Well, folks, I have finished Wenger’s autobiography and I just need to say… nothing right now. I’ll write a review tomorrow and maybe publish on Saturday. For now, let’s talk Dundalk!
If Ligue Un is a farmer’s league, then what type of league do Dundalk play in? What’s below farming? Is it hunter-gatherers? Nomads? Loose bands of people trying not to die in the cold? Nah, it’s unfair to call the French league a farmer’s league when there are entire teams in Ireland who have players that make a living churning butter and play football as a hobby.
I’m joking around of course: no one on Dundalk is an actual farmhand. I think.
However, the match was played on a pasture which had been recently mowed when they let the cows graze on it the night before. I used to play golf and, concerned with the environmental impact of my hobby, once played a round at an “environmentally friendly” golf course. It was a cow pasture and it had rules like “if your ball gets stuck in a hoof-print you get a free drop.” It was just about as flat as the pitch Arsenal played on last night against Dundalk.
I’m joking around of course: no one would let cows graze on the pitch at Oriel Park! A cow might get a hoof stuck in the turf and break a leg and you’d have to put her to sleep. Then you wouldn’t get any butter and what would Chris Shields do for money then? HUH??? He’d have to cancel Christmas.
Terrible jokes. I know.
I guess I am contractually obligated to say that we can “only play the team that is in front of us” that “we have now won 6 in a row in the Europa League” that “when we play in the Europa League we seem to regain our attacking flair” and opine about “why we aren’t playing the same way (with the youth) in the Premier League?”
Now that’s out of the way, and I’ve gotten the jokes out.. I guess we should talk about what was pretty good last night.
I liked that we shot a lot. I burst into an Elneny smile when I saw his goal go in. I think we should try that this weekend against Burnley. Shoot from midfield. It’s ok if it doesn’t go in. Who cares? Have a go. Walking the ball in ain’t gonna work. And crossing the ball against them absolutely ain’t gonna work.
So, first thing I liked: shots from midfield!
The game looks at first glance like there were not a lot of crosses, but digging deeper, still too many. Arteta stuck with his crosses, 16 according to Opta, all of them chipped (aerial), lol, to Nketiah who is 5’3″, 8 of those by Cedric and 11 of them from the right hand side. We were so bad at crossing last night that fbref.com has us connecting on just 3 crosses into the penalty area. Cedric, that guy who is so amazing in the final third, had 0 key passes, 0 xA and I believe connected on 0 of his crosses.
But! We did score from that time when Ainsley Maitland-Niles tried a slick throughball and it bounced off a guy who tends pickle-barrels for his day job and Nketiah didn’t fall over and won the rebound and then chipped the keeper. That was pretty slick.
We also scored when Balogun held up play in the middle of the box and dumped it off to Willock who had a shot. And when Pepe held it up in the middle and played an actual through ball to Balogun who scored.
So, the second thing I liked: playing throughballs and hold-up play deep in the opposition box.
Ok, that’s three things.
A fourth good thing: we pressed them high! 55 pressures against them in their own third. That’s the 2nd most this, one fewer than the 56 high pressures we applied to.. uhh.. Dundalk.
-___-
You know what this means to me? We can press and Arteta chooses not to*. How utterly frustrating. Our Premier League football is like the worst of the Wenger high-line years (no pressing) and also the worst of football imaginable (like bad Jose Mourinho).
Hey, maybe we will start playing some through balls, pressing, and trying some good play through the middle. Hey, the good thing is that if you do attack through the middle it opens up the wings for those crosses! (Eyebrow waggle!)
(*I knew that, the stats for the last few years show that we have been a pressing team and that we just aren’t this season. Maybe it’s like crossing and Arteta has secret data that shows how this will all work out; we will suddenly become a really good team that crosses and plays deep, passive defense.)
One thing I didn’t like was Runnar Runningyourmouthaboutwengerisgoingtomakemehateyouson. He was truly atrocious last night; his positioning for their first goal was as bad as I have ever seen and his reactions for their second goal also.. uhh bad. I cannot believe we have given up a foreign player spot to this guy. We could have Saliba out there and instead we have a keeper who is truly awful. If I’m Matt Macey I go to the club in January and ask to leave. What a massive insult to be at the club all these years and have his spot taken by this guy. Just to underline how I feel: we spent £2m, plus salary for 4 years, and gave up a foreign player spot to sign a keeper who looks like he wouldn’t start at Dundalk.
Pablo Mari looked a bit slow. Probably to be expected because he is still recovering. But wasn’t good on either goal. He was especially bad on their headed goal… really terrible… zero challenge. Actually, he had zero challenge for either goal.
Nicolas Pepe looked a bit off, though people will rightly point out that he assisted the 4th goal. Very true. But it still nags that he not only just tried 6 dribbles but only won 3 (one for the goal, so) and seemed to be far too easily rebuffed by burly defenders who did nothing special: just didn’t commit to a tackle and stood their ground until Pepe dribbled into them. Maybe Pepe didn’t like the pitch conditions. They were bad!
And finally.. uhh playing the kids. A lot of folks want Arteta to drop Aubameyang. I’ve written about this idea of dropping the captain before – back when Tommy V went through a bad patch and committed like 16 errors per game, one especially noteworthy when he tried (and failed) to bicycle kick a clearance against Tottenham. It’s not really something that a coach can do. It’s “the nuclear option”: as in, if you do this, you basically blow up the whole team.
Auba’s problem this season is many fold but a huge part of it is that he’s a player who thrives on his movement and service from his teammates. This season he’s had just two shots with an xG above 0.1. He needs a MFer who can penetrate and get him the ball. The whole team is really screaming out for someone who can do that, honestly.
I admit that I like Balogun, Saka, Willock, Smith-Rowe, Maitland-Niles, Azeez (he had a couple of really nifty turns!), Nketiah, Martinelli, and others but I think I get why Arteta can’t realistically just start playing them every week. A lot of reasons: for example, their inexperience could lead to heavy losses (like the 8-2) which exacts a huge toll on young guys.
It’s easy for us to sit here and say “we should do this that or the other” but the coach has to think about the team, the players, the results, the opposition, and his own career. It’s hugely unrealistic to just say we should play the kids. Against Burnley? Would you really want to do that? Ehhh… I don’t. I like Willock but I don’t know if he’s ready to play in the MF against Burnley.
That said, I could see taking Willian out of commission for a few weeks. Maybe play Smith-Rowe for 60 minutes? It’s a long shot, I know. It just feels like we can’t keep playing the way we have been playing the last few months and expecting different results. Arteta has been eager to experiment, which I applaud. Maybe it’s time to try someone else in the Willian role? Someone to add penetration and get Auba the ball. We can’t keep giving him scraps and blaming him for starving.
I’m with you on Runnarson. Not impressed at all. Massive downgrade from Martinez, and though we’ve not seen a lot of Macey, he seems better as well. Between this, Willian and a few other recent moves, our current transfer policy seems to be “spend money on players that make us worse”.
As far as long shots go….I’m there already. Our stats are basically in the relegation zone. We really can’t get a lot worse. Yes, there’s a risk we might get a tonking. But honestly the Wenger days where we occasionally got tonked by a top team but still beat most of the lower half teams are starting to look pretty attractive. I don’t think we play all of the youngsters at once…but I think we need to start playing some of them besides Saka(good to see him get a rest yesterday).
And yes, the pitch reminded me of the old days…half of it ended up on the players uniforms.
“ I used to play golf and, concerned with the environmental impact of my hobby, once played a round at an “environmentally friendly” golf course. It was a cow pasture and it had rules like “if your ball gets stuck in a hoof-print you get a free drop.”
What about balls stuck in a cow pie, do you get a free relief on account of a cow taking a free relief?
When I saw the neat hold up play from Balogun that Willock scored off of, I immediately thought of Josh 🙂 That is how Arsenal needs it to be done… by a big(ish) guy with the strength to lean into defenders. Me like. Maybe Big B can become our Tammy Abraham. Another encouraging outing for him, even if it was Dundalk.
For his assist, I thought at the time that the weight of Pepe’s pass was perfect, but maybe the cow friendly surface helped to slow it down, eh Tim.
SLC, of course he’s a downgrade on Emi, because Emi is one of the best keepers in the league, and too good to be our Europa second stringer. Im fine with selling him on, but Tim’s right about Macey.
What is Saliba thinking, if the kids are playing in this game but he can’t, because he isn’t registered?
Still, props to Arteta. Not great opposition, poor goals to concede, but you cant begrudge him the satisfaction of six out of six.
Sis out of six sounds great Claude until you realize the combine market worth of
the three clubs is just about half what we paid for Pepe.
Easily the weakest group in the competition.
Major props to Tim for finding time and strength to write about these games.
At the risk of sounding knee jerk, ESR needs a real shot. Some mfer’s have an awareness and presence in the final third that stands out. Something you can’t teach. ESR has it. We have no one else like that right now. Can he do it at the pace and physical level of the PL? Dunno, but he deserves a chance. He will not be worse than what we’re using now. That much I know. We don’t need to trot out all the kids, but ESR seems worth a try.
Yes, I’d go along with that, concerning ESR. Last night, he was ostensibly wide on the left. I personally think he would be the right fit for advanced midfield. The sort of position, Arteta puts Joe Willock in from time to time. Firstly, if one of your main objectives is to create an effective forward press, then he would have to be near the top of your list. He can literally chase and harry all day long. From an attacking point of view, he has mobility. He gets in good spaces and has a good touch on the ball. He doesn’t often give the ball away. Even more importantly, he has a good temperament. He doesn’t get rattled. He also had a season up at Huddersfield, so he’s no lightweight. The staff up there spoke very highly of him. I’ve a feeling this could be his breakout season, given the chance.
Respectfully disagree. Emile and Joe Willock are willing and tireless runners, but they have a long way to go before they even begin to resemble tactically smart footballers. Arteta is not a Project Youth guy, and with good reason. Few footballers show that precocious tactical awareness early. Your teenage Fabregases and Schalke Ozils are generational talents, possessed of an ability to see the game that is beyond their years.
Both ESR and Willock are talented, no question. They’re good young footballers. But in the head part of the game, Saka for example is miles ahead. I lost court of the number of times they failed to pick up their heads and and spot the movement around them. I love Willock’s engine, his runs into the box, and his ability to finish which is above average for a midfielder… but he can be a ball hog, hang onto it too long (thus killing promising attacks) and he needs to learn the snappy combination passing that was the hallmark of Wenger teams. Emile has to learn that while manic pressing is great, sometimes you have to take up better positions. They both can look so — what’s the word — unschooled at times. To me, Reiss is a smarter player and has a greater upside than ESR. He knows when to slow and when to sprint, and to be in the right place at the right time. Im surprised that he hasnt been involved more.
Arteta, it seems to me, likes players who are tactically disciplined and smart, and it’s probably why he plays Xhaka so much, and why he and Elneny are such a surprisingly good fit.
My impression is that Willock is a bit soft. Sending him in against Burnley players could be a hell of a rude awakening.
All very fair, Claude. I have been way more focused on ESR in possession than out, and I will review again. I don’t doubt he’s overzealous in his pressing and lacking positional awareness defensively.
I think Willock has looked lost in the PL for the most part. Barely gets involved, it seems. I still find Joe a bit sloppy on the ball, and unable to hold onto possession when pressured. But it’s a big step up for all of the kids, and very few look impressive on their first several appearances. Saka is clearly the exception, as you note.
Claude, correct me if I’m wrong, but was it you that advocated playing with a back 4 so that you could put someone in as an advanced midfield player? I may be confusing you with another poster. Apologies, if so. However it does beg the question, who out of the current squad, would you actually rather play there?
Mark, in the immortal words of the great philosopher Shaggy, “it wasn’t me”
Apologies. I think it might have been Joshuad.
My bad.
A ridiculous mistake.
Not at all ridiculous. Easy mistake to make. Neither Josh nor I are short of opinions here
I dont know who we have and is registered that can play there, tbh.
Nice to see Azeez get on the pitch. I’ve heard a lot about this kid, but never seen him in action. Very impressed. He’s a “footballer”. You can tell that right away. The way he moves. His touch on the ball. Reminded me of Cesc in his first game. Apart from anything else, he can actually turn with the ball. Incredible! Having had to suffer almost a whole season with the Swiss Tractor and Danny Onions taking 50 touches just to slightly change direction, he was like a breath of fresh air. He played the ball early and quickly. Just what you want. Definitely one for the future, fingers crossed.
If there’s one thing that I love about Gooners it’s the affectionate / insulting names we come up with for players. I don’t know it just makes me smile
Being land locked, I don’t think Switzerland has any oil tankers, so tractor it is. I think tractor is being generous when trying to describe his mobility.
Smith-Rowe caught my eye a couple seasons ago. I really hope he can stay healthy and push on. He has the makings of a very good attacking MF.
Elneny scored a peach of a goal – top-right corner curler, absolutely clinical and he leathered it. You could see the ball dip and swerve giving the keeper the no chance.
It’s easy to forget how good the players in the top leagues can be.
I had to watch all the Europa League group stage games given our PL form. It’s the only hope I have of seeing Arsenal score goals and win matches. Depending on the draw, I see us getting to the QF or maybe even the semi.
Tim, very thoughful discussion in the last…thread (I almost typed “drinks” but that era is over – rest in peace, Dave). You are skillful enough to reveal (but not too much) and share vulnerability (without sappily seeking absolution) while overdoing any of it. Kudos.
Another win in the Europa League? Great. Ho-hum.
Play the kids or not – [sigh].
Rest Auba / Bench Willian / Play Pepe wherever – [meh].
Hibernation feels like a reasonable option at the moment. Wake me up in March (or, if we’re in a relegation fight, let me sleep).
Hey, the LA Rams won last night…so there’s that.
And Disney announced the Rogue Squadron…so there’s also that.
Me? I’m gonna go get myself a Boston Creme doughnut and a coffee — and maybe a lottery ticket.
V good jokes!
Honestly I look at Arsenal and just feel letting Ramsey go was such a massive mistake. Don’t think we would be having these problems in Midfield if he was about regardless of his injury record
Oh, those rose-tinted glasses! 😉
Aaron Ramsey scored some great goals in cup finals which makes him a legend in many ways but I wouldn’t want him at Arsenal.
He wasn’t even remotely a creative midfielder, not in the way that we need. We need a guy who collects between the lines and creates lots of chances for teammates and causes opposition problems: think Grealish, de Bruyne, Fabregas (he’s a deeper lying playmaker), and Ozil in his pomp.
What Ramsey was great at was being an overload for defenders. He would often (much to a lot of folks’ dismay) vacate the midfield and join the attack almost like another striker. His trick was to use this overload and play a quick pass and run in the box. In these situations he didn’t really “create” for teammates in the sense that we think of – it isn’t selfless – it was more to get the ball back and get himself a chance. It’s still very clever but it does expose weakness in midfield and he wasn’t always the best finisher (his overall goals-xG is -6).
He would “add goals from midfield” but only if Arteta let him get forward. Which, on the evidence, he wouldn’t.
Some suggestions for your listening pleasure. I do this list every year with Niece-of-1-Nil and she always asks if I played on any of them. I never tell tales out of school but here we go.
1Nil’s Favourites of 2020 (no particular order)
1. Letter to You, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
2. Hate for Sale, The Pretenders.
3. Folklore, Taylor Swift.
4. Gaslighter, The Chicks
5. Women in Music Part III, Haim.
6. Power Up, AC/DC
7. Rough & Rowdy Ways, Bob Dylan
8. Swallow Tales, John Scofield Trio
9. Reunions, Jason Isbell
10. Starting Over, Chris Stapleton
Interesting list, but the day Bonn died, AC/DC did too, except the stolen songs from his black book with most of the lyrics from Back in Black….
“players that make a living churning butter and play football as a hobby” – nope, they are all fully professional.
“no one would let cows graze on the pitch at Oriel Park!” – Oriel Park is an artificial all weather pitch, but that’s irrelevant as the match wasn’t even played at Oriel Park, it was played in the Aviva stadium.
I thought it was the Aviva. Really big with all those green seats. It’s where they play the rugby internationals in Dublin. Having said that, I think we can give Tim a bit of “poetic licence”!
Fair enough, I just thought the joke didn’t really ‘work’ as none of the premise was actually relevant.
nee ner nee ner
someone called the fun police!
‘If Ligue Un is a farmer’s league, then what type of league do Dundalk play in? What’s below farming? Is it hunter-gatherers? Nomads? Loose bands of people trying not to die in the cold?’
As an Irish person living in Ireland I’m surprised at you Tim. I assumed you were more informed.
At the moment it’s a don’t die of a lonely cold in a sad pandemic without any hugs league. 🙁
lol.
At least you didn’t get uptight about my jokes. Jeeze, some people need to relax!
Did you just make this up? The game wasn’t at Oriel Park it was played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin and the Dundalk players are fully professional not ‘butter churners’.
Poor jokes, insulting to the League of Ireland and based on a blatant lack of knowledge about the opposition.
I’m writing as a born and bred Dundalk man now living in London and an Arsenal season ticket holder.
Yes, actually, I did just make that up. Thank you for catching on. They are jokes. They work best when there’s an exaggeration. For example, I mentioned cows mowing the grass, but the exaggeration there is that everyone knows that they can’t afford cows and it’s usually sheep.
Anyway, I’m sorry, that you’re an Arsenal season ticket holder. That must be rough. But hey, look on the bright side! At least right now you don’t have to go to the matches!
(Try to relax, Padraig. XXOO)
A relegation clash. I can’t wait. Oh! how I pine for mid table security.
