Arsenal ‘Got What They Deserved!’ 😬 Is the pressure showing on Mikel Arteta’s men? | Espnfc

Well not many people would have expected this result. Arsenal won Bournemouth 2 to react. Mark Donaldson alongside Janusz Michalak and let's cast our minds back 12 months Janusz to March 2025. Bournemouth going to Arsenal and winning by exactly the same scoreline. It wasn't expected then, it wasn't expected today. They were great but what on earth happened to Arsenal? Yeah I mean Arsenal got exactly what they deserved which is a loss because they hardly did anything in the game you know the lack of urgency you know the pressure ridden performance I would say that right because you know you show up for this game and when you're in a situation like Arsenal you know every game is a must win right and if you concede early then you start thinking we not only do we need one we need two right because a draw even if they got it you know last second here would still feel like a loss because that's how much pressure they're under right now because of their performances right we shouldn't be surprised we've seen what happened in the League Cup against Manchester City we've seen what happened against the Saints in the FA Cup and obviously you still have the Champions League which they've done okay going away to Lisbon but I think in terms of performances you could see it coming so so clearly with a lot of changes some injuries and all that I think we all get it I mean Bournemouth are in the same boat to a degree we saw it coming and and you know the attitude and lack of urgency today was for everyone to see. You've just described it as a pressure ridden performance and that's exactly what it looked like others may say that Arsenal's bottle has gone what would you say to that? Well I mean you know Arsenal has only got one job and that is to win the Premier League everything else is irrelevant and that would have been nice for them to still be in the you know in the FA Cup maybe even League Cup right we'll see what happens we'll see what happens in the Champions League but that's clearly that project that Mikel Arteta has started so long ago was supposed to or it may come to fruition at the end of the season but right now you can see I mean when I said sloppy I mean if you watch that first half and it continued in the second half as well but in particular the first 20 minutes if you look at you know just technically Maduika, Martinelli, Havertz, Ben White I mean simple passes going astray no rhythm whatsoever and what was most telling really was the second goal the one that Alex Scott scored because you know lingering on the ball unable to come out of the back wasting I think Arsenal wasted today I'd say five seven maybe even ten minutes just not really knowing how to start the attack and you could even see that on certain throw-ins right on certain set pieces people just putting arms up and saying well who's going to show for this ball I mean it was prevalent and on that last goal I mean you know Raya was you know pretty much with a foot on his ball for like 30-45 seconds not knowing or not seeing any support to play it out of the back then we also what happened with Gabriel clearance really because I don't know if it was a fast block and then you know Zoubimendi and Saliba all at sea on that goal as well but that lack of urgency I was watching the whole thing and before anything ever happened I was just thinking it's just so slow no options nobody moving off the ball and and just that insistence on building out of the back at all costs when you see there's there are no options and they paid for it three defeats in the last four games in competitions prior to that it was three defeats in 49 there's still plenty time City have still got a lot of work to do they have two games in hand and they play Arsenal at home next week so they have to win all three of those to match Arsenal on 70 points that's up to City to do but Arsenal have now opened the door what have you noticed apart from the pressure situation is there anything on the field Janusz is it the number of games or what is it that Arsenal have gone from three defeats in 49 to three defeats in four well I mean if you take away injuries and unavailability of players away but you know I think you know they've got a massive problem in the wide areas and you can see that in just about every game you know as much as you think you think of number of names they're they're too deep in every position but in terms of quality they're not there right I mean just today you know you look at Martinelli look not intelligent enough on the pitch right head down and and not much comes out of it right Madueka I mean one of those players that at least today in the last few games again uh you know in terms of taking players on one-on-one he can do much better Saka obviously not the same season he wasn't here but not the same season as he had last time uh injuries are a big part of that of course as well uh you look at Trossard a squad player and was very good early in the season and there's always a place for him because you can play in the different positions but when you look at the best clubs and in particular now the way Arsenal play I mean where's the danger coming from I mean Jokic is finally coming good you have to say that it took him a while but but when you look at the wide positions you know that I just mentioned nothing there in terms of creativity right now and ability to set up others if you look at the fullbacks yes unfortunate that some are injured but Ben White's not helping like he was was it a last season or the season before where I thought he was very very very good in terms of getting forward on the left hand side nothing really coming out of the back as well so if you really really take a look at uh Arsenal their biggest strengths of the past which is you know the normal build-up and then white players doing their job I haven't seen that for a long long time right now let's take a look at the goals in this one the opening goal for Bournemouth after 17 