Man City v Arsenal, 12:45

Xavi6

gandalf wrote: »

In reality the linesman wins the game for City. We were playing against 12 men today.

Get out of it, the linesman didn't root Koscielny's feet to the ground for the first, or allow Zabaleta the freedom of the park for the second, or take down Milner for the penalty, or gift the ball straight to Fernandinho.

Yes, you were on the receiving end of a few dodgy decisions, but show a bit of class by not blaming the officials for your team's inadequacies.

Three point gap, and it'll only get smaller if you keep needing officials to be on your side.

Will I Amnt

gandalf wrote: »

In reality the linesman wins the game for City.

Go away out of that. He got some calls wrong but City were by far the better team and could and should have scored a load more.

greendom

stiffler123 wrote: »

Don't like conceding three goals but when you score 6 it cushions the blow a bit.

Linesman was your best defender today. Arsenal could have done with him on our side

Essien

gandalf wrote: »

In reality the linesman wins the game for City. We were playing against 12 men today.

City were very very good going forward but in reality they were very frail at the back.

That linesman should never be allowed to officiate in a premiership game again.

Yep, bad officiating, that's why Arsenal lost.

LiamoSail

Deleted User wrote: »

fyp

The officials were poor, but that happens. You can't do anything about that. Arsenal need to look at themselves. The first and fourth should have been avoided had silva & aguero been marked properly. Wilshere's sloppiness set up the fifth. There's no excuse for that

On Wilshere, he looked poor today and really seemed to let the crowd get to him. Likely to be banned too for gesturing to the crowd. Very immature

titan18

As a United fan, this was a fun game. Still think City would have won, but Arsenal can feel annoyed at the offside decisions, should have been closer from a scoreline perspective.

Turtwig

Arsenal went legged at the end. City deserved winner don't think the scoreline reflects the game accurately though. Fantastic game to watch! Fair play to Arsenal never threw in the towel. Kept going for it leaving themselves very light at the back. Made it easier for City attacks but you have to applaud their conviction to always chase the game and not turn it into damage limitation and hope for counter attacks. Just hope that won't bite them in the ass if the league goes down to the wire.

EuropeanSon

Great game. City deserved their win, but the officiating was very poor, we should've been a lot closer on the scoreboard.

Not a huge amount you could find fault with in the performance today, obviously the defence weren't at their best, but City put on a spectacular attacking display. We need to give Giroud a rest, hopefully the 9 days before Chelsea will do him good.

All in all, disappointed to lose, but not to disheartening, we still have a great shot at the title.

Kirby

A Primal Nut wrote: »

On a positive note for Arsenal, we scored 3, had a goal wrongly disallowed, could have had a penalty and lots of other chances. Impressive stuff away to Man City.

Defensively, we were a shambles; Man City were amazing to be fair, so much better than us. If they sort out their away form the league is theirs, nobody else can stop them.

You are never going to get a penalty when a ball is blasted at somebody's thigh and it ricochets into a hand. They are simply never given and rightfully so.

Darkglasses

Chris Ryan wrote: »

Arsenal fans blaming the officials is madness, some poor decisions were made but you conceded 6 goals for f*ck sake

Xavi6 wrote: »

Get out of it, the linesman didn't root Koscielny's feet to the ground for the first, or allow Zabaleta the freedom of the park for the second, or take down Milner for the penalty, or gift the ball straight to Fernandinho.

Yes, you were on the receiving end of a few dodgy decisions, but show a bit of class by not blaming the officials for your team's inadequacies.

Three point gap, and it'll only get smaller if you keep needing officials to be on your side.

Spot on both.

Super-Rush

Apparently Wilshire made a gesture with his hand to the fans.

Not sure which set of fans yet.

Hitchens

"There was an interesting confrontation after the final whistle. Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker was shown angrily pointing a finger at club and international team-mate Mesut Ozil."

jonneymendoza

Chris Ryan wrote: »

Arsenal fans blaming the officials is madness, some poor decisions were made but you conceded 6 goals for f*ck sake

City could have conceded 7 .

ref took away 2 legit goals due to being onside and the other offsides the linesman flagged where incorrect.

i was syaing to my dad that why dont they use video technology for offsides?

It is either a yes or no and can be dealt easily in a video replay. i can understand fouls being a bit of a gray area but offsides are as easy as calling if the ball crossed the line or not

Super-Rush

Dominic Campbell ‏@dom_campbell 7m
So @fa, I assume Wiltshire will be punished in the same manner Suarez was? pic.twitter.com/vsOPnXcbpS

lala88

Dunphy was asked what happened Arsenal on Wednesday when they were given a lesson by Napoli and he replied that they weren't playing West Brom or Stoke. That's the difference.

Super-Rush

Hitchens wrote: »

"There was an interesting confrontation after the final whistle. Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker was shown angrily pointing a finger at club and international team-mate Mesut Ozil."

The commentators were saying that Mert was telling Ozil to go thank the fans but instead he walked down the tunnel.

efb

Xavi6 wrote: »

Get out of it, the linesman didn't root Koscielny's feet to the ground for the first, or allow Zabaleta the freedom of the park for the second, or take down Milner for the penalty, or gift the ball straight to Fernandinho.

Yes, you were on the receiving end of a few dodgy decisions, but show a bit of class by not blaming the officials for your team's inadequacies.

Three point gap, and it'll only get smaller if you keep needing officials to be on your side.

Not on our side but at least fair!!!

I don't think we're better than city

GTR63

Super-Rush wrote: »

Apparently Wilshire made a gesture with his hand to the fans.

Not sure which set of fans yet.

Maybe he was asking the fan to come on as a sub for him.

Mickeroo

lala88 wrote: »

Dunphy was asked what happened Arsenal on Wednesday when they were given a lesson by Napoli and he replied that they weren't playing West Brom or Stoke. That's the difference.

What about Napoli at home or Dortmund away though? Ironically we only drew with West Brom.

Hitchens

Best lunch-time kick off ever?

davycc

Super-Rush wrote: »

Apparently Wilshire made a gesture with his hand to the fans.

Not sure which set of fans yet.

well i have seen a pic on my FB feed ...not sure if it even happened during this game I didnt notice it anyways was too glued to the city goal fest:cool:

ugsparky

Chris Ryan wrote: »

Arsenal fans blaming the officials is madness, some poor decisions were made but you conceded 6 goals for f*ck sake

Wasn't watching the game as I'm under terra firma but following on the Guardian ...

89 min: Nicklas Bendtner heads home to make it 5-3, but his effort is incorrectly ruled out for offside. Arsenal have been deservedly beaten today, but have every right to feel aggrieved with some of the decisions that have gone against them: two poor offsides in the first half when they might have scored had a visibly rattled linesman kept his flag down, a penalty they should have been awarded but wasn't in the second half and now this...

Would suggest the officials once again have fcuked up a big game involving Arsenal ... however there is no excuse for conceding 6 goals.

I like Giroud as he's a good honest player ... but unless we get a striker of the calibre of Suarez, Aguerro or Lewandowski we will not win the league ... thanks be to fcuk I'm going for pints tonight because I'd vomit if I had to listen to the jug eared idiot and the village twat Hansen smuggly writing off our chances ... but I just can't see us finishing above City or Chelsea ... money still buys you the title :mad:

Moneymaker

Hitchens wrote: »

Best lunch-time kick off ever?

I prefered last weeks but i'm biased. :pac:

Sugarlumps

Not good from Ozil, fair play to Mertersacker.

bad2dabone

LiamoSail wrote: »

On Wilshere, he looked poor today and really seemed to let the crowd get to him. Likely to be banned too for gesturing to the crowd. Very immature

he needs to learn to control his temper. i've seen him lose his head before, stupidly.

MagicIRL

As a neutral I feel Arsenal were hard done by with a blatant penalty and clear goal disallowed. A fantastic game all the same and City proving they're on a whole other level this year.

Kirby

He has small man syndrome. He gets aggressive towards everything and everyone. The officials, the players, the fans. He's constantly moaning, cursing and so on. It's not the first time and wont be the last.

EuropeanSon

Mickeroo wrote: »

What about Napoli at home or Dortmund away though? Ironically we only drew with West Brom.

And Spurs, and Liverpool... People will say anything tbh. I think Dunphy/Hansen put about as much thought into their words as most After Hours posters.

ugsparky

Kirby wrote: »

He has small man syndrome. He gets aggressive towards everything and everyone. The officials, the players, the fans. He's constantly moaning, cursing and so on. It's not the first time and wont be the last.

Bollox

He is one of the most fouled players in the Premiership - some of the officials are a disgrace - he wants Arsenal to win so he occasionally losses the rag - that's small man syndrome ? - true, he has to curb the temper and true he needs to control his emotions and not let the crowd get to him but he certainly needs to keep his aggressiveness and will to win - I think you'll find he's a bit bigger than Nasri - but not as mercenary and with much greater loyalty to his club and manager.

efb

Lads enjoyed the thread. Good banter. Well done City

Kirby

ugsparky wrote: »

Bollox

He is one of the most fouled players in the Premiership - some of the officials are a disgrace - he wants Arsenal to win so he occasionally losses the rag - that's small man syndrome ? - true, he has to curb the temper and true he needs to control his emotions and not let the crowd get to him but he certainly needs to keep his aggressiveness and will to win - I think you'll find he's a bit bigger than Nasri - but not as mercenary and with much greater loyalty to his club and manager.

Anybody who watches him for longer than five minutes will see it. It's not about "occasionally losing the rag"....he has a constant scowl on his face and is permanently cursing at all and sundry around him, and squaring up to people. It's every game. He looked like he was about to deck clichy today after clichy complained to the ref about being elbowed by Wilshere. He's just angry all the time.

He's not alone in this as a good number of footballers are like that but it is what it is. Rooney before he mellowed a bit, Bellamy for most of his career, etc. Wilshere is similar to this. It's not "bollox" as you put it....you just don't want to see it.

Soups123

Kirby wrote: »

Anybody who watches him for longer than five minutes will see it. It's not about "occasionally losing the rag"....he has a constant scowl on his face and is permanently cursing at all and sundry around him, and squaring up to people. It's every game. He looked like he was about to deck clichy today after clichy complained to the ref about being elbowed by Wilshere. He's just angry all the time.

He's not alone in this as a good number of footballers are like that but it is what it is. Rooney before he mellowed a bit, Bellamy for most of his career, etc. Wilshere is similar to this. It's not "bollox" as you put it....you just don't want to see it.

Cursing and all???? Well I never

KingdomYid

Pretty poor form from Ozil not to applaud the away fans imo.

AdamD

Arsenal players who aren't Wilshere = too soft

Wilshere = thug

can't win really. His performance was dire mind

amiable

ugsparky wrote: »

Bollox

He is one of the most fouled players in the Premiership - some of the officials are a disgrace - he wants Arsenal to win so he occasionally losses the rag - that's small man syndrome ? - true, he has to curb the temper and true he needs to control his emotions and not let the crowd get to him but he certainly needs to keep his aggressiveness and will to win - I think you'll find he's a bit bigger than Nasri - but not as mercenary and with much greater loyalty to his club and manager.

I think you'll find the bit in bold is both irrelevant and untrue

amiable

AdamD wrote: »

Arsenal players who aren't Wilshere = too soft

Wilshere = thug

can't win really. His performance was dire mind

Wilshere ''losing his temper'' isn't the big issue today IMO.
His performance today was poor and that's a bigger issue.

Call Me Jimmy

I think wilshere is obviously quality but is there a case to be made that he's not in the best position? I always thought of him as a straight-up centre midfielder. I don't think taking on players is his strength and he seems to wind up having to do that a lot out there.

Turtyturd

amiable wrote: »

Wilshere ''losing his temper'' isn't the big issue today IMO.
His performance today was poor and that's a bigger issue.

Always been overrated tbh.

Kirby

I still think he can be a great player for Arsenal but his attitude is fairly poor. He shouldn't be flipping off fans. He needs to be smarter and more mature than that.

amiable

Turtyturd wrote: »

Always been overrated tbh.

His form has been poor IMO lately but Aaron Ramsey has proved that a player can turn poor form around

bad2dabone

Turtyturd wrote: »

Always been overrated tbh.

he's 21 and spent a year and a half more or less out injured.

He's overrated in the english media, of course, but he has a high level of potential. He should develop into a very good player, perhaps a great player, but whether he will or not remains to be seen. It's 50/50 for me.

wandatowell

He is immature sometimes childish.

He'll learn that in some games the team wont dominate, your opponents are either better or having better games. When that happen you gotta keep cool.

My main problem is where does he play in the Arsenal team?
Its a great problem for Arsenal to have.

Nalz

Quick one lads, whats the story with Gibbs?

Injured or out of favour?

bad2dabone

Trilla wrote: »

Quick one lads, whats the story with Gibbs?

Injured or out of favour?

unknown. maybe tired. There's generally not much between monreal and gibbs anyhow.

The_Kew_Tour

Be interesting to see how Arsenal react from this.

It was all sunshine and lollipops up to now.

City were fantastic. Great game, but only 1 team deserved to win it.

bad2dabone

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Be interesting to see how Arsenal react from this.

It was all sunshine and lollipops up to now.

City were fantastic. Great game, but only 1 team deserved to win it.

well we've came back well from defeats to Dortmund (beat them in the return leg) and United (4 consecutive wins I think), but yeah we didn't deserve the points today based on our defensive performance and its never good to concede six City are frankly scary when they click like that. Yaya and fernandinho were superb. Nasri dangerous, Aguero is Aguero, Silva and Negredo. Wow.

the good news is we've got 9 days rest, Walcott looked very decent, poldi is back and nearly match fit. So fingers crossed we can chalk this off, get a result against chelsea, and forget the past 4 days as they've been poor.

Green Hornet

I suppose Arsenal go through this kind of rocky period every year and bounce back strongly. This year though, Arsenal are in a much healthier position when this period is occurring so if they can get back on track soon they can still challenge.