Result: Brighton 1-1 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 26th December 2018
Venue: AMEX Stadium
Arsenal: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Koscielny, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Torreira, Guendouzi, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Subs: Cech, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Willock, Ramsey, Iwobi, Nketiah
Arsenal’s quest to finish in the Premier League top four hit another stumbling block as a stubborn Brighton side fought back from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s early goal to grab a 1-1 draw at the AMEX Stadium.
The Gunners were good value for their early lead but the home side bounced back before the break when Jurgen Locadia took advantage of terrible defending by Stephan Lichtsteiner to equalise.
Unai Emery made three early changes and switched formation in the second half as he looked to engineer an upturn in performance but neither side deserved a winner as the game descended into a horribly scrappy affair.
First half
Still short on numbers at the back, Emery set the side up with a four-man defence with Kolasinac and Lichtsteiner taking the left and right full-back spots respectively and Koscielny and Sokratis forming a pair in the middle.
In midfield, Guendouzi and Torreira, both risked despite being one booking away from a suspension, buzzed around in front of Xhaka, as we looked to make a fast start.
Early efforts by Lacazette, a low drive from the edge of the box, and Aubameyang, a cute side foot lob after a great ball by Guendouzi, hinted at a side eager to stamp its authority on the game. The pressure paid off soon enough.
On six minutes, after some intricate twisting and turning in the home side’s box by Lacazette, the ball was worked to Aubameyang, possibly off a Brighton player, and the Gabon striker lifted the ball first time into the top corner. It was a clinical finish from our top scorer. (1-0)
After the quick start, we slowed things down and were seemingly content to control possession without committing too many players forward. Quite why we chose to be so passive when the game was there for the taking was ridiculously frustrating.
Having looked pretty dopey, Brighton started to come back into things. They might have had an equaliser on 23 minutes were it not for the whistle of referee Anthony Taylor, who signalled for a free-kick rather than a goal after Glenn Murray ploughed through Bernd Leno to bundle the ball over the line.
Despite the scare, we really should have doubled our lead on the half-hour mark, but Aubameyang couldn’t beat Ryan despite being clean through on goal by Torreira. That miss perked up the home crowd but it still took some ridiculous defending on our part to help the Seagulls grab an equaliser.
From an Arsenal corner, Propper, more in hope than expectation, launched a long ball over the Gunners defence. Lichtsteiner, under no pressure, decided it would be better to try and deal with the situation using his head but, rather than divert it to a team mate, he took the pace off the ball allowing Locadia to beat Leno to the ball and roll into an empty net. We’ve given a lot of soft goals away in recent years; this was up there with the worst of them. (1-1)
Second half
Alex Iwobi was sent on for the ineffective Ozil at half time, but the change did little to stifle the home side’s momentum as we made a very sloppy start to the second half.
It felt like we were barely able to put more than three passes together in attack as the game drifted along. Emery decided to hook Lacazette and instead tried his luck with Aaron Ramsey.
Periods of nice play were undone by impatient Hollywood passes that skipped out of play to be greeted by jeers from both sets of supporters. The boss’ face was a picture of concern as the clock slowly counted down. Again, he turned to the subs bench for an answer. This time Koscielny came off, Xhaka slipped into defence and Ainsley Maitland-Niles was charged with providing some pace and width on the right.
We looked a tad more comfortable playing in a 3-5-2-1 formation but still, the passing and control were poor. Maitland-Niles twice got round the back but couldn’t pick out an Arsenal man and Aubameyang looked to have escaped in the box but let the ball run loose. Ramsey offered nothing at all.
Brighton’s tactic of hitting long balls and waiting for us to panic nearly paid dividends again as March left Xhaka for dead and tried to beat Leno with a lob. His effort dropped over. Not long after, Locadia, collecting a diagonal pass, screwed another effort wide as Leno scrambled across his goal.
Our clearest chance of the second half came with seven minutes remaining when a clearance cannoned off Iwobi’s heel and flashed just past Ryan’s post. The Nigerian didn’t know anything about it, which was somehow fitting.
A point temporarily takes us to fourth above Chelsea, but the six-point gap between ourselves and City in third is concerning, especially when our next outing is against league leaders Liverpool.
We f****d up badly and on top of that yellow card for Torreira.
He didn’t get a yellow card. That’s literally the only positive from today.
My bad. It was Kola
We’re fucked on Saturday, regardless.
It was Kolasinac for back chatting who got the yellow thankfully. Just blabout the only positive out of a game which promised so much from the early goal but delivered fuck all, with no movement, constant sideways passing and no urgency – as well as two players too worried about making any tackles which would result in a missed game against Liverpool to make any challenges.
Only Kola got booked as far as I remember. Changes have worked all season until today, woeful last 45 mins!
It’s either Emery’s unique style that he keeps making changes at half time or that he keeps getting things wrong in the first half. In any case, he needs to sort it out because it may be unorthodox but as we can see now it won’t work every time.
I hope we don’t have to rely on Litch and Kos again this season. They maybe useful in the dressing room but not on the field. We are kidding ourselves if we think a 34y old Kos will play like a 28y old one especially with a patched up achilles.
Kolasanic got booked, not Torreira.
Hahahhaahaaaaaaa. Well that was worth it.
We drop points and Liverpool safely on course for their unbeaten season. Nice way to ruin your Christmas.
We reminded me of that simpsons cartoon where three football players just keep passing it to each other. And then they think deeply and then make the same pass again. Complete lack of quality in our build up.
Holds
Centre half holds it. Holds It! HOLDS IT!!!!!
Aubameyang’s individual contribution is papering over big cracks. Are we actually any better than we were last season?
Somewhat yes and no.
Yes we are better – is the answer. But the improvement is not enough to put us in the top four, as teams around us are also as good, or better still, than they were.
We do need a couple of ‘astute’ signings in January. Whether we get them or not….?
We’re not better. I’ve been one of the loan voices saying that. Everyone was getting carried away by that winning streak. We could have lost as few of those games. We could also have won more games than we did last year but weren’t as lucky. Luckier? Yes. Better? Absolutely not
I would suggest that Gendouzi and Terrera who we didn’t have last year, make us better than we were 12 months ago. But Like I said, it’s not enough and we need a couple of clever signings, if we are to have a chance of getting back into the top four.
If not then we will do well to make fifth.
Yeah, I don’t think we were particularly any better on the winning run. Just had some luck and again, Auba’s goals. Emery is weird, seems to want to be super defensive without actually making us any better at defending. Taking Ozil and Lacazette off when we needed a goal was retarded. Iwobi hasn’t contributed anything for about 2 months now.
I couldn’t agree more. I don’t know what the point of taking Ozil off was when the alternative is Iwobi. He contributed nothing to the game, yet the focus will be on Ozil having a bad first half.
We are definitely better. Especially in attitude. Remember our away non-peformances last year?
Our defence was a shambles today, but to be fair we have been decimated by injuries.
I agree. If we were playing this way under Wenger everyone would be up in arms and telling him to leave. I think that maybe the team works harder under Emry but I don’t know what his style of play is as we don’t really have a discernable style, exept play it from the back. The only game where I thought we made a huge leap was the Tottenham game. I thought we looked imense and hoped we would use that as our springboard but we are back to stodge and other teams and managers are figuring Emry out. The… Read more »
Yes we are better than last season we have come back and won games that we wouldn’t have done last season. That said that goal for them really reminded of the last few seasons.
Certainly no better, Iwobi, Maitland-Niles,Lichsteiner and sadly now Kos are not good enough. We were intent on outclassing BHA but only in our own half, endless sideways and backwards passing got us absolutely nowhere, their defence had good rest. Not looking forward to Saturday, speed and determination will see us off the park
We’re better than last season. But the competition is miles ahead of us.
