Arsenal 1 - 3 Aston Villa: Lost our heads

I'll be doing things differently this year. With Arsenal TV membership now free, I'll have access to some decent highlights and will be able to breakdown moments in the game with the aid of screenshots. It takes a couple of hours for them to upload the highlights, so that won't be out until later.

In the meantime, I can still talk about the game, just not with as much detail.

Good idea with the match reports

*bleep* Anthony Taylor. Koscielny got sent off for two yellows that weren't yellows at all, if even fouls, on top of the fact that he hadn't committed any other infringements all game, while players like Vlaar tackled and blocked off our players all game long and got 1 yellow at most. The only advantage of this is that now Wenger HAS to buy a CB this week.

I also want to say that Tomas Rosicky is by far our best player. Wilshere hasn't impressed me at all in a long, long time either; he shouldn't be starting games when other players are fit with the way he has been playing. Theo is our best Englishman, although he was shit today too. We suck asshole after internationals, and at home in general.

Wtf happened to you guys?

 

The ref was to blame, but we were utter shit the whole game after Giroud's goal. I was totally uneasy heading into this game cause Jack and Rambo CANNOT work together in the middle.

Cazorla played horrible and took us out of that game with that giveaway. Bad call on the penalty, but extremely lazy pass by Cazorla.

As for the chanting, the fans paid for those expensive tickets and they have every right to chant what they want, I don't always agree with some of the chants that are sung, but if I was spending the highest ticket prices in England and seeing that on the field, I would be pissed off as well.

Positive:

- 1st 20 minutes
- Rosicky and his great contribution in attack
- Promising display by Giroud

Negative

- The joke midfield
- The joke Defense
- Brainless Theo
- Boss red card
- Rapist ref
- Injuries
- Unfit Cazorla
- Helpless Wenger
- next 2 weeks of nerve wrecking, waiting fo panic buy

I swear I've just seen Ramsey at CB.

I've been drinking heavily today.

What excuse does Wenger have?

Yeah, the ref was terrible but we weren't good either. We were going to drop a lot of points without Arteta, but things got a lot worse today.

Wenger.... smh

A humiliating defeat.

Wenger really needs mental help.

Someone let a Tottenham fan referee the game ffs

TROPHYLESS: Season 9. Episode 1.

The worst part is, things will only get worse from here. 

I thought Arsenal TV was only temporarily free?

We were bad after the goal and the ref screwed us but this doesn't excuse Arsene Wenger from the lack of planning and preparation for the new season.

I didn't hear any news on Sagna, I hope he's alright that was nasty  

Biggest 2 weeks of Wenger's career to date coming up.

His stubbornness is insane.

If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Start a season with a threadbare squad expect even 2 injuries to constitute a crisis. No ideas going forward and diabolical defending. Not really the start to the season you would want

I don't understand how Wenger didn't (god help us if he still doesn't) see how desperately we needed a DM. What was the issue with Gustavo??? He would've been perfect.....

JohnnyGooner wrote:I don't understand how Wenger didn't (god help us if he still doesn't) see how desperately we needed a DM. What was the issue with Gustavo??? He would've been perfect.....

That was precisely the issue.

Rosicky was our best attacking player in this game , him and Giroud were the only ones who look threatning going forward. Theo and Santi were very poor but at least Santi has an excuse. Defensively we suffered without Arteta, I have no idea why Wenger thinks Jack and Ramsey can actually do a good job together in a defensive sense. Ramseys defending for Villa first penalty was just LOLS worthy. Ramsey is good at pressing and snapping at people ankle but he is not ready to a job there yet.
After this I can see our confidence being hit again, we will probs struggle through the next 5 games.

What would have happened had we played a better team? 

Raptorgunner wrote:What would have happened had we played a better team? 

probably win lol

EL Patron wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:What would have happened had we played a better team? 

probably win lol

lol.

EL Patron wrote:Someone let a Tottenham fan referee the game ffs

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Don't blame the ref.

We got what we deserved.

RG is lucky he doesn't have to see this mess .

furiouswindbottom wrote:

EL Patron wrote:Someone let a Tottenham fan referee the game ffs

\
Don't blame the ref.

We got what we deserved.

We did, but it's hard enough without a crap referee. I guess when things don't go our way, they really don't go our way.

Lack of width, lack of width, lack of width.

Walcott and Ox offer no width and nobody respects the crossing of Sagna and Gibbs. Teams just pack the middle and Arsenal are stuck in a traffic jam.

That said, Giroud and Rosicky got opportunities regardless. Giroud did well and Rosicky missed two one-on-ones... i can't say Rosicky was good because missing two of those is inexcusable.

Ref was a joke, yes. But the lineup and tactics were bad.

Mertesacker is not a very good CB btw.

Disregarding the issue of a lack of new personnel, it's easy to see what our problem was today. Villa played a very physical game where they got as close to our midfielders as possible, often times leaving a foot in or body checking them. It angered Arsenal and I think, because of that, they lost their focus. The problem was exasperated by several questionable referee decisions, one of which resulted in Villa's second penalty and the first of Koscielny's two yellow cards.

We had no rhythm or shape to our build-up play, partly because of Villa's tactics and partly because of our lack of composure and width. The game had a lot of fouls and turnovers and it suited Villa a lot more than us, especially when they had a lead.

Despite not playing that well, we did create three great chances and should have put away two of them. Tomas Rosicky found himself in a great goalscoring position twice after near-identical moves, but put his first shot over the bar and his second straight at the keeper. While it was great play to begin with, he should have scored at least one. Later on, Cazorla had a good chance but could only volley straight at the keeper.

By all accounts, this a game should not have lost. We had the chances to score and the first penalty was certainly avoidable. The third goal was inevitable given we were down to 10 men and pushing for an equaliser and overall we suffered for not having a good enough game plan and for reacting poorly to the circumstances in the game; perhaps this is another area in which Arteta's absence is keenly felt.

None of this is wholly surprising, unfortunately. The squad going into this game should have been a lot better.

It's difficult to be positive right now. We tempted fate by not making any additions to our midfield or defence and will now pay the price for it: Arteta out for six weeks, Gibbs off injured today with a head injury (should be okay, I think), Sagna went off after a nasty fall on the back of his neck and Koscielny is suspended. Going into the Fulham game, we may only have three fit and available defenders in the entire squad.

Moreover, if the fans were on the edge before today, they've just fallen off it. They're not happy and it'll poison the atmosphere at the Emirates. I wouldn't be surprised if we performed better against Fenerbahce and Fulham, purely because they're away from home.

That Champions League game has just become even more important. I don't even want to think what would happen if we didn't qualify.