Losing 3-1 to Man City can hardly be called a shock, but it’s always disappointing when you don’t feel you’ve given a good account of yourselves. A relatively promising first half was followed by a dismal second period, and a Sergio Aguero hat-trick (of course) coupled with some stupid defending condemned us to defeat.
Read the Man City 3-1 Arsenal match report and see the goals here
Here’s how the players rated tonight.
Ratings
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Guendouzi Looking better and better in each game I think
He was by far our best player & was actually the best player on the field but unfortunately the City midfield could just play around him.
Midway through the second half the commentator mentioned that his passing accurancy was 100% at that point. Away at City. He’s an outstanding talent.
Depend on the difficulty of the passes.
If you think that you haven’t played football in your life, but surely not against a pressing team like City. As soon as you receive the ball in central midfield, you have 3 people chasing you. The calmness he has to not be affected by it in any way is astonishing for a boy of that age.
One play in particular stood out. He received a back pass while surrounded by 4 City players and most of his teammates just looking on. Good thing he’s composed for his age.
Well said berlingoon.
You want to reserve that quality to your idol and do-no-wrong, right ?
He did come out of some tricky situations very well.
But I can’t understand why Emery did not play 3 in the mid. Should have completely negated their midfield which is by far the best in the league. Even a 0-0 would have been a great result considering our top 4 aspirations.
An incredible feat. I really wish he’d improve defensively as he is weak link when it comes to defending.
He’d learn that if he played with a decent back line, some experienced and qualified teammates who can guide him. just how like Fabri grew around the invincibles.
Why did Emery bring on Mavrapanos? We were already 3-1 down. Why not just take Mustafi off, go to a back 4, then bring on Ozil. We hadn’t created a thing all game. I thought it was such a bizarre substitution.
Ah, sorry all, I didnt realise at the time that we were playing a back 4. I was quite drunk down the tollington at the time..
Making of a very good player. Iwobi never will be.
That’s an overreaction. Iwobi is a decent, Europa league player. Unfortunately that’s not good enough when playing city, and if our ambitions are to move into that category I’m afraid he’s a squad player no more.
Iwobi is a technically skilled player with a very slow mind and he’ll never be able to improve. We can use him as a squad player, but he’s not good enough to be a starter in a top team in this league.
Agreed. I’ve though this for ages — he’s a bit thick.
It’s not an over reaction. Iwobi May be a good player. He will never be a very good player. We need a very good players if we hold any aspirations of being a very good team.
Iwobi is not a good player. He’s good at running at players and sometimes holding up play. But his final ball success isn’t even 50% and he has zero defensive stats at all. Players – ALL players unless you’re a Denis or Matt LT or Gazza, need to be able to do more than just run at defenders if they’re to be called ‘good’. Alex need to learn that football… like most great things in life, runs both ways!
City flat out are a better team and have a far better squad than we do. Torreira and Guendouzi are very promising and if we can get new defenders in you can see how the team will continue to improve.
The Ozil stuff has reached the point of stupidity. He’s not the cause of all issues nor will he fix all all problems either. He is a flawed footballer capable of moments of genius but he is not Messi either
But on a day like today, one wonders if we needed a moment of magic — a special pass to create something.
I get it – but that also ignores he wouldn’t have put in half the defensive work Lacazette or Iwobi did either.
Not sure about Iwobi’s defensive work. regulary late to cover up for fullback. Plus he offers very little in the attack too. Takes too many touches, often bad decision making. He’s been our best attacking option few times and that just tells you how ineffective others are. Makes sense if Ramsey and Ozil are on the bench.
Iwobi did nothing, he was like playing with ten men.
But he would have done just as well as Ramsey or Suarez. They deserve no 5. Did nothing. And I’m not convinced Iwobi did a hell of a lot defensively today.
BINGO
Even after putting all the defensive work we lost, why not land a few blows before receiving the knock out. We had no shots against 13 for City in second half, shows how good we were defensively. Our situation is like a young man inheriting a Rolls Royce and complaining it can’t be used in the fields for plowing. We don’t play Ozil because he doesn’t put a defensive shift. Let the opposition have the ball and attack us without offering anything return. Then have two of the best forwards feeding on zero service… Play Ozil the way Wenger did… Read more »
How do you get half of zero? Coz that’s about what Alex put in!! Actually minus since he also handed the the crucial first goal.
Just imagine he does what 999/1000 players woulda done in that situation and hoofs it clear… a few mins later we’re up 1-0 and it could, just possibly maybe perhaps, have been a very different game.
I’m not sure Ozil would have done that fine defensive work of Iwobi’s in the first minute.
