Tottenham v. Arsenal: If we win, it really matters; if we don’t win it doesn’t matter

81 comments

1. If you use one of those electronic stirrer thingies you shouldn’t get cocoa sludge. Do you use Hershey’s? It’s so expensive over here in the UK, I have to make do with Sainsbury’s, and that’s when I can get it. Good sugar free cocoa is at a premium.
   I prefer the Henry goal myself.

   1. Dutch process cocoa is super expensive?

   2. No Hershey’s, please. Hershey’s is NOT good chocolate. For baking, for cocoa, for eating, anything.

      Dutch process is good.

      1. Droste 250gm (8.8oz) £8.95
         Callebaut 1KG £13.00 I might try this one

2. Folks, check out the Behind the Numbers post from yesterday. I talk about Arsenal being the most-fouled team in the League and why.

   https://www.thearsenalreview.com/a/feb2019/article/arsenal-are-the-most-fouled-team-in-the-league-why-behind-the-numbers

3. You’re a genius, Tim.

   Not about metaphysics. But genius nonetheless. Kudos.

   1. Tim is the real stable genius.

4. I have a feeling we’ll win, unless the referee plays a part.

   Maybe it’s just that we’ve just now found our happiness on the field again, but aren’t so far removed from our slump that we get too relaxed. Spurs will come in determined in this game, however broken they may otherwise be. But we could have that extra control in our aggression. Plus, Spurs are no longer the only ones with a sharpshooter up top. So yeah, confident.

5. Now now, I don’t think any of us have anything against the Queen. No need to make a prediction on her lifespan.

   I certainly loved that Rosicky goal.

6. I enjoyed that piece over on Arsenal Review. The connection between fouling our deep lying passers in midfield and the goals we give up due to individual errors is an interesting one. I suspect this issue is why Emery was so keen to bring someone into the squad who can knit passes together between those deep lying midfielders and the attack. Denis Suarez’s self-described affinity for the game of Andres Iniesta would in theory fulfill precisely this void, if put into practice on a high level. The return of Mkhitaryan and Ozil to the Arsenal fold helps this issue as well but in greatest part the team has to continue to improve on the balance of the types of passes they play and the types of ways they make themselves available to each other in various phases of play. Historically there has been an over-reliance on the short pass to feet from the midfielders and defenders can key in on that. What we need to see more of is the pass in behind and the long switches of play from flank to flank.

7. I feel like Spurs are due a moral crushing defeat.

8. * But it’s the footie-verse!
   Inherently smaller ‘over here’, where most of the yokels won’t give a nod to its’ existence. 😉

   Wondered about your coke-conspirator-superior-thief. And whether he chose Mormonism to cloak his disdain for the law? Or whether it was good-old-fashioned jonesing-for-a-rail causing him to lose his religion? Late-80s not a lot was known about addiction or magic undies. Ascribing to cultish scripture was pretty good social-camo in those times.

   Times do change. In 2012, part of the ammo against Mitt Romney was his devout Mormonism– harkening back to scare-tactics used to monger against John Kennedy.

   Just 4 years later in 2016? The Christian Right seems to think The Antichrist is A-OK in The White House.

   Life imitates Bizarro World.

   jw1

   1. Mormonism might’ve played a small part, along with the 47% of US citizens are moochers Romney won’t lose sleep over while President , audio tape leaked to the media.

      Statistically this country is more likely to elect a male candidate claiming affinity to any religion , rather than a woman or an atheist.
      The first order of business for any Presidential candidate is always to assure everyone that prayer is his sacred daily routine.

      A voter who believes in magic underwear , a burning bush or 72 virgins is always easier to convince that a golden toilet shi, ting billionaire is a populist.

      1. Eh.. not sure which way this cuts, but as a matter of fact, Republicans are much more loyal voters than Democrats. So…Trump got about the same amount of Republican votes than Romney. He won because he convinced a bunch of people who either voted for Obama previously, or didn’t vote, to come out and vote. If anything, the fact that he got the same amount of Republican votes as Romney, but in a “swing year” (voters always more likely to reject the party that held the Presidency for two terms) shows how unpopular he is.

         1. Sure.
            It’s usually the narrow band of undecided voters who help swing close elections one way or another.
            Not to paint them all with too broad a brush but politically speaking they are morons.
            Only morons can stay undecided until the last few days of a two year( or close to it), presidential campaign while the ridiculous media celebrate them as if they were some sort of highly evolved voters.
            Most of them can’t name three branches of government but they sure know the Christian doctrine of Trinity.

