He surely must now.
That was easily our worst performance under him and one of the worst performances we’ve had this season. The only positive to take is we did not concede (and this is down to Burnley’s wastefulness more than anything).
We have a 2 week break now and things will really have to change while our players are enjoying the sun in Dubai.
Lacazette - How he played 88 minutes is beyond me. He is in woeful form, not just in front of goal but he is not even capable of the basics anymore. Can’t pass, can’t cross, can’t hold the ball up, can’t run, can’t header, and takes about 4-5 touches before he knows what he wants to do (before inevitably failing to execute). He needs to be benched ASAP.
Ozil - I am really starting to HATE this fraud and that’s not something I say often about Arsenal players. He is the most pointless player in our squad; a complete luxury that we can’t afford. 0 goals and 1 assist since the start of last season or something ridiculously awful like that. How can you justify his inclusion in the squad, never mind the fact he has started every single PL game under Arteta. I don’t care if he’s your buddy or not, he’s going to cost you your job if you continue to keep faith in him. If we can’t find a buyer in the Summer then just release him ffs.
Gwen/Xhaka - this is easily our worst CM pairing and simply should not start together again. Xhaka as we all know is good to give the ball away in our half at least 3 times a game and Gwen needs at least 3 touches before playing the ball. Every man and his dog knows if you press them you will dominate them. At least with Torreira in there you have that physicality and energy to press back and show some combativeness in midfield. When Torreira and Willock came on we momentarily gained control back in the game before Burnley focused even more on exposing our flanks.
Crosses - that brings me to my next point. How many crosses do we let the opposition put in? It’s incredible. Bellerin is just coming back from a lengthy injury. Xhaka, Saka and AMN are not full backs. Surely they need some more protection. You aren’t going to get that with Martinelli and Auba (2 strikers who must be wondering why on earth they are playing 2nd fiddle to Lacazette), playing on the wings. Arteta needs to play players in their actual positions. We saw too much square pegs in round holes over the last decade with Wenger, a perfect example was moulding a dynamic attacking midfielder like Arteta himself into a defensive midfielder. It just doesn’t work if you want to compete.
Attacking balance - despite all our defensive woes, I think this is by far our biggest weakness currently, yet the easiest to repair. We obviously have plenty of attacking talent. The problem is we have too much and Arteta is trying to find a way to fit them all in. He has to grow some cojones and bench one of our strikers along with Ozil. He’s seen working at Man City how important it is to stretch the opposition with pace, width, and incisive passing. Playing 3 CFs and a number 10 does not achieve that. I would play Aubameyang up front with Pepe and Martinelli on either side of him. Yes, Pepe is raw (aka not good enough) and Martinelli is a youngster finding his way in English football but both players at least stay wide, have pace and bags of tricks to beat their fullbacks. As for the number 10 position, you can literally play anyone there and it will be an improvement on Ozil. Willock, Nelson, Ceballos, even Jenius’s laughable idea of Xhaka playing there would make more sense. ANYONE BUT OZIL.
Arteta has big decisions to make over the next 2 weeks. Not going to say they will define whether he’ll make it at Arsenal or not but short term the fans desperately need a boost or the apathy will kick back in before the season has come to an end, and we all know how that ended for the previous 2 managers.
TLDR - we are shiiiiiiit and Arteta must make us better quickly
If Arteta didn’t know how tough his job is,
posted on 2/2/20
comment by Gunnerthru (U6675)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Joe Goldberg (U18355)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by The Mane Man - WORLD CHAMPIONS-"Sadio, I’ll get him back don’t worry.” (U19731)
posted 3 minutes ago
Guendouzi is a young player who will improve with age. I remember when a lot of fans gave Hendo stick.
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It’s taken a decade and a world class manager with with world class players all around him for Henderson to become a half decent player (currently). We don’t have that luxury at Arsenal
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Henderson looks better because his team makes him to look better.
