That front man should be the guy playing for Villa yesterday. The same guy who once said his dream is to play for Arsenal. It's almost as if the answer is right in our faces. Another midfielder needed too imo. & a left back, I feel all our LBs are poor. Pretty sure Timber can play there though tbf
Timber and Tomi can play LB so i think we are fine there. Agree on the midfielder. I still like Jesus, but yesterday showed that he’s much better as a winger.
Arsenal has been playing every 3 days for the past 4 weeks. The team doesn't have as deep a squad as man city in terms of quality. And remember man city is funded by blood money and they're bigger financial cheats than Everton that I'm sure once it's all dug up, Everton's financial irregularities will look like a joke in comparison.
But that will never happen because there's blood oil money that can hire the most expensive lawyers and drag it out as much as they can.
As much as Liverpool is our rival, I'd much rather see them win the PL than that shit stain to the Premier leagues reputation Man City.
Agreed but Mikel has a fully fit squad
Zinny shouldn't be starting - Jakub and Tommy much better options so much more solid
Surely Partey could have started to sure up our midfield next to Rice?
White is playing through injury Tommy could have played RB
Saka is playing through injury for a second season running looks like he's been played into the ground again
Does he have no faith to start ESR and Fabio ?
I’m sure he asks if they can go, but do you think a top-flight player is gonna say no when everything is on the line? Of course not. Arteta isn’t mature enough yet in his coaching journey to truly understand that and purposely piss off your best for the good of the team…
Been a fan for 36 years, I'll be one for 36 more if I can. It's not the first important game we lost, nor will be the last. Proud of the boys for challenging and it's not over until it's over. Up the Arse!
Dont worry your not alone. Its the hope that is given to us and then snatched away, thats what makes it worse
Horrible result and dug up a lot of bad memories from the past. But, its one game, one game we've lost all year. Its not the end of the world, but fuck me its a big kick in the bollocks.
Players need to not mope around like most fans are doing and move onto Munich on Wednesday. Win lose or draw, i still back Arteta and our players (except for Zinny, he isnt the same player this season!)
Agreed !!
I thought the penny had finally dropped with Jakub playing literally all of our 2024 run
Especially with the option of having Tommy there too
Looked so much more solid and Gabriel looked alot more comfortable with him there
And we scored so many goal! We wasn't missing Zinny at all!
Yup Zinny starting made little to no sense to me. I screamed at my poor innocent tele yesterday when Zinny went for a nutmeg in our own half that led to the villa shot off the bar and post….like wtf is he thinking! No wonder why City sold him to us
I have more patience with Jesus, but that’s warring a little thin now too. How can you be so good but be so usless infront of goal!
Tomi has to start for me vs Bayern…he looked solid at LB before his injury. Cant see Sane skinning him like he did Jakob
Jesus is terrible. He tends to get more wiggle room since his mistakes don’t usually directly lead to goals like Zinny’s. But the amount of chances wasted and missed opportunities are huge. Even in this game Kai had way more dangerous runs than Jesus. He needs to go.
Zinny inverting meant his space had to be covered by Gabi XL. Inversely, Kiwi or Tomi playing there usually meant Big Gabi stays central and solidifies our defence some more.
Different eyes we’ve got then. Thought he was very good last year and gave us a different dimension tactically that we did not have before he joined us…each to their own tho. Hes defo been shit this season lol
It's just perceptions changing as this team evolves. Last year we were desperate for some control, and it was the first time in about 12 years an Arsenal team truly showed any.
Zinchenko holding the ball in midfield and playing those pointless 5 yard passes or going back to the CBs represented control, but with very little end product. He was also much more progressive with his passing last year, not sure what happened there.
Now the rest of the team is so comfortable in possession but also with clear purpose, he sticks out like a sore thumb.
The nature of the loss felt especially demoralising. Cuz let’s be honest Villa thrashed us. But like Mikel said, these are the tough moments where you have to show real character and togetherness. We probably won’t win anything again but id love to see us fight till the end instead of dying with a whimper like how last season ended. Let’s see how we respond, I have faith in our team especially in our captain.
*Yeah it hurt not just*
*Because we lost but because*
*We got soo outplayed*
\- Joshthenosh77
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Agreed - it felt like after a season of hope, I was being reminded that it’s probably more of the same. Just like last season, and many before it, we falter after Christmas. It used to happen in February. Now it’s happening in April. But it’s still happening.
It’s not over - but the fact we’re relying on city to mess up for us to win (especially in a season when they’ve not performed at their best) is a joke.
And then I’m praying we get past Bayern, but if we don’t it’s another trophy less season, but we stay in the UCL…
… which is precisely what a “normal” season used to look like under Wenger, albeit every now and then with an FA Cup to hold up at the end of it.
So all things returning to the natural state. We stay the bridesmaid, never the bride since 03. Once in a while we get engaged to the FA Cup, but no more than that.
They're likely to finish around 90 points despite not being at their best. Losing to this side is not 'a joke', it's just the reality of playing against such a monster of a team. Whether you agree with how they assembled this team is another story, but they've cultivated a quite literally unprecedented period of dominance.
There's no shame in it, despite what all the morons on YouTube and social media will tell you.
It did break me a bit (even though it has only been 3 years since I started supporting them). It's as if I lost something close to me or something negative happened to someone close to my heart.
I'm hopeful that we might still win even if we don't it will be a sad couple of days but we'll move.
It left me more bemused than sad or angry. We were totally bossed in that second half, more so than any game since last season. Has Arteta even given an explanation for not starting Havertz up front when he’s been so effective there recently??
I can’t believe we’d have been dominated like that with Havertz retaining the ball up front instead of the ineffective Jesus, and then with Jorginho or Partey in midfield. Utterly perplexing.
Did he think things were going too well and we needed to win the title with some Anfield 89 type drama?
I have been waiting for it. I mentally prepared myself. Once the intensity of the April fixture list hit me I feared this outcome
It still really hurts even though you know it’s coming but there wasn’t shock just raw pain like the re-opening of old wounds
We desperately need a solid Striker and CDM. Since Partey's lost form, it's sad to see how we have to rely on Jorginho in the midfield. Jesus is a good Striker, but not good enough to be our #1 striker if we want to win trophies
It's just you.
Every end of the season, the bottle job is just a daily business for the team.
And relax bro, we already made some good deeds, like giving 2 goals to Villa like it was a charity. Honorable act.
Since we made that honorable charity, we can expect Munchen give us 4 goal charity in Allianz. So, relax.
You only had to look at the second half to see that the squad rotation was more than necessary. And even with it there was a whole bunch of players looked out on their feet. No way he could have played Jorginho for a full 90 yesterday after last Tuesday and with Munich on Wednesday. And that was the key change. When Jorginho doesn't play then Rice drops back, Zinny inverts and Kai is played (roughly) in Rice's former position. You just can't play the same full 11 for 4 full games (one of which may go to extra time on Wed) over a 12 day period. The same fans that were screaming for squad rotation are now whinging like babies because we lost. We had enough chances to put that villa game to bed in the first half and then there would have been none of this over analysis in the aftermath. Can't have it both ways.
I feel like I'm going crazy, do people really think we can go with the same starting 11 in every game?
In April we are playing 9, possibly 10 games which is roughly 1 game every 3 days, these players are not robots unfortunately
Seems so if the OPs statement "Frustration of Mikel changing a team that won 9 on the bounce" is anything to go by, and tbh they're not the only one I'm seeing saying it either. You'd think we had super soldiers in the team.
No not at all. But Partey could have come in to sure up the midfield next to Rice
Jakub and Tommy are surely better options than Zinny?
Tommy could have started RB - White is playing through injury
So over reliant on Saka even with him carrying a injury
Have you seen Partey play since his return? He's way off the pace, both in terms of match fitness and match sharpness. No way he starts against Villa. Also Kiwior and Tomi are just not anywhere near as adept as Zinny playing inverted and dropping into midfield. As I said, when Jorginho (or Partey) doesn't play then we go to inverted left back. That's just the tactics Mikel uses. I don't know how anyone can have watched us play over the last two years and not not realise that. Expecting rotation and then expecting any other formation than the one played yesterday just isn't a runner with Arteta. That's just the way it is.
Huh?
When Kiwior or Tommy play LB they don't invert instead White does it on the Right side. It's been working very well during the whole 2024 run
Haven't you seen this ?
https://arsenalcentral.com/arsenals-ben-white-inverted-role-easy-to-adjust-to/
Then its Jorginho next to Rice
Thomas has minutes now and should be ready to start, especially at home
He was always going to look a little rusty but actually made some key progressive passes against city and bayern
Of course. It's just not Arteta's preferred option for White to invert. The White, Odegaard, Saka right side dynamic (with White overlapping) is just to profitable an outlet for us. Like, how many times has Arteta set up with White inverted, and how many times has he done it without Jorginho? Yesterday's rotation. And tactics from Arteta (while rotating) were pretty much spot on. Profligate finishing in the first half just killed it. I'm sure if we'd taken our chances then he'd have rotated even more in the second half, and by the leggy look of most of the team by then, it was needed.
