Loss Arsenal 1 - 2 Brighton and Hove Albion | Saturday 9th April | KO: 15:00 BST

Last night's game was arguably our worst game of the season. It was November-December 2020 bad. It brought out the worst in our team and exposed our weakness. We've been on a run of games where we've been playing teams that sit off us and allow us to have the ball which is usually our strength. Paddy identified this exploited it beautifully.
Collectively we were bad, individually were atrocious.

Brighton is another team that likes to have a go and not sit off teams. It will be interesting to see how Mikel adapts to this. Last night's game was a must win game simply because we have 3 difficult fixtures (Chelsea, united and Sp**s) that we most certainly will drop points in. We can't be dropping points to Palace when we still have to play those teams.

The real worry now is Partey not being injured. It seems as if he was playing with some discomfort throughout the second half.

Prediction
Arsenal 1-0 Brighton

 

[EgyptianGunner]

The many empty seats and the fan support was absolutely shameful today by the way

 

[BIoodBrother]

If you really look at the reason we're missing out on top 4 in terms of personnel (that we actually had) - there really is only 1 reason and that's the consistent breakdown in relationships between player and manager. Arteta has been absolutely uncompromising over semantics because he's more focused on image and persona than on end-results and we've lost Aubameyang for nothing as a result, and regardless of how fans feel about the quality of the others that have left the club for the exact same reasons, there's no denying Guenduzi was worth far more than 12 million pounds and that certain personalities naturally needed to be coached in different ways to get the best out of their potential like Aubameyang, Pepe, and Maintland Niles who could have been the decisive factor in games like these. It says a lot that he agreed to a move abroad in the same position he claims not to want to play in. Football games are so random that management to me is almost entirely about the way you actually interact and coach your players on a day to day basis but Arteta has an almost impossible narrow scope of criteria in what he looks for in players, which is why we never rotate and are beyond predictable. The way we handled Saliba is basically a commercial to how much of a learning-process this has been for everyone from Arteta to Edu to the owners and we've seen the mass ****-ups as a result. It's the ultimate PR spin to say that we realistically were never expecting 4th at the start of the season - Sp**s are going through a huge transition under Conte and with both them and United switching managers midway through the season it really was there for the taking. We deserved every bit of stick for our mass clearout weeks after postponing the Liverpool game for Covid and they set themselves up to be hero's if they beat the odds but also absolute ****** if anyone got injured and had to be replaced by players we all knew are vulnerable to individual errors. It really wasn't rocket science, the stats backed it up when it came to Tavares, Xhaka, Cedric, and even Lokonga but we still chose to throw them into the deep end when we had safer options who didn't show up to the team's breakfast on time or satisfy Arteta's PR needs. I hope the amazon documentary exposes how the unnecessarily dramatic and animated ways of Arteta ended up costing us too much quality on the pitch that has been decisive towards games like these. We were matching Liverpool at Anfield before he riled up the crowd over a throw-in and playing the antagonist when a jaded Liverpool team and crowd who looked in desperate need for one. I thought Wenger was stubborn but by comparison,

Arteta has been impossibly stubborn at the expense of the greater good for the club.

Yes and no.
In a perfect world we have Auba and Guendouzi today and win but you can argue that without his clear code of discipline we wouldnt have been in the position to fight for fourth with this team.

 

[Rasmi]

If you really look at the reason we're missing out on top 4 in terms of personnel (that we actually had) - there really is only 1 reason and that's the consistent breakdown in relationships between player and manager. Arteta has been absolutely uncompromising over semantics because he's more focused on image and persona than on end-results and we've lost Aubameyang for nothing as a result, and regardless of how fans feel about the quality of the others that have left the club for the exact same reasons, there's no denying Guenduzi was worth far more than 12 million pounds and that certain personalities naturally needed to be coached in different ways to get the best out of their potential like Aubameyang, Pepe, and Maintland Niles who could have been the decisive factor in games like these. It says a lot that he agreed to a move abroad in the same position he claims not to want to play in. Football games are so random that management to me is almost entirely about the way you actually interact and coach your players on a day to day basis but Arteta has an almost impossible narrow scope of criteria in what he looks for in players, which is why we never rotate and are beyond predictable. The way we handled Saliba is basically a commercial to how much of a learning-process this has been for everyone from Arteta to Edu to the owners and we've seen the mass ****-ups as a result. It's the ultimate PR spin to say that we realistically were never expecting 4th at the start of the season - Sp**s are going through a huge transition under Conte and with both them and United switching managers midway through the season it really was there for the taking. We deserved every bit of stick for our mass clearout weeks after postponing the Liverpool game for Covid and they set themselves up to be hero's if they beat the odds but also absolute ****** if anyone got injured and had to be replaced by players we all knew are vulnerable to individual errors. It really wasn't rocket science, the stats backed it up when it came to Tavares, Xhaka, Cedric, and even Lokonga but we still chose to throw them into the deep end when we had safer options who didn't show up to the team's breakfast on time or satisfy Arteta's PR needs. I hope the amazon documentary exposes how the unnecessarily dramatic and animated ways of Arteta ended up costing us too much quality on the pitch that has been decisive towards games like these. We were matching Liverpool at Anfield before he riled up the crowd over a throw-in and playing the antagonist when a jaded Liverpool team and crowd who looked in desperate need for one. I thought Wenger was stubborn but by comparison,

Arteta has been impossibly stubborn at the expense of the greater good for the club.

Fully agree and the club deserves to suffer because no serious club should have a rookie do whatever they want. Even big managers don’t have the power he has at this club and we paid of Auba to please him. One of Europes best goal scorers last decade.

