Morning all.
Arsene Wenger sprung a surprise yesterday with David Ospina keeping his place in goal when Petr Cech is back fit and healthy. The same side which beat Watford last weekend started at Upton Park in what was Arsenal’s last ever visit to the stadium.
It wasn’t long before Ospina was beaten, but a correctly raised linesman’s flag spared us from going 1-0 down.
Andy Carroll, clearly frustrated after accidentally head-butting Laurent Koscielny’s elbow, decided to get revenge on our Frenchman. Not once, nor twice, but three times he kicked out at Koscielny, the last being nasty which left our captain in a lot of pain. Carroll was shown a yellow card by Craig Pawson when a red card would have been more justified.
The home team again had the ball in the net but again the linesman flag saved us, wrongly on this occasion as Bellerin was keeping both West Ham players onside.
Arsenal went up the other end and scored. Iwobi with a pass to Ozil, the German with a cool finish. Alexis Sanchez made it 2-0 with a similar finish as Ozil, Iwobi again with the assist.
Then it all went horribly wrong as complacency appeared to set in and just before half-time, Andy Carroll grabbed two goals to bring the scores level. Just how the tide turned so quickly beggars belief.
Things went from bad to worse early in the second half. Carroll got away with an elbow in Gabriel’s face and soon after he was all over Koscielny in front of goal and just before Payet fired home the loose ball, Pawson awarded us a free kick. Again Carroll got away with it. Even Howard Webb said the foul on Gabriel was reckless and had the big striker not been on a booking, he’d have been given a yellow card. What utter poppycock, a booking is a booking regardless!
2-2 became 3-2, all three having been scored by the player who shouldn’t even have been on the pitch after his first bad tackle. That’s no excuse for the way we conceded three sloppy goals though, it really was schoolboy stuff at times by all.
Arsene Wenger made a couple of changes with Ramsey replacing Coquelin and then Ollie on for Elneny.
Monreal saw a fine strike cleared off the line and soon after, up popped captain Koscielny with a fine strike to bring the scores level again.
Ospina made a couple of decent saves before Arsene Wenger made his last change with Walcott replacing Welbeck. Arsene was really going for the win, knowing full well that anything other than three points was not enough….
Further chances came and went for both sides but none were taken. Alexis was guilty of not shooting, preferring instead to go round one more player in the box so the ball was on his right foot. He failed.
Arsenal really missed a chance to put pressure on the two clubs above them and with City winning later in the day, there’s just two points between them and us.
Unless something crazy happens, that’s the Premier League title hope for Arsenal over..
To be honest, it’s been over for a while….
It’s not all over for Carl Jenkinson’s Arsenal career though as Arsene Wenger has been quoted as saying:
He has gained a lot of confidence.
I see his future as being a contender for this [right-back] position at our club.
Having been battered by West Ham fans for his poor performances this season, I doubt he’s that full of confidence….
Let’s hope Utd can get something from their game today, we simply have to overtake the Totts……
One question.
Would Petr Cech have claimed one, of the crosses which led to goals?? Would his hands have been stronger to stop the 3rd?
Ok, that’s two questions….
Answers on a postcard….
Rico. You are right about Carroll but it’s an old trick to commit a red card offence early in the game as you rarely get sent off for it. Gabriel Batistuta made it a complete part of his game.
It is very odd to hear Wenger bemoaning the fact that headers in the box have been a weakness of ours all season. Almost as if he is asking why nobody has actually done anything about it. But, to be honest, it is just another one of a series of bizarre statements that he has uttered lately.
I did see Giroud break into an impressive 20 yard gallop toward the end of the game though which was as startling as it was unusual.
Answers:
1 – Maybe
2 – Maybe
Solution: Ask AW
hope we would be second…
Adam, it maybe an old trick but that doesn’t make it right imo, referee’s shouldn’t be dealing with bad tackles like that based on what time it is. And then the elbow into Gabriel’s face, how can a referee let such a bad one go unpunished. It’s wrong.
I’m not blaming the ref for the way we let a two goal lead slip but when a player who should have been off the pitch scores three goals, it irks…
Agree re AW’s latest statement, sometimes he really should keep his thoughts to himself as all he is doing these days is highlight his own deficiencies…….
Good post Rico…
Carroll was lucky to still be on the pitch but that doesn’t excuse Arsenal’s inept defending…
Koscielny complained, quite rightly, about others in the team not doing their share of defending, tracking Cresswell for example.
But that doesn’t explain why Carroll had so much space to work with in the Arsenal box?
Why Koscielny and Gabriel stood off of him?
Why Gabriel at times looks completely out of his depth?
Why Koscielny didn’t attempt to block Carrolls shot for the equaliser (2-2) but seemed to pull back and allow the shot to pass?
Why Bellerin was marking Carroll for the 3rd West Ham goal?
Why our defenders seem totally fcuking incapable of actually marking an opponent???
