Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Wilshere, Ozil, Giroud, Walcott, Ramsey
Subs: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Arteta, Rosicky, Cazorla, Gnabry, Bendtner
—
Arsenal succumbed to a second defeat in three days as Manchester City won 6-3 at the Etihad to reduce the Gunners lead at the top of the table to three points. In a thrilling end-to-end game Sergio Aguero gave the home side an early lead before Theo Walcott tapped home an equaliser on the half hour mark. Alvaro Negredo restored City’s advantage before the break, which was further extended in the second half by Fernandinho’s curled effort. Walcott grabbed his second as the table toppers kept battling but David Silva restored the two-goal advantage. Fernandinho dinked his second, Mertesacker grabbed a consolation before Yaya Toure wrapped things up five minutes into injury-time with a penalty.
City came out of the traps quickly earning three corners in quick succession before the four minute mark and while we coped with the set pieces we didn’t help ourselves in the centre of the park where we repeatedly squandered possession.
Having weathered the early storm we came out to play as the game reached the ten minute mark. Indeed, we had a real chance to take the lead. Walcott sneaking round the back of Gael Clichy clipped a ball at the second opportunity to the back post where Jack Wilshere set himself only to completely mishit his effort. The ball bobbled across the six-yard box, but the chance was gone.
We paid the price. Within three minutes Sergio Aguero gave City the lead. A corner was headed on at the near post by Demichelis and the Argentine, who didn’t have to do much to escape marker Koscielny, crashed home a superb volley into the top corner.
City continued to be dangerous. An impressive drive and pass by Kompany fed Negredo who struck low but wide. Silva then nearly found his Spanish compatriot with another ball on the break as gaps appeared all over the park. At the other end Sagna nearly found Walcott with a decent cross before Toure fizzed an effort over Szczesny’s bar.
On the 30 minutes we equalised. Aaron Ramsey brilliantly bullied Toure off the ball in the middle of the park, charged forward and found Ozil on the left side of the box. The German looked up saw an onrushing Theo Walcott bursting into the penalty area and the England winger bobbled the ball home. It looked at first like it had taken a big deflection, mostly because Pantilimon didn’t move, but actually Demichelis’ head barely brushed the scuffed shot.
Having worked hard to get back on level terms we conceded again within eight minutes.
Negredo, who’d kept us on the back foot all game and had already missed one effort, finally got himself on the score sheet. A constant threat he tapped home from close range after Zabaleta’s slide rule pass across the six-yard box. The goal was the result of a slick City build-up but quite why Toure was given so much space in the build-up was criminal.
Our misery was compounded when Koscielny dropped to the floor in agony as City celebrated. The French defender buried his face in the turf clutching his knee and required a stretcher as he was replaced by Vermaelen. The looks on the faces of the Arsenal medical team suggested it was bad.
The self-destruction continued five minutes into the second half. Ozil passed the ball diagonally across the box to Flamini who slipped, Fernandinho picked up the dregs outside the box and swiftly and clinically curled a shot into the top corner to make 3-1.
We nearly hit back instantly when a wonderful ball over the City defence by Wilshere was met by Giroud on the stretch at the back post only for the Frenchman’s effort to fly over. A minute later the striker again got free in the box but when a pass to Walcott looked on he fell over his feet and kicked the ball out for a goal kick. Giroud kept knocking on the door and really should have reduced the deficit from a fine Sagna cross with a header that flew past the post. It was a spirited response from us.
Zabaleta then handled in the area cutting out a through ball which was heading for Walcott. It was a definite penalty but referee Martin Atkinson waved away the angry protestations of the Arsenal players.
Just past the hour mark we deservedly grabbed one back. Theo Walcott curling a delicious effort into the top corner after a dinked ball from Ramsey found him free in the box. It was Henry-esque from the returning winger to make it 3-2.
Out of the blue though City again hit back. Substitute Jesus Navas skipped past Monreal, Silva glided between Mertesacker and Vermaelen and the Spaniard first time guided the ball high past Szczesny to restore the home side’s two-goal lead.
To our credit we refused to give up. Pantilimon produced a stunning save from a Wilshere pile-driver before Wenger went for broke taking off Flamini and sending on Gnabry. With 15 minutes remaining Giroud then surprisingly made way for Bendtner. By this point we looked shattered and Yaya Toure time and again found space to race through the centre of the park.
