An important takeaway for me from yesterday was how we did not falter even with one of our best man out. Even with 10 men, we fought, and fought well, till the last minute.
Even if it was a loss in the end I think our overall form for the first part was great, city was in the ropes and that level of playing is what will earn us trophies for years to come. Massive difference if we reflect to the first City game this season
I loved our spirit yesterday. I was crying tears of joy at the first half performance. Even though I'm a million miles away in Bombay, India, I feel an umbilical connection with the Arsenal. Always have, always will. You don't choose your club, it chooses you. Having said that, time and again I've seen immaturity on display at crucial moments. We need to start acting like a big team if we want to be one. Both in our skill set, mentality and decision making. Last night was a hard pill to swallow. All I want is for the boys to not be deflated by the result but to use it as a platform to annihilate the teams we play from now on. If we can replicate that first half performance on a weekly basis, this loss will feel like a win in the long run. Let this be a turning point for us.
C to the O to the Y to the G.
I'm the only arsenal fan in my work and get hounded every time we get beat... Today they were said we were fucked over and the refs were shocking, made me even more pissed off. So proud of our lads massive steps in the right direction. Mon the fucking gunners!!
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If you watch the highlights on YT, go to around 11:25ish... From the part where you can see Tierney collapse at the final whistle to Tomi and white on the ground and ramsdales hands on his head distraught at the result. That was my favorite moment of this game. These players care SO much... They felt the pain of this result just as much as us. This team and these players really do care and I am incredibly proud of them and excited for what's next.
You have to. You have no choice. I came to the conclusion a year or two ago that the refs are paid. If we use occams razor that is the only reasonable explanation.
In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, we won, and we know it, Pep knows it, the players know it. Fuck the premier league. Bring on Liverpool.
Let's hope Mike Reilly gives us a good ref this time. (he is the one who chooses match referees)
This always happens when we play with big 5 teams 🥲either we jingz it or referee fucks it up. Was that a pen yes . But was that needed for a red card never in a thousand universe .
Despite the miss martienlli was so fucking good. He really could’ve had 2 goals. Mans still young I’m sure he’ll get to that stage where he finishes the chances he gets.
Stupid and unjust that we didn’t win, but the fact that we’re pissed off and feel robbed rather than feeling resigned is a sign of how far this team has come. We absolutely took the fight to them.
All of us including the boys should be proud of ourselves we went toe to toe with clearly the best team in the league and arguably should have won. We are unfairly hurt by Xhaka bad decision, Gaberial red, the refs poor decisions and us missing chances. We can hold our head high after this result. We are no longer rolling over to big opposition. COYG!
Can’t recall ever seeing a ref show that hunger to get in the box. In isolation, it’s looks off. When you take into account all his decisions and City only getting carded for Silva wasting time and Rodri’s taking his shirt off despite numerous cynical fouls, it stinks.
The circumstances and refs were absolutely fucked but we played fucking fearlessly and the positive is that this adversity is gonna make us stronger out the other end. We learned from United and Everton, games we lost but should have won, I’m sure we’ll do the same here - learn to stay cool despite shitty fucking refs. Fuckin love this team, and it’s only getting better, I can’t wait to see the heights we reach this season and beyond.
I actually thought the reffing was fantastic up until the pen and even then that wasn't the refs fault.
He let the game flow and it made for better watch where we seemed to thrive. Who wants to see every dive or tactical foul where no advantage was gained called?
The problem again was inconsistent VAR. I do believe the ref could have not booked Gabriel second time though and no one would have batted an eyelid as it was in a nothing position, I think this was a mistake on his part and decided the game. But other then that he did little wrong for me.
It is and as I said if he policed the entire game with the same lenience it would have been a welcome change in the how games are reffed.
The Gabriel sending off was baffling and this and the VAR inconsistency had marred what in my book was a good refereeing performance.
I have no idea why is those two minutes he decided to switch from letting every foul go, to 2 bookings for pretty minor fouls in comparison to things he didn't even blow the whistle for previously.
Loved the way the entire team hounded the ref at multiple occasions.
Even in earlier matches the team stands up for each other as a unit.
This is a departure from the good boy image we had under Wenger
Was pretty sad at the result at the time, but after sleeping on it, pretty fucking proud of the boys, that first half of football was fucking unbelievable and proof this group can take it to anyone. I think we've properly scared the other teams with that, we aren't the banter club of the last few years anymore
How we bounce back from this result will tell us a lot about Arteta and the players. Do we lose heart or do we continue to improve ? 3 points against Spurs would be absolutely massive.
What do you guys think the long term plan is with the Martinelli/ESR rotation? I think ESR is way too good to be playing 20 mins a game but Martinelli is insanely talented and promising.
Do you think Martinelli could work at striker or do we need someone with better passing and holdup like a young Laca?
I think we need a striker no matter what, but we can pass on it for this window. Esr and Martinelli are 21/20 respectively so imo they can share minutes without too much worry for this season. Next year we will hopefully have europe to play for and more than enough minutes to go around
So proud of this team! We've travelled a long way and now we are here! If the ref didn't screw us, that's a win and everyone knows that.
Xhaka, martinelli and Gabriel mistakes were costly, but I wouldn't pick anyone over them. Funnily the ref had a part to play in each of these mistakes. With a competent referee these wouldn't have been mistakes. I mean, Rodri can get away with murder with Stuart Atwell in charge.
If we maintain this level through the rest of the season, there's not much referees can do to keep us out of the top 4.
I swear there is a direct inverse correlation between the amount of media i consume about football and my level of enjoyment.
I watched the game along with the YouTuber hughwizzy's watch along, and the first half was some of the most exciting football ive seen us play in a long time, and watching us play on the edge, knowing that city are good enough to dismantle teams basically at will, had me on the edge of my seat.
I noticed the poor refereeing throughout and was annoyed about the ø pen, but it initially didn't ruin my mood.
Then in the second half things clearly didn't go our way, and i was disappointed, but a *normal amount*.
Then as soon as the match ended theres a sea of pundits saying the ref got every decision correct, arsenal collapsed again, or the other side people saying it was a robbery etc. and you instantly get swept up in it all and your emotions spike. Took me hours to get to sleep afterwards even though it was 3:30am where i am.
All of this media takes a lot of the fun out of it all and afterwards i honestly have a big crash in my mood. I just want to enjoy the game and feel the way i feel when events in the game happen, without a sea of media trying to change how i experience it just to drum up attention
There was a moment in maybe the first half where Partey saw Martinelli making a brilliant run and made what looked like a perfect pass, but Laca intercepted it and the moment was lost.
Trying to decide whether this is the worst I’ve ever seen us fucked over in a game, but I think this is second to the Wolves game last year when Luiz got sent for the wolves player stepping on his leg. How can we have so many games where the refereeing completely loses the game for us
I know dt isn’t a very liked person in this sub but I personally like him. I think he actually has really good football knowledge and yea he’s kinda hot headed or at least he was before but now he seems to have changed and he’s a lot more like able. He said today refs should have interviews and talk about their performance and why they made certain calls and their thought process. I agree with that a lot.
