Result: Arsenal 2 – 2 Sp*rs
Competition: Premier League
Date: 1 September 2019
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arsenal: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Luiz, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Torreira, Guendouzi, Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Subs: Martinez, Chambers, Willock, Ceballos, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Nelson
It was a frenetic game of football as Arsenal came back from 2 goals down to equalize against their North London rivals. Silly defensive mistakes gave Sp*rs the initiative in the first half through goals for Eriksen and a tackle on Son that resulted in a penalty.
Lacazette halved the deficit with a well taken goal towards the end of the first half while Arsenal dominated the second half to force a goal through Aubameyang.
First Half
Arsenal fans finally got their wishes to see Emery starting the deadly trident of Pepe, Aubameyang and Lacazette upfront – in the fiesty cauldron of the North London Derby no less.
Torreira returned to add some steel in the midfield alongside Guendouzi and Xhaka while Kolasinac replaces the outgoing Monreal on the left of a flat back four.
The game started at breakneck speed. Arsenal got in a couple of chances through Pepe and Maitland-Niles within the first few minutes. Despite a confident ten minutes, it was Sp*rs who scored first due to Arsenal’s poor defending. Both Sokratis and David Luiz got caught high up the pitch as Son put Lamela through on goal. The Argentine’s shot was pushed away into the feet of Eriksen who made no mistake to put his team forward. Arsenal 0 – 1 Sp*rs
It was Sp*rs again who looked dangerous as Arsenal were exposed on the counter. On the 17th minute, Son Heung-Min cut in from the left wing and curled the ball towards the far post but Leno was on hand to palm it away. The home team has been poor in their defensive organization in their anxious attempts to score an equalizer.
Arsenal started turning the screw on Sp*rs on 22 minutes when Rose had to make a last ditch header to block Pepe’s knockdown at the far post after good work from Aubameyang to cross from the left wing.
Under more pressure by the Gunners, Sp*rs were left to their usual cynical that saw Rose and Lamela receive yellow cards for foul play. But it was an inexcusable foul by Xhaka that set Arsenal further back on the 37th minute. The Swiss midfielder took out Son with an awful tackle in the penalty box. Kane’s clinical penalty made it 0-2 for Spurs.
Despite the deflating goals, the home team were not ending the half without a fight as they clawed back a goal in injury time. Calls for a penalty were waved off by the referee as Sp*rs were adjudged to have handled the ball in the box.
The decision only seemed to infuriate the Gunners who hunted down the ball in packs. Pepe received the ball and passed it into the path of Lacazette who showed fantastic footwork to trap the ball and then lift it past a defender to lash it home with venom with his left foot. 1 – 2 Lacazette.
While Arsenal ended the half on a high, Unai Emery’s team talk would have included reminders to the team to cut out the schoolboy errors that have given Sp*rs the advantage.
Second Half
Arsenal started the second half as quickly as they did in the first with Sp*rs taken by surprise by a Lacazette header from a looping cross on the right.
A trio of chances within the space of 2 minutes got the crowd going from the 55th minute. First, Torreira expertly cushioned a low cross into the path of Guendouzi who had his shot into the bottom corner palmed away by Lloris. Kolasinac then almost got a goal from the resulting corner but did not make a good enough contact to bend the ball into the net. Lacazette made it three with a nonchalant attempt from outside the box that caught Lloris offguard and flew just past the top corner.
There were still warning signs despite the Arsenal domination as Harry Kane’s powerful strike from the right side of the box hit the post and deflected away from goal to the relief of Gooners everywhere.
Unai Emery made his first change on 63 minutes with Torreira coming off for Ceballos – hoping for another midfield masterclass from the Madrid loanee. His impact was almost instant as he expertly caressed the ball past defenders and shot from long range to put Lloris under pressure.
It was not long after where Lacazette was taken off for Mkhitaryan due to a suspected injury. With Aubameyang now leading the line, it was only a matter of time that the Gabon forward steal the show with a goal. Guendouzi slalomed through a crowded midfield and chipped a pass into the box. Aubameyang who ghosted past his marker to tap in an equalizer. A finish of the highest order made to look simple by a striker at the peak of his powers. 2-2 Arsenal.
Sp*rs were rattled by this point which led to more cynical fouling, earning Sanchez a yellow card. Pochettino also tried to condense the midfield by removing Son for Lo Celso. That was the only way to clamp down an Arsenal midfield that was running the show – ably led by Guendouzi who was growing in stature.
The game was stretched at the end with both teams looking fatigued from a ferocious end-to end affair. Harry Kane’s embarassing dive to win a penalty was one of Sp*rs pitiful attempts to win the game – sandwiched by a litter of half chances by both teams.
The match ended in a draw with Arsenal the superior team in the second half. While there were positives in their application to force a comeback, the team must also take time to iron out the silly defensive mistakes that have resulted in dropped points.
Any of the people who love to dig at Guendouzi just watch that game, the man was everywhere, everytime Spurs tried to clear there he was. Calm and effective in possession, great assist to top it off. Xhaka and the Mikhitaryan when he came on though……
Really thought Nelson would have been the better option to bring on. Mkhi added very little. Nelson could have roasted Sanchez. Sokratis was terrible, Chambers needs a chance to get in this team. Xhaka wasn.t as bad as people will make out, but he can.t be forgiven easily for that penalty, that was Mustafa level stupid. Ceballos looked good again. Torreira and Pepe still a little off the pace for me but probably needed the game. AMN and Kola did better than expected, by me, defensively. Enjoyable game overall, but also very frustrating considering the awful nature of the goals… Read more »
Shame, poor defending then stepped up. Need to cut out the mistakes. Should have won based on the 2nd half.
