An injury time goal from Rodri gave Man City a 2-1 win over Arsenal which they absolutely did not deserve.
Bukayo Saka put the Gunners in front in the first half, but a Riyad Mahrez penalty in the second half brought the scores level. We could have been 2-1 up when Gabriel Martinelli missed a glorious chance and seconds later we were down to 10 men when Gabriel Magalhaes picked up his second yellow card.
There will be plenty of discussion of referees, VAR inconsistency and all the rest, but Arsenal fans should be proud of the performance overall and the fact we were so competitive against the best team in the league. Definitely things we can build on.
Here’s how the players rated this afternoon.
Read the Arsenal 1-2 Man City match report and see the goals here
Arsenal 1-2 Man City – Player Ratings
The ratings are 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 Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Everyone knows that Arsenal in general, and Xhaka in PARTICULAR, have always been unfortunate with officiating. He should learn that from experience. No doubt Silva was diving, but the needless shirt pulling just give the ref the slightest reason to give that pen. Without the shirt pulling there will be no penalty. Xhaka has a good game tonight but his clumsiness inside the box turned the tide and cost the whole team precious points. How many times has he done this along the years? He is our Achilles heels. Self destruct button pusher – for many times.
He should learn, are you joking. This isn’t the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 10th time he’s done this. The guy is shit and a liability. He will never learn and constantly costs us games.
If Martinelli puts the ball in the net nobody will be talking about xhaka today who had a good game. City were tired and with 11 vs 11 we would of had them with the smith ready to come on at 70 min. So today it’s on Gabriel if one has to find a scapegoat.
Xhaka still shouldn’t be conceding silly penalities, regardless of what happened at the other end.
Agree that Gabriel is the scapegoat, lost his head, and two silly yellow cards.
Gabriel first yellow was for sticking up for his team mate and questioning a very debatable penalty. The same team mate who is a lot older and more experienced and should know a shite-load better!!!
Oh totally. I didn’t mean for my comment to come across that Gabriel is the scapegoat, more that I was agreeing that if one is to find a scapegoat fingers will point to Gabriel, even though, as you point out had Xhaka not conceded the penalty, then he’d have had nothing to react to. To put things into perspective, we’ve come a long way since August, and contained City well. Gifted them their equaliser through a penalty that needn’t have been conceded, to lose in the dying minutes through some luck on City’s part. Not being awarded the penalty, and… Read more »
I don’t know why he tugged his shirt, it was instinctive: he was afraid silva would go past him he was infuriated at the dive and wanted to pull him up It’s a strange one, don’t know if I’ve seen anything like it. If it was James Milner i don’t think the ref is gonna give it. And what is infuriating is the fact that silva is diving, albeit a “smart vardy/kane dive”. Odegaard makes the most of the contact in the first incident, but it’s not given, and no city fan is blaming Ederson beccause of the inconsistency of… Read more »
Oh give it a rest. Xhaka once again needlessly cost us a game.
Bollocks. Who gifted CIteh their equaliser? And why – because his ego couldn’t accept that Silva had skinned him so he commits a needless foul (Silva was already falling!) just to appease his bruised ego?
Without that penalty, Gabriel doesn’t get booked. Our team doesn’t suddenly get shaken up. Citeh continue to look rattled and have to chase the game.
And Gabriel’s routine, ‘take one for the team’ foul on the halfway to break up their counter, doesn’t see us fighting on with 10 men!
This is – once again – ALL on Xhaka and his pathetic reckless ego.
ALL on Xhaka…I get it; just like when he got red carded against city, just like when he “cost us the top 4” (pen against burnley) under emery’s first season. What’s so convenient about the scapegoating is that it deflects from deeper issues surround the team, manager, owners, refs, etc. And he actually does get treated different from say Harry Kane, and there no joke without a hint of thruth and sadly Xhaka is getting treated by english refs for just being Xhaka, always has. And the reasons for that are rather unclear and uncomfortable to ponder.
It’s not ‘ALL on Xhaka’ – however the facts are incontrovertible in this case: Xhaka conceded the unnecessary foul to gift Citeh their equaliser. The immediate pressure Xhaka thus creates put Gabriel in a position of trying to stick up for his team mate and the resultant (very soft!) yellow. Xhaka thus gives Citeh both an equaliser AND the pressure of having our (very comfortable defence – no shots on target to that point!) on a booking. Xhaka makes it simple for Jesus to buy the 2nd yellow on Gabriel – which he was always going to try at the… Read more »
Exactly, in any youth centred project you must allow for some degree of naïve moments. What you cannot accept is those moments coming from your experienced “leaders”. It’s not some coincidence that this always happens to Xhaka, if you know the other team has a big red self destruct button then people will try their best to push it.
Martinelli and Gabriel’s actions don’t mitigate Xhaka. They’ve all played their part in a different way.
The thing that really pissed me off about the Xhaka incident though, is that in the replay you can see he is waving his arm in denial while he is actually still pulling the player’s bloody shirt. It’s like his brain malfunctioned and he couldn’t let go. Honestly, if you screenshot that moment, it looks ridiculous: denying at the same time pulling on the shirt.
Conversely if Xhaka doesn’t give away a needless penalty nobody’s talking about Martinellis miss because Arsenal were set to win that game until the madness that insued after that penalty was given away.
Thats the issue, he never learns. He had 1 hand pulling Silva’s shirt and the other waving around in protest, i mean come on. We were surprisingly well balanced and have quite a bit of control of the game up to that point. That incident changed the mood totally, players’ focus were definitely affected (*points to Gabriel) Does he really not see the consequences of his actions and just think that “i make mistakes because im human and i will come back stronger” is a legit way to deal with all his bad decisions? 1 month of him without Partey… Read more »
to be fair to him, he’s asked to play in a position that is very important to our playstyle, so every mistake of his will always be a huge blow to the team. it’s not easy to do what he’s asked to do. shirts are grabbed in every single action in a high intensity game like this and it always goes unnoticed. it’s just because silva dived and because he’s xhaka that it seems to be a problem. was it clumsy? yes, but so was gabriel double yellow cards and no one seems to point a finger at him. and… Read more »
Gabriel made a mistake but had Xhaka not do the silly things he is known for Gabriel would not have gotten the bookings.besides, Gabriel is not known for stupidity like Xhaka that is reason everyone is bashing him. plus, he is supposed to be the one guiding the young ones but instead costing them!
Gabriel got his first yellow for something he won’t do again, and a second for something City do all the time, a harsh booking.
Xhaka gave away a penalty by doing something he does consistently. I don’t think there’s ever been an Arsenal player who has cost us more in terms of red cards and penalties. It’s not like he makes up for it with goals and assists either.
Don’t forget, it takes two shit decisions for Man City to scrape a win against us. Oodegard decision, clearly a big miss by the ref and VAR should have been used. Oodegard gets to the ball first, then keeper hits his foot. The City pen was a clear dive – he’s on the way down before the shirt pull. Ref saw it very clearly and decided it wasn’t a pen, and then was basically ordered to by VAR (when the ref gets told to check it, he’s basically being told to change the onfield decision). Just watched some post-match justifications… Read more »
Nonsense. Ederson got to the ball first. Very clear in replays. But if you don’t want to believe your own eyes…
Nah, Oodegard gets the ball, then Ederson gets Oodergard, then Ederson gets the ball.
ooh look a spuds fan
Ederson’s foot never touched the ball at any stage in that incident, he kicked MO’s foot, nothing else. There is one close up angle that shows that very clearly but that somehow wasn’t shown during the VAR “examination”. This was a clear out and out stitch up by the ref and VAR. Coupled with the very cheap yellow cards for Saka and Gabrielle and the dive penalty it was very clear that this result was manufactured. Maybe some people’s bank accounts warrant an inspection , a more blatant case of cheating would be hard to find…..oh wait, Kane’s red that… Read more »
It was a foul in the box. Penalty.
FFS, he was already on his way down by then. Was there foul contact below? More than on our shout? The ref Xakha-ed him, 100!
I don’t think odegard or Silva incidents were penalties. Give both or neither. Gabriel main culprit for our not winning.
The Citeh penalty should not have been a penalty. But when you make a slight contact with the thigh, and then proceed to grab the attacker’s shirt as he’s going down, you make the referee have a decision to make. One of the ex-referees and pundits are saying that these two things combined make it slightly too much to overlook, and becomes a foul. Can you really argue too much against this? Xhaka is a brainless footballer and his latest brainfart had tempers flaring in our team. Apparently Gabriel got booked the first time for asking the ref about the… Read more »
Me in 2021:
For the new year I hope for consistency among referees.
2022:
Be realistic, go for ending world poverty or something.
LOL
More chance of spurs winning a trophy..neither is ever going to happen. So proud of my team today. Progression is all we can hope for in a young team and I can see that today. Great performance wrong result
It’s really time for Arsenal Football Club to move on from Xhaka.
Definite dive but why give the opposing player and referee the chance to screw us over?
DON’T PULL SHIRTS INSIDE THE BOX!!!
I agree that you shouldn’t shirt-pull in the box generally, but if we both agree that diving is a despicable thing in football, then how can we fault Xhaka to the point where we’re dimissing his, otherwise, great performance for us? If we had a sensible and sane referee officiating that game, that wouldn’t have been a penalty, and we wouldn’t be looking to continue this hate-fuelled rhetoric against Xhaka.
The mental gymnastics people go through to excuse Xhaka and his frequent game altering mistakes is astounding. It’s like a form of Stockholm Syndrome. I’m sure Xhaka is a nice guy but he’s a very limited footballer in this league and if we want to progress as a team we need an upgrade. The fact we have kept him in the team this long is as amazing as it is disappointing.
Listen, if Xhaka actually did something to bring down Bernardo, then I’d be criticising him today with the rest of you, but he didn’t. I think criticising him for giving Bernardo an opportunity to dive is kinda fair, but the criticism is way overblown today. He had a great game.
“I think criticising him for giving Bernardo an opportunity to dive is kinda fair”
That is what we are saying,he gave the referee something to ponder on
Yes, but we differ in that I don’t criticise players because the referees give bad decisions. If Xhaka didn’t do anything illegal, then I don’t see why I should be criticising his performance.
If you don’t criticise players for blatantly shirt-pulling in the penalty box then, well, you should
I do criticise it. I don’t think players should do it because it is risky, but it’s not illegal if it doesn’t impede the player. I just think all this criticism is irrational and way overblown. People are acting like Xhaka threw the game away, when it was actually the officials.
What about Ake and his constant pulling of Saka? Why does he get away with that?
Pulling an opponent’s shirt in the box IS a penalty offence. The fact the refs sometimes turn a blind eye doesn’t make it any less foolhardy to risk it – especially if you’re an ‘experienced’ international player and it’s a player you KNOW will make the most of it!
Stupid, reckless. And it turned the game against us.
No it absolutely is NOT a penalty offence to shirt-pull. It the shirt tug doesn’t impede the player, then it’s not an illegal move.
You can say it’s risky, stupid, or reckless, that’s fine.
Under law 12, it is an offence IF it impedes the opponent. Hence my point about why risk it… as we all saw, it’s a simple matter for a wily opponent to show he was ‘impeded’.
Ref bottled the decision, no doubt, but the fact remains (as always, with Granit!) it was reckless, unnecessary and proved extremely costly.
And like I said, if you want to criticise him for risking it then that’s your prerogative. It just seems obvious to me that most of the people criticising Xhaka for this already have a bias against him. If it was any other player, then this wouldn’t be talked about, and most of the anger would be directed at the decision and the – let’s be frank – dive.
You’re dead wrong Joel, sorry. There is no shirt pull which is not in principle a foul. That it sometimes doesn’t get called is because referees can’t see everything. Which obviously changes in the penalty box with VAR.
Xhaka knows that full well, but doesn’t want to put in the effort to change his game, move quicker or anticipate better. Particularly with the standards that we’re apparently now setting, not an Arsenal player.
Law 12:
“A direct free-kick or penalty is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences… holds an opponent, impedes an opponent with contact…”
I’m literally quoting the rule regarding shirt-pulling. Players do it all the time, and it’s up to the referees to decide when the shirt-pulling becomes an impediment on the player who is being pulled. If the game worked like you’re saying, then 95% of corners would end up with penalties being given. The best line to draw is when it impedes, because otherwise you’re changing a very physical game into effectively a no-contact sport.
As is DIVING. And the one that precedes the other is the offence the ref needs to punish.
Xhaka stuck out a leg (before trying to pull it back) and pulled Silva’s shirt in the box, all within a matter of seconds. Both these actions combined makes it a possible, 50-50 penalty, albeit very soft. We all know a lot of penalties are 50-50 fouls, but Xhaka is the idiot for making these 2 needless actions. It’s not his first time so most Arsenal fans won’t be surprised at his reckless defending. You can defend Xhaka and say it maybe shouldn’t be a penalty, but you can’t argue that it was reckless defending and the man is probably… Read more »
He dangles a leg, doesn’t get the ball. That’s enough for a clever forward to win a pen. The fact he pulls his shirt makes it easy for the ref to give it on review.
You feel bad that some fans abuse Xhaka online, and even wishes ill-will towards his family. I understand. And I agree that this has no place from real supporters. But saying Xhaka made (another) mistake costing us a penalty is not hate rhetoric. It’s the fact of the game that the penalty incident was gamechanging. Xhaka made a stupid, gamechanging foul costing us all 3 points and all the good vibes a win would’ve given us. Instead here we are, talking about Xhaka once more. Was it a penalty? No one knows. Was it given? Yes. Did Xhaka tug Silva’s… Read more »
Amen brother!
I know he has his staunch fans, god knows why, but surely even they can see that having a senior player as divisive amongst fans and prone to chucking away points as him is bad for the club?
Last summer was so clearly the time to move him on. Can anyone really claim that renewing his contract doesn’t look foolish now? How many more villain/redemption arcs do we have to go through?
The anger directed towards xhaka has to be directed towards the referees. I would argue the shirt pull is not relevant because silva is on the way down. So either it is a dive or xhaka catches him with his leg, but it looked to me like a dive in the “kane type expert dive territory”.
The problem is that had that been Holding tugging the shirt, the referee would have overlooked it,but since it was Xhaka,no! and he should have known this
So WHY OH WHY even pull the shirt in the first place? There was absolutely no need to risk it!! Other than Xhaka’s fragile ego that reacts petulantly whenever he gets skinned for pace by a better player… we’ve seen this time and time again.
The question has to be put this way: “Was the shirt pulling a reason for Bernardo to not complete his attacking effort?” And the answer is: No, it was not. he dived well before Xhaka grabbed him. No penalty. End of story.
But if he dived before Xhaka grabbed him, why the f*ck he grabbed him? This dude frustrates the sh*t out of me. This could have been a HUGE day in terms of progress. Gutted.
I think this is the way the new premier league penalty rules are written for this year. Which makes the decision baffling.
I agree but he’s not the only one who does stupid things. Partey, who had a brilliant game otherwise, could easily have given away a pen for wrestling some little fucker to the ground.
Xhaka has too many brain farts, it’s something in his game he cannot change. His stupidity costs AFC many many games.
