The 2021/22 Season

he definitely doesn't look anywhere near someone that is only behind Bale and Varane of several years back in pace, so yea i think the injuries did a job on him

There are alot of issues that needs sorting

1. Becoming brighton after taking the lead.
2. Players who doesnt deserve to be starting are starting.
3. Bads substitutions.
4. Too many individual mistakes. Despite Xhaka's abscence

All above comes down to experienced heads in the squad which we have very few may be next to none.

Can't fault him for his honesty, I suppose.

Maybe he'll put in a strong performance tonight.

Team:

Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney; Partey, XHAKA; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Lacazette

Smith Rowe left out of the squad tonight for what I assume must be a knock or illness. Auba on the bench.

Meanwhile, we've been drawn away to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round. We went there in Wenger's last season and were smashed 4-2.

This the shittest 30 minutes of football I've seen anywhere this season.

Both teams doing eff all.

Nice to have Tierney's Crosses from the left,back
Very poor half overall

Odegaard

It's been a very flat half from both teams. Arsenal are beating the first line of Everton's press easily enough but the ball simply isn't getting from midfield to attack. We've had just two touches in their box and one of them was Odegaard's goal.

Martinelli isn't dropping into the half spaces like Smith Rowe would and it's leaving Odegaard as the only way to progress centrally. Sometimes Lacazette drops deep but there's been a reluctance to play the ball into him. Partey looks short of confidence and seems unwilling to carry, so the midfield is one dimensional.

It'll be a shame to not win this game given the tension in the ground and Everton's struggles. Can't afford to give them any hope in the 2nd half.

I love VAR lol

Back to being shit.

Another game thrown away because of cowardly play.

We didn't deserve to win. We played like shit. We played like a regelation team staying down "injured" to try to stop the momentum. Beta attitude.

350k p/w striker, in the 97th minute, shanks it 10 yards wide. What a joke.

Apart from all other things, We are also shit at being Brighton after taking the lead.

Brentford, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Everton. These are 10 dropped points in 15 games. We would have been sitting along with chelsea in the table despite being trashed by City, Liverpool and chelsea.

How many goals have we conceded in last 5 games with our primary Center backs???

Jay29 wrote:350k p/w striker, in the 97th minute, shanks it 10 yards wide. What a joke.

Yea how is it that we can't expect Auba to come in at the 85th minute and saving us from 85 minutes of crap. That would be like expecting someone to be able to get an open header less than a meter away from goal and missing.

Nketiah should score and Auba should hit the target. Both things are true.

Difference is, Nketiah's leaving in a month's time. Auba's the main man, captain, one of the best strikers around yet atm we can't depend on him to be decisive in those important moments. And if we can't depend on him then who can we depend on up front?

The result isn't his fault, but I'm getting tired of our senior players continually drifting through games when we need them to step up.

should we take a punt on Potter or Vieira?

I think changing the manager now sets us back even further unless we can bring in someone elite.

The season is far from lost despite how awful tonight's performance was.

but Arteta will take us nowhere? what's the point?

At the moment I expect us to finish in the top six. Neither Potter or Vieira are going to achieve higher than that if they come in mid-season.

The last two games are set backs but I don't see anything to warrant an immediate change of manager. I blame the players tonight as much as I do Arteta.

If a top coach was available I could see the logic, but going from one project manager to another project manager mid-season seems redundant.

I fully expect the ups and downs of young players, and even a young coach. That performance was incredibly disappointing, don't get me wrong, but I've prepared myself for the inevitable teething problems.

What I can't really understand is our senior players' lack of conviction. I'm sure they're trying, but we lose confidence so quickly and dramatically. You need Xhaka, Auba, Laca, Partey to help re-establish composure, to G the young guys up or get them to kick on. They're supposed to have been here and done this.

As long as Arteta has the team putting in effort, I don't see him being replaced. But the team's fragile mentality isn't going to help our chances if the lows are this low.

i saw (i think it was Laca) giving the team a bit of a pep talk during the huddle of Odegaard's goal celebration... didn't seem to do shit though. The problem is at the core and roots of this club, there's some serious bad energy hanging over the club, infecting the halls of every single operation of this football club. Until that shit gets vanquished, no player will be able to lift the spirits of the whole team.

Jay29 wrote:At the moment I expect us to finish in the top six. Neither Potter or Vieira are going to achieve higher than that if they come in mid-season.

The last two games are set backs but I don't see anything to warrant an immediate change of manager. I blame the players tonight as much as I do Arteta.

If a top coach was available I could see the logic, but going from one project manager to another project manager mid-season seems redundant.

Why? How?
With 23 points from 15 games you're on track for a 58 points season.

58 points haven't been enough for finishing 6th in all of the last 10 seasons.

It usually gets you.. 8th.

That's right, 8th place, like Arteta reached last season, and like he reached the season before. "Project manager"? There is no project. There's no progress. Arteta is what he is, and it will never improve any more, just as it hasn't improved.

You've usually got such clarity of mind, but you "can't see the logic" of sacking Arteta?
That's completely bizarre. There's no good reason whatsoever to keep him - unless you are satisfied with being the 8th best team in the league, after being a top 4 spender.

I agree that this is midtable football that will result in a midtable finish. Jay's point is still a valid one.

We can all have higher expectations of where Arsenal should be, but the facts appear to be that Arteta is secure in his job and that the board have a longer timeline to measure progress than we, as fans, do.

I don't think many would have gripes about seeing Arteta go if he can't turn it around (as he has a tendency to do in his infantile career) but I am genuinely interested in knowing what managers can come in to a developing squad and balance win-now with the rebuild we started. These are some of the notable names available rn: Zidane, Favre, Valverde, Farke, Santo, Garcia. Not many seem to make sense, and sure there are plenty of others but none that suggest a good fit for where we are.

For a top 6 finish, we're betting on the players and manager - who is developing alongside them - improving enough that we can find our way into Europe. There's a lot to suggest we'll fall short as of right now, but it's not impossible, and not every game has to be a referendum on everything at the club.

Personally, and this is purely where I'm at, I would think that if we don't turn it around in this run of fixtures, it's going to be a very rocky rest of the way for the club:

Southampton (H)
West Ham (H)
Leeds (A)
Norwich (A)
Wolves (H)

fact of the matter might actually just be that Arteta is just a very bad and clueless out of his depth manager, and any decent manager with decent experience can come in and do better than him

get Favre as interim and then start working to find a strong candidate for the summer,  aim for Ten Hag, settle for Hasenhüttl

there is no reason to keep Arteta in the job one day longer

the longer he stays, the longer it takes until you're good again

El Gunner wrote:fact of the matter might actually just be that Arteta is just a very bad and clueless out of his depth manager, and any decent manager with decent experience can come in and do better than him

No offense intended towards Hans, but that sounds more like Hans' common, problem-finding pattern than anything factual. I don't know how competent or incompetent Arteta is. I keep hearing that he's an awful manager, not only on the internet, but from colleagues who support Arsenal, as well.

But beyond Arteta, I see a lot of mediocrity in every part of this Arsenal team, and I wouldn't assume that a different manager is going to be able to sustainably change that situation. What style of football does this team excel at? Is there a manager that would complement that style of football? I can't imagine that anything would change for the better if you were to bring in someone like Mourinho or Conte, who specialize in a type of football that Arsenal simply don't have the players for, at all.

I would love to see Favre manage this Arsenal side. I'm a fan of his. Should never have been sacked from Dortmund. Who would want to manage a side who's future depends on signings, though? You're at the mercy of the club's board of finances.