Arsenal seemed to be in control in the first half at Rennes, although after taking a very early lead we seemed to sit back and try to soak up the pressure rather than go in for the kill. We paid for that when Sokratis got his second yellow and we had to play over half the game with ten men. Petr Cech, who was many fans Man Of The Match, pinpointed that as the crucial moment in the game. “The turning point was the red card because they managed to score from the resulting free-kick.” Petr told Arsenal.com. “When we went down to 10 men in the first half, it became a lot more difficult. We were unlucky with the second goal because it was an own goal from a deflection, but I thought we were still in the game. I think the biggest disappointment is the third goal because at 2-1, you go home and you know that there’s a result where you’ve scored away at home and you can overcome it. We can still overcome a two-goal deficit because in the end the goal we scored might play a big part, but we made it a little bit harder for ourselves.”
Cech also thinks that the French side had the other benefit of a weeks preparation, as he went on to say:”… They had the advantage because they were fresher as they didn’t have any games over the weekend. We had to dig deep and with the unlucky second goal, you go and think we’ll take 2-1 because maybe there will be an opportunity to score to make it 2-2. Then we lost 3-1, which is a bit of a complication.”
But the big Number One still thinks we have a good chance to turn it around, as we have many times previously. “Of course. At home we can win. We created some chances today as well so we have to be positive. We’ve done it in the past where we’ve been 2-0 down and have overcome the deficit. One positive is that we can give it a go in the week to overcome it.”
It is definitely a fact that we are a much better team in front of our own supporters, and if we play with our usual confidence at home I am sure we can still progress as well. But it won’t be easy!
Admin
Yes we can come for.
One thing which might stop us is the poor attitude of some players.
Arrogance in players were starting to show despite no medals to show. It’s puzzling.
2-0 against Rennes at home is easy to achieve on paper, but they would most likely park the bus as what Atletico Madrid did last season
Ozil and Wilshere could not break the ten men Atletico Madrid, hence I want to see Ozil’s improvement in this leg
I believe the players can beat both Man United and Rennes
You are telling me that a group of lads that had their best night in France can lose against a group of lads that had their worst night in France?
Honestly after every one of our defeats there’s always something coming out of the opposition’s mouth to remind us how crap we are. Although last night Ben Arfa was only talking about the manager
We played with a man down for heaven’s sake! We can easily score 2 goals at the Emirates as long as nobody does anything stupid again like Sokratis, to cost us the match. Man, Sokratis really effed up his teammates, he owes them a massive apology.
Us Gooners know that for Arsenal to overcome the 2 goals deficit they’ve been suffered with by Stade Rennais in the 1st leg match, the Gunners will need to play to the possibility of overcoming the 2 goals deficit to come to fruition in the 2nd leg match at the Ems. And therefore, the Gunners should play to make the possibility of Arsenal knocking out Rennais from the ELC round of 32 to qualify for the round of 16 for themselves come to fruition.
But meanwhile, first thing first as the Arsenal 2nd leg match with Rennais is close but not very close. But the match that is very close for Arsenal to play is their home Premier League match against Man United on Sunday which should be our immediate focus for now. For, this is an important big PL match that Arsenal should not contemplate losing it but beat Man Utd to win the match. Even a draw in the match will not be enough to serve Arsenal immediate need. Because if the Gunners play to a draw game in the match with the Red Devils, it will almost be a meaningless 1 point collected by them for Arsenal who will as a result still be remaining outside the Champions League places at week 30 into the PL campaign this season with 8 difficult matches left to play for them except their home match against Brighton that could be viewed as their only easy home match on paper they are expected to win comfortably.
If Arsenal beat Man Utd on Sunday, the confidence among the Gunners will absolutely run high before they take on Rennais 3 day later on Thursday night and I can foresee Arsenal taking Rennais to the cleaners after beating them heavily.
They really need to put in a performance after that horror show (after the red card) on Thursday. I know you normally expect to concede & possibly lose after going down to 10 men.. but that was ridiculous, we were awful & made it look so easy for Rennes, you’d think they were Barcelona!!
A lot of teams have played better when going down to 10 & have even scored & sometimes even won!! But oh no not us!!
We’ll be without Sokratis (so I’ll be amazed if we keep a clean sheet) & we’ll be without Laca (will we even score??)
Obviously I’m still behind the team & want them to win, I just can’t believe how hard we make it for ourselves every bloody time!!!!!!
The 3rd goal complicated everything. We should have shut up shop but, it is what it is. I still believe we will go through, am just disappointed we had to make it so hard…yet again! We didn’t learn from the tractor makers.
I’m not sure if we will QD.. it’d be typical Arsenal to go out…I hope the team are up for it.. they really need to be!
I have no doubt we will make it through but this trend of losing just about every away game is what is quite frankly irritating me. Away against the tougher teams we will lose by 4 or 5 goals and there is no coming back from such a huge deficit. I don’t want to even think about utd, let’s just collect our L and focus on the more important Rennes game.
Come on qd… We beat Huddersfield didn’t we!!!!
We can score 2 goals no problem. Just play with the intensity we have played at in a few big games this season.
Need to start the game with high energy.
But the defense worries me, they will more than likely concede. That’s the worry.
Why some players that has been managed by Emery are making bad comments about him…….I’m noticing that,his style of football is what I don’t understand if we are playing attacking football or short passing or defective football please can someone help me.
@ Dudu
That is because young hungry players will have a different look under Emery because of the excessive running. But where quality is concerned that’s a different story. I pointed it out before that none of our senior players seem to be happy and excelling under Mr Unai Emery. So when there is a divide in your company between floor staff and supervisor you do one of two things.
# Fire the supervisor
# Fire the entire staff or at least most of them to get production up.
Jah son, at least you are consistent with your rubbish, not supported by fact. I suppose if you say it often enough you might believe it.
Really now! ???
Ozil ……. any issue there?
Lacazette……. How warm does that relationship look with even articles of a summer sale says it all.
Auba……. His tweets ? Also leading goal scorer left on bench that just makes him happy
Mhki ……. Just actually getting a run of games in the premier league did you notice……… come on mate
So your evidence on Laca is a newspaper report of a possible sale. Your evidence on Auba is these tweets you keep bringing up were you don’t translate exactly what he says, even though we all come across his tweets without seeing the ones that you believe speak volumes. Ozil, everyone is aware that the manager has tried to get him out of a comfort zone, and we know that he may want to move him on in summer unless Ozil changes his mind. Mkhit has played many games this season but if we had the options then he would’ve played less, lately he’s showing his ability, also it was the injury he had that took him completely out of the side for a spell.
Jah son, how was Emery supposed to play Mhikataryan when he is injured?
Similarly for Ozil.
jah son, I’d like to know why a Spuds troll, as I think you must be, bothers coming on a rivals site. If you really ARE a Gooner, you have an odd way of showing it. Supporters support; that is WHY we are called supporters; All YOU ever do is try to destroy hope, whether you are actually a Gooner or a troll. Still not sure which you are!
Dudu, you give credence to anything Ben Arfa says; someone who has been moved on by every club he has played for because of issues with coaches and discipline.
See most of our players played for the professor a true genius.
Now they are dealing with a street type council and there will always be even more confusion
Just take a look at Trump
Weird analogy Jah son, the explanation known only to you. The men in the white coats are on their way.
Who thinks that we will keep a clean sheet?
Arsenals def is kinda like a teenager having a wet dream, neither one will have a clean sheet afterwards. 2-0 isn’t going to happen.
3-1 but then that is what we lost at, this could push it to penalties… Don’t trust that score and not one we should be aiming for. Who trusts Arsenal with penalties?
4-2 and we go out.
4-1…
We kinda need to win 4-1 at the minimum. Tall order. Not impossible. I’m not betting on it though.
If we do exactly the type of effort and slick passing that we done in the last Europa game then I think Bean Farter will be sick and Emery will laugh in the little bean farters face. We feared a goal by that side could make things difficult too as one goal by them would’ve left us needing three, but we dominated till we got the lead in the game and then the confidence shone through and we made light work of them by the end.
I don’t think football federations should be aloud to rearrange fixtures so to give a team from that league a slight advantage, club teams have many foreign players but some federations act a bit patriotic or something like they are trying to help their home country, even many owners these days are from other parts of the world. Arsenal used to loved by France, we had all foreign first eleven at times and the French adopted us as their favorite second club.