Arsenal crashed out of the FA Cup in disastrous fashion this evening, going down 5-3 on penalties to 10-man Manchester United.
The visitors went ahead through a fine Bruno Fernandes finish in the second half, but Gabriel pulled one back before Diogo Dalot was sent off for a second yellow card offence on Mikel Merino.
The Gunners had chances to win it. Martin Odegaard missed a penalty, Kai Havertz pulled off a brace off unbelievable misses, while the United goalkeeper had the game of his life saving twice from Declan Rice to deny the substitute. After the German missed his shoot-out penalty, Ruben Amorim’s men were 100% from the spot to go through to face Leicester City in the next round.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd (3-5 on pens) match report and see the goals here
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Saka is clearly better than I thought he was……and I thought he was one of the best players in the world
Whoever downvoted go celebrate your 3-0 extra time win against Tamworth
Quality of set piece delivery dropped considerably without Saka and Rice. Odegaard and Martinelli deliveries were below par. And Merino, he is operating in a different frequency, Rice comes in and instantly forcing a save.
Sterling was decent particularly in second half
And martinelli also good
I liked Sterling’s performance more than any other front player….and by some distance too
Definitely. Out of who we have available, only Sterling can beat his man on the outside, which is absolutely crucial if you’re a right-footed playing on the right.
Saka is just masking how blunt the rest of the team is. We shouldn’t be so completely lost without him.
Unfair to Sterling, he contributed for the penalty and another bit chance.
And he managed to do that whilst being in utter shock on coming onto the pitch as arsenals 4th choice in that position 😂
Yeah, I thought he was way better than Martinelli, who reminds me of
Forest Gump – grab the ball, head down and just RUN towards the end line, god forbid you look around
Martinelli is the kind of player who if he moves will light the league up for a season and have the world saying arsenal were foolish to get rid of him. Then do nothing for 3 years
I think he was way better than Tross or Rice.
Agree, I thought he looked lively, he made a few runs between players but our players kept passing it sideways
Also agree, other than Odegaard he was clearly the player most making things happen for us tonight. If there’s one silver lining for tonight, and I think there is just this one, it’s his performance which for me was very encouraging.
Yup. And I hate to say it because Jesus seems like a decent bloke and looked badly injured but I think we will better off without him available.
I agree, he was our bright spot for a good 20 minutes of that second half, driving at the defenders, which is what we need Martinelli to do more often.
Arteta should be promoted to football/technical director. We need a new manager.
It’s all pointing to the fact that we won’t win any titles with him. He is a good coach/environment maker etc but not game tactician.
And It wouldnt be surprising we dont buy a striker in this window.
Yet again we’ll see if kroenkes are about winning titles and money or just money.
Lmao. You want to promote someone with such a terrible talent ID to what?
Football director isnt just about talent ID. He is/ was good at creating the right environment and day to day running. Just not good enough as a football manager in terms of tactics and gameplay.
I’d day the opposite. Get him a strong technical director to talk him away of buys like Harvetz and Merino. Terrible waste of windows.
Wow. What utter nonsense
We have injuries. We had officiating decisions go against us, and a tough first half of the season fixture list. The last two years and this one too, we have been in the title race. I think most arsenal fans recognise we are underperforming and yet we still have a chance to be there at the end of the year in the CL and PL. can you imagine if we hold the fort down at least until saka returns? It is time to start getting behind the squad and supporting them through a rough patch, rather than essentially crying out… Read more »
And I wonder who those clowns want to replace Arteta with.
I bet lots of them want Emery back
Forget Pepe, Havertz is our biggest flop.
Kallstrom
Merino?
Sango?
Matt Turner?
Park Chu Young
For the money spent , it’s Havertz. Unlike Pepe he’s been given concessions, like pity penalties and starts that he didn’t deserve. We benched ESR who was a promising youth to help Havertz “integrate” at the left 8 and now we lost a potential star in ESR and moved Havertz to striker simply to save face.
