Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Gibbs: Draw was fair for below par Arsenal

Kieran Gibbs says Arsenal feel disappointed by their failure to beat PSG but admits a draw was probably a fair result.

The visitors took the lead on 18 minutes courtesy of Edison Cavani’s close-range strike and looked comfortable heading towards half-time before Alexis was brought down in the box and Olivier Giroud scored from the spot.

The goal gave the Gunners a welcome boost after a tepid performance and they took the lead when Marco Verratti’s put through his own net during a period of concerted pressure.

At that point the Emirates sensed blood, however, rather than secure a win that would have secured top spot, Arsenal welcomed further PSG pressure and paid the price when Alex Iwobi accidentally headed Lucas Moura’s effort from a corner past a stranded David Ospina.

Speaking to BT Sport after the game Gibbs said the Gunners lament not finishing the job.

“When you’re 2-1 up with 20 minutes to go you want to finish the job, so obviously it’s disappointing, obviously when you’ve gone a goal down and come back into the game.

“But it’s something we can learn from and we want to improve. I felt our performance, we could have been a lot better technically, and more dangerous tonight. But to get a draw was what we deserved.

He added: “You could see when we picked up momentum we looked very dangerous.

“It’s just about how we did that more consistently. We have the players and the quality, it’s about how we impose that on the game.”

Arsenal head into the final game away at Basle needing a favour from Ludogorets if they are to top Group A. The Bulgarians still have participation in the Europa League to play for but will take on PSG at the Parc des Princes as rank outsiders.

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spinner

If we’re being brutally honest. a draw wasn’t a fair result. We should have lost but fortunately for us Cavani couldn’t finish any of his second half chances.
But in grand scheme of things, a loss would have had the same effect as the 2-2 draw tonight – both ways we finish up second in group.

loose_cannon

Disagree we should have lost, why should PSG get the 3 points while being so wasteful?

Iain

Its interesting that our sudden collapse in the ability to create chances and win games, exactly coincides with Ramseys return to the Team. Come on Arsene he was so poor last night and is clearly out of sync with the rest of the Team. Why is he playing ????

Goonertilidie

You could easily argue that Cavani should have walked at the end of the 1st half, so although we were poor, I still think that they were lucky.

Same goes for manure game, if Darmian goes in the 1st half it’s a different game. We have been very poor for a while though, but things could be looking much better with correct refereeing.

santori

Thought GIbbs did decent today. As ever good positioning for corners! We dipped after our second goal. It should have been obvious to all (bar gaffer) to perhaps change it around a bit and provide a bit of verve pressing PSG. We let them get at us and a goal for them seemed all too predictable. Should have brought on Ox earlier for Iwobi. And Granit for Ramsey. The Welshman was a mixed bag but his offensive job was done. We needed a bit more protection IMO. And we could have done with the Ox running at them a bit.… Read more »

Shaggy

90 minutes, 1 shot on target, one own goal and one dive for penalty. That is how bad we were!!! Always fail to turn up when it matters!!! Shameful really.

Chasputh

We came off second best and a bit lucky. Finishing second in the group may not be the kiss of death in the round of 16 given placement in the other groups. We missed Hector and Santi. Perez and Danny Welbeck will be available in February so may not be a disaster but I’m being somewhat of an optimist.

Wade Wilson

At this point I’m not sure if it’s tactics or personnel ( or just November), but something ain’t working. 2 shots on target in two games, also impotent against Middlesex! Highlights our atacking inefficiency. And with some of our options available it’s criminal.
System overhaul or replacements?

DLDC

Agree. I am befuddled by why people think this team should be better. Results have sorta gone our way but how many games have Arsenal been really good this year? Most of Chelsea, half against Basel. Lugodorets (sorry if I misspelled) but even there the scoreline flattered. Look, I am totally in the tank for the manager. Love Arsene and he makes me proud to be a supporter but if you have good players, which I think we do, and results are consistently marginal, then even I have to somewhat reluctantly throw a lot of blame on him. I just… Read more »

OneBeatOff

I think that is a fair sentiment. I too get the impression sometimes that the factor that Spurs, Manu, PSG and others bring isn’t more talent but a ‘fire in the belly’ if you will. And that can usually be attributed to the coaching staff.

Irathmihr

Well, look how far that fire in the belly has taken Spurs and Manure in Europe this season.

