By Walter Broeckx
A match with nothing at stake apart from Tony being in Leicester. Wenger picked a team that would give whoever the new manager will be to have a look at some youngsters in the squad.
Starting Xl: Cech, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Mavropanos, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Ramsey, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Welbeck, Aubameyang
On the beach: Ospina, Osei-Tutu, Mertesacker, Mustafi, Willock, Nelson, Nketiah
Arsenal with the better of the play in the opening 10-12 minutes. A good save on a shot from Iwobi. Leicester counter and Cech has to save a shot from Vardy. The followed another terrible defending moment. A corner could have been cleared easily but somehow we opted to start passing in a crowded penalty area. That lead to us losing the ball and Iheanacho scored after some ping pong football. 1-0 for Leicester after 16 minutes. That was a terrible give away from us. What were they thinking? Passing the ball around in our own crowded goal area???? All our decent start giving away in a real stupid way.
Worse to come. Mavrapanos lost the ball and brought down the Leicester striker as the last man and he got a red card. A costly mistake from the youngster. Of course the letter of the law is applied as it is Arsenal involved. I’ve seen them not giving when I was at the Emirates a few weeks ago when Welbeck was brought down by the last man. Cech with an excellent save after the free kick. Mustafi prepares himself and Welbeck is the victim of the red card as he goes off to bring on another central defender. Apart from Per no more experience on the bench now. Cech with another good stop on a shot from distance. Leicester dictating play now with the man more. Mhkitaryan with a pass to Aubamayang but the ball went to the wrong side of the striker and he couldn’t capitalise on the chance. Arsenal still 1-0 down after 30 minutes.
A good attack starting with a long ball to Aubamayang ends up with a shot from Mkhytarian that is saved by the keeper. The resulting corner ends with a shot from Aubamayang that is diverted for another corner. Two good chances within one minute. The ref stopping a throw in from Arsenal only to give it back…. strange refereeing…. Arsenal losing the ball and conceding a free kick but Cech with a good low save. Another foul on an Arsenal player goes unpunished… the Leicester player played the ball…. with his hand and then took Mustafi out. Another good save from Cech on a Leicester counter. Arsenal trying to attack when possible but then we open ourselves to the Leicester counters. A Leicester player goes down in his own penalty area and looks in serious trouble with his knee just before the end of the first half. Arsenal play the ball out and stop their attack. Arsenal go in at half time 1-0 down. Come on guys let’s get something from this game for Tony.
Arsenal with a long combination from left to right and back to the left and Kolasinac with the shot that is stopped by the goalpost. Oh well…. when it isn’t your year, it isn’t your year. Leiecester with an attack and the shot goes past Cech but Mustafi clears in front of the goal line. Cech had slowed the ball down with his left hand, so a good save. Leicester players throwing or kicking the ball away when play is stopped but the letter of the law doesn’t apply to this of course. The ball goes to Maitland Niles on the right flank who goes past his man and cuts it back to Aubamayang whose first shot is saved on the goal line by the keeper but Aubamayang puts the rebound over the goal line. GOAL! 1-1 after 53 minutes. He really has a great scoring record since his arrival.
Aubamayang races clear again in the next minute but Iwobi can’t get on the end of his cross. Maitland Niles again with a good run on his flank but the cross is cleared in front of Aubamayang and then Iwobi shoots wild and high over the goal. Still 1-1 after 60 minutes.
My stream going down then to see Mkhytarian being kicked down just outside the penalty area but well… the ref didn’t see it. Oh well… Maitland Niles being pushed in the air and again no foul for the ref. Mkhitaryan found with a long ball from Kolasinac but the angle was too difficult and he shoots half a meter over the Leicester goal. Arsenal giving the ball away in a dangerous position but luckily Ramsey comes to the rescue and intercepts the attack. Ramsey with another great interception launches a counter after Leicester free kick but a misunderstanding between Aaron and Mkhitaryan wastes the opportunity. Arsenal with a few counters but Leicester goes down in the Arsenal penalty area and of course the ref gives a penalty. Again a very soft decision against Arsenal. But this is what we have come to expect from this ref already. Vardy scores 2-1 after 75 minutes. Everything goes against Arsenal with the ref. Fouls on Arsenal players are missed the slightest contact with Leicester players is punished. One of those penalties you only see given against us.