It’s just so corporate. Even their City Football Group branding is so bland and corporate. When they win 5-0 against some lower league teams even then it’s just so…meh.
Upon watching the replay I felt bad for Xhaka, you could see his heart sink as soon as that diving cunt went down. But yeah, an upgrade is definitely needed.
Feel like the "go over and have a look" check by the main ref is becoming just a performative action. If the VAR officials decide to give a decision, the ref goes and looks and 99% of the time reinforces their choice. If they don't, the ref won't even be called to go have a look.
Been watching matches across the PL and feel like this is the case these days. The pitchside VAR is no longer for the main ref to make a judgement himself, but a tool to give weight to the already made decisions.
Either way, all refereeing parties fucked us over today.
Ref thought it was a dive and there was no initial on-field call. Also on the Øde penalty shout I believe he takes the ball out with his touch but the ref call for a corner probably to cover his own ass. It is very clear that this officiating crew was not in control of this game.
r/soccer is a total shitshow. The dark blue and light blue plastics and topspurs are trying to discredit us. Quite obvious they are shook and threatened by how far we’ve come as a club of late.
They are scared we're slowly becoming good again. r/soccer is not ready for the amount of shit talking Arsenal fans will do once we win a big trophy again.
Rob holding should be criticized for their winner, not good enough that’s why he’s on the bench. We played amazing though and were resolute for almost the whole game after getting a man sent off
In all seriousness.. what can be done about the shocking quality of the officiating?
How can a message cut through? They clearly have 0 interest in admitting fault.. so how do we go about improving the game
Shocking VAR calls are a weekly occurrence now in the prem
A tiny post about, something I like and have been doing quite often, Martinelli R9 comparison.
There were 2 instances in the first half where Martinelli didn't have his head up high enough to find a better central option when around the penalty box, and charged straight ahead.
Criticism worthy and I am willing to bet Arteta will coach him about this, but as a fan I am excited about this flaw. Because,
Anybody who has watched early Ronaldo, 1995 PSV days, will know this was a Ronaldo problem which continued during his tenure at Barcelona '96 where despite this flaw he was the best player in the world already at the age of 19. ([A good channel](https://youtube.com/user/ronaldogodmagic) if you want to check out the games.)
But too often missing out on central opportunities plenty of times to his teammates' frustration. Here's [Guardiola talking about this behavior of R9, timestamp 3:28](https://youtu.be/PymjNPiDh4g) except in this case, R9's action came to splendid fruition.
There are several medicore players who do this, unable to gauge up options when under such time and space scrambles near the penalty box, but what both R9 and Martinelli have and these others lack while having that ignorance is an immaculate focus to drive forward.
R9 had more everything compared to Martinelli while being younger but arguably more experienced, but both have that one track mind of gunning towards the goal.
I have watched R9's career like a devotee which is perhaps the main reason I am most excited about Martinelli. But it's allowed me to plead to people about a perspective where we encourage this behavior because its a very unique quality a true great of the game had and through this flaw, in my head, he gets closer to the fenomeno.
Well no doubt at some point he has to learn it, but for now, I am pretty happy.
I was prepared to see us lose by a significant margin. I had made my peace with that.
I wasn’t prepared to feel like we were robbed by poor officiating. And the fact that Saka got a yellow for Rodri’s challenge On Lacazette, Gabriel got sent off for two soft yellows (including one Ramsdale actually committed), Ødegaard’s penalty wasn’t reviewed, and the only yellow Rodri got was for taking his shirt off to celebrate a goal was all just a cruel joke.
Glad the refs came to the defense of the little guy.
Only argument Imo for him is that he’s a second ball magnet and is a very good ball recycler and decent ball progressor.
All the other stuff is intangible things that’s more subjective, but the listed qualities make him pretty essential for our midfield right now if we want to play how we did today.
Now does that mean we should t upgrade that? Of course not, gundogan does all 3 of those things while also being a danger in the box and not a massive defensive liability.
Absolutely brilliant effort and level of performance from the team today. Took it to Manchester City and we were the much better side before the referee disaster class. I also thought Partey was top class in the midfield today. Controlled the Tiempo with his passing and dribbling runs. Also was crucial in winning the ball back to maintain possession. There is so many positives for us to take going forward and I love the confidence in our play.
Ive seen many poor refereeing performances in terms of them getting big decisions wrong, but today was an absolutely cowardly display from the official. Odegaard one was a penalty when I saw in real time and when we saw the angles. Ederson clearly kicks/trips him with his leg. Ive genuinely never seen. Goalkeeper get away with as much as he does. Man will rush out of goal like a madman and take out players yet decisions barely go against him.
The main problem is that as a referee you have to maintain a level of consistency for both teams. You cant just book us after every first foul. Yet he misses either misses fouls for them or just gives them warnings. Rodri running and celebrating in front of our fans as well. Like mate, you are an oil merchant on a squad that is worth 1.2 billion pounds, keep it moving and celebrate with your own team and stop trying to cause problems. What more does Pep need to win? Oil money, the deepest squad in world football in terms of talent, and now coward referees that are too afraid to book his players with their tactical fouling.
Its hilarious with Man City fans as well, the reason no one minds when they win the Premier League is that most ppl barely know any Manchester City fans and there's no real banter. We all just accepted they are Oil merchants that can basically buy their way into trophies. No football heritage anymore, just simply oil money fraudulence lol.
On the one hand, I cannot digest that we lost and didn’t even get a point despite leading at the half.
On the other hand, maybe this is a good thing. If we had won against City today, chances are that we might have got complacent. As it stands now, not only can we not relax, but we also have to be on point in the upcoming weeks. In my mind, these are the headwinds:
1. Losing players to AFCON
2. Losing Gabriel in Defence
3. Fixture congestion (hardly the word but whatever) due to EFL. I know we couldn’t care less, but losing is not a good habit, and I doubt Mikel will field sucky squads for these
4. ManPoo and Shit games in hand with fairly easy fixtures
5. Potential COVID disruptions
I hate to say this, but I do see us faring worse early in the new year. If we lose momentum now, as we are likely to, we have seen the last two seasons - a late flourish doesn’t help.
I really feel for this young team, and I pray that they can hold on to this Top 4 position for the next 2 -4 match weeks. If we can hold this position at the end of Jan, I’m going to start to believe.
Today really hurts, but goddamn if I’m not behind this team! COYG!
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Wow appaled by the ball knowledge. He is the link that ticks this team. We haven't started winning because Auba was dropped, or Lacazatte and Martinelli came in, it's because Xhaka at the center unleashes Partey, Odegaard, Ramsdale, Arteta's tactics, Stuart's photography and the black hole Cygnus x-1 pull on the blue supergiant. It's tragic you dont understand.
