Arsenal’s dominance over Man United was a positive, but it was the unlucky 13th

With Arsenal having won their last 12 League games in a row at the Emirates, we should have been full of confidence despite the fact we were playing Mourinho’s mMn United, but our 13th game proved to be one step too far. Arsenal never stopped attacking Man United’s goal for the whole 90 minutes of yesterday’s game but came away with less than nothing. We know that Arsene Wenger was angry after the poor defensive performance, but how did Petr Cech feel when his two best defenders gave away the two early goals and he had to pick the ball out of the net?

“It is an unlucky game,” Cech said. “but we need to make sure that when we create chances in a big game we score and don’t make mistakes, which the game was decided by at the start with our two mistakes and they scored. At the half-time we were sure after having so many chances that if we scored it would be on, and I thought after 2-1 they missed a big chance and we had a few chances to equalise. We thought it would be the turning point but unfortunately they scored a third goal and the efficiency in front of goal decided the game. There are not many times you play United and you dominate the whole game, having so many chances, so this is positive, but we are disappointed.

“We played against Huddersfield and we were on the other side of it. We had a spell where we had four shots and everything went in, this time it was the opposite. Obviously you need to make sure before every game that you give everything, and we completely dominated most of the game but got nothing out of it, so it’s disappointing.”

We couldn’t have picked a worse game to get “unlucky” in, with United jumping back up to a 7 point lead over us in second place, and now we seriously have a very steep hill to climb to regain the points.

Is that the end of our title chances for this season, even if Man City collapse spectacularly…

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22 Comments

  1. I just don’t know what happens to us in these sort of games when the spotlight is right on us. During wenger’s early years we were the underdogs really trying to stop the force of manure. But now when the pressure is on and the world is watching us we basically crack. I just cannot bear this state of arsenal and sometimes I break into tears thinking about the sides like ANFIELD 89,DOUBLES IN 1997/98 and 2001/02 and of course THE INVINCIBLES-where we were and where we are now. I know some of you might laugh at me thinking I’m over-elaborative or naive but the truth is I BREATH ARSENAL,I LOVE ARSENAL and I really want the glory days back at my love and if you are just like me,how can you not want the same ?????

  2. Arsenal were out of the title race when they lost to mediocre teams like Stoke City and Watford, plus they got trashed by big teams like Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United. Mourinho instructed his team to be super defensive after the first goal and that was when Arsenal started to dominate.

    The Manchester United match result was not a bad luck, the defensive players could not handle heavy pressures from MU players and forced to make errors. Many Arsenal players that came and went in the last ten years did similar mistakes, and the same manager that manages the team for more than twenty years never fixed the problem.

    It is obvious that defense is not Wenger’s forte and I am afraid that he will let the sloppy passes to happen in the next few years, if he keeps insisting on staying. We have seen this scenario so many times in the last ten years and new people with new system would be needed in the next season, to stop the recurring mistakes and to create a better foundation for Arsenal.

    1. Your comment is so stupid it’s barely worth addressing but… Look at how many clean sheets we have kept this season. And when Mustafi or Koscielny make a mistake, it’s not Wenger on the field misplacing a pass, or Wenger yelling to his players “Give the ball away and let them score!” Honestly, at the very least your comment should make sense.

      Man U have never been so thoroughly dominated or so lucky. They didn’t deserve to win. We made some grievous defensive errors and paid the price, but put the blame where the blame is due.

  3. Good teams and players make their own luck. Cech should be concentrating on why he didn’t make the first save, not decrying bad luck.

  4. There is nothing like unlucky, the team is shit, players lacked composure created a lot of chances but misskicked the ball, good example the Ramsey and Xaka chances in the 1st half, even the Laca goal Ramsey did not intended to pass back because he had no time to look who was behind him, it was simply a poor kick/touch.

    The other reason there was no balance between attacking and defending, sometimes for we fans it’s very easier to blame defender, but there is no best defender who can prevent counter attacks with easier because of isolation the ball moves toward him very quickly with no specific direction due to high numbers of attacking players. The time lacked cohesion, they needed to attack and defend together, but then this is a till die Wengers problem. We were murdered with this playing styles for a decade now, I remember the Rooney and Ronaldo error with Sir Alex in charge, the used to do this in tireless occasion.

    The last reason, arsenal may play a very but they will always ending up losing in big game because players always suffer physicality, and again nothing can change here with Wenger in charge. Looking Ramsey touching the ball like he is falling down is absolutely terrible. Good example here is Hazard goal against us.

    I think everything goes with time, Arsene error has passed by, we need to be patient till the board realize that Wenger is no longer good, and the time when he will be sucked is when now we will resume talking about arsenal football.

