By Walter Broeckx
We had 3 changes from the team that started against Crystal Palace. Per Mertesacker came back in the team in the place of Gabriel.
In midfield we had Ramsey and Coquelin dropping to the bench and upfront we had Giroud and Welbeck also found a place on the bench.
Starting team: Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Ramsey, Elneny, Iwobi, Ozil,Alexis, Giroud.
On the bench: Ospina, Gabriel, Chambers, Coquelin, Campbell, Walcott, Welbeck.
The match started on a rather slow tempo but the first acceleration was good enough. Ramsey to Alexis who turned around his man and his low shot from outside the penalty area found the bottom corner. GOAL! 1-0 to The Arsenal after 6 minutes. Good advantage given by Moss by the way as there was a possible foul on Alexis when he turned the defender.
The next attack and almost another goal. Iwobi to Monreal on the overlap who gave it to Özil but a defender blocking the shot. The ball ended in front of Ramsey but his volley went wide. Arsenal trying to score a second goal but no real goal chances for the moment. Still 1-0 after 15 minutes.
A good one two beteween Bellerin and Alexis who flicked the ball back with a backheel but the shot from Bellerin went wide and over. Then a very soft foul given against Koscielny leading to the first WBA attacks resulting in a few corners and Alexis kicking the ball against his own hand but luckily Moss sees nothing wrong. Another corner is headed against the crossbar. Nobody followed the run of McAuley from Arsenal. Still 1-0 after 30 minutes.
A good combination between Bellerin and Giroud but again the shot from Bellerin goes over. Arsenal then have a free kick that results in some pressure that ends with a shot from Özil that slips through the hands of the keeper but a defender on the line can prevent the second Arsenal goal. Ramsey gets fouled just outside the penalty area and Arsenal get a free kick. The wall with Giroud and Per in it and Özil and Alexis behind the ball. And the latter shoots the ball in the gap that was opened up by Per and Giroud and the WBA keeper was stranded. GOAL! 2-0 to The Arsenal after 38 minutes.
Giroud puts the ball in the net but he was correctly called back for offside when he got the ball and the whistle had already gone. McAuley gets a yellow card for pulling Giroud back to prevent him chasing a long ball. Özil with some magic dribbling on the right flank ending with a cross to Monreal but the Spanish left back cannot not reach the ball. Özil going in strong after WBA going in strong against Giroud. A bit of fight in him… Arsenal lead 2-0 after 45 minutes.
A first low shot from Giroud but a comfortable save from the keeper. Berahino trips himself but the assistant signals a foul for WBA but luckily the free kick is cleared. Sanchez almost with a shooting chance but he slipped and then had to settle for a cross that went wide. Özil got a little knock when trying to be on the end of that cross but seems to be able to continue. Ramsey with a good tackle to stop a possible WBA attack on the flank. Moss now really only seeing it one way for a few minutes…Arsenal players not allowed to come near WBA players. Iwobi with a dribble and going down in the penalty area but Moss sees nothing. There was a little kick just under the knee… Still 2-0 after 60 minutes.
Elneny goes down in the penalty area but Moss again sees no foul, again there was a foul but just outside but as I said Moss being a bit blind it seems. Giroud almost at the end of a corner but his shot was blocked and then Moss made an end to the attack by calling an Arsenal foul.
Iwobi setting up a good attack over Giroud and Alexis but the keeper can save the effort from Özil. Seconds later a defender blocks a shot from Özil in to a corner. And Iwobi has a shot but straight at the keeper. Another good attack over Özil and Iwobi but Ramsey doubts between a shot and a cross and it comes to nothing. WBA get a corner and everybody misses the ball and Rondon cannot put it over the line. WBA get a free kick because…. they are not Arsenal but Arsenal can clear. Still 2-0 after 75 minutes.
Iwobi steals the ball but then wants to do too much himself and loses the ball as others were in space. Moss continues to only see one team making fouls….If it wouldn’t be so sad, it could be funny…. Surprise after 80 minutes he does give a foul to Arsenal…. sarcastic cheer from the crowd. With 10 minutes to go Coquelin comes on for Iwobi.
