Arsenal’s 100% home record this season came to an end after defensive mistakes cost us three goals against Man Utd.
The 3-1 loss is the first time we’ve been beaten at the Emirates since January, and the frustration was made even greater by the overall quality of the performance.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Proud, disappointed.
Proud of most of the team. Today was an anomaly but Kolasinac doesn’t get anything above a 2 for me. I can’t fault the effort of anyone except him and Sanchez today. Kolasinac is one of the worst in our side when it comes to tracking back. He had so much time to get back and cover Valencia for the first goal. I can understand occasional ball watching when your side is attacking and you don’t know where the ball is going but there is no excuse when the opposition is closing in on your box. This is a regular… Read more »
And this may be an unpopular opinion but while Cech is by no means washed up and can still make brilliant saves once in a while, a club this big needs someone who can dig the team out of any situation. If we switched goalkeepers today and replicated those exact chances, we would have won by at least a 6 goal margin. Selling Szczesny is proving to be even more of a stupid decision considering there is already a growing minority of Juventus fans who think Buffon should be dropped for him. The only way this made sense was if… Read more »
Agreed.
De Gea is the best shot stopper since Buffon (when he was at his peak). Tell me one goalie who is as good as De Gea atm? He is one of the kind. And Cech saves us a lot. Even today he did. They had 4 shots on target and 3 of those were 1 on 1 (saved one) and one was the third goal. I don’t think De Gea would do much better in those situations. Maybe the first goal but Cech saw the ball late because it went through the Nacho’s legs.
we really need a goalkeeper like de gea or courtois . cech is by no means poor but if we want to compete we really need someone like them . and theres no doubt that the defence have to be sorted out
We also REALLY need a forward like Messi or Suarez, a winger like Hazard and a midfielder like Kevin deBruyne
We had the chance to buy hazard but we bought gervinho instead because hazard was too expensive for our Trump loving owner
I think Mahrez is still a potentially good buy.
Still 26yrs and he has the energy plus trickiness to replace Alexis (albeit out right…but he is naturally left footed)
Even with Alexis in the squad, we should have got Mahrez and tried to jettison off Walcott.
What we tend to lack is not flair but a bit of guile even with finishing.
You answer your own question (did Cech save us today?) with that stat… They had 4 shots on target and had 3 goals.
Coat…
Apart the first goal he couldn’t have done nothing more. Even for that it was Monreal’s fault. He kept us in the game with the only save today. Like he made important save against Huddersfield when it was only 1:0. He saved us also against Burnley… I really don’t know what he could do for the 2nd and 3rd goal? It is Szczesny story happening all over again. No matter who we have in goal people will always find something. McCarthy also had an extraordinary game against Liverpool in 2013 I think when he made 11 saves. Is he better… Read more »
LOL
So, judging by your opinion that De Gea isn’t any better than Cech…
they had 4 shots on target and 3 goals. If they had Cech in goal, the match would have finished with final score Arsenal 12 – Man U 3
That’s crazy, the first goal went through his legs, through his legs!!!!!! A professional keeper at this level should do better.
