Arsenal (H) - Post Game Thread

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Just a general point, because I Imagine everything’s been said (probably including this). Arsenal are a good team, better than last year, and it’s merely childish not to recognise it. Yes, they seemed to come for a point, but there’s nothing wrong with that from their point of view. And by the way, they were distinctly more threatening than us on the break, especially in the first half. They’d have happily taken the three.

No. It’s about something else. When a team as good as that resorts to dropping like flies all over the pitch faking injury, when their keeper takes as long as he possibly can, from early in the first half (not just in the last fifteen minutes of the game), fucking around with the placing of the ball, then changing his mind, and asking his full back — who was “injured and in agony” by the way not forty-five seconds before — to take it, when their players never back off as they are required to do from free kicks. Well, when a team as good as Arsenal do it I am genuinely shocked. If Luton do it, if Forest do it, no disrespect, but I kind of expect it. But a title challenger? Fuckin Ada!
If that is what modern football has become, then I’m out. I mean it. If City ever start doing that (which I don’t remember seeing, thank Christ), then I am out. After fifty five years, I am not going to go to the stadium, I’m not going to pay my money through the turnstile, I am not going to give it my full voice and my emotional energy, for that shit (and I won’t even begin on the nightmarish conditions to get to London from platform 13, the tube was closed when we got into St Pancras, and I was fucked if I was paying an Uber or a cab, so I walked home across London for about an hour, but hey, that‘s by the by, and nothing to do with football).
But if that’s what the football that I grew up with has come to, then I’m definitely out of love with the game, and it’s time for a divorce. Thank God City haven’t started doing it.

 

[vincent]

This summer's recruitment is vital if we're going to stay on top of the pile. This squad peaked last year and a few key components have gone, others are coming towards the end of their careers. Hopefully Bobb and Lewis can keep progressing too.

Yeah recruitment has been poor the last couple of seasons. Phillips on a 6 year deal was just insane and Nunes getting hardly any minutes when he cost over 50m is poor.

 

[JTFactsPlz]

Some fucking stupid and entitled takes on this thread, such as:

Worst game of the season (Villa away anyone?)
Haaland needs selling
Kev needs selling
We have “no creative players”

What drugs are some of you on?

We’ve been decimated by injuries to key players this season, had a poor summer transfer window, straight out of an international break, with a situation where some players are fatigued and others aren’t match fit yet. Arsenal turned up to park the bus with an excellent defence and fucked their own title hopes up in the process.

Before I turn to the players I’m looking at Pep, coaching and medical staff this season:

Rushing players back from injury when they’re not ready and getting injured again.
Nullifying creative players (we have quite a few in case anyone missed last season) eg as some others have mentioned, no solution to parked buses, few players wanting to take long range shots.
Nullifying Haaland in the process.
Playing Alvarez in midfield over and over again. But also not subbing him on for Haaland when things aren’t working.
Giving Walker all the minutes he clearly demanded even though it’s not always worked.
Spending the first half of the season experimenting with odd line-ups and ceding control.
Favouring Doku over Grealish even when the latter was fit earlier in the season.
Corners and set pieces still below par.
Taking Phil off instead of Kev yesterday.
Not managing Kev’s minutes properly - he was excellent returning from a break.
Underusing Rico and Bobb at certain points.

Things haven’t been clicking properly all season, something is off and no I don’t think we will win the League. But I’m not going to start off by digging out the players for much of what hasn’t been going smoothly. We’ve got an excellent squad, I don’t think they’re being used all that well at the moment.

Great analysis.

For me, the extent to which Pep gets an almost total pass for plenty of suspect decisions this season is... questionable, at least. It's almost like, when it comes to the league, he's been a bit bored so he's tried things for the hell of it. Quite often, this hasn't really worked out. A lot of his choices have really puzzled/pissed me off this season.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Some fucking stupid and entitled takes on this thread, such as:

Worst game of the season (Villa away anyone?)
Haaland needs selling
Kev needs selling
We have “no creative players”

What drugs are some of you on?

We’ve been decimated by injuries to key players this season, had a poor summer transfer window, straight out of an international break, with a situation where some players are fatigued and others aren’t match fit yet. Arsenal turned up to park the bus with an excellent defence and fucked their own title hopes up in the process.

