What a choke job, bottle-job, embarrassment, etc. Whatever you want to call a team putting up a shockingly embarrassing performance in high-pressure situations where you are heavily favored, Arsenal just did that times a billion. I am being dramatic and might have some hyperbole in there but as a highly emotional, overly invested fan, this team is everything to me and the players/coaches/management just sold me down the river for slaughter.
Arsenal in their past two games before yesterday blew consecutive 2-0 leads which led to 2-2 draws against Liverpool and West Ham (relegation fodder) to drop 4 points in a highly competitive and tight PL title race against arguably the best team in the world (Man City). And yesterday they outdid themselves in the most Arsenal fashion ever by drawing 3-3 AT HOME (AT YOUR OWN DAMN STADIUM WHERE THE MAJOJRITY OF HOME CROWD ACTIVELY ROOTS AND SUPPORT YOU) to the last place team in the league (20th place), heavily struggling Southampton to extend their league to 5 points at the top of the league with City having two games in hand. Just a nightmarish scenario for all fragile Arsenal fans out there. 6 points dropped in 3 games. You can’t make this stuff up but for Arsenal fans, we are numb to this crap at this point. Our next game is at the Etihad against Man City in a game where we must win, HA. At this point, City couldn’t be in better form and we are looking like greased up fat pigs for slaughter, just end me at this point before next Wednesday.
After disastrous defeats to Everton and City and a disappointing draw at home to Brentford, Arsenal has fortunately rebounded with two huge away wins at Villa and at Leicester today with a 1-0 victory. Arsenal have extended their lead at the top to 5 points and gives us room to breathe while City playing Bournemouth in the coming hour.
Table: Arsenal have now extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points, albeit perhaps briefly, as Manchester City travel to Bournemouth this evening, with kick-off moments away. #afcpic.twitter.com/nXVbcOFLOO
All things considered, Arsenal seemed to have somewhat stabled and righted the wavering ship, games against Everton midweek and Bournemouth are prime opportunities for Arsenal to pick up points and put pressure on City.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
Leicester was dreadful. Leicester who still has so much to play for in their quest to not get relegated were objectively poor today, considering the circumstances of playing at home, with the league leaders coming into town, and they just stood back and soaked all the unnecessary pressure. Arsenal playing teams that dive into a low-intensity low-block is my favorite type of team to play. They offered no staggered pressing at all to switch things up like Brentford did, they had no cohesive strategy whenever they did win the ball which left Kelechi ridiculously isolated between Gabriel and Saliba, just an all-around disaster from Leicester, not complaining by any means, just saying the biggest driver to Arsenal’s 1-0 victory.
Martinelli rollercoaster continues: In the first half, this man was driving me crazy. Every decision he made, was the wrong one. As a right-footed LW, he seems satisfied with just going down the line to play on his weaker foot, not even giving the defender an inkling of doubt that, you know, he might want to get on his right to wrap a right-footed shot at their shit keeper. Just maddening, as well as the few times the ball got stuck to his feet when we were intricately playing around the box and he just fucked it up. But to be consistent with what he has done all year, he gets us that all-important goal to solidify the 3 points with a devastating run for the easy finish. Just an enigma for me right now, but as long as he is scoring, I won’t say a word.
And just like that, Arsenal dropped another two points at home to mid-table Brighton with a 1-1 draw at the Emirates. Very frustrating afternoon considering the opportunity we had to rebound from a 1-0 loss to Everton last week, and we were at home, it was all set up for us to smack Brentford before Man City on Wednesday and it was not good enough, to say the least. 4/10 and 5/10 all over the pitch for Arsenal players, with all to play for is disappointing but we move to Wednesday against Man City.
THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST HALF: Arteta started with the same starting XI we have seen for most of this season and I think we are at a point where we need a change or two to spice things up. Arsenal saw a lot of possession to start the match as you would expect but Brighton unlike the earlier matchup between the two teams was well-organized and stood up to the Gooners at every turn. Martinelli, Eddie and Xhaka for me, were way below the standards we had set for ourselves heading into this match, never getting and coming into the match like we needed them to, made life easy for Brentford whenever they received the ball around the box. Just a lack of cutting edge from our standout players this season. If we are being honest, Brentford had the more clear-cut chances in the first half with well worked counters between Mbuemo and Ivan Toney up top where Arsenal didn’t cope with the pressure well at all. Rico Henry had a sitter where he incredibly hit it off target and Toney hit the crossbar with a wide open net as well. The chances for Arsenal were few and far between where there were spells of well-worked possession and intricate passing around the box but we were never able to open the low block/5 defender set that Brentford set themselves up with, leaving both teams going into the half tied 0-0.