Wow a foul is given when Iwobi is clearly brought down and even a yellow card. Pigs fly in Leicester in the 78th minute. Kolasinac with a header but straight at the keeper. After 83 minutes Iwobi goes off and Nketiah comes on. I think it is making up time as the ref gives Mahrez a deserved yellow card for kicking the ball away in anger after a handball. Leicester taking a throw in of a ball that went over the sideline some 6 meters out some 20 meters further with the ref doing nothing about it.
Arsenal with tired legs and trying to go forward and then run in to the counter knife. Mahrez escapes on the flank and rounds the last defender and scores. 3-1 after 90 minutes.
We played for 75 minutes against 12 man and had a chance to get a point. The 12th man (and I don’t mean the Leicester supporters) decided we were not allowed anything. The penalty killed us. The ref has put in a good CV for Riley.
This has been the pattern away from home in 2018 : we make stupid mistakes at the back and the refs do their utmost best to stop us when we might be on our way back to get something from the match. The first thing is something we should improve on. The second thing….only God and Mike know….
Disgraceful reffing by another ref following in the footsteps of Riley, Dean, Taylor etc etc etc. What will our new manager make of it or are these terrible displays of biased officiating reserved solely for Arsene Wenger.
Good summary Walter, sums up the impression I got entirely.
OT
Ozils agent has absolutely blasted Keown for the attack on Mezut a few days ago….
http://www.goal.com/en-ie/news/ozil-agent-destorys-jealous-keown-over-stupid-comments/1javhtwzz72q113dnonn24mnr1
PGMO is, to put it simply, a disease. Instead of using next free summer to educate refs about VAR, Premier League voted against VAR because referees are too incompetent to use technology properly. Only in England…
Anyway, whoever takes over from Arsene, I hope he will have more luck with the refs and that he will fire our defensive coach. 51 goals conceded in 37 games.
@ Mick Hazel,
The attack on Keown by Ozil’s agent is the least he deserves.
He has become increasingly reactionary as time has gone by, and is effectively
operating as a professional troll, and a mercenary one at that, too.
The only thing missing now is Dean for Wenger his last match…..
78 red cards under Wengers tenure.
Thank you Sky.
Fergie got 48 in 27 seasons.
So accounting for the years in charge about half.
The report in Arsenal.com says Mavropanos was not the last man and should not have been sent off. It also suggests the Leicester penalty was not a penalty. Has our club suddenly started to point out the unfair treatment by the referees? Why then didn’t they do it sooner – years ago in fact, and give Arsene Wenger the support he deserved?
Dean was 4th official at Chelsea this eve, with Mason,part of a team of officials who did their best for the Spuds, and Deans other team, Liverpool if you believe some. still, not wasting sympathy on Chelsea.
Think you summed it up very well at the end Walter, we shoot ourselves in the foot, and the refs do the rest,away anyway.
This table below, which is only valid up until May 6th demonstrates that with tonights pen, we have again tipped into a negative penalty balance, where we have been for most of Rileys tenure.unusual for such an attacking team. I hope whatever wenger has done to upset the pgmol so much is lifted from the club on his departure.
I will forever respect and admire Wenger, but for whatever reason, the defence has not always functioned as it should this season, that has been costly to the club, and possibly the manager.
failure for the next man to improve our defending will not go down well with anybody.I strongly suspect the next coaching team will maintain an attacking philosophy,giving youth a chance, but may be very hands on with maybe new and specialist coaches organizing the defense and other aspects of the game, as opposed to Wengers alleged more trusting , free spirited approach to the game. That has worked with previous teams, but it is the bravest, most difficult philosophy demanding total confidence and belief from the players, I am not sure recent teams have had that, again mitigating factors. They need to be able to deal with long balls, stop giving goals away to journeymen called Long, Austin, Deeney, Ritchie, Walters, know when to play the ball out of defence and when to hit row Z. The future is interesting, we shall see what happens.