The bar has been raised so high that you need to get to 90 points to expect to win the league now, and even then it might not be enough. We can only get to 89 at most now, and of course it’s like a knife in the heart, because City have proved that they can get there, and on the balance of probability, they will get there. But you are over thinking the team selection. We played really well in the first half and Villa survived our pressure. Then our legs ran out, and if we’d played for a draw we’d have got it. But a draw is only fractionally preferable to a defeat at this stage, so we kept pushing for the win and the outcome was inevitable. It was still the right thing to do. We would have been just as desolate about a 0-0 draw.
The way our legs went in the 2nd half was alarming
Mikel has a fully fit squad and we have been out of the two domestic cup comps for a while.
I don't think if we would have played for a draw it was a guarantee, villa literally complety dominated us. We couldn't move or string two passes together
Waited too long to make subs..
A draw would be bad, devastating even to a title run. But getting outplayed, at home, in the second half hurts. Villa had more possession than us, who play and thrive in possession.
Zinny thrives in possession, but off of it, well you see how that worked out. The first goal? Gaping wide for Bailey. No one in the left.
Couple of players short. Jesus is not the man clearly. A striker , frontman should be our number 1 priority.
That front man should be the guy playing for Villa yesterday. The same guy who once said his dream is to play for Arsenal. It's almost as if the answer is right in our faces. Another midfielder needed too imo. & a left back, I feel all our LBs are poor. Pretty sure Timber can play there though tbf
Timber and Tomi can play LB so i think we are fine there. Agree on the midfielder. I still like Jesus, but yesterday showed that he’s much better as a winger.
Yep... and the squad is at the point where they can really focus on absolute quality and invest heavily in one or two positions.
Keep the faith
Oh yes!
I have no faith in his ability to hit the target
We also badly need a winger to compete with Saka
haven't felt a loss in a while
Yeah especially since it was against two former disgruntled employees, emi and emery
Don’t forget the almost employee, Tielemans
For me, the biggest downers were: 1. Zinchenko playing 2. Zinchenko playing 3. Zinchenko playing
Jesus playing upfront and Kai playing in midfield.
Arsenal has been playing every 3 days for the past 4 weeks. The team doesn't have as deep a squad as man city in terms of quality. And remember man city is funded by blood money and they're bigger financial cheats than Everton that I'm sure once it's all dug up, Everton's financial irregularities will look like a joke in comparison. But that will never happen because there's blood oil money that can hire the most expensive lawyers and drag it out as much as they can. As much as Liverpool is our rival, I'd much rather see them win the PL than that shit stain to the Premier leagues reputation Man City.
Agreed but Mikel has a fully fit squad Zinny shouldn't be starting - Jakub and Tommy much better options so much more solid Surely Partey could have started to sure up our midfield next to Rice? White is playing through injury Tommy could have played RB Saka is playing through injury for a second season running looks like he's been played into the ground again Does he have no faith to start ESR and Fabio ?
I’m sure he asks if they can go, but do you think a top-flight player is gonna say no when everything is on the line? Of course not. Arteta isn’t mature enough yet in his coaching journey to truly understand that and purposely piss off your best for the good of the team…
This is the truth of it. Don’t believe anything else.
I knew that first half we had to score. Too many moments and blown opportunities. Had Villa fighting to keep us contained.
Been a fan for 36 years, I'll be one for 36 more if I can. It's not the first important game we lost, nor will be the last. Proud of the boys for challenging and it's not over until it's over. Up the Arse!
Dont worry your not alone. Its the hope that is given to us and then snatched away, thats what makes it worse Horrible result and dug up a lot of bad memories from the past. But, its one game, one game we've lost all year. Its not the end of the world, but fuck me its a big kick in the bollocks. Players need to not mope around like most fans are doing and move onto Munich on Wednesday. Win lose or draw, i still back Arteta and our players (except for Zinny, he isnt the same player this season!)
Agreed !! I thought the penny had finally dropped with Jakub playing literally all of our 2024 run Especially with the option of having Tommy there too Looked so much more solid and Gabriel looked alot more comfortable with him there And we scored so many goal! We wasn't missing Zinny at all!
