GoonerKent

END THE SEASON (Arsenal-Brighton reaction)

It has been real, it has been fun, but it hasn’t been real fun. In the most embarrassing way possible, Arsenal bowed out of the title race at home by getting dogwalked by Brighton 3-0 . Completely outclassed, outworked, outthought, outfought by a superior Brighton team. Just embarrassing from start to finish by the supposed title challengers.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

Arteta might actually just be an idiot: He has done well to get us to this point but I am starting to think this guy might just be a clown. Arteta went out and played the same starting XI he did against Newcastle which is all fine and dandy when you look at it high-level, but when you are playing an up and running, physical Newcastle side where you might need a Jorginho to bring some control to a game. But when you are at home and are playing a Brighton side that plays similar to how Arsenal do with their high press – build from the back style, you might want to try something different than playing a Xhaka-Jorginho pivot. The Brighton midfield trio of Gilmour, Gross and Mac Allister absolutely took the piss out of the Arsenal midfield today by their inability to ever lose the ball, nip and tuck fouls to stagger the Arsenal play and pretty much overrunning the unathletic immobile duo of Xhaka and Jorginho. Arsenal could never get a grip in the center of the pitch and Arsenal paid the price. If only we had a more athletic, phyiscally imposing and simply better player on our bench that could help (We did, and his name is Thomas Partey).
We need to have a discussion on Saka: This has become really really bad. This man hasn’t turned up for what feels like a month now, essentially when we have needed him most, he has completely non-existent and nobody says or does anything about it. For example, you could make the argument that he was the worst player on the pitch but somehow he was the only one that didn’t get subbed off. This protection of Saka is strange and is definitely warrants questions that need to be asked of why he gets so much protection from the media and Arteta. Supposedly, our best player but doesn’t show up when we need him most, weird.
Arsenal bottled it, straight up: I don’t want to hear anything about City, Arsenal weren’t supposed to be here or anything like that. In a 7 game stretch where you play Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton, City, Chelsea Newcastle, and Brighton and you only win 2 of the games, nah, I’m not sorry, you choked. You want to win the title, how about you win some games, how about that? You want to win the title but get slapped up by your main rivals home and away? Nah, not how it works. Even the Klopp Liverpool sides that lost out to City, they at least defended their home fixture and gave City something to worry about, we just continually get cooked by City home and away, it doesn’t matter. So high level, of course you can say Arsenal didn’t choke cause we were never supposed to be here but that is now how this works. You perform the way we did in the last 7 games, win 2/7 games, dropping 12 points out of a 21 possible in the meat end of the season, nothing other than a chokejob.
Saliba about to be a very rich man: There are many reasons we are in the position we are in at the moment, dropping 12/21 points, embarrassing performances at the Emirates etc. and it all be attributed to when we lost William Saliba to injury. You can argue that since we lost to him to that Sporting tie, shit hasn’t been the same, you can make an argument that we replcaed him with a useless piece of life in Rob Holding but regardless, once the spine of our team fell apart, so did our title chances. Thomas Partey hasn’t quite been at his best without Saliba behind him. And with Saliba now fighting for a new contract with Arsenal, all he has to do is show the last 7 games and Arsenal can’t really do much else than to pay this guy.
If you think Jorginho is better than Thomas Partey, you are the problem.
I can’t even get mad at the ref for being incompetent at his job because we were so shit today: When Alexis stepped on Kiwior, how was that not looked at? Don’t get me started on the assistant referee trying to flag Trossard offside on an throw-in, can’t make this shit up.
END THE SEASON

Arsenal boys showed up, but seems a little too late given how it seems impossible to drop points for City

Wow, forgot how much I hate Newcastle and their obese fans. A year ago last year, they were wholly responsible for knocking us out of the Champions League places after bullying us up and down the pitch at St. James to get a 2-0 win over us and fully sending me down a spiral of depression.

Earlier this year, they played us to the most 0-0 draw at the Emirates which an absurd amount of timewasting, fouling, complaining etc. Credit to them, they left the Emirates with a point but karma is such a bitch. Newcastle to their credit, have been tearing up the league since their Carabao Cup final loss to United and have bullied and punished teams in their backyard. Today, the Arsenal boys stood up for themselves and shithoused and fought out a 2-0 win away at St. James. Not much has changed in the title run with City refusing to lose, but at the end of the day, all we can do now given our recent mess ups is to keep the pressure so we move onto the next week.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

We might have got away with one but sometimes, that is how things go: Literally from the get-go, Newcastle had banged a shot off the post and had a close-penalty shot with Bruno G. having a clear shot on goal form the top of the box. It felt like deja-vu from last year with their fans right on top of us with their players running free right through our midfield. Joe Willock also had a clear shot on Ramsdale and puts up a terrible attempt and shoots right at him and had another one in the second half when Xhaka puts in a game-saving tackle to keep the shot out of the net. Joelinton had a clear header in the box after a Zinchenko disasterclass that hit the post. Despite the 2-0 win, it felt like we got away with one, sometimes that happens but we just remember to count our blessings cause another day, this could have been compeltely different.

24 hours later and I will never get over how Arsenal screwed this up so badly , the most ARSENAL thing ever (Arsenal-Southampton reaction)

What a choke job, bottle-job, embarrassment, etc. Whatever you want to call a team putting up a shockingly embarrassing performance in high-pressure situations where you are heavily favored, Arsenal just did that times a billion. I am being dramatic and might have some hyperbole in there but as a highly emotional, overly invested fan, this team is everything to me and the players/coaches/management just sold me down the river for slaughter.

Arsenal in their past two games before yesterday blew consecutive 2-0 leads which led to 2-2 draws against Liverpool and West Ham (relegation fodder) to drop 4 points in a highly competitive and tight PL title race against arguably the best team in the world (Man City). And yesterday they outdid themselves in the most Arsenal fashion ever by drawing 3-3 AT HOME (AT YOUR OWN DAMN STADIUM WHERE THE MAJOJRITY OF HOME CROWD ACTIVELY ROOTS AND SUPPORT YOU) to the last place team in the league (20th place), heavily struggling Southampton to extend their league to 5 points at the top of the league with City having two games in hand. Just a nightmarish scenario for all fragile Arsenal fans out there. 6 points dropped in 3 games. You can’t make this stuff up but for Arsenal fans, we are numb to this crap at this point. Our next game is at the Etihad against Man City in a game where we must win, HA. At this point, City couldn’t be in better form and we are looking like greased up fat pigs for slaughter, just end me at this point before next Wednesday.

THE PRESSURE IS GETTING A BIT MUCH (Arsenal – West Ham reaction)

We needed this one, we needed this one so bad. Arsenal coming into today had a chance to go 6 points clear with City’s game in hand (76 vs. 70). It’s not much but it would provide some cushion before our clash with the them next week but bad stuff here, bad stuff there, sadness over there and Arsenal now finds themselves 4 points clear with City having a game in hand and I am not sure how much I can take. Arsenal away from home against relegation fodder West Ham squandered a 2-0 lead to share points with those clowns. For the longest time I have been preaching we have everything left to play for but at this point, I’m not sure I believe that.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

I’ll finally admit that the pressure is real and I am barely hanging on: We have been finally giving people what they want, Arsenal have answered 99% of their critics and have passed every obstacle with grace but this looks like to be a step too far at the moment. Losing at Everton, dropping points at Southampton away and Brentford at home, squandering a 2-0 goal lead at Anfield and now this, it’s a bit much than I can handle and unfortunately, it looks like the same could be same for Arsenal. Everything is still in our hands but will take me awhile to get over this one cause we needed it. We were cruising through the first 30 minutes, almost a carbon copy of the Liverpool fixture with two quick goals from Jesus and Odegaard with sublime buildup and then not sure what else I can say. We give up a dumb penalty, West ham fans get into the game to support their team, they get an ridiculous over the top goal and now I find myself speechless and hurting.

