when it’s incidents like the ones we were punished for.
But the last man taking out a player who has otherwise nothing stopping him running through on goal - I’m on board with that being a red card.

Quote:

---

I seldom agree with NQ about anything but he had it right when he said everyone else is officiated by the spirit of the law and we are officiated by the letter of it. If that had been the other way round, it would have stayed as a yellow

---

Possibly. I think the more legitimate grumble is why VAR intervened. I’m not sure it was a clear and obvious error and what could VAR possibly have seen that the referee didn’t?

The start of this season has pretty much mirrored last year. In that we have made results harder work than they needed to be and mostly played stodgy football and rode our luck in certain moments. Having to play 3 halves of football with 10 men has been a real stinker and cost us dearly.

There are 30 games to play so it’s not a catastrophe but we know how fine the margins are now and results like this will be circled as where it went wrong.

I’m glad it is a big fixture we have next and not a pub team. I’m sure Liverpool will get our levels up and it goes without saying we need to win that fixture now to reassert some authority on the title race.

Also we need Odegaard back ASAP. We’ve done well to muck in without him but it’s not been pretty and the team needs his ability to press and create through the middle badly.

BTW I don't know if you guys noticed Kiwior tearing up on the bench after he was unceremoniously yanked off.

TBH I was pretty pissed off at him but once I saw that, I obviously mellowed and felt sorry for the poor boy.

IMO Arteta should have never brought him on in the first place as we had more than enough defensive players on the pitch at that time to cover for Saliba's absence, but the real question is why is a player Arteta stopped believing in still at the club anyway?

I hope he gets over it and I hope he becomes a success wherever he goes...but he's not been good enough for us for quite a while and thats another indictment in what we did (and did not do) this summer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Letters

There’s a potential grumble about VAR overturning the on field decision, but there’s no covering defender. Had that been the other way around and an Arsenal player in that position I guarantee you that everyone on here would have been screaming for a red.

---

I agree except we’ve seen similar not given by same VAR
https://x.com/afcamden/status/184770...5nKNIY1AZaWvQw

It’s complete lack of consistency that infuriates fans. If it had been given a red on field, doubt many would complain but there is no way given the referee had a clear & unobstructed view that it is a clear & obvious error.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ollie the Optimist

I agree except we’ve seen similar not given by same VAR
https://x.com/afcamden/status/184770...5nKNIY1AZaWvQw

It’s complete lack of consistency that infuriates fans. If it had been given a red on field, doubt many would complain but there is no way given the referee had a clear & unobstructed view that it is a clear & obvious error.

---

I think it's very consistent, if it's Arsenal it's the harshest possible decision, if it's anyone else it's a let-off

Turns out our "dark arts, time-wasting" against city resulted in a half where the ball was in play for more time than any other second half to that point in the season. So even on that decision, adding on half a year of stoppage time as has happened again today, the rule is play until City score. VAR has worked just as intended this weekend, city are top. That's what VAR is there for. This whole business about time management in a game that regularly sees 7, 8, 10 or more minutes added is another cheat's charter. Just be done with it and have an American football style game clock if they are so desperate to account for time, but they would never do that because they couldn't apply arbitrary decisions to favour one team over another. It's completely obvious the games are being heavily influenced by the officials, which is why Webb keeps banging on about his desire to avoid influencing games. We're just supposed to accept his word over the evidence of our lying eyes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Letters

Would they, though?
I mean, you could argue by the letter of the law and all that but I don’t actually think football fans want games being spoiled by players being sent off for kicking the ball away. Especially when it’s incidents like the ones we were punished for.
But the last man taking out a player who has otherwise nothing stopping him running through on goal - I’m on board with that being a red card.



Possibly. I think the more legitimate grumble is why VAR intervened. I’m not sure it was a clear and obvious error and what could VAR possibly have seen that the referee didn’t?

---

And there are other occasions where VAR doesn't intervene at all. You often hear the commentator say, "That's not being checked." Why? I know there are some situations where VAR isn't used due to the rules, but there are others when some gay gypo throws the ball at somebody's head, for example, and there's no need for intervention for whatever reason. Can you imagine if Rice picked up the ball and chucked it at an opponent's head? Straight off the pitch, without a shadow of doubt.

The Trossard red was a complete joke. I wouldn't have complained if he got a second yellow for the foul, but to be sent off for kicking the ball away 1 nanosecond after the whistle and as he was going into a challenge with an opponent who was, also, challenging. Farcical and there's no way the ref could have known what the intention was in that split second. They also made a big excuse for the gypo kicking the ball away, the ref told him to kick it there, they claim. Except he didn't kick it "there", he kicked it way beyond, this delaying the game.

