Match Reaction v Man Utd (away).

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Arsenal there for the taking says Keane.

What was he smoking? :lol:

That glorious point takes us back up to fourth. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Carragher says Chelsea would buoyed by that.

They lost at Old Trafford 4 fucking nil!

[LDG]

Rancid.

The problem with Arsenal is Emery who simply doesn’t understand team connections and interplay.

There is no fucking relationship between the individual components, which just leave Geundouzi having to tear about trying to make things happen

[LDG]

And Pepe is a waste of money

[Letters]

It's the best we can ever expect from these games unfortunately.
Second season in a row Utd have been there for the taking, Utd's worst league start in 30 years, they're a complete mess but it's us, away, at Old Trafford. Absolutely no chance we will win.

[Globalgunner]

I'd hate to be a supporter of either team:rolleyes:

[Mac76]

our set pieces were truly truly awful tonight - tbh we had enough corners and FKs in good positions to have got another goal if we'd got the delivery right

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I'd hate to be a supporter of either team:rolleyes:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVxO12qXZkQ

[Gooner23]

Two bang average teams trying their hardest to fuck up the least.

Shite line up again from Emery. Xhaka is utterly pointless in this team. Saka, Guendouzi and Chambers were all superb, and the class of Auba got us the draw. How bad was Pepe :lol:

[Chippy]

And Pepe is a waste of money

Serious waste. How long is his contract?
Another dud like fucking Ozil.
Stan wont give Dickie any more funds.

[Globalgunner]

We could have won this game with a clued in manager

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Dire game. Saka and Chambers were the positives. Pepe absolutely dreadful.

[Gooner23]

I wonder how many goals we concede on the break from our own poor set pieces.

[topgun]

Rancid.

The problem with Arsenal is Emery who simply doesn’t understand team connections and interplay.

There is no fucking relationship between the individual components, which just leave Geundouzi having to tear about trying to make things happen

This is what happens when you use a kilidascope to pick your team.

[LDG]

Bruce Rioja out!

[Master Splinter]

A turd-off, as most expected between a shit manager and a conservative one.

Just a needlessly cowardly approach. It's soul-sucking to watch.

Auba, Saka and Guendouzi once again the positives.

Much like under Wenger, it will take injuries to senior favourites for Emery to stumble upon a XI that works well together. If Bellerin, Holding and Tierney can't force their way in, it's hopeless.

[Master Splinter]

our set pieces were truly truly awful tonight - tbh we had enough corners and FKs in good positions to have got another goal if we'd got the delivery right

Xhaka and Ceballos are reaching new lows in set-piece woefulness.

[hobson's choice]

I fundamentally don't understand the football this team plays.

It's like literally all our goals come by accident

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Xhaka and Ceballos are reaching new lows in set-piece woefulness.

Don't forget Pepe.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

If you want a reading of how good this game was: De Gea gets a bonus point on Fantasy Football, with a score of only 17. :haha:

[topgun]

Pepe should not be starting games,not sure what the problem is with him but its clear he is not going to hit the ground running.The young guns are doing far more than him at the moment.

[Master Splinter]

Europa and Milk Cup may be the only sources of enjoyment this season, because we'll see players who deserve to be playing rather than seniors who are rewarded for not even approaching mediocrity.

The Willock situation sums it up. Play well in every game and get benched.

[Ralpheroo72]

Explains why the so called big teams weren’t making an effort to sign Pepe

[dostoy]

I didn't see a second of it and I didn't know the team selection until after the match had finished.

I looked at the score at half time and saw Arsenal were losing and I was not surprised at all.

I'm very surprised Arsenal got a draw and after being behind at Old Trafford, a draw is not too bad.

Man Utd were crap against West Ham and Arsenal still could not beat them.

I don't know what to say that hasn't been said before.

Arsenal seem to be allergic to pressure and crumble when even the smallest amount is applied.

Its the same old, same old, same old, same old, same old story.

[LDG]

I wouldn’t say they crumbled under pressure in this instance.

They just don’t look a cohesive unit.

