Tottenham have beaten Arsneal 3-0 to close to within one point of us in the Premier League table.
The Gunners started the match on the front foot, looking dangerous for much of the first five minutes, but things didn’t stay that way for long.
Spurs first real dangerous attack saw them gifted a penalty, with Cedric Soares scrambling to get back on terms with Son before sending him flying with his leg. Admittedly some angles of the replay make the decision seem soft, but overall I think there is little to complain about on the decision.
Kane dispatched the penalty by sending Aaron Ramdsale the wrong way, and things gradually got worse and worse from this point onwards. Holding got himself a silly yellow card for trying to kick through the forward and received the ball in a scrappy tussle, before recklessly getting himself a silly second booking for raising his arm to use his elbow to block the run of Son, leaving us with slim hopes of any result.
Moments later Spurs lead was doubled when the corner was headed out to the back post where Kane was running into space to guide it home, putting the match out of reach before the 40-minute mark.
While there may have been a little hope that our manager could have got his boys firing with some magical teamtalk at the break, those hopes were quickly dispelled as Son made it 3-0 with the first attack of the new half.
There was very little to enjoy from this point onwards in all honesty, although Aaron Ramsdale did deny our rivals a fourth with a strong save, but the anxiety levels rose further when Gabriel Magalhaes had to limp off the pitch to be replaced, leaving us with a back four of Tavares, Xhaka, Tomiyasu and Cedric on the field, with Ben White seemingly not to be risked this evening.
Fingers crossed that White and Gabriel will be fit for the weekend with Holding now suspended, especially with our lead in the race for the top-four having been cut to just one point.
Holding is the obvious one to be picked on for today’s result, while some may feel that Arteta may have been playing into our rivals hands from the off by sticking with the back-four. There will be no time to dwell on what went wrong here however with Newcastle our next opponents come Monday, but today’s performance will need to be quickly deleted from our memories if we are to get back on the right track.
Was we already second-best before the initial penalty or red card?
Patrick
Conte outclassed Arteta.
I didn’t watch this match bcos its not good for my health…… And would b4 worst if I come to JA to see comment.
👍
Arteta cost Arsenal the game with his 4-2-3-1 and it’s quite unfortunate. He didn’t do his home work well on Spurds. Brighton beat Spurds with 3-5-2 formation. Spuds don’t have creative players to break down a low block defense. It’s a sign Arteta is still lacking in experience. We beat Chelsea with 3-4-2-1 and Holding is very good at such formation. Why not adapt same for a top opposition like Spuds? This lose is painful and avoidable.
Our formation against theirs was wrong i agreee but we lost the game through naivety and poor game management.
what part of their formation cause the pen/red? absolute nonsense talking non-fans doesnt even make sense.
formation f me
Angus a 3-4-2-1 formation allows holding to be helped by others players in defensible third and he will be more Central than sideways against the Pacey H.Sung. Arteta eventually shift his formation to back 5 but it was too late. The formation we played against Chelsea strikers quiet against our defense
good one, mind the gap
Defense was supposed to do the job for us but same ruined it for us.
If we had stayed nil-nil till second half, they would have panicked and given us some confidence.
On to Newcastle. The battle becomes tougher.
Senior players again letting the team down, Cedric and Holding,hang your heads in shame
This is more the point. Very poor decision making by senior players.
Some people on here have been insisting that Holding is better than BW. His performance here gives an indication as to why he is no more than a back up. He needs to be replaced with a better defender if Arsenal are to make any kind of real progress in future.
Due to certain inconveniences I missed the match and only listened to the commentary. I think we need to show better fight in these kind of games and matches where the opppsition is playing better. We dont have a good plan even against smaller clubs when they are all over us. We will be experiencing such in Europe so we’ve got to go harder.
Agreed.. disastrous night. Still in our hands though. We just have to win the next two games at any cost. COYG!
It’s going to be tough. Have to hope Everton is safe by then or hope Burnley take something off Tottenham
What did I just watch?
Now, I know why Holding is not a starter. He have talent but couldn’t handle pressure.
well by that logic same can be said for Gabrielle and xhaka, yet here we are.
Our midfield died. Ødegaard was sh*t. Holding was constantly shaking like a leaf. Nketiah isolated. Cedric is not up to it.
Team was playing too high knowing full well Tottenham is counter attacking side.
Odegaard, I disagree – he was one of the few who was trying to make things happen and battled till the end.
Holding was not up to it – I’ve not been convinced for a long time.
It has long been clear that Cedric is not a great defender.
Am I the only one who noticed that OUR MIDFIELD COMPLETELY DIED?
I think everything died but i dont get this Odergaard love in, vastly overrated by some, just a neat and tidy player that cant control a game, which he should be doing.
we went down to 10 after a pen away from home but ode overrated, joker. Madrid have been getting grief for letting him go all season. The opinions on this site are so devoid from reality it’s scary
@dgr8xt
It was never there. Xhaka was playing in an an attacking role and Elneny was left to fend for himself. They copped on to this early and just double teamed him. Then just ran through him.
And to everyone on here jumping on young Rob, Arteta should be well aware of Holdings lack of pace, knowing he was going to come up against Son, who was jostling him for his lunch money at will. Rob did all he could do, try and put the fear of roughness into him. Which didn’t work.
You can’t claim to want to win, when you don’t set up to do so…IJS
@Angus
Put down the meth pipe dude…
What you see here are the usual critical ‘know-it-all’s’. You are quite right regarding Holding as some of these people were insisting that Arsenal didn’t need BW and that Holding is a better defender. Now that the beloved Holding has been found wanting they are making excuses for him and, as usual, blaming the defender’s shortcomings on the manager.
I didn’t watch the match as I was at work
However why isn’t anyone commenting on the sending off
No way is that a card
It was the other stuff that contributed to him going. His head wasn’t properly attached to his body tonight
Nor was Son’s head Sue, after Holding hit him with an elbow😂
Seriously though, that could easily have been a straight red rather than yellow.
At least you’re not hysterical Declan
We still have hope
Declan and SueP, a point ahead, still positive; however poor team formation set up, out coached and outplayed away from home and a man down on the day. The lack of goal scoring threat a big concern.
Could have easily been a straight red,elbow in face, holding really lost his head,same as Gabriel in the city game
Not sure what was going through Holdings head, he was playing like he was on crack cocaine and it was completely out of charachter. Ifit was a tactic, it failed badly, if it wasn’t, it should have been sorted early because the second he got booked, he needed telling to lay off but obviously wasn’t and didn’t.
I think he was scared of Son’s pace.
Of course it was a red card!!!!!!!!!
Spurs would have given anything to be in our position right now, but they are not!
No need to over react, we have bounced back countless times this season!
We are still in the top 4, and it’s 100% in our hands!
Correct, we all should remember that and make certain tonight was not a benefit to spurs at all. We are still in control!!!!!!!
Correct! Lagos gunner well said.
That was a bad performance. Nothing much to say except onwards and upwards for the next game….
We were playing well before Holding lost his head in the tussle with Son. Lack of maturity of Holding, eventhough Son was getting under his skin. I don’t when arsenal is going to learn of eminent red card when playing Spurs. It has happened time and time again. Though I think he didn’t deserve the first yellow. Referee was horrible.
Agree with all you say, except your view on Holding.
The second yellow card should have been a straight red in my opinion.
Having said that, Son is very clever at milking a situation.
The top four is still ours to give away and I can only keep my fingers crossed.
Ken, very clever is something we are the total opposite of and we should be taught to be a lot more savvy in what we do.
Yes, but Conteh knows all the tricks and Mikel is still learning them from a managerial aspect.
The Newcastle game will be a real marker for him and I hope he passes the test.
@ken1945
To me, this was the “test”, the “real marker”…IJS
So it is Arteta’s fault that Holding loses his head. So many have been praising Holding before now claiming he should have been playing ahead of BW.
He now has a terrible individual performance and, of course, the usual ‘experts’ are out in force to find any way to suggest it’s all because of the difference in managers.
You can’t make this stuff up man 😂😀……. Arteta just can’t win with some. 😀….. I’m of the opinion that the referee ruined the game with cheap spot kick he gave the Spuds. But we still have the edge, and we just need to make it count.
@AY75
Opinions ain’t facts. And that spot kick wasn’t the reason for our loss. Reality Check.
What reality check?…. I said he ruined the game with that decision, not that the loss was entirely down to that.
@David
Any excuse to see reality. Any manager worth his weight would set up to try and counter the blistering pace of Son and Kane. Rob dealt with it the only way he knew how, through physicality. So, you’re saying Arteta wasn’t aware of Holdings lack of pace in having to deal with either Son or Kane? Get real…
Correct NY👍
Really?
So Holding had no choice but to put an elbow into Son’s face because he was afraid of his pace.
Arsenal loves it the hard way. They perform when you expect them to crumble and crumble when you expect them to perform…
Still in our hands but we just made things tough for ourselves.
We have Newcastle and Everton.
Spurs have Burnley and Norwich. I expect Spurs to win their remaining games. Burnley is tricky as they are fighting to stay in the league but I don’t think they will win or draw Spurs.
