The whistle goes to start the game, the home fans in high spirits and as it turned out, they had every right to be!
Within a minute of the game starting, Wilshere fouls Eduardo 25 yards out but the free kick causes Fabianski little problem as he saves comfortably.
Next up, Eboue wins a corner, well more like their keeper gifts us a corner after making a complete hash of catching a miss hit ball. The corner comes to nothing. We started well considering the hostile atmosphere and it wasn’t long before Nasri followed his run with a low shot which hit the outside of the post. Willian for Shakhtar was everywhere and won his side a corner in the first ten minutes, however it was a chance wasted as Chygrynskiy headed of target.
Then the moment we all prayed for came, Wilshere played a wonderful ball to Walcott, just over the half-way line, Walcott’s pace was electric, he left the Shakhtar defenders standing, raced towards goal and fired home. Great goal 1-0 to the boys in yellow.
That silenced the home fans but it wouldn’t be for too long!
Willian then gets into our box far to easily but his shot is easy for Fabianski. Again the same player is causing the defence problems but this time Squillaci makes a crucial tackle. All is not comfortable at the back and there’s not even 20 minutes played. Shakhtar have another chance, this time it’s Jadson with a header that hits the post and our defence managed to clear it behind for a corner.
The home side appeared to be unfazed by this task, they were really up for this game and only time would tell how long we could hold on for. Willian had another shot on goal from distance which again caused Fabianski little problem as he saved with ease. Jadson and Willian were causing us problems and I felt far from comfortable with a one goal lead… Shakathar’s keeper had picked up his game and the home side defence looked very determined not to concede another.
Eduardo reminded us of just why Arsene Wenger bought him and the home side continued to press forward.
Willian had another chance which he hit high and eventually we break away from the back, the ball finding Walcott who this time doesn’t get a shot in… Jack Wilshere is fouled in the middle of the park but the ref allows play on, we soon lose possession and Willian races away from Emmanuel Eboue down the left. A moment of madness from the right back sends the Shakhtar playing flying, Eboue gets a rightful booking.
Next in the book is Hubschman for the previous foul on Jack. The referee made me smile actually, he knew the number of the player who committed the foul and wasn’t going to forget. There is stood with his three fingers held up, indicating it was the Shakhtar number 3.
Anyway, on to the game, the moment we dreaded finally arrived. Jadson whipped the free kick into the area, Chygrynskiy gets his head on it but it seems the final touch came off Craig Eastmond as the ball found its way into the net.
Now, correct me if I am wrong but didn’t that goal come from the Eboue foul? Should the referee not have stopped play after Jack Wilshere was fouled?? I think so, we certainly didn’t get much advantage did we.
Shakhatar more than deserved their goal though.
Both Arsenal and the home side had further chances but the score remained level until just before half-time.
Gael Clichy mad a complete hash of play, he had control of the ball as the Shakhtar player hustled him, all he needed to do was hoof it into Row Z, no he lost possession, gifted the ball to Srna who then crossed straight to Eduardo. Not faffing around from Dudu, back of the net, 2-1 and the break comes.
Will Wenger have the right words for his half-time talk?
It’s us who get the second half going, Jack Wilshere is again on the end of a late tackle which sees Gai get booked. The same player takes the free kick but it’s cleared with ease. Eduardo gets into the box but the Arsenal defence smother him and clear the ball. We press forward and Nasri wins a corner, only to be denied by a bad decision. Within minutes we do earn a corner, Nasri takes but the keeper catches easy. In fact all of this is a bit too easy for the home side. Jack then sees his chance go just wide, another day, he would have buried that one! We have a couple more chances but unable to take them
Just before the hour, Eastmond is replaced by Vela. Was this to be the night that Vela steals the show?
Eduardo has another chance but Fabianski easily saves a soft header. We have further chances to equalise but fail to take them, as do the home side. Squillaci should have scored but directs his header straight at their keeper and Walcott takes a weak shot which again is all to easy to defend. Theo has another shot from distance, this time forcing the keeper to make a good save. Shakhtar continue to press for a third but to no avail.
Chamakh replaces Bendtner and Walcott is replaced by JET, neither really have any great impact on the game.
We lost, 2-1 away in Ukraine.
Over to you to dissect the performance……
new post up
I’m off fine folk, catch up tomorrow..
be good and stay safe…..nighty night
boo, everyone gone now?
I am back as you are all gone. Good night, kids. Eloquent, as usual, oliver. 🙂 Don’t worry, a terrible performance is frequently succeeded by a smashing one. 🙂 We’ll thrash the geordies good and proper.
rico, I usually ask what you’re cooking around this time, but a you’re not here, so I won’t go hungry thinking of your Food Network concoctions.
sd, tricky yes, insurmountable, no. again, i am clearly in the minority, but does anyone really think that shakhtar are that good a side? i will even throw out the embarassment at the emirates – just on last night alone, did they really look like a side we should not/could not beat?
49 games unbeaten at home – but against who? spuds lost 2-0 there, fulham drew 0-0, and a few other european sides didn’t win. the majority of the matches are against domestic ukrainian opposition – how many of those sides do you think are real quality?
i maintain that shakhtar are no great shakes – nothing i saw last night – in their “fortress”, no less – made me think this is a side that we should not expect to turn over. the fact that we didn’t was more down to our attitude and approach, as to anything the shakhtar side did. again, in my opinion.
see you soon SD….
Got to pop out for a bit, back in little while..
We have high expectations i understand but Sharktak at home was going to be tricky.
Well i say by for now.
it is almost like some of the players don’t understand – or care – just what is at stake. we all know that losing last night is not the end of the world. but that still does not justify the overly casual, non-committal approach the players took. what is the point of even getting on the plane, if you are not going to give an acceptable effort. i may be in the minority, but i think a reasonable attitude and corresponding effort by our players would have secured a win last night – which would have removed pressure from the final two cl group matches, allowed arsene to rotate and provide opportunities for certain players, allowed the team to focus on the league and league cup for the next couple of months, and secured a historic first win for an arsenal team in the ukraine. a win would have accomplished all that. is that really too much to ask of our players? sometimes i think it is.
oliver, it’s better to get it off your chest, i do sometimes and i am sure some think i am off the wall but when you see our side perform like they did, well, its pathetic, just like against WBA…
ahhhh…plenty of sour notes linger with me. if anything, my mood is worse this morning than it was after the final whistle yesterday.
you are correct, though – what’s done is done, and we need to focus on newcastle. a bit of early team news, perhaps arsene indicating that cesc and song will start on sunday, is most welcome…
Well i guess we should forget the game and look up to the next game.
The only sour note is that the boys lost a chance of making a new record or more than 6 straight wins in a CL since 2003.
except that last night we made what should have been a straightforward task – certainly a difficult game, but also eminently winnable – a morale-sapping loss, though poor attitude, lack of concentrantion and application. we must hope that the players are more focused and ready on sunday.
if we had more genuinue competition for spots, i would be a lot more confident. unfortunately, changes are usually injury or rest-dictated. and when someone is dropped, it is usually covered with an injury explanation. maybe it is just me, but wouldn’t saying “clichy has lost his first team place because his effort and concentration were well below what we expect in this side. the team effort and attitude were overall poor, but clichy has had a few recent games with mistakes that have hurt the side.” do more to get the players attention? clichy could complain that he is being thrown under the bus, but i could care less how he feels – look at his performances and then try and argue his first team place should be secure.
oops…looks like i got on my “throw him under the bus” soapbox again. sorry, but i feel pretty strongly that arsene’s way of always covering the players leads to an unjustified sense of security and comfort. harsh reality may work wonders really help eliminate the slackness and casualness that we just cannot seem to permanently shake.
The Tinnie Toons will be more disciplined but we should still nick a goal but Chelsea just look to be getting stronger.
Nah, we are going to whip the hides of the geordie boys…..
