Ten man Arsenal came away from Selhurst Park with a point today, after a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
The Gunners took the lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but failed to make the most of their early dominance. An Ayew shot which deflected off David Luiz for the Palace equaliser, before Aubameyang was sent off for a foul on Max Meyer.
Pepe hit the post late on, and Lacazette failed to make the most of the rebound, but in the context of the game, Mikel Arteta will probably be happy enough with the point.
Read the Crystal Palace 1-1 Arsenal report and see the goal here
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Ratings
The ratings are now hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Bernd Leno. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Disappointing that the control we had evaporated as soon as they started to press higher and more aggressively. I guess it’s promising that bar switching off on the free kick, they barely created anything. This will take time. It will get better.
I’m not convinced, I think this is our level right now, we’re 10th with a goal difference of minus 2 for a reason. We might get more out of Pepe + Ceballos as the season progresses, but we lack a spark. Lacazette worked hard, Niles was defensively switched on, some of Luiz’s passing was exceptional, Kolasinac took up some good positions in the first half, and Pepe strikes a pretty decent corner. But for a club who’s got so much individual quality in the final third, we’re lacking a ruthless cutting edge, we don’t create anywhere near enough chances from… Read more »
The forwards are not really firing. Arteta doesn’t seem to have managed to turn that around yet.
This is so spot on. As a competitive youth coach of 22 years, this is what my teams look like when I tell them to play Keep Away in training. Literally a compete lack of attack. Down thumb his comments as much as you’d like, but you should read that action as you just don’t want to believe it, buts sadly at this point, it’s true – mid table club at the moment.
Laca and Auba was a lethal combination last season but the team overall wasn’t really effective. Now we seem to have the opposite.
Laca hasn’t been the same since he got injured. That seems to be part of the problem.
I don’t think that mid table is our level. We have easily enough talent to be in the top 4. I think that we have had failures at the coaching/tactical level and above (looking at you, Raul, for dithering when Emery should have been shown the door), had to make do with an interim coach after that who didn’t have the requisite experience nor any support, and now Arteta is trying to work the players out of their Emery-induced funk and turn us back into an attacking, possession-based team with a well-drilled press. VAR has been a nightmare for us… Read more »
“we’re 10th with a goal difference of minus 2 for a reason.” Indeed, and that reason is Unai Emery.
I don’t expect us to make up the ground for the top four this season, but we have as good a squad as all but the champions and the champions-to-be, both of which are far above us.
What planet are you living on?
I suppose Ozil was 10/10 again today as well?
Is your real name Rebecca Wrong Daily? ?
Ugh.. so frustrating
Torreira is key for us!!! We’re so much better with him and I hope this injury isn’t serious.
I see on Twitter in Lacazette and I don’t understand it. Without him we don’t get the goal. I have faith he will get his confidence back next game at home and hope he can carry the load while Aubameyang is out and with Martinelli back I think they both can get us back on track.
Pepe almost got us the winner but I just don’t see it from him
Lacazette is brilliant, he never stops running for the team, I love him.
We’ll need to be patient with Pepe, he hits a really good set piece, and should be taking corners both sides, he looks like he has plenty of end product in his game, we just need to iron out a few creases, I think we’ll see more from him as the season progresses.
I think we all love Lacazette and applaud his effort levels, but he has been absolutely woeful in front of goal for some time now. I’m confident that will change, but as Blogs points out, it’s a problem right now.
The whole team is unbalanced. The situation we currently find ourselves in, has been years in the making. This squad needs so much surgery, I’m not sure where’s best to start. I like Xhaka+Torreira,they work hard, but we definitely need more dynamic upgrades, I love the look of Willock, but he probably needs a loan. I think Guendouzi has a high ceiling, but he’s 12-18 months away from where we need him to be, central midfielders generally start maturing between the ages of 22-24. Aubameyang isn’t a wide player, he’s a No9 who can play wide, I understand why we’d… Read more »
This is a team in transition. That’s basically it.
“I won’t even mention Ozil and our problems there….. as all I get is personal abuse, but his wages, and his decline, are a big problem for us.”
