By Walter Broeckx
Arsenal starting their last home match with a few changes. Maitland-Niles is suspended after his amazing double yellow card at Leicester so we see Lichtsteiner for the first time in a long time and probably a last time.
Arsenal team: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Mustafi, Monreal, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Özil, Aubameyang, Lacazette
On the beach : Cech, Koscielny, Kolasinac, Elneny, Guendouzi, Iwobi, Nketiah
The ref starting with igrnoring a couple of fouls on different Arsenal players but the ball still ends up in front of Mkhitaryan who has a shot that hits the post and then Özil was offside for the rebound. A good start that could have resulted in a goal in the first minutes. Monreal goes down at the edge of the penalty area and to my surprise the ref gives a penalty for Arsenal. Aubameyang behind the ball and he burries the gift from the ref. GOAL! 1-0 to The Arsenal after 8 minutes.
For me it wasn’t a penalty to be honest. Sokratis then is fouled by a Brighton player in their half and gets a yellow card for a dive. Taylor seems lost. As he is a lot of times. Still 1-0 after 15 minutes.
A free kick in a dangerous position for Brighton ends up in a ball bouncing around in the Arsenal penalty area. An appeal for a penalty but the ball clearly hit Sokratis on the upper shoulder so no penalty at all. Leno then with a bad moment giving the ball away on the edge of our own penalty area resulting in a few anxious moments in our own penalty area but in the end the ball is headed by Murray but Leno can stop the effort on the goal line. Arsenal with a short corner routine but it lead to absolutely nothing. Still 1-0 after 30 minutes.
A player places himself to prevent Leno from moving at a corner and the ball goes just wide at the far post. Lacazette almost intercepts a bad clearance from a Brighton defender but Ryan is first on the ball. Brighton now going forward more so we get a bit more an open match. Mustafi with a low header after a corner but the keeper can stop the ball. Lacazette at the end of a long ball but he can’t control it so he has to go wide and then the chance is gone. Özil picks out Aubameyang who takes it first time but an amazing reaction from Ryan prevents the ball going in. Torreira with a shot after the corner but it got a deflection. Arsenal now playing better after a rather slow spell but we can’t add to the score for the moment. Özil finds Lacazette with a great ball but he is outnumbered in the penalty area. Mkhitaryan with a thunderhous shot saved by the keeper and then Lacazette is denied by a defender on the line. Taylor then missing a corner for Arsenal. Gross goes in the book for holding Aubameyang right before the end of the firt half. We go in at half time 1-0 in front.
Mustafi with a great ball to Aubameyang in the opening seconds but the Gabon striker missed his control. Leno again being blocked at 2 corners from Brighton but the ref gives and does nothing to protect the keeper. Leno with a good stop on a low shot after that. Arsenal have a few free kicks around the Brighton penalty area but the ball hits the wall each time. Some good ideas with the passing but the execution not completely perfect for Arsenal. Arsenal caught in two minds a bit; Xhaka brushes a Brighton player on a counter and Taylor points to the spot and gives him a yellow card. Murray scores. 1-1 after 60 minutes.
Let us say two soft penalties from Taylor. Brighton almost away on a counter but Arsenal can clear and then Dunk gets a yellow card for holding Lacazette when Arsenal tried to get a counter going. Lichtsteiner then goes in the book for dissent after he was called back when the assistant who was 5 meter away didn’t see a foul but Taylor did see something from 30 meters away.
Arsenal win a few corners but Aubameyang shoots the last one over the crossbar. Aubameyang with a shot from distance but Ryn could stop the central placed shot. I wonder if some of our players are getting some tired legs. A cross from Mkhitaryan finds Aubameyang but he fires the ball wide…
Lacazette then with some great skills but again Ryan can block him for a corner. Lacazette has another shot but a double deflection results in a corner. 1-1 after 75 minutes.
A triple substitution for Arsenal Lichtsteiner goes off for Kolasinac, Xhaka goes off for Iwobi and Mkhitaryan goes off for Guendouzi after 76 minutes. Arsenal must win to at least get a sniff of a chance on getting in to 4th place. Aubameyang just can’t make contact with a low cross from Iwobi. Guendouzi gets a yellow card for taking the ball in his hands when going down. Mustafi also gets a yellow card for dissent. Brighton counter and Leno with a great stop and then hit the woodwork in the rebound…. Lacazette at the other end can’t connect with a cross from Aubameyang. A cross hits the hand of a Brighton player in the penalty area but Taylor has had enough of penalties I think. Lacazette goes down in the penalty area but again no reaction from Taylor. 3 minutes of extra time.