I hope its not a trend – easy game v shakatak, then beaten by the same side…
easy game against newcastle in the CC, and then…
sd, i would not in any way say that shakhtar “thrashed” us. we beat ourselves with a casual, non-committal attitude. even in second gear, we still created plenty of chances.
if you want a thrashing, look at what we did to lucescu and his useless side when they came to emirates. they were the worst side i had seen visit emirates in a long time – that is another reason last night’s loss is so galling.
i would also be cautious about calling this a decline. for one, we always hit bump in november; for two, we still got three points against west ham; for three, we had three first-team regulars out, including two central midfielders who are currently indispensible to our side.
a prolonged run of poor results will signal a crisis. last night’s result is a massive frustration and annoyance, but hopefully will not become anything worse.
temporary SD, it will all start again on saturday IF all the first teamers are fit….
Is this a temporary glitch or a decline ?
We struggle before beating WestHam THEN the Sharktaks trashed us then we have Newcastle next.
Please ; Bring Fabregas ,Song, and even Denilson back PLEASE
I don’t know oliver, i wouldn’t mind Edu, not at LB but he is one of a few I wish had stayed and remained fit… A wonderful player totally under-used by wenger…
Winterburn for me oliver….
sorry, i meant silvinho…got my brazilians wrong.
at this point, i would be happy bringing gio (van bronckhorst) or edu back. why stop there – lee dixon, anyone?
Anytime i see Clichy trying to be smart with the ball, the 2008/2009 memory comes back i then shout at him but he doesn’t seem to hear me most of the time.
🙁
What about Eboue for LB oliver… ok ok, onlu jesting 😉
SD, that’s the downfall of being a defender/keeper, the errors are so costly so often. you can lose the ball in many other areas and it doesn’t always cost us, but errors like he has made are hard to forget as so often they lead to us conceding a goal…
you had to bring up 2008/09 didn’t you, as if we don’t all feel bad enough 😉 😉
sd, great cross from clichy against the hammers – solid overall game too…our question is does that count for more than the mistakes and general inability to cross that he has been known for during the past couple of years. i suggest, based on his body of work over the past few seasons, that the good game/cross are the aberration.
i think clichy should be dropped – unfortunately, we have absolutely zero depth at the position, so we cannot even afford to do this.
CORRECTION
Well will it be fair to blame missing out on the 2008/2009 season championship on the fact that Clichy made that stupid tackle in the box when he had enough time to clear the ball ?
We all know what happened to our season after that:
*Gallas sat on the pitch
*We lost our 8 point lead
*We lost the opportunity to win the league
*Helb left
*Flamini left
We are still chasing the cup.
Clichy seems distracted but don’t forget that wonderful cross into the box that recued us 3points in the West Ham game last Saturday.
the only thing is, the more we wait on robin, the longer we are not considering someone to replace him in the side. some that maybe can stay fit and give us the minutes and goal that robin so clearly has failed to do. robin is hugely important to our style of play, as well. at some point we will have to consider possibily modifying that template as well. as a club, we cannot move on any of these things, while robin rehabs and we wonder if this will be the time when he is finally able to make a sustained run in the side.
Well will it be fair to blame missing out on the 208/season championship on the fact that Clichy made that stupid tackle in the box when he had enough time to clear the ball ?
We all know what happened to our season after that:
*Gallas sat on the pitch
*We lost our 8 point lead
*We lost the opportunity to win the league
*Helb left
*Flamini left
We are still chasing the cup.
Clichy seems distracted but don’t forget that wonderful cross into the box that recued us 3points in the West Ham game last Saturday.
wish i had agag 😉
oliver, my eduardo comment was slightly tongue in cheek and i agree with what you say about robin, the difference of course is that dudu clearly had a mental block which it was very clear to see, he couldn’t and wouldn’t overcome in the PL.. But it’s strange though as that kind of tackle could happen in any league, i guess its less likely in the league where is now is…
as long as the club can afford to pay robin whilst he is out then alls ok, but just think, we could have a very fit, quality striker on the same or less wage who would actually contribute to our side…
its a tough call….
