By Walter Broeckx
No it isn’t my birthday this weekend. But my second oldest son is celebrating his birthday today. And as we were invited with the rest of the family I couldn’t do my match report. My family knows me of course and so they arranged that we would have our meal before the match and that the meal would finish just before kick off. And they put the TV on before we would carry on with the rest of the celebrations.
Before the match I saw an article on arsenal.com in which The Ox said that the whole 25 squad had to step up and do their job. And my boy he did live up to that himself. Against Bournemouth he played on the left flank from the start and caused all kinds of troubles to the opposition. Last week his legs went after some 60 minutes, now he has grown and delivered a complete match.
If there might have been any fear that the defeat in the League Cup might have given a scar on the players mind, this was absolutely gone after the opening 15 minutes. Arsenal in control from the start and a few dangerous attacks on the left flank saw a few chances but no end product. After a corner we missed the target just and a cut back towards Alexis was somehow scrambled away by the last defender. That would have been an easy tap in for Alexis otherwise.
You could feel that Arsenal would have to score at some point and they did after some 23 minutes. Coquelin blocked a pass in midfield and the ball fell between Alexis and the last State Aid defender. Alexis was first on the ball and went past the defender and was on his way to the keeper but then unselfishly laid the ball off in front of the on storming Özil who had an easy tap in. GOAL!!! 0-1 after 23 minutes.
A bit later Alexis passed a ball under pressure to The Ox who somehow seemed to lose his footing when he was about to pull the trigger and the effort sailed out for a throw in. That should have been the second Arsenal goal. Somehow State Aid got a foothold in the match towards the end of the first half but not really much real chances as the Arsenal defence was doing a good job.
A big scare however when 4th choice right back Gabriel landed badly after a cross and looked to be in some pain. After a bit of treatment he carried on but it looked doubtful he would be able to continue in the second half. Arsenal only 0-1 in front, it should have been more.
Arsenal continued their good play in the second half. A few chances were stopped by last ditch tackles from the State Aid players. An effort from Walcott was headed over after an Özil free kick and then his shot was blocked by a defender. The Ox and Theo having switched flanks at the start of the second half.
But to be fair State Aid United with a bit of Referee Aid United became a bit more dangerous. Fletcher had a shot that went wide. Theo missed a shot with his left foot that should have hit the target. After 66 minutes Walcott was taken off and Ramsey came on.
State Aid United keeper then had an amazing double save when he first denied Ramsey and the rebound from Özil. But you could feel that it was only a matter of time before we would score again. And how. Mustafi played the ball towards Alexis who spun around his defender and beat him for speed, took on another defender and when he seemed to have a bad angle to shoot he did just that and the ball went in at the far post behind the goalkeeper. GOAL!!! 0-2 for Arsenal after 72 minutes. Time for State Aid United to bring Carroll on.
But before Carroll could do anything it was time for Alexis to show what he can do. A ball hobbled around just outside the State Aid penalty area and Alexis made a movement that gave him enough room to shoot from just outside the area and his low shot went in again. GOAL!!!! 0-3 after 80 minutes. Game over?
Not really as the ref tried to give State Aid a bit of extra aid. A few soft fouls against Arsenal players were given and even a soft yellow card against Mustafi. Payet behind the ball and his effort came back of the crossbar and Carroll (who else) was on hand to head it over the goal line. 1-3 after 82 minutes. Arsenal in for a dodgy finish?
No way said The Ox. He got the ball from the left flank gave himself some room and curved the ball expertly in the far corner. GOAL !!!! 1-4 after 84 minutes. Now it was game over and Arsenal in complete control with West Ham (oops) only pretending to try to do anything at the score.
But Alexis had one last trick up his sleeve. The assistant kept his flag down when it looked offside to me and Alexis was going towards the goal. A late pull of a defender couldn’t stop his momentum and then he showed a brilliant piece of skill. He moved his leg around the ball as if he was going to take a shot and the keeper fell for it and then just lifted the ball over the keeper who was already half floored. GOAL!!!! 1-5 and what a way to score your hattrick.
A good and very strong performance from the whole team. All the players deserve all the credit they can get for the way they played this match. The score could have been higher but don’t let us score all our goals in one match. Let us keep a few for the next matches also.
