Thursday, October 3, 2024

Report: Arsenal 2-0 Marseille

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Wilshere, Ramsey, Ozil, Rosicky, Giroud

Subs: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Arteta, Walcott, Cazorla, Bendtner, Gnabry

Arsenal placed one firm foot into the knock out stages of the Champions League with a comfortable 2-0 victory over a lacklustre Marseille side. Two goals in either half from Jack Wilshere secured a victory that leaves Arsenal needing only to avoid  heavy defeat in Naples to qualify.

It took all of 30 seconds for Wilshere to open the scoring. A quick exchange of passes on Arsenal’s right allowed  Bacary Sagna to send Wilshere scampering away. He gracefully cut back inside the Marseille defender to curl the ball beyond Steve Mandanda. 1-0.

5 minutes later and there really should have been a second on the scoreboard. Wilshere again darted through the defence having been put in space by Olivier Giroud. His cross into the area found Aaron Ramsey who shot directly at the keeper. Marseille looked incredibly weak down their left side and Arsenal attempted to exploit it at every opportunity.

After the initial flurry of activity, the game became a subdued affair. Mesut Ozil’s was put through on goal by a wonderfully Fabregas-esque chipped pass from Ramsey, but our boggle-eyed German friend’s usually magnetic control of the ball let him down and it bobbled harmlessly into touch.

10 minutes before the interval, it again should have been 2-0. Ramsey was felled in the box after a splendid flick seemingly put him clear of two defenders. Unexpectedly, Ozil stepped up to convert the penalty, but his lackadaisical stop-start run up to the kick was easily read by Mandanda. It was was a poor penalty.

The 2nd half began with Ramsey again showing his fondness for ostentatious chipped passes and he sent Olivier Giroud clear through on goal. The Frenchman failed to finish the job and was incorrectly adjudged to be offside.

On 65 minutes, the second goal eventually materialised. Some lovely approach play put Ozil into prime position, and he made amends for his earlier blunder by slotting the ball across the goal for Wilshere to fire home his second of the evening. 2-0 and very comfortable.

Marseille’s fist meaningful attempt on goal came 20 minutes from time. Thauvin found himself in a good position, but the combined might of Szczesny’s frame and Monreal’s intelligent monitoring of the goal line prevent an unlikely concession. Moments later the same player cracked a vicious left-footed strike at goal that was kept out by an outstanding stop from Szczesny at his near post.

With the clock ticking down, some good Arsenal possession opened the way for Santi Cazorla to have a shot at goal. Uncharacteristically, the diminutive Spanish wizard lashed wildly at the ball and unconfirmed reports suggest someone was rendered unconscious in row Z behind the goal.

Walcott spurned a golden opportunity in the final moment. Clean through on goal, Theo’s lack of sharpness was all too apparent as he shot tamely wide when he should have scored.

Despite the win Arsenal still need something from their trip to Napoli after the Italians were beaten 3-1 by Dortmund, but they did what they had to do tonight.

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goonies

We’re winning 2 – 0 and somehow im still not satisfied. We must be good!

Six in the city

True but still a better performance than the Spuds

UnusualArse

That midfield!!! We look good even when not at our best…

Heroldgoon

Ozil got his assist….balance in universe restored!

arsenalista

i think he’s more comfortable assisting than scoring. well done, the arsenal.

dan

We haven’t played anyone above us in the league yet so we don’t know if we are good or not.. /s

Robert

@Dan, there’s no one above us in the league.

goonies

Omg.

Bobert

Haha

Guys this was a joke

Rufusstan

Whooosh: the sound of a sarcastic comment going straight over someone’s head.

masterofthegoonaverse

Well spotted Robert……

samba

Yes and hope we won’t.

DöubleDöubleDöuble

We lacked a little bit sharpness.

Marseille did absolutely nothing until Valbuena and Thauvin came on.

Wilko

COYG!
Bugger off Roy Keane
(Bit slow with the match report tonight)

SB

Chelsea ha ha

Heroldgoon

This chelsea jokes are way over the line…..unlike Torres’ shots! HAHAHAHA

Passionofthehiguain

shocker

lolcat

good lord that was poor.

