PL L FA Premier League

Arsenal 3:2 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Sun, 22 January 2023

Arsenal are very very good this season and they played well today. United actually did better than I had expected today. Put up a good fight and could have nicked a point.
This United team is still a work in progress and reinforcements are needed, but the attitude is there, and if only we can stay in top 4, I trust ETH to make us title contenders already next season.
Yeah I agree.
 
Is Ten Hag trying to show how threadbare our bench is? Playing with the team our useless owners, management and DOF have given him?
 
Yeah these boys are the real deal.
Should have subbed Garnacho on sooner.
McT an Eriksen totally anonymous.
 
I thought we played like a team who had played in the week against a team who were fresh. Gutted it was lost late on but we are going in the right direction under a decent manager. Keep supporting the process.
Ignore the hating clowns who'll never be happy,
 
Arsenal were more and more on top as it came towards the end and the manager did nothing to change it up. It's not as if Arsenal weren't making chances. You can't sit back and hope for the best. It would be different if Arsenal were doing nothing but they were creating chances. I think that was very poor by our management to be honest.

Arsenal were the better team and deserved it to be fair though.

Change what though? For who?
 
Completely outplayed each time we had a sniff of the game. Hopefully our fragile mental state won’t suffer from it.
players were nervous, gave the ball away too easily , no composure. I think they never believed in winning this game
disappointing
 
Look where Arsenal were and where they are now , a big club again showing a big mentality , not so much with us.

They bought young and hungry players with great technical ability and energy. Really hit the nail there with some of these guys. Odegaard is amazing.
We are running with Eriksen in midfield that can't run, a McT that can't control a football and a hysterical Bruno
 
Didn’t have the bench to make a difference today, some starters were struggling but we had to persevere with them. Midweek game played a part too.
 
We're making progress, but that 2nd half was hard to watch, just under constant pressure. We certainly didn't deserve to come away with 3 points.

Yes it was very difficult. You could see a goal coming as the pressure was ramped up. We had no out ball which was poor.
 
So your plan to make us more solid is putting an already knackered Rashford upfront, where he's nowhere near as effective.

I've changed my mind, ETH is a fool for not giving this a go.
I mean, it got us the points v City? Not as unthinkable as you try and make it sound. Could have subbed Rashford then if he is so knackered? I mean, yeah, we all know where Rashford is best but that wasn’t really my point so not sure why you’re nitpicking. I thought Eriksen was knackered as well. Pity our squad is so bloody thin.

WW was our our ball to hold play and get the wide men into the game. Our usual quick counter wouldn’t have worked against the low block arsenal played with today.
Yeah I see what you’re saying but Bruno out wide also doesn’t really work. The sub was clearly a “we’re happy with a point” move, which is fine, I’d have been happy with a point. I just thought we needed legs out there and the only one on the bench that gave me any confidence was Garnacho, and try and use Rashford on the counter. Oh well.
 
Fair play to them, was an excellent game but last 30 minutes we went into hang in there mode and they got it in the end. Considering our run and some key absences and no bench... Can't be too upset with the performance IMO.
Agreed. Thought we were equal to them for an hour. Then Eriksen lost his legs and mctominay was sloppy as is common.
Ramsdale made an unbelievable save to stop Rashfords second.
With a top striker and another midfielder or two we would be right up there with them.
Wan Bissaka was poor at the back post for their first.
 
For a neutral that was without doubt the best game of the season so far. Quality all over the pitch and the game played at 100mph, just brilliant.

If I’m honest Arsenal deserved it just, the pressure they put you under in the last 20 mins was immense.

I saw McT, AWB and Antony all taking a beating in the match day thread. I thought they all did OK.

That was a proper Arse Man Utd game and given where you were this time last year, I think you should be really pleased with the progress you’ve made. You look a completely different team and gave Arsenal a real run for their money.

Great game.
 
We were away at the best team in the league on three days rest with our best player missing. Gave them a great game. Draw was a fair result.

Var fecked us with the late penalty shout in the first half and the zinchenko offside before the third goal.

Two late goals have fecked us hard and ETH needs to learn his lessons.

Proud of licha and varane. We will grow and be better.
 
We should go to the market for a midfielder and a rightback, it won't happen though.

Ten hag should take a long look at himself as well, How Eriksen stays on for the full 90 is beyond shocking

He tells the players to take responsibility, he needed to take responsibility today and he bottled it
 
A lot of fans don't want to admit this, but Eriksen hasn't been as good as has been made out.
He's clearly far better than Fred and Mctominay, but he has a lot of weaknesses that don't get discussed enough on here.

At the moment, the difference between us and City/Arsenal when it comes to dominating games is Eriksen. He doesn't have the pressing ability or the energy to keep up with the likes of Partey, Odegaard or Xhaka. That means in midfield, he can dominate most teams with Casemiro, but in the big games where every match up is an individual duel, he will always come up short.

He should be our main back up option for the CM positions and Bruno's position. However, for us to win the league, I think we need a more aggressive partner for Casemiro, who can also hold in the event Casemiro get's injured or suspended.
 
We lost in midfield just like we thought we would.

That new striker is a bit of a workhorse (polite way of saying a donkey.) But that's not why we lost.
 
Looked gassed towards the end of the game. Good first XI but big gap in quality from that to the bench. Think our Full backs were bang average today.

On the positive side of it, Weghorst, some nice link up play.
 
Expected result given the circumstances but I can't accept the way we were beaten. How did EtH keep Eriksen on for 90 mins, I'll never understand. There can be no justification for it since Garnacho wasn't injured. If you're going to defend the draw at least put another defender on. Arsenal went for it and got the reward, we didn't and suffered. EtH deserves a big share of the blame and I hope he learns from it.

I don't like shitting on our players but McT is a nothing player anywhere except our own box. Has no idea about positioning, can't make one creative pass, didn't even run full pelt for 90 mins. We didn't have options today, but I can't let that display go, it was that bad. Our horrible recruitment on full display here as even with buying 2 CMs last window, we need another 2 next window.

In the end I'll choose to focus on our first half which shows we've come very far in a very short time. We've got a solid base to build on. If we had Chelsea level investment we could've competed for the title this season, but top 4 and the league cup should be our focus now.
 
Deserved win. Unbelievable pressure over 95min from them. Very nice game overall, like the good old times. No big deal for us, zero points or one point doesn’t really matter. Like to see Arsenal as champs over City all day long. For us? Continue the process, not lose momentum due to the Palace and Arsenal game now and get the points for top 4 somewhere else, doesn’t have to be away at the leaders.
 
I dislike the defend so deep tactics.

That being said if we had Casemiro on we probably could have dealt with them.

Their cutbacks to Odegaard were so telegraphed but McTominay missed covering Odegaard so many times.

Our squad isn't deep enough yet to play players outside our best 11 and expect to win.

Priority remains new owners and then the striker, CM and squad players we need to challenge the top 2.

Top 4 is the must for the season to attract the players we need for next season. And atleast Casemiro is back for the next game. No need to be over emotional about this one. We learnt nothing we don't know already.

De Gea can be shaky with his feet, Our midfield loses the ball too quickly when Casemiro doesn't play. Bruno, Rashford, Antony and McTominay all lose the ball willy nilly and is going to catch up with us at times.

We are where we are. A top 4 fight.
 
Change what though? For who?

Well Weghorst couldn't move after 60 minutes. He was doing nothing. Neither was Rashford. McTominay was invisible.

Perhaps take Weghorst off, put Gernacho on the wing and putting Rashford up front would have given us an outlet.

Sitting back letting Arsenal piss all over us for 20 minutes was absolutely moronic. Who didn't see that coming?
 
Disappointing as losing a goal in injurytime is, we cant really complain about either of the two results this week.

Our players cannot see games out as they simply crumble under pressure and the number of turnovers in ball is scaresely believable were it not a fact. Until, we can learn to play out and progress the ball through midfield, frankly not possible with the current squad, these results and further expulsions from cup competitions when the harder opp comes, is all we have to look forward to. I only see Eriksen and Casemiro as being comfortable on the ball...and you are not winning many competitions if that imthe midfield you have to rely on!
 
People crying about Garnacho not coming on, but it was clear to see during the City game that he is extremely unreliable (at the moment) defensively and gives the ball away cheaply. We had none of the ball so were realistically never going to get a goal. The change I would have made is perhaps Eriksen for Lindelof or Maguire. Still, we looked tired and we need better depth. Disappointing but not the end of the world.


What he came on against City and created the Rashford goal?

He should have come on today 100% for the counter attack….Fred for Antony was a huge mistake that just invited them to attack.
 
We have the squad we have at the end of the day. I dont look at the bench and see that we could have changed things without presenting ourselves with other problems.

I’ve seen us go into these games and get battered. I’ve see us just sit back and hope for counters. For me, today was an improvement on past performances in terms of mentality. No other squad we’ve had in the last ten years could have gone to the emirates with the players we had missing and not gotten eviscerated.

Ive seen enough in that performance to know that we are improving at an incredible pace under ten hag and that we’ll be competing at the very top by the time we get to the same point in our cycle as Arsenal are.
 
On balance, Arsenal deserved their win, but for Ten Hag, it's another day of learning about his squad and the changes that need to be made for us to stay in this race over the second half of this season.
He already knows. But the board have screwed him over. Honestly it might have been better for us to have gone into the window 5th a few points of 4th so the board had to sign the players he wanted. Once they thought top 4 was more than likely they weren’t going to spend and they don’t care about spending to make us title challengers even when we’re so close and just need 1-2 players.
 
What’s with the low average for Bissaka? He wasn’t that bad, several great tackles. I think he deserves a 6
 
Look where Arsenal were and where they are now , a big club again showing a big mentality , not so much with us.
5 months ago they were the best part of three years into a project, with a FA Cup, two hilariously shit league seasons and the highlight being them bottling a gimme Champions League place to Spurs. Our manager has been in charge for six months. The only comparison between the two is we both play in the Premier League.
 
Name one midfielder who would improve us and we could afford.

Somehow other teams, even some in the lower half of the table, manage to play without a collapsed midfield. Hannibal wouldn't be worse than MCT for a start
 
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I mean, it got us the points v City? Not as unthinkable as you try and make it sound. Could have subbed Rashford then if he is so knackered? I mean, yeah, we all know where Rashford is best but that wasn’t really my point so not sure why you’re nitpicking. I thought Eriksen was knackered as well. Pity our squad is so bloody thin.


Yeah I see what you’re saying but Bruno out wide also doesn’t really work. The sub was clearly a “we’re happy with a point” move, which is fine, I’d have been happy with a point. I just thought we needed legs out there and the only one on the bench that gave me any confidence was Garnacho, and try and use Rashford on the counter. Oh well.
I agree Bruno doesn’t work out wide, and I’m concerned about Eriksen because it feels like he’s being overplayed. We need more cover in midfield.
 
Bitter pill to swallow but we are making progress.We're not at the required level yet but just seeing our rivals so pleased to beat us again is a sign that we are on the right path.A few more signings and we'll be right up there.Heads up lads and go again.
 
A lot of fans don't want to admit this, but Eriksen hasn't been as good as has been made out.
He's clearly far better than Fred and Mctominay, but he has a lot of weaknesses that don't get discussed enough on here.

At the moment, the difference between us and City/Arsenal when it comes to dominating games is Eriksen. He doesn't have the pressing ability or the energy to keep up with the likes of Partey, Odegaard or Xhaka. That means in midfield, he can dominate most teams with Casemiro, but in the big games where every match up is an individual duel, he will always come up short.

He should be our main back up option for the CM positions and Bruno's position. However, for us to win the league, I think we need a more aggressive partner for Casemiro, who can also hold in the event Casemiro get's injured or suspended.

Everyone is aware of Eriksens weaknesses.It’s not his fault his being overused and having to do his best FDJ impression. His a number 10 having to play as a 8. Meanwhile his still out top creator and allows us not to play McFred. People ask for way too much. He cost us nothing.
 
We couldn't have done much more, Arsenal just had too much quality for us. They will, deservedly, win the league.
How about bring garnacho on much much earlier and have an option on the counter. Not retreating to within our own 6 yard box would have been a good idea too. Arsenal we shaky when we actually tried to attack them. Result that was expected ultimately.
 

Player Ratings

5.6 Total Average Rating

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Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 252 ratings.

Score Predictions

90,104,49
  • Man Utd win
  • Arsenal win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 21% Arsenal 1:2 Man Utd
  • 15% Arsenal 2:1 Man Utd
  • 13% Arsenal 1:1 Man Utd
  • 9% Arsenal 2:0 Man Utd
  • 8% Arsenal 3:1 Man Utd
  • 5% Arsenal 0:1 Man Utd
  • 5% Arsenal 3:0 Man Utd
  • 5% Arsenal 1:3 Man Utd
  • 5% Arsenal 2:2 Man Utd
  • 2% Arsenal 0:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Arsenal 2:3 Man Utd
  • 2% Arsenal 0:2 Man Utd
  • 2% Arsenal 4:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Arsenal 3:2 Man Utd
  • 1% Arsenal 1:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Arsenal 1:4 Man Utd
  • 0% Arsenal 5:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Arsenal 5:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Arsenal 9:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Arsenal 0:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Arsenal 0:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Arsenal 4:1 Man Utd
Compiled from 243 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Arsenal
  2. Man Utd
Possession
58% 42%
Shots
25 6
Shots on Target
5 4
Corners
12 4
Fouls
8 9

Referee

Anthony Taylor