I get the sentiment but Iwobi and Lacazette put in a tremendous amount of defensive work that Ozil realistically would not have given us. There’s a trade off
Iwobi and defense does not rhyme. He gets bypassed every single time he tries to defend, so what do you mean by tremendous amount of defensive work?
We still lost
For Pete’s sakes man – just look at Iwobi’s stats on any of the reputable sites… he has some of the worst in the entire PL!!! The lad CANNOT defend and on top of it, does not LIKE to defend and therefor hardly even tries to defend. He certainly has some talent – but it ain’t in the defence or workload departments!
Iwobi has 7 assists this season.
Agree defending isn’t his thing, but then don’t play him in a system which requires him to protect an old defender who also can’t defend.
sounds relatively familiar to the plight of another player rattling around here somewhere.
If you don’t get to change the players to match your system, there appear to be two options:
1. Adjust the system to make best use of your players’ qualities in as balanced a squad you can
2. Whatever it is we’re doing lately.
Who has he got 7 assists against?
Spot on.
cheers mate, good post.
If we leave Ozil out of this, I do not think Emery played his best starting 11 today.
If we do bring Ozil into this, our run with him in the team was better than our run with him out of it. This spat is harming our team.
All in all, I do not think I am convinced about Emery. Early days still, and he does need a proper transfer window before we can truly make any conclusions, but so far…I do not know.
Really can’t judge bc he’s primarily played against the lower teams and has been left out of games against bigger clubs
What you mean like Liverpool at home
& Chelsea/ Sp*rs wins etc. You really can’t talk about how much better the team looks with him b/c it simply should from the fact he’s primarily only played against the teams we should beat.
So how can you claim he’s a hindrance then? The gate swings both ways.
See above. He can spot a pass but is wildly inconsistent and a real libaliry defensively (that’s not his game nor why you have him).
See a bunch of all over the place random opinions above? Yeah, that doesn’t really get us anywhere.
Point is, if you can’t say the team looks better with him because of who he is and isn’t getting played against, you can’t objectively say he’s ‘inconsistent’ for exactly the same reason. He’s been extremely inconsistently played, and inconsistently positioned.
@mpls. A lot these posts just end up arguing it’s never ozil’s fault -his forwards don’t finish, or he’s being played out wide, or he’s being asked to track back etc. the fact is he really hasn’t consistently performed up to the level of his reputation as the best provider in Europe the past few years. He has games like leceister- but he also has a bunch of games like Cardiff where he contributes very little. He isn’t even in the top 15 in assists or goals in the pl the last 2 years (trails Ramsey over similar number of… Read more »
Context. Take a look at the people ahead of him in those categories over the timeframe. Then take a look at the teams they’re in. Take a look at the quality of the players around them, and those teams’ positions in their leagues and performance over the same period. We were in our worst seasons in over two decades. Kind of difficult to compete with the creative numbers of those other players and teams when we’re getting our ass handed to us by a mid table team half the season. It’s ridiculous to isolate one player’s performance and criticize them… Read more »
Mpls – he still trails Ramsey who has played with the exact same players and often with a lot more defensive duties than Ozil has. He’s had patches – right before he got the new contract last fall for instance, but really he has not consistently lived up to his billing the past several years – not just last year. If we were talking about a player who was consistently playing at a world class level and was simply not being selected I would have more sympathy for your arguments, but we’re not. We’re talking about a player who all… Read more »
No, he has not played with exactly the same players, the same teams, the same preparations to be up for the match. You yourself said you can’t compare them because he’s not getting played in the same kind of matches, but against teams we should be beating. And I will add to that But we’re not because the whole team puts on a shit show and doesn’t perform in those matches. Those are also matches where Emery has rotated parts of the squad more frequently, for example, Ozil playing. Ramsey has a little better defensive numbers. No surprise there. Anyone… Read more »
@MPLS
I really don’t get what your beef is here. I’m not blaming Ozil for this season – I’m simply saying he has not remotely lived up to his reputation the past few years and for whatever reason you keep making excuse after excuse for him
You’re evidently a die hard Ozil fan so let’s just leave it as it is b/c in your eyes Ozil can do wrong.
Oh enough with the ‘die hard Ozil fan’ garbage. That’s so predictable. You’ve read what I’ve written I assume since you keep on repeating the pundit points. ‘Ozil doesn’t work hard’. Check. ‘Ozil hasn’t lived up to expectations.’ Check. ‘Ozil should be putting on ‘world class’ performances’ despite fact it’s clowncars around him. Check. Excuses? No. It’s acknowledging the context of the situation at the club the last few seasons. Ozil’s contributions and ability to play his game have been poorer than his standard (aside from a shitload of key passes) last season and the one before. Yup. Now that’s… Read more »
@mpls
It would be one thing if you and I were having a conversation about Ozil and you were responding to comments I had directly made about him. But we’re not. You are on your Ozil soapbox at this point and have just decided to make whatever points you want & attribute all sorts of things to me that I haven’t actually said.