THOUGHTS ON THE SECOND HALF: Arteta seemed to have gotten into the Arsenal players at the half as we came out of the blocks with may more intent and pressure than the first half. Arteta knew what was at stake and before the 60th minute mark, got Trossard ready to come in for Martinelli which was surprising, given the fact that Arteta usually waits on subs instead of being aggressive to make changes. Trossard who benefitted from the tired Brentford legs was lively from the start and was giving Roerslev the runaround a bit before Saka found space and time on the right to whip in a cross which was was well-finished and well-timed by Trossard:
It was a perfect moment. Arsenal had broken the deadlock and secured themselves 3 points to extend the lead before this debacle:
Just terrible, fucking terrible. Zinchenko getting pinned off, Saliba was dominated by Pinnock, Ramsdale all at sorts, and Toney had the easiest goal in his life.
BUT Lee Mason, that disgusting human being who was on VAR assignment for the game failed to take into account Christian Norgaard’s positioning for the goal. He did not draw the offside line for the Danish midfielder which then allowed for the goal to stand for Brentford. Just an abysmal performance from the Premier League, PGMOL, and Lee Mason for not doing the bare minimum for their job. Like the only reason VAR should exist is to get the objective parts of the game right, and they have failed in VAR’s tenure to do that consistently. It’s so basic, so frustrating.
Brentford's equaliser against Arsenal was wrongly allowed to stand because of human error. VAR failed to check whether Christian Norgaard was offside before crossing for Ivan Toney. Story @TeleFootballhttps://t.co/iivb7Ssigf
🚨 It is understood that VAR operator Lee Mason had instead focused on a possible offside offence a few seconds earlier, involving Ethan Pinnock & Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães, before failing to ‘fully investigate’ Christian Norgaard’s positioning. [@SamJDean] #afchttps://t.co/LTSHRcBxEvpic.twitter.com/FwA1u9fwwP
At the end of the day, Arsenal weren’t good enough over the 90 minutes to get the 3 points, fair to say Arsenal are hitting their current low point of the season and needs to get their heads back yesterday before things unravel even worse, no better time to do it then against title challenger City on Wednesday.
MATCH RATINGS:
Ramsdale: 5/10: Made decent saves throughout but in the biggest moment of the game, came up short
Ben White: 5/10: Been pretty poor for the past few weeks
Saliba: 5/10: Outdueled by Toney for most of the game, lost out to Pinnock for the goal
Deep down, all Arsenal fans were waiting for this moment, when our backs are against the wall against a team we are undoubtedly better than player for player. Everytime this season, we have been able to back it up and collect the 3 points but this wasn’t meant to be at one of our bogey grounds, against 19th place Everton at Goodison Park. We haven’t won at the ground since Alexis Sanchez and Ozil were on the team and looks like we have to wait for next season to lift the curse as they nicked us 1-0 to stall our lead at the top of the table, through a Tarkowski back post header off a corner, kill me.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
Where does this put the title? Don’t panic. This match halts our title league aspirations for sure, keeping us 5 points ahead of City but games like these were bound to happen. What we can’t do is panic as there is so much football left to play. We have City twice, City at multiple points throughout this season have looked vulnerable to dropping points this season as they actually drew Everton first time they played this season. Too early to panic, just take care of our business and we will be fine.
Dreadful in attack today: Outside of Saka, I thought Martinelli, Ødegaard and Nketiah were absolutely dreadful today. Everton came in playing with a brand new manager and the new manager bounce is always possible but at the end of the day, champions win against 19th place opposition no matter the circumstances and these 3 were terrible today. Not once, maybe Eddie on one dribble in the second half, did they take responsibility for any attacking pressure to Everton, it was just lifeless from all 3 of them as Saka throughout the match did put Mylolenko in a body bag, he just didn’t get the support from his teammates.
Xhaka may be feeling tired? Xhaka today was also someone today that stood out today as being absolutely useless. Every opportunity he picked up the ball in the half-spaces between Martinelli and Eddie, he gave it away. Because if our inability to retain possession properly, Everton were able to counter Thomas and Gabriel/Saliba at ease with Zinchenko and Ben White also isolated high up the pitch. We may need to look to give him a rest or he needs to get his shit together for Brentford next week.
Gabriel has become our best CB at the club: Saliba will get all the plaudits for how good he has been in his first season and Ben White has been tremendous at RB but Gabriel as of late has become a monstrous colossus at the back for us. His ball-winning, ball retention, aerial duels, etc. He does it all for us at the moment. Many many times he was isolated onto Dominic Calvert-Lewin and every time he bulled the englishman and he’s pretty much taken care of every opposition he has come against. Maybe its the motivation on missing out the Brazil World Cup team, but he has been our best defender the past few months, fully deserving of this new contract extension.