Heroldgoon

i like yours better then…..oh wait

arsepedant

And yet, unbelievably, with 9 points Chelski have qualified and with 12 points there’s a chance we might not!

PolishGunner

That Szczesny save in the 77th minute

GossipGonner

Monreal’s save before that…

Rufusstan

Or Szczesny’s stop before Monreal’s save 🙂

Podrick

He’s been absolutely world class this season.

Mate Kiddleton

Dat reaction, I didn’t even see it. How did he get down so quick! Great save.

WizardOfOzil

Get in!

(Fuck you Townsend)

Sammy Nelsons Arse

Townsend shouting ” Get in ” is a complete disgrace !

German Gunner

pair of cunts Townsend and Keane,

Double98

As an Irish man I would like to apologise but one cunt is English and the other is from cork so yis can stick your apology.

Not that you asked for one

masterofthegoonaverse

A few years back playing for Villa Townsend scored the winner at Highbury. That night at nieces 21st my brother introduces me to his new bestie, loked perplexed when I said “that cunt”? Yes it was Mr Townsend.

German Gunner

I remember the great Rocky humiliating Townsend to such an extent that i felt sorry for him many years ago in Highbury, looks like the prick never forgot it

crispy

I managed to convince myself that he couldn’t have said that… but he really did didn’t he?… what a complete tool, and then going off on one about how good a save it was…

It Is What It Is - #1 Dullard

I too, thought he meant the shot. Had to rewind for the umpteenth time – to my partners annoyance – to clear up what I thought was blatant un-patriotic bias.

Anyway, the “get in” was a reaction to Szcz’s save. He could have said “get out” instead, or nothing at all.

I’d unleashed a cluster f bomb tirade, but had to eat some humble pie. He’s still a prick, not just on this occasion.

I’m only defending him due to my need for justice. There must be something wrong with me.

Podrick

Once these players really click they will destroy teams, Invicbles style!

Liked the balance of the team, gave nothing away.

TV5

Job done!

Anyone know the permutations from the final games that get us through? Beyond us getting a point of course!

WizardOfOzil

Assuming Dortmund win, Napoli have to beat us by 3 clear goals to go through themselves. We need a draw ourselves to claim top place. A defeat by one or two goals will see us qualify but only as runners-up. Intriguing group from start to finish.

Tim

Is it straight goal difference from all games or the two tied teams ?

Gervinho's resigned optician

goal difference between the (potentially) tied teams.

At the moment, we have +2, Dortmund has +1, Naples -3.

WizardOfOzil

Head 2 head first, Borussia have the better record against both us and Napoli so if all 3 teams finish on 12 points they would top the group. If the head 2 head is a tie, as it would be between us and Napoli if they beat us 2-0 it would come down to goal difference and ours would remain superior to Napoli’s.

Gervinho's resigned optician

We can’t both be right Oz.
Not going to look it up tonight though, unless the solution appears at the bottom of my wine bottle. 🙂

WizardOfOzil

Let the thumbs rating war declare the true winner of this conundrum Gervy.

AFCEdwards

Oz is right, Chelsea went out last year because of it.

arsepedant

If Dortmund beat Marseille and Napoli beat us, then all three of us are tied on 12 points at 4-0-2, and we are also all 2-0-2 on mutual head to head because we will all have beaten Marseille twice. Since we’d be tied on both points and mutual head-to-head, it would go to goal difference. If we lose by two goals, We’d be a 0 and Naples would be at -1, both behind Dortmund’s +1, so Dortmund would win thte group and we’d finish second. If we los by only one goal, both we and Dortmund would be at +1.… Read more »

Witoldo

I think it’s probably a mini-league first (because it’s possible to imagine a scenario where each of the three has a head-to-head to advantage over another), in which case Arsenal can’t finish first anyway, because even a one-goal loss puts us level on GD with Dortmund within the mini-league, and then they would have the advantage based on away goals with us head-to-head. We need at least a draw to finish group leaders (and if you look at the second place teams this year, this would be immense keeping in mind we can’t draw Man City in the round of… Read more »

