Good morning PositiveArsenal fans,
An excellent night at the Ems and a contest that I will remember for a long time. Two very good football teams both playing with the metaphoric handbrake off. Arsenal with the ability to attack and create chances, the visitors with formidable organisation in their defence and a desperation to keep us out.
The final result of 1-1 was not what we hoped for. After the sending off we were almost totally dominant in the first half, and totally dominant in the second. Our one goal was fairly poor reward for that effort and for the constant pressure we kept up on the Spaniards. We made chances though, oooooh we made chances, posts were brushed and missed by inches, and Oblak hurled himself about all evening.
Of our lads I thought Jack had a very good game and balanced his two attributes of creativity and combativeness perfectly. Danny was tireless and Laca always on the front foot, looking for that edge against Atleti’s steel eyed pair of centre backs. Granit was his ever dependable self and barely put a foot (or a pass) wrong all night, and Hector and Nacho provided constant width and pace on the flanks. Mesut had a quiet night but he was heavily policed every time he touched the ball, no space, no time.
For the visitors while I do not like Greizmann’s constant chucking himself on the deck to win free kicks and get opponents he stole the equalizing goal from absolutely nothing. People point to the error by Kosc and the slip by Mustafi, (with little bit where was Ospina? kicked in). but the ball hit French forward in the face forty yards and four seconds later it was in the roof of the net. An exceptional finisher.
What does all this ‘mean’ though ? Well from the sudden rush to the exit on the 82 minute around me one might think we are doomed. Not at all.
Even had we gone to the Wanda Metropolitano 1, 2 or 3 ahead only a fool would have expected anything less than a 95 minute battle to ensure our progress into the final. Equally while in theory Atleti could settle for 1-1 and rely on their away goal Simeone is not an idiot. He and his team has had a rocky season in European competitions. The Argentine’s team will have to play a different and more attacking way at home to try to get that important next goal against us. It will not be the same 10 man defence we faced for 80 minutes last night. There will be an inch more space, their will be a half second more time. We played well last night. We can score against AM, and I expect us to score in Madrid.
And then we shall see.
We are still 90 minutes from Lyon. Enjoy your Friday.
Positively Arsenal 
saka on for smith, about 25 minutes left
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itv4 commentators delighted as cfc take the lead from a free header six yards out
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2-1 now – yeah – good goal
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Tired boys out there
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medley was down with cramp when cfc scored that
in the build up to the goal amaechi was fouled but it was not given
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some of the AFC lads seem to be struggling with cramp or knocks
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The fact that Chelsea are a little older and mature on average is starting to tell
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awful blunder by medley and its 3-1
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Oops – steady up lads – stick it out, bang it out anywhere
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medley off, olowu on
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our lads could have done with Nelson playing tonight, but its likely he will get game time for the first team on Sunday v man utd
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good opportunity but final ball lacking and cfc clear
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FT: CFC 3-1 Arsenal
looked good for so long but calls and luck did not go our way, so a big comeback is required in the second leg on Monday
Amaechi and Smith-Rowe very good for us, sub Saka had a few moments too. Virginia a solid keeper, Ballard and Medley good till late on. We lacked a bit in midfield tonight. Could have done with Nelson playing but he has bigger fish to fry with the first team.
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Shock horror ref ignoring clear fouls on AFC players. At least they know what will happen in the first 11. Chelsea, not that great, given a helping hand, all going on loan and no chance of first team. Hope their parents enjoy the £££££££
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I’d love it if we bothered to play reiss Nelson n the second leg and he ripped them a new one
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Some rotten luck for us 2nd half after some good luck in 1st, with them not making more of number of chances.
Hard to take with that offside call he really shouldn’t have got wrong- if in right position no way he can have seen red in front of the two blues; wasn’t close- being immediately followed by them getting benefit of doubt when player was prob marginally off.
Another couple of shite decisions when not booking guy for naughty late ankle stamp (on u17 world cup winning teammate) and then the cynical pull to stop Amaechi when past his man. Made little sense even with stupid attitude of not booking youngsters given one of ours booked just before.