It is quite amazing how focused people are on Xhaka compared to Gabriel. It terms of silliness Xhaka gets a 6 while Gabriel was a solid 9.5. But we all love Gabriel and people hate Xhaka so all that’s talked about it Xhaka despite him putting in his 5th solid performance in a row. We could still have won it after the penalty, we lost because of Gabriel.
Well said.
Please, let the club find an upgrade on Xhaka.
But until we do (please god) I hope he continues to play like he has since his return from injury. He’s been really, really good.
How many times has each of them cost Arsenal points with dumb decisions/mistakes? I think that’s why it’s much easier to “forgive” Gabriel.
And Gabriel we never have been put in the position of getting the first card for questioning the (ridiculous!) pen decision, had Xhaka not had yet another terribly costly brain fart.
No,we lost because of Xhaka
Had Xhaka not given away a clumsy ok, do you think temper will rise to the extent that Gabriel will collect bookings?it was frustration on the part of Gabriel and it was caused by non other person than Xhaka
*Pk
That is a ridiculous statement. If Xhaka wasn’t able to control himself and got himself sent off with a stupid challenge would.you blame it on the player who gave away the penalty or call Xhaka stupid for letting himself and the club down. I get frustration at Xhaka but at least have the common decency not to act like a sp*rs fan!
I think it’s a cop-out to absolve Gabriel by arguing he only did what he did because of what GX did. Players need to keep their cool and remain professional no matter what’s happening on the pitch, if not there would be brawls in every game. Gabriel was on a yellow, regardless of how it was awarded, and shouldn’t have committed to a bookable offence near the halfway line. But, players lose their heads sometimes, it just happens. He will learn from this – Koscielny used to get a lot of reds until he didn’t. Plus, compared to past errors… Read more »
Don’t agree mate – just last week Xhaka rushed into a simple handbags situation and got himself booked… again, totally unecessary and ego-driven.
You cannot say ‘regardless of how it was awarded’ – it was awarded because Xhaka – and let’s not forget this is the all-time RECORD card offender in the PL – once again gave the officials a reason to award a penalty.
Right or wrong decision aside – HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER!!!!!
You bring up ‘recent’ context to defend Xhaka while ignoring the overall context.
This isn’t Xhaka’s first rodeo.
I believe his game changing mistakes are in the double digits right now.
And his 5 game streak of solid performances shows an obvious pattern.
He makes a dumb mistake, plays well for a couple of months and then makes another mistake.
No thanks!
If anyone rifled through old articles to find Xhaka’s first or second incident, then the contents would be less critical. It’s the fact that this happens over and over again.
Gabriel lost his calmness after the penalty incident. Before that he was immense. That brought hectic to a side that have been very comfortable before. And as Xhaka is one of the leaders of this team and has done this countless times before, he gets the majority of the blame. And rightly so, if you ask me.
We overlook Gabriel because he doesn’t do this on a regular basis.
With Xhaka it’s the same reason fans turned on Eboue. Xhaka is not learning from his mistakes and they are consistently costing us points, momentum and morale!
Plus Gabriel hasn’t stropped off the pitch telling the fans “fuck off fuck off”.
The only reason Xhaka is still here is because no one else wants to put up with him.
DON’T PULL SHIRTS INSIDE THE BOX!!!
Especially when you are Xhaka
Troodat – it ain’t rocket science, especially when the player you’re trying to tackle is already falling over his own feet!
He pulls shirts constantly all over the pitch because he moves like molasses and anticipates even slower. It’s just part of his game, not a ‘slip’. He’s the first/only Arsenal player I would readily admit is “that kind” of player.
Well! wasn’t that a great performance! Yes it was 2 penalties and yes the Ref was weak to the point of being scared of Pep but Arteta Ball is beginning to look special!
Let’s not make the narrative all about Xhaka – yes it was clumsy but penalties happen in football matches as do mistakes.
Keep it up boys and we go again – Pep looked like a man who had robbed someone
We really dominated citeh until down to 10 men. And even then, looked ok. That says it all about this group of young players and our manager. We had (arguably) the best team and manager in Europe looking clueless. I’m excited, but realistic about 2022. COYG!!!!!
Most reasonable comment here. Agreed.
i love you man…. I refuse to comment my reserve
The narrative would have been about the team effort until his avoidable mistake. So yes, penalties happen – but its almost like he knows what makes an offence a penalty/booking and proceed to do just that, consistently.
Great comment Ian, balanced and sensible.
I am so proud of this team. This performance has given me the conviction that we can finish in the Champions league places.
If we show the commitment we showed today and the day we smashed sp*rs we should easily finish in the top 4. The problem is when we get the arsenal that showed up against Everton or Man utd after going 1-0 up that frustrates the fk out of me.
The performance and commitment today and against spuds will do better than top 4.
This team is learning to believe in themselves, they were probably more frustrated by the Everton and Utd results than we were, and are now starting to know they can do it.
Agree, and would add that they responded to Everton by smashing five teams in a row and then today’s performance. Hard to ask much more of them. Very proud here!
Partey probably had the best performance ofany Arsenal player this season.
He probably had the best performance of any EPL player against Man City.
Dominated the best midfield in the league.
If he can keep this up when he returns from AFCON, midfield may no longer be such a weakness for us…
He had a great game, best he’s played for us by a mile. Thought he was the best player on the pitch by a long way.
