Arsenal were left frustrated again after a 1-1 draw with Sheffield United at the Emirates this afternoon.
Gabriel Martinelli put the Gunners ahead just before half-time, but an 84th minute equaliser condemned us to yet another draw. The frustration was exacerbated by the fact VAR ruled a foul on Nicolas Pepe not be a penalty when it looked as clear cut as you can get.
We still have to do more to win games, but sometimes you just need a break and we’re not getting that at the moment.
Read the Arsenal 1-1 Sheffield United report and see the goal here
Here’s how the players rated today.
Ratings
The ratings are now hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Bernd Leno. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
That penalty was as clear as it can get. Can’t figure out why it was ruled out twice, both by Dyke Mean and that var clown.
I will tell you why it was not a penalty. The cunts running VAR are Spurs and Man Utd fans. Have you noticed how many ridiculous VAR calls have gone against us? Have you noticed how many games VAR has saved spurs?
We just need to get 9-11 more points and write off this fking BS season were everything has gone against us.
We have done a good job in the box of not sticking a leg in or doing other foolish shit since the early part of the season, but 10 to 1, Sheffield gets that call in our box.
It might be they didn’t give the penalty cause he already had lost the ball. The defenders foot was out, but maybe they saw it as Pepe was more running in to him than being kicked.
This is just me playing devils advocate. Personal opinion is that it was a penalty
We get penalised for simply blowing at the opponent whereas opponents can chop us down but no foul.. not the first time VAR or Dean has phukd us over..
Had to be. What happened to the FA’s big campaign about diving? I know Eden Hazard isn’t in the league anymore, but it seems like Pepe gets a yellow card or a spot kick from that one.
Put it this way: we make that kind of contact against poor wee plucky battlers like Sheffield United then, IF it gets past Mr. fucking Bean in the first place, then they couldn’t rule a penalty quick enough. Book it.
Dyke? C’mon man, we’re better than that
He’s never made a mistake in his previous 499 games so they figured they couldn’t overrule him on his “Big” day?
Way too generous with the player ratings, especially Xhaka, Ozil and Maitland Niles, who were a 5 at best. Its just opinions obviously, but I’m not seeing any real improvement in these last 6 games. Can’t keep saying the players aren’t fit enough because if they still not after 6 weeks, then it won’t wash. Also I haven’t seen intense pressing in the last 2 games so they cannot blame fatigue. We’re a 10th rated team now and unless we can somehow beat most of the teams above us who we still have to play again we’re going nowhere. We… Read more »
Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.
It is, but I thought Torreira wasn’t great to be fair. But opinions oshminions I suppose.
I suggest you watch the game again if you didn’t think Torriera want good today. I put him as Man of the match.
OVER THE LINE!!!
Ashburton abides!
Plus Pépé should get 5 max for trying to dive instead of forcing to score or getting a clear cut PK. He doesn’t put enough effort in anything he does.
Rubbish. It was a clear penalty and he is now starting to look like the player we expected
Wenger criticized RVP in his early years for going down too easily. Please, I am not comparing Pepe to a very athletic guy who scored a flying goal at the WC. Dribbling and falling is nothing special. Youtube is full of impressive dribblers doing it in their backyards. When Pépé attempts to defend, he puts no commitment in it and fail to get the ball. He was supposed to launch a fast counter attack and lost the ball which resulted in a counter attack against us.
Pepe is far more athletic than RVP.
And of course it’s easy to dribble in your backyard not so much when 6’2 monsters are flying at you from both sides and you skip through them making them look stupid..
“Dribbling and falling is nothing special”
Naa, Zaha will strongly disagree with you, or ask Hazard, he’s made a career out of it and has won a couple PLs on the back of it too..
He really isn’t, is he. Not as long as he will became smarter with the ball he won’t fit in this team. He has so much in his legs but his decision making is abysmal. Arteta is surely frustrated with him. I know I am. There are times in the game when you need to slow down a tempo to rest a little bit on the ball but you can’t do it because of the players like him who only drives forward and constantly loose possession.
“He has so much in his legs but his decision making is abysmal”
If Martinelli puts 1 of the 2 early chances that Pepe created for him, we wouldn’t be discussing this today..
I think the first paragraph is harsh. Thought Xhaka, Ozil and particularly Ainsley all looked solid. It’s gonna take time to sort out the mess Emery left us in, but the early signs are promising – just need to turn that promise into points. We should have won the game today and we were unlucky not to. Second para I agree with a bit more. The problem with this team over the last 10 odd years was that it thought it could just turn up and brush teams aside. That arrogance and that unwillingness to really fight for points when… Read more »
The problem with the last 10 years is that we have been conditioned into thinking that top 4 in the PL and qualification to perhaps CL quarter finals is a successful season. That is still in the mindset of many of the players and staff that have been around the club for a while and it is a philosophy that Lego man has to knock out of the club psyche. We should go into competitions, i.e. each and every single game to win bringing pride back to the club and not start a season hoping to scrape 4th place in… Read more »
AMN is looking better but there remains one extrememly frustrating aspect to his game – he does NOT lift his head and so continually pushes promisingly forward into their half, only to stop dead – look clueless – and then reverse it back to our defence, to start all over again.
This happened at least 8 times yesterday and repeatedly kills our momentum
I thought that apart from one misplaced pass that Xhaka had a great match. Ozil worked hard and created several chances and AMN was excellent too. You are either a Spurs fan or just another of our toxic so called supporters. We were not bad today and if Dean had given us the blatant penalty we would have won.
That’s our problem there. If Xhaka had a “great” game and he was our best player then being 10th is our justified place in the table…What did Xhaka do exactly that warrants him as having a great game? Compared to what?
Compared to our state with Emery at the helm he and several other players had good performances.
There’s nothing wrong with recognizing positive change.
Mustafi, Xhaka and Ozil (+ Torreira) were the the best rated player based on Who scored. They were also the best 3 players on the pitch for me together with Torreira and Saka. Maybe we are to bias? The improvement is at the back and in the structure. Under Emery we deserved to get nothing from the games, now we don’t deserve to not get something more. Going forward there won’t be much improvement until we buy at least one wide playmaker. We sold almost everyone who was technically good in the final third. We sold Iwobi, Ramsey, Mkhtaryan, Wilshere,… Read more »
Don’t deserve to not get something more… Also known as deserving to get more?
and you can add Campbell to that list, never saw him play a bad game.
haha, love it. ya campbell and pepe are play alikes and campbell was probably playing at a level higher than that of pepe at the moment for a good 6-7 game run in 2015-2016 season with Walcott out. Walcott back and he’s benched and shipped out. for the longest time we have undervalued ball carriers in the final third. martinelli can be that guy though.
Apparently I am in the minority on my opinions of AMN. I thought he was poor. No creativity, no crossing. Back and forth with Pepe was tiresome. At fault for the goal. What did I miss?
Maitland-Niles worked his socks off and had a good game. All the players put in a good effort, they deserved to win that game, the decisions were against us. The linesman let Sheffield get away with two clear off-sides and fortunately nothing came of it, a bad foul on Laca completely ignored and a penalty not given, the referees are costing us points. Ainsley and Pepe had run themselves into the ground by the time the Sheffield goal went in, the team was tired and started playing too deep. Leno needs to stop playing his defence into trouble, his distribution… Read more »
Ainsley was fairly solid but must agree he lacks any creativity. Just watch carefully the number of times he receives a promising wide ball, moves into opposition half only to stop, mildly panic, and reverse back into our half to his central defenders. He just never seems to look for the attacking ball – maybe a confidence issues in that he’s simply trying to keep possession? However it completely blunts our left sided attacking – which, with Pepe there, should be our most potent outlet.
Ermm… that’ll be the other left side… i.e. the right.
at fault for the goal? was it an error? it was a wonder volley. AMN didn’t have his best game but he played some nifty passes, defended well, and made an excellent block to prevent us from losing the game. he is very aware and comfortable under pressure. I’d imagine you want bellerin in his place and for me it’s AMN’s place to lose. bellerin has worse body control, dribbling ability, passing range, creativity, ability to deal with pressure, and they are similarly quick.
Bonus point is pure genius…
Yikes ! Who wrote the bonus rating. Joe Stalin ?
SAKA a straight 10……..excellent.
Pepe was fouled in the box. Penalty. If Mustafi does that to their winger, it’s a penalty, plain and simple.
Pepe shudda taken the free kick edge of box second half .
