Match Reaction v Leeds (home, FA Cup)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Leeds. :pal:

Woeful first half but Arteta hairdryer sorts it out. :bow:

[LDG]

Arteta is not pissing about.

Loved that second half.

[Niall_Quinn]

A different type of game and and probably the biggest banana skin tie of the round. We outfought Leeds in the end and that's a big plus and another improvement.

Holding was horrific for the whole 90 though. He could have cost us several times. First game back, but he'll have to do much better than that.

Delighted for the team, but my main delight is reserved for Danny Murphy. What a biased piece of shit.

[Gooner23]

Holding was poor but wasnt helped by the midfield who were nowhere to be seen every time he picked up the ball.

After such a horrible first half it was nice to see a reaction. I thought Pepe showed some touches of real class but still looks to be playing within himself. Pleased for Nelson to get the goal but Martinelli is the better prospect, we've picked up a real gem there.

[Mac76]

Holding will get better, overall great second half, we deserved the win

As said above Arteta's HT talk clearly did the job

I fancy us to win at bournemouth, Howe will rest players as they have relegation to think about

[Xhaka Can’t]

A face for radio and a voice for print.

[Chippy]

A different type of game and and probably the biggest banana skin tie of the round. We outfought Leeds in the end and that's a big plus and another improvement.

Holding was horrific for the whole 90 though. He could have cost us several times. First game back, but he'll have to do much better than that.

Delighted for the team, but my main delight is reserved for Danny Murphy. What a biased piece of shit.

(Murphy).
No worse than that cunt Lineker. How the fuck he is allowed on the box when Arsenal are playing is beyond me. He cant help himself by making countless digs at us. Wanker.

[dazthegooner]

The only time I would watch Lineker if he was in an open casket ...

[Chippy]

The only time I would watch Lineker if he was in an open casket ...

:gp::d

[I am invisible]

After the game, striker Alexandre Lacazette revealed Arteta had “shouted a lot” during the break as the players "didn't respect what he had said", and the Spaniard declared himself happy with his team’s response.

“Now I'm really pleased, but we saw two different teams from the first to second half,” he told the BBC.

“I tried to tell them exactly what they were going to face and after 32 minutes we had won one duel, I think.

We changed our attitude, desire and organisation at half-time and then we were completely different.

Sometimes they have to experience themselves how tough and how hard it is going to be.

I watched a lot of Leeds games and they battered every team every three days. It was good for my players to learn and to suffer on the pitch.”

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/mikel-arteta-arsenal-players-did-listen-to-my-warnings-about-leeds-they-batter-teams-every-week-a4327931.html

[Marc Overmars]

Quietly pleased with the change in attitude we’ve seen so far. Think Arteta is definitely someone who the players are trying to prove themselves to.

Let’s hope Mickey Tets can sort out our dreadful away form now. He’ll be a miracle worker if he manages that.

[Letters]

The really encouraging thing is how big an impact his half time talk had on them.
Shows they're behind him and listening to him.
Early days yet but some positive signs.

[IBK]

A different type of game and and probably the biggest banana skin tie of the round. We outfought Leeds in the end and that's a big plus and another improvement.

Holding was horrific for the whole 90 though. He could have cost us several times. First game back, but he'll have to do much better than that.

Delighted for the team, but my main delight is reserved for Danny Murphy. What a biased piece of shit.

Great point - I even tried to get the 5 live commentary to drown out his biased drivel!

[Globalgunner]

`I hate Arsenal is what will be written on Danny Murphys tombstone

[Niall_Quinn]

I thought that was one of the best performances I've seen from a ref in ages. He let pretty much everything go and, as a result, we got a traditional, red-blooded FA Cup tie. The reason he didn't book Xhaka is because none of Xhaka's fouls were deliberate. Xhaka is just a bit slow and was late into several challenges, but not dangerous. He booked Leeds players because they fouled to break up the play. Otherwise he let the game flow. It was only stupid VAR that broke things up.

The only thing I'll agree with, in terms of the criticism, is some of our players go down too easily, looking for the foul. I'd rather they stayed on their feet. Same goes for almost every other player in the league, of course, but we don't hear about that. Falling over at the slightest touch is one of the key features of the modern game. And, most of the time, the refs just go along with it. Last night Anthony Taylor decided the opposite and he should be commended for it and not criticised.

Let's see what Danny Murphy has to say next time he commentates a Man Utd game - Man Utd being the world champions of playacting and falling over. Or the fantastic four, Kane/ Ali/ Son/ Lamela, world class divers over at the spuds. I think we can guess what he'll have to say - nothing at all.

One of the key indicators of the improvement we've seen under Arteta is the moaning from the opposition fans and media commentators. Good stuff. Go over to Red Cafe and they're all in a queue waiting to rant about how hateful a club we are, how lucky we are, how the refs are biased in our favour (seriously). When you hear this sort of shite you know we're back on the map and everyone is noticing.

Next I'd like to see Xhaka kicking opponents in the tunnel, before the match - like Paddy used to do.

[I am invisible]

I don't think anyone in the game has any grounds for complaint when it comes to players going down too easily - it's just the tit-for-tat response to 'going in hard' on an opponent: if you think it's fine to deliberately go through a player to intimidate them and put them off their game (pretty much admitting that you're fouling / cheating on purpose), then surely you can't complain if that same player then tries to draw attention to it by rolling around to get you booked or sent off (or even just to make you angry and stupid)? You're literally signposting an obvious flaw in your "clever" "game plan" that can be easily exploited, so try not to act so shocked and indignant when it happens.


