By Walter Broeckx
A few changes mostly down to give some rest to players with a busy week ahead and the midweek match. Özil and Aubameyang drop on the bench and Ramsey and Lacazette come in their place. Sokratis starts in the playce of Koscielny and Kolasinac starts in the place of Monreal in a 4 man defence. Torreira comes in for
Guendouzi.
Arsenal team : Leno, Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Iwobi, Lacazette
On the beach: Cech, Koscielny, Monreal, Guendouzi, Suarez, Ozil, Aubameyang
The match starting at a hectic pace and both teams struggling to get the ball under control for a longer time in the opening minutes. Southampton with the first chance when Redmond is send clear but Leno with a good block from point blank range. Arsenal attack and Ramsey is bundled over in the penalty when Iwobi crosses. The ball comes to Mkhitaryan who has a shot that would have gone wide but Lacazette backheals it and it goes in. GOAL! 1-0 to The Arsenal after 6 minutes.
Xhaka with a good shot but just over the crossbar. Southampton with a few moments where Leno has to push a shot away and then the defenders can clear. Arsenal with an attack but the ball seems lost and the keeper slips when clearing. Iwobi wins the ball and runs in the penalty area. His cross is deflected in the feet of Mkhitaryan who makes no mistake shoots the ball in the net. GOAL!! 2-0 to The Arsenal after 17 minutes. Sorry for the lack of updates for the moment but we have a technical error. Hope to solve this at half time.
Kolasinac has a shot and Romeu spreads his arms and blocks the ball but the ref gives no penalty!!!!??? Spreading your arms is a deliberate move ref and so should have been a penalty! The ref keeps on ignoring each foul made by a Southampton player….Xhaka with a great ball to Lacazette but he takes too much time to come to his shot and a defender can block the final effort. He could have taken the first time shot with his left foot. Arsenal controlling the game most of the time. Still 2-0 after 30 minutes.
A free kick from Torreira is cleared and the follow up from Mkhitaryan is also somehow cleared. Southampton players keep on kicking at every Arsenal player without any card being given. Well at least he calls the fouls now… Iwobi with a good run but his shot is blocked by a defender. A corner from Xhaka is headed towards goal but the keeper with a stop on the goal line. I feel when we keep the tempo up at high pace Southamtpon don’t get a chance. A low cross from Lichtsteiner ends up in front of Kolasincac who gives it to Lacazette who from 6 meters out misses the target. That should have been a second goal for our French strike who can’t believe he missed it. Again Kolasinac sets up Lacazett but the keeper this time with a save with his foot. After his first real strikers goal Lacazette is a bit unlucky in his finishing. A defender can just intercept a good cross again so the ball just goes out of reach of Mkhitaryan. Xhaka didn’t like a tackle from Redmond but he can keep himself in control. No need to get stupid yellow cards in this match, Granit. 2 minutes of extra time before I can start solving the publishing problem. Lacazette then is being fouled a dozen times but the ref decided to give an advantage that leads to Southampton almost starting a dangerous counter. Having possession in your own half is NOT AN ADVANTAGE! A basic referee rule. Arsenal go in at half time with a 2-0 advantage. It should have been more.
A nasty kick on the ankle of Xhaka from Obafemi but again the ref sees nothing to give a card for. Again a rather hectic start of the second half with not much fluent football from both sides. Xhaka giving the ball away just outside theie penalty area but the shot from Prowd-Warse goes wide. Lichtsteiner struggling a bit as is Arsenal for the moment. Southampton the better team in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Koscielny is getting ready to come on for Lichtsteiner. And so happens after 55 minutes. Koscielny having difficulties to get in to the pace of the game. Mustafi now playing at right back. A first real Arsenal attack just after 60 minutes. Some good footwork but we can’t come to a shot. And followed by a good low cross from Ramsey but again nobody to put the ball over the line. Still 2-0 after 60 minutes.
özil comes on after 62 minutes and Ramsey goes off. Özil involved in a first combination that finds Mkhitaryan in some space but his cross is blocked. Obafemi from Southampton who came on at half time has go off as he pulled a muscle. Still 2-0 after 65 minutes.
The ref really punishing everthing from Arsenal even a clean tackle on the ball from Mustafi. I think he knows having 3 clear Arsenal wins on your CV is not a good thing. And giving corners when a goal kick should have been given. Luckily Leno can stop the goal bound effort from under his crossbar. Iwobi also having muscular problems for the moment. Aubameyang is standing ready but Arsenal hold on to see if he can continue or not. And Iwobi is taken off and Aubameyang comes on after 74 minutes. Still 2-0 after 75 minutes.
Aubameyang setting up Mustafi with his first touch but the shot goes well over. Trips Southampton are no foul, the slitghtes brushes from Arsenal players are fouls. This brings us even under more pressure of course. Kolasinac with a good block on a dangerous looking effort. Arsenal don’t really set up good attack in the second half so far a part from the odd exception. A cross from Aubameyang gets a deflection and ends up on the top of the net. Özil sends Aubameyang away but he tries to find Lacazette at the far post but a defender can intercept the cross and then the keeper stops the goal bound ball with his foot. Özil sets up Aubameyang but his shot is blocked. Well I must say that Southampton defenders have been excellent in throwing themselves in the line of shots. Leno has t make a good shot as a shot on target from Targett looked to go in.
3 minutes of extra time. Xhaka to Aubameyang but again the finish not up to it.
An excellent first half but a poor second half. Maybe a lot to do with the midweek match against Bate. But we were under too much pressure in the second half but it is 3 points in the table and that is all that matters at the end of the day.
Into the last 2 minutes of injury time, must be time for the opposition to kick another Arsenal player. Mkhitaryan is requiring treatment, and no sign of a foul or card from the PGMO representative. Play restarted, but Mkhitaryan didn’t make it back onto the field before the PGMO ()*&&*((^&^& whistled for the end of half.
I hope his injury isn’t serious.
Hmm, Untold seems to be gone. Southampton had 3 shots on target to our 4 (and 2 shots on our players). We apparently had 4 shots off target, while Southampton haven’t had any. We’ve had 68% possession, getting 4 corners to Southampton’s 1. Southampton was offside once. And the fouls counter is running 7:2 in favour of Southampton. None of Southampton’s 7 fouls worthy of a card, of course. Southampton had 5 goal kicks to our 1.
COYG!
I gather Walter’s technical problem has resulted in comments by myself and Menace going to a better place. 🙂
I was whinging about Kolasinac requiring a treatment on 15 minutes, which resulted in our playing short-handed for 1 minute (according to my reading of commentary).
Glad to see you got something going again Walter!
COYG!
I’m watching the Utd /Pool match as Arsenal are not on TV. Listening to Arsenal on Player. The summary of both matches is that the PGMOL officials are absolute crap & corrupt in their delivery of decisions.
I also mentioned the fact that Arsenal only gets penalties if the opposition handles the ball with both hands!!
Come on Mesut, work some magic! We could use 3 or 4 more goals. I wonder if Lichtsteiner got hurt, for Koscielny to replace him 8 or so minutes ago.
COYG!
Here we are on 73 minutes, and Southampton have another whack at Arsenal. Iwobi needs treatment and is back playing after 1 minute. Not a hint of foul or card form the PGMO.
COYG!
So many late tackles by Southampton
WOO HOO ,HOO! Sweet revenge . Another clean sheet , and third in the table.
And slowly chipping away at the Spuds lead.
Now for Chelski to be torn asunder!
Up the Gunners!
Brickfields Gunners
3rd ? If only my friend.
But 4th will do for now !
Every time Liverpool had a corner or free kick towards the United goal, there was more groping in the penalty box than on a Trump pleasure bus! Oliver didn’t see anything.
Such is the power of selective vision.
ManU-Liverpool – 31 fouls (15:16) and 2 treatments to each team. 3 players needed substitutions due to these treatments (2:1). Cards are 1 to ManU and 3 to Liverpool.
Bournemouth-Wolves, 22 fouls (9:13) and 9 cards (4:5). Newcastle-Huddersfield, 18 fouls (12:6) and 3 cards (2:0 and 1 red to Huddersfield). Our game, 21 fouls (7:14) and no cards.
Is discipline being given? You could almost think the variance was infinite (unbounded).
Liverpool have 11 games remaining and 66 points, they cannot reach 100 now. They have the spuds and Chel$ea yet to play.
Man$ity are a point behind, and also cannot reach 100 points any more. They have ManU and the spuds yet to play.
The spuds are at 60 points (7 ahead of us, and cannot reach 94 points). They have Chel$ea, us, Liverpool!! and Man$ity yet to play.
We are at 53 points, and have the spuds and ManU yet to play. We are 7 points behind the spuds, and have 6 points they are possibly easier. Will St. Totterngham come to visit yet again? Oh, we hope so.
ManU have us, Man$ity and Chel$ea yet to play.
Chel$ea have the spuds, Liverpool!! and ManU yet to play and have a game in hand.
Based on play to this point, ManU and Chel$ea are forecast to finish on 73 points. We are forecast to hit 75. the spuds are forecast to hit 84, but they have 6 more difficult points, so could be 78. It will be close.
The top of the rest of the pack is at 40 points, forecast goes to 56 points. So, the worst of the Top-6 only need 6 points to finish above the ROTP.
At the other end, Huddersfield are forecast to finish with 15 points, and still have the spuds, Liverpool and ManU to contend with. It would be wonderful to have Huddersfield get 3 of their remaining 4 points off the spuds!
Walter
Thanks for the commentry.
A couple of points.
Regarding Southampton fouls and no cards:
“The ref keeps on ignoring each foul made by a Southampton player….”
“Southampton players keep on kicking at every Arsenal player without any card being given. Well at least he calls the fouls now”
“A nasty kick on the ankle of Xhaka from Obafemi but again the ref sees nothing to give a card for.”
And then this:
“The ref really punishing everything from Arsenal even a clean tackle on the ball from Mustafi. I think he knows having 3 clear Arsenal wins on your CV is not a good thing.”
Although not seeing the nature of the fouls, (But going by your comments some were not pretty), I find it difficult to believe that 14 fouls doesn’t warrant at least 1 yellow card, for persistent fouling at the very least.
Sounds like another PiGMOb masterclass from the referee.
Regarding the hand ball penalty claim, this is your take on it:
“Kolasinac has a shot and Romeu spreads his arms and blocks the ball but the ref gives no penalty!!!!??? Spreading your arms is a deliberate move ref and so should have been a penalty!”
Exactly my understanding, in as much as making yourself bigger with the use of your arms is a deliberate attempt to block the ball with your arms, and as such it is irrelevant as to how far away the ball has travelled.
Yet this was SKY’s ‘ball by ball commentry’ interpretation of the same incident:
“NO PENALTY! Kolasinac has a go from just inside the Southampton box when Iwobi – whose final ball has gone up several levels so far – picks him out.
His shot hits the outstretched arm of Romeu but he was so close to it that Graham Scott waves appeals for a penalty away.”
So Walter, who is correct, and under what rule are they correct ?
I would like to say I’ll have a look at the fouls and the penalty appeal tonight on MOTD but I doubt they’ll show many of the fouls let alone condemn them, and IF they do show the penalty appeal, I’ll have a wild stab in the dark as to what their interpretation will be.
I look forward to your help Walter and as for MOTD I stand to be protected.
Sorry, I stand to be corrected.
OT: Prompt medical attention?
