Europa League exit not the end of the world!
Well where do I start about last night’s game?
Am I surprised? No.
Do I blame Mikel Arteta? No.
Do I blame Gabriel Martinelli? No.
Who do I point the finger at? Aaron Ramsdale!
Firstly as nice as it would have been to win last night and be on the fight for two trophies, it might do us good to have come out but only time will tell..
And technically we didn’t lose because the tie that ended in normal time ended in a draw!! And because I hate penalty shootouts I am not counting it as a loss 😜
So here I begin my reasoning as to why I blame Ramsdale for the loss.
Normally I don’t like to point fingers too much when Arsenal lose or draw a game, but too many times this season I have sat there and watched Ramsdale idiotically stand outside of his box further up the pitch, thinking he is invincible and won’t ever be beaten.
Just as I slate him for his positioning I also slate the team when they try to play out from the back! It doesn’t need to happen and it should stop!
And I’ve always said to myself; one of these days he is going to get caught out when he constantly positions himself as an outfield player.
And low and behold in a knockout game, that we won’t ever truly know if Arteta and the boys were fussed about winning or not, he gets caught out.
Now take nothing away from the goal because it was a beauty I must admit but Ramsdale cannot be standing that far up the pitch and has to take part blame for the goal conceded!
Arteta changed Matt Turner and put in Ramsdale in the hope we didn’t concede after Turner’s shaky game last week, and what does Ramsdale do? Concede a goal that Sporting should never have been allowed to score!
Against your City’s and your Liverpools with the strike force they have, had they been there last night we would have been battered with Ramsdale’s play! Yes he made a few good saves, but he still let one in that was never meant to be conceded! And don’t get me started on his lack of penalty saves despite coming close, but close is not good enough!
The team as a whole were not great, being sloppy in possession and just not clicking for some reason at times, but having taken the lead through Granit Xhaka’s goal you sensed it was a game we could have seen out as 1-0 winners, yet Ramsdale’s stupidity put us in a position we could have done without being in!
And I do not blame Gabriel Martinelli one bit for his penalty loss because had we kept that initial clean sheet we would not have gone as far as penalties, but if you look at it deeply and I’m sure many Arsenal fans would agree, if you couldn’t have both, and if you were to choose between winning the Europa League or the Premier League, I know which one I would choose.
It’s just a shame we had to play nearly two hours and then get knocked out, rather than losing in normal time! Especially after we then have to play another game in less than 72 hours.
But we have managed to play Thursday, Sunday before and the boys know what they need to do, win one more game before the international break, have a break, and come back even more fired up ready to do the business in the remaining games of our season!!
But last night’s loss is not the end of the world and I guess it’s good we play in a few days as I believe we can pick ourselves up as quickly as possible!
Here’s hoping hey Gooners!
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_
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