[Inigo Montoya]

I think McTominay would have been a better option to Matic today. Matic was off pace. McT's energy would have been very useful for us.

McT ran himself into the ground on Wednesday, needed a break

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Youd think we'd just been smashed to pieces.

Their goals were essentially pot luck. We were the masters of our own downfall by not taking our chances.

Shame, but doesn't change my view on where we are and the job Ole has done.

 

[Siorac]

Fred has become one of the new scapegoats, it seems.

But he genuinely played well this time. I really can't see how he can be blamed today.

 

[Denis79]

We were sloppy in our attacking play and had a bit of bad luck as well. After the first 20 minutes we had a good game, just wasn't our day.

 

[King.of.Red]

We deserve the beating from assenal.. Shitty performance.

But he genuinely played well this time. I really can't see how he can be blamed today.

Agree.
He played well and that was not penalty for me, so not his mistake. Of course, he should be more careful next time

 

[Crustanoid]

I can’t see why some posters are getting so negative. We were bound to lose at some point. The measure of how this loss is dealt with is what is important

 

[GM K]

You have to thank Jose for that and Woodward not having a bottle to pull the plug much earlier.

Jose actually said we can blame him for everything including the wind and Brexit.

 

[Paolo Di Canio]

Rashford should never wear a long sleeve again

 

[Ødegaard]

We ran enough. We had decent enough chances to win.
Ultimately the performance wasn't all that bad. I think todays best was Dalot, who moved around well and worked decently.
I think our subs came 10 minutes to late. Hell, the first sub could have been done during half-time. I also think Fred should have been subbed instead of Dalot. And in the case where you agree with the subs, Pereira or McTominay should still have come on for Fred, who had a terrible game despite working hard.

I have huge issues with our play today. The passing was sloppy as feck. It was bad from identifying options, to making a decision to executing it. The issues overall today came down to lazy mentality along with trying too hard to do things on their own as individuals instead of working together as a team.

Fred had a nice pirouette and chose to dribble more and lost the ball as a result, when he could have passed the ball to 2 men who were open to receive the ball behind the two players who got the ball off him. Apart from that he epitomized the issues in every aspect of passing today.

Tons of times Smalling should have passed the ball over a guy and to Shaw or Young when he wasn't pressured by anyone, but instead he passed it sideways or back to De Gea and Shaw noticably had to move back into a defensive position.

Shaw on the free-kick he got, I can't fathom how someone who is a professional footballer can't get the ball up and past the first-defender from a free-kick, it's shocking and shows a lack of focus. Other than that big blunder he didn't do to badly.

Rashford tried too much on his own today. Good lad, and a bit of a ego is good for strikers, but today it was too much.
Lukaku missed and struggled with control, as per usual when he gets pressured.

Matic was invisible for our offensive work, and at best ok for our defensive work.
Lindelöf looked to be less decisive than he has been usually. Might be tired? Might've just been todays form.

Pogba... I don't know. He could've had a good game or a bad game. I found him hard to consider today since we had very little movement in behind from our strikers & he seemed to have been trying to do some target-man work with his back against their defenders, not successfully.

Annoying that if Chelsea now win their game-in-hand, then we're back in 6th place when a win today could have given us some space and being closer to 3rd. But I suppose the form we've had is a big part of how close it is between 3rd & 6th place. Hopefully the team bounces back and finds some form now with people returning from injury, because we'll need it to get into the Champions League next year.

 

[gerdm07]

We had some really nice attacking sequences that could have resulted in 2 or 3 goals.

Matic clearly wasn't ready to return. What's strange is Fred played poorly until Matic left, then he was very good.

 

[AJ10]

Ozil dissing Lingard on Twitter?

Bloody hell, atleast Lingard posts nonsense like this after having a good game, was this bench warmer playing today?

 

[Inigo Montoya]

I can’t see why some posters are getting so negative. We were bound to lose at some point. The measure of how this loss is dealt with is what is important

remember the last time we lost 2-0?

 

[Heinzesight]

Rashford should never wear a long sleeve again

I though the same as they came out for the first half. Just looked wrong!

 

[GM K]

Youd think we'd just been smashed to pieces.

Their goals were essentially pot luck. We were the masters of our own downfall by not taking our chances.

Shame, but doesn't change my view on where we are and the job Ole has done.

I am not sure today's result has changed anyone's opinion on Ole. He has been absolutely brilliant. Even today, his half time tweak had a positive effext. We controlled most of the half and could have taken something from the game.

 

[G-manc]

There was an overall lack of quality from both teams but i thought Arsenal were much better without the ball. We didn't press at all.

I'm disappointed but it's a little easier to take when it's not on the end of half a dozen similar performances like under Mourinho.

We're still only 3 points off third - let's move on.

 

[GM K]

Youd think we'd just been smashed to pieces.

Their goals were essentially pot luck. We were the masters of our own downfall by not taking our chances.

Shame, but doesn't change my view on where we are and the job Ole has done.

I am not sure today's result has changed anyone's opinion on Ole. He has been absolutely brilliant. Even today, his half time tweak had a positive effext. We controlled most of the half and could have taken something from the game.

