Arsenal away PL Match 23

[BigChief]

Now the dust has settled I was expecting a draw each for the Che/Ars games. Draws kill a title challenge.

I'm glad we've got 3 points instead of 2. Now to push on, all winnable games bar City.

[Mr Pink]

Now the dust has settled I was expecting a draw each for the Che/Ars games. Draws kill a title challenge.

I'm glad we've got 3 points instead of 2. Now to push on, all winnable games bar City.

I was expecting 2 wins tbh, but I get what you mean… the result is annoying of course, but the performance is what’s really disappointing. We just didn’t turn up at all.

Need to bounce back and start churning out the wins again. This one was maybe our hardest game left. The city game will be massive- if there’s still only a point in it, the atmosphere could well be the best ever- hopefully they won’t be able to cope with it- if we’re ahead after that game I reckon we’ll win the league..

[Jas]

I'm hoping this defeat is the equivalent of the Watford defeat in the league winning season, we just never turned up! Need to get back on it v Burnley and just keep grinding out the results and see where it gets us at the end of the season,

[Kenneth]

I think it’s different. We weren’t caught cold, we’d played them very recently and the game followed the same pattern and that’s hard to write off as a blip. Watford were clearly an inferior team, 1-11, but were clinical. We were missing a couple of players last night and I can’t honestly say that our team was superior on paper. I think we were tactically poor and if we played the game again today it would probably go the same way.

[chadrtc]

I think it’s different. We weren’t caught cold, we’d played them very recently and the game followed the same pattern and that’s hard to write off as a blip. Watford were clearly an inferior team, 1-11, but were clinical. We were missing a couple of players last night and I can’t honestly say that our team was superior on paper. I think we were tactically poor and if we played the game again today it would probably go the same way.

We seemingly learned nothing from the cup game a few weeks ago. Setup the same way as we started that game, as did Arsenal. The first half played out in a very similar way, with our centre backs and keeper constantly passing the ball about amongst themselves until they gave it away trying to get it into midfield.

The team looked all wrong before the game had even started. This one is on Jurgen and the coaching staff, besides the shocking individual errors and the home banker ref.

[The_weatherman]

We were awful and deservedly beaten last night, Arteta outwitted Klopp, but is it just me or are Arsenal really annoying in their victories? Are we like that?

[Cerbie]

We seemingly learned nothing from the cup game a few weeks ago. Setup the same way as we started that game, as did Arsenal. The first half played out in a very similar way, with our centre backs and keeper constantly passing the ball about amongst themselves until they gave it away trying to get it into midfield.

The team looked all wrong before the game had even started. This one is on Jurgen and the coaching staff, besides the shocking individual errors and the home banker ref.

100% this.

[RichC]

We were awful and deservedly beaten last night, Arteta outwitted Klopp, but is it just me or are Arsenal really annoying in their victories? Are we like that?

Thought last night we had a couple of passengers from the start in Grav and Gapko, maybe forced slightly with the knock to Nunez and Sboz being out but we were well off the pace all game and no complaints with the result tbh.

Arsenal at the end of the game were celebrating like they'd won the league & CL in one game; hopefully we use their antics to drive us on for the rest of the season.

[Big-Red-Ed]

Yesterday was just one of those games where everything went wrong. Not helped by having to change a winning team. We are still very much in it. Just move on. Some very winnable games coming up.

YNWA

[Exiled_red]

I think it’s different. We weren’t caught cold, we’d played them very recently and the game followed the same pattern and that’s hard to write off as a blip. Watford were clearly an inferior team, 1-11, but were clinical. We were missing a couple of players last night and I can’t honestly say that our team was superior on paper. I think we were tactically poor and if we played the game again today it would probably go the same way.

Clearly Arsenal were the better side there is no doubting that, given how we played in this game and the cup tie against them you could say they have got our number.

Tactically if it were me I would have played that game differently, in an ideal world ditched TAA from the hybrid/RB role and played Bradley as a regular RB, and played the way we did against Chelsea stuck TAA as the right sided 8 in place of Gravenberch, that would have IMO solidified the right side. I would have started with Nunez rather than Gakpo. Obviously this wasn't possible Bradley wasn't available (understandably), next best option would have been play Robertson LB and Gomez RB, but clearly Robertson isn't able to play 90mins yet so that couldn't happen. Nunez wasn't fit to start so we lost that chaotic attacking threat which really showed. Trent wasn't fit enough to play 90mins, Salah and Endo are unavailable and Szobozlai was out. Add to that we put alot of effort in on Wednesday against Chelsea and Arsenal had an extra day rest. We put in one of our worst performances of the season, the costly goal came as an horrendous cock up between two of our most reliable players which changed the game, yes they went on to score a third but without the error for the 2nd who knows what happens, we could have come away with at least a point, would it have been deserved, probably not, but you don't always get what you deserve.

Big picture, yes it was a disappointing result, but we are still top of the league for now, that was only our second defeat of the season, there is alot of football to be played who knows what will happen. At the start of this season with the rebuild no-one would have imagined us to be where we are, maybe the Klopp situation has changed everyone's perspective. But that was only our 2nd PL defeat of the season, lets put it behind us and go on a winning run.

[danperkins]

I wasn't confident when I looked at the team sheet, I thought that midfield look very lightweight and they did get dominated. Nobody played well, we bottled that game last night and unfortunately we have opened the door for Man City who now have it in their hands and they have also just got two of the best players in the world back fit. The manner of the defeat was worse than the defeat itself imo as it was just a nothing performance.

Unfortunately when you have players like Grav and Gakpo, that do have talent but do hide in games or go out of games for long periods of time ... that kind of player is exposed in games like this when you need fight and graft. I didn't think Arsenal were that great, just my opinion but I didn't think there was much quality in the game or much difference between the sides. We had no fight or intensity and we made stupid ****ing mistakes, such soft and avoidable goals. I did think Klopp got the team selection and tactics wrong but not match fit players, injured/missing players and bad circumstance did kind of force his hand & at the end of the day, he cannot account to those errors from world class players. We saved our worst performance of the season, for one of our biggest and most important games of the season, that is what is most frustrating for me. Last night imo was a must not lose game, a draw would have been perfectly adequate.

Regards to Arsenal, they have a lot of young talent and they did deserve to win the game but they are small time. They have small time manager with a very large chip on his shoulder and bad attitude he oozes, filters down to those players. Let them celebrate and act like pricks, they will win nothing. I'm not worried about Arsenal, City on the other hand... well that's a different story.

[rudedog]

Can't really fault Arsenal for celebrating this as a massive win, if we had beat them yesterday they would have been 8 points behind us and out of the title race.

They are now very much back in it.

[Le Chef]

Not sure if anyone noticed, but every time we had a throw in near the dug out Arteta stepped up to the touchline to bark out orders but in doing so slowed the throw in down as he was in the way of TAA or Gomez - 4th official told him several times to stay in his box but it kept on and on happening !

[frank the tank]

You not a fan of Virg then? Joke!

Harvertzs neck

[Rich]

Arteta gets away with murder down there - never stays in area, constantly jumping around. He's a dick.