No Fourteenth Cup For Gunners
Jan 25th, 2019 by 'holic
Unai Emery went with a strong team against Manchester United. Petr Cech came in for Bernd Leno, Ainsley Maitland-Niles replaced Hector Bellerin as expected, and Alex Iwobi was preferred to Matteo Guendouzi. The visitors selected Alexis Sanchez for a rare start.
A high tempo opening by both sides hinted at a classic to follow, but mean-spirited defences kept a lid on the opening phase. The first moment of menace fell to Pogba in the inside left channel in the 12th minute but Cech was quick to effect the smother and the tie remained goal-less.
The sight of a writhing Sokratis Papastathopoulos didn’t bode well and he limped gingerly off in the 18th minute. Although he hobbled back on he gestured to the bench to say he would have to come off again. Let’s hope it isn’t as bad as it looked. We do not need him to join Bellerin, Holding, and Welbeck as long term absentees. Shkodran Mustafi came off the bench in a straight swap.
Our first on target effort came midway through the half when Lacazettte found Iwobi in the box, but the Nigerian international fired straight at Romero in the United goal. On the half hour disaster struck. Sanchez, who else, beat the offside trap and put the visitors ahead from Lukaku’s pass. The Belgian striker broke free down the right and teed up Lingard for a second just two minutes later.
The Arsenal had threatened mostly down the left flank through Alex Iwobi and Sad Kolasinac. Three minutes from the break Aaron Ramsey added his support and created the opening for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to convert at the far post. One goal adrift rather than two raised spirits around the stadium.
Alexandre Lacazette was denied an equaliser by Romero when fed by Maitland-Niles. The spectacle was taking off. The final play of the half saw Mustafi head wide of the target as United struggled to deal with a Gunners corner.
Half-time The Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United
In the opening minute of the second-half we were almost level but Romero’s excellent reaction save from a point-blank Ramsey header maintained the visitors slender advantage. Laurent Koscielny earned the first yellow card of the night for a gentle tug on Pogba’s arm. Mercifully Lukaku launched the resulting free-kick into the Clock End.
As if we needed another defensive injury Koscielny received a sickening blow from Lukaku’s flailing left boot which was adjudged to be accidental. With VAR in operation we’ll have to accept that verdict. A lengthy delay to stem the bleed from the wound totally disrupted the tempo. Mesut Ozil had been readied to come on at this point and he surprisingly replaced the exceptional Iwobi. Guendouzi was the surprise replacement for Koscielny and Granit Xhaka dropped into the back four.
Aubameyang turned provider for Ramsey who unfortunately shanked his approach wide of the mark. Ashley Young was the second yellow card recipient for a deliberate handball as we threatened down the left flank again. United defended the free-kick successfully. Lukaku and Sanchez made way for Rashford and Martial respectively.
Romero again had to be sharp to deny Lacazette the equaliser but in the next phase the marauding Xhaka fired the ball high into the North Bank. Lingard’s reaction to a challenge with Lucas Torreira earned him the third booking of the night. “Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal” boomed out around the Grove.
With ten minutes remaining Unai Emery’s face assumed the look of Bob Hoskins in the final scene of the Long Good Friday, and not without reason. Cech denied Pogba when he drove through the heart of the Arsenal midfield, but Martial was on hand to follow up and restore the two goal advantage.
Kolasinac and Rashford earned yellows for acting like rutting stags. Lingard, already booked, sparked a bout of handbags with his over the top reaction and can consider himself extremely lucky not to have been sent for an early bath. He was immediately substituted and on came the gurner, Jones.
Guendouzi was the next to see yellow, but Lacazette avoided similar similar punishment for a straightforward trip on Pogba. The latter also avoided punishment for a tackle from behind on Maitland-Niles.
One cannot help but feel that the momentum is currently with United, not us. It is something that needs addressing. We cannot argue that it is Unai’s first season when Solskjaer hasn’t been in charge for double figures of matches. Perhaps the Norwegian is getting expert assistance from he of the purple nose?
It was their night, and Unai was driven away into the darkness of a long, but not so good, Friday.
54 Responses to “No Fourteenth Cup For Gunners”
Number 1…..
Shit
Your quick
Better team for much of that. You’ve got to be able to put the ball in the back of the net to win though.
Got to feel for Emery…the injuries in defensive areas have hit the team very hard in the last couple of months. The guy never even shows a hint of a moan about it though…just gets on with it.
