UEL SF 2nd Leg: Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1) | May 3, 2018 20:05 BST | BT Sport

[MkhiMagic]

Criminal to bench Mkhitaryan for this game over Welbeck/Jack. Unless he was severely injured which he didn’t appear to be. 20 minutes not enough, wtf was Wenger thinking?

And why play him 75 minutes in a dead rubber game when the whole season was riding on the next game? Should have played 20 minutes against United and started this one. Absolutely mental decision by Wenger. His obsession with talentless dross like Welbeck cost him his job.

Even if Mkhitaryan starting wouldn’t have made the difference, at least you would have known you gave it your best shot with your best players. Now I’m left wondering what could have been had he had more time to affect the game. Sick to my stomach with this decision.

 

[sammy89]

I said this last week. But since Wenger announcered he was leaving has the team put in a single performance or result that was indicative of all the “we’re playing for Arséne” now BS that they spouted? I honestly haven’t seen a difference. Subject against West Ham for 80 minutes, impotent and switched off against a 10 man Atleti team at home in a European semi, bar the youngsters we disorganised and lost against United away and tonight we played with no intensity, no urgency, no nothing in probably the most important game we’ve had in years. Look at the Atleti players, certain of CL football next season, 2nd in what is statistically the best league in the world, 2 time CL finalists and already won this trophy twice before in the last few years, yet despite all that the hunger they had made me insanely jealous.

I’m already depressed about next season. I’m worried this is as much an underlining mentality issue as much as it is tactical. A new man can change how we play, but if you’re a loser that can’t up for a massive occasion like tonight then you’re a lost cause.

I didn't believe the whole "Last Send Off" malarkey for one second but I kept my mouth shut hoping we could somehow sneak it. Sorry to say but there is no Wenger team EVER that could beat Simeone's Atletico over two legs in Europe. Staunch defence, fast counters and nasty foul play have always been Wenger's kryptonite

 

[Vinci]

Criminal to bench Mkhitaryan for this game over Welbeck/Jack. Unless he was severely injured which he didn’t appear to be. 20 minutes not enough, wtf was Wenger thinking?

And why play him 75 minutes in a dead rubber game when the whole season was riding on the next game? Should have played 20 minutes against United and started this one. Absolutely mental decision by Wenger. His obsession with talentless dross like Welbeck cost him his job.

Even if Mkhitaryan starting wouldn’t have made the difference, at least you would have known you gave it your best shot with your best players. Now I’m left wondering what could have been had he had more time to affect the game. Sick to my stomach with this decision.

Stop your wanking over Mkhi, wouldn't have made a difference.

 

[MkhiMagic]

Stop your wanking over Mkhi, wouldn't have made a difference.

And you know this how? We started Danny ****ing welbeck in a European semi-final. He had the best chance of the game after being on for 3 minutes. But let’s pretend he’s as useless as Welbeck.

 

[KrissKringle]

Good luck to Marseille. I hope they win the final.

Don't be naive. Everyone and their dog knows that Simeone has this in the bag.

 

[Batman]

The least I wanted to see was the players properly distraught at the final whistle, just something to show they really cared. I didn't see that. As much blame is to be put at the feet of Wenger we can't keep on absolving the players. They've hidden behind Wenger, just as the board have. The one saving grace now is that there'll be nowhere for either to hide.

Agree completely. My issue with Wenger has been what I feel was disrespect towards the fans who recognized both that his players do hide behind him and that he has some tactical flaws. I understand that these modern athletes often don't care about supporters. They want the support but don't have the respect to try hard in return. In the case of Wenger though it's especially damning because he's fallen on the sword for them at every single turn and they seriously could not be bothered to even try and send him off well. That speaks volumes about their character. A bunch of empty obligatory messages about him on social media were followed by absolutely nothing resembling a real effort. That's really disgusting and while I don't think I owe Wenger anything they most assuredly do as he has coddled and rewarded them for really achieving nothing only to be repeatedly let own. Really shameful.

And I should add because I like to be fair that even though things didn't come off for him today and I am often critical of him, I thought Rambo left it all out there for the manger. He gave a great effort even if the end product wasn't there. He just unfortunately was not sharp but I think he can at least feel that he didn't blatantly let the manager down.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

The players most of time let Wenger down but he kept faith on them and that's wrong look at fergie 3-4 straight bad games you getting sold.

 

[dashsnow17]

Agree completely. My issue with Wenger has been what I feel was disrespect towards the fans who recognized both that his players do hide behind him and that he has some tactical flaws. I understand that these modern athletes often don't care about supporters. They want the support but don't have the respect to try hard in return. In the case of Wenger though it's especially damning because he's fallen on the sword for them at every single turn and they seriously could not be bothered to even try and send him off well. That speaks volumes about their character. A bunch of empty obligatory messages about him on social media were followed by absolutely nothing resembling a real effort. That's really disgusting and while I don't think I owe Wenger anything they most assuredly do as he has coddled and rewarded them for really achieving nothing only to be repeatedly let own. Really shameful.

And I should add because I like to be fair that even though things didn't come off for him today and I am often critical of him, I thought Rambo left it all out there for the manger. He gave a great effort even if the end product wasn't there. He just unfortunately was not sharp but I think he can at least feel that he didn't blatantly let the manager down.

Yeah Rambo did well, I thought Jack was good actually and Xhaka was very good. Our goalkeeper let us down, our fullbacks let us down and I'd say the front 3 let us down.

 

[Batman]

Yeah Rambo did well, I thought Jack was good actually and Xhaka was very good. Our goalkeeper let us down, our fullbacks let us down and I'd say the front 3 let us down.

Yes those 2 put in an effort and I thought Chambers was absolutely immense. The rest were pitiful. Lacazette I thought started well and then just never got the ball in a position to really do anything with it. He definitely looks better with Auba as a partner.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Even Vieira say it that Arsène put too much faith on players who don't deserve play at top club.

Being nice and classy won't help these days

 

[HollandGooner]

Would like to see the last couple of home games be about praising Wenger and telling the Kroenkes to **** off.

Kroenkes are destroying our club.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Kroenkes are destroying our club.

Let's see how he'll approach things now without Wenger. I won't be quick to judge but I hope he support the manage financially

 

[HollandGooner]

Let's see how he'll approach things now without Wenger. I won't be quick to judge but I hope he support the manage financially

I want our club back where we belong that's all we ask for. Let's hope for the best

 

[KrissKringle]

I didn't believe the whole "Last Send Off" malarkey for one second but I kept my mouth shut hoping we could somehow sneak it. Sorry to say but there is no Wenger team EVER that could beat Simeone's Atletico over two legs in Europe. Staunch defence, fast counters and nasty foul play have always been Wenger's kryptonite

We could have played another 90 minutes after and we still couldn't have scored against them.
Barca and Real can barely sneak one past them, ffs.

 

[Camus]

We could have played another 90 minutes after and we still couldn't have scored against them.
Barca and Real can barely sneak one past them, ffs.

Simeone is my absolute favorite manager and I'm more than comfortable admitting that they were better than us in both legs. But that Atleti team was very beatable from what I saw. Forget Madrid and Barca, I think pretty much any of the top 5 in the PL could have gone through against them. They were nowhere near as jawdroppingly brilliant as say they were in the CL semi's or 1/4 against Barca, Chelsea or Bayern. They were good enough to beat us, but that isn't saying much considering how horrific we've been this season.

Critically and objectively looking out our EL run this season, bar AC Milan, we've been either average or poor. The group stage was filled with canon fodders teams yet we drew 1, lost 1 and really should have drawn another. In the last 32 we faced the worst team in the EL yet almost contrived to get knocked out by part time binmen on our own patch. I've said the Milan game was good. We then played CSKA, a failed CL side the Basel and United managed to beat more than comfortably in Russia yet they looked like seriously knocking us our for nearly 75 minutes. Then with Atleti we faced the only real CL quality side and with it came all the failings we've seen from Arsenal in the CL these past 12 years.

Don't get me wrong, this European cup run has been some of the most enjoyment I had watching Arsenal in at least the past 3-4 years, but in the cold light of reality it proves we're not a CL level team. If our league form didn't already give that away.

 

[Ashybashy86]

Liverpool to beat RM and this nightmare of a season will be complete. The Ox banter will be insufferable.

 

[Gunners4life]

Did anyone really expect us to knock out Atletico?

If we were going to do it it was when they were down to 10 men at the Emirates first 10 minutes , and we still couldn't beat them.

New manager has an impossible job no matter who it is the squad is absolutely dire.

Bring on Enrique and give him the 200m he needs to clear out the squad and rebuild.

Bring in Savic, De Ligt, Fekir, Gaya.

Cech
Gaya-Mavropolous- De Ligt-Bellerin
Özil-Ramsey-Savic-Mkhitaryan
Aubameyang-Lacazette

 

[KrissKringle]

Simeone is my absolute favorite manager and I'm more than comfortable admitting that they were better than us in both legs. But that Atleti team was very beatable from what I saw. Forget Madrid and Barca, I think pretty much any of the top 5 in the PL could have gone through against them. They were nowhere near as jawdroppingly brilliant as say they were in the CL semi's or 1/4 against Barca, Chelsea or Bayern. They were good enough to beat us, but that isn't saying much considering how horrific we've been this season.

I didn't think they were at 100% with us and considering they lost two CL finals to Real in the last couple of years, I find it remarkable that Simeone can still motivate this squad into performing.
Atletico started the season pretty slow and towards the end of the season they found some form in La Liga, but got dropped from the CL and in the EL they didn't have to be at their best to reach this stage, just as ourselves.

Regarding Simeone, I agree with you. I think he's a great coach from a tactical point of view and Atletico is probably the best team I've seen when it comes to defending, although the style he incorporates is certainly not very entertaining, but it can be flexible at times.

 

[the general]

Criminal to bench Mkhitaryan for this game over Welbeck/Jack. Unless he was severely injured which he didn’t appear to be. 20 minutes not enough, wtf was Wenger thinking?

And why play him 75 minutes in a dead rubber game when the whole season was riding on the next game? Should have played 20 minutes against United and started this one. Absolutely mental decision by Wenger. His obsession with talentless dross like Welbeck cost him his job.

Even if Mkhitaryan starting wouldn’t have made the difference, at least you would have known you gave it your best shot with your best players. Now I’m left wondering what could have been had he had more time to affect the game. Sick to my stomach with this decision.

I think it was more criminal he kept Özil on (again!) when he clearly stunk the house out (again!) Just listen to what Keown had to say about him...I couldnt agree more.

Thing is even when it came to Wengers LAST CHANCE of major glory he never had the balls to make the decision to sub this overhyped overpaid prima donna...So Arsène you still say that "every decision you made was what was best for the club?" This just about sums up why he never took us forward just backwards despite the illusion of success with the FA Cup wins.
Hopefully our new manager will sort this crap out when he comes in!

 

[Gunners4life]

I think it was more criminal he kept Özil on (again!) when he clearly stunk the house out (again!) Just listen to what Keown had to say about him...I couldnt agree more.

Thing is even when it came to Wengers LAST CHANCE of major glory he never had the balls to make the decision to sub this overhyped overpaid prima donna...So Arséne you still say that "every decision you made was what was best for the club?" This just about sums up why he never took us forward just backwards despite the illusion of success with the FA Cup wins.
Hopefully our new manager will sort this crap out when he comes in!

Özil can make magic happen even in the last second of the match. You never take him off and play him when he's fit. I agree with Wenger here 100%