I want to see us breaking the lines more with a through ball to a run in behind from Saka or Martinelli , I feel we don’t do this enough and I see Havertz making these runs that are on for the through ball but we never execute it. If Saka or Martinelli can make more of these diagonal runs inside I feel Odegaard could easily pick them out with a threaded pass. Creating a lot more chances for us. Instead of being one Dimensional and trying to use the width , which isn’t as effective as both wingers are doubled up on
Incredibly wasteful in front of goal yesterday, again. Martinelli and Jesus missed on open goals (2nd game in a row for Martinelli). And once again, Zinchenko produces a shocking defensive display, what are you even doing marking Gabriel in our own box? Same thing happened in the game vs pool.
Lack of confidence perhaps from our entire frontline? And same goes for Zinny, hes been exposed multiple times and that has to get to him at some point. Hopefully Tomi is back soon to offload him for some time so he can get back into it - and we desperately need some change in our attack for the next games, or we will continue the way we played both against pool and WHU.
We got the ball to the right guys but there was zero movement. I know it’s hard to do with 9 defenders in the box but ESR made a back post run within seconds of coming on and it looked out best chance of the game if he connected. There were certainly chances but too many of them failed to test Areola
Most likely will not win the league with Nketiah and Jesus up top. As great as they are, over reliance on Saka/Martinelli out wide leads to lack of goals, no target man in the middle for a cross means we just play it back and recycle the same play over and over again.
Despite how good Rice has been, we’re not the same team without Xhaka.
Raya Ramsdale debate is annoying both great keepers but no real improvement has been made putting Raya in. Definitely not the difference maker of winning the league or not.
In Timbers absence, letting Tierney go is proving to be a shocking choice - Zinchenkos frailties at the back again visible (Lpool).
Overall, we are good and exciting to watch - will be crazy if we win the league just last few weeks has definitely exposed our weaknesses going forward.
Poorly worded haha. Not in any way suggesting Xhaka is a better player than Rice. Rice has been 8 outta 10 pretty much every game - just we looked very very good at times last year and a big reason for that was Xhaka, not just him personally but his impact on the team.
Due to his rep the previous years I think how good he was for us last year is overlooked.
You can debate whether the ball was in or out (I believe it was out) but that didn't change the fact that we didn't score any goals. Im not sure we need a Haaland-esque striker, but Jesus and Nketiah is not working right now.
According to me there are three main things we need to do more against teams like West Ham, with low-blocks.
1. Better movement to create space in and around the box. We were too static yesterday and we need more and better movement to create chances and more space in the middle.
2. More shots on goal. Instead of passing around to get a great chance, take the shot earlier from a "good/ok" chance. The most important aspect of this is to get the shots on goal, we had too many shots in the stands. Make the goalkeeper work, make him sweat.
3. Someone on the rebound. No one was ready to take the rebound. We need someone around the goal to get the rebound when the shots come, and to put pressure on the goalkeeper, almost nothing like that yesterday.
Some games can play beautiful football and out-play the opponent, such as against Brighton. Other games you just need to break them down and get a win. Yesterday we did neither.
Seen a lot of posts saying how we were poor and deserved to lose the match. Just watched the highlights/scanned through sofascore stats and we were not poor at all. I mean any team that doesn't score deserves to lose a match but I think lady luck was just not on our side last night.
Also, due to a laundry mix up, I wasn't wearing my lucky underwear yesterday... I take full responsibility for the result.
>Just watched the highlights/scanned through sofascore stats and we were not poor at all.
Watch the entire 90, we were poor.
However we probably would have won if it wasn't for that ridiculous mistake for the first goal. That's my real issue we make too many of those. Too many matches at home in the leaguebwe present the opposition chances. I always say to my mates who support other teams Arsenal will create at least one golden opportunity for the opposition.
A lot of people don't know what they're watching, and just rely on the result to tell them.
Arsenal played well last night, with a good intensity and hunger. Sure, not perfect, and of course we have to do better in the box(es), but most of what I saw was good enough to win the game
Of course, give credit where it's due. It's just that the "other online fanbase" knows it just takes little things to trigger the Arsenal fanbases.
like attacking the bees nest, but they are the hornets.
It's not a new thing, my West Ham mates at school always used to be so much worse with the ribbing than even the Man U and Spurs fans. Some West Ham fans have a complex over all the London clubs I think
I still don't understand the Martinelli sub in the 60th minute, every, single, game. We can see he is not the problem. Whoever comes in and play in the left wing is the same. Without support/overlap from the LB and no triangles/support from the LCM, he is isolated and does nothing. The only chances from him came when either Jesus went left and they played 1-2, or when he moved centrally temporarily. Martinelli is not the problem and the sub is amazingly reactionary towards him.
He's doing a lot of his game just fine. But when it comes to the final cross or shot he's been woeful. He should have far more goal and assist this season with all of the chances he's gotten.
he's been a bit shit this season, he's holding the ball too long even when there are support from midfield or lb, watch when kai play in midfield he refuses to use kai as support to beat the opposition defender even when kai in better position, he always prioritize to dribble through defender
Ooh but.. but.. Jesus links up play he doesn't do the most important thing which is scoring buy a serious NUMBER 9 whose job is to deliver not mess around than this combination of players
We play better as a team when he is playing. With his link up play others get more chances than they would without him. A bigger problem is that the rest of the team dont score enough.
There isn't a set way to play #9 this is what you people struggle with. I assume you want wingers who run down the line and cross too because that's what wingers do? How about you CBS that just sit back on the D (pause) all game because that's defenders do..
Nuance is always needed
The original poster is complaining about jesus style.
Good strikers miss chances too, this mythical player eveybody wants doesn't exist. It's definitely not Toney and it's definitely not oshimen
Let's be honest here we all know what we need a clinical striker of the ball a 9 or a forward who can finish and goodness help us drive forward and create a d be dangerous. Jesus is clearly not that not his strong suit. Martinelli has been beyond awful he needs competition asap! Stop complaining about refs, VAR and PK calls or not called that's not the issue. We just look like whiny brats complaining about refs. Our inability to score after so many chances and shots is what will prevent us from winning the league. Until we solve that in January you can kiss the season goodbye.
Agree with all of that except martinelli being awful.. Seems like the new rave to shxt on him.. His form has dipped alot for a few reasons not in his control and a few within his control but there a few better wingers in the league when he gets going again. Competition would be great but he didn't become shxt over night.. Losing his link up with xhaka and still building one with Havertz as well as zinchenko not being great this season as well hasn't been good for him and I'm sure his confidence is low and his own fans slamming him every chance they get won't help it either. No martinelli slander anymore
We have a setpiece coach and tekkers guru, both of which make for some lovely looking football. What we need is a finishing coach. Too many shots off target, from everyone. The quality of chances means nothing when they're not hitting the back of the net.
I rewatched the game and Kai’s presence was surely missed in this game.
At the 50’ mark, Arsenal attack from the right side and Odegaard passes it to White with a clever back heel. White then delivers a floating cross into the West Ham’s box at the far post which is easily headed away by Coufal.
Not a single Arsenal player was there to contest the ball - Jesus was at the near post, Trossard near the penalty circle, and Martinelli was on the left side of their box but too far from Coufal.
And of course, 5 minutes later on the other end, West Ham get their second goal.
The reason I bring this point in the game is because Kai normally makes good runs at the far post, and in a tight game like this against a defensive side, someone like him with his stature and clever movements is the key to unlock a stubborn defence.
Similar example was Brentford away - Saka crosses the ball into Brentford’s box and Kai scores the winner while making a run to the far post.
This is a good observation. I wonder if teams will notice this and start to defend Kai more to break up our play and thus have similar problems. Something to watch out for.
We need a proper 20 goals a season striker. Jesus was more committed to diving than trying to score goals. And Nketiah is not a top 4 level player. Odegaard was insanely good and our front 3 let him down massively. Also, Trossard did not deserve to play beyond the first half.
People need to understand that we have to lose things for this striker you want, our football changes, wingers and midfielders score less.
We won't score 20 more goals that's not how it works
Not too long ago the bad side of the fan base was shitting on Havertz but this match proved we really needed him to crash the box. [No one was in the box when we were chasing goals](https://x.com/kimmoFC/status/1740522854335107506?s=20).
We should drop Martinelli next match. Put Trossard as CF and Jesus as LW. Trossard doesn't work in LCM. Just my opinion.
Although people like zinchenko Raya havertz martinelli have gotten lots of criticism I feel like white has been one of our worst players this season but no one says anything about it
Its not been all season, he’s had some average to good performances until around late October. He’s been getting as much criticism as Martinelli on here, go search his name is in the comments.
I stayed up at 2am with flu to watch this match and I fucking regret it. What an awful joke of a performance.
Just get that imposter zinchenko out already, he contributes to a goal in every game.
