Match Reaction: Crystal Palace 2-2 Arsenal

[Master Splinter]

Now IMO the biggest mistake we made today was actually quite Wengeresque- starting all 3 holding midtielders with Xhaka as LB.

It's clear he rates all 3 of them (why he rates Xhaka is beyond me) but his indescion (Emery) cost us width on the left wing and at the end cost us a penalty no serious LB would give at such a crucial stage of the game.

Why I called it Wengeresque was it reminded me of what AW use to do with all the slow passing midfielders he rated so highly and because of indescion would end up filling our midfield and attack with the same type leading to a disjointed game with silly short passes, no width, and having to pass through the eye of a needle to score.

The similarity was that we were disjointed today and not looking threatening at all.

I am not blaming Xhaka for this result, as a lot of people let us down today, but I strongly believe playing a fit again AMN and only 2 holding Midtielders would have left us more balanced.

AMN just returned from injury and played for the U23s on Friday.

We have every full-back apart from Lichtsteiner out at the moment and even back-ups like AMN and a kid like Osei-Tutu are injured.

It's just one of those horrible situations you can't really blame on anyone.

It would be ridiculous if they're all still unavailable next weekend.