He's made them defensively solid, but aside from Pogba giving away a penalty, they were dog shit upfront. Make no mistake, we convert one chance today and they dont win. This is what fecking annoys me about this result.
Mikel Arteta | Lego Pep watch
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They weren't even good today. Decent in the first half but average in the second. We were just fecking shit.
He’s more Rafa Benitez then Pep. Their football is shit like it was plenty of times under Rafa but maybe Arsenal fans will put up with that if it gets them trophies.
Um I don't know. When United park the bus it is pretty crap to watch.
Anyway I just don't feel like Arteta did anything amazing today.
Arsenal have played better in recent times I'm sure.
Huge win that Arteta needed to make up for the disappointment against Leicester. Far too early to judge his style with this Arsenal squad.
We don't have a lot of flair players who like to be on the ball. Auba only likes to have the ball when he's in front of goal. Laca and Pepe have been poor and Willian has been meh. Fact is, with this current squad, if Arteta plays open football we'd get slaughtered and we can't dominate possession in the final third. What Arteta has done that I like is added grit to the squad, improved the defence massively and adapted to the situation to maximise results. Think with a creative midfielder like Aouar and a good winger we'd be nailed for top 4. This season is tough to call and we've seen from last year that things can change pretty quickly so not ruling Utd out.
We don't have a lot of flair players who like to be on the ball. Auba only likes to have the ball when he's in front of goal. Laca and Pepe have been poor and Willian has been meh. Fact is, with this current squad, if Arteta plays open football we'd get slaughtered and we can't dominate possession in the final third. What Arteta has done that I like is added grit to the squad, improved the defence massively and adapted to the situation to maximise results. Think with a creative midfielder like Aouar and a good winger we'd be nailed for top 4. This season is tough to call and we've seen from last year that things can change pretty quickly so not ruling Utd out.
Elneny, Gabriel and Partey have added steel to their lineup.
Watching their last few games they could really really do with Ozil (or a similar player). They have nothing going forwards in terms of creativity. Really well coached from a defensive standpoint and in pressing but they are so boring to watch currently. Auba being out of form doesn’t help but it’s hard to see what their tactics are in attack. They move the ball way too slow also.
Shit on a stick.
So he just won against us with a xG of 0.3. Unbelievable lucky today.
They were really nothing special today and they will have a lot of bad results playing this way this season. We still managed to be worse somehow.
However they really have some average players which doesn’t make Arteta’s job easier.
However they really have some average players which doesn’t make Arteta’s job easier.
Makes Rafa look attacking. He's got them well organised but they are an awfuly boring team to watch. That said we are boring to watch in the league almost every week now
They’ve scored 9 goals this season. Only six teams in the league have been less prolific. And only one of those teams is in the top half of the table. I’d say there’s quite a few of the teams out-scoring Arsenal who would kill to have the likes of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Willian up front.
little off topic...
Successful football career
Manager for just 10 months, FA Cup and Charity Shield in the locker
Beautiful wife and family
Lucky guy
Successful football career
Manager for just 10 months, FA Cup and Charity Shield in the locker
Beautiful wife and family
Lucky guy
Oh I agree but I was comparing them to the “top” sides. Us, Liverpool, Chelsea, City and Spurs definitely have the better players upfront. Then there’s also Everton, but I would say Arteta has the 6th best squad (and especially attacking players) in the league currently and that’s probably where they will finish.
He will never win a bigger trophy in life than his hairline.
Oh yeah ...and impressive barnet
Crying out for a top AM and CF. The lack of AM really does stifle our attacking play. Ozil is finished man, been finished since he signed his contract. People crying out for him probably haven’t watched his closely over his last 20-30 games, added little to our attacking game and leaves us more exposed due to lack of defending.
Partey & Gabriel will help massively defensively but we don’t have much quality in the squad. I’d hope Arteta would let them play more freely and let those two mop shit behind but not sure he will.
Arteta has done a brilliant job at Arsenal. A club in even worse shape than United and without the financial clout to compete for the highest priced players. Which is why the Partey signing was so significant. They bought a top midfielder for a relatively cheap fee.
I think his cultural reboot has been very impressive. The aren’t the tippy-tappy, mentally weak Arsenal of old. They now work hard and stay in games when losing. No soft underbelly anymore. Sorting out their defence gives them a good platform to build on.
They need to add some more pieces, but are on the right path. They’ll need some extra creativity when they face a low block. Like Liverpool, their wide forwards and full-backs are more important to them in terms of influence, than the central midfielders are. Ceballos and Partey do have some dynamic traits. But they still need to buy an Özil replacement for certain games. And Saliba hasn’t even come into the equation at the back yet. Hopefully he can get over the loss of his mother and settle in, it would be such a waste of talent. Gabriel also looks like a solid defender with a good skill set for The PL.
He has his 1st trophy out of the way as well. I rate Arteta ahead of Ole & Lampard. Arsenal might actually become competitive again in a few years if they continue to evolve.
I think his cultural reboot has been very impressive. The aren’t the tippy-tappy, mentally weak Arsenal of old. They now work hard and stay in games when losing. No soft underbelly anymore. Sorting out their defence gives them a good platform to build on.
They need to add some more pieces, but are on the right path. They’ll need some extra creativity when they face a low block. Like Liverpool, their wide forwards and full-backs are more important to them in terms of influence, than the central midfielders are. Ceballos and Partey do have some dynamic traits. But they still need to buy an Özil replacement for certain games. And Saliba hasn’t even come into the equation at the back yet. Hopefully he can get over the loss of his mother and settle in, it would be such a waste of talent. Gabriel also looks like a solid defender with a good skill set for The PL.
He has his 1st trophy out of the way as well. I rate Arteta ahead of Ole & Lampard. Arsenal might actually become competitive again in a few years if they continue to evolve.
Their problem yesterday was poor finishing, not creativity. They should have scored at least 2 goals by halftime but wasted numerous chances.
Gabriel has provided them their Rio. Their Virgil. A colossal beacon of composure and assurance from the back that resonates through the team
That's a bit much.
Arteta did really well today but let's see how they progress. They were also fortunate to come up against a very poor United team that gets outplayed by the likes of Brighton and Palace.
At the point where I don't care how dire the football is to watch, providing we get the positive results. Start building some form of winning mentality, and once thats set in the players can look to express themselves more.
I think he's doing to best with what we have at the current moment. Once he ships players like Ozil on hopefully we can get some players with some creativity and flair.
Cannot believe we actually got maximum points from OT. 1 and a half decades of misery there.
I think he's doing to best with what we have at the current moment. Once he ships players like Ozil on hopefully we can get some players with some creativity and flair.
Cannot believe we actually got maximum points from OT. 1 and a half decades of misery there.
He should have been sent off in an ideal scenario. There was a yellow card worthy foul before he got a yellow, and I've no idea how he didn't get the yellow for the foul on Mason
Correct
Arteta's Arsenal reminds me of the George Graham days, horrible to watch and even worse to play against but it's effective. He has taken a common sense approach and it seems to be paying off for them. There were a few moments last night where a half decent referee would have punished some pretty dodgy tackling from them though, Aubamayang destroyed Bruno with a vile tackle in the first half and Gabriel avoiding a second yellow was laughable. That said, at least they looked like they gave a feck and were getting stuck in while we were jogging about making sideways passes.
He is highly defensive manager who would occasionally over achieve but at the end of the day it's highly unlikely his Arsenal would amount to much and any Arsenal fan thinking he would suddenly transform into attacking coach with better players is living in denial just like Ole with United .
That reads like you watched a different game. As usual they didn't anything (6 shots, 1 on target for a combined 0.3 xG outside the penalty).
Creativity is absolutely Arsenal's biggest issue and they desperately need a player there which is why I've been so critical of throwing a lot of money at Partey.
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Yeah I never understood that. If he truly wants to play expressive/attacking football he'd do it and take the punches and growing pains on the way, like what Klopp (who for his first two years had a weaker squad than the one Arteta inherited let alone the one now) did and what Lampard (who last season had a worse side than current Arsenal) did, amoungst other examples.
He may or may not ultimately be a successful manager, but it's fantasy to think he'd suddenly change tact with better players, if anything results like yesterday and winning the FA Cup make it even less likely (he'll try to change) as in his head that will be further proof his methods work.
Arteta for me is a better manager than Ole, he seems to represent having a higher ceiling and has concluded his first season with trophies to show for it. The context needed is that Arsenal have such a mediocre team he's in a sense overachieving with the average players.
Reckon if you give Arteta our team he would flourish. While I don't think this current Arsenal side is an attacking unit Ole is just as pragmatic oftentimes having just as bad woeful performances to match.
Reckon if you give Arteta our team he would flourish. While I don't think this current Arsenal side is an attacking unit Ole is just as pragmatic oftentimes having just as bad woeful performances to match.
I would rather wait for him to buy some decent attacking midfielders first before judging him too harshly. He did wanted to buy Aouar alongside Partey during the summer transfer window.
At least he seems to know how to work with pressing. Once he gets the right players he may be soon back in the mix for the 4th spot again..
From what I saw Arsenal fully deserved to win. XG means nothing
They were really bad, we were just unbelievably bad. Such a strange game... can't say they deserved the 3pts just because we were ineffective, maybe 1pt.
Shows just how shite Arsenal are that they needed a penalty to get the points.
Shows just how shite Arsenal are that they needed a penalty to get the points.
They killed the game with the Pep fouls at the halfway line, becoming a very annoying and difficult tactic to face. We're softer than a whisper already without having to come up with a solution to this.
Excerpts from his interview in 2015 describing what he would be like as a manager
Regarding Philosophy:
"My philosophy will be clear. I will have everyone 120 per cent committed, that’s the first thing. If not, you don’t play for me. When it’s time to work it’s time to work, and when it’s time to have fun then I’m the first one to do it, but that commitment is vital. Then I want the football to be expressive, entertaining. I cannot have a concept of football where everything is based on the opposition. We have to dictate the game, we have to be the ones taking the initiative, and we have to entertain the people coming to watch us. I’m 100 per cent convinced of those things, and I think I could do it."
Will you set your team up in a particular system, or do the players come first?
"I think you need to adapt. You can have an idea of a system, but you need to be able to transform it depending on the players you have – how much pace you have up front, how technical your team is, what types of risk you can take and whether your players are ready to take those risks. It’s important to analyse your players because you can’t always play the same way. There have to be different details and changes in how you approach things, and you have to look at how you can hurt whoever you are playing against."
He was pretty clear about wanting to play expressive football but needing to adapt to the players he has at his disposal.
And non of them won anything during that period.
Regarding Philosophy:
"My philosophy will be clear. I will have everyone 120 per cent committed, that’s the first thing. If not, you don’t play for me. When it’s time to work it’s time to work, and when it’s time to have fun then I’m the first one to do it, but that commitment is vital. Then I want the football to be expressive, entertaining. I cannot have a concept of football where everything is based on the opposition. We have to dictate the game, we have to be the ones taking the initiative, and we have to entertain the people coming to watch us. I’m 100 per cent convinced of those things, and I think I could do it."
Will you set your team up in a particular system, or do the players come first?
"I think you need to adapt. You can have an idea of a system, but you need to be able to transform it depending on the players you have – how much pace you have up front, how technical your team is, what types of risk you can take and whether your players are ready to take those risks. It’s important to analyse your players because you can’t always play the same way. There have to be different details and changes in how you approach things, and you have to look at how you can hurt whoever you are playing against."
He was pretty clear about wanting to play expressive football but needing to adapt to the players he has at his disposal.
And non of them won anything during that period.
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Maybe not but Klopp set a style to his play that ended up dominating at home and abroad, he resisted calls to be more pragmatic to get more instant results or a domestic cup.
Infact if an FA Cup was the be all and end all you'd still have Wenger incharge. I mean don't get me wrong it was a very good achievement given your opponents in the semi and the final but in terms of your long term evolution it means little either way.
We traded 15 years of denial that we'd eventually outscore our opponents "because we're Arsenal". Building a defensive platform first looks like a better theory.
It does though, it becomes a whole lot easier to convince your squad the formula works when it actually works and gets you a trophy against sides that are definitely better than you.
Klopp's style dominated when they spent 150M on 2 of their most important signings: a GK and a CB. Rounding it off with Mane and Salah sure helps but we don't have these yet.
He clearly doesn't like Pepe and who could blame him. If he's given time, Aouar (or better) and an efficient scoring winger, i'm sure our style of play will improve massively.
He started learning his job coaching players like KdB, David Silva, B.Silva, Fernandinho, Aguero and a 300M set of defenders. The transition to Arsenal is pretty rough and he's doing a good job with what he's got.
I know for Arsenal fans beating Manchester United is a big achievement and all but do not get carried away. We were god damn awful yesterday and for some weird reason since wenger retired we always manage to bring our worst when facing arsenal. Calling gabriel as the next rio or partey the next viera or arteta is for sure the answer. As I said do not get carried away. For all your position and stuff you guys didn't create that much and your best player was Paul Pogba whose brainless tackle gave you the penalty.
Big win for you guys and step in the right direction but that wasn't some amazing performance.
Big win for you guys and step in the right direction but that wasn't some amazing performance.
He's been a great hire for Arsenal. You look at the team he put out yesterday and tell me which manager in the league could do much with it. Absolutely no one, that's who. Their pressing is good, their passing is still too horizontal, but in general, in general they have an idea but lack the individual quality to do it. If Arsenal get Aouar or another creative player to replace Willian, they will easily be in the top 4.
That is your opinion though. According to statistics, the chances Arsenal had warranted a xG of 0.3. It was a draw written all over it whether you like it or not. They were better than us in the first half because of our formation. The second half they didn’t threaten us except for a brief moment. But the media today are painting Artetas win as a masterclass. As if they won because they were so good.
I really don’t understand why our players didn’t turn up and I haven’t been so disappointed in a loss for a very long time. Not even against Tottenham, because tbf we pretty much deserved that by a team that played really well. But yesterday? Nah I’m not having that.