The Arsenal backlash is here as they were ‘boring, soporific, lacking in creativity and craft, with zero attacking threat’ v Manchester United.
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Start the clock
Out of curiosity, how long after the final whistle did Stewie’s email arrive in your inbox?
Andrew Goonerabroad Brown
Actually, it was over three hours until Stewie wrote…
I’m confused. You can only beat what’s in front of you, right? And after a second trophy (this time, the 7-1 Eindhoven trophy), I’m flabbergasted that Arteta’s Pulis tribute act was boring, soporific, lacking in creativity and craft, with zero attacking threat.
Having said all that, the 7-1 augurs well for those quarter finals of the CL eh! At least the Madrids won’t “park the bus”, leaving themselves wide open for the lethal counterattacking devastation of Spanish Kevin Nolan and Temu Raheem Sterling. Oh wait is it that time of season where failing teams take solace in their “we are better than Spurs” comfort blanket?
Stewie Griffin (Imagine playing this abomination of a ManYoo shambles and being unable to score more than one goal in 180 regulation minutes. £750m, but blame the board! If only they’d give Mikel another £250m to blow on an ashtray-holder to supplement the ashtray itself!)
READ: 16 Conclusions on Man United 1-1 Arsenal: Arteta’s obsession, Amorim’s compromise and Neville’s wall
PSV really was an anomalyWell that wasn’t great but 100% expected from Arsenal. If you really thought the win against PSV was anything other than an anomaly then more fool you.
Anyhow, the game against United was utter toss from Arsenal and it felt like Arsenal never even tried to get out of second gear, everything was slow and ponderous and it wasn’t until Martinelli came on and the game got a bit stretched that we started to create some chances whilst worryingly conceding more. Mad though that actual real movement up front can make such a difference, who knew, because let’s be honest a super sub, a DM and someone not old enough to vote are not going to unlock 11 behind the ball and a well organised defence.
Fair f**ks to United though, they played well (for them) and probably (definitely) should have won it with the chances they created only for some great last ditch defending and goalkeeping although Raya is 100% at fault for the Bruno goal, mind numbingly dumb positioning from him. Ultimately we weren’t good enough and weren’t at the races at all.
The United Arsenal match always holds a special place in my heart due to the Wenger Fergie battles but sadly I just didn’t care that much for this game, I seem to have checked out of this season along with the entire Arsenal team. It’s not been great and let’s not get caught up in media hype as anyone who has actually watched Arsenal this season will know there was never a title race, just a slow death march to crowning Liverpool champions.
Arsenal have not been at the requisite standard since day 1 of this season, something has looked and felt off the whole time and I mentioned in the mailbox in November that it looked like the players brains were broken from the previous 2 years and that is more evident now than ever. It’s not been a good season for a multitude of reasons with lots to unpack (that’s a separate email by itself) and it’s full of lots of learning trees starting back in the wasted summer of recruitment, I’d really love to know what really happened as the approach seemed very haphazard, the Calafiori and Merino signings were needed but to publicly go after 2 (mostly ungettable) forwards and yet have no alternatives is just a bit odd. Edu jumping after that summer is very telling and so these failings, for me, lie above Arteta’s pay grade ultimately landing on Edu and the boards desk.
This summer is set to be a massive and defining time in Arteta’s young(ish) career and the stewardship of the new Sporting Director with this being the first real step backwards but I’m still good with Arteta, love how much he winds everyone up, sure he’s got a lot to work on and has his faults but for such a dreadful team he’s built and being a massive fraud his Arsenal team are still (currently) better than 18 other teams in the league which says more about them than us.
It still feels like this squad has room to move forward and improve and when you’ve been so close previously it doesn’t necessarily feel like time to throw the baby out with the bathwater but it feels like next season is last chance saloon which is shame we’ve reached that point but, yknow, he really does need to win something.
Congrats to Liverpool, irrespective of the social media noise (seriously, if that’s your go to then you are part of the problem) they have quite simply been better than everyone else, the heart may have changed but the soul is still very much of the winning Klopp team and Slot has been very clever to only tweak the playing style rather than arrogantly dismantle a squad of top end players to try and put his stamp on things, quite rare to see in today’s tactical world of “I can’t manage what I have, I can only set up in my style.” It sounds simple but square pegs do belong in square holes so keep them there until you have the necessary other shapes you need. Oh, we’re still in the Chumps League…..I’m sure that’ll go well……
Lee (hopefully something reasonable in what I presume is a dumpster fire mailbox of tribalism, hyperbolic trolling and cartoon characters fellating themselves) AFC, Bristol
On that Arsenal mentalityTo be honest I’m quite happy that the wall was set up an extra yard away when Man Utd scored.
