Morning all.
That was so like Man Utd wasn’t it. On the brink of being knocked out of the Champions League before a VAR decision went in their favour. Penalty given which Rashford tucked home. I so wish we’d had done the same at Wembley. Harsh on PSG perhaps, lucky for Utd, maybe but if that was Arsenal in their shoes, we’d have demanded that decision went in our favour I’m sure. I bet Unai Emery had a little chuckle to himself though as his career ended in France because the super rich club failed to win the Champions League under his management/coaching. The ‘great’ Thomas Tuchel has failed too. This season anyway..
Arsenal are in France tonight too where a similar result to Utd’s would be most welcome. The travelling squad is as follows:
No Carl Jenkinson which comes as a surprise to me, and no Lichtsteiner either which means either Mustafi will continue at right back or AMN’s will return. Cech is likely to be in goal, Lacazette is banned and Eddie has replaced him the squad. After the weekend, I’m not even going to try a guess who starts.
I’ve absolutely no idea what to expect from Rennes as I’ve not seen them play in years. All I know is that Ben Arta plays for them and they’ve had a nice rest after the French FA postponed their match last weekend in hope that the rest will boost their chances to win the first of this two legged tie. Whilst a few PL managers are moaning about their fixture schedule not helping their European chances, Unai Emery clearly refuses to jump on the bandwagon.
The Premier League decide the schedules and we adapted. It is not an excuse for us, we have the habit to play a lot of matches week by week.
You ask me if I prefer sometimes more time to prepare for one match, then yes, but for example in this match we don’t have an excuse.
Arsenal.com
We played on Saturday, rested Sunday and started to work on Monday. Tomorrow (today) I think we are going to be okay to play every player.
Our last away fixture in this competition was an absolute disaster. We played a terrible game, lost 1-0 and had Alexandre Lacazette sent off towards the end. We can’t afford to do the same tonight because at some stage, we won’t make amends in the second leg as we did against BATE. We played really well away from home against the Toots, a benchmark for tonight and the rest of our season and beyond under Unai Emery.
In some ways, Lacazette being banned might help us, help Eddie too because he might get minutes on the pitch. I really like Lacazette but as has been the case with Aubameyang, they are missing far too many ‘easy’ opportunities to score goals. Eddie might be inexperienced as far as first team appearances go but he’s possibly the kind of player who’ll nip around in the box and tuck any chances he gets, home. Rennes won’t know much about him I’m sure.
Rennes sit 10th in Ligue 1, a league which outside one or two teams, is far from being known as being a strong one. They came through a group which was weaker than ours. They beat Real Betis 6-3 on aggregate in the last round so they can score goals which should be a warning to Unai Emery.
An away goal tonight would be precious, two or three even better but equally as important is the level of our performance, consistency and focus for the ninety minutes.
Don’t forget it’s an earlier kick off this evening and let’s hope Bonnie Tyler doesn’t burst into song after the final whistle blows.
See you in the comments guys…
Interestingly enough, I was thinking about the Tuchel/Emery thing too Rico. PSG have a certain arrogance, bordering on unpleasantness about them and after the players coming out to praise Tuchel, while generally slaughtering Emery, I found the irony somewhat bitter but oddly delicious.
Like many very good collections of high profile players, they were far too over-technical and reminded me of Arsenal with their curious sideways style. Their reliance on the notion that they were so good, there was no hurry, bit them on the arse severely last night.
No penalty for me though. Fcuk ‘em.
Utd certainly had more about them Adam. Yep, reminded me of when we used to go away in the CL. Other sides seem to be a tad complacent when holding a lead from the first tie. We always scored, just never enough… lol
Morning Gooner’s
Morning Rico, I didn’t see the ManU game only what happened surrounding their winning goal.
Was it a penalty, did the PSG player put his arm out to block the shot or was it just his momentum as his spun his body to get in the way? I haven’t a clue…
But the way Rashford tucked away his penalty, under huge pressure and gamesmanship from the PSG players, was impressive and in stark comparison to the weak effort we saw from Aubameyang a few days ago.
He owes us a couple of big game now, vs Rennes tonight and if he comes on against a United at the weekend.
G’day Rico and all, I’ve no idea what to expect from Emery tonight, but from the team I expect total commitment and total concentration. Kick off is 1.30 am local time so I’ll wake up to the result in the morning.
Different country Cambodia, same temperature 37c.
Morning Kev, hard to tell really but the more games they play the better I reckon…
Agree on Rashford, can’t stand the guy but to beat Buffon showed how much he/they wanted the win.
Morning all.
