Starting XI: Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Wilshere, Xhaka, Elneny, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang
Subs: Ospina, Chambers, Kolasinac, Iwobi, Maitland-Niles, Lacazette, Welbeck
__
Harry Kane’s 49th minute header was enough for Spurs to beat Arsenal at Wembley in front of the biggest ever Premier League crowd.
83,222 watched a dominant second half display from the home side who, were it not for a series of fine saves by Petr Cech, should have beaten Wenger’s men by a wider margin.
The Gunners might have rescued a point at the death but substitute Alex Lacazette couldn’t convert either of his two chances.
First half
A tight, tense and fraught start set the tone for the half, as two well-matched sides played tidy football but struggled to find the cutting edge to create clear cut chances.
Arsenal lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Xhaka, Elneny and Wilshere tasked with keeping Dembele, Eriksen and Alli quiet in the middle of the part. The trio in red remained disciplined and on retrieving possession did their best to feed quick ball to Ozil and Mkhitaryan.
Bellerin and Mustafi put in stand out performances before the break. The former snuffing out the threat of Son, the latter constantly harrying Kane. The German was particularly alert on 8 minutes as he lunged to prevent an Alli ball reaching Kane. Cech pushed the clearance around the post.
Spurs certainly had more of the ball in the opening stages but the Gunners had real cause for complaint when Aubameyang, through on goal, was ruled offside on 12 minutes. Replays showed he was level with Vertonghen as he raced on to an amazingly astute through ball by Wilshere.
Three chances for the home side just before the half-hour mark had Arsenal on the ropes for a bit. Eriksen’s looping header was claimed easily by Cech, Kane couldn’t keep a header down and Dembele scuffed an effort after a half-cleared corner reached him on the edge of the box. The pressure often seemed to stem from us surrendering possession too easily, particularly from long balls by Cech.
At the other end Mkhitaryan, whose passing was a bit off, made a mess of a cross aimed at Aubameyang and Bellerin fired just over from the right-hand diagonal corner of the box.
Second half
Spurs came out on the front foot and within three minutes had the lead. A cross from Davies on the left found Kane, climbing over Koscielny, to head past a static Cech. Monreal went mad at the linesman for not giving a foul.
Kane might have double the lead twice in the space of four minutes. First a header, this time from a Dier cross on the right, skimmed just wide then Cech had tostand firm and block a ferocious volley from the penalty spot.
The Arsenal goal continued to come under fire and the Gunners were thankful for Cech’s acrobatics as he stopped Eriksen’s free-kick flying in the top left corner.
Having stemmed the tide temporarily, Wenger threw on Lacazette and Iwobi for Mkhitaryan and Elneny. Aubameyang moved out to the left to accommodate Lacazette in the middle.
It took until 67 minutes for the Gunners to have a first effort of the half. A decent break involving Ozil and Aubameyang eventually saw the ball break to Wilshere but Lloris clawed his curling effort from the edge of box away from danger.
Back came Spurs. Alli had a glorious chance after racing through the Gunners absent defence but with Cech to beat he toe-poked just wide. The Arsenal keeper then denied both Lamela and Trippier at close quarters. One nervy passing interchange with Mustafi aside, the veteran shot-stopper was masterful.
With five minutes remaining Welbeck came on for Xhaka. It left our formation incredibly top-heavy but with so little time for an equaliser it was the only option. Lamela had a chance to kill the game – he flashed wide – before we finally manufactured two decent chances. Both fell to Lacazette and he fluffed his lines twice. First he volleyed way over from a Bellerin cross and then, one-on-one with Lloris, he fired wide with the goal gaping. Wenger went ballistic.
There was one final opportunity to rescue a point when Ozil lined up a free-kick with four minutes of stoppage time done and dusted. He hit the wall, it was a poor effort that summed up yet another bad away day for the Gunners.
Defeat leaves Arsenal seven points adrift of Spurs and facing the prospect of another year without Champions League football. That’s unless we can win the Europa League. We tackle Ostersund over two legs next.
F*ck
Back to normal.
Don’t turn up when it matters.
Standard these days.
Ozil back to normal with his 400k /week
Sure it’s not 600 000 ?
but that IS his normal game
Ah been missing these comments, is that where you have been.. in the shadows?
Big man for the small day
After the optimism created by the January comings and goings, reality hits home…
Come on guys, let’s not overdo it here. It was a poor performance but a 1-nil loss away happens in this league (unfortunately, too often to us). No need to pile it on. We’re a team built on passing and that was rather broken today. We missed Ramsey, and we’re still emerging from a massive January overhaul. Sixth place is shameful, but the season isn’t over yet. Keep the faith.
