I don’t tend to attack officials, but in a game of paper-thin lines, every decision counts. Today, things did not fall in favour of Unai Emery’s Arsenal. Two penalty decisions ruined an almost flawless execution of a peak-Mourinho-Chelsea game plan.
The first decision came when Xhaka gifted Spurs a freekick in a dangerous area. The well-delivered cross flew dangerously close to Harry Kane 8 yards out, Mustafi identified the threat late and leaned in with a nudge the ref saw. The penalty was awarded, but on closer inspection, it was clear that our defence had held its line really well, with Harry Kane clearly offside. Even worse, the linesman was behind the play half a yard. The penalty was never in doubt.
The next penalty fell our way, Mikhi released Auba who was bundled over, the decision was no doubt dubious, but the award felt fair if you’re of the ‘it evens itself out’ mindset. Auba took the kick, taking a straight line run-up, Lloris guessed right and palmed the ball away, Vertonghen then ran back and blocked the second wave attack, clearing off the line. Again, on closer inspection, it was clear that Jan had encroached dramatically into the area. There aren’t many things you need to pay attention to on the penalty, so it’s baffling this was missed. You get the feeling there are important rules and those that are deemed not so important.
You have the two sides of the VAR coin on full display here. If the refs have assistants in the cloud, both penalties aren’t given. Sure, you lose some of the excitement, but ultimately, do you really care if the result is just? If the season finishes and Arsenal miss out on Champions League by 1 point, is it fair? I would always prioritise a fair result over excitement. Also, interested to see how VAR affects the dark arts of Spurs next season.
The shame of the bad decisions is it ruined a mostly excellent tactical execution. Emery started with Ramsey and Lacazette. He left LT on the bench. We opted to give Spurs possession so we could strike on the counter. The plan worked really well, Arsenal broke up play in their own box, Xhaka released a quick long ball to the halfway line, Spurs made a mess of the ball, Aaron was released, he powered through, took the ball past Lloris and narrowly squeezed the ball into the empty net. World class composure. I always think of Theo when players break on their own like that. Banter years PTSD.
We had some great chances to further our lead. Lacazette blazed a cut back shockingly wide. Iwobi got the better of Trippier, making space to curl a shot at the top corner, Lloris with a cat-like jump to deny him.
The subs at halftime made sense, Lucas was brought on to bring more solidity. Emery took Ramsey off fairly early for Ozil and Lacazette was switched out for the pace of Auba.
Our sharpshooter from Gabon didn’t have a great time of it, he fluffed his lines in front of goal and took a particularly shite penalty considering his quality, but it is what it is.
1 point is no disaster away to a very good Spurs side, but there’s a good chance that slip will cost us in the run for top four. Particularly if the result doesn’t go our way when we welcome United next week.
Overall though, we had a strong game. We accepted that going toe-to-toe with Spurs wasn’t going to bring home the bacon, we set traps for them all day and we defended like we actually cared about the clean sheet. Our players pressed like demons, they camped outside our box and all took personal accountability for doing their bit. Nacho was excellent, Kos used his experience well and Sokratis was a thorn in the side of Harry Kane all day. I really love the Greek, he’s a proper warrior, you’d never give him a parking ticket, would you?
Ultimately, it’s hard to account for players like Mustafi and to a lesser extent, Xhaka. You just know the German cannot resist making dim decisions. He’s always in there with an unsneaky nudge or a rash slide tackle. He simply cannot resist it, he started early yesterday, he makes the refs hyperaware what he’s up to and then decisions go against him. There’s also no obvious excuse, he doesn’t lack pace, he’s not young, he must have been told about this by coaches.
Xhaka is a slightly different beast because most of his poor expressions on the pitch are because he lacks pace. He’s constantly a yard behind the play and the only way he can counter that is with niggly fouls. The challenge you have with the Swiss is his ability to move play forward is unchallenged in the league, that long ball to the halfway line gave us an opening (even if it didn’t make its intended target directly). The club has to be looking at this as we head into the summer.