We are clearly better than Spurs, so if we can sort out our defensive lapses, they don’t stand a chance.
And I’ll put my hands up and admit, I didn’t rate Guendouzi last year, but now I can see why Emery has faith in him. He was everywhere today.
Xhaka OUT .
Emery too
I know, I was infuriated when Emery lunged in on Son like that. He should know better in the 18-yard box!
Ahh this same old thing we did with Wenger eh? “ITS NOT ARSENE ITS THE PLAYERS”
Who fucking picks Xhaka weekly? Yeah, Emery. Who has a fantastic attack yet can’t put together a functional attack? Ah yes, Emery. Who cannot coach a defence? Hmm, Emery.
I think Xhaka must have some compromising photos of Emery or Stan in his pocket. Why else is he being chosen??
Arteta in!?
Arteta as playing manager.
Does that cheese come with a side of common sense? Aren’t you the one who blindly defends xhaka?
Not just yet, but I feel his clock is ticking. He’s been more than fully backed this summer, so anything other than top 4 +a strong Europa League campaign should see him leave imo
I think he is having a good start to the season no?
Emery that is…
I agree, Paul. I’ve seen some really promising elements to Emery’s approach this season. Let’s see where this goes. I’m optimistic of top four.
As a staunch defender of Emery, I’ll keep defending him the way I’d defend any Arsenal coach who gets unfairly criticised.
But I can’t defend Unai if he persists with Granit Xhaka. How have two managers as different as Wenger and Emery both let this player hold them hostage? Baffling
My thinking is perhaps he is only seen as suitable captain material personality wise (thought this is just a hypothesis), feels like other players get dropped for much less consistent mistakes
Yes quite possibly. Off-the-field leadership is un underrated quality and evidently he’s got lots of that
It will sound weird, but penalty aside, and of course the other usual daft fouls, I thought Xhaka had a fairly decent game with the ball. Guendouzi was the star of the midfield though. When Torreira is up to speed I hope Xhaka will be dropped for Ceballos. That should make for a nice midfield
Yes, Xhaka was at fault today, but his time is coming and he’ll be backup very soon. But I do think he’ll have an important part to play this season in certain games. As for Emery, aside from not having Xhaka as his #1 choice, what would you differently? We are still without our two first choice fullbacks, and I think AMN and Kolasinac acquitted themselves pretty well today. Us leaving the middle of the park so open today (a result of playing 3 up top) meant that we were asking for some panic from the central midfield today. Honestly,… Read more »
It was a pen all day long. That lunge was dumb and completely unnecessary.
Em
Emery is own worst enemy. Xhaka & Mkhitaryan had no place in the game. Ceballos & Nelson would have done a much better job. Sometimes this coach seems retarded. We should’ve won the game.
If he keeps playing Xhak yes.
Apart from the penalty, Xhaka had a very good game (I know people won’t be happy to entertain that idea right now). I think a midfield without him looks a little callow without him sitting deeper. For example, Xhaka’s positional discipline is what allows a player like Guendouzi to make that incredible dribble and assist for the Auba goal. He’s also one of our best passers. I think we can do better than him, and I understand the frustration, but it’s not inconceivable that he gets game time.
It doesn’t matter if he did great the rest of the game. If he’s gonna make such mistakes which usually costs us a goal, all the good work he and the team does later proves completely fruitless because at the end of the day we only got a point when we should have battered them and made them bleed, which we did in the second half, but for the scoreline. Sp*rs have been very poor this season and was very poor today. Yes, they were poor in the first half as well. We made them look like a mid-table team,… Read more »
You’re not wrong. Someone should have been tighter to Son in the box at that moment. And Xhaka should probably also not do his best WWF double drop kick, even thought he actually barely made contact.
Xhaka has no positional discipline. He’s just very immobile and always ambles around similar spaces. He passes decently well when given space. But under pressure he offers nothing and is a complete liability. Guen and Torreira will flourish without Xhaka alongside them.
I felt that in the 1st half, but credit to him, he changed the shape at half-time and we looked much better. It won’t always work, but the boss was a “protagonist” today.
Xhaka is a blind spot though.
He did really well today if you ignore what he did in that moment. Seriously..:-)
92 minutes shit housing without a yellow…Gary Neville said he was proud of him.
Tried to upvote this twice, but they wouldn’t let me.
Surely gunnersaurus can do a better job than mkhi. Emery’s disdain for Ozil Is extremely frustrating.
Mikhi puts a shift in. I am sure Emery has a grip on this.
Weirdly it seems to our senior players who have least to offer. Xhaka, Sokratis, Mkhi, Ozil, Mustafi. I don.t think any of them would be missed
We are better than that lot, and we’ll prove it throughout the year. We’re not finishing our chances, and we’re still giving up too many (6-6 goals for and against), but I think we might have gotten all three points today had Emery chosen to put Ozil on instead of Mhki — we needed a little more of a deft touch on that left side. We’ll get there. Good fight from the team till the end.
Aye, I was a little disappointed to see Mkhi. A little too flakey for these occasions. Not sure Ozil is so much better though. Think I might have have taken Willock on.
Nelson would have been my choice. Mkhi showed no hunger or speed.
