Arsenal have given up their control over their top four aspirations today, and must now rely on their rivals to slip up.
The Gunners coach had to make a number of changes after Thursday night’s trip to Napoli, and alarm bells were already ringing when we saw the starting line-up, with Jenkinson, Mustafi and Elneny involved. and unfortunately those worries were justified.
Shkodran Mustafi is due an extended run on the bench, having been largely disappointing this term, and his mistakes are piling up in a position we seriously cannot afford them. He was directly at fault for at least the Zaha goal, where he tried to block the forward’s run instead of actually going to clear the ball himself, and allowed him to run past to the ball with only the goalkeeper to beat. This was the crucial goal which put them back in front at 2-1, and also proved the turning point as we had been largely on top in the second half up until then.
The other goals were down to our inability to deal with set pieces, with a direct free kick finding Benteke for the opening goal, and a corner being knocked on McCarthur for their third.
We did manage to score two goals of our own, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil scoring in the second half, but you have to say that the away team deserved their win, and our defence was by far and away the resulting factor.
Did Emery really name his best possible XI? Did Emery underestimate Palace? Will he now have to give priority to the Europa League with Chelsea and Spurs in the driving seat for a top four finish?
What I do know is that we will all be Burnley fans tomorrow night…
Pat J
Having two wide forwards is useless if they cannot provide penetrations in the flanks and stand too narrow. Arsenal should replace at least one of them with an inverted winger that can cut inside and take on the defenders in the next season
Great finish by Ozil, always rated his finishing much higher than his vision, but it couldn’t replace the devoid of his creativity in this match. His goal uplifted the team’s spirit for a moment, but Mustafiyah and Leno decided to have a big misunderstanding, despite both speak the same mother tongue
Kolasinac and Jenkinson were absolutely dull, probably because the wide attackers (Aubameyang and Lacazette) could not link up well with the wingbacks. Perhaps Arsenal replace one of them with Zaha in the summer, as he has good physicalities, full of trickeries and his movements irritated the defensive players
Not one mention of the manager.
Maybe he didn’t use Torreira and Maitland-Niles since the beginning because they were unfit
Using 3-4-1-2 is correct, but both forwards stayed too close to each other and didn’t work well with the wingbacks
Mustafi and Leno did not have a misunderstanding, Mustafi made a complete balls up as usual.
No way Zaha would come to us after the abuse he received last time and the way he celebrated today.
Anyway, he wants Champions League football and would hardly be guaranteed that with us would he ?
Unai Emery is solely to be blamed for this defeat. If Torrera was not fit, there was no need to put him on the bench. He should have played a 433 formation. Why start with 7 defensively minded players? He made this mistake many times this season. A 3 man midfield of Torrera Mhykirtayan and Ozil. A front 3 of Auba, Lacazette and Iwobi would have been idea. Why sign Denis Suarez? should have also looked at the possibility of playing AMN in midfield Alongside Torrera just to tighten things up. Guenzouzi and Elneny in midfield is not good enough. It is either one of them in midfield and not both. Also, Unai tinkers a lot with his team. He needs to be very effective with a Plan A especially at home.
Im ok with u. Elneny+ guendouzi + jenks? Too defensive to crystal palace at home..we invite them to attack us…ozil has never do all the attacking job for his own…i think suarez is injured, but im sure emery would not play him if he was fit…today we lose and deserve lose because of emery. And mustafi. The lack of quality in this team was in evidence today. Iwobi looks like our most dangerous player in the last games, and thats a worry for its own…today we was a wenger arsenal…too predictible, a lot of possesion but creating any danger at all
He ue is the culprit you start a strong team win the game make your stupid subs in dying minutes he is not up to it
What happens to Iwobi wrecking havoc ?
Had Iwobi started and played as a wide forward, he might tear Palace’s defense apart with his dribbles
So 45 mins isn’t long Enough to show his quality haha You need stay off the vodka
He hasn’t ONCE terrorised a defence In two years what team are you watching
For crissakes don’t turn this into another chance to dump on Iwobi. Its truly pathetic.
There are plenty of other targets starting with Emery deciding to start three Championship level players (Elneny, Jenkinson and Mavraponas). Hopefully he learns thst this ain’t Spain or France. To his credit, his changes at halftime were spot on until Mustafi had his brain fart. On the positive, Ozil and Lacazette played their hearts out and AMN just keeps getting better and better.
????
I’m sure he would have mate
This is Arsenal FC, not Iwobi FC.
Iwobi is worse than Theo.
i like Iwobi and i defend him from time to time but enough is enough . he should have scored 2 goals today and put his doubters to shame instead he proves everyone who calls him a headless chicken right.
Iwobi couldn’t tear a hole in a wet paper bag with his dribbles.
I agree and how he even gets picked is beyond me. But to be fair he’s not the only one and we should face the fact that we are a relatively average team who are doing better than average under Emery. We have been talking about our poor defence for the last 5 years and yet we stumble on and on without doing anything about. Frankly it’s depressing right now as we cannot seem to string two good performances together. As for Mustafi, he is a total liability and a poor defender who is probably not even Championship standard, we’ll be lucky to get £10m for him!!!
I agree Andrew ,I know I give iwobi sh1t on here ,it’s not personal I just think of all the top players I’ve seen in his position over the years then I have to watch him pretty much do nothing all game .
You’re right he isn’t the only one ,you could make a case for 5-6 other players in this squad who shouldn’t be anywhere near a top 6 club .
But we never seem to do anything about it ,we always take 1 step forward 2 back where anything arsenal is concerned . Today could have and should been prevented,there was no excuse to rest players ,if they were fit for the bench they were fit to start .
It was not the CF issue, they was not getting the service from the midfield.
Instead of recognising the tactical error and putting the blame on Emery, you ignore him and his pathetic team selection in favour of moaning at our strikers, one of them is competing for the golden boot. The other CF was taking it past players, running through legs to try and create attacking moments but the rest of the team didn’t attack and left our strikers isolated for long periods.
You moaned about the CF yet it was Auba who got the 2nd goal and if Iwobi was a better attacker then we could have equalised.
Maybe we need to get rid of Iwobi and actually buy an attacker who knows where the net is.
Take UE out he is making the same mistakes he made at everton he didnt learn his mistakes
That’s true… Emery is to be blamed for this Lost …He gambles with the line up
Emery underestimated Palace.. NO EXCUSE. Period.
Gueye,zaha,doucoure are the 3 players i would go all out for.
Imagine a front line of zaha laca and auba and a mid of gueye torreira/xhaka, doucoure.
Doucoure has the ability to replace ramsay as he gets the odd goal but will add more steal being our b2b midfielder.
I feel zaha is ready for the step up and will plat much better in our system.
Will never happen though.
Sell Mustafi,jenko and elneny.
I am very upset with our manager today. The man got no respect at all for the so call small teams. We played only 45 minutes when he puts the right players in the second half. What was he thinking???
I am very upset!!!!
Emery is doing an average job, his lack of experience with premier league is a major problem. More so and very important he doesn’t respect what other smaller teams can do. Jon Fox am waiting for you come and put your case forward.
No it’s nit emery out brigade and pat as being saying this most of the season and I agree, it’s been average to much chopping and changing ,stupid subs at half time ,just keep it simple play you’re best 11 .and to me the football as been worse than we gets last season
@gotanidea
I like emery but today he messed up the team selection.
Pat , suggest you turn back to the previous thread where I DID put your silliness in its rightful place. After reading my common sense answer you might care to answer what I said to you. Or you may duck out! We will see!
I didn’t read read your comment please say it again
Emery should have learned from his mistake at Everton.Elneny and Guandouzi are the worst possible pairing we have in midfield and yet he again decided they would be able to control the match for us.Well Mr Emery it didn’t work.Im all for learning from mistakes but the manager clearly got this wrong.
Emery has made Wolves and Leicester away must win games.Whats the betting these two are nowhere near the team sheet in both games.
Phil am very worried. I thought we’d bag this one and then see what happens away. I am not writing us off but am sad that we keep making Tottenham like better than they are. Fingers crossed we win the remaining games, Man U and Chelsea are still going to meet.
Yeah Pat-a win today and you would think we are there.Now we need Citeh to beat Utd
Utd to beat Chelsea
Arsenal to win ALL FOUR GAMES and that is fourth spot.
Beat Valencia and Frankfurt (hopefully) and you could say that was a very good end to the season.
BUT IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN WITH ELNENY IN THE TEAM
No I won’t . If you cannot be bothered to turn back that is your decision. If it means that little to you that you cannot even be bothered to turn back I will know that you are afraid of reading the truth I wrote in my reply.
Jon Fox, No baby! Afraid of what???? There are not personal vested interest in Arsenal Football Club at least from my end, we are all here just to share our opinions. And you know me I don’t say what I cannot back up with evidence. I have actually tried to go back but I didn’t find the actual post. But if you can’t that’s fine, it’s all just about our opinions. At the end of the day we all (I presume) support the say club and can only wish it well. The only problem is the two of us can’t be right and today is a classic example. Cheers.
