I'd say Bayern and PSG are better than us. Barca maybe our equals. On our day we could beat those 3 teams. But we could also go out against Sporting. So nothing special about being the best team in a cup competition until you've won it.
We're 9 points clear with what 7 games to go and we're panicking. This is what Arteta and years of collapse has brought us to. City would kill to be in our position and we're the one's terrified. For all the talk of the players being weak, it's simply obvious, they have no confidence on the current tactics. That's why hears drop when we concede, cuz it's a mountain to climb when we go behind as it's difficult to create clear cut chances. In the 23-24 season when City put on a better run than us, we didn't look his tepid and scared. That Villa game we lost, on a different day, they get slapped 4 nil before halftime, that's to say this utterly dross, pussy scared, gutless football we play is the reason we're this scared despite the advantage we have. Teams went from "let's put 11 men behind the ball" to "hold on lads, they're aren't as impenetrable as we thought.". Anyone who puts any player as the reason we're doing this bad is just an Arteta fanboy and not an arsenal fan, because the buck ultimately stops with him.
"That's why heads drop when we concede, cuz it's a mountain to climb when we go behind as it's difficult to create clear cut chances."
💯 true. And the worst part is it feels like we're getting found out with every game we play. Teams are creating chance all over the field against our defense and the coach doesn't seem to have the answer for this.
But it's the same old same old these last few years with the woeful football and the players being gassed that it's no surprise to see us shit the bed time and time again. I mean what do you expect to change when you don't change anything.
FYI that's not necessarily about changing the manager (which I absolutely would) but more about how he literally never changes his approach. Literally the style the approach to games and to players fitness and well-being never changes.
I agree Marko...we've all seen how Galaxy Brain doesn't change up any tactics or strategies. When Pep started the "non-press" of 4 up front...we were confused...when we play against a deep block we look ponderous (after 5+ years we still can't beat a deep block). The manager of Southampton had a plan...his team kept at it...and they scored. We didn't have a plan...we played slowly...side to side looking for a line splitting pass that didn't ever come. They were ready for us on the right side and we kept going there. We had several corners that we consistently played short...why?
I have hopes that we finish the league in 1st...but, the team's recent performances do not inspire confidence in that. We simply have to play faster and with more aggressive intent against EVERYONE. This slow buildup to start off games is a death knell. City played fast and aggressive against 'Pool and look what happened.
Winning is not a sometime thing...it's an ALL THE TIME THING. You don't do things right once in awhile...you do them right all the time.
We never should have bought madueke I honestly think we only signed him because he was from Chelsea and there is some dodgy stuff going on between arsenal and that club way too many signings from there that don't make sense.
We needed to sign a player who could compete with Saka and potentially replace him as we never can assume Saka will be the same player after his injuries. We know stuck with Saka whose been fucking gash all season and madueke who is such a waste.
Apparently we going in strong for gordan... He is shite ffs rather Bowen over Gordan and certainly a player like Rogers. Arteta has some shocking judgment in attacking players hence paying havertz 275k a week.
A good piece Pedro again but was it all down to planning, a lot of these guys are genuinely injured or in need of a rest, maybe the lineup was out of his hands?
Of course we want the big trophies but what if they'd come as a result of having won the final for instance, it was one game, and we'd be on a high, confidence is a hell of a drug.
You can compartmentalise it yourself but surely we win as a team and lose as a team? I'm pretty sure Declan, Saka and co will be miffed that they arent geting an FA Cup winners medal.
We'll take this losing which has become habit now with two on the bounce into the league and possibly champs league and we'll rue it.
If the plan was "we don't care about these cups" then why bother getting so far in the first place?
Why wait till a quarter final in which Gabrielle goes off injured to pretend we don't care about it.
Also with the players that don't play, why don't they play?, they're Arteta's players he's gone out and spent good money on them so if they're not good enough then that's on him and nobody else, they should have been used more up to this point and kept warm.
Not cold and devoid of any confidence.
He's transformed the club no doubt, but if he fails again at silverware I'm sorry but it's indefensible, looking at the league with a nine point gap and eight to play we need to get this done and I'm not giving up on the "never ending project" not yet, but at some point questions need to be asked about
why we have so many injuries again, and why are we falling apart at the business end of the season again.
Looking at the team they aren't screaming confidence, more like help.
The bottling started with the final loss. Now it's all "damage control". We've seen this script before and just for God sake this year is different. Win the PL and it's all forgiven. If not, another bottling year and Arteta have to go. Simple as that.
Some just don’t have the quality to deliver the Arteta system at its peak.
This made me smile because the system is woeful and at its peak is a decent corner kick put in on top of the goalkeeper...and that's it. Also be careful lads because suspensions are being dolled out of you shit talk the manager after yet another embarrassing bottling. It's just how it goes
That's how it is. Getting banned for speaking the truth. It's getting less interesting when we are pushed with the Arteta is the best narrative and binned if we don't agree it.
I'm being told how if City can attack all tournaments, we should be able as well.
I keep remembering how Klopp was with a shout for a quadruple in March 2024, his last season at Pool. The notion was how he was going to retire in an unbelievable season for Pool. In the following weeks, they completely unraveled and lost almost every game.
No club in England has the player resources of City.
Another notion how much money we've spent under Arteta - ~£950m in roughly 6 years.
£450m - the magical number City have spent since January 2025, which is roughly a year ago.
That's what they're paying to refresh their world class squad and replace some of their world class older players bought some years ago for mouthwatering fees on incredible contracts - such as the wage they are paying Haaland - £1,125,031-per-week a few years after he was bought for "75 million euros fee with 10m euros in add-ons for Borussia Dortmund, 40m euros a year in wages over the course of five years, 30m euros for Haaland's father, Alf-Inge, and 50m euros for the agency that the Norwegian represents, which was led by the late Mino Raiola.". A total of 350 million euro signing.
We've built from pretty much scratch. Respect the job being done behind the scenes. Don't forget we are fighting a fake, cheating super club, a financial juggernaut. Let's hope we get this one over the line but the expectations it was going to be a landslide or how we'll win triple and quadruples were not realistic.
If we win the coveted PL this season, we should start dreaming of achieving historic successes. This season, we're not ready. Winning the PL would represent one of the best seasons in the history of the club. Everything else would have been a bonus. Winning the CL would be unreal but in the form our best offensive players are, we're not even close. We were with a better shout last season in a much difficult path and a campaign ravaged by injuries.
Not to confuse the above with the fact we spent our a hard-earned record Arsenal transfer kitty badly. To become the club we're dreaming of, we have to be near flawless. 200m in fees for offensive players, spent in an average way in one summer is the opposite of what needs to happen. We were nearly flawless in our approach in the years before.
Arsenal have 8 listed injuries, City have 3. Always the same this part of the season, wish the club would have a proper and long awaited look into it , this goes back to Wengers days and Arteta is doing no better, if anything, maybe slightly worse https://www.premierinjuries.com/teams/arsenal
That's a horrendous list I don't expect eze back till mid may when he was just hitting amazing form.
Piero Hincapie Reyna has been quality and looks like he will miss the season.
Gabriel "felt something go in the knee" if that's the case then he probably missed the rest of season. Can't see us winning league without him he is way to important.. all the players who are coming back from injury have been shit aside from timber aka trossard and Saka
Yep, and it happens year after year. I know players have too many games and injuries are inevitable, but amazed this is allowed to happen with such frequency. Whether it’s the pitch, lack of rotation, poor training practices or whatever , it is proving costly in terms of winning trophies, and is allowing this false “ bottling it “ narrative to persist. These players aren’t bottle merchants, most are likely playing through the pain barrier
I had the podcast on in the car on the morning of the game. Couldn't believe what I was hearing. (Was Jacob and another guy who's name escapes me). The gist was that 'I don't mind throwing the FA Cup'....which immediately got my back up, only to be followed by 'it would be scary to face City in a semi-final, we don't need that'. GTFOH.
WTAF? I thought to myself I hope the Arsenal boys don't have this attitude later on! How weak is that whole entire thought process? Gives me the hump. It's never ever good losing. History of all the great sides will tell you that. The great sides find a way and they don't get 'scared'!
The truth is we haven't looked comfortable for a few month now. We almost do look scared of the glory ahead. This has to change from all involved, including the fans.
Fans being all, throw this, means nothing. Never.
I'm confident we can up our game but there are certainly no gimmes. Wake up or lose it all.
Unlike a few on here, I mostly endorsed the line-up yesterday, but only an idiot would have played Gabriel. What was wrong with a back four of Salmon, White, Mosquera and MLS to start?! Which player of the 11 who started was a certainty to play if fit on Tuesday- Gabriel. So either the manager plays a proper second string and NO certain starters for Sporting/ Bournemouth, or a full- strength 11, for this so called "massive trophy" called the FA Cup? But no, Arteta chickens out and plays his most dominant defender and surprise surprise, he pulls up injured- what idiocy. Sackable offence if this now kills our League bid. Let's be realistic, even if we get past Sporting, who would back us currently against any of the others? Even Barcelona's attack would crucify our defence in the next round. Also,with Martinelli finishing his match early Thursday am GMT in Brazil, what time did he get back- was he jet lagged? Why not play the crap Jesus on the wing and Harriman-Annous as striker? Martinelli is good in the CL, but I suppose the rubbish Tossard will start on Tuesday, a player with severe limitations who's done nothing for months. This manager has got most things wrong of late. Couldn't decide how to overcome City's "tactics" in the CC final, to fielding Gabriel yesterday- worth his £15m/ a year of course.
Here's a profound opinion on how our tactics are shit.
Would we win if Southampton's player of the match, Scienza, was playing for us? No
If our player of the match, Dowman, was playing for Southampton, would they win by a bigger margin? I think they'd score at least 4
I'd say Bayern and PSG are better than us. Barca maybe our equals. On our day we could beat those 3 teams. But we could also go out against Sporting. So nothing special about being the best team in a cup competition until you've won it.
We're 9 points clear with what 7 games to go and we're panicking. This is what Arteta and years of collapse has brought us to. City would kill to be in our position and we're the one's terrified. For all the talk of the players being weak, it's simply obvious, they have no confidence on the current tactics. That's why hears drop when we concede, cuz it's a mountain to climb when we go behind as it's difficult to create clear cut chances. In the 23-24 season when City put on a better run than us, we didn't look his tepid and scared. That Villa game we lost, on a different day, they get slapped 4 nil before halftime, that's to say this utterly dross, pussy scared, gutless football we play is the reason we're this scared despite the advantage we have. Teams went from "let's put 11 men behind the ball" to "hold on lads, they're aren't as impenetrable as we thought.". Anyone who puts any player as the reason we're doing this bad is just an Arteta fanboy and not an arsenal fan, because the buck ultimately stops with him.
"That's why heads drop when we concede, cuz it's a mountain to climb when we go behind as it's difficult to create clear cut chances."
💯 true. And the worst part is it feels like we're getting found out with every game we play. Teams are creating chance all over the field against our defense and the coach doesn't seem to have the answer for this.
Someone just wrote 'the team missed Merino'. The excuses keep piling up.
We missed no one for that match.
Only thing we missed was TACTICS....Period
Merino is never a starter as striker or in midfield, so that's hardly an excuse!
Touch grass
But it's the same old same old these last few years with the woeful football and the players being gassed that it's no surprise to see us shit the bed time and time again. I mean what do you expect to change when you don't change anything.
FYI that's not necessarily about changing the manager (which I absolutely would) but more about how he literally never changes his approach. Literally the style the approach to games and to players fitness and well-being never changes.
I agree Marko...we've all seen how Galaxy Brain doesn't change up any tactics or strategies. When Pep started the "non-press" of 4 up front...we were confused...when we play against a deep block we look ponderous (after 5+ years we still can't beat a deep block). The manager of Southampton had a plan...his team kept at it...and they scored. We didn't have a plan...we played slowly...side to side looking for a line splitting pass that didn't ever come. They were ready for us on the right side and we kept going there. We had several corners that we consistently played short...why?
I have hopes that we finish the league in 1st...but, the team's recent performances do not inspire confidence in that. We simply have to play faster and with more aggressive intent against EVERYONE. This slow buildup to start off games is a death knell. City played fast and aggressive against 'Pool and look what happened.
Winning is not a sometime thing...it's an ALL THE TIME THING. You don't do things right once in awhile...you do them right all the time.
We never should have bought madueke I honestly think we only signed him because he was from Chelsea and there is some dodgy stuff going on between arsenal and that club way too many signings from there that don't make sense.
We needed to sign a player who could compete with Saka and potentially replace him as we never can assume Saka will be the same player after his injuries. We know stuck with Saka whose been fucking gash all season and madueke who is such a waste.
He's crap. Virtually every time he beats his defender, the final pass, shot, cross goes nowhere.
Apparently we going in strong for gordan... He is shite ffs rather Bowen over Gordan and certainly a player like Rogers. Arteta has some shocking judgment in attacking players hence paying havertz 275k a week.
He’s barely an upgrade on Martinelli. Signing a player who works hard but has next to zero output is not the answer.
Just win me the league and all is forgiven.
No, he should win the league and fuck off
A good piece Pedro again but was it all down to planning, a lot of these guys are genuinely injured or in need of a rest, maybe the lineup was out of his hands?
Of course we want the big trophies but what if they'd come as a result of having won the final for instance, it was one game, and we'd be on a high, confidence is a hell of a drug.
You can compartmentalise it yourself but surely we win as a team and lose as a team? I'm pretty sure Declan, Saka and co will be miffed that they arent geting an FA Cup winners medal.
We'll take this losing which has become habit now with two on the bounce into the league and possibly champs league and we'll rue it.
If the plan was "we don't care about these cups" then why bother getting so far in the first place?
Why wait till a quarter final in which Gabrielle goes off injured to pretend we don't care about it.
Also with the players that don't play, why don't they play?, they're Arteta's players he's gone out and spent good money on them so if they're not good enough then that's on him and nobody else, they should have been used more up to this point and kept warm.
Not cold and devoid of any confidence.
He's transformed the club no doubt, but if he fails again at silverware I'm sorry but it's indefensible, looking at the league with a nine point gap and eight to play we need to get this done and I'm not giving up on the "never ending project" not yet, but at some point questions need to be asked about
why we have so many injuries again, and why are we falling apart at the business end of the season again.
Looking at the team they aren't screaming confidence, more like help.
The bottling started with the final loss. Now it's all "damage control". We've seen this script before and just for God sake this year is different. Win the PL and it's all forgiven. If not, another bottling year and Arteta have to go. Simple as that.
Some just don’t have the quality to deliver the Arteta system at its peak.
This made me smile because the system is woeful and at its peak is a decent corner kick put in on top of the goalkeeper...and that's it. Also be careful lads because suspensions are being dolled out of you shit talk the manager after yet another embarrassing bottling. It's just how it goes
Some just don’t have the quality to deliver the Arteta system at its peak.
The crap that we get fed is out of this world
That's how it is. Getting banned for speaking the truth. It's getting less interesting when we are pushed with the Arteta is the best narrative and binned if we don't agree it.
I'm being told how if City can attack all tournaments, we should be able as well.
I keep remembering how Klopp was with a shout for a quadruple in March 2024, his last season at Pool. The notion was how he was going to retire in an unbelievable season for Pool. In the following weeks, they completely unraveled and lost almost every game.
No club in England has the player resources of City.
Another notion how much money we've spent under Arteta - ~£950m in roughly 6 years.
£450m - the magical number City have spent since January 2025, which is roughly a year ago.
That's what they're paying to refresh their world class squad and replace some of their world class older players bought some years ago for mouthwatering fees on incredible contracts - such as the wage they are paying Haaland - £1,125,031-per-week a few years after he was bought for "75 million euros fee with 10m euros in add-ons for Borussia Dortmund, 40m euros a year in wages over the course of five years, 30m euros for Haaland's father, Alf-Inge, and 50m euros for the agency that the Norwegian represents, which was led by the late Mino Raiola.". A total of 350 million euro signing.