rico, i have nothing to base this on, but i have a gut feeling that patience with robin is finally starting to wear thin…a season ago, i would have laughed at anyone who suggested we cut our losses with him, but one prolonged absence after another means i am slowly starting to see the argument…at present, he is absolutely no use to us.
my counter argument to your suggestion – which is quite interesting, by the way – is that we saw enough from eduardo to be reasonably confident he would never regain his previous form with us. with constant stop-start nature of robin’s appearances, nobody can make an informed judgment yet of how good he will be. he just cannot get a sustained run in the side. and that, more than anything, is the argument for keeping him over eduardo.
i will caution, however, that unless robin finally overcomes these injuries once and for all, there will come a point where it will no longer be worth our time to indulge him…and that point may be sooner than i had previously thought.
hello, oliver. Howdy?
😥 such a consistently damning assessment of Clichy.
I’m really glad I missed it then, rico. 😉
Interestingly enough, it’s true he’s never had to fight for his place; when fit, he always plays. 🙂
Selling Eduardo was the best thing for him, but its strange isn’t it – mentally he didn’t get over the injury but was starting to regain his fitness. but we sell him
RvP, cant stay fit for toffee, seldom plays yet we keep him….
work that one out 😉
Boo agag, it was a very half-hearted performance, theo scored a class goal, then the ref palyed advantantage after a foul on jack which led to us losing the ball, eboue commiting a foul and fron the free kick thay scored…
clichy had the ball, should have cleared it into row z, instead he gave it to a Shakhtar player who crossed for Dudu…. 2-1
That’s it really, the rest of the game was very dull….
hi agag…trust me, it was dire…unfortunately, your boy has previous, so most of us are not surprised that entirely preventable second goal is down to him…if only gibbs could stay fit…
k, i think clichy is too comfortable here. how many mistakes has he made? has he ever been dropped? i am struggling to recall. unfortunately, we cannot drop him now, as gibbs is out injured, but clichy has done more than enough to lose his first team place…
s, eduardo may well be missing the emirates, but his moving on was the best thing for all parties. perhaps he can rejuvenate his career in donetsk – he will need to do more than just score cl goals against his old arsenal side. but in what is effectively a two-team league (donetsk and dynamo kyiv), he should be able to. if he cannot, then he truly has nothing left. what is evident is that he no longer could do a job for arsenal – harsh, and completely attributable to his hugely unfortunate injury – but true. if we kept him in the squad, he would block jet’s (or someone else’s) progress, without scoring many goals for us.
Hi SD, you did indeed, can’t disagree with what you write about the players either….
eboue… grrrrrr
Boo. Hello, everyone! 🙂
Sigh. Re: Clichy– I shall channel Wenger and say “I didn’t see it…”
The difference between Wenger and myself is that I really didn’t. Some days, I’m glad I forget to set the alarm clock. I’d have been in some mood today if I had stayed up for what I am left to conclude was a comprehensively rubbish performance. 😉
lacking a leader, well thats a debate in itself oliver, like you say, we always do…
oliver, agree again, Chamakh is the one player who needs a rest, nikki was woeful last night he is way off being fit. Why didn’t he try theo and vela to start? yes they lack height but so what, we didn’t cross well anyway, ball along the grond into the path of either, who knows??
still whats the point, its gone now and we lost….
Oliver clichy had the makings of a future captain but i have no idea what happened to him.fabianski should continue playing this way and am sure he will have maximum confidence for the rest of the season.
Well i wouldn’t like to say o told you so but i told you so 🙁
Well i guess Clichy did shot us in the foot once again.
To be fare , that was a terrible atmosphere to play, what with the fug the imposing stadium that brings spectators at almost 60 degrees to the players.
Eduado must be missing emirates right now, the atmosphere was terrible.
I suspect that was what got into the players game, the weather must have gone really bad as the match progressed.
Well i blame the defence, Fabianski had a good game (apart from the goals.)
The forwards where not sharp, Walcott faded , Charmarkh could not do anything,
Bendtner looks like missing his blanked,
Rosicki was running ragged but to no avail,
Wilshere tired off too early,
But JET showed how strong he could be and his well timed tackles showed his intelligence.
To be fare , that was a terrible atmosphere to play, what with the fug the imposing stadium that brings spectators at almost 60 degrees to the players.
Eduado must be missing emirates right now, the atmosphere was terrible.
I suspect that was what got into the players game, the weather must have gone really bad as the match progressed.
Well i blame the defence, Fabianski had a good game (apart from the goals.)
The forwards where not sharp, Walcott faded , Charmarkh could not do anything,
Bendtner looks like missing his blanked,
Rosicki was running ragged but to no avail,
Wilshere tired off too early,
But JET showed how strong he could be and his well timed tackles showed his intelligence.
we had no leader and that is a long-standing problem. cesc is our captain, and i think we all agree that tv would make a good captain. but there was nobody there to shout at other players, to kick nasri and bendtner up their respective ***es when they needed it, to roll up on clichy when he switched off…
i am all for leading by example, but there instances where players need to be verbally brought into line – last night was one of them.
this is a knock-on effect of how arsene misuses the captaincy. did you see eleven leaders out there last night? i saw exactly one – lukasz fabianski!
it’s possible. if that is the case, shame on arsene – too many key players to simply rest at one time. he could reasonably have rested two, and brought two. even if he just brought denilson to start, i think we would have played much better, and almost certainly not lost.
if true, then he is making another mistake by resting for restings sake. chamakh is one player that could have used the rest – he would have been a better choice to stay behind than aa and three midfielders.
oliver, i still am of the opinion that Song, AA, Denilson and even Cesc are not ‘really’ injured, my view is they were rested and it backfired. Who was our leader last night on the pitch? I know who wore the armband but we seriously lacked a leader….
i think wenger thought the players he picked would play in the right way and secure at least a point, they didn’t and he couldn’t do a thing about it…
if those ‘injured’ players don’t return, I for one will be dreading playing a very different newcastle side….
k, as unpalatable as it is, on the evidence of the past two nights, i think it is certainly possible. i don’t want to get carried away with the spuddies win, as benitez certainly contributed to it by giving maicon no extra help against bale…but to their (spuddies) credit, they have not been overawed by it. they have played with intensity and purpose in each of their ties – we absolutely have not…
rico, that tallies with my assessment – and that is why i think with proper concentration and effort, we would have won comfortably. as lazy and unfocused as we were, we still caused shakhtar numerous problems, and had enough chances to still win. but the slack attitude cost us just as much on the defensive end.
i do not want to contemplate what will happen if we perform similarly against newcastle. they will field a much stronger side than in the cup tie, and we need to have our best players available and focused.
unfortunately, this arsenal side has a habit of perputuating bad results like last night’s over a few games. we cannot afford a losing streak now, especially in the league.
Oliver am glad the braga game isn’t the final game of the group since we would’ve smashed Partizan at home only to field the kids away to Braga where we would lose,go second,draw barca/madrid/bayern in the CL while the spuds drew copenhagen,go to Old trafford in the weekend without confidence where we would again lose.imagine the spuds outperfoming us in the CL?…
when theo scored i thought we would really go for it, step up a gear and go on to get 2/3 more goals. instead the players thought one would be enough, and the pace of our game was slower than ive seen in ages.. shakhtar just took advantage and deserved their win…
we were shocking and if we put such little effort in against newcastle on sunday we will lose by a far worse margin….
i mentioned lansbury, but only in the context as virtually the only other available option to arsene. neither choice was ideal – due to the fitness concerns regarding our regulars.
despite everything, arsene did well not to risk one of the players he had questions on. even losing denilson for a significant amount of time would be a big loss.
AA has his faults but he doesn’t settle for us recycling the ball up and down the pitch cluelessly.he is very unpredictable since he can dribble with or without space (theo struggles in the latter).he also shoots on sight unlike most of our players.
agree, k…those were three winnable points, and now the game at braga becomes much more important – do any of us want to go into the partizan game needing to win to qualify? there is no way we should be in that position.
the braga game is another milestone i had identified – the chance to win in portugal for the first time. lets hope our players are fit and more up for it than last night.
KT, not me who mentioned Lansbury 😉 albeit, I think he should have come on for Eastmond and Vela for Nikki..JET for Theo…
k, if we played well and with complete effort, we would never have lost last night. effort and attitude were our entire problem.
Rico landsbury is no Dm and would’ve made no difference.despite the injuries we had personnel to win the game.all players out there are experienced internationals bar Eastmond and maybe jack.if we had done all the simple things perfectly we’d have won comfortably.
certainly not – eastmond may not exactly have covered himself with glory, but consider where is in his development. far more experienced players did far worse than him yesterday.
rico, that is how it turned out. but if those players present put in the effort and application, we could easily have won the game. playing in second gear, with little urgency or creativity, we still made enough chances – with decent finishing – to win the game. shakhtar are an ordinary side at best – their “formidable” home record is an illusion to me, and if we aspire to be european champions, this is a side we should brush aside with minimal fuss.
as we languidly and casually navigated through yesterday’s match, chelsea were busy taking care of business against spartak moscow. as much as i dislike chelsea, can anyone see them coming to donetsk and not leaving with all three points?
Wilshere wants to add elements of viera’s game to his – interceptions and tackling.at least he is eager to learn.we had an opportunity oliver that we squandered.if we had played well and lost like at stamford bridge i would’ve applauded them.
oliver, neither am i, i’m with you on eastmond….was he any worse than some of the others? I would say no..
Sadly oliver i didn’t expect us to win without Cesc, Song, AA, Kos, Sagna and Denilson – we had little strength in our midfield, Eboue gave away a stupid free kick for their goal…. JD was the best player defensively and nasri/rosicky were ‘off’…
i am not ready to give up on eastmond just yet. so many other players in the side were below par, that i will not read too much into his performance last night. perhaps arsene should have selected lansbury instead, but that is a judgment call – if our more experienced players made a proper effort for ninety minutes, we could have won the game quite comfortably and all this wouldn’t be a forefront issue…
Thank you RA – I got bored in the second half, can you tell 🙂
lucescu is a nothing and nobody – he is where he belongs. i am angry with myself that i am even allowing this to bother me, but it is. its a contributing factor to my wanting to win over there for the first time. i want this team to reach some milestones, slay some dragons, and accomplish some things to build on from this season. when the cl draw was made, i felt that winning in the ukraine for the first time would be a good milestone, and i am hugely disappointed to see that chance squandered in such an indifferent manner.
another problem – and i don’t know if this is an accurate perception, as i have seen only a couple of post-match comments from a couple of our coaching/playing staff – is that our players don’t seem to be particularly bothered about this defeat. theo is who i am pointing directly at. at least arsene, in his own fashion, laid the blame squarely on the players and attitude. it is good that he is not trying to cover something clearly unacceptable, but when are players going to be held accountable? i am still waiting…
i have long suspected that many of our players are too comfortable; when faced with a choice between pushing on and trying to retrieve a lost cause, or shrugging and looking towards the next match, they should always do the former. last night, i think they did the latter.
Oliver Eastmond has NEVER convinced me at all even when playing in England.
Aw wore a look of a man let down by the players he has put so much faith into- even his own job on the line.he made no excuses which made it difficult for him to gloss over theo’s goal.the players never seem to learn from defeats and its our most experienced players who seem most culpable in doing this.we need a big perfomance against the barcodes or else our momentum will start fizzling out as we enter Black November.
I think wenger rates eastmond, he’s not 20 yet and in jan this year he signed a new contract, regardless of what we think – i think he’s here for a bit yet…
personally, i don’t think he’s ‘that’ bad, going to ukraine is not easy…..
Rico,
Sorry, I did not say what a good write up that was. Ecellent in fact! 🙂
hi rico…bitterly disappointed, when i probably really shouldn’t be. spuddies beat the european champions – and thoroughly at that – one night; we lose to an ordinary, eminently beatable eastern european team the next night. this team – as constructed – has won nothing, yet still takes certain results for granted. i bang on about non-accountability all the time – it was there for all to see last night.