Three points is a challenge for us at the moment but we are way better than 2 months back.
Pepe should have forced through to score or get a PK. There was minimum contact, nothing that prevented him from going through. Martinelli would have been through because he is a fighter. This guy needs to watch Mané play.
You are a bit delusional, I think.
When your knee is caught like that, there is no way to “force through”. The momentum and pace is gone, and you lose balance, down you go.
Mane who dives with little or no contact? How shut up
Mane the diver? Haha, what u smoking?
I think Saka was OK. Not a 10.
That said. it calls into question really if we need an injury prone Kurzawa who is not in best form and would have ring rust (Debuchy anyone?)
Would prefer to invest in midfield considering Guendouzi probably better higher up doing damage and Ozil does not last through 50minutes plus Ceballos yet to convince (or play) and on loan without option.Willock needs to be on loan. We need someone experience to rotate through Granit-Torreira and provide a strangle hold on the game.
Ozil the ghost! And you talk about Laca lack of goals where his work and movement creates them ? #lifewithlenses .
Is the Arteta effect wearing off? Also Nketiah is acclaimed as the messiah where is banged average.
Haha!
What Arteta effect? We’ve won once in 5 PL games, 6/15. Got dominated for 45minutes at home to Leeds. I like Arteta, but our problems aren’t coaching ones. We lack cohesion, we’ve got a few very talented but inexperienced young players, who need time to grow. We’ve got a lot of overpaid dross on our books. And whilst we were much better in the wide areas today, and I think there’s scope for continued improvement with Pepe settling, and Martinelli, Saka, Nelson, Niles all with big potential. We’re still very slow and lumbering through the midfield, and our central defenders… Read more »
Ozil created more chances and had the highest passing percentage of anyone on our side.
That doesn’t mean he had a good game. Which he didn’t. His passing was shit and as usual failed to take control of the midfield. And when was the last time he scored?
@fred yet zero impact on the game. How about that as a stat?
Not a bad result considering we had 9 players all game. Ozil non existent as usual and Mustafi/Xhaka are half a player each. We are a mid table team this season and that’s it
Absolute rubbish. Ozil created several chances and worked hard all match. Mustafi apart from one misplaced pass did well and Xhaka had a great match and cleared the ball off the line to save us. Did you watch the match or just make personal judgments about these players.
Özil played as well as anybody else, just gets paid 3 – 4 times as much as most other players. Not his fault though, he didn’t force Arsenal to give him that contract. Just sits it out now with average displays and a big smile after every bank transaction from AFC. Xhaka and Mustafi had a good match in my opinion. Özil on 70 k a week would be an excellent deal, decent squad player, even contributes 2 – 4 goals and assists per season. What more could you ask for? Effort was also good today, even a tackling or… Read more »
If you start judging a player on what he earns, then NOBODY does enough in my view! There is football skill, and more than football when you give a contract to a player, mate…
@dadude…really, midfield butterfly contributes 2-4 Goals / season? I must have missed that significant contribution…
I saw ozil slide tackle 3 times today. That itself should have been enough for 3 points.
And 2 of Ozil’s key passes which looked like they were overhit/weighted were designed more for an Aubameyang-type player who cuts across and takes/meets the pass, unlike Martinelli who runs after/onto the ball. We’re still not doing enough to win games, clearly, but we are not far away. Soon.
Timing needs time… Martinelli should have more time playing with Özil.
I thought Ozil was good today. He’ll get all the fans onside if he continues to show the effort he has recently. Did well with the ball too.
I can’t be bothered engaging with these people any more
Another frustrating afternoon.One we have seen way to often over the last couple of seasons.Not finishing teams off just seems to bite us on the arse too frequently for everybody’s liking Impressed with Sheffield United,fantastic work ethic a credit to their manager with players who have worked their way through the leagues.Still feel Mikel has a massive job on his hands.Try Gabby through the middle natural goal scorer the kid.
Saka looks an excellent left back. Which is the biggest positive I can take from this game.
VAR is pointless if you have idiot refs like the ones we have in the PL.
I read that he’s a straight A’s student, and I think there’s a natural intelligence and maturity to his game that many of the youngsters lack
Very bright kid apparently.
Saka is class, he’s got real composure, does the simple things well, and some of his first time passing is brilliant.
