Morning all.
The transfer gossip won’t go away ahead of the summer and to be honest, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if clubs are already in talks about potential targets as there’s no point in leaving things until the season ends as other clubs might just nip in and beat us to it. Wasn’t it was around this time of the season when we first heard the stories about Lukas Podolski heading our way?
Paul Pogba is the big name being mentioned by Fleet Street’s finest and boy would he be a coup if that one came true. But at £80 million – perhaps not.
Paulo Dybala is another and many a rumour suggest that a £30 million bid has already been made for the Palmero player. Club president Maurizio Zamparini has confirmed talks with English clubs, with a deal set to be agreed shortly. Talking to Sky Italia he said:
I’m speaking directly to the presidents of the teams interested in England.
There is a lot of interest, the player is very good and we’ll try to find an agreement.
We are widely tipped to be the favourites to sign the young Argentinian. Time will tell..
Onto tonight and a preview from Tsgh….
I wonder how Arsene will be feeling knowing very well that the club he was so close to leading to the UCL final nearly 25 years ago as a novice Manger could potentially eliminate him out of this year’s competition.
If the opinions of some of the overpaid TV experts are to be believed, AS Monaco would provide us with the first realistic opportunity to progress further than the last 16 of this competition since the 2009 to 2010 season. In that season we beat FC Porto 6-2 on aggregate at the last 16 stage when they had Radamel Falcao as their attacking threat. We were subsequently eliminated in the quarter finals by Barcelona (3-6 on aggregate) who against all odds, got scuppered by none other than Jose’s Inter Milan, aided by the exploits of Lúcio.
However, this modern AS Monaco side is a team built to be efficient and well drilled for UCL football.
One thing is for certain, AS Monaco do not have the same European pedigree as the likes of Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid or even the Juventus of old. But what they do current have is a young breed of manager at their helm who is cut from the same cloth as Jose Mourinho in my view, although Monaco’s young coach is a keen believer in giving youth the chance.
So what do we know about this AS Monaco team?
When Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev took over the club in 2011 when the club was bottom of Ligue, he wasted no time in establishing the direction he wanted the club to take. Like any new Billionaire football owner, he he took no prisoners whilst trying to establish his legacy at his newly acquired club.
Dmitry’s fourth appointee Leonardo Jardim has demonstrated that he might be a formidable manager, showing no signs of a manager who unjustly became the 19th boss to be dismissed by Olympiakos in 11 years in January 2013. His job was considered safe at Sporting but he took the gamble to ply his train in Ligue 1 instead, under an owner who was unwilling to accept second best.
Leonardo is renowned for playing key central midfielders out of position, his latest experiment being Moutinho, playing him out of position on the left in a rather unorthodox 4-3-1-2/4-4-2 diamond.
In AS Monaco’s first season of return to the UCL, Monaco conceded only once in the group stage – a group made up of seasoned UCL participants in Leverkusen, Zenit and Benfica, showing they can be a formidable team.
Their exploits thus far in this competition has shown that they won’t be the pushover most ‘experts’ would lead us to believe although their ability to score goals is currently not at the level’s expected of a top European team.
Their domestic form has also been a bit of hit and miss. They sit 4th in Ligue 1 and are averaging goals scored of just over 1 goal a game with Ex-spuds and United striker Berbatov spearheading their attack. It should be noted that they currently have the joint best defensive record in Ligue 1 after conceding a miserly 19 goals thus far.
This goes to show that their midfield and defence is their strongest asset and that we have to be focused and disciplined in order to be able to assert our style of play on this very well drilled Jardim Leonardo team.
AS Monaco fans have questioned why Leonardo has persisted in playing a static Berbatov at the head of a front 3 or 1 and perhaps it is this set-up which has limited their goals scoring opportunities. Without last season’s top player James in his squad, Monaco are lacking all the fluidity and creativity needed to attract a neutral fan although the likes of Ferreira-Carrasco have shown that when given the chance he could be as effect as James Rodriguez.
I consider their star man to be on-loan Bernardo Silva, who will operate behind Berbatov and he could give Coquelin the same problems Ayew and Valbuena caused Flamini last season in the Champions League last season at Stade Velodrome.
On our part I would expect who ever starts behind the main striker and in the box-to-box role for us to give a similar experience to their midfield trio of veteran Toulalon, Young Kondogbia and Moutinho.
Needless to say, Wenger deserves some luck tonight and so I hope for a top performance from his team and 3-1 victory for us.
Come on you Gunners…
Written by Tsgh.
Thanks for the post and good read Ts…
At least Merts shouldn’t get beaten for pace by Berbatov… 😉
Third try , A well thought out post TS. A lot more concise than anything we will get from the lazy English red top media. Their hacks will merely say that Monaco has no history and apart from a yearly Grand Prix no sporting heritage. However this team is organised and every game that we have played this season has been televised live in France , they will know Wenger and his team inside out . This will not be is not easy , we have no secrets.
Potter, are you having troubles posting? I am.
Yes :- Database error
Rico… the website is having issues I think…
Until you posted I thought the issues were at my end.
Thanks for tiding up the post for me btw…
Thanks potter… I guess it will all depend on how we start the game. Unfortunately we have conceded 78% of our goals in the second half of games this season… Monaco since the winter break have scored most of their goals in the second half…
The man behind the scenes has just rebooted the server, hopefully all will be solved now, if not can you folks let me know please…
Pleasure Ts..
I wouldn’t be surprised if all those in the media tipping us for an easy win, are doing so to heap pressure on and then laugh if we don’t get through…
As AW say’s – this game won’t be easy and it’s 50-50…
Hopefully it stops raining before tonight or I’m going to get as wet as an otter’s pocket!
tidying* even
The media hacks are definitely trying to set us up for fall with their predictions…
It appears the squad will be taking the game very seriously and so fingers crossed…
its funny how City lose 2-1 at home to Barca and the media think they still have a chance at Camp nou whilst they weren’t as kind to us a few years back when we played Barca…
I thought the same last night Ts when I heard the comments, I guess they think the return of Yaya will give them a huge boost…
Wolves fans are loving Afobe… I am very pleased for him. He always had it in him.He was just unlucky to be injury-prone.
Well Tsgh, thanks for the rightup and whetting the appetite… I would be happy with an Arsenal win but I want a clean sheet! Against a very defence minded team that away goal could be absolutely crucial. So 1-0, 2-0 but I dont want 2-1 if we can help it. I expect us to control the game but find them very stubborn to breakdown. They will try to hit us on the counter, and we MUST be ready for that. This will be an arm wrestle and a match of patience… we must not be wasteful on the few good chances were are likely to get!
Afobe over Sanogo any day of the week Ts…..
Good Morning to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
Ginge – A well written and balanced article. Certainly a better effort than most of the ‘professional journalists’ (more like lazy).
However, Roger has some good points about us trying to keep a clean sheet as it will be hard to score against Monaco, especially away in the principality.
Rico – The lazy English pres are doing their usual build you up so they can tear you down routine. You can just see them drooling over the possible headlines like “Arsenal lose an easy chance to advance”. They aren’t interested in reporting the facts or writing balanced impartial analysis. They are only after the sensational headline and the standard muck raking. True journalism is dead in the commercial press.
Re :- City , Barcelona are a funny animal and I know that a lot of you do not like them for the way that they have unsettled players in the past but you do have to remember that we have done well financially in Spain with our dealings. Perhaps I am a little more understanding than most having spent about a quarter of my life in Catalonia .I can see where their attitude comes from. However football wise they suffer from the same disease as us , when things are easy like the first half last night , they indulge themselves and drift into a pattern of play which is less urgent than it should be , they relax and get caught. At the Camp Nou the first quarter will be interesting . If they control things they will score and put City out but if City start with pace they could get a surprise result which might benefit us.Should we go through and draw them next. Despite the prospect of a week in St Pere for the away match , I would prefer to match up with City over two legs. My wife would prefer a trip to see her friends over there.
