For the third time in only 8 league games this season a Gunner was shown a red card.
While the minority will still try to spread conspiracy theories, this time the consensus appears to be that our own ill-discipline cost us on Saturday.
Even Mikel Arteta and Declan Rice conceded that individual mistakes will cost us the league. It’s important our young squad heard this instead of excuses being made for them.
So unlike when Rice or Trossard were sent off, the discussion isn’t should we have played with a man disadvantage but how we should have approached the situation the moment Saliba was given his marching orders?
From the half hour mark Bournemouth had a man advantage, which would be the circumstances for over an hour at the Vitality. Yet again you can’t question the attitude of the players who got till the 70th min with the game goalless. There’s an art form to defend like we have, and it takes self-belief that previous versions of Arsenal wouldn’t have had.
It got us results against Brighton and Man City which I praised the team for, so this isn’t my judgement being influenced purely by the result.
The difference being the other two sending offs occurred when we possessed winning positions, so we had something to protect.
Even if you defend brilliantly (and defensively we were World Class at the Etihad), law of averages says there will at least be one moment whereas a unit someone loses focus.
The Cherries knew that, and so did their fans. If they did the simple things, based on probability, the visitors would switch off eventually.
I can understand why our boss would look at our defenders and trust them to cope but was playing 0-0 the only solution?
The tactic of allowing your opponent to have the ball in front of you and watch as it keeps coming back is physically and mentally exhausting.
Of course, it’s difficult, but is parking the bus the only alternative?
At the Etihad I understand?
On the South coast though?
Would Pep Guardiola have ruled out winning the moment he saw a red card?
I grew up watching Arsene Wenger whose early years were dominated by too many bookings. Yet go look at his two Doubles and many points were earnt with 10 men.
One of my favorite childhood memories was watching us go down to 10 men when goalless at Anfield and still winning 2-1.
Mr. Wenger had a team who believed they could win despite a red card. Our current manager has convinced his squad (and himself?) himself that perhaps it’s a bigger hindrance than reality.
His answer was to take off Sterling, the little pace we had in the first place.
The irony being; once behind, forced to attack, we showed that was a possibility. If nothing else Jesus’s footwork made him unpredictable.
This was evidence of why we won’t win the title this season. We have to be almost flawless to finish above City but like at Craven Cottage last December we have too many days where we don’t show up.
Arsenal is unbeaten this season when we keep 11 players on the pitch.
That tells you the issue.
Yet to be a big club you act like a big club.
A Big Club down to 10 men don’t accept defeat.
Dan
Perhaps it shouldn’t but obviously playing with ten men does have an effect. Some teams cope better than others – although you would have thought by now Arsenal would have a better idea if only through bitter experience(s) this season. No doubt they’ll be even better prepared if/when it happens again – and at the rate they’re going it almost certainly will and pretty soon.
One of the best ways of being a threat when down a man is through quick transitions. We had such a moment against Bournemouth-the chance fell to Martinelli and we know how that went.
Our squad is lacking in pace both in midfield and attack. I agree that we can do better when a man down but getting more pace in the squad will help with that. I think Grandad has been saying this for a while now.
Maybe we should have kept Sterling on? He still got pace.
Sterling 😁😁
What a disaster he is.
I still can’t figure why Arteta would want a washed up player like him.
Mind you most of Arteta’s signings are pretty poor.
Arsenal’s overall game plan is based around control. We are not generally set up to be a counterattacking team. As you say we also do not have enough of the kind of pace in the squad that would allow us to create chaos scenarios from transitions.
Sterling has pace but much of the rest of his game is no longer elite.
Just being quick is not a reason to keep a player on.
No!
Under Arteta we have to and must agree that we cannot win with 10 men. Regardless if we are Playing Bournemouth or Swindon Town. Any other manager is a fair game.
Saying otherwise is lacking perspective because Arteta comes before the club.
The trees of excuses that we planted on fertile soil of phases in 2020 are now mature and will bear buckets of excuses every May for as long as Arteta is Arsenal manager.
I still think there is a conspiracy for the Manchester club and every credible competition will always receive unfair decisions.
The standard City has set means that as long as we are able to compete for the League, all is well. I do feel Klopp didn’t want to settle for just being competitive but also wasn’t ready to oversee another mentally draining round of rebuilding to ensure he wins the League and/or Champions League. His only option was to step aside.
While I agree with your tree analogy, I’m not sure it’s about bearing fruits. I think it’s more about excuses being a culture at our club. That’s what it’s become.
Anyway, I’ve come to accept that we only need to remain competitive for things to remain the way they are. I still back Arteta to win the League this season. But he needs to grow up and stop behaving like a novice manager.
He can win the league if nothing goes against his plan. When nothing goes wrong he is unplayable but unfortunately he still lack plan B five years on the job. And I think that might be his undoing considering it’s impossible for things not to go wrong the whole season.
The style we play under Arteta, is not robust and fluid enough to play to win with 10 men. Its hard but we can only sit back and hope for breaks. Its a system that only works when everything is working. If something isn’t right, the system isn’t right. We are flat track bullies, for want of a better term.
Totally agree. No attempt to after sending off. It was criminal and embarrassing.
Arteta saying
“Playing for 65 or 68 minutes with 10 men at this level is just an impossible task.
That doesn’t help him saying that.
It’s not impossible even with ten men.
And no disrespect it was against B/Mouth, not bloody City.
We were crap with eleven players just as we were with ten men.
That was the problem.
The selections on the pitch were not conducive to attacking with 10 men.
That midfield trio was an issue from the start; all 3 are too similar in nature, lack true pace, and hardly any creativity even combined. Only 2 of those 3 should start, and the 3rd should be attacking/creative player to have some balance.
Trossard has been playing well in midfield behind Havertz, why change? His lack of pace had him easily muzzled on the LW, that’s why early on most play was on the right with Sterling.
IMO it has nothing to do with the size of the club, it has all to do with the ambitions of the manager. If you can’t win do not lose seems to be Arteta’s approach. That said, he knows that we are capable of keeping a clean sheet and nicking a goal. Martinelli had such a chance, and honestly should have done better. If we had gone for it and conceded as a result of trying, he would have got hammered for not shutting up shop. You could argue in either scenario we would have zero points, but I think on another day we could easily have nicked it, we were not at our best on this occasion.
This is an interesting perspective. The philosophy of the manager can certainly influence how a team approaches games and then get results. One of the fascinating things about the Wenger era is that during that time Arsenal were probably the greatest PL team ever when playing with 10 men.
The advantage of numbers should not be underrated. It is on rare occasions that a team which is a man less wins a game. Even then it depends at what stage the sending off is done. If someone is sent off with less than 30 minutes to go, a team can persevere but anything more than 30 minutes becomes a tricky affair.
I get amused when I read the arm chair coaches’ comments. They remind me of the old saying that, “If wishes were horses beggare would ride.” Everyone has some fantastic ideas how the team ahould perform when they are a man less. If these ideas were implementable, it would be fantastic but unfortunately it is well nigh impossible to put fantasies into reality. Hence, we should only advise our team to desist from silly mistakes which have so far cost us 7 points.