Arsenal will come away full of pride after refusing to be beaten at Anfield in their opening leg of the EFL Cup semi-final with Liverpool, and may even be confident of reaching the final now.
The Reds were immediately on the front foot in the match, pressing high and piling pressure on, and while our defence may have seemed a little desperate at times, the goalkeeper wasn’t forced into any saves.
We tried to get a foothold in the game after the initial onslaught, and was enjoying our own spell in position, and our best chance of the opening half came from our own pressing, dispossessing their midfielder in their own half before Alexandre Lacazette attempted to catch the goalkeeper off-guard, but his effort curled just wide of near post.
Our attempt at giving them a taste of their own medicine backfired however, Kieran Tierney pressed too high up the field, before Gabriel was also caught pressing up into the opposition half off the ball, and after two quick movements in possession, it left Granit Xhaka chasing down Robertson’s ball over the top before a late and wreckless challenge on Jota just outside the box saw him see red just inside the opening 30 minutes.
Eddie Nketiah was swiftly replaced by Rob Holding as we opted for the defensive approach to keep ourselves in the two-legged tie, and we made it to the break level.
I have to admit, while I was pleased to have made it through to the half-time whistle level, I could see envisage a 3-0 scoreline come the end of the 90, and was ecstatic to see that it wasn’t the case.
In fact, after the break we didn’t just not lose, but we were the better side for the first 20 minutes after the interval, and could well have taken the lead had Bukayo Saka not been chased down by Allison in the box.
We did have to endure a torrid time in the final 20 minutes however as their one-man advantage finally seemed to take it’s toll on our energy levels, but our focus was immense, and this team deserves a whole raft of credit for their dogged display this evening, and that performance could well make us favourites to reach the final now.
We have been a different animal at the Emirates this term, and I certainly wouldn’t be backing against us next week.
One worry would be that Bukayo Saka had to be replaced, giving us further worries in that area of the team, but fingers crossed he will prove to be fine by the weekend and for the next leg with Liverpool also.
Who was your man of the match this evening?
Patrick
Arsenal for me were the better team over 90mins simply because they had the better chances. Liverpool only had one clear cut chance. Liverpool only pressured but were predictable. I see Mr Liability is back at it again. The annoying thing is people will still have the audacity to defend him. I actually predicted us to win this match and feel we would’ve done so if not for the red card. This is a great performance and actually shows that mentally we have massively improved. We would’ve been thrashed some months or even seasons back in this same situation. Arteta deserves a lot of credit to for his subs and mentality. The boys did well and deserved the result which feels like a win.
And jota would have scored and we are not good at coming back against them……we actually concede more goals.
…..If we had lost this game fine say the worst….but we drew, thats the positive
Let Emirate judge if we good enough to beat them
He wouldn’t because the ball did take a heavy touch off him and Ramsdale would’ve gotten there. You can go and watch it back again. This Liverpool team saw off Leicester using some youngsters. We are good enough to beat them even by a difference of two but as to whether we will is another matter.
Kev you can’t predict what would happen after Jota get the ball, imo , it’s more of a goal than miss or save, 70% chance it’s a goal
Yes you’re right I couldn’t predict fully but it looked like the touch from Jota was heavy and Ramsdale could get there. I’m not insinuating Dhaka was supposed to know but that’s how I saw it. It never looked like a sure goal at all.
Your 1 against my 4.
Hit crossbar?
Hit the upright?
Ball hit against the keeper..
Total miss.
COULD ALL THOSE NOT HAVE HAPPENED?
Who are you to predict what would’ve happened???
Sorry 😕
Was meant for Shone 🤗
Am not going to defend Xhaka on all his red cards, in fact a red card isn’t an option but considering his limited ability, he could not have done much on that ball, he would probably have left it and get no card and Jota would have scored.
Credit to the boys, we deserve it
That was a poor attempt at a tackle and it was even dangerous. He shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place and this isn’t the first time he’s been positionally suspect defensively. He’s just average defensively and many times when receiving the ball he doesn’t know who’s around him.
That’s my point, he shouldn’t have been there but due to his limited pace, he was in that situation.