Spurs will finish higher than Arsenal
Spurs don’t have Xhaka, Luiz, Sokratis and Mustafi….
And Emery for that matter..
Why are you here, Leon?
Pepe pepe pepe boy oh boy only if he could just hit the target!! too much dribbling at times slows our game down soooo much. He needs to adapt quickly the premier league is too fast for all thos unneccesary twist and turns. We’re not here to count most dribbles we need goals not dribbles hope he gets it quickly. Sokratis for our first goal was very poor ala mustafi. Xhaka my word this guy who gave him captain anyway???? Guendouzi is baller!! MOTM for me. And laca! if we had played Laca from the start im sure we would’ve… Read more »
Pepe will find the back of the net soon, strikes the ball well, and will get opportunies a-plenty. The area I think the most important aspect he will bring us is a reliable outlet on the break, as he is very hard to get the ball off, even taking on several players seems no problem.
Emery is only starting to worry you now?
Fucking luck Spuds.
Can we please stop playing Xhaka now?
Guendouzi – Torreira – Ceballos should be our midfield trio, not forgetting Willock too.
I know emotions are high right now, but I don’t wanna see him again.
We will miss his being soooo much in the game but ok…?
Gio you are spot on. Ceballos was great against the thugs and someone was missing in that game
I know it’s early days but, there something about Ceballos game that make me feel that he’s going to cost us a goal either by loosing the ball in a dangerous area of the pitch or by a bad pass. Just hope it will be inconsequential so that fans won’t give him the Xhaka treatment.
I hear you. He’s a dribbler and has confidence to go past players, he takes risks, that inevitably means he’ll be caught out. When he does that, just like Pogba at Man U, he’ll be crucified. I fear the same for Pepe.
Definitely worth a try, especially at home. Xhaka lost it with me last year when he talked about “having a contract to fulfill” at Arsenal. Captain? Give that to Laca.
Laca is our fucking big match player. So much leadership, passion, quality and personality in the pitch! Guendouzi MOTM. What a ball for Auba, who once again rescues us a point for us with his amazing finishing ability (where would we be without him?) Pepe had his moments but got tired towards the end. He needs more time to acclimatize to the league before he explodes. Ceballos was again quality and should have started alongside Torreira. Leno had a bad day and really needs to cut down on his errors. Xhaka and Mkhi were fucking useless. One cost us a… Read more »
At least Leno made amends with very good saves after. Can’t say the same for Xhaka. Mkhi was just pointless.
Definitely feels like 2 points dropped..
Nelson > Mkhitaryan
Willock > Mkhitaryan
Yet Mki is subbed on. Such was an awful substitution. Even the Sp*rs lot weren’t marking him cause he doesn’t do shit. The worst Nelson and Willock would have done was play like Mki did. No excuse.
Also:
Monreal >> Kolasinac
Monreal >>> The at most 3-5 million? we got for him
£350,000 🙁
How many times did Mkhitaryan kill our attack after he came on? Xhaka literally committing fouls every time he was near the ball in the second half. Emery will never drop him though. Feels like an opportunity wasted
Should have been Ceballos from the start and then Nelson on instead of Mkhitaryan. Don’t understand Emery’s obsession with Xhaka – only thing I can think of is his “experience.”
Xhaka at fault for 2 goals today. Lost the header to Kane for the first. For the 2nd decided to take out Son when the ball was long gone. No VAR needed. On a side not Kane need to cut out diving where there is VAR
Its sokratis fault for the first goal. But yeah xhaka was still poor today ( better on the second half though )
You’re wrong about the first goal. The centre halves both at fault. Sokratis no business getting drawn to that ball (he hangs back and lets Kane/Xhaka contest it and he can take the 2nd ball). Luiz dives in also.
Xhaka is insanely annoying but he wasn’t at fault for the first goal. Sorry.
Sokratis and Leno are at fault for goal number one. Sokratis allowed himself to get sucked under the ball, which Xhaka was already challenging for, and that led to the open space for the Lamela shot. Leno really needs to hold onto that ball or push it around the post.
I can’t blame Leno for the first goal. He made the all important touch , the ball was too far for him to parry behind. Defense is supposed to be there to help him, or better still, defense shouldn’t be allowing so make shots
Agreed. At the instant I saw 2 players losing out on the header I just thought ‘oh shit, trouble’. I then breathed a sigh of relief when Kamela hit a crap shot before staring in disbelief as Leno palmed it straight to Eriksen. Ffs keeper! And Sol didn.t stay with his man
Only reason Sokratis went in for ball is because he knew Xhaka wouldn’t win challenge
Let’s agree about that atrocious penalty. But you can’t seriously fault him for the first goal… come on. Any midfielder can lose a header duel in the center of the park, it’s the way it goes. What Sokratis was doing up there, now that’s scary, in particular because I am starting to thing he might have been instructed to do so…
So you can’t fault Xhaka for losing an aerial duel but we should fault Sokratis for his positioning?
No, I think we can fault both of them. Why absolve anyone?
That’s the weak spine of our team being exposed. Neither Xhaka or Sokratis are good enough to get us where we need to go.
Nor is your mate Emery.
Don’t take it so personally Jai. We’re all disappointed, keep your chin up
^ gunner comment
As much as I can’t stand a player like Xhaka, it wasn’t his fault for the first goal. It was error first by Papa challenging for a ball he is not suppose to and Luiz again repeating the same mistake of getting to close.
He’s most experienced in giving away penalties.
