[Insanity]

Let it all out kid! You'll get a girlfriend one day. Wordplay like "Louis van Moron" will make the ladies swoon!

I repeat, Get a life!

 

[R'hllor]

It looks some wants LvG`s head.

 

[Rado_N]

Fair warning - any more childish insults will lead to infractions

 

[JohnnyLaw]

I've never liked Valencia as a right back, and haven't liked him as a winger for about three years. Terrible mistake from him.

Jones is the worst offender for their second goal. He's under no pressure whatsoever, can easily head it away but overcomplicatesvand puts his teammate (Valencia) in the shitter.

 

[stu_1992]

Sickening result. Very annoyed at the individual mistakes, they absolutely killed us. Thought we were actually the better team. Valencia and Smalling had a shocker. Di Maria sending off was madness. Questions also have to asked about the subs. Fair enough if both injured, but every man and his dog could tell you that taking Herrera off for Carrick would kill the pressing game that worked so well first half.

 

[charleysurf]

It looks some wants LvG`s head.

Most of them wanted his head 6 months ago.

 

[Truedevil]

True but proved that we shouldn't have got rid of him, I know danny was inconsistent here but at least he showed some passion a desire and never stopped running for every ball. More than can be said for our current crop and our striker we brought in that's on 300k a week and can't even get a game.

Even Falcao would have put that chance away, beside that Welbeck was average. Welbeck proved nothing on this match at all just that he can still knock the ball into an empty net.

 

[Theonas]

Doom and gloom merchants are out in force I see, and you're not even the worst of them.

Now I know how Arsenal fans must have felt like for 10 years

Makes me really sympathize with them as at least they had the excuse of seeing their team lose against every big team they came up against. We just lost when we never even looked inferior and the reactions on here are embarassing.

 

[R'hllor]

Most of them wanted his head 6 months ago.

In that case,they will suffer for some time,doubt LvG will get a sack.

 

[charleysurf]

Fellaini is utter wank at CAM in these sorts of games.

The OT pitch is too big to play with him up front against expansive teams. There were so many times I saw Blind/Carrick/Young/Valencia on the ball with no good forward option because Fellaini was hugging the shoulders of Mertesacker/Koscielny, whereas a Mata or a Herrera would be coming short to receive the ball and looking to turn.

Pfft, don't see how anyone could make Fellaini the scapegoat today , but then I remember its RedCafe...

 

[space]

A mistake cost us, simple, I didn't think we were that bad, sick of Fellaini tbh, I like the guy but he restricts our style too much.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Makes me really sympathize with them as at least they had the excuse of seeing their team lose against every big team they came up against. We just lost when we never even looked inferior and the reactions on here are embarassing.

er! They lost against Bradford and this season they were hammered by Monaco...but I get your point, well made!

 

[charleysurf]

In that case,they will suffer for some time,doubt LvG will get a sack.

Well, if we don't get top 4 you can't be sure with the Glazers. He's had way more money to spend than Moyes.

 

[2 man midfield]

Valencia and Di Maria cost us today.

 

[Nights]

It wasn't anyone though was it? It was the player we sold to sign a player who represents probably the worst transfer outlay we've ever madez

It's fine to say that in hindsight - and Welbeck hasn't exactly lit up the scoring charts like many here said he would at Arsenal. He's been involved in some of Arsenal's worst performances of the season and was benched by Wenger for them. Wenger even prefers Giroud at CF ahead of Welbeck. Not to mention the fact that even had he stayed, he wouldn't have played CF ahead of Rooney and RVP (even if we didn't sign Falcao) and he made it clear to our coaching staff that he wasn't interested in played on the wings anymore.

Like I said, ANYONE could have scored that goal. Even a total duffer like Smalling would have scored that.

 

[Rolandofgilead]

I usually choose to avoid the united or football forums when we lose but i can't help myself tonight, so here goes..

First of all, £150 million spent in the summer and we are playing a make shift right back in Antonio Valencia who is far from comfortable in that position and gave such a cheap goal away tonight that is it really justifiable to continue with him there? he drifted into the middle of the pitch leaving their left back all alone at the back post for their first goal too, his defensive positioning is shocking and although the lad can tackle and is quick against opposing wingers he just isn't good enough to play there regularly.

Di Maria is quickly becoming an embarrassment, firstly that dive was not only the correct decision from the ref but it was his second or third of the night, £60million? feck me! then, what the actual feck is Di Maria doing putting his hands on the ref? you simply can't do that, deserved red card, keep fecking walking!

Falcao obviously can't share any of the blame for tonight but the wages and loan fee that we are forking out on him are far from justifiable, i don't know why but he couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo and again, not good enough.

Is Luke Shaw injured? why did he come off? unsettling the back four unnecessarily in the middle of an FA Cup quarter final seems like an idiotic move to me and it took away an attacking option down the left, if it was tactical it was fecking moronic.