Lol you’re the one that called Jon out on the previous article now you can’t even find it yourself?? And I note you said Emery’s biggest shortcoming is his lack of pl experience, but don’t you think he’ll get even better then next season with a full season already in the bag? I thought we all agreed this season was the transition season and our expectations would be lowered because of the state Wenger left us in, why are people getting so ahead of themselves all of a sudden? Let’s relax people, it’s too soon for us to feel entitled to a top 4 finish, Emery is doing a splendid job but he can only go so far with this squad. It’ll take time
Sorry alexLaca I didn’t call Jon out, we were having a previous conversation and I didn’t see his response to my comment, so I told him today that I was right about Emery. I have no doubt he will only improve (that is not automatic) but as we speak right now there is still a lot of work to be done. Can he do it, I hope because I will like to avoid a day like this when I have to avoid sky sport news, where we keep Tottenham’s hope alive. Not yet fantastic!!!!!
I know how you feel, I saw the lineup and I switched the Telly off, I knew what was coming when I saw guendouzi and el neny. I was disappointed but I just don’t think we have enough in quality to be fighting on 2 fronts. Emery has picked the el over the epl even though he might say the epl is the priority. We just have to trust him cause he does know the competition in and out while he’s still inexperienced with the epl. I just hope Kroenke backs him so we can really see how good he is next season, so that when he falls short there will be no excuses to hide under and we can move on
Excuse gotanidea, I am not Emery out, I am not anyone out, I have stated that he is not up to the point of doing a fantastic job. I hope you understand me.
Pat, you are one of a number of peope on this site, who disparage Emery yet never enlighten us on which coach/manager with a comparable CV would be attracted to Arsenal, given the current squad, the probable transfer budget and the self sustaining financial model.
He doesnt deserve to be the manager but tue croenks always looking for cheap solutions
Yep, everyone’s right to question us now.
We’re going into the next round of fixtures like Britain heading into the next round of brexit negotiations. Completely and utterly clueless. Showing our hand before we’ve even made a move. Thanks a bunch
To say I am disappointed is an understatement, we are the one keeping Tottenham in 3rd
Since December
“Arsenal have given up their control over their top four aspirations today, and must now rely on their rivals to slip up.“
That isn’t right.
Emery costs us this game. Every time we get an opportunity to go 3rd the manager does the opposite of the obvious. Every fan could see this line up was not good enough. How sad for us.
…..Play your best eleven at the moment…. it’s the top four battle for Heaven sake…Why does this coach keep making the same silly mistake?
….. Playing Jenkinson and then leaving your best winger on the bench with Ozil as the only creative player on the pitch….it was stupid and naive …… completely disappointed today…
…. Lacazette needs to touch the ball five times before he can shoot and then Iwobi cannot just hit the ball with any power whatsoever….
….. Trusting deadwoods to be capable players will be this man’s undoing if he doesn’t take care….
Maybe Maitland-Niles and Torreira were unfit, hence Jenkinson had to start
If they were unfit how he put them on it sheer stupidity here not a good manager you cant start with that midfield you have to be stupi not know what happened at everton
Calm down mate.. what will this man emery do? He must rest certain players where possible. Look at the fixture pile up. We have games every three days now. He must rest key players if not we’ll get neither the Europa or top 4. Can’t blame him. Arsenal lack quality on the bench especially in certain key areas like midfield and wingback. Imagine if AMN gets injured, you can kiss all ur aspirations for this season goodbye. Can’t blame Emery.. see Mustafi. He is the main culprit today. End of discussion
Why not blame him? Look at Liverpool. Do we play less games than them? Yet they play the same team in out and they perform. How many games has Toroira played for him to be rested? How many has Nacho and AMN? Poor decision making by Emery is costing us big. This is the same mistake twice(with Everton he did the same mistake) This is unacceptable
We have Denis Suarez for goodness sake. Why play defensive at home against Crystal Palace. Why can’t he be effective in his Plan A. You do t keep tinkering with all kind of formations. At home against Palace, play a 433 Formation. Midfield of Mhykitaryan , Torrera and Ozil. The best way to defend is to attack. Dominate the midfield. Havr more ball players in the middle. The game is always won in the midfield. We could have scored more goals and then play it simple later on. Unai Emery is to blame.This was a must win match. At home. No excuses. Liverpool have played a 433 all season. They are vying for the title. Barca also plays a 433. The thing is have a very effective Plan A. Then go for Other formations later. 7 out of 10 players on the pitch were defensive minded. Of course you can’t dominate the midfield with that.
Mustafi is a joke. Every time he plays he makes mistakes.
Absolutely fuming! We get a golden chance to leapfrog Spurs into 3rd we blow it. Now even top 4 will be a miracle. Wolves away Leicester away that is another 6 points down the drain.
Thank you Emery for playing the worst possible line up today. Guendozi, El Neny, Jenkinson, Mustafi are simply not Arsenal quality more so top 4 quality. This loss today is without a doubt Emery’s fault.
