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Arsenal 22/23 - go to new thread
- Thread starter horsechoker
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They’re going to do the treble aren’t they. We’d better turn up at Wembley.
When Arsenal were beaten in Emirates by City it was extremely clear that City were a level above Arsenal. I said it here some Arsenal fan wanted my neck. Yesterday it showed Arsenal are 2 levels below City.
In Emirates Arsenal had 1 shot on target, a dubious penalty, which they scored. In Etihad they had 2 shots on goal,the goal and the Xhaka feeble shot. In both games City had 6 shots on target in Emirates, 9 in Etihad, 15 in total while Arsenal is 3 shots on target one being a penalty.
The talk of Saliba this Saliba that, is a coping mechanism. Saliba was there in Emirates game what did he majestically do? Nothing. This Arsenal team has conceded more goals than Man United and unbelievably CHELSEA this season. One less than Liverpool. That's there level really.
What made Arsenal good this season was the midfield control they had in the first half of the season, also I will say not having Jesus helped their team in how they moved forward. First half of the season they had 50 points from a possible 57 in 19 games. Now there are 25 points in 14 games. The mental block for Arsenal continues.
Interestingly, the Emirates Stadium which has been in existence for 17 years now, has never experienced a League title winning celebrations, leave alone any kind of European title winning celebration. At least Arsenal are in champions league next season, they lastly played champions league football under Wenger some 6 years ago. Their last legged champions league game was a 10-2 aggregate loss to Bayern Munich.
The mental block sadly continues for them.
In Emirates Arsenal had 1 shot on target, a dubious penalty, which they scored. In Etihad they had 2 shots on goal,the goal and the Xhaka feeble shot. In both games City had 6 shots on target in Emirates, 9 in Etihad, 15 in total while Arsenal is 3 shots on target one being a penalty.
The talk of Saliba this Saliba that, is a coping mechanism. Saliba was there in Emirates game what did he majestically do? Nothing. This Arsenal team has conceded more goals than Man United and unbelievably CHELSEA this season. One less than Liverpool. That's there level really.
What made Arsenal good this season was the midfield control they had in the first half of the season, also I will say not having Jesus helped their team in how they moved forward. First half of the season they had 50 points from a possible 57 in 19 games. Now there are 25 points in 14 games. The mental block for Arsenal continues.
Interestingly, the Emirates Stadium which has been in existence for 17 years now, has never experienced a League title winning celebrations, leave alone any kind of European title winning celebration. At least Arsenal are in champions league next season, they lastly played champions league football under Wenger some 6 years ago. Their last legged champions league game was a 10-2 aggregate loss to Bayern Munich.
The mental block sadly continues for them.
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Proper naive tactical set up. Pressed and opened up way too early. At etihad you have to stay compact early doors.
They’ve been defensively a mess for weeks now though. If you let in 7 goals against Bournemouth, West Ham and Southampton, you’re probably going to let in a few at city.
Looked a beaten team in the first ten minutes yesterday.
Was hoping they could do a miracle last night, despite what their mob think, there are still a lot of United fans who wanted them to win the league ahead of city and there’s no joy to be had from last night for those of us…
Mightt leave Neville alone now too as ultimately he’s been proven right (who again contrary to what their fans think was fully behind them as you could tell by his hilariously biased commentary in their game v Soton), their young team just didn’t have the meat, so many daft points dropped irrespective of last night. To think had they just beaten really poor west ham and Southampton sides they’d still have the title in their hands.
They’ve been defensively a mess for weeks now though. If you let in 7 goals against Bournemouth, West Ham and Southampton, you’re probably going to let in a few at city.
Looked a beaten team in the first ten minutes yesterday.
Was hoping they could do a miracle last night, despite what their mob think, there are still a lot of United fans who wanted them to win the league ahead of city and there’s no joy to be had from last night for those of us…
Mightt leave Neville alone now too as ultimately he’s been proven right (who again contrary to what their fans think was fully behind them as you could tell by his hilariously biased commentary in their game v Soton), their young team just didn’t have the meat, so many daft points dropped irrespective of last night. To think had they just beaten really poor west ham and Southampton sides they’d still have the title in their hands.
As many posters said on here, Arsenal were never in a title race, they were always going to bottle it when it came down to the nitty gritty. The 3 draws are where they fell apart as they could have gone into this well clear.
Posted this back in February. It has broken them. The only problem is that we weren't within 6 points due to ten Hags lack of rotation.
Agree. The capitulation against Liverpool from a winning position then those two games on top of it. That is 6 points dropped. They would have been eleven points clear going into this game and confidence would have been much higher. Instead they went into it shaking at the knees.
Their first team is fine, he needs squad depth, get rid of Holding and tell Xhaka to wind his neck in or else.
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Would depend on valuations i suppose. If West Ham and Brighton would accept £80M, then i think it could be doable. If it's more like £120M, would be impossible obviously.
I'm not saying i think the club will target both, i think they target 1, but just saying that's what i would do. It's been shown multiple times this season we are still too open in transition, the games vs you guys being a prime example. Also, the recent games where we've gave up leads, we've surrendered the midfield battle. These guys have character, they've shown it already in big games, and the next evolution for this team now team needs more character.
Yet when we rotated in the cups, we get accused of throwing them away, so you can't win. We sacrificed Cup wins for league position apparently, so by that token, did you sacrifice league position for Cup games?
It was always going to be a tall order and ultimately there's still life in that title challenge.
I was interested before the game how Arsenal would cope. They've dominated possession in so many games this season...City are probably the one side you're not going to do that with.
City have had unlimited resources for years and Arsenal have put together a very good side. Arsenal can't afford another slip, needs to be pretty much perfect from this point in to stay in with a shout...but City have got other things to worry about too so you never know.
If arsenal don't win it, it's all eyes on next season I suppose. Do they go again or do they drop off?
I was interested before the game how Arsenal would cope. They've dominated possession in so many games this season...City are probably the one side you're not going to do that with.
City have had unlimited resources for years and Arsenal have put together a very good side. Arsenal can't afford another slip, needs to be pretty much perfect from this point in to stay in with a shout...but City have got other things to worry about too so you never know.
If arsenal don't win it, it's all eyes on next season I suppose. Do they go again or do they drop off?
Time to change the thread name.
Bottlewatch -> Bottled it
Bottlewatch -> Bottled it
I personally dislike Arsenal more than City and wanted to see them lose last night but the way they went out was quite sad. Don't get me wrong, City were good but they just didn't show any fight and that was disappointing to see in such a big game. From minute one they were outplayed and even when City took their foot off the gas in the 2nd half they still didn't look bothered.
Yeah. That went well.
Last eight meetings at the Etihad:
City 4-1 Arsenal
City 1-0 Arsenal
City 5-0 Arsenal
City 1-0 Arsenal
City 3-0 Arsenal
City 3-1 Arsenal
City 3-1 Arsenal
City 2-1 Arsenal
Goals 22-4.
Last 19 meetings at either Etihad or the Emirates:
City wins: 16
Draws: 2
Arsenal wins: 1
Goals:
City: 46
Arsenal: 12
City 4-1 Arsenal
City 1-0 Arsenal
City 5-0 Arsenal
City 1-0 Arsenal
City 3-0 Arsenal
City 3-1 Arsenal
City 3-1 Arsenal
City 2-1 Arsenal
Goals 22-4.
Last 19 meetings at either Etihad or the Emirates:
City wins: 16
Draws: 2
Arsenal wins: 1
Goals:
City: 46
Arsenal: 12
I would say being top of the league throughout Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr is the absolute definition of being in a title race..I mean literally in the title race. Not even Jamie Redknapp literally.
It appeared they were in the race but a lot of us expected them to fall away at the business end which is what has happened for the last 4 games.
This is disingenuous in various ways:
- adapting your game plan to be more defensive doesn't have to result in parking the bus; there are ways of being more conservative against City without sacrificing totally creativity;
- application a gameplan is also tactics, the fact it all went so wrong is a failure fo those tactics (which were therefore wrong);
- saying that to prepare this game he had to go "all galaxy brain" is just ridiculous, there were several simple things that could have been done, especially away to City.
Arsenal fans repeating "this is how we've set up all seasons", but also championing "it's impossible for us to build without Tomiyasu and Saliba", you're basically saying your manager is a complete moron who hasn't seen what's been going on for several games and is impossible to adapt to the biggest game of the season, probably one of your biggest games in years, away to a team you never beat. I'm fine with that, I think he's a limited manager, and last night showed exactly why.
None of this means you necessarily would have won or drawn, but it might not have been so humbling.
We think the bottling of this league will have a big mental drain on the Arsenal players.for next season?
I think I remember the Invincibles being 4-0 up after 19 minutes.
PS: It was the season before the Invincibles.
https://m.footballdatabase.eu/en/match/overview/6082-manchester_city-arsenal
I'd never forget turning the game on and seeing 4-0 after 19 minutes on the score bug .
I'd be surprised if it did. We bottled top 4 last season and only improved on that. If make some good signings this summer I'd expect us to do well again.
Bottling top 4 and dropping the title after the gaps you've had over City is very different in terms of mental scars. Look at Liverpool this season. And they should have the experience to deal with the setbacks whereas your team is lacking in leadership. If you do well in the summer I'm sure you'll be in top 4 but I seriously doubt you'll be anywhere near the title.
I don't think Liverpool have mental scars, I think they have physical scars, mainly in midfield, that team just probably went over the edge last season and didn't recruit well enough in the summer to stop that from happening. Also having to adjust to the loss of Mane as well.
Liverpool also went on to win the title after losing to Peps Man City after getting 97 points. It was City that dropped off the season after. (Not that I think they will this time).
I'd say that being so close to a jackpot and then missing out on both big trophies has definitely been a big part why they haven't got going. Agree to disagree.
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They've been beat in the league by the odd point and lost Champions League finals before though. What's caught up with them is their lack of recruiting in midfield, the same things Utd fans used to complain about after Scholes & Keane left.
Fabinho looks past his best, Henderson is 33 in a couple of months, they never really replaced Wijnaldum, Thiago picks up too many injuries, Mane was cruical to them, Van Dijk doesn't look as invincible as he was, Salah although still posting good numbers doesn't quite seem the same threat, Trent isn't getting the protection he used to get.
They tried for Tchounami, then it was decided to wait on Bellingham it seems, and that decision looks to have backfired big time. There's a reason why their fans want to sign 2, if not 3 midfielders in the summer.
Yes I'm well aware of their midfield issues.
I don't think it will. As another poster mentioned, Liverpool still won the Champions League in 2019 after being so close in 2018 and won the League in 2020 after being so close in 2019.
To be honest, it's not the mental scars that I would be worried about, but rather the mental drain/burnout after a season with so many highs (last min goals and comebacks). But the team is still young and hungry so I wouldn't expect it to be an issue.
Arsenal need to do three things in the summer and I would expect them to go another level next year:
- Buy a midfielder to upgrade on Xhaka and add depth to the midfield (Fabio Vieira is too lightweight to play there and Jorginho isn't good enough)
- Get a solid CB to challenge/cover for Saliba and Gabriel
- Get a lethal striker to challenge Jesus and add a different dimension to the team
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..Last night was always going to be tough.
Arsenal have a truly disgraceful record against City especially since Guardiola took over so they were always likely to lose last night.
It's the collapses against West Ham and Southampton which has truly blown it for them.
Arsenal have a truly disgraceful record against City especially since Guardiola took over so they were always likely to lose last night.
It's the collapses against West Ham and Southampton which has truly blown it for them.
They lost the league at the Emirates, when they lost to City. That was their chance. They were in good form and City were not playing too well. A win in that game would have opened up a 8 or 9 point gap with the same number of games played. It would have been a huge psychological boost aswel.
The diagnosis is correct, but the cure cannot be Declan Rice.
If Declan Rice is the cure then I don't want to know what the illness is, it sounds terminal
don’t know about this one. Feels more like bantering ourselves than Arsenal…
Lessor bottejobs than us,tbf.