I think the hot heads will in the cold light of day come to appreciate this is a decent point. Britannia Stadium is never an easy ground for us. Make no mistake this is a decent Stoke side and on their day can be a match for most top sides. The title is never worn in January, we are still in there, (despite the fact that, we have several players missing with long term injuries), I feel the endeavour was there today and the lads showed huge commitment after the midweek game (in years gone by we would have lost this game). So well done to the boys. I would have settled for a point before the game.
No, tonight is 2 points lost, not 1 gained, I don't appreciate anything from today's game, or maybe one thing, the final whistle, because that was one pile of utter ****. We were so toothless, and also OX should be sold or sent on loan this summer, he's average. 1 win in 6 away games, so u can keep masking today's failure as oh it was Stoke bla bla bla, we have been doing bad away from home for 2 months now, what's the excuses for all the other games? Yeah, the mighty West Brom and Norwich really are galacticos, and so are the mighty Saints who destroyed us 4-0.
You seem particularly angry today, not having a good week? One thing you have touched on that I agree with, partially, is oxocube. On current form he shouldn't be near the team, he is defensively naive and gives the ball away too much, his end product is seriously lacking even when compared to Campbell who has just broken into the team. I wouldn't go as far as to sell him as he has shown signs that he could be a useful player for us (and helps meet the home grown quota), but he needs to up his game and get chances in the cup games and as a sub until he improves. Walcott, Sanchez, Campbell are ahead of him on the wings and when Wilshere and Welbeck are back he may drop even further away from the first team. With Coquelin and Cazorla in midfield I expect Ramsey would be preferred out wide currently as well. So I don't think there is an immediate need for a world class upgrade and we can afford to give him more time.
I wanted all 3 pts, we all did. But given that we had Ozil, Sanchez, Cazorla and Coquelin out, I think the team did okay. You could see where we missed Ozil and we just couldn't unlock Stoke, but we defended resolutely and in the end it was a point won. Have to mention both Cech and Butland again for two outstanding performances. They made the difference and were the reason the game ended 0-0
I accept we should have gotten more at the Hawthorns, Norwich and Southampton. Most Arsenal fans on here would accept that. What I refuse to accept is we the lack of recognition for our team's effort against a decent Stoke side. We have played well in the past away to Stoke and come out empty handed.
Yes, I am frustrated after watching that rubbish, 90 minutes of pure rubbish, how many times we gave the ball away I lost count. And then you also have the OX, how can anyone not be angry watching him play like he did? He has no place in this side, all of us always assumed Campbell would be off, it's the other way round now, Campbell has a place in this team, the OX does not.
On current form you'd have to say Campbell is ahead of Oxo but that doesn't mean we have to sell him!
Today we played like **** and deserved to come out empty handed, we were rubbish, completely rubbish for 90 minutes. In the last 10 minutes we even just gave up and didnt bother going for it, and I'm supposed to hype myself into false positivity? Lol, I think ill pass. That's the team that's supposedly going to win the league and has intent to? If that's the case then God help us. Unless these players start improving their play, and results away from him, we're not getting anything this year but another top 4 trophy in the league.
I would loan him out.Give him a whole Season playing somewhere like Bournemouth/West Brom then assess him. With Campbell, Walcott, Sanchez and Wellbeck fit Oxo might not get too many games. The big issue with Oxo is he hasn't improved at all in 5 years.
You have to earn your point away at Stoke (so I disagree we complete rubbish today). Stoke could play Sunderland at home and lose, but there is something about playing top sides, almost like a Cup side to those guys. Talk of the title in January is a little premature, (we know who is not going to win it) however the fact that we still there despite not playing brilliantly bodes well for the future.
Not really, 2 seasons ago, we were playing like **** around this time, and getting thumped 5-1 by Liverpool, and we were 'still there', but we eventually saw how that turned out. If we want to win it, we're going to have to start playing better and getting results away from home, you can't keep scrapping and dropping points and expect to hang on top forever, it hasnt happened in the past for us, and will certainly not happen for us this year.
The Gunners have won just one of their past six Premier League away games (D3 L2). That stat right there does not bode well at all for the future, especially when we still have to play Everton, Spurs, City, and United away from home.
I accept we have not been playing well as well as we could. We all know we are capable of playing a lot better than we have done. The last home game v Sunderland was pretty poor, so was Bournemouth and Newcastle. However, I am optimistic we would start to improve once our injured players return!
Until they are back, we have to keep on going, and getting results, which we are not doing away from home, we can't just keep dropping points and say oh well injured players are gonna be back and so then things might get better, they might, they might not, who knows. We need to concentrate on the now, and start getting results away from home because overall the last 2 months have been poor, even at home, we are getting results, but very poor overall.
That has to be one of the worst games I have watched for a long time. We were very poor tonight, can't believe we got out with a point. Good luck for the rest of the season and I apologise for the Stoke fans that kept booing Ramsey.
I've got no problem with getting a point at possibly the most difficult ground in league. What I won't accept are these spineless performances Arsenal always seem to show at the business end of the season. I'm glad we're top but lets keep some perspective. Yes, we were missing some vital players but that doesn't excuse the current XI to put in such a gutless performance. It was just beyond passionless, no Arsenal should be happy with how whimsical we've been. Again, it's not just the result, it's the manner in which we played in. Too much deadwood in the squad that shouldn't even get near the bench let alone the starting XI.
That sums it up for me, the performances we are putting are really frustrating and leaving a bad taste in the mouth. Today's game was terrible, we had no urgency, and barely tried to score, was almost as bad as our attacking display VS Southampton, the only difference in this game was our opposition was quite equally **** at times, and when they did create our GK saved our backsides. I don't believe for one second we kept a clean sheet today because we defended good, it was down to world class GK and a **** home attacking display from Stoke, against any other more clinical side, we would have been beaten quite comfortably like the Southampton game. Players need to make a statement of intent against Chelski and get back on track. i want a win and a bloody good performance.
Gents. If there's a result we should be pissed off with, it was the points we lost at Anfield, not tonight. We always struggle when we go to the Britannia, yet we got a solid point against a team who have very hostile fans when they play us, whilst we were missing our core group of players. If we'd played like that and failed to win with the likes of Cazorla, Coquelin, Ozil and Sanchez on the pitch, you could have a case to be pissed off. But in the circumstances, we coped quite well, despite how frustrated I was with the sloppy passing and lack of inventiveness. I still maintain that although Cech saved us a point in this game, he cost us two vs Liverpool. There's no way that Allen's shot should have hit the net when Cech got a comfortable hand to it.
