Arsenal failed to beat Crystal Palace this evening at the Emirates, the fifth consecutive match where we have failed to claim all three points against our rivals.
The match started brightly on our part, we brought our positive energy into the game from early on, and was causing all sorts of problems for Palace’s defence, but we always seemed to be just one pass away from that clear chance we were chasing.
I hate to say it, but inside the opening 15 minutes, we had the numbers advantage in the final third, only for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to make the wrong decision on the ball and gift it away.
Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe were passing around neatly as trying to carve out chances of their own, and the former did try and take on some long range efforts, but none troubled Guaita in goal.
Our wastefulness allowed the Eagles to build themselves into the match, and Ebere Eze began to cause us trouble, earning some free-kicks in some dangerous areas.
There wasn’t any chances in that first-half that screamed goal however, and we failed to take any kind of grip on things in the second-half either.
Palace appear to find a way to raise their level against us, and they were not playing with the same struggles they have in recent weeks.
Despite bringing both Thomas Partey and Nicolas Pepe into the fold for the majority of the second-half, none could make the difference, and the game eventually fizzled out for a 0-0 stalemate.
This will go down as Arsenal’s first ever failure to score at home against Palace, and the game will go down as one you would have struggled to stay awake watching.
Our side have now failed to beat Palace in any of our last five attempts, with four draws and a loss.
Do Arsenal give Palace too much respect?
Patrick
The right wing looked dead because the space wasn’t open enough. When we had Tierney and Mari, the overload on the left flank drew the opponents to open the right flank for Saka/ Smith-Rowe/ Bellerin
Benteke was really dangerous in the air and we need a great target man like him, to be a plan B when we can’t score from open play like this. My MOTMs would be Leno for his saves, Ceballos for his through balls/ interceptions and Xhaka for his tackles/ passes
Our football is disgustingly boring…Like What the heck was that?!..
Palace was there for the taking bit somehow we let them leave the Emirates with a point..
The manager and players should be ashamed for such a gutless performance..
We were unlucky because we lost Tierney, Mari and Magalhaes
The next EPL game against Newcastle would also be tough to crack, because we couldn’t score in the first 90 minutes at the FA Cup game. Tierney and Mari or Magalhaes should be fit for that game
they have pacey wingers and fullbacks too, KT might have struggled too, however AMN has since stopped attacking football whenever he plays fullback for quiet a while now, he didnt give Auba enough option, too static
Tierney and Mari might have struggled as well, but at least our left flank would’ve been more alive
GAI, those are all defenders and we keep reaching for more excuses for the toothless attack. Now we are relying on CB to unlock opponents defense?
Our left-footed defenders could quickly overload the left flank to lure the opponents, because they could dribble and pass closer to the left touchline. This tactic made the right flank wide open to be attacked by Saka, Smith-Rowe and Bellerin in the previous matches
palace wasnt there for the taken, give credit where its due, their defence was well organized and rarely miss anything, if we had pushed our luck too far, we could have gotten punished by palace fast and pacey wingers
Positive is we haven’ lost in 5 games
The negative is now we are solidly in 11th place on the table and will be unlikely to move up in the next few games. We are behind on pints and have played more games than the teams above us, terrible position to be in.
I AGREE WITH YOU PERFECTLY WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT KING OF BACK PASS WE WERE ONLY PLAYING BACK PASSES INSTEAD OF MOVING THE BALL FORWARD
tough game. This would’ve been a great game for tierney. Bad luck he was out. Fullback quality is a problem. Palace had the middle of the park patched up and we needed something extra out wide but it never came. Better 2nd half by team tho and overall satisfied with the effort. We move on.
We take the point.
Smith Rowe will be a great.
But he can’t play every game.
We need more strength in midfield.
RSH,
Feels like a loss to me. I am so pained!
I think we move the ball too slowly for most part, we were slow in our imaginations and build ups, we increased the tempo early in the second half but we lacked quality in key moments of the game.
We need two QAULITY wingers to play with Lacazette, the team is totally unbalanced it is frustrating. I am really gutted, I am!