Then letting go what looked so much a foul- man flying in air, ball not moving from where it landed- which led to a goal. Yup, we did not do well from officials 2nd half.
Don’t see any way you could possibly be sure enough that’s not a foul not to go with what it looks like- foul- and what it indeed was.
They do have talent though, Chelsea, and huge depth at youth level. Plus fitness levels seemed above ours.
Hopefully Emirates can galvanise lads. Main thing will always be whether the best of a group can push for 1st team and on that front not a bad evening.
The better prospects mostly did pretty well, and Smith-Rowe looked special again
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Nelson is not eligible – this is a competition for under 18’s.
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Pretty sure he’s eligible. Players have to be u18 at specific date at start of season. Prob June/ July. He turned 18 in December
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he certainly is eligible passenal, cut off point is 31st of August
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Best to check facts first
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Seems I have made some controversial comments about defending as a team, afraid I stand by them.
There are mitigating factors, our most stable partnership in recent years, kos and per, kos clearly has a chronic and not easily treatable injury, per is near retirement, others are on a learning curve.
But defensively, no matter how you dress it up, our numbers are not great, nor are some of the names that have taken points of us this season via defensive mistakes, long, deeney , Austin , Ritchie , plus Brighton Bournemouth and Swansea players would not make a world 11. we are very susceptible to basic forms of football whatever the ultimate intentions, this season, and probably last, that has been self defeating.
Therein lies the frustration, we are losing our greatest manager , a man who does not break contracts, prematurely, perhaps that is what he wanted all along, we don’t know, but cannot help feeling performing better in this area would have seen Wenger finish his contract, at least.
As for the second leg, still have a lot of hope, we are a team well able to cause upsets, no reason to believe wenger cannot confound the experts one last time for Arsenal
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Mandy, felt there was truly rotten luck in that goal, but it was also yet another moment that made me think of the difference between our/ Wenger budget and mega/ pep budget.
The way we play obviously means we’ll be more susceptible to long ball than most sides (though it hadn’t been a factor in game till then). Think it’s something a megabudget manager would directly address their first transfer window, and keep addressing till satisfied- 40 mill, 35 mill, 50, 50, if City.
We’d be looking for someone who is awesome physically, fast and at least 6″2/ 6″3, and has to be able to play football. Unless we manage to capture a player before they make big time that’s a 30-50+ mill player.
We’ve been constantly linked to Rugani for at least 2 years and it may well be he was the one Wenger wanted. With a mega budget, there’s a fair chance it could have happened by bunging an extra 10 or 20 million on whatever we could pay.
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Rich. Reports in Germany say we’re getting Sokratis from Dortmund for 20m euros. He’s 29 and in the last year of his contract. I remember thinking he is a defender I wouldn’t mind at Arsenal, but that was a couple of seasons ago.
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Shard. Pretty sure I’ve been impressed by him in past. Definitely got fighting spirit aplenty which all Greek defenders seem to possess. As a bonus could be a help for compatriot Mavropanos development.
I could well be waiting longer then till we get a good big fella. Height simply isn’t something we prioritise in cb’s whereas my ideal will always have one centre back who is big and dominant in air.
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Kike Marin with a humorously worded- at least in translation- offering.
Enrique situation complicated by him wanting 200 mill to spend and Gazidis wanting to stick with current (non 200 mill way of doing things). The idea is funny that we could do it if we wanted but would rather not, and that it’s a difference which could be worked out.
I can believe he’d want 200 mill though, and that any other in demand big names, if they’re out there, would want similar.
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That is exactly why I’ve been saying I don’t think Arsenal will hire a big name manager. For one, there don’t seem to be any clearly high calibre managers on the move right now. No Klopp or Pep. Unless Allegri leaves Juve, but I still have my doubts about him despite the fact that I like him.
Luis Enrique is a ‘name’ and I can see the logic of why we might want him. But really, with reports of low budgets, coaches staying, Gazidis saying we will be bold and the new coach will fit into the structure, and the salaries name managers demand.. I think we’ll go young. Vieira, Arteta, Henry (to silence the ‘fans’ for a bit) or more likely the German coaches at Schalke or Hoffenheim. I think this is going to be Mislintat’s team in how it is put together and it makes sense that he will also have major say in choosing the coach to run it.