My thoughts exactly. Feels like Emery isn’t really utilizing our squad well enough. How many late opportunities would Nelson get when the game was stretched at the end? And Xhaka? He’s only got worse ever since we signed him.
Ceballos got lost in the pace of the game last week against Liverpool, as the weeks progress…. I think Ceballos will becomes a nailed on starter, but I could see the logic in not starting Ceballos today.
Xhaka was much better in the second half, but I think it’s inevitable that he’ll be moved on at the earliest opportunity.
Lacazette+Guendouzi were outstanding today.
What is this obsession with Mickeytarian. He is worse than average
I know some fans here felt we were piling on Xhaka last week, and he has become a Mustafi-like scapegoat. So I’m curious (honestly), if you do like Xhaka, what do you think he adds to the team that’s unique? How should the midfield line up with him in it? Is our midfield ok, or what kind of player would improve it alongside him?
I wouldn’t say I like him necessarily, but he’s excellent at finding players all over the pitch, sometimes at distances that I think are just ridiculous. He’s strong, combative, and experienced, and while I love all the young midfielders we have, I think they do need an older head with them. As frustrating as the penalty was, I thought we had enough up front to win the game, and so you also need to look at Sokratis and Luiz for their positioning on the first goal, and you also need to look at Mkhitaryan and Pepe, who were both wasteful… Read more »
I take your point that he’s our most physically imposing midfielder, but for these qualities: ‘strong, combative, and experienced’ isn’t Luiz a bit better in all those? Should we play Luiz in midfield instead, how different is that?
I don’t really have any sense of how Luiz would play in midfield. What we need, though, is just a better CDM. Xhaka frustrates because he does a lot of things well, but is prone to costly fouls. We need better consistency there.
Xhaka frustrates because he does very little well. We’ve given him enough chances to come good by now.
I think it’s long past the point where we say xhaka has “experience”. If he was 20 wed be calling him naive. H has some qualities but nothing we’d miss if he wasn’t there. Guendouzi is so far ahead of xhaka in terms of what he offers. Even defensively his awareness positioning and desire are far superior. Even demonstrated on the first goal. He had the presence of mind to cover kolasinac then won the ball. Xhaka is passable when there aren’t good options but when we have torreira willock and ceballos, he shouldn’t be playing
He has 1 good point, ball distribution. I think the “good” Emery sees now is how he feeds the wings/forwards.. which Torreira doesnt do it as well, and more suitable in when UE starts to move players around in the systems? but not a fan.. mr time bomb, if he gotten the RED, it would be game over.
Experience with house keys
We also lack height and Xhaka clears a lot of balls into our box. I wan’t him to be dropped too but we have to at least give him that.
I thought Xhaka was immense, particularly in the second half. I still think we should phase him out and eventually sell, but people pretend not to see the good stuff he does, which is a lot
He does do a lot of great stuff, and moves the ball so well, but it’s the rash decisions that really hurt us. I did, however, really enjoy his stare-down with Lo Celso.
Also, his tracking back is snail’s pace when he loses the ball.
Yeah no disagreement there
Immensely catastrophic. Worst player in the field by far. Our team would immensely improve once he stops playing. Nevermind the armband.
To me, I felt he was good even with the penalty he cost only Guendozi and maybe Lacazette played better…but that’s my opinion.
“He does it week in week out, season after season” Xhaka must never pull an Arsenal shirt on again. An absolute liability
That was funny…
Are you Arsene Wenger ?
Granit, is that you?
Xhaka did run himself into the ground, and was huffing and puffing by about 80 minutes. Did we have someone else we could have thrown on in place of him?
Not exactly sure what Mkhitaryan offers us. Nothing defensively, and contributes next to nothing in attack.
There was a moment late in the game when Spurs countered and he just sauntered back as if it was a kick in the park while others around him were busting their guts trying to get back.
Nelson would’ve given us more.
Nelson looked really average when he played against Newcastle. Though I don’t know if anyone would have looked worse than Mkhitaryan today.
Mkhitaryan looked worse against Newcastle than Nelson did..
Crazy decision, I don’t know how he can get on the pitch when we need a goal. So frustrating. 2 pts dropped because we didn’t deliver the front three enough from the midfielders
can we start Saka above him?? or Give Martinelli a chance Im sure these youngsters would add more to our game than what Mhikitaryan contributed today. Shocking player worst than Arshavin on his bad day
Gave Xhaka a clean slate, like I do, to everyone, at the start of every new season, hoping this may be the season. Defended Xhaka since the start of the season, and tbf fair, he wasn’t that bad. But after today, I just can’t. His constant yellows for pullbacks and expensive fouls in and around the box are just too much for an already clown of a defensive unit and on todays evidence, don’t think he has it in him to cut them out..
Oh lord, now that was a proper NLD!! The drama, the intensity, the constant boos (and cheers) and the relentless excitement. We just can’t play Auba out wide, he has to be dead in the centre. You’re taking away his potency by not playing him there. Laca’s finish was lethal too. All the peeps writing off Kola, what say you now? He had a brilliant game as well. Ceballos, the moment he stepped in, the game changed drastically. Absolute beauty he is. Pepe, plenty of movement, sadly no end product yet. Leno, Guendouzi (specially) brilliant as well. Our defensive woes… Read more »
They bottled a two goal lead so it was a good point from that respect but we were much better than them and our defence is only going to improve. I think what was clear from today is that we are the better side than those perennial underachievers. Shame we didn’t win but a lot to be positive about.
