Arsenal 1-1 Brentford Player rating and match reaction

[HCZ_Reborn]

Raya 7 - Not much to do, but commanded his penalty area well on set pieces


Partey 7 - Good finish to a lovely move from Rice, I think there are increasing arguments to give him contract extension


Saliba 7 - Good interceptions


Kiwior 7 - Another confident performance


Tierney 7 - Decision to disallow his goal was probably correct


Jorginho 6 - Any hope of getting a win went off the pitch with him


Rice 8 - Carried on from his excellent performance midweek


Zinchenko 7 - Had a good run out in a free role


Martinelli 6 - Good first half but faded


Trossard 6 - Some lazy passing and showboating second half


Nwaneri 6.5 - Seemed to be happier coming inside, not convinced his future is on the wing


Subs:


Timber 6.5 - Relieved to see him come on after he hobbled off Wednesday


Saka 6.5 - Managed to close down Flekken but seemed to lack the confidence to pull the trigger


Odegaard 6 - Too many safe passes, Zinchenko was at least adventurous


Merino 6 - Seems to have far more impact up front these days


Lewis-Skelly 6 - Looked tired and was a bit clumsy at times



The more we drop points the more secure we seem to be in second place, this is the kind of game had it been earlier on in the season I’d have been spitting blood about. Though dropped points is a) reflective of the fact that we are rightly prioritising the champions league and b) today more about players fluffing their lines than anything tactical. The overall play was good.

[Mac76]

We did a decent job, got a decent result, the only issue is playing Martinelli the whole game, an act of pure insanity

[Marc Overmars]

I just want 2nd secured because if we do go on in Europe then it’s likely that the league will continue to drift and then we’re just hoping the chasing pack don’t string 2-3 wins together. Incredibly frustrating how many times we’ve taken the lead in games this season and failed to convert that into 3 points.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I just want 2nd secured because if we do go on in Europe then it’s likely that the league will continue to drift and then we’re just hoping the chasing pack don’t string 2-3 wins together. Incredibly frustrating how many times we’ve taken the lead in games this season and failed to convert that into 3 points.

Lack of goals. Story of our season. I disagree with the media reports and commentators I think we carved out quite a few chances yesterday, enough to win the game. It’s a mixture of lacking goalscorers and the players lacking confidence. Saka before his injury I think would have scored when closing down Flekken yesterday

But from 16 games this season, we’ve scored only 1 goal or no goal. Compared to 12 in the whole of last season

We’ve only scored more than once two times in the last 8 games (8 goals in 8 games)

I agree about 2nd

[Mac76]

I just want 2nd secured because if we do go on in Europe then it’s likely that the league will continue to drift and then we’re just hoping the chasing pack don’t string 2-3 wins together. Incredibly frustrating how many times we’ve taken the lead in games this season and failed to convert that into 3 points.

We can keep top 5 with mostly draws if needs be, the priority has to be the CL, this is a huge oppprtunity and he needs to pick every PL lineup with that in mind

The Liverpool game is the only one where we really need to try to win, to set us up for competing with them again next srason

There's some value in 2nd but it's way way way below winning the CL

[Marc Overmars]

We can keep top 5 with mostly draws if needs be, the priority has to be the CL, this is a huge oppprtunity and he needs to pick every PL lineup with that in mind

The Liverpool game is the only one where we really need to try to win, to set us up for competing with them again next srason

There's some value in 2nd but it's way way way below winning the CL

Of course, that’s obvious, I don’t care where we finish if there’s an opportunity to win the CL. But I do believe in momentum and the league grinding to a premature halt is no good for anything. What if we get through next week but lose in the semis while the league continues to stall? It’s all going to look rather shit.

[Mac76]

Of course, that’s obvious, I don’t care where we finish if there’s an opportunity to win the CL. But I do believe in momentum and the league grinding to a premature halt is no good for anything. What if we get through next week but lose in the semis while the league continues to stall? It’s all going to look rather shit.

Only if you think that way, but it's the risk we need to take, I won't blame Arteta if he rests players to try to win the CL, tbh I think even if we make the semis of the CL that's progress.

With the cards, injuries etc it's a miracle we're still second tbh, we left ourselves short in attach this season, as you're saying, so rectify that in the summer and we can build on it further.

Btw there's talk of Havertz being back before the end of the season which would be a welcome boost in both league and CL

[KSE Comedy Club]

Of course, that’s obvious, I don’t care where we finish if there’s an opportunity to win the CL. But I do believe in momentum and the league grinding to a premature halt is no good for anything. What if we get through next week but lose in the semis while the league continues to stall? It’s all going to look rather shit.

Yeh, I'm sorry but for me it seems like we are happy to plod along in the league now to focus solely on the CL. That's inexcusable IMO based on where we should be at at this stage of the process.
It's also not something I personally find acceptable, we should be able to manage some kind of show of strength in more than one competition.

I thought this was a shit game, we played averagely and got an average result.
Back to looking like we had no clue what to do next after getting in to the final third. 'Oh just pass the ball sideways and backwards another 100 times, that should eat up another 10 mins and make it look like we are in doing something constructive'

Trossard made me want to put my fist through the TV - he HAS to be sold in the summer, since his strop he has been total dogshit.

Also Saka !!?? - open goal after successfully tackling the keeper and he's trying to tap it forward another few yards and get a couple more touches on the ball - What the actual fuck!!?? just fucking shoot and it's a goal, 2-1, 3 points, thank you very much.
Coming back from injury is no justification for that shocker.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I thought we created far more than we usually do in these kind of games, and once again the main issue was a lack of a natural finisher

I think Trossard you have a point, a lot of lazy passes and unnecessary flicks and tricks that didn’t come off

But I think we shot from outside the box (not as much as people in the crowd seemed to want) and actually broke on them more than once (including for the goal).

I think largely the front three disappointed - Martinelli everything he tried just didn’t come off second half, Trossard already spoken about and Nwaneri did ok on the wing but seems to prefer to be playing centrally.

Especially given we rested a few players I don’t think there was much wrong with the build up play.

Yes Saka could have shot first time, but I was right behind the goal in that incident, and the angle wasn’t an easy one…he tried to tap it in it would have been cleared away (he had a defender on him) and if he’d used too much power probably would have been off target…I think he took too long to set himself but that’s confidence that you lose when you’ve been away for months.

I get the frustration, but I’ve seen some real dog shit performances in the league this season and I don’t think this was necessarily one of them

[HCZ_Reborn]

https://www.le-grove.co.uk/p/same-pr...utm_medium=web

I think the only thing I disagree with in this match summary is that I think a Red card for Norgaard would have been harsh, it’s a yellow for me….its a cynical foul but there’s no intent to cause harm…I think a yellow was fair