We had enough chances to win the match but we didn’t do enough in the end to win it. 1 points out of 12 is simply not good enough to get in to the CL again. Oh and Taylor is a very much useless referee. But we knew that before today. This was our 7th match under him. That equals a total of 21 points under a complete incompetent referee…
With a few more gifts (or even just rightful dues) would PEA be leading the Golden Boot?
I am not that satisfied with the way Arsenal have played against Brighton in the 1st half of the match. This is because the Gunners were not composed in their incursions into the final 3rd to take the chances they’ve created and convert them to goals for Arsenal. My hopes are the Gunners will be more positive to take the chances that they will create in the 2nd half of the match and convert them into goals for Arsenal. For, goads difference could count on who gets any of the 2 remaining top-four places that are looking to be still up for grabs on the final day of the season.
Taylor being his usual self it would seem, I wonder how we would do if we didn’t have his empty bald head seven times in a season.
seriously you Are looking For an equaliser and you bring in those subs.i know you won’t Let my ideas go through because always Im in moderation.Its a pity.
Disappointing and, frankly, not good enough.
Although we should have had a penalty at the end, it is clear that our strikers left their proper boots at home.
Gotta give Emery time to sweep out the under-achieving deadwood players of Arsene’s era. We have been absolutely pathetic in our last 4 PL games. Have to win the Europa league now just to compete in the Champs league. Thing is European trophies are as rare at Arsenal as proof of the Loch Ness Monster! Ridiculous!!!
There goes our top four finish then.
It’s all down to the Uefa cup now.
Well have to win the Europa League then for Champions League football next season. If we get the result in Spain we should play the U23s next weekend as the players today were either incompetent, knackered or just plain not good enough. Perhaps we should promote Joe Montemurro from the Women to first team duties.
Emery now has to win the EL to make something of this season. Otherwise we could have kept Wenger. We then might have played a final…
“under-achieving deadwood players of Arsene’s era”.
Pathetic comment.
“Thing is European trophies are as rare at Arsenal as proof of the Loch Ness Monster! Ridiculous!!!”
Well take solace in all the FA Cups then.
Oh I forgot they don’t count in your warped mind.
That was no penalty…the shameful excuse for a footballer collapsed under his own lack of morals. Taylor’s call was that of a person who was already moving his arm to point to the spot five seconds prior to the Xhaka’s caress.
Still, Xhaka demonstrated an appalling lack of intelligence by touching him because the player was past him and going nowhere. There were other defenders and the angle was not good at all…why touch him?
Oh well, it’s like Cortes burning his boats at Veracruz. Only one way out of this morass.
Get into the Champions League the hard route. That is still on. Beyond that, next season, and the steep learning curve Mr Amery has to make and beyond that, some dwindling point in the distance, an injection of funds.
We – the fan base – disowned the FA Cup as a trophy. We disowned the Top Four finish as a worthy achievement. We demanded the premiership title as a right even when it was being sold as a vanity project. The PGMO never changed.
Reality is a tough f*cker but I’m optimistic about Thursday and Baku May 29.
Statdna was suppose to help us get good players at a bargain,but looking at the array of players it has help us get,it is obvious that Arsenal has grown worse since it started using it.The first player it gave us was Gabriel Paulista,but that was just the tip of the iceberg.Mustafi and Xhaka soon followed for 35 million pounds each.Then it further gave us Elneny,Lucas Perez and Takuma Asano.Before Statdna came onboard,Wenger had his way of identifying talents,and he was often right.This change of recruitment style has backfired,and the club is slowly declining. The use and emphasis on sports analytics in American sports is a good idea because it is tested and tried.Purchasing Statdna,and heavily relying on it for player recruitment when it hasn’t been tried and tested in the EPL is akin to gambling with the recruitment process.Stats dont account for every variable about a game,and there are things about a player that computers will never spot.These are things a competent scout won’t miss.I bet Mustafi and Xhaka’s proneness to errors and bad judgement wasn’t spotted by statdna’s computers.These too players have cost us top 4 now.Mustafi cost us the Crystal Palace game,and Xhaka cost us this game against Brighton.Funny enough,when I realized Taylor gave us a soft penalty,I was anxious that he would realize this at half time,and he would want to ‘even it out’ by giving Brighton their own soft penalty,all the Brighton players had to do was go down in the box.If I,who isn’t a professional player could see it,why couldn’t Xhaka who is a well paid professional see it?He presented Taylor with the perfect opportunity through his carelessness,and now the race for top four is over.
