PL: Chelsea v Arsenal | August 18, 2018 17:30 BST | BT Sport

[Mo Britain]

0.1 xg in the 2nd half, that Chelsea defence was there for the taking, went too defensive and invited Chelsea to control the game.. We looked vulnerable tbf so I can understand why Emery would have wanted to go more defensive, but it didn't work out as we didn't look any more solid defensively either.

If the first half had gone on for another 15 minutes we'd have been out of sight.

Hope I'm wrong but the second half confirmed the view of some of my Spanish friends who consider Emery to be too cautious. Match was there for the taking at half time and we managed to lose it.

 

[Big Poppa]

Why did we drop off so much in the second half? Seen suggestions that we couldn’t control the ball without Xhaka, but don’t really buy it.

Two reasons.

Firstly, after the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half Chelsea made a tactical shift by bringing on Hazard and Kovacic for Barkley and Willian, and pushing their backline higher up the pitch. Kovacic and Hazard were much more in sync than Barkley and Willian - they are very clever players who can both dictate the tempo and flow of a game.

Secondly, we retreated because we still don't have the stamina to press for 90 minutes. At 2-2 we were wary of the gaps we left in the first half and psychologically, we dropped deeper to avoid having to run back to keep covering the space.

As we progress through the season not only will our fitness improve, but our confidence at winning these kind of games. I just hope that by then we aren't too far adrift. I like what Emery is doing and I think he'll gradually weed out the players who aren't capable of the work rate he demands.

 

[A_G]

We 34 shots against United alone.

A shot isn't necessarily deemed a clear cut chance by Opta.

 

[Makingtrax]

I knew you were going to get involved in that. I was going to @ you. I remember you harping on about the chances created and I was more annoyed about the way they countered us (like they did previously in years gone by constantly) and the silly mistakes.

Just like today.

Emery must be dragging his hair out watching the replays of those missed chances and the silly mistakes at the back.

Just hope Emery can fix it.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

If the first half had gone on for another 15 minutes we'd have been out of sight.

Hope I'm wrong but the second half confirmed the view of some of my Spanish friends who consider Emery to be too cautious. Match was there for the taking at half time and we managed to lose it.

Emery explained after the game that he told his players to not push too high because Chelsea were killing us on counters at 1st hald. it wasnt bad idea because we are playing away from home still wasn't emery fault that we lose the game it was players mistakes to give the ball away in stupid area again.

 

[KrissKringle]

Haven't seen the game other than a few minutes and Miki's goal, but after watching the highlights, our defending is just as shocking, if not worse than it was under Wenger.

Surely Emery will drop Bellerin after this game. I mean, it doesn't take a football expert to see the kid is absolute rubbish and when you have a solid option on the bench in Lichtsteiner, one does wonder why he went with the worst player in a derby.

By the time we'll hit a bit of form, I'm afraid it will be too late and lots of points will be dropped that will certainly take us out of the top 4 battle.
We're in for some dark times ahead of us, because it's probably going to take 1-2 years before we become a good team again.

Now I wonder if the club will give Emery time to make something out of this piss poor squad even with bad results or boot him for someone else if the situation continues like this for another 3-5 games.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Haven't seen the game other than a few minutes and Miki's goal, but after watching the highlights, our defending is just as shocking, if not worse than it was under Wenger.

Surely Emery will drop Bellerin after this game. I mean, it doesn't take a football expert to see the kid is absolute rubbish and when you have a solid option on the bench in Lichtsteiner, one does wonder why he went with the worst player in a derby.

By the time we'll hit a bit of form, I'm afraid it will be too late and lots of points will be dropped that will certainly take us out of the top 4 battle.
We're in for some dark times ahead of us, because it's probably going to take 1-2 years before we become a good team again.

Now I wonder if the club will give Emery time to make something out of this piss poor squad even with bad results or boot him for someone else if the situation continues like this for another 3-5 games.

Can guarantee Emery will be here for at least the entire season. For one Arsenal are not the club to make hasty changes, and secondly we should start to rack up points now that we've got past what are two of the hardest games of every season. We have 8 games coming up that we should be winning basically all of, we'll be right back in the top 4 mix in 4-6 weeks I would think.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Haven't seen the game other than a few minutes and Miki's goal, but after watching the highlights, our defending is just as shocking, if not worse than it was under Wenger.

Surely Emery will drop Bellerin after this game. I mean, it doesn't take a football expert to see the kid is absolute rubbish and when you have a solid option on the bench in Lichtsteiner, one does wonder why he went with the worst player in a derby.

By the time we'll hit a bit of form, I'm afraid it will be too late and lots of points will be dropped that will certainly take us out of the top 4 battle.
We're in for some dark times ahead of us, because it's probably going to take 1-2 years before we become a good team again.

Now I wonder if the club will give Emery time to make something out of this piss poor squad even with bad results or boot him for someone else if the situation continues like this for another 3-5 games.

the board won't sack him even if we finished 1oth this season Emery need at least 4 transfer windows to get the team he want but now te 2 tough games and over im sure we'll start to get many points in our 8 next fixtures.

 

[gunner4lyfe]

Can somebody get a clip of that last goal? There are so many ways that goal could have been prevented. Why are we afraid to take one for the team anand fvcking foul somebody. Jeez. Sick of this goodie goodie attitude.

 

[krengon]

Kovacic will be amazing for Chelsea.

 

[field442]

Haven't seen the game other than a few minutes and Miki's goal, but after watching the highlights, our defending is just as shocking, if not worse than it was under Wenger.

Surely Emery will drop Bellerin after this game. I mean, it doesn't take a football expert to see the kid is absolute rubbish and when you have a solid option on the bench in Lichtsteiner, one does wonder why he went with the worst player in a derby.

By the time we'll hit a bit of form, I'm afraid it will be too late and lots of points will be dropped that will certainly take us out of the top 4 battle.
We're in for some dark times ahead of us, because it's probably going to take 1-2 years before we become a good team again.

Now I wonder if the club will give Emery time to make something out of this piss poor squad even with bad results or boot him for someone else if the situation continues like this for another 3-5 games.

Probably best you don’t go off of a few minutes. We go into half time two or three goals up if Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan had their shooting boots on. They missed three sitters. The defense is still worrying but it looked dodgy today because they played a high line trying to squeeze the pitch and press, the problem being that the pressing was rubbish. Either the pressing has to improve or Emery gets the back 4 to play 20 yards deeper.

 

[Makingtrax]

A shot isn't necessarily deemed a clear cut chance by Opta.

Our xG was 4.56, 33 shots, 61 crosses, 18 deep completions He’s having a laugh.

 

[KrissKringle]

We have 8 games coming up that we should be winning basically all of, we'll be right back in the top 4 mix in 4-6 weeks I would think.

You're being too optimistic, mate. We'll find a way to screw it up, as always.

 

[A_G]

Our xG was 4.56, 33 shots, 61 crosses, 18 deep completions He’s having a laugh.

How many of them were clear cut chances like the ones Auba and Mkhi missed though?

 

[Makingtrax]

How many of them were clear cut chances like the ones Auba and Mkhi missed though?

They weren’t just clear cut chances, they were almost impossible to miss.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

How many of them were clear cut chances like the ones Auba and Mkhi missed though?

i think you can add also Özil chance before chelsea 1st goal and the Ramsey shot was saved at 2nd so 5 clear cut chances to score we missed.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Agree

Had enough of Özil now however who is picking up his bar tab of 360k a week

All bridges burnt in Germany I guess. So it's Jose or Fenerbache. We just can't seem to get the very best out of him for at least fifty percent of the time and I just can't work out why.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Haven't seen defense splitting passing like that since Zelalem was bossing preseason ages ago and we thought we had the next Cesc. Good times.

Love this kid's game, but you can see his fitness isn't there yet to go 90+ min without having a big drop off late in the game as understandably he's working to be everywhere on the pitch while playing 100mph throughout early on.

Maybe he'd run less, conserve more energy and be good for 90 minutes if his effort was matched in a proper set up. I'm beginning to think a midfield 3 of Torreira, Guendouzi and Elneny might not be too bad. Ramsey should be able to get a place there but I question his intelligence. With Xhaka,it's speed of mind and body.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

They weren’t just clear cut chances, they were almost impossible to miss.

Easier to score

 

[Big Poppa]

Kovacic will be amazing for Chelsea.

Real Madrid are idiots. He's Modric mk II.