Arsenal made it two wins from two after a hard-fought 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Martin Odegaard put the Gunners ahead from the spot after Eddie Nketiah was fouled, but the last stage of the game was difficult after a nonsense sending off for Takehiro Tomiyasu.
However, we weathered the storm, and came away with three points at a very difficult place to get them.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Crystal Palace 0-1 Arsenal report and see the goals here
Crystal Palace 0-1 Arsenal – 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.
Ah yes, I started viewing the ratings list from bottom to top because I wanted to read the referee comment first 👌
What a shite bollock ref that was.
I don’t really get why they are both cracking down on time wasting and adding on time to alleviate time wasted.
Surely just one or the other?
And also, these refs need to remember they do have a brain. Just a little common sense. But the rules are becoming so absolute that the refs can’t even seem to apply simple logic anymore.
Also, there should be a VAR check if a second yellow leads to a red.
Bewildered that there is no VAR for that. Palace player just saw an opportunity to get a man sent off.
I thought this – Kai “wasted” 15 seconds, Tomi “wasted” 7 seconds and got a yellow. Surely the answer is adding 22 seconds to the game – fair and no potential for controversy
Yes he also gave the first card to the wrong player
It was coming from the moment Partey/Saliba/Ramsdale got the warning at the goall kick. Just so predictable that a card would go to whoever was next caught. We need to be wise to that. Why waste time anyway with so long left in game?
I get this – but how can the ref justify booking a player for wasting 7 seconds? It has to be consistent – cumulative actions are fine if it is fouls – but if it’s wasting time you surely can only justly counter that by adding the same time on? Otherwise you have to book every player that takes longer than 6 seconds to bring the ball back into play?
It’s blatant rotational time wasting and even the refs aren’t that thick. Fair enough.
But what is to gain from rotational time wasting if that time is all added on at the end?
One of the issues is that it’s NOT added back at the end which is only fine if you are the team under the cosh, hanging on to a narrow lead. I’m thinking of Australia v England semi final at the Women’s World Cup where England blatantly wasted time throughout yet only 7 mins was played (should have been closer to 14 mins IMO)
By that logic, why not give the yellow to the player that wasted the most time in that sequence, instead of the player that just so happens to touch the ball last? It not musical chairs, is it?
this! do we have to be timewasting cunts with 30 min to play?
That kind of time wasting felt like a small team mentality, go for the kill, Palace at that point were beginning to open up and we are better than them so go for the kill… Can’t seriously understand this small team mentality
Thank you !!! My exact sentiments. We should be looking to kill the game at 60 minutes not start wasting time.
Kai learned that at Chelsk – gotta give him a bit of time to realise he’s in a classy club now.
If we had more players working harder to escape markers to be potential recipients for the throw?
Problem with trying to punish the team who are wasting time is that if Palace had equalised late on, the ref would still have to add all the wasted time back on which would give Arsenal that time back in which to score a winner. You could argue that it also gives Palace longer to score the winner but it is not they who have wasted the time. It’s a tricky call but in this instance, the team down to 10 men and under the cosh, have least to benefit from added time for time wasting.
FUCKING THIS^^^
He fucked us over last season as well
Was just wondering why his stupid pixar animated face was so familiar to me
Nailed it
I’m old enough to remember a cartoon called Droopy the Dog. Google it if you’re younger… that cunt is the spitting image, except that Droopy’s a far better football ref.
I think he ref has an eye problem, beacause he was an absolute Winker!
To the extere, if they want to completely eliminate time wasting they should just do it the nba way, stop and restart the clock along the way. No injury time controversy.
Or what if, similar to basketball, you have a certain amount of seconds to throw the ball in or you turn it over?
