Real nail biter that ....

Two bang average sides

I am always wondering why a sub is brought on with a 1 min to go.

And a clean sheet. They are as rare as league wins this season.

True. But showing him a load of tactics just seems to add to the daftness.

Thought Arteta got his team selection wrong

It’s Burnley, Torreira was needed from the start and only 1 of the strikers should have started to accommodate Pépé.

We created nothing.

We are *%^@*** rubbish aren't we. That's was a load of absolute bollocks.

Talk of this big improvement under Arteta.....well that was prime Emery-ball today. Wrong team selection, players not playing in their best positions, a general lack of movement. An overall lack of quality and desire to win the game.

Best dribbler in the squad not even brought on despite a totally ineffective front three where the main goalscoring threats were asked to play wide.

Nketiah given 2 mins to effect the game.

I am just sick and tired of watching this crap.

Thought we lost quite a lot when Saka went off and we shifted Xhaka. Pointless playing Lacazette and Özil away from home. Over two years since Özil creates an assist away in the Pl and now a year since Lacazette scores away in the PL. Thought Guendouzi had a poor game too. Ponderous in possession and slowed us down too often. Mustafi has a very decent game and overall we look less panicked at the back.

Dreadful game but going forward I would bench Lacazette and play Aubameyang through the middle, play Willock in the 10 role at the expense of Özil, start Torriera and play Pépé. This season is dead so why not try a few things?

Sadly it doesn’t seem to matter what team selection we go for this season. Each performance is as bad as the last. Totally unexciting.

How often do we have to replace a player during a game due to injury? Seems to happen every other game. First 3 choice left backs out injured now

I’m losing track of the awfulness statistics. Just 2 wins in our last 17 league games. That really is relegation form.

I actually don't know why I bother watching anymore.

I think I was perhaps hoping for a little magic from Martinelli but he was as hopeless as the rest today.

Pépé at least gives a little bit of excitement with his dribbling skills, even if most of the time he too is a disappointment. Today he doesn't even get a sniff.

How much would you be prepared to sell Lacazette for in the summer?

A pint of lager and a packet of crisps.

How much are you offering?

Lacazette scored 100 goals in 200 games for Lyon, he’s a one in 2 striker,

He was voted our player of the season last season.

Our problems are more endemic than screaming at Lacazette cause he hadn’t scored in a while

Seemed like our entire game plan went up in smoke when Saka went off. Considering we didn’t have any other left backs I’d have hoped Arteta would have had a plan for it.
It was one of the few injuries that would have really destabilised us.

Agreed we need an entire new midfield to get these guys the chances but with only 1 or 2 years left on his deal, stalling on a new deal and 28 odd now is he. There is a decision to be made in the summer.

It didn’t take long for the clear inconsistency to display itself. Sterling with an identical foul to Aubameyang, goes to VAR kept as just a yellow.

I don’t mind Arsenal players getting reds or yellows as long as it is the rule for everyone. It simply isn’t, we seem to often be the ones punished when others are let off. You only need to look at the fouls per yellow card for us this year and our players seem to get yellows for dissent far more often and yet I see players scream F off in a refs face (vardy) and receive nothing

I'd suggest we are the average side. Burnley's position in the table is not bad. They are essentially a mid table side and are playing close to what they are. We are playing way below ourselves given our players, money, stature, etc.

Saved penality, players grabbing shirts, VAR on a possible PK foul, VAR exonerates the keeper although it seems like it could be a PK but no way the referee is going to give a 2nd PK for a foul on Sterling, unless there was no question whatsoever.
What a mess.

So Burnley are not a top half side, nor a bottom half side, kind of middling? Some might even say.... average.

He gives off the air of someone waiting in the departure lounge, he’s been woeful for weeks, Aubameyang has to play through middle.

What is it with spurs and city. Every time coty batter them all game but spurs somehow always seem to come away with a result and the luck.
2-2 at the etihad
2-0 at WHL
Over those two games...
Spurs shots 5
City shots 45

Iirc you said the same about Sanchez. Were you right? Have you ever been right?

