Well it had to happen. A good run comes to an end. OK, not a GOOD run, just a run without defeat. But on a cold Monday night in Sheffield.... So now a quick regroup for a Thursday night Europa match against Vitoria. With a highly rotated squad. But this time without @ArsenalJake taking the lead. Thanks for your good service Jake. Last but not least. Kudos to Chris Wilder, his lads, and their system. His player budget must pale in comparison to ours but they beat us fair and square tonight.
I want to point to the two PKs we should have been awarded by Atkinson in 1T, but it's so hard to justify us taking any points from that performance.
Arsenal shots by gameHomeSpurs 26Villa 21Burnley 15Bournemouth 12AwayMan Utd 10Liverpool 9Sheffield United 9Newcastle 8Watford 7— Orbinho (@Orbinho) October 21, 2019
Sack that shit vampire what a waste of time this season is Pepe was ok I thought, other than that the whole team was trash auba gets no service. We lack creativity centrally, I wonder if we had a player on 350k a week who could make clever passes and get the ball to our dangerous player? Guess we will keep playing an immobile foil machine instead who has lost his ability to play a long ball? I really tried for ages to be positive about emery, but if I saw him crossing the road and I was driving, I would accelerate
Suggesting that Emery sets up way to conservatively away from home, so we go from Wenger who made no adjustments away from home to Emery who makes to many. When Aubameyang only gets one shot you know Arsenal are in trouble.
Emery is making my real life more stressful, living with Chelsea fans right now is an unbearable task.
I was told Arsenal would look better offensively when our fullbacks came back from injury, which makes sense because most team clog up the middle and high press, but naw we had to play Kolasinac and an out of position Chambers
It was debatable at least. I think Dean missed the contact. Had he seen it, he might have awarded the PK (although as I wrote at the time, the fact that Saka was looking for a PK might've put Dean off). VAR must've seen the contact, but it's 100% clear that they're not going to overrule that type of marginal decision... not wanting to constantly undermine the refs. A more blatantly obvious factor for us dropping 3pts instead of 2pts, was Pepe's missing a wide-open shot from inside the 6-box, from a fast but straightforward cross. No top-tier forward should miss those really. Edit: Or another obvious factor in the result was our leaving their CF unmarked next to our keeper, on their only goal. So the Saka incident was far from the clearest factor. Nor was the possible penalty on Sokratis either IMHO.
Kola was practically the only source of offensive creativity we had today, serving up the sitter for Pepe. Combine that with the fact we play again Thursday and I'm not surprised Tierney didn't start.
One thing I liked was that starting with 20 mins or so to go, we actually showed some urgency and desire to score. Other than that, there wasn't very much positive to be said about the whole exercise. Though to be fair, Sheffield United put in a good shift against us and could have easily beaten another good team with some luck. Emery ought to be sacked, of course. That doesn't mean he will, or even that there are good alternatives if he is. There's got to be something like 40 matches or so left in the season. If this were February or March, it would be easy. Appoint Freddie, and do a comprehensive search in the summer. As things stand, management is going to be fixated on top four and if they think Emery is the best chance to drag us over the line I fear he'll be here for the rest of the season. I personally would make a change anyway. Take a chance with Freddie, or find the best you can as a new caretaker or permanent manager right away.