Arsenal Vs Crystal Palace

A win would be nice

Leno; Chambers, Sokratis, Luiz, Tierney; Guendouzi, Xhaka, Ceballos; Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang

Subs: Martinez, Holding, Bellerin, Kolasinac, Torreira, Saka, Martinelli

I desperately want this front 3 to click. I think having Tierney will help Auba a lot.

So which of Chambers/Tierney will be up against Zaha?
think he has played more on the right this season

edit i see Townsend also starts ,so Zaha on the left

Need Chambers to play high and wide so Pepe can come inside and feed the other two.

Tierney should hopefully provide good service from the other side, so Auba can focus on making diagonal runs.

A quick double???

Two goals via corner ffs?

442 tonight

Ceballos is shuffling to the left in defence, and you can clearly see Auba and Laca pressing as a two.

In possession Ceballos and Pepe are coming inside.

Doesn't look awful so far, tbh.

VAR....

Zaha will do most defenders 1v1.

Still, not good from Chambers in the slightest. Knew he was going to concede that pen the moment he was squared up.

Chambers issue since forever has always been his clumsiness in defending 1 on 1. He is slow which can't be helped but his legs moves slower than the attackers which will never be good enough at this level.

Bellerin back will be huge. Look at how good Tierney is doing on the left.

48% possession at home vs Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace.

No player returning will fix us.

There was very little wrong with the performance tbh.

we are to the point where crowd has to cheer winning corners loudly like a midtable club ffs

Gary Neville described Chambers best. Not quick enough to be a top full back, and not tall/strong enough to be a top centre back. And I'd add he's not quite technical enough to play in midfield at this level, either.

Basically, he's useful for his utility but that's it. Hopefully Bellerin will be fit enough to take that spot back soon.

Anyway, Arsenal have been more direct than usual. I guess that's just the nature of the formation they're playing. Still, it's that consistent issue of lacking control in the game. The forwards aren't keeping hold of the ball long enough and Xhaka and Guendouzi have been reluctant to step forward in support. I think one of them needs to do that more so the ball can cycled around more in Palace's half.

Awful. Yet again.

Xhaka showing his 10 pace right there. Gets nowhere near McArthur, who isn't that quick himself.

And I've counted three failed attempts to counter in the last five minutes alone. Players just too weak on the ball and not playing quick enough.

wtf is this

I'm done with PL VAR, what a fucking shit shown whole weekend.

Christ, what a mess. Arsenal are a mid-table team now and I'm fully expecting their league position to confirm it at the end of the season.

We've discussed Emery to death and expecting his team to transform themselves in a space of a few days would have been foolish, but he's created something incoherent and chaotic. His team is never in control - maybe that's his tactics, or maybe it's the quality on the pitch - and it contributes to this whole mess on the pitch.

The fans are unhappy because they're watching a mediocre team struggle for fluency despite its talent. In the space of seven days, three teams who Arsenal should be beating comfortably have given them a rough time. Not once has the quality gap told. Maybe Pepe's free-kicks on Thursday, at a push.

There are players out there who aren't up to it, but they're playing every game. Xhaka is the poster boy for this. There's been brewing dissatisfaction with him since he was announced as captain and it exploded tonight. To be clear, I think the fans are embarrassing for jeering their own player, even if I understand their frustration. Sadly, this situation has been caused by Emery's insistence on starting the guy every single league game when he's not had any form to speak of for some time.

Xhaka doesn't help himself. He's the captain, rightly or wrongly, and to walk off the pitch when your team are needing a goal and need momentum is wrong. I sympathise with his reaction to the jeers because hey, players are human too and fuck getting boo'd by 60,000 people. At the same time, it wasn't the most diplomatic thing he's ever done. It was his Gallas moment and unfortunately nobody will take him seriously as a leader at the club now.

Problem is, this kind of atmosphere, where anything below standard is boo'd and fans readily scapegoat players they deem not good enough, isn't going to make the team better. It's going to make them too scared to make a mistake, and they'll play within themselves at home.

Incidentally, the loudest chant of the night was for Ozil. Ozil walked off the pitch in the Europa League final, which nobody liked, but the team is so starved of creativity that the fans just want him to get a chance. It sums up how screwed the team is at the moment, when the guy who forever divides opinion because of his perceived laziness and lack of heart is now becoming a saviour again.

Really, the only way any of this gets sorted is if the management put together a competent team with a manager the fans can get behind. Emery projects such a nervous and twitchy presence on the field that nobody can really get behind him, and his team completely plays in his image.

felt for Xhaka
what good do you gain by doing that towards your own player,fucking c*nts,some of them were the same crowd that singing Giroud song or applauding Fabregas when they returned with Chelsea shirt

We have the worst fans in the league, no doubt. Seriously, you can‘t argue against it.

urbaNRoots wrote:We have the worst fans in the league, no doubt. Seriously, you can‘t argue against it.

absolute worst

It's certainly one of the most delicate fan-bases in the PL.

United have been bad longer than Arsenal yet their fans still support their team, still try and make a good atmosphere, and seldom jeer their own players despite their frustrations with them. It's admirable.

Whereas Arsenal fans think of every draw, nevermind a loss, is a crisis. Any player not performing or having a bad spell of form is not good enough. Players are regularly abused in the ground and online. Nobody truly believes in anyone or anything; it's all false hope generated by a couple of big money signings.

They've been burned a lot in the last decade. False dawns and collapses in 2008, 2011, and 2014. Top players leaving for rival clubs and winning honours. Big losses to big teams and rivals. But ffs, this shit happens all the time in football and as a fanbase we have to get our act together.

Not that surprised of all this toxicity tbh. For a big club, our fans have been through some of the worst shitshow comedies in football post-Invincibles. I don't think they should get all the blame in this.

I know it's not preferable. But the fans reacting that way shows there's a larger impatience and dissatisfaction that has been constantly present and brewing underneath all the obvious surface level faults of this club.

Arsenal FC needs a rebirth... a saviour.