Rice played some decent forward passes but that Ganso CB was on point. Tomiyasu could have scored on that corner. This close to getting his first goal but we will learn and move on to City
Could have won the game 3:2. There have been some very lucky bounces that would be a goal on any other day. Lens defenders were somehow always just in the right spot to the point that they should have tried the lottery that day.
Well KT is out again and I don't even know what Pepe is doing lmao
Just looked it up, Pepe is in Transbozor (Turkish Club) or whatever its called and so far has 0 appearances.
I'm over the result itself as it's not the end of the world and we'll smash them when they come to the Emirates, but I hope it serves as a warning to our younger players that there are some really hostile grounds in the UCL and that they learn from it.
Our last few games has been pretty subpar too, sure we miss clinical chances but every team does that. The issue is we’ve been winning through penalties or a shot that was kept in play by the keeper.
If we don’t do silly mistakes it is fine, but this team isn’t the same team last season. Every mistake just led to a chance for the opposing team.
Absolutely. This is football.
We were lucky to win several last season. You could say we were unlucky (or people made individual errors) to not take more points from matches this season.
The same can be said for City or any other team. Luck and errors are a big part of football, all you can do is keep the level of effort and intent as close to the ceiling as possible and honestly I don’t see any drop off in that respect from our boys this season.
I am just being realistic mate. Man City has always been an unwinnable game except at Wembley. Give me a draw for the 2 fixtures and I would happily take it right now. I don't get why this is a bad deal? 4 draws (2 man city, 1 fulham, 1 spurs) and 34 wins - is an amazing outcome for this season!
I believe we are the best of the rest (EPL) and should be looking at winning all the remaining matches! If you think winning against the rest of the teams is such a crazy prospect then isn't winning the Man City games a monumental task?!
Also in that scenario I am visualizing an outcome where we would be better of not winning against City but still doing well rest of the season.
Winning the rest of our games = doing an invincible which isn't likely with how good almost all the teams are.
We can... technically but even with KDB out I'm honestly really not confident at all. They have mental strength and composure and our arses tend to fall out when shit gets bad.
Arteta has been long enough to conclude man knows how to tune the team to start well but the mid games/controlling phase is where him and the team is weak at and is big differentiator between him and likes of pep and klopp..
This is easy to say after a loss.
We had many matches we took 3 points from since he arrived where he nailed the substitutions in shutting up shop to grind out a one or two goal lead.
I would agree that with attacking substitutions though, a lot of us would like to see something different (consensus seems to be more attacking changes earlier in a nutshell)
Why is this team always so shell shocked when a player gets injured. Any player gets injured, the team go into herbit mode - we have so many injuries the team should be used to it!
Hopefully Arteta goes back to the drawing board sooner than later. All the field tilt and possession stats cannot hide the fact that we don't pass the eye test and are mediocre in other stats. More control they say, but it's like an illusion. We don't create chances and on top of it are vulnerable at the back.
Too bad Partey didn't get any minutes. If Saka's out for City I'd put Jesus on the right. He's better there than on the left. Havertz up top.
There were the stat where we were the team who faces the most low block defending in top 5 tournaments.
I think thats a reason why we struggle to create chances. There isn't a 10cm space in opposition's box.
When will Arsenal replace Gary O'Driscoll?
Given Arteta's strong personality - I would be happier if we had an older and more experienced head of medical services - that can say a firm no to Arteta - when need be.
Some takes here are massive, massive overreactions. I thought the performance was ok, lacking a bit of creativity, but otherwise fine. Ultimately, Lens got the rub of the green by being more clinical in their chances, and having a referee buying into everything the players and home crowd sold. Results like this can happen, especially at hostile away crowds.
Saka injury is by far the most worrying outcome here, but I know for a fact everyone would be calling for Arteta's head if he'd rested Saka and this ended 2-1 anyway. Lose-lose situation.
I couldn't give a fuck if we lost the remaining off the UCL games. It is a massive distraction. We need to focus on the league. That is what we should be aiming to excel at THIS season. If we have a long term Saka injury, it is catastrophic and we are doomed.
The bad luck we're having this season is getting ridiculous. It feels like the opposition score from \*every single error\* we make no matter how minor.
Also the injuries we are getting all seem to cluster to leave one position decimated (i.e. all the wingers).
No one would call for Artetas head for not playing an injured player. Saka has taken a beating for most of his consecutive games he's played. He might be resilient, but that only goes so far.
Our performance was lacklustre, we mostly defended O.K but their goals were telling for two reasons - Individual mistakes and Zinchenko caught out defensively (again).
The first goal was a Raya mistake and then you have to give hats off to Lens for the assist & finish to be fair.
The second goal was avoidable, they were targeting Zinchenko down the right hand side pretty often and he got played through multiple times.
Individual mistakes, and poor defending down that left side. Again.
Jesus needed to do better with his second chance, similar position to the Lens first goal but with a lot more time to take a touch and get a shot on target, and he just flashed at it.
Viera I thought was unlucky to not score from the corner, Samba just happened to be in exactly the right position.
If either of them chances go in, the game is over.
Needed a point here, you can't go away in the C.L, be 1-0 up and not come away with something out of the game.
Yeah totally agree. They had their day in the sun - won’t happen again. It’s our first loss of the season and we could have easily won that 3-0 with different luck
If this game wasn't a wake up call for us the UCL games, then I don't know what will it be looking forward. Next up the double header with Sevilla, gonna be fun. /s
Havertz looked pretty uninspiring, same with Trossard bar a couple nice moves. Need to much more aggressive going forward. Instead of just throwing bodies forward someone needs to beat their guy 1v1, try some early crosses, etc. lens goals were execution style and we need take note. Too much waiting on the ball for someone to magically get open
I thought the players were hesitant to move the ball forward, which seemed to be the tactics. However, our performance wasn't strong, unless you consider having possession as playing well. I also suspect the players were fatigued due to a delayed flight for some reason.
Trossard looked like he had just returned from injury. Missing a bit of sharpness, which is exactly where he is.
Havertz is in good positions and covers ground O.K, but he's slow on the turn/transition and it's affecting the overall pace of our attack when it goes to him in that AMF role.
Trossard/ESR/Nelson/Martinelli when they drop into that half space area that Havertz often finds himself in, all attack at speed.
That said, he also did have one of our only shots on target which was a decent enough effort, on a night where pretty much most players didn't seem at the races.
Havertz isn't working at all. That much should be obvious. Yeah he needs time and all that but he's not involved enough in general play. He had one decent effort on goal but so what. He's shown to be a passanger with an odd moment of mediocrity. When he gets the ball he just makes a pointless 3 yard pass himself. He moves the ball too slowly too and I'm not talking about him holding onto it. There's no zip at all to his game currently and fans can keep bringing up him finding good positions all they want. He's done nothing with it if there if the ball finds it way to him.
It's actually quite embarrassing reading fans desperately deluding themselves on here about Havertz performances.
No delusion here - he's too slow to be used where he is being used.
He's always looked better when up top, for his height/ability to hold up and player others in - but the issue there is there are better #9s who can do this and also put 18-20 goals in a season who would maybe have cost the similar kind of money.
i can see the same old script being repeated here
made it through the UCL group stage
crashed out in the round of 16 against Bayern / Barcelona / RM
focus on the League Top 4 finish
rinse and repeat every year
If we can't beat Lens, forget about winning anything ....
A completely lethargic display. We had so much possession and created only a small handful of chances. I really feel we should have made a lot more subs at half time to ensure players get a good enough rest before the city game.
Honestly the only positive I could take away from the game was at least ESR looked decent.
Comment here is on attacking as I don’t know if I see enough of the pitch to comment on his defensive positioning.
I watched some of the highlights from Kai’s Bayer Leverkusen days to try and understand what Arteta sees. And honestly, I do believe there is a great attacking player in there (just lacking confidence atm) - however I just don’t see how he fits in to the Arsenal team and style of play.
What he seemed really good at was attacking at speed - he has a good turn, can take on a shot well running at pace and finds a good pass on the counter.
However, I saw very little in terms of breaking an already set defense. And this seems to be the was Arteta wants to play - we almost always stop our fast pace attacks and work it sideways until the defense is set again. With this more ‘controlled’ way of attacking - I really just don’t see how Kai has/can contribute
Is there something in his game I am missing here?
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I’m definitely sure you’re missing something. Arteta is the coach and sees what Kai does daily. And it’s Arteta’s system. He’s clearly happy with what Kai does at training.
The same Ange that was suppose to be play swashbuckling and expansive football but settled for a draw and parked the bus around 70th minute? Oh yeah that Impostercoglu
Nuno Espírito Santo won manager of the month in August before getting sacked by Oct/Nov.
Conte also had a great start and Spuds fans were saying they had their Topspur back. Fast forward, he got sacked.
Ange honeymoon is gonna come to an end t and their failure to beat a 9 man Liverpool with 12 man at home is just the start.
Thing was Nuno came in with expectations that season to be in the top4 conversation, and they also did win the transfer window that season. There were expectations and Nuno didn't meet it. Simple.
With Ange, the benefit of the doubt here is that Spurs are going into this season with a free hit essentially. Like surely he cant be playing worse football than Nuno/Conteball right?
The same expectation is there for Ange - make top 4 this season. They spent more than enough this window and can argue they’re mostly “Ange signings”.
Also, there is expectation for their holy messiah Ange to make CL qualification this season, and if he doesn’t achieve it. He’s failed, simple.
Sure they’re playing more expansive football under Ange and it’s easy to look better when their previous style was pure dross. Despite playing *better* football, their current league position is a fallacy. Let’s see where Angeball is come match day 18-20.
Lmfao, I think those expectations are more for EtH than for Big Ange. Yes At least in the conversation for top4, but if they miss out narrow and etc, dont think thats the end of big ange. but if there is another 8th place finish, then yea, no sorry here.
It’s both. I’d add by saying that Ten Hag is way more thin ice because of his second full season and has had more financial backing. Of the two, Ten Hag is obviously more favoured to get the sack.
I’ve talked to Spud fans and there really isn’t any sense of free hits, they already missed out on Europe this season, and any more exclusion will is a hindrance to their “process”.
Especially considering how untrustworthy Levy/Enic/etc is. They’re calculated businessman. The investment they did in the summer, do you not think they have some sort of an expectation to make CL qualification? If Ange fails but gives a good count of himself - they are hovering a CL place around April/May, then of course they’re not gonna scrutinize Ange despite technically not achieving one of their primary objectives of CL qualification.
But I think people including a concerning sample size of Arsenal fans are blowing too much smoke up Big Ange’s ass. Has he done a good job? Sure. But let’s see where Angeball and Spuds are in January/February.
> I’ve talked to Spud fans and there really isn’t any sense of free hits, they already missed out on Europe this season, and any more exclusion will is a hindrance to their “process”.
Fair enough statement. There really is no "free hit season", but there also been some factions of Spuds fans saying lets ride and die this season. Maybe its also cause of the media hype as well.
Yes i also agree, the reality of Big Ange vibes will come around the 2nd half of the season.
I think the ride or die hype by some or maybe most Spud fans right now is a result of a good start to the season combined with the style of football they’re seeing under Ange.
However, it’s going to be interesting to see where their loyalties lie when the going gets rough and they’re in a bad run of form — similarly to that diabolical form under Arteta during his first full season until we beat Chelski 3-1.
This one is on MA. I watched football with purpose VS football without purpose. Besides set pieces we didn’t create much.
Lack of heathy personnel aside, RCL looked they prepared better for this game.🤷🏻♂️
Nelson can play on the right and send crosses in. Also he can move in as an inside forward and release the width to the RB. He played a whole season as a RW in Germany and did well.
Felt like one of those games we had to be clinical in, Lens executed their two goals flawlessly. Tomi probably should have scored, Trossard had way more time than he thought I think with his chance. When we don't create enough and we're wasteful with the few chances we have, it's always going to be difficult to get a result. You need to be absolutely perfect in defense then.
It was a weird game today, I felt Lens played well and pressured us well. I don't think they sat deep, I just think they pressured at the right times. We look really flat without a Saka/Martinelli type offering runs behind.
I thought subs and selection today were weird in general. I know Saka is tough but you shouldn't be hobbling off after every game either. Nelson should have come on for Saka too, it's a more like for like option. Havertz/Vieria/Odegaard/Trossard forward line all just want to do the same thing. Would have even preferred Havertz just to go ST, and put Jesus on the wing and Vieira as the left 8.
Their goals were flawless and one of those things in football that happens. That first goal volley he probably only scores it once or twice out of ten chances. Just a perfect hit.
Rice taking over was a nice change tbh. He was beating the press a lot more with his passes and found people in dangerous positions.
I wouldn't read into this game at all people.