About that penalty! There was a suggestion made on the twattersphere last night, that suggested that the ‘hockey’ rule concerning ‘the foot’ should or rather could be employed. That is, if the ball hits the foot, under any circumstances, it is a penalty. Harsh, I know but all the fuss that is made of, ‘was it ball to hand, or ‘hand to ball’, would be placed in the bin and shredded! The new rule would be, ‘if the ball hits the hand or arm, no matter what the circumstances it is deemed a foul, and a direct free kick or penalty would be awarded as a consequence,’ this would seem to be a little draconian but if it was acted upon all players, referees and linesmen plus of course the VAR judge, would be in no doubt. The ball hits the hand or arm, it is a foul. Incidents like last night’s very dubious decision, given current rules, could only arrive at one conclusion; foul, penalty, goal! Or of course, no goal. In general play a free kick should be awarded and the game continues……..simples, ( to quote Mrs May)
The problem with the rules of football there os far too many instances of, ‘open to interpretation’ and the rules can be bent as it would seem can some of the referees!! Or so it would seem. Allegedly, of course!
Grey, damp and a cold northerly wind blowing here. Not an outdoor day, more a huddle round the computer and keep warm day!
Hi Cicero, will you be able to sleep? 😜
Couldn’t agree more Wavy. All the time rules/laws are open to interpretation, decisions made will never be consistent.
And don’t we know it.
Not for me. I think there has to be a conscious movement to incur the penalty surely. The alternative is that strikers flick the ball against the arm/hand and a penalty is subsequently awarded. In act it could become a whole new skill in itself.
VAR should surely be used for matters of fact and not opinion, though there will always be grey areas.
Of course if, as in the weekend’s incidents, the so-called experts still cannot interpret the rules with concensus, that’s a worrying issue in itself.
As always, to the winner go the spoils. But if we’d gone out to that decision, we would all be rather unhappy.
Afternoon all.
As far as I can see from yesterday, VAR is still fine, crap refereeing is still the problem.
Danny Baker put it well. If a bloke suddenly hits the ball at you from 5 yards and you think, “I can get my hand to that” and do, then you shouldn’t be a defender you should be the best goalkeeper in the world.
Flippant but makes a point.
Emile Smith Rowe to RB Leipzig is an odd situation, with about 10 weeks left of the season he still hasn’t played for them. Apparently he’s enjoying himself and busy learning German, but I wonder if he’ll return to Leipzig next season and continue develop in the Bundesliga rather than be a bit part player at Arsenal?
Maybe both Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock could be off to Germany for a year next season and generate a nice loan fee to Arsenal perhaps? And at the end of it, if the coaching staff don’t think they’re up to the EPL we can sell them and maybe rake in a decent fee if they’ve done ok in Germany.
I’m sure that there will be a decision to make over Reiss Nelson this summer, especially if we don’t get into the Champions League. If Emery wants players he’ll have to generate funds from player sales as we don’t get any support from our owner. Meanwhile the owners of Man City are thought to be ready to provide in the region of £350m for Guardiola to freshen up his squad.
Still, as long as the LA Rams are doing ok…
Have the rules really changed that much with a penalty given for handball? Surely it has to be….DELIBERATE?
There was NO WAY that was deliberate – he was airborne, had his back to the striker and the ball hit his arm AND, wasn’t even remotely on target.When a player is that close to the ball which is struck nobody has the reflexes fast enough to put their arm in the way.
Being on target is not the issue as I know well but if you’re Man U supporter and completely biased then of course it was deliberate.
Frankly I am sick of bloody poor decisions and POOR, POOR standards of refereeing.
Fed up with Managers on the touchline cosying up to 4th officials and fed up with time wasting it’s all SO damn amateurish from a supposedly professional sport. “The beautiful game”? Don’t make me laugh. There’s a lot of overpaid con-men out there and it’s ruining the game, imo.
We need independent timekeepers and clock-stopping when the the ball goes out of play. Have you noticed how players when substituted, stroll off th epitch as if they had broken their leg while the clock is still ticking. We need the removal of coaches and managers to the stands where they can squirm in their over-padded seats and leave the 4th official to dream about what he’s going to do after the match.
Invoke new laws so that yellow carders be”sin-binned” for 15mins.
I am being driven towards rugby (and giving up on football), where the players have COMPLETE respect for the referee and any arguing with the ref is NOT tolerated.
I’m off to make a cuppa this is all too much.
How’s it going in Cambodia Cicero?
Apparently Xavier Amaechi is out of contract in 2020, so Arsenal need to tie this lad to a deal this summer or he could do a Jadon Sancho and bugger off to the Bundesliga.
It’s been reported that he was the number one target for Bayern and 14 other clubs who were scouting the Arsenal vs Swansea U23 game last week.