Ramsey tries to penetrate in the WBA penalty area but with lots of pinballs WBA can clear. Moss now even giving another foul to Arsenal… Theo and Campbell come on after 85 minutes and Alexis and Özil go off. Theo with pass to Campbell but he drags his shot wide. A good start. Campbell to Giroud and he shoots but Forster saves with his head. Another good combination with Campbell but Giroud cannot make proper contact with the low cross. Moss continues to blow whenever an Arsenal player is near to a WBA player.
In the end a fairly comfortable win from Arsenal helped a lot with the early goal of course. Arsenal win 2-0 and that should and could have been a higher score when we look at the chances we had.
Played WBA off the park, over doing it in front of goals. Wenger was right to be frustrated.
We won! Let’s enjoy it. We won despite the ref because it’s obvious from Walter’s report that he was doing his best for WBA.
Funny thing I just noticed watching the table
Despite the gifts all season long from the FA/PGMO mafia, Leicester only scored one more goal than Arsenal, and conceded one less goal.
Yet people will say that Arsenal weren’t good enough to be a title contender and that Leicester deserve to win the Premier League…
Vince
And about 10 of the Leicester goals were penalties!
WBA was a team to demolish,, but arsenal could not maximize thier chances to thrash them,,, we do need a deadly thiery henry upront,,,a rock makelele at dm and a solid tony adams at the back,,, and smiles we be back on our faces..
A good win tonight and a very valuable three points.
With the amount of possession we had in the opposition box we could have scored six – something we need to work on – it is not just the final ball (sometimes it is) – but the build up play can sometimes be too optimistic & the attack then may fail to develop. But we have rekindled some of the vintage excitement in our attacks.
Well done the team and manager.
but alexis really is a revelation of what arsenal have been longing for since the days of invincibles,,,,, on jonn moss, it is the same old mistakes not awarding arsenal the fouls and penalties,,, but i love it that they UNTOLD…
Much better…could have had a few more, but three points is what matters.
Looked more solid than recently …..good to see Per back, a player I would like to see kept for a while.
OG didn’t score but came close and worked massively for the team, as he always does.
I would keep this team for the weekend
No surprise…Arsenal win 2-0…The Manchester Guardian…3 of the first 5 paragraphs are negative highlighting the 4 or 5 thousand (estimate) no shows.
Reminder of current rules of football:-
Holding an opponent is a foul, unless its Olivier Giroud.
A foul in the penalty area will result in the award of a penalty kick, unles it is committed against an Arsenal player.
Arsenal players are off-side in any situation where there is an immediate possibility of a scoring chance from a through ball.
Persistent fouling will result in a yellow card being shown, unless it is against an —– (guess the ending of this sentence)
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Arsenal were shittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt…..only 2 goals and only 3 points…………….Wenger doesn’t do tactics,training, managing,coaching, or even breathe normally!!! Sorry…………..I got the urge to replace the non-existant aaa who will NOT show their fetid faces because we won. Silly of me!
Greetings to everyone. It’s been a while. Always a happy day for me when we take the maximum points. On other days I take winnable draws and losses on the chin and look forward to the next match.
Thanks to all Untold faithfuls for your consistent support. Everything good we stand for will come to pass in our lifetime.
Until it’s mathematically impossible, I’ll keep telling my self we can still win the league.
Haters can hate, but we are still here.
COYG
We won’t win the league this year Damilare, for a number of reasons. Injuries, lack of cover, the PGMOL, the inability to be given penalties at the same rate as rivals, lack of clinical finishing, at times, poor defending, rivals with everything, literally everything going for them , including media praise, and covering up of flaws….and sometimes cheating.
The critics say Wenger will never win the league again, sadly, it is possible they may be right. But we will be in a position to compete for many years, thanks in no small part to Arsene Wenger.
One day, the PGMOL will not get away with what they will do now, we will have a bit of luck with injuries, we will finish and defend better and the rewards will come. wenger might not be the man of that day, but he will have played a huge part in giving us that day.
