Arsenal paid the price for a poor first half at Selhurst Park this evening, conceding twice to Mateta and Ayew, but the deficit was too much overturn in the second period.
Wilf Zaha slammed home a late penalty to add some gloss to the scoreline, but collectively and individually the Gunners were sub-par and deserved nothing from the game despite dominating possession and creating some chances in the second half.
A disappointing night.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal report and see the goals here
Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal – Player Ratings
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Saka at LB next game?
I say we find out what Flamini is up to these days
He’s saving the planet.
Am I crazy or could Brighton at home be a perfect game for Nuno? I dunno. He looked awesome earlier in the season. There was even a rumour that Pep was having a look.
Not ready to write him off yet. It wasn’t too long ago that Martinelli got subbed at halftime for being mental and shit.
He didn’t look awesome early in the season mate. He looked like a good athlete who was poor on the ball and an disaster defensively. Can’t see how he ever plays again, he’s a liability.
Sounds like you have just described Xhaka in his disaster days so why shouldn’t Nuno be given a chance ?
Because tavares got a lot of people on here exitited by his athleticism. He’s not a good player on or off the ball. He will be the same when he’s 31.
Xhaka has never left his disaster days
Since his return from injury, Xhaka has hardly put a foot wrong and his partnership with Partey has been one of the main reasons for our recent successful run. Indeed he was far from our worst player tonight and even did a decent job when moved to full back. Glad that Arteta doesn’t see him the way that you and the other detractors do.
The standards for Xhaka are in the toilet. Elneny churns out that calibre of performance and people are practically falling over themselves to say something like “he was fine but he doesn’t offer enough, we need better”, yet for Xhaka just not being a spanner in the works warns him praise, it’s baffling.
He was invisible in the first half and did little more than shuffle the ball around in the second. All his attempted long passes failed, all attempted through passes failed, but he didn’t get sent off so he did well? Give me a break
Can’t believe i’m reading this Xhaka putting a foot wrong that’s because he only gets 15 yards either side of the half way line.
Agree to some extent. Tavares never looked composed on the ball, but he has chaos agent all over his game. He was physically and athletically impressive, but at the end of the day he’s going to need to get much better technically and defensively if he’s going to be LB (or even backup) at Arsenal. I’m doubtful he’ll develop those traits which is why a team who generally is great at identifying and developing young talent was happy to let him go last summer. Also I originally suspected Arteta had a bit of an ulterior motive when passing all the… Read more »
I’ve always suspected that Tavares will end up as a left winger rather than a wingback/full back
The most disappointing thing about this evening is, we gave all the absolute shite and pro Spurs narrative Sky Sports were peddling before the game a whole lot of credibility with that limp wristed showing. I know it’s 15 points from our last 18, but where the hell had our resilience gone that contributed to those previous wins? We seemed all too comfortable in rolling over and accepting the loss rather than fighting tooth and nail like we have done in the last couple of months. So yeah, we have to find that bottle again pretty quickly and we have… Read more »
Definitely, a possibility. Nuno has had a downturn in form but he shouldn’t be made a scapegoat. A start against Brighton might just be the thing to help him get up to speed.
Yes, you are crazy.
I never want to see Tavares in an Arsenal shirt ever again.
The guy is a lazy useless liability.
IIRC, Nuno received an early substitution in his previous start(Nottingham Forest?) as well. That should tell what Arteta feels about Nuno Tavares. I will not be surprised if we don’t see him anymore this season.
Not if you want top four this season.
Ramsdale: Not too shit
Cedric: Not as shit as you’d think
White: Bag of shit
Gabriel: Utter shit
Tavares: Shit again
Partey: Back to being shit
Odegaard: Runny shit
Xhaka: Usual shit
Saka: Not complete shit
Lacazette: Total shit
Smith Rowe: A bit shit
Martinelli: Good shit
Nketiah: Predictable shit
Lokonga: Not on long enough to call shit
Everything’s sshhhhiiiiiiiittt
This coffee smells like shit!
