Arsenal - 2024/25

11 v11 Arsenal were the better team. Defensively they were brilliant again. They such a top notch team defensively.

Trossard was an idiot for kicking the ball away, but as with the Brighton game, if an opponent doesn’t get punished for the same thing in the same game, then you have to say Arsenal were really hard done by again.

Its bad enough when decisions are wildly inconsistent from game to game, but what is utterly inexcusable is not enforcing the same rule to the same extent in the same game.
Sorry Pat just can’t see how you can say that Arsenal were the better team when 11v11 . Doku did kick the ball after the whistle but clearly the ref wanted the ball further back and it was close to the Trossard second yellow.

Did Trossard delay Cities ability to take the free kick? Yes without doubt. Did Doku? I think the fact that he played the ball in the direction of where the kick had to be taken from.

Arsenal were excellent defensively in the second half but for me that was more to do with Cities insistence of trying to penetrate that defence in a narrow % of the width of the pitch and even then the times the ball went through Kovacic who as we know may score the odd goal or assist now and then but creativity isn’t close to one of his strength
 
Sorry Pat just can’t see how you can say that Arsenal were the better team. Doku did kick the ball after the whistle but clearly the ref wanted the ball further back and it was close to the Trossard second yellow.

Did Trossard delay Cities ability to take the free kick? Yes without doubt. Did Doku? I think the fact that he played the ball in the direction of where the kick had to be taken from.

Arsenal were excellent defensively in the second half but for me that was more to do with Cities insistence of trying to penetrate that defence in a narrow % of the width of the pitch and even then the times the ball went through Kovacic who as we know may score the odd goal or assist now and then but creativity isn’t close to one of his strength
I was basically shouting this at one point yesterday. I actually do think the Trossard yellow could be harsh due to the fact that there is a possibility he didn't even hear the whistle and kicking the ball away was probably a action he was in the middle of in play.

But no way should Doku be booked for kicking a ball when Arsenal tries to steal several yards on a free-kick
 
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I’ll say that at the very least, Arsenal have added some spice to their rivalry with city. There was far too much fawning and admiration between Klopp and Pep for my liking. The players genuinely dislike eachother and you can tell Pep is getting more and more annoyed by his former protege. Should be fun times at the emirates.
 
Sorry Pat just can’t see how you can say that Arsenal were the better team when 11v11 . Doku did kick the ball after the whistle but clearly the ref wanted the ball further back and it was close to the Trossard second yellow.

Did Trossard delay Cities ability to take the free kick? Yes without doubt. Did Doku? I think the fact that he played the ball in the direction of where the kick had to be taken from.

Arsenal were excellent defensively in the second half but for me that was more to do with Cities insistence of trying to penetrate that defence in a narrow % of the width of the pitch and even then the times the ball went through Kovacic who as we know may score the odd goal or assist now and then but creativity isn’t close to one of his strength

I don't understand how he was delaying City taking the free kick when Silva is down on the ground for a long time after the challenge?
 
Depends on the silverware. I've personally enjoyed the past few seasons a lot more than the seasons we won all those FA cups.

You could do with winning something in Europe. Your record is quite appalling. Europa would have been a big achievement at the time looking at it now.

Had no idea you’d only ever won the league cup twice either.
 
I don't understand how he was delaying City taking the free kick when Silva is down on the ground for a long time after the challenge?
So when Trossard kicked the ball away he knew Silva would be staying down?
Of course he didn’t but even if they , City, had retrieved the ball I would imagine that with half time fast approaching they would have ignored Silva if he was still on the ground or most likely Silva wouldn’t have been down for anywhere near as long .
 
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I don't understand how he was delaying City taking the free kick when Silva is down on the ground for a long time after the challenge?
Oliver clearly missed the sensible option and that was to bring Saka to him and warn that they are on very thin ice with it. The red card is a very black or white result.. these new rules they put in are daft because they lack context. Trossard happened to boot that one 50 yards but what would have happened if he had only barely touched it? Would that have been ok?

Having said that...our lads need to knock it off. We are getting absolutely killed by it. No more excuses. Just hope they all hear the whistle...we are not done with this.
 
You could do with winning something in Europe. Your record is quite appalling. Europa would have been a big achievement at the time looking at it now.

Had no idea you’d only ever won the league cup twice either.

We're rarely in the Europa league because we either miss Europe entirely or make CL slot and almost never go out in the group stages so its never really a realistic option. Emery, the Europa Cup whisperer, failed there in one of the only times we were in it and Wenger was never really good there either. I'd expect Arteta to actually do much better than both of the previous managers if we somehow find ourselves in it but I can't see him going out in the group stage of the CL so probably won't get the chance either.
 
We're rarely in the Europa league because we either miss Europe entirely or make CL slot and almost never go out in the group stages so its never really a realistic option. Emery, the Europa Cup whisperer, failed there in one of the only times we were in it and Wenger was never really good there either. I'd expect Arteta to actually do much better than both of the previous managers if we somehow find ourselves in it but I can't see him going out in the group stage of the CL so probably won't get the chance either.
You don’t drop in to Europa now from the CL, or from Europa to the Conference League. When you’re out you’re out.
 
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cn4zy8er71xo

It's about time they were put under some scrutiny for this. All their recent "success" is built on the back of tactical fouling, timewasting, fake injuries, fouling people on set pieces and all-round general shithousery. Horrible, horrible team to watch.

Hopefully we learn our lesson and stop going down to 10 men which will obviously skew these results somewhat.
 
Hopefully we learn our lesson and stop going down to 10 men which will obviously skew these results somewhat.
How many men did you have when you went to Atalanta in the week and did all the same things?
 
Oliver clearly missed the sensible option and that was to bring Saka to him and warn that they are on very thin ice with it. The red card is a very black or white result.. these new rules they put in are daft because they lack context. Trossard happened to boot that one 50 yards but what would have happened if he had only barely touched it? Would that have been ok?

Having said that...our lads need to knock it off. We are getting absolutely killed by it. No more excuses. Just hope they all hear the whistle...we are not done with this.
Think the Rice second yellow answers your question about just touching.
 
How many men did you have when you went to Atalanta in the week and did all the same things?

Remember when those results and performances at tough away grounds in Europe were seen as decent results, especially in the context of the middle of 3 tough away games when your title rival is playing 3 home games with an extra days rest in between.
 
You could do with winning something in Europe. Your record is quite appalling. Europa would have been a big achievement at the time looking at it now.

Had no idea you’d only ever won the league cup twice either.
Yeah I can't argue with that, we've had a real inferiority complex in Europe.

Our shit on a stick defensive football might actually work in our favour though. Who knows, with our set piece threat and a bit of luck we could do it soon
 
Oliver clearly missed the sensible option and that was to bring Saka to him and warn that they are on very thin ice with it. The red card is a very black or white result.. these new rules they put in are daft because they lack context. Trossard happened to boot that one 50 yards but what would have happened if he had only barely touched it? Would that have been ok?

Having said that...our lads need to knock it off. We are getting absolutely killed by it. No more excuses. Just hope they all hear the whistle...we are not done with this.

Nah. You remind me of Fergies best sides. Absolutely on the limit. It’s a great attribute.

I think Trossard was unlucky and stupid at the same time.

I’d be over the moon if United were where Arsenal are, how you act, behave and control games.
 
Arsenal are heavily dependent upon Odegaard to provide creativity and keep the ball in tight spaces. Without him, Arteta has to play a mire counter attacking style based upon defensive solidity. The style will change when Odegaard and Merino are fit.
 
Yeah I can't argue with that, we've had a real inferiority complex in Europe.

Our shit on a stick defensive football might actually work in our favour though. Who knows, with our set piece threat and a bit of luck we could do it soon
You have had some teams over the years too. That said Bergkamp refusing to fly can’t have helped.
 
You have had some teams over the years too. That said Bergkamp refusing to fly can’t have helped.
We really should have won it in with the team we had in 2004 and we were weaker in 2006 but bottled that one too. I'm not old enough to remember anything before that though :p
 
They were already winning when they went down to 10 men so its a massive stretch to claim that it would've been one of the most impressive victories had they held on. As Roy Keane said after the game, and knowing from experience of watching Chelsea do it multiple times years back, putting 10 men behind the ball especially when you have good players isn't hard or impressive at all. We didn't get any respect for it (especially from Arsenal fans), and neither should they.