Arsenal: Ospina, Debuchy, Gabriel, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Cazorla, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexis, Giroud
Subs: Cech, Monreal, Chambers, Flamini, Coquelin, Walcott, Campbell
Arsenal’s 18th consecutive season in the Champions League got off to the worse possible start in Croatia as Dinamo Zagreb took advantage of Olivier Giroud’s first half red card to secure an impressive 2-1 victory.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put through his own net on 24 minutes to give the hosts the lead before Giroud picked up two yellow cards in quick succession. Junior Fernandes then sealed the win on 57 minutes with a close range header even though substitute Theo Walcott’s strike on 79 minutes briefly gave the visitors hope.
Pre-game
With six games in the next 18 days Arsene Wenger had hinted at squad rotation and he stuck to his word. The boss made six changes from the lineup that began against Stoke with David Ospina making his first start of the season and Kieran Gibbs and Mathieu Debuchy taking up the left and right-back roles respectively. Francis Coquelin was given a breather, replaced by Mikel Arteta, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud replaced Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott.
First half
Arsenal’s first half was very much the tale of one man; Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman has already endured something of a rollercoaster season so far missing chances in the opening games, scoring a fine goal against Crystal Palace, missing more chances against Newcastle, taking a hammering from his compatriots on international duty and then netting a second league goal off the bench last Saturday in the win against Stoke. Tonight saw the striker’s season take another stomach-churning corkscrew dive into the depths of despair.
In fairness he started the game quite brightly. As early as the eighth minute his bullet header from a dangerous Cazorla corner forced a fine save from Dinamo keeper Eduardo and he continued to be in the thick of the action. Looking back it was probably a case of peaking too soon.
On 17 minutes our handsome hitman unwhittingly looped a header against the post and when the rebound fell to his feet just a yard from goal he couldn’t lift the ball over the floored keeper who did well to block. The move had been the result of fine link-up play between Debuchy and Chamberlain on the right.
Already frustrated by the missed chances Giroud grew increasingly irritated by the decision making of Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan. Penalised for supposedly climbing on his marker he reacted with disgust and picked up a cheap booking for dissent. It was to prove very costly.
Before Giroud’s evening got worse, it went downhill for the collective. On 23 minutes the home side, who for the most part had been happy to sit back and soak up Arsenal’s tentative possession, went on the attack. It was an eye-catching move, even if the resulting goal had more than a touch of luck about it.
Incisive play saw the ball moved neatly from the right flank to the inside left position where full-back Josep Pivaric found space to shoot at Ospina. The Colombian made the initial save but as the ball rebounded back into danger it seemed to hit the knee of Chamberlain and flew into the net. (1-0)
Arsenal were clearly stunned and only two well timed challenges from Gabriel and a vital interception from Koscielny stopped Dinamo from inflicting further damage. The defensive duo’s diligence wasn’t matched by Giroud whose clumsy challenge on the edge of the Gunners box five minutes before the break resulted in an indefensible second yellow card. A noisy home crowd greeted the dismissal with glee as they smelt blood in Europe for the first time since Madonna made a decent song.
Second half
Without Giroud Arsenal’s evening went from bad to worse. There was an early warning when Dinamo hit the post via a corner within a minute of the restart before the home side doubled their lead on 57 minutes. Again a set piece caused havoc in the Gunners defence as Chilean forward Junior Fernandes pounced to head home from close range. Gibbs, Koscielny and Arteta all looked culpable. (2-0)
You could argue that the goal was against the run of play following a brief Gunners rally, however, as we’ve learnt all too often in recent years, if you don’t take your chances in the Champions League you get punished.
Throwing caution to the wind Arsene Wenger’s response was to swap Arteta, Chamberlain and Gibbs for Walcott, Coquelin and Campbell leaving just three players at the back. It was an obvious gamble.
Disciplined, well-organised and tactically astute Dinamo happily sat back and soaked up the probing of Ozil and Alexis and when the Gunners overcommitted they sprang with pace on the flanks forcing Ospina more than once to race from his goal and clear up the mess.
Amazingly with 12 minutes to go we gave ourselves hope. After a series of tight offside calls Walcott – courtesy of Alexis’ crafty pass – finally sprang the defence, bore down on goal and finished with a very cool right foot finish. (2-1)
The partisan Stadion Maksimir, buoyant throughout the game, quietened briefly but Arsenal couldn’t take advantage of the crowd’s nerves failing to muster any chances of real note. It was a very disjointed performance from start to finish and the scoreline could have been worse were it not for a smart save by Ospina deep into injury time.
A night to forget in Europe for Arsenal and in particular for Giroud who’ll no doubt take the heat from both the fans and media. It all sounds far too familiar.
Pathetic.
Can’t understand why the squad players were so awful. Gibbs, Arteta, Giroud and Debuchy. Based on their performances I’d prefer if none put the Arsenal shirt on any time soon.
The Ox’s body language was shocking. Picking up the wrong things from Ozil.
It was weird. It was almost as if he’d had a bereavement or something.
He regularly strolls about, i think he’s unfit
Walcott should have replaced the Ox at half time, why Cambell?
Typical Arsenal, typical Wenger
lifeless performance
disjointed, consistent
in patches
Did you think the first team players that played tonight were any good?
I think a couple of changes too many.
Totally agree. Keep the defensive back four the same as much as we can.
The one change that seemed a bit weird was the goalkeeper – Cech was hardly likely to have got tired from standing around his goal. Not that I think it would have made any difference, just saying is all. Even with the amount of rotation, the problem was with the attitude and approach to the game – they looked like they thought they just needed to turn up. Unfortunately, with both Arteta and Cazorla in midfield the play seems ridiculously ponderous. Having said all that, I think we still would’ve got a positive result if Giroud had just kept his… Read more »
It’s funny, they were all starters at the start of last season…
Probably because they have not played in a while? Then again looking at them a bit closer were they worst than our usual starters? Yes they were worst than who they replaced except Giroud (yeah yeah yeah getting angry at that pathetic foul the referee gave against him) who is our most prolific striker this season up until he got dismissed. Gibbs was playing okay and could have had a couple of assists if Ozil would for once bring his shooting boots (one and one with the keeper and a 42mil price tag, you got to do better). Arteta tried… Read more »
A normal arsenal game.
The opponent sets up in a defensive shape,allowing us the possession of the ball waiting for us to f*ck ourselves.
Miss a few chances early on.
Concede on the opponent’s first attempt at goal. ( can be a counter attack or set piece).
Come close to scoring or reduce the deficit so that the hopes of the fan remain high.
In European games add a red card and create a chaos .
It’s actually depressing to admit that this is the textbook Arsenal formula of 2010-2015
It is easy to play against Arsenal. Almost every team knows how to hurt us but the manager can’t fix it how many years?
You summarized it too damn well…and now Dinamo Zagreb boss is saying we are predictable, cause we truly are fucking predictable!$@%++%**^<£¥$
We need to be better at football.
don’t you know there is no one in the world to improve us????
But but but there is no one in world football.
Arsene said no one in the world better than we have, so who are you to disagree. Have you don’t 30000 subs? or 50000 transfer?. shut up and support the team, 4th place and last 16 in the CL is positive.
Don’t be negative by wanting to win the league and CL with 200 million in the bank.
oh my god…
Fucking Joke. Wenger for fuck sake, don’t care if Debuchy is moaning…against this team we needed Bellerin. I don’t care if Giroud needs a confidence boost, we needed the Ozil/Walcott combo to crack the defence. Start making better choices if you’re not gonna dip into the wallet during a transfer market! For a man that wants to work with what he’s got he sure doesn’t know how to use it.
We have Chelsea on Saturday which is arguably a more important game. Rotation made sense.
We should beat Zagreb at our place.
We should’ve beat Zagreb at their place
Well yeah I don’t disagree with that!
I bet you said the same about Monaco. Also by then, Zagreb could be 6 points clear of us
Oh yeah… changing Cech for Ospina made sooo much sense didn’t it? Waiting until 65th minute to bring on Walcott when we lost Giroud before the first half ended was an inspired decision right? I am losing my patience now…
True. But for that knucklehead being sent off, the result might have been different regardless of the changes.
G-Man, I agree with what you say, but if you every thought with this standard of players and manager we were going to win the league or CL, sorry you living in the world of Arsene apologist. This team good enough for top four finish, last 16 of the CL and a cup run no more no less. Don’t worry about the happy chappy with 4th calling themselves positive one good result and they will come and tell us that Arteta use the ball better, flamini is a fighter and all the excuses for Arsene to carry on with his… Read more »
This team can win the league, maybe even the champions league with enough luck (chelsea did it)… but it will require seriously infectious passion and determination from the players and beyond world-class management. This team cannot just walk their way to a domestic and European Cup and are a few signings away from that, but they can win it. Only Man City and Chelsea have comparable teams in the Prem and they are beatable. So the only reason we will end up 3/4th is poor management and poor execution.
I never said the players are the problem. After all Fergie won the league with Cleverly, Welbeck, Young, Johns, Carrick, the two Brazilian twins and that Korean Park who always scored against us. We have a manager and board that happy with top four and with the last 16 CL money and to hell with fans.
If as a player that all you have to achieve why bother and I bet you any money now Alexis and Ozil or Kos will leave the club next season and we will have the Arsene fan boys here going those are cunts etc.
Saw that result coming a mile away. You can’t really get away with that many changes in the CL away from home. Poor decision from the AW to rotate that much. Arteta, Campbell, Debuchy, Gibbs, Ospina haven’t played for a while, so to stick them all in at the same time was a huge gamble. hasn’t paid off, now we’re in a real dog fight to try and qualify from the group. Which is such unnecessary added pressure’
I don’t see the problem, there’s always next year.
You’re deluded if you think the calamities will stop….
At least 60m in the bank…and no one better than Giroud? Okay forget the ST position;
At least 60m in the bank, NO ONE better than Mikel Arteta???
You can’t even make these things up…there should be a trophy for “Most Money in The Bank”…
Wengers arrogance cost us again. His selection and set up cost us the 5 dropped points in the league and he does again tonight. Amazing how many deluded folk were all cheering the changes and how wenger had got it right. Merson said before kick off how they had dominated their league and were art home and we should show some respect but wengers arrogance once again costs us. Poor poor management
I’m not someone who will defend wenger at all costs, but I really don’t see him as taking much blame in terms of selection. Perhaps accusations can be levelled that he should be better at rallying the troops, but those players were good enough to win that game. The blame falls almost solely at their feet. I’m yet to be convinced by chamberlain to be honest, I dont feel like he’s improved at all in the last year or two. Yes injuries have contributed, but he just goes missing so much. That team should be able to go out and… Read more »
Chamberlain cannot pass a football. Trust him 90 mins in a pitch and he will have you pulling your hair out.
But the talent is there for everyone to see.
When you go away from home in the champions league you pick your best available defence (goalkeeper included). Do we lose? Probably not!
I agree with most of the points including squad rotation and reserve players not stepping up.
However I don’t understand why do we have to wait till 65th minute to make the substitutions ffs.
We immediately improved after the changes. Why we didn’t do it earlier even in extreme situations like this is beyond my understanding.
His 30000 subs, 29985 has to be in the 67th minute and mostly pre planned. Don’t you know by now?
Absolutely, and by no means am I saying that Wenger shares none of the blame whatsoever. I’m just infinitely more angry with the players whose heads dropped after about 15 mins (if they were ever even up in the first place). There was no communication, no spark, nothing. The good spirit that seemed to compensate for a slightly lack in quality- when compared to City or Chelsea- seems to have totally left the team this season, all just a bit.. Bleurgh. Still, early days. And let’s all bear in mind that if we go and win at the Bridge on… Read more »
Wenger’s arrogance made Giroud throw a tantrum and caused everybody to play shit. The guy is that influential…
Get over yourself.
I don’t think it’s a case of arrogance. If any, Wenger’s belief in his players is a double-edged sword. His belief in his players work positively when things click, but it also works against him when he plays them and they don’t produce/perform as expected.
I agree, a good point well noted.
My thoughts exactly. Arrogance.
1. If you’re resting 5 outfield players, at least play your best keeper in case it goes wrong in front of him.
2.I know he’s hardly played lately, but Arteta should not be playing for a club with ambitions of competing at the highest level. He’s been past it for years now.
3.I can’t believe these pundits and commentators are well paid for what they do.
4. If we don’t get a result against Bayern, we’re probably out.
There is no one better than Arteta in world football the 8 million man said. Who are you to disagree, you never done 30000 subs or 50000 transfer. So be positive and accept top four and last 16 of the CL.
