Match day thread - NUFC V Arsenal

[Chappy]

I didn't think we did too bad. Willems was s*** and at fault for the goal. Schär wasn't at his best. Joelinton looked good though.

[Ol' Dirty Bas Dost]

Onwards and upwards, a one nil defeat to Arsenal is not an omen of a terrible season.

[lassassinblanc]

Going to be another fun(88) season.

Joelinton looked good in first half but faded in 2nd.
Passing was way off today.

Schar was woeful today.

Not sure what formation we finished the game with

[Don Sholeone]

Some absolutely dreadful passing in that game, Schar well off the pace and worst player on the pitch imo, Longstaff well off too, the Shelvey injury changed our game, we lost some of the calmness and the ability to pass in midfield, seemed to be some confusion as to where people were playing after subs came on too. Despite a lot to pick over we were still in the game and never looked out of it, a lot of work to be done but didn't see anything too worrying today, just awful performances from players we know are capable of a lot better. Just need to iron out bits of our game, get players up to speed and get the new lads settled and we will be fine imo, let's go again next week.

[Cal]

I liked the first 20 minutes...

[Sanchino]

Ah, so nice to have football back isn’t it.

Lots of players miles off the pace, Almiron trying to do it all, no clear plan, sloppy passing, subs coming on and not knowing which position they should be in, ASM quick but seems to just put his head down and run...plenty to work on. Only troubled the Arsenal goal once all game.

This. Lot of players looking rusty and baffling to see who was playing were when Willems and Maximin came on. Arsenal are a good possession team who yes had a makeshift team but there strength in depth showed with Pepe and Ceballos on the bench. Arsenal are going to be up there challenging for the European spots so no disgrace in losing to them just the manner of the performance it was too sloppy, careless and devoid of any real plan or creativity. Seems like our tactics either ''pump the ball to Joelnton see if he brings people into play'' or give it to ''Miggy he'll outpace 2 / 3 defenders and score a screamer'' which never happened. Lot of anonymous performances from the likes of Longstaff and Shelvey. I'll rather we start Maximin from the get go next wee and put Miggy outwide with Joe in the center in a 343. We have goals in us but relying on Joelinton and Maximin to hit the ground running straight away is a big gamble. I have slight optimism our quality will shine against Norwich. We should have thrown the kitchen sink even more by taking one of our defenders off for Muto too.

[Don Sholeone]

I didn't think we did too bad. Willems was s*** and at fault for the goal. Schär wasn't at his best. Joelinton looked good though.

Very harsh, it was a very poor ball to him imo

[Lidl]

Not massively put off by that. We looked alright in the first half when we actually had three midfielders on and it just went to s*** with the subs (which is a bit worrying). I think if Willems is a bit more awake and Schar doesn't have comfortably his worst game in a NUFC shirt then that's a somewhat comfortable, if not even slightly inspiring, 0-0 draw.

[vrabbit]

I didn't think we did too bad. Willems was s*** and at fault for the goal. Schär wasn't at his best. Joelinton looked good though.

Very harsh, it was a very poor ball to him imo

I thought so too. He isn't blameless either but the pass was definitely poor.

[Don Sholeone]

Another thing to add, I though Arsenal seemed to get a lot of decisions go there way and again Guendouzi seems to be immune from fouls or bookings, thought we could have had more chances second half if arsenal wasn't allowed to get away with a few fouls in their own half, biggest annoyance being players stepping across runs with no intent on playing the ball.

[Colly]

Very harsh, it was a very poor ball to him imo

I thought so too. He isn't blameless either but the pass was definitely poor.

Definitely on both of them.

Standard first game of the season really, nothing between the teams but one silly mistake and a world class striker to make the most of it. We were pretty competitive up until those baffling substitutions which left us completely shapeless with a number of players who didn't know whether they were supposed to be attacking or defending. I know Rafa's supposed attention to detail has gone, but unless there was an injury I don't know what Bruce was thinking. On to next week and hopefully a bit more fluency and fitness. Must win.

[Don Sholeone]

Apparently both Dummett (knock) and Lascelles (illness) were concerns before the game hence extra defenders on the bench in place of CMs, Shelvey was struggling after he rolled his ankle in the first half that's why Willems came on for him, would explain why we looked so disjointed, was a forced situation rather than a planned one it seems.

[bodacious benny]

Three defenders (four if you count Willems) on the bench is still ridiculous even if Lascelles and Dummett weren’t 100%. Should have swapped one of them for Ki.

[Don Sholeone]

Three defenders (four if you count Willems) on the bench is still ridiculous even if Lascelles and Dummett weren’t 100%. Should have swapped one of them for Ki.

In hindsight yes, but we would have said the opposite had the 2 mentioned been forced to come off. The only thing different I'd have done is go 4-3-3 when we made our second sub bringing off Schar rather than Longstaff with Willems at LB and Ritchie moving to CM.

[TJR]

Absolute **** that. Arsenal were horrendous and the game was there to win.

Joelinton was f***ing s****. We've pissed £40m down the drain there. He can't hold the ball up like Rondon and his positioning is awful. He's always running short away from goal. Get in the six yard box and on the end of something you daft cronut. At least Carroll should do well under these awful tactics.

Willems is a f***ing disgrace as well. The most basic thing in football, come to the f***ing ball when you get a pass. Horrendous, embarrassing and disgraceful. Proffesional footballer f***ing hell. I kick off with the lads in 5 a side for that. s**** pass aye but don't just stand and watch it.

If today is anything to go off we're definitely going down. Bruce's tactics are outdated and Championship at best. Arsenal were f***ing awful and we managed to be worse. Not even any urgency to chase the game after we went behind. Pathetic.

[Toondes]

Absolute **** that. Arsenal were horrendous and the game was there to win.

Joelinton was f***ing s****. We've pissed £40m down the drain there. He can't hold the ball up like Rondon and his positioning is awful. He's always running short away from goal. Get in the six yard box and on the end of something you daft cronut. At least Carroll should do well under these awful tactics.

Willems is a f***ing disgrace as well. The most basic thing in football, come to the f***ing ball when you get a pass. Horrendous, embarrassing and disgraceful. Proffesional footballer f***ing hell. I kick off with the lads in 5 a side for that. s**** pass aye but don't just stand and watch it.

If today is anything to go off we're definitely going down. Bruce's tactics are outdated and Championship at best. Arsenal were f***ing awful and we managed to be worse. Not even any urgency to chase the game after we went behind. Pathetic.

Give your head a wobble

[ColbacksFlamingBarnet]

Absolute **** that. Arsenal were horrendous and the game was there to win.

Joelinton was f***ing s****. We've pissed £40m down the drain there. He can't hold the ball up like Rondon and his positioning is awful. He's always running short away from goal. Get in the six yard box and on the end of something you daft cronut. At least Carroll should do well under these awful tactics.

Willems is a f***ing disgrace as well. The most basic thing in football, come to the f***ing ball when you get a pass. Horrendous, embarrassing and disgraceful. Proffesional footballer f***ing hell. I kick off with the lads in 5 a side for that. s**** pass aye but don't just stand and watch it.

If today is anything to go off we're definitely going down. Bruce's tactics are outdated and Championship at best. Arsenal were f***ing awful and we managed to be worse. Not even any urgency to chase the game after we went behind. Pathetic.

It's the first game of the season against a (admittedly weakened) top 6 team. Tactics and subs were off, however if the above about Dummett/Lascelles being knocked/ill are true then fair game, I'd like to see Ki on the bench at least. Also, the first 20 minutes were pretty good.

[TJR]

Absolute **** that. Arsenal were horrendous and the game was there to win.

Joelinton was f***ing s****. We've pissed £40m down the drain there. He can't hold the ball up like Rondon and his positioning is awful. He's always running short away from goal. Get in the six yard box and on the end of something you daft cronut. At least Carroll should do well under these awful tactics.

Willems is a f***ing disgrace as well. The most basic thing in football, come to the f***ing ball when you get a pass. Horrendous, embarrassing and disgraceful. Proffesional footballer f***ing hell. I kick off with the lads in 5 a side for that. s**** pass aye but don't just stand and watch it.

If today is anything to go off we're definitely going down. Bruce's tactics are outdated and Championship at best. Arsenal were f***ing awful and we managed to be worse. Not even any urgency to chase the game after we went behind. Pathetic.

It's the first game of the season against a (admittedly weakened) top 6 team. Tactics and subs were off, however if the above about Dummett/Lascelles being knocked/ill are true then fair game, I'd like to see Ki on the bench at least. Also, the first 20 minutes were pretty good.

If Lascelles and Dummett weren't up to it then play Fernandez and Clark. That's no excuse for me.

[bodacious benny]

P14 after the first game

[clippert]

Arsenal were piss poor.
We didn't make the look piss poor.

I'm concerned for the rest of the season, everything looked a bit random.
We were more drilled under Rafa.