By Walter Broeckx
As could be expected a handful of changes for this match. Not even 48 hours after our last match sending out the same team is not really smart.
At the back we had Gabriel in the place of Koscielny who sat on the bench. Gibss replace Monreal. In midfield we had Chambers who came in the place of Flamini. And finally Oxlade-Chamberlain came in for Campbell.
Thus we had the following starting line up: Cech, Bellerin, Gabriel, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Chambers, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Walcott, Giroud.
On the bench: Ospina, Debuchy, Koscielny, Monreal, Iwobi, Reine-Adelaide, Campbell
Bournemouth pressing high over the pitch. Not much fluent play in the opening 15 minutes from either side. A good attack from Bournemouth on our right flank leads to a low cross but Per and Ramsey smother the ball and Ramsey can play it out of our defence. 0-0 after 15 minutes.
Not much happening in the match a good run from Walcott but he couldn’t connect to the ball and Boruc could pick it up simply.
Arsenal win a corner after a good run from Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right flank going past a few players. . Özil behind the ball and… GOAL!!! Gabriel loses his marker and heads the ball in goal! 1-0 to The Arsenal after 27 minutes.
Ramsey then gets a yellow card for a attempt to break up a Bournemouth attack after he was fouled first, a foul ignored of course. Özil again with delightful ball but the angle for Theo was too difficult and Bournemouth concede another corner. Özil delivers, Gabriel heads against the post and the ball bounces in the face of Per and goes out. Not a minute later Theo gets the ball from Özil but Boruc blocks his effort. Finally Giroud heads the corner over. Arsenal really dominating Bournemouth now.
Another corner causes havoc in front of the Bournemouth goal but no Arsenal player can get to the ball to put it over the line. Arsenal force a lot of corners in this period and should have scored a few more goals. Giroud being held by a defender but the ref sees no foul in it.
Arsenal go in the dressing room 1-0 in front at half time.
Bournemouth with the first opening in the second half but Gabriel is on hand to stop the promising attack. It was offside but well.. not given. Arsenal at the other end but the cross from Oxlade-Chamberlain is deflected in the arms of Boruc. Bellerin then away but his cross can’t find Giroud. The Ox being hacked down when doing some great tracking back but no card according to the ref for the Bournemouth player. Arsenal leaning back a bit now after one hour of play and 1-0 in front.
Chambers making a foul…and the card comes out. A lovely attack starting in our own half. Bellerin and The Ox starting things up to Özil who finds Giroud who flicks in in front of Özil and the provider becomes finisher this time. GOAL! His low effort goes under Boruc to put Arsenal 2-0 in front. 2-0 To The Arsenal after 63 minutes.
Walcott away on the right but his cross shot goes wide. The Ox and Theo switching flanks from time to time causing trouble for Bournemouth. Gabriel being a rock at the back for Arsenal. Özil just can’t get to the end of a cross then. Özil then visibly at the end of his forces after having ran the show.
Giroud with a shot, Boruc spills it and Theo misses the rebound. What a miss.. He would have been offside anyway. Bellerin at the other end with a vital tackle to stop a promising attack from Bournemouth. Arsenal still 2-0 in front after 75 minutes.
Some very tired legs on the field now. Giroud at the start of a counter, to Özil who gives it back but his right footed shot goes wide. Campbell then comes on after 79 minutes in the place of Giroud. Theo up front now. Bournemouth with half a chance but the shot goes over from just inside the penalty area. Gibbs goes off and Monreal comes on. The Ox starts a counter and via Campbell it goes to Theo who gives it back to The Ox whose shot is deflected upon the goal post and goes out for a corner.
Özil again with a lovely ball but too difficult for Theo to control and the ball goes out. Chambers who had really grown in to the match then injured himself when trying to kick a ball away. Özil away on the left flank a cross to Theo but Boruc came out to deny Theo his goal.
The Ox came off in the extra time and Iwobi got a few seconds in the match.