Cechs absence is not why we lost….Arteta-Cazorla axis threw the whole team off balance.
The team fielded wasn’t a reserve or schoolboy team. Cazorla – Arteta axis might have been doubtful but it’s a decent team that is more than capable of defeating Zagreb. With regards to rotation, it’s damned if you do / don’t for Wenger.
I am fine with the rotation. It’s the players who have to show up! I am sure Wenger must not have said lets party the night before the game as 7amkickoff points out in his blog.
Damned if you do damned if you don’t? Not against rotation but half a team is to much it loses your rhythm.
It clearly isn’t more than capable of beating Zagreb.
I’m as deflated as the next person, it was a terrible performance and most of the players should be held accountable . However its ridiculous to blame Wenger’s selection – most fans would have had us rotating players for this game. Jesus listen to the Arsecast Extra and both Andrew and James would have made those exact changes that Arsene made. I mean you can see it even more by reading the Team lineup post on this same website FFS. Shit game, everyone must take blame but it’s just silly, hot-headed bias to start ranting at Wenger for doing what… Read more »
At last some sense, perspective…
Oh FFS Arsenal…
Typical Arsenal. I feel sorry for Alexis and Ozil, those two deserve better teammates. I actually laughed when the second goal went in because of course.
You must be retarded. Fucking idiots like you just… ffs. Acting as if Alexis or Ozil played even REMOTELY well. How about they step their game up and drag the team to success as “world-class” players? I don’t think that way but according to your logic that’s what they should be doing.
Thought Ozil was terrible. Sanchez tried as he would so.
Sanchez was hopeless. I think he’s still living off goodwill at the moment, cos he’s been pretty dire all season so far.
To be fair to him, he should have been told to have a longer rest before the season started, but we were too busy embarrassing ourselves against West Ham to give him that chance.
his unpredictability has become predictable
Sanchez was way off the pace tonight. Ozil not a lot better but was better!
Calling someone you disagree with “retarded” is an excellent way to make your point. Your opinion is subsequently trash.
You should never go full retard
The players on the pitch for Arsenal should have been good enough to beat the opposition they faced.
Yes, they played badly and seemed completely lost, but how many times has that happened before in Europe in ‘hostile’ atmospheres with different players. At some point we need to see what the consistent element to all those matches is (here’s a clue – it’s not the players).
This is the first game of the champions league you do not take any chances until you are guaranteed qualification. Was Man utd’s humbling yesterday not proof enough not to lower your guard against any team, at least Man utd dont have bayernn
Yeah if they had any gametime maybe. We played two fullback and a CM who had played hardly any time this season against a side who have a will and determination of a team that went unbeaten in 41 games. I know it’s a lower league but sometimes determination is better than rusty players. As proved tonight.
Also i wouldn’t say that atmosphere was hostile, it sounded fucking sterile until they scored. They were a fucking mile form the pitch (Hello W.Ham next season haha), and it seemed half empty.
I’m for your first idea and against the second. The players are good enough to beat today’s opposition: agreed. They failed to do so and you conclude it’s not the players: disagree. I believe there is a lack of leadership on the field, which Wenger has failed to address since the departure of Vieira. We have had a series of captains that have never had the character to get in their teammates’ face and give them a kick in the arse (I know its physically complicated, but you get my point). This type of player compliments Wenger enourmously, I believe… Read more »
Fair points and interesting theory. The problem with that being how many times did we fuck up in Europe when we had Vieira and a great team around him (we couldn’t even turn up for the UEFA Cup final ffs)?
We were winning/fighting for the league every year.
We have never reached our full potential in Europe before or after Vieira
you cant legislate for Davor effin Suker missing penalties mate….
Atleast something is common with the teams, Wenger. My point here is who takes the blame, Wenger. Who get insulted by Mou. Wenger. Not many remembers all the players. How many times have we seen the team put everyone under pressure. We could be 6 point behind in the next games, which is likely. You don’t joke with your first game. I don’t care who he fields, what I care about is result.
I drank scotch and water and got drunk.
I drank whiskey and water and got drunk.
I drank bourbon and water and got drunk.
Water is the only common ingredient, therefore water makes you drunk.
Wenger put team X on the field and we lost.
Wenger put team Y on the field and we lost.
Wenger put team Z on the field and we lost.
Therefore it must all be Wenger’s fault.
