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Arsenal v Hull review – Alexis at it again as Gunners win!

With both Arsenal and Hull City making plenty of changes to their starting line-ups for this third round FA cup clash at the Emirates, you might have expected a slow and cautious start and perhaps a lack of quality from the start, but that was far from the case.

Arsene Wenger gave both Theo Walcott and Joel Campbell a rare start on either side of Alexis up front. The Costa Rican forward nearly gabe the Gunners the lead within five minutes, showing his pace and dribbling skills before a one-two with Sanchez and a prodded attempt that brought a great save from Harper.

But Hull were looking pretty good as well, passing the ball well and getting at s down both flanks. Tom INce came close after about 15 minutes. It was fairly even at that point but Arsenal took control and got the opener with Mertesacker rising high to head in an Alexis corner.

The Chilean almost made it two straight away but was denied by a brtilliant goal line clearance. Walcott also came close as Cazorla and Rosicky started to pull the strings and create chances. Alexis of course was everywhere, but Campbell was also showing some real skill and Walcott some great awreness and movement, especially considering how long he has been out with injury.

But Hull managed to hold out until the break when Arsenal should probably have finished them off. It was pretty similar after the restart, with Hull having decent possession but doing little with it and us looking dangerous on the break but failing to fashion the clear cut chance to finish the visitors off.

A great run by Rosicky early on and then a chance put wide by Campbell on the hour mark were maybe the best chances for Arsenal. But the longer it went on the more we struggled to get any passing going and the more confidence Hull got. Then a great run from Walcott got him onto a through ball but his finish was rusty. It did seem to spark us into a bit of life at least.

More chances came for Walcott, Alexis and others without another goal and Wenger brought Oxlade-Chamberlain on for Theo with 15 minutes left. The Ox nearly had an instant impact but Hull were riding their luck in the penalty box. But with 10 minutes left, Alexis finally finished them off with a lovely curled finish and an assist from Santi.

Akpom then came on for the Chilean and then Maitland-Niles got a couple of minutes coming on for Campbell. Job done for the Gunners.

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128 Comments

      2. very glad with the win.
        but lets not forget hull made 10 changes- this was there b team.
        they had basically no attacking force an it showed
        lets celebrate the win- but keep perspective!

        1. campbell deffensely good but in attacking he was very poor
          francis is real cdm
          alexis no word hard work make you best

    3. Lets be realistic please……… We best HULL…….. Congrats!……. But almost all the other premier league teams (top 4 teams, our bogey teams as well )did as well…… The fact is that, the chances of defending the FA cup is stil very slim….considering our poor records against em….. We wait to see our next opponent anyways….meanwhile, Revel y’all…… Sanchez is good!

      1. I have to agree that winning the FA Cup again is a long shot but this competition is different from EPL. Anyone has something to say including us. Let’s see how it pans out. For the moment we advanced next stage. Let’s keep the faith.

        1. luck of the draw. we avoided city and chelsea last year.
          this year we need similar luck-

          we got monaco in c league- gods may be with us!

      2. You know what I am sick and tired of your negative comments…when you’re trying to avoid thumbs down with a pathetic positive at the end. YOU ARE NO GOONER! You SLAG THE PLAYERS, YOU SLAG THE TEAM, SLAG OTHER GOONERS…YOU ARE ANTI ARSENAL. WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU CLAIM TO DO POSITIVELY FOR ARSENAL?? Fcuk all is the reality. If you turned up at the Emirates and gobbed off with a fraction of what you say on here you’d be ripped apart by proper fans. Fcuking armchair, Fifa fcukwit.

        1. I call them Twitter twats. The low IQ fraction of the Arsenal fan base. The fans who discovered Arsenal after 2006. The FIFA15 graduates. The Fickle Phuckers.

          Santi Out, Santi is the best
          Theo out, Wait till Theo gets back
          The Ox out. Ox is the best
          Debuchy is useless. Wait till Debuchy gets back.
          Giroud OUT. Giroud scores.
          Wenger never spends money. Wenger buys Ozil and Sanchez.

          I have never seen a section of a fan base that cries like little girls. Watch Dortmund fans, they were in last place and the fans sang for the team. The Twitter Twats would have been in despair considering suicide.

