Result: Leicester 3-0 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 28th April 2019
Venue: King Power Stadium
Starting XI: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Torreira, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Aubameyang, Lacazette
Subs: Cech, Koscielny, Mavropanos, Elneny, Guendouzi, Willock, Nketiah
Arsenal’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League took yet another blow as Youri Tieleman and a brace from Jamie Vardy helped Leicester to a 3-0 win at the King Power.
After defeats against Crystal Palace and Wolves the Gunners looked low on confidence from the off and their task was made even harder when Ainsley Maitland-Niles was sent off for two bookable offences before half time.
After the break, Tieleman’s broke the deadlock on 59 minutes with a header and as Unai Emery’s men chased the game, Vardy finished things off in the final 10 minutes.
First half
After the humbling defeat at Wolves and with games every few days, Unai Emery continued to rotate his squad. Laurent Koscielny dropped to the bench, and Nacho Monreal missed out on the squad with a tight calf. In their place Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac took up places next to Sokratis and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in a four-man backline. Mesut Ozil was ruled out with a bruised foot and Aaron Ramsey’s hamstring problem kept him in London meaning Xhaka and Torreira anchored midfield with Mkhitaryan and Iwobi asked to create the chances for Lacazette and Aubameyang, the latter returning from a sinus problem. Eddie Nketiah was our only real firepower in reserve.
In complete contrast to Wednesday evening’s opening stages where we dominated Wolves, Leicester had 78% of the ball in the 10 minutes at the King Power and looked eager to take the game to us.
Two early set pieces had us scrambling in defence but thankfully, for all our disorganisation, Leno wasn’t unduly stretched. The home side kept pushing. A Vardy effort from outside the box was deflected wide, Tielemans made a mess of a sighter and Maddison hit a daisy-cutter just past the near post.
Maitland-Niles and Ndidi both went in the book but Choudhury escaped without punishment despite putting his studs into Torreira’s chest. We were very much on the back foot. To emphasise how much, after 20 minutes we’d only completed 20 passes
Our efforts to keep the ball in the final third were woeful. Unsurprisingly, Lacazette and Aubameyang never looked likely to win high balls against Evans and Maguire but that didn’t stop us hoofing the ball in their direction anyway.
We created just two openings in the half. First Lacazette hit wide after decent work by Iwobi and then the latter hit a typically timid shot straight at Schmeichel having been put through on goal by Aubameyang. Someone should put a YouTube montage together of every time he’s done that.
Either side of those efforts, our players mostly just chased Vardy and Maddison. The movement of the Leicester attackers had us running around like headless chickens and time and again they found room to create chances for themselves. Leno denied Maddison on 27 minutes and then produced terrific save to keep out Ndidi whose header was sailing into the top corner. Sokratis was nowhere near the Nigerian.
Vardy nearly lobbed the German but saw his shot go just over. After that, things got even harder for us. Having been harshly carded by referee Michael Oliver earlier in the game, Maitland-Niles picked up a second and his marching orders on 36 minutes. A bad touch saw him lose the ball on the halfway line and with Maddison set to escape he took out the winger.
Mkhitaryan filled in at right-back and we simply sat deep trying to soak up the pressure. Before the break, both Vardy and Maddison had further efforts.
Second half
Laurent Koscielny replaced Alex Iwobi at the break with Shkodran Mustafi moving to right-back. In response Ndidi was replaced by Harvey Barnes. Immediately he used his pace to create chances down the left.
It always felt like a goal was coming for the home side, mostly because we just couldn’t keep the ball for more than a pass or two. After another long clearance from the defence aimed at nobody in particular, Lacazette turned and lost his shit, waving his arms and pleading for better service. You couldn’t blame him.
A few moments later, Leicester found the breakthrough with cutting simplicity. Maddison, under no pressure at all, whipped a cross to the near post for Tieleman’s to head home. (1-0)
Emery’s frustrations on the touchline earned him a talking to from the referee. Afterwards, the Spaniard sat on the bench looking like a man defeated. Welcome to the club, mate. He was up soon enough calling for a penalty when Torreira took an arm across the face with 19 minutes remaining. It was never going to be given.
Leicester pushed for another. Tieleman’s curled effort went just wide and in one passage of play, Leno had to makes saves from Ricardo, Barnes and Choudhury. Guendouzi and Nketiah came on for Mkhitaryan and Lacazette.
We did half-heartedly push for an equaliser in the closing stages, but in so doing left ourselves open at the back. Jamie Vardy killed things off with three minutes remaining, in almost comical fashion.