5. Trossard might need to start next week against Brentford over Martinelli: not permanently, but just to rotate our squad a bit and give us a new look going forward. I have been on Martinelli the past few weeks on being too-one dimensional in our fluid attack and things haven’t gotten better. We were able to put paper over the cracks with Martinelli’s goals but that well seems to have dried up dramatically and maybe a new change of pace up top might be the answer for the time being.
6. Bounce back against Brentford at home and take care of City and we are back on track: Lot easier said than done for sure, but time to man up. Put up or shut up time for the boys, you’d wish it wasn’t prompted after losing at Everton but that is the position we find ourselves in, time to put things right these next few games.
What a match, what a performance, when everyone kept asking questions about when this Arsenal team would slip up, they do it again. This time, with a 3-2 victory over an in-form United team at the Emirates, bring some revenge from the defeat they handed us at OT in September. This match had everything, lead switches, world class goals, shit goals, last minute goals, it 100% felt like an old-school United/Arsenal match that we haven’t been able to see in years when both teams were dominating the league. I’ll go into the details from this match, but Eddie’s last minute tap in to give us the victory kept us 5 points clear of City with a game in hand and served as a platform to improve upon during this busy February-March stretch when the Europa League games come in.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
Not the best match from the starting XI but they showed heart when it mattered most: The hallmark of this Arsenal team all season was the blistering and relentless pace we set from the start, especially at home and it seemed that way for the first 5 minutes but United were able to weather the storm much better than other teams. Thomas, Ben White and Martinelli all in my opinion were not at their best. Both CBs did fine given the enormity of the match, Ødegaard and Saka played well, Eddie was incredible and Zinchenko just continues to impress me. We won’t always be at our best, but all that matters is that we get the 3 points when it does happen and that’s what happened today. This Arsenal team though, they are built different. They took the lead through a Rashford goal and hit us back to 2-2 with a shit clusterfuck of a goal and every single time, we responded just like we have for the most of this season, which is why we are where we are.
Our best players didn’t show up today but the rest of the squad was able to pick up the slack: Thomas Partey, the one who I have relied upon all season and in my opinion, our most important player, came up a bit short this game, gave the ball cheaply a few times, and Rashford did him in to take the lead at 1-0. Ben White’s touch was off from the start, which is quite unfair from the high standard he set for himself this season which is part of the reason Tomiyasu replaced him at halftime. Martinelli’s limitations have become quite clear more and more as this team excels. I think its quite clear he is the weak link in our starting XI now and why we went so hard for Mudryk this window. Not entirely his fault, just think he has become too one-dimensional. Ramsdale with a complete howler for their second goal. BUT for all those mistakes and dud performances, Saka, Eddie, Zinchenko, Ø, Trossard all stepped up for the lads which cements our position in the league table and why this Arsenal is so different from past teams.
I have no words for Saka anymore: There have been many players that have improved and caught the league’s eyes this season such as Ø and Martinelli but the one constant, one shining light from the past shit seasons, has been Bukayo Saka, Arsenal’s own Bukayo Saka. Just an insanely world-class goal when we needed it most. This boy keeps impressing me week in and week out. Our starboy.
What can I say at this point? These guys won’t just stop winning games, just a relentless machine at the moment that looks scarily obsessed with grabbing the PL title. Arsenal finished off 2022 with a bang with a 4-2 win against Brighton on the South coast. With Newcastle and City dropping points today, Arsenal find themselves 7 points clear at the top of the PL standings with 16 games played. Still a lot of football left to play this season but Arsenal don’t look closer to dropping any points compared to their rivals for Top 4. Arsenal opened the match scoring 66 seconds in and then scored about 100 seconds into the 2nd half and didn’t look back. Things got eerie towards the end of the match, but we took all 3 points at a tough away ground and now have great momentum with our clash with Newcastle on 1/3/2023.
There is no point in being shy about it anymore, no point for Arsenal fans to be humble about it, no point to bring in any caveat and flat out just say that Arsenal is in this damn title race and we are not going anywhere. City dropped points to Brentford at home, which left the door wide open for Arsenal to go 5 points clear with last-place Wolves. Arsenal went on to 2-0 resounding win at Wolves and assured us being 5 points clear going into Boxing Day. I am not completely sure what is going on to be honest. I am not sure how to react as I have based my personality on Arsenal being bad and with us dominating the league at the moment, this is all surreal to witness that these clowns have turned it around like this.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
We all know our best XI: Ramsdale-Ben White-Saliba-Zinchenko-Thomas-Xhaka-Ø-Saka-Martinelli-GJ is our best XI going forward. We can make changes here and there depending on fitness and matchups but in the biggest matches, this is our best XI to get us to where we want.