A better game plan, with a settled eleven that isn’t pulled about, chopped and changed around a failing central midfielder would be a start.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Two shit teams played shit football. We are worse now than at the lowest point of the Wenger era. Xhaka is our captain. That’s right, Xhaka. Let that sink in. And our record signing? Fuck me, Pepe is a complete fucking bust. I wish I was drunk.

[LDG]

At least our goal meant Utd have had their worst start in 30 years :haha:

[Xhaka Can’t]

Every year feels like our worst start in 30 years

[LDG]

Every year feels like our worst start in 30 years

On the plus side, we do have some very promising players.

We just lack some leadership from Emery.

The likes of Saka, Willock and Geundouzi look excellent players. But we need some solidity and game management around them. Hopefully Bellerin and Tierney can stop us from getting so stretched....but Xhaka is fucking awful.

[Letters]

Two shit teams played shit football.
This. Basically there are 2 good teams in the PL, after Liverpool and City it's 50 Shades of Shit, we're all terrible.
We might well end up top 4 but if we do it'll be by being slightly less shit than the others. We have some quality players but as a team we are very mediocre.
I don't agree we're worse than the last season of Wenger but if we are better it's incremental at best. The same failings are still evident.

[Letters]

Oh also. Obviously it's good it did but why the hell does VAR need to be used to get that decision right for our goal.
He was 2 maybe 3 yards onside :blink:

[Globalgunner]

Wright has a hard on for Ozil for some reason. Has he started drinking?

[WMUG]

Genuinely think Guendo should be captain.

He's the only one out there offering what a captain should. He leads by example, drives the team forward and bollocks the players when they're not putting in a shift like a leader should. He was the one that kickstarted our comeback against Villa by in effect saying 'fuck this' and grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck, and he and was the only one stopping us getting routed on the counter today by fighting for every ball.

He's only a year younger than Adams was when he became captain, and there's nobody else in the team that lifts the team like he does.

Give him the armband, IMO.

[Marc Overmars]

2 shite teams.

2 shite coaches.

Plenty of shite players.

That’s United and Arsenal for you these days.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Emery's negativity is starting to do my nut.

[Marc Overmars]

The negativity is irritating for sure but it’s the soulless football that’s killing me. What is his philosophy? What is he trying to achieve? What players have improved under him? I honestly can’t identify with anything I’m seeing.

Even Brendan Rogers has made a bigger impact at Leicester with less to work with than Emery has got.

[Bumble]

The negativity is irritating for sure but it’s the soulless football that’s killing me. What is his philosophy? What is he trying to achieve? What players have improved under him? I honestly can’t identify with anything I’m seeing.

Even Brendan Rogers has made a bigger impact at Leicester with less to work with than Emery has got.
maybe appointing Rogers wouldn't have been such a bad thing. they can sell players and it doesn't affect them too much.

United were there for the taking, they were really poor and most of there shots were from distance.

Its nice that VAR works for once but without Auba.... I dread to think where we would be. That Xhaka free kick where he just boots it out for a goal kick expecting Chambers to run for it...sums him up. Pepe £70m wow... he was toilet. Some good players and I think it will be a battle for top 4 between ourselves, Chavs, Spuds, Leicester and United (if they are still in touch come transfer window).

Shocking though that Emery has 3 more points than Wenger for the start of his reign compared to the end of Wengers but we have scored less and conceded more. We were in decline under Wenger and Emery hasn't made a single difference.

I still think we will scrap into the top 4 but at the end of the season should get rid.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

The negativity is irritating for sure but it’s the soulless football that’s killing me. What is his philosophy? What is he trying to achieve? What players have improved under him? I honestly can’t identify with anything I’m seeing.

Even Brendan Rogers has made a bigger impact at Leicester with less to work with than Emery has got.

All your questions are valid and why this manager needs to go ASAP- even if it's us sticking Freddie their for a while, who I think might be behind the fact that we are getting our joy only from our young players ATM.

As for the game, you've all said it, poor conditions with two under performing teams led by two mediocre managers.