We have to defeat Newcastle and Everton. As simple as that.
Holding couldn’t handle the pressure tonight. Decent dude that does his job when called upon but today He let the team down…
What the hell just happened? What the “spuds” was that? Just trying to be polite.
We all knew what we were going to get when we went with our hearts!
Has much as I think Arteta is way out of his depth the ball is still in our court ,2 wins and we get back to where the great Arsene keep us for 20 seasons .
Should be no problem against Newcastle and Everton.
Obviously the red didn’t help tonight but we go again next Monday ,not a problem for the magician.
It’s ok Dan the defence is fixed 😉
Hangover Tomorrow Kev 😂
Working with 2 spuds supporters 🤢
Nah mate you need to call in sick you can’t be having that 😂
My job mate and on the last 2 weeks to get it finished ,they are only painters ,no offence to painters but if you can piss you can paint 😂 especially spud painters anyway .
Painting is not a job for a hangover is it Dan 😂 but I know how you feel I work with a few bellends so its best just to get it over and done with 😛
That, Kev82, is the biggest joke of all.
Five new players at enormous cost, the No. 1 area that a certain group of fans slated Arsene Wenger for – his last two seasons saw GA as 44 and 51…has ANYONE noticed how many goals our defence… which all and sundry was shouting out as “fixed”, has let in?
Ken I can’t say for certain but we are nearing 50 goals against? That is shocking! The defence is not fixed it’s still a shambles and more worryingly we conceded less with David Luiz at the back last season. But people will continue to tell you Arteta had an amazing transfer window.
Best defence in a decade apparently Ken 😂
55 goals let in now… even Amber Heard has a better defence 🤣
Oops 45 😂
55 by the end of the season? 😄
Haha yes she does Sue 😝
@Sue
EPIC…😂😂😂😂
😂😂 that says it all!!
We’ve let in 45 premier league goals this season. That’s more than Brighton and Crystal Palace have let in. Yeah, our defense is fixed. Can’t argue that
We have lost 12 games, one less than last season, when we were poor, (2games to go) is the defence fixed or is it still a problem?
This is what the supporters who DARE say anything against Mikel, are trying to point out, but it’s like banging your head against a brick wall!!!
Dan kit, but what you forget is that AW only managed 15 times to get us to the K/O stages, two semi finals and a final, along with two decades of european football and that UE was only a Head Coach.
Yes Ken1945, all those years in the CL but could only win 8 KO ties. Wow. He’s the only manager in the history of European competitions to lose a final to a Turkish club. Been to the final of 3 European competitions and lost the lot. Should change his name to either Napoleon Wenger or Arsene Bonaparte.
See what I mean?
HD if you want to change his name, good for you – now tell me how that affects the club’s results regarding Mikel Arteta?
Just read some of the sky sport facts below and start addressing the hear and now.
So Ken, you can use facts but I can’t ? Gotcha 🙄
Mate, you will never get me.
If you want to dwell on Arsene Wenger and the past, change his name, disrespect him, then go ahead – no skin off my nose.
It really doesn’t concern me who AW lost to, as that was, what, over six years ago?
Perhaps you can now address the current situation at our club, the facts that sky have laid out and how that affects the here and now?
It was you Ken that brought Wenger into it, not me. Please keep up.
Wrong again old chap.
Go back and you will find it was Dan kit making a very astute observation at 9.51 pm.
Do keep up??? 😂😂😂
Please try to remember what you read old chap and address the current situation.
We need Saliba back next season. Don’t know what White, Gabriel and others are defending when we’re shipping goals. The defense needs work
Not only Saliba. We need Mavropanus as well.
👍👍
He brought Wenger up on another post, not this one 🙄. Still, expect nothing from someone who doesn’t know the difference between the Northbank and the Clockend 😁
Even DK got the number of years we were in the CL under Wenger wrong 😂
It’s like educating a child – scroll back to 9.51 on this article, the one we are on and talking about, and you will find Dan mentioning AW.
Is it really that hard to do? 🙄🤔
If you can’t distinguish between posts, what chance is there that you can tell the difference between anything 😂😂😂
Now, about this vendetta against the manager… Jeez!!!
Not just Saliba, we also need to avoid the recurring injuries to our backline including Partey. Those latest injuries not only hamper our defensive game but our build up play too. Saliba will help to solidify the cb positions and the current starters will have a better understanding after a season together. Our incoming players/transfers this summer will have a high work ethic to their skillset, which will also go a-ways to tightening us up.
Kinell Ken, you don’t even know the difference between a thread and a post 🤣🤣🤣
we move to the next match.
We have to score early goals against New castle.
The players hav to bring thir A game.
Honestly, Tierney has been injured countless times in his Arsenal career. and missed vital games.
We have to look at getting tall, strong full backs like Alexander Arnold.
We need 2 strong, tall full backs in the squad who are super fit and athletic. The full back position needs investment.
Cedric and Tavares not up to it.
Skills now you’re talking 😄👊
Yes Kev.
Tierney is becoming another Diaby. His recurring injuries are a concern. Perhaps,
Arteta should have played Tomiyasu at right back today and cedric/Tavares at left back.
These small details matter.
Son had the better of Cedric. which contributed to the way Holding played out of position.
I just want us to win these 2 games and the club make the right investment in the summer.
This is where AMN ould have been useful. Honestly.
Skills I’ve said this a couple of times I love Tierney but man is made of glass as is Partey you simply can’t rely on either of them and these 2 are 2 of our most important players. Yep 💯 mate he could have been very useful didn’t understand his loan move
My headache now is not the defeat anymore, it’s the fact we lost 2 defenders for our next game.
Waiting to see who partners Ben White for Newcastle. Holding will be back for Everton in case Gabriel is still out.
I guess it would be White and Xhaka. Lokonga playing in midfield. Or White and Tomi, with Xhaka in the midfield and Tavares as a left back in any case.
Tomi will be CB Cedric RB Tavares LB
Tomiasu at RB Tavares at LB, give it some balance. We have to trust Tavares and let him show us he is good enough, we are playing two lesser teams in the next two, whatever team we put out, it would coat more than those two.
There’s a very good defender playing for Mersaille, called William Saliba. How I wish he rather than Holding was an arsenal player!
Well that was not only a defeat but a poor effort all round. The lack of discipline, stupid stupid tackling was an utter embarrassment and too allow go on what was going on was an error of everyone involved. Make no mistake, it wasn’t going to be easy tonight, we had to be calm and steely eyed but we were a shambles. The big positive to take from all of it, it is still in our power and we are playing teams from the lower part of the premier league. The big mistake from this would be NOT getting top four from a position of strength twice and we are still in a position of strength. The way we play has got us where we are today, the big test is can it keep us here.
Top 4 still on sight…
Gunners for life.
It was too obvious that there were players who wants to play this game, like martinelli, and others than dont, as holding.
Anything short of top 4 is a failure to me, as the king henry said. That thing that we are overachieving its mad. The same arteta promised willian we would have been fighting with the best in 3 years. We are no where near of that, even with the advantage of no games in the week.
Irrespective of how poor the refereeing actually has been all season Holding & Soares just proves that we would more than likely struggle in the champions league. This game is gone but the champions league isn’t. Us and Newcastle have lost our last game. We go again
Not a night to remember for the right reasons
Holding was a head’s gone guy and it cost us dearly – not just for tonight either.
We started well and then Spurs edged into it and then the penalty and Holding having a brain fart, sealed it.
Let’s hope we overcome Newcastle and Everton
The truth is that many people knew arsenal was going to lose tonight that’s just arsenal for you but the manner which we lost was disgraceful….
I expected us to bait spurs at the early stages, stay compact and keep a low block and catch them on the break they are at home and needed the win so the pressure was on them…
This was an amateur display
Frustrating them and silencing the crowd was really important watching the 1st 20min. I knew even though we were the better team we were going to conced the 1st goal you can play such a tactic with a makeshift defence against two of the best strikers in the league
👍
Arteta blaming the ref…
Can’t get onboard with that although he is only protecting his players.
We ,as we quite often do bring it upon ourselves with poor decision making, rash stupid behaviour with little football or game intelligence/ savy.
Man up!
ArseOverTit, I have to say that, apart from the penalty and the sending off, some of our bookings were bordering on ridiculous and, if that was what MA was hinting at, then I agree with him.
I thought the ref got everything right, i have no complaints. It was all our faults and naivety from many of our senior players.
Arteta chose the wrong tactics. Spurs needed to win, a draw would’ve been okay for us. They had to go for it, we should’ve parked the bud and hit them on the break.
👍 had to set up deep and look to counter attack.
Ozzie, it would have suited us better!!!!
Arsenal are not used to playing in such a defensive setup and are down on personnel. This type of set up has only ever been used by Arsenal late in games to ride things out.
Asking a young team that’s not used to this way of playing to do this from the start would also have been risky especially given that we were playing at spurs ground.
Bottled it, plain and simple.
Cedric got burned by Son, not surprising. Holding taking stupid pills that kicked in early in first half.
Needed a sub quick and got punished with 2nd goal.
Squad not mentally ready for challenges like this, on full display tonight.
