re: Arsenal 2025/2026 Season Thread: CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND

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I don't understand how city looks so fit. I don't get it. Meanwhile we are crashing and burning despite playing like what 2 more games then them in all comps this season?

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We gotta get on Pep's juicing formula.

It's over guys, you can hope otherwise, but this group just don't have it in them.

Sad day.

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The entire fanbase. It is wild. I think the missed opportunities from the past 3 years are the reason why. We just need to win one to ease the fricking nerves

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Because we're going on 4 years running with the team not showing up when it matters most.

Arteta has rightly been given a lot of leeway with spending and the benefit of the doubt with results. People are tired of it because we lose in the same ways over and over again. If we lose the league again, and once again go out of the CL, there is 0 chance they can bring him back and things not get progressively worse.

The way we play is completely counterproductive to the players on the pitch like half the time. When we had runners to start the game, we tried to keep it on the ground and play through the press, he brings the ball to feet guys on and we boot it up the pitch every chance they get.

Even if he is a great coach, he's not getting the best out of this bunch. They have 0 nerve and melt down at the first sign of adversity important game after important game, year after year.

Yeah, I could put the cup losses to the side as long as we just kicked it up a gear in the league. We then go have one of our worst performances other than the wolves game. Not looking good.


And no matter what happens, we need more technical quality. It was essentially gone from the squad. We can't play out the back and keep the ball without Odegaard, saka and a good trossard.


But if we do draw City their max points is 83 and ours is 86. This week really is the season.

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And no matter what happens, we need more technical quality.

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We absolutely have to have more players who can carry the ball past the opponent. Imagine a Wenger-era team if they committed to this structure and worked off the ball this hard. The team would have been elite, with the main difference being the permission to actually play in the middle of the field. Our structure allows us to move the ball through 90% of the pitch flawlessly but our chance creation, when it matters, sucks. Take the Man City game. We were so structured in our approach we had no idea what to do when they didn’t press. The obvious answer would be to dribble past the press, which would force them to commit beyond their assigned spaces, which would create new angles for passes into midfield.

Right now, we are suffering from a problem that plagued us in 2020 and for which the solution was the entire of Emile Smith Rowe as a no.10 who occasionally dribbled the ball into midfield. Right now we have a version of that except the players we have now are elite in terms of profiles, in contrast to that 2020 team. You have to have some variety in the approach play. And you need to build a structure to allow creative players to be creative. We’ve basically gotten rid of any academy graduate who is also a superb dribbler, too, as my suspicion is that Arteta really doesn’t like it when players go off-script. And we run our first team players into the fricking ground too. We have Max now, who can change the game with his dribbling, but he’s probably not ready for the role we need him to play. We sent Ethan away, we have banished MLS to a third string LB and we don’t have anyone else, it seems. We have lost significant ability in terms of playing line-breaking passes from deep too.

Here, Arteta needs to be more like Wenger. I’m not suggesting changing everything. But a good defensive structure is for the purpose of allowing attacking players freedom.

A prime Cazorla or 19 year old Wilshere would be incredible with this set up.

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A prime Cazorla or 19 year old Wilshere would be incredible with this set up.

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I know no one wants to hear this, but from a footballing standpoint it makes sense why wanted to extend Partey now.

Hell id take him or Jorginho in this team, anyone Arteta would actually play. Norgard has 61 premier league minutes.

Well rice isn't training today, neither is Odegaard.

Our midfield is a huge problem. Zubi can't take the ball on the half turn so when he receives it it goes straight backwards. He's really not been the same since United.

I'm starting to worry now we have no fix for this.


With Partey he could turn his player, pass it forward to Odegaard and we are off. Odegaard, in the little time he's been playing lately, drops deep for the ball now.

Spot on

It's depressing watching this, because I think it's the reality now, and worrisome since it seems to be working well.

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Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka: "It's something he was carrying for a while. It was an Achilles issue.

"Hopefully it's a matter of days not weeks. It's about loading more and see where he's at."

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Well shite