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Arsenal lose five-goal thriller with Man United at Old Trafford

Manchester United claim all three points after beating Arsenal 3-2 after a strong performance from both sides.

The Gunners started the match on top. We had three corners inside opening minutes of the match but the game did begin to even out shortly after.

We were looking dangerous as we pushed forward, as well as looking comfortable in possession early on, and it was with our fourth corner which handed us the lead. If you haven’t seen it, catch the replay of the incident with the goal nearly being ruled out for nothing other than confusion it seems. Fred appears to kick David De Gea in front of goal as the initial ball comes and the keeper drops to the floor, before Emile Smith Rowe’s tame volley from just outside the box bounces into the open net.

It was relatively even after the goal also, although both midfields were starting to struggle to retain the ball, and it was getting a little bit sloppy in the middle of the park.

United did manage to level the scores just before the break, when an attack down the left came to Jadon Sancho, who manages to find space to play it into Bruno Fernandes in the centre of the box, and he places his effort into the far right, past both Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale.

There is some uproar as both the referee and VAR fail to penalise Maguire who dragged Tomiyasu to the ground in the box, with fans believing we were denied a clear penalty shout, but we went into the break level.

United came out the stronger after the interval however, and we were punished for our slow start when Tavares and Smith Rowe lose it in the middle of the park to Diego Dalot, who whips it straight out to Rashford on the wing to play in Cristiano Ronaldo to sweep it into the far corner.

Almost immediately we were back level however when Gabriel Martinelli teed up for Martin Odegaard to score an almost identical goal to Ronaldo’s moments before.

Unfortunately we didn’t use that goal to build up a head of steam, and we fell behind again about 10 minutes later. This time it was Odegaard at fault as his reckless slide tackle on Fred allowed CR7 to put his side ahead from the penalty spot with 20 minutes left to play.

Pierr-Emerick Aubameyang had a couple of great chances to put us level again, although one of those may well have been offside had it have been checked, but it wasn’t our day.

We finally succumbed by a 3-2 scoreline after an eventful match, but it was a good performance from both sides, and the failure to spot the foul on Tomiyasu in the opening half may well have changed the result.

Patrick

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201 Comments

  1. We started the game with the right mentality to press high up the pitch, hence we dominated the opponents in the first ten minutes. However, we reverted to our conservative approach after the lucky goal

    Partey redeemed himself in the second half. But Odegaard made a bad decision in our penalty box, after scoring

    Despite the loss and a missed opportunity by Martinelli, he showed a great energy, enthusiasm and pace to cause a lot of problems to Man United’s defense. I bet Arteta will reward Martinelli and Odegaard another opportunity next time, because they produced a goal

    1. Gai,
      The boys did their best. There is meant to be “ups and down” for EPL youngest team. Arsenal didn’t play bad and the game could have gone either ways. It was never meant to be easy beating Man U at home. Man.U already had a momentum playing Chelsea a draw. And a lot of the players played to impress their new coach. I only feel Arteta should have removed Auba much earlier. Auba simply have lost form. And is affecting our result. Everton game is winnable for Arsenal.

      2. Yes Sylva, their efforts were commendable

        Old Trafford has always been a very tough place to visit, if some Arteta’s haters here remember our big losses there during Wenger’s time. The boys tried their best and managed to score two goals

        1. This isn’t Alex Ferguson’s man Utd mate far from it! That is a bang average man Utd team Villarreal could have easily scored 6 there and they are like 12th in la Liga

            1. Sue old Trafford is about as intimidating as the ghost train at Alton towers these players are internationals if they are scared at playing at old Trafford then I’m lost for words

          2. Man United’s supporters are always scary, no matter who their manager is. Man United just won against Villareal in Spain and drew against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, under Carrick’s guidance

              1. No wonder Man United players were so pumped up. Carrick stepped down and the players surely wanted to give him their best efforts

        2. Yet again we lost because this novice incompetent coach cannot get anything right when it matters. The same mugs on this site see no wrong in Arteta. Try going to some games you idiots and actually hear for yourselves what the core fanbase are thinking. This novice never learns. He will never get this team out of the second gear we seen to play in. We go a goal up and defend. Well actually we go a goal up and don’t defend. Arteta yet again comes over as solely responsible for this loss. Wrong team selection. Wrong tactics.
          And don’t get me started on these “Commendabke effiert” comments. In case you didn’t realise you MUGS we lost against the worst Man Utd side in decades. That’s how bad this result was. And anyone believing it’s a good job we have Everton next are mistaken. This novice will fcuk that up just as he does every other challenge.
          We will not get top 4 with this manager. We might get a EL place at best. This team needs someone in now or else you mugs will be saying the same crap this time next year while these insipid, pathetic toothless performances against so-called bigger clubs continue.
          And any of you MUGS have a problem with these comments like some of you have in the past then you maybe better saying then to someone who actually gives a fcuk because I don’t.