We’re definitely better than last season, probably would have lost this game before. And we’re more resilient against top teams. But we have a lot of injuries atm, and Emery is making some ahem interesting choices…
Certainly not better based on that performance, Iwobi, Maitland-Niles, Lichsteiner and sadly Kos are not first team Gooners. Mr Emry must get some urgency and positivity into our play. Endless sideways and backwards passing going back into our own half gave the BHA defence a nice holiday, seeing another N. London murder Everton the other day frightened me and today’s display did nothing to help me get over my alarms. Is there any chance of postponing Saturday’s fixture?
Much improved from last season. Injuries don’t help obviously.
Arsenal is improved from last season, but scores less. The table below compares the 16 matches played so far against teams that are in the Premier League both last season and this. These exact same fixtures brought Arsenal 27 points last season. Now, the team has acquired 31 points. The goal difference, however, has deteriorated from plus 17 last season to plus 11 now. Arsenal scored 7 more goals in the corresponding matches last season and has conceded one more goal in these fixtures this season than the last. (Last season’s result in parentheses): Man City (H) 0-2 (0-3) Same… Read more »
We do something other than lose away from home, so yes
Laca and Ozil subs?
So strange. Laca especially. He did everything and more to make the first.
I think it’s time to accept that we’re not top 4 material this year. Everyone else is spanking the minnows yet we’re struggling to get points at Brighton and Southampton – it’s just not good enough. Irrespective of what Emery says, we desperately need signings in January – we just have no creativity in midfield. Only positive from today is that Torreira isn’t suspended for the Liverpool game.
What the team lacks is wingers Iwobi isn’t very reliable.
If anything we had too many “creative” players starting in the midfield, not enough runner upfront. It’s almost like xhaka, guendozi, torreira, and ozil all tries to be some kind of xabi alonso with all those hollywood passes.
Seriously we DON’T have too many creative players.
What we need is some width and a player or 2 who are capable of dribbling past their man. When the opposition close up ranks and make it hard to pass through them, that’s what could make the difference and create more space. Iwobi and Ozil are our best options for that and we could all see how that worked out today….
Midfield of Xhaka, Guendouzi and Torreira does not cry creative.
Yes it does. Xhaka most accurate passer in the Premiership
Making excuses for Emery is not the way to go.
God help us on Saturday
Just a reminder to everyone that Klopp’s Liverpool finished 7th in their first season. I get everyone is frustrated today (so am i) but let’s hold off on judgements on Emery’s suitability for the role?
I may be wrong but I dont think he’s passing judgement on Emery, I think he’s just hoping we don’t get spanked on Saturday.
I personally don’t give a stuff about Klopp or his liverpool, I just don’t want to see us taking another bollocking from that lot.
Then again, given it’s the season of miracles, we could come back with a win and a clean sheet to boot. It has to happen at some stage, right?
Yes you’re right I was actually trying to reply to the guy “not happy” one comment down *facepalm*
I think that’s pretty weak to be honest. When Klopp went to Pool they may have finished 7th but you could see the change, that there was a plan and that they were moving in a positive direction. I honestly don’t know what direction we are going and don’t see much of an improvement.
But look at what Pool have spent just on a Goalie & Centre back, whilst we are ‘bargain basement’ shopping! No comparison, where did they get the money?
They sold a couple of players for good money instead of letting them go for free.
1. No Ozil = No creativity.
2.we should not play 3 defensive midfielders against teams like Brighton.
3. Laca should not be getting taken off when were drawing. It feels like hes getting targeted.
4. Emery is not good enough gor Arsenal.
THERE I SAID IT!
There you go. How long have you been waiting to write #4?
Ah man you were doing so well with the first three points!
Seriously, the man’s lost four games with us at the midway point of his first season in the most competitive Premier League there’s been in recent memory, with an imbalanced squad that finished way off the Champions Leage places last season and could hardly draw an away game let alone win one, and you’re already able to say, without so much as trying to justify it, that he’s not good enough?
4 is beyond wrong. If anyone needs to prove themselves, it’s the owner. I look at 75 million for van Dijk, and I can see most of the 13 point difference.