Celebrating this win with the rest of my family made it even a nicer moment. You can imagine that it was a great evening from then on.
WHU v Arsenal. The teams, the tactics, the injuries, the cost.
State Aid United v Arsenal: no Jenkinson, no Santi, and the problem of moving home
When the press start saying Arsenal will win honours it is time to start worrying
West Ham v Arsenal Saturday 3 December 2016 – The Match Officials
Three times as many arrests at Arsenal as at State Aid Utd? Up to a point Ms Copper
Santi Cazorla out for three months. Now what?
As darkness descends on the football world what can the response be?
WALTER.
Thanks for the report, I too was celebrating with family and friends yesterday (silver wedding) and could only follow the game on a text commentary. Will watch it later today on Arsenal Player. Happy birthday to your Son
A great performance well done Arsenal.
Great report Walter.
Yesterday’s performance was a bag of nerves, knowing what dear Gunners truly are. Missing nearly a dozen chances before half time has a way of coming back to haunt teams, especially when it’s Arsenal…but Alexis and co had other ideas.
We may have squandered too many chances but there’s one suiting feature from the display – we’re creating chances again. Part of our November blip was creating almost nothing. Against PSG we scored two from one shot on target…and that shot was even the penalty!
Yesterday I counted nearly 20 chances created. With Chelsea brutally murdering Man City after the leaders were completely outplayed, it’s getting forever interesting.
COYG…Let’s have da run!
We need more birthdays and anniversaries !! 😀
Excellent victory, another away victory for Arsenal and it was against a team that has been underperforming this season but can do a lot better.
Arsenal now have:
-W5D2L0 away from home, the only team in the league without an away defeat; if we add all competitions, we have W7D3L0 away from home this term;
-W6D6L0 in the last 12 away league games;
-the best attack in the league (33),
-the joint top scorer in the league (Alexis 11),
-Shkodran Mustafi who is yet to taste a defeat as an Arsenal player;
-the joint longest defeatless run in the league (13), except Spuds had their run broken last week;
-Ozil who has scored four league goals, each one after Alexis’ assists.
What a game, what a hattrick! I really enjoyed myself last night.
Basel lost to Young Boys away in the Swiss division one league yesterday. I hope it demoralises their play pattern against us on Tuesday.
PSG lost away as well, I hope again it counts against them on Tuesday against Ludogorets (don’t worry, just dreaming ¤smiles¤).
Congratulations Andrew for your wedding anniversary!
I was a bit shocked yesterday that Jenkinson didn’t even make it on to the bench. Is his confidence really that low that he is literally unplayable, at the moment? I can’t imagine that leaving him out of the squad completely will have done much in the way of helping him regain some of it back!
Clearly, the TV pundits are correct. –Arsenal lack a top quality striker!
Reflections on the Man City v Chelsea fighting:-
No doubt that Aguero and co completely lost it in the end and deserved to be sent off, with possible further sanctions to follow. However, Chelsea far from innocent, having been allowed to get away with so much my appalling referee. Fabregas provoked his opponent by starting the assault, before staging a theatrical collapse over the hoarding. FA should review the whole thing and punish both clubs.
Remembering the Chelsea v Spurs fight from last season, even if the FA pursue charges of misconduct, we can expect no action other than token fines.
On the other hand, if it had been Arsenal involved in even a fraction of what took place yesterday, we could expect multiple extended player suspensions and even points deduction. The FA have set precedents for both.
@John L
Aguero might have seen a video of his ex-father-in-law, the best player ever among the cheaters, when he retaliated on The Butcher of Bilbao. Luiz being a cheater doesn’t excuse Aguero from making a serious foul, he could have broken Luiz’ leg.
Right now, we are 11 points above the most expensive squad ever assembled. Me like it.
Yes, Oxchambo’s eye catching performance against West Hammers yesternight that was reminiscent of CR7 performance at Man Utd is not only worth noting but worth holding on to too. And be further developed by Le Prof.
Arsenal for sometimes now have not had an engine room player in the like of CR7 or Cesc Fabrigas who generates attacks and it case of CR7 drives it and moves it on onto the opponent’s area to find any of his mates that’s better placed to score or try to score by himself. The Ox has shown in the WH game that he has the potential to become Arsenal’s latest generator of attacks and the driver & mover of the attacks into the opponent’s area, 18thyard and box. And sometimes attempt to score by himself too. I know we have Ozil but he’s generally an assist of different kind of style of play and we want to keep having him.
