Match review

Giroud admits he’s lucky. Jekyll and Hyde that is Arsenal…..

Posted on by rico

I was very pleased with the resilience because it shows qualities that are important such as solidarity.

Arsène Wenger

In a game of two halves, Arsenal emerged victorious 2-1 but the game was far from the relatively easy nature that some people would have you believe with the pre-match hype about how we were going to batter a depleted Newcastle side.

The second half in itself was torture and not a good show for those who have a weak heart.

Arsenal began the game with the following team….

Ospina, Chambers, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Alexis, Cazorla, Welbeck, Giroud.

Mertesacker gave way for Gabriel (who needs to get into match practice besides being good for rotation), Ozil was down with some bug while Bellerin was rested.

Right from the off it was noticeable that this was not going to be an easy affair. It was a game which screamed out for TR07 and his top notch ability to read the game while playing short passes and good movement. However Tomas was kept on the bench.

A lot of us were also surprised to see Alexis begin the match as he is in the red zone and needs a breather.

Newcastle looked very suspect at the back, especially in the centre with a makeshift defence. However, the Arsenal team contrived to play into Newcastle’s hands by playing over the defence or long balls from the back for Giroud to run on to.

Yesterday’s match was a match tailor made for tippy tappy short passing movements in which Giroud should should have been the main man where balls had to be played to his feet and he would have brought the others like Danny, Alexis, Santi and Aaron into scoring positions, not for him to run after the ball or knock it down.

I am lucky to have great players around me who know me very well, so I try to put it in the net and that’s all I want. – Olivier Giroud

Anyway, in a short three minute burst Oliver scored twice, his 15th and 16th goals in a season in which he missed well over two months. Both goals came from set pieces, the first one from a free-kick while the second from a corner. Giroud is proving to be for Arsenal what Drogba used to be for Chelsea.

In the first half alone we should have easily been four goals ahead had we taken our chances. Half time came and many of us expected Newcastle to tire out and Arsenal have it more easy.

We couldn’t have been more wrong.

The second half began, and while in the first half Arsenal were Dr Jekyll, it soon became apparent that Mr Hyde had taken over….

Newcastle began putting us under a lot of pressure and some last ditch tackling, lady luck, bodies, legs and what not, contrived to keep Newcastle at bay.

However, the Arsenal team managed to fluff up what on paper should have been a clean sheet by being all at sea to allow Newcastle to score a goal which in essence should not have been allowed.

Soon it was evident that the team was tiring after their midweek excursions.

Chambers and Ramsey were not their usual selves as both got caught out and lost the ball too many times and Alexis seemed to grow tired with every minute that passed.

In my opinion, Arsene Wenger should have made the subs earlier instead of sitting there while Newcastle were carving us up.

It was evident that Alexis needed to be taken off while Santi was also having less influence upon the match.

Flamini and Rosicky were both introduced and they quickly got stuck in. However, while Tomas made a good contribution with his presence, Flamini, who was told to sit beside Coquelin and protect the back four failed to make a good impact. Twice at least he committed errors which on another day could have easily been punished. Luckily we were not as the game petered out.

Late in the game Arsene Wenger made another substitution which in my opinion should have been done earlier. Bellerin came on for Danny Welbeck and immediately helped Chambers on the right. AW should note that while Bellerin is being groomed as a full back, both he and Gibbs can be used as wingers seeing that they like to hog the touchline a lot. Plus their speed can help protect the full backs. Better than those who pretend they need bigger contracts to spend the game moaning and doing nothing.

Man of the match was given to Giroud, but it could have easily been given to Ospina or Coquelin. All three were immense yesterday. And they gave Arsenal a good spine to keep marching on.

Written by Devilgunner.

rico

129 thoughts on “Giroud admits he’s lucky. Jekyll and Hyde that is Arsenal…..”

  7. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Thanks mates.

    I am just wondering what could have been had Ollie not missed the best part of the first half of the season.

    I am also sure that Theo knows that his time is up……both at AFC and in the English national team. And the reason is that his work rate is non existent when compared to Danny’s and Alexis. Is it a coincidence that Danny and Alexis are both first teamers. Even the Ox has leaped ahead of him.

    In the national team Welbeck begins, while Rooney is a certain starter. Add Kane to the mix and the Ox as well and suddenly it looks very grim.

    Ask all the supporters who they would like to see in the AFC team as a beginner…..Theo or Danny???

    no need to give a million dollar prize for it.

  8. Joe says:

    Good write up Dev now on the substitutions it’s just the way things are with Wenger he doesn’t make the changes as quickly as some fans want but he’s not going to change.

  9. rico says:

    Hi Devil.

    Could say the same about so many of ours who have been missing through injury. But Ollie’s goals have been a huge miss…

  10. Joe says:

    Well Rico did you enjoy motd I watched it last night now was it just me I felt that they skipped over the first half very quickly and concentrated mostly on the 2nd half of the game.

  12. Wavy says:

    The game started, on MOTD at the 23rd minute, just before Ollie scored, further 30 seconds divided the goals and then it was half time. Yes you are right, they concentrated solely on the second half! Why was that?

    Morning all. Three more points in the bag.

    Note of caution how many fit first teamers will we have available after the Bore Fest Break? Well there’s always Theo as he wont get on the the pitch!

  14. rico says:

    Joe, just watched it and thought exactly the same… Buffoons aren’t they…

    Morning Kev/Wavy..

    I reckon Theo will play for England, I hope he does as we don’t want DW to play both..

  15. Joe says:

    Don’t worry they have just done the same on goals on Sunday maybe it’s that we have no idea what makes good tv.

  17. Joe says:

    Of course Theo will play for England he needs to and he will come back injured it’s like night follows day.

  18. Hell Raising Devil says:

    as long as he stays away from the team and gets sold to the highest bidder in summer he can play all he wants for England.

    yes…..even if he scores the goals that clinch the FAcup and maybe the EPL title when he comes on as a sub. I will still want him off…….and someone better coming in.

  19. rico says:

    He doesn’t get injured with England Joe, just with us… 😉

    Devil, if Theo goes, I doubt he’ll be replaced. OC, DW, Gnabry and maybe a under 21 player will no doubt be seen as being enough…

  21. Joe says:

    Gnarby already at the club if we sell Walcott I hope we spend the money on a world class goalkeeper.
    I think I owe Sanchez an apology he played well yesterday and made alot of chances in the first half and faded like everyone else in the 2nd half.

  24. Joaquim Moreira says:

    Morning all
    Giroud was the man of the match with merit.
    Chambers played a level under 0; Ramsey almost the some.

  25. rico says:

    🙂 Joe…

    Can’t see TW leaving England so my guess is if he goes, it will be to a rival in the PL. I think he’ll stay though…

  26. allezkev says:

    I would like to see Walcott start in both England games.
    Play the full 90 minutes in both, he needs minutes on the pitch.
    And score a hat trick in each game.

    Then his transfer value will rocket…

  27. allezkev says:

    Personally, if we sell, or when we sell, Walcott, I would prefer to see him move abroad. Although I’m not sure that he’d want to chance his arm on the Continent…

    We’d probably get a bigger fee from an EPL club as he is English…

    Sell him to ManUre, City, but certainly not to the Scousers…

    I wouldn’t wanna do any business with them under any circumstances…

  28. rico says:

    Or he brings that form back to Arsenal Kev, bangs in a few hat-tricks and signs a new contract.. 🙂

    Beautiful day here so I’m off to do some gardening….

  32. allezkev says:

    Yeah Coach, City would be my preferred choice if we sold him domestically…

    City seem to be in a state of near meltdown as it is. Theo would fit in nicely…

  33. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Sagna already wants to leave. He is tired of splinters in his backside.

    Theo will stick their though. Shitty have to sell and it looks like Nasri will be one of them. They will
    have to balance with finances and also homegrown players.

    Arsenal have a plethora of home grown players. so no problems there. Even Gnabry, Coquelin etc are homegrown.

  38. allezkev says:

    Interesting dynamic to the game now that the Mancs are ahead…

    Would love to see Hull cause an upset.
    Unlikely, but we can hope…

  40. Joe says:

    If Manu win Liverpool will be 6 points plus 15 goals worse than Arsenal.
    Manu seem to be knocking teams out of the top 4 race one at a time if the result stands.

  47. Hell Raising Devil says:

    2-0 yanited of Manure

    that, imo, means that the top 4 can be now sealed and packed. its the order which is to be determined.

    the rest will fight it out for 5th place and Thursday football.

  49. Joe says:

    Gerrard stamped on a Manu player the kind of thing he would have got away with when he was England captain. 😉

  53. Joe says:

    But it means because of the goal difference Liverpool have to make up 7 points and come to us in the next match.
    Sp*rs have to make up 8 points on us.