City had copious chances to extend their lead as we struggled to match the home side’s tempo and it was little surprise that Fernandinho grabbed a fifth. The Brazilian wriggled around in the box before dinking over Szczesny.
Bendtner had a perfectly good goal chalked off for offside and Walcott nearly grabbed a consolatory hattrick from a free-kick before Mertesacker headed in from close range to make it 5-3. It was too little too late.
Just when you thought it was all over, Szczesny conceded a penalty and Yaya Toure tapped home to complete the rout. The scoreline suggests a hammering and in a way it was, but for large portions of the game we really gave as good as we got.
We knew it was going to be a tough week and things really haven’t gone to plan. We’re still top though and with nine days to rest tired legs we need to be ready to fire on all cylinders when Chelsea visit the Emirates on the 23 December.
Giroud looked absolutely exhausted, times like this our depth is exposed. Fuck it, let’s just forget about this game and move on to next one. Hopefully Kos is OK, we desperatly need him
He could have had a hattrick today instead had one of misses yet he wants to play in everygame?? poldi/walcott should start for an exhausted Giroud or this 9 day rest could be just what he needs?
So many tired players and is Ozil even trying?
We need abit of Perspective here,where’s Harsh when you need him.
Trying what ? his work is to create scoring chances and he does so every game. the problem is the target who is supposed to convert this chances.
He’s abit of a sore loser aswell didn’t applaud the away fans. it’s setting up nicely for a cracker at the emirates next monday, i feel he could very well turn on the style against those scummy cunts.
Has apologized since. Nothing wrong with a sore loser there hunger and desire can lead to trophies. Big Per what a monster don’t think anyone will duck away from the fans again.
Ozil looks fustrated out there. He’s used to playing at Madrid where there is always movement and people making runs. Frankly, there just aren’t any options for our midfield with having a player like Giroud up front and a lack of width. It has clearly improved with Walcott, but it is something we need to improve on.
what about ozil?played every single game since his arrival,he was just absent today(bar one assist,well he gets one every game!),wish he was rested he is the kind of player who make difference in these big game,wilshere………poor,tommy should have started.
was a big surprise tommy didn’t start. wilshere is still very rough around the edges and keeps giving the ball away needlessly. thought flamini was very poor today and in general we looked tired. having said that, we could have had 5 or 6 goals easy so still big question marks about this city team. i still think it will be the results against the “weaker” teams in the league that will win the championship and we are still top of the table so no need to be too down about it. COYG!!
City scored six and could have had another four at least. You can’t really question a team with 24 pts from 8 home games. They average over four goals a game at home. Pellegrini’s philosophy seems to be we’ll score more than you. Arsenal really need to beat Chelsea now.
mm there will come a time and a few games when citeh will bang on the door all game and not score. Andy has a great point as there defence looks well dodgy that’s main reason there away record is shite. Two poor offside calls when the ball ended up in the net. Two poor offside calls with Walcott and Monreal in good positions and a stonewall penalty. Could and should have been at least six goals for us. Strange game!!!!
I like Ozil’s the 2nd half match. He tried to get the ball in front of our back four and move forward.
we conceded 3 wiv kos on pitch and he was at fault for opener and partially for 3rd also, 3 conceded with TV5 at back with no help in front of defence, just putting into perspective kos was shit too today. Szcz – Not much he could do today 6 Sagna – not bad 6 Kos – pretty poor before injury 5 Mert – best of bad day defending 6.5 Flamini – Tried his best to compete – 6.5 Ramsey – didn’t do a lot wrong or amazing 6 Wilshere – V.Poor 1st half (4) better in 2nd half (7)… Read more »
linesman at both ends
Fucking shit outta 0/10
Did you even watch the match?worst ratings ever!
they weren’t much different to blogs i see, so let’s see if you repeat ur comment there. we are all entitled to our own opinions no??
Linesman in first half let crowd get on top of him should be sent to lower leagues until his spine strengthens. Linesman in second half simply woeful should be sent to opticians.
save the ratings for Arseblog. then we can debate it.
You forgot Monreal’s shit performance.
yes i did forget monreal (i wduld have gone 5 but blogs gave 4) but it was easy to, for those above criticising let’s see if u do same to blogs, he was even harsher than I was, I felt as bad as we were we had two gls chalked off wrongly and a pen denied so it cld easily have been different, we are all entitled to our opinions without the fear of getting lambasted for the sake of getting a few thumbs up
Wrong post, Damien.
if arsenal can’t get a point there,dont think anyone can,city are too good,still top off the league…………..its going to be tough being there,raise your game gunners!
Officials don’t help either!
refree was shit so were we,it takes pretty bad performance to concede 6 goals though
At this point i would wish we played walcot as a central striker. at least he knows how to convert them.
It’s just vital that we beat them when they come down to the Emirates.
CUNTEST OFFICIATING IN LEAGUE THIS YEAR
Officiating as bad as against Villa. But that still doesn’t explain the 5 we shipped (Considering penalty was a dive)
One of their goals resulted from a farcical free-kick after a Nasri dive. But that still doesn’t explain the four, two of which came about after just awful passes to nobody.
Those passes were a direct result of our tiredness due to the fixture schedule. Similar story vs United with the sickness. No excuses about the loss but I’m yet to feel really aggrieved against an arsenal performance this season bar midweek, due to these mitigating circumstances. When we’ve been on an even playing field physically with regard to previous fixtures we’ve done well and I feel we could have got atleast a draw against city and had we been 100% physically.
Chelsea will lay down the benchmark for this team’s season.
No, but with decent officiating we could have scored three more (1 penalty – the Zabaleta handball, and 2 false offsides).
I swear the first goal they scored from a corner shouldn’t have been. Before the corner a city player was offside and forced Koscielny to header it out for a corner. Should have been our free kick for offside instead :/
Ye never showed the replay for that,ps Bt sport I hate everything about them.
So bar the 3 bullshit goals scored by the officials, add the goals we scored that were wrongfully ruled offside, and possibly the penalty we were stupidly denied… We’d be in a slightly different position to put it like that.
Can almost be compared to the Aston Villa game. That was daylight robbery. This one was in the afternoon, so to speak.
You really believe you were robbed? You were lucky it wasn’t ten and I would’ve saved both Theo’s goals
But you didn’t save them because you are obviously a dreamer. Or are you Joe Hart in disguise.
This game really changes nothing. Man City were odds on for the title and still are. We knew it was a tall aask to go there and win. I think we are ‘still’ legitimate contenders and will still be in second by the oddsmakers. City sure are scary at home. If anything we have shown that we can go toe to toe with them.
City will play most big clubs away in the second half of the season.
Bleh
nothing happened today. up until the last quarter we played just as good, though we weren’t clinical enough (and the refs, for fuck’s sake!). it could – and should, in fact – easily have been three a piece by that time. then we got overfatigued, which seems quite normal considering we had less time for rest after the cl. it was nothing like united’s loss at etihad. we did lose, but we’re still top of the league. the only thing we should care about is for how long Laurent is out. it’s the next game that counts. can’t help but… Read more »
‘up until the last quarter we played just as good’ Really? We were a joke in defencing. We gave them 4 goals with our mistakes. But true, with our schedule there was nothing we could do with this game. Not with our current depth of squad. Can’t wait for come back of Podolski and OX though.
I thought TV did a pretty good job coming in for Kos. Should have prevented the Silva goal mind (I think it was that one at least, he dropped too deep and didn’t cut out the cut-back).
City are unbeatable at home, we dropped 1 point at best..
People have taken another issue up of Ozil not clapping the away fans. And the way Mertesacker screams at him actually moved me.
Linesmen a couple of cunts. I can’t recall games where the linesmen get so many calls wrong. Once or twice fine but four to five in a game? That said the team aren’t free of blame as well. I said before the game fatigue is a concern and so it proved today. Our best players are those who managed a full weeks rest. Giroud looks knackered and missed some great chances. Koscielny looks like a couple weeks out, always an injury waiting to happen. Started most games since the start of the season, same cam he said of Mert. We’re… Read more »
Mert and Kos played every game not because we don’t have an alternative but because they are so good together. Verm did a fine job coming on today.
Verm was horribly out of position for Silvas goal. BFG had to cover two players
Verm was blocking off the passing lane right across the face of goal.
Mert should have done better and not let his man get in front of him.
im still in shock that the linesman allowed pers header… The timing of some of those wrong decisions killed us. Its never great to concede 6 but we had abandoned any defensive intentions by the last 15, so these scores can happen. Concerned by Jack, he couldnt complete a pass or mark his man in the 1st half…pray that santi can find some form over the next few weeks
Rosicky & Cazorla? ffs
oh, and fuck the refs
I counted at least 3 miscalled offsides and one huge handball in the box. Bullshit!
*four. Four missed offside calls. Two led to goals, two would’ve led to good chances, and there was also a far clearer penalty than theirs in there. Other than the points this game is meaningless in terms of showing who’s better. It was played like a cup match or a derby.
The worst part was when the pundits applauded the refs for making the decisions(as bad as they were) because they were making them at real time. The boys looked deflated and exhausted after all of those bad calls against them the whole game.
Absolutely awful refereeing. 6-5 to us if the ref’s weren’t so awful
I agree that there were several poor calls, but there’s not much point in dwelling on that fact. The reality is that Man City outclassed us, deserved to win, and would almost certainly have won anyway. Running with hypotheticals when the home side was so obviously superior isn’t much of a productive exercise.
Or perhaps I’ll recalibrate that: it’s fine to dwell on the poor calls, but let’s not kid ourselves that we would have won that game if the calls had been right. You can’t let Toure and Fernandinho bound about in acres of space, unmarked and unchallenged, and expect to get a good outcome. Better referee decisions would have kept the game alive for longer, but by the end Arsenal were spent and Man City were still up for it. The result was frankly inevitable.
I’m confused, we scored 5 and should have had a penalty. Man City scored 6. The only difference was that three decisions went against us. Goals win you games, not the amount of space a midfielder has.
But if those poor calls we’re called correctly then that would have a massive influence during a game. We’d play with more energy whilst unsettling City who maybe wouldn’t be so’up for it’. No excuse for such bad decisions.
Man City toyed with us, we never looked like beating them. The only ones in there I don’t want are both gk, the English and the ex Arsenal players, I’ll take Zabaleta, Negredo, Silva, Fenandinho, Toure and Aguero any day. Really potent team.
Onwards and upwards; lets score at least three againt those classless neanderthals Chelski next week and stay at the top of the table!
@AFCEdwards: You can’t just create a hypothetical result by saying that everything would have been identical except the scoreline. Think about it logically. If you change one moment in a game, every single moment thereafter changes as well. The overall reality is that we were outrun and a Man City win was therefore the most likely result. @Crispy: That’s just speculation. It’s quite possible that Man City would have been spurred on even more and banged in eight goals instead of six. Or they might have tightened up defensively and prevented us from getting back into the game. Who knows.… Read more »
Stop blaming the officiating for everything. Mistakes go both ways. Today maybe in City’s favour but I don’t think the win was in the balance. Just a bit peevish to always look at the officials to blame.
The poor decisions meant City were 2 up = more open expansive game = players in acres of space. Better finishing (Giroud, sorry buddy) and better officiating would have prevented that (to some extent).
They were more clinical than us in front of goal, and didn’t gift us anything, other than that there wasn’t so much between the two teams.
Cyril we were poor to many of our players were passing to players wearing blue shirts. That doesn’t disguise the disgraceful diabolical performance from the officials!
1 Penalty not given + 2 Dissalowed goals for phantom offsides…
should have been 6-6… should have set the record for highest scoring game in Premier League history…
Reffing is a disgrace and cost us 3 point here… (counting the points City gained ground on us with)
For all the poor decisions, we deserved to lose today. Couldn’t string two passes together at times, and conceded six goals. Whatever about the Milner dive, that simply isn’t good enough on our part today. Twice now we’ve played top sides and lost. Not the stuff of champions.
Arsenal never ever deserve to lose… fuck that shit…
How can an opposition player diving to win a penalty be the fault of the defending team? He dived for god sake. The clue being, that he dived… and there for cheated.
Yeah our defending wasn’t great, and if we concede more than we score LEGITIMATLY then fair play to the opposition… but they didn’t, they scored 5 goals and one penalty that shouldn’t have been
We scored 3 goals + 2 perfectly good ones that were not given and had a clear penalty not given.
We conceded 5 “legitimate” goals which is shit. Can’t defend that. Yes Bendtners goal should have stood, but whats not to say they wouldn’t have scored again. It could have been a lot more than 6. Of course they deserved to lose. On the day City were simply the better team.
Yeah right, the ref cost us the game. Lets just ignore the 265 chances to score city created and the fact that they dominated 90% of the game. Im an arsenal fan but I’m not blind.
There was a stretch were we had 90% possession, after their third. We didn’t play well, but it wasn’t as if we got hammered like Sp*rs.
if we beat city by three goals.. you’d be saying we hammered city
Arsenal created more scoring chances.
Big Game Syndrome strikes again. Why do our players disappear in games like this?
Arsenal rolling back the years there. Defense played like it was 2011 again and Giroud played like it was 2012
I think the defense was fine. City was just that good. Giroud did look like the Giroud we first saw at Arsenal but we all know he is dog tired. Hope he doesn’t get too much stick.
Really missed Arteta today. Bad call from Wenger to drop him (if fit). Feels like the Chelsea game last year when he dropped Mert (considering him to be too slow)
Just awful defending today. I could stomach a hard fought 2-1 loss but today was a total failure. Lazy defending and terrible passes cost us 4 goals if not more. Its more of a one off than a sign of things to come though. I gotta say, Bendtner looked pretty good today.
our defense was exposed because we lost possession of the ball too easily and left our defenders with a lot of one-on-one’s. That coupled with the fact that we played very offensively with only Flamini as the holding mid meant that it was always going to be a tough task defending a rampant Man City. We didn’t defend badly at all, give credit where credit is due, this City side is one of the best attacking teams the EPL has ever seen.
I think you’re right in the sense that it wasn’t, say, Mertesacker’s fault that we conceded six goals. But in the broader sense, “defending” is a pursuit in which the whole team has to be involved, and on that basis I think it’s fair enough to say that it was a very poor defensive performance. We needed, in particular, to defend better upfield to prevent Toure from having an uninhabited country estate between him and the last line of defence.
Kos switched off for the first goal, two of their other goals were in our 6 yard box Not all of their goals were from poor defending but half of them were. They are a great attacking side but give credit where credit is due……poor defending. It was an important game and our defense was lacking.
Not as good as the invincibles. The Arsenal are the best!
I’m disgusted by our performance today. Did the players even care about defending? Our squad depth is pathetic and today we were absolutely atrocious. Blame the linesmen all you want, but they didn’t let City walk the ball into our goal SIX TIMES
Could’ve gone either way, it was bad officiating that decided it. Bendtner almost deserves a start, looked lively and had a great flick on to Walcott there.
But I mean really 3, possibly four, crucial wrong offside calls against and one ,maybe two, penalties not called for us.
Brilliant game of football though, great one for the neutrals.
Our defending looked quite awful at times, but really feel like we can destroy just about any other team in the league. Walcott has to start against Chelsea, they’re definitely gonna be scared going into that one and I figure it’S a guaranteed win; Chelsea are not able to beat us
This was honestly the worst refereeing I have ever seen. And I sometimes watch czech league.
Still top of the table though. Let’s move on
Wilshere had a really poor game imho and its a train smash of a result, but let’s turn this around against Chelsea. This is our 8-2 game of the season-we need to focus more. Our reaction would be crucial. Its tough going, but let’s stick with our team.
Not sure how Wilshire is still getting in the team. He has been consistently poor this season. Surely Carzola or Arteta are better options at the moment.
If you want to go by current form then Rosicky is actually the best option…
Simply outclassed. Just look at our substitutes vs Man City’s. Navas and Milner against Vermaelen and Gnabry. Speaks for itself.
Nothing wrong with the quality of our bench yesterday or are you just pissed that Messi and Ronaldo didn’t come on for us.
Glad 5-2 is still ours.
Can i just take that linesman and dump his head inside the ground like the ostrich does.
Today we really lacked the depth upfront.
Some shocking offside decisions
Some shocking sloppy giving the ball away by us as well.
When will we ever raise our game and actually beat someone good when it means something?
I think the decision to start Monreal backfired badly, even though Gibbs did need a rest.
They were rampant, but we habe to look at ourselves too; the third goal and the giveaway for their penalty, among others, are just mistakes that cannot be made at this level, and especially not at the Etihad.
What did he do wrong? Left alone by his wingers time and time again.
I read Gibbs suffered illness before kick off!!
ozil and wilshere need to step up.
Mertesacker was having words with Ozil at the end… Per was pissed.
Up The Arsenal!
Can we get Chelsea to a non-blue jersey?
Evidence enough, we need someone to come in this coming transfer window. This team needs a shot in the arm. Not exactly panic stations because lets face it, going into this game it was always going to be a huge ask but now the pressure is well and truly back on us in the chelsea game to show this week was a one off.