Lmao!! Mr Tinkerman will never let it be, Great job!! Fúcking genius with that Elneny+Guendouzi selection.
Well you really can’t blame this one on Ozil again can you?
Mustafi could be bleeding on the field and I won’t bat an eyelid. I mean it, this ain’t about his error to me, to me he’s just not worth it.
Emery lost us this game
And lots more this season but am done feeling sad now am just laughing.
Emery Out Brigade come back strongly
Iwobi FC doesn’t exist.
This is Arsenal.
We support the club and we wanted to win.
The selection was obviously wrong, many people was questioning it before kickoff and Emery failed to prove people wrong, he has to be questioned.
Keep saying Emery Out Brigade and I’ll happily counter any point you make.
I support Emery in his coaching, I have never said I am convinced on his tactics, I gave him a chance and after nearly a whole season… He has not progressed.
It isn’t about splitting fans into different camps like you are trying to do.
It is supporting the club we all support.
Don’t be stupid gotanidea, have you seen anyone calling for his head? Be sensible please
UE has an inflated ego and he wants to show he is in charge. Play the best available eleven and these are pros and should be able to cope with all the physicality of the league
Emery’s fault. No doubt
That line-up was terrible
I was so shocked when I saw it.
To lose at home to CP is just awful.
We need to sell Mustafi BTW
Heartbreaking match, especially after United and Spurs losing
I expect Chelsea to win tomorrow
Thank you Emery
Thank you Mustafi
sorry hold on a minute, those so called players lets get it right mustafi let in 2 in the second half what the living Sh** was mustafi doing for their second. i agree he got the team wrong first half and that is not the first time which doesn’t give you much time to turn it around.We did after 2 mins of the second half. this lot ain’t fit to call themselves arsenal players. one thing you arfe wrong about is top 4 is in our hands we hall all played 34 and we are fourth but on that showing do we really want to be humiliated in the champions league. kronke step up or got out (expletive) of our club
We simply don’t have a bench,only a first team.When is about rotating the team we don’t have players to the same level,only mediocre ones.Jenkinson?Elneny?They are not good for the second league,but they are first option for rotation.Mustafi?A bomb always waiting to explode.Get rid of all three,it is the same movie(with 3 of them) over and over again.Wenger left behind a horrible squad,full with free earners,warming the bench for big wages.Clear the squad,promote youngsters with passion and desire.Horrible!I’ m tired of this up and down road,no consistency at all,failures when we don’t need them.Bunch of deadwoods,sell them all.
This ones on emery yet again he failed to respect the PL
He’s prioritising the cup which is a mistake when the top four is so close
Iwobi
Elneny
Mustafi
Should NEVER wear the shirt
Why play Elneny at all he’s got to be 7/8 choice
Iwobi is a good squad player
If Chukwueze comes next season, Iwobi and him can work in tandem
Iwobi is one of the worst players I’ve seen at arsenal in my 30 years of supporting them .
we’ve had FAR FAR FAR FARRRR worse!
Iwobi was one of the reasons we were better in the f2nd half.
Elnenny and Mustafi should never play for arsenal again. Emeri has not learnt his lesson, how can he play elnenny and Guendouzi in the midfield after what happened at Goodison park? What is the point in resting players to lose the game at the end? The team selection was totally wrong. If we dont make top four this season, this game will be one of the reasons.
I’m sure when they saw iwobi coming on palace went into panic mode .
To have a player as bad as him as our only attacking threat that came on is on emery .i can’t blame iwobi for being sh1t that’s on emery to see it with his own eyes and get him as far away from this team as is possible.
Not sure what you saw when he came on but the game change because emery changed formation ,nothing to do with iwobi .
Just look at that shot that he had in the last 5mins .then you will see why he need replacing .
Kay, Everton put 4 past Manchester United, who have spent more on their squad.
Eleni, guendozi ozil Miki in a team can Neva win go write it down, the manager is sometimes stupid I beg
Iwobi is pathetic. Shots like a teenage girl.
Please… That’s insulting to the teenage girls.
Some of those teenage girls grow up to be damn good footballers as well 🙂
While I know you was joking about 🙂 I do feel the gender usage was a bit unfair on girls, stereotyping them as Iwobi’s… You didn’t do it to teenage boys so same for the girls please 🙂
I do get you was joking/being sarcastic and sorry for being a SJW (Social Justice Warrior), I do believe womens football isn’t shown enough and us fans are missing out on some great football, along with more attractive players to look at… At least for us straight men 😉
If Sue can drool over Sead then why can’t we over women footballers XD
On hindsight, have to say emerys done ok with arsenes pathetic squad.
Oh shut up!
Wenger didn’t train the team well defensivly, Arsenal how-ever had a number of def minded players to aid us out in that area along with a manager who is a good coach… Yet it is our def letting us down YET AGAIN.
Leno, Sokratis, Lichtsteiner, Torreira, Guendouzi.
Five players that Wenger didn’t have, Wenger asked for a defender in Jan and he was given… Wait for it…. Record spending on Auba.
Idiots like you do our club no good, belittle the great players we do have just so you can have a pop at the ex manager who isn’t influencing Emery team selection. Emery is the one who managed the team to some good victories along with the poor displays like we watched against CP.
Absolutely wretched performance!
We should have had a penalty in the first half, but Palace easily deserved the win, and should have scored a lot more. Hodgson got his tactics spot on today, and Emery’s lineup cost us. Given the results with Spurs, and Utd over the weekend, winning today would have given us some breathing room. It would have meant that defeat to Wolves in midweek wouldn’t be as disastrous, but now it’s a must win game. I think Emery should have gone full strength today, just to secure the points, and open up a little gap.
I was hoping to not see Guendouzi and Elneny start again after the Everton defeat, but shockingly, Emery went for it again…with exactly the same results. Awful decision from Emery! If we can’t find a buyer for Mustafi in the summer, then just pay out his contract. This guy is such a liability! He was directly at fault for two of our goals, the second being the worst defending you’ll ever see. He got a booking for diving, and just an all round horror show from him! I think we can all now see how important Sokratis is.
Typical Arsenal result as well. Spurs, and Utd lose, and we fail to take advantage.
Leno – 7 MOTM. Conceded 3, but none we his fault. He had ZERO protection in front of him.
Mustafi – 0
Koscielny – 4
Mavro – 4
Kolasinac – 4
Jenkinson – 4
Elneny – 4
Guendouzi – 4
Ozil – 6
Laca – 5
Auba -6
Subs: AMN – 7, Iwobi – 4, Torreira – 5
Best player – Leno. Conceded 3, but none we his fault. He had ZERO protection in front of him.
Worst player – Mustafi. Is he even Championship level? I NEVER want to see him in an Arsenal shirt again!
100% agreed ???
I thought you were generous giving mustafi 0
I was thinking of giving him a minus, but the law of ratings just won’t allow it. Haha!
Am I allowed to give Mustafi no rating at all, because I don’t believe that clown is a professional footballer.
Just give it an article are two and the kreonke family will be slaughtered for having no ambition. We badly need players but we are miles better than this manager have us playing.
You are deranged, jah son. Where are Arsenal this season relative to 2017 /18 with relativelyminimal investment in transfers to competing teams?
iwobi of all people i stress people 4 dat chance 2 fall 2,put ur foot through it lad same as everton a couple of sesaons ago never learned…mustafi my god emery should b ashamed
Top 4 on the line and Unai Emery is still experimenting, absolutely shocking! As for Mustafi he should just have his contract torn up right now… The fella can’t defend to save his life! If we don’t have any better than him in reserve they must be plain useless.. wolves, Leicester, Burnley away don’t see where any points are coming from there! Even Brighton will be tough for us! Auba scored a great goal today but him and Lacazette miss too many chances and need too many chances to score.. simply not clinical enough.
i think Unai wants to win the europa league more, he doesn’t understand that we could have gone 2 points above that lot down the road which is what the fans want. Fu** the Europa league if we don’t finish top 4 id rather finish 8th and have just 38 games to concentrate on look how much good that did Chelsea they won the bloody title
We had 3rd position in our hands & the chance to increase our gap against Chelsea & ManU but we blew it all away especially at the emirates. Mustafi is a brainless player, what was that dross, f**k!!!
Let Jenkinson continue playing out his last games at Arsenal with the Under17s.
Elneny is hopeless & Guendouzi needs to know he’s no longer in France. This duo can’t control a midfield even if their lives depended on it.
Emery really disappointed with that lineup, he could have done way better.
How we missed Sokratis tenacity & no-nonsense defending in this match.
I’m soooo f**kn pissed
@shitnodakc
You are talking as if the France football was so slow and crap, “Guendouzi needs to know he’s no longer in France”. France just won the world cup !!!
But I agree with you he should not keep the ball so long.
I’m not talking about France as a national team, I was referring to France ligue 2 where he was playing with Lorient. You can’t honestly compare the demands & pace of the English premiere league with that.
TRUE BRO
Set up to struggle from the beginning; disastrous midfield selection; absolutely shocking from the manager. It’s on him b/c he has seen the result of Elneny and Guendouzi pairing in the midfield!
The mindless tinkering cost us again. Mustafi should be done along with Elneny for rest of the season. Pony show today, bush league stuff from the manager.
??
Genius to loan Nelson when we need wingers. Why did we loan Suarez again? Elneny over Suarez is bush league decision making.