Schmeichel hit a ball straight over our defence and the striker beat Sokratis and Koscielny to flick the ball over Leno. His first effort came off the bar but he headed home the rebound. (2-0)
With the final kick of the game, Vardy grabbed himself another goal, tapping home from close range as our ragged players gave up. (3-0)
There may well be further twists and turns to come this season, but it’s hard not to look at what’s happened over the last seven days and think this will very likely prove costly. Time and again we’ve had a chance to put pressure on our rivals for the top four and on each occasion, we’ve fluffed our lines.
At 0-0 we didn’t look like scoring, when it went down to 10 men we didn’t look like we’d keep a clean sheet, and when it went to 1-0 i realised that was the last hope of top four gone. Most depressing game for a long time.
Yeah that’s essentially top 4 gone. 9 goals conceded in 3 games and a million miles way from the top 2 sides. Mental.
Well not yet. If we are lucky that man utd win Chelsea today, we would be at the 4th place. But honestly, even we are lucky to be in top4, do we really find the performances convincing at all?
….If Chelsea lose today we’ll be 6th mate.
Mate are you looking at the table upside down or what? How are we gonna be 4th if United win today?
5 losses in the PL in a row (or would have been if Deeney wasn’t sent off).
A comfortable Arsenal win (4-0) and we’ve won the league with a match to spare!
COYR!!!
[womens’ league].
I’m so sick of this team. Absolutely atrocious for the 5th Premier League game in a row. Next time just play a team full of youngsters. Top 4 is gone, so what it the point? Don’t care if we lose 5 nil, it’ll still be better than watching this shite.
This team is broken. Mid table mediocrity beckons. We won’t have the funds to do a proper rebuilding job.
About 6 of those guys on the field today – Mhki, Kola, Iwobi, Niles, Mustafi, Sokratis – should not be starters in a team with our ambitions.
It will be worse before it gets better.
Meanwhile I don’t see this team overcoming Sevilla over two legs.
Lucky we are playing Valencia!
You think we have chances against Valencia. I love your optimism.
Good thing we play valencia then.
We’ve been bad recently, but the guys fought hard today and were doing fine (we were getting used to playing in a new formation, again, but there were signs we could pip this one) in a tough away fixture until the referee decided to take control of the match. Absolutely pathetic, and every Arsenal fan should be directing their frustration and anger not at our players or manager, not for this one, but at the officiating that is so wildly inconsistent that it seems each crew has a different rulebook. The notion that good calls and bad calls balance themselves… Read more »
The officiating didn’t help (but it’s mostly like that when our results might work against Man shit interest), but our boy’s display today was mediocre (for lack of a more respectable word). No, actually, it was absolute shit! (especially in the first half). We can appeal the red card (if there’s hope of a reversal), but shot ourselves on the leg without much prompting from our through our lackadaisical mindset approach to the game. I for saw the defeat long before the red card. Most of them seems either so scared, not caring attitude or just moving through the motion.… Read more »
Can’t appeal a yellow, only a straight red.
Futsboller you must have been watching a different game. The ref was a bit poor, but in the 35 minutes that we had 11 on the field we were terrible. No possession, no quality and no idea.
The season rests on Thursday night, a poor result at home and it’s all over.
I wish I was watching a different game; it kills me that most football fans accept such horrendous officiating as part of the game. We weren’t great as we were getting used to another new formation in the first half, but we were beginning to go forward (and we actually are good in games when we concede possession), until the red card. The ref was conned, and we had very little chance after that. It’s pathetic officiating, and a shame nobody seems bothered by it (aside from Emery and the players) in the least. That’s too bad, but perfect justification… Read more »
Agree. Very likely we would have lost even without the red. Horrid
Our performance was an utter s**t
Managers have been sacked for a lot less. If he wins the Europa he gets a summer to sort it out (and by sort it out I mean tangible improvement of performances). If he doesn’t we should get another manager this summer.
I’m sure pep and klopp would jump at the chance to join this ruderless shit show of a club!
£40 million transfer kitty, Mkhytarian starts games and Ramsey is leaving on a free, sounds like an amazing gig!
Yes its a complete shitshow. Overpaid players in the comfort zone who dont give a fuck and an owner that dont give a fuck and wont invest and just wants to milk the emirates cashcow .
Liverpool were a rudderless shit show before Klopp joined..
Most stupid comment I have read here.
What will another manger do with that squad and a reported £50 million budget in the summer.
Very disappointing three losses but Unai has done well with the dross Arsene left.