You mean basketball 🏀
Exactly. It’s done in other sports with little to no controversy. But I get the impression that they don’t actually want a clean & easy fix, they want a talking point. Personally I had no problem with the old system of just adding some time on arbitarilly at the end that never really matched up with the actual amount of stoppage time. Everyone knew the deal, ppl weren’t getting sent off for soft/debatable time wasting & everyone had fun villifying sides like Newcastle while secretly loving it when our side knew when & how to carry out the dark arts.… Read more »
To show the refs don’t have a clue it’s a yellow for waving a card but this clown let Odegard get away with it and also didn’t book Eze for diving. Clueless doesn’t come into it.
Partey also got away with it imho, during palace penalty appeal
Yup. Could/should have been shown a yellow for ‘asking for a card’ – obviously the ref was too flustered
Palace fans enjoyed that but it’s a matter of time before one of theirs is sent off for taking 7 seconds to throw the ball in. Also second card wasn’t a card, and if it is, then how did that Palace defender not get a yellow for bundling Eddie over on the break, like, RIGHT after Tomi was off? Fucking joke. Feel for Tomi.
In is the second yellow card that is questionable. The first one was a collective yellow card for time waiting and it just happened to be Tomi that received the card, fair enough. But during the whole game, he did not receive any warning for bad behavior besides the card. Even the ref gave an insecure grimace when he picked up the second card from his pocket.
That grimace was because he’d just jizzed his pants due to finally being able to whip out a red and make the game all about him.
And what about Ayew’s OWN wrestling of Saka,earlier? … Saka was closer to goal, and that was a far more blatant shove to the ground, plus he tried and failed once and went back in for a second foul!
Plus – Tomi’s yellow was, under the laws, not even a yellow if he had actually pulled Ayew back since the ball was overhit way ahead and Saliba already had it… so no possible break-away through on goal…nada!
So however you look at it ito the laws, an utterly crap decision.
FUCK PGMOL
Fuck David Coote in particular. We have so far to go in terms of raising the quality of refereeing. ALLOW FOREIGN REFS!
David Cunt
He’s that creepy wierdo at school who doesn’t talk to anyone and has no people skills. But now he’s been given power and authority and he doesn’t have a clue. Spineless.
So you met him behind the geography annexe then?
PGMOL is the skidmark of that retarded ostrich that is Mike Riley, and we all know him, don’t we boys?
They are a bit less ostrich syndrome these days tbf
That’s really a bit unfair mate.
To the ostrich.
More like PiGMOL if you ask me.
Honestly, is Arteta allergic to substitutions? With him complaining about player load and having so much more depth, you’d think we’d be seeing all types of players subbing in around the hour mark.
We made 4/5 subs and its the 2nd game of the season.
Obviously he HAD to because of the red card but I thought Nketiah and Havertz would of been subbed to add something different to the game prior to the Red
Honestly, Trossard for either of those guys after 60 minutes would have been good.
Thought Havertz did well up front when Eddie went off. Gave us an outlet when we hadn’t had a sniff of possession for what felt like ages.
That & the introduction of Jorghino & zinny pretty much took the sting right out of that period of intense pressure & saw us home & clear, so I can’t really criticise any of the subs in this match.
Maybe wait for a more straight forward match to complain about subs?
Better than waiting for an opponent with a vestige of quality and nous to highlight our lack of a proven depth of bench
I mean we can debate all day but let’s not pretend anything we say here will actually make any difference in how we use our subs, nor should it.
But I think it’s too simplistic to say “we’ve hit the hour mark, we must make changes”. Surely it depends on what that particular match needs at that specifc time.
thank god he kept some of his subs today as the match changed in a way nobody would have expected. That’s why you don’t just make loads of subs on 60 mins.
2 subs is a load?
I hope all you have to complain about this season is the timing and perceived motivation of Arteta’s substitions in games we have won. I think we’ll all be very happy with that scenario.
Wanted to punch him when I saw the ref’s face after giving tomi the 2nd yellow, as if he was the most honest man and could not have avoided giving the yellow
Haha just made the same comment. Smug piece of shit. How can you be so sure of a nonexistent foul you dim witted mouth breather???
He does look a bit like a guppy that’s just seen a Great White, doesn’t he?
Fuck PGMOL
Surely the second yellow on Tomi will be protested by Arsenal?
You can’t but it’s typical of the whole broken refereeing situation.
God bless Mike Riley, I guess, right? The day that ostrich kicks the bucket, I’ll be announcing as a family holiday.
Mike Riley refereed 41 Arsenal games and awarded 80 x yellow cards, 2 x 2nd yellows and 3 x red cards to Arsenal players. He awarded 106 x yellow cards, 5 x 2nd yellows and 4 x red cards to the opposition. In addition, he awarded 9 x pens to Arsenal and 5 x pens to the opposition. Fact checking is birth control for baseless speculation.
Nketiah 7 is odd. Probably our best player going forward.
Agree, though is it possible to be happy with Nketiah, but wish Trossard would start? We are so much more fluid with Leo and he brings Saka and Martinelli into the game.
Eddie just needs too many chances to actually convert one. And he tends to try to take on players when he has team mates in great space, in front of goal.
He did well enough but there was the break down the right that he had to play martinelli in who was in acres of space and he kept hold of ball and had to do better with his second chance.
Not just Gabi, Havertz was behind Martinelli, gesticulating wildly for him to cross it and he tried to beat two defenders instead!
The defender(s) did really well to block a cross. Eddie did really well to keep the ball.
He’s good at turning with his back to goal. I don’t see a whole lot else, and you can’t miss as many as he does, not as a dedicated striker.
He literally has a better goals per minute rate than Jesus. Not saying he’s better (he’s clearly not) but his finishing definitely isn’t an issue, even if he missed a couple today.
Gabriel Jesus, whose a much better footballer, misses plenty too.
But Jesus sets up plenty for others – Eddie is a tad selfish, or just doesn’t see open team-mates in better positions?
People just don’t fancy Eddie because he’s not a shiny new toy. Not sure why everyone’s so sure Trossard would “bury those chances” – he might not even have been at the end of them in the first place. Weird Eddie agenda going round.
Eddie is not a good football player. Saka’s not a shiny new toy either. It’s not because Eddie missed a goal that he is bad. He is bad because he has a heavy touch for a football player. He has no awareness of where other players are. He doesn’t assess options. He can’t make a 5 yard pass with a defender in front of him. The penalty he won, I mean did you see the touch he took before that. The man has dumbbells for feet. It’s depressing to watch Arsenal when Nketiah plays. Same as when holding plays. You… Read more »
I stopped reading after you said Eddie wasn’t a good football player. He’s made incredible progress, stepped in well when Jesus was injured. You all be here acting like Gabi J doesn’t miss chances either.
I know you’re trolling but jesus christ man, “he’s not a good football player” is the laziest critque of a professional footballer I think I’ve ever seen.
Pretty sure anyone with the time & interest can find loads of video evidence to counter all of your follow up examples but what would be the point? You’re not a fan, we get it.
That seems a bit harsh on Eddie who did BRILLIANTLY when deputizing for Jesus last season but yes, he reminds me of Theo Walcott in his decision making i.e. doesn’t seem to have a football brain.
What team do you support mate? Because it’s not The Arsenal.
For me it’s that Pépé and Balogun both show signs and stats of being better goal scorers however I put up happily with Nketiah’s hold up play but he was in my opinion too selfish last night and had unnecessary shots blocked and should have scored. Trossard is best LW but the red card shut him out. Pépé would have worked well to replace Saka for more pace after the red, especially with Nketiah’s hold up play, except for the weird Africans‐also‐have‐internal‐bias vibes that I am too white to fully grasp. Partey points well even if he doesn’t shout in… Read more »
Don’t agree. He is always busy, certainly – but if we are to compete for the title, he cannot require 5-8 chances to convert one. Watched the match again earlier – when Bukayo put him into space down the right, Havertz AND Martinelli were completely open and gesticulating for the cross (which he had time to make!). Instead, he tried to take both defenders on and butchered it. Later – on the attempted chip – Havertz was again calling for it in acres… and had a tap in if Eddie simply squares it. It’s a recurring problem with him –… Read more »
Yep he’s only scored 4 from 20 big chances. I want to be fair to him. He did impact the game yesterday. The fact that he deputized well for gabi j is not true. He started well and then was replaced by trossard because his overall performance in games and his conversion of chances was poor. We did much better with trossard leading the line. Also, I our XG when nketiah starts is very low and it feels like we’re playing with 10 men when he’s on the pitch. If nketiah had a better touch and some finesse – not… Read more »
FUCK PGMOL.