One can’t give what he doesn’t have,
It’s the club fault for having him and it’s time to get an upgrade
We should’ve upgraded long ago. Why we blocked his move to Roma is beyond me. Two previous managers along with Arteta have consistently played him because he’s the player in the squad who can dictate from deep with his passing but him being limited in many areas means overall he’s not worth it. On the pitch he’s just a walking mistake waiting to happen plus he can’t cover ground and isn’t dynamic enough.
kev Totally with you on Xhaka. How he is ever picked or remains here is one of lifes baffling mysteries to me. How three of our managers have picked him as a regular, when he is essentially an oafish, stupid, maverick statue, is mystifying.
But I disagree with you, as I firmly believe we would have lost, had he not been sent off. He will now miss Spuds and Liverpool 2 and that is a blessing IMO.
But while he remains at our club, he is not a blessing but a curse!
Xhaka is getting away with too much at the club. The coaches must really love him to death. The tempo in the English League doesn’t suit his style. He’s usually exposed as a liability in these kind of matches. I’m surprised you firmly believe we’d have lost though. We carved them open with ten men. That is extremely difficult to do at Anfield let alone with ten men.
Gabriel and Tierney were supposed to be there to defend against Jota but they were caught out of position. Xhaka only decided to sacrifice himself to save his team.
One plays football to hit/kick the ball in play. Xhaka attempted to do just that. He didn’t dilebatately kick Jota. Never did he even look at Jota in that incident as can see in the replay. He attempted to clear the ball in play but to no avail which caused him the red card.
Xhaka was not trying to make a tackle, he wanted to clear the ball not to tackle the player.
Without the Xhaka challenge, Diego Jota would have been through on goal. The flight of the ball had put Xhakka at a disadvantage cause he was a step behind Jota. That was a card taken for the team. The question we should ask is where were the defenders? It’s similar to the incident against city where Xhakka was the defender that had to mark Silva. I think it’s a matter of the team set up. I won’t really blame Xhaka on this, if he had gotten the ball right, he would have been applauded. It was a 50/50 situation. At the it ended in a draw, Xhakka preventing Jota a chance of being one on one with the keeper, gave us a chance some how. I choose not to have a stereo type opinion on the circumstances of the red cards. The red card could have been anyone in that position, isolated with an extremely fast and sleeky Diego Jota.
The Jota chance was not a sure goal. He took a heavy touch on the ball and Ramsdale could actually have gotten there or made a block. Playing with ten men is not a suitable thing at all because the team comes under a lot of pressure. When you look at the performance I am confident that Arsenal would ‘be equalised and could actually have won today’s match match with eleven men even if Jota scored. We had the better chances with ten men.
Thank you my guy.
I salute you.
It’s meant for Jay 😔
Don’t know what’s going on 🙄
This red card could be the best thing as rest of the team showed what heart and unity they have
Please though Arsenal do the ‘professional’ thing now as Liverpool did and ask for NLD to be postponed! we are short on players and guys need a week to rest up – otherwise its easy for SPuds!
I am totally not surprised. I predicted we would not lose tonight. I’m right again. Nothing special about our performance just the usual.. No different from the performance at Forest but Forest were better than Liverpool that was the difference. I said Liverpool without Mane and Salah looked toothless and so it proved. So many people just gave up when the red came. Oh ye of little faith. Where are the critics now? They will all be fans now:) Flip flops. Told you the FA Cup would quickly be just a memory. Well Spurs should be worried. But will we look for a postponement with our injuries? Well done Gunners. This ones on Arteta. Great effort by the gaffer. Trust the process.
Fairfan, you and I must have been watching two different games. How you can say that the energy, intensity and commitment we showed tonight was present in the performance versus Forest is beyond me.
Name them??
I hope we can start to celebrate wins and not just draws or loses because of the circunstances of the game (given for our own faults).
You said that looking for a CM now was short sight, because that would give even less minutes to lokonga, fairfan.
I told you that sooner rather than later xhaka would Let us down again and recieve another stupid red card. Well, to be honest, i didnt think it would be that soon. So, Is it still short sight to look at a CM now? We have only patino and lokonga, not number ten eather vs Tottenham in a game that can’t come More important.
i just hope i would not see xhaka in the red and white ever again
Liverpool will be hit with a ton of false positives for next week and will ask for postponement until Mane, Keita and Salah are back 😜 great result, proud of the team today except the man who mustn’t be named. Ben White was on 🔥
Even with Salah and Mane I still feel they would’ve struggled to beat us. There was not much space in behind for them as we were deep. Liverpool usually win this kind of matches through crossing or a penalty and then the opposition opens up.
