No, but its a penalty if it ricochets onto Merino's hand in 0.01 seconds. Common sense be damned.

an absolute fallacy,

we never get a break. I give in

1-0 down. I feel that is ridiculously harsh, ball hits Merino’s hand from less than a yard away, what is he meant to do?

Second before Martinez waves an imaginary card at the ref wanting Saliba yellow carded, Martinez had already been carded previously so he should be sent off - letter of the law and all that

Again. 3 big 50/50 decisions in that half all went Inter’s way, had they all gone our way we’d be 1-0 up and playing 10 men.

How can the gk punch a player in the head and it’s not a foul, absolutely no different to a late tackle. Timber conceded a free kick for barging in to Dumfries a split second after the inter player won a header they were both contesting.

Home crowd decisions all round.

We’ve been pretty poor but Inter have been no better and don’t deserve their lead at all - gifted by the ref

To top it, it *&^&ing snowed in the Eastern Cape. African summer and all that ...

https://www.capetownetc.com/news/snowfa ... tern-cape/

What next, one wonders?

I just wish Arteta would pull Trossard out of the side and put in Ethan. Just feels like he’s doing what england do and try and play his 11 most senior players.

Don’t play into their hands. Take the initiative. Our 8s just so average

Typical that in general there CL is referees better but the one area they are worse - handball for penalties - is the one area that screws us. That doesn’t get given in the premier league.

This is an Inter team resting 5 starters we should be more positive and take them on

He’s yanked Merino,

I can’t really disagree. He’s tried something

I'm not sure about that substitution.

Ref loves a free kick doesn’t he. Game is awful because it’s free kick after free kick. He’s been able to play advantage for both teams on plenty of occasions but always calls it back

55 minutes. Not a shot on target yet.

I wish Havertz would occasionally try turning and beating a defender instead of knocking it back.

Their press is working because we can’t progress the ball through the centre of the pitch with decent technical security. Everything has to go wide

We’re the better side though. 2 big chances there

Being a ref is like being a parent to toddlers, you have all the power and you can be ‘right’ every time and punish them if you want but it’s not all about you and you need to pick your battles!

which of our players is this ref walking in the last 10 for some total bollocks

Can’t see where a goal is coming from. Team in a complete stall relative to the level we want to operate in. Looks like they just lost confidence and momentum with the Arsenal only decisions and injuries early in the season We look stodgy in thought and action. Trip to Dubai moment needed.

ffs how is Trossard still on the pitch. get sterling and Ethan on

Jesus. He’ll definitely get frustrated and do something petulant for a second yellow. Can’t you just see his face of disbelief.

Don’t see how Nwaneri could be less effective than Trossard.

Game after game.

I think it’s pressure though. Come on and rescue the game please away to Inter in the champions league. Even though it might work it’s not exactly patient with the 17yr old is it.

Well that’s me told. Get Ethan on

Timber was looking our most likely player

We’re losing - it wouldn’t be his fault if we lost. If that’s pressure for him, it’ll do him good in the long run.

Yeah fair. I think if fans are a touch frustrated at his minutes before he’s 19 that will probably mean we’re being rightly careful with his career with us. I’m haunted by Wilshere I think.

Four minutes of added time. Joke.

5 innit?

31 fouls in this game. Ball in play is usually about 50 minutes so we’re having a game stopped just for free kicks every 90 odd seconds. Plus all the throws and goal kicks and corners. Deathly dull.

Shows how the most important person on the pitch is the ref. The narrative will be awful Arsenal but Inter have been given a joke penalty as their only shot on goal and only created 0.3xg other than the penalty whilst we’re on 1.9xg. We’ve dominated them, yes missed a spark but we’ve still dominated them and given them nothing but the ref has given them a 1-0 win. First goal so often decisive

Nwaneri showing why he should have started

Nwaneri does more in 2 minutes than Trossard in 85. Get this kid starting. That turn in a central area opened them up. First time anyone beat their man…and in a central area.

Arteta needs to start taking more risks with selection.

His approach is risk averse, and is causing the players to play within themselves creatively.

The boot will go in after that but it totally ignores the context. Inter did nothing, if the ref doesn’t give the joke penalty we’re talking about being frustrated that we didn’t get the win we deserved but take an away point in the toughest fixture.

Nothing is going our way at all at the moment. Yes you create your own luck but we’re getting absolutely stuffed every which way at the minute on every single fine margin the game has to offer.

Trossard simply cannot start at the weekend, neither should Merino right now. Hoping Rice is fit. I doubt Ødegaard is fit to start so it MUST be Nwaneri. So what if he plays badly, he’s 17, of course there’s a risk he plays badly but he’s also capable of things others aren’t and so there’s also the chance he wins us the game. Currently our 8’s lack finesse, dribbling and creativity. He’s got all of that.

I’d seriously consider Zinchenko or Jorginho. With Ødegaard out we had to get more technical players in the team not fewer which is what Arteta has done.

Saka is the only threat and he’s stuck far too wide and double marked. As soon as White went on the overlap suddenly Saka had a 1v1 as one of his markers had to take White.

Rich, we had more than enough possession away from home and put in umpteen dangerous crosses but had zero presence in the box and the Inter defenders just cleared the ball away with relative ease.

We've got no striker presence and no cutting edge and don't really look like scoring in open play.

We are basically relying on a piece of magic from Saka or a set-piece to get us a goal.

Thing is it could take Ødegaard a few games to get up to speed. We haven’t been anywhere near adventurous in his absence. Sterling, Zinchenko and Nwaneri all options.

Chelsea could do us this weekend. Ødegaard wil probably be forced to play.

As for the champions league it’s now looking we have to play more football matches to qualify for a competition we have zero chance of winning

Jesus is a busted flush. Nwaneri is class. Partey was excellent.

Stitched up by a ridiculous pen. My

We were actually pretty good in possession tonight and put in some really dangerous looking crosses but you can't just throw crosses in when you have no one getting on the end of them. It's a fruitless tactic, hoping for that one cross which finds an Arsenal players head.

We looked far more dangerous when Nwaneri came on and he started to drift by players and open up spaces.

Agreed,
Havertz/Trossard front 2 doesn’t work. Trossard and Martinelli can only play in the same side if they’re on opposite flanks.

We bought Merino who looks as quick and mobile as Xhaka was and we couldn't play him in a midfield two because he couldn't get around the pitch quickly enough and was often caught out in transitions.

Buying big, tall duel winners is one thing but you also need players with skill, speed and athleticism to compete at the very highest level.

We've got one of the biggest teams in the league now but the speed, fluidity and creativity of our football has suffered as a result.

Need to be a midfield of Rice, Nwaneri and Ødegaard. You just can’t be as conservative as we are playing and get the points haul we need to claw back. Honestly it’s so dire.