 

[Rasmi]

Just not true. They found clear angles after 4mins and then it was offside as we all clearly saw. Not even close

Embarrassing to blame the ref. The goal was clear offside

 

[Gooner_girl14]

Brighton had basically only 2 real chances the entire game and managed to score from both of them. Perhaps we didn't deserve to win but neither did Brighton.

Yes, they created two chances and scored them both (one was a brilliant finish). Meanwhile we had Cedric thinking he was Roberto Carlos and we wasted several good set piece opportunities all game. We were limp and looked out of ideas. Brighton weren’t great but their players showed up when it mattered.

 

[Pop Tart]

 

[Tree Points]

Games-in-Hand FC

 

[Gooner_girl14]

Embarrassing to blame the ref. The goal was clear offside

Maybe I missed it - can you please show the angle that showed it was clearly offside? Coz the only one I saw was Sanchez blocking Cucurella (except for his hair) and it was hard to tell.

 

[Fabregasm]

View attachment 6389

Apart from officials being bias of course to Arsenal as always, I do feel the red and blue jersey plays a big part. It seems easier to point the red instinctively over the blue line as opposed the other way round? Red is dominant color

 

[boonthegoon]

If you really look at the reason we're missing out on top 4 in terms of personnel (that we actually had) - there really is only 1 reason and that's the consistent breakdown in relationships between player and manager. Arteta has been absolutely uncompromising over semantics because he's more focused on image and persona than on end-results and we've lost Aubameyang for nothing as a result. Irrespective of how fans feel about the quality of the others that have left the club for the exact same reasons, there's no denying Guenduzi was worth far more than 12 million pounds and that certain personalities naturally needed to be coached in different ways to get the best out of their potential like Aubameyang, Pepe, and Maintland Niles. They literally play in the positions that would have been the decisive factor in games like these. It says a lot that AMN agreed to a move abroad in the same position he claims not to want to play in. Football games are so random that management to me is almost entirely about the way you actually interact and coach your players on a day to day basis but Arteta has an almost impossible narrow scope of criteria in what he looks for in players, which is why we never rotate and are beyond predictable. The way we handled Saliba is basically a commercial to how much of a learning-process this has been for everyone from Arteta to Edu to the owners and we've seen the mass ****-ups as a result. It's the ultimate PR spin to say that we realistically were never expecting 4th at the start of the season - Sp**s are going through a huge transition under Conte and with both them and United switching managers midway through the season it really was there for the taking. We deserved every bit of stick for our mass clearout weeks after postponing the Liverpool game for Covid and they set themselves up to be hero's if they beat the odds but also absolute ****** if anyone got injured and had to be replaced by players we all knew are vulnerable to individual errors. It really wasn't rocket science, the stats backed it up when it came to Tavares, Xhaka, Cedric, and even Lokonga but we still chose to throw them into the deep end when we had safer options who didn't show up to the team's breakfast on time or satisfy Arteta's PR needs. I hope the amazon documentary exposes how the unnecessarily dramatic and animated ways of Arteta ended up costing us too much quality on the pitch that has been decisive towards games like these. We were matching Liverpool at Anfield before he riled up the crowd over a throw-in and playing the antagonist when a jaded Liverpool team and crowd who looked in desperate need for one.

I thought Wenger was stubborn but by comparison, Arteta has been impossibly stubborn at the expense of the greater good for the club.

Bro atleast make some paragraphs.. No way anyone's reading this

 

[Rasmi]

Maybe I missed it - can you please show the angle that showed it was clearly offside? Coz the only one I saw was Sanchez blocking Cucurella (except for his hair) and it was hard to tell.

The pic two post above me says it’s offside. First quick reply I saw I knew it was offside

 

[BaZZe]

Yes, they created two chances and scored them both (one was a brilliant finish). Meanwhile we had Cedric thinking he was Roberto Carlos and we wasted several good set piece opportunities all game. We were limp and looked out of ideas. Brighton weren’t great but their players showed up when it mattered.

We had a goal questionably ruled out for offside by var, hit the bar twice in succession, Lokonga being a centimeter off from scoring a screamer in the top corner, Sanchez pulling off a great save to deny Nketiah's header. A draw would've been a fair result.

 

[Pop Tart]

Apart from officials being bias of course to Arsenal as always, I do feel the red and blue jersey plays a big part. It seems easier to point the red instinctively over the blue line as opposed the other way round? Red is dominant color

if it was that clear it would not need to take 4 mins

 

[SK___]

Martinelli was pretty terrible if we’re being honest.

he’s been horrible for the longest

 

[kofigunner]

The lack of depth has come home to roost. Laca needs to come of the bench. He has run out of whatever pep he had to affect games, even when he wasn’t scoring. Xhaka has to start in midfield.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

he’s been horrible for the longest

He needs to realise sometimes the obvious option is the correct one. Doing a lot of over-dribbling recently.

 

[SK___]

esr in the middle of a 433 was a mistake
I did find this quite odd initially

 

[Gooner_girl14]

Embarrassing to blame the ref. The goal was clear offside

Not sure how “clear” it was as they took forever to make the decision, but ok.

 

[kofigunner]

he’s been horrible for the longest

The ball has been moving too slowly for him to take advantage of his advantages. By the time he or Saka get the ball, opponents double team them. Neither Ode nor especially Laca are sneaking into the spaces that are left open. ESR is the player most likely to sneak into the space but we need more.

 

[SK___]

He needs to realise sometimes the obvious option is the correct one. Doing a lot of over-dribbling recently.

pepe vibes without the flash