Taylor realised his early mistake in giving Arsenal a penalty, totally against PGMO rules. He had three-quarters of the game to make amends and did more than enough to compensate, by giving an imaginary penalty against us and ignoring at least two in our favour. His crowning achievement was to book Guendozi for being fouled. Ignoring blatant time-wasting should, of course, be taken for granted. A great refereeing performance!
@Nitram: Nothing pathetic about stating fact. Our entire back line is crap and it’s down to neglect from the previous management – Fact. Right now we need to win a European trophy to salvage our season – Fact. Why carry on about a cup competition we were knocked out of last year? Yes we have a great record in the FA cup but we have an equally appalling record in European competition – Fact!
Fact: Some comments are easily predictable
5th gen goonet
Between 1998–99 and 2016–17, Arsenal qualified in nineteen successive UEFA Champions League seasons, an English football record, and is only surpassed in Europe by Real Madrid.
5th gen gooner
Copied from Wikipedia. So many things to notice, particularly the amazing number of times we have encountered Barcelona or Bayern Munich at the height of their powers. One more reminder: throughout a large part of this time, as we now know, Arsene Wenger was starved of money to improve the team:
Arsenal qualified for the group stages of the Champions League in the 2005–06 season, finishing first in a group containing Ajax, Sparta Prague and Thun. The club faced Real Madrid in the last 16; a solo goal by Henry at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in the first leg inflicted the home team’s first defeat in 18 Champions League matches.[79] Arsenal produced a disciplined display at home a fortnight after to reach the quarter-finals and become the sole English representative left in the competition.[80] At home to Juventus, Arsenal won 2–0, and a goalless draw at the Stadio delle Alpi meant the club progressed into the semi-finals against Villarreal.[81] In the club’s final European match at Higbhury, Kolo Touré scored a first-half winner to give Arsenal a 1–0 win.[82] A late penalty save by goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in the second leg sent Arsenal into the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final, staged at the Stade de France, Paris.[83] The result, another goalless draw, was Arsenal’s tenth clean sheet in a row – a new competition record.[84] Defender Sol Campbell, returning from injury praised the team performance in his post-match interview: “It’s brilliant for us. It’s also great for the manager Arsène Wenger to get to the final in France – I’m sure he will get a great reception.”[85]
The Arsenal pennant used in the quarter-final, second leg against Liverpool in April 2008.
In the final against Barcelona, Lehmann was sent off in 18th minute for a professional foul on striker Samuel Eto’o.[86] Wenger reacted by substituting Robert Pires for goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, thus altering the formation.[86] In spite of the disadvantage, Arsenal took the lead in the 37th minute, after Henry’s free kick was headed in by Campbell.[86] Henry missed a chance in the second half to give Arsenal a two-nil lead before Eto’o equalised with 14 minutes left.[86] Substitute Henrik Larsson set up Juliano Belletti to score the winner for Barcelona.[86] Wenger criticised referee Terje Hauge for sending off Lehmann, a view shared by club captain Henry and FIFA president Sepp Blatter.[87]
As Arsenal finished fourth in the league, in the following season the club needed to play a third qualifying round, against Dinamo Zagreb in order to participate in the Champions League group stages. The team won 1–5 on aggregate, including a 3–0 victory in the first European match at the Emirates Stadium.[88] Arsenal was eliminated in the Round of 16 stage, losing on the away goal ruling to PSV Eindhoven.[89] In the 2007–08 season, Arsenal equalled their biggest home win in European football, scoring seven against Slavia Prague.[90] The club beat holders Milan in the subsequent round, earning critical acclaim for their style of football, not least from Marcello Lippi: “It would be good for football if Arsenal could win. They play on the ground, they manoeuvre the ball, very, very well. It’s very fast and very technical.”[91] At the quarter-final stage, Liverpool defeated Arsenal 5–3 on aggregate to set up a semi-final tie against Chelsea.[92]
Arsenal progressed past the group stages of the 2008–09 Champions League season and beat Roma and Villarreal to face Manchester United in the semi-finals.[93] A 1–0 defeat at Old Trafford meant Arsenal needed to win by two clear goals to progress, but goals from Park Ji-sung and Cristiano Ronaldo in the first eleven minutes ended the club’s chances of reaching the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final.[94] Wenger in his post-match press conference described the match as “the most disappointing night of my career”, adding “I felt the fans were really up for a big night and to disappoint people who stand behind the team so much hurts.”[95] Arsenal lost to holders Barcelona 5–3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals the following season, and in spite of beating the Spanish club 2–1 at the Emirates Stadium in 2010–11, Arsenal again were eliminated, this time at the Round of 16.[96] Arsenal exited at the same stage of the competition for the second consecutive season, against Milan. Having lost the away leg 4–0, the team gave a valiant performance in the second leg at home, winning 3–0 on the night, but unable to find the final goal that would have taken the game to extra time.
In the 2012–13 season, Arsenal fell at the last 16 stage for the third time in three years, losing 3–1 to Bayern Munich at home,[97] but managing to win 2–0 in the return leg, meaning they went out on the away goals rule.[98] They were once again eliminated by Bayern Munich in the 2013–14 season after losing 2–0 at home,[99] and drawing 1–1 away at Munich.[100] They were eliminated by Monaco in Round of 16 in the 2014–15 season on away goals,[101][102] and by Barcelona 5–1 on aggregate in 2015–16.[103][104] Arsenal exited at the last 16 for the seventh consecutive time to Bayern Munich, losing 10–2 on aggregate.[105][106]
When Lacazette was assaulted on his way toward goal, a good referee would have given a straight red card. Our beloved Taylor gave a yellow as if it bwere just a shirt pull. I remember Xhaka getting a red for tripping a player near the middle of the park.
Taylor is a corrupt cheating bastard and all of us know that but yet very few will openly state that. His officiating like all of PGMOL is a reflection of the corruption in our society aided and abetted by our media and the FA.
Not disappointed with Taylors showing but sad that we didn’t get a fair result. Aubamayang has lost his genius because his misses were unprofessional. There are aspects to our build up from defence that are shambolic and how we didn’t succomb to goals not gifted by Taylor is truly mystifying.
The parade at the end showed our love for Ramsey and his love for Arsenal.
A sad day for Arsenal in more ways that the result.
@ 5th Gen Gooner
Just to help your appalling grasp of reality can I just inform you that just saying “fact” at the end of every sentence doesn’t prove what preceded it was actually a fact. What it does suggest, however, is that your argument is exceedingly weak and that there’s a very high probability that the only thing it lacks is a…….fact
Thank you Aaron Ramsey… you will be missed
Also thank you to Cech & Welbz
End of season reflection: Who is the most hostile referee towards Arsenal?
Main contenders are Dean, Atkinson, Moss, Taylor, but there is strong competition from Atwell, Mariner, Friend and others.
Did Lacazzete rip his own shirt?
Yes, today was a disappointing one because our excellent home record this term was so good. Our nearest rivals in the EPL started to drop points and now we have followed suit.
However, there still much to look forward to in our season. The entry into the lucrative Champions League next season is still within our grasp. And if we fail in that, why there’s next season’s Europa League!
Unai Emery has managed well in his first year in charge…….better than some of “experts” expected.
During the close season (short as it is) some judicious signings will be needed, particularly in defence.
Unai is entitled to our full support as he plans for a new campaign and we must back him in all he does.
Arsenal’s horizon is still bright. 😎
Taylor gave a foul to Brighton for Lacazette trying to damage their players fingernails………..
John L
05/05/2019 at 10:20 pm
Did Lacazzete rip his own shirt?
His shirt was ripped when he was molested and pulled back by a hooligan who got a yellow. MOTD didn’t show it because it should have been a red.
The incident where Sokratis was booked for diving was also not shown.
Tomorrow we will see PGMOL attempt to rob City of a victory.
Was not able to watch the match , so not able to comment on the game. Nonetheless am disappointed that we are out of the running for the top four , and that for the third year running , there will be no St.Totteringham’s Day. When was it the last time that this had occurred ?
The Spuds did try their very best to screw it all up(as usual!) , with their end of the season implosion, but we did not take advantage of their gift.
And in a lighter vein , will the Spuds winning the CL , open up a space for the 5th placed English club ?
Will an English side outside the top 4 , winning the Europa League automatically kicked out the 4th placed team from next year’s CL competition ?
‘Will an English side outside the top 4 , winning the Europa League automatically kicked out the 4th placed team from next year’s CL competition?’
Yes, and there’s a precedent when Chelsea won in 2013 (when I think Spurs were the unlucky team to miss out and be demoted to Europa league), but it could be complicated by Chesea finishing in third place (if they win again this year). I would take a guess that in that situation the losing side in the final would get a Champions League spot.
Re certain decisions in yesterday’s game:
I got the impression that Taylor was attempting to make up for wrongly awarding our penalty when giving the second. I saw a Brighton handball (that was accidental) but will be given next season under new rules, and Sokratis needs to go back to diving school if he thought that attempt was worthy of a foul.
@Bricks
If it all ends like:
1.Man C, 2.Liverpool, 3.Chelsea, 4.Spurs, 5.Man U, 6.Arsenal,
we win EL and (God forbids!) Spurs win CL, England will have five representatives in CL as no country can have more than five. Those five would be Man C, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal.
If Chelsea win EL, England will have just four representatives – Man C, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs.
As for yesterday’s game, it was clear again that our team lacks intelligence on the pitch our former teams used to have in abundance. Xhaka has conceded another penalty by making an idiotic touch on the player and giving Taylor an excuse to show to the spot.
When you think about it, PGMO and others had tried to kick us out of Champions League for two decades without success. Then, we spent 70 millions on Mustafi and Xhaka as two key players in our spine and we suddenly can’t finish fourth despite having two 50+ million pounds strikers and two attacking midfielders on 550k per week combined. Stupid cards, stupid mistakes, stupid decisions on the pitch, huge number of missed sitters by Aubameyang (four points in two games v Brighton, two points v Spurs) etc, etc…it all played a huge role but some mistakes are more expensive than the others.
Or, to put it this way: give me back Per, Santi and Ollie.
I have to admire the positivity. Blaming a referee who gave us a soft penalty is part of that positivity, I suppose. The BHA penalty was soft too, but Xhaka, who is a serial arguer and complainer, didn’t complain on this occasion. From the game I watched, Emery fielded a weakened team, and paid the price, as he did against Crystal Palace. It was obvious things needed changing after 45 minutes, but no changes made. Once it was 1-1 changes were desperately needed, but Emery dithered for 10 minutes or so.
Emery, with the help of (another) mindless moment from Xhaka, cost us the game. Add that to the CP weakened team, and he cost us (probably) a place in the CL next year. I will cut him the slack that if Ramsey hadn’t been injured, we’d have probably picked up 7 or 8 points from the last 12.
Progress under Emery? Not in my book.
yj – I think you raise an extremely good point about statDNA. When you look over at other clubs like Man City, whilst they spend a ridiculous amount, the actual transfers fees aren’t astronomical, yet they’re players seem to always turn out brilliant. On the other hand we get the likes of Mustafi and Xhaka for a combined fee of £70m and we all know how they turned out.
Apart from the signings made by Sven, has there been a single player that could be considered a success that was purchased using statDNA?
@Jezzy.It’s sad that we spent 70 million on Xhaka and Mustafi. We could have got Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah for the same figure. How statDNA was blind to the potential of these players and spotted Xhaka and Mustafi is baffling.Man city can afford to keep throwing money around in the transfer market until they get it right. We however can’t!So when we make costly mistakes in the transfer market, we don’t have a bottomless purse to deep our hands and bring out money to spend heavily to quickly correct our mistakes. A club like Man city would have sold or benched Xhaka and Mustafi long ago;we however, will have to stick with them and tolerate their costly errors because that’s all we can afford to do!
I get that Man City have the luxury of being able to buy player after player, but even still, how many of their players have turned out as poorly as some of our purchases for roughly the same kind of transfer fee? Apart from Mangala it’s hard to think of a single one.
In fact, it’s hard to think of a single team in the top 6 whose high-end transfers turn out as poorly as ours do.