Believe it or not Kev I think the sending off actually helped us, we knew from that point we had to defend resolutely and we just nullified them, not one shot on target from them and how long did we play with 10 men? Always worrying though when Michael Oliver is officiating Liverpool games had Salah been playing tonight one of his famous dives would have definitely resulted in a penalty.
No shot on target Kev
I know Adajim I actually think they could have been playing until tomorrow and still wouldn’t have hit the target 😂
We were actually defending them well even with eleven men and they had zero chances but for the Jota one. I could see us getting far more chances in this match than we did and we had the better chances with 10 men. This performance was needed to confirm that how we played against City was not a fluke. We may have drawn but we could actually have won. As to the refs the least said the better. Even the time added on was questionable for me.
Yeah Kev we were the only team to register a shot on a target well after Xhaka was ordered to take an early shower. The performance against City was excellent then abysmal at the weekend now again excellent so we never really know what to expect from Arsenal, we can only hope and keep fingers crossed we put in that type of performance in our next 2 games which are huge now. Decisions certainly don’t go our way but they certainly go the way of the opposition, I could list numerous decisions that have gone against us this season down to dodgy officiating, one that leaps to mind is the Leicester v Arsenal game, Michael Oliver in charge, Jonny Evans chops down Aubameyang last man and Oliver opts for just a yellow, make no mistake if that was an arsenal player he’s walking.. Tomiaysu gets stomped in the face at Everton and all is good, some teams will always be playing against 12 men and I’m certainly not excusing Xhaka as I’ve had enough of his clowness.
And we also had a penalty call in the first half against Tomiyasu. He was pulled down in the penalty box and ref just ignored.
Yeah I mentioned this match as a yardstick because it was against a top team. I wanted to see if we’d back down and play like a small team as we have in the past or try to match them which we did try to do and we actually pressed them or at least had the intention of doing so. The refs decisions are just a mess. Sometimes when you’ve underachieved for many seasons like we have no-one cares about you when you complain. I can see us beating Spurs though.
What those players should take from this game and city game is that they can compete with the better teams in the past we are beaten before we leave the tunnel, forest game aside we have to push on from here now and hopefully add one or 2 in this window, I think now with injuries and illness plus ACON it’s imperative we get a couple players in. I really hope so Kev because a defeat and if they win they’re games in hand I think top 4 is gone let’s hope the officiating is a little better on Sunday although I wouldn’t bet on it.
Slowly that mental barrier against the big teams are being overcome. Now I can look forward to matches against them and can see us having a go at them and not just sitting back. I actually hope we don’t postpone the Spurs match because they are poor and this is the time for us to play them. They are unconvincing in their new formation and system. I see nothing but an Arsenal victory or at worse a draw.
I know mate it’s tortuous getting hammered against the big teams having already lost heavily at City and Liverpool earlier in the season, the next step is to actually win against one of the big boys as we haven’t done this season yet, the most disappointing result for me personally was Man Utd because they are bang average home or away. If the game on Sunday does go ahead I hope Son isn’t available but knowing our luck he’ll be fit and raring to go and when he plays they play better and Kane plays better.. if we went there with a full squad I think we would definitely win but with a depleted squad I would take a draw now.
I was really annoyed at the Man Utd loss because of the same reasons. I was actually shocked we lost that one. I’m very confident against Spurs even with our squad as it stands. They are just really bad and mentally we have the edge. The result today was really key because of the next games.
Losing to a good man utd team is always a pain but losing to a team most teams are dominating nowadays is almost disastrous and conceding 3 goals against them, whatever happens this season that for me is the worst result. Oh yeah can you imagine losing heavily tonight and already being dumped out of the fa cup by forest the confidence would have been on the floor so getting that result tonight was not just important to stay in the cup but to boost the teams confidence for Sunday, if we can win that game it can really kick start our season and I would be confident we can make top 4 because I feel West Ham will fall away and totts have some tough away games Leicester, Chelsea, City and Man utd whereis we only have Chelsea away.
