It was a disappointing defeat at Liverpool for Arsenal but at least the loss to the European Champions on their own ground is kind of calculated in, unlike a home loss to a team that could easily be fighting relegation.
Manchester United’s home defeat to Crystal Palace and Spurs losing to Newcastle United at the Tottenham Stadium does put Arsenal loss at Anfield into perspective.
Before the season started Arsenal fans would have looked at the Liverpool fixture and probably accepted that is a game that will end in defeat, whereas United and Spurs fans would have seen their respective games over the weekend as guaranteed three-pointers.
I am not crowing over the losses that United and Spurs had because we lost as well but I am saying that the damage to Arsenal this weekend is far less than the damage our rivals for a top-four spot have incurred and we can take comfort in that.
The game against Spurs at the weekend takes on even more importance now because a win will see Arsenal go five points clear of Tottenham and while it is still very early in the season that is definitely a nice gap to have.
Losing away at Anfield does not undermine the progress that Arsenal is seeking but losing at home to Burnley last week would have and so as things stand right now, Arsenal are doing ok in comparison to most of our rivals.
Don’t tell me that. This weekend was away teams’ weekend and we missed the party. Failures can’t be our standard.
Failures can’t be our standard?
Losing at Anfield isn’t a failure…. No one has won there in 2 bloody years… not even Barcelona could keep hold of a 3-0 lead on aggregate ffs ?♂️
We went there with an understrength squad and gave a good account of ourselves really, on another day (bit more clinical) that performance could have still got us the win… enough with the negativity already.
Since when did we agree that any defeat is acceptable?The sheer inept performance is what should be considered.We created chances with a defence (sic) minded set-up so what could have been the result if we had been more adventurous in our line-up and tactics?We are Arsenal Football Club FFS and NO DEFEAT should ever be acceptable.
I agree the result could well have been different if we had been more aggressive and played to our strengths…. We could have won or we could have been torn apart for being more open, we can’t say for sure either way.
Losing to Liverpool at this stage of our rebuild is acceptable to me I’m afraid, purely because I’m a realist…. They are top of their game at the moment and we aren’t…. Will I be so quite so understanding on the return fixture when we are at full strength and the squad have had time to gel? Not at all.
As it was Emery opted for a plan and this time it didn’t come off but even with the odd choice we still missed 3 or 4 opportunities between Auba and Pepe, had a penalty for a shirt pull on Pepe and VVD hauling Guendouzi out of the way for Matips goal missed by VAR…..another day with a bit more clinical finishing and less bias that match finishes 2-5 to us against the CL winners….. Compared to last season that’s progress imo and I will happily take it for now.
“We could have won or we could have been torn apart for being more open, we can’t say for sure either way.”
To this, I agree. Well said. Either approach would have been a gamble.
To put it in perspective, Klopp’s Pool are a team that relies on counterpressing and catching you on the transition. Great attacking teams, even Barca, had gone to Anfield, played attacking football without a solid way to limit the damage of their counterpress and got their asses kicked.
I’m not saying that teams should just go there and defend, but if you plan to attack, you must also have a plan to deal with their counterpressing.
Go there and play expansive and attacking football without taking care of their counterpressing and that would be playing right into the hands of Pool
Of course defeat is not acceptable, yet our two previous visits there without being defensive minded ended in 0-4 and 1-5 defeats.
Although doing the same might have ended up with similar results, I was still inclined to stick to our usual attacking approach before the game. That’s just a gamble I was willing to take.
With that being said, UE was certainly entitled to take a different approach, given the way his previous attempt turned out.
Truth be told, his different approach yesterday was awful to watch. I didn’t enjoy one bit of it, but it was the closest we got to getting a result there in years. If only we been more clinical and less error prone. In fact, I really don’t recall Pool having as few goal scoring chances from open play as yesterday in recent games against us.
In the end, UE’s gamble backfired. He also made mistakes with player selection, not making immediate changes at 0-2 and mindlessly insisting on playing out from the back.
Nonetheless, the negativity is excessive
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Totally agree.