          1. GAI- have you ever been to see Arsenal at Old Trafford?
            Have you ever seen a game at Ild Trafford?
            One thing there supporters are not is “Scary”. What are you- a 4year old?
            Most of their supporters are from Kent Exeter and Plymouth. You see them in the service stations on the M6 on the way home like I did last night. They are not “Ultra’s” or anything like that. Their support is made up mostly of fans who, like you, watch from the comfort of their armchairs.
            If you’ve never been how can you comment.

      3. Sylva I do not know what it will take for Arteta to drop Auba he is not good enough to lead Arsenal Manchester Untied was there for the taking we all know their defence leaks goals

    2. @ GAI,

      We should do the following in January and next Summer

      1. Sell Aubameyang, Nketiah, Kolasinac, Torrera, Elneny, Guendouzi, Mavropanus, Holding

      2. Buy Asensio(January), Bissouma(next Summer) and Raheem Sterling(January)

      3. Offer Lacazette a 2 year Contract

      4. Loan out Balogun for a full season

      5. Play Martinelli and Lacazette as No 9.

      I would rather have Sterling in this team than Aubameyang.

      Sterling on the left, Martinelli/Lacazette as CF and Saka on the right.

      Lastly, Arteta should make his substitutions early enough.

      1. Point number 1, 2 and 3 are highly improbable, since the real world transfer market doesn’t work like the one in the Football Manager computer game

        1. lol.
          I am of the view that Arteta should be given time.

          We have to keep spending and adding quality players to the squad.

          Having Arteta as the manager without top quality players, we wont make much progress as a club.

      2. @Skills1000
        You want to sell Matteo due him supposedly having a bad attitude. Yet you’re willing to buy Bissouma, who’s facing sexual assault charges. Unreal…🤔

        1. Not at all @ NY_Gunner.

          I have nothing against Guendouzi. I just feel if Arteta has plans for him in the first team, then he should bring him back into the squad rather than loaning him out every season.

          Unless we have a new manager who would want Guendouzi in the squad.
          I doubt if Arteta sees him in his long term plans.

          We need more steel and aggression in the middle. that was why i chose Bissouma

      3. Skills1000 Sterling NOooooo he keeps falling over if he had swimming trunks on I would say he’s diving

    3. We played a terrible Man U team with a caretaker manager, who had been extremely happy with a draw.
      We started well and got a lucky goal. Aftet that we let them have the initiative. Such a bad mistake and a deserved loss because of it. Never mind individual performances.

  2. This Man Utd team are so poor. Even their press was disorganized and easy to play through plus there were a lot of spaces in their defence that we could’ve exploited. There’s nothing special about them. We met a top team below our level and we not only lost but conceded 3 to them. Some of y’all would make excuses and put contexts to it but it’s the same football I’ve been seeing week in week out. The only difference is it was against Man Utd. I actually can’t believe we didn’t win this and not because I’m a fan but because they were there for the taking. Even our last season team would’ve beat them by at least two. It was a poor showing offensively and defensively and all hands will point to Arteta once again.

        1. We got complacent with out one goal lead just like against Palace. This game reminds me alot of the Palace game. And would have been 2-2 too if not for odegaard’s stupidity. His second penalty foul in less than a week.

        2. White bad pass led to Fernandes, Slopy Penalty give away by Martin. We should of been 2 up if not for martinelli fluffing a massive chance to make it 2-0 before HT.

          Again our own mistake then not having a go when we went 1-0 up… why not risk when we got beat anyway!! Take the handbrake off and take Auba to bench then transfer away with Laca & Eddie.

          Get a brand new 20+ goal a season striker and go from there…

        3. They scored 3, because we got carried away in the heat, we should have been more organized, but it was a good game, now we have wasted the points that would have secured us 😞😭😭😭, now we must win our remaining matches.

    2. Old Trafford’s atmosphere is always suffocating Arsenal, be it in Wenger’s time or Emery’s. At least we managed to score two goals there with the barren Aubameyang

      3. @GAI, at least we scored two goals! How pathetic. This is Arsenal not some newly promoted team playing there for the first time. We were sloppy, as per usual. As for the crowd, they are just another home crowd, nothing frightening about them at all.

    3. I agree Kev. this man team is poor and was there for the taking. but we have our own issues and mental wise this team is weak. you can play pretty football all you want, if you dont have an ego like a lion you wont survive. we dont have big egos, the team is more like bunny rabbits cute and cuddly but not much bite.

      1. We make too many mistakes in the way we are trying to play when we come under pressure. The tactics and the way we play are getting exposed.

    4. That’s what am saying if u can’t beat this weak united team where are we going, we coming back to the era where we beat small teams and lose to big teams, what, i don’t get it, after we score the first goal the approach of the game changed, we keep on saying young team but they can better than what dey are doing, how do we always start well after some minutes then everything changes, top four this season is possible, when you look at how other teams are performing, we are not playing any European competition so what stops us from doing well in the League, for me i don’t think we will get better with this Manager,

    5. Do you guys really see Arteta taking us anywhere. Surely this is the poorest Manu can be and they still manage to beat us. I don’t but if you ask me this guy cld have gone long time ago. I don’t know what to say

      1. Edwin Arteta was waving his arms left right and centre I thought he was directing Aircraft at Heathrow and even they would have been confused

    6. Facts but a smokescreen is blinding ppl. Utd were poor n we should hv put em 2 the sword. No killer instinct, no guile, its so normal… watch us become so ordinary

  3. A top game. Very enjoyable. We were not expected to win so no real surprise really. I predicted a poor United would find a way to win it. Better away performance than Liverpool .Lads gave their all. Good performances all round. Now to turn the page and look forward to the Everton challenge. Trust the process.