Rufusstan

*Cracks Knuckles* Win or draw and we win the group. Dortmund drop points and we qualify no matter what. If Dortmund drop points, we win the group unless we lose by at least 3 clear goals. The way they split teams is: points, then goal difference between all teams in the tie, then goals scored, then away goals. If we are all on 12 points, they go through all the criteria with all three clubs (mini league), only then they go to the head to head record. Lose by less than 3 clear goals — we qualify and Napoli go… Read more »

Witoldo

Disagree with this interpretation. If Dortmund won and Napoli were to win by 4-3, then in the mini-league, we would have: Dortmund 6 points, GD +1, 6 for, 5 against Arsenal 6 points, GD +1, 7 for, 5 against Napoli 6 points, GD -2, 7 for, 9 against First, we run through the mini-league and Napoli is eliminated due to being last in goal differential. Then Arsenal and Dortmund are the two teams that qualify, but assigning places is done by head-to-head and Dortmund pip us on the away goals rule. I don’t think Napoli can win the group at… Read more »

Witoldo

*Of course, Arsenal would have 6 against in the mini-league. Sorry for the typo. And this extraneous message. And that extraneous sentence.

Rufusstan

@Witoldo Looking at the UEFA guidelines (Page 17?), they build the new table and run through all of the tie-breaks with that table. Only if 2 sides are deadlocked after that, do they then go to the head to head results, at which point we are buggered because of Dortmund’s 2 away goals against us. You’ve put up the numbers so using them: All on 6 points, so goal difference. Napoli are at -2, so bottom of the league, but Dortmund and Arsenal both +1, so go to next criteria which is goals scored. Arsenal 7, Dortmund 6, so we… Read more »

Witoldo

Yes, you are right. Sorry misread your original post–thought you said that Napoli would progress if they scored a lot and took this to mean that a 4-3 win would see them through.

Rufusstan

Yep I screwed up on that one, wasn’t clear I was thinking 2 overlapping situations.

We aim at outscoring Dortmund to win the group, but cannot lose by more than one goal otherwise they have better goal difference anyway.

Napoli have the shttiest goal difference of all 3 of us, so they just have to out and out hammer is to win the group — think 4-0 at least.

Makes for interesting tactics.

Temi

Football lessons for Marseille today. Hope their coach and that chap over at the lane took notes…there are no pretenders. There’s only one a Arsenal.

Heroldgoon

How in the world was it only 2 – 0???? should be scoring more! especially in a tight group as this one….

The linesman needed specsavers!

neutral

unfortunately goal difference does not matter, only head to head, that’s why if all three teams end up on 12 pts Dortmund will top us no matter what, because they scored two at our place and we only scored one at theirs. Also why Napoli have to beat us by 3 goals to qualify, unfortunate because we will have to play a strong team otherwise we risk going out.

Rufusstan

Goal difference really does matter if all 3 reams are on 12 points, because they compare results of all 3 teams (basically rebuild the table without Marseilles).

It just happens that 3 clear goals for Napoli not only outscores us (which doesn’t matter), but at the same time is enough to beat our goal difference in the new mini table.

Ironically goals tonight wouldn’t matter, because they were against Marseilles, they wouldn’t be counted (just as it doesn’t matter how much Dortmund win by in the last game; they just need to win).

Clock End Mike

Rufusstan is quite right. See his immaculate argument above. As he points out, positions would be determined first on the head-to-head table between the three teams, excluding results against Marseille. If Arsenal lose by 3 goals or more, they will have the worst goal difference and will not qualify. If Arsenal lose by 2 goals, Dortmund win the group on goal difference and Arsenal qualify in second place. If Arsenal lose by 1 goal, they will qualify but the winner of the group is determined by goals scored in the mini-league. So even the number of goals scored against Naples… Read more »

Gunnergetuptogetdown

Jack Wilshere is very good, you know

Bould's Eyeliner

the chaaaaampionsssss~lalalaa

dan

Well done, lads! Making it through the group of death with potentially 15 points is massive..