Great quick report Maestro!
We still have same problems as before loads of injuries and depth is the squad rather thin.
Hope Kosser and Sokratis will be ok for the next one! Leave and Europe left to play for!
What really pisses me off here is that MU were there for the taking, silly mistakes led to this debacle. They looked weak when we really presses them.
Auba went missing, Ozil rusty as hell you can blatantly see that an you don’t bring him on when it’s 1:3
A large one for everyone in the bar please Barman!
Just to add…
We were tactically outplayed once they scored the third they defended in even greater numbers. Even in the first half we had problems with movement up front. Auba touches were awful yes he scored but like I have mentioned above disappeared in the second.
Onwards and upwards!
Nice report H. In the end, the better team won. We can’t have any complaints about that.
Injuries clearly did not help. To lose both centre backs in the way we did was just really bad luck. Both were incredibly unlucky and very damaging. Add those to the Bellerin injury only a few days ago and we really are not getting the rub of the green.
Second half, the Ramsey header aside, I thought we created very little. We lacked ideas and any real invention. Ozil was introduced and was little more than a passenger.
We got a bit of a lesson this evening. We lacked any guile or creativity up front. Xhaka is just a liability and weakens the team for me. I thought we had a lot more about us when Guendouzi came on. With their pace and the enforced changes, we looked a bit of a mess at the back.
Still lots of work that needs doing. With that in mind it’s just as well we are letting Ransey walk away for free whilst being major players in the January transfer window???
Oh yeah…….
My biggest disappointment was how the team gave up when the third goal went in.
What Steve T wrote.
Nice one, Guv’nor, and quick, too.
Losing on a Friday night will make for a long weekend.
For much of the game we were the better team, but where it mattered they made fewer mistakes at the back and were more ruthless with the chances they created at the front.
As BtM says @3, you have to put the ball in the back of the net to win.
Losing not one but two centre backs cost us dearly. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kos has a broken jaw and is out for a while.
No sooner had Emery got something close to his starting back four fit and playing again, three of them are crocked. Sometimes you just can’t catch a break.
Now he is walking out the door, Ramsey is enjoying an Indian summer to his career. He’ll win a lot of silverware at Juve.
It was the TTG birthday celebration that went wrong today . We were beaten by a better side but to lose both centre backs in one game and to have that long break when we were building up momentum didn’t help . We defended nowhere near as well as we did last week but part of that may be due to Cech who looks totally befuddled by the sweeper keeper role. His effort to save Pogba’s shot for the third goal was poor. United are an arrogant club with unloveable players and fans . Hopefully Citeh will mash them.
Loved Ramsey’s commitment tonight and that of Lacazette and Xhaka did his best but we were not blessed by luck tonight and United’s movement was too much for us .
Solskjaer were shite at Cardiff he was shite at Molde,i think Sir is running it in the shadows.
TTG, I agree with you on # 11 about Cech. I don’t think a top class keeper doesn’t punch the ball where he punched it.
I hope I am not being hash with him again.
And maybe it’s just me, but I have always had my doubts about Kos, as a “top” defender.
“And maybe it’s just me…”
It is.
“…building up momentum…”
oh lord
remember that, kids
mo-men-tum
Thanks for the match report, Guvna. Haven’t seen anything but the goals on Arseblog’s report as I was on a boat in a canal in Mexico City. Much more fun, to be sure. Sounds like a battle rather than a game and I’m gutted for Kos if he has indeed sustained a fractured jaw. He looked back to his best against Chelsea. I sincerely hope there is a decent CB lined up as a loan or permanent addition before the end of the month. This defence needs serious surgery in the summer. I really really hate losing to that lot but I don’t think we have the squad to compete on three fronts so let’s suck it up and make sure we qualify for the CL next season. Onwards.
Thanks for the report Guvnor.
Pretty much nothing good about
any of that – lose at home to that
shower, out the cup, players
injured. But, to be honest I didn’t
think we played that badly really
– got ourselves back in it and then
pressed hard and got caught for
a third. Shit happens.
Kos now knows what it feels like to be kicked by a donkey.
Now we’re out of the cup, I wonder
if we will loan out a couple of the
youth players on the fringes of the
squad. Maybe not the CBs the way
things are going. Half a season in
the championship or overseas might
be better for someone like Willock
than the odd 10 minutes off the
bench.
bath@17: Many of the defence are having surgery now.
