Arsenal were beaten 2-1 at the Etihad by Manchester City this evening, and that result means the Gunners are now as close as ever to the Citizens on the league table. It was a damaging outcome for Mikel Arteta’s side in a match that carried huge significance in the title race.
Football fans around the world tuned in with so much at stake, and it was a major chance for Arsenal to show they could secure a result in one of the biggest fixtures of the season. Instead, they were left frustrated after a narrow defeat.
Fast Start And Quick Response
Arsenal began with confidence, but the home side was also in strong form and had looked the better team over the last few weeks. It was therefore no great surprise when City took the lead through Rayan Cherki after 16 minutes, rewarding their early pressure.
The Gunners were disappointed to fall behind, yet they responded impressively just two minutes later. Kai Havertz brought Arsenal level and showed the visitors still had plenty of fight, ensuring the contest remained finely balanced after a lively opening period.
Both teams then settled into spells of possession as they searched for another breakthrough. Arsenal worked hard to avoid going behind again, while City were equally determined not to allow the visitors control of the game.
At the interval, the sides were level, but Arsenal knew they would need more in the second half if they were to leave Manchester with the result they wanted.
Haaland Decides Tight Contest
The match remained even for long periods after the restart until Erling Haaland found a way to restore City’s lead. That goal forced Arsenal into another attempt at a comeback, but it increasingly felt as though fortune was against them.
When Arsenal did manage to break through the City defence, they struck the post at least once. That near miss summed up a difficult evening in which key moments failed to fall in Arsenal’s favour.
Arsenal pressed City strongly in the closing stages, forcing the hosts deep into their own area. Despite sustained pressure, the equaliser never arrived, and City held on to claim an important victory.
For Arsenal, the defeat is a painful setback. They showed character and determination, but ultimately left the Etihad empty-handed after another fiercely contested meeting between the two sides.
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Mental weakness of Mikel Arteta and the players should be studied. I think they are just s**t scared, plain and simple.
I reckon City will overtake Arsenal and only then will they actually start playing better
Why is Zubimendi untouchable in the first 11?That guy is a passenger.Get a real DM.Martinelli did absolutelly nothing….again. Sell both of them.
We didn’t lose a single game to any top 5 team in the last 3 seasons because of THOMAS PARTEY, it’s not a coincidence that we have lost to Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City 2X this season.
Our biggest problem is the midfield this season and that has somehow contributed to how much impact a player like Martinelli has so far this season, Zubimendi is a downgrade.
Oladipo
Again, singling Zubimendi for blame
Why can’t you compare what Partey did in his first season with what Zubi has done so far?
And by the way, the so called Partey is doing nothing at Villarreal. Even his coach blasted him publicly. Lets stop these cheap blame games
Rubbish, Partey was injured for a lot of the time
Bookies are lucky I’m not a betting man. Called this after the 0-0 against Liverpool. Been waiting years for this club to prove me wrong and they are incapable. I don’t understand how some of these players were recruited by a club with title aspirations. Every year I look at our recruitment and it’s never good enough. It’ll keep coming back to that even over the tactics.
It’s cause we do not have an elite manager to go with the money. Guardiola’s signings of Semenyo and Guehi were a master stroke.
We were probably told no Chelsea rejects were available in January.
An elite manager would never have wanted any of the Chelsea rejects. Havertz, Madueke, Willian and them all underwhelming. Is Jorgi the best of the bunch and he was only brought in to be squad player so low stakes. Odegaard should’ve been on the market 1-2 seasons ago to leave, trossard/Martinelli for what, the 4th season in a row at LW… was that going to end as anything besides a disaster? And Gyokeres I’ve made many many posts about and I’ll leave it there. Defensive signings are really the only thing to applaud from a recruitment stance. Mikel, he’s his own worst enemy and has lost us several titles by being such a conservative minded manager. Many many opportunities to win EPL over the last few seasons and we fail at every chance. How many more chances, how many more millions?
RSH
Arsenal fans are really funny to be honest 😆😆😆😆
Now you are saying the squad is average, yet all of you have been saying how Arsenal have squad depth
And by the way, Arsenal fans were saying we MUST sign Gyokeres at all costs. Now stop using these excuses
I’ve been telling this all year, but I’m negative. Wasted 20 years of my life following this club of bottlejobs. This manager and players never showed the mentality that can win a title, Never. And they won’t and they deserve to lose it.
Cherki made a mockery of them and they stood there and just watched. Tells you all you need to know. Softies.
In all seriousness, Konstantin, you need to re-evaluate your life then. I’m at the live life to the full stage in my life as a retiree knowing that wasting my life is not on the agenda with time against me. Take up a sport, read a book, but don’t waste your life
@SueP
Exactly…👍🏾
Rubbish, Partey was injured for a lot of the time
Go support someone else, you are are no fan
Did we win the stats battle though? Because that’s what’s important to some people
Said MA had done well to get us where we were 2-3 years ago but had hit his ceiling, still stand by that. Look he’s spent enough to buy our way to a trophy and it seems like he’s not getting that right even
But all good, as long as we are making money and staying in the top 4 right?
Not top 4, top 2
Considering how tough the EPL is, it’s pretty good.Ask any Spursy fans, how they feel.
Well not having money to do business in January, has cost us the title again
The lads are tired and it’s obvious
Let’s hold all our energy for the UCL
The lads are tired – diddums.
He was given money to build a squad to rotate and these players are paid millions to do a professional job every game.
This is the worst squad of players since Wenger took over. Weak minded and managed by someone who is clearly not good enough at this level.
But tired it is then – this years excuse
This is very obviously not the worst squad since Wenger took over. It’s frustrating yes, but let’s get a grip, haha
It very obviously is.
Stop giving them credit they don’t deserve.
Average is the best I would say. None of these players would get near the invincibles. Not one.
Leon
The worst team since 1996, yet:
1. Attained 89 points, second best in our history?
2. Reached two consecutive Champions League semis for the first time in history?
3. Have fought for the league in 4 consecutive seasons, something you have never seen us do since 1996?
4. Scored the most league goals in a season, which is a record?
I wouldn’t say we fought for the title last season
It was essentially done since Feb
over since Feb
The players looked tired and overworked! It all comes to lack of depth
But but…fanbois were just saying how well the novice bought at the start of the season.
I blame it all on the novice. Been saying for 4 years ( prepared to give him a chance) he would not win us anything BUT even if city slip up he has to go. His tactical nous is poor and when he gets scared even worse. After we got a few pts ahead in Jan, he decided to go back to his play not to lose and look what happened, we played like c..p and luck was on our side. It ran out end March and we saw what a poor manager it is.
His favouritism killed us, overplayed Sakai, odegaard, rice and the rest of our injured team. Bought depth then goes ahead and get them all injured? Is it the training? the medical team? What is it about arsenal that we have the most injuries every season.? Started from end Wenger (his last 5 yrs and like the novice overstayed) In a small way, credit must be given for the money spent as if we didn’t we’d be like the spuds. But the buys have been poor especially the Chelsea and city rejects.
People complain about zubi but why does he play well for Spain? Till Jan he was allowed to roam forward and we all saw why he was regularly playing for Spain. The novices not to lose style means we haven’t seen zubi in the opponents box.
The novices micro management has stopped his players from playing and it’s cost us
Long rant but feel better now. Win win. City win, I make money. We win, fan satisfaction but it still needs to go.
Very unfortunate, the missed chances. Let’s hope for the best next game. COYG!
I expect you will call this a rip roaring successful season then – something to be proud of – just stay away from football forums and websites because I’m worried that the protective bubble you have around yourself might get burst when you see what everybody thinks about Arsenal and their mentality 🙂
Used to mock Guardiola and Mourinho that they buy trophies. Now I know even with money you still need an elite manager to win things.
There is no manager in the history of the game who has tried to buy trophies and failing spectacularly like Arteta has. This guy literally dismantled an entire squad and bought new. He is the top and the worst trophy buyer.
I believe City will are likely to drop more than 3 points but will the substandard bottler manage to inspire his players to take advantage?
The only thing remaining to ruin this weekend further is reading the apologists nuances.
I’m thinking We will drop points 2 more times before the season ends. But I do think we have a decent shot to get past Atleti at least so hopefully we still get to our first UCL final in ages. But then therein lies a problem that we have to actually win a final 😭
Only Simeones football can match Artetas in terms of negativity so I think it will be the ugliest match up of football weve seen in years
Sounds very rude.hope Mikel does not read this
Are you Arteta’s cousin, mother-in-law or what? What do you want to prove?
I hope he does and if he does – Mikel you are a bottler – a miserable failure and humiliating embarrassment 🙂
He’s not as embarrassing as the likes of you.
Oh you poor apologist.
Did I say something that tainted your view of the hugely successful Mikel Arteta?
Perhaps at the end of the season you can try and convince me that bottling another opportunity is actually a good thing for Arsenal 🙂
Not an apologist at all, just prefer battling for the title rather than fighting for 3rd or 4th place.
But second place is good then?
It’s better than 3rd or 4th wouldn’t you say ?
DaJuhi, I take it you’ve never watched a Mourhino team then.