I was really amazed at how well he played, especially against this opponent. I wonder if this is how he looked for Atletico against Barca and Real Madrid–because that would definitely establish a reputation as a world-class midfielder.
Yes, he did he seems plays well against technical players
Terrible officiating cost this game. The foul on Odegaard was undoubtedly a pen. Ederson went through Odegaard to get the ball. How it wasn’t given is mind-boggling to say the least. Now, I’m going to stick up for Xhaka here. Bernardo was already looking to go down. Yes, Xhaka did tug his shirt, but it wasn’t the causal effect that led to Bernardo falling down, neither did he trip him. If that’s a penalty because of the shirt tug, then you’re essentially saying that all shirt tugs that happen in the box – regardless of whether they impede the play… Read more »
Totally agree on the shirt pull point mate – hearing Walton claim the shirt pull was why the pen was given but then saying on its own it would not warrant a pen and then admitting silva was going down looking for it proves that VAR is just totally mismanaged
To me it’s no different from leaving a leg dangling and a player going over it. You leave room for any official to interpret it as an offence and give a penalty. It’s unintelligent and the kind of mistake you expect experienced players not to make. The issue with Xhaka will be that he’ll look at that and say “I was unlucky, bad reff” instead of saying “I made a mistake and I shouldn’t do that again”. He’ll get away with it once, feel vindicated, then do it again and cost us points that could be the difference between CL… Read more »
I think we are all bored to death with it but what i don’t understand is the ‘get rid now’ shouts when we do not have a replacement lined up. Whilst i think he is not treated the same as others in the club i get he is a polarising guy but he is good to a point. Not good enough for where we want to be but good to a point and definitely one of the 2 best in that role in the squad – i have no issue in selling him but lets buy his replacement first that’s… Read more »
It’s an understandable visceral reaction; “get this shit out of my sight”. This result really hurts given the way the game unfolded and people are just upset. Logically we need bodies in midfield, but it’s easy to get why there are people who are sick of the sight of him at this point. I don’t think he’s treated at all unfairly in the context of how fans generally treat players (which is another discussion whether that is fair or not). Fans are fickle by nature, if there was a general consensus that a player despite his many costly errors was… Read more »
I would rather see Saliba playing there – better on defence, faster, at least as good with distribution… why not?
The Gabriel thing is infuriating to me too though. I think the decision on a stand-alone basis is fine, but how can you book him for a cynical foul in the same game where Rodri has been allowed to level Saka on the break time after time without consequence?
And the one on Martinelli
See you’ve never played the game. Wasn’t a foul in a million years.
It was accidental, as he slipped, but it’s 100% a foul.
Suspect the thumbs up/down on our respective posts will demonstrate that you’re about the only one who thinks it wasn’t.
Also, give up your nonsense about never playing football. That’s just stupid. I’ve played my whole life and made countless fouls, so I know one when I see one.
Here still wondering how he got away with that. A challenge totally out of control!
I don’t disagree, the inconsistency is unbearable at times.
Rodri had 3 yellows when he took his shirt off for the goal by my count. Astonishingly poor inconsistent referee decisions…
All shirt pulls impede players. All shirt pulls are fouls. Inside the box, they’re penalties. Please don’t defend a guy who hasn’t bothered to learn these basics despite being given a rope ten times longer than players ten years younger (and more talented).
“All shirt pulls impede players”
I mean, that’s just not true… at all. It depends on the strength of the pull, the duration of the pull, the context, etc. Simply saying that all shirt pulls are illegal is not true.
Tomiyasu absolutely blanked Sterling. I was embarrassed for the guy
did sterlng play?
You must have seen Tomi bending the ball around his huge arse for fun in the first half.
Also Gabigol tore Cancelo a new hole all game.
Ramsdale left Leeds with a pocket full of Sterling, this week it was Tomiyasu’s turn.
Nice!
Just watched Match of the Day where they showed Emerson’s “crosses”. Couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. Yet he cost nearly twice as much!
I just have so much love for this team now: Saka, ESR, Tomiyasu, Ramsdale and on and on. Pre match, the discussion was about Arsenal showing their progress, I think they did that superbly but it hurts that they we robbed of at least a point. Onwards and upwards!
I was seething at full time. So close to being an amazing result.
But reading the comments here like this one, thinking about how much I love this group of lads, I’m feeling really positive!
Such bright things ahead for this team, loving the journey we’re all on.
Partey was utterly immense. I hope that’s the same Partey we’ll see after Afcon.
I think 5 is generous for Gabriel, utterly moronic yellow cards. He needs to learn how to manage his emotions and he more than anything or anyone cost us the game.
It was nice to hear from Stuivenberg – seems a really intelligent and level-headed guy!
This ^^^. Xhaka getting called for that was a toss-up and unlucky.
Gabriel getting red-carded was 100% due to unnecessary stupidity on his part. There was still quite a bit of time left, if we stay 11v11 we could easily have won that.
And yes, Partey looked very good. If he plays that well the rest of the season and key players stay healthy, we’re certainly in the top4 race.
It was stupid but I think he hasn’t been criticised for it too much because he’s normally reliable, played well in this game beforehand and because the referring was inconsistent (would a City player have gotten a yellow card for that foul? Etc).