YEARS OFF MY LIFE (Arsenal-Liverpool reaction)

What a sport, what a match. All things considered, could have been worse, could have been wayyyyy worse for Kent. Everything to play for, for Arsenal, extend our lead to 8 points at our haunted ground, win for the first time since Podolski and Cazorla, it felt like a win would all but give us the confidence to go on and win the league and then just like that, a 2-0 lead turns us into hanging onto dear life and now leave Anfield with a 2-2 draw. Easily could be a loss. Given the context of the game, felt like a 2 points loss to a point gained with Ramsdale making 3 incredible saves at the end to secure the draw for the good guys.

6 point lead with a game in hand and a game at the Etihad still around the corner. It’s looking bleak for us right now as Haaland and his dumb face and Julian Alvarez’s acne breathing down on our necks toward the end of the season. (I apologize Julian but I’m down bad now and lashed out) Hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

GABI JESUS IS BACK (Arsenal – Leeds reaction)

Saka out with an illness, Saliba out indefinitely, Tomiyasu out for the season, Man City battered Liverpool 4-1 earlier today, not what you want to see as an Arsenal going into this Leeds game but we handled them with a second-half onslaught to take us back to 8 points clear with a game in hand despite all those things going against us with a 4-1 win over relegation fodder Leeds. Gabi Jesus got back on the scoresheet with two goals, Trossard got himself another assist, Xhaka got a goal, Thomas Partey didn’t get injured and I didn’t have to suffer through a roller-coaster of a game. All to play for with 9 matches left, 9 cup finals, let’s do it fellas.

REISS NELSON SAVED OUR SEASON (Arsenal-Bournemouth reaction)

In our best Drake and Future voices: “What a time to be alive”. This team man, I swear, is going to be the end of me, good or bad. This team’s belief in all their matches, the relentlessness, and the refusal to give in, is incredible. And they showed it again today with a comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 over Bournemouth at the Emirates. Just incredible scenes to fight back in a must-win game. I have been preaching all year you can’t lose your home games if you want to win the title and these guys did their best to fuck it all up to the league’s worst team. Can’t really explain how, can’t really explain why, they just did it again in 90+ plus minutes, the third time in the 2023 calendar year, Arsenal secured a winner in stoppage time to keep their 5 point lead at the top of the table.

VAR AND OFFICIALS TRIED BUT WE KEEP WINNING, 3 POINTS FOR THE GOOD GUYS (Arsenal – Leicester reacition)

After disastrous defeats to Everton and City and a disappointing draw at home to Brentford, Arsenal has fortunately rebounded with two huge away wins at Villa and at Leicester today with a 1-0 victory. Arsenal have extended their lead at the top to 5 points and gives us room to breathe while City playing Bournemouth in the coming hour.

Table: Arsenal have now extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points, albeit perhaps briefly, as Manchester City travel to Bournemouth this evening, with kick-off moments away. #afc pic.twitter.com/nXVbcOFLOO
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) February 25, 2023

All things considered, Arsenal seemed to have somewhat stabled and righted the wavering ship, games against Everton midweek and Bournemouth are prime opportunities for Arsenal to pick up points and put pressure on City.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

Leicester was dreadful. Leicester who still has so much to play for in their quest to not get relegated were objectively poor today, considering the circumstances of playing at home, with the league leaders coming into town, and they just stood back and soaked all the unnecessary pressure. Arsenal playing teams that dive into a low-intensity low-block is my favorite type of team to play. They offered no staggered pressing at all to switch things up like Brentford did, they had no cohesive strategy whenever they did win the ball which left Kelechi ridiculously isolated between Gabriel and Saliba, just an all-around disaster from Leicester, not complaining by any means, just saying the biggest driver to Arsenal’s 1-0 victory.
Martinelli rollercoaster continues: In the first half, this man was driving me crazy. Every decision he made, was the wrong one. As a right-footed LW, he seems satisfied with just going down the line to play on his weaker foot, not even giving the defender an inkling of doubt that, you know, he might want to get on his right to wrap a right-footed shot at their shit keeper. Just maddening, as well as the few times the ball got stuck to his feet when we were intricately playing around the box and he just fucked it up. But to be consistent with what he has done all year, he gets us that all-important goal to solidify the 3 points with a devastating run for the easy finish. Just an enigma for me right now, but as long as he is scoring, I won’t say a word.

