Brighton v Arsenal review – Fast starting Gunners shoot down Seagulls

Any concerns from Arsenal fans that the Gunners might add to the weekend of FA cup shocks with a potentially tricky away tie at Brighton will have increased when they saw the team sheet. Arsene Wenger made a number of changes, leaving Alexis, Cazorla, Coquelin and Mertesacker on the bench.

But those fears will not have lasted long, as Arsenal came out of the traps like a champion greyhound, dazzling the home side with our pace, passing and pressing off the ball. And it took us less than two minutes to get on the score sheet, with a great run down the right and cross from Chambers being controlled perfectly by Walcott before being arrowed past Stockdale.

The Gunners could have had the game wrapped up by halftime, with a number of great chances coming from both flanks as well as through the middle. But we had to settle for a two goal lead at the break, Rosicky finding acres of space outside the box and finding Ozil with a pinpoint revers pass. The German took his goal with coolness and skill and Arsenal were making it look easy.

But we did not relax and were always quick to make sure that Brighton did not get a way back into the game, although a mistake by Koscielny at the back when he dwelt too long on the ball did give them a chance to worry Szczesny but the shot was blazed over the bar.

The fears of another FA cup upset came flooding back after a bit of slack defending allowed Brighton to score a very good goal through O’Grady soon after the restart. For 10 minutes or so the home side gave their fans real hope but Arsenal were in no mood to let this one slip and a fantastic volley from Rosicky gave us our cushion back around the hour mark.

15 minutes later, however, the pressure was back on us after our defence opened up again and Baldock dinked the ball over Szczesny. Wenger had already replaced Giroud and Walcott with Akpom and Sanchez and Ozil then went off for Coquelin as we tried to make sure of the win.

Brighton were really going for it and getting among us, while Alexis nearly set up Akpom. The Chilean won a free kick and his deflected attempt hit the bar with five minutes left and the game stayed right on the edge although Arsenal are better at handling this sort of pressure these days.

It was a really fantastic FA cup game in a weekend full of them and Arsenal will be very relieved to have won it and got through to the 5th round.

Tags Ozil Rosicky Walcott

132 Comments

      1. Thank goodness we have ospina. 2 shots,2 goals again. Flamini is past it. Coqueliin did more in the 10 or so minutes than flamini did in the entire match. No presence at all

          1. I wonder what was Le Coq doing at Charlton for most of the first half of the season?? and ZZZNZY as our first choice GK….. how many points we lost due to our shaky defense with Flamini as our DM….we would be 3rd comfortably and not 5th looking over our ….well let’s see what happens on the second half, not being excessively optimistic I believe we are looking dangerous and will again be on the top 4

        1. @galaxygunner don’t just blame Flamini. Sczeney was rubbish. He has no business being number one. First goal, he made absoutely no effort. Second goal, he rushed out again in his trade mark style and gifted them a very cheap goal. Great win though, considering how the big teams did this weekend. But i love my clean sheets too because it helps breed confidence. Anyway, after this pathetic display in goal, Ospina is our undisputed number one. Wenger take note. No favourtism here.

    1. @ Gunman, one thing we learned from yesterday FA Cup matches and even from this Arsenal match is that you don’t have to draw a big team to get out of the cup.Taking every team seriously is important.

      1. 3-2 against Brighton was not a walk in the park, indeed we should not be overconfident.
        A little discouraged though that we are just looking forward to win the FA Cup and fight to be in the Top 4, maybe a great deal for SPUDS and SOTON, but we should be looking for bigger things. Hope that one day we will be contenders to win the PL and y not the CL

    2. Ya proves playing monreal isn’t good enough chambers still has a bit to learn so the sooner debuchy gets back the better paulista playing with koscielny and Gibbs with merteesacker monreal chambers bellerin as subs that’s not a bad defense its keeping the top 4 defenders fit if coqulein started today they wouldn’t have looked as bad

      1. champagne attacking football: great to see ozil,walcott getting their feet wet. roziscky is a monster : he wasn’t played for 1st 3 months of this season, i wonder what’s changed in wenger’s head?

        but defence: missed coq breaking up plays *BEFORE* the opponent can even get a shot off. flam hangs off too much. chambers at RB is also a noticeable step down from bellerin. good to see chesney is now confirmed at #2 until proven otherwise.

    3. Our Long absentees returned with a bang ……Oops! did i just say “Bang”? …… OziL , walcott … And even Lil mozart was electrifying…….. Sczcesny no.1?…. I do not think so …… FLamini the much needed DM?…… I’m so doubtful

    4. We struggled in defense, because our full backs were thinking more about the attack than defending. Flamini was terrible as always and the midfield support was lacking. Against City, Cazorla and Coquelen were immense in defense. Chamberlain and Alexis were helping out too.

      Now we were back to our usual self of dominating and just hoping we score more than they do. Also Chezzer had another bad game. Ospina looking a lot better in goal. besides, we had Monreal and Koscielny in the middle which didn’t work. I like Monreal on the left a lot more than Gibbs, but in the middle, hopefully that new boy Paulista can fill the gap.

      1. Think this match secured Le Coq’s position as DM. Once we had 2-0 lead we should have tightened up and not allowed Brighton back into game.
        Start with Coq and bring on Flam or Arteta in 2nd half not other way round.
        Good for Theo and Mesut to get time on pitch, and yet again Olivier put in a great shift!!
        Worry was Chambo at RB and Nacho at CB. Gabriel coming in will help
        Ospina remains No.1 GK, but Chuba Akpom should get more chances to develop!!
        Big thing was we won, despite the brave fight back. Another step forward
        COYG in 2015

    5. Everyone is blaming Flamini, yes he is not a good Dm but let us not blame one guy. If i may ask, is Ramsey our new striker? If Ramsey keeps with this mind set then we desperately need another central midfielder who knows what his role. Honestly i dont see other Central midfielders play like this. Yes his ass off but you can not open up the midfield just like that. I really get nervous whenever i see Ramsey running like a headless chicken wherever he wants

      1. how many on here say hes deadwood! ungrateful
        cos of his age- boll*cks-how many times has he saved us?

        mozart is a legend

        1. Muff, u’re damn right. What’s age got to do with form and class??? Honestly, I’d say “NOTHING”!!!

        1. yep. Theo couldve got us two more goals if he just passed the ball in 1st half. Akpom is young so kind of expected, but Theo should know better and stop pulling Arjen Robben’s…

  1. Well, the game was under control in the first half. Don’t know what happened to the defence on halftime, totally unnecessary goals to concede but win’s a win.

    Rosicky MOTM, what a player.. DAT PASS. Glad that Γ–zil and Theo both scored. And Akpom looks hungry for goals, he should get more game time.

        1. yeah, but muff has identified our weakness: we’re one coq away from disaster.
          if we have to play in PL w/o coq , we’d be screwed. the key is stop them getting shots off while they’re so close to our goal. also: ramsey not defending.

    1. @juhislihis
      Same thing thats been happening most of the season. As soon as we score, everyone wants to bomb up front and get a nutt also, then they can’t get back and defend properly.

  2. Rosicky ran that show! Chambers was also quality. What’s really concerning is that whenever Szczesney plays, I don’t feel like he is capable of making a meaningful save… a goalkeeper the last line of defence, but when he plays, it becomes our CB’s.

      1. That is where communication comes into play. The keeper is the coach at the back.. He makes sure people are in the right position

        1. I missed their first goal. But the second was two quick passes through our flat midfield and a quality chip. Center back wasnt even close. I swear people love to jump on Szes but he’s a great keeper. I hope he leaves so you all will shut-up

          1. Also, Its funny how we’ve been screaming for a DM for years and now we have a decent one and Wow we can win games. This game clearly showed that our midfield is vulnerable without Coq right now. Back four still vulnerable. But with the right line-up Bellerin, Paulista, Kosc, Gibbs, Coq, Ros, Alexis, Santi, Walcott, Giroud, Whatever keeper(we have 3 good ones). We can play good football and beat anybody

          2. Some of the stuff that gets written on here, I’m surprised that nobody has blaimed the BFG for both of todays goals conceded.

    1. Chambers was quality? Are you just talking about his attacking quality. That guy is awful defensively. Bellerin is much better.

    2. Chambers was terrible defensively as always..

      But Szny still looks shaky, the second goal was poor pressing from the whole team we were so static and no pressure on the ball so Brighton has all the time and space to do what they wanted..

  3. Sanchez needs to work on his ball retention. He loses the ball way too much. And tries to dribble way too much.

      1. Many of his so-called workrate is trying to get the ball back after he’s lost it, ha ha πŸ˜€
        He does take nice freekicks though πŸ˜‰

        1. He needs to work on his retention and link up. He sometimes holds onto the ball for far too long or loses it quick, thee needs to be a balance.. If he can do that then we have a real world class player on our hands..

  4. But with Chamber and Flamini in defensive areas we always look shaky.. Flamini might as well not be on the field, he gives us nothing defensively or attack-wise..

    I could not believe how we sat off them and no no pressure on the ball for the second goal, it was just easy.

    smh

    1. You see the difference Coq made when he came on the pitch? Hope this will be a wake up call for Wenger

      1. As Coquelin has been first choice for the last month I think Wenger had that wake up call about a month ago

  5. TBH i don’t hate sczenzey but i honestly think ospina is a better keeper, i mean his decision making is quite awful. For their second goal if he just stayed on his line Koscielny would have cleared it up. It’s just things like that which make me think Ospina is better. No doubt hes a great shot stopper though πŸ™‚ Good result considering the circumstances. Great to see Walcott and Ozil score. Lets retain the cup! COYG!! πŸ™‚

    1. He’s lost his confidence. Look at that clearance to Gibbs he did late in the game when we should’ve been time wasting.

      1. Lost his confidence because there are suddenly two keepers trying to take his place? He should be third choice.

  6. Another showing by Szczesny which proves that he should NEVER be picked.
    infact he should be sold off. What a liability. Never looks confident. Horrendous clearances. Zero clean sheets since November
    Rosicky was the man today.

  7. We did not look well defensively, but we got the win. Kos did not have his game imo, but we know he is our best defender. Flamini, oh well no comment.

    Rozza is just class, motm for me.

  8. I wish Rosicky and Cazorla were not in their 30’s, they are our best all round midfielders. They give us so much offensively and defensively..

      1. What would we do without Ramsey’s cheeky flips and world class finishing?

        Sorry the dude is a liability right now and his tireless work rate is so overrated and overplayed.

    1. I love watching Rosicky play. He is such a clever player, brilliant close control, all action, superb link up play and agreat team player. I don’t see why people become obsessed with his age. He is low maintenance and if anything he is better now than he was 10 years ago Give him anew 3 year contract now and never mention his age again.

  9. One thing i must say you can depend on arsenal keeping us gooners on the edge of our seats, with some nail biting games! Coyg!

  10. Next week, the team that beat City should play vs Villa with Bellerin coming in for injured Debuchy. The other change should be Rosicky coming in for Ramsey in that match.

    Today you saw that Chambers and Scszesny are not good enough for this team, they should be third choice in their position. Ramsey has turned out to be a defensive liability now, passing tryig to do skills when were defending deep instead of trying to kick up field out of trouble. I’ve been backing this guy for the past three season despite his up and down, but I don’t think he should be a ‘definite’ starter in every match. Monreal has much more discipline than Gibbs and should retain his place.

  11. Rosicky amazing today, everyone was great I think, but Flamini is clearly the weak spot. Good win though, we got the job done, when other teams couldn’t… Onward to the next one!

  12. Offense was very good (especially Rosicky, Walcott, Ozil)
    Defense (including Szczesny and Flamini) not so good

    Anyway, we WON, which is the most important thing.

    If we win 4 more matches, we will have won back 2 back FA Cups.

    Now lets focus on VILLA

  13. Szczesny – 5
    Koscielny – 7.5
    Chambers – 6
    Monreal – 7
    Gibbs – 7
    Flamini – 6
    Ramsey – 6
    Rosicky – 8 (MOTM)
    Walcott – 7
    Ozil – 7
    Giroud – 7
    ——————
    Sanchez – 7
    Akpom – 7.5
    Coquelin – 7

    1. Koscielny 7.5? This was probably one of his rare mediocre matches. He was late to a lot balls. I’d also up Coquelin’s performance. Instant difference when he came on unsurprisingly. And I dont think Ramsey deserves the same rating as Flamini.

    2. Missed the first three minutes but numbers for Walcott Ramsey and giroud are really stupid 4 3 4 seems about right …. No brainier if choice is Ramsey or roszicky and Axpom was very encouraging ….but sooner paulista is integrated the more comfortable I will feel … Some hopeless defending … And beginning to fear for Gibbs future … Just hasn’t
      improved over last two years

  14. Not convinced by Monreal and Kosc in the middle, felt like Mertesacker wouldn’t have let them run through the middle as much, but he needed a rest Paulista can’t arrive soon enough.

    Still great to get goals, especially from Ozil. And we are the highest league team to be guaranteed into the next round.

  15. Two things we have learn from this game is belerin is first choice RB till debuchy returs and familni is a fu*king tool…the guy is useless in that position. ..anyway we won lets hope for a home draw next round….gunners fa life from Jamaica

  16. This keeper can not just stop conceding. I dont knw if it is down to luck or something. He did not make any save throughout that game. Although, he only had slight chances of keeping those goals out.

    In all, we are in the next round. Lets see how it goes.

    1. yeah, I don’t think we can trust him to be isolated out on the wings anymore. He got a great assist though.

  17. David ospina is definitely my no 1 choice in goal for us now, after that unconvincing display by szczesny today! Coyg!

  18. @ Gunman, one thing we learned from yesterday FA Cup matches and even from this Arsenal match is that you don’t have to draw a big team to get out of the cup.Taking every team seriously is important.

  19. Szeszny/flamini’s arsenal career is over. Szeszny will be a back up to ospina and flamini will probably be released in the summer. Bellerin is miles ahead of chambers that’s for damn sure, and the man of the match has to be rosisky. Ozil and Walcott played like they wanted to get in the first team at Arsenal but i am not sure they can dethrone cazorla/chambo.

      1. Agree he was playing really well at the start of the season but was benched due to Mert and
        Kos. At Rb he doesn’t read the game. CB or CDM for me.

  20. That was a tense final few minutes. I think we played well in parts, we certainly took our goals well, but the defending and general level of protection across the middle was poor throughout, especially considering the level of competition today.

    Flamini really is starting to show he doesn’t have the legs anymore, he didn’t really bring anything to the table today that I saw. Hopefully we can add someone in the window to give Coquelin some competition for the DM spot.

    1. @TioMoses
      One thing Brighton did, was bait us and then wait us out. In the beginning, they didn’t press at all. They simply sat back and tried to absorb our attacks.
      They know that they’re a team with 20/25 good minutes of play in them, so they spared it and waited till we got over confident and lost focus as well as shape. Then they tried taking it to us. And it almost worked…
      Big ups to em…

    1. While a lot of us, including me, argue that Mertesacker needs Koscielny to play well, I think we miss the fact that Koscielny plays much more composed with the BFG. It’s a true partnership.

  21. They spoilt ayzays day, don’t worry about flamini he’s gona go in the summer, maybe to l.a. Galaxy or even the nebula or any galaxy he chooses

    1. haha Flamini would fit in well as a “designated player” in MLS. He fits all the criteria. Older, declining in talent, out of contract soon….

  22. Akpom will be a better striker than Giroud and Welbeck if he is given consistent run in the side or
    loan him out next season. He has pace, trickery, shot and goals.

  23. 5 things I learnt from this game.

    1. Szchesny is nothing more than a Number 2 at the moment for Arsenal. He can’t keep a clean shit and I think he doesn’t communicate properly with his back four which creates panic anytime the ball is in the box.

    2. Paulista will add sooo much to our team. At least with him in the team, no more monreal as CB. Monreal is great as a LB but as a CB he is just avg and avg will definitely not cut it for us.

    3. Ozil and Walcott have alot to add to this team. The competition in the team is great and yet players like Welbeck are yet to come back. We could go on a serious run with the confidence in the team right now.

    4. Coquilin is the REAL DEAL. When Brighton was pushing hard, Wenger brought Coquilin to do a job and that totally annihilated Brighton’s attacks. Instead it got us going forward and should have score 2 more goals.

    5. Time will tell. But with our team finally playing well esp in big games, and other big teams going out of the fa cup. We definitely a great chance of retaining the fa cup.

    Well done Gunners.

  24. Every week that goes by makes it clearer that Coquelin is no fluke. He was so composed when he came on. And love what I saw from Akpom. Great to see some homegrown players making contributions.

  25. The game should have been killed off in the first half, we gotta learn to park the bus and not put ourselves under needless pressure, a good game but Arsenal still lacking at the back, if we had drawn or lost, that fault lies well and truly at our defence, Good to have Walcott back and a great goal, but all of that would have been wasted, anyway well done our boys, shame about the PL losers our gain, bring on the final!

