Impressive Young Gunners Shine In Kiev
Nov 29th, 2018 by 'holic
The predicted starting eleven was just one out. Joe Willock was preferred to Henrikh Mkhitaryan who presumably remains in contention for the North London derby. The substitutes bench was also one out as Zech Medley was eligible to play and Dominic Thompson missed out. The sight of the shivering Gunners as they lined up beforehand was testament to the -12 degrees temperature.
An energetic start was predictable in the conditions and made for a pleasant surprise. The first opportunity fell to Vorskla striker Kolomoiets but he was distracted by the challenge of Matteo Guendouzi and shot over. Chesnakov was then denied at the second attempt by Cech. The early Gunners running was into dead ends, but not for long.
In the eleventh minute Aaron Ramsey and Eddie Nketiah combined to tee up Emile Smith Rowe for his second Europa League goal of the season. The defending could have been better in truth but 500 travelling Gooner’s were grateful for the opportunity to jump up and down a bit!
Vorskla Poltava 0-1 The Arsenal
When Skliar brought Nketiah down on the edge of the box Ramey’s free-kick failed to dip quickly enough and the chance to extend the lead was lost. Ainsley Maitland-Niles showed our ambition when linking up with Smith Rowe and only a heavy touch prevented him from lining up a one on one with Vorskla goalkeeper Shust.
In the twenty-sixth minute Ramsey was tripped in the area by Perduta and calmly despatched the spot-kick himself to confirm the Gunners early dominance.
Vorskla Poltava 0-2 The Arsenal
Skliar was booked for two assaults on Smith Rowe and Nketiah in quick succession and Sharpar joined him when he was adjudged to have caught Willock. The latter showed no effects and brought a sharp save out of Shust with a fierce effort from a tight angle. Nketiah was next to try his luck but couldn’t keep his effort on target. The out of control Skliar made another couple of late challenges that the referee chose to ignore.
Two became three when Elneny sent Willock scampering at a retreating defence. He cut in, and passed the ball inside the far post. It was his first senior Gunners goal and his delight was evident. Good for him. The first-half had been a stroll for the Gunners squad team. The top spot in Group E was in the bag, surely?
Vorskla Poltava 0-3 The Arsenal
The second half started in much the same way as the first had ended, with The Arsenal prominent. From an attacking corner Rob Holding was adjudged to have elbowed Kolomoiets and shown a yellow card that will rule him out of the FK Qarabag game on matchday six.
As the hour approached and with one eye on the North London derby Rob Holding was withdrawn to be substituted by debuting Zech Medley, a young defender who has many admirers at the club. His first touch was an impressive step outside a pressing attacker and crisp pass to a midfield colleague.
A very late offside flag, seemingly erroneously, denied Smith Rowe a second goal when he arrived late at the far post to knock in a Lichsteiner cross that was not dealt with by Vorskla’s rearguard. Another debutant, England U19 international Bukayo Saka, was sent on to allow Ramsey a breather.
In the seventieth minute Petr Cech showed good concentration when called upon to make a smart stop to deny a rare Vorskla shot by Perduta. At the other end Smith Rowe again stung the palms of Shust. That prompted Vorskla to send on Kane, one of their own, for Kulach. Shortly afterwards Kolomoiets was booked for tripping Maitland-Niles.
Saka’s first strike in senior football had Shust making the acrobatic save demanded. Charlie Gilmour became the third debutant from the bench when he was introduced for Guendouzi. That meant the Gunners would end this European awayday with six teenagers on the pitch. Impressive.
Another rare Vorskla raid ended with Carl Jenkinson blocking a shot at point-blank range by Rebenok. The ‘holic pound was limping badly but still a vague possibility with five minutes to go. An enquiry about the cashback seemed to draw laughter from my betting account. Careca curled the last Vorskla attempt wide of Cech’s left hand post and it was lost.
Whilst acknowledging that Vorskla had not travelled to Kiev well one has to say we can only beat what is put in front of us and a very young Gunners team had put in a very creditable performance. The future looks a little bit brighter this evening, and that is saying something. We already knew we have some real quality bubbling under the first team.
43 Responses to “Impressive Young Gunners Shine In Kiev”
CHEERS H!
Now that, Guv’nor, was ridiculously quick.
The kids did all right. It became a bit disjointed after Guendouzi came off, but as you say, there is some talent bubbling up out of the Academy.
