That was inevitable... Our wingbacks (or lack of) have been getting hosed by Townsend and Zaha all game
Arsenal just can't hold possession. A lot like watching a kids game everybody running everywhere and the ball pinging around seemingly without control or reason.
a couple of moments of brilliance but overall sloppy ugly play by us today. Not what we needed pre-Pool. And Ozil slipping back into his shell. Draw is a very fair result for us. Outplayed by Palace who seemed to want it more.
FT: 2-2 Hate seeing the run stopped but I can't complain seeing as Arsenal didn't do enough to deserve 3 pts. Biggest concern is that Arsenal looked poor enough to really feel fear about the 'Pool match.
Turning point arguably the first PK. Arsenal make it to the half 0-0 and I think the game evolves differently.
I guess Emory is clearly sending a message to Ozil that if he doesn't perform up to last weekends level consistently then he will be riding the pine. He yanked him pretty early today after seeing a flat sixty minutes. That might be the future for Ozil and it sure looks like he ain't gonna like it.
Hmmm Not necessarily disagree but we had nothing from wing play .. and credit to cp for hacking the shit out of our midfield
Not worried about Ozil. They marked him out of the match the way LT marked out Zaha. He has those matches on occasion. That is where Douzi and Iwobi need to step up. I would have like Ramsey to have made a difference when he came on. The biggest worry is our defense. Mustafi continues to show he isn't championship quality. I don't fault Xhaka as much since it was very soft and he was out of position. Still, he is stupid to give the referee the chance to make the call. Also, he was put under the pressure from poor choices leading up to that moment by our team.
In trying to get the balance between offense and defense right, I think Emery may have gone two far in the other direction. Arsenal had seven shots today and scored with their only two shots on target. Arsenal rank 10th in shots per game (12.3 v 15.6 last season) and have only been bailed out by the fact that as a team they have converted 18% of their shots. That is not a substainable strike rate. City's offense has only converted 13% of their shots. The difference in chance creation between last years team and this years team appears to be that under Emery the 8 sits and is rarely involved in the offensive third. In spite of the unbeaten streak, I'm not sold yet. The defense is going to have to get a lot tighter to make the top 4 if Arsenal don't start creating more chances.
Oh yes, the New York Red Bulls, featuring former QPR standout Bradley Wright-Philips, I hope my other team (obviously my first is Arsenal), the Seattle Sounders gets you guys in the MLS Cup Final, should we both make it that far, we just beat San Jose 2-1 after conceding an own goal (a "wake-up call" of sorts as we became sorta complacent in that match), so I WANT YOU GUYS!!!
You stick your goddamn leg out like he did you're only inviting someone to (conveniently) stumble over it to (deliberately) trip over it and draw a penalty. BOTTOM LINE: Xhaka goes from hero with that cracker of a strike to wearing the goat's horns after conceding the penalty that lead to the demise of Project 24, SHIT! But, 22-out-of-24 is still not bad, we now maintain a 12-match unbeaten streak (in all comps) as we now host Blackpool in the EFL (Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons) Cup on Wednesday
Result is a fair one. I think both sides will come away thinking they did enough to win. Two penos in one match is shocking. But Palace were generating a lot of entries into the box. I'm impressed with how few memerable chances were generated by them. Zaha is a fantastic player everyone knows this, and he is strong in an area we are currently having a bit of a crisis in. 3 games in 5 days with 1.5 healthy FBs isn't a good look. And, the game was open in places I wouldn't normally say its been open. 22/24 points is quality.
I want to be disappointed, but considering our run of form to years past, I'll take the point when it's part of 22/24. Much easier to handle a draw like this when we've been good elsewhere. Big difference than years past.