Why are we even looking at Kurzawa?
Raul doing his agent mate a favour
Maybe Raul, Edu and Arteta want Saka as a winger.
I do. But Kurzawa better be good enough to make it worth it if we get him.
If we had an actual LB to play LB at the moment, Saka without a doubt, for me, would start ahead of Pepe, Martinelli, Nelson and whoever the fuckazelli on the wing, for the next game. So it’s a shame we need him back there but we really are desperate for more creativity on the wings. Not blaming Pepe, he’s a different kind of winger and is finding his feet in a new club n country. Saka reminds me of Messi in the way he’s always protecting the ball and keeping it his side, almost effortlessly (yeh yeh). Like having… Read more »
Oh yeah Martinelli shouldn’t be starting, except without his goal yesterday we would have lost. He’s a goal scorer and we are desperately shot of those.
I think people might be jumping the gun assuming this is the case. We have one semi fit LB who doesnt offer security in possession and good build up play. Kola is overpaid for a backup but can offer a plan B for the remainder of the season. Saka is a winger and we want him available there to influence matches. Kurzawa had the talent to play for France and be bought by PSG. He’s obviously a big talent with technique, experience and athleticism. He seems to have gone off the rails with injuries and concentration and we could be… Read more »
So a guy who has gone off the rails with injuries and concentration issues is going to improve those things at Arsenal? He’ll fit right in, but not in a good way.
Saka was excellent today, and I loved watching the two 18-year-olds celebrating the goal together.
I guess I need to go Zen on the team at this point. Mid table is about right. I’m gonna sit back and enjoy these kids. What an exciting group of young players. Martinelli and Saka were excellent.
3 injury prone players = 1 who stays fit all the time?
Not in arsenal though. Arsenal equation would be all 3 fit at the same time for 10 matches, all 3 unfit for 12 matches and alternate with each other other for another 16, so we would still be crying out loud.
The best use of the word ‘ringpiece’ since David Lloyd said (in the recent England vs New Zealand test series when the umpire got out the ball measuring hoop) “And the umpire has got his ringpiece out.”
With Saka doing as well as he is at LB, Tierney back training, and Kolasinac still under contract, why Kurzawa?????
Sorry, just saw Rich’s post. should have just replied to that.
It’s a very good point, that can’t be made enough, post away….
Interesting selection at Cback to say the least…. 1) Leno – Unlucky with goal. Maybe could have done slightly better. Proactive coming out, at times looked a bit over committed but seeing the Cback pairing in front of him does not exactly inspire much confidence either frankly. 2) AMN – He’s been more diligent defensively of late. Maybe a bit at the expense of forward play. Don’t think he could do too much more to cover for the goal but someone should have been on their goalscorer either him or Pepe. Question of organization. Going forward, could have made more… Read more »
“Thought Holding maybe if Sokratis is missing out for whatever reason (suspension?).”
Admit it, you don’t even watch the games. Mug.
Nelson is injured, he wasn’t on the bench!
It was 1-0 when Özil left against Chelsea. He did great to keep the ball and gain time against United. So called tired legs can be useful to avoid panic at the end of a game.
Emre can.You must be his agent or father or brother or sister or mother.Please just admit there’s a link and I can stop taking the Michael.LOL.
We have three players who can play left back. Unless he can also play RB, I don’t see the point in signing Kurzawa. If money is tight, look at CBs, someone who can play LB and RB (Doherty at Wolves?) and a big nasty DM/box to box type player (a 25 year old Vieira, really…I can dream).
But seriously, I don’t see the point in buying/loaning a specialist LB.
Strange one, we clearly look better, the performances are better but the results have been the same. We’re not clinical enough nor are we creating good enough chances and maybe we lack a bit of drive in the middle of the park too.
Yup. CMs were guilty of ball watching and not driving forward at times. I’ve given Torriera MOTM ratings pretty much every game recently before anyone thinks I have an agenda. He’d still be one of the first names on the team sheet for me. I just thought he and Xhaka were not great today.
I think it’s a hard job to do it from a holding 2. We saw Ramsey do it but sometimes it’s hard to get back into a defensive position afterwards. Our 10 is hardly a powerhouse so you won’t get it there either. Could look to Willock but he’s still very raw. Tough one for Arteta to solve with the players he has.
