Result: Burnley 1 – 1 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 6 March 2021
Venue: Turf Moor
Arsenal: Leno, Chambers, David Luiz, Mari, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Willian, Aubameyang
Subs: Ryan, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Elneny, Ceballos, Pepe, Martinelli, Lacazette
Arsenal shot themselves in the foot at Turf Moor as they let their lead slip to gift Burnley a 1-1 result.
The Gunners dominated the early stages and scored within the first five minutes. They continued to produce great chances but couldn’t find the finish. Leno and Xhaka’s mistake allowed Burnley back into the game.
Despite Burnley nullifying Arsenal for most of the second half, Pepe had 3 penalty calls unfairly waved away as the Gunners dropped two points in their chase for a European place.
Pre-Game
There were a couple of surprise inclusions in the team against Burnley with Chambers starting his first Premier League game in over a year at right back since coming back from his long-term injury, possibly to tuck into central areas and provide some height against the Orcs.
Partey, Saka and Aubameyang returned to start and Willian kept his place after his promising performance against Leicester.
First Half
Arsenal were the dominant team from kick off though it was a challenge to keep the ball on the ground due to how dry and bobbly the pitch was. Despite the tough conditions, the Gunners were not fazed as they scored within the first 5 minutes.
A clever interchange between Xhaka and Partey allowed Arsenal to play out from the Burnley press. Partey fed Willian who lurked cleverly between the lines and the Brazilian’s dribble upfield was left unchallenged. He passed to Aubameyang on the left who cut in against a Burnley back line that kept backing away as slotted the ball towards the bottom corner of the near post. Nick Pope got his palm to the ball but couldn’t keep it out as it sneaked under him. 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal continued to dominate possession comfortably and patiently while also holding Burnley at arm’s length. Willian’s movement was particularly impressive, flitting between central and left channels that made him a hard target to mark. But it was Aubameyang who remained elusive to the home side as he had two more chances within the next 10 minutes by running in behind the defence.
His first shot was blocked and his second went wide as he was off balance. Aubameyang was again involved for the next chance, creating an opening for Saka as he too went wide from close range.
Burnley eventually started gaining possession though Arsenal were untroubled. I had a sneaky feeling that Arsenal’s wastefulness in front of goal was not going to go unpunished and it was the away team who pressed the self-destruct button.
Leno and Xhaka were looking to play out from the back but were penned in by Burnley’s two strikers. Xhaka attempted a right footed pass to the wide area but it was blocked by Wood and the ball deflected into the net. It was a poor pass by Xhaka but Leno should also not have passed to the Swiss who was not in a great position to receive the ball. 1-1 Burnley
Arsenal should have at least been two goals ahead, even when taking into consideration the defensive error, and the manager should have had a few choice words with the players in the dressing room.
Second Half
The Gunners took the initiative again in the second half though they couldn’t pry open a steadfast Burnley defence. Odegaard and Saka had a couple of decent chances but it wasn’t all one way traffic – the home side reverted to their physical route one approach to rattle Arsenal.
With Arsenal being nullified, Arteta opted to remove Odegaard for the more combative Lacazette on the 62nd minute to take over the central playmaking role. Willian was the next player to make way, on the 69th minute, this time for Pepe who took his place on the right wing as Saka shifted to the left.
Pepe’s introduction almost bore fruit. He took on his defender in the box and as the ball bounced, it hit the defender on the arm, twice. It should have been a penalty but the referee waved it away. A very poor decision there by the ref.
Pepe had another glorious chance to push Arsenal into the lead with 10 minutes to go. Tierney fizzed a low cross into the box and Pepe, usually excellent with his finishing, took his eye of the ball and was half a second too slow to connect with the ball as he scuffed it.
His second chance from another Tierney cross came soon after. He connected well this time around though the ball hit a Burnley defender on the arm on route to goal. After the initial handball decision was not given, the referee opted to make it a hattrick of non-penalty calls against Arsenal – shambolic stuff.
Aubameyang’s close range attempt was blocked and Ceballos’ shot hit the upright during injury time. It was just not to be for Arsenal.
The good news is we only have to learn how to beat ourselves.
The bad news is we are really good against ourselves.
We would no doubt be in the champions league places without glaring individual errors this season. Just in the last handful of games it’s cost us countless points.
We can talk all day about the handball decision but we can’t leave that game without three points, regardless of the useless inconsistencies of VAR. So, so, so frustrating. Aaaahhhh.
Balls.
This team can go down next season. We need to be very very careful on whom we buy in coming transfer window
What? Go down? Are you mad? We’ve bossed every game we’ve played for quite some time. Without individual errors we’ll be flying.
Don’t think we bossed this game. Burnley had the clearest goal scoring opportunity when Wood missed. Individual errors happen, we should be able to overcome them.
Second half we weren’t really threatening, we were just so slow, so predictable, forwards showing no movement. Never had sustained or incisive possession. The subs did little to help. This match left me a lot more disappointed than other defeats.
The fact is though at 1-0 we have them exactly where we want them. They have to push onto us second half and we can catch them on the break.