That, and he’s a 24-year-old in his second season in England.
Xhaka is 5 years older, and has been at the club for more than 5 years – and is still consistently giving away red cards and penalties.
This is one of the downfalls of having a young squad. Certainly repairable though and I think Gabriel will learn from this and how he really messed up when he didn’t need to. Mistakes happen
Xhaka is the wobbly wheel on our near perfectly running car.
Xhaka’s return from injury has coincided with our improved run of form. That and Martinelli’s emergence as a starting forward are the reasons we have suddenly jumped a level in performance.
Partey finally looks like he’s settling and finding some form, gutted to be losing him for a month
Some really good performances out there today, this team will get plenty of results, we’ll also get them playing nowhere near as well as we have today
Hopefully we can clear a few fringe players out this month, and KSE go scavenging down the back of their sofa for funds
ideally a quality central midfielder and striker
Not to worry, Ghana will be out in the group stage.
Yeah but he’ll come back injured or fkd with the covid. Guaranteed.
VAR is the reason I can’t watch this league anymore. Fuck the FA for cheating good players and teams out of the right calls in the right moments. No team in the league has more VAR calls go against them, and it’s not even close… It’s obvious to me at this point that the league has an agenda and wants drama for the sake of drama.
When the officiating is run by the same guy who bought rooney diving to end our unbeaten run, you know we’re getting hosed by the refs.
Conspiracy theorist.
Go away spawny spud
Three people lost that for us, we employee two of them. Gabriel will learn. Xhaka never ever ever will. The refs a cunt.
Overly simplistic assessment. Young team still maturing. Still need to learn how to close out games like this.
I’m not a professional sports journalist writing a review, I’m just a joe commenting on an online forum in the heat of the moment. Chill out 🙂
So many things went against us, but the thing that got me was Rob Holdings hair!! WTF?? how did it grow like that?
A pricey hair transplant
Let’s turn this defeat into the victory , the Gunners deserved it today 👍🏻
Proud of every single one of them today. Anyone who gives a single one of our players less than 10/10 for their performance today can fuck right off. Permanently. And definitely wasn’t there. Fair enough to dock Gabriel a mark for his indiscipline. And essential to give 0/10 to VAR and the most biased and incompetent ref I’ve ever seen in at least 1,500 Arsenal games I’ve attended (including today’s) – some of them officiated by Mike Dean and Mike Riley – and countless others on TV. Both those penalty incidents were right in front of me: the Odegaard one… Read more »
I’m gonna exercise my right to fuck right off and rate the players as I see fit thanks. Self righteous twat
It was such a badly executed dive by Silva, poorly timed and theatrical. That’s the only thing that put doubt in the referees mind and stopped the decision being clear cut. Catching him with an outstretched leg AND pulling his shirt, come on Having said that Xhaka is only to blame for the equaliser and nothing more. Gabriel deserves a whole heap of blame for his sending off, and Martinelli too for missing an open goal Such a shame because it was such a great performance, including those 3 aside from their mistakes I know we’re an inexperienced side and… Read more »
You could also say that Silva showed his experience. He knew who was tackling him, he felt the hand grabbing his shirt and down he went.
Well yes and no, he could have made that dive look a lot more convincing is all I’m saying. Xhaka gave him all the invitation in the world. And I’m sorry but most players would go over in that situation, including ours
Or he could have stayed on his feet – it still would have been a foul but refs are universally stupid and don’t tend give it unless someone falls over. Basically it is the referees and the precedent they set that has caused the scourge of diving/going to ground too easily
I have been infatuated with Martinelli since I first saw him play two or so years ago, but my rating today is mixed…he played, as a.ways, with incredible energy but he has to center the ball in the first half and must finish that second half freebie. Oh well he will mature and become mentally calmer.
Both were pens, but we all know how useless the refs and VAR are, the worst in Europe. Agree with Xhaka’s rating, played well overall but the penalty situation is a big reason why, ideally, we would upgrade on him. Also, and this may sound harsh, but I’d be tempted to give Martinelli a very slightly lower score. Yes he played well overall, but there were a number of occasions where his rawness showed and he perhaps could have made a more telling contribution. Compare and contrast with Saka’s clinical decisiveness. Bags of potential though, so you’d expect that to… Read more »
Fair point about Martinelli, but let’s not forget it wasn’t too long ago that we were saying Saka needed to tighten up his final product as well. Look how quickly he started producing! Those two are a lot to handle for opposing defences.
It’s just not fair for those young lads who did put so much efforts and hopes in the game. Since the fucking VAR was introduced we had so unfair decisions against us that it is something I can’t believe. And referees… It is so hard for NY day and beginning of the 2022.
Not sure whether I am sad because we were robbed or happy because we are starting to look good enough to feel robbed!
Three Questions though……………….
Your anti-Arteta campaign has hit the skids of late Cygan…no doubt you’ll be hoping this is the beginning of a backwards slide so you can get your hate back up…
3…. and Harry Kane.
Is there a more slapable footballer than Jack Grealish?
Hell yeah, Jack’s teammate, Bernardo “Whiny Bitch” Silva. Some large percent of the time WB falls down it is simulation unless, of course, he has some largely unknown form of Tourette’s Syndrome that makes you fall down and hold up a hand. It should be a miracle if he finishes a game. Due to weak and naïve referees he’s thought of as the worthy successor to David Silva.
If the discussion every week in your league is about the referees and not the quality of the actual games, the league is a joke. Every week there are more games decided by contentious or outright bad decisions than by good play. Atwell should be ashamed of himself.
You should see the referees in other leagues. If you think these are bad…
If we genuinely want more consistency in the interpretation of the laws of the game, we need to have the top refs from ALL european countries rostered to officiate the top games across Europe in ALL the top leagues. How often have you heard this tired old rhetoric?: he wouldn’t have got way with that one in the Champions League/Europa league (delete as applicable)
Fair comment. The EPL might be the cash richest league in the world by some margin but from a technical quality aspect, only Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea can currently compete with the very best in Europe. There is better technical quality in the middle of the Spanish and Italian leagues than there is in the EPL and that’s reflected in the Europa League and UEFA Cup winners: 22 times out of 50, the winners have been either Spanish or Italian.
Myth making is done by constantly repeating a falsehood. The City goalie played the ball. Very clear in the replays. NOT A PENALTY!
Cunt!!
Lol
Sorry not having that. Clearly see \odegaard get to the ball first and if that wasn’t a penalty, why was the Lacazette one given by Anthony Taylor against West Ham. Ederson went through Odegaard. Clear Penalty and Ederson should have been sent off. This is the second time where a Man City goalkeeper commits a foul and totally gets away with it against our team.
No he fucking didn’t you steaming cuntflap
I don’t think the keeper touched the ball at all
He did play the ball……….by kicking through Odegaard’s raised foot. Does the fact that his foot is in the air mean that its fair game? Don’t think so. Look again. And watch your own myth making.
Mano y Mano we were better than them all over the park at 11 v 11 At 10 v 11 we showed the steel we have so lacked in recent years ! Silly from Gabriel but I could understand it ! Ditto Xhaka he touched an already diving twat ! Magnificent from the rest of the boys heart & passion and we dominated from the press ! Now that’s a team and a process I can finally, finally get behind ! Gutted with the loss really gutted but now optimistic & proud that we’ve got our Arsenal back ! Unlucky… Read more »
All the other points will be fully discussed, but I kinda feel like Ramsdale should’ve saved the winning goal? I know it was pretty close range, but he takes a couple steps to the left right before the shot, and he should’ve stayed where he was. His defenders had that side of the goal covered, and he just missed the diving save. He didn’t have much to do the rest of the game, so credit to the team for limiting them to 2 shots on goal. Gutted that we lost in stoppage time, but pleased that we were in the… Read more »
It was a nasty deflection, to be fair.
Great performance, deserved so much more. Send Jared Gillett to Botany Bay.
Gillett is a disgrace to his federation. He (I think) ruled out a Socrates or Chambers goal last season for nothing late on.
Diving City burgled that and even the blind linesman didn’t show up until halftime!
Still, a huge effort and bring on Liverpool in the semis of the ‘Cup’.
Mike Dean@ reffing okay with you guys? @a guess.
Yep that was him, although I think it was 2019. That still stands as one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in my life.
I live in Australia and we don’t want him back.
Might have been a penalty … NEVER a clear and obvious error. City is a good side, lots of talent, too bad they are more interested in cards and penalties than playing.
Exactly right. Both penalty shouts were debatable and marginal. The proof of that is that we are still debating them now. But neither was given by the ref. Had they been given, they would not have been overturned. But neither was a clear and obvious error, so neither should have been referred to the ref for a second look by VAR. Arsenal have every reason to feel cheated and robbed.
How were only 5 fouls called on City? Worse, one was in extra time for kicking away our free kick and another for shirt removal. So, in regular time Stewart Atwell call 3 (three!) fouls on City. It’s disgraceful. City foul with impunity. Its part of their game plan as is falling down at the slightest touch. The regularly held up a hand to indicate “where’s the card” when they felt fouled by us yet it was Saka who got booked for it. It is clear that refereeing of any game can and does have an effect on the result.… Read more »
When the Rodri hatchet job on Gabi is not even called a foul, I can’t believe they even got to 5.
Yes, Rodri is the ‘go to’ thug/tactical fouler for clubs with limitless wealth but to be fair, I think he actually slipped before colliding with Martinelli in this instance
This is when you want xhaka to do a nasty foul on rodri – make sure the player goes off injured for the rest of the match!! Ok, xhaka would have got sent off but next game xhaka can say, in rodri’s ear, you play like a cheating scumbag and I’ll mash you up again but this time I will do more damage!! Bet the gimp would behave then!!!
To be fair, Vieira did a bit of that in his day, and it worked.
The players’ body language at the said it all. You could see the disappointment on their faces. They knew City had been let out of jail.
It’s a young team; it’s an adversity hey will learn from.
Meanwhile, kudos to the “manager” today: he didn’t look fazed by the occasion.
Happy New Year and heads up lads…an excellent performance and another player after Odegaard who is finally beginning to step up, Thomas Partey! The rest of the season looks bright, the future even more so!