9. After all the angst about Trump, it might just be my country’s authoritarian figure that brings about nuclear war.

   1. i hope not, brother. it’s getting touchy.

      1. It’s shameful is what it is. Grandstanding for votes.

10. Spurs are going to come flying out of the gate like a horse with an overly demanding jockey. I see two critical passages of the game… the first 15 minutes, and the last 7 or 8 before the half.

    You lose two on the bounce… you feel a bit hard done by in the first of those, you had a bit of niggle in the second, and Arsenal — Arsenal! — are coming to your patch. We are going to do well not to concede within the first half an hour.

    What we have to do is go on the front foot early. Don’t intricate it, dont pussyfoot. If you get a corner, go direct, and attack with the aerial power that we have. Go strong and hard, early, and try to score first. If we try defensive game management and containment as we did against City away, we will lose. They have too much attacking quality, and we have too much defensive frailty, to keep them out. We’ll have to die with our boots on tomorrow.

    This may not be the game for Mesut to start, great as his form has been. I’d play Auba, Laca and Ramsey, and give Mesut half an hour if we have to chase the game.

    Look for Spurs to be their usual sly, fouly, divey self, and I pray that the ref is good, strong and fair.

11. Spurs are going to come flying out of the gate like a horse with an overly demanding jockey. I see two critical passages of the game… the first 15 minutes, and the last 7 or 8 before the half.

    You lose two on the bounce… you feel a bit hard done by in the first of those, you had a bit of niggle in the second, and Arsenal — Arsenal! — are coming to your patch. We are going to do well not to concede within the first half an hour.

    What we have to do is go on the front foot early. Don’t intricate it. If you get a corner, go direct, and attack with the aerial power that we have. Go strong and hard, early, and try to score first. If we try defensive game management and containment as we did against City away, we will lose. They have too much attacking quality, and we have too much defensive frailty, to keep them out. We’ll have to die with our boots on tomorrow.

    This may not be the game for Mesut to start, great as his form has been. I’d play Auba, Laca and Ramsey, and give Mesut half an hour if we have to chase the game.

    Look for Spurs to be their usual sly, fouly, divey self, and I pray that the ref is good, strong and fair.

    1. You’ve summed up exactly how I feel about how Tottenham will approach this match. If we don’t bring the same mentality, we’re going to concede early and things will go downhill for us very quickly from there. If we win, I see it by one goal. If we concede early, I see us losing by three or four counterattacking goals.

       Claude is right about using the aerial threat. No short corners, please. Interestingly, in the training video posted today, the players were doing a series of heading drills.

    2. You’re right. It will be a siege for the first 15 minutes. And Emery has never picked an ambitious line-up on the road, not even against minnows. 4-2-3-1, Iwobi and Mhyki on the flanks because they are willing to come back and cover, probably Lacazette up top because he’s better at hold-up play and thus a better outlet under pressure than Auba. I think if we weather the storm we may get a footing in the game, but an early goal for them? Lights out.

12. What a low-life, dirtbag, scoundrel that dude was, Tim. Glad he got nicked. I had some dirtbags in my company, but they were malingerers…didn’t have the balls to be criminals.

    Anyway, apropos of dirtbags… 2-5 anyone?

13. Reading this post was just pure joy. Thanks Tim !

    1. +1

14. Thanks chaps for kind words on Tim’s last post.

    I have a free day tomorrow and I am going to find me a pub showing the match to take Blake’s theory out for a test drive. Will be sure to let you all know if I crash into any wisdom.

15. 3-1. I think our chance of winning is miniscule. On the road, in a derby, you need defensive steel. We can’t even stop Huddersfield. If Spurs score early in the first half it will get ugly.

16. i’m with claude and shard. arsenal could, totally, win tomorrow. it depends if our manager takes a seemingly typical cowardly approach or if he plays to win. if he tries to sit back and defend, arsenal will certainly lose.

    i wouldn’t be surprised if mesut starts. the narrative of “it was a tactical decision” to not start ozil was meant to keep the club’s business out of the streets. with that, ramsey needs a game. we’ll see.

    i’m expecting a sending off tomorrow. hopefully, it’s a scum player.