Oxchambo should in this his new found aspect of his game, improve on it to the level of being more accurate in his passing to his mates especially in the opponent’s final 3rd and his shooting at goal to score. I think we are about having a CR7 at Arsenal if the Ox keeps developing this new aspect of his game and hold on to it without allowing his top form that I saw yesterday against WH to go down but keep upping it.
Re the Man City mass brawl and the Deli Ali dive I have listened to Talksport a good deal today and barely a mention on either. Maybe I simply missed it.
At the moment Spurs appear to be ‘winning’ a penalty per game, most of them involving conning the ref to a greater or lesser degree.
I am glad that Sanchez didn’t do the ‘leg dangling to catch the goalkeeper trick’ when he rounded the goalie yesterday. At least he tried to stay on his feet and he is to be commended for that, if that had been a Spurs player I am sure they would have got a penalty out of it somehow.
One reason why we are class and they are not.
@MickHazel
Truth to be told, Spuds should have had an extra man on the pitch from the sixth minute following that outrageous high foot in Walker’s head. Howard Webb’s school of refereeing decided against sent off.
What is making the lower PL teams to be so charged and geared up whenever they play against Arsenal especially at the Ems?
The last time Bournemouth were at the the Ems for a PL game against us, they played as if they are playing in a World Cup final match and playing fully prepared to play in it.
But I’ve been watching them live in their match against Liverpool, but the Bournemouth players are looking ordinary in the match as they went down 0-2 to Liverpool. And I can’t remember seeing any Bournemouth’s player winning a duel with any Liverpool’s player in the game so far in the 1st half of the game that’s on to the 43 minutes into the game.
Re Jenkinson, Wenger has had to deal with many players who lose confidence and I am sure he and his staff know how to handle this. And we all know the WHU fans would howl abuse at Jenkinson at his first mistake, and so make him liable to make more errors. I thought it was a good decision.
I’d also give the biggest plaudit to Coquelin – I thought he was magnificent yesterday in holding that position in front of the back four.
Also, it is clear that the ref is on Liverpool’s side against Bournemouth. He has ensured that the 2 goal lead is maintained by denying a much more clear-cut penalty for Bournemouth than the one they were given against us last week.
25 years Andrew, impressive sir!
Great victory for Arsenal.
We started December with a bang!
Glad that the horrible November is over.
Lady luck seems to be smiling on us as Agguero and the Brazilian holding midfielder will both be suspended when we face City.
The referee for the City vs Chelsea game was atrocious. And he played a big part in City not winning that game. City strikers were also very wasteful.
Regarding the Arsenal game, I think Chamberlain and Sanchez had a brilliant game. Had we not wasted many scoring chances in the first half, we could have banged in more than 8 goals.
Didn’t see the game, but a great performance from the lads. Even better is the media darlings just lost to Bournemouth.
Sam Have you checked the Cherries progress since your last analysis?
Oh my goodness, Bournmouth what a come back. They were 1-3 down to win 4-3. However, if Liverpool can sort out their defense, they will be a difficult team to beat, their attack is very menacing.
Now need Everton to beat ManU and what a good weekend. If only ManC vs Chelsea was a draw it would have been a great weekend.
There was definitely something funny going on in the refereeing of the City v Chelsea match yesterday. Seemed to me as if the ref has been told to favour Chelsea. Still the outcome does actually favour us, as Aguero & Fernandinho should be missing for the match against us two weeks time.
We should also expect to see the FA come down hard on both City and Chelsea for the brawl after the Aguero ‘tackle’. If the Chelsea player Chalobah does not also get a 3 match ban for his part in the sunsequent brawl then there is something very dodgy going on. Also if Fabregas isn’t punished for his provocation and then play-acting……
If it had been us involved we all know that the there would have been a lot more bans and for a lot longer as the FA always punish us more.
Just seen Bournemouth have come back from 3-1 down to beat Liverpool 4-3, what a result.
Can you imagine the ridicule in the press if that was us.
@Micko, according to some in the media and some of the Arsenal fans, Arsenal’s season was suppose to be over after the lost to Liverpool on the opening day, Arsenal was ridiculed for being weak, no leaders, blah, blah, blah. Well we are currently second and 3 points behind the leader. There are way to many arm chair football experts around with unqualified opinions.