I hope Rob Holding has become Maldini during his injury layoff. I don’t think my blood pressure can handle the whole season with those two at the back.
Holding, Bellerin and Tierney to come in. Sokratis and Luiz can fight it out for the other spot.
Chambers.
We’ve kept one clean sheet this season, when Chambers played a defensively sound 90 minutes. Since then he hasn’t played a second and we’ve allowed 6 goals in 3 games. He needs to start the next match.
Hopefully we’ll soon have a totally new back line featuring 4 young, talented, composed, responsible defenders: Bellerin, Chambers, Holding, Tierney.
That’s a defence i.d like to see given a fair crack. Although I still think Luiz can become a good player for us
Yes, or give Chambers a try as the cdm. This defense needs as much help as it can get.
It would be a thing of joy for Chambers and Holding to form a formidable partnership thus relegating Luiz and Sokratis to Thursday night footballs.
xhaka please leave the club tomorrow. you epitomize everything that we dont want to see from our midfielders.
Coudnt agree more. I cannot defend him. Hes like Mustafi in midfield. And hes our CAPTAIN.
guess who makes him captain?
Not a Xhaka fan, to put it mildly, but apart from the penalty stupidity he was actually ok today I thought, in comparison to some other games. His silly impulsive tackle probably cost us a win. Yet as others have said, he is probably our best passer of the ball, especially long range, and his height and attitude can be useful. Yes he’s slow and a liability sometimes but if he could only sort out his brain farts he’d be a decent player.
Sp*rs stealing a point. We did really well, but end product must improve, and we simply cannot be giving away free goals like that. By no means a tragic result, but disappointing considering we were by far the better side.
His name is Bum Dele Alli. He dives all the time but never gets booked. Him and Kane should have picked up yellows to go with the point they stole.
We did look far much better but we are careless in the final third. A slight miscontrol here an underhit through ball there and a slight loss of balance in the mix. That’s how we failed to take the lead at Liverpool. We would be almost unstoppable in attack
Xhaxa…….sigh
Xhaka is such a liability. His negatives far outweigh his positives. Please don’t make this man captain. There’s no reason why any one of Aubameyang or Lacazette can’t be captain. I mean, anyone but Xhaka.
Xhaka cost more then Kante. Let that sink in.
To be fair, most people here thought that was an excellent buy
Nah, people liked what they heard about him and reasoned we wouldn’t be shelling out that kind of money for a bum. No one who’d ever seen him play thought he was our solution to DM or an heir to Arteta.
I thoght Xhaka would be great and I knew Mustafi would be poor. I stand corrected on Xhaka.
Xhaka’s penalty foul was atrocious. Also, AMN got roasted far too easily in that occasion.
Holding my hands up. I used to be among the strongest of Xhaka supporters.. But yea.. The points we lose because of those mistakes..
Kinda feel like downvoting you because your name starts with Xh!!!
Hahahaa. Feel free mate. I cringe every single time the replays show the foul. Fucking imbecilic.
Former Xhaka apologist here. I’m extremely meh on him anymore, since the team around him has improved. I won’t defend the pen but I don’t think he was as abysmal as he’s painted. Torreira was equally just OK. Guendouzi and Ceballos were brilliant. I cursed when Mhki came on instead of Ozil, and it turned out he killed not only our attacking actions down the left, but also possession with his turnovers. If Emery wants a combative, big CDM, I think I’d be considering giving Chambers a runout there vs weaker teams or in cup games to test the waters.… Read more »
Somewhere along the line, I think that Emery agreed that buying Tierney and (Luiz for Kos) , and getting Bellerin and Holding back from injury would “fulfill” his defensive needs. Otherwise, how would any manager justify using the amount of money that we paid for Pepe in place of a first class CB? No offense to Pepe, but Emery is now seems stuck with the dilemma of playing an offense first player to service our strikers, while still trying to protect his back four with a defensive first midfield. Can’t wait to get those three into the lineup and go… Read more »
I know a comeback always feels good, but this is actually a bad result and a lost opportunity. Also, I wonder what the heck our two CBs were doing so far up the pitch for the first goal (and also in the phase after the first goal). I am beginning to wonder if those were instructions, which would be scary indeed.
On a positive note well played AMN and Gendouzi so young but such mature performances. Xhaka what a terrible performance game after game. He is getting consistently error prone
I like AMN, I really do but. But watch any game against a serious opposition and you will find at least two instances when he gets absolutely roasted. I don’t blame him for that, mind you. The problem is that he gets targeted by strong opposition and successfully so, has been for a year.
Hopefully next summer we can buy a RB to challenge Hector, and move AMN to midfield to replace Xhaka/Elneny
Agree. Spurs were without Ndombele, all their right backs, and had Eriksen and Vertonghen dropped the last two games. This is a massive 2 points dropped, and nobody can convince me otherwise
Can’t agree less with you
Disappointed with the sloppy goals we gave away, but good comeback. We battered them second half. Guendouzi motm for me, he was everywhere.
And why for fucksakes did Sokratis make such a horrendous challenge late in the game!!???
To be fair Kane was looking for it that diving cu**
Kane is a stupid ass diving cunt, everyone knows that so why make it easy for him. Watch the replays again.
Clear dive and no idea why they do not get booked for that now especially with VAR. Kane would miss five games a season through suspension alone. Also knock 5 penalties a season off him.
