Well, we all knew we weren’t a match to Man City with their 33-goal scorer Haaland and the best midfielder on the planet in Kevin De Bruyne. But no one expected that we won’t show up for a fight. In the title race when a win was a 6 pointer, we lost and we lost badly. A 4-1 score is as bad as it gets, but the way we played it could have been worse.
So, where did it go wrong? As a starter, Arteta failed to adjust to the Pep’s tactics. Their first goal was a result of the free space De Bruyne was enjoying between our midfield and defence. In the first 30min, it happened couple of times when the pair of Haaland and De Bruyne were left with our CBs. I don’t think anyone can beat Haaland for the pace, it was a fight to be lost. We should have adapted, we should have dropped down and closed the space . We could have switched back to back 3 and fight on counters.
Second, we stuck to the playing XI which didn’t work against Liverpool, West Ham, and Southampton. Yes, Xhaka was back in place of Vieira but it doesn’t make any difference. Both are poor! If you say what options we had, I would like to point out that it’s our own doing. We haven’t been polishing the bench. We gave Vieira couple of matches in spite of his poor performance in his first, but we didn’t try an ESR. We haven’t tried a Partey + Jorginho midfield pairing. Saka looked knackered but we didn’t see Nelson allowing him some rest. Kiwior was brought into the fold against Liverpool, in last 20 min; I’m sure it wasn’t the perfect time to begin your premier league career.
Arteta’s stubbornness to play his favourites and not adapting to what’s in front, has cost us games. If you expect a player to deliver in 60 games a year, and if he don’t, you switch things up. Jesus might be great in compact spaces and running into 3 opposition players, but where’s the end result? If your CF do not have a goal in him, bring on Eddie. Revert to Trossard at the front who looks more clinical.
I don’t know, there has been a lot of things which we can see is wrong, but our manager sticks to the same old – same style, same player, same tactics.
Here’s the bitter truth. We didn’t lose the title because of this City game. We lost it against Pool (going 2-0 up), West Ham (going 2-0 up again), and Southampton (going 2-0 down at home in first 15min). I understand we are a young team, but young guns can fire too. It don’t matter if it’s your captain, if he is not having a good day, bring on your other no. #10, who saved your career at some point and was considered the next DeBruyne.
I’m not sure how much Arteta will learn from this but I’m sure of this – he is going to spend another 200m to bring some more enforcements, but with this stubbornness and Champions League + Premier League next season, we will have the same conundrum. Unless he buys another playing XI, which is not likely.
Here’s another one – if you think it’s a progress to finish 2nd this season, remember that Arteta was appointed as the head coach of Arsenal on 20th Dec, 2019. It’s been 3.5 years, with half a billion spent on a completely new playing XI bar our academy products. This season has been anomaly, Liverpool is having a bad one, Chelsea are sh*t, Spurs are spursy, and United is going through a rebuild under Tan Hag. If you think allowing 3 years for a manager, only to see him finish second after having a 9 point lead at some point, is considered a progress, then you have very low expectation.
With money coming in for New Castle, Chelsea appointing Poch probably, united getting stronger, Pool back in their form, what happens next? It would be tougher than this season. There will be 2 games a week and more Saliba-esque injuries. Who will we blame? Fixtures? Injuries? Bad weather? Because that’s what we have been doing apparently from like last 10 years.
We need an upgrade. We need an upgrade on Xhaka, whose average performance looks like a world class by his standards. We need a midfield, because you buy all the 50m defenders as you want, but it’s not gonna work if you don’t have functioning midfield. We need a better goal scorer if you don’t have confidence in Eddie. And we need an upgrade on the manager. Learning on the job is not a bad thing, but the pace is too slow for a club as big and as ambitious as Arsenal.
We need courage. We don’t need a captain who goes missing in big games, we have had enough of Ozil for years. We need the winning mentality, not the one we saw against West Ham of dropping performance after going 2-0 up. We need players who make fun of the opposition, on the pitch; who can bully the opposition, who are not satisfied with 2-0 lead at Anfield and want more.
Frankly, it has been a depressing month. We have thrown away the title and there’s no one else to blame. It was ours to lose, and we lost it. I’m angry, I’m frustrated and I’m sure you are, too. I hope the players feel the same, and motivates themselves to make the best of rest of the season.
It’s over for me, but we fight again tomorrow.
