We lost, but also went through, and tonight we lost and we didn’t play very well. I won’t inflict the match report on you again, I care for you too much to do that.
Instead, let’s get straight to the player ratings.
News
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
We lost, but also went through, and tonight we lost and we didn’t play very well. I won’t inflict the match report on you again, I care for you too much to do that.
Instead, let’s get straight to the player ratings.
Generous
While all the ratings seem a little generous, Maitland-Niles in particular stands out. He did nothing. Wasn’t good enough defensively and couldn’t make anything work offensively.
Personally was among the people who thought he should get more game time centrally but after this performance I understand why Wenger has been so reluctant to put him in the middle.
Agreed on AMN. If he’s going to play in that position, he has to be winning those second balls. For me, he and Mkhitaryan were the poorest performers.
this is some knee jerk stuff guys. I think, for starters, he really wasn’t that bad in the middle yesterday. I think he has the capacity to be a very good CDM for us. He definitely is capable of offering much more than Xhaka or Elneny. He has speed, his positioning is fine and he is actually capable of moving the ball and his tackling is at the very least comparable to Xhaka and Elneny.
I’ve always been underwhelmed by British talent, especially those from Arsenal’s academy. In particular, I’ve never understood, even prior to this game, what Maitland-Niles’ contribution to the team is. Iwobi, although average in my eyes, has the ability to accelerate play on the turn. However, this is undone by his subsequent inane decisions.
But Maitland-Niles? As far as I can tell, all he has is recovery speed (hence why he was played at left back). I don’t see anything else in terms of attacking or defensive guile. What did others see in him?
I posted it on the news comment earlier yesterday about the youth threatening first teamers for a place.
Niles isn’t a DM and the expectations that he is will set him up for a fail. He should be a RB
So Wenger has used him correctly, despite all the criticism?
From the attributes I have seen from him, I would say he belongs more at full back than in the middle of the park. And I also think all this hubbub about left back, right back is nonsense. You can make accommodations for a one footed established player, but a young kid breaking into the first team? They have no excuses not to practice with both feet.
Can someone explain to me why Mkhi is rated a 4?! The guy was the only one showing any touches of class and looking to make things happen..
Agreed. I actually thought Blogs would skip this feature this time around and just post a giant poo emoji. Don’t think anyone deserved more than a 4 or 5.
Can’t lie I do feel a bit sorry for Welbeck. Yes, he’s not very good but at the end of the day he’s had 2 major knee injuries, not many players will be good after having 2 serious knee injuries like he has, and I do think the abuse he’s receiving is over the top, even if he’s been awful recently
Finding the net when you have free header or one on one doesn’t have anything to do with injuries.and you are implying he got worse,this is his general play,hattrick against southampton reserves and one good final doesnt hide that.Its our fault that we overhyped and at one point shed tears cause wenger used to bring giroud on instead of him.Now u know why.a striker thatll miss 9/10 chance he is gonna get isnt an impact sub.
We are paying Danny a very large amount of money. He needs to be able to play football.
Please tell him. How do you explain sending Campbell and Lucas on loan yet keeping welbeck.
Lucas hasn’t scored in 1000 minutes, and Joel Campbell has played 6 games this season. I get criticism of Welbeck but let’s not hold those two as the answer either.
But didn’t we destroy JC’s career by loaning him out to different clubs every year? Loanees don’t really get a lot of playing time as clubs obviously take them as stand-by and players too take time to settle into diff training routines, countries, food and everything else and it gets to you when you are loaned out to a diff club every year. Bcoz they don’t play a lot they don’t get a lot of offers too. We, as a club have to decide if we want a player or not within the first couple of years and act accordingly.… Read more »
I was watching the live blog and saw some comments that Welbeck was a victim of late-period Wenger – but this is how he’s always played. His record at Arsenal is the same as it was at Manchester United.
I like Welbeck (and I don’t think he should be judged too harshly given what’s happened recently to his body) but he was always going to be a back-up striker and unfortunately Lacazette is injured and Aubameyang can’t play.
Abysmal.
Can all the homers now finally put to rest the theory that Jack Wilshere is the greatest midfielder in the premier league.
Funniest thing is the down voters that actually think he is the best midfielder in the EPL. probably the same folk that claimed he’d walk into the Manchester teams. Our current midfield is bordering on the worst we’ve ever had under Wenger and that includes teams with Denilson (luckily he had fabregas most of the time). From what used to be a strength of Wenger teams to this turely meek midfield that is softer than a deli belly poop. Not sure what is more delusional. Wenger’s persistence with this midfield or some fans belief that Jack is the answer to… Read more »
Xhaka was a wrong buy. Jack and Ram should be considered for 1 CM spot since they get injured so often, elneny is a back up. AMN is not ready. We need to sell xhaka and buy 1 CM at least (preferably an anchorman).
Pretty much.
The thumbs down are not from people believing Wilshere is the greatest midfielder in the league. It’s from those who find your comment out of place and a little stupid. Praising a player is not the same as calling him best in the league. And one off day (when the entire team went to shit) doesn’t turn a player into shit either. Wilshere is a highly talented player who has had an incredibly bad times with injuries but is still committed and always looks to put in a shift and will the team on. Plus he is Arsenal through and… Read more »
jenkinson did those things as well.we binned him.heck we binned rocastle for not being the same…Wilshere better act like a captain on the pitch instead of shouting spurs are shit off it.that barca match was A LONG TIME AGO.crunch time for him.
Hmm, bringing up “that Barca match” as if that’s the only good match he’s ever played for this club. How original. Sometimes I wonder if certain Arsenal fans are even capable of forming an original thought in their brains, or if all they can do is mindlessly regurgitate verbatim others’ comments they’ve read online.
So have you not seen the games this season where he’s played well for us?
There were literally people on here this season stating he is better than pogba. Sure unlucky with injuries but he has also made easy too many dumb decisions from associating with the wrong crowd and gets away with it because he is white, English and an arsenal jnr. Arsenal through and through but he chose to go and loan and not fight for it at “his” club. Xhaka was a mistake and a lot of that has to do with making him a DM which he do clearly isn’t. But neither is jack and he isn’t better than Ramsey. So… Read more »
I don’t think Jack is better than Pogba (who, by the way, many Manchester United fans seem to think is complete shit–that must prove something about fans), nor De Bruyne. But I think on his day (which does not come often enough) Jack brings an attacking presence from midfield that no other English player today can. He was awful yesterday, but very good every other recent match. Is that really so hard to accept?
“He has been very good EVERY other recent match”
Yeah he was brilliant against spurs wasn’t he. Got COMPLETELY outplayed by Dembele, who is a much better player that Jack is these days.
“Jack brings an attacking presence from midfield that no other English player today can.”
This should read:
“Jack BROUGHT an attacking presence…”
He isn’t the same player he was and that drive through midfield and bossing the middle of the park, doesn’t exist consistently and especially against quality opposition.
I am not Jack’s biggest fan. But to be fair he’s been good over the last few months.
Dude, he’s been largely excellent this season, including when he’s played with the first 11 the last few months. One bad game in the Europa, in a team full of wretched performances, doesn’t change that. I’m not saying he’s the answer to all our problems, but I don’t know who is. Your comical over-eagerness to write him off entirely, on the basis of this game, says more about your own confirmation bias than anything else.
Holy fuck by why does Iwobi continue to get starts?
He must have discriminating pictures of Wenger.
The player is terrible. Yes, he occasionally pulls off a decent pass. Occasionally. He’s emblematic of the later-Wenger era arrogance/impotence.
So much blame to go around on this one.
Still; credit to Ostersunds. I would not have liked to have seen how they would’ve shredded us if they were also in mid-season form.
“BINGO!!! A quick double-check of the card… I got ‘Iwobi’, ‘Pictures of Wenger’, ‘arrogance’ and ‘impotence’! Unbelievable!!”
You might be on to something there.
Especially since over the course of the season Wenger has one by one sold all the 3 players who were ahead of him for the wider positions. And played Nelson as a wing back, while loaning out Campbell, Perez and the Jeff. It’s almost as if he wanted to be in a position where he could say he has no one but Iwobi to play on the flanks.
This all might be part of an elaborate blackmail scheme.
I don’t think Iwobi should start. But Campbell, Perez (see Blogs’ comments elsewhere) and the Jeff? Seriously?
gnabry
He’s still only really young and is already better than Ox. He created chances, right?
He’s not better than Ox. Sorry.
At least occasionally he tried something …in terms of attacking intent …only elneny ,Micki and iwobi tried doing anything ….wilshere was doing Lord knows wat out there nd welbeck was just shit …generally the whole team was poor but I just dont get the slagging off iwobi gets everytime he starts
Niles was really poor, always staying when he should be moving to open for passes, not tracking back, where in the world was he good?
