Quote Originally Posted by Letters View Post
But...but...anyone would be better than Wenger. You pwomised!

I don't think we're that bad, or that good. We lack creativity in midfield, we don't score enough and we are prone to mistakes at the back - fine lines in football, we were one mistake away from going through last night in which case the mood this morning would be very different. We were all cheered after the Everton result but we were very close to dropping 2 points in injury time there. We are just not solid enough. Last night they came for a smash and grab, it was defence vs attack for most of extra time and while we did score in the end it was only because of a moment of inspiration from Auba, not because we were creating clear chances. I'm not going to throw Leno under the bus for conceding the corner which led to the goal, he's the least of our problems, but we are just not good enough at defending these scenarios.

Last season we were close to a top 4 finish and we got to the Europa final, there's the makings of a decent team there. I'm not convinced we need a complete rebuild but there's definitely work to do. I'm going to give Arteta a free pass this season and I've pretty much written off the rest of the season but next year we need to push on.
I'll judge him at the end of the season ™. Next season.
i agree with a lot of that, we need to acknowledge it's a squad with a range of ability but teh good news is we have some very good and promising young players - if we can hold on to them

i am a bit concerned with team selection and some of the players Arteta's putting trust in. i'm hoping that he's just trying to keep the current squad thinking positively and getting as much out of them this season as he can, but i very much hope he has some marked down to shift out in the summer.

What Keown says below is spot on IMO:

Speaking on BT Sport, Keown said: "It was the first time I felt that the players were not responding to the manager and the manager did not know what changes to make.

"There were so many disappointments in that Arsenal performance. There were so many unprofessional performances from players. Such a poor game for Arsenal.

"If you break down the performance you could have looked at every single player and say that they could have all done more. Nicolas Pepe is going to have to improve. Gabriel Martinelli should have come on a lot earlier. Granit Xhaka was taking the easy way out. A lot of players were not playing their best."