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Arsenal are worse this season!
It has become clear that this season's Gunners, led by Michael Arteta, are not as strong as last season, and the Spanish manager's anger at the match officials after last Saturday's devastating loss to Newcastle made no secret of the team's shortcomings.
The Gunners succeeded in beating Manchester City in the Premier League last month and this achievement was described as the most important moment of Mikel Arteta's tenure so far, and the two sides finally proved they can beat Pep Guardiola's side, moving two points clear of them and finishing second on par with Premier League leaders Tottenham 2023-24.
Although they beat Manchester City, the Gunners did not build on that victory and fell dramatically to a 2-2 draw against Chelsea. and then they got back on the road to wins with a sweeping 5-0 win over bottom side Sheffield United, But their weaknesses came up again during last Saturday's Newcastle game. and Anthony Gordon's controversial 64th-minute goal caused Arsenal to lose and fall behind City in the table.
Arteta blamed "VAR" for the defeat, but in fact Newcastle produced a good level and deserved to get the three points. The Gunners only hit one shot on target in the game, their worst record since last February.
The Gunners did not prepare for the season properly despite spending more than £200m in the summer transfer window, and the fact is that they will not be able to outscore City and oust them this season.
The anger of VAR makes no sense!
Gordon's decisive goal against Arsenal was not beautiful, and he was only conceded after three separate VAR checks, because of whether the ball had gone out of play before Joe Willock's cross, a potential Joelinton foul on Gabriel, or a possible offside before Gordon fired into the empty net.
In the end, the match officials decided that there was no conclusive evidence to justify cancelling the goal and it was calculated and Arsenal could not find a way back into the game.
In a post-match interview with the BBC, Arteta said: "What happened is embarrassing what does this goal look like in the Premier League? This league we say is the best in the world I've spent 20 years in this country and now I'm ashamed it's a shame. "
When asked for clarification, Arteta failed to make a clear argument, adding: "Because he is not a target for many reasons and for more than one reason at least we have done a lot of effort, and it is very difficult to compete at this level."
Oddly enough, the Arsenal manager has recently insisted that coaches should do their best to "support" the referees because "mistakes happen" after the goal of Luis Diaz, a Liverpool player who was cancelled out against Tottenham for offside despite his health.
Many Premier League clubs have suffered "VAR" errors this season and Wolverhampton's side appear to be the hardest to suffer, and Gary O'Neill said he "gave up the referees" after seeing his team lose to Sheffield United after a dramatic late penalty decision.
Manchester United have scored the most incorrect goals so far this season, including Garnacho's, in a 3-1 loss to Arsenal and luck for the two sides when VAR awarded them a penalty after Christian Romero's handball in the derby draw against Tottenham.
VAR is clearly a problem that needs to be addressed urgently but throughout the season, the technique is balanced, Arsenal have not lost to Newcastle because of the referee, but because of the team's poor performance.
Haverts deal is a waste of money
Arteta would have been better off directing his anger towards his £65 million summer signing, Haverts started the game well and showed some great touches, but his reckless intervention almost hampered the Jenners' gameplan and had little impact afterwards.
The German international has scored just one goal in 17 appearances in all competitions for the Gunners since his move from Chelsea and this goal came via a penalty kick in the 4-0 win over Bournemouth.
Havertz was signed, replacing Xhaka, in Arsenal's midfield and despite the fact that he was playing as a striker or No 10 for Chelsea and that he appeared to be an out-of-water fish in Arteta's system was surprising to sign him because of his poor form during his disastrous final Blues season.
Arsenal were wrong to invest so much money in such a mysterious player, but Arteta is too stubborn to admit and the Spaniard will continue to try to integrate Haverts into his starting line-up, and the two sides will continue to look disjointed as a result.
Haverts, rarely takes the risks necessary to open defences, does not seem to have built any understanding with the rest of Arsenal's attack yet and it would be wise for Arteta to keep the player on the bench for a while, to bring about a change in performance because it hampers the Jenners' progress.
Raya/Ramsdale's goalkeeping conflict
Arteta included David Raya, in his first Arsenal game against Everton, and Aaron Ramsdale was one of the best performers in the side during their Premier League career last season.
The Gunners manager felt that Raya, was an upgrade to the type of goalkeeper that could help his team progress better but the Spanish manager clearly tried to solve a problem that did not exist.
Gordon's goal could have been prevented, for Newcastle had Raya not misstated his position. This error came just two weeks after the Spanish goalkeeper fouled a corner while scoring Modrick's goal against Chelsea.
Raya's distributions were questioned, after his pass led Lance to a lead in Arsenal's second Champions League group stage game and the goalkeeper was shaky in the subsequent 2-1 win over Sevilla as well, with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry insisting he was "lucky" not to concede more goals.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher slammed Raya after Arsenal's defeat to Newcastle and told Sky Sports: "The player they chose to come in made the same mistake as two weeks ago against Chelsea, he got away with it against Sevilla, but he didn't get away with it here and that's a big problem for Arteta."
Arteta's attitude has become difficult to justify Raya playing on the England goalkeeper so far.
It's stupid to rely on Jesus.
For most of last season, Arsenal were the best team to watch in English football, led by Bukayo Saka, Martinelli and Martin Odegaard, and the trio scored 44 goals, helping cover Gabriel Jesus' injury absence.
Jesus contributed 11 goals and eight assists last season but by the end of the season it was clear that the team needed new attacking power and Arteta should have done his best for a new striker rather than making Haverts his first goal.
Although Jesus scored four goals in 11 games, the Brazilian suffered a hamstring injury against Sevilla and has missed the last three gun games.
It is not clear when Jesus will return and Arteta admitted at a press conference last week: "As far as Jesus is concerned, I will not give a specific time for his return. I did it once and I totally mistook us to be careful because we need to deal with it the right way."
Jesus' fitness record, at Manchester City, was not alarming but may have something to do with the fact that he was not always in Guardiola's starting XI but Arsenal rely more heavily on the 26-year-old.
Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard were always unlikely to continue to shoulder Arsenal's main scoring burden and need another player, and when Jesus is available, he lacks the attacking tendency of the real striker, a position the Jenners must address in order to continue City's challenge.
Arsenal look worse than last season
With no Urien Timber, given his frontal cruciate ligament shortly after arriving at Arsenal from Ajax, it is fair to say that Declan Rice, was the only success story from Arteta's summer window.
The two sides have paid a whopping £105m to sign Rice, a 24-year-old from West Ham, and the player has had no problems adjusting to the squad and arguably Arsenal's outstanding player so far this season has scored decisive goals against Manchester United and Chelsea.
The problem is that he plays in a team that no longer has the same balance as last season. The loss of Xhaka turned out to be a huge blow to Arsenal, who sorely missed the player's technical quality and strength in midfield, and although he was a defensive player, but scored 14 goals in the Premier League last season.
William Saliba, the only Arsenal player who managed to maintain the same form but had no consistent centre-back partner and Gabriel had recently returned, but Arteta tried Ben White and Jacob Kiwyur alongside Saliba, with mixed results.
Clearly, the battle between Raya and Ramsdale, guarding Arsenal's goal, has seeped into the entire defence and it has become easy to defeat the two sides because of their lack of cohesion.
Arsenal are only three points clear of the Premier League summit, close to qualifying for the crucial stages of the Champions League but Arteta is difficult because of his poor decision-making and although 41-year-old Arteta has brought Arsenal back into title contenders. But he only achieved one FA Cup in his three and a half years with the team.
Arteta's current task is to recognise the weaknesses and make the necessary changes, especially as the January transfer window approaches and if he fails again, questions must begin as to whether he is really the right coach to lead Arsenal towards tournaments.