OM@18: Well said.
I get irritated when the media said how well MU played and scored.
Against abetter organized defence they would lose. Emery is a
Wenger style who likes to beseize the opposition until they are killed off by a sucker punch.
So the Norwegian has won 8 games on the trot and is the media darling right now. I cant wait for the guy to lose his first game
and I hope he gets Pool/Spurs or Mc in the next round.
As for Arsenal,what can you say?The pass and pass implemented by Wenger has proven a ready made for counter attacking teams.
I doubt they can get 4th. OK Its only one loss but the style of play is
is the same as Wenger. If the Spaniard is serious about making Arsenal competitive,we must get Iqwobi to run at defences and not pass all day.
A lesson in counter attacking football from the visitors. When you have 64% posession – as the bbc stats said in the second half – then you have to put the ball in the net : simples.
Nothing against their new manager or even any of their current squad players really, but the game and the hyped run up to it has reminded me of why I hate Utd so much : their mouthy over entitled Home Counties fan base.
Further to Ned’s very helpful analysis of the accounts , AST have noticed ttat our cash reserves increased by £20 million! Having said that, we have to take account of several large transfers last year which will deplete these reserves significantly. But the point is that because of gross mismanagement it’s not a case of opening the purse strings . We haven’t got the wriggle room because of the regulations to increase our wage bill.
Given we are almost certain to need another Centre back it might be tgat a Ramsey / Benatia swap is advanced. If so it would be very sad to lose Aaron now and in such a way. He’s the heartbeat of the team at present.
Sorry the birthday was spoiled, TTG. Make up for it this weekend. ??
People suggest giving UE time and I support that but 6 months in we are showing absolutely no progress. The unbeaten run did us no favours just masking the inadequacies in the squad. I don’t envy the people responsible for trying to improve the squad as there can be absolutely no room for errors and we are surely going to take a big hit on players we might want to sell. So at the end of the season when we finish 5th or 6th and there is no obvious signs of progress should this be UE’s fault? Should we not factor in the previous 10 years of not really doing very much and the hindrance of having Gazidis and Kroenke anywhere near the club as things that need to be worked out before we see any signs of progress. Over to you Raul.
We are showing no progress with basically the same players who were making the same mistakes, week in week out, under the previous manager.
And people seem surprised.
Does anyone else think that it’s embarrassing that we can not actually buy players in this window and that the best we can hope for are loan signings???? Didn’t Bournemouth just pay almost £20 million for a Liverpool reserve?
I knew that off the pitch we were a total shambles. What I hadn’t realised was how much of a complete mess it all was.
It was not a good night, the fans were not up for it and what with the late arrivals and a very vocal United section it hardly gave the players that special encouragement needed in a Cup tie of this magnitude.
We were out manoeuvred by Solskjaer and although the injuries played into United’s hands, the substitution of Xhaka for the Kos injury was mystifying.Nacho had been warming up for some time and would have fitted in with Mustafi, besides we needed Xhaka in his MF position.
I didn’t enjoy the game one little bit, can only hope Emery has a plan for Tuesday night.
Nobody realised quite how poorly the club was being run . The common supposition was that we were ultra conservative and Kroenke was tightening the pursestrings and by employing a conservative manager like Wenger was ensuring that we had massive financial reserves that he could raid in due course . But we assumed the board and the highly paid and amply bonused Gazidis were competent.
The truth of our position is that the management of the club off the field was piss poor , that the board’s oversight was utterly deficient and that Josh Kroenke’s due diligence last year was deeply flawed as well.
A suspicious fan might feel that Ivan fled to AC Milan ( lucky them) because the brown stuff was about to hit the fan !
This shouldn’t be laid predominantly at Wenger’s door. He made increasingly flawed decisions in his latter years and got the salary policy wrong but he was given too much power because in the past well before Gazidis pitched up he had made this club huge amounts of money while achieving wonders on the pitch .
I feel sorry for Emery being pitched into a dog’s breakfast not of his making. I am disappointed with the variability of our performances under him but he is going to need time and a sensible amount of money to make any progress.