Simply Arsenal though, dropped 3 winnable games weeks ago, now get embarrassed by spuds.
No worries tho, too many content if we finish 5th when all is said and done.
Time Arteta gets out the rocket and gets 2 wins to finish the season.
Just as sweet letting spuds get within 1 point, then fending them off and keeping them 5th to end the season.
Not my dream ending, but still worthy of a smile; spuds finish 5th & so close, yet so far away from CL.
Although I believe Arteta is a coach who does not lack intelligence, but he made big mistakes tonight by picking Holding as an average defense in the 4231 system against a team that depends a lot on the flanks because one of the obvious flaws of Holding is that he lacks pace to cover the vast space that Suarez leaves behind, Arteta made an other mistake again,leaving Holdeng on the field after being booked.Holding could play centre back in 343 system with Maglaise and White on both sides of him.
I think the penalty is very light and the referee neglected a foul committed by Keane on Magalaise before Song scored the 3rd goal.
Let’s be fair in our assessment please. Arteta had his tactics spot on. Holding was the catalyst of this game. From the first minute he played like who was on drugs. Because those where school boy defending. As a pro you are taught not to defend that way. The fact Arteta refused the urge to put white in kudos to him because if he had played and got injured with Gabriel going off, Leno then needs to play as a cb because we wouldn’t have any left. You can criticize xhaka all you want but he’s the most fit and reliable player in this team. You can count on him to stay fit all season. For all tierny plays, he’s not reliable. Has never been since we signed him, always injured in the important games. Same goes to party. Now we see why some players doesn’t get a look in no matter how we the fans thinks. E.g, holding and pepe. Pepe was abysmal last week and holding was atrocious today. One thing I know is I won’t see Cedric in an arsenal shirt after this season. I know he’s out golden boy but for the past 4 or 5 matches Saka has gone missing. Martinelli should have been on instead of Saka. I wish we can sign players of tomiyasu quality. Odegaard for me was the only one wanting to score. Am I angry yes because we started pretty decent and the moment holding and Cedric decided to be mad men I knew we would lost. And my worry is if Gabriel is done…. Newcastle is beatable let’s not get overboard with this loss. I’m more worried about Everton.
Why didn’t Arteta take him off then ,which I agree with you that holding looked liked he wanted to get sent off even before he did and probably should have been .
As much as I hate to say it but the spuds looked like they were going to win it 10 mins in .
Arteta should have got a message to Holding to calm down. Holding is not as bad as some making him out to be, he has never let us down before more than anyone else but tonight he was on some really strong stuff.
Exactly Reggie – Holding has been playing well lately.
Here’s something for everyone to digest, courtesy of sky sports:
Thirteen players have been sent off since MA took over – five more than ANY PL team.
This is Arsenal’s heaviest defeat against the spuds since 1983 (5-0)
The first time spuds have won three consecutive home games against Arsenal since 1961.
Surely, these are the things we need to be concerned about, rather than going on about how many games Arsenal won in their Q /F and K/O stages years ago?
Also, we have to recognise their supporters AND we could still hear our away fans, even after this defeat.
Holding is as bad as many make him out to be. However, there are also many on this site who have a soft spot for him.
Disagree, he isnt as bad and actually played and won in a FA cup final. Today was completely out of character and it looked planned but what and by who, i dont know.
BW is just returning from injury and we are not even sure if he is fully fit. You are suggesting that Holding be replaced with BW early in the first half when we have no other fit central defenders??
@David, that does seem to be what people are saying. If he had come on and then went off injured people would be moaning that Arteta rushed him back to quickly.
It is still ours to lose. Play like that against Newcastle and Everton and will kiss cl goodbye. Arteta needs to know football is not played at a snail paced anymore. Play straight and direct with opponents box to score goals. Don’t want to talk about Soares and Holding, they had done the damage already but we didn’t play like we want to get back into the game.
Rob really robbed us
That was a 6 point game, yet no strategy to hold the 4-point advantage.
Silly tackles, recklessly going forward.
Holding should have been sent off with his first yellow — he got away with kicking Son in the back when Son was down on the ground and he has no chance of playing the ball.
No question about the sent off, no question about the penalty; the only thing is when you allow Kuluveski to cross his lethal cross, may be you can’t blame Soares.
What tactical expert? There was no strategy!
Holding never played like that before, clearly Arteta gave him instructions.
Agree Mambo that was really out of character.
Did you not watch the FA Cup Final against Chelsea when Holding was marking Costa ? He was just as physical then as he was tonight.
Yet I can’t remember him smashing into Costa’s face, or being booked twice in a few minutes.
Perhaps the manager at the time told him how to be physical without being sent off?
