Thursday, October 3, 2024

Report: Arsenal 3 – 1 Man United (incl. goals)

Result: Arsenal 3 – 1 Manchester United
Competition: Premier League
Date: 3 September 2023
Venue: Emirates Stadium

Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Rice, Havertz, Odegaard, Martinelli, Saka, Nketiah

Subs: Raya, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Jorginho, Vieira, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Trossard, Jesus


Arsenal won a tightly matched game against Manchester United at home 3-1 thanks to goals by captain Odegaard, Declan Rice and Jesus.

Rashford put the away team in front with a goal in the first half though it only look less than a minute for Arsenal to equalize through a signature Odegaard strike.

VAR played a big role in the tense match – overturning a penalty for a foul on Havertz and disallowing a goal by Garnacho for offside.

The nervous and anxious performance from both teams however had a positive end for the Arsenal. Rice scored deep into injury time and Jesus finished it off with what was essentially the last attack of the game.

Pre-Match

Gabriel returned to the starting line up due to an injury to Thomas Partey. With the Brazilian defender’s return, he partnered Saliba in the middle while White shifted to right back. Zinchenko also returned to take his spot as the inverted left back.

Rice anchored the midfield with Odegaard and Havertz ahead of him, the latter getting Arteta’s support after a challenging game against Fulham the last time out.

Nketiah, on a good run of form, led the line with Saka and Martinelli flanking him.

First Half

Having seen the United team sheet, this writer thought that Arsenal would be over-running the opposition midfield. However, to United’s credit, they managed to control possession for the first 25 minutes though they didn’t have any incision with the ball.

Arsenal played a mid block though Onana and co. often tried to draw Arsenal in for a press. When the Gunners did push up to win the ball, the away team often punted it long though Arsenal did well to mop up these inaccurate long ball attempts.

The home side also never found it easy to play out as United pressed really high up and Arsenal found it challenging to keep their passing crisp.

The first genuine attempt on goal landed at the feet of Havertz. The ball richocheted around the box and found its way to the German. A simple shot would have seen Arsenal go a goal up but he bafflingly scuffed the shot. The ball trickled to Nketiah to pounce but a United defender kicked it away at the last moment.

Havertz, who seem shorn of confidence, was then at fault for conceding the first goal. He gave the ball away too easily in the United half and they countered quickly. They found Rashford on the left who cut in and curled one past Ramsdale. Ben White and Saliba should have gone tighter to Rashford and they would have been disappointed with their defending. 0-1 Man United

Arsenal didn’t rest and got right back in it within 35 seconds. The Gunners pushed on and attacked down the left. Good combination play between Martinelli, Nketiah and Zinchenko, ended with the Brazilian crossing low for Odegaard who lurked just outside the box and lashed in a low, powerful shot past Onana. 1-1 Odegaard

The game remained open though both teams found fluency hard to come by as the first half ended 1-1.

Second Half

Arsenal carried their momentum into the second half. United dropped into a mid block and invited Arsenal to attack while looking to counter. Arsenal hardly let up and kept possession.

Often, we played the ball down the left and it was a fascinating battle between Martinelli and Wan-Bissaka. One, a really good dribbler and the other, a notable 1v1 defender. Arsenal won a lot of corners from this battle but come the 58th minute, it was Havertz who tested the full back.

His run drew in Wan-Bissaka and Casemiro whose contact was slight but caused Havertz to trip and fall. Despite it being initially called for a penalty, a VAR check ruled it out to the boos of the home fans (and fans at home).

Martinelli went close with a curler from just outside the box but it was Saka who could have snatched all three points. Great interplay and one touch play from the team had the ball crossed into the box by White. Jesus, who was lively coming on for Nketiah, left it for Saka who had Onana between him and goal. He could only strike straight at Onana in what was another great opportunity squandered.

Just when we were turning the screw, a United counter cut through the team and Garnacho placed the ball into the bottom corner. It was a good finish but VAR came to Arsenal’s rescue as replays showed that he was just a fraction offside.

As the game ran into injury time, Arsenal huffed and puffed to find a goal but they have lacked precision and craft to open up the United defence.

When you don’t have scapel, sometimes you just need a hammer to get the job done. And that was what Declan Rice’s goal was. 96 minutes in, he caught the rebound and he lashed the ball by the near post. Onana was not saving that. 2-1 Rice

Just when we thought it was over, an Arsenal counter put the last nail in the coffin right at the 100th minute. Vieira sprinted down the left and put Jesus through. He was left 1v1 with Dalot. A feint committed Dalot to slide in and Jesus expertly shifted the ball and placed it into the bottom corner. A lovely way to score his first goal against Man United. 3-1 Jesus

A crucial three points in a tightly contested game against our biggest rivals.

Hatta also does football boot reviews on BOOTHYPE.com

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Maniac

Let’s gooooooo! What a match, what a result. Rice, you absolute beauty. Absolute bargain. COYG!!!

Henkamp

My world, Gabriel, Vieira, and Rice! Fuckjng brilliant stuff.

We still are not playing with the fluency of last season. We are going to absolutely destroy many teams when we finally click into gear with that monster of a midfielder (Rice, Rice baby). Just absolutely happy to do a lady minute winner against United again!

Mikel’s Coat

I love lady minute winners

BsinGooner

Andy Townsend is an absolutely biased anti-Arsenal commentator. No one comes close to him in this regard. But today, he was truly on another level with his anti-Arsenal rant.

Having to bear him for 90 minutes, this victory felt so so sweet. He was almost crying by the end.

Fabulous

That idiot was really scrambling for a reason to disallow Rice’s goal. “Evans was fouled!!” Hahahahah

mach iii

He is an absolute pig.

Dada

I love Lady minutes too!!!

Lee Johnson

Last minute lady
In a nightclub
Better

Sagebrush

After Harvetz

Deano

At half time I was like Harvertz missed a sitter and bad pass led to there goal, but other than that defend quite well, but in short not a good half. TBF to the lad I thought he had a good second half and against ANY other team in the league that wouldn’t have been overturned. I think we should give the lad a bit of time.

He’s got no hair but we don’t care...

A good second half? No chance. In the short time FV was on the pitch he outshone anything Havertz did.

Fabulous

I’d wager a bet you were also one of the few having a go at Vieira last season as well. Suddenly now singing his praises, absolutely shameless.

Fabulous

He really nullified counter attacking threats as a sole CDM (barring the Garnacho offside goal), I haven’t been as calm about us being caught on the counter in ages.

I miss santi cazorla

enough of havertz please

Darren

Bar the scuffed shot, I thought Havertz played quite well. Made some important interceptions on the left in transitions, crisp passing, and on another day that penalty might have stood. Will just take a few weeks to settle.

Ebo

Don’t try to reason with people like that by pointing out nuances of football, they just don’t get it.

Alberto Balsam Mendez Rodriguez

He looks like a player out of confidence, but even then he’s hardly terrible.

Dr. Gooner

I honestly didn’t feel that way. To me he looked sluggish and unsure of himself in both phases. Probably was a penalty but the angle from the back, which was the only one they showed Taylor, minimized the contact. It’s a basic BASIC thing that if you want to understand the motion of a three dimensional object in space, you can’t simply lookt at it from one angle in two dimensions.

Third Gooner

True. I also wondered why they kept showing that angle only. When you looked at it from the front, the contact was there. But fair enough to the VAR. That Garnacho goal stands 9/10.

Glenn Helder's Perm

I called the Garnacho goal offside as it was passed. Was pretty confident. Again, the freeze frame VAR made it look much closer than it was. A pretty clear offside. The pelanty, however, now I’ve seen them given…

Well played boys. We deserved the 3 points and got some luck after pushing hard. Onwards and upwards! And always funny to win like that when I’m watching with my old man who’s a United fan.

PeteyB

What frustrates me the most is that the contact (while minimal) is clear. What happened to the ‘high bar’ for VAR involvement? The penalty would have been a fairly soft one, but I don’t think it comes into the ‘clear and obvious error’ category by any means.

Mootilated

he also misplaced the pass that led to United’s goal

The Beast

And Saliba & White probably should’ve dealt with Rashford between the 2 of them, but these things happen.

It’s easy to pinpoint mistakes made by unpopular players low on confidence & overlook similar errors made by fan favourites but he’s only 4 matches in & he’ll take time to settle. There’s nothing particularly special or outrageous about that.

Mootilated

yes. but Saliba, Saka and White have been consistently brilliant for Arsenal for over a year now. Havertz has been average/poor for most of his time at the PL.

The Beast

All of those players have had at the very least a full season with us, Havertz has had 4 matches. There in lies the ridiculousness of this conversation.

It’s also worth pointing out that, for someone average/poor, he has won more than all of those players.

Crash Fistfight

Djimi Traore won the Champions League.

The Beast

That’s nice. A memory he’ll share with his grand kids one day, I’m sure.

