It wouldn’t be far off from saying that Petr Cech was probably our Man Of The Match in today’s defeat by Tottenham, after pulling off some excellent saves, but it still wasn’t enough as the Spuds kept finding ways through our defence.
Cech was hardly happy with the performance and made it clear after the game. He was asked how he felt: “Angry and disappointed because obviously this is not a game we wanted to lose and this is a very big disappointment for us.” he fumed. “At half-time I felt we were in the game and in the second half we wanted to improve, we wanted to play to win the game. The second half was our best half – they put us under pressure, created chances and in the end they scored two goals.
“With all the emotions, I have to say that we met a team that was full of confidence, well organised and they are having their best season. I think today that showed, that little bit of more confidence and quality on their side. The goals obviously made a big difference.”
“It hurts because it was a huge game for both teams. They needed to win to keep their title chances alive. We needed to win to keep our Champions League finishing position [hopes] alive and obviously we are very disappointed because it’s a north London derby, it means a lot to the fans and it meant a lot to the club, to us. We needed three points and in the end we have none.
“I think they created a lot of chances and they managed to score the first goal, which obviously helped them. Two minutes [later] they had a penalty which they put into the back of the net. When you are 2-0 down against a team having their best season, who are full of confidence, it’s going to always be difficult and it was difficult for us to get back into the game.”
So it’s not just their confidence, they also had more quality. That is a damning verdict on our supposedly star-studded side that we strengthened by spending 100 million this summer. Why have Tottenham progressed so much further than us?
Questions need to be asked…
Arsenal ladies would have shown more grit,fight,determination and passion than this bunch of bottlers and their mediocre manager.Thanks to Cech who kept it at 2-0 otherwise it would have been much much worse.
We need two more losses to make it a perfect season. With one of the losses to come on 27th of May
The sad thing is this is what I expect now. The FA Cup vs City was fun cause we saw a team that fought and battled back and played fairly well. But that was the exception, today’s lackluster passive suckfest is the norm. I don’t even get upset or surprised anymore. Sooo many changes needed from the board to the manager to a bunch of the players being gone and it’s hard to be positive about much of anything. At least Pires guaranteed we’ll get Mbappe this summer so now I feel better lol.
How are the fans gonna change the board ?
It was very apparent that Tottenham’s players were better at possessing the ball than us. Tottenham’s defenders played Arsenal’s attackers to chase the ball around in vain. Whereas Arsenal’s defenders got panic and kick the ball away as far as possible when they got pressurized by Tottenham’s attackers. This showed the difference between both clubs’ players ball control and passing skills.
Arsenal cannot win against top teams from an open play, if the players cannot even possess the ball longer than two touches. We can only win by “parking the bus” (fully defensive and counter attack), penalties, set pieces (free kicks and corner kicks) or luck.
Pochettino is a manager that has played for his national football team as a player, has a good career as player, has good judgement on player purchase/ selection and he is willing to learn from the others. That’s why Tottenham has improved so fast. Guardiola, Enrique and Conte are similar, they learned from their experiences as players for top teams, and it shows from their current team’s football philosophy.
If Arsenal has to replace Wenger, they should search for young managers like them, which means no Eddie Howe, Mourinho, etc. Arsenal can benefit more from managers like Simeone.
Can’t believe i stayed up to watch this came to work on 2 hours sleep. Gutless Spineless , we need a change in direction so badly would love to have Pochettino as our manager. The guy is on his way to being one off the best. What he is achieving with a Kmart side is unbelievable.
#WERNGER OUT
#NO NEW CONTRACT
Well said. We seem to be going backwards year in, year out and worse of all is that we keep doing the same things & expect to win the league. … We honestly need a transformation.
I believe last season was our chance to win the league coz all our rivals/contenders (Man U, Man City, Chelsea & Liverpool) had issues with managers through the season … We came second alright & it was joy galore … it’s unfortunate, I’ll sadly admit Arsenal now embraces mediocrity with top four finishes and second round UCL exits as the norm whereas the Spuds keep improving. We definitely don’t deserve this.
Fellow Arsenal fans brace yourselves & embrace the Europa Cup. Our Thursdays will never be the same again …
Gosh!!! Quel dommage. Can’t believe that’s where Arsenal has condescended to. Well it’ll be an interesting Summer nevertheless. The doings & undoings of the board during the summer will determine our ambition.
The Europa cup is more involving & rugged as compared to the UCL. It’ll involve effective planning & fitness challenges. We need a large & fit side to survive.