Just shows how pointless stats are in football.
(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread (Part 3)
Spurs with an 88th minute winner this morn, gutted, Brighton nearly had a point there which could've put 3rd back in our hands.
All 4 teams chasing these spots have massive vulnerabilities right now.
It's a total lottery.
Yea i was gutted.
Spurs without Harry Kane equals last minute winner. It's infuriating.
The problem with Mustafi isn't his all-round game. He has all the ingredients. He's strong, he's fast, he's good in the air, he has good feet, he has everything... except for a cool head in the most critical of moments.
Koscielny was very similar when he first signed, but he slowly ironed the brain farts out of his game. Mustafi does not seem capable of doing that.
I saw Mustafi even looked angry at Leno for one of the CP goals, Zaha's i think, when he was trying to shield the ball.
It's one thing to stuff up but to then try deflect the blame.
This from Tim Stillman (also known as Stillberto) is quite harsh but it's hard to argue with, and it is a very worrying trend from a player, suggesting a total lack of confidence in his own ability;
"Mustafi’s errors are always a result of him just wanting to quit a situation. Either by sliding on his arse, leaving the ball for a colleague or committing a stupid foul, it’s always a personal exit strategy designed to end his involvement."
Can't argue with that. Looks like his confidence is shattered beyond repair. Like he's physically on the field but his mind is not there most of the time.
Embarrassing first half. We don't deserve 4th the way we're playing.
Good lord we are awful. From posession that goes no where, pathetic defending, consistent offsides from Lacazette, wild shots going straight out, to a keeper who is so under pressure he's making all sorts of mistakes.
No way we're getting anything out of this now.
Wolves are an extremely underrated team. Class players that a majority of whom would probably walk into Arsenal's or United's current starting XIs.
Wolves are an extremely underrated team. Class players that a majority of whom would probably walk into Arsenal's or United's current starting XIs.
I don’t disagree, but trust me when I say we didn’t require them to play at that level to beat us.
I feel like UEFA should just take away the fourth champions league spot as none of United, Chelsea, Arsenal seem to want it....
4th was always going to be a big ask in the first season for the new manager, but from the position we were in with Chelsea and United crumbling and it in our own hands with 5 games to go it's devastating to throw it away like this. The capitulation and surrender this morning was unforgivable. Feels really hard to take this time. Another season that can't end soon enough tbh.
The legacy for Gazidis is an aging squad with players on too much money who offer too little.
This off season will be incredibly telling as to whether or not the new structure is working (albeit without a head of recruitment) and wether we get ruthless with players like Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Elneny etc.
I just don't know who I'm hoping starts tomorrow. With the Europa League semi-final mid week you'd be expecting some rotation. I'd expect Koscielny to be given a rest, possibly the same for Monreal. Perhaps a return to the back 3 with Mavropanos and Mustafi wide of Sokratis, and AMN and Kolasinac out wide again. Would like to see Iwobi start, and to see Torreira to sit deep in front of the back 3 and to not go roaming.
Aside from the obvious points dropped, the fact that we've lost all of our ground on goal difference against Chelsea means we've really dropped 10 points, not 9. Terrible terrible few weeks for Emery and the players, I'm unsure how on earth you manage to gee them up for the matches against Villareal.
stayed up for the game last night.......can't believe how badly we were out played.....we had no creativity at ALL. Leno made some really good saves to keep the score down. Still cant believe we have let ramsey go, we are so far off city and liverpool its beyond belief. Even a draw would have done, i just dont see any leaders in our team
U18's and the Women's team both won their respective titles this weekend. That's something to smile about.
U18's and the Women's team both won their respective titles this weekend. That's something to smile about.
and have you seen the goals the women scored?! they were amazing. If I get time at work tomorrow I will post them in here.
This fudgeing season can't end soon enough. I can't really face another game at this point. Should be feeling excited for a semi final but any enthusiasm I had left is gone and I can't think of much worse than having to go through another one of these whimpering shambles. Can't remember the last time we had a shot on target let alone were even in a game.
Certainly haven't missed the humiliations from Bayern Munich or Barcelona but I suppose being in it would have been nice in terms of status and transfer negotiations etc. Would 6th mean missing out on Europa too?
U18's and the Women's team both won their respective titles this weekend. That's something to smile about.
and have you seen the goals the women scored?! they were amazing. If I get time at work tomorrow I will post them in here.
I've caught highlights where I can, they play beautiful football and score amazing goals. Hoping to get to a few of their games next season when we're over there. Still working on convincing the Mrs that living in North London is where it's at!
Would 6th mean missing out on Europa too?
Nope, but an extended Europa league qualifying campaign. Get the cash and a crack at the competition, but it comes at the expense of several extra games before the EPL season begins.
That third goal was a screamer!
Would 6th mean missing out on Europa too?
Nope, but an extended Europa league qualifying campaign. Get the cash and a crack at the competition, but it comes at the expense of several extra games before the EPL season begins.
I think maybe 6th can get entry into Europa group stages if City win the FA Cup. Basically it goes 5th place in the league and FA Cup winner into group stages, Carabao Cup winner into qualifying. Since City are already in UCL their spot they earned in Europa League for winning the Carabao Cup goes to the 7th placed team. If however Watford win the FA Cup they get the automatic group spot and 6th would be in the qualifying rounds.
That's kind of how i understand it.
Much like this season with Chelsea and Arsenal going into the group stages and 7th place Burnely going into the qualifying rounds.
I think they reward cup winning teams because the Europa League is kind of an amalgamation of the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup but since most cup winners are already in UCL spots it goes to league postion.
Does that even make sense?
everyone supporting Ajax this morning?
Emery’s maiden season has been a year-long battle with balance. Tactically, Arsenal are a duvet that is a little too short and Emery has battled between hiding his second rate defence and properly supporting his overworked strikers. Ramsey, or a player like him, in midfield gives the team a little more coverage. At the moment, Arsenal’s strikers look cold and alone.
Great insight that.
Minimum 4 games left, and it's fair to say we're all dreading them.
Watching the game, I think we're going to need at least a two goal lead to take back to Spain. Lacazette could've had four!!
3-1 win is OK, hopefully we can lock it down and get a draw away.
I'd be more nervous as Chelski on a 1-1 away.
Did really well to turn that around after such a shark start. Auba's goal at the end could prove massive as well.
Feels very similar to Napoli in that we should have killed the tie off with the amount of chances we had. Hopefully that away goal doesn't come back to haunt us. They are pretty suspect at the back as well so we should back ourselves to get at least a goal over there.
Good result in the end.
When we went 1 down I was so angry. We looked shocking up until that point, can't believe they missed the tap-in right before it.
Very heartening to see the turn-around, we hadn't seen that in the previous 3 games which had been similar in terms of us looking sh*t.
Laca shoulda had the hat trick, so it was awesome that Auba popped up and gave us the much-needed buffer.
I think we wouldn't have been favourites at 2-1, but we are at 3-1, huge relief.
If we can get a goal there we should be fine.
This weekends the telling moment for us. Brighton will be targeting us to secure their survival. They play us away and then City (H) and just need 1 point to gaurantee Cardiff don't stay up. Cardiff has Crystal Palace (H) & United (A).
Hopefully the guys can show some f*cking metal and actually defend with absolute solidarity, and attack with something useful (like we saw today).
I was reflecting on our earlier efforts this season and our claim to having one of the best set piece defences. Yet we're now being regularly undone by basic sh*t - twice today. I'm wondering if this is purely a mental change, or a tactical one. Has anyone noticed a move away from Zonal marking?
Spurs handing you chaps a potential top 4 lifeline. Albeit you'd still need to win your remaining games and hope Everton do you a favour on the final day. Could get it done with 4 points provided Spurs lose to Everton and you engineer a big enough GD swing, but that's a big ask.
rubbish. we looked like a team in a relegation battle... and one we don't survive.
The worst part of being this sh*t over our last 4 EPL outings is knowing we've missed the chance to leapfrog Sp*rs. We're awful to watch, bring on the summer fire sale.
The total collapse in the league has been very alarming. We set ourselves up well, we had it all in our hands. As it turns out, we only needed to win the Palace and Brighton games at home and we would have been third right now, with a game to go.
Emery gets a 2nd year for sure, to get some better balance in his squad and have another crack at it. But if we don't win the Europa League and he starts next season poorly, things will get ugly quickly I think.
Welbeck confirmed as departing. Interestingly none of the other possible departures got any recognition - hopefully a sign of respect for Cech, Ramsey, and Welbeck, and not an indicator of many staying!
Man we dont deserve champions league, 1 point in 4 games absolute rubbish. We need 7-8 signings overs the summer
RB, LB, 2 x CB
RW/LW CAM
Back up striker
I have no idea how we didnt manage to get up for the win this morning, only person with real gunners heart is leaving......Laca is the only one i can see actually trying every game
Welbeck confirmed as departing. Interestingly none of the other possible departures got any recognition - hopefully a sign of respect for Cech, Ramsey, and Welbeck, and not an indicator of many staying!
for some reason I thought that Welbz was offered a new contract. Wish him all the best.
I don't doubt we can make it happen on Thursday and get past Valencia, but I'm really doubtful of what we could put together against Chelsea. They've not had a cracking season by any stretch but have enough quality against our dumb defence to route us.