Next week is huge. I think it’s fair to say that Arsenal certainly do have a squad good enough to sustain a top 4 challenge. We’re right in the mix and it’s now March, it’s not in doubt. There can be no complaints we don’t have the squad. We are more than capable of beating United at home, I am even more certain of that after we nearly pulled off a masterclass against Spurs. If Southampton can get at them, we can.
The squad cannot feel sorry for themselves after being robbed today. We have to come back fighting and take the game to United. They have a fast frontline and two players that are expert at finding them on the break. We need to be smart and counter that threat. We also need a really fucking big performance from our two strikers to make up for today.
A few additional shoutouts. Bernd Leno is really starting to look like a good keeper. I don’t think the team has adapted to playing out the back, so it’s hard to judge his impact there. However, his double save was world class. We finally have a keeper that is capable of stopping the unexpected. That’s so valuable to the defence.
Additionally, let’s give Iwobi some props. He had a very good performance, he created chances, nearly scored, defended well and made a nuisance of himself. I also thought it was another superb game from Mikhi who is starting to look like value for money. He’s ambitious with his passing, he’s working hard for the team and he’s proving a far more decisive of late.
It’s all about United. This is essentially our #Top4 cup final. We have to come away with three points. Especially after United just beat Southampton with a very late United-ish winner.
Right, see you in the comments xxx
Stroller
I would keep Monreal for another season as he can play at left or centre back .
I agree that Chambers, Mustafi and Kosielny should be moved on …
Chambers is not up to the required level , Mustafi is error prone and Kosielny is likely to break down.
Sokratis, Holding and possibly Mavropanos should be part of the squad so maybe try and sign a top quality centre back and a left back as Kolasinac has little defensive awareness although excellent going forward .
Midfield and attack is dependent on how our young players progress .
You don’t need 50 millions for a competent central defender. You just need a good scouting system and be willing not to go with the usual parasitic agents.
West Ham bought Issa Diop and is now a well established in the centre of their defense.
Barcelona bought Saint Clair as a replacement for Pique.
RB Leipzig have both France U21 centre half, we could go for one of them.
On the other hand quality wingers are expensive, because there are few that are the complete package. Quick, hard working, technical, stamina and vision.
the problem of this club is the Goddamned owner…. if we could afford one quality player in each of of the pitch, it would have been great. but hell no, we cant. @how our young players progress. this topic always bugs me whenever I hear people talking about our young players. Are you expecting Nelson to come back from Loan and be on our starting xi???? no, he ain’t no rashford… all we need are quality players to stop this decline we are in right now…… if Tottenham makes top 4 ahead of us for another 3yrs…. then we are… Read more »
Sanchez stamp on Kos was spotted on camera but not by thge Ref. Will the FA take action?. Lets see
So many positives and a few continuing negatives. At the root of all the positives is unai emery. Team selection and tactics yesterday were flawless…laca could’ve sealed this game so on that basis the tactics worked. Emery is managing to get great spirit and performance from Ramsey…whether that’s Aarons professionalism or a combination of Emery’s motivation and Aarons own character is debatable, but suffice to say there’s no issue between the two. Let’s have some sensible assessment of emery here, he is a very good manager.. Time will tell whether he makes a great one or slides to mediocrity. We… Read more »
As for the Man United game Lukaku is now a big problem.
Nelson can come back and be that Rashford type all it’s taken is the manager believing in him. Giving him chances, I’m sure OGS has been working on Rashford and Lukaku in the finishing department recently.
And a confident Lukaku will be like Drogba against us.
On the flip side our forwards probably didn’t sleep that well last night. I’m hoping they are hungry next week. As for match of the day couldn’t bare watching the highlights again.
Pierre I think that Arsenal will buy a new left back this summer. There are too many rumours circulating about this position. More importantly there seem to be quite a number of good young players who could be available in the market. In the past to find a decent left back has been problematic so buying one now at the right price makes sense. Centre Back position is an entirely different proposition, because there is huge demand and an acute shortage of quality players available. Mavropanos may be a promising “squad” player, but you have to ask why Emery is… Read more »
Thought I had logged on to untold! Were the officials that bad today? I am not sure they were. First off Xhaka could and possibly have been sent off as could and should have a Spurs player.As for the sending off there really isn’t any doubt that it was correct The assistants position leading up to the Spuds penalty was 100% correct. He isn’t supposed to be in line with play he is required to be in line with the last defender, which he was. As for the awarding of the penalty and yes to a degree Kane being in… Read more »
Valentin
You need at least £40-50 million for a centre back of “proven performance”,
because that is what will be demanded.
Arsenal do not need to buy “potential” in that position, because we have got already Holding and Mavropanos on books who meet that criteria.
Man united do have an awfully hard run in to end the season.
If we can draw with united then smash all our easy games we should pip man united.
However I dont think we catch spurs, but it doesn’t matter top four is good enough
@Emirates, The fact that some of those players are not famous do not mean that they are good. When VDV was bought by Southampton they bought an already very good player. They backed their opinion and made a huge profit on him. I wish that we had bought him from Celtic instead of Mustafi for 5 times his price. There are a dearth of good central 27-30 years old defender. So they are overpriced. On the other hand, there are a lot of cheap, young defenders with experience in lower and foreign leagues. Already very good defenders some leadership quality,… Read more »
Pierre
It’s refreshing to read your surreal admission that our highest paid player isn’t good enough to play in the biggest games of the season.
Emery has been benching him for the same reason you just admitted to for the NLD.
He’s a once-been stealing a living from Arsenal.
Ozil used to be world class once upon a time, now he’s no more.
London
‘However I dont think we catch spurs, but it doesn’t matter top four is good enough’
Spurs have city away and Liverpool away, games that they will most certainly lose.
Of course we can still catch them.
Whatever it is by the look of it the race for tr4phy is still well and truly on. That’s why I’m not going through all those stages of grief yet and just want to enjoy the rest of the season however the outcome may be. Hopefully (((we))) will get enough fund to rebuild this squad to its former glory.
Dissenter
I’ve always said horses for courses and yesterday was not a game for skilful technical players ..look at Eriksen ( was he playing yesterday) .
Eriksen will receive no criticism for 90 minutes of nothing , whilst the know nothings on here will criticise Ozil for 10/15 minutes of kick and rush football.
Check out Šilo, a tiny village in Krk. I went in the 80s when it was still Yugoslavia. Stunning little place.
Terraloon??? You think the sending off was correct? He won the ball with the laces towards the ball. Was a pefect tackle. What the hell is wrong with some of you people? It wasn’t even a foul. He won the bloody ball and the spurs player ran into his boots Our penalty should have been retaken due to player infringement in the area before the ball was struck and Kane was offside for their penalty appeal. 3 major decisions called incorrectly which handed spurs an undeserved point. I’m hardly emery’s biggest advocate but the result was unfair on him. That… Read more »
“You need at least £40-50 million for a centre back of “proven performance”, because that is what will be demanded.“ This isn’t true, with good scouting you can acquire players capable of performing for much less that 50 mil. In fact I’d go so far as to say if we’re splashing that money with any regularity then we aren’t doing jack shit on the scouting front. We aren’t dining at the top table like City and co, 50 mil signings shouldn’t be on our radar unless the upside is supreme. We should be dominating the 10-25mil market of rough diamonds… Read more »
Valentin
As I said we have two promising young players on books plus Sokratis who was
a good value buy.
However, if we want a top class CB who is going to “upgrade” our backline then
you can be sure that it will cost £40-50 Million+
What you can of course do is buy him on an instalment plan.
Providing that Arsenal have 3 quality CBs on books you do not need 6 registered CBs as we had this year.
Or you can spend 30m on someone like Konate that we have been linked with, only 19 but already a lot of experience at the highest level in the bundesliga and europe. Has all the physical attributes and he’s fast, only bound to get better and could either play 12 years as a starter for us or we sell him on for a profit later. We don’t need a 27-30 yo starting CB when we already have Sokratis to fill that spot. Mavro is still inexperienced and we don’t know how he’ll turn out and Holding showed promise but we… Read more »
Pierre
Nice deflection by the way.
Eriksen will be sold for a boat load of money this summer because there are big clubs queuing for his services.