WOO HOO , HOO ! What a performance from the team. Well done the boys. Had quite a few good laughs with the others’ scores and their antics , too.
Maybe another pleasant surprise in the on going match ?
Congrats Andrew , on your silver wedding anniversary .
Walter, very pleased you had a good all round day! I still have the feel good sensation today after that wonderful performance.
Ther were some very strange decisions in our match yesterday and further, the malign presence of Taylor and Dean contributed in no small way to the melt down at the Manchester Oilers – a very poor/biased ref performance.
But today – a penalty against the Manures? Must have been a Blue Moon!! 🙂
Micko
Not worth getting into a debate as to what happened in the brawl other than I would not be surprised to see Fabregas charged , Augero get more than the 4 games he automatically receives, Fernandinho quite possible will likewise get 4 or more games he had hold and kept hold of Fabregas around the neck and then failed to leave the pitch, but Chalobah was shown the yellow for his push so will not be subject to any retrospective charge.
Both clubs will probably get a fine for failing to control their players
Not a good weekend for Northern giants. At all.
I expect the PGMOL to act on that and can make an educated guess on which team they might try to start on to redress the regional balance
Can you imagine the WOB/Media/Celebrity superfans if our boys did what Liverpool!!! did today?
Yes, Coq was magnificent, especially as he played much of the game on a yellow….and he will not get away with what others will
This home grown player really has risen to the challenge provided by recent signings
Guys,
as far as I am concerned, apart from the result, the hattrick, there are 3 players who impressed me :
– The Ox….he is getting better and better and just loved his energy, his take-ons and his relentless and intelligent harrassing of WHU players – not to tall about his goal…
– Xhaka, no one saw him, but look at his stats. He is steadily slotting into the team and doing his job.
– Gabriel, say what you want, but this guy is good. Not playing at his normal position, I felt he had an excellent game and even if not as speedy as Bellerin, he was up there on the right wing quite often
– Ramsey, him coming onto the field and suddendly everything speeds up and we score – this is no coïncidence
I believe we are seing AW’s strategy finally appearing. We not only have depth (look who was missing : the best right fullback in the PL, one of the best midfielders, our gladiator center forward, the ghanean rocket, etc. yet you’d not think they were missing), but we’ve got a bunch of players capable of playing several positions. Tell me what you want, this is simply fantastic. Considering we’ll always have guys injured, we’ve got options galore, and I do
not believe any team in the PL can boast such interchangability and of such quality.
We are now able to switch gears and tactics anytime in a game, without seing any disruption in teamwork, without a visible problem. And in the second half we can even push the accelerator when the other team is starting to get tired.
Sure, the guys on the bench and not on the bench may not be happy, yet, competition is what it is all about. And AW has been showing all players that he trusts them and that they can and will have a chance. Talk about good HR management….Imagine Wilshere in good shape in the lot ?!?
And when the injured come back, think about what Welbeck can do…. we are in for a very interesting winter. basically we’ve got 2 PL teams in one and I do not believe any PL team has that strength.
And by Christmas, we may end up with 3 players having scored 10 or more goals in all competitions.
And looking at the table, of the top 4 teams, we’re the only one to have lost just once. And we’re not loosing to lesser teams like we used to.
Still lots of games to win, but I feel very confident and have lots of fun watching AFC playing. And this is damn good feeling.
By the way there is one interesting stat :
AFC have passed the 50 goals scored mark all season, and we are in early december. Last year we got 90 for the full season.
What do you make of that considering the PL has gotten more difficult with money pooring in making the competition harder ?
I watched the ManC v Chelsea fracas but couldn’t see what Fabregas did to provoke Fernandinho…any ideas? Was it just words?
@Andrew,
Belated congrats on your silver wedding anniversary.
When we celebrated ours in 1973, a visit to London for shopping and Highbury for an Arsenal home game was de rigueur! 😉
GGG
Did you see the slap on the chops? Just a teaser but some would say raising hand to face is red card.
Andrew,
Congrats on your wedding anniversary from me too. Arsenal must have known about it;)
@Robido…thanks…on second view, it was a clear slap to the face.
