Never change
Mikel Arteta | Lego Pep watch
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Win on Monday and we are one point behind them with a game in hand. That’s with Arsenal having this fantastic season while Utd fired Ole.
They have a very good shape and setup out of possession. They’ve improved in that regard a lot.
They outplayed City and would have been unfortunate to draw let alone lose. This performance today is actually more of a feather in Arteta's cap because he's shown his side can go toe to toe with the best in the league. He beat big teams in the FA Cup run but I don't actually think any of those performances were better than what we saw today from Arsenal, even though they won in those games.
They went down to 10 against city so obviously they lost
But yeah, arsenal appear to have actually become good
But yeah, arsenal appear to have actually become good
I wish it was random. But even though the penalty and sending off were soft, we needlessly gave the referee decisions to make. Why pull an opponents shirt in the box? Why scuff up the penalty spot?
Matin Keown then blamed it on youth, but it wasn't Saka or Martinelli losing their heads.
It’s a real shame for you, City randomly have these games when the ball doesn’t stick up top due to having no striker and are contained with a good, defensive performance. Now the pressure is on the NLD where not winning could see you falling to 7th or 8th with a hill to climb.
Performance was impressive from Arsenal today, that's the worst I've seen City play in a long time.
Their complete meltdown at the City penalty is hilarious though. It's a stonewall pen, foul with the leg and then a blatant shirt pull. I love to see when a teams' and fans' victim mentality costs them, and there was no better demonstration than today. Bunch of whingebags as Neville would say.
Their complete meltdown at the City penalty is hilarious though. It's a stonewall pen, foul with the leg and then a blatant shirt pull. I love to see when a teams' and fans' victim mentality costs them, and there was no better demonstration than today. Bunch of whingebags as Neville would say.
I mean I can't complain with the performance.
I have no issues really with the decisions against us either, but, the lack of consistency is annoying. City had just as many fouls with 1 yellow card? Rodri got away with about 7 fouls..
I honestly think we should have had a pen, but fair enough if it was too close to call. But then the same consistency should go the otherway. Silva was already on his way down before Xhaka pulled his shirt. But, stupid from Xhaka and Gabriel tbf. I understand a keeper scuffing the spot but a CB, who can easily get booked is stupid.
Tomiyasu, White, Partey all good. Odegaard, Saka and Martinelli great first half.
I have no issues really with the decisions against us either, but, the lack of consistency is annoying. City had just as many fouls with 1 yellow card? Rodri got away with about 7 fouls..
I honestly think we should have had a pen, but fair enough if it was too close to call. But then the same consistency should go the otherway. Silva was already on his way down before Xhaka pulled his shirt. But, stupid from Xhaka and Gabriel tbf. I understand a keeper scuffing the spot but a CB, who can easily get booked is stupid.
Tomiyasu, White, Partey all good. Odegaard, Saka and Martinelli great first half.
The difference between them is it was possible Ederson actually got the ball and made a legit tackle. But even if you think that's a pen, that shouldn't change the fact Xhaka's blatantly fouled Silva.
There is no debate to be had about Xhaka's challenge, he fouls him with his leg and then pulls his shirt and gets nowhere near the ball. There's no 50/50 about Xhaka's foul, it's just a stonewall pen.
Disagree with that. Silva was diving, and then Xhaka grabbed his shirt on his way down. It's not stonewall. But equally I do see why it was given.
My biggest issue is why didn't he go see the first pen on the screen?
Put it this way, if the ref gave both pens from the off, both would have completely stood, and fairly so.
But because the ref didn't give either, only one stood. How is that fair?
And they continue to play Xhaka. So they will suffer.
He fouls him twice. It doesn't matter whether Silva may or may not have gone down had he not been fouled, the point is he was fouled, twice. I just cannot understand the debate around this penalty, it's just Arsenal playing the victim card.
Bottled it slightly but really proud of the boys and this Arsenal team of late. Really likeable bunch (bar Xhaka). They really gave it their all which is all we expect to be honest. The fans in the stadium realise this and stayed beyond the game to cheer them on.
I hope this loss doesn’t demoralise the players. Need to keep pushing and playing with our confident football.
Feels like I’m playing football manager with this team. Playing with the youth and watching their stats incrementally improve each game.
I hope this loss doesn’t demoralise the players. Need to keep pushing and playing with our confident football.
Feels like I’m playing football manager with this team. Playing with the youth and watching their stats incrementally improve each game.
Tomiyasu was excellent against Man City, he didn't give them anything down that right hand side, even when we were down to 10.
I have no interest at all in the upcoming cup fixtures. Should rest all first teamers in the next 3 games so that they're ready for the away trip to Tottenham but like with any bad management, Arteta will likely run them into the ground in meaningless fixtures and still expect the players to be ready for the difficult PL fixtures this month & next month.
We don't need the League Cup and God knows we don't need any more FA cups. Use your brain Arteta!
I have no interest at all in the upcoming cup fixtures. Should rest all first teamers in the next 3 games so that they're ready for the away trip to Tottenham but like with any bad management, Arteta will likely run them into the ground in meaningless fixtures and still expect the players to be ready for the difficult PL fixtures this month & next month.
We don't need the League Cup and God knows we don't need any more FA cups. Use your brain Arteta!
Played well today but likeable? Armadale has joe hart vibes, Gabriel tierney & lacazette constantly moaning, only like lad one is saka!Bottled it slightly but really proud of the boys and this Arsenal team of late. Really likeable bunch (bar Xhaka). They really gave it their all which is all we expect to be honest. The fans in the stadium realise this and stayed beyond the game to cheer them on.
I hope this loss doesn’t demoralise the players. Need to keep pushing and playing with our confident football.
Feels like I’m playing football manager with this team. Playing with the youth and watching their stats incrementally improve each game.
No he doesn't though, neither were fouls. Both combined, there's a case for a foul yes hence why I say it might be a pen, but it's not stonewall.
Xhaka will always cost us points. We just need to say enough is enough and send him packing.
Showed good spirit and shape in the first half, good attitude and prepared to go and get the ball back.
Lost because one player let the team down in my opinion. However I think we showed that Arsenal has made improvements under Arteta.
Lost because one player let the team down in my opinion. However I think we showed that Arsenal has made improvements under Arteta.
Didn't he get a new contract?
Probably my last post today, but care to explain? Bernardo tries to go over Xhakas leg but there's barely any contact there, and then Xhaka has a handful of his shirt for about a second which on its own wouldn't have brought him down at all.
Like I said, neither would be given as fouls, but because he's on the way down already the shirt pull looks worse. And, again, I can see why it's given as a pen because of both combined so not arguing that.
The shirt pull is an obvious foul, anywhere else on the pitch and it's not even a discussion.
That's really unbelievable anyone could think that.
Here until 2024.
He was solid today but he is prone to these rash errors which completely undo all his good work.
Martinelli, saka, Gabriel, tomiyasu, ESR, Tierney (yes), odegaard, Tavares, ramsdale (yes he’s arsenals best signing that’s why).
Ben white however should stay on love island
But I'm not misrepresenting the facts at all. You can see it for yourself if you want. You're making fantastic points about Kroenke and also about the spending of teams like City & Chelsea.
But Liverpool had a similar spend in Wenger's final years but actually when you take a closer look, we had higher net spending than Liverpool, and a higher wage budget. It's just that Klopp proved to be far superior to Wenger. Tottenham had actually less funding across the board, not just transfers. And Wenger couldn't compete with them in the PL towards the end. We can't ignore these facts.
It also still infuriates me that Ranieri with a shoestring budget and a weaker team beat us to the title. Wenger's reputation took a hit that season.
No other big club manager (except Pochettino who was young and just starting out) could outlive that disastrous season. City, United & Chelsea all fired their managers that same season and Liverpool fired their manager mid-season. Only Wenger survived being humiliated by Leicester.
But it's the top 4 failure in his final 2 seasons which meant Wenger simply couldn't continue, and they did call him into a meeting and told him it's over, he was forced to give his resignation. Money wasn't a valid excuse for Wenger because like I said, Tottenham had even less than us.
I thought we were well-organized yeah, I was very impressed. I just hope we don't waste our energy in the cup games because we desperately need top 4 and if our players can put in a similar effort against Tottenham away, then we can potentially get all 3 points.
We just need to do damage limitations until the end of February and then steamroll the weaker teams from March until May. But to limit the damage, we need to start getting at least 1 point in these big fixtures. Sick and tired of getting nothing out of these games. It's killing our season and Arteta has to sort this out fast.
That keeps getting mentioned but I don't get it. Man Utd were touted as premier league title challengers before the season began and ended being mid table when Ole was fired. Arsenal were expected to struggle to get into top 6 and are currently in a good position in top 4.
That’s only because United finished last season in 2nd place and you finished in 8th. If Arteta did nothing else better than Ole he’s done a remarkable job at lowering expectations from his employer.
He is building a squad that at least competed against the disrespectful bunch. Ole capitulated even before the game and didn't lift a finger while they were having a training session.
Its not just because of that though, our squad on paper is vastly superior. It was already better than theirs last season and then we went and bought Sancho Varane and Ronaldo on top.
Arsenal brought in a ton of young relatively unproven players. Whilst United added Ronaldo, Varane and Sancho. That’s surely played a massive part on the expectations for this season?
Touted pre season and what’s happening now are two different things. Arsenals fantastic season still has them sixth if we and Spurs wins our games in hand
More fecking smoke and mirrors. Arteta spend £160 million on new players in the last transfer window alone. They spent more money than any other club in Europe!
I felt like watching Ole’s united (final few matches before his sacking) where the opposition completely dominates the game and there are 1 or 2 counter attacks that cheers up the home crowd.
For us, bruno carried us and for them martinelli.
Yes there are few controversial referee decisions but that happens to almost every team and rightly
Arsenal deserved to lose today for wasting time, ramsdale’s actions before penalty take.
For us, bruno carried us and for them martinelli.
Yes there are few controversial referee decisions but that happens to almost every team and rightly
Arsenal deserved to lose today for wasting time, ramsdale’s actions before penalty take.
a complete squad rebuild to be fair. We signed backups (Tavares for example) whilst also clearing out the deadwood such as Bellerin.
I mentioned it before but the squad for Emery’s last game in charge and the squad in this game are completely different.
we still have deadwood to clear and more spending needed yet. For example get rid of Auba and his wages and bring in another ST. Midfield is also light.
It seems to me that you are misrepresenting the facts, note you haven't addressed the point that you said Wenger was fired - he resigned, you say he was forced to resign at a meeting but you seem short of details on when and where the meeting was held, who attended, either way, the record does not say he was fired does it? It is how you choose to portray Wenger leaving the club, you would like to believe your bedsheet was instrumental perhaps? As for the spending of budgets you have to look over a number of years, not just the year that suits you and the singular losses you want to point out. Anyone will tell you that a team isn't built in a season but over a number.
By 2017 Wenger had enjoyed some pretty memorable moments in what was then a 21 year spell, he'd just signed another 2 years on his contract, 3 PLL wins, 7 FA Cups and the move to the Emirates in 2006 from a 38,000 seat stadium to a 60,000 seater. Wenger was instrumental in that but also had to manage the budget to pay for the new build. Between 2005 and 2013 Wenger had to be very cautious with the money, key players such as Robin Van Persie, Sami Nasri and Cesc Fabregas were sold to manage that debt, there wasn't anything extra coming from Kroenke who has a habit of buying sports teams but not for overall investment, Kroenke takes his dividend and director's 'loan' repayments (his purchase price) each and every year. And in the meantime the record increases in ticket prices wasn't all going towards Wenger's budget. Cat. A match tickets went up to £100 while the cheapest tickets at around £60 for games against the clubs such as Norwich. Arsenal in a period of 7 years made £40 million selling players while your other 'big club managers' - United spent £88 million, Pool @124 million, Chelski £233m and Mansour splashed £427 million. From 2013 Wenger spent just over £250 million the likes of City and United spent £500 million each during the same period. Wenger spent what he was given permission to keep back from Kronke.
Player wages have seen a massive increase since Wenger paid off the Emirates debt, the only seasons that Wenger's player budgets didn't perform were when his spending was 3rd highest in the league and finished 4th during 2 seasons before the move so that doesn't appear to mesh with your claims however we do know that in the PL you do need to pay to attract the best players you can, and keep them. What else would we expect?
Didn't they have a period last year were they had about 4 reds in 2 months or something ridiculous?
I think people practically forgot about Arsenal when Arteta arrived. Seeing them in the top 4 is like Barca being in next year's champions League final. People basically wrote off the chances of it happening because of how bad things got.
That's the annoying thing. I did think Arteta was given a pass for his first year when OGS wasn't just because Arteta was often in the same camera frame as Pep but Arsenal are actually pretty good now.
Arsenal squad is far worse than us or City. They are doing pretty well when you put that in mind every thing considered.