Gunners In Cruise Control
Feb 21st, 2019 by 'holic
Ten out of eleven. Pure luck or am I starting to read the man. The odd one out? Stephan Lichtsteiner at right-back and no Ainsley Maitland-Niles (slight injury was reported) or Carl Jenkinson on the bench. I suppose the thinking was if he had to go off then the other three could switch one place to the right and Sead Kolasinac could come on at left-back. Overall, a side that on paper looked plenty good enough for the job at hand. For the opposition Simovic replaced the returning Hleb.
Ninety seconds in Lichsteiner found time and space on the right and he picked out Alex Iwobi in the box who shot straight at Scherbitski in the Bate goal. The Gunners had hit the ground running and were ahead a couple of minutes later when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang crossed from the right and the ball hit the unfortunate Volkov and nestled inside the far post.
The Arsenal 1-0 Bate Borisov
Iwobi curled one wide and Mesut Ozil teed up Henrikh Mkhitaryan who saw his hurried effort climb into the Clock End. If we needed a reminder that Bate can break with menace we certainly got it. Skavysh struck the side-netting from an acute angle before Lichsteiner cleared a Dragun volley off the line with Petr Cech beaten. Granit Xhaka restored order with a thumping drive from outside the box that forced Scherbitski into a nervous punch over the bar.
Aubameyang was the next to give Scherbitski some catching practice before heading an Iwobi cross narrowly over. A flowing move from the right back berth to the left wing resulted in Ozil miscuing at the near post and Xhaka blazing over the bar high and wide. Lichsteiner’s ambitious volley did not trouble the Bate goalkeeper. Mkhitaryan tuned his full-back and his deflected cross gave Ozil the chance to volley just over.
One became two when Xhaka finally got a corner beyond the first man and Mustafi galloped in late to power a header down and into the net. It was no more than the Gunners deserved at that moment. We would certainly have enjoyed the half-time cuppa and orange slices more. What? Oh!
The Arsenal 2-0 Bate Borisov
Another intricate move at pace offered Matteo Guendouzi a chance of glory but he pulled it to the left. With the threat of an away goal putting us on the back foot. Skavysh was denied by Cech who bravely smothered the ball at the wingers feet. Xhaka miscued again as we sought that vital two goal cushion. Iwobi again found Scherbitski as the hosts poured forward.
The sight of Laurent Koscielny hobbling with an apparent calf problem was not a welcome one. Thankfully the returning Sokratis Papastathopoulos was again available to come on as a straight swap. Good luck skipper.
An Iwobi cross to the back stick was close to being headed home by Mkhitaryan before Hleb was introduced for Baga to a warm round of applause. He would not give much for his team.
Another excellent corner found the just-introduced Sokratis to force home another dominant header. The two goal cushion established, would we slow the game down or go for the jugular?
The Arsenal 3-0 Bate Borisov
Cue the introduction of Lucas Torreira for the industrious and inventive Guendouzi. A second swing and a miss by the stand-in captain will be used by his doubters no doubt, but there was no doubting he was enjoying being in the centre of the action again.
Mkhitaryan freed his old Dortmund mate Aubameyang, how much more would we like to see of that, but the Gabon international chipped the ball agonisingly wide. When Monreal was tripped about 25 yards out Aubameyang got his free-kick on target but into the welcoming arms of that goalkeeper who has had to be copied and pasted too many times already.
Simovic skied an effort over for the visitors before Denis Suarez was given a chance of a cameo in place of Mkhitaryan. The game was coasting to a close and this patient was not the only one to be smiling at a professional performance, I’m sure. Only occasionally did we hit the heights of intimacy and precision at pace, but it was a start, something to build on.
Welcome back into the fold, Mesut.
53 Responses to “Gunners In Cruise Control”
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Missed the game, but great report and result. Thank you ‘holic. 🙂
Safely into the next round, but we are going to have to find another gear or two to progress beyond that.
Poor old Auba cannot buy a goal at the moment.
Evening H
Early goal settled us and deflated Bate,comfortable in the end apart from
a couple of scares.
Some very competent Clubs already through to the last 16,and it looks like being a very very interesting draw for next round.
Given first leg is between the games against Spuds and Utd league games, i would prefer a draw against one of the few lesser lights left in the Comp.
I assume as a seeded Team we would still play away leg first. ??
Also cannot remember if Laca red last week was for violent conduct,thus a 3 match ban,meaning he will miss the round of 16 ties as well. ??
can someone confirm. ??
I don’t often return from evening games by 9.30! As far as I am concerned we can kick off at 5.55 every evening game .
Very fair report Holic. The pivotal moment of the game was the Lichsteiner clearance and I’ve never said it before but Lichsteiner and Mustafi were very solid tonight.
The TTG florin was on a 3-0 victory but the goals came in a slightly unusual way ! The early OG was a great relief.
I thought Ozil had a very useful first half but tailed off a little in the second. I also think Unai ought to think very seriously about forking out £18 m on Suarez who is definitively now Meh to the power of N squared.Mkhitaryan is very disappointing and I’d really like to see Emery give some of our young attacking talent their heads next season rather than invest in lightweights.
I want to draw Villarreal and spend ninety minutes singing “Oh Santi Cazorla”.
I want to see him cry as much as me.
That will fuck them!
Clive@3: No seeding in the Round of 16 of the Europa League. First team out of the hat is at home for the first leg.
Paella on the menu? We have almost a 1 in 7 chance (2 in 15 to be precise) with Villareal and Valencia both in the draw.
Full list:
Arsenal (ENG)
Benfica (POR)
Chelsea (ENG)
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
Eintracht Frankfurt (GER)
Internazionale Milano (ITA)
Krasnodar (RUS)
Napoli (ITA)
Rennes (FRA)
Salzburg (AUT)
Sevilla (ESP)
Slavia Praha (CZE)
Valencia (ESP)
Villarreal (ESP)
Zenit (RUS)
Suppose they could whip up a mean paella in Sevilla too. That puts us at a 20% chance.
Paelha not being unheard of in Lisbon, 4 in 15 adding Benfica.
Ned @ 6
So home leg first then as a preference, given we have massive game against Utd on the following Sunday.
The away leg the following midweek,is before FA Cup weekend,so no game time for us.
In fact no game after that, until April 1st due to International break.
Can the Monks confirm if Laca red card was a 3 game ban. ??
Pardon my culinary interjections. Most impertinent.
Oh, Santi Cazorla …
On Lacca’s red card, it should be a one-game suspension. Unlike in the Premier League, the Europa and Champions League do not have automatic three-match bans for violent conduct. All reds are one-game bans as standard. UEFAs disciplinary committee has the power to augment the punishment for ‘serious offences’ but it is a discretionary power that has to be actively exercised.
UEFA’s rule makes more sense in my opinion, providing a measured penalty rather than allowing the referee to dictate a punitive three match suspension in the heat of the action. We can certainly use Lacazette in the next round so thank you UEFA (it is not often I’ve typed those words!).
It also makes more sense in a knock-out tournament than a 38-game league.
Thnks Ned
I have a feeling we are are going to need him.
Thanks Guv.
It was a pity to see Kos go off but
handy that Papa spared us the
nervy last 20 minutes. I honestly
didn’t fancy our chances of calmly
seeing it out at 2-0.
Thanks for the list Ned.
Be good to avoid a trip to Russia
or Ukraine given the timing.
I’d imagine we’re close to being
favourites in that list – I’ll check
with the bookies…..
Generally still 3rd favourites
behind Chavski and Napoli.
No real stand out favourites
though which looks about right.
I must say, I like the Unai Emery celebration after the second goal, by Mustafi:
http://arsenalist.com/f/2018-19/goaal-mustafi-2-0-2019-02-03.html
Great header by Mustafi, and an even better one by Sokratis (Xhaka’s excellent delivery the common thread):
http://arsenalist.com/f/2018-19/goaal-sokratis-3-0-2019-02-03.html
they were well-delivered and good
determination from Mus and Papa.
Arseblog’s “klaxon crap short corner
routine alert” is quite funny but I
suppose varying the routine helps
to keep the defenders uncertain.
I gave my brief thoughts just before H posted his review, delighted to see us go through, but a bit dull, especially second half. We are in a period of transition, patience is called for.
But one prediction that didn’t come to pass was an empty stadium. On TV it looked fairly well populated and the Times described it this morning as a “healthy crowd”. I just couldn’t make it, so, prompted by a tweet that said tickets were flying off ticket exchange, posted my two tickets at just after 5pm on Wednesday. Before that I hadn’t bothered because I thought it was a waste of time and no one would buy them. They sold in 30 minutes.
I wonder why? I read twitter and am, frankly, bored stiff with all the entitled navel gazing that goes on. Perhaps it is that a 6pm kick off in half term with cheap tickets is a great time for those who want to bring kids, even if it wasn’t a great time for me. Or maybe there is still a huge appetite to watch our great club.
The game was officially sold out last night. So apart from the opposition sector, any missing seats were down to season ticket holders who, almost but not quite like me, didn’t bother to use exchange. I’ve often thought there should be some way of making things more difficult for the rich ST holders who only turn up for half a dozen a games a season, and last night showed that there is still pent up demand for the right price. Time to get imaginative- maybe a scheme for donating your seats to local schools in return for extra credits or something.
Apologies for making this post rather parochial for the many of you in foreign climes who cannot make games in person.
We got Rennes, not bad
The draw in full:
Chelsea v Dynamo Kyiv
Eintracht Frankfurt v Inter
Dinamo Zagreb v Benfica
Napoli v RB Salzburg
Valencia v Krasnodar
Sevilla v Slavia Prague
Arsenal v Rennes
Zenit St Petersburg v Villarreal
Good solid performance. Decent draw in the next round. Before you know it we should be into the last eight. We can win this.
Off at a tangent ; but my daughter plays left back for Wycombe Wanderers Under 12 Girls team and tjhis week they played Atsenal Under 12s in a tournament. WW triumphed 2-1 and I found myself in the unique position of cheering on goals scored AGAINST an Arsenal team. Felt a bit odd. Daughter scored a blinder from just outside of the area in their other match against MK Dons too
Unai, Unai, sign her up, (x3)
Sign up NDR’s daughter!
You know the tune.
Yes, Rennes should not be an overly difficult challenge, but then again I thought that Bate would be a total dawdle.
Thoughtful comments on STs, Countryman. Would be wonderful to see a gift scheme for needy kids/families emerging. Difficult to imagine Stan even knowing what a needy kid is though, never mind instigating some such scheme.
A 2 window transfer ban for Chavski.
I wonder if that means they can’t
sign Higuaín at the end of his loan.
I imagine they can appeal and delay
the start. Sounds quite severe but
the 2 window bans don’t seem to
have had a major effect on the
3 Spanish clubs banned previously.
It seems we have to play away at
Rennes now between the Spud and
Manure games.
If it’s because the Chavs are also
at home that night then why not
make them fuck off to Kiev?
Hard to find the words to describe quite how exciting that all was, but a job done efficiently enough, although we do need to start scoring a few goals from open play again.
Thought Ozil gave our game a good deal more fluidity, even if he was unspectacular. Hopefully, he can now play himself back into something like top form.
Ned @12,
Does the one game ban for violent conduct extend to fans, cos I would seriously like to shove one up the hole of whoever is co-commentating on BT Sport – they’re about 15 rows right in front of my seat ?
Great effort with the report, Holic – take it easy.
That would be Stewart Robson. Played 186 times for The Arsenal but has held a grudge ever since George Graham binned him off in 1986/87. Contemptuous about Wenger for many years. Absolute cuntbucket. Seems to hate the club he joined as a schoolboy.
Fine report sir. Caught the game late last night. First tentative steps by Özil and Arsenal toward rehabilitation. Clean sheet gratefully accepted. Hope for further progress in the right direction. Hope your progress is at least as good, H.
Laca has been handed a three-match ban by UEFA after all, so will miss both legs of the Rennes tie.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47338034
Apparently an awful lot of our away support are mightily pissed off.
With us drawn to play at home in the first leg,and even had it posted as such on the Arse website, a lot of fans booked travel for the 14th March 2nd leg,only to find a couple of hours later that the fixtures had been reversed.
So much gnashing of teeth and plenty of expletives renting the air around London and it’s surrounds,as flights had to be changed and lots of extra dosh forked out, 160 extra quid for some by all accounts.
But at least the game will be played at the normal time instead of the 5.55 pm slot usually reserved for the away legs.
As many have pointed out,why not have this posted on UEFA and Club websites,that games will be subject to change if 2 teams from same City come out of the hat first.
Not rocket science.
Making the Laca decision after he had already missed one game seems harsh.
Clive@33: it is in the UEFA Europa League rule book, Section 20.03.
I wonder if it isn’t an advantage to play the first leg away, especially if you can score some away goals.
Ned
Yes it is an advantage to play away leg first,but given we play a big game against Utd the following Sunday,my preference in this instance was to play at Home first.
And how many supporters read the rule book, ???
Probably only the monks, Clive. 🙂
Rennes is only a 15-minute longer flight than Manchester from London, although to your point, travel is still travel.
Yep, well aware of him, Countryman.
Any of their co-commentators would do. What a shower – Robson, Michael Owen, Steve McManamanamanaman, used to be Craig Burley ugh !
After being fed up about missing the game on 7th because I have a dinner I am committed to I was happy about the switch and as I said yesterday the early kick off suits me . It does mean if you live in the boondocks you can get home more easily eg Holic.
Disappointed about Laca but it would be three games in the Premiership. I hear that there are UEFA investigations going on into four other clubs revyouth signings and one of them may be us! The others may be our main rivals though . Imagine how pleased that would make Stan if we didn’t have to sign anyone for the next two transfer windows! I believe the Sun will carry this story shortly.
I also heard Monchi is joining us in June as Technical Director
I see Arseblog are carrying this now.
Monchi is to join us in June
Going to Rennes isn’t so bad as we
can be back the same night.
Less prep time than Manure of course
as they will be out of Europe by then.
An all Spanish triumvirate if Monchi
joins. I hope they find more Santi’s
and Nacho’s.
Perhaps I should e-mail Monchi
to let him know my needs for the
summer
Top keeper – 65m
Back up RB – 15m
Top LB – 65m
Top CB – 75m
Back up DM – 20m
Top CM – 80m
Wingers(x2) – 140m
Job No 1: Get 4-500m out of Stan
🙂
TTG @39
Shame then that Rennes 2nd leg is 8pm kick off.
?????
If you’re stuck for a game at lunch time, the women’s team are on BT Sport in the Intercontinental Cup Final.
Which sounds a bit like a WWE title, but a cup’s a cup.
-Inter.
Shite tv listings.
Glory, glory
Tottnumb Hotspur.
Glory, glory
Tottnumb Hotspur.
Glory, glory
Tottnumb Hotspur.
Who can remember
Nineteen sixty-one?
Totts lose to Burnley. They drop points after a long lucky run.
Looks like they lost the grand final. At least their manager said it was a final. Great pre-match method of psychological preparation of his players, I must say. Preparation for a big non-performance.
Clive,
Thanks for that advice. I turn into a pumpkin at 10 o’clock nowadays but at least I know the kick off time.
Gutted for Tottenham , let’s hope it’s the start of a sharp decline
Done on penalties in the Women’s
Cup Final sadly but Spuds lost at
Burnley. Dennis giveth and Dennis
taketh away I suppose.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>