You’ve said he’s inconsistent – but ignore the team lack of quality and inconsistent performances across the pitch. “he has less defensive duties” and ‘defensive liability’ –> lazy, doesn’t work hard. You’ve said he hasn’t delivered world class performances he used to – but don’t acknowledge the whole team’s been pretty shit. Worst we’ve been in 25 years. And it’s a step down in quality from the teams he was in before. You’ve said ‘he hasn’t lived up to his reputation’ -see above. “he isn’t in the top 15 of goals or assists the last 2 seasons” – again, where’s… Read more »
I’ve never seen a defensive ‘libariry’ mate… but it sounds like the kinda place young Alex should go and do some hard studying.
Yes, but our two best performances and results came when he didn’t start as well. Not easy to get your head around, we played well with him in the 11 ( Leicester and Liverpool at home) and played very well without him (Spurs and Chelsea). It’s easy to assume that if he starts he creates chances, but he was on the pitch against Cardiff and we didn’t have a shot on target until the 68th minute, and that was a penalty. Difficult, and honestly exhausting, situation all round.
He may be not Messi but he won the WC against Messi.
Comparing international football to club really doesn’t make any sense just given how different the game is & division of talent. That German team was similar to the Spain team a few years earlier – they were just a much more complete team than any of the teams they were facing. Some of that comes down to youth development and some of that just flat out comes down to luck. But the game itself is so much different – does anyone actually think that Giroud is a better first choice striker than Benzema or Lacazette? Yet he fit the style… Read more »
Here’s the error in your statement- the discussion is not from what I see about ‘how we lost because Ozil wasn’t playing’. It’s ‘we’re losing and have no creativity So why not try putting Ozil on and get some creativity, we’re losing anyway in a depressing toothless manner and our defense still sucks, so it’s obviously not Ozil’s fault’. We put on Ramsey, who’s leaving, but he’s been putting it in, so fine. But more insultingly Suarez, who might and hopefully will turn out to be a great addition but who just got here and doesn’t know how any of… Read more »
@Mpls Ozil for likely the first time in his career has been told by a manager that he is no longer one of the best players/good enough to be in the first choice 11. The only real way to respond to that is to work hard, do whatever the manager asks of you and make sure that when you get an opportunity you grasp it with both hands. Since we can’t really see what’s going on behind the scenes (and it’s probably not great given the issues that now are apparent) we have to look at Ozil’s response on the… Read more »
‘clearly trusts Ramsey more…’ Yeah – that’s why he’s given him away.
@goonshow. We no longer run the Wenger model where the manager is in charge of all aspects of the club. Emery while having input is not solely or even primarily responsible for transfers / squad construction. Ramsey will be leaving yet is virtually always preferred by emery to Ozil. That tells you everything you need to know
If you said you wouldn’t seriously consider packing it in after what Emery’s done with him this season you’re either lying to the world, or to yourself. By all accounts, including Emery’s he HAS been working hard. To say he didn’t work as hard as anyone else v Cardiff is simply not true. Just watch it again and see. And barring Guendouzi and maybe Laca, provide me with one name from that Cardiff match that made themselves anywhere near undroppable. We were pretty shit across the pitch. This is exactly the flip side of your whole point in previous discussion… Read more »
@mpls I’m judging Ozil over his entire body of work – he has been a very inconsistent player for a very long time now – this is nothing new. Reputations should only count for so much in football and a lot of the arguments for Ozil at this point really are based on his reputation and not his recent contributions. Remember when Ozil joined Madrid he took over Kaka’s spot who was one of the premier reputations in the world at that point. If Emery’s judgement is that Ozil the player no longer matches his reputation on a consistent basis… Read more »
How in the world would Emery know what a ‘consistent basis’ is for Ozil?? Nobody does based on how Emery’s used / not used him. Are you going to base it on the last two years as you did above, (in which Ozil has put up between 2x and 4x the key passes numbers as Ramsey, the kind of stuff we brought Ozil in for originally) or are you shifting to ‘over his entire body of work’? Before Emery started playing rope-a-dope with Ozil, the last two seasons he was still putting up huge key passes numbers and was very… Read more »
Seriously dude what are you even talking about at this point. You’re literally no longer even responding to comments but simply on your Ozil soapbox. Nowhere did I say man city was ozils fault.
What are you on about with Man City? I wrote MIS-match.
As in Ozil not being whatever it is Emery is looking for, and a team lacking the midfield and defensive stability to make use of what Ozil brings. That mis-match.
So did Mustafi!