I’m so glad you didn’t mention Ozil. And I will not mention that the abuse you receive is well-deserved. Pro-Emery and pro-Tory. No, they’re not connected–two separate problems.
A Different George People who hold different viewpoints to your own, don’t deserve abuse. When will you guys learn? It’s the reason why Brexit and Trump won in 2016, why Boris just won a large majority, and Trump will likely smash the Democrats in November. Being offended is not an argument, abusing people who have different beliefs is not an argument, why don’t you try putting a reasoned argument forward? Or you could just ignore me? To quote our greatest post war Prime Minister, just for you ? “I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because… Read more »
Two ‘reasoned’ arguments – you can bring yourself to even mention Ozil and you ‘love’ AMN: Ozil was instrumental in our one moment of incision yesterday. Palace’s packed last 1/3 denied him the space he’s had in recent games. SHould he have done better in the first 30-40 when we were so dominant? Yes. But the fact remains he was the only creative spark in rather ordinary attacking display. AMN continues to look at sea at right back – yes, he dealt with Zaha but let’s also concede that Zaha had one of his most off-colour games in ages yesterday.… Read more »
Apols for typo line 1… ‘can’t bring yourself’
I was commenting on two things: (!) the dishonesty of your saying “I won’t mention Ozil” and then going ahead and saying exactly what you always say about Ozil.
(2) the arrogance with which you lecture people, despite what seems to me your lack of any genuine fellow-feeling.
I do think your political views shine through, in fact unconsciously motivate, your football views. To put it in capsule form: you are a Mourinho man, and I like Wenger and Klopp and, yes, Arteta.
Laca’s hold up play is also very hit and miss–great one moment, very sloppy the next–and he gives away too many stupid fouls that kill momentum and flow, when the player he’s pressing is going nowhere. Fix those things and I’d personally be more patient with his goal drought.
I’ve liked him since he arrived, but on average over the course of his Arsenal career (and currently), he’s pretty far from one of our two best players, Rich.
Since his injury?
He clearly has a lot of talent but maybe a bit too much of a headless chicken at the moment
That’s the best we’ve played with ten men for years. Arteta seemed pretty angry with the first 10-15 or so in the second half. His interview was interesting. He looked like a man who’d just had a big row. Good, because we took our foot off the accelerator until the red card. I am happy though that our defence is actually looking quite good now. And VAR needs binning. It always seems to go against us. Check out Chelsea’s penalty later. Blatant dive by Willian. Penalty given. Is it right, that if the ref gives the pen VAR won’t overrule… Read more »
The issue with VAR is the PL is wildly inconsistent in how it applies it and the decision is never made by the actual ref as it is in other leagues. In reality that’s a microcosm of PL ref standards as refs are wildly inconsistent even inside games. I have no problem with Auba’s red – it was the right decision. However if that’s the standard then it’s mind boggling some of the scissor tackles on Pepe and Martinelli in games past weren’t reds
The issue with VAR is that the same cheats who are refereeing the games are running VAR. PGMOL want it to fail and are manipulating it to their advantage.
I’ve said that for a few months now and while I am not sure you or I are right, it can’t be entirely dismissed as a theory.
Of course, we will never really find out if we are/were onto something.
If you are in the mood for conspiracies, wouldn’t PGMOL support VAR, as it creates another full refereeing position in every match? Doubles the number of available slots. Job security.
Having seen it back a few times now at full speed, I too think we can’t complain about the red, agreed.
I’m just annoyed at VAR because we never seem to get much in our favour. I honestly think that if a Palace player had made the same foul that no red would’ve been given.
No wonder PL refs (in the VAR hut too, remember) get ignored when it comes to the big international comps.
They’re shite.
It’s not VAR that’s the problem, it is how it is applied. For example, how was Zaha not looked at for his push on Pepe that ended up injuring Torreira ? That action directly affected how we controlled the game in the 2nd half, when Torreira was unable to continue. It might even mean LT11 is out for a couple of weeks or more, if Arteta’s comments and reaction, are anything to go by, which as we can safely say affects how we set up and the way play. When we tried to replicate his work we looked ragged and… Read more »
Those sly pushes when a player jumps can be really dangerous.
And Ayew’s persistent and cynical niggling from the off – including an ankle stamp very early on. A half-decent ref would have warned him after the 2ns and carded him for the 3rd offence (still in the first half), which may have had him in real trouble for his foul(s) later in the match. I don’t buy the whole ‘refs-cheat-conspiracy’ thing but Palace most certainly had way more leniency yesterday, particularly first 45 when they were chopping us up at will.
We won against Everton after Koscielny got red carded in the first half so I guess that counts as better but yes we were good.
I never thought I would read such childish rubbish on Arseblog. To believe that VAR can be biased towards certain team teams is pure nonsense and you use VAR in the name of the best foot ball team in the country is utterly puerile. VAR works very successfully around the world where it’s been in use for several years and is making the game so much fairer. Even though it’s not being used properly in the Premier League such as not referring to the pitch side monitors it is still making sure that referees are getting most decisions correct. Why… Read more »
What a stupid comment.
So people believe that a piece of technology can be biased towards certain teams and calling the champions elect LiVARpool is very sensible. I give up. I really thought our supporters would have more class
VAR, referees, referees using/abusing VAR, you know what he meant. And he’s right, it’s garbage right now because those operating it are garbage. Furthermore, Tierney is the kind of gormless, useless shitbag that makes the EPL refs the worst in all the top flights. How the fuck Ayew doesn’t the get the first yellow of the game is beyond bollocks. And that’s just the tip of that douchebag’s iceberg. If he touched/patted me like he does and had that stupid grin on his face, I’d clock him. And, finally, I despise Palace and those feckless southside cave dwellers. Horrible place… Read more »
Positive signs, especially from defence. I think it’s absurd to expect we can press hard for the entirety of the game, but what is a fair expectation is arsenal creating more chances. When you have four players up front who can play quick intelligent passes, they must show more or that beyond the one instance which lead to the goal.
I think we can expect more than 30 minutes though.
Seemed to sit back after scoring instead of keeping the pressure on for a second goal. This gave Palace hope and encouraged them forward . Guendouzi just could not replace Torreira.
I agree. Always only defending aftet one goal with Aub Laca and Pepe at the front.
Agree on Guen – he has sadly flattered to deceive in the last few months. Just seems to run around, waving his arms at the ref and doesn’t add anything on defence, compared to Torreira. He is decent enough going forward and can pick a good pass, but is useless at breaking up play in the midfield. No accident that Palace’s momentum upped so significantly once Tiger Torreira was off. Guen just doesn’t have the positional nous nor the commitment/speed to pounce on opposition passes.
“When you have four players up front who can play quick intelligent passes, they must show more of that beyond the one instance which lead to the goal.” 1. But we don’t really have four of those up top, at least not 4 that do quick passes consistently. Ozil’s the only one. Pepe was very poor today. Being a dangerous dribbler is a great asset, but he always feels he has to cut inside and out on his defender about six times before releasing the ball. I think he could be an absolute star eventually, but it looks to me… Read more »
What is everyone else’s line limit for reading a posting. Mine is about four. Any more and…
??♂️
that’s cool. no one’s holding a gun to your head. might be healthy to exercise your brain a little bit every once and a while though.
It’s not about the word count, it’s the quality that’s important. Pretty tired of people seeing a large block of text, deciding not to read it because they don’t have time/can’t be arsed – which is fair enough – but then taking the time to bring attention to the fact that they don’t like it. Which is it? If you aren’t interested, move on, if you are, read it and join in the discussion.
If people want to put the effort in then surely that’s something decent minded people can happily just respect or ignore?
Dunno. I enjoyed that analysis PFo. Agree that Pepe has work to do and Xhaka is too slow.
It takes more than 2 weeks to wash away Emery’s farcical tactics. I think the players will get better in time, especially in making braver decisions during build up.
Agreed. Our buildup play often sees our DM’s and wingbacks oriented backward with frequent return passes to Luiz and Sokratis when we should be receiving the ball in midfield and turning, looking to advance it into dangerous areas. This is emblematic of Emeryball, as is our lack of ability to exploit the center of the pitch (like we have been doing for limited periods lately under Arteta) to send Auba, Pepe, or Laca through. In attack, all four were making good runs up top, but we need to assert ourselves through the middle in the final third. Torreira’s hustle just… Read more »
PFo
I also enjoy reading thorough thoughts. Especially the ones I can agree with ?
There is one poster in particular who I will not mention that just copy and paste and it gets annoying lol
Good comment. Just imagine the result with Santi spraying the ball around yesterday… different game entirely.
Much more grit and we’re not being bullied anymore…….bravo players and Arteta for that.
As for the refereeing……..aha ha ha ahahaha ha ha haha ahah
I said this many times here and I still stand by my claim. Our biggest problem is the lack of the creativity. We don’t have players who can play in the final third. Because of that we can’t continuously press the opponent with the ball. Selling/loaning both Mkhitaryan and Iwobi was a big mistake. Most of the fans will not want to admit it but we miss them (or the type of players they are). As a counter argument many will say we replaced them with better Pepe, Martinelli and Nelson. Ok, to think that but they are not the… Read more »
I gave Luiz an extra point just for doing the ref’s job for him, and running 30 yards to move the ball to its rightful position for Palace’s late free kick.
Shithousery at its finest.
The funny part was that after all that pushing and grabbing the ball and milling about in a crowd–the ball was placed right where Luiz had wanted. Shithousery vindicated! Having lost Lichsteiner, we needed a new master of the art, and we certainly got him.
We are going to need Martinelli to step up in Auba’s absence especially since Lacazette has forgotten how to score.
And Saka as super sub. So long as Seads ankle doesn’t explode.
I do wonder what Ceballos can do at 10, now we’ve kind of established a semblance of organisation behind him.
Arteta said he doesn’t see him as a 10. I would be interested to see him alongside Torreira as a replacement for Xhaka, though. Don’t hate GX, but we need something different in there, someone who can get his head up quicker and receive the ball on the half turn at least some of the time. Clone Santi from about 2016 and the whole team would look a ton better, but in the absence of that technology, we could try coaching Ceballos to play in a similar role. Have no idea if it’d work or not, as I haven’t seen… Read more »
Absolutely – it’s that quick-footed/-headed ability to laser a pass instantly or alternatively, beat that first presser to create time/space. Santi could do both – and off either foot. Maybe he’d come back for a swansong season?
Personally, I’m giving Pepe a 0/10. Not for his overall performance – I thought he did well overall and he has all the makings of being a special player (the whip he puts on the ball is really something)
No, he gets a 0 for depriving us of all the GIFs and memes that would have resulted if he finished that move on Gary Cahill in the first half. He literally killed the mans soul. Alas, the touch was too heavy. Shame.
Cp were stomping on feet left and right with no cards and the Zaha push went uncalled yet any time we sniffed at cp we are . called for a foul or get a card.
Seemed like Arteta.didnt have plan B in this one. As soon as they.put us under pressure you knew a goal was coming
I can’t say there was a lack of commitment from the team but overall we did not keep up energy levels after the break enough to meet their obvious response coming. Loss of Torreira also significant. Then of course game altered artificially thanks to Ref and VAR. 1) Leno – Caught out by deflection. OK otherwise. 2) AMN – Thought he has been diligent. potential banana skin day with the tricky Zaha. BUT for one moment he switched off and was robbed off the ball overall OKish. He’s responded well to a third bite of the cherry with Bellerin still… Read more »
Can anyone tell me what Xhaka actually adds to the team? He is reminding me more and more of Denilson. Does he have a killer through ball, quick passing, unstoppable dribbling, an eye for goal, or defensive ability?
No he does not! None of these. He is a poor shadow of Ramsey or Wilshere, who for all their faults at least had something special they could bring to the team, and didn’t bring the energy levels down with negativity.
I hope Arteta sees something I don’t.
Guendouzi 6.5??!! How about 2.5…fucking shite as usual.