Yeah it’s like watching Arteta’s side but with success and trophies 😅
Remind me what he won in Turkey or the last time here in England…
Mourinho has won all there is to be won across the continent. Both with wealthy and not wealthy clubs. Only an idiot will contest that.
Only an absolute idiot will belittle one of the most decorated managers in world football for a substandard bottler who still fails after 6 years of crazy spending and with woeful football to boot.
Maybe you can answer the question on what did he win in Turkey ?
6 years of crazy spending and woeful football ?
Yet again to come out with lies. Tut tut HH.
have you looked at Moutinho’s trophy cabinet?
Don’t be ignorant
Let’s remind ourselves how many trophies Mourinho won while chelski were cooking the books… or cheating as it’s now been officially called.
Only an idiot wouldn’t take that into consideration, just as, if found guilty, the same should be said about city115.
How many trophies did he win at manure or the spuds, or over in Italy?
His biggest trophy was, surely, taking Porto to their first ever CL win?
Most of his trophies are in the distant past. It would seem that he’s past his sell by date.
This is why comparing other managers and their achievements to what is happening now and recent years is a complete waste of time. It’s what Mourinho does now and not what he did years ago that counts.
It’s a younger man’s game with incredible levels of stress to contend with and new ideas coming through. However good the Ancelottis Contes and Wengers of this world have been, there comes a time to call it a day. Klopp had the good sense to step away. Pep took a sabbatical. It’s brutal
And the cheating aspect of course Leon 😂
How many trophies did he win with the other PL sides he managed?
Were Chelsea stripped of their trophies Ken?
Cheats prosper here…
Its scary HH because its not about the money for Arsenal. We are spending and spending huge amounts. The end result stays the same. We fall short. The mais either good enough or he isn’t. We can not jeep wasting money.
Not mais, manager!
Ha ha not jeep, keep. Predictive text😂
I do not think the owners will waste more funds on him. Even if he stay I suspect from next season he will have to work with what he has or with significant restrictions. If that happens I am 100% sure he will walk away.
If we don’t win anything this season I am afraid we are entering the age of top 4 is enough.
You mean the age that saw Wenger keep his job for seven years HH?
The way people are now judging Arteta and forgetting how they judged Wenger, is astounding.
The complete opposite to when MA took the job and just as puzzling.
Wenger did and won great things right of the bat. He earned keeping his job. As a matter of fact he was doing us a favour.
Wenger didn’t dismantle an entire squad and bought new. Wenger did not spend more than a billion. He was not given 6 years to deliver his first trophy. His brand of football was not woeful. And which stadium has Arteta built?
Wenger kept Arsenal competitive purely by his ability as super elite coach while its Arsenal who has made Arteta competitive by unconditional support he is receiving without paying it back in kind. He did not even deserve this job in the first place.
HH
1. How many league trophies did Ferguson win in his first 6 seasons at Man United?
2. How many trophies did Wenger win between 2005/6 season and 2012/13 season?
3. Barcelona are winning the league with a new stadium, Spurs won a European trophy with a new stadium. So this Wenger excuse is nonsense.
4. Wenger never spent? Lol. 😂😂😂. Cech, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Song, Eboue, Sagna, Nasri, Sanchez, Ozil, Xhaka, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Podoslski, Giroud, Arshavin, Carzola etc. Did these come on a free transfer? 😆😆😆
now compare who he sold
HH
1. How many league trophies did Ferguson win in his first 6 seasons at Man United?
2. How many trophies did Wenger win between 2005/6 season and 2012/13 season?
3. Barcelona are winning the league with a new stadium, Spurs won a European trophy with a new stadium. So this Wenger excuse is nonsense.
4. Wenger never spent? Lol. 😂😂😂. Cech, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Song, Eboue, Sagna, Nasri, Sanchez, Ozil, Xhaka, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Podoslski, Giroud, Arshavin, Carzola etc. Did these come on a free transfer? 😆😆😆
HH
You are one of the few realists on this site. Waiting for …sack the novice? who will we get as manager….
And since bloody Jan, I have to stay/ wake up after midnight to watch this woeful display but as a fan since 71…….
Why the hell did Arteta take off Madueke when he was troubling the City defense?
What the hell did Martinelli do in this game for 45 mins?
How did Arteta manage to take one of our best players on the pitch – Eze off?
And bring on Trossard in his place?
Why didn’t Gyokeres replace Havertz in the 60th minute when we obviously needed him?
I don’t understand.
The subs completely destroyed our game.
I am really sad but hopeful that God will see us through come the end of the last game.
Good to hear the mention of God.
But God doesn’t play football. Humans do. And I’m fast loosing faith in this Manager this season. How does someone take off his most effective players on a match and replace them with obviously ineffective ones? My mind is still boggling
And neither did the starting line up win us the game.Mikel had to gamble with the substitutions and it did not work
Removing an effective Eze for an expectedly ineffective Trossard is not gambling. It’s sheer madness. Did you notice that we were progressively getting worse the more we made subs?
Effective Eze ? He just stood still watching Cherki went past him to score their first goal.
Exactly HD He had been pretty dismal prior to that as well so obviously not his day
Compare him to Trossard who replaced him. What exactly did Trossard and worst of all Martinelli do?
Trossard put a great ball on Haverz head.
He also tracked back Reggie.
He did.
dgr8xt
Excuses again. Apart from that post chance, what did Eze do? Where did City’s first goal come from? Who lost the ball the most times if not him?
You want to blame some specific players and the managers without reasoning
And by the way, Trossard could have ended the match with an assist
He has been dismal whole season.
Money wasted on Eze & Noni who do not belong to the AFC calibre.
Nevertheless we got to cheer as they don our colors
And finally, you do not win titles with CFC rejects.
Mikel should get full control of recruitment and managing the men’s team, then only you can hold him accountable. Comments made against him seem pathetic and in poor taste.
The man has secured our top 2 for the 4th time in a row and twice UCL semis. Is it his fault Kai’s header went over the bar?
Losing 2 consecutive games is not good, but please understand the circumstances.
Exe has been poor since he was allowed back. Passenger in most games. Cost us 2 games with his lackadaisical approach so yes I agree the subs were poor BUT in that was made too late. Eze should have subbed earlier. I believe playing to the novices micro tactics has cost eze his flair.
Put haarland under the novice and he won’t score any goals
Easy isn’t it to sit on the sidelines and criticise? According to one, Eze was not subbed early enough, another says he shouldn’t have been subbed. So, who should anyone believe? Which one of you is the expert?
It you that’s for sure
Not you *
Now other Pl teams are happy… They all want Arsenal to bottle it, the pressure from the Media and other Pl teams ex players is too much on Arsenal… I doubt any team can survive that onslaught from everyone… Arsenal will win the premier league regardless
The we endure every season damn.
Eze was average.
Two centi metres away from winning us a title.
I had confidence the ball going into Eze and Kai, would be held and not lost. I have confidence when it goes to Saka. It’s important to hold it so you can transition.
Still average
Very true SueP.
I agree. He was too timid and too weak. Gave up possession too many times. But none more so than when he failed to make a strong enough defensive ‘obstruction’ that lead to City’s first goal. He wasn’t in tune with City’s pace and fluency and they robbed him of his!
Don’t worry – the supercomputer is about tell us Arsenal still have an 80% chance of winning the league.
Phew, thank god…. redemption. If it we’rent for IT Systems I’d have to rely on my senses 😂
And this season is over. Arsenal board should sack Arteta at the end of season and the he can’t bring titles. His negative mentality has totally affected the team. Our players are running out of confidence and the hunger for glory is not seen in them for the last few matches.Injury to Timber and Saka were like rubbing salt on the wound. I feel Bournmeth manager could be an ideal manager for Arsenal. So it is very hard to be Gooner these days. Still we believed title be ours this year. Now every dream has been shattered.
My crystal ball tells me MA will win the EPL this season and the board will retain him as the Manager. We will go another 5 seasons again without any trophy, we will win the Champions League, and the cycle continues
MA is a loser – he doesn’t win things.
Some of us saw this coming, as in City closing us down
Yes, writing was on wall when new recruits starting clicking, while we slide. Was some wilful blindness about.
The moo moos are out in force I see.
As is the river in Egypt….
Funny how the ones defending our play and recent results are now left with nothing to say but childish things like this, it’s what happens when reality smacks them in the face 🙂
100%
No need.
No, not a river in Egypt, but a name given to fans that moaned after a defeat. It was given by the Bear (RIP), a proper Gooner.
Hey, I’ve been waiting years for the optimists to finally be right and to call me out specifically when we finally win a trophy. I still hope to see those comments come seasons end and I’ll happily take all the heat. But as I said, its been years and years of waiting for that to happen and it hasn’t.
Yup
Has to be a troll. Only a troll would continue to goad us to trust the process and continue to piss us off with the inane comments.
That is the league over. The way we play football is so negative ans self destructive. There isn’t a team in the prem in the top 6, that gives the ball away in attack, playing a poor ball, either open play, freekicks, or corners than Arsenal. We try to keep the ball by playing silly negative passes and end up losing it because of. We can not control a ball from the back and our style of play is limited so much. Arteta has took us as far as he can, he can not get any better, he is limited in his tactics. If you are happy with the same as these last four years, then thats all you will get. We do not play winning football, we play, not losing football. I am sure that another 300 mil this summer, still would be a waste of money. Artetas BIG signing was Zubimendi, he isn’t premiership quality. Gyokores has been poor these last few months but that can also be down to, his lack of suitability to the team. Eze has been underwhelming, and Madueke has not produced enough. Martinelli, is on the way out. Trossard is getting too old. Odergaard is not ever going to be the player that leads us to the title. A lot of players
who haven’t done it this season, won’t next. And Arteta is not the one to take this team to the dizzy heights that the investment should be getting us. We just do not play the right football, its not clever, its not robust. I think Arteta may resign this summer, he definitely should not be given a new contract and for me, not be here next season. Unless there is a miracle and City collapse and we have stupid luck in CL. Because we are not good enough.
Spot on Reggie. This team plays with a fear and scared of taking risk. Arteta will play the same way next season as he prefers control over free flowing football that comes with a risk. He has sucked the creativity out of these players and turn them to a robot that knows to play only one way.
I agree 100%.
What a day for Gabriel to have a shocker.No doubt Havertz will be criticised but I hope other subscribers acknowledge the poor performances of Gabriel and Mosquera, who is clearly not a full back.In terms of chances we were worth a point but it was not to be and we can only hope that the likes of Bournemouth can help us out.
Grandad, both Bournemouth and Everton will be hard games for them.
Villa will be easy for Man City as they play a final just a few days before. The Bournmouth game has to be moved if City make FA cup final.
Crystal Palace away could be City’s tightest game.
Newcastle will be for us. 1-0 or 2-0 wins will not be good enough. So interesting to see what we do.
I actually thought Haverz had a good game. Worked his socks off and was positive.
Never any question of Harvetz doing an Ozil and not raising a sweat but his amazing consistency at missing vital chances is staggering and not something you want to see next season. Nothing will change with this player.
Any consideration for it being his first 90 minutes for us since god knows when? The same applies to any player returning after months out. Look at how disappointing White has been.
I honestly thought the injury issues that plagued last season might let up but they haven’t, so inasmuch as the quality of the squad has improved, the numbers on the sidelines or literally just returning is is still high. . Calafiori can hardly string a couple of games together without missing the same or more.
You might find it interesting that some have a smear campaign about Eze performance but will keep defending Havertz 3 years later. I wonder why.
And who says we’re winning the next game against Newcastle with kinds of display?
I agree .However we don’t need any team to help us out.It will now be a mini league of 5 games assuming City beat Burnley. No excuses if win those games well the title will be ours.Artera has now got to play positive attacking football. If he can release that handbrake the title will be ours.Beat Newcastle 2/3-0 and we have a chance.At this stage negative defensive football has to be gone .Attack attack attack
Arteta needs to go once this season is over regardless of whether he wins a trophy or not. This style of play started around April of last year and we have gotten worse since then. Its one thing to play like this to manage a game but relying on it as your default style is a defeatist mentality. Even if we get past Atletico, our mentality will not let us win in the final when our back is against the wall. He will continue with this bs next season too. Rinse and repeat
Expected result as I predicted a 1-0 defeat. But actually surprised by our competitive performance compared to the shite that has been served up recently.
We hit the post twice and the last chance of Havertz should have scored and at the very least worked the keeper. Havertz could have had a hattrick.
Difficult to win the PL, but if we match MC results and score more goals we can still win the PL on goal difference.
Much harder now though.
Huge ask !!!!!
Game over. Officially had enough now. We’re not winning squat if we continue with Arteta 😤
Still time to prove me wrong, but not sure i can stomach any more failure!
Wow just wow, we were at there gaff, we matched them , we missed some good chances, we played better than recently and you lot above ⬆️ are calling out certain players, the manager and basically the whole team! Still games to play and you total wimps have given up smfh 🫨
GB,as I posted above, the moo moos are out.
When this guy… Arteta…. Even at this moment he makes statements that we are still first and we will fight for our hopes, you understand that he is dangerous. He continues to sell seaweed for silk ribbons. He has been saying this for quite some time. You know, don’t be disappointed, we are first with nine points, he started saying it since then. And if indeed there was a logic to all this, what The logic that this whole narrative has slowly been demolished, we have reached absolute deflation, City with a win at Burnley takes us to first place, and he just says something like he has lost his mind.So he’s telling us to sleep peacefully until Wednesday, we’re first. Charlatan.
We are still first in the PL, as City haven’t played yet 🙄. They will probably beat Burnley and take the top spot, but there will still be 15 points to play for. You shouldn’t give up yet as City have at least 2 difficult games against Bournemouth and Everton. Moo moo.
Arteta has completely forgotten how to set up a team to attack.
Still a bit scared and cautious, when you need a win by all means?
I don’t get get it.
Sincerely, the attacking play within the last 10 minutes of the game, was better than what I saw the whole game.
And I’m thinking, the double pivot of Rice and Zubimendi might be costing us the ability to attack. Especially, when one considers the limitations of our wingers.
Our defenders didn’t cover themselves in glory either.
In the past 3 games, I haven’t seen any of them put in a ball winning tackle in and around the box. Are they also scared?
played better then I thought to be fair
might now come down to who beats Burnley the most lol
Now there’s a thought Dan
Likewise. We fared a lot better today than in recent weeks. But it just wasn’t enough. The frailties were still there ! We have to now rely on City’s remaining opposition as opposed to our own efforts
I actually thought we played well today, but it was after their second goal.Little wonder why the manager has been witholding the players from playing this positive all through the season.Whatever happens comes the end of the season will fully be on Arteta and i hope he’s fired if we lose the league to City unless he can miraculously win us the champions league.
Sad! We really never learn, that’s a massive chance we are fastly letting go. If we are not winning the league Arteta has to go. That is a ceiling hit
If Eze’s goes in, Haaland doesn’t score, becuase his goal came from space that wouldn’t have existed.
We were just so close to winning the league title today.
But Ezes didn’t go in? If if if
So many ifs during the Arteta years
Got the iffs down to just millimetres now though.
Are you trying to say we are getting closer 🤣🤣
Yes!
If you reversed Arsenal and City currently the negative people would be going even harder on the negatives! Just imagine.
Well done Arteta you beat City for the 1st time in 6 games and won the tinpot league cup. City are still in the CL they beat Madrid 5-1 last year, we lost 6-3 that year and lost 5-1 this year. They will likely win the CL they beat Atletico 4-0 already, only team to score 4 against Atletico all season (barca played them 6 times, madrid 3 times.) They are 1 of only two teams to beat Bayern all year in any comp (Ausburg is the other.) and one of 2 teams all comps to score 3 against Bayern (Madrid is the other.) Small club mentality City will the league they are in charge and probably the cl and who cares if we have 15 more open play goals in the league we are 2 ahead overall in goals only and 1 behind on gd and City have 7 more open play goals than us in the cl anyway. Yes we won today but City have the far easier run in are ahead on GD and 3 points ahead now. Who cares if we win the FA/LC Arteta finished behind City last year will probably lose the title to City this year given City have an easier run and are ahead on GD and hasn’t got past the last 16 in the cl last 2 years. If we win the FA/LC Arteta should be sacked because City will win the PL/CL and cheering the league cup over the cl is a small club mentality.
That is exactly the commentary we would have if you reversed City/Arsenal right now.
The above is why the Arteta inners are not the same as the Arteta outers. Next year if were out of the title race all season pre-november, struggle for top 5 but make it, poor performance in the cl and no insane injury scenario ie gabriel/saliba/timber/calafiori/hincapie/mosquerra injured same time scenario. I and 99% of Arteta inners would be ok if a top manager is available we should switch now because the squad is about to hit its prime and Arteta is going backwards.
Arteta outers will argue both sides of any situation ever as Arteta out that is the difference. We are in the CL semi final facing a team we beat 4-0 this season with the 2nd leg at home. Likely we will face Bayern in the final who we beat 3-1 this season. If it’s PSG our record from last year is w1, l2 3-3 agg and they don’t have Donnarumma. Yet the narrative is this is an awful season already. It’s wild.
So it looks as though it will go all the way to the final game. Should be fun.
Just like in ’89 Jax.
Yeah, that would be just great HD. If only we could wrack up a few goals, we could still do this.
Burnley at home ?
I think City might slip up at Everton
City last game home to Aston Villa is the kicker.Villa cost us the title 2 seasons ago and I can’t see them putting much effort to help us at the end of the season. UE could stop us again.
I think Burnley will do city. 63 – Nil. Okay …….it’s three hours after our city game and I’ve been on the whiskey.
I’m allowed to dream aren’t I ?
Yeah, Everton, that’s the crucial game for City. I don’t think Burnley can get anything out of their game.
Exactly Jax – but one would believe it’s all over now!!
Looks like it Ken, but if we could just wrack some goals and not lose any more games.
If we win our last 5 and West ham away which is the only one that should and hopefully will be tough we win the league.
We need more goals against Burnley at home game 37 when Burnley will be down already than City get away this week v Burnley.
More goals Palace away last game of the season when they will have nothing to play for but likely a conference league final to save themselves for and multiple players involved in the world cup. City game in hand at home will be the Palace game before that so straight GD race then.