Wengers legacy is intact forever, but cannot help feeling he a deserved better final season, there are mitigating factors but with some losses, this team have been less than the sum of their parts. but Wengers sound values dont always overcome the more unpleasant aspects of the game, not while mike riley has a pulse.
I’ve seen a disappointing deterioration in Martin Keown’s fair treatment of Arsenal as a commentator. It would be interesting to know why.
Pat, you raise a very interesting question.
I wonder if they are emboldened by an ex Barca DOF with contacts to the highest and probably murkiest levels of the game- Raul S is supposedly on good terms with the likes of Infantino, andvarious so called super agents.
I dont think Arsenal will ever compromise certain values, but I see the club possibly becoming more streetwise to certain issues. Raul, from what I have read is a player.
I would imagine Wenger has been disgusted at certain things going on, but as we always finished in the top four for so many years, ad we had to then, but was either told, or decided not to rock the boat too much. But now, no top four, albeit aided by poor defending, they have done their worst, maybe the gloves are finally off, some interesting comments from wenger about VAR recently as well.
Maybe more to follow ,a reported board shakeup coming this summer
I dont think our defense is bad. We defend well, then do a string of stupid defensive mistake which cost us so much.
Am talking in general and not specifically at some matches.
I think we need a coach who can take this down mentality and nervousness and make the players believe in themselves again. And who can protect his players from media and some fans bull****
Iwobi is a great example, and now Mustafi.
Mustafi is a world cup winner, he isnt bad, and he defends very well all match, and then suddenly….boom, mistakes 1 0 down.
Not surprised that Leicester got a penalty it’s how they won the league the other year. Go down get a very soft penalty. 13 penalties in a year that season often when they were struggling. No other club has ever been near that number in a year. Hmmm, I wonder who fell foul of a number of wrong decisions that season which cost them valuable points? Leicester cheated their way out of the championship too but they are still the miracle that saved us from the money!
I still think the problem is the goalkeeper. Cech is SO inconsistent and that will affect the way the defenders in front of him play. Mustafi is a case and point – he panics because the ‘keeper is not in position, doesn’t come for the easy ball, comes for a ball he has no chance of getting, and most regularly of all, has this ground level “flap” at the top of his repertoire.
Personally, I’d like to see Matt Macey in at Huddersfield, Hector back, Maitland Niles alongside Granit, Lacca in for Iwobi and leave Ramsey out of it.
Talking of Ramsey, whilst some can’t fault him, I think he’s been poor. Last night he looked slow, he gives the ball away, leaves it to others to defend HIS errors and his passes are way off.
It wouldn’t bother me at all if he were sold to help fund a mini rebuild.
Confidence is vital in football as elsewhere. Arsene Wenger has said this many times. It seems as if the run of bad results away from home affected their confidence. They seem to have got flustered at crucial moments when they didn’t at home.
It is very annoying when as soon as one of our players makes a mistake, or has an off day, someone forgets all the occasions, even recent ones, where they played brilliantly, and demands they be sold. A ridiculous approach to team building.
We all need to remember what Arsene Wenger said at his last home match. This team is very good, it deserves our support, and all it needs is one or two additions. Arsene knows. As always.
Can UA publish an article on Arsenal’s actual league position if all the refereeing blunders were undone ? Should provide interesting insights.
Pat, i guess you answered yourself there.
Confidence low, players attacked after a simple mistake.
What do our fans think our players mentality will be after bashing them, along with the media, every now and then.
Remember Giroud?
You forgot to mention Danny Simpson Should have had about 3 yellow cards before he was booked and vardy abusing thee ref after he was rightly flagged offside a number of times.What about anti PGMO Chant from the arsenal fans they are so corupt
Pat, Yassine, Mandy (stop being so cynical it’s unhealathy), greetings!
Ok so Pat, spot on, every time! Yassine, correct, it’s individual errors, a catalogue, confidence plays a massive part, an example is what has happened since City lost to Liverpool, once, then twice, then thrice,
Really what happened is once they lost, the players bought the media tone, Pep gambled, when if he had had them impose their game, it would have worked as they were unlucky to lose 4-3 and then they were chasing a game and got robbed twice.
Europe isn’t going to take your stocks wholesale so, not so much love there.
The recipe for disaster stems from a DM, but if we look I see a thing….. Stan became majority shareholder at the start of the US instigated global economic (fake) crisis unless you are suffering because of, no matter how fake it’s very real.
But if you check Stan became the tip of the iceberg, pun intended in 2009. Demi sold his stake to Insmanov, Stan went around snapping up anything, he bought from a chic, sorry Mandy but you are a rare exception, do the maths.
Now when do you suppose Gilberto Silva left???
Now factor in the option to buy all shares including Supporters trust! Then you lock out the other majority shareholder from the board, which could force a sale. So you cash in dividends to sweeten the deal for shareholders, lower the value of the club, then force a hostile takeover.
He had to leave.
IWIT
Alex in Jan, Arsene in May. This is what he was saying, Arsene told Henry and Alexis.
He did a RVP, except he has no intention of firing them to anything.
He’s dismantling the squad from inside.
OH NO are terrified, they had to totally discredit him and get him sacked. They didn’t, they didn’t implement VAR, and the investigation is too slow. He will manage again, likely not in England.
“There’s a time when you are right and you know you must figgt” ‘ Michael Jackson
This is exactly what’s going on at the club, they tried to oust him, he jumped not for his sake but the clubs, he focused on exactly what he should have and EKED A knrw he was about to get the best out of the season. Remember Roma advertising tickets in advance? Or Lineker on MOTD talking about warm balls?
And Me own has changed factor, noticeably.
And yes do generate a table without a shed load of PGMO adjustment, what 16 titles in 22 years you say???
Ooh and yes, SAF 48 cards in how long? But shouldn’t Keane a Scholes have gotten 48 each a season?
Let’s put this into perspective, if football stays as is, start stockpiling food, clean water and having concrete and steel delivered for your bunker.
PGMO are terified* Keown changed tact.
Dein sold to Udamov, not wasn’t he right about Arsene.
Arsene focused on exactly what he should have, youth integration, development and returning to CL. He should have if the world wasn’t corrupt we live in. Dortmund aren’t in EL until they are drawn and if Dortmund didn’t delay the transfer.
Mustaefi leaves by my account.
It wasn’t a red, but fexk the rules. We should have lost the last game at home. But the irony, the people responsible for his demise and departure will cash in on the game, which hampers us next season.
He woulnt throw a game though, he should have played everybody underforming at once, as I said.
Hardly anyone, yeah I could manage that current team, I guarantee you top four. Because Wenger did all the hard work.
Henry, make it. Vieira is rice and if you understand the characters, they are perfect. The Captain and first mate. Who deals with the day to day tasks and liaisons and gives the bad news?
Alleged could last a while, and he can be replaced, given the Juve fans didn’t even want him, he’s as good if not better than any other option.
All the hacks present, guess what, kiss my……..
Also Walt, no worries man!
I’m ready to do a Wenger, I came to inform some people, nothing more. Actions speak louder than words.
I just like to observe that hierarchy of argument and watch people overlook me and decipher the mental health problems they display. Whilst quietly acknowledging that they probably read and digest and their avoiding personalities struggle with their own shortcomings.
To not know and do wrong, one thing, to know and do wrong…. another entirely.
IWIT
I realise I supported the manager not the club. The players and not the club, the club was those things and the ethics. Without those things, I am without something to support.
Panic buy scores another.
And the players I love now!
Aaron, he struggles with trying too hard.
Players I’m proud of?
Hector
Callum
Konstantinos
Rob
Eddie
Reiss
Henrik
Pierre
Players I want a lot more from
Mesut
Alesandrei
Jack
Alex
Players who I am not inclined to see here next season
Shkodran (has forgotten his own name)
Lucas
Joel
David (it’s love)
Nacho (it’s love)
Danny (it’s love)
Cech compete with Butland
Every other loanee apart from the super eagle Kelechi and Takuma, Cohen and Carl (because that’s a gooner)
We don’t have a team, anyone who doesn’t respect Wenger leaves, at the very least they are a fool.
And Granite, man as I sent you on social media, stop taking selfies and grow up.
Also guardian have been on an agenda for a while. This is shrewd, not unusual but the focus of their queries into ownership and finding.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/arsenal-everton-stakeholders-close-ties-leaked-files-alisher-usmanov-farhad-moshiri
In fact they ran the story essentially twice, is it because he’s Iranian? Well the Telegraph and BBC thought the race of Moshiri was headline worthy while the FT stuck with the Russian angle. All despite the fact that Kenwright the rather studious man he proves to be, let alone frugal finally found his ideal man.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jan/25/everton-farhad-moshiri-alisher-usmanov-new-money-ownership
On fact they ran the story as Usmanov went to buy out Stan in May.
In fact the Sun, Telegraph, Mirror, BBC, Standard (thus Metro) and cityAM all ran the same angle. A gold star if you can make what these have in common.
The only people funnily enoigh to go a lottle deeper were the Express who linked him to Manchester United and Liverpool also, before failing to add any substance, not that it doesn’t exist.
So I chuck my mate a grand to buy a car, doesn’t mean I own half of it, however if he sells it to me I May deduct what I gave as a gift.
Little coverage of United, the club worth about 25% of it’s value to the owners.
As a parting shot to Dein and his intentions, Peter Hill-Wood famously said: “Call me old-fashioned but we don’t need Kroenke’s money and we don’t want his sort.”
This guy has unearthed what I deduced ‘naturally’.
The devil was invited to dine on out club, the agreement was he would invest from 2009 we’ve had no money since then and no SMALL, but we made early payment on the bank loan stipulated to cover the Emirates, the 5yr continuance of Wenger stipulated as part of the loan agreement.
Dein realised his mistake and backtracked. The board now aware of increased asset value invite the ‘female who’s late husband never sat in the board to ensure they xpild manipulate the stocks away from Usmanpv, Kroenke (seen his err in doors?) And then they froze out Usmanov.
Fireman was stuck and tried to balance the shares between the two power players, Usmaov easily outmuscles Kroenke. Everton can eclipse us financially if they can keep producing talent.
The woman was set up by roulette and her own lawyers and mugged off by Stan.
Put it all together and it supports everything accurately.
This action is very questionable and quote possibly illegal.
He intends to try and price hike but in the meantime drag every drip out of the clubs value.
I suggest heavily reading.
http://www.thearsenalhistory.com/?p=13265
For the record, the only shareholders who have put money into Arsenal in the last 50 years have been David Dein and Granada, who both bought previously unissued shares.
This was what Usmanov wanted, what the fans were baying for. But if you increase his asset value you increase his share of dividends and reduce income by redistributing profits to retrofit the squad. You can’t do a City if the infrastructure is built. You can increase asset value this way and increase share value, money clean see the London blue child traffickers 1bn ground.
So doing my maths right 15% from sir idiot I undermine our transfer ability because I have somehng to hide.
And Lady, what’s all this football then Brackwhat 15%.
Once your done get to this one.
https://angryofislington.com/2018/02/09/lady-nina-bracewell-smith-sues-her-own-lawyers-over-arsenal-share-sale-to-stan-kroenke/
And you should touch on.
https://angryofislington.com/2018/03/17/could-usmanov-be-forced-to-sell-arsenal-shares/
Incidentally the Article: how much profit is Kroenke likely to get is no longer available.
Remember you blamed Wenger.
IWIT
This is what I do.
And I forgot, Koscielny, exemplary! Heal faster, you have things to win. France aren’t winning with you anyway.
“Protect Koscielny” someone said.
Your statue is already being gilded along with Arsene’s! My players, make them move mountains.