Please let me know when we have cleared Ukrainian air space. Now to read your match report. 🙂
“Sent on Kane, one of their own.” Heh.
Really satisfying performance. Memories of the league cup 7 or 8 years ago. Emory fully justified in his squad choice – group winners, on we go. Have already sold my Qarabag tickets to a good friend of the Landlord. Should be another great stage for our talented academy lads.
Now – I think I’ve a game to go to this weekend. Countryman junior is playing hooky from University to come back to North London. It’s gonna be massive……
A very heartening performance against the Ukrainian version of the Dog & Duck. As Holic wrote you can only beat what is put in front of you and we certainly did that .
Very impressed with all the young lads. Guendouzi was terrific and Willock has definitely improved from last season. Medley and Saka both looked tasty too. Many of these lads could save us a hell of a lot of money as Clive and I keep indicating.
Let’s see more of them against Qarabag
Very impressed with the closing down,attacking with speed and in numbers and the tracking back of the boys. Some of our senior men should take note. Really good to see such talent in our homegrown lads.
I watched on a very dodgy stream and so was delighted by the detail provided in your report, Holic. A very good night out for some promising youngsters.
Then what everyone else said above. 🙂
Great quality report H as always!
I’m really impressed at the work rate the young guns have produced tonight, I know the opposition wasn’t up to scratch, however let’s not use that to take away this great effort they put into this game. I doubt they will get another chance in Europa League so credit where it’s due.
Honestly I was expecting a slow first half 🙂 instead we got something much better, where work rate and application both attacking and defending was top notch! Agree with Delia some senior players should definitely take note.
Bring on the Spuds please! 😀
Great win for the kids, our first in
The Ukraine I think.
Hopefully, as we’re through in top
spot already, there will be another
chance for several of them against
Qarabag.
A shout for Corporal Carl who has
now played across the back line for his
boyhood club.
Finally I’ve seen the goals, and ESR and JW’s goals were very well taken. Nketiah was either very happy to have assisted ESR or very disappointed not to have scored himself, and/or both at the same time. Ramsey’s penalty would never have been awarded in the English Premier League.
OM. The Jenkinson cult just keeps on growing. 🙂
Laughing bookies? It all sounds quite evil to me.
Excellent report Guvna. I’ve just finished watching the game on delay after getting home from Oxford at 10.30pm. I should have nipped in for a celebratory drink and jig.
I am very impressed by the maturity and skill level of the youngsters, not just the starters but the lads who came on looked the dog’s bollocks as well.
Plus a shout out to Corporal Jenks who, whilst not exactly having to deal with Diego Costa, did not look out of place at CB. Indeed he looked more comfortable there than I’ve seen him look in a very long time at RB.
Well done lads and well done Unai.
Now to business.
bt8
Yep, all hail The Jenks.
I guess he wants regular football in truth
and playing a few for us should help him
find a club in January.
nice wee heartstarter for sunday
.
UP THE ARSENAL
And to be fair I thought Aaron showed
up well -.great attitude and effort when
he could have coasted as some of our
senior “fringe” players seemed to do in
this competition last season.
Looking ahead there’s still a chance of
Sevilla in the last 32 if they stay second.
Milan, Celtic and Lazio too.
Can we get another English club in the
last 32 ? Not sure if that rule is the same
as the CL
OM@16: For the round of 32, as a group winner, we will play, one of the second placed teams from the other Europa League groups or one of the four third-placed teams from the Champions League groups with the worst records.
We cannot play Sporting (same group) or a team from the same association (ie, an FA club). So no Chelsea, nor the Neighbors or Liverpool if they drop down from the CL. But we could get Celtic or Rangers. We get to play the second leg at home.
If we get through to the round of 16, it is an open draw with no restrictions.
Potential round of 32 opponents at this point with a round of group games still to go: Bayer Leverkusen, Zurich, Celtic, Red Bull Leipzig, Copenhagen, Slavia Prague, Fernerbache, Real Betis, AC Milan, Olympiacos, Villareal, Rapid Vienna, Rangers, Lazio, Genk, Besiktas, Malmo, Kransnodar, Sevilla, Standard Liege, Dynamo Kyiv, Astana, BATE Borisov, Vidi, plus Benfica, Brugge, Valencia, Inter Milan, Lyon, Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain, Shakhtar Donetsk, CSKA Moscow, Red Star Belgrade, Galatasaray, Hoffenheim, Locomotive Moscow and Viktoria Plzen dropping down from the CL.