Right.
Let’s try that again:
I drank alcohol and water and got drunk.
I drank alcohol and water and got drunk.
I drank alcohol and water and got drunk.
Whiskey, Scotch and bourbon are all alcohol and that makes me drunk.
Wenger didn’t sign a back up for Coq and we lost.
Wenger didn’t sign a better striker than Giroud with 60m in the bank and we lost.
Wenger is inept tactically and with player selections and we lost.
Therefore it must all be Wenger’s fault.
I don’t they played shit as well, only people I had sympathy for were the CB’s. For the record I love Wenger but you don’t play 3 second choice players in the first game of the champions league when you have fucking Bayern in your group. At least the players will be back in there mansions a few hours from now….Wankers. Rant over.
you might want to f**k right off with your new millenium bs. the team is the team, no one is above it, and were you at the stoke station along with those other fools telling Campbell to get out while he can? Who do you support? Ozil or Arsenal?
He probably supports them both as one plays for the other!
Sanchez maybe even though he’s rusty, but Ozil could have done a bit more out there off the ball.
My thoughts:
You can’t rest your best DM (Coq) and mess up your backline/goalie. 2 of Coq, Monreal, or Cech should have started (assuming Bellerin was injured).
Oh, and DeBuchy’s diving was embarassing.
Haha, “best DM”……..try “ONLY DM”
Arteta & Flamini obviously don’t equal a whole DM, so Coq is the only 1 we have……unless you combine he other 2 jokes (Arteta/Flam), maybe the could make up a whole one…………
Why, why, why did we play a weakened side? I know we have the chavs on Saturday but seriously. Isn’t it better to get a flying start in the Champions League so we are not playing catch-up like last year. Do we not not learn anything? Playing a lot of players that haven’t had any competitive play was like we were about at the beginning of the season. We were a fucking joke tonight all over the park, especially in the first half. As much as i’d like to have a go at the ref he didn’t make us play… Read more »
Anyone who still thinks Arteta is as DM has to be retarded. His is not a bad player but he is no backup for Coq. We actually have no backup in this squad for Coq!
However, being in the blue cunts!
That should have read bring on the blue cunts!
Sentiments wont win you trophies. Arteta should be playing for Stoke/Westbrom etc. No disrespect to him or those teams but he just cant cut it on the big stage anymore…nature has taken its toll on him.
And heres to the weekend….the players should shut up and put up. Save us those rallying calls, ever noticed a fucked up performance when too many players grant interviews before the game?
Being the blue cunts!
Letter proximity on the keyboard can be a real bitch.
Retards,
BMC
You could have chosen a different word to “retarded”.
I agree, in the cold light of next morning!
Bad Luck, Poor Performance, But Fucking Shocking Officials.
Hope for better all round this weekend
Luck? Giroud is a dumbass. You’ve got a ref who won’t even give us the 70/30 calls* and you give him a reason to give you cards?
Same shit. Different year. Only know we’ll actually have to do some work to make it to the round of 16, draw FCB and get sent packing.
* I was slightly surprised that Ozil didn’t get carded for kicking the ball toward the goal after the whistle a la RVP, but I guess UEFA doesn’t want it to be obvious how much they have it in for us. I’m only half kidding.
I prefer the third place and Europe League. it is the real level of current Arsenal. Same shit happens every year. Fed up with it.
You got to bw kidding. FYI that’s were you get to travel to Narnia for matches and where spurs play.
As with RVP at the Nou Camp the ref was happy for an excuse to send him off with a very soft second yellow because of his dissent. I feared for Giroud for the same reason. These refs in Europe don’t take dissent. Frustrating for us but Giroud was an idiot. No discipline.
A good time for squad rotation, against a team unbeaten for nearly a year. Preparing for a team at the weekend who have lost 3 out of 6 this year.
Against a team who cost £13m and play in the Croatian league.
This is as embarrassing as the game against Bradford in the League Cup.
Also last won a CL game in 99/00
So many guys with something to prove, and so many of them failed big time. Giroud in particular, but Debuchy was poor too in my opinion, and Arteta. No way can we rely on him to be a major contributor at this point in my opinion. Maybe he’ll get better with more time, but today he was a liability with some really bad giveaways.
Debuchy… That’s why you’re not first choice any more…
Gibbs…. That’s why you’re not either.
Both no practice – give them a break!
and the diving was pathetic!
What a load of shite
Rinse, wash, repeat.
Just sucks that some people can’t see that it’s the man using the timer & not the machine itself…………
The worst thing is that nothing was surprising about that game. Nothing.
When Gerrard said he expects a convincing Arsenal win, I thought to myself, he hasn’t seen much of Arsenal over the years
Well….that sucked.
Not much else to say.
Giroud is nowhere near good enough. I’ve been saying it all along but so many people are prepared to defend this guy.
Giroud was a massive let down for his team mate. Not only wasting chances, now red card? I say we gave him one more chance. If he’s not up to it, get one more striker in winter, and let him go in the summer. Man, I’m up in the early AM and not expecting this. It was Zagreb ffs!!! They don’t look convincing at all even they beat us tonight. Wenger should look into himself and realise his second choice is not good enough! We can’t cope without Coquelin and that put it to the conclusion. Damn I’m angry right… Read more »
The thing is we can’t give him just one more chance can we? Rightly or wrongly it’s gonna be a handful of more chances until the Jan transfer window opens and even then we aren’t gonna buy anyone. Unless Campbell steps up or we bring someone back from on loan it’s gonna be him and Walcott.
“Unless Campbell steps up”
Campbell looked better in his few minutes than Giroud did. I was quite surprised how strong he was at holding off and the accuracy of his lay offs.
And he has the added bonus of pace. I say give him his chance next CL game.
Are you joking? Campbell was horrible and should have had a second yellow card. Did he even complete a pass tonight? He’s not close to good enough for Arsenal, and we should have taken the money we were offered in the summer and kept Akpom.
We couldn’t have possibly.watched the same game. Campbell did nothing except give away free kicks. He was lucky not to get a second yellow. He couldn’t hold up the ball.
Well agreed Ian, I should say: regardless the state of Giroud, we need to get one striker in the winter and let him go in the next summer. How many years we have had him now?
Just so Arsenal.
Still, onwards and cupwards…
I got thumbed down to buggery for suggesting we played a reserve side this game. We played most of our stars and still got nothing from the game and have now wasted all that energy. Annoying Of course the decision to send Giroud off was fucking ridiculous, but we got away with 2 other close calls.. Ospina could have been sent when he came out of the box and was high on that fellas knee and Campbell with two challenges that based on the precedent the ref had set himself could have been bookable. Unfortunately we just couldn’t recover from… Read more »
How did you watch it? Sbs/espn no longer have coverage rights :/
BeIn Sports
Giroud.. Can’t he for once just focus on his game instead of all the bad calls from the ref.
Lets slaughter Giroud now…please.
Tripe
We are the masters of shooting our own foot!
Did we scout the opposition properly ? Once again they appear to be much better than we were led to believe.
Motivation ? Is there any ? Team selection ? Arteta looks well out of his depth now. Giroud ! ??
Wenger’s never won this and frankly he never will, if he has another 20 goes.
All very familiar.
Way to go Ollie…
Meh. Just meh. Indifferent performance indifferent team
I hope we get rid of that shitehawk Giroud this summer. He has a terrible attitude, always throwing his hands in the air when things don’t go his way. While he is certainly a good striker on his day, when faced with any kind of adversity he turns into a whiny shitehawk rather than trying to invent and overcome. This is Theo’s time to grab his chance by the balls.
If Debuchy was as good a RB as he was at taking dives he’d be starting week in week out. Tired of our starting striker having the mental strength of a 16 year old girl as he pouts, complains, and whines any time nothing goes his way. Fix your damn attitude Oli, it’s wearing thin. Like someone above me said, feel bad for Ozil and Alexis stuck on a team like ours, they deserve much better. Overall, I’m disappointed, but not in the least bit surprised. Watching us play in the CL is like watching Groundhog’s Day with each year… Read more »
A bit harsh on 16-year-old girls really. Giroud is developing a bit of a Gervinho complex.
I found the lack of fight in cazorla and ozil depressing. They gave it up at 2 nil. Even at 2-1. Campbell looks like the new eboue with the stupid fouls. Giroud is a liability. Depressing.
Well we are not better than last year. We might not be worse but we sure as fuck ain’t better. Fuck it.
self-destruct in t minus 5.4.3.2.1…
Too early to wail?
In 90mins the fortunes have turned around. Those cunts are high on confidence and now we have our tails between our legs.
Wenger:”Its now easier to rotate”
Me: “Apparently not”
I don’t want to ever see Giroud in an Arsenal shirt again.
I’ve been patient (more than most) but today it pushed me over the edge. I don’t care if we don’t have any other strikers, I don’t care if we play Theo with all his faults as a striker up till January, I just don’t want to see Giroud on the pitch ever again.
A bit harsh but he needs to Man Up!
every time i argue with the mrs. on match day this happens.
every fuckin time.
sorry guys, i’ll start buying her flowers on game day, see if that helps.
Sounds like we should crowd source so you’re covered for a few years.
I’ll always love the man for what he’s done for the club and I’ve been his staunchest defender for a long time, but results like this, the fact that the same mistakes are made again and again and again for years on end and are only dealt with when the damage is done, the profound lack of any semblance of mental strength and the numerous instances of tactical ineptness make it impossible for me to see any time where we will actually compete in the league or Champions League with Wenger as manager. We’re profoundly ill-suited to European level football.… Read more »
So we had a poor night away from home in the Champion’s League tonight …shit happens, let’s leave it at that. Otherwise things are not as bleak as you make out: this team has won trophies, just beaten Maureen finally and is an improvement on previous years. If our key players start performing at the level we know they can, we have every chance to win further trophies this year.
Is that you arsene????
Prima donna Giroud cost us this game. He constantly misses clear chances and now he is having disciplinary woes. My fear is that this will also have a negative impact on the game against Chelsea since some of the players might be knackered.
I am usually a Giroud defender, but my goodness he needs to stop whining!
When their keeper was down at that one point in the second half were the Dynamo doctors taking his temperature?
Or did I imagine that? Anyway, none of the reserves exactly covered themselves in glory tonight, that’s the worst thing about it.
But fuck it.
This game usually happens at the end of the group stage, we’re just getting it out of the way.
Haha, you’re right – we usually play our reserves in the last group game away to Olimpiacos and lose, so maybe we’ll play a decent side this time and win instead 🙂
Walcott was amazing though
How was gibbs? I started watching 10 minutes before he was substituted and he looked completely switched off. It was a champions league game ffs.
Should have seen him for the 2nd goal….head down, no jump, its not my problem.
I should find him and slap the bs outta him. Giroud too
So we went into the 2nd half with 10 men played better, kept ball slightly better because one Oiliver Giroud wasn’t around.
Enter coq off Arteta…again big improvement.
So clearly Arsene fucked up this starting xi for an important game like this one. Even Bayern paraded a strong xi ffs
Gibbs was absolutely terrible. Ox made a defensive mistake and was not as sharp offensively as his usual. Debucy looked uncomfortable. Set-piece defending, we really need to do something about it. It keeps costing us games. Giroud. First few chances he looked good with his headers, and then his emotion got the best of him. This is not his first time getting a red card for doing something extremely stupid (in this game, the first yellow). Not the first time. Overall, extremely frustrated beyond belief. Results like this and the games yesterday give a legit strength to people who say… Read more »
The premier league is not overrated mate.. the standard is much much higher and has a much more competitive and demanding edge. Teams in the premier league give so much at the weekends and just don’t have the same energy levels for a midweek game. Barcelona and Real beat teams at a canter in la liga and are able to keep their energy levels higher for a midweek game. Anybody can beat anybody in the premier league and thats why the premier league is the best.
Good points, well observed. Lets curb the melt down.
Gibbs was awful. Oxlade-Chamberlain was awful. Debuchy was awful. Giroud was stupid. Koscielny was poor. The rest of the team was average at best, except Campbell who was just dreadful. But the worst of all was that shitbag referee, who got the call backwards on Giroud’s first yellow and also got most of his other calls wrong as well. Even if he only gets that one call right and still gets all the rest wrong, none of the other shit happens.
But our first 11 can fucking beat Chelsea this weekend. Come on man.
Did you watch the Chelsea highlights at the half? That first goal? It fucking bounced in the fucking box and went in!!!! If only Chelsea could play against that kind of shit every week is what Mou is thinking.
