Twenty Unbeaten But Gunners Miss An Opportunity
Dec 5th, 2018 by 'holic
Shkodran Mustafi was passed fit for the trip to Old Trafford. Unai Emery made two changes from the team that swatted aside the Middlesex Nomads. Matteo Guendouzi replaced the suspended Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey was preferred to Henrikh Mkhitaryan after his superb second-half performance on Sunday.
It’s fair to say United came out of the blocks with greater tempo and forced early turnovers as our defence were pressured into poor passes. The first effort on target came from Rashford who drew a save out of Bernd Leno. We looked like a side that had played just three days ago, but perhaps we were saving ourselves for another second-half onslaught?
When in the 15th minute The Arsenal’s first corner was claimed by De Gea he kicked long immediately and last man Guendouzi dealt with the danger, under pressure from Lingard, as the back three were caught upfield. Shortly after we fashioned a decent advance which unfortunately ended with a horrible slice wide by Hector Bellerin, but that was encouraging.
The Gunners started to target the inexperienced Portuguese right-back, Dalot, and from a 25th minute corner conceded by him Mustafi’s diving header was parried over the line by De Gea. A rare mistake from the Spanish goalkeeper.
Manchester United 0-1 The Arsenal
The lead lasted just five minutes and the equaliser was controversial. Guendouzi’s foolish foul on Martial gave United a free-kick that deflected off the wall and was collected and crossed by Herrera, offside by a gnat’s knacker, and Martial applied the finishing touch. Next season VAR gives us that decision but to be fair to the assistant referee it was very difficult to spot with the naked eye. We needed the benefit of television replays to spot it.
Manchester United 1-1 The Arsenal
In the aftermath of the goal the sight of Rob Holding having an inflated cast being applied to his leg was a sombre moment. Stephan Lichtsteiner came on and slotted into the back three. There followed a flurry of yellow cards. Mustafi, Lingard, and Matic thoroughly deserved theirs, Rojo was lucky not to see red for his awful clattering into Guendouzi, and Bellerin’s was quite a ridiculous decision by Andre Marriner.
Skipper for the night, Aaron Ramsey appeared to turn his right ankle in a challenge with Matic. He hobbled back on for the three added minutes at the end of the half. Mkhitaryan was warming up on the touchline, and continued to do so during the break. He started the second-half, not surprisingly.
Again the first meaningful effort of the half came from Rashford and Mustafi did well to effect the block. Leno punched the ensuing corner to safety. Martial was slid in by Lingard but a combination of Sokratis, Mustafi, and Torreira snuffed out the danger. When we attempted to spring Aubameyang Bailly matched him for pace and nullified the attack.
Mustafi again was on hand to clear the danger when Dalot cut in from the right flank otherwise unhindered. I’m sure Unai Emery would have sent on Alexandre Lacazette on the hour if he hadn’t been forced into two earlier substitutions. Instead Leno was forced into a save by Rojo and we scrambled the corner that followed away, eventually. Kolasinac, our biggest attacking threat got free on the left but his cross was also deflected into the hands of De Gea.
Martial joined the injured list and that provided an opportunity for Lukaku to change his recent fortune. In the 64th minute Emery decided the gamble of sending on Lacazette for Alex Iwobi was worthwhile. Aubameyang switched to the left. That was our three for this game. Guess what? A minute later Mustafi hobbled out of a challenge with Lukaku.
Then it happened. A moment of quality as Lacazette and Mkhitaryan combined for the former to score on a break from nowhere. Three minutes was all he needed to prove he should be starting matches.
Manchester United 1-2 The Arsenal
74 seconds later a defence that had largely performed admirably was made to look amateurish. We failed to deal with a hoof forward and Lingard poked home as Kolasinac unusually blundered. Such a waste of a really difficult lead to gain.