 

[TMDaines]

The comment in the tweet below is sarcastic by the way, but how Arsenal kept a clean sheet is beyond me:

 

[Morpheus 7]

Weird game, we were just not clinical. Arsenal had a bit of luck and you need that sometimes. No big deal, just one of them days.

 

[Moriarty]

It wasn't that bad of a performance. Could have done with Herrera to get in amongst them and harry their midfield and maybe Mata to unpick their defence. Fred had a good game and was unlucky not to score. Rom was unlucky too. Pogba was quiet but he was trying to do the job of two players for most of the game.

Matic wasn't fit and Rashford looked a bit weary too. His decision-making was poor and he held on to the ball too long a couple of times when an early pass would have played a team mate in. He did play one exquisite ball into Lukaku that he should have done better with but, overall, the lads who played in Paris did lack that half-yard of pace today.

Another week of training should see Martial and Matic back to full fitness but Herrera can't come back soon enough. He makes the midfield tick and allows Pogba to do what he does best. Not too depressed at losing or slipping out of fourth. Our season was effectively buggered before Ole even set foot in the door.

 

[Siorac]

When 4 of our biggest players (DDG, Lindelof, Pogba, Rashford) all have dreadful games at the same time, we'll always struggle

Yeah, Lindelöf looked drunk or something. He kept making schoolboy errors though neither of the goals was on him.

 

[Carolina Red]

But he genuinely played well this time. I really can't see how he can be blamed today.

Same. It’s unreal. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.

 

[buckooo1978]

we lost but we played well enough to get a result and had the better chances

this was in spite of us looking leggy, taking a while to get going and being sloppy with their two goals

bit of a bummer after PSG but what a run that was.....

another test for Ole....how will he respond and get the players up again for the next game. Hoping we see Herrera and Lingard back soon and a big finish in the league .... 8 to go - 20 points will get us top 4 I reckon

 

[BulgarianDevil91]

Best guess is we were emotionally drained. Unlucky really in my eyes, but hey, we can't always have luck on our side.

 

[Acquire Me]

One of those days.

 

[red woppit]

We'll play worse than that today (have done already), and win. Sometimes it just doesn't go for you. If you go back to December, and someone said we'd be in this position in early March, I think virtually everyone would take that, but would say it's improbable. But this is where we are. We have a week to get rest into some of the players, and fitness into others, and then a CL quarter final, and hopefully an FA cup semi to look forward to.

 

[Cpt Negative]

Two horrendous penalty decisions going Arsenal’s way in last two games.

VAR is a must. Feels so bad losing because of a dive

 

[Scholsey2004]

Took too long to get out of first gear and then didn't get the rub of the green. Understandable given the game in mid week.

 

[Fracture90]

Never say never but Arsenal being 2 points ahead and having played all their games against top6 sides already, means 4th spot is their for the taking.

 

[Isotope]

Frustrating in attack. At the end of game, we had Lukaku, Martial, Rashford that cost us 250k, 200k, 150k (700k total) per week, but I still feel we're lacking a Hazard or Sterling that may cost us another 200+k/wk.

 

[Ralaks]

Oh come on mate, why must the culprit be Lukaku? Why Lukaku all the time? Pogba was not in the game. De Gea would have caught that ball on a good day even if there was a typhoon. Fred kept losing the ball. We can blame the ref for the penalty all we want but Fred's initial needless loss of the ball in attack led to the pressure that led to the penalty. How about Rashford? Where was Matic? Lindelof was very lucky his error did not lead to a goal. I thought Lukaku showed up despite his miss. He held up pretty well. He was largely starved of the ball by the midfield.

Because he fecked up two massive chances.

 

[glazed]

The problem is we looked tired. A thin squad running on exuberance for too long. Could do with an international break

 

[Sunny Jim]

Got PSG'd. Done by a keeper error and penalty.

 

[haram]

Never say never but Arsenal being 2 points ahead and having played all their games against top6 sides already, means 4th spot is their for the taking.

Their problem is not the top 6. Their problem is against anyone away from home.

 

[Jericholyte2]

We really should have buried that game but a few key players had really off days.

De Gea forgets he’s the world’s best keeper.
Lindelof chose this match to return to last year form.
Lukaku, in his vein of form, chooses today to miss a few sitters.
Matic didn’t look anywhere near match fit.

This race for the top four is going to be VERY tough!

 

[Zlatattack]

No! Just checked the score.

 

[reddaz71]

No point in complaining about the penalty, we were well short today all over the pitch.

 

[Fracture90]

Their problem is not the top 6. Their problem is against anyone away from home.

They might overcome that problem fairly easily knowing their fate lays in their hands.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

One of those games, another day we win comfortably with the chances we had, Forgivable, but it'd be a crime to end the season out of the top 4, and trophy-less after what we've done, so hopefully there's no fragile minds in the squad.

 

[Henrik Larsson]

Weirdly enough the Sky Sports and BBC post match reports talk about the penalty as if it was a clear foul and not even debatable in the slightest

 

[Beagle]

Really don't think Ole did much wrong. We had our chances, they had a soft penalty; these results happen.

Exactly. United failed to take the chances. It happens to the best of teams. Just a one off result and Ole will have the team bounce back.