List of needs for Arsenal: - Striker - Saka backup/competition - Someone who can play the left 8 properly (should've been Havertz but he has been poor there this season)

MØ and Saliba can fly home with their heads held high, only players fit to wear the badge today. MØ was swamped with 3/4 Bayern players the second he got on the ball and he worked his socks off. Saka unable to beat the first man with the last kick of the game sums us up tonight. Toothless! I fully agree Jim!

Perfectly said a lot of system players no individual brilliance

Flav on this weeks JAFFN episode: “got to go hasn’t he?”… we’re mudded.

I feel Arteta needs to take some blame for tonight for not rotating enough over the last month or so. We've had a full compliment of players (bar Timber) available but he has hardly used them and as a result the first XV look absolutely shagged. Partey has hardly played and is such an intrinsic part of our atttacking play but Arteta has seemingly refused to use him, favouring Jorginho's more cautious control over Partey's direct linking of the midfield to the attack and I think Odegaard has suffered as a result. Smith Rowe, Vieira and Tomiyasu have been available since February. Saka, White, and Rice can barely run and it's played a huge role in tonight's result and to a lesser degree the Villa defeat.

saka passing the ball when we could have had the last shot in the game sums up the problem, just no one in our team wants the responsibility

That jesus moment even as a neutral is so frustrating hes gotta bury it If u drop toney watkins osimhen kane haland etc they win that tie and maybe the whole thing

Another Der Klassiker final? We will be there.

yeah bayern deserved it, id absolutely love tuchel to pull out another champions league masterclass, if he can beat real madrid then they have a massive opportunity and id absolutely love kane to get his hands on a champions league

I have never seen a team of players back out of every challenge. Havertz is literally scared of any contact.

great analysis jim

James is my favorite creator hands down, sometimes i have taken personally the criticism towards Arsenal not to say the number of videos he has made giving praise to Arteta's tactics in The Premiere League which is why when I saw the title I was a bit pissed but as I went though the video I realized I witnessed all of this yesterday by my own eyes so I cant deny it, in the big chances our players needed to bury it and they just didnt!

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!!!!!! Arsenal lacked the killer instinct and mentality to win the game. All World class teams have this, Man city, bayern, real madrid, barcelona....they all win not because they are that good but because of their unwavering mentality. I personally think Arsenal is better than very many teams in Europe, all they lack is that mentality and drive and killer instinct to win important games. Individual brilliance is lacking. They need to learn that when the game plan fails, its up to you as players to produce one moment of brilliance. That is what De bruyne did and that is what Kimmich did. That is what makes you great. Like you said, their belief is/was tested in this game, and well, we saw what happened. They are not yet there mentally. Hopefully Arteta can instill this in his players. They will get there.

Raya - a good prem keeper, not on the level of the best in Europe White - a solid up and down right back, doesn’t particularly impact the game like some of the best full backs in Europe Gabriel & Saliba - great when part of a system but have shown at times when expose that they aren’t on a truly truly elite level Tomiyasu - solid player, playing out of possession but Arsenal lack a quality left back Rice - world class talent, but can’t do everything Odegaard - a part of a system who can provide world class moments Jorginho - good controller but past his best and doesn’t bring anything outside of his basic role Saka - still only 22 and drastically over performing his xG and xAG. A lot of pressure on him when he’s clearly not the finished article yet, despite what the G/A tell the average viewer Havertz - Jack of all trades, master of none. Definition of a luxury player. Arsenal desperately need a striker Martinelli - similarly to Saka except his purple patch lasted 1 year rather than 2. Been relied upon too heavily in the past for a player still developing his game Arteta - still forging his own style away from the influences of Pep Even as a Liverpool fan, why are people (especially Arsenal fans) expecting Arsenal to suddenly be world class? They’ve got half a team of players good enough to be challenging for titles and the other half including the manager are still finding their feet in their roles. The issue with clubs with such recent history of success in the TV era such as Chelsea, Arsenal and Man United is that their reputation, expectation and fan base drag them down at every occasion. Time will tell whether Arteta’s mind and Kroenke’s deep pockets can change that narrative

Same problem in the Villa game and we had before the start of the year.

The fact that we went one-nil down in the 63rd min and did not muster a single shot on goal in half an hour says everything you need to know about the mentality of our players and Arteta's tactical adaptiveness.

It’s crazy that they set a record for goals scored in consecutive games like a month ago, they were blasting teams away for a sustained period.

This might be a bad take but I genuinely think our best “striker” is Nketiah, he’s a natural goalscorer. Havertz is better at the press and link up, Jesus is better at the dribbling side but unfortunately that’s not what we need. I’d love to see Arteta rotate Nelson in instead of Saka sometimes too as I think he’s much more direct

We need some forward superstars to win games on their own when it’s ultra tactical and tight. The only goals we seem to score are well worked and well coached moves, or well coached set pieces. We need individual brilliance on the big occasion.

sounds really cliché but I think we're tired. Villa beat us because we didnt keep our press up for 90 minutes, and it really didnt help that we were too tired to press for most of that game. The lads need a proper holiday

Jim, great analysis! Your channel is one of the best footy analysis channels on KZfaq. As an Arsenal fan, I’m proud of the team and how far we’ve come. Still have to grow. Arteta has said the club needs to be ruthless, interested to see what comes this summer. I think the squad needs are clear. Also how big of baller is Musiala?

well said and yep we now need a player who can win a game by himself while the team still suffocates the opponent as usual

It's summed up perfectly. I always said that this team relied so much on system (credit on arteta) and they lacked that magical moment in them. There's no one, apart from ødegaard and saka from last season that gonna said "give me the ball and i will make something to happens". Also there's a lot of bad decision making upfront, whether trossard missed an absolutely sitter against villa, havertz always tries to pass the ball, and martinelli kick the ball straight at neuer. Seriously, arteta gonna kill himself if he's so brickheaded for not signing prolific striker again this summer

Thank you for the honesty, most fans don't want to see the truth because of their faves

James, havertz has scored a champions league winning goal. Let us not forget that in our review of him as a personality!

what football app do u use

The best analysis so far arsenal are a very well coached team but our players are bang average , Saka martinelli and havertz are very average. The sooner arsenal fans realize the better

I must concede. Arsenal only has 3 world class players. Ødegaard, Rice and Saliba. Saka has the potential to become one. Martinelli... Not so sure. Arteta is a brilliant manager. Reminds me a lot of Wenger making use of average players to achieve way beyond average. I mean, look at most of the players that have come in recently. Most of them were deemed surplus to requirements at their former clubs. Trossard, Jorginho, Jesus, Zinchenko, Havertz. We must begin to make statement signings. Signings like the Declan Rice signing. And the first one this summer must be a striker.

I think that sums it up quite well: Martinelli and Saka are regressing (at least not improving); too tired??. Jesus hasn't been the same since his injury, Havertz is a useful player but not a striker. N'Ketiah haven't been able to take that step up etc...there's money to be spent in the summer...ans spent wisely

Could not have put it better myself james

I don't think we can play our game for a full 90 at this point. Team looked dead on their feet in the second half. Same against Villa. Similar to last season, City's ability to rotate will win them the league I reckon. And yeah we bottled it last year but i think stronger depth is needed. Plus a proper no.9

Coming from your Man City video, it's like Arsenal had 3 Erling Haalands playing up front 😂

The team played great all season but you have to remember this is only the second time this team have been in a title race, and the first time they've been in the Champions League. Reaching the quarter finals in your first Champions League is not bad, it took City 6 or 7 tries to win it. But ppl will pile on and overreact like always because when its Arsenal everyone loves piling on

The players and manager will grow from this. With a killer striker and back up for Saka I have no doubt we will be contenders again.

Bayern dominated the ball in the second half, and didn't really need to do much to win the game. Hard truth. Arsenal offered nothing, and after the goal their players looked shell-shocked and devoid of any ideas. The Kimmich header was sensational though it has to be said, one of the best headed goals in recent memory.

Saka needs to improve technically and be more aggressive as a goal scorer. Its frustrating because he has shown glimpses of being that game winner but when push comes to shove he never wants to be the game winner. He needs more arrogance

No apologies for the team we just weren’t good enough. But rice white saka looked knackered. I think arteta needs to manage minutes better

Very apt analysis. Players have to take a bit of responsibility too.

It’s not even a hammering us its just james feeling bad for us

Trossard did the same v Villa on Sunday, had 3/4 of the goal to aim for, a simple pass into the net from 5m's, but froze up and aimed centre, hitting the GK. Ben White v Bayern 1st leg, had a chance to put us 2-0 up, but he's a defender so is not expected to be a cool, calm, collected finisher. The difference at this level, in the tight games when a chance occurs, the top dogs score them. This team has to win something next year, even a domestic cup to get this 'won nothing' monkey off their back, or it will become a King Kong and the best of them will seek honours some where else. Arteta has overall done wonders for the club, but after 4 yrs & 420m, to have Havertz, Jesus and Nketiah as our CF's is poor management.

The biggest reason we lost is poor condition. Saka was exhausted. Odegaard for all of his pressing was exhausted and could barely get on the ball. Rice was poor and could barely keep it in control. White could hardly run up the line to support any attacks. Jesus and martinelli being in and out with injuries isn’t helpful and I don’t know how much that comes down to rotation, but it’s pretty clear the team is tired and running out of ideas. Not surprising our best run of form came directly after the warm weather training vacation

i’m an arsenal fan and when i saw jesus coming on i knew we had lost the match. watching him jog around allowing bayern’s defense time to think and compose themselves was aggregating

Blaming "killer instinct" is the most viable way to find reason after a loss. Yes, but in the end, this is all you got. The team is too consumed with EPL race. And after a surprising but costly lost to Aston Villa, it's hard to focus on Champions League

I wad thinking - Why not switch odegaard to the left. Kai to the right, just play without striker. They did play a bit of that last season.

I’d like to know what everyone is so upset about. Did you all really think we were going to waltz into champions league our first time in X amount of years with a 24-year-old team and win the damned thing? Same with the league. Did you all think we were going to win our last 8 games to make it something like 17 in a row to win the league? C’mon folks. Be real. This season is much better than last. We have champions league money to help with our finances, and looks like we will have it again next year. That will help us build a stronger team. It took Pep like seven times to the champions league before he won it. Stay patient, and stay supportive. If we keep improving every year, we will get there.

Eric Dier knocking Arsenal out of the Champions League will never not be funny

A sad day for James his favourite team mudded

They deserve praise when they earn it and criticism when they don't. The last 2 games have been absolute rubbish. Unsure why the players suddenly collapse and crumble at this stage every year? Every team faces fatigue. Look at Villa. They played a day after us in europe and looked brand new unlike us. Today we respected a Bayren team that has been awful all year. This tie was lost in the first leg when we gave Bayren 2 soft goals.

the jesus chance had me almost break my tv… altho in hindsight he did stray offside, what was brother even doing man…

Should have picked up Cole Palmer, guy is a match winner

We really need a backup for Saka. He keeps getting ragged on online, but give him a break. He plays way too much. Look what happened to Pedri and others

Arsenal need a striker who can score. I like Jesus because of his chase and press but we need him to score more goals instead.

As a Spurs it really brings a tear to my eye to see Kane And Eric knock Arsenal😂

The reason is we planned for a midfield trio of Rice, Partey & Odegaard for this season. Which we got to play ZERO times.

Jesus is a good player who will link midfield to attack. But he will never be clinical enough or play as a 9 for a CL or PL winning team

Unpopular opinion, if Auba and Pepe were still part of this team we would be talking other stories.

As a tottenham fan, keep your heads up guys

6:31 Jim is right! The thing Arsenal are missing is Gaël Clichy.

I find it it funny how jesus and zinchenko revolutionised Arsenal last season, and now they are our weakest links 😭

Oh dear

Why don't they move Sake to the left or middle sometimes in the game I wonder. Clearly doubled by guerreiro and mazroui, if he goes left he at least binds Sane to him who is also not the best defensive..

Saka/Martinelli criticism is just pure silly. Martinelli is provided no service (switch ,ball in behind, creative midfielder by him, etc.) and Saka is expected to 1v1 every time when he has no runners at all. People only blame the ones with the ball for not succeeding bc thats the only thing they pay attention to.

Any difference between Emirates era Wenger and Arteta’s Arsenal? Guaranteed top 4 but crumble and never come close to actually winning the league, quarter finals of the champions league, and a chance of winning a league cup or fa cup

Arsenal lack that maverick/selfish player that on his own will terrify defenders, do something, unlock a cagey game. They have ballers, but all equally or more suited to being facilitators, and very unselfish. The key signing will be an Alexis Sanchez type (but of course someone who will still do the off-the-ball work).

Sure - a striker would be great. Right NOW, what Arsenal needs, is for one of those extremely capable attacking players to hone that “f*ckit-I’ll-do-it-myself” instinct that game-changers have. Henry had it in spades. Foden has it. De Bruyne has it. Lacazette and Alexis had it. Ozil didn’t have it. Odegaard doesn’t really have it, although with more courage and a quicker trigger he most certainly could have it… Martinelli kinda has it, but I think he’s forgotten where he put it. Trossard kinda has a lite version of it, and that is why he is an effective impact sub. Jesus has everything except the finish. The skillz. The desire. The attitude. No composure in front of goal. How do they acquire this skill? By playing fearlessly. Not being afraid of trying, and failing. Being encouraged to take their chances. Not sure that having a HAALAND (if there even is another to be had) is the answer… We need our Odegaards and Havertzes and Rices to morph into Bergkamps, Fabregases and Pireses: players who want to see the net rippling, and not their assist stats climbing. Great post though. Really enjoying your analysis.

Players like Saka are playing poor because Arteta never rests or rotates. He doesn't trust or use his squad effectively. He didn't learn anything from last season, it's the same point as last season where Arsenal are hitting the wall

We keep falling back in to that lack of ruthless clinical finishing. Arteta has made the "team" great but he is not bringing out the individual brilliance in our forward players. They have plateau'd

Pray for Arsenal.

Again, top of the top when it comes to football analysis. You take everything into account, hard line, patterns, emotion, coaching

Game was lost in the first leg - Arsenal were clearly on top and Ben white had a massive chance to make it 2-0 and then went on to concede from two mistakes. It is what it is but it wasn’t the second leg that has cost us

A conversation needs to happen regarding Saka.... He's good....but he's not ELITE, and time again, his choices are damaging his team!

Jesus isn't good enough as a No. 9. Absolutely, when it matters, Arsenal was toothless, lacking killers in front of goal.

Kai is a player with great intellegent run, but with no clinical tendency. Seems that even modern football no matter what the game plan is, chaos (gegen or counter) and possession, still needing for goal scorers 😂

I mean City squandered more big chances than Arsenal did, no? So the individual bravery and brilliance didn't con through either. At least if we talk second legs of the two ties

They’re just not as good as their fans think, spent much more than Bayern have as well

Didn’t Havertz score the winner in the UCL final? Wasn’t that Chelsea team much worse than this Arsenal team? Of course I agree with James about Arsenal being toothless but I think it is worth pointing out you can have these flaws and still make it work like a Klopp or Ferguson have in the past, having an absolutely flawless efficient killing machine of a squad with 2 world class players in every position is the Guardiola way to guarantee trophies but those teams are still a bit of an exception and still usually lose to worse teams in the late stages of the UCL (like they just did lol). Also, wasn’t Eric Dier playing CB for Munich? That should have evened out Jesus and Martinelli being a bit shit lol

Right now Arsenal were what city were the season before haaland. If they get osimhen they’ll be man city 2.0

why is everyone hating on Martinelli . He legit had a better game Saka and Havertz. Both of them were just terrible

Bosh

Couldn’t agree more with you Jim. We were absolutely pathetic tonight and Arteta needs to take accountability along with the players. £65m on Havertz who produces nothing. Saka was an absolute joke and has been out of form for WEEKs but has no competition… why? Because £65m was wasted on Havertz, £100k a week was given to Nketiah, Nelson was given a new deal to sit on the bench week on week because he’s no where near this level. Jesus signed a couple seasons ago to be our Aubameyang and Lacazette replacement but “goals aren’t his strong suit” which HE admitted. So many poor decisions from the players and manager. As you mention Jim MOMENTS MATTER! And in the key moments the players make the wrong decisions, the manager makes the wrong substitutions and ultimately we’ve come up short AGAIN. We spoke on one of your livestreams on discord a number of years ago and I wanted Arteta gone and you raised a great point about the contract mess at Arsenal which on reflection you were bang on about but we’ve fixed that problem and then created an even worse problem with horrendous recruitment. Havertz, Viera, Nelson, Nketiah, Cedric, Kiwior, Mari, Zinchenko, Jesus.. all bought or resigned by Arteta and are not good enough to get us over the line in their respective positions. Lost for words. 4 years trophy less. It’s harsh but he’s the Spanish Brendan Rodgers. He’s done amazing things to get us out a mess but I don’t think he’s good enough to get us over the line, it reminds me of Rodgers at Liverpool and Klopp came in and took them from strength to strength.

Toothless is your first name

Simple, they don’t have game winners

They just can’t get over the line in a European competition

They dont have a plan B

"give us bayern" "pray for Bayern"

Anyone who thinks artetta should leave is dull

Gutted but expected unfortunately

"It is the history of the Arsenal"

Jim I’m not in the mood for the click bait title at the moment

I think you’re extremely harsh to Arsenal! First time back in the Champions League and reached the quarters against a Bayern side who are constantly in the competition. City is a way worse loss, they won the competition last season and were favourites this season. Why aren’t they put under the same microscope, they completely bottled it. Doesn’t matter how many passes you play if you can can’t put the ball in the net. You’ve given City a free pass when it’s them who were expected to win the competition. Arsenal were never expected to reach the Semi’s let alone the final. I’d like to your analysis on City.

Two former Spurs players booting out Arsenal of the CL and one of them is Eric Dier 😂

‏‪1:34‬‏ city were the better side over the tie but were unlucky they dominated the game it's less down to individual abilities.

You didn’t even mention Sakas quick freekick. Perfect position to score and you do that

The goal was a chaos goal. As Raya makes a save and the ball lands to a Bayern player. So don't put that on arsenal. Yes arsenal also had chaos but didn't capitalise on it. Bro please don't go alone with your ESPN crap.

Eric Dier 👏👏

How are you going to talk about these two key examples and not even know who havertz passes to/what he does in one of them? Havertz is shit don’t get me wrong but you can’t watch the most important 30 seconds of the match for your argument one more time before hitting record? Cmon

Arsenal fans. Talk to me

Everywhere they go. Arsey.

Lots of Arsenal fans including myself wanted to route for Havertz, but deep down we all know hes terrible, literally can’t to anything with the ball at his feet

Let's stop pretending Arteta has made Havertz a good player just based on a couple of good months.