    1. I don’t mind keeping the attack going. I was more upset with the chill mode we went into after our 2-0 lead – a thing we tend to do

  26. It’s weird, we are in the 5th round and have 0 chance of playing Chelski, Shitty, Southampton, Spuds

    Let’s hope Manure and Liverfools suffer the same fate in replays.

    Only 4 more rounds left for FA Cup glory for a consecutive year

  27. There were many upsets this weekend, but Arsenal were far too casual at times today and this is why they managed to score 2 past us. We need to treat every game in this tournament for what it is – knockout. There is no time or place for complacency against these weaker teams. Rosicky was electrifying today and it was good to see Ozil and Walcott on the score sheet.

  28. Good win today for our boys. We def. need another DM and Le Coq is way ahead of Flamini now. Chambers is a clumsy RB, and anybody with pace will get by him all game long. I like Bellerin and hope he starts against Aston Villa next week. Walcott took his goal well but needed to let the ball go a few times. Mozart was composing another masterpiece which wasn’t surprsing to me. COYG! 3 pts next week against A. Villa!!!

  29. Good game overall! Walcott and Apkom had a lot to prove which may explain their selfishness at times today but they both played well. I wonder what’s gonna happen IF we don’t sell Jenko. Debuchy is our starter but Bellerin has really shone lately and Chambers is trailing behind these two right now.

  30. Gabriel looks a done deal and I have a feeling we may see one more in.maybe a striker as we have lost Campbell,Sanogo and poldi

    1. Unless it’s someone world class I don’t think we need another striker right now. Poldolski, Campbell and Sanogo out; Walcott, Gnabry and Akpom in. I’ll take that.

  31. Chambers needs to improve before the Β£16 million paid for him is justified

    He did well assisting Walcott’s goal
    But defensively was mediocre today

    Monreal should stay on the left which is his best position.

    Flamini has to go in the summer. Unlike Rosicky who still has it, Flamini has lost it.

    Szczesny won the Golden Glove last season but this season he has been very average. Ospina should be our main man until the end of the season.

    Rosicky by far was the MOTM
    Assist and Goal.
    Awesome for his age.

    Walcott and Ozil had excellent 1st half.
    Rosicky saved us in the second half.

    This game showed How important Paulista, Coquelin, Ospina will be for our defense.

    Please get Coquelin on the Arsenal Website ASAP

  32. No coincidence that when scez os between the sticks the defence looks nervous/shaky. Ws uncertainty ripples into the back four. Flamini doesnt help the situation either. Paulista done, if we could get illaramendi or another I’d be as happy as a pig in s*it!

  33. Mr Lean, I agree I think Lacazzette is something wenger is thinking about he’s typical wenger and he would add quality finishing to our side, we have some deadwood eg Flamini and I wish him the best but him and Diaby need to be released in the summer, I think Reid will come in this summer as a back up to the other 3, all we need is another striker and another DM and we are good enough to challenge

  34. Coquelin must be like ‘you didnt really want or need me until the other mfs got injured, now I’m back and look how good I am’, show me the money! Fair play to him. I wonder if we sign another dm whether this will effect his signing decision. Arsene he’s one of the most critical players to us currently get the deal done and pay him well!

  35. my hallucinations are reducing πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚
    Arsenal played a championship side who happened to have their best game ever n almost snatched the win from us…that’s real and usual πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚
    I am healed, I am healed, I am healed πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

  36. Chambers is not a RB he is a CB we only play him their because we have too, second we need a back up or new DM, Flam is finished. Last great to see Ozil and Theo back!!!! #COYG

  37. Good win, unlike man-city match the midfielders did not work defensively therefore we gave away 2 goals, many saying that the keeper to blame which is ridiculous, which keeper actually stays on his line when an attacker breaks into the box, yes he has been having some rough games and he has lost the number one title, but to say we are to sell a keeper rated as one of the best last season is ridiculous. He has simply lost confidence, this actually happens to many players, however i have no doubt he will be number one again.
    Coquelin actually help calm proceedings later on in the game, while showing more mobility and technical skills than flamini, with arteta some weeks away from recovery, it would be nice to see some more additions in the DM area and perhaps a forward

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