Morning all.
I was hoping that this would be a game which wouldn’t leave us talking about errors made by the officials. A penalty missed when Walker booted Gabriel in the head, not even reviewed by VAR, a Mahrez booking for tugging an Arsenal player back when we tried a quick break away and Aguero, when did placing hands on an official become acceptable? Especially when it was clear he reacted to a decision he thought Sian Massey-Ellis had got wrong. Di Maria
The officials are ruining football right now and not just for Arsenal. Earlier in the day, Everton v Liverpool – terrible decision making I think. Not that a red card for Pickford would have changed the outcome for VvD.
Should Arsenal have been awarded a penalty before half-time? 👀@GNev2 thinks Kyle Walker has got away with one!
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No wonder Mikel Arteta was livid.
That has to be checked [by VAR]. They said that they checked, and I asked ‘How the hell have you checked if you took two seconds to check that action?!’ Obviously there is something there.’
After being told by Jeff Shreeves that Sky Sports understood VAR chose not to look back at it, he added:
Yes, I think that’s what happened.
Unlike the handball incident for Man Utd just a couple of weeks ago. That was given a good old going over before the penalty was finally awarded.
As far as the game itself went, I don’t think City were that much better than us but perhaps their passing was just that little bit sharper, certainly in attack. Their attacking play in general had more purpose.
I think most people would agree that Mikel Arteta has turned us into a team more difficult to beat but now he and his players need to find a solution to our attacking game which can look great one minute yet slow and ponderous another. I think we lacked a bit of bite in attack, a burst of pace, a pass to leave defenders on their backside. I don’t want to be overly critical of Pepe but he’s too predictable playing on the right when only his left foot can create opportunities. Willian through the middle didn’t really work either but as Mikel said after the game, that was part of his plan. Perhaps one he’ll be reluctant to try again or certainly change sooner when it’s not really working. I’d imagine like me and probably you, Lacazette is still wondering why he didn’t start, especially as he’s the striker in a bit of form right now.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a-3zQg38eCQ
We had some good moments, very good at times, usually when Tierney, Saka and Aubameyang linked up well. The chances to score goals were there but we didn’t take them. Ederson made sure of that, or am I being kind? Our corners and free-kicks need working on in a big way. Either that or simply change the player taking them.
Had that incompetent bloke with the whistle along with the idiots operating VAR done their jobs properly, the end result might have been very different. Big decisions change results but then so does taking goal scoring opportunities when they come along and at places like The Etihad, they don’t come along very often.
Goals against the so called big teams will come I’m sure. Maybe from players our manager already has in his squad, maybe only after he’s been able to dip into the transfer market again. Talking of which, it was good to see Thomas Partey get a few minutes, just enough for Chris Kavanagh show him a yellow card.
Next up for Arsenal is a Europa fixture which for once, might be perfect timing. A Rapid Vienna side is unlikely to be as strong as Man City. If the team can get out there and score a few goals, it might just do the players the world of good.
See you in the comments guys.
It’s too early in the season to make any real judgements on where Arsenal are and where they are going isn’t it? Add to that all this Covid nightmare, empty stadiums and the unpalatable fact that American owners in the PL are unhappy that they aren’t cleaning up financially and are therefore rocking the boat. They’re agitating, essentially for more money. The traditions and conventions of English football are nothing to them and sooner or later they will get their way and that’s a fact.
But, I digress. We went to Man City yesterday and this version of Man City is a pale shadow of recent seasons. Pep is increasingly short-tempered and irritable and his team looks weaker all round to me. It was a game that, in my opinion, we could have won. Until something is done about the refereeing in the PL though, we have very little chance of a fair shake. It’s pointless to cite the sheer incompetence of both the on-field refs and VAR though. That must be left to the TV companies and journalists who seriously need to shine a bright light on what is happening. I watched Liverpool, who I have no love for, get robbed by VAR earlier in the day. The red card which should have been awarded for the tackle on VVD and the insanity of the offside goal were crimes against football. The stuff that went down in our match was scandalous. The failure to give Mahrez, an increasingly snide player, a card for his pull-back as we were breaking earlier in the game, Rodrigo’s constant fouling after getting a yellow card, Aguero’s boorish handling of the female assistant, the horrible and quite deliberate raking of Tierney’s Achilles by the MC full-back plus of course the penalty that was apparently never even considered for Walker’s boot to Gabriel’s face. I even read an account this morning that claimed that, as no contact was made, it couldn’t be a penalty.
