Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Odegaard, Smith Rowe, Saka, Pepe, Aubameyang
Subs: Leno, Holding, Maitland-Niles, Cedric, Tavares, Elneny, Sambi, Martinelli, Lacazette
—
Arsenal had an injury time goal from substitute Alexandre Lacazette to thank for rescuing a point in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at the Emirates this evening.
Mikel Arteta picked an attacking line-up, starting with a 4-3-3 formation, with Martin Odegaard, Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gunners began relatively brightly, dominating possession in the early stages, and went ahead in the 8th minute after winning a corner. Odegaard’s delivery was heavy, Pepe did well to make space to take a shot which the keeper made a good save from, but Aubameyang was sharp at the back post to tuck the ball home. 1-0.
The captain then required treatment having been taken out off the ball as he ran towards goal, but carried on. Smith Rowe shot straight at the keeper when he might have played Pepe in outside him, while Palace’s first attempt on target was no trouble for Aaron Ramsdale. Their second, from Benteke, made the keeper work a bit harder as the visitors looked to exert some pressure.
Edouard was the next to have a go as Palace enjoyed a period of the game, but the former Celtic man shot over on the turn. Saka found his way into the referee’s book after a foul, much to the annoyance of Arsenal fans who had seen McArthur let off the hook a few moments earlier. The Palace man then got booked for a brutal kick on Saka as Arsenal cleared a corner, he was lucky not to see red, such was the ferocity of the foul.
There was late danger when another Palace corner was punched away by Ramsdale, and the keeper had to make a superb save from Conor Gallagher’s swerving shot to ensure Arsenal took the 1-0 lead into the break.
That assault on Saka forced Arteta into a half-time change, with the England man replaced by Albert Sambi Lokonga. Thomas Partey’s search for his first Arsenal goal continued but he’s getting closer, firing a shot from distance just wide with the keeper scrambling.
However, the midfielder was at fault as Palace equalised just 5 minutes into the second half. Partey got caught in possession, the ball came to Benteke, he stepped inside Gabriel and fired a shot into the bottom corner. 1-1.
Ramsdale then tipped an Ayew shot over the bar, and once more it was Palace who had more of the ball and looked the most likely to score again. Partey attempted to make up for his mistake with another effort at goal, but it flew wide, before Alex Lacazette replaced Odegaard in the 67th minute.
The Frenchman made an immediate impact, linking well with Aubameyang, and saw a goalbound effort tipped around the post. However, from the resulting corner Arsenal found themselves a goal down. Sambi got caught on the ball, Palace worked it forward, Edouard hit it straight at the goal, and it crashed in off the underside of the bar. 1-2.
Arteta’s last throw of the dice came in the 81st minute when Gabriel Martinelli replaced Partey, with the Gunners desperate for an equaliser. It almost came with three minutes to go when Tierney absolutely rattled the crossbar from close range, and Lacazette worked hard to create a shooting opportunity but whacked it well high and wide.
It looked done and dusted for us, until late into injury time we won a corner. It was cleared, Pepe put it in again, it fell to White whose shot was blocked, it fell to Lacazette who hammered it home from close range. 2-2.
It probably wasn’t what we deserved, and it was a poor night overall for Arteta’s side, but we kept going and got something from a difficult position.
That was lucky really. Arteta’s is playing a Goldilocks system and it is not easy on the eye.
Tierney is worrying too, now that he has been sucked in by the Arsenal backwards and sideways passing complaint. He was such a bright spark last year.
Lucky to get a point. Vieira has established his style but Arteta still wonders, dont think can make excuses for him any more. There is no style, no plan b, most goals are just made via individual brilliance, the last act of play before the goal where no one came to help martinelli showed how the team is being coached. Not happy at all.
True. Pep’s system only works when you have the best players in the world. So is it a useful system at all?
I mean, I suppose it might be Pep’s system. But honestly, who the hell knows?
It’s all just very… *sigh* Arteta.
We bought “ball playing” center backs and still cannot play out from the back with conviction. A major part of his system, we were told, is pressing. I am still looking for the organized press.
