EVERYTHING WENT WRONG! | Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal Reaction

I'm not going to lie, Arsenal fans, this is a feeling I'm not familiar with when it comes to the Premier League. You know what? We all saw it. We have to address the elephant in the room now that my emotions have calmed down. Yeah, man, where do we start where Bournemouth's concerned? If anyone's been living under a rock, our enemies won this weekend, literally. United and Spurs won. I can't lie to you people. If you lot could see my group chats, if you could see my mentions on social media, certain people that I haven't spoke to in years, certain people that have aired me, the way my phone is ringing off, I've never felt so loved and so popular. Just unfortunate that they're getting at my football club. Now, if you've been living under a rock, Bournemouth beat Arsenal two goals to nil. I don't know what it is with Arteta, you know, because you look at the two losses in 2024, they both come against Spanish managers, specifically from the Basque region, forgive me if I'm wrong, Una Enrique, Arreola, big up, you know what? You've got to be first with first. You've got to be gracious in defeat. I said, as much as I was confident about winning the game and doing all of those things, I've been saying all week and I've been saying it and you lot know it as well. It's nothing new under the sun. Arreola coach is a very good side, Bournemouth, one of the best coach teams in the league. Obviously, in life, you know, the Premier League doesn't tell the truth, but it doesn't lie. If you ain't been winning enough games, that's where your points tally is going to be. But Arreola plays great forward thinking football, plays out from the back, very attractive. They try and take on any opponent. They don't just sit back. There's a lot of things that Arteta does that Arreola does. So credit to Bournemouth, credit to their manager, credit to their players. They did everything that we didn't do now, specific to Arsenal Football Club. There was no positives yesterday, was there? You know, we're nothing to a degree without Bakayo Saka and Odegaard and a couple of other players. But regardless, we had enough out there to do better. I must admit, I can't sit here and be a hypocrite. The midfield took me by surprise. It did, you know, to see Thomas Partey and Declan Rice and Mikel Moreno obviously start. You know, going into the game, when you saw the line-up, I don't think it was the best of line-ups. I didn't think it was the greatest of line-ups, but I thought it was enough to get a job done against Bournemouth. And it was definitely enough to play better than we was going to. That being said, obviously, we look at that line-up. We knew creativity is going to be an issue. We're not really going to create much between Mikel Moreno, who started in his first game and did look a bit rusty. I thought Declan Rice was one of the better players. I did think Partey tried a thing, but we weren't really good enough. To the red card, really and truly, both teams were just cancelling each other out. We didn't really create much. There was nothing really to talk about. A couple of scares from David Rier, actually, if I'm honest with you. It flipped on its head. Dodgy back pass from Trossart. Saliba's made a silly mistake. He's a great centre-half. I don't know what's happened to him because he was stinking up the place for France and he's brought that back to Arsenal, but you can count on one hand them kind of things Saliba's done if that's given the benefit of the doubt, but it was a turning point. From you going down to 10 men and spare a foot for Raheem Sterling, you had to come off. We were in trouble in that regard, man. I actually feel sorry for Kibio, man, because you come on and then come off. It is what it is, but we struggled to create. Midfield didn't really bring nothing to the table. The penalty was moving mad. We were poor on the transition and we've conceded two very cheap goals today. Well, yesterday, if I'm completely honest with you. Again, goals can be avoided. Every goal could be avoided. Nobody wants to concede, but for the best defensive team in the league and potentially in world football, we're definitely up there. The eight goals we've conceded this season, the majority of them have been unacceptable really now. It's obviously a spanner in the works because VAR gave Saliba a straight red, so it's not just Liverpool he's out for. What's that? Newcastle, Chelsea and Liverpool. So there's going to have to be some reshuffling. Personally, I'd love Tomi Assi to get fit and slap him centre-half. I think he could do a thing. Obviously, we've got other options. I think that would be it for me. But yeah, man, we were poor, innit? Nothing to really scream and shout about. If you can't create, if you're not winning the midfield battles, which I think was okay in that, but we're not winning the midfield battles or dominating. Both teams are cancelling each other out. We're not creating much. Havertz, to be fair, is working with scraps. Sterling's quite predictable on the right-hand side. I don't know what it was, but it felt like in the first half, I don't know what Arreola said, but it felt like they were onto Trosser in particular. They were really tight to him. I don't know what it was. The midfield, like I said, I actually want to see that midfield again. I actually was excited about that midfield. I've