By Walter Broeckx
A back 3 with Sokratis, Koscielny and Mustafi and with Maitland-Niles and Kolasinac as wing backs. On the beach we had the return of Bellerin and Monreal. No Özil to be seen in the team.
Arsenal team at the start : Leno, Sokratis, Koscielny, Mustafi, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Kolasinac, Iwobi, Aubameyang, Lacazette.
On the beach: Cech, Bellerin, Lichtsteiner, Monreal, Torreira, Ramsey, Nketiah.
Neither team with a real good start and the first kick at goal after 5 minutes but the ball was just a pick up for Leno. A first shot from Arsenal but Lacazette missed the target from outside the penalty area. Moss letting a few fouls go on Arsenal players indicating advantage that was not there. A very quit opening from both teams. Lacazette then with a first chance but Fabianski could stop the effort and then the rebound went over. A bit later a cross from Aubameyang but Lacazette could only head it over. 0-0 after 15 minutes.
Moss inventing a foul against Lacazette so he can’t come on the end of a ball that migh have resulted in a big chance. Kolasinac being sent through and he could have gone for the shot but he tried a cut back but a defender first on the ball to stop Lacazette from shooting. Arsenal the better team in this phase of the match. Nasri has a shot but meters wide of the goal. 0-0 after 30 minutes.
Felipe Anderson with shot for West Ham that went half a meter wide from Leno’s goal. Guendouzi with a shot that went just wide off the post. A bit later the young Frenchman is pulled down by Nasri and falls bad on his shoulder and needs treatment. Meanwhile we see Pat Rice in the stands. A bit of a dissapointing half so far with neither team really going for the opening goal but always playing with a lot of safety in their mind. Brice with a free header after a corner but he completely missed the target. 0-0 at half time.
Mustafi in the book for a late sliding tackle. Arsenal can’t really clear a corner and the ball falls for Rice who shoots it in. 1-0 for West Ham after 47 minutes.
Arsenal try to reply and the cross from Lacazette is almost turned in to an own goal but Fabianski stops the bouncing ball. Guendouzi with a shot but a meter wide. Noble blocks the ball between his legs and then gets a foul in his favour at the corner flag. The free kick brings nothing. After 58 minutes Torreira and Ramsey come on and Xhaka and Mustafi leave the field. Kolasinac gets a yellow card for tripping Antonio. 1-0 after 60 minutes.
Ramsey with a cross but Aubameyang can’t properly connect with his head the ball sails wide. Kolasinac to Aubameyang but his left footed shot goes wide from a promising position. Ramsey with a delicate touch to Iwobi with the shot from the left side but the ball went wide. Guendouzi with a low shot but too straight at Fabianski. After 68 minutes Bellerin comes on for Maitland-Niles. Still 1-0 behind after 75 minutes.
The passing is below standard from Arsenal and too many balls get lost. We will have to produce better in the last 10 minutes. Ramsey to Kolasinac who gave it to Aubameyang who forced it over the line but Kolasinac was clearly offside and the linesman raised his flag. 3 minutes of extra time. Koscielny scores but again it is disallowed correctly for offside in the build up.
Too slow in the build up, too many slow passes, too many back passes and we miss a player who can turn things around. Someone like… Özil.
Moss quick to give a pseudo foul when Laca on goal!! What a cheating cnut!!
My favourite so far was the bad foul advantage trick where they got posession and we had ten men. No replay and no action by Fatty Moss
Laca getting cheated every time by Moss without a replay by the TV. Moss is blatant beyond shameless as are his assistants.
38m Guendouzi requires a treatment. No card or foul is apparent.
Nasri twisted Guedouzis arm almost to dislocation but Moss didn’t see it. The MF selective visioned bastard.
Good god Menace you are relentless..some would say obsessive.More class from the special one.
Moss is truly the most shameless corrupt cheat. I even told him so on twitter but the yellow bellied cnut didn’t have the courage to challenge me in court. These PGMOL swines are afraid of exposure to the Law as they will then have to exit their slimey lairs.
FO nick get back in your cage.
Some on here need to know whats happening. Tie you tried your skills.
I couldn’t see what Lacazette was supposed to have done when he spun off the defender and knocked it off the keeper. It wasn’t flagged offside…bad breath maybe.