Definitely was a bad effort by Xhaka in the box and an idiotic play by Gabriel which ultimately cost us the game, though the Martinelli miss was huge and unfortunate considering how well he played.
Correct. It can be argued that the result of the game was determined in that one minute – Martinelli’s (inexcusable) miss and Gabriel’s red.
Truly the most passionate and ballsy commitment i have seen from the lads in a long time they all can hold their heads high
Partey 10/10
Arteta just proved all (?) of us wrong.
Let’s hope so, but finally producing the goods in his 40th game doesn’t exactly “prove” anything. Even a clock is right twice a day.
Great effort today from Arsenal, which had a clear edge in play until Gabriel was sent off. Although a Canadian raised on ice hockey, football (or soccer as we call it on this side of the pond) has become my sports passion. One aspect of football I would change is the red card provision that which leaves a team a man short for the balance of the game, usually making the match less enjoyable for the fans. I would adopt the “game misconduct” approach from hockey whereby a player is expelled from the match (and possibly additional games for egregious… Read more »
First card was scuffing the turf in the penalty spot.
Apparently not.
Ramsdale was the one scuffing up the spot.
Confirmed by our stand in manager that although no foul language was used, the yellow was for dissent for asking what the difference was compared to MO’s penalty call.
Coupled with the rapid second yellow, the ref doesn’t just look incompetent, it looks a bit more than that
Nonsense. It was for dissent. I suspect we would have had to bulldoze the entire penalty box to hamper Mahrez’s successful conversion
Definitely, the two yellows equalling a red is a naff system!! I think yellow should be a 10 minute sin bin, give the player a chance to cool down but not impact so badly on the game!! Red cards should ONLY be for violent/dangerous play and cheating/diving (with retrospective red cards being dished out when the ref misses it) and that’d soon put pay to the nonsense!!!
https://mobile.twitter.com/knickthoughts/status/1477299473965633541
The ref spoiled an otherwise good game. He is a Mancity fan! Very sad he denied Arsenal a penalty
https://mobile.twitter.com/knickthoughts/status/1477299473965633541
The ref was in front of Martinelli… horrendous.
Well played lads.. Impressed with the progress we made on the overall way of playing. Need to improve on game management.
Tomi and Partey were excellent.
We are getting better…
PL has all the money and views in the world, yet they can only hire clowns as referees. What a shame.
Just gonna come out and say it, Xhaka has been fantastic since his return and a large factor in our uptick in form. Pulling at Bernardo’s shirt today was stupid and somehow allowed his dive to be turned into a penalty, but otherwise he was at least an 8 so I’ll give him a 7.5
Apart from the horrendous refereeing, I am very impressed with Odegaard. The way he found empty spaces for his passes, and the way he ran around creating those empty spaces for others is very underrated.
Gabi bursting onto the enemy defenses was also another positive. Still has some work to do on the missed chances, and the decision making on the final third though. He could’ve passed to Laca on one occasion and Odegaard in another. Overall, still a decent performance from him.
“People are divided over the penalty, I think he was clumsy and being honest, I would want that for us if it happened at the other end.”
Problem is, it did happen at the other end, but predictably, we didn’t get shit.
Sometimes I hate football, I seen the dirty spuds got a 96th minute winner. I have a serious hatred for that team. Aaaarrrrgggggghhhhhh.
Yes the Spurs result is a real sickener (96th minute)
Watford player also taken out by Lloris in the box, clear on the replay but nothing given, just like MO.
And people somehow think that corruption only exists in other leagues in other countries
If I honestly thought that EPL refs were less than impartial I wouldn’t even bother watching. Yes, they make mistakes and errors of judgement (like your post above) but I don’t conflate this with being corrupt. Just hope for your sake that old legal adage holds firm: i.e. it can’t be slander if it’s true.
Xhaka… seems to have this incredible talent for calamitous mistakes inserted within otherwise decent performances. It’s not endearing nor is it forgivable when it happens so often. Here’s to hoping Renato Sanches replaces him asap.
Not going to even dwell on the negatives. How good can this team become in 2 seasons or even in a year! Tomiyasu is a super talent! The way how he calmly and expertly lockdown sterling was golden! Tierney had marhez in his pocket up until the red card. Gabi and Benjamin look so assure in defense and they are only getting better. Partey has finally settled into the pace of the game mentally and physically. Xhaka is xhaka but I think he is an asset to this group of players regardless of his flaws. That core of attackers; esr,… Read more »
As if you’ve given Xhaka a 6. He was fantastic along side Partey today and was done by a clear dive from Silva.
Curious to know how many times we have been red carded playing against Guardiola teams.
I missed the game and joined from 86 minute. So painful but the positives weigh more, looking forwad to the C*nts game. I wish Watford held them.
I am so damn proud of that performance, I actually feel sorry for Xhaka because other than that ridiculous penalty he game away he was good, Martinelli should have scored but he played well otherwise, but an 8 is kind he did miss opportunities to pass and he had a shot instead and obviously he missed the chance when the ref was trying his best to mark him. Gabriel was very stupid, just them moments cost us. Thomas Partey was a general in there, absolutely bossed it, another good game for Saka and Tierney, White was superb too, Tomiyasu should… Read more »