actually spent all week talking about that midfield. So maybe Mikel Arteta watches the platform, I don't know. And maybe if he does, he shouldn't listen to me, right? But I felt where the trade-off is in that, obviously, that's not the most creative midfield. I thought there'd be some physicality and all those kinds of things. Now I know Mikel Moreno, despite the fact he's got good passing range, he's Spanish, all of that kind of stuff, he's never been... He's the piano pusher. In the Spain squad, if you had Fabio Ruiz and him starting, Fabio Ruiz, the Jude Bellingham, he's the Declan Rice, but I felt he's got enough to pass the ball forward. Party and Rice enough as well, but there's a lack of guile there. Hindsight's a wonderful thing, but you do kind of somewhat wonder, would it have been good in hindsight to keep Trosser in there and maybe start Sterling Martinelli off the left-hand side, because they came... Martinelli came on anyways. Could you have played two of the three of Declan Rice, Partey, Moreno, put a young Ethan in there, see how he gets on if he's not doing anything that he's supposed to be doing creativity-wise, switch it up? Yeah, man, it's horrible, man. We weren't effective. You look at the first half, forgive me if I'm wrong, but Bournemouth had seven shots, two on target. We had three shots, none on target, people, which is quite crazy. Bournemouth had four corners. So yeah, man, we said we want football to return, and this is what's happened really and truly, man. This is what's happened. This is what's happened. Be careful what you wish for. All we can do is go again, man, really. We've got to go again on Tuesday against Shakhtar, got to go again against Liverpool. Just got to shake it out of our system because, again, we've got Shakhtar, Liverpool, Preston, Newcastle, Inter, Chelsea away. There's no time to feel safe for ourselves. Come the end of the game, Bournemouth obviously scored two goals, they had four shots on target, so they converted 50%. They had 13 shots, which, to a degree, in the first half, that kind of tells you we kind of shut them out, to a degree. We had one shot, we had six shots, sorry, one shot on target, four corners. Ultimately, it's been poor. Credit to Bournemouth because they've had a bit of a barren run. They've played some big games and been unlucky. They obviously got some other big games. They deserve their win. Do I think it's a bit harsh on Saliba potentially, but he's played stupid games. I don't think a good account of ourselves in midfield. We didn't bring nothing to the table in the final third, regardless of who is out there, which we have been doing with no Odegaard and all these guys. Now, of course, you look at Saliba's suspension now. We don't know how fully fit Martinelli is. Obviously, Zinchenko's back, but Zinchenko, Martinelli, Bakao, Saka, Odegaard, even Mikel Moreno's working his way back. Timba, there's a lot of question marks over fitness. You throw in Sterling and Gabourez, who's very different, but they're not really sharp and you start to wonder about the health of the squad. But yeah, man, credit to Bournemouth. They scored the goals. They kept the clean sheet. They got the three points. Opposite end of the table, Arsenal did nothing. It's even worse for me because you saw Spurs beat West Ham. You saw United turn it around. Unfortunately, this week, the comeback Kings, which is nobody else, couldn't do it, man. Yeah, I think I don't even know. You know what it is. I'm quite sad. When Arsenal don't win, I don't really care, man. I don't even know if City played yesterday or they played today or whatever. I think they played today, Sunday, actually. So we'll have to see. Of course, man, you know, well, I'd rather Liverpool beat Chelsea, but a draw would be perfect. But yeah, obviously, it would have been nice to have three points with that insurance policy going into the Liverpool game. All we have to do is get back now. I don't know what Mikel Ortega and the boys are going to plan, but if you want to win a league title, boy, that's your first defeat this season. That's your second defeat of 2024, which we need to remember and keep some context. All we can do is go again. Nothing went right yesterday. The midfield experiment, horrible. You know, the defensive display, generally horrible. You know, attacking display, horrible. Everything went wrong, really. And I'm not going to sit and say it's the worst performance in the world, like sack everybody and sell everybody. It weren't that. It was just, we've got to be honest, it was crap yesterday. There's no positives. There's nothing to take away from that. The only positive, if anything, would be more minutes in the leg for Mikel Moreno and his first start and more significant ones. And, you know, for a ground that's seen Saliba score a great goal previously, you know, where Mikel Ortega started his Arsenal managerial career, full circle moment for Kai Havertz. He's come a long way from that charity penalty, you know, last season and looks twice the player. It was horrible, isn't it, really? So what more can I say, people? All I can say is win, lose or draw. I'm always here to review the games and offer my thoughts. Big up you lot for tuning in and listening. Do me a favour and smash the like button. Do me a better favour and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, people. On that note, God bless you all. Stay safe, stay blessed. Peace.