And now we’re left with Ceballos and Xhaka in midfield. I’d much rather have Elneny and amn. I’d also rather have Nelson than willian.

Partey clearly wasn’t fit, shows how desperate we were for any kind of quality in central midfield.

So far this has to be on Arteta for staying safe with his selection. He needs to learn, this experienced but slow players are letting us down every game. No movement no dynamism.

That’s exactly it, Xhaka literally sits on top of the CB, he plays so deep because he has no mobility or pace. But by being so deep it is a massive hole in midfield. He has to be dropped, so does Willian.

I was so despondent when I saw the starting line up today. Everything felt so inevitable

It’s not one thing it’s several

Our midfield is *%^@ so our full backs have to bomb forward as our only creative outlets and get caught

You have Xhaka playing a north London Derby at walking pace

Saka to me looks bizarrely ineffective right now probably as a consequence of playing too many games

Willian and Lacazette short on confidence

We have no midfield, no creative outlet and are just an average side

Something else I’ve noticed these past few games. Why is Ceballos playing at right back?

What about the times when WE had the ball though Goonie? No need for Xhaka to have the ball on the CB line then

Losing confidence in Arteta. To echo so many here, why are Xhaka & Willian playing? AMN & Nelson are better options.

It is really strange. Xhaka playing left centre half, ceballos playing right back and literally nobody in central midfield!
I just can’t believe if you had Elneny and amn in there that those would be the positions those two would decide to take up.

He needs to stop trusting them. Right now I don’t care about any technical attributes, we need more physical attributes right now. Pace, power and dynamism. Just pick 11 players in their natural positions who beat display those attributes.

There really is only about 6-7 of this squad who are good enough

You can scream at Willian all you want. It’s utterly pointless as he never has any options or inside midfielders supporting him. He’s totally isolated on that flank.

It’s far trendier to slag him off and call him rubbish than look at the bigger picture.

I wouldn’t want to be a winger or striker at arsenal.

All going much as anticipated having seen the starting line up. And that includes Partey not getting through unscathed.

Horribly mediocre. And our master tactician is being taught a lesson.

We needed an entire new midfield this season and we’re playing the second half with the same as last year.

Half the first 11 needs rebuilding and most of the squad needs rebuilding. Arteta isn’t helping himself by trying to push his methods on to players who are too inflexible and old to take it on. Give the rest of the season to the younger players.
Amn, Nelson, smith-Rowe, saka, Martinelli

I’m watching carefully, and Bellerin isn’t far away from Willian most of the time. Not sure how much more support a seasoned professional should expect?

Until the bigger picture is sorted, which will be some time, the least you want is work rate.

And on that basis, Willian’s contribution so far this season definitely needs improvement. Give AMN a go there and see if there’s any difference. Nothing to lose at the moment.

Mourinho parking the bus

But our biggest problem is Xhaka

He doesn’t have any midfield players trying to connect and play one twos. Nobody running the inside channels. As does Saka who has to rely on Tierney to support him alone. It’s a *%^@*** mess

Actually, it’s Kroenke of course

Gabriel gets pissed off and makes a run forward ceballos and Xhaka should be doing but haven’t in their entire careers

Gordon Brown? George Soros?

Makes sense. Especially if you have the players to do so. Never in any danger of losing their lead - despite our wonderful second half stats.

Don’t be silly

Kane up to his old tricks making a back for Gabriel.

How he gets away with it time after time..........

It’s Alan Shearer all over again isn’t it.

15th place. Tottenham 1st.

Sigh.

Gary Neville said it, we conceded twice exactly the way you thought we’d concede on the counter. What was the plan today? Pass it around high up the pitch?

I know he isn’t the problem in this team but Aubameyang was awful today and has been for a while. No one’s in good form so I won’t hold it against him, but he had chances and passes today and misplaced shots, made poor decisions or miscontrolled. He’s severely lacking in faith in himself his teammates and I think in Arteta. And I think he represents the whole team pretty well in that.

We’ve just got to go to work. Roll our sleeves up and pick players who can and are willing to cover the distance. Why AMN isn’t getting minutes is baffling me.

You don't think blaming Kroenke for that is also a tad silly?

You and everyone else, including him I expect.

2-0, I’d have taken that before the game.

For the structural issues at the root of the problem these past few seasons, no.

Ever the supporters’ lament. Our saviour wasn’t playing.

Very simple tactics. 11 man defence and play on the break. Good defenders (and always there in numbers) and world class attackers (who were there when needed).

Stoke with more options. Pulis football. No need for a midfield. Fat Sam with better players.

Painful to watch. Difficult to play against.

It’s not about being a saviour. It’s about wondering why a player in good form who demonstrates something that we need is omitted.

Not sure quite what to say about that game.....one of the most one-sided 2-0 defeats I ever seen. We dominated the game but lacked the quality to turn hugely promising situations into goals. Plenty of decent crosses but you need someone like Giroud if you are going to play that way.

Man United won many titles playing the percentage game with flying wingers putting dangerous crosses into the corridor of uncertainty, the difference being that they got men into the box and had players with the requisite physical and technical traits to turn what often amounted to no more than half chances into goals. Sadly, we don't have that.

Can anyone explain why Bellerin was substituted and Saka moved to RB?

Except we’ve been saying it for months. Against Wolves a few months ago - another counter attacking team, M-N nullified Traore, something we failed to do against them last week. He’s no one saviour but seems to me there’s a role for him here.

How much time does Arteta need here? And what constitutes a good season for him? Let’s say we manage mid table this season - out of Europe but stay up. What’s the minimum next season? I think europa places and then push for a top for the season on after. So aim for top 4 come March 2023 and I don’t even know if that’s realistic. I think he could be given that much time if he gets Europa places next season.

One foul throw too many?

No offence Ash but as supporters, we are always looking to those who aren’t playing to solve the issues of those who are.

Actually we are looking for those who are playing to play better than those who aren’t.

A side note but did anyone else notice Kane do his standard dangerous foul of backing in to a player going up for a header, essentially tipping that player so he lands flat on his back at best. Kane actually won a penalty doing this and never gets called for a foul. It really is only a matter of time before he causes a serious injury doing this. The way players fall after being tipped by him has dislocated shoulder, broken collar bone, concussions or neck injuries written all over it. I find it pathetic that refs in this country can never see such deliberate sneaky foul play, it stems from refs knowing the rules but not understanding an ounce of the game or what goes on in a players mind

It’s a tricky question but I think theres about 10 better sides in this league than us so if he finishes around 10th I’d suggest.

His success for next season will be determined by what happens off the pitch with recruitment rather than on it. This squad needs a complete rebuild and has only a handful of decent players

At the moment the Arsenal managers job is a greater poisoned chalice than the England managers job.

Thanks LTG. That was precisely the point I was making.

Comment number 6 on this page Rich #519726

It was called making a back in my playing days, and happened a lot.

Difference then was if you did it, you had to expect someone going through you from behind pretty shortly after.

Really concerned by 3 things with Arteta now
1. The line ups he’s picking. The same slow and out of form players
2. This new ‘crossing’ game plan - how many today and v wolves, it must be just about the least likely way for us to score a goal
3. Post match comments saying the team did everything he expected of them and effectively saying what we worked on we did. Such nonsense. Surely we knew how spurs would play it’s how Jose plays in every big game and we get caught twice by it.

It’s one thing not having good enough players but don’t compound it with the 3 things above