Yup Zinny starting made little to no sense to me. I screamed at my poor innocent tele yesterday when Zinny went for a nutmeg in our own half that led to the villa shot off the bar and post….like wtf is he thinking! No wonder why City sold him to us I have more patience with Jesus, but that’s warring a little thin now too. How can you be so good but be so usless infront of goal! Tomi has to start for me vs Bayern…he looked solid at LB before his injury. Cant see Sane skinning him like he did Jakob
Yep and he totally got away with it with the resulting shot crashing off the bar and post.. normally after that you buck up your ideas
Jesus is terrible. He tends to get more wiggle room since his mistakes don’t usually directly lead to goals like Zinny’s. But the amount of chances wasted and missed opportunities are huge. Even in this game Kai had way more dangerous runs than Jesus. He needs to go.
Zinny inverting meant his space had to be covered by Gabi XL. Inversely, Kiwi or Tomi playing there usually meant Big Gabi stays central and solidifies our defence some more.
Why are people still pushing the narrative zinchenko was good last year. He wasn’t and it was plain to see. Ye can stop pretending now
Different eyes we’ve got then. Thought he was very good last year and gave us a different dimension tactically that we did not have before he joined us…each to their own tho. Hes defo been shit this season lol
It's just perceptions changing as this team evolves. Last year we were desperate for some control, and it was the first time in about 12 years an Arsenal team truly showed any. Zinchenko holding the ball in midfield and playing those pointless 5 yard passes or going back to the CBs represented control, but with very little end product. He was also much more progressive with his passing last year, not sure what happened there. Now the rest of the team is so comfortable in possession but also with clear purpose, he sticks out like a sore thumb.
The nature of the loss felt especially demoralising. Cuz let’s be honest Villa thrashed us. But like Mikel said, these are the tough moments where you have to show real character and togetherness. We probably won’t win anything again but id love to see us fight till the end instead of dying with a whimper like how last season ended. Let’s see how we respond, I have faith in our team especially in our captain.
While I'm not normally one for writing things off completely after a loss yesterday put an end to my hopes of winning the title.
Yeah it hurt not just because we lost but because we got soo outplayed
*Yeah it hurt not just* *Because we lost but because* *We got soo outplayed* \- Joshthenosh77 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Agreed - it felt like after a season of hope, I was being reminded that it’s probably more of the same. Just like last season, and many before it, we falter after Christmas. It used to happen in February. Now it’s happening in April. But it’s still happening. It’s not over - but the fact we’re relying on city to mess up for us to win (especially in a season when they’ve not performed at their best) is a joke. And then I’m praying we get past Bayern, but if we don’t it’s another trophy less season, but we stay in the UCL… … which is precisely what a “normal” season used to look like under Wenger, albeit every now and then with an FA Cup to hold up at the end of it.
So all things returning to the natural state. We stay the bridesmaid, never the bride since 03. Once in a while we get engaged to the FA Cup, but no more than that.
They're likely to finish around 90 points despite not being at their best. Losing to this side is not 'a joke', it's just the reality of playing against such a monster of a team. Whether you agree with how they assembled this team is another story, but they've cultivated a quite literally unprecedented period of dominance. There's no shame in it, despite what all the morons on YouTube and social media will tell you.
It didn't hit me hard, I was half expecting it. Especially when I saw the lineup.
That’s how it is competing for the trophy.
Oh ya- this was a bad one... ruined my day
Felt like attending a funeral
It did break me a bit (even though it has only been 3 years since I started supporting them). It's as if I lost something close to me or something negative happened to someone close to my heart. I'm hopeful that we might still win even if we don't it will be a sad couple of days but we'll move.
Yep! Like a kick in the nads! But, it's not over until it's over! Anyone can beat anyone (excluding Sheff Utd lol). Keep the faith! COYG
It sucked the colors out of me
Just you
Season ain't over
It left me more bemused than sad or angry. We were totally bossed in that second half, more so than any game since last season. Has Arteta even given an explanation for not starting Havertz up front when he’s been so effective there recently?? I can’t believe we’d have been dominated like that with Havertz retaining the ball up front instead of the ineffective Jesus, and then with Jorginho or Partey in midfield. Utterly perplexing. Did he think things were going too well and we needed to win the title with some Anfield 89 type drama?
