I’m not that sad. I have always hated this poxy competition. It has all my worst football memories starting with Leeds and followed shortly after by the utter ignominy of Swindon. I might’ve blotted those games out eventually but then came Luton and *%^@*** Brum. Hateful competition.

Outplayed by the better team.
Ironic that half our team looked flat and lacking training and match sharpness on a day when this fixture shouldn’t have been played and yet on the day the original home game should have been played we were flying and everyone got and healthy.
All teams are gaming the system but that one feels like pretty bad luck for us.

And he has been away for a couple of weeks. He really shouldn't have been in squad.

Absolutely. The league should always have been our priority.

In other news, our striking options are truly woeful at present. Lacazette committed more fouls in the first half than passes. We just have *%^@ all up front and that is going to be the difference come the end of the season.

Also I'd question whther his head would have been where it needed to be.

One thing is for sure is the squad looks painfully thin for a top 4 fight now. I think we'll make some additions but I don't think it will be as many as the fans want.

A midfielder and a striker needed desperately. Also that 18 day winter break after the Burnley game needed desperately.

Huge game now v Burnley - got to shake off the lethargy and find some way to go again with tired legs.

My feelings too. I even ruined my programmes from those first two seasons by cutting out the vouchers for final tickets. Double whammy.

I’ve done that flight before in first class and I was knackered at the other end.

I had sampled the in flight entertainment though

Nuts to play him however and I will keep reiterating this. We only have 1 good central midfielder at this club

Yep

How we could do with a jota.

Also we need 2 strikers not one as we need an option off the bench.

The booing from our fans at the end. Well all I can say is how fickle and naive can you be.

6 fouls for Fabinho tonight - plus at least one when the ref played advantage. Certain players just get away with this sort of thing. Fernandinho was always a master of it for City and I'm sure back in the day someone like Gilberto Silva was good at it for us.

They played on Sunday and we had a week off. Luck had nothing to do with the outcome of this tie.

Love this post

I was at the Luton final. My worst footballing moment I think.

Well, the best team won.

Not enough quality I'm afraid.

Martinelli and Ode played well, the rest were mainly below par. I can't honestly say we gave it our best shot. I know some players were coming back from injuries and covid so there is an element of lacking match sharpness.

It's obvious we need a striker and some central midfield reinforcements. Lacazette is what he is, a whole hearted player with a physical presence and decent hold-up play but who doesn't have goals in him these days.

I thought the defence and Ramsdale were actually quite shaky. The first goal was a gift. Infact, Ramsdale has looked quite shaky in recent games.

I was disappointed with the number of backwards and sideways passes our CBs and fullbacks were making but I guess tonight they didn't have great options in front of them.

I think we saw how reliant we have been on Saka to make things happen. Tonight he was doubled up on and couldn't impact the game in his usual manner.

Also with so many players looking clearly unfit and off the pace will there be any reaction from the media that in fact Arsenal really didn't have 14 fit players for the NLD. Emile Smith Rowe, Tomiyasu, Tierney all looked pretty under cooked. I was surprised how good Ødegaard looked considering he was the one with covid. martinelli looked sharp throughout, saka did his best but was either not on it or well marshalled by robertson

Harsh for me. First one is a weird scuff and second he’s just trying to react.

Yep ... distinctly second best . It's simple we just cannot pass the ball accurately ...so many attempted through balls massively overhit ...whereas balls to Jota gave him a fair chance of creating something .

Partey ...words fail ...... What is the criteria for Arsenal midfielders ....... having more than two brain cells we won't sign you ?

A week off with clearly a lot of players not training or still not fully fit.
Swap the ties and yes Liverpool probably still win, but when the first leg was due to be played we had a fully fit squad and Liverpool were stripped of a number of important players (alison, trent, fabinho and firminho plus the afcon 3)

Obviously dissapointing but once Liverpool scored they controlled the game comfortably. I was actually a bit relieved after their 2nd goal because it killed of any hope of an already unlikely comeback.