Mootilated

I said he’s been consistently poor during his time in the PL, not only at Arsenal

Alan Sunderland

agree, maybe just thinking too much in front of goal. Once he gets the first goal he’ll be fine. He’s definitely got a bit of mongrel in him, doesn’t mind putting himself about a bit and leaving his foot in.

goonshow

Yeah, i’ve noticed that, whilst he always looked a little ‘dainty’ at Chelsk, Mik has fired him up to get stuck in. He looks slight but that’s really only he’s 6’4″ stretching things – he’s got some bulk and good that he’s now throwing it around a bit.
I have a feeling he’ll come good for us.

morecoffeeman

Some of our greatest players took time to get going.

Swerve

Careful, you know you can’t say things like that here….

Deano

You can say what you want but he does not play for the chavs anymore, he plays for us and we should be giving the lad some backing.

goonerink

i’d rather back esr or viera in that position. to be fair to him he did defend well. but when attacking he either gets in the way of the cutting in winger, follows the same runs a the sriker or hangs off in the position of the inverted fullback / holding mid. maybe once he gets his head around the position he will come good, but for me, so far we’ve wasted £65m and chances that could have gone to esr and viera. still even if he tells the fans to f off weve shown with xhaka he will be… Read more »

The Beast

You’re rewriting history a bit there I think. Even when Xhaka was fairly decent for us he got loads of stick. It was only last season that pretty much everyone got on board with backing him (it did help it was his best season).

Paul

It’s just that 99% of us on here trust Arteta above random people who think they know better.

Swerve

Arteta hasn’t got it right every time though has he? in fact some of the biggest turning points are when he has had his hand forced. The 3-1 at Chelsea changed the entire direction of his strategy and to great effect. Then today with Partey being injured yet he still found a way to put Havertz in. It’s not about random strangers it’s about using your eyes. Arteta has done wonders but he does make errors with players he’s just shipped out some this week. But he learns, thag is the positive. But on here you deviate slightly and you… Read more »

The Beast

“Then today with Partey being injured yet he still found a way to put Havertz in.” What does Havertz have to do with Arteta wanting to play with an inverted fullback? It’s obvious that he wanted Timber & Zinchenko to share that role but both were injured so he chose to play Partey there (which he did at least on 1 occasion last year before Havertz was even in the side). With 1 less midfielder available today you thought it was less likely that Havertz would start? You talk about using your eyes but I honestly have no clue what… Read more »

Paul

Yes I am a random bloke on the Internet but the difference is I know Arteta is much better at team selection than I am.
I base that on me not being a football coach and not knowing any of the players like he does.
Thus I am completely self aware unlike the 1% wanna be coach crew.

He’s got no hair but we don’t care...

Agreed. For now anyway.
Seriously Gooners, let’s be realistic and not blinkered here. We’re not saying Havertz is a bad player but his lack of confidence & form will cost us against the better teams. Rice and the Captain need someone they can count on in there.

Mayor McCheese

The thing that made this all the more enjoyable is they thought they had won it at the end. Anything that crushes Bruno’s, Antony’s, and Martinez’s souls is beautiful.

Mayor McCheese

Oh, how I laughed!

goonshow

I’m worried about this recent habit of talking to yourself, Cheezmeister?

Henkamp

Add Garnacho to the mix. He is a little prick himself. Imagine not liking football!

Badaab

i hope antony cries all the way back to manchester, the cheat

VAgooner

^ 50 players United could have gotten for the price of one Antony.

Badaab

could have paid to fix their pitch, too, but they’ve been lax on that for 20 years now

goonshow

Can’t believe their pitch is still so crap – after all, they’ve been spreading millions of pounds of shite all over of it for a number of seasons now!

Anon

They play like a small team

Deano

Made my day, just find them three players detestable.

goonshow

When he goes at the ref (which is most of the time), Bruno really has a face like a constipated ferret’s rectum, doesn’t he?

Kanishk Upreti

Martinez finally getting injured from one his many rash tackles 😀 Hope he’s out for a bit so we get to see Maguire and Evans getting more game time 😂 Rice can easily play as an 8 with Partey as a 6 once he’s fit. Havertz has got to earn his place in this team cus so far he is the weak link. Sure he almost earned a pen today but his silly giveaway led to their goal and he missed a sitter himself. He obviously has the talent and the physicality but is lacking something mental, maybe that’s what… Read more »

rincewind

Because we can (kinda) tell he is facing some sort of mental challenge, shouldn’t we show support, especially at the very beginning of his first season with us following what must have been a soul-draining, disorienting seasons at what is now Toad Boehly’s swamp? You’ve got to Want your people to succeed, get behind them, fan their sails for what it’s worth. But we Arsenal “fans” are already directing worse vitriol at Kai than the Chelsea mob hardly 5 games in. Me, I worry that he pays too much attention to the horseshit, evidence of his twitter reactions during preseason… Read more »

