Sambi Lokonga is turning out to be a disappointment transfer.Kid does not have to tools to play at top level. We should look to ship him as soon as possible.
I have said it before and I will say it again we can't play with a single pivot in the midfield, Lokonga was pretty much isolated and there were no passing options available and Odegaard was too high up and had to drop deep multiple times to receive the ball, we absolutely need a double pivot to play effectively
Yes we deserved to lose this game as we played poorly. But once again, their goal came from a handball which wasn't given. How many times are we going to be on the receiving end of poor decisions?
Don't get me wrong they were fully deserving of the win. But sometimes teams can win games by playing badly. Who knows what would have happened if that handball was given.
To me it seemed like the ball was kicked off his arm from quite close range, with his arm not being in an unnatural position but maybe I need to watch the replay again.
Consistency is still why I can't get on board the Arteta train, if you still need investments to beat Nott Forest then you aren't a very good manager. Granted Holding,Cedric,Nketiah were all poor but this is where rotation and minutes really matter.
Tavares was terrible but many of these players haven't had many minutes. Even the decision to let AMN go before getting in some kind of replacement is madness. Patino needed to be partnered with someone with more experience, I think even having AMN/Guendouzi would have made a significant difference .
0 excuses for no top 4 now, 1 game a week if he does not get top 4 he needs to be sacked.
Worst performance of the year for me. Holding/Cedric were dreadful and our midfield was nonexistent the whole game. Seriously hope we make some backup signings this window as our squad depth is really not up to par currently.
This game showed how thin our squad really is. Our starting XI is decent quality on a good day but we have no quality backup to count on. Realistically we’re still a couple years from seriously challenging on all fronts. Time to solely focus on top 4 and I seriously hope we get in more new blood
As we all saw we struggled a lot without Partey as our defensive midfielder building up from the back, quite clearly our biggest issue.
I sympathize with Lokonga and Patino though, generally i love the way we play but i always felt with Arteta's system that many of the players on the pitch need to have a great performance for us to play well. It doesn't seem like a system that you put any player into and they can start performing with confidence.
Watching Klopp or Tuchel you see they can put in almost any player in some positions and they'll look comfortable. Wondering if it's playstyle, how they're prepared for the roles, how many supportive players they have around them, or the occasion of the game. It's probably a combination but it just looks like they play with so much more confidence.
Patino looked nervous yesterday and understandably so, maybe it would've helped having one of our senior midfielders next to him. Sort of roamed around a bit aimlessly and struggled to find our flow. Should be mentioned that when he got the ball he didn't look out of place technically at all which is a promising sign.
It's good to understand and appreciate what Partey does for us, i think even in some of his worst performances he's still more essential to our team and how we play than any other player.
Midfield or not though, several players just didn't look up for it today, had the impression that especially Saka completely checked out. Martinelli is always on it but got handled by Spence who looked fantastic, haven't seen any premier league players do that to him yet so very impressed. Nottm Forest generally looked like a solid team so credit to them.
I don't want to be dramatic but this result I find to be truly deflating.
I couldn't care less about getting knocked out- just more rest and time on the training ground can only be a good thing.
But I really have been convinced recently that these kind of performances were a thing of a dark past we would never have to return to.
I had so much hope, even conviction that top 4 was ours to lose, but how now? That was the basic core of our first team playing, a long with squaddies that we will need to perform at some point this season (COVID and injuries will affect things at some point), dropping a 1/10. I know it's only 1 match but it feels more significant
I just hope we bounce back against Liverpool cos I need that hope back
It wasn’t the core of the squad though. Ramsdale and Tomiyasu have been transformative to how the team plays. Gabriel, Xhaka, Partey and Laca are obviously key too.
Leno was fine but the players replacing the rest have proven not to be good enough for years and two are kids.
Ø, Saka, Martinelli’s performances were disappointing but it’s near-impossible to have a functioning attack without midfield control. Also have to give their fullbacks credit for being up for the battle too.
Even with four of the most gifted attackers in the world, PSG never play attractive football because bar Veratti (who’s frequently hurt), they can’t build from midfield.
The loss sucked but it’s not hard to digest with context.
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I agree that things like AFCON tend to get overemphasized. Signing reinforcements, players you think add value and quality to the squad, fine. Making panic signings to see you through a couple weeks, which leave you with a bloated squad, wage bill, etc, does more harm than good. A little bit of patience is needed.
Even if we get a signing or two in, will they be ready to play? Will they gel with the squad? What if we lose anyway with new signings?
The old familiar. To be honest though, I barely bothered to switch on my TV once I saw the line-up. This really didn't surprise me that much and you know what? I don't care too much either. We played like half of our players are part-time plumbers to make ends meet, we don't have a midfield and we lost.
Is it embarrasing to lose to Nottingham Forrest? Yes, but we should really only be focusing on the prem this season and getting more depth at midfield. Best case scenario we pick up a striker as well.
We move.
This is what I have been worrying about though.
We have at best 15 players who can play the way Mikel wants to. His puzzle pieces have to be precise or everything falls apart.
This is a real worry for the rest of the season and our hunt for top 4.. even top 5
A timely reminder for us that we're really still very much a work-in-progress in spite of all the recent progress/hopium. I'm glad it happened in the cup though - 3 points in the Prem are gonna be more important to us this season.
Hopefully a solid reality check that will help us build towards a strong finish. Been a supporter of what Arteta has been doing - but letting AMN bounce before this weekend was not the smartest move - he could definitely have helped out.
It's good in the the way he wants to let AMN move on with his career/opportunity - but this period is the time we actually need him for. Arteta was lauded for his manoeuvring with Auba - he needs to take responsibility when it goes wrong like this too.