Before I turn to the players I’m looking at Pep, coaching and medical staff this season:

Rushing players back from injury when they’re not ready and getting injured again.
Nullifying creative players (we have quite a few in case anyone missed last season) eg as some others have mentioned, no solution to parked buses, few players wanting to take long range shots.
Nullifying Haaland in the process.
Playing Alvarez in midfield over and over again. But also not subbing him on for Haaland when things aren’t working.
Giving Walker all the minutes he clearly demanded even though it’s not always worked.
Spending the first half of the season experimenting with odd line-ups and ceding control.
Favouring Doku over Grealish even when the latter was fit earlier in the season.
Corners and set pieces still below par.
Taking Phil off instead of Kev yesterday.
Not managing Kev’s minutes properly - he was excellent returning from a break.
Underusing Rico and Bobb at certain points.

Things haven’t been clicking properly all season, something is off and no I don’t think we will win the League. But I’m not going to start off by digging out the players for much of what hasn’t been going smoothly. We’ve got an excellent squad, I don’t think they’re being used all that well at the moment.

Get off here with pin point analysis.
Only Sunday League clichés allowed!

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Liverpool will drop points for sure but we are unlikely to win the next nine. I hope we can still do it and I haven't thrown in the towel just yet but thinking about it logically all things considered we probably won't.

It’s become more difficult. It’s still eminently possible.
Funnily enough, I’ve got a feeling we’ll just miss out on the title, but win the FA Cup, and win a second Champions League.

 

[Tolmie scores]

Hard to see us play out a 0-0 without much goal threat. We look solid enough, apart from a couple of odd occasions giving the ball away in our own half.

Kdb and Foden weren't at it today, and the team suffered for it.

We're an amazing team, but we need a extra lift going into the business end.

Int'ls fked us..Foden played out wide yesterday and was clearly fked..Stone - huge miss, Walker does have a Prescence, again a big miss.. Not having Eddy - basically Arsenal were playing our weakest side for years and they could hardly string two passes together. Haaland is definitely made for a counter attacking team - that's not us sadly - said from the moment it was rumored he was coming - ''Don't think he's for us'' Like the lad just not a good fit..everyone goes on about 52 goals - but loads of flat track goals - and we scored more season before he came!!

 

[City Raider]

Sounds stupid but despite our unbeaten run, we’re not clicking like previous seasons, something just off. I can’t remember our goal difference being this low after so many games under Pep.

 

[SamBlue]

Arteta came not to lose the game at any cost and he achieved it reasonably easy. That's how low our performances fell and their has risen that he was able to keeps us at arms length. I actually admire him how he did it yesterday. One L. draw and they will be first on goal difference and confident they will outgun them for the rest of the season. But what Pep wanted to achieve yesterday I have no fecking clue apart continuing smashing the largest square peg into the tinniest round hole. But it is a good start not coming out every single opportunity saying it is next to impossible to win four in a row. That squad looks they cannot wait for the season to end giving feck if they win something or not - and we are not winning CL with Pep in this mindset. We literally haven't won a single game all season against the opposition who came against us.
I was slaughtered here after L. game saying we have 5% to win the league, now it is 0.001% and now I include CL there.

 

[east2]

This might sound odd but I'm more pissed of with the way the gooners played !
We are finding it more difficult to brake down the bus this season, no doubt about that.

I was not expecting a team going for the title to play like, to come up against City with a reserve keeper a make shift back four, and still shit the bed.

I bet Pep and the players werent expecting that !

I dont think we played bad just that if we are just 1% of our game these anti football teams have a chance.

I guess I feel abit pissed of because I was hoping for a good game of football regardless of the score. Arsenal werent interested in that.

I hate the dippers but they have ago. Arsenal are cowards.

Still along way to go CTID

I agree that they played not to get beat yesterday, but they have taken 5 points off us this season, switch it round and I’m sure we’d be all happy with an extra 3 points right now…

 

[give it to gordon]

Just a general point, because I Imagine everything’s been said (probably including this). Arsenal are a good team, better than last year, and it’s merely childish not to recognise it. Yes, they seemed to come for a point, but there’s nothing wrong with that from their point of view. And by the way, they were distinctly more threatening than us on the break, especially in the first half. They’d have happily taken the three.