Kanishk Upreti

For someone who’s grown up cheering for Almunia, Senderos, Chamakh, Mustafi etc supporting Kai won’t be a problem. My point being that we have the most talent on the bench that I’ve seen in the last 15 years. We also dropped Gabriel, forced Partey into an uncomfortable RB role, took Ben White out of his customary RB role, all of it just to accommodate Havertz into the XI, so sensitive or not, he has to contribute with goals/assists/ball progression skills to justify his selection (which so far he hasn’t) We were all pretty critical of Fabio Vieira last season but… Read more »

Oldmanhiggins

Altogether too many frosted tips on that team…

yen

Should be over the moon but honestly spent most of the match frustrated. A bit ‘tired’ of these extreme, clutch moments: we have quality to blow them away within 60 minutes but play with way too much respect and handbrake. Will be looking forward to more sober reflection of the game over the intelull. 

Still, massive result. COYG!

Dave Cee

Agreed. I was screaming at the TV for Arteta to make changes before he did. Amazed Saka didn’t get hooked, his form is not there

The Beast

Yeah, I thought Saka was well below his best today & even though he’s been in good form, I thought Eddie was really quiet.

Would’ve brought on Jesus a lot earlier (or started him really) but hindsight’s 20/20.

yes

96 minute rice, uncle ben in shambles

Badaab

erik ben hag in shambles

Tomaury Bischfeld

One of THE great Emirates matches..

Not a perfect performance by any means but great spirit to keep hunting for the win and we got there eventually.

Should have been 4-1..

Guns Up

Or 5 or 6. Havertz and Saka both should have scored and then if we’re lucky the penalty decision stands. Oh well, that was a lot of fun in the end!!!

IndoGooners

no, that never a penalty, that a blatant dive from a lazy player who choose the easy option over to shoot the ball

Tomaury Bischfeld

I think your issue may not be Havertz

Alan Sunderland

How can you expect him to be happy? we only scored twice in injury time, should have been 3.

Eubulus kane

Come on, mate. He did well in that phase and deserved the pen.This Hazertz narrative is boring and predictable. Give the guy a chance, he’s been playing in the competitive with us for ONE month

JPG

You say “if lucky” but imagine VAR overturning that call if it’s Bruno going down. Never happening.

APGooner

That’s a hundred million well spent. What a game!!!

Ebo

If you criticise Havertz for missing a sitter and don’t do the exact same for Saka who did the exact same thing then you’re a complete hypocrit. Enough of you lot.

Ebo

Both didn’t do a lot offensively today either, but both worked their arse off and had key contributions defensively and to our pressing, especially Havertz. But of course he will get beaten to death again by this small but loud section of our fans and none of them will say a single bad word about Saka (as they shouldn’t). It’s getting really tiresome.

IndoGooners

can you point out, when HAvertz work his arse off? he choose to dive when he can shoot, that stupid

ChipStead

Piss off ya numpty, sick of this anti Havertz tripe now, go follow some other team ffs

Earlcourt

Saka nearly got a red today..in my book that’s Aplus for someone that’s obviously making effort. Didn’t turn great because he has double marker on him and White has to mind Rashford pace behind me.(yes he missed a sitter) but he was there to miss it. Tell me one single moment in this game that you felt Havertz wasn’t just making the numbers. Reis and Viera did way more in fewer minutes. It’s not about running around a bit. It’s about big characters on a day like this. Call a spade a spade. He’s a good player and I strongly… Read more »

IndoGooners

agree, could not understand with the woke heroes in here who think that every gooner players need to be defende, they are profesional player with wages over the moon, when they are not good enough, then they need to improve, just wondering these Havertz defender, are they also defend Mustafi or Willian?

Dr. Gooner

It’s important to assess players fairly on the context of their performance in the game but also in a greater scheme: the interactions with their teammates on the pitch, the game plan, the opposition, etc. Nothing is more basic than throwing names around and acting like they were 100% this way or that way. You come off sounding simple.

The Beast

Woke heroes? Mate, you’re embaressing yourself.

Ebo

That’s such a biased assessment, you credit Saka for being “there to miss it” but when Havertz does the same thing it’s an awful mistake? How can anything else in your comment then be taken seriously?

Havertz had a key interception that broke a united fast break that seemed like it could’ve been lethal and given them the lead, and another key blocked shot from the edge of the box. Those are absolutely impactful defensive contributions, more impactful than Saka (who did an awful lot of ood pressing himself).

Bobby

Agree. I really saw the effort today. He works really hard for the team, and it will click for him I’m sure. Let’s get behind him.

IndoGooners

not only 1 sitter, Harvertz actually miss 2 sitters, the other one is when he decided to dive instead of shooting the ball, the blatant dive, if you take off your arsenal glasses you will know that dive is never a penalty

Ebo

My god, how biased can you be against your own player

IndoGooners

as gooners, i really want arsenal win, and if we can see clearly that a single player is really not our standard, why we should defend him ? Did you also defend Willian ? os Mustafi ?

Eu_gh

Ask them? Where was the love for William?

Fabulous

and we did win today you absolute clown. Just give it a rest, have a wank or something. Nobody here wants to hear puss*es like you moaning after a big win.

Gervinho is Driving

Angriest man on … X

Emi Rates

Just silly.

Eu_gh

Those with down votes, wait until a player does a ‘Havertz’ penalty and we will see your comments here. He dived rather than staying on his feet to score. For me we are playing with a man less in these games, until he fully understands his role he is an overall a liability. How on earth is ESR not given the same chance? SMH🙄

I miss santi cazorla

Misplaced the pass leading to utd goal, always played the pass to the nearest player (most of the times Martinelli or Rice), link up play was subpar. Saka was not good for sure but Havertz almost cost us 2 points today.

But the refree deserves the biggest criticism of the day. It is so so blatant. Need accountability and transparency from refrees

RVP

The ref was okay today, at least he did not have a significant impact on the result for either team.

Ebo

I was gonna say until the no penalty on Havertz that was the best game from a ref I’ve seen for us in ages. Then that, it was absolutely a penalty and Havertz deserves all the credit for earninf it, but from the view the ref was presented I get why he overturned it.

Vonnie

Yes, they manipulate the view to show the least contact, but don’t show the other one. Typical, that penalty stands for any other team and I felt sorry for Havertz, he was pretty good overall.

PeteyB

What frustrates me the most is that the contact (while minimal) is clear. What happened to the ‘high bar’ for VAR involvement? The penalty would have been a fairly soft one, but I don’t think it comes into the ‘clear and obvious error’ category by any means.

Shivam Nigam

Yes indeed Saka should do a lot better, but the Difference is Saka has positively impacted a lot of games and at least 2 of the 4 games already this season, while Havertz thus far has seem lost.

Gordy

Saka looked off all game, didn’t try to run past his full back once, is he injured?

Dr. Gooner

Teams are overloading the right hand side to counter his threat. Fulham did this last week with Robinson and Bassey, and United this week with Dalot and Lisandro. The wide defender becomes Saka’s dedicated 1v1 defender while the closest center back just shades behind to cover the opposite angle in case the first man gets beat. Then the winger comes back too to take away the combinations with the midfield, and the central midfielder completes the bracket. They’ve been using 4 guys to stop Bukayo. That’s why he didn’t just roast Dalot every time, which he could have 1 v1.… Read more »

yes

I am with you on the sentiment and I don’t advocate having a go at Havertz but these things don’t happen in a vacuum, and it isn’t hypocrisy to judge two players differently for the same thing when the context is different. Saka has two goals this season. a late assist today and was probing all game; Havertz looked a lot of the time like he was hiding. From that I would say Saka’s miss is one of those things, whereas Havertz’s miss looked like a guy who doesn’t have any confidence in himself. Criticism of him is justified in… Read more »

Ebo

There you go, if you’re going to criticise him then do it the way you just did. I don’t agree that he was hiding, I do think he’s lacking confidence but to give Saka more credit for that “assist” than to Havertz for earning what shouldve been a penalty is unbalanced critique in my opinion. But at least we can disagree on that in a civilised, reasonable way, which is much more than I can say about the rabid “Havertz is sh*t” crowd.

yes

yeah I probably overstated Saka’s contribution in this game to be fair, for me the assist goes to my guy Gabriel. But in many ways the point I’m trying to make is that we shouldn’t even look at individual games, rather look at the sum total of all individual performances and make an evaluation based on that. We know what Saka is, we know he works hard and makes contributions, we see him miss that we think, unlucky, he’ll bang in the next one. It feels like an anomaly to see Saka miss that, or if not an anomaly at… Read more »

Ebo

That’s completely 100% fair. In fact that might be just about the fairest bit of criticism I’ve ever read on the Internet, lol

Earlcourt

Thanks man,
Here is the best comment on the topic.
I’m rooting for him and I strongly believe he we do great.
Cos Arsenal is that kind of place. That’s why I love this team and our culture. All for 1 one for All.

Ebo

I will just add, I think even in his current diminished state, which I think he can and will improve on a lot, he still brings good things to the team (things that often go unappreciated) so I don’t think we’re quite that deep in “the fucking doldrums” you mention. He actually has less work cut out for him than Xhaka did…

yes

haha to be honest I don’t think any player has ever been as deep in the doldrums as Xhaka, including players who went to the doldrums and never got out of them. So yes it’s probably unfair to compare Havertz, who is possibly flirting with the edges of the doldrums, with Xhaka, who marched deliberately and of his own accord into the doldrums, thought “these doldrums aren’t deep enough”, excavated himself the most unfathomably deep doldrum heretofore seen at any football club, and then still somehow got out of it.

Mootilated

imagine comparing Saka to Havertz 😂😂

The Beast

Bro, you literally overlooked every single bit of context in the original post.

Mootilated

how? yes, Saka is at fault for missing a sitter. Yes, he was poor today. However, Saka has been brilliant for 2-3 seasons, and is one of the best players in his position in the world. people cut him some slack.

Havertz has been poor for 2-3 seasons and cost 65m and has nothing to show for it.

I understand why one is criticised more harshly than the other.

Flash

Well said…
+ I think the 84 games in a row is taking a toll on Saka. Maybe I’m wrong but he seems to me a bit exhausted (maybe mentally more than physically).

Crash Fistfight

Saka should’ve been substituted instead of Martinelli. He did barely anything yesterday.

There you go.

karl.g

Great to see Gabriel back in the starting lineup and see off the Mancs.

IndoGooners

i’m not Arsenal staff, so i don’t know what happened during the training session, but if Arteta has eyes, he should see what’s the differences between when we have Havertz on the field and without Havertz in the field, Havertz just throws 2 golden chances, that penalty is never a penalty if Saka or Martinelli or any decent player they will shoot the ball and create a goal, while Havertz, what did he do? he dived and try to win a penalty, stupid !!!!, If Arteta keeps insisting on playing Harvertz, it will bring us back to Willian era

Heavenly Chapecoense

Saka missed an opportunity that perhaps Havertz could have scored. It is clear that Havertz hasn’t be good yet but all players make bad decisions in every game.

IndoGooners

could you see the dynamic after Havertz being taken off? where we play the ball more fluidly? and Havertz missed 2 golden opportunities, plus man utd goal also started from Havertz missed place

Serpent

I think we played more fluent because ManU had to put on Evans and Maguire. They had to sink deep to defend, giving us more space to play in.

A Different George

Did anything else happen while you watched this game other than mistakes by Havertz? Every single comment you have posted, and there are quite a few, is about that. Not Gabriel’s return, or White at fullback, or Odegaard’s goal and the stunningly quick Arsenal response, or Gabriel Jesus. Or, what’s his name, Declan Rice.

Crash Fistfight

I’m not his hugest fan, but he was part of a triple substitution. How do you know it wasn’t Jesus that made us look better, rather than Havertz not being there?

Badaab

if he had dived he would have recieved a card after the var check, they were clearly looking for an excuse to ruin our day. willian was singularly bad and didn’t try, kai is short on confidence, he’s not over the hill and carry 15 extra pounds.

IndoGooners

lucky him not to get a yellow

Glenn Helder's Perm

Were we watching the same game? Kai made the most of it but there was clear contact there. I’ve seen far softer pelanties given.

Kai is a good footballer, a CL final-winning goalscorer. I trust Arteta, who sees them day in and day out on the training ground and is, you know, a professional football manager, to make the right selection decisions. Although I do wish we could see a bit of ESR.. He’s missed!

Crash Fistfight

What makes you think Willian didn’t try? Just because he was shit, doesn’t mean he wasn’t bothered.

Tos

What never ceases to amaze me is folk sat in the terraces or playing football manager or play 5 a side who believe they know better than Arteta. Yes, Arteta is not perfect, no manager is. But people like yourself who overly criticise players and managers only demonstrate that you have never led anyone or anything to success. It should not be difficult to understand that they are a myriad of reasons why players may perform well in training but not in games – confidence, tactics, new team etc. Also, the history of players, even at Arsenal – DB10, RP7,… Read more »

The Beast

“i’m not Arsenal staff”……..probably should’ve stopped there

SG_Gooner

LOL! wrong forum dude. Stop looking for scapegoat. Move on.

Heavenly Chapecoense

This team showed a lot of resilience today. That dribble of the desperate Man U defender and tricking the keeper at the same time from Jesus is why we watch the game.

Gooner7190

I hope one of the stewards let Dalot back into the ground to collect his shit from the changing room at full time after he’d walked all the way back from Tottenham after that. Fantastic piece of skill by Gabby to read the play & hold off on the shot

The Beast

Think he may’ve made his way to the station & got the train home. Can’t blame him tbf. I’m sure they’ll send his stuff in the post.

Gooner7190

I heard Gabby paid for his train ticket in apology for the dummy, which was nice of him

HenryStatueofHighbury

COYG!!! Great win, hard fought and when it ends like this it feels worth the fight! This is another example why Arteta MUST tweak his teams, I know its frustrating and MA is notoriously stubborn, but we can’t be predictable, we can’t play the same team with the same setup and the same style, I may be in the minority but I’d rather he experiments now than later in the season, we need at least 3 different solid configurations on the pitch, all different in attack and defense, that could very well prove the difference. Ref Kai, give that man… Read more »

Bleeding Gums Murphy

It’s worth noting that when we had our settled team last season, no one actually found us out. The movement, precise passing and understanding can never be found out. The invincible’s never got found out as they were just to good. I think this narrative of changing the system is just a lot of fans buying into it without much circumspect.

SG_Gooner

But you very rarely go a whole ssson with a settled team. Couple of injuries and we lost all momentum. So we do need variety in systems. Invincibles played in a different era with league not as super competitive as these days. We can’t stand still. We need to be able to adapt and change. We are soon going to play in CL and we need to know how the squad will perform in different systems and tactics. So we do need to do this now.

Badaab

Arsenal 3-1 PGMOL. these refs are absolute trash.
cannot use var correctly despite years of practice and loads of scrutiny and an entire summer to retrain. team time wastes from the off and gets another 3 minutes beyond the allocated to look for an equalizer… if your team is wasting time and then goes behind you should be punished with an immediate end to the game, sorry.

Badaab

how many players beyond goalkeeper (always the biggest offenders) get more than one warning before getting a yellow for time wasting? send one off and watch how fast they take those goal kicks

AusGunner

Ref was very good tbh. Almost no major wrong decisions except the overturned penalty which imo was marginal. There were a couple instances where he was slow to make a decision/call that ultimately went Utd’s way which obviously riles up the fans but they were correct decisions.

That offside call, don’t get me wrong, delightful, but I’d feel pretty mad if that was given offside against one of our players. Attackers should be given the benefit of the doubt for such marginal calls and the line-drawing thing is frankly a bit inscrutable.

yes

also would like to credit an absolute Gabriel shithouse on Jonny Evans for the Rice goal, him trying to buy a penalty is what bought Rice all that space. we know he’s a colossus at the back but the man knows the value of a marginal gain too and he’ll fight tooth and nail for the sniff of one. GABI!

Badaab

he’s literally lost teeth for us in the past

yes

haha I forgot about that! he’s even more of a warrior than I remembered

Badaab

he could be our next manager in ten years, arteta did the same

Public Elneny

He was absolutely quality throughout as well

How you wouldn’t want him in your starting X1 is beyond me

Adam Goon

Good day to be a gooner!

Dr. Gooner

Goals change games! How different we would all feel if this ended at minute 93 or 94 like it might have in seasons past. Instead, we have a juicy, glossy scoreline over possibly our most hated rival and a winner by our record signing to celebrate. Important in the buildup to that winner was Gabriel’s work shielding his man so Rice could have a clean look at goal. I defended Havertz a lot on here but I do think it’s time to let someone else have a go at starting there. He was starting to find his feet a little… Read more »

ChrisJ

Also important for the winner is the service from Saka. Absolutely a set play with Gabriel sealing off Evans to free up space for Rice. Pinpoint accuracy on the assist.

Earlcourt

Special mention to that defender that had the presence of mind to just stop a fraction to allow garnarcho offside.
It’s a tiny whisker but that’s the moment we won.

nanogunner

And the very same defender who created space for Rice’s goal.

Der32

He moonwalked backwards like prime Michael Jackson to ensure Garnacho was offside. Absolute class.

Ebo

That Jesus dummy at the end was pure class, so good to see him back and cool in front of goal. Hope this is a sign of things to come because if he’s back in form AND scoring form this will be a different team altogether

Bleeding Gums Murphy

Absolutely, he makes such a difference to our overall attack. Soon as he came on the threat went up.

Fatmao

Start. Fabio. Viera.

IndoGooners

drop Harvertz, or we will repeated the Willian mistake, we have Viera, ESR, and any other better player

Another Paul

Most readers don’t agree with you based on the majority thumbs down to your same repeated criticism of Havertz. It’s getting tiresome now. Point made…move on

Ebo

His final product on fast breaks is kind of world class. I want to see him start but instead of who? I still don’t really see him as an 8, he’s a full on attacking player and our two wings and Odegaard are pretty irreplaceable…

goonshow

Eddie has certainly been above average (6.5/7) and is working harder than ever. But he is NOT Jesus – that much was patently obvious from the moment Gabi came on… his trickery, hold-up play, and pure strength on the ball for a small(ish) guy, is next level. He’s like a Jack Russell with a squeaky toy when he gets the ball – you can’t get it off him!

And wonderfully cool finish for a bloke who hasn’t played for weeks… hopefully he’s now cruising full tilt.

yes

The subs Arteta made today actually make me wonder whether part of it’s a height thing. When he put Vieira for Havertz on he also swapped Zinchenko for Tomiyasu – could be he was making all our changes at the same time, but that’s also making sure we have 5 6-foot plus outfield players on the pitch at any time – the back line plus Rice. For the record when we conceded to Palhinha against Fulham we only had 4 players who were 6-foot plus, with Zinchenko part of the back line and Vieira at left 8. fucking corners ruining… Read more »

BQ1234

Yeah but the Paulinha goal wasn’ta height thing, he volleyed it and no one got there before him. Could’ve had a proactive 5 foot defender get there first!

goonshow

The Palinha goal was simply our defence falling asleep – nothing to do with height.

Public Elneny

Or Trossard or Smith-Rowe, or Rice at left 8 when Partey is back

Actually Jorginho deeper with Rice in the left 8 seems like they’d compliment eachother well in certain games. We have options

I don’t mean to pile in on Havertz and haven’t lost hope in him coming good, but it’s ridiculous to pretend he’s been anything other than dreadful so far and should be dropped for his own sake, Arteta’s, the team’s

Struggling to remember seeing a player look as low on confidence and lost as him right now. Chamakh perhaps after his initial flurry

goonshow

‘ridiculous to claim he’s been anything other than dreadful so far…’

There – fixed it for you.

Public Elneny

I just don’t believe there are many who claim he hasn’t been dreadful so far truly believe it

Either because it’s ‘the right thing to say’, or just the try to convince yourself of what you want to be the case thing which we’re all guilty of sometimes

Tbh I don’t think I gave any thought to it when I wrote pretend instead of claim, but I still think it fits

Vonnie

This is really funny, a couple of months ago he was a waste of money who would never be any good and should be loaned out and sold. Watch this space, Havertz will come good in the same way that Fabby has.

fatmao

Not hating on Kai at all, will support him as long as he wears an Arsenal shirt, just think he needs a little more time. It’s not really working out at the moment and I think he needs to be taken off the firing line for a bit.

Viera on the other hand, has been making big impact every time he has played so far, and really deserves a go IMO. It’s up to Arteta to find the balance needed.

mrugunner

what’s concerning with havertz is not only he is lacking confidence/being terrible, there is no chemistry with martinelli

Dr. Gooner

Or with Nketiah. They are all too direct to be playing together, especially on the same side of the pitch.

Left Testicle

That was a hard watch.

Gordy

Gabriel was fantastic and Jesus showed real class. Breathtaking.

Gervinho is Driving

In addition to the obvious headliners, I thought Nketiah was outstanding.

AusGunner

Maybe not outstanding but really good, he was menacing in general and has added facets to his attacking play that see him integrate better with the team and contribute more to our all-round attacking play rather than just being a fox in the box guy. encouraging.

The Beast

I love Eddie & think he’s been in great form but I thought he was quiet today, especially in the 2nd half. Maybe I wasn’t paying much attention but thought Jesus coming on for him gave us more of an attacking threat & more urgency,

Either way, he played his part in getting us the 3 points so I’m happy

lovely_arse

United looked average at best. We have to be better. Good win though

ScotchEggsRule

We ran out of ideas very quickly near the end and I’d given up hope…..then the coffee table almost went flying when Rice scored. Utd time wasting from the 5th minute was tragic to behold….

Gooner7190

I’m still looking for the voice I lost between Rice & Jesus’ goals! Gabby J had me doing laps of my dads living room in celebration

Fatgooner