No, he’s Not! You listen too much of the media that are up Mourinho’s backside. De Gea is undoubtedly great and world class keeper, but not the best keeper in the world. That honour belongs to Manuel Neuer. De Gea is a much better keeper than ours, but that’s as far as it goes. We helped him a lot by making it easier for him to save our shots… by shooting too close to him. Plus, he had the luck with him, even when I thought he was truly beaten by Özil from that free-kick, Ashley-Diving-Cheat-Young was there to help… Read more »
Gotta say I disagree with your about Cech. I’m quite happy with his contribution to this team and feel he’s a Plus to this team rather than a negative. I remember with Fabianski, Szczesny and Almunia i used to get heart attacks when ever the ball came into (or near) the area. Cech has brought stability and calmness to a position where we we used to have a weakness. Yes, he’s no de Gea but de Gea is kinda like the Messi of goal keepers. Would you really say the rest of the goalkeeping pack is significantly better than Cech?… Read more »
Anony, I could not have put the assessment of things better, especially with Kolasinac. I think he’s a good buy and has quickly become a fan favourite, but his unnerving tendency to stay up when tracking back will help to put pressure on the opponents, needs to be addressed, pronto. Poor errors from our CBs today cost us, but it is a team game and you can also blame our strikers for not being clinical; then, there was Alexis with so many misplaced passes and wrong decision making. If he will only play the easy and obvious pass at times,… Read more »
Clearly Kolasinac got into the Bundesliga team of the year based on his attacking play, because his defensive instincts are not at the level required. One of the BTSport pundits warned about that on twitter but guess we’re seeing it now. And about our attackers, Ozil averages 3.6 key passes a game, Sanchez averages 2.8. Next closest are Iwobi and Ramsey with 1.4, and Xhaka with 1.1. Our general approach relies way too much on those two for creativity. We played super-efficient football with Cazorla and Coquelin because the defense/midfield moved the ball quickly and let our star attackers concentrate… Read more »
I second this. If Xhaka can’t add crucial key passes to the attack, he should be able to provide solidity in key defensive moments. How he loses track of lingard for the third goal is unfathomable. At the moment, we need better quality in that role. Xhaka is clearly performing at a lower level than our other midfielders/ attackers. Also, biggest fan of kos and agree with blogs’ ratings, but I’d personally buy another CB who’s taller(we need someone around 6’3-6’4) so we can rest kos from time to time, and send holding out on loan to get him regular… Read more »
Granit was generally very competitive and won the ball a number of times against Pogba no less. That third goal Koscielny should have been stronger against Pogba firstly. But Monreal was also ghosted by in midfield intially Granit needed to be tighter on the one danger in the box. I think Granit’s issue is he isn’t a DM. He is trying to be one but he needs to learn to keep his head on a swivel more and radar in the danger before the ball is played to him or if he is trying to defend a zone. BUT its… Read more »
Typically, when I see a long comment I scroll past it and can’t be arsed to read it. Glad I did read it in this case though mate, well said.
excellent post, would love to keep Ozil. Kolasinac offers little defensively and the shine has worn offer a little (indicated also by his dire passing numbers). Kos and Mustafi always seem one brainfart away from stupid error and Xhaka is not far behind. If we are going to try to play we did today, which in some sense is brilliant it has to mean that the defenders, all five, are absolutely plugged in the full 90. That sadly wasn’t the case today and often is not the case. One point about the subs, I think Wellbeck and especially Giroud actually… Read more »
Truth! Kolasinac seems to think he is an attacking player and he usually jogs back on counter.. Sad that he doesn’t seem to learn after constantly being punished..
Yep. In last few games I’ve noticed that he’s lost interest in running back. I jog in the park faster than he tracks back. He’s probably taken lessons from Özil in September/October
Exactly, proud of the effort but it was also a nice reality check after a few very nice results. Unlike Cesc and RVP era, Ozil and Sanchez era managed to get the monkey off the back but in terms of challenging for the league and CL they were even unable to match the standards set by Cesc and RVP. We all know what the problems are and they are not going to go away anytime soon so adjust your expectation level and you’ll be able to focus on the positives rather than the negitives. The league has got way more… Read more »
Laca is the real deal, at least we know one of the attacking players that we can now build around
Superhuman powers of recovery too
I’m actually really excited about next season after this game.
If we can identify and sign two excellent, mobile, technical replacements for our big 2 who are specialists in wide areas and adept at getting the ball to the byline, Laca could hit 30 goals a season.
Easy as that hey?
The intensity of our pressing and the way we hunted down and won every 50-50 ball was the most encouraging.
Are you Mourinho in disguise?
I was critical of Özil in the past and I believe the critique was justifiable at times, but fuck me. Defeat or not, he was sublime tonight – again.
He’s playing for a big move.
True or not, I don’t care. Just enjoying the ride while it lasts.
I was at game and can tell you Ozil was best player on pitch by a country mile.
Agreed.
I also thought Iwobi had a good impact – he seemed to have more confidence than usual.
Except when we realize we have to replace him and Sanchez in January while we still have a big job to build defense.
So he should, this team is not top 4 in England. Big players want to win things, not Mickey Mouse cups. Couple years back Guardiola was very interested in being an Arsenal manager, we chose to keep our 4th spot specialist. Now we are no longer top 4, while Guardiola is heading for a record breaking season. Fans need to stop looking for players for loyalty. Players are playing for their career and its s manager’s job to get the best out of these players. Clearly he isnt doing that. This result isnt a surprise. I hear rubbish like De… Read more »
I Hope he wants to stay! Ramsey was great again, such a superb box to box player, has cut out some of the selfishness and it seems him and Laca have a great understanding.
Not going to be negative tonight but I will say De Gea was phenomenal reminded me of David Seaman in his pomp! World class keepers are key to being a truly great side! Cech hadn’t been since his injury at Reading many years ago I’m afraid
I think Rambo and Özil have sorted out their differences and they’re forming a great partnership when going forward. After Xhaka went off, they had some nice one 2’s. But Alexis isn’t getting any better with Ramsey. My frustration tonight… Why does it seem that every team we play have got a fantastic Goalie and ours only makes an odd save here and there? And on top of your frustration with your incapable GK, out comes Wenger with comments like: “Cech can emulate Van de Sar and carry on playing on his 40’s”… Why does he ever do it? Getting… Read more »
I am following arsenal since 2012 and all the time I have seen arsenal concede such early goals against big teams it has been absolute beating for us..For the very 1st time I have seen my arsenal assert a team like manu in such a way after going 2-0 down…I am quite optimistic about this season because I see something different…
Has anybody ever had such a punchable face as Jesse Lingard?
His manager
Dele Alli. They’re cast in the same mould.
John fucking Terry
That’s John “the fucking cunt” Terry
Troy deeney
His is much more punchable to be fair
Trippier
Eden Hazard
Vardy
Yes and that fucking rat-boy dance. Christ I nearly through my laptop out of the window.
Fernandinho. Roy Keane. Any Manc named Neville. Diego Costa. Ok, skip the others. Costa is soooo deserving.
ooh ooh Costa definitely
Hey, leave Keano out of this. That man and Vieria are two reasons why Arsenal – United became such a big fixture.
Plus he’s from Cork and a hatchet cunt if I’ve ever seen one.
Harry Kane has an extremely punchable face.
Steve McMoronman, Michael Owen, Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy, Gary Lineaker, Rio Ferdinand, the list is endless
Joey Barton
Joey Barton doesn’t deserve to be punched, Joey Barton deserves to be killed in the most disgusting manner possible.
Lads, we’re talking about punchability, not lockupability!
Harry Kane.
Teddy fucking Sheringham
no one is more punchable than Sturridge, especially after he scores a goal.
Ryan Shawcross
We played well. Be proud of the team. Really? we played well. Gave the ball away that lead to two easy goals. And got beat on the counter attack by completely flipping off the switch. To me, that’s not playing well. Had lots of chances. So what? When you start a match by gifting a team two goals you need more than lots of chances. You actually need goals.
The shamestring hit Mustafi right after the goal.
I think lingaard kicked him and he’s got a dead leg to be honest. Looking at the replay it looks like he caught him on the back of the knee..
Best football we played for along time.. Individual errors killed us, i think wilshere should have a run of games he can’t be any worse than xhaka
I agree with you, but Wilshere will feel even more exposed by Ramsey.
I’d like Wilshere in but that doesn’t solve the biggest issue of our midfield, that there’s no natural “ball winner” in there. We need to replace Xhaka with a more defensive presence
You have to stay down and appeal for a penalty to get a panalty that really was a penalty. That’s fucking retarded. Video please.
It was a penalty, it was a shit decision by the referee, and I would have liked Welbeck to have cast doubt in his mind by not getting back up again straight away
Same applies to Lacazette. 100 % penalty. It was him who had the last touch on the ball, Smalling never came close to it:
http://arsenalist.com/f/2017-18/arsenal-vs-man-utd/ozil-plays-lacazette-through-but-nothing-comes-of-it.html
Holy shit, only just noticed Özil’s touch when receiving the ball. Magnificent.
Yeah I couldn’t believe it – commentators said nothing. I was jumping up and down screaming penalty! Blatant.
We cant sell Sanchez to city in january. United will than win the title and that just cant happen.
He’ll be benched, don’t worry.
Too bad Koscielny decided that he was playing for the French national team today, rather than Arsenal. Because that’s how bad he can be for country. He needs to pick up his shit quickly.
Huh?
Kos is pretty good at in-between the line passing. It’s downside is that he is ever too insistent on it, so much so, that if the opportunity doesn’t show up he’d try something “special” like a cross field pass. He should learn to make it simple when in- between the line opportunity does not appear … say by simply recycling the ball (more patience).
Proud of the way we played tonight but we lost 3 points but a lot of positives from that game
Really weird match, usually fuming for at least a week, but strangely feel really positive about some performances. Really buzzed with Lacazette’s performance, Ozil told us to blow the dust off the purse strings and Iwobi some decisions aside has some serious promise about him.
I don’t see it with Iwobi. I wish I did, but I don’t.
If Iwobi can add the defensive aspect to his game he’d be a great CM. Or if he can add box creativity to his game he’d be an amazing AM. Nobody moves the ball around better than him. But without those acquisitions he is like a minister without portfolio.
I thought Kolasinac could have done better on their first goal. Koscielny’s pass was bad and it was obvious the moment it was played. Kolasinac could have taken up a defensive position expecting the ball to be intercepted. Instead, he charged forward expecting the ball to reach him.
I felt it happened on more than one occasion this season.
This was both arsenal’s best attacking performance and worst defensive performance of the season.
Pretty sure the game at Anfield was our worst defensive performance
Defence was very good , apart from the odd horrendous mistake!?! Weird game.
I thought Mesut was head and shoulders above everyone on that pitch today.
Didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.
Think the Sanchez rating is a bit harsh.
Agreed with Özil, but not so sure about Alexis. He was our worst player in Midfield and Attack by far. Every ball he received, he was holding on for way too long and after he slowed down our rhythm and disclosed all the choreographed movements of our attacking players, he decided that he wanted to give the ball to a United player after all. Oh, Ps. He should have scored that chance with De Gea already on the floor and the empty goal begging at him
He had a really bad game.
Sorry but I just cannot not to mention Marriner today. Our finishing was so bad, our defending was even worse but still after all that Marriner was the worst. 1) Stonewall penalty on Lacazette in the first half + red card. 2) Valencia’s handball ( http://arsenalist.com/f/2017-18/arsenal-vs-man-utd/more-chances-including-one-for-lacazette-at-the-end-of-the-half.html ) – sadly no reply again but from this angle it looked to me like a handball. 3) Rojo tripped Sanchez tho he didn’t have the ball but it was deliberate 4) Another stonewall penalty on this time on Welbeck Koscielny wasn’t at his best today and I really can’t understand why he was… Read more »
Sure De Gear was brilliant but many of our shots were straight at him. He did a few fantastic saves but the players didn’t make the most of the numerous, excellent chances that were created. On top of that, defense gifted 2 goals. How is that a good performance? When did AFC start being happy over losing while playing well? The team and club now have the mindset that they “want to do well”, “make the fans”, “avoid a thrashing”. That’s not a big-team, a winning team’s mentality. United weren’t that good. Brilliant at counterattack, yes, but City will hammer… Read more »
Exactly. Find it unbelievable anyone can be “proud” of today’s performance. We gave away 2 very cheap goals which a top team shouldn’t be doing.