TRVL
I think any other manager in place of Arteta would have faced the same problem with Xhaka/Ode/Jorginho midfield. Supporters are angry because
1. He refused to fix it (Xhaka)
2. He fixed it badly (Jorginho)
3. He didn’t try the internal options (ESR for Ode, ESR for Xhaka).
Saliba became crucial now, who was not registered for half a season and then loaned out for the other half. If Mikel puts the blame on his injuries, he needs to justify about his mishandling. So does the Arteta fanboys.
Ambarish
Yep bang on.
Ambarish
With reference to “ best midfielder on the planet Kevin de Bruyne “. we have someone upcoming called Croydon de Bruyne who saved Arteta his job , 2 years back. Currently rusty with disuse and blunted by the Manager’s adverse reaction. Seen posters asking whom ESR has to kill to get a start , which tells a story.
Imagine Pep Original benching KdB for almost the whole season. If only….Arsenal would have won, which demonstrates the point trying to make.
Looking back at Saliba not signing and Saliba and agent going in a Googly trajectory, somehow feels Saliba is doing to MA what MA did to him for 3 years. Back problems are an enigma to orthopaedics too who have to go by what the patients tell so are a safe bet nah ?
What a way to end the weekend with Spurs being Spurs losing 3:0 in 15 minutes with more to come.
Happy days.
Liverpool are shit – they’re not even 5 nil up after 20 minutes.
Wankers.
I heard something by the commentators in the Fulham v. City fixture that would never have been uttered in our most recent guileless and gutless performance “that was harder than anticipated”
I’m assuming that NT refers to one of LG’s leading Arteta/Pedro Apologists, the grand fluffer himself, Nigel….if so, I would really like to hear what he had to say in regards to LiG…I spent considerable time, during my relatively brief tenure on LG, putting him firmly in his place…so much so that when he couldn’t take the heat anymore he ran to his blog daddy/alter ego, Pedro, who in turn conjured up a competely fake narrative so as to ouster my ass…classic twat disguised as an even bigger twat scenario
agree with your response to my earlier post Ambarish…the fact that MA’s had ample opportunities to properly redress these most obvious of concerns and yet he’s actually chosen to act in a completely contrarian fashion, speaks volumes about the abject fragility of his mental makeup…he likely feels that if he were to actually admit to any wrongdoings or miscalculations his whole managerial facade would crumble to pieces, which has led to a myraid of easily correctable self-inflicted wounds…just another reason why he reminds me of a poor man’s shadow puppet version of a latter days Wenger
Hoopah-how quickly some forget the gravity of the managerial situation when MA was “forced” to play ESR, who in turn provided some of the only positive second-half moments…considering MA’s MO when it comes to anyone who doesn’t kiss the ring, no questions asked, it makes me think that maybe ESR’s people did have a chat with the club over a potential move to Villa, as they knew full-well that MA didn’t really rate him…of course, this managerial dynamic has likely played a decisive role in regards to the whole Saliba re-up gig, Tierney’s head possibly being turned and why blue chip players with other options, whom we’ve targeted, don’t go all-in with their own clubs in order to get things over the line, which is why we ended up with a periphery and aging figure like Jorginho and the excommunicated Trossard
Cheers
maybe the Spurs players are railing against the club’s public pronouncment regarding the notion of them being required to reimburse the away fans in their previous blowout loss (lol)….that said, maybe MA should contemplate a similar notion in response to him being totally ill-prepared to face a manager whom he should know more than any other currently plying their trades in the PL
just as a follow-up to ny previous “mindset” concerns about our manager, it’s always seemed telling to me that as a player MA was known as a level-headed, mild mannered, never a hair out of place individual, yet as a manager only the latter refrain rings true…in most cases, what you’ve witnessed on the pitch tends to align with what’s on offer from the touchline, within reason of course, yet in this particular case the exact opposite applies…when these anomolies occur it tends to be due to one of two things, either it’s overcompensation on the part of someone who worries greatly about being exposed as a fraud or they’re simply attempting to mimic someone of whom they admire most, almost like some sort of karaoke wannabe star who never amount to anything as they’re too preoccupied with perfecting their imitative qualities…it’s likely why some of our former stalwarts, like Vieira and Henry, haven’t figured the sideline gig out quite yet, as they’re likely not comfortable enough in their chosen managerial skin, as it’s not a true reflection of their best selves
what a crazy and entertaining Pool/Spurs affair…so much for Richarlison’s supposed heroics…maybe the scoring isn’t done yet?!?
