Arsenal vs Crystal Palace 23.04.2025 - KO 20:00 GMT

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

I’m honestly confused, what is it you’re angry with that we didn’t defend out the lead properly or that we weren’t better going forward.

I think we were poor because Palace made us poor, we struggled to break them down and we struggled to deal with their aggression going forward. Do I think in the back of our minds that certain players might have been more reserved because they are thinking about the European cup, yeah because that’s human nature are you going to risk everything if you think you could get injured by getting into 50/50s. Of course you can argue that Palace didn’t have that mindset but I’d say they are just playing the same way they’ve played all season…they are a high intensity team…we aren’t.

I’m frustrated with tonight, but I don’t think there was any conscious desire to play the way we did. And given take away Ipswich we’ve scored an average of a goal a game since losing Havertz, probably not the worst decision in the world to soak up pressure and try and hold onto what you’ve got.

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Angry that we chose to defend our lucky lead instead of improving our play and trying to beat them 5-1.

Thats the scoreline Arteta (or any decent coach) should have been gunning for once they'd assessed their recent away form and the fact that this game meant NOTHING to Palace compared to the semifinal they've got this weekend.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

So you can't see the difference in Partey's play tonight and how he played in the 2 Euro ties? You think he was maybe tired tonight so literally had to stand still on the spot with the ball at his feet while everyone else stood around looking at him? Then backpass, sideways, sideways, backpass, back to that utter fuckhead Raya? You can't see the difference? Genuinely?

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Just as you can’t see the difference between a game where your opponent has most of the ball and you are soaking up the pressure and then you will have more space to play in when you get the ball back, and playing against a team that will give the ball to their opponents but has proven that it will play aggressively if you misplace a pass.

The difference where you will bust a lung to win the ball back against Real compared to what in many ways is a rubber stamp against Palace, where in the back of your mind you think if I give the ball away and assert myself to get it back I could pull up with a hammy issue. You have all that kind of shit running through your head and it will mess with your thinking. If we were in a title chase no game is less important than the next…but we aren’t

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Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE

Angry that we chose to defend our lucky lead instead of improving our play and trying to beat them 5-1.

Thats the scoreline Arteta (or any decent coach) should have been gunning for once they'd assessed their recent away form and the fact that this game mean NOTHING to Palace compared to the semifinal they've got this weekend.

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You can’t have a team with no strikers and expect to beat anyone 5-1. I’m sorry but that’s silly. You and I both know that we don’t have prolific attacking players currently. You can maybe duff up an Ipswich side resigned to relegation and even then you need a man advantage to do so.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

You’ve heard the term verbal diarrhoea. You have verbal constipation. Just reading what you’ve written makes my eyes feel like they need fibre to allow the words to pass into my brain.

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WTF?

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Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE

I'm going to disagree with you on this one HCZ...we could have easily brushed of a side that has shifted 10 goals in their last 2 away games if we gave a shit and played to actually out score them at home.

Let me simplify what I'm saying , we lost this game because we scored early and instantly Arteta was satisfied thinking he'd strangle the game out and win.

If they'd scored first or things didn't pan out the way Arteta imagined (0-0 @60 mins), he would have approached the game differently earlier and we would have won this.

What happened today is part of the pattern which has meant we keep dropping points to teams everyone expects us to beat as we take our eye off of scoring goal after goal, but try to suffocate play when there is absolutely no need to, especially to a side that shipped 10 goals in their last 2 games and has a semifinal on Saturday.

I'm sorry my responses are coming late but I'm to upset to type and now have a banging headache after what I just witnessed.

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They lost those games to Newcastle and Man City away who have strikers and attacking players in form

We have shown time and time again that we are vulnerable to the counter attack at home. Therefore we decided to soak up the pressure, but Palace did well to stop us getting forward quickly when we did clear our lines…and despite controlling possession we were under the cosh again.

The reason we are vulnerable to the counter is because we have to push up more to create more chances because we don’t have clinical players.

We often concede goals that come about from misplacing a pass in attacking areas…this is what happened against Brentford

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

WTF?

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Exactly my reaction when faced with one of your tirades.

I thought I was bad with condensed paragraphs

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Just as you can’t see the difference between a game where your opponent has most of the ball and you are soaking up the pressure and then you will have more space to play in when you get the ball back, and playing against a team that will give the ball to their opponents but has proven that it will play aggressively if you misplace a pass.

The difference where you will bust a lung to win the ball back against Real compared to what in many ways is a rubber stamp against Palace, where in the back of your mind you think if I give the ball away and assert myself to get it back I could pull up with a hammy issue. You have all that kind of shit running through your head and it will mess with your thinking. If we were in a title chase no game is less important than the next…but we aren’t

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I said there's a big difference between Partey standing around with his mates looking on, compared to how he played in Europe. So you say, well, that's understandable because he didn't want to scream around the pitch today at 100% risking injury. Meaning there's nothing in-between? But we both know you're doing this on purpose to try to eek out some point on the back of the most extreme interpretation of what I said.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Exactly my reaction when faced with one of your tirades.

I thought I was bad with condensed paragraphs

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Yeah but I noticed you didn't respond to my point about the claim you have been making all season, that we can't break down teams who pack the defence. I gave you direct evidence of us doing just that in this game. And mentioned it has been the long established way to break down defensive units, all through the different eras of the game. So you said - shit post, change the subject. I get it.

My frustration comes from the fact that despite weak options up front, we are still doing enough to find ourselves in winning positions. Some of these draws could so easily have been wins with a bit more care.

The reality about this season will only sink in if/when PSG send us packing.

Feel like Arteta will find himself under huge pressure unless by some miracle we win the CL.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

Yeah but I noticed you didn't respond to my point about the claim you have been making all season, that we can't break down teams who pack the defence. I gave you direct evidence of us doing just that in this game. And mentioned it has been the long established way to break down defensive units, all through the different eras of the game. So you said - shit post, change the subject. I get it.

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I’m not changing the subject I’m just stating that your posts are structured in a way that make them impossible to take in. You said something about putting more crosses in as if somehow we a) have a traditional centre forward to get on the end of them that b) most premier league defences wouldn’t gobble them up all day. If you’re arguing that we should put in more crosses fine, but it’s not the base metal into gold solution, it’s just alternating one form of struggling to break teams down with another.

Then you went on your usual uncontrolled rant which I think could be summed up as if you don’t see things the way I do, you’ve been brainwashed into believing Pep ball is the way forward.

You can go direct or route one if you’ve got a player that can hold up the ball under pressure or a big lump. We don’t….so yeah sure we can do that but ultimately it’s no bigger guarantee of success than what we are doing at the moment.

Do you think it’s just a coincidence that after 24 games we had scored 49 goals, and ten games later where for all of them we’ve been without a recognised striker and for many of them with Trossard and a teenager as our only competent attacking players we managed 63 goals (14 goals in ten games, and 4 of those came against an Ipswich side that’s given up)

It would make far more sense to me to criticise the lack of concentration that led to us conceding two goals. It’s a more realistic appraisal anyhow