If Ozil had played today we would have won the world cup
Ozil can’t exactly be the problem nor the solution when he doesn’t even get to play. I say throw him out there for a run of games. Nothing to lose.
“nothing to lose” did he play against Spurs when we won 4-2? No. Against Chelsea when we won 2-0? No. So maybe the cohesiveness and resilience we saw from the team on those occasions are what we have to lose. And besides, he played against Cardiff the other day and barely affected proceedings, and that was as close to a home banker as you’ll get. He’s not the panacea, and in games like this he’s an outright risk because he can’t press.
I wholeheartedly agree with your point about Ozil. People scream that he should be playing these kind of games to provide his creative touch even though he HAS played these Away games before and has never, ever turned up. He wouldn’t have helped yesterday because we were collectively piss poor.
I thought Emery was going to implement a ball possession, high pressing mentality into the team. I wasn’t as upset with the loss as much as I was with the fact that we played like a small team. Didn’t try to retain the ball or press. Top level teams dont play the low block. Hard to watch your team trying not to lose instead of playing to win.
I believe even a “small team” would put up i fight, and course them a little bit of problems in the second half.
This was extremely disappointing ….
Like Newcastle did just a week ago!
Apparently, what we needed was these crop of excellent mid fielder’s to protect our defense more often, added with a strong team mentality / believe not a change in philosophy.
Can anyone, please, explain why Kolasinac was playing in the front three?
Because Emery has made it abundantly clear he wants wingers, but the Kroenke’s budget for January was £0
I think Suarez will come in, but will likely need minutes inEuropa first to get up to speed.
He created more than anyone else managed today. Did we get past the centre-circle after he was hauled off?
I haven’t checked the stats so you may well be right. How much better would it have been to have played, oh I don’t know, a forward in the front three?
We didn’t play a front 3 though, we played a flat 4-4-2 and Kolasinac played at LM
Have another watch. Confirmed by the average position graphic available on Stat Zone
Watching that made me feel for Emery. Think he’s going to have to churn over a lot of that squad to get us anywhere near champions league.
Iwobi was terrible today. This squad needs massive help and I’m not sure we will have the funds to even scratch the surface of what is needed.
City was nowhere near thier best and yet toyed with us for most of the 2nd half.
We are in serious trouble as a football club.just cant see any light in the tunnel. Shame as in Emery I think we could have someone who would do well given a decent squad.
I, for one, don’t feel for Emery at all. Scared, confused, and if all the stories about Ozil are true, even arrogant. The man makes his own bed. Let him lie in it. Let’s see him TRY to play some creative and positive football, then he might get some sympathy.
no story suggests he is arrogant. majority of his former players praise him.
his coaching abilities may be debatable in either direction, but i see much wrong with his management.
ozil could be useful, i don’t think necessarily today, but emery already plays him in home games, so …
***i don’t see much wrong …
3-1 and he plays his new loanee – who has trained how many times with the team, two? three? – ahead of Ozil. If that isn’t disrespect I don’t know what is.
You think he did it through disrespect? There’s no sign at all Özil feels remotely disrespected – Emery’s just made it clear Özil’s not part of his plans because Özil can’t press, he can’t function in a cohesive team-wise defensive unit like the one that all the top teams use. You think Guardiola would play him? No he wouldn’t. Guardiola was going to drop Agüero because Agüero, for all his goalscoring exploits, wasn’t helping the team, and Guardiola, like Emery and every progressive manager worth his salt, understands that the most important thing is for players to work for the… Read more »
You are correct about the respect thing. However, I also think Emery was wrong not to bring him on for Iwobi second half because he could have had an impact. It’s not disrespectful or personal and it does make sense for the reasons you outline nicely above but, it is now beginning to look stubborn at times.
Thing is if Emery’s signalling pretty hard that he doesn’t think Ozil has a future in this team, it makes sense he’d try to adapt for that and try something new. Particularly considering Ozil hasn’t exactly got a reputation for lighting it up against the big teams. I think people are frustrated that we lost and they want to vent their frustration somewhere, so they’re trying to make out that not putting Ozil on was a massive mistake so they can make Emery their scapegoat. And yes, of course it’s entirely possible Ozil would have made some sort of difference,… Read more »
Suarez had been with us for a matter of only days. He had no understandable footballing basis of reason to put him on ahead of Ozil. None.
Arsenal had an Instagram post this week about Ozil creating a chance every 26 minutes. We’re 2 goals down and we don’t use him. It just doesn’t make sense ?
There is so much about Unai Emery’s decisions that doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately many fans have been brainwashed into believing that questioning Emery’s decisions is betraying the club.
Yeah, because the biggest problem at Arsenal is that the fans don’t question Emery’s decisions enough. Or Wenger’s before. If only we had some critical fans who would slagg off players and manager and tell the to fuck off after every game, we would be a much better team.
Ha ha, wait what?
No, we just realize that you can’t ask for pressing and effort from your team when you put Ozil in it. Ozil has been bad all season, he’s playing in games he should be creating chances in. If we wanted to watch Ozil amble around the pitch for another 3 years we should have kept Arsene… Ozil will go if Emery stays and I won’t loose any sleep over it, I’ve seen how that story plays out.
I didn’t see much pressing today.
I get this argument of ozil isn’t the unrelenting work horse unai wants… … But I thought unai came to his interview with detailed video analysis on how each player played and that’s what swung his interview? Emery knew what we had when he took the job, he’s had 2 windows to get players he wants and we are still yet to see any sort of consistency. Injuries have screwed us defensively but what people are forgetting to look at is our attacking stats are worse than last year also. The single most impressive stat change is our running yards…… Read more »
What are you talking about. When we played Liverpool at home we pressed with Ozil in team. We were superb that day. Some people talk absolute bollox. Just regurgitate what pundits and other John Terry’s spout
Naah, I just think most fans had a sensible approach to this season. And some actually stick to those expectations.
I’ll rate Emery on how we do next season.
A few positives (Guendouzi, Torreira, Laca, Leno…) but we look at times so desperate to have the ball that i must admit I’m concerned about Emery hability to be consistent… but what do i know after all ! Just hoping for better days, this was awful ?
Think Leno needs to learn how to catch the ball. I have no idea why goalkeepers these days punch EVERYTHING that seems to come their way vice just catching it. Odd.
If he had tried to catch De Bruyne’s shot in the second half we would have lost 4-1.
Got beat (not thrashed) by the oil rich champions at their place… sack everyone! SMFH!
I’m an American so I try to stay out of these discussions; didn’t grow up with football though I’m a massive sorts fan.
Leno is terrible. He can’t catch, barely manages where the rebounds go, can’t effectively clear a cross, and isn’t particularly great passing the ball either. Goaltender plays seems the hardest to evaluate but he’s awful.
Bollox. Knew this was a likely result, but combined with dropping to sixth it’s still hard to take. Emery needs more time and a good summer transfer window.
Sky commentary called City’s third “slightly” contentious…. It was handball and should 100% have been ruled out. The game went how I envisaged it, City are much better than we are. I’d love to see Mustafi’s passing stats? He had a truly horrendous game, Lichtsteiner is what you get when your budget for your backup right back is £0. Thought Guendouzi was excellent, Lacazette did well in the first half, and Torreira was his usual industrious self and never gave up. This result/performance is just an accurate measure of where we’re currently at. I wonder if the Kroenke’s watched? Because… Read more »
Pretty sure Stan’s mind is elsewhere today…
My thoughts exactly on Mustafi. He just launched it upfield whenever he got the ball and lost possession. Terrible.
What can I say… at least Wenger had balls. Granted, it got us into trouble at times, especially on awaydays. Emery might have “tactics”, but whatever his tactics are, all I see is caution mixed with a whole lot of confusion. Also, I don’t know what the deal is with Mesut. I’m no insider. But Emery’s treatment reeks disrespect.
having balls against much better opposition resulted in some memorable games.
8-2 , 6-0 , 5-0, 6-3, 4-0, 3-0 & 3-0, 5-1, 5-1, 5-1
please note how the 5-1s were the last 3 games played against a certain bayern munich .
I’d take 3-1 with this performance over any ballsy 5 goals embarrassment.
Fair point, and one I made in my post already if you read carefully. I’d still take that over playing against Cardiff at home the way we did. That’s just me, though. Underwhelming, cautious, flat, confused, aimless, horrible football.
You mean like the 1-5 against Pool a few weeks ago?
It’s ironic that you criticise his cautious approach but fail to remember all the ballsy games we’ve lost up there under Arsene. The one game we did win up there, we won because we setup and played really cautiously…
I do remember, and I did say that ballsy attitude got us in trouble. Look, at the end of the day, if you’re enjoying watching Arsenal play this season, good for you. I’ve been frustrated by Arsenal in the past, many times, but hardly so underwhelmed.
Doesn’t get any more predictable than Lichsteiner’s performance. Not good enough, City’s goals all coming through the vacuum left by Bellerin. Don’t see how Jenkinson could have been worse
With the kind of game Iwobi played on that side of the pitch, poor Jenko would have suffered, too. At fast for the first goal (what was he thinking?), and look closely at the second: Iwobi septs forward and lets Silva drift in… now Lichtsteiner has to choose to either track his man or run to Silva for a possible cutback. He makes the wrong choice, of course…
*at fault for the first goal
I really thought he’d start Jenks today. He couldn’t have been worse. Everyone knew they were going to target the right back.