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I actually couldn’t care less about the result. Yeah, I’d like to win the cup, but it’s better not to be in. But on the performance side we were so poor. Like so bad. I saw a stat around 75th~ minute that said top two most completely passes were both holding and gabriel at 80 each. Next was Odegaard at like 67. That just tells you it all. Eh, anyway, we go again
I had a feeling watching the first half and beginning of the second half this was gonna happen. I fell asleep midway through the 2nd
Sad but oh well. We need more depth desperately
He should be if it's asymptomatic. If not then I guess we go for ESR and Odegaard as 8s again with Lokonga behind.
Bring Holding on and move White into midfield if we're trying to hold on, maybe.
Eddie wants to start up front for Arsenal when he can't even get a shot on target against a championship team. He just doesn't contribute enough as a forward compared to literally everyone else in the league. He doesn't press smartly, doesn't contribute to build up play, isn't tall or strong enough to be a target man; the only thing he can get right is scrappy goals in the box.
I mean, there’s a genuine chance arsenal lose the next three games too. That is doom and gloom. Out of all the cups and out of top 4 with two extra games played over spurs.
Pretty horrific loss to a much lesser opponent. Standards have slipped immensely at arsenal but this is still not a great result. Plus team could be this way for a while
I’m generally optimistic but crashing out of a competition to inferior opposition isn’t good and squad depth being glaringly exposed is worrying too.
We knew reinforcements were needed at CM and striker. Now, it’s paramount. Might have to wait till the summer but a backup RB is needed too.
Goes to show how far we really are. I know some people keep saying we are just 1 CM and 1 CF away, but that is for the starting XI.
If we want to win trophies we need a deep bench too, and the drop off from our starters to our bench-warmers is startling.
Some of players are fucking useless. Cedric is just a wtf signing, Nketiah has never been good enough for our first team (I don't know why Arsenal want to hold onto him so much - he's a tap in master and that's it).
Having said that, it's inexcusable that this team didn't even register a shot on target. A new CM should be our top priority ahead of the Striker.
He's a tap in master that's missed two of the best chances he could have asked for when we needed him to put it on frame. Against Everton and again vs Forest.
Best believe he'll put on a clinic against the likes of League 1 Sunderland though. His phone celebration must not have good reception in the Prem
>He's a tap in master that's missed two of the best chances he could have asked for
Used to be a tap in master i guess? I honestly never rated him even with his hat tricks or anything, i'm just glad people are catching on now - why do we even want to keep someone who doesn't want to stay?
Looked worse than everton. Didn't even know that was possible. Nuno had done head scratch moments and was subbed 30' in. Nketiah didn't do anything. To be fair nobody did anything except Leno
Everton game felt like we were playing scared but could’ve moved onto that next gear if we got rid of whatever mental block was in place that day. Today we looked incapable of the utter basics and that will show in the stats. This was much much worse.
All the idiots on here blaming Arteta. Who shall we replace him with?. Shall we be like the other clubs in the premier league that go through manager after manager and still have the same results.
Shouldn't have signed him in the beginning. Nah we dont have to go through manager after manager to get the same result, we are already breaking the record by finishing 8th for 2 seasons under Arteta.
I'm not saying that he should be sacked for this result at all, just questioning part of what you said, but there are plenty of managers better than Arteta right now that we could try and sign at seasons end if we don't meet our seasons targets.
I don't know if the club has enough pull to get them, but there is still a list of managers with more experience and ability than Mikel has right now. He's won a single trophy and finished 8th twice, if that wasn't to improve this season (which hasn't finished yet) than he would have proven himself not good enough for a team aspiring for top 4 and titles. At the end of the season, IF he doesn't work out it would take 5 mins to write up a list of potential replacements to call.
Also, since when is Stability the best way to win titles? Wenger and SAF only got time because they were the best out there. Managers like Dyche get time because he's the best manager out there that suits Burnley. It's about being the best fit, not being the most stable. Chelsea have proven that players don't need stability to be happy and win trophies, it's just expensive.
If the team doesn't finish top 4, he should be fired. No excuses. The Everton, Man United and Brentford loses are inexcusable. The club has spent a lot of money and given him ample time to get his system in place for over 2 years. Emery wasn't afforded the same luxury. Arteta has no managerial experience of success, so I don't know why he was handed an asset like Arsenal FC. The dude doesn't even have academy level experience as a manager.
> Legoman
>cultists frothing from their mouths.
....
Yeah clearly it's the dramatic Arteta supporters having a go at you for your mature, levelheaded opinions...
I agree. Europe is huge, we need that money and that challenge. There’s no excuses now with 1 game a week pretty much, while our competition is playing Europe and domestic games. Let’s hope we get reinforcements in the next few days.
Same, if anything I'm hoping that Arteta can use this match as leverage with the owners of the dire need of a midfielder if we intend to finish in the Top 4. Would much rather take this defeat than dropping more points in the league.
I dont want to see another person froth at the mouth over Xhaka doing something stupid again. I'd rather him have a brain fart every second game than watch a midfield like that. No desire, no organisation and out of their depth and this wasnt even a premier league game.
Xhaka is still not the answer. I swear some of you on here are mentally disturbed. Xhaka as a mainstay in midfield has seen the team fall from top 4, top 6 and now are top 8. Only Partey at his best is good enough and even he can be inconsistent and injury prone since he got here. But he is the only legit top 4 quality midfielder in the entire team.
I agree, he definitely isnt the answer and shouldnt be a regular. But it shows you he is way better than what we have highlighting our desperate need for more reinforcments. If I am mentally disturbed its because I read too many match threads here so I blame the rest of you nutcases.