It is shit Austin.
Oh good, then it’s just not me!
It’s a bit nutty!
Just wish it would hit this so-called fan
A really disappointing evening for Odegaard, everyone’s been dining out on him recently, but games like tonight are the ones when you need players like him to get on the ball and get us going. Lacked a lot of maturity I thought, kept trying flicks and flashy things that never came off when we needed a bit of composure on the ball. Same goes for Partey, his confidence is always on a knife edge, if he has one or two poor passes early on in games, his head completely goes and then he plays really poorly for the entire 90.… Read more »
Sometimes good, sometimes shit. A guy with one good eye and hard tackles said that.
You are right about Lacazette
and cedric. he dealt with zaha mostly well which is no feat. martinelli was only the bright spot
A real SHITTY TEAM !
How do you rate Arteta? What level of shit?
I accept we will loose games, but why don’t we at least show a bit of fight! Even Xhaka couldn’t be bothered to get his 2nd yellow. Something isn’t quite right….
No more Laca in this side. We can’t mount any sort of challenge with a striker who can’t score. I’m really done with him now.
Liverpool felt like a loss, this felt like a collapse
Nor a captain whose demeanour and gait look like he’s carrying a nasty set of Chalfonts.
You can’t be blaming Laca on this one, the fanbase is addicted to making a scapegoat out of someone, did he miss the esr or Odegaard chance, well you know the answer to that one.
“We can’t mount any sort of challenge” we have been mounting a challenge with him. Everyone was bad tonight, even if we ad TH upfront we’d have lost.
Mate, the guy doesn’t score goals, goes down like a sack of shit at every opportunity rather than try to keep the move going, bottles out of diving headers and moves with all the agility of a four hundred million year old tortoise.
Apart from that, he’s the best player in the world…..🙄
Speaking as a four hundred million year old tortoise who had to give up a promising youth career recently due to a dislocated shell, I resent that remark
Wow. 57 thumbs up and counting.
I said exactly the same thing a month ago and 57 million thumbs down. Hilarious. 😂
It’s boring counting up and down votes 😘
It’s also boring watching you lot thumb up J4H for things you voted me down for when I said them months in advance.
You also wanted Arteta hoisted high, at dawn, on your great-aunt’s rusty old pitchfork… repeatedly and for more than a few months? Yes – you’ve ‘owned’ that, and respect for it – but have we not learned yet about leaping onto the back of players who are (a) young; (b) new to the PL (c) not getting anything like regular match practice? Nuno may well prove to be the new Santos – but he may simply need time to settle, repair his (obviously!) shattered confidence, and build a rapport with the other defenders. Too many on here have knee-jerk crucified… Read more »
Substituted in the first half by Arteta in January against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.
Very next game?
Substituted at half time by Arteta after being largely responsible for us being two nil down.
Don’t take my word for it.
Ask the manager…….
You’re simply underlining my point:
(a) he has had very little on-pitch time to settle with team-mates or get a rhythm going;
(b) those early hooks cannot have helped his confidence.
3 to 5 out of tens could be seen coming in the first 5 minutes ! Sad lack of passion tonight not one leader to just do something to light a spark ! Realistically with the full back situation it may betime to go to a back 3 ? Crap result & performance waken up boys !
Far from the worst idea I’ve read, saka as left wingback preferable to me than any of our other options. We are sorely lacking for goals as well, maybe that would make space for pepe to get a few games.
I don’t think the shape is the biggest problem. They dominated us physically but not tactically and apart from the penalty, we created the better chances.
No need to rate the players, I gave everyone a 3 for showing up for the game. Slow, labored, play, indecisive, totally suffocated out of the game early on and never recovered. It was Everton all over again. Ramsdale and his back 4, the trust center half in particular were shocking today, Tavares it was like playing with a player less in defense. Boy will come good but boy was he out of his depth. I’m scared for the coming days if Partey’s injury is really bad.