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Odds on for player of the season...
posted on 2/2/20
comment by PowerkingHenry27 (U18930)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Gunnerthru (U6675)
posted 47 seconds ago
comment by Joe Goldberg (U18355)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by The Mane Man - WORLD CHAMPIONS-"Sadio, I’ll get him back don’t worry.” (U19731)
posted 3 minutes ago
Guendouzi is a young player who will improve with age. I remember when a lot of fans gave Hendo stick.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s taken a decade and a world class manager with with world class players all around him for Henderson to become a half decent player (currently). We don’t have that luxury at Arsenal
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Henderson looks better because his team makes him to look better.
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That’s harsh I’m no Liverpool fan but Henderson has been instrumental for them.
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It's not a criticism on Henderson who is playing well but you can see he improved his performances when also his team playing with freedom and confidence. It has an influence.
posted on 2/2/20
comment by kneerash-23 Cara Gold (U6876)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Gunnerthru (U6675)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Joe Goldberg (U18355)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by The Mane Man - WORLD CHAMPIONS-"Sadio, I’ll get him back don’t worry.” (U19731)
posted 3 minutes ago
Guendouzi is a young player who will improve with age. I remember when a lot of fans gave Hendo stick.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s taken a decade and a world class manager with with world class players all around him for Henderson to become a half decent player (currently). We don’t have that luxury at Arsenal
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Henderson looks better because his team makes him to look better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Odds on for player of the season...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lol just checked the odds and see he is 10/1 joint favorite. Actually a really good price because footballers aren’t the brightest and the Henderson hype train is gathering pace just in time for voting. It will be like that time Giggs won it or when Carrick got nominated
posted on 2/2/20
Joint 3rd* favorite
posted on 2/2/20
And Hendo is English. Not to forget
posted on 2/2/20
Why is this a Liverpool conversation?
I am sure Mr Arteta knew the size of the job, and he has prioritised making us better defensively. There is a bit of hope the star strikers create, rather than too much plan.
A big turning point was Saka getting injured. One of the most effective tweaks Mr Arteta made was using Xhaka dropping into the space left by the attacking full back to control possession. At the start of this match it was again working, but Saka getting hurt after 15/20 minutes allowed Burnley to gain control.
Playing Laca when he is so out of form and confidence is a massive negative against Mr Arteta. And he seems to think Ozil is an answer, when he clearly isn't.
Hopefully over the break, Mr Arteta can look at the attacking structure of the team and make the necessary improvements. Maybe Laca will find his mojo out there as well.
posted on 2/2/20
comment by Joe Goldberg (U18355)
posted 6 minutes ago
It’s not harsh and he hasn’t really been instrumental.
But he’s put in some decent performances and scored a few goals when Liverpool were 15+ points clear at the top so that should probably put him in line for a team of the year nomination or even something more ridiculous
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Well most Liverpool fans including my mates who go up to Anfield frequently can’t stop raving bout him. Every time I’ve seen him under Klopp he’s been quality. Think you’re being harsh.
posted on 2/2/20
I don't understand why we didn't sell Ozil. Ok the excuse was put out that we didn't have time to buy a replacement. But still. Who are we going to find willing to take on his remaining contract? And for Ozil wanting to go. It would have saved us so much space on our wages to buy big again in the summer. Shows Arteta has a lot of power at Arsenal. I don't want us going to back to the manager having more say than the technical director tbh.
posted on 2/2/20
comment by Joe Goldberg (U18355)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by kneerash-23 Cara Gold (U6876)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Gunnerthru (U6675)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Joe Goldberg (U18355)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by The Mane Man - WORLD CHAMPIONS-"Sadio, I’ll get him back don’t worry.” (U19731)
posted 3 minutes ago
Guendouzi is a young player who will improve with age. I remember when a lot of fans gave Hendo stick.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s taken a decade and a world class manager with with world class players all around him for Henderson to become a half decent player (currently). We don’t have that luxury at Arsenal
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Henderson looks better because his team makes him to look better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Odds on for player of the season...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lol just checked the odds and see he is 10/1 joint favorite. Actually a really good price because footballers aren’t the brightest and the Henderson hype train is gathering pace just in time for voting. It will be like that time Giggs won it or when Carrick got nominated
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He's 6/4 on paddy Power
posted on 2/2/20
Well said Joe.
Arsenal are becoming boring and too sideways.
13 draws this season is disgraceful.