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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:10:11:17:15:51 by Padre Pio.

Not sure how our defenders get such poor ratings. Kept a clean sheet away from home against the league leaders.

Everyone is depressed by this result, I'm sorry but we're a struggling club, this is a good result considering where we've been in recent times

Mikel Arteta said a point was a much as we deserved against Brighton, at a sodden Amex Stadium on Sunday.

Read on for a full transcript of his post-match conference

on the result...
I think it's a point gained because I don’t think we deserved anything more than that. If we did deserve that point it’s because we defended really well the last 15/20 minutes. But in general we never felt in control of the game, we struggled to break the press and get good sequences of passes in the final third. They made it really tough for us.

on the frustration at failing to break Brighton down...
Yes, because the way they pressed if we had made better decisions with the ball there were bigger spaces to attack and we had a real threat to do that. But we weren’t bright enough to do that and we didn’t show enough quality on those duels to break that press and then become really dangerous in open spaces.

on if we'd been missing a character like Aaron Ramsdale...
I don’t know. The way we decided to recruit Aaron was [after] going through a big process where we wanted to know a lot about his personality, his character, the way he can handle playing under pressure at a big club. He is showing he is ready to do that and I’m really happy with his performances and what he is bringing. That’s one of the reasons I think defensively we have been really difficult to concede goals.

on Ben White and Gabriel...
Yeah [I'm impressed] because they've never played together and because they have struggled a little bit with the language and they didn't have any time to work together in pre-season either. They're getting a really good connection, good chemistry, and I think their qualities match and complement each other really, really well. I think both of them today were terrific.

on Sambi Lokonga's performance...
I think he did really well. I think he had one of the best performances from the players on the pitch. He shows a lot of character and all the time good positions. I think his defensive work and understanding is getting better. It was a really difficult game because it was all the time one v one duels all over the pitch and it's not the game that really suits him the most, but I think under the circumstances, he did really well.

on Bukayo Saka's injury...
He's fine. He got a knock but he should be fine.

[www.arsenal.com]

I agreed with his comments for once.

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

Quote:

hahanice
Not sure how our defenders get such poor ratings. Kept a clean sheet away from home against the league leaders.
Everyone is depressed by this result, I'm sorry but we're a struggling club, this is a good result considering where we've been in recent times

Our full backs were poor. I'm not sure how anyone can argue against that? I've given credit to our CB's and Keeper.

It's not the result which is depressing our fans, it's the performance. After Tottenham, we all expected something more fluid. A draw away against a good side isn't the end of the world.

We cannot realistically expect the team to perform against all teams all the time like in the first half against Spud. Totally not possible. More importantly is we are able to get a result (aka not lose) even though our performance was below what is possible for this team. We have been screaming for this team to be resilient. I thought we were quite resilient today in tough weather conditions away from home. So I would take the one point and prepare for the next game.

Graham Potter should be Manager of he Month with Arteta nowhere in sight.

Potter simply outwitted Arteta by beating him at his own game of overloading and targetting Tomi knowing he is a greenie and yet to complete to grip with the English game on a wet and slippery pitch.

Time and time again that left Spanish winger Marc Cucurella isolated Tomi and outwitted him to release Moder and Trossard with a few shooting chances.

Thanks to all Football Gods that Brighton left all their shooting boots in the dressing room.
And Ramsdale got a quick hand to Muapay before he can tap the ball.

AT the left flank, Brighton counter-attack once took out both Tierney and Sambi high up on the pitch. Some desperate defending and abysmal shooting by Brighton spared us being a goal down.

And those free headers from corners?
Gaawd!
Those tall Brighton players beat us to the ball time and time again but our defenders managed to press and challenge them to force them off-target.

But as some pundits pointed out, Arteta is too rigid and passive in term of game management to change the shape of the team by positive substitutions.
But even if Arteta is as astute as Tuchel, Pep and Klopp in game management, just look at the bench as to who is the game-changer that is available and up for a fight on a windy, cold, wet and slippery pitch?