Teams are definitely Guendouzi as the key to our play, which is fair enough because we are playing it out of the back. Unfortunately, he is not yet big enough to fight through the arm grabs and elbow hooks to gain an advantage. A couple of years in the gym and he is going to be formidable, if they don’t rip off his shoulders or dislocate his knees, first.
Right now, I would say that we have to drop one of our forwards deeper, maybe go to a 4-4-2, because West Ham has effectively nullified our midfield.
Also, a couple of times our field awareness has let us down. Iwobi had the ball in a central position and kept looking right…two players were wide open on his left…meh, with time and understanding of our system, this will come…I hope.
COYG!
nick the dick, one of his many aliases Leon being one.
wow…only 2 of our 11 moved after the corner…the other 9 stood rooted in place…1-0 WHAM
Come on Gunners, get that goal back, and then take the lead.
Ramsey and Torreira on
Xhaka and Mustafi off…4-4-2?
another obligatory yellow to Arsenal…Kolasinac a bit late
I had the Guardian coverage open as well. They kept ragging on and on about Arsenal, so they lost a reader. Dorks.
Commentary very slow on mentioning substitutions.
COYG!
Monreal doing sprints.
instant increase in tempo from the Gunners.
Markyb
Good to see one halfwit supporting his special racist bullyboy friend..You two special people can waffle on all day about referees and not about the game itself.Mind you your knowledge on the game is as high as menaces…zero.
Bellerin getting ready.
Bellerin for Maitland Niles
Moss deeming that Caroll was fouled by Sokratis. Caroll fell back after playing the ball & Moss fell for his cheating cahance.
I did say in my referee piece that Moss is trusted by the PGMO to deliver the required result. There is no other reason for him to be refereeing at any level as he really doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. Looks like he has delivered yet again.
Pellegrini won this match. When they set up and pressed our back 5, we had no one to pass to. It is difficult on a stream to really see the runs the forward/attacking midfielders were making but all it took was one defender to move up on our back 5 and our player would turn back and we would waste 20 more seconds. My impression was that our two attacking lines were static and were not changing places to create overlaps or overloads to attack.
I know the system employed by Mr. Emery is to draw the other team forward but when the other team does not come forward then you have to train your players to up the tempo elsewhere and create openings. I suspect he is doing this but it hasn’t taken hold, yet.
Ah well..next match Chelsea??
Moss called a number of phantom fouls including the one mentioned on Sokratis…just enough to break up play BUT we did not create enough in the midfield and we switched off for the goal. Back to the drawing board.
Ozil, we need you!
This PL away defeat to Arsenal by West Ham did not come me as a shock when I saw Emery’s Arsenal 3-4-3 starts and bench for the match. But the defeat of Arsenal by West Ham today would have come to me as a surprise had Emery adopted my Arsenal 4-2-3-1 starts and the 7 Gunners that I have on the bench for the match which I posted in my comment postings severally on the Untold Arsenal and on the JustArsenalnews websites on Thursday and Friday this week for him to see them. And I implored him to use them wholesale for the match. Because those were the Arsenal strong PL game winning starts and bench on the day that’s best suited to beat West Ham. But alas! Emery looked to have declined accepting my starts and bench for West Ham. But instead made a starts and bench for the match that looked to me as a confusing Arsenal starts and bench for the match. For the avoidance of doubt, below are my starts and bench that I made for the Arsenal match away to West Ham today.
Starts:
Leno;
Bellerin Mustafi Sokratis Kolasinac;
Torreira Xhaka;
Niles Ozil Iwobi;
Aubameyang.
Bench:
Cech Koscielny Jenkinson Guendouzi Ramsey Willock Lacazette.
Ozil is reported to have been omitted from the Arsenal 18 for match for tactical reason again.
The biggest phantom foul was the one on Laca in the opening exchanges when he had a great chance for a one on one!
In other news our U18s enjoyed a two nil away win this morning at Aston Villa. Fuller junior teams update to come later in the week after our U23 match against City on Monday evening. 17:00 kickoff at Meadow Park, Borehamwood. Normally free entry.
We need an owner that cares about the club!!
Nick, and that of course was what we were saying during the last two years during all the “Wenger out” stuff. It wasn’t Wenger that was the problem it was the owner.
Nothing wrong with the manager, but he is working under the same ludicrous restraints.
As I now live in France, I have been following Arsenal matches via streaming sites (with the sound off!). I am not a football pundit so I do not have a profound knowledge of the game nor of the inherent tactics that so many pundits and blogettas appear to espouse. I very rarely comment on the Arsenal team performance, nor anything concerning their management structure. Occasionally I have been known to query the nature of the current American ownership, as I have with the previous Hill-Wood dynasty. Interestingly, a few French acquaintances who follow PSG, were somewhat cynical towards me, when they learnt that the Emery team was to lead Arsenal. They argued that their (PSG) creative players were somewhat sidelined by this management team, preferring less creative defensively minded players. Whilst acknowledging their viewpoint I had no evidence to argue otherwise and as I do/did not follow PSG I had no further comment to make other than to follow Arsenal under this new leadership. Today I watched the game and was surprised to find a lack of creativity coming from Arsenal in terms of actual players picked and playing performance. Messrs Ramsey and Ozil were left out, with Ozil not even on the substitute bench. As the game progressed, the two Arsenal strikers appeared to have to drop in-field to get the ball due to a lack of creative, accurate passing through to them. The midfield and defence appeared very lethargic as if it lacked anybody with speed and vision. I do not need to be a knowledgeable pundit to believe something is lacking in the team and its associated tactics when top strikers have to continually drop back just to get hold of the ball! Again, of interest to me was the difference in performance when both Ramey and Bellerin were introduced. More creativity became apparent albeit too late. Arsenal scored two ‘off-side’ goals and were caught a number of times in off-side positions. Perhaps quicker ball release and more creative vision might have challenged the West Ham off-side line.
Is this type of performance new? What is interesting for me watching is that there appears to be a lack of creative offensive players in the team, not just in this team performance but in a number of previous performances when Arsenal were winning. Like other Arsenal followers, I hope that the club can perform at the highest level in the future, playing the type of football that other successful clubs have tried to emphasise. I only hope that the comments or rather the cynicism from my PSG-following colleagues are not proven to be the norm. I totally accept that 3 recent Europa cup wins is something not to mock nor ignore but then again 20 odd seasons in the Champions League and three recent FA Cup wins is also something not to mock nor ignore, especially when viewed with the double league/cup wins and a Champions League final appearance.
Arsenal lose these sort of winnable matches at a subconscious level due to the often perceptible interventions of the PigMob. Our players then tend to ‘play with the hand-breaks on’ as M Wenger used to say. This was another one of those days. What to do about PigMob and their antics?
Furthermore, Unai’s coaching methods are yet to flow smoothly. To expect anything higher than 5th position this season will count as a lucky break for AFC. The club still needs more reinforcements but, before then, we should learn to play as if we cannot lose in spite of the whistle men who seem to be all out to dump AFC in the Championships. COYG.
Having just read the Unai post-match conference report on the AFC website, it looks to me like AKH’s PSG followers’ feedback were right about Unai and creative players. That is a worrying conundrum. Why fail to use Özil even if we could have lost with him on the field as he seemed to suggest?
Our chances of winning with Özil playing would have been 100% better. What about starting Ramsey from the off? Sorry Unai you blew this. He’d (Unai) better watch out as the AFC support base is very itchy and can turn on him sooner than he expected. No Arsenal supporter is currently feeling any upbeat with what is happening with their club on the field. He should sort it all out pronto. Delay, they say, is dangerous.
* ‘What about not starting Ramsey from the off?’
We are no further forward now than when AW was here,UE doesnt like Ozil in the team but still has no creativity PEA and AL are starved of a decent pass and as the game goes on they get frustrated and drop deeper to get the ball which doesnt help .When we beat Burnley and scored against Brighton Ozils craft was there for all to see with his stepover and the way he made space for PEA to score ,maybe UE doesnt appriciate such attributes in a player but we dont have any other player to thread a pass like Ozil,certainly his workrate can be questioned at times but he can turn a game in an instant which wasnt going to happen today.
With football being a game of two halves, if only we could play our best for both.
In the first half today, some of our fast-passing attacks were positively breath-taking.
More of this please!
Chelsea had 6 fouls to Newcastle 13, treatments were 1:1. So maybe those work out.
Brighton had 15 fouls to Liverpool’s 5. And yet, the only treatments (2) were to Brighton players.
The same attitude and skill that goes into inflicting a treatment, is the same as goes into a foul. The median number of treatments inflicted by a team on opposition is 21, with a MAD of 2. Liverpool has inflicted 21 treatments on opposition. How then can they have such a low card and foul count?
I am concerned as what it is that Ue is trying to achieve.
The fact that for the first half of the season we simply did not play in the first half and until recently were able to turn it on in the second half was a source of concern. Now we do not do even that.
Now without Ozil we are playing without ingenuity and our strikers are starved of the balls they need to create chances and score.
That he seems to be trying to resolve the defensive problems by playing 3 at the back, also is not working. We are still leaking goals.
Just as AW could not simply rely on his past successes, so UE cannot do either.
I, for one, am not impressed with what is happening and fear that we are being driven to mediocrity at the expense of the players doing what they are told.
The women get to play ManU in the Continental Cup game on Feb 5 or 6.
Is there any point reading Emery’s interview? Or reading the medja crap
Arsenal have lost one at home and three at away in the PL this season and are currently on the Europa League position qualification giver by being on 5th position in the table as at week 21 stage of this season’s campaign in the PL. With four loses so far in the PL at week 21 into this season’s campaign in the PL, Arsenal are looking to be out of contention for the PL title win this season, but could surprisingly sill win it if a miracle happens to make them win it. However, they are still in contention for a top four place finish this season but if they can avoid defeats from Chelsea, home. Man City, away. Man Utd, home and Tottenham Hotspur, away in the big games. But at least win 2 at home and draw 2 at away of these four big games. And also avoid losing to the mid table club sides like Wolves and others but beat them at away and at the Ems. Then, Arsenal will be there in the top four places in the table at the end of the season. But honestly, Emery has to change from his stance of his I too know the Gunners who should best start for Arsenal in the PL matches. But at times also listen to the advice and the suggestions from us Gooners of who and who Gunners us Gooners want to see him start in the PL matches and not be neglecting our advising him as it has seemed he been doing always this season.
Unless UE gets his at act together, I can see the same thing happening when Manure come to us in the cup as happened when the scum came in carabao.
Whilst Manure are on a high with a new manager, we are going slowly downhill with ours.
Seems to me Unai is a control freak who can only create a team out of how he, in his mind, conceptualises how the team can play. He doesn’t appear to trust players with the genius to turn the game inside out with their own creativity, leaving the opposition, the fans, himself as the manager, speechless, sidelined. So no Ozil. Ramsay going.
Add to this the stranglehold the owners have got, helped themselves to. Obviously he can deliver a hardworking, efficient unit but without Ozil the quality isn’t there. Nor was there hunger.
Don’t know or understand what’s going on with Ozil, frustrating, looks like either fitness issues, or someone, who may or may not be Emery wants him out, or maybe both. Remember Emery might not have the same say over players and contracts Wenger was believed to have had, and the club in general seem to be on an economy drive. It is also possible internal dynamics have changed ,not just with Wengers departure, but with that of Ivan as well, yesterday’s favourites could be tomorrow’s cast offs when radical change comes calling.
Recent results have been frustrating, we were on a fine run a few weeks ago, but rode our luck at times, and maybe injuries have bought things down to earth a bit, especially defensive injuries.
Everyone initially said Emery needs time, he deserves that much, as far as we know, he is not being backed with other gifts for the moment.
Might as well back him, as I can guarantee Stan won’t be paying off another manager in the near future, and even if he did, we know where the money will come from.
Despite frustrations and bafflement at times, I back Emery to come good, but might not really see that until next season.
But, for right or for wrong, It’s clear he wants to play a different type of game to Wenger, and to what many of these players have been accustomed to.
And, as a manager new to this league, he will make mistakes, as the most annointed of his current peers have done, though many are forgetting the first seasons of Klopp, Poch and even in relative terms, Pep.
Patience was called for when Emery arrived, and that still stands. Decent pedigree, but he does not have the resources to do what he wants overnight. It seems too many fans out there are forgetting that. Change comes with consequences unseen
The statistics places like PremierLeague.con have available, are not sufficient to monitor the EPL. In my mind, there is no single source of data which might be sufficient to monitor the EPL.