Another season is going down the drain. Aston Villa and Leicester will be interesting.
I sat there tonight watching this same old Arteta performance we know so well and I just started to think that this might be all that Arteta can offer Arsenal. Maybe there’s not some secret awesomeness that is about to reveal itself to us. Maybe this is it. Moments of good stuff sandwiched between long periods of dross where we have to just soak up and soak up pressure, putting endless strain on our back four. We feel like a 15 minute a game team. I dunno. I just felt something dawn on me tonight. Maybe I’m being reactionary after… Read more »
Same here. It kind of dawned on me tonight that Arteta might not get us back into Europe. Under him, we will probably languish mid table.
The coaching was poor tonight.
I’m not sure he really considers the opponent at all. I feel like he just sets up with his best team and hopes for the best. I think that’s where his lack of experience really shows. We played the same system tonight as we did against Burnley. Two completely different games, Palace played three up top, Burnley played two. Palace plays possession football, Burnley play long balls. I don’t think we are good enough to do a Liverpool and just smash through teams. And I think there are too many other good sides in this league for Arteta to sneak… Read more »
I thought exactly the same thing.
I’ll try to put it down to not having them to work with for two weeks, and hope it improves on Friday
Yep, have we had 2 genuinely good performances this season? Nowhere near good enough.
No we have had a good first half against the scum and been piss poor, creating so few chances and playing shite in every other game. Lucky to win against Norwich and Burnley
This.
I think the players have just started to under perform when coached by Arteta and his team, Partey is quality but his performance has been so poor, same with Lokonga, tierney was lost, everyone static , there is no movement to receive simple passes. I agree with you This Is It i guess arteta can do.
Johnny, do you remember our little conversation a few days ago about Laca and Martinelli?
It’s like I saw into the future 😉
So if Laca isn’t at the club, who comes on in the 65th to get a goal?
Just like I said…
Just like you said?
If Laca was sold, like you said, we would have lost today.
Like I said, he is a different player from Martinelli and offers different qualities
The conversation was about whether Laca took minutes away from Martinelli.
And our survey says… yah.
Yes it was, you said Laca should have been sold.
I disagreed, as he still has something to offer coming from the bench, and something different from Martinelli, which was proven tonight.
True or false?
Maybe you would have preferred Martinelli getting the minutes, but the team not getting a point
Laca came on at 1-1 and it finished 2-2. So nothing changed.
I would go back and reread the convo. You asserted that Laca wouldn’t take Martinelli’s minutes. There was no discussion about which was more effective.
You’d have to be an idiot to not realise that they are different players. That just wasn’t the point.
Maybe you should read it again, that is clearly not what I was saying.
All I said was Laca shouldn’t have been sold as he has something to offer.
Why can’t they both be on the pitch and contribute?
Oh wait, that happened today.
Sounds like Martinelli’s minutes might be more important to you than getting results
What concerns me is that we started well, got the first goal, and then completely dropped off. We somehow managed to go into half time still ahead, but started the second just as we had finished the first, i.e. awful.
Statistically speaking, if you are ahead, at home, at half time, you really should be seeing the game off, especially when the opposition is a team of (no offence) Crystal Palace’s calibre. Yet we somehow always manage to struggle.
Once we score we sit back, hand possession and try to counter like we did agains the scum. That’s the only time it’s worked. It’s a joke. At home against Palace, Norwich etc and trying to play counter attack. My god we have fallen so far 😩😩
Penny finally dropped, has it?
Congratulations.
It must be cool being negative. Because every manager eventually gets sacked.
You are the proverbial broken watch. Congrats.
I personally thought it only fair to really judge performances when the manager had the right set of players at his disposal. And I haven’t lost hope. I’m just adjusting my perception. You probably wouldn’t understand.
Cheer up Johnny. You’re guaranteed all the green thumbs, no matter what utter bollocks you write.
🤭🤐
Oh, sorry mate, yes of course, I was forgetting. Thou shalt not criticise thy exalted one The Lord God Johnny. And only HIM shall thy bestow upon thine thumbs up.