OK, so none of this is new. We’ve been fitted up at places like the Etihad for years and years now. Yet all I heard last night from the commentator was about the last time we won at away to a top 6 side.
My concerns though are really about our team and as I said, perhaps it is too early to voice any concerns. We all like Mikel and can agree that, after the latter years of Arsene and the unfolding horror of Unai, things are looking up. Certainly, our defensive organisation has improved. But I am starting to worry about how we can join the defence to the midfield and to the strikers. Apart from the Fulham match I think we could quite easily have lost every other game. We didn’t of course but I have to ask what is Willian doing out there? You can add Pepe to that too. Perhaps it’s his rather downtrodden demeanour but he looks like he’s swallowed a wasp to me. Since we awarded Auba with a new contract and he told us he wanted to be an Arsenal Legend I think he looks a yard slower and less interested in really competing. Add Laca’s increasingly peripheral role and it makes what Saka is doing all the more encouraging.
I realised a while ago that we aren’t particularly attractive to watch. Granit Xhaka’s lack of mobility is presumably the reason why he plays in front of the more enterprising Ceballos. Perhaps Mikel is concerned that Xhaka will get turned over on the edge of our box too often and just perhaps this is where Partey comes in. We will have to wait and see on that one.
We are screaming out for some creativity in the midfield and it’s a crying shame that Ozil seems to have downed tools. In this team, surely there’s a way back into contention for him?
So, yes we didn’t lose by as many goals yesterday but we could have won I think, against a bitty MC team.
I completely agree that it’s too early but how is Mikel going to integrate our strikers into a team? I’m not sure but I know he needs to get Willian, Pepe, Auba and Lacazette working and he needs to do it soon. The good thing is that I am sure he knows that there are issues and hope that he can sort them.
Morning Adam, all.
Well said. I forgot the rake down Tierney’s achilles although I doubt he has this morning. You’re right about the errors being made by the officials as until it’s out there in the likes of Sky Sports etc, little will change. Riley and his crew need ripping to shreds publicly, week after week until they improve.
Good morning Rico, before we get on to costly errors, costly misses we need to consider the errors made prior to kick off.
Willian playing as a false nine? What bloody nonsense is that? Why is he allowed to take corners? He’s hopeless with them. Why, indeed, is he even starting?
I thought when Edu and Arteta took over responsibility for choosing which players to sign we would stop being the retirement home for aging has-beens. Just of late there have been Liechtsteiner, Sokratis, Luiz and now Willian.
I agree with Adam, Aubameyang has settled for the easy life, hang around until someone lays a goal scoring opportunity on a plate for him. Too much money and too long a contract has put him in semi-retirement mode.
I would much rather see Reise Nelson in place of Pepe and Eddie Nketiah instead of the lethargic Lacazette.
Mix-and-match team selections and constant formation variations are not helping to form a cohesive game strategy.
Early days in Arteta’s reign in may be but the honeymoon period will soon be over if he can’t meld this disparate group of players into a match winning squad.
Morning Cicero.
Playing Willian in that position was odd but I don’t think for one minute, Arteta will do it again. I understand the need to try different things but my question is not about Willian playing there but the time it took to realise it wasn’t working. I feel knocking Arsenal for giving Auba a new contract to be harsh, certainly right now and after just a few games.
As Adam said earlier, the problem we have is our midfield and forwards are like strangers, they don’t get together to make our attacking play fluid or fast. Movement off the ball is seriously lacking I think. I wish Pepe and Auba, or whoever else plays on the right would switch sides every now again, make us less predictable.
It’s almost like our front players, midfielders too need a rocket of enthusiasm up their backsides.
Hey Rico.. still disappointed! Hope the women smash the spuds later – that’ll cheer me up!!
Hi Sue. You and me both. Think we really missed an opportunity yesterday.
Morning everyone.
I didn’t see or listen to the game so I can’t really comment.
But a 1 nil loss at man city won’t be the worst result this season.
Rico any chance you could get Oliver back with his match report I used to love reading them.
Cheers Mog.
FOOTBALLERS will now get booked or sent off if they touch a referee on the shoulder or abuse them verbally after a new set of rules was brought in to protect officials.
I read this today. It was written in 2015. And yet I just heard Kelly Dalgleish, daughter of professional misery Kenny, say that there is nothing in the rules that prevents Aguero grabbing the assistant as he did yesterday. Seriously, if Sky are putting people on, who don’t know the rules, to conduct discussions about the rules then that is very odd. Of course, perhaps the assistant referees are exempt and players can grab them with impunity.
Mog, short answer is no.
Di Maria was sent off for laying his hands on Michael Oliver when we played Utd. I bet Aguero wouldn’t have done what he did had it not been Sian.
Would Aguero have been as condescending if the linesman had been a man because I don’t think so? But this has been totally ignored by the media and in particular the FA when it was the perfect example for behaviour like this to be punished, to me it was a yellow card bordering on a red card. I’ve seen players doing less and getting their marching orders.
I’m getting a bit concerned about Willian and Pepe because the club have invested a lot of money in them and the returns are well below acceptable up till now…
Auba only plays better when Lacazette is in the team .
We have three actual forwards at the moment , Auba needs to have a ball to run on to and times his runs really well but can’t play with a central defender giving him close attention , he is not good at winning the ball in the air he needs the room playing wide gives him..
Nketiah is the epitome of the fox in the box , he pops up and does score goals at least at under 21 level and Lacazette is the only one that can keep a ball played up to him.
To get the best from them Auba and laca have to start and Nketiah is the 70 minute substitute. then it is how to perm the best of the rest . Pepe , Nelson , Martinelli , Willian have to slug it out for the right to a shirt on the right .
Saka , Partey and Ceballos or even Ozil to feed them , and I still believe that we sold the wrong keeper.
Would that Foden shot have stuck ? I think most probably yes.
Thought that would be the answer can’t blame me for asking (hopefully)
I read somewhere or heard that back in the day ‘keepers trained separately from the rest of the squad and only joined them for the kick-about. Now the ‘keepers at the top clubs all practice their ball skills along with the others and are consequently much more confident with the ball at their feet. I don’t think Leno can be doing similar training as his footwork leaves much to be desired.
We definitely sold the wrong goalkeeper.
Given that woman just love to chastise and berate men at every opportunity I’m surprised that there aren’t more female officials in top football. Off to get my tin hat…. 😄
On the Sian Massey incident I agree I have seen a lot less punished with a red . I remember Petit getting sent off when the referee ( Durkin ) jumped forward and Petit fended him off . There is either a rule or there isn’t and Massey probably felt that if she had raised it the sexism that she has probably faced all her way through her career would not be worth the trouble it would cause.
I am rather more concerned at the high kick on Gabriel and Stockley Park’s refusal to look at it if we are looking at refereeing .
As for Kelly Dalgleish, daughter of professional misery Kenny, say that there is nothing in the rules that prevents Aguero grabbing the assistant as he did yesterday.
She probably is jealous.
My turn for the tin hat.
Potter, I agree wholeheartedly with everything you posted, especially about the keeper. Said to the wife, it was really a goalkeeping error. The big lad would have either grabbed it or palmed it to safety. QED.
The forwards are not entirely to blame. They can only be as good as the service they have provided. If the mid fielders can’t get the ball to them cleanly or quickly they have little chance of finding the onion bag. Auba had maybe one chance yesterday, Saka crafted himself a couple and was unlucky enough to hit the keeper! Pepe didn’t really look like doing anything although he was give a couple of balls to run on to, but nothing came of them as he couldn’t find the little bit of magic to craft a chance for himself or even a team mate. Etc.etc. In fairness citeh defended fairly well or took our players out before they could do any damage! I hate to say it, well not really, but we lack Ozil’s creativity. He has the ability to twist and turn and make a chance out of almost nothing at all…..when he can be bothered! Emery wouldn’t play him because he thought him lazy, there was a clamour to have him brought back into the fold and eventually back he came, he had a positive effect, briefly and then he disappeared again. Did his form fall away after the knife incident? I think it did and he’s not really played since and certainly without any passion. It’s little wonder Mikel won’t play him. What we need is a ball playing inside forward with ‘balls’ guts and determination, plus the creativity of someone like David Silva.
There, solved it!……….or not?
Off to listen to 5liveX see how the ladies get on. They’re usually better than the men!!!
Afternoon Rico/afternoon everyone,
I can’t get too stressed about losing 1-0 at the Etihad. I would have started with Partey and Lacazette, in place of Ceballos and William. Lacazette is our best hold up player, and is underated in my opinion. Now I like Ceballos but his halfhearted, shrug shoulders, non attempt to track Aguero was unforgivable. He just waved him through and that led to the goal, other Arsenal players were at fault after that too, but that was bad. You have to give Sterling credit but it was avoidable.
I thought Saka was our brightest player, in spite of the roughouse tactics – it was like WWE bodyslam out there.
The Leicester game looks crucial for us, hopefully the women do us proud later.
