Horrible wasn’t it?

And as I type Martinez bails us out yet again.

Very, very disappointing

Yup. Should have been in control at 1-0. Looked in control at 1-1. Cocked it up.

moved the ball well until the final third then a distinct lack of creativity

Mustafi made one mistake not long before the second spurs goal and since then has absolutely fallen apart. Shambles of a player.

Still could be 3 -1 yet

Our man of the match imo: Martinez

3 points lost there.

45% of our goals conceded have been from set-pieces. That is crazy.

Seriously, sorting out defending set-pieces should be one of the easiest ways to shore up a team, you're totally in control of your own set up. Sort that out and cut out the shoot yourself in the foot type errors - obviously every goal can be put down to defensive errors but I mean the ones like Kolasinac today - and you have ateam that wipes 20 goals of the goals against column

There are still some positive signs though that it’s slowly coming together.

Keep the faith.

(We should all be very good at clinging to faith by now; we’ve had plenty of practice over the past few years)

That's the worst Tottenham performance that has managed to beat us since I can remember.

Quite happy for Mourinho to stay with them, he will get results out of the hat today but with better teams than us who are more clinical, more professional, more concentrated and more creative he's losing 9 times out of 10

No Wenger now. No Emery now. But the club of the once mighty Invincibles are still the Invertebrates!

What a sad, pathetic imitation of a top club Arsenal have become. Good luck to Aubamayang, whichever club he signs for. It won't even bother me now if he does a Van Persie and stays in London or Manchester.

Roll up, roll up......come and see the greatest clown show on earth.

another 3 points.

Far too often we've gifted away games we should have won. late equalisers at home or games we're in control of being turned around away from home.

The lack of leaders on the pitch and the lack of accountability stemming from Wenger's days still hurting.

I really hope, and I do think, that Arteta will identify those players making those mistakes and lack of concentration and ensure they don't have along term future. Feels like his hands are tied somewhat at the moment.

They were there for the taking, Rich.

I felt very uncomfortable before the game the way we were being made favourites and people being a downer on spurs.
Knew it would be sods law and we would *%^@*** lose the match!!
Mourinho *%^@*** does us again

Sorry for sounding like socrates but Bellerin has lost so much pace it’s frightening. Heard a rumour that Seville want him. Sounds his level now he’s so slow, for a full back anyway. If true I can see it happening to get some money in.

Seville are probably a step-up from us.

Or two.

Arteta said:

"If we minimise the mistakes we do and keep playing like that, we will win many, many football games."

I think that’s correct.

Now where’s that straw.........

I think there are positives from today. We were in control for the majority of the game. There is a growing decisiveness in the team play as Arteta's coaching is having an impact. The gaping holes through midfield are gone and Ceballos & Zhaka are developing a good partnership.

Obviously, Kolasinac's error was a brutal one. I can't see him being with us next season. Mustafi has been very good of late and played well for 60mins before going to pieces. Hard to know what to do with him.

I won't mind at all if we miss out on Europe. It might help us a lot in the league.

You could say the same for so many of our squad. If a decent offer came in you'd happily sell 75% of them I reckon.
On the basis that we are probably in a break even requirement in our finances for transfers this summer I can't see Bellerin being one of those sold unless Sevilla go for £30m+. If we sold him we'd have to replace him in a position that doesn't actually need surgery as much as other areas.

Arteta has got us more controlled, solid and less wide open in normal play. That is 1 out of 3. Silly mistakes is only in his control in the sense that he picks the team, the 3rd aspect is those blasted set pieces.

Going forward the change to make us more solid defensively has affected what happens up top. Arteta saw it necessary to go with 3 at the back because none of our CB can be trusted to perform in a 2. What that means in terms of goals and assists is we're basically relying on just 3 players. Xhaka and Ceballos maybe chip in with 2 a year, the wing backs are not exactly Robertson and Trent racking up assists.

The long terms plan has to be to get back to a back 4, find a better balance in midfield adding more creativity and runs beyond the strikers and also getting a front 3 who all contribute goals and assists in the way Liverpool, City and now Man U do.

Kolasinac has never been good defensively, either technically or positionally. He's only ever really looked good as a marauding wingback.

I think Arteta needs time and whilst I have some reservations he must be given at least a proper transfer window to change things. Now if he starts giving the likes of Mustafi a new contract (except in order to preserve some transfer value) then I will start to have real concerns.

Mustafi is not, and never will be, the answer. Ditto David Luiz and Kolasinac. None of them are at the level required.

Oh yeah, St. Totteringham's Day. What a comedy. NL is white.