    3. We were expected to win. Man U. will not be this vulnerable again and were there for the taking. They’ll only get stronger. Stop accepting second best.

      1. Yep Chelsea smashed this vulnerable utd side, oh wait a minute!!
        Total cr*p we was “expected to win”at there ground….

  4. That was pretty poor performance today.
    No sugar coating anything for any player.
    That was a terrible performance from the Manager, Captain and attack down to the defense.
    Missed chance to go 8 points clear

      1. Of course but it seems easier for arteta to bench AMN even after a great/almost MOTM perf yo play someone who is almost gone like elneny… So stupid. Last two games, if i was AMN i would leave without hesitation now so arsenal can dig and pay 30m to find the same quality whilr we have that (+homegrown)

    3. Old Trafford is always scary. We showed a lot of improvement in that tough place, as compared to our team five years ago

      1. Yes I agree with you. Considering all Man U stars against EPL youngest team. The boys are surely learning and improving.

  5. We went back to our shell after scoring the first goal….. The senior players didn’t help the young lads. Aubameyang Poor Poor… Time to drop him. We seriously need a striker now.
    Partey Poor too…. weak passes here and there. Casual pass when he should hit it hard.

    Win and get top 4…. that motivation should be enough. Manu were not spectacular but they have Ronaldo.

    1. Yeah they have an almost 37 year old Ronaldo but I suppose a 47 year old Ronaldo would be better than anything we have up top.

        1. Sue I would have already taken him out of the first 11 his form has been horrific, missed another sitter tonight and that one against Newcastle was almost laughable

          1. Kev82
            Auba ought to hand himself in!
            Sad but I can’t see him improving enough to be useful enough going forward at all.

            1. I agree fully Sue but unfortunately I can see him lining up against Everton, Arteta will persist with him until he scores.

        2. SueP, Aubameyang being captain of Arsenal says it all about the current state of the Club. McLintock, Adams, Viera, Henry by way of comparison.

    2. He may have scored two but looked nothing special. Cavani could’ve done just as good or even better. We didn’t lose because of him. It’s just that we average.

  6. We need a point man ASAP, one that will grow with these young guys. Auba is not showing good understanding (IMO) with the guys and is not playing well either. We need a long term Striker.

  7. Hard to watch, painful to swallow. Can’t recall the last time we successfully pull off a last minute comeback.

  8. Well that’s City, Liverpool, Chelsea and United out of the way and a score of what ? 14-2 and no points lovely Jubbly this team is on the rise COYG Arteta’s Army 💪

      1. I’m disgusted Kev, even though I’m already disheartened under the management of Mikel Arteta! How people can make excuses for that it beggars belief

        1. If Arsenal truly wanted this more we would’ve created more chances and drew or maybe won even if we conceded 3. That were there for the taking but somehow we cause our own downfall

          1. Yep as I said earlier once we score we try and settle for what we have and we aren’t good enough defensively to hang onto leads let alone early ones! Even a poor Villa won there and an equally poor Everton got a point.. trust us to make them look like an attacking machine lol

              1. Exactly and we are coming to town 😉 we light up Merseyside brighter than those neons at the cavern club 😄

            2. Our midfield is the problem, we need machines in the midfield, players that are comfortable holding the ball, Odegaard is but lacks energy and speed,

              Imagine we have Ascensio, Kulusevski and Sterling, Man United would sit in their half of the field, we really need some good loans and buys in January. Partey can’t do the work alone, Tavares is really trying, he’s got the strength.

              Aubameyang, Nketiah, Elneny need to leave in January, the rest can join by season’s end,
              If Sterling’s rumors are true, would be great to have him.

      2. We played at a lion’s den and we scored two goals there, so the boys’ efforts are pretty commendable

        1. GAI lions den ? They were took to the cleaners by city and Liverpool, villa won there and Everton also got a point! It’s more like the meerkats den these days.

          1. Man City and Liverpool eat EPL teams for breakfast this season. Villa and Everton got points when Solskjaer still managed Man United

            Man United just won against Villareal in Spain and drew against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, under Carrick’s guidance

          1. Man United’s supporters are always one of the loudest and the most intimidating, Sue. Remember our big losses there during Wenger’s time

            2. GAI, you cannot possibly compare the current Manchester United side with those managed by Alex Ferguson?

          2. GAI is making out we were up against it Sue under the tutelage of Michael Carrick and the ferocity of Old Trafford you can see why though with United supporters singing nick knack paddy whack give a dog bone it would make a grown man freeze 🤨

            1. No wonder Man United players were so pumped up. Carrick just resigned

              The players surely wanted to give him their best efforts, before he leaves for good

            3. It is not an intimidating place at the moment, in fact the utd croud were there to have been bated and we failed miserably.