What is your claim to fame, is it just being objectionable to fellow gooners? Or is it, like Brexit, you cannot read what people around you are saying and doing.

M'Lud I rest my case TG is a true loooooooooser.....................

I bet you get wound up when you walk down the local high street and hear people speaking with a foreign accent.

I bet that really boils your piss.

The server was offline due to a spam attack. I am looking into this further.

Thanks for your effort in fixing it

Next 3 league games are all at home because of the city fixture being postponed. We have to win all 3 to stay in with a chance of a europa league place. Newcastle, Everton, West Ham

Yeah lucky for the club because I am sure a few people wanted to vent after that performance. Very hard to see any improvement from Emery's time. Yep, I think we are now in a relegation battle. We needed a result in that game. The only thing to save us will be there are a number of really poor teams but if a few of them get off the carpet and put in a run we will be pushing it uphill big time.

Again thanks for your efforts

Can see lots saying we can't play Özil and Lacazette away from home because they haven't produced for over a year. My thoughts are that if you can't play a player away from home then they shouldn't be at the club. Maybe harsh on lacazette who certainly works hard and is starved of good service but if we can get say £40m for him in the summer I'd sell and go for a younger, dynamic, mobile, flexible striker.

The squad when Wenger left was atrocious, we needed a complete rebuild, and considering wenger left us with players like Ramsey running his deal down and older players like Özil on expensive long contracts and going nowhere there was always going to be a period when things actually got worse after he left. On top of that recruitment both in and out had to be perfect to get us anywhere near back challenging within an acceptable time period. It hasn't.

If you went through the first team squad ruthlessly and for each player gave a first 11, first team squad, not good enough mark against it would be interesting how many of the 25 or so players would fall in to each category. If you base the marks on achieving top 4 it might be more realistic than a title challenging squad.

Away form over the last 2.5 seasons
W 13 D 16 L 22

I was surprised it was even that good

There's an argument for saying not being in the Europa League would be beneficial to the rebuilding process.

We really are starting to lower our expectations. At the moment I just want to see us with 40 points and hopefully we will stay up

I’ve almost given up on Lacazette. I was hoping he’d get a sitter to score and it might get his confidence back. But that first minute chance was a sitter and he missed it. A free header a few yards out and he didn’t even get it that close. He shows little inclination to renew his contract so, along with Aubameyang, I reckon they will both be sold in the summer. I’ve read that Lacazette’s contract expires a year after Aubameyang’s which ends in 2021, but what’s the point in keeping either of them if it means losing them for nothing in the not too distant future?

The question is how much will we get for them. Aubameyang will be 31 in June and Lacazette is approaching his 29th birthday. They’re not spring chickens. I realise it’s the players with much of the control these days about when they’re sold. But their reputations should ensure the interest of clubs they wouldn’t mind joining, and on salaries that satisfy them.

I saw a stat saying Özil hasn’t produced an assist away in 2 years.

If that’s true that’s staggering. As I said last week I can’t see us progressing much whilst he’s still here. His wage is that of 3 other players and whilst he looks slick when he moves the ball about his play is increasingly ineffective. He was great in his first 2 seasons but since then just goes through the motions.

Our midfield needs a complete rebuild. It simply can’t provide any distribution at all. There was a moment yesterday when Xhaka took the initiative to his credit a chipped a ball through to Aubameyang it was a good idea but we see so little of that generally. We miss Ramsey running between the lines. Rip it up and start again. Get players in who are comfortable playing one touch football at a fast pace.

Also let’s be honest we have lost Ramsey, Sanchez and Kosielny all in the last couple of seasons. They just haven’t been replaced adequately, I don’t think anyone could pretend they have. Our team is just a hell of a lot weaker than before.

This a telling stat: between them all so far this season in the PL, Özil Guendouzi Torreira and Xhaka have produced just 4 assists and one goal.

They are just a complete non entity of a midfield. The worst we have had since the morrow, Selley and hillier combination.


If you nullify our full backs you know we won’t create anything. The midfield is too static, don’t have the speed of thought to move it quickly and most of our passing looks totally telegraphed.