Unai Emery says both sides deserved a draw after Arsenal and Manchester United played out a 1-1 draw on a wet night at Old Trafford.
Scott McTominay broke the deadlock on the stroke of half time as United broke from a Gunners corner but the hosts were pegged back before the hour-mark when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, played in on goal by Bukayo Saka, dinked over David de Gea. The referee’s assistant initially ruled the Gabon international offside but the goal was given after a VAR review.
After the match, Emery admitted that his side struggled at times, but might have won it had they showed more composure in front of goal.
“It’s not the best result but I think that draw is fair for the two teams after 90 minutes,” he told Sky Sports.
“The first half, for example, they were pressing a lot but we controlled the match with good positioning, we didn’t let them have chances.
“Then at the end of the first half we let them have three transitions and on the third they got a goal. It was when we were controlling the match with the ball better.
“In the second half, we were speaking in the dressing room about being calm and the aim was to score one goal and after to try again to find our moment to win the match.
“After our goal, little by little, they imposed themselves and pushed with their supporters. We struggled.
“Also, we had good chances with Bukayo and Reiss Nelson, after the good action with Willock, to score the second goal. Also they had chances to score. At the end, I think a draw is deserved for both sides.”
The boss also saved a word for Saka who impressed on his first away start in the Premier League.
“He is mature, very young, but mature,” said Emery. “Also, that progress, we’re watching each match.
“It’s important for him and for us.”
I miss Paddy
Find it ridiculous we go to a mid table team in truly awful form and play for a draw.
When Arsene used to go away and leave us too open, I bet you used to whinge about that as well?…..
We’re doing ok, United we’re missing players, but we were missing 4 starters as well, we’ve got players bedding in, and some exciting but raw youngsters.
If the team delivers 2 x home wins this week? Then it’s a good start, and as it stands we’re in 4th.
I think we’re a team on the up, and once Bellerin+ Pepe and Tierney + Saka build up some understanding, I think we’ll be a very different team.
Rich. I have no problem if we go to city or Liverpool and set up like this as they are teams that can tear you apart and are clearly a class above us. This is a bang average United side who has won 4 of their past 15 PL games.
In general I agree fully with you. Things are not so bad. But this match could have been far better. Even the pundits thought we had the leg up. THE PUNDITS?! Then comes Emery’s head-scratcher lineup. Going into that match with Torreira playing the most advanced midfield role with Ceballos and Willock left on the bench and Ozil left out entirely leaves us with all of our creativity and attacking responsibility on the shoulders of Aubamayang (who is primarily a finisher, not a creator) and two 18 y.o. newbies on the wings. The ‘no creator in midfield’ approach might work… Read more »
There has only been one team this season going to old trafford, with an attack style. That was Chelsea, and they lost 4-0. The other teams that have gotten results, all playing like we did.
A couple of years ago every fan was criticizing Wenger for always playing the same way against every opponent. Now our manager is criticized for adapting to the opposition at their home. This is still United, and the players most likely will play at their besy, when they face rival clubs.
Also mid table so early in the season, really doesnt mean anything.
I honestly cannot understand how any Arsenal fans are content with this brand of football we are playing. Everything is set up for success at the club, and yet we have one win in our last five league games. One. We are in fourth, but if lose our next game and everyone around us wins, we will be in twelfth. It’s simply not good enough, and my goodness it is beyond boring to watch …
@asshavin – there’s only been 3 teams to go to Old Trafford before us – Chelsea, Crystal Palace & Leceister. Chelsea is a team in transition & Lampard’s first game. Palace & Leceister are both “smaller” clubs and approach most big 6 games the way we played.
Anyone having a wry smile to themselves of late given that we all brutally denounced Brendan Rodgers before we announced El Chameleon?
Couldn’t agree more
I saw that on here a few times. I think it was even dismissed on the Arsecast but I never heard any compelling football reasons for Rogers to not be considered.
Rodgers is a far better manager than the clown we have.
Just remember, Leicester actually lost at OT. A feat only they, Astana and Chelski have managed this season.
Why go for Rodgers when we can have Viera?
I didn’t want Rogers then and I don’t want him now. He may be good enough for Leicester, although that remains to be seen over time, but he’s not Arsenal material. Not personally and not professionally.
Couldn’t agree more. Is Emery the man for Arsenal? I think we can all agree he is not – but then neither is Rodgers. We need an Allegri, someone with a good track record. Rodgers has won stuff with Celtic and had a poor league record with Liverpool if you consider what it is we want to be doing, which is challenging for the title. I really hope that we move on from Emery next summer, but I do believe that we will get top 4 this year and that will be enough to keep him in the job for… Read more »
Position and Points-wise it’s not bad, but if you are hoping for style, excitement, consistency in approach, or entertainment, then we’re doing it tough.
We are 9 points off the lead, but only 6 points off 16th. Lose our next game and we could be back in 10th spot.
Its bad that we aren’t beating shit teams like Man U and Watford when they are there for the taking. Keep wasting games like that and it’ll cost us a CL spot when the season draws to a close. Just like it did last season.
I never thought Rodgers was as bad as people made out here, though I didn’t think he was good enough for us either. His Leicester side are looking very nice though.
Well we once used to think Klopp might not be good enough for us when AW retires so there’s that.
Nah, you should not listen to Santori, he also said Aubamayang was a waste of money
Fuck Rogers, and while you’re at it you can fuck mourinho as well. There’s much better managers out there than either of those two.
That logic of “our manager isn’t working out so everyone who rejected this or that other mediocre manager in the past was wrong” is idiotic beyond words.
Sadly we picked the rather limited Emery, the man who does not excel in league play, seemingly cannot inspire his players to great belief in either themselves or his game plans, and who almost always pisses off his best players.
Rodgers is as good for Leicester as Emery is for Leicester. They dont think big
It’s just sad…
What happened to all the variations on corners and free kicks at the start of the season….Just evaporated ! A lot like my confidence in this manager owning a pair
I dunno, the team tried 2 corners where the ball was fizzed in low and the front man tried to jink it on over the defence in front of the goal…. they both were executed poorly but it was variety!
This guy is a coward without ambition
NO, it was not fair!
We just played the worst United in PL history – I will not accept this mediocrity!!
There was no zero improvement on the pitch under Emery. I hope his position is under serious review after another poor display. We have no organization or structure!
A draw was a crap result given the relative strengths of the potential available lineups. Not many players from that Utd lineup would have gotten into the Arsenal team. And there’s not been many recent years when one could have said that. And yet he’s satisfied with a draw.
The way this team was set up and how the team played for the most part, we were a little lucky that we ended with a draw. We were perhaps even luckier that, apart from the odd hairy moment, both Luiz and Sokratis turned up tonight! UE can consider himself extremely lucky Auba saved him yet again.
Agree papa and luiz were better than their recent outings, but my heart was in my throat for a good few seconds when luiz gave away that fk at the edge of the box in the end. Was a good free kick too, from rashford.
We are a tough watch these days
This guy needs to go. The point of playing football matches is to win. He’s not very good at it. Why was Ozil not playing today?
Thats the $1m question.
Clearly Emery didnt think the game would play out like it did. Most of us could see coming into the game we needed to have a real crack at them as they were ripe for the picking. And Ozil or Ceballos from the start imho would of shown a bit of intent and changed the flow of the game. Ah well, its just my opinion. Emery is paid the big biccies
Ozil though, if he had played and we still didnt win, everyone would be on his back now.
… Emery is paid the big biccies to make those decisions. Not I.
It’s too easy to say “if Ozil played and we lost, blah blah”… surely it depends on how he plays and how the other players around him play. If he played and put in a shift but we lost, I’m not immediately earmarking him. But at least we’d have felt a win was possible. I mean, where was a second goal going to come from with the team we had out?
Its easy to say because its how it is on this forum. Everytime Ozil plays, and Arsenal lose, he cops the blame. Its just the nature of the fanbase.
To be honest…
I’m not sure if I would choose the 3 or 4 exceptional move/passes by Ozil over the determination of likes of Gouendouzi, Chambers, Nelson or Willock…
We can have both.
I would if those 4 passes lead to goals
And thats the key. with Aubu, Pepe and Laca up front in games, there is the strong possibility those 3 or 4 moments of magic Ozil produces each game would end up in the back of the net. The key is to build a squad capable of covering Ozils obvious defensive flaws.
Cant play Ozil and Gandoozi in the same team. Both need two midfielders to cover for them. And since Gandoozi is the sole purpose of existence of Emery and the entire club has to be focused on developing him…we all have to adjust around whatever he fancies doing.
Because he wants Ozil to play like Torreira & Torreira to play like Ozil. Mad.
Because he’s shite.!!…!Goes missing in every game away from home.
A draw was a fair result … It’s what UE sit the team up to achieve.
We’re 4th. It’s a long season, and we’re waiting for players to come in. I get it.
But … no ambition, no style, no guts. We have the squad to show all those qualities, but the human handbreak. FFS!!!
The point is that we should not be setting up for a draw or indeed playing for one. We have the players to have won this game but he hamstrings himself by picking the team he did. So you might argue that a draw was fair based on what we saw but it absolutely wasn’t based on what is actually possible… and THAT is what galls.
Please re-read. I’m pretty much agreeing with you. Once the team was chosen, we were headed to a draw.
UE is managing for 4th. He doesn’t care how insipid the performances are, whose careers he ruins, or anything else. Are the potential dropped points worse than a draw that’s pretty killer for a rival? Right now, his calculus says, no.
Me? We owed them and we could have owned them tonight. Tastes bitter.
Games like the one tonight are what will make the difference when it gets down to the wire at the end of this season. Just like last year when we were one win away from booting Spuds from fourth and pinching a place in the CL.
Considering the players we have there’s no excuse. We should have whooped Man U tonight. We need to do better.
Exactly. 6 points dropped so far. That’ll come to bite us.
Watching Arsenal under Unai is just painful. I’m beginning to hate this unambitious pessimistic manager. Grow some balls Unai!
This result is like a defeat. Even worse, is the performance. Where has the famous free flowing attacking football of arsenal gone?? At least, win ugly. But no, he can’t even do that.
We had this football against Nottingham. With Özil.
Hope all the “Wenger out brigade” are happy now that we have this joker for a manager! Any manager worth his salt would play Ozil if you want to create goals for Aubameyang & Lacazette in particular BUT this Europa League manager ostracises him and pretends Willock & Guendozi are better players. Good thing I don’t waste my money buying Club jerseys whilst this pretender remains “head coach”!!!!
The game’s screaming for Ozil’s creativity. At least he should make the bench. He should be aware now that Ceballos is more of an 8 than a 10. We crippled a talented front three with no number 10.
Considering we were mostly shite against a shite team, yeah it’s a fair result. But our players are better than this. Why are we not doing better?
If we’re shite against a shite team, whhat does that make us?
Thank God for var. If not the gunners could have come home pointless.
As for our SA terrier,I hope Emery will in future ,if he s around,get amonster sized me.Our terrier was repeatedly bowled over in 50/50 encounters.
The epl is known for its size,tenacity and aggression.Wenger had PV4.
Another clone will do nicely.
United had a roy keane who wasn’t the biggest player on the pitch and he did pretty well.
By him saying he’s happy with a draw clearly shows the type of mentality he has. Completely awful for him to be happy with a draw to a Man U team as poor as they are. Then again can’t be surprised he would respond that way seeing as the crap lineup he put it was obvious he was playing for a draw.
I don’t think he’s saying he’s happy with a draw. I think he’s saying (correctly, imo) that neither side deserved to win.
wasnt this the same manager that said he’d rather win 6-4 than win 1-0?
I think he is not even trying to win
Yeah the order is, Win 1-0 < win 6-4 < draw < comeback to draw
It’s the selection process that defies logic for me. Torreira, Guendouzi and xhaka aren’t exactly going to light up the PL and provide some decent service to our front 3. Emery needs to find out who the best holding midfielder is, pair him up with a hard working CM (willock imo) and also find the right playmaker (ozil or ceballos). Still..I’ll take a point at Old Trafford..but only just.
Whatever, I’ll take s draw in this game where it was maybe more important not to fuck up the decent position we find ourselves in given the form of some of our key players. And you know what, fuck it, I will give Emery (who I don’t particularly like) the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, just maybe, he is making pragmatic choices until he has his first team back. Maybe, just maybe, he wants the team to set up and play more like we did against Nottingham. Once we have our first choice fullbacks, some legit wingers we can be… Read more »
Good analysis, but don’t be content with any of it — Auba made it clear in his interview that Arsenal can be, and should be, much better than this, but they aren’t playing to their strengths. Emery needs to do better after 45 games in this league.
I just want to see Ozil play deeper from the DM position once, I think he could really play the dictator role.
Auba
Ceballos Pepe
Guendouzi Torreira
Ozil
Tierney Holding Chambers Bellerin
Leno
He’s not got the tackling ability to play that role I don’t think
Probably not, no, but Xhaka sure as fuck doesn’t either.
That could work actually. We could play Aubameyang next to him. Aubozil
What are you on?! Ozil as a DM?
Ozil > Pepe
They both play in different position but I agree, Pepe can be subbed (if not dropped) as he is still not at PL level.
I will be very surprised (and disappointed in the leadership of the club) if they extend Emery’s deal at the end of the season. It’s pretty clear he has no plan. No specific style of playing and has no clue how best to piece together the players he has. I’ve got nothing against the guy at all and hope he turns it around but it isn’t looking good right now despite our satisfactory league position.
Fair result would be not seeing your dumb mug again.
If I speak….
*Off Topic*
Why don’t we get to see Jame’s “On the Whistle” post match reactions anymore? I kind of miss them.
He stopped for a while but he’s been back at it. You can find him on youtube and I’m sure he’ll be restored to the post-match pantheon here soon enough.
Our especial captain duck the shot that goes back of the net.
He could have saved that shot.
Absolutely also I starting to get fed up with Pepe
Arsenal was rubbish. No determination and focus with this line up in midfield. 2 points dropped here, game was like watching paint dry.