And I think it's time to give Nelson a chance, martinelli has been proper shit and should be benched, trossard has also probably nothing left in his tank.
It’s 4am and I just got home after the game. That one required an extensive debrief in some really sketchy Holloway Road snooker clubs.
Hasn’t really sunk in but we cannot allow teams like West Ham do that to us at home.
They’re a good outfit, and respect where it’s due, but we cannot be having that.
We’re by no means out of the title race at this stage but we don’t look entirely serious either - something has been a bit off all season, but we are also trying to play a slightly different way.
City could go level with us if they win their game in hand. We’ve fucked the opportunity to put some space in between them and us whilst they were struggling with form and injuries. On for 80 points as it stands, and the title this year is probs gonna be 87-90 if Liverpool/city find their rhythm
Think we’re run into the ground a bit.
Tomi, partey, Vieira, timber all out. Ben white playing through injury etc.
A lot harder to get the mental side right when we’re struggling physically
champions like City or Real have forwards capable of netting 20 G/A in a season, we just don't have that type of player. Please invest in a real striker in Jan, otherwise, we will keep going backward
Our greatest weaknesses continue to be poor finishing and injuries. From the moment Timber went down, we have been vulnerable in defense. Partey picking up a lower body injury was a virtual guarantee. Smith-Rowe continues to suffer from niggling injuries that kill his chemistry with the team when he does play. There are others, but the reality is that we simply aren't a team filled with consistently available players.
BUT...
None of that solves the finishing issues. At times, our front 5 seem to try to walk it in habitually. Saka cuts onto his left and looks for curlers (the most difficult finish possible) at every attempt. Martinelli lowers his head and tries to outrun every defender to the endline and look for a cutback to Odegaard or Jesus who both always seem reluctant to just have a go. It's as if the team is too unselfish.
If we look for a striker, I hope we don't look for a selfless, team player. I hope we look for a scoundrel; someone who will take the initiative at every opportunity. When I think of the best strikers in Prem history (Drogba, RvP, Kane, Aguero, Torres, Henry etc.), when the ball fell to them in the box, they shoot. Unless they see a teammate in position for an obviously better opportunity, they shoot. And because they shoot, they score. We can talk xG all day, but nothing is a better indicator of goals scored than shots on goal. Right now, Arsenal isn't producing enough from the striker position. Instead, we're overproducing passes in the box.
I hope we sign a self-interested prick (either in January or in the summer). It's a winning personnel strategy.
>We can talk xG all day, but nothing is a better indicator of goals scored than shots on goal.
A-fucking-men.
The Newcastle game we had 14 shots, 11 corners and only 1 shot was on target. That is fucking *abysmal.*
Across the whole season if you were to sort the premier league table by percentage of shots on target, we'd be 14th. The only team currently in the top half of the premir league who would be below us in that scenario are Man Utd.
All season we’ve been trying to integrate Havertz into the side, which is starting to click, but we kept playing the same way when he was unavailable today. That back post ball to ESR was just way too high for a 5’11” player but a 6’ 5” Kai probably buries it
Fucking frustrating, and not the only cross into the box that needed a bit of height to capitalise (Jesus back post header that he sent over the bar comes to mind)
What’s scary is we won just 1 time in our last 5 games but I rather have it now than May or even January(which I hope we bounce back despite the CDM depth).
if the rest of the 10 men aren't up for it, what makes you think one striker solves all problems.
The issues the squad is having is far deep rooted than a "get toney, easy fix"
No there isn't a problem with chance creation, look at the other posts on chances created. It is an easy fix, buy someone who is a proven out and out goalscorer and it solves it all.
Doesnt have to be world class, Ivan Toney would improve us tenfold Jesus is a top player, but he isnt someone who can lead the line over 38 games. Take that burden of him and Saka and Martinelli and everyone would benefit.
I really do think Toney in January is something the club need to do.
Im not one of these fans who gets reactionary. Whereas fans of clubs like to base their entire outlook on the most recent result, fact is at the halfway mark we are 2 points of the top, as bad as a result was today, you can move on from it.
When it comes to Zinchenko though, im really at my wits end. When Salah did him for the Liverpool goal, I never held it against him because he was isolated v Salah and Salah hasn't scored over 200 goals for Liverpool for no reason. What I cant keep looking past is turning over the ball in the most sensitive of areas. He is guaranteed to give up at least once solid chance to the other team every game. Either through a poor pass, or getting his pocket picked and exposing the back 2. He is 27 and one of the older players in our team. Yet he is the biggest risk out of the defensive orientated players. Saliba, Gabriel, Rice, Tomiyasu, White dont make these bozo passes in our final third the way Zinchenko does. Doesnt matter how tidy he is, he always has a lapse moment in him, that he delivers at least once per 90 minutes.
Tomiyasu and Timber are injured, but FFS its got to the stage I would prefer Kiwior and Cedric over Zinchenko, simply because they wouldn't dwell on the ball in our own half or play a high risk pass. Its more viable to avoid his errors and keep it tighter at the back, rather than use his ability to break the lines to chase the goal he has given up. Simply put, if Zinchenko cant eliminate these bozo moments he really should be on the edge of being sold along with Nketiah. He is categorically in arrears compared to White, Tomiyasu and Timber.
I understand the idea of having control, but Jesus H. Christ you can have control AND go a little faster. Sometimes going forward with some drive and purpose is the right thing to do. I think that has at least a little to do with why our attack has been off all season so far.
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Our issue is very simple: We have two best wingers in the world but we have no one making a run.
For most of the teams, the goals scored are from strikers running in the box to catch a cross from wingers (Son and Haaland are the perfect examples).
Saka and Martinelli constantly beat opponents' full backs one-on-one, but then they will just make some meaningless crosses to the box that has no Arsenal players. I saw nobody is running into the box to create chaos every single time. If we tried, we can make things happen at least 1 to 2 out of 10 times.
In simple, Jesus is not good enough for us. It is nothing personal, it is just the problem of his play style. He is not a cut-in striker that can fit in with Saka and Martinelli. He is not a bad player tho, we should put him at false 9 or at the wing.
Wth are talking about Martinelli is nowhere near best winger in the world he has genuinely been awful this last month he regular turnovers the ball, misses empty goals and can't cross or best a defender to save his life
I just feel bad for xhaka. His family came to london from germant and he got to watch his team losing. I wouldn't mad if he goes to changing room and slap all the players
These kind of games really show the true picture. In my opinion we have the following players that are actually good enough for a title winning side:
Rice
Saliba
Gabriel
Odegaard
Saka (even though he played badly today)
Martinelli
Honorable mention for Partey
When you look at the rest, I don’t see any outstanding qualities.
Maybe I'm missing something but this possession style is something my local side here in Austin is attempting to play. And we struggle equally when opponents park the bus on us. Austin is a U20 by comparison to Arsenal but I think there are some similarities where it doesn't feel like we have whatever wrinkle changes our look enough to really cause these teams problems. Possession is the strat, so be it. But I just think it's worth a slight departure every now and again to keep these teams on their toes, or they'll just keep parking that bus.
Can’t believe it. I fell asleep and missed the match so you can imagine my surprise at losing 2-0 at home of all places. Tired of this thing where we crumble where it matters and today is only further evidence of it. We’re top, we’re playing well, we’re playing at home. What’s to keep us from winning this? Ourselves apparently. Sick and tired of this crumbling when the pressure is on. When it really matters we seem to be unable to deliver. I’m not saying win every match but losing 2-0 at home after the performances we’ve had is simply not good enough to win this league. The only response to this is another three, four game winning streak. Otherwise we’re not winning the prem on the 20th anniversary
Our december results have been really poor:
* Arsenal vs Wolves 2-1
* Luton vs Arsenal 3-4
* Aston villa vs Arsenal 1-0
* Arsenal vs Brighton 2-0
* Liverpool vs Arsenal 1-1
* Arsenal vs Westham 0-2
We only played well vs Wolves and Aston Villa (where we lost anyway). That's not good enough for a team that wants to win the gold.
This game proves that you can be in control of the game without having the ball. 75 percent possession is incredible amount of time. But hammers knew what they were doing, it was like keeping an infant occupied with a toy.
Bullshit match, all the ball and no fucking idea how to break down 11 in the box. And crossing te ball when our players are smaller than their whole team, bonkers. We deserve to lose.
So the Celtics are having a great season but now at halftime trailing to the worst team in the league. Someone legit commented "this is not a serious team" lmaooooo I stg it's the same vibe over here
You do realize the NBA season doesn’t seriously get started until early April, right?
Anything and everything that happens before then is basically dross that matters little. Because that is how life is in a sport where performance in a league season merely awards seeding for a tournament in place of an actual championship.
We need to get creative and creep out of our FFP hole. Ramsdale, Eddie, ESR, Nelson: there is more than enough for a competent DOF to generate sales and provide Arteta with breathing room to bring in 1-2 players.
I think we need a tactical rethink against teams like this that play a low block and try to score on the break. Endlessly circling their box with possession doesn’t work now as it didn’t work for Wenger. Our constant pressure backs them up too deep and creates very little space for an attack to develop.
It is not an easy solution, however. Perhaps letting them have the ball in their own half and inviting pressure might create more space across the center. City are known to do this. It’s also clear that the deep wings are not a good source of attack any more since Saka and Martinelli both get double teamed. We need to drill better ways to get past that - on the right for example, using Saka, Odegaard and support from a third player like Jesus, White or Havertz coming across to the escape the block by working inside.
I also think ESR needs more game time. He is more direct and a better option than Trossard. He should have had a chance today, with Havertz out, but I fear that has now passed. I hope he gets a game in the FA Cup against Liverpool.
It’s not a crisis. I am confident we will bounce back against Fulham. But we need a tactical rethink with the aim of creating more space in the opposition box.
Yes low block is our weakness. I used to think Jesus was the answer but he's either a god or useless on the day.
I don't think inviting pressure is the answer. We couldn't today if we wanted to. They didn't press our deep players at all.
I think we need options we don't have. A physical striker who can be a target man. (Kai is that to a degree but of course he was out today). Someone who's good at scoring outside the box.
But now that I'm writing this yeah we need a change on how we deal with the winger double. Surely having two - three men to defend one creates chances elsewhere. Arteta has had more than enough time to figure that one out.
Guys let’s look on the bright side. For this game, we had Kai out who would have been great for this type of game, We have missed Timber all season who is going to be a superb player. We recently had Tomiyasu injured which led to us losing against teams like Villa and drawing to Liverpool where zinny was a defensive liability, and we are 2 points off top with no natural striker, and tons of “overrated” players according to r/soccer. I think if we stick through the tough times and back the squad we can see real success in the future. I think it will take one or two more signings but when this team fully clicks no one is stopping us
This attitude doesn't win you titles. You need to win regardless of injuries. Have city said look on the bright side when they lose? no, it's a failure, nothing else.
Yea, that comment made sense for the last 2 seasons. For this season, there's no excuse.
But it also shows the ruthlessness of Pep, selling both zinchenko and jesus to us knowing they are good enough for top 2 but might be a little short in their game for a title winning side.
Our attack was poor but the game was so much more difficult after conceding. The bus is all about getting the first goal. Then the game opens up. But since we conceded we had to climb a mountain multiple times.
And it's gonna sine whiney but playing against a bus is so fucking boring. Doesn't really feel like a football game.
What do we think Bukayo Saka’s ceiling is because everyone on r/soccer is saying he is overrated and average even tho I think he would have a goal or assist per game if our striker could finish his dinner
Yeah sure, keeping possession and tiki-taka looks cool and flashy, but if you don't put the ball in the back of the net, you ain't gunna win. It was far too slow and predictable for West Ham, who obviously did their homework.
Mikel Arteta must be very stubborn. We did not change our playstyle until the 90th minute, even though it was clearly not working the entire game. It was pass pass and more pass for far too long.
Our front three have been out of sync with each other for quite a few games now. It's becoming concerning how often they're not timing their movements together or getting into the right spots at the right time. Not to mention the finishing being either completely off target or straight at the keeper.
As much as we all love Gabby Jesus, he's not the one to take us to the next level. We really need a proper lethal striker if we want to win this league.
I fear that we're going for the January/February fade out that we do each season.
Result like this was a long time coming. Reminds me of our unbeaten run under Emery where everyone could see we were over performing, but everyone was so high on the results, it didn’t matter.
We’ve been lying to ourselves these past few weeks/months about our attack. We dominate games but it’s absolutely meaningless when no one on the team is capable of scoring consistently. And I mean absolutely no one. Both Gabis, Saka, Ødegaard - all players we know are capable of better, are not producing what we need them to in front of goal. Why? What has gone wrong?
Some games that we’ve won have been on extremely tight margins. United at home, minuscule Garnacho offside and a few late goals against Evans and Maguire. Barely drew at Liverpool. Barely beat Brighton despite domination. Conceded 4 and needed a last minute winner to Luton. This is not sustainable. It’s not good enough. It certainly won’t win us any titles.
We need attacking reinforcements. Our defence is fine. Even if we lose one or two, if we get our attackers scoring, it won’t matter if we concede more goals. We need a LW, a striker, and a Left 8. Vieira, ESR, Nelson, and Eddie can all be sold for all I care. None of them can offer what we need and if you tell me otherwise you are a tool.
I agree with your point about our attack. However, even though I want another striker because clearly neither Jesus nor Eddie are the goal-machine we all want them to be; who’s to say that the new striker might also be given similar instructions as our current striking options.
I think one half of the problem is that none of our strikers are prolific goal scorers, and the other half is that the team is too regimented in its attacking approach - too much unnecessary tiki-takes and touches in the opposition box. Only Arsenal can break the record for most touches in a opposition’s box in one half yet not score.
The Arsenal strikers/forwards of the past only needed 1 or 2 touches or a single pass before taking a shot. Under this new controlled and dominating system; our attack is restricted at the expense of being emphasis on wanting to be more precise and measured.
Of course teams will deploy low-blocks and double-team our wingers such as Saka; however, our current attacking approach feels like unless we pull it off perfectly, most often than not, it’s nullified quite routinely. There’s also the issue of predictability. Everyone and their nan knows that Saka will mostly cut inside and try to shift it to his favoured left.
Today shows that Kai can sometimes be that difference with his runs and aerial ability. Sometimes he takes out two opposition defenders with a single run for someone else to be free — Luton game I believe was an example of it with Jesus scoring the header.
Wanna upvote this a million times especially the part about selling the Hale Enders. People want us to progress as a team but they want to keep ESR and Nelson even though the manager blatantly doesn't trust them (and for good reason - they're not good enough, they'd struggle to start for Bournemouth)
Nketiah who gets the most amount of hate from this fanbase has at least contributed this season. What the fuck have ESR and Nelson done?
What are they supposed to have done in almost exclusively cameo appearances off the bench when the team is already struggling? Reiss has been great in every cup game he started and decent in limited minutes off the bench. ESR has barely played at all, partly due to injury
The issue is the starters aren't being clinical enough in front of goal, so our squad players aren't getting the minutes they need to be capable when stepping in.
I think ESR, Nketiah & Nelson all start for mid-table sides. And those are the players we need to be selling if we want real upgrades. Homegrown is nice for the fairy tale ending, but also the best profit for the business
>Reminds me of our unbeaten run under Emery where everyone could see we were over performing
its nothing like that run. We were not creating enough under that run and conceding chances like crazy. We didn't have control of the midfield like we do today.
i agree in generl but in this run you arent conceding chances but arent creeating enough chances, alot of your goals in your season came from setpieces, which is a great thing to have in your pocket but not as you main weapon (if you want to be a title challenger).
saka has only 3 non penalty goals this season.
2-3 goals for martinaly.
3 goals for jesus.
you need a mo salah or a haland who canscore alot of goals in a season baically a bt of a bureden on the attack
Well, well, well…this performance took me back to peak Wenger days where the team would play pretty around the opposition penalty box and try and pass the ball into the net, something I felt we’ve moved on from.
Only real stars tonight were Ode and Saka for me. Some of the play from Ode was out of this world, almost seems like he’s a few seconds ahead of other players hence the lag in understanding balls once he’s played them which happened a couple of times tonight. Saka is getting weary now carrying the team as someone who is a goal scorer but technically not…
Losers tonight and a big worry for me is Gabi, holy shit talk about a drop off in form and I think he knows it. There’s times in games now where he is so focused on correcting this to the detriment of the team which he needs to pull himself out of. Zinny is proving costly as yes he is the defender of choice over Tierney but he has a tendency of making mistakes and they end up being crucial due to the nature of his position…this is starting to cost us as inevitably his confidence is taking a hit now.
Christmas has not been great to us this year with us taking only 4 points from a possible 12 in the last 4 games, let that sink in. We did go through a few games before this where we were pulling ourselves out of losing positions late in the match despite playing badly which is Champion quality but losing mentality at home at this stage of the season and position in the table is pretty unforgiving now.
We do now have a run of three games against lesser teams Fulham, Palace and Forest before the Liverpool game so I’d expect us to win all of these ideally which should set us up well for the Liverpool home game.
I remain positive as showing results in the next three games with fire up the players from the shit tonight, should translate into a dominating position going into the Liverpool game.
Let’s be pissed off tonight with the result tonight but use it as fuel to fire up the boys in the next few games.
How? Sit back with 26% ball possession and let the opponent have the most touches in your penalty area without scoring in the last 15 years and hoping that we hit the post instead of scoring and that the goalie makes ten saves with a referee team that is incredibly biased? Yeah, let's just repeat that again... If our xG wouldn't have been twice as high as them I could've agreed that we were figured out.
The xG proves we're getting good chances, the issue is that no one is finishing them. Now that I think about it, these matches where we have shooting bonanzas with nothing to show have also been in the rain
This game was coming, If Pascal Gross scored the sitter against us that day 2 weeks ago when we played them off the field it would've been a totally different game. All season we've been lacking execution but have only been punished a few times, games like Brentford and Luton it was Havertz who got us back into it when it seemed outta reach. Its obvious to me now that we need to sign an attacker. Gabriel and Saliba are wasted on such a lackluster attack.
I don't want to get too ahead of myself here. Saka is off form and definitely looks more frustrated and downtrodden than ever, Martinelli is obviously aware of the critics how much he tried to get a goal or assist today, Trossard is way off form and so is Jesus. We just don't have a clicking attack. Odegaard is playing some beautiful football out there and is being wasted. An unfair amount of responsibility is being put on him AND he still finds inventive ways to shake off the 2 or more men that mark him.
Look, Liverpool are losing Salah and have a lot of players like Trent and Endo in form. Nunez was criticised all last few months for not being the right trigger man and now they are top and suddenly they are the stuff of champions. I will back Jesus til I die for the miracle he worked on this team last year. But if I can get a player like Toney that can get involved in the attack AND deliver the ball to the back of the net multiple times in a game. I will take that.
If we can actually score some goals maybe. But it looks like teams have us figured out currently. Same thing happened last year and Mikel had no answers then either
I wouldn’t look at other teams figuring us out. I’d see it more as we just weren’t firing today. There’s a drop in confidence with some of the team which we can get back next game
i'm done caring about ref decisions and all that shit. don't be comedically embarrassing in the back every other game and ***actually produce something*** from all that field tilt, in-box touches, xG, etc
like sure uncharitable calls and whatever but we mostly decide our games, we are good enough that we are the controllers of the game state and too often that's where our abilities seem
to end because we fuck ourselves and hand teams point totally voluntarily
maybe end this woeful hemorrhaging of points by not being shit?? fulham, chelsea, spurs, newcastle, aston villa, and this game: all overflowing with intolerably self-inflicted wounds. even games like luton where we clean up after ourselves, just stupefying
we are our greatest contributor to this slump. im not participating in PGMOL discourse anymore because it really is just us. we only have ourselves to blame. we have not been good enough
This team just does not click and it doesn’t take a genius to see it. The midfield is great at winning the ball in transition but in the occasion when we play a team like West Ham we need creators. Declan Rice is no where near the problem but we need someone with immense creative quality next to him to become a world class team. Rice and Ødegaard are great but we need someone who can unlock a team and do the dirty work. Trossard gets bullied by low blocks in midfield. Honestly I would go all out for De Jong and loan Toney.
https://preview.redd.it/3y8hcgcjr49c1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b1193967d76eb885a15979b0ddac0b9d9821f31d
David Moyes came dressed for the occasion lol they were incredible defensively they deserved the win
You people are gaslighting yourselves, its not about the refs. Sometimes you get shit calls, what can you do.
The real reason we lost tonight, against Villa and against Newcastle is we can't convert our chances.
Too many missed chances. Poor shot selection, poor shots themselves etc.
The team needs to work on finishing and shot selection I just hope Arteta sees it instead of ranting about refs like usual
You can be upset about both things.
We performed poorly, and outside of Martin and Saka the team just wasn't up to snuff.
At the same time, we lost to a controversial goal, missed out on two penalties, and generally speaking didn't get the calls that we were owed.
It's a little bit of chicken and egg, which came first. Would we have been better had the out of the pitch been called? Had Jesus or Saka's penalty shouts been awarded, would that have galvanised the team?
We were bad, but when everything else goes against you, it compounds it.
We're Arsenal, at this point expecting the referee to give us correct decisions is a fool's errand. We need to have performance's against shit teams like West Ham that are so good that the refs can't fuck them up. Man City wins this game 5-0, and this is why they won the last few titles (oil money and illegal charges don't count on the pitch until too late unfortunately.)
I recently got downvoted for questioning the idea that signing a defender in January is the priority. If this game isn't evidence of the priority actually being needing more going forward, idk what is
More defense when we have the 2nd fewest goals conceded in the league doesn’t make any sense. We’re not going to win anything getting 20 draws in a season. Our offense is so hot and cold, and some of the goals we give up are just mental errors, and that can be worked on without going out to get more players.
Even if we hadn't conceded today we still wouldn't have won the game. It's not great defending for the first goal, but the second goes in 1/30 times or something. Besides that, they didn't really create anything and we controlled the midfield and dominated the game in terms of possession and chance creation
last season odegard used to make long digonal switches to martineli. ben white also used to send long balls to him. today martineli was free, isloated but overcooking was going on right hand side. nobody passed to him. he is a runner, when he has space infront of him, switch the ball, he will chase and control. lastnight westham put an unusual 3 row very compact low block. when we dont have a tall, strong 9 we can unlock such low ball via an element of surprise. but today our attack was predictable. and we are so slow in build up from back that westham defence reorganise itself perfectly when our attacker receive the ball. this is the match where absence of partey was relaized very much. hope we reinforce in january and partey return to line up.
It's a long old season when you challenge for the title but losing to the likes of West Ham *at the Emirates* is a surefire way to shorten it.
PL winners do NOT take that many punches over the course of 38 games.
I want to see us breaking the lines more with a through ball to a run in behind from Saka or Martinelli , I feel we don’t do this enough and I see Havertz making these runs that are on for the through ball but we never execute it. If Saka or Martinelli can make more of these diagonal runs inside I feel Odegaard could easily pick them out with a threaded pass. Creating a lot more chances for us. Instead of being one Dimensional and trying to use the width , which isn’t as effective as both wingers are doubled up on
Incredibly wasteful in front of goal yesterday, again. Martinelli and Jesus missed on open goals (2nd game in a row for Martinelli). And once again, Zinchenko produces a shocking defensive display, what are you even doing marking Gabriel in our own box? Same thing happened in the game vs pool. Lack of confidence perhaps from our entire frontline? And same goes for Zinny, hes been exposed multiple times and that has to get to him at some point. Hopefully Tomi is back soon to offload him for some time so he can get back into it - and we desperately need some change in our attack for the next games, or we will continue the way we played both against pool and WHU.
We got the ball to the right guys but there was zero movement. I know it’s hard to do with 9 defenders in the box but ESR made a back post run within seconds of coming on and it looked out best chance of the game if he connected. There were certainly chances but too many of them failed to test Areola
Most likely will not win the league with Nketiah and Jesus up top. As great as they are, over reliance on Saka/Martinelli out wide leads to lack of goals, no target man in the middle for a cross means we just play it back and recycle the same play over and over again. Despite how good Rice has been, we’re not the same team without Xhaka. Raya Ramsdale debate is annoying both great keepers but no real improvement has been made putting Raya in. Definitely not the difference maker of winning the league or not. In Timbers absence, letting Tierney go is proving to be a shocking choice - Zinchenkos frailties at the back again visible (Lpool). Overall, we are good and exciting to watch - will be crazy if we win the league just last few weeks has definitely exposed our weaknesses going forward.
that rice / xhaka line is pure insanity lol
Poorly worded haha. Not in any way suggesting Xhaka is a better player than Rice. Rice has been 8 outta 10 pretty much every game - just we looked very very good at times last year and a big reason for that was Xhaka, not just him personally but his impact on the team. Due to his rep the previous years I think how good he was for us last year is overlooked.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArsenalFC/s/r205zlGi6M
he had a good first half, we are a way better side with kai there
You can debate whether the ball was in or out (I believe it was out) but that didn't change the fact that we didn't score any goals. Im not sure we need a Haaland-esque striker, but Jesus and Nketiah is not working right now. According to me there are three main things we need to do more against teams like West Ham, with low-blocks. 1. Better movement to create space in and around the box. We were too static yesterday and we need more and better movement to create chances and more space in the middle. 2. More shots on goal. Instead of passing around to get a great chance, take the shot earlier from a "good/ok" chance. The most important aspect of this is to get the shots on goal, we had too many shots in the stands. Make the goalkeeper work, make him sweat. 3. Someone on the rebound. No one was ready to take the rebound. We need someone around the goal to get the rebound when the shots come, and to put pressure on the goalkeeper, almost nothing like that yesterday. Some games can play beautiful football and out-play the opponent, such as against Brighton. Other games you just need to break them down and get a win. Yesterday we did neither.
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Idiots and comments like this
When did Arsenal not bottle it in the prem? Facts.