For those who wouldn’t condemn Kroenke until they saw that he had harmed the club ( from a supporter’s perspective) now is the time you need to realise he is a very poor owner for a great club. This happened on his watch . So with respect Stan -Fuck the LA Rams I hope you get obliterated next week. I
I do wonder if this salary cap excuse is just that. It doesn’t seem to be stopping Liverpool from chucking money around, nor Man City.
Salary rise caps only apply to tv money anyway, if you have a strong commercial perfomance away from the tv money you can spend all of it on wages if you so wish.
Stan being trailer trash I have no pity for him. The part I don’t like though is being owned by trailer trash. Indifferent trailer trash at that.
Cynic@31: Trouble is that we are underperforming on the commercial revenue front, too. It accounts for 28% of total revenue compared to 48% for Man U, 44% for Man City and 38% for Liverpool, according to the Deloittes Money League data. In hard cash terms, it means that Man U has some £160 million more a season coming in than we do from that source. As you note, that could be diverted to player salaries without infringing salary caps. That would also be enough to pay the salaries of nine Ozils (though I know you wouldn’t pay for even one.)
Well I’ve not been posting as my point of view has not always echoed that of the venerable members of the bar.
But I still do not see this amazing teamwork between Aubameyang & Lacazette and I was quite alone in my view that our unbeaten run was incredibly flattering and hiding some serious issues that were being overlooked by those rose coloured glasses and the Emery feelgood factor.
I don’t blame Emery, he needs at least two more seasons before we can even begin to judge him, but we are still seeing the same tippy tappy loose possession and then lose goals because of it football from the same players.
Ozil remains a conundrum wrapped in indifference inside a laissez faire attitude.
He had thirty minutes to fashion even one chance and singularly failed to do that, it speaks volumes that one of the players fighting hardest for Arsenal is one we have apparently decided is surplus to requirements.
But I love watching Arsenal even when it breaks my heart and in Guendouzi & Torreira I feel we have the beginnings of this change in style and technical ability we have been crying out for.
I’m a less depressed gooner now but I am still worried for the long term stability of this amazing football club, our fitness and injury record is still appalling and needs something……I have no idea what but something.
I will always love Arsenal but it does not stop me worrying about my beloved team.
Depressed Gooner in disguise?
Howdy. 🙂
Less and fewer depressed Gooners is exactly what we need.
Do you start with the chicken or the egg?
LDG@34: Just to redepress you, Guendouzi and Torreira were Sven Mislintat discoveries and signings.
I have just finished reading The Club, the book I mentioned several drinks back written by two Wall Street Journal reporters, Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg, and bearing the subtitle How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports.
I recommend it highly for anyone wanting to understand why the Premier League is now what it is, the business direction in which the leading clubs are moving driven by the ever-increasing value of overseas TV rights, and the currently dominant vision of Sheikh Mansour to use his billions via Man City to create a global superleague (different from a globalised English game, note) out of the leading Premiership clubs and the financially dominant ones elsewhere.
A reader cannot fail to come away with the notion that an elite international superleague is a matter of when not if because the business case is so compelling.
What is concerning for Arsenal is that it is only the Big Six from who will make that leap from the Premiership, and we are hanging onto that status by our fingernails.
Not all that bad of a weekend! Spuds are loosing 2:0 against Palace!
Sokratis out until the end of February. Better news on Kos in as much as his jaw isn’t broken, but bruised and swollen.
So for serial flop Pochettino to finally win something, it’s going to have to be the Champions League 🙂
Why oh why did Pochettino leave Eriksen out given that this is the only competition they have a hope of winning. They haven’t won the FA Cup for 28 years . For serial losers I would have focused on this match .
Hopefully United will get Citeh away in the next round and the Solskjaer honeymoon will be over.
TTG @41
I beg to differ my friend,like us on Friday and Pool in the 3rd round,the Spuds were clearly not at the same level of intensity as they are in league games.
The Cup matters not a jot to Poch in the larger scheme of things.
The only thing that matters these days is securing CL football for the following season.
They have no hope of winning the CL itself,so their entire focus is on making sure they stay in the top 4,and that continues on Wed night in an important league game where 3 pts is a must.
We are in the same boat,and after defeat on Friday, are now free to concentrate on the 2 Comps that are an avenue back into the CL,and that starts with Cardiff on Tues night.
I don’t expect us to get anything out of City at the w/end,but for the rest of the month we then have very winnable games against some of the lesser lights,which will hopefully keep us in touch with the top 4.
Worth pointing out that after the 2 big games against the Spuds and Utd at the beginning of March,we have clear run to the end of the season having played all the other top 6 sides home and away.
As for the Europa league,that will come down to the luck of the draw in the later rounds,so not hanging my hat on winning that.
The top 4 is still in my opinion,our best bet to make it back to CL.
But with a new manager in place,ans some major surgery needed on the squad,i will not be crying into my orange juice if the Europa league is our fate again next season.
Clive@42. Reposition your hat immediately. It is destined that we shall win the Europa League. Chinese Feng Shui masters devining the Year of the Pig (Lunar New Year starts on Feb 5) are saying it will be so. Arsenal Win the Europa League is right up there in the year’s predictions accompanying CSLA’s annual Feng Shui Index.
https://www.clsa.com/special/fsi/2019/
Clive,
I accept what you say but it shows how Daniel Levy is out of sync with supporters who have only seen silverware twice in over twenty five years and then it was the League Cup.
I would also say that it wasn’t intensity we lacked on Friday. It was defensive organisation and quality. I thought there was a desire on both sides to win the match especially United who are still in the CL.
I do agree with you about our remaining programme. I think we willl sadly endure another Anfield experience on Sunday especially with a makeshift defence but the rest of our fixtures including the NLD are winnable . Hopefully we can obtain enough defensive cover to last the season.
One last point- most of our injuries have occurred at home and I do wonder about whether the pitch at the Grove ( which is replicated at Shenley) might be a big contributory factor .
Good news on Kos though I assume
he won’t be available for Cardiff.
Some anti-inflams could have him
ready for Shitty away?
Anyway, first things first and 3
points at home to Cardiff.
Ned@33 Only nine Ozil’s?
Not enough 🙂
TTG@41: The Desso hybrid grass pitch installed at the Emirates is widely used in top-level football, so you would expect the injuries to come both home and away in equal measure.
That said, the hardness of these pitches is more unforgiving than pure grass and mud on players’ bodies. I assume that awkward landing injuries like Sokratis’s (though not Kos’s) are more likely as a result.
Arseblog had a post a couple of years ago saying that an ‘injury reducing’ Air Fibre pitch had been installed at London Colney.
https://news.arseblog.com/2016/10/arsenal-install-injury-reducing-pitch-at-london-colney/
This Telegraph article provides some background reading on Desso pitches https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/11997637/Paying-the-price-for-the-beautiful-game.html
Ned
I think that prediction aptly fits in the pigs might fly category.
???
Thanks Ned,
Great data
I think the base under the pitch must be a big factor. I have stood on the edge of the Emirates pitch but couldn’t tell how hard a landing would be but my neighbour, who played in a charity match at the ground tells me it is a beautiful pitch to play on but very firm and slightly unforgiving if you fall over.
TTG
I was using the Chelsea game as a template,where we came out from the off and blew them away,whereas the start of the Utd game was tepid by comparison.
The difference between an absolute must win game,and a game they still wanted to win, but didn’t have the same ramifications attached to it.
Given our long and short term recurring defensive injuries to key personnel,any extra weeks rest on forthcoming Cup days is very welcome in my book.
@34 BT8
How did you see through my cunning disguise 😉
Definitely far less depressed, will be a happygooner in a few Emery years I am sure of it.
Don’t eat Chicken but love a good friend egg
@35 North Bank Ned
No, that does not depress me as they are here already, now if we had known about dead set transfers that fell apart because he left, that would most certainly be a different matter
Clive@46: 🙂
TTG@47: very firm and slightly unforgiving if you fall over sounds like playing against the Golders Green Ramblers, except in their case you don’t get up again.
This 2016 article from Engineering and Technology has a reference to a 2014 UEFA/FIFA study that concluded that there was no overall difference in injury risk between hybrid and full grass pitches though the former were associated with more ankle injuries but fewer muscular ones.
https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2016/10/hybrid-football-pitches-why-the-grass-is-always-greener/
Clive
I take your point entirely. I was trying to project myself into the mindset of a Spud . How does a team that hasn’t won a big trophy for years react to throwing away a winnable trophy in such a manner? They really do have a trophy famine at that club. Long May it continue!
TTG
I can answer that one. I have a few friends who are Spuds, friends who I enjoy good banter with. They are fuming that Poch played a weaker side and effectively ended their season. I thanked them for their honesty and just laughed even louder.
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