Thursday, March 28, 2024

Report: Arsenal 1-3 Man City (inc goals)

Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah

Subs: Turner, White, Tierney, Holding, Kiwior, Vieira, Trossard, Nelson, Cozier-Duberry

Arsenal’s position at the top of the table was lost this evening, after a 3-1 defeat to Man City at the Emirates.

The Gunners were dealt a significant pre-game blow when Thomas Partey was ruled out with a muscular injury. January signing Jorginho replaced him in midfield, with Takehiro Tomiyasu recalled ahead of Ben White at right back.

The game began in bright fashion, with an early attempt from Granit Xhaka which was fired over, but you got the sense both sides were feeling each other out. Silva was lucky to escape without a booking for a foul on Saka, and Eddie had a shot blocked after a fine Jorginho pass.

City found Haaland at the back post but the Norwegian’s cut back caught his teammates by surprise and there was nobody there. Arsenal then created their best chance of the game in the 21st minute, a Zinchenko cross found Eddie but the ball came off his shoulder rather than his head and went wide.

Minutes later, City were ahead. Saliba mistimed a header, Tomiyasu underhit a back pass to Ramsdale, and Kevin de Bruyne ghosted in to clip the ball first time into the net from just outside the box. 0-1.

The Japan international almost equalised shortly after but clipped his left footed shot over tbe bar, and after space opened up for Saka the winger was unusually hesitant and got crowded out by defenders. Kyle Walker picked up a strange booking for coming back on the pitch after going off injured, and Ederson – having previously been warned – was given a yellow card for time-wasting.

The Gunners response to going behind was good, and Eddie almost scored but his effort was cleared off the line. However, in the process Ederson was adjudged to have fouled the striker and Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot. Saka stepped up, Ederson kept pointing to one side as if to say ‘Put it there’, so he did while the keeper went the other way. 1-1.

Silva picked up a long overdue booking for yet another foul on Saka, and as we headed towards the end of 6 minutes of added time in the first period, City hit the bar with a deflected effort before Ramsdale came to Arsenal’s rescue. The teams went in at the break level after a pulsating first half.

Neither manager made a change at half-time, and there was an early booking for Tomiyasu for not taking a throw-in quickly enough. Arteta made a fine challenge on de Bruyne in his own technical area to stop City taking a quick throw, and in a game of high drama, City were awarded a penalty when Gabriel and Haaland tangled in the box. However, after an interminable wait, VAR ruled it out due to the Norwegian being offside, and the yellow card awarded to Gabriel was rescinded.

Guardiola made a change, bringing on Akanji for Mahrez, which meant Ake went to left back and Silva moved further forward. Grealish and Nketiah picked up yellow cards as the temperature of the game kept rising, and a great Tomiyasu cross was begging for a touch from the Arsenal striker but at full-stretch he just missed from point blank range.

From a City free kick, there was a scramble in the box but it required Jorginho to clear off the line, and moments later a mistake from Zinchenko saw Haaland close in on goal but Ramsdale did brilliantly to smother. Arsenal were under pressure, and in the 71st minute City went ahead. They moved it down the right , fed it across the box, it came to Grealish and Ramsdale was beaten by a deflection rather than the power of the shot itself. 1-2.

Xhaka had a chance to hit it, but got tackled, and Arteta made his first change with Trossard replacing Martinelli with 15 minutes to go. City brought on Foden for Grealish.

As Arteta waited to bring on Vieira and White, City extended their lead. A nice move around our box saw the Norwegian left free and he fired home with his right foot. 1-3.

The two subs came on for Xhaka and Tomi, but the mood had gone flat. Kalvin Phillips came on for de Bruyne, and once again Eddie was found wanting in front of goal when he headed a Saka cross wide in the last minute of normal time.

To beat City, you have to be basically perfect, and there were just a few too many errors at both ends for Arsenal tonight.

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Johnny 4 Hats

Poor performance. After a poor performance. After a poor performance. Just poor. Final ball poor. Defensively poor. Game management poor. Even a soft penalty (IMHO) couldn’t save us.  The really sad thing is that this is an average Man City team by their standards. And the other sad thing is that Gary Neville has got something right.  We’re getting there. But we aren’t there. This is a top 4 race. I think we’ll make it. But this young side isn’t ready for a title challenge yet.  So proud of the noise in the stadium. We had a twelfth man. Unfortunately,… Read more »

Henkamp

Makes those last two games even more painful. When Man City get ahead in a title race, it becomes really difficult to stop them.

Johnny 4 Hats

I need to work out if we were over-performing before or are playing poorly now.

I don’t know which it is.

I do know that title winners don’t take one point from three games, two of them at home and one against a relegation threatened side.

Bleeding Gums Murphy

We played really well the first half. Terrible mistake for their goal and nketia missing and great chance. Second half we lost composure and got scrappy with them, again another defensive mistake cost us. I believe if we had Jesus instead of nketia we may have won that.