Martinelli MOTM by far for me….guy ran himself into the ground for the team and lost count how many times he knicked the ball off of the Liverpool players.
Damned right PJSA – mine too.
A draw at Anfield with 10 men! Silenced the scousers – bloody love it!!
Well done boys, worked your socks off tonight! One more and we’re going to Wembley…. COYG
Sue is a happy woman tonight 😀 can we win Sunday now ?
Of course we can, Kev 😝
So your predicting a win on Sunday Sue 😀
Right now, yes. Ask me again in the morning after I’ve pondered 😆
Chris Kavanagh will be officiating..
Haha I’ll see it in your predictions anyway 😆 not a fan of his Sue although I’m not a fan of any referee but at least it’s not Oliver or your favourite man Mike dean 😜 the way it’s going it might not be any ref we barely have a squad left 😂
If Arsenal can put up this same performance at the Emirates, sure we’re going to come out victorious, and get to the finals.
Sue I really liked the resilience tonight, well done to the whole team -1 😜 he’s cost us many big games and it’s worrying.
We have to put him up for sale, Kenya.. 5 years is long enough!
Great performance from everyone, including the manager for switching the formation after the red.
Even though this game wasn’t a priority for me, still kudos for the performance.
I just hope these guys ain’t too burnt out for the Spurs game.
Xhaka gotta go, we need to get a better midfielder please.
Can we sign Wilshere tonight and make sure the Arthur deal gets concluded tomorrow morning please? We really need it
Arthur is an offensive midfielder Eddie – not sure he’s up to it tbh. Typical low centre of gravity no 10 type, but been poor for the last year. I wouldn’t go for him but MA seems to be the wizard at picking them so I’ll trust him.
Not really a ten.
He’s best suited to playing the number 8, but also can do a good job in a double pivot.
I’m pretty sure, he’ll be better than nothing and better than Elneny
Sorry I meant an “8”! Right on those two. If hes a loanee its a no risk. And he was the great Brazilian hope a couple of seasons (even though he’s been poor as he’s been played too deep by Juve), so if MA can work his magic… I’d just prefer Guimaraes in the Partey or Xhaka role. But he’s a bum on a seat so I’ll take him!
Great performance with 10 men. I still don’t think it was a sending off, very subjective, he was looking at the ball not the man. Not a sending off for me.
He was the last man so it was a sending off. If that was against Liverpool and a yellow card was given you’d be fuming. There is more case for it being a red than not plus its literally Xhaka so what did you expect?? Track record counts too
I’ll reply every time you polst this comment Declan….please state the rule that takes into account where the players eyes are looking when committing a clear foul as the last man?
I would but you wouldn’t understand.
I could explain it to you but can’t understand it for you 😊
Agree Declan, the problem is that it was Xhaka once again and any subjectivity goes out of the window.
The referee was so quick to brandish the red card, it was as if he was waiting for the opportunity.
What a tremendous performance from then onwards by the ten men though… can’t praise them enough.
How on earth we can go from the shambles of Forest to this well organised and resilient performance is beyond me and the Emirates will be rocking next week.
Let’s hope there’s a new face or two by then…now for the spuds.
Ken – I fear that even if Xhaka joins a bible group and wears ballet shoes on the pitch he will still collect red cards like confetti. He will always have a big target on his back nowadays amongst English referees and there is nobody easier for opposing teams to either wind up or make look bad. Whether it’s deserved (and I happen to think that most of the time it is) or not is irrelevant, he will be carded even for looking at referees. If for no other reason, that’s why he must go.
Lol Dec – no subjectivity required on this one. Xhaka’s only mistake was that he was trying to kick him inside the area.
Xhaka must just leave.
I really dislike pool and hope they suffer without their stars.
Good job by the team and Arteta made good subs.
i dont think anyone likes liverpool. highly unlikeable club. And it’s not because they’re doing well. It’s because of their manager and some of their players that can get away with murder. It’s hard not to see the bias that goes in their favor constantly. really hope we beat them to the final of this cup.
👍👍👍
Arsenal are the first side to stop Liverpool scoring in a game at Anfield across all competitions this season. And they did it with 10-men for 71 minutes
Pleased as punch!!!
