please log in to view this image Venue: Emirates Stadium Date: Wednesday 18th December 2024 KO time: 19:30 GMT Overall Record Wins: 33 Losses: 6 Draws: 16 Last six meetings Arsenal 5-0 Crystal Palace Crystal Palace 0-1 Arsenal Arsenal 4-1 Crystal Palace Crystal Palace 0-2 Arsenal Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal Arsenal 2-2 Crystal Palace please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Not gonna be able to watch this game - not sure whether that's a good thing or bad thing with the way we're playing of late! Let's just hope we get the job done by the time I see the result...
Was at the game was kinda interesting. First half we were poor - just lacked creativity again. Second half was better. Odegaard made a World of difference. Gabriel Jesus. First half the guy was a 3/10 at best - he was awful. Once he got that first goal though... he completely changed, work-rate went up, his first touch improved and he scored another 2 quality goals. Funny what a bit of confidence can do. Sterling. Another player looking a shadow of their former selves. Missed an absolute sitter. Merino passing range is great but he just lacks a bit of creativity. Partey should be playing DM - looked uncomfortable. Jorginho played well though to be fair. Kiwior. At fault for the first goal. He was bullied by Mateta - didn't seem to like the physical battle at all. I know he's a good player but he's not the most physical of CB's - reminds me a bit of Koscielney can be classy on the ball but there's always a mistake in him. Glad Gabriel is back for the weekend. Timber was classy as always. Trossard had a shocker. Tierney. First half he looked scared to venture forward. Improved as the game went on.
Saw the highlights of the game and have read people's comments. There seems to be a mixed reaction to how we performed in the first half, but second half, seems like consensus was that there was a marked improvement. It really doesn't bode well that we had to bring on the big guns to beat Palace at home, though. However, I guess in cup competitions, performances are irrelevant so long as you get the result. Palace fielded a stronger team than I expected, and their strikers finished clinically. Although, from what I've read, outside of the two goals they scored (what an outrageous header by Nketiah btw, why could he never do that for us?!), they didn't create much else. Glasner even said post-match that we deserved to go through, so we must have been pretty dominant if an opposition manager is admitting this. Worth noting that we got very fortunate there was no VAR in operation because Jesus' second goal was offside. But I guess we got the rub of the green on that one. Jesus' goals...you wouldn't think he's had confidence issues for so long. Three very accomplished finishes from a player that had 1 goal in the last 11 months prior to the hat-trick tonight. We needed him to do this, though. Hopefully, that will give him (and us) a much needed confidence boost for the second half of the season. With rumours that we're not likely to bring in an attacker in January, it's paramount that we have as many attacking players in form as possible. Great that we're through to the semi-finals of the League Cup. I've never seen us win the competition in my life. I have seen us lose multiple finals though Need to put an end to that wretched record. Hoping we go all the way, but will be tough because there's some very tricky teams in our way, no matter who we come up against.
Was he that bad? The reason I'm asking is that I was told from others that Sterling played ok considering his lack of minutes. Fine, the miss was terrible, but people felt like he has something to offer. In terms of performance, people said they enjoyed a bit more variation in how we played. Wide overlaps on both sides, combined with more direct central passing and movement around the ball at a high tempo. Did you see it differently?
Sterling? He wasn't great. Did almost score a free kick I suppose. I have a theory about the way we've underperformed this Season. When Arteta first took over we played a few games with a 4-3-3 but it was clear we didn't have the squad to play in the dynamic high energy way he wanted. So he reverted to a more defensive 5 at the back. Didn't work great either and we finished his first full Season in 8th place (but we did start to look ALOT harder to beat) Then as we slowly added more players that fit the system and trimmed the squad right back we went full 4-3-3 and in the 22-23 Season with Jesus as a false 9 and Zinchenko as an inverted LB we pushed for the title playing excellent fluid attacking football. In the 23-24 Season we mainly continued with the same dynamic football only Arteta started to adopt a low block in the games against the 'Big Sides'. This Season (24/25) when Odegaard got injured Arteta - went full defensive again and we played almost that entire run of games with a low block .. again It didn't quite work out. We had a fairly poor run of results. And now we're struggling to find that offensive fluidity again. Arteta seems obsessed with the idea of being able to completely change from an offensive to a defensive system. It just hasn't quite worked.
Following our 3-2 victory against Crystal Palace in the quarter-finals, we will be facing Newcastle United in the semi-finals. We will be at home first.