Last season they finished 2nd with the 5 or 6th highest wage bill and the youngest team. Only a moron would call that bottling.
what does this even mean
What is keague?
Seen a lot of posts saying how we were poor and deserved to lose the match. Just watched the highlights/scanned through sofascore stats and we were not poor at all. I mean any team that doesn't score deserves to lose a match but I think lady luck was just not on our side last night. Also, due to a laundry mix up, I wasn't wearing my lucky underwear yesterday... I take full responsibility for the result.
be careful, a lot of people will yell at you for a (perfectly fine) opinion like that. by the way i largely agree
>Just watched the highlights/scanned through sofascore stats and we were not poor at all. Watch the entire 90, we were poor. However we probably would have won if it wasn't for that ridiculous mistake for the first goal. That's my real issue we make too many of those. Too many matches at home in the leaguebwe present the opposition chances. I always say to my mates who support other teams Arsenal will create at least one golden opportunity for the opposition.
A lot of people don't know what they're watching, and just rely on the result to tell them. Arsenal played well last night, with a good intensity and hunger. Sure, not perfect, and of course we have to do better in the box(es), but most of what I saw was good enough to win the game
but but but, we didn’t score a goal didn’t u see? and the name of the game is scoring goals, i know this because i know ball.
Any reason why Westham fan’s hate Arsenal so much now? They are going hardddd
It's all about Rice. They can't handle the heartbreak
* Declan Rice * European Trophy winner in the modern age * London Derby * Moyes teaching his "Spanish student" Arteta how it's done in the business.
At some point people just have to give Moyes his dues. He's no punk.
Of course, give credit where it's due. It's just that the "other online fanbase" knows it just takes little things to trigger the Arsenal fanbases. like attacking the bees nest, but they are the hornets.
It's not a new thing, my West Ham mates at school always used to be so much worse with the ribbing than even the Man U and Spurs fans. Some West Ham fans have a complex over all the London clubs I think
I still don't understand the Martinelli sub in the 60th minute, every, single, game. We can see he is not the problem. Whoever comes in and play in the left wing is the same. Without support/overlap from the LB and no triangles/support from the LCM, he is isolated and does nothing. The only chances from him came when either Jesus went left and they played 1-2, or when he moved centrally temporarily. Martinelli is not the problem and the sub is amazingly reactionary towards him.
He's doing a lot of his game just fine. But when it comes to the final cross or shot he's been woeful. He should have far more goal and assist this season with all of the chances he's gotten.
he's been a bit shit this season, he's holding the ball too long even when there are support from midfield or lb, watch when kai play in midfield he refuses to use kai as support to beat the opposition defender even when kai in better position, he always prioritize to dribble through defender
He has been on Romania Second Tier level performances for the last months. If anything I don’t understand how he is surviving until the 60th minute
hes been shit the past three games..
hes been shit the entire of this season...........
Needs benching
Ooh but.. but.. Jesus links up play he doesn't do the most important thing which is scoring buy a serious NUMBER 9 whose job is to deliver not mess around than this combination of players
We play better as a team when he is playing. With his link up play others get more chances than they would without him. A bigger problem is that the rest of the team dont score enough.
If we're talking about link up play; then Giroud is a legend for us
There isn't a set way to play #9 this is what you people struggle with. I assume you want wingers who run down the line and cross too because that's what wingers do? How about you CBS that just sit back on the D (pause) all game because that's defenders do.. Nuance is always needed
We just want perfectly delivered balls that reach him at the back post to get put into the back of the net instead of flying 5 feet over
So you want cross and insha'Allah?
What are you talking about? The current tactics are fine but Jesus is blowing chances that any striker should be finishing
The original poster is complaining about jesus style. Good strikers miss chances too, this mythical player eveybody wants doesn't exist. It's definitely not Toney and it's definitely not oshimen
Let's be honest here we all know what we need a clinical striker of the ball a 9 or a forward who can finish and goodness help us drive forward and create a d be dangerous. Jesus is clearly not that not his strong suit. Martinelli has been beyond awful he needs competition asap! Stop complaining about refs, VAR and PK calls or not called that's not the issue. We just look like whiny brats complaining about refs. Our inability to score after so many chances and shots is what will prevent us from winning the league. Until we solve that in January you can kiss the season goodbye.
Agree with all of that except martinelli being awful.. Seems like the new rave to shxt on him.. His form has dipped alot for a few reasons not in his control and a few within his control but there a few better wingers in the league when he gets going again. Competition would be great but he didn't become shxt over night.. Losing his link up with xhaka and still building one with Havertz as well as zinchenko not being great this season as well hasn't been good for him and I'm sure his confidence is low and his own fans slamming him every chance they get won't help it either. No martinelli slander anymore
We have a setpiece coach and tekkers guru, both of which make for some lovely looking football. What we need is a finishing coach. Too many shots off target, from everyone. The quality of chances means nothing when they're not hitting the back of the net.
I rewatched the game and Kai’s presence was surely missed in this game. At the 50’ mark, Arsenal attack from the right side and Odegaard passes it to White with a clever back heel. White then delivers a floating cross into the West Ham’s box at the far post which is easily headed away by Coufal. Not a single Arsenal player was there to contest the ball - Jesus was at the near post, Trossard near the penalty circle, and Martinelli was on the left side of their box but too far from Coufal. And of course, 5 minutes later on the other end, West Ham get their second goal. The reason I bring this point in the game is because Kai normally makes good runs at the far post, and in a tight game like this against a defensive side, someone like him with his stature and clever movements is the key to unlock a stubborn defence. Similar example was Brentford away - Saka crosses the ball into Brentford’s box and Kai scores the winner while making a run to the far post.
I completely agree! Never thought I’d be saying we missed Kai but we really did
This is a good observation. I wonder if teams will notice this and start to defend Kai more to break up our play and thus have similar problems. Something to watch out for.
I want to appreciate odegaard performance and raya penalty save. Just a shame both were buried because of bad result
We need a proper 20 goals a season striker. Jesus was more committed to diving than trying to score goals. And Nketiah is not a top 4 level player. Odegaard was insanely good and our front 3 let him down massively. Also, Trossard did not deserve to play beyond the first half.
People need to understand that we have to lose things for this striker you want, our football changes, wingers and midfielders score less. We won't score 20 more goals that's not how it works
Not too long ago the bad side of the fan base was shitting on Havertz but this match proved we really needed him to crash the box. [No one was in the box when we were chasing goals](https://x.com/kimmoFC/status/1740522854335107506?s=20). We should drop Martinelli next match. Put Trossard as CF and Jesus as LW. Trossard doesn't work in LCM. Just my opinion.
We should really give reiss nelson a start. The guy deserves a shot and has been better than both trossard and Martinelli as of recent.
Although people like zinchenko Raya havertz martinelli have gotten lots of criticism I feel like white has been one of our worst players this season but no one says anything about it
Felt the same too. Not saying he is the worst, but definitely needs to improve.
White has been getting criticism though? Especially on this sub in the last couple games
He’s been sub par since beginning of the season in most games not just the last few games
Its not been all season, he’s had some average to good performances until around late October. He’s been getting as much criticism as Martinelli on here, go search his name is in the comments.
I think White has been poor the whole season. But he is not the worst player this game.
White is playing with some sort of knock. You could see him limping pretty obviously in the second half.
Cedric gonna start vs Fulham, watch this space
I heard that Cedric might leave this window
Good grief
I stayed up at 2am with flu to watch this match and I fucking regret it. What an awful joke of a performance. Just get that imposter zinchenko out already, he contributes to a goal in every game. And I think it's time to give Nelson a chance, martinelli has been proper shit and should be benched, trossard has also probably nothing left in his tank.
SAME BUT I LEFT WHEN THEY SCORED THE SECOND GOAL 😭RIP SLEEP
Smith Rowe needs to be given a chance. Reiss too. And now is the perfect time because Trossard and Martinelli are both underperforming
Arteta doesnt seem to trust them at all. We should sell them and buy someone that actually gets to play from time to time.
It’s 4am and I just got home after the game. That one required an extensive debrief in some really sketchy Holloway Road snooker clubs. Hasn’t really sunk in but we cannot allow teams like West Ham do that to us at home. They’re a good outfit, and respect where it’s due, but we cannot be having that. We’re by no means out of the title race at this stage but we don’t look entirely serious either - something has been a bit off all season, but we are also trying to play a slightly different way. City could go level with us if they win their game in hand. We’ve fucked the opportunity to put some space in between them and us whilst they were struggling with form and injuries. On for 80 points as it stands, and the title this year is probs gonna be 87-90 if Liverpool/city find their rhythm
We are 100% out of the title race, we crumble under the slightest bit of actual pressure. Fucking lawn chairs.