How on earth did we miss Ramsey?? Because an i’ll disiplined midfielder is the last thing we needed
Because we looked dominant today without him?
you might have thought we looked dominant, but nobody else did
if ramsey had played we would have at least got a draw
We could really have done with Ramsey today. Those runs from nowhere as play builds and him hoofing wide, high or both would have done the trick in making us look just as bad as we are.
This season is a write off. We’ll have to try and salvage what we can and hopefully by the start of the next one the new boys will be acclimatised enough to have the impact we so desperately need.
Laughable!
just a 1-0 performance. We are lucky that score stayed the same at the end of the game. our defence was left completely open . And what about Nottingham Swansea Bournemouth , 4-2 , 3-1 , 2-1 . It’s not the scoreline that’s indicative it’s the performance. We are completely shit for lack of a better term . these are teams fighting for relegation f9r fuks sake. And still if you think we can make it into top four you are living in a different world
Spuds were flaky in front of goal at times and had they not been we could have lost this by 6 and more goals.
We weren’t good enough, and we haven’t been good enough, but the season isn’t over. We can still make amends.
ha, ha, ha
SHadow you typify a-section of arsenal supporters who know very little about football. Cunts might be dictionary definition
Sad but true….
The league table doesn’t lie, we are what we are…
We have no platform in central midfield, without ie, how can ozil influence a game?! Another no show from Xhaka.
I thought he did ok but he has looked so bad for us this year. Several times today he was caught ball watching and flat footed when one of his teammates played it to him and that is not good enough.
this year last year, the year before
This was set up from both sides to be a midfield battle. It went pretty well for 30 minutes, then we gradually started to lose duels and pass the ball to noone. Wilshere lost the ball more than Xhaka. Neither was bad, really, but encontered massive pressure.
utter crap, why should ozil need other players to make him play well, IF he is as good as people say he is he shouldn,t have to worry about other players
We belong there.
what do you mean, back to normal, we have been normal for the last few seasons
It was the passing again today. Still, could have been much, much, worse. Mkhi doesn’t look good on the left
Balls
We lack heart and urgency except for Jack who at least was angry by the end of the game. Our midfield it seems is a mess regardless of who we play as combined we do not win the ball back at all and we do not have a dynamic two-way player in the centre of the pitch. Ramsey (who we missed today) can only be that player going one way – forward – but we have no athletic anchor to protect and quickly build up play in the midfield as neither Xhaka or Elneny are good enough. As decisive as… Read more »
Not a good performance though Laca should have made it a draw. 6th place is guaranteed.
Poor performance, but some seriously questionable offside decisions there. The team was set up to counter with Auba in behind and he was twice robbed a clear 1 on 1.
In the first half, when Jack put him through one-on-one, he was certainly onside.
Oh give it a rest.
You sound like fucking Wenger himself..
Wilshere seemed to be the only player giving a shit 2nd half. His flare up at the end with lamela showed how much it hurts to lose to them. What is the point of xhaka right now? He’s supposed to provide midfield momentum but seems to prefer passing the ball sideways and strolling around the pitch. In fairness we played like shit and deserved to lose.
Petr Cech has played more passes than Jack Wilshere today.
Arsenal win less than half of games (46%) when Jack Wilshere plays
46% – more like Cech’s pass accuracy. Appalling distribution today.
Might have been too but it shows we didn’t get our midfield on the ball anywhere enough. it’s also a fact about JW’s win percentage in the premier league. It just is what it is and I think we all expect us to win more than half of our games?
Jimbo, we’ve won 48% of ALL our league games this season….whether Jack was playing or not.
@Jimbo….this is pure bollox!! Wilshere was the only player to energy with any credit. Proper infantile and pointless comment
@iceberg. It’s also a fact go check it out, you can go to the premier league website. My point is that not about individuals no matter how good they might look on the ball, it’s about how you can make the team play. Jack was CM today, played less passes than Cech and in his career the win rate is mid table level; that’s the effect he has on things. You don’t have to like it
Love the little man but he’s wearing the no.10 shirt and we can’t trust him to make a difference in top 6 games away from home. Remove the sentiment and that’s the bottom line. He’s a good squad player, that’s it.
Stop digging this idiotic hole with a shovel of puerile statistics. Xhaka had the best pass completion rate of any Arsenal player. It means sweet Fanny Adams
Wilshere was the only arsenal player to emerge with any credit today. Who would you rather have in your side Xaka or Wilshere??