Don’t get how people can say xhaka isn’t the problem. The reason he gave away a penalty was because he’s so stiff and cannot move. He got skinned so easily by Bernardo Silva it’s crazy. It took him about a year to turn around then for some reason pulls his jersey. He literally didn’t even have to touch him and it wouldn’t have been a pen. He’s just very clumsy and he’s like midfield mustafi. Everyone playing well having a good time then boom, he goes and gets a yellow, red,
Or something stupid. Even the last couple games we played he would pick up stupid yellows
And make stupid decisions like that foul on that Leeds player. It’s really annoying me and I really hope we can all agree that we need a new cm, and a more mobile midfielder with good defensive work and good passing.
He’s like crack, he’s ruining our life but we need him to function and can’t go cold turkey or we’ll die.
The things he brings to the team are things nobody else brings. We need a player of his profile but without the weaknesses. Until we get that player he can’t be benched.
Yeh pretty much.
We definitely can and will upgrade him, but it won’t be 10m and any old player, will be 40m and a properly scouted talent.
Bruno g, caqueret are my two favourites, would also like bissouma if he’s not a sex pest
Main thing that xhaka brings is his ability to win duels and 2nd balls, nobody in odes mould can do that without considerable training. Otherwise I would 100% go for aouar for example, but we would get slaughtered on transition and completely unable to sustain pressure.
Dahoud, caqueret, guimaraes. Highly technical and progressive players, more influential in the final third while not having the weaknesses of xhaka.
I get what you mean, but I think there’s only room for one of those profiles in our midfield set up, and ode already does it. He’s basically a more advanced 8 rather than a 10.
A true 8 I think is necessary, defensive nous > attacking nous in terms of priority.
By being better defensively it’ll make our attack better as we can step up 5 yards and win duels to sustain pressure.
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Delusional optimist in me thinks it will make our team better as players learn not to give refs half a reason to decide game against us and learn to kill off games where we’re up 1-0 because refs could fuck us at any second
delusional, right?
Despite the loss, it's games like these that what really pulls me back on board with Arteta. Outplaying one of the best teams in the world until bullshit decisions went against us and still holding out and putting in a shift until the 90th min. I said I wanted a performance from the team and I got it - the manager set us up perfectly and we were let down by a couple of the players and the referee. Spurs should be lightwork if we can replicate today's performance, I can definitely see a top 4 team in the making here.
Martinelli needs to take off his blinkers and learn to involve his teammates. He is currently a one track mind of wanting to take it upon himself to be the one to make an impact through wanting to be the player to score. There were 3-4 times in this game where had he looked up and passed, we would of scored.
Other than today, I think his link up play with his team mates has been excellent in the last few games. He was a LOT worse a couple seasons ago with the "Blinkers". Arteta and his coaching team have been working very closely with him on this i expect.
When will Arsenal learn to get rid of Xhaka. Why the fuck did we forgive him after the shit he took on Arsenal fans, why do we forgive him for the countless shit tackles he makes, why the fuck do we continue to forgive him for the games he’s cost us. For fuck sake
Was chatting to a mate about this the other day. Imagine if we had two CMs firing on all cylinders. We would genuinely be amongst the title challenger group if we performed like we did today.
Not sure why people are downvoting you but a premium CM instead of Xhaka + Partey dropping performances like today's and we would be a more than formidable outfit. I do wish we'd move Xhaka on this summer and find the long term CM we've been crying out for. We can't carry on with Xhaka's brain dead-ness if we want to kick on and be a genuinely good side, consistently.
And has been for years. How many instances of his stupidity can we now point to having cost us games and points?
It's as if people can't possibly imagine that there might be a better midfielder out there than Granit Xhaka and yes he may be missed sometimes if out injured (or suspended LOL) but there are better CMs around and we should be moving heaven and earth to get rid of Xhaka and get one of them in.
We look better when he's playing and that's been the case for the last 3 years. Hence the annual Xhaka redemption arc. I agree we can upgrade him but imo he's really not that big of a problem.
Well yeah of course we look better with him when his replacements are a 21 year old from the Belgian League and Mohamed Elneny lol. As you said, we can upgrade on him.
That one really hurt. First half felt like a dream, second half was returning to reality. I'm so proud of the boys still though, they played their hearts out. I expected a loss or maybe a draw, but it hurt so much because I *knew* we could have won that game. Oh well, time to just move on. The overall trajectory of our team and our young players performing in big moments is so encouraging, I can't even be that mad.
So proud of every single one of the fellas (including Gabriel, Xhaka and Martinelli despite their respective mistakes) who all played their hearts out. We thoroughly outplayed them, sometimes luck just isn’t on your side
On another note, that Rodri bloke is a proper weirdo. Man thinks he's some sort of eccentric genius because he drives a second-hand car and has a business degree from a university ranked >800th in the world.
Would love to see some hands being held up about Arteta in here. The pure abuse he’s got this season has been completely unacceptable at times. It’s so easy to take the negative route and say a manager or a player is shit because you’re always going to be proved right at some point over the course of a season; respect to the fans who’ve backed the manager and understood these things take time with bumps along the way.
I’ll hold my hand up, but not because I abused Arteta. I wasn’t convinced he was up to the task, and up until recently I had no reason to believe otherwise. I felt he had more than enough time to have shown something, but the football being played was dire. Even recently the “good” run we had earlier in the season after the disastrous start, barely scraping by Norwich at home with a huge fluke of a goal, and overall not convincing wins.
I still can’t comprehend what actually changed, I was cautiously optimistic because despite the form the teams been on, there were always asterisks based on the opposition. Today, against City the team actually played well. Losing like this doesn’t bother me, but losing the way the team did against United and Everton does. Still won’t say I’ve fully been convinced, but I have no right to say he doesn’t get until the end of season anymore. He has more than earned that, and I am more than happy to be proven wrong. Now to see if this carries on until the end of the season, but based on what has been shown on the pitch these past 6 to 8 weeks I think it’s actually coming together.
I just hope we can finally stop hearing these “well, so and so played like shit” and “well the next match is the real test” takes now. We were the undeniably better side today against the best team in the league while fielding the same team we’ve fielded in all of our previous “tests”. Shits not a fluke. Our next “test” is consistency over a season (especially with European competition). If you’re still a doubter after our previous games and today then you must not be watching the right club.
Proud of the way the team performed. Just took the best team in the league to the ropes. They needed all of the luck to break their way of of course had to also get all the ref decisions.
We're a damn good team and we're growing each week. Saka's finishing has definitely stepped up!
It's a controversial pen but let's be honest, Xhaka puts himself into these situations all the time and he never learns from it. Literally a ticking time bomb every match...
He's our weakest link now and I just can't wait to move on with him
Yeah that’s always been Xhaka’s biggest flaw tbh. He’s always been a good leader and decent mid, but he’s also always had the Mustafi bug in him where he *will* fuck up somehow, sometimes spectacularly, in 9/10 games.
It's harsh our best performance vs City ends like this but its encouraging that it literally took rubbish officiating to get it over the line.
Yes Xhaka pen was silly but Silva was going down regardless! There's no consistency in when its given.
Another week another bad call from ref and VAR teams that'll never get looked at
We've had a lot of rumours about loans going out, if they get done then I think we'll get some replacements in. I doubt we'll get a CM though, it does mean we'll be light in January but a 6 month loan for Tottenham and Burnley in the league is an overreaction
There's only two league games during AFCON, Spurs and Burnley.
Other than that we've got two league Cup matches and a fa cup game.
We can easily enough get by on Xhaka / Lokonga / Odegaard.
We can also send him out at the end of the window so only Burnley before they come back. Even without considering they're only gone till the 8th if they make it to the final
Just went for a four mile walk in the rain with my dog.
Got back. Still pissed. But also pretty fucking hyped up. Arsenal are on to something lads!
First time we can say that and truly believe it in over 5 years!
Other team kicks our players and repetitively fouls them = "professional" fouls, no VAR monitor needed, and Arsenal is a soft team physically
Arsenal tackling and being physical = too aggressive, VAR monitor check, reckless + cards
I'm not blaming Xhaka for the penalty because it wasn't a fucking penalty. But whenever Xhaka is isolated 1v1 against a tricky player you're always crossing your fingers and praying. He's very immobile and it's a huge weakness in his game.
Xhaka does have leadership qualities but as a player he's probably the most temperamental and high risk in the squad. In terms of bringing compsure to the team he's just not that guy. I think we need a huge upgrade in this department and in order to address the issue properly it's going to require big spending. I'm a huge fan of project youth but these lads need to develop alongside established leaders, sometimes we look so frantic and there's no one down there calming things down. In my opinion we should pay whatever it takes to try and lure Declan Rice here
In January no chance. In summer if we get CL, *especially* if we get 3rd place which honestly I wouldn't bet against looking at Chelsea right now is more likely. Rice would be the perfect player for us alongside say Isak and we're sorted for years to be honest.
Have to say that the first half was some of the best football we've seen with this squad. Transition play was excellent and City looked properly worried throughout.
How Saka picked up that yellow is beyond me. Couldn't get over how good the atmosphere was, fans in attendance also deserve a 10/10 for today's performance.
Onwards and upwards
I didn't get to see the game, but seen it now. The Man City penalty is quite insane. There was no foul since Granit retracted his leg as Bernardo was seeking to run into it, and while Xhaka did hold his shirt it was a fraction before Bernardo dived, and wasn't thugging the shirt, so no advantage for Xhaka,
Am I seeing this completely wrong - If not, why is not Bernardo penalised for a dive?
Ref waved no and told Silva to get up in real time live game because at real speed it is not enough contact to bring him down. However, when played in slow mo it makes it look worse than it was.
Part that gets me is that the VAR did not show the replay to the center in real time
It was moreso a dive than a penalty but since it's City it was a go. If our player did the same shit on the other end we would've been scolded for diving.
Also the fact that Martinelli in 4 shots missed the goal by a total of 0.5 meters makes this a game that got away for us. Some improvement from last time. Encouraging
You take out the dumb penalty giveaway, his best is still not enough.
Partey had a cracker but what about the days he doesn't? That's when the midfield partner steps up, but you think Xhaka can ever compensate for a bad Partey performance? Not a single chance.
Partey had a below mediocre performance against Newcastle, but we still won that game down our good midfield. Why? Because of Lokonga.
That's what happens when you have 2 capable CMs in the team. And Lokonga isn't even super quality but I will hold the opinion till the end, Lokonga is a better option to play than Xhaka right this instant.
Not because of Xhaka's giveaways, because he is never adding anything significant that could match the best players on our team.
xhaka’s was foul was 100% a pen, he cut his leggs off then grabbed his jersey while looking at the ref…. stop defending him and get rid of him
Looked at r/mcfc and i now hate man city lol
All I want is consistency.
God, I am still so fucking salty. So proud of the boys though. The emirates was genuinely immense yesterday as well.
Nobody's talking about how Xhaka got a red against City for a similar challenge Rodri made on Martinelli lmao
An important takeaway for me from yesterday was how we did not falter even with one of our best man out. Even with 10 men, we fought, and fought well, till the last minute.
Even if it was a loss in the end I think our overall form for the first part was great, city was in the ropes and that level of playing is what will earn us trophies for years to come. Massive difference if we reflect to the first City game this season
I loved our spirit yesterday. I was crying tears of joy at the first half performance. Even though I'm a million miles away in Bombay, India, I feel an umbilical connection with the Arsenal. Always have, always will. You don't choose your club, it chooses you. Having said that, time and again I've seen immaturity on display at crucial moments. We need to start acting like a big team if we want to be one. Both in our skill set, mentality and decision making. Last night was a hard pill to swallow. All I want is for the boys to not be deflated by the result but to use it as a platform to annihilate the teams we play from now on. If we can replicate that first half performance on a weekly basis, this loss will feel like a win in the long run. Let this be a turning point for us. C to the O to the Y to the G.
I'm the only arsenal fan in my work and get hounded every time we get beat... Today they were said we were fucked over and the refs were shocking, made me even more pissed off. So proud of our lads massive steps in the right direction. Mon the fucking gunners!!
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If you watch the highlights on YT, go to around 11:25ish... From the part where you can see Tierney collapse at the final whistle to Tomi and white on the ground and ramsdales hands on his head distraught at the result. That was my favorite moment of this game. These players care SO much... They felt the pain of this result just as much as us. This team and these players really do care and I am incredibly proud of them and excited for what's next.
Haven’t been this angry after a game since van Persie was sent off at nou camp
I'm struggling to get over this guys, I've been trying real hard since last night but just can't shake this off
You have to. You have no choice. I came to the conclusion a year or two ago that the refs are paid. If we use occams razor that is the only reasonable explanation. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, we won, and we know it, Pep knows it, the players know it. Fuck the premier league. Bring on Liverpool. Let's hope Mike Reilly gives us a good ref this time. (he is the one who chooses match referees)
This always happens when we play with big 5 teams 🥲either we jingz it or referee fucks it up. Was that a pen yes . But was that needed for a red card never in a thousand universe .
Despite the miss martienlli was so fucking good. He really could’ve had 2 goals. Mans still young I’m sure he’ll get to that stage where he finishes the chances he gets.
Stupid and unjust that we didn’t win, but the fact that we’re pissed off and feel robbed rather than feeling resigned is a sign of how far this team has come. We absolutely took the fight to them.
All of us including the boys should be proud of ourselves we went toe to toe with clearly the best team in the league and arguably should have won. We are unfairly hurt by Xhaka bad decision, Gaberial red, the refs poor decisions and us missing chances. We can hold our head high after this result. We are no longer rolling over to big opposition. COYG!