Yeah true, ive seen those get called before. Emery needs to sort out this defence. Kane should’ve never been through so easily in the first place
Kane was in full Tom Daley mode: watch the replay and he springs up and curls into the water.
Starting that midfield 3 should be a capital offence.
So negative
We dominated the midfield for the entire game…
Completely agree. We only started dominating the game once Ceballos came on and provided a link from the midfield to our top 3. One of Willock, Ozil or Ceballos should play EVERY game this season
Definately! No point having a star attack if the manager is too timid to put a link player in midfield.
We should have had that game, and if we had a creative outlet in midfield we would rely less on the “spam it out to Kola” tactic, that apparently is the only thing Emery knows in attack, and we wouldn’t be so horribly unbalanced in defence during transitions..
We dominated the game in midfield from the first whistle. We conceded goals against the run of play and due to individual error. This is what we need to sort out.
It may have looked like we dominated the midfield, but no. .
A controlled midfield is not bypassed that easily in defence. It shields the defenders so the opposition can’t run at them. And in attack, a dominant midfield can link to the forward line without affecting the team balance.
We crutched on essentially using Kola as part of the midfield/front line. It helped us keep pressure but left us unbalanced in defence. And we paid the price as being easily cut open.
Out of breath. No idea what to even think, we should have won that in the second half, Spurs were there for the taking. Xhaka- fuck off, everyone is sick of you. This was typical Emery football- chaotic, no plan, no structure, just hope our forwards can do the business. We make the same usual mistakes that a better manager should be able to coach out of players, or at the very least, drop them, but if Emery rates Xhaka, what does that say about Emery?! This is Bruce Rioch. Arsenal can do far better than Unai Emery, and I… Read more »
Even worse, Willock?! Why was he not starting instead of Xhaka? Why did Nelson not come on instead of Mkhi? Why only make 2 subs when Spurs were fucking HANGING ON?
We’re a year in and I still can’t see a style or an identity. It’s really worrying — they let us come at them in the second half but the first half was classic Emeryball – confusion, chaos, calamitous!
It’s a joke that certain fans think we should just let Emery carry on, doesn’t matter if we see the same fucking shite, but because we’re “Class” we need to give a mediocre manager more time than any other so called “top” club would. Compare Sarri to Emery last season? Sarri was far more successful and Chelsea still recycled him. Nobody would want to play for Unai Emery, and if he gets his hands on Saliba, he will ruin him too, bloke cannot coach a defence
I miss not having a philosophy behind our play. I understand why Wenger went but watching this team is unpredictable to me now and I have many pairs of brown trousers.
Seriously.. We are slowly losing that identity. I hate this multifaceted confusing style!
I’m calm about it. I don’t rate Emery, but he’s reasonably “safe” not to flop completely (like OGS, for example) and Raul has proven he’s willing to be ruthless, so if there is somebody better who is willing to come, i’m sure we will approach them this summer.
Need to be making moves now mate
Like anything in the modern football world, i’m sure they have a list of names who have said in principle they would be open to an Arsenal move. If Emery looks set to leave, we’ll probably start moving through the list from Feb onwards
Guendozi is a proper baller, scary to think he is just 20!
MOTM for me and the best player on the pitch before we went behind as well.
Guendouzi!!!
What a player you are turning out to be.
Y
VAR is in place and Dele and Kane are still diving shamelessly. What a disgrace.
Can’t believe those cunts didn’t get even a booking. And at the end how did Sissoko and Winks escape second yellows? Refereeing seems farcical these days. Like a bunch of permutations put together to indicate what’s a foul or not
I was wondering how Xhaka managed to go 92 mins without a booking
We really should get rid of players prone to costly individual mistakes. So demoralizing for fans and players. I would rather have el Neny than Xhaka in a midfield 3.
Now back to reality for all arsenal fans we haven’t got the right formula. Front three great individuals but midfield not. I won’t fault xhaka we just have to play more games together before it works we can only dream when it does
How many games does it take to learn not to clatter the opposition attackers in your box?
Xhaka doesn’t make that kind of challenge outside the penalty box when you are crying for it! Then he goes and does that. He is not bad, he is not good. He is lukewarm. Spit him out.
These are professional players we talking about, who have been playing the game ever since they were kids. Such a joke of a player. How can we have two of them. Fuck you Stat Dna
Games or seasons? That kind of thing doesn’t exist in a top level performer more than once over a 3 year span I’d say because it stays with you. Literally learning. Seriously, what is going on in that guys head when he decides to do that? I keep comparing him to guendouzi I know but that kid looked promising last year but would make silly decisions occasionally and lose possession. But as these things happen and you grow older and gain ‘experience’ you eliminate those things from your game. He’s the example of learning and improving. No empty words about… Read more »
Don’t worry Dan – I am happy to fault Xhaka for you.
And happy to break his legs….
Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that…..
Super game to watch , spurs looked out of there depth second half… we looked far superior to them and they looked scared shitless….. and we looked truly exciting…
Come on you gunners
Ceballos should have started, it was definitely a game for him to thrive in and his impact when he came on was enormous. We were by far the superior team
To reach 70 points, you must get an average of 1,8 points+ per match. After four matches, Arsenal has 1,75, but has met two of the presumed top four teams. I’m quite optimistic. Today’s play was enthusiastic and timewise even good, and Arsenal should have won.
