Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal Player ratings and match reaction

[Letters]

Arsenal fans would have probably screamed for a red for Trossard and Rice as well had it been another team.

Would they, though?
I mean, you could argue by the letter of the law and all that but I don’t actually think football fans want games being spoiled by players being sent off for kicking the ball away. Especially when it’s incidents like the ones we were punished for.
But the last man taking out a player who has otherwise nothing stopping him running through on goal - I’m on board with that being a red card.

I seldom agree with NQ about anything but he had it right when he said everyone else is officiated by the spirit of the law and we are officiated by the letter of it. If that had been the other way round, it would have stayed as a yellow

Possibly. I think the more legitimate grumble is why VAR intervened. I’m not sure it was a clear and obvious error and what could VAR possibly have seen that the referee didn’t?

[Marc Overmars]

The start of this season has pretty much mirrored last year. In that we have made results harder work than they needed to be and mostly played stodgy football and rode our luck in certain moments. Having to play 3 halves of football with 10 men has been a real stinker and cost us dearly.

There are 30 games to play so it’s not a catastrophe but we know how fine the margins are now and results like this will be circled as where it went wrong.

I’m glad it is a big fixture we have next and not a pub team. I’m sure Liverpool will get our levels up and it goes without saying we need to win that fixture now to reassert some authority on the title race.

[Marc Overmars]

Also we need Odegaard back ASAP. We’ve done well to muck in without him but it’s not been pretty and the team needs his ability to press and create through the middle badly.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

BTW I don't know if you guys noticed Kiwior tearing up on the bench after he was unceremoniously yanked off.

TBH I was pretty pissed off at him but once I saw that, I obviously mellowed and felt sorry for the poor boy.

IMO Arteta should have never brought him on in the first place as we had more than enough defensive players on the pitch at that time to cover for Saliba's absence, but the real question is why is a player Arteta stopped believing in still at the club anyway?

I hope he gets over it and I hope he becomes a success wherever he goes...but he's not been good enough for us for quite a while and thats another indictment in what we did (and did not do) this summer.

[Ollie the Optimist]

There’s a potential grumble about VAR overturning the on field decision, but there’s no covering defender. Had that been the other way around and an Arsenal player in that position I guarantee you that everyone on here would have been screaming for a red.

I agree except we’ve seen similar not given by same VAR
https://x.com/afcamden/status/184770...5nKNIY1AZaWvQw

It’s complete lack of consistency that infuriates fans. If it had been given a red on field, doubt many would complain but there is no way given the referee had a clear & unobstructed view that it is a clear & obvious error.

[Mac76]

I agree except we’ve seen similar not given by same VAR
https://x.com/afcamden/status/184770...5nKNIY1AZaWvQw

It’s complete lack of consistency that infuriates fans. If it had been given a red on field, doubt many would complain but there is no way given the referee had a clear & unobstructed view that it is a clear & obvious error.

I think it's very consistent, if it's Arsenal it's the harshest possible decision, if it's anyone else it's a let-off

[Niall_Quinn]

Turns out our "dark arts, time-wasting" against city resulted in a half where the ball was in play for more time than any other second half to that point in the season. So even on that decision, adding on half a year of stoppage time as has happened again today, the rule is play until City score. VAR has worked just as intended this weekend, city are top. That's what VAR is there for. This whole business about time management in a game that regularly sees 7, 8, 10 or more minutes added is another cheat's charter. Just be done with it and have an American football style game clock if they are so desperate to account for time, but they would never do that because they couldn't apply arbitrary decisions to favour one team over another. It's completely obvious the games are being heavily influenced by the officials, which is why Webb keeps banging on about his desire to avoid influencing games. We're just supposed to accept his word over the evidence of our lying eyes.

[Niall_Quinn]

Would they, though?
I mean, you could argue by the letter of the law and all that but I don’t actually think football fans want games being spoiled by players being sent off for kicking the ball away. Especially when it’s incidents like the ones we were punished for.
But the last man taking out a player who has otherwise nothing stopping him running through on goal - I’m on board with that being a red card.



Possibly. I think the more legitimate grumble is why VAR intervened. I’m not sure it was a clear and obvious error and what could VAR possibly have seen that the referee didn’t?

And there are other occasions where VAR doesn't intervene at all. You often hear the commentator say, "That's not being checked." Why? I know there are some situations where VAR isn't used due to the rules, but there are others when some gay gypo throws the ball at somebody's head, for example, and there's no need for intervention for whatever reason. Can you imagine if Rice picked up the ball and chucked it at an opponent's head? Straight off the pitch, without a shadow of doubt.

The Trossard red was a complete joke. I wouldn't have complained if he got a second yellow for the foul, but to be sent off for kicking the ball away 1 nanosecond after the whistle and as he was going into a challenge with an opponent who was, also, challenging. Farcical and there's no way the ref could have known what the intention was in that split second. They also made a big excuse for the gypo kicking the ball away, the ref told him to kick it there, they claim. Except he didn't kick it "there", he kicked it way beyond, this delaying the game.

Definitely one set of rules from them, another for us and their other non-favoured teams. It's absolutely obvious. But the so-called integrity of a game increasingly owned by slave traders from the Mid East needs to be upheld I suppose. Their cash will have nothing to do with it. Put your money down on city skating away from those 115 charges btw. Last I heard it was Arsenal that will end up being retrospectively penalised if the lated gypo stunt in court plays out a certain way.

[Letters]

Saliba is over rated tbf. He fucked up for France in the week as well.

Literally in the PFA team of the season last year
Holy over-reaction, Batman!

We have been pubbing it in the early stages of the season.

You could say the same last season - many people did. Given the early fixtures we're doing OK.
7 points from Spurs, Villa and City away isn't to be sniffed it - we absolutely didn't pub it in the last of those, they had to cheat us and keep playing with us down to 10 till City scored to get a point.
The cards are stacked against us, and we're still in contention. Let's not panic just yet.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Literally in the PFA team of the season last year
Holy over-reaction, Batman!


You could say the same last season - many people did. Given the early fixtures we're doing OK.
7 points from Spurs, Villa and City away isn't to be sniffed it - we absolutely didn't pub it in the last of those, they had to cheat us and keep playing with us down to 10 till City scored to get a point.
The cards are stacked against us, and we're still in contention. Let's not panic just yet.

I don’t think he’s being entirely serious. Although he’s not entirely incorrect about us pubbing things somewhat. That was definitely the case against Villa, against Southampton we were totally blunt in attack before they scored and Bournemouth we stunk the place out even 11 vs 11