Aubameyang nice prod for 1-2 question over a Lacazette handball- tight to call but Lacazette is getting his shirt pulled in the box in any case.

Nervous about this ref, he’s letting so many fouls go

Yup, he knows he is not fast enough to recover. So, no runs down the flank.

Lichtsteiner on his last warning from the ref. Ayew for them has had two fouls after he’s been booked so should be in the same situation of last warning as Lichtsteiner- but the two will get treated very differently by the ref because ayew is looking at a potential red but Lichtsteiner is a basic yellow. Ref won’t treat them the same

Özil surprisingly unhappy about being subbed. We are under some sustained pressure now. Nervy times.

Torreira has stopped so many of their threats. And had pushed the attacks with more purpose.

Technology used to confirm our second goal gives it as 9mm over the line. Wow!

Lichtsteiner is a team player, great spoiler to the opposition

Torreira again, he gets to the loose balls faster than most

And he did it again

And he’s finally got the yellow that’s been coming for the past twenty minutes or so.

Lichtensteiner, lets use the "Paul Scholes defense"
He's not dirty, he's just not a good tackler.

So from not giving anything now the ref is giving everything. He seriously worries me

Bollocks. Lacazette error on attack, they go down our end and get another penalty. Poor ref decision

Banging on an old drum, i dont think Wenger would have approved of an attempt at goal. Perhaps a tap pass sideways or backwards, to start a series of passes around the penalty area.

What a dive !

Lacazette oh Lacazette, why such a dumb decision?

Totally brainless. You cannot do that with zaha.. he will make the most of any dangled leg. Fuming about that. This is the sort of game we needed to see out. It was from our attack and we played a poor pass and got counter attacked, 2-1 up 10 mins to go you cannot get counter attacked like that

Not that one. Bugger.

Getting panicked by such basic football. Balls tossed in to the box, quick players waiting for any sort of contact or opportunity to throw themselves down in the box.
Emery will talk about controlling the game, we’ve not kept the ball well at all since going 2-1up

Welbeck with the winner?

See my subsequent post about him suddenly whistling for everything just before the pen.
Both pens are pens, stupid from us on both occasions to give them the chance to go down but this ref has made me nervous all game with his interpretation on free kicks

More like playing a broken record that wasn't even that good to begin with. Of course Wenger wouldn't have minded a player trying to score from a free kick when there's an opportunity.

Monreal is a big miss. The whole balance of the team is screwed up. Losing Bellerin just made it worse.

So annoying to drop points to 2 penalties, it’s too easy a goal to give an opponent....twice.

We threw 2 points away.

But, Palace deserved their point. They showed more drive and committment. Our attack is poor today.

Nah! Disagree.

Pundits will moan about Lacazette’sobvious handball before Aubameyang goal but his shirt is clearly being tugged. The World Cup gave penalties for those in most games and it was brilliant, it stopped it happening - like most clamp downs it was quickly forgotten and holding and pulling shirts in the box is now seemingly fine. If the ref gives the handball he has to give the penalty for the shirt tug before

Palace the best they have been all season, overall they deserved a point but frustrating that we handed it to them with 2 silly tackles - but of a throw back to the last few seasons with these brainless tackles in the box

Not a good game from us, but not a disastrous result away all things considered. Remember we're still a work in progress. As nice as our recent run has been it was bound to end at some point. We're not an elite team. Some important lessons to be learned from this.

Sure, but we need to be a lot better than this before Liverpool. The thought of our defence facing an ominously in form Mané and co. next weekend is giving me the heeby-jeebies. The bubble might be well and truly burst.

Emery in for his first big test next week.

No natural left back, and Xhaka will be too busy if he plays there. Aubameyang was not helping out a lot today too. Should he continue with this pairing?

Team morale will definitely drop after today. What will Emery do? Lacazette's morale will likely be most affected.

Is Özil going to need special attention? He was clearly unhappy being substituted.

Yes indeed. That used to happen everytime under Wenger with free kicks. Just fannied around. Never just whacked it at goal.

That seems the fairest assessment right now. Unless Emery shows us he has a good Plan C.

Ok, I should have said " for the most recent seasons" 2016-17, 2017-18. More of playing it short than shots during those seasons.

Exactly Haz, our amazing but slightly fortuitous run has papered over some of the cracks, particularly defensively. We have allowed even mediocre teams great opportunities but thankfully few have been taken and we've ridden our luck, relying on superior fitness and attacking prowess to get us wins. Eventually it was going to bite us on the backside and whilst today was a little wake-up call the Liverpool game could be where our weaknesses are really exposed.

In my opinion Holding and Mustafi is not a great pairing. We need a worldclass CB (not easy to find with our budget ) or an elite youngster with worldclass potential.

I think to be truly competitive we need another CB, LB, a central midfielder and a winger.

The full backs have such an importance to the way Emery wants to play football. I don’t think he has the full backs to compete fully. Bellerin and Monreal are good. I think Bellerin still has a lot of potential under Emery. Monreal is very steady but is knocking on a bit.
Lichtsteiner is only a stop gap and I probably shouldn’t even be 2nd choice next year if he is still here.
Kolasinac is a wing back.
I think we need two top class flying full backs and we stil need the top class CB and winger.
But, when you see where we have been and the massively unbalanced squad wenger left, with overpaid poor players and players running their deals down none of this was going to be an overnight fix. It will need a minimum of 3 faultless transfer windows. Torreira, Sokratis, Leno, guendouzi all looking good for the now and future. Lichtsteiner on a free is not a bad signing either

Jon Moss with his usually ineptitude at old Trafford. Everton player wins the ball, martial goes over the Everton mans leg....then waits and throws himself, the both feet flicked up in the air type of dive....moss gives the pen.

You only throw away two points G7 if you've played well and committed some foolish error to gift the opposition an undeserved equaliser .


Hadn't seen one of our games live this year and given our lofty position I thought we were on fire , turned the corner etc .

Watched most of the first half ; very disappointed with our style . If I didn't know to the contrary I'd have thought Wenger was still in charge .

The continuous back passes under very little pressure , ponderous build ups to encounter a massed defence . Palace on the other hand had plenty of movement , got at us quickly , accurate passing , Zaha gave us problems . 38 minutes in , I decided back to bed was the better option .
We still lack muscle in mid field .
Thought we would give Liverpool a run but not much optimism after watching that half .

Why wasn’t Smalling given a second yellow card when he gave away the clear Everton penalty? If that was a winger going past the full back and he was chopped down as smalling did it is a certain yellow. This was in a more dangerous part of the pitch. The ref decides a penalty is enough punishment and doesn’t apply the rules of the game. Fed up with useless refs being so inconsistent. If there was some way of a ref being deaf to the crowd and unaware of the score or time it would be fascinating to see how they performed

Mustafi has always been a mistake waiting to happen. The sooner we are rid of him the better. Xhaka is what will happen when you are playing a person out of position. It's part of the learning curve.
Palace played great, its tough to see how they haven't scored a home goal all season till now.