No. It’s about something else. When a team as good as that resorts to dropping like flies all over the pitch faking injury, when their keeper takes as long as he possibly can, from early in the first half (not just in the last fifteen minutes of the game), fucking around with the placing of the ball, then changing his mind, and asking his full back — who was “injured and in agony” by the way not forty-five seconds before — to take it, when their players never back off as they are required to do from free kicks. Well, when a team as good as Arsenal do it I am genuinely shocked. If Luton do it, if Forest do it, no disrespect, but I kind of expect it. But a title challenger? Fuckin Ada!
If that is what modern football has become, then I’m out. I mean it. If City ever start doing that (which I don’t remember seeing, thank Christ), then I am out. After fifty five years, I am not going to go to the stadium, I’m not going to pay my money through the turnstile, I am not going to give it my full voice and my emotional energy, for that shit (and I won’t even being on the nightmarish conditions to get to London from platform 13, the tube was closed when we got into St Pancras, and I was fucked if I was paying an Uber or a cab, so I walked home across London for about an hour, but hey, that‘s by the by, and nothing to do with football).
But if that’s what the football that I grew up with has come to, then I’m definitely out of love with the game, and it’s time for a divorce. Thank God City haven’t started doing it.

You put it better than I could. I travel from ramsgate in kent. And games like that put me of going.

 

[SiMCFC]

Had a watch back this Morning, still as frustrated as Yesterday at the match.

What the fuck do our set piece coaches actually coach through the week? We are shit at corners and free kicks, it's almost embarrassing how little we seem to threaten from the amount of corners we actually win most games.

 

[give it to gordon]

Oddly enough my gooner mate hasnt even texted me. Perhaps he feels to embarrassed lol

 

[oakiecokie]

Fucking Shearer did my head in last night describing Arsenals tactics and defending as brilliant.
Erm any fucker who parks the bus and constantly has eleven men behind the ball can thwart even the best of teams.
However he did say that he still believes that City will go on and win the PL.

 

[tonea2003]

Nothing to do with the opposition , that's a weak argument.

Teams have played like that against us for the best part of a decade, we no longer have the players to defeat systems like that.

We dominate the ball yet create little.

We have the best finisher in the world, yet don't play to his strengths.

We ARE Predictable, that's just fact this season, we have become incredibly dull and frustrating.

And to add, it's no surprise we are linked with numerous wide, fast, pacy players for this summer window

not having that mate we can agree to disagree, you cant play to erlings strengths when he has little to no space and especially when the roughhouse tactics were allowed to go unpunished by that twat taylor

it looks boring because a back 10 is difficult to break down, we are victims of our success and our undoubted quality.
doku was bought for this reason.

arsenal have quality players and to play like they did makes it incredibly difficult to break down, there was no lack of trying on our part but kova as good as he is slows us right down and i thought the change for doku took too long

 

[Matt Diablo]

Our record v top 5 this season is really poor. We have been underwhelming with hardly any shots on goal this season way too much also. So only being 3 points behind with 9 to go is some achievement in squeezing the shite out of games which we have done alot.

Only Erling and Phil as goal scorers is way off the mark compared to scouse knutz who have a handful of goal scorers in their squad. Goals win matches and as Keane said yesterday Erling looked like a div 2 striker yesterday with no service.

Bernardo said something along the lines a few months back - we get paid very well but have to play every 3 days. Basically unsustainable and energy/ performance levels will drop. He is right. MOM for me though yesterday - be a massive loss this summer obvs.

 

[Keeper!]

not having that mate we can agree to disagree, you cant play to erlings strengths when he has little to no space and especially when the roughhouse tactics were allowed to go unpunished by that twat taylor

it looks boring because a back 10 is difficult to break down, we are victims of our success and our undoubted quality.
doku was bought for this reason.

arsenal have quality players and to play like they did makes it incredibly difficult to break down, there was no lack of trying on our part but kova as good as he is slows us right down and i thought the change for doku took too long

Big sides have to play against packed defences that always been the case.

We used to have players that could defeat those tactics, Sane, Sterling, Mahrez, KDB, Spanish Dave, Gundo, not sure we do have anymore.