Uba he has done well at home, but away from home the performances and results have been nothing short of dreadful.
Yes, but we are still 2 points off 4th and in the semifinals of Europa.
Consider this: Leicester, Westham and Everton have squads as good if not better than ours.
How many clubs will cope with three season ending injuries for starters as Bellerin, Holding and Welbeck.
For a first season,Unai has done well.
Direct your anger at Kroenke, not emery
We’ve been having plenty of those “most depressing game of all time” and “worst performance of all time” lately.
The players don’t care and the coach’s decision making is baffling. It’s like they don’t want to play in the Champions League, maybe Tuesday is movie night at the training ground.
Exactly my thoughts as well. Utterly disgusting display, as if there’s really nothing at stake.
I agree we were shit today and probably don’t deserve to finish in the top 4, based on our recent shitty performances but that doesn’t stop Me from saying, 1. Fuck off Michael Oliver, the new Mike fucking Dean. 2. Fuck off Stan Kroenke for not giving a fuck about the slow, sad decline of our once great club. Still hoping Emery can pull it off in the Europa league though. I know it’s dark and gloomy days for us, like it has been for any Gooner in the last few years. But I’m still keeping the faith that Emery… Read more »
Odd thing is, I used to think Oliver was OK until the last few he’s refereed against us.
Not so much now.
Copy and paste the last few games. We’re shit
Nah nah nah naaaaaaah we’re shiiiiiiiiiiiiit
Manaic, you are short of a few “nahhh’s” but factually correct nonetheless. 🙂
Are we sp*rs in disguise? That could, and should, have been 6-0.
The last few games it’s like weve swapped shirts with the opposition. I mean we should batter Leicester.
The really sad thing is that these teams have nothing left to play for. And they still want it more than us.
Emery OUT! Vieira In
Look to Manchester to see how ideas like that pan out….. the much lauded Solskjaer now looking out of his depth.
Exactly my anger in all these games. Our players mostly look timid or simply seems not to give a damn if we loss the game or not. When you think of the over inflated amount of money Wenger signed for them, their impassionate and non committal displays and the meagre amount most of their last few opposition players are being paid, then you feel sorry for the fans and the coach. We deserve more than this from these players (with exemption of few of them who actually tried).
That might be to their advantage. No nerves, no pressure, just go for the win.
Since the much maligned Rodgers joined Leicster only Liverpool and City have taken more points. What is scaring me now is that teams like Everton, Wolves, and Leicster have ambitious owners, decent managers, and look to be finding consistency in the second half of this season. Next season we might be falling behind the likes of these teams.
We should have done better, yes, but Wolves and Leicester have/had everything to play for re.: European qualifying.
As if we were facing barcelona. What a joke…
Agreed. The biggest question as far as Emery concerns: will he be able to overcome these complete meltdowns (see not only the Barca-PSG game but his record against Real and Barca in La Liga too which was also quite terrible).
At this moment: we are the new Tottenham
Yet another shit show. Not sure we have improved under Emery at all. Fucking useless.
We don’t have the best players at the moment. Our wingers don’t contribute (Iwobi should have scored) goals or assists, and our defence is shite. Emery is a good manager who needs time. It’s a player issue rather than a manager issue.
Silver lining : Maitland-Niles will be fresh for Valencia.
Valencia also lost today.
I still think if we really put our mind to it, we can be shitter than them though…
One can only hope.
Shame on all of you who continue to accept this
Shame on all of you who think Emery should be given a few years when his career does not deserve that
Shame on all of you who think he needs his “own players” (do any of you thickos even know what an Emery player is? I doubt it)
Shame on all of you who defend shameful footballers like Iwobi week in week out
Clear them all out, rip it up, and start again. Boycott the club otherwise.
Emery hasn’t achieved even ONE of the things he set out to at the start of the season in his press conference.
Complete failure to sort out these players’ attitude- we have the EXACT same bottling and carefree mentality as we did under Wenger
Does Emery fill you with any confidence? If he does, I’ll be amazed.
Apologies for the word “thicko” very vexed rn
Shame on your inane, moronic; babble.
Moron makes moronic comment.
No passion. No drive. No responsibility taken.
Any other team in our position would be able to raise their game when required. Not us.
We crumble.
Was all in our hands but the last 7 days has shown us for what we really are.
So we haven’t had a shot on goal for a couple months now.
Unless you call Iwobi’s recent efforts “shots” of course…:-(
Since Ramsey got injured coincidentally……
Shows how much footballing reasons are behind the transfer dealings of this club!
Letting Ramsey go for free, while giving a wage increase to Mkhi to join us.
Micky doesn’t care about this club at all. He’s only interested in making as much money as he can from Arsenal. Zero passion and zero committal displays.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Schmeichel had a cup of tea and a copy of his favourite novel by the goalposts.
Even if Leicester played Peter Schmeichel instead of Casper, it wouldn’t have made any difference.
Really poor. Efficiency isn’t there with the ball, last 10 minutes and we’re trailing with 10 men but you don’t see the front men really trying to get at the ball.
About the only thing I remember was Mustafi literarily busting his gut down the line to win a corner…and that’s Mustafi.
No one up top seems to show for the ball or chase the ball down for the back.
And when they are on it, they waste the ball all too carelessly.
I’m not going to single out Mustafi, you brought him up but what was he doing charging up the middle of the field when he was supposed to be right back. Leicester just attacked into that space.
He, along with all our defenders, have no positional sense or idea of when to press and when to drop. Xhaka and Torreira not providing the cover that is expected.
Catch the last 1o minutes of Arsenal Ladies match on their way to winning the title! It may cheer you up.
They are cruising 4 nil up away from home by the way! 🙂
Can we play the ladies team against the Brighton men’s team next week? ?
How is it possible the Arsenal ladies have more balls than the Arsenal men…..
Exactly. 4-0 up with 2 minutes left and they are frantically chasing a 5th!! ??
The balls are not located at the same place, easy to see. Just for laugh at tough time.
Not an overstatement. You’re right.
Thanks for that. Made me smile in this depressing of times.
Great performance guys. Really outdid yourselves this time.
We don’t deserve to be in the top 4.
That’s true. And scary thing is Chelsea and United can spend huge in the summer.
Chelsea can’t if they transfer ban. Just bring back 90 loanees.
Wouldn’t matter after all with our kind of display, will it..?
Chelsea have a transfer ban this summer and will more than likely lose Hazard who has 1 year left
Yeah but they already bought Pulisic who is better than anything our useless backroom staff will buy. Maybe we can buy another 3 Denis Suarez types.
Pulisic is a lightweight atatcker who doesnt score or assist enough and falls over far too often. He’ll flop, just alike most of the other attacking players Chelsea buy.
Chelsea have a transfer ban afaik
Brown envelope will ensure the transfer ban is overturned or delayed….
Rumor has it Wenger had the opportunity to sign Brown Envelope before Chelsea but he turned it down.
Every opportunity Spurts give us to close the gap we spurn it.
We’re even bigger bottlers.
Any other manager would get the sack. Just saying.
And now our goal difference matches Chelsea…. If we finish 6th, pre season will have to start earlier because we’ll need to play Europa League qualification matches. The fans who wanted Wenger gone? Got what you deserved. A new manager that drove 2 of our best 4 players Ramsey and Ozil out of the club and we’re going backwards. Get rid of Emery and get in Rafael Benítez.
Benitez, you’re having a laugh, surely?
Ozil is not our best player. Thought that was clear.
Also We’re better than last season for all I care. Wenger was ousted rightly. This mediocre squad is his.
Yes we’re better than last season thanks to squad improvement which would have happened anyway if Wenger stayed. Difference is, Wenger wouldn’t have messed around with Ozil and Ramsey for months on end, and we would likely have had more points on the board and 3rd or 4th place secured by now.
What do you mean he wouldn’t have messed around with Ramsey? It was under Wenger that his contract ran down, right? As for Ozil, Wenger started him no matter what — and I’d argue that on balance, Ozil has been a better player since Emery started asking more of him.
It was all good until the last two words.
We won’t get rid of Emery anyway cause we can’t afford to pay him off for the last year of his contract.
Ritchie I take it you didn’t watch the last 3-4 years under Wenger as that’s pretty much the only logical explanation for your assertion of how much better we would be under Wenger. The fact that he still hasn’t found a coaching job despite last year saying he wanted to return immediately and openings at Madrid, psg, Bayern also tells you what the major clubs think of him. He did great things for the club but it’s obvious to virtually everyone his best days are long past p
There’s no t in his name. Its Richie
Tellingly, Monaco didn’t take him after either of this season’s openings.
I didn’t imply that we would be better if Wenger stayed. But if Wenger stayed, with Mislintat’s new signings Leno, Sokratis, Torreira, Guebdouzi being made anyway, and with no faffing around with benching Ozil and Ramsey, I think we would have secured top 4 by now as those extra Ramsey and Ozil minutes on the pitch would translate to more points accumulated.
