I have never liked the champions league anyway.

[Pat Vegas]

10 characters

[7sisters]

10 characters

More often than not, Europe has been a crushing disappointment over the years.
It’s the closest we get to actually becoming Spurs.

[Arsenal Alcoholic Review]

Team looked clueless once Saka went off. Couldn't create anything. I'm not gonna lose too much sleep over it. The overrated CL format means you're allowed a few free hits before getting knocked out anyway. This sort of result had been coming though. You can only roll the dice so many times creating a similar ammount of chances as an inferior team and get away with it.

[John Bunnell]

This is why I always laugh with despair when I hear on here or AFTV how we should sweep up in Europe because it's full of no-mark cannon fodder. We just do not have the minerals for Europe.

[PSRB]

Team looked clueless once Saka went off. Couldn't create anything. I'm not gonna lose too much sleep over it. The overrated CL format means you're allowed a few free hits before getting knocked out anyway. This sort of result had been coming though. You can only roll the dice so many times creating a similar ammount of chances as an inferior team and get away with it.

Whilst we were poor, their keeper still had to make 3 outstanding saves.

I'm not convinced Raya is better than Ramsdale.

[7sisters]

Whilst we were poor, their keeper still had to make 3 outstanding saves.


I'm not convinced Raya is better than Ramsdale.

Although, I’m becoming more convinced by the week that the Chelsea sales dept have had a massive result with Havertz and Mount :)

[PSRB]

Although, I’m becoming more convinced by the week that the Chelsea sales dept have had a massive result with Havertz and Mount :)

I thought Havertz was okay, keeper made a great save to deny him. The problem is he keeps making runs in behind but he does it when the CB's have the ball and they don't play it long. He looked a lot more confident. Not giving up on him, yet.

[Pat Vegas]

Whilst we were poor, their keeper still had to make 3 outstanding saves.

I'm not convinced Raya is better than Ramsdale.

I suppose Arteta will have to stick with it

[7sisters]

I thought Havertz was okay, keeper made a great save to deny him. The problem is he keeps making runs in behind but he does it when the CB's have the ball and they don't play it long. He looked a lot more confident. Not giving up on him, yet.

I’m not convinced, well, not at that price, which is really where the negativity becomes rooted with the fan base. At 45m, he’d have largely gone under the radar and viewed as a good option for squad depth.
There’s a feeling that Arteta has to prove his worth and instead of perhaps gradually blending him in, he’s just launched him in, centre stage.
Rice has the personality to ignore his fee, Havertz clearly doesn’t.
The fact that Saka offered him that penalty speaks volumes. Meanwhile, Arteta just ploughs on with his obstinate beliefs and may ironically be ruining a good player ?

[PSRB]

If we're not going to go long, I'd rather ESR or Vieira in that role (no idea why MA replaced Saka with Vieira, very odd choice) and then bring Havertz on if chasing the game.

[Peter]

If we're not going to go long, I'd rather ESR or Vieira in that role (no idea why MA replaced Saka with Vieira, very odd choice) and then bring Havertz on if chasing the game.

I thought bringing Vieira on for Saka was a rubbish decision. He has never looked convincing in the wide role and he was a virtual pasenger.

Raya is better at coming for high balls than Ramsdale, his handling is slightly better and his first touch is better. His long passing is **** and it cost us yesterday. He has done something similar a number of times but it hadn't proved costly until last night. I can see why Arteta likes him- he is happy to hold the ball and draw players in to help us beat the press. But I think Ramsdale is better against shots and in a one on one. It is difficult o avoid the feeling that Arteta has taken a perfectly good situation and made it worse.

Declan Rice is a great player but on a technical level he isn't Thomas Partey. Our play through the press is worse now and relies more heavily on Zinchenko who, for all his wonderful touches, is extremely accident prone in possession.

Havertz is not currently helping but I think the hope in the long term is that he helps lift the technical level of the midfield, while Rice helps us to contain counter attacks a bit better.

For now, we are a worse side than last season. We struggle to play from the back with any speed or precision, we make stupid mistakes in possession far too often and we are so unbelievably easy to get at on the counter attack.

We will improve as the season goes on but for now we just have to hope we can stay in touch with the top two or three.

City will beat us easily this weekend.

[PSRB]

I thought bringing Vieira on for Saka was a rubbish decision. He has never looked convincing in the wide role and he was a virtual pasenger.

Raya is better at coming for high balls than Ramsdale, his handling is slightly better and his first touch is better. His long passing is **** and it cost us yesterday. He has done something similar a number of times but it hadn't proved costly until last night. I can see why Arteta likes him- he is happy to hold the ball and draw players in to help us beat the press. But I think Ramsdale is better against shots and in a one on one. It is difficult o avoid the feeling that Arteta has taken a perfectly good situation and made it worse.

Declan Rice is a great player but on a technical level he isn't Thomas Partey. Our play through the press is worse now and relies more heavily on Zinchenko who, for all his wonderful touches, is extremely accident prone in possession.

Havertz is not currently helping but I think the hope in the long term is that he helps lift the technical level of the midfield, while Rice helps us to contain counter attacks a bit better.

For now, we are a worse side than last season. We struggle to play from the back with any speed or precision, we make stupid mistakes in possession far too often and we are so unbelievably easy to get at on the counter attack.

We will improve as the season goes on but for now we just have to hope we can stay in touch with the top two or three.

City will beat us easily this weekend.

Agree on all those points but I would say Rice is outstanding defensively and sniffing out danger and nicking the ball.

We also aren't clinical enough, their keeper made 3 or 4 fantastic saves but we should have buried at least 2 of those chances....same as against the scum and it cost us.

[Peter]

Agree on all those points but I would say Rice is outstanding defensively and sniffing out danger and nicking the ball.

We also aren't clinical enough, their keeper made 3 or 4 fantastic saves but we should have buried at least 2 of those chances....same as against the scum and it cost us.

Yeah, Rice is better defensively than Partey. He is also quicker and fitter. But he doesn't have the same technical level.