Agree. Auba still looks out of step. And yeah, passing really casual at times. Youngsters tried their best but Palace was good at closing down their space. That’s where I’d hope the fullbacks would come in, but AMN pretty much had a stinker today, and Bellerin wasn’t so great either. Good performances further back at least. Holding handled Zaha pretty well.
Yeah, we were quite solid. I just wonder how long it will take Auba to snap out of his wretched form, the longer it continues, the more confidence he loses.
For me, Martinelli-Tierney on the left with Lacazette in the middle gives us that balance, add to that their passion and enthusiasm which impacts the whole team, but how do you bench your captain and keep him happy? We are in a limbo! Arteta has a huge headache right there.
this is a very reasonable comment. it was a difficult fixture, we have always been struggling against palace, and we are not special yet, so a draw is a fair point
So much for my 2-0 prediction!!
Disappointed, I expected more…
Sue,
You are not alone. How do I manage to sleep this night?
I know Palace defended but we lacked quality, we missed Tierney so so much. So sad
I think we’ll have nightmares tonight, Goonerboy!!
We were as flat as a pancake! Such a shame, especially after our last few games…
Let’s pray KT is back on Monday!!
Very dissappointed sue we made it so easy for them to defend with our slow passing in that final third. Was an extremely boring game to watch magpies up next
Agreed, Kenya! Let’s hope we see a better performance against them… and let’s hope KT is back 🙏
That was a genuine must win game(as most are)
We have now played more game and have a worse goal difference that the 3-4 teams above us.
We will now be stuck in 11th place for a few games I’m afraid.
The mere mention of the top half of the table and it sends them all into a panic!!! We’re just not meant to get up there…
Says it all when Holding has the most chances for us… and Benteke for them – omg, he’s hardly prolific!! 😄
More precious points dropped… thank heavens for Leno (& the bar!!)
Fair play to Palace..
No Patrick we didn’t show them too much respect, we just have difficulty beating them.
Drawn bacause of niles missing passes lacking confidence. Tiereny should have won us the game
Tierney should have been rested for the Newcastle game with AMN stepping in. I believe this was a big error from MA. Can’t blame AMN for being rusty, MA barely uses him in any competition.
Tierney would’ve been fresh and ready for last nights game then.
Everyone was off tonight, it happens. Disappointing that Partey and Pepe didn’t make any difference. So many sloppy passes from everyone. I really like AMN but his casualness seemed to rub off on his teammates. Xhaka, for his tackling, is my motm with Holding a close second.
Tierney was hugely missed. His runs and pin point crosses. Amn looks lost at LB but I will excuse him. It was a flat game. We started well but after 20mins we couldn’t move the ball quicker and final ball was lacking. Crystal Palace defended well and didn’t open up. They relied on counterattacking football. Its a draw but Palace will be the happier team today….
Good game from both sides, but Tierney was definitely missed today.
Luiz and Holding did well.
Xhaka MOTM if we’re being honest.
Good to see Partey back, expecting more of his progressive play.
We just couldn’t get the win today.
Focus on the next game
Someone else that saw the game as I did. I thought Xhaka was MOTM today. Good for him. I was worried that Luiz would get his 2nd yellow. The Pepster was awful. Ceballos needs to go back to Spain. He always looks to the rear. ESR got a good lesson today, the EPL is tough. Andre Mariner was very consistent.
palace tactic was on point to nullify us, thats all i can say. they are aware our attack is less effective, reducing us to less space means arsenal toothless in front of goal, because we rarely take game to the opponent these days, any opponent that seat back to play us will always get the better of us. and we miss, KT, no one knows how he would fare against palace fullback because the guy is fast too.
and what about set pieces, we had chances to score from corner kicks but Holding forgot his scoring boots at home
Hector missed a good chance too. I think MA tried some adjustments to his tactic and it looked the team were not used to it at first.
and that pass from ESR to lacca which was mistakenly intercepted by Bellerin, i think that was the defining mommen
Crap game and performance why do they keep bothering with Pepe adds nothing to the team whatsoever will never get money we paid for him but I take anything right now! Plus looks like we lost balogun another complete cock up he is better than neketiah in every department and he is leaving for nothing will regret this big time!!
