Match Reaction v Liverpool (away)

[selassie]

The more replays I have seen the worse it looks. Think it was quite deliberate and should have been a red.

If it was one of our lot it would have been a Red, there I said it!

[selassie]

it was a real mistake to let go of Martinez and keep Leno as number 1, also a terrible mistake to bring Sideshow Bob back in instead of Gabriel

and a third terrible mistake to have xhaka alongside elneny - when he came on, ceballos immediately showed why he should have started

arteta got this one wrong - very wrong

if we'd given Liverpool more to worry about going forward it wouldn't have been anywhere near as one-sided as it turned out - i'll say again, Liverpool didn't even play very well

Yeah agree with all of this. Especially the bit about Ceballos, why on earth did he not start?

[Niall_Quinn]

i thought we'd play more positively after winning the FA Cup and also Community shield, as Arteta now has enough goodwill in the bank to be bolder, but am disappointed in how conservative he's being

he's not giving attacking players like Saka and Ceballos enough time on the pitch

He may be having to un-train them before he can get down to training them. A lot of bad habits and bad attitudes picked up over the years. This could be our wax-on, wax-off period, maybe? Then paint a few fences, clean a car and suddenly we'll spring into action and beat the shit out of everyone. Maybe.

It might not be that though. Because we aren't even all that with wax.

[selassie]

I suspect Liverpool would probably still have won, but you do wonder how different the game would have been if Mane had been sent off in the second minute as he should have been.


so glad that VAR is there to give some nonsense penalty decisions but ignore a clear elbow to the face. What’s the fucking point of it?

They would have still beaten us even with 10 men IMO.

[Ollie the Optimist]

They would have still beaten us even with 10 men IMO.

I’m inclined to agree but then again, 88 minutes with 10 men and not able to produce an effective press up front may have changed the game.

Liverpool were very good at putting pressure on our defence when they had the ball with Mane, Salah & Firmino all pressing. Take Mane out and maybe not so effective

[Letters]

it was a real mistake to let go of Martinez and keep Leno as number 1

Agreed. Leno doesn't look that commanding.

[I am invisible]

Yeah, we'd better do something impressive with that £20m because at the moment it looks like we let the better keeper go.

[hobson's choice]

The annoying thing for me is that it’s not even just away at the top sides we see this kind of performance. It was the same against West Ham and there have been plenty of other occasions where it’s very much safety first. Maybe this is what we needed to improve structurally but it’s certainly not football I get any joy from watching, for years Arsenal have always been about creativity but that seems to be a thing of the past now.

Its the midfield and more importantly Xhaka, we come up against any competent midfield we are going to struggle getting hold off the ball or have any consistent passage of play through our midfield if Xhaka is playing.

Dude must be the best practice player ever. Cause i can't understand how he's manage to fool 3 managers like this. He's not good anything, I can't comprehend how he starts every game.

How has he managed to be this shit for this long and get away with it?

[Marc Overmars]

I don’t mind Xhaka as a sitter that much but you can’t pair him with someone like Elneny who does essentially the same thing. We desperately need 1 or 2 players in there who can play in tight areas and beat the press, there’s just a complete lack of guile at the moment. I was looking at the squad list earlier and the CM options have never been this bad.

[hobson's choice]

Xhaka playing means that we are saying just forget about midfield and hope our Wing backs can create and keep possession.

I truly don't understand players like Xhaka, and the need for them in this game. They offer nothing, other then just a body.