All eyes on Cech in the final minutes. Yes he did it. He got his 170th clean sheet in the PL. So in a way a historic night at the Emirates. Not just for Arsenal taking the top of the league gain but also for the match in which Petr Cech got the record for the most clean sheets.
A good needed win lads. Well done.
Thanks for the quick report.
Well done Cech, but more importantly, well done the manager and team, especially those who came in. Thought Gibbs Gab and Chambers did very well.
And as for Ozil, the word sublime is surely no longer sufficient?
They were under immense pressure, but kept things simple, if shooting boots were on, that could have been a big score, but no matter, it’s the points what count today.
And a footnote…..despite everything, WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!
Sorry, left out Ox, didn’t really happen for him today, but it will. Never hid or stopped trying
We top the calendar year points table again…
Now target is to repeat that and get the FA Cup again. Come on gunners. Together we can.
Have heard rather a lot of kicking in the Utd Chelsea game, and that Rooney was lucky not to see red…..no surprise there.
Shouldn’t judge as I have not seen the game, but if true, a pretty damning indictment of the English game, and those two teams spending.
2 -nil could have probably should have been 5 but 3 points most importantly.
Who was that again, that came up with the ‘nicking a living’ line? Whoever they’re they must be feeling really really stupid.
And I thought Chambers deserves a special mention too…
The Serbian commentator was surprised with Roger East’s decision not to call foul for a push on Özil in the first half.
East had a really poor game and I was screaming: “Get Chambers and Ramsey out, Arsene!” at my monitor but he couldn’t hear me.
Gabriel was a real rock, as Walter said. Second best only to the best Premier League player.
Walcott and Giroud obviously have a soft spot for Thierry. Otherwise Mesut would have broken Thierry’s record as early as tonight. 🙂
Summarising para:
– When we lose: “the players are poor and as a team are terrible and not making effort.”
– When we win: “Yaaaay….up Arsenal. Well done”
Al @ 7:42 PM
The experts who said that don’t feel stupid because they’re too stupid, LOL. Cheers, Al. And to the lads, especially the subs who all played well. Gabriel could have been MOM if it weren’t for Ozil and I thought Chambers was a revelation at DM. Even with the injuries this squad is deep!
And let’s give Ollie a shout for the assist on Ozil’s goal. Looked like Bergkamp on that one!
East was pretty terrible and missed most of the Bournemouth fouls whilst blowing for all of ours. Be interesting to see his competence and bias numbers when the ref review is out. I thought we should have had a first half penalty as well. Another win despite the officials. Onwards and upwards! COYG
I saw the game Mandy and it is definite penalty. Howard Webb and everybody in the BT studio were unanimous in calling it.
Look at it this way: the English FA sent an emissary to UEFA to reduce Rooney’s ban before Euro 2012! Just take a moment to think about that.
He is the English football’s golden boy, although with his performances in the last half decade, I don’t quite get it.
Cheers Goonersince72 🙂 And yes, that WAS some assist from Ollie 🙂
So a possible penalty and red card missed by Atkinson at OT, a harsh red card and offside goal awarded by Taylor against Watford, and East making a mess of things at the Ems…just another day at the office for the pgmob. And that’s only in 3 games, wonder how many incorrect decisions there across the entire league today.
An excellent win and a good three points taking us back to the top. More importantly we have put the Southampton match behind us.
To be fair to Bournemouth, while they got away with a few fouls, they came to basically play football – unlike the thugs from Southampton.
East – was another poor ref – booked two of our players & should have booked at least three of theirs, but failed to do so.
Well played Chambers &the team in general, the fresh legs helped & what a class header from Gabriel!
Also, congrats to Cech on taking the clean sheets record – well deserved.
@AI – I think Ake’s tackle was worth of a red card. I do agree that Taylor & co gave Spuds two points by not signalling offside though.
Hoping for a draw or a Leicester City victory tomorrow. Man City are our main rivals, it’s better for them to lose points in my opinion. I don’t mind us returning to 2nd place as long as we are within a couple of points off Leicester with our main rivals falling further behind. It was really upsetting to see the Chickens gifted 2 points to get into 3rd today.