Wade Wilson

It’s weird, even against perceived minnows we don’t dominate. Whilst we look susceptible to cheap counter attacks ( musa, barrow, traore, ludogorets Psg etc). At the moment we can be undone by a hopeful punt. We need to develop a formula where we can get Özil on the ball more and provide shooting opportunities for our forwards. Hopefully it’s just a phase, and I know we’re doing relatively decent. But we can be so much better with a few minor but necessary tweaks (more crosses, more first time passes (Alexis!) & a little bit more directness around the box should… Read more »

Newxieland

Another shit performance. First half was absolute rubbish. For 250k a week Ozil did crap all though he wasn’t alone. Ramsey didn’t look much better when moved into his preferred central position. Jenks looks out of his depth with some atrocious crossing and at fault for the second goal. Iwobi kept dribbing into traffic and getting dispossessed. It seems no matter who we play our midfield is seriously dysfunctional without Santi – rather ironic given its “depth” on paper. A single shot on target via a penalty. We had Cavani again to thank who should have scored a hat-trick and… Read more »

SB

Three successive draws, we do seem to struggle in Nov, don’t we?

Eloaking

Wenger is holding team back. It is now clear to me that Wenger will not achieve any major honour with this team anymore. Not because he doesn’t have the desire and commitment but because his tactics are archaic and he is too stubborn to change. Why always wait till the 70th minute to make a substitution irrespective of how your players are playing, irrespective of the desired results, irrespective of the opponent, irrespective of if you are dominating or otherwise? Very predictable. I was screaming before the equaliser for a change as it was obvious Jecks, Iwobi and Coq (Coq… Read more »

George

I disagree.

A draw was very flattering for us.

Petit's Handbag

I’d say that’s pretty much fucking par to how we play without Santi. Shite

eternalflamini

Someone smarter than me can correct me if I’m wrong, but this is how I saw the game: we don’t press, we look shit, we concede. We press, we look good, we score twice. We stop pressing, we look like shit, we concede.

Call me Mr Radical, but why not just press throughout?

Aak

Exactly!

Nullvinho

Wenger doesn’t like to rotate a lot. If we play a pressing game constantly, fairly frequent rotation will be necessary through the season. I think this is why Wenger either saves the all-pressing tactic for the odd game or has the team press at certain periods during the game.

Chamakh

I don’t think it was planned to stop pressing in the end. Wenger himself criticised it. I think we have some kind if weakness in mentality that we can’t just control a bigger game and often when going 1 up we just immediately stop trying so hard. The only ones working hard int he end we’re our CB’s and CM’s

Marty

We are below par for a few weeks. We are very solid in the back, but when we have to attack…where is the same old Arsenal? we are lacking Santi in midfield, but we need more players like him. we need players which dont hesitate to put ball forward with first or second touch to supply players like alexis, ozil, ox, theo etc. But there is other thing that worries me mostly… and that is our tactical inflexibility. We played the same tactic, no matter what happens on the pitch and our manager appeal, that he dont want to change… Read more »

Jack Kelsey

I was given a lot of thumbs-down on here before the Sp*rs game when I dared to suggest that it would be a close, tight and tense affair instead of the goalfest that everyone was predicting, (won’t say I told you so but…). I also said that that game would show how good we really are, and the results since then have confirmed the impression I got from it, viz. that we still don’t yet have it in us to take on the big hitters in the game. Teams with aspirations to the Prem. or CL crowns need to put… Read more »

Alex

What is missing is a real n°8-n°10 combo. Cazorla was playing most with Mesut and we know the results we had. Check the stats on the official site: Cazorla Özil was always our most efficient pair exchanging the most passes. Now Ramsey prefers passing to the defenders and ignore Özil.

Diarra

Yeah Ramsey started also against Spurs and united as a no8 and we were so bad because of it. Oh wait..

Va va voom

The guys on the bench this season are only there because we are allowed to start only 11. Meaning they are as good as those starting. So why doesn’t Wenger at least bring 2 or 3 in earlier than the 75th? How often can players make an impact in 15-20mins? After our 2nd goal we all knew PSG would go all out, what we needed then was our speedsters in Theo and Ox in and a steady head in Elneny on for a Ramsey who sometimes is ahead of Giroud. They wouldn’t have been able to press us so much… Read more »

Sane

The thing is you say all that with hindsight. Everybody is a genius when you can look back and say i would have done this or that.

Colfromdeal

Actually thought gibbsy was our best player.goal line clearance was quality.

Goonereris

Ramsey wasn’t bad idea, when you see the game again. PSG is a very good side and we just have to admit that and move on. Getting 1st place could still easily yield a draw against Madrid, Bayern and Sevilla. Only advantage was to be playing 2nd leg at home. That helps.

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