          I really think that as a club we would be better off if they all left and become Spud fans or Yoevil Town supporters.

          1. such eloquence, u caress words with aplomb.
            u insult with poetic vigour, may your words be heard in the furthest regions.

            1. @muffdiver……….as predicted….in the wake of huLL win, they are inspired in the art of poetry …..but our basic problems still remain…….AKBs are plastic and can only be melted by heat

              1. Hahaha, plastic when you stick with your boys, with the club. Keep them coming, I never have enough of them.
                BTW, fu ck you and all you pieces of so called $hit supporters having no good words for the lads even when we win. Just fu ck you.

          2. Brilliant how funny are you!
            I first watched Arsenal in 1976 and have been following home and away ever since NOT 2006,I also don’t use twitter and don’t play fifa,for the record I really am bored with the insinuation that if you criticise an Arsenal player,the owner or wenger then you don’t support Arsenal,are happy with everything that’s been going on since say the move to the grove?do you not ever think things should be done differently?did you never criticise a player?if you say no then I don’t believe you.I make no hesitation in saying I’m very much on the side of the wenger out brigade,but never would I come on here and write what you’ve just done,for a start in might upset my seventy year old dad who is very much a AKB.I think you’re just a keyboard warrior some how.Regardless though credit where credits due good performance today,and yes I did go

            2. Well Simon, I am a supporter. A true supporter. I played the game(Okay I was shite, maybe not as bad as Frimpong shite), so I recognize that sometimes you play teams that are better, that sometimes players do NOT execute the coaches instructions.
              As a supporter I have never ever booed a player. Like you, as a fan I will scream “Why you went left, the man was open on the right” etc etc . We all get emotional, but I have never and will never insult a manager or player. I think my team tries to pass the ball into the goal and needs to shoot more.
              But that is my layman’s OPINION. I am not a football genius like you guys. I do not know more football than Wenger, Allardyce, Pardew or any coach even in the Sunday leagues. The problem with the Twitter Twatters they think that watching football made them experts on PLAYING football.
              Posting expertise on football is like boasting in the pub how many women you slept with. Your greatness is greatly exaggerated.
              I never argue with my mechanic on how to fix my car, so I don’t argue with Wenger or Mourinho how to run a football team. We are fans, NOT football experts. This is where fantasy gets hold of a lot of footballs fans. I watch rally races. Can I drive like that? Hell No.
              You cannot do a better job than Wenger, and you cannot name a manager who can do a better job.

              1. Whatever floats your boat mate,I’m not going to argue with someone that fails to listen to another view,my point stands,whether you agree with wenger or not doesn’t make you more or less of a supporter it just means you have a differing view,no need for insults.

              2. “You cannot do a better job than wenger, and you cannot name a better manager”
                You actually come out with very good comments and analysis but to tar everyone on here with the same brush is a bit disrespectful as everyone has a right to be judgmental on whether or not a person(s) is up to scratch..
                Your analogies are a bit off because if you never questioned your mechanic it’s a bit like blind faith when in reality he might not have actually fixed your car only patched it up.. The meaning being- you would never know unless you either checked it yourself or got a second opinion..
                Just because a person has done a job for a certain period of time doesn’t make them proficient if another person could offer something different..?
                AKB’s or AOB whatever your stance should not come into question other than the success of our club.. And blind faith is a sure way to see a club fall out of contention forever..
                There are at least a handful of managers that could do a better job, but whether it’s the manager or the owners that are the cause of our slow demise from greatness- is another argument altogether..

    5. Osibanjo should be no 1. Ball distribution, communication and positioning all better than Szczecny’s.

    6. Ospina should be no 1. Ball distribution, communication and positioning all better than Szczecny’s.

          1. no i rate ospina, but he hasnt had enough games.
            lets see him dealing with chelsea united etc- then we will get more idea

            this game was walk in the park

      2. It’s funny how people ignore how many world class saves Szcezny made over the years. When he has one bad game he is suddently the worse goalkeeper ever

        2. The Chezzer has two moments of madness every season. 100 superb saves and two moments of madness.

          Can you live with that?