Pointing the finger at Jack after this loss is pure bollox – his form is the best we’ve seen in years. When was the last time we had a midfielder who could carry the ball? Yes, his stats need a boost but that will come with time, he gives so much to the team and if you can’t see that when he plays then you need to open your eyes.
I agree. Wilshere still hasn’t found form. He fights impressively, but loses the ball a lot or plays meaningless passes.
Agree about Wilshere, he looked decent.
But we lost the game in midfield. Elneny and Xhaka or neither strong enough, fast enough or good enough to dominate a match like this.
I thought Elneny looked good for us. He’s not the aggressive type nor a active tackler. He’s a safe, link up play type and you need those guys in the team. Fill your team with 11 risk takers and you’ll get 11 to nil wins followed by 11 to nil losses. I don’t feel that he’s our problem. I do think we must upgrade our defensive ball winning midfield spot. Xhaka just isn’t it.
Safe link-up play is the absolute minimum requirement at that position. If a player doesn’t combine that with aggression and tackling ability he’s only going to hold us back, and that goes for Wilshere as well.
We’ve lowered our expectations too much where midfield is concerned. If our guys can’t cope at this level get rid. Unlike our attackers who we sold, none of these guys will end up at teams above us in the table because they’re bang average.
Xhaka is one of the worst midfielders I have seen at the arsenal over the past 40yrs, whilst I don’t blame him for all our problems or the defeat today (which was a pretty crappy mediocre team effort overall) he offers nothing he is obviously far too slow for the pace and intensity of the premiership, he can’t get to players to intercept, he can’t tackle, he dwells on the ball and as you mentioned his constant safe passing sideways or backwards and he can only play these when he under no pressure. He has no burst of spees, he… Read more »
That’s the arsenal DNA. Somehow, we seem to have accepted that we are not the best team in North London and any team with Iwobi, Welbeck and Xhaka cannot be a top one! We are at the moment a mid table team at best!
Result not good , attackers were neutralised by a physically strong opposition midfield, a 2-0 win offset by a 1-0 defeat this season , I still make it 2-1 over the season , no Arsenal fan can concede North London supremacy ,
Iwobi is hugely talented and heading towards star quality at Arsenal.
and what is the point of ozil
Lacca doesnt look arsed to be honest
Lacca is shorn of confidence. This season Wenger has taken him off plenty of times when he was playing well. I recall he started the season well but his form has certainly dropped. Don’t feel he’s been well-used. I’m also wondering what kind of halftime talk our lot had. We were crap 2nd half. Wembley or not, this was Arsenal living up to their current away form. I don’t want to hear people moaning that Kane fouled Kos for the goal. Kos had no idea where Kane was. On BT Keown and Rio’s analysis of the way we defend was… Read more »
I agree that Laca is short of confidence, but he needs to step up and show us who he really is.
His goal tally hasn’t been good enough and that’s why he’s ended up on the bench. So what’s his response going to be?
20 mins of constant offsides, moping about and good chances spurned.
We desperately need a goal in the last 20. Yet only Wenger would shift our brand new in-form striker to the wing for one who is completely off, having scored 1 in 13. How does that make Aubameyang feel now? Having hauled Lacazette off all season long when he’s actually played well and now relying on him for a goal, when you already have the fast, deadly CF on the pitch you put him on the wing to cross for the guy who is 5 foot 8. Fucking madness, he really knows how to wreck a players confidence.
I’ll agree on the offside comments regarding Laca. Nothing pisses me off more than seeing a striker getting caught offside because he doesn’t return back onside from the previous play fast enough. However, he did create chances today in the short time he was on. Strikers will miss chances. Kane scored the goal to win but blew more than one chance to score today. Frustrating I know but I was encouraged by what he created.
lacazzete and giroud are good strikers on their owb . giroud s performance in Euro with France and lacazzete performance with Lyon shows you that . But both of then are purely mismanaged by arsenal . a team that no longer dominates midfield and 90s tactics ., lacazette can only do so much . it may see. like he us the problem but he is actually just the tip of the iceberg. the problem lies with the utter mismanagement of Wenger that goes through the midfield and stretches till defence. without all these any striker would struggle . I think… Read more »
Agreed and not surprised.
Whats the point of this club?
MONEY
To gently build our hopes up before crushing them like a twiglet in a vice. Yeah, it’s not much fun. I did hear this great song earlier though, it’s about Mkhitarian and it’s to the tune of ABBA Gimme, Gimme, Gimme…
What hopes??? I’m not aware of any.
What is the point of fans like you?
What should his reaction be then?
Delight and jubilation over being totally outclassed by our most hated of rivals?
What is the point of this club?
Is it a challenger or isn’t it?
If Wenger stays then he will have his answer.
An emphatic NO
2-1 on aggregate is not being outclassed at all .
7 points below them and sitting on 6th is pretty fucking outclassed
what is the point of elneny? unless we want to groom him as a giroud replacement – he played so well with his back towards the spurs goal…one back pass after another!
Given the gravity of this match, one of the most disappointing performances I can remember. Good job we really gave it a go in stoppage time mind. Europa cup it is then… Pathetic.
By far the better defender out of him and Kos today. Not saying a lot though fucking dreadful performance.
Introducing the Honda Scapegoat of the Day: Skhodran Mustafi!
I didn’t say anything about Mustafi. Weirdo’s.
In the cold hard light of day, it’s probably kos who needs to be moved on and mustafi with the right partner could be a very solud CB. He’s still young
No. It’s Wenger.you could have maldini and Bobby Moore, with xhaka in front of them they’d still be fucked
You’re not the real Jimbo? This could get confusing
Time to remove the edit option!
Ha revisionism. Cough…. prick… Cough
You can talk, you’re not even the real Jimbo jones.
At least I don’t edit my comments when they get down voted? Also my name is Jim Jones
Eh? What you smoking mate? And stop pretending to be Jimbo. It’s a bit sad really…
Reckon you’re smoking stronger Mein Bergkampf. Benny Hill music and along with slagging Mustafi off. Stand by your original opinion!!
Sorry mate. Lost me. I think Mustafi is great, he’s the future, that’s for sure.
I defended your original comment Mein bergkampf but seriously? Editing your comments & then blaming everyone else ? That’s just cuntish.
‘I know we were shite all over today’ is what he said so any reference to a scapegoat is clearly wrong.
I take it you never saw Colin Hill or Gus Caesar in the flesh at Highbury?
Sure you’re being ironic but it says a lot about our current situation that we’re looking back to the late 1980’s and poor Gus Caesar for comparisons
That’s right, Kaius. What I’m saying is that defensive standards at the club haven’t been this poor in thirty years.
I have to agree. Colin Hill was before my time but I do remember Gus having an absolute nightmare in a cup final at Wembley. Think George Graham signed Steve Bould after that.
The Benny Hill music comes in whenever a defender tries that stupid back pass to Cech when there are still two or three opposing attackers in the box that didn’t run back because they know that Arsenal have this compulsion to touch-pass it all along the defensive line before they even consider building an attack. And when Cech does boot it long, he boots it right back to the other team.
You want to know where most of the defensive errors come from? Start looking there.
Now that the euphoria of beating Everton is gone, when will the Arsenal board realize that the manager is no longer capable of inspiring his team to play well? This is a manager, who with the likes of Denilson, Senderos, and Chamakh, got us into the top 4. Now with the likes of Ozil and Lacazette, we get mediocre results, and more than that, utterly mediocre performances away from home. Shouldn’t the buck stop somewhere? In any normal scenario, the buck would have long stopped with Wenger. But yet, here we are. Hoping against the worst, that something will spark… Read more »
There are signs imo they already have. Transfers being conducted without Wenger (even if he gave the ok these clearly were sven signings). Bringing in a director of football in sanhelli even if we don’t call him that. The total lack of transfer spending and clearing out of players this winter. Even Özil resigning as I seriously doubt he would have resigned without a serious plan for how the club moves forward. Imo they’ve already decided to move on but simply have not announced it
What should wenger do to get fired? Sleep with Stan’s wife??!
Afraid that would only warrant a one year extension.
I’m mad too, but I’m laying the blame on the players for that one. Wenger switched formations, swapped ozil and miki on the sides, made subs at the right times, but the players frequently made bad passes or broke attacks, not wenger’s fault for that. He did what he could with what we had today and it wasn’t good enough.
Steve Bould should quit as defensive coach. Same problems year after year after year with him in charge.
He’s not the defensive coach
Not sure why anyonr would have down voted for stating simple facts
As in zenith is right. He’s not the defensive coach
Steve Bould
The answer to a question no one can be bothered to ask..
Incapable of passing his ability on that’s for certain, we haven’t got a defender fit to lace his boots!
Depends on how much defensive coaching Bould gets to do. Sure, replace him if you think that will solve things, but I wouldn’t mind betting that it won’t make much difference unless proper tactics are employed across all areas of the team.
More an attacking problem today, no?
Need the ball to attack and occasionally venture into the other half of the field. No defensively terrible.
Bunch of fannys
proper
I’m sure 7amkickoff will enlighten us with the expected goals later on but I think it’s fair to say that the scoreline flattered us. Absolutely awful all round.