You’re right about the Laca substitution. But wrong about Emery: he has a pile of Wenger’s excrement to clean up. Judge him this time next year.
What Wenger excrement are you talking about?
How about a squad without a single quality defender? And two dodgy goalkeepers? How about a star player on stupid money but with a lazy, uninterested attitude? How about a key player who was allowed to run down his contract and walk away for nothing? How about a squad without a single defensive midfielder? How about the failure to sign a decent winger for years? How about a manager who was responsible for a culture of mediocrity and underachiement?
I could go on…
This time fats is right. Our 2017-18 was a shamble
Nothing dodgy about Cech and who is the key player who left for nothing? How about having 2 world class strikers and a great number of youngsters with fantastic potential
Our youngsters are very overrated.
You are right about judging Emery after a season, Wrong about “Wenger’s pile of excrement”…That’s not what I would call a pile of FA cups and 2 Premier League titles, one of them unbeaten.
3,Premier League tiles with 2 doubles as well
indeed!
Ozil started and was rightfully taken off. Not Emerys fault Iwobi was just as bad.
No Emery’s tactics were shocking, put in Ozil with nobody offering width, then whats the point of putting him in in the 1st place.
Too early to judge Emery. Looks like we are going to have to find new creativity. It’s no easy job to replace Ozil.
1. True, but he just wasn’t pulling his weight today. Moping around the field with minimal effort and energy. Hardly surprising he got subbed – only problem is, as you say, that we don’t have any creativity otherwise. 2. We didn’t. Guendouzi is more of a CM than defensive mid and Xhaka is hardly an out-and-out defensive mid either. As you said, what we lack is creativity. 3. Agreed, but I don’t think he’s being targeted. Emery does like to change his system and Lacazette is unfortunately the cost. Don’t understand the sub today though. Although isolated, he was the… Read more »
Maniac.
1. He has always drifted in and out of games throughout his entire career it is something that will NOT change. There were a lot of players running around like headless chickens (pulling their weight) but they weren’t really doing anything of worth were they?
2, 3 and 4 agreed.
Emery has performed a miracle so far this season with practically ZERO transfer budget.
THERE I SAID IT!
Haha- you have low standards for a miracle
The main thing that astounds me is that to have 24 people agreeing with your totally inane comment
I think your first three are fine. Last one is silly.
Hooking Ozil at half time for Iwobi did literally nothing. Poor by Emery. Almost like he did it just to show Ozil who’s boss
Shouldn’t be done to the detriment of the team and club’s performance. It’s almost criminal. Hopefully he can sort this big pile of a mess soon
Le Boss ruined the game with his half time sub. Was clearly not needed as we were onthe front foot. From then on it was back to wenger ball.
Well i dont remember us winning on boxing day anyways…
Manager has to take blame today with terrible subs. How can you take Ozil and lacazette off and replace them with iwobi and Ramsey. Dominated most of first half and created nothing in second half.
Iwobi is a frustrating player at times.
He’s dogshit. Sorry, not sorry
Baffling substitutions! Not sure why Ozil or Lacazette was taken off; it’s not like their replacements made much of a difference. The closest Iwobi came to making a difference was when the ball ricocheted off his leg towards the goal..
It’s a worry how poor we are. I think he’s been getting the formation, tactics and players all wrong recently. It’s not like were missing that much other than Mustafi and Bellerin. If this is all we have to offer we’re not making top 4.
After the genius substitutions of earlier games, now it is all wrong. Despite best intentions Ramsey was not more of a threat than Laca, and Ozil was not worse on the ball than Iwobi. Worried about the pace we played and the place we go next game.
I agree. Unai got it wrong (again).
Bad formation and even worse substitutions.
Why deploy a 2-striker formation if we have only 2 senior seasoned strikers?
I’m not one of the Ozil’s biggest fans, but sub him off at ht to bring a inconsistent Iwobi (his development has plateaued under Wenger or is he inconsistent as he is?) would change the game?
