EPL: Manchester United vs Arsenal- 19th November. 12:30 SS1

[Makingtrax]

They paid so much for them sure, doesn't directly translate in their actual worth. We have expensive players that look cheap compared to theirs, but are much better business from Arsène!

1-1 was a good result, but I wouldn't put it on injuries just yet.

They paid the going rate.

Non of the 'frustrated' on here ever want to point the finger at injuries but I would because it's the truth.

There's a massive gulf between a confident Bellerin and Jenko struggling to get match sharpness back. There's a huge difference between Coq and Santi, as opposed to Coq and Elneny. And Wenger may not have put Ramsey in that position if Welbeck had been fit. Sanchez was not fit either.

 

[NotAUserName]

Oh my. I wanted to come on and write about the match but your comments have hit a nerve.

For most teams using two attacking full backs they still come nowhere near close to Bellerin.

Bellerin has had more touches in the opposition box than any other defender in the league, he has had more than double that of any other full back. Infact the list is Bellerin followed by big bruising centre halves up for corners. There is nobody as dynamic or as threatening in the league as Bellerin is as an offensive full back. His runs, his positioning, the width and the outball he provides is unmatched by anyone domestically and few if any abroad. And he is a very good and still improving defender.

The closest player to him was an at his peak Dani Alves in terms of offensive threat and defensive coverage. And he was pivotal to the way Barcelona played for a several years.

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ortance-to-arsenal-makes-injury-a-major-worry

I don't think him being involved that much suddenly makes him this exceptional attacking fullback, that's just due to our style of play. A few weeks ago Coquelin had made the most passes in the final third in Europe - he still created very little.

 

[razörist]

They paid the going rate.

Non of the 'frustrated' on here ever want to point the finger at injuries but I would because it's the truth.

There's a massive gulf between a confident Bellerin and Jenko struggling to get match sharpness back. There's a huge difference between Coq and Santi, as opposed to Coq and Elneny. And Wenger may not have put Ramsey in that position if Welbeck had been fit. Sanchez was not fit either.

I remember you posting in the deal or no deal thread that we finally have the depth to deal with injuries. Are you not of that opinion anymore? I think injuries is a too easy argument. United were missing their first choice centre pairing, just like last season.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

OptaJoe ‏@OptaJoe Nov 17
6 - No defender has provided more PL assists since the start of last season than Hector Bellerin (6, level with Charlie Daniels). Absence.

 

[Makingtrax]

I remember you posting in the deal or no deal thread that we finally have the depth to deal with injuries. Are you not of that opinion anymore? I think injuries is a too easy argument. United were missing their first choice centre pairing, just like last season.

I thought we did, but didn't expect 3 out of 4 strikers to be injured, although one played with heavy strapping. Perez hardly set foot on the pitch. Don't know what happened to Debuchy even, but Jenko isn't match sharp. Didn't expect another season with Santi missing for months, who knew he'd get a kick on the same Achilles.

United had some quality waiting and importantly they weren't people coming back from long injuries like Jenko and Ramsey.

 

[fabo]

Mod edit:

 

[Coolin]

Quite funny reading through this thread. At 1-0 down, 15 minutes to go, we had people questioning Wenger's mentality, calling us bottlers and rendering us spineless.

Really it's you guys who bottled it. You gave up with 15 minutes to go and went on to abuse Wenger up until his two subs changed the game.

We played poor and we were lucky to get a draw. But some of you should look at your own weak mentality's before calling out the players and the manager.

 

[Vinci]

United had some quality waiting and importantly they weren't people coming back from long injuries like Jenko and Ramsey.

Phil Jones, Rojo and Darmian aren't quality, mate. Also Jones was coming back from injury, as little match fit as Jenko and Rambo.

 

[bingobob]

I don't think him being involved that much suddenly makes him this exceptional attacking fullback, that's just due to our style of play. A few weeks ago Coquelin had made the most passes in the final third in Europe - he still created very little.

Sauna never done it nor Monreal nor Gibbs or Clichy. For all the attacking influence they brought Bellerin eclipses them.

There is a reason he is continously linked to Barcelona and City and that's because he is outstanding.

 

[WhatAFC]

Seen you posting this kind of abusive sh*t before. You've no idea about banter and you can't control yourself.

If you have nothing to contribute other than drivel like this you've no business being on a forum.

@celestis I'm trying to keep calm here.

To be fair this is the internet, what he said was tame

 

[Frenchy_Gooner]

Happy with a draw but don't ever play like that again please, that was embarassing. Grabbing a point at the death like that is really good for players' psychology though.

It's scary how we seem to lose any kind of ability when we play at OT, there's a real mental block and it feels like it comes from Wenger's own fears and impact the players consequently.

 

[SuperGoon]

What's interesting is that Wenger didn't really seem to care.

Almost as if he was content with the draw.

