Every game from now on is a must win if we want to play in Champions League next season. Losing points to Crystal Palace was a set back but it’s in the past and we have a game against Brighton that we can win and go three points above Spu*ds.
It’s going to be an interesting game. Brighton is a well drilled team defensively but lacks the firepower to score. They have won only once in their last 12 games but then, they have shared points against Leicester, Chelsea (twice), West Ham, Liverpool and Arsenal this season. We share the same problem of not having a finisher. Laca can’t score for his life and Arteta will once again hope one of the Saka, ESR/Martinelli scores today.
Team News
Thomas Partey is carrying a significant injury and will be out for few weeks, confirmed on Arsenal.com. Tierney is out too for the rest of this season with a knee injury that required a surgery. That’s two of our starters and if you consider the back ups in Lokonga and Tavares, it’s a huge concern that we are missing them.
It will interesting to see what Arteta prefers defensively. He has subbed out Tavares twice in a row and he might go with Saka at LB. This means Pepe will be back at the Left Wing and we will see a midfield of Lokonga and Xhaka. Hard time create strong men – I’m sure we will see them picking up things like they did earlier in the season.
On Top 4 chances
Asked about the belief of finishing in top 4, Artea said –
[The setback] has happened and it’s happened with nine games to go and we have to react now. We have to show tomorrow the energy, the commitment and the passion that we want to play the game tomorrow in front of our fans.
source: arsenal.com
This is exactly how I used to answer in college if I knew nothing lol. Throw in some heavy words (energy, commitment, passion) and expect the invigilator (fans) is impressed. Talk about setting up a target, in a competitive, result driven game, in your second full season, after spending 150+ million eh?
Anyways, a win today means we go above Spu*ds in the 4th place with 8 games left. A must win again considering Spurs have an easy run of games left and we still have to play Liverpool, Chelsea and United.
Irrespective of injuries I am hoping we win all 3 points and get back the confidence. We require both along with some luck for the remainder of season.
It’s an afternoon start, hope you enjoy that sunshine in the stadium. Short one for today, see in the comments.
Almunia
Hubris before nemesis again in the form of Xhaka before Tavares…. How the fuck did we manage to lose to CP and BHA so abysmally in 5 days? I genuinely fear for the rest of the season now. If only he learnt from these regular setbacks. He’s a dire manager and these kind of results will never be far from the doorstep while he remains in charge. I’m not even going to bother reading the excuses.
Kroenkephobe,
Head up, we are 13 months away from champs lge glory! The cynic in me is fuming,like you said,it’s the hope that kills you.
Watching spurs here is making things worse, villa wasting chances like you wouldn’t believe!
Now we gonna win some of the games left, we might surprise one of the United or Chelsea and then finish 5th. Arteta gets a contract extension and this sh*t show continues.
Edu or the board needs to grow a spine. Losing out to CP and Brighton, in a way we did – easy peasy – should have repercussions. Someone needs to ask Mikel what the fuck is going on.
That’s the problem, it’s like Arteta isn’t accountable. Absolute shit show, no desire, confidence or anything to show they’re fighting for 4th place.
No plan B and why is Xhaka ,Laca unsubbable???
Today is all on the idiot who decided to play Xhaka at LB, destroying any confidence Nuno had left.
Fraudeta
I like Ramsey at Villa, good midfielder. I’d enquire, not sure they’d sell tho. Still, they made an offer for ESR so I’d ask.
Lacazette should not play for us again only for the diving he does. Fuck him, fuck Arteta and fuck spursy c*nts.
I wonder if the Kroenkes are now thinking it was a good idea to succumb to the false economy of not bolstering the squad in the winter TW given the serious blow that has been dealt to our CL qualification chances. We’ve had some grim times in the last 15 years or so – this has to be seen by everyone except Arteta (not Arsenal) fans as another low. How can a team like ours be sooo badly prepared for two crucial games?
Mark,
I really like Ramsey too, seems incredibly mature already. No doubting the talent. Unfortunately Villa don’t seem to be stuck for cash at the moment.
Arteta’s new contract is where it’s at now. If he is given one I may have to check out of Arsenal to preserve my mental health. The last decade of Wenger nearly killed me!
Kroenkephobe,
False economy is right,but it’s a reality that Arteta talked the squad into taking a wage cut( bar one fella ) and then slashed the wage bill. He’s going down the Wenger route of thinking that as long as he impresses his bosses he’ll be rewarded. Fuck the fans right to a club that honestly challenges for the big titles. Anyone know where you can buy a nice watch?
Like a rat leaving a sinking ship…I’m checking out for a few days to the Costa Brava with Ms K’phobe and the twin kiddlywinks. Gonna practice my Catalan and drinking cold lager in the sun, and will be doing my damnedness to forget about N London football if I can. So excuse me for being incommunicado for a few days. I’m taking my prayer mat however in the hope that Kroenke’s golden mont blanc fountain pen is at least hovering over Arteta’s ‘Dear John’ letter. It’s tough to imagine things picking up again this season – all in 6 fucking days. Be in touch next weekend. Keep on keeping on Ambarish if you have time.
