Brentford earned a deserved 2-0 victory over Arsenal to kickstart their return to the Premier League, but where did it go wrong for the visitors?
We started the match brightly, having at least two-thirds of the possession in the opening 15 minutes of play, before the match turned, and we never managed to recover after conceding 22 minutes in.
Emile Smith Rowe appeared to be our only outlet for anything creative in the final third, while Brentford remained an extremely organised unit that wasn’t to be broken.
As much as I want to give credit to the hosts for their performance, I can’t help but focus on how little imagination, creativity and concentration our team possessed, but Brentford most definitely deserve plenty of praise for the level of focus they showed throughout.
Patrick
HIGHLIGHTS? There were no highlights just the usual Arteta crap football!
Hey rejoice, we are out of the relegation zone….. at present!
We will lose the opening 3 games after which the atmosphere will so toxic that the outcome seems near-inevitable even today.
But who will replace Arteta and which players will we be able to attract after yesterday’s disaster?
A lot of talk about Odegaard but to me, he is another ESR and we can’t play the 2 of them so easily in a starting 11.
We need goals.
In fairness, it is not easy to integrate more than 1 or 2 new players in a stating 11. This takes time.
My priority would be a right-back of high caliber. Next a striker and maybe Aouar.
But most importantly, which manager will come next month when we need to be rescued? There are a lot of dreamers who think we can attract a top manager. I am not one of them.
Maybe a Bielsma? PL experience would be good. Otherwise, we would have to gamble on an up-and-coming foreign manager who never proved anything in the PL.
Benitez, never thought I would say this, would have been good if we had signed him this summer.
We have missed the boat yet again with Benitez, we will struggle to get a decent manager because they are all in better jobs. Arteta is taking this club lower than a snakes arse and the krankies haven’t got a scoobie how to run a football club. Dark days ahead.
You lot should apply to work on Sky Sports!!!
Yes we weren’t great but considering the players missing thats hardly a shock!!
But thats no excuse for those on here and at Sky to completely ignored the fact that neither of their goals should have stood!!
The ball was out for a corner for the 1st and how you lot and Sky can ignore the foul on Leno b4 the 2nd is simply mind boggling!!!
Brian- so other than that your ok with everything are you? Because in spite of that we were bossed of the park by a team of players that went up via the play offs. Arteta is somehow managing to take this club backwards. Yet you seem to believe this is ok? Seriously?
Far too many on here we’re too keen to give Arteta more time. He should have been gone at the end of the season despite a good finish. He papered over his own cracks yet some felt this was ok because he would have learnt from his continued mistakes. He will be gone after the Spurs game unless we have at least 12 points which I’m struggling to believe he is capable of getting
Phil – regardless of the “I told you so’s” some contributors keep rolling out, the most important point is that NOTHING we say here affects anything because WE DON’T MAKE THE DECISIONS about Arteta’s future. Do you think the Kroenke’s read the fansites? And even if they do, do you think they care?
So whilst you’re correct in saying some of us came to the conclusion later than others, what difference has it made?
Brian, you may be happy Arsenal are sinking like a stone, play crap football and have no plan but im not. Dont be an idiot or bury your head in the sand and try and make out last night was an excuse in any way.
Where did l say l was happy???
my main point was the lack of any mention by Sky during the game, or during the aftermath, or on this site of a blatant foul on leno resulting in the 2nd goal!!!
Let me ask you if you’re happy that both the ref and VAR deemed a Brentford player holding our keeper with both arms was perfectly ok?
Let me ask you if you’re happy that our keeper was criticised for failing to clear the ball when both his arms were pinned to his side by the Brentford player.
Like l said we weren’t great but laying all the blame at MA’s door is harsh to the extreme especially when once again poor refereeing was also to blame thats what lm not happy about!!
It wasn’t an issue for me or VAR, I dont go along with your excuses. For me last night was a shambles and nothing has changed through the summer. I dont seem to like any of the decisions Arteta makes, his decision making and the fact we aren’t improving just makes me think my judgement is correct. I dont hide behind refs (even though i didn’t have a problem last night) i judge on what i see happening to try and play our football and i dont like it. I didn’t like the Willock situation, i didn’t like the martinez situation, i didn’t like the Gouendouzi situation, i did like the Saliba situatio, i didn’t like the Xhaka situation and i didnt like the Willian situation, i dont like this manager, he is not making good decisions.
Sorry it should be didn’t like the Saliba situation.
@Guy- Kronke has backed Arteta with the number of players he has personally brought to the club.
Willian- enough said
Gabriel- jury still out but lots to prove
Soures- hardly plays him
Mari- lots to prove
Partey- needs to step up and lead this team
Aubamayang- £350k a week?Seriously?
Ben White- needs to justify that fee
Runnarson- what a joke
Tavares- too early to tell but looks good
Lokonga-ditto
Odegard- offered nothing ESR can give us
Let’s look at other decisions
Mavropanos- could he be worst than Mari? I don’t think so
Saliba- what exactly has this boy done to deserve being treated as he has been done
AMN- turned down £20m last year from Wolves. Lucky to get half of that amount now.
Nketiah- played him when everyone knew he would never be good enough
Martinez- nuff said
So I believe Arteta had lots to prove. This is very much his team now. No excuses should ever be acceptable
nice MIC DROP Phil!!! the last thing this club needs are fans who just shut up, pay top dollar and simply hope for a best that will never come
What do you think of conte
Wes- Big Sam would sort them out. I detest the man but FFS something needs to be done and very very quickly
TRVL- I believe a lot of fans who thought Arteta could turn it around were being far too idealistic. Even Kronke must have been optimistic at best a former player with knowhow of the club albeit with no experience would be the answer. Unfortunately reality seems to be finally settling in. Two bad defeats in the next two games could just finish Arteta. If he holds onto his job after that I would be disappointed but not surprised. Just how much time is enough?