Arsenal v Anderlecht review – Gunners blow three goal lead

Arsene Wenger made just one change to the Arsenal starting line up that beat Burnley on Saturday, with Aaron Ramsey replacing Mathieu Flamini. So with Mikel Arteta having not been available for the away tie in Belgium, Arsenal were hoping to build on our renewed confidence and make this game a lot less nerve wracking than the last one.

But we were nearly behind within 10 minutes after Welbeck lost the ball and Anderlecht sped up the other end and nearly embarrassed Szczesny with a deflected shot. The Belgian champions were looking threatening on the counter while we were a bit sloppy in possession.

Ramsey then nearly gave us an early lead after some great play in the box by Welbeck but the Welshman was denied by a desperate sliding block. And while the Gunners were starting to dominate the ball and create chances, Anderlecht also looked sharp and brought a great save from Szczesny after 16 minutes.

A great run and cross from the right by Chambers found Alexis who was explosive and mesmeric in the box but his shot from a narrow angle nit the post. Minutes later the Chilean latched onto a great through ball from Ramsey and turned it round the corner for Welbeck who was brought down, giving Arteta the chance to score from the spot.

And that soon became two after Alexis’ amazing run led to a free kich which he hit into the wall before rifling in the rebound. Pretty much all his own work from the Arsenal half that one. The lad is on fire. And while the lead was comfortable it was not insurmountable, especially with Anderlecht still getting at our back four.

The Arsenal boys were starting to enjoy themselves and produce some really good football, with the Ox showing blistering pace and nearly finding Welbeck in the centre for a third being a prime example. No more goals before the break and with Dortmund leading and goal difference perhaps coming into it, it was a shame that we hadn’t completely sealed the game.

It looked like we determined to do that right from the restart though. The Ox nearly finished a lovely flowing move within minutes and Welbeck was getting close. We had been working hard and pressing without the ball very well and another example of that led to the third with a dynamite run and finish from Chamberlain.

Anderlecht then got a bit of their luck back from the first game, scoring a goal which should have been ruled offside, while Arteta picked up a knock and Flamini came on with half an hour left. And our defensive problems were highlighted again when Monreal as the last man gave away a penalty and all of a sudden we were facing a very nervy last 20 minutes.

Podolski and Rosicky came on for Welbeck and the Ox but it was the visitors applying pressure and we couldn’t get any control. And just like two weeks ago there was to be late drama as Mitrovic beat Mertesacker to level going in to extra time. So although we should still qualify, Arsenal can forget about winning the group.

Tags Alexis Arteta ox

327 Comments

  1. You have just said what i was about to write that we really need a no.2,because wenger and bould dont instruct players they watch games which really makes me angry

    1. wengers ego tells me he wont accept a proper number two- more an errand boy.

      he is destroying his legacy year in year out by dominating this club an taking on everything.

      who the hell turns down bergkamp, vieira and adams joining the training staff…arsene

      1. @muffdiver wenger is finished i didnt want to say it but it true.the worse thing jan is coming it gonna add more pain to us the fans when they dont sign players we need.this is by far a worse season we have seen,wenger needs to go end of season.oh by the way next season we wont have subs next season since players are moving and wenger refuse to rotate,it is really scary we are moving as a club.wacthing one man bussy destroying our beloved club

    2. At the end of the game Arsene Wenger looked angry. I am not sure why he is angry because it is his ill advised desire to prove that you can win throphies without a solid defence that has gotten us into this mess. You cannot drink poison and be hoping that your enemy will die but this appears to be what Wengr is hoping for.

  2. Wenger said he found a balance between attack and defence in yesterdays press conference affter keeping clean sheet against Sunderland and Burnley? Who is he kidding, they were two of the bottom three teams in the league before last weekends matches.

    Our team doesn’t defend as a unit and then our defence is poor.

    Scszesny – He is not the keeper to count on to make 3-4 good saves in a game. He made 2 good saves, but not really his fault for the poor defence this evening.

    Chambers – goes missing in second half. They had half a dozen crosses from his side.

    Mertesacker – getting beaten to header again. In first half after our corner goes wide he is walking back, Anderlecht almost score straight away from the resulting goal kick.

    Monreal is obviously not CB, he is trying, but he isn’t CB.

