By Walter Broeckx
If there is anything you cannot afford to do against Manchester United it is to give them a two goal advantage in the first 10 minutes. And that is exactly what we did.
First Koscielny with a bad diagonal ball to Kolasinac that was intercepted by Valencia who could go on and score the 0-1 after 4 minutes. A shock to the system and things got worse when Mustafi lost the ball in a childish way to Lingard who after 3 passes was at the end of the attack and his shot went in from the goalpost. 0-2 after 11 minutes.
That would have been enough to sink most teams and get them down on the ground. Mustafi came off injured after that second goal and Iwobi came on and Arsenal switched their system going to 4 at the back.
Arsenal then started to go forward an put MU under enormous pressure. Attack after attack and some real dangerous situations but the chances were squandered or the MU keeper was on the right place to make some great stops. Lacazette on the end of a ball in the area but the ball bounced against he leg of De Gea and then ran out at the wrong side of the goal post. Lacazette diverting a shot from Ramsey that fell on to of the goal. A situation in the MU penalty area where Lacazette had a shot that somehow was pushed against the crossbar by De Gea and the rebound came to Xhaka whose shot shaved the foot of the post. Özil with a shot but De Gea stopped it. Matic can do no wrong with the ref making deliberate foul after foul but no yellow card. Another Özil shot was diverted in to a corner by a defender. Iwobi with a shot but over. Bellerin with a shot but parried away by De Gea and seconds later Kolasinac with a shot from distance but again De Gea with the save.
We had enough chances to be comfortable in front after 45 minutes but we find ourselves 0-2 down because of 2 bad mistakes from our central defenders who have been so good so far this season. Shit happens… We on the other hand should have scored at least 2 or 3 goals.
Arsenal continue to press forward in the second half but Lacazette heads the ball wide. But a goal had to come. Alexis with a cross to Ramsey who plays it back to Lacazette who is completely on his own from 6 meters out and he makes no mistake. 1-2 after 49 minutes.
Arsenal take a breather after having been on the attack for and Pogba plays in Lingaard but Cech with a hand to the shot that bounces against the post and Monreal is on hand to block the rebound shot with his back. Matic with an elbow against Lacazette. The ref sees no wrong.
At the other end Iwobi with a shot but De Gea again there. Lacazette then with a shot but it went wide. Iwobi with a shot that takes a deflection but again De Gea can palm it away. Alexis with a cross but the header from Iwobi goes over. And then the minute that should have changed the match. Lacazette with a great shot but De Gea with an equal great (another) save. The balls comes to Alexis who only 4 meters away from the goal has a shot but somehow De Gea manages to save it with his foot when he was already down.
Dangerous cross after dangerous cross comes in from Arsenal but somehow we cannot find the back of the net. And then the killer blow. Pogba with a counter attack and he finds Lingard at the second post who can push the ball over the line. 1-3 after 63 minutes. What a blow for Arsenal that had been working so hard. Against the run of play as they say.
Alexis with a dangerous shot but again De Gea with the save. Arsenal back to attacking full throttle but you can feel something has been broken with the 3rd goal. But still we have shots but the MU buss is of decent material and they block most efforts and the ones that go past it find an extraordinary De Gea on their way. Welbeck comes on for Xhaka who had lost Lingard with the 3rd goal.
Bellerin gets a well deserved yellow card after fouling Young. And minutes later Pogba goes in with his studs on the back of the knee on Bellerin and Marinner had no option then to give the red card. This could have been a season ending for Bellerin who isn’t his normal himself after that. Luckily Bellerin can continue. Giroud comes on for Kolasinac.
Alexis with a dangerous cross but nobody at the end. A shot from Lacazette is blocked. Welbeck with a shot that takes a deflection but again De Gea is in the right place. Lukaku and Koscielny foul each other a few times but Lukaku seems to get a bit of advantage and then he goes down under pressure from Koscielny. Koscielny only gets a yellow card.
Then the moment when Marinner did what he always do: don’t give Arsenal a penalty. Never. 3 or 4 not given at Stoke. Now again. Welbeck cuts out his marker in the penalty area and the MU defenders clearly kicks the standing leg of Welbeck away. A clear penalty but nothing given. That would have been the chance to score a possible 2-3 but if we get Marinner again this season we should get at least 4 or 5 imaginary penalties in our favour.
Alexis and Herrera have a discussion and Marinner gives them both a yellow card. Ramsey with a shot on the turn but the ball goes over. After the not given penalty the shoulders from Arsenal players drop as they know it is again impossible to get even the clearest decision in the opponents penalty area.
Some numbers 75 % possession for Arsenal against 25 for MU. Mu had 8 shots in total and scored 3 goals. Arsenal had 30 shots (blocked not counted) and only one goal. Mind you we should have had at least one penalty. 12 corners for Arsenal against 1 for MU. The players fought like lions after their terrible start and on any other day and with another keeper than De Gea we would have won this match.
We completely dominated MU but gave the ball cheaply away twice in the opening minutes and paid for that.
But I will not be throwing stones at Koscielny and Mustafi. They have been great for us this season so far and this is something that can happen. It is painful that it happened in this match but such is live. You don’t always get what you want and sometimes things can go horribly wrong. Let us hope we have done our giving away of goals for the rest of this season.
I know there have been other moments where Marinner could have pointed to the spot but I don’t expect a ref to give such penalties and certainly not in favour of Arsenal. I do expect him to give blatant penalties. But even that is too much for Marinner since a few months/years. Has he been given the shortest straw at the PGMO at the start of the season when it came to give nothing to Arsenal?
They ended up with 10 men and won away. Walter – please have more perspective. You are making UA look unprofessional. Probably the shock of the day was that JM went for the jugular which would not have paid off but for the Arsenal defence not adapting to the game quickly enough. It was an excellent game and I remember when we won 3-2 against them with Anelka starring in a similar game. Utd have improved under JM and Arsenal are having a decent season and the possibility of CL football next season is on the radar. Perspective – that’s all without the silliness of referees throwing games and what not in some vendetta against Arsenal. You sound a bit like Trump really.
Offensively we were fantastic. But once again we have conceded 3 goals in a big match open to counter attacking football. Yes we should have had at least one pen but the fact is we had to score 3 to draw 4 to win.in a home game. Until this changes we will never compete at the highest level, it’s that simple.
Thank you for the the speedy report Walter. It doesn’t change anything though. One has got to hit the EPL and the ‘Oink’Mob where it hurts the most. For me, I tell you for me oh, I am striking them all from my subscriptions list. I won’t continue to pay my hard earned money to cheats to continue to fleece me. Arsenal forever.
Thank you for the the speedy report Walter. It doesn’t change anything though. One has got to hit the EPL and the ‘Oink’Mob where it hurts the most. For me, I tell you for me oh, I am striking them all from my subscriptions list. I won’t continue to pay my hard earned money to cheats to continue to fleece me. Arsenal forever.
Good night for such a poor reminder (UA Admin)
Disappointed with the lost but I can’t fault the team overall performance. It’s one of those days where the opponents keeper gave his best performance.
Climactic,
It is a fact that Lacazete should have got first half when a Manu defender grabbed his neck and wrestled him to the ground; Welbeck should have had one; Matic was fouling all day without being reprimanded,and yes some comedy defending from us.These are facts. They win but Manu are average.
@ climatic,
We gave them all three goals, for that we deserved to lose. Beyond that when it comes to comments about referees, I will take Walter’s views over yours every day of every week. I counted two penalties from fouls and three from hand balls some of which I’m certain would have been given in our penalty area. How United players weren’t sent off given the number of fouls they committed only the PGMO can answer. The Pogba one was so blatant that even this dork of a referee couldn’t ignore the foul. It could easily have been a season endet for Bellerin.
The difference between winning and losing is very small and all too frequently is provided by the men in black. It may not be the complete reason for us losing but it is there and it matters.
COYG. Let’s start a new winning run
I am not blaming the ref. If you do read this in my article than this is because you are biased against anything Untold writes I think.
I am blaming Kos and Mustafi for having a bad day out on the field. Those things happen and contributed to our loss. Without those errors we might have won 3 or 4 to 1.
I mentioned those mistakes if you would care to read or re-read the article again.
But our players making mistakes is no excuse for the ref to make AGAIN obvious mistakes and AGAIN the penalty decisions (just like against Stoke) go completely against us. Against Stoke they cost us 3 points. Today they maybe didn’t change the end score but that doesn’t take the mistakes away.
If a ref is poor we should say so. And Marinner was poor. And not for the first time.
at least three stonewall penos not given, one on laca in first half when he was shoved down, one on Welbz, and another one on Laca when he was scythed on the edge of the box
just look at the contact made with his legs and compare that to the contact made with Sterling
half a dozen yellow cards not given to united players, giving them a license to kill, which Pogba promptly exploited
one might say yeah he got the deserved red card, but at that point the damage was done, and Bellerin might yet end up on the crutches, just look at what years under PIGMOB rules have done to Santi
and some are even saying it was not a red!
this match reminded me of our win against Leicester some years ago, even though we won that time it became clear the PIGMOB won’t let us have anything good
If we keep on playing (going forward) like we did today we can beat any team. Just have to cut out those silly mistakes at the back. And I know we can do this. Cutting out those silly mistakes I mean. COYG!
Prior to the Lacezette non-penalty, why was our no. 6 not red carded for the foul? He was the last defender…Manure playing to stay in touch with the leaders. Arsenal playing to be top 4 contenders. Wake me up when our regime ends…..zzzz
G’day Snellers.
Some poor defending, a little wasteful in front of goal, but some moments of real quality, on another day we would have battered them. Marriner did what we all knew he would do.
We have recruited the guy from Barca, one of his titles is to do with external relations. This guy has serious connections in the game, and is apparently a friend of Infantino, as well as many so called super agents., and god knows who else.
Not saying this is a good thing btw, but I wonder if when the purist Wenger departs, the club might become a lot more streetwise in dealing with the little biases the team face. I get the feeling Raul knows how to get his hands a bit dirty, hope starting with Mike Riley’s mob.
Harv, our no 6 is Kos, you should know that, don’t you think? and he wasn’t the last defender, there was Bellerin there too, even closer to the goal
Andre Marriner is corrupt. The two penalty shouts for Welbeck and Lacazette in the final minutes were irrefutable. If they’d happened at the other end I would have had no argument against two spot kicks being given. When you have the chance to claim a point from a match in which you’ve beasted the opposition and their goalkeeper has been supernaturally good, I believe you have the right to feel aggrieved. We made mistakes and have been punished, yet Marriner has made two huge ones and walks away free as a bird. It stinks.
Harv. There’s no such rule of “the last defender”. (Walter, correct me if I’m wrong). As far as I know it’s down to the ref to evaluate the importance of the foul.
He must consider the following criteria in deciding whether to sanction a red card for having failed to score a goal or for having annihilated a clear goal opportunity:
• the distance between the place of the fault and the goal;
• the probability of the team maintaining or recovering the ball;
• placement and number of defenders.
You can keep on sleeping.
One thing I want our defenders to do is when they are under pressure, to kick the ball out of play, no need to be fancy and try to outplay the opponent especially near the penalty box.
De Gea won the match and he was absolutely outstanding today, it’s just one of them days where the ball just won’t kiss the net for Arsenal. Mistakes happens but overall the team gave it their all, and that’s all I wanted them to do.
were are the folks who said MC deserved a win since they ‘played better’ despite scoring from offside and dive?
And dont forget the trip when sanchez went to tap the cross, he was tripped by Rojo in thr penalty area.
Polo,
I second this, specially in big matches. Bit i think mustafi mistake was due to a sudden injury occurance and couldnt kick it away.
Yeah, and third goal, Lukaku grabbed Kosienly neck/head before crossing the ball
Thanks for an honest and expert report as always, Walter. And a report from a true supporter’s point of view as well. We made mistakes, we were punished. But the referee cheated us as well. And not for the first time the opposing goalie played a blinder. I count it a tribute to us that this happens so often. Our players don’t need to feel ashamed and nor do our fans. Our team put up a fantastic fight.
But again we can say the neglect of the referee in punishing repeated fouling has finally resulted in a terrible foul from Pogba that could have seriously injured Bellerin. No wonder Lacazette says that the English refereeing is dangerous.
I am disappointed with the result. Their goals were a result of egregious individual mistakes on our part. But, to give them credit, they accepted our gifts. Their keeper was great and we were not clinical enough in their box. As for the referee, he had a bad day. Still, we didn’t put the ball in the net so his mistakes compounded ours.
Overall, though, I am not unhappy with our play. Mustafi and Koscielny do not normally make those mistakes and we showed a lot of mettle by dominating the play after falling two goals down. Kudos to ManU, they got the three points, but I can’t be bothered to get angry at our players for a strong and dominating effort. The sun rises tomorrow. Up the Guns.
I am disappointed with the result. Their goals were a result of egregious individual mistakes on our part. But, to give them credit, they accepted our gifts. Their keeper was great and we were not clinical enough in their box. As for the referee, he had a bad day. Still, we didn’t put the ball in the net so his mistakes compounded ours.
Overall, though, I am not unhappy with our play. Mustafi and Koscielny do not normally make those mistakes and we showed a lot of mettle by dominating the play after falling two goals down. Kudos to ManU, they got the three points, but I can’t be bothered to get angry at our players for a strong and dominating effort. The sun rises tomorrow. Up the Guns.
DeGea made 14 saves today & the sooner he goes to Madrid or Barca the better for the rest of the PL teams.
GoingGoingGooner, totaly share your point of view. Individual mistakes, not strictly defensively but in bringing the ball out, dribbling… That was stupid mistakes, especially facing such good strikers.
But Kos and Mustafi showed us many time how good they are, so, i can’t blame them. Pity they’ve done that in the begining of the game!
The ref was not that bad if you exclude the 7 or 8 more important décisions he had to make 🙂
Some often lament about the players, their lack of guts (or lack of corones…)
They showed us today, that they could play, that they wanted to win, and they absolutely gave everything. My son texting me during the game said : “Wow, they are going to make MU totaly ridiculous!”. And this was true for any gunners on the pitch. Who would dare to say again that Ozil is nicking a living, or to talk about his body language ? He was fully commited.
Hope the players will be able to get the positives from such a game and get more confident. Look, overall (as Arsène would say) they just have to buy better shooting boots and it will be perfect!
COYG !
We can’t “completely dominate” a Mourinho team that was up 2-0 after 10 minutes. Once that second goal went in the net, the bus came out and they were content to counter until they needed to attack.
The positives to be taken from this ugly showing are much like most of our round of 16 second legs. Yeah, we looked good after blowing the game. Not good enough, though.
It is perhaps the best performance from any losing side in the history of the game.
Over here in Nigeria some people said it’s Mourinho masterclass to soak up the pressure and play perfectly to his tactics. Rubbish!
De Gea made 14 saves, 10 of them world class. Man U completely dominated in every stat bar fouls, cards and goals! And someone is calling it Mourinho’s game plan.
Whoever is not proud of the Gunners’display in that match is never worthy being a fan of the club.
I’ve no doubt we’ll make top 4.
I cant comment on the game as i did not see it, but even having to listen via talksport, the commentator made a few good points, well he said;
If that was any other team, we would have got a pen, but not against manu
His co-commentator said, what do you mean? Do you mean that pens against manu are not given?
And he basically replied yes.
It was strange to hear talksport say this.
The othe point was, 13 corners and we kept lobbing the ball over, manu got first contact on the lobbed ball with their tall players defending the corner.
The commentator ask why we did not take a short corner when we saw that we were not getting any joy with the long ones.
All in all, it seems Arsenal got their preparations wrong, again.
To survive in this world and football, one has to adjust to how the opposition and the enemy plays the game, one cannot rely on integrity anymore.
There is no god that will make justice for you, and to think that a future justice is going to help is just plain foolishness.
So, we either have to adapt and play the game the way it is played or get the hell out of the game.
I dont even feel like watching the game now on Arsenal.com, maybe in a few days when i recover.
Argggghhh.
Thanks Walter . Your report is just as how I saw the game. I an proud on how we tried to fight back after then earlier set backs.
I take a lot of positives from our performance other than those obvious mistakes .
Let us kick on from here and go on a good run to the new year and beyond .
Up the Gunners !
An Inspiring Story-
A famous writer was in his study room. He picked up his pen and started writing :
**Last year, I had a surgery and my gall bladder was removed. I had to stay stuck to the bed due to this surgery for a long time.
**The same year I reached the age of 60 years and had to give up my favourite job. I had spent 30 years of my life in this publishing company.
**The same year I experienced the sorrow of the death of my father.
**And in the same year my son failed in his medical exam because he had a car accident. He had to stay in bed at hospital with the cast on for several days. The destruction of car was another loss.
At the end he wrote: Oh God! It was such bad year !!
When the writer’s wife entered the room, she found her husband looking sad & lost in his thoughts. From behind his back she read what was written on the paper. She left the room silently and came back with another paper and placed it on side of her husband’s writing.
When the writer saw this paper, he found his name written on it with following lines :
**Last year I finally got rid of my gall bladder due to which I had spent years in pain….
**I turned 60 with sound health and got retired from my job. Now I can utilize my time to write something better with more focus and peace…..
**The same year my father, at the age of 95, without depending on anyone or without any critical condition met his Creator…..
**The same year, God blessed my son with a new life. My car was destroyed but my son stayed alive without getting any disability……
At the end she wrote:
This year was an immense blessing of God and it passed well !!!
The writer was indeed happy and amazed at such beautiful and encouraging interpretation of the happenings in his life in that year !!!
Moral : In daily lives we must see that its not happiness that makes us grateful but grate-fulness that makes us happy.
Think positive…..
Be happy !
Another key point was Matic rolling around in pain, which lasted enough time to take the pressure off ManUre and give them a little tea and biscuits rest. The Arsenal fans were in good voice at that point and the pressure was so immense that they had to resort to anything. Straight after that they grabbed goal no3.Classic ManUre tactics.
But we did have enough chances to really wallop them yesterday, just wasnt going in.
Got to keep going for all three Cups, and the top four. Could be worse, we could all be supporting the Chicken.
COYG!
Its always with the egorinios team that we fuck up. The players should know, that he doesn’t like AW and doesn’t miss a chance to insult him,or the team. They should never every give that despicable man a chance. But we never seem to learn. Like always, after this win, he insulted the team. But will we have pride in ourselves and take revenge in the away fixture? I doubt it.
In reply to Oleg Luhzny above. I was obviously mistaken. Our no. 6 may have been Bobby Simpson or Wilf Copping. Or perhaps even Michael Bevan or Red Rum. All this namedropping really is a boost to the ego to dampen the blow. I feel better already. I trust you do too. The disciples will keep beating their hollow drum till the cows come home. Empty barrels do indeed make the most noise….only 21 months to go.
Rumour is from inside the club that Wengers going to be offered another contract, maybe up to three years.
Them Chicken fans wont like that.
If it hadn’t been for our defensive errors, if it hadn’t been for De Gea, if it hadn’t been for our bad finishing, if it hadn’t been for the non given penalties….
Your absolutely correct Walter. The main stat was 1-3, and this will remain in the record books when everybody who watched this match is dead & gone and a new breed of Gooners are trolling each other over a similar match.
It’s over, let’s move on.
And if the boot was on the other foot there would be little mention of global conspiracies with referees at the hub of it. That my friends is football.
“Climatic” – is your soubriquet because you study the weather (Climate)? Or are you illiterate, intending to dub yourself Climactic (Climax)? Or, as I prefer to believe, are the initials of your name C.L., followed by the acknowledgement “I’m a tic”?
Notwithstanding, your contributions are dull and ignorant, and would be better received on a different site.
(Tony, I understand that you’re a true liberal-minded democrat, but in this one respect, I prefer Positively to Untold – they filter out all negative and imbecilic comments. Otherwise, of course, I enjoy visiting you every day!)
Looks like Don MacMahon (OMG) has a rival?
Harv, glad you learned something today, next step might be getting your eyes checked
You tell em Max – you obvious faraway toff who should stick to cricket or whatever you do in your ‘stronghold.’
@ Kenneth – Long time no see. But I see that chickens still occupy your thoughts !
As AW getting another 3 years, where do I sign up ?
Not only would them chickens here that , so would some alleged Arsenal fans!
Me like it !
Sorry ….would it wind up them..
Wenger being offered another three years is fake news.
Brickfields-them pesky chickens are always about, sneaking out of the Coop and pretending they follow the Arsenal on blogs,here there and everywhere!
Good to see you’re going strong with the jokes and words of wisdom, long may it last!
COYG!
I don’t get to watch many games any more, I was fed up with the 😈 Mike Riley crap a long time ago. That the medja are colluding means if I watch, the volume has to be at zero. Which means I cannot hear the fans, but who knows when the audio from the game is from the game your are watching and when it is from some other game that was recorded in the past?
I seen the first 5 or so minutes of the game against ManUre, and then I had to leave. It was my family’s Christmas (first Saturday of December). Late that night, there was a EPL replay, which happened to be the Arsenal game.
I changed channels early enough to get all the pregame propaganda (this was from TSN in western Canada). It was bloody DISGUSTING! It was all about how Arsenal are crap and Wenger is crap! And they want people to subscribe to this? This was just the video part, I had the volume at 0.
In the morning Arsenal were down 1 goal in the first 5 minutes, and guess what the replay was the same. 🙂
So, I decided to watch the game and ignore what the scoreline was. I was still hoping that we would come back and win the game, but as few people in western Canada care about football, I had no idea how the game ended.
I even decided to ignore what the officials were doing or not doing.
It was a very _ENJOYABLE_ game!!! Arsenal had possession, they moved the ball well, they made passes and the passing usually succeeded, they got into positions where attempts to score made sense, attempts were made to score, when Arsenal lost the ball they played well defensively and attempted to recover the ball.
The manager when making a change (including the first forced substitution), was looking to make it more likely for the team to overcome goals scored on them. The players were all trying.
But, goals wouldn’t come. And we lost. At home! On a long run of not losing at home.
And those things happen. Much of football is about luck. The best team doesn’t always win. And in many repeated matches, the best team doesn’t even win nearly all the time. it can be disappointingly close to 50% win rates. And it doesn’t have a darned thing to do with who is better. (And that is why this crap from PGMO is so hard to handle, as they are tilting a significant fraction of games to get the result _THEY_ desire.)
Even though we lost, I am happy with my team and how they played the game. They played football, as it should be played.
And I am still hoping for good results for us in games we play, and results good to us in games others play. Because I would like to see a title. I would like to see a Top-4, so that we are “for sure” back in the Champions League (where we belong). Because in any given year, we are more often than naught (IMHO) capable of being champions.