17. I liked the rosicky goal description best

18. As a person who grew up in a Mormon household, and who decided to become an ex-Mormon, I really love stories about Mormons behaving badly.

    Here’s hoping for a double over our homeless neighbors.

    Thanks for that.

19. If Ozil does not start and we lose, the boos will rain on Unai for putting a team out with limited chance to win . If Ozil starts and we still lose we can blame on lack of steel and hunger of certain players. He may start will Ozil and switch to Ramsey when scums tire in the 2nd half.

    1. agreed about unai playing ozil. the team is more dangerous and exciting with him in it. why wouldn’t he play? we’ll see.

20. BTW, nicely done, Tim. Enjoyed that.

    Some of us here agree that Spurs will come at us hard from the opening whistle, but nonetheless it’s very brave of you to call a score, Jack. Who’d have predicted 5-2, or the 4-2 earlier this season? Spurs are better than we are, but they’re not Manchester City better. It’s hard to see them running away with it, beating us by 3, 4 goals. My money’s still on draw, or a narrow home win.

    I really hope that Kosc is fit enough to play. He and Sokratis are our best central pairing. The left side is interesting. Which combination of Nacho, Kola and Iwobi is going to play? Or will Auba feature WL with both him and Laca starting? Back 3 + WBs or back 4?

    Interesting who DIDN’T play against the Cherries, so the chances of Ramsey, Xhaka and Lichtsteiner are good. Seems to me that all were being kept fresh for the big one. Iwobi didnt start either, and that may be a sign. If one striker starts, it’s got to be the leading goalscorer, even if the consensus here and elsewhere is that Laca is better suited to lone CF.

    I think that Emery’s going to want 3 bodies in central midfield for game control, so with Xhaka and Torreira automatics, it’s going to be a straight shootout between Ramsey and Guendouzi. That points to a back 4, and I cant call it between Nacho and Kola. Kola’s defending (touch wood) has looked better of late. Front 3 of Mhki, Iwobi and Aubameyang at the tip of the spear.

    Subs Laca for Iwobi (with Auba switching left), Mesut for Ramsey if we need goals.

    1. while it’s true that laurent and big papa are our best central defenders, i think mustafi has played very well over the past couple of months.

       as for defensive stability, you’ve got to go with nacho at left back. only problem is he just played 90 minutes the other day. that would be a tough call.

       one thing that was refreshing to see was no xhaka on the field the other day. if he plays tomorrow, we need him to play well. i’m just not a fan of his play.

    2. And to argue against myself slightly, I’d play Mesut as the left sider in the front 3 instead of Iwobi. Mesut is FAR more creative, and honestly, there isn’t much between them defensively. Iwobi’s got good physical attributes, he can be defensively dozy. Mesut’s also a better finisher. I picked Iwobi because Im second guessing Emery. Left up to me, I’d pick the German, again arguing against my earlier point that the frenetic, fierce pace that Spurs will surely set isnt for him. . That’s why I’m the keyboard jockey and Emery is the coach, you see 🙂

       But hang on a minute you can make the same argument for Auba over both of them, except the creativity part. Auba is going to give you world class finishing. Confused yet? Unless you switch out Ramsey for Ozil, and put Auba WL, I cant see a place for both strikers. I’d be very surprised if Unai starts them both.

       This football coach thing is dead easy…

21. I never in a million years thought I would see Arsenal fielding what amounts to essentially four center backs, yielding possession to their opponents, getting 100% defensive commitment from their attacking midfielders, and creating the better chances in a derby away from home against a team with a better record. That’s exactly what they’ve served up in one half of football thus far.

22. Halftime…

    Highlight of the half the Ramsey goal? No, my friends, it’s Bernd Leno’s save from Sissoko. The quality (he saw it late) and the importance. He’s arrived, folks. We’ll be talking about that for years.

    Tactically ballsy from our coach. Wow. Poch didnt see that selection coming. Emery deserves credit for that. Work hard, defend hard, hit them on the counter.

    Well done, Ramsey. Finished that like a striker. Sold Lloris a fake, and took it round him. Great work initially from Xhaka in the LB position, having the vision to lift it over the press, and Laca receiving and assisting.

    All that said, I worry about how much of the ball they’re having. We cant play on the back foot all game. Theyre going to find a way, like they almost did just before halftime.