Boy Bastin

Well, who knows what would have happened if Jesus had played – but he didn’t and he won’t be back for a while yet.

In his absence, Arteta needs to try and work out what to do to increase our goal tally – one goal (from open play) in three PL games isn’t good enough to win the title.

Eric Blair

Is it good enough for top 4?

Eric Blair

Jesus hasn’t ever been banging then away, and it was the all-too common defensive lapses which cost us again.

Alex

Anybody with 50 points after 19 games is over performing. Anybody. But we beat ourselves which is frustrating

Leon

We need to drop Martinelli and give him a break – he needs it

Warszawa

I think it’s actually Eddie’s game which isolates Martinelli, pair that with Zinchenko’s style compared to Tierney’s traditional role and you end up with what were seeing.

Prepared for the red thumbs, but It’s Eddie that handicaps our game, and his misses were terrible, to the point of watching Ashley Barns…

ealing

I wholeheartedly agree with your first paragraph. but not the second. that’s why Jesus is a better player than Eddie.

BillyKrystal

As good as our results have been, and as dominant as we’ve been in stretches, there’s still a lethality, killer instinct missing. Liverpool and City at their best felt unplayable, like they could score with every possession. Neither of them have looked like that recently but neither have we. We can still do it, just need our mojo back and some luck.

Eric Blair

Probably a bit of both.

Maniac

Simply not good enough. Completely lost control in the second half – persistent mistakes, playing ourselves into danger. Late changes didn’t help either. Just poor.

Johnny 4 Hats

The changes are becoming a little too predictable.

No change of shape. No new tactical moves.

Just like for like subs. In every game.

CharlieGeorge

Artera out 🤣🤣🤣🤣

James

City upped their press five-fold on what theyd done in the first half, relentless energy and effectively kept Odegaard off the ball until the 80th minute by which time they were happy to defend a 2 goal cushion. Fair play. Overall we didn’t create enough clear chances, and the half chances were 100% off target.

Bleeding Gums Murphy

Really miss Jesus. Nketia not at level needed. Two defensive mistakes cost us badly.

Johnny 4 Hats

No Jesus and Partey. Usually I’d say fair enough.

But this game was so winnable and that makes it all the more frustrating.

Bleeding Gums Murphy

I get ya but we are joint top of the premiership with a game in hand. Let’s support the team as we have done all season.

Johnny 4 Hats

I will not support the team anymore. I now support AFC Shrewsbury County.

#MertesackerOut

Norman House

Does anyone know how to spell Nketiah!?

Riku

Walker booked I said get ball to Martinelli
The next time Trossard just now , first attempt at him ! On 92 minute Arteta what are you and your coaches doing , I mean they are supposed to analyse everything’s but missed this old fashioned logic

Johnny 4 Hats

I’m not sure where Gabi is right now. But it’s wrong to single him out. Xhaka, Odegaard and Saliba are all a bit lost at the moment and that’s just too many players to have out of form.

I’d really like to see Trossard at CF at the weekend too. Eddie, I love you. But I think defenders are really starting to dominate him.

Brady’s bunch

Eddie has reverted to type he’s just not good enough, grand as a back up sub but that’s his level he’s just not clinical enough when the chances come his way.

Crash Fistfight

Problem is, he’s not that great as a sub – his goalscoring record is only good when he starts. What he is, is a rotation option.

Riku

It’s not just on Martinelli but in the rest of the player for not getting the ball to him to attack the right side where walker had a yellow plus Diaz !! It’s on the team and coaches tactics not just Martinelli alone

Arsenalista

I don’t agree, we have the ability to go on a good run and hopefully this is the end of our blip. I think we can learn from this and give man city a good run for the title.

A Different George

Not a poor performance at all; nothing like the listlessness of the recent matches. In the first half we were the better side; we were not “dominant” but were better than the team that have won every year bar Liverpool’s single title. I would say they were more afraid of us than we of them. We played through them, and they could not play through us; we had the ball in their half most of the time. We had good chances (as did City). Their goal came from a bad individual mistake by Tomiyasu and still required a brilliant touch… Read more »

Johnny 4 Hats

No one got higher than 6.5 on player ratings.

If that’s not a poor performance, I’d really hate to see one.

A Different George

Okay, I guess that settles it. Why should I believe my eyes when I can just see the player ratings? Does it matter that our midfield played better than De Bruyne and Gundagan for most of the match? That their keeper, who many people think is one the best distributors in the world, was unable to pass out with any consistency and was booked for time wasting in the first half? That we looked confident and they looked rattled throughout the first half, and only a little better until Grealish scored in the 72d minute? We were the better side–better… Read more »

AFL

i fully agree that we’ve been a better side in the first half and dominated the game. completely. Second half showed a couple. of things though. We are still simpčy not on the city level yet.. Arteta still has more to learn from Pep since we’ve been effectively cut off by their press and the midfield went missing. Martineli and Nketiah not dropping back to help relief our midfield and there was no distribution for Saka. Jorginho is a fine Player but we need to use him in s better way. He can not do what Partey does but his… Read more »

Johnny 4 Hats

It’s really nice to go “yeah, but we were better”.

