I won't go as far as vanTig.... but I will point out that nearly every match that Arsenal lost in the league in the last 5-6 years of his tenure that wasn't against other top clubs (the top six/seven), Arsenal were the "better team" based on possession and shots. And they would lose. Because they were focused on attacking, because they made defensive mistakes, because they left the defenders exposed and because a lot of players were not accountable for defensive responsibilities. It still happens under Emery but at least it appears there is progress.
So.... if you are attacking and aggressive, accept you will sometimes get Arsenal'd. Or, if you prefer, Arsenlol'd.
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Small gripe. Last gripe for the Blackburn save. I finished the third season with a Prem title, which was a bit unexpected. Lot of manager churn at the bigger clubs and Arsenal were doing better than us, but fell away at the end. We both had tough runs to finish the season (our last 3 matches were City, United, and Chelsea), but Arsenal dropped enough points those last three didn't matter. We got smoked by City and the board was celebrating, then I saw the headline that said Arsenal and lost we mathematically claimed the title.
Last match of the season - and likely the save - was Champions League final against Atletico Madrid. Went in with no expectation to win, because we never should have been there. We got a remarkably easy group, considering we were pot 4. Got Benfica then Chelsea. Benfica were a bit of a push, in terms of talent, but taking down Chelsea was a bit of an upset. Then we got Barcelona and had no right winning. But 1-1 at home and 2-1 away and we into a final we don't belong in. Against Atletico, which is still very strong and managed by Guardiola, who I don't have a great record against (lost to Man City in the Carabao Cup final in the first season, when we were still in the Championship).
Without any expectation of winning, I was going to just use Instant Result. But I played the match instead. We gave up some big chances, with Griezmann and Angel Correra making a few killer runs with cutback passes that we just fought off with a last ditch lunge or a nice save. We made it into half-time scoreless. Just into the second half, they have a corner, which they play short, then across the top of the box to Correra. He has no shooting lane - there is a defender and the goalkeeper. Three of my players move to close him down. He shoots. Top corner. We keep pushing for an equalizer. The 4-3-3 I use makes pretty awesome use of the inside forwards and they score loads from cutback passes and low crosses. We got a few couple of those, but Oblak made killer save after killer save, getting across wide open goals to palm it away or grab it. We hit the woodwork twice with wide open headers. Just couldn't get past Oblak. He ended up with an AVR of like 8.0. We lost 1-0.
Crushed. But not in the "this motivates me to do better" way and keep going. We never should have been there, never should have been competitive, and we were so close. Weird dynamic. And an exciting way to end the save.
To stop you overachieve too much the game is biased against promotion teams! No matter how much you control the match in every **** statistic, the game finds a way to f*ck you with a penalty or a last minute goals! This is a second time I've experienced this during the first season at the PL. Unless it's another promoted team your better just hope for a draw.