  54. Snaparse says:

    Good read Dev…. … Oli has been playing really really well since he came back…. Chambers was a worry though

  85. allezkev says:

    Arsenal hang on to win 2-1 at Newcastle and Wenger has lost the plot…

    Chelsea snatch a 3-2 win at Hull after leading 2-0, and Mourinho is a genius…

  88. allezkev says:

    Come on Ginge, keep up…

    There was a time, when Jamie Sanderson was the go to geezer for news on the Arsenal Academy…
    His Young Guns blog was easily the best out there and one of the first sites I logged into every day…
    He had, it seemed, all the contacts and had a certain credit ability in the blog world that only a few had… (Like Rico 😉 )

    The present day Jamie Sanderson, the Metro Jamie Sanderson, has no creditability at all…

    The current day Jamie Sanderson had ‘sold out’ to the Dark Side. And writes absolute garbage in his on line column…

    Everybody had to earn a living, but you don’t have to sell your soul at the same time…

  92. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Good Evening Lovelies and Hunkies.

    We used to sell our captains. Make someone a captain. Then sell him the year after.

    Now it seems that the trend is changing………we say someone will be our future captain and then sell them.

    Take a look at this……..Arsenal look like they’ll be selling another star to Manchester City – with the Premier League champions after Jack Wilshere.

    City are preparing a huge bid for the Arsenal product as they look to increase their home-grown contingent to adhere to Champions League regulations, the Sunday Times report.

    They’re no strangers to pinching Arsenal’s top players after previously snapping up the likes of Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Adebayor and Gael Clichy.

    Wenger has many other midfield options at his disposal and may be willing to part with the Englishman if they are offered a good price.

    Whether Wilshere, who has been described as a FUTURE ARSENAL CAPTAIN, wants to leave remains to be seen.

    Can we say that Diaby should be a future Arsenal Captain??? Or Theo???

  93. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Top player JW??? lol. He reminds me of the old Goverment workers……1 hour work, 8 hours rest.

    yes he has undoubted skill. but its the technical nous which lies in the grey matter between his ears which is suspect.

    Theo as well.

    I still remember once, during a game, Arteta gave an order to Jack to sit back and the latter did not give a F**k but went rampaging forward.

    That is what holds him back. Then again……AW should make sure like he is doing now with Theo that team orders are to be obeyed and no one is above the team.

  97. Hell Raising Devil says:

    i have some spare time these days mate. Work does leave its toll on me, especially having to follow and care for lots of kids with problems. Plus the family as well.

    So when I have time for me….its bang on here mate

  101. rico says:

    Wilshere to City?? No chance…

    Sure thing Micko, email me you mobile number – and the Arsenal players whilst you’re at it….

  104. Nashua Gunner says:

    Good Evening Rico and All.
    Good read Devil.

    I still love JW. He’s the only one that stand up to bullies in an Arsenal’ shirt. He still has that British spirit “No matter what you do to me, I’ll never give up”.

  107. Hell Raising Devil says:

    i am like you in that regard Rico.

    But I am still waiting for the real Jack to stand up and be counted. And prove that he is a team man.

    How long do I have to wait??? I do not know.

  110. Micko says:

    Nite tsgh.

    Nash, he’s not half as bad as some would have you believe, Arsene doesn’t know how to get the best out of him where as Roy Hodgson blindingly does.

  114. Micko says:

    He must have caught Arsene on a good day if that’s the case, he doesn’t listen to nobody ! We do have a nice little contingent in the National team these days rico !

    Nite Gooners, all in all another good weekend.

  115. Malaysian gunner says:

    The next match against Pool will be crucial for reds. Lose and they could be further behind if not out of the race for 4th spot.I believe they will be fired up. I just hope Giroud will score again .If not we have other gunners capable of scoring.
    The gunners have won six/seven games on the trot.By the law of averages the gunners could lose /draw. Liverpool were unbeaten in 2015 and have just lost. Me thinks if Wenger wants to finish
    in the top 4,the gunners have to carry on winning.
    Stop dithering around the box. Swift passing is the name of the game and a sudden defence splitting pass or strike will do the job.

  119. allezkev says:

    Frankly Rico, the Metro prints some of the biggest old tosh on NewsNow, and considering the shed load of shite on there, that’s saying something….

    But Sanderson is the King of Bollocks, even on that outrageously nonsensical website…
    Any story with Sandersons name attached is gonna be a pack of lies and horseshit…

  120. allezkev says:

    It seems that the Wilshere story is appearing, in none other, than the Metro…

    That makes it obviously a pack of lies…

    So forget all that crapola then…

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