Unfortunately we don’t get points for being better.

We’ve now lost 11 times in a row to City.

Maybe we are the unluckiest side in the world.

Or maybe it’s ok to ask why.

😇🚗☀️

UEFA knows why, the FA knows why, the CAS knows why, investigative journalists know why… Yeah, everyone knows why.

Need a hint? It’s sold by the barrel, turns honest men crooked and is fucking up the climate. The most traded commodity in the world and their owners have it in spades (6th largest reserves on the planet).

Johnny 4 Hats

Or we might be worse than them at football.

😇🚗☀️

Mainline their oil money into Arsenal’s squad and I guarantee we build a squad to rival them.

Crash Fistfight

With all that being said, how come Man City can’t buy a goal away to Spurs, yet they consistently embarrass us?

Boy Bastin

Well, there’s a way to go yet and things can change again but I guess City are (almost, because of our game in hand) where Pep would want them to be given that they trailed us by a reasonable margin for many months. We’ve lost momentum and with the win tonight they may well gain it.

C.B.

We were unlucky that TP wasn’t playing, he would have made a difference by making us more solid.

Dylan

Overreaction imo. We controlled the first half. And lack of experience cost us in important duels and goal scoring opportunities. Yes we may not win the title but I don’t think everything was bad about this performance. We just made costly mistakes, and couldn’t capitalise when it mattered, and city did. City are an incredible team with serous depth but there’s still a long way to go. Bring on villa. X

A Different George

Your problem is you watched the game.

IgorStepanoooo

Not poor. We got beat by Man City. This is not an average side by any stretch. We created chances we didn’t take, and they pressed our defenders into silly passes, which is what Man City do better than anybody. I’m more worried about squad depth. Vieira looks poor. Xhaka looks a bit knackered. No striker depth. We need Jesus badly.

Johnny 4 Hats

If we weren’t poor, then why was 6.5 our highest player rating?

https://arseblog.news/2023/02/arsenal-1-3-man-city-player-ratings/

Ealing

We got beaten because we were poor in the second half. There’s no two ways about it

Eric Blair

We really could and should have done more in the transfer window.

Teryima Adi

The game has just begun. It’s not over until it’s over. We move.

Mike

This is just nonsense and an overreaction. Yes the boys levels have dropped recently, but today we were the better team in the first half, just mistakes killed us. Missing 2 starters in our spine is costly. Still top if we win our game in hand! COYGs

Dada

I’m probably in the minority. Citeh had their slump after the world cup. United were slow to get going.

We were due to a slump. And. Personally I see this game as the end of the slump. There was too much going on. Pressure,fatigue. We have basically mastered every test so far.

This is the start of the second half of the chase for the title. We reset. We regroup. 17 games to go. One game in hand. A point behind. All. Still to play for.
Time. For MA to rotate.

Jack

How comes Odegaard didn’t play today?

Ealing

I partly agree. He was very off from his best

Joker

I think this has confirmed once and for all that Nketiah isn’t good enough.

Maniac

To be a top striker you need to take the chances that you’re given, and he just… doesn’t. Two great headed opportunities and he couldn’t even get one on target. Poor.

karl g

To be fair, Jesus wasn’t scoring as many as Eddie.

Rick_Sanchez

But he unlocked the players around him which made our run possible.

El Chapeau

But he brought other elements to the game that Eddie does. Net gain with Jesus in the team.

karl g

You need both their qualities in one striker really.

Maniac

Jesus is such a huge asset, whether he’s scoring or not, because he just moves the play around him. He can hold the ball, dribble, pass. He’s smart with what he does and, quite simply, clicks with the rest of the team. It ultimately doesn’t matter if he’s the one to put the ball in the net, because he’s always the one to make stuff happen anyway.

karl g

If he comes back in a few weeks, it is not fair to expect Jesus to be at full tilt. After a long layoff there will be niggles and we’ll be relying on Eddie through until the end of the season quite a bit.

Eric Blair

But he won the penalty? Without so many poor defensive moments that could have been enough for 1 or even 3 points.

Man Manny

It borders on a miracle to expect Nketiah to lead the line for a Championship winning side. He is not even as good as Rashford.

Rick_Sanchez

What do you mean with “not even as good”? Rashford is a world class player and we would be happy having him.

