Reckless Xhaka almost cost us the points, again. by Konstantin Mitov
Burnley was an immense drama, AGAIN! And it was an offside goal in the last minute that saved us AGAIN! This time though, we really deserved the win and if we hadn’t gotten it, it would’ve been a real shame. Why? Because we tried to suicide ourselves against a side who scored only their 4th away goal all season against us!
Last summer I and a lot of other people cried out to buy a DM that would play alongside Cazorla and big money was spent on Granit Xhaka, who was quickly labeled as the new Petit. Things haven’t quite ran so good for him though, as his second red, gave us a great scare in a game against a very beatable opposition just like it happened against Swansea.
The discipline of this player is out of control. He first mistook the pass then made a suicide tackle that’s always asking for a card in the middle of the park. Arsene needs to sit down and talk with Granit. Our red card record under Arsene is one of the highest in the league each season, which is something to consider.
I must say the ref was just terrible. We had a 100% penalty against Mustafi, which was very similar to the one Burnley got when Coquelin did what Coquelin does, a reckless tackle. Later on Koscielny, let’s be honest, was offside before Ben Mee stuck a foot in his face, which got us the penalty which Sanchez converted in style to see us win the game and move into second!
The win was hugely important because results elsewhere went pretty much our way with Liverpool losing against Swansea at home, United drew with Stoke, and City and Spurs shared the spoils. Chelsea could’ve had a tougher time against Hull had the ref given a clear penalty when Alonso tripped a Hull player in the box, but hey, it might be that the refs are just terrible or some teams get the better end of it, I don’t know really.
One last thing from the weekend was Arsene shoving the fourth official and being sent off. I can somewhat understand his frustration, the ref was bad, but rumours are he’ll be missing from the bench for a few games. I’m not sure Steve Bould would have too much of a word for the games he’ll be managing. Interesting to see if we’ll make subs before minutes 70 and if we’d opt for a more interesting option like playing 2 strikers up front?
Anyway, the good news is we got the points we just couldn’t afford to miss, and now we can look to Watford and then Chelsea away. The Blues have a little old trip to Anfield to contend with. If we want to catch them up, nothing but 2 wins from the next 2 games will do.
KM
We are 8 points behind Chelsea that’s fact,they must lose 3 games while we win all so without a shadow of doubt we won’t win the league as long as Wenger is the manager
pratt
Only A Sith Deals in Absolutes
lol Seriously, there are 16 matches left in the season for each team
Chelsea could certainly lose and draw some matches (so could we)
We also play Chelsea
We are not in great shape being 8 points down but we are certainly not out of it.
Because this is the Arsenal (Arsene to be precise) way, we always make it difficult…. One win here and there but we all know where we are heading
I’ve never been one to give a hoot about discipline as it often gets mistaken for someone who try’s desperately to tackle anything that moves! ironically I have been watching Xhaka a lot and his passing on the whole yesterday was very good and he is getting quicker with it and being more efficient. I think this guy is a serious player with lots of potential but have to agree he is really immature and petulant! I think his talent out ways but needs a massive slap!! ultimately we need two big tacklers anchoring our midfield that can distribute like Busquets as EVERY other player other than our centre backs go forward with no regard. Has to be balance.
Perhaps it’s better to have a madman on the pitch who’s not afraid to get a red card lol, afterall, a red card will fetch a maximum three game ban while an injury can leave a player out for months, ask Eduardo, Ramsey and Diaby. I wonder if shawcross would have been so brazen against Ramsey if Xhaka was there.
@Incarnate
Thats why the Burnleys of the league come out to get physical with us. The know that most of our players fold up after a shove. Big ups to Granit for gettin stuck in.
OG, Alexis, Gabe, Kos and Mustafi, are the only hard men in our squad.
Gabriel is a fag, he crys like a baby when he gets a little cut and goes running off for treatment before the physio even got up off his backside lol.
Anyone remember the preseason friendly against City?
We all thought that Gabriel got his leg broken in 3 places from the way he was crying and got stretched off the pitch and in the end it turned out to only be a sprained ankle lol?
It’s amazing how one incident with Costa gave this crybaby a hard man image lol
as arsenal fans would we have it any other way i ask you . drama is part and parcel of the game, we are the experts at providing drama. we never know from one game to the next what we are capable of , or indeed incapable of . but i will gladly settle for that rather than some really boring way of playing . unpredictability is good in my opinion.
With Coquelin only back and Ramsey being Ramsey, Xhaka’s stupidity could leave us really lacking in CM. One of those could easily pick up an injury with them having to play every game and every game a must win game. Hopefully Elneny will be back soon, he’s not spectacular but he keeps things ticking over. Thought we would’ve got a glimpse of Bielik this season, not sure if I like that he’s a CB, now that we look good at CB. Maybe loan him to Bolton or someone.
Why is it that in every Arsenal game; Ozil and Sanchez never pass the ball to Giroud, he is always left begging. All does not look okay. The body language of players do not look like that of champions! Something is amiss…
The things that are missing are what a quality manager brings!