Next for us is Newcastle (14th) (h) 17th for goals scored away this season, no danger of relegation.
Fulham (12th) (h) 14th for goals scored away this season, no danger of relegation.
If City beat Burnley midweek and go level their next 2 will be
Everton (10th) (a)
Brentford (7th) (h) 1st for xg away, 6th for goals away, 3rd for expected points away, 8th for points away.
City other 2 is Bournemouth (8th) away and Villa (4th home.)
Commenting here sometimes, I see to my regret that I was never eliminated and of course for this match that I expected nothing more than defeat. Here we go again. Arteta prediction Predictable, incapable of winning a title, most of the wrong signings, overrated players, cock-brained mentality. At some point all of this comes to the surface clearly, if not the time, a repeated coincidence ceases to be a coincidence. Although this year very early it showed the same signs again, they were visible since the fall, we were simply very lucky that the other groups especially City, they were competing with us in instability. Now it was luck, this was irony, I don’t know what would be better. Being out of the race from February rather than false hopes again. I don’t know if it will change in the future.This nightmare. I can’t stand it anymore. Unfortunately, they were slowly reducing our team. .
Even if by some miracle we win the league and the CL Arteta still needs to go.
No he doesn’t. But that ain’t happening.
Well it’s certainly better than winning a trophy and then about to be relegated to the third tier of English football right PJ-SA?
We gave everything today and went for the win, only to be thwarted by the woodwork and the header that Havertz should have put away.
I read that city115 have the chance to put Burnley to the sword and overtake us on goal difference – we also have to play Burnley, so why can’t we do the same?
Anyone who thought winning the PL was all about today’s result, will now know that was never the case, either for us or city115.
Well fought lads, shackles off and you gave as good as you got, proud of you all.
Great support from our away Gooners and I’m ready for the Newcastle game.
The Geordies, Burnley and Fulham at home and West Ham, Palace away.
Never over till the fat lady sings!!
I agree Ken City have the tougher fixtures
it’s just if we can mentally hang in there
let’s say they win game in hand , we then play twice before them so can send them to Everton with the gap 6 points
Plus adding the goal difference on. If we go into last game week with us +4 they won’t turn that round.
What is really damming though Dan, is the complete collapse of any logical thinking regarding the remaining games.
If the manager and players were to react in the same negative way, there would be further and even more personal attacks on them.
The time for this kind of absolute shiteshow is at the end of the season, when we actually know the outcome of the PL and CL.
At last I’ve read a post that doesn’t paint the manager and team as a bunch of losers or BOTTLERS Not every player had a great game but the match was played at much higher tempo than we’ve come to expect and overall made every attempt to win the game. They had a go and nearly got a point and there is still plenty to play for.
As someone wrote earlier:- it was an away fixture at the home of the most successful club and manager of the last decade.
That’s exactly what they are SueP, bottlers.
Their mentality has been weak from the first game where we scammed a win at OT. They want to scam the title, but it will never happen. A team afraid to play, standing and watching Cherki make a mockery out of them. Losers, they deserve this. But most of all this fanbase deserves this misery for all the years of loving managers and players more than the football club.
Yawn
UCL – Bayern
EPL – City
FA Cup – City
Capital One Cup – City
Community Shield – City
EPL 2nd Place Trophy – Arsenal
Go and support city..lol
The worst part of this is arsenal are still going to drop points either to Newcastle, Fulham or westham and city will win all their remaining games because the other teams they’ll face will unanimously decide to spread their legs wide open for city113 to have its way with them as they did 2 and 3 seasons ago. We shouldn’t have drawn to wolves and lost to man united, we shouldn’t have lost to Bournemouth but hey here we are. . It’s only a miracle that will see us win the league . Madueke and zubimendi are bad buys let’s be honest
We played well today but luck wasn’t on our side, merino would have been useful in our last two EPL games as he was always bailing us out.
Shame really we had the league right in the palm of our hands and we let it slip . I believe Arteta doesn’t have attack minded coaches in his corner , they all seem defence orientated, look at Gabriel Heinze for example.
We are a team that do not conceed more than 2 goals , a stat that should prompt any right thinking manager to inform his players to always go to score 3 goals knowing that will surely give you the win but as we see, it has been a challenge to even score just one goal in our last 5 matches.
The only advise I can give Arteta now is to go all out in every single game, no more defensive dey up, no more trying to control the game, no more back and sideways passes , just all out attack and servif we can win it with goal difference otherwise , Fulham will punish us if we play that control nonsense.
*defensive set up,
see if*
I’m afraid this manager and his players will go down in history as the nearly men, so much talent and so little to show for it, reminds me of Keegan and his Newcastle team that battled fergies United during the mid 90’s, some great individuals like Ginola and Asprilla but ultimately won nothing, history is repeating itself with Arteta and his team.
I prefer bottlers.
Go support spurs then if you prefer bottlers.
I prefer real Arsenal supporters!
GB 💯%
GB 💯 %
Real Arsenal supporters see six years of failure after nearly billion has been spent on players.
Real Arsenal supporters don’t want to see their club become a laughing stock because of a manager that is clearly not capable of leading his players.
Real Arsenal supporters don’t bury their heads in the sand when the same patterns are repeated every season.
Your response was childish 🙂
It never cease to amaze me that the people who have put Arteta first without a shadow of a doubt, always touting themselves as the real supporters.
Yes you are true supporters of a bottler!
It’s not putting the manager first, it’s supporting the club, like we did in ’99 and ’16.
Take your dishonesty to those who welcome it. You take piss on Wenger every chance you get and here you are touting supporting the club.
You can lie to yourself but you can’t lie to the world.
I’m not a liar, unlike you !! I supported the club in those years, and even when we were in a relegation battle in the 75/76 season !! You need to try it some day.
You might have but for sure now you are not on Arsenal side. You are completely devoted to Arteta.
Wrong again HH. I’m still, and always will be, supporting the club 😁
Who”s put Arteta first then HH?
Do you not understand that, when one reads complete c**p about ANY Arsenal manager, one defends what he/she sees as nonsense – such as you did with Arsene Wenger if I remember correctly?!
There has never been a manager or player more important than the the club, as history shows and will show when MA leaves the club.
The usual suspects Angus, David, Her Drier etc.. you know those magnificent 7.
As I’ve already told you HH, the club always comes first for me, and I expect it does for the others.
Your usual posts say otherwise. Like I told you, you can lie to yourself all you want but you can’t lie to the world.
Obviously you’re another one that has a problem comprehending the written words 🙄
Do you not realize it’s fans like you who are making us the laughing stock?
There are still five PL games to go before the end of the season and you’ve hoisted the white flag already, let alone thinking about the CL!!
Real Arsenal supporters see six years of improvement and near misses – misses to two clubs who, it seems, have been cheating to win trophies.
Real Arsenal supporters don’t give up supporting their club because they haven’t won trophies – that’s why our club has a very strong older age base.
So take your head out of your backside, stop being entitled and don’t make childish remarks about someone who knows what it means to be a “supporter. “
That reply was for Leon.
Real Arsenal supporters support their side through thick and thin. No team has the divine right to be at the top all the time. Go and support another team if you don’t like to see us lose now and then.
😂
The good old “go support another team quote “
You can’t win brother. 2 8th place finishes, bottled top 4 and 4 bottled leagu titles. 1 FA cup win, down to Aubameyang magic which was immediately removed afterwards, followed by early cup exits almost 5 years. Thrown away the carabao cup final. Enough said.
I have never seen a more patient fanbase so in love with players and managers that doesn’t care about the wellbeing of its football club. These fans deserve this. Cherki went in front of them to show em who’s boss and they sit and just take it. Defeat is their sole existence.
I think he already does TBH, and just shows up here to troll.
I think that he already does, and just shows up here to troll Arsenal.
I am willing to wait for the PL title, we migth be loosers
today but not over the season. But we dropped the wrong
points along the way.. therefore the deja vu. I was trying
to keep my emotions intact.
Lets hope for the best its very depressing but we just have to support the team. The boys are tired a January signings could have helped alot our attack has been dead for the last 5 matches. I dont know how our forwards sleeps at time with such terrible performances week in wek out..
If we were playing as good as today in our last 4 epl matches we will be 9points on top..
There’s reasons for optimism. There was not much difference between the sides today, as much as it felt at Wembley.
Full minutes from Havertz, means the competition to bring best of out players for a starting birth, between him and Gyokeres.
Hincape growing in stature.
Bernardo and Rodri will be a miss from Man City midfield next season – whilst Liverpool, Chelsea and Man Utd have a lot of work to do to get up to our and City’s level.
We need a match winning superstar left wing. That could make the difference for us in the coming years – marquee signing left wing.
The differences amount to nothing if we fail.
That’s all that matters.
I think the momentum is with City and I believe they will win the treble. All we will have is the deserved tag of bottlers and humiliation. Your optimism is unfounded.
A January signings could have helped the team.
The lost to Bournemouth was diabolic
So now we just need a bit of luck to win the epl.
The defence has been good enough but our attack has been completely dead…
We hit the back twice today a good attack could have atleast put on in.
Jesue, gokeress should be sold next season u cant win trophies with inconsistent forwards..
Theres no title winning team that does not have a good forward…
Lets support the team till the end..
Arteta is really trying taking a team to win the epl after 23 years in the wilderness is never easy…
Im convinced Jan singing last year we win UCL. Kvar was available, went to PSG instead and he has an amazing 2nd half of the season for them and wins UCL. It feels like many January’s during Arteta era and Wenger era, if we made a move in January we couldve have trophies. This recruitment man… it bites us every time we get close to something. And this January we let Nwaneri leaves us which if anything harmed us actually.
RSH, where was the money coming from to buy Kvar ?
As for Nwaneri, who knew that we would have injuries to Odegaard and Saka ? Also he could’ve have said no to the loan and stayed here.
Nwaneri went for minutes centrally because his future in the game is not LW.
Some of the games he recently played for us deeper and central I thought he was terrific.
With Odegaard out he may well have got game time in CM.
Im not claiming to have knowledge of what money was available, just saying there was an opportunity and have been many for many January’s. As for Nwaneri, many people at the time said it was a mistake. Injuries have screwed us over many times over the years so it’s pure naivety to expect it wouldn’t happen again. So I think it was actually very reasonable and predictable to not let him go.
Since Jan Arsenal currently have 1 more point than City with 5 left. If City beat Palace in their game in hand it’ll be 2 less points since jan but the exact same points since start of the season.
Prior to the Bournemouth game when msm, social and half our fanbase were throwing in the towel we had 7 more points than city since Jan.
We also had 4 more points than City in the last 2 games prior to Bournemouth.
City beating us today means they are 2 points up on us last 4 having drawn to forest/west ham
the record is arsenal dropped 2 points to city in the league, won last 16 cl, won quarters cl, lost lc final and fa quarter.
City is won 2 points in the league, lost last 16 cl, won lc final and fa quarter
“Real supporters don’t want to see their club become a laughing stock” If we had been blown out by city today, we would have been. But at least we were able to stay close even though they didn’t let up in the second half. Maybe today’s improved performance will light a spark under some of our players that need it
What a performance from the lads !
We were not disgraced and the boys gave all their best .
We are still sitting on top of the epl table. No shaking.
Bring on the next game pls .
Irony is the 3 players in attack that Arsenal have missed lately are Odegaard, Merino and Saka all who were slated the most earlier in the season.
Nothing to do with tactics then?
what is wrong with the tactics? Bare in mind we are one of only two teams to score 3 against Bayern in a game all comps and one of only 2 to beat Bayern in a game all comps. Also the only team to score 4 Atletico in all comps all season too.
I’ll be brief. The key moment for me is one hour before kick off, how I feel in my bones when I first see the team sheet.
The underlying characteristic of the underwhelming performances of late, two matches v Sporting, Bournemouth, City at Wembley, Portsmouth, has been drop off in pressing to turnover and retention, to level we achieved in first half of season.
Transition from out of possession and sitting behind ball, holding it deep, turnover came from dead ball, goal kick or throw in, but moving it forward quickly, this is good performance from teams balance and cohesion, not tactics. Whatever tactic or formation under whatever manager you play under, all tactics fail without being strong in transition.
All players are different, you concede? replacing the player in your squad who has the most consistent and efficient first touch, with the player with the worst first touch, or swap your fastest player with your slowest, we can easily spot the difference? What was different today in our much stronger performance against City, was out of possession our man for man press leading to turnovers, ball retention with higher tempo, we looked better for it, but all this hinged on Ode, Kai and Eze whose unique skill sets, technical abilities that make players appear to have more time, leading to quicker decisions and ball playing actions, were working as a team joining up our transition from possession at back to front – we have recently missed these players because of their skill sets, meaning possession at the back was struggling to connect with forward play and chances created. Saka and Timber are the same in lifting the teams technical abilities, meaning we play at a higher tempo with our best 11 out there. Our starting 11 dropped a lot in transitional skill sets with them all missing in same period. True squad depth is how close replacements are to what they are replacing, because this is what is important to strong balance and cohesion in your performances.
The reason we topped ECL group and Prem is because we were transitioning and at higher tempo first half of season, and it led to more chances created – and difference in second half of season has been how the starting elevens became less predictable, not the ones we would have preferred seeing before kick off.
Liverpool last season to this season is the same example, last season their team press was excellent, from the resulting turnovers Salah saw a lot of ball. Less successful press, less turnovers, less creative time on the ball. If you disagree, i support my argument saying it’s exactly what the Liverpool fans saying in their own blog sites – 2nd and 3rd choice squad depth. Starting elevens not the ones fans prefer to be seeing before kick off, as it’s too far off what in our minds the strongest side, and our bones immediate reaction is to shiver.
I had a warm feeling seeing team sheet today. Same result as last week, but far far better performance.
That was brief?
But did you agree Jax?
PS. A similar length to some of Angus’s spiels but nothing like as many. I have to own up that I scrolled past those
TMI and too little time
Couldn’t be arsed to read it Sue🤣.Probably an attention span issue, but I will give it a try later.
Okay a more concise version of it.
Even though we lost yesterday, the performance wasn’t the same as the recent run of defeats. Where we have recently struggled in performance is having possession of the ball, but not moving it quickly enough from back to front – front means creative time on ball in creative shape, where you create chances.
During match you have your possession set up, and your out of possession set up. These, and moving effectively between them called transition, come from result of coaching to create team cohesion. For offside you step out as a unit, other end you press high as a unit, if 3 do, but one didn’t, it leaves a simple press besting pass. Etc etc.
Transition from defensive shape to creative on ball shape depends on ball retention and speed of transition, these need good balance in the team.
Team Balance comes from people in any team, factories, farms, offices, having affinity for their task and skill set for the tasks they are given. In football it would be nice if everyone fast, good acceleration in movement and thinking time, but all players in squad are different, those without great first touch are in for their movement and speed, those without speed make up for it by knowing how to be in right place at right time.
Because team performances depend so much in all that drilling for cohesion, and on good balance of affinity and skill sets for roles and tasks, true squad depth only comes when the like for like replacement is not too great a drop off in balance and cohesion the team performance needs.
Example 1. Go back in the vault to early in season when we played at Anfield – Merino started ahead Eze and 99% fans on this and other social media were incandescent about the negativity of the manager – many still are – whilst thicko commentators talked about having handbrakes on. Arteta’s response was basically “Eze has only been in the building about a week, he’s barely been in any of our coaching drills. Are you all clueless about how football works?”
Thank you.
Your welcome.
Okay. I have a condensed version of it for you.
Even though we lost yesterday, the performance wasn’t the same as recent run of defeats. Where we have recently struggled in performance is having possession of the ball, but not moving it quickly enough, especially from back to front – front means creative time on ball in creative shape, where you create chances.
During match you have your possession set up, and your out of possession set up. These, and moving effectively between them called transition, come from result of coaching to create team cohesion. For offside you step out as a unit, other end you press high as a unit, if 3 do, but one didn’t, it leaves a simple press besting pass. Etc etc.
Transition from defensive shape to creative on ball shape depends on ball retention and speed of transition, this need good balance in the team.
Team Balance comes from people in any team, factories, farms, offices, having affinity for their task and skill set for the tasks they are given. In football it would be nice if everyone is fast, good acceleration in movement and thinking time, but all players in squad are different, those without great first touch are in for their movement and speed, those without speed make up for it by knowing how to be in right place at right time.
Because team performances depend so much in all that drilling for cohesion, and on good balance of affinity and skill sets for roles and tasks, true squad depth only comes when the like for like replacement is not too great a drop off in balance and cohesion a good team performance needs.
Example 1. Go back in the vault to early in season when we played at Anfield – Merino started ahead Eze and 99% fans on this and other social media were incandescent about the negativity of the manager – many still are – whilst some commentators talked about having handbrakes on. Arteta’s response was basically “Eze has only been in the building about a week, he’s barely been in any of our coaching drills. Starting him here, are you all clueless about how football works?”
Jax,
Moon Girl doesn’t have much to say does she.
Nah, she’s a bit of a quiet one Derek
I know all this instinctively because I was born into a family where we are all business leaders and all community leaders. So it’s easy for me to understand it, and can explain it as well as I just done to many others.
Moon Girl,
I just wish that you’re post’s wasn’t so brief.
I’m convinced there is a significant portion of Arsenal fans who would happily sacrifice good football and success just to keep going with Mikel Arteta.
People can talk and debate and disagree but the story of the season come the end of May will spell success – a trophy won or failure. It cannot be disputed.
If it goes a sixth season of failure the managers time MUST be up. It’s about Arsenal not Mikel Arteta.
Arteta is not Wenger. He doesn’t deserve more chances.
No you weirdos just want Arteta gone so you can be right.
Arteta has 2 seasons where his team scored more league goals than any Wenger season. Wenger has the best the defensive record over Arteta. Funny how facts v narrative work.
You are calling for a manager to be sacked when he is top of the PL by 3 points with 5 games to go and a superior GD and is the CL semi final facing a team he beat 4-0 this season. You get how insane you are right?
No Angus I just know, given current form and Arsenals mentality exactly what’s going to happen because it is happening as we speak.
Arsenal won’t win a thing.
And you want to keep a failed manager over the club you claim to support. You post statistics that have absolutely no relevance whatsoever to what is happening on the field on the day. It’s not evidence to anything just pointless nonsense.