So… he was specifically told to get a red tonight?
Or he was told not to apply what he learnt from “the manager at the time” today?
The reason so many of these people are trying their best to find excuses for Holding is that they have have been strong advocates of this limited player. Unfortunately, their ‘golden boy’ has been found wanting and they are now scrabbling around looking for someone or something else to blame.
No of course not – but if he could manage Costa, why not Son?
Perhaps you could answer that?
That would be because Costa never elbowed him in the face while in a tussle on the ground like Son did last night.
Herr, not at all anything like it, it was a totally different performance.
Newcastle a tough game and the way we have been scraping by is biund to catch up.
People say oh we be Chelsea and Man U, but those were dirty games, as in the quality from bith sides was absolute rubbish.
tbh 5th ia where we will end, the writing ia on the wall.
Not Surprised, or disappointed we tend to lose to lesser teams!!. I believe this result will make the the players more determined to give their all to win the remaining two games and get that top four position. What concerns me more is Arteta being given a three year extension before the end of the season (I suppose the owners will not miss the millions paying him off when he is sacked!!) Our down fall and many points lost is due to playing from the back – we are not good enough. Why Smith Rowe has been left out is another puzzle. Still believe we will finish forth.COYG
That yellow card holding up of Saka by Davies would have been red,if it was the other way around. That early penalty given against Arsenal was soft. But,despite all, Arsenal was truly in the game. Holding having been cautioned by the referee for two fouls, gets yellow card shortly after, only to commit another a few minutes later and sent off. Four fouls In less than 20 minutes. Rob Holding is mediocre, but, never knew him to be that dumb. I don’t see why he should ever wear that Arsenal shirt again. Because, in that crucial match, he left Arsenal without a chance, for his lack of competence, composure and commitment to the cause. Arsenal seriously need to upgrade on some players and add quality depth in every position of the team. Arsenal must definitely sell these players now: Mari, Torriera, Guendouzi, Maitland-niles, Runarsson, Pepe, Leno, Bellerin, Cedric and Holding. Elneny and Nketiah should be retained if they wish to stay. Arsenal should consider keeping Mavropanos (has improved) too ,as he is an upgrade on Holding.
We can go back and say Xhaka, Gabriel and Partey shouldn’t wear the shirt again, taking that view. Maybe the manager has some say in discipline?
Don’t know if Arteta gave him Holding the instruction, he certainly did not do his job in telling Holding yo lay off.
Don’t know if Arteta gave him Holding the instruction, he certainly did not do his job in not elling Holding yo lay off.
Holding has to be sold.
The ref had a shocker never a penalty in a million years yes holding deserved to be sent off but the game changer was the penalty anyway look at table we are still 4th if this doesn’t motivate us to finish the job then nothing will still in our hands keep our bottle and we will finish 4th and be in champions league!
Stone wall penalty, i dont see how in can be any other, Cedric did not have is eye on the ball and took Son out. Everything was all our doing.
Agree Danny, one of the softest penalties I’ve ever seen. Homer decision.
I wonder why VAR didn’t overturn the decision then?
You obviously dont understand the rules of football then Herr, if you push someone over not looking at the ball and not winning the ball in the penalty area, you give away a penalty. Not even close to soft.
Really Reggie ? Liverpool earlier this season in N17, Jota barged over by Royal in the box, Royal made no attempt for the ball, no penalty. Guess who was the ref ? Same as last night, Paul Tierney !
The best way to wipe the smugness off totts fans faces is to win our next 2 games but whether this team has the mentality to that is another thing but we’ll soon see! We go again Monday and that game is now a bigger game than the NLD
I wasn’t keen on Monday night football before tonight, Kev…
You’ll be very keen come this Monday Sue and slightly nervous yes ?
Well, seeing as this is our worst defeat of the season – Stan to add another year onto MA’s new deal tomorrow? 😂 Slightly?! That’s an understatement!!!!
Hahaha Arteta could take Arsenal to league one and fans would demand a statue and the Kroenkes would be rushing to get him signed up for another 3 years 😝 your experience will get you through it Sue 😄
Haha it will indeed!! 😂
Apparently we have conceded only 4 less than Burnley this season.. how much did we spend on that defence Sue 🧐
Apparently no team has lost more on a Monday this season than we have!
Jeez, that’s embarrassing – Burnley 😱Not enough clearly 💰😄 no clean sheet in ages either..
I was watching YouTube Sue not a lot of happy people tonight 😑 I did not know that 😯 the omens aren’t good 🙄 the defending is a shambles and anyone saying the defence is fixed are in complete denial Sue or delusional 😶
Kev82, I really don’t understand why fans aren’t talking about this fact.