          1. Your memory is fading. He has FAR more than 2 moments of madness. That is the problem. Too many moments of madness.

            1. The problem with chezza is that he’s not really a goalkeeper – it’s really Steve backley the javelin thrower..!

  3. To be fair, I actually like Coquelin and how he snaps legs. At least other teams might start to think twice about roughing us up.

    1. He’s great at winning back possession. But also he starts our attacks with these challenges, something we don’t have with back pass Arteta or Flamini.

      1. Well, that’s the fate of a DM/B2B. This is no beauty contest. Matic, Toure even Fabregas are at the same amount of cards if not more. Yellow is ok, red is problematic.

    3. Hurrah!!! Unto us a beast is born!!! His name… Cock_leen!!!

      Ok, like seriously, he’s been damn good!!!

    4. Search for the Vine video of Le Coq telling Stephen Quin to shut the “f*** Up”
      87:20 off the game.

  4. Coquelin !!!! There is your DM. MOTM by a mile. That’s the attitude, that’s the gunner spirit right there. One single mistake, a bad pass but the rest? Perfect! Discipline, dedication, power.

      1. I am not overly enthusiastic. I am just pointing a solution to our midfield. You can’t take away the fact that we also played with a B team where he was absolutely brilliant. For which he deserves fully the MOTM. From minute one until the end he was there. I say play him. Same with Campbell but for different reasons.

        1. he will poss grow into a good dm- he is not the solution- he doesnt have the experience yet
          compare him to nemanja matic.

          he was sent to charlton on loan this season for a reason-
          dont watch two games – an scream he is our dm.

          hull were sh*t, lets see him vs chelsea, city and munich

        2. wengers solution maybe.
          lets see le coq vs chelsea city and bayern.if he does the biz then i will be convinced!

          ive seen matic destroy teams, on his own breakin up wave after wave of attack-
          thats the level we need.
          he was sent to charlton on loan this season for a reason

          1. Meh, Matic was not very impressive this season with Chelsea. I do agree though that he was much, much better at Benfica. Fabregas took the icing on the cake this year. Toure was not better and Schneiderlin is also enthusiastic in his DM role. You can have very bad and very good days in this position. As a DM you must judge if a yellow now is helping you tomorrow. Coquelin is not yet there but he has time.
            BTW, playing lower leagues makes you stroger in this position. There the refferees don’t whistle everything. It is really tougher for a EPL player to face the rough reality in the championship.

                1. its funny cos people rave about him on match of the day, bt sport, many places ive seen.

                  so ur media an my media are two diferent things?

                2. Really? Because I read the rags every morning and sorry to say, no word on Matic. Everywhere is Fabregas and Costa. And Maureen of course. He takes the front page. You sure you read the news ? Watch the games and so on? Because you seem to have some lack of info regarding the EPL in general and Chelsea in particular.

      3. This isnt the only match hes performed well in, Since he rejoined the squad with 0 apps half way through a season i would say he’s stepped in Overachieving and taking his chance, clearly his praises he are accessed over his overall performances over the festive period till today stop trying to be cynical for nothing.

        Hes intergrated very well and i think would be a fantastic holding midfielder with Ramsey beside him in a 4-2-3-1
        ——-Osp——- / ———Szc———
        Deb-Mert-Kos-Gib / Deb-Mert-Kos-Gib
        —-Coq–Ram—- / —–Coq–Ram—-
        Ox—Santi—Alexis / Theo—Ozil—Alexis
        ——-Giru——- / -Welb-

  6. Well that was pretty easy. Now we have a week to work on the stoke game. Maybe some transfers! Probably not though…

    COYG!

  7. Meh. Basic performance, Hull was diabolical – most part of the match they looked just comfortable losing.

    Campbell is good defensively, but bad offensively. Walcott gives us new dimensions to our attack – something in which OX has failed at. Just lacked sharpness in finishing but it was his first start in a year.

    Sanchez MOTM. When’s the draw?

  8. hope chambo isn’t injured & it’s a shame walcott didn’t get much of the ball.
    Wanted to see akpim on earlier than 90th minute as well, but easy victory for the gunners

    1. I wouldn’t be so worried. Wallcott will eventually regain the form and with Arteta, Coquelin and Flamini the centre is pretty safe. Remains to be proven against City and UCL.

      1. “with Arteta, Coquelin and Flamini the centre is pretty safe” not yet bro, not yet

        1. Why, do we miss all of them for the game against Stoke? Because I believe that at least Coquelin and Flamini should be fit. Unless all of them get injured in training somehow. Besides, we don’t know yet whether Ox is injured or not.

  12. Despite the win,unconvincing,mediocre display…the only 2 real footballers we have are Sanchez and Cazorla,the rest are squad players,at best.Even scoring(with closed eyes!),Mertesacker still Shiite,only passing backward and trailing like a snail.Ox did more in 10 minutes than Walcott in 75.Black clouds at the horizon,expect more defeats in short period of time.Without massive transfers and major overhaul,we have no future.Wenger out,your name is mediocrity!

    1. OK, I’ll bite. Name one single mistake by Mertesacker. Mind you, this is a player which I have said I hate. Couldn’t find a mistake today from him except for the fact that he is becoming less disciplined as the time goes. He was to often up. In a game with big boys this would not go unnoticed. But today? He did his job pretty good.

    2. What a load of cobblers. Last season this team without Sanchez, debuchy, welbeck etc went for longer than any other in first position. Injuries as ever put an end to the season and a lack of an additional striker. This squad if fully fit and with the addition of 2/3 players would challenge.

      1. If my aunt had a beard he would be my uncle! So what is your point- the fact that our squad does not have depth and quality to cover and that we don’t have a World Class striker? Yes we all know that, everyone in football knows that we needed more central defenders and quality DMs and a great striker . Everyone except Wenger and his AKB goons. So STFU with your stupid positivity. The team is where it is, and lacks what it lacks because we have an old fart who has been making the same mistakes for years.

        1. my god, stop with this bullshit where you insert AOK people into your paragraphs when they don’t belong there.

          Go ahead and point out where AKB people have stated that we DON’T need a CB and a DMF

        2. “So STFU with your stupid positivity”

          That has to be the early contender for post of the year.

    3. all this gloom and doom and bullshit claims that we should “expect more defeats in short period of time” when we haven’t even been playing very good and we still have 8 wins in the last 11 and we have a bunch of players back next week (Arteta, Ozil, Ramsey, Giroud, Welbeck)

  14. Boring game but it is good to have some momentum back … Sanchez and Cazorla had to be rested … Coquelin played really well (except some stupid Flamini tackles) …
    Oooh yeah! … hell yeah! … they are pack! … they are alive! … AKB are here! …

    1. LOL @ Flamini tackles, Nice one haha Flamini’s tackles remind me of Keanu Reeves in slow-motion xD

  16. Ospina
    Coquelain
    Sanchez
    Giroud
    Just need a top Central defender and our spine is made. Albeit against the mighty hull B team..!

    Coquelain pushed sanchez hard for MOTM..

      1. Yep… Hence I mentioned it was against the mighty hull B team..
        Look, I’m not getting carried away, we are 3/4 players short of anywhere near where we should be..

  18. Walcott played well for a player returning from an injury. Got into great positions that he’ll normally finish. Cazorla was class throughout. Sanchez as usual was very busy and was rewarded with a goal and assist. Mertesacker had his best game of the season so far.

  22. Was impressed with coquelin and cazorla had a great game. Sanchez was poor, consistently lost the ball, however he works so hard to win it back, and got the safety goal we needed. We could have won by 7 goals but whatever we won that’s all that matters

    1. I thought the same about Sanchez too. He lost too many passes in the final third. But his crucial goal at the end bailed him out.

      1. goal bailed him out?

        bloody hell twig- hes played nearly every game for us this season the full 90 mins in them too- coming from la liga to a faster an more agressive league.

        do u not think he just needs a rest? burnout?

        1. Wenger wanted to rest him, but Sanchez wanted to play anyway. I think Wenger must stand his ground and force him to rest at some point.

  25. I’m always happy when we win regardless of how well or badly we played.

    A win is a win. And I’m thrilled to be in 4th round. We NEED a favourable draw now.

    Now we NEED to concentrate on Stoke City who are a mid-table team but beat us 3-2 away in December and only lost by 1 goal to United and Liverpool

    I think Coquelin deserves a start against them
    hopefully we will have a good healthy team next weekend.