j0hnire

Why were we playing in a church tonight ?? The home fans were terrible tonight, you could hear a pin drop at times. Anyway a good win against a not so good side, We didn’t have to do much in reality and the score could/should have been alot higher. Hopefully we step it up for the weekend but overall im happy, good win guys!

xxxrob

Dunno if you are trolling or not.. sounded pretty fkn loud to me.. i could hear it all the way in Australia.. through the tv..

cheekyjc

You’re having a fucking laugh right? Were you there? I think the key phrase in your comment is “at times”. The atmosphere was good and to me it just sounds like you’re rehashing a tired old stereotype about The Emirates being quiet.

arsepedant

Are you deaf? I watched on TV and all you could hear in the background was “Arsenal, Arsenal”!

Rufusstan

Who were you watching it on?

All CL games are really loud and hostile these days, but as I said somewhere on Saturday, different channels/producers seem to mix the crowd down for some reason (so we can hear the idiots commentating?).

I’ve both come home from games and the crowd noise was nothing like I heard, and have had to switch streams mid-game before at home, and the crowd noise has been completely different (not sounds, but volume).

Arsene McCloud

Buy a better tv

Abhijeet

Mathieu Flamini: Destroyer of shirt sleeves and opposing offenses!

zico

Flamini barking orders, arms flailing the entire game.

percyofgod

Jose Mou “the confused one”. Hahaha. Well done super Jack!!

Arsene's Waterbottle

Can someone explain to me why Giroud wasn’t take after we.scored the second goal? He .is our only striker and with the holiday fixtures right around corner, I don’t understand why Wenger doesn’t use every opportunity to rest him. At 2-0 they were never going to come back so why keep him in the game?

legend of rosicky

is the man who fell @ajax stadium alive??

goonies

Ramsey didnt score tonight…….he must
have survived!

mike

poor taste

arep

Job well done! Oh to be a gooner! 🙂

Mooro

The Group of Pfft more like. Have that in your hole Hansen.

Cracking shift by Nacho tonight.

cheekyjc

Agreed – he played really well.

2013-2014 = 2003-2004

Love how we rotated last night. The Confused One fields the same team v Basel as he did v West Ham on Saturday, and look what happens. Nacho gets chosen to play for Spain – he deserves to be starting more. Gibbs > Nacho defensively, but offensively Nacho > Gibbs because his crosses are more accurate and he can cut-inside and pass/shoot with his right foot too. Love how Cazorla got a rest as well. I hope we continue to rotate for the next three games v Cardiff/Hull/Everton so that everyone is fresh for those two crucial away games v… Read more »

Aamir

Basel beat Chelsea 1-0. After beating them at the Bridge earlier. They also denied Manure Qualification from the group stages in 2011. I like them.

Bestie

Also knocked Sp*rs out the you’re hopeless Thursday night league. Easy to forget such an irrelevant competition, though.

DöubleDöubleDöuble

It’s not the competition that’s irrelevant so much, it’s that Spurs are an irrelevance.

Double98

Nice with tomato and mozzarella too..

masterofthegoonaverse

Shame the chavs still qualified with a super 9 points

benvnc

We had so many chances to secure qualification, but we only scored 2.. I feel a bit disappointed as we could have thrashed them and been on a ridiculous goal difference. Oh well top of all the leagues we could be in ain’t too bad!

neutral

see above, goal difference does not matter (unless head to head is the same)

Jones

Goals against Marseille don’t help if Arsenal, Dortmund and Napoli all finish on 12 points.

Mos

Even if we had won 10-0 it wouldn’t have made much of a difference because Dortmund beat Napoli and in the last round of games if Dortmund defeat Marselle at home (likely) and we (unlikely) lose to Napoli then all of us end up on 12 points and goals scored against Marseille do not count or goal difference gained in matches against Marseille.

Bigj

Arsenal on top of every table

MrKiuch

Yeah we’re on top of two tables like a fat stripper.

Neil #2

Excellent evening. Hopefully Ramsey is ok. Come on you Gunners!

Dracular

Szcsesny got the hand of steel. Great save to keep a clean sh*t

Gooner

Happy with win but still can’t recover from the shock that a German missed a penalty

gooner odst

I don’t know if the goal difference will matter because of tonight but really we should have scored a gut full and then some. this Marseille side clearly had thoughts on domestic issues by keeping out their talisman player(s). Meh, fuck it, I hope we can deal with the permutations that are thrown at us on the final day by simply smashing Napoli. Well done Wilshere nice positioning great finishing, disappointed with Ramsey for not scoring THAT chance with the red hot killing spree that he’s in. Good thing we are not a one man team. Unlucky Özil good assist… Read more »

Fatgooner

Is Ozil the new Chamakh?

That penalty was taken by someone who didn’t appear to have a care in the world. And all night long he just wondered around, showing no urgency. Does he give a fuck? Maybe he’s enjoying the pleasures of London too much.

He needs a kick up the arse.

Aamir

Quit being a troll, Ozil is just getting the bad games out of the way now. He will step up when it matters against Chelsea and City. He is still adapting England and to the team. That’s what is exciting me. Arsenal have hardly ever been at their best this season and we are still winning. With our injured players coming back and the team clicking more, we are in for a very very strong second half of this season. All we need to do right now is get through until January while still at the top.

Sammy Nelsons Arse

Fat Gooner are you Roy Keane or a spud fan in disguise ? Ozil did plenty of positive things tonight set up a goal and had some outrageous moments of skill eg that back heel in the second half. The penalty was poor but so what even Henry took the occasional shocking penalty. Get behind the team.

DöubleDöubleDöuble

Has Özil become the new Ramsey for you fatty?

Perhaps you should squeeze yourself into the Emirates so you can boo him.

Black Hei

Leave Fats alone. He is already disappointed with the 7 likes.

Ben

Did Andy Townsend really will Marseille to score a goal?

Dear oh dear / haaaaaaaaaaa!!

AfricanGooner

The best thing about the win tonight isn’t that it was pretty comfortable or that our qualification is firmly in our own hands…

Rather, that 2 of our best players from last season (Cazorla and Walcott) still haven’t even found their best form yet…and we’re still top of the premier league and our group anyway! Exciting times ahead! #COYG

Fatgooner

A rubbish performance against a rubbish side.

After that flying start, I was looking forward to a vintage performance against a team who clearly didn’t want to be at Ashburton Grove tonight. Instead, we decided to make it hard for ourselves by refusing to make even the simple passes. Our midfield looked like they had never played together before, constantly giving the ball away. Ozil and Rosicky were the worst offenders.

At least we won; but if we play like this in Naples then we’ll go out.

Jones

I hope you’re kidding for your sake.

Podrick

Oh boy.

ASG

Not sure rubbish is the right word, certainly Marseille were poor on the night. I do think we didn’t show quite the quality of say our win over Napoli at home. Finishing could have been better perhaps, but still a very convincing win.
Pretty confident we’ll get at least a point at Napoli though.

Cheese

Do us a favor and never use sarcasm again, it’s too confusing (we know you’re not being sarcastic here).

Stoneheads

My conclusion is that Fatgooner is the biggest troll that ever set his foot in arseblog!

True Red

Blah Blah Blah Fatgooner. Fuck off down to Shite Hart Lane on Thursday, then you’ll know what disappointment looks like

arsepedant

What an idiot!

dgaj

This is some kind of performance art. Right?

Rufusstan

Looked like a strong mature performance to me. Get the early goal, control the game and conserve a bit of energy for the congested run of games coming up. As usual, an opponent is rubbish as soon as we beat them. Of course they couldn’t be a good team because that would mean we would have to be better, and they looked crap because we made them look crap. A 6-0 win wouldn’t have helped us any more than a 2-0 and unless you are so simple minded that playing well = lots of goals, you could see the strong… Read more »

eternalflamini

Another encouraging thing was that Monreal was exemplary today, despite having very little game time this season so far.