@Sue
EPIC…👍🏿
Xhaka is the first player to stop nketiah from scoring in a carabao cup game this season sue😭😭
Wow. I’ve never enjoyed a nil-nil game so much. Chapeau to all the lads (with one notable exception of course). Character building game.
How much energy will they have for Sunday? Hopefully won’t be running on fumes.
That result make me appreciate Xhaka red more, don’t get me wrong am not happy with the way the team had to suffer but that would have been Liverpool goal had Xhaka not made the tackle, there is no way he was getting there due to his pace, Jota already beat him , so he had no choice but to foul him, it was rash, he couldn’t have done better imo .
Credit to the boys for that had earn draw
Can you show me how you know 100% that Liverpool would have scored? If you can then I will totally agree with what you have said.
There is no 100% assurance but the odd is so high, considering Jota is the Liverpool best attacker out of the lots
Minamino had basically an open net and put it over. Xhaka just made another stuff up as usual. Now he is out of the Spuds match which is more important as it’s for a potential Champions League spot. Hopefully it all works out positively for us in the end.
Good glad the mug is out, he should not even be near the Papa John’s trophy team.
Sooner we fcuk him off the better, how we didn’t jump on Roma’s €2 euro bid I will never know.
I don’t give a damn about this carabao cup, my problem now is the north london derby with all the injuries, covid, afcon and now xhaka suspended i fear the worse for arsenal
Lol postpone it just to anger spuds
Amazing guts – epotimised for me by GM shouting at Chambers to track back and stay with his man on 85 minutes. GM and Saka were incredible. Some poor skills but a fantastically well organised defense made it irrelevant – great credit to Arteta. Good news that Cedric went off as Chambers is a better and harder working low block man. Ramsdale had his shakiest game since coming, which tells you a lot about the defensive display.
This was a scratch team of 10 men with no midfield and I don’t think Pool, at Anfield, had more than one shot on target?
Xhaka’s mistimed challenge (mistimed because he intended to kick him INSIDE the area) must surely be the final straw… only it won’t be because we need him until the Summer.
Anyone doubting there is a fighting spirit in that team has just been shown the light. Yes Liverpool weren’t great but had most of a full squad and were at home, whilst we only had kids left on the bench. That’s character, at least from the 8 that got past the first 25 minutes!
Very positive result. But I bet you any money 💰 that Mr Negative(Dan Smith) will still be all doom and gloom about the whole thing. He’ll be still writing about Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal match. May as well make it a 5th day. Just hope the lads recover in time for the North London Derby. That was a very gutsy and brave performance. Man Of The Moment,,, Xhaka 🤯🤯🤯🤡🤡🤡
Spot on pj – Dan S will come on saying how dare we celebrate a draw.
😂😂😭😭😭😂😂 Don’t kill me please
Laccazet reaction to Gabriel after getting an unnecessary yellow- Leader. We need players to take control and lead
I must admit, once we went down to 10 I seriously considered firing up the PS5 or tuning into Netflix. Glad I stuck around to see a great fighting performance.
The team kind of made up for the previous performance. “Three managers can’t be wrong” Xhaka adding to the dilemma made the fight even more impressive.
Also credit to Arteta, his change once we went down to 10 had an impact. Still worrying that his team collects so many reds.
Can’t wait for “3 managers can’t be wrong” Xhaka to leave!!!
We got lucky. Minamino should have put the ball past an empty net but missed. He really is a flop. Tavares as well looked poor from the moment he stepped on the pitch. He is a flop in my book. The only positive is we were not as disorganized as we were versus Nottingham Forest.
So should have Saka QD
Everybody gets a 10/10 for me.
WHAT A PERFORMANCE
Everybody!!?
😂
Don’t want to spoil the mood.
The team is so used to Xhaka red cards playing with 10 men does affect us anymore. 😂. But seriously, time to get rid of this joker. Well done to everyone else who played today. They stepped up and FA Cup loss is gone from memory.
Great great effort from the players that managed to keep themselves on the pitch 👏 Probably the team will suffer from the xhaka red card more in the next two games, the players left took a lot out of themselves thanks to captain haka. A big big mention to Lacca, what a shift that guy put in tonight, how have we treated this guy so shabbily in his Arsenal career, he is a leader and a fighter, got to try and keep him. I just hope tonight wasn’t the straw that ends up breaking the camels back. Big big week ahead and this team need to be grown up very quickly. Plus, well done to Chambers who seems to have been cold shouldered and didn’t let us down.
The decisions to let Gouendouzi and AMN go looking really bad decisions at the moment. Can someone step out of the shadows? Saliba also.
Err no we are looking good because we just proved we don’t need any of them as Chambers and Holding both stepped up. The fans who called for White to play DM may yet get their wish. We may go for a postponement I reckon as we do not have Europe or FA Cup to worry about. That would give us a full week to prepare for the return leg and as ‘Pool were granted a postponement in this tie it is likely the FA will have to grant us same.
Don’t talk silly!!!!
do you really think that’s possible Reggie???
Probably not TRVL but the plan will certainly be given a solid work out this next week. Would a midfield of Gouendouzi and AMN be better against spuds than what we will be able to put out on Sunday and against Liverpool. It would certainly have had experience of those teams and be arguably a decent midfield.
I agree Reggie, but I was really referring to the absurd notion that FF could do anything but sputter nonsense, as per your “silly talk” comment…Cheers
Ha ha ha, yes i agree!
I thought lokonga played very well today. Held his position very well, never wanders. I laugh when people compare greenwood and Saka. Saka is Miles ahead. Take a bow martinelli, kid is a special player. He would run into a brick wall for you. Who says there is no leaders in this team. There are leaders all round. Ben white is a better signing than varane. Old fashion, no nonesense cb. Everybody played their hearts out and I think holding is made for this type of game. He uses his height very well and Arteta has to take credit for the transformation,the resilience he has instilled in the team. Have you noticed that most of our players are not softy. Even odegaard knows how to tackle. I’m happy and did anyone notice our bench? Hale end is brewing super stars. Coyg
Ahhh Greenwood. Always passing to the crowd behind the goal or the opposing keeper.
the greenwood/saka debate is ridiculous. Saka is becoming and more and more complete player every game. Odd random goal from Greenwood with erratic performances doesnt make him near Saka’s level.
Liverpool have a new anthem…. YOU WILL NEVER CHEAT ALONE 😔
Be honest what is harder. Playing 71 minutes with 10 men?
Or playing 29 minutes with 10 men plus Granit “liability” Xhaka?
I would take 10 men with Xhaka in there as a liability.
The guy is disaster but 11 men us always better than 10 men.
Come on now.
😊
A Double edged sword . Great result, heroic perf and great that oafish XHAKA WILL NOW MISS TWO GAMES – HURRAY AND HALLELUJAH-(shame its not ALL our future games for ever more).
BUT our team is running on empty petrol now, esp thanks to oaf Xhaka and the NLD will be extremely difficult now.
Spuds have an extra day rest and our squad is tired and injured, plus Covid. Worried about the Spuds result!
Arsenal should push for the Spurs game to be postponed.
That game us key
The guys are really tired with the covid19 and injury concerns.
stellar performance by those on the pitch who were left for dead again by our former “captain”…of course, we were incredibly fortunate that our opponents didn’t have their cutting edge duo this evening, but that doesn’t take away from the efforts of those 10+ men who showed some real heart out there tonight, especially Marts, Saka, Gabs and Lokonga…hopefully the taxing nature of this encounter won’t negatively effect our upcoming NLD, but I fear that we might be there for the taking if we don’t get some players back in time, specifically ESR and Tomi…regardless, it’s important to have these types of experiences so that if something similar occurs in the future you have something positive to draw upon
Credit to the boys. Thank God Mr liability left when he did. For sure, he would have given them a penalty. If the team play the way they did last night at emirates, Liverpool will be beaten more so, as Xhaka will not play. The team is really improving.
For once, I would refrain from blaming Xhaka. Look at the situation when Jota was about to pull the trigger. Firstly, he was the last man to defend and he went for the ball not for the man. He was unlucky that he missed but he didnt have any other option. Secondly due to the press our defenders were high up the pitch, so its a matter of tactics not Xhaka, that there was no one when Jota got to the ball, and considering Jotas ability, one would surely expect him to score since he will never miss such a chance. Xhaka sacrificed for the team and it was great the teams resilience drew the match and we have a chance of progressing to the finals. One more thing, if 3 managers are seeing the importance of Xhaka to the team, there must be something keyboard football experts dont see, so we must accept the fact that Xhaka is seen as integral to the team, both the coaching staff and the players see him as a important cog, so anyone from outside would seem to have a myopic opinion to degrade Xhaka, when he seems to play important roles within the squad, both on the pitch and in the dressing room. The manager and the players know best and it would be prudent to accept that Xhaka is important to the team cause and will play whenever he is available and would be the first name on Artetas team sheet.
where does one even start with such a seemingly delusional take?? just what exactly would have to happen for you to change your opinion about this rather underwhelming cock-up King?? based on your above offering, I very much doubt anything would convince you otherwise
I agree with “@gunnerforlife” on the 3 managers and caretaker Ljumberg rating of Xhaka.
I keep saying it, all these managers seem to rate xhaka. We might not like like it as it goes against our own personal biases but that is what the evidence shows.
Even Xhaka’s own teammates seem to trust him, hence why they chose him to be their captain under Emery.
I do think he is very average but that’s my own subjective opinion which does not stand up when pitted against 3 football managers and a swathe of his peers.
Said it a million times….Xhaka def has some leadership qualities and is probably a great guy and I genuinely believe he cares for his teammates…..hence why managers keep him as there have no been many characters like than recently at Arsenal.
He’s not a bad player and when given time on the ball (against weaker teams) then he is great actually.
All of that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a liability on the field and is holding back our progression.
Nonsense, he did have another option – don’t foul. Yes they might have scored or he might have missed or Ramsdale may have saved. Keeping 11 on the pitch and possibly being a goal down is better than going down to 10 men at Anfield after half an hour. Since Granit has been back in the squad after his knee injury our performances have become a bit unpredictable, I just can’t see the progression which I could see before his return. At the moment we are light in midfield and I’m not sure if we will be able to address that in this transfer window or not, we also need to address our striker situation too and I think that might be more of a priority due to Partey coming back soon from AFCON. I’d like to see the Partey/Lokonga partnership bloom and hopefully see Guendouzi back at Arsenal as I enjoyed watching him play for us – he played with confidence beyond his years, he fits our model of youth and would grow with the team, a solid midfielder, good tackler, quick transitions from defence to attack with an eye for a defence splitting pass. Realistically I know he’s gone, I just hope we don’t end up regretting it 🙁
Man of the match for me today was Ben White but could easily have been Gabriel Martinelli, worked his socks off – not taking anything away from the remaining players after the sending off, they all worked hard to nick the draw. Well done to them but I felt Martinelli and White both where fantastic. NLD next so hopefully Saka isn’t injured as he looked a bit off pace today and wasn’t tracking back as much, fingers crossed maybe ESR, Ode and Tomayisu back as well and we spank the Spuds, not because it means top 4 or not if we win or lose, it’s because it’s the Spuds. There’s plenty of games left and ponts available to secure top 4 and am sure we will drop in and out of it a couple of times before the end of the season. As long as they keep playing for the badge like they did today, I’m going to enjoy the rollercoaster ride. Come on Arsenal!
We are on an absolute upward trajectory!!!!!!
We need to keep Lacca!
Martinelli is a beast, as is Tavares, White, Lakonga, etc. I love our boys and Artetta is the right man. South African Gooner here and Im loving it!!!!!!
An excellent display of resilience from the ten who proved that ,contrary to the belief of certain uneducated Pundits, we are no longer a”soft touch”.White was outstanding and a special word of praise for Chambers who battled effectively for someone who has hardly kicked a ball in anger this season.Players like Chambers and Holding may be limited in talent but not one fan can criticise their attitude which is needed when the going gets tough.I shall quickly pass over the deeds of Xhaka but I thought Ramsdale and Gabriel almost cost us the game in the last 15 minutes when they flapped about in panic.Much as I admire their determination on the pitch, there are times when a cool head is necessary and they both need to control their temperament which I appreciate is not always easy in the best of battle.Personally, I was very surprised that Leno did not start as he was exemplary against Forest.Finally,I have always regarded Oliver as an arrogant referee and the speed with which he brandished the red card merely confirmed my view.