Up the Arse.
Tomi should be allowed to play 30 mins of the next match for free (12v11) to make up for that ludicrous red today
Great to see Tomiyasu back to the level he was when he first joined Arsenal. Really is a great player to have in the squad with his versatility and dependability. Both cards were really, really harsh for him and now he has to miss the next match unless there is an appeal. Do hope we move White back to RB next match and bring Gabriel back into the lineup. We are so much stronger defensively with him in there with Saliba. Hopefully with Zinchenko back we can go back to the setup we had last year with Zinchenko in that… Read more »
Really hope he’s over his injury issues too.The bad knee one he got last year did feel much more like a one off- the way he fell would have put basically any player not named Granit Xhaka out of action too. Very different to the calf problems in his first season. What a chance he has now to recapture some of those first season performances and have a massive contribution to our season- hope it’s not wishful thinking, but he could even be viewed as our LANS Timber replacement…
Only a total wanker would consider that a tug. Here’s looking at you, ref.
Tbf wankers do know about tugging
😂
Underrated comment…
If that is the benchmark for 2 yellows there are going to be a lot of sending offs this season…..Ayew should have been one of them. The inconsistency is criminal.
He LITERALLY tried to rip Eddie’s shirt off of him. I fucking HATE the PGMOL.
If that’s the new standard on timewasting, I’m looking forward to Arsenal playing against 5-man Villa and 6-man Bournemouth this season.
Not to mention two games against Jordan Pickford, who wastes time in Everton training
Rice was so good today. Hope Havertz too can settle so well. What is bothering me is Big Gab being out of the team. Please fix this Gaffer.
Would be v surprised if we let big Gabby go
Me too, but that doesn’t mean we are not considering it, Play Gabriel day in and day out and the buyers will know he’s not for sale.
It’s all just rumour but the last I heard from F. Romano was literally we’re not considering it. Think he mentioned a source at the club that said it had to be like a 200m euro bid for us even to think about selling.
Probably take that with a pinch of salt as all transfer rumour should be
Not for anything less than 80m and even then, I’d think 3 times.
Apart from transfer gossip (which doesn’t seem particularly serious from everything I’ve read) I’ve got no clue for certain why big Gabi’s been left out. But I definitely understand the formation. Without Zinny or Timber, we don’t have a natural defender that can invert into midfield without the ball. The closest we’ve got to that is Partey & it makes sense to me to use him in that role while both Zinny & Timber are out. The only difference I see from last season is that, when the inverted player comes into midfield, the 2 left & right CBs (White… Read more »
Seems Saliba is the only true CB in this formation. Tomi and White can both bomb forward.
If that does not qualify for the stuff of champions in the epl anymore, it is definitely a stuff-of-title-challengers performance. Great to see the calmness and grit under pressure. It will take something truly special – even from City – or a freak moment to beat this team.
Selhurst Park is a difficult place to go certainly, and given we went down to 10 men the defensive resilience was needed but just how highly do you rate Forest and Palace if you thought that ‘the stuff of champions?’ We’ll play a lot better and lose this season.
Surely we will appeal Tomi’s red card?
Supposedly red from double booking can only be appealed for mistaken identity.
We can’t- see above
Not able to, they only review straight red cards, not two yellows. Another stupid fucked up PGMOL rule.
10s to everyone today. And some more for Tomi.
The ref can have it up his arse. Incompetent wan*er
Shittest red card since Martinelli at Wolves. Gibbs/Walcott at Chelsea is still worse though. The officiating in this league has been very bad for a long time, PGMOL is not fit for purpose.
It was Gibbs/Ox
fair mistake tho…
Oh the irony
Haha yeah undermines my point a little …
He tried to prevent a throw in being taken by pushing the taker Daniel Podence and then 5 seconds later, maybe trying to atone for his earlier indiscretion, needlessly barged into the back of (I think) Chiquinho. He’s young and still learning (not to be the patsy in those types of situations). What other decision was Michael Oliver expected to make?
“10/10 – For the boys digging in and taking all three points despite one of the most ridiculous red cards you will ever see.”
I’ve seen similar wording before – Martinelli Vs Wolves springs to mind…
That red has to go up there with Martinelli’s double yellow from last season in the all time ‘Ref doesn’t know what he’s doing Hall of Fame.
Rice MotM for me, a £100m bargain. Team did very well to dig in despite the serial and terminal incompetence of the PGMOL. Fuck Howard Webb!
£100m starts to look like worth it, we’re still far off from bargain!!
Where was the foul for tomis 2nd yellow????? The look on that refs face was infuriating. I don’t condone any violence against refs but Jesus idk if I could restrain myself. Good thing Tomi is a class act. The utter ineptitude (and/or bias) of pgmol continues apace…
I can understand the first yellow for timewasting as it’s what the refs are trying to clamp down on. It just is so frustrating when the ref then ruins it with that second yellow for literally nothing. there was no tug of the jersey or anything. a bigger problem is that VAR is not allowed to overturn second yellows. How is that possible??? What if an even bigger mistake happens? We all can see the mistake, including the VAR but literally can’t do anything to fix it. It should go to VAR and if the ref sees a replay he’d… Read more »
Yeah, Ayew saw he wasn’t going to get the ball and threw himself down and appealed to a clueless official as though Tomi had done something. Shameful all around.
Yep – Saliba had already snapped up possession, meaning that – even if Tomi HAD caught him slightly – it technically wasn’t a yellow as he’d lost possession and certainly didn’t have a clear run on goal.
Surely the yellow should’ve gone to Havertz though…
No need to dust the Palace player’s jersey for prints on that one Constable. Yes, the inconsistency is laughable
Adding to the bitter irony is that the diving player (Ayew) had been let off TWO worse tackles, closer to goal, earlier in the game.
Consistency?
I didn’t have to watch the last 25 mins from behind my sofa which shows how well we defended after the shambolic red. If Tomy had pulled him back whilst being on an (albeit ridiculous yellow) then i would have had no sympathy, but the ref has to realise that if he is going to give a free kick he doesn’t also have to produce a second yellow. But very proud of how well we adapted. Commentary kept saying “here come Palace again ” but we allowed them very little.
We had Andros Townsend on NBC. One of the most biased commentating jobs I’ve ever heard, absolutely terrible. His dislike of Arsenal was very noticeable. Bordering on giddiness when we went down to 10. Saying Eze’s penalty shout was nailed on. I’ve watched it 10 times and it’s a clear and obvious dive. I thought Lee Dixon was bad, now we get to listen to him.
Dixon is very good IMO. The Eze call was arguable, and the way things were going with Coote, I was relieved he didn’t call it.
Feel a bit better knowing someone else suffered thru townsends dribble. Had to mute him at one point – was truly an awful experience
Irrespective of your opinion on Townsend (yes he’s a dick) but yes, it was also a pen
Andros is defs a one-eyed chop, but Thomas did dangle his leg and I’ve seen those given 3 days out of 7.
So impressive how Zinch pushed us forward rather than the previous defend only approach
He looked good, didn’t he? Fresh legs and good ideas. I think we had about 90 seconds or so with the ball in their half. What a boost.