Brady’s bunch

Agreed

Cygan’sbaldspot

Unfortunately Eddie just doesn’t have the rizz. Drop him for the next game and put Martinelli up front and Trossard left or vice versa

karl g

We missed great chances with Nketiah, Tomi and Saka in the first half and Xhaka in the second. If you want to win, then at least one needs to go in.

Those 2 Brentford points have gifted City top spot now!

loose_cannon

The Saka one would have been offside anyway but otherwise yeah. But more important were the suicidal mistakes at the back!

karl g

Good point about offside and our defensive luck has definitely run out. I wouldn’t go too hard on Tomi though, as he has had so little game time before coming in.

Norman House

I agree he has had little game time. That, however, is a schoolboy-type error. If you can’t see a clear pass back (he didn’t look) you put it out, even in this play-at-all-costs era.

Karl g

I’d put that on the manager. He could have been brought in for Brentford instead of going in cold for City.

Rich

Raises the question of should he be playing in the most important game of the season so far after having so little time on the pitch recently? Arsenal are on a learning curve, for both the young players and our young manager.

dr Strange

And we gave three goals away tonight. That’s never gonna work against City.

karl g

It shows how well they pressure a defect when they’re in the mood. We used to be like that a month ago.

dr Strange

We are tired. That’s why the mistakes keeps coming.

gunnertacks

patience please gunners. still proud of the lads. jesus and esr to come. we’ve seen what this squad can do.

Maniac

I’ve never doubted what we can do, it’s what we do do.

ObiKing

To Villa we go, let’s stay positive.

Glen Helders Left Foot

We won’t beat villa, Newcastle-esc bottle job on the way

Harding

Fuck off then – support the team

Db412

Seconded the only bottle jobs are the fans crying like it’s all over

ObiKing

We will beat Villa. The team played well; individual mistakes cost us the game. To a degree, Arteta contributed to our undoing. Tomi was hamstrung by the yellow card, and we needed Ben on at halftime. Xhaka needs a rest, so does Eddie.

Fatgooner

Quality defending wins titles

Beef

Only this morning did I realise how badly I wanted us to finally beat these cheating cunts. Christ.
Jorginho looks alright to me though, I think he might work out.

Henkamp

I HATE City with a passion these days. We do we never beat them? Teams like the spuds do it… why are they a tough nut to crack for us?

Beef

Yeah I find myself really hating them too. Not so much the individual players but more the idea of them. I used to think of them as a kind of bland corporate entity but now were actually challenging them the hatred is real. And of course the fact they’ve been cheating on an industrial scale. 🙂

karl g

Spuds do it with long ball and counter attack. Our game is too closely matched to City, so their more experienced side usually win out.

Djmexida

becuase the coach doesn’t setup the team to beat them but just to compete.

Moses

It’s a mental thing.

Sheldon

Hard to beat them without our 2 best players. Season is definitely not over yet. Was impressed by Jorginho

Erik

Exactly! When we lost Jesus, people thought we were done for the title. We still have a chance to get Jesus back and have our destiny in our own hands. Let’s turn it around, win our game in hand and get Jesus back. Come on Arsenal!!

Db412

Yep biggest positive for me was jorginho performance. Got 6 winnable games coming up so let’s crack on and see where we are come April when Jesus lord our savior is back

YoungGun

Partey is almost always out of these big games. It’s crazy. Frustrating.

Emi Rates

Dodgy refs decisions aside this wasn’t good enough.

A Different George

Oh Jesus. A lot of people would say the dodgiest decision he made was giving us a penalty. (To be clear, I think it’s a penalty–but that is often not given.)

Norman House

3 possible yellows for Bernardo Silva, before 4th foul was given as a yellow.

Martinez thought he defended well at half-time. (bizarre!). Pep agreed it was terrible tactics that he got away with.

Deliberate elbow by Haaland on Gabriel (could be Red, not even a Yellow). Possible 2nd Yellow for Edesrson (yes, it was a clear penalty!). Maybe those dodgy or at least not favourable decisions!?

Boy Bastin

I think, on balance, we got the best of such decisions. But in any case, we should rely on the quality of our play which, as you say, wasn’t good enough – and hasn’t been good enough over the last three PL games.

SLC Gooner

Taylor was fine. Called them for time-wasting in the first half, which is very unusual.
We lost that one fair and square. They took the chances, we didn’t.

Emi Rates

Taylor got some decisions right and credit to him for that but he was very lenient on others. The time wasting goalie was one painful example. Since the first yellow didn’t stop his time wasting antics, and he was so blatant with it, he should have been sent off. Bernardo Silva’s yellow came late to say the least. Taylor was perhaps fine by Taylor standards but he was still very inconsistent.

Not that it excuses how we played. Our fourth consecutive winless game and if we’re serious about winning the league it’s just not good enough.

Bossman Bill

We’ll see them in court then.

