Arsenal 2 - 1 Leicester City

Short one from me tonight.

It was a very below par performance from Arsenal. We didn't deserve to win. We didn't create nearly enough decent chances and the defending was crap all game; we made Mahrez look like Messi at times with our inability to take the ball off him, while Schlupp charged through our defence one too many times. The second half was diabolical and I thought we were fortunate to actually come away with the three points.

So not a very satisfying night, really, despite the win. Ramsey's injured (looks like he's done his hammy again) and Alexis took a knock to his knee, so we can only pray they aren't too hurt. Lots of poor individual performances, though at least Ozil was good throughout. Ospina doesn't look a reliable keeper to me, Monreal had a poor game, Cazorla wasn't as influential, nothing came off for Rosicky and Walcott and Alexis were on the fringes too often.

Clearly the derby loss hurt us mentally and physically. Hopefully now we've got it out of our system.

We'll certainly have to be a lot better against Middlesbrough in the cup this Sunday. Quality-wise, they aren't any worse than this Leicester side that's just outplayed us.

... and it would be a cup tie.


Short, but hitting the nail on the head. Top post Jay!

Ramseys hamstring has been bleeped all season. We need to sell him to barca for him to get better

I hope i'm wrong but Ospina reminds me of Richard Wright and Flappy, good reaction but weak hands lead to Flappy balls.

anyway, two games to try to get our form back on track for Monaco.

Twoism wrote:I hope i'm wrong but Ospina reminds me of Richard Wright and Flappy, good reaction but weak hands lead to Flappy balls.

Exactly what I was thinking..

We played like crap, lost all the 50/50 balls, nothing came off but we won. Take the 3 points, call it a night and regroup for the next match.

Ospina looked far too shaky, he allows opponents to press him when he's about to shoot and that makes his distribution erratic and his other big flaw is that he parries shots he should catch or spread farther out into the path of opponents like he did with the first goal vs Spurs.

But it's only his first season in the Premier League and he looks nervy, wouldn't pass final judgment on him.

Pretty crap performance, Leicesterlona were hungrier, pressed us, disrupted our passing, wouldn't let us maneuver out of tight spaces, looked like Spurs but with a team that was slightly worse. Hopefully we get out of this funk because we were in good form before the NLD.

Disagree. How could any non-Sunday-league football team be worse than Spuds?

Also, I think we should save this as a template:

Pretty crap performance, < INSERT OPPONENT NAME > were hungrier, pressed us, disrupted our passing, wouldn't let us maneuver out of tight spaces.

srigooner wrote:Disagree. How could any non-Sunday-league football team be worse than Spuds?

....

Oh wait. #2-1 #Kaned

Four points behind city, come one Stuck City beat them.

We were very poor in defense, so lucky to get 3 points. Wenger with his usual excuses, the players lost their leg, they were thinking of derby loss. We looks like a mid-table team for past 2 games.

Think you guys are making a big thing out of it. The first half performance was actually good/alright. It was the attitude that we had in the second half that almost cost us the match.

Leicester, from what I've seen throughout this decision, without them getting the desired results, are actually a decent footballing side, so they were always going to string a few passes together and put us in a few tight spots at the back already knowing that our defending isn't one of the best.

It is just as I said, the our attitude was unexceptable in the seocnd half and that led to huge drop of energy, we basically just passed the ball up into the final third and then lost it due to poor passing or a lack of runners. And we always suck when a team breaks at us fast or plays direct at fast and Leicester did that. Not denying though that we could've been a bit more composed and level-headed at the back. The defenders still made some silly errors, and got to be honest I don't think Ospina is much better than Szczesny. I actually think Szcz asserts himself more than Ospina.

El Gunner wrote: The first half performance was actually good/alright.

I think you are letting the 2-0 score at HT cloud your judgement. They had 3 chances in the first 30' when they could easily have been 3-0 up. We were shambolic!

De Gea was flappy in his 1st year too so here hoping things will get better with Ospina

Ospina doesn't seem commanding enough to be honest. I am seeing my hopes already shifting towards Emi Martinez.

Not the best performance, but a pivotal result in a week when we have closed in on the top four. It was also a 4-5 day period in which the top teams all struggled to pick up maximum points and certainly struggled to perform at their best.

In that case, three points from the 2 games is not awful, although of course, it is the minimum we should have picked up - and the defeat at Spurs is always difficult to take.

Ramsey's injury - looks like a month out at least - is a blow but with Coquelin, Rosicky, Cazorla and Ozil in great form and Wilshere, Chamberlain and Gnabry coming back, we should be okay. Alexis' injury is the major concern, let's hope he is fine.

So, Middlesbrough at home next. Expecting a few changes for the cup. Hopefully we'll get our first look at Gabriel.

Painfully average