  9. My big concern – and I hope it is Arteta’s as well – is our mentality when we go ahead. We just stop playing. Hopefully that’s something that comes with experience because the lads are getting plenty of experiences of the consequences.

    Not many bright spots but I thought Martinelli looked lively.

  10. I honestly thought that was our best first half of the season ,but once again our manager was who as one way of playing got scared and couldn’t bring that into the second half .
    I don’t mean to slag off players but FFS Odegaard,he got away with one against Newcastle but WOW and not just the penalty he was awful throughout .
    I’ll say it again and again that the players have keep Arteta in his job ,way out of his league ,pathetic second half display against the shittest Utd team I’ve seen in awhile .

    2. Dan would you bet on Arsenal beating another bang average team in Everton? I wouldn’t! but people will have excuses already made for Arteta if we lose that game which I think we will.

              1. I’m thinking who’s on a drought.. uh their whole team?!! Anxiety has certainly kicked in, Kev. Even Iwobi may fancy his chances!

                1. Hahaha my thinking exactly this Arsenal team will make Rafa Benitez look like Pep Guardiola! richarlison is definitely scoring and iwobi would be a good bet I’m going for a 2-1 Everton I just don’t see a win Sue.

    3. We played at Old Trafford, which is always a tough place to visit in Wenger’s time. We also scored two goals there, so the boys’ efforts are pretty commendable

      Apart from Odegaard’s bad decision that gave Man United a penalty, he wasn’t so bad. He almost made a good assist if Martinelli didn’t waste the golden opportunity and he scored a goal

  11. That game just showed how paper thin our squad is. missing Lokonga and Saka and we looked one dimensional.
    First half it was ESR and our excellent defence against Man U.
    Odegaard did one thing right all night, but that’s one thing more than Partey, who was truly atrocious. That guy is an accident on legs these days.
    I’m sorry, but GM is just not ready for the first team, but I’d still choose him before Auba, who even tried to get Ode’s goal ruled offside, but unluckily for him the Man Utd defence didn’t step up. He is so poor now. And Elneny doesn’t have an offensive bone in his body. He must have been a crab in a former life.
    We badly need more quality in midfield and attack. No blame on Arteta tonight. Felt so sorry for our defenders, who deserved better.

    1. Blame Arteta for the line up. Elneny has not started a game in the league this season and suddenly he starts him against Utd. He messed up the team.

        2. Maybe Eleneny’s game destabilised partey because he’s used to lokonga beside him. But Arteta had other plans. And 90% of Eleneny’s passes were sideways and backwards. There was no urgency in his game.

        3. That I agree with. thought elneny would have been the weakest link but it turns out it’s mostly Partey in the midfield that is not carrying his weight. he needs to improve his positioning and when to carry the ball and,when to release it. need improvement.

          2. Not sure what game you watched but our besr players were, Tomi, white, Gabriel, ESR and Elneny.

            Auba is a ghost
            Odg is not suited for the league
            Partey is terrible, no wonder Athelico cashed in
            Tavares showed again why Tierney needs to start, he is still yoing and has abright future
            GM needs game time, better than anyone else we have atm

  12. So tired of Arteta. Terrible team selection. Why is Martin O starting instead of Lacazette? Why is Tavares with his terrible decision making starting in such a big game instead of Tierney? If Saka/Lokongo are fit Why aren’t they starting or coming on sooner? Play your best team man!!

    2. Games are now coming thick and fast and we don’t really know if they are 100% fit.

      I may not know anything, but I am sure any football manager wants to win all the games and will not deliberately sabotage himself.

      We make the mistake of over-estimating our young team just because we spent a lot. Our spending is simply to catch up, when it comes to actually spending to compete, Arsenal football club is not in that discussion, it is the sad truth.

  13. Too soft too naïve too easy…..This team is promising but still young and needs experience ……Aubameyang is poor LACA is on his way out…We senior players alogside Partey.

  14. Smith Rowe can’t hold the ball
    Auba can’t hold the ball + completely useless
    Odegaard slow and weak
    Midfield can’t hold the ball and dictate play

    How do we expect to win?
    We had the game in our hands and the players blew it! I honestly do not see how Arteta can be blamed for this.

    1. He picked some players who weren’t involved in our impressive run to start against Utd. That’s where he gets the blame

      1. These players are:

        Elneny – had a good game

        Martinelli – had a good game + an assist. He played in place of Saka who is probably not 100%

        Odegaard: Even though he scored was a weak link, nothing special. I would agree with this.
        So overall, the players are to blame.

        White was responsible for the equaliser, Odegaard for the winner, Partey misplacing very easy and basic passes thereby putting us under constant pressure, I could go on but what can the manager do?

        We expect to win at OT because UTD at the moment are not performing anywhere near their potential, they are an expensively assembled star studded team and WE ARE NOT A TOP 4 TEAM!

