Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Report: Arsenal 3-0 AC Milan

Arsenal went out of the Champions League after a brave 3-0 win over AC Milan at the Emirates tonight.

With a four goal deficit to overturn, an early goal would have been very welcome and Laurent Koscielny duly obliged. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain whipped in a great ball, Kos lost his marker and headed into the bottom corner in the 6th minute.

Milan looked slow and ponderous, seemingly content to see out the game and to hold onto their first leg lead. But Arsenal, with Rosicky and The Ox driving us forward from midfield looked dangerous all the time.

Rosicky and van Persie should have made more of sloppy Milan play which saw them 2 on 1 but fluffed their lines. The skipper then forced a great save from Abiatti with a curling effort from the edge of the box.

In the 26th minute we got a second. A Walcott run and cross should have been easy for the Milan defence to deal with but Thiago Silva’s feeble clearance fell straight to Rosicky in the area. He took a look, then simply passed it around the defender into the bottom corner, Abiatti’s desperate touch not enough to keep it out.

Arsenal continued to make all the running, and in the 42nd minute Oxlade-Chamberlain surged into the Milan box, found himself obstructed by two defenders and the referee eventually pointed to the spot. Robin van Persie ignored some gamesmanship regarding the placement of the ball to smash home the spot kick to make it 3-0.

We then had a bit of luck just before half-time when we got caught out defensively, El Shaarawy had just Szczesny to beat, albeit from an angle, but he put his shot well wide. When you consider one Milan goal would require Arsenal to get six it was a lucky escape.

The second started well again but it was clear Milan had been given some kind of a bollocking by their boss at half-time and were much improved. They looked more dangerous and kept the ball much better.

We began to give them a lot of space which they didn’t have in the first half but the best chance fell to Robin van Persie. When Abiatti saved from Gervinho, the ball fell to van Persie inside the 6 yard box. When a sidefooted effort would have sufficed he tried a little dink over the keeper which Abiatti read and saved.

It was to prove costly as it was the last real chance that we fashioned. The team began to look tired, Oxlade-Chamberlain was suffering having picked up a hamstring strain early in the half and Milan’s experience began to show through, with ball possession and cunningly winning free kicks off a ref who looked as if he was taking charge of his first ever match.

The visitors should have made the last 15 minutes inconsequential when Nocerino somehow contrived to miss from 3 yards. Seriously, one of the most amazing misses I have ever seen.

We threw on Chamakh for The Ox, Park came on for the injured Walcott but we looked exhausted and just couldn’t find a way to replicate the glories of the first half.

For all that, however, there’s no blame to be apportioned tonight. Certainly not for Robin van Persie despite that miss, and the team in general did themselves and us proud. It was a great effort and while the players will be gutted they’ve gone out, we should recognise the scoreline and the performance.

A case of so near yet so far, the mountain we gave ourselves to climb in the first leg was just too high, but there’s pride restored in the shirt and the Arsenal we’ve seen over the last three games is the Arsenal we all love.

Unlucky lads, now for Newcastle.

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We were unlucky tonight, some pride has been restored but we didn’t have good enough options on the bench.

bob's your uncle

would have liked to see the young lad come on instead of those two muppets..
gj tonight lads.. next time don’t give yourself such a mountain to climb.
and lets hope we don’t have too many injuries for the weekend.

kkkkkk

it would’ve been a better result at mIlan had they not carved the pitch into a road….

bob's your uncle

true enough,maybe they can use slatan’s face to plough it next time.

Yar

Exactly. Too many passengers on in the end, not fair to the boys who worked their socks off. And while I can’t deny their efforts, Song, Gibbs, and Gervinho were just awful tonight. Gerv needs to be a sub. Other than that, proud to be a Gooner tonight. Well done

Josh

Gervinho might have lack the potency going forward but I feel its undeserved to say he was awful tonight. Between him and Gibbs they pretty much kept Robinho in their pockets. Not to mention that he crafted out a brilliant chance and was unlucky not to score when it hit Abbiati’s legs.

Personally I feel the lack of overall quality on the bench, tiredness from the Kop match and poor refereeing conspire against us. Overall, I’m a very proud goner tonight and the players that played should be proud too!

AMURICAH

gervinho was fantastic, he tracked back so much it was rediculous he picked out every run and still got forward, you weren’t watching the game mate

ramgooner

what matters is we won the game and we won it big and we did it at home.
it is a very important victory and might prove crucial in arsenal’s future.i can relate the home victory against barcelona and the milan one.anybody gotta fear us at home now.