Djmexida

This happens after every winter transfer window. Good night painful arsenal

Momozemio

Clear chances missed iS not something we can afford at that level.
City was “poor” because we were doing well, still we succeed to concede 3 goals out of 4 clear occasions in total for them.
Let’s be positive and stay behind ALL the lads. Season isn’t over yet, initial goal was top 4 and we’ll get it.
And now we are chasing, which somehow is better for this team than leading me thinks.
COYG!!

Funsho Patrick

Work in progress!! No younger team has ever won the PL and finally the pressure is off!! We played well….time to rally around this team…. Weldone boys!!

YoungGun

Check Alex Ferguson’s ManU team. You either have it or don’t.

Riku

The back four of Irwin Bruce and pallister schmeichel weren’t young and average age older than our team

CHADD

XHAKA ?? WTF pass the ball

Mootilated

We want to win the league with one fit striker who is average 😂 Martinelli needs to be dropped. Trossard miles better.

Worst part is we keep proving our doubters right. Was fun while it lasted.

Nainsley Aitland Miles

Trossard but needs to be in, but in place of Xhaka. Said the same last week.

Too often Xhaka finds himself in an advanced position but he then doesn’t have the attacking nous to either take on a defender, pick out a key pass, or get in a decent quality shot.

I also reckon Trossard would put some spark back into Martinelli’s game if they played together.

Jordanarse

I quite liked Trossard and Viera playing together in Martinelli and Xhaka’s positions

Moses

Quite agree with you
Often times when a simple clever forward pass would have sufficed he chosed to do a back pass stiffling a promising attack.
Nketiah needs to be more clinical going forward. Though good all round play from him
Our defenders were a bit jittery today against a ruthless city attack which they sensed, exploited and we were punished for it.
All in all we need to take this game on the chin and move on.

Vonnie

We always concede when Martinelli is taken off, he contributes a lot more than you give him credit for. It would’ve been better to put Trossard on for Eddie.

loose_cannon

It’s funny seeing people criticise Martinelli, but how many easy chances did Xhaka and Zinchenko need to put him through?

Tayo

We’re clearly not the same without Partey, Nketiah has put in a good shift so far but it’s becoming glaring he can’t last the distance. Does Martinelli always have to come off for Trossard, is Nketiah so un droppable.
Painful defeat but we move

Rick_Sanchez

Inexperience was costing us tonight. Costly mistakes and somehow the handbrake on. Especially Granit who seemed mentally and physically tired.

1st half was good, but you don’t get points against this City for 45mins of good football.

Tbf, Pep changed the game when he brought on Akanji and switched it up. They suffocated us.

The season is still long. He have a game in hand.

COYG!

sAMa

A game that we may likely not win. How many times has this Arsenal team had the opportunity to increase the points gap from their opponents they have consistently bottled it? With the way we are going don’t be surprised if ManU overtake Arsenal and we drop to 4th position. I’ve seen this too many times.

Jimboy

I’ll suggest supporting those teams then…

Bishop

Painful defeat but no need to let our heads drop now. The season is not over.

We are level on points with City and still have a game in hand (not a guarantee of 3 points but still …)

Come on you goons

Bob Holdy

Amen

Der32

Jorginho was class. Difference was in the 2 boxes. Our defenders were queueing up to make mistakes, while Nketiah could’ve easily grabbed a hattrick on another day. Disappointed but we lost to a better team today.

Baz

We just couldn’t deal with their high press. Our press on the other hand was non existent. Nketiah having multiple free headers and not getting one on target says it all. I like Nketiah but he is so far away from a top striker like Haaland it ain’t funny. Gabriel has to be dropped. How many brain farts is he allowed to have and still be in the starting lineup. Try Ben White in the centre with Saliba. I fear teams have worked us out now. Villa away is gonna be tough as they are flying now and I can… Read more »

Crash Fistfight

Ah, come on, Gabriel hasn’t been making those errors consistently. He just decided to make a load in one game!

A Different George

Our press was non existent? Their keeper, Silva, Dias, all kept putting the ball into touch. You mean our press failed to completely overwhelm a team that includes De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish, Mahrez? Do you think we were playing Swindon Town?

sAMa

It’s going to be same as the last two games against Everton and Brentford. The coaches will probably put 2 men on Saka and 3 men on Jorginho we are done, no Plan B.

RockyRog58

You just can’t give away two goals and another from the pen that wasn’t & expect anything !
Obvious to me but not our defenders ?

dr Strange

The team is knackered. Tired as hell and Arteta isn’t rotating in the league. That’s why we are back to stupid mistakes giving three goals away tonight.

Depressing but I do believe in the team but key players needs to be restend and Arteta needs to trust the squad to able to step up. Not just the firts 11.

Momozemio

Please explain how Tomi was knackered?

sAMa

The only way this team can be rotated is when Jesus and Smith Rowe are back. Are you going to trust Vieira who isn’t physically enough and light weighed to replace Odegaard and Holding who’s not good on the ball and lacks confidence in an important Premier League game? Remember, right now all the remaining matches are very crucial if we must fight for the league.

CHADD

RAMSDALE was sht and scared xhaka was scared Arteta needs to stop taking Martinelli off why can’t he bring on Trossard for Xhaka. Trossard himself said his best position in where xhaka and odegaard plays so clearly Xhaka should be coming off for Trossard not for Martinelli is a goal threat Xhaka isn’t when you’re chasing a game you leave your most potent assets on the pitch don’t take them off.

sAMa

And expose your midfield?

Eric Blair

We are in absolute freefall at the moment and might soon have to start looking over our shoulders rather than dreaming of titles.

I’ve said it before, but despite the lack of goals at the moment our real problem is in defence, which looks shorn of confidence and able to make catastrophic mistakes at any moment, from Ramsdale all the way into midfield.

Best hope seems to be in the Premier League’s lawyers now, although I’m not anywhere near convinced we are even going to finish 2nd.

Crash Fistfight

We already should be looking over our shoulders. Man U are 5 points behind and we’ve still got to play Man City away, plus a load of difficult games (Leicester have decided to wake up just before we play them away, for example).

Boy Bastin

It’s highly unlikely that any conclusive decision on City will be made by the end of this season (they’ll certainly appeal if necessary which will drag things out) so a legal loophole won’t help us. I wouldn’t be quite so pessamistic yet though – there’s a long way to go still (as a few of us kept saying on this site, even when we were doing really well in the first half of the season) and there may be surprises to come. What’s certain is that Arsenal need to quickly recapture the momentum they had but have lost recently. If… Read more »

Man Manny

Not time to feel sorry for ourselves. City came when the team has lost some form and two key players – Partey and Jesus.
There are still many games to play, and Spurs, Brentford, United and Liverpool have shown that City can be beaten.
It’s more daunting with matches coming thick and fast, but the lads must keep going. If we had been offered same points with City at this point of the season at the beginning, we would have gladly taken it.
COYG!!! Beat Emery on Saturday.

CHADD

Man city didn’t beat Arsenal…Arsenal beat Arsenal

StuArse

They took their chances, we didn’t. Their mistakes didn’t lead to goals, ours did. Something seems to have just gone out of this team. I think it needs a bit of a refresh and change of the way we play.
Get Zinchenco out of left back. He and Gabriel keep trying to out do themselves with mistakes and getting caught on the ball.
Disappointed, but we still would have taken second position with a game in hand at the start of the season.

Deano

So many bad passes with two of them severely punished. Missed some vital chances too. Only plus I thought Jorginho was fairly solid and reliable.

Paul

I thought we were good today against them. Lots to be proud about. The Prem is still in our hands. COYG!

Boy Bastin

Well, we can’t blame any silly conspiracy theories or VAR (rather the opposite tonight) but two poor defensive errors and a lack of real, accurate, attacking edge for most of the game. Plenty of “pretty” passing, but often in our own half – good to watch but not particularly concerning to City. It’s not “make or break” tonight but the defeat is a big setback nevertheless in my opinion. We’re now playing catch-up with a team that’s seen it all and done it all in the PL. Yes, there’s the game in hand but where are the goals coming from?… Read more »

Eric Blair

VAR made an unforgivable mistake against us in the Brentford game but our defending was shocking, how many times were they able to keep the ball alive in our box?

Boy Bastin

Yes, it’s true about the VAR decision but we had eight shots on target against Brentford and scored once. That’s the only goal we’ve scored in open play in three PL games now. That’s the flaw (along with the particularly poor defending from tonight’s game) that needs to be addressed, not a one-off VAR mistake.

A Different George

I thought we had a lot of good possession in the final third; otherwise, I agree.

Fahim

To anyone with half a brain cell ignore every negative comment. We were our own worst enemy today and if that’s the reason City beat you you’re a bloody good team. For the vast majority of the game we dominated patterns of play. But you could see 10 mins before the goal it was coming. That’s where you need cool heads. We were far too quick to try to get the ball forward whereas when you looked at City they played at a walking pace at times. Shifting the tempo of play was key and we just didn’t do it.… Read more »

Teryima Adi

Exactly my sentiments. I can’t believe the negativity that has pervaded this space for the past two weeks or so. This team is still on course for greater things this season. Support the team. To be honest, we are punching above our weight this season. Victoria Concordia Crescit…

Beef

It’s an internet phenomenon wherein people confuse snark cynicism and pure negativity for wisdom. But, it’s only a minority of morons by the look of it.