Could be the 4th year in a row the finish above us, starting to make up ground on the 21 consecutive years we finished above them before that

Late goals are killing us as well at the moment. It was evident when Arteta first took over that he was asking a lot more in training and matches than players had been used to and they were out on their feet after 70 minutes. It is absolutely the right thing to have done because how can we expect to compete with the best when the fitness levels were so poor.
One of the early games was Chelsea at home when they came back in the last 15, sheff utd equalised in the last 10, brighton won it in the last minute, leicester equalised with 6 to play and spurs won it in the last 10 today. Cut out those late goals in those games only and it is 9 extra points

I actually think there are some green shoots. Arteta has given us a pattern of play that we can get behind. He’s improved a few players and we are generally conceding fewer goals. The obvious flaws are only resolved with personnel changes. Whilst our defence is an obvious area for improvement, the lack of goals from midfield is also killing us. We used to have Ramsey, Santi, Rosicky, Cesc etc who would always contribute goals. We have no one who can chip in regularly. Wenger had the defensive side all at sea but with goals from midfield and up top we still managed to get top four each year. If Arteta can add some goals to midfield and tighten us defensively then, whilst the title is still a long way off, top four isn’t. There is huge scope for improvement but this is the first, early days of something I feel quite positive about in the long term. He needs to cull the deadwood but with a tiny budget it’s going to be a challenge. But I think there should be some cause for optimism looking at the bigger picture.

At the end of the day your just not getting anywhere with the defenders we have.

Bellerin, Mustafi, kolasinac and Luiz ? Just no chance.

Feel sorry for Mikel who is doing his best. He needs a energetic midfielder with a range of passing but also needs several new defenders,only Tierney fits the bill.

You are right, TG.

The defenders we have, par perhaps Tierney are not at the level required.

I'd maybe give Bellerin a little more time to see if he gain recapture some of that speed he appears to have lost since his injury, but let's be brutally honest he's always been a converted winger and never been a great defender. If a big bid came in I'd take it.

I'd also keep Holding because I think he, like Bellerin, is still working his way back to full fitness. Could be a useful back-up.

Luiz should be gone but obviously he won't be. Kola is never going to be anything other than but an athletic powerful wingback with limited technical ability and no defensive nous.

Ceballos is beginning to look decent but I wouldn't want to be breaking the bank to sign him. £20-25m maybe, anymore and its too high a gamble if we have limited resources because we need at least one other topclass midfielder.

I'd like to see Edu pull some Brazilian rabbits out of the hat. Surely, there are some outstanding young kids coming through who we could perhaps get.

Make no mistake, though, without any form of european football we are not a great attraction for any of europe's elite players.

Platitudes like this really annoy me. Why didn't he finish with another profound statement like íf you score more goals than the opposition you will win games'. This is his responsibility. He kept Luiz on and has always gone back to the old (failed) defence. If he wants Guendouzi to apologise he should be doing the same.

As soon as this team are faced with any quality team or put under pressure they fold. What is even worse is that Spurs are pretty woeful. What does it say about Arteta.

Total waste of a great Lacazette goal. Amy Lawrence on the Arseblog was asked about next year and settling Saliba in. She said, correctly in my opinion, there was not one CB at Arsenal who was good enough to teach him and mentor him. Arteta with the continued use of the old defence is not improving the team. He has no excuses at all. It looks like he is not the messiah , as so many on here claim, but just a manager who is not good enough.

Tierney really. Totally outplayed at Man City, taken apart and subded against Wolves, no really good crosses etc. Then was he the person who failed to jump on Spurs second goal. Thats what the comms said. Saka should have played.

Who should Arteta be picking to play in defence for us? He joined in Dec, managed to scrape a couple of loans in defence in the jan window, 1 has a serious injury the other has played only a few minutes of football since January.
Arteta picks them because he has no other options.
Are you suggesting he plays a couple of CB from the youth team?

Defense. Defense. Defense.
We lack team defense while leading. The silly mistakes, are often part of drilling. Muscle memory. The famous backline were drilled to death. Then even after they have pretty much mastered their craft, they had to face some of the best attackers in the world in Bergkamp, Henry, Pires, Anelka, Overmars. Players at a skill level they wouldn't have normally seen unless they were in European competition.

Who we have working on defense, needs to either be replaced or get help. Even before we scored, Tottenham should have been a goal up. They scored so easily and quickly after we scored has to be disconcerting. Luiz is...gulp...looking worse than Mustafi. That takes some effort.

Kola regressed as a player for us. I suspect the Özil factor has an effect. He passes back more than forward. Slows us down in our attacks. That back pass was horrible.

And Luiz is also not someone we can count on. Trying to play with panache, but end up losing the ball and making panic tackles. Too casual in his play.

Mustafi, hot and cold. His second half display was very poor.

How long do we need to work on our ever-shaky defence? Please make best use of Saliba next season. Please do not let Luiz be our key centre defence plan.

I feel he is no longer committed to this team. Doesn't bust a gut for the team.

So fix the people who keep making similar mistakes. Drop them for good. Allow the youngsters to get their game.

Who should Arteta be picking to play in defence for us? He joined in Dec, managed to scrape a couple of loans in defence in the jan window, 1 has a serious injury the other has played only a few minutes of football since January.
Arteta picks them because he has no other options.
Are you suggesting he plays a couple of CB from the youth team?[/quote]
Either Holding is the real deal or not. Play him and find out. Not pay Luiz for another year. If Holding is not good enough then we will have to buy. But by keeping Luiz we wait another year to find out. We were told Tierney was also a CB having played in a back 3 for Scotland. It seems he may not even be a FB because Arteta does not trust him there. Hows that for a couple of suggestions.

But he has hardly been marauding when he had the chance, he almost always prefers to pass back. Very irritating for the forwards who were moving into attacking positions. Arteta needs to sort this out.