Tag: match report

Arsenal Out Of The Champions League and Highlights

On By jamesgillespIn Champions League3 Comments

Two injust decisions cost Arsenal a place in the Semis. First Kuyt’s blatant foul on Hleb in the 1st Leg – Definitely a penalty –  not given.

In the 2nd Leg after a wonderful Arsenal goal – Arsenal had just pulled back to 3-3 on agg. (in front on away goals) Toure brushes Babel in front of the Kop, given! Liverpool go on to win the game. The highlights: click here

Match Report:

Liverpool

Hyypia 30
Torres 69
Gerrard 86 (pen)
Babel 90

 5-3 agg.

4-2
(1-1)

 Arsenal

Diaby 13
Adebayor 84

We started the match very well, good passing play really put Liverpool on the back foot. We had a few close chances where Liverpool managed to escape.

Diaby got his goal after 13 minutes, he took one touch on Hleb’s pass down the side of the penalty area and then placed the ball between Reina and the near post, Reina got a slight touch but it was in.

I thought then that we could do this and by all means we could have.

We then dominated the match, until the 30th minute when Liverpool got a corner, Senderos lost Hyypia who headered towards the post, over Fabregas’ head.

Liverpool back in it.

10 minutes Flamini went off after a knock to the ankle, on came Gilberto, I wasn’t thinking positivily about this! It looks worrying.

Anyway 1st half ended 1-1, Liverpool started the second half closing every ball down, not giving us any time to settle on the ball.

Then a lull in Liverpool’s play and we were attacking, a long ball forward by them was flicked on by Crouch to Torres, who turned and shot from just inside the corner of the penalty area, his shot went into the opposite top corner. Senderos shouldn’t have given him the room.

2-1 Liverpool (3-2 agg.)

Minutes later an attacking change. Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie on. Abou Diaby and Emmanuel Eboue off.

Adebayor came close later, put through by a pass by Hleb, which had slipped trough the Liverpool back line. It caught him by suprise and he sliced it wide. Horrible to watch this missed chance.

Then with just a few minutes to go Theo sets off on a wonderful run. In my head all I could hear was “its up for grabs nowwww!!” as he skipped past four Liverpool players, ran the length of the field before squaring the ball for Adebayor to slot home. Ecstasy!

Then the worst thing that could have happened did…

Within 90 seconds Toure had a penalty harshly awarded against him as Babel fell in the area.

Gerrard slots it away and I know there’s no way back, our moment of magic was over. Theo’s wonderful assist cancelled out.

We pushed forward trying for an 3rd, at a free kick we left it exposed at the back, Ryan Babel broke, held off Cesc’s challenge and put the ball past Manuel.

Game over.

It was sad to see, we had come so close, but victory was snatched away from us. Even Gerrard admitted afterwards that Liverpool were ‘passed off the park’ by Arsenal, and hinted that they were lucky to win.

If it hadn’t been for the penalty I’m so sure we would have won, but it sums up our season, defensive errors have cost us everything this year.

It was commented here on my preview about the line up, and it didn’t work for us.

  • Top marks for Walcott, Adebayor, Hleb
  • Diaby, good, Flamini, good, Clichy good.
  • Fabregas looked tired.
  • Almunia performed pretty good, went the right way for the penalty, the goals weren’t his fault.
  • Eboue proved that he can’t play in the final 3rd of the field, he is not a right winger
  • Van Persie looked lost.
  • Toure has made a few mistakes but was alright.
  • Senderos was also ok, but at fault occasionally.
  • Gilberto was variable as well, sometimes good touches, sometimes poor.

Click here for Wenger’s comments:

“I felt the game was over at 2-2. Then there was a dodgy penalty and we started to lose concentration.”

World of Arsenal is devasted too – click here..

Manchester United on Sunday at Old Trafford.

Arsenal 1 – 1 Liverpool Reaction

On By jamesgillespIn Champions League1 Comment

World of Arsenal has a good match report here

It seems like we should have won. 1-1 is not an awful result, but the away goal most definitely gives Liverpool the advantage going into the Second leg at Anfield.

I watched the highlights on the net, click here to see them.

Goals: Adebayor ’23, Kuyt ’26

It seems that we dominated much of the match. Hleb had a good appeal for a penalty denied, and Bendtner blocked Cesc’s shot on the line by accident, but was offside anyway. It’s frustrating that when we play well at home we still draw, and the goal we conceded was pretty weak, Flamini lost the ball, there were a few weak challenges on Gerrard, who managed to get a cross in to Kuyt who bundled it over the line.

Wenger:

“The whole second half we played in one half. I cannot fault the players. We were unlucky under a few circumstances…If you look at the amount of possession we had tonight compared to Liverpool, it is frightening”

Disappointingly Van Persie went off with a thigh strain, Wenger says it was a precaution against a recurrence of his previous injury. Robin really is quite injury prone at the moment. I just hope he gets it fixed. Theo came on for him and did well, he really is starting to make a good claim for a starting position, he has a good impact whenever he comes on for us.

We are still in a good position to go through, this is a mental test for us as Wenger said. Now we face Liverpool on Saturday at home in the Premiership, I think the way this game goes could influence the 2nd leg of the Quarter Final. We definitely have the talent to do well in the next 2 games against the Scousers, but how the games actually go is another matter!

In Wenger’s words:

“Its a little bit a survival battle, you know? The one who is still good after three games is the one who is the better team.”

Arsenal

Arsenal Comeback At Bolton, Still In It…

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Wow, what a result that was against Bolton!?! 3-2!!!

Never our favourite place to travel to, the Reebok Stadium must have been in ecstasy as Martin Taylor put them in front, we had Diaby sent off and then Taylor scored again.

Being away I had to follow it from the text updates on the BBC… It was a bit like using Teletext in the old days. There was some frantic page refreshing, and I was pretty despondent by half time. The 3 goals we got came out of the blue for me. Gallas, then Van Persie’s penalty and then Fabregas’ last minute winner!! What a way to win.

We played poorly at times it seems, but the result and the way we got it can only have a positive effect on the team. It was only spoiled by the fact that Man U killed Villa 4-0, Chelsea escaped with 3 points after Middlesbrough hit the post 3 times at Stamford Bridge, and Liverpool beat Everton, the only goal scored by none other than Torres.

I think there’s less than 30% chance that we can win the title now. Man U are really on a roll and even if we beat them we would still need them to drop more points, not mentioning Chelsea who still have a point more than us.

The results from our games against Liverpool and then Man U will be crucial. Then we will have to see what result is best for us the Chelsea Man U game.

Nevertheless we are still challenging for the Champions League and the Premiership and we have proved that we can perform at the top level this year. I love our team and Wenger and the ethos of the club. Maybe a few well thought out signings this summer will help us.

In any case it’s all to play for, and the result from Bolton has renewed my optimism!

Middlesbrough Draw Keeps It Tight At The Top

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

I am feeling pretty low about the result at the weekend.

It was similar to many games during the last few seasons, where we have started brightly enough, but never really got out of 2nd gear and dozed off after our initial spurt. The doziness on this occasion meant a long freekick found Tuncay who got away from Toure and crossed for Aliadiere to score, while Gallas was left claiming offside rather than defending.

This is the sort of mistake which will cost us and there is the possibility that we could finish 3rd this season with no trophies as Chelsea are only 3 points behind us and they have a game in hand. It really is very close between the top 3 and we have chosen the wrong time to dip in form.

We didn’t look right on Saturday, Sagna had a funny game and he has been a consistent performer for us this year, it was mirrored by the team, Eboue was our best performer which says something, possibly?? Theo made a good contribution to the game when he came on the right to replace Sagna, Eboue moving to right back. We did plug away in the second half, leaving it very late to get the goal. Toure’s header was a moment of ecstacy in a dour game by our standards. The goal was satisfying but there was always the feeling we should have claimed 3 points. Many decisions went against us and the refereeing at times was shocking, but theres not much we can do about that now and its not really an excuse..

In other news, Gilberto says he may leave at the end of the season if he doesn’t regain his place, I think it is likely that he will be off.

Anyway, I can’t face writing much more.. Onwards to Stamford Bridge, I will be praying..

From Milan to Wigan: 0-0

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Much has happened during the past 7 days! Beating AC and then dropping 2 points up at Wigan yesterday. It has been up and down. Euphoria on Tuesday, and then reality check on Sunday!

The result against Wigan was a disappointing 0-0 on an atrocious pitch, with Wigan battling hard and doing a good job of really limiting our passing and chances. Wenger’s post-match interview here.

We started with Fabregas on the right, Walcott injured himself in a behind closed doors match against Colorado Rapids earlier in the week. We seem to be suffering from a lack of wingers at the moment! Gilberto and Flamini in the middle, Senderos kept his place in defence. Good news is that Toure and Van Persie both started on the bench and then came on to play a part. You can argue that maybe it was unwise to play Walcott in the friendly with our current injury problems, it probably was, but that only comes with hindsight.

Within the fi<rst minute we could have gone ahead with Adebayor clear on goal, but Kirkland made a good save to keep it level. During the first half we played well we did lack width in midfield, and Gilberto played quite poorly in the centre. Nevertheless we had some good chances and seemed to be on good form.

The bad condition of the pitch, and Wigan's fighting mentality saw us go into half time nil-nil. The second half saw us lose momentum and dominance, possibly a bit drained after the win in Milan. Van Persie came on for Bendtner, nice to see him back, but he did look a bit rusty. Toure also came on for Gilberto, Fabregas moved inside and we had Toure on the right.

All in all, we dominated the first half, but had limited chances, and Wigan upped their game in the second half, we still were frustrated in attack whilst they kept us busy defensively with some good work by Valencia on Wigan's right. Fabregas had a great chance blocked by Kirkland's legs in the final stages. It was quite depressing really, by stoppage time although we had made some inroads, Wigan renewed their attack and might have even nicked a goal on the break.

It seems like we dropped 2 points, but that is the nature of the game. The press may make a big deal of every game we don't win but at the moment we are 2 points ahead. Man U may have a game in hand at Derby, but a win there only gives them a one point advantage. Unusually I have some praise for Andy Gray's commentary, he played down the hype about our league form and pointed out that the race is very close, and defintely not over yet!!

MOTD 2 picked up on Bendtner and Adebayor not linking up well, this was true at times, but maybe it just wasn't our day. Senderos deserves a mention, he has lacked in confidence in recent years and taken a lot of stick, but the guy is on form, and he kept Toure off the team sheet. Good on you Phil.

To cheer all you up: Tuesday, March 4th, the San Siro, that has to go down as one of our great European nights, I just watched the highlights hereat Gunnerblog. That made me feel better! Fabregas’ goal was fantastic, and we totally outplayed the current champions, and they admitted it. It was great to see Walcott run clear of Kaladze to cross for Adebayor to get his first goal for us in the CL. Pity he couldn’t get another against Wigan.

This post wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the FA Cup this year:

Barnsley 1- 0 Chelsea

Man U 0 – 1 Portsmouth; against all the odds, Man U ended up with Ferdinand in goal after Van der Sar’s injury and Kusczcak(?spelling!) was sent off. Fergie went mental about the ref.

Middlesborough 0 – 2 Cardiff

Bristol Rovers 1 – 5 West Brom

Amazing results, only one Premiership side in the semi’s for the first time in 100 years. All the big four out; it’s up for grabs.

Middlesbrough at home this weekend, another team fighting for their lives in the Premiership.