Analysing though, I think this was one of Emery's best days of recent (which should scare everyone as we only got a fortuitous draw and the opposition was pretty poor). Starting with the lineup, the idea of the front 3 made a lot of sense. This was easily our most comfortable game defending in the EPL and it's not because our defenders got better but because the front 3 meant United were pinned down to an extent. Some of us have been calling for this exact tactic in these kind of games and despite Pepe's poor performance, Saka and Auba's performances were enough to give our defence a breather.

He also started Torriera which meant cover and stability for our beleaguered defence from the onset while Captain Marvel was allowed to make foul after foul and be as pointless as usual. Imagine if Wilock had rightly taken his place, maybe our front 3 would have actually had proper supply to effect damage.

Chambers was ok, he needs to get more confidence but he is a better and more effective defender than AMN. I'm tired of Kolasnic and would love to see him out of the starting lineup for good, a very average player whose only distinction is he has fight in him. The 2 CBs were just borderline ok and at every moment you felt a penalty was in the offing, that partnership needs to be ended as soon as possible. I also think Leno was the most suspect thing about our defence last night. He inspired no confidence in the 1st half and if you look carefully at the goal, after the first wave of the attack he already looked beaten before the shot. I've not seen a keeper which such consistent poor composure in a long time. Obviously his opposite was a marvel of professionalism and you knew you would need some luck or something special to beat him.

The most shocking thing about last night was that playing from the back actually seemed to work a little bit. It's probably because the opposition were so nervous and the ref helped a lot too by consistently blowing.

In all, Emery's average tactics worked and I'm sure he's beaming wherever he is as he only hoped for a draw and that's the best a really poor manager like him can really fathom from these kind of games.

Thank you VAR and the great gift that is Auba (AW all is forgiven......).

Oh and Saka is a real real special talent. An awsesome performance from the young lad. The youngsters are just the best thing about this season, shame we don't have a good manager to make their effort count.

[Gooner23]

Xhaka is totally redundant in this team, so for him to be made captain and pretty much a guaranteed starter is the ultimate kick in the balls. He wasn't the worst performer last night (Pepe was comically bad), but he offers nothing offensively and is a complete liability defensively.

Midfield should be 3 from Torreria, Guendouzi, Ceballos and Willock.

Emery really is a bang average manager.

[dazthegooner]

Isn’t Emery’s contract up at the end of the season?

[Mac76]

I actually think we have a very strong squad in the sense of, if we had a manager who liked to bring on younger players, we could be watching a team with the same positivity and good formation that we saw against Forest - tbh i wonder whether he let Freddie have more of a say in how we set up for that match, and it was interesting to see on TV yesterday that Freddie was trying to give Emery advice.


That's the only game i've seen this season where the team didn't leave gaps everywhere, which was once again the case yesterday.

I'd love to see Emery sacked and Freddie given a go tbh.

Last night we should have won easily, as i said before we had enough corners and advanced FKs alone to get at least one more but our set-piece takers didn't even deliver to League 2 level, i'd expect about the same of a pub side

Emery is wasting our young talent - at least Chambers is saying "f*** you, you've no choice but to play me so i'm going to play how we should be playing"

Emery out

[Mac76]

Isn’t Emery’s contract up at the end of the season?

I don't think we should wait that long, for me it's January at the latest.

I wonder whether the moving of Freddie to the first team was a strategy to make him the next manager, he knows the young players etc. So maybe that's Raul's thinking - let's hope they make the switch in time for us to make the top four

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

The earlier we make the move to get rid of Emery the better it will be for this team, I can't re-emphasize this enough.

This is a poor EPL season as predicted, all our rivals are weaker to an extent (and I include Liverpool and Citeh in this). In fact in most of Europe, the big teams are not seeing the dominance they had in the past as overpaid prima donnas are underperforming in every team. This is going to be a breakout season for so many unknown players.

As for us, we have a more than ok mix of players; despite the lack of quality DMs and below average CBs, the team is competitive. We have 2 of the best performing strikers in the world who are at their prime and don't have to worry about national commitments. Plus a great young pool of talent coming through

We should bold enough to try and build something that will last and Emery's lack of vision and cluelessness has shown he is not the man to do this.

Expectations have evaporated, lets just sack this manager and look forward. What's really the worst that could happen, no Thursday night football.... boohoo

[dazthegooner]

Mark Prattenburg has said that it wouldn't have been controversial if VAR had rules out our equalizer...

[Marc Overmars]

Hopefully Pepe isn't a dud because we're saddled with him for a while given the instalment plan.

I did hope he could be our Mane but right now he looks like another Gervinho. Actually, even Gervinho at the start didn't look as rubbish as Pepe does right now...

[dostoy]

I've just realised.

Where was fairycake last night ?

Was it too wet for him ?

Its inconsiderate of the club not to provide him with pink mittens with flowers on to keep his little pandies warm.

Shame on Arsenal.

Seriously, the sooner he leaves the better as he was Wengers biggest mistake ever when you consider the money that has been spent on him.

[Bumble]

Hopefully Pepe isn't a dud because we're saddled with him for a while given the instalment plan.

I did hope he could be our Mane but right now he looks like another Gervinho. Actually, even Gervinho at the start didn't look as rubbish as Pepe does right now...

it is shocking how bad Pepe was... I hope its just a confidence thing as opposed to an ability thing. Maybe a goal will set him off like crazy. Or when laca returns he will just be bench warming.

[Marc Overmars]

I've just realised.

Where was fairycake last night ?

Was it too wet for him ?

Its inconsiderate of the club not to provide him with pink mittens with flowers on to keep his little pandies warm.

Shame on Arsenal.

Seriously, the sooner he leaves the better as he was Wengers biggest mistake ever when you consider the money that has been spent on him.

Can’t believe how much money we’re pissing away with him.

Just terminate his contract and be done with it already.

[Mac76]

Can’t believe how much money we’re pissing away with him.

Just terminate his contract and be done with it already.

i'm not necessarily disagreeing although i do think we need to look at the extent to which Emery is doing the small-time bully act and picking on Ozil to show who's boss - just like he did with Neymar at PSG

Ozil was very good in the Forest game and enjoyed playing with that younger side - it was his best game for a long time. he understandably looked really pissed off when subbed.

whatever we think of Ozil you need to contrast Emery's blanket defence of anything Xhaka does with his public humiliation of Ozil by saying he's not up to playing in certain games etc.

Another manager would i'm sure have found another way to deal with it, and the more i see of Emery i think he has to take some of the blame.

[dazthegooner]

Would go with the Emery thing don’t think he can handle big name players at PSG they won the league in spite of him not because of him.

[Globalgunner]

Really hope Zidane gets to leave Madrid and falls into our laps. Emery is toast.

[fakeyank]

Really hope Zidane gets to leave Madrid and falls into our laps. Emery is toast.

Not him.. I dont rate him tbh. I'd rather we get someone like Simeone or Allegri.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

i'm not necessarily disagreeing although i do think we need to look at the extent to which Emery is doing the small-time bully act and picking on Ozil to show who's boss - just like he did with Neymar at PSG

Ozil was very good in the Forest game and enjoyed playing with that younger side - it was his best game for a long time. he understandably looked really pissed off when subbed.

whatever we think of Ozil you need to contrast Emery's blanket defence of anything Xhaka does with his public humiliation of Ozil by saying he's not up to playing in certain games etc.

Another manager would i'm sure have found another way to deal with it, and the more i see of Emery i think he has to take some of the blame.
Absolutely.

[Özim]

Emery strikes again, Man U were there for the taking, but his negative tactics, inability to see the fact that Xhaka is a liability and we ended up with a draw. Who would play Torreira a DM in an attacking role, it's pathetic to be honest, especially when Xhaka can barely do anything right.

Emery is a bang average manager, he really is, as every game goes by it because more and more clear, we're not progressing at all and having a manager whose command of the English language is average at best doesn't help.

Can't wait to for us to get rid of this guy, a small club manager who has no place managing a big club.

[Letters]

If Emery is average then that makes him a lot better than Wenger by your reckoning.
Weird how we’re not any better. :unsure:

[Özim]

If Emery is average then that makes him a lot better than Wenger by your reckoning.
Weird how we’re not any better. :unsure:

Are you still going on about Wenger who remains jobless since the day he left us incidentally, despite apparently a host of job offers when he left?

That's history, he wasn't a great manager, we know that, his failings are there for all to see. Emery isn't much of a manager either, but then he wasn't really any fans' choice, the club chose him, that's on them, we needed a better manager and chose to go for him (it was between him and Arteta by all intents and purpose - both pretty lousy choices).

We are where we are now, maybe the club will learn it's lesson or maybe it won't and more managers will pass us by and end up at other clubs, who knows, but what we do know is Emery is not up to the required standard to make us competitive, he's negative, picks the wrong lineups, has not imposed any obvious style of play and doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes. That as nothing to do with Wenger.

[Letters]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCj5mYgIR1Y

:haha:

[Letters]

Are you still going on about Wenger
I'm happy to continue to point out your logical inconsistencies every time you post them :)

[Mac76]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCj5mYgIR1Y

:haha:

'They have the player with the big head' :lol:

'Luiz needs to help his brother Guendouzi' :lol:

[Mac76]

I'm happy to continue to point out your logical inconsistencies every time you post them :)

seriously Letters give it up - i'll say it again shall i - we had to get rid of Wenger to reintroduce the concept of a manager paying for failure - so now if Emery fails we don't leave it ten years before getting rid of him

understand now???

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

seriously Letters give it up - i'll say it again shall i - we had to get rid of Wenger to reintroduce the concept of a manager paying for failure - so now if Emery fails we don't leave it ten years before getting rid of him

understand now???
:gp:

[Letters]

seriously Letters give it up - i'll say it again shall i - we had to get rid of Wenger to reintroduce the concept of a manager paying for failure - so now if Emery fails we don't leave it ten years before getting rid of him

understand now???
Completely irrelevant to my point. Don't worry, have a think and you'll get it :good:

[Mac76]

Completely irrelevant to my point. Don't worry, have a think and you'll get it :good:

oh come on, fundamentally you're trying to say that if people are criticising Emery that means that they were wrong to argue for Wenger to go - as said elsewhere it wasn't us that chose the replacement and the club got it wrong but the good news is we won't have the same ridiculous situation as under Wenger when we saw decline season after season and no sign that the club would make a change

that alone was worth making the change for, whether Emery is any good or not, so having Emery is therefore better than having Wenger for the reason that we can get rid of him...

[Letters]

oh come on, fundamentally you're trying to say that if people are criticising Emery that means that they were wrong to argue for Wenger to go.
Nope :)

Towards the end I was arguing for Wenger to go although I was admittedly a bit late to that party :good:

[Globalgunner]

Nope :)

Towards the end I was arguing for Wenger to go although I was admittedly a bit late to that party :good:

You make no point except to pine for Wenger every time people point out Emerys deficiencies. Only you keep connecting the 2.

Emery is a dud. Wenger was a dud 10 years ago

[Letters]

You make no point except to pine for Wenger every time people point out Emerys deficiencies. Only you keep connecting the 2.
Oh dear. :lol:
This really isn't difficult to understand but OK, I'll spell it out for the hard of thinking.

If someone thinks that manager 'X' is THE WORST MANAGER IN FOOTBALL and so incompetent that any idiot would do better.

When manager 'Y' takes over it stands to reason that things will improve immediately and clearly, if the someone is correct.

If things don't then maybe the someone was rather over-stating how bad manager X was. So yes, I will keep pointing that out to the someone.

That doesn't mean I think manager X should have stayed in post. We were all on the same page about manager X towards the end but I never bought into the idea that he was so incompetent that literally anyone would immediately and significantly improve things. That hasn't happened, ergo the more extreme views about manager X have been shown to be hyperbole. Pointing that out doesn't mean I'm pining for X.

None of this means it was wrong to remove him or that I want him back. I wanted him removed. Everyone wanted him removed by the end, apart from Ty.

This isn't a hard argument to understand but keep straw-manning the shit out of it if you must :tiphat:

[Globalgunner]

You're a legend in your own mind. The issue at hand is Emery and his deficiencies. You keep on dragging up Wenger. No correlation between the two. That is the issue end of.

[Letters]

I still don't understand your point :(

Never mind :console:

But yes, I am also disappointed with Emery so far.

[Bumble]

watched some of the United v United game yesterday... my god we missed out on 3 points. Man U are rubbish.

think only 2 players would get into the arsenal side and that's saying something De Gea maybe and Maguire.

[Özim]

watched some of the United v United game yesterday... my god we missed out on 3 points. Man U are rubbish.

think only 2 players would get into the arsenal side and that's saying something De Gea maybe and Maguire.

Yeah they're shocking, we were lucky to get a point in the end, but then we're nothing special ourselves.

[Marc Overmars]

It's quite telling that we couldn't beat Spurs, Watford and United despite how dire they've been.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

watched some of the United v United game yesterday... my god we missed out on 3 points. Man U are rubbish.

think only 2 players would get into the arsenal side and that's saying something De Gea maybe and Maguire.

I'd take Wan Bissaka when he's fit and still think Pogba is a top player.

[Bumble]

It's quite telling that we couldn't beat Spurs, Watford and United despite how dire they've been.

next 4 should be interesting
Sheff Utd (a) northern = tricky
Palace (h) doing well won away at United and West Ham
Wolves (h) just beat City away
Leicester (a) beat Spurs, unlucky to lose to Liverpool/United

9 points would be quite a good total against that lot.

[Mac76]

next 4 should be interesting
Sheff Utd (a) northern = tricky
Palace (h) doing well won away at United and West Ham
Wolves (h) just beat City away
Leicester (a) beat Spurs, unlucky to lose to Liverpool/United

9 points would be quite a good total against that lot.

i agree none of those are remotely a done deal considering our playing with Xhaka etc.

one thing i will say, after the international break we need to see Holding and Tierney starting for the first team, also Willock - no ifs no buts, they're ready and Emery should play them.

[selassie]

next 4 should be interesting
Sheff Utd (a) northern = tricky
Palace (h) doing well won away at United and West Ham
Wolves (h) just beat City away
Leicester (a) beat Spurs, unlucky to lose to Liverpool/United

9 points would be quite a good total against that lot.

Honestly, I could see us dropping points in 3 of those games, Sheff Utd away, Wolves home and Leicester away. Palace home should be a win but....I can't even call that one clearly.

Even though we have only lost 1 game this season the team still doesn't convince me, especially away from home. I think we could scrape a win at Sheffield, but I wouldn't be surprised if we drew or lost. Palace home as said above should be a win. Wolves at home we should win...but they are a decent team...so a draw wouldn't be a surprise. Leicester away, best we can hope for is a draw, I personally think we will lose up there.

[dazthegooner]

The only games that I would be surprised to get any result is against Liverpool we seem to have lost before even we start.

[fakeyank]

next 4 should be interesting
Sheff Utd (a) northern = tricky
Palace (h) doing well won away at United and West Ham
Wolves (h) just beat City away
Leicester (a) beat Spurs, unlucky to lose to Liverpool/United

9 points would be quite a good total against that lot.

We'd be lucky if we got another 9 points by the end of the year :lol:

[Özim]

next 4 should be interesting
Sheff Utd (a) northern = tricky
Palace (h) doing well won away at United and West Ham
Wolves (h) just beat City away
Leicester (a) beat Spurs, unlucky to lose to Liverpool/United

9 points would be quite a good total against that lot.

Sheff Utd are nothing special, but if we don't turn up they'll probably outwork us and may scuff a goal, so it's no gimme.

Palace at home we should win IMO, again though Palace are dangerous away from home but I'd expect 3 points.

Wolves again being at home you'd expect us to win, but they are well capable of getting a draw against us or even beat us as they have some quality.

Leicester away, I reckon we'll lose though, Rogers is doing a decent job with them and away from home against decent teams we struggle, our only hope is our strikers getting us out of jail with a goal of nowhere in this one IMO.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Leicester are often a bit tricky at their ground if my memory serves. Soyuncu looks pretty good too...and if it weren't for the David Brent persona I'd actually not mind Rogers managing us.