Isn't that is the downfall of all Arsenal teams since Arsene Wenger where we lost titles and silverwares during October Blip and November Slump, during those wintry months playing on a then muddy and frozen pitches.

One swallow does not make a summer.
Another testing time for Arteta from October to January wintry months, playing on those wet and slippery pitches with managers being shown the "Brighton Blueprint" how to stop Arsenal from playing.

I wonder.
How many of our players are up for a fight during this wintry period with some of them wanting to leave in January?

Tierney?
Pepe?
Auba?

I think they had regressed and something is missing in them, and not up for a fight.
Am furious at Pepe not bothering to track back and just jog around after losing the ball.
AN off-form Odegaard pressing is way better than a disinterested Pepe after losing the ball.

Let's hope our players recover their mojo after international break.

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

It's not really rocket science. The pitch was again very slow and in an away game the players, will not have similar confidence on the ball with passes always getting under hit. It doesn't seem like a big thing, but for a team that has not completely gelled yet, it was always going to be tough.
I mentioned the same in the previous threads about Brighton being a completely different ball game unlike spurs who are poor at the moment.

Away games will continue to be dodgy with this team. After the last two away games, all the teams outside top 8 are going to use the same tactics.

For me the biggest games are Everton,Spurs and wolves away. They will probably try to play some football against us at their place. I don't expect anything from the other away games.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:10:03:16:55:36 by CazOnARola.

Fair ratings GS.
I thought Auba deserved a 3 and ERS a 7, but fair rating because even allowing for the conditions, we passed slowly and poorly.
With too many incidents of a poor 1st touch.
Our derby win now seems like a spike rather than genuine improvement.
A break now isn’t ideal either.

Since the end of WW1, 1919, when the FA restarted its 4 tier football league, with Arsenal fc in the 1st div, there’s only ever been one club to have never been relegated from Div 1/ EPL.

Arsenal fc

Let’s keep making history

If it wasn't for Partey's reputation he'd be dropped.
He's really done ferk all since being here bar being injured.

"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."

Quote:

Boston Gooner
If it wasn't for Partey's reputation he'd be dropped.
He's really done ferk all since being here bar being injured.

To be fair, who else is there to replace him?

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

Quote:

Merlion96

Quote:

Boston Gooner
If it wasn't for Partey's reputation he'd be dropped.
He's really done ferk all since being here bar being injured.

To be fair, who else is there to replace him?

No one but Partey needs calling out for his terrible performances. Yesterday he should have stepped up alongside Lokonga but he was shocking bar 1 good pass to Smith Rowe.

Quote:

Gunnersingh1

Quote:

Merlion96

Quote:

Boston Gooner
If it wasn't for Partey's reputation he'd be dropped.
He's really done ferk all since being here bar being injured.

To be fair, who else is there to replace him?

No one but Partey needs calling out for his terrible performances. Yesterday he should have stepped up alongside Lokonga but he was shocking bar 1 good pass to Smith Rowe.

Merl there is nobody.
That's how bad it is.

We have our so called top players Partey & Tierney and they aren't even up to it.

I was so glad when we signed Partey.
But he's been nothing but injured and clearly doesn't look fit enough and quick enough for the Premier League.

"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:10:03:11:17:21 by Boston Gooner.

Yesterday was not a day for playing football. Not in that rain. Brighton did very well to try to force us to make mistakes with the wet ball.

Odegaard was useless. This was a game for some one like Willock. Every single one of our midfielders was set up to take a shot on goal or in a shooting position and either failed to shoot or hit it badly.

Theres no point having two No 10s on the fiield who can't shoot in games like this.

Pepe who can actually shoot should have been on from the start. And Lacazette who can mix it up should have played the full 90.

Tomiyasu was shell shocked. Their left back hustled him off the ball all game. That wouldn't have happened with Cedric or AMN.

Seriously in bad weather conditions The guys who are physical athletes, the guys who can mix it up and the guys who can shoot should be on the field. Odegaard for a Norweigian is ridiculously light weight.

Arsenal Times | [www.gov.uk]