Gab, Gabbie and Gabriel

A very encouraging first half. It was all Arsenal through out. More of that and we can give the cheats a run for their money. I still believe this title race isn’t over. City doesn’t like the juggernaut we all know. I believe they will drop more points. We just need to keep close

Vieiraera

Can’t imagine what crap stupid Neville would vomit all week

Process Truster

I will respect Nketiah by saying we are missing Gabriel Jesus

Kinghenrythe14th

I’m proud of the team tonight. They gave it their all despite being 2 key players down.
If we had won against Brentford (fuck off Lee Mason🤬😡), wouldn’t have been under so much pressure going into the game.
Hopefully they’ll learn from these individual errors. There’s still a lot of football to play. COYG

sAMa

Do you think if Partey was around it would have made a difference? Jorginho was without fault today. I think our defensive errors cost us the game. I’ve always known Gabriel is a time bomb; He struggles whenever he comes against good attackers. I think Salliba brings calmness to our defence with the way he carries the ball full of confidence passing from deep.

Vonnie

Saliba is no better than Big Gabi, they both made mistakes, they’re both very young central defenders and they’re learning together. It doesn’t get much tougher than Ivan Toney followed by Erling Haaland (and that snide, intended elbow to the head on Big Gabi shows what a spoiled, entitled cunt Haaland is when things don’t go his way, should’ve been red) It was a huge learning curve for them both and they’ll come out stronger for it. They never gave up or stopped trying and I was proud of both of them.

djourou's nutmeg

we played like a bunch of scared kids. long way to go for this team, it was painful to watch how innocent we were. but with esr and jesus coming back soon i reckon we’re still favorites to win the thing

PTAFC

Falling apart. Tomi and Gabriel errors, Nketiah is back to missing easy chances, Odegaards uninspiring captaincy and performances. Great chance to win the league as it’ll be tougher the next few seasons. The signs were there v Everton – bottling it

Paul

Take a chill pill mate!

jeremy

absolutely correct. Regardless of where we expected to be pre season, we got ourselves into the position we did and handed the initiative to those cheats in the space of 3 weeks. If spurs had done that we’d be sending round memes of bottle factories right now.

Eric Blair

Hard but fair.

The fact is we have a young and inexperienced squad and coach, and have so far greatly exceeded expectations. It hurts to see us fall away like this but probably was inevitable at some point. We are growing and generally improving, with some big signings in summer we will be rocking, looking forward to CL already and just going to try to enjoy the rest of the season (would love the EL trophy).

jeremy

To be clear every fibre of my being wanted us to prove everyone wrong. I feel positively sick right now. Yes we are a young team (and coach) who deserve enormous credit for what they’ve done so far. That said, there is no prize for being brave pretenders. Young teams have won stuff before. It’s not necessarily about youth, it’s about making the right decisions in the toughest moments and I don’t think our squad has that x factor to succeed ultimately.

Eric Blair

It’s not just youth, you’re right, there’s a quality deficit too. This is all pronounced when challenging a behemoth like Man City.

The good news is that a young squad will improve, we’ve already seen that over the last 18 months. We need the right signings, the ones we didn’t get in the last window.

Teryima Adi

But what exactly have we bottled? You guys are unbelievable. Give this team a break. We have same points with a team sponsored by a nation with billions of pounds invested in players. Perspective guys….

Lordgunner

Why everyone blaming Nketiah…easy target i suppose,

martinelli was a ghost again Trossard should be starting now

too many bad passes from the back and midfield, this 2 massive error at the back cost us at least a point
When the see the sub that city bring,it was a losing battle but hopefully we can try to keep it up for the rest of season

Paul

So you are blaming Martinelli to be clear?

jeremy

he was terrible, and is not immune to blame as much as I love him.

Ealing

We have become too predictable. They stop Saka and we can’t move forward. We need to mix up things and play a bit more on the left from time to time. Jesus was good at linking up with Martinelli. Nketiah not so capable of doing so. It we e we wouldn’t be a bad idea to try KT on the left.

Baz

Nketiah had clear chances as a striker and failed to even test the keeper. Martinelli I agree didn’t have his best game but don’t remember him getting served on a platter.

yul

eddie had to headed chances that a first class striker would score with.one he put wide from in front and center of goal. the other he ducked out of. it should have been a classic diving headed goal. haaland kane rashford and any top striker would hit target at minimum with both those chances.fox in box fair enough. cold eyed goal assasin never. in this type of game where mistakes are punished those eddie chances are the diffrence between 3…1 and 3…3.

Arsene Wenger's Secret Lovechild

Proud. Of course I’m disappointed. Of course we missed Jesus. But Jorginho was my MOTM, and we were the better team (except for defensive errors). I love this club and I love our team.

Ealing

We matched in the first half, when Akanji came on we didn’t have a reply.

Post January Blip

I had no issue with Arteta starting Tomi, but I would have preferred it in the last game. Makes you wonder if he could have blown off some cobwebs coming into this one.

I don’t think we can win a title defending like we do. We’ve done really well to get to where we are, but all too often the basics aren’t there in the high pressure games.

Eric Blair

I was thinking exactly the same, White has been off form for a while and it would have made so much more sense giving Tomi a start in the last game, rather than this one.

Leon

I didn’t even realise Martinelli was playing until he was subbed.
Got his big contract and has disappeared since.
I just hope we don’t start slipping down the league – got to keep going

Boy Bastin

Funny you should mention Martinelli’s recent dip in form and his new contract. I recall that when Arsenal awarded Auba his massive new contract (the second biggest in the club’s history after Ozil’s) he suffered a similar drop in form from which he never recovered (and neither did Arsenal really). Hopefully, the two aren’t linked though and Martinelli will get back to his consistent best.

Vonnie

Gabi Martinelli gives us the outball and also works his socks off defensively, I’m getting tired of all this criticism. Every time Gabi is subbed we concede a goal, work that one out. His form has nothing to do with his new contract and everything to do with the fact that he’s been isolated with no support on that side. He misses Gabi Jesus probably more than anyone else as he is the player that works with him best.

jeremy

City deserved to win. And they did, comfortably in the end. Yes we shaded the first half, but they used their experience, took their chances and ultimately swatted us away like an annoying fly. They’ll win the league at a canter and get a slap on the wrist for their cheating. Gary Neville will be proven right and that makes me feel ill. We’ve got some good players who have exceeded expectation and undoubtably improved us but ultimately too many of them are not premier league winning quality. That’s just the way it is, another season defining game ends in… Read more »

Leon

Arsenal doing what they always do – call it what you will its bottling it..

jeremy

sadly yes

Teryima Adi

We don’t have to prove anything to Gary Neville.

Sbdjubor1306

The great “Bottling” company called Arsenal. Here’s the annoying part, City are not at their best. They went to Liverpool and lost. Manchester United and lost, Tottenham and lost. Teams we’re better than. They come to the Emirates and beat us handily. They hurtful part is this team made us believe and hope things were getting better. Those pundits that had always expected us to crumble were right all along. We’re pretenders. Imitating Pep’s formation and thinking you can beat him at it. I know the apologists are going to say we weren’t expected to be here,just like last season… Read more »

Djmexida

Lets win our remaing games while FFP catchup with those mancheaters football club.

Eric Blair

We’ll probably finish 3rd, 1 point behind Man Utd, and then have to vomit into a bucket when Man City get a 30 point deduction.

Jeremy

I’ll be done at that point. Thats when you take up another hobby. Death by a thousand cuts and all that. No coming back from that scenario.

Ealing

We gifted the a goal in the first half but we were winning the mind game. They turned the screw on the second half and we couldn’t cope. They were not scared to go long when they needed, but we tried always to play from the back and conceded from two more mistakes.
MO8 was lacklustre. Xhaka not lucid enough, a lot of wrong passes. Jorginho was competent.

karl g

A start for Trossard really is overture now.

Qwaliteee

He literally plays without any fear – unlike way too many who seem to have completely lost their Mojo.

Odegaard, Saliba, Gabriel, Ramsdale, Eddie, Xhaka, Tommi, Martinelli – all seriously off their game and way off the pace. Scared of their own shadows tonight.

Zinchenko, Saka and Trossard were the only ones who played anywhere near what they’re capable of.

As for Jorginho, yeah, some deft touches here and there, but hardly pulled up any trees, given all the hype. That said, let’s hope he comes good because Partey will probably be out for his normal regulation four months (sic).

Norman House

Beethoven’s 5th Maybe?

Qwaliteee

You get overtures in musicals and opera.

You get movements in Symphonies.

Inasmuch that we need fast movement, I’d be calling for a ‘presto’ played symphony.

Jau

Problem is we have just lost all form. How many shots against Everton Brentford have been skied miles over by too players like odegard zinny etc. Passes are being constantly under or over hit. There was a moment in 2nd half where we broke brilliantly, only for xhaka to massively over hit a simple pass straight out of play. Nekitah just isn’t good enough. I feel like his goals have masked this. He needs 3/4 clear chances to score 1 goal which just isn’t good enough at this level. I feel like we’ve lost the best chance we’ll have of… Read more »

Qwaliteee

Not so much the defeat – (I woke up with that familiar feeling of dread when we’re in for a pasting/miraculous victory) it was the manner of the defeat. If you’re going to pass the thing out from the back against rabid high pressers, then you’ve got to be able to pass accurately and fast. We couldn’t do either. Underhit passes, over hit passes, fumbles, fuckups, sloppy sloppy passing and so SLOW. We were an absolute shadow of ourselves – we panicked and gifted them the ball all night. I’ve lost count how many times on here I’ve reiterated for… Read more »

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