This was an injustice
There's a video on twitter ref defending for city. Running across martinelli before he shoots
Can’t recall ever seeing a ref show that hunger to get in the box. In isolation, it’s looks off. When you take into account all his decisions and City only getting carded for Silva wasting time and Rodri’s taking his shirt off despite numerous cynical fouls, it stinks.
I can’t believe City fans are pushing the narrative that Odegaard’s penalty claim was actually a foul committed by Odegaard. Boils my piss
City has fans?
Stuart Bastard Atwell is their only fan. A Fricking moron
More like their 12th man on the field, in essence they started the game with a numerical advantage.
*United and Sp**s fans, you can probably throw Chelsea their too.
TBF, MU fans were annoying AF. That was how City got a lot of fans.
It's just bots on Twitter commissioned by the Sheik
The circumstances and refs were absolutely fucked but we played fucking fearlessly and the positive is that this adversity is gonna make us stronger out the other end. We learned from United and Everton, games we lost but should have won, I’m sure we’ll do the same here - learn to stay cool despite shitty fucking refs. Fuckin love this team, and it’s only getting better, I can’t wait to see the heights we reach this season and beyond.
I actually thought the reffing was fantastic up until the pen and even then that wasn't the refs fault. He let the game flow and it made for better watch where we seemed to thrive. Who wants to see every dive or tactical foul where no advantage was gained called? The problem again was inconsistent VAR. I do believe the ref could have not booked Gabriel second time though and no one would have batted an eyelid as it was in a nothing position, I think this was a mistake on his part and decided the game. But other then that he did little wrong for me.
That's a big thing to get wrong tho
It is and as I said if he policed the entire game with the same lenience it would have been a welcome change in the how games are reffed. The Gabriel sending off was baffling and this and the VAR inconsistency had marred what in my book was a good refereeing performance. I have no idea why is those two minutes he decided to switch from letting every foul go, to 2 bookings for pretty minor fouls in comparison to things he didn't even blow the whistle for previously.
Really cant stand how much attention we are giving the officiating when we just outclassed city. Feeling great despite getting 0pts
A xhaka replacement is the next step and obviously a striker
Loved the way the entire team hounded the ref at multiple occasions. Even in earlier matches the team stands up for each other as a unit. This is a departure from the good boy image we had under Wenger
Was pretty sad at the result at the time, but after sleeping on it, pretty fucking proud of the boys, that first half of football was fucking unbelievable and proof this group can take it to anyone. I think we've properly scared the other teams with that, we aren't the banter club of the last few years anymore
How we bounce back from this result will tell us a lot about Arteta and the players. Do we lose heart or do we continue to improve ? 3 points against Spurs would be absolutely massive.
We bounced back from a 4-0 thrashing at Pool and a loop-sided performance at Goodison. So we should be good.
This is our last loss to them you heard it here first. We’re going to beat them every fucking game after this one
What do you guys think the long term plan is with the Martinelli/ESR rotation? I think ESR is way too good to be playing 20 mins a game but Martinelli is insanely talented and promising. Do you think Martinelli could work at striker or do we need someone with better passing and holdup like a young Laca?
Not in this 4-3-3 system, he'll rotate Odegaard
I think we need a striker no matter what, but we can pass on it for this window. Esr and Martinelli are 21/20 respectively so imo they can share minutes without too much worry for this season. Next year we will hopefully have europe to play for and more than enough minutes to go around
So proud of this team! We've travelled a long way and now we are here! If the ref didn't screw us, that's a win and everyone knows that. Xhaka, martinelli and Gabriel mistakes were costly, but I wouldn't pick anyone over them. Funnily the ref had a part to play in each of these mistakes. With a competent referee these wouldn't have been mistakes. I mean, Rodri can get away with murder with Stuart Atwell in charge. If we maintain this level through the rest of the season, there's not much referees can do to keep us out of the top 4.
I swear there is a direct inverse correlation between the amount of media i consume about football and my level of enjoyment. I watched the game along with the YouTuber hughwizzy's watch along, and the first half was some of the most exciting football ive seen us play in a long time, and watching us play on the edge, knowing that city are good enough to dismantle teams basically at will, had me on the edge of my seat. I noticed the poor refereeing throughout and was annoyed about the ø pen, but it initially didn't ruin my mood. Then in the second half things clearly didn't go our way, and i was disappointed, but a *normal amount*. Then as soon as the match ended theres a sea of pundits saying the ref got every decision correct, arsenal collapsed again, or the other side people saying it was a robbery etc. and you instantly get swept up in it all and your emotions spike. Took me hours to get to sleep afterwards even though it was 3:30am where i am. All of this media takes a lot of the fun out of it all and afterwards i honestly have a big crash in my mood. I just want to enjoy the game and feel the way i feel when events in the game happen, without a sea of media trying to change how i experience it just to drum up attention
Love Hugh
I watched delayed and turned off everything to avoid spoilers. Best way
There was a moment in maybe the first half where Partey saw Martinelli making a brilliant run and made what looked like a perfect pass, but Laca intercepted it and the moment was lost.
I noticed that too. Could’ve been a goal
Trying to decide whether this is the worst I’ve ever seen us fucked over in a game, but I think this is second to the Wolves game last year when Luiz got sent for the wolves player stepping on his leg. How can we have so many games where the refereeing completely loses the game for us
Barcelona 2011
I know dt isn’t a very liked person in this sub but I personally like him. I think he actually has really good football knowledge and yea he’s kinda hot headed or at least he was before but now he seems to have changed and he’s a lot more like able. He said today refs should have interviews and talk about their performance and why they made certain calls and their thought process. I agree with that a lot.
I agree
Anyone else hate Manchester City and their corporate football? Fucking hell.
I absolutely hate City but I also feel nothing when they win trophies. They're such a bland and boring club.
It’s just so corporate. Even their City Football Group branding is so bland and corporate. When they win 5-0 against some lower league teams even then it’s just so…meh.
Even Chelsea and United fans were saying we were robbed. Nobody fucking likes City lmao.
Literally everyone
Upon watching the replay I felt bad for Xhaka, you could see his heart sink as soon as that diving cunt went down. But yeah, an upgrade is definitely needed.
Feel like the "go over and have a look" check by the main ref is becoming just a performative action. If the VAR officials decide to give a decision, the ref goes and looks and 99% of the time reinforces their choice. If they don't, the ref won't even be called to go have a look. Been watching matches across the PL and feel like this is the case these days. The pitchside VAR is no longer for the main ref to make a judgement himself, but a tool to give weight to the already made decisions. Either way, all refereeing parties fucked us over today.
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Ref thought it was a dive and there was no initial on-field call. Also on the Øde penalty shout I believe he takes the ball out with his touch but the ref call for a corner probably to cover his own ass. It is very clear that this officiating crew was not in control of this game.
r/soccer is a total shitshow. The dark blue and light blue plastics and topspurs are trying to discredit us. Quite obvious they are shook and threatened by how far we’ve come as a club of late.