We and Arteta face a major challenge. The league continues to produce far superior managing and coaching in all clubs resulting in many more very competitive matches. Mathematically this reduces odds of winning for all teams especially those choosing to play this Arteta/Pep style which has less room for error because such specialized highly talented players are required. I am not skilled or observant enough to see all the more subtle variations being employed to know if Arteta is really being too rigid in adherence of style. At the same time, on a good note, we see higher numbers of… Read more »
What a bunch of crap.
You moralise about other clubs and other owners and we’ve just spent enough money in a single transfer window to feed and clothe a small country.
This football club is in decline because of your idol’s stubbornness and failed coaching methods.
End of.
Today’s starting 11 is about the best we can get. Or are you waiting for Xhaka? In which case when he returns, you can blame the ANC then.
🤣👍🍺
Mostly definitely shit, sometimes maybe good
Like seriously? Arteta is no good, even when we thrashed spurs, a pal asked me if I was happy, I said no, arteta should be gone, I thought they said lack of European football, will benefit us, it’s even worse, Truth is he too can’t blame anyone if he’s sacked, he’s got all he wanted, viera should keep building him self up so he can take over from arteta
Comedy Gold. 🤣
Maybe???? This was obvious a year ago
Even Tomiyasu had a terrible game today. We are just simply abysmal. I stopped watching our games at a point last season, I am beginning to drift towards that zone again. There are better things to be doing for 90 minutes than screaming at my TV in frustration.
His one-two with Pepe in the leadup to the first goal was delicious but otherwise I agree; got caught on the ball a few too many times for my liking today.
I think “even Tomiyasu” says a lot about the unrealistic expectations of Arsenal supporters. I am disappointed he had a poor game, but he is a young defender with little experience at this level. He has all the tools for the future, but no one should expect Dani Alves yet. The same with Lokanga–incredible promise for the future, but he will be crap some games.
Yup, he has been making what my brother (United fan) refers to as the “bellerin pass” (RB to RCB, or in this case, LB to LCB) far more frequently recently it seems.
Sounds like a coaching problem.
So, the ‘Kolasinac pass’ then!
Even when he hasn’t, his crosses have been really poor: just launched high and often overhit.
That being said, he has looked very isolated down the left, and it’s not just him. When Martinelli came on, Gabriel played a through ball straight down the line and once he controlled it he turned around looking for support, only to realise there wasn’t another Arsenal player within about 40 yards of him. How can anyone expect to be able to work anything from that position?
2-2 really flatters us.
Same old problems. This sounds like a broken record already but here we go again:
– we don’t press as a team
– wingers and forward isolated
– the midfield and forwards are disjointed
– teams cut thru our press without much effort
– hardly any take ons. Our players can’t shield the ball, and creating space.
I think we played poorly, and they played better–but the score flatters them as much as us. They had almost no serious threats bar the two they scored. The first of their two goals possibly came from a foul. The second definitely did.
But they are Crystal Palace and we are the Arsenal.
We shouldn’t be at the same level.
Doesn’t help KT that they play the ball behind him
Got away with it, big style but we are our own worst enemy. Even when Palace pushed us there was no need to give the ball away so often as we did.
Xhaka would have been sent off for the McArthur kick but I suppose with Mike “The game is all about me” Dean not really surprising.
At least we have a chance to make up for this sloppy performance later in the week.
Defenders have figured out that Tierney only has one move and they just force him inside. It certainly doesn’t help that he’s the only Arsenal player allowed on the left side of the field by Arteta’s tactics.
Anyone else left with a really bizarre feeling after that game? Honestly, I did feel quite a lot of sympathy towards Patrick when I saw him sink to his knees as we shit housed that last minute equaliser. Yet at the same time, the sense of relief was also massive. Because we all know how completely abject that performance was, I’d say abject is almost polite. It would be much closer to the truth to say it was diabolical. So to get something from that game in the dying embers was such a huge surprise — I honestly didn’t think… Read more »
When we draw all our winnable matches, what is left, 4 points dropped, our problem ATM is coaching, Patrick viera proved this night, Thomas frank will do wonders with this team, if xhaka was fit, am sure we would have gotten more from this 2 games, our midfield is the problem, if by the end of this season we don’t finish above our position last season, with the investment we made, arteta should be gone
Now Xhaka is good before you guys were crucifying Xhaka saying he’s not good enough, he should be sold. Now, you all are are missing Xhaka. We, Arsenal fans are also part of the problem.
The last 2 games are the type that shows up all of Xhaka’s weaknesses, especially the Brighton match
Still shit.
It’s all on the manager I’m afraid. Dominate game , go one nil up and the create fuck all. That’s only our second goal of season in second half of games. And we were lucky to get that. Palace far better than us. Arteta seems utterly clueless. This won’t end well and this is not a knee jerk reaction folks. At least we have scored more than Norwich 😂
Shit sticks to your foot. We just love to jump out of a challenge. Pepe, good shot for the opener, never beats a man after and I love that thing he does when he gives the ball away. Jumps backwards a couple of steps so it looks like he wasn’t in position to chase the man who has just taken it off in zero inches away. How it fools his teammates and worse still the coaching team? phew. Worst counter attacking team in the league, NLD aside no player willing to thread a pass in the box no have a… Read more »
Loved the look of Edouard. Crystal Palace got themselves a bargain there.
It’s their system and tactics. Ayew, Benteke, Edouard, they had countless chances to run directly at our CBs. Auba is making early runs and nobody’s interested in picking them up. We fake and pass sideways/backwards
Auba in that palace team running directly at the Arsenal defence would have scored a hat trick. Just ask yourself the last time you saw us put Auba through or even a chance to run directly at a CB. Pass pass pass and when you get tired whack in a cross to a guy who’s strength is running through
Great desire and impact from Laca, but this team is so hard to watch
Same old Arteta, one step forward two steps back. Thanks Laca
Absolutely!
This kind of “system is above all” – droid football is not a great source of enjoyment indeed…
Yeah the Tierney-c37 droid model is not as good as the original human prototype
Vieira deserved the win. Piss poor today.
On the plus side, we got a point out of Mike Dean…
How in the fuck did they finish with 11? McArthur (sp?) should have easily been carded before absolutely assaulting Saka, volleys his standing leg full force while the ball is still head height, fucking stonewall straight red. And if he was properly dealt with he’d be at least 2nd yellowed.
Just praying that Saka isn’t bollixed now. Swear to God, if someone pulled that sort of kickboxing move on a normal human that’s a broken leg. Only saving grace is a footballers elite conditioning, but no mistake that was a potential leg breaker. Can never argue that wasn’t reckless endangerment.
Yes I saw that. Blatant violent conduct. Wtf…
This, and not even a mention about it from the pundits. That was a assault.
an
Ian Wright, Glen Murray, and former ref Dermot Gallaghar all clearly thought it was a red card in the coverage I was watching. How the hell did VAR not see it? Madness.
MacArthur should have had a yellow already for fouling ESR from behind…
Bigger issue is why do we finally start trying in the last 5 mins? Create some craziness earlier in the game. Stop trying to walk the bloody ball into the net…
Yeah what the fuck was that?? Just booted him up in the air.
If McArthur gets the red card he deserved then it’s a different game with Palace down to 10 players and probably a different result and a much more calmer time on this blog, but once again the officials and VAR fail to do their job.
Interesting to see Dean ignore quite a few fouls by Palace players but immediately produce a yellow for the first foul by Saka just before he was kicked out of the game.
I don’t expect favouritism for Arsenal just even handedness by the officials but as usual we get the rough end of the stick.
That would only paper over the obvious cracks in this side
Not even sure how to feel about that but glad the boys stole a point at the death.
Well that was bad, but I do feel like we’ve deserved even just a little bit of luck for some time, and we got that today. Have to say that Ramsdale has been superb, and Lacazette really sparked the team to life when he came on also.
disagree. leno would have saved their second. give him flak for not being “commanding” all you want, but he’s an excellent shot stopper
The keeper never expects that shot to go through, White was really poor on that. It was a powerful shot and when it passes by white there is no time to react
White backed off to far for me
He’s been reasonable thus far but maybe we should expect a bit more than that for the outlay. I see Brighton didn’t other replacing him & going by the stats Dunk has taken the responsibility of distribution from defence for Brighton and is doing a better job of it than White is for us. Is it a case of Brighton’s system making White look good or our system making White (and just about everyone else in the team) look bad?
Luck won’t get us far if that’s all we have. How about having Zaha not playing, that’s already luck in itself but we can’t even capitalize. And what is it, 2 years with Arteta now? And we still look as clueless as we did when he first came. Vieira is in his first season and he’s already stamped a particular style. Barring the one or two good performances (e.g. Spurs this year) then we get a constant stretch of abysmal performances from Arteta. Let us not also forget Arteta has been given a near £150m outlay in the transfer market… Read more »
What was up with Odegaard tonight? He looked so far off the pace it was almost unbelievable
He slows it all down and takes way to long on the ball.
Are you copying and pasting the usual comment for Xhaka? He was not playing today 😉
Bang on.
Many of our players are inconsistent — little wonder we are an inconsistent team. Look at the performance today and you won’t believe this team overawed Tottenham just less than a month ago. Where was the energy and passion they showed in that game?
Tottenham were shit against us. Absolute rubbish. We were not as good as we would like to believe against Spurs.
I can’t understand this line of reasoning.
On the one hand, we always expect players to go the extra mile in the derby, on the other, we then expect them to repeat that against everyone else.
Really poor. He shows flashes of quality but nowhere near enough.
Everything was bouncing off him too.. Touches like he didn’t know what to do next
He was shite but never stopped showing for the ball, he’ll be OK.
Moved out of position to accommodate the woeful Pepe
We stole a draw.
Palace deserved to win. Not because they were the better team, but because they were better organised and better prepared.
I don’t know what this team is supposed to be and, apparently, neither do the players.
Yeah even acknowledging crap refereeing decisions, we were still lucky. That’s how bad we were. No one higher than a 5 today.
Fuck me, if they’d all played like Lacca we’d have won 10-1 🤦♂️
Tierney os going backwards on Edouard untill now, must be out of Emirates by the time of this comment
White*** my anger got me wrong
Vieira and palace showing that you don’t need 2 years for a process to manifest itself.
And nearly £150m spent in the transfer window
While missing Zaha and Eze…
Are we saying Verira in then 🤔
Don Cazorleone
one midfielder strategy found out again
Oh how I needed that finish by Laca! The game like the rest of day was pants.
Celebrations at the end were hilarious. Arteta could be given Barca 2008 and he would still bore the entire world. Absolute joke of a manager. Vieira has already got Palace playing in a way Arteta hasn’t managed in 2 years
Honestly what are we doing with Arteta. Do we just plan to hang around mid table forever? That’s what we’re playing like after £230m investment. The goodwill he’s got is baffling and quite disgusting in all honesty
That Barca team were actually a bit boring in fairness. Weren’t to my taste anyway
Nah, Spain at the same time were boring, but Barca played some insanely adventurous football. They did have a tendency to kill the game with their keep ball once they held a comfortable lead though, which was pretty tedious granted I’d love to see what Guardiola could do at like a Leeds or somewhere. Probably won’t happen though as he’s still got the PSG, Spain, Barca reunion and maybe Juve jobs to cycle through before he retires. It’s a shame because proving himself with a smaller club will do much more for his reputation and legacy than any number of… Read more »
I just watched the last half hour or so of the second El Classico of 2012. Barca brings on a sub who immediately scores the tying goal. Alexis Sanchez. But moments after the restart, a brilliant pass to Ronaldo puts him through and he scores. The passer? Mesut Ozil.
pretty bad. very not good
How patient do we have to be in order to put up with dross like this 3 out of every 4 games?? There is no process. Just incompetence.
Absolutely unacceptable performance overall. Dawdling on the ball led directly to the two goals conceded and Arsenal had pretty well zero creativity for about 80 of the 95 minutes. Very lucky to scrape a draw at home to Crystal Palace. Ladies and gentlemen, this is our level.
Got lucky that old paddy got cold feet and went defensive in the last minutes, think they were better shaped with edouard on the pitch but credit to arsenal for forcing the equaliser. Definetly a point gained after a woeful midfield performance.
Great result all things considered. It’s always though after international breaks. This is one of those games that we’d have lost in previous years. Drawing is progress. Not creating chances is worrying but we’re getting there. Let’s judge Arteta at the end of next season. Martinelli looked lively, it’s a shame we have too many creative players ahead of him. He must go on loan.
If you consider this a great result, Arteta is the manager for you.
Is this a troll post ?
Only positives from this game were we didn’t lose, Laca and Martinelli looked lively.
We have a better squad but the football they play is as boring and clueless as Emery’s give it to Kolasinac and cut it back.
Arteta needs to do better. Scraping a draw at home to Palace, without their best player isn’t acceptable. I actually felt it for Vieira
Laca clearly needs to be played more! Also that tackle on Saka, Xhaka would be put in jail for that.
Partey was also fouked for their first one.
Partey turned blindly into trouble and lost the ball. Sambi was open for the pass but he tried to be cute
Crystal Palace have a better coach. You could tell what they were doing, and being very good at it on the night.
That can’t be said about Arsenal.
The process continues.
Can we please stop the Arteta experiment now? It’s not going to get any better
Is it the players or is it the manager or a combination but the style of play or lack off is so painful to watch
Arteta was a turgid boring professional player who sets up a turgid boring professional team. It’s so frustrating to watch. I’m screaming at the tv as we go around in a horseshoe shape the same way I screamed at the tv as Arteta went back and sideways back in the day. Death by 1000 coaching manuals.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Thay often say method to the madness however I can’t quite see it right now! And nor do the players by the looks of it…
Rubbish performance.
We have a number of technical players who aren’t exceptional in terms of physical attributes (size, speed), and in certain matches, they get exposed. We really need a couple of more direct / stronger players to combat teams like this – to be able to win in the air on set pieces, to not get pushed off the ball in the middle of the pitch, and to create faster counters. Martinelli and Laca were excellent off the bench. They brought a fight that we were really lacking. Speaking of which… This is the rare match where I felt we really… Read more »
#ARSCRY reminds me of the aftermath of the last time my no1 local Indian restaurant was shut for refurbishment and I had to go to the slightly more dubious one where it was rumoured that seagull was passed off as chicken. It was probably more pleasant than watching Arsenal this season.
I hope the board has a line already set on what it takes for arteta to continue.
Don’t want to end up as the #BoiledFrog
Saka should only play on the right.
He was absolutely poor tonight. I hope his substitution was down to performance and not injury.
Yes he was very disappointing this evening. It should be him or Pepe this season, then one should be moved on (ideally Pepe but if Saka won’t sign a new deal and a serious offer comes in we should consider it) and the money invested in a right-footed left winger.
Oh and before I forget, that was a red card on Saka
Mike Dean is a fucking cunt and I hope Arsenal takes whatever kind of action we can against him. He hates Arsenal. Without a doubt.
That said giving away two goals like we did is so Arsenal it’s in our fucking dna. We need a manager that can coach those mistakes out of our game and Arteta isn’t the one to do that. That’s obvious.
Does anyone truly believe we progressed with Arteta since he took over? Does anyone truly believe we stand a chance of making top six? I don’t. I don’t see any progress at all.
We have certainly not progressed under Arteta. It’s becoming sickening really.
Vieira has been in CP for just a couple of months and the whole world can see what he is about.
What process are we supposed to trust under Arteta?
This season will be as bad as the last one, if not worse. I can’t see us making the top half at this rate.