Was unexpected delight that MA’s last subs – all would be defenders for attackers – ended up taking and holding possession, and looking like a side that could hurt palace for the first time since the sending-off
Fit Saliba, Thomas Partey and Rice will win you the championship 🏆
The only thing our lads need to work on is closing out games. It feels like we lose our purpose as soon as we score.
So you think we should hang on to them when we get relegated?
I’m just here to say how chuffed I am how Zini changed the game immediately when he went in. A shout-out to Jorginho who became the shadow puppet master since going in.
Tomiyasu’s yellow cards were ridiculous, but how did Ayew not get a second yellow for trying to rip the shirt off of Eddie’s back, I’ll never know…
Also, sad not to see Trossard, but I’m guessing we’ll see a lot of him this season, and for a good reason.
Good job, guys!
I’m sure I’m just missing the point here but as prodigiously gifted a midfield technician Zinchenko is with great forward vision for a perceptive pass: HE CANNOT DEFEND
How did Havertz stay on the full 90 minutes? What does Mikel see in this slow, lumbering, unenergetic player? I have never seen a 6ft 2in player not being able to win a single aerial duel all game. Wtaf!
I’m not impressed by Havertz. But I was rarely impressed by Xhaka either. Some players, you don’t notice them but they just make you better.
But to be honest, I hope Havertz shows a bit more creativity. Rice felt more impactful even offensively (but that’s mostly because of how great Rice is).
He won multiple duels, you’ve just got it out for him.
Aerial duels? Not one. He either lost headers to shorter opponents or missed the ball completely. Headers aside he needs to seriously step up or we’ll have another Nicolas Pepe on our hands.
A2P y u lie? WhoScored has him winning 4 aeriel duals, and for so e reason I can’t quite put my finger on, I trust them more than you.
watch it again
Infamy!, Infamy!, they’ve all got it infamy!
Havertz didn’t add much to the attack. I’m hoping he starts clicking with the rest of the forward players soon. He did work hard and won the ball back a few times. I think Trossard would have been a better choice. But we’ll see more from Kai.
Havertz is Willian 2.0. But won’t be an issue until we go up against teams with more talent than palace or forest. I personally hate this formation having to sacrifice big gab for Havertz makes no sense to me.
Neither have any of us… Kai is 6’4″
Baffled by this poor referee. No words. Should not happen. I will be really sad if Arsenal looses points due to that type of crooked decision. Is there a possibility to argue that this is not fair? The so cold best league in the world has the worst referees. Why? By coincidence? I personally can’t believe this is coincidence. As mentioned, hope it will not cost us the title, if we are genuinely in the title race. I was most disgusted by the knock in the face of Odegaard in the first half. Why is that not called by VAR… Read more »
Interestingly, the team who benefited LEAST from VAR decisions last season was…Man City
and the team who benefited the MOST from VAR decisions last season?…Brentford. Yes, Mr Coote the ref had a dreadful day at the office but to be fair, Palace should have had a pen IMO
I believe this team practises low block in case of an eventuality. We fans have nervous breakdown not the players it seems
I didnt watch the game but i saw a lot criticism against Kai. Can anyone watching say if they agree?
He is often the brunt of criticism but the team as a whole wasn’t fluent. Kai played it very safe when he had the ball which was disappointed, did win w few duels and wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful. The team just isn’t quite functioning yet
No, he did a lot of work off the ball, linked play and and wasn’t bad at all. He’s the latest player to be picked on, some people just have to have a target.
Ah, the Ozil defence…”did a lot of work off the ball”. So much good work off the ball he could have been sitting in the stands all night and we wouldn’t have noticed…
But our opponents did as they had to track all his runs.
Ah the anonymous Sofa Assassin. You also said Odegaard was a dud, 4 months into his loan.
It was a hard performance to explain. He flitted around, he did basic things right, he pressed well. Then he would float out of the game for a while before coming back and doing something else basic right again. He was a background character but he didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. A 7/10 performance.