    2. Why change a winning team. Nobody would’ve blamed him if he used the team that’s been winning him games, this L is on arteta. We all know he shouldn’t be starting auba and elneny

  15. The game was good for the neutrals. for me lots of mistakes by both sides. our positional sense needs to be worked on a lot. We could have ran this man u side ragged but we have our own problems. We have no bragging rights against any of the so called top 4 teams which are man u,chelsea,liverpool and man city. we have conceded 14 goals against them scoring 2. it does not look good which ever angle we look on it from. the team need to step up big time. something is just missing. Auba not scoring. The team pressing needs improvement and positional sense need improvement. these are things that are their from season started and still haven’t been fixed. It does not look good. It just does not. yes some will crow that we are in the top 5, give it tim Bit it’s not pretty reading when you analysed the team on a deep level. Arteta you have work to do.

  16. We lost simply due to 2 very clear defensive mistakes or 3 mistakes. 1st goal no one cover Fernandez. 2nd goal no one was close to cover Ronaldo, I think it was Partey that was a few yards behind C R. Obviously, the 3rd goal was Odegaard’s foul on Fred which resulted in a penalty. Too bad, if we didn’t committed these defensive mistakes we could have won it.

    1. 99 per cent of goals are scored from mistakes. what the team need to do is cut out there silly decision making and try make as few mistakes as possible, especially on the defensive 3rd. the less mistakes the greater the chance the team have of winning. odegaard decision rash. Tavares was caught out for ronaldo second and gabriel backing off giving rashford opportunity in dangerous area. Partey and white fault for the first goal. white gave the ball away and that was it. partey zonal marking awful.

  17. 1 “trust the process”
    2 “he needs a preseason!”
    3 “calm down its only preseason”
    4 “calm down its only 1st game”
    5 use stats that ignore bad results
    6 blame the fans
    7 blame our best players
    8 blame the refs
    9 blame Wenger and Emery
    10 “it took klopp 5 years!”

    Repeat

      1. As long as we’re hovering over top six places, I don’t think Arteta will be sacked. He will only get the boot when his contract is expiring and when a more experienced manager like Ten Hag is available next summer

  18. We basically gave that game away. I don’t understand why we can’t go for the kill in away games. So frustrating. Auba needs to be benched, I don’t think El Neny played bad but he shouldn’t be playing for us ever, ESR needs to be at 10, and Partey seems lost.

    Also need Tierney back in there. Tavares had a good game but we miss Tierney’s leadership. Maybe Tavares can give Tomi a break at RB.

    Desperately need a striker in January or no top 4 in my opinion.

    1. That’s why it’s hard to take, Drayton. I thought once we took the lead that was it, we’d leave with points. But to end their droughts the way we did was disappointing to say the least.

      I was fed up with all the sideways passing and with minutes to go where was the urgency? I was screaming ‘get it up there’ at the TV!!
      What has happened to Partey? He hasn’t exactly been the beast I was expecting… and as for Auba, my patience is wearing very thin. We’re not exactly prolific (once again), so need to take our chances when they’re presented – I agree, we need to bring someone in!! I hope we have someone in mind.

      Not exactly looking forward to Monday night at Goodison Park now….

    2. We have a mid-table club mentality, score one goal and go sit deep. Who does that?? We’re never going to achieve anything with such mentality. Arteta has his team now so no excuses. This L is on him

  19. Honestly this is the first time we lost a match this season and I don’t feel like we were pants all game.
    Always sad, especially loosing to these guys, but we played some really good football this evening, even miles better than we’ve managed in some wins.
    We’d demand more from MO but dude does just his job and hardly put a foot wrong again. We held the ball with neater passes tonight and it’s huge to me.
    Aubameyang is dead, and it’s about time we started integrating Eddie into this team. Hope we pick it up again, and continue this bit of football we played.
    If Arteta continues this way (the play pattern) I won’t call for his head rn and hope we get better with it.

  20. That was a game for the taking … lack of ambition registered in team choice and inability to capitalize on first goal … changes were too late .. elneny and aubemayang and odegaard were palpably out of their depth .. partey improved in second half but we can’t have our better players playing for 45 mins and expect results!!! When manager goes in the summer we might be able to move forward

  21. It was a good and entertaining game. I’m not disappointed at all. This team will only get better. Well done to the Manager and players. Lot’s of potential. Trust the process. COYG!!!

  22. These shows how weak our team is, one injury away from spiralling down again. If Arteta doesn’t trust our midfielder why don’t he buy one in the summer, it seems he only trust Partey.

  23. So frustrated and annoyed we should have killed the gane whilst they were still winging about they’re goals being a wuss!
    My gripes from tonight:
    Psrtey doesn’t look fit or mobile snd his anticipation isn’t great recently, odegard I wonder what he gives he never seems dynamic, (yes I know he scored tonight wish he’d stayed at that end of the pitch!). Both sides fairly even though with auba out of sorts and ageing what we’re missing is a game changing player up front such as Ronaldo. A guy who can get pumped up and change or win rhe game virtually on his own.
    MU were there to be beaten tonight bit worried for the month ahead with 8 ganes throughout December, we’re not careful and I can see us going on a bad rum.

  24. I felt we were almost embarrassed to go get the 2nd goal because of the bizarre 1st.
    Top teams will go and get that 2nd, 3rd goal…

    It all became placid which was a shame because I felt we were a team with more solutions to creating goals then united, and that showed with the manner of our 2nd goal.

