Arsenal vs Crystal Palace 23.04.2025 - KO 20:00 GMT

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Originally Posted by Letters

Umm. You know we drew both league games before the two Real games, right?

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A point I also keep trying to make, what builds momentum is beating Real twice to make the semi in the first place, drawing piddly league games means nothing - that said the manner of the draw was disappointing, I wonder if Saliba's needed a rest he seems to be losing his focus in games, I hope he gets a day or two off now

tbh I think the players wil be disappointed with yesterday overall, which unlike the coast vs Ipswich was a bit messy - they now have six days to rest and get their act together though

still would have preferred Saka hadn't played tbh and was glad he actually didn't get the ball much so no-one kicked him again

it also felt really odd to start Sterling and not Ethan, although I guess with Trossard starting he along with Saka and arguably Tierney were the only 'impact' players available to bring on

Late to the party. Disappointed with that result and our performance.

I said after the RM games that we were looking at stage 5 of Arteta's project. Last night's game was stage 2. What is a bit disheartening is that the one thing that Areta prizes more than anything else is focus and control of games. This was sorely lacking. I don't really think that this will set the pattern for the CL semis - as Letters points out, we drew both our EPL games before the 2 RM ones - but the lack of game management and security after going ahead twice last night reflects a real Achilles' heel for this team - that is reflected in all our draws this season. This is a basic. If we cannot focus properly for routine EPL ties, it does not bode too well for next season's campaign, whatever transfer business we do.

Also, i agree with all those who have stressed the importance of maintaining second place this season. This is now somewhat in jeopardy. Arsenal need to get it together and show us that they are serious.

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Originally Posted by IBK

Late to the party. Disappointed with that result and our performance.

I said after the RM games that we were looking at stage 5 of Arteta's project. Last night's game was stage 2. What is a bit disheartening is that the one thing that Areta prizes more than anything else is focus and control of games. This was sorely lacking. I don't really think that this will set the pattern for the CL semis - as Letters points out, we drew both our EPL games before the 2 RM ones - but the lack of game management and security after going ahead twice last night reflects a real Achilles' heel for this team - that is reflected in all our draws this season. This is a basic. If we cannot focus properly for routine EPL ties, it does not bode too well for next season's campaign, whatever transfer business we do.

Also, i agree with all those who have stressed the importance of maintaining second place this season. This is now somewhat in jeopardy. Arsenal need to get it together and show us that they are serious.

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No im not in anyway worried that the league games will have any impact on us in the champions league. I just want us like yourself to finish 2nd

Apart from anything else, playing very different opponents who play differently

My explanation for the game last night is speculative but it does involve the available factors in play


We struggle especially at home against teams that allow us to dominate possession, we know that if we misplace a pass that they will be on us like a fly on shit especially given because we don’t have a route one player who we can lump it up to we have to push high up the pitch to create chances let alone score goals.

Palace already stated that they targeted Raya coming off his line. But I think sometimes being overly focused on making a mistake and being punished for it makes you clam up and ironically it can make you more likely to make said mistakes. Thus we were withdrawn and a bit tentative. Though I don’t think we were simply trying to sit on the one goal lead as people here have suggested, therefore I don’t think there was anything tactical about the performance.

Plus as Arteta admitted in the post match interview we were second to a lot of balls, I don’t know but I think that was with an eye to not getting injured before a big semi final

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Originally Posted by IBK

Also, i agree with all those who have stressed the importance of maintaining second place this season.

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Why?

I'm genuinely interested to know why people think this is so important.

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Originally Posted by Letters

Why?

I'm genuinely interested to know why people think this is so important.

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As I said in my original response to you, Prestige

Forest finishing above us, Newcastle finishing above us, City with their shittest season in a decade finishing above us

Fuck that shit. Plus we’ve held onto second place since the end of last year.

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Originally Posted by Letters

Why?

I'm genuinely interested to know why people think this is so important.

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Optics and also prestige as HCZ says.

Finishing as high as we can should be important regardless of what else is happening. The only way this genuinely doesn’t matter is if we win the CL but the way some fans are dismissing the league now you’d think our name is already on the trophy.

It is quite conceivable that we drop to 3rd or lower and PSG dump us out. Morale would be floored and fan sentiment would be awful going into a long summer.

I don't buy it. It's pretty much become a meme that we could be the first side in PL history to finish 2nd 3 years in a row.
There's no prestige in that. It's almost embarrasing.
Of course you always want to finish as high as you can, but the CL clearly has to be the priority.

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Originally Posted by Letters

I don't buy it. It's pretty much become a meme that we could be the first side in PL history to finish 2nd 3 years in a row.
There's no prestige in that. It's almost embarrasing.
Of course you always want to finish as high as you can, but the CL clearly has to be the priority.

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Nothing to do with finishing 2nd three times in a row, it’s about finishing 2nd despite having a monstrosity of a season

I want us to finish above Forest, City and Newcastle. It’s as simple as that

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Originally Posted by Letters

Point of order, one "eke"s out draws. Eek is what you say when you see a ghost. :lol: But that pedantry aside...
I'll be disappointed if we don't finish 2nd. We've been the 2nd best side in a very poor league this season. The fact that Liverpool will wrap up the title this early is testament to how poor the quality has been, they're better than everyone else but they're not that special.
The only real difference between 2nd and 3rd is a bit of prize money - which we've more than made up for with our CL run anyway. We're not going to have an open top bus parade for finishing 2nd again.
You decried the Top 4 Trophy thing, do you now want the 2nd place trophy?

I want us to finish 2nd, but if we do slip to 3rd of 4th then it isn't really going to add much extra disappointment if any to the already disappointing season.
Only the CL can mitigate that now.

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I decried the top4 trophy nonsense for exactly the same reason it's important to finish second. Not because there's a trophy for 2nd, but because it means we'll have won our remaining games rather than lost them. Same applies to top 4 trophy, didn't win enough games to be 3rd, 2nd first. It's your argument that's at fault. 2nd, 3rd, doesn't matter? Well it does. Because we're here to win, first and foremost. If we qualify for stuff or get trophies on the back of winning, that's a bonus, not the mission. Win every game and you get all that other stuff anyway. Winners win. Winning football matches is what we're here to do. Fucking around in football matches because we'll still qualify anyway is not what winners do. It's what players who don't respect the shirt do, and what manager and owners who don't respect the fans or the game do.

This is absolutely fundamental and something this club still doesn't get, neither do half the fans. Cheering when you qualify for Europe in 4th is and always has been a nonsense because the 4th place club has zero chance of winning what they just qualified for! Because they don't have a winning mentality in the first place. Same as yesterday. When you go out there for a stroll because there are "bigger" games to come, that's the loser in this club emerging yet again. You win what's in front of you then on to the next win. Apart from which, PSG were watching that game yesterday and laughing their knackers off. I suppose we may have lulled them into a false sense of security, if that was the plan?

It was embarrassing to watch that yesterday. An absolute disgrace from all involved.

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Originally Posted by Letters

I don't buy it. It's pretty much become a meme that we could be the first side in PL history to finish 2nd 3 years in a row.
There's no prestige in that. It's almost embarrasing.
Of course you always want to finish as high as you can, but the CL clearly has to be the priority.

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We’re already meme’d to shit anyway for being bottlers when it comes to getting over the line.