    1. instead of complaining

      its about time you spend 2 billion, buy the club…

      release the manager and 25 men squad

      sign 25 world class players and a world class manager and win titles

      just like you did in Fifa 18

  5. You cannot say its the 13 th game,being unlucky,etc.. The truth is Arsenal aint
    good enough.
    This loss reminds me of the games Wenger has lost to the rf/Chelsea/Blackburn Rovers and
    even Hull.Wenger has been found out. The opposing teams let him have 90% possession
    and n shots at goals.When he is attacking en masse,the ball is bound to be intercepted,etc.
    That’s why his record against the top teams is a disgrace.
    This season the epl is gone and believe me Arsenal will never win another epl as long
    as the fm stays in charge.He shd not blame his defence.The so surprised many people by having a go at the gunners. They were helped by a dithering defence.
    This is not the first time the fm has lost abig,big, game .And it aint going to
    be the last aslong as he stays.

    1. buy the club and sign a new manager and 25 world class players and

      help the fans win the title please…

    2. You’re saying the manager should not blame the defense for avoidable, amateur errors? Are you kidding?

      If the defense has a momentary lapse of concentration and gifts the ball to the opposition, the manager is not to blame. Everyone playing at that level knows what is to be expected.

      It’s only by sheer luck, and perhaps divine intervention that Man U got the points. Arsenal should have demolished them 5-0 they dominated so hard. Unfortunately errors are part of the game and Man U did very well to capitalize on them, but overall Man U played very poorly and were saved single-handedly by De Gea and the referees, who denied us 2 clear penalties.

      Please stop with the hysterics. If you’re going to fall apart, self-destruct and implode whenever we lose to a top team, I’m afraid you’re not long for this world. Grow a spine and a brain.

  6. We were never in a title race to begin with, we needed the obvious signings that were never brought in! Our summer transfer business is about financial profit not recruitment anyway on to the game yesterday very annoyed always annoyed losing to man u but in the manner we lost.. 33 attempts at goal 75% possession and lose comfortably it can only happen to arsenal it would be funny if not so tragic and I’m for one not buying the reason we lost is because of De Gea it’s as much poor finishing as it is great goal keeping more aggression with the chances and you score I don’t care who’s in goal just smash it doesn’t have to look pretty and I don’t have to say very much about the defending it’s schoolboy stuff all this talk about koscielny (bosscielny) never got that isn’t physical enough to be an Adams or Campbell gets muscled off the ball far too often he’s a good player don’t get me wrong but he ain’t world class and definitely isn’t a leader I’d replace that whole back line and drop xhaka and ramsey for new signings yeah ramsey set up a nice goal but that kid cannot hit water if he fell out of a boat his shooting is awful always sky’s them very frustrating player. Ah well at least the smirk will be wiped of United’s face next week that will make us feel a little better.

    1. Not sure about that. We gave them a confidence boost, and they will probably win next week. Hate to see that happen tho….

  7. Statement is Partially correct that we dominated Man Utd but we were certainly not unlucky… When you do such 2 school boy errors and when you miss seater Like Xhaka missed it then you don’t deserve to win… We certainly don’t deserve to win that game because it’s criminal to do such mistakes in defence and that too against top 6 clubs… Xhaka should have buried that one in… We dominated the United Side but were not unlucky… We lost game because of our own impotency in the game…

  8. Watching that was so painful, because it was the same old problems yet again. Lots of possession, lots of shots/etc. but no points to take home.

    Moureen did exactly what everybody knew he would do before the game, and it worked perfectly, just like it usually does. This team (IE. This manager) is never, ever going to learn.

    What will it take to convince to convince all the AKB’s that this is going to repeat itself for another 10 years if we don’t change the manager and coaching?

  9. You can not take our dominance seriously. Once Mourinho puts you away in 15 minutes the rest of the game is not a representation of strength. He will let you have the ball. Same for us we tend to make a bit more of an effort once we fall behind let alone by two goals. The main thing that should be the talking point is how can we AGAIN fall behind in 15 minutes against a big team whilst we (players (Cech and Kos) and fans) had been running our mouths of all week how we can still win the PL title or how we should be confident in beating Man U.

    We should not look at bad luck or one game, we should look at trends and this game falls squarely in the trend they have been established under Wenger. We hardly ever win more than 3 or 4 PL games in a row, lose to big teams more often than we beat them, yes we beat a struggling Spurs but we were easily put away by Pep and Mourinho.

    Will anyone be surprised if we read an article sometime in the future were Young or a Man U player tells us how Mourinho had spotted that Kos sometimes makes careless passes to be alert for that? or that Mustafi has a tendency to try to play himself out of trouble so to try to capitalize on that? Clearly Wenger can’t seem to fix his team “naive” defending and clearly, we heard him moan about naive defending for years and years no matter which players he bought or chose to put on the pitch. So is it really only the players who are to blame for their stupid mistakes?

    Or is Wenger also to blame? Perhaps he doesn’t know how to instill the killer instinct in his defenders that mean they “don’t switch of” or make “poor decisions” in big games at any point let alone in the first 15 minutes. Mistakes often come from either arrogance, lapse of concentration or inability to deal with pressure, all three of those are “coachable” or “managable”. Mistakes that find their origine in lack of talent are harder to fix but no one can serioulsy claim Kos or Mustafi don’t have the talent to be good CD.

    The trend remains the same, we are incapable of putting more than 3 or 4 wins in a row in the PL and when we play a big team at the end of such a mini winning streak we become arrogant and confident, forget the past and start actually publicllay talking about the PL title depite have been double digits away from first place with in barely having played 10 PL games this season.

    The manager doesn’t learn at this club and thus neither do his players and even some fans still dare to mention us in the same breath as the PL title.

    Guardiola would have ripped Cech a second one if he had heard him speak about the title before any game let alone before a game against Man U, same for if he had seen Kos’s arrogant tweet about how great our defense is. We just lack the organizational awareness that a season is 38 games long and that you focus on one game at a time particlularly if you are double digits out of first place and that you do your talking on the pitch not on social media or in the press.

    Nothing is going to change at our club, the ingredients for change are not their. They guys in charge (acutally both owner and manager) have not changed and they are the ones that are supposed to be able to bring change. How can you expect Wenger at his age to bring abiout change?

  10. One thing you all need to understand is the mental strength of a coach is reflected upon the team. Wenger has no mental strength to face Mourinho.

    Mistakes happen but how many times did Wenger came to the pitch line like Mourinho did? Did he give any input to the team? Changed his tactics?
    The world of football is changing and Wenger is not up to it.

    One more thing, Ramsey and Chaxka were responsible for all the goals. If they were proper MH and protected the defence, mistakes would have been rectified. We don’t need attack minded midfield holders but we need proper midfield holders that will protect and prevent any attack.

    Did Wenger give TT hem to sit and prevent counter attack like Mourinho did? No!

    Did he instructed Sanchez to release the ball rather than chasing his tail? No!

    If he was a proper coach, he would have used Ozil as no 10 and Elneny and Chaxka as midfield holders. Ramsey is also out of position and that is an issue as well. He is not a midfield holder by nature but an attaching midfielder so you have to use him that way.

    There are so many issues with the tactics and the coach is responsible. There is no spine in the midfield and we need a coach that will address that issue.

    One of the most important position in football is MH and without a proper midfield holder, you will lose the midfield battle over and over. Since Viera left, we had excellent players in every department except midfield holder position and until we get a top MH, don’t expect us to win a Premier League trophy.

    What do I base my argument? The last few years, we have been crying for a top striker. We have now a top striker by the name of Lacazette. Why are we still struggling? The answer is simple and I leave it for you all to contemplate.

    1. Please take out 2 billion, buy the club, release the manager and the 25 players

      then get a new manager and sign 25 world class players….

      and we can win titles just like Fifa 18

    2. “he would have used Ozil as no 10 and Elneny and Chaxka as midfield holders.”

      Yeah sorry, but Ozil has been doing an excellent job in his forward position and Elneny hasn’t had a good game all year.

      “Ramsey and Chaxka were responsible for all the goals”

      Also completely off. The goals came from horrible, amateur errors by Kos and Mustafi and another turnover by Sanchez. Put the blame where it’s due, your criticisms should at least make sense.

      Every player makes errors. Prior to this we’d kept many clean sheets with a great defensive record and Mustafi putting in several Man of the Match performances. It was a lapse in focus plain and simple with unfortunate timing against a top team.

      I wish Arsenal fans would have a bit more spine. It’s always the same, capitulating into hysterical meltdowns and then undermining the team for the rest of the season. Any of you who can’t act like part of the team and support like a proper fan should just stay home or support another team.

  11. The problem is the speed of the attack is too slow. Too many passes and
    hesitation to pass and very little shooting.By the time the gunners get to the box they
    still want to thread aball through the massed ranks. For once it worked.
    I am afraid Wenger has lost the plot about how to play the top teams at their gameie
    hitting on the counter. This has happened too many times and the arrogant fmhas to
    pay the price.

  12. Utd were more clinical in front of goal, we had like 16 shots on target and how many of them were straight at de gea? Can’t blame wenger for this the captain and mustafi let the team down.

  13. Open goal and xhaka hits my grandma sitting at home, please replace this guy next match.

    Kos and Mustafi , please school boys can pass better, wtf you are international players good luck making world cup playing like that, amateurs.

    3 clear penalties denied, Lacazette close line, iwobi and welbeck tackle in the box.
    Then Mou has balls to say grass is very nice so we like laying on it.

    So angry because we created so many chances and could not finish.

    If our players did not get the penalty should they not have gotten a card for simulation?

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