Morning All
Morning Rico…
Having seen the over- hyped Paul Pogba in the recent WC, I gotta say, if he’s worth £80m, then I’m a Dutchman…
Morning Cg. I can see those headlines now, but hopefully we won’t fuel their pathetic little fire…
Great draw for us,but if we approach this game,
with the hand brake on(arsene),we could end up
blowing this home leg,
we must pick a side to go at em..its an easy draw.
Monaco have a good defensive
record over last the 20 games..so what.
Look at shi*ty last night,
Pelly in the press all weekend..0-0 will do,
the players must of had drummed that into them,
don’t go over the halfway line all week.
If you set up defensively the players will
play that way.
We don’t want to see want went on at palace
after the break with 9 defensive players,
just sitting in,so lets hope if we go 2 up,
we bring Theo on not another fullback.
Potter, I actually hope City can turn it around and knock Barca out because like you, I think if we can get through this round and draw City, semi finals here we come… lol
What you mean……Kev Van Pog
Morning Kev – you have your clogs on? 😉
Fred – I think we’ll win tonight, they may have a strong defence but with out creative players and with Ollie on good form, I think we’ll be more than ok..
Tipping Welbeck to find the goal tonight….
great post tsgh.. imo we must play with a high tempo tonight Monaco is a defensive team no doubt but if we go at them with pace and movement play it like a PL game they’ll end up with 10 men a most likely conceding a penalty.
Do they concede many penalties Kel?
It might be the right time to play Welbeck and Walcott on the wings. Let’s see how they deal with their speed. If we can get the ball behind their defense we have plenty that can finish it.
What’s all this about Kev Van Cloggen….. I must agree though, 80mil for Pogba is madness and for me he isn’t a defensive midfielder anyway..! Far better options to spend 80million on.
So, has Kev added another persona to his ever expanding multiple personalities – Kevin van Allez?
£40 million and he’d be great Wath imo…
Paul Pogba will be a gift from Rico to Arsenal.. stop hating Kev and Wath. 😛
Thanks Kel, Cg
Afternoon Rico and the House.
Good red Ginge how long did it take you to think it up.
I’m hoping for a clean sheat tonight and acouple of goals for Theo.
A very young side masquerading as our U21 side have this morning lost 4-1
away to the spuds.Two of the spuds goals were pens and needless to say they are making a big thing of it.
What they do not accept is that most of our side were schoolboys
Goede Dag iedereen;
I’m just sitting on the rank (that’s rank with an R, Rico 🙂 ) munching on my edam and sipping my advocat…. 😀
ha ha I don’t think so. I don’t condone that kind of money being spent on footballers, in fact after I suggest £40 million I thought I was mad.
Especially when one considers how much Alexis cost us and Pogba is a long way from being in his class…
Did you see Morgan against the Dippers? Very average…
The question we have to ask Rick, is what did our youngsters learn from being smashed 4-1…???
Afternoon Rick. Another loss to that lot, ouch!
🙂 Kev, all you need now is a bunch of tulips in the cab…
Does being smashed 4-1 build your confidence, does it teach you a winning mentality, does it improve your technique by being humiliated, does it give you pride in your ability???
Maybe it does, but I’m not convinced tbh…
Kev not a lot I would think
I really think we should be asking what is wrong with our youth setup,
and where do’s the buck stop???
It’s like going up to Old Karsey, with a weakened side and a makeshift defence and going on the attack…
And after losing 8-2 wondering what mental scars have been left behind in the heads of the players?
What do the players learn from that, other than they’re inferior…?!
To me that is Coaching that borders on the reckless and shows a lack of care…
Yes Rick, you have to start to question, not only the ability of our Coaches, but if they are suitable for such an important job?
I suppose that this season is still very much a honeymoon period while things are changed ‘for the better’….
But if it continues into next season, then a few P45’s should maybe a consideration?!!!
That 8-2 at OT is probably why we haven’t beaten them since….
Back latta
Kev – Kev you can keep the Advocaat. I’d rather have an Oranjeboom or Heineken with my cheese, preferably a nice bit of smoked Gouda.
Catch you all after the game (2-0).
Kel/Rick, i am coming round to the idea that it would be much more prudent to not concede tonight…
AS Monaco at home in their 18k seater stadium needing to break them down will be a bit of an uphill struggle…
Rick- not very long judging by the typos filled post i originally sent to Rico… lol
Later Cg
Night Cg…
18k Ts, that’ll be a quiet stadium… 😉
ha ha Rico… millionaires don’t sing.
They struggle to fill the stadium that is why they have had finincial problems in the last 10 or so years…
Yes Rico, I imagine that Old Karsey doesn’t hold fond memories for any of our current squad…
I doubt if any of them were among the last squad that won a game up there!
So, psychologically we’re gonna be at a massive disadvantage when we visit on October 9th…
Ah, forgot Danny Welbeck….
Maybe Arsene should let Danny do the team talk up there?
Two lips in Amsterdam! Your theme song in cabland? Or should it be
Tupips?
Good read ts…. . Agree on everything…….
Hey Snap.. how are you?
I saw bits of Rabiot last weekend; he looked very sharp. 2 well taken goals as well
I’m fine ts just been very busy.. ……. Rabiot is suppose to be very good but I’m not seeing any improvements yet blanc isn’t really good with midfielders imo he should be used as a no. 6 but blanc keeps playing him forward……he has one of the best in the game to learn from(things motta) so.. ………… I see you didn’t mention Kurzawa who I think is a very good player and will get young hector problems if he isn’t protected imo
I like Layvin but I have only seen him as a defender.. he is said to be very fast
True he is very fast I personally prefer him to digne but that’s just me….. we seem to be having very good young lbs coming through and he is one of the best…… You don’t rate pogba? I’m beginning to think you don’t like French players.. lol
OK, this is for JM…
I know he holds my team predictions in the greatest of regard (not sure why?)….
This is for you JM;
Ospina
Bellerin BFG Koz Monreal
Coquelin
Walcott Ozil Santi Alexis
Giroud…
What do you think JM???
Did Rico say we’re getting Pogba for 40m? Or did I read that too fast 😉 Lets just say we are. To be honest he has great stats over the past 3 seasons and at 21 he is only going to get better. Plus, can you imagine how freakin awesome he would be when we play utd and wants to stick one up them?!
Lol… Snap. i like Paul but just like Cavani and Falcao i think he is a tad overrated.
You know my fave player is Valbuena even though he made a mistake moving to Russia imo…
I like Matuidi too and none other than OG12…
Roger, Rico likes funny haircuts… 😉
Looks about right to me Kev, except whoscored is reporting Ospina is suffering with a minor back problem so Wojciech Szczesny may be handed a chance to re-stake a claim for the starting spot in goal. Anyone know about this?
Could be worse TSGH, could be a Chamak or El Shaarawy do… 😉 Personally I shave mine of and be done with it.
OK, Rodger, didn’t know that, Szczesny in if Ospina fails a test I suppose…
I wonder how often Monaco are put under ‘real’ pressure???
I suppose Gabriel with Koz was a thought, more pace at the back to contend with counter-attacks…
But I’m kinda hoping that a high-intensity start will have Monaco in a panic…
Kev- I will go with that line-up but walcott, we can’t afford their LB Layvin giving young Bellerin any problems on the break. Welbeck might do a better job defensively if he is available imo…
I think Ill join TSGH on the Welbeck over Walcott call… when on form I prefer Walcott but he doesnt have my confidence yet.