Definitely one set of rules from them, another for us and their other non-favoured teams. It's absolutely obvious. But the so-called integrity of a game increasingly owned by slave traders from the Mid East needs to be upheld I suppose. Their cash will have nothing to do with it. Put your money down on city skating away from those 115 charges btw. Last I heard it was Arsenal that will end up being retrospectively penalised if the lated gypo stunt in court plays out a certain way.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chippy

Saliba is over rated tbf. He fucked up for France in the week as well.

---

Literally in the PFA team of the season last year :lol:
Holy over-reaction, Batman!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chippy

We have been pubbing it in the early stages of the season.

---

You could say the same last season - many people did. Given the early fixtures we're doing OK.
7 points from Spurs, Villa and City away isn't to be sniffed it - we absolutely didn't pub it in the last of those, they had to cheat us and keep playing with us down to 10 till City scored to get a point.
The cards are stacked against us, and we're still in contention. Let's not panic just yet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Letters

Literally in the PFA team of the season last year :lol:
Holy over-reaction, Batman!


You could say the same last season - many people did. Given the early fixtures we're doing OK.
7 points from Spurs, Villa and City away isn't to be sniffed it - we absolutely didn't pub it in the last of those, they had to cheat us and keep playing with us down to 10 till City scored to get a point.
The cards are stacked against us, and we're still in contention. Let's not panic just yet.

---

I don’t think he’s being entirely serious. Although he’s not entirely incorrect about us pubbing things somewhat. That was definitely the case against Villa, against Southampton we were totally blunt in attack before they scored and Bournemouth we stunk the place out even 11 vs 11

But to put things in proper perspective, I still think we’d have won with 11 players on the pitch. And I still think we have a fantastic chance to win the league given City’s most important player is out for the season and it’s clearly noticeable that without him they are struggling to beat teams. However we have made ridiculous hard work for ourselves with a paucity of attacking quality where we are clearly struggling without Odegaard and even more so without Saka.

Liverpool is going to be hard without Saliba, and Newcastle and Chelsea are going to be bloody hard as well and after this weekend, I don’t think we can afford to lose any of those games

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Letters

Literally in the PFA team of the season last year :lol:
Holy over-reaction, Batman!


You could say the same last season - many people did. Given the early fixtures we're doing OK.
7 points from Spurs, Villa and City away isn't to be sniffed it - we absolutely didn't pub it in the last of those, they had to cheat us and keep playing with us down to 10 till City scored to get a point.
The cards are stacked against us, and we're still in contention. Let's not panic just yet.

---

Generally agreed although If Watkins hadn't lost his scoring boots the VIlla game would've been tougher

that said the league is clearly an impossibility as the refs have decided we aren't going to have a ghost of a chance

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Although he’s not entirely incorrect about us pubbing things somewhat.

---

I'm not saying he is. I'm just pointing out that people were saying the same at the start of last season. They weren't wrong then either. But we got it together and had we not been facing a billionare-fueled juggernaut we'd have won the title easily last season. The big issue this year is injuries, we're not having much luck there so far and it's starting to hurt us.

An awful game from us.

It worries me that having gone into the season feeling like we had a decent squad, it's becoming clear that there is a damaging drop off when certain players (Saka; Odegard; Saliba) do not play.

I get that most teams drop a level when their best players are missing, but in games like these (and against Southampton and Leicester for large periods) we seem to lose our identity.

This is partly down to the manager's decisions. Arteta seems to have got into a habit of sacrificing attacking intent for playing a 'fine margins' game based on defensive solidity without Odegard available. It was noticable for me on Saturday that there was very little playmaking/verticality. The shape and personnel were all wrong. Partey was played too deep given the selection of Merino and Rice (despite the latter having a few surging runs) our MF was stodgy. On the right Sterling was powder puff before he went off, and Trossard (our worst player) should not be on the wing - his skills are better utilised inside...and maybe he should even have been played up front with Havertz playing behind him.

Without Trossard playing more centrally and Saka absent it was shocking how peripheral Havertz was. Without Saka delivering corners - our much vaunted set piece ability was non-existent and we were totally shown up by Bournemouth's inventiveness and execution when they scored from their opportunity.

More worryingly, the whole team seemed to lack confidence and insisiveness. We reverted to an all too familiar pattern of sideways and back passing, and missed passes. Bournemouth are a good defensive team and made it look easy to keep us out.