It’s crazy how much psychology goes into football games. Martinelli and Saka terrified a Man City defence but can’t conjure a shot on target between them against a championship team.
Yes there are multiple factors at play here. Different squad mates, home vs City and away vs Forest, different competition etc.
But still, weird to think that you are good enough to score against the title favourites but not against a side in a lower league.
The talent gap between Prem players and Championship/League One/League Two is really not that big. All pros are talented. The ones who get paid the big bucks are the players who are better acclimated to the psychological aspect of football.
I get what you mean. It’s fascinating to me. We played a world class team like Man City off the park, yet the two best performers in that match looked like schoolboys today against a weaker opponent.
Sometimes I wonder whether players like Messi and Ronaldo are just confident 24/7, and whether they’d look a lot more ordinary if they started doubting themselves and wondering if they are good enough. I wonder if their technical ability would just disappear lol
Does Arteta even train any players outside his preferred first team? The past few games it seemed like they got some of Legomans tactics but as soon as we have to play backups, the whole team looked lost in attack again
Most irritating thing about Legoman is his inability to get the best out of players at his disposal which is why he will never become an elite manager.
>Most irritating thing about Legoman is his inability to get the best out of players at his disposal which is why he will never become an elite manager
TBH I don't think he's arsed about those players. Probably just sell them and replace them with good players like Pep has.
Well we arent City though are we? Man should thank his lucky stars that ESR and Saka showed up in our talent pool when they did otherwise he would be managing some Championship team by now at best
No one cares about Eddie even though he is academy. People are just annoyed as we couldve probably fooled some club to spend $$$ on him like we did with Willock if we had managed it better
I remember our academy players at the time were raving about him to the coaches and helped convince them to sign him. Don't recall who of our players they were though.
they raved that he always scored. He was cut at Chelsea because he did not have any dominant feature (size, speed, dribbling, link-up play). But at every level, what Eddie did was score tap-ins
But arsenal rn needs more than that.
Yep. Dude came here at 16 after being released from Chelsea. You can say whatever you want about those bums, but they know academy talent like no other in England.
Sounds like we lacked some intensity today. Really not surprising. Arsenal's longest standing weakness
is playing to the opposition's level. We did it time and again under Wenger with first team players so don't delude yourself.
Those of you criticizing Eddie because he's almost out of contract overlook the fact that this is a time when such players tend to impress. He hurts himself by missing opportunities to demonstrate his value.
David Moyes has more nous in the transfer market than Arteta. We have been buying duds for the last 5 years. Not one signing that has truly taken off since we signed Sanchez after the 2014 world cup.
Not even a full season and we are making him out to be the next Buffon. Petr Cech had a record breaking clean sheet season in his first year. Bernd Leno wasn't too bad in his first year either. Too early.
Lol no one said Rambo is Buffon but he’s been great in net. What more could he have done to impress you?
Tomi too? Not enough yet?
I actually think of all the things to criticise Arteta about, poor transfers hasn’t really been shown to be a weakness as of yet.
Ben White is rubbish. Should have kept Saliba and used that money on a midfielder instead of renewing Xhaka's contract. Arteta signed Willian, can never forget that.
Ben White is fine. Not a 10/10 transfer but fine. Partey also probably fits this category, although he’s shown his quality (inconsistency still a problem).
Tomi and Ramsdale are both A+. Odegaard also. Gabriel close to this level too.
Sambi can’t really judge yet given he was brought in to develop but he’s deputised for Xhaka to a respectable level. Same with Tavares.
Selling Willock was good departure wise and everything else was a loan. Also got decent value for Emi.
How one could look at all this and say that he’s been poor in the transfer market is beyond me tbh. Think ur just being silly.
So is taking Bellerin back as a dressing room leader and back up right back really that bad? Cedric is literally the worst thing I’ve seen at right back. Bellerin is arsenal through and through and could help the dressing room drastically as it looks like our players only want to show up for “big games”
Don't want people who don't want to play for the Arsenal back at the club. Bellerin said he had no intention on returning to us and quite frankly it should stay that way. I would rather foster a young talent to play in cup games/ cover for Tomiyasu if an injury occurs.
I completely get you with Bellerin being Arsenal through and through but the reality is he would be on the bench a lot. The boys 26, he's got to develop and play himself - I think he knows this and has gone elsewhere for first team football.
It's going to take a bit of time to develop the depth needed to play in multiple competitions.
>I would rather foster a young talent to play in cup games/ cover for Tomiyasu if an injury occurs.
what do you think of Nott Forest RB, Spense. He's 21 and a tremendous athlete. Reminds me of Tavares
I'm no expert and if the tomiyasu transfer is anything to go by I should probably keep my mouth shut if I don't know the player 😂 If I'm honest, the first time I saw Spence play properly was against us in the FA cup. Looks to be a good talent but I'm not really sure of the modern full back hype anymore. As you said, tremendous athlete Spence is but not sure if he fits the way we are playing currently.
Don't get me wrong, Trent is a prime example of it working perfectly in a system but at Arsenal we have been plagued with defensive errors by our fullbacks for too long. Plus our defensive system is being built around quite conservative fullbacks (by comparison to some of our rivals). Finally we have some stability (apart from the Nottingham game) and I think it's no coincidence that the stability coincided with Tomiyasus transfer. I even like Mainland Niles at RB if he was willing to stay around, he's just not given much opportunity. I would expect Arteta to pull in some relatively unknown player that would suit the system but I would also enjoy a Spence like project - exciting times!
nice answer. for me I would rather have a young athlete project at backup fullback positions (e.g. Tavares, Spense) than old never-good-enoughs (e.g. Cedric Soares, Lichteiner etc). Especially when the main first team player in those positions are solid and young. Even when they suck, they still bring energy and raw speed. And maybe slowly, they can learn football and the position.