Fellaini was absolutely awful tonight and what's more having him play just off the striker makes us so fecking predictable it's unreal, get the ball on the half way line, pass, pass, pass, pass, launch the ball into Fellaini, knock down or flick on to nowhere, lose the ball, repeat.

What the feck has happened to Januzaj? why the feck is he diving in the box when he could clearly reach the ball and get a shot away? why the feck is he choosing to dive when Di Maria has just been booked for the same thing?

I was probably alot more infuriated with Welbeck celebrating his goal than i should have, he scored a winner in a cup tie at old trafford it must have been a great feeling for him, i get it but it still pissed me off.

so overall, the managers tactics are worrying to say the least, there is no cutting edge, no urgency and no fluidity. We have spent money poorly and have spent on luxury players in my opinion instead of bringing in quality to fill the gaps of the team where we actually need improvement. We are prioritising a top 4 finish over a trophy and i get that, the champions league money and the prestige of being back in europes premier cup competition is a priority but unless we start playing without fear or restriction, get the ball forward QUICKLY and forget this possession football we can forget top 4 and it looks increasingly likely (assuming liverpool make the top4 ahead of us and them and Arsenal reach the cup final) that if we finish 5th or 6th then we will be in the Europa League next season. I suggest everybody starts embracing that now because if we don't improve in 10 of the 11 positions on the field that is the very best we can hope for.

There you go, Rolly goes into meltdown.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Most of them wanted his head 6 months ago.

Why? because it's bigger than their own

 

[Devil may care]

So fecking disappointing, both goals were defensive suicide which makes it hurt that much more, completely avoidable. Having said that our level of play in the second half dropped after a pretty decent first half.

 

[Jazz]

Valencia and DiMaria costs us. That's it, we didn't play too badly. 2nd half could have been better, but at the end of the day, those two players cost us. It's completely their responsibility for landing us in the shit.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

At the end of the day, 2 teams who looked very poor defensively, and not very clever tactically. We just happened to be the worst offender tonight.

 

[Hamadovich86]

We weren't brilliant but we weren't shit either until after they scored the winner. Arsenal with yet another pragmatic performance against a rival team in a big match.

 

[Nights]

Arsenal were shit. Thought we were actually decent. One bad backpass cost us the game, simple as that.

Oliver has double standards.

Not to mention missing the blatant fouls in a row by Bellerin on Young. Both of which were easily deserving of a second yellow.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Maybe I was watching a different match but enjoyed the game despite losing, first half was good and had Bellerin been sent off as he should, the outcome would have been different. Yes Valencia made a mistake as have many many other players but the over-reaction is unbelievable.
Substitutions I presume Shaw was feeling his hamstring and Carrick's presence presumably to tighten up midfield as Herrera was not having the best of games.
Januzaj's dive was embarrassing but ADM was definitely tugged although stupid reaction to the ref who did us very few favours.
If we beat Arsenal in the league that is more important

The take Fellaini off and leave Herrera on. Don't rate Januzaj either.

 

[Mockney]

Pfft, don't see how anyone could make Fellaini the scapegoat today , but then I remember its RedCafe...

Tbf, while I agree with the surface sentiment (he's been one of our best performers of late without question) I've long been of the opinion that his very inclusion creates an insidious problem, regardless of how he plays. He basically acts as a striker most of the time, which both weakens our midfield, and encourages everone to instinctively look for him with every cross or high ball, rather than seek out a cleverer option.

His influence is reductive basically, and his positional discipline is terrible in a team that's already terrified of movement, which in turn necessitates everyone else falls back to cover his gaping hole (oooh matron, etc.)

In short, Louis is getting him to perform better than Moyes ever did, but still using him in the exact same way Moyes wanted. So we're basically just playing Moyes football better than Moyes did. And I can't imagine that was the plan.

 

[Kostur]

When was the last time we've lost to those shits at OT?

 

[tippex]

Did LVG just say that the best player for us make the mistake for the second goal?

 

[Cristiano Jonaldo]

I'm no fan of chopping and changing managers ...... but Sam Allardyce could be got. Football's a simple game and Sam would balance the team and build it from the back.

WUM

 

[Winrar]

When was the last time we've lost to those shits at OT?

approx. 9 years ago

 

[jem]

Shite management as far as I'm concerned. We weren't perfect in the first half, but we had some attacking impetus. So of course we sub Herrera off (I'm assuming Shaw was injured.) Bringing on Januzaj also was pointless. He just isn't cutting it these days. How a guy like Mata hasn't been getting playing time, while Fellaini has been, I'll never understand.

 

[acrebo]

I think I was watching a different game to the BBC "pundits". We weren't great and I'm disappointed with our response at going behind but Arsenal weren't very good either and you can only really argue they deserved to win on the basis that they defended well when they went ahead and looked dangerous on the counter against 10 men chasing a goal. Welbeck was anonymous apart from the penalty shout and the tap in and Keown and Wright were waxing lyrical like he was unstoppable. Twats.

What was most disappointing was how, after an exciting and admittedly "too" open 1st half, LVG makes two changes with the seeming objective of tightening things up and slowing play down. We desperately missed Herrera's energy in the middle and rearranging the defence was just stupid. Rojo was all over the place, Smalling looked lost at LCB and Jones was just, well, Jones. I actually hope Shaw picked up a knock to at least justify the sub!

Positives are that the 1st half was good, progressive football. Possession-based but at much better pace and good use of passing range to create chances. Rooney again showed he's the club's best forward, ADM was much better in the first half before losing his head, Fellaini held the ball up well and Dave was his usual excellent self. Good to have Carrick back but he needs to play instead of Blind, not alongside him. Them together is just far too slow against quick technical teams. LVG dropped a big one with that half time change.

I'm not devastated as I don't think we're miles away from Arsenal on that showing. The concern is that this is usually Arsenal's bottle game. If they're winning it then they're full of confidence, and we're really not.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

The take Fellaini off and leave Herrera on. Don't rate Januzaj either.

My team prediction was 10/11 and had Carrick and no Fellaini

 

[Boycott]

One bad back pass lost us the game.

We didn't do enough in the 25-30 minutes after to get back in the game.

 

[Kostur]

approx. 9 years ago

Ok on a second thought I think I didn't want to know that.

feck.

 

[R'hllor]

Well, if we don't get top 4 you can't be sure with the Glazers. He's had way more money to spend than Moyes.

Doubt we can build title winning team like that.

 

[The Taurean]

Tbf, while I agree with the surface sentiment (he's been one of our best performers of late without question) I've long been of the opinion that his very inclusion creates an insidious problem, regardless of how he plays. He basically acts as a striker most of the time, which both weakens our midfield, and encourages everone to instinctively look for him with every cross or high ball, rather than seek out a cleverer option.

His influence is reductive, basically, and his positional discipline is terrible in a team that's already terrified of movement, which in turn necessitates everyone else falls back to cover his gaping hole (oooh, matron, etc.)

It really is strange. Rather than consider him as one avenue, everyone just starts pumping balls to him at every possible chance. Chasing a game, its just so predictable that a ball will be pumped long to him now. Not really the best way to get some last minute goal.

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Did LVG say sthing about the subs?

 

[SonnyTheHaloPro]

I remember when Chelsea knocked us out the FA cup 2 years ago and not a single feck was given considering title number 20 was almost wrapped up.

Now I am totally broken hearted, We had so much invested in the FA cup this year. If Arsenal go on to win FA cup number 12 then it will hurt more.

We have to look onwards now, we absolutely have to beat Spurs on Sunday.

 

[bosnian_red]

Stupid post if I've ever seen one.

We played well. Yes, very stupid from Di Maria to get himself sent off. A well deserved 3 match ban and he won't be doing that again any time soon. But not only could have that decision gone either way (he went down VERY easy, but there was a tug of his arm), but the match was officiated with massive double standards. Welbeck didn't get a yellow for diving first half, but both Di Maria and Januzaj did. I won't even mention the mandatory second yellow for Bellerin.

No excuses for Di Maria. You're a professional and you should not be losing it at a time like that.

But we could have easily gotten a draw, more even had that match been officiated objectively.

Agree completely. He can't give a yellow for Di Maria diving when Welbeck did the exact same thing in the first half and play just went on. Or the Januzaj one. Especially after Oliver constantly in that game gave Di maria nothing. He had his calves kicked in a clear foul on the edge of the box and play just went on, he got blatantly blocked and he did nothing, and then for that part getting a yellow and Di maria was understandably frustrated. Just poor reffing all around I thought from him. Nothing hugely wrong apart from Bellerin not getting a second yellow, just everything was in Arsenal's favour.

 

[Henrik Larsson]

With a little more luck there would've been a good end to this game. Guess we used all our luck back in the Emirates.

 

[Mockney]

It really is strange. Rather than consider him as one avenue, everyone just starts pumping balls to him at every possible chance. Chasing a game, its just so predictable that a ball will be pumped long to him now. Not really the best way to get some last minute goal.

Even in the first half, where I think we played fairly well, Di Maria's first option was to pick out Fellaini at the back post. Something that, tbf, he did very well. But one can't help but imagine how much more productive that would've been if he was picking out someone else in that position.

That moment where Fellaini chested down a Di Maria cross in the box, then overhit a two yard pass to Ashley Young was indicative of his game. He did all the physical stuff well, but messed up the actual football part. And I can't really blame him personally for it, because thats just what he does. It's not really his fault he's being relied on to be the main creative outlet.

But then that's where the whole "Fellaini is a good physical presence in a tough game" thing falls down, because his "physical presence" is no more productive in defensive (or even central) areas than Juan "twink cub" Mata's is. If it was you we wouldn't need to play both Carrick AND Blind in order to allow Fellaini to stay on. Because he's not a remotely defensive player. All he does past the centre circle is foul people, which even Mata can do. The only thing he can't do is win knock downs in a last minute punt-a-thon. And however well he does this, is it really worth it in the long term?