Everyone knows EVERYONE is going to target our right-back if they can . . . until well into next season unless we do some summer business in that position or promote from within.
Or, as Man U did in the cup, they will target Kolasinac; but mostly for now you are right, it will be either Lichsteiner or Corporal Jenks at right-back.
Exactly – so he switches our laziest defensive player on to the right to ‘assist’ him.
yes – but Unai switched Alex to play in front of him to shield him!
In my opinion after two years with the exception of guendouzi and torreira everyone else in the team should be gone
Leno ???
Ha-ha !
Lacazette and Auba??
“comic book defending”. Not sure what that means, but it’s not good. Marking Aguero is certainly not easy, but it would help to have some idea of where he is.
As Blogs said the other day, Lich really is a nothing player. Offers nothing going forward, nothing defensively. Obviously I’m sure it was not intended for him to play this much but he really is just awful.
Lich does nothing? Lich spends the game berating fellow players for not doing his job for him, berating ref for spotting his clumsy challenges, falling down as if axed, running away from attackers and not running back when he’s lost the ball.
He does those things so well though.
Lichtsteiner, Iwobi, and Mustafi should not ever be starting for Arsenal in the Premier League
Next year the young players should be given a real run in the team. Especially Nelson/Smith Rowe
Would not this season be ideal for that? Really they couldnt do much worse than some of the deadwood past their prime players that are playing constantly :/
Kolasinac is a liability. Not a single brain cell ever thinks about defending. Look at the BBC and the average positions….he’s our furthest player forward!
Pretty sure that’s where he was asked to play, like left mid or something to that effect.
He was playing left wing in a 442. Sometimes I wonder if the commenters on here have ever watched or played football before.
I really don’t know why most people here are upset with Iwobi, agreed he didn’t start off well but Kolasinac’s lack of defensive awareness is shocking for a player we signed as a fullback/wingback. I can’t stand him as a player, he’s not better than Andre Santos but has been shielded from criticism because of a few assists. He’s a complete defensive liability, if that were Ozil jogging back to help in defence he would be torn to shreds on here!
Because Iwobi is a move-killing waste of space, while Saed has clear strengths.
No rating for Emery? I’ll give him 2,5. We should have offload Steve Bould, our defence as bad as the previous regime. Hold on, he was there too…
Emery needed some continuity with the former staff, but I think Bould will be gone next year. Arsenal legend. But time to move on.
I’m not sure if anyone could coach what we had today into a decent defence. The players at the back just aren’t good enough. When you add in the injuries and constant forced rotation as well.
Ratings seem about right. Leno, Kos, Torriera, Guen had fairly good games. Auba and Lacazette had not much to do. No real sense in playing both of them with no service.
Jenks was decent in the last game. He’s certainly not lit things up, but starting Lich in this match made zero sense. And sadly, as good as Monreal has been in the past, he’s starting so show his age some.
As much as we lack quality, right now we lack the confidence and the mentality to take on any top team away from home. When you are being pushed and pressed by a man city, you need to be calmn. you need to start the match right, slack off and kill the rhythm, make fouls and delay their attacks. Once you sail through the intense first minutes, you gain confidence, you look up and create danger up front. But one you give man city a goal after some 40 seconds, what you do is destroy any confidence you had. the… Read more »
You, guys, should check UE career so far and ask yourself why he was kicked out from PSG after two seasons despite having all the money in the world to recruit whomever he wanted. Ben Arfa, who is surely not of Özil’s caliber but a decent player, spent one whole year out of the squad. Why? Because UE didn’t want him despite ben Arfa being wanted by… the Qatar owners. UE just showing he does what his lil ego wants. UE is just getting his revenge on Özil and he is surely glad to f*** the “star” and to show… Read more »
Wow… and there was I thinking they only player one Europa League each year?
I think Emery looked at the way Newcastle and Palace played against City and thought that if we could emulate that dogged, direct approach then we could get something out of the game today. But we don’t really have the players for that at the back or out wide, and it also relies on a fair bit of luck, and City having an off day/ being complacent. But they were ruthless today and carved us open, while we struggled to win the second balls and fill the gaps in midfield that you need to against a team of that quality.
So now we are going to play like Newcastle and Palace and that’s OK? Emery is exactly that, a mid-table, negative football manager, and all this talk about attacking beautiful football is a lie. He’s so scared of top teams that he sets up like a small team, and there’s no creativity at all, which is why he hates our most creative player.
I wonder how we have let Nelson and Rowe to go out on loan and leave Iwobi play at Arsenal. Don’t even let me get started with the Litch piece of shit?. We have a damn average team especially the defense is below average, and Emery is turning out to be a Mourinho ffs, why have Ozil on the bench if he can’t play. This Ozil-Emery bul is getting out of hand
Are you fucking high?
Jeez. I wish we were a could club that could compete with the elite in Europe like Bayern Munich. If only we had someone in the Club who could help us achieve that.
Remember when losing by 2 or more goals was something out of the norm for us? Pepperidge farm remembers…
We were being totally outplayed. Our forwards were getting no service at all….so what does Unai do, bring on Suarez who looked like a player not quite ready. Surely the situation was crying out for a player who can create chances who was also on the bench…..Ozil.
This situation has got to be sorted and quick. I feel sorry for Emery because he has been landed with the squad and defensive injuries have made life very difficult BUT some decisions are just plain wrong.
For me, on that performance Suarez came on and looked like a light-weight Ozil. His ability to keep his kit clean was impressive though.
iwobi is just unexcusable. i thought about comparing him to gervinho but at least he used to score every now and then. we haven’t had a proper right winger in years
Also, Gervinho’s actually been good everywhere in his career except Arsenal – perhaps he joined at a terrible time (the summer of Cesc and Nasri). Scored twice against Juventus just yesterday, the first a lovely near-post backheel worthy of Giroud.
YYYYYY Lichtsteiner… a liability in the team :'(
Not in a good humour Arseblog? At least be fair to those who played well. Monreal showed his age? He was really good throughout. Kos deserves higher, as even Mustafi does………as for Guendouzi, he would get into any team on that performance. Fabulous. Torreira better as well than marked. Laca ditto. While the manager has players working hard, he’s shooting himself in the foot with Lichtsteiner……….he actually runs (trots) with an impediment in his right thigh……watch him for Gods sake. The honeymoon period is gonna end for Emery, with high performing players getting pissed off with every cock up down… Read more »
Just an idea, long term thinking etc, but if Unai does not work out what does everyone think of Rafa!?
wot no bonus rating 🙁
And Utd go fifth……..disgraceful picking Lichtsteiner…….everything ( most everything ) came through his side.
Yeah – dunno what’ worse, losing to Citeh or Manure going into… erm, no… definitely Manure
There were some moments when i really felt Arsenal could get a result there even though poor ( or necessary ) right back choice was evident. But there’s another matter …why oh why i dislike Pep and his cardigan and his players so much ?! 🙂
There is nothing to dislike about Pep Guardiola. The Man instils passion and believe in his team, also plays some of the best football.
regarding his cardigan, not his fault Dsquared2 is their clothing sponsor. 😉
Whatever happend in halftime…VERY worring….you can’t surrender 100% possesion and stay in 1/3 of the pitch and somehow hope to compete!!! Absolutely hopeless!!! would like to see the heatmap of Abua and Laca…not good enough Emery!!!!
Didn’t you know Özil would’ve assisted 3 and scored 2 himself to later take off his mask and say, “it is I, Santi Cazorla” ?
Even considering how poor a performance that was today is it still fair to say that Xhaka was not missed in the slightest?
Ya, shit game but does anyone else find themselves thinking about Frimpong frequently??
Unai still giving away first halves. Coach ought to be rated. Also, Dennis jogging back was hardly any change from iwobi, just less nonsense on the ball but we hardly had it anyway.
Unai wanted us to play like Betis against Barcelona and he delivered.
Why is Emery so persistent with the wing back system. You ain’t got the players for it and he is still trying that ? Great managers uses what they have in there hands and what he has is the 4-3-1-2
Leno
Cech
Bell-Sok-Kos-Mon
Niles-Mus-Hol-Koli
Suarez-Torr-Xhaka
Ram-Guen-Elneny
Ozil
Mki
Auba-Laca
Iwo-Mki
It’s that simple for crying out loud.
Thats a 4-4-2 diamond which he actually played against Cardiff, worked quite well, doesn’t it?
It didn’t worked against Cardiff or against Manchester United though. It worked only against Chelsea which is one of the easiest team to play with this season (if you have enough quality of course).
That’s the thing. You can either play with the same system every week, play your game and hope that you will be so good with that system that you can beat anyone with it. That’s what Arsene did and as far as I know most of the people didn’t like it that much. The other variant is trying to surprise your opponent and be unpredictable and find a suiting formation for each game. Pretty much what everybody was crying out for over the last years. If you go with variant 2, it’s normal that from time to time you get… Read more »
I think we started with 3 at the back and then somewhere through the first half we changed the formation to 4-4-2.
Nope, played 4-4-2 from the start. Maybe we tried to play a back 3 the first 46 but from that point on we definitely played a back 4 and Iwobi and Kolasinac were playing right/left midfield.