Agreed! Laca needs to bury one of those 2 chances. He’s also replaced Walcott for most offsides when you can see the whole line.
we looked best with quick balls over their high line. Why didn’t we try it more often? I’m so bored of watching us walk the ball up the pitch…
We didn’t capitalise on good chances on the break and it cost us. Off the pace today. But on pitch relationships need to build quickly
I should have brought a change of clothes, because after that performance, I’m about to piss tears.
Too many miscue passes when arsenal try to play their way out of their own area. Puts too much pressure on the defensive side. And I realized the midfield players are too soft, easily dispossessed.
Yup unfortunately this is the consequence of building your team with smaller diminutive players, on a tiki-taka possession-based philosophy.
Dembele and Ali were giving them a run around
Bang on Espen, too soft derby match and wasn’t we nice. Mentally fucked performance, we know they are diving cunts so we go all soft on them.
No physicality at all allowing them to strut around the pitch like prancing peacocks. No battle no points.
On another note, substitutions actually made us worse, quite an achievement in itself.
Precisely. WAY too much pressure being absorbed that doesn’t need to be. Have Cech boot it long and to the center of the pitch every once in a while. If defenders get the ball, look to pass it forward, not backpass it or sideways pass it. Get the ball and dribble with it, or look to turn and pass it forward. Quit going for that short little pass to a dude who’s got an opposing player marking him like glue on paper. That pass does nothing to help build a play, it only wastes time at best and leads to… Read more »
This loss means we’ll win the Carabao cup at Wembley right? Right?
most frustrating arsenal game i’ve ever watched. if you can’t muster any proper chances with auba, laca, jack, ozil on the pitch – you’re not a very good manager
At the risk of hair – splitting, Laca missed two chances in the last five that I’d back him to at least hit the target with, but yes….frustrating is the truth.
Shit >sp*rs
Then where does that put us?
er, 6th?
Make no mistake, we were terrible in the second half. Could have conceded 4 or 5 if it wasn’t for Cech’s saves & their misses. What was our plan going forward after the break?
Also, our passing is just off. We were once best in the league in that. Now, so many bad passes, be it misplaced, overpowered etc. Many players seem to struggle on the ball when forced to play with their weaker foot.
Yup spot on. Too easily bullied on the ball. Once pressured, we loses the ball easily. I miss Carzola and his calm influence sigh.
ITS FUCKING CAZORLA. CAZORLA
+ it’s painful to say it, but I can’t remember such a midfield performance as Moussa Dembele’s from any of our players in a long time
We don’t have any players like Dembele.
Ours are small nice gentlemen.
If it wasn’t for Cech and wasted opportunities we would have been absolutely pasted in that match.
Defensively that was fucking abysmal. Woeful away record continues
And to think many were happy when they thought he won’t be fit for the match. Just imagine it was Ospina on the post today.
Yes I was one of those who was hoping Ospina will play….but he didnt, Cech did. He did a good job with the saves, but a few horror moments as well. Seriously Ospima cant do worst, perhaps better.
Not just defensively, we had one shot on target and it was from Wilshere. Might be unpopular to point it out but Ozil and Mkhi were actually shocking and less said about Lacazette’s “cameo” the better
Lets not get carried away we did alright in the first half
Looked vulnerable in the second when we started chucking more people forward
I hate to say it (really hate it) but Sp*rs are a good side
If Aubameyang hadn’t been ruled incorrectly offside in the first half things might have been different
Nonsense. We didn’t look vulnerable because we were chucking more people forward. We looked vulnerable because they battered us ! We barely got out of our half.
We could not pass. So many turnovers from simply passing straight to a Sp*urs players feet. It was schoolboy stuff out there.
First half we stayed in it. But cannot remember anytime in game we had even 5 minutes of sustained pressure. Has elneny ever actually made a tackle??
We survived the first half. Nothing more.
Someone said both us and Liverpool have had to adjust the way we play against Spurs and that’s testament to the work Pochettino has done. We now consider it a good thing that we’re still in the game at half-time against them. Sad state of affairs
Only positive I’ve taken from today is that thanks to good old illegal streaming I missed out on BT sport and got Lee Dixon instead, and something he was talking about really made me realise something; when was the last time a substitute really changed things for us in a bad game? With every mistake made by our subs, Dixon kept asking the simple question ‘are you ready?’, and it baffled me how true that was. Iwobi and Lacazette were anything but prepared to come on and change a big game. Just there to make up the numbers. Garbage performance.
Giroud?
