Arteta and Arsenal at a crossroads

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Well that was an absolute shit show on Saturday. But also so predictable.

A mixture of Mikel Arteta getting it wrong and having too many players who are just not good enough led to our downfall.

There is a deep issue at Arsenal at the moment that is three fold.

1. The players at the club do not suit how Arteta wants to play

2. Arteta hasn’t been in the game long enough to adapt how he wants to play to suit the players

3. The players are not good enough to adapt their game to how the manager wants to play

A lot of discussion has been had about whether it is Arteta’s fault or the players fault that we are in the current predicament. It is probably both.

Arteta has a clear vision of how he wants his teams to play in games.

Possession football, play out from the back, and it the opportunity is there to hit on the break go long over the top.

The issue he he just does not have the players to play like that.

Against Liverpool, he started Aubameyang, Lacazette and Pepe together for the first time in the Premier League this season. Our 3 most expensive players. And you could see why they have not started together.

None of the 3 are particularly great at ball retention. At short sharp passes. They are runners. Finishers.

And so play broke down.

We got the ball on edge of our area, passed it outwide to Auba or Pepe and they drove towards the halfway line. Faced with a full back, they turned back on themselves, miss-placed an easy pass and Liverpool had possession in our half.

It was the right tactic to play, but the wrong personnel.

There is a huge drop off in quality of ball retention from Auba and Pepe to Emile Smith Row, Bukayo Saka and even Willian.

So the tactics were right but the players being asked to carry out the instructions were not.

And the problem Arsenal and Arteta face is we have a very average set of players who have been unable to adapt and change their games to Arteta’s demands.

The old saying is you can not teach an old dog new tricks. And this is certainly what is happening at Arsenal.

Take Auba.

He turns 32-years-old in June. He has always been a player that plays on the fringes. Someone who does not get involved much in the build up play. He plays on the shoulder of the last man and is devastating.

To expect him to change the way he plays so late in his career is unreasonable.

And we are littered with similar players who are being asked to play differently to the way they have throughout their career.

And this leads us to the unbalanced way we are currently playing.

Arteta wants us to play one way, the players are unable to play that way.

A more experienced manager would have recognised this and changed his game plan. But Arteta is not experienced.

The likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho have both managed 1000+ games.

Now I am not saying I want either of them as manager, and the later I would want no where near the club. But when you have managed the amount of games they have you develop multiple different game plans.

Both men have been there and done it, and been successful across Europe for a couple of decades.

In comparison Arteta has not even managed 75 games yet. He has not had the time in the game to develop further ways of playing. So ends up stuck focused on his one or two ways of playing. And that is detrimental when we have a squad of players that are unable to play to his instructions.

So what do we do moving forward?

Invest in players Arteta wants

Or issues over the last 6+ years has been recruitment – going all the way back to that year we only bought Petr Cech.

To play the way Arteta wants, we need to invest in the players that will play to the beat of his tune.

But how much money do we need to invest? Can we sell the players to make the space in the squad? And will we get the signings right?

Assist Arteta in developing his way of playing

If we think Arteta is the right man, but is just playing the wrong system, let’s get someone in alongside him who can work with him.

Someone who over the summer can work with Arteta to develop him as a manager. Improve him as a manager. And come up with a plan that suits the current crop of players whilst recruitment continues.

Sack Arteta

If Arteta is unable to develop his game plan to suit the players, those players are unable to develop their game to suit his game plan, and we are unable to recruit the players who fit his system; the only option will be to sack Arteta.

The man coming in would have to be someone who suits the current crop of players at Arsenal. So not a manager who plays possession football. Someone who is used to dealing with older stubborn players. Someone who could get the best out of the players we have using a system that suits them.

Who that is I do not know.

As it stands, Arsenal are at a cross roads under Arteta.

Either the manager develops his thinking and comes up with a system that suits the players, or investment comes in allowing him to buy the players that suits how he wants to play. If neither of this happens Arteta could be out of his job by Christmas and we move on.

Keenos

Football has become a really boring film. Often with an ending that lets you down.

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Football has always been something that I have done with other people – never alone.

My first game was on 15th October 1995. We beat Aston Villa. I was 10.

With me that day were my mum, dad and brother. None of whom had much of an interest in the beautiful game.

For my birthday 2 days later I was given a Junior Gunner membership. I have had a membership ever since.

From that first game, I began to go a little more.

Coming from a poor working class family in London. We had to pick and choose our games. It was usually the big ones. Manchester United, West Ham and Tottenham.