Kroenkephobe,
Enjoy the family time,hope you get some great weather. I like the sound of those cold beers…….
Will talk to you next weekend when we can go through it all again….
Almunia, I’ve already emotionally detached myself. Can’t help wanting the team to do well inside. But just know until we get rid of Arteta we’ll not get where we need to be.
Kroenke enjoy your break with the family.👍
Mark, it’s terrible really cos I want to throw myself into it,every match,scream and roar,dream and hope. I want that for my young lad too. Now I’m thinking, don’t do it, you’re only going to drive yourself insane. I genuinely get angry cos I feel like someone is stealing my club from me so I keep following and am driven insane or I withdraw and lose my club. And then venting about it all is described as not being a proper supporter but to me if you are a proper gooner you MUST be suffering because you demand what’s best for your club. It’s all very frustrating. Speaking of which,I’m going to bed,Lowry is going backwards in the masters……
Kroenkephobe, meant to say to you,that theory that it only takes 5 mins to know what we’re going to get from an Arteta team was spot on again today. You may have unearthed something there!
I hear you Almunia, no easy answers. Just buckle up it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
For all Arteta’s talk about feeling sorry for Tavares and it was only a tactical switch subbing him. He then goes on to not play him. Destroying any confidence Nuno may have had and also to not trust anything his manager says.
Not a great way to manage your players. Laca stinking out the place offering no threat, Xhaka being Xhaka, both with no threat of being subbed or dropped. What message does that send to the other players?? So clear Arteta has his favourites.
So no wonder that Sambi played with fear, not wanting to be banished to Siberia for making mistakes. As that’s how it must feel,by the way he was treated.
The part of the role of the manager to nurture and encourage their players is severely lacking in Arteta, and he will not have success until this is addressed.
You can’t just buy your way to success. Much has been made about when we buy new players in the summer etc, we’ll be able to compete…etc
Well it’s more complicated than that.
A good/great manager has players willing to run through walls for him. The performance exhibited by the players says that they don’t feel this way about Mikel ! A manager who says one thing publicly but does another.
Players talk amongst themselves, they’re not blind to how their teammates are treated, and probably realise that it could be themselves. Publicly they won’t speak out, but it has an effect. A negative one imo.
Mark,
If you listed every player that was at the club or has come into the club during Arteta’s tenure I think it would be safe to say the vast majority have regressed. That doesn’t happen to good managers. Even the success stories of last summer, lokonga, tavares, white,ramsdale and ode are all on a downward trajectory. He has given away, devalued or simply paid to leave a huge number of professional players. It’s staggering that a new contract is being offered.
This season the crowd has done it’s best to keep things on a positive level at the Emirates. It’s almost an acknowledgement that the input from the fans is now an important factor and we can’t simply rely on having a good team and a good coach and letting them entertain us as we have in the past. Along with a lot of the older, more weary heads taking a break mean it’s generally been more fun than it has been for years.
Yesterday I got the impression the crowd felt the gig was up. We’ve done our bit but Arteta wasn’t helping himself and seems too stubborn to do so. This isn’t on the players, we know Laca isn’t going to get a goal, Xhaka isn’t a left back. The manager is responsible and aside from the games against Spurs, a half v City and a half v Liverpool, the football has been pretty average. It becomes dull, backing an average manager and seeing his averageness unfold in front of our eyes.
Only total idiots championed the crazy Jan window and this game was partly a result of that.
Aitcho,
That’s a very interesting comment. Watching on the tv you could hear the groans and the lack of enthusiasm and of course see the early departures. But you have to be in the ground to truly get a sense of it. If the crowd turns,the new contract might be halted.
Almunia,
I think what you heard was a fair reflection of where the fans are. More frustrated than angry.
Fans have been energetic this season partly because we realised we needed to, the football was unlikely to get us going by itself.
I think a lot of us bit our tongues on Arteta, the FA Cup 2 years ago, the run to fourth this year bought him time. There was also that wish to move away from being that toxic entitled fanbase who hounded out managers as par for the course
But the feeling I get is even pro Artetas who were more convinced on the back of his PR and ideological grounds are finding harder to justify the support they give him. None of the people I spoke to at the ground were putting forward reasons for giving him time except we might buy more players in summer
The crowd may not turn but it may just disengage and we go back to the empty seats of a few years back. For a business that, sensibly, relies a great deal on bums on seats and match day revenue, a season of fewer games, with no Europe, or budget level Europe and fans not renewing on the 4% ST price hike might end up being a factor in Arteta’s future.
Next season will be interesting. We’ll see if the ST holders who took a pandemic then a voluntary break come back when they have to decide whether to jump back in. I have a couple of friends with ST’S who all took a break this year and aren’t sure if they actually will go back, rent or just give up those STs