I worry the league is learning how to easily defend against our wingers cutting inside, and with laca in the middle there is not much other threat. Arteta is going to have to pull off some trick here to get us over the line into the top 4.
I thought we created some good chances later on. It all just came a little too late.
It’s how we respond to it will decide how the the rest of this and next season will go. This feels like that 3-0 loss to Southampton that killed our confidence and Leicester ended up winning the league.
I think it’s a bit different. Palace have maintained a good run of form in recent weeks. It’s just been under the radar. That Southampton team were woeful before that 4-0 game and remained so until Koeman was sacked.
It’s not entirely over. Arteta just has to pull off one shock victory against one of the big teams left in our fixture list. Qualifying for the UCL was never meant to be this easy. We were going to have to do something “against the odds” to get there.
The thing about a true World Class player is that he makes everyone around him better, not only his individual performances. Having said that, Tavares is a really bad footballer, he makes all the team nervous and anxious, it’s no coincidence that Gabriel had a bad game. When Tavares came off it was clear how much we improved, we were able to press them in their half, something that with Tavares’ ball control is IMPOSSIBLE, not even mentioning his deffensive positioning. There has to be someone at the academy better than him, I cannot accept that he is the second… Read more »
When was Tavares’ last competitive run of games? He looked rusty and off pace in a really intense game, very predictable . People wanted him over Tierney not too long ago.
People were driven by a massive ilusion because of his physicality, he was always rusty and off pace, his passes and ball control were always off.
Who scouted and recommended him for us?
Just wondering what they saw.
I feel there is a good player in there, but arrived in the wrong season. I am sure he would have benefitted from a Europa league group stage to build his confidence.
Meanwhile, didn’t he play against us in the Benfica game two seasons ago?
I feel he can turn his Arsenal career around if Alex Song and Francis Coquelin could.
Fingers crossed his confidence is not damaged beyond repair.
It’s been a while since we had a full back with worse positional sense than Santos, but I think we finally got him.
He is truly awful.
More fool Arteta if he continues to play him and more critical Premiership points fall by the wayside because of it.
Everyone was off the pace last night, but that was because we had eight outfield guys carrying Tavares and Laca.
It can’t continue if we want top four. Simple as that.
Disingenuous in the extreme to infer that Tavares affected our entire 8-man outfield’s play, for the time he was on the pitch (and off it!). Did he make ESR bottle a gilt-edged chance? Or Bukayo not put his shot in the top corner (as he has so often done)? Add to these MO and Laca’s misses and, on another night, it’s 2-1 or 2-2 or even 3-2, going into the last 20 mins. Did Nuno order White to rugby tackle Zaha within free kick range? And so to Gabriel, who has – regrettably – shown a tendency for the odd… Read more »
Nobody could be worse than that lump.
Laca is so, so far off the pace. Can’t believe he has defenders around here. Can’t believe Arteta chose to play him centrally over Auba time and again.
Btw, how’s Auba doing back in a central role, anyone know?
Auba: 9 goals in 1100 minutes
Icing on cake: Auba, 7 goals in his last 1100 min with the Arsenal
Auba?! Last I read, he was in semi-retirement and finished as a top striker… At least, that’s what the Arseblog faithful told me anyway.
False equivalence
Mate, nothing false abt it. Arteta consistently chose Laca when he had a much better option. Laca zero goals in 1100 minutes. Auba 9 in 800 with Barca and 8 in 1100 with Arsenal. Our side needs a lit more goals as Arteta himself has said.
Everyone was shit tonight.
Some weren’t even that good
Weird comment on Xhaka. He did well at LB. Looked like one of the few players with any sort of touch / composure. Also showed leadership coaching Gabriel and sticking up for Martinelli when he was hacked.
Probably our best player bar martinelli.
But that’s not saying much
I agree, but when Xhaka is your best player, you’ve got big problems
Martinelli at CF v Brighton … he has speed, skill and scares the shite out of defenders … hopefully he’s not too sore …. Winterburn//Cedric left back. Not Saka.
Patrick V was the only winner on the night …
But smash Brighton 3-0 in the sunshine with a baying Emirates crowd and other results (Villa v Sp*ds, Everton v Man Ure) go our way and all is well for a week at least.
As some old c..t said: ”Squeaky bum time” is here
Keep the faith
Well said.
I have never been Xhaka’s greatest fan, but the guy deserves credit where it’s due.
He slotted into the LB position after the break with the minimum of fuss and we looked far more composed in possession and a lot calmer at the back because of it.
I said before, if Tommy is fit, I’d switch Cedric over to LB. If, on the other hand, Tommy is still not ready, then keep Xhaka at LB and bring in Sambi and Elneny.
Anyone but Tavares.
Granit has leadership and organisational skills but so does Vladimir Putin
It’s the hope that kills you!
10/10 for the away fans. To still be singing at 3-0 down is testament to the relationship restoration between the fan base and the manager/team.
It’s mind boggling that a team with so much at stake delivered this shithouse of a performance. How can the team look so tored and ill prepared in this stage of the season. I cant fathom it tbh.
It must be fatigue; mental and for the internationals, physical too. They didn’t appear to have the resources to be focused, engaged, and have that “hard blue glow” of ruthless professionalism.
Also, Zaha freaks them out.
It’s the pressure. First game of the season with any real pressure on it and they shit the bed.
Seen this film before……..
Night of the Living Dead?
arteta?
Funny how, apart here, there seems to be no notion of Viera tactically outclassing Arteta. It is understandable if you can’t mount any significant pressure against top teams with top managers but not being able to put up any kind of response against CP has to do something with our young manager and his in-game management skills, barring that Wolves game, remain for me one of the main reasons why am I still not convinces MA is to become a top manager we all hope. I know our squad is thin after last January but barring that one game, MA… Read more »
That ref, again. If that’s a penalty, then Saka and Laca were. Ffs
Naive defending from MO who has already cost us a similar pen against Man Utd. Dangle a leg in front of Zaha and he will pirouette to the floor like a feinting ballerina
Squad bare thin thanks to poor decisions or lack thereof in January. As I mentioned, had we ambition we would have replaced Edu at very least. 1) Ramsdale – Stayed alert made a couple of sharp saves against decent efforts. 2) Cedric – Had a torrid start with Zaha but managed to come back into the game 3) White – OK but we spent 50m on a player to just be OK. 4) Gabriel – Mistimed his intercept for Ayew to waltz in behind but in part Tavares was too far away. 5)Tavares – Its hard to come back into… Read more »
Not a peep out of you every time we win a game or play well, as soon as there’s a set back you crawl out from under your stone and start stirring again. You’re not an Arsenal supporter you sad misery.
…and some fans still deem themselves surprised.
Lacazette needs to sit for either Martinelli or Nketiah. Tavares was awful on the first two goals. Overall we looked shell shocked.
What I really find frustrating with this Arsenal team and Arteta, is that everytime we’ve lost a match we have been so poor and gutless. The only exception are the losses to Liverpool and City at home and Utd away.
I don’t get it, how can we be that shit one game and another game be not shit!
Young players often lack the composure lent by experience.
My very pessimistic and unpopular take is that the league is kinda shit this year, leading us to look better than we are. Look at Wolves – we played them twice in quick succession, they’re 8th, but they’re a team who can’t score and isn’t very good at all when you get down to it. And they’re still better than twelve other teams. Leicester is worse still, so is Villa. Unlike most years, teams seem to be fighting to stay out of Europe rather than get in. Couple that with really good luck for most of the season, when we… Read more »
We’re paying the price for a poor January Market… 2 key players may now be out for a while… 4th is slipping away.
Is it time for us to give Pepe, our record signing, a run in the team in place of Laca, with Martinelli up front? Laca has been extremely frustrating as of late.
