Reading some of the comments on this website following the 2-1 loss to Barcelona you would have thought that we had been beaten by Bolton 6-0.
Manic hysteria over Mustafi coming on and then Luis Suarez scoring the winner, Ainsley Maitland-Niles should be exiled to Antartica and the defence was so bad allowing the woeful Barcelona to score two whole goals in their own stadium that we are destined for a relegation battle next season.
That may sound like hyperbole but some of the comments I have read this evening are no better.
The lack of perspective I find incredible and for me, I saw far more positives than negatives in the defeat.
Here are just a few examples of what I saw in the game.
The Arsenal defence kept Antoine Griezmann very quiet all evening.
It was noticeable how much deeper Ozil was in the game and it has to be said that he steadied the ship on more than one occasion.
The youngsters Willock and Nelson did very well and were not overawed at all playing in the Nou Camp.
Maitland-Niles did some incredible runs and only his mix up with Leno marred his game.
Ceballos looked bright in the short time he was on the field.
Guendouzi has calmed his game down and no longer rushes into tackles and tries outrageous long ball passes.
Aubameyang was on fire and his sharpness is back.
Monreal was quick and decisive in his tackling and runs.
Overall, this was a good performance by Arsenal, yes there were many mistakes in defence but that is what Barcelona do to you, they pressure you into mistakes and they have done that to far better defences than Arsenal’s and so while there are some causes for concerns you cannot ignore who the opponents were.
Yes, it was just a friendly and there was no Lionel Messi but even so, this was a very decent performance by Arsenal and even in games like this, not too many teams come away from the Nou Cap having held the Spanish Champions to just a single goal for 90 minutes on their own ground and were unfortunate to lose to a last-minute winner from one of the worlds most clinical strikers.