It started at 3 or 4 times a season. Usually with my mum.

As we went more, her interest in football became more than just being my chaperone. These days she is a proper Arsenal fan. Getting up early on a Sunday morning to watch Match of the Day.

In 1998 we saw Arsenal lift the Premier League together against Everton. I will always remember Ian Wrighthanging out the window of the East Stand as we stood below.A shared memory I will never forget.

Gradually I began to go to games with my mum less and mates more. We always had two memberships. Mine and hers. So as we entered the new millennia and I reached my mid teens I was trusted to go with friends rather than family. Having the spare ticket made me very popular.

I watched us win the league again in 2002, this time with a mate that I still go with rather than my mum.

Standing at the top of the Avenell Road and looking down the hill was another one of those great memories. We ended up on the Cali after the game celebrating with my mates family.

Then it was off to university.

Studying at the University of Essex in Colchester, I was close enough to drive back down to London for the odd game. Again usually the big ones – Tottenham, Manchester Unied, Liverpool.

I would always have someone else in the car with me. Never alone. I still had those two memberships, would always buy two tickets and take someone – never chating above face.

And when I was not at the game I was in the SU, surrounded by fellow Arsenal fans. Mates I lived with, played 5 a side with twice a week.

Whether it was watching on TV or in the ground, football was always something to do with mates.

In 2006 with the move to the Emirates I got my first season ticket. None of my mates did. So I started to go to games with one of my mates old men. Meeting them in the Twelve Pins before the game and heading back in there after. Sitting next to them in the ground.

As the next few years rolled on, more of my mates finished University and began to get season tickets. We all started to drink, drink together. A mob of us young and old in the Bailey.

In the early 10’s, we began to increase the away games we went to, getting Away season tickets in the process. It was at this time us “younger” lot seperated from the elders and went our own way, Drinking in The George with other people we met on our travels up and down the country.

I miss The George.

It was one of those pubs where everyone knew each other. You could arrive an hour before you were due to meet your mates and still stand around chatting to people that it felt like you had known for years.

It built those relationships where everyone knew each other, but no one knew eachothers names. A nod of the head, an “alright mate”.

A bit of me died when that place shut down.

There could be anything up to about 20 of us going to games, home away and abroad. That group could grow above 30 for Cup final games as the young met back up with the old. One memory is us taking over the Blue Check’s music system when we beat Hull City. We only went in for one drink and ended up staying to closing.

As time has gone on, the group has grown and shrunk. With people going less due to family comittments, and new people being introduced. But there was always a group of us. You were never alone.

Throughout last year, able to sit in gardens together, we remained meeting up going to games. Uusually sitting in my back garden, with me ahead of the game and getting a garden bar some years ago.

There was about 12 of us in the garden as we won the FA Cup final.

It was a different final, but I was still surrounded by friends. Some of whom at that point I had known for over 20 years!

Despite not being able to go into grounds together. We still went into pubs to watch games.

It was very much a blended family. 3 dads and their 3 adoptive sons. We were not in the ground, there was not a big group of us, but we were still watching games together.

And then the latest lockdown hit.

No pubs, no meeting people outside. And with that football changed.

For the last 25 years, football had been something I had been done with friends and family.

Whether going to those early games with my mum, going with mates, watching on TV in the SU bar, or the big group of us who went home and away during the 10s. Football had never been something I had done on my own.

But this last 4 months it has become something I have done on my own. And it just is not enjoyable.

Sitting there alone at 8pm on a Saturday night watching Arsenal play. Win lose or draw it is just no fun.

I have barely watched a full 90 minutes since we have been forced indoors. Football has just become a really boring film. Often with an ending that lets you down.

I end up changing channels at half time and then forgetting to change back. Or just lose interest in a gme completely and my attention drifts elsewhere. Usually cooking.

Football is something you should be doing together with friends and family. It is a community event. A chance to meet up with people every other week and have a beer. A catch up.

Football is not something which should be done alone, in a room watching on TV. It is not a film, it is not a TV show.

After lockdown, I will go one way or the other.

I will return to games week in week out, home and away, throwing myself nto what I have missed so much.

Or I will lose interest completely. Not even watching a game on TV.

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 0 – 3 Liverpool

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Arsenal (0) 0 Liverpool (0) 3

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Saturday, 3rd April 2021. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Calum Chambers, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Thomas Partey, Dani Ceballos; Nicolas Pépé, Martin Ødegaard, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang; Alexandre Lacazette.

Substitutes: Hector Bellerin, Willian Borges da Silva, Cédric Soares, Pablo Marí, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Eddie Nketiah, Mat Ryan, Gabriel Martinelli.

Yellow Cards: Gabriel

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 36%

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Assistant Referees: Constantine Hatzidakis, Sian Massey-Ellis

Fourth Official: Andre Marriner

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Jonathan Moss; AVAR Andy Halliday

Attendance: A maximum of 300 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restrictions

Going into tonight’s crucial match against the Premiership champions, it is to be noted that we have lost just one of our past eight home Premier League games, of which we have won four matches and drawn three, and Alexandre Lacazette has scored in each of his last three Premier League starts against Liverpool. However, at the time of writing, the coaching team will assess Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, who are nursing respective hamstring and hip injuries, whilst Willian is available after overcoming a calf problem, but Granit Xhaka is doubtful through illness and David Luiz is sidelined by a knee problem. A win is a must, as they all are at this stage of the season, of course. Let’s go!

As most Arsenal v Liverpool matches start with purpose, this one is no different with both sides showing their intent straight from the get-go, without any hard and fast goalscoring chances for either team in the opening ten minutes or so. There also appears to be a fair amount of jittery nerves out there tonight, with everybody conscious of serious goalscoring errors and mis-timed tackles. The visitors are having the lion’s share of possession so far, which inevitably leads to concentrated pressure on our goal; it has to be said that Rob Holding was holding the defence together extremely well, neutralising any effort on Bernd Leno’s goal. Alexandre Lacazette went off the pitch briefly to get medical attention to a cut eye orbit after a tussle with Nathaniel Phillips, and at the half hour mark in the match, it has to be said that Liverpool are the team that look more likely to score. Roberto Firmino’s twenty-yard shot went flying past the outstretched arm of Bernd Leno, narrowly missing his left-hand post by half a yard. Nicolas Pépé had a weak header on target (our first of the match), that Alisson easily plucked out of the air, and minutes later, James Milner’s shot missed the target from just inside our penalty area, which was a real let-off for us. Kieran Tierney took a bad knock, and went off for treatment, to be replaced by Cédric Soares in injury time, which finished a minute or so later with honours even.

With no substitutions for either side at half time, the second half started with us showing more urgency in taking the game to the visitors, which was good to see at last! The match started to get more competitive at a higher level, and as a result, Liverpool started to push us back into own half again, as they did so successfully in the first half. Because of the ever-worsening situation, Mohamed Elneny replaced Dani Ceballos in order to tighten things up just before the hour, and a few minutes later, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang slotted a perfect ball into the path of Cédric Soares, who hit a superb right-footed shot on the Liverpool goal, which Alisson was extremely fortunate to pick up. Sadly, Diego Jota opened the scoring for Liverpool on the sixty-fourth minute with an header, in which Bernd Leno was unlucky not to push away, delivered from the right by Trent Alexander-Arnold. Four minutes later, we were two goals down, when Fabinho played a first-time ball through for Mohamed Salah to run onto; Gabriel slid in, missed the tackle completely, only for Mo Salah to race into the box and slot it cheekily through Bernd Leno’s legs. A few minutes later, Bernd Leno made a point-blank range save from Mo Salah, and since the visitors scored their second goal, it rather looked like we were being pulled and pushed all over the pitch by the visitors. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli with fourteen minutes left on the clock, and Liverpool by now, were comfortable. So comfortable in fact, that with eight minutes left of the match, Diego Jota scored his second goal of the evening from point-blank range, which finished the contest completely. Even with four minutes injury time, we still didn’t look like scoring, and in many ways, the scoreline reflected our performance of the evening, unfortunately.

To say this was a disturbing performance is an understatement. Yes, there were important players absent for one reason or another, but this was a bit more than a bad day at the office, so to speak. We were completely outclassed in most areas of the pitch, and Liverpool made us look second-class, and for a club like Arsenal, that is totally unacceptable. With just two shots on goal, and thirty-five per cent possession, this shows that we are a long way from challenging for honours, and if the Slavia Prague match goes the wrong way, then European football next season will be merely a pipedream; that will then make the close season more important than ever for Mikel Arteta to strengthen this squad of players. The alternative is mid-table obscurity, hoping for a decent cup run somewhere. And that is just not the foundations that our club was built on.

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Slavia Prague at the Emirates on Thursday, 8th April at 8.00pm(Europa League). Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.