Really the reality check we needed. Didn’t play all that badly but this is what happens when we don’t impose ourselves for 90 minutes as opposed to in spurts like we have all season. Can you remember the last time we played at a top level for 90 minutes? Saw the best and worst of Theo today, good finishing and getting in behind the defense, but was rarely involved apart from his two goals. Did he even get a touch after his second goal?
Expecting to much from Theo he has just come back from long injury.
6-3?
A pint of your worst vomit please.
Wilshere has had one of his worst games of the season. Love to see by the numbers how many times he gave the ball away.
Extremely sad Arse here…
Oh my Arsenal.
What wrong did I do to deserve this?
I for one am just going to forget this game. The linesman was utterly, utterly shocking, our defending was uncharacteristically poor, our finishing was off, we looked understandably knackered by the hour mark, and overall the final scoreline was an unfair reflection of the match. Let the City fans be smug and talk of themselves as title favourites. Let the pundits talk about “Arsenal failing to win big games”. This game was an anomaly. We’ll take our nine days to recover, and we’ll get on top again. This was frustrating, it’s three points dropped, but we’re still top of the… Read more »
Jack Wilshere was absolutely awful. Second game in a row where he has continualy given the ball away stupidly times! What’s even more infuriating is that he doesn’t track back after losing the ball.
The home team looked far more like champions than their opponents.
Arsenal generally look pathetic against the main contenders, and it’s very rare for that kind of quality to still take a team to winning the league. And no, there’s not much to gloat about beating Sp*rs. They are in no contention.
Fuck that.. Sometimes it’s not about how many big teams you’ve beaten but how many average teams you’ve put aside. They’ll write us off but I believe we’ll shut their mouths up soon. Bring on Monday. COYG!
Woke up at 445 for this and now my day is ruined.
Shit fuck. Yes the officials were ATROCIOUS, but you can’t concede 6 times. The defending
was shite and our midfield got bossed around by only 2 players. Jack should have come off, he
was having a terrible game. Don’t really know what to say apart from we need a striker in january,
Giroud can’t do it alone. As soon as Bendter comes on… thats it game over.
But fuck it, we’re top of the league and have 9 days before chelski.
COYG
up way too early for this as well. knackered. bbd said koscielny’s injury is a major gash, but hopefully nothing more serious.
Awful officiating. Three games in six days is ridiculous. Couple of chances we should have taken. Blah. This was a Rosicky+Arteta match for me. Needed the ball and higher pressing. Flamini chasing shadows once they’re already running full speed to our final third was pointless. Gnabry+Bendtner on with Arteta, Cazorla, and Rosicky still on the bench was a clear sign Wenger was conceding defeat. We’re still top, and even without the schedule issue, this was always going to be our most difficult match in the league. If we lose the league by three points, I’ll be more upset over losing… Read more »
Our form has been slipping if late. This was always gonna be a tough test though.
Still top of the league.
If we lose at home to Chelsea though I’ll feel we havent answered enough of the right questions.
C’mon Arsenal. Don’t let us down.
It was one of those ones, as you say for large segments of the play we looked as good as anybody, but City always looked like they had a little bit more in reserve. The ref and assistants were poor today. but we’ve come to expect that.
City has lethal strikers that’s the difference !
and Silva and Toure, not to mention Kompany who showed more skill on the ball than Wilshere.
Defense will cop a lot of flak but I thought our midfield’s ball retention was piss tonight. Undoubtedly affected by fatigue, but the number of times we played passes either to nobody or straight to an opposition player was criminal. Oh well. Chelsea at our house in 9 days now, no excuses.
second that, our defense was decent but our midfield left them too exposed
The last time we’ve lost in the league was because of terrible officiating. I believe if we have had just officiating in this game we could have won and should have won!!!
I think we learned a few things today:
1. Monreal is no Gibbs.
2. A fit Walcott will be essential to our title challenge.
3. For all the talk of heart and believe, the work rate of certain players was really poor today.
4. vermaelen needs to start playing in certain matches against lesser opposition if we expect him to be a viable replacement for Koscielny.
The good thing is: We are still top of the league and will still be top of the league no matter what happens this weekend.
Let’s keep our heads up, and prepare for Chelsea.
We also learnt why Arteta should never be dropped if fit.
