Morning all.
Football is a funny old game isn’t it, last Tuesday we came out of the blocks like greyhounds and zipped the ball around with pace and precision, we were unstoppable.
Yesterday was very different.
We lacked pace, urgency and at times, it seemed interest and our passing game was all over the place.
Maybe the victory over Napoli took a lot out of the players legs, it certainly looked that way that’s for sure. We had plenty of the ball in the first half but that’s all it was, possession as we didn’t really look that threatening up front during the first half.
West Brom to their credit played a big part in how we played, they wanted the ball more and when not in possession, they harried our players which all too often either ended up with us losing the ball. Jack Wilshere really looked to be struggling playing on the left, equally, Ramsey was finding it hard on the right. Another player who looked to be finding it a tad tough was Carl Jenkinson, in fact West Brom scored the opening goal from a header when our right back was the wrong side of Yacob.
Long before then though, West Brom nearly took the lead when Saido Berahino’s shot from distance took a huge deflection off of Mathieu Flamini. Wojciech Szczesny had already moved across to the left where the shot was originally heading and he looked well beaten but somehow, he got back across his goal and made a great save to keep the ball out. This guy has really matured this season.
Mikel Arteta had already seen a shot get deflected away from goal by Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey stepped up to take a free kick but blasted it high over the goal.
Jack Wilshere was the next to fire a shot wide and Ramsey fired in a low and hard shot through a number of bodies in the penalty area only to see Myhill make a fine save.
Half-time was fast approaching and to be honest, we needed it together a rousing talk from Arsene Wenger but annoyingly, we conceded just before the whistle blew.
West Brom were awarded a corner which we cleared but only to a West Brom player. The ball was sent back to Amalfitano who crossed into the area and as said, Jenkinson gifted Yacob acres of space to head past Szczesny.
We were very fortunate not to go 2-0 down soon after the start of the second half. West Brom broke away down the left through Berahino and he played the ball into Anelka who needed only a touch to score. Somehow, he hugely fluffed his lines and Szczesny was able to pick the ball up….
Moments later, Jack Wilshere went clear on the left and fired a shot over the bar and soon after, he burst into the area, was about to unleash his shot on goal but in came Jonas Olsson, who wiped him out. No penalty but just how or why I don’t know.. Earlier in the game, Jack had been booked for a very similar tackle in a very similar position so on each occasion, the defender got the decision. Crazy!
West Brom had another good chance when Liam Ridgwell sent Anelka racing down the left. The Arsenal old boy cut inside, looked up and attempted a ‘Thierry Henry’ finish. Lucky for us, his effort went inches outside the far post.
Arsene Wenger then made his first change. Aaron Ramsey went off and on in his place came Tomas Rosicky and in all fairness, the Czech made an immediate impact.
Mesut Ozil, who had a very quiet afternoon by his standards, won the ball just outside our own penalty area and played it right to Olivier Giroud. The big Frenchman then passed to Rosicky and his pass to Jack Wilshere was fired low and hard from distance into the bottom right-hand side of the net. Ok, it took a slight deflection but who cares… Good job Arsene Wenger didn’t take him off eh, he was much better in the second half….
Giroud had a good chance to win the game but Myhill stood before him and the goal and another bad decision by Mason involving Wilshere, led to another penalty appeal being turned down.
I wasn’t overly impressed with Lee Mason but I’m not going to harp on about it as it seems we only moan about the referee when we drop points. But he was pretty dire, especially in the second half.
Thankfully though, he was so bad, he missed Koscielny little barge on a West Brom player in the dying minutes….
The afternoon was summed up with a brief appearance by Nicklas Bendtner…
We knew that fixture would be tough and it was. Other sides will find that out for themselves when they visit The Hawthorns.
Over to you to pick the bones out of that…..
Interesting game that one – Ozil was quite but had nothing to pass to and when he did offer Giroud chances, well… Jack was out of it most of the game, although his lucky goal took some focus off that. Ramsey appeared injured early on and never featured either, leaving Ozil and Giroud. Three big ones on their way back should enhance things but if Giroud looses form it will be harder. Defensively we did ok again although Jenks does seems to struggle at times. Ref didn’t help, seemed all over the place with his calls for both sides. Surprised we never saw Gnarby. must be wondering what he has to do, he was missed out there for mine.
Morning all,nice one Rico.
this is a time when having too many midfielders starts to show and it will only get worse when the rest get fit. It seemed to me that Wenger wa ted to play certain players but got the position’s wrong.all right havin big squads of midfielders but positions are important. Yesterdays game showed that its dangerous to try to mix and match, square pegs in round holes so to speak. Yesterdays’ exercise shows that there will be bench warning,and mix and matching will take a bit of thinking about.
really lop sided in this area I agree stevep1
the bone (of contention) and the reason why we didn’t go at it is that it is not a ‘glamour’ game. Not so easy to get motivated against the west brom’s of this world.
Morning Oz, we looked all over the place,we need to keep it simple
Thanks Sp..
I think it was just one of those days, one of those games after a CL fixture, that we were not at our best and those days happen.
A point away from home is not all that bad as we could have easily lost but we didn’t and credit to Clarke for setting up his side to nullify everything we tried to do, especially through the middle.
As for Mason, that roly-poly shouldn’t be allowed to have a whistle in his hand.. Not just for us, but for the game itself…
we’ve only had one side that offered that deejay in the EPL and that was spurs of course but plenty to come, which will truly identify our progression as a unit.
Off out catch you all layers.
wink to Anelka as well, thought we were gone when he waltzed through our defence – poor finish indeed
catch ya stevep1
Also, our depth of squad was exposed, when we were in desperate need of a winner, we see Bendtner… Pfff!
That’s how I saw it too Steve , he played players to accommodate them rather than players for positions. We badly needed width but played two players that only wanted to come inside.I’m not sure about the Koscielny “” Barge ” either Rico I thought the player was backing in and Kos just held his ground, considering what had gone on before with Jack especially , a penalty there would have been harsh but not unexpected..
I don’t often read too much into Untold Arsenal’s postings as I am not into stats that much but I read their predicted post after the game and their summarising of Mason was to say the least Prophetic.
tough to argue with that Rico not a position we should be in but there ya go. Everything is about Ozil right now but we must hope Giroud’s performance was a one off as we have few options, other than those we already know don’t work very well
Have a good day Sp..
Alan Riley, ex ref, reckons Mason got Wilshere’s booking right because his studs were up and all 3 penalty decisions right…
I just watched it again Potter, absolutely no way was that a penalty in the dying moments. Looked more like the two players were doing the ‘bump’..
However, the way Mason was getting things wrong imho, I half expected him to award the penalty..
Listening to Riley this morning, all the major decisions he made make a bit more sense..
Morning all,
Too easy to defend against a team so narrow as we played yesterday. What happened to our soak up and counter game plan over the last few weeks?
I even gave credit to the coach/coaches for changing our style. I’m sure that’s what Napoli studied and expected and Wenger pulled a fast one on them.
I don’t understand blaming the refs. We have been up against it forever so we shouldn’t expect anything to go our way. We need to play smart and do things in open play.
The problem with Riley and his defence of Mason is not confirming the decisions he gave but ignoring the ones he didn’t.
Morning all,
A very fair post imho…
A point is not too bad imo considering our next 4 out of 5 matches are in the capital…Norwich (h) Dortmund (h) Palace (a) Chelsea (h, league cup) Liverpool (h).
AW tried to claim he wanted to win yesterday but at now point did he commit attacking players; I guess he could sense the core of the players were mentally tired and so it transpired in their physical display…
Most teams who won in the CL last week drew or lost and that includes BM and Dortmond…
Juve struggled to pull out a 3-2 win against a ‘finished’ Milan side.
If we can pick up 7 points from our next 3 EPL games and beat the chavs at home in the CL it won’t be too bad…
I am okay with the point considering the fact that westbrom defeated man u @ ot. It looked like ramsey has a knock, can anyone update me on ramsey?
Rico must be honest wouldn’t have given any penalties either, thought he got all three of those right. Many others were harder to understand however. We have our share of breaks as well recently so just a poor display from him was all. With Fergie gone the league balance is already visably fairer in my opinion.
Good Morning to the Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
Rico – A good summary of an indifferent game.
The whole team, with the odd exception seemed to be out of sorts and off the pace. Too many wayward or ill-timed passes resulting in WB counter-attacks.
Also, I have to agree with SP1, the midfielders are not all interchangeable. Shuffling the pack to accommodate Jack in a more advanced position unbalanced the team. Aside from his goal, Jack was generally ineffective.
Bradster – playing wingers who aren’t wingers really mucked us up yesterday. I’m at a loss as to why Gnabry didn’t start on the right and Ozil out on the left…
Also, I wonder if AW started Jack because of what has been in the press during the week… Almost to prove a point..
Morning all, Think we went into this game not looking too concede a goals. we should not have started with Flamini and Arteta as defensive midfielders, but used either of the 2 with Ramsey and started with Gnabry on the right, more offensive. Balance did not look right, maybe ok for CL but not for PL.
Morning Cg, thanks. Not used to writing one in which we have dropped points 😉
Welcome Bergkamp, my own view is that AW set out not to lose. No doubt he watched WB beat the Mancs and was concerned. Surprised Long didn’t start instead of Anelka but quite glad he didn’t..
I didn’t really enjoy the game yesterday. We couldn’t string good passes in the final third,we kept on loosing balls.
The tackle on Wilshere was great and no way a penalty,Rico although it was made from the back but the player got the ball cleanly. Wilshere’s tackle was clean but not so clear.