COYG
Kev, she’s probably had enough of that already after the Keys and Gray days..
Afternoon Limey.
Selling Martinez will forever be discussed I think. Big error.
Small correction live images to be found on BT sports so I’ll be watching instead!
They’re worth a watch, there are some world class players who can produce entertaining and wonderful football to watch. Really refreshing.
The women beating Spurs 3-0 after 14 minutes.
Miedema!!!! 🔥🔥🔥
5 – 0 half time. Can we swap Miedama for Pepe?
Yes please, Cicero!
Excellent by the Ladies..
Double figures would be nice,. 😂
6 – 1 finish , it’s never easy to keep the momentum when you are so far in front .
Vivianne Miedema became the first player to reach 50 Women’s Super League goals as Arsenal thrashed Tottenham 6 – 1
That’s the sort of NLD headlines I like. 😉
Perhaps HH needs to switch from the men’s game to the ladies and the youth, leave all the other blogs to cover the men 😂
You know there must be something wonderfully restorative about the air in North London, on Wednesday night while playing for England Kane was moving like a spavined old nag ready for the knackers yard. Yet this afternoon he running around like a spring chicken.
Hammers coming back from three nil down to 3 – 2
Totts 3 – 3 !!! 🙂
Three goals in the last ten minutes, well done The ‘Appy ‘Ammers.
Evening Rico and All
As always when i’m down after an Arsenal
defeat even though we stayed in the game
full 90mins could/should have got a point.
Somehow the Spuds give you a lift.
Oh no! I turned off at 3-0.
MOTD it is then, Andrew 🙂
Not like me to have sympathy for Liverpool, but after Ramsey / Shawcross situation, we bemoaned tackles like that, but at least he was sent off. Van Dijk had similar bad tackle yesterday and now needs anterior cruciate ligament operation. Probably out for season and ref and VAR took no action against Pickford ….England goalie. Standard of decisions really getting pathetic now.
Yes Sue, and just heard son (stupidly?!) put a bet on a draw after 60 minutes!
VVD requires surgery on his knee….
After the disappointment of yesterday and yet another crazy game today, I can’t help but feel a lot of teams are scoring goals for fun, except us ☹ Sigh….
Evening Fred.
Look 9n the bright side Sue, we’re not conceding three. I live in hope that it’s just a case of spending so much time on the defending in training, our attacking game has been forgotten. But it’s next on the agenda,
Yikes, Andrew!! Btw, have you got a copy of Arsene’s book? I remember we all spoke of it and you said it was released on your birthday – Happy belated Birthday!
Nick Hornby on Sky Arts.Celebrity Arsenal fan.
Not that I’m at all arty,I was flicking through looking for the snooker.
Lanzini what a finish, the look on Mourinhos face was priceless.
Yes that’s welcome, Rico – not conceding shed loads, but with all our forwards we should be scoring more!! Hopefully we’ll see a few on Thursday…
Haha Sue, good memory, thanks😀
Have read excepts and listened to many articles and newspapers online which has prevented me buying for now. Did think wife might have bought it for me, but then she also remembers my cursing him in the later years! Was glad to hear Arteta welcome him back when circumstances allow, he certainly deserves that.
Just seen it Limey, fantastic strike.
Our front players have too click soon Sue, there’s too much talent out there for things not to improve surely.
I wonder how fit Jack Wilshere is?
Andrew.. I was surprised at Charles Watts saying the book was ‘underwhelming’… I’ll get round to it eventually….Yes he does deserve that – probably be to the unveiling of his statue!!
Exactly, Rico… and Auba needs to find his shooting boots…..
Seeing Rico mention Wilshere reminds me Danny Welbeck has signed for Brighton, good luck to him, always worked hard.
I heard Jack is in talks with Rangers,I would think he’d be better off in a less physical league, like China or MLS.
He does Sue. I think he looks knackered.
Do I dare mention Martinez making a few good saves yet again as Villa beat Leicester…
Always liked Welbeck Limey, good luck to him. Jack too wherever he ends up.
Until Villa take a stuffing and ship a few goals the keeper situation is going to haunt us . In the words of Oates it may be some time.
And in the words of Potter we sold the wrong keeper
Morning all.
Potter,
I hope Martinez lets 4 goals a game in.
Not to say “told ya so” as none of us wanted him gone, but he’s an opponent now so really, nobody should want him to do well lol
I’m not happy to see any player suffer injuries, but rather a Liverpool player than one of ours because we’ve had more than our share.
New post up now