What effect? No new formation no plan b poor subs? No effect just more poor play n no leadership from the Skipper
arteta showed crap leadership today! 1No plan B did not react to blues constant 30 Min attack in the second half 2 laca gased failed to sub him 3 guendouzi crap shud have been taken out. Leave ozil in . 4 Pepe sub too late 5 move aubam to cf 6 bring in martenelli wide left 7 leave ozil in Depressing times.
I'll give Arteta a slight break on his subs in light of the fact that he was forced to make a CB change quite unexpectedly in the first half and the lack of quality midfielders available. Sucks for Chambers, as he was looking decent. I'd be surprised if he's not out for the rest of the season. As knackered as the entire squad was, would've been nice to play against 10 men. I just don't see how Pawson can book two of our players for pull backs and then barely 5 minutes later let Jorginho slide for the exact same foul. Oh well, midfield desperately needs help and we have to buy a LB in January. Saka is filling in admirably but I feel bad for him. Plus he looked hurt trying to track back for their winner.
Good points, but after Chelsea’s change, inverted RB and chalk on boots winger wasn’t cutting it. Pepe is one of the most dangerous counter attacking players around. Arteta could have leaned into the counter attack and taken Laca or Nelson off for Pepe at half time or at least by 60 mins after they had us pinned back. If Laca doesn’t like it he can fcuk off after skying three great chances in two games. After their change, Nelson had one dribble out of 4 attempts and 4 passes—three backward. I’m prepared to wait on Arteta and this loss isn’t totally unexpected, but I’m not going to give him a pass any more than I would Emery.
Pepe on for Laca is what I was wanting. At one point in the 2nd half Laca had a break on the right side but had no one to pass too and didn't have the pace to go on his own. So it turned into nothing
Yeah Saka did his hamstring I think. He was struggling with it for a good while before the second goal. Pawson sucks. He clearly decided to ‘not ruin the game’ with a second yellow.
Saka: I noticed him holding his hammie too. Why wasn't he subbed off? We hadn't used all 3 subs at that point right? Why risk making the injury worse? And at a position where we have zero cover?? Baffling. Pawson: Poor and inconsistent.
He did his knee apparently. Around the 20th minute? My stream acted up around then so I missed it. I think he walked off, so maybe it's not the absolute worst? i.e. not a ruptured ACL.
Here's 2 somewhat depressing historical stats: 1. We haven't lost a home game, from a leading position at HT, for 9 years. Until today. 2. We haven't lost 4 home games in a row for 60 years. Until today. #2 isn't really on Arteta because he was only responsible for 1 of those 4 games. But #1 is basically on him, just as it would've been on Emery or Wenger before him. Another big test coming up in 3 days... let's see how he reacts and adjusts.
Tja This bad run was nailed on when Raul wasted the international break and easy schedule If we lose to Utd it will be 2 points from 15
It’s frustrating to lose to rivals—especially from a winning position. But I have to keep reminding myself that the league is just a training ground right now for us, not a priority. Focus on the EL and FA, maybe we get lucky. Reserve judgment and evaluate arteta this time next year.
Obviously we are weaker than the top 6 But I think it will be critical, even with this squad, that Arteta shows uptick against the rest of the league. Clearly the season can't be recovered, but also we can't finish in the bottom 10 if we hope to recruit good players
In hindsight losing all of Iwobi, Ramsey and Mhki from the midfield at once was too risky Those players had 88 league appearances between them last season and as a group, were critical to the midfield balance. Unfortunately Ceballos was swiftly injured and has only 11 appearances, which tends to mean Ramsey was not replaced at all when he was key at 8/10 So while there were good reasons to get rid of all 3, maybe losing 3 experienced midfielders at the same time was not good.
I dunno, I think if we win the EL we can finish anywhere not relegated and players won’t care. Also an FA cup win or even just some positive trends at the end of the season could help sell targets on our project. Chelsea finished 10th and were able to sign Kante from the title winners, Luiz, Batsuiyai and Alonso the next summer I think. So 11-13 is fine I think.
Yes. Using hindsight Iwobi was good money so hard to turn down and he isn’t lighting the world at Everton so maybe that was the right move. Ramsey not much to do about it and he has been injured as usual so probably good call there as well. Miki is actually contributing at Roma I think. Probably should have kept him around. Especially now I think arteta would have used him. What is really damning is that we have 1 goal from midfield in the league—1! That’s absurd. Three from wingers (not including auba) and zero from fullbacks. That’s 4 goals from not strikers or CBs (corners).
Unfortunately, I have two close friends/teammates, both of whom walked off the pitch after ACL injuries -- one even played for another 20 minutes before he finally had to go off. My point being that Chambers being able to walk off doesn't mean it's not an ACL. I think it is, but I reeeeeally hope I'm wrong.
Hmmm, I'm not sure you can. But I think this is more a failing of the turd=bad player metaphor rather than a blow to the point you're trying to make.
Important question. If we get relegated, does that mean most of our games will be on ESPN+ next year? Just trying to plan ahead.