Just needed to get through it without getting anyone sent off

Pretty good assessment Soc ... two points I disagree with .... the needless mention of "coming back from injuries and Covid " smacks of making excuses , especially when they were missing two main strikers .

Secondly Lacazette 's "physical presence " ....... ??? it's not like he is Joe Jordan , Cyril Regis ... that's what I call physical presence .

Lacazette's more a vaguely annoying pygmy .

My low point was Partey getting stupidly sent off but Nketiah coming on to save the tie was a bit depressing. Overall no point getting too down as Liverpool are a much better team and we looked like a young team who were a bit out of sorts. It will be interesting to see if the club go all out for a top four with some high quality loans/purchases in the next few weeks.

I liked Ode tonight, I thought he was really excellent. Needs better players around him to fully flourish though.

Probably mine was the FA Cup defeat on an ice-bound pitch away at York City.

Rich ... you can torture yourself with a multitude of what ifs ...but I'm telling you even if our squad had been away at some health spa , had the ideal preparation . all fully fit we would not have won that tie .

It's a simple formula , with accurate passing you both expend less energy and create more chances ...... and Liverpool pass the ball light years ahead of us .

Seems Leno is in the verge of leaving. Apparently in talks with Newcastle amongst others.

I agree but I’m also pointing out that we’d have stood a better chance had the original tie taken place when it should have with us fully fit and Liverpool decimated. They are light years ahead but that would have tipped the scales back our way a bit!

Still baffled by the AMN loan. Arteta said Toni played with no training tonight because Cédric and Chambers were injured. We’re down to 1 central mid and a player who covers both positions was let out on loan at the start of the window. Let him go on Jan 31, teams would still have been interested

Same agent

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... 0-000.html

https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercit ... with-agent

I think he could do with driving forward a bit more , make things happen rather than always passing .

In my view he has a touch of the Hleb's ....... good rum , curry , cayenne pepper enema pre match might help .

Hi Rich,

It only would have made sense had we had a player lined up to come in, which we clearly didn't.

Trust the process

No excuses. Thought before the game Liverpool were slight favourites and so it proved.
I don’t know if any of you were at the game but on TV it looked as though lots of players (Tomiyasu Emile Smith Rowe Saka) were slipping on the surface. Indeed their second came just after Martinelli slipped

I am stating the bleeding obvious here but buying the right players at the right price is a key to success. Every time Jota scores it aggravates me to think that we could’ve got him and Zaha for the price of Pépé. Maybe that’s not a good example but some of the “bargains” that were bought over the last few years shows that there is still value out there in this inflationary transfer market
Son and Moura to Spuds Mahrez Kante and Madison to Leicester Robertson to Liverpool. Jota to Wolves We probably could’ve got Grealish after we beat AV in the final.
Ah well onto Burnley Sunday. An early goal would help settle us down ….as long as it’s goalless the nerves will be jangling.

With Liverpool's deeper bench, etc, I never considered us favorites. Overall, we made a good account of ourselves. We were outplayed after their goal but up till then we were outplaying them. They didn't have many shots on goal to be fair.

The 'good' thing is all we have is the league now. We can put all our energies into it.

Our fans jeered at the end?????????????
That's surprising and unwelcomed.

I think AMN insisted on going. I don't think he trust Arteta anymore. I wouldn't after being dropped from games despite good performances.

Happy Birthday to Alfred H. "Benny" Hill.
The greatest comedian the world has ever known....at least to an American teenager at the time seeing his re-runs.

Trust the process

Quite strange to see headlines today emphasising ‘ANOTHER’ season without silverware for Arsenal. I mean we won something only 2 years ago and won 4 FA Cups in 8 years. I wonder if Man U will get the same headlines. I won’t expect it of Spurs because perhaps we are rightly held to higher standards as the vastly bigger club!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60078091

This bbc article says of Arsenal don’t make top 4 then the season must be considered a failure. Really? Disappointing considering the position we’re in but not one pundit or sports journalist said we’d finish top 4 this season in fact most had us 7th at best. They probably had us even worse after the first 3 games and the apparent ‘underwhelming’ transfer window.