After the sending off we treated Bournemouth with too much respect in terms of any attacking intent, and looked jittery throughout. I wonder whether as well as working out how to perfect a low block against us, teams have worked out ways to deal with the defensive challenges that we pose. We have now conceded 5 goals against teams that wehen we played them were in the bottom third of the league.

I accept that the sendings off (mostly harsh but also self-inflicted) stifle any game plan, but I wonder also whether Arteta's mindset is too cautious; and his forward game too dependent on key individuals and 'moments'. Set pieces should be a bonus way of scoring goals rather than a 'go to', and we are seeing a continued pattern of failing to convert chances going forwards and an alarming development of lapses when it comes to solidity at the back.

Timber aside, we largely enjoyed a charmed life last season with key injuries. This season they are presenting a problem that the manager seems to be struggling to solve.

I'm not trying to be alarmist after a bad result, but the standard that we need to attain if we are to be champions is very high, and I'm not convinced that (even in games that we have won) we are currently looking like we are going to have what it takes to do this. Are we not quite as good - both in terms of mindset and ability - as we all thought?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Letters

I'm not saying he is. I'm just pointing out that people were saying the same at the start of last season. They weren't wrong then either. But we got it together and had we not been facing a billionare-fueled juggernaut we'd have won the title easily last season. The big issue this year is injuries, we're not having much luck there so far and it's starting to hurt us.

---

Injuries don’t help but the main problem is lack of squad options in attacking positions. There is at this moment in time no one who is suitable to play up front if Havertz is injured, that’s absolutely insane. Jesus can’t hold the ball up, Trossard isn’t a striker…so who are we left with.

This is why we are best placed to be cautious and hope for a point, by going defensive when we are down to ten men. We simply don’t have the quality to get the goal without massively getting exposed at the back where we’ve pushed up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IBK

An awful game from us.

It worries me that having gone into the season feeling like we had a decent squad, it's becoming clear that there is a damaging drop off when certain players (Saka; Odegard; Saliba) do not play.

I get that most teams drop a level when their best players are missing, but in games like these (and against Southampton and Leicester for large periods) we seem to lose our identity.

This is partly down to the manager's decisions. Arteta seems to have got into a habit of sacrificing attacking intent for playing a 'fine margins' game based on defensive solidity without Odegard available. It was noticable for me on Saturday that there was very little playmaking/verticality. The shape and personnel were all wrong. Partey was played too deep given the selection of Merino and Rice (despite the latter having a few surging runs) our MF was stodgy. On the right Sterling was powder puff before he went off, and Trossard (our worst player) should not be on the wing - his skills are better utilised inside...and maybe he should even have been played up front with Havertz playing behind him.

Without Trossard playing more centrally and Saka absent it was shocking how peripheral Havertz was. Without Saka delivering corners - our much vaunted set piece ability was non-existent and we were totally shown up by Bournemouth's inventiveness and execution when they scored from their opportunity.

More worryingly, the whole team seemed to lack confidence and insisiveness. We reverted to an all too familiar pattern of sideways and back passing, and missed passes. Bournemouth are a good defensive team and made it look easy to keep us out.

After the sending off we treated Bournemouth with too much respect in terms of any attacking intent, and looked jittery throughout. I wonder whether as well as working out how to perfect a low block against us, teams have worked out ways to deal with the defensive challenges that we pose. We have now conceded 5 goals against teams that wehen we played them were in the bottom third of the league.

I accept that the sendings off (mostly harsh but also self-inflicted) stifle any game plan, but I wonder also whether Arteta's mindset is too cautious; and his forward game too dependent on key individuals and 'moments'. Set pieces should be a bonus way of scoring goals rather than a 'go to', and we are seeing a continued pattern of failing to convert chances going forwards and an alarming development of lapses when it comes to solidity at the back.

Timber aside, we largely enjoyed a charmed life last season with key injuries. This season they are presenting a problem that the manager seems to be struggling to solve.

I'm not trying to be alarmist after a bad result, but the standard that we need to attain if we are to be champions is very high, and I'm not convinced that (even in games that we have won) we are currently looking like we are going to have what it takes to do this. Are we not quite as good - both in terms of mindset and ability - as we all thought?

---

I have no thoughts other than I very much agree with this, I think City being without Rodri is a massive blow to them. But it feels like away from home, the emphasis is on keeping other teams out first and foremost and hoping for an opportunity the other end as you say.

Set pieces should be a Trump card not a go to. I think that if we are still in contention in January, we need to go into the market to sign a striker.