We've built from pretty much scratch. Respect the job being done behind the scenes. Don't forget we are fighting a fake, cheating super club, a financial juggernaut. Let's hope we get this one over the line but the expectations it was going to be a landslide or how we'll win triple and quadruples were not realistic.
If we win the coveted PL this season, we should start dreaming of achieving historic successes. This season, we're not ready. Winning the PL would represent one of the best seasons in the history of the club. Everything else would have been a bonus. Winning the CL would be unreal but in the form our best offensive players are, we're not even close. We were with a better shout last season in a much difficult path and a campaign ravaged by injuries.
Not to confuse the above with the fact we spent our a hard-earned record Arsenal transfer kitty badly. To become the club we're dreaming of, we have to be near flawless. 200m in fees for offensive players, spent in an average way in one summer is the opposite of what needs to happen. We were nearly flawless in our approach in the years before.
Arsenal have 8 listed injuries, City have 3. Always the same this part of the season, wish the club would have a proper and long awaited look into it , this goes back to Wengers days and Arteta is doing no better, if anything, maybe slightly worse https://www.premierinjuries.com/teams/arsenal
That's a horrendous list I don't expect eze back till mid may when he was just hitting amazing form.
Piero Hincapie Reyna has been quality and looks like he will miss the season.
Gabriel "felt something go in the knee" if that's the case then he probably missed the rest of season. Can't see us winning league without him he is way to important.. all the players who are coming back from injury have been shit aside from timber aka trossard and Saka
Yep, and it happens year after year. I know players have too many games and injuries are inevitable, but amazed this is allowed to happen with such frequency. Whether it’s the pitch, lack of rotation, poor training practices or whatever , it is proving costly in terms of winning trophies, and is allowing this false “ bottling it “ narrative to persist. These players aren’t bottle merchants, most are likely playing through the pain barrier
The best Champions League team is Bayern Munchen and PSG the Champions. Arsenal has to prove himself.
Arsenal is no where in top 5.
I had the podcast on in the car on the morning of the game. Couldn't believe what I was hearing. (Was Jacob and another guy who's name escapes me). The gist was that 'I don't mind throwing the FA Cup'....which immediately got my back up, only to be followed by 'it would be scary to face City in a semi-final, we don't need that'. GTFOH.
WTAF? I thought to myself I hope the Arsenal boys don't have this attitude later on! How weak is that whole entire thought process? Gives me the hump. It's never ever good losing. History of all the great sides will tell you that. The great sides find a way and they don't get 'scared'!
The truth is we haven't looked comfortable for a few month now. We almost do look scared of the glory ahead. This has to change from all involved, including the fans.
Fans being all, throw this, means nothing. Never.
I'm confident we can up our game but there are certainly no gimmes. Wake up or lose it all.
Winning breed winning.
Unlike a few on here, I mostly endorsed the line-up yesterday, but only an idiot would have played Gabriel. What was wrong with a back four of Salmon, White, Mosquera and MLS to start?! Which player of the 11 who started was a certainty to play if fit on Tuesday- Gabriel. So either the manager plays a proper second string and NO certain starters for Sporting/ Bournemouth, or a full- strength 11, for this so called "massive trophy" called the FA Cup? But no, Arteta chickens out and plays his most dominant defender and surprise surprise, he pulls up injured- what idiocy. Sackable offence if this now kills our League bid. Let's be realistic, even if we get past Sporting, who would back us currently against any of the others? Even Barcelona's attack would crucify our defence in the next round. Also,with Martinelli finishing his match early Thursday am GMT in Brazil, what time did he get back- was he jet lagged? Why not play the crap Jesus on the wing and Harriman-Annous as striker? Martinelli is good in the CL, but I suppose the rubbish Tossard will start on Tuesday, a player with severe limitations who's done nothing for months. This manager has got most things wrong of late. Couldn't decide how to overcome City's "tactics" in the CC final, to fielding Gabriel yesterday- worth his £15m/ a year of course.