Yar

I’ll give you Gervinho tracked back well, but he is inept going forward. Again I don’t fault the effort of anyone last night, but you really must have the blinders on to say Gibbs had a good game. He comes way too far inside and always leaves a runner in behind him. That being said, Szczensy Kos and TV5 were rocks

What's my name?

My great regret is especially the exit of the exceptional Ox. Once he was gone we totally lost our shape and couldn’t keep the ball as well as we did before his departure, making it harder for us to threaten their goal.

Nevertheless, well done to the team for an outstanding performance against the odds. More of the same till end of season and the wannabes from White Hart Lane will be put right back in their lowly place below us, where they rightly belong.

EddyG

i agree with you, ox is such a gun and will be an amazing player. i think wenger is letting his body develop before overplaying him, trying to avoid the same situation as j-wilsh had. i also believe he picked up a knock, hope he’s ok for newcastle. next week we go 8 points ahead of newcastle! up the arse!

Jekyll

Just before being subbed AOC had made a 70 yard run to make a tackle. This was no knock, it was Wenger’s regulation sub of him he always makes at that time of the match, decided before the match.

gunner16

na there was a knock. Why would Wenger sub him when Walcott was once again awful? Get your head out of your arse and trust AW to put things right. It was his decision to play Ox in midfield and I think we’ll see him there from next season if we can sign a good winger. Hazard and Poldi would make us a top team

Mayor of Boston

If only we had some of this 🙁

http://airberg.ytmnd.com/

why is my name required

Arsene went mental at the 4th official at the final whisltle, i can’t blame him. I’m sure i don’t even have to tell you how many errors the ref made. One of the most pathetic and shocking refereeing i’ve ever seen in recent memory. This was a fucking knock out round, and Uefa (cunts) picked a ref that didn’t know what to do. He looked so lost, his decisions were fucking terrible. This ref should be banished from european competition.

Josh

I thought 4-5 minutes would have been fair, considering the amount of play acting and time wasting tactics employed by Milan. I feel that they should extend the stoppage time too with the amount of shit Milan gave us on the last 3 minutes.

Shocking that RvP got a second yellow for a fair shot on goal while Milan get away with launching the UEFA space program on the pitch.

Dave G

Anybody think Benik Afobe should been given a chance on the bench tonight? I know our main problem was no midfield’s to come on and create something but I felt he was better option than park and Chamahk.

Simon Says

I don’t think he was included onto the Champions League squad because of his groin injury.

Josh

Win or lost, Im proud of the Arsenal team tonight. They gave everything and I can’t fault them. Well played Arsenal!

AC Milan, fucking classless, diving and cheating like that. What the hell is with that inconsistent referee too?

Mooro

Magnificent effort.

Pride restored, now let’s catch the Spuds.

Teck

Yes magnificent indeed! I love this team!

Tomislav

We are out, but I feel proud.

tino

so fucking proud

brazmondo

a wonderful performance and something for everyone to be proud of. a display of some serious character. 

the rvp miss was a shame but he’s such a great leader and goalscorer so who can blame him for one missed opportunity. 

that’s now three top results against three dangerous teams on the bounce. now we crack on and knock the spuds off their perch. 

special mention to the ox, rosicky and kosh – great performances.

Spooner

And Chesney for his goal celebrations.. He almost ate his own goal!

Goonerhaea

I think he ate it coz Milan didn’t even know where it was!

Comedian

No complaints we gave it all.
And a mention to OX what a player and still play with the same thrust after pulling up a injury he was everywhere.
We are proud of you Arsenal.

Arsene Nose

No matter what, we are The Arsenal, and we can always be proud. Come on you goooooooooners

gunner16

was proud of the first half….I hate to be negative after this but we weren’t good in the second half. Not at all.Still it was a good effort and we nearly did it. makes it surprisingly painful. 🙁

Young Gooner

They must be exhausted. Most important thing is they were very determined to get something from this almost impossible game. This is why the game is something sweet to watch

AMURICAH

the ox made a huge difference and when he came off we really couldn’t do jack shit

Young Gooner

What a spirit! They just make us proud today. Well done lads! We were just unlucky to get one more goal. Congratulation.

dcs

Oh to be a gooner

Thorough

Cue the thumb downs: Wenger yet again undid us with an unfathomable piece of tactical suicide.

Josh

Indulge me but how was it tactical suicide?

Camilla

Basically, he didn’t give a kit to Pat Rice. I’m afraid I have to agree, he would’ve done us proud! 😀

Josh

No way! Kos and TV5 had the best game in defence together since Metersacker’s injury!

Thorough

@Josh. I dont claim an all-knowing ability and I prefer to explain my reasons, even if full of holes, rather than be judged without an assessment. I call the sub a tactical suicide because of the following. I would have been okay with a retinue of attackers, Chamack inclusive, at the beginning of the match. But at 3-0 up, when a goal for AC would have totally changed the complexion of the match and give us a mountain to climb as well as make a mincemeat of our hard work of about an hour, I think Chamack was a wrong… Read more »

Josh

@Thorough I respect your opinions, as I believe everyone is entitled to their opinions as long as it is not obscene or offensive. I feel that your arguments were centred around the Ox being subbed off. One cannot deny that the Ox had a great deal of influence on the game but it was most unfortunate that we are forced to sub him due to an injury. Although your judgement on Chamakh might be fair but due to lack of experience midfielders it is the only sane choice (by the way, Djourou is out with a knock). With the amount… Read more »

Thorough

@Josh. Thanks for the patience of even giving an un popular opinion a look. I do appreciate the players and their efforts, but I’m sure we all would have been happier if we had gone one step better. Case rested.

TRob13

@Thorough – I feel your explanation was dead-on target. I care not for the thumbs – I care for the result. As I am as proud as possible and hope these Gunners take today’s actual triumph and squash all comers in the EPL – I do feel Wenger made not 1, but 2 tactical errors in the subs. He put on 2 Forwards he has little to no faith in. We needed young midfielders with zip and speed and go-gettum. I get so tired of watching Park wander around aimlessly or Chamahk jog around like he’s been playing 80 minutes… Read more »

SiKay

While I recognise that Chamakh seems completely ineffective it’s not fair to suggest that he didn’t make any effort, from my seat (in the upper tier) it looked like he worked his socks off chasing down every ball in the final third. With 10mins to go no point in him coming on and sitting deep in the midfield to win the ball, he did exactly as instructed. Not his fault he was the best qualioty available on the bench with Bennayoun, Arteta etc injured and Arshavin amazingly shipped out!

Mos

well to be fair.. we’ve won all our games since Arshavin left 😛

Thorough

@Josh, Sikay and Trob13. Thanks for having the guts to think through the euphoria of a win. As a brother says, ‘Those that have come a long way still have a long way to go…and there are no shortcuts’. Striving for perfection even when things are going well seems the habit of only those who want to be successfull perpetually. @Camila, Mooro, Hucks, et al. I’ll be happy to hear your take in the face of reason….aside the ‘twonk, Bollocks, Cork’ etc I mean.

Jimmy

You negative twonk. I’m not gonna give you the pleasure of a thumbs down.

Hucks

I’m gonna give you one though because it makes me feel like a Roman emperor!

Luvs you really.

Up the Arse! Brimming with pride, Guiness and wee wee at the minute.

Russ

Sorry but I will.

Hucks

I mean I love Jimmy really, not you, Thorough. You’re a negative twonk.

Mooro

What? Utter cock.

gedi

Replacing 2 Injured attacking midfielders with our only 2 real attacking/scoring options on the bench… Unfathomable indeed

AGunner

ill happily thumbs down that. tactical suicide my ass. given his options, a solid starting XI that did the business. a few knocks in the second half unfortunately disrupted it, otherwise theo and ox were causing all sorts of problems. great performance today, made us proud.

Camilla

Piers Morgan? I never thought I’d see YOU here…

Bob's your uncle

And won 3-0… Lol

Good Omens

Goes to show how much effort and pride went into that performance that come the end we were truly gutted we didn’t get the result we needed as opposed to the outside optomistic hopes of getting one, prior to the match. Super proud of the team and the supporters.

Camilla

So fucking proud of the whole team. OH TO BE A GOONER! <3

vladiziv

extremely proud..
with half of that effort in every game we would be mopping the floor with most of the league..

can’t believe The OX is 18.. stunning..

Sammels

So gutted. But so proud.

rahulv

Whoever’s writing the script for us this season….

feygooner

Should have made us win.

Nevertheless, great performance. And the fans were incredible too.

rahulv

Naaa… Should be fucking shot at his balls. Van persie missing a sitter, our best player tonite ox doing his hamstring… I dont know whether to cry or laugh… But one thing im proud of THE ARSENAL…

Hayden

Doesn’t feel like like we’ve beaten AC Milan, the champions of Italy 3-0. Im honestly deflated. At half time i thought we could do it. I got my hopes up and it feels horrible. But one things for sure, we got our pride back.

Voldermort

Proud again and show this sort of commitment for the rest of the season and spurs will be caught, swallowed up and spat out again.
Had we had a decent bench we could have won this game. Or had walcot performed with the amount of ball he was getting it could have been one of the greatest nights ever.

ickenhamgooner

Fantastic performance and effort. Who would have guess we would be 3-0 up at half time. Really thought we may do it and made a £50 quid bet. So proud of the team.

Really hope Theo and the Ox are ok for the Barcodes, and the rest of the team are not too knackered.

Good to see Rosicky getting another goal and if he is certainly justifying another contract in the summer, even as a decent squad player if he is happy with that role.

Josh

I think with Rosicky and Song I can finally safely say, Fabregas who?

CAGooner

What a heartbreaker!

And I owe an apology to all my fellow Gooners on this site: Yesterday I stated that playing RVP was a mistake in a game we would be prevented from scoring. I should never have doubted the Gunners, and I can only say that I must have been suffering from Rectal Cranial Impaction. I was almost as dumb–note I said ALMOST as dumb–as a Spuds’ fan.

And I have a question: is Ibrahimovic looking for a career in Hollywood once his playing days are finished?

Glenn Helder

Yes, as a stunt double for Pinocchio

shrek

ARSENAL TILL I DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vladimir Draguntsev

I hope this game will make team more confident in Premier league. Lets hope for a 3rd place in league.
It was a nice game, really proud to be a gunner

Pollux

With tired legs and injuries we will have a hard time against Newcastle. The boss should have known better his squad is way too thin to challenge in various competition. This problem was never address for many years. We might just nick it if qualities like arshavin was brought on instead.

gedi

YAWN!

Bunburyist

Those qualities being laziness, fatness, and sloppiness?

Jeth

Cocksucker.

Stone

We have 6 days before Newcastle (at home btw.) and then 9 days before another visit to Merseyside. So I think we should get enough rest, although Walcott must be a big doubt.

Merlin's Panini

If it was just a dead leg like the Manc cunt was saying I think he should be alright in a couple of days

dave

if we beat Newcastle, then Arsene should send them on holiday for 5 days, tell them to get some sun!
come back refreshed, and we”ll be in a good position to overhaul Spurs.

Hashkibob

Really brave effort, let’s hope this carries our recent form forwards. Back four were great, rosicky quality, Robin was just Robin (gutted for him with the chance but I’m sure it won’t faze him) and ox I thought was exceptional. Proud of the guys, so close against such odds.

gedi

well that’s that show over with…. heads down and charge on for 3rd!!

COME ON ARSENAL! 🙂

Jeth

Brilliant effort from The Arsenal tonight. Left nothing on the pitch and the fans really connected with the team after the match.

Ref was fucking atrocious.

Runcorn Gooner

The ref seemed to make it up as he went along.3 early yellow cards put all the
players on edge.
Very proud of the team tonight.They gave their all in the first half .So very proud.
Cameo by Park.Very interesting performance.

Spooner

Van bommel cynically bashed Theo in the leg. Mexes smashed TV5 & then rolled around pretending to be hurt to avoid getting booked. On top of them deliberately screwing the pitch over there. 

Respect to the lads tonight. We had so many players out & they still absolutely stuffed Milan at home. Things looking up?

TeeCee

Yup, hell knows how van Bommel got away without a card there (and a second one too – it was worth it).

I suspect Mexes will be picking up a ban on video review. Quite deliberate that and a straight red had the ref seen it.

WENGERS ELDEST SON

I want to take the positives but still its seven seasons and counting ..#gutted people who are ok its like they are saying ‘we are ok even with no trophies ‘..COYG NEXT SEASON.

GoonerForLife

Yeah, but is was seven seasons and counting before this game…i think we sould take positives where we can atm

Spooner

But you must see it seems like we have a few more characters now. As long as we can hold the squad together, possibly with some minor augmenting.. Well, it seems like we’ve got a proper team again as long as RVP stays where he belongs.

Arthur

Tonight I can only think of one thing: I am proud to be a gooner. Amazing spirit, amazing game, the whole Europe got to watch this great team and see that the misstep at San Siro was only an accident. Oh, and Rosicky – man of the match for me.

dcs

I just want to mention Rosicky. What a performance! He should be the first choice ahead of Ramsey for the rest of this season.

Nikki

It is a great win. I believe that with the short time between Liverpool and Milan, ,might result in injury, but it’s good that RVP haven’t got an injury. Sad to see Walcott and Ox injury though.
Nevertheless, we should at least get an extra time because of our effort. By the way, Ibrahimovic dive to get the last goal in Milan. Why can’t any other so called great striker in Europe has class like RVP…

Ebouefan

Twatted Milan, now let’s twat Spurs in the table lads.

Stone

what a performance by the Ox, not to forget Rosicky and Song. Absolutely everybody gave it their all and it’s hard to blame them for getting tired in the end after those first 60 minutes, especially considering we played only 3 days earlier.

A midfield trio of Ox, Wilshere and Song for years and years to come does sound quite juicy.

Titty Bar Barry

I hate to be a miserable cunt but I am depressed that we couldn’t score one goal in the second half, that both of our wingers got injured, that Van Persie missed that gaping goal…

feygooner

It’s okay. We did very well. Even the papers won’t be able to spin this into a negative.

Mental Strength

Proud of being an Arsenal fan. Doesn’t matter if we didn’t go through. With this kinda performance I’m pretty sure we can finish above Sp*rs this season.

Bunburyist

I really hope the players feel our support and pride right now, because rather than dwelling on the disappointment of losing the tie (which I’m sure the players must feel), this win should be cast as a restoration of our pride, and one that maintains / builds on the momentum we’ve been gathering in the league.

Jeth

Instead of pissing off home 5 mins early like usual, the fans actually stayed behind last night and sang/held up scarves etc. It was a good feeling out there and they showed some fucking balls tonight.

Bunburyist

That is so great to hear.

Cromulus

Glorious.

Die hard gunner

I bleed red always, time 2 send cuntspurs 2 their spot. 6

Jeth

Most people do, but appreciate the sentiment 🙂

Rodders1971

Pride restored!Big well done to the boys tonight,sadly I think chasing the scousers around on Saturday took too much out of the players,we looked tired 2nd half.
There just might be a silver lining though,in that now we can put all our effort into the league & putting the middlesex mob back where they belong…behind us!COYG!

avigooner

and its. .ARSENAL F.C. . . .by far the greatest team the world has ever seen!

Justafa

Performance I always expect from Arsenal. Thats why I love this team. Proud to be a Gooner.

H. P. Arsecraft

I’m so fucking proud right now.

gooner

So it’s just that then? Some people have made a job out of having AW.
{Permission to throw a little abuse here blogger?}
don’t know whether to laugh or to cry over the game myself but i am so proud of the team, the manager and all the fans. But 3-0 vs the italian champions and we have some people moaning?

gooner

Oops, that was a rant of a reply to ‘thorough’.
And that was ‘hating’ not having

gooner odst

First off, well done the all lads. They fucking earned their Giro tonight. Ok i’m going to be honest, if 5-2 against sp*rts or the 1-2 vs liverpool didn’t happen when they did, i wouldn’t have cared about the result tonight. I honestly would have taken another beating from Milan, with a mindset of “we are just not good enough right now”. I probably then would have prefered if Wenger fielded some reserve players just to give them a kick-about.Don’t get me wrong i’d support the team, always will but i would have just accepted any negative result. After the… Read more »

Kresho

The fact that we netted 3 goals while trying to avoid conceding an away goal is what made our result a whole lot more worthwhile than at the San Siro.

Damn proud of my Gunners!

GoonerForLife

As much as I am dissapointed (really dissapointed) that we didn’t go through in the end….its hard to place blame on Arsenal’s performance today. They fought and fought but in the end it was too much. Well done Arsenal, good try…this is what your fans like to see 🙂

RobertPirezny

Proud supporter this evening. Tremendous effort all around! No reason at all to complain.

Fatgooner

Magnificent effort today, makes you massively proud to be an Arsenal fan. The frustrating thing about tonight is that deep down we know that we should have done it over the two legs: we were good to get through. That awful performance in Italy cost us a place in the quarter-finals. The big positive about this game is that we showed that we can play some great football. If we keep this up then we should finish fourth – especially as our fixtures are much easier than Chelsea’s. The one real negative about tonight was watching rubbish like Chamakh and… Read more »

Josh

What have you done with the real Fatgooner?!?

Fatgooner

The real Fatgooner will always give praise when it’s warranted. It was a fantastic effort tonight and we almost pulled off a sensational result. All you could ask from the boys was to give everything – and that’s what they did. Going out might be a blessing in disguise. We can now concentrate on the remaining Premier League games and hopefully finish fourth – or even third if Spurs blow up. If we do finish fourth then the club must take a good look at the squad and bring in quality: a decent impact sub might have made all the… Read more »

Nubbles

They have to make sure to send Henry a DVD of this match. Exciting match.

AGunner

im sure he was watching it in nyc.. good old thierry!

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