Andrew – many congrats on your anniversary, I should have commented earlier – not to do so was very remiss of me.
A final (for now) thought on Pawson, he gave a yellow to Mustafi and to Kos for what looked like non fouls – it looks as if Pawson was under instruction to handicap our central defenders at all costs – was this just to help State Aid, or is it part of a more sinister strategy from the PGMO – the quality of our center backs having been widely recognised – are they now being deliberately and unfairly targeted by the bandits in black?
Great report Walter, yeah and this was a performance to go with the result. Lately we had been getting results without performance. We have seemed to come through that period and hopefully the performances just keep going that way. We then had the added bonus of seeing Liverpool throw away three points at dean court to another lesser team, city lose two players for indiscipline and a disgusting foul. Though from what I saw two Chelsea players should also be given retrospective bans in shape of chalabah and fabregas and especially fabregas for his sly slap. That puts us in second and five fixtures ahead a tricky home game against stoke before two masssive away games against Everton and city. Followed by tricky games against West Brom and Crystal Palace. Over these games 11 points is the minimum required especially if these players seriously want to challenge for the league this year 15 would be awesome but 11 would suffice. Looks from table to be honest that no team from below spuds can now win the title and would be vey unlikely they could even challenge for a top four spot leaving this years league as a five horse race. Chelsea and Liverpool would have to be favourites as they lack European competition this year so they will have less games to worry about
But we have a very good chance this year of going all the way.
Mike T
So “Chalobah was shown the yellow for his push so will not be subject to any retrospective charge” yet “Augero get more than the 4 games he automatically receives” really!
Therefore it’s alright for the City player to get his ban increased (even though he was shown a red) but not Chalobah because……he plays for Chelsea ?
If what Chalobah did was not violent conduct then Arsenal should appeal every red card they have got in the last 20 years!
@ Tony – Ah yes, that’s a very good point. I had completely forgotten that Jenkinson has previously played for West Ham. In that case, then it seems that that was definitely the right decision in leaving him out of the firing line and potentially destroying his confidence even more. Hopefully it wont take him too long to regain some of the confidence back!
There isn’t enough done in football to clean up the fake officiating provided by the PGMO. The Arsenal players booked for pseudo fouls have an accumulating card penalty that will hinder our ultimate goal of the Premier league. It doesn’t matter how the FA behave as they are the Gods of football in England.
Untold has highlighted the cheating/bias/corrupt/ fake behaviour of the PGMO. The press are aware as are the football hierarchy that ultimately govern the game. There are those who appear on this site as commenters with their own bias & gibberish about the officiating that cannot escape the truth. The slanted pitches which Arsenal have to play on are critical to the success of the club. These have been laid before the team for a few years but despite this Arsenal have excelled.
I was gone for a couple of days, it was nice to come back and see the WHam score. Congratulations/happy birthday to Andrew, wife and family, and to Walter’s son (?).
This business of cards is something I’ve wondered about. How does one look at cards, if a player on another team has to almost dismember a person to get a yellow, and an Arsenal player just looks at someone and gets carded?
But, if someone could categorize teams as being similar, a person might be able to compare things by groups.
Micko
It would be a good idea if you took time out to read the rules regarding such matters and if you going to quote my post it would probably make sense if you had included the bit where I said it wouldn’t surprise me if they got rather than they should.
1. If the referee sees the incident and sanctions the player with a yellow card that sanction can not be increased.Chalobah was given a yellow for the push so that was the end of the matter.
It is genearly the view if you push a player below the chest then the sanction is a yellow card, if you raise your hands above the chest then it’s a red card.That’s why I said that I thought that Fabregas may get a charge but I was not aware at the time I made the comment that he had been booked for his part in the brawl and that’s why he lime Chalaobah,hasn’t been charged. Quite simply they can’t. charge him once the ref says he saw the incident
2. Within the disciplinary system the FA have the right to apply,(when a player has been sent off) to a disciplinary panel on the grounds that the standard punishment is not sufficient If they do and the panel agrees that penalty can be increased.Similarily if a player thinks he has been hard done and is due a ban on excess of one game ,he can appeal on the grounds that the standard punishment is excessive,It’s nothing to do with the players being Man City players it’s what the rules permit although the FA didn’t view either Augero tackle or Fernadinos actions as any thing other than standard.