Of course, in my opinion, discussing the facts such as those sky sports have identified, doesn’t mean we are not supporting MA or the club – it shows we are being concerned about the actual state of the club.
If Mikel does get us to the CL, surely we have to discuss how his current defence will get on?
👍Bring back George Graham as defensive consultant!
I think we both know how that current defence will get on in the CL if we manage to get there Ken – Chewed up and spit out! For the amount of money that was spent on that area the defending is comical and has been for years not a thing has changed other than different names. Once again that backline needs surgery and is gonna cost more money not to mention the midfield and forward line but some would rather live in denial than call it out.
Ozziegunner bring back George Graham as manager lol
Exactly, Kev.. conceded more now than last season! You couldn’t make it up!!
Bayern will be licking their lips at the prospect 😉
Why did Tomi play on the left? We needed him up against son. I feel that was the costly mistake (well the first one)
There are lots of questions about the penalty, but for me it is a soft one, any way we need to win our next two matches gunners we can do it,we have won difficult matches away,Westham and Chelsea I don’t see Newcastle stopping us. Gunners 4 life
No it wasnt soft, get the rose tinted glasses off het some reading glasses on and read the rules of football!!!!!!!!! People saying it was soft do not understand the rules of football.
If that was a penalty then there would be lots of penalties in every game !
The Newcastle game is looking like a real test of character. I was worried about this one a few weeks ago because over the past seasons the have always saved their worst performances against Arsenal and usually gifted us the points even when we have been poor. This time we will have to really show grit in a must win. If not it seems that Holding will carry the can if the unthinkable happens. It’s never Arteta’s fault. Half the players he brought in this summer are average at best and those two fan favourite, Xhaka and Elneny are simply not good enough for this level of football.
not trying to rub salt into our wounds guys, but, i really yhink our youngsters are totally wiped out.they were simply not at the races tonight, and, have not been for some time. i think because saka and smith-rowe are english ,they are just hyped up out of all propotion.i am not blaming the young guns for tonights defeat, no way, that was a team effort, all eveven are to blame.heres hoping this disappointment is but a hiccup on our way to champions league football next season, can you just imagine it. tuesday/wednesday night football , again !.
Seen a replay from a different angle of the tussle on the ground between Holding and Son. It shows Son elbowing Holding in the face. That should’ve been a straight red for Son. As for Holding’s 2nd yellow, crazy. The ball was going straight over their heads to Ramsdale, so no need to even block the cheating Son.
As for not bringing White on, coming back from a hamstring injury so quickly maybe the reason why he stayed on the bench. Better that than coming on and it goes again, meaning that he misses the game at the Geordies.
Delusional!!!!!!!!
I’m picturing Holding kneeing Son in the back even earlier Reggie and I don’t need different camera angles to say he should have been booked for that.
So unfortunate for Rob tonight, as he has been playing so well.
At least Xhaka has got the keyboard warriors of his back tonight.
Your delusional comment sums it up perfectly.
Agree ken, and the judo throw!!!!!!! Holding was wound up too much tonight for some reason.
Yes the judo throw after he’d been elbowed in the face by Son. Not being one for theatrics Holding never made a meal of it.
Myopic Reggie.
I agree that Saka is being overplayed with expectations too high, as he is asked to do magical things with very little support from the middle three. As for Smith Rowe, in case you haven’t noticed, he has not been a starter for a while. Arteta gives all kinds of reasons for this but my take is that ESR does not fit into Artetaball. A worrying sign because I’m certain bigger and more ambitious clubs than ours would love to have him in their lineups. A real worry is Martinellii. Yes he has energy to burn and always looks as though he is going to do something magical a la Son, but I’m still waiting.
Ive said it countless times ESR is better at 10 than Odergaard, Arteta has a fascination for Odergaard who got shown up by ESR last season and Odergaard is lightweight. Arteta has moved Odergaard from 10 to try and fit in Martinelli, Saka amd Nketiah but he isnt good enough to play from midfield in the prem. He doesn’t enhance our midfield at all. Look Odergaard is a nice player with a nice touch but he isnt good enough to LEAD Arsenal.
The odd 10 minutes here and there is no good for ESR.. I worry he’ll want to leave
Another wasted talent Sue to add to all the others. Arteta need standing to account if we dont get CL for all these wasted opportunities with players. If we do he can stick his two fingers up because he was right😆 I just think we waste lots of talent by ostracising players to get to the managers way of playing, which has yet has to be proved successful.
👍
I agree, Reggie. ESR’s progress has definitely stalled because of all the game time Odegaard has been given; not saying I don’t like MO, but ESR is such a talent, too good not to be playing
Posted this in another thread in response to a post by ArseOverTit earlier today.