Top managers maximise their players strengths and try to negate their weaknesses. Emery isn’t a top manager, he’s too busy proving that he’s the boss, messing about with formations all the time and trying to break Mesut. I was pleased that Arsene left, I still think he needed to go. I was enthusiastic about Unai Emery, but I’m starting to dislike him intensely, tinkering all the time, making stupid and cowardly team selections and game plans, and humiliating my favourite player. I don’t want to watch us morph into Southampton or a boring mid table side with no identity. All… Read more »
Totally agree with you Vonie… and by the way berlingon we got the 3 points #Cardiff. What did we get today fuck all…
Yeah, because we surely would have got 3 points against City with that Cardiff performance. Would have played them off the park.
Emery 0/10
Should have just started jenkinson…
Watching lichtshteiner play is worse than watching squillaci at right back, i think he was a major reason for the result. Oh and iwobi is a very lousy playmaker but i guess we don’t have anyone better?♂️?♂️
Iwobi played right midfielder today, not playmaker. We played a flat 4-4-2 with him and Kola on the wings.
Really? Strange how he planted himself firmly in the centre of the park then. Even when we were conceded.
Sorry but Monreal was great Kos was good and a 3 for Iwobi is mad! We did alright against an oil country imo.
People need to ask themselves. Is Emery really the right man for the job? I don’t think so. His past records are not in favour of him. He won’t build you a team that will compete, his man management is questionable and his football is dull. Is he worth the investement? Why the first season should be a free pass? Why are standards suddenly so low. At the start of the last season the goal was so much more than just top 4 and with a worse team. Last season was an anomaly and we should not use it as… Read more »
This is so true. All this talk of four or five transfer windows is nonsense, we need to be in the Champions League next season and I don’t see that Emery is able to deliver that. I could understand if we could see a clear strategy and some positive improvement but I don’t. I think he’s a mid-table manager who’s out of his depth.
sounds like moaning more than anything.
Emery need to make the 6th best squad finish 4th, or he’s not a top manager. ridiculous.
Emery’s getting a free pass because Wenger had the previous 10 in lieu past performance, and it’ll take whomever has the job years to overhaul the squad.
Why on earth is Kolasinac (a fairly one dimensional player) the creative focal point of our team? Is it just because he can play wide? And I’m not just referring to today.
What baffles me is the club hires a head coach who clearly believes in a certain way to play football and systems where the attacking creativity comes almost exclusively form wide areas, yet the club doesn’t invest in wide creative players to play in such systems.
These ratings for Leno are a joke, dude belongs in League one with his inability to deal with crosses.
Somebody is gonna have to show me how his ball playing skills are better than cech.
He cannot be handed the job next year, competition must be brought in.
I don’t understand the need to play Iwobi. Seriously he is defensively bad and see how our midfielders and Lichtsteiner defended, apart from Torreira. Everyone dropped so deep that Citeh just passed around us, and with no attacking midfielder for Torreira to pass to, we were definitely outclassed.
Ozil is the only Attacking Midfielder that can create for Auba and Laca to do their thing in the box.
Difficult today because we were up against simply a very good team. 1) Leno – stayed tall and kept us in it with several good saves including one destined for top corner. They scored mainly from tap ins today. Maybe could have done better for their third but he was always going to have his hands full today (or empty). 2) Lichsteiner – Can’t really fault him bc he is 35yrs and trying. Whether we could have done better by retaining Chambers is another issue. On another day, maybe we would have covered that right side of ours better with… Read more »
Dont like Auba and Lacazette together…we lose too much in the.midfield and have no play makers. Id start Lacazette.and bring in Auba as a sub. I see lacazette as similar to Aguero.
We need Wingers and degenders
I agree, but we don’t have wingers right now so not much choice.
2 strikers system is redundant, and City just demonstrated how have quality midfielders and wingers with only 1 striker can be devastating.
I still think overall Emery has done well. New manager with a mediocre squad and just outside the top 4….
I think the issue is the players now opt to play safe passes only. Its as if we scared to be adventurous and I dont blame them because the manager seems to punish players that make mistakes, remove them at half time etc.
We’ll know we’ve made real progress when there’s not an even a spot for Iwobi on the bench.
Only thing worse than some of our performances, was having to listen to that rat-faced fraud rub it in.
Another big Away game and Aubameyang hides yet again – it’s so frustrating to see. I get the whole ‘he needs the service’ argument but it’s not that he didn’t score, it’s that his performance was so poor and he didn’t even get close to giving 100%. Not fully sprinting after a loose ball, making sure he’s not the first to it and aimlessly dribbling into a crowd of players and giving up the ball so easily are just a few examples of his looking busy without any actual application. The difference in the grit & determination shown between Auba… Read more »