    Gibbs – had an okay game, he was tackling more than other players.

    Ramsey – flick, flick and more flick, not going to be half as good as last season, he has lost stamina, not running anymore.

    Chamberlain – that was his one of the good game he has once every 8-10 matches.

    Cazorla – not good enough, should be dropped with a number of other players.

    Welbeck – doesn’t get in goal scoring positon, isn’t making himself available to recieve
    throughballs, lacks hunger, this is the reason he isn’t getting many chances.

    Arteta – played decent as the cleaner in midfield.

    Sanchez – once againthe best player. Everytime he loses the ball he goes and tries to get it back. After Artetea wen’t off it looked like he was the only player out of midfield and attack that was trying to win the ball back.

    Flamini – Didn’t command the midfilders to defend enough. Didn’t do good himself.

    Rosicky and Podoslki – didn’t give any attacking flair or any defensive cover.

    1. welbeck is starting to annoy me. At least Giroud gets in good positions and misses. Welbeck in general makes horrible runs and never seems like he’s even close to scoring. And yeah, Ramsey has been running a lot less, he’s way too focused on scoring. Dont think he was as bad as some people are saying tho.

    2. at HA559 I totally agree with your analyse and my main concern outside of the obvious defensive weakness is the incapacity of Wellbeck to make good run without the ball.He just does not know to make himself available like the goods poachers,in that only and maybe in the head department he is inferior to Giroud who wastes so many of his chances when Wellbeck has few by his inaptitude.
      Wenger substitution took of all the speed of the counter attack,Podolski and Rosiki looks like tourists,they play so few can they care?
      Campbell has been declared missing In the Venezuella news,can someone tell them where he is?

      1. Again, Wenger wait till the last 10 minutes to put Rosicky and Poldi on. Like you said, did they care?
        Cazorla, Ramsey, Welbeck are not impressive AT ALL for games after games but still starting every single game.
        Bad rotation, bad management. Wenger, please keep destroying your own legacy. Nobody can do a better job than you.

        1. i don’t know about you guys but fans at the EMIRATE should be blamed for this kind of
          results as-well bc away fans get behind they team and that makes our players feel thy are playing away from home it takes more than 12-15 people to make a foot ball club successful get behind ur team that’s why you pay
          a season ticket

    3. Why are people bashing players again ?
      At,3-0 up,
      Fullbacks need to be told not to be bombing forward all the time.
      Ramsey to be told “U are trying too hard, just sit square of flamini .”
      Bring on theo,podolski,etc & give welbz & sanchez a deserved break.
      Play on counter & pick them off.
      Instead our Manager sits there as a Glorified Season-Ticket holder.
      He looks angry at the end which is puzzling considering he is in-charge.

  3. Feck me. Embarassing. 3-0 up and we draw with Anderlecht. Do the team not get the concept of a football game, which is to WIN.

    How? Just how do we give up a 3 goal lead to anyone?

    Defence anyone, lack of defenders, and lack of a solid DM.

    I give up.

    1. its anderlecht….still cant believe we lost 3 goal lead to anderlecht.

      this season certainly is record breaking

  4. Yep just sit their buts on the bench! Were sh*t and we know we are! Wenger p45’s in the post, embarrassed tonight and you just know the worlds media will be laughing at us again. No leader, no composure, no quality at dm and 1x cb, (feel for nonreal), no sideline management, no passion from the coaches, no tactics in game again, (why take ox off and leave cazorla on?), ramsey trying to score instead of create, cazorla doesnt know his name, TOTAL DISSARY! All the while wenger goes back home tonight to sleep on the pile of cash under his matress, he’s lost it, I had strong doubts but now I’m sure. If i see smiling players di*king around whilst training anytime soon I’ll not be best pleased. Apologies to fans who bought tickets tonight are in order.

  5. We needed 3 players ontop of what we signed in August ..,

    We need 5 in January..!!!

    We just need to forget it really.. Too depressing to care.. We haven’t a hope in hell..!!!!

    1. @phil-thompsons-nose
      All the hype comes to nothing again, we need to move on fast or we will be a mid table club. Then what will the board and Wenger say? The plan didn’t work because we didn’t invest in the right players.