The worst of it all is that we are stuck with Arteta; just like United with Ole.
What do supporters of other teams think of Mike Dean? The same. Everyone is convinced he hates their side. He is not prejudiced. Just an incompetent, self-important prick. It is simply amazing that he continues to be assigned Premier League games.
To be fair, we played well in the first 15 minutes, then it felt like the team lost all confidence and decided to try sitting on the 1 goal lead.
I’m also amazed that the kick which took Sakha out of the game only got a yellow
That’s what we do in every game. Start with high tempo and then sit back after 15 minutes. It’s not confidence. It’s tactics.
Naah, you can always tell in the first five minutes if we’re switched on or not. We were poor in posession from the start today. No tempo at all. Lucky to score the first.
any other center referee and that mcarthur challenge is a red. tough luck
Even if you don’t get the straight red, he has to get a yellow for the tactical foul on ESR five minutes earlier, and be off for 2 yellows. Absolutely no way he should have stayed on the pitch either way.
Does anyone know if a player can be punished after the game via camera evidence?
This was on purpose and dangerous.
Yes, unless a referee punishes the player during the match, in which case the FA claims it’s been dealt with…
Shows how shit spurs were. Arteta is a boring coach, playing at home and sitting back hoping to catch teams on the break. Awful awful team to watch
Strange animal, this Arsenal team. Start out light a house on fire, score one really classy goal (or 3 if it’s the scum), then shorty after, go into full shite mode.
*like a house on fire
Really missing the times with Wenger when small teams like CP were taken for granted. This team can’t play cohesive football.
It was embarrassing to watch their keeper rushing out if his area to save the ball from going out and wasting time at the 70th minute.
They were hunting. We were dodging.
I think we made a mistake to retrieve at 1/3 at the 8th minute.
I thought Mike Dean had a brilliant game. I also think this LSD I bought is really good value.
LSD is always good value though heh
poor poor display again, to the point I almost felt sorry for Vieira for late equaliser (legend status). Arsenal are an average team, mentally weak, trying to play like a Guardiola side with pathetic result and no beauty or grit whatsoever. so frustrating, but the sad thing is that I’m getting used to it.
Desperate performance after the goal, that non-red card notwithstanding. Palace looked bigger, stronger, in control for long stretches. Rather like their manager.
At kick-off despite my general misgivings about the Arteta era I thought right, this is the lineup we want. At the end I felt like we aren’t moving out of a scrap for 9th without some serious changes.
Starting with the manager.
Did Tierney beat a man and put in a cross once? Been real disappointed with him but he was really effective when we dominated and Martinelli dragged a few players out of position to make space. Our final third play is much more pacier when Laca is up there. He’s going to be hard to replace and I worry about that. He should start against Villa.
Also: we are just so lightweight.
Laca deserved it though.
Truly sad, this is going nowhere.
I’m so frustrated. I didn’t see any system or pattern of play.. It looked liek we were setuo to press.. Yet they didn’t. Sat back and let them get comfortable. Sure the goals came from individual errors but when your team is cold from hardly touching the ball iland constantly having to think what to do it’s more likely to happen. Wtf Arteta. Where is the cohesion. We had several creative players.. None of who came to pick up ball.. And several runners who barely ran. We did lots of long diagonal balls and lost possession… Gah. I’m not gonna… Read more »
TBH other then a couple of really poor decisions by Partey and Lukonga to get caught with the ball, I thought defensively Arsenal had a good game. The area of concern for me was Odegaard and Smith Rowe, both had ordinary games today, once we got that first goal. They just werent afforded the time and space they thrive on and as a result the team had SFA going forward. I think the draw was a fair result.
Pepe was really poor as well, but Pepe being Pepe of course he usually has one moment of brilliance
Thats his thing isnt it. Give him the ball 20 times, he will completely fluff it 19 times but that other time its usually something pretty to watch.
What a waste of £50 for a ticket, was better off giving it to the homeless man sitting outside Sainsbury’s!! Another crap season in progress 😔