Ø shutting me up again lol: lmao I called him out the past few weeks to pick up the slack during this stretch and then he goes out and scores two away goals lol
Who else but the skipper Martin Odegaard to put Arsenal into the lead!
I’ll just keep shitting on him all season long with the understanding I am doing it as a jinx and for Ødegaard to actually score goals in big moments.
3. Thomas Partey is everything to us: Thomas Partey is freedom for us. His skill and mastery allows us to play the way we want. He lets Saka, Martinelli, Ødegaard and company run around like fucking madmen cause they know they got their big brother Thomas Partey keeping everything in check. I say it every week but he is our best player and do not want to think about where we would be if we didn’t have him.
4. This team is different: Despite our dominance on the ball in the first half, nothing fell to us to get us the deserved lead however there was always a feeling I had deep down that we would get that goal, not a matter of “if” but a matter of when. That is infinitely times more than what I could say for past Arteta teams, this fixture last year we crawled to a 1-0 win and this year was a true dominant 2-0 pounding to bring us 5 points clear. The change is drastic from this year’s team to last and we can only hope to keep it up after the World Cup.
5. The World Cup could not come at a worse time for us: We are the team in-from in the country and this damn joke of a World Cup just has to come and ruin it for everyone. For the Arsenal player’s sake, I hope they get everything they want when representing their country at the World Cup but I hope so much that they stay healthy and fit for the 2nd half of this season. Praying Southgate stays an idiot and doesn’t play Saka (Lmao also Southgate won’t play Ramsdale or White, which is a massive joke but we will let his loss be our gain). If Tite wants to be annoying and play Richarlison instead of Gabi Jesus and Martinelli, not my problem (Gabriel M. not getting called up is also a joke). If Deschamps is blind and doesn’t start Saliba, be my guest. If Ghana get eliminated early but Thomas Partey is healthy and fit, I’d pay for that. Xhaka, Tomiyasu, and Turner will probably be our for sure nailed on starters at the World Cup.
6. Shut up about Gabriel Jesus: Funny how people are obsessed with Gabi’s goal-scoring record or lack there-of, “this is why Pep let him go”, blah blah blah. He is literally the main man of the team that is 5 points clear at the top, you can all sit down and shut up.
An apology from me to Mikel Arteta will be coming soon.
OUTLOOK: Going into this season, I was somewhat worried about the defenders/injuries that Arsenal was carrying into the season, but a French blessing in the shape of a William Saliba fell into our lap and now I can’t be more excited to see what our back line looks like with him. Despite the injuries to Tomiyasu and Tierney coming into this season, the arrival of Saliba has pushed Ben White out to RB with Tomiyasu out which affords the ability to not have to play Cédric. Saliba-Gabriel have created a formidable duo that looks as good as any in England especially given their age profiles. Zinchenko looks to have the left-back spot now with Tierney struggling to cope with injuries. Through the Sevilla and Chelsea friendlies to go along with the win against Palace, I imagine we keep this back 4 intact til things break down but you have to love the depth and flexibility we have right now when everybody is back, a huge problem we had last year that messed with my sanity.
(If for whatever reason this doesn’t happen, it is not my fault and I take no responsibility for it)
Arsenal missed out on Lisandro Martinez and that is fine, he decided to go and play with his former manager on a worse team in United for €57.37 million, which could rise to €67.37m through variables. From an Arsenal perspective, there is no reason we should have spent that much money on a CB who we it looks like we would have deployed at LB (even though he doesn’t play there for club or country, the only thing he has that resembles a LB is his preference of his left boot). We also missed out on Raphinha which I could give two shits about as he has publically and privately been twerking for Barca for months now, no need for Arsenal to cough up north of €60m for a guy who scored 11 league goals last year (Pépé got lambasted and called a bust for scoring 10 league goals the season before, makes you think). But no worry, looks like we got the LB we wanted, according to Fab, Arsenal and City have reached an agreement for Oleksandr Zinchecnko.
Arsenal and Manchester City have reached an agreement for Zinchenko in the morning. £30m fee. No doubt, it’s done between clubs. ⚪️🔴✅ #AFC
Negotiations ongoing on player side for personal terms and salary details, then it will be completed. https://t.co/Uc3SmAA7yE