Beggars for goal scoring options can’t be choosers I suppose but Arteta has never trusted Pepe and his performance at Villa is all the reason you need to know why
To get the best from Laca, we need to pair him with Auba. All the best in Barca next year.
Ouch. Let’s hope this was our one ‘abysmal’ game in the run-in… and, if we had to have one collective brain-fart, I’d take losing to Paddy’s laddies over Spuds any day. From the perspective of all my decades (five!) as a Gooner – we have always (other than 2004) displayed an uncanny ability to utterly fail to take advantage when our closest rivals cock it up in games before us, on any given weekend. This has been the pattern for as long as I can remember… This was the match that would have taken us to within TWO points of… Read more »
It was always going to be hard to get top 4. This performance was terrible but at least we’ve still got everything to play for.
Vieira has done a great job at Palace by the way. Happy for him.
Lacazette. Needs to be replaced by Martinelli up front. I have been saying this for MONTHS.
Tavares. Sell him. To whatever pub side needs a lazy sulky bod to make the numbers up.
The rest had a night to forget, but we go again.
Hopefully – injuries not withstanding – with an intelligent decent starting XI this time.
Memo to Arteta: Martinelli is of no use to us on the fucking bench, pal. He needs to START.
UP FRONT.
Just no. Every single time Martinelli plays as a 9 in the premier league he struggles with the physicality, he isn’t good enough with his back to goal. I’d prefer Smith-Rowe if anyone.
😂
No one played particularly well last night but it was another case of an awful performance by Odegaard in a loud and aggressive Away game.
He purrs against much lower quality opposition but absolutely collapses in the more difficult games and it’s starting to concern me…
Unpopular opinion perhaps, but I would start Eddie up front in the next match. He looked far sharper and more interested than Laca. Perhaps it was all relative to the rest, but he looked hungrier and, well…
Eddie up front instead of Martinelli……???!!
😂
Where are the people who keep crying when Lacazette gets a 0.5 score less than you think he should?
What a fucking liability of a player man. Especially after 2 weeks of rest basically.
This has to be the worst Partey performance I have ever seen. How did he go from having amazing passing and dribbling to basically being bypassed and misplacing literally every pass?
No he’s done that before this season. Brighton, Liverpool away, Everton…
It is so weird how Emile escapes criticism. He was so poor, I cannot believe he gets a higher rating than Partey. Odegaard should have scored, but “Emile’s shot was tame”. I always thought some of the stuff on here as biased.
He was fine. His touch was good, he moved the ball forward and generally did ok. His position in the team means he’s not as instrumental as Partey in the build-up and this is largely where we struggled in the first half.
Fair comment – but we cannot ignore the fact that if he takes that pretty routine chance, it shifts the momentum of the entire game.
I think we will finish eighth this year
Games like this make it painfully obvious what our deficiencies are. We were too slow in the face of an energetic press, we lack defensive nous and we lack a genuine goal front up front. I remain positive on the team and the direction but if Edu and Arteta didn’t know what they need to do in terms of strengthening they can be under no illusions now! Top 4 is still very much on and dare I say we need it if we want to bring in the kind of talent needed to move this team forward. Hope Tierney and… Read more »
This was the Brentford game at the start of the season but with Eagles instead of Bees making us look like defenseless picnickers in a horror film
When a sub (Eddie Nketiah) is your best player you really don’t have your problems to seek. I’d love to dismiss this debacle as a one off blip but our mounting injury list and lack of squad depth make me fear otherwise. Please don’t ‘Spurs up’ top 4 Arsenal
Some what reconciled myself to this result so it did not come as a big surprise out muscled all over the park. yellow kit just about summed us up really getting a bit concerned about how i feel about esr as i said earlier if he doesn’t score he becomes anonymous and at Games like Crsytal Palace everybody needs to turn up. also Gabriel looking very tired Holding Saturday