Obviously in part because it helped Man Utd towards a result that really suits Liverpool (thanks lads, we’ll deliver number 20 a tad more comfortably thanks to you) but more than anything it gives the Arsenal fans something to obsess over whilst failing to notice the things that matter.
Your team has an awful mentality, evidenced in moments like when Rice scores and is so obsessed with shushing the crowd he forgets that Man Utd heads probably drop in that moment. He could gather the ball and run it back to the circle and it shows a mindset that he intends to find a way to win this thing in the time remaining. And Man Utd heads might’ve gone if he had – they’ve must’ve surely been feeling some dread after the absolutely dog sh*t season they’ve served up.
That crowd was not remotely warm for that team either so in that moment you had 70,000 watching on thinking ‘here we go again’. By shushing them you actually serve to get them worked up and annoyed so they scream their team onwards.
Arteta is repeating an awful broken experiment playing Merino as a number 9. Pep made lots of dumb mistakes in his career and probably cost himself a number of Champions League trophies as a result but he rarely repeated the same unproductive experiment over and over again. There are very few situations where a professional football player discovers some hidden talent for a new position at 28 years old. Somehow by playing Merino there instead of an actual attacker Arteta is managing to make you look ravaged by injuries when you’re really only missing 1 proper starter (Saka) and two first teamers (Havertz/Jesus).
I don’t know if this can be considered a bottle job because on balance Arsenal were never in this title race other than in theory. I know Arsenal fans feel they’re a centre forward away from competing and that was true of this team a year ago but the way this team has looked this season I’m not sure that’s even the case anymore.
Minty, LFC
Raya of sunshineWell, the competition for the EPL is over.
My mail today is about one of my favourite Arsenal players. Raya.
He was criticised for his positioning for Utd’s goal from a free kick after a first half that they were not involved in. The criticism lies more with Arsenal’s open midfield and Trossard’s token free kick giveaway.
The second half was a different kettle of fish. Yes, Arsenal remained in control but without looking a threat. Although, of course Rice scored with a peach of a strike.
However, every time Utd broke they looked a threat. But thanks to Raya they couldn’t get the winner. Superb performance by Raya. This Utd team didn’t look too bad either.
Chris, Croydon
READ: Who is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League?
Arsenal boring people to death
I’ve worked out why Arsenal score so many corners. They just bore the opposition into losing concentration by taking so long. A couple of runs across the box, falling over, etc etc . Anyone would be putting the kettle after all of that.
Tony Clarke
Are Arsenal too robotic?
No Steve. they’re playing a defensive midfielder upfront and a 17 year old in place of one of the best right wingers in the world.
Simon, London
Where Arsenal have lost this titleSunday evening and I should be planning some Maths lessons for the week ahead but instead I am trying to find anything I can to distract me. My students never want to do homework either and I always approach my response to their “excuses” with my own displeasure of it at the front of my mind. I know they appreciate this. A smile and understanding can go a long way further than a punishment. But ultimately, if they don’t make the right decisions (work hard) along the way they might not get the results they want at the end.
For tonight’s procrastination, I have decided to waste my time this evening providing some data in response to the many, many sentiments I see both in this Mailbox and on social media in general regarding the reasons behind Liverpool’s Premier league success and Arsenal’s relative collapse in the so-called “title race”.
I see plenty of wild theories explaining why Liverpool find themselves 15 points ahead of Arsenal. I aren’t going to list them all as some I find some beyond ludicrous (Why would the PL want Liverpool to win? They have built the PL into one of the most valuable and saleable “products” in the world with Liverpool winning it just once. Why would they want LFC to buck the trend now?)
Anyway, I will stick to my specialism and go with stats – I present to you how each team have performed based on how many goals they concede per PL match.
Liverpool – 29 PL matches:
Clean sheet – 12 games – 36 points – 3 points per game (ppg)
1 goal conceded – 9 games – 22 points – 2.44 ppg
2 goals conceded – 6 games – 8 points – 1.33 ppg
3 goals conceded – 2 games – 4 points – 2 ppg
Arsenal – 28 PL matches:
Clean sheet – 10 games – 26 points – 2.6 ppg
1 goal conceded – 12 games – 20 points – 1.67 ppg
2 goals conceded – 6 games – 9 points – 1.5 ppg
3 goals conceded – 0 games
Overall, Arsenal have conceded less goals (24 v 27) but Liverpool have more clean sheets (12 v 10). Some will say the Arsenal defensive unit is stronger, some will say Liverpool’s. Regardless, none of this matters.
The stats that show where the PL has been won and lost is in attack. When they keep a clean sheet or concede just one goal is the real battlefield here and Liverpool (58 pts from 21 games) massively outperform Arsenal (46 points from 22 games).
Why? They simply do not score enough goals. The Arsenal defense can almost guarantee to keep it tight and concede very few goals. Their attack, however, simply do not win enough of these games.
Why? Because they have CHOSEN (and guys, it is 100% through choice) to not have enough attacking resources/players in their squad. Yes they have been unlucky with injuries (I must be one of the few LFC fans to admit Arsenal have been very unlucky this season) but I always think of 2 quotes:
“If you invite danger it is often quick to accept” and
“It is always easier to blame somebody else”
For all their bad luck this season, Arsenal’s issue has long been the lack of a proven striker and goalscorer. It has been for a couple of years and was coming into this season. It was during the January transfer window, too. Every step along the way they CHOSE to not buy the players they need and that is up to them. But don’t then complain. Other teams (including Liverpool) have had injuries too – they just manage them better by buying the players they need so they have a deep squad.
Anyway, back to thinking about school…I must say to students all the time “it is always easier to blame somebody else”. Often, it can be somebody else’s fault and that is a valid argument in plenty of contexts and situations. But don’t automatically make it your first go-to defence. First, you should always look at what you could have done better yourself. If you do, you can often find lots of problems could have been avoided if you had made better decisions yourself along the way.
So when you need strikers, when your past-players keep saying you need strikers, when you didn’t win previous PL title-races because you didn’t have strikers then…don’t spend all summer scouring Europe and come back with a left-back and a defensive midfielder. And just because the said midfielder scores 2 against Leicester it doesn’t mean he can win you a PL title up-front.
No detentions or punishments for Arsenal. They just learn from their own errors and not spend all of their time trying to blame it on others. If they start to make better decisions themselves first they may just start to get closer to those results they want in the summer months!
Mark Ing, Redcar (sat in his lunch hour checking if this has been published before teaching year 11s this afternoon).
READ: 16 Conclusions on Man United 1-1 Arsenal: Arteta’s obsession, Amorim’s compromise and Neville’s wall
Ange out; time to end the chaosAll the fans have been kind to Ange given we all know where the real problem lies with the club, but today was so painfully embarrassing. One team knowing what they are doing, one absolutely clueless. He has to go.
We concede about 10 difficult moments a match, simply because after being fouled, they are told to pass it to someone, immediately, regardless of the situation. The plan, I think, is that Spurs should always play like 1970s Brazil to perform a 15-man move just to get out of our own half or something. Instead we lose the ball or go backwards, inviting huge pressure. Ange says the game today was chaotic, but the chaos is all of his own making.
This approach led to Bournemouth (and countless other sides) looking most dangerous when Spurs have the ball. In particular Vicario, who plays it short to our defenders at the edge of our own box all the time, often when he’s just claimed it after a dangerous opposition attack and when our defenders are surrounded. It’s just INSANE. And Ange just keeps letting it happen. Injuries or no injuries. All a team has to do is play sensibly, counter, and / or press and they will get 4 or 5 great chances out of nothing.
Ange needs to be sacked now. He should have been sacked about 20 times already. I can’t see him changing his high-risk style which just leads to unpredictable results. There’s nothing sustainable about it. I’m assuming he’s not gone yet because we’re still hanging on in Europe. But wouldn’t we be better off with Mason at this point? Ange is objectively our worst manager in recent memory, at least since Christian Gross.
A word or two on Bournemouth who really should’ve won. The centre back Huijsen is superb. Kerkez’s pass was sublime. Good manager, intelligent football.
Dave, Winchester Spurs