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.
Ode has some unusual bite today, which is nice to see
Wilson is clearly trying to get under our skins, which makes sense as we do have a couple players who aren’t adverse to unwisely lashing out
After what they did at our place earlier in the season, it’s laughable to see that wanker Wilson having a pop about time wasting.
They’re trying to goad GX
Is it true Xhaka has been given a role as a UN ambassador?
those misses are going to come back to haunt, especially if we continue down this red card chirpy road
Boutros Boutrous Xhaka
KP-I would suspect that Wilson knows he’s not going to be on the pitch for too long so he’s getting his money’s worth…why not, it’s not like Xhaka won’t take the fucking bait every fucking time
Nick Pope saved Newcastle bacon twice already.
Arsenal playing up.
On another note we might see a meltdown because of Jesus Or Xhaka. Newcastle seems to be trying to rile Xhaka. Don’t know why. Just go past him at full speed and he is an asset to the opposite team
KP
Go hard with the lads don’t let us elders down 😛
To be fair we should’ve 3 up.
if we’re savvy enough to not get carried away with the back-and-forth their antics will continue to provide us with opportunities, as it negatively affects their defensive shape…we need to continue to have our forwards switching up so that we can counter them directly with pace
That chance Willock missed reminded me of many he missed while playing for us. And Ode’s chance right at the end of the half. Neither showed that finisher’s instinct to go for the corners.
Tony-keep in mind they did hit the post in the first 90 seconds and we had 3 very advantageous deflections inside the box which worked in our favour…I think that when HOwe’s tactics didn’t provide the desired results he knew that they could be in trouble, which is why he likely instructed Trippier to start to make it a more scrappy affair
Tony
No way. It’s grumpy old dad-person in a sensible tracksuit top and jeans for me.
Although Junior temporarily lost his balance when I said I’d go in drag.
That sort of shit never happened in the 80s when I was his age. You’d have been laughed off the north bank in fancy dress.
Credit to Ramsdale. Evocative of Gordon Banks. Our goal’s leafing a charmed life
Guimaraes us a persistent fouler. Small time stuff. He’d be great at City.
this could have been a 10-9 affair if the net were merely an inch wider and taller
sometimes I feel as if MA doesn’t even talk strategy at half, as the players seemed to be caught unawares of what we all knew was coming…thankfully that psuh was relatively short-lived and they weren’t able to find an equalizer before the tide turned a bit
not sure we can afford to let Tierney go without having a viable alternative, with some defensive prowess, as Zinchenko will get eaten up next season in the PL and in Europe, as he’s given plenty of film nuggets for opposing managers to take advantage of
that said, not sure I’m a big fan of Tierney being tucked inside…can’t we have just a modicum of tactical nous
we’re getting a bit ridiculous with all the antics
I love Martinelli ❤️
how ironic that with all those missed chances that an own goal takes us 2 clear
Big shout out to our away fans
Howe should get raked over the coals for getting his tactics all wrong, especially knowing that he’s never started Wilson and Isak together…he kind of pulled an early days Arteta maneuver
No ESR then.
STOP PISSING AROUND AT THE BACK
Tony
No, mate. Looks like we’re getting Reiss and Eddie Unket. Madness.
Moaning, cheating, deluded, entitled, plastic mackems owned by corrupt murdering cunts with small dicks! Phew – I feel better for that.
I thought the boys showed a lot of fight and team togetherness today. Maybe Kiwior instead of Holding should have happened earlier ie against West Ham.
Ramsdale, Mart, Ode and, gulp, the belligerent Balkan all did well.
As the old chihuahua headed, zip worrying manager might have said, ‘runner up is a trophy’.
good result and a surprising clean sheet to boot…very watchable affair, which might have been vastly different if the ref took a less card-friendly approach to an exceedingly chippy fixture…nice to see when the opposing manager gets his tactics wrong, instead of the usual reverse notion…for me both Joelinton and Bruno were incredibly poor, in fact, that was the most indecisive performance I’ve witnessed by Bruno this season
KP
2nd best sums us up this season. Decent win where we frustrated Newcastle whose game became hesitant. Hitting the bar twice didn’t help their belief, and we disrupted their game with time wasting and niggling dark arts.