You have to wonder why no one was knocking on our doors for Ozil.
Our best player isn’t good enough to play when the big games are on. Yet he has you to thank for being his devotee.
Wait for it… Pierre’s going to ask us how it was possible for Ozil’s team to negotiate a 350k a week if ‘no one else was interested in him’.
week deal*
Emery came through his severest test yet splendidly. A draw away to Spurs is never a bad result, and Arsenal were unlucky not to get all three points. Spurs players are suffering from a lack of self-belief, and for a man-manager of Poch’s calibre, that is unacceptable. The odds are he will leave in the summer. Solksjaer seems to have slammed the Man U job shut on Poch. Will he make the giant leap to Real Madrid? Certainly a possibility. For sure he will be looking for a Club accustomed to winning titles, and with the money to do that.… Read more »
Reframing draws against “the scum” as a good result…not if you should have won the game at a canter, it isn’t. “It’s the refs”. That’s an Arsene classic. 10-2 to Bayern but it was THAT penalty, right?
Arsenal fans have finally become the new scouse schleppers.
United will not exactly be quaking like a French soldier.
@Emirates, My point is that very good defenders will cost more like 55~70 millions. Arsenal cannot afford that price for a single defenders. Experienced 27~30 years defenders costing between 40 and 50 millions are in my opinion not worth their price. Most do not dramatically improve the defence, cost a lot money, want huge wage and have no resale value. Mustafi cost 35 millions. In today’s crazy valuation we would pay 45 millions for him. Is he worth it? I don’t think so. Players in that bracket would be exactly like him. Good (I don’t rate Mustafi, but on his… Read more »
DissenterMarch 3, 2019 11:05:24 “Pierre It’s refreshing to read your surreal admission that our highest paid player isn’t good enough to play in the biggest games of the season. Emery has been benching him for the same reason you just admitted to for the NLD. He’s a once-been stealing a living from Arsenal. Ozil used to be world class once upon a time, now he’s no more.” As far as the modern game is concerned, the Ozil-type of player is a relic of a lost age. These days, creative players are also required to be exceptional athletes. No denying his… Read more »
There are millions of footballers worldwide who don’t and won’t cost £55-£70m.
Arsenal just aren’t looking in the right places.
I’d say the championship probably has 20+ defenders better than Mustafa.
I’m not blaming the terrible decisions for our dropped points as we had more than enough chances and should have been 3 if not 4 up before Kane’s offside penalty.
But I’m a passionate Arsenal fan and those terrible decisions add insult to injury and could cost us £50m. It’s unacceptable because we can’t legislate for bad misses but with VAR and replays etc we can legislate for shocking incompetent refereeing and I question any Arsenal fan’s passion for not being pissed off that despite our own lack of quality we were robbed of a win yesterday plain and simple.
benny
The impact of major decisions that the ref just got plain wrong is just not acceptable. If Rose is sent off and their pen isn’t given I wonder what the outcome is?
“But if I were to pick the likeliest English Club it would be Everton. They have a talented squad, a committed owner, and a grand tradition”
What the fuck are you talking about? Everton are £500 million minimum from winning the league. They are currently in 10th and 21 points behind Arsenal as well as having West Ham, Wolves and Watford in front of them.
Good grief some on here need serious medical help.
Marc
“The Spurs defender was almost level with Aubameyang when the Arsenal forward struck the penalty, meaning that referee Anthony Taylor should have given the Gunners a second chance to take it once it was saved.
According to the Fifa laws of the game, a penalty must be retaken if a defender enters the penalty area and the kick does not result in a goal.”
