Atkinson was a joke 4 fouls all equal to the ones that Winks, Sanchez got carded for and he did nothing ,in the end he had to book Xhaka
Question for keepers.... Why didn't Hugo rush out to Lacazette? He stopped, which enabled the fwd to shoot. He had time to close him down!
As the song goes...."and another one bites the dust!" Meaning more lost points. Better go for the cups Poch. We ain't up for the PL.
Nah, there's at least four teams with higher spending power True, he's been sacked by two of them, but there's still two remaining...
As I said, “2 of”. We can’t exclude west ham from that either! They always turn up against us. I think with everything considered behind the scenes and the fact that our squad isn’t up to speed for the start of the season (yet again) a draw away at arsenal is a decent result, regardless of the game itself.
My take on the game... On the balance of play, a draw is probably a fair result, and I did predict you lot would turn up (despite a lot of you feeling anxious about this game). I said at the beginning of the match that Xhaka, Torreira and Guendouzi as a midfield 3 will not work. I was proven right. Torreira was playing on the right hand side of central midfield, but was far too high up and didn't seem comfortable. It's not where he's most effective, so why play him in such an advanced position? Guendouzi was probably the best of the three. Won tackles, looked to drive forward, retained possession well and helped us get the ball up the pitch. It was his deft pass for Aubameyang's equaliser. Probably his most mature performance in a big game. Now onto the piece of **** that is Granit Xhaka....how this odious **** took 92 minutes to get booked is a mystery. His challenge on Son was an absolute disgrace. Scissor challenge, studs up and nowhere near the ball. I want to say I can't believe he was so careless, but he regularly makes stupid mistakes every game, so I can't even say that. He then made a series of cynical fouls throughout which Atkinson didn't book him for. Had he been sent off, you lot would have won that game with ease. We got very ****ing fortunate with this decision. I don't know how the officials missed it. Onto the game itself, I thought although we started raring to go, and dominated the ball, you always looked threatening on the counter. And despite having most of the ball, you guys had the best chances. Sokratis was appalling for the first goal. Firstly, for going up to challenge Kane when Xhaka was already competing for it. Then he's out of position and Sokratis didn't run back hard enough to get in the way of Eriksen, despite Leno's rubbish parry. I've already touched on the penalty incident and Xhaka's role in it, so I won't go into that too much, but what I will say is what a penalty it was from Kane. Even if Leno dived the right way, he wouldn't have saved it. Right in the corner. I knew if we were going to get something from the game, we needed a goal before half-time and Lacazette showed tremendous poise and composure to get past your defence and fire it home. Nevertheless, you were deservedly ahead based on the first 45 minutes. Barring the final 10 minutes of the second half, it was all us and we were really pressuring your defence. Lloris made some good saves, but there was none that I thought were 'outstanding'. Ironically, despite us being all over you in the second half, Kane had the best chance of the half when he hit the inside of the post. I'm glad our pressure wasn't for nothing and got the equaliser, but we didn't really kick on to win the game when we should have done. Pepe looks a really frightening, dangerous player, but man oh man, he was so wasteful. Great skill and dribbling, good close control, but messed up a lot in the final third. Final 10 minutes were just chaotic and both defences (mainly ours) went to ****. Everything felt frantic and desperate when we needed to just play our game. Vertonghen and Alderweireld played very well for you, as did Winks and Son. Eriksen was good in the first-half, but non-existent in the second. I know Kane scored a pen and hit the post, but I didn't really feel like he was in the game until the final 10 minutes. Davinson Sanchez was a liability throughout. By far, your weakest link. Overall, I can't say I'm happy with a point at home, as I wanted a win, but given we were 2-0 down, I'll take it. A loss would have been unbearable. You lot will probably feel happier with a point in the grand scheme of things, but blowing a two-goal lead will understandably be the main frustration. On we go
Think this sums it up except i disagree on lloris not making any decent saves. The one from xhaka was good but the guendozi and ceballos (swerve and dip) were outstanding. You had a lot of good opportunities to create something but kolasinac is very wasteful and mkhitaryan is also a waste of space
Good analysis Brunel. What were your thoughts on the coming together between Sokratis and Kane at the end?
Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure. From the angles I've seen, and I admit I could be being biased here, but I genuinely thought Kane was looking for it. It seemed like he knew he was running into a dead-end, so tried to force contact with Sokratis and then get a penalty. The only clumsy thing Sokratis did was put his hands on Kane from behind which made it look ominous. However, given the inconsistencies of interpretation with some VAR decisions, I thought it might be given upon review.
Thought Guendouzi was your best player. Controlled that centre of the park for you. Ironically enough I mock him a lot as I view him as similar to our very own Harry Winks - a sideways pass merchant - yet both players were probably each team’s best player today and instrumental in each sides’s second goals Pepe though, I think he looks gash mate. Said to Piskie he looks like an expensive Bolasie. Loads of skill but no brain. Think Ligue 1 massively flattered him. Appreciate it’s early days but I think he could struggle (cue this being famous last words!). Fair result overall. At the start of the game I’d have taken a draw whilst you lot would’ve wanted a win. Yet after the final whistle, you lot are probably “happier” with the outcome as you came back to earn a point from being 2-0 down whilst we’re disappointed at bottling a 2-0 lead.
They're not inconsistent. The ref makes his decision and then VAR agrees with it. Can't get more consistent than that.
Disappointed with the result but hopefully we get a fit Ndombele, GLC, Dele , someone at right back and davies at left after the international break Last weeks result was a kick in the nuts but if you would have offered 2 draws away to City and the arse I would've taken that
I don't know about this I'm not satisifed/content with a draw at all. At The Emirates, I want us to be winning these sorts of games. Do I prefer a draw to a loss? Of course. And ok yeah, we fought hard to come back from 2-0 down, but I really felt we needed to win. We were ridiculously wasteful in the final third. And like I said, 8 shots on target from 26 is really bad. Given the magnitude of the game, and all the problems you guys have had, I see it as two points dropped.
Apologies, misunderstood. To be honest, 6 dropped should be the worst we could have anticipated,1-5 the best. Given that Arsenal weren't great, I think it's disappointing we didn't win today, particularly after last week.