What might be useful, is if there were commentaries on EPL games by “learned people” not in the UK (or USA). People who commentating for a non-English language. Get those commentaries translated into English, and compare what the medja pudnits produce compared to “foreigners”.
A person used to get a tally on all treatments, now a person only gets the “serious” treatments (and most medja commentaries don’t mention those). We need all that data.
Occasionally Walter or other Untolder’s comment that there were disallowed goals. We need that data. Remember expected goals? If a goal is disallowed for a slight problem, in terms of “expected goals” that goal has a value of close to 1. But sure, there could be some scored goals which are so blatantly obvious that even someone like Moss couldn’t allow the goal to stand. So the value of that goal should be close to 0 (which is the typical value of any of the PGMO referees).
Does anybody want “work” to do? While it makes a lot of sense for a team to only have a single “location” (few teams move, or at lest not a long way and certainly not within the season – except possibly the spuds). But referees can move. From what I remember, it is actually unusual for EPL referees to move outside of the county they were born in. But it would be interesting to have approximate GPS coordinates or lat/long to the minute, if not the second of DMS) for where a referee was born, where he lived while growing up (if different from where born), and where he lived as an adult. My apologies to Sian Massey or others, most of these people working for PGMO in the EPL are us dumb males. It takes intelligence to show compassion, and that tends to be a female trait.
Yes, play Özil! It is no good worrying about what he can’t do (tackling), when he is a wonderful creator of chances for team-mates. I believe he always has an impressive heatmap, so is not idle. Laca and Auba are there hovering, but no killer passes. Their game looks off without an assist player. It is unfair to have Guendouzi learn his trade at this level, much as I love his effort. I’m not keen on 3 at the back and Holding’s injury is a massive miss now. The midfield is not functioning at all. Does anyone know what Emery has in mind as a game plan? btw I am not having a go at Emery here, but we need a fit Özil playing now.
Continuing with GameDay 22. Everton was playing Bournemouth.
At the end of the game, the foul count showed 17 by Everton and 6 by Bournemouth. Everton ended the game with 5 yellow cards (about 3:1 fouls to cards). Based on that, I would have expected Bournemouth to pick up 2 or 2 cards, but 0 is similar to 1 or 2.
There were 2 “serious” treatments needed in the game (from what I can see), both to Bournemouth players. Of course, there does not appear to be a foul or card associated with either treatment. But the fact that Everton nominally committed 3 times as many fouls as Bournemouth makes it more likely that Bournemouth players would need treatment.
There can be other reasons for a player to need treatment, but I think the most likely reason is that of foul play by the opposition. Which is why it is so strange to see so few fouls and cards associated with these events.
GD 22 summaries
Referee League. Martin Atkinson is still leading, having supervised 36 treatments(20:16) this season. The amount of time teams had to play shorthanded for that was 84 (43:41) and 9 substitutions (5:4) were required. Nobody is close to him on time. Chris Kavanagh, Paul Tierney and Mike Dean come close on substitutions.
Caution league. Liverpool and Chel$ea have the lowest caution at 726 and 948 man minutes respectively. ManU has the most at 1810, and we are two away at 1610. Man$ity and the spuds are 1 away form Chel$ea. Liverpool is 4 MAD off the median, which is pretty close to 3 standard deviations off.
Treatment league. The 5 lowest teams needing treatment are Watford(9), CPalace(11), ManU(14), Man$ity(14) and Chel$ea(15). Liverpool and the spuds are in the middle of the pack. As you know, PGMO lets teams kick us all over the park. We are behind the leaders Cardiff(38 treatments for 75 minutes short-handed and 9 forced substitutions) at 32 treatments for 46 short-handed minutes and 7 forced substitutions. The spuds lead the forced substitution stat, with 10.
Inverse Treatment league. Leicester(10), Chel$ea(15), Wolves(16), Man$ity(17) are at the low end of inflicting treatments on others. The spuds (29) and ManU(28) lead the league; they inflicted 9 and 8 substitutions respectively. We are middle of the pack, and Liverpool is just a little higher than us.
The inverse treatment league is a variation on the dirty aspect of the Fair Play standings. Spuds and ManU are showing all other teams how to be dirty, it just happens that by having the spuds live by the sword, they also happen to be dying by the sword.