Arsenal vs Brighton - Player Rating and Match Reaction

[Mac76]

I think a lot of these debates per say come down to us not having a strong enough squad. I am not suggesting that if we kept our starting XI fit all season we would have won the league, but right now the system and the performance level is reliant on pretty much our core starting XI being fit. As we have seen over the past few months and especially yesterday, our performance levels drop off a cliff when we have core players missing. MO touched on it earlier but our defensive record at home or more importantly recently has been actually really bad, we are conceeding 2 or 3 goals on average in a lot of games.

We have run out of steam and we are clearly not quite good enough when it comes to mounting a challenge on City to the final day.

This summer is going to be really crucial in terms of recruitment, we need to get it right and we need to purchasing players who are capable of slotting straight into the First XI without an obvious performance drop, this summer is not about finding gems, it's about finding quality players who are ready to contribute right now to a CL and PL challenging team, that's the standard we need to aspire to.

Obviously other factors come into play such as Arteta and the coaching staff and even the players within the club continuing to develop / improve, but we need to get the basics right first otherwise next season may not be anywhere near as enjoyable as this season.

That last point is of concern to me - I'll keep an open mind but there's a potential version of next season that could be a bit grim, where Arteta fails to learn any lessons on squad rotation, teams and tactics, we lose some useful good players like Tierney, Balogun and Nelson but don't recruit sufficiently, other teams get stronger and we have an unkind early fixture list (which as we know, with the exception of this season, is pretty much the norm) - it could be a Chelsea-like season if we're not careful

think of the opposition now, it's no longer a big six but a big seven or eight - us, Citeh, Man Ure, Chelsea, Newcastle, Liverpool, Brighton, possibly Villa and possibly even Spuds if they themselves don't implode as much as I'm hoping...

[Mac76]

This is interesting - while Brighton, Newcastle and one or two others are also fairly low, we're by far and away the least-rotated side

[HCZ_Reborn]

This is interesting - while Brighton, Newcastle and one or two others are also fairly low, we're by far and away the least-rotated side

Yeah and Chelsea are equally there to show the folly of over rotating. But it is a concern, I felt we rotated too often under Emery and it showed that he had no idea what his strongest side was. But ultimately what we do is run players into the ground and then act surprise when players brought into replace them haven’t had enough match play to really find any kind of form.

I think what perturbed me the most was playing senior players in the Europa league and the fa cup when right off the bat they should have been treated as incidental fixtures.

The champions league is the premier European competition so yes of course we should play our strongest team (especially as we are not likely to be seeded and will have to face one of the big European sides in the group stage).

I do genuinely wish there was someone out there who struck me as likely to take this side further than Arteta otherwise it feels like too much of an unnecessary gamble. Though part of me would like to see Arteta sacked just because I dislike him so much, wipe that smug superior look off his stupid face

[Letters]

More so when you drop 15 points after 29 games and drop a further 12 in the following seven I’m literally amazed anyone can reach any conclusion but bottling it

Well, there are a few factors.
One is the thinness of our squad, we always knew that injuries and fatigue could cost us, they have.
Another factor is that our run in was harder than City’s. We had to play 3 of the Top 6 away. So one could reasonably claim that we were always more likely to drop more points in the run in and because of the above.
But also we were never that far ahead to begin with. There was a fleeting moment when we were 8 points clear but that was only half way through the season. After that every time it was 8 points it was with City having a game in hand. And they just kept winning them, and every other game.

We have definitely dropped points that we shouldn’t have, but do you really think we could have got 95 points? That’s what we’d have needed given City just keep winning. That feels unrealistic despite our amazing form for much of the season, for the reasons I’ve given.

City are just better than us. They’re better than everyone. And we all know how they’ve got there. What I don’t understand is why no one calls them out on it. The fawning over them is nauseating. They’re not a plucky underdog come good like Leicester

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Yeah and Chelsea are equally there to show the folly of over rotating. But it is a concern, I felt we rotated too often under Emery and it showed that he had no idea what his strongest side was. But ultimately what we do is run players into the ground and then act surprise when players brought into replace them haven’t had enough match play to really find any kind of form.

