Players have looked jaded and tired lately - REST them! This comp was the least important - and teams have a squad for a reason.
Anyways. Arteta is gonna take the bame for today but I suppose we were the better side and should have won. Tactically the approach was good - just wouldn't put the ball in the net.
I strongly agree with you, you wasted many chances, To be honest I was scared as a Liverpool supporter.
Well, this will be our 5th year without winning it and, if we go trophyless again, that will be 5 FA Cups in 20 years (without winning anything else). That's not a huge amount. I really don't understand why we think we're above this competition. Trophies are extremely hard to win and we haven't done enough in the last 15-20 years to dismiss any piece of silverware like its nothing. I'm extremely disappointed we lost. I also think this doesn't do us any favours in the league and the CL. If we're being realistic, our chances of winning something this season are looking very slim.
What annoys me is when things ar'nt going well Arsenal fans seem to pretend it has always been that way. Let's not forget Martinelli scored 16 last Season, Saka 15, Odegaard 8 and 10 assists. Goals have only recently been a problem and I do wonder if that because players are being overworked. But the main issue for sure is without Partey or Xhaka - Odegaard is the only 'creator' in midfield. We need Partey back - bringing in a Zubimendi type player would also help massively.
I don't think you should be that downbeat. Plug a proven goalscorer into your team and you'd be a force to be reckoned with. You are just one player away from basically the complete package, and that has to be encouraging. Now, while I'm on the subject of proven goalscorers, let me take just two minutes of your time to tell you all about a fantastic option. Brazilian, wears the famous #9 shirt, lives locally so that's a huge help as he's already very familiar with North London, and is prolific in front of goal. We know this because on his back is a tattoo of himself in between Neymar and Ronaldo Nazario, so QED he is as good as those two.
You'd think this would make things better, but it doesn't. We knew what the issues were beforehand and, had we not spent £65m on Havertz and £30m on Raya, we could have gathered enough money for a proper LCM and another striker. Instead we decided to make a bizarre and ridiculous move for an inconsistent player, all because Arteta had the arrogance to believe he could unlock Havertz's 'potential'. Now we're stuck with him. I actually didn't think he was that bad today, but as usual, his finishing is horrible. And that just about sums him up. Then we spunk a sizeable chunk of money on a player who is barely an upgrade on Ramsdale. I think Raya's marginally better, but he's not good enough to have justified creating this situation. I said multiple times in August that we messed up the transfer window and haven't addressed all our weak points. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. With 1 win in 7, unable to afford a striker this month, out of two cup competitions by January, the CL is a long shot (to say the least) and the league a foregone conclusion, everything is turning to ****. Some people may not want to admit it yet, but we are in a crisis and I don't see us turning it around soon. After the winter break, we have Palace and Forest before we play Liverpool in the league. I don't see us winning any of these matches currently. Unless something changes - and pronto. This is turning into a catastrophic season.
@BrunelGunner Cheer up, dude! Playing Liverpool will always yield a binary outcome. You can’t use the result to judge your team too harshly. Your situation is far better than others like United and over at The Bridge.
The reason why I'm so frustrated is because we were extremely close last season to achieving something special. We couldn't get over the line, but we had most of the ingredients required to build on it heading into this season. All we needed was a few minor tweaks to the squad, but instead, Arteta decided to completely revamp his tactical set-up, overspent on a couple of players which we didn't need, imbalanced us and didn't address the problem areas for this season. Now we are a worse team and look even further away from competing for the top prizes. It's one step forward, two giant steps backwards. He's been at the club for just over 4 full years now. Whilst I appreciate every manager has their flaws and Arteta is still a relative novice to management, I also believe he's making mistakes that he shouldn't be making considering how long he's been at the club. And it's deeply concerning that he can't identify/implement any measure to rectify these shortcomings.
Your recruitment strategy does have to be questioned and there does need to be a closer analysis of Arteta and the possibility that he has inherited Pep's tendency to try to be too clever for his own good (which is what held them back from winning the CL for so many years - Pep simply over thought everything and made weird tactical changes the deeper they went in the tournament). I would argue that £50m on Jesus also wasn't good business at all. He has never been a prolific striker and even if he was, his injury record is more than enough to raise an eyebrow. 14 PL goals in 1.5 seasons is miles off where a top club's striker should be. You enjoyed a decent spread of goals last season but the writing was already on the wall as teams like Brighton and Forest held you to a clean sheet. It's extremely hard to do but if you keep Martinelli, Odegaard and Saka quiet, you've effectively stopped Arsenal. There aren't enough game changers in that team to mount a serious title challenge. Havertz isn't one either. City don't have this problem, because even if you somehow stop Haaland and De Bruyne, you've still got to work out how to stop Foden, Doku and Bernardo at a minimum. I'd imagine you'll move for Toney in the summer. He'll want a move and is a massive Gooner.
Look, on the one hand, Arteta is one of the main reasons why our expectations have risen so high. If you'd said to any of us two years ago that we'd be 5 points off the top of the table heading into 2024 and into the knockout rounds of the Champions League, we'd all have been thrilled with that. So he does deserve credit for the way he's transformed the club. But his stubbornness, his refusal to use the squad (with players that he insisted we keep), his bizarre transfer decisions and his inexperience have all been problematic to varying degrees. I also think some of the transfers we made when we were slightly more strapped for cash have hindered us big time, too. Signing a 29-year old Cedric on a 4 year, £100k p/w contract was utterly bonkers. It is 2024 and he is still at the club. Signing Runarrsson on a 4 year deal on £70k p/w was madness, especially considering how much he was struggling at his previous club. We only got him because he'd worked with Inaki Cana, but this was a disaster signing and he, too, is still an Arsenal player because of the stupid contract we gave him. Then there's Pablo Mari, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Auston Trusty, Matt Ryan, Nuno Tavares...David Raya is looking like an unnecessary acqusiiton too and as for Kai Havertz...£65m on this guy? I mean, really? We've spent £70m on goalkeepers since Emi Martinez left and we're still yet to find someone to replace him. I get that not every transfer is going to be a hit, but when you are strapped for cash because you're unable to sell the deadweight due to their astronomical wages, and you're forced to cancel contracts, you need to make damn sure the signings you make won't set you back any further. This hasn't happened. Then the moment we had a bit more cash to spend because of CL qualification, he wastes close to £100m of it on two players we didn't particularly need. So now we're stuck in the same vicious cycle. It just blows my mind that we've still not learned from our mistakes.
Jesus plays as a false 9. How in 2024 does 80% of English football fans & pundits not get it? it's a different role and he does it well. He's quality - I would argue 45m was a bargain. I have no issue with him at all - Nketiah though... he's not good enough unfortunately. We need a proper finisher in the squad. Toney or Vlahovic maybe. Look at City right now Alvarez can play as a false 9 (and if anything the team plays better when they do). But they have the option of both a big clilcal CF and a false 9. Our biscuit-legged Ghanian coming back makes a bigger impact that most think.This will help the forwards and Odegaard particularly. (Immediately takes Havertz out of the starting 11). The only time we've seen Rice and Partey play together this Season was the Chastity Shield win against City.
That's exactly my point. You didn't really need a false 9. You needed a true 9. You still needed a true 9 when Arteta went and bought another false 9 in Havertz.