Yes, after the equaliser it was even. But without the equaliser it’s a completely different game.
Individual errors happen. Yes. But more often for some than others.
Sure, playing Burnley a goal up is an advantage. I think we should still be better playing Burnley at a goal apiece.
Yeah, hitting the post, having a goal shouldered off the line, a blatant penalty turned down and Pepe missing from six yards shows we were never going to score…
Ok, I’ll stop now. Not saying we didn’t have chances or shouldn’t feel unlucky or aggrieved. My point was we didn’t play well, still didn’t create enough from play. I think you can have chances and still play poorly, which was most of the match. Seems you think those two cannot coexist, which is a fair difference in opinion.
individual errors have become natural with Arsenal
We also had 15 shots to their 9 and 60% possession. I call that bossed.
Don’t think those stats mean ‘bossed’.
Most of that possession was our patented sterile passing aka the horseshoe aka the arc of frustration. Burnley had more shots on target, 5 vs. 3.
xG was 1.2 to 2.3.
We win that game a lot of the time.
They created one really good chance, so 1 of those 5 was an actual goal threat. Meanwhile, Auba, Saka and Pepe all missed the target with chances as good as anything Burnley created. Throw in the multiple times we hit the woodwork, and it really should have been a comfortable win. Apply some context when using stats.
Xhaka alone has cost us so many points this season its not even a joke! Like they say Xhaka Luiz Willian Pepe all have a mistake or 3 in them no matter how well they play its just a matter of time before they return to their typical self they remind you exactly what they really are. Such comedy its not even funny
These are facts…why the thump down
The mention of Pepe, I don’t think he made a mistake.
his miss looks bad but factor in the slight deflection it’s only bad because saka missed and ray charles was on var duty
LOL the mention of Pepe is not based on this game, I mentioned Luiz also did Luiz make a mistake in this game? of course not but has he made silly mistakes that have cost the team in the past? yes has Pepe made silly mistakes that have cost the team in the past? yes his red card is just one example recently, we can go back to other mistakes that didnt involve a red card where he gave a ball at the edge of his box to the opposition and instead of immediate trying to get it back stood… Read more »
Johnny 4 excuses.
Johnny 4 clearances.
Look at Burnley first, Bro. Is there any player in the Burnley squad, who can play to Arsenal U-23.
Giving away a stupid goal does not mean, you have draw or lose the game. We were as close to losing the game as we were to winning it.
If we had played 90 min like we did in the last 5, then I could have said we were unlucky.
This team didn’t give a sh*t for 70 min after scoring the goal, which suggests there are huge problems in this team.
So we could go down because a team that won’t go down have way worse players than us?
Of course not, Burnley have an average squad age of 104, none of them are young enough to play for our U23’s
You are dam right! It is only ignorant folks that think that Arsenal is doing well. You can boss the game all you can, without a result, it is a complete bullshit. Even when it was 1-1, there was not much desire…no fight in their belly. They juggle and move the ball that they still have 90mins left.
I don’t agree with that at all. We haven’t bossed any games this season really, far from it. Bar maybe the West Brom away day in the snow, but they’re hilariously bad. Just to clarify, we have failed to beat Burnley once this season, which is absolutely not good enough. Arteta aside, we have all seen that performance a million times in recent years away from home. And its just getting to the point now where it’s always the same characters involved. Not to pin this all on him, as the officiating was an absolute disgrace again. But Xhaka for… Read more »
I must have been watching a different game to all you lot. I saw us comfortable and dangerous until the Xhaka brain fart. Saka had a great opportunity to make it two and Auba was put through too before they equalised.
Then second half we hit the post, Pepe missed a sitter, we had a blatant penalty turned down, Pepe had a shot cleared off the line, Auba had a great chance late on… They looked vaguely dangerous a few times but we had more than enough chances to win comfortably.
In what possible scenario is 1-1 considered a ‘bossing.’
Analytics are not strong with this one…
Just check the score at the final whistle mate. You’ll get just as much out of the game.
Analytics?
What are you talking about.
We drew the game 1 – 1 that never in a million years is a ‘bossing.’
Ok. We just created more, had more possession, had a better xG, had more shots, had a shit tonne of chances, should of had a penalty…
Even game. Happy with the point.
First home defeat at the Emirates against West Ham we lost 0-1. We absolutely bossed them and had 23 shots to their 2. You CAN boss a game and not win it – and we bossed Burnley.
Have a look at the table. Guess the table is lying, where we are in tenth, and barely holding on to our position. Two teams above us, have played lesser games than us.
If Leeds win, we will be 11th.
Xhaka may be whatever you want to describe him as but there is a tendency, right from when he was first linked to Arsenal, for many fans to act like Partey is better than he actually is. Partey’s time at the club has been disrupted by injuries, but to say he has done much is far from the truth. In many games, he’s been insignificant, yet he never gets criticised. Bar Xhaka’s error, partly caused by Leno, he was the better of the two central midfielders in the game. Partey was disposed/out-muscled by Burnley players so many times or gave… Read more »
Good point, he was stolling around after we went into the lead (as were many of our players). I believe partey is a quality player but for christ sake speed up this is the premiership not la liga stop start football. Odegaard has adapted far better to pace and intensity of premiership than partey, people will put this down to the injuries sustained and up and down nature of of his starts this season. For christ sake though did he think he was coing to serie A. Do our coaches not talk to our players about tempo, obviously not given… Read more »
fucking hell you must be blind if you think xhaka was better than partey in that game.
Individual errors are not all random events as you seem to imply. Our last crop of league winners didn’t have them nearly as often as our players have this season. It is not just luck, it is also quality.
Sorry but that’s horse wallop.
I agree that we need to be very careful who we buy in the summer window but I really don’t think we’re relegation material. That said, we also won’t be challenging for a top 4 position anytime soon unless something fundamental changes (cutting down on the errors, scoring more goals – who knows).
Fundamental changes like changing the manager. Any decent manager ancheloti for example would have this squad top 6
If we stuck by Arteta in the fall, there’s very little chance we sack him now. He’s massively underperformed this year, but the hope is it’s just growing pains in the same way a young player costs you points. There needs to be hard standards next year however
It’s not clear what arsenals standards are anymore.
The problem is if you accept mediocrity the standards continue to fall 5th or 6th is a failure for arsenal. But this season has been such a disaster that next season that can be spun as a success.
He’s had a season and a half now to sort the squad out and basically been given a free ride this season.
Yep it is an absolute joke, all this bollocks about give him time he will build something over period of time, what about now for fuck sake we are the arsenal. So we just wipe a season of shit out do we no big deal he going to get it right if we patient. Is he? Is he really?
Once again its the old guard costing us points again and once again mikel leaps to the defence of his favourites.
Well he can’t defend players who don’t play for us can he?
We had young players out there. They didn’t win the match for us either. We always have young players out there. They aren’t a miracle cure for all our woes.
Xhaka has give away more goals as outfield player than any other in last 4 years. Consistently let’s the club down.
He is the exact same character as Luiz. Big personality, big character, influential in the dressing room.
But they just can’t help themselves. If Xhaka could cut this shit out, he’d be one of the best in his position in the prem.
“If Xhaka could … “. The difference between average – good – excellent players is the success they have in reducing the “ifs” associated with their performances. I don’t think Xhaka, after this time, can do that – but we live in hope.
“One of the best in his position in the prem”.
That’s a questionable statement. The best midfielders don’t need time and space to play, and can use both feet. When has Xhaka ever done anything of note, while under pressure? How many times did he go backwards today, but in similar situations, Partey would go forward either with a pass or a dribble
Ok, maybe a slight exaggeration. But take away his ridiculous insane stupidity and I think history would remember him very differently.
He’s average and wouldn’t get into a top clubs midfield, and I’m including Everton and Leicester. When he looked to be on his way out, why did no big European clubs show an interest in him?
There’s often two sides to history, but only ever one fact
To me Elneny is the very definition of average. And Xhaka is a way more gifted footballer than him. I’d say Xhaka was good with serious flaws. Were he to remove said flaws, we’d consider him a good squad member I have no doubt.
And let’s be honest, up until Partey he’s had some real stinkers for CM colleagues.
I agree with everything there, except using the word “gifted” to describe such a limited player.
Mattheus, Vieira, Albertini, or any midfield partner you could think of, wouldn’t help to take Xhaka’s game to a level that we’d like. Flaws like his are usually taken out of top players games at youth level. For instance, players don’t learn to use their weaker foot in their early to mid 20’s.
Take Fabregas for an example. Both are limited physically, but Fabregas was better at 17 than Xhaka will ever be.
I still remember that penalty against Brighton that cost us CL. A leopard will never change its spots. Like it or not he is the common denominator with this team’s slide down the league. I want him out of the club.
BBC
“Since the start of 2016-17, Granit Xhaka has made more errors leading to goals (8) than any other outfield player in the Premier League.”
Arsenal conceded 222 goals in this period, Granit Xhaka errors are 3.6% of these goals. 1 out of every 28 goals conceded. Unbelievable.
Wow. Just wow. That’s mental. He could be Iniesta and we’d still have to ship him with a record like that. Is that really real?
That’s the heavy hit of confirmation bias I needed. Thanks! All jokes aside I was thinking to myself after his mistake that he must be high up on that list. Fuck
Couple it with his Red Cards and he costs us a lot of points 🙁
If our strikers were scoring more goals none of that would matter. What we have is a weak squad. That’s what gets you into mid-table mediocrity, and that’s what keeps you there.
Only vast amounts of money (haha) or a freakish amount of team spirit (they “seem” to be buddies, but clubs do lie about things like that), belief (I’m not sure I see any), and luck can get you out of there. We have no luck whatsoever. Just look at how they buggered up the VAR reviews yesterday.
Correct. He is an accident waiting to happen and slows down every forward transition.
Leno as much to blame. He should have cleared the ball and shouldn’t have put Xhaka in that position
“cleared the ball and shouldn’t have put Xhaka in that position“
I’m sorry but that’s nonsense. You don’t expect a premiership footballer (under) minimal pressure) to kick the ball to an opponent 5 yards away.
That is all on Xhaka and Arteta for selecting him.
It was a shocking pass from Leno. Utterly ridiculous. Just fucking get rid.
Much worse. He hit the opponent and the shot hot in. The opponent didn’t even had to move to intercept the ball. Xhaka was completely unaware of him.
Xhaka didn’t exactly have a lot of time to decide what to do after Leno passed to him like there wasn’t an opposing player within 50 yards.
I don’t rate Leno in this sort of set up, great shot stopper but poor distribution.
The club will never get where we want them to be, with Xhaka and Luiz in the squad.
The thing is, they have a good run of a few games and people get carried away, then they do what Xhaka and Luiz does.
I beat myself a lot
Generally, or just after Arsenal games?
Pretty much all the time tbh
After watching that I gave myself a right beating
Mate, how can you take any positives from this match. This was as poor as it gets. What a travesty of a match, I’m more annoyed than the Wolves result. Nothing went right after the 6th minute. What a stupid goal to concede, dumbest of the season from Xhaka AND Leno. The match officials were even dumber. They wouldn’t have had to recede Pieter’s red card if he had been sent off for his double handball earlier. I am not the biggest fan of FIFA but I really hope they or UEFA will replace the VAR officials with their own… Read more »
How can you not? We had about 5 clear cut chances to win it.
I can’t work out if I’ve become a delusional optimist or what. I’m not saying it was vintage Arsenal but we played easily well enough to win comfortably.
No we didn’t. Chances not scored are exactly the same as farting in the centre circle…. they do not affect the result because they are essentially non-events.
How did saka miss that
How did pepe miss that
Wtf was the VAR guy smoking for the handball
Why do arsenal do this to my heart
How is Xhaka still a professional footballer
4 out of 5
Which one do you not agree w mate?
Arsenal doesn’t care about your heart.
Can’t believe we didn’t win. Definitely a penalty, not the sending off one, Pepe missed on his good foot, Xhaka a terrible goal to give away. Crazy!
Just absolutely sick of it. Thrown those 3 points straight in the bin. We just can’t seem to get anything right and God forbid we get a single ounce of luck. Officials awful as usual, cost us a penalty, then miraculous saves, off the bar, off the post, centimetres wide.
I’m furious at that. Absolutely scandalous decision.
But
We shouldn’t be relying on VAR. Burnley have taken 4 points off us. That is unforgivable.
I hope Xhaka never plays for us again.
He is occasionally a good player.
But he has shown over 5 years(?) that he cannot be trusted not to do something mind numbingly retarded. Sometimes it’s hard to believe he is allowed to cross the road alone.
Now that my blood temperature has come down from 345°c I’m happy to row back on this slightly.
I hope Xhaka plays well for us for the rest of the season, then I never see him in an arsenal shirt again.
It just wasn’t our day but the self-inflicted stuff is ridiculous. Xhaka is only partially to blame. Leno should know better than to pass to him in that situation. Sure, playing out from the back is fine when you know what you’re doing. When under pressure, boot the ball upfield son.
Two main reasons we didn’t win today – Xhaka and lack of killer instinct from the team. Burnley earned 4 points against us!
For our European ambitions through the PL route, the draw is more like a defeat.
Yes, it’s a setback as far as the PL is concerned and makes three points against Sp*rs even more important (other than for the usual reasons). If we don’t manage that it will surely take a monumental c*ck-up by several other teams and a similar, but positive, run by us to get into an EL place. That will put the whole focus on the EL, but there’s a long way still to go down that route.
What happens against Spuds doesn’t even matter because there are other teams above them. This team is not getting European qualification via the league (this season or next) until Arteta is able to demonstrate he can manage 4 league wins in a row. Something he has not managed even once in 15 months here. Look through past seasons for clubs that have qualified for European football in the EPL, you’ll find that they have at least managed 4 consecutive league wins. It’s become apparent that the board is sticking with Arteta and Edu because it is the considerably cheaper option.… Read more »
Spot on. Arteta is a poor coach in all aspects. The club is taking the piss out of us.
Xhaka serving us the same shit for 5 years.. wow so endearing he is.. I so love him.. such a fighter..
This is probably the game that defines what our season and we have been. We score a good goal because we have talented players, we give away a stupid goal because we do stupid things all the time and then we were denied a handball so clear that the only way it can be clearer is if Pepe hit it from 25 yards and Pieters saved it with his hands like a goalkeeper diving. I was so angry that I’m sure I’d have hit the referee if I was on the pitch. Xhaka made a blunder but it’d be so… Read more »
I agree with a lot of what you said but the Pepe for Willian sub made us a whole lot better because for the first 25 mins of the second half we weren’t doing anything at all
Pepe himself was good, I agree. But maybe I was thinking more about Lacazette when he came out and the position that he was playing and subsequently the positions everyone else started taking.
Just thinking the same thing. I know he missed that chance but Pepe in the match made us alot Better.
Don’t think the subs made us worse today, more threatening in fact, given the way the 2nd half was going
He takes too long to sub. What was he thinking with Ceballos? I feel he just doesn’t trust his bench.
Ceballos decision was fine, Thomas looked off today. Actually could have happened sooner.
This is the game I finally start to doubt Arteta and the plan. I’ve been a big fan and have been 100% behind him. But today we made the same mistakes that have undone us all season. You can blame Xhaka (and I do) for being a brain dead twat. But the system that put him in that position, the training ground instruction that got less the sum of our parts, the team selection and substitutions were not good enough. I don’t expect us to be perfect. I do expect us to learn from our errors or what is the… Read more »
It’s really hard for me to judge this team. We created enough chances to win the game. We have players who are obviously not up to the level like Xhaka but it looks like we are trying to move them along which is all you can ask for. We also have a group of excellent players coming through. The one criticism that can be said is some players seem to be favored even if they are terrible.
To be fair the ref made a call in real time and got it wrong.
Its VAR to blame, they looked at it and decided it still wasnt a penalty
So feel free to knock out Kevim friend if you ever see him. Hes the cheat here.
I know it was always going to be a long shot but after that result I think that’s our hopes for getting in the top 6 gone
You’re right. We just don;t have a killer instinct when on top of a game.
We might have to sacrifice the game against Spurs in between Olympiacos. I can’t take that.
What a stitch up. We know VAR officials never work for us and we shouldn’t rely on their consistency. However, in the light of the Luiz red and penalty, how does the Burnley double handball get nothing?
You’re right. We just don;t have a killer instinct when on top of a game.
It’s the lack of accountability that is astonishing. How can there be so much pressure from the managers and the media but nothing gets done about these horrendous calls.
Two words..Kevin friend (check out his stats when he refs us) I know, i know more than 2 words.. friend is no friend of the AFC
This team can go down next season. We need to be very very careful on whom we buy in coming transfer window
It was bad, but nowhere as bad as that.
Xhaka has a great left foot. Why does he never use it? I hate singling out players but my patience is wearing thin with him.
Absolute stonewall penalty. We get to extra time and we’re still passing it sideways nonchalantly. And at final whistle Luiz is having a nice joke and laugh with the opposition. Incredibly frustrating day and, while we were unlucky today, the best teams battle and fight against bad luck. We should have put this game to bed against an incredibly average side.
Sometimes a game can turn on a moment – remember pressing the life out of Bayern Munich for the first 10 minutes in 2014, winning a penalty, missing it and how the game changed pretty much immediately? Well, that was Bayern Munich and this was Burnley. The tempo was so much better before the error. After that they all just seemed to be feeling sorry for themselves (until very late in the second half).
I love Pepe’s work this season, but that miss gave me horrific flashbacks to Gervinho at Valley Parade.
Gervinho was my first thought when I saw the replay
Xhaka will let this club down time and time and time again.
it’s his fault, no doubt about it, but am i the only the who thinks he was unnecessarily put under a lot of pressure by leno?
Maybe so, but he comes for the ball and appears to want it. Hard to fault the goal keeper for that.
So what? This is premier league not school football where you crumble under such scant pressure
Awwww.. But he is such a fighter.. fucking BS
Today just kind of summed up where we are as a club this year – getting better but at the end of the day not good enough. We’ve made some strides & the 2nd half of the year has looked a lot better. But that’s also b/c the first 1/2 was probably the worst Arsenal has played in at least 30 years both performance & results wise. I hope this year really turns into a learning year for Arteta & we’re able to get some new young blood in. No more Willian type signings or Luiz. We’re nowhere near challenging… Read more »
I was downvoted loads less than a week ago for stating Xhaka isn’t good enough and always has errors that lead to goals in him.
Let’s see if people wake up now.
Thanks for gifting Burnley a draw and costing us two more points.
The opinions around here swing wildly based on form. Hopefully Arteta & Edu take a more holistic view of players when it comes to squad building.
You’re right, despite the negative votes. There are plenty of examples – just look at older posts on this site. Most of the team have been a hero or a zero – or both consecutively, on odd occasions – during the season. We should at least try and look at things overall, not one or two games at a time. I’m sure that’s what the management team are doing as it’s the only sensible approach.
Hudson-Odoi was subbed on by Tuchel and then taken off again because he wasn’t working hard enough. That’s Management and taking responsibility. Not hoping it will all work out in the end
Ditto I got destroyed for the same reason. He has a terrible attitude and constantly flatters to deceive. He’s not the only problem we have at the moment but he is an obvious and easy problem to fix.
our fanbase has some of the most knee jerk reactions in the league (myself included)
xhaka has ball playing ability but like mustafi his errors outweigh the positives
has played well since the reverse fixture but the error is always there in him
singlehandedly did cost us 5 pts to burnley. this season.
With players like Xhaka who continually let the team down (and don’t give me that rubbish about him being crucial to our play, he’s been crucial to our downfall since 2016), this will always happen. Buck stops with the manager who continually lets his favourites get away with errors
There’s a reason Arsenal are bottom of the league when it comes to late goals in the league this season.
Shambles. When will Arteta take blame for where we are this season? If you make disgusting errors in every game and are constantly awarded with new contracts and starts, don’t ever blame refereeing (which we all know is terrible).