I expect Balogun to win Leipzig bundesliga since he’s better than Nketiah.
Loose talk!
He will score more goals then Neketiah and i bet neketiah will be sold in the not to distant future because he is simply not good enough!!
our golden boy-Saka didnt do much on that wing, i expected less from Pepe, i can see he has been cautioned about his loss of possession when he first arrived, and not we have casual Pepe who only pass to the nearest man without trying to take out his man, we cant complain, can we?
As for Balogun, i dont know why you guys concern yourself about a player who isnt ready to play for us? he feels he cant get consistent game here which is true, so he wants to go, we can only wish him luck, his case is different from Gnabry, we gave Gnabry enough time , but it wasnt meant to be, he was advised to move to Germany and luck smiled on him, he might have been destroyed if he stayed in England. lets move on, its no one fault
Absolutely gutted..Good night y’all..
Really tough game. It was not full of attacking moments but was still good to watch for most part. Not an absolute cagey game by any means. Xhaka Motm for me. Ceballos, Holding, Leno played well, the forward line and ESR had a subdued game, and AMN and HB, though tried were not much effective. Luiz was naughty today.
Onwards and Upwards!
COYG!
Glad you’re happy Sid.
Thanks. Felt we could have gotten more from the game, but nevertheless a good mqtch which could have gone either way..
Sid: Sadly no matter how we feel about Arsenal, we are not in any way superior to Palace.
If MA insists on using his way or the highway, then he needs to bring in more players and I mean a lot more players.
I like ESR but he lacks the experience to take over a game and change the outcome. Today Palace neutralized him and expect other teams to do the same.
Also If you noticed Saka was stripped of the ball many times because other teams now are familiar with his moves. He is a great passer of the ball but today there was nobody for him to pass the ball to.
Oh well at least we didn’t loose.
Yeah I think MA will wish he has the budget to spend. Not that he is not willing to bring in just that he. Ant get much financial support from the board.
Players are just out on loan not sold. So MA will kot get a huge budget
Like Italy teams are taking advantage of loaning Torr everytime and taking advantage.
I think most likely we will only get 1 good player in to be key player.
Tons of rumors but eventually 99% are rubbish.
Agreed. The recent tactic did not work out. Palace were well organised defensively and primed to attack us from the counters. If we could offer movement infront we could have broken down thw palace defense but too many misplaced passes or bad runs. Hope we improve next game.
Well we have just resumed our normal sideway and back pass that usually slows down the flow of the game it has nothing to do with Tieney being on the field or not. All the teams that have beaten crystal palace this season have no Tieney in their teams. This guys are not winners they last winning mentality.
Something very wrong when we haven’t been able to beat that extremely average palace team in years! It’s becoming a mental block.. but to be fair we’re probably extremely average ourselves! Only bright note another clean sheet! Aubameyang from hero few months ago to becoming bang average! Need forwards and Arteta needs to stop thinking Eddie Nketiah is the answer he’s mediocre at best, should be moved on to whoever bids the most.
I don’t know what Nketiah has dome to JA fans.
Laca spend 80mins doing nothing and hear we are people trying to blame Nketiah.
Nketiah is useless! And for Lacazette I’ve wanted him sold for a long time! None of the forwards are clinical and that now includes Aubameyang!
Sell Lacazette at the moment and where will Arsenal’s goals come from?
I think the new role given to Arteta is beginning to turn his head with pride and ego. It seems to me that he doesn’t evaluate the magnitude of this football club by parading the likes of Nketia, William and pepe when Leicester city are now determined to win the league or stay at the top four at all cost with the serious minded and quality players.
My only praise for Arteta is that he has improved the defence slightly, other than that I’ve not been overly impressed with him but the club will stick with him even if we finish bottom half of the table which looks very likely.
Kev82: “Something very wrong when we haven’t been able to beat that extremely average palace team in years! ”
Could that be because we are average?
We are very average lcw we just get a little buzz when we win a few games because let’s be honest we don’t see it often and honestly when I saw that lineup tonight I just knew we would not win, I’m not even sure we would have won with Tierney either.. Aubameyang couldn’t hit a barn door this season and Lacazette is hardly prolific himself, that leaves Eddie Nketiah.. I think that tells you all you need to know about our squad mate 😩
But my point being is aren’t we a better average team than palace? I suppose on paper we are but that’s just on paper unfortunately, counts for nothing on match day..
Tats why we need some squad players later on some hardworking players to mix and at least one more creative player with Emile.
Can expect Emile, Saka and a few key players to play everytime n be consistent.
The respect of gooners for crystal palace is a lot,
but I think we draw the match because of absence of tieney
No answers fo today’s terrible sleepfest. Can only hope Martinellii and Partey can make a difference,but Arsenal need more. At the very least Auba and Lacazette who played like two old men should have been making life difficult for the Palace defence by opening it up. But it was all too easy in the end for their defenders to stand flat and remain organised. Today’s game leaves the glass half full.
Agreed. The midfield performance was good but the forwards disappointed. Lacazette did not offer the movement and holdup play that he usually offers.
Not sure what you lot are moaning about..
Thisis the premier league there are no walk overs.. Palace has taken points of city, Tottenham, manu etc and you expected what? .. Your all here moaning..
Partey didn’t make a difference really? Smh.. Very emotional beings you lot.. If your objective, it was half field when he came on.. But you also seem to suggest hes expected to go score or something..lol, smh
Pepe hes a minus..
Bellerin, poor Saka kept making runs for him in the first half.. Sadly he isn’t arsenal or a winning teams player.
Eze and wilf made life hard for saka.. I wonder why he and auba didn’t temporarily switch wings…
During corner kicks against us.. The small players seem to mark thr giants of other teams while our big players dont mark their sizes.. Hmm.
Positives here, with partey back.. I see the team stronger and ESR causing more problems for opposing teams.
All in all a point is better than none.
Kudos to the players
One positive was Xhaka. He played like Mascherano! One cross he cut out on the stretch was class, great commitment. Didn’t know he had it in him
At the start of both halfs we were getting openings because the players were quick in movement. Ceballos was quick and he should’ve stayed on.
We were playing rugby passes. move forward and then pass back
The three subs had no impact.
A very poor match which is a reflection of the standings of these teams in the Premier League.Leno, Holding and Xhaka did well but our final ball into the box was abysmal throughout the game.For a team which has shipped goals against Liverpool and Villa ,Palace defended very well , aided by our failure to create space in the final third. The match showed just how much we have come to depend on Kieran Tierney who hopefully will be back for the Newcastle match.
Tierney having a scan tomorrow.
If only we had signed Zaha instead of Pepé!
Tierney having a scan tomorrow.
If only we had signed Zaha instead of Pepé!
👍
ZAHA HAD ASTINKER TONIGHT i THOUGHT and Eche was by far their best player, WITH ZAHA ALMOST THEIR WORST.
WHAT!
He Is Correct
All Zaha Did For Them Was Showboating & Falling Down
He Was A Minus For Palace
Their Defence Was Really Great
Maybe Arteta should stop saving his speeches for half-time…Palace was ripe for the taking early on but we continued to give the ball away cheaply in the final third, especially Bellerin…our one touch play wasn’t crisp enough and we have no long ball game to speak of…if we’re going to play out of the back we need defenders who can play the ball over the top on occasion and more active midfielders…ESR got lost in the Palace defensive scheme far too often…AMN can’t be relied on for offensive help playing on the left because he can’t dribble and/or take on defenders with his left foot…I simply cannot fathom why Bellerin seems to be such a predominant figure in our offensive scheme considering his inept first touches, poor strike rate, ridiculous giveaways and average crosses…it seems like the plan today was to pretend Bellerin was Tierney, which he clearly is not…the only praise he received was when he blocked a Zaha shot and in bounced back off Zaha’s face for a goal-kick…the reality is he was only in that situation because he gave Zaha exactly what he wanted and just luckily recovered in time…this game goes to show just how much we need some more creativity in the middle of the park, which isn’t a slight on ESR because I feel he definitely puts in a shift, he just doesn’t have the experience yet to unlock a variety of different defensive schemes…SERVICE, HALF MY KINGDOM FOR SOME SERVICE!!
Agree RVL. We still only have half a team, and I can’t blame MA for today – the players who normally make us tick were either injured or had a bad day. Not many options instead of Bellerin and AMN but neither are up to it. Nobody on the bench – I couldnt disagree with the subs, rather them than Willian, Nelson or Willock. Palace were excellent – we huffed and puffed but physically it was men vs boys. I dont get those pining after Zaha though, only marginal improvement on Pepe, same price, 3 years older. We are still its obvious, a very ordinary team, especially in midfield – lots of holes in the squad but no money. But I at least can say we are no longer awful !
8 changes from FA cup game but Arteta says we were fatigue.
What is it the problem with Tierney that has led to him missing the match for Arsenal this night. Maybe if he had played, his effective ball crossing prowess into the opponent box might have made the difference in the game for Arsenal to win the match.
But crying over the inept home performance by the Gunners in the PL this night as they failed to collect all the 3 points at stake but ended up with a point collected saddened us Gooners hearts.
For, a point collection in the match by Arsenal is not what us Gooners have bargained for to see the Gunners collection but the whole 3 point.
But what could it be that had caused this inept team performance by Arsenal in the PL this night that saw the Gunners failing to score to win the match is what Arteta has to figure it out to deal with it stopping it extending into the next Arsenal match in the PL.
What sort of a game of football was that! Abysmally slow, if this is the style Arteta wants, then he will soon lose me. That was pedestrian, no a pedestrian would have been far quicker. Starting AMN on the left was something that obviously didn’t work and thats down to Arteta. Then he moved the lopsided problem from the left to the right, putting a right footed attacker on the left. What an absolute shambles of a game and we are slowly going nowhere.
Sorry, that last sentence was meant to be a left footed attacker on the right.
Patrick, you make an untrue statement saying that Partey came on for the majority of thr second half. In FACT it was only in the 70th minute. I posted at half time that if we did not bring him on at the start of second half that we would not win. That is what happened. It was an unnecessarily unbalanced start eleven with AMN playing out of position and having a mare.
Gabriel OR Mari should have played, instead of Luiz who, as ever, constantly dawdles on the ball when in possession . I would have played Partey from the start and the overall tempo was far too slow. There is a noticeable reluctance to pass quickly enough almost across the team too and until this changes we will make no real progress.
hi Jon – yes back to slow, sideways and backward passing. Palace on a good day like today can stifle any team, so I dont pin it all on us being poor. Only 90%…! We missed Tierney/Gabi terribly to drive us forward and balance Saha. And no blame on MA today he had almost no alternatives (Gabriel injured for sure, maybe Mari too). We only have half a decent team (and no money) when we have no injuries. There are Championship teams out there with more squad depth than us…
What is it the problem with Tierney that has led to him missing the match for Arsenal this night? Maybe if he had played, his effective ball crossing prowess into the opponent box might have made the difference in the game for Arsenal to win the match.
But crying over the inept home performance by the Gunners in the PL this night as they failed to collect all the 3 points at stake but ended up with a point collected saddened us Gooners hearts.
For, a point collection in the match by Arsenal is not what us Gooners have bargained for to see the Gunners collect but the whole 3 points.
But what could it be that had caused this inept team performance by Arsenal in the PL this night that saw the Gunners failing to score to win the match is what Arteta has to figure it out to deal with it stopping it from extending into the next Arsenal match in the PL.
Blame Niles as you like, that is not his position, Arsenal let Kolasinac go leaving only KT as our only left wing. and he is rested today. letting Kolasinac go was a bad decision.another bad decision that will come back to hurt us is letting Martinez go without good replacement, if Leno injures nw we are doomed. I don’t know how the people that run this club think. Always coming up with wrong decisions.
It wasn’t AMNs fault he was hung out to dry.
Leggy perfomance from gooners. Luiz was main instigator of attacks and Xhaka was immense defensively
Xhaka my motm, Leno and Holding were outstanding, d rest didn’t come to d party today.another two points dropped. Top four hope is fading very fast.
as long as the likes of xhaka and luiz are on the pitch i cant for the life of me think why fans are surprised by this outcome … slow … painfully so … uncreative undynamic with endless missplaced passes … i doubt hodgson would take either player hes no mug … football isnt about running arround and throwing yourself about … the delusional comments of fans on these two players would be fine for stockport county but we still aspire to the elite of football … smith rowe or isco now there’ s a tough decision … seriously cant make this stuff up … ceballos (along with holding) the best player tonight by miles so arteta takes him off … one left back in the entire squad and still have 7 centre backs on our books …. the man is clueless … emery lite wont get us back in to football elite or the top 6 for that matter
Some of u just come here to post the same thing every match
This shows u didn’t see the game
Xhaka was the best player by a distance
What did Luiz do wrong ?
The problem today was the intensity dwindled too quickly & organized defences like that may give-out only 1 goal to opposition – we missed that goal in the 1st half
Today we could not create any good enough chance to score, and the game became a core as the minutes went by. oh well at least we got a point and a clean sheet.
I wasn’t even blaming AMN so much because I’m happy that he’s just good enough to fill in, at least defensively, but you need to rethink your tactics when he’s on the pitch…you can’t have him playing like a wingback and/or providing overlapping runs because he’s not going to open any doors for Auba…this comes down to Arteta being more creative with his game plans…if he’s trying to create a version of Pep’s ManCity in North London, he’s failing miserably…when you watched City in the past, they didn’t rely so heavily on the defenders and/or DMs to control the pace of play and they certainly didn’t rely so heavily on the backers providing crosses…instead they set things up so that the midfielders had some space to turn and pick a more direct pass…like us, they had a more diminutive team, especially up front, so it’s about making runs and providing service to those individuals…you have to earn these avenues for vertical play by being active and stretching wide at times, then at other times taking a chance on a long ball, whether over top or more of a worm burner pass, but you definitely can’t be a static team that never looks up and instinctively looks to pass sideways or backwards without taking a peek first
AMN is very talented. I’m told that his problem is that he switches off – because he finds it too easy he loses concentration often. Also he has been a victim of his versatility. Fair enough when you’re experienced like say Milner, but when youre still developing it cant be good for development, or indeed confidence.
Im not sure that its Arteta’s mentality to be defensive, but he knew when he came that defence was our weakest point, and now he can’t seem to change his mindset. Anyway, not much choice if half your squad are defenders!
Tats why we need some squad players later on some hardworking players to mix and at least one more creative player with Emile.
Cant expect Emile, Saka and a few key players to play everytime n be consistent.
A line up with Luiz, Xhaka, El Neny, and Ceballos will be physically slow as hell and take a zillion touches to move it along.
Add in Pepe and William and just damn…
Mikel has a problem that is intractable.
I think Palace had some good oppurtunities and we on the other hand had like one…😑.
Leno saved us a point
And i honestly dont think we deserved the cleansheet.Holding and luiz both were caught by more than one occasion.There were sloppy passes overall but i honestly am pleased with xhakas defensive performance,he always had the passing ability but defending like he did,thats rare💯.
And Thomas Partey brings some superb control to the midfield.
Tierney would have made a huge difference….😔
I remember xhaka playing CB at Stamford bridge after Luiz sending off, he was superb.
I honestly feel he was destined to be a CB not a DM even to me David Luiz would have been a great DM than CB,
Tierney would be a great WF than WB just like giggs but life happens….
some players get lucky to meet a coach that converts them to successful positions.
Just like the bales df to wf ,drogbas CB to CF, cech MF to GK etc
Bellerin was annoying me all game, he is a slow thinker and I was sure he would play the safe option backwards passing every time he had the ball…he should go work for Durex
He was the main reason we drew the game…saka kept making runs,bellerin kept passing back to the center circle.
We knew the left would not yield any meaningful attack because AMN doesn’t have the wingers instinct of making runs to cross in…most times he tried and failed to beat the palace wingback.
We could have still snatched the game late on but arteta decided to switch up the winning formation by switching saka for Pepe then our two wings died..
Pepe cudnt beat anyone , cudnt link up with ESR ..we cud all see from the beginning of the second half, we kept attacking palace from that wing which by later stages cud have yielded one good chance just like the Newcastle game.
Arteta needs to figure his tactics out soon..saka is d best rw in the team now and Tierney is our best bet for the LW attacks.
The most confused person in that stadium was MA. Like a rabbit caught up in the glare of headlights. The second person confused was his side kick with an ear plug in his ear. Absolutely no idea of what to do next! This confusion and fear transmitted to the players all the time. Bringing on his hero Nketiah as if he will score a hat trick. Blimey so poor decisions…another game slipped away.
To be fair, the only thing he could have done is to replace Auba with Willian or in other words, which literally means being ok with 0:0 because Willian sure as hell couldn’t create anything with his current? run of form.
I hate blaming coaches but arteta needs to figure out this team soon..
Saka has to play on the left, he is superior to pepe, Pepe shud have replaced AMN at the defense not saka…the left wasn’t working, then u do the same to the right with stupid changes.
Palace defended well but they were there for the taking second half with our back to back attacks which cud have yielded one good chance before the 90….we weren’t playing badly and we had no game changer s on the bench ,so why the stupid substitutions.
I knew we wudnt get any meaningful chance again after the changes and so it happened till the final whistle..
Sometimes results have to be grinded out against stubborn defensive teams…even manutd didn’t find it easy beating Burnley..
Arteta shud Just stick to the formation, we only scored against Newcastle when he reverted back to it..
Auba laca saka
ESR….
pepe has no place in that team at all…am so angry
I meant saka has to play on the right,
Permanently just like robben did..
He has no business defending again..he was sloppy there … obviously the lad is attack minded now, and even shooting compared to months ago…I rather see Gabriel replace Tierney than wasting our best rw in the defense……as for pepe he is plain useless
What worried me in today’s game was the overabundance of backward passes. It was probably instructed by Arteta as means to get Crystal Palace to break their lines. Which they didn’t.
Bellerin was probably the worst at this. I remember him not doing an obvious 1-2 pass with Ceballos in our half that.
Aubameyang has no confidence on the ball, he’s giving away average and bad passes and can’t dribble past a defender to save his life. I think it’s time to give him a rest against Newcastle and start with Martinelli.
I’d even rest Saka and play Pepe from the start just so we can have more Saka for future matches. I fear the burnout or injury might plague the young lad.
Either way, not a disappointing performace by far (clean sheet, Arsenal also hit the woodwork). I think that Woy outclassed Arteta tactically and Arsenal had no individual sparks of genius to turn things around. A point is more than fair.
I thought we had grown past the mocking of people, like Roy Hodgson, with speech impediments some time ago. Unfortunately it appears I was misguided.
Well,said Ozzie! No place for this sort of misplaced so called “”humour” that is actually OnceGreat’s personal prejudice. OnceGreat, you need to grow up. Now!
Our last 5 games WWWWD I’m not complaining just yet!
The Q> asked is – do we give Palace too much respect. The A> is, no, we’re like that with everyone.
Last night, IMHO, too nervous, too worried, too apprehensive, too scared, too safe to try and express individual ability.
It won’t matter what strategy/tactics we set out with if we are so painfully slow in progressing upfield that we never turn their defence. Why, yet again, Dani & GX going into the back line to collect the ball when no opponents there anyway and then only to pass it square or back.
We could have the best midfield in Prem but if forwards don’t show for it, can’t hold it when it’s played in then we must play them in behind, and our fwds don’t make those runs. It’s a tactics thing..
ESR & Saka learnt the lesson, they were comfortable held, they now need to be COACHED on movement, making space, losing markers.
And can we get the ball in the box, please.. the number of goals scored from outside the box is minimal, so get it in there and scrap for it, get some fire and urgency in your belly.. Oh yes, MA, tired ??, really, who’s tired ?
Lots of excellently made points! Our forwards just seem to have given up making key runs, Saka apart, though even he was poor last night. Thought I’d never say it but we seem to miss a Giroud type, strong, reliable, good in the air, can hold up the play, even though ponderous(HIS downside, of course).