Abysmal. Thought we’d turned a corner with Ozil. If he’s not good enough ‘tactically’ at this stage to play 90 minutes against Brighton, he’s not good enough. Sell please.
Likewise, if Kos cannot last 90 minutes, we need a new CB (on top of the 500 we’ve bought and sold in the last 24 months, but needs must). Busy, busy January.
Liverpool… 4-0 the day after Christmas, blast them. I’m dreading Saturday.
If he’s not good enough ‘tactically’? Did we both watch the same second half? Because based on what unfolded I’m pretty sure there’s a stronger suggestion for Emery giving a poor tactical performance taking him off in the first place.
Yes. Iwobi for Ozil smacks of a conservative approach. Did Emery think he was going to get more defensive pressure with Iwobi and maybe snatch a goal? Thought we were a bit of “two minds” today tactically.
What was the point of removing Laca? Tactics? Hell that was just odd.
If you sub Ozil for Iwobi you better get a fucking result because if you don’t you’ll end up looking a fool. Enough of those fucking halftime subs. Pick a team, pick a formation and trust in it!
Lol, Arsene is that you?
Shit game
Shit Arsenal performance
Shit Ozil
Shit defending… again!
Shit week
Shit other results
Thursday night football next season for sure… shit!
Pessimistic as always but, unfortunately, I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said.
Fats. I think turkeys enjoy Christmas more than you.
Based on 1 match. Toxic FatGooner strikes again
Depressingly familiar.
What a waste of a Boxing Day evening watching that. We got worse with each substitution. What is Emery doing taking off Ozil at half-time, for Alex no end product Iwobi? We need a goal and he then takes off Lacazette? I don’t get it at all. Don’t even get me started on Maitland Niles; first touch like a trampoline and repeatedly just runs into opponents.
This one is solely on Emery. No creativity, horrible substitutions. It was fucking Mournho esque. Pissed the fuck off!
Now you know why he (Emery) was dumped by PSG, been to the summit & sacked. Very Mournho esque!
Yes Emery dumped for winning a treble and double in the 2 years he was there? He is a great manager who has worked wonders with us and I look forward to the future. One poor match and you forget only one defeat in last 17 league matches.
Nice to hear another voice of reason here. Everyone needs to chill the fuck out about Emery! There’s only so much he can do with what he has. It’s up to the guys to step up. Could be wrong of course, couldn’t we all. If for example he told the guys to take it easy after the first goal (can’t imagine that) I dunno. He thought Rambo could get him creativity. Rambo tried to work with AMN (who played like he just woke up) but didn’t try hard enough. Laca dropped off pretty hard and wasn’t doing much after the… Read more »
Iwobi came on and had an absolute shocker! Lichsteiner was poor today and Lacazette didn’t get enough on the ball to cause problems. Auba should have definitely scored that 1 v1 he took it too early
Felt like the Arsenal of old
Should have been out of sight after 20 minutes. Just not clicking and always being caught out on the counter. When are we going to learn.
At least we got a point and now to end Liverpool’s unbeaten run.
Utterly fucking clueless performance. I was sat there after 30 minutes and 1 nil up thinking we look comfortable. All we need to do is not commit suicide up to half time. And then it happened. Again. Every game we do our very best to throw it away until one of our 2 strikers bail us out. Then, with all of our so called rivals spanking the opposition, we decide to crab across the pitch. Pass, pass, pass, lose the ball and the opposition nearly score. No urgency, no clue. What ever this process is Unai, get a move on.… Read more »
Once again, we come out of the blocks quickly but then decide the important thing is not to carry on with the same but spend our time trying to keep possession in the easiest way possible – going backwards (or sideways at best). Players make a few moves to go forward but then pick out someone behind them rather than pick a forward ball. That then enables opponents to press onto defenders who are not good enough to play it quickly and positively. We end up with the keeper who has to play short to the same defenders who lose… Read more »
Such as….Lichsteiner and Iwobi
It just looks so much worse when the teams around us consistenly destroy these shite teams and here we are going life and death with them failing to have a shot on target for 45mins.