minutes it's a delightful through ball by Ryan Christie and Kruppi finishes at the back post from the cross but Ben White is just caught in no man's land doesn't really know what to do and it was too easy for for Bournemouth to get that through ball albeit a fantastically weighted pass and seen by Ryan Christie yeah uh uh apologies for this but there's nothing to do with Ben White Ben White had his player had his player and I mean you know obviously Madueka so true fair there uh try to try to pass him off at the very end it almost looks like he did the right thing but it was way too late for Ben White he has a player he has to come inside and there was no time for him to shift over uh this is one that you could see it you know for the longest time where Madueka had him and then just simply let him go and in the end probably knew and was trying to look good kind of sliding in but but it was way too late so uh you know that's unfortunate there is a deflection but there's still absolutely zero excuse for Kruppi and there might have been another player on that far post to be so free penalty award for Arsenal don't think anyone can have many complaints about that these days it's it's given when your arms outstretched it's in an unnatural position it's Ryan Christie and it's a really good penalty from because the keeper goes the right way but precision is perfect yeah yeah I mean you know these days as you mentioned that's a penalty I as a defender will always say from that distance you know it's impossible to adjust to that but the way the game is played and refereed right now absolutely right penalty and and I wouldn't question that given given the laws of the game and you know Jokic has been incredibly hot right I mean scoring for Arsenal unfortunately scoring you know the three against Ukraine I could live with the the winner against Poland for Sweden you know oh well but that's a whole other story for me personally but you know he's been good he's been doing his job and and yeah he's put that away even though his intentions were red there was zero chance for the goalkeeper to save that so we wonder we knew it was Arsenal were going to make changes we wondered when they were going to make the changes the answer was only on came Trossard, Dowman and Eze and off went Martinelli, Madueki and and Havertz he didn't quite have the the influence and the impact that I think Michael Arteta would have hoped for had zero I mean nothing's changed I mean I don't know what they told you know I always find it funny you've mentioned in nine minutes it was even less it seemed to me but maybe you're right in the end because you know what was it like it happened hey have a go and if you don't score in the first eight or nine minutes making changes they were always coming and I don't want to be too picky about it but yeah you know it didn't make a lot of sense for me in terms of in terms of timing you know look I mean Bournemouth has has made changes that that were better obviously and they're much much more limited this is a team that hasn't lost I think they said 22-23 days now I think last loss was against Arsenal wasn't it at home 3-2 if I remember correctly this is a team that's been good this is a team that was rested because last time they played it was as I mentioned a long long time ago so no excuses really I mean there was nothing there was nothing I saw today that would tell me that I'm watching the champions of the Premier League even though deep down I can tell you that Arsenal are going to see that through big call why because the position they're in what is it the points you've mentioned I see like nine points two games in hand city who play Arsenal next I still think that's that that's enough as you've said I mean you know Manchester City has Chelsea to negotiate before we even start looking much much forward Arsenal have Bournemouth to negotiate Janusz and couldn't do it yeah yeah right but you know if I if I were any manager no matter what you want to say because that's mini crisis at this stage of the season if I have if I had an adventure advantage like this I'll take that with all the crisis that come in the question is how is Michael Arteta is going to deal with that because that's going to take a lot of thinking right now in terms of how they approach the rest of the season right we've mentioned two cup competitions gone they have an advantage they have an advantage now in the Champions League against sporting that's definitely not my first team playing because I'm thinking all about so you know they are playing at home against sporting it's a difficult side but he's going to have to recover some players which I believe one or two will recover but again if I had you know I don't know if I want to call it sacrifice because Champions League is big but again one job this season one job only is to become Premier League champions and of course they still could and you're right when you say that they're in the position that everybody else would want to be but it's going to be interesting to see what momentum does and how big a jolt that was is that a one-off or is is that part of a problem now that nerves are just all-encompassing for Arsenal right now we don't know I mean this is a position they've been in before um not quite to this extent with this lead but Manchester City right now be licking their chops will they not they they will be but you know Manchester City has to run the table you know and and although they've done it in the past I mean Manchester City has to win every game otherwise it's if Arsenal win most games right but you know the pressure is the same on Manchester City as it is on Arsenal and and moment moment yeah of course I I you know as I said if you if we had this discussion after Manchester City have beaten Chelsea away then maybe I change my tune just a little bit but I'm going to wait until then and again no matter what the crisis I mean you've got to take disadvantage right now even though it's dwindling a little bit and this is of course you take it this is this is a definite setback and I think you know who knows maybe it's going to be very very close in the end but I you know I tend to not panic when these situations happen because pressure is a real thing I mean you know we just we just sometimes don't realize that and fans of course will do fans do the opposing fans will try to you know find holes in the way Arsenal play to me it doesn't matter how they play if it's you know beautiful if it's ugly as long as they see it through so right now momentum is not great they've opened the door as you've said it ultimately I think that Arsenal sees that through when you compare it and I know it's Masters weekend Rory McIlroy has a six shot lead right now in the Masters right he's done it before he did it last year would be different if he hadn't we've seen him with four shot leads and he's blown it a couple of times Arsenal right now have the lead but it's a case of how much do you want to protect that how much do you want to use kind of attacking as a form of of defense because the the players that are trying to chase Rory McIlroy right now they're not feeling the pressure they can maybe go for things that they wouldn't normally go for and I'm trying to put Manchester City in the position of chasing Rory McIlroy in that you can take gambles and you can take risks that you might not take if you're Arsenal I think it's fascinating I think you're right you would much rather be in Arsenal's position but that was a big call to say that you think Arsenal will hold on because right now if you're pricing it up if you're the bookmakers you'd still have Arsenal the favorites but City are the value yeah I mean look and you know they're obviously in a in a decent form you know I mean they have a great squad as you've mentioned they know how to do it they've never expected to be in this position at least in the last few weeks right I mean Manchester City in a sort of a rebuild they you know the season hasn't been great for them a lot of ups and downs and and just not just in the Premier League but obviously in the Champions League as well so so they know how to do it but it's it's one of those where you have to be squeaky clean if you Manchester City and you have to hope for mistakes and that's a big ask now if you're now it's easy for all of us to see that at this stage of the season in years past this is what Arsenal didn't see it through right it's a bit a bit a bit of a a choke if you can say that I think if if I were Nikola Teta right now I would just try the players to be themselves because I have a feeling that he's feeling the pressure as well even more so than the players he's become more pragmatic we talk about you know maybe Arsenal being too schematic if you will I think you got to trust the players right now you have to let him loose a little bit and ask them to be themselves right and I don't know if he scolds players for going away from the script or not I have a gut feeling that he does and if that's true then I would let the players be because there is a lot of talent on that pitch and I just think that when you feel pressure and you have a manager that kind of puts additional pressure and starts breaking everything down to a minute detail which I think Nikola Teta does that's counterproductive and I would just let him be let them be players because if you look at their schedule I mean it's not formidable you know it's not one that they can get past yes that Manchester City game is looming you know big but I think you know I quickly looked I forgot already if I look at the rest of the schedule not that anybody's easy at this stage but it's one that I think Arsenal can negotiate yeah Newcastle at home Fulham at home West Ham away Burnley at home Palace away that's not bad and by the way Chelsea away for City tomorrow that isn't easy either you brought up Mikael Arteta let's finish with another Basque manager Andona Iraiola I mean he's been outstanding that's now 12 unbeaten for Bournemouth that's the best run that they've had in the Premier League bigger clubs will be keeping tabs on him will they not uh yes they will I mean if you look at their situation and you know you know there's going to be probably talk about you know how many Arsenal players are injured or you know the top top players not being in look at that side right middle of the season they look at you know they're losing Antoine Semenya look what he's done already for Manchester City I mean an incredible player they've lost Tyler Adams who's so so important to Iraiola and that team for long periods of time this season right I mean came in today after you know missing a couple games as well but I mean he had a long injury uh early in the season uh you know we have to look at Kerkes not through the eyes of Liverpool because he hasn't adjusted but you know you know the sort of player he was for them as well so obviously limited in terms of who they could get in or not you know the scouting department Iraiola are doing a tremendous job and if you look at that run as we've said it's just superb you know and those are the teams those are the managers that we sometimes uh don't talk enough about because right now we're talking about top teams we're talking about who's going to make the Champions League and here we are Bournemouth with five spots right if they continue this run we may be talking about Iraiola and Bournemouth certainly in Europe I don't think that the Champions League is within their reach but yeah I mean there's been talk about Iraiola throughout the season and as always with these teams like Bournemouth and Brighton and you know a couple others I think Iraiola next season is going to be looking at a bigger club yeah Bournemouth were brilliant today it's only fair we end with them just four points off Liverpool in that fifth Champions League spots Alex Scott with the winning goal in the 74th minute the Guernsey-born midfielder really coming into his own a classy individual and scored a classy goal to give Bournemouth a deserved three points and throw the title race wide open