New year, New Arsenal! (So it seems!) by Shenel
First off I want to wish all you Gooners out there a Happy and Healthy New Year!
And secondly, well what a game that was and what a performance from our boys to get the New Year started!
It’s just a real shame about the result!
Once again Arsenal performed well at home, yet this time we come away with nothing!
From start to finish as a team, Arsenal came out of the blocks, defended, pressed and attacked well, and really should have been a few goals up by half time.
Although Bukayo Saka put us ahead after a lovely team move for 1-0, unfortunately that was to be the only goal of the game for us after all the hard work failed to pay off and Manchester City walked away as 2-1 winners!
In a game where we deserved all three points, it’s fair to say something has to be done about the referees and VAR decisions that are ruining games.
In a crazy few minutes for Gabriel, a debatable penalty given away by Granit Xhaka, some fouls by City players that deserved more than a telling off, and a small lack of communication at the back in the dying minutes to concede the second goal, our hard work was undone and we walk away with zero points!
But losing three points is not the end of the world and for once we battled against and outperformed a side that look to be on their way to winning the league, barring a miracle of them losing it when it’s in their hands!
A major contrast to when we faced them at the Etihad that’s for sure!
All in all it was a solid performance that we can be proud of though!
There’s no use crying over spilt milk, not after the way we performed, so now this game is done and dusted we must pick ourselves up and move on to the next to get back to winning ways as quick as possible!
All that’s left to say is well done boys you should be proud of yourselves and sometimes decisions will go against us but for the first time in a long time this team looks like it’s ready to rival and compete against all around us!
Here’s hoping hey Gooners!?
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_
We played well 100%, here’s the issue though….regardless of what was right or wrongly done to us…we got no points at the end of the day. How many years have we been saying, “we deserved to win/draw but…..got nothing”
Here’s the reality:
-WHU are 1 point behind us
-Spurs are 2 points behind us with 2 games in hand and haven’t lost in EPL since Conte joined
-ManU are 4 points behind with 2 games in hand
We will not get a better chance than this season to secure top 4, next season we’ll be back in Europe which means more games, fatigue, injuries ect.
Correct!
Lacazette/ Odegaard helped our midfielders tremendously and they worked very hard to scare Man City’s defense off. Whereas Saka and Tomiyasu received Ramsdale’s long passes very well, to make us bypass Man City’s high press
Unfortunately, Magalhaes made an awful decision and Martinelli spoilt the great chances to score. The young players will learn more if they keep playing together
It’s day 2 of the year 2022. I won’t spend it moaning or complaining about the errors three of our players made.
My main focus is I hope this team will always tell themselves that if they could box City in like that and if they could become the only team to outplay City this season, the Spurs and the rest of the league should be faced heads on.
I expect this team to take out their annoyance on Spurs in two weeks time.
This team will go far together.
So many close games are decided by defender errors, officiating and luck. The table does not lie it just does not always tell the whole truth. For a month now we have been in a in a dog fight for 4/5/6/7 with Man U, Westham and Spurs. To be fair this was not a game we were expected to win. Our 4th place was based on 3 winnable fixtures and other teams having played less games. Now we lose to the champions while our opponents have easier fixturs so the table tightens. This just reflects the ebb and flow of the season according to the quality of the opposition. Our two home losses have been to Chelsea who were in top form back in August and now the Champions. So no harm done. All quite predictable. The next 18 fixtures are all winnable or games we can take points icluding home games v Liverpool and Man United. Spurs and Westham away loom as pivitol fixtures. I predict we will get 37 more points by May meaning 72 points and finish either 4th or 5th.
First we need to clear our Liverpool.
We’re at home, they dont have Mane/Salah/Keita, and Klopp always uses U21s in his Carabao lineups. I fully expect us to win with our B-team.
Then its FA Cup away. I expect us to play mostly our best starting XI because of the Carabao game just 3 days prior. Shouldn’t be a problem this match.
Then its Pool at Anfield. Hopefully we can go there and defend our lead we got from home and that will be enough.
Then its the tricky one, away to Spurs. This game could be a season decider. If we lose, I’m afraid we’re out of the top 4 chase.. minimum we need is draw to keep situation same.
I’m not worried of West Ham or Man United. They’ve shown weakness recently but its Conte who we should be worried about.
Adpat
Just confirm the gift I sent over please , and send it to a charity of your choice 👍
Thankyou very much Dan, and please read the next post…..
Can someone explain how the Expected Goals (xG) works? MotD had it at .71 for Arsenal and 1.87 for City. Seems to fail the eye test.
It’s basically the probability of each shot taken to go in so if someone takes a punt from 30 yards out or a tight angle, it’ll be 0.1 (for example). All these fractions are added up at the end of the game. Penalties are 0.85 (I think) and they had a clear chance at the end. I’ve seen a different range of stats (as they’re not always calculated in the same way) but without the penalty, it’d be a lot closer to even.
Thanks Sean. 1.87 seems about right for City then.
Arsenal’s .71 still doesn’t pass my admittedly one-eyed test. We scored a goal, Martinelli had one clear cut chance that he buries 90% of the time as well as two half chances plus Ake cleared off the line and Odegaard’s half chance (penalty decision aside). How that adds up to .71 expected goals seems quite arbitrary.
Referring was pathetic..
I don’t understand how Man City players were getting only warnings for their fouls and Arsenal players were receiving cards for their fouls..
Mediocre referees in the PL