Nobody is happy we gave away silly goals.
However we played some great football at times and so we do take some consolation from that.
As a fan, I want to see passion and a desire to win the game, and we showed that massively today. Fair play to the boys. Although we lost I really enjoyed watching it, aside from Man U’s constant and boring efforts to slow the game down(!), which I’m sure was just them acting out of desperation. We absolutely ran rings around them, and Mourinho’s face at times said it all. So…. Hats off to the team, and Arsene, for a really entertaining game. It’s just a shame we weren’t rewarded at the end because of a couple of silly… Read more »
Useless, embarrassing, pathetic. Hopeless.
Quite frankly, I’d be happy never to see Mustafi play for us again. I haven’t been that disgusted in a player since that uber-thundercunt Gallas had a sit down. Cowardly and gutless.
And Sanchez wouldn’t know one-touch football if it waved an imaginary card in front of his face.
So much wrong with this performance.
Mustafi had just had his best 3 games ever for us having previously looked like a disaster waiting to happen. His central role saw him controlling and shouting at his fellow defenders BUT in all of those games the defence started slowly, made errors and looked vulnerable for the first 20 minutes. ManUre had clearly identified that and put full pressure on them as soon as they got the ball and forced the errors. Kos is overrated and cannot tackle convincingly – too often he is levered out of it. Xhaka is woeful defensively and loses concentration far too often,… Read more »
Very true…the lukaku deflection he saved i dont know how he done that aswell as lacca one before he saved from sanchez with his foot….we mullered them attacking but bottom line is you dont score you dont win….2 shitty defensive mistakes fucked us…thede kinda games is where jack loves…also what a shitty tackle from pom pom on bellerin…had the same tackle done on myself which ended my career
Xhaka and Sanchez.both missed sitters . At 2-1 all.Sanchez.needed to do was was lift it over.dehea.
We get picked apart in the break so easily you can see.it coming a mile away. This one was on the defense though.
Careless giveaways cost us the first two and i was afraid wed get blown out. Dissapoijted we concededna third because it would have been a great finish.
Third goal killed us – I was furious at Xhaka more than Kos even.
I used to like Xhaka but he was poor again today in my opinion
Re-watch the goal that comes from Mustafi’s give-away. His reaction to the turnover will also leave you underwhelmed.
Yeah. Loads of ppl throw the blame on Mustafi (which he’d got kicked by Lindergard btw) for the second goal, but no one seems to realise that Mustafi attempts to dribble cuz Monreal, Xhaka and Kolasinac were too busy hiding, instead of trying to help Mustafi and make themselves available to him
We are rarely defensively sound against the top five. They pressed and scored twice then they sat back. Once we scored they pressed again and scored again. Of course we had pressure. But can you honestly say if we had brought the game to 2-3 Utd wouldn’t have successfully pressed again? Mourinhio, Klopp and Guardihola press press high and it works. The results don’t lie.
Very bitter pill to swallow…
But it’s so so true!
Being pretty kind to Monreal, who inexplicably left Valencia alone for their first goal – a mistake that had more in that goal than Koscielny’s errant pass.
I agree, and he ran the wrong side of Pogba when tracking back on the third goal as well
I am sorry to say this, but we deserve to lose when we make the basic mistakes we made and then expect our attack to magically make up for it against a team like United. Mustafi fucked up 30m our own goal ten minutes in while we were already 1-0down. Koscielny should’ve used his experience and shielded his junior compatriot Pogba off the fucking pitch for a corner. We’ve seen the defence boss these situations before so amazingly, which makes it so much more frustrating. De Gea had probably the most dominating game I’ve seen a goalkeeper have for as… Read more »
Weird criteria here. Rate good monreal when he was the one that didn’t defend well when he let free Valencia on the first on the first goal. While Alexis was the only one trying to do things less obvious on Arsenal attack, like on Lacazette goal.
One thing lacazette will chase down any ball, his reactions to goal are a different class…if it wasnt for de gea this was at least 6-7 goals to us….honest opinion silly defensive mistakes fucked us today but attacking wise we where really good….somw of de gea`s saves is what we are missing from our team a keeper putting his bollocks on the line….at leaat they cant say we didnt try attackingly as fuck me we mullered them attackingly
Lacazette was brilliant but De Gea was brillianter. Fucking weird game football at times. Could have been 5-2 to us easily.
Bring on Gareth BATE and, gulp, Southampton away. Unlucky today. Need more luck. COYG
where did the Iwobi rating come from? he offered next to nothing.
He’s another one that I don’t get…
He disappears in most matches, but for the life of me, I cannot make out how he escapes criticism… ?♂️
Fun game but for the neutral but seriously ffs.
Strange game, very good going forward but very soft at the back. Killed in the first 10 minutes. Being pressed is our achilles heel yet again but if not for some very poor individual errors (and a Matrix-like display from De Gea) we could have won in a rout. Kosc, Kolasinic and Mustafi (and to an extent, Xhaka) will all be having nightmares about that. Sanchez really should have levelled it at 2-2 as well tbh. Ozil was fantastic, continuing his run of form, and Lacazette was outstanding too. But Ramsey and Iwobi stood out for me. Iwobi for his… Read more »
The brutal fact remains – swap the keepers and we win. Cech’s reflexes are gone. Yes he can make brilliant saves from a distance but not from 12 yards or less. Look at his record on penalties. When that well known football expert John Terry told us Cech was worth 12 – 15 points a season, he meant to the opposition. You can’t win a premier league without a decent keeper. Wengers judgement on keepers has always been poor, think Fabianski, Almunia, Mannone, Wright etc. When we won 3 titles under him 2 were when Seaman in his pomp and… Read more »
Attacking performance was excellent, although we could have been a bit more clinical. De Gea made 3 excellent saves for me, I would have expected him to save the majority of the other strikes at goal. But this 3 were enough to keep his team on top. We all know defensively how poor it was. And on that, one thing I’ve said a few times over the years on here and I’ll say again now is while I like Koscielny and think he’s a very good player, who is fully committed, he’s not a championship winning centre back for me.… Read more »
I don’t think Mustafi is the only one who should walk off injured by embaressment. The entire backline made mistakes. Koscielny’s pass for the opener was equally culpable. He was beat by Pogba far too easily for the third. Monreal was ghosted past for the third and he did not cover well for Martial’s goal for the first. The Midfield in general did not provide sufficient outlet for the backline first 10 minutes which was part problem. We don’t have someone in midfield with skills at feet to have us build from the back. So the backline tries to go… Read more »
We were otherwise robust in challenge and encouraging as far as winning most 50-50 balls were concern. I think on the other end we snatched at our efforts where a bit more guile and composure was necessary. We created plenty of chances but the quality of final execution has been too flipant or lacked sufficient conviction when hit. Lacazette was a suprise factor and had an excellent game overall. Alexis needs to be more stringent with his passing Ozil I thought had a very good game. He tracked back many times to put in tackles Also unsung was Granit again… Read more »
We might aa well had started the game at 0-2
Feeling sorry for Kolasiinac now that people are jumping on him. For weeks i’ve said he does not defend and so it proved again. We have got away with messing around in the back before but got caught badly yesterday. Ozil, Ramsey , Laca and Iwobi our best players.
Koscielny and Mustafi are two of the more experienced players Arsenal have, one is a world champion and they defended like nervous youngsters. They must manage pressure and it was ridiculous (the worrying thing is that Kos is making more mistakes lately and he’s losing more challenges than before) it also has to be with Wenger’s style of playing, he wants the team to pass the ball even in danger zones. But even though DeGea is one of the best keepers in the world he was particularly better than ever at the Emirates which is the norm for every goalkeeper… Read more »
Best performance of the season so far for Alexander Lacazzete, Mesut Ozil & Iwobi. Sanchez can as well up his game.