Match Reaction v Citeh (away).

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Waste of time really. :lol:

Have to see more from us at Old Trafford.

[Master Splinter]

Saka once again showing he should be regular. You don't want him run into to the ground like Fabregas or Rooney at an early age, but he's too good to be left out.

We all know that creativity is our biggest problem, because for the most part we were steady and solid again. Maybe the addition of Partey and a slight switch of formation will allow Arteta to give the team a bit more freedom in their attacking play as the season evolves. Hopefully Smith Rowe is given a chance to play soon too, as he offers something no-one else in the squad has.

Apart from the first game, Willian has been mediocre and Pepe follows up every highlight reel moment with months of infuriating, ineffective, blind-alley runs. Surely Nelson deserves a game here or there over these two non-performers. If he fails to step up, it won't change anything and his defensive effort will still be there.

Gabriel is very good, but he made a few too many sloppy passes into dangerous areas today.

[Niall_Quinn]

I wonder if any club in world football has a worse away record against the top 6 in their league? Surely we should have even fluked a win by now?

[hobson's choice]

This shouldve been a Partey and Elneny game, we needed energy on the middle.

Laca shoulve started. Pepe only plays his best when AMN plays RB.

Saka and Tierney did all they could do today

[RomfordPele]

This shouldve been a Partey and Elneny game, we needed energy on the middle.

Laca shoulve started. Pepe only plays his best when AMN plays RB.

Saka and Tierney did all they could do today

Anyone else notice that Partey got booked for very little within 5 mins of coming on, with Sky saying how he had a reputation for that in Spain.

It has started already

[Globalgunner]

Where is the progress. shit midfield. Ceballos too lightweight, Xhaka too static. Willian doing next to nothing.

[Marc Overmars]

Same shit really.

Losing against these teams is nothing to get worked up about but I really hate it when it’s just tame nonsense where we look like we could play for another 90 mins and not even get close to scoring.

Not particularly impressed with what we’ve seen at all. Defensively better yes but it won’t be enough.

[Chippy]

Waste of time really. :lol:

Have to see more from us at Old Trafford.
Just watched the highlights of the 1979 FA Cup final for some strange reason. We had players that cared for the badge. Fuck the imposters that dont care.

[Marc Overmars]

Surprised how much of a nothing player Willian has looked since the opening day. Thought he’d have more about him. Looks like he’s going to be one of Arteta’s pets that gets into the team no matter what. Expensive dud, cheers Kia.

Auba has barely had a sniff too. There was always going to be a time where the lack of creativity would render him useless, it was a miracle he was scoring as much as he was with such a basic set up for a supply line. Needs to find his scoring boots again quickly.

I understand this is a process and we need to learn to run before we fly but it’s the same against whatever quality of opposition. That worries me.

Old Trafford in a couple of weeks and we hope to see more but I don’t think we will. If anything we are more likely to breathe new life into their season.

[Mac76]

All of the above

am getting really frustrated with game after game seeing the wrong team take the field in the wrong formation, yong players not being given enough of a chance and Chelsea rejects cluttering up the pitch

Arteta's a good cup manager but too cautious as a league manager - like MO says we were never going to get anything from that game however long we played for

[Niall_Quinn]

We were always going to lose. It's a top 6 away match, it's a loss. So why stick with the stopper we play in midfield, Xhaka? By stopper I mean he stops our game. All well and good Willian getting forward, or Pepe making a run, or Auba making space, but you know Xhaka will slow it down and look for the easiest pass. Same with Bellerin on all but the rarest of occasions (when he shows he's still capable going forward). We spend 45 mill and then leave the player on the bench. I know he just flew in, but he flew in from a bunch of Internationals like everyone else didn't he?

Stupid not to play him and see if we could open up the midfield a bit and connect back with front in a more creative manner. Recent record said we lost before we set foot on the pitch, so what else dod we have to lose? Is our new guy so inept he can't do a basic job in there yet? Doubt it. Still learning our system is he? What? Tip, tap?

Or if you don't play the new guy, at least play AMN instead of Pepe. Or bring AMN early when it's plain Pepe is getting zero joy. AMN wouldn't have lost the ball every 2 minutes. That, along with Xhaka's one speed gearbox made it so much easier for the gypos.

Keeper cost us too. You need a solid keeper, not just in terms of the flash saves, but also command of the box, basic handling, distribution - Leno can't do any of that.

Gypos weren't that good either, except when it counted, and they had players missing. Doesn't mean we should have beaten them by default, but it means we should try to avoid beating ourselves by persisting with stuff that just doesn't work.

Any positives brought by Arteta need to be offset against the unbelievably poor record we have against our major rivals - not all his record of course, but let's not have too many more of these results because that will make him part of the ongoing problem. That record needs to start turning around, encounter by encounter. It's not good enough to come away having avoided humiliation - that shouldn't even be considered as any sort of a measure. So this encounter showed we can stay in a game against these rivals for a while (we knew that), maybe even gain the upper hand for a short while (we knew that already). And then get cut to pieces and serve up a stupid assist through some basic error - we definitely knew that. That hasn't changed, and so the results remain the same.

We should be playing this tighter and more restrictive style against the teams we expect to beat, using it to grind them down and take advantage of the fact they can't hit us like a city or Liverpool can. And against our so-called superior rivals, we need to be playing with more ambition and giving it a go. Breaking the habit. I think the fans will tolerate a loss if we've pushed the opposition, far more than another tick in the loss column where we never looked like reversing the norm.

Was more of a chess match than a football match and Pep has better pieces. So tip the board over and then see what he does.

[hobson's choice]

Arteta needs to understand putting his faith in Bellerin and Xhaka will cost his career at Arsenal. I understand that they are our most senior Arsenal players atm, but they're not good enough, and should be spot players.

Bellerin like every FB under Wenger after Ashley and Lauren. Just hasn't developed and pretty much fizzled after his initial promising showing. Time for him to take a back seat, that should be AMN spot, he's never getting skinned like that.

Xhaka simply is not a good PL CM. Dude aint built for this league. Only thing he can do is occupy space, can't tackle, limited ball skills, not quick enough, not a ball winner,, limited range of passing.

He's essentially a defender, and not a good one either.

[fakeyank]

Arteta has stopped our defensive bleeding and I am grateful for that. However when I look at the progress Villa and Everton have made, I start asking what in the actual fuck is happening at our club.. we havent played attractive football since 2007/2008 season. Our games are boring af..

Also dont get the opinion that Partey purchase is going to solve our problems. He is just one of 11 players, and if these other 11 players havent made us play attractive football, Thomas aint bringing any party at the club. What a shit show.