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/goalie-left-waiting-four-hours-for-ambulance-199454/
This shouldn’t be happening, 4 hours for a head injury is far too long.
Off topic.
Man City win the FA Cupon penalties, but that’s only half the story, but before that:
Apparently Pep is the first City manager to, and I quote “Retain a major Trophy”
and
“for the top clubs it’s all about winning trophies”
I see, so the League Cup IS a major trophy but the FA Cup isn’t, or at least it wasn’t for few years.
Someone should ask SKY why they critised us remorselesly despite ‘rataining’ the FA Cup and then winning it a 3rd time in 4 years, as well as our whinging fans that never stopped moaning either.
But hey, that’s another story.
Meanwhile there was all kinds of shananagins at the end of extra time when Chelseas keeper Arrizabalaga refused to be substituted by Sarri. The board with his number was up but he was having none of it.
Then to add insult he let a soft one in.
We haven’t heard the last of this.
Oh what fun to see Chelsea in melt down.
I wasn’t mistaken, SKY have called it a ‘Major Trophy’ 3 times now.
But hey, Carabao will be over the moon with City for elevating their trophy to ‘Major’ status whilst the FA are going to be furious with Arsenal for relegating their trophy to ‘micky mouse’ status.
Just wait and see how pissed off UEFA will be when we relegate their Europa League trophy to ‘Micky Mouse’ status as well !!!
Nitram, don’t worry. I am correct 😉
Walter
I had no doubt Walter.
Just wanted you to confirm really under what rule it was hand ball, but I’m guessing it would be under the ‘hands/arms in un natural position’ rule, would that be right.
Elevating and relegating the importance of any trophy is the pejorative of the narrator and the people he is boot licking at the moment. Or the people he trying to turn the sod over .
A similar narrative is to try and denigrate the other person’s belief and/or religion by a not so subtle use or not using capitals in a particular name.
For example , my God , as opposed to your god.
Sometimes even fools , and those about to be foolish are snapped backed to reality in the nick of time !
https://youtu.be/Uc7mJHunLFQ
Sorry , this was the intended link.
My mistake probably due to hypocaffenia – it truly exists !
https://youtu.be/3ez9mySrjrk
Walter
As expected MOTD didn’t even show the hand ball or any of the 14 fouls that led to no cards, let alone comment on them.
I
Nitram, yes it is to making yourself bigger by outstretching your arms. This must be seen as a deliberate movement and a deliberate attempt to prevent a ball going past your body. And if you raise your arms then out of your body line then it doesn’t really matter how close the initial shot is comming from.
Not really surprised they showed nothing on MOTD. Because for a lot of people if it hasn’t been shown on MOTD then it doesn’t exist or hasn’t happened….
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/mike-dean-chelsea-vs-tottenham-mauricio-pochettino-row-argument-watch-epl-a8795921.html?utm_source=reddit.com
Walter
Just seen it on Arsenal player and his arms are virtually horizontal.
Absolute nailed on penalty, because as we’ve suggested, when the arms are in such an un-natural position it matters not a jot the distance the ball has travelled.
But I have to say even the commentators on Arsenal.com said it wasn’t a penalty. Do these people know the rules ?
And that wasn’t the only thing they got wrong.
Regarding the incident when Kolasniac got a bang on the head, which looked quite significant to me, all they, or rather the co-commentator did was basicly accuse him of being a whimp. Not only that but they questioned why the fans were booing the ref saying he had no obligation to stop the match.
It was a HEAD INJURY !
When even our in house commentators are biased against us we can hardly have a go at MOTD.
Very dissapointing
I think the Arsenal employees are under strict instructions to not make it sound like anything having to do with officials might be a mistake. That’s part of the reason why I look elsewhere for some information.
Head injuries were last year. This year it doesn’t matter. Just like simulation was probably 2 or 3 years ago.
Looking at “news” today, I read a couple of summaries in the medja. I think those mental giants spend more time trying to come up with a pun, than trying to analyse things.