Eddie had two nailed-on chances to cross it to him for a tap in and ignored ’em both. Once when Saka put him through down the right and the other when he went for the glory-chip that ended in row 14
I was complaining while watching the game that Havertz had very little influence on proceedings. I was expecting more runs into the box, a few offensive headers, maybe a crack at goal from 20 yards. He did work to get the ball back when we lost it. Not one of our better players on the day. He’ll get better.
I suspect MA will continue to play him as KH needs to learn our system to integrate fully into it
Havertz is just the fall guy and lightning rod for criticism from all the fair weather fans. Theyll soon disappear the moment we actually lose a game
We started time-wasting soon as we scored. Tomi was the unfortunate one when the refs patience ran out, but it could have easily been 2 or 3 of our other players before that.
2nd yellow was a joke.
3 good points and crucial contribution by Georginho and Zinny off the bench…
For me , that’s never a red against Rodri or Ake, it’s almost acceptable to give it against us, but they too afraid to do it against city . Regardless it may work in our favour and help galvanise us, integrate the new players, show importance of bench and quality and strength of squad . While it’s a small thing just see how physically big we were at end of the game , Partey, White, Saliba, Gab, Kiwior, Rice, Kai all big men and physically I think we will stand up to any previous physical end of game thumping ball… Read more »
Tierney is a much better defender and more versatile footballer than Kiwior. They’re apples v oranges and two completely different types of player
Unpopular I know, but I did like the first yellow. Don’t want to be that kind of team, and I do like the rule changes, especially seeing Bruno Fernandes getting yellows for his behaviour. But the second yellow must be VAR-able – it utterly changed the game for no reason.
I have been getting irritated with our players for some time now over how long they take over throw ins. I wasn’t surprised that one of our players eventually got booked for it, it’s been pissing me off for some time now. I suspect that the dithering it works against us in that we get closed down. I’d like to see some stats on the length of time taken over the throw in and the retention of the ball following the throw in. That said, the second yellow was bad because of the bizarre rule that VAR can’t review or… Read more »
I don’t care about getting voted down, I’m saying it anyway. Tomi pulled his shirt. There’s one angle where you see Ayews shirt get twisted round from the front. So, having been booked, what did he expect? Also, Tomi often takes a long time to take a throw in. As does Benjamin. And that’s the rule. Why is it so fucking hard to understand? Partey should have been booked for waving a card but got away with it. Havertz did get booked for time wasting. We need to sort that shit out. It’s not rocket science. They told everyone the… Read more »
I saw a few replays and did not see this shirt pull. I also saw that the ball had passed Ayew by and was going to be collected by Arsenal. Ayew saw it too and went down, as any player would in that situation, and Coote got conned. Poor from him, and inconsistent.
Tomi’s 2 yellows were BS but we got away with Partey committing that foul for what should have been a stonewall penalty for palace…
I also thought we dodged a bullet there i.e. it was a pen and yes, Partey should have been booked for his gesture inviting the ref to book the Palace player. That said, the better team won.
Havertz was the one who took a long time with the throw. He then gave the ball to Tomi who took a hugely long time of about eight seconds before he was given the yellow.
I don’t care about getting voted down, I’m saying it anyway. Tomi pulled his shirt. There’s one angle where you see Ayews shirt get twisted round from the front. So, having been booked, what did he expect? Also, Tomi often takes a long time to take a throw in. As does Benjamin. And that’s the rule. Why is it so fucking hard to understand? Partey should have been booked for waving a card but got away with it. Havertz did get booked for time wasting. We need to sort that shit out. It’s not rocket science. They told everyone the… Read more »
Have you been on the Niki Lauda again?
Eddie 7.5 to an 8 for me.
I got to watch most of the game while “working”. I thought Eddie was nearly fantastic. Really, he gets either goal and he is a 8.5. He gets both and the penalty, 10. Declan looked really good and just seems like a really good guy. Always thought that when I saw West Ham play. Partey set a basketball screen or pick. even his form was good. On the fence about this. I am not fully understanding why, nah save that for another time. The crack down on time wasting etc is I think overdue. Yet, soccer needs to go to… Read more »
I understand the first yellow. The second, where there was NO FOUL while Ayew was still playing after wrestling Saka to the ground was ridiculous / scandalous / worthy of investigation and apology.
Ref decision here was completely farcical. Agree also its weird to be penalising time wasting + offsetting time wasting if there’s no footballing gain now. But coming at it from a different angle, if they are intent on stamping out the behaviour, I don’t see why everything needs to be disciplined with a yellow card. Why don’t we just overturn possession to the other team if cumulatively too much time is being wasted based on a (relatively more) objective shot clock, like in basketball? We already do possession exchanges for foul throws. Also solves the issue of players killing time… Read more »
Great that we dug out and took all 3 points! Rice was outstanding! However I really disliked our attitude where we were looking for ways to waste time in the 50th minute. It didnt radiate confidence of a team considered challenger for title. Also, after we were down to 10 men, we were scared to stay on the ball and pass it around. There was a glimpse of what we could do with possession even with 10 men but we kept lumping goal kicks which kept coming right back at us. We had such a fine tuned machine like setup… Read more »
Even Forest made the Partey/White experiment look misguided.
We did that freekick routine every game in pre season. Beautiful to see it work when it matters. COYG.
It’s a concerning esp on Gabriel. Not sure what he has done to deserve being bench. Wouldn’t it be better if the back four is White, Saliba, Gabriel, Alex / Tomi / KT.
Just my 2 cents, maybe ita some sort of agreement that he is the CL squad…..?
There was some speculation he had been the subject of some interest from the Saudi League (which is hardly his fault, two legs, male, mammal and with a pulse qualifies you)
What’s weird is why arteta keeps playing partey at right back where he has no idea what to do. Playing one of the leagues top midfielder where he is mostly running up the wing. Or when we have possession passing in from the right. Then one of the leagues best right backs is at center back amd the league’s best right footed center back plays on the left side. And one of the league’s best left center backs is on the bench. Arteta is taking what was one of the best defenses and trying to destroy it. And of course… Read more »
He looked gassed towards the end of the match.
In other breaking news: Zinchenko still can’t defend.
If we can get past the double yellow, what about Tomi’s performance? I saw a lot of the pre-injury Tomi, with a few extra pounds of muscle. I’m really excited to see him back on the pitch.
He was solid throughout and the victim of a the softest runny egg of a 2nd yellow card I’ve ever seen, Ayew is just a little cheating diving cunt.
Eddie should really step up. Instead of fanciful chip finish with only the keeper to beat, and then as usual smiling about his misses after that.
That’s what good strikers do: they miss, shrug it off, laugh at it and go again and score the next one. I recommend reading Wrighty’s autobiography.
Didn’t know Richard Wright had written one
I’m sure he is more upset than you about missing that chance. He has to smile or shrug and pretend it doesn’t matter, so he keeps his confidence and scores the next opportunity.
Nketiah played well overall, won the penalty that won the match.
He was rather unfortunate with the chance that hit the post but the Palace keeper will look back at the penalty and say to himself, he was never keeping that ball in play, I should just have let him past.
If I remember correctly Havertz was open and Eddie blasted a shot rather than passing. The most annoying thing about Eddie is his inability to see what’s going on around him, which is why we’re 100% better with Gabi Jesus linking things all over the place.
I thought Partey foul and then saw on the replay both feet planted before Eze moved his striding foot. Also, football needs to ban all contact of the head, yes, ball included. Saliba MOTM, his positioning when Palace were attacking wide helped Rice so much with his defensive positional play. The whole midfield was on hand to block a cutback and Saliba thwarted most crosses with White clearing well too. Partey is too good to sell, in theory he can start anywhere in midfield and defence. Nketiah is definitely good enough as backup but I’d like to see Balogun given… Read more »
Solomon could you just repeat that?