True, the equaliser at Southampton is the last I can think of, but even that’s another indictment on the management. Of course Giroud can change a game with the physical attributes he has, but as for those who need more motivation and instruction, it’s been a different story altogether. Like we saw today, no plan or tactics, just Wenger throwing on all of our attackers with what looks like minimal fore-thought.
Good point. Lacazette got caught offside pulling up his socks – definitely not prepared.
Iwobi played our only key pass of the game to Lacazette who also had our first shot in the box.
What did Elneny and Xhaka do until they were subbed??? You should stop expecting roy of the rovers substitutions and instead hope for a team set up with the right personnel and tactics to beat their opponents.
We should have been better but Spurs are, whether we like it or not, a really good side. Might not end up a successful one, but they were very good today. It wasn’t just a capitulation today.
After our next home good win/performance, anyone who comes out (again, as they have done after each of our last 3 home wins) with the ‘so excited with the new team spirit / cohesion / fluency now that Alexis is gone’ is an absolute moron.
Just fell apart after Kane’s goal. (and what Arsene is complaining about for thr goal is beyond me) Zero mental strength yet again.
To be honest I think anybody who isn’t the least bit optimistic given the players we now have is a bit of a moron …
Define ‘optimistic?
Let’s just wait and see what happens shall we it’s only two games ………
That’s the point he was making – after one win over a poor Everton people were already making grand claims about improved camaraderie, how Alexis wasn’t there to lose the ball anymore, Mkhi and Ozil were gonna wreak havoc etc.
We don’t need to wait another 5 games to know it was never about any of that.
Exactly kaius. You criticise my comment Anonymarse & then your next post makes exactly the same point as me !
The point is a couple of new signings has changed nothing in the overall scheme of things. We’re still desperately short in a couple of key positions & desperately short of grit/mental strength/balls that teams need to win the title.
This fails to take into account the manager we have
I think hector did well.. but the team was anonymous as a bunch. Kola and AMN deserved to play
COYG this is not the end, we beat the cunts 2-0 in Nov.. we’ll be back
I thought Hector was just ok, definitely not the worst though.
I saw Wilshere as the one who was doing the most to generate a response. Played some very deft through balls in the last half an hour that would have been more significant had anyone in the final third remembered how to trap a ball.
I get the feeling that Danny Welbeck would make for an ace friend, but boy oh boy does he frustrate me as a footballer.
Lacazette needs to pull his fucking socks up too
Toothless today as it has been for much of the season away. Wilshere Ozil nonexistent. None to little service to the strikers as usual. Iwobi did great for the little time he had and should not be dropped in hindsight.
Wilshere and Ozil, along with Bellerin and Cech, were our best players today. Iwobi gave the ball away constantly.
Not Ozil, he was shocking and totally disappeared in the second half.
Did we watch the same game? Iwobi was shocking when he came on, so many displaced passes and slowed up our game time and time again (which is normally the opposite of what he does). Thought he would add some pace to the game but he gave us nothing.
Not surprised by this any more are we? New faces same shit. Second half was just rank and typical. Could end the season losing 10 or 11 games. That is not acceptable surely for Wenger. Where is the progress?
Lucky it was only 1-0. They wanted it more. We offered fuck all. Lacazette needs a goal.
If he needs one so bad, maybe he can try not to choke one away when it bites him in the arse, like two of them did in the last 10 minutes of this game.
Or maybe he can try not to get more offsides in 20 minutes than the offside master, Theo Walcott, gets in most games.
Just a couple of suggestions…
Frustrating at the end, a good couple of chances to get an undeserved draw.
Spurs were stronger, faster and better than us for pretty much all of the 2nd half – they seemed to win all the 50-50 battles. Defensively, will still need a dominant centre half, not convinced the Kosc, Mustafi partnership works.
Iwobi and Laca seemed to be competing for worst impact sub of day.
Thought Bellerin, Wilshere and of course Cech were are best players today.
Jack’s been consistently excellent since hes rejoined Arsenal.
If only some of his consistency could rub off on most of our other players
We miss Ramsey. There was no chaos in the sp*s box
More like there wasn’t anything at all in spurs box. We could barely bring the ball to their box ffs.
Nah, we miss Cazorla. Ramsey would have done f*ck all with his first touch. There is no footballing philosophy in this team. None of them except Ozil and maybe Mkhi have a football brain.
Coming off a hat trick, doesn’t play and still get’s slagged off. Is this Rupert Murdoch’s adopted son !
Garbage. Koscielny, Bellerin, Monreal, Ramsey, and Wilshere all have “a football brain” too. What they clearly don’t have is consistent performance levels, confidence to thrive in tight situations, and a proper tactical game plan. Not all of that is on the players.
