All Arsenal fans were feeling trepidation ahead of tonight’s game at Leeds and for some it may come as a relief that we came away with a point, especially as we played most of the second half with ten men.
Considering Marcelo Bielsa’s side had 24 shots on our goal and hit the woodwork 3 times we could consider we were lucky to get any result, but then again Bukayo Saka had a one-on-one that could have won us the match towards the end, so maybe we were unlucky as well?
One person who was not sure how to feel after the game was Hector Bellerin, who expressd his thoughts very eloquently on Arsenal.com: “We have loads of mixed feelings about the game,”
“As a football players, being happy with a draw doesn’t really resonate with me. It doesn’t even matter what the circumstances are or if you’re down to 10 men, I’m someone that always wants to win especially when we were able to in some situations.
“I think the game at the end was defined by small margins as they hit the post a couple of times, there were a few decent corners towards the end that we didn’t make use of. In these kinds of games, those are the chances that you need to take.
“At the end of the day, we looked solid at the back and we demonstrated that we can play with 10 men and even against a team like Leeds, who are a team that don’t get tired and go at you over 95 minutes. We also managed to keep them at bay and we need to take those positives.
“As a footballer, I feel like even with 10 men I still want to win. I don’t want to approach the game with a mindset that means we have an excuse not to win this game.”
“A lot of people don’t want to talk about luck but sometimes it comes down to that, to training, to practice, it comes down to being inspired and making the right decision in the game,” he said.
“Football is not black and white, there are so many things that happen on that football pitch, so many things that condition the way you play and the decisions you make.
‘Sometimes we made the right decisions, sometimes we didn’t. That’s why football’s so beautiful and so unpredictable at the same time. If every time there was a striker that was one-on-one against a keeper and scored, it would be boring.
“It’s just about working the way that we are. We have the right culture at the club and the right approach now, and I think we just need to keep the results coming, build our confidence and believe in what the manager wants from us.”
So it was a very interesting game, whether we were lucky or unlucky, and it is also a positive that we kept a clean sheet. What is definitely NOT a positive is that we have scored a goal from open play in nearly 8 hours!
How do you view this result tonight?
Lucky for 96mins. We could have been Lucky for eternity then.
With Xhaka as a starter I was not expecting a win, a draw was expected, but a clean sheet is a bonus.I ponder why Mikel has tried to fix was not broken? We had a squad which won big games, with AMN as a starter, why has he been benched? Indeed Partey and Gabs are welcome additions and better than what we have/had at that moment, but Willian has ruined our earlier formation. To save our season we need to let go – Kolasinac, Xhaka, Cabellos, Willian, Laca in Jan.Lackluster performances when one or more of these play. Ozil will not move, so lets not waste time on this subject. And finally Willock drew flak from fans for yesterday’s performances, but think for a moment, the lad does not have quality around him, it is not his job to score goals/ he is not a CF, it is not his job to defend/not a CDM/CB, and maybe there could have been issues with the turf, the wind, weather and what not.
What is Willocks job exactly? A playmaker he definitely ain’t.
AMN needs at least be given a shot as a box2box midfielder, I feel his athleticism and skill fits that roll perfectly. Partey sitting with AMN getting back to assist him, and he’s played enough defense to sit when we need it.
Auba needs to be benched and brought on as a sub for 20-30mins to try and find his mojo. The main issue is Auba doesn’t do too much else besides score goals so when he’s going through a drought like now he’s actually useless for 90 mins.
Why is our star player always captain? Just because you are really good doesn’t mean you have great leadership skills. I see this trend in the work place now too in general.
Shouldn’t Arsenal have won the match if Bukayo Saka is a natural goals scorer but not a profigator who profigates in front of goal with the last minute chance he had to win the match for Arsenal and write his name with gold ink in the Arsenal books?
Look, when you Gunner whether you are a defender, midfielder or forward but have the chance to score a last gasp winning goal for Arsenal, for goodness sake, do not profigate in front of goal but score the goal to earn your team the 3 points at stake in the match.
It is not a point in the game I hope for Arsenal to collect in the match at Elland Road against Leeds Utd yesterday in PL. But the whole 3 points that were at stake in the match are what I was expecting the Gunners to collect for Arsenal.
But what can I do other than to say I thank God! As having 1/3 of a loaf of bread to eat to kill hunger is better than to not have any at all to eat and remain in hunger.
to be a team that needs time
we have a very young team
and at this stage we are building a good spine/core
Fans cant expect us to win and trash every team
Most winning team have the spine or at least 6 or 7 players that have been playing together for 2 years or more
Pepe should be sold for all I care and I do not need to back up my opinion by way of giving reason.
A lucky point. Saved from a thrashing by goalpost, crossbar, Leno and Leeds inept shooting. The game against spurs could be a humiliation of massive proportions.
I’m not sure what to make of it – struggling against a newly promoted side, yet coming away with a point, albeit only having 2 shots on target!! Should we be happy with that?!
Can’t fault Leno and the defence put a shift in, but as for the others – meh!!
Kieran Tierney made more ball recoveries (10) and blocked more shots (2) than any other Arsenal player against Leeds 👌
I’m absolutely bricking it at the thought of facing the spuds – yes it’s come to this 🥺 And tbh I’m not exactly looking forward to Wolves next week! And at this rate, we’ll make Burnley look like Barca – Jordan will be happy!!!
Sheesh!! 🙄
We could have nicked it. A decent away point. If we win our next three we will be top 5.
I thought until Pepe did the unthinkable, Arsenal were reasonably comfortable. For all of Leeds efforts, they didn’t get the ball in the goal as hitting the post doesn’t count. Leno made a couple of tremendous saves but Leeds keeper did well against Saka. That’s what they get paid to do.
It was weird, I thought we could have won and was reasonably calm, mostly because Leeds could have played all day and not scored. We looked likely to score on the counter attack. I might sound contradictory but we were lucky
We have improved defensively but at times Leeds were driving though us with ease. Leno, the woodwork and poor finishing really helped. We deserved the draw because that is what we got but Leeds were very wasteful, or just not good enough to beat us.
BUT we couldn’t complain we were unlucky if we got beat 4-0 by Leeds. Leeds were very sloppy at finishing.
For all of Bielsa’s genius, clinical finishing is probably beyond what a manger can teach his players. Thank God for that
We were lucky , Bellrin was struggling at the left , without any cover it was always 1 against two for him . one good finisher in their team we would have lost the match 3-0 minimum. suddenly we r back to emery era , no style , just passing backwards or kicking the ball to other half
The moment xhaka got the ball, he looked backwards first, not on his own but it was so obvious.