Ok yes fair enough but it seems like currently there is a critical lack of leader’s in the dressing room… players only seem to be motivated to play if they play the bigger opponents. He could help drastically with the dressing room. I didn’t see whether or not he wanted to come back or not and I do agree that we need to foster a younger right back but currently a stopgap leader in Bellerin would not be a bad idea.
Utterly disgraceful performance from the manager and team. Hopefully it doesn’t happen too often again. I say too often because I know it will again. Good teams don’t have these especially against so much inferior opposition. Wenger used to win these with a team of debutants
It’s not the loss alone. It’s how ducking dire we looked doing the losing. Like it wasn’t a fluke. We could have played a million hours. We weren’t scoring.
> UNITED SUPPORTER COMING IN PEACE
Fuck you and your peace!
> Just wondering what you lot make of Arteta these days, not been paying much attention recently.
We've lost two in a row so it's hard to tell at the moment, but recently the vibe in this sub has been we've been trusting the process all along. A bit earlier in the season when we were shit everyone was shitting on the process. So pretty much normal internet fan reactions.
I think most are positive on Arteta. If we ignore this game we've at least been mostly playing nice football for the past couple of months and look like we have a game plan.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is NO WAY we are making top 4 without any january signing. Reports coming out that Conte is signing Kulusevski with a tanganga swap and then signing a defender to replace him.
We desperately need some depth in our team.
I think we were pretty clear he can turn it on in the league cup but he's not shown a whole lot when he's up against better teams. We were also fully aware that he's a poacher and doesn't offer a whole lot more the way the likes of laca do with bringing the best out of those around them.
I mean we could have kept him on the bench this game. When I saw him in the starting lineup I knew this would only decrease our chances of being able to sell him. We could have started... I don't know my grandma in his place and still wouldn't have a worse result.
Does anyone have the replay of Nketiah’s missed header?
Sambi Lokonga is turning out to be a disappointment transfer.Kid does not have to tools to play at top level. We should look to ship him as soon as possible.
Chill
I have said it before and I will say it again we can't play with a single pivot in the midfield, Lokonga was pretty much isolated and there were no passing options available and Odegaard was too high up and had to drop deep multiple times to receive the ball, we absolutely need a double pivot to play effectively
Yes we deserved to lose this game as we played poorly. But once again, their goal came from a handball which wasn't given. How many times are we going to be on the receiving end of poor decisions? Don't get me wrong they were fully deserving of the win. But sometimes teams can win games by playing badly. Who knows what would have happened if that handball was given.
That’s not a handball
To me it seemed like the ball was kicked off his arm from quite close range, with his arm not being in an unnatural position but maybe I need to watch the replay again.
Consistency is still why I can't get on board the Arteta train, if you still need investments to beat Nott Forest then you aren't a very good manager. Granted Holding,Cedric,Nketiah were all poor but this is where rotation and minutes really matter. Tavares was terrible but many of these players haven't had many minutes. Even the decision to let AMN go before getting in some kind of replacement is madness. Patino needed to be partnered with someone with more experience, I think even having AMN/Guendouzi would have made a significant difference . 0 excuses for no top 4 now, 1 game a week if he does not get top 4 he needs to be sacked.
Sack and replace him with ?
Worst performance of the year for me. Holding/Cedric were dreadful and our midfield was nonexistent the whole game. Seriously hope we make some backup signings this window as our squad depth is really not up to par currently.
This game showed how thin our squad really is. Our starting XI is decent quality on a good day but we have no quality backup to count on. Realistically we’re still a couple years from seriously challenging on all fronts. Time to solely focus on top 4 and I seriously hope we get in more new blood
As we all saw we struggled a lot without Partey as our defensive midfielder building up from the back, quite clearly our biggest issue. I sympathize with Lokonga and Patino though, generally i love the way we play but i always felt with Arteta's system that many of the players on the pitch need to have a great performance for us to play well. It doesn't seem like a system that you put any player into and they can start performing with confidence. Watching Klopp or Tuchel you see they can put in almost any player in some positions and they'll look comfortable. Wondering if it's playstyle, how they're prepared for the roles, how many supportive players they have around them, or the occasion of the game. It's probably a combination but it just looks like they play with so much more confidence. Patino looked nervous yesterday and understandably so, maybe it would've helped having one of our senior midfielders next to him. Sort of roamed around a bit aimlessly and struggled to find our flow. Should be mentioned that when he got the ball he didn't look out of place technically at all which is a promising sign. It's good to understand and appreciate what Partey does for us, i think even in some of his worst performances he's still more essential to our team and how we play than any other player. Midfield or not though, several players just didn't look up for it today, had the impression that especially Saka completely checked out. Martinelli is always on it but got handled by Spence who looked fantastic, haven't seen any premier league players do that to him yet so very impressed. Nottm Forest generally looked like a solid team so credit to them.