WE GOT WHAT WE DESERVE despite var being the biggest waste of time and money for everyone involved. Kill me (Arsenal-Brentford reaction)

And just like that, Arsenal dropped another two points at home to mid-table Brighton with a 1-1 draw at the Emirates. Very frustrating afternoon considering the opportunity we had to rebound from a 1-0 loss to Everton last week, and we were at home, it was all set up for us to smack Brentford before Man City on Wednesday and it was not good enough, to say the least. 4/10 and 5/10 all over the pitch for Arsenal players, with all to play for is disappointing but we move to Wednesday against Man City.

THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST HALF: Arteta started with the same starting XI we have seen for most of this season and I think we are at a point where we need a change or two to spice things up. Arsenal saw a lot of possession to start the match as you would expect but Brighton unlike the earlier matchup between the two teams was well-organized and stood up to the Gooners at every turn. Martinelli, Eddie and Xhaka for me, were way below the standards we had set for ourselves heading into this match, never getting and coming into the match like we needed them to, made life easy for Brentford whenever they received the ball around the box. Just a lack of cutting edge from our standout players this season. If we are being honest, Brentford had the more clear-cut chances in the first half with well worked counters between Mbuemo and Ivan Toney up top where Arsenal didn’t cope with the pressure well at all. Rico Henry had a sitter where he incredibly hit it off target and Toney hit the crossbar with a wide open net as well. The chances for Arsenal were few and far between where there were spells of well-worked possession and intricate passing around the box but we were never able to open the low block/5 defender set that Brentford set themselves up with, leaving both teams going into the half tied 0-0.

THOUGHTS ON THE SECOND HALF: Arteta seemed to have gotten into the Arsenal players at the half as we came out of the blocks with may more intent and pressure than the first half. Arteta knew what was at stake and before the 60th minute mark, got Trossard ready to come in for Martinelli which was surprising, given the fact that Arteta usually waits on subs instead of being aggressive to make changes. Trossard who benefitted from the tired Brentford legs was lively from the start and was giving Roerslev the runaround a bit before Saka found space and time on the right to whip in a cross which was was well-finished and well-timed by Trossard:

It was a perfect moment. Arsenal had broken the deadlock and secured themselves 3 points to extend the lead before this debacle:

Just terrible, fucking terrible. Zinchenko getting pinned off, Saliba was dominated by Pinnock, Ramsdale all at sorts, and Toney had the easiest goal in his life.

BUT Lee Mason, that disgusting human being who was on VAR assignment for the game failed to take into account Christian Norgaard’s positioning for the goal. He did not draw the offside line for the Danish midfielder which then allowed for the goal to stand for Brentford. Just an abysmal performance from the Premier League, PGMOL, and Lee Mason for not doing the bare minimum for their job. Like the only reason VAR should exist is to get the objective parts of the game right, and they have failed in VAR’s tenure to do that consistently. It’s so basic, so frustrating.

Brentford's equaliser against Arsenal was wrongly allowed to stand because of human error. VAR failed to check whether Christian Norgaard was offside before crossing for Ivan Toney. Story @TeleFootball https://t.co/iivb7Ssigf
— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) February 12, 2023

🚨 It is understood that VAR operator Lee Mason had instead focused on a possible offside offence a few seconds earlier, involving Ethan Pinnock & Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães, before failing to ‘fully investigate’ Christian Norgaard’s positioning. [@SamJDean] #afc https://t.co/LTSHRcBxEv pic.twitter.com/FwA1u9fwwP
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) February 12, 2023

At the end of the day, Arsenal weren’t good enough over the 90 minutes to get the 3 points, fair to say Arsenal are hitting their current low point of the season and needs to get their heads back yesterday before things unravel even worse, no better time to do it then against title challenger City on Wednesday.

MATCH RATINGS:

Ramsdale: 5/10: Made decent saves throughout but in the biggest moment of the game, came up short

Ben White: 5/10: Been pretty poor for the past few weeks

Saliba: 5/10: Outdueled by Toney for most of the game, lost out to Pinnock for the goal

Gabriel: 5/10: Struggled a bit as well

Zinchenko: 6/10: Tried hard

Xhaka: 4/10: useless in the final third

Saka: 7/10: Our only constant attacking threat

Ødegaard: 6/10: also tried hard

Nketiah: 5/10: May be back to his level?

Trossard: 7/10: did what he could for the team

Lee Mason: -10000000000000/10: F off

BRING THESE CLOWNS ON IN THE LEAGUE (Arsenal-City FA CUP reaction)

Nobody knew what to expect tonight when the PL leaders Arsenal and City faced off in the FA Cup. Maybe some people were expecting a barn burner of a game with two high-pressing, high-octane offenses would clash for the first time this season and instead, they got a cagey, kind of dull, lethargic FA Cup tie. City squeaked out a 1-0 win at the Etihad to advance in the Cup but you won’t find me pressed about it.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

PREMATCH: I played every scenario of what I thought would happen tonight. With City, there is always a possibility of getting smacked, look at their 6-3 win over United and their 4-0 win against Chelsea in the last round. The tough guys would say play your starters full throttle, don’t be afraid of City so on and so forth. As cool as that is, the players are human beings and deep down it wouldn’t be the same for them in a FA Cup 4th round when they know they face these guys in the league in a few weeks. City also have the ability to smack us with 4 goals with all of our starters if we don’t show up as well so not giving them the chance to have that mental edge on us is something I was cognizant about before the match. You also don’t want to play a lineup with all reserves which could also have its own significance in a harmful way if beaten handily. If I were Arteta, I would have started the match exactly like he did: a mix of starters and capable reserves to shore out and respect a vaunted City side (Turner-Tomiyasu-Holding-Gabriel-Tierney-Thomas-Xhaka-Saka-Vieira-Trossard-Eddie). That is 6 changes from the usual PL starting XI we put out as City essentially put out their best XI in regards to their latest matches which shows what Arteta and Pep thought about today’s game. Arteta looking to rest some of his key players and fully looking at the league with Pep looking for City to make a statement and after the match today, you’d have to say Arteta won.

FIRST HALF: I thought we edged the first half by a decent margin. You can see from the start that Arteta kept his principles the same and had the boys pressing from the start. There were times that it worked but you can tell that there is no better team in world football that is capable of breaking a press like City. Trossard picked up some good moments early, going at their young RB Rico Lewis. Noticed that he doesn’t mind going down the line with his weaker left foot and forced a decent save out of Ortega. He also earlier crossed the ball with his weaker foot which found a surging Tomiyasu who caught all of the ball but Ortega did well to get a strong hand on it. Other than that, City were admittedly poor given the stakes and who each team was fielding. Haaland’s touch was all over the place, Mahrez and Grealish were non-existent, Gundogan and Rodri were just passengers etc.

SECOND HALF: You can tell that Pep got in their asses and City came out a bit faster with more purpose in the second half. They were imposing themselves or trying to at least but I think Arsenal handled it as well as they could for the most part before Ake squeezed a shot past Turner. We got some of the big boys on to get something out of the game but it was a bit too much at the end. We definitely had our chances and picked it up after we conceded but the energy and drive to get that goal was not the same when trying to compare on how we chased that winner against United. Just different class and scenario for us and we bow out of the FA Cup to City. Not a bad result at all, matched them for 90 minutes away from home with a rotated squad while they played their best XI. You obviously don’t love to lose but this match just cemented how we should smack them when they come to the Emirates when the league is at stake. You can penalize us for not being as motivated as we should for this game but you would have to double that on how City performed with who they fielded during a home game against the PL leaders.