Offical match day thread

We desperately need to get a couple of wins under our belt. I wouldn’t bet on us getting one against Utd though, as you say they are turning things around a bit at the moment and we can’t seem to get a result over the line.

I’ll be happy to see us continue to put in a shift and work on our tactics. Use this season to develop a style of play and identity, maybe have a decent cup run. Then push on next season.

 

We had a couple of half chances and seemed to lose our legs a bit towards the end of the game but we had a plan and tried to stick to it. It’s not like Chelsea did much in the second half, they had more of the ball but we stopped them creating anything.

 

Again why is it just Auba the only one scoring? If we lose him, we might as well not bother!

 

Laca seems to fluff his chances at the moment. If it wasn’t for a poor first touch in the first half he would have had a golden opportunity to double our lead. Auba over to Nelson, down to Laca and his first touch let him down right in front of goal. It seems to have happened quite a bit recently. He laid the ball of on the edge of the area instead of taking a shot in the second half as well. I wonder if he’s particularly lacking confidence at the moment?

 

I think safety first, lets stop this rut, get to the magical 38pts, before even thinking about playing style. I would rather we did the basics at the moment!

 

Shame - thought we played really well in the first half. In fact it was arguably our best half this Season in terms of performance levels.

Torreira and Ozil both played excellently again.
Nelson also had a good game.

But after 60 mins the players looked absolutely spent. I dont think the fitness levels are where they need to be at all.

Encouraging signs for Arteta but not the result we wanted at all. The side needs a confidence boost.

 

That's a gut-wrenching result, after leading the game until the 80th minute. Leno has been one of our best players this season, so for him to make an error like this, in a game of this magnitude, is really poor. I won't lambast him too much though, as if it wasn't for him, we'd be a lot further down in the table (which is worrying).

I have seen a lot of encouraging signs from Arteta and our style of play, but one area he needs to work on is the timing of his substitutions. It was clear for a while that a Chelsea goal was coming and he didn't react until they went 2-1 up. Jorginho coming on changed the game as Chelsea controlled the ball better, they broke through the lines well and transitioned much slicker. He shouldn't have waited until the damage was done to refresh things.

Lacazette had yet another dreadful game. I don't understand how Pepe didn't come on earlier considering how bad Lacazette has been for this entire season.

It's such a shame to lose in the space of 4 minutes, as I thought we defended superbly for the majority of the game. Unfortunately, we don't have the calibre of players to see games out like that, and our wayward finishing was costly.

At this point, we will finish anywhere from 6th to 11th, in my opinion. Top 4 is dead and buried. Focus on the Europa and FA Cup. In the league games, focus on giving something for us to cheer about again.

There is potential to do well. I am quietly optimistic that Arteta could be an excellent manager for us. He needs to be supported though, in every category possible.

 

Went to the game and the atmosphere was good, the fans got behind the team.
we played well up till the Leno howler and then we buckled.
the referee was a joke as Jorginho should have had two yellows and gone

 

I have to say though. I am quite annoyed at the Arsenal board for not getting rid of Emery earlier. It was clear for ages that he wasn't going to turn things around. Yet they waited until well after the international break, when we had our busiest period of games coming thick and fast, to get rid. Then they took almost two weeks to replace him. In between replacing him, Ljunbjerg as interim wasn't even given proper staff support for the games he was in charge of.

Timing is everything in football. The Arsenal board's judgement has been so far off, it isn't even funny. This indecisiveness has significantly damaged our results and now our chances of qualifying for the Champions League via the domestic route.

Had they sacked Emery after the 2-0 loss to Leicester (which is what they should have done), I am confident we would have been in a much better place heading into the busy festive period. I am positive we'd have accumulated more points.

Now we have to throw all our eggs into the Europa basket.

 

Am I still the only one concerned about relegation?

yes we played better but 1 win in 12 premier league games is atrocious. I still fear going down.

 

I don't think we'll go down. Fortunately, Norwich, Watford and Villa/West Ham are even more shambolic than we've been. Also, despite the last couple of results the team are playing much better and I think we'll improve. As long as the performances are getting better, the results should come. It's important we don't hit the panic button, but stay focused, keep working on the areas that need improving and maintain the belief.

 

I wish I could share your optimism, I bet you those teams have a better previous 12 records than we do. Fans are talking top4, top6, concentrate on the europa league etc etc, we should be concentrating on staying in the league, we seemed to have rolled the last dice, our new manager bounce results-wise is yet to provide any positive results, even Duncan Ferguson at Everton was able to arrest the slump. If Freddie had mustered anything close, those clowns at the top would have given him a 5yr deal. They have gone for a rookie, (despite him not being everyone's top 5 candidate), at a time when the club faced it worst set of results for how long. If he manages to stave off relegation and/or we dont dragged into that dog fight, he would have done well. Do I think Arteta can? I honestly don't know. People talk about 1st half yesterday, football has always been a game of 2 halves, unless you are winning 5-nil in the first half - I am sure he would have learnt from yesterday's defeat and with hindsight he could have made changes sooner...Next stop United - not hopeful!

 

One more thing to mention - people are in arms about Jorginho not getting a second yellow.

However, Guendouzi was lucky to stay on the pitch in the 36th minute. He idiotically decided to pull Tammy Abraham in the penalty area when the ball was nowhere near him. That would have been a second yellow card and a penalty conceded.

If that happens, the dynamics of the game change completely.

I do like Guen, but he's too rash and never knows when to make a foul.

His reading of the game has to be much better than it currently is.

 

It's not going to be an overnight fix. But I think Arteta can improve this team and given time, we'll see what he can do.

 

He needs to be given the resources and time to stamp his influence on the team.

My stepbrother is a die-hard Liverpool fan and even he was telling me that in Klopp's first two years, he was 50/50 on whether he wanted him to stay because it didn't look like they were improving enough. And that they were culpable of making the same mistakes under Klopp as they were under Rodgers in defence.

However, they stuck with him, gave him money to reinforce other areas of the team (obviously the huge fee received for Coutinho and overinflated prices of other squad/youth players helped) and they haven't looked back since.

I'm obviously not suggesting Arteta will complete a Klopp-esque transformation at Arsenal, but he will need as much support as possible from us and from the club to do his job.

I just really hope he is given a good transfer budget to strengthen.

 

Ok we need
2 CBs who can tackle and head the ball
Holding/Defensive Midfielder (at least 6ft2)
RB
RB cover
LB cover

i have been impressed by the crop of youth players emerging so keep most of them or at least loan them out to get first team experience.

sell
Bellerin - not doing it for me
Stavros
Chambers
Koksaniac
Mustafi

keep Ozil, Auba, Lacazette, Pepe, as they are a great forward line up.

 

The next 5 games are very crucial imho. The team needs to deliver and start registering some points on the table, if not toxicity that has been prevalent at the home game will return.. In the cold light of day, looking at yesterdays capitulation in the last 10mins, this cannot be allowed to go on.. When we have faced teams in and around the bottom home or away, we have not been great, so logic says we cant do anything against the teams in the top half of the table..Pearson has come to Watford, that was described by Piskie as shambolic, he has got 2 wins already under his belt, so no excuse for Arteta after 5 games if things do not improve..

 

Did I ?

 

Paraphrasing.. We cant go down because Watford blah blah are more shambolic..

 

Not sure what us being relegated will prove, except that those of us who were saying, don't be too quick to get rid of Wenger, were right.

Succession planning is important, and we got rid of Wenger automatically, because a minority of arrogant morons repeatedly told us, everything he did was bad. That was foolish and we are still paying the price. We should have allowed him to name his successor and groom them for the role. But everyone was so sure he was awful, that "Anything was better than Wenger".

This has been proven to be catastrophically wrong. The only thing we can do now, is try to pick up the pieces. Stop listing to the people who have steered us so wrong in the past, and try to get behind the new manager and the team. The thing we should not do is listen to more negativity, hate-filled bile about our players, and dire predictions.