Ozil has been extremely hot or miss per usual and as soon as Ramsey started playing a lot of minutes again he had another muscular injury
Rafael Benitez, the man who hasn’t won a league title since 2004 (?)
Benetiz was tongue in cheek cause he’s on his way out of newcastle. But I don’t know who else is available?! Arteta? Henry? Emery/Sanheli buying players for us this summer is not an ideal prospect….
Wow! Henry or Arteta….are you mad.
I remember my first beer…
Gets thrashed with 70% possession.
Also gets thrashed with 30% possession
Critical use of the ball (or lack of it) is our issue. When you see teams like Watford, Wolves, Leicester come at us, they are used to not having much of the ball against top 6 and they are therefore conditioned to be VERY EFFICIENT with the ball on the break. We are wanton with the ball and without focus. Players tend to hide or wait for the ball to be played to them (Auba particularly) but Mhki, Iwobi also very wasteful today. Yet there is not much options out wide beyond these players. The squad lacks quality options. Never… Read more »
Protagonists.
Protagonists in a long and drawn out tragi-comedy
Or was that Dectorists?
Time to just rest every critical player for the rest of the pl and focus entirely on the Europa league
It’s not going to matter. Valencia are better than Leicester.
No they’re not
We will make them look like Barcelona mate.
We’re better suited to Europe in some ways as the PL really is just crazy end to end intensity whereas European teams tend to give us more space.
But are Valencia better than Crystal Palace and Watford who have both outplayed us this month?
On current form (both Arsenal and Valencia) I can’t see us getting past that lot.
It’d be a minor miracle to get any kind of result at Mestalla,
Sad to say but I agree.
The fights gone out of them in the league.
Lack of belief and purpose compounded by poor decision by gaffer to go back 4 3 matches in a row now.
If it wasn’t broke, don’t fix it. We’re now truly broken.
Have we got any “critical” players??
I don’t think I care about this team. We are at a point of being shambolic again, this time under Emery. The team and coaching set up are full of absolute bottlers and extreme mediocrity. Leno is decent enough and Lacazette and Aubameyang. The rest of them, the likes of Mustafi, Xhaka, Mhki, Iwobi, Kolasinac, Monreal are not good enough. Without investment we are only going to get worse as all around us improve. Emery wont last beyond next season, as he went be able to compete. Sad times.
Leave Monreal out of it
Get this season over with, have a massive clear out and start again.
No money means we replace them with even worse players. Good thing we have Sven. Oh wait…
First to go should be the club psychologist…
Useless cunts the lot of em
I mean fucking seriously why do all of us bother to get so emotionally invested and also spend thousands for TV subscriptions, flights/trains, away tickets. For this pile of wank to get dragged out every away game for the last two years of our fucking lives. Cunt off arsenal – sort yourself out. Embarassment
maybe a bit too emotionally invested there dan
Definitely
Yes Dan – and ST renewals will be out next month as soon as they figure out whether to charge for CL or EL next season.
Yeah, pussies
F*cking unacceptable. If this is how we will play, we don’t deserve the champions League spot.
Who cares if we deserve it? We need the revenue, we absolutely have to get in. Does not matter if we fluke it or deserve it.
Should we have stayed at Highbury?
Highbury, so many memories of success. Thats a big fat YES!
Refereeing like that just ruins games. Gives me no desire to watch football. How many times did our players go up for headers and get little pushes on the back and receive no free kicks. how many times did Leicester players go through arsenal players from the back, often with two feet, and no fouls. they kicked us, smacked us and forearmed us in the face because they knew they had impunity. And then anything Mike Oliver could give to Leicester he would including a horrific red card; after a soft first yellow given after Auba was pushed from behind… Read more »
Women’s game today refereed by Lucy Oliver – any relative? We should have had her instead.
Wife actually.
Arsenal are the most fouled team in the league, and that’s just the ones the refs call. We all know how many, like today, they don’t. Our players are being smashed up out there and nobody gives a shit. It’s a disgrace.
and with three losses the better goal difference has also gone !!!
Looking at the bench if Kronke doesn’t give money to spend to Emery he should Fuck right off.
Pisses me to see people still jumping on the manager and not on Kronke whose years of under investment has led us to this point.
No, years of bad investment has led us to this point. Xhaka – Mustafi combined cost more than the Leicester starting XI for fucks sake.
They were not worth it, their purchase prices were overinflated deliberately. Someone somewhere have been ripping the club off through deals. I mean, these mediocre players for these amounts? Not to talk of the overall inflated allowances they are placed on without noting the likely output from them. Absolute rubbish!
Never heard that one before. Really believe that Wenger and Gazidis were poor negotiators and that is why the club is in the position it is. Being “ripped off” can also just be a case of incompetence.
Our wage bill seems to be a real issue with present management and will take years to run down to the level of some of our direct competitors. Without outside investment, we aren’t going anywhere from here unless out younger players breakout.
Liverpool and Spurs are both way ahead of us and both have a similar sustainable model to us?
Yes I guess same model but they did largely rebuild on huge sales of Bale/Coutinho. Spurs weren’t a top 4 side until after selling Bale, and Liverpool used Coutinho money to fund Van Dick and Alison.
Yes and we did NOT get 1 penny for Sanchez or Ramsay, pathetic.
But they scouted or trained up players to a high value and sold them for truckloads of cash to finance key reinforcements. They did more wheeling-dealing and earned up. We’ve just shoveled the money away with no returns. Losses on free transfers and players that were broken or didn’t improve. Without Suarez and Coutinho Liverpool would not be where they are. Without Kane and Pochettino Spurs won’t be where they are. If we’re smart we will start identifying the occasional redundancy in better talent and start using those returns to better use. Or Kroenke could just pull out the checkbook… Read more »
Europa league next year. No funds available. No Europe at all next year. We will look back in a few years and remember when we complained about the Europa league when we are finishing 10th.
Might I suggest wheeling out the poo-o-meter for player ratings this time.
And some Laudanum for us fans.
To save anyone else Googling: an alcoholic solution containing morphine, prepared from opium and formerly used as a narcotic painkiller. 🙂
Its a pwrsonal favorite of the Arsenalgent
what a disaster arsenal is…
It’s been waiting to happen..
The annoying thing about Emery is that he sanctioned the withdrawal of Ramsey’s new deal. He has proven to be the only arsenal player with any cojones of late.
Yes, Ramsey has been really useful these last couple of weeks, hasn’t he? In case you haven’t noticed he’s injured, again, as usual when the schedule gets busy. The only problem with Ramsey leaving is that we didn’t get some money for him in the summer and buy a player who is fit and available on a regular basis.
How many times has Ozil thrown sickies this season. Ramsey’s out for a few games with a real injury, like most players in a season. How many Arsenal players haven’t missed games through injury this season? Even Xhaka and Mustafi, who are generally fit and available on a regular basis. That works well doesn’t it.
Since Mesut joined in September 2013 he has missed 48 games because of injury. In the same time period, Ramsey has missed 88, so what exactly are you trying to say?
That quality and commitment matter.
Maybe I missed something, but do we have verification Emery sanctioned it? Or did the club make the decision and he had no option to overturn it?
Coaching is a big part of the problem. Emery came and took-on Ozil and Ramsey just like he did in France. He’s not liked at all there. No philosophy of any kind. It is a slow decline towards mid table.
With and without a red card, it was a lackadaisical, uninterested display. We need massive rebuilding.
Maddison dive played a part in today’s result. But we looked like losing even with 11 men on. Also, am not too disappointed.
When the squad is stretched to it’s limits and the players are tired in legs and minds, the last thing you need is a fucking ref ignoring a blatant foul on Auba and giving Maitland-Niles the softest yellow ever. You can complain about these players all you like, but they’ve been playing every three days for months now and they’re knackered. I’m sick of listening to smart arse pundits and fans saying that Leicester wanted it more, Leicester have played 4 games in April and the Gunners have played eight. It’s no coincidence that the top teams are all struggling… Read more »
Leicester’s game was on 30th March, just that we played on Monday, so really 5. Watford have played just one game less than us as they were in FA Cup whilst we went to Abu Dhabi for hot weather restbite care.
Top teams (top 2 at least) are still winning every PL game despite CL distractions.
WASTEFUL. We waste the ball too much (particularly down to 10) We won’t finish in top 6 at this rate forget top 4. 1) Poor decision by gaffer. Why we are in a back 4 is beyond me. We have looked unconvincing in a back 4 and we were a leaky sieve today. 2) Lack of sharpness and hunger up front. Lacazette seems the only one up for a scrap. Haven’t seen Aubameyang’s legendary pace (beaten by Evans) never mind he can’t show or protect a ball to save his life. We don’t seem to know how to counter quickly.… Read more »
When did we last concede 3 goals 3 games in a row?
When we decided to switch to a back 4.
Second half against Palace, switched to a back 4, Mustafi got confused.
Against Wolves, back 4 with the vaunted Koscielny-Sokratis partnership ….worse result.
Today another back 4 with or without Mustafi same result.
Mistake to switch to back 4 tail end of season.
But we aren’t exactly making hay further up the pitch either.
Thanks Santi and I agree but my question was not a response to your post, it was a records issue not a formation one. When did we last lose 3 games in a row by giving away 3 goals each time?
1960’s according to bbc
As per Orbinho, 1966!
I just don’t get it; where has Emery’s style of playing gone over the last few months? Why are Lacazette and Aubameyang so unbelievably rubbish when it matters? Why can’t we score? Why can’t we defend? We must be the only team in the Premier League who can somehow get hit on the counter-attack when WE’RE the away team. 10 men today or not, 3 points gained from a possible 15 is abysmal. Top 4 was in our hands but these bunch of idiots (including Emery I’m afraid) absolutely bottled it. I knew the transition would be tough but these… Read more »
Attack issues: no Ramsey, no Ozil.
Defense? Not worth even bringing it up.
anyways we’ll still beat Ajax and win Uefa Supercup in August!!
Arsenal Women win WSL – Well done. Can you give the men some tips please.
This isn’t all Emery’s fault. Last season under wenger was where our terrible away form started, and it’s mainly the same group of underachievers in the squad this season.
Honestly we need a huge overhaul in the summer. At least 6-8 players should be cleared out/replaced.
Trouble is we won’t spend to replace 6 to 8 with sufficient quality. We will penny pinch again. Plus Mslintat/Raul have overloaded on wages. Its Panic Loan era. Looking at the numbers going out for sure – Cech, Ramsey, Lichsteiner Big possibility – Koscielny (old age), Welbeck Should go out (but can’t even find buyers) – Jenkinson, Lichsteiner Then you are looking at one of Chambers, Mustafi. Plus you have a keeper situation (Will Ospina and/or Martinez stay?) …if not that’s a further requirement to add. I don’t think we will let so many out. We will be short and… Read more »
Might get some stick for saying this, but we should look tell sell one of Aubameyang or Lacazette this summer. Both are excellent at bullying poor at home, but for away games we need a striker that can be physical, hold the ball up and act as a pressure release for our defence.
They’ll probably both go. Why would they want to stay?
Because we won’t sell them perhaps?
Giroud?
Arsenal has conceded 34 goals in away games this year, a new club record.
Remind me, aside from vetoing contract offer Ramsey had, what has Unai done this season?
Do you know he did that? I’d like to see your sources that prove this.
What a farce, we’ve even surpassed Spurs, in bottling it at the crucial point in the season. It starts with the board’s penny pinching business model, then the Manager, who is clearly out of his depth, and can’t motivate the team, due, possibly, to his rotation policy, and then, there are the players…not all of them, but most of them, over rated, over priced, over paid and just not worthy of wearing the famous red & white jersey. Time for the club in general to take a long hard look at itself, and take tough decisions to move forward.
Though I avidly read Arseblog, it is extremely rare that I post on it. However, like many I suspect, today’s performance compelled me to write something. My issue is the pathetic level of possession we had prior to the sending off. I care about possession because I WANT TO SEE MY TEAM PLAY FOOTBALL. I don’t want to watch Leicester City play football or Burnley play football or Liverpool play football. I want to see MY TEAM play football and I couldn’t give a single fuck about the daft argument that possession is not important, it’s results. IT’S BOTH. I’m… Read more »
Try a bit of spacing.
Otherwise agree with the lack of cojones. Deeney was trying to do us a fav.
Santori lecturing on how to comment legibly…
Fuck me.
I’ve seen it all now.
They can’t pass accurately; they lose the ball too easily; they have no idea what to do when they do get near the opponent’s goal; they clear the ball to their opponents; they pass sideways; they make back passes the default pass; they stroll when they ‘counter attack’…
I wonder, what exactly do they do at training every day? Oh right, they dick around for the cameras…
Oh deary me…
Absurd decision to send off AMN, compounded by the kafkaesque rule that because the ref screwed up not once but twice, it can’t be reviewed. Try figuring that one out.
That said, I’m positive it didn’t matter. We were totally outplayed before he got sent off, and our best period in the game actually came from the sending off until we got sloppy and didn’t follow a runner about 30 minutes later.
We don’t deserve to be in the top 4.
Absolute dog shit from start to finish. We would be severely embarrassed if we play in the champions League next season. This current team just cannot do it when the pressure is on. No goal threat from us at any stage today. Poor is an understatement.
To Emery’s credit, he still has Arsenal fans on his side. If Wenger was in charge, Arsenal fans would have stormed the Bastille…
It really isn’t Emery it’s the bloody players! 🙁
After an unbeaten 22 game run and good performances against the top teams we lose 3 games on the spin to average teams when we have it all to play for? What the actual fuck is going on??
It’s called exhaustion.
Passing accurately should not take too much effort.
I think that’s part of it. And because of lack of squad quality some players are playing more than they should.
Iwobi has played more minutes than anyone. There highlights a problem
Arsenal’s famous fickle fans who said they’d prefer to be outside top four and winning cups rather than Wenger. Well that’s what Emery is delivering. What are they complaining about again?
Out of every domestic competition and no hope to even win the thursday night europa cunts league that we spent a decade hammering spurs for being in.
Not exactly ‘winning cups’ now is it.
But don’t let that get in your way of being a contrarian bell end.
Of all the losses, I feel most pained by the Crystal Palace game. That was a game we should have won!
It’s really shit when we find ourselves rating which losses pained us most. 🙂
There was also BHA, Soton(away), West Ham…we should have won those too.
We should be winning away at Wolves and Leciester as well.
Poor excuse.
Anyone else remember when we used to make signings like Youri Tielemans or James Maddison? Back then people would say they’re nice but we need to combine them with world class or at least very good experienced players. Oh how I’d love to go back to those days now. Nowadays, I look at the squad and couldn’t even tell you what we need. Take out the 2 strikers in the starting 11 today, and team doesn’t really look like it belongs in the CL at all. Missing Ozil and Ramsey is no excuse for putting in that kind of performance.
I’ll tell you what we need : 1)We need a Rwinger. We have needed a Rwinger for some time now (Since when Alexis was in the squad. Not addressed by Mslintat, instead he was allowed to pluck low hanging fruit in Mhkitaryan …a player on the wane. We lack instigators who can take on players one on one. Alexis lost the ball a lot but also pulled defenses out of position for us and he had phenomenal work rate. Even if Nelson gets a chance on the right next season, we need one more (experienced and capable) dribbler to come… Read more »
Maddison is one helluva good young player. Even more than his skill levels (which are high), it’s the way he demands to be on the ball to dictate the game.
This team has nothing left in the tank. The players all need to take some major illegal performance enhancing drugs and a couple of blood transfusions to even have a chance against Valencia.
Well by Thursday the season could be over!!! I really wish we had played a better team against palace and won as we’d be on 69 points!!! Anyway, let’s hope that ManUre and chavski draw, we’d still be hoping for slip ups but hope is better than naff all!!! Gotta hope they are up for it Thursday and that we win Europa as we do need champions league money!!!
I thought we ceded control from the start with the midfield 2. Then the ridiculous red compounded how rubbish we were. Can t even blame Mustafi for this one. While the whole team aside from Leno were poor for some reason Xhaka stood out for me today as being particularly shite. With Europa League a strong possibility for next season we’ll have to get creative with our transfer & I wouldn’t be averse to getting rid of him.
Because its never been an issue with Mustafi. That is a distraction away from our real problems. Mustafi is always under the microscope for every little fault. Other players make equally appalling primary errors. The problem is : 1) We went into a back 4 last 3 matches. Not good for us particularly with the team used to a back 3 system.Not sure what the thinking was there. Particularly against a pacy team like Wolves, Leicester today both used to counter, we are asking for trouble…regardless of sending off. 2) We have persistent systemic issues defending set pieces, looking for… Read more »
Mustafi comment was just a throwaway line. O think sometimes Emery is too clever for his own good. Decisions need to be made about the likes of some.- like Iwobi & unless Emery can make Auba & Laca work consistently he needs to settle for one as his key man. Like I said though we’ll need to get creative with our transfer business
First goal Granit’s fault, not tracking Tielimans.
Second goal, vaunted pairing of Koscielny and Sokratis anyone? Anyone?
Third goal…well fuck me.
Iwobi can’t shoot, Mhkitaryan can’t control the ball, Torreira isn’t Santi except for height, Aubameyang hiding and lost out to Evans in a foot race.
Only Granit?
Only player with some decent effort today was Leno. Laca had some fight in him but we don’t use the ball properly enough when we have it.
I’m not talking individual errors. More so that Xhaka if nothing else is supposed to be one of the more reliable users of the ball in the team. He was very sloppy today. To me he seems dispensable and we’d get good money for him to use to strengthen the squad.
Jens Lehmann just called; today was not a magic.