No, Arteta has been slow of late and has been exposed in recent matches. Against The Toffees and Napoli, he struggled to keep up with the opposition midfielders. This might not be popular, but I think we’ll need another defense minded midfielder at the end of the season.
He may be off the pace but as Mert has taught us speed of thought is more important than speed of legs. Plus he keeps us ticking over and recycles possession. And he doesn’t leave yards of space for opposition to exploit.
Monreal was poor but he had absolutely no cover from the midfield(jack). Jack and giroud both had poor games. Hope we can put this behind us and give chelsea a spanking
Giroud is tired, he hasn’t been his energetic self for the past 3 games, while Jack… I do know what to say.
Very good points. We cannoy have lazy defensive passengers. Unless they are amazing like ozil. If they are sloppy and unprofessional like wilshere then they go on the bench until they pull their socks up. Rosicky a far better option than wilshere at tge moment. Our first choice back 4 is great. After that there is a problem
2 goals in last 6 then 6 in just 1. Ok thanks bye.
Shocking midfield display today, Wilshere and Ramsey kept on giving the ball away time after time. We really need someone in there who will move the ball on quicker
“Quicker ball regulation you say??” – Rosicky, Cazorla….
Who can defend, neither of them can defend. In fact Rosicky is the master of the lazy pass
ROFL Rosicky cannot defend?! 😛 :)…. Both of them along with Ozil are the sharpest and quickest passers on the team and the most technically proficient. I don’t know what you are basing your opinion on
I don’t know what game you watch but every time I see Rosicky I see someone who regularly gives the ball away, plus for a supposed attacking player doesn’t either score or assist, he adds nothing
A troll like yourself, adds nothing. You probably worship Wilshere and are a brain dead follower of what ‘pundits’ keep insisting is reality. The truth being Wilshere is a very good player, Rosicky is way better. Wilshere didn’t score a single goal in the League last season. He is useless as well??
WOW! gutted! But gotta say city have to be favourite’s for the title after that? Aside from the joke of a ref and his assistants city were too good unfortunately.
It’s December.
They were favourites for the title before that, too.
We were poor, but the refs were poorer. They should be doing a game in Albania next weekend.
I wouldn’t be too upset by this match.
The crazy schedule we’ve been handed plus the awful luck we had with at least 2 goals being disallowed.
City at home are monsters, it’s the most difficult match in the league.
A result against Chelsea will see us back in it.
Ozil and Wilshere were poor today. We gave them the ball for most of their goals, great defending all season and suddenly we look like the old Arsenal we know and hate.
You have Rosicky and Cazorla on the bench so you naturally bring on Gnabry and Bendtner instead and on top of that keep Wilshere on. Apologies to those who believed he was World Class but , honestly, he’s a bit of an overgrown pre-pubescent teenager. And this is not a knee jerk one-match reaction…
Bendtner actually did pretty well, just saying. Look at his pass for Walcott. That was a sublime stuff
if you actually payed attention then you would have noticed that Bendtner played well and it was a good substitution. I think he’s proven or proving that he can be a viable second option to Giroud. And you have to factor in fatigue when it comes to why Cazorla and Rosicky didn’t come on. We were 4-2 down at that point and probably weren’t going to win it, give Gnabry experience rest Cazorla and Rosicky (or he could have been punishing them for their poor performances mid-week)
Indeed Bendtner played as well as he could. But is his best as good as Rosicky’s or Cazorla’s? A player can put in the effort required but when players obviously better than him are waiting in the wings I think it is a curious decision to play Bendtner. And one flick does not a brilliant player make….
Punishing Cazorla. Oh dear oh dear.
The guy who carried the whole team on his back to the top four last year.
I hope Wenger hasn’t lost it as much as you, but then he left him out for Bentdner, so it looks like it at this point in time.
What a fucked up game, but we’re still two points clear. Fucking typical that we lose kos, he better not be out for long we are luckless, the amount of times the ball ricocheted into a city players path was infuriating that ref, what a top notch bastard, the penalty we were denied and girouds disallowed goal had me frothing at the mouth, I hope the cunt has a shit christmas ozil / flamini, who was to blame for their 3rd goal? sorry giroud, but you weren’t good today, a world class striker would have scored those 2 consecutive chances… Read more »
The city boys are too good. Much beta side than us and we need more effort blood and sweat to match. Sent the above to my mate at 1-1. Sometimes u raise ur hands when beaten by a better team! We will bounce back am sure. Still in with a shout.