Arsenal v Liverpool, Carabao Cup 2nd Leg, 19:45 GMT (20/01, Sky Sports Main Event)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Looks like this will be on, saw Odegaard in training but not sure who else that had recently been missing.

[Mac76]

0-3 Jota hatter

[Mac76]

Looks like this will be on, saw Odegaard in training but not sure who else that had recently been missing.

what were you doing in training? - don't tell us they've called you up? :lol:

[Marc Overmars]

Let’s do this. Biggest game of the season.

1-0.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

what were you doing in training? - don't tell us they've called you up? :lol:

They must be desperate as I still have a cast on my right leg

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Lokonga, Odegaard, Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Lacazette.
Subs: Hein, Holding, Alebiosu, Tavares, Partey, Salah-Eddine, Nketiah, Biereth.

Liverpool: Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Jones, Gordon, Jota, Firmino.
Subs: Alisson, Adrian, Konate, Milner, Gomez, Minamino, Tsimikas, Williams, Morton.

[Mac76]

Almost nothing on the bench

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Come on you twats.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Martinelli. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bit clumsy in trying to clear it from Liverpool.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lacazette freekick saved on to the bar!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Martinelli is great.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Disallowed goal for Matip.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Kelleher. :haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Matip at it now too. :haha:

[Marc Overmars]

0-1 Jota.

He is very good. Scuffed it mind.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

0-1 Jota, fuck.

[Mac76]

another two to come for the hatter

[Marc Overmars]

At least there’s plenty of time.

Another goal for them and I’d say we’re cooked though.

[Marc Overmars]

This is not very good.

[Mac76]

Tomi looks a bit rusty

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lacazette booked.

[Marc Overmars]

HT 0-1

We don’t really win games from losing positions so this is going to take a huge effort now.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

0-1 HT. eurgh.

[Mac76]

pretty lacklustre really

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Couldn't work out what song we came back out to, was it Batista's theme again?

Matip off for Konate.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Oh it might have been Finn Balor's actually.

[Mac76]

silly from Odegaard

[Marc Overmars]

Lacashite :haha:

[Mac76]

Laca :doh:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lacazette, WTF is that?

[Mac76]

great ball from Sambi though

[Marc Overmars]

Jota puts it on a plate for some kid who bottles it.

Should be game over.

[Mac76]

Gordon :haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Gordon just dropped the Ashes.

[Marc Overmars]

We look very poor, need to step it up quickly before they score.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Tomiyasu is having a mare.

[Marc Overmars]

Konate heads on to the post. It’s coming.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Konate heads on to the post, Ramsdale saves from Henderson!

[Mac76]

ESR sends one into space

[Marc Overmars]

No one is ever running whenever play those balls over the top.

[Marc Overmars]

Trent is a freak, how’s it possible to be the best defender and midfielder at the same time?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Yellow for Konate, run at him!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Gordon hauled off, Minamino on.

[Letters]

What happens if we equalise?
Do we go out or is it ET?
It used to be away goals only after ET, I think.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Apparently no away goals.

Would be extra time though.

[Letters]

:good:

[Marc Overmars]

How isn’t this 0-2 yet? :lol:

[Marc Overmars]

Eddie coming on :lol:

[Mac76]

Eddie coming on apparently - that'll save us :rolleyes:

[Marc Overmars]

I’d put Martinelli in the centre, his energy is wasted out wide

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Martinelli. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lacazette off, Nketiah on.

Smith Rowe off, Partey on.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Henderson off, Milner on.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Disallowed goal for Jota. Phew.

[Marc Overmars]

That’s going to be given.

[Marc Overmars]

Yep, 0-2.

[Mac76]

could be a goal tbh

[McNamara That Ghost...]

VAR will reverse it. Fuck.

[Letters]

Us :rose:

[Letters]

And, to be fair, that was an example of VAR actually doing its job well.

[Marc Overmars]

We’ve been really poor.

I know Liverpool are a much better team but we haven’t turned up. Terrible for a semi final. Bit like Villarreal last year.

[selassie]

We've been poor tonight.

[Mac76]

a lot of players look tired or rusty, things catching up with us - all Xhaka's fault for making us play every third game with 10 men of course...

[Marc Overmars]

Partey sent off :haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Partey sent off. FFS.

[Mac76]

:ilt:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

That's a red all by itself.

[selassie]

Partey doing a Xhaka lovely stuff.

[selassie]

Partey sent off :haha:

In classic Arsenal fashion. The start of the collapse. :blink:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

No win in four now.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

No goal in three.

We're desperately needing a striker I think.

[Marc Overmars]

Surprise surprise, we lose a big game again. Didn’t even lay a glove on them.

At least we’ve got some crap teams to play now and hopefully find some form again. 4th or bust now.

[Marc Overmars]

It’s a good job we got the Spurs game canned too. No doubt we would have lost that given how awful we’ve looked.

[Mac76]

at least it didn't go to ET anyway, they just need to rest and regroup and try to beat Bumley - at least Xhaka won't be able to be sent off at that one ...

[selassie]

at least it didn't go to ET anyway, they just need to rest and regroup and try to beat Bumley - at least Xhaka won't be able to be sent off at that one ...

:lol:

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

I tell you what, no offence but you were shit. Barely even laid a glove. I was expecting something in the first 15 of each half, but after that? Nothing.

[Letters]

at least it didn't go to ET anyway, they just need to rest and regroup and try to beat Bumley - at least Xhaka won't be able to be sent off at that one ...

You’re always underestimating Xhaka :sulk:

[selassie]

I tell you what, no offence but you were shit. Barely even laid a glove. I was expecting something in the first 15 of each half, but after that? Nothing.

Stage fright!

TBH I think like a few others have alluded to some of our players looked unfit and tired. The best team won, no complaints there.

[Marc Overmars]

I tell you what, no offence but you were shit. Barely even laid a glove. I was expecting something in the first 15 of each half, but after that? Nothing.

This is what tends to happen when we play good teams.

Arteta has stripped us back and rebuilt from scratch but it’s painfully obvious when we face quality just where we’re at.

We should have beaten City, that would have cracked the mental block. But all that game seems to have done is strengthen the glass ceiling.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

We haven't won this year yet.

[Ollie the Optimist]

3 cup ties played this month.

2 shots on target

That’s not acceptable

[I am invisible]

I tell you what, no offence but you were shit. Barely even laid a glove. I was expecting something in the first 15 of each half, but after that? Nothing.

None taken - we just didn't show up, plain and simple. Too many players either rushed back too soon or running on empty, because the squad has no quality in depth.

I don't think anyone is really shocked, tbh - we could all see it coming a mile off without urgent reinforcements coming in. We played 7 games in December with more or less the same 12 or 13 players and, of our 4 games in January so far, 3 of them have been against Man City and you guys! Pretty brutal schedule for a very young side, even before all the AFCON departures, red cards and self-inflicted loan departures.

If I thought this was a case of giving our very best and still getting schooled then I'd be more worried, but so much of that was out of character for a lot of these players. Tomiyasu, for example - you know the minimum you get from him is relentless work-rate and laser focus, but he just didn't look like he was 100% there yesterday. Smith Rowe still doesn't look fit. Partey literally met up with the team straight from the plane and played like it! Even Ramsdale looked like he was getting grouchy, and he's usually the guy who gees everyone up.

If we can limp past Burnley at the weekend (I'd take any kind of scrappy 1-0 right now) then we should be alright - after that we start seeing week / 2-week breaks between all our fixtures, so we'll have a chance to pull ourselves together again and regroup.