4 minutes ago, didierforever said:

To be fair to Kante, I dont think there is or has been a player/midfielder who can cover the midfield on his own while his partner has no bloody defensive nuance and is surprisngly poor on possession when pressed (you would have thought that playing with xavi and iniesta for 3 years would have taught him how to pass under pressure).

It's the Arsenal DNA in him, Arsenal players hate being pressed. 

I wish my body had the recovery abilities of Kolasinic - goes down with a mighty scream as though he was pole-axed and then trots about shortly after with no sign of even the slightest limp.

Red was fair but Kolasinic made the most of it.

Is Luiz out for 1 or 3 games ? if it's 3 then he misses some tough games. Nottm Forest ( League Cup, would probably not have played anyway ) Stoke away and Man City at home.

My Twitter feed is full of knee jerk plastics, who are blaming the draw on Gary Cahill, who despite keeping a clean sheet, was apparently the downfall of us today. I didn't realise he was a striker, my head hurts.

2 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Is Luiz out for 1 or 3 games ? if it's 3 then he misses some tough games. Nottm Forest ( League Cup, would probably not have played anyway ) Stoke away and Man City at home.

Straight red, so 3 games.

22 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I would have been fine with this result had we not dropped points against Burnley. 

I am fine with it, to be honest. It's early days, we're only three points behind and we will improve.

9 minutes ago, Floyd25 said:

My Twitter feed is full of knee jerk plastics, who are blaming the draw on Gary Cahill, who despite keeping a clean sheet, was apparently the downfall of us today. I didn't realise he was a striker, my head hurts.

He's always going to be the scapegoat it appears, but he really needs to stop starting games when he's fit, we have better alternatives even a casual can see that. 

Certainly not the reason why we drew today, the blame has to lie with Conte for not playing Bako in the midfield. 

It's just infuriating that Arsenal players and fans will have a major ego boost after this. 

These games make me wonder why I felt sorry for them in the first place.

Just now, Deino said:

It's just infuriating that Arsenal players and fans will have a major ego boost after this. 

These games make me wonder why I felt sorry for them in the first place.

Oh well, lesson learnt now 

Just now, Deino said:

It's just infuriating that Arsenal players and fans will have a major ego boost after this. 

These games make me wonder why I felt sorry for them in the first place.

Don't let that bother you, Arsenal are destined for failure with their owners and it couldn't make me happier. 

They will never win the league again, they might just be able to become a top 4 team over the years should the owners think it's a worthy investment. As long as Stan Kroenke owns the majority shares in the club they'll never compete for the title, we have a much brighter future. 

1 hour ago, enigma said:

Its stupid. The rules are changing year on year, next year you won't even be able to overhead kick. I remember times when you could overhead kick and it not even be debated about being dangerous. 

I agree, The mane sending off was completely different and a deserved red. An overhead kick should not be compared to that. It doesn't help when you have Souness bleating on that it was a straight red..... this coming from a guy who was renowned for tough strong challenges. Luiz rightly challenged for the ball, the defender rightly challenged for the ball..... the way the game is going these days, it won't be long before any physical contact is banned. Ridiculous. 

20 minutes ago, Floyd25 said:

My Twitter feed is full of knee jerk plastics, who are blaming the draw on Gary Cahill, who despite keeping a clean sheet, was apparently the downfall of us today. I didn't realise he was a striker, my head hurts.

We kept a clean sheet, Gaz done his job and personally I thought he done ok today. Moses in my opinion was poor, as was Pedro who should have put us one ahead early on. Bakoyoko looks a player and I'd like to see him get a good run in the team. Morata needs to man up a bit and keep the faith but overall I'll take a point, as frustrating as it is against Arsenal. We sit third so far so nothing to worry about. 

10 minutes ago, Slojo said:

He's always going to be the scapegoat it appears, but he really needs to stop starting games when he's fit, we have better alternatives even a casual can see that. 

Certainly not the reason why we drew today, the blame has to lie with Conte for not playing Bako in the midfield. 

I wouldn't start him, everytime he does though the moaning begins. People wait for him to make one mistake, so they can post it, to try and make some sort of point, very strange way of supporting a club. According to some, we lost today, because Cahill started the game, Einstein logic. 

1 hour ago, JM7 said:

A word in Morata, I thought he played well and had some nice touches. However today we needed a battering ram - like Costa or Drogba. 

He needs to try and stay on his feet more. Very frustrating how many times he went to ground today.

Far too many average performances today - mainly from our attacking players. I think what I take away from todays game

Hazard looks lean and fit again - get him back in the starting 11 NOW.

We need Bakayoko to start more games than not.

Love Cahill but would prefer to see Christensen or Rudiger start from now on.

Dropped points today but not the end of the world. It does put the pressure on us to take all 3 points when we play City & utd

Interesting flicking through thread about the game. Had Pedro scored the one on one it would've been a different game. He and Moses had injuries which Pedro came off and Moses carried on but both not at their best today. Cahills distribution wasn't great but we didn't concede. I also think he isn't suited to this fixture but some of the things said about him is disappointing. Willian worked hard off the ball but we didn't use him enough and not just him but players passing was going astray. We also became too predictable in keep pumping it to Morata.

Cahill and Luiz shouldn't be starting together. I know Cahill isn't ALL to blame today, but when him and Luiz start together the team always looks shaky defensively, problems we didn't at all have when either Rudiger or Christensen started with Luiz.

Also im not sure as to why Bakayoko started over Cesc? Cesc is more of a impact sub these days to rip through team defenses when they're all tired during the latter stages of a game.

Are we putting all our eggs in one basket with Csec ?

It looked like he only had a plan A, find Morata, get that Hollywood oscar.

I think we need Hazard, Willian and Pedro on the pitch at the same time, with Kante and Bakayoko behind. Just means we have to go back to four at the back, perfect time to try it now Luiz is suspended.

Something like..

                                 Tibo

Azpilcueta         Rudiger       Cahill          Alonso

                     Kante         Bakayoko

    Willian                Pedro                 Hazard

                             Morata

 

or  

                                 Tibo

Zappa         Rudiger       Cahill          Azpilcueta

                     Kante         Bakayoko

    Willian                Pedro                 Hazard

                             Morata

 

or 

                            Tibo

Zappa         Andreas       Cahill          Azpilcueta

                     Kante         Bakayoko

    Willian                Pedro                 Hazard

                             Morata

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

Is Luiz out for 1 or 3 games ? if it's 3 then he misses some tough games. Nottm Forest ( League Cup, would probably not have played anyway ) Stoke away and Man City at home.

Well at least he can play in the CL I believe in Madrid, so it will allow a CB to rest before city, real shame he has been on top form 

Courtois 7 - did his job

Cahill  7 - poor on ball but defended ok.

Luiz 7 - was best defender before red.

Azpilicueta 7 - played well

Alonso 5 - poor both on and off ball

Fabregas 5 - awful minus 2 through-balls

Kante 7 - poor first half, better second.

Moses 6 - Ineffective but tried hard.

Pedro 4 - Poor again. Worst yet.

Willian 5 - invisible minus bits of poor play.

Morata 5 - Hard task, but he failed miserably.

------------

Bakayoko 7 - should have started, gave some midfield stability.

Hazard 7 - showed a bit of spark

Christiansen 7 - didn't concede after coming on. All you can ask. 

 

Conte 6 - Set up was wrong first half. Changed it a bit in the second to slightly better effect. 

 

REFEREE 4 - Awarding Arsenal free-kicks softly, and letting them consistently get away with a lot worse.

 

Overall Result

6 

Not great, not the end of the world, either. Disappointing as they were there for the taking - A team with Xhaka, Ramsey midfield + Welbeck and Iwobi.

 

Arsenal - 8 Played with surprising discipline. They played close to their best and Chelsea were poor. So 0-0 about right.

Edited September 17, 20178 yr by Sun zhi

Great that luiz is suspended vs city too. Cherry on top of the cake that. Handed a golden opportunity in our battle for top 4 and we drop two points against poor opposition. 

Against a good team like say United or city fair enough. Not the dross that shipped 4 to Liverpool.

Didn't this Everton team both us and United spanked draw with City ?

Dissapointed with our display Heads were just not there and not in the right place. Arsenal wanted it more. 

9 minutes ago, coco said:

Are we putting all our eggs in one basket with Csec ?

It looked like he only had a plan A, find Morata, get that Hollywood oscar.

I think we need Hazard, Willian and Pedro on the pitch at the same time, with Kante and Bakayoko behind. Just means we have to go back to four at the back, perfect time to try it now Luiz is suspended.

Something like..

                                 Tibo

Azpilcueta         Rudiger       Cahill          Alonso

                     Kante         Bakayoko

    Willian                Pedro                 Hazard

                             Morata

 

or  

                                 Tibo

Zappa         Rudiger       Cahill          Azpilcueta

                     Kante         Bakayoko

    Willian                Pedro                 Hazard

                             Morata

 

or 

                            Tibo

Zappa         Andreas       Cahill          Azpilcueta

                     Kante         Bakayoko

    Willian                Pedro                 Hazard

                             Morata

I've been saying as well, this team would be better suited to a 4-3-3 with Kante, Bakayoko and Fabregas in there.

 

Courtois

-------------

Alonso

Christensen

Cahill/Rudiger

Azpilicueta

--------------

Kante

Bakayoko

Fabregas

---------------

Hazard

Morata

Willian/Pedro

 

With Fabregas on, he still has that decisive final pass in him which he will deliver at least a few times a game.

Both Kante and Bakayoko on with him means midfield isn't badly compromised. 

Alonso and Moses are meant to be attacking outlets, but both are limited in their creative abilities. 

7 minutes ago, coco said:

Are we putting all our eggs in one basket with Csec ?

It looked like he only had a plan A, find Morata, get that Hollywood oscar.

I think we need Hazard, Willian and Pedro on the pitch at the same time, with Kante and Bakayoko behind. Just means we have to go back to four at the back, perfect time to try it now Luiz is suspended.

Something like..

                                 Tibo

Azpilcueta         Rudiger       Cahill          Alonso

                     Kante         Bakayoko

    Willian                Pedro                 Hazard

                             Morata

 

or  

                                 Tibo

Zappa         Rudiger       Cahill          Azpilcueta

                     Kante         Bakayoko

    Willian                Pedro                 Hazard

                             Morata

 

or 

                            Tibo

Zappa         Andreas       Cahill          Azpilcueta

                     Kante         Bakayoko

    Willian                Pedro                 Hazard

                             Morata

All possible, the 3 at the back doesn't work without hazard, plus in all honesty our wingbacks arent dynamic enough to cause as many problems now that teams know what to expect although given space Alonso can do damage. But if I was playing 4 at the back I'd play 3 in midfield:

                                                   Tibo

Dave                       Rudiger                    Cahill/Andres             Alonso

 

                       Baka                                                 Kante

                                                   

                                                  Fab

 

           Pedro                                                                     Hazard

                                                Morata

 

Swapping fab for Andreas behind teh 2 CM's in games where we expect pressure like Atleti, better yet luiz back in for Atleti. 

                                                

Whole day was a let down...fans were as flat as the team...where was everyone? Half asleep?

so many players underperformed today...one of the few that did, luiz, got sent off unnecessarily - people can moan all they want about whether it was fair or not, enough decisions have gone against us like that lately for him not to do something so reckless.

on the plus side, this team can't really be judged till hazard is linking up with morata on a weekly basis..same goes for Baka being fully fit next to Kante...important we get at least four points from next two games though, ideally with a win over cit and draw v stoke rather than the other way around