It’s usually quiet on here. Never more so than when we’re not losing....

Tbf, there was a daily discussion when Wenger was still in charge with the pros & antis.

Shame Judge Judy disappeared when the old forum went kapoot - he kept things ticking over.

Tend to agree with you. Hate sitting on a lead and inviting them on. Palace bossed us for most of the game and sat back with 10 to go. We nicked a goal deep into added on time. You have to ask yourself why did Palace change their tactics? It was working fine up to then.

We do the same as do alot of sides. Throwing 11 behind the ball and crowding our own area is not guranteeing anything.

Still don't think Arteta knows his best 11. I don't mean rotation but just a best 11 when all are fit. Will he put Xhaka back in when he returns from injury? Think Lokonga needs to stay in the side to gain experience. Very impressed with Tavares. He'd keep his place if i were the manager.

As for being quiet when we are on a winning run think thats only natural. Far less to discuss when things are going well.

Do miss Gman, JJ and even Pixie.

Up to the heady heights of 5th. Fear that most of the squad will now get a nosebleed.

We’re in for a reality check next game though : away to the Filthy Dippers. Could be ugly.

It will be interesting how Saliba fits into the plans next season

Talk of Liverpool being without Henderson, Mane & Firmino too

I thought it was a bit of a gutless performance really, pretty poor all round and it just shows you how bad United are that we could have got something from the game. The usual go 1-0 up and then try to defend it for 75 mins. After we scored we had 11 men goal side of the centre circle for most of the rest of the first half, with zero threat basically begging them to equalise.

They are a poor side defensively, out of sorts without a proper manager and gave us two soft goals, the first one a gift. We went a goal down and got one back within 2 minutes when we looked for one. What is the problem with this manager and not looking to kill teams like that off, instead relying on what is nowhere near a watertight defence for most of the match? No interest in going for a second until 2-1 down. With Ben White and Tavares at the back you are not going to get many clean sheets playing like that. 

There are even some in the media trying to blame it on the players dropping off against the manager's instructions but that is bóllocks, it's happened from day 1 and the buck has to stop with the manager at this stage. Plenty of pace up front too but not even a threat on the counter, just slow build up play and losing it in our own half a lot of the time. How are you supposed to look for top 4 without the guts to go for the throat against a direct top 4 rival playing poorly? It was the same against Leicester a few weeks ago. Inviting them on for 70 mins and they would have got at least 2 if it weren't for Ramsdale.

Partey and Auba were woeful. Agree Martinelli should be given a run in the team but the manager is never going to get the best out of attacking players playing the way he does. I don't think he likes Martinelli because he plays like an individual instead of a robot. Saka has looked completely out of sorts since the Euro final. In fairness to Tavares he put in some good far post balls for Saka in space late on but he took far too much time to get a shot away. But Tierney should be getting a look in again at this stage.

Also think you’re being harsh on United describing them as poor. Draw at Chelsea is a commendable result. I’d certainly take it. They certainly have a better squad than us on paper.

Lovely to see the Old legend banner last night flown by who knows, even though the club Stalinists have already erased him from OT. Perhaps we should sack Arteta and pick him up…..

I'm talking about United on the night, not at Chelsea. And Leicester on the day too. The ref wanted to give a drop ball to de Gea and was likely to give them a dodgy decision and he invites them on.

Where did I say he's only in situ because the media love him? He's been playing for one goal wins since the start. Even against teams like Norwich and Burnley this season there is an immediately noticeable difference once we take the lead. Other posters on this thread notice it too. As soon as we went one up last night I knew he'd sit back and try to protect the lead for 75 mins against a team with Harry Maguire at the back and Ronaldo up front. I even said it on the match thread. He's been doing this since day 1, it's not the fault of the players after 2 years and you can't put it down to them being new either because the only new players starting last night were the keeper and 3 of the back 4. The fact he started Elneny in midfield should have told you how he was going to play - exactly the same as he did last year when United were even worse.

We are conceding chances at an alarming rate and are getting bailed out by Ramsdale a lot of the time and a large chunk of it is the manager inviting teams to have a go at us and offering little to nothing in attack at the same time, which only invites them on further. This is working against the players, most of whom are attack-minded, even White and Tavares at the back, and playing to their weakness not their strength.

And are clubs now announcing how they will be playing?

We are Man City. We are playing you next Sunday. And we will be ****…….

I’m not denying he has a point. He makes them eloquently. I even agree with him. As I said above, we don’t seem to press home an advantage.

I just find the relentless anti-Arteta, he’s only there because of the media love-in trope a bite tiresome. But each to their own. We’re all on the same side….

I've never said Arteta is only there because of the media. I've said numerous times that he gets an easy pass from the media who have told us from day one that he's a talented manager without any evidence and that Arsenal are improving. He's spent £200m since he arrived. Outspent everyone this summer. 2 years in the job and still playing cowardly football that's not conducive to picking up enough points but we're not allowed to comment on that or criticise him for it because he's wasted the money on largely inexperienced players and flops and has thus bought himself more time? 

Arteta is there still primarily because the owners aren't ambitious or ruthless and we have a large chunk of the fanbase who accept mediocrity, despite themselves and the club spending big, not because of the media. You don't get that at Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea, City etc.

Historically 4th/5th may have been our 'place' but only because we were underachieving. We were the biggest club in the biggest city in Europe historically but now we're behind Chelsea, West Ham and Spurs. 4th place in London is more accurate. We've finished 8th 2 years in a row, remember.

I'm not even looking for us to win the league, that's miles off, but we should be looking to get top 4 with our budget and size and build on that. I don't have to name another manager in order to be able to criticise Arteta either. When you see fans of direct top 4 rivals calling for him to stay like they did with OGS and with Wenger in his latter years that says it all. They know we are going nowhere with him.

I'd really like Arteta to do well at Arsenal, but it just isn't going to happen.

Forget team selections, tactics etc, Arteta seems to be living in cloud cuckoo land. He said after last nights game,that we didn't MANAGE the game very well. We've never managed a game well under him, so wtf is he on about?

To be fair to MA, alot of these players are not performing. Is it coz they are not putting it in for the manager? We stumble through games no matter who the opposition is.

After the United game he said we were 'in total control of the game' after we scored the first - they were all over us for the rest of the half and got the equaliser just before HT. Last night he said we were in control of the game after the goal but not playing well. His idea of control of a game or 'game management' is to sit back and try to contain the opposition and invite them on and not look for a second.

Benitez brought Gomez on to give them an extra man in the middle and the game changed almost immediately. He had Lokonga and Elneny on the bench and instead made changes at left full, left wing and up top. Why would you change Tierney (who was playing well) for Tavares when you are defending a lead? Why bring Nketiah on ahead of Auba when he refused a new contract only the other day?

Once they equalised we immediately started to attack them and look for a second. The difference in going forward was stark and immediate.

Re the players, I'd say the likes of Auba and most of the attackers cannot stand this brand of football. It is hard to motivate players or get them to play for you after 2 years of it. And it's not really that surprising that strikers are missing chances either, they feed off confidence and they must go into games wondering if they are even going to get a chance to score rather than expecting to score. The pundits are saying the senior players are letting him down but they are always the first to down tools on a manager. Not good but understandable and I don't think they've been happy for a long time. Just awfully slow, risk averse build up play which often results in us giving the ball away without getting near the opposition's goal and if we do they are set up to defend it.

Back to the mid-table mediocrity of the pre-George Graham era.

Incredible that we're struggling to finish 5th without having to play in Europe.

To be fair to Wes, they are as thick as mince on that thread.

With the loss of the captain's armband do we think Auba will be gone in January?

Not sure what most fans want tbh. I'd prefer him to go on a free and free up wages for someone else. Would love to get Martinez but that isn't going to happen

For all his goals, our percentage goes up markedly when he doesn't play apparently.

49.1% of matches when he has played, and 64.6% when he has not. BBC Sport

True that. He hasn’t looked interested for months. Even when played through the middle as many were clamouring for.

Having made such a big call, the heat will be back on the manager if they get turned over tonight.