Here is to a draw of ANY kind tomorrow evening!
Thank you Arsenal for a wonderful game of football. Truly a great experience. Watching Özil on the pitch is like watching a magician!
Live in the stadium is something completely different isn’t it Malaysiangooner?
Great to see you have enjoyed it
Just got home from the game, and really good to read your report Walter. What I would say is that although the stadium was fairly quiet, the roar for the second goal was extraordinary. I think everyone realised they had seen something special.
Cech did a lap of honour with six other players at the end and much of the crowd stayed to applaud his achievement. Good to see – and hear.
Words can’t describe it Walter. I wished the game would go on forever. Pity the Bournemouth supporters outsang us for most of the game. The fans around my block are pretty quiet, both locals and foreigners. And i tried to catch a glimpse of the untold banner but couldn’t find it.
Watching MOTD, now I know why Anthony Taylor hates us, always thought he was a Manc……but some Spurs sympathies judging in that performance. Yes, Ake should have been sent off, but he lets far worse go against us. And their winning goal was two foot offside in the buildup, tho I guess the linesman to blame
Match of the Day – Shearer manages to turn praise of Ozil into criticism of Giroud. Typical!
Great credit to manager and team for ONCE MORE bouncing back from defeat to victory immediately.
Interesting on Rooney Bootoomee. Clearly still has clout.
On another issue, Is it Spurs or Leicester or both who are this years media team of choice? It is but a nonsense, but seems to carry weight with the pgmol, witness Liverpool and all their dodgy penalties and decisions a couple of seasons ago, it was all set up for them……until Gerrard and Rogers conspired to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Also lovely to hear about the Cech lap of honour. Great achievement for our goalie.
Pat,
Glad I wasn’t the only one who heard Shearer’s stupid punditry. Is it impossible to praise anything having to do with Arsenal without attaching some kind of qualifier or criticism?
The highest Assist/Goal combination this season is 7 goals from Ozil/Giroud.
One of the reasons why I detest the British media so much is their knack for always, ALWAYS falling back to “common wisdom” which is just regurgitation of the crap they and their friends previously spewed.
When David Moyes said the jury was still out on Ozil, he exposed, in my opinion, his prolonged absence from the rest of the herd. While he was away, the consensus about the German changed but unfortunately for the sucker, he wasn’t in tune with the latest song. Cue his merciless mockery, which I enjoyed tremendously, I must add.
Giroud is their favourite whipping boy but unlike Ozil, who most Arsenal fans stood by in difficult times, the Frenchman’s inquest have often been led by Arsenal fans themselves. Many Untolders naturally excepted of course.
Have a feeling the pgmol, under orders from above , possibly as far above as the Sky , orders, or suggestions which conveniently happen to fit their inate bias …..are terrified of us running away with it.
Cannot have two London teams in two years running away with it, especially if one is Arsenal.
Expect more strange ref performances in coming weeks, especially if we stay top. Was impressed with Chambers today, just a shame he was not judged by Mr East on his tackling in the lenient manner some of the opposition were. But he stood up and did well.
But we are top, despite it all.
I am amazed an intelligent football man like Moyes said that about Ozil, I wonder if something was edited, or context missing.
But if he said it as it sounds, beyond ridiculous …..for a World Cup winner, and a man described by one or two as the best number ten on the planet, let alone his current stats.
Moyes managed in Spain, Ozil was rated pretty highly over there, but many think now, he is even better.
Maybe Moyes is just going along with the media line to get a job back here.
Yes, the Ozil/Giroud partnership has been quite devastating this season but you wouldn’t know it. It’s hardly mentioned, all you hear is Vardy/Mahrez. Not that the latter has been doing badly, but just that ours has almost completely been ignored yet it has been just as good, if not better.
Shearer is doing a moyes there, singing for his supper. I don’t think any striker (perhaps only lukaku?) has been as good or in richer form over the last couple of months than Giroud, and yet he will still criticise him. Didn’t watch motd but I’m willing to bet my last penny he wasn’t critical of rooney who hasn’t scored since….,September maybe? Anyway, what’s new, we’ve come to accept that if it’s not rotational fouling of our players on the pitch it’s rotational criticising of our players in the media. They’ll always have someone to bash, spurred on by our section of fans who don’t exist.
Sky have compiled some stats for Ozil here, for this season, and the numbers are unbelievable.
Mandy Dodd,
Before Moyes left for Spain, the consensus in the British media/pundit circles was that Ozil wasn’t living up to the billing. Recall the brain-dead “Ozil is nicking a living” nonsense? I will be fess up that I also thought Ozil wasn’t doing great half way through his first season with us. I never abused him but I didn’t think he was great either and the fact that Giroud was getting blamed for his poor form infuriated me.
But For over a year now (or around when Moyes left for Spain), Ozil has been delivering spectacularly and on regular basis. The fact that Moyes still thought that “the jury is still out” on the German (a sentiment that no one following football closely holds) shows that he was merely parroting the same old crap (or “common-wisdom”) that was in circulation before he left i.e. when Ozil was indeed not on top of his game.
(See: http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/34236 )
Off topic but hearing Mourinho is now favourite to replace LVG. If that were to happen I think that would be the worst thing to happen to football in England; the combination of two English media darlings, we might as well crown them champions before a ball is kicked.
I saw the last Rooney foul on a Chelsea player (Oscar) and it was as follows:
a)Rooney challenges Ivanovic but misses the ball,
b)The ball bounces towards Oscar who manages to control it and run past Rooney,
c)Rooney clearly and deliberately stamps on Oscar’s calf,
d)The referee is about 8 feet away with a clear view,
e) He KNOWS that the stamp was intentional and that Rooney was looking at Oscar, not the ball that was ahead of them both,and therefore intended to injure Oscar so,
f)the referee signals a foul correctly BUT decides that Rooney is too important to send off so he saves himself some explaining to the PIGMOB and simply cautions him!!!!!
A clear red card becomes a “warning” and Rooney escapes once again. Had that been an Arsenal player he;d have been red carded faster than you can say PIGMOB!
@ Al -December 29, 2015 at 12:40 am – AWWW, come on , Al , don’t be such a spoil sport ! Let them hire the Moaning one – I’m already missing him and his antics! And awaiting the courtroom drama to come involving the lovely Dr.Eva .
This is after all the best scripted ‘sport’ after the WWE ! The goings ons outside the ring/stadium are more fun than the sport itself ! The disgraced manager sent packing with tail between legs , becomes the chosen one to another club in turmoil ! Come to think of it , even a bad script writer couldn’t think this up !
Spend some more fucking money the crowd screams ! Please us , they call out !
The Messiah obliges . The team doesn’t improve , instead the gloom worsens . Sack said manager as another dud , and then appoint the sister-in-law (ex-girlfriend ) shagging ex-legend as the next obvious choice . Another failure . How did it all go wrong ? All the experts thought that it was the smartest way to go .
Meanwhile in the other end of the country , its all same old , same old , and the team moves very ponderously up to the top the table , and the ‘fans’ scream – ” spend some fucking money ! ” , “Enough is enough !” , “Wenger out now !”
The experts slam players for ‘ nicking a living ‘ ! And generally laugh and poke fun at the team ( and its manager ) that sits on the top of the table .
WOO HOO , HOO ! Up the Gunners ! It’ll be a very Happy New Year , indeed , no matter who wins/draws or loses tonight !
Some more examples of ‘hacksperts’ in the wrong fields –
An Engineering student attended a Medical exam by mistake.
