Arsenal are into the quarter-finals of the Europa League after a 3-1 win over AC Milan tonight sent us through 5-1 on aggregate.
Read the report and see the goals here.
Here’s how the players rated tonight.
Arsenal are into the quarter-finals of the Europa League after a 3-1 win over AC Milan tonight sent us through 5-1 on aggregate.
Read the report and see the goals here.
Here’s how the players rated tonight.
Harah on Ospina imo. Always moving away from him.
Too many headed chances against Mustafi also? How about others stopping the crosses coming in?
Apart from that, agreed! Xhaka improved greatly recently.
You don’t think the 0 for Kolasinac is harsh, though?
Nah totally fair that one. Nil. Nada. Zero. Zilch.
People might have missed the sarcasm on this one..
Also it seemed like he played alone back there after Lolo went off.
Agreed, abit harsh on ospina.. That ball was curling away from Ospina and ended up in the side netting. Wouldn’t get too many keepers close to that when it was hit at such range.
The Milan striker had very little space to get his strike off, as well. Just a brilliant goal. Like some of Alexis’–we didn’t blame the keeper for those, just gave credit where it’s due.
Big part of Xhaka improving is that Ramsey is dropping a lot deeper to take the ball off the back four, allowing Xhaka to face the game a bit more. Working well at the moment, and Rambo’s got the engine to get up and down all day, not sure how he does it.
I still think he needs to work on speeding up his receive, look and pass process. Most attacks it takes a second or two too long and he has to go backwards. I really want him to be the player we were expecting, and he’s certainly moving in the right direction but playing this system he needs to move the ball faster. That said, I’m sure that’s partly confidence so hopefully we’ll see it improve.
Exactly. I was watching one of those tutorials Cesc had done for Nike ages ago. He really emphasized on knowing your next move before receiving the ball. Whether it’s ping a pass or beat your marker.
Really need Xhaka to watch it 203 times. That should move him up a level.
Your’e right about Ramsey, but he’s suddenly a lot more aware defensively, it’s like he finally realized he’s our central DM. I thought he just didn’t have it in him, but in the last few games he proved everybody’s wrong and he deserves the credit for that. By the way, this just shows how much our midfield was broken all season long and how much it effects our game. You can’t be a modern successful football club without having a strong DM in your lineup. Now that Xhaka showed us that he has it in him, we expect consistency and… Read more »
He is a false 10 for fucksake.
I think Xhaka has improved in all the ways people are saying, but I am also under the impression that he has run faster on recovery runs than I thought he could, several times in recent matches. I am not saying he is Walcott or Bellerin, but he does not seem slow, which he certainly did in the past. This may be an illusion, or that he is in better position or is anticipating better (“the first five yards is in your head”), but I wonder if some sort of pace training is going on.
crosses should have been stopped and also wtf did old mhiki do to you? too tired, that’s pretty bad andrew
I don’t like welbZ dive, but what the hack! He save our game early on 😀 keep up the good dive.
Xhaka ver 2.018 looks good!
Few months ago he didn’t fall and everyone blamed him for playing on and not asking for.penalty. Now he fell and got it and everyone blames him for falling…
Yeah, it wasnharsh and yeah they should have had a penalty right after but i’m the last to shed a tear for the italians being struck by the ref and faking.
And f the media, some cnts in white do it all the the time and nobody cares. One in red and the world ia mad.
Diving against the italians shouldn’t just get you a penalty, it should get you an award. I kinda like Gattuso’s mildly insane approach to coaching, and it was great to see him smile at the post-game handshake. Wenger said something to him, and got a genuine smile. That said, he was the opposition, we won two games convincingly, and I’m overjoyed that Welbz got some success. I haven’t rated him highly, but he deserves his moment in the sun. Hopefully many more to come. Slightly concerned that he didn’t look happy at all for his second. Could be just “posturing”… Read more »
Sprouts are great
not recently. From December
We played like Arsenal (in a really good way)
Mkhitaryan: Solid, hugged the flank and did well overall with his passing and movement.
Here. I’ve done your job.
I like his tenacity in trying to win the ball back. He’s been overly scrutinised in a decent first few games for us
Thanks!
I love the early ground pass through lines he likes to play. Couple times his recipient (Ramsey) was looking around back to midfield expecting the ball to go backwards, to CM, CM, Winger and it was zipped into his feet, catching him off guard.
Long story short when the boys get used to the fact he plays these sorts of passes we will be much more dangerous in attack. He’s a bit of an engine up and down the flank too, didn’t expect that from him. Nice
Alexis who? Honestly we’ve robbed them with this bloke
About time we nicked a good player off manure
I watched Man U get knocked out of the CL and Sanchez was pretty ineffective. Agree that Mkhitaryan is better for Arsenal, might not win us a game on his own, but will help us win games as a team.
I thought Sanchez was pretty good until he got frustrated by his team’s passivity. Then he kept going back for the ball, and tried to win the match by himself. I genuinely do not understand why Mourinho wanted him and Pogba, players who are almost the opposite of his ideal footballer (Matic, Terry, Drogba).
I think Aubameyang is already used to those passes.
Mkhitaryan was decent but far from spectacular. Yeah, that sounds right.
Decent is spectacular for us at the moment! I’d take a decent, error less arsenal performance for now!
I thought there would be a bonus rating for the ref, both for the generous penalty award, and for falling over in the second half!
And not giving Milan a penalty when Bellerin took down their guy
… or when the ball hit Chambers’ arm. We have seen them given…
Other then the heading deficiencies, Mustafi had a fairly solid game. His positioning outside box was super, he cut out a lot of passes, he made a lot of passes too and he didnt really panic too much. So fairly good effort from him.
Xhaka finally showing the abilities we all knew were buried inside him, just taken his sweet time to show us.
The only pass I want Mustafi to stop playing is the fabregas clip from halfway over the top for a striker/winger. Fