We all know Arsenal have big problems from the ownership down to the players, and it seems unreasonable to expect any manager to build a winning Arsenal team with such chronic restrictions. However, despite last night's set back, I think Arteta has done a decent job under such conditions and in very little time. I think last night was our 4th game in 10 days so perhaps it wasn't surprising the display wasn't dynamic, and we opted to play within ourselves. We hoped to keep Olympiacos safely at arms length but also knowing we had enough attacking quality on the pitch to score ourselves. Unfortunately, our much improved defensive displays under Arteta have creaked in the last two games. Bellerin doesn't look match fit, Saka isn't quite as sharp, and Luiz is great with the ball at his feet but not as great defending. At least we have the promising Saliba coming next season. Also, our midfield seemed unable to break down their well organised defence and we resorted to passing back and forth and back and forth and back and forth hoping for a gap to magically materialise. Unfortunately, our £350k/pw assist maker no longer creates assists with any regularity, and despite his overall improvement under Arteta, I think he needs to be replaced next season. Ceballos for all his talent was quite sloppy in possession and on current form doesn't merit a permanent deal. Xhaka despite well documented flaws will probably stay as managers seem to like his determination. Anyway, my original point was that Arteta is doing okay, and despite the calamity of last night's loss, there has been an upwards trajectory. Lets see if Arteta can maintain it.

I'd happily rip it all up and turn over 15 first team players but it just isn't feasible.
My point on someone like Luiz was that there may be a lot of players who are better, but at the price we can Sell Luiz for? Brighton were asking £50m for Lewis Dunk.
I have no idea what our summer budget is but I can't imagine it is a lot. There are areas of the team we need to prioritise. CB and CM have been problem areas for years and they still are.......but the issue now is we've let other areas become critical. Creative midfield is really lacking and we have 2 big name strikers who aren't singing a new deal so we must sell them and replace them.
I don't know how we churn 15 players on a budget of £50-60m which is why I think reluctantly we will be forced to keep some of them unless we can unearth a gem for a bargain price!

Well Mertens is certainly better than Lacazette at the moment. and if you can raise £40m selling Lacazette, replace him with a short term solution and use the money to better balance the team then these are the creative ways we have to think in the market.

We are not going to be able to spend our way out of this mess, we're also not going to be able to pick up 7 or 7 Martinelli's each transfer window.

Lallala/Gotze over Özil? I'm not saying go and sign all these players, we obviously want better but we need to be realistic and in order to get rid of players who have consistently underperformed and to enable us to spend money on quality where we need it we may need a few stop gap players

Probably the worst managed game so far under Arteta in one of the most winnable positions to be in. Everyone is allowed that, Pep, Klopp, all have had badly managed games.

I trust Arteta to make adjustments.

Massively disappointing.
Dashed hopes yet again.

I don't like losing. Not at all. And I like a good moan when we do.

However I do not give the arse of a rat about the poxy Europa Cup, and I never have. I rate it lower than the League Cup, whatever that's called this week. In my view it is a pointless waste of time and energy.

Personally, I am quite content that we're out of it.

Wow DHD! Haha...Really?!. I'm sure you rated it when it was the old cup winners cup. But I am going to take your reaction as being upset about losing to a side we should have easily managed. So, all is forgiven.

The league cup is something I see no use for. It's a great way for lower table sides to get into Europe, get a trophy and make some money playing EPL sides, making some money while at it. But it never really interested me other than the fact Wenger never won it and I wanted that (and the CL) on his CV and for me to experience as a fan. You all experienced league cup wins except me.

With us out of it, it helps us in terms of scheduling. Mentally, it remains to be seen if we will brush it off or carry the loss with us into the next few matches.

We have a problem in the middle of the pitch. We can't get the right combination of players to have an effective midfield. The back line isn't much better but it has improved under Arteta. I was willing to sacrifice some scoring for a better team defense but we aren't doing a lot of either. The defense has improved. We have had shut outs and that is something we didn't see much of prior to Arteta. It's still early in his managerial career but its still frustrating.

We don't have much confidence going forward at times. Passing it sideways, slow build ups. The opposition can easily read a couple passes ahead. Other than individual skill like Pépé or Saka to make space and disrupt the defense, we don't do much as a team in attack.

Another aspect of frustration last night was the absolutely woeful shooting from any sort of long range. I can see why we don’t do it that often if it’s like that. It is a valid tactic against packed defences, it forces the defence/gk to do something rather than just constantly shuffle sideways and never have to engage with us.
Last night Xhaka, Pépé and lacazette all hit wild, really wild shots, I mean 20 yards high and wide. Compare our shooting accuracy to some other top players in the league, how often do you see the following make the gk make a save: Kane, son, salah, Mané, aguero, de Bruyne, Vardy.

Lampard made a living of hitting it hard and accurate and getting deflections for goals.

I can’t think of a single player in our team who I trust to hit the target with power regularly from outside the box. To not have a central midfielder capable of striking the ball from long range is awful. Xhaka is wild, torriera accurate but weak, Guendouzi never tries, Özil haha compare this to Henderson, Fernandinho, Rodri, McTominay!

Central midfield needs a complete shake up, pace and power need to be top of the list but some form of decent shooting is a must.

That’s fine I don’t like the competition either but it just feels a bit naff. We’re losing to Olympiakos now.

We have regressed so much under the American ownership. United as well, I couldn’t believe their starting line up the other night.

I'd love to see an all XI of players who 'almost came' to Arsenal. We'd be good enough to win the World Cup.
https://www.teamtalk.com/news/david-vil ... enger-snub

...to piggy back on Lampard hitting it hard from distance and making a living of it. Gerrard as well. Even Scholes made a few doing it.

No it wasn't. It was the UEFA Cup and before that the Fairs Cup. Happy to help.

I heard or read somewhere that Olympiakos had lost 10/11 of their last away European matches. Always happy to help other clubs improve their records. A day later it doesn’t seem to be any more excusable as to our lack of endeavour.

11 games to go in the EPL. 7 very winnable games in amongst a couple of hard ones.

So what do people consider an appropriate return, that would suggest we are improving?

Hi gooner,

Totally agree with this. Tentative is the perfect word. Our central midfield never get any goals, they rarely shoot and when they do it is usually into Row Z. How many killer passes do they ever hit? Their passing is mostly short and sideways and slows the play right down.

I realise that goalscoring central midfielders are a scarce commodity but if they don't contribute at all it outs a huge burden on our attacking players to get goals.

People tell me that Xhaka has improved under Arteta, well maybe he has but it is from a low base and he is still not mobile enough for a club with aspirations to be a force again. Torreira is tenacious but seemingly too small and lightweight for the PL. Guendouzi has ability and potential but is very one paced, takes the easy option far too often and has very little defensive awareness. Willock has a great engine and is very box-to-box which allows him to get into goalscoring positions but needs to work on his passing and decision-making.

All-in-all, our central midfield lacks creativity, goals, pace and power.

The real problem is Özil, though. Having a luxury no 10 (who doesn't produce goals and assists and too often passes sideways) puts the other two midfielders and by extension the defense under pressure.

That sounds terrible! At least (judging from your reporting) John's virtue remains intact.

did he really say that? Gawd!

I don’t see seven as particularly easy to win. My prediction is five wins, two draws and four defeats, as follows:

West Ham H - 3 points
Brighton A - 3 points
Southampton A - 1 point
Norwich H - 3 points
Wolverhampton A - 0 points
Manchester City A - 0 points
Leicester H - 1 point
Tottenham A - 0 points
Liverpool H - 0 points
Aston Villa A - 3 points
Watford H -3 points

Whether seventeen points from eleven games represents an appropriate return is debatable. Also, my predictions won’t all be right. But I don’t see Southampton away and Leicester home as very winnable if they are part of your seven.

Given what we’ve seen so far this season I’d say that is pretty accurate prediction.
Optimistic would say win v Leicester, win v saints, draws away to wolves and spurs
Pessimistic would say draw away to Brighton, draw away to villa and drop a silly draw at home to either West Ham, watford or Norwich

I've got no confidence of us winning a game home or away, how many points we will get in the run-in is anybody's guess.

I don't think we are good enough to put a big run together and goodness knows what will happen if Aubameyang gets injured or his goals dry up.

I'd be inclined to give the kids some games in the run-in but I guess that while there is still a chance of top four we can't afford to do that. Plus not finishing in a Europa spot would cost us millions as well, however much we deride the tournament.

The club feels broken and I think many fans do to.

It's early days in Arteta's reign but already I am seeing things that just unnerve me a little bit, some of his team selections and especially his substitutions have been questionable (the choices and timing).

Does Bellerin really deserve to start ahead of AMN, I think that one crucial goal apart he's been pretty awful and looks either unfit or has lost some pace after his injury (hopefully the former). Not that AMN is in any way a great RB.

Does Özil really deserve to start given his lack of goals and assists and the fact that he tends to occupy the same space as Pépé.

Let's get real, Arteta may have been a great coach at City but how many great coaches have made great managers? It's a whole different ball game, excuse the pun.

Despite my unease I won't begin to really judge him until I see what he does in the summer and in the 1st half of next season. By then we should get a feel for his managerial capabilities.

I think you’re optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints make sense. But another thing that has to be remembered is that on paper our easiest games are against West Ham, Brighton, Norwich, Aston Villa and Watford.

But they’re all likely to be fighting relegation (unless Villa and Watford have gone before we play them). So as an overall group, why they represent some of the worst teams in the league (I would add Bournemouth to that list but we don’t have to play them again), they’re probably not going to roll over and let us beat them.

I think on Arteta he’s in for a bit of a hiding. He’s doing a good job but the only way we get out of the mess we are in is through business not coaching. We have far too many average players on big deals we can’t shift. I just think it’s a very average looking team right now. Arteta kind of needs the help of the board and owner to restructure,

On Bellerin I’d say I don’t think both he and Holding have looked right since they came back from their cruciate injuries.Neither looks mobile at all. We need a new right back so we can rotate a bit and provide competition.

Right now it just feels like we are so adrift and our decline is obvious.

Palace with a good away win. For those Londoners who were around in the '70s, and had some knowledge of Palace, it's been said today's opposition, Brighton and Hove were their biggest rivals in the mid 70s in the lower divisions. I wonder if they still are seen as a rival? Despite not being a local derby.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/arsenal-po ... 06462.html
Arsenal posts loss as Champions League absence felt

Darn it, just switched to the Chelsea match and they scored. Hoping Bournemouth comes back.

If we're going to do anything in the league then the next few games are critical, especially considering the other fixtures. Going to be lots of dropped points, we have to take advantage.
No game for us this week but it is,
Everton v Man U
Spurs v Wolves
a pair of draws would be nice

March 7
Arsenal v West Ham
Chelsea v Everton
Man U v City
Burnley v Spurs

March 14
Brighton v Arsenal
Spurs v Man U

March 21
Southampton v Arsenal
Chelsea v Man City
Man U v Sheff utd

Who is Liverpool playing? haha

The AG lucky charm continues for Bournemouth Good equalizer.

Except that is a fairly ridiculous view to hold given the winner of the Europa League qualifies or the CL so it is patently higher than the League Cup.

Looking at Liverpool and seeing what they do with the ball in the same area we have it in the oppositions third with generally players dispersed approximately in the same areas, they don't make more than 3 or 4 passes sideways before they try to get into the box or take a shot from distance.

C'mon Watford, keep tit 0-0 for the half.

I'm watching an NBC SN advert on the EPL and they show clips over the years and the then 16 year old Wayne Rooney's winner against us. I've been a fan long enough to now to have watched players from their earliest days through the end of their careers. Only the American sports afforded me that.

Rooney was destined to be a great player but I wonder how it would have worked out if he hadn't had made that goal. I still remember it very well. Still hurts to see it.

I can't bare to watch the Watford v Liverpool game. I'm so nervous.

Come to think of it, Wenger is probably as nervous as I am. It's his marquee accomplishment as well.

Every time I change the channel because I can't bare to watch, Watford scores.

90th minute, 3-0 up, 4 minutes stoppage and I'm still nervous.

I will toot my own horn. I did say if Liverpool lost it would be a lower half of the table side away from home where they over look and would be a 0-0 game where they get scored on later in the game and get countered.

If I were Klopp, I'd tell them they are fantastic. That for them to go this long without a loss or a draw is more than he or they could have ever imagined. To keep their heads up held up high. That he is not angry or upset. In fact, the loss should liberate them.

And the LFC away fans should applaud them off the pitch. Not for the loss but how much they have achieved.