“A mountain to climb.” – Mikel Arteta

We waited 102 days for this?
Maybe my expectations were set too high for a promising return to the season and the Premier League. I don’t know about you, but what I saw was not what I was expecting!

Here are a couple eye-popping stats from the match that help to illustrate my point:
Arsenal had 33% of the possession.
Arsenal had 2 shots total.
Arsenal had 0 shots on goal.
Bernd Leno made 9 saves.
David Luiz made 2 horrific mistakes.
David Luiz had 1 red card.
Arsenal lost 2 players to injury in just the first few minutes of the game.

All-in-all, this was not the restart to the season that anyone expected, especially Mikel Arteta.
Every time he appeared on camera from the touch line, the boss looked shell-shocked, lost, confused – he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Arteta told the press following the game, “Just before halftime we conceded a goal from an individual error. After that, straight away, the red card and penalty gave us a mountain to climb against quality competition. We have to start winning football matches as quick as possible. We have to see who we have available to get a starting XI after the injuries that we got tonight.”

Let me paraphrase his quotes. “David Luiz killed our chances tonight, so now we have to find a group who can play, and hopefully help us win the next match.”

As for David Luiz, I give him a lot of credit for asking to be interviewed by Sky Sports after the game. “It’s simple. It’s not the team’s fault, it’s my fault. The team I thought did really well, especially with the ten men. The coach is amazing, all the players did amazing, it’s just my fault.

Again, it takes guts to stand up like he did, however, Luiz has become a liability in defense. Just this season he has conceded four penalty shot goals. That ties a single season Premier League record.

During the first 15-20 minutes, the Gunners showed some promise. Eddie and Auba had some good runs into the box, and showed they wanted to attack the goal. However, after that short stretch, Man City found their rhythm and began to completely disorient the Gunners. City’s press was nearly unbeatable, their passing was quick and tight, and they were getting a lot of corners and putting numerous shots on goals.

Thank the Lord for Bernd Leno. Without his nine saves (mostly incredible), the score would have been a bigger disaster and embarrassment than it was.

Let’s quickly breakdown a few of the player’s performances…

Mustafi – Looked like Virgil van Dijk next to Luiz.
Auba, Eddie and Bukayo – They at least got some good sprints in tonight. That’s about it.
Ceballas, Guendouzi and Willock – Who?
Kieran and Hector – Tried to contribute offensively, but were on their heals defensively most of the match.
The Subs – Too little, too late.

And, what about Mesut Ozil? We had a squad of 20 for this game, and Ozil was no where to be seen.
Arteta said after the game “it was a tactical decision.” I hope this isn’t the Emery/Ozil Saga 2.0.
Stay tuned for more on this one.

Also, why didn’t Martinelli and Pepe play, or even start for that matter? Let’s hope this is a lack of fitness and nothing else.

And, let’s not forget the two injured players, Pablo Mari and Granit Xhaka. Let’s hope their injuries are not serious, and that they bounce back quickly.

So, here we are still in 9th place, now four points out of a European spot. We are 42 points behind league leading Liverpool, and 13 points out of the relegation zone.

Some perspective: This season against the league’s historic top 5 (Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Tottenham), Arsenal has 1 win, 3 draws and 5 defeats. Their goal differential is -7, with the club claiming only 6 points out of a possible 27 againt these teams.

Needless to say, Arteta and his team have “a mountain to climb.” Let’s hope today’s defeat is a kick in the pants for the remainder of the season.

And, let’s hope we get to the top of that mountain sooner rather than later.

Stay healthy, and safe.

Gunner1953

PS…The artificial crowd noise on the Villa/Sheffield United game was horrible. It was better but still a little weird on the Arsenal/Man city telecast. I guess it’s just part of the “new normal.”