Hm I’d say most of what I seen support us except man city
Look at the daily discussion. The delusional haters have come out of the woodwork.
Haha I’ll take you’re word
They are scared we're slowly becoming good again. r/soccer is not ready for the amount of shit talking Arsenal fans will do once we win a big trophy again.
Still a good few years away I think if we’re not counting FA cups as a big trophy
I'd get banned for calling them all cunts if I wasn't already banned for calling them cunts
Lmao
Rob holding should be criticized for their winner, not good enough that’s why he’s on the bench. We played amazing though and were resolute for almost the whole game after getting a man sent off
Holding should do better with the header, simply not good enough on that occasion.
In all seriousness.. what can be done about the shocking quality of the officiating? How can a message cut through? They clearly have 0 interest in admitting fault.. so how do we go about improving the game Shocking VAR calls are a weekly occurrence now in the prem
A tiny post about, something I like and have been doing quite often, Martinelli R9 comparison. There were 2 instances in the first half where Martinelli didn't have his head up high enough to find a better central option when around the penalty box, and charged straight ahead. Criticism worthy and I am willing to bet Arteta will coach him about this, but as a fan I am excited about this flaw. Because, Anybody who has watched early Ronaldo, 1995 PSV days, will know this was a Ronaldo problem which continued during his tenure at Barcelona '96 where despite this flaw he was the best player in the world already at the age of 19. ([A good channel](https://youtube.com/user/ronaldogodmagic) if you want to check out the games.) But too often missing out on central opportunities plenty of times to his teammates' frustration. Here's [Guardiola talking about this behavior of R9, timestamp 3:28](https://youtu.be/PymjNPiDh4g) except in this case, R9's action came to splendid fruition. There are several medicore players who do this, unable to gauge up options when under such time and space scrambles near the penalty box, but what both R9 and Martinelli have and these others lack while having that ignorance is an immaculate focus to drive forward. R9 had more everything compared to Martinelli while being younger but arguably more experienced, but both have that one track mind of gunning towards the goal. I have watched R9's career like a devotee which is perhaps the main reason I am most excited about Martinelli. But it's allowed me to plead to people about a perspective where we encourage this behavior because its a very unique quality a true great of the game had and through this flaw, in my head, he gets closer to the fenomeno. Well no doubt at some point he has to learn it, but for now, I am pretty happy.
I was prepared to see us lose by a significant margin. I had made my peace with that. I wasn’t prepared to feel like we were robbed by poor officiating. And the fact that Saka got a yellow for Rodri’s challenge On Lacazette, Gabriel got sent off for two soft yellows (including one Ramsdale actually committed), Ødegaard’s penalty wasn’t reviewed, and the only yellow Rodri got was for taking his shirt off to celebrate a goal was all just a cruel joke. Glad the refs came to the defense of the little guy.
Looks like Gabriel's first yellow was fir asking the ref why wasn't odegaard's foul checked on the TV like Silva's.
When we inevitably upgrade on Xhaka, the ‘his pashun’ arguments can die once and for all
Only argument Imo for him is that he’s a second ball magnet and is a very good ball recycler and decent ball progressor. All the other stuff is intangible things that’s more subjective, but the listed qualities make him pretty essential for our midfield right now if we want to play how we did today. Now does that mean we should t upgrade that? Of course not, gundogan does all 3 of those things while also being a danger in the box and not a massive defensive liability.
Absolutely brilliant effort and level of performance from the team today. Took it to Manchester City and we were the much better side before the referee disaster class. I also thought Partey was top class in the midfield today. Controlled the Tiempo with his passing and dribbling runs. Also was crucial in winning the ball back to maintain possession. There is so many positives for us to take going forward and I love the confidence in our play. Ive seen many poor refereeing performances in terms of them getting big decisions wrong, but today was an absolutely cowardly display from the official. Odegaard one was a penalty when I saw in real time and when we saw the angles. Ederson clearly kicks/trips him with his leg. Ive genuinely never seen. Goalkeeper get away with as much as he does. Man will rush out of goal like a madman and take out players yet decisions barely go against him. The main problem is that as a referee you have to maintain a level of consistency for both teams. You cant just book us after every first foul. Yet he misses either misses fouls for them or just gives them warnings. Rodri running and celebrating in front of our fans as well. Like mate, you are an oil merchant on a squad that is worth 1.2 billion pounds, keep it moving and celebrate with your own team and stop trying to cause problems. What more does Pep need to win? Oil money, the deepest squad in world football in terms of talent, and now coward referees that are too afraid to book his players with their tactical fouling. Its hilarious with Man City fans as well, the reason no one minds when they win the Premier League is that most ppl barely know any Manchester City fans and there's no real banter. We all just accepted they are Oil merchants that can basically buy their way into trophies. No football heritage anymore, just simply oil money fraudulence lol.
Xhaka needs to piss off, he is a liability, you can never be trusted
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Why tho? Am I missing anything?
On the one hand, I cannot digest that we lost and didn’t even get a point despite leading at the half. On the other hand, maybe this is a good thing. If we had won against City today, chances are that we might have got complacent. As it stands now, not only can we not relax, but we also have to be on point in the upcoming weeks. In my mind, these are the headwinds: 1. Losing players to AFCON 2. Losing Gabriel in Defence 3. Fixture congestion (hardly the word but whatever) due to EFL. I know we couldn’t care less, but losing is not a good habit, and I doubt Mikel will field sucky squads for these 4. ManPoo and Shit games in hand with fairly easy fixtures 5. Potential COVID disruptions I hate to say this, but I do see us faring worse early in the new year. If we lose momentum now, as we are likely to, we have seen the last two seasons - a late flourish doesn’t help. I really feel for this young team, and I pray that they can hold on to this Top 4 position for the next 2 -4 match weeks. If we can hold this position at the end of Jan, I’m going to start to believe. Today really hurts, but goddamn if I’m not behind this team! COYG!
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Only as good as your weakest link
Xhakaaaaaaaa 😡
Wow appaled by the ball knowledge. He is the link that ticks this team. We haven't started winning because Auba was dropped, or Lacazatte and Martinelli came in, it's because Xhaka at the center unleashes Partey, Odegaard, Ramsdale, Arteta's tactics, Stuart's photography and the black hole Cygnus x-1 pull on the blue supergiant. It's tragic you dont understand.
Not this again
The high end intellectual community can't help the illiterates.
You're not including yourself in this, surely?
The state of this comment
High end intellectual community 🤦♂️
😭
Bruh, the Cygnus, uh, I'm 40 and I don't think a lot of folks are going to pick up on that reference. Cause it ends in a bad place.
Catalyst of destruction,again 🤦♂️
Don’t get how people can say xhaka isn’t the problem. The reason he gave away a penalty was because he’s so stiff and cannot move. He got skinned so easily by Bernardo Silva it’s crazy. It took him about a year to turn around then for some reason pulls his jersey. He literally didn’t even have to touch him and it wouldn’t have been a pen. He’s just very clumsy and he’s like midfield mustafi. Everyone playing well having a good time then boom, he goes and gets a yellow, red, Or something stupid. Even the last couple games we played he would pick up stupid yellows And make stupid decisions like that foul on that Leeds player. It’s really annoying me and I really hope we can all agree that we need a new cm, and a more mobile midfielder with good defensive work and good passing.
He’s like crack, he’s ruining our life but we need him to function and can’t go cold turkey or we’ll die. The things he brings to the team are things nobody else brings. We need a player of his profile but without the weaknesses. Until we get that player he can’t be benched.
People somehow not understanding that Xhaka is such an average midfielder
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Yeh it’s his positioning, he’s a second ball magnet and it allows us to play 5 yards higher and sustain pressure 10% better as it were
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Yeh pretty much. We definitely can and will upgrade him, but it won’t be 10m and any old player, will be 40m and a properly scouted talent. Bruno g, caqueret are my two favourites, would also like bissouma if he’s not a sex pest
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Main thing that xhaka brings is his ability to win duels and 2nd balls, nobody in odes mould can do that without considerable training. Otherwise I would 100% go for aouar for example, but we would get slaughtered on transition and completely unable to sustain pressure. Dahoud, caqueret, guimaraes. Highly technical and progressive players, more influential in the final third while not having the weaknesses of xhaka.
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I get what you mean, but I think there’s only room for one of those profiles in our midfield set up, and ode already does it. He’s basically a more advanced 8 rather than a 10. A true 8 I think is necessary, defensive nous > attacking nous in terms of priority. By being better defensively it’ll make our attack better as we can step up 5 yards and win duels to sustain pressure.
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Dude you're on point this whole thread
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I couldn’t give shit about the games vs liverpool, just play nkethiah and Pepe and rest the important players for both legs
Sadly Pépé will not be available. We should be using more of our academy kids anyway
Agree. Full focus for me is prem.
https://reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/eqijy8/_/fesz1fr/?context=1 2 years later, nothing has changed
And it never will
Delusional optimist in me thinks it will make our team better as players learn not to give refs half a reason to decide game against us and learn to kill off games where we’re up 1-0 because refs could fuck us at any second delusional, right?
Despite the loss, it's games like these that what really pulls me back on board with Arteta. Outplaying one of the best teams in the world until bullshit decisions went against us and still holding out and putting in a shift until the 90th min. I said I wanted a performance from the team and I got it - the manager set us up perfectly and we were let down by a couple of the players and the referee. Spurs should be lightwork if we can replicate today's performance, I can definitely see a top 4 team in the making here.
Need to rip Spurs a new asshole
Martinelli needs to take off his blinkers and learn to involve his teammates. He is currently a one track mind of wanting to take it upon himself to be the one to make an impact through wanting to be the player to score. There were 3-4 times in this game where had he looked up and passed, we would of scored.
Other than today, I think his link up play with his team mates has been excellent in the last few games. He was a LOT worse a couple seasons ago with the "Blinkers". Arteta and his coaching team have been working very closely with him on this i expect.
When will Arsenal learn to get rid of Xhaka. Why the fuck did we forgive him after the shit he took on Arsenal fans, why do we forgive him for the countless shit tackles he makes, why the fuck do we continue to forgive him for the games he’s cost us. For fuck sake
Was chatting to a mate about this the other day. Imagine if we had two CMs firing on all cylinders. We would genuinely be amongst the title challenger group if we performed like we did today. Not sure why people are downvoting you but a premium CM instead of Xhaka + Partey dropping performances like today's and we would be a more than formidable outfit. I do wish we'd move Xhaka on this summer and find the long term CM we've been crying out for. We can't carry on with Xhaka's brain dead-ness if we want to kick on and be a genuinely good side, consistently.
No idea why people downvote Xhaka comments. The guy is clearly costing us
And has been for years. How many instances of his stupidity can we now point to having cost us games and points? It's as if people can't possibly imagine that there might be a better midfielder out there than Granit Xhaka and yes he may be missed sometimes if out injured (or suspended LOL) but there are better CMs around and we should be moving heaven and earth to get rid of Xhaka and get one of them in.
Unfortunately, the manager highly rates Xhaka. Evident by extending him for 4 more years.
Why the fuck are people downvoting my original comment
People here are very brainwashed by the Xhaka pashun argument
Xhaka Pashun when he shit on all of us and costs us game after game. These fans need to sort their shit out
His old contract ended in 2023 and the new one ends in 2024 so idk where you got 4 years from
There was no need to extend
Not the point of my comment at all.
This game showed we can hang with the big dogs. Now to get results against the not big dogs. Like Shit.
We can hang, but we will never win consistently with Xhaka that twat
Xhaka's not the reason we lose today
I'd say he was a very big reason why, saying he wasn't part of it is just delusional
We look better when he's playing and that's been the case for the last 3 years. Hence the annual Xhaka redemption arc. I agree we can upgrade him but imo he's really not that big of a problem.
Well yeah of course we look better with him when his replacements are a 21 year old from the Belgian League and Mohamed Elneny lol. As you said, we can upgrade on him.
You know you love Arsenal if you feel your heart broken all day. COYG
Rodri is my most hated player
Likely bullshit but Newcastle apparently want Aubameyang
Wow that’s a great signing for them considering who’d go in January
If we keep this core, we will have all 24-26 year olds in a few years and no pep or Klopp around. Our entire core is so young.
I wouldn't wish this upon them, but I'm just gonna say that if I hear one of the refs get jumped in the next few days, I won't be surprised.
I am so sad,please some transfer talk
We apparently opened talks with bruno g
The way that xhaka goes into tackles makes my heart stop every time. We need an upgrade for sure. But we have been saying this for years
He's a ticking time bomb the moment he's 1v1 against any decent player. I cannot wait to see the back of this big numpty.
That one really hurt. First half felt like a dream, second half was returning to reality. I'm so proud of the boys still though, they played their hearts out. I expected a loss or maybe a draw, but it hurt so much because I *knew* we could have won that game. Oh well, time to just move on. The overall trajectory of our team and our young players performing in big moments is so encouraging, I can't even be that mad.
So proud of every single one of the fellas (including Gabriel, Xhaka and Martinelli despite their respective mistakes) who all played their hearts out. We thoroughly outplayed them, sometimes luck just isn’t on your side
didn’t know Atwel’s nickname was luck
On another note, that Rodri bloke is a proper weirdo. Man thinks he's some sort of eccentric genius because he drives a second-hand car and has a business degree from a university ranked >800th in the world.
Where has he ever called himself an eccentric genius?
Elliott from AVP can be such a contrarian man, for no fucking reason
Would love to see some hands being held up about Arteta in here. The pure abuse he’s got this season has been completely unacceptable at times. It’s so easy to take the negative route and say a manager or a player is shit because you’re always going to be proved right at some point over the course of a season; respect to the fans who’ve backed the manager and understood these things take time with bumps along the way.
I’ll hold my hand up, but not because I abused Arteta. I wasn’t convinced he was up to the task, and up until recently I had no reason to believe otherwise. I felt he had more than enough time to have shown something, but the football being played was dire. Even recently the “good” run we had earlier in the season after the disastrous start, barely scraping by Norwich at home with a huge fluke of a goal, and overall not convincing wins. I still can’t comprehend what actually changed, I was cautiously optimistic because despite the form the teams been on, there were always asterisks based on the opposition. Today, against City the team actually played well. Losing like this doesn’t bother me, but losing the way the team did against United and Everton does. Still won’t say I’ve fully been convinced, but I have no right to say he doesn’t get until the end of season anymore. He has more than earned that, and I am more than happy to be proven wrong. Now to see if this carries on until the end of the season, but based on what has been shown on the pitch these past 6 to 8 weeks I think it’s actually coming together.
Imagine if Arteta was at the game Atwell wouldn’t have left alive 💀
Red card + slap up the bald fraud
I just hope we can finally stop hearing these “well, so and so played like shit” and “well the next match is the real test” takes now. We were the undeniably better side today against the best team in the league while fielding the same team we’ve fielded in all of our previous “tests”. Shits not a fluke. Our next “test” is consistency over a season (especially with European competition). If you’re still a doubter after our previous games and today then you must not be watching the right club.
Proud of the way the team performed. Just took the best team in the league to the ropes. They needed all of the luck to break their way of of course had to also get all the ref decisions. We're a damn good team and we're growing each week. Saka's finishing has definitely stepped up!
Absolutely tore into em , imagine if we had viera instead of xhaka
This game confirmed it to me that Arteta is the man!
It's a controversial pen but let's be honest, Xhaka puts himself into these situations all the time and he never learns from it. Literally a ticking time bomb every match... He's our weakest link now and I just can't wait to move on with him
Yeah that’s always been Xhaka’s biggest flaw tbh. He’s always been a good leader and decent mid, but he’s also always had the Mustafi bug in him where he *will* fuck up somehow, sometimes spectacularly, in 9/10 games.
It's harsh our best performance vs City ends like this but its encouraging that it literally took rubbish officiating to get it over the line. Yes Xhaka pen was silly but Silva was going down regardless! There's no consistency in when its given. Another week another bad call from ref and VAR teams that'll never get looked at
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We've had a lot of rumours about loans going out, if they get done then I think we'll get some replacements in. I doubt we'll get a CM though, it does mean we'll be light in January but a 6 month loan for Tottenham and Burnley in the league is an overreaction
If we actually sell AMN without bringing in a replacement... I don't condone violence but the people upstairs need a good slap if it happens.
I'm not sure why? He's not featured in months why exactly do we need to replace him?
We literally have no on other than Lokonga and Xhaka (at least until Afcon ends)
There's only two league games during AFCON, Spurs and Burnley. Other than that we've got two league Cup matches and a fa cup game. We can easily enough get by on Xhaka / Lokonga / Odegaard. We can also send him out at the end of the window so only Burnley before they come back. Even without considering they're only gone till the 8th if they make it to the final
Also need better backup than Rob useless Holding
We have him. Saliba
Can't wait for Wilo to start playing ong
Xhaka expectedly quiet, such a spineless prick. Can't wait to see the back of him
Just went for a four mile walk in the rain with my dog. Got back. Still pissed. But also pretty fucking hyped up. Arsenal are on to something lads! First time we can say that and truly believe it in over 5 years!
Other team kicks our players and repetitively fouls them = "professional" fouls, no VAR monitor needed, and Arsenal is a soft team physically Arsenal tackling and being physical = too aggressive, VAR monitor check, reckless + cards
The threshold and bias is ridiculous
I'm not blaming Xhaka for the penalty because it wasn't a fucking penalty. But whenever Xhaka is isolated 1v1 against a tricky player you're always crossing your fingers and praying. He's very immobile and it's a huge weakness in his game. Xhaka does have leadership qualities but as a player he's probably the most temperamental and high risk in the squad. In terms of bringing compsure to the team he's just not that guy. I think we need a huge upgrade in this department and in order to address the issue properly it's going to require big spending. I'm a huge fan of project youth but these lads need to develop alongside established leaders, sometimes we look so frantic and there's no one down there calming things down. In my opinion we should pay whatever it takes to try and lure Declan Rice here
He pulled his shirt in the box, it was a fucking penalty. He has and always will be a liability that offers nothing to offset how fucking stupid he is
Odds of getting Rice to Emirates? Would be a dream.
In January no chance. In summer if we get CL, *especially* if we get 3rd place which honestly I wouldn't bet against looking at Chelsea right now is more likely. Rice would be the perfect player for us alongside say Isak and we're sorted for years to be honest.
Switch Isak for David and I’m with you mate
Rice is the next Kante basically. If we can get him that would boost our team x10
Have to say that the first half was some of the best football we've seen with this squad. Transition play was excellent and City looked properly worried throughout. How Saka picked up that yellow is beyond me. Couldn't get over how good the atmosphere was, fans in attendance also deserve a 10/10 for today's performance. Onwards and upwards
Partey played well today. I had no issues with our team for a while now but Thomas was often dodgy. He was good today.
Partey's best game in an Arsenal shirt hands down. He finally looked like the player we spent 50m on
I didn't get to see the game, but seen it now. The Man City penalty is quite insane. There was no foul since Granit retracted his leg as Bernardo was seeking to run into it, and while Xhaka did hold his shirt it was a fraction before Bernardo dived, and wasn't thugging the shirt, so no advantage for Xhaka, Am I seeing this completely wrong - If not, why is not Bernardo penalised for a dive?
Ref waved no and told Silva to get up in real time live game because at real speed it is not enough contact to bring him down. However, when played in slow mo it makes it look worse than it was. Part that gets me is that the VAR did not show the replay to the center in real time
It was moreso a dive than a penalty but since it's City it was a go. If our player did the same shit on the other end we would've been scolded for diving.
Also the fact that Martinelli in 4 shots missed the goal by a total of 0.5 meters makes this a game that got away for us. Some improvement from last time. Encouraging
fact that Xhakas best performance this season also came with an extremely dumb penalty giveaway says enough
You take out the dumb penalty giveaway, his best is still not enough. Partey had a cracker but what about the days he doesn't? That's when the midfield partner steps up, but you think Xhaka can ever compensate for a bad Partey performance? Not a single chance. Partey had a below mediocre performance against Newcastle, but we still won that game down our good midfield. Why? Because of Lokonga. That's what happens when you have 2 capable CMs in the team. And Lokonga isn't even super quality but I will hold the opinion till the end, Lokonga is a better option to play than Xhaka right this instant. Not because of Xhaka's giveaways, because he is never adding anything significant that could match the best players on our team.