    Underestimate Stoke at our peril. they beat us in first game. They can beat us again if we aren’t at our best

    2. I’d like to say that violence is never the answer but if le coq could give that walking scum charlie adam a good kicking than I can rest happy.

  26. Good win for Arsenal, but for the exception of Sanchez and Coquelin we still have to work on our pressing game. For Arsenal to propel thier way up the table the best front three would be
    Ox Sanchez Walcott
    Sanchez Giroud Walcott

  27. Sanchez has scored 16 goals in all competitions. If healthy he could get 30 goals by end of season.

    God knows where in the league table we would be without Alexis

  28. COYG! Into the 4th round.

    Gotta say though despite another good showing from le Coc in midfield and Alexis superb finish I wasn’t that impressed with our play considering it was Hull Reserves and we were in a 1 nil lead for much of the game. Didn’t like Campbell showing going forward but he helped out defensively later in the game.

    Thought Theo did well considering his been out for a year, but concerned that if its not going through Alexis we look pretty toothless (although the OX did well after coming on before picking up an injury). Let’s hope it’s nothing serious..

  29. Coquelin is making our opponents feel a presence in midfield that has not been there for some time now…he will be very useful against the likes of N’zonzi and Walters who have this tendency of kicking our midfielders out of the game..

  30. Another great performance from Coquelin; what is that now, 3 games in a row in 7 days where he is one of the best arsenal players?

    That 2 footed tackle tho… bloody hell he needs to be careful even though I love that long lost spirit that we have need.

  31. Not going overboard with Coquelin but, aside from needing to stay on his feet, he was might impressive. I was surprised with a couple of long balls he delivered to Theo (one in each half). Didn’t know he had that in his locker.

  32. Coquelin keeps the good performances coming (I’ll forget about that horrible challenge at the end). Alexis continues to be amazing, Ospina was solid, some minutes for Walcott/Campbell, walk in the park pretty much against Hull B team. Good game. Now I pray Coquelin keeps his place even if Flamini comes back.

    1. Rosicky was also really good today. Have no idea why he didnt play the first few months while other midfielders were playing horribly.

    1. unfortunate shootings like this happen all over the world. You can’t blame one country. People want World Cup in America, yet you hear about school shootings and cops killing citizens about every few weeks there. I just think there are way worse countries to host World Cup.

  34. Still quite desperate when all the talk on here is about a loanee from charlton that is actually our new best player along with sanchez!!!!!
    How our standards have fallen eh..????
    However that hasn’t taken away from a decent performance from him..
    The worrying thing is that Arsene will believe the team has enough depth..
    But then again- I didn’t think any other..

    1. Loanees get sent out to improve their game. Are you suggesting Arsenal stop grooming players?

      1. Just stating a fact that we had to recall a loanee because our current crop aren’t up to it or injured..
        With regards to grooming players.. Totally all for it, but we’ve been here too many times and for every loanee that makes it we have at least 5 that dont.. So not sure it’s working..

  35. My boy Coquelin did a great job today :D. Classic performance by Alexis.. good to see Theo/bellerin getting some game time
    Stay positive and hope for a few january buys and we’ll be fine 🙂

    1. I saw interceptions from a DM. At first I thought it was Stella Artois. But then I realised this is Coquelin.

  36. coquelin did very well but hes still not good enough…

    we need a world class big name big game DM……

    1. His passing range is good but he is nowhere consistent enough. I find the “new” Campbell quite tame…as if by being more disciplined he lost the capacity to go forward. I suppose we need to see him play more before passing judgement but he tracked back superbly and we were rarely out of shape.

      Mind you, Hull were toothless.

  37. The problem is that AW has responsibility for everything at the club. All the other great managers have people to take the responsibility for different jobs, as it is too much for one man to handle. The last time AW didn’t have complete control was 8yrs ago when David Dein left, as he was mainly responsible for signing players, and we functioned much better as a club back then. I don’t doubt his commitment, you can see the pain etched on his face every match, I just think the board need to take responsibility to save him from himself, delegate some responsibility and move things forward.

  38. Its a shame that Akpom only got 7 minutes to prove himself. I was really expecting at least 15 mins. The poor guy was so energetic when he came on!

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