We are so short of pace.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Arteta came not to lose the game at any cost and he achieved it reasonably easy. That's how low our performances fell and their has risen that he was able to keeps us at arms length. I actually admire him how he did it yesterday. One L. draw and they will be first on goal difference and confident they will outgun them for the rest of the season. But what Pep wanted to achieve yesterday I have no fecking clue apart continuing smashing the largest square peg into the tinniest round hole. But it is a good start not coming out every single opportunity saying it is next to impossible to win four in a row. That squad looks they cannot wait for the season to end giving feck if they win something or not - and we are not winning CL with Pep in this mindset. We literally haven't won a single game all season against the opposition who came against us.
I was slaughtered here after L. game saying we have 5% to win the league, now it is 0.001% and now I include CL there.

Can you show your workings?

 

[blueparrot]

Just a general point, because I Imagine everything’s been said (probably including this). Arsenal are a good team, better than last year, and it’s merely childish not to recognise it. Yes, they seemed to come for a point, but there’s nothing wrong with that from their point of view. And by the way, they were distinctly more threatening than us on the break, especially in the first half. They’d have happily taken the three.

No. It’s about something else. When a team as good as that resorts to dropping like flies all over the pitch faking injury, when their keeper takes as long as he possibly can, from early in the first half (not just in the last fifteen minutes of the game), fucking around with the placing of the ball, then changing his mind, and asking his full back — who was “injured and in agony” by the way not forty-five seconds before — to take it, when their players never back off as they are required to do from free kicks. Well, when a team as good as Arsenal do it I am genuinely shocked. If Luton do it, if Forest do it, no disrespect, but I kind of expect it. But a title challenger? Fuckin Ada!
If that is what modern football has become, then I’m out. I mean it. If City ever start doing that (which I don’t remember seeing, thank Christ), then I am out. After fifty five years, I am not going to go to the stadium, I’m not going to pay my money through the turnstile, I am not going to give it my full voice and my emotional energy, for that shit (and I won’t even begin on the nightmarish conditions to get to London from platform 13, the tube was closed when we got into St Pancras, and I was fucked if I was paying an Uber or a cab, so I walked home across London for about an hour, but hey, that‘s by the by, and nothing to do with football).
But if that’s what the football that I grew up with has come to, then I’m definitely out of love with the game, and it’s time for a divorce. Thank God City haven’t started doing it.

Thought the same about Arsenal sitting in, but this analysis from Nedum was very good.Basically say they didn't come to park the bus, we forced them, but then they did it extremely well.

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

We’ve been shit for most of the season and don’t really deserve the title.

Just a shame the murderers are going to win it. Wouldn’t really bother me if Arsenal won the league.

 

[Sheik Battle and Goal]

Just a general point, because I Imagine everything’s been said (probably including this). Arsenal are a good team, better than last year, and it’s merely childish not to recognise it. Yes, they seemed to come for a point, but there’s nothing wrong with that from their point of view. And by the way, they were distinctly more threatening than us on the break, especially in the first half. They’d have happily taken the three.

No. It’s about something else. When a team as good as that resorts to dropping like flies all over the pitch faking injury, when their keeper takes as long as he possibly can, from early in the first half (not just in the last fifteen minutes of the game), fucking around with the placing of the ball, then changing his mind, and asking his full back — who was “injured and in agony” by the way not forty-five seconds before — to take it, when their players never back off as they are required to do from free kicks. Well, when a team as good as Arsenal do it I am genuinely shocked. If Luton do it, if Forest do it, no disrespect, but I kind of expect it. But a title challenger? Fuckin Ada!
If that is what modern football has become, then I’m out. I mean it. If City ever start doing that (which I don’t remember seeing, thank Christ), then I am out. After fifty five years, I am not going to go to the stadium, I’m not going to pay my money through the turnstile, I am not going to give it my full voice and my emotional energy, for that shit (and I won’t even begin on the nightmarish conditions to get to London from platform 13, the tube was closed when we got into St Pancras, and I was fucked if I was paying an Uber or a cab, so I walked home across London for about an hour, but hey, that‘s by the by, and nothing to do with football).
But if that’s what the football that I grew up with has come to, then I’m definitely out of love with the game, and it’s time for a divorce. Thank God City haven’t started doing it.

I thought Arsenal’s game plan and general shithousery tactics for potential PL champions was pathetic.