I have noticed that Arsenal does not win many balls, there is a hesitation of Arsenal players to tackle(ok, i know the horrible record of injuries) but this is football. The movement of the team is not good, players not connecting with each other, and no stomach for revenge!!!
I don’t care what a fair result was. I want to see intent and effort to beat a rival, especially with the rival being in shit form.
Imagine:
Wenger to ManU and Mou to Arsenal?
Wowwwwwwwwwwww
One thing I realised luiz is 100 times better than sokarats ,very slow and out of position
Luiz is 100 times worse than my Nan – and she’s been dead 10 years.
I’m afraid the new app is really difficult to use. For example, you can no longer swipe from article to article. Also, despite using a large phone (Galaxy Note) you can’t read a player’s rating without scrolling.
Yes, I agree a draw is fair…considering the handicap Emery imposed on the team with his selection!
Fair results really.! Coming from a coach who threw up a 2 goals lead against Watford, Fire this guy already we don’t owe him anything.
I remember Liverpools After their title near Miss in 13/14 they sucked Rodgers the next season in October because they didn’t like where the team was going, that is a team finished 2nd.
Then they hired Klopp look where they are now.
We are not too late, you can hear even our best player doesn’t agree with him.
Remember, we’ve got our Arsenal back
Coward Emery #emeryout
Why is there no comments in the app anymore?
I was a bit dissapointed with our performance yesterday, especially in the first half. But we are fourth after playing Spuds and at Anfield and Old Trafford. We will be stronger with Tierney and Bellerin, I hope Pepe will find form. We still miss Laca, so there is room for improvement. Also love Saka and Willock and the rise of Chambers. So I don´t think it´s as bad as many think. But we have to find a solution for our midfield. It was slightly better yesterday but not good enought.
THIS OPTIMISM IS HERECY!!!!! (Also, I agree, but still – get on the bandwagon, sir! 🙂
thank you.
some real basic minded cry baby ass people on here.
cry cry cry. blame blame blame. Solution? duuuh Ozil Ozil Ozil.
It’s getting boring guys.
Midfield three of Willock, Torreira and Guendouzi. Young, hungry, quick, mobile, able to cover for one another, awareness of both defensive and offensive requirements. I don’t hate Xhaka, but can’t see how he fits into this side.
Which winger looked like a 70 million player? Pepe has something for sure but this was a very poor showing. Hoping he clicks soon or when laca comes back Pepe will find himself benched. Saka was excellent. If it’s a meritocracy at Arsenal then he just can’t be taken out of the side.
it clearly isn’t if Xhaka, Luiz and Sokratis keep getting picked
All this building-up from the goalkeeper is madness.
Emery out and Wenger back in!
Unai do not kid yourself! It was a pathetic effort saved by VAR and Auba yet again!
I’m no fan of VAR but that linesman should go to Spec Savers if he could not see the defender 2 yards in front of him playing the Arsenal front man onside by a mile.
If that standard of officiating is acceptable thinking that VAR will bail them out the league is in big trouble.
A draw might have been fair, but that doesn’t mean we should be happy with it or it shouldn’t have been a win. We were a bit all over the place. I mean, what the fuck was going on with Torreira I’ll never know. Chicken or egg, don’t care, if that’s how he’s going to be utilised, sell him yesterday. As for Nelson, we won’t see a worse cameo this season or next. Christ. If he takes another corner, he better be the omega man. Come to think of it, we should just kick the ball out of play if… Read more »
Midfield is costing us fluidity and results, Torreira should be the DM with Guendouzi, Willock the pairing. The defense ‘it is what it is right now’! but with Bellerin, Tierney and Holding to come in we should be fine back there. If Emery does manage to EVER field the right team I think the fans should ‘ole ole ole’ every pass for 90 minutes so nothing is lost in translation and the team can play to their full potential.
Absolutely 100%!
he says alot of nonsense; we gave united 16 shots: 16 and he thinks thats not a lot! this man does my head in. We made a mistake with this appointment. We dint control that match. Saka is having a good game taken out for Willock while xhaka giving away fouls the pace was too much stays in. he gives me hope that i will be a great manager
Emery said something similar after the Spurs game – it irked me then and it irks me now!
2 points out of a possible 6 against the worst United team in PL history and a Spurs team who haven’t won an Away league game since January is actually a poor return AND we could’ve easily lost both of them as well.
If last season is anything to go by, these insipid performances will probably cost us come May.
Emery may think a draw was deserved but I think us fans deserve a hell of a lot more from this manager…
Let’s get the protests started
A draw wasn’t a fair result, it was a shit result. How does he not think that?
It was a classless coward act by the manager. And he just made it worst by coming out to say at the end that it was a fair result.
If playing that way is fair, if fielding that first 11 from start is fair, if leaving your creative players out is fair, if playing defensive and for a draw is fair….then Arsenal are fucking doom!!!