Why do we always make these minnow teams look like world beaters??… Why? ?
Seems like the new coach smell is gone.
That was eye-gouging football right there. At least we have chelsea to keep us company
Lacazette taken off amn playing up front for the most part.. laca would have been a far better staying on.Very strange decisions.
Poor performance all round players and management.
Just hope the board invest in the squad in the summer and give Emery the players he needs. If not this team will struggle badly as things are.
So dull. No ideas or creativity. And then the subs made were completely ineffective. Iwobi was invisible. Best thing he did was block a clearance. Ramsey was the poorer version of himself and AMN looked like he wasn’t sure what to do in the opposition half. I’d rather see some kids come in like ESR and Saka than watch the same ones I’ve seen underperform repeatedly. At least they’d hopefully learn from it which could help us next season. We’re not top 4 material. We’re in the upper bracket of the also rans.
And it’s telling that when he blocked it, his backed was turned!! How can anyone on this forum still believe Iwannabe merits a place in the matchday squad, let alone at the expense of Laca or Ozil!!
I would rather see Ozil standing still for 70 mins and then turning the game with 15 secs of genius, than Iwobi flapping his arms, running around and pretending to defend
I think it is time for Emery to go. His subs absolutely killed team. These stupid power games between Emery and Ozil needs to end. No creativity without him. We badly missed Mkhataryan as well. And finally, Leno have been disaster, get rid asap. No depth in team whatsoever. Poor times ahead.
You are a retarded, shit performance yes,poor substitutions yes, but asking for the managers head after 20 odd games taking over from a 22 year managerial reign is just so fucking stupid, you should be barred from making comments and as for the 8 thumbs up you got, it just shows how unbelievable stupid some of our supporters are
The sad part about these moronic Emery out comments is that there are some people who agree with them. Toxic is too good a word
Oh my god we’re not top of the league yet, SACK THE MANAGER, SACK THE MANAGER
I am not saying Emry out, but I feel you’ve let a couple wins and winless streak blind you to the fact that we have realistically been playing terrible and probably punching above our weight. Our style of play hasn’t discernably changed, except we sometimes try harder and we play from the back. I was under the impression that Emry was a change from Wenger but it doesn’t seem like it.
Style will change over time. Time being 2-3 years, not half a year. The other problem being the personnel involved, again which will gradually change over time as Emery has had a few summer windows to get the players he wants. Why is everybody so dam impatient these days?
It might be easier for you to just assume this entire season is a write off, this is what I have done and it makes enjoying the football a whole lot easier.
I’ll start caring more towards the end of next campaign and where we are situated.
Zero urgency right from the start. I’d just further lower my expectations. Was really painful to watch!
Could do without Laca’s tantrums.
problem in our midfield is this kid, he can’t pass on time, he was very poor today, side, back passes, holding too much on the ball while other asking for the ball, play it simple kid, you are not Xavier neither pirlo
the players looked confused and clueless. What ever emery is coaching them, it’s failing.
He is very much responsible for the team not having any clear shape or philosophy.
Aside from the bad decisions, even the subs were enough to win this game if they were playing with a clear system that takes the team forward.
It is very concerning because Emery is our problem recently.
Taking Laca off is hardly going to inspire attacking options. Movement at the outset was excellent but disappeared when the crabs arrived – too easy to defend against.
Just look at our XG this year and you will see why we have been worse than last year , get Emery out and bring Leonard Jardim before it’s too late.
Matchday 19 2017/18 34 points 34-23 goaldifference.
Matchday 19 2018/19 38 points 41-25 goaldifference.
Are Arsenal capable of playing well for more than 1 game in a row? Never seen a team play up or down to their competition as consistently. Seven attempted shots in 90+ minutes is inexcusable.
Rubbish. Two awful right backs, when is Bellerin back?
Not sure he’s the answer either but at least we wouldn’t have to suffer Lichtsteiner’s histrionics whenever he gets tackled/touched.