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Defensive players are very difficult to gauge. An aerially dominant CB would be awesome, and I really want one too. But I am not certain that needs to be the No 1 criteria.
Someone who is dominant in the air, but also good at reading the game, organising the defense, and passing the ball well under pressure is like the ultimate prize. Does such a player exist? IF so, I doubt we can afford to buy him.
We’ll probably prioritise reading the game, good at one on ones, and passing under pressure, over aerial dominance.
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Very true Rich, itisnt easy being an Arsenal defender with the systems we play, explayers have said as much,they can easily get isolated on the long ball and counter. but just wish we had found a happy medium and kept our greatest manager, but maybe wenger,like a lot of the great is not about happy mediums, as is his prerogative while he is here.
do expect things to tighten up to a degree on this side of the game when the new man arrives, apart from anything else, it will be a quick win as long as there is not too much compromise in our attacking philosophy
Yes money buys most things in football , certainly over a period of time, a shame they bottled FFP to greater or lesser degrees
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Agree Shard,if reports of Luis Enriques wage and backroom staff demands are true, ok, i know, it is the media, cannot see us going anywhere near him
probably wrong but getting a strong German vibe
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Is “The_Great_Defending_Debate” back again? Some of us had these interminable arguments with the George Graham crowd at another blog and I suspect they will never go away. Let me preface this post by disclosing that I am as upset as any fan when we concede a goal especially if its due to poor defending.
But we must recognize there is little probability of Arsenal ever returning to its defensive past. We love singing “1-love to the Arsenal” as a wind-up, not because most of us honestly believe in that way of playing. Arsenal has moved on, thanks to Wenger. Even his enemies know full well we cannot return to “boring, boring Arsenal”. More importantly football has moved on. It is now a TV-spectacle, a game that emphasizes athleticism and great technical skill. Even Mourinho has to pretend his focus is getting the ball on the ground and playing football, despite his preference for a low block with two DMs and hardly playing more than 5 attacking players in his set-up.
The issue with Arsenal, imo, we play attacking football without the best possible players. Contrast our situation with City. They are winning the 2018 title on a canter not merely because Pep is a great coach who believes in attacking football but they have the very best attackers money can buy. According to transfermkt the purchase value of the current City squad is £739.22m vs £322.34m for Arsenal’s. Unlike us, City was able to improve their defending in 2018 by buying quality players such as Ederson (keeper), Walker (right-back), Mendy (left-back), Danilo (right-back) and in the last window, Laporte (center-back). In contrast the only defensive acquisition by Arsenal who was ready for 1st team football was Kolasinac (left-back). Bramall and Movrapanos are projects for the future. Meanwhile our most competent defender, Koscielny, has a chronic heel injury and must be nursed through the season playing selective games. The deputies, Chambers and Holding are gradually being molded and developed and are not automatic starters.
Now I don’t expect the mainstream media, nor our useless big bloggers and podcasters to explain the objective challenges facing Arsenal with unfair financial competition from City and Chelsea. But, new manager or not, these challenges are not going away.
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Pgmol refresher course on handballs needed for off-season.
Got a feeling today’s one was similar to the very controversial one from Germany couple weeks back where ref blew for half-time before VAR kicked in and players had to be called back out for a pen to be taken. The naysayers were orgiastic about it but seemed fine to me as a clear handball missed was corrected and team got pen they deserved.
Got to think if we put off VAR any longer than a year here the referee gap will grow with the rest of Europe, especially as other countries get better at using the technology.
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Marriner did not see Peters’ left arm Rich – not sure what the lino was looking at though – there was no arm movement toward the ball but even so those are given 9 times out of 10.
Good performance from Stoke – Zouma very impressive.
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Given the importance of Thursday, the fragility of Mus and Kos body wise and the familiarity of Callum and Rob playing together I wonder if it will be the younger pair given the nod against manure.