I don’t blame Ospina myself even though I would have preferred to see Cech in goal.
Is it the players we have or is it the coaching, preparation and tactics they are given?
I’d lean towards ‘yes’ Jm…
Cech is one of the best keepers in the league and when fit, he has to start imo..
Did Wenger not learn from the CL? Clearly not.
Kev, you’d think two international defenders would know what their job is, and as Scott said yesterday, what about cutting off the supply to Carroll. There wasn’t enough effort from those ahead of the defence in the build up – how much time did Cresswell have to get his cross in…
I love Alexis but he wasn’t tracking back enough at times yesterday….
Rico, I was surprised to still see Ospina in goal at the start, but it wasn’t an issue when we were leading 2-0 with 3 minutes of the 1st half to go…
What irritates me is Wengers inability to adapt as the game progresses, to spot danger and change to counter it…
He has filled our team with players who struggle to impose themselves, or have had it coached out of them…
Where is the Alexis Sanchez who covers ever inch of the pitch and motivates his team mates?
Where is the Coquelin who tackles like his life depends on it and rallies the troops around him?
Where is the Gabriel who looked so physically strong and mobile, who was decisive and proactive?
He’s now become as dithering as his manager and as reactive.
Why do our players a change so much and become nicey nicey after a few months under Arsene, the fire in their belly extinguished?
It’s all so boringly predictable…
Kev, it could have been though as he’d been beaten twice before we scored.. I know one was offside, but the other wasn’t but was given so we got lucky.
Good questions which lead to only one answer imo….
Interesting point about what Scott said regarding Alexis, and something that the players could have sorted out in the dressing room at half-time, but Arsene insists on them alm sitting in silence, meditating and thus wasting 15 minutes to put things straight…
So then they go straight out, nothing sorted and concede a 3rd…
But at least they are in zen and completely in touch with their inner self.., BS
Yeah, I get that Rico, but I’m not sure Cech would have made any difference to those two early West Ham chances…
The problems were in front of him…
Do they really sit in silence at half-time?
We should be cheering Arsenal onto another Double, not wringing our hands in frustration…
This season has been a complete and utter balls-up…
What did Wenger say the other day, ‘we can learn from Leicester’ – really?
What’s that mean then?
Buying players on the cheap probably…
Typical of him, deflecting attention away from his own failure…
I’m not trying to lump any blame on Ospina as there’s ten players ahead of him to stop the attack but as you say and we’ve all said time and time again, there’s no leadership on or off the field…
And I don’t understand why as most are experienced international players who should know what they are doing.
Maybe like many Arsenal fans, they are fed up with the way things are….
Yes Rico, it was something he learnt in Japan, or so the blurb goes…
The way I understand it is that the players sit quietly in the dressing room and then Arsene makes some points, maybe tactically as well, just before they go out for the 2nd half…
Works a treat doesn’t it?
One thing I am certain of though Kev and that’s I’m not going to put myself through writing next season if something doesn’t change in the summer…
Five years of writing the same old stuff is enough for me….
Funny how it worked when he first arrived though Kev, but not now.
Says a lot about the difference in mentality of the players we have today and who we had then. Can’t imagine Keown , Adams or Paddy staying silent at half-time though….
Rico, didn’t Arsene admit that he was caught out by the selection of Carroll, so picking Ospina was probably always in his mind…
Would he have picked Cech or Mertesaker if he’d suspected what Bilic had in mind?
Of course Arsene could have made some tactical changes when he saw West Hams line-up, but that’s not in Arsenes DNA is it…
I’m sure that I read on Le Grove, that he suggested that the ‘word at the training ground’ is that there’s gonna a lot of changes in the summer…
Some big moves out and in, or that’s the gist…
Frankly I’m bored with all the empty promises, if Wenger does some early business, then good, but is ‘he’ the man to ring in the changes?
It’s all a little too repeatitive (is that correct Mrs A?)…
Right, I’m off to dig out the Volcano…
Lata boss… ?
Kev, I’m not sure Merts would have made a lot of difference tbh, for what he has in height, he lacks in speed and I bet Bilic would have targeted him…
Can managers change their team once the team-sheets are in? I didn’t think they could…
I read that too on LG Kev…. Fingers crossed eh, and I guess if he does makes some really good signings, we’ll know if he still has it in him or not…
I’m far from convinced that he has….
Happy digging Kev…
We do not cover man-to-man. Carroll tries to position the weakest part of the defense in terms of height.
It is logical that with the movement of players fall into Bellerin zone. Two questions: 1) Chesc offered, in my opinion, greater security in the air, which limited and the game WH 2) And as a result of the above, in my opinion, the biggest problem was the ease with which they crossed the left side where Antonio faster than Monreal (and poorly supported), always had advantage and give the successive crosses.