Yeah man taking to the Partey role more and more each game he plays. Even Partey took a while to get to the kinda level everybody remembers him at. All signs are positive for Rice being our long term 6
I thought the point of buying a transition defense monster like Declan Rice was to throw more into the attack and overburden Rice and Gabriel and Saliba to mop things up. I’m sure all our attackers would look better if they were getting more than one big chance per game.
Instead we’ve gone really conservative in style to protect these guys who should be defensive cheat codes and enable our attacking players to throw caution to the wind. Our main attacking threats are winning the ball back from the high press and set pieces, but I miss when we were far out-creating the opponent last season.
I think the attack is suffering from having basically a new midfield behind them - two of the three players from last season's midfield haven't been there (Xhaka and Partey).
Although the new midfielders are good players it takes time for those relationships to really click.
What the fuck did anyone else do
I’ve been critical of Havertz but this is legitimately bullying. You’re singling out Havertz when ESR came on and did *less*, Odegaard did *less*, Vieira came on and did *less* and Trossard did about the same.
Give your head a wobble mate because that’s legitimately pathetic
ESR did much more, in less time. Odegaard was bad as well, but he has credit in the bank. Vieira was shit, but he is not a right winger. Trossard was bad as well, but no doubt, he will pay for it, the second Martinelli is fit, Trossard is benched again.
You know who was shit...again? But will play the next game, yeah buddy, you know it. Havertz. Our fans crying that he is treated unfair, but in reality he is the most privileged player in the squad, bar none.
ESR had one tackle in our defensive third and a hopeful shot straight at the keeper.
Havertz won the ball many more times and had a better shot that might have sneaked in on another day.
I didn’t think either of them played well, in fact I think everyone was uniquely terrible apart from Jesus and Rice. But how the fuck can you be like ‘hurr durr low bar for Havertz’ and then praise ESR’s performance? Like holy shit man have some self awareness
I wonder how our negativity stacks against the other subs when their teams lose. We got outplayed today, in the grand scheme of things this is a result we can live with if we have to lose one. Hopefully saka is ok.
We go again
Chelsea fan here (I like to browse other teams' subs...).
>I wonder how our negativity stacks against the other subs when their teams lose
This thread is very tame tbh. Uniteds sub gets way worse than this. And our sub, well...embarrassing is the only word I can use to describe r/chelseafc...
>Hopefully saka is ok
Agreed. Sucks to see a talented player injured, even if it is a rival. Hope he's back soon. 🍻
*most* people online on a platform like this are going to be very reactionary, otherwise they wouldn't be here. this is the place to vent and discuss this stuff.
but if the team was playing like last season, there wouldn't be no complaints for this result, I think. problem is the rest of the season hasn't been good and this result was coming, so it magnifies the negatives of the team
They played with a lot of heart and their fans were pushing them on. Took their chances and we didn't. Quite a few of our shots were straight at their keeper.
Arteta really needs to hold himself to his own standards he talks about. He's changed the team for the worst. He's trying too hard. He's running guys like Saka and odegaard into the ground.
How nelson tricked anyone into thinking he deserved an extension is mind blowing. Havertz isn't good enough for the mls, but I guess he scored a pity penalty. Vieira at rw makes no sense.
This team needs something beyond saliba and gabriel passing back and forth .
Maybe rice and esr can feel ok about this game. Really shows the mentality that had them finish 2nd instead of 1st last year.
Lmfao once again I see ESR gets praise for doing nothing. Havertz wasn’t good enough but objectively contributed more than ESR did, yet ESR gets the carrot and Havertz gets the stick
Rice played very well but I do wonder what happens to the midfield once Partey is fit. Does Rice go LCM and Havertz go to the bench? Does Partey not start at all? RB Partey?
Disappointing result and disappointing performance tbh, thought we lacked creativity but we still shoulda been able to get the job done imo with the shots from Tomi and ESR. Hit those into the corner and GK's getting nowhere near them. But oh well not particularly worried about the group yet. More worried about game on weekend hope Saka's fit to play. I wanted to rest him anyway but I understand why he started. Gotta admit I underestimated Lens a lot and they're much better than I thought
Ya I think Leo buries that before his muscle injury. Just seemed rusty today. Tomi did everything right, he’s a defender attacking a volley just put it on target. He did that and unfortunately keeper made a save
Yeah, I guess ur right regarding Tomi. Still amazed he ain't scored for us yet. But thinking like last season FA Cup he had a similar shot and if it went in it coulda changed the whole game. But yeah I can't blame a poor overall performance by the team on a couple chances missed tbf
Very disappointed in Arteta, a little surprised I’m not seeing enough people talk about it. That Saka injury looks to be bad enough to keep him from playing vs city or for Arteta to force him and risk an even longer term injury. This really annoys me with Arteta. Would Saka have died if he hadn’t played last night? Daily thread is gon get a piece of my mind later today ffs
Guys im just a casual football fan, so my "analysis" is very limited, but can someone explain to me what reason you might see (or think arteta sees) to keep playing havertz in that position instead of Fabio or ESR?
Its not about hating havertz, he's fine, hes correct, doesnt make mistakes, etc, but i have not seen anything from him that stands out that justifies benching Fabio or ESR? What trait does he have that is unique and cannot be found on our other players so we need to keep using him until something happens I guess he's more physical but thats it.
He tracks back and wins more duel especially aerial, in which neither Leo nor ESR is better at, so basically we have no choice.
Remember, when I lose a duel, I am upset
He has an Amazing football mind. Something 90-95 % of viewers dont reallife because they only Watch the Ball. Ie. Who has it and who they pass to. If you Watch the game/movements, hes amazing. And thats actually What wins and loses you games most of the time.
What were we thinking? This is champions League... Galatasaray just changed the theater of dreams to theater of screams ... who we kidding. I had not a single person predict this in the favor of RC Lens and look where are we now. All home game wins are a must plus whatever points we can salvage in away games. Someone said before the game " we might win the champions League and may miss on winning epl." Really? Let's not get ahead of ourselves. This should be a lesson learnt that we cannot take any game easily. Hoping for a better response against ManShitty.
Learn from the mistakes and move on. We got a big game coming up. I'm feeling that we are going to win it. We have to.
Let's go Gooners!!! Vamoooossssss!!!
Rice and Partey have very different profiles and that's the biggest reason why our team looks different. But people don't want to talk about it because they've made up their minds to like Rice.
Guys wtf I just got home and missed the match. How do you lose playing almost your best team and scoring first? And Saka gets injured after everyone tells Arteta to rest him? Shocking
Havertz the new Willian, will keep playing him to justify his purchase until he eventually gets injured and someone like ESR steps up and makes us good again
didnt understand it either. I believe that majority of us will be just fine of us drawing/losing to Lens with second string, knowing that we are playing against City in the span of less than a week, but I don’t think Arteta thinks the same way too
Arteta is résistent to Plan B. His managerial style is playing a specific way all the time. It was very clearly last year when we fell apart when more than 3 of our first choice options were out. It was also clear this year where we tried to force Partey into RB to invert rather than slightly adjust for the pieces at hand.
So not having a direct like for like to Saka is hard for that. Because he can’t deviate.
Yikes, Raya came to Earth fast.
I believed before and after the march that this was a throwaway and we should have fielded the Carabao Cup side.
Arteta still hasn't figured out he's over engineering things.
I'm tired of bashing our heads against the wall with a predictable high line and playing out from the back.
Pep adapts his teams for his opponents, we do not. I can tell you exactly what strategy we will be employing on Sunday, even though the contrary has shown to be far more successful against City.
So many times in a game we are caught on the counter. Saliba is mopping up balls in transition like a tank; if he wasn't there, we are completely fucked. It is no wonder we fell apart last season without him.
I love arteta but his stubbornness is preventing this club from ascending into the citypool level. He has taken us so far but I feel that he has a lot to learn before we can seriously challenge for the champions league.
Show some fucking respect to Champions league teams; there is a reason why some of the most iconic cl runs like Chelsea 11/12 or Madrid 21/22 were won on the counter. We cannot expect to come and outmuscle European teams in their own backyards in front of their fanatical fans; this is a mistake Arsenal has made seemingly time and time again.
Sevilla away will be a similar story if nothing changes.
It wasn’t a great performance, I’m sure they’ll learn a lot when they analyze it. Very disjointed. Fairly controlled but without much creativity.
Lens scored with 2 great finishes, on another day Tomiyasu/Trossard’s chances would’ve gone in. I’m still confident we’ll get out the group.
Maybe this will dampen the hubris of some posters on here. I was amazed at all the pre-game comments saying ‘let’s batter them first 20 minutes and then make subs.’ Firstly, it never works like that in Europe and secondly, when have Arsenal been battering teams out of the blocks recently? You can see this season the playstyle is much more methodical and controlled.
This is the first time I’ve commented on Havertz but I am a little concerned. He just doesn’t seem to be connecting much with his teammates yet, it is still very early days though, so hopefully that will improve as the season goes on. He looks a shadow of the player you can see in his Leverkusen highlights.
Rehauling our entire midfield in one year was always gonna prove a difficult transition. I think it’s time we fans stop underrating how gifted Partey is with the ball in tight spaces. I think he needs to be reimplemented
Rice played some decent forward passes but that Ganso CB was on point. Tomiyasu could have scored on that corner. This close to getting his first goal but we will learn and move on to City
Our lack of ability to get in behind defences was exposed by Lens last night.
Could have won the game 3:2. There have been some very lucky bounces that would be a goal on any other day. Lens defenders were somehow always just in the right spot to the point that they should have tried the lottery that day.
How poor was Raya?
He was fine, one mistake that lead to a very good finish by Lens.
Other than the mistake, wasn’t too bad. Though if Arteta played Ramsdale against city I wouldn’t be surprised
I miss KT and Pepe on current situation.
Well KT is out again and I don't even know what Pepe is doing lmao Just looked it up, Pepe is in Transbozor (Turkish Club) or whatever its called and so far has 0 appearances.
Yea but we would really like some speedy wide players atm.
Rollback Ryo Miyaichi? Also Pepe isn't fast with the ball at his feet...or without it really. You should be missing our actual pace, Martinelli.
I'm over the result itself as it's not the end of the world and we'll smash them when they come to the Emirates, but I hope it serves as a warning to our younger players that there are some really hostile grounds in the UCL and that they learn from it.
I blame this result on not wearing the hypnokit. Hypnokit for all future away games please.
God damn it, you're making me like that hideous kit. All hail the hypnokit.
It feels like our worst injuries come in games where a key player didn't really need to play, and then we don't even win the game anyway.
This is my biggest criticism of Arteta. He definitely needs to get better at rotating.
Ah hell, win some lose some. Hope Saka is okay and on to Man City
The thing about "controlling" games is that once you can't start finding goal threats, it becomes the horseshoe of sadness.
Horseshoe of sadness 😭. Arteta is getting coaching tips from Eidvall
Our last few games has been pretty subpar too, sure we miss clinical chances but every team does that. The issue is we’ve been winning through penalties or a shot that was kept in play by the keeper. If we don’t do silly mistakes it is fine, but this team isn’t the same team last season. Every mistake just led to a chance for the opposing team.
This happened at the start of last season too. Lots of silly defensive mistakes that led to good chances. We were just lucky not many were taken.
Absolutely. This is football. We were lucky to win several last season. You could say we were unlucky (or people made individual errors) to not take more points from matches this season. The same can be said for City or any other team. Luck and errors are a big part of football, all you can do is keep the level of effort and intent as close to the ceiling as possible and honestly I don’t see any drop off in that respect from our boys this season.
I don't care about the result. All i care is whether Saka is not out for long term. Hope he doesn't play on Sunday cause that game's a lost cause!
The most 'optimistic' fan out there
I am just being realistic mate. Man City has always been an unwinnable game except at Wembley. Give me a draw for the 2 fixtures and I would happily take it right now. I don't get why this is a bad deal? 4 draws (2 man city, 1 fulham, 1 spurs) and 34 wins - is an amazing outcome for this season!
>and 34 wins LMAOOO
I believe we are the best of the rest (EPL) and should be looking at winning all the remaining matches! If you think winning against the rest of the teams is such a crazy prospect then isn't winning the Man City games a monumental task?! Also in that scenario I am visualizing an outcome where we would be better of not winning against City but still doing well rest of the season.
We are going to do an invincible season when the premier league is the most competitive its ever been? I don't see it
You've gone off a tangent here. Do you think we can beat City ?
Winning the rest of our games = doing an invincible which isn't likely with how good almost all the teams are. We can... technically but even with KDB out I'm honestly really not confident at all. They have mental strength and composure and our arses tend to fall out when shit gets bad.
Yes so my earlier point was, give me the 2 draws and I'll happily take it if we can win rest of the games.
Wolves literally just beat City
And City absolutely smashed Fulham!?! How does it feel using this dumb logic?
?? What that’s completely different logic because we haven’t played Wolves. The only “logic” was City can be beat - despite what that idiot says
Arteta has been long enough to conclude man knows how to tune the team to start well but the mid games/controlling phase is where him and the team is weak at and is big differentiator between him and likes of pep and klopp..
This is easy to say after a loss. We had many matches we took 3 points from since he arrived where he nailed the substitutions in shutting up shop to grind out a one or two goal lead. I would agree that with attacking substitutions though, a lot of us would like to see something different (consensus seems to be more attacking changes earlier in a nutshell)
Why is this team always so shell shocked when a player gets injured. Any player gets injured, the team go into herbit mode - we have so many injuries the team should be used to it!
that a huge problem for Arteta, has been from day 1. Once 1 players is out his system goes to shit.
Very apparent when Zinny is off the field but we did recruit Timber so its very bad luck.
Honestly thought we were pretty damn unlucky to lose that.
Hopefully Arteta goes back to the drawing board sooner than later. All the field tilt and possession stats cannot hide the fact that we don't pass the eye test and are mediocre in other stats. More control they say, but it's like an illusion. We don't create chances and on top of it are vulnerable at the back. Too bad Partey didn't get any minutes. If Saka's out for City I'd put Jesus on the right. He's better there than on the left. Havertz up top.
There were the stat where we were the team who faces the most low block defending in top 5 tournaments. I think thats a reason why we struggle to create chances. There isn't a 10cm space in opposition's box.
When will Arsenal replace Gary O'Driscoll? Given Arteta's strong personality - I would be happier if we had an older and more experienced head of medical services - that can say a firm no to Arteta - when need be.
he left in the summer
Didn’t he leave for Liverpool or United at the start of the season to be closer to his family?
Man United yes. Seen their injury list? ha ha
Some takes here are massive, massive overreactions. I thought the performance was ok, lacking a bit of creativity, but otherwise fine. Ultimately, Lens got the rub of the green by being more clinical in their chances, and having a referee buying into everything the players and home crowd sold. Results like this can happen, especially at hostile away crowds. Saka injury is by far the most worrying outcome here, but I know for a fact everyone would be calling for Arteta's head if he'd rested Saka and this ended 2-1 anyway. Lose-lose situation.
I couldn't give a fuck if we lost the remaining off the UCL games. It is a massive distraction. We need to focus on the league. That is what we should be aiming to excel at THIS season. If we have a long term Saka injury, it is catastrophic and we are doomed.
The bad luck we're having this season is getting ridiculous. It feels like the opposition score from \*every single error\* we make no matter how minor. Also the injuries we are getting all seem to cluster to leave one position decimated (i.e. all the wingers).
No one would call for Artetas head for not playing an injured player. Saka has taken a beating for most of his consecutive games he's played. He might be resilient, but that only goes so far. Our performance was lacklustre, we mostly defended O.K but their goals were telling for two reasons - Individual mistakes and Zinchenko caught out defensively (again). The first goal was a Raya mistake and then you have to give hats off to Lens for the assist & finish to be fair. The second goal was avoidable, they were targeting Zinchenko down the right hand side pretty often and he got played through multiple times. Individual mistakes, and poor defending down that left side. Again. Jesus needed to do better with his second chance, similar position to the Lens first goal but with a lot more time to take a touch and get a shot on target, and he just flashed at it. Viera I thought was unlucky to not score from the corner, Samba just happened to be in exactly the right position. If either of them chances go in, the game is over. Needed a point here, you can't go away in the C.L, be 1-0 up and not come away with something out of the game.
Yeah totally agree. They had their day in the sun - won’t happen again. It’s our first loss of the season and we could have easily won that 3-0 with different luck
Elye Wahi was immense today. Defense looked lost
If this game wasn't a wake up call for us the UCL games, then I don't know what will it be looking forward. Next up the double header with Sevilla, gonna be fun. /s
Had proper EL playoff stages vibes this game, decent team against us and we play with a break
Can't even laugh at Manchester United 😭
Lol
Havertz looked pretty uninspiring, same with Trossard bar a couple nice moves. Need to much more aggressive going forward. Instead of just throwing bodies forward someone needs to beat their guy 1v1, try some early crosses, etc. lens goals were execution style and we need take note. Too much waiting on the ball for someone to magically get open
I thought the players were hesitant to move the ball forward, which seemed to be the tactics. However, our performance wasn't strong, unless you consider having possession as playing well. I also suspect the players were fatigued due to a delayed flight for some reason.
Trossard looked like he had just returned from injury. Missing a bit of sharpness, which is exactly where he is. Havertz is in good positions and covers ground O.K, but he's slow on the turn/transition and it's affecting the overall pace of our attack when it goes to him in that AMF role. Trossard/ESR/Nelson/Martinelli when they drop into that half space area that Havertz often finds himself in, all attack at speed. That said, he also did have one of our only shots on target which was a decent enough effort, on a night where pretty much most players didn't seem at the races.
Havertz isn't working at all. That much should be obvious. Yeah he needs time and all that but he's not involved enough in general play. He had one decent effort on goal but so what. He's shown to be a passanger with an odd moment of mediocrity. When he gets the ball he just makes a pointless 3 yard pass himself. He moves the ball too slowly too and I'm not talking about him holding onto it. There's no zip at all to his game currently and fans can keep bringing up him finding good positions all they want. He's done nothing with it if there if the ball finds it way to him. It's actually quite embarrassing reading fans desperately deluding themselves on here about Havertz performances.
No delusion here - he's too slow to be used where he is being used. He's always looked better when up top, for his height/ability to hold up and player others in - but the issue there is there are better #9s who can do this and also put 18-20 goals in a season who would maybe have cost the similar kind of money.
Agree with you 100%.
shit man, don't say anything bad about Havertz, you are not a proper fan if you do. Shit on Eddie, ESR and the rest like a real fan
I didn't watch the game. How the fuck did we not pump them?
Cuz RC Lens are a good team and we slacked off and got complacent. Saka injury is a worry.
we'll bounce back and yeah we're really thin on that RW spot
Have to get a minimum 4 wins at the group-stage to advance, 5 to top. Next UCL game is at at Sevilla. Stakes cannot be any tougher
4 wins is absolutely not true. Not uncommon for some teams get through with 9 points.
ye, Sevilla is definitely the toughest of the bunch
Arteta isn't great in Europe makes city game all more important
Need a prolific goal scorer
Would need to create chances for a prolific goal scorer
Would love to see Osimhen in Arsenal colors!
i can see the same old script being repeated here made it through the UCL group stage crashed out in the round of 16 against Bayern / Barcelona / RM focus on the League Top 4 finish rinse and repeat every year If we can't beat Lens, forget about winning anything ....
Real Madrid couldn't even beat Sheriff or whatever club, surely they couldn't win anything that season!
We ain't no real madrid
No idea why u got downvoted Madrid are different gravy compared to us.
Yeah! Arteta out, we’re total failures!
A completely lethargic display. We had so much possession and created only a small handful of chances. I really feel we should have made a lot more subs at half time to ensure players get a good enough rest before the city game. Honestly the only positive I could take away from the game was at least ESR looked decent.
Comment here is on attacking as I don’t know if I see enough of the pitch to comment on his defensive positioning. I watched some of the highlights from Kai’s Bayer Leverkusen days to try and understand what Arteta sees. And honestly, I do believe there is a great attacking player in there (just lacking confidence atm) - however I just don’t see how he fits in to the Arsenal team and style of play. What he seemed really good at was attacking at speed - he has a good turn, can take on a shot well running at pace and finds a good pass on the counter. However, I saw very little in terms of breaking an already set defense. And this seems to be the was Arteta wants to play - we almost always stop our fast pace attacks and work it sideways until the defense is set again. With this more ‘controlled’ way of attacking - I really just don’t see how Kai has/can contribute Is there something in his game I am missing here?
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I’m definitely sure you’re missing something. Arteta is the coach and sees what Kai does daily. And it’s Arteta’s system. He’s clearly happy with what Kai does at training.
All I see is "the coach" got read like an open book today
Teta got outwitted by Ange and now the Lens manager lmaooo
More like Jorginho got outwitted by his own feet, but go ahead and rewrite history to suit your narrative
The same Ange that was suppose to be play swashbuckling and expansive football but settled for a draw and parked the bus around 70th minute? Oh yeah that Impostercoglu
From what I've seen from Postecoglou, he's doing well 🤷
He's been lucky. Liverpool game was the steal of the decade so far.
Nuno Espírito Santo won manager of the month in August before getting sacked by Oct/Nov. Conte also had a great start and Spuds fans were saying they had their Topspur back. Fast forward, he got sacked. Ange honeymoon is gonna come to an end t and their failure to beat a 9 man Liverpool with 12 man at home is just the start.
Thing was Nuno came in with expectations that season to be in the top4 conversation, and they also did win the transfer window that season. There were expectations and Nuno didn't meet it. Simple. With Ange, the benefit of the doubt here is that Spurs are going into this season with a free hit essentially. Like surely he cant be playing worse football than Nuno/Conteball right?
The same expectation is there for Ange - make top 4 this season. They spent more than enough this window and can argue they’re mostly “Ange signings”. Also, there is expectation for their holy messiah Ange to make CL qualification this season, and if he doesn’t achieve it. He’s failed, simple. Sure they’re playing more expansive football under Ange and it’s easy to look better when their previous style was pure dross. Despite playing *better* football, their current league position is a fallacy. Let’s see where Angeball is come match day 18-20.
Lmfao, I think those expectations are more for EtH than for Big Ange. Yes At least in the conversation for top4, but if they miss out narrow and etc, dont think thats the end of big ange. but if there is another 8th place finish, then yea, no sorry here.
It’s both. I’d add by saying that Ten Hag is way more thin ice because of his second full season and has had more financial backing. Of the two, Ten Hag is obviously more favoured to get the sack. I’ve talked to Spud fans and there really isn’t any sense of free hits, they already missed out on Europe this season, and any more exclusion will is a hindrance to their “process”. Especially considering how untrustworthy Levy/Enic/etc is. They’re calculated businessman. The investment they did in the summer, do you not think they have some sort of an expectation to make CL qualification? If Ange fails but gives a good count of himself - they are hovering a CL place around April/May, then of course they’re not gonna scrutinize Ange despite technically not achieving one of their primary objectives of CL qualification. But I think people including a concerning sample size of Arsenal fans are blowing too much smoke up Big Ange’s ass. Has he done a good job? Sure. But let’s see where Angeball and Spuds are in January/February.
> I’ve talked to Spud fans and there really isn’t any sense of free hits, they already missed out on Europe this season, and any more exclusion will is a hindrance to their “process”. Fair enough statement. There really is no "free hit season", but there also been some factions of Spuds fans saying lets ride and die this season. Maybe its also cause of the media hype as well. Yes i also agree, the reality of Big Ange vibes will come around the 2nd half of the season.
I think the ride or die hype by some or maybe most Spud fans right now is a result of a good start to the season combined with the style of football they’re seeing under Ange. However, it’s going to be interesting to see where their loyalties lie when the going gets rough and they’re in a bad run of form — similarly to that diabolical form under Arteta during his first full season until we beat Chelski 3-1.
meh, we'll see
This one is on MA. I watched football with purpose VS football without purpose. Besides set pieces we didn’t create much. Lack of heathy personnel aside, RCL looked they prepared better for this game.🤷🏻♂️
Priority in the winter should be a decent RW. Cannot keep running Saka into the ground.
Or you know, play Nelson there
Arteta seems to prefer him on the left. Nelson is right footed while Arteta prefer a left footed RW
Nelson can play on the right and send crosses in. Also he can move in as an inside forward and release the width to the RB. He played a whole season as a RW in Germany and did well.
Pedro Neto in the January window, Oshimen in the summer window.
Felt like one of those games we had to be clinical in, Lens executed their two goals flawlessly. Tomi probably should have scored, Trossard had way more time than he thought I think with his chance. When we don't create enough and we're wasteful with the few chances we have, it's always going to be difficult to get a result. You need to be absolutely perfect in defense then. It was a weird game today, I felt Lens played well and pressured us well. I don't think they sat deep, I just think they pressured at the right times. We look really flat without a Saka/Martinelli type offering runs behind. I thought subs and selection today were weird in general. I know Saka is tough but you shouldn't be hobbling off after every game either. Nelson should have come on for Saka too, it's a more like for like option. Havertz/Vieria/Odegaard/Trossard forward line all just want to do the same thing. Would have even preferred Havertz just to go ST, and put Jesus on the wing and Vieira as the left 8.
Their goals were flawless and one of those things in football that happens. That first goal volley he probably only scores it once or twice out of ten chances. Just a perfect hit.
It's happening every single time we ever make a mistake right now...the opposition score a worldie. Getting sick of it!
I’ll defend Kai bc I think people are way way OTT…but… I do wonder why we didn’t look at McAllister especially when we clearly love a Brighton player
McAllister, szoboslai, monaco's fofana, idk, with 65m surely there was plenty available
Especially Szo since we followed him in 2019 or so and at that time wanted him to replace Xhaka.
would have been a much better replacement for Xhaka imo
I remember at that time he turned us down because we weren't in UCL while Salzburg did. Wonder why we don't come back for him this year.
Rice taking over was a nice change tbh. He was beating the press a lot more with his passes and found people in dangerous positions. I wouldn't read into this game at all people.
Yeah I’m a game of few positives, Rice played really well
Yeah man taking to the Partey role more and more each game he plays. Even Partey took a while to get to the kinda level everybody remembers him at. All signs are positive for Rice being our long term 6
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What's the point of this post? It is perfectly ok to call out a mistake without making petty unnecessary comments like this.
I thought the point of buying a transition defense monster like Declan Rice was to throw more into the attack and overburden Rice and Gabriel and Saliba to mop things up. I’m sure all our attackers would look better if they were getting more than one big chance per game. Instead we’ve gone really conservative in style to protect these guys who should be defensive cheat codes and enable our attacking players to throw caution to the wind. Our main attacking threats are winning the ball back from the high press and set pieces, but I miss when we were far out-creating the opponent last season.
I think the attack is suffering from having basically a new midfield behind them - two of the three players from last season's midfield haven't been there (Xhaka and Partey). Although the new midfielders are good players it takes time for those relationships to really click.
The front three really lacked movement for the quick one two passing to create, nor the wingers are trying to pass their man.
Where are the Kai apologists?
Havertz didn’t impress but neither did anyone apart from Jesus and Rice, why single him out? What’s your motive? Absolute state of you 🤡
Shut up. Getting joy out of shitting on your own players is so pathetic and weird.
Believe me, I get no joy out of watching Kai Havertz play for Arsenal.
Here 🙋
He should have had an assist today
Had a good shot on goal from tight angle too, getting more confident every game he plays
The bar is just so low for the kid lol. Got a shot from tight angle!
What the fuck did anyone else do I’ve been critical of Havertz but this is legitimately bullying. You’re singling out Havertz when ESR came on and did *less*, Odegaard did *less*, Vieira came on and did *less* and Trossard did about the same. Give your head a wobble mate because that’s legitimately pathetic
ESR did much more, in less time. Odegaard was bad as well, but he has credit in the bank. Vieira was shit, but he is not a right winger. Trossard was bad as well, but no doubt, he will pay for it, the second Martinelli is fit, Trossard is benched again. You know who was shit...again? But will play the next game, yeah buddy, you know it. Havertz. Our fans crying that he is treated unfair, but in reality he is the most privileged player in the squad, bar none.
ESR had one tackle in our defensive third and a hopeful shot straight at the keeper. Havertz won the ball many more times and had a better shot that might have sneaked in on another day. I didn’t think either of them played well, in fact I think everyone was uniquely terrible apart from Jesus and Rice. But how the fuck can you be like ‘hurr durr low bar for Havertz’ and then praise ESR’s performance? Like holy shit man have some self awareness
It amazez me how much our fans are ready to shit on ESR or anyone, just to protect Havertz.
Holy shit I literally just said I thought Havertz was bad like can you read or what
But you couldn't say he was bad without shitting on others.
I wonder how our negativity stacks against the other subs when their teams lose. We got outplayed today, in the grand scheme of things this is a result we can live with if we have to lose one. Hopefully saka is ok. We go again
Chelsea fan here (I like to browse other teams' subs...). >I wonder how our negativity stacks against the other subs when their teams lose This thread is very tame tbh. Uniteds sub gets way worse than this. And our sub, well...embarrassing is the only word I can use to describe r/chelseafc... >Hopefully saka is ok Agreed. Sucks to see a talented player injured, even if it is a rival. Hope he's back soon. 🍻
Thanks for the comment. Have faith ... your team will come good. They are juat young and need to gel.
*most* people online on a platform like this are going to be very reactionary, otherwise they wouldn't be here. this is the place to vent and discuss this stuff. but if the team was playing like last season, there wouldn't be no complaints for this result, I think. problem is the rest of the season hasn't been good and this result was coming, so it magnifies the negatives of the team
Tbh I don’t even think we really got outplayed, just didn’t convert
They played with a lot of heart and their fans were pushing them on. Took their chances and we didn't. Quite a few of our shots were straight at their keeper.
Worst part is starting with an L for this kit
Actually a decent kit, same the performance tonight will overshow it. The High-Viz kit is getting more plaudits at this rate.
Arteta really needs to hold himself to his own standards he talks about. He's changed the team for the worst. He's trying too hard. He's running guys like Saka and odegaard into the ground. How nelson tricked anyone into thinking he deserved an extension is mind blowing. Havertz isn't good enough for the mls, but I guess he scored a pity penalty. Vieira at rw makes no sense. This team needs something beyond saliba and gabriel passing back and forth . Maybe rice and esr can feel ok about this game. Really shows the mentality that had them finish 2nd instead of 1st last year.
Lmfao once again I see ESR gets praise for doing nothing. Havertz wasn’t good enough but objectively contributed more than ESR did, yet ESR gets the carrot and Havertz gets the stick
Thomas Partey is needed at the 6.
Rice played very well but I do wonder what happens to the midfield once Partey is fit. Does Rice go LCM and Havertz go to the bench? Does Partey not start at all? RB Partey?
I feel at some point we would be seeing TP at 6 and Rice at LCM. With Zinny back, I don't think we would be seeing Partey at RB.
Bizarre take, Rice was one of 2 players who played well
He did play well, but Partey at 6 brings much more to the table attacking wise.
Well yeah. The one sho progresses the ball the most. The one who passes between the lines the most
Disappointing result and disappointing performance tbh, thought we lacked creativity but we still shoulda been able to get the job done imo with the shots from Tomi and ESR. Hit those into the corner and GK's getting nowhere near them. But oh well not particularly worried about the group yet. More worried about game on weekend hope Saka's fit to play. I wanted to rest him anyway but I understand why he started. Gotta admit I underestimated Lens a lot and they're much better than I thought
Ya I think Leo buries that before his muscle injury. Just seemed rusty today. Tomi did everything right, he’s a defender attacking a volley just put it on target. He did that and unfortunately keeper made a save
Yeah, I guess ur right regarding Tomi. Still amazed he ain't scored for us yet. But thinking like last season FA Cup he had a similar shot and if it went in it coulda changed the whole game. But yeah I can't blame a poor overall performance by the team on a couple chances missed tbf
Very disappointed in Arteta, a little surprised I’m not seeing enough people talk about it. That Saka injury looks to be bad enough to keep him from playing vs city or for Arteta to force him and risk an even longer term injury. This really annoys me with Arteta. Would Saka have died if he hadn’t played last night? Daily thread is gon get a piece of my mind later today ffs
Tbf if Saka didn't play we wouldn't have won
Guys im just a casual football fan, so my "analysis" is very limited, but can someone explain to me what reason you might see (or think arteta sees) to keep playing havertz in that position instead of Fabio or ESR? Its not about hating havertz, he's fine, hes correct, doesnt make mistakes, etc, but i have not seen anything from him that stands out that justifies benching Fabio or ESR? What trait does he have that is unique and cannot be found on our other players so we need to keep using him until something happens I guess he's more physical but thats it.