Guys like El Neny are a waste of squad space if they can’t come in and contribute in a match like this. Loved Guendouzi’s passion today.
We need top players to come in for willock, nketiah and El Neny. We need an equally competent bench and reserve team.
I can never understand the designated subbing of Lacazette. It is as if HE has to be taken off. The guy stands as the only player aside Iwobi who can fashion a something independently in this team and he’s ALWAYS taken off. Why? I think I get his discontent. Aubameyang, I’ll say, does the easiest work of the attackers. Lacazette makes most of those goals happen, and still, his selflessness won’t be appreciated. It’s a sad place we are as a team. This team is so disjointed. Ozil again today proves pathetic. 350,000. He wasn’t great against Burnley. He was… Read more »
The one players besides Iwobi? Iwobi???? What team have you been watching for the past few seasons mate! Iwobi is a complete and utter waste of space and should not be in this squad. Look at his stats over the past 2 or 2 seasons – they are DISMAL.
I’m trying to stay positive but the truth is that things are really getting out of hand… we need a defender and a winger…….. If kroenke doesn’t spend big or mislintat can’t find absolute fantastic gems.. then we would experience more extreme pain…….our defenders aren’t just good enough for emery system including Mustafi and bellerin….i would advise Emery to quit Arsenal if he doesn’t get enough backing from Emery before he gets embarrassed by arsenal fans just like Wenger….that’s a big advise to Emery!!…he should take heed!!!!
Parts of that game made me reconsider the nature of pain itself.
Torreira and Guendouzi intercepted, tackled and fought, but they couldn’t quite find the forwards. 4-1-2-1-2 looks narrow on paper, and maybe it was. Xhaka ended up too far downfield, Özil was almost never involved. Arsenal should be good enough to beat this mediocre Brighton team, and for once I am tempted to put a tiny bit of blame on Emery. I believe almost any conventional line-up, 4-3-3, 4-4-2, would have led to victory tonight. Maybe there is sometimes too much tactics..
No urgency whatsoever ….I don’t understand the slow passing…all teams know even if we are one up they can Nick a goal…. so why the hell aren’t we trying for that second…….was fed up with the sideways passing …….
We need 2 pacy wingers and a good CB…urgent!!!
Spudz playing with such positive confidence just makes it all so much worse. Anyone disagreeing with the Merson/Sherwood North London team at the moment? Where’s the urgency we had that day?
Today’s game… I put on emery
1. Y not take linchestner off @ half time despite how terrible he played
2. Y not take guandozi off instead of lacazette when we need a goal at least
3. Using xhaka, torriera and guandozi all together seems to cancel each other out when teams are totally defending and waiting on the counter.
We were very very very poor today.
Too dumb for the top four. One nil up and we concede on a counter from a corner.
Pretty lacklustre performance all round. Pass pass pass sideways and backwards. Given time hopefully the new manager with some fresh faces will get us moving forward a bit more. Desperately need a Santi Cazorla player.
They may not have the unique control/trickery of Santi, but both Torreira and Xhaka have shown that they are more than capable of moving us up the pitch quickly like Cazorla used to. Additions are clearly needed in January, but let’s not ignore the responsibility Emery has to get the best out of what he currently has. Although key positions need addressing, I really don’t think this group is anywhere near as bad as some fans are suggesting.
Miss giroud for these types of games..And we still haven’t replaced walcott, Ox or even Sanchez pace outwide. Too many players doing the same thing. No variety in our attack .
Just put guendouzi on bench…
Why did we use him as our playmaker in this match when we had xhaka…?
Ozil in the shower and Maintland – Niles on the pitch…Joke. Emery should have bawled Mesut out at half time and demanded better in the seconnd half. I’m losing it with Emery…too knee jerk.
I would blame guendouzi instead of ozil. Guendouzi holds and passes the ball most of the time. But he either chooses to pass backwards or pass long balls to strikers. Ozil just cant get involved in the process so we cant expect him to make threats to the opponents.
Not fucken good enough.