Alternatively, we could all just try and play a game based on ability and skill, where everybody aims to challenge fairly and nobody dives? But that would just be silly.

[Mac76]

NQ, i'm sympathetic up to a point but i thought Laca especailly was held a LOT by the Leeds players and Taylor should have done something about it - i don't know how he's expected to score if he's grappled tightly every time he gets the ball

As for Xhaka, apart from the odd good pass he once again showed why he's unfit for this club, way too slow, too clumsy and too hot-headed, he will continue to cost us goals and points until we get rid - hopefully very soon

[Niall_Quinn]

I don't think anyone in the game has any grounds for complaint when it comes to players going down too easily - it's just the tit-for-tat response to 'going in hard' on an opponent: if you think it's fine to deliberately go through a player to intimidate them and put them off their game (pretty much admitting that you're fouling / cheating on purpose), then surely you can't complain if that same player then tries to draw attention to it by rolling around to get you booked or sent off (or even just to make you angry and stupid)? You're literally signposting an obvious flaw in your "clever" "game plan" that can be easily exploited, so try not to act so shocked and indignant when it happens.


Alternatively, we could all just try and play a game based on ability and skill, where everybody aims to challenge fairly and nobody dives? But that would just be silly.

Players are now flopping to the deck as soon as they come under the slightest pressure. It's a super easy way to get out of trouble, even when the opponent hasn't gone in hard and is playing within the rules. The guy on the ball feels the slightest touch and down he goes. Ref blows. Pressure is off.

Agreed, if the opponent has gone in hard and unfairly then it's a free kick. That's always been the case. But this increasing problem of players tumbling when a foul hasn't been committed is far too common. I thought Taylor reffed it well. He turned a blind eye unless an obvious foul was committed or the play was dangerous. Like it used to be. It made for a much more entertaining game and both teams still managed to pass and play.

[Niall_Quinn]

NQ, i'm sympathetic up to a point but i thought Laca especailly was held a LOT by the Leeds players and Taylor should have done something about it - i don't know how he's expected to score if he's grappled tightly every time he gets the ball

As for Xhaka, apart from the odd good pass he once again showed why he's unfit for this club, way too slow, too clumsy and too hot-headed, he will continue to cost us goals and points until we get rid - hopefully very soon

Laca could have been sent off too, for that petulant kick. We've seen fussy refs get the card out for far less. I thought it was a good workout to come up against a physical, organised and determined team like Leeds. And very encouraging we managed to get the better of them in the end. I'm laughing at all the opposition fans out there who are moaning about dirty Arsenal. One week they're laughing because we are pushovers. Next week they're moaning because we're not. Wenger's best teams were piled up with tough bastards who gave at least as good as they got.

Xhaka's still a liability, but so are several of the others too. Luiz and Holding (in particular) made some crazy passes that a better team would have punished us for. Can't be doing that sort of shit against Pool or the gypos. And we won't get such a lenient (sane) ref too many times. But it looks like Xhaka is going to stick around so we'll have to rely on Arteta to get him sorted out. Tbf, Xhaka wasn't helped much by Gwen's lack of positional discipline. He's another one that needs some work. They all do. It'll be a slow process and there's a long way to go.

[Özim]

We won yesterday, first half we were terrible though and Leeds had they had a decent striker would have buried us, second half we played much better and came out with more energy and generally were a lot better.

Lacazette worked really hard and did a great job, Martinelli when he came on was really sharp and really chased everything and showed some lovely skills. We won and I guess that's what matters, but we can't afford lethargic first half displays like this against better teams because they'll score a few against us.

Still not sold on Xhaka, still some terrible bits of play from him, likewise Luiz at the back at times.

Overall we're doing OK, probably need to improve the performances somewhat all over the pitch, let's see how we get on moving forward.

[I am invisible]

Players are now flopping to the deck as soon as they come under the slightest pressure. It's a super easy way to get out of trouble, even when the opponent hasn't gone in hard and is playing within the rules. The guy on the ball feels the slightest touch and down he goes. Ref blows. Pressure is off.

Agreed, if the opponent has gone in hard and unfairly then it's a free kick. That's always been the case. But this increasing problem of players tumbling when a foul hasn't been committed is far too common. I thought Taylor reffed it well. He turned a blind eye unless an obvious foul was committed or the play was dangerous. Like it used to be. It made for a much more entertaining game and both teams still managed to pass and play.

Oh, of course. I'm not saying it's not an embarrassing state to be in - just that anyone associated with the game at a professional / institutional level in this country (and that includes the media) has no grounds for complaint. After years of telling the world that you have to kick teams off the park in order to compete, it can't come as a shock that players are now going down even just anticipating contact. It's a monster that we've created, and it's probably going to be a long time before we can phase it out.

On the plus side, it's all good practice for International football! Like it or not, this is the way the rest of the world play (and officiate) the game, and no one but us are bothered by it, in the slightest so the sooner we get to grips with it, the sooner England might actually wise up and win something.

[Letters]

https://mobile.twitter.com/SimpsonsArsenal/status/1214442549907218432?s=19

:lol: