By Walter Broeckx
Some changes compared to last weekend. Cech as expected in goal in the Europa League. Xhaka also returned from injury and starts in the place of Torreira who drops to the bench. Aubameyang was on the beach.
Arsenal team at the start: Cech, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Lacazette.
On the beach: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Elneny, Torreira, Suarez, Aubameyang, Nketiah.
Almost a perfect start for Arsenal with a good attack on the left flank and Kolasinac with a perfect cross to the completely unmarked Mkhitaryan but he shoots against the keeper from close range. That should have been a goal for Arsenal within 2 minutes. Mlhitaryan with a good cross but nobody at the end of it. Xhaka is being booked for a very light foul. Iwobi with a shot but the keeper saves. A first shot from Bate Borisov but Cech saves it. 0-0 after 15 minutes. Arsenal had the ball in the net but it had gone out of play before so a correct decision from the referee.
Lacazette at the end of a cross from Kolasinac but the French striker heads it over. Guendouzi claiming a handball when he puts in a cross but the refs see no wrong. Bate Borisov with a dangerous cross but Kolasinac with an important block. A bit later a good attack on the right flank of Bate and the cross is flicked towards goal but the ball hits the goal post. Guendouzi tries to find Lacazette and finds him but out striker can’t control the ball well enough. Still 0-0 after 30 minutes.
Mkhitaryan with a good cross but Lacazette can’t control the ball. Mustafi with a dangerous ball that ends up in front of Kolasinac but he blazes his shot wide. Bate get a free kick at the right hand side and the cross is headed in the Arsenal goal over Cech. 1-0 with a goal from Dragun after 44 minutes. Arsenal having most of the game and most of the ball but no end product. 1-0 at the half time break.
Arsenal begin with some good attacks but Bate can keep Arsenal from scoring. An inviting cross from Iwobi but Maitland-Niles and Mkhitaryan both get in each others way and the ball goes out. Lacazette puts the ball in the net but he was just offside so the goal was rightly ruled off. Cech with a save on a bouncing shot. Arsenal still 1-0 down after 60 minutes.
Xhaka and Matiland-Niles come off after 68 minutes and Torreira and Aubameyang come on. Kolasinac with a shot from a difficult angle but the ball went wide. After 74 minutes Suarez entered the field and Kolasinac went off. Still 1-0 behind after 75 minutes.
Lacazette being held and he punches towards his oppenent and gets a red card. Arsenal keep on playing forward but creating almost nothing. Arsenal lose 1-0 against Bate Borisov. What a difference a year makes.
We need to bring my lad on On the hurry up !
Get Ozil on !!!
What is Lacazette dismissed for?
Well, thanks for the answer Walter. 🙂
The referee had sufficient time to call a foul on the Bate player who was fouling Lacazette and then tried to have a Valentine hug!! Lacazette wasn’t up for it so he pushed back with both hands and got a red card. The instigator will get the refs underpants.
UE out. what dies Oezil have to do to get a game! The season is over. No fight no formula no reaction
Given the fact we cannot keep a clean sheet we will have to score at least 3 goals next week. Given the way we play with nothing but defensive minded players…. this will be a very difficult task.
Sack the manager?
wrong set up(again)wrong team.wrong manager
Piss poor.
Looking forward to a full house for the return leg !
I’m not used to question the manager’s choices. But what in hell is happening with Ozil ? We obviously suffer from a lack of creativity around the box (today and also in some previous matchs)… Creativity, this is the kind of thing Mesut can give us. On Arsenal.com they even called him the great architect two or three matchs ago… So ?
Does somedy have an idea why a guy with a huge talent and a very big salary is kept back on the bench while we loose?
Sorry : two or three months ago*
He can’t even get to the bench.
We are sliding our way to the precipice, with only the high press to save us.
I wonder how many of us thought that this might happen today.
Last season / current season
PL 6th / now 5th (level with 6)
Fa cup: out round 4 (first time) / now out round 5
League cup: losing finalist / now losing quarter finalist
Europa League: losing semi finalist (without Aubameyang being played) / now …. losing the first leg in the round of 16
I remember people on here shouting: Wenger is holding us back. I don’t see much progress compared to last season and the worst part for me is the fact that our attacking mentality has gone down the drain and we concede even more goals than before. Too many planers who can run around a lot but no creativity on the field to be seen. I simply cannot understand the fact that our most creative player is kept out of the team by the manager. He is even kept away from the team in fact….
I really do not think it is the fact we lost these cup games, but more the way we did.
Losing at home to the scum and manure in the way we did is embarrassing.
You are conveniently overlooking the fact that most of this squad is Wengers mess.
clearly disappointed about the result but arsenal still has a chance in the return leg at home. in my opinion that pitch tonight not fit to play a proper football match plus the serbian ref is quite harsh on arsenal players
some people is still finger pointing and keeps dwelling about the past.embarrassing
So now, some can’t blame Wenger lack of tactic (and so on…) but he might still be responsible for the way the players are used by the new manager.
Steve White : ” Most of this squad…”?! I’m sorry but I can see at least 4 or 5 guys that Wenger didn’t played (or seldom) last year.
So strange ! Suddenly the results don’t matter anymore, neither do the lack of trophies… And Walter statistics are due to a ghost. The manager was responsible last year, he is not this season. This is all about the abominable spirit of Arsène haunting the club. Ridiculous!
Much disappointment on this site! Understandable perhaps.
Russell and especially Steven White’s reporting here very unhelpful for me in order to understand why Arsenal has suffered this defeat tonight against a team that has not played a competitive football for nine weeks! Walter attempts to open some sort of analysis as to what appears to be happening on the pitch recently. Very little information emanating from Arsenal as to the internal relationships between management and coaches; coaches and players; players and players. Transparency within the club does not seem to be apparent, which can give rise to the type of criticism that Wenger faced from a section of Arsenal supporters. What is the underlying strategic and tactical approach of the team and the associated coaching staff? Are we fans party to this information or are we deemed as not intelligent enough to understand how Arsenal are now expected to develop?
Lol, untold AAA? Now you guys see how it felt with Wenger messing things up. Why don’t you take your own advice, shut up and support the manager. Lol.
@menace, how come your account of lacazette’s red differs from everybody else’s account? While everyone else saw a swinging elbow, you saw a push? Could it have something to do with selective blindness???
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c1JoHqZa2xQ
Push with both hands indeed!
spirit haunting, wtf. nobody ever said the result don’t matter anymore but you can’t just snap your finger and want change in an instant. in takes time patience and remember supporting a football club is 80% suffering and 20% joy. and for f-ck sake don’t blame everything on wenger plus that man is not f-ucking there anymore. some people are so ungrateful and so full of shit
I want my Arsenal back…where is the beautiful football?
Not only Ozil, but Ramsey and Wilshere were thrown away as well.
The players are not that bad, its the tactics, look at the center just outside the other teams box, there is no Arsenal player up until guendouzi just near the central circle. We over crowd the wings.
He made 3 subs, but what did he change?
And what is wrong with him…check his interview… Am sorry but this is not Arsenal identity, not class, not standard.
And if Emery cannot survive such bad players (they are not bad) and such bad transfers, then I believe Wenger is even more amazing than I belived previously, and i really held him in high regards.
And all this with the EPL refs not being as bad as previous seasons. They were fine this season.
Whta if we were treated like when Wenger was here?
@Steven White,
You are conveniently overlooking the fact that Wenger was able to get better results with most of this squad.
Naàaa, they’ve always been fine, you just needed an excuse for Wenger.
Why is this Ojo guy runnning around attacking people on this site?… go away back to Le Grovel!
Lacazette was fouled…it wasn’t called. He wacked his adversary upside the head with his elbow which is a foul, too His got called…probably a deserved red (thought the fellow made a meal of it)
Pitch was shite. Our lot…not much better.
Let’s improve in the reverse fixture!!
Ojo you are not only dumb but also unable to see how Laca was being held when he pushed back against the bear hug. In the process his arms went backwards and he caught the player. I don’t think it was an elbow but then the officials were so poor, even the obvious corner a few seconds before their goal was ignored. The foul that resulted in the goal wasn’t. It was not given by the assistant who was closer to the incident but by the referee who obviously has a different agenda.
We were unlucky (perhaps even poor) in our finishing and chances were not put away. We were playing on a cabbage patch & lost the ball because of poor control or excessive weight of pass. UE is doing his thing his way. He is the coach not the manager. Ozil is out because of injury.
One player who was exceptionally poor was Guendouzi, who seemed to lose the ball more than anyone else.
On valentine’s day we should at least master Bate.
Ojo and Steven White, where is the progress you promised us? And when it comes to give time…. how much time needed Solsjkaer to clean up Mourinho’s mess?
Am I calling for Emery to be sacked? No, I want him to give us back our attacking mindset. You can say all bad things about Wenger you want but he always wanted to play an attacking game. Now all our attacking and creative players (Ramsey and Özil) are left out most of the time.
Maybe Guendouzi has started to burn out, hence his losing possession due to his loss of stamina?
The Gunners came up against a BATE team who hadn’t play a competitive match for 6 weeks. Thus having a conserve energy to take on a fatiguing Arsenal who have not had close to 10 days rest but have mostly been playing twice a week. I think that was the main physical problem that confronted the fatiguing Arsenal when they played against the fresh BATE yesternight.
Once bitten twice shy! Arsenal haven had a bad night at the office yesterday night at BATE will take heed to have a good night at the Ems when they host BATE next week I am believing. Therefore, I am imploring every Gooner not to be berating Emery and the Gunners for losing 1-0 to BATE yesterday night. The tie can still be redeemed by Arsenal with a 2 goals lead advantage over BATE in the 2nd leg match. And I believe Arsenal will put their apt together to put BATE to the guns when they come to the Ems for the return leg match. Meanwhile, let’s be patient and calm down.
@Walter, I’m not claiming Emery is doing a great job, I never expected him to. I’m only saying your mantra for the last 10years has been “shut up and support the manager” now you see how difficult it is when you’re being served shite. I’m actually welcoming you to the AAA, now we’re together in the business (even though it took me the better part of 4years to turn, you seem to have made the transition in record time)
As for menace, all I can do is lol.
Jesse James
15/02/2019 at 5:17 am
They tried but nothing came!
ojo
You remind me of something……………. an incapable!
@walter, I’m @least glad you realized a new manager can work. It seemed in the last days of Wenger, you and Tony were trying to prove that managerial change is always doomed to fail. Although we all know some people would say anything to keep Wenger at arsenal. As for the progress, I don’t know who promised that, maybe Steve can give you the answer you seek. For me, nothing is promised with or without Wenger. Even the attacking football you promised under Wenger, I’m not aware of, I remember us parking the bus against man city and Bayern Munich and coming away with 2-0 wins, I remember after our run of poor form a few seasons back, culminating in Wenger copying Conte’s 3 at the back formation, reverting to a more boring defensive style football and then going on a run which almost secured top 4 eventually. I also remember that pseudo attacking football we were playing sometimes that consisted of plenty sideways passing, plenty of possession but few clear cut chances or opposition 18yard box presence. So for me nothing was ever promised, not even the so called attacking football
Says the guy who saw a push yesterday.
Following the sending off the game was restarted with an Arsenal free kick, which suggests a foul was given against the player Lacazette elbowed. Does not excuse the foul and Laca admitted as much on his twitter account.
The two halfwits Walter and menace showing their true colours once again.One has selective blindness against referees and the other loves Wenger more than Arsenal itself.Thought it wouyld take longer for you two to show your true colours than half a season.Thats why this site is a laughing stock.Menace you are my favourite ..thew gift that keeps on giving.
@ojo, where is the proof that they said managerial change is always doomed to fail and nobody ever promised anybody.even when people would say anything to keep Wenger at Arsenal like u claim,surely the decision to hired and fired a manager is made by the owner of the club.enough with your speculation, u just remind me of this days mainstream media. full of speculation with little proof to back up their claim. and lastly just stop your Wenger this Wenger that, are u one of those people who keep living in the past.your resentment and bitterness toward Wenger seem to consume your life
@nick, if this site is a laughing stock why are u here. trolling and name calling. so f-ucking childish
OJO another new identity, blokes a nutter
@bushido, lol. First I wasn’t the one who brought Wenger into this debate, I was and have been responding to Walter’s revisionist Wenger beatification. I know it’s normal for akbs to go into spasms when anything less than praise is attributed to Wenger, but trust me, I like Monsieur Wenger, just not as the manager of arsenal after 2011
ojo
I am supporter of Wenger as a person and as a manager.
In my opinion, final season accepted, and then only really the away form, he was still doing a good job.
But he wasn’t just critisised in that last season was he?
He was critisised every season since our last title wasn’t he, despite constantly achieving CL football, which given the way our club is run was essential, and eventually achieving the record FA Cups triumphs, oddly enough claiming it during the period you so strangely dislike:
“I like Monsieur Wenger, just not as the manager of Arsenal after 2011”
This is his oh so disappointing record during that time:
The following are: season PL FAC LC CS
10/11 4th QF RU –
11/12 3rd R5 QF –
12/13 4th R5 QF –
13/14 4th W R4 –
14/15 3rd W R3 W
15/16 2nd QF R3 W
16/17 5th W QF –
17/18 6th R3 RU W
That’s 5 Finals resulting in 3 FA Cup victories and 2 Runner ups.
That’s 1 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd’s, 3 x 4th’s a 5th and a 6th.
That’s 3 x Community shields.
That equates to 8, that’s EIGHT FINALS of which we won SIX
That’s 11 visits to Wembley including Semi Finals of which we won NINE.
Over the same period:
LIVERPOOL
1 League Cup win
1 FA Cup Semi Final
1 x 2nd and 2 x 4th placed finishes.
And of course they lost in the CL Final.
Only a fool could suggest that over the period 2011 – 2018 Liverpool have been even close to Arsenal and yet if you was an alien just landed in football land you would believe that it is they and not Arsenal who where the more successful club over the last 8 years.
SPURS
1 League Cup Runner up
3 FA Cup Semi Finals
That’s 4 Wembley visits and not a single victory.
1 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd’s and 1 x 4th placed finish.
Again only a fool could suggest that over the period 2011 – 2018 Spurs have been even close to Arsenal and yet if you was an alien just landed in football land you would believe that it is they and not Arsenal who where the more successful club over the last 8 years.
But despite all that it is Arsenal fans like you that never stopped complaining.
But Despite all that it is Liverpool fans, and ex players for that matter, that stick by their team. through thick and thin.
And even Spurs fans who had to live in our shadow for years, putting up with relentless ridicule, not to mention St. Totteringhams day, who stick by their team through thick and thin.
The fans I know of both those teams, as well as other teams, think our fans are a joke.
And yes I know that at this moment in time both these teams look better than us but it is not this moment in time that we are talking about is it?
You said from 2011, and I’ve just shown that 2011 to 2018 was clearly, irrefutably a successful period for us, especially if compared to those 2 much adored teams.
Ok no titles but given the money thrown at certain clubs that was always a tough call. And Don’t even go there with Liecster City because if you use that as a stick to bash us with then surely the same stick most be used twice as hard on both Liverpool, no title for over 25 years, and spurs, no title for nearly 50 years.
Of course you are entitled to your opinion, and it’s up to you if all I’ve shown above was not enough for you to remain a fan of Wenger, but personally I think you’re being extremely harsh.
NB
You may are may not of noticed I have not said a single word in criticism regarding Emery. In my opinion we are not playing well but it is way way too early to make any realistic judgement on him.
And just to really put this in perspective, between them, those 2 giants have won just 2 league cups between them over the last 10 years.
Arsenal n the other hand have won 3 Fa Cups and 3 Community shields in the last 5 years alone.
Disgraceful.
I noticed that are quite a few sickos and delusional characters who are in need of medical help . And pronto !
And could I humbly suggest the lady in the clip below to explain to and advice to them regarding their ailments and the treatment prescribed ? Wouldn’t that be a sight to behold ? Oh, sweet Lordy , Lord !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3_cdmISW9Q
Me ? I have some large syringes to irrigated the nonsense right out of their brains ; some extra large suppositories ( and in some cases pessaries !) ; and sutures to stop that shit from ever coming out again !
OT: EPL Statistics to end of GD 26
I’m a little late.
At the end of GD 25, the median Caution for the ROTP was 1659 with a MAD of 184.5. At the end of GD 26, the median Caution for the ROTP was 1832 with a MAD of 183.5. Hmmm, something wrong there.
Well, the reason I am late, is that I have been adding and correcting data. So, recalculating things: at the end of GD 25, the median Caution for the ROTP was 1804 with a MAD of 176.5. At the end of GD 26, the median Caution for the ROTP was 1832 with a MAD of 183.5.
Which means for the ROTP, the median Caution given was 28 man-minutes in GD 26. For the EPL as a whole, at GD 25 it was 1717 with a MAD of 260 and for GD 26, it was 1765 with a MAD of 258.
This same group of teams with excessively low Caution is still pulling down the median and increasing MAD. Medians are less sensitive to outliers than averages. But to have 2-4 outliers in a population of 20 is a problem.
Arsenal are still 5th highest (from GD 25). Fulham jumped fractionally higher than ManU (at the top).
Watford and CPalace still showing exceptionally “tough” players (or something). Wtford have only needed 11 treatments this season for 23 minutes of short-handed play and 2 substitutions. CPalace have the same substitutions with 2 more treatments and 3 minutes more short-handed time. Chel$ea, Man$ity and Liverpool are close behind at the low Treatment end of things. My feeling, is that the officials will not allow opposition to “close” with players on those teams, and hence they are not requiring treatments.
At the high end, we still have Cardiff and Arsenal getting kicked all over the park. Cardiff have needed 41 treatments for 87 minutes of short-handed play and 9 substitutions. Arsenal have needed 38 treatments for 65 minutes of short-handed play and 9 substitutions. Cardiff is 20 minutes beyond Arsenal and Brighton in this regard. Are the teams xenophobic, or is this just another example of “man management” by the PGMO? There is one team who have needed more than 9 substitutions due to treatments, that being the Spuds at 12.
Leicester doesn’t seem to kick anybody, as far as treatment infliction goes. They are sitting at 11 inflictions for 17 minutes of short-handed play and 1 substitution. These numbers are half (or in the case of substitutions less than half) of any other team. Man$ity and Arsenal are next lowest at about 19.5 inflictions, 32.5 minutes and 5.5 substitutions.
At the high end, we have ManU at 32 inflictions for 56 minutes of short-handed play and 8 substitutions. The Spuds required 12 substitutions; well they come in second having inflicted 31 treatments for 41 minutes of short-handed play and 9 substitutions. The Spuds kick and get kicked. But the referee never notices a thing. CPalace are in third, with 29 inflictions for 66 minutes (league leading, tied with StateAid) and 11 substitutions (league leading). Near top of the league in inflicting treatments, leading for minutes short-handed and substitutions, and get almost no Caution. Someone must love CPalace.