OG Mike

This was quite a strong line-up, imagine when Poldi and the Ox are back and healthy. Wenger will have a real selection dilemma in a month or so provided we can get a run of good health.

neutral

Yeah, take off double goal scorer Wilshere and the dynamo Rosicky and bring on last years top scorer Walcott and best player Cazorla, we’ve got depth in midfield, so much that people question the quality of Ozil…

Gooner

Where there is a Wil there is a way

UGooner

Sheer Will Power!

Dhemola

So happy to be a Gunner right now! 2-0 from Jack Wilshere so cooool! The 1st goal a clear version of Soton deft chip.

Rossi88

Well played asnl. Marseille poor and should scored more. Thought jack looked better tonight, did simple stuff well and great goals. Great to see theo back. Sczeney quality performance tonight! Also thought that Thauvin looked a tidy player. Snap him up Arsene!

Die Hard Gunner

In other news Barcelo-no Messi lost, along side Chelshit, that goal left John Terry Shitting in his pants, but the class outshone them all: ARSENAL

KT

Piss off FG. We were pretty okay. The team showed they can cut it when we played at Dortmund. Today we won through sheer overwhelming quality. Please don’t ruin it with your whinging

Petit's Handbag

Why have we been on UTV twice now….imagine missing Gary Neville
Andy Townsend/Roy Keane, I’m a proud Irishman
But fuck off yeah

Pearson

We kept a clean sheet, we kept a clean sheet, tra la la la la!
“Something” nil to The Arsenal”

Swiftarf

If I was a Marseille fan I’d be fucking embarrassed.

Papas

I’m a Gooner and also a Marseille fan…the city, the people, the football club (I have the Marseille shirt too)…they’re worthy opponents, unlike some shit kickers I could name…we beat them and I’m glad we did we did but we shouldn’t diss them

Topgunner89

Another fine day at the Arsenal office. Can only beat the team in front of you and they were god awful

Rutu

Reporter :”What did Jack show you he could do tonight ” AW :”Score Goals”

goonies

Ramsey didnt score tonight…….he must have survived!

Too Drunk To Be Offside

I know there are some games which seem like a practice session, but I have yet to see on which looked as much like a practise session as the 1st half did tonight. Good win, got the job done, I know qualification is not yet in the bag, but one can do it one match at a time I suppose. I am from India and I heard one of the “experts” on TV say that assuming Napoli and Dortimund both win, then it will come down to head to head between Arsenal, Napoli and Dortmund and that will be level,… Read more »

Vutti

Anyone 100% (!) sure how they count goal difference? If it’s head to head or all three teams?

If head to head, a loss to Napoli 2-3 means we’re 2nd, but if it’s all three teams goal difference that counts we finish 1st.

I’m confused*

Zaharaddeen Getso

Glad wilshere is scoring goals this season

Max

It goes like this for 3 way tie: 1) GD in games between tied teams. 2) Away goals in games between tied teams. 3) Overall GD in all matches 4) overall away goals in all matches Since there is an odd number for the current gap between napoli and arsenal it would be impossible for there to be a 3 way tie on GD should dortmund beat mars. If napoli beat arsenal by 3 goals or more they go through, if arsenal lose by 2 goals they go second, if arsenal lose by 1 goal but score 2 or more… Read more »

Max

Nevermind arsenal have to score 3 or more if they lose by 1 to get top of the group. Forgot dortmund beat mars by 3-0 not 2-0.

MLK

Let me break it down for you guys. It the unthinkable happens and we lose to Napoli and Doetmund defeats Marseille — not unthinkable — this is how it will go down. The first decider is points gained against the three teams. In that case, we would each have gained 6 points against each other. The second decider is goal difference. As things stand: Arsenal +2, Dortmund +1, Napoli -3 That means Napoli would have to beat us by at least three goals to qualify. And that’s never going to happen, not even if they offered Judas and John ‘the… Read more »

Steve

Bring on the chav scum, loosing to basel (brush) boom boom lol

Steve

Btw is it me or does Roy (the a-hole) Keane have a huge bubble shaped head? Shame pv4 didn’t pop it a few years back lol

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