Many decisions went against us but we shouldn’t complain about the Ref when we didn’t play well. West Brom did well to nullify our tactics.
Have a good Day All
Rico – Let us hope that you won’t have to get used to it and that this is a one of or a rare occassion.
Xr’s – I get that but what narks me a tad is why one gets a booking and the other goes by – but hey, it’s done, dusted and history for me..
I hope not either Cg, November looks like a very tough month though…
really looking forward to a string of tougher fixtures so we can see where we really are. A spuds mate of mine said today we actually are behind on same fixtures last year points wise? Can’t be bothered checking and after his teams debarcle last night, I smiled politely 🙂
Good morning,
I wouldn’t want to blame the referee for the draw. Though some of his decisions were questionable a draw was a fair reflection of how the game went. On another day we could have lost as the match had an element of our Norwich game last season. Like Wenger knew it was going to be a difficult match and setup with 2 DM pivots as cover. We were second best: not sharp enough, passes going astray, Wilshere had a mare but improved in the 2nd half, Jenks always looked rusty when not having runs of games, our passes in the final third was nothing to write about, no width etc
Ramsey normally peaks in 2nd half when everyone is tiring unfortunately we lost him as a result of the knock he received in the 1st half. If Ramsey had stayed we could have won it. Hopefully Cazorla, Walcott and Podolski returns after the interlull stronger to help the team push forward
Top of the league COYG!!!
I read that too about fixtures/points Oz but the most important thing is where we sit in the table and right now, it’s above everyone else.
Our only downfall was the opening day imho, yesterdays point will not be as bad as it seems as I honestly believe the Baggies will take points off of a lot more clubs than just us…
I hate international breaks but must also admit, i do think this one is rather good timing for us. Some of those lads looked washed out last night. Change is as good as a holiday they say so hopefully we can regroup a bit. Nice place to do it from as well.. top of the ladder and not to tough a game to come back to.
I’m not sure I agree re Ramsey Emma, he had a shocker by his standards. In fact, I’d say it was Rosicky who changed the game a tad and helped us get the goal…
Just hope no-one gets injured through fatigue though Oz and I hope that countries who have pretty much qualified don’t over play our players..
I reckon after the break we will see players start to return, especially Santi, Theo and Lukas..
Exactly Oz, who cares what we were on, we’re top of the log going in to our usual toughest period with players set to return. Used to be RVP and Diaby’s annual holiday time.
Yep agreed Rico, Arsene has some serious congestion in that midfield to deal with
Last season when Rosicky came/was on we were more direct to goal, far fewer sideways passes to keep possession while probing for an opening. Tomas is still one of the best dribblers in the team he can keep the ball at his feet while twisting and turning looking for an opening.
Hopefully some of our younger players can learn from him.
Just a shame we don’t have the same problem up front Oz. I pray AW has something planned for January…
you and me both Rico
Oz – The international breaks are a boring irritation, but it gives some of our injured players a chance to recover before the league resumes.
If Arsene still wants Suarez, we better pray that Liverpool start dropping points and positions.
Think the chance of Suarez has gone Cg. John Henry made it clear to Stan Kroenke that Liverpool wouldn’t sell to us.
Also, the player appears to want Real Madrid only and it’s expected that they will make a move for him in January… Well, according to the know alls in the press 😉
Yeah i agree the Suarez window has closed. They made their stand and hats off to them. Do agree though if it was Madrid calling he would have made much more noise, as they will find out come January – the Benz situation at Madrid is continuing to deteriorate.
rico – Quite agree he(ramsey) was off his normal game in the 1st half so also was others. The knock didnt help him and shuttling him on the right when he is currently our best CM is not helping either. Wenger will need to make a decison soonest when Walcott and Cazorla returns if to drop Flamini/Arteta. Arteta hasn’t got that energy to play a CM role so it’s going to be a straight fight b/w Flamini/Arteta
was > were
Suarez would prfer a move to RM, best for us to get a player that wants to be there. Also do not think that BA is the answer as a stiker, not worried as i believe AW knows best and he will have someone in mind already. We also really need Theo back to give us a bit of pace up front for Ozil to supply.
we have already had a taste of the Walcott / Ozil offerings, very promising. Injury is really bad luck for us
Rico – The ‘know alls’ of the English and Spanish press wrie more fairy tales in one day than the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen did in their lifetimes. However, I think you are probably right.
“wrie” should be write.
I actually think the dippers would have sold to them in the summer Oz but Real didn’t make a move. Now it appears that Benzema has been told he can go….
Again, all in the press but seems logical..
Morning all, i believe the reason why Ramsey played on the right was to offer Jenks more protection. Playing two rookies on the right hand side would have been disastrous and Wenger got that one right. If Sagna was available, i doubt Arteta would have started with Gnabry taking his place which would have meant Ramsey moving back into the middle. Overall, good point and we will be much stronger after the break if our players return fit.
I can’t get the Giroud criticism. I thought he did well consdering the fact that he had Ramsey and Jack by his side. The keeper did everything right on that Wilshere ball over the top imho.
I’d take Sanchez from Barca, perhaps he’ll be keen now that we’re winning.
When can Campbell and Silva play for us?
I agree re playing Ramsey on the right Emma, not really sure why he was out there, not when Gnabry was fit…
And yes, others were off their game yesterday too but I don’t think WB made it easy for us..
For me, Arteta is the one to make way and give the armband back to Merts.
Good point Jeff, didn’t give that a thought about the right side… Makes sense.
The January transfer window could be a very active one this season with most of the leagues being a bit more competitive at the top.
No idea bradlop, maybe next summer..
Have a great day all. I’ll catch you tomorrow.
Night Cg…
Top point Joyweds re cover on the RHS for CJ25…
‘Doing the bump’
You going all technical on us rico.
Hi Micko, howdy?
Wanyama and the saints are not doing badly are they? lol
Champions League @ChampionsLeague 6h
Midfielder Nuri Şahin has been ruled out for up to three weeks and will miss @BVB’s #UCL Group F match at @Arsenal – http://uefa.to/18JjHA2
a draw wasn’t a bad result, west brom were very good. Yacob and Mulumbu were very hard to play against. We were poor in the first half but we improved a lot in the second half. west brom could have been 3-0 up before Yacobs header. It was brilliant for Wilshere getting the goal to silence that west brom crowd who were booing him! I think that we missed Walcott a lot and we should have put Gnabry or Miyachi on the wings. But we are still top of the table going into the international break. Great to see spurs getting hammered at home aswell. COYG FOYS
TR07 has redrawn from the Czech national team… hooray!
ts – New contract on the table for Rosicky I heard. Good he has withdrawn. Hope he retires as they are out of contention for the WC
Reus and hoffman out as well.
tsgh, I’ve no idea if he’s even 1st choice for the Saints but they are flying high alright.
You and Flamini need to sit down over a beer and thrash out your differences asap, I’ll see if I can arrange a half way meet if you like !
I was initially disappointed with the point,on further reflection it was a fair result. Clarke set up his team well, they have a few decent players in Sessegnon, Long and Barraino. I would like Barraino at our club, good as Sterling??
We must accomodate Ramsey on this form in his preferred central position. AW has to choose either Flam or Arteta, not both. We are to defensive with that lineup. Sczec made a lovely reflex adjusted save, the new keeper has bumped up his levels.
Gibbs is an unsung hero who is doing nicely. I root for Jenks a diehard Gooner, but its difficult to replace Sagna.
We must sign Sagna to a 3 yr deal who is a big cog in our machine.
JW must fight for his place. not the finished product, he over dribbles and is always falling over. He needs to step up his game.
Top of the League with a tough schedule to come. I will gladly take it and enjoy over the break.
I cannot wait to see Santi,Ozil Ramsey Flamini and Walcott on the same pitch.Truly missed Santi.
Cheers
Cheers
Afternoon all..
Micko, I thought you’d remember that move from your disco days 😉
Welcome Jordo, so for the delay in letting you out of moderation, hope you pop back again..
Dinner calls me now, one of those days…
Evening All from sunny Suffolk
Mick in the Disco, now there’s an image to conjure with…
Shirt opened to his navel…
Sparkling medallion…
Bell-bottomed slacks…
Saturday Night Fever on the turntable…..
Great news to hear that Rosicky has withdrawn from the Czech national side…
Well, I have a couple of pints with my name on it…
Adios All
🙂 Micko, Flamini and I are like PHW and AW… respect only.lol
Kev- Nico is back and is captaining the u-21 side tonight… happy for him…
How is it that Frimp is in Ghana training with the Black Stars are just playing 73 minutes this season?
Evening all…
Ryo finally scores for Arsenal.lol
Arsenal team to play Wolves: Martinez, Bellerin, Ajayi, O’Connor, Ormonde-Ottewill, Yennaris, Kamara, Ryo, Eisfeld, Maitland-Niles, Jeffrey.
Under-21s subs: Iliev, Boateng, Iwobi, Smith, Lipman
Lipman looks like he could be the best no.10 natural we have produced from the academy.
Hi Kev, sorry I missed you. Have a fab time in Suffolk and enjoy those pints, have a couple for me 🙂
…..after just playing 73 minutes this season? 😉
long day for me… after someone commited suicide on track; this has started too early this year… =(
night all
I too am off, night guys and gals…
I get here and everyone’s off. 😀 😀
Time zones agag, bloomin time zones 😉
Morning all…
Morning all,
Time zones? Its all a matrix…lol
New post up