I know it’s all done and dusted. I know Aubas attempt was shit, and I know encroachment happens all the time..but this was so blatant…shocking
People who foolishly doubt that Everton can become a major player ought to take a closer look. They may have no problem at all raising as much as £500 million. Unlike Arsenal, they are not cursed with an owner committed to a bottom-line policy. To repeat the point made about Usmanov. Let’s say the owner issues shares in Everton Football Club, and that Usmanov buys them all. The rules allow that the money raised can remain in the Club, and can be used by the Club. As for the value of the issued shares, that depends on how much the… Read more »
All those dodgy decisions against The Arsenal over the years ( and there were many) and I was the only one on here to speak out . Yesterday was par for the course as far as I’m concerned. It’s not just the big decisions that influence a game , it’s the sly nudges, elbows, kicks,pushes ,dives that go unpunished that have a massive bearing on a game . A referee failing to give an early yellow to a forearm across the face in the first few minutes( wanyama on Lacazette) sets a precedent for the rest of the game .… Read more »
Hill Wood If two Arsenal players had not entered the penalty area that would have been the correct and only descion but when the ball was kicked two Arsenal players likewise had encroached so here’s what the laws state “Once the referee has signalled for a penalty kick to be taken, the kick must be taken. If, before the ball is in play, one of the following occurs: The player taking the penalty kick or a team-mate infringes the Laws of the Game: if the ball enters the goal, the kick is retaken if the ball does not enter the… Read more »
Leno + Rambo = Heroes.
Xhaka + Auba = Zeroes.
“All those dodgy decisions against The Arsenal over the years ( and there were many) and I was the only one on here to speak out .”
Everybody please light a candle, the good lord Pierre is here to guide us to the light.
Un As your family gets older you’ll find your invested time becomes exponentially increased. Their interests generally need guidance or just simple support. My guess is you’ll resume your travels when your offspring are at uni or working. Equally, you can never trust your business to others to run, and you seem to want to enjoy the comforts success brings, which means you’ll always be hands on driving the business forward and looking for new strategies for business/products/servicces survival diversification. I left getting married and having children to much later in life and happy I did where there are so… Read more »
“Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham were better than Arsenal in all aspects after their contentious 1-1 draw at Wembley.”
Yeah right… f*cking pig.
Terraloon
I have had my rant and it’s all done and dusted
You have a great name by the way
Top 4 is still a distant dream, I’m afraid. I think people are forgetting that it’s not just United we’re chasing, it’s also Chelsea. They win today which I assume will be an easy game for them, and they are only a point behind us… with a game in hand against Brighton. Can they slip up? Sure. But so can we. EL might be even tougher to win. Hopefully Emery can pull a rabbit out of the hat and get us over the line but personally I don’t think it’s gonna happen.
Chambers!
That didn’t last long.
Upstate
Getting top 4 wont be easy but we can do it. First and foremost a win against ManU is critical but after that all of our remaining matches are winnable. ManU will still have City and Chelsea to play, the Spud’s have to go to both City and Liverpool and Chelsea as well as having ManU away also have to play Liverpool away.
It’s going to be a really interesting and tense run in for both the title and top 4.
We should be dominating the 10-25mil market of rough diamonds and rebels. I’m sorry but how can someone say this and expect the manager to improve things defensively? It’s ridiculous we don’t need to spend on proven ready made players we should be targeting up and coming players I mean we should but that’s not how we address the defence and especially considering it was 6 months in and he was being criticised for not improving it you think it gets improved with players who need time to come good? Time he doesn’t have? No CB is the one area… Read more »
Everyone gets bad calls from time to time. Sometimes they break your way, sometimes they don’t. If either Lacazette or Aubameyang had done his job yesterday — or if Mustafi hadn’t been an idiot — we would have won. Nothing to do with the referees. And whether we finish top four will be entirely down to whether we were good enough. Nothing else, and certainly nothing to do with referee decisions.
Marc
I wish I had your optimism. Unfortunately, when it comes to Arsenal we’ve been there before. The second they give us hope and everyone starts getting excited again, they tear it all apart again. After our 4-2 win against Spurs we were sitting in 3rd place ahead of them on goal difference and 8 points ahead of United. Fast forward a couple of months and we’re in 5/6th playing catch up again. I just can’t stand another season of Europa League. Hate that competition with a passion. Sick and tired watching us play the likes if Vorskla, Qarabag, etc.
Marko
You can object a POV without having a paddy like someone took your last capri sun.
I disagree that we should be targeting 50 mil defenders given we have numerous areas we could upgrade and very little coin to do so. A good scouting setup can unearth players of real quality at a third of that price, and that’s exactly what we should be doing.
So save your “I’m sorry”, “it’s ridiculous” patter for someone who wants to indulge a fucking man child.
Pierre ‘The quality of the football yesterday was dire , Arsenal battled well and had a couple of decent moves but if that’s the best Arsenal and Tottenham can do then I’m afraid neither team have a chance of catching Liverpool or city in the coming years…Chelsea may have had their struggles this season but at least Sarri is sticking to his footballing principles’ No,no,no The NLD was very good. The quality of football was very good. You’re really trying to sneak in a cheap dig at Emery, ;Ike you always do. Emery was adaptive and presented the best chance… Read more »
Upstate
I’m not saying we’re definitely going to do it I’m saying we have a chance. As Bamford says if we’re good enough we’ll do it. If we can beat ManU then it’s as good as in our own hands for the remaining 8 games.
As for not liking the EL – mate I get them on my season ticket so I’m paying for the fucking things that I can’t be bothered to go to till the later stages of the competition.
Marc
Do you think Spurs won’t lose away at the Etihad and Anfield.
They too have to play some difficult games, as is United.
I agree with you that top-4 is still easily attainable.
We seem to be coming together again with a full squad to pick from.
The football wasn’t good yesterday, which is not a dog at Emery whatsoever because he came with a commendable game plan.
Spurs were insipid and we picked at their naff play to turn it into something. We didn’t hold onto the ball well enough, and they were toothless with their possession.
But good football? Not a chance. Good battle, sure.
Dissenter
It’s interesting that the Spud’s are going to have a huge part to play in where the title goes – closet they’ll ever get to genuinely being in a title race!
Dissenter
“No,no,no. The NLD was very good.”
Oh that’s priceless. Why not continue with the NO NO NO chant? I can just see you screaming at the computer monitor. Obsessing much?
Thought you could use the taste of your own medicine. Top of the morning to you, Dissenter. 😀
The ManU vs Chelsea match could be huge. It scheduled for the Sunday pm kick off and we play Leicester away on the Monday night, probably our toughest match after the ManU game. After that we’ve Brighton at home and Burnley away. I really hope Burnley get their summer holidays booked up nice and early!
A good scouting setup can unearth players of real quality at a third of that price, and that’s exactly what we should be doing. I absolutely agree with that part but it’s the part where you criticize the manager for not improving the defence after spending 70 million over many positions all after 6 months that I have a problem with because if we went down the road of signing potential diamonds for 10-25 million like you say well that takes time to see improvements and as far as I can see there’s many people that aren’t willing to give… Read more »
Fulham equaliser disallowed in last minute of added on time. Chelsea have not looked particularly convincing.
I just reviewed the remaining fixtures, and if we draw with United next weekend, I see us finishing the season with 75 points and them finishing with 78. We must beat them, IMO, to have any chance of finishing fourth.
Marc
Agreed. Chelsea don’t look convincing. There’s a certain lifelessness to them.
Bamford
That’s their first away win in 2019. Not a great stat when you’ve still got Everton, Cardiff, Liverpool, ManU and Leicester away.
I have a feeling we’re all going to be cheering for a Chelsea win against ManU.
Marko
You’re missing the point entirely.
Price tag doesn’t equate quality. If we smarten up our recruitment we can bring in “better” players than we have for modest money. That’s exactly what we did this past summer, so it’s plenty fair to expect improvement to follow.
Torreira, Guendouzi, Sokratis, Leno all cost under 25 mil and have improved us respectively. It’s juvenile to sit and suggest Emery needs 50 mil players to bring us on any, or that he needs massive leeway because the players coming in aren’t huge fees.
Marc
Yes, a Chelsea win over United would help. But that’s at OT, yes? And Lingard & Martial will be back. Hard to see United not winning that.
CC
Good football=Good battle and non-stop excitement.
If it’s riveting then it’s good football.
That’s my interpretation. This one is subjective I guess
I don’t consider lifeless tiki-take to be good football.