Really, we have to result to that tactic all game? Last 10 minutes sure.
tbh neither side was impressive from a defensive standpoint, regardless of the eventual scoreline, as there were a myriad of opportunities for both sides…I do prefer Kiwor to Holding, as he appears to be far pacier and not so spasmodic with his movement
I still find it baffling that Jorginho appears to be our most vocal leader, by quite a margin, whenever he’s on the pitch, which says a lot about the glaring lack of leadership that was forged under Arteta prior to the Italian’s arrival…with this in mind, I want to reiterate the fact that my concerns about our most recent window was not directed towards the players involved, in that I think they’re both skilled players, I just don’t think they’re the kind of players that were going to get us over the line and they will undoubtedly impact our off-season transfer plans in a negative way
I so badly want to have faith, but every fibre of my being is still not convinced by this manager or those he favours in key positions
DeGea had another howler against the Hammers…he’s such a frustrating Keeper, as one minute he looks to be a world beater, then the next he’s amatuer hour personified
watching United play the Hammers is akin to watching a pickleball tournament at the local seniors home
Neville never misses a chance to troll the shit out of us, as his most recent take suggests that maybe we’ve found our Partey replacement in Jorginho…that’s just what we need moving forward, an older, smaller and slower DM…he would be happier than a pig in shit if we bought into that twisted narrative…of course, this issue is highly nuanced, as Partey was a victim of Arteta’s poor tactical decisions, which left him oft-times isolated in no man’s land with Holding in behind, whereas Xhaka was deployed much deeper and the pacier Kiwor was at RCB when the Italian started in the last two fixtures…nice try though Gary
Brighton are terrible. De Zerbi is clueless, being spanked by Everton.
Maybe I’m bitter, his job was simple, come above Spurs, sink Everton but I don’t see the attraction some on here have for him yet.
speaking of trolls…see above
it’s interesting that someone could be so critical towards a coach for 1 bad result, considering that your favoured Kool Aid King secured 5 points from an available 15 in April and likewise lost to that very same team…bless you
According to the Express, “Arsenal are set to allow Xhaka to make his own decision on his future following the seven years of service he has given them”…now I’m not sure how much faith I have in this particular source, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this were the case…supposedly Bayern Leverkusen are still interesting in bringing Granit back to the Bundesliga, as he has a close relationship with their manager, Xabi Alonso…I, for one, would be over the fucking moon if Xhaka finally moved on, but I don’t like the implication that the decision is entirely in his hands…maybe if the player in question had given us his all for all 7 years of his tenure here and, looking for a way to extend his career, made an impassioned plea to the higher-ups, but considering that the majority of his stay was rather underwhelming, I find this to be a totally dumbfounding business practice, if true
now the real impetus behind this article wasn’t actually Xhaka’s potential exodus, but the idea of bringing in Kante as his replacement, as his contract expires this summer…I’ve always been a huge fan of his, in fact, if we had just opted for him instead of Xhaka, some years ago, our more recent fortunes could have been substantially better…regardless, things have drastically changed since he was supposedly on our radar…he’s obviously much older and far more injury prone, so this blast from the past transfer target just doesn’t fit the script…now if I had come across this a year ago, I would have paid it no heed, as I couldn’t imagine our supposed youth-thirsty manager signing a 32 year old DM/MD, but since that time he’s continued to play Xhaka each and every week, then proceeded to sign two players over 28 years of age, including Kante’s former Chelsea midfield mate, Jorginho, who turns 32 next year…so who the fuck knows
hopefully our love of all things “free” won’t negatively impact our off-season recruitment drive, as we need to start adopting a best available option policy when it comes to addressing our pressing needs…so long as we continue to lean into our all-too-familiar settling business practices, we will never re-establish ourselves as a perennial powerhouse…this is why our summer window should be the most important recruitment statement period since our arrival at the Emirates…either we repeat the mistakes of the past or we forge a new/old path; god help us I hope we finally chose the latter
Morning all
As a Gooner with nothing left to hope for bar winning our last 3 games now that we’ve consolidated runners up in the league. I always prefer ‘Runner’s Up’ as it suggests a close hard fought race. When in all reality we choked led by our serial bottler. Of course, we’ll win the last 3 games now nothing is riding on them. That was Wenger’s mantra. Go out on a high with teams all ready packed for their summer hols with planned debauchery for the single multi millionaires.
Funny how people come here to troll and yet offer no suitable Arteta replacement. Sort of thing incognito Pedro or Don would do. Neither have the English written language down enough to retain a Nomme de plume remaining incognito. Same as Pedro using Conetta/ Nigel T and Don using un & Raulispuss when he’s in racist modes.
This is this Gooners reality; we’re about to enter ‘Silly Season’ where every kind of story including City buying another 2-meter alien only this time a 6-rubber like extending arms’ goal keeper.
This is my hibernation time and soon to be flowering season when the garden is awash with colour one was aiming for. This off season is going to be one that determines the level of our future re-entry into 1st world life after 24 years of oriental spice.
Maybe I should go and buy into the Wrexham dream – That would be tantamount to me persuading Putin to restoring Ukraine and take Russia into Nato on bended knees as getting Mrs T’s approval.
This off season will see me finding an honest estate agent and French lawyer with the highest integrity. So, what could possibly go wrong? Luckily, I have well connected, good French friends in Paris & Grenoble who will set us up with people sans ‘lip service’ and really ITK.
KP as with your viva Espana adventure this will really start to have legs by the end of the year. Junior found a 18th century place with its own 9 hole golf course. I thought a studio there would be cool and then had visions of the Clash type band let loose on the greens or Axle mole hunting with a M16.
It’s gong to be one crazy arse way to see my life out keeping the family together hoping my daughter doesn’t poison the local mayor or pop star in her Thai/French fusion eatery. Mrs T will run the place with military precision and I’ll finally be able to unload music from my head I’ve had rattling round for multiple decades.
It’ll be a place for musos to escape music tours, city life to pass through and lay music ideas down in the studio at the same time. Then come back later to finish. Same for publishers’ song writers.
A 5* accomodation meeting place for musicians, engineers and producers to stay and be creative. That’s what will eventually unfold. in the next 5+ years.
So, for the first time in a very long time, my off season is going to be full of recording studio and acoustics’ ideas/planning for the record room and control room with at least a 60+-channels desk along these lines:
https://vintageking.com/wunder-audio-wunderbar-console-60-channel
https://www.allen-heath.com/avantis/
The 2nd for the writing room. The studio will have 3 creative stages.
This is where I started my career, and now it’s where my career ends and junior’s begins and where ever he wants to take it after he graduates with a degree suitable for studio work (electrical engineering) including sound engineering and producing. Junior has excellent ears, reads music and plays guitar.
When I’m not around in the coming months it’s not me being unsociable. I’ll just be lost in my world’s future.
We should all be in France in October, so I’ll see if I can take Junior to a game.
You guys are my Gooner family and in many ways keep me sane. Ditto Junior you also help him grow in different ways from his reading of LIR.
Back to football as the season, can RM knock City off their winning ways? I’m not holding my breath for any different outcome.
Be well all at LIR.
🇨🇵
Bonjour Tony
Maintenant nous allons parler seulement en francais pour t’aider avec les preparations pour la nouvelle vie en la belle France. Je t’envoyera quelques chansons francais de youtube aussi mon ami!
It’s great to hear about your plans mate. I think it’ll be a huge success for all of you. My diplomatic career ran out of steam in Paris and I still bear a few scars. It’s been a graveyard for many over the years – Paris (unlike the rest of France) is just a shit place to live and work. I loved the other major cities though (esp Marseilles) and some of the smaller places.
Talking of awful, depressing shitholes, no LiR reader should ever visit Burnley. A piss handed yo-yo team. Cardiff’s players showed as little fight there yesterday as you could imagine after some stirring victories recently at Watford, Blackpool and Rotherham. A testicle-less dog of a season (how’s ‘pumky’ by the way – fully restored after the City blip?).
So no more championship drama for me. Only the confirmation of Arteta’s bridesmaid status to come. Phew – we’ve been on a roller coaster this season all of us which is better than mediocrity I suppose. That said my local team, Haverfordwest County, have made it to an eliminator for Europa League qualification so one more gruelling road trip to Newtown on the ingerlish border for that next weekend.
For the future, I reckon we should all get behind Hoopah’s team in Goa and help him turn them into India’s version of Wrexham.