Ospina played well enough yesterday imo. However, if the old geezer had picked and played Cech he would have organised the back four/six better. Again imo. Perhaps Cech on the bench was just a token gesture as he is not yet 100% fit. He was there only in the event of dire need. In any event Petr didn’t play and all the rest is history as will be this disaster of a season. Still it’ll make an interesting chapter in the forthcoming historical successes of the man who was born to manage!
Watching this very average kick and rush Leicester team I reckon that several PL managers, including Wenger, should be asked by their respective boards why their teams have capitulated so pathetically this season. Since the Cup Final last year, 10 months ago, Wenger has been absolutely awful at his job. One bad decision has followed another and despite a handful of bright spots, it has been crap really regardless of what spin he and his supporters might care to put on it.
very average(??!!!) but won always !
The question is: why those teams (Ex. Sunderland) only play well against Arsenal?
Probably the answer: Leicester don’t let them play; Arsenal does.
Kick and rush average football…
That’s funny Adam although harsh 😉
Afternoon folks..
I make that 9 more points and Leicester are Champions, less if the Scum slip up later.
Looking back now I think we should have thrown the Community Shield last August, the season kinda went down hill after that.
Come on Utd…. 😉
Rico. When you think how they have mugged off their opponents, it is funny. In a way. I hope it’s eating away at Wenger anyway because it has me well pissed off. 🙂
If I take Arsenal out of the equation Adam, I think it’s a great story…
I doubt Arsene Wenger will give it a thought, not as long as his reaches the goal set by the board and owner..
Not sure about that Rico.
Well if he worried about stuff Adam, surely he’d have done something about what’s been going on….
I don’t see that one necessarily follows the other Rico and I would cite the last ten years as proof.
That’s what I mean Adam, he’s done bugger all to sort out our weaknesses over the years….
It’s baffling isn’t it?
Sure is….
It’s all so frustrating, make you wanna take up another sport to take your minds off of it all…
Tennis for example, it’s quite an interesting game…
Thank goodness the cricket season has begun I say….. 😉
Totts 2-0 up, darn!
3-0 up… Totts will be the champions…
I don’t think they will Jm.
we will see…
We will lol
Leicester only need 9 more points, I think they’ll do it, thank God…. ?
I sure hope they do….
Sigh….
I used to get upset when Arsenal threw away leads in games or flattered to deceive in ‘title’ tilts. Not anymore, numbed to it all. It’s all very stale.
I get that Lewis, I really do…
Arsenal don’t ruin my weekends anymore… Sad eh..
Catch up tomorrow sometime..
Night guys.
It used to be that I will DVR all Arsenal games and watch it like 6x during the week b4 the next game… now I don’t even bother to DVR. Yesterday at 2-0 I had to take my daughter to gymnastics, and I just knew it was too much time left for them to mess up the package. Thats the level of confidence in the team. Rico, sad indeed.
Are the spuds Jordan Spieth or Danny Willetts?
Time an Englishman won at Augusta again!
Time the Arsenal won the EPL too!
Next season???
It’s always ‘next season’ Wavy but that next season never comes….
Morning all..
“Tomorrow. And tomorrow and tomorrow”.
Yeah I don’t let Arsenal fuck my weekends up anymore….
Morning all.
Morning Rico, Brudder and all.
Wrighty reckons that Arsene sees the last season of his contract out and then leaves at the end of 16/17. I just can’t see it myself.
Brudder.
Season too late for me….
Morning Lee, Wavy and Adam…
Always good to see a bit of comedy on a Saturday lunchtime… 😉
Neither can I re AW, either he goes in the summer or it’s a few more years of him imo…
http://www.footballinsider247.com/wenger-ready-wield-axe-10-senior-arsenal-stars-go-radical-overhaul/
Rico. I think so.
How old was old red nose when he retired? Wenger will be at least one day older than him when he retires! It’s a matter of pride. He will be able to claim that he won the pensioners prize for EPL longevity, as he takes us down into the Championship! Then, of course he will claim, ‘he could have signed out earlier.’
Another missed opportunity!
Lee, I keep meaning to ask how Duncan is after his hospitalisation? I know it was a while ago but….
I wouldn’t miss any of those ten players if they left, only Theo… 😉
Seriously though, can anyone really see AW being so ruthless and then replacing them?
Saying that, he could sign five and promote five… lol
He’s fine Rico, he’s just got in the habit of watching t.v (from the comfort of the sofa) and going mental if an animal appears on there…… barking like crazy!!
Not a chance Rico, that’s like him admitting he’s fucked up!
Glad to hear Lee. Sounds like he’s caught the same bug as Fido, she hasn’t even ventured outside in the rain yet this morning…. 😉
I don’t think he’ll do that either Lee, certainly not in one go as it goes against what he always says about signing too many at one time upsetting the balance. If he had any sense though, he’d sell the ones who have less time on their contract this summer, then sell the others in Jan or next summer…
New post up now.