I agree with most of this assessment, but regarding our exciting kids, my opinion is, ESR looks like he’ll become a back up player under Arteta and possibly move on when his contract expires. Saka’s predictable, cutting inside onto his left foot, opponents have worked him out and he seems to be becoming more and more frustrated. He always had a good partnership with ESR and I wonder if that’s affected him. Martinelli is a headless chicken, he’s got pace and strength but tries to beat to many players instead of getting his head up and putting the ball into the danger area. Odegard is lightweight, when he’s on his own in space he can pick a pass, but put him under pressure and he’s innefective. I can’t see much improvement if any in these players over the last two seasons under Arteta.
The ref was a “homer” – yes the pen WAS technically a foul, but like shirt pulling, those are almost never given. We committed 15 fouls and got 4 yellow cards and a red. Having said that we deserved to lose and Holding was awful. If not for that foul he would have gone soon after. He’s only a decent defender between two other CB’s – he’s slow and way too aggressive one on one, always has been.
Cedric is an even poorer player than Tavares, who is at least an attacking threat, has huge pace and strength and will learn with age. Cedric can’t cross, can’t defend and is also too often caught out of position. Don’t understand why Tomi played LB – he’s a far better RB and also would have dealt with Son. For me that’s a big Arteta error, as was not parking the bus from the start. We tried to play attacking football whilst still guard against their breaks. We gave too much respect to their forwards to function as an attacking side. The result was the midfield didn’t know whether to stay forward or back, the team was confused and we did neither. MA’s tactical error.
We looked, as we often do in big games, like the occasion was too big for this young team. Discipline and all they had been taught was forgotten. This is a worry – we call them kids but theyre not. Most of them are 23 or older and they should deal with pressure better by now.
Concerned that this knocks our confidence too much, especially with possibly no centre backs available for Newcastle.
This isn’t an airport no need to announce your departure
Reggie is spot on. If Arteta really thinks the problem is with refereeing, then nothing will change and the team will continue to make senseless mistake, concede unnecessary fouls.
Along with some of our fans FIHK, last night was a shambles and people defending it need a reality check.
Cast your mind back to the game at the Emirates earlier this season. Kane elbowing Gabriel Magalhaes in the face, not even given a yellow, but Arteta speaking up about the refs obviously doesn’t fit well with people’s agenda against the boss.
What agenda would that be then?
Every Gooner wants MA to succeed, surely your not suggesting that any supporter would not get behind the manager, while they are in said position?
That would be so hypocritical and laughable.
Mikel has every right to give his opinion, but is screwed by the referees association and the PL.
The problem is though, MA got his tactics wrong, Holding had a nightmare, the spuds were a far better team and the referee got the big decisions right.
Going back and giving individual examples of other incidents is pointless – we lost the game because of our own failings, not every other Tom, Dick and Harry – that’s not an agenda against the boss, it’s facing facts.
The agenda on here is for all to see old bean. Slagging the manager off after every defeat.
As for using the term ‘Gooner’, 😂, moo moos would be more apt. Same as grown men calling that lot ‘Spuds’, sort of thing school kids would say.
What’s wrong in pointing out the discrepancies by the refs and VAR ?
Excuse me! I’ve always called them Spuds and I’m well over 60!
Hot Spuds! makes sense… (and a lot better than other possible nicknames)
Admin Pat, see my reply to Ken1945.
And saying the spuds and their supporters are from the “swamp” makes you think your a grown up and mature person?
Do me a favour 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Well Ken, what else would you call scum that attack scarfers, shirtters, women and last night Luke Howard, the man that’s in charge of the Arsenal disabled fans who was escorting 2 disabled fans to the game ? Luckily the 2 disabled fans were unhurt.
They are swampdwelling vermin scum !!!
I’ve been telling people for days what would happen in this game. Defeat by a goal or two, with probably an Arsenal sending off. I just got the score wrong. I very much fear that the game is up now. We need to win at St James’s against a re-vitalised Newcastle side with players who will be playing for their places in next seasons team. It would be just our luck for Callum Wilson, a player who misses half of every season, to score against us. Trippier is also back, but quite honestly, I would be amazed if our ramshackle defence could keep them out. This for me was always the game we had to win, as I expected us to lose on Wednesday. Our one hope is to keep possession and try to control the game, but I’m not hopeful. Really annoying since three points and we should win the final game against an Everton side who will be safe from relegation. Still, Spurs will lose out in Europe next season, as they could have won the Europey but will not be winning the champions League. Harry Kane, show us your medals!