Morning all.
Arsenal needed a miracle last night, or that’s how it seemed. After all, no club, let alone an English club had overturned a 3-1 losing score line in the Europa League knockout stages since Fulham back in 2009/10. A statistic used by the media to dampen our chances. Hopes too no doubt.
The 3-1 away defeat due to a first half red card for Sokratis, it left Arsenal with it all to do. This was even more disappointing considering Iwobi had put Arsenal 1-0 up after just three minutes, that was a dream start for the side. This saw Arsenal drift out in the outright markets to around 9/1, which many supported using offers on vip-code.co.uk/.
Rennes are having a poor league campaign, so this was a shock result for many. However they are been impressive in this competition, despite the two defeats to Dynamo Kyiv. In the previous round they were drawn against Spanish outfit Real Betis, with the first leg finishing 3-3, in what was one of the most exciting games of the 2019 competition thus far. They followed this up with a comprehensive 3-1 success away from home.
The Arsenal fans who turned out on a wet and windy night clearly thought otherwise about our chances of overturning this tie. They were in good spirits, full of voice. As were the Rennes fans who were expecting to see their team progress by taking the scalp of one of England’s finest clubs. Not even the master of Europa Unai Emery could turn this tie on its head, ran through their minds perhaps. Could Arsenal keep a clean sheet with Petr Cech in goal and Shkodran Mustafi in defence? Not a chance I bet they thought, thinking their birthdays had all come at once.
Stewart Robson was commentating on BT Sport. It’s funny how different he is now. His bitter edge seems to have gone and he’s actually quite positive about Unai Emery and what he’s doing at Arsenal.
Anyway, 8pm on the dot and the young referee blew his whistle. Game on. Ninety minutes to score two goals at least. Ninety minutes to defend as if our season rested on this one match.
The noisy Rennes fans were somewhat quietened very very early in the match. Not what they wanted to see, but just what we’d needed.
We got off to the perfect start thanks to some good stuff on the right from AMN. Just when it looked like he was about to cross the ball, he stepped inside, played the pass to Ramsey. He laid it on a plate for the man from Gabon to give us an early lead.
The second came soon after from AMN. A great header. His first European goal for his boyhood club. There was a hint offside in the buildup. Ok, Aubameyang was well offside but the movement of Kolasinac who was miles offside possibly confused the linesman. Still with a lot to do though, Auba kept the ball in, a bit of hi5 and hope I’d imagine but there was our young right back running into the perfect area. Excellent. In fact he was excellent all game in my opinion.
Scores were level but we had the away goal. Unless Rennes scored, we were through. They came close on several occasions but the offside flag, their poor finishing or some really strong defending protected our precious but crucial away goal advantage. The closest Rennes came was via a gift from Mustafi. A sloppy pass gave Rennes possession. A really well hit strike which hit the post. Cech had it covered I’m sure.
Time was getting on, Rennes time was running out but one goal from them and we’d be out. That’s how close it was. Unai Emery made his changes. Mkhitaryan came on for Ozil. Mkhitaryan had a big say in what happened next. Nifty in midfield before spotting Kolasinac down the left. An area of the pitch which seems to bring us joy. Our left back/wing back whipped the ball into the box with pace and behind the defence. Aubameyang was lurking, Aubameyang made it 3-0.
There was still twenty minutes left in the game. Plenty of time for Rennes to take the tie into extra time, worse still, to get the two goals needed to knock us our. BT Sports Ian Drake must have said that a million times. Or it fell that way.
Aubameyang should have wrapped the game up but spurned two relatively simple chances. Nonchalant perhaps. His body language certainly suggested so. As it turned out it mattered not, but there’s a bigger picture. We simply have to be more ruthless when the chances are created. Great teams are ruthless, they tear teams like Rennes apart. They don’t settle for a one goal lead, they want more and more goals as do great strikers.
The final whistle blew after five minutes of added time and we’d done it. We’re in the draw for the quarterfinals which takes place later today.
A few bookings came our way. Aubameyang for his daft celebration after nabbing his second, Kolasinac for time wasting, Lacazette and Mkhitaryan.
Shame about the gamesmanship as it ruined what might have been a better game. Both sides were guilty of trying to con the referee but Rennes excelled in their play acting. They’d seen us collapse just last week after having a man sent off, perhaps they sensed that something similar would be their only chance last night too. The ref though had other ideas.
The changes Unai Emery made worked. Ramsey had looked dead on his feet after having a good game. Ozil and Lacazette were the other two to make way for Iwobi, Mkhitaryan and Torrieira. Iwobi got away with a naughty reaction late on which had the ref seen, might have ended up with us going down to ten men again.
I know every player did their job, some better than others but I’ll leave that for the comments. I thought Kolasinac was superb. There was one tackle in our own box which he timed to perfection and his reaction showed the kind of passion we ask for. You’d have thought he’d just scored the winning goal in a Champions League Final the way he and Monreal celebrated. I loved it. Ainsley Maitland-Niles just grows and grows each game. His confidence in possession and calmness is rare for such a young player playing out of his natural position. Ramsey. A word on him for his attitude and commitment. Exemplary. Aubameyang will get all the plaudits for his goals but what others did last night was just as important to the result.
We needed two, we scored three and we go on.
A two week break kicks in now and for Arsenal it’s a trip to Dubai. Warmer climates, R&R and a friendly against Al-Nasr Dubai SC on March 26th.
We’ve played Al Nasr once before, back in November 1976. Malcolm Macdonald, John Matthews and John Radford were on target in a 3-1 victory.
I bet that takes you back…..
‘ morning Rico, thanks for the match report, I’ve been unable to get anything much on the crappy WiFi in the current hotel.
It sounds as if we did a reasonable job. There was a bit about Aubameyang and a mask of some sort, what was that about?
Cool and cloudy here in Hanoi, around 25c. One and a bit days to go, we head for Hong Kong Sunday afternoon and should be back at Heathrow early Monday morning. I could kill for a steak and kidney pie! 😉
Morning all , great news last night . not so good this morning from New Zealand. it’s a rotten world we live in someone once said. I wish religion had never got invented to control the masses.
I didn’t see 3 nil coming but pleased that it did. My stream was so poor that I can’t really say that I watched it I saw the first goal missed the second and did not see the second half . However I could always record the highlights except there weren’t any . I might watch on the club’s site so will comment after.
Morning Rico and all. The result speaks for itself. The boys did well and we’re through to the next round.
Personally I thought we were good in parts but, as usual, we squandered possession too often. A better team would have punished us. Auba’s joke mask prank seems daft to me. It earned him a booking and a late tackle or handball after that and we’re 10 men again. With the goal margin so fine, I thought it was silly.
But what a horrible team of diving head-holding cheats they were and what a naive twat that ref was.
Still, a victory renders those points somewhat meaningless I suppose.
Onwards and hopefully upwards.
Morning Cicero, Adam, Potter and all.
The game was bitty I thought in places, probably because of all the play acting. Considering the pressure, I thought they did well.
Toots v Man City in CL, Barca v Utd.
Liverpool v Porto. I guess it’s going to be their year..
Afternoon Gooners
Afternoon Rico.
Seems we have to do the job in the 1st leg at the Emirates vs Napoli, it’ll be difficult but Arsenal have a good record against Italian teams, so I’m happy we missed the Spaniards.
We can’t face Chelsea until the final, so a one off game if we can make it, which I prefer.
Get past the Italians and it’s the winner of Valencia and Villarreal in the semi final.
Seems everything is falling into place for Emery… 😉
Napoli seems a decent draw, as Kev says, we need to get it done in the first leg. A clean sheet would be good.
Afternoon Kev. Any team would be tricky at this stage I reckon.
I see this place is buzzing with excitement over the draw… 😜
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
See Naples and……………??
Hope we don’t get Valencia in the next round or even the final. I remember the last time……I was so disappointed when we lost.
Dry but very windy here and more of the same tomorrow!
Very enjoyable read, Rico.
Not surprised as I expected to beat the french indigestion tablets with ease seeing as we beat Manshafter ( who beat PSG of the frenchie league) 2-0.
Yet to see any highlights so will pop onto AFC to see if there`s any……………………………….
Nope !…………………………..only 1st leg, which I think I`ll give a miss 🙂
I prefer this one to the last rumoured one ( which was shit in my expert opinion 😆 )
http://www.sportbible.com/football/news-kit-arsenals-new-adidas-kit-leaked-online-and-its-a-thing-of-beauty-20190315
Cool and wet here this morning so I’m staying indoors, the bar opens in 3/4 hour at eleven o’clock.
Windy and wet in the U.K.
Cold, wet, windy and basically miserable in Norfolk . At least that’s the weather.
Football wise we sit and wait . Our interest lies in tomorrow when Chelsea venture up north to Everton fresh back from Germany on a high similar to the one United were on before they came to us . Hopefully the same fate befalls them.
Afternoon Gooner’s
Afternoon Rico, nothing much to report so put yer feet up, relax, chill out with a herbal tea, we’ ll manage. 😄
Two weeks+ of zero Arsenal, NewsNow will be having a meltdown, the click bait sites will be suicidal, therefore two weeks of lies, more lies and even more lies online.
Today I am mostly supporting Wolves.
Kev we are out , so I don’t much cae although I do think that the more games United and Chelsea have to play the better for us . There might be injuries or just tired legs , whichever way it goes they will eventually have a local derby although I would be wary of them getting a chance to equal our record.
It’s bloody windy in London.
Here too , although they don’t build windmills where the wind don’t blow.
Afternoon Kev, all.
Just what I thought so I did… 😜
Workmen are in so had to move out for a few days. It’s windy in the West… 💨💨🌬
I liked Szczesny and he loved Arsenal………..some good stories to read whilst we lack playing !
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/latest-arsenal-news-szczesny-ozil-15983792
Got your result Kev didn’t see it but 5 bookings are they losing it.
New post up now.