Agree on Monreal and Bellerin. Koscielny HAD a football brain but he is not good enough to be in the PL anymore. We should keep him around for cup games. Wilshere has a football brain but he ditched us for Bournemouth because his huge ego would not take the bench. Ramsey is a good pro and i think he has a fantastic engine but we need another player in his position. Honest i’d keep Ramsey and sell Wilshere for someone like Fekir. Wilshere acts like it’s beneath him to be a bench player. If a club wants to challenge for… Read more »
I am not saying Ramsey would have save us but at least he would cause trouble in their box with his late runs
Fuck this. This is a trainwreck of a team with a mentality of a todler. You beat Everton with 5-1, have a good first half against Spuds and then comes out and goes full retard. Every player on the pitch giving the ball away and panicking. No one knows what to do! Not one player had a clue or balls enough to stand up and be counted! This is weakness! Nothing else! Weak loosers! This is a team that reflects the manager to the fullest. A manager that puts Aubi out wide when he should know he is wasted out… Read more »
I too was struggling to see the point of keeping Iwobi on. It was square pass, backward pass, or give the ball away from Alex all day.
Our brilliant tactician of a coach decided that we should play defensive even though our defense has been agreed to be our weakest point and we actually bought attackers.
Even if we buy messi and neymar, this “past-it” manager of ours cannot motivate them to do anything.
I rather enjoyed the jaunty angle of Steven Bould’s hat. I half expected him to start knocking out wooden toys, then chucking the finished articles on a sleigh or summat.
In other related news, I sincerely hope Jack Wilshere levels Lamela’s head clean off in the tunnel. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
Top 4, gone
Xhaka woeful. Mustafi and Cech a traveling circus. Iwobi not able to play the level we need. Jack didn’t look ready. Mhiki was passing to nobody. At points Ozil would drop to 25 yards from Cech just to get the ball. He couldn’t Marshall the rest of the jokers to make plays and runs. Everyone else passed back and sideways. Shambles. Some of them shouldn’t put the shirt back on. An absolutely tactically deficient performance that was lucky not to be 5-0. Cech, Xhaka, Elneny, Mustafi and maybe even Kos should leave his summer. Kos is losing it. We can’t… Read more »
Cech kept us in the game son
It doesn’t do any good to pull super saves from volleys but then cock up simple passes on the ground game after game. It’s Almunia all over again. When he gets the ball I stop breathing.
1. Good, solid first half; pathetic second one.
2. Cech being MOTM tells you everything: we should have been walloped.
3. Substitutions actually made us worse – well done Wenger!
4. What the fuck has happened to Lacazette? At the mement he makes Franny Jeffers look like Lionel Messi.
5. Top four place is now surely gone, so shouldn’t Wenger be too by the end of this season?
6. Why can’t we win away from home?
7. Spurs are shit – fuck them!
Spurs are cunts.
Was Cech MOTM? On my stream those BT plonkers gave it to that mouth breather that fouled Kos to score.
Spurs ARE shit, fuck them.
But fuck me, we are shitter.
One shot on target in the end, ridiculously poor performance. Wonder who we’ll scapegoat now seeing as Giroud, Walcott, Sanchez and Ramsey were all absent. The issue isn’t the players, it’s the tactics, the mentality. Our refusal to press or exploit our pace. We went in looking for a draw and were embarrassed. The only saving grace for Wenger is that the linesmen had a shocking game as well. Very tough to play against 13 men
looks like they nominated Xhaka today
Dismal second half, and an inexcusable defensive performance. And yet, I am still pissed off, because the linesman robbed Auba of a one on one opportunity (honest mistake, to be fair) and Kane probably fouled Kos for their only goal. Did they miss a lot of chances? Chances that we put on a platter for them in a way that is not fitting any PL team? Sure. They did not take them. I would have so loved to see Laca put an undeserved equaliser past Lloris, especially after watching Alli trot to our box when he knew he was going… Read more »
Kane didn’t foul Kos for the goal. Not even close.
Top 4 was always going to be a tall order. The Bournemouth and Swansea losses were very damaging.
Time to be realistic – our only route back to UCL is through the EL.
Do what we can in the league, pour all our energies into EL, win it, and continue the rebuilding process…under a new manager.
Arsene goes out on a deserved high. If we win the Carabao cup, great season for all.
What people often miss about that plan is how difficult it will actually be to win it.
Years and years of champions league has told us that Europa is mickey mouse and easy to win, which it isn’t.
It would be a surprise if we won it, not a given.