    On another day, Gabriel header from the corner is a goal, or Rashford doesn’t clear the ball on the line from the 1st half corner… its margins, small margins.

    And small margins matter for each minute to make up 90 minutes of football and Arsenal lacked dominating these margins.

    On a note on the game
    ESR was poor, kept losing the ball but also credit to Mctominary for having him.in his pocket. Reason for mentioning this? ErS needs to learn to adapt to this to become a top player.

    I feel Tavares is going to give one extreme or the other (inconsistencies of a young player) and today some of his decisions put us under pressure.
    Reason I mention it? To be a top player you need to work on your decision making. He must if he is to improve.

    On the otherside, Partey and Auba must give us more. Partey was sloppy on the ball, Auba was not offering enough movement or target to our attack.
    Disappointing because there was such an opportunity missed.

    On another note, I wonder how many will use losing at Eithad, Anfield and Old Trafford as a way to justify their opinions!?!? A season is more than 4 or 5 games…

  25. @do2
    Eddie Nket is gone being advertised tonight for sale in January, arteta doesn’t trust him and he’s just rebuffed a new contract offer can’t blame him at 22 he now wants to okay football. He should he careful what he wishes for though as he couldn’t get a kick at Leeds I can see the bottom of the table teams or Championship teams coming in for him or he’ll go abroad.
    Either way i wish him luck.

    1. You’re right on Arteta not trusting Eddie, Kieron.
      I was never a fan of Eddie but boy has looked so promising to me since preseason. I wish him luck too, want anyone who’d be willing to work for the team up font.

  26. I thought it was a game that was poor quality from both teams, lacking any cohesion and very disappointing. From utds point of view, i think that is one of the poorest utd teams ive seen for a long while, defence and midfield really lacking any real quality and an aging Ronaldo doing the damage up front, when he shouldn’t have been allowed too. From Arsenals point of view, a baffling team selection, with Auba keeping an undeserved place, Lacca losing his deserved place with Odergaard (goal apart) and Elnenny being baffling choices to play away at Old Trafford. Our front line of Auba and Odergaard were so weak and ineffective at collecting cleared balls, offered zero in winning the ball back and attacking intent. Lakonga and Lacca have been replaced with at best no improvement at all to us, in fact the changes have put us back. At times we looked so open and couldn’t keep possession of the football against a team we gave far too much respect for what they really are. I am baffled by some of the changes (Elnenny from nowhere) that are being done to try and make us better. People will say we were at Old Trafford at the theatre of dream but it is far from that at the moment and it was a bad result and a bad performance all told.

  27. @tomorrow
    Totally agree with you!
    Cut rhroat teams would have been pressing and pressuring the ref for a goal saying we didn’t injure him and you didn’t blow! We seemed to accept that it wasn’t a goal too easily as if it was a gift, again too many nice players don’t get me wrong if he was badly hurt maybe different but can tell you this Ransdale wouldn’t have gone into embryo position and turned his back on play because someone stood on his foot! He deserved to concede and I laughed out loud.
    But yes we should have gone for the jugular instead of gradually dropping deeper and deeper. Not sure I miss xhaka as a player and his card tally but he at least has a grit and Edge about him.

  28. @reggie
    Maybe lakonga is feeling the pace of many games? I don’t think arteta would have dropped him otherwise.
    And with auba I think arteta is desperate to keep faith with auba until he starts scoring, would have preferred laca behind auba instead of odegard who I’m starting to fear may be ozil Mkii.

  29. They robbed us tho
    Var should have called that foul on tomi. Anyway shit happens hopefully we’ll get better and win at everton

    1. Tomiyasu was to be blamed here because he ought to have remained down after he was pulled. I expected him to scream to the ref lamenting why he was pulled and VAR would come right in.

  30. Who out there agrees with my view that playing with Auba is akin to playing with ten men?

    I hope he is dropped for a long spell and sold if possible(very unlikely I realise).

    But he is not worth a place and as a captain he is a joke. Martinelli gives 100%, Auba gives about 10%.

    1. ☝

      I just want anyone who willing to put in a good shift whenever in our colours. His mentality is weak, has zero leadership traits and offers absolutely nothing (anymore).
      Dropping him would also mean at least someone else wears the armband and leads the team which I so crave!

      1. I agree but maybe there is a case of saving face for Arteta for choosing him as captain and for Auba as the captain for not living up to the role

    3. The bigger question Jon is what does it say about the man who even so picks him week in week out and what to do with him? PS the answer lies in the lyrics of a classic Gloria gaynor number

  31. I really think our lack of experience shown today and we blew away a really good opportunity to beat Utd tonight.
    It was a good game, very close end-to-end stuff.
    White should have done better with his clearance in the build up to the first goal
    Taveres was to be blame for the 2nd goal and the pen,
    I wouldn’t blame Ode, it was a weak contact IMO, but in today game with var, it’s going to be given.
    Too 4 race is wide open and the challenge is on, let’s see how we respond.
    KT need to be brought back to the starting 11.
    Am not sure who is capable to lead our line henceforth , hopefully AFCON will help us decide when Auba isn’t around

    1. Tavares? How?😲 U are joking, right@adajim. Instead of you to blame Aubameyang for fumbling those sitters, you are here accusing our best player on the pitch, aside Tomiyasu, wrongly. I do know, if majority of us even watch the screen of our TV’s or the back.