      1. Andrew

        Our current managers ethos has all the hallmarks of a mid table club..
        If and if it’s a big if we manage to win 20 out of 28 games in the prem then we will probably qualify for the joke comp’ we attempt to gain entry to for the money men of arsenal this year..
        But, if we continue this pathetic attitude (Sanchez / ox excluded) then we will end up 7th or lower..
        You get the sense from many now that WENGER is on borrowed time regardless of the game on Sunday..
        It’s about time he left with partial legacy still in tact..?

        1. Wenger needs to move upstairs and make way for another manager. I think he loves our club, lets make use of him in another way.

  6. This result reminds me of the time Arsenal was up 4-0 against Newcastle, only for them to dramatically come back to tie the game 4-4.

    These kind of results should not surprise anybody by now. As long as this useless, overpaid has-been of a manager is in charge, NOTHING will change.

  7. When will people learn Wenger isn’t the manager to take us forward. I tried my best to organise a protest. Maybe now people might get off their arses and do something about it.

      1. @muffdiver
        I tried to organise a protest about two years ago. What happened nothing!!! now we are getting our just deserves.

        1. Bussinessmen get involved in football in order to gain profit. No owner gives away his money just for the sake of it, or only from his love for the club. Do you think that Abramovic or the Arab owners of City don’t take the money the invested back? They make billions. Wenger was given 100 millions to buy the right players in the summer. He failed to do so. If the income from home tickets and sold merchandise was dropped and if we organised a proper protest against Wenger, maybe the board would then take some action for the club’s sake.

            1. Sorry, I didn’t understand your comment, could you please explain it to me? By the way, we really need to protest and I wish I lived in London, it would be much easier to organise it there…

  8. Till the 60th minute, it was looking like the old good Arsenal was back and that Arsene was right after all. I was even thinking of getting a Sanchez’ jersey delivered in Greece, where I’m from, for aproximately 70-80 euros with the shipping, and then the whole dream collapsed within moments. F@ck you Arsenal board and Arsene. They are all to blame. The don’t care about us fans. We should do sth to let them know of our anger and dissapointment!

    1. I have been calling for a protest as well as match boycott as well as banner to matches but people thumb me down for that but thank God fans has start seeing the light now……the action starts now let’s carry banner of “WENGER OUT” to matches from now..Wenger can’t bring glory back to Arsenal so let someone Do….Wenger Out still goes on..

  9. Absolutely horrible coaching and tactics by Wenger. Even the players should know better than him, but they don’t. This is why Wenger’s team will NEVER beat a team coached by Jose Mourinho. Mourhinho is a jerk, but tactically he understands football and Wenger has no freaking clue what tactics to employ.

    This is a result that shows how deficient and naive Arsenal and Wenger are. This is a disgrace! Even schoolboys know that you don’t keep attacking when you are up 3-0. This shows how stupid and selfish these players are.

  10. Il know I will get thumbs down but anyone think
    Ramsey
    Wiltshire
    Flamini
    Arteta
    Cozorla
    Ozil
    Chaimbo
    Are better than Fab , we could of had him but wenger said we don’t need him, yes we do we need him and about 8 other players

    1. Don’t even start the Cesc thing… It just p”sses me off that our midfield is dead. Ramsey has one good season and we weren’t sure if he could repeat it… Wilshere has been a Diaby cousin and has been a disappointment, Ozil not a PL player, Cazorla has one good season and has just got worse..

      If Sanchez does not create or score the rest just keep hiding…

  11. How can a team be leading by 3 goals and lose it all in just a split second. What sort of defence do we have? We should just change our whole backline and bring in better players cos what we have is not working at all. Why cant Arsenal make me a happy man for once?

        1. I just looked at mine brains lmao , I knew you wouldn’t ans but you would reply idiot wenger lovers , shhhhhhhhh

  12. Tonight reminds me of when we were leading 4nil against Newcastle.. What I don’t understand is that.. So does the Board do not see that Wenger has got no brains in his ahead? Why do they keep on offering him new contract?

    1. because we always qualify for champions league, our brand is growing and he looks the part…

      trophies and winning arent important to those cretins running our club.

    2. Because they don’t care about the club all they care about iz how much money #AW can make for them. #FACK the board to!!

    3. winning trophies isnt a priority anymore, dont care how many times stupid Gazidis and co. say otherwise. Its all about money, they’ll be happy to win a trophy every 9 years or so.

      1. @RSH
        Don’t forget we were lucky to win the FA Cup last season, we could have been knocked out before the final. It reminds me of 2005 when we only won it on penalties.

        1. eh, wins a win in the end. Not going to bash how we won em. Besides, we’re usually unlucky most of the time.

  13. Wenger blames fatigue and says there was a problem with the defence from the first minute. Well why were neither addressed in the game early on? Fatigue? Why keep almost the same team from teh last two games. Defence poor? Why not shuffle them up or bring Bellerin as RB in the end and Chambers as extra CB?

  14. best tweet read today

    “If we could defend like our board defends the high ticket prices, we’d win the treble.”

  15. Not a single DM or CB will make that much a difference in this current style as long as the whole team does not defend as a unit..

    The first goal came from wide, the third goal came from wide.. Where were our Fullbacks and who was there to help them out?

    I watched Podolski jogging back for the 3rd goal, the guy had just come on but he is so lazy, you could see the Anderlecht players running towards our flanks and he just was jogging in the middle ball and man watching… No pressure on the ball and all the time for the crosser to cross. SMh

    And this is why wenger does not want to play him, he is a nice guy but we need more than that, we can’t be paying £100,000 a week for him to be this lazy..

      1. Got a shot, won a header, had a turnover. What else you expect from him in just 10 minutes of playing time and opponents were having the ball?
        Put your fingers on the players who played 90 minutes but not contributing enough, not the one who only had 10 minutes.
        If I am not wrong, Rosicky did not even touch the ball once, and got fouled outside the box only (and Rambo skied the freekick).

    1. I watched in disbelief as Ar$ene couldn’t even have the decency to shake the opposition manager’s hand at the end of the game. We can’t be paying him in excess of over £160,000 a week to be this classless.

    2. Not all of them were collective mistakes.

      Some were individual. In fact all 3 were. I don’t see how the penalty and mert’s weak attempt are collective failings. It’s a case of individuals just not being good enough! I am sorry to say this but please take out Sanchez and I seriously doubt if we could score more than 1 goal!

      Don’t want to take names but the players have started to take the Arsenal badge for granted. One season under the sun and suddenly 100k + per week demands???? Do they even deserve this? Welbeck on 100k a week. I am sorry..just not worth it (He is just an example). In my last 7 years as a fan, yes we did not win anything but we played some amazing football-and I am hoping in 7 years most teams progress and not starkly regress. Unfortunately that is what is happening. If the current state is what wenger has to offer, as a fan I will rather bite thhe bullet and get a coach who has fire in the belly, rather than sit back and watch helplessly!

  16. Is Arsene Wenger sleep now without having nightmare? is Sanchez able to rest is soul. I know Scszeney is sleeping like a baby now.pity! arsenal will never ever win anything with him in goal, take note. Bould what was to be his influence on these players. Bould, Bould, why and why and why he is a coach in this team??????? The Character and discipline of this team is multiple-BAD. Is Arteta a leader in the team, captain who does not command the troop!!!! aha ah.

    1. Plz dont start with the whole sleeping thing cause I’m gonna go crazy thinking that we are all here losing our sleep for a bunch of “professionals” who only care about their wallets and not for our club. And when we keep strugling to make a living, they live like kings because they can kick a god damned ball!!!

  17. The only question now is can we limp to January and still be in top 5 ….. Possible ….. at which point wenger should go and we should bring in 3 defensive options … Mert has to go to bench for sure he is a joker so that basically means playing bellerin chambers Monreal Gibbs if kos is out …that is a really weak back line with zero power…he could play Diaby as dfm and see if he has strength and discipline as flamini is not up to job…but my question is simple how the f*** can wenger’s salary be justified … it’s sure as hell nothing to do with talent or record…perhaps divine inspiration is the reason as apparently the man does like to pray a lot…. Sadly it’s more basic just a bunch of greedy twats running this club and ripping of fans….oh right I forgot we have a shiny bright stadium now at least… Time to cast the money lenders from the temple

  18. Why don’t you lot get ‘Wenger out’ on the back of you’re shirts.

    I’m not, i’m not spending a single penny more until i see change.

    I expect Arsenal to refund the fans as well.

  19. Sending Jenkinson on loan was the biggest mistake by wenger this season. If he had been here, We would have played Chambers at center and would have had a defensive cover.

  20. I keep saying it and it needs saying again plz MR AV & MR SB leave arsenal in the hands of some one who knows what he is doing. AW moans about shit and says the same shit. Arsenal fans around the world want him gone and bold wtf he sits there says shit all. If they don’t go it’s RIP arsenal.

  21. Very depressing.
    it actually felt like a loss to lead by 3 goals and blow it.
    I’m glad we qualified but it should have been different. Very shameful.
    Wengers excuse of fatigue sucks. That’s why you should have got another defender and not loaned Jenkison. Also, should rotate more. For example in last game should have used Bellerin and put Monreal at LB

  22. im so ******* furious how do you let that happen to you fk sake. this team is full of cowards and little girls fk them.

    1. totally agree on this one…

      our players are only looking forward to hugs and exchanging of jerseys….

  23. Arteta iz finished, flam iz washed up, per iz a fackin snail & #AW iz fackin brainless so what do u expect when we have all these left overs @ the club, we don’t have a club anymore we have a circus starring ah bunch of clowns.What the fack iz wrong with #CAMPBELL y isn’t he in the squad does that # brainless fart knows anything about rotation, does that # brainless fart know how to use his subs & not bring them on in the last 10 -15 min of the game WTF IZ WRONG WITH MY BELOVED CLUB I WANT BACK MY CLUB ASAP FFS!! COME TO FACK ON YOU GOONERS !!!

  24. I am glad i did not write right away else these words would be curse words, i think our manager is just a watcher of football, tactically wenger is slow to react and very weak as a leader, being angry after something happens will not appease the fans.

    Out of everything that upset me, ( weak defending, lost of ability to tackle, arguing with official while the game is still playing, the ignorance that the game was over after three) what bother me the most was the decision by the manager was to take off our best defense which was or offense ( ox and welbeck) we lost our release valves therefore we were no longer a threat to Anderlecht going forward, we gave them all the space in the world to do what they wanted and gave the game away

    So wenger yea the defense was poor but you have to be held accountable for your substitutions, when e needed runners as an outlet you put in people to just stand and watch football playing

  25. Wenger complained about lack of DM quality on the day, yet he refused to buy one in last window transfer. ha ha ha ha . This man is brilliantly deluded !

  26. well….its done…its a fact….now a new manager and some new players wouldbe ok, firts i was afraid (i was terrified) of anybody doing worse, and that we d miss what we had…..now i dont know, really, anderlecht…home…a 3-0lead….

  27. If Arteta is in contract talks god help us! From the stands we could all see we are desperate for a world class CDM to help our make shift/sh!t defence due to not having signed cover for TM5 leaving. Flamini’s a liability, Monreal’s not a CB and as much as we love him, BFG needs pace as back up!

  28. Ox was having a good game. Ramsey was not. Morevoer, Ramsey is far from fully fit and was looking tired and ineffective. So who does Wenger sub off? The Ox of course.

  29. With the present defence and with good tactics we can still keep d three goals, but wenger believ more in attack, when we were at 3-2, we should have parked d bus, instead we opened our back. Our defensive department is just too poor, yet our manager is not seeing it,

  30. And so it happens again. Anderlecht did it in the first leg and we lucked out then last night our shocking defence was back in full force. I’m bored of saying this and have been for the past two seasons. We need a dm, Cb and decent goalkeeper. All the rumours about pedro I couldn’t give a sh*t about. We never replaced vermaelan going out, the BFG just can’t cut it. We are as top heavy as united, the difference is they have a world class keeper in de gea.

    Spend some f**king money Wenger, and not buying more midfielders that we already have too many off. We’ve got basically a squad of the same type of player. We need a dm. A cb and a keeper. Losing a 3-0 lead at home is atrocious. Get spending in the right areas or just retire already. It’s actually got to the point where I don’t bother watching matches anymore.
    Same mistakes and same boring output from a manager that is clearly out of ideas. Sure we will make it 15 seasons qualifying from the group stage, but it doesn’t matter, we won’t come close to the final. Out in the last 16 once again.

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