⚽ Arsenal 3-1 West Ham Utd (26/12/22)

[steps]

But should odegaard have decided to pass not shoot coufal would still have been playing him on. Bottom line coufal was nowhere near the line everyone else had.

It feels like I’m being indirectly lured into a Coufal-Kehrer argument here which I’m not going to entertain. But I think attributing blame to any of our players for the first Arsenal goal is being overly harsh as it was a bit flukey that Saka ended up with the ball in front of goal like that and it happened so quickly.

[w4hammer]

I dont spend alot of time on KUMB any more however wanted to see if there was anyone with a positive spin on our situation

Unforgivaeable that Moyes starts and continues such a proven failed set-0up and game plan , after months of inactivity or uses an opportunity to try other options

SUre there are injury issues however half of that team shoudlnt be starting - we are desperate and will be winless through Janaury imho

[DannyboyDJL]

I wish the World Cup was still on..

I found it a really nice break from league footy, which I realised I really don't like as much as I used to. I didn't watch last night, I knew exactly how it would pan out and I watched something else instead. Same happened under Allardyce, I knew the outcome and how we'd approach the game before it even started and eventually just stopped bothering.

[the pink palermo]

All 3 Arsenal goals came about as a result of errors by our players. Basic errors at that.

Despite that the make shift defence held them as bay pretty well considering the possession they had. The backline was probably the 15th or 16th different combination we have seen this season. There's the clue.

Then we have the Rice issue, that being, he appears to want to be the box to box action man when his best job is to shield a defence, and do nothing else.That means Moyes picks Soucek.

Then we have the Benny problem.He's utterly, utterly crap. But the Chairman likes him. Have I mentioned Porridge Fabianski yet? Multiple murderers get released faster than he releases the ball.

Our Best team, which I doubt Moyes will survive long enough to pick

-----------------------------Areola------------------------

Johnson---------Zouma--------Agured (c)-------Cresswell


-----------------------------Rice-----------------------------

Bowen------------Paqueta---------Fornals--------Cornet


-------------------------Antonio------------------------

For one reason or another, six of those didn't start last night.

We're miles off where we need to be, and miles and miles behind Arsenal. Last nights scoreline flattered us.

[Caribiron]

The degree of 'proffesionalism' yesterday was top notch, but ably assisted by Oliver. Bowen booked after 8 minutes and yet, despite the consistent fouling in key areas by Partey and Gabriel throughout the entire game, no Arsenal player booked. The extent to which Arteta tried to get Bowen a 2nd yellow effectively silenced Bowen for the rest of the game.

It's not the individual players in the back four that are the issue it's the lack of consistent playing together imo.

Always been a huge fan of Soucek but can't see what he added yesterday. Put me in the Rice/Paqueta axis in CM, tell Rice to do what he does for England as a DM and let Fornals play at 10 to link up with Paqueta.

For a young side Arsenal have some dirty habits; the fouls deep in our half to prevent a breakout, the surrounding of the ref to intmidate, the targeting of booked players to try and tempt the ref in to reaching for a second yellow, and tonights blatant cheating by the ball boys. There was a marked difference between the speed with which Arsenal players were given the ball back and ours....

...They didnt thrash us, but we never looked like beating.

I cant though not mention the CB issue. It continues to kill us.

[il_martello_di_genovesi]

The shock at TPP moaning at Benny again when he wasn’t even close to being a big problem…

[TheCharlatan]

There seems to be no bravery in the team.
Not in regards to making tackles but when making a pass.
Other teams will make a pass to a player under pressure and accept that there is a chance he could lose it but if they dont lose it then they have created an opportunity to break a press.
A few times I noticed Paqueta was looking for a quick ball and players were either unaware or refused to take that risky pass.

I'm not saying that is the answer to our problems but it possibly gives an insight in to how they are being coached.

[jastons]

Then we have the Benny problem.He's utterly, utterly crap

Is that you, David?

He's far from perfect but IMO Benny has been one of our best players this season.

[61dicksey]

These no longer work

Sadly that is it in a nutshell , i think we have had our pants pulled down in the transfer market or more likely not enough thought was given to our style of play v the players we signed.

[MooresTheHero]

There seems to be no bravery in the team.
Not in regards to making tackles but when making a pass.
Other teams will make a pass to a player under pressure and accept that there is a chance he could lose it but if they dont lose it then they have created an opportunity to break a press.
A few times I noticed Paqueta was looking for a quick ball and players were either unaware or refused to take that risky pass.

I'm not saying that is the answer to our problems but it possibly gives an insight in to how they are being coached.

Agree. Paqueta was looking to move the ball forward quickly. He made some great passes, but also a few gave away possession. As I said before, our movement compared to other teams is terrible.

[Believer]

A few times I noticed Paqueta was looking for a quick ball and players were either unaware or refused to take that risky pass.

I'm not saying that is the answer to our problems but it possibly gives an insight in to how they are being coached.

100%. I noticed the same with Paqueta. It appears as though he is told to play the simple pass at all times which isn’t going to break the lines of the opposition. He did the same for Brazil and on a lot of occasions the pass didn’t work however they persist as eventually 1 or 2 will work.

We are so pedestrian at times, it’s unreal. This is the PL, one of, if not the most unforgiving leagues in football yet, we plod through games thinking that the opposition will allow us to continue playing the way we did successfully 2 years ago. Teams have worked us out and won’t allow us to quickly turn play over. Arsenal players nearly did on a couple of occasions but their midfield were cynical and allowed to be and those chances were gone.

Oh and once just once, will Fabianski please get the ball out to feet quickly rather than allow the opposition to get their shape ?

[Macca1973]

Is that you, David?

He's far from perfect but IMO Benny has been one of our best players this season.

Hammer of the Year so far for me no doubt.

[the pink palermo]

Hammer of the Year so far for me no doubt.

I can barely think of a more suitable epitah to the Sullivan era.

[Macca1973]

I can barely think of a more suitable epitah to the Sullivan era.

Pinky you can’t blame Benrahma that the rest have been sh*t!

[hammers92]

What I don’t get with the manager last night is usually in these type of games, Fornals covers the left hand side by getting back and helping out Creswell. It’s never where I’ve wanted him to play or do but we also know that Benrahma doesn’t bother with it, and time after time Saka was roasting Cresswell.

Moyes must’ve known that was going to be the end result surely? If he doesn’t like the guy, stop playing him.

[the pink palermo]

Pinky you can’t blame Benrahma that the rest have been sh*t!

Okay.

I don't rate Benny, never have. Occasionally he looks to have improved, only to regress. Decision making being his biggest issue IMO.

However, me not rating him doesn't matter, Moyes not rating him is an issue.

It means that everytime Benny does something good it is dismissed as " so he should, thats his job" and everytime he makes an error, it's "Benny dropped another clanger".

The reason of course is Moyes never wanted him, Sullivan did. Moyes worked with the problem in the belief he would get an upgrade in the summer.

Moyes wanted Kostic. Moyes didn't get Kostic.

How hard did Sully really try ?

Moyes ends up with Cornet, a sicknote of a player thus far.

All the comments about Benny from Moyes are him merely having a dig at the Chairman.

It's harsh on Benny, of course it is, but that's why the Chairman should do his job and let the manager do his.

Remind me of who else wanted Benny at the time we signed him, and why,nobody has come in for him since he joined us?

Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal......surely someone at one of those clubs can see what I can't with regards Benny?

[irving boleyn]

What qualities are being shown by Benny to deserve such plaudits?
Certainly not the accurate shots or penetrative passes. There were none of those yesterday.

Bowen equally ineffective...just the run into the box which earned the pen.

[simon hammer]

Can't really argue with anything pinky has written in his last couple of posts tbh. I'll add this though:

If the players we have signed are so good, how come they're with us and not a much bigger team?

[BigFatSam]

Can't really argue with anything pinky has written in his last couple of posts tbh. I'll add this though:

If the players we have signed are so good, how come they're with us and not a much bigger team?

We signed them when we were considered good.

[mumbles87]

Can't really argue with anything pinky has written in his last couple of posts tbh. I'll add this though:

If the players we have signed are so good, how come they're with us and not a much bigger team?

Paquata was going to be Silva's replacement at city but he never left so they didn't complete the transfer

Benny is our level. If he had the complete package he wouldn't be with us

Same with fornals he is a good finisher away from a top club

Bowen would get in most clubs