We just froze! by Dan Smith
When we last faced Brighton in the League at the Emirates, our players were finding the pressure of a top 4 race too much.
Mikel Arteta’s brain wave to motivate them?
Bring a lightbulb to work with him! How that didn’t become a meme I don’t know!
We might never know how our manager prepared for this Sunday, a fixture we had to win to have an outside chance of being Champions.
Whatever it was it didn’t work!
The great deliver in May, the good disappear.
For too many of our players, the occasion proved too big, talent crippled by the fear of failure.
The irony being, a week on from showing such maturity on Tyneside, we produced a performance comparable with Newcastle and Spurs from last season.
The weight of a title challenge was too big a step for one of the youngest squads in the division.
Just like Gary Neville said it was going to be.
Not criticism, just an honest reflection, when it’s ‘squeaky bum time’ we go missing.
The club is at a crossroads this summer.
Trust ‘the process’ and hope youngsters learn from these moments and are better for the experience, or help your youth out by surrounding them with experience?
Arsenal have been unlucky that the TV companies have dictated that we always seem to play after Man City, always playing catch up.
Psychologically, it’s different this weekend if we kick off first.
Instead, we again watched City go 4 points clear, chalking off another game, Gunners had hopes high of a slip up at Goodison, only to be disappointed.
That perhaps explains a performance in the first half that felt like a preseason game.
An atmosphere, a tempo of a club going through the motions, not believing Pep Guardiola’s going to drop 4 points with 3 games left.
Gooners can think that in the stands, but professional sportsmen shouldn’t.
Surely during training, in the canteen, on the bus, conversations were had about scenarios, and surely Man City winning was one of them.
Because in reality we were the ones who had the tougher match, the Seagulls excellent on an afternoon they showed all the reasons why they are so well run.
At no point did we play with the urgency of a team who understood the jeopardy at stake.
When we got to the dugout there was just as little composure.
If ever we needed leadership, it was in that last 20 mins, yet our manager seemed to take off the few leaders we had.
At 1-0 down, we needed 2 goals to stay in a race we waited two decades to participate in, and we take Jesus and Odegaard off!
With the Prem on the line, we are relying on Reiss Nelson for creativity and Eddie Nketiah for goals, two players who still years on haven’t proved they are good enough for this level.
Yet there’s readers who have the arrogance to say they wouldn’t take a Neymar!
Just like in the World Cup readers said they wouldn’t take Mbappe!
Whisper it quietly, Neymar wouldn’t take us!
Yes, those players come with ego. Guess what else they do?
They don’t freeze at home to Brighton!
At the Etihad!
At the London Stadium!
At home to Southampton!
I hope now some of my peers respect the standards Man City have set for the last 5 years.
You don’t see them outplayed on their own pitch by Brighton.
They do not just cope with playing every few days under must win conditions, they do it with a smile on their face.
Brighton gave us every incentive; Man City still have to face them at the Amex.
Now that game will count for nothing as our season fades out.
There’s no disgrace to finish 2nd to this City team.
To be a big club though you think and act like a big club – and big clubs can’t find losing like that acceptable.
Dan
Video – Mikel Arteta explains what went wrong against Brighton “Individually we were below par”
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And a so called”Big Club” doesn’t bow down to anyone, or accept second best as a consolation prize. Jus sayin…
*Arteta has got to stop trying to be Pep jr and pave his own path…Once again, jus sayin.
👍
If Kiwior jumped with Enciso, I believe the game would’ve ended up differently
Brighton CBs also won the ground battle against Jesus easily. If Balogun becomes our main CF next season, I think we’ll have the same problem due to Balogun’s physical abilities and playing style
Trossard was awful and Brighton knew how to make Odegaard frustrated. Our attackers also made plenty of sloppy passes
I got slaughtered for suggesting Trossard was a journeyman a few weeks back. The satisfaction at being proved right yesterday doesn’t obviously compensate for such an embarrassing defeat. Jesus needs a rest or should be moved on. He really has been hopeless since he returned. Gabriel too maybe needs to move, as does Partey. Odegaarde needs as better partner than Zaka and what problem does MA have about playing ESR and Odegaarde together?
Arsenal had better give Jesus and Odegaard strong internal competitors, who’re physically better and pacier. They usually struggle when they get roughened up by the opponents
Magalhaes and Partey are still good in aerial/ ground duels. As for Smith-Rowe, I think Arteta plans to integrate him slowly in Xhaka’s position
I wouldn’t blame Trossard.when he first came he was on fire, playing but then MA decided to bring back Jesus into the team when we were winning games,scoring goals.
I thought Jesus should have had to earn his place, rather than being slotted straight back in.
@Pory O Brien why are putting the blame on trossard? When he came on the team was already down struggling. You guys should stop blaming one individual when whole have a below par. Even Missi or Ronaldo would not have saved us yesterday.
No doubt our season is success…
We need to add more quality in summer because we don’t want to become Leicester but without PL tittle…
Nobody expected this chase from Arsenal this season..
Without our chase, City would have won the title in April itself…
But don’t need to stop here…
We need to at least add 5 players in squad…
We need 1 very good RB
Yesterday Mitoma showed how you can tear White apart as RB
So we need proper RB who is good speed and good Recovery…
If we get that RB then we can use White as CB…
So we will be having Saliba, White, Gabriel and Kiwior as our CB
We need one CM or CDM
Brighton is ready to sell Caicedo for 70 million which is a fair price…
Yesterday Caicedo showed what we are missing…
The energy, aggression and quality he displayed was immense…
We need at least 1 RW to compete or back up for Saka…. Clearly Saka has ran out of his gas at the end of this season…
Next year we will be playing in CL so schedule will be much more tight and difficult…
Olise or Leon Bailey from Palace and Villa respectively would perfect back up for Saka
Both are very young and very good as RW
Won’t be expensive..
We have Trossard so at the moment we really don’t need another LW…
And we need another big strong and powerful CF like Haaland, Dusan Vlahovic or Youssef En-Nesyri or even Mitrovic who can bully defenders, who can’t be outmuscled by defenders…
Yesterday also so Many times Ramsdale went long but Jesus is not that kind of CF who can hold off defenders and keep the ball…
That time you need CF like those…
It will give us new dimension…
And if Arteta let Xhaka go then he need to shift Zinchenko as CM and buy another LB and keep Tierney…
Certainly Zinchenko cannot play as LB…
He is superb as midfielder but not a good defender…
We saw that against Newcastle…
When we went up 2-0 and Arteta introduced Tierney which gave us solid defence…
If We get these types of 5-6 players then we will certainly get PL title next season…
No doubt our season is success…
We need to add more quality in summer because we don’t want to become Leicester but without PL tittle…
Nobody expected this chase from Arsenal this season..
Without our chase, City would have won the title in April itself…
But don’t need to stop here…
We need to at least add 5 players in squad…
We need 1 very good RB
Yesterday Mitoma showed how you can tear White apart as RB
So we need proper RB who is good speed and good Recovery…
If we get that RB then we can use White as CB…
So we will be having Saliba, White, Gabriel and Kiwior as our CB
We need one CM or CDM
Brighton is ready to sell Caicedo for 70 million which is a fair price…
Yesterday Caicedo showed what we are missing…
The energy, aggression and quality he displayed was immense…
We need at least 1 RW to compete or back up for Saka…. Clearly Saka has ran out of his gas at the end of this season…
Next year we will be playing in CL so schedule will be much more tight and difficult…
Olise or Leon Bailey from Palace and Villa respectively would perfect back up for Saka
Both are very young and very good as RW
Won’t be expensive..
We have Trossard so at the moment we really don’t need another LW…
And we need another big strong and powerful CF like Haaland, Dusan Vlahovic or Youssef En-Nesyri or even Mitrovic who can bully defenders, who can’t be outmuscled by defenders…
Yesterday also so Many times Ramsdale went long but Jesus is not that kind of CF who can hold off defenders and keep the ball…
That time you need CF like those…
It will give us new dimension…
And if Arteta let Xhaka go then he need to shift Zinchenko as CM and buy another LB and keep Tierney…
Certainly Zinchenko cannot play as LB…
He is superb as midfielder but not a good defender…
We saw that against Newcastle…
When we went up 2-0 and Arteta introduced Tierney which gave us solid defence…
If We get these types of 5-6 players then we will certainly get PL title next season…
Honesty is the best thing. Although we have finished second, the truth is we had the title on a string and fell it away just like last season’s crash. Under pressure there is something wrong… with something. I don’t buy any of the excuses. In the Brighton game…our eyes told us, we were genuinely pathetic. It’s up to the guides, mentors, manager Arteta, Edu, to keep everybody giving everything. Very saddening watching so many, late season’ inept performances. Maybe they are just not good enough, as a group, to deal with pressure. That would mean considerable additions in the summer window, because our collapse has become ‘usual’. Such a wimpish ‘bow out’ is such a let-down and extremely disappointing. Sorry but it was ‘pathetic”.
Our title hopes were surrendered @ Liverpool with one little moment of madness when Xhaka lost his head and reacted to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s tackle… we surrendered our 2-0 lead and from that moment on, we haven’t been the same Arsenal again! FACT!!!
I don’t care what supporters say nor do I buy into to the fact that he’s performed well this season, being one of the older players in the squad, he should’ve never done what he did nd continued doing after that game. I’m not knit-picking on anyone but Xhaka has cost us many time across many seasons with his ego nd this time it’s come back to haunt/hurt us the most…
Add that to the favouritism Mikel Arteta has shown to he’s dead signing “VIEIRA” who he insisted on picking over TOSSARD many a’times, the injury to Saliba nd choosing to play another dead-wood liability over a couple of seasons in HOLDING, we gave up a golden opportunity to win the league this season 😐
No more excuses next year.. nd I personally don’t think we gonna be competing for the title as Liverpool, Newcastle, Man U, Chelsea, definitely Man City… even Tottenham 😂 are going to strengthen their squads so guess it’s back to top4 as our trophy 😞
Deflated GOON!
It’s very pathetic scapegoating Granit every chance available. Very pathetic indeed. So pathetic it is sad.
Some people like a scapegoat.
What about failing to beat relegated Southampton home and away also West Ham away hurt us as well in total command at 2-0 up and threw it away so don’t think you can put it down to just one game especially as a majority of fans would have taken a draw before a ball being kicked and to blame Xhaka is ridiculous he’s been one of our best players all season! There are a few other games I could mention but the ones I have stand out as the difference between winning and loosing the prem league and we came up short and didn’t take the great opportunity we had to achieve the dream!
For whatever reason we just didn’t turn up. Nothing to do with what happened in the game, it felt a different Arsenal walking into the pitch from the first second. The pass accuracy wasn’t there, there were no overruns, there was no pressing and the second balls were surrendered too easily. What is unacceptable is to go down without a fight. Yes Newcastle lost, but they gave us a hell of a game, and they certainly didn’t lie down. What I would question is the level of refereeing, and the fact they are not protecting our players from potentially career threatening challenges. Martinelli made an uncharacteristic foul, which was odd, although it wasn’t intentional, but possibly reckless. I think Caicedo’s was worse, as that was intentional, injured Martinelli and looked like payback.
Seeing the hug caicedo have him when he went off made me think it was just an error from the Brighton player (slip?), though I thought the same when it happened.
Well, the squad is thin, the lads are stretched considering the average age. This is the first season Mikel has a team of his own finally. Let me remind you Rodgers, Conte and Tuchel lost their jobs despite having better squads on paper. One home loss and the usual panic and doom and gloom by who?
That was not a football match
It was a sh!t show
Losing at home 3:0 to Brighton is just embarrassing, no one has the moral right to defend what we did yesterday
All the fans who went for the match should be refunded their money, for that performance at home soil
Rubbish.
Any fan demanding their money back should go and support another team.
Exactly. It’s been a great season. Yes it’s a shame that they fell away at the final stretch but it’s still an awesome season and a great platform to build on.
Owesome season
A season that saw the only man. City from the traditional top 4 team of the last few years in top 4… A season that Newcastle and man united are in top 4, minding you they have new managers,
And both teams finished below us last season too..
a season that we were sent home early in the cups, a season we were knocked out at round 16 of Europa league by sporting at home soil.
Please we had a good season, but saying an awesome season is embarrassing for a club of this status,
I’d rather have a commanding 2nd now than another FA Cup this year. All things considered it has been awesome to challenge for the title when all that was expected was to fight for top-4.
So, with only two teams in it, we messed it up Loose Cannon.
We got 2 points from Southampton, three points from Everton, threw away 2 goal leads against Liverpool and West Ham and this was MA’s squad, with record money spent on them.
How are you going to defend this, after belittling the squad that finished 2nd to Leicester?
You’re kidding, right?
Next season will probably be another “first” for Arteta.
10 seasons down the line, you’ll probably be telling us how it’s Arteta’s “first time to get to 10 seasons as a Manager” so we still shouldn’t expect trophies.
At what point do we start to expect anything from him and the squad, really?
This is the movie at arsenal
I said this thing many times
Arsenal have a habit of always
Bottling their season when hopes are high on them, people who are disappointed are those who were expecting a miracle I have come to accept that this is arsenal, that’s why when people say neville is hating on us I found it funny because every season arsenal prove him right yet people are mad at him calling it the way it is, the only disappointment from this season is we have nothing to show for it, trophyless
When they perform like that…when they are so close to finishing first, it is so shameful and wimpish, they should have their pay docked. They got BIG Money for a BIG nothing in the title run in. They don’t deserve to be paid.
The article headline was very disrespectful to Brighton who were superb as they have proved against the” big boys” this season.In fact ,In terms of possession they are up there with Man City.They simply swarmed over us like an army of ants and we did not have the pace and energy in midfield to overcome them.Jorjinho, Xhaka,Zinchenko and Elneny are all tarred with the same brush in that they are not athletes who can recover the ball from the opposition.They are all comfortable in recycling the ball and retaining possession but yesterday even the highly skilled Odegaard could not get into the game, hard though he tried.I must sound like an old record in that I keep banging on about the need for legs in the midfield area which could be accomplished if we could acquire the likes of Caicedo(what a player), Rice or Onana.Kwior,Trossard and Ramsdale were culpable for the goals conceded but basically we were simply outplayed by the best away side I have seen at the Emirates this season.Other than Gabriel and Tierney who were solid in defence , our players were individually and collectively poor, and while Ben White has done well this season in the right back role, yesterday he looked like a centre back playing out of position against the best left winger I have seen this season.It’s very important for Arteta to lift his players and to end the season with two wins otherwise all the excellent performances we have produced will be forgotten by fans.
👍 Grandad, rational comment; unfortunately a limp finale to an excellent season.
Now that the dust has settled. I would like to call it as I have seen it.
We have had an good-average season overall as:-
a) We have overachieved in the league despite falling short of winning it.
b) We have underachieved in the cups.
I do not consider the carling cup as a trophy and this is where we should field our youngsters just like Arsene used to in the past. FA cup we got beaten by City. Fair enough.
But Europa league we should have gone much further. I am not saying we should have won it for it to be a success but at least reached the semi-finals with the current squad size.
Both the coach and players are on a learning curve. The coach needs to have an adaptive style for different teams and needs to learn a bit more rotation and knowing when to use substitutes. He really needs a mobile holding midfielder who can cover the ground to join quickly in attack and in defence for teams bypassing the midfield. We also sometimes need to bypass the midfield against selected teams.
Deflated Gunner but not too deflated.
IGL Saab,
you are always spot on (except it’s the Carabao Cup).
EvG Ji
Of course you are right. So unimportant thta I could not even remember its name. It’s name has changed so many times. I remember it called the milk cup at one point. I consider it to be the youth cup as far as the top 8 PL clubs are considered.
Littlewoods Cup Ji !!
Yes next season he should use the youngsters in it. I tell you what though, they better strengthen up big time and early enough for the start of the season. I’m feeling confident about next term.
For EvG Ji
I have just checked up the names.
Football league cup, Milk Cup, Littlewoods Cup, Rumbelows Cup, Coca Cola Cup, Worthington Cup, Capital One Cup, Carling Cup, Carrabao Cup or EFL cup.
Strengthening is essential: 2 positions are essential. Mobile Holding midfielder is a must. Then left back as I feel Tierney is leaving us.
Not sure if we need a rightback as we have White, Tomiyasu and Norton-Cuffy.
Then if there are funds either a lethal striker or get a loan striker and then mould Folarin Balogun to the role with a 6 month loan and start fresh in Jan.
Saab, those names bring back memories, misty water-coloured memories of the way we were !
Rumbelows was a retail chain store. They sold household goods. Coca-Cola Cup Ji, a drink that is very uhealthy for thee. Oh yes, Capital One Cup indeed. Worthington’s ale or beer, I’m not an expert on booze !
How is it youv’e seen Ahamada ? Do you live in the Palace area ? I’m not sure that Arteta is that into Balogun, but let’s see.
For EvG Ji
I don’t live in the Palace area. Ahamada is one I have seen as a physical guy despite his rawness. Not the finished article for 2023-24 season. But will be for 2024-25 season but can learn from Thomas Partey in 2023-24 season. The guys out there rate him highly like we rated Wilshere even before he got to the first team. He would have got more starts under Vieira than Hodgson. In fact there is an article where Hodgson says he is doing very well in training but cannot pick him as he has a winning combination on the pitch.
This is the kind of player Brighton would pick up for a small fee as a replacement after making a fortune selling Caiceido
Ji, On the subject of Roy Hodgson, I met him once on a street in the West End, and the thing I noticed most about him was how willing he was to just stop and chat for ages. I was on my way to an appointment and had to cut the conversation short, but he was so nice and homely. Those Palace boys probably love playing for him because he comes across like an uncle (very avuncular).
For EvG Ji
I can believe what you said about Roy Hodgson.
Behaving like a big club is down to our owners and their philosophy. It’s not down to Arteta who is, after all, an employee. Abramovitch and the City owner are prime examples of men who are/were driven to succeed and didn’t/don’t care how much it costs to get there
I agree Dan, that EN and Reiss Nelson are not the answer. What I would add is that it took a while for City to become dominant even with their huge resources.
It was almost a forgone conclusion that the West Ham and Southampton matches would put the final nail in the coffin and so it proved. You also can’t underestimate the win by City against Everton or their win against us.
I’m not going to be too critical although I am deflated and disappointed that we allowed City back a few weeks ago
All I hope is that the players don’t allow this result to completely dominate what has largely been a very good season.
SueP, my biggest disappointments were the poor exits from the Europa League and doestic cups.
Yes, ozziegunner, those exits were also very disappointing especially the Europa League
All these talks of our players Crumbing under pressure is NOT TRUE.
The real issue is Arteta showing his continually playing Saka, Xhaka, Zinchenko and even Ben White who Underperformed since March. ☹️
He benched Jorgihno, Kiwior and Tierney in games he should have Brought them and Threw out Lokonga and Cedric.😕
Arteta Bungled this GREAT OPPORTUNITY of winning the League due to Foolish Bias/Favouritism in his Selections.
I don’t see him getting even Top 4 next year.😒
@Vinnie2000
RealTalk 👍🏾
Ben White had to play had no right back cover through injuries that a area we really need to strengthen next season definitely need a right back and then we have the option of using White at CB and hopefully Tommy stays injury free who can challeng for right back position!
Players need to be recruited with physical and mental strength to augment and improve the existing first team.
Yes! I agree to the notion being tailored above by a commenter above. That the Gooners who attended out last Epl home match against last Sunday should be refunded their money. But from the Gunners’ pay I will suggest.
In so doing, it will show the Gunners really cared about the feelings of the Gooners. Who felt grieved for the shameful home defeat that they the Gunners unbecoming allowed themselves suffered at the hands of the Seagulls. And as such have to apologise in show of intent to the Emirates Arsenal match attending Gooners.
We need this we need that, some might even suggest we need to overhaul the entire team at a go. People forget how City where before now. How they started before they became who they are right now. Give this manager time to make his mistakes and learn from the job. He will come good soon.
This is EPL
Not a learning center
He was learning as assistant coach
Now he has a job, this is not academy football. I am happy that at least we finished 2nd this season, the bar has been set high for next season, no more excuses last season we bottled the top4 people said we have learned from it, the team was young then we then bottled the biggest one in similar way…. Last year it was 3 loses in row this team it was 3 draws we should all matches we should be winning from the position of strength…
Next season
Is the team still going to be seen as young team and when are they going to grow up?
It was the same with Chelsea when abramovich took over – it took a while for them to move from a decent team to a very good team to champions.
The issue with making that point is that both city and Chelsea levelled up their managers during their progression before becoming champions. City probably couldn’t have done it with Hughes, nor Chelsea with ranieri (he needed to move to Leicester first haha)
I think we’re better off supporting arteta unless and until it becomes clear he’s hit a wall and can no longer improve us. We haven’t reached that point – he’s earned the opportunity to show that he can continue evolving this team, and he’s earned our support imo.
Give the manager how much time, exactly?
Because certain fans NEVER seem willing to embrace SMART goals for the team they claim to love.
It’s basically just “vibes and inshallah”, until we’re another 10 years trophyless.
We lost because White was atrocious, Jesus wasn’t far behind and the long ball tactics were astoundingly naiv.
We lost because the whole team was awful, nobody played well. It is a really disappointing end but the gloom and doom is maybe a little overblown?
For all intents, last year was year one and it ended in a really disappointing drop out of top four.
There was a lot of criticism, some legitimate, of Arteta’s people management and the club’s recruitment, especially not getting a striker at Christmas.
So this year they did a much better job recruiting – building the basis of a strong team – it isn’t complete but it is now a team that needs some additions, not wholesale.
With the additions they are solidly second. The dropped points against strugglers was what killed us in the end.
Still, a lot of us didn’t think top four was possible this year.
Before we get out the tar and feathers and run Arteta out, maybe we have to see if his learning progresses further next year.
We have a big summer ahead and based on the past few windows I am confident that we will recruit well so will have a deeper squad.
The big question will be if Arteta learns to manage his squad better. He does seem to demonstrate a degree of stubbornness with selection and tactics that can frustrate. Better rotation may have created more competition and kept people more fresh for longer (we should not have looked this tired playing only once a week).
If he evolves, then we should be able to keep pressure on City and progress in cups. For me, he has earned the right to show us.
Replacement of Odegaard, Jesus and Jorginho with players who have warmed the seat for long and confronting with inertia when we needed intensity to come into the game is a wrong strategy and inexplicable. Rather than get at least one goal back we conceded two more because at the time, only Reiss Nelson showed quick takeoff.