No he’s not..ts…he isn’t like Viera even though the media will want you to think he is but he has massive potential to be just as special he needs to move to a team where he will be asked to do more than support vidal and also learn how to minimise his forward thinking and be more astute tactically imo….. I understand your point but I think he is a very good player…. don’t really like Falcao but pleasee don’t beef cavani lol he is one of my favourite cf plus I like giroud too for the amount we paid I think we got an excellent deal and he keeps on improving…. .. . Do you think we will be in for Morgan in the summer?
😀 Roger
Snap- I forgot my favourite french player of all.. cabaye.
I think the boat has sailed on Morgan joining us.
He has lost his focus after his recent injuries and suspensions. I wonder if he peaked too early. He definitely needs a change from Southampton as he is being asked to play box to box as opposed to the DM or sweeper role he was good at over the last 3 seasons.
Ts- I still maintain Vidal and Pirlo make Pogba look better than he is… when Pereyra came on for pirlo last night I think he left all the defensive job to vidal again…
BVB could have finished Juve if Immobile was not immobile in front of goal. 🙂
Afternoon all..
Millionaires don’t sing Ts, I know a few who do.. lol
Kev, I guess like winning breeds winning, losing against certain sides does the same. Good idea re Danny boy….
Snap even…
Roger, 3.36 – just why signing Pogba would make sense, just not for the rumoured £80m price tag…
Ginge, when you look at Monaco, and I know nothing about their currant team, I guess I go with those dreaded stats…
They have a tight defence and a so-so attack…
I don’t know who the other five teams in their group was?
I also wonder how their injuries are going to affect them?
Snap, after watching Morgan against the Dippers, I have doubts about him, but it was his first game back for a while….
😀 Rico.
Welbeck sat with Wenger in the pre-match Presser…
A clever ploy by Wenger?
How will Monaco react to a hungry Theo Walcott?
He’s on a hot run of goals, unlike Welbeck…
I think Bellerin has the pace to cope, I hope so anyway…
Whatever the team, I think we’ll win in England and win in France…
There ya go, that’s putting my head on the block….
Can we afford Walcott and Ozil though Kev?
Saying that, if Monaco turn up and park the bus, Theo could unlock the defence if he is up for the match..
Monaco don’t necessarily pack the bus though…
They keep the shape and remain compact from the little I have seen of them this season…
They also have Calvahlo formerly of chelsea as their CB…
Abdennour and Wallace are also very good CB’s
Our keeper being between by them last season..
Evening all.
Nice post TS. I hear what you’re saying and I don’t expect this game to be easy but if we can’t beat this lot we have no business being in this competition.
Looking forward to the game tonight. Would like to see our ‘big’ players stand up and be counted.
Monaco will play deep,can’t see
Cavalhlo pushing up to the halfway line,
if it was up to me,
Put the lads on that can battle first,
then bring a bit of extra pace on,
we have to keep some sort of shape,
we have a few combinations up front now,
so fingers crossed.
Ricardo is out injured as are several other of their ist team, apparently.
Good? Who can say?
Team in full: Ospina, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Coquelin, Cazorla, Alexis, Ozil, Welbeck, Giroud
COYRRG
Monaco back four looks poor,
we should be able to get them,
with this team….
we could hopefully put this tie to bed,tonite.
COYRRG’S!!!!!
Very strong line up
Souness is a miserable sod
Evening all, a goal from Danny Boy would be good tonight…..
Good post, Ts, Thanks for the update on Moratta earlier.
I think we should win this one…..
Danny and ozil goals plus one goal from our CBs…
Hi Bt.
Sc19 positioning is super.
Good post tsgh, Flamini even got a mention, you must be going soft.
Nice change not to be playing Bayern or Barca I suppose, good to see we’re all over them like a rash early doors.
Lol Micko.How’s Joey?
Too slow , got to get at them.
He does anger management classes Wednesday evenings tsgh, he’ll only get to see the highlights.
Good opening 10. Flat since then.
We ain’t moving them around enough…
Sanchez needs to get involved
It’s frustrating
Bellerin has done quite well…
Their back 4 is combat…
Merts scores at the wrong end, deep joy.
Flipping heck
Garbage
Where is our midfield
This is a replay of the Emirates cup game where they were too big and strong for us
Exactly what we deserved , playing far too slow and Giroud needs to be more lively . They are llowing us up in midfield we need to get some width and pace.
Amateur performance
Pedestrian paced Arsenal…
Another big game we fail to turn up. Shocker.
Swallowing.
Come on…
Bob John… ur spot on its excatly like that…
If the Ox is fit get him on…
Away goal…
I was hoping we had seen the back of that stationary, sideways, sideways, backward passing at a pace my grandmother could easily have managed!!
Disappointingly not it seems.
This game will suit rosicky.
Allez, yu were wronf agian.
Monaco has very well organize. not surrprise for me. Was the same with Olympiakos.
I would do three subs now , Rosicky , the Ox and Theo on , perm any 3 from 5 to take off.
Like to see Ox and Ros for Ozil and Welbeck. Have a feeling Coq could see red though
Tbh we got excatly what we deserved… A kick in the balls… walking paced, no tempo, no hunger it’s like a testimonial and ozil is being a lazy **** atm.. or is he just lethargic..
I recognize merde when I see it! And I’ve just witnessed 40 minutes of soft and smelly!
Come on Arsenal show em who’s the boss!
So many bad touches
Game over…
Well at least we can focus now on the FACup
Absolutely rubbish
This is actually embarrassing Monaco may be a defensively well organised team but ffs this is pathetic from Arsenal….
God we’re fucking shit. I know we were never going to win the CL but this is embarrassing.
Brutal
OG12; unbelievable.
On the bright side it’s only taken us 56 minutes to get a shot on target !……..over to you Arsene.
Giroud tonight reminds me of a game Bendtner had once. 5 fucking open goals!!!!!
It’s like watching us play Chelsea , no idea how to play a strong packed defence
We are so easy to beat. Other managers must piss themselves laughing when they come up against us.
Midfield is poor
Non existent I would say.
Who could have predicted this?
Maybe Monaco are simply a better side than anyone gave them credit…
Groundhog season
None of our Press gave Monaco any real credit…
One newspaper said that it was gonna be easy for Arsenal..,
Kev I’d say we are a lot worse than we believe.
Compare kondogbia to le coq from a tactically point of view.roughly same age.
Leonardo is Jose mk2.
Have we actually won a tackle all night?
Aw needs to overhaul our midfield imo.
Hi Ng
Truly awful
This is not what I wake up at 4 am for!!!! Grrrrr.
You still think AW should be there TS?
Any manager with half a plan can get a result against us.
Well, there is nothing positive that can be said about this.
Lewis after a night like this I will say no…
But the players have let him down too so…
They have but how many times have we said that.
Bj only sc19 and bellerin have won tackles
Hi Ts.
We are very good in given the ball away.
As soon as I saw Ozil in the lineup I knew we have problems.
Ng.I always say ozil can’t play without rosick y
So true Lewis
Is there any special player in Monaco?
I can’t wait to hear what the excuses are
What a goal
Game ok..
Another year over.
Ox what was he doing?
Just when you think it can’t get worse.
Just fuck off Arsenal absolute disgrace
I’m not even angry anymore lol… It is what it is… we’re not good enough and that’s the bottom line. The only thing I can take from that game is mertsacker imo has played himself on the bench…
3 away goals…
Jardim excellent.
tsgh, not knowing very much about Monaco when I woke up this morning I have to say your post was pretty spot on, just got your prediction the wrong way around but they do say love is blind.
Not sure about anyone not giving little ole Monaco any credit, it was the best possible draw we could have got, just deflects from how bad we played, as Arsene said earlier “time to show we are back”………my arse !!!
Lee, fcuking deck him for me will ya !!!
Really glad I didn’t buy a ticket for the away ….victory .leg! Thought about it. What a pile of crap! We’re back where we were in September ! Progress, what progress???