Surprise! Moss sees penalties differently when he is at the Ems. Actually he dosen’t. He ignores all fouls on Arsenal unless he can get a cheer. The cheating is part of the game Arsenal has to put up with while entertaining the paying public that want to see good football. Lots of seats empty but paid for – nice money if you can get it.
Best passing I’ve seen for ages. Shame we didn’t finish some of the beautiful football.
Oops.
I just visited Arsenal.com (since the men’s game started), and I notice there is a new report up on the Ladies. They lost to Chelsea, 0-2. Bummer. Better luck in the next game.
I think it is Chelsea they play at Wemberlee, so hopefully they win that game.
ozil seemed wobbly
and bellerin seemed at his best
wonder if it has anything to do with toty
or maybe because all of sanchez iwobi and ozil where competing for center midfield
i’d give campbell a start on sunday, let ozil or iwobi have a bit of rest..
coquelin came on and was all over the field, a bit of ramsey-like performance
a surprising and welcome change
Missed the match, but just watched the clips.
Good win lads.
WOO HOO , HOO ! Well played the boys . A few more goals would have been a great bonus.
Unbeaten in 6 EPL matches .
Up the Gunners !
This was a proper team performance. Neat crisp passing and whats more it was decisive. We need to improve our shooting but then will not complain about the win, no matter how we got it. Did anyone else think that WB did not put up a fight? Or is it just me? Again, a win is win is a win.
The team looks much stronger now than it did a year ago, even though results haven’t always been going our way. This gives me much hope for next season. My only concern though is platers getting worn out of fatigue in the summer.
Elneny DIDN’T dive, or was he tripped. He slipped. So did Iwobi.
Brickfields – good point – unbeaten in six matches. And even in the draws we played good football.
500 premier league victories – only one club has done more.
Must Ozil not in the team of the year – strange!
Should be Mesut – spell correction again!
Hi Serge.
Walter thinks both players were fouled, Iwobi in the box, Elneny outside it.
No suggestion by the expert footballing media that the seats were possibly empty because they saw who the referee was going to be 😉
i thought Theo and Campbel were sharp when they came on. We will need to worker harder against Sunderland, they are fighting for dear life. I hope we stuff them.
On last nights match – enjoyed the game and agree with most of the comments above. On the subject of empty seats it’s a shame about that, but the Manchester Guardian highlighting empty seats… really!! Man City have had tickets on general sale for the last month at least and have loads of empty seats every game. I don’t recall the media scrum over that. Pot, Kettle and Black comes to mind.
Hi Pat
Walter would think that, wouldn’t he!
It’s ridiculous Arsenal have to play in next two days against a very physical team. They could have given another day for rest.
@OlegYch
Ozil worked his socks off last night and you could see his frustration at not scoring. I love watching Ozil play.
Whatever happened to Campbell? He seemed to have finally broke into the team and was clearly putting in a lot of hard-work into his performances and then suddenly just seemed to have been dropped. Seems a bit harsh, i was really impressed with him before he was taken out the team.
serge – there were lots of slips but not the ones you mentioned. El Neny was fouled as was Iwobi. Giroud was fouled in the box by two WBA defenders but Moss wasn’t officiating a la Leicester. Incidentally I was at the game & the Giroud foul was right in front of me.
Menace
If Elneny & Iwobi ended up on the floor and they didn’t fall naturally ( a slip or self trip ), then it had to be a free kick, penalty or dive.
I only saw them in real time with no replays, so as Moss ignored them I can only assume that he either didn’t see a thing or he did and decided no offense ( trip or dive ) had occurred.
There had to be a decisions one way or another. Just ignoring them was poor.
What I like about Campbell is that he tracks back as well…that helps avoid situations like what happened against Crystal Palace. Another forward back on the wings helps out against slippery opponents.
Good win and 3 points in the bag. We played some wonderful football and I enjoyed every minute. Onward’s and upwards boy’s till the end of the season.This is the way football should be played and why I love this club so much. Yes another couple of goals would have been nice but a win is a win and we did not concede. Let the haters hate I really don’t give a damn it’s their loss.