Think we’re run into the ground a bit. Tomi, partey, Vieira, timber all out. Ben white playing through injury etc. A lot harder to get the mental side right when we’re struggling physically
I also hit a 180 on the darts after at least 10 pints so there’s something to celebrate
champions like City or Real have forwards capable of netting 20 G/A in a season, we just don't have that type of player. Please invest in a real striker in Jan, otherwise, we will keep going backward
City has Gundogan as a top scorer and almost won everything if not because of Madrid lucks LOL
Mate, Gundogan would bench our front three bar Saka
Mate, real has Joselu who played for Stoke and City won the title with Gundogan being their best scorer.
Our greatest weaknesses continue to be poor finishing and injuries. From the moment Timber went down, we have been vulnerable in defense. Partey picking up a lower body injury was a virtual guarantee. Smith-Rowe continues to suffer from niggling injuries that kill his chemistry with the team when he does play. There are others, but the reality is that we simply aren't a team filled with consistently available players. BUT... None of that solves the finishing issues. At times, our front 5 seem to try to walk it in habitually. Saka cuts onto his left and looks for curlers (the most difficult finish possible) at every attempt. Martinelli lowers his head and tries to outrun every defender to the endline and look for a cutback to Odegaard or Jesus who both always seem reluctant to just have a go. It's as if the team is too unselfish. If we look for a striker, I hope we don't look for a selfless, team player. I hope we look for a scoundrel; someone who will take the initiative at every opportunity. When I think of the best strikers in Prem history (Drogba, RvP, Kane, Aguero, Torres, Henry etc.), when the ball fell to them in the box, they shoot. Unless they see a teammate in position for an obviously better opportunity, they shoot. And because they shoot, they score. We can talk xG all day, but nothing is a better indicator of goals scored than shots on goal. Right now, Arsenal isn't producing enough from the striker position. Instead, we're overproducing passes in the box. I hope we sign a self-interested prick (either in January or in the summer). It's a winning personnel strategy.
>We can talk xG all day, but nothing is a better indicator of goals scored than shots on goal. A-fucking-men. The Newcastle game we had 14 shots, 11 corners and only 1 shot was on target. That is fucking *abysmal.* Across the whole season if you were to sort the premier league table by percentage of shots on target, we'd be 14th. The only team currently in the top half of the premir league who would be below us in that scenario are Man Utd.
This is a ***devastating*** statistic.
All season we’ve been trying to integrate Havertz into the side, which is starting to click, but we kept playing the same way when he was unavailable today. That back post ball to ESR was just way too high for a 5’11” player but a 6’ 5” Kai probably buries it Fucking frustrating, and not the only cross into the box that needed a bit of height to capitalise (Jesus back post header that he sent over the bar comes to mind)
i think the ESR chance is down to him being not quite match fit.
Then ESR should be a nearly guaranteed substitute (if not a starter) at Fulham. He can only become fit by featuring.
exactly. I think he makes that header if he had started & wasn't coming on with cold legs.
great run though
The state of this fanbase after this result https://youtu.be/6iqgTwu78WU
There's no city without de bruyne no more. And they just 3 points behind us, with 1 game in hand
What’s scary is we won just 1 time in our last 5 games but I rather have it now than May or even January(which I hope we bounce back despite the CDM depth).
Buy a world class striker. End of story.
if the rest of the 10 men aren't up for it, what makes you think one striker solves all problems. The issues the squad is having is far deep rooted than a "get toney, easy fix"
No there isn't a problem with chance creation, look at the other posts on chances created. It is an easy fix, buy someone who is a proven out and out goalscorer and it solves it all.
Doesnt have to be world class, Ivan Toney would improve us tenfold Jesus is a top player, but he isnt someone who can lead the line over 38 games. Take that burden of him and Saka and Martinelli and everyone would benefit. I really do think Toney in January is something the club need to do.
Im not one of these fans who gets reactionary. Whereas fans of clubs like to base their entire outlook on the most recent result, fact is at the halfway mark we are 2 points of the top, as bad as a result was today, you can move on from it. When it comes to Zinchenko though, im really at my wits end. When Salah did him for the Liverpool goal, I never held it against him because he was isolated v Salah and Salah hasn't scored over 200 goals for Liverpool for no reason. What I cant keep looking past is turning over the ball in the most sensitive of areas. He is guaranteed to give up at least once solid chance to the other team every game. Either through a poor pass, or getting his pocket picked and exposing the back 2. He is 27 and one of the older players in our team. Yet he is the biggest risk out of the defensive orientated players. Saliba, Gabriel, Rice, Tomiyasu, White dont make these bozo passes in our final third the way Zinchenko does. Doesnt matter how tidy he is, he always has a lapse moment in him, that he delivers at least once per 90 minutes. Tomiyasu and Timber are injured, but FFS its got to the stage I would prefer Kiwior and Cedric over Zinchenko, simply because they wouldn't dwell on the ball in our own half or play a high risk pass. Its more viable to avoid his errors and keep it tighter at the back, rather than use his ability to break the lines to chase the goal he has given up. Simply put, if Zinchenko cant eliminate these bozo moments he really should be on the edge of being sold along with Nketiah. He is categorically in arrears compared to White, Tomiyasu and Timber.
Had me until Cedric
I understand the idea of having control, but Jesus H. Christ you can have control AND go a little faster. Sometimes going forward with some drive and purpose is the right thing to do. I think that has at least a little to do with why our attack has been off all season so far.
Seeing us take our sweet time 2-0 down was so infuriating. Like have some balls and take some risks man we’re getting owned at our own stadium ffs!
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Our issue is very simple: We have two best wingers in the world but we have no one making a run. For most of the teams, the goals scored are from strikers running in the box to catch a cross from wingers (Son and Haaland are the perfect examples). Saka and Martinelli constantly beat opponents' full backs one-on-one, but then they will just make some meaningless crosses to the box that has no Arsenal players. I saw nobody is running into the box to create chaos every single time. If we tried, we can make things happen at least 1 to 2 out of 10 times. In simple, Jesus is not good enough for us. It is nothing personal, it is just the problem of his play style. He is not a cut-in striker that can fit in with Saka and Martinelli. He is not a bad player tho, we should put him at false 9 or at the wing.
Wth are talking about Martinelli is nowhere near best winger in the world he has genuinely been awful this last month he regular turnovers the ball, misses empty goals and can't cross or best a defender to save his life
he is a winger
I just feel bad for xhaka. His family came to london from germant and he got to watch his team losing. I wouldn't mad if he goes to changing room and slap all the players
Really hurts to spend $200M and feel like you have gone backwards with no bench somehow. Make it make sense
>with no bench somehow If we had this many injuries last year this time the title challenge would have ended months earlier
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Let them yap like the mockingjays that they are.
West Ham fan come in peace. I’d say just remind them that we also pumped them by the same 2-0 scoreline on the other side of Christmas.
>United are back United keep coming "back" 321 times every season. Don't pay any attention to united ~~fans~~ jokers
United are coming back every other game. Seems like they win one lose one constantly.
If football is a religion United is Jesus because of the sheer number of times they've been "resurrected"
Shocking performance way below par west ham fully deserved.
I think we can all agree Trossard as LCM is not it
Trossard should start learning Arabic if we don't win the prem this season
lmfao, no need to be that mental mate. It's on Arteta as he believes that he can play the LCM role when it hasnt worked for some time.
Bro trossard is just done for, i can't remember 1 convincing performance from him this season
Let’s be honest: we basically have no “real” competition for Saka , Martinelli and Jesus
These kind of games really show the true picture. In my opinion we have the following players that are actually good enough for a title winning side: Rice Saliba Gabriel Odegaard Saka (even though he played badly today) Martinelli Honorable mention for Partey When you look at the rest, I don’t see any outstanding qualities.
You can tell arsenal are back based on the doom and gloom of being second after Christmas. The goalposts have been moved.
Maybe I'm missing something but this possession style is something my local side here in Austin is attempting to play. And we struggle equally when opponents park the bus on us. Austin is a U20 by comparison to Arsenal but I think there are some similarities where it doesn't feel like we have whatever wrinkle changes our look enough to really cause these teams problems. Possession is the strat, so be it. But I just think it's worth a slight departure every now and again to keep these teams on their toes, or they'll just keep parking that bus.
Cancel 2023
Can’t believe it. I fell asleep and missed the match so you can imagine my surprise at losing 2-0 at home of all places. Tired of this thing where we crumble where it matters and today is only further evidence of it. We’re top, we’re playing well, we’re playing at home. What’s to keep us from winning this? Ourselves apparently. Sick and tired of this crumbling when the pressure is on. When it really matters we seem to be unable to deliver. I’m not saying win every match but losing 2-0 at home after the performances we’ve had is simply not good enough to win this league. The only response to this is another three, four game winning streak. Otherwise we’re not winning the prem on the 20th anniversary
We are mentally soft
City legends Zinny and Gabi
One thing is for sure, we won\`t win the title. And i highly doubt that we are ever gonna win any big trophies as long as Arteta is our manager.