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shotta_gooner
April 28, 2018 at 12:31 pm
A simpler reason for not being able to go back to the old days of GG defending and 1 Nil to the Arse is the
OFF-SIDE RULE HAS CHANGED
Sometimes when you explain this fine detail as a REAL game changer, them seem to be oblivious wilfully or not.
Another obvious difference was defenders were pretty much allowed to give the forward a seriously hard challange particularly from behind without any thought for referee would book them.
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next seasons kits
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yes wwwb and shotta, not only has the actual offside laws changed, but defenders no longer being able to tackle from behind has also changed defending utterly
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shard wouldn’t it be funny if Henry gets the gig and he goes the way of all the other pundits, the malcontents would be in total confusion, as they cream themselves on his every word digging at AFC,
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Mkhitaryan trained today, and could be in the squad v Man Utd tomorrow, other good news is that Eleney who was expected to miss rest of the season was in light training.
Mavrapanos back from injury too, and young players Nelson, Nketiah, Willock, Osei-Tutu, DaSilva and AMN all in training today too.
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/952556/Arsenal-news-training-injury-return-Man-Utd-sportgalleries
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starting to look like swansea and huddersfield are going to let southampton and stoke stay up
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Talk of outlawed tackles behind- think that relates to some of our tougher games and away day blues.
Reducers may now be a rare sight but I remember so clearly a couple of tough away games against Everton and Southampton where they were putting huge pressure on us from behind- pushing, pulling, kicks, something every time we released ball or they were in touching distance, near enough. West Brom another who specialise in it.
Chuck in a few very forceful challenges which let our players know they’d better watch out, even in positions where they seem to have ball shielded, and it can disrupt us immensely. McCarthy of Everton was big part of an effort which changed a game totally at their place and relied completely on ref being extremely lenient.
Don’t see those tactics as much of an option for us if we’re looking to improve defence. Has to all be clean as a whistle with us for most part.
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Interesting that today Bayern played four very green youngsters and only 2 or 3 who will start their huge European game midweek.
They were at home though and against modest opposition. And won 4-1 the bums.
Still feel it’s right to try rest as many as possible tomorrow, but it nonetheless makes me anxious thinking about what could happen if we do.
I’m gonna try accept it and not moan if we don’t.
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seemingly young right back osei-tutu and central defender mavrapanos have traveled with the squad to Manchester, if either play it will be their first team debut.
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reports that Mustafi, Koscielny, Wilshere, Ramsey and Ozil have not traveled to Manchester, possibly Lacazette too.
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Chris Davison
@cdavison_afc
3m3 minutes ago
#AFC | Full squad that has travelled to Manchester…👇
– Cech
– Ospina
– Bellerin
– Monreal
– Kolasinac
– Osei-Tutu
– Mavropanos
– Holding
– Chambers
– Willock
– Xhaka
– M Niles
– Mkhitaryan
– Iwobi
– R Nelson
– Welbeck
– Nketiah
– Aubameyang
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one of Elneny’s reps has said Mo is possibly available for AM game on Thursday
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Shotta, thanks for your common sense about the defence. It’s refreshing to see a bit of perspective return to this site.
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Hugely impressed with Mavrapanos, he seems to be the perfect mix of old fashion stopper and modern ball playing CB and when he heads the ball it stays head. I know it’s early days for him but so far he looks very good.
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Looking at the squad that traveled i would not be surprised to see a team along the lines of
Cech
Osei-Tutu, Chambers, Holding, Kolasinac
Willock, Maitland-Niles
Nelson, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi
Aubameyang
subs:Ospina, Bellerin, Monreal, Mavropanos, Xhaka, Nketiah, Welbeck
of course we could go stronger with 3 or more players who are likely to start on Thursday
Cech,
Bellerin, Chambers, Holding, Kolasinac
Xhaka, Maitland-Niles
Welbeck, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi
Aubameyang
subs, Ospina, Osei-tutu, Mavrapanos, Monreal, Willock, Nelson, Nketiah,
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Ian unless we either go with 3 at the back or put Chambers at right back, we are unlikely to see Mavraponas start, Chambers and Holding far more likely. And with 2 right backs in the squad, Bellerin and Osei-Tutu it looks unlikely that we will put a CB at RB
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