Plenty of decent teams there.
By Dennis, them monks are
thorough!
Thanks Ned.
Not really sure who I’d want out of
that little lot. Somewhere reasonably
close would be good.
If you didn’t hate Tony Pulis and Stoke before you will after reading this
https://www.givemesport.com/1423460-dave-kitson-reveals-stoke-players-mentality-before-aaron-ramseys-leg-break-in-2010?autoplay=off
TTG@19, it clearly happened because of the way that rancid little toad sent his team out, as we have always suspected. Pulis should be horsewhipped.
@20 Spot on.
And yet people will still defend
Pukis, say what a great motivator
he is and then blame Kitson for
saying something. Pure envy and
spite.
what a sea with three stars
Tony Pulis and his stoke team were a despicable lot and they should rot in hell for their attitude and what they did to a player, almost deliberately. Hope they never ever come back to the premiership.
Yesterday was sweet, players taking their chance to impress and showing the right attitude. They all showed the hunger that is needed to progress in their careers. This does make me wonder why when certain players who are on the fringes of the first team do not make the same effort when they get the chance to impress. Cue- Mhkitaryan, i am not picking on him and i really think he is a very good footballer but then when he knows he is not in the first 11 and when he gets a chance, he should double his efforts, maybe he does but i dont see it so and it makes me feel sad that such a talented player is not being able to.
NLD time and almost all so-called experts think tottnum will win and not a player from our team can make into a combined 11 of the 2 teams. I accept defensively they are better but come on Dier ahead of Torreira? Eriksen ahead of Ozil? I also accept that overall they seem to have the more compact team but derbies are not won just on that, the team that wants to win more and gives its life on the pitch will and truly believe Emery will install that in the players, not that they need it. Arsenal will need to beat them by scoring more than them for don’t think defensively we have the shape to shut them out. 2-0 last season I remember but still don’t think so that will happen again this sunday, not conceding. Unai, you know, we know we need to win this at all cost, please play Mesut and lacazette.
Dier is obviously dire but although Ozil is a better player than Eriksen for consistency you would have to go with the latter.
Eriksen isn’t actually very consistent
either and can be marked out of
the game IMO
Tough games for them against
Chavs and Inter – the spuds are
there to be taken. Personally, I
feel more positive about the NLD
than the Manure game to be
honest
Emery defeated a Ukrainian club, Dnipro, in the second of the three consecutive Europa League titles he won with Sevilla so maybe we should have had no worries about Vorskla last evening. Benfica, Dnipro and Liverpool were the three final opponents.
cos of the day that was in it
didn’t want to say
3 hour round trip
yesterday
sideways rain
the dark
a torch
creepers leaking
.
.
.
boo hoo
aviation affording
kudos hogging
fuckers
.
.
where’s my bastardin applause ?
where’s my whip round for footwear ?
.
fuck the lotta ye
but
was worth it though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afam2nIae4o
.
.
???????
.
.
.
.
.
he lies
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
anyone know how de drain dung outta iconic footwear ?
.
.
.
.
“Yeah , take your shoes off”
“YA MOUTH”
.
way ahead a ye
.
.
.
anyhoo
here’s to pasting those lumps
and confidence double stamped
come sunday
.
‘holic
hope ye have a dirty great big lump of a day out
gargling till yer hair hurts
.
.
UP THE ARSENAL
Good evening young fella.
Here’s your applause.
?? ?? ?? ?? ??
well if that’s yer attitude
?
.
.
ye doin the full day
feed and swally
?
.
.
i’m just a
J E A L O U S
guy uy uy uy
.
.
#doo doo doo doo
doo doo doo ooo
And how’s the cows?
the cattle remain enormous 8ball
and
it’s only after years of acclimatizationing
that they barely now
halt munching or shiting
when i traverse their living room
they aren’t shy about the pancakes of joy
they hide around and about
but
who among us could deny them that pleasure
cos
in return
i get to enjoy the surprisingly loud
cccrrrummpphhh rrrrummphhh
of their moonlit grass munching serenade
Mrs TTG was very touched by the kind thoughts of so many Holic’s and asked me to thank you all. She is making slow but satisfactory progress and I may be able to leave her to attend the derby tomorrow. It will be nice to be back at THOF if I make it. Do we still play in red and white?
It’s here! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
GET THE FFFF INnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!
Torrreeerrrrraaaaaaaaaaa!
Up The Arse!!!
😀