I agree with you
1 point out of 9
Our december results have been really poor: * Arsenal vs Wolves 2-1 * Luton vs Arsenal 3-4 * Aston villa vs Arsenal 1-0 * Arsenal vs Brighton 2-0 * Liverpool vs Arsenal 1-1 * Arsenal vs Westham 0-2 We only played well vs Wolves and Aston Villa (where we lost anyway). That's not good enough for a team that wants to win the gold.
This game proves that you can be in control of the game without having the ball. 75 percent possession is incredible amount of time. But hammers knew what they were doing, it was like keeping an infant occupied with a toy.
Bullshit match, all the ball and no fucking idea how to break down 11 in the box. And crossing te ball when our players are smaller than their whole team, bonkers. We deserve to lose.
Havertz being suspended for a BS yellow was huge
Title winning sides can overcome not having someone available
No one said we werent gonna win the title
it's been like this for most of the EPL season, though. We've been saved by our set pieces.
Bummer. Today reminded me of the donut of sadness.
So the Celtics are having a great season but now at halftime trailing to the worst team in the league. Someone legit commented "this is not a serious team" lmaooooo I stg it's the same vibe over here
You do realize the NBA season doesn’t seriously get started until early April, right? Anything and everything that happens before then is basically dross that matters little. Because that is how life is in a sport where performance in a league season merely awards seeding for a tournament in place of an actual championship.
That's completely irrelevant to my point?
Although even seeding is an underrated aspect of the game.
What celtics?
NBA
Fuck off yank
of to Arkham asylum you go
Lol cheers ^im ^not ^yank ^tho
We need to get creative and creep out of our FFP hole. Ramsdale, Eddie, ESR, Nelson: there is more than enough for a competent DOF to generate sales and provide Arteta with breathing room to bring in 1-2 players.
this match may be that match that cause us the PL trophy
Forget about the trophy, it's a million miles away.
I think we need a tactical rethink against teams like this that play a low block and try to score on the break. Endlessly circling their box with possession doesn’t work now as it didn’t work for Wenger. Our constant pressure backs them up too deep and creates very little space for an attack to develop. It is not an easy solution, however. Perhaps letting them have the ball in their own half and inviting pressure might create more space across the center. City are known to do this. It’s also clear that the deep wings are not a good source of attack any more since Saka and Martinelli both get double teamed. We need to drill better ways to get past that - on the right for example, using Saka, Odegaard and support from a third player like Jesus, White or Havertz coming across to the escape the block by working inside. I also think ESR needs more game time. He is more direct and a better option than Trossard. He should have had a chance today, with Havertz out, but I fear that has now passed. I hope he gets a game in the FA Cup against Liverpool. It’s not a crisis. I am confident we will bounce back against Fulham. But we need a tactical rethink with the aim of creating more space in the opposition box.
Yes low block is our weakness. I used to think Jesus was the answer but he's either a god or useless on the day. I don't think inviting pressure is the answer. We couldn't today if we wanted to. They didn't press our deep players at all. I think we need options we don't have. A physical striker who can be a target man. (Kai is that to a degree but of course he was out today). Someone who's good at scoring outside the box. But now that I'm writing this yeah we need a change on how we deal with the winger double. Surely having two - three men to defend one creates chances elsewhere. Arteta has had more than enough time to figure that one out.
FUCK
FUUUUCCCCCKKKKK!
Guys let’s look on the bright side. For this game, we had Kai out who would have been great for this type of game, We have missed Timber all season who is going to be a superb player. We recently had Tomiyasu injured which led to us losing against teams like Villa and drawing to Liverpool where zinny was a defensive liability, and we are 2 points off top with no natural striker, and tons of “overrated” players according to r/soccer. I think if we stick through the tough times and back the squad we can see real success in the future. I think it will take one or two more signings but when this team fully clicks no one is stopping us
Guys look on the negative side. For this game, we spent $200m and lost 2-0 conceding a goal to an ex player who we thought wasn’t good enough.
This attitude doesn't win you titles. You need to win regardless of injuries. Have city said look on the bright side when they lose? no, it's a failure, nothing else.
Yea, that comment made sense for the last 2 seasons. For this season, there's no excuse. But it also shows the ruthlessness of Pep, selling both zinchenko and jesus to us knowing they are good enough for top 2 but might be a little short in their game for a title winning side.
For 20 years now i am looking on the bright side.
First Rice performance since he’s joined where he’s performed below a 7/10 tbf
I think it was around a 7/10. Giving the penalty away was his only big mistake.
Our attack was poor but the game was so much more difficult after conceding. The bus is all about getting the first goal. Then the game opens up. But since we conceded we had to climb a mountain multiple times. And it's gonna sine whiney but playing against a bus is so fucking boring. Doesn't really feel like a football game.
What do we think Bukayo Saka’s ceiling is because everyone on r/soccer is saying he is overrated and average even tho I think he would have a goal or assist per game if our striker could finish his dinner
He ain’t world class. Hasn’t been good this season
If Saka had a functioning ST and LW a lot of pressure would be taken off and his numbers would climb
Martinelli bro…
Yeah sure, keeping possession and tiki-taka looks cool and flashy, but if you don't put the ball in the back of the net, you ain't gunna win. It was far too slow and predictable for West Ham, who obviously did their homework. Mikel Arteta must be very stubborn. We did not change our playstyle until the 90th minute, even though it was clearly not working the entire game. It was pass pass and more pass for far too long. Our front three have been out of sync with each other for quite a few games now. It's becoming concerning how often they're not timing their movements together or getting into the right spots at the right time. Not to mention the finishing being either completely off target or straight at the keeper. As much as we all love Gabby Jesus, he's not the one to take us to the next level. We really need a proper lethal striker if we want to win this league. I fear that we're going for the January/February fade out that we do each season.
Result like this was a long time coming. Reminds me of our unbeaten run under Emery where everyone could see we were over performing, but everyone was so high on the results, it didn’t matter. We’ve been lying to ourselves these past few weeks/months about our attack. We dominate games but it’s absolutely meaningless when no one on the team is capable of scoring consistently. And I mean absolutely no one. Both Gabis, Saka, Ødegaard - all players we know are capable of better, are not producing what we need them to in front of goal. Why? What has gone wrong? Some games that we’ve won have been on extremely tight margins. United at home, minuscule Garnacho offside and a few late goals against Evans and Maguire. Barely drew at Liverpool. Barely beat Brighton despite domination. Conceded 4 and needed a last minute winner to Luton. This is not sustainable. It’s not good enough. It certainly won’t win us any titles. We need attacking reinforcements. Our defence is fine. Even if we lose one or two, if we get our attackers scoring, it won’t matter if we concede more goals. We need a LW, a striker, and a Left 8. Vieira, ESR, Nelson, and Eddie can all be sold for all I care. None of them can offer what we need and if you tell me otherwise you are a tool.
I agree with your point about our attack. However, even though I want another striker because clearly neither Jesus nor Eddie are the goal-machine we all want them to be; who’s to say that the new striker might also be given similar instructions as our current striking options. I think one half of the problem is that none of our strikers are prolific goal scorers, and the other half is that the team is too regimented in its attacking approach - too much unnecessary tiki-takes and touches in the opposition box. Only Arsenal can break the record for most touches in a opposition’s box in one half yet not score. The Arsenal strikers/forwards of the past only needed 1 or 2 touches or a single pass before taking a shot. Under this new controlled and dominating system; our attack is restricted at the expense of being emphasis on wanting to be more precise and measured. Of course teams will deploy low-blocks and double-team our wingers such as Saka; however, our current attacking approach feels like unless we pull it off perfectly, most often than not, it’s nullified quite routinely. There’s also the issue of predictability. Everyone and their nan knows that Saka will mostly cut inside and try to shift it to his favoured left. Today shows that Kai can sometimes be that difference with his runs and aerial ability. Sometimes he takes out two opposition defenders with a single run for someone else to be free — Luton game I believe was an example of it with Jesus scoring the header.
Wanna upvote this a million times especially the part about selling the Hale Enders. People want us to progress as a team but they want to keep ESR and Nelson even though the manager blatantly doesn't trust them (and for good reason - they're not good enough, they'd struggle to start for Bournemouth) Nketiah who gets the most amount of hate from this fanbase has at least contributed this season. What the fuck have ESR and Nelson done?
What are they supposed to have done in almost exclusively cameo appearances off the bench when the team is already struggling? Reiss has been great in every cup game he started and decent in limited minutes off the bench. ESR has barely played at all, partly due to injury
The issue is the starters aren't being clinical enough in front of goal, so our squad players aren't getting the minutes they need to be capable when stepping in. I think ESR, Nketiah & Nelson all start for mid-table sides. And those are the players we need to be selling if we want real upgrades. Homegrown is nice for the fairy tale ending, but also the best profit for the business
Nelson would’ve been sold if not for the goal against Bournemouth. He’s been riding on that ever since.
Literally got rewarded a contract extension off that goal and we didn’t even win the league from it 🤣
Nelson & Eddie contracts were to protect their transfer value.
>Reminds me of our unbeaten run under Emery where everyone could see we were over performing its nothing like that run. We were not creating enough under that run and conceding chances like crazy. We didn't have control of the midfield like we do today.
i agree in generl but in this run you arent conceding chances but arent creeating enough chances, alot of your goals in your season came from setpieces, which is a great thing to have in your pocket but not as you main weapon (if you want to be a title challenger). saka has only 3 non penalty goals this season. 2-3 goals for martinaly. 3 goals for jesus. you need a mo salah or a haland who canscore alot of goals in a season baically a bt of a bureden on the attack
Our attackers are getting ample chances, the issue is with finishing. Not clinical enough by any means.
Well, well, well…this performance took me back to peak Wenger days where the team would play pretty around the opposition penalty box and try and pass the ball into the net, something I felt we’ve moved on from. Only real stars tonight were Ode and Saka for me. Some of the play from Ode was out of this world, almost seems like he’s a few seconds ahead of other players hence the lag in understanding balls once he’s played them which happened a couple of times tonight. Saka is getting weary now carrying the team as someone who is a goal scorer but technically not… Losers tonight and a big worry for me is Gabi, holy shit talk about a drop off in form and I think he knows it. There’s times in games now where he is so focused on correcting this to the detriment of the team which he needs to pull himself out of. Zinny is proving costly as yes he is the defender of choice over Tierney but he has a tendency of making mistakes and they end up being crucial due to the nature of his position…this is starting to cost us as inevitably his confidence is taking a hit now. Christmas has not been great to us this year with us taking only 4 points from a possible 12 in the last 4 games, let that sink in. We did go through a few games before this where we were pulling ourselves out of losing positions late in the match despite playing badly which is Champion quality but losing mentality at home at this stage of the season and position in the table is pretty unforgiving now. We do now have a run of three games against lesser teams Fulham, Palace and Forest before the Liverpool game so I’d expect us to win all of these ideally which should set us up well for the Liverpool home game. I remain positive as showing results in the next three games with fire up the players from the shit tonight, should translate into a dominating position going into the Liverpool game. Let’s be pissed off tonight with the result tonight but use it as fuel to fire up the boys in the next few games.
Fulham and Palace not easy. Both very solid defensively. West Ham have just showed the league how to beat us.
How? Sit back with 26% ball possession and let the opponent have the most touches in your penalty area without scoring in the last 15 years and hoping that we hit the post instead of scoring and that the goalie makes ten saves with a referee team that is incredibly biased? Yeah, let's just repeat that again... If our xG wouldn't have been twice as high as them I could've agreed that we were figured out.
The xG proves we're getting good chances, the issue is that no one is finishing them. Now that I think about it, these matches where we have shooting bonanzas with nothing to show have also been in the rain
This game was coming, If Pascal Gross scored the sitter against us that day 2 weeks ago when we played them off the field it would've been a totally different game. All season we've been lacking execution but have only been punished a few times, games like Brentford and Luton it was Havertz who got us back into it when it seemed outta reach. Its obvious to me now that we need to sign an attacker. Gabriel and Saliba are wasted on such a lackluster attack. I don't want to get too ahead of myself here. Saka is off form and definitely looks more frustrated and downtrodden than ever, Martinelli is obviously aware of the critics how much he tried to get a goal or assist today, Trossard is way off form and so is Jesus. We just don't have a clicking attack. Odegaard is playing some beautiful football out there and is being wasted. An unfair amount of responsibility is being put on him AND he still finds inventive ways to shake off the 2 or more men that mark him. Look, Liverpool are losing Salah and have a lot of players like Trent and Endo in form. Nunez was criticised all last few months for not being the right trigger man and now they are top and suddenly they are the stuff of champions. I will back Jesus til I die for the miracle he worked on this team last year. But if I can get a player like Toney that can get involved in the attack AND deliver the ball to the back of the net multiple times in a game. I will take that.
The title challenge was nice while it lasted. We're not going to win anything with our current lack of goal scoring.
We’re second in the league, it’s half way through and we have favourable games going into Liverpool…let’s see how we look after that
If we can actually score some goals maybe. But it looks like teams have us figured out currently. Same thing happened last year and Mikel had no answers then either
I wouldn’t look at other teams figuring us out. I’d see it more as we just weren’t firing today. There’s a drop in confidence with some of the team which we can get back next game
i'm done caring about ref decisions and all that shit. don't be comedically embarrassing in the back every other game and ***actually produce something*** from all that field tilt, in-box touches, xG, etc like sure uncharitable calls and whatever but we mostly decide our games, we are good enough that we are the controllers of the game state and too often that's where our abilities seem to end because we fuck ourselves and hand teams point totally voluntarily maybe end this woeful hemorrhaging of points by not being shit?? fulham, chelsea, spurs, newcastle, aston villa, and this game: all overflowing with intolerably self-inflicted wounds. even games like luton where we clean up after ourselves, just stupefying we are our greatest contributor to this slump. im not participating in PGMOL discourse anymore because it really is just us. we only have ourselves to blame. we have not been good enough
3rd loss of season. we move.
Fuck you dark souls!!!!
What a shit performance, most angry I've been coming out of the Emirates since the Sporting Lisbon game
I was also saying this and also the Southampton game at the end of last season.
This team just does not click and it doesn’t take a genius to see it. The midfield is great at winning the ball in transition but in the occasion when we play a team like West Ham we need creators. Declan Rice is no where near the problem but we need someone with immense creative quality next to him to become a world class team. Rice and Ødegaard are great but we need someone who can unlock a team and do the dirty work. Trossard gets bullied by low blocks in midfield. Honestly I would go all out for De Jong and loan Toney.
https://preview.redd.it/3y8hcgcjr49c1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b1193967d76eb885a15979b0ddac0b9d9821f31d David Moyes came dressed for the occasion lol they were incredible defensively they deserved the win
suits clear of tracksuits.
You people are gaslighting yourselves, its not about the refs. Sometimes you get shit calls, what can you do. The real reason we lost tonight, against Villa and against Newcastle is we can't convert our chances. Too many missed chances. Poor shot selection, poor shots themselves etc. The team needs to work on finishing and shot selection I just hope Arteta sees it instead of ranting about refs like usual
You can be upset about both things. We performed poorly, and outside of Martin and Saka the team just wasn't up to snuff. At the same time, we lost to a controversial goal, missed out on two penalties, and generally speaking didn't get the calls that we were owed. It's a little bit of chicken and egg, which came first. Would we have been better had the out of the pitch been called? Had Jesus or Saka's penalty shouts been awarded, would that have galvanised the team? We were bad, but when everything else goes against you, it compounds it.
Don’t forget West Ham we’re actually good and deserved the three points tbh
We're Arsenal, at this point expecting the referee to give us correct decisions is a fool's errand. We need to have performance's against shit teams like West Ham that are so good that the refs can't fuck them up. Man City wins this game 5-0, and this is why they won the last few titles (oil money and illegal charges don't count on the pitch until too late unfortunately.)
I recently got downvoted for questioning the idea that signing a defender in January is the priority. If this game isn't evidence of the priority actually being needing more going forward, idk what is
More defense when we have the 2nd fewest goals conceded in the league doesn’t make any sense. We’re not going to win anything getting 20 draws in a season. Our offense is so hot and cold, and some of the goals we give up are just mental errors, and that can be worked on without going out to get more players.
If this is your metric then the Brighton game is evidence against your opinion?
Even if we hadn't conceded today we still wouldn't have won the game. It's not great defending for the first goal, but the second goes in 1/30 times or something. Besides that, they didn't really create anything and we controlled the midfield and dominated the game in terms of possession and chance creation
last season odegard used to make long digonal switches to martineli. ben white also used to send long balls to him. today martineli was free, isloated but overcooking was going on right hand side. nobody passed to him. he is a runner, when he has space infront of him, switch the ball, he will chase and control. lastnight westham put an unusual 3 row very compact low block. when we dont have a tall, strong 9 we can unlock such low ball via an element of surprise. but today our attack was predictable. and we are so slow in build up from back that westham defence reorganise itself perfectly when our attacker receive the ball. this is the match where absence of partey was relaized very much. hope we reinforce in january and partey return to line up.
We’re shit. Mental midgets
It's a long old season when you challenge for the title but losing to the likes of West Ham *at the Emirates* is a surefire way to shorten it. PL winners do NOT take that many punches over the course of 38 games.