I never said it’s a given; all I am saying is that, at this point, it is the more realistic route to the CL. Compare that to clawing back a minimum of seven points from two teams in eleven games; tougher in my estimation.
Defensively absolutely pathetic in the second half. Lack of concentration, tactical awareness, discipline, everything. We bring on two players with zero confidence on to save the game and shift our best striker to the wing. Czech made some great saves but come on, could have gifted them two goals too. Elneny impressed in the first half and I felt we lost complete direction after his substitution. We cannot play ozil and Miki on the wings! They’re central attacking midfielders.
Need to play 4:3:2:1 but the 2 centrally
Players go, players come and we remain shite. Just GTFO Arsene..
Wenger In !
I personally would have played Mikhitarian on the right and Ozil CAM, you know, there favoured and best positions. Mikhitarian looked lost on the left and Ozil did not thrive having to keep running up and down the wing. I understand wanting to accomodate Elneny for a bit of defensive reinforcement but to me it was clear that things needed to be changed when they scored and probably even a bit before that.
I’m going to zip down to my local hardware retailer and buy some more nails, because you’ve already hit the others on the head. Ever though about becoming a football manager? There might be a gig going in Islington in the summer.
Such a poor performance. Our midfield needs a Moussa Dembele and has done for years. Couldn’t live with him or Kane. Lacazette when he came on was caught offside inexplicably 3 times and totally shanked 2 glorious chances.
Bye bye top 4
Say what you want about Cech, but when it really comes down to the big games he always steps up and saves our asses.
This was Lacazette’s opportunity to show his quality to the manager and he’s failed disappointingly.
Nevertheless we have quality up front, but our lack of quality everywhere else shows when the midfield and forward quality of the opponent is a bit above mid table.
We used to win tough away games when we had a decent midfield, go back to Cazorla vs Man City. Once we fix this problem we’ll be in good stead.
Then we need to find another Santi Cazorla. Or try to make one of our players into what Santi became (a deep-lying dribbler/playmaker to pair with a more defensive DM type).
If anything, I’m thinking maybe Wilshere can finally find his place and future in the Arsenal side as the Santi replacement. At least he has a lot of the necessary qualities…
I don’t think he failed. If anything this match proved that our midfielders don’t create enough for the strikers and the few minutes he was on he had 2 chances more than Auba. So let’s not blame Lacazette for Arsenal being shit in football at the moment
He missed two clear chances. Missed them both by a mile (in relative terms). The first one he Row-Zed’ed almost as bad as Son did for the Spuds earlier in the half, and the second one he took worse than a 500,000 pound striker would, let alone a 50 million pound one. Lacazette is not the reason the team sucks at the moment, no. But what he’s doing right now is actively hurting it’s cause (if nothing else than the fact that he’s not HELPING the cause any). His job is to score goals, especially when they’re being served on… Read more »
Haven’t played this badly in ages…
You must be new around here.
We were just so bad! It was only because of Cech that we even managed to loose 1-0! First half.. with all our newly found attacking prowess.. I thought we were too defensive for our own liking and gave them way too much respect. We have made that open mouthed prick our new Drogba. Disgraceful to say the least.
Shite. Didn’t even go for it.
How can we bed so bad defensively when we create barely anything going forward. At least we used to be good for goals
Watching us is like trying to coax a baby to walk. We are not going to make top 4 at this rate. I have my doubts about europa even. As expected. Here are some unpopular but salient kernals of truth: 1) I said it this January, we are buying the wrong players. We should have bought Mahrez. We are lacking a creative wide player who can beat 2 or 3 players on his own. Service again side to side. no outlet for the defense. 2) Mhkitaryan was played on the left. He can’t cross from there to save his life.… Read more »
Bollox
Sounds like you have it all figured out.
Mahrez?
Am I going to see this every week that Arsenal loses? Then you disappear when they win? Again Mahrez would have cost 95M. Thats why he isn’t a City player right now. So, please get off it. Your imaginary world that he would have only cost 40-50M is a joke. This is only his second start for Arsenal. Is that how you evaluate players? If you mention that he can play with both feet like you’ve mentioned before then he can definitely cross with from the left. He had a bad game no doubt. Who would be that striker that… Read more »
Wow. Ozil really controlled the match and yet again xhaka was amazing closing down on defense. And lacca showed remarkable composure. And after going down one goal the entire team didnt crumble by giving spurs 6 or 7 easy chances.
At least we won’t lose in the league for the rest of the month!
I suppose we must be thankful that it was only one, and not five or six
Osterstund, we’re coming for you, look out!!!
I need a heavy doze of alcohol.