The amount of people writing negative posts on here you would think we are the only team to have lost there
Sack this player, sack the manger bla bla bla
Pool and city are two exceptional teams …if this wa last years team we would have taken a 6 mile beating for sure..
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Yes, thankfully Man United/ Tottenham lost at their turf and Chelsea almost lost as well. This proves that EPL is highly competitive and this could happen to Arsenal at the Emirates as well
To avoid that, Arsenal has to press Spurs on the weekend. I’m just worried that Emery would be too afraid of the backlash from the media/ the fans again and would opt for another overly cautious tactic
He would struggle to bring Arsenal into the top four if he has no balls, unless our rivals are highly inconsistent in this season
He never holds back against tottenham
Unto next week. Please Emery pick the right selection and formation against Spurs.
A Win would put the Liverpool loss to bed.
Giving up on calling for Xhaka to be benched. So he is a guaranteed starter in the midfield.
Hopefully he learns to improve his game and be flexible. If I were Xhaka I will watch all the great Pirlo games and learn from him. Torreira and Cabellos with Guendouzi and Willock should improve him.
We need to see our 3 best attacker’s against Spurs
I bet Xhaka has seen Pirlo’s highlights, but he simply doesn’t have enough flair to create sharp through balls like Pirlo
I have seen Henderson created Pirlo-esque through balls in a CL match. Because Xhaka can’t do something like that nor can he dictate the tempo like Cazorla, Arsenal should have shipped him out in the summer
Four managers (at Arsenal, at Moenchengladbach and in Switzerland) chose Xhaka to be their main midfielder, but I think Xhaka’s time is running out
Gotanidea it’s never good to mention Henderson in the same breath as pirlo ?
The spuds were really crap.. so as you can imagine, i really enjoyed watching that!
As for United, i never expected them to lose.. Palace had never beaten them in the league before! So for De Gea to have a howler & for Rashford to miss his penalty (Pogba should have taken it ?) was bloody brilliant!!
Yes our result was pants & i was devastated… but we’re 3rd and if we kick on and win next week… we can go in to the break all good! COYG
But your done Sue that’s irrelevant now ?
When did i say that?!! ??? I’m over my little hissy fit now (well kind of) ???
All that stress on someone of your age it’s not good Sue ??? I didn’t watch any football today I refuse to even glance at it ?
Hahahaha!! I’ve avoided certain channels/websites.. as always after a loss! ?
I was a little worried about City after Bournemouth scored.. but Sergio was their saviour!!
And Newcastle ? well what can i say?! ?
Normally I would be joyous but Goldilocks and his troops ruined my weekend ? I can’t even take comfort in other results! I would love to simeone as our next manager the man is a born winner ?
*have
Jeez, and i said i was done!!
Unfortunately nothing will change the result.. got to think of destroying the spuds now (& hope someone else does the same to Liverpool ?)
Haha hoped for that last season and never happened one defeat to city and they should have won that too ? maybe Burnley could spring a surprise ? I’m worried about the spurs game as they lost today I’d have been more confident had they won but I have to hope we can win Sue ?
It’s gonna happen at some point Kev!! Party time, when it does!
Well hopefully our best players will be on the pitch rather than the bench.. plus after last night, surely we’ll be up for it ?
Haha yes and a little party hat for Coco ? ? can’t wait until Bellerin and Tierney are back Sue our current fullbacks are awful and hear Monreal is going ? how’d Koscielny get on this weekend?
They won 2-0.. he played, but didn’t score.
I can’t either.. be about bloody tine, hey?!
Yeah I saw it earlier Sue damn lol. Well you looking forward to the draw on Wednesday ? Liverpool at the Emirates please ? then the big one Friday Champions League draw oh wait I mean Europa League ?
Be good to see who we get.. may do another 7-5 at Reading!
Ooh can’t wait for the Europa draw.. really hope we’re out of it next season though – have had enough of thursday night football. Will the footballing gods go easy on us? No i didn’t think so either ?
No we must win it Sue we will really look like chumps if we can’t win that competition at the 3rd time of asking and it’s not like we’ll ever see the champions League in our lifetime ? I want Liverpool I saw earlier Robbie chatting to that fella from red men tv he’s getting so cocky like Liverpool have been dominant for years! ? I want to see that smug grin wiped off his face! I’m starting to hate Liverpool more than utd
I can’t stand Fowler.. ever since that hat trick back in the day. When he was on The Jump, i was hoping he’d go face first into the snow, never to be seen again! Let’s face it Kev, they’ve always been cocky.. it’s just even more now.. I’m gonna have some grief at work today.. oh well.. they’ll get a mouthful ?
I really can’t wait to see the smile wiped from tjeir faces, Kev..even the players are as big headed as the fans!!!
That’s very very true Sue ? those cocky fans saying they should have had 7 or 8 they had 5 shots on target the whole game I don’t count shots blocked or off target! I can tell you now there’s no bloody way Salah will be whizzing past Kieran Tierney when he’s fit that boy has pace and can tackle and when Bellerin is fit Robertson won’t be whizzing past him either Bellerin has pace to burn so they might be cocky now but let’s see how confident they are when they come to London facing a fully fit gelled arsenal team ? yeah that’s it Sue give it back full pelt ? hahaha I didn’t see that ?
Just imagine if we were to beat them at the Emirates.. jeez i think I’d celebrate like we’d won the CL ?
Let’s just hope that happens, Kev.. and all those bell ends have a long journey home, with nothing. No stupid grins, no points, just skinned & beaten.. sounds good, hey?! ?
Oh I’m confident we will beat them this season.. they might think they’re gonna beat us every game but the realists know nothing lasts forever! We’re due a win and luck over them! We should have had a pen yesterday but as I said in an earlier post you get nothing at anfield they’ve become the new utd ? and hand man city the league? That will be like winning the league in itself ? we might not win the league, but we can stop them winning it ?
Oh and they’re first goal shouldn’t have stood van Dijk grabbed Guendouzi out of the way so once again they get protection from refs ?
Sod the lot of them hey Kev!! ? i won’t be watching them again until they visit the Emirates. It’s funny, you know i can’t stand them, the spuds, United & Chelsea.. but sometimes i don’t know who the most ?
Last week I had some hope that Emery would give us a chance at Anfield. In reality I saw the most naive tactical display and most stupid team selection I have seen at Arsenal. Sorry Emery is the wrong man. It was more than pathetic it was cowardice. Not by the team, they have great possibilities. The manager should get ZERO. Pathetic management.
Me too Sean ? I won’t shout Emery out every week but I too think he’s the wrong man.. I think we should replace him at the end of the season although I’d happily take Allegri now.
Don’t worry if Emery doesn’t meet the expectations of management/owner his contract will not be extended past the end of this season.
By the comments regarding the requirements for an Arsenal coach, the Board will be inundated with applications.
Arsenals performance was enormously encouraging.
That’s without Ozil Toreira Belerin and a top class LB.
Liverpool were at full strength and at home.
We gambled + put 4 defenders on VVD at the corner
and Matip unmarked scored but the idea was good.
Luiz gifted them one goal.
Salah scored a worldly.
We made at least 5 clear chances yet converted just 1.
Score one of those 1st half chances + we could have won.
Pepe looked unplayable at times.
Auba missed chances he would normally bury.
Willock looked real class.
Guendouzie was very creative and daring.
Liverpool’s defense looked terrible at times
but as per usual their attack bailed them out.
Our attack needs to score to bail us out more often.
Spurs Top 4 could be gone if they lose to us.
They will be desperate.
Should we worry?
I remember last Season Pochettino said North London bragging rights meant nothing as Spurs had more important goals.
Making the ECL final bears testament to his raised ambition.
Arsenal should raise our sights and say the NLD is just
another game which we will win by 5 as usual.
We have bigger goals like winning our 7th title in a row 🙂
Whatever tactics Emery deployed against Liverpool on Saturday,he shouldn’t have left some of his best players on the bench. Playing two midfielders(Guedouzi and Xhaka) who are sluggish against a pacy Liverpool sides wouldn’t augur well, immediately I saw the line up I knew we wouldn’t get a result at Anfield. I am beginning to have my doubts about Emery. I didn’t mind losing at Anfield but the manner of capitulation is what I don’t like.