PSV vs Arsenal match report
PSV Eindhoven welcomed Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad to Philips stadium to face off in the last game of The Champions League group stages. Both sides had already qualified for the round of 16 before going into the match after both doing extremely well and dominating their group, but after a loss against Aston Villa on the weekend, Arsenal and Areta would have wanted to bounce back with a win but walked away sharing the points, after what was a good game of end-to-end football.
The game started out in what looked PSV’s favour and the Dutch side saw a lot of the ball and plenty of chances in the first 25 minutes, looking to be the better team and were a lot more dangerous when going forward. Arsenal looked a bit lost, with Arteta making a lot of changes due to wanting to rest a few players and give some fringe players some much needed minutes, we weren’t connecting as well as we usually would with our strongest eleven, but were defending well and trying to find our feet in the game.
Just before half time, Reiss Nelson was seen making a run towards the back and after a quick 1-2, with Cedric, he spotted the run of Eddie Nketiah on the edge of the box and with a quick look up Eddie fired the ball towards the corner of the goal and nestled into the bottom right hand corner, beating the PSV keeper and making it 1-0 going into half time.
Arguably it was not the most deserved lead but although Arsenal didn’t have as many chances as PSV in the first half, Eddie’s finish was clinical.
In the second half we saw a lot more of the same, PSV had a lot of the ball and a lot of chances and looked to be finding the energy to fight back and try get something from the game. It didn’t take them long into the second half to do so. In the 50th minute Ricardo Pepi looped a ball through to Yorbe Vertessen, narrowly being missed by Saliba, and ran onto the ball and fired accurately towards the bottom right-hand corner. The ball hit the inside of the post and went in, beating Ramsdale, who was at full stretch, and making it 1-1.
The game continued with a lot of end-to-end football, both having their chances but both not clinical enough to get a second, personally I think towards the 75 minutes both sides began to think about the other games they are set to play and with both teams already qualified for the round of 16, both teams took their foot off the pedal, and both looked happy with a draw, walking away sharing the points and looking onto their next challenge.
What was your thoughts on last night’s game Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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It is strange that Smith Rowe and other youngsters don’t get 30-40 min of game time even in such matches. Arteta is great manager but seems scared to give opportunities to freshers. This will not help to increase squad depth or create sellable assets.
What a stupid decision to play any first team starter and not play some youngsters in a dead game. Why take them?
What an opportunity missed.
I agree with that assessment Reggie. At this stage, just happy Saka didn’t walk on that pitch.
Saliba, Gabriel, Rice and the big German should be no where near the tarmac much less be on that flight to Holland.
But the decision to bring on the big guns after we went behind is beyond me.
Having said that, I really don’t want to be overly critical to a good manager doing an excellent job, but it just goes to show how scared our manager is about losing, a sharp contrast to the legendary Frenchman.
Artets is a far more pragmatic manager than the legendary Frenchman.
His job is to win football games and ensure the team is prepared for the immediate challenges to come. Providing CL experience to 17 year olds is (and should)be a secondary consideration.
The flak he is getting for not giving in to the cult of tokenism is unnecessary.
David you are very wrong. It was a totally dead game and winning drawing or losing was totally irrelevant. It is a remarkable decision to play players who haven’t played, were clearly not match fit, have no future at this club and noyt play player who possibly could.
Sorry last sentence should read. Not play players who are match fit and have a future.
Spot on Reggie. The result of the game would have no bearing on the group standing and it doesn’t make sense playing the 1st teamers especially when our squad is so thin that we are just one injury away (Rice, Saka, Saliba) from imploding.
I was gobsmacked at some of the players playing.
The legendary Frenchman would use a team of youths such Denilson, Eboue, Nasri,Diaby, and a host of youngsters coming through to play in a match of this nature.
Alex Furgeston once declared, Arsne Wenger do not like mixing his team up, he plays them together.
There was a time the B team played such beautiful football together, some fans were asking that they should be the team playing in the premier league games, such was the beauty and playing style of our youngsters.
Not playing academy players in such matches. Now why should the academy players stay with Arsenal if they know that they will never get a game.
That is why I say The club will not progress under Arteta the paycheck manager. Even if he somehow manage to win something with his buying squad but Arsenal can not sustain that model for long and will collapse in future.
If you can’t play the youngsters in a match where results have no bearing, then when can you?
Sorry but I don’t buy the excuses offered by Arteta. I thought part of his quality when hired was working with youth, at least we were told.
A big miss starting Cedric over Walters. How can one expect youth to be prepared for 1st team if they don’t get chances?
Missed chance by the gaffer when we should be getting youth some experience.
Am afraid the selection for the PSV game sends the wrong message.
No doubt this will put severe pressure on the academy, a fan emailed me that it was more a monetary decision than anything else, as Arsenal stands to earn £2 mill plus extra for winning the dead rubber.
Read this @Gunfire
https://twitter.com/JustArsenal/status/1734500859394842690?
Wow, very useful information.
Thanks admin 👍🏻
I wonder why people always find a reason to complain no matter what the circumstances or situation is.
How many Academy players did Bayern Munich played against a needless match against Manchester United yesterday.. some people will always acted as if Arteta’s decision is the worst/ridiculous among equals everytime.
Remember when people were clamouring for Patino to play and for those who saw that game know exactly what I am talking about 🤣.
Sometimes the manager needs to be left to do his job and take the good and bad that comes with it.