my previous
amounts
btw, in case you haven’t noticed, Newcastle is only 10 back, with a game in hand, and we still need to face them…based on their present form versus ours, that could be a highly problematic fixture…if we lose to them, even 2nd place isn’t a foregone conclusion
my apologies, Newcastle doesn’t have a game in hand, that’s United, who’re 12 points back…my bad
The thing with Arteta ,which is quite amazing considering how quickly he has followed Wenger in managing the club, is that just like Arsene he is going to depart the club and his legacy will forever polarise the fanbase. To some he will have returned the club to the elite and given hope back to disillusioned gooners everywhere. To others he will forever be a charlatan, bluffing his way into the job and then spinning his ‘achievements’ through clever manipulation of the media. Like Wenger his name will be added to the list of subjects(politics,religion,brexit) that should never be talked about in a pub,especially amongst gooners.
For me,the following points are decisive in my mind,though I accept they might not be in a court of law!
1. Project Youth. An argument that is rarely made and one that I find very powerful is this. When Arteta applied/ interviewed for the job he would have had to put forward his vision for the club. Given his actions upon his appointment it is clear that this vision was not a youth project. His signing of Willian, extension of Auba,xhaka,Luiz etc. His refusal to play ESR or Martinelli. His treatment of Saliba( that is really going to bite us in the arse btw). So therefore those who backed his appointment from the beginning and have happily claimed to have been aware of his generational talent,we’re actually backing that original plan,which needless to say was appalling. Unless of course they are claiming that they knew all along that the original plan was doomed to fail and would then spawn a successful project youth plan B. Given the nature of some of his supporters such a claim would not surprise me.
2. Transfers. Three simple observations here which I won’t go into too much detail on,you all know the facts. Firstly he has been backed by the board in an unprecedented manner to the tune of hundreds of millions. Secondly his incomings have been very average for huge expense. I struggle to name any player who has yet justified their price tag. This should not be confused with performance. Ben White has been solid for example. But has he been a 50 million quid player? Not for me. Add to that Ramsdale,Vieira, Jesus,lokonga,Jorgihno,zinchenko, etc. In fact the only value for money signing is probably Trossard as things stand. Jury is still out on Ode, his disappearing acts in big games is becoming concerning. Thirdly,outgoings. Abject. The cost of expelling huge earners because of Arteta’s inability to manage them has been frightening. In some cases it was he who gave them the new contracts. The collapse in player values because of Arteta’s inability to rotate has also been staggering. Giving players away,failing to sell when possible or simply paying players to leave has cost this club a fortune.
3.Best performers. Who are Arsenal’s best players? Saka,Saliba,Martinelli,Partey. We can fight over d rest. How many of them are performing to this level because Arteta as their coach has made them better? How many are improving despite him? How many players are going backwards or stalling in their careers? What has he done to justify the argument that he’s a great coach? The team is better of course. But is it better because hundreds of millions have been spent? Or because Arteta is working his magic?
4.Expectations. This is the real thorn in my side. The argument that we are now exceeding expectations. CL qualification was this years goal etc. Some simple observations. How come Eddie Howe achieved this in his first full season with a far more limited Newcastle squad? Also,context please. When people say we’d have taken this if offered at the start of the season,would it also have been explained to us that every single big 6 club bar Man City and ourselves would implode and be out of the race before Xmas and that we would have an 11 point lead over City? No? Thought not. Good job Leicester didn’t have that mentality. But then again I keep forgetting what a tiny underdog club we are! Furthermore,and this particularly irks me, why is it that no Arsenal fan or top pundit had great expectations for us this year?? Yes, that’s right,because they had seen the depths to which Artea had dragged us over the last 3 seasons. Now,having spent a fortune and merely restored us to our rightful place in English football ,he is the messiah? I think not. His record began the day he took over as did the record of all Arsenal managers and he will be judged on that record in it’s entirety. If this trophyless season is his pinnacle,then God help those who would laud him for it. If the belief is that next year will see a further improvement ask yourself this,do you really believe such an opportunity will be presented to us again? Oh and how many more players are required this window for our generational coach to get it right?