After what i saw today Niles should never play DM again till he learn the position, yet everyone was calling for niles to play regylar DM. He is far from playing there.
I totally agree with you. He’s a young guy so I don’t want to sound harsh. I’ve been watching every match he’s played in & I just can’t understand the hype surrounding him. His forward passing is awful & he kicks the ball out of play or to an opposition player far too many times in each match. It’s infuriating to watch. But it’s not his fault, Wenger shouldn’t be playing him. He isn’t ready, in any way to be playing in the 1st team. Wenger has totally lost it at this stage. Continuing to give game-time to Niles, Chambers,… Read more »
No idea how niles could be rated over Xhaka tonight. I think, if not for the change, we’d probably have conceded another two.
My point exactly. Fans who get on xhaka should watch his game closely. Nearly all the ball in midfield go through him. He is bound to make a few mistakes considering how arsenal play. Check his pass success rate and compare it to all other midfielders we have. Hope fans will rest all this AMN fuss. Not good enough for a top 4 team. Not intelligent and need to go on loan
I watched him closely over 40 times a season in my lovely Emirates seat.Xhaka is shocking
yeah, check xhakas pass success rate. I think he has gotten once over 90% and very often less than 80% this season, which is a joke for a CM. Also the funniest part is that his long passes are more accurate than short. So we have a CM who is incapable of short passing? How is this reasonable?
Was this to lull citeh into a false sense of security? If so, not needed. We have been average nearly all season.
Really sad to see the players who should be looking to this as a big chance to show the boss what they’ve got play like this ?
Yes. The players watched City get beaten by Wigan and thought, ‘we, too, should think of the final as a way to bounce back from shitting the bed’. Only problem is that, this season especially, we seem to bounce back from these performances by shitting the bed again, which really sucks when you’ve just finished doing the laundry, and you’ve made the bed, and thought, ‘ok, I’ve done it, it’s all clear and clean and ready for a shit-free good night’s sleep.’ And then you wake up in the morning covered in shit, and you think, ‘oh fuck, not this… Read more »
This bouncing back by shitting the bed again… how much force do you generate back there?
I needed to read this today.
You’re lucky you’re not a dog. For them, cheese is the shortcut to doggy diarhhoea.
Then again, a poo – poo stained dog stationed at centre half or deep midfield might have done a better job. The smell would at least make the Östersunds players think twice about getting too close.
I don’t think Blogs has to worry about losing first place in the extended metaphor competition to you.
Wenger picked the team for this not-champions-league game with the not-fa-cup final in mind. We won over two legs, but taking part in these ‘lesser’ competitions is on a par with choosing what 10 to 2 bird you might pull. If you do get lucky, you are happy in the moment, but you will regret it in the morning.
What?
Hahaha. Literall…..WHAT?
Bit of an indictment that your average rating after a result like this is like 5/10. Not getting at you but if the team was playing like we want them to this’d be 1/10’s across the board. We’re used to this crap because it’s every second week
Not a single player deserved a rating above 5/10. & as you said, it’s every 2nd week. Depressing stuff. Really sad. We’re 6th & it looks like that’s where we’ll finish. You get your hopes up every week & we just get the same crap. & we ain’t gona win the Europa league. We’ve been slipping backwards for years but managed to deny the decline by qualifying for the CL or winning the FA cup. But what the Hell can we say now? Desperate situation for the club to be in….. In previous seasons I/we always had hope of putting… Read more »
Can we stop criticizing the team and the manager and start supporting them? That is what supporters do. Support in the good and the bad.
Wasn’t a great performance but there were still some positives and we still won on aggregate. I think Welbeck did very good defensive wise. Overall he was way better then in Ostersunds but he needs to get better on the attacking front. He is slowly getting back. We need him in the form from the start of the season when he was one of our best attacking players.
Your optimism is really admirable and I appreciate the sentiment, but this team hasn’t produced a lot of good at all this season. I’m not a typical moaning fan, I know we’ve been spoiled at Arsenal down the years and that plays a part in the criticism and sourness we see now from sections of the fanbase. The fact is; we all want Arsenal to produce and play well. It’s what we’ve come to expect. But we aren’t getting that out of this current Arsenal side. I can handle us not winning everything. I can handle us losing games if… Read more »
Its Delusion not optimism mate. That’s the garbage Wenger has instilled in people over the years. 6th is a great season etc. Td spiral, the Club is on a downward spiral, Spuds must be pishing themselves.
