Fuck that. What a joke of a game. And what a wanker Maupay is. Someone needed to thump him. Or at least break his leg during that game. And how Atkinson did not give a yellow is stupid.
So, there goes Leno for this year and longer. What a joke. BTW, how did Bissouma avoid a yellow card. He was fouling the entire game.
An hour later I’m still in shock. How could we loose that game? That has to be one of the unjust 3 points we’ve lost. Brighton had nothing the entire game, We had this one locked up. A brilliant Pepe goal. A number of changes for Cigarette and Aubamyang. Saka hitting the bar. I did not see that coming. It’s a killer though. Two losses in a row now. Against one of the best teams and one of the worst.
What did we learn? There is no justice in football. And Brighton are cunts. But we also saw that Saka was out best player and that Ceballos was our worst. All things came down our left because of him. Nothing came through the lines because Ceballos was not involved. But generally, our midfield was vacuous. Limit creativity and sideways possession. Pepe on the wing also helped. But generally while we were better than Brighton that’s only because they are shit.
Today was the first time I doubted Arteta. Why leave Ceballos on for the entire game? Where is Ozil. He would have benefited from the space today. At least give him 20 minutes.
Where is this team headed? Once we went one-nil up where was the leadership on the field? Both their goals were weak. Not sending out two men for the short-corner and then, in the lead up, Guendouzi – as he did all game – standing off. Our inability to close people down and reduce their space was so evident today. All that hard worked just thrown away. And one more long-term injury.
Sure we were so much better than Wednesday but you can’t lose games like this. Yet now we have developed a habit. There is a structural weakness in the team; in this club. We are solidly a mid-table team now but with some top 6 players. I have no idea how to arrest this fall but it feels like we have a long way before we hit the ground. Today was as deflating and sad as anything I can remember in a long time. There was no way we deserved to lose. Maybe, because we were sloppy, we did not deserve the three points. But to come away with nothing is stunning.
Beyond Saka, there was a strong return for Holding. It’s good to see him back. Let’s hope he can avoid an injury for the balance of this sad, sad season.
I have nothing to say for once. I’m drained, disillusioned and depressed. But not dead yet. Watching this team is too stressful and destined to disappoint. I was happier in the proceeding 100+ days than I have been since Wednesday. The club is a mess and I don’t know where it’s headed. Arteta is now going to be under even more pressure. This squad only has a handful of players you’d want to keep. So how does this improve? I don’t think it does. Even average teams like Wolves and Leicester look far superior than us. With all our history, money and prestige we are well on our way to becoming Nottingham Forest (without the European trophies) or Aston Villa (with out the European trophy). Maybe we can re-locate to the Midlands.
So, good-bye Europe. And good bye most of this squad. It makes no sense to pay the salaries without European football. We should sell Aubameyang and invest that money in the future. We should return Ceballos, sell Luiz, sell Mustafa, loan out Ozil. And then, I would inject the coronavirus into all the other teams.
We need to campaign to close the season down. It’s too distressing for us. It’s bad for our mental health. We need protection. How I dream of those blissful days in April and May where we could live in our dreams and projections. Reality sucks. Give me back my dreams and hope. Give me back my re-runs when Arsenal had a team.
This is like a more painful, cheaper version of Man United and their downfall. Others, Liverpool being a prime example, missed out on Europe for a year or two. Man United did one season as well. It’s not necessarily the end of the world. But for our club, with our organization, with our ownership I’m not sure. It’s going to be a long time before we hit the floor.
-LB7