He’s in luck this Saturday then
We will still qualify from this group,we had a bad night,city and united both lost as well but I expect them to also get out of their respective groups,let’s not panic just yet…wins at Chelsea and scum will change the mood,just watch and see….gooners!!!
Le Coq, another pre-assist
We always seem to underestimate these less fashionable continental clubs and always end up shitting the bed playing against them, year after year
I understand the rationale behind the rotations since we need the points this coming weekend but now Alexis, Koscielny, Ozil, Cazorla, etc. are going to be tired from the match and the travel with only one or two days to rest and prepare for Saturday.
1. Another pathetic, lacklustre performance in the Champions’ League -this team is much better than this. 2. Wenger picked the wrong team: Walcott and Coq should have both started. 3. Giroud was unlucky to get sent off but was utter garbage before he saw red. 4. Arteta is finished at Arsenal and should never have been given given an extension: I got slagged off for saying that weeks ago, but come on, let’s tell me why he should be playing for us? 5. We look awful at the back: both goals we conceded were a joke. 6 At least if… Read more »
I disagree that Walcott should have started. I think Giroud should just not have been an emotional fucktard. I did think Coquelin should have started though, as away games in places like Zagreb can often turn with the crowd’s input, so I thought we needed a bit more defensive stability.
Also, why can’t we put men on the posts for corners?!!! You don’t even need to defend well if you do that. The rest of the defending was pretty atrocious tbf.
things we leant from this match…1)giroud is shit 2)arteta is not good enough
I’ve reached the point where I find it kinda pointless to complain because well, nothing will change. I just don’t understand how every season we are genuinely 1-2 players away from being amazing and then we subsequently capitulate in some form. Yes there were a lot of changes tonight and yes the ref was a bit of a cunt but the payers performances were inexcusable. I don’t see any fight from any of these players and it’s been like this for a very long time. When things go our way we are irresistible to watch, but when they are not… Read more »
All the posts from above are from the usual, “Wenger out” brigade, just can’t wait to denigrate the team and in particular AW. Not fans imo. All too simple that you can buy success, it ain’t necessarily true…. Oh that fabled WCS….. which is/was?
Shut up!
We are ARSENAL fans NOT ARSENE fans.
We should be beating teams like Zagreb blindfolded. We have a right to be angry.
Why? They were good in every area and played to a plan.
The mindset that we have a right to beat anyone is dangerous as we saw v Monaco last season and tonight.
We should be beating them because we have £200m in the bank. The only justification there can be for having that much money unspent is if you’re the best team in the World, which we clearly aren’t!
We should have beaten them because we have better players than them – we shouldn’t need to buy Messi and Ronaldo to beat Dinamo Zagreb!
This £200m in the bank stuff is tedious as well – you can’t just spend £200m because it’s there – no business (and that’s what Arsenal is) does that with its cash reserves.
Thats exactly what business do with cash reserves.
They invest it, they invest in improving facilities or buying new, R & D, better produce, better staff, mergers and acquisitions, lots of things that companies do with cash reserves!!
My post above yours Fats was not aimed at you specifically, I wrote it having read the first few posts and in fact it was in reply to “neutral”, but I forgot to click the reply button before it was too late.
As long as we twat Chel$ki on Saturday I can live with last night’s result, if not………
That post was referring to the top four posts, which were there when I wrote the one above\\\\ \for context. Not all of the above.
Utterly deluded. You cannot see what your eyes are telling you.
giroud is a f*ckin joke, nowhere near good enough for Arsenal. Same goes for Debuchy and Arteta (even though i still like him). Debuchy is just not Arsenal, his passing, composure, awareness all sucks. He shouldnt be playing for Arsenal, what a complete miscast.
Debuchy was playing well, on form, sharp until he was injured twice; second time 30 minutes into the game after months out. Give him a break.
Why am I not surprised? Typical Arsenal. We should have won even with 10 men but we were not at the races today. So many players below par tonight – Ozil, Alexis, Giroud and the worst, Arteta.
Speaking of Arteta, I am tempted to say that he is finished but I won’t judge him on this game alone.
I won’t blame Wenger: that team was strong enough, bar Arteta, to win that game
Ozil, along with Kos and Gabriel were our best players.
Ozil had an awful night
So did Koscielny.
Worst possible start in CL! For Match Day 2, can we
1) not shoot ourselves in the foot?
2) score more goals?
Who? And that debate has been done to death already…