Our challenge these days is killing off the teams in the bottom half of the table. We used to do that with ease. These days the players face those teams with too much confidence and come short. That’s why we missed out on the top 4 last year. Played well today, you’d hope we play like that against a Southampton but we’ll face Norwich and you’ll see the boys play like they know it’s Norwich
I uses to start every season with the dream of a quadruple. But yea..eventually I learned.
Now..? Really content with the points table before the first game of the season. Top of the league. Every season..woooohoo !! 😀
Two points lost thanks to a very poor first half (bar the goal) nice assist from Pepe for it though. What the fuck was Xhaka thinking though, never do a sliding tackle in the box, twat !
The fact that Ozil was an unused sub for this of all games speaks volumes.
And lovely dive from *the man with the permanently open mouth* to finish the game !
Xhaka is a fucking liability, and the clueless Emery makes him club captain. Pepe…is he the new Gervinho? At home and Emery goes for the safe option and leaves out Ceballos and Ozil! Lacazette was a beast in the match, he must start every game. Guendouzi is becoming a good player. Oh Sokratis…..why do Arsenal always find these frauds for centre backs???
I’m pissed of right now.
Pepe is quality mate. Hold your horses.
Yeah, he’s top quality with no end product whatsoever. His shooting and final pass has been terrible every fucking game he’s played this season. I’m not writing him off yet, but he needs to improve. Fancy dribbling alone doesn’t cut it if you wanna be a first choice forward for this club
That’s pretty toxic. Pepe literally just moved to our club, and has barely played any full games yet to settle in, and you’re going for him like that?
Reassess your priorities bud.
Way too much through Kola/Mhiki and not enough through middle. They can’t get the ball to Auba from the left. Fell back on the losing Kola tactic we repeated ad nauseum last year. Nelson/Willock inexplicably overlooked in a high tempo game for an aging Mhiki. Not nearly quick enough to pounce on the few chances that fell his way. Pepe was a bit of a let down. I know he’s adjusting but some of his efforts on goal were ludicrous no matter which country you’re playing in. We played hard but blogs was right – the passengers became clear. Honestly… Read more »
Guendouzi is my man of the match. With laca a close 2nd. Hrs goal came at the right time before half time. And his attitude+goal celebretion gave me goosebumps
Throughout much of last season and just before the start of this one, I thought Guendouzi was the most overrated player in our squad. Basically Just saw him as Elneny only several years younger. Disregard everything I say from this moment on
We will, gladly.
He has been one of our best players since he put the shirt on!
Xhaka is Slow, doesn’t have skills to get away from the press, can’t complete a short pass-gives the ball away, has sudden rush of blood.
He is unbearable.
That’s a huge issue for him in the modern game. He was a sweet long pass, when given time, and every now and then a strong shot. But it’s not enough.
Bare minimum you need to be able to keep the ball with good close control, and to have good short quick passing, to succeed in top level, high tempo games. Especially if you play for The Arsenal.
Sad to see our technical superiority leave with Wenger ?
We were so pumped up, coming back from 2-0 against these twats again, and then – fucking Mkhitaryan. I just don’t get why Emery keeps involving this guy. He is far worse than Mustafi but gets away with it cause he ain’t a defender. 1 out of 10 games he is decent, the rest he is useless, and he completely ruined our momentum today. Also, Xhaka is daft as fuck. That said, it was great to see us fight back like that. To me Guendouzi and Leno stood out, as did Ceballos when he came on. Lacazette is a jewel… Read more »
As long this dopey midfielder called xhaka is in the team Arsenal will remain a Europa league club. Worst midfielder to ever wear the shirt
Unai fucked it up with the Xhaka selection and Mhiki substitution. Xhaka was directly involved in conceding both goals, week in week out, he must have made enough mistakes for a compilation video by now. We still have a Mustafi in the team. Mhiki looks like he doesn’t want to be there, his ball control was as good as kolasinac’s.
Even Utd have moved on Sanchez and we’re stuck with Mhiki, is Emery playing him cos he’s on so much dosh – unreal. Or is Emery frightened of giving youth a good chance.
To be honest I would swap back in a heartbeat. Sanchez only had 1 bad season. Miki has had 3 or 4 on the bounce, he’s value is in the negative due to his wages.
Great game. Great entertainment. Fair result. Dreadful defending will cost us this season.
…*might cost us this season.
My reason for optimism is that we have an entire back line to come in (Bellerin, Holding, Saliba + Tierney) and it’s obvious that Raul is targeting another CB in January/next summer. I’d rather we take our time to fix the defence properly than waste money on lots of average options.
But we have a manager who can’t coach proper defending.
Have you informed Josh of that Fats?? He should know, no? Fs
Yeah… stay positive then… FML
How good was Guendouzi? Immense performance from such a young guy.
How bad was Xhaka? He’s not going to change. Hopefully he will be squeezed out by Torreira, Guendouzi, Ceballos and Willock and then sold next year. He shouldn’t be anywhere near the first xi for important matches.
If this keeps up Emery might be on the fans’ chopping block sooner than later. Both Liv and Sp*rs game selections were pretty questionable.
Xhaka should be sold by Jan or next season. Guendouzi is the way to go. And seriously just 1 point out of 6 is not good at all..
How about 7 from 4 games having played two of the top three…? The negativity on this site is shocking and sad.
How about losing 4th spot by 1 point? Did that not happen last season?
Poll. One player leaves, Xhaka or Mustafi. Thumbs up for Xhaka, thumbs down for Mustafi.
Xhaka can leave. And Mustafi can rot in the bench.
Okay, so I get it, we now love our shiny new borrowed toy Ceballos, who we will hate after 3 or 4 poor games….also we sort of, like Torreira? (Honeymoon fever dwindling on this one)…..but we absolutely HATE Xhaka and we never even wanted him, it was all Wenger and Gazidis, I mean, its not like we fell for juicy media articles and demanded he be signed immediately!!…..We also hate Ozil and Mustafi!! We also want a minimum of two expensive shiny new toys EVERY transfer window!!!…..oh and Raul and Vinai are gods, do not even dare talk ill….and Emery… Read more »
Who said this?
Last NLD – mustafi giving away penalty
This nld- xhaka……
Can’t stand it.
I guess i am spewing too much vitriol against our player. Sorry.
It’s a fair comment tbh
I think that once again, squad selection let them down. Absolutely no reason for Xhaka to play for 90 minutes, or for Mikhitaryan to go on and completely stifle our attack when Willock, Nelson, and Ozil are on the bench. Emery dropping points
Miki coming on was Unai’s conservatism at its finest. We had them by the scruff of the neck and just needed some finesse in the final third to break them, and have Ozil on the bench, but he just can’t let the gloves come fully off. Can you imagine the morale boost that could come with Ozil coming on and creating the winner? The roof would have come off the Emirates and he’d be up and running big time for the season ahead. Instead we get Miki to come on and repeatedly fail to control a football. Would loved to… Read more »
We’ll never get back in the top 4 with players like Xhaka and Mhki in the team. Both are poor Wenger players, who IMO contributed to his demise. Shocking performer’s and they need to go. Kudos to Guendouzi who was great and let’s give Pepe time. He has natural ability that just needs time to shine.
dont worry they will contribute to emery’s also. hopefully sooner than later
I remember everyone banging on about how we should sign Mikhi for years before he went to United and anyone else we did not sign were a bad signing because they weren’t him. Could it be that we don’t know as much as we think we sometimes do about the quality of these players. Watching utube vids would be easy right?
When I was a lad we used to watch the game on TV and the presenter commented on how good the goals were. Now it’s all about who did what wrong. I’m not liking the new trend.
Lucky you. I got tim sherwood commenting the match. Though he made some fair points on his assessment
As negatives: We’re still punished by mistakes, while we barely punish other teams mistakes. Defending was bad and 1 point from last 2 games doesn’t bode too well. I quite like Xhaka, I think he offers a lot of things we could need, but sometimes I can see why people don’t like him, we should try to play other CM other than him. Willock? Ceballos (I hope we can sign him permanently). Miki was awful and killed lot of our attacks. Positives: Matteo was amazing, so was Ceballos when he came on. We deserved to win, we were the better… Read more »
Kolasinac getting umpteen crossing chances and choosing the play where he was offside to deliver the killer cross just sums us up the whole team today.
Big heart and some big performances but we were punished for not getting the details right
what a game by guendouzi.. or guen’golodouzi!
where are the xhaka fans?
It’s a shame that Pepe’s finishing isn’t as clinical as it needs to be, but I’m excited at the prospect of when it does! He had opportunities to score that he should have converted but he will soon. Ceballos is remarkable and needed to start. Xhaka hasn’t seemed to learn anything over his time at Arsenal. He’s a Mustafi in midfield. Mhiki also just isn’t good enough. Bumped off the ball too easily and poor decision making. Not a comforting substitute to have. I miss Giroud as a sub, powerful up front to wear down the center backs at the… Read more »
Nearly disastrous first half, but we adjusted well and probably should have taken 3 points. Battling but inconsistent performances all around. I thought Xhaka was lucky not to get sent off, his ability to foul with impunity helped us in the second half. I think it’s s good start.
Who are Arsenal ever going to improve when you have brainless idiots like Xhaka destroying everything you are trying to do? How the hell can he be considered a professional footballer much less the Arsenal captain? What does that say about Arsenal? Its a terrible thing to say but it would be best for the club if his cruciate ligament were to go just so the club can be rid of his incompetence for the rest of the season. He can’t pass, can’t tackle, can’t dictate the play, can’t read the game – what does he do? What does that… Read more »
Pepe has been great considering this was his third game (second start) after last season and already looks leagues above Iwobi. Not only that, he offers us a much needed outlet going forward which we have lacked for a while and puts some pressure off Aubameyang and Lacazette. The option of him adds more options for Geundouzi to cut through defenses through his passing. Pepe’s presence should not be underestimated even though he lost the ball at the end a few times. He looked very tired.
Why we still playing with Xhaka & Miki….. pls?
Great to get a result and we should have had more if not for some the mistake to put Mikhi on. Nelson knows what a nld is about and I’m absoluteley certain he would have been a huge upgrade to Mihki. Mihkis confidence is shot to shit and you could see him shaking in his boots. I’m sorry but I can’t stand Xhaka or Sokratis. Both are a bit stupid on the pitch. If Emery keeps those two in the team he should be sacked. Can’t wait for Bells and Tierney to come back so we at last can have… Read more »
I though Kola was quite decent to be honest. Sokratis had a mixed game but mostly solid apart from the first goal. Ceballos should have started for me. Mikhi was rusty af. Nelson might have been better, yeah.
Kola depends on what instructions he has. I don’t get it (big surprise) sometimes. He looks lika left winger and it might be that he’s instructed to be that high but in that case you need to question Emery.
Nelson must be wondering what he has to do to get on. I’d rather Emery put his nan on over miki. Even Ozil would have offered more..