[abailey123]

He’ll get more from a night like tonight than a game where we walk through Everton.
Final 3rd was the issue tonight. Arsenals set pieces where on point but in the main I thought we were pretty resolute if not losing a lot of composure on the ball in the second half. He’s probably had about 6 training sessions over the last 2 weeks though so we’ve got to take this game every other day between now and New Year with a pinch of salt really

 

[siw2007]

Beaten by the better team. Arsenal’s corner kick routine was fantastic and was the difference today. There were times in the game where we had the ball and tried to threaten but our attack looked somewhat lacklustre against top class opposition.

Don’t need to go overboard with the defeat but we need to bounce back against Forest at the weekend.

 

[Butty19]

Yeah their second for sure, Timber pushed him and he’d have got a foul for it I’m sure.

Yeah and look at the second, as it comes in initially, Saliba is all over him. We need to be more clever at things like this. The amount of times players just fall over under pressure and get free kicks is ridiculous.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

A wet Wednesday night at Stoke.

 

[Zed is not dead]

Eh that's fine enough. We were solid and decent, up against a better team who were stupidly on point with their corners even for their standards. We weren't dominated or anything which would have been the worry, but just battered on the corners. Hopefully the set piece defending improves in time, but we know that's been a long lasting issue with us

The fact we feel so frustrated shows there’s a bit of progress.

Arsenal were playing a parody of football tonight. Home team with less possession and scoring from 2 corner kicks only

 

[JJ12]

Look it wasn't great but I liked a lot of what I saw in the first half. I can see what they are doing and understand the style of play.

We absolutely shit our pants when we got to the final 3rd, but away from home in a new system to Arsenal I can understand it.

He's learning his best combination of players but it's difficult when Rashford and Zirkzee look good on Sunday then brings them on to impact the game but just really didn't help.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Very good first half i thought.

Giving away possession too easily though compared to arsenal who could keep it better. Garnacho lost it needlessly for the first corner goal and then rashford for the second one.

I cannot see both rashford and garnacho staying. One will be sold because they both arent great technically - vision and pass completion are poor. Both are counter attacking players.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Not sure what to make of that game. Won by Stoke City tactics playing a top 3 side in the league. It’s not terrible but we didn’t create a thing.

The more I watch games I find it baffling we focused so much on defensive recruitments without signing a left back and also ignored upfront. Yes we signed Zirkzee but he didn’t even fit into Ten Hag’s system. The club’s recruitment is odd every summer.

 

[Ollie Derbyshire]

Could not deal with any of their corners in that 2nd half and very lucky to only concede two goals from them. Can we hire their set piece coach please.

We were absolutely toothless in the final 3rd. Never ever liked we were going to score tonight.

To be fair, Dalot should have got his shot on target at least, De Ligt ‘s header was a good effort, only a few inches from going in and Antony should have done a lot better with the free kick routine. So we could have had 3.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Definitely some work to do, not maybe.

 

[Irwin99]

Defensively (other than set pieces obviously) I thought we were excellent for most of the game. De Ligt was probably MotM, Maguire looked really sharp, Mazraoui was generally very good. Ugarte too. Yoro looked decent when he came on.

That forward line though. The attacking subs were even worse apart from Amad.

 

[Red00012]

Had Hojlund any intention of moaning at the ref saying I was pushed ?

 

[Judas]

I cant get over how average Arsenal looked. Imagine them being title challengers

 

[NiceGuyEddie]

Rashford walking around like he's on holiday.

 

[Alemar]

Yoro MotM. Rather than that, a total shit show We are inferior to Arsenal

 

[Cal?]

It shouldn't be allowed. I hope Amorim highlights it in the post match. It's very simple what they do, any team at any level can copy it, you simply run into the box and because you're at speed it's hard to spot the niggly fouls. This creates chaos and a big advantage, all you need then is the delivery to be decent and it's a goal.

That's why we should copy it if the refs think it's fine, nothing difficult about it.

 

[Longshanks]

Undone by set piece specialists.

In all honesty we lost that game because our attack is bang average. Thought we were ok defensively and in midfield but our attack really is very poor and well below the required standard.

 

[Red Rash]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a team absolutely nail the delivery on every single corner as much as Arsenal did. We had no response for it. Rest of the game was pretty subpar.

 

[Ish]

Well Arsenal didn’t take us apart as many here predicted. Take away the corners and it’s a bore draw.

Didn’t do enough going forward but look far more solid (and missing some key players) than we have under Ten Hag.

Yeah 3-4 quality additions suiting the physical and technical profile (WB, CM & a couple attackers) and our starting XI would be quality IMO. All the new signings (bar Zirkzee when he came on) did well. Decent enough cameo from Yoro as well. Ugarte probably my pick of the bunch.

 

[united for life]

De ligt, Mazraoui, Ugarte and Onana were good today. The rest mostly average. Garnacho, Mount, Dalot, Zirkzee and Rashford below average even.

 

[redshaw]

No goal threat and needed to be more wise to their corner commotion tactics and draw the fouls.

 

[eire-red]

A very nice outing from Yoro I thought. Ugarte growing into the role. You can see the system but just don't have the personnel yet.

Arsenal have had our number for a few seasons now. Just as well they're a toothless pile of cnuts that will win nothing. We'll be dominant and winning major trophies long before them.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Our passing on the counter is so poor.

 

[bosnian_red]

The fact we feel so frustrated shows there’s a bit of progress.

Arsenal were playing a parody of football tonight. Home team with less possession and scoring from 2 corner kicks only

Can't really shit on Arsenal much, set pieces are an important part of the game and they've become the best set piece team around over the last 5 years. More clubs should learn from them in this, especially us.

 

[Flying_Heckfish]

We were pretty good defensively, especially compared to the open alleways we were used to under the last regime. But we offered very little going forward, 1 half chacne and one decent chance was it, really.

Can we nick their set piece guy next?

 

[Gordon S]

Amad is the only ace we have in our hand. Garnacho, Rashford, Höjlund, ZZ, Mount are either bang average or plain mediocre.

Make no mistake, the gap between the 2 teams are vast. We barely took any chances going forward, just played safe, they still created enough to win easily and well deserved. Their passing is just on a different level to us. Painful

 

[MonkeysMagic]

I can see exactly what Amorim is trying to achieve but he knows now that he simply won't achieve it with that forward line. It's at best championship level but I'd even go far as saying its probably mid-championship level!

You simply cannot have players in the PL giving possession away 6 out of 10 times with their forward passes. I don't even think Bruno fits this strategy. Amorim has said after every game that we give the ball away too easily and nothing he would have seen today woukd have convinced him he can improve these players, bar Garnacho.

 

[Hoof the ball]

I can't with Rashford. Even when he does score and 1/3 of Redcafe offer up sacrifices of spotless lambs in his name, his generally performance is usually worse than his statistical output.

At his very best, he's a productive player, but at his best, he's very average in general play. People need to come to terms with that and stop perpetuating the silly argument that "goals=good". A player can score many goals and still be poor for the team in general.

Rashford scoring a brace doesn't mean he had a good game. Football isn't that straightforward. It's not that binary.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Competent 1st half but wayward 2nd.
Once Arsenal upped the tempo we struggled quite a bit for a period of time. Our composure and technical abilities came under question.

Also, we're lacking in 1 or 2 star players who can really frighten the bigger sides in this league.

 

[Top_Bins]

They have become stoke, destroyer of games.

 

[madzo2007]

Matched them well for the majority of the game. We just lacked that cutting edge up front. Not a terrible performance at all.

The delivery for most of their corners caused chaos and extremely difficult to defend against. Other than toward the end they didn't create too much from open play.

Positives were that De Ligt, Ugarte were great and nice to finally see Yoro who didn't seem to rusty. No need for kneejerk reactions we knew there would be bumps on the road.

 

[Foolsgold21]

That North London forever effort is a crime against humanity

 

[nazanto]

Corners. They had 13 of them. Jfc

 

[Super Hans]

Zirkzee was dreadful

 

[SuperiorXI]

That's why we should copy it if the refs think it's fine, nothing difficult about it.

I'm not against copying it but you just know once we start benefiting they'll clamp down on it

 

[DavidDeSchmikes]

Eventually Arsenal will get caught out with their corner routines.

As for us, I thought we contained them well, though they were better 2nd half. We didn't offer much threat forward. Only 4 games in, but I do believe there is some positives to work with.

 

[gerdm07]

Very tactical and good first half. Arsenal were too good at the end.

- Our play really dipped when Rashford and Zirkzee came on
- Amorim has Bruno playing his best in a couple of years
- Defense good especially Maz.

Wouldn't it be better to defend their corners man to man? I realize it could be hard because they could screen out defenders. It's just tough to give up 2 goals on corners.

 

[NewGlory]

Expected result. They are years into rebuild, Amorim is not even a month in it.

Two freak corner goals, not much about it. What I am really disappointed about is that we didn't create chances or scored. Losing was predictable, being toothless is disappointing

 

[TheReligion]

Yeah 3-4 quality additions suiting the physical and technical profile (WB, CM & a couple attackers) and our starting XI would be quality IMO. All the new signings (bar Zirkzee when he came on) did well. Decent enough cameo from Yoro as well. Ugarte probably my pick of the bunch.

Agreed. If Raya doesn’t pull that save off from De Ligt we could have taken something too. That’s without Martinez, Mainoo and Shaw.

Plenty to build on. De Ligt looked assured too I thought.

 

[Tincanalley]

Encouraging signs for the new set up