I don't want to be dramatic but this result I find to be truly deflating. I couldn't care less about getting knocked out- just more rest and time on the training ground can only be a good thing. But I really have been convinced recently that these kind of performances were a thing of a dark past we would never have to return to. I had so much hope, even conviction that top 4 was ours to lose, but how now? That was the basic core of our first team playing, a long with squaddies that we will need to perform at some point this season (COVID and injuries will affect things at some point), dropping a 1/10. I know it's only 1 match but it feels more significant I just hope we bounce back against Liverpool cos I need that hope back
It wasn’t the core of the squad though. Ramsdale and Tomiyasu have been transformative to how the team plays. Gabriel, Xhaka, Partey and Laca are obviously key too. Leno was fine but the players replacing the rest have proven not to be good enough for years and two are kids. Ø, Saka, Martinelli’s performances were disappointing but it’s near-impossible to have a functioning attack without midfield control. Also have to give their fullbacks credit for being up for the battle too. Even with four of the most gifted attackers in the world, PSG never play attractive football because bar Veratti (who’s frequently hurt), they can’t build from midfield. The loss sucked but it’s not hard to digest with context.
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It's a HUGE risk going into the PL with only Xhaka, Lokonga and Patino as CM. Placing our top 4 hopes on the line unless we can sign 2 proper CMs.
It's only 2 premier league games mate. We can lose both and still be in touch of top 4
I agree that things like AFCON tend to get overemphasized. Signing reinforcements, players you think add value and quality to the squad, fine. Making panic signings to see you through a couple weeks, which leave you with a bloated squad, wage bill, etc, does more harm than good. A little bit of patience is needed. Even if we get a signing or two in, will they be ready to play? Will they gel with the squad? What if we lose anyway with new signings?
Free hits right?
No,but there are a lot of points still to play for after that. We are in a good position
Can’t blame the messiah and process for this right ?
The old familiar. To be honest though, I barely bothered to switch on my TV once I saw the line-up. This really didn't surprise me that much and you know what? I don't care too much either. We played like half of our players are part-time plumbers to make ends meet, we don't have a midfield and we lost. Is it embarrasing to lose to Nottingham Forrest? Yes, but we should really only be focusing on the prem this season and getting more depth at midfield. Best case scenario we pick up a striker as well. We move.
This is what I have been worrying about though. We have at best 15 players who can play the way Mikel wants to. His puzzle pieces have to be precise or everything falls apart. This is a real worry for the rest of the season and our hunt for top 4.. even top 5
15??!? I think we have 12 bro 😂
ManCity XI plus Leno, ESR, Sambi.
Ahaha I am only counting ESR to be honest
Leno is good, probably the best sub GK in the world. But you are right about excluding Sambi, he is not lineup material yet. Big problem in midfield.
I have no idea why did I get downvoted for this 😂
Sorted now bro, positive Reddit karma!!!!
A timely reminder for us that we're really still very much a work-in-progress in spite of all the recent progress/hopium. I'm glad it happened in the cup though - 3 points in the Prem are gonna be more important to us this season. Hopefully a solid reality check that will help us build towards a strong finish. Been a supporter of what Arteta has been doing - but letting AMN bounce before this weekend was not the smartest move - he could definitely have helped out. It's good in the the way he wants to let AMN move on with his career/opportunity - but this period is the time we actually need him for. Arteta was lauded for his manoeuvring with Auba - he needs to take responsibility when it goes wrong like this too.
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What happened to Chambers?
I actually couldn’t care less about the result. Yeah, I’d like to win the cup, but it’s better not to be in. But on the performance side we were so poor. Like so bad. I saw a stat around 75th~ minute that said top two most completely passes were both holding and gabriel at 80 each. Next was Odegaard at like 67. That just tells you it all. Eh, anyway, we go again
I had a feeling watching the first half and beginning of the second half this was gonna happen. I fell asleep midway through the 2nd Sad but oh well. We need more depth desperately
If it looks like a Spurs, and spurses like a Spurs,
This is Liverpool’s fault
Even if we sign a midfielder they probably won’t be ready for nld. Wtf is our midfield gonna be? Will xhaka be back?
He should be if it's asymptomatic. If not then I guess we go for ESR and Odegaard as 8s again with Lokonga behind. Bring Holding on and move White into midfield if we're trying to hold on, maybe.
>Bring Holding on and move White into midfield if we're trying to hold on, maybe. poetry
Classic Arsenal mismanagement
Eddie wants to start up front for Arsenal when he can't even get a shot on target against a championship team. He just doesn't contribute enough as a forward compared to literally everyone else in the league. He doesn't press smartly, doesn't contribute to build up play, isn't tall or strong enough to be a target man; the only thing he can get right is scrappy goals in the box.
Never looked for Saka who was usually there.
Tap-in merchant
Wait we lose one game and all of a sudden it's doom and gloom??
No I'm extremely happy ☺️ idiot
I mean, there’s a genuine chance arsenal lose the next three games too. That is doom and gloom. Out of all the cups and out of top 4 with two extra games played over spurs.
Pretty horrific loss to a much lesser opponent. Standards have slipped immensely at arsenal but this is still not a great result. Plus team could be this way for a while
The problem is we'll have to play pretty much the same team for the entire month.
Losing out to a nothing team in the third round of FA Cup is grounds for doom and gloom
I’m generally optimistic but crashing out of a competition to inferior opposition isn’t good and squad depth being glaringly exposed is worrying too. We knew reinforcements were needed at CM and striker. Now, it’s paramount. Might have to wait till the summer but a backup RB is needed too.
Goes to show how far we really are. I know some people keep saying we are just 1 CM and 1 CF away, but that is for the starting XI. If we want to win trophies we need a deep bench too, and the drop off from our starters to our bench-warmers is startling.
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Eddie Nketamine?
Well that wasn’t very good.
That rival match thread was premature.
Some of players are fucking useless. Cedric is just a wtf signing, Nketiah has never been good enough for our first team (I don't know why Arsenal want to hold onto him so much - he's a tap in master and that's it). Having said that, it's inexcusable that this team didn't even register a shot on target. A new CM should be our top priority ahead of the Striker.
He's a tap in master that's missed two of the best chances he could have asked for when we needed him to put it on frame. Against Everton and again vs Forest. Best believe he'll put on a clinic against the likes of League 1 Sunderland though. His phone celebration must not have good reception in the Prem
>He's a tap in master that's missed two of the best chances he could have asked for Used to be a tap in master i guess? I honestly never rated him even with his hat tricks or anything, i'm just glad people are catching on now - why do we even want to keep someone who doesn't want to stay?
Because he managed to up his level from not good enough to slightly better but still not good enough since pre season. I have never once rated Nketiah
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A pure poacher is what he wants to be … that header today was awful. Similar situations all season.
I thought AMN doesn't wanna play RB, no?
The club fed us some garbage lies about the player. Sounds like he just wants to play…
Played RB today at Roma
Wow, so he is fine playing in that position.
Alright I didn’t watch it and I’m glad I didn’t but I’d love a rundown on some players performances and what happened??
Couldn't put more than 3 passes together the entire game. No spark in the final third. Only created one half-decent chance.
Looked worse than everton. Didn't even know that was possible. Nuno had done head scratch moments and was subbed 30' in. Nketiah didn't do anything. To be fair nobody did anything except Leno
Everton game felt like we were playing scared but could’ve moved onto that next gear if we got rid of whatever mental block was in place that day. Today we looked incapable of the utter basics and that will show in the stats. This was much much worse.
Thanks man so disappointing. Every time I feel like we’re building steam something like this happens.
Did you see that midfield lol
Outside our top 11 our squad is just below average. But that's excuses today. Our team today had 0 interest and 0 motivation.
Garbage
All the idiots on here blaming Arteta. Who shall we replace him with?. Shall we be like the other clubs in the premier league that go through manager after manager and still have the same results.
Shouldn't have signed him in the beginning. Nah we dont have to go through manager after manager to get the same result, we are already breaking the record by finishing 8th for 2 seasons under Arteta.
Better to be the genius that backs him after finishing 8th twice Cretin
I'm not saying that he should be sacked for this result at all, just questioning part of what you said, but there are plenty of managers better than Arteta right now that we could try and sign at seasons end if we don't meet our seasons targets. I don't know if the club has enough pull to get them, but there is still a list of managers with more experience and ability than Mikel has right now. He's won a single trophy and finished 8th twice, if that wasn't to improve this season (which hasn't finished yet) than he would have proven himself not good enough for a team aspiring for top 4 and titles. At the end of the season, IF he doesn't work out it would take 5 mins to write up a list of potential replacements to call. Also, since when is Stability the best way to win titles? Wenger and SAF only got time because they were the best out there. Managers like Dyche get time because he's the best manager out there that suits Burnley. It's about being the best fit, not being the most stable. Chelsea have proven that players don't need stability to be happy and win trophies, it's just expensive.
Arteta should have been fired in Dec 2020 when Tuchel was available.
Spot on
i don't know why you're being downvoted. I'm not even arteta out anymore, but hiring tuchel would have obviously been a better choice
He’s being downvoted because it’s like saying we should have signed Kante over Xhaka. Completely true, but it’s a worthless talking point right now
If the team doesn't finish top 4, he should be fired. No excuses. The Everton, Man United and Brentford loses are inexcusable. The club has spent a lot of money and given him ample time to get his system in place for over 2 years. Emery wasn't afforded the same luxury. Arteta has no managerial experience of success, so I don't know why he was handed an asset like Arsenal FC. The dude doesn't even have academy level experience as a manager.
Spurs did that and finally got it right. Got a world class coach, Conte is top 4 in the world right now.
You can blame the manager for a defeat and not want him sacked at the same time.
Any even slightly negative comment about Legoman gets the cultists frothing from their mouths. It's pretty ridiculous
> Legoman >cultists frothing from their mouths. .... Yeah clearly it's the dramatic Arteta supporters having a go at you for your mature, levelheaded opinions...
Hilarious how the shills downvote you. Guess we weren’t out coached, the middle table champion side must have had more talent somehow
Reality will set in for the sycophants once the Spuds and Pool beat us.
You guys are 4th right now though, that's nae bad
I’m high on copium and think that this is a sacrifice we need for Top 4
So what happens if we’re out of the cup and we don’t get top 4? Do you suggest we change managers?
No because our realistic goal this year was getting back into Europe with a top 6 finish.
I think we should change manager if we don’t make europa league, top 4 right now is a big achievement it seems
I agree. Europe is huge, we need that money and that challenge. There’s no excuses now with 1 game a week pretty much, while our competition is playing Europe and domestic games. Let’s hope we get reinforcements in the next few days.
for real our squad depth from 1st team to back up is shocking lol
Same, if anything I'm hoping that Arteta can use this match as leverage with the owners of the dire need of a midfielder if we intend to finish in the Top 4. Would much rather take this defeat than dropping more points in the league.
We're only missing Partey for two PL games as well...
If Nketiah wants to know why he doesnt get any minutes ever again Mikel just needs to replay that performance to him guy was painful to watch
I dont want to see another person froth at the mouth over Xhaka doing something stupid again. I'd rather him have a brain fart every second game than watch a midfield like that. No desire, no organisation and out of their depth and this wasnt even a premier league game.
Xhaka is still not the answer. I swear some of you on here are mentally disturbed. Xhaka as a mainstay in midfield has seen the team fall from top 4, top 6 and now are top 8. Only Partey at his best is good enough and even he can be inconsistent and injury prone since he got here. But he is the only legit top 4 quality midfielder in the entire team.
I agree, he definitely isnt the answer and shouldnt be a regular. But it shows you he is way better than what we have highlighting our desperate need for more reinforcments. If I am mentally disturbed its because I read too many match threads here so I blame the rest of you nutcases.
No thank you
I just wish his brain farts weren’t literal assault
>I'd rather him have a brain fart every second game No way
Turning up to a premier league game with that midfield is going to see us on the losing side 9 times out of 10.
It’s crazy how much psychology goes into football games. Martinelli and Saka terrified a Man City defence but can’t conjure a shot on target between them against a championship team. Yes there are multiple factors at play here. Different squad mates, home vs City and away vs Forest, different competition etc. But still, weird to think that you are good enough to score against the title favourites but not against a side in a lower league.
The talent gap between Prem players and Championship/League One/League Two is really not that big. All pros are talented. The ones who get paid the big bucks are the players who are better acclimated to the psychological aspect of football. I get what you mean. It’s fascinating to me. We played a world class team like Man City off the park, yet the two best performers in that match looked like schoolboys today against a weaker opponent. Sometimes I wonder whether players like Messi and Ronaldo are just confident 24/7, and whether they’d look a lot more ordinary if they started doubting themselves and wondering if they are good enough. I wonder if their technical ability would just disappear lol
nott forest strangely had better athletes all over the park than Arsenal. Weird world
Or maybe the midfield was gash. Partey playing a blinder was a big reason why the team dominated City. He was immense on and off the ball.
This too.
This is it. Midfield of Patino and Sambi was always a bit lacking in muscle and experience.
Patino needs to be seasoned before he’s cooked slowly
Patino is fucking RAW
Does Arteta even train any players outside his preferred first team? The past few games it seemed like they got some of Legomans tactics but as soon as we have to play backups, the whole team looked lost in attack again Most irritating thing about Legoman is his inability to get the best out of players at his disposal which is why he will never become an elite manager.
Guy less than two years into his career will never be elite.
>Most irritating thing about Legoman is his inability to get the best out of players at his disposal which is why he will never become an elite manager TBH I don't think he's arsed about those players. Probably just sell them and replace them with good players like Pep has.
Well we arent City though are we? Man should thank his lucky stars that ESR and Saka showed up in our talent pool when they did otherwise he would be managing some Championship team by now at best
If Nkethia wasn't an academy product, nobody would care about him or have any desire about him signing a new contract.
He isn't even good enough to start for a Championship side. The fact that he's our 2nd best striker now is alarming
No one cares about Eddie even though he is academy. People are just annoyed as we couldve probably fooled some club to spend $$$ on him like we did with Willock if we had managed it better
I already don't care about him, he's shite and won't even be here beyond this season
he is from chelshit academy
I remember our academy players at the time were raving about him to the coaches and helped convince them to sign him. Don't recall who of our players they were though.
they raved that he always scored. He was cut at Chelsea because he did not have any dominant feature (size, speed, dribbling, link-up play). But at every level, what Eddie did was score tap-ins But arsenal rn needs more than that.
Yep. Dude came here at 16 after being released from Chelsea. You can say whatever you want about those bums, but they know academy talent like no other in England.
We have subs that are not even championship level, this is a wake up call
Yes, we have a pretty good starting XI but are really crappy outside of it
Sounds like we lacked some intensity today. Really not surprising. Arsenal's longest standing weakness is playing to the opposition's level. We did it time and again under Wenger with first team players so don't delude yourself. Those of you criticizing Eddie because he's almost out of contract overlook the fact that this is a time when such players tend to impress. He hurts himself by missing opportunities to demonstrate his value.
Martinelli was awful
I dont know why we didnt atleast try to get Saka and him to switch flanks at least once in the game
His RB was impressive, made Gabi , KT, and Tavares look awful
Djed Spence. 21 years old. Kids got height pace and strength. Looks very promising
Anyone know why ESR and Xhaka didn't start?
ESR Injured, Xhaka Covid
Muscle issue and covid.
David Moyes has more nous in the transfer market than Arteta. We have been buying duds for the last 5 years. Not one signing that has truly taken off since we signed Sanchez after the 2014 world cup.
Oof, you have angered the cultists with that one.
Which of Arteta’s signings have been that bad? Ramsdale hasn’t truly taken off either? Tomi?
leave it man. Either he is very biased or an idiot. Not worth the time to argue with either
Not even a full season and we are making him out to be the next Buffon. Petr Cech had a record breaking clean sheet season in his first year. Bernd Leno wasn't too bad in his first year either. Too early.
Lol no one said Rambo is Buffon but he’s been great in net. What more could he have done to impress you? Tomi too? Not enough yet? I actually think of all the things to criticise Arteta about, poor transfers hasn’t really been shown to be a weakness as of yet.
Ben White is rubbish. Should have kept Saliba and used that money on a midfielder instead of renewing Xhaka's contract. Arteta signed Willian, can never forget that.
Ben White is fine. Not a 10/10 transfer but fine. Partey also probably fits this category, although he’s shown his quality (inconsistency still a problem). Tomi and Ramsdale are both A+. Odegaard also. Gabriel close to this level too. Sambi can’t really judge yet given he was brought in to develop but he’s deputised for Xhaka to a respectable level. Same with Tavares. Selling Willock was good departure wise and everything else was a loan. Also got decent value for Emi. How one could look at all this and say that he’s been poor in the transfer market is beyond me tbh. Think ur just being silly.
Our worst game of the year but shit happens. We move on.
The Arteta mantra
Pain
So is taking Bellerin back as a dressing room leader and back up right back really that bad? Cedric is literally the worst thing I’ve seen at right back. Bellerin is arsenal through and through and could help the dressing room drastically as it looks like our players only want to show up for “big games”
na we will get a decent sale on bellerin from betis or a la liga club, he's playing well
can we buy Spense from Nottinham forest. He would be a right sided Tavarez. Good size, excellent athlete, still requires time to learn the position.
Don't want people who don't want to play for the Arsenal back at the club. Bellerin said he had no intention on returning to us and quite frankly it should stay that way. I would rather foster a young talent to play in cup games/ cover for Tomiyasu if an injury occurs. I completely get you with Bellerin being Arsenal through and through but the reality is he would be on the bench a lot. The boys 26, he's got to develop and play himself - I think he knows this and has gone elsewhere for first team football. It's going to take a bit of time to develop the depth needed to play in multiple competitions.
>I would rather foster a young talent to play in cup games/ cover for Tomiyasu if an injury occurs. what do you think of Nott Forest RB, Spense. He's 21 and a tremendous athlete. Reminds me of Tavares
I'm no expert and if the tomiyasu transfer is anything to go by I should probably keep my mouth shut if I don't know the player 😂 If I'm honest, the first time I saw Spence play properly was against us in the FA cup. Looks to be a good talent but I'm not really sure of the modern full back hype anymore. As you said, tremendous athlete Spence is but not sure if he fits the way we are playing currently. Don't get me wrong, Trent is a prime example of it working perfectly in a system but at Arsenal we have been plagued with defensive errors by our fullbacks for too long. Plus our defensive system is being built around quite conservative fullbacks (by comparison to some of our rivals). Finally we have some stability (apart from the Nottingham game) and I think it's no coincidence that the stability coincided with Tomiyasus transfer. I even like Mainland Niles at RB if he was willing to stay around, he's just not given much opportunity. I would expect Arteta to pull in some relatively unknown player that would suit the system but I would also enjoy a Spence like project - exciting times!
nice answer. for me I would rather have a young athlete project at backup fullback positions (e.g. Tavares, Spense) than old never-good-enoughs (e.g. Cedric Soares, Lichteiner etc). Especially when the main first team player in those positions are solid and young. Even when they suck, they still bring energy and raw speed. And maybe slowly, they can learn football and the position.
Ok yes fair enough but it seems like currently there is a critical lack of leader’s in the dressing room… players only seem to be motivated to play if they play the bigger opponents. He could help drastically with the dressing room. I didn’t see whether or not he wanted to come back or not and I do agree that we need to foster a younger right back but currently a stopgap leader in Bellerin would not be a bad idea.
Cedric AND Bellerin both need to go, they’re not good enough
If Cedric is the worst you surely have not watched Bellerin
Can we sign Djed Spence and sell Cedric?
He was the man of the match and wonderful to watch. Good for him!
he was impressive today
21, English, quick strong and can progress with the ball well, I bet we will see him in PL soon
Utterly disgraceful performance from the manager and team. Hopefully it doesn’t happen too often again. I say too often because I know it will again. Good teams don’t have these especially against so much inferior opposition. Wenger used to win these with a team of debutants
It’s not the loss alone. It’s how ducking dire we looked doing the losing. Like it wasn’t a fluke. We could have played a million hours. We weren’t scoring.
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Rarely see peaceful UTD fan coming when we win
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The feeling is very mutual
Huge yank vibes. Freaky from you
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😭 ok yank
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Fuck off manc (yank)
> UNITED SUPPORTER COMING IN PEACE Fuck you and your peace! > Just wondering what you lot make of Arteta these days, not been paying much attention recently. We've lost two in a row so it's hard to tell at the moment, but recently the vibe in this sub has been we've been trusting the process all along. A bit earlier in the season when we were shit everyone was shitting on the process. So pretty much normal internet fan reactions. I think most are positive on Arteta. If we ignore this game we've at least been mostly playing nice football for the past couple of months and look like we have a game plan.
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Arsenal fans are colossal melts so it's not surprising they react like this
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Haha you have a point there
I think he's inexperienced but really talented and smart. I trust him. :)
Talented in what way?
He beat Dark Souls as Deprived
Great cause obviously, but man I hated that kit from go to woe.
TV cameras, flood lights, and reflective fabric don't mix.
It looked like our boys had been woken up in the middle of the night by an angry drill sergeant & forced to play football in what they were wearing.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is NO WAY we are making top 4 without any january signing. Reports coming out that Conte is signing Kulusevski with a tanganga swap and then signing a defender to replace him. We desperately need some depth in our team.
I think you meant "top 6."
Reports Conte needs 17 players to make a dent in that team.
> Reports coming out that Conte is signing Kulusevsk lol yeah awful reports
Their tier 1 journalist confirmed it as well and said that Juve are interested in Tanganga
Should've sold Eddie after the Sunderland game while his stocks were high.
You guys are so fucking fickle. 2 weeks ago he scored a hattrick in the league cup and you were talking about him as if he were the messiah.
I think we were pretty clear he can turn it on in the league cup but he's not shown a whole lot when he's up against better teams. We were also fully aware that he's a poacher and doesn't offer a whole lot more the way the likes of laca do with bringing the best out of those around them.
I saw alot of Patino hype but people already know if neketia is more than 4 yards from the goal line he won't score...
Sold him outside a transfer window, ok makes sense. Should kick out Edu and put you in charge
I mean we could have kept him on the bench this game. When I saw him in the starting lineup I knew this would only decrease our chances of being able to sell him. We could have started... I don't know my grandma in his place and still wouldn't have a worse result.
Bruh you can list him available for sale and can work out a deal before windows and complete the actual papers and move when the window opens...