  32. Early this morning I said I would bet on Man U if I were a betting man. Yet again we failed to beat a top team. We were negative, gave the ball away too often, shifted the ball slowly and lacked penetration. Worst of all, it is utterly predictable how lacking in a winning mentality the team is. Blame poor signings over the past decade or so. Does this manager inspire the team or set them up properly to win big games?

    2. Beating top teams as been a problem for years I’m afraid, but we are currently not a top team, we are a team in transition/growing, you have to be realistic. I thought we competed with utd considering we are at their ground and losing is not a shock, what will be a shock is not beating Everton next.

  33. BREAKING NEWS: Carrick just resigned! No wonder Man United players were so pumped up

    The players surely wanted to give him their best efforts, before he leaves for good

      1. Haha that’s funny Sue 😜 yeah GAI that’s it buddy no need to panic we only lost because united were pumped up for Michael Carrick saves Arteta doing a post match interview 👍

  35. Those calling for Tierney do not know what they are saying, for me, Tavares was exceptional! And there was no need for Tierney in that match. Auba should be blamed instead, he made us lose today😩, should have started Laca instead of him.

    Martinelli has proven today that he isn’t supposed to be sitting on the bench, a world-class talent(watch out!).
    As it was necessary to get saka rested, if not, he too should have started. Smith rowe despite that goal wasn’t in the game, should have also made an assist but our handicap striker(Aubameyang) failed to take that chance. Tomiyasu was flawless🔥, Partey had a bad/good game, elneny really surprised me today, through his performance.

    I am honestly, not happy with the defeat😭 We should be beating this present Manchester United, they are not in form. In that match, they made some mistakes that if made against another team, they would have been punished, but not Arsenal. I really do not know what to write concerning White, one moment of brilliance, another moment of disaster, he was also guilty of making poor clearance (don’t know if you noticed that). Gabriel too wasn’t himself, and should have atleast troubled Rashsford, before he made that pass to Ronaldo. Decent, I think, from him. But Aubameyang and Odegaard, I don’t know what to write, most especially, Auba(I shake my head). If Arteta don’t stop playing him, he will make our top 4 ambition impossible to accomplish. Could you believe that he almost stopped that Odegaard strike, like, he is playing against us.

  36. Auba is finished. Just fact. How did Arteta play Elneny? Bizarre choice to say the least and disappoints me in Arteta again, just as I thought he was starting to make good decisions. Playing both Aubameyang and Elneny made me feel Arteta bottled it.

  37. At the moment Aubameyang is dreadful. Also, we pass the ball around neatly in unimportant places on the pitch. We need a creative player who can unlock defences. Bergkamp, Fabregas, Cazorla come to mind. MA seems to believe in passing the ball to death like Barcelona did so well. I found Barcelona boring to watch, until Messi got the ball on the edge of the area. All we need is … Messi.

  38. its not good enough yet again. its the same arsenal in big away games that weve seen forWELLLLLL over a decade now. What’s changed? Cant Arteta change this team? Will be judged by where he finishes this season. Right now I see this team slipping down the table and ending 6th/7th. weve got no striker.

  39. Bad performance all round God!!
    1st….no urgency..no cohesion…midfield looks in a shambic form…

    2…Elneny should please leave the club…I don’t understand y arteta choose him over lokonga who has been playing week in week out…Elneny was very….sometimes I’m puzzled if he has both eyes at the back of his head cus he can’t seems to get a pass forwards….always going backwards….poor game….
    3….odegard was poor…..lazy on and off the ball….lacked sharpeness….the goal he scored was the only positive thing I saw from him
    4…Auba…..should be beached….seemed to me his not interested to get a goal for this team…..lacks conviction…lacks the skrikers killer instincts….to lazy to press…even my granny has more shooting power that him right now
    5….Arteta…..terrible team selection…..laca….saka…sambi…Pepe…all in the beach…he should have gone with Smith Rowe at no10….both saka and martneli at wings…laca top 9…lokonga and parte in mid of the field…ternny at LB rather than Tevares
    A terrible game against an even terrible united who left spaces all over the pitch….

    Let’s learn from the mistake today and get the job done against Everton…..

  40. Tavares? How?😲 U are joking, right@adajim. Instead of you to blame Aubameyang for fumbling those sitters, you are here accusing our best player on the pitch, aside Tomiyasu, wrongly. I do know, if majority of us even watch the screen of our TV’s or the back.

  41. Those who are saying there is reason behind Mikel Arteta benching Martinelli should come out now! Kindly make it known, I will love to know.