Absolute joke of a season and the table doesn’t lie
I’m sorry jay but why can’t we blame refereeing? We are a team with a lot of young players and some mediocre players who are trying to find their groove and more often then not they rely on the fine margins to get points. When those fine margins are stripped away from us game after game by bias referring/VAR decisions, then we have every right to complain. Every Fucking Game it happens. VAR take half an hour on every one of our goals to try and find a reason to chalk it off. Then they take 5 seconds to approve… Read more »
This. Spurs get a penalty for a handball that wasn’t and we get nothing for a handball that was. That’s four points difference in the table robbed, to me that’s being cheated. And Burnley should be fined for the state of that “pitch”, this is the Premier League and there need to be standards, there are better pitches at my local park, that’s also cheating. I feel for our players, it’s difficult enough without trying to play against referees and everyone else who love it when we fail.
Xhaka has been crucial to our downfall, But also crucial to our stability. Its the inconsistency that kills us. What frustrates me about our fans is that were so reactionary, this bi-polar attitude towards our players is kind of embarrassing.
Nail on head El Chapitan
“Xhaka has been crucial to our downfall, But also crucial to our stability.“
Eh?
“this bi-polar attitude towards our players is kind of embarrassing”
Er…
Let me make it more clearer so the kids can understand. Our team lacks consistency, and we have fans who will criticize every bad pass our players make. Not trying to take away the stupidity by Xhaka today but wow
Jeez don’t be so salty.
Your first paragraph contradicts itself. It amused me that you then criticised others for being bi polar.
Not salty mate, im as contradicting as our form haha
All in all Xhaka defines the state of our club no?
Fair play El_Chapitan. Have to agree there’s been too much division in our fan base. Hoping when we all get back in the stadium and Arteta finds the magic formula, we get back to being the best fans in the world.
Have a good night and up the arse!
It’s a real shame Arteta does this with regards to selection, but the coaching really is starting to seem suspect too. Basic errors and ill discipline are worrying trends
This
All these Error, I really think we have a communication problems. If a player blind side you. You should have team mates reminding you to be careful because XX. That being said, the level of referees in this league is abysmall. Is there a way for us to make it change?
Arsenal 1-1 Arsenal
this has to be in the top 3 of arsenal’s most arsenal matches i’ve ever seen. we’re getting better and better at shooting ourselves in the foot each season
I think if a manager is able to see this lukewarm bullshit for 60-70 minutes and do nothing about it he and the team deserves to be where we are at the moment…
Our pace and agility are lightyears away from the top teams in Europe
There goes our top 6 hopes. The dry pitch made things real awkward I felt, but we should have scored with the chances we created. The most frustrating draw of the season for me. Willian didn’t do much again I’m afraid. Had we started with Pepe, we would have won that I think.
Let’s just hope we win the NLD next week to stop Spurs getting any higher up the table.
As far as wider ramifications go I’m willing to wait to see how the season ends – we are still in another competition, whether you think we realistically can win it is another matter. But for this game, just inefficient that we did a lot well in the first half and only got one goal. A better cushion would likely have rendered everything else irrelevant.
arsenal are consistent in the wrong thing: shooting themselves in the foot
this type of game has been played out countless times this season: missed chances and then hitting the self destruct button
given that we play the likes of spurs, west ham, olympiakos and liverpool in the next few games, games like burnley are where we ought to get all 3 points, and yet here we are ffs
feels as terrible as the reverse fixture
I mean u can only laugh at this point. So obvious after a decent lester perfomance. Now we will beat Spuds, Olympicaos, west ham and liverpool and then lose to fulham and sheffield. because we are the arsenal.
If we beat those four teams, at the moment I think I’d be ok with us losing to Fulham and Sheffield United.
Mikel, if you really wanna protect your ego, at least don’t torture us by substituting Willian after 65 minutes of play so we won’t be able to see that enormous progression of quality that literally anyone could bring to the table. Stick to the Brazilian and leave our head buried in the sand
Masters of self destruction. There has to be a permanent „push the button, push push the button“ in the players heads which they’re unable to resist at some point. Comical game. If this goes anything near normal, we win it 4-0 probably. Staggering how we‘re able to do this so regularly under so different managers.
After a bright start we seemed to get drawn into a scrappy game that suited them more than us. David Luiz never seems to inject any urgency into the game and his constant passing back and forth with xhaka drives me mad.
Too many times from the pair of them today just slowing the ball down unnecessarily.
This is what Xhaka does every 10 games or so. He doesn’t have the concentration required to be consistent at the top level and will inevitably drop us in the shit. This is who he is, and it’s our own fault for relying on his constantly. Sorely need to upgrade in the summer. Pepe looked our best chance of winning it when he came on, what’s he got to do to get a starting run ahead of Willian? Frustrating performance, but one which demonstrates our current standing as a team. Still a way to go
that’s all he does, “look dangerous”. did you see the sitter he missed? the guy can’t play football, he can’t handle one ounce of pressure. he’s better off playing for some random french team nobody cares about. absolutely disgraceful, gervinho 2.0
Auba missed a sitter too. Does he belong in league 1? Overall I was more impressed with 20mins of Pepe than 65 of Willian. That’s a low bar I know but still
auba might miss goals but he also scores them. and though pepe did look more dangerous than willian, i think it was due to the fact we as a team put a lot more pressure in the final minutes over a burnley team that allowed it. we may discuss about who’s better these days, but as you said, the bar’s very low nonetheless. i rather aknowledge it than thinking pepe’s doing great just because he’s been recently doing some step overs and shooting on goal.
