On a wet night in North London Arteta made eight changes from the starting eleven that appeared at Goodison on Saturday.
As ever we debated whether it was four or five at the back but as one of those was Kolasinac our optimism was muted. It started as a five.
While Martinelli started he was accompanied by Lacazette whose form has been so poor of late and ESR started on the bench. Citeh rested De Bruyne and Aguero and Sterling started on the bench but their team was still formidable opposition for a team in Arsenal’s current position.
I had not realised until this morning that this was a home game but so marked had been our struggles at home that given the lack of supporters this was scarcely an advantage. We began the game with Arteta unbeaten in eight domestic Cup matches.
Within two minutes in City’s first attack a Zinchenko cross was headed in by Jesus as Rúnarsson went for the cross like an amateur. Just the start we wanted. Awful defending in almost every respect. Mustafi stood like an ugly German statue.
Arsenal 0 Man City 1
Fernandinho then whistled a shot past Rúnarsson and thankfully it deflected wide with Rúnarsson beaten. Things were already looking decidedly ominous. To think we brought Rúnarsson in to replace Emi Martinez! What if Leno suffers a long-term injury?
We forced our first corner on twelve minutes. Lacazette sent a header over from Ceballos’s cross. How much we needed a lift! City were looking completely untroubled in possession. It was so like the league meeting just over a year ago. Arteta was brought in after that to bridge the chasm between the sides.
Martinelli’s enthusiasm caused a slight stir in the City area on 18 minutes but they forced it clear. Steffen then fielded a Martinelli cross under little pressure. With Lacazette drawn into midfield who would get on the end of these type of crosses?
City purred through the gears to force a corner which Laporte almost headed in although surrounded by three Arsenal defenders. Elneny then copped a deserved yellow after bringing down Jesus on the edge of the box. The wall thankfully blocked the Mahrez shot. In the twenty- fifth minute Jesus turned Mustafi and got the German another inevitable yellow card. Just after this Rúnarsson flew out of his goal, stopped, and forced Ceballos to concede a free kick to stop Mahrez lobbing into an empty net. The ex-Dijon reserve keeper was winning few friends in this one-sided first half.
Fernandinho was lucky to escape censure for a slap on Ceballos in our penalty area. Where is VAR when you need it?
Then on 31 minutes a concerted piece of wing play by Martinelli saw him cross to Lacazette and to everyone’s astonishment he headed us level. Martinelli was almost playing City on his own. Was this Liverpool last season at home reprised?
Arsenal 1 Man City 1
We began to play and began to pen City in their own half as their reserve keeper seemed prone to a panic himself. Cedric whipped in a dangerous cross to Martinelli which almost bore fruit. Laporte tried to lob the Icelandic keeper from forty yards but thankfully he held the ball.
AMN broke onto a loose ball on 40 and was unlucky to overrun it. Then Rúnarsson pulled off a terrific point-blank save from Jesus after a Mustafi gaffe not helped by an unlucky bounce. A fine save and very much needed.
Amazingly Fernandinho was not booked for deliberate and clear handball. If he had only received a yellow earlier on he would have been off now.
Martinelli was then clattered by Steffen chasing a long ball from Joe Willock which he almost reached. It looked an awful moment but he resumed eventually. He looked very tired but his first-half performance was hugely encouraging. We had started to see City’s air of assurance erode.
Half-time arrived with us on equal terms and with our play having improved decidedly since our equaliser. Consensus in the bar was that we withdraw Gabi for use on Boxing Day. How we have missed his strength, speed and incisiveness.
Half-time Arsenal 1 Man City 1
There were no changes at the interval despite our concerns about Martinelli. Was this wise?
We moved to a back four after the goal with Kolasinac at left-back. Martinelli sank to the turf in the early minutes and was substituted by Pepe. One assumes we assessed him properly at half-time? Our pressing was noticeably sharper in a 4-3-3 and City did not look to have invested too wisely in their own number two keeper who looked nervous and rushed with his clearances.
In the fifty-third minute Mahrez went down on the edge of the area theatrically as ever and got a free kick in a great position. The kick was pathetically dealt with by Rúnarsson who fumbled it into the net. If confirmation was needed that a huge mistake was made in signing him this was it. He has no place in an Arsenal team.
Arsenal 1 Man City 2
Foden then ran on to a long ball down the left and chipped Rúnarsson (who came out far too rashly) albeit from an offside position.