Great post Tim. Thanks for reviewing the game.
I completely agree with your sentiment that we can’t just run out a youth team and play the way we have in the Europa league. We really would be in danger of relegation if we did that. I understand we love our academy prospects, however, we have been heavily over rating those players ability to make a difference in the premier league since the start of the project youth era 15 years ago. There have been literally hundreds of players who have come thru ranks and looked great in the academy leagues and in the early rounds of the league cup but very vey few have been able to turn into usable regular PL players. If Arsene couldn’t turn them into usable players then what makes this group any different?
Regarding Auba we have been talking about an absence of creativity in this squad for the last 2 1/2 years and yet he has been a golden boot type striker scoring lots of goals without much effective service. I understand that our creativity on paper looks even worse this year but I don’t think that can be the only explanation for his complete loss of form and its worrisome that he has looked so lost and unlikely to score this year. That said, there is absolutely no way we can drop him. We have exactly 2 players on the entire squad who have ever scored in double digits in their entire careers in the PL and Laca who is the other one is not looking likely to score either. We don’t have anyone else who is capable of scoring. If Auba continues to struggle we probably will end up in the bottom 1/3 of the table. Our only real hope if for Auba to regain his form.
Aaron Ramsey has been utterly underwhelming since he moved to Italy. He has continued to be a regular injury risk and he rarely starts a game even when healthy. He scored 3 total goals and had 1 assist last season. Avoiding giving a big money contract to Aaron is one of the few things our front office has gotten right. It would have probably taken Ozil level wages to keep him from moving to Juve and the last thing this team needs is another underperforming high dollar long term contract to an over 30 player who could never stay healthy when he played for Arsenal.
The bad news… Xhaka sent off for a dumb*** throat grab
The good news… That’s three games where Xhaka doesn’t play
+ 1
I really thought we would find some way to score a goal and win 1-0. Arteta certainly sent us out with plenty of attacking intent before Xhaka was sent off. We had a huge lead in possession, passes, corners but we don’t have anyone in the squad who can score right now. Auba’s first goal since the ManU game is an own goal for the opposition.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
That was something else. 25 crosses.
Question – why not play Aubameyang against Dundalk to get a few goals and some confidence. This is the definition of insanity.
Well that’s what you get for confusing Dublin with Dundalk, same thing happened to Eminem when he said “hello Dublin” to Kildare.
This was scary bad. We have three tough games ahead and can’t help thinking it’s 0/1 points at most and goodbye to Mikel.
We are in relegation battle with a team full of pensioners content with themselves.
And manager who rewards them with playing time week in week out.
2020 is a bad year, terrible in Poland considering all political matters and Arsenal does not make it any better. It is not an enjoyment, it is a torture.
What I said.
Unlikely now that we will pickup a single Premier League point for the remainder of 2020, which will probably mean a sad and ignoble end to Arteta’s management. Not that sacking will actually do anything to improve the club, it’s just the done thing.
How did we get here? Read 7amKickoff. His prescience and knowledge foretold the reality we’re in. Tim – you are the Arsenal Whisperer. Please help us with your healing powers. Amen!
The negative part of the karmic cycle is far from done with Arsenal it would appear. I’m starting to just feel bad for the players. It can’t keep going like this for much longer can it?
It’s the Year of Conspiracies, so I’m going with management intentionally tanking the season in order to clear out the long-term, high-pay players in the squad. I wonder, do we still get Champions League football next year if we win Europa but get relegated?
JV, relegation has no bearing on CL promotion through an EL trophy, as I understand. Though if that were to actually happen, it would be the most Arsenal of developments. Only us…LoL.
Arsenal, 2022: “Coming off their stunning victory at Camp Nou in the Champions League mid-week, Manager Patrick Viera has rotated his squad ahead of a must-win crunch league match away to… Ipswich.” 😉
and like all conspiracy theories, this one is prima facia wrong: if they were clearing out all the older, big salary players why did they just sign Willian and Auba?
Hey Tim, sorry you wasted your time on this. It wasn’t meant to be viewed as a serious comment, and I really wasn’t expecting anyone, least of all you, to give it a serious response. Lord knows you have enough on your plate. 🙂 Though I was kinda wondering about the whole Champions League while relegated thing (thanks 1Nil!)
I have a feeling Arteta will be gone in early January. It’s not working, and it’s such a shame given how much I wanted him to succeed.
Next up: Pochettino? Sarri? Benitez? Allardyce? Tony Pubis? Phil “Up Their Noses” Brown? Fred Armisen? Louis C. K. is out of work, so maybe he’d be interested? I also hear Donald Trump will be out of work in January. Just change the wording slightly on the already-the-right-color MAGA hats, and we’re all set!
If you really think Arteta is getting fired I think that’s mistaken. Somehow they will blame the players, try to clear out some of them in January, maybe they even pony up for a creative midfielder. Realistically, if Partey comes back we will look 100% better. It’s just amazing that one new player has become so pivotal to our performance. I think sadly Arteta is done, but not anytime soon.
Not if the players quit on him, and that is just about up on us.
If the suits or owners haven’t started looking for Arteta’s replacement yet, then they are more incompetent that I could’ve ever imagined.
Well, the players appear to have quit on their fourth manager in quick succession. There are many problems at Arsenal, but the calibre and mentality of the playing squad is right up there at the top of the list for me. I don’t expect a significant improvement in Arsenal’s fortunes until the majority of the senior squad are gone, and this is where I go back in forth in my assessment of Arteta. It’s hard to overstate the challenges of overhauling the squad mid-pandemic, and Gabriel and Partey were good business. But signing Willian? Extending Luiz? Awful decisions, since compounded by a refusal to admit his mistakes and to drop those senior players who’re simply not cutting it.
So I agree, Arteta’s days are probably numbered. Managers generally don’t last once they lose the dressing room. But I think Edu should probably go first. Arsenal are in desperate need of a competent and experienced director of football to clean the squad out and make decisions with the long-term health of the club firmly in mind. Gazidis took some player purchasing power away from Wenger, and while that was probably the right idea in principle, Gazidis was absolutely the wrong person to exercise that power.
That said, I would vote for Rafa Benitez right now… there would be nothing fancy, nothing visionary but nothing pretentious, just solid man- and game-management. He’d probably get us through to the CL via the Europa League and get us solidly mid-table.
But we should ask the agents who our next manager should be… I think Dunga is available.
Arsenal, and Arteta are in deep trouble. This is certainly the worst run in the 30 years I’ve been following the team.
And it’s losing the dressing room/relegation battle bad. While we were playing better, we still hadn’t scored by halftime against one of the worst teams in the league. Meanwhile, leicester were up 3-0.
They displayed a stat after Xhakas red. Since Arteta took over, Arsenal have had 7 reds. Next worst team is 3. That’s really bad.
Arteta seems a nice guy. I really wanted him to succeed. But he needs to go. Xhakas shouldn’t have started, nor willian. If I was Balogun, not sure I’d want to stay.
None of this is surprising any longer. Was chatting with a bud and my brother last night and I had told them what’s the point when we will be losing this game because of some stupidity or the other. Now I know that’s being very generic, but I think I am done. I live in Mumbai, and I have for so many years watched all Arsenal games scheduled for a 00.45 or 01.15 start local time. Its just been a part of my life, schedule, etc. Even though I would still wake up the next morning and get to the gym, work etc. But not any longer. It’s like i have lost complete interest. Things need to change and I can’t see the change coming fast enough. It’s just sad.
I wish I could understand the “tactics” (I use that term loosely). Leno rolls it out to the back 4, who fiddle about with it for no apparent reason. The ball finally reaches the half line, where Xhaka and Dani take an endless series of touches with it. Eventually the ball gets played out wide to one of our full backs in a slightly advanced the position. He then lofts the ball into the penalty area, where our forwards feel disinclined to go and can’t head the ball anyway. Some towering goon of a centre half heads it clear. Two touches later its back up the other end, where our full backs should be and they score. Game over. It happens week in, week out.
Why doesn’t Leno simply clobber the ball up the other end, with all his might and hope for the best?
Might as well. The end result is the same.
So it looks like Arteta is going after the leak in the squad as a priority. He’s obsessed with raising standards, by focusing on work ethic, commitment and integrity, and leaking stories shows lack of all three. So does getting stupid red cards, and I hope he sees that.
I kind of get where he’s coming from – this group of players is letting him and the club down collectively, and there’s an argument that they have been doing so ever since they learned how to take advantage of Wenger, and it is looking more and more like scorched earth may be the only solution. He’s already banished Ozil, he might have to go further.
Then again, maybe he’s going about it entirely the wrong way. I tend to think he’s got a point though. It’s hard to see another manager succeeding with this group of players either, not because of a want of talent or skill, but because of habitual low standards. He’s got a massive fight on his hands.
It’s going to suck for a lot of people when it turns out that Bellerin is the one leaking to the press.
For me, the problem is that we are back at December 2019, as reported in the Indy:
“Arsenal had hoped to buy time after the sacking of Unai Emery through the interim appointment of Freddie Ljungberg … it became evident that the players were not responding, endangering the club’s entire campaign and even putting in what amounted to relegation form with a return of just 22 points from 17 games.
Ljungberg told the hierarchy that too many of the players didn’t care, and that was unlikely to change until a permanent appointment was made. Both the interim manager and key officials are said to have been taken aback by just how much the players have dropped off, and how slack some attitudes were. It has fired the mood for a clear out.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/arsenal-news-mikel-arteta-manager-aubameyang-transfer-latest-a9253511.html
The club changed their mind on a clear-out of the squad and instead cleared out the executive office. Arteta persuaded Auba to stay (a mistake in hindsight) and we had hopes that the new regime of improved standards was bearing fruit. But I’m now of the view that we have a hardcore group of experienced and expensive players at the club who are not able to motivate themselves to perform at the right level. Even Willian, who I’ve long admired as a total professional, has caught the malaise.
A big-name, respected manager may be able to motivate these players to dig in, work hard and perform but then again, whatever the blockage is, it has proved pretty resistant under Wenger, Ljungberg, Emery and now Arteta. It is starting to look like a deficit of character. At this point I would absolutely back Arteta to play the kids for the rest of December.
Greg
At least part of the problem has to be the talent or motivation and more likely both of the players. Things went stale and the squad seemed to lose motivation and effectiveness in the last couple years of the Wenger era especially in the final year. We have been complaining about the same type of things now with Emery and then Freddie and now Arteta. The manager will always get the majority of the blame and you can sack a manager but realistically you can’t sack a whole squad of players. However, when a group of players does the same things and you see the same complaints about a group of players with 4 different managers then you have to accept that a significant part of the problem must be the players. No?
Yes Bill, that’s exactly what I said
So it is all the player’s fault?
Perhaps the senior players, all experienced internationals, who have all played for many years in different leagues, find it difficult being told how to move each leg and, where to pass, where to run and who to pass to and who not to.
You say it is the players, and I think it is Arteta.
There is only one tactic. Get the ball to the wings and cross it.
No creativity, no initiative, no dribbling, no taking on their man, no defence-splitting passes, no running into space to receive a ball, because it will, more than likely, not be within Arteta’s plan to send it there. Nothing other than what they are told.
We have had 12 months of this and the chickens are finally coming home to roost.
Where will you find experienced players who would want to come to a club and be told that they are not able to think for themselves?
The youngsters do what they are told because they know no better.
Do you really expect that it is possible to progress in the EPL by using youngsters only?
That is why Arteta resists using them, as they will be eaten alive by players such as Burnley’s and the other teams in the EPL.
There has to be a complete change of tactics, which I doubt Arteta can do,
I am not surprised the players may be rebelling.
Is micromanagement of the players is what is the cause of the demise, not the players themselves.
Claude
There are 2 parts to this. The managers tactics and the players ability to effectively execute those tactics and its very difficult to separate them. There is no tactics which will work tactical solution that will fix a problem if the players are not doing a good job of executing the tactics. This team has looked poor for 3 different managers Wenger, Emery and now Arteta. The only consistent positive thing we really had working on the attacking end in the last 1/2 of Arsene’s last season and during Emery tenure and last season under Arteta was Auba scoring and now that isn’t happening. Unless you are going to suggest that Wenger, Emery and Arteta are all poor managers who don’t understand tactics then you have to accept that a significant part of the problem is the players inability to effectively execute the tactics.
We are in 15th, Bill.
Fifteenth.
We’ve had four consecutive home losses, the worse sequence since (I think) 1959. If we lose the next game at home, Arteta will have made history. Five in a row, a distinct possibility, has never happened.
In points, this is Arsenal’s worst start since 1974-75. Three teams recorded firsts in the past month alone…. before this season, Leicester hadn’t won away at Arsenal since 1973, Wolves since 1979, Burnley since 1974.
You assert that “This team has looked poor for 3 different managers”, but we are a historic low, and I don’t think you’re close to understanding the scale of the current problem. Wenger has never — even in his worst latter years — had us this far off the pace 2 weeks before Christmas. Emery had us much further up the table, and with much more points at a corresponding stage.
So carry on broad-brushing and over-simplifying. Football isn’t as binary as you make it sound.
Mikel needs good results, and he needs them now. Chuck in the kids at the deep end? That’s for when you’re in 8th, not 15th. When you are the process of drowning, you don’t then decide to go exploring the deep blue. You’re looking to keep your head above the water, for a lifeboat, or a rescue. So if he’s mad, he’d bench the entire senior squad… and find himself in a relegation battle for sure. SPOILER: he’s not mad.
Look, it is both the squad and the manager at fault. I still cling to the belief that he’s a superb coach in the making, but perhaps not yet. Arsenal 2019/20 might be too early, and too complex a turnaround. Part of being a great coach is turning straw into gold, not turning gold into straw, as he appears to be doing. I said a year ago on this forum when Emery was on the way out and we were looking at replacements, that I’d feel better if Arteta had managed a Wolves or a Newcastle (good, fallen clubs with solid fanbases and pedigree), and shown that he can have players with names that few have heard of punching above their weight. Instead, he’s got experienced internationals punching way below theirs. Good players are looking worse. Undeveloped players are not taking a step forward. How can anyone throw it all on the players?
Here’s my read. Arteta has a superb football brain but he’s terrible on important intangibles like interpersonal relations. Like Tim, I trust only a small number of sources, but it is plain that he’s fallen out with a section of his dressing room, most notably David Luiz, one of the team’s leaders.
Xhaka is a liability, tactically and discipline-wise. Nobody twists Arteta’s arm to start him nearly every big game. He decided at cast off Guendouzi and Torreira. Play a youngster, you say? Well we have a decent one who could have been playing there, except for the fact that he’s playing in Berlin. Matteo, skilled but raw and temperamental, is the ideal coaching project. He is worth far more than the 8m we paid for him. Work on him, work with him. There is something there. That is what coaches do. He’s 20 years old, and apparently culturally irredeemable.
A good coach develops Reiss, not brings in Willian on a gold plated pension plan. A more experienced coach concerned with inter-personal relations understands player dynamics, and relations formed before he got there. So he would understand how to manage players that he doesn’t want and cant move on, in a way that seems fair and just. It must be in the back of Auba’s mind that the coach or the club will turn on him at some point. Auba, Kola and The Exile are tight, They’re gaming buddies, for one.
A good coach does not mismanage in the way that he did the clubs’s second most expensive defender (who is now openly grumbling about his internal exile on social media). This isn’t Manchester City, where spare parts are easily replaced. Heck, Pep made even players like Delph play well and look decent for a while. And speaking of that, Im beginning to think that Mikel’s role in developing the likes of Sterling was overstated. I see no signs of his grooming hands with Arsenal’s young players. Saka broke out under Emery. Who else has, since?
Good coaches coach the fundamentals, and wouldn’t tolerate Hector picking up FIVE foul throw calls. Hector isn’t 12. He’s a 25 year old professional who has captained the side, and he barely knows how to take a throw. He barely knows how to defend, ffs (and yet he almost never gets dropped for big games). Is that on the coach or the player? I saw a piece from Henry Winter in the Times that nails it. Hector’s problem is a sign of the sloppiness that pervades the coaching setup, and the club. Is that on the coach, the players, or both?
All the signs point to Mikel losing the dressing room. Yes, he’s right. There is a poisonous player culture that needs eradicating, and perhaps he’ll be given the time to that. But on and off the field, he has also shown his limitations as a young coach. Let’s hold EVERYONE accountable.
All that said, I’d love nothing more than some luck falling Mikel’s way (an opposition goalkeeper error, anything), and he starts getting some results. I want him to succeed, and build on his FA Cup success. He’s going to have to start getting more out of what he’s got, now. That is what good coaches do. The squad, though far from perfect, is far better than he and they are showing themselves to be.
The 8-2 is a poor argument against playing younger players for a number of reasons, but the biggest one is that the average age of the Starting XI was older than Man Utds. Both sides fielded a single teenager, Jenkinson and Jones. 25 year old Koscielny and 24 year old Djourou had more years and appearances under their belts than Uniteds centrebacks. It was 20 year old Coquelin’s league debut, but it’s hard to argue that inexperience was his problem considering how he continues to play.
We’re mostly talking about playing men aged 19-23 instead of the slightly older dross Arteta continues to persist with. Not that their ages should be a factor. It should be about ability, complimentary skillsets, and fitness. As far as experience goes we could probably benefit from playing men with less experience of the type we have, abject failure.
Honestly, think back over the past decade or two and ask yourself whether it was really the youngsters that let us down more than the experienced ones. Because for the most part it’s the youngsters in this team that are outperforming the older heads in the few occasions that they’ve been given a chance.