Finish 4th in the league we’ll be nearer 14th.
Stack my vitals. I’m off for a cold shower and a ‘downer’.
Le coq and ozil were poor.
humiliating!
Why giroud off? Why Ozil played all the game?
So, this is the fixture close for the next round.
Congratulations Aw!
Micko, you can join the queue down at The Bush…
My final word for tonight
ABJECT
Joaquin Moreira, this team AW put on the pitch was good enough to beat Monaco. There is a time we got to hold these players responsible. They are paid well and they are professionals. They were supposed to perform.
Bt, if only I could smuggle my knuckle duster through security !
Lacklustre,Tired,laboured,Naive,Terrible attitude, Terrible work ethic, It,s definitely down to the Manager, He has a lot of serious questions to answer, for that performance tonight,For his team to play like that at home in the last sixteen of the biggest trophy in Europe, and not be able to get up for a game of that importance. Even f–king Berbatov was more up for it than us, Mertes and Ozil are sh–e, Wenger should resign. shocking .
no Nashua.
We had seen before that Cazorla-Alexis-Ozil doesn’t work!
I’ve gone to the pub. Finished the game laughing.
Per really needs to look at himself.. … How can an international player be so poor with his positioning…. Really poor performance from the team but I’m personally upset with per and he is the captain?
rico, if your in a blackened out room talking to yourself it’s totally understandable….honest !
Shocking performance..
Let down by the Germans.. and for a change its not the referee.
Giroud was wasteful.. If he got in one of his chances, we could have won the game.
Can’t see what Le coq did wrong.. He is not a Matic, but he is the best of what we got..
I thought bringing Rosiscky for Ozil could’ve made a better balance with either Walcot or ox on the wide areas..
Ox is not a central midfielder..
I would have rather 0/2 than 1/3..
Over all a nervy display by the whole team..
Game over imo..
Mick, it’s only a game…
judge- this was rafinha’s first game as a DM for monaco…
Le Coq was out thought the whole game…another game where he made less tackles than santi.
yes he did nothing wrong but he did nothing… imo.
That is why Areta will walk into the team again because as pep said MA08 is unlucky to be born around the time when the spanish team is made up of players from 2 teams…
Kondogbia has only 4 UCL games to his name btw and is 22 y.o.
JM- I am with you on Ozil, Sc19 without TRo7 or Ramsey.
night. rant over. lol
Och that rubbish hurt
Kev, it’s not me you’ve gotta convince, try telling that to your lad tonite ! You’ve got a lot to answer for !!!
Just waiting for Joe to come on and tell me everythings rosy, 10 wins in the last 12 games, we must be doing something right………right.
Nite all.
Yes tsgh, but to single him out is not fair..
Just because frimbog the dench couldn’t make it.. Lol…
We lost because mertasacker was shocking and Giroud was wasteful..
Ozil again faded into oblivion, and santi couldn’t find his magic..
The manager couldn’t turn it around by his substitutions..
I am not a big fan of Le coq , and personally I think arsenal could’ve and shouldhave done better in that important position..
Arteta physically has passed it, flamini is average, Ramsey has been disappointing, and wilshere is not fit for purpose at the moment..
We need a strong athletic engine in the midfield
Stats of tackles is very misleading imo, what important is making successful interceptions wining the ball by being in the right place at the right time, and the intenton to pass the ball forward..
Well.. At least we got a cheer up from the invincibles..
Night gooners..
I think the best way to sum up tonight is to say they are all a bunch of cnuts………….!
There is a lot more that could be added but why waste our time when we care far more than the majority of the players… Yet another fuckin load of bollox about not turning up when it matters… how often does that happen Arsene………… Enuff said.
time to see what gabriel is made of, drop Per, his lack of speed and poor decision making really cost us tonight.
Time for Wenger to pick one of Cazorla or Ozil and one of Welbeck or Giroud, and get Walcott back in the starting 11, we tonight had no one running in behind their defense, Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud and Welbeck all going into the same areas just outside their area, actually getting in each others way. we had no width, and so it was no surprise that Bellerin and Gibbs ended up so far forward trying to give us width. Welbeck is not a wide player. If we are to have Cazorla and Ozil in the same team, then put Santi wide left, Ozil at ten and Alexis wide right or up top with Theo wide right, give Ozil the runners he needs to shine.
If we are going to push our fullbacks up to join the attack we can not have Per in the team, he is just too damn slow, he is fine when we have a deep lying defense and we are under the cosh, but facing counter attacks he is just useless and what makes it worse is that he seems to have a brain freeze when he sees a counter attack forming, and he charges out of position to try and stop it, but usually like tonight he ends up making it worse.
Must also say I think Per should have manned up and taken the brunt of the shot for their first goal, yes it would have stung him or even hurt him, but that is what he gets the big bucks for, not to chicken out of it and gift them the goal.
Its in games like tonight that you clearly feel the loss of Ramsey, he is the only midfielder we have who runs beyond our attackers to stretch our opponents defense, and he is also the one who will have a pot shot when around the square, none of our players took on a shot from outside the area tonight apart from Oxlade-Chamberlain shot, which he scored from, it was all “no you have it” sideways and backwards passing
Spot on Eduardo.
You are right judge.
I think my frustration is that AW failed to sign a DM.it’s not coquelins fault.
Well, that was a Fucking disaster.
How does Ozil always escape being subbed when he is consistently shit? He should have been hooked at half time.
Morning all.
I only saw the first half and m probably lucky.
All I can say is that once again, when we have no movement off the bal, we are terrible, and after the first ten minutes, it was pass and stand still, in general.
After 20 minutes, I was asking Wenger to bring Ox and Rosicky on but I guess he couldn’t hear me 🙂
Flat.
Lethargic.
Lazy.
Why is it we put up performances like this each time we could possibly be finding some momentum.
I just had a chat with a Chelski supporter….he’s actually a nice guy….and we agreed at both sides absolute best, we are better, but at worst, we we are worse, and unfortunately we have lows and highs that are just not acceptable.
We need more gritty players who will dog in and I don’t care if hew as top notch or not, Lansbury and that type of player would make more impact in games like that debacle than elegant, silky guys ever will.
Don’t blame Ozil as he will find someone in motion but when everyone is standing still, he looks woeful.
Saying that, when others are bludging, Ozil AND some of them should be taken off.
Morning gents.
Well some things are so predictable imo.
When draw was made I sussed we would lose at home and win away but go out on away goals.
My fear is that in 2 weeks time they will have 5 of their starters who were miss ing yesterday available
Maybe it’s time to try Bellerin again in central midfield
In midfield again even
I hope Alexis scored soon too.
No goal since 11th January
Ginge, Alexis was out for a period…damn you’re harsh lol.
How are you mate?
Wouldn’t worry about 2 wks time tsgh. This tie is all but over maybe another tanking will show wenger yet again what most of us on here have been saying for yrs..We have no proper DM. And a serious lack of physical power in the middle of the park is costing us yr after yr. …
Glad I went to that last night…..
Glad I missed it.
Wish I hadn’t watched it.
Lucky fucker GK….. fucking referees can’t even be blamed, we were appalling! Merts needs to be dropped along with a few more!
Interesting thing is, when it was 1-2 Lee, was Arsene out of his seat, issuing instructions, you know, coaching ffs…?
Or did he just sit in his seat, fiddling with his zip…?
This team lacks direction, direction from the bench…
At 1-2 we had a slim chance…
1-3 just forget it…
At his age and at that time of night, I expect he came over all tired and ready for bed!
What he needs is, instead of water in a bottle, a bottle of Wincarnis! Didn’t do Harold Wilson any harm, apart from the fact he died some time ago!
Hiya Kev,
We miss direction from on the pitch even more.
Someone roaring at the bludgers…..someone who commands respect.
New Post up……………