Right so Charlie there isn’t any scenario where we improve our defence with 10-25 million signings inside 6 months that’s my point. So when you criticize the manager for not improving the defence inside 6 months and then make a case for improving the defence with signings that would take time that makes little sense to me. You want improvement in that area and you want it now you need significant investment. You want to sign up prospects for 10-25 million and see them develop and improve that will take time I’m afraid
Bamford
Plenty of football to be played before that. As I said earlier it’s going to be a great run in for the neutrals.
The Spud’s have Southampton away next weekend – hopefully Southampton will be smarting after yesterday.
Back in 6th if Chelsea win their game in hand.
Honestly think we will be finishing 6th the next 5+ years.
We won’t go and spend properly until we’re in the CL and we won’t get into the CL until we spend properly.
We’ll be stuck in that cycle for years now.
Klopp is very superstitious
Why?
He’s starting with Divock Origi who has a penchant for scoring in these games.
Bamford
I’ve run all the remaining game predictions numerous times and I think we have little chance of 4th.
UTD getting 4 points from the Liverpool and Palace games was a disaster. Thought they would get 1 point.
UTD are a shit team but basically unstoppable at the moment, which is just tiring.
gambon
Chelsea have a transfer ban coming up and the Spud’s have no money. It’s not all as doom and gloom as you portray.
Was it you who was moaning before the Southampton match that we’d never be able to beat them?
So save your “I’m sorry”, “it’s ridiculous” patter for someone who wants to indulge a fucking man child.
Then
It’s juvenile to sit and suggest…
Right back at you. Again I agree with what you’re saying only I’m not critical of the manager for not seeing instant improvement for what is effectively building for the future. I personally would suggest that you not criticize the manager if you’re expecting him to improve a defence inside 6 months with 10-25 million signings. Just a thought
Marc
Southampton are shit, we always beat the shit teams at home.
Marko
“Right so Charlie there isn’t any scenario where we improve our defence with 10-25 million signings inside 6 months that’s my point.”
Bollocks there isn’t. We bought Sokratis or 17 mil and he’s been our best defender this season. You’re just another one of these guys that gets the blood flowing south at a good price tag.
The best defenders in the league are who? How much did they cost when they came to England?
Gambon it can’t all be doom and gloom though we’re not playing badly and I’m not sure we were expected to get anything from the Spurs game if we’re honest
-You’re all assuming that spurs will stay above the fray.
They won’t win at Anfield and at City. They will be in the muck with us, Chelsea and united pretty soon.
Their squad looks tired and then you consider the CL distraction because they will qualify for the CL.
-United had to work extra hard to beat a shoddy Southampton which tells you they aren’t unflappable too.
-Chelsea look good to qualify because they have found a good form recently.
gambon
I agree that United will likely finish fourth and we will likely finish fifth. I’m not as pessimistic re the future as you are, though, as I think we have a chance at the Europa and I don’t think Spurs will be above us forever.
*Re spuds – Their squad looks tired and then you consider the CL distraction because they will qualify for the CL. QF
Marko
Quality players can be signed for reasonable amounts. Look at Joe Gomez, look at Liverpool’s fullbacks (both academy products), look at a Trippier. Yes, we will need to spend 30-40m on this or that player, but we don’t need to spend 40m+ on every player.
Marko
Agreed, we looked very good yesterday.
However UTD could be 14-0 down and would win 15-14 the way things are going.
Next week we will have 58 shots and UTD will beat us.
Bollocks there isn’t. We bought Sokratis or 17 mil and he’s been our best defender this season. You’re just another one of these guys that gets the blood flowing south at a good price tag. Right but we’re still shipping goals and hardly getting clean sheets. You want that to change drastically or slowly over years? You think about other clubs in that scenario you think they’re thinking of 10-25 million signings? Come on man The best defenders in the league are who? How much did they cost when they came to England? True which makes the incessant arguments where… Read more »
What if we win next week gambon? Another complete 180 or what? I think we’ll beat em
Dissenter
You’re right that Spurs could slip down to our point level. I would need to look at their other matches, but City and Pool away are losses. That should bring them more or less even with us. Son is playing well, though, and Kane will soon be match fit, so I probably give them the edge over us.
We can get 4th with another 19 points, that allows for two draws and even two losses in there.
Easier said than done but its still all to play for. The doom and gloom constantly is grating. We’re also going to have a game in hand at some point as we still have to go to Wolves.
Some people here keep underestimating how solid United are and how good the spirit is there under Solksjaer. I’m not saying they are a great team, but they are better than we are, and they are better than some here seem to think.
Marko
If we win next week UTD still finish above us.
We aren’t equipped to go and win games at Leicester, Watford, Everton, Wolves.
UTD are. They are winning everything.
Leftside
Pessimism is better, IMO, than unfounded or uncritical optimism. Realism is best. A range of opinion is best too, which is what we tend to get here.
“Right but we’re still shipping goals and hardly getting clean sheets. You want that to change drastically or slowly over years? “ I want Arsenal to do the right things and be smart about our evolution. I think we should be spending more, but I also realise we won’t so clamouring for it is wasted breath even though it’s obviously what we’d all like to see. You keep harping on about giving Emery time, but time is earned through improvement. The reason we haven’t seen an improvement defensively is because Emery doesn’t know his arse from his elbow in this… Read more »
We aren’t equipped to go and win games at Leicester, Watford, Everton, Wolves.
Destined to fail from the beginning really.
“We need to be looking at getting around £50m from selling Mustafi, Chambers, Elneny & Ospina.” – @gurjitafc
Realistic or no?
Gambon. If we can get a win against United we have every chance to win those away games. We need to get on a run. We are on a run actually, we need to sustain it. It was an excellent point at Spurs. United are also on a run at the moment. If we can end it, then who knows, they might start to drop a few points. I also think Spurs are in trouble. They have been lucky for weeks now (as we were in our unbeaten run) to turn several draws into wins. Looks to me that that… Read more »
Bamford10March 3, 2019 15:05:23 Everyone gets bad calls from time to time. Sometimes they break your way, sometimes they don’t. If either Lacazette or Aubameyang had done his job yesterday — or if Mustafi hadn’t been an idiot — we would have won. Nothing to do with the referees. And whether we finish top four will be entirely down to whether we were good enough. Nothing else, and certainly nothing to do with referee decisions. >>>>> Sorry Bamford, but I completely disagree. If VAR had been in play yesterday we would have won regardless of our terrible finishing and penalty… Read more »
Bamford. Nowhere near enough.
With all the gloom and doom here, what;’s the point of even playing the games.
Why don’t we just file paperwork for next season’s EL early?
United had some good luck yesterday with easy penalty calls not given by the officials against Ashley Young.
I suppose we have to wait and see.
“If VAR had been in play yesterday we would have won”
This is not right at all.
Chambers had a good game today and scored a goal. I hope we have him in our squad next season to share back up to Bellerin and be an extra body to call on at centre back.
We’re being linked to Wan Bissaka but as good as he is what’s the point in spending £40m on him unless we’re selling Bellerin?
I think Wan Bissaka will go to City along with Declan Rice and Chillwell who I would like to see us sign, but with City in the mix they will outbid us all day long.
gambon
Course it is. They analysed it on BT Sport and MOTD. Kane’s penalty not given and Aubameyang’s retaken.
You keep harping on about giving Emery time, but time is earned through improvement
Right and how can one improve our defence with prospects around the 10-25 million mark? Liverpool didn’t improve their defence until they bought a 75 million pound CB and keeper. City and Chelsea spent how much on CB’s? United have more than a couple 35 million CB’s and you want 10-25 million defenders and improvement earned. Incredible really those parameters. It’s funny but Arsene could have improved our defence with those types of signings years ago but these days 10-25 million doesn’t get you much.
Think we will sell Chambers. Don’t see anything to suggest he can improve our squad, certainly not as a defender.
Lacks the technique to be a top class central midfielder.
British premium might get us £20m
We need more pace and technique across the squad.
Players lacking in both, like Chambers, Mustafi, Maitland-Niles and Kolasinac should be sold to fund new signings.
The Sours vs United game was essentially Spurs vs De Gea so I don’t buy this “United are winning everything stuff”
They too will drop points.
Benny
So if VAR was in place the whole 90 minutes would’ve played out exactly the same?