Arsenal 1 Man City 3
Game over and we needed to stay solid and keep the ball away from Rúnarsson.
After Ceballos was clattered by Silva who was booked, ESR came on in the 66th minute to replace Elneny. City turned to Torres to enter the fray and replace the errant Silva. ESR then sent Lacazette through past Laporte and he rattled the side netting but it was an insightful pass and an indication of what the boy can bring.
Gabriel got the benefit of the doubt when tackling Mahrez but the corner was worked across the area to Laporte who headed deftly home; Mustafi and Kolasinac were rooted to the spot.
Arsenal 1 Man City 4
Aguero then joined the fray. By this stage Arsenal were praying for the end of the match. It seemed inconceivable we beat City deservedly at Wembley a few short months ago. Admittedly we had a proper goalkeeper minding the net then.
Another young tyro Balogun joined the match to replace Lacazette in the 73rd minute. It was hard to decide if exposing young players to this sort of humiliation was wise but ESR’s eagerness and quality shone through as he played a fine pass to Kolasinac who failed to capitalise.
The difference in impact between Pepe and Martinelli was very clear. It may be unfair to criticise him but he did so little to hurt City. Young Balogun set him up in the 85th minute centrally but he was wide with a left-footed shot. Balogun’s task was thankless but he showed commendable strength.
ESR then got down the left to put in a fine cross but no one was there. He had made a very decent impression and added much-needed creativity. Pepe then forced Steffen to a brave near-post save. Ceballos worked hard as well but was always struggling to contain the City midfield.
I’m not part of the Twitterati but I can imagine the cries of ‘Taxi for Arteta’. That may not be long-delayed but it would be outrageous if Edu stays at the club with the Spaniard leaving. The goalkeeping decision is diabolical and weakens us enormously. Signing a Ligue Un reserve is negligence in the extreme and were Leno to sustain an injury for any length of time we really could find ourselves struggling against relegation. This boy really is that bad.
We had very little luck tonight. Fernandinho could have gone, the third goal was offside but City were worthy winners. You cannot be optimistic about the future unless we strengthen quickly in midfield and defence. Above all we need characters and not offcuts from Kia Joorabchian looking for a pension in North London.
Our hopes rest on getting our top players back as soon as possible. Auba faces a scan on his thigh and Partey has no return date. Let us pray for Martinelli to recover before Boxing Day and for Arteta to persist with ESR and to give the reserve goalkeeping spot to Matt Macey. Certainly any thoughts of rotating the Icelandic international for Cup games would screw our defence of the FA Cup. For the time being let us hope we can get something against Chelsea and can then start winning against some of the slightly weaker sides we are then facing. But this is not what we expected a year into Arteta’s reign and he is on very thin ice.
First!
I haven’t read it yet but my timing for the first was exquisite!
Stand by for signing Coutinho in January.
As far as keepers go the Martinez decision is going to rank up there as one of the worst.
The sensible thing to have done would have been to keep Martinez in the team (not least because as well as being the better option, I think the defence was a lot happier with him in there as well. They certainly looked a lot more stable) because then you challenge Leno to get his place back and if he’s got any balls at all, he sticks around and tries. You then have two good keepers and a situation that will work itself out over the season, then one can go.
I know there was talk about balancing the books and that’s why Martinez had to be sold but I think that’s bollocks personally. If you’re selling a keeper, Leno would surely have earned you more money because he had a longer contract, is younger etc etc.
Team wise it made no sense, money wise it makes none.
Now we have what i think is a weak keeper and no backup. Cheers, Mikel/Edu.
Excellent stuff TTG. Dave would be nodding in agreement. A fine summation of the match and the overall situation.
I wish it was not so bleak.
Cynic. I would agree in principle- I’d have kept Martinez. But no one was offering £30m for Leno. So if we had to sell Emi to buy Thomas then I’d do it again every time, even if our number 2 keeper is not so good. We cannot conjure up bids from thin air and ignore the actual bids clubs are putting in. And I’m not knocking Leno- who is a very good keeper.
And the simple answer is just play Leno every game we wanna win. Why does our number two goalie have to play if our number one is fit? It is a modern idea, and not one I buy into at all.
Cheers TTG!
Thanks for a very clear eyed, sanguine and Faberesque report, TTG. Bar the short spell after our equaliser that was truly awful to watch. A chocolate-wristed goal keeper who makes Fabianski look permanently rooted to his line, a porous defence composed partly of brainless, statuesque muppets, the expected unproductive circuitous movement from that familiar and confidence-sapping midfield pair leavened by an invigorating display from Martinelli sadly cut short by the Shitteh keeper’s violent challenge.
Hopefully Martinelli’s injury isn’t as bad as I fear it may be. We are going to need him in our PL campaign as no-one else shows the same drive, aggression and eye for goal. They tell me Pépé replaced him. I didn’t notice him contribute anything significant. In contrast, ESR had an all too brief spell on the pitch and showed what a man with an eye for a pass can do for a team. Balogun got too little time to confirm his clear potential and Willock and AMN didn’t disgrace themselves. Ceballos worked hard but you can see why Real Madrid sent him out on loan. He wants to play for Spain in the summer – I’d have Santi on crutches before him if I was the Spain manager. Elneny and Kolasinac just aren’t PL quality and epitomise our scouting department’s mediocrity. Laca worked hard and took his goal well. He has had worse days.
I feel for Mikel Arteta. He has a hell of a task and he has to tackle it based on his instincts and advice from his aides rather than on the basis of personal experience and a deep understanding of group psychology. The club’s record over the last few years doesn’t inspire me with confidence that he will be getting good advice from those ‘above’ him in the organisation. Also the assistant coach who advised him to sign Runarrson might not be worth listening to either.
We desperately need an injection of new talent in January. We already knew about the need for midfield creativity but it’s also now clear that we need a reliable backup to Leno. I really hope that little Brighton forward doesn’t knacker him again in a week or so. I also hope that Mikel gets very lucky indeed.
Thanks TTG. A fine report of
another grim game.
We didn’t really learn anything
new – Gaby, ESR and Balogun
have potential, an under-strength
Shitty are better than an under-
strength Arsenal, the punt on an
unknown back-up keeper didn’t
work and on balance it’s better
to have VAR than not.
Onwards we stumble to the
Chavski match
You’ve done the Guv’nor proud, TTG. A realistic assessment of the game, but one keeping the flame of optimism just about flickering.
Runarsson may be better than Macey with his feet, but we saw today that hands are the more important limbs for a keeper.
OM
Thanks- on the basis of this game I agree totally but I think we can draw wider conclusions . Sanllehi brought in Edu as DOF . In the 2019 window we sold tidily and got some decent fees . Not many of the sales have bitten us on the bum. The big buying controversy was Pepe who was a ridiculous buy for that price . Clearly KSE think so too To a lesser extent we have Luiz. Tierney was an excellent buy .Luiz was superbly summed up by no less than Jamie Redknapp tonight who got the problem players spot on.
This summer post Covid Edu couldn’t sell anybody for anything- except Martinez . We even end up with players like Sokratis kicking their heels . Awful management . We couldn’t sell a young man who was valued at £50 m on Transfermarkt the year before . He activated the Partey clause ( or rather Tim Lewis did ) and we signed Gabriel ( big tick) and Willian ( huge cross ) and Runarsson ( massive cross – in fact he’d drop any sort of cross) . Mari and Soares have not performed enough at the moment but Cedric looks like a favour to Joorabchian .
Edu should be sacked and Rangnick who built the Red Bull franchise at Leipzig should come in to help Arteta . If he sees that as a demotion he needs to look at the league table.KSE need to realise their cash cow is now becoming expensive to run. It’s mainly because they pick such bad people . Liverpool run a similar model for half the price and look at their success. And in a post Covid world they sold Brewster to Sheffield United for £20 million and Lovren for about £9million . Fenway Group wildly outperform KSE as owners . Ideally I’d like Stan to get fed up with what Arsenal is costing him and sell it to someone more competent and ambitious who has real Arsenal connections . Please Santa make it happen
Esso. You are dropping some tunes tonight. Cheers.
Moooo.
Brendan Rodgers is the name I am hearing as a potential new coach. If he has to work with Edu that won’t change much .
TTG,
Several fair points there and I would
say I share your hope KSE will depart
and agree we have been outperformed
by Liverpool.
I’ve said before that buying so many
players through Joorabchian stinks. Any
governance guy worth his salt should
smell a rat there.
Not sure about Redknapps comments
as I don’t know or to be honest care
what he thinks – but I haven’t seen
anything to tell me Luiz isn’t trying
or doesn’t care.
I also wouldn’t be inclined to blame
anyone but Guen for his current
situation – the question I ask myself
there is would I buy him? No is the
answer obviously. I do agree though
that it was poor management to not
move on at least two of Mus, Kola and Papa
this summer and to give the contracts we
did to Soares and Willian.
As I’ve said before I would give MA until
the end of the season and see where we
are then. I expect that won’t happen if
results don’t turn around in January. Sorry,
a long answer but I thought your excellent
report / post deserved a proper explanation.
A fine, fair review delivered in ‘Holic time’ too by the look of things. Well done.
@8 A wonderfully concise summary of a game that beforehand so many expressed complete indifference for, considering the trophy an irrelevance, but have managed to achieve incandescence for in retrospect. Misery loves company.
It’s never encouraging to see any of the Marx Bros on duty and to see both Chico and Harpo appear together in the back line is a harbinger of comedy and Harpo didn’t disappoint as early as 2 minutes in.
Good to see MA8 continue the tradition of using this competition to give academy grads & co. game time. Martinelli was excellent, AMN and Jo played well, ESR signalled readiness for a first team start and Balogun’s potential shone through despite his being afforded fewer minutes than he deserved. And of course Runarsson confirmed he isn’t ready for prime time. Entertaining to watch them play nevertheless.
Onward and hopefully upward.
Top music selections overnight, Esso. You are awarded the cba Memorial Chair of Music in this fine establishment. You can call it House DJ if you want to.
I for one put our current slump down to Arteta primarily. He is the one who sanctioned the signings of Mari, Cedric, Luiz, Willian and Runnarson. Arteta is the one who sidelined Ozil, Saliba, Sokratis, Guen’ and Torreira. I am not saying that these players would have eased our current burden but they would have not made it worse. Arteta is too rigid in personality and formation to change. His paucity of experience is now harming Arsenal Football Club.
on balance it’s better to have VAR than not.
I disagree there. The odd wrong offside here and there has always happened and the additional costs of using VAR – the daft fouls that lead to red cards that are never reds, the ruling out goals for handball that never is, officials who are crap in the flesh making crap decisions with their slippers on in an office miles away, takes any benefit from having VAR away.
If we hadn’t had VAR for all this time would the lino have given that offside, or has he got used to someone else doing his job for him so he let it go? Not saying he wasn’t aware there was no VAR to help him out, but I have always believed VAR would lead to worse officiating during games because refs and linos can relax with the safety net of VAR. Standards then drop and when there’s no safety net, they make lazy bad decisions instead of simple bad ones.
If Edu having an agent is a problem, because it looks like we’re signing players to do him a favour, why do we want a manager with an agent as well? Is there such a thing as a manager without an agent thesedays? If so, get one.
A top job TTG and some magnificent mood music from Esso. The early seventies truly had the best music!
Rumour has it that Eriksen and Coutinho are Arsenal bound. Just what we need. Ageing, past their best superstars.
But are they an improvement on our current ageing, past their best, superstars?
Cynic,
How do you know if they will improve anything?
Aging players is a short term fix that doesn’t guarantee anything plus it stops younger players coming through the ranks so they end up leaving. Then you are stuck with these pensioners and money is lost yet again. I have seen it too many times at this club, if we are in the process let’s stick to it and stop buying old rejects.
I really don’t want either of them.
I am more interested in clearing
out as many as we can in January
to make some space and raise
some cash to buy a younger AM
in the summer. In the meantime
give ESR a decent run in the side
and see if he can cut it.
If we could have gotten Eriksen in the summer instead of Willian that might have been okay. But by now I am completely with Matt. Coutinho and Eriksen are both exactly the type of profile player we need to avoid more than any others. We have finally to learn our lesson and stay away from both.
Arthur @ 23. Spot on. It is the fact that we have all seen it so many times before that makes it even more frustrating.
I don’t think they will improve anything either, although Coutinho should, if he’s anything like the player he was.
It’s very sad what’s happening to Runarsson as our more unhinged element have gone after him on social media. Criticism in a discussion is one thing but going directly at him with abuse on social media is quite another.
Excellent review TTG! Measured and accurate in all assessments.
If Edu and Mikel now want to bring in both Eriksen and Coutinho both of them should be fired. Have they ever seen Eriksen play? If Mikel’s problem with Mesut is workrate or tracking back etc. how will he justify Eriksen? Mesut used to at least move around a lot to find pockets of space.
This is what I simply don’t get and is making me lose my confidence in Arteta. I accepted his decision about Mesut however drastic it is. I understand that he is setting a high standard of behaviour. Then how does Willian get selected match after match? He provides little defensive cover, never bothers to run to an empty space, almost always jogs back when there is a counter-attack on, and on top of that provides little if any creativity. It seems double-standards to me.
Coutinho at his best and fully motivated is an asset. But he has not been consistent for a while now. Are we now the club to give old Brazilian players their relaxed late career final paycheck?
What Mikel says he needs and wants and the players they are signing do not align. Cedric was another example…an injured right back past his prime who didn’t even start for Southampton?
Every match that passes by I am finding him too conservative, safe, and demotivating for the team. He started off so well but his decision makings for much of this season has been questionable.
If we are trying to build towards success then I have all the patience. But if we are trying short-term fix then those fix must have to work especially as they seem to come at the expense of the long term stability.
Other inconsistencies like that — Saliba cannot even get a chance in Europa whereas Runarsson is fast tracked in as the number 2, even though Saliba played many more games than Alex in French football for a better side and has been considered a top level talent by everyone who watched him. There were some personal issues with him at the beginning of the season but by now he must be settled enough to play a game or two? What are we gaining by playing Mustafi instead? Why not at least play Chambers who still may have a career for us?
Didn’t see the game, being on a Yuletide Nordic skiing expedition (the kind we fit older gentlemen tend to use as an excuse to sip select scotches). But thanks for the report TTG, you effectively give me the impression it was a good game to choose to miss but this Runarsson situation really worries me.
Cynic,
I understand your concern re Runarsson. Social media is a devil. That’s why I don’t bother with Twitter . But there is an issue here. That lad was the worst goalkeeper I’ve ever seen play for Arsenal and I can’t remember any worse displays from opposition goalies too. They usually have blinders !
We are a club who have employed Wilson , Jennings, Rimmer, Lukic , Seaman and Lehmann. We have a history of great keepers . This boy is an accident waiting to happen and may have found yesterday so traumatic he won’t ever recover .
How did he get there ? After the Dundalk game Charles Watts wrote a piece which basically said that he hoped Leno never got injured because Runarsson wasn’t good enough . I reported on that game and watched it slightly differently but I looked at the goals again and I think Leno might have saved both . Talking to some Gooners today we were saying that Emi made the defence so much better last season because everyone had confidence in him. Could you have confidence in Runarsson? We can’t let him play again and need to replace him in January .
The process by which he was signed was that Emi was the only player we were offered money for so we let him go. The fee was decent but I’d rather have sold Leno or more likely sold Bellerin, or Xhaka, or Lacazette, or Kolasinac or other players who aren’t good enough to play for the club and shown faith in youngsters like AMN and ESR ( who looked good yesterday ) . To believe a no.2 goalkeeper isn’t key when the no.2 saved our season last year was a massive error. It’s a joint mistake by Arteta and Edu but I don’t like what I’m seeing of Edu and I hope someone in KSE realises what bad decisions have been made …and why .
Might not be our biggest issue at the moment though, as long as Leno is fit.
Time to locate the stop the rot pills.
Bt8
It’s a huge issue if Leno gets injured . We could be in very serious trouble . That lad had the highest expected goals conceded in his division in France. You have to have cover as last season showed.
Any word on how much better Runarsson is considered to be than Matt Macey? Oddly, I get the feeling that Emiliano Martinez was just as good a keeper a couple of years ago as he has been in 2020, the year he finally got a chance to show what he can do in the Premier League. Sometimes people are third choice merely because those in power have accepted the status quo.
Respect where respect is due. A truly great career, lack of World Cup success regardless.
“Lionel Messi scored his 644th goal for Barcelona during his side’s victory over Real Valladolid to break Pele’s record of the most goals for one club.”
Yeah but can he do it in on a cold night in Stoke?
Yeah, I bet he could.
Morning all.
On Rúnarsson, I firstly agree with
Cynic on the social media attacks
– just absurd. He has wisely deleted
his account.
Secondly, he’s young and made a
mistake. I’m not inclined to write
him off just yet though he hasn’t
looked good enough so far after
what three or four games.
Thirdly, the club took a punt and if
anyone should be criticised then
it’s them for a bad decision. Though
I’d still have sold Emi as there
doesn’t seem to have been much
choice financially.
Fourthly, in January we can buy
a more experienced cover man
for back up relatively cheaply so
it’s not that big a deal.
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