He did care. Losing against any other team is bad. Losing against a Mourinho team after going so long with an unbeaten run would start the mind games again. It would be a huge blow to morale. A draw at old trafford on a day where we deserved to lose heavily is good.

It wasn't the result most of us wanted. But a draw at a Mourinho team away at old trafford? In November? I'll take that.

 

[redanddread]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/Arsène-wenger-explains-decision-start-9296863

He did care. Losing against any other team is bad. Losing against a Mourinho team after going so long with an unbeaten run would start the mind games again. It would be a huge blow to morale. A draw at old trafford on a day where we deserved to lose heavily is good.

It wasn't the result most of us wanted. But a draw at a Mourinho team away at old trafford? In November? I'll take that.

Agree for the most part, although I don't agree that we deserved to lose heavily. You simply don't deserve to lose heavily just because the opponent played better than you. I''d say we deserved to lose heavily to PSG in Paris as they cut us open so much that I thought we'd bleed to death before the end of the game. UTD. never really cut us open at all, even though they did have more pressure & were patently the better team on the day.

 

[Mitch]

When I saw our midfield lineup of Eleney, French Gattuso, Ramsey and Walcott I knew we were going to drop points against a poor united side. They all have good attributes (except for Ramsey who is totally out of his depth at this level) however when you have 4 midfielders who all lack creativity and we were then heavily counting on Özil and Alexis to do their magic upfront. End result we didn't create anything going forward except for the Giroud goal. In my opinion had we started Iwobi and Xhaka we would have got the win.

Mustafi was our best player yesterday.

 

[Hunta]

For such a dominating display, they only managed to test Cech 5 times yesterday. For such a poor display we weren't exactly clearing off the line every two minutes or thanking the post/bar for still being in the game.

Watched the highlights before and Wenger clearly wanted or was happy with a point before the game, the team were so deep in the second half and only pushed up when they'd scored. One Mata shot was the only big chance they had bar the goal, Alexis could have put us one up as well.

If that's Chelsea getting a 'lucky' draw then they'd be getting praised for getting something when not at their best, seems like the same **** pundits who ignore our win against Chelsea just want us to play well and lose so they can bring out their usual bollocks.

 

[billyf]

Without or wingbacks (especially Bellerin) we cannot make runs behind.

Wingbacks' runs end in crossing positions most of the times. We lack runs from our midfielders that will end up in the box. I believe only good analysis from the manager and time can fix this.

 

[carlito'sway]

Well Gibbs has created more chances than Bellerin this season on average and they have the same number of assists.

As for Bellerin, I'm not denying that he's good, it's just that offensive fullbacks are not really special nowadays. In fact, most clubs use two of them.

You seem to watch different games form the rest of us. Bellerin, 5 yrs younger than Giggs, is twice as good. This is not even an argument.
IIRC, weren't you the one advocating for Ox as well? Mate, that is ok to try to be a contrarian, but some of these opinions are totally nonsensical.

 

[GDeep™]

Nice to see Theo being self critical, questioning his role in their goal, saying he's been defensively switched on this season.

Something has happened with him, seems tuned in.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Quite funny reading through this thread. At 1-0 down, 15 minutes to go, we had people questioning Wenger's mentality, calling us bottlers and rendering us spineless.

Really it's you guys who bottled it. You gave up with 15 minutes to go and went on to abuse Wenger up until his two subs changed the game.

We played poor and we were lucky to get a draw. But some of you should look at your own weak mentality's before calling out the players and the manager.

Okay...

We were playing terribly, there's not a physic in the world who could've predicted an equaliser. If anything, we were lucky not to have gone two or three down. The way we setup, a few of the individual performances, it was all poor.

You can't blame those for questioning the mentality of the boys in this fixture. We bottle it at OT time and time again. We've lost 8-2 to a Man Utd team who shipped 6 weeks later, we've lost to Man Utd U18's, we lost to Moyes' Man Utd, we've lost to a Man Utd team that had three defenders in midfield .

1-0 down with 2 minutes to go, how can you accuse fans of 'bottling it'? We've been here before a million times, were you expecting it to be sunshine and rainbows knowing we were on the verge of losing to yet another shocking Man Utd team?

Being pessimistic whilst 1-0 down at OT with 2 minutes of normal time to go isn't bottling at all. Wenger himself in the post match interview said there's a possibility of a mental block away to Man Utd.

The fact the only genuine bit of quality we produced in the game resulted in an equaliser is the kind of luck we needed to get out of their with a point.

 

[NotAUserName]

You seem to watch different games form the rest of us. Bellerin, 5 yrs younger than Giggs, is twice as good. This is not even an argument.
IIRC, weren't you the one advocating for Ox as well? Mate, that is ok to try to be a contrarian, but some of these opinions are totally nonsensical.

Me: Gibbs has been more productive than Bellerin this season.
You: rolls eyes
Me: Gibbs has created more chances on average and has same number of assists in less appearances.
You: Bellerin, 5 yrs younger than Giggs, is twice as good. This is not even an argument.
Me: