Arsenal managed to make about two tentative passes before giving the ball away to Everton in a dangerous position and causing the nerves to surface in the crowd and remind the players just howm badly they played against Monaco on Wednesday. So right from the off we lost a bit of confidence and Everton felt comfortable.
And the fact that this was the same starting XI bar two that played in midweek ensured that those nerves would be right at the forefront of the players’ minds. This was highlighted when about 10 minutes in the visitors were allowed to have about two minutes popping the ball around with no real pressure. Everton had over 70 percent possession in the first quarter of an hour but at least they had not punished us with a goal.
They nearly got a gift though, when Gabriel made an error and allowed Lukaku a run at Ospina. At first I thought the keeper was rash but replays showed the Colombian did brilliantly to rescue the situation. With nearly half an hour gone, another Monaco memory was triggered as Giroud put a great headed chance wide but the striker had done brilliantly to fashion the chance in the first place. I just worried for his confidence.
That did seem to spark us into life though. Our attacks were still a bit slow and one of them broke down and nearly led to one of those horrible counter attack blows but for a fantastic redeeming tackle from Gabriel on Lukaku. Then it all got better for Arsenal just before half time when Giroud finally found his range and swept us into the lead with a right foot strike. Just what The Gunners and our French striker needed.
It was all Everton after the break and the Arsenal defence was under serious preesure from a string of corners, free kicks and crosses for the first five minutes. But I was impressed with how Arsenal defended and the way we played in general, with Coquelin doing great work to help and turn defence into attack. In the 65th minute we nearly saw one of those typical Arsenal tiki-taka goals and then a great save from Ospina from a Lukaku chance.
It stayed tense, nervous and tight though, with chances at both ends, Ozil being denied our best one with a great last ditch block by Jagielka. Rosicky came on for the Ox and then Welbeck for Alexis. Inevitably with just a goal difference, the Gunners dropped back as the final whistle approached.
Unlucky Coquelin got a second blow to his already badly damaged nose and had to go off with Chgambers coming on as our latest injury crisis hit home. But just as things were getting worrying, Rosicky got our second and killed the game thanks to a wicked deflection.
It was not the most scintillating performance but it was solid and professional and just what the doctor ordered.
Chesny and rhino should stay on the bench for some time.
poor performance as usual. wins a win
same as all season-poor but just enough, we are no different from man united
heres hoping next year we look more cohesive an interested
2 seasons of this is annoying enough.
Bar the initial error from Gab, he had a fabulous game. He will only get better with time, because communication is somewhat lacking. Ospina was also very good today! MOTM for me was Santi, who despite his little size controls so much of that midfield. Nothing fancy, but a good win nonetheless.
well done paulista an ospina- great showing.
but can rely on good ole arsenal fans to forget wednesday an act like evrthing is ok!
everton were very poor, an we did not show a good display
but we are third- boom
When you say everton were poor today, it was because Arsenal defended very well today.
Monaco looked good because all our defenders except Koscienly forgot that their job was to protect their goal first and not go bombarding into the opponents box to make up numbers.
Come on muff…don’t see many posts saying we’re gonna win the league. We won…that’s all they can do. Have a spliff and chill.
ur right. wednesday hit me hard.
just all feels pointless now-top 4 for what
just miss us dominating games. miss our beautiful football.
but we won happy for santi, our defence too 🙂
I too miss those days where we dominated games, no team would dominate us apart from Barcelona. Now it’s all slow, clueless, methodical and mechanical. Just fighting for 4th season in season out, it’s pointless for a club of our status..
its not pointless. we’re building. chesney/per/flam are have been slowly replaced with ospina/gabriel/coq .. much better in D. if we get a WC CF next year and player as good as or better than coq at CDM, we’ll make a good run for title.
Give me a repeat of last season and am a happy Gooner.
excuse me?
glad to see u have high expectations.
smh …
Come on man, from the way the season has gone so far you cant tell me that winning the fa cup and finishing in the cl places would be a bad thing. Granted at the beginning of season you expect a title charge but now we must make best of a bad situation.
you do realise we have said this every year – for a decade…
‘we must make the best of a bad situation’
tired of making the best of it
why is cl places such a big deal? yeah wenger and board gets 35 million plus more profile but that only keeps the season tickets high.
we fans get what?
actually i think manufacturing the objective of “top 4” has held us back in the last 6 years in that we achieve it so we don’t feel TOO bad about the season. if there was no top4 trophy, pressure would be much greater on wenger. as it is, i’m happy kroenkes were unhappy at monaco so they may start putting more pressure on wenger.
how about gabriel!
what an impressive defensive showing. no nonsense
like i said- hes lucio!!
glad to have mobility at the back. u miss a tackle and its not the end of the world.
Today, Koscielny was paired with his clone: Paulista!!! Good combo… Giroud did well…
Outstanding Ospina!!!
Oh, SANTi!!!
Rozza’s got it still!!!
And by the way, CLEAN sheet, Morraphukas!!!
give it a rest
If by “it” you do mean Mertesecker, then yes. “IT” should rest.
Dumbo!!!
I’m a dumbo because I dont root for our players to fail? My bad. Sorry I don’t kick our players while they’re down like you. I get it if this comment was made after the Monaco game but the fact you are abusing players who didn’t even play in this game is disgusting.
Sorry about the “dumbo” remark. But when a player that’s been consistently doing badly is dropped and his replacement does well, it is a tremendous relief.
Per has been very terrible, glad he’s been dropped (hoping Gabs will get better and better).
Wow.
Ozil shows up against the mighty Everton and makes 2 assists.
What a legend!
Another Arshavin..
Bet you’re real fun at parties.
Bet your a real barrel of laughs ‘wazzzimbo’. Just like Timmy mallet;)
well done fans for supporting to their own club well done gooners
and I wish chelshit and spuds game ending with draw lol
chelshit and spuds is not EPL , league cup final
everyone knows that they are playing capital cup final and for Jose it is big trophy I don’t want that anyone win
Id actually prefer spu win after seeing the nine point gap, you never know if the 9 gap stayed and then che were to lose another…six point deficit looks manageable. I know, plenty of ifs and buts and not too many games.. but…….
Start of the weekend i wanted liv – city draw, che – spu.. che win, and sou utd both to lose. Now i want one last sniff at the crown with chelsea going down.
Forgot all about that, feel a bit stupid now. I dont want a spu win now, lesser of two evils.
The thing i forgot about.. its a cup game, At least the 9 point gap stays and hopefully che will lose their next game… COYG’s. Arsenes first crown i think we clawed back a thirteen point gap, nine is a piece of cake for our Arsenal. Cant wait till next season when we play B Munich in the Uefa CL final and the commentators mention – its Germanys champions versus the champions of England… clash of the titans. Or when a pundit asks mourinho how difficult it will be to beat the champions of England and how safe is Arsenes job now that he has a fourth title under belt.
after TR7 took that shot, i thought i saw the ball grow legs and walked over Everton’s goaLkeeper into the net
roziscky should play in at least 50% of our games.
One less match for top 4 but Not impressed by the performance at all.
We could play this match 4 times and Everton would win 2 of it.
Too many stray passes,
The opponent keeping the ball better,
Inconsistent performances across the pitch.
Ozil seeming not to be able to do anything beyond the last third.
What you say is true. However you get thumbed down by f@ckwits who probably didn’t even see the match because you speak the truth and they can’t handle it.
Wengerites of the 1st order
————-
Thumb me down if 4th place is all you aspire to!
#wengerOUT
everton would not win 2 out of 4. we were more solid at the back. (yes i know paulista almost screwed up)..
“chgambers”? ……… That was one helluva bLunder …… But’s cool
No more per the turtle, Gabriel was awesome he made one little mistake, I have high hopes on him.ozill was alright and two assists, not bad.giroud scored a lovely goal. He should have got his second right at the end. Ospina looked more reliable today,well done.overall happy with ozill and giroud.job done and closing on second place
Özil 2 assists today, apart from the horror show against Monaco he’s been impressive this year. So the author of last article can eat a humble humble pie.
Aye, he gets so much hate. I just dont get it.
I still wouldn’t play him in any tough match. Keep in mind that Everton are currently 14th in the league. Another issue is that our wingers seem to getting very little space when playing along side him.
Thumb me down all you want, but I know I’ll be proved right when he starts against Man United next week.
Ozil is a top class player with great vision and great passes but he needs time on the ball to play,the premier league is too fast paced for him.I say sell him in the summer to Bayern or Barca if they want him.He will suit them better.
I think the team is just not physical enough and that why we are struggling for years against fast pressing,physical team.
We need more muscles in the midfield.
Very difficult to replace Ozil.
fabregas would come back in a heartbeat.
PL is too fast paced for him, okay then our whole team is not suited for Premier League since our counters are slow and diabolical.
@galen, you need to stop living in the past. Özil cost £42 millions, so what? That was 18 months ago and we can’t change that. I can see your hatred towards him because every time you look at him, you judge him through his price tag (which was too high IMO). However, this year he’s done what he was supposed to do when we first signed him. It’s funny how he has scored or assisted in every match since his return from the injury, but only one match can still drop him to what he was last year (in the eyes of fans like you).
And I look at Cazorla who’s been great. Today HE was just okay. Didn’t do that many tackles or interceptions, which as a CM, is his job. Nor did he deliver in the offence. Today the difference was Özil delivered, twice. Therefore he or Ospina were MOTM.
lol, you know someone didn’t watch the game correctly when they say Cazorla didn’t do anything today. 5 tackles, 2 interceptions, 2 clearances, 2 blocks today… but okay, he did nothing.
@RSH,
and you know when someone didn’t even read the original comment when replying.
“Didn’t do anything” vs. “He was just okay today”. I believe 5 tackles, 2 interceptions, 2 clearances are AVERAGE for any CM so therefore he was just okay today.
If you think those are average stats for a CM you’re kidding yourself. Cazorla was way more present in this game than Ozil was and that’s obvious to anyone who watched. Just because Cazorla didn’t grab an assist or contribute to a goal you say he was average. Thats the only thing you are basing your opinion on.
people think constructive criticism is hatred and hatred is constructive criticism. Look at how much people love the Mertesacker comments, but if you ever say a single word bad about Ozil everyone attacks you. Its just something you have to deal with. He’s the record signing and can do no wrong. Only Mertesacker, Giroud, Szczesny suck. The usual scapegoats.
Jack does
I think hatred is when a player plays consistently well through several games, score and assist but after one shite match, receives an article indicating that he by all means, should not play. That is why I wanted the author to eat humble pie but for some reason, I got thumbed down. When Özil plays bad, he should be criticized, when he plays well he should be praised. Today and all the matches he’s played in after returning he’s been in a praising form, against Monaco he was shite. One bad performance doesn’t deserve a dropping, that is why the ‘haters’ should eat humble pie today.
Özil can and should work harder. Same goes to every player in the team. Giroud should finish better, Gibbs shouldn’t be caught out of position, Sanchez holds the ball for too long, Cazorla should score more than just penalties, Özil should defend more.
If he needs time on the ball, a statement i completely disagree with, then going to one-touch football Barca or Bayern would be a step in the wrong direction, if he wants a club that fits his style of play.
To be fair to Mesut, he wasn’t at fault for Giroud missing sitters and Per having a schocker. And anyways it was Gary Nevilles commentary and his bile talk about Mesut throughout the game that got on the fans mind more than anything.
Ozil and MATA are the only 2 remaining old fashioned No10. This kind of No10 is done and not compatible with any team anymore. We now have quick, buzzing and all action players..
Mata and Ozil are struggling to do make any impact in the EPL..
@Galen
Say you what Galen, Mesut played in a Morinho team for 3 years. 3! Did you see what he did to Mata because he doesn’t track back to recover the ball? But Mourinho let it pass for Mesut. Never compained about Mesut not recovering the ball or anything. There has to be some reason.
Same with Arsene Wenger and Low. There has to be a reason. We can debate all we want and pull up stats and facts. But these guys see things we don’t. They are better educated in football and management than any fan.
Eriksen, Oscar, Willan has to work so hard cause they don’t have half of his talent which they make up for with industry. But for all it’s worth, during the Monaco game, Mesut Özil ran the most than any Arsenal player and more than 9 Monaco players.
Your right but the difference between Arsenal and Real/Germany is that we don’t dominate opponents like they do and are often on the back foot. And this is exactly were Özil has always been criticized was it for Real or Germany. Nobody doubt his talent. He can be absolutely brilliant when we are on top of the opposition but it are the games were not everything is going for us where Özil is criticized because of his lack of fighting spirit.
As you said he doesn’t have to work as hard as others because of his huge talent but personally this makes it all the more frustrating. But except the Monaco game he’s been class since he came back from injury. It’s just the big games where he needs to improved no mater what he has achieved in the past.
I like to think of it that with Özil, you play with a striker whos main objective is to play through others to score. People call him lazy, but statistics show that he’s among the ones who run the most during matches. If he doesnt run in defence, then i’d say he gives us a pretty high work rate in attack in return.
I remember seeing stats against bayern, where he was 3rd, only behind wilshere and flamini on covering the longest distance.
Özil was put on the wing during the world cup because Löw follows Bayern tactics, playing 4-3-3 with a pure CDM instead of a CAM. Obviously he wants to play Özil, but when his position does not exist in the preferred tactic, where should he be played? Where the first team is weakened by Reus’ absence due to injury, the left wing.
@galen: Mesut Ozil can learn from Santi cazorla. Totally can, while he still has the time. Ozil’s slow game is the only bad part about his individual play. He sorts that out and he becomes a great player like Cazorla for Arsenal.
Have to say i hope im wrong but i have always gotten the impression that Ozil is/was disappointed about his move to Arsenal and even a little sick that we were the only club which had the asking price. I reckon he believed that Arsenal was a huge step down in his career but madrid didnt want him so what else could he do, it would have made me feel a whole lot better if he had some choices to make similar in to how Sanchez chose us. If we do eventually get Ozil working at a peak maximum i presume Barca Bayern psg will come calling and then we will know if Ozils heart is really in it. I say that because its one of two things with Ozil – Either his game just looks (lulling) non interested at times so he can quickly pounce catching you off guard / Or he is not fully committed to being a Gooner. Im obliged in telling opposition fans the former.
The real point about Ozil is that he is slow and weak on his feets,get pushed easily.In Spain which is less physical,he could go away with it,Germany is physical so can compensate for him but Arsenal is a technical team with weah physicalspecimen,that why he is so exposed.
Unless we got others strong big fasts guys to cover his weakness,he will not suit us.
If you compare the good and bad games he had with arsenal,it will be negative for him.
Coquelin has so much work to do because of that and he is not him self a beast of a man.
Wenger needs to buy physical men to balance the team in the futur.
agree, he had a good game, but I wouldnt say fantastic, just good. His assists today were like when Ronaldo randomly scores for Real even though he did nothing the rest of the time. But like Ronaldo it got us the 3 points TODAY. Problem is, in big games Ozil still hasn’t showed up even once. But good day for him today, same for Giroud.
Ozil IS and will ALWAYS be OVERRATED by some AFC fans because Wenger paid £42 million for a player a top club like Real Madrid wanted to offload (why was that?). WENGERITES do not like the actions of their leader put into question because their minds tend to implode.
If you want true craft and graft in a football player look at Messi as the archetype. Beneath him there are countless others who are better than the fairweather player that he is.
I admire your sureness in offering an opinion in the here and now (“Ozil is….overrated) but even by your arrogant standards you outdo yourself by telling us the future as well (he “will always be overrated”). Classic narcissist at work – if no one is listening then up the ante by increasing the absurdity levels.
When is a “transfer” of any player not an “offload” by one club to another? And dumb comparison by using the best player on the planet and then fudging it with “countless (nameless) others”. Is there anyone or anything at Arsenal you actually rate? Before my head implodes, can you tell me whether you have ever considered changing your poster name to ArseFromElbow?
Good attempt at pschyoanalytics jonesy but no cigar. Narcissists admire traits of themselves (which I was not doing) and don’t predict the future.
I chose Messi as the ‘archetype’ a.k.a the benchmark so I am well aware that not everyone can be him.
As for better/more impactful players than Ozil (IMO ):
Ericsson
Kroos
Fabregas
Rakitic
Silva
Iniesta
To name but a few..
I am and have been a AFC fan all my life and haved lived in Highbury for the start of it.
I love the ‘club’ but dislike its current and ongoing situation so voice my opinion on this. You and the other Wengerites cannot convince me our current situation is anything but poor.
Oh and ‘offload’ has as one of its possible connotations the meaning of getting rid of something you don’t want..and it is in this sense I used it.
(hTeeTeep://)www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/offload
Back to class Jonesy boy.
Agree. Ozil is not as bad as people make him look. Since he came back from injury, he is a different person.
What is the obsession with how much a player cost? Why is it constantly brought up when discussing a player? It’s a sunk cost. It’s payed, done and dusted, a thing of the past, your not getting that money back, none of us are bc it’s not our money. Yes we pay for tickets and jearseys but that’s cause we love Arsenal not just one player. Are Chelsea fans saying “oh if we just had that 50 mil we payed for Torres”? No! So get over it. Özil is a fantastic talent and a joy to watch.
Everyone was praising Carzola for the pass to Gibbs against borough well how about the pass from Özil to Rosicky today? It was a thing of beauty, perfectly weighted, across the grain, finding the trailer.
Don’t get caught up with a price just enjoy the player.
It’s taboo for fans to speak about OZIL, every game I hope to see him play well and be decisive on ARSENAL wins, but the reality is that he is not, a fairly good game and everyone lauds him as he s back in form.
Wenger passed on Cesc because we had OZIL, put one against each other and the story speaks for itself, but that is history…..NOW my biggest concern is seeing SANCHEZ, slowly but surely he has been fading away lately, just like OZIL did, what is wrong I don’t know, but I have a clue, because it happened to other players that came to play our Coach, make your own conclusions
Sanchez is a great individual but he needs to work on his chemistry with other players.
Ozil needs to just change his attitude towards the game, maybe with a just a little more commitment. I don’t think he is a 90 minute player.
Coquelin is a great DM.
Gibbs needs to be a bit more disciplined.
Mertesacker has officially lost his place.
Giroud is too dramatic, and emotional but has improved a lot after that injury.
Cazorla is a better no.10 for us, because he can shoot, pick out intelligent passes, and dribble. Yeah, his energy and work rate is again praiseworthy.
Ospina needs the number one jersey. I do not fault him for any of those goals.
Rosicky’s energy is immense.
Welbeck’s first touch is reminiscent of an amateur footballer, but he uses speed albeit there is not much end product.
Wenger needs to be more ruthless.
Apart from his goal today he missed 2 sitters, which added to another 2 sitters against Monaco, makes it worrying..
Well we don’t have a another striker so we can’t even rotate.
I don’t if you play football, but those are not sitters by any means. They are good chances, and Giroud did well by running into those positions.
Yes another natural CF will get more out of Giroud.
@adieni I agree. So many different variables to headers. If your head is tilted a few degrees it goes wayward.
To be fair, he got into a very good position for the first one and put in a good header. Can’t criticize him too much for that. He should have scored the chance he got in the second half when were 2-0 up. He’s only 6 goals behind Sanchez now, he has done extremely well apart from that shocker against Monaco.
We need a few improvements in the starting 11. First of all we need another class DM. Then I’m surprised that the fullback position is never debated about. Look at Chelsea and City and compare them to our fullbacks. I think we especially need a good left back to improve our defense. As much as I love how much Monreal has improved this season, for competing against top quality opposition both have never been up to it.
first header was defintely not a sitter. i dont know why people keep saying that. Other one towards the end, yeah he shouldve scored. Either way the point is he scored today, which he needed. A quick response is better than no response.
For a football player who’s played a striker probably 3/4 of his life (15-20 years), that was a sitter and he knows it. He’s a professional who’s been paid millions for scoring and for them it doesn’t get easier than that (well a tap in maybe). In addition to that, I would say his biggest strength as a forward is his headers.
Funny that today he had 3-4 clear chances and he scored from the hardest one. That was sublime finish though.
so just because he’s being paid millions he isn’t allowed to a header that most strikers wouldn’t have even put on target? You’re simply wrong if you look at the replay that angle is against him, but whatever. He still scored today which I bet you hated.
Uhm, okay let’s dumb it down for you:
Giroud has been a striker for a long time. He knows his main strengths. It’s not pace, dribbling or finding space for a shot, in that we can all agree on.
He has a good shooting technique, great flicks but above everything, he’s best at heading the ball. And if you’re tall but not that pacy, you practice what you’re good at, well not just practice – you master it. IMO Giroud possess one of the best heading techniques in the league. So by HIS standards, those missed headers were sitters. I could bet you anything that if you’d ask him should’ve he scored more than once today, his answer would be definitely.
There’s no personal hate towards him as you indicate, but I understand it’s easy to assimilate criticism to hating. Today we won (thanks to him too) but next time we might just have 1-2 chances throughout the whole game and if he misses a chance like today, it will cost us.
problem is you think all strikers have 100% conversion rates. Even some of the best strikers in the world miss sitters. How many sitters did Giroud miss before the Monaco game, not many at all. He does bad against Monaco, okay, but he quickly bounced back today and got a goal, made a difference. Same thing can be said for Ozil’s form. I both think they did well today, after having a poor Monaco game. Both can obviously improve but you’re talking garbage about Giroud being paid millions, and being a striker for 3/4 of his life as if that somehow translate to him being perfect… it was just a load on nonsense instead.
Giroud has been excellent before Monaco game. What I tried to say is I’m worried since in the last 2 games he’s been similar to what he was in the first season.
The career comparison was just to indicate that by his standards the headers he missed, were sitters (which someone argued that they were not). I expect better finishing and conversion rate from Giroud from headers because I believe it’s his best attribute as a football player.
By the way, Koscienly is Arsenal’s silent warrior.
@Adienl
And now we have 2″Enforcers” at the back. Gabe P and Kos Da Boss…
Odd game, but at least victorious. We will take those 3 points along with that 3rd place.
2-0 gunners! Back into 3rd! Coyg!
Oooooooooospina, MOTM. So many saves + the clean sheet. Great game by him.
@galen
Good one dude…
Who needs KJ???
Great game by ospina and a clean sheet! Coyg!
Cant remember the last time our GK got man of the match. Also that was some tackle by Gab, tackle nearly deserved a MOM award alone, tackle of the match.. yous know the one am sure.
ur ratings r too generous.
agreed. good response from mid week’s match, but not good enough.
I didnt realise that stat.. five games, twas a good win even more so now. The thing that kills the most about the monaco fiasco is that if we had of just been careful like we were today.. we would have got the job done. They were there for the taking and we were the lucky team that drew them, sometimes we really are our own worst enemy.
Lucky but assured.
That was Nervy. We are still lacking in balance… Cazorla is wasted in CM as he is not strong enough to battle with much bigger and stronger opposition.. We need to buy a B2B player in the summer..
wilshere and ramsey should be getting groomed to be b2b. if not, they dont have a future at AFC.
I needed a win, big time.
Now lets dismantle QPR before the FA Cup match.
are we at home or away?
Away
Then after FA Cup I think it’s West Ham at home.
What a world class save by ospina in the 65th minute to deny lukaku an equaliser! Top draw! Coyg!
David ospina our no 1 choice keeper! Coyg!
Giroud is missing chances but at least he is getting in those goal scoring position. He is better than Welbeck by a mile..
Monaco agreees.
haha
still need a WC CF. cavani or … . i like giroud and his attitude, but skillwise i’m not sure he’ll ever be at the level AFC needs.
Yeah there are a lot of strikers in the BPL that haven’t scored in centuries. It might take Giroud 10 chances to score, but at least he scores. Keep it up Giroud.
He is the best we have got right now so we have to get on with it. The others striker we have are not good enough to even get in goal scoring positions.
As I have said since we signed Giroud, he is a second choice at best but he is all we have right now and we have to just get on with it..
I am so glad Gabriel came on today. When the last goal against us the Monaco player went one on one with Ospina while Mert just played his area thus not doing anything. Gabriel today saw that he was last man and attacked Luckaku and made a great tackle.
Gabby has to stay on.
A set of people expect Opsina to stop that third goal against Monaco. I do not necessarily agree.
Mertesacker didn’t close that guy down and he had a free shot, and all the time to place his ball with power and accuracy. Ospina could have obviously done better if he was lucky and the shot came straight at him, because with the power with which it was hit there was not much he could do even with a very strong hand.
*great tackles. He was putting players in his pocket left and right
Why isn’t Walcott starting any games? He’s looked quite lively recently. He’s never going to get back to where he was if he doesn’t play.
lets not rush him back.
Waiting to kill Man u on next sunday
Monday
“When you have the ball in the modern game you have to attack, when you don’t have the ball you have to defend. All the players who can’t do that, cannot play.” , Wenger
That what we should be doing grinding out results! 2-0 to the arsenal!
17-3
19-3. Come on Ireland
Nobody did anything special this game. Ox was our best attacking player hands down, I’m surprised he gets little credit. Ozil made the difference in the end, but besides for the set piece and the goal towards the end he was completely invisible. The Ronaldo version of a midfielder today. Sanchez worked hard but didn’t get too many chances today. I think everyone did okay, a few nervy moments, but we got 3 points and a clean sheet. Ospina has to be MOTM for me. Saved Gabriel several times, and made a great save to stop Lukaku.
@RSH – “The Ronaldo version of a midfielder today” – is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?
after TR7 took that shot, i thought i saw the ball grow legs and walked over Everton’s goaLkeeper into the net
mmmm maybe it was the 22 other pair of legs on the pitch that you were seeing.
Good the pressure is high and we need to bring these points in. High pressure is the fight for Cl ,luke.
Sorry to burst the bubble, but we are not back on track just yet. Did you see the start of the game? Only some defensive players looked more secure.
Ospina, 3 good saves.
Gabirel, One mistake letting the ball bounce, but some great challenges/
Bellerin, less gungho than Gibbs, was more defensively aware today, some good crosses.
Gibbs goes gungho. Once he was on the end of a Giroud cross in the opposition box.
On strike Giroud missed two good headers, Poor positioning
Coquelin, great battler, sometimes the passes weren’t fluid.
Cazorla doesn’t want to shoot, passing, when its not there
Chamberlain didn’t have much impact, but didn’t play a bad game.
Sanchez wants to keep dribbling, shooting when theres a bunch of players in front, passing was bad today.
Ozil doesn’t want to run, but even then he got two assists, some of his side passes from the left to the middle were fantastic, their nicely disguised, just when you think theres no one there, then a player comes on to the screen like Rosicky and shoots.
Welbeck, no real impact.
Rosicky scores, could’ve had a second belter.
Chambers, did well in the time he was on in place for Coquelin.
*Opsina made more than 3 good saves, and the recovery tackle on Lukaku.
Also we need to improve finishing.
Disagree about you saying that giroud was poorly positioned.
His good positionoing is what made possible for him to attack the ball.
Sorry I meant, when we were building most attacks especially in the first half, he wasn’t getting into the box quick enough.
There was one point when he was crossing theball to Gibbs.
Anyone know why Walcott is being treated like the new Podolski ATM?
As Wellbeck had so much playing time against Monaco, I thought he would’ve been brought on for the Ox….
No defensive qualities. The safest place to put him right now is CF, a risk free position where you can get away without defending. These days you need players who will defend on the wings as well.
have to wonder why AW kept playing Ozil on the wings in the beginning of the season now… thank god thats over.
Wait until Wilshere is back
Problem is that he doesn’t have the height of a CF – I have known him to defend before, although agreed, not recently.
His speed can definitely change a game, and it seems a shame to lose that.
Don’t want to sound negetive but Alexis was wasteful. In the beginning of the season when he was scoring and rescuing us, losinh the ball didn’t matter so much. But now he seems wasteful at time. Hope he works on it. Or releases the ball before he loses it.
Wasteful game over all. 2-0 scoreline is flattering. Hardly and clear cut chances made for all the creative players we have.
Nice bit of goalkeeping by Ospina. His best match by far.
He is trying to hard on the scoresheet. So many shots were blocked, the defenders were right next to him when he was shooting.
Have to agree about Alexis. He still holds on to the ball for too long, which is especially risky at our own defensive end. If he wouldn’t have 3 lungs and run his heart out every game, he would be crucified for his recent form.
He hasn’t scored for a while but I don’t hold it against him, because we are still winning and shows we’re not depending solely on him. So far he’s still an automatic starter, I just hope he’d relax a bit – the chances will come to him.
After 20 minutes we had 31% possesion, that was not a good response. A good response would’ve been to get on the front foot from the start.
League Cup final: Chelsea v Spuds. Chelsea’s win would not be as bad as spuds win.
Anything is better than Moruinho’s smug face
@PaddyGooner
Damn good Ireland win. Henshaw is a beast…
If we are to win at Monaco, 3-0, 3-1, 4-2 or what ever will help us qualify, we can’t be this complacent. We need Giroud and Sanchez firing on all cylinders. And let the Koscielny-Gabriel partnership develop. Play them in a string of matches now with resting even one of them.
And why is Walcott not starting in each and every match? Isn’t he fit yet?
even koscielny looked dodgy today,he hasn,t been playing to his usual level for a while now!happy with the win though!!
well he did have a new partner he wasn’t used to play with. He got caught out a few times I agree, but Gabriel did a good job of backing him up. Gibbs I thought was the more suspect defender today. He got beaten more times than he should have.
*though
4 points off of Manchester City… Hmm…
Our defense looked a little more solid today with gabriel at the back! He made some good interseptions and tackles also, well played lad! Coyg!
Who will be watching Moncao vs PSG later this evening?
not me…
after being violated- i have no intention watching the people who violated us
@muffdiver
I hear ya. It’s like sharing a smoke with your violator afterwards…
Haven’t seen Cesc this entire match.
oh, there he is.
I said after Palace game this and was reviewed as a glass half full comment but I am going to list down the areas, some of which can hurt us against Monaco and will do so again anytime soon:
i) Sanchez and Ozil continues to lose the ball in dangerous areas as they continue to dribble not only in front of opposition penalty box but in front of own box too. Would be punished against any other good team
ii) Gabriel has the speed, no doubt and he redeemed himself with a match saving challenge
iii) Ospina is hands down better than WS, who would either conceded or be sent off today.
iv) Whenever we get caught out on a break, we find our full-backs stranded in the opposition area. I just don’t understand why they don’t learn
v) OG12 missed open goals twice today. If he was clinical, he would have hit 100 by now instead of 50. And he cannot lead a quick counter
We tried to change against Man City, totally fluffed it overdoing the same tactics against Tottenham and reverted back to our leaking defence strategy thereon.
Rubbish display by a rubbish team led by a rubbish manager. Hang your heads in shame.
spuds are the worst
an they beat us few weeks ago- what does that make us?
the best of the worst.
that make us 3rd, 4 points behind 2nd placed city.
I don’t think we will be finishing above City. Giroud’s freshness is now gone, Wellbeck was the only viable back up but he has taken to AFC well by placing himself in crisis mode, Sanchez is drained too, we are one injury away from Per ‘OMG the ball is coming. Duck!!!!!!!!!!’ Mertesacker, b2b continues to allude us and the never ending we must accommodate Ozil (and also Wilshere very soon) continues.
We are a bunch if talented misfits. City have a whole squad with quality first choices in every position followed by back ups. They have different types of strikers and defenders and can switch midfield game to game.
We have our better no. 10 playing behind our expensive no. 10 and that is it for the forsseable future while we only have one type of striker and a defender that can’t speak English has just made it into our first team.
@RVP
So we have a real”Motley Crue”…
Let’s play a game-
Guess who?
-Out of Europe
-Out of FA Cup
-Out of League Cup
-Out of Top 4
I know.
Burnley.
You are a f@cking sad sack of s#ite mate. You are of the breed that gives flack to others in attempt to hide our own failings. Gloating about the Spuds predicament eh..
Well how small of you.
-Arsenal are 3rd (not 1st) in the league and we WILL struggle to stay there.
– we ARE out of the UCL (forget 2nd leg comeback muppets that only happens in Rocky films)
– we are 8th richest club in the WORLD and we have not won anything apart from 1 FA cup in 10 years.
– our manager is demented
At least we are consistent…..
Consistently poor.
This site should be renamed ‘justgoldfish.com’ because most on here have the memory and vision of one.
AFC is my club and I hate to see its potential being wasted. Too many corporate monkeys and Wengerites who believe the club is Arsenes plaything and that 4th place every year is the mark of success!
Didn’t see you with your banner tied around your waist today? How did it go?
No?
Where were you looking up AW’s bumhole?
4 points behind City and 9 points behind Chelski. I know Chelsea have game in hand but looks nice to go closer to the top of the table.
who woulda thought after the start we had this fall.
city not performing as they should. good for us.
Arsenal need a world class striker. In these close games you need a player that can capitalize on a chance or two. Giroud was 1 for 2 in converting but he lacks consistency game to game. Also Giroud cannot create something out of nothing.
If we can retain Cazrola, add a WC striker and dm for next season we could challenge for the EPL title. Coyg
your wrong.
we have quality players already, look how poor we have played all season
we need wenger to bring in a coach to help him.
buying wont solve evrything
get your facts straight please, Giroud is brilliant this season.
Ya like on last Wednesday when it really really mattered!
He is performing well.
Yes done well on Wednesday & doubt he ll score a hat trick in Monaco.
Agree
I defended Giroud. Giroud is a good striker and would be an excellent Supersub like Remy and Bony but he is far from brilliant
He still can’t compete with top teams with tough defenses and big matches like Monaco
Giroud is going to be 29 soon. He has improved but we need a Top Striker like Costa and Aguero
Again Giroud is good and has scored nearly 50 goals for us in 3 seasons but to compete for 1st place we need someone a bit more special
He was sidelined for a big ammount of time due to injury but still:
Scored the second at everton for the draw
Scored the only goal against man u (it was at the last minute and we lost 1-2 but only played 13 minutes)
Scored the 1st and 3rd against newcastle
Scored an equilizer against liverpool
Scored the second against city(helped securing the result)
Scored the first against villa
Scored both goals against middlesbrough
and more…
He is doing well and scoring for every 4 shots taken (f*cked up against monaco, no denying).
MOTM for me was Ospina with some good saves and that crucial interception on Lukaku at 0-0. Game could’ve been very different if he wasn’t alert. Szczesny take note!!
Well, finally my first post in this site. I have been reading your articles for months wishing to post something with a better judgement. That been said, I would like to present these points:
1) Leadership: Many people may argue that the leader of a team its the coach. I think otherwise. The leader must be on the pitch and I can hardly see anyone during hard times. Alexis a tried to lead by example as we could witness today during the first half, putting rivals under pressure (no wonder why he looked exhausted during the second half). However, he still needs to assume this role and get on the score sheet as he is supposed to be. Cazorla should assume this role and not Mertesacker.
2) Pace and Passing: It was a shame to watch a match where the players looked so clueless and slow. Let me put this the right way. Arsenal has the first touch football that I love and worship, but during some time they have been doing it so slowly that it’s really easy for the other team to track back and settle in defense. During this game every time Alexis, Gibbs or Bellerin reached the final third, there was no one close to support and become a passing option until it was a 3 vs 7, same thing happened with Monaco, same with C. Palace. The transition from defend to attack is not as fast and precise as it should be if we want to play attacking football. An example? Today, in early second half, Arsenal spend several minutes trying to break from our own box unsuccessfully.
3) Ozil: Fine touch. Vision. Talent. If he’s so good, why we are not disputing the title?. I blame that on a lack of desire. Sometimes I think he feels so comfortable in his role (a prestigious team, always struggling for the CL, an insane wage) that always performs with minimum efforts. It may be funny, but Karanka from Middlesborough (former assistant for Mourinho at Real Madrid and who knows Ozil) has been quoted saying that Ozil is a real talent that needs to be overseen or he will under perform easily (has we have seen recently).
4) Alexis: Last 7 games and no score. Something to worry about specially for him. Well, there are actually 2 things that worry me about. First, during the last matches I have seen him focused on feeding Giroud and not on getting his own goal. Today, he gave like 4 or 5 assists instead of trying from mid range (sth Cazorla tried). Who knows, perhaps those are AW commands. Second, since Ozil and Cazorla could not pass the ball, he is forced to go back to our initial third in order to get to ball and do something, runs the entire pitch and once he gets to the box he is tired and surrounded by rivals. Given this, I believe that Ozil and Sanchez are not to play together. Over the last matches the best combination has been Rosicky, Cazorla and Alexis. With the this one, Alexis can drift from left to center of the pitch, allowing Gibbs or Monreal space to run up, while Cazorla and Rosicky can boss the midfield with fine passes and Giroud or Welbeck get the support or final pass they need. I agree AS17 sometimes holds the ball too much, but given the uncountable times he reaches the box and there are no passing options or really bad options, I justify it and in addition to this, he is one of the few players on the team that goes 1 on 1 successfully.
I rest my case.
Lots of plus points finally dropped per coquelin played good gabriel was awesome apart from few nervy moments that tackle on lukaku spurred him on.
Sanchez looks like he needs a rest not as influential on games
Ozil needs to be dropped and santi can then play a lot further forward and in his current form he would destroy man u and monaco
Good win, good defending this would have been somethings we would have loved to have had on wednesday, but the league is as important as the champions league.
i hear people saying that everton should have won, i wondering how many goal scoring opportunity did everton create, not many and although we did not create much either we had many more opportunities.
i thought wenger said the players have to earn the right to play, obviously this is for some players only, ozil have not done as much to justify his selection, even Cazorla who has now seem to have become a major part of the defense, has improved in that area. Ozil game is only seen in possession, therefore if he is not part of the defensive action we are playing one man short
We scratch our heads wondering what is wrong, with a pretty good team, and why in the important games we fail, well i.e our right and left back are frequently caught out of position, because they are to far in the front and at times forget that they are defenders, on the other hand our attackers are too busy defending, it’s been a while since Welbeck scored for us, but you will see him every game standing right by Ospina or supporting the defense instead of being forward as he should be, to use his speed in effective counter attacks, same with GIROUD for an attacker he is a great defender, how many missed opportunities because he is 1 yard behind running back from his defensive position in our half.
why do people hate ozil much