See his answers…
1. Antibody – One who hates his body .
2. Artery – Study of Fine Paintings .
3. Bacteria – Back door of a Cafeteria .
4. Coma – Punctuation Mark .
5. Gall Bladder – Bladder of a Girl .
6. Genes – Blue Denim.
7. Labour Pain – Hurt at Work .
8. Liposuction – A French Kiss .
9. Ultrasound – Radical Sound .
10. Cardiology – Advanced Study of Playing Cards …..
11. dyspepsia : difficulty in drinking pepsi.
12.Chicken Pox- A dish
13.CT Scan: Test for identifying person’s city
14.Radiology- the study of how Radio works
15.Parotitis : inflammation of parrot
16. Urology: the study of European people
Bootoomee
NO Bootoomee,
Stop it right now.
When we lose, the team is not always poor. In case you do not understand me, when they play poor it bothers me, whether we win or lose. For me it’s really about watching the “art” done by our team, the art that our manager says football should be and i give praise when they perform and entertain me and critic when they show no effort and are dull.
Some of you take the critic to heart, but it is not meant to denigrate Arsenal in any way, that should really be clear.
Sometimes it appears to me that the run to “positivity” is to try to kill all those “negative” feelings that one has so then the scale becomes lop sided instead of penduling until the balance is found.
I think people realy mixup positive and negative. These are not mutally exclusive, but are highly dependant upon one another, and nothing functions without the both of them, that is, no ” :)current:) ” flows when we take away one or the other and it becomes extremism or complete unbalance.
So i flow along the waves of my emotions and experience them fully without any problem, because of this they are not in control of me,(even when it sometimes comes off a little strong, but i’m Human after all).
So dont take offence people, it’s the passion of the game that expresses the emotions in me and i would not want to miss any of them, that IS life.
Yes, Para, but it is being positive that drives things forward, as Arsene Wenger says, being able to rise out of a disappointment. Making mistakes is human. Being able to go forward from them is what leads to progress. A mood of negativity just drives morale down.
Repeated from previous thread:
I don’t know why I am so sceptical but any PGMO pillock with a whistle is unacceptable to me. East, West, Clattenberg or Iceberg, if they are PGMO then they are tarnished & blinded to do evil.
Until the FA all get the f*ck out of football & are replaced by a democratically elected responsible body, with a new set of officials, this game will be tainted.
The sporting arena should never be out of bounds from the Law of the land. Some of the incidents in recent times need to be addressed in a court of law. The biggest joke is the ‘failure to control your players’ bollocks when officials are inept.
Note that I am complaining when Arsenal are top of the league. For me it is not an Arsenal question it is the state of the beautiful game in England. Arsenal have had to ride the tide with currents always against them & still the waters to show how the Game can be played.
para,
I have not for one moment think that you are a negative fan but I think that you get overly emotional at difficult times. This is not peculiar to you by the way, we all worry about Arsenal at tough times. Where I disagree with you and also find you irritating is in your excessive eagerness to spread your worry and depress others with negative and overly critical posts. That is why I always enjoin you to take a deep breath, calm down and stay away from your keyboard till you are feeling a little better.
The fact that I know that you deeply love Arsenal and desperately want us to succeed is exactly why your negativity towards the team in tough times is so difficult to accept. You are not helping the team in anyway but rather depressing others on Untold who are also hurting but trying to soothe each other with some contextual positivity.
The solution as I said earlier is to hold back your postings during tough games and after bad results. Your praise of the team on good days or after excelling in tough games always ring hollow to those who are aware of your previous postings. Remember that it isn’t your job to correct the mistakes of the players. They have no idea of your existence and the only purpose served by your worrying comments is annoy others who just want to stay positive.
My sincere apologies if I offend you with my posts.
@ Judge@John told yah so, you will be back in the sewers sooner rather than later wondering where you are???
Bootoomee
I am not offended.
I spent too many years ignoring the negative and this causes many many problems, it can build up and take one by surprise.
//
See the Bournemouth game? See the effort and work rate with and for one another? That’s what i like to see and surely this is to be expected from the team every time. If the mind isn’t right then a player should not be playing, but when on the pitch, they should be working hard for one another.
Keep the Cannon firing boys