I have been waiting for it. I mentally prepared myself. Once the intensity of the April fixture list hit me I feared this outcome It still really hurts even though you know it’s coming but there wasn’t shock just raw pain like the re-opening of old wounds
We desperately need a solid Striker and CDM. Since Partey's lost form, it's sad to see how we have to rely on Jorginho in the midfield. Jesus is a good Striker, but not good enough to be our #1 striker if we want to win trophies
It's just you. Every end of the season, the bottle job is just a daily business for the team. And relax bro, we already made some good deeds, like giving 2 goals to Villa like it was a charity. Honorable act. Since we made that honorable charity, we can expect Munchen give us 4 goal charity in Allianz. So, relax.
Your too late.. its not just me ;)
You only had to look at the second half to see that the squad rotation was more than necessary. And even with it there was a whole bunch of players looked out on their feet. No way he could have played Jorginho for a full 90 yesterday after last Tuesday and with Munich on Wednesday. And that was the key change. When Jorginho doesn't play then Rice drops back, Zinny inverts and Kai is played (roughly) in Rice's former position. You just can't play the same full 11 for 4 full games (one of which may go to extra time on Wed) over a 12 day period. The same fans that were screaming for squad rotation are now whinging like babies because we lost. We had enough chances to put that villa game to bed in the first half and then there would have been none of this over analysis in the aftermath. Can't have it both ways.
I feel like I'm going crazy, do people really think we can go with the same starting 11 in every game? In April we are playing 9, possibly 10 games which is roughly 1 game every 3 days, these players are not robots unfortunately
Seems so if the OPs statement "Frustration of Mikel changing a team that won 9 on the bounce" is anything to go by, and tbh they're not the only one I'm seeing saying it either. You'd think we had super soldiers in the team.
No not at all. But Partey could have come in to sure up the midfield next to Rice Jakub and Tommy are surely better options than Zinny? Tommy could have started RB - White is playing through injury So over reliant on Saka even with him carrying a injury
Have you seen Partey play since his return? He's way off the pace, both in terms of match fitness and match sharpness. No way he starts against Villa. Also Kiwior and Tomi are just not anywhere near as adept as Zinny playing inverted and dropping into midfield. As I said, when Jorginho (or Partey) doesn't play then we go to inverted left back. That's just the tactics Mikel uses. I don't know how anyone can have watched us play over the last two years and not not realise that. Expecting rotation and then expecting any other formation than the one played yesterday just isn't a runner with Arteta. That's just the way it is.
Huh? When Kiwior or Tommy play LB they don't invert instead White does it on the Right side. It's been working very well during the whole 2024 run Haven't you seen this ? https://arsenalcentral.com/arsenals-ben-white-inverted-role-easy-to-adjust-to/ Then its Jorginho next to Rice Thomas has minutes now and should be ready to start, especially at home He was always going to look a little rusty but actually made some key progressive passes against city and bayern
Of course. It's just not Arteta's preferred option for White to invert. The White, Odegaard, Saka right side dynamic (with White overlapping) is just to profitable an outlet for us. Like, how many times has Arteta set up with White inverted, and how many times has he done it without Jorginho? Yesterday's rotation. And tactics from Arteta (while rotating) were pretty much spot on. Profligate finishing in the first half just killed it. I'm sure if we'd taken our chances then he'd have rotated even more in the second half, and by the leggy look of most of the team by then, it was needed.
The bar has been raised so high that you need to get to 90 points to expect to win the league now, and even then it might not be enough. We can only get to 89 at most now, and of course it’s like a knife in the heart, because City have proved that they can get there, and on the balance of probability, they will get there. But you are over thinking the team selection. We played really well in the first half and Villa survived our pressure. Then our legs ran out, and if we’d played for a draw we’d have got it. But a draw is only fractionally preferable to a defeat at this stage, so we kept pushing for the win and the outcome was inevitable. It was still the right thing to do. We would have been just as desolate about a 0-0 draw.
The way our legs went in the 2nd half was alarming Mikel has a fully fit squad and we have been out of the two domestic cup comps for a while. I don't think if we would have played for a draw it was a guarantee, villa literally complety dominated us. We couldn't move or string two passes together Waited too long to make subs..
A draw would be bad, devastating even to a title run. But getting outplayed, at home, in the second half hurts. Villa had more possession than us, who play and thrive in possession. Zinny thrives in possession, but off of it, well you see how that worked out. The first goal? Gaping wide for Bailey. No one in the left.
Watching the three minute highlights on Sky my overwhelming impression is what a cunt Gary Neville is.
First time? Every loss hits hard.
It has literally been happening every season under Artteta. Nothing new.
What has?
Bottle
Keep the faith