Manchester United 2-2 The Arsenal
In the moments that followed an end to end classic was developing. Twice Aubameyang was denied and United felt it was time to send on Pogba for Lingard having already sent on Fellaini for Herrera. The travelling faithful, as ever, could be heard loud and proud encouraging a weary looking Arsenal forward. The ‘holic pound was alive, but United were looking every bit as likely as us, perhaps more so, to grab the winner.
The news came through with 10 minutes left that Chelsea had lost at Wolves made the win more desirable. Rashford’s thirty yarder was well stopped by an alert Leno. Fellaini was ordered up front by Mourinho. A long ball bombardment was coming. Having said that he was forced to drop deep as we advanced and avoided caution for hauling Torreira down by his hair!
Lacazette headed the ball out of the one hand De Gea was holding it with and put the ball in the net. Immediately the BT commentators reminded of a similar goal by Forest being allowed. A free kick was afforded to United, I assume correctly to the current laws of the game. Mkhitaryan finished from the acutest of angles but was flagged offside. We were finishing stronger than expected.
Back came United only for Fellaini throw an elbow into the back of Lichsteiner’s head, again unpunished by Marriner. Talk about Fergie time. As the 7th of 4 added minutes ticked over the whistle blew and we were 20 matches undefeated. Huge props to Unai Emery and his squad for that. They passed another big test tonight but just couldn’t finish United off.
57 Responses to “Twenty Unbeaten But Gunners Miss An Opportunity”
Do you time travel to the future to write up the games Guv’nor, then pop back to post? Lightening quick as ever.
I thought we were poor tonight, but after all that effort on Sunday it’s not that surprising.
Chelsea lost to Wolves. We’re level on points with them and behind on GD by four. Behind Spurs by 2.
Oh and Spurs attracted a fantastic crowd of, er (checks notes), 33 thousand at Wembley against Saints.
I will take a point on a day we really didn’t tick. Our goals were lucky goals, just like theirs.
Is it me? I thought I saw Mikhi in the number 9 role too many times. I do not quite trust Mikhi – he is slow, gun-shy and iffy with his ball control.
Props to the Away support
“Jose Mourinho we want you to stay…”
Brilliant.
Should have won this one. ..but a point is better than a sucker punch! First united game I have seen this season and I think they are utter sh!t!!
I was watching on the dodgiest of streams It gave up the ghost at the same time as Rob Holding’s knee. Your report filled in all of the blanks, Holic. Thanks and hard luck on the pound!
That’s three draws now against lower order teams. Disappointing. Still, had you offered me 4-2 v Spurs; 2-2 v Yanited at Old T and 4 points out of six before these games had kicked off I would have taken all three.
On to 21.
Oh and Chelsea play City on Saturday
Clearly no one told Mourinho that we don’t let ourselves be roughed up as of old but that didn’t stop the Mancs trying. But as a result, we only ever got going in fits and starts. As I suggested below the chevrons in the previous drinks, it was a game that I feel disappointed not to have won while at the same time grateful to have got out of with a draw.
They were there for the taking, feel gutted because both the goals were conceded because of our own mistakes (and the ref’s) and not some good piece of football from them. They did not threaten us much even towards the end of the game and we clearly had the better chances even at that stage despite having played a day later than United. Anyway a draw is better than us thumping them because it will keep Moaninho in the job for longer.
This fantastic unbeaten run continues for us, and it means that the next game becomes all the more important. Emery will have to alert the team against complacency in the Huddersfield game after two high intensity games against tougher opposition.
Moaninho with his utter rubbish post game interview saying that before our second goal only his team was going for the win!! Stupid excuses from a guy who can clearly see the top four place out his reach already.
I fear Holding has done his knee ligaments, which would be bad news. He has come on so much as a defender this season and the back three of him, Sokratis and Mustafi was starting to look settled. Not sure that Kos is ready yet to come back into the team and play 90 minutes.
Nice report H.
A bit of an error strewn game for me. I thought at times it looked as if the exploits of Sunday may have just taken their toll. The injuries and subsequent enforced changes again left us a bit disjointed.
All of that said I thought the way we stuck at the task and soldiered to the end was admirable. Not too long ago we could easily have capitulated. But this side is made of a lot more sterner stuff. Great to See us fight and battle to the very end.
I’m really not sure what some of the comments in the previous drinks were about. We concede a goal 13 seconds after kick off with a reslkyvsilly error and there are some still looking to slaughter the officials??? Something all of you will know I find bizarre. None of the officials had a bad game tonight and they are certainly not to blame for our lack of concentration.
I’m quite confident that if we had been offered these last two results a week ago then we would have taken them. Several winnable games on the horizon and rapid steps of progress continue to be made.
Bring on Saturday where I get to make it to my first game of the season. Cheers TV. About bloody time.
Great match report H as always you and me saw the same game….
From my previous drinks apologies for using those funky swear words it has to be said, however in a way we lacked confidence and I was really hoping we could repeat the same performance as we did against those LWC’s down thew road.
What really annoyed me the most was from two one up to two all, WTFlip was that all about? We rested on our laurels in a way and it cost is dearly.
In the end a point away to such clobbers like that is a gain…..
Upwards and onwards!
STEVE T
You’re slacking mate!
Alexis Sanchez Whoooooooooooooooooooooooo
Ouch! I’ve just seen the two goals we conceded. Iwobi for the first and Kolasinac for the second. Neither will ever be a defender.
Our goals on the other hand were both immaculate conceptions. 🙂
33,012 at Wembley tonight for the Middlesex Nomads???
How embarrassing is that? We have had bigger crowds for youth team games.
BtM. Not sure you can single out individuals for either goal. Certainly not the second. At one stage we have a 6 to 1 advantage and still get it horribly wrong.
Oh well. It’s not always going to work. I’m quite happy to forgive the odd mistake considering the attitude and commitment to go with the continued improvements.
You’re quite right Arthur. Things ain’t what they used to be.
33,012 at Wembley to watch the mighty Middlesex Nomads. Big club??? My Arse.
Definitely Arthur. Things ain’t like they used to be.
Not sure you can blame individuals for the goals BtM. Especially the second. At one stage we had 6 to their 1, and we still managed to muck it up.
BTM
In fairness it wasn’t Kolasinac’s fault but Bellerein’s if you do get a chance to watch again…..
On top of that we were far more dangerous from the right as well….
oooopppsss that should have said from the left…. 😀
Apologies Shkodran, It was Kola for the second equaliser. I’ll change it now.
Very hard game to sum up. I was convinced we were going to lose right at the end especially when Fellaini came on. We don’t defend well enough conceding three at Chelsea, two at Cardiff, Palace and here and only keeping two clean sheets all season. Losing Holding won’t help and that looked like ligaments to me.
We worked really hard against a dirty side that we didn’t let intimidate us. Marriner is a poor ref and let the players push him into two many homer decisions. Amazing that the useless Phil Dodd, an utter prat , should pontificate on a subject he knows so little about.
We will need to rotate against Huddersfield but we should be three points clear of Chelsea after the weekend
Wow, impressively speedy and accurate reporting as ever. 4 points from 6 is a haul to be happy with…..IF we win on Saturday , as said Don Unai after the game.
Emery quoted as saying Holding ‘has a big injury’, which sounds like ligaments. Not good.
33,012 at Wembley to watch the mighty Middlesex Nomads.
Be fair, when was the last time we took 30 000 fans to an away game? 😀
Feels like a loss for we should have won the game. We did not play well for large parts but looked great in the last 20 min of the game, end to end stuff and if we had the final pass or a bit of luck, we would have won it.
Torriera and Guendouzi were immense, Matteo especially considering this was his first run in at OT and he stood up without any fear. he was there everywhere. The midfield missed Xhaka and not many will accept it but it remains true that he controls the game for us most times. Ozil would have been great atleast the second half for certain and i am not sure as to why this treatment is meted out to him.
We are good but the defense needs a thug CB, ala Van Dyk and then we can compete with the likes of pool and city next season, till then if we manage to avoid defeats away and win our home games, top four looks a real chance.
Great report H. I simply don’t know how you do it so quickly.
Ned@9 summed it up for me. Frustrated, relieved and angry in equal measure. It did feel like a throwback to many visits to the Old Toilet during the better Wenger years when they were given licence by a weak/corrupt refereee to kick us off the park because we are better than they are at playing the game by the rules. Even to the detail of Fergie time and off the ball stamps.
Will they be sanctioned? No. Will the hair pull be reviewed? No. Will anyone in the press point the finger at Rashford for the challenge that looks to have put Holding out for the season? No. What did Herbert Chapman do to annoy those officials for ever?
Fingers crossed that Holding’s injury is not as bad as I fear.
We had the better chances to win it but given our defensive lapses I’m not sure that we deserved the three points – a draw seems a fair result although disappointed at the missed opportunity as the Guvna said.
I simply don’t understand (or really care) what Jose is doing at United when he starts the game with Pogba, Lukaku, Valencia et al on the bench when any one of them would have improved his starting side. Wenger got a ban for kicking a water bottle there – will the once special one get a similar ban for kicking the wall? Probably not but at least a sore foot for a few days. Tosser.
We now have a run of four very winnable games before we meet the Klopp brigade. Let’s make sure we take maximum points and build up a head of steam.
UTA.
Agree with all the above drinks that this was in a way a fair result. Arsenal had the better chances — apart from the goals they scored, can’t remember them having any shots Leno had difficulty with — and on the whole the defense played well but the two defensive lapses were awful. The last one in particular was the epitome of a late Wenger era kerfuffle.
Only criticism on Emery’s team selection was, given the exertions of the match against the nomads, might have started Laca and played him the full 90 here, as he had done only half of the previous match, and brought on Auba to run at them later. Also thought Laca would be better suited for Old Trafford, which was going to be more of a grinding street fight when you look at their team sheet, especially without Xhaka available to do the passing to set Auba free. In the first half in particular, Auba was not as assertive as he was at the Emirates, which could have been down to carryover fatigue.
Had the chance to watch the highlights, Arthur. Long ball, Socrates header is poor. Kolasinac has the simple job of recovering that error by kicking for touch, and if he does, we win 2-1.
Some great chances after it’s 2-2 for Auba and Mkhi. Better team didn’t win.
Four points from six in these two games is a good haul. We’ll be back in the top four after this weekend. No reason we shouldn’t stay there until the end of the season.
Good article by Gary Jacob in the Times
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/how-torreira-was-transformed-from-slender-forward-to-arsenals-man-of-steel-wbxv9f9vl
Nice article BtM.
Just goes to show what we have missed.
A note of concern.
Is Clive ok?
I haven’t seen a post om him for a while and I am certain he would have enjoyed Sunday .
Clive
Hopefully you’re well and enjoying life as a Gooner at present
Montevideo Wanderers? Sounds like some club from Wolverhampton or Bolton.
In any case, that was the last line the Times allowed me to read before requiring payment. 🙁
Next two teams
Huddersfield
Leno
Bellerin Sokratis Mustafi Kolasinac
Torreira Xhaka
Iwobi Mkhitaryan Aubameyang
Lacazette
Carrier bag
Cech
Lichtsteiner Koscielny Medley Monreal
Guendouzi. Elneny
AMN Willock Saka
Nketiah
Aren’t we a team of long names now ?!
VP@27: van Dijk is more than a thug. He is a colossus of an extremely talented footballer. If the rumours were true that we talked to him about signing for us before the start of last season, then we certainly let one get away.
Echoing TTG@34. Clive, all well with you?
& @36: No ESR?
Ned
I remember a debate on here about DVD when he played for Celtic and the suggestion was he wasn’t up to much. We might win the league if he played for us
We probably said the same sorts of things about Rob Holding when he joined.
So was Southampton the making of van Dijk, or Liverpool?
Don’t know if there’s any news on Nacho
yet but we could do with him for
Saturday.
Sokratis and Mustafi isn’t a well balanced
CB pairing so we could do with a
successful Kos return too but not due
back until Qarabag according to UE.
Ozil and Ramsey are being assessed and
I hope one of them makes it for AM but
if not then maybe a chance for ESR to
start on Saturday.
Nacho is ‘being assessed’ ahead of the Huddersfield game, according to the Arsenal site, OM.
Surprised to read there that Emery couldn’t remember if he had gone 20 games unbeaten before. He had a run of 25 unbeaten with PSG that ended only in January this year.
I’m being assessed
excessively
central something-something is my middle name
If Palace admit to mice
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46472416
We can deduce what the really are.
Thanks for the Nacho update Ned.
If it’s too early for Nacho, Ramsey,
Ozil then we’ll just have to manage
and win against Huddersfield anyway.
5-0 will be fine 🙂
Qarabag doesn’t matter except to
give squad, returning and young players
a game but after that it’s 7 games in
two and half weeks so we’ll need players
back. I hope Sokratis, Hector, Lucas, Ozil,
Auba and Laca can stay healthy.
We’ve made progress since last season
I think. Especially, we seem physically and
mentally stronger so far. Next test to me is
to stay consistent through the winter rather
than any particular game.
We had 28 points after 15 games last
season – only 3 less than now. But we had a
mostly poor December/ January and only got
14 points from the next 10 games to the end
of January. Be great if Unai and the team
can show that discontented winters are a
thing of the past. I’d have us a shade odds
on for Top 4 at the moment.
Ned
I forgot ESR
He must start on Thursday
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46480188
Here we go again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HwmO_GZfzI
Holding expected to miss 9 months after rupturing his acl. Not good for his career or the team, but if we were planning on signing an experienced defender in January now the need is that much greater. Koscielny get in there and give it all you’ve got.
How much money would a fine of two weeks wages, per player, raise for the club’s charity I wonder.
Do it, Arsenal.
Shame for Rob and hope he’s back
fit and well around the start of next
season.
As for the nitrous – good to see the
older players taking a young lad like
Guendouzi under their wing.
Unless of course you’re Guendouzi’s
mum who might be a bit pissed off.
i just have to say, this year has sucked to be an arsenal fan, in one way. and i apologise in advance for this debbie downer of a post.
i go to jack’s bar in san jose for games (at least the ones that start at 6 or 7 am local time). we lost one of ours, dana chahidi, earlier this year. she visited the grove in april, healthy as a horse, and was dead of cancer in june. funny, bubbly, and a genuinely nice person, and an arsenal supporter to her core. i was gutted.
i just now found out another of our group at jack’s, lloyd frisbee, passed away this morning. he and his wife were the first people i talked with when i got to the bar on my first visit, and he was a warm, funny guy. also devoted fully to the arsenal. we’re watching huddersfield there tomorrow, and i was looking forward to seeing him in his corner seat…now we’re just going to have to raise a toast his memory. i am yet again gutted, trying to work and having absolutely NO success.
add to that chris from this here bar, and it’s been a triply fucked year. you can’t imagine how much i have crossed that clive’s just been on vacation, and will come back soon.
rest in peace, and in red and white, dana, lloyd, and chris.
The nitrous incident happened sometime in August before the start of the season so why is it being reported now. Someone (The Sun) looking to create trouble for the club.
Sorry about the tragic passing away of your friends in the prime of their lives, Scruzgooner. We all mourned losing Chris earlier in the year and I am sure everone in this bar misses him.
Thoughts and prayers, SCG. Life deals rough hands.
So sorry to hear that awful news Scruz. My condolences to you
Indeed. My sympathies to all our friends in California. I am so sorry for your loss.
Sorry to read that scrub. Let me echo everyones support for you in this virtual bar to which you are a valuable and respected contributor.
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