Don’t get too high in the good times or low in the bad.
That was bad.
I could go off about it. I could be so low right now. I am actually crying. Don’t judge me.
What happened there?
This is football and sometimes you lose games like that. I mean, very rarely, I think the last time we lost to a team that underpowered compared to us it was Wrexham. But, this is what happens when you don’t take your chances and sadly that is a theme with this Arsenal team even when we’re winning.
The two stories of the afternoon were about two teenagers and two senior players that all had days to forget.
Marli Salmon was turned by Aaron Laupolo in a show of strength; the striker finished well, but it was a sharp reminder as to why you don’t tend to see many 17-year-old centre-backs in professional football.
Max Dowman was the headline of the afternoon, he was roughed up all afternoon, but he came alive in some nice spaces in the second half. He had three shots, created three chances, was pinging some crosses that deserved more… it felt like the stars were aligning for him to make a big impact… then he was scythed down by a League Two clogger, his leg was scissored while his foot was planted, and he kicked out… red card… for Max.
You can’t argue the red. You can argue a ref that knew Dowman was 16, saw the disgusting challenge, and decided he’d like to make history by being the first PGMOL agent to send a future star of England off. I hated everything about that. We’ve seen young players destroyed by those challenges, it took me back to the Pulisball days of Arsenal.
I also didn’t like the snarl of Arteta when he commented to the player when he went down the tunnel. When asked, he said ‘It’s something that we discussed before the game.’ My guess? He was told he’d be attacked and he was to react, because Noni and Saka are out at the weekend. Well, the folly of youth now has Max missing out on a massive game at Anfield, and a potential mini-run in the first team. A three game ban for a Fleetwood game. Painful stuff.
Now for the senior players. Kai Havertz was not very good. Well, to be clear, his finishing was not very good. He had 7 shots, missed some great chances, did not hit the net until the penalty shootout. His all-round game is being eviscerated by frustrated Arsenal fans, but really, it was all down to one thing… his finishing. He has to be doing better as our 2nd richest player. That was Fleetwood. The 10 duel wins is nice, but I have to see goals, goals, goals.
Viktor Gyokeres? We saw a goal. He bundled into the net to land his first goal of the season. Great to see. But we can’t unsee the rest. He was diabolical. Rag dolled by League Two defenders, beaten for pace. Dowman was huffing at his movement, Hincapié was visibly riled by his lack of ability to get on a cross. It was terrible. He won a single duel. He hid. Made poor runs. Took heavy touches. He was anonymous. It was par the course for his season. He can’t even shine against League Two teams… and still his superfans decry Max, Hincapie, Kai, the weather, the roughhousing.
Kai had a bad day at the office, but his version of bad is missing loads of chances… Viktor had two in a game that saw 26 shots.
It’s unfathomable that our two strikers could offer their own brand of ‘not good enough’ in such starkly different ways.
You know why this happened, mostly… because I said I wanted to win the trophy this year. That’s your fault. Gassing me up like that about going for it.
No. Not having it. It was a silly idea. This exit is a bad thing for the banter, it’s a nightmare for the kids who won’t get good minutes in later rounds… but it’s great that I won’t be seeing Martin Ødegaard and Saka playing 4 games in 7 days over Christmas, one of them being a quarter-final of the League Cup against Brentford.
Another oddity that I pondered… Kepa. I wrote last summer that I didn’t believe Meslier was here to be third choice, and I think we might have seen that reality show up because the Frenchman started while Kepa took the bench. This decision was slightly annoying because Meslier didn’t get near any of the penalties, and we know Kepa is quite good at them. My broader pondering was whether Arteta might scrap the back-up keeper route when the FA Cup begins. It’s not really working out, is it?
As for Fleetwood. Congrats. It was a big win. They didn’t deserve it by any stretch, but they fought us for every ball, and scored 50% of their chances. Can’t knock it. We were shithoused brutally and paid for our crimes in front of goal.
The big thing that we’re all worried about… is this one of those games that unravels a lot of emotion? Liverpool won their opening 7 last season, then lost to Palace, and things unravelled from there. I don’t think that’ll happen to Arsenal, but we are racking up injuries, Arteta was acting odd, and there are some underlying concerns I have about club morale and potentially how the camp is after some rough exits in the summer. Winning has a habit of disguising issues… a cataclysmic loss like that one last night can sometimes expose all the problems. We’ll see, big week ahead… could be a blip, could be something worse.
Marching orders are clear. No time to skulk, no time for histrionics; the boys must tend to their wounds and get fired up for a huge game on Sunday. Sometimes a rattling loss like that sharpens the mind. We can’t be doing that at the weekend. So let’s see what happens next.
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A terrible, terrible evening... this pod is not for the faint-hearted. x