I think what perturbed me the most was playing senior players in the Europa league and the fa cup when right off the bat they should have been treated as incidental fixtures.

The champions league is the premier European competition so yes of course we should play our strongest team (especially as we are not likely to be seeded and will have to face one of the big European sides in the group stage).

I do genuinely wish there was someone out there who struck me as likely to take this side further than Arteta otherwise it feels like too much of an unnecessary gamble. Though part of me would like to see Arteta sacked just because I dislike him so much, wipe that smug superior look off his stupid face

I do agree with you that Emery didn't know his best 11 when he was with us, but as shown again with the Villa stats, it was pretty much of an anomaly for him.

It might be that coming directly from PSG (where face it, he was forced to rotate a lot) he carried that bad habit with him.....but all the things we criticised him for, silly rotations and poor defending have been corrected in his subsequent clubs pretty fast.

We insisted on blooding this Rookie and well it can definitely be argued that by Rookie standards he's achieved amazing things.

But to say experienced managers, who've made most of the mistakes he's still going to make with us, cannot improve this team...as it is now...is quite silly to me.

Whatever happens, Arteta will probably get one more season, but I cannot currently fathom how he will be able to get this team to perform better in the league next season when they'll be playing the best in Europe every other week. Who knows, it'll probably be all over in January as usual.

Lets see though, we've waited 19 years, another 5 or 7 years in the wilderness should be ok for us to bear, no?

[HCZ_Reborn]

Well, there are a few factors.
One is the thinness of our squad, we always knew that injuries and fatigue could cost us, they have.
Another factor is that our run in was harder than City’s. We had to play of the Top 6 away. So one could reasonably claim that we were always more likely to drop more points in the run in and because of the above.
But also we were never that far ahead to begin with. There was a fleeting moment when we were 8 points clear but that was only half way through the season. After that every time it was 8 points it was with City having a game in hand. And they just kept winning them, and every other game.

We have definitely dropped points that we shouldn’t have, but do you really think we could have got 95 points? That’s what we’d have needed given City just keep winning. That feels unrealistic despite our amazing form for much of the season, for the reasons I’ve given.

City are just better than us. They’re better than everyone. And we all know how they’ve got there. What I don’t understand is why no one calls them out on it. The fawning over them is nauseating. They’re not a plucky underdog come good like Leicester

I think we should have probably got 94 points yes. I never expected us to go to Liverpool, city and Newcastle and not drop some points no….but I expected us to win the other games and saw no reason why we didn’t other than mental weakness.

If we fell short on GD or one or two points I could accept that.

But we didn’t, you seem to think I’m saying not winning the title was bottling it. No I’m saying not pushing them every step of the way was bottling it.

[Letters]

But we didn’t, you seem to think I’m saying not winning the title was bottling it. No I’m saying not pushing them every step of the way was bottling it.

Ok. Well I don’t really agree but that position is more reasonable.
I don’t agree because I don’t think we crumbled under the pressure. It might have been a factor but we’ve won a lot of “must win” games this year, including last weekend. I think our drop off has been more to do with injuries and fatigue. Those are the things which always seemed likely to cost us and they have. Inexperience in handling the pressure was probably a factor, but I’m not sure it was the main one.

[Letters]

Either way if anyone can tell me who last won the league despite going four games without a win I’d be grateful because I sure as hell don’t recall it happening in my living memory

Not quite what you’re asking but Arsenal did go on an 8 game run of
W2 D2 L4
In 97/98, which isn't exactly stellar.
But, crucially, it was all before Christmas. There was time to recover.
The thing about City is they seem to have the knack of slipping up here and there in the first half of the season, while staying in contention. Then in the run in they’re basically flawless which means unless you’ve got a serious lead - and we never had that - you’re getting mown down unless you can match them stride for stride.

I don’t think our positions are too far apart. I don’t think we’d have won the league anyway, but we could and should have made City work for it rather than handing it to them.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Ive looked at the period to which you refer and in fact the longest we went in the league without a win was three games

[Letters]

Ive looked at the period to which you refer and in fact the longest we went in the league without a win was three games

Yes, I did say that it didn’t meet your exact criteria. But as an extended run it’s not exactly the stuff of champions. But early season you can get away with it.