  42. It is time to get rid of Aubameyang, because he is finished. Playing Aubameyang, is like arsenal down to ten players . He offers nothing and should be benched. In the January window, arsenal must buy a striker. Thomas Partey is a flop against big six teams. He is highly overrated, unfit as he lacks pace and nerves in big games.Too many turnovers with his poor passing and decisions. Arteta needs to be ruthless and strip Aubameyang of the captain armband and confine him to the bench for a few games. Also,Arteta need to make his subs earlier. Arsenal should not have lost this game to Manchester,but , for var not giving us the penalty,when Tomiyasu was brought down by McGuire in the 52nd minute and then awarding them a penalty,when Fred made no attempt to play the ball and stuck out his left leg instead. But,I have come to always expect this kind of refereeing against Arsenal everytime we play against Manchester,especially at their home .Arsenal do not strengthen in the January window, we can kiss the hopes of top four or top six goodbye. Bring in Isak and Nkunku please.

  43. I pick on Elneny a lot, I know. It’s not his fault, he is who he is. He came to Arsenal cheaply with a 93% passing success rate in The Swiss league, so an unambitious Arsen Wegner must have been hoping he had struck gold. It’s hard to argue with those stats but five years on we’ve seen enough of his passing range to know better. Seeing Elneny starting in such a big game yesterday already fuelled my frustration. It’s certainly not his fault that Arsenal lost at Old Trafford but it’s partly his fault that we didn’t win. Where is the progress when a player who would be struggling in the Championship is still in contention. Sorry No.,I think you’re a great guy, but…. Arsenal are standing still, Partey is not cutting it and soon Xhaka will be welcomed back with open arms. There is so much work to be done in the next five windows.

  45. No more Auba please, that’s it!

    He needs to be benched and play Laca with Martinelli please!

    Ode !?

    I think we could’ve won this one but some mistakes happened led to this loss, I hope we recover soon and comebacks stronger.

  46. What is Arteta smoking? New formation, magic 4-4-1-1 what imagination. And practically speaking Elneny is not the man to insert in a big game, give him chances with lower teams. Saka on the bench? Is he hurt? Just when I thought MA was getting his ship together he blows it. Laca on the bench? Is he ill? Odegaard does nothing but amateur tackle, I just want to see a sign that MA knows what to do. We should have beat these guys with our best players.

    1. We’ve had all the signs we need I think what is required is a proper manager who knows what he is doing and instills conviction in the team

  47. Squad is good, now we need a manger to make the proper decisions like dropping Auba.

    MA is as soft a manager as he was a player, no steel whatsoever!

    Weak mindset, weak team….soft underbelly whenever under pressure.

    1. A quick question for you, say we exchanged Utd front 3 with arsenal front 3, who do you think would win

  48. Let’s not forget that Spurs in now 1 point behind us with a game in hand.

    Even Brentford in 12th place has a better goal difference than us and Burnley in 18th place has a goal difference that’s only 3 worse than us. Think about that

    1. Somehow odegaard was a million miles better than smith Rowe but yet fans are calling for his head. Aside his goal he was atrocious. He lost the ball for their second goal, kept giving the ball away. Arteta should have subbed him off with Aubameyang and partey whom was terrible. Elneny was better than partey if we tell ourselves the truth. I think partey is over hyped or he is not suited to premier league football. I thought Tavares did ok. White had his worst game defensively but offensively his distribution was on point. Man u didn’t play anything,they had like how many shot on target? They were there for the taken and I think we played well enough not to loose that game. I guess this is the reason we are pushing so hard for vlahovic because Aubameyang is finished. No movement from him, he was just static. And oh there is nothing special about Eddie, he should be gone already. Lacazette did more in 15mins he was on than Aubameyang has done for the last 3 or 4 matches. Arteta has to make a decision here, bench that fraud. The line up was spot on but the worry is why do we always fall back to defend anytime we take the lead? Sambi is a progressive passer compared to elneny, he was better than partey but he was very average. Never passed forward. It feels good to see a proper right back. Sancho never had a sniff. Tomi is the real deal. She was bursting his lungs to get back to block that last counter attack from man u. We need bissouma or get sanches from lille. Tomi needs a break before he burns out. Ever since he signed he’s played every game and international matches. We need a damn striker, everyone knows that Auba is finished. And Saka should do better with the balls that came to him. Martinelli for me was man of the match with tomi close. If we can sign anyone please play martinelli or even pepe. I’m sure pepe will do better than Auba at the moment. How many chances does he need?

      Coyg

  49. Same old Arsenal, big game syndrome. That’s not a great united team and we still managed to get beaten. Initially in the first half there was some good passing and interplay. Partey is rank rotten! Taveres wasn’t great and Auba was missing in action IMO. Why the hell did he play Elneny instead of Lokonga? I think that performance is an honest indication of where we are at at the moment. If we keep losing to United, Chelsea, City and Liverpool then top 4 is basically out of reach. I’m disappointed as I expected more from them last night.

  50. just my view Partey was shocking and was out of position for their 1st goal, their 2nd it was Tavares
    3rd was Ode silly tackle to give a pen away.

  51. It is strange situation at Arsenal. We have 70M player in Pepe who is not good enough, we have 300k a week captain not playing well & can’t score, and even 180 K striker (Zaka) is not as effective as other youngsters!

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