Our yo-yo one-pass-forward-two-back transition is hugely frustrating and doesn’t seem to be improving under Magic Mik. At least a DOZEN times yesterday, we got an incisive quick out ball taking us into their half, only for the bloke on the ball to stop dead, look around helplessly and then default it back to our defence, only to start all over again, this time with SU all behind the ball ready ‘n waiting. AMN – otherwise a decent game – was the biggest culprit… just doesn’t seem to be able to see a through-ball, has lost the confidence to take any… Read more »
Can we sell our referees to Italy and buy theirs? They don’t have 1% of the nonsense we have with VAR.
Italy outed their corrupt referees, why would they want ours?
All you guys lauding Xhaka as having a “great” game do not seem to realise that we’ve gotten to a point where a good player had a good game and you guys think that he had a great game? So do we want top 4 with Xhaka and the sort? Is he a player that would start for a top 6 team let alone a top 4 team? We lack quality and bar a couple of games under Arteta we have gone back to reality that some of these players are simply not good enough for Arsenal and the wages… Read more »
Xhaka was not our problem today.
We’re not dangerous attacking the opposition box right now. Many reasons, but Xhaka ain’t one of them with the role he’s being asked to play.
Martinelli has turned into a must-start player. Excellent motor, desire and a knack for the goal. A bright future for that kid.
If everyone is available, who starts (for you), Martinelli or Lacazette?
I’ll do it in alphabetical order to show no bias.
Vote green for Lacazette
Vote red for Martinelli
Did anyone see the BBC article showing how Arsenal were the worst affected by wrong VAR calls? It was 9 points lost at that stage, make that 11.
I think that’s just ‘incorrect VAR’ not just decisions not reviewed by VAR (pull on Sokratis’s shirt for penalty vs Liverpool etc).
And that’s what annoys me about LiVARpool fans. They claim others have had more points gained by VAR than them (overturned decisions). They don’t mention decisions not reviewed or incorrectly officiated on (pretty much one or two every game now,).
Not sour grapes, they’re a fantastic team. Just annoyed that they keep getting help which they clearly don’t need!
Did you see how many chances fell to Nketiah just when he came on? And Lacazette was twerking for 70-80minutes in that fucking position.
I hope he leaves in this transfer window.
Lacazette was worse than horrible. Couldn’t decide where he wanted to be and our front line suffered immensely.
I think the ratings are mostly spot on. We all know that was a pen and this should have been a convincing win against a very good side, so there’s no use in going after anyone for the disappointing end result.
I will say that it is bonkers Laca was allowed to take that free kick over Pepe. Holy moly, there are only like 5 ppl in Europe who can whip a ball from there like Pepe can. I hope we never make that mistake again.
Seemed like Pepe conceded it to Lava in one of those moves where we all hope he gets one in and returns his confidence, but we’re not in a position to be doing that right now. Pepe 100% should have taken it. And Luiz can stop banging them into Row Z from 40 yards any time now. The one that might go in isn’t worth the 25 that end up there.
Laca
The table doesn’t lie and neither does the match stats.
Arsenal
Simply
Are
Not
Good
Enough
And will never be good enough…
“will never be good enough”
Who the f*** are you? Piss off.
The otherwise good Maitland Niles was ballwatching for their goal. There were three opponents in his sector, bur he ran towards the centre. Maybe because he would help out Mustafi? I have a feeling we’d have won with Sokratis.
AMN side of the pitch does seem prone to that but why not have a go at Luiz too? SheffU players getting free headers because he just didn’t bother jumping at all.
Ratings are off. Blogs, you’re dislike of Laca is throwing your judgement. He works his sack off every game and his passing / running off the ball to create chances is 3x that of Ozil yet Ozil gets higher ratings?! Also Eddie gets more than Laca? Nah. Not your best rankings this week I’m afraid.
I like Lacazette, a lot.
He’s in a real funk at the moment though.
Disappointing and further evidence that VAR and the fucknuts who run it are biased and corrupt.
Then again, the game was pretty much over at least from an enjoyment point of view when I realised that massive thundercunt, Tony Gale, would be dribbling his usual shit for 90 minutes.
First home game I’ve missed this season (had to watch on a sunbed in Gran Canaria?) and watched the NBC stream for the first time – yes, Tony Gale clearly hates us and was one of just 3 people in the world who didn’t think it was a penalty!