We’ve made a habit of stealing young talented players from France and Spain and Germany, so I guess you can’t really complain if they return the compliment.
The agents of these youngsters will be getting terribly excited at the prospect, but as it stands the big bucks are still to be found in England, so that helps us in outbidding the vultures.
Of course if these young lads want 1st team football, then that’s where the problems arise. Bayern ain’t going to take any of our youngsters on loan, nor are Dortmund, but that leaves 16 other Bundesliga clubs who we can do business with.
Reiss Nelson got a great deal, a new improved contract with Arsenal and a year playing 1st team football in Germany. It raises his profile and value, so he either returns ready to compete for our 1st team or alternatively if we want to sell him his value will have more than doubled.
We probably need to do a similar deal with Amaechi.
Bayern are looking to replace Ribery and the Dutch diving champion, so it’s no surprise that they’re scouting wing forwards and England is where it’s at…
Rico I can sleep anywhere anytime, air con is a life saver. Been out this evening for a meal and several drinks with the rest of the tour party, sleeping will be no problem, the match comes well down the list.
Cambodia is more laid back than Thailand, I think I’m going to like it here.
As far as the Man U result is concerned, what goes around comes around, they are due some bad decisions, let’s all hope they get them against us. 😉
He’d have been better off staying put Kev and training more with the first team…
I meant because of the match Cicero, the suspense.. lol
Starting XI: Cech; Mustafi, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal; Torreira, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi; Aubameyang.
Subs: Leno, Ramsey, Maitland-Niles, Suarez, Guendouzi, Kolasinac, Nketiah.
Be nice if Cech could keep a clean sheet…
Would be nice indeed Rico.
I’d take a confident.error free display/
Me too Bt.
Good start..
This lot do like to go over with ease…
I know this is Arsenal we’re talking about but this lot tonite do look outta their league, if it don’t end up at least 3 nil it will be very disappointing
On the positive side a very nice cross from Iwobi for the opener !
yes, yes very positive… 11 to 10
Wrong substitution. It will only get worse.
Sometimes I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Other times I realise it’s a locomotive.
what a disaster…
play like this on Sunday, we’ll be hit for 4 or 5.. piss poor season on the verge of collapse.
Like I said………….this is Arsenal we’re talking about, lucky to keep it down to only 3-1 !!!
Our inconsistency is the only thing consistent about us.
Rennes were an unknown quantity
Tbh Rennes weren’t that good. We just flattered to deceive and then pressed the self destruct button several times.
Or just some old git with a torch Hobart…l
Seriously I was watching it on a stream which cut out on 40 minutes.
Before that we were in almost total control and squandering chances. The best they had were set pieces.
Got my stream back 2 minutes later and we were all over the place.
Cue up some overly attacking football, bizarre tactics combined with individual stupidity and we end up losing 3:1
Not unusual of late.
Adam, the same could be said for Emery’s tactic’s second half !
Anyway, won’t catch me moaning, thought Ramsey looked superb playing centre forward when he came on, Mkhitaryan especially good at right back, to think it’s only taken him 7 months to figure that out.
The away goal will hopefully be the killer.
rico, think we might be looking at a total eclipse of the heart at the emirates lol.
Our worst player: Unai Emery.
It will be very difficult to overtake Rennes.
Another good International image given by Arsenal.
It is enough, as usual, to not have a clean sheet.
Jm…….probably the best European night in Rennes history.
Weren’t we slapping Milan this time last year.
Go and have s look at that 3rd goal. Monreal is caught up pitch morning to the ref, and it’s Ramsey who sprints the length of the pitch to get close to the man who scored.
Notice how he runs past Monreal, Torreira and Guendouzi on his way back to our box.
Says a lot for the desire in our squad.
Hobart, you’ll never get people to acknowledge how hard Ramsey works, and he’s always been the same.
I didn’t see the game and was probably over Andorra’s house as the match was played on my way back from Barcelona . It did stike me when I landed and got the last few bits that UK radio was to offer , why at 2 -1 down n the last few minutes with ten men were we caught on the break ? Have we learned nothing about playing two legged matches ? Sometimes it beggars belief.
Potter, how often have we asked that question over the years 🙂
It’s just bloody common sense and surely it can’t be down to coaching.
I don’t know Micko, I’ll be holding out for a hero in a weeks time… lol
Potter, I touched on it earlier, inept tactic’s, 2-1 away from home with 10 minutes to go, stick everyone behind the ball and kill the game, get them back to the emirates and do the business.
Can’t believe the ref ignored Monreals’ best impressions of the waving police man by Flamini & allowed their 3rd goal, maybe UEFA will take another look at it.
Nite Gooners.
Rico, could be a long, hard search 🙂
New post up.