I actually up voted both – comment and its reply but I will side with Beezus more.
Regardless of the riches, luck etc etc, Le Prof’s team HAD an identity of ATLEAST losing AFTER having played decent (if not glorious) football.
Like Blogs and every other blooger has been bleating repeatedly – WTF is OUR IDENTIY anymore?! Just tragicomedic, stress relieving and stupendously entertaining football for every other football addict/supporter bar Gooners???! 😐
Welbeck was bloody awful, his positioning was all over the place and he can’t control a football or manage to shoot at a goal, so exactly what is the point of him?. He wasn’t any better than in the away game and the whole stadium was despairing over him and Iwobi. As far as I’m concerned I’d rather see Nketiah than Welbeck, he couldn’t be any worse. There is no way that anyone should be supporting that sort of display, the whole team came out half asleep, the passing was slow, there was no movement and absolutely no invention, just… Read more »
Ty from AFTV, is that you?
Very generous on Kola…He was the worst of a terrible back four goal or not. Chambers did not play the guy onside for the first goal that infact came from Kola allowing a simple ball to slide under his fit allowing the guy through 1vs1. Wenger needs to go for the simple fact he has no fear factor for these players..Watch the training vid prior to this game..All the players love Wenger like a granddad and not in the if i play shit i may not be seen for a while way. Its all too nice at Arsenal from the… Read more »
I’d like to think our players were motivated by a desire to win, and not fear of replacement. But at this point I suppose I could take either since we’re getting none
Couldn’t agree more. On the commentary I heard them say “I wouldn’t want to be the players in that dressing room”. Thought to myself, could I see Wenger shouting or giving them a hard time, No. I love the man, he is undoubtedly a great manager but fear and respect is so important. If my boss didn’t give me a hard time for not turning up to work on time, I would just slowly arrive later and later and take advantage. We are missing collective responsibility at this club right now.
Go watch the first goal again. Chambers plays him onside and then runs SO SLOWLY, ending on a timid, useless attempt to TOUCH THE BALL instead of sliding to block it. The second goal was even worse for him, he’s all rust and bad decisions
.and he still looked better than Holding. What have we done to that lad who looked so encouraging at Wembley last year?
If you watch the FA Cup final again, you will see that Holding made a lot of mistakes and was often unable to control Costa (I loved his spirit and bravery and his willingness to confront Costa). He was saved after each potentially fatal error (bar one) by brilliant defending from Mertesacker. After I watched it again, I realized that it was one of the best performances by an Arsenal player I have ever seen.
10/10 the people that turned up to watch this pile of shit, got rid of my season ticket 2 years ago and it was definitely the right decision. Embarrassing!!
Only game I’ve been to this season and I thought I would pick a banker ?
No offense but I think these ratings are not accurate. Iwobi, welbeck, mikhi, and maybe chambers were clearly our worst players today and don’t deserve ratings higher than 3.
100% agree with you mate.
Iwobi, Welbeck & Chambers have been given numerous chances but fail miserably each time. Painful to watch them mess up each time.
The manager picks them regardless of past performances.
Chambers was at fault for both goals tonight & has done similar things almost every time he plays.
Xhaka, Holding & Maitland-Niles are poor every week.
Welbeck can be good on his day but the others just aren’t capable of performing at that level….
Your last line sounds crazy. When in this world has welbeck been ever good. Please state facts not fictions. I bet you meant iwobi
Players like Welbeck who continuously play rubbish should be arrested for crimes against good football.
“ARRESTED FOR CRIMES AGAINST GOOD FOOTBALL!” 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
I think they should be arrested for impersonation.
I do wonder how they will spend their shiny new Emirates money. The gulf ever widens between the starting 11 and the squad. Something is clearly missing, be it confidence, structure, guidance, or a swift and mighty kick in the ass. I worried when the Le Professor re-signed and it appears that worry is vindicated. While individual performances where abysmal, players at this level do not have games this collectively bad unless they are receiving poor direction. Jazz football as it has been called only works when everyone only plays a single instrument, otherwise, it is just noise.
There isn’t a big difference between the starting 11 and the squad, if that was the case these performances would be much easier to take.
That is something I failed to consider, you make a good point.
Hopefully, the money will be used to elevate our peanut gallery. The triforce should spend the new money to support our “big” investments. I would like to continue to see youth development at this club, and I think a few of the current crop has a shot at being very successful.
However, those youth players should be the “weak” link in teams not at the same level or better than our squad players.