Your votes seemed very generous here for certain players. I thought Lacazette and Ozil as the senior players, were very generous. To me they both seemed unfit and well off the pace both physically and mentally. I give them both a 5 each and that is maybe a tad generous.
Saka was immense today a young inexperienced player and may I add out of position, played absolutely fabulous. Also Martinelli deserved a higher score got a goal and great work rate.
I think i’m gonna give you a 2 for your post.
We are definitely playing better. Sheffield are playing real well. We are making it difficult for other teams to play. Ozil tackled today. Pepe was influential. Laca is low on confidence. Arteta has not had the results but I feel confident in saying that he will improve the team a lot. There is a small clip where Maitland Niles cuts in to keep posession and then cuts in again. That is coaching. And it takes a lot of time to implement training in an actual match. I don’t think we can finish in the top 6 this season. So, premier… Read more »
Just one another thing. Usually a good team starts playing badly coz the manager loses the dressing room. Emery did not lose the players. The players followed bad instructions for 18 months. There is also a case to be made about why the players did not revolt on their own. I think having a new manager for the first time played a part in keeping Emery for so long.
Sorry :p. Also, Emery was very lucky in the sense that our strikers scored some really good goals during his tenure. A lot of half chances were taken. I have a feeling that we will have a very consistent Arsenal once the teams wins 4 in a row all competition.
Abhi – you’re believing media too much, SheffU have scraped some wins against lowly opposition but also lost to Newcastle, drew with Watford (both at home) in December and a string of draws before that. Media also going a bit soft on us at the moment but wait until we get higher and the knives will come out again.
I really don’t understand the hate on Lacazette. Yes he’s not scoring goals but without him we wouldn’t have scored today or last week!!!! He hustles back and holds up play to all people to move up. Lacazette came off and we conceded the goal because we missed him coming back and helping track back and win the ball back. We lose the last 2 games without him.
Love having Martinelli in there. He’s such a spark. Another great match by Torreira
@BrazilianGooner…spot on mate. Laca’s work rate and contributions on and off the ball are not being recognized by the same fans who roll out the usual “passing” stats of Ozil the ghost.
I’m glad someone else has noticed!!
Last 2 games he has been great. Much improved holding up and releasing, not to mention probably more through balls than anyone else… The haters can fuck right off back to How to Watch a Football Match School.
Exactly
I am well and truly concerned about Lacazette after today. Most games, it feels like he does everything but score. Today, it felt like he was invisible for the most part. Maybe it was due to the energy and impact showed by Pepe and Martinelli in comparison, but the openness of this game left me thinking I should have seen much more from him. I wasn’t even remotely surprised or upset when he was subbed out.
Thats real harsh on Lacazette man, literally anything close to a decent chance we made was from him making a great pass… Very unselfish and disciplined in possession today, 7/10. Otherwise I will agree with your ratings, but you missed a big one, Laca’s improvement, especially in holding it up and not wasting it, MUST BE NOTICED! He’s becoming our Firmino! I mean he’s trying, obvious improvement over last 2 games. Would’ve possibly taken Ozil off when Laca went instead, feel he could’ve grabbed a goal last 20… But I guess he must be rested… Saka was immense.
prob give Toreirra an extra .5 too.
Arsenal can forget about being in the cl.
Until there is investment in top quality players, they will be a middle table team making money fod the US owner
Already the gunners are being overtaken by SU and Wolves om thd pitch.
Hopefully the fans will make their views bring to the attention of the owner. If not get ready for stagnation.
Fairly positive about today – we continue to look more structured and committed and Ozil, Xhaka and yes, even Mustafi, look like the players they could/should be. The impatient nay-sayers below should try to remember that it will take 2-3 months for Mikel to (a) untangle Unai’s mess and (b) create a coherent style with these players, particularly given the injury hand he’s been dealt. I feel he’s done a remarkable job with what he currently has, and in the short time he’s had. The concerns yesterday: defence remains unable to do the simple job of man-marking in the box.… Read more »
I agree on Laca not scoring enough and needs to replaced. But same must be for özil, how many goals and assists has he had the last two seasons? Maybe one goal and a couple of assists? That aint good enough.
This points system plug in UI is absolute shite