    Mhki again working like a Trojan and working effectively. On the opposite flank, the game is passing Iwobi by. Positionally unsure, late to react to marking and diffident in the tackle. He looks exhausted even this early. Yes he had a shot that might have taken us two up, but it was basically straight at Lloris.

23. We’re getting nothing from the referee, Anthony Taylor. Two blatant fouls on Kosc and Ramsey early 2nd half not given.

24. Great team effort, but wasted by a terrible penalty by Auba, and what could have been. However, maybe a point that will be critical by the end of the season.

25. I’ll take the draw….
    What a game. I feel conflicted because Arsenal should’ve won after that 89th minute penalty was awarded to them in the truest sense of the word, but also I think this is a good result for the team when we look at it from a big picture point of view. Most importantly, this was a solid away performance. More than solid, I would say determined, stodgy, focused, highly disciplined, chippy, all things Arsenal weren’t known for as recently as 10 months ago, and precisely the qualities you need in a match like this. I would’ve taken the draw before kickoff and I’ll certainly take it now.

    Hats off to the defense, once again…
    Papasthapoulous and Koscielny were immense in this game and the 4 CB back 4 look that Emery threw at Spurs prevented Kane from preying on smaller wing backs at the far post and diminished their threat from set pieces. Xhaka and his midfield partners also did brilliant work neutralizing Eriksen who I haven’t seen look this anonymous, particularly against us, for a long time. Ramsey, Lacazette and Mkhitaryan in particular put in immense shifts pressing the ball in Spurs’ half and making them have to hit long hopeful out balls, which the 4B4 gobbled up with ease, while the out ball to Iwobi, up against the much smaller Trippier, was always on. It was an excellent tactical set up from Emery. My only issue with his management stemmed from his substitutions late on which didn’t jive with the flow of the game. I felt we needed to sustain the energy that had propelled us to that winning position and the introductions of Ozil and Aubameyang up front meant Spurs had more time to pick passes in deep areas, ultimately leading to the free kick from which they scored.

    The RB issue haunts Arsenal again…
    Naturally the choice of Mustafi at RB will be questioned after he gave away another stupid penalty but when you look at the options of Lichtsteiner, Jenkinson, or Maitland-Niles, you can see why he chose the German: aerial ability and defending set pieces were always going to be key. So much for the latter then, eh? Best laid plans and all that. Mustafi of course was horrific going forward as well and a healthy Hector Bellerin in the same positions would’ve made Spurs pay for the space they allowed on that flank behind Danny Rose.

    1. That should be Papastathopoulos, apologies to Big Papa for butchering his name.

26. Pretty good analysis Doc.
    I hope that at the end of the season when the Emery critics render their judgment on him for missing out on top four and not improving much against other top six over Wenger’s record, they can think back on this game , or the Chelsea game, where Arsenal should’ve won if not for individual shortcomings outside of his remit.

    Arsenal have given away 8-10 goals thus far this season by way of individual mistakes.
    Some of them due to inexperienced players making their growing pains mistakes
    (Guen in the last game), but many more by players not good enough to play for a top four team. Mustafi pen in a Crystal palace game or today jus one example.
    It’s hard to make top four with the sixth best squad in the league.

    1. Because drawing or losing games you should have won, and dropping points you shouldn’t, has only happened to Unai Emery this season; never in our previous campaigns 🙄

       Or, for that matter, stealing all 3 points in games you may otherwise have drawn or lost. I have to ask again (nicely)… are you new to sport, my dear friend? United are currently a goal down to Southampton, but I for one retain the belief that they’ll pip us to 4th, and that Emery should have at least 2 more years to build the squad HE wants, and windows to manage his ins and outs.

       Still, I understand (kind of) where youre coming from. It was tactically superb from Emery, and he’s unlucky not to have won that game. He surprised a lot of people with that lineup, and with better officiating and more composed play from his players, he might have.

       1. That’s why I love these back and forth with you Claude, truly.
          For someone accusing others of being new to sport as often as you do , to be wrong about so many basic things as you have been , is very entertaining.

          Sure Arsenal can still make top four , after all it’s sports and if Leicester could win the league then why not make top four.
          Expecting them to, however, is another thing entirely.
          Fans can debate the talent level of their team and it’s never an exact science as to what player is more valuable, although your low opinion of Mkhitaryan is quite baffling. His stats are better than Ozil’s.
          Here’s a thing though, when I was making my pre season bet for Arsenal to place fifth, the odds on them to place top four were quite generous and we all know how the bookies just love to give away money, don’t we 🙂
          Not to mention the fact no impartial ( non Arsenal fan) picked Arsenal to make top four, and Transfermarkt values the club distant sixth.

          Or maybe they all are just new to the sport 🙂

          1. no impartial pundit

          2. I assess things on facts, not dogma. So when Mhki played well last week, I was the FIRST commenter to say so (check the threads), despite expressing doubts the day before.

             When Xhaka played well, I was the first commenter to say so. I have considerable doubts about him, but when presented with facts that go against our general beliefs, we shouldnt be afraid to state them.

             Fourth and 6th are 4th and 6th, bredrin. They don’t come with an asterisk. Dropped points, or stolen points, are a part of football. There are too many variables over the course of a 38 game season involving 20 teams playing 700 matches. I agree we should have beaten Chelsea, Liverpool and United in what were LDD games. But there were games in which we got point that we mightnt otherwide have. That’s my… err… point about being new to sport, expressed tongue in cheek 😉

             Pre-season I had us finishing 4th; currently I have us finishing 5th. And no, that’s not a sackable offence for the coach. He needs time to get HIS men. At least 2 more years, I reckon. I thought he set up beautifully today. Im of the firm belief though, that his board has Champions League qualification among his KPIs.

             1. Mkhitaryan’s goals/ assist per minutes were on par or better with Ozil’s even before last week game, so I can’t see how one can be indispensable to the team( Ozil) and the other a complete waste of space( Mkhitaryan) .

                Sure , Arsenal might’ve gained some points during the season through a lucky break or two, but my point was specifically relating to the top six mini table, which you know as sure as sh, it that the “Emery isn’t good enough for Arsenal” crowd will bring up at the end of the season.
                And I don’t even include the United draw in this category because we gave up easy goals as a team, and that is on the coach.
                But this game and the Chelsea game …… what else can a coach do to get a win, kick and defend every ball himself?
                The individual mistakes and glaring misses are on the players he inherited, that’s all.

             2. The king of strawmen and unmade arguments strikes again.

                In asking questions about Mhki, no one was making a straight comparison between Mhki and Ozil.

                You argue in an unconventional way… if claudeivan was not doing well in a number of ways and tehn does something good 3x, by Tom’s logic it renders ALL previous criticism invalid. Life, and logic, are not like that, Tom.

                What we have to be is consistent and intellectually honest in our arguments. And if something contradicts our position, dont be afraid say so. Which, btw, has NOT been the approach of the folks here arguing only a week ago that Emery was right to totally deep-six Ozil.

             3. “I assess things on facts, not dogma.”

                That’s funny. Where are those irrefutable facts Ozil was being frozen out by Emery due to some personal or corporate greed reasons?
                Oh, that’s right . Some reporter speculated on it quite convincingly.
                Sure, why not.
                The reason I bring Mkhi into this is precisely because both players missed the same amount of games due to injury/ illness. Both have played the same minutes in the PL ( Ozil slightly more). Both can play similar position, although Mkhi offers a better work rate.
                And Mkhi’s numbers for goals/ assists are better than Ozil’s which would suggest to me at least, that Ozil is being used accordingly to his availability, input in training, and tactics required on the match day.

             4. “I assess things on facts, not dogma” is almost as funny as Pochettino saying in the postgame presser:

                “We were better than Arsenal in all aspects”

             5. The irrefutable facts, Tom, were in the exhaustively done reporting of the BBC Sports News Correspondent, Davis Ornstein. He laid out the dynamic in black and white and nuanced. Talking to folks at the club over many months. No offence but I place more store in his reporting than what you, or anyone else choose to believe because it fit with some preconceived narrative.

                Bro K even tried to advance the amusing argument that leaving out Elneny and leaving out Ozil were exactly the same thing. Because, you see, John Legend and a pub crooner are exactly the same, because they both sing into microphones.

                That is classic “the coach/establishment are always right” dogma in action, exhibited by some of the same folks who were insisting, a year ago this time, that Wenger was doing fine . For all the tortured electronic ink spilt in defence of deep-sixing our most creative player, he was subbed into a game yesterday that, yes, it was said he couldnt play in. And the coach’s clever planning very nearly worked. If some folks here had any intellectual honesty, they’d admit they got it wrong. I’m not naming names, Kaius 🙂

                And no, you are wrong about Mhki and Ozil having the same minutes. I put a chart, at the height of our discussion 2 weeks ago, that showed that the Ozil and Mhki had identical goal involvements with Mesut having significantly less playing time. Ramsey had more goal involvements than BOTH of them with even less playing time.

                Tom, you cant seem to process multiple thoughts. Namely, one, that there are parts of X’s game that needs work; and two X had been outstanding in his last 3/3 games. The 2 things are not mutually exclusive. You had some prematurely truimphalist post here last week about Emery that got roundly biffed, and here you are again.

                Someone pointed out that Mustafi has played decently of late. And despite what happened yesterday, they are right. “Mustafi is brain dead” and “Mustafi played well in his previous two games”… try to process those two things at once.

             6. “And no, you are wrong about Mhki and Ozil having the same minutes. I put a chart, at the height of our discussion 2 weeks ago, that showed that the Ozil and Mhki had identical goal involvements with Mesut having significantly less playing time. Ramsey had more goal involvements than BOTH of them with even less playing time.”

                I missed your chart and if by goal involvements you mean goals/ assists per minutes played, then here are the numbers according to Transfermarkt for all three players in the PL since Mkhi ‘s transfer from Man U last January.
                Ozil – 10 goals and assists ,1892 min played ( 1per 189 minutes )
                Ramsey- 15 goals and assists , 1703 min played ( 1 per 113)
                Mkhi – 16 goals and assists, 1954 minutes played ( 1 per 122 )

27. Arsenal were too wasteful. At least 3 goals should be scored. Defence was better, good performance at the 3rd placed team , best preformace of all top 6 away matches.

28. I mean, who among us hasn’t thought of fouling England’s golden by, in the box and right under the nose of the referee? Leave Mustafi alone, you hear me? What I love is is prayerful pleading with the ref after doing something boneheaded. Head tilted to one side, hands clasped in supplication. Never change, Skhodran. Just leave.

    Two points dropped. Well done on the tactics, Unai Emery. The only way Spurs were scoring today was set pieces or penalties.

    Disappointing misses from our 2 elite strikers, that cost us the win.

    And oh, still again VAR, anyone?

29. Emery got it spot on and deserves a lot of credit, but he was let down by Mustafi and his two supposedly top-drawer strikers. Oh, and the referee. Unbelievable.

    A couple of days ago I said I would gladly take a draw. That was before I knew how well we’d play against them. We were the better team, and I didn’t expect to be saying that today. Gutted.

    On the other hand, it’s nice to put an even bigger dent in their title chances! Hahaha!

30. Gutted. A draw is a decent result, objectively. But this was a draw that felt like a loss because it should have been a win. Aubameyang and Lacazette both missed very good chances that they should have buried. Aubameyang’s penalty was piss poor, but should have been retaken as Vertonghen was inside the box when it was taken, which allowed him to help clear the rebound. Piss poor officiating. Gutted. This should have been a win.

    1. “Aubameyang’s penalty was piss poor,”

       I don’t like his style of penalty taking at all.
       He neither slams it hard into the corner Kane or Milner style, or sends the keeper the wrong way with the ice in veins Hazard style.

       Didn’t his last penalty look identical in placement and execution only for keeper to guess wrong?

       1. Yes it was. He got lucky last time. This one was so bad that even if lloris had guessed wrong, it’d have hot his trailing leg. He looks way too languid for me.

31. Well, fourth was nice while it lasted!

    1. 23 minutes to go as I write this, old chap.

       Clear fouls on Bertrand in the box by Smalling and Young. Shame he isnt named Harry Kane.

       Hey, I’m with the “gutted” brigade on our draw. Not at all sanguine about it. Draw was my call beforehand, but the way the game panned out, we dropped 2 points. Different story with better finishing from Auba and Laca, better officiating, and the absence of a brain from our RB.

       1. Long ago tagged him ‘The Shkarecrow’.
          ‘If I only had a brain!’

          1. …nice!

32. Thinking about it from a Tottenham point of view though, this must be tough to swallow. Not only have they failed to win any of their last three games, leaving them 10 points adrift of Manchester City and any reasonable hope of a title, but also their main rivals, bang in the middle of a transitional year, have handed them an away walloping for the ages and then came into their house and were the better team for 90 minutes. Imagine being at the supposed peak of your championship cycle, with your best manager probably of the entire PL era, your best striker of probably the entire PL era, and no doubt your best team of the entire PL era, and Arsenal still come into your house and out play you, and you were lucky to even draw. That must sting. I mean, really really sting. I don’t think anyone at Wembley went home happy today but I certainly think the away fans had a lot more to warm them on the way home.

    1. So. Whether it be an interesting view of the hypothetical beating to the psyche which Sp^rs fans have taken of late– that is on offer? Or a balm for the outcome that I feel we Gooners were done wrong-by earlier today?

       Sitting in my living room about 8:30am this morning– not privy to the camaraderie (nor libations to assist) achieving any sense of satisfaction.

       Thanks Doc. Writing a prescription for what ailed me.
       Needed that. 😉

33. I don’t know Doc, it felt like two points dropped instead of one gained to me.

    How refreshing though, not a single complaint from Emery about officiating after what some saw as a terrible refereeing performance.

    1. Not really a fan of the two points dropped vs. one point gained dichotomy. It dilutes the result into either an absolute failure or an absolute success, doesn’t it? It was neither, and both in truth, as is usually the case from this view. My belief is that in the league as a rule of thumb it’s better to see the team play well and leave a match without points they deserved than to play poorly and scrape buy with a lucky point or three, but who deserved what is always all quite subjective and judged in the glow of the result after the fact. It’s moralizing and philosophizing over a sport where fine margins decide big results. For me it’s more interesting to focus on the technical aspects and place the performance as I saw it in the context of the team’s evolution on the pitch from game to game and from season to season. That’s where the fun is for me.

    2. Agreed, it is refreshing not to blame the refs though they were awful. Even with the awful refs we still should have won. Our $100 million strikers let us down.

       1. They missed a lot of chances today but it’s churlish to blame them too much for that after all the goals they’ve scored so far this season, many of them from far worse opportunities than the ones they were presented with today. One of the hallmarks of this Arsenal vintage is our ability to exceed expected goals, and that is down to the talents of Messrs. Lacazette and Aubameyang.

          1. Without a doubt they have carried us for much of the season. Both, but Aubameyang especially, have a knack for scoring improbable goals. Still, from the penalty spot, you’ve got to do better.

34. before the game, i believed arsenal would win. super happy with the strategic approach from our spanish manager. the game started off well enough with the ramsey breakaway and a 1-0 halftime lead. leno’s double-save was top drawer. the boys played well.

    how did xhaka not even get booked? he does unnecessary fouls. i’m simply not a fan. likewise, i’m no mustafi fan but i’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. he’s played very well lately. it’s just that when he gets something wrong, the result is pretty catastrophic.

    the initial approach from emery was so solid, but the substitutions were poor. first, aubameyang needed to come on for iwobi, not lacazette. the moment he stepped up to take the penalty, i thought to myself, “i wish lacazette were still on the pitch”. i had no confidence auba would finish what turned out to be an awful penalty. second, despite the goal, i would have pulled ramsey earlier for ozil. every time arsenal looked to counter, ramsey would lose the ball. mesut would have been more secure in possession, which would have led to more counter-attacking chances. third, why pull guendouzi at halftime when he’s playing well? if he’s not injured, let him get to the hour mark, at least.

    yesterday, i said that i believed someone would get sent off and hoped it wouldn’t be an arsenal player. good news is that torreira’s red card didn’t have enough time to alter the outcome of the game. the bad news is that granit xhaka has to play for the next three games. all in all, a good day to be a gooner. however, it’s a game arsenal should have won. spurs are playing some crap football right now and were there for the taking.

    1. an aside: manchester united leapfrogged arsenal into 4th place thanks to a brace from lukaku. when you see the goals, it’s clear lukaku learned that from thierry henry when henry was the striker coach for belgium. think, two right-footed strikes from the very left-foot dominant lukaku. he scored one a few weeks ago with his right foot that made me notice initially but to have a brace with his weaker foot where he looks so much like henry…….brilliant.

    2. Granit played well, Josh. I’m also not a fan, but he played solidly today. He even had a ball-carrying surge and fed in Aubameyang for a decent chance.

       I also would have brought on Auba for Iwobi. You’ll get vastly improved finishing and the same amount of D. Iwobi’s defending (he could have provided more help for the excellent Monreal) and positioning need work. As does his play and decision making in tight areas. Im looking at El Clasico, and the skill level in tight places is like night and day. When Auba and Laca play together, defenders dont know whose run and movement to track. If Ozil is with them, they create even more uncertainty.

       I hear very, very few shout outs to Koscielny, but what a top class defender he still is. Intelligent, tough, organised and a threat at set pieces. Some people thought that he was finished but his return has coinicided with an improvement in our defence.

       And speaking of defence, a recent piece by Tim showed that statistically we were defending and allowing shots similar to teams at the bottom of the table. The eye test of the last 4 games showed that we’ve tightened up. Even Lichtsteiner seems to have raised his game. That is on the coach… big credit to him.

       Auba is getting a lot of social media love and arms around the shoulder, as he was clearly crestfallen about the miss. Not from me. Not yet. Im still p****d at him. In the last NDL, be placed a soft penalty shot slightly to the right of Lloris. Today? A soft penalty shot, slightly to the right of Lloris. We’re not ruthless enough. And Auba’s langour, to me, sometimes transmits that lack of ruthlessness.

       And he misses A LOT. Tim warned us before signed, but man. I don’t think its ungrateful to say that one of the league’s leading scorers should be scoring more goals than he does.

       Arsenal have now outplayed and deserved to beat United away, Chelsea away, Liverpool and home and Spurs away, and have 3 points to show for it, when they perhaps should have had all 12. Those are all statement games. I feel for the coach. Under his setup, Bellerin was killing Chelsea down their left, but Auba and Mhki fluffed really good chances. His very smart tactical setup today deserved a win. Yes results rest with him, but if your left sided midfielder coughs up the ball against City in his own box in the first minute, your best laid plans go up in smoke.

       Really ruthless teams dont let advantages slip as often as we have this season. It’s sport, youre not going to have perfection (and change of fortunes is the beauty of it), but 4x this season weve been in a position to beat the top teams in the country and we have not. I wish we had 11 Sokratises… in that the spirit with which he plays infuses the team from back to front.

       1. Yep,
          I was one of those doubting Kos coming back from injury.
          He’s a warrior though.

       2. granit could have gotten a red card early in the game for a stupid challenge from behind on harry kane. both koscielny and sokratis were in position to make any play but xhaka comes in from behind kane and makes a foolish challenge on the back of kane’s leg. he wasn’t even close to winning the ball. if the referee sees that, xhaka’s off. this is not to mention the arm grabbing and shirt tugging that he often does.

          my problem isn’t that xhaka did that on yesterday, it’s that he does that in every competitive game. likewise, we’ve seen arsenal players with their careers in the wind due to reckless challenges of that nature. he does the fouling because he sees everything late and tries to compensate, which is an indicator that he’ll never be a world class holding midfield player. xhaka’s a “good, honest lad” but he’s likely to seriously injure someone with the way he plays.

          1. One day, soon, Granit Xhaka is going to get picked up by a big club like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man U, Man City, or Bayern Munich. He’s so good.

35. Agreed, tactics were spot on, substitutions were not.

36. On an unrelated note, I just wanted to note that I appreciate the civility of the comment section here. Tim deserves credit for setting the tone with his thoughtful, well-crafted posts. Comment sections on the other couple of arsenal blogs I follow are toxic waste heaps, so it’s refreshing to come here and see thoughtful comments, fair criticism, and civil disagreement.

    1. Welcome, and long may it continue…

    2. We are the anti-twitter

37. Like everyone, disappointed with how it ended but would’ve taken a point before the match.

    My thoughts drift to the man u match, with us having two crestfallen strikers and no Torreira.
    Emery’s got his work cut out for him to win, even with our record at home, as I suspect he was relying on at least a half of it using Torreira.

    Just hope our strikers overcompensate!

38. As to the title (and one theme) of the Post, I guess I’m struggling with my feelings when its perhaps easier to compartmentalise a win = it matters! and a loss = ah, no big deal.

    a draw = … it mattered more than I cared or less than I would want?

    (anyway – as I type, I have a beer in front of me* and Chambers has just scored against Chelsea so whaddever).

    * and if only to remind myself – beer is *not* medication and *not* good for one’s judgement when driving, even if its only the byways of wisdom

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