Draw Premier League: Arsenal 0 - 0 Newcastle | Tuesday 3rd, January | KO: 19:45 BST Sky Sports

This is arguably the most difficult fixture in the league atm so we have to be at our very best. But they're essentially beatable. We're not the same team they slapped 3-0 at the backend of last season. We've taken giant strides since then. Thankfully, this fixture is at home.

Newcastle are a good team but with all due respect, were levels above them.

Their tactics have always been to suck teams in, force them to make mistakes am and then break break forward with pace. But we're a very technically secure team. I back us not to lose possession in dangerous areas tbh.

Prediction

Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle

 

[DJ_Markstar]

I've had some time to think about it, and I realised, We're back.

Sides high in the division have to come to The Carpet and defend very deep against us - legitimately when was the last time this was the case? Last 10 or so years any top side could come and have a go and we'd probably capitulate.

We're a top side ourselves now and everyone knows it, other good sides are now playing like they fear us. Its great to see.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Arteta's bound to get in trouble for what he said post match but it needed saying tbh.

Ref's could be our major obstacle this season. The handball is probably a 50/50. I reckon if that wasn't in the last minute we'd have been given it though. Think the ref bottled making a big decision at the death.

Burn's on Gabriel is just a pen though, no question.

 

[SA Gunner]

The second penalty call Im not convinced, dont think that was one.

The first one, the pull on Gabriel was clear. And this is the second time that a poor refereeing decision has cost us. Potentially robbing us of 5 points already this season. Watch the referees admit that they robbed us in a few weeks as well.

I've seen some Liverpool fans bring up the Gabriel handball as some sort of "balancing out". Forgetting that the ball hits the man's chest first.

Corrupt AF these referees. They have a mandate to hold us back, to help sell future contests/races. Im sure of that.

 

[avenellroad]

I’d be curious to hear your thoughts.

I had some big takeaways, but mostly regarding Newcastle tbh. They were obviously playing extremely “negative”, but it was incredibly effective. Not in like for like tactics, but in effect, reminded me of some Mourinho sides. I know they don’t always play this way, and it bothered the living hell out of me, but collectively they executed their game-plan to an incredibly high level.

When a team can be that sound positionally, it is always going to be difficult to score against them. However, we did really well to rubbish any real counter attacking efforts before they could mount them. And we did well to not give up, keep the belief and to continue to try to make something happen.

I feel that it didn’t is in some part down to lack of quality off the bench, but it’s hard for me to get upset about this performance when I actually think we did relatively well against an impressively structured side.

They reminded me of Simeone’s Atletico Madrid team in their pomp. Defending narrowly but each player knowing their role and not jumping in.

We should still have had at least one penalty and won the game.

 

[SA Gunner]

 

[Makingtrax]

Playing 5-a-side last night and missed the game. Just watched it this morning. My thoughts:

-The lads kept up the pressure throughout and were unlucky not to win. Eddie's shot at the end could easily have gone in. Pope is a great goalie and pulled off a terrific save though, he saw it very late.

-Saka seems to get better and better. He really is a class act now. Martinelli also very dangerous. Ødegaard continues to pull strings but his shooting needs to improve. White looked very tired to me. Arteta did well taking him off. Partey and Xhaka solid as ever.

-Ramsdale still worries me, can't believe his mistakes haven't cost us so far, Newcastle were slow to capitalise on that, thank God.

-Great to see Willock playing well. Newcastle look a very resilient team. Linton and Burn excellent.

-The Gabriel pull could easily have been a penalty. The hand ball definitely wasn't.

-Not sure how Arteta can survive long in management without a stroke. His blood pressure during the game must be through the roof. His passion is unbridled.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Shame Liverpool are **** now, would prefer them to get Champions League over Oil-castle United.

Man United too, tbf...not Sp**s though, **** those bellends.

United, however, are a proper club & aside from the years of our rivalry, I've never had animosity towards them.

F*ck Sp**s & Newcastle!!

 

[Tourbillion]

It’s just a joke. So called best sports league in the world and you have a bloke from Rotherham with a stop watch deciding how long each game is? Reduce the match length to 70 mins and have a stop clock or something.

Get foreign refs FFS. This xenophobic old boys' club is disgusting.

 

[Uncle Good-Advice]

My few takes.

Eddie - gutted for the lad. It would be a perfect story if he scored. Hopefully it would be a platform that he builds on and improve - if you want to be a top scorer, 85th minute, scrappy game, you have to take your only chance.

Ref - I wouldn't say he was corrupted, he was probably out of his depth in such heated encounter, no consistency at all which is a bad sign. We had a discussion before about refs being rather neutral to us this season. This was an example of a weak referee who was afraid to make a decision and since we were the better team we suffered because of that.

Nerves - I knew from the Ødegaard's skied shot in first minute that we're in for a long night, sometime you can tell from the first sight. Saka's last shot just summed it up. Don't get me wrong, we were clearly the better side and should've won but definitely players were trying too hard which altered our performance. Passes were sloppy, shots too strong and wide, we got into wrestling game in first half completely unnecessary. It will come with experience, if you can't win don't lose and I think boys will realize this today or tomorrow and be satisfied with a performance and a point.

May not be a popular opinion but I'd take 2 points out of Sp**s/United match happily.

 

[Black240]

Newcastle had a game plan and deployed it very well. They are obviously not a flair team, but they are similar to us (only) in the respect that everyone knows their job and how they fit into and support the wider team approach. Eddie Nketiah has done well as a starter, however, this was the game we missed Jesus. We missed his ability to disrupt and cause chaos.

 

[Buhry]

PL refs are truly unrivalled, their pisspoor performances can get people mad enough to start remembering their login credentials after eight years lol. Good to see you back

Hahaha, indeed they are something else. I think there was a period when the servers for this forum was down so I stopped checking in. Thanks though, I missed this place.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Get foreign refs FFS. This xenophobic old boys' club is disgusting.

I've long believed that, in spite of their league being sub-par, Serie A refs are the best!

It should be compulsory for refs worldwide to get certified there.

 

[Kav]

I've had some time to think about it, and I realised, We're back.

Sides high in the division have to come to The Carpet and defend very deep against us - legitimately when was the last time this was the case? Last 10 or so years any top side could come and have a go and we'd probably capitulate.

We're a top side ourselves now and everyone knows it, other good sides are now playing like they fear us. Its great to see.

I would agree with most of what you said except for the times frame. Our teams up until 2015 had every team worried. Even the big teams all changed how they played when they faced us.

The difference is that now we are more balanced team. Whereas before our attacking strength far surpassed our defense. Those we get teams from 2010-2015 were better offensively however we all know the glaring holes we had in defense.

Simply put we are returning to our 2015 levels of dominance.

 

[A_G]

Eye opening thread

 

[Bagels]

Eye opening thread

Did he really cite the ref allowed Saka to be marked out of the game

 

[SA Gunner]

My few takes.

Eddie - gutted for the lad. It would be a perfect story if he scored. Hopefully it would be a platform that he builds on and improve - if you want to be a top scorer, 85th minute, scrappy game, you have to take your only chance.

Ref - I wouldn't say he was corrupted, he was probably out of his depth in such heated encounter, no consistency at all which is a bad sign. We had a discussion before about refs being rather neutral to us this season. This was an example of a weak referee who was afraid to make a decision and since we were the better team we suffered because of that.

Nerves - I knew from the Ødegaard's skied shot in first minute that we're in for a long night, sometime you can tell from the first sight. Saka's last shot just summed it up. Don't get me wrong, we were clearly the better side and should've won but definitely players were trying too hard which altered our performance. Passes were sloppy, shots too strong and wide, we got into wrestling game in first half completely unnecessary. It will come with experience, if you can't win don't lose and I think boys will realize this today or tomorrow and be satisfied with a performance and a point.

May not be a popular opinion but I'd take 2 points out of Sp**s/United match happily.

Really good post. Thank you

I like what you saying about the fact that this is still quite a young team, and we easily forget that. That result was frustrating yes, but it was also a very important learning for this young team. Understanding that yes, you didnt win this game today, but you managed to not lose it as well. And in the bigger scheme of things, its more important to keep moving forward in your quest to achieve bigger things.

This team needs two things, experience and sufficient depth. What excites me is that we are gathering the useful experience of what it takes to be at the very top of competition, and weather the storm. There will still come a time this season, where we will be under massive pressure, and it may cause us to fall short in the end. But, the learnings that come from that would be priceless.

We are very much in with a shot for this title. But dont for a second listen to the nonsense coming out of pundits and rival fans big brains already. That we wont have a chance like this again.

No, no... this team is only getting started. Heck, the project hasnt gone BANG yet IMO.

 

[celestis]

I think it’s easy getting carried away with Newcastle’s defensive performance, we had enough clear cut chances to score but the execution was bad and we were not very brave in the final 3rd either at times.

 

[Uncle Good-Advice]

This team needs two things, experience and sufficient depth. What excites me is that we are gathering the useful experience of what it takes to be at the very top of competition, and weather the storm. There will still come a time this season, where we will be under massive pressure, and it may cause us to fall short in the end. But, the learnings that come from that would be priceless.

Thanks bro.

My sentiment exactly, you need to learn your lessons in order to improve. I've had some experience as a junior coach and there's no way to skip this process, it's a matter of time needed. We're ahead of the curve anyway which is fantastic and I really hope that Arteta and his staff will stick with the plan and won't put any extra pressure.

 

[grange]

 

[Penn_]

Didn’t realise Newcastle had only conceded 11, 3 of which were against City. That‘s an impressive record, even if they are a little negative.