ARTETA OUT !!!!!
fuck off man
No
leno-again making a mistake that leads to a direct goal-pretty much(third time this season)
hes not good enough -get rid
oh what a cock up by arteta and edu in getting rid of emi–
i think they gonna destroy martinez aswell as saliba–put he guy on the pitch
sack arteta -ive had enough of these processes and excuses—
If you can’t hack a season and a half (in the middle of a pandemic) of transition with a rookie manager, then you are in for a lifetime of disappointments pal.
exactly a rookie whom should be replaced by a quality manager before he does more damage to our club
Disappointing. Early goal, silly mistake to concede and also penalty controversy. At the end of the day a point was the minimum we needed if we’re to make any progress up the table so I guess that’s something (but not much).
The possible success, or otherwise, of our season really depends on the next three games doesn’t it – the two against Olympiacos and the Sp*rs game. You can’t say it’s not gripping stuff!
How not to win a game of football, by Arsenal Football Club:
1: Dominate the first half but refuse to take your clear-cut chances.
2: Hand the opposition a goal with comedy defending before halftime.
3:Go off the boil in the second half and let the opposition right back in it.
4: Have a cunt referee who denies a clear handball.
5: Miss more sitters like Pepe did from 6 yards.
7 Defend like idiots and nearly lose it.
Oh, and pick Willian.
Xhaka’s idiocy is beyond words. A 10-year-old wouldn’t do that. Totally derailed us in a game we looked set to win by several goals. But how we didn’t get a penalty for the obvious arm out handball is astonishing, as was Pepe’s airshot and Ceballos’s miss at the end. That, in 90 minutes, is why we’re finishing midtable.
The goal line block was chest not hand, but that straight arm for the first incident was as clear cut a handball as I’ve ever seen!
I don’t understand the point of var, it makes no sense at all. I would much rather moan about the organic decisions being wrong. And yes, I do remember esr having a red rescinded.
Arteta’s ego will earn him so many enemies and cost him his job.
Playing from the back and keeping Willian (underperforming again) on for so long..
So no doubt the “well, you should just win the game easily and not make it a close call” crowd will be out in force after this. But if the insane Burnley goal and the insane Arsenal not-goals at the end don’t tell you how close things are at this level, then I just can’t help you. So then, when you have refs/VAR not giving pens like the clearest pen in the history of pens we should have been given in the 73rd minute, then what the hell can you do? (The red/not red card decision later was correct.) It’s… Read more »
Can’t help noticing already that Xhaka’s coming in for way more stick than Leno.
Leno wasn’t at fault as that’s clearly how we’re being told to play. I found it astonishing that Keown seemed to hold him responsible.
Sometimes, perhaps, you have to launch it even if you want to play it. Was poor from both but Leno had the better opportunity to not let it happen.
Mikel stated clearly in an interview a while back that we like to play out from the back but there are times when we have to be pragmatic and just clear the ball. It was Leno who decided to play that stupid pass, there is no instruction that he has to always play out, he’s put plenty long in the games before this one. He fucked up.
In days of old I would have criticised Leno for not clearing it, but in the current climate, with our tactics what they are nowadays, Xhaka still had time and space. Arteta has criticised players for launching it when the nearest teammate has been under much greater pressure than Xhaka was.
Leno WAS at fault for the goal. He had to play it long. Playing it to Xhaka, who had his back to goal and had a Burnley player bearing down on him, was incredibly stupid. Trying to beat a press in your own penalty area was idiotic.
It was Leno who passed out that ball to Granit who was already under pressure, it’s probably more his fault for not clearing it. But Leno’s a favourite and Xhaka’s not, so Leno, who’s had plenty of brain farts in an Arsenal shirt, will probably be absolved of all blame by the majority. A total fuck up by both of them.
I actually turned the TV off during extra time – not overly frustrated, but just knew nothing was going to happen. Having watched only the second half, the game gave me quite the vibe of a practice match. Neither team showed any urgency, lot of aimless kicks forward and why did none of our players barring Pepe appeal for the penalty? Even when you haven’t seen it, you should provide back up when your team mate is vociferously protesting? I don’t know, like I said before it all felt like a weekend game between bunch of mates.
COMEDY!!! smh
Another xhaka fark up. No matter what that Fraud does, even if he starts a little uoturn of good form, he will shit on it in less than 10 games. Always.
Xhaka has been crucial to our downfall, But also crucial to our stability. Its the inconsistency that kills us. What frustrates me about our fans is that were so reactionary, this bi-polar attitude towards our players is kind of embarrassing.
It’s the bipolar performances by highly paid professionals that are killing us.
Exactly!
Yeah. And evened out over the course of the season, with him a regular member of our spine, he’s good enough for a europa league finish at best
Yet the prevailing fan opinion on him oscillates wildly between 2 extremes. He’s a bit better than your average PL midfielder, but not good enough to start game in, game out for where we are trying to get to. And then there are the ridiculous brain farts
Same deal with Luiz
All in all Xhaka defines the state of our club no?
Let me make it more clearer so the kids can understand. Our team lacks consistency, and we have fans who will criticize every bad pass our players make. Not trying to take away the stupidity by Xhaka today but wow
This is what happens when the manager has unwavering trust in players that have been calamitous their entire careers, or at the very least their entire Arsenal careers. Certain players have let their teammates down over and over again, and the sooner they are sold the better. I don’t care if they occasionally do their job fairly decently, the amount of times they’ve lost us matches outweighs the times they’ve helped us win games. Oh, and Burnley are absolute cunts.
As Tim Stillman pointed out on Twitter, the individual errors & ref decisions are so frustrating since we dominate – it feels unjust.
Our main problem is we don’t convert chances & kill of the games. Errors & decisions wouldn’t matter then.
Weak mentality is a big problem. As soon as Burnley equalised I knew the rest of the game was going to be a long boring slog. Despite the fact we had looked decent until that point
Why the hell do we think it is a good idea to play the ball from the keeper to a field player coming towards him at the penalty spot with defenders all around?!?! I am all for playing out of the back, but don’t do it stupidly like that. Typical of our play all match – too casual. Certainly should have had a PK – 100% – and can’t believe VAR didn’t call one, but also had tons of chances we should have buried especially that awful whiff by Pepe. What was most frustrating was there was little urgency in… Read more »
I agree Mark, like an accident waiting to happen, and then it does.
Doing a “Arsenal” is not a coincidence. for this situation with Xhaka its two errors in judgement, one technichal error and a basic flaw in how we play out from the back. To the situation,Xhaka should not have invited the pass knowing that he would have to play next pass with his weak foot, Leno shouldn’t made the pass and ofcourse the pass itself was horror show. But the main issue is that we try to play out from the back without a proper risk-reward analysis. Playing from the back is to play off a high press and keep the… Read more »
It’s pretty clear we are gonna end the season with an all time points low. Say what you will about this game or that game or the various VAR decisions but ultimately we are under performing with a better squad than what Emery had. Even a better squad than what Wenger had in his first year. There is only one guy who will take the fall for that. Arteta. It’s been an interesting experiment but it’s clear it’s not working. Work experience is well and truly over now. Thank you and goodbye. And for those who wish for Arteta to… Read more »
*Wenger’s final year…
Reversing the second one was the correct decision. It came off the top of his shoulder. We’d have been livid if that was given against us.
But the first one was pretty obvious, and much worse than many that have been given this year. ESR’s recently for example.
Still even with all that, Arsenal should have won this one going away. Far too many major errors this year. We’d be bouncing around the top 4 if we cut out even half of those.
If is the language used by losers unfortunately. I’m not trying to be harsh, but in the world of elite sports there is no room for ifs. And over the course of a season you find yourself saying”if this and if that” then chances are your team is doing something wrong.
Here’s a good if to mull over: If we’d have stuck with Wenger we’d probably be doing better than now. At least be playing better. Same for Emery. I didn’t believe it could get worse than under Emery’s final year but the proof is in the pudding.
No real argument there. The chances were available to be taken and we didn’t. Can’t depend on refs or not having stupid mistakes. All teams have stupid mistakes.
Why is Willian back in the side
Absolute mood ruining game
Fuck off, I hat you all
Remember when we were trying to offload Xhaka in January 20′ and a bidding war started between multiple clubs?
Yeah, me neither. That is the guy’s level.
Remember when the genius of all geniuses, who can never be criticised ever, bought him for £30+ mil? Along with mustafi for another £30+ mil?
I love Arteta and I really want him to succeed. But the way he manage players will be his downfall. I don’t care are good William is in retaining possession, on no account should he be starting ahead of Pepe in this team right now on current form
I’ve been sat on the fence with VAR, but the inconsistencies are ruining the game Adding a useless layer of bureaucracy, to an already useless layer of bureaucracy, rarely ends well Even with the benefit of multiple slow motion replays, they’re incapable of applying the rules consistently In theory, it’s a good idea, in practice, it’s ruining the game They’ll never scrap it though, bureaucracies are like viruses, they spread Instead of scrapping it, they’ll just call in more useless bureaucrats to help fix the problem they created They’ll have conversations about conversations, and every time then try to fix… Read more »
Not sure why Pepe getting so much stick for the miss, Saka should have buried that chance in 1st half but we’re not guna have a go at him and rightly so. I would rather question Arteta’s reasoning behind starting Willian ahead of Pepe, as Pepe has some aerial presence about him and puts a tackle/interception in so was really surprised he plumped for William….. surely a confident Pepe from the off would’ve have been a better option, I’m still 50/50 sitting on fence about Arteta he’s too cagey for my liking, and I think the league table reflects that… Read more »