KT,
I have been saying for ages that Eastmond will never make an Arsenal player, and it’s good to see someone else has come to that opinion too. 🙂
Nothing against the guy, but I am tired of saying that having watched him in the youth games for some years, I am amazed he kept avoiding the “cut”.
AW will stubbornly keep playing him and costing us games until the penny belatedly drops. 🙁
Here’s a brief prediction for the next 2/3 years.
Ping Pong will make it.
Benik Afobe will make it.
Chuks Aneke will make it.
Kyle Bartley will make it.
Chezzer will make it.
Eastmond WONT make it.
All subject to remaining injury free.
Oliver lusescu gloating that he knew they would beat us was sickening as did the perfomance.i even switched to the Milan vs Madrid game at one point.our attacks were very slow and thus we had no chance of carving them apart.as much as wilshere is playing well i want ramsey back.he is more direct than jack,quicker,stronger and two footed.i thought JD had a decent game.
Afternoon all, top comment oliver..
k, agreed. the whole result and performance has left me in a foul mood. i probably shouldn’t be so angry about this, because we should still qualify for the ko round and circumstances forced arsene to select a greatly-weakened squad. nevertheless, i really, really wanted to win this match – and beat shakhtar thoroughly in the process. the fact that our own laziness and stupidity beat us makes it egregious for me.
HRP has some way to go before challenging chamakh.chamakh though must learn how to shoot on goal sight.he infuriated me when at one point in the 2nd half he received the ball in the box only for him to waste a shooting opportunity.nasri did the same…where is RVP10 when you need him???
Oliver eduardo wasn’t even good at all in the game.bar the goal and the bit of skill in the 2nd half he was anonymous.it was disappointing to see our most experienced players in clichy and eboue letting us down.
Eastmond won’t make it am afraid to say.he may be young but has shown nothing to suggest otherwise.
and i see the predictable, sanctimonious “we should never have sold eduardo” comments are popping up – what nonsense! he would never have scored if clichy was professional enough to clear the ball. and he was finished here – he gave us nothing last year and offered nothing to suggest that this year would be any different.
not an anti-eduardo rant here, not at all. i am annoyed because suggesting that we lost because he is no longer here gives a pass to players who do not deserve one.
Here, here, Oliver. Well put.
morning all. i am trying to keep this in perspective – while wanting to throttle clichy for not executing a simple defensive task. my frustration partially stems from badly wanting to win in the ukraine for the first time, and wanting to jam it up lucescu’s *** for his stupid and insulting remarks. i also badly wanted a win because of the spuddies result on tuesday. but i also have to take a deep breath and consider how many key players we had missing – cesc and song in particular. and song not present, we also missed his deputy (denilson). not surprising that we struggled in midfield on a cold night, in conditions that we normally do not excel in. and i distinctly unimpressed by theo’s “oh well, no big deal…” reaction to this loss. this was an opportunity to seal qualification for the knockout round, win in the ukraine for the first time in arsenal history, and effectively switch focus to the league and league cup until the group stages – a significant opportunity squandered. theo’s comments suggest the casual, immature mindset that cost us in the past still exists. even if we win something in the near future, we will never fulfill our actual potential until this attitude is eradicated from the squad…
still, we should expect better. such a good start, only to switch off and coast. little composure when we are pressing for the equalizer in the second half. too many players who were invisible out there. a better side than shakhtar – who i am distinctly unimpressed with – would have actually punished us. clichy gets the headlines for the most visible blunder, but other than fabianski, nobody really impressed. nasri hit the post in the first couple of minutes – did he do anything else for the rest of the 90 minutes? jack provided a great ball for theo’s opener, then wasted a great opportunity to equalize in the second half. eboue was useless, bendtner anonymous…won’t win too many games with so many passengers.
again, we had several key players missing – and despite the result – arsene was right not take a risk with cesc/song/arshavin/denilson. the last thing we need are more prolonged absences – hopefully the rest means that they will all be available for sunday.
clichy…oh dear…great cross and good all-around performance on sunday, which he yet again undoes with a stupid, lazy, unfocused mistake-leading-to-a-winning goal. if only gibbs could stay fit…
as a supporter, i need to try and forget this. but the players need to remember the performance and result – how they shortchanged themselves and the supporters – and, once and for all, play with intensity and focus for a full ninety minutes. that and injuries are the biggest humps this team needs to overcome.
