Arsenal v Cologne – Great Gunners come back to win!!

Arsenal fans and Arsene Wenger may well have been a little bit underwhelmed about our participation in the Europa League this season after missing out on our usual Champions League group stage involvement, and we understand the thinking behind putting more focus on the Premier League.

It was nearly a disaster though, with Arsenal going in at the break a goal down but a roaring comeback in the second half gave us a 3-0 win and put a lot of smiles back onto Gooners’ faces.

Having said that about priorities we still want the Gunners to do well and I reckon the Arsenal team selected by the boss was intended to be strong enough to beat a badly out of form Cologne side at the Emirates tonight. We started well enough to be fair but then suffered one of those moments that seem to crop up way too often when things are against you and it set the tone for the rest of the first half.

Ospina did well to react quickly to a rare attack from the Germans but his clearance was not strong enough and as luck would have it fell perfectly for Cologne, And of course their new striker who has been struggling to find the proverbial barn door then hit an inch perfect 40 yarder over our keeper to give Cologne a shock lead.

Arsenal did not react well to the setback while the visitors had their tails up and found it easy to get to the break with the lead intact. Problems and pressure on Arsene Wenger and his players at halftime then. Could we turn this around?

Well you have to give full credit to the manager and players because the second half was a great show and a storming come back from the Gunners. Kolasinac, on at the restart as Wenger shuffled the pack and went to a back four, lashed in a fearsome volley to level the scores within minutes and after that it was all Arsenal.

Then the previously subdued Sanchez came to life and scored a fantastic solo goal cutting in from the left and unleashing a curler that left the German keeper stranded. The third was perhaps a bit of a let down after the quality of the other goals but Arsenal fans were not moaning as Bellerin was the first to react to stab in after Walcott’s shot had been smothered.

Lots of positives for Arsenal after an admittedly poor first half, now bring on Chelsea!!!

Bob.

37 Comments

  1. watching wilshere and nelson add some fresh air. Kolasinac The Free is probably the bargain of the window. If not free, he would cost 50m? Consider that the fee for walcott so let that expired head go for free. all the best in your future theo.

  2. I know that most players that played tonight are fringe players. But it is the bad system that made Arsenal have to fight hard against the mighty Koln.

    If Arsenal play like this against Chelsea, they will get trashed like the Sackbags. They have to dominate the midfield area by using more midfielders and threaten the opponent’s defenders by using more skillful and wider forwards.

    Either using 3-5-2:

    …………………………Cech
    ……………………………↑
    …….← Koscielny…Mustafi…Monreal →
    ….↑………………………↑……………………….↑
    Bellerin…Ramsey…Elneny…Sanchez…Kolasinac
    ….↓………….↓…………………….↓……………↓
    …………← Lacazette………Welbeck →
    …………………..↓…………………↓

    Or 4-1-3-2:

    …………………….Cech
    ………………↑…………..↑……………
    Bellerin…Koscielny.↑.Mustafi…Kolasinac
    ….↓………………….↑…………………↓
    ….↓……………….Elneny…………….↓
    …….←Ramsey…Xhaka…Sanchez→
    ……………↓…………↓…………↓
    …….← Lacazette………Welbeck →
    ……………..↓…………………↓

    Giroud’s movements are too limited and Arsenal need more skillful players to attract the opponent’s defenders. They also need a defensive midfielder to avoid silly mistakes like Koln’s first goal.

    I am happy they finally win it, even though they have to struggle in the first half. Great goal by Sanchez.

  3. Kolasinac looks a real find, no doubt every fantasy football manager will be scrambling to fit him into their side. Alexis had a bad game overall but he always has that ability to just steal the show with a bit of magic.

  4. Another horror show from Holding. Had to come off at half time. Good call AW. Still unsure how he is ahead of Chambers. Surely it’s a straight shootout?

    When will AW learn 3@ the back only works with the right personnel? Iwobi @ CM? Walcott looked poor but bagged 2 assists? Kolasinac is a beast tho!!!

    COYG!

    1. was the lead up to bellerins goal really an assist? or just for purposes of fantasy football? im thinking its the latter. wally walcott is generally to greedy to add assists to his predictably substandard performance

      1. I think offensively you are right – the no of times we gave away the ball with missed passes is astounding – Sanchez and Iwobi to blame majorly. We need to thank Elneny – he was everywhere. Apart from that the only thing viisible is that too many players are indifferent to defensive. Our mentality has to change. We need to defend and press as a team if we want results to go our way.

    2. What is the story with Chambers? I take it he is injured? Felt really sorry for Holding last night, he made so many mistakes but only because he was the one trying to make things happen when others were standing with their hands in their pockets.

      Overall happy with how the game went last night. The massive change from the 1st half and the 2nd highlighted that:

      3 at the back may not be the answer,
      Some players just aren’t good enough (Walcott)
      We seriously miss a creative midfielder, Elneny and Iwobi were awful in the 1st half and offered nothing (welcome back Jack, get well soon Santi)

  5. Great win, after the horrific first half.

    Ospina 5 – Not much to do, very poor clearance, and made to pay for it
    Monreal 6 – Decent
    Mertesacker 6 – Decent
    Holding 2 – Yet another shocker. He’s starting to really look like a £2 million signing, and could have easily accumulated enough yellows for silly fouls. Very lenient ref! Holding is miles behind Chambers in my opinion.
    Niles 6 – Got better second half
    Bellerin 7 – Good goal, and great energy all night
    Iwobi 6 – Okay in patches
    Walcott 4 – Lost the ball a lot, didn’t really offer anything
    Elneny 8 – MOTM for me! Very steady game, and lovely range of passes
    Sanchez 7 – Gets a 7 by the skin of his teeth. Great work rate, but horrible performance because of some shocking passing, and holding onto the ball too long. Wonder goal saves him!
    Giroud 5 – Didn’t really know he was playing, although staved of service
    Kolasinac 8 – Made a huge impact at halftime, great goal, love this guy!
    Wilshere 6 – Some decent touches
    Nelson – 5 Not on long enough

    1. Both Wallcott and Sanchez did not give Giroud any service at all. I don’t see how Walcott in the current form adds value to the team. We should see the initial stages of the europa league as a platform for players getting some game time to build confidence. Sanchez is far from his best and will probably be on the bench on Sunday and rightfully so – the no of times he gave away the ball ; a good team would punish such lapses.

  6. As I predicted struggling win
    v German cellar dwellers.
    Mental strength character
    fighting spirit will be the order
    of the day at all interviews.
    LANZ Sanchez is back and scoring.
    Kolasinac the new free signing scored game changing goal.
    Wilshere is the new Messi.
    Nelson on when game was over.
    The second coming of the English core has begun.
    Rested 9 first team starters.
    Perfect result really.
    Now its all about playing down our chances
    against Chelsea to avoid raising fan expectation
    and possible fall out should we lose.

  7. Much better second half thank Christ!! Sorry Theo but you were really poor. Glad to see Wilshere back and Kolasinac – I love you!!!!

  8. Ospina-one mistake one goal
    Holding_too bad
    Niles_first half out off natural position-second half good
    Elneny_MOTM
    Jack_good
    the Nigerian_too fat even to kick the ball
    Alexis_too much on the ball but perfect come back on the goal
    Nelson_good
    Walcott_80 min. aimless running
    Girud_good for one touch too bad for 90min.
    Kolasnic_game changer

  9. Well done guys. Very good win in my opinion. Yes we hab a very poor first half but Wenger got his sub spot on. I dont think some will find it easy to give him that credit though.

  10. HOW ON EARTH IS WALCOT STILL PLAYING FOR ARSENAL….NILES…A GOOD ALL ROUND BALLER..HARDLY ANY BACK OR SIDE PASSING…KOLA A REAL TANK…GOOD WIN….DULL PERFORMANCE….GOOD NIGHT ME FELLOW GUNNERS

    1. Glad someone noticed how bad Walcott was he should of been hauled off before the 30 minute mark! The fella has a touch like an elephant and does not understand what it means to stay onside.

  11. Arsene needs to wake up holding and Walcott shouldn’t have played tonight though you have to hand it to him for making the changes at half time, if you can’t cure holding’s ills ship him out to where they can do a better job with him

  12. Good win in tricky circumstances after the first half.

    Many positives to take from the game. Well done to all and very glad to see Jack back, take your chance lad and force your way back into that team. He offers us something we don’t have and if he can make it back will be a great asset.

  13. why do Wenger like playing players out of position?
    watch Niles second half performance playing in his natural position.
    what does he gain from playing this guys out of position.
    Kolasinach is a bargain.

  14. a win NICE but i’m not getting myself pumped for sunday, i just hope players play much tighter and with more urgency. the first half was very poor and almost every pass got intercepted due to the huge amount of space between players, we werent able to move the ball forward quickly and when we did we lost it, i know this isn’t out starting 11 but the players need to play much more compact on sunday or this formation will never work, pressing is also required and im saying as a team not one player busting a gut to chase it when all the defender needs to do is pass in any direction and that’s it threat gone!! ofcourse our player is left jogging back whilst an attack is on the way… Gaps Gaps and more Gaps we shouldn’t be so frail in def, we need to be much harder to break down if we are gonna challenge for honors, but Koln who hasn’t won a game all season came and took the game to us that shouldn’t happen, and especially not at home sorry! happy with the win but much more is needed from manager, players and fans alike dare i say it. a cmon Arsenal! chant might have spurred the team on especially when we are playing so passively in the 1st half so yeah we are to blame as well, away we are amazing but at home we are not the best out there to be frank dare i say it we lack leaders in the stands as well. just one more thing to note i don’t understand why wenger keeps testing the lwb position, you have saed use him, when he came on the momentum changed in our favor our second choice lwb is obviously monreal? hoping for the best but to be honest its not gonna be plesant in the PL so would love for us to concentrate on this trophy, could be our ticket like man u and we could achieve that with our squad, but we got to really go for it, not shy away like we did in the first half those side passes and the lack of movement upfront was embarassing at times.

  15. Holding is still a very promising defender. He struggles when playing the stopper/ball-playing defender role that is best suited to Kos, or even (lesser so) Mustafi. Holding imo should be a cover def in the mold of Mert. He needs to get better at reading the game and positioning. Stop
    with that running the ball into 3 defenders in the opposition half.

  16. Which fans were louder? Which fans provided their side with the extra man?
    The spirit of one set of fans was fantastic.

  17. I’ve noticed that Arsenal play better with 4 at the back which gives them an extra midfielder against teams where they know their going to dominate posession. They create much better chances which is what I noticed in the 2nd half. We should stick to 5 at the back with top teams that we might struggle defensively with though.

  18. See what I’m mean about Sky Sports, they never wanted to talk about the excellent comeback with more or less a second string eleven or how well that Arsenal, the police and the stewards done to control a very difficult situation at the stadium, all they wanted to talk about was the disorder at the ground and how Arsenal may be punished for something completely beyond our control. There’ll only be happy when we’re given some kind of sanction, but you see in the future how they do their best to protect their beloved northern teams

  19. In truth there is nothing wrong with 3 at the back, the problem lies with the players used in the position.

    Holding has to go back to the basics in defending, Walcott must only be used in europa

  20. Giroud wasnt too happy after Bellerins goal, he must be piss Sead didnt pass him to him instead, would have been a typical Giroud goal

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