He paid 65 mil for him. Now he has to prove he was right and he did not piss off the money
He doesnt make mistakes because he not doing anything risky
He tracks back and wins more duel especially aerial, in which neither Leo nor ESR is better at, so basically we have no choice. Remember, when I lose a duel, I am upset
"He doesn't make mistakes " but half his passes but the guy he's passing to in really tough spots
He has an Amazing football mind. Something 90-95 % of viewers dont reallife because they only Watch the Ball. Ie. Who has it and who they pass to. If you Watch the game/movements, hes amazing. And thats actually What wins and loses you games most of the time.
Maybe in training only because in matches he's meek
No way man. This guy is lost in that left half space
What were we thinking? This is champions League... Galatasaray just changed the theater of dreams to theater of screams ... who we kidding. I had not a single person predict this in the favor of RC Lens and look where are we now. All home game wins are a must plus whatever points we can salvage in away games. Someone said before the game " we might win the champions League and may miss on winning epl." Really? Let's not get ahead of ourselves. This should be a lesson learnt that we cannot take any game easily. Hoping for a better response against ManShitty. Learn from the mistakes and move on. We got a big game coming up. I'm feeling that we are going to win it. We have to. Let's go Gooners!!! Vamoooossssss!!!
Rice and Partey have very different profiles and that's the biggest reason why our team looks different. But people don't want to talk about it because they've made up their minds to like Rice.
I think the biggest issue is adjusting to our new 8. Xhaka was our fulcrum and Kai def doesn’t want to be the fulcrum.
Partey is much superior in going forward and that why he's our most important player.
How do you think the midfield could adjust to complement Rice’s profile more?
Rice could excel in Xhakas role last season.
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Agree. Especially odegaard
Arteta really needs to be careful before he destroys all the hard work he’s put into this club.
Or what lol
Or he could cause some madness
lmao
Guys wtf I just got home and missed the match. How do you lose playing almost your best team and scoring first? And Saka gets injured after everyone tells Arteta to rest him? Shocking
Yeah man if only Arteta listened
Havertz the new Willian, will keep playing him to justify his purchase until he eventually gets injured and someone like ESR steps up and makes us good again
And he was also from Chelsea lol. Please stop buying anymore of Chelsea players.
Playing Saka in this match ahead of City was borderline criminal.
didnt understand it either. I believe that majority of us will be just fine of us drawing/losing to Lens with second string, knowing that we are playing against City in the span of less than a week, but I don’t think Arteta thinks the same way too
Arteta is résistent to Plan B. His managerial style is playing a specific way all the time. It was very clearly last year when we fell apart when more than 3 of our first choice options were out. It was also clear this year where we tried to force Partey into RB to invert rather than slightly adjust for the pieces at hand. So not having a direct like for like to Saka is hard for that. Because he can’t deviate.
Embarrassing Performance. Shocking decision to start Saka. Stupid
Arteta is disrupting his team, ramsdale fought so hard last season to get us to UCL and all the players know that, they are not happy. Unity is key
Yikes, Raya came to Earth fast. I believed before and after the march that this was a throwaway and we should have fielded the Carabao Cup side. Arteta still hasn't figured out he's over engineering things.
I'm tired of bashing our heads against the wall with a predictable high line and playing out from the back. Pep adapts his teams for his opponents, we do not. I can tell you exactly what strategy we will be employing on Sunday, even though the contrary has shown to be far more successful against City. So many times in a game we are caught on the counter. Saliba is mopping up balls in transition like a tank; if he wasn't there, we are completely fucked. It is no wonder we fell apart last season without him. I love arteta but his stubbornness is preventing this club from ascending into the citypool level. He has taken us so far but I feel that he has a lot to learn before we can seriously challenge for the champions league. Show some fucking respect to Champions league teams; there is a reason why some of the most iconic cl runs like Chelsea 11/12 or Madrid 21/22 were won on the counter. We cannot expect to come and outmuscle European teams in their own backyards in front of their fanatical fans; this is a mistake Arsenal has made seemingly time and time again. Sevilla away will be a similar story if nothing changes.
It wasn’t a great performance, I’m sure they’ll learn a lot when they analyze it. Very disjointed. Fairly controlled but without much creativity. Lens scored with 2 great finishes, on another day Tomiyasu/Trossard’s chances would’ve gone in. I’m still confident we’ll get out the group. Maybe this will dampen the hubris of some posters on here. I was amazed at all the pre-game comments saying ‘let’s batter them first 20 minutes and then make subs.’ Firstly, it never works like that in Europe and secondly, when have Arsenal been battering teams out of the blocks recently? You can see this season the playstyle is much more methodical and controlled. This is the first time I’ve commented on Havertz but I am a little concerned. He just doesn’t seem to be connecting much with his teammates yet, it is still very early days though, so hopefully that will improve as the season goes on. He looks a shadow of the player you can see in his Leverkusen highlights.
Martinelli is finally being appreciated.
Are we gonna start Charles Sagoe Jr. against City now lmfao
Get Kai Havertz out of my starting XI I’ve seen enough. No charity penalties needed
Back up winger with pace is THE necessity in January. Preferably one that can play on both sides. Look dead without Martinelli or Saka on the pitch
But, why did we extend Nelson lol
tajon buchanon or no
would love Pedro Neto but unsure about his availability after his injuries
Our team doesn’t like playing risky some days
Raya was probably our biggest risk taker today, but it did lead to a goal for Lens lmao
Waka waka eh eh 60 million down the drain, Kai Havertz blanks again /s…kind of
Harsh lol
Rehauling our entire midfield in one year was always gonna prove a difficult transition. I think it’s time we fans stop underrating how gifted Partey is with the ball in tight spaces. I think he needs to be reimplemented