3 positives out of 11 dont say much does it RA….. think the only positive is thank fuck we aint gotta go back there…!
Really disappointing night.
Abubakar is right to try and be positive and for me too there were one or two bright spots.
A month ago I could not have written some of this, but …. Fabianski had another good game. His saves stopped the score being even worse; Djourou was really good in the air and his tackling saved us time after time; and finally, Jack ran his socks off, almost scored and ended up exhausted, but at least he put his all into it.
ultrav, I said the very same thing on here a few weeks back, Clichy not been the same since the howler he made against the swampies to let them back in the game when we drew 4-4.
I think Clichy’s downfall begun since the game where we drew with the spuds 4-4 2 seasons ago! For me, I’m kind of pissed at him for last night’s performance. The reason for that is because I rate him highly as a LB, but all these mistakes he’s making is just not acceptable. Also, being one of the eldest/experienced players in the squad, he’s not making a good role model for the kids to learn from. But I’ve got to admit that maybe he needs a rest overall, as he haven’t been rested since Gibbs injury. Come on Gael, time to step up!
Spot on MK thats his big problem as well his crossing is actually bloody awful…! I’d put up with that if he’d cut out the stupidness at the back…!.
@ Abubakar Gooner, did you know that cross Clichy gave Song on the weekend was Clichy’s second assist in 3years? Clichy has made 2 assists and has scored 1 goal in three years. If you don’t believe me do a little research.
Basic defending errors from Arsenal………. Now where have we heard that before ? ? ? Quite pathetic that Clichy makes the same mistake over n over again, will the boy… sorry Man ever learn…! As you say Tim why all the fancy crap just get rid of the ball no need for any fancy crap.
I think many people underestimated how formidable Shakhtar are at home – 49 unbeaten on their own turf now. A draw would have been a good result, and with better finishing in the second half we would have achieved just that.
Alternatively, if Clichy stopped trying to be too clever with the ball, or if Eboue hadn’t been made to look so foolish by Willian in conceding the free kick for the equaliser, we would probably have managed at least a draw with Theo’s goal alone.
Last night was hardly a disaster, but it was disappointing to see basic errors by two experienced defenders cost us so dearly.
http://thearmchairsportsfan.com/2010/11/03/shakhtar-make-arsenal-pay-for-defensive-errors/
Why complaining on clichy? If u could remember is d same clichy did cross the ball that lead us to won westham,to me this is a mistake wic every player can make. C’mon gunners let stop all these and accept it as our bad day, we still hv 2 more games wic i believe we can win ‘God grace’. Gunners 4 life.
In and out today but not far away 🙂
Hi KT, its not so good when an 18 year old out plays all the experience out there…
clichy was naive, but not many players stepped up last night. it was all a bit too much for eastmond, he got better as the game went along… still, can’t single him out really, all over the pitch we were pretty much second best…
Clichy is 25 which is a grandfather in our setup.he should know better.
Hi all.song is a very vital cog in the machine indeed.we were losing physical tussles all over it was embarassing at times.song and diaby are very agile and direct and we missed that.
hi jena, it’s a tough one with clichy, i once thought he would be as good as if not better than Cole but his game has gone downhill lately… he should have hoofed that ball out of the stadium….
We wont win anything with player like Clichy in the team. he has cocked up too many time in key games. He cant cross the ball for crying out. the cross against West HAm was a once in 5 seasons cross…Otherwise its always a dead end or dead ball when Clichy races to the touchline. AT least if he cant defend , then he should be able to attach and provide quality crossess. He cant do both
hi alatede, if gibbs could stay fit…..
clichy needed to be talked to
Morning, well if that’s another of our bad games out the way then not a bad time to do it i guess…
did that not show us just how good song is??