Brilliant metaphorical line about “Wenga Ball” /”Jazz football”. Totally apt trope.
Kudos American Gooner! _/\_
You’re right. There’s a big difference between John Coltrane and Diana Krall.
I particularly watched Emoji, I mean Iwobi, sorry, cause I couldn’t believe anyone could be as disinterested as he was tonight.
He ambled around as only he can amble…..one out of ten at best for me.
Gets ball – arms pop up, head wobbles – looks like he’s getting into promising position – stops, turns back, gives ball to someone 10 yards further back or has some half-hearted shot into defender or over the bar.
I think he’s actually a computer game figure from 20 years ago or even Subutteo figurine (apologies to programmers/Subutteo players).
A new low.
After every performance Ivans words ring out ” there is no one better”
fuck me
He’s right, “there is no ONE better.” And it pains me to say this (especially after the Spuds defeat) but there are TWO (IMO) now:
–> Carlo Ancelotti
–> Diego Simeone
And coincidentally, we might end up facing later this season: Simeone’s team and/or Carlo’s – two time UCL winning – ex, AC Milan. 😀
Same ol dArsenal with merry passing in the box.
Against MC,I fear the worst . The gunners could be
hit by 3/4 or 5 goals.
Based on how our FC has been for the past sooo many years, I’d actually say that we have a more likely chance of beating the Abu Dhabi vulgarians rather than lose by more than 2 goals….
I don’t think you saw that game, eh Blogs?
Down 2-nil at home by 23rd minute against a fourth tier european team. Never change, Arsenal
There’s not much room for nuance when analyzing this team. It’s very obvious what our problem is: we have a lame duck manager whose days are numbered, the players know it, and whatever is left of Arsene’s ability to communicate a philosophy has evaporated. I say that as a huge Wenger fan and a recognizer of his enormous contribution to English football. It’s over. Done. It’s abysmal, really, looking back at the messes we’ve made with transfers and contracts for the past decade. And that falls squarely on Arsene’s shoulders. But no matter. I’m very optimistic about the Sven and… Read more »
Anyone else feel Xhaka showed that he is really a first-team player when he came on? Compared to the second string squad players who started, ie.. AMN, Elneny, welbeck etc.. He seemed a lot calmer and better at his job,
Some very, very generous ratings there. I appreciate that Blogs is trying to be even-handed, but sometimes the shower of shit is so severe that you have to light some fireworks at these guys. And today was one of those days. I mean, a 5 for Welbeck? I think you lost the decimal point there.
Really poor performance. I assume that the only reason Iwobi and Welbeck are starting is that we’ve no one else. Both are consistently awful against relatively weak opposition – surely they both have to be moved on this summer?
Really don’t get all the 5’s & 6’s…Exactly how poor do players have to be to get 2’s or 1’s???? I mean surely you get 1 for just showing up on the pitch…& for many of our guys that was all they did. Also really don’t get the fuss about us fighting to qualify for the CL next season. We’re not good enough for it & haven’t been for years…If we’re honest we’re also not good enough on current form to be in Europa. Thought Ostersunds were far more deserving to be there, but I guess we feel more entitled… Read more »
We Seem to go from worse to worst and something beyond worst!
Xhaka deserves some credit tonight, I feel. Noticeably improved our diabolical midfield. Especially disappointed with Wilshere tonight.
Last 16 2018 v last 16 2017 – incredible difference in quality. United got an unbelievably easy ride last year.
Pains me to say but we won’t be winning the EL this year. We can win one off knockout games but we’re just too poor to navigate another 4 rounds in this comp.
Reckon we’ll do City on Sun though… enough to keep the wolves from scraping down the door.
I like the way Kol, He doth damage a net. But, yeah, team was rather crap today.
Iwobi seems to be the new scapegoat around here it seems…Yes he was poor but worse than Welbeck, Mhki or Wilshere? He’s just the easiest to target, when what little threat or attacking play we had came through him. What we see with ARsneal are 3 massive failings in compariosn with our successful teams.. A weak, leaderless backline but its not as bad as we are led to believe as our real problem is.. A midfield that cannot tackle, harass, double up, compete physically especially in the middle of the park. Incidentally Iwobi happens to be our most physical midfielder,… Read more »
Not good enough to keep possession. Not sharp enough in attack. Disgraced in the duels. Humiliated in the 50-50s.
They used their last move of the game to put together a good back to front move which involved one of their defenders hitting a cultured cross-field pass to their left wing. With our last possession, one of our defenders just hoofed the ball in a straight line 50 yds up the pitch to no-one in particular.
Against Ostersunds. What the actual fuck was that?
Iwobi massively at fault for the second goal when he over ran the ball after a heavy touch near the half way line. I thought Hector played well enough but no one except for Elneny seemed to care.
I thought Elneny was by a long way our best player, as he often seems to be against poor opposition. I suppose this means that his good attitude added to his pretty good quality are enough in those matches. Against top teams, his relative lack of quality (he is only a half-step below a good player, but still below) is more apparent.
The lesson: if all our “squad” players had his attitude, their quality would be enough to brush aside opposition like last night’s.
Changing to 442 didn’t help us today. Where was JW10 meant to be playing, I don’t think he played well, but I don’t blame him for playing like he did. As a squad, no one helped each other out.
Oh and xhaka as next captain after Super Jack ? We have some problems?!
Wenger played a 2nd XI tonight apart from Bellerin and Jack. It almost backfired. He took a risk and thankfully we had a 3nil lead from the first match so it was a lucky escape. I understand he doesn’t have an experienced enough RB to cover Bellerin ATM so had to play Hector, and you could see Bellerin was playing with Sunday’s game in mind and was giving his all. More importantly though Wenger shouldn’t have risked playing Jack tonight knowing his injury record. Unless he isn’t planning to play him on Sunday!!!! AW could have given Miki that role… Read more »
That wok like an Egyptian joke was the best thing about that match. Fuck me, I’m really worried about the final now.
Point 1: I know Mkhitaryan did not look great but he never had anyone to pass to. Everyone just stood around and failed to makes themselves available. And then he is forced to play with 2 non-factors up front in Iwobi and Welbeck. I guess he is expected to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Point 2: We got dominated in the midfield. They moved the ball like the better team. They broke up our play. I really want AMN to succeed but he didn’t impress. Of course, I suspect a certain someone fails to teach his holding midfielders… Read more »
On the way to the final… great performance lads, thanks for putting your heart into this. You cunts.
I think we need to cut AMN a break. He’s been playing out of position as a fullback all season so it makes sense he has off nights when back to the midfield. Plus he’s playing with b teamers. Remember, bellerinn had some really off nights when starting out. Still does. What’s scary is that chambers and holding are supposed to be our future. Chambers has been at the club for awhile. Holding, at least is still really inexperienced. But i can’t see these two ever being our starting duo in defense. If wenger is planning to build a defense… Read more »
Ugh. I think we need a clear out. From tonight’s pantomime, I’d get rid of: Welbeck, Iwobi, Elneny, Xhaka, Ospina, and Chambers. And, sadly, I’m no longer fussed whether Wilshere stays or goes.
A final note on AMN, if he wants to be very good/great -and he shows a lot of promise- he needs more desire when working back. Own that space in front of the defence. I thought he was poor and not interested.
Fucken shit effort. How can we really believe in this outfit?
Don’t understand the low rating for Xhaka. Our attacking play and passing was so much better when he came on. Mkhitaryan is still building his confidence after Mourinho destroyed him. He’s improving. Going forward our midfield was poor and you can see why Ramsey clicked so well with Mkhitaryan.
There’s nothing wrong with Mikhis confidence, he was trying to make things happen. Welbeck, Wilshere and Iwobi were all absolutely awful, that made him look a lot worse than he was. Elneny, Hector and Mikhi were the only ones putting in a shift.
Remember when we used to second string and still spank the opposition first team 6-0? Happy days!
We certainly looked better after half time, but then it would have been impossible to get any worse. I thought Xhaka tried to get things moving, but we were off it all over the place. Mhki is a new player, and probably hasn’t practiced with that team very much, and I thought he was trying, but the players around him were just sleeping. Looking at that team though, certainly shows where our squad needs improvement!
The ratings are getting ridicolous at this point. Welbeck got 5 both games against östersunds. If that performance was a 5, I would really like to see what a 2/3 looks like to you.
He is nowhere near good enough for a Premier League team. Easily the worst player in our squad.
All the fans should relax a little bit and overact with the defeat. More than half the team that played laat nite wont be in the team vs Man City for sure.
We will have Ozil, Auba, Ramsey, Monreal, Kos, Mustafi….it will be different team.
The team on Sunday will be a strong one.
The fact that the players change but the crap performances stay the same suggests it’s not, primarily, the players. Many people on here venting their spleen at individuals seem to be still missing the point.