I have grown further opposed to Arteta because of the weakness of the arguments being used to support him and the aggressive defensive stance of his supporters whose idea of debate is to shout and ridicule. W B Yeats would have referred to their constant repetition of weak yet populist arguments as’ The catch-cries of the clown’. I’m inclined to agree with him.
Btw,thanks for the welcome back. I’m just blowing off a bit of steam above but I’ve tried to keep up with the blog and all things Arsenal. Agree with all those thanking Ambarish for his work and giving us this place to talk,read,vent and share. Thanks Ambarish.
Kp. I have taken advantage of time off work and am watching the snooker religiously. I am hoping Selby does it. I appreciate the joy of watching Brecel and as a Higgins and White fan I love his cavalier style. But there is something about the steely determination of Selby,the grit he shows ,that I find compulsive.
Hope you and yours are all well. I was delighted to read that you were over in Catalonia. Make it happen asap my friend,the years go by too quickly. The bluebirds are also testing your patience and loyalty I see,hang on in there, might be an American actor or two with an eye on the Welsh capital. Knowing Cardiff’s luck they’d get Will Ferrel and Adam Sandler who’d use the takeover to make an awful comedy then feck off and leave someone else to clean up the mess. Ok, bedtime. Good night.
Almunia-nice mic drop post…much to my chagrin, these commonsensical takes never seem to resonate with either the powers that be or with those who eagerly lap up the Kool-Aid, even if JIm Jones is the one making it…so even when I feel like I’ve got something off my chest, that accompanying euphoric feeling is rather fleeting as it feels like I’m putting it into a bottomless pit diguised as a suggestion box…the only tangible silver lining is the fact that there’s a good group of like-minded cerebral folk who congregate here, so all is certainly not lost…take care
whenever Wales enters the fray for some reason it always reminds me of an old bake-head Danny Boyle flick, Twin Town
Welcome back Almunia you could hardly call the truth a rant. 🙂 LIR is all the better for your re-emergence and thankfully improved health.
I’ve missed you good buddy along with the rest of LIR.
TRVL
NT aka Pedro and his other monikers can’t be beaten because they are not real, just personas of a very weird and narcissistic rich kid who thinks he’s Mr. ITK Arsenal. His scrawling isn’t up to the level needed to pretend to be other people. Pedro-Pete does not have that keyboard/writing skills to pull such a feat off and slips out of character all too often. His posts as Pedro all follow a tried and tested formula most likely from self help writing books.
LG has become boring bar a few very good posters, whereas 4+ years ago LG was a hotbed of passion of warring factions having their say: WOB & Wenger Apologists. Back in those days I’d read most posters, many times laughing out loud at some of the #GATES with Bamford the leading light in such things. LG was fun and Arsenal escapism as Wenger hate fermented into our PTSD.
What took some time to read LG now takes minutes. A quick skim to check outage remaining few posters worth reading. What’s even funnier is that Pedro’s dad started the blog with Pedro riding his coat tails and money of course. I’s hazard a guess if Geoff came back so would many of the old monikers.
At the end of the day LG is Pedro’s vehicle to drive his success in his working environ to which he’s done with good success. I believe Pedro is infatuated with Arteta in that they are similar ages and they both suffer illusions of grandeur.
Like most of us Pedro is a success whore, I know I am, as is Mrs T. I would say most if not all of us here are always wanting to do better and the rewards that comes with such a mindset. The difference is with LIR as opposed to LG is that LIR has a consistent level of intelligence which is following only one agenda and that is the success of our club.
The irony is that LIR with Ambarish’s ambition with LIR, we are becoming the #Artetaout blog as LG was of the #Wengerout infamy. We are Gooners for life with expert BS radar inbuilt and speak the truth as we see it. No rose tinted specs in LIR just the hard facts of reality that sadly, are rarely wrong.
The TW rumblings sound just as confusing as they always do with Arteta’s serial ability to find players who don’t want to play for us and who would blame them? It’s like he takes it so personally, such is his narcissism.
Another Arteta season to drag ourselves through the trenches of the same mistake strewn management incompetencies throughout the club. If Josh an co were on the ball, the’d see through the Arteta BS.
Ambarish
I wondered how a well travelled, youngish Indian lad would fare with an Arsenal blog where you can colour me suitably impressed, Ambarish. I think we all see a little bit of ourselves in you, in some way or other. As an old and crotchety Gooner at times, LIR is somewhat cathartic, it’s a pleasure to add ours to your Arsenal dream here, as it most definitely aligns with mine, and I would venture to keenly suggest the others here who grace the blog with excellent points of ire and humour.
Almunia
Good to see you back.
The question about the fanbase is an interesting one. What happens if Arteta does an Arteta and finishes 5th next season? As it stands we could easily finish closer to 3rd than 1st which to me says our “title challenge” was all that its been cranked up to be. With ManU and at least one of Chelsea or Liverpool being better next season, Newcastle spending big and Arteta’s inability to rotate a squad when he’s now got to deal with CL matches that will have far more impact than EL on fitness levels.
I know the fan boys will make excuses and waive their pom poms but fans are fickle and many could easily see Arteta for what he is.
wasn’t all its cranked up to be!
Let’s realise that Fraudeta cannot coach and develop young players,so he seeks to buy settled players from other clubs. Often it is rejects who we pay through the nose. Here is an insight into his characteristics
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-charlie-patino-mikel-arteta-29859962
Succinctly put up by AlumiasnoMore , think in point 4
Marc
It’s funny seeing the fan boys already. Dissension in the LG rank and file is slowly gaining with Pedro-Pete churning out Arteta PR spin posts like they’re going out of fashion.
No matter what the fan boys say, the end result can’t be hidden and poor attempts at excusing it.
Hoopah
Your comedic takes have Junior and me laughing. Keep em coming.
Tony
One of the guys who sits near me is an old boy who’s been going forever – he won’t blame Arteta but criticises the players for tactics. A mate of mine who’s been a season ticket holder since the early 80’s reflected on our players looking tired at the end of the City game – I said its going to be worse next season being in the CL and Arteta not being able to rotate players – my mates response Arteta doesn’t just the other players when I pointed out that its his squad he’s spent a fortune and he’s been in charge for 3 and a half seasons he couldn’t come up with an answer.
I think outside of the genuine fan boys we’ve got a section of the fan base in denial because they want it to be true – when they see the light they’ll go for blood.
The fan boys would be praising Arteta if ended up in League 2.
trust not just!
David Ornstein all but confirmed in the Athletic that Charlie Patino will leave this summer. Most likely Balagon will follow and the 3 stooges will do the usual, get taken for chumps on the valuation of the players. Ever since Arteta became manager it has been well established that he decimates the value of players but especially young ones, Guen comes to mind.
For me I have taken the attitude to chill a bit my interest in AFC until either Execs or Owners have changed. In the meantime this is the year of the Rugby WC in the fall and that holds my interest until the shit show at Arsenal is gone or has improved. Nothing to get exited about a novice at the helm of The Arsenal. Fucking waste of life, time and space.
Why the hell would we sell Patino? Wasn’t he being described as one of the best talents to come out of the academy only a little while ago?
Aside from losing a very talented young player this sends out a terrible signal to other academy players or youngsters weighing up which academy to sign up for.
as I’m watching the relegation battle between Everton and LC, which btw is far more entertaining than expected, it reminded me of the fact that we only secured 5 of a potential 12 points against the two teams currently occupying the lowest positions in the table…these are the kinds of lost opportunities that generally come back to bite you in the ass, especially when you know that at some point a team with a far superior manager is going to test your mettle…now of course, this becomes vastly more problematic when in your first 5 matches in April you manage to only get 6 of an available 15…the whole situation is terribly disappointing, not just because of the performances on offer, but the very fact that it was so totally predictable, as we’re like the Groundhog Day of footballing clubs
as for our pending off-season maneuverings, the only reason talks of this nature are consuming more and more of the oxygen in the room is due to our putrid form as of late…if we were still sitting in the catbird seat, with a reasonably logical buffer to boot, the vast majority of the chatter would be focused on the here and the now…unfortunately we’ve made an absolute mess of things, so the talk naturally turns to our future endeavours…personally I believe that when MA reverted back to his earlier transfer inklings, when he signed two off radar older players, to term no less, it was bound to cost us when it comes time to making future decisions about players, both incoming and outgoing…at least if we purchased a player or two who fit the supposed profile, like Caicedo, we would have injected some much-needed life into the “right” places on the pitch and the potential loss of an academy piece like Patino would be a much easier pill to swallow