Furious that dope selected Elneny and Guendouzi again in midfield! Epic fail at Everton, and repeats mistake. If Emery EVER starts those 2 together again, UE should be booed off touchline.
How can manager not get that when millions of fans clearly get that. Elneny benched 90% of season for lacking quality, but starts 2 must win games to jump ahead to 3rd? Can’t make that shit up. Our manager actually did that, and then tries to justify his failed decision twice! (Everton and CP today).
Suarez available, Torreira available, UE lost this game from the whistle.
What gets me is the fact he knew we needed a left winger in the window ,but spent all January messi g about and ends up signing a unfit central midfielder.like you said that’s a very strange signing to have made .
Today was on emery for starting that pairing once again which about 95%of us on here stated before the match started ,I mean if supporters can see why can’t a manager getting paid millions see it .
Then we see the substitutions being made again at half time which for me to see I find very confusing ,I just wanna see our best team every match starting not this chopping and changing of personal and tactics .
We agree on the poor selection from the onset.
If UE is talking rotation, then why not Suarez over Elneny? Suarez more technical, creative, can assist and score, plus free up Laca and Auba.
Suarez worth a 45 minute cameo, UE has evidence at Everton that Elneny and Guendouzi is a sterile disaster.
Wasn’t Emery going on about Suarez joining in first place? Now he has him and doesn’t play him when midfield starving for creativity.
Bottom line is Emery failed the team with the setup, after knowing beforehand it doesn’t work.
Guendouzi is shit
Mustafi is shit
Eleny is shit
Mavropanos is good enough
Neither is iwobi.
Ozil can leave for all I care
It’s better to use academy players than this dead woods
Aubameyang should fix up his game or leave
Emery is just daft, he doesn’t learn .
We can forget top for cos there’s no way we are beating wolves .
…fair weather support from fans as exemplified (^^above)
*Alert. For the Realist.
Rotation is required but so is quality of depth;
Rotation is required but showing that rotation means jenkinson, eleny, gendouzi, Mavro are the solutions indicate that our depth is in need of quality. No disrespect to these players. Gendouzi, Mavro are young and cant just be brought in when we want to rotate. Eleny and Jenkinson are players who want to be involved but are asked to when we need to give better players a rest rather then because they are of the standards we need..
We are where we are;
I can’t blame unai or the players of this situation – and it’s not about blaming the past decisions (anymore). It’s about appreciating this situation is what we need to move forward from and accepting and understanding how we must whilst pushing our club towards the top 4.
True supporters support solutions in hard times then criticise;
Too many are negative about our circumstances and that is detrimental to our club. We are not where we want to be, accept it. Also accept we must encourage we will get there if we allow ourselves the chance.
What we must consider in our future;
On that note, accepting the squad, with battling injuries from the past few games requiring upgrades I look back again at our team today and say that having better options in the midfield of the park next year is a priority (alongside selling and buying to improve our defensive unit and wide areas) because Gendouzi, Eleny, Xhaka and Torriera is not good enough. We need a cazorla type midfielder who can pick a pass for ozil and co to find the final pass for the attack (in situations when we break down opponent attackes) – today we just side passed in situations like this.
When you consider depth, which is why arsenal are where they are…you might look at having players like Gueye (example of type of player – experienced 28yr old who we must find for 10-15m) instead of Eleny then you can have the option of Mhikt in the midfield just in front to offer some creativity or Ozil and take on the cazorla position. Relying on the intense in your face football unai has brought is refreshing but it cant give you 100% outcome in every game because players will be wacked (leading to injuries and dip in performance) and so when teams are rotated we need quality.
I go back to my point from earlier in the season. We have 4 players who can play in the midfield of the park…of which 2 (Torriera/Gendouzi) are brought in this year and 1 (Eleny) is far off a first team player (hence his limited performances this year) while the other is only this year becoming a reliable player for AFC (Xhaka). All while the other top 5 teams have 6 or 7 players in this position.
Not the sole reason for our failures but something that needs to be addressed (alongside decisions in other areas).
Let’s go again;
I believe we will make the right decisions, until then…keep supporting the effort of our current squad. They are doing ok.
??Tom, said like a true supporter!
Can someone explain to me the pros of playing 5 at the back?
…seems to be our focus is on success in europa and limping across the line to a 4th in the epl…
Dear Lord, when will it end? On the weekend of resurrection, I am still waiting for Shkodran Mustafi to come back to life. Another horrifically glaring error, maddeningly waiting for Bernd Leno to come for a ball he shouldn’t be coming for, allowing Wilfried Zaha to sneak in behind. Terrible. Just terrible.
I pin all the blame on Emery.
Mustafi must be sold, Elneny must be sold, Jenkinson must be sold, Guendounzi must be loaned, Mavropanos must be loaned. Not Arsenal level
It should be crystal clear to Emery now at the end of this game that Elneny, Jenkenson and Mustafi aren’t suited to this Arsenal team. Mustafi needs to be sold and a decent centre back bought in the summer. Jenkenson and Elneny aren’t Arsenal quality. Guendouzi’s game seems to have deteriorated remarkably in recent games. Despite been rested against Napoli, he couldn’t play with the energy needed to make a difference in the Premier League. He’s actually becoming more and more sluggish, giving away possession far too easily most times.
Kolasinac also needs to work on his crosses. He’s too wasteful and disappointing.
Finally, the whole team needs to take shooting drills more seriously. They shoot too timidly. They rather prefer to touch than shoot even when a shooting opportunity arises.
Arsenal have certainly created a mountain for themselves in the top 4 battle.
I doubt Iwobi is going to improve his end product ever….. Mustafi was crap as usual…. I wonder what El neny and guendouzi did to deserve a start…. they played bad against Everton, and Emery thought it best to start them together again….. this loss is totally on Emery… he should have learned from his mistake…… I feel sorry for sue, I bet she’s just as disappointed in today’s games….. other than man u.. the results didn’t go as we had hoped…… well, up next is wolves….. I wonder how many times spuds has to offer us 3rd position….. I’m really pissed
Thanks AY75 ? tbh I expected the loss (after I mouthed off & ripped it out of the United fans.. then I saw our line up) I am disappointed though as we never take advantage… we’re just not meant to go above the spuds are we??
i sat down with my sunday roast and a few cans thinking we might have the belly to take 3rd spot yet its BAU yet here we go again. And at the start of this game i looked at hodgson in his dug out and convinced myself he cannot stop our momentum but i was wrong they wanted it much more than we appeared to. Auba’s goal didn’t deserve a loss but hey.. we are still morphing into what we will eventually become with arsenal.
Better days will come.
Remember we have boxing days with europe league, 2 games per week, so the coach prefer to use fresh leg jenkinson. But this fellow not worth in Arsenal squad.
The coach/board better to search and buy 1st choice over iwobi, goundozi and sell jenkinson, mustafi, and elneny.
no comment, if u drink just order a couple. for now just drink something, don’t get angry
Emery can’t play the same team each match.He has to use squad players some of which aren’t good enough.At the end of the day we are still in 4th place .All the teams in the race for top 4 have tough matches but we don’t have the squad to fight on two fronts so Emery has to rotate and today it didn’t work out
…that’s fair enough
Highbury44, the voice of reason. Emery cannot afford to play players into the ground, particularly when they are carrying injuries.
Suarez over Elneny would have been better, me over Elneny would have been better. Only 5 million, and we wasted it on Elneny.
£35 million for Mustafi was criminal. He is a defender, and acts like Leno should cover Zaha! Hope Sokratis rips into him.
Suarez was not considered to be chosen as he is not fit. I have been consistently saying that our squad is nowhere near deep enough in quality for a club which hopes to make top four and win honours. This need to use our lesser players at the business end of our season has found us out, as I thought it would. Of course there were several players today who all of us would rather not play. Rotation though is vital BUT if your squad is worse than our rivals, AND IT IS, you must be realistic about how we end the season. That is why I thought, said so, and say again that we are very unlikely to make top four. I could always see this being the likely outcome and that remains the case. Obviously we all still hope however. But hope and expectation are different animals to us realists. MOST OF THE COMMENTS ONHERE SINCE WE LOST HAVE BEEN DEEPLY UNIMPRESSIVE AND REEK OF LITTLE MINDS.
I would only point out the suicidal setup with Elneny and Guendouzi in midfield. UE could have went 4-4-2 and dropped Mustafi as CB and Elneny in midfield.
He could have gone 4-2-3-1 still dropping Mustafi and Elneny in effort to control midfield.
I agree with you Jon on rotation and lack of quality. However he could have fielded a squad without the woeful Mustafi and Elneny.
He tried it against Everton and it was epic fail from whistle. To repeat that mistake again in midfield reminds me of Wenger. Flamini and Arteta pairing that failed repeatedly, yet Wenger arrogantly trotted them out time and time again.
UE can only work with players available, but when midfield experiment fails why repeat it and expect different result?
Hopefully Emery can put it right in Summer. Rather see Chambers than Mustafi, and train up youngsters that he often talks about.
Highbury 44, please tell me how much of rotation do Liverpool and Chelsea do? I don’t understand how a coach/manager would harm his team play by reserving players for a future game
Emery is very naive! He shud wake up from lala land
For heaven sake when will arsenal players understand that we really suffer when we loose such like a game to go above spurs iwobi ,mustafi mavopranos jekinson guendouzi should HV gone like yesterday arsenal does not need them.the board must wakeup and bring back our arsenal
Emery must b serious for once we need to b above spurs more than the europa u r focussed on
Elneny & Guendouzi was a no go straight away…
Mustafi had a brain fart of epic proportions, he has to go (or can we smuggle him onto Valencia’s coach when they visit the Emirates)
Torreira & AMN should have started…
My boyfriend Kolasinac was poor (although I loved seeing him in short, tight sleeves ?)
I loved Ozil’s goal & come to think of it, Auba’s wasn’t bad either….
Stan please bring Zaha to the Emirates ?
Jon Moss… well what can i say?! The amount of time wasting by every Palace player (particularly the GK) that went unpunished was a joke, as were the ‘fouls’ that weren’t given… he’s always been a twat, but today he took it to another level…
Why on earth can’t we take advantage when others round us lose (or in United’s case – annihilated ?)
That is really disappointing, I mean don’t they want St Totteringham’s Day??? Oh.. and in all the times I’ve been.. today is the first loss I’ve witnessed ?
And boy aren’t the Palace fans loud??!
Mustafi and Elneny should never go near Arsenal training again, let alone dream of pulling the Gunner’s shirt. They were both absolutely abysmal to say the least
Two quite different managers did very similar mistakes.Where is the root cause of the problem?…This season I personally accept a max. 3rd and min.4…5….6…..The answer for my question is for the upcoming seasons and the fate of Arsenal FC.
At the end of the season the League positions never lie.I suspect this defeat will cost us a top four spot which will not surprise me as I believe Spurs and Chelsea have stronger squads than that inherited by Emery.The injuries to Holding and Bellerin coupled with the decision to loan out Chambers after extending his contract have worked against us big time.Chambers has done very well at Fulham and I sincerely hope he is given an opportunity to prove his worth to Arsenal next season.He is in my view a far better defender than Mustafi, who has cost us goals and points on a regular basis.The fact that Emery never criticises individual players “on air” is commendable but behind closed doors I am sure Mustaf I will figure high on his clear out list.Let’s hope so.
Grandad, an excellent assessment. Injuries and the suspensions to Socrates and earlier Torreira, have shown the deficiencies of this squad in competing for a top 4 finish.
I dont want to make excuses for emery’s mistakes but what people are forgetting is that if we are really a top four team we should be able to replace 5 players without any major problem. The fact is that our squad is a joke.
Elneny mustafi iwobi kolasinac jenkinson ghendouzi lichsteiner mikhitarian welbeck holding all need to go because its money down the drain.
Holding wasn’t the problem.
Holding was making a solid claim to be a regular starter when fit and playing regularly.
Holding isn’t the issue.
Yea got to agree ,holding was looking a proper prospect before that injury same with the mavro .
I do agree with the facts that our squad as a whole is looking weak ATM and with our knobhead owner I can’t see it improving.
I make that 3 games in a row where Zaha has terrorised us. BEEN saying he the winger we need but if Emery would rather has him against us then who am I to complain, a part from when he rips us up next time
When has Emery been given the funds to buy a player of Wilfred Saha’s status, when Saha has signed a 4 year contract and Crystal Palace don’t want to sell?
Omg I’ve just seen an article saying that Roma are interested in Elneny & Mustafi ?
Only if we give them 40m as well, which I think we should sue
Wel all I can say is that this Arsenal team have shown that they are Consistent because they never fail to disappoint.Arsenal have had two chances to put some distance between them and Man Utd, Chelsea and Spurs against Everton and Crystal Palace but failed miserably.I hard being an Arsenal Fan at the moment but I love this Club I believe we will come good.
Minimal comment on the performance of Mr Moss. Two hand balls not given, Saha shirt pull in the penalty area prior to goal, time wasting and fouls by Palace not penalised (compare the yellow cards between the two teams).
Despite this Arsenal had enough possession to win two games.
Why can’t professional footballers like Kolasinac cross a ball and Iwobi shoot with power?
Rating
Emery….0 for his stinking line up
He is solely to blame for yesterday’s debacle and should desist from his never ending experiments
Emery is at fault but most of the blame fall at the shit of players that he has to use when players are unfit or suspended. Mavropanos conceded a stupid free-kick that led to the 1st goal showing his lack of experience, mustafi did a mustafi no suprises. I would take a retired mertesaker instead of mustafi all day lol. iwobi with his misses showed us exactly his level just above average but no where close to the level needed at arsenal.
Add to that if you aren’t liverpool referee fc and manchester penalty fc you rarely get a favorable ref decision. 3 penalty situations we had atleast 1 we should have had.