Match Day Thread Arsenal vs. Middlesbrough 2016/17 Official Match Thread

Ha ha fair point. Where were you when we were winning though?

 

The past run of recent wins has given some immunity to the team from great criticism from me for a game or two. However, it won't take many of these performances and results to send us straight back to being 'best of the rest'. Fix it you muppet(s).

 

I thought Santi was injured though? I hope it is not long term!

 

He is but but we saw we can't go a game without him, even against relegation fodder at home.. I seem to remember our form was **** last season when he got injured as well

 

Just goes to show how importante Cazorla is. He makes our midfield tick, similarly to Fabs and Rosicky. But it also looks like we dropped in intensity and underestimated Middlesborough, something we can't afford to do over a long season. I hope that this serves as a warning to the players on maintaining focus all the time. But at least we didn't lose and it's still early days.

 

Santi is a really important player to how we play, but I'm not sure if he would have made the difference today. He would have been better at ball retention and playing the right passes forward, but we would have been more susceptible to being hit on the counter and his presence would have done nothing to stop Traore from giving our defence a torrid time.

I just feel like, more than anything, we needed a focal point to hold the ball up and win aerial duels. It was a shame that Giroud's comeback has to be in a few days and not today because I do feel he would have been the difference between getting 3 points and getting 1 - he proved this in a similar sort of game against Southampton, where he made an instant impact after coming on and won the resulting penalty by putting himself about in the box.

 

We didn't win because we don't rotate.

Ludogorets was a stroll and we could easily have rested Sanchez and Ozil.

We soo often drop points after a game in Europe. Whats the point in buying the likes of Perez if we're not going to play him?

 

Probably a bit of both and Middlesborough played a really good game.

 

Just back from a loooong day at work. Only managed to follow the game on updates on my phone. I sounded like it could have gone either way this game, so whilst a draw is disappointing, at least we didn't lose.

And, we are top of the league

 

The guy in the video above has a view about you

 

Not our best performance but it's only a draw. We kept a clean sheet and it takes us top of the table (at least until city play). We are still on a good run of results and I don't think the meltdown on here about "same old Arsenal" "shouldn't have got our hopes up" type stuff is quite necessary yet. This is the negativity Wenger mentioned earlier in the season. The team overall are doing very well, it's still our best start to a season for a few years so let's stay behind the team, keep up the positivity and see where the season takes us. It's incredible that we can go from so positive to so negative over a single 0-0 draw while still being top of the table... Pull yourselves together!

 

Lucas Perez must be wondering why the hell he came to Arsenal. Yesterday would have been an ideal game to give him a start, with others having tired legs after the midweek match.

 

Wenger believes Arsenal showed developing maturity in their game.

 

I actually think Ludogorets was the game we should've rotated a few players.

Sanchez and Ozil should should have been rested. Perez should have started as should Xhaka (who was banned for the Middlesborough game) This is one of the reasons we get too many injuries. Wenger thinks the squad is only there to cover for player WHEN they get injured.

The reality is you can use the squad to help prevent injury and fatigue.