Arsenal crashed out of the FA Cup despite playing 60 minutes against 10 men as Manchester United survived the second half expulsion of Diogo Dalot to claim victory on penalties at Emirates Stadium.
On a night to forget for the Gunners, Gabriel Jesus was stretchered off with a knee injury before Bruno Fernandes and Gabriel Magalhaes’ traded strikes. The Gunners should have won the game in normal time but Martin Odegaard missed from the spot before Kai Havertz did the same in the shootout after a drab 30 minutes of extra time.
Here’s what the managers, players, pundits and stattos made of the action…
Arteta on another bitter defeat…
I’m pretty amazed how we haven’t won the game comfortably. With everything that we’ve done, the way we played, dominated the game, the amount of chances that we generated, big open chances and the fact that we didn’t concede anything. It’s a very hard one to take because, as I said to them, I love you guys because you are a joy to work with every single day. Individually and as a team, incredible after two or three days, how you perform again after a defeat that you didn’t deserve at all because you were much better than the opposition as well.
Source: Arsenal.com
__
Ruben Amorim on sensing it was his side’s day…
Sometimes we have the feeling that everything in the end is going to be okay. I felt that since the beginning of the second half, even after the penalty. I think the Arsenal team felt that maybe today is not their day. I’m really pleased for the way they controlled the game without the ball. We defended very well, set pieces we were really strong. It was a good day but now I’m thinking about the next game and worried about the next game.
Source: BBC One
Martin Odegaard on missing a penalty in normal time…
It’s not good enough from me, I have to score that one. I think it was a crucial moment as well, so it was a tough one to take. That’s it.
Source: Arsenal.com
__
Bruno Fernandes on United suffering their way to the win…
Obviously the circumstances of the game we played with one less we suffered a lot but we sacrificed a lot as a team and at the end you get this.
Source: BBC One
Arteta on Odegaard missing from the spot but volunteering for the shootout
The first one that happens, when you want to take responsibility and leadership in a team, it can happen. He missed it. What I loved is that when I asked them, OK, who wants to take it? He was the first one in the sheet because I want to take it. And that’s the players that we want. You’re going to have difficult moments. It’s how you respond to them. and he’s the captain and he’s the leader. And I love that he’s done that today again.
Source: Post-game press conference
__
Odegaard on what Arsenal are missing in the final third…
It’s hard to say at the moment exactly why, but I think it’s small details; the last pass, the finish, the decision-making. Again, I think we did more than enough to win this game – I don’t know if they had a better chance than the goal and we created enough to score. Me with the penalty as well, that should have been a goal.
Source: Arsenal.com
Theo Walcott on Arsenal’s football…
Arsenal have gone from being a free-flowing forward line, exciting the crowd to going a bit stale at the Emirates. They want to be hard to beat without creating too much right now. You need players to do something different and they haven’t got that at the moment.
Source: BBC One
__
Arteta on whether Arsenal need to sign a striker…
No, but I mean, we miss from various ways, from different plays. And I understand guys that, but I cannot love our players more. And I focus very much on the ones that we have to perform at the highest level. That’s it. The rest is not in our hands, in my hands.
Source: Post-game press conference
Alan Shearer on selecting United keeper Altay Bayandir as the man of the match…
Altay Bayandir was absolutely outstanding. He holds his nerve [in the shootout], he doesn’t blink first. It was a three-way tie between him and [Matthijs] De Ligt and [Harry] Maguire who I thought were also superb but just because of his penalty save, I thought I would give it to him [the man of the match award]. When you get given an opportunity, you have to take it and he took it today.
Source: BBC One
__
Martin Keown on Arsenal’s performance…
It was like being at the dentist when they went down to Manchester United. The longer it went on it looked like Man Utd’s evening – respect to them.
Source: BBC One
Raya was doing my head in!
Yes, in the shootout he was diving two weeks before the ball had been kicked.
Definitely the weirdest shoot out I’ve seen. Just don’t get how he kept going the same way before the ball was kicked.
This is quite unusual from him I believe. I was hoping he would bail us out like he did against Porto but the opposite happened.
SOMEONE please tell Arteta that it’s the team who puts the ball in the other teams net MORE TIMES than they put it in yours who WINS the game…..
Forget all the fancy stuff, it’s really a simple game!
It’s all about the xG. 🤪
A frustrating evening and if we’re honest it felt inevitable after a while. This Arsenal side might be hard to beat in 90 mins, but we lack killer instinct and we have become so predictable. It’s great that players like Lewis-Skelly are coming through, but he’s not what we need at left back on a regular basis. If you’re a team playing Arsenal you know that exactly how they will play and what players you need to nullify. Sterling’s slight unpredictably caused them the odd problem but we desperately need a new spark, a plan B and someone determined to… Read more »
That’s me officially done with arteta now, that abrupt “no” …..it’s arrogant and biting your nose to spite your face, you’ve been told for 3 years what the problem is so now you fail to admit its a problem because you denied it all this time
Look beyond the no. Look at what else he said there. Read between the lines.
Unfortunately I think most « supporters » never go beyond the quotes. Just have a look at the ball discussion following Wednesday’s loss. I think this is self-explanatory.
“not in MY hands”
Theo, Theo!
Altough Theo played on the right, he was better than Martinelli.
We’ve come full circle.
After five years in charge Arteta sends Tierney on to run down the left to whip crosses in to be met by nobody!
Progress?
There is clear progress though. from 6th and looking really poor to being top 2-3 in the league for 2 years. If that isn’t progress, I don’t know what is. 😀 Rough day today though and the injuries this year have been rough, really disrupted any flow
Can I just say that I am extremely unhappy about the team in the last week. But I cannot and will not accept the abuse of Kai Havertz’s wife and I am sure I speak for every genuine fan on here. Enough said.
Who’s abusing his wife?
Scumbags on socials.
We already talked about this kind of situation after Newcastle but unfortunately it is what it is. I don’t think it will get better with Meta’s latest decisions. Just happy there is some moderation here.
The sad part is we could have played another 60 minutes and we still wouldn’t score. We are definitely playing the same tactics arteta used when he first joined Arsenal. Pass right, pass left, pass back, pass back again, pass to the keeper, pass left, bring it forward, lump it in the box, only on Arsenal players in there with 4 defenders. Ffs.
We need somebody who can sit Odegaard down more even than a finisher. It’s all very well that the stats say he is creating chances for our players, but if he was at his best (or close to it) he would be taking more of these chances himself.
Never understand why at least once the keeper stays put until the kick is taken, surely has a better chance at stopping some of the shots than he does diving well before they kick the ball.
White shirt needs to go, it’s a footballer Jonah.
Can’t help wondering if it was always Saka + 9 others.
Ødegaard got injured and though the quality dropped we still remained competitive.
Have we won a game since Saka got injured?
It has been 10 fucking days into the transfer month and no fucking sign of any activity. I like what the blog said in the recent post, Rice is just a high note, not a regular one.
Hi, I need a hard cunt centre forward who could have literally scored 20 goals this evening. There.