“Pity penalties”…that’s good 😂
At least Källström scored his penalty in the FA cup…
Were meant to be supporters, through the hard times too. Havertz has been integral to so many good things. He is on a bad run of form and this week has been dreadful. But you could say the same about so many other players. 20 goal contributions last season means nothing already?
It’s called bring ruthless. We want to be the best in the Prem and in the CL, right? Is Havertz….Has Havertz ever been the answer to our striker needs? He’s not useless but he’s not the star man and maybe not even the first eleven man.
The worry now is that his confidence is shot to bits and he may need building up again.
With the Jesus injury we need a loan or two – Rashford, Barcola, Ferguson….
Otherwise we may not be able to attract main targets in the summer if the season just fades away
We can’t loan from the Premier League, we have two already, Sterling and Neto, and that’s the limit.
Havertz is the worst signing in the Arteta era. Remember he was meant to be the upgrade on Granit at left 8, except he sucks at left 8. So let’s try and make him work at center forward. Well it ain’t working there either is it. But he “runs around a lot off the ball and gives great effort”. Time to punt him and buy a proper ball playing creative left 8 and a striker that can stick it in the net from 2 yards out ffs.
If the fans who go to the stadiums are like these impatient folks, no Arsenal “fan” would occupy the seats at Emirates by now.
You mean our top scorer? The same guy who makes tackles in our own box and regularly stifles attacks? He was atrocious today, but by no means is he the only one to blame, and not our biggest flop.
How quickly you all forget his song being sung week in week out after many excellent performances.
Thank you
Many excellent performances?!! Nurse! Help! My sides are splitting!! 😂
Not slagging Kai off. Two very rough games, yes, but these were the exception. Normally much better than this in link play and commitment. Goal on Wednesday for sure.
I hope there is a goal in Wednesday. For any player. Spurs and Villa next. Im concerned that we arent scoring even over the 180 minutes
A goal on Wednesday and people will be back singing his song. It is what it is
Michy
No idea how you came up with those ratings, honestly. Too many 6/10s from our worst performance in years
Yup. I’d give the lot of them 0/10. That’s a shit Utd team down to 10 men, we’re at home and we still lose. How does that happen? Low point of the season for me.
Too harsh on the scores but 100% youre right that this is a VERY poor United side, we got all the breaks and failed
Thought Sterling was good tonight, at least he was direct and played with some speed and intent.
Agreed. It was nice to see someone actually run at their defense and try and make things happen, even if it didn’t always come off, as opposed to reverting to the turgid sideways passing routine
100%, we need more risk takers and unpredictability in our play
That is exactly what we have lost this season. We are WAY too careful now and its showing in our lack of threat going forward.
And he will be benched for that
I don’t know if we have enough players to do that…
I thought he was good until extra time, then he started making some really poor decisions in the final third. Still, enough encouragement to start him in the NLD, not that we have much choice with the Jesus injury.
Fucking hell, imagine if he’ll be our fourth right winger (including Nwaneri and Jesus who both got injured playing there) to get injured. That’s just about our luck this season, earlier at some point having 5 injured left backs, after that both of our right backs, now right wingers. What’s next, Raya, Neto and Setford all injuring themselves by jumping too high and hitting the crossbar?
Good ?? No, please. He had intent, he tried, he tried to be direct. But good? When? Where?
Agreed but he made the worst choice every time he had to make one.
Try but could come from match sharpness, at least looking to make things happen
He at least had the DESIRE of a winner if not the ability. And to me that’s refreshing.
Agree 100% how many more players need to be injured so Sterling gets a string of matches to prove himself. Or end all speculations, either or. No idea why he was loaned in otherwise
Shambles.
Can use the Jesus injury as an excuse to buy a player now
Great NLD prep….
Too many players failing to show up. You can’t hope for trophies under these circumstances. Realistically the only competition left for Arsenal is the Champions League, and we all know how hard that is.
“Realistically the only competition left for Arsenal is the Champions League,”
Sarcastically* there fixed it for you
Realistically?? Totally unrealistic.. the league is still there, but can’t do it without real leaders who take responsibility.
Gotta be one of the worst striker performances I’ve seen since Giroud against Monaco.
I’m done with Havertz.
He’ll be sorry to hear that.
Some of you guys need to grow the feck up. Havertz played 26 matches this season and scored 12 times. Hardly world class, but respectable numbers. Jesús is a much bigger problem with his close to zero impact up front (except against Crystal Palace). Our main issue is that everyone plays a low block against us which is a challenge for any team, not just ours. We need a ruthless striker and there aren’t many of those around, even less of them available at a price we can afford. We can probably afford to buy one, but then what do… Read more »
Cheer…..?!
Also. We only dropped 5 pointsin the second half of last season with havertz as the 9. But still, we do need a striker. A winger and an attacking mid. We have no options off the bench now. Havertz. Martinelli. Trossard. And odegaard can’t play every minute of every match for the rest of the season.
Stfu.. for the transfer fee and wages given to havertz, he has been very terrible! This dude is our top earner for ffs!
Tl dr; Arsenal Football Club is too poor to buy a striker and a midfielder in the summer.
Agreed. Havertz had a stinker but he’s way, way better than Jesus, Martinelli and Trossard
Well we’re stuck with him. No one in there right mind would pay a fee + his wages along with many other of his signings (Viera, Jesus etc)
Jorginho was excellent.
Yes Kai was horrible but not his fault our game plan is to throw 50 crosses in and hope for a generous scramble.
His fault is that he can’t score with two loose balls in the penalty area, being our number 9. The second one being worth of a comedy show headline
He’s not alone though, Trossard is terrible and expects a long contract and a salary increase for it, Martin Odegaard is scared to shoot, Martinelli stuck out on the wing trying to do it all by himself. Rice can’t hit a barn door. Without Bukayo there doesn’t seem to be any threat at all.
Bit harsh on Rice who forced 2 saves in the time he was on
It’s not his fault he lacks talent and the ability to play football.
Toothless. And boring. Despite some great players in the team.
Arteta’s position needs to be challenged, now. Is he the right person to move this team on?
Why would Saliba stay at Arsenal? Gabriel? Rice? Even Bukayo. If the situation didn’t change, I’d think less of them as it would show no real professional ambition.
Arteta either brought in or developed all those players you mentioned. If he’s not the right person, who is? We can all see the need for attacking players and I think Arteta’s comments about Isak after the Newcastle game were telling.
Just because you can spot talent doesn’t mean you’ll be good at developing it. Don’t forget, he seemed not very keen on Saliba in the beginning. Or maybe that was just an impression. Anyway, it’s not important. What matters is what he can do with this crop now. The club needs to give these players a real chance at winning major trophies. I am not bothered about Carabao Cup. Not even FA Cup – Arsenal has a lot of that. The players need the league and the Champions League. Arteta may not be elite enough (or experienced enough) to get… Read more »
Why do mugs like you always think Arteta doing the right thing and letting young players have time to adapt without being thrown in to the deep end is the same as him not being keen on them? He is doing the say with Nwaneri and I see people saying Arteta doesnt rate him. As soon as I see someone with this opinion I wouldn’t believe them if they told me the sky is blue because their judgement is seriously flawed.
You seem very sure of yourself and of what others think. Good for you. Try read the post, rather than answer what suits .
” Is he the right person to move this team on? ” to make us competitive: yes. To win titles: no. Do only titles count for a team as big as the arsenal? I say yes but then others will say to go and support another team. So when will arsenal win? Or is arsenal small and the reason we wont win any cup?
I kind of agree. The main I am trying to make is that the best players in the team want major titles. It’s not even about what fans want – a competitive team or oa title winning team. If the team doesn’t live up the expectations of the best players these players will leave That’s the point. Added to that, the team won’t be very competitive.
Havertz’s performance is the worst I’ve ever seen from a striker, you can’t have a player capable of such a performance leading your line, it was honestly baffling and shocking in a level I can’t even begin to explain
What pisses me off more than anything is that this pathetic performance is not unexpected at the moment. We were marginally better (or should that be less worse?) against Newcastle mid-week buy failed to take any lessons from that game. We will end this season with sweet FA. Again.
Honestly that performance is worth the sack.
Agree to an extent, he has a terrible record in cup football – one off games or 2 legs. He lacks experience or the ability to deliver in knock-out comps. We don’t have to be fantastic throughout a season and manage or control matches, just fucking win by “hook or by crook. In certain cup games you might as well fucking go for it “balls out”, particularly when losing or drawing in certain time periods of matches. It’s nice to play well in cup matches, but really and ultimately none of us give a fuck about how we played in… Read more »
How long before players lose faith in him with his over worked tactics? The players can’t play freely on their own it seems like. It’s so predictably sideways and go for setpiece. Once the set piece goals have dried up, what will he do now to get goals? Boring FC will be here for a while. And long balls to no mans land in the box. He is doing the same to rice as pep has done to grealish. Martinelli is a joke as LW for a while and still playing. Yes he defends. Then might as well use him… Read more »
I think they might have lost faith subconsciously, they don’t look like they enjoy being out there and are just going though the motions. Very little passion or winning desire. It’s all been sucked out of them for this awful thing Arteta calls “control”
Bonus 2
Rate the manager after two home defeat!
Let’s go for 4th place trophy!
I have one word for this team and management at this present moment “Clusterfuck”
just get back to basics and if I never seen Trosard in an Arsenal jersey again I would be happy.
This team so badly needs a clinical finisher. So many chances created with nothing to show to many games this season.
I don’t think I’ve ever watched a team do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. This team and manager are completely broken at the moment.
A new striker isn’t going to all of a sudden change how our defense and midfield start(don’t start) counter attacks.
We created the chances today, and there was no one capable of finishing them… our best attacker is our CB for gods sake
If we aren’t gonna buy someone surely we must have a half decent striker striker in the academy that we could throw on. It’s how the likes of rashford and kane made their discovery
Good luck with arteta using him
Sad thing about this is we could all see it coming a mile off. It’s been in the post for a few weeks now.
There is no fun watching us anymore. It’s both an entertainment and results business and right now it feels like we have neither. What’s worse is our best player this season is likely leaving on a free at the end of the season.
I was angry at full time, now I have thought about it, gone through the stages of grief and am accepting of our fate of another trophy-less season and no new signings.
You have to admit. We are excellent at passing sideways and backwards. And waiting for the other team to set up defensively before going into the final third.
Try to play good and entertaining football again! It’s is a nightmare.
No killers.
I feel bad for Havertz. Had a stinker which happens but sadly it’s been happening too frequently. With the injury to Jesus, I think our only attacking sub is Sterling. We are in serious trouble. Trossard looks lost. Martinelli has no end product. I’d say we need to buy a player but we actually need, as we all know, three. A striker. A winger. And an attacking mid. We will hear the club say it’s so difficult to work the transfer window. Maybe. But the alternative is struggling to score. And the current players will have no rest which means… Read more »
A 4/10 performance can happen to any good player, but he had a 1/10. That second miss is not acceptable in the stage he plays in, he is our top earner and not some poor guy we found on the street
Agree totally.
By now, we can all see the need for a new striker.
Also, the way we are attack at the moment seem very pedestrian. Surely there must something tactical to be done also?
Quite generous to Ødegaard there.. yeah yeah key passes – but how many of those actually created good scoring opportunities? He’s been really poor of late, same tonigth. Def not a captains performance!
70 minutes with an extra man and you wouldn’t have noticed. There was no change in the tactics and they played with no urgency.
Our top scorer to miss chances like that has turned us back into the laughing stock of the league. I’m not sure whether the players are tactically lethargic or just no longer have the drive and energy, but i hold little hope of any silverware this season. 🙁
Well said. And yes trophyless again unless lady luck of artetas first season is back
Again it is about the finishing, thought Martinelli , back 4 played well. Best game from Odegard in some time, but if you don’t score ……
Battle of two shit team.. both team doing all they can to be more shit than the other
Is Lewis-Skelly’s contract up for renewal because he was awful again tonight.
I’m throughly over the inverted left back, it adds nothing to our defence or attack and makes Merino redundant as he wants to occupy the same areas.
If Arteta is going to insist on playing one they need to be either a competent playmaker or defensive midfielder, Lewis-Skelly is neither. And if it’s the later a top class creative midfielder has to be in advance of him, which Merino isn’t either.
0/10 for the white kit. Dress like Sp*rs and you will play like Sp*rs. That white needs to be permanently retired.
Jesus I never want to see that white fucking bullshit again
I groaned when I saw the kit and thought “oh no here we go again”
I’m not here to bash the team but to point out the obvious, we lost convincingly at home to Newcastle and then to a 10-man United team that sits low on the table with xG over 3 in both games. On top of it all Jesus is most likely gone for the season. He wasn’t prolific but he was cover. Striker signing is a must, no way around it. We’re getting thinner in every position and no one currently playing on that team can score with any consistency. ENOUGH with makeshift team and using midfielder as striker. Kai’s work rate… Read more »
Another potential trophy gone, and potentially another trophyless season, this really isn’t our season, is it?
I like to think I give players a good chance before I criticise them but for the life of me, I can not see what the club saw in signing Merino. If the remit for signings this summer was a slow cumbersome midfielder with the turning circle of a truck, combined with zero defensive and attacking ability then we were bang on the money.
He certainly shouldn’t be playing in front of an inverted full back who wants to play in the same area.
He’d probably play well with an attacking over lapping full back like Tierney, one or other has to be prepared to run beyond the ball
Not much to say on the game other than we deserved to go out. You can’t complain playing 60 minutes against 10 men and getting a penalty.
I’m going to choose to enjoy my Sunday and look at the positive side of this, now our players will have more weeks to rest and recoperate between matches with no cups to force us to play every 3 days.
Surely with Jesus being injured means we do something in January now as well.
COYG, the two big ones we all want are still in play.
We lost. It is painful but my biggest issue is that we are now so slow, so predictable, backwards, sideways, rinse and repeat
Arteta: O out of 10.
The ego and inflexibility of this manager is without equal (save his master Pep). He has one of the shortest resumes as a manager but manages like he has already won everything there is to win.
If the club don’t make forward signings this month they are waving the white flag. The goodwill of the fan base is turning, if they don’t act they will divide the fans and we’re back where we were before Arteta.
i thought tierney was very refreshing, a leftback actually sending a proper cross after so many months. and then there’s sterling, who did nothing with the ball, but at least went past his man a couple times, which is more than our other winger can say. kinda like nwaneri did when he first appeared. it seems the only players that are able to produce a logical, simple and effective attacking decision are the ones who aren’t considered by the coach. which makes me think all these dull sideway passing and boredom our attackers provide is not an accident but rather… Read more »
While we were clearly aware of potential shortcomings up-front — first summer biz was offer for Sesko — failure to consummate that and/or prioritize others is really coming back to bite hard. Reliance on just two players for creative spark (one a long-term injury and the other still not right after returning from same) now seems indefensible for a team with title ambitions. As others far more astute than I have noted, the danger now is not the failure to reach our ceiling (that ship has clearly sailed), but of failing thru the floor and damaging all the progress built… Read more »
Is it a personal or a coaching issue? Personally, I wouldn’t place the blame for tonight‘s result on Arteta. However, if he doesn’t react to this result, and do something in January, him (and the ownership probably?) will definitely have questions to answer. .
Personnel*
Listening to the Arteta post-match interview. It’s like he doesn’t understand how Arsenal didn’t win. Really?
I think he understands perfectly – but publicly he’s going to back his players during what is a difficult period
The pen was pure simulation by Havertz which i don’t really mind if only Ødegaard had scored. But he was absolutely useless as a 9 and not just today. He was equally at fault against Newcastle missing 2 sitters there too.
And now we have Jesus and Joghino added to the injury list. The squad is getting dangerously thin in every department.
Hope this forces a purchase or two.
We play such boring football. It has gotten stodgier every season since two seasons ago when we challenged for the title. That season, our team played exciting attacking football. Mikel Arteta has prioritized control too much.
Jorginho, Merino and odegaard have to be the slowest starting midfield in the history of the league. This team needs more athletic players to compete.