What is relevant is one team winning and the other losing. Do you get it?
What are you talking about. We beat Bayern 3-1 and Atletico 4-0. They are 2 of the 3 we have left in the CL. We haven’t lost a game in the Cl. So why would you believe we won’t win unless you want it to happen to be right about Arteta?
City are still 3 behind us with a worse GD and a much harder run in, in the league as well, why would you think it’s over? Unless you want it to be over?
no mate they beat Burnely they will have a better GD
You get City went out in the playoffs (last 32 kinda) 6-3 to madrid in the cl last year, we beat madrid 5-1 in the quarters that year. City went out 5-1 to madrid this year last 16. Madrid then went out Quarters to Bayern 6-4 (2-1/4-3 we beat Bayern 3-1.) We are the semifinal against a team we beat 4-0 who knocked out Barca 3-2 and Spurs 7-5.
PSG this year played 4 teams we did in the CL we beat all 4 teams. PSG lost to Bayern (Bayern had 10 men from 45 min)/Sporting, Drew with Athletic club and beat Leverkusen 7-2 tbf.
Arsenals record v PSG in the CL is w1, l2 3-3, liverpool is w1 l3 1-5, chelsea is l2 8-2
City finished behind us in the league last year too and are still behind us now, if they win their game in hand they will be on the exact same points as us after 35 games. They won 1 more in the LC and 1 more in the FA, we have won 5 more in the Cl so far.
How are they winning and us losing?
PSG as well who are getting glazed missed top 8 cl and had to go play offs. They beat Monaco 5-4. 1st leg was 2-2 Monaco red card 48th min ended 3-2. 2nd leg 0-1 Monaco 3-3 agg 58th min red card ended 2-2 5-4.
33 games 5 to go not 35.
because if they beat Burnely they are top
yeah and then we have 5 teams bottom half 3 at home (including Burnley at home) they have 4 teams top half including 2 away
I was simply answering how they are winning
if they beat Burnley they will be winning
Same points though and we’ll still have Burnley to GD pad against game 37
By winning you mean they will be on the exact same points after 33 games and ahead on gd marginally with 5 much harder games than our 5.
Even if they beat Burnley 4-0, they will be 3 ahead on gd and Arsenal will have Burnley at home to go.
yeah so they will be top lol
If we beat Newcastle/Fulham we will be 3 points clear again as well.
actually its just newcastle we will be top
Why not wait until the end of the season then Leon before you spread your doom and gloom?
What will happen at the end of the season then Ken ?
Leon, as supporters, we can then assess what happened and react to the facts, not knee jerk reactions.
Say we lose the PL on goal difference, what would your reaction be?
If we win it what would your reaction be?
Say we were to lose the CL to a 90th minute disputed goal, what would your reaction be?
If we win it what would your reaction be?
thats the thing ken if we win nothing ill agree with all of them Arteta and the team bottled it (leagues in particular) and deserve all grief heading their way. Issue is this we have lost everything started before Bournemouth, its insane.
If we win only the cl then I think thats the holy grail so Arteta has legend status automatic but i’d still say we never should have dropped the league from our position and that was not good enough.
A pity defeat. I think we deserved a draw and we had the chances for the equalizing goal. Eze’s post shot is unlucky not to go in and Harvertz has a couple of chances where he should score on at least one. It’s a difficult game to face Man C at their home ground, but I think we were up to the task and gave them a fight to the finish. I don’t understand the unfair attacks on Arteta. He had set up the team well. It is not this game that costs us. It’s a lot of our draws and the defeat to Bournemouth. Man C has a lot of dangerous attackers and our defenders were really challenged, but they handled most tasks very well. It is almost impossible to avoid Man C scoring with the form they are in at the moment. Man C has almost wiped out their opponents here lately. At least they didn’t today. They were lucky to win, and IMO undeserved, that Man C grabbed all 3 points. A little hope: Arsenal must win the rest of the games and Man C must lose points in the remaining games. In my opinion, I think Man C have a slightly tougher opponent in the last few games than Arsenal. So let’s see, all hope is not lost.
A great realistic post Websurfer.
This players have to live with it now, knowing they are the ones who gave City this chance to win the league at the end and handed the Carabao to them as well.
I could sense Halaand and Cherki walking around with a smile on their face saying: ‘Like taking candy from a baby’
For us fans it difficult to motivate this group of players. I feel for those travelling away every week and being at the Emirates. The pressure is definitely on Arsenal no joke. I don’t want to see Arsenal players or Arteta mentioning other teams doing us a favour,I don’t want to see strange training techniques, I don’t want to hear about how we play every 3rd day or how we are missing players. We are out of excuses. The only thing left to do is get on the pitch,give whatever you have left and show you can handle all the hate,criticism and hopefully learn from your mistakes.
We are out of excuses. Nothing we say or do will make any difference if we don’t win a trophy come end of the season.
You still have a chance. It depends if you wanna take it and show all those who have been laughing at us what you are made of.
As fans we are Arsenal FC till the end no matter what but we are waiting for you to give us your reaction in the remaining games.
How do you start Madueke if you are serious about winning? Eze moved centrally during the second half and he was starting to cause City problems then he was removed. He is our best attacking midfielder there was no need to play him left wing. How do you pair a slow Havertz and Gyokeres upfront its just not gonna work
Arteta falls foul of the Wengeritis disease- always a bridesmaid, never the bride .
Mark, how many times was Arsene the “bridesmaid” and how many times was he the “bride?”
No comparison whatsoever, unless it fits your narrative I guess?
Wenger 3 premier league titles and no European titles in 21 years. George Graham 2 titles and 1 European trophy in 9 years. All Wengers success coming in first few years inheriting George Graham’s defence and recruiting France’s world cup winning midfield. How many years did you watch Wengers team capitulate in the knockout stages of the Europe Champions league. Capitulation continues under Arteta but who cares along as the money rolls in -plenty of suckers around
mark bantam,
Wenger was the bride on several occasions actually. Have a look in his trophy cabinet, and it will confirm this.
Leon, as supporters, we can then assess what happened and react to the facts, not knee jerk reactions.
Say we lose the PL on goal difference, what would your reaction be?
If we win it what would your reaction be?
Say we were to lose the CL to a 90th minute disputed goal, what would your reaction be?
If we win it what would your reaction be?
5 games in League
3 games in CL max
The END
two massive trophies, and Legends status?
One thing about the evening of April 19th, such a thing is not impossible, is it?
It’s not impossible but hard.
Just watch the game delayed. Proud of the boys. No mental weakness and overly passive back passing. Beaten by better team on the day, team on the up, at home. Was a few invisible performances for sure, but against top players/best manager on planet, and on a whole tactics and effort fine. It’s the crp performances against cheap squads I struggle with.
We’re still favourites to win. Some comments on here just silly.
100%.
I believe in us winning major silverware more now than I did 24 hours ago.
Honestly the thing that grinds my gears the most is how is nobody excited about the CL right now?
We have the single weirdest fanbase in the world. I get why rivals and people like Neville/Carragher talk nonsense and downplay us they want us to fail.
We are currently top of the league by 3 points with 5 games left, if City beat Burnley we’ll be behind on GD marginally. Everything to play for still with a much easier run in level on points. City are on a 2 game win run in the league not 14.
In the CL we are unbeaten playing a team we beat 4-0 with the 2nd leg at home. The favs in the other semi Bayern we beat 3-1 already.
People are calling for our manager to be sacked right now in this scenario its insane. If we win nothing I’ll agree with the negativity but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s so weird.
The difference today was a manger that recruits football brains and one that recruits average speedsters.
Bernando Silve tracking Havertz was brilliant understanding of tactical excellence from a player with limited physical ability but a brain the size of the Arsenal squad. Cherki at 22 Rodri O’Reily Silva Docu are all footballers that can make a difference. Same cant be said for Havertz who blew 2 golden chances or Madueke who can’t cross a ball ( vs Trssard who crossed a first time ball that almost got us an equalizer)
Arsenal does not seem to have the calmness and brain required to win these titles and lots of it is media/fan pressure but also lots of it is the manager.
Too much control renders these players as robots more that individuals that can solve pressure problems on the pitch. Arteta baffles me because you want to expoloit the space behind a high line that City plays but you have not found a way to make runs behind or provide service to keep their defense honest. I get the fact that everyone should track and work both sides of the fence but we need to have better transition and outlets to go forward. in any case whether he stays or not if we can buy some “world class’ difference makers for the front line one would assume this is insanity : doing same thing and expect different results.
why are City out of the CL already? why do City have 3 more lost games than Arsenal this season despite playing 3 less games than Arsenal? why are City 3 points behind needing a win to go exactly identical level points after 33 games in the league?
Stats for todays game:
Possession
Man City:58.9%
Arsenal:41.1%
Expected goals (xG)
Man City:1.41
Arsenal:1.53
Shots
Man City:15
Arsenal:9
Shots on target
Man City:5
Arsenal:3
Big chances missed
Man City:3
Arsenal:4
Corners
Man City:8
Arsenal:5
Worth noting last 3 seasons our record against City is w2 d3 l2 ag 10-8 to us. 4 more points in the league as of now and Cl quarter,semi,semi v cl quarter,playoff,last 16..
The difference in major trophies is the 23/24 season. Arsenals highest ever goals scored in a season. Arsenals 2nd highest ever points scored season (1 behind the invicibles, 18 more goals than the golden trophy team, 3 more let in and ahead of the 2 other prem wins on points.) Also was 13 more points than Grahams 1st title win, 18 more goals and 3 less conceded as well. We lost the title by 2 points last game of the season. Arsenal won the last 5, City won the last 6.
Decisive game was 0-2 home to villa 84/87 goals.
18 v 11 shots
4 v 2 on target
1.69 v 0.98 xg
1st half 1.48 v 0.27
Other decisive game was 1-1 Liverpool City. Doku took out Mcallister studs into the chest in stoppage time and it was not given as a pen.
After that City drew with us and won all other games. We drew with city and lost to villa. Had city lost to Liverpool we would have won on GD. xg for that game was 2.47 v 1.5 City without the clearest pen you’ll ever see.
Narrative for that season is we collapsed and gave City the win reality is we won 16 of the last 18 games drawing 1 with City (1st) and losing to Villa (4th)
it’s amazing the job media narratives can do on people. guarantee everyone reading we won 16/18 in the run in 23/24 is instantly googling it because i must be lying.
When the media and rodri were going on and on about our loser mentality for drawing 0-0 away with them we had won 8 in a row, literally every game in 2024. City had drawn 2 to Liverpool/Chelsea. The Liverpool draw was literally the game before ours where they got played off the park and a stonewall penalty was ignored.
Yet most on here went with the narrative.
Full 8 was
Arsenal 5–0 Crystal Palace
Nottingham Forest 1–2 Arsenal
Arsenal 3–1 Liverpool
West Ham United 0–6 Arsenal
Burnley 0–5 Arsenal Burnley
Arsenal 4–1 Newcastle United
Sheffield United 0–6 Arsenal
Arsenal 2–1 Brentford
Anyone remember Arsenal being praised for winning 8 in a row 33-4?
Irony is the exact thing that happened at home that year happened this year too. This year we are home to Bournemouth 1-1 which would have left us 7 points clear (unbeaten in 10) with 5 more points than City since christmas. Crowd is massively on the teams back desperate for a winner (due to media narratives pretending we hadn’t gone an extra 7 points clear of City since Christmas before that game, 4 of which points were the last 2 games in the league literally.) lb skelly passes the ball awfully under no pressure to them and 2-1. Villa was the same. We won 10 drawn 1 since the winter break 38-4 in goals. 1st half Martinez makes a good save from Havertz and an even better one from Trossard, Jesus misses a free header back post and Saka puts a half chance into the side netting. Total domination but 0-0. 2nd half crowd is on the players back (due to media narratives despite being 38-4 10-1-0 last 11) we struggle to create anything but villa create nothing either. LB Zinchenko passes to Tielemans even worse than Skelly, Tielemans scores.
Wtf
Wake up to this everytime 😂
So Pep recruits football brains. Silva, to use your example has been an exceptional player for City. 9 years at the club and this is his last so yes he does. On the flip side he bought Phillips for a shed load of money and he was gone in the blink of an eye. £100m on Grealish and he wasn’t a roaring success for that amount and has gone. It happens to the best of managers.
You happened to have picked on Havertz who appears to me to possess a footballing brain. He’s getting his rhythm back after a long lay off. He missed opportunities but he was smart enough to make Donnarumma look silly.
Considering our recent performances, where sticking to your description of Arteta definitely has resonance, , yesterday’s game was played with the handbrake off. The result wasn’t what any of us wanted but it was a damn slight closer than some of the wild posts I’ve read and for the neutral, a good game
I get the disappointment expressed, I really do. It hits so hard
why are City out of the CL already? why do City have 3 more lost games than Arsenal this season despite playing 3 less games than Arsenal? why are City 3 points behind needing a win to go exactly identical level points after 33 games in the league?
Stats for todays game:
Possession
Man City:58.9%
Arsenal:41.1%
Expected goals (xG)
Man City:1.41
Arsenal:1.53
Shots
Man City:15
Arsenal:9
Shots on target
Man City:5
Arsenal:3
Big chances missed
Man City:3
Arsenal:4
Corners
Man City:8
Arsenal:5
Worth noting last 3 seasons our record against City is w2 d3 l2 ag 10-8 to us. 4 more points in the league as of now and Cl quarter,semi,semi v cl quarter,playoff,last 16.
was meant as a reply above please delete
mate with respect
just accept we lost
Allot of Gooners said allot of things when things were going well so now we have to take our medicine
your acting like your shocked we are getting questioned at all after one win in 6
Depends on what you mean by a “lot of gooners”. You have kept repeating things said by less than 5 people on this forum. What things have “a lot of gooners” said?
You are acting like Angus isn’t allowed to express his opinion.
Or are the only views allowed the ones that rubbish the players, the managers and the owners?
People like Angus are giving some balance to discussions about Arsenal rather than the huge amount of negativity that follows setbacks.
I think I’d take more notice if he’d posted less. He and Leon have been on a mission
don’t know mate
he’s posting allot since we lost , acting like what’s the issue ?
how dare anyone be disappointed?
won’t concede that City are now favourites
I certainly wouldn’t say he’s offering balance , he’s just mentioning things that have zero relevance like ….we beat Real Madrid last season ….Man City didn’t .
What’s that got to do with yesterday or the title race
The stat master ,trying to throw out pointing less information ,I mean he rambles on till 4 am this Morning .
Surely people have better things to do especially at that time .
I’m not being rude because everyone is entitled to their opinion but I truly don’t know the relevance in what he wrote
Could it be the time difference from where one is posting DK?
Well he was posting before the game so I have no idea .
Still a lot of rambling either way .
😂😂
Angus,
Just what is the point you’re trying to make?.
Why does City have 6 titles to none for us ?
I you dwell over numbers like Arteta then the excuses will start immediately after.
have you heard his press conferences?
Constant “we don=minated the game but the margins are small
Well this is why we gave you a billion dollars to make the margins work for us !!!!!!
He brought the club to a new level but it is tiring listening to him and his obsession Sith control is not helping now.
In answer to your first question, perhaps those 115 plus charges will tell us why?
. We already know how chelski won everything, by cheating.
City have 2 titles vs us as competition under Arteta. Otherwise I could say why do arsenal have 13 titles to City 8.
Angus your feathers are cleary ruffled, so much activity and your meaningless waffle has just worn everyone out. Had you been proud of today’s effort you would have remained calm waiting patiently for the team to fight another day and perhaps be be proven right. This game finished at around 3.30am Australian time so it was almost impossible to get to sleep. Yes, we had chances buy also ride our luck on a number of occassions. They simply had more cutting edge than us and in Silva a midfielder who was roaming all across the field and finding spaces. Also O’Brien is something else isn’t he? Can unlike our fullbacks defend and attack. In comparison Mosquero and Ncapie were static simply getting in the way of the attack. Before this game and after seeing the stating lineup I foresaw two possible outcomes. One was that we would play out hearts out but go down by missing the few opportunities coming our way and a crucial error the other outcome would have been the Manchester United effect as in the 2024 FA Cup final where we would be totally outplayed but somehow, ashamedly come out on top. Unfortunately, it was the first outcome . They won, we lost.
Should have been 2004 final plus season opener when Manure outplayed us but we came away with three points. In comparison early in the season, City lost at home to Spurs, giving us the best possible start, which we have not been able to take advantage of. Wasteful!
What is waffle that ive said. I am ruffled and I am droning on and on but what is actually waffle that i said?
O’Reily is quality and had a decent defensive game, he did very little going forward. Best forward moment he had was he missed his pass to Rodri it deflected off hincapies heel and fell to Haaland perfectly for goal 2 by complete pure luck thanks to the deflection.
Worth noting for City 2nd goal. Gabriel is infront of Haaland goalside. Haaland grabs his shirt on his arm and throws him behind, thats why he had the space. It’s no strength test Haaland is just holding his arm and throwing him around with his shirt. That explains the later incident Gabriel was lucky not to have been sent off
What is the point in VAR?
Most people including me missed it because we were following the ball and then disappointed to be down but the replay is clear as day how did var miss that? Haaland is throwing Gabriel about via his shirt before O’reilly passes it and is still holding Gabriels shirt when he scores and he actually swings Gabriel back to other side via his shirt after he’s scored before he lets go to celebrate. Thats insane.
Saddest thing is the Arsenal fanbase including me are so busy arguing with each other we all completely missed the fact Haaland was rag dolling Gabriel via his shirt for the winner. There is no world in which an attacker is allowed to grab a defenders shirt and throw him behind them to create space anytime anywhere on the pitch. You get pulled up for nudging defenders in the back ffs.
Just for some clarity, could you please explain once more how Haaland scored Citys’ second goal please, Angus.
have you heard the saying ……you protest too much lol
Sorry Angus, but I lose your points in the end, as there are so many.
My view is that, despite being very unlucky to leave Manchester with no points, we’ve handed the initiative to city115.
All we can do, is win every one of the five games left and hope they slip up.
That’s the PL race in a nutshell isn’t it?!
And to score more goals than them, in case they don’t slip up, Ken.
realistically , best we can hope for is they win by no more then 3 on Wednesday,
that would put them 2 ahead and then we simply need to win all 5 and catch that up
I do think City have the tougher 5 but equally Arsenal could simply fall apart so it’s a tricky one
A lot people on this forum owe me an apology as I told them this would happen in January. 0-0 against a dead Liverpool, losing to United, 2-2 with Wolves. Drawing at Brentford. This team deserves this! Losers. It’s about the ownership sacking Arteta now, but this won’t happen.
FFS, just p*ss off, with your terminal negativity, Konstantin.
Konstantin stick around please there’s method in your negativity. Fact is early in the season we managed to scramble together enough points through ugly set piece goals ,while our opponents were missing chances at the out end. The negative football was never going to hold and sooner or later luck would turn and things would even out against us. It was inevitable but few here wanted to know about it. Even with my negativity early in November, I was satisfied with how things were working out. Sure we were playing poorly but picking up points with what appeared to be an impregnable defence. My thinking at the time was, imagine how good we are going to be come April once our injured players return, the new signings settle in and the youngsters Dowman’ and Nwaneri receive more game experience We are going to blow everyone away. Fools’ wishful thinking, our football only got worse and the manager proving once again to be limited by his negative mindset and unwillingness to think outside the box. What a waste of top quality recourses.
Agree 100% Jax – as I’ve said before, what enjoyment he gets from following our club I have no idea.
This fanbase of losers who will accept anything that come their way deserve all the pain they get. Every last bit of it. It’s the sole reason this football club has nothing of major importance in 20 years.
And will you continue supporting this “losers'” club Konstantin?
Says the fella who wrote an article that was a load of 🐂💩
Konstantin,
You say you want an apology, I doubt you’ll get you’re desired apology. Have you ever heard the saying until hell freezes over. 😂
Unlike after the loss to B/mouth which left me feeling disappointed and worried and basically sick to the stomach, yesterday’s game was completely different. We took the game to City and if the football gods had been on our side we could have come away with all 3 points. Unfortunately for us it was Cities day and they took the spoils.
Our big advantage is gone now but it’s not IMHO over yet.
We now head into a playoff scenario with as good a chance as City.
If we apply ourselves and put away more of our scoring opportunities we can prevail.
Please Gooners GET BEHIND THE FUKIN TEAM that you all claim to support and save your negativity for if/ when the worst happens.
A measured post unlike some of the hysteria based views
Edward, I doubt that it’ll get to a play-off situation before all the other factors are first applied, but I’m sure it will go the distance.
And yes, there’s still life in it for Arsenal.
it’s now impossible for a play off situation
Yeah, with City winning the head-to-head factor.
There are no football gods.
It is up to the players to take their chances when they come along. I hope Haverts has not reverted back to how he played for Chelsea- missing too many chances.
Though, to be honest, I do not like singling out any one player as it is a team game.
What doesn’t make sense is the exact fans that were saying performances don’t matter only the results do (that ignore that poor performances lead to poor results at some stage) are now the exact people saying the result wasn’t good but the performance was much better so reason for optimism
The hypocrisy is on a different level. For the record I agree the performance was much better but you can’t have it both ways
What is hypocritical about reacting to games at the time? By that token, those that only come on when we lose offer what exactly especially as they never post when the going’s good? It works both ways
I’m sure you understand what’s hypocritical about it Sue, stop trying to deflect 🙂
I know what being hypocritical is. I just don’t follow your explanation. I play golf so I know that performances can vary from one week to the next. I see no harm when the supporters want Arsenal to win the league by any legal means possible, to say so. Good, bad or indifferent as each game may be. Wouldn’t you even if the on field quality varies ?
Derek’s gone a bit silent, hasn’t he, SueP! He usually has plenty to say following a loss😱.
He’ll be on later no doubt Jax. and I await his analysis with interest. What I’ve noticed with Derek is he lets the dust settle before putting his 2 pence in. I’ll be genuinely interested to know what he thought about yesterday
Yeah, probably right, but it’ll be more than 2 pence worth, I’m sure.
Good evening Jax and SueP,
I have decided to put my view forward, here goes. Yesterday’s game was better from the point of view the team had more of a go, which is what I ask for. If you’ve read some of my previous post’s you will have seen me say I can except us losing if we actually try and win the game.
I don’t like seeing my team die wondering. The game itself was a good one with plenty of tension and tempo to it. My fear is that City are now in the perfect position, I liken it to just coming off the final bend in the 15,00 meters. Will City have a bigger kick than us, or have we saved something in the tank to go again.
I hope that you two are now happy that I have put my two pence in, just like you both asked me to. 😂👍
That’s very good Derek, just don’t leave so late next time😏
Jax,
As the saying goes, always leave them wanting more. 😂👍
Hi Derek,
Sometimes it is good to let the dust settle after all. I read so much from disappointed posters about how awful we were, but it wasn’t like that really. The result was, but you saw the team try. Give it a go, which is all you can ask for. There was enough there to give me hope that the players will continue to keep giving it a go.
SueP,
It really is squeaky bum time now isn’t it. I’m trying not to walk around to much, as my bum squeaks all the more.
Try WD40
SueP,
I’ll give it a try, if that doesn’t work I’ll try UB40.
When Klopp announced his departure Pep immediately retorted hereafter I sleep well. Is he getting what he desired? Title is still Arsenal’s as Rice hinted out. Arsenal have kinder fixtures vis a vis City’s. This moment just helps to discern friends and foes.
think you need to accept that one team handles pressure better
City know how to deal with this stage of the season
Even our goal difference has decreased to 1 point higher than City.
Which will disappear completely if (and when) City beat Burnley on Wednesday.
I didn’t mean literally a one game play off between us and City. But when/ if they beat Burnley, it would come down to a five game mini league between Arsenal & City. Sorry for the lack of clarity.
That’s OK, Edward. We’re still in it🤗
It was a bad loss, with a noticeable better performance and missed chances. If MLS didn’t start against Bournemouth we might have won the game, same can be said of Ben white on the other side, Kai better hold up play and positioning than his no 9 alternatives..
Finally, as a true fan, you have a right to vent out your frustrations, but realistically we have no choice but to support the team, as we are still in the running for 2 top trophies, and City still play Villa and Bournemouth
Everyone seems to think Bournemouth or Villa can do us a favor. If Arsenal cant beat city why do you think 2 teams below us can when City literally can smell the title? With all to play for they beat us so it is unlikely they will drop points and the only chance we will get is for us to blow everyone off by a huge margin on the last 5 games. We need to stop counting on our opponents to do our job and now it is the moment of truth: Can we deliver?
because football doesn’t work like that
Everton for example would be at home with nothing to lose against a team who might have to win
Actually Dan it works exactly like that. Both teams can drop points anytime in the season but the fact Arsenal are dropping points at the wrong time is
a consistent problem. I am sure you have seen the statistics for April so we can debate this but history is not on our side until we change it.
but your point was how can others get a result against City if Arsenal can’t
Simple …..they won’t play with the anxiety or pressure we have to play with
Playing a game with zero consequence makes such a difference
Trust me …..if Arsenal played Bournemouth at home in September you don’t see that performance
So there’s more things to factor in at this stage
After the way we’ve been playing lately I thought we were in for a battering. To my surprise we actually played a lot better than we have recently. Fair play to the lads, they gave it ago, (different to City when they played us at the Emirates this season).
The title race is wide open, with both teams facing a few tricky games. 🤞we can get over the line.
The problem with Arsenal has been losing and drawing games we are supposed to win by big margins. Had we beaten Bournemouth, Sunderland, and Brentford, Forest, and Wolves, we wouldn’t be worried about losing away to City. Even in the cup competitions we play so bad against the weaker teams. This clearly shows that the manager is at fault as the players are self motivated against big teams. Arsenal playing Spurs is a game every player is waiting for.
Why have we been poor against weaker teams? Why do we play negative football at home against Forest, how do we get knocked out of the FA cup by Southampton?
It all goes down to the manager who is supposed to address this. It has been repetitive that’s why fans are angry. Any supporter with COMMON SENSE won’t support how City has closed the gap on us. It’s embarrassing and should be said like it is.
To those who support Arteta can you explain how he chose to buy Madueke for 50mil? No other club wanted him as he is very average then we paid all that money. Unbelievable.
Arteta has run down Saka, Timber, Odegaard and Rice when he had chances to rest them and use other players. It’s so sad these players may fail to get back to their best because their bodies have been over worked. All this happening when we have players like White, Lewis Skelly and Norgaard who has lost their edge because their rotting on the bench when they are fit to play. For this who do you blame than the manager.
Why has Zubimendi been used against physical teams who have dominated him when we have Norgaard? We let Tierney go for free yet we don’t have a proper left back. All 3 who can play are not natural left backs. We have 1 natural right back the other two who play there are centre backs. All this you can only blame the manager.
With a good manager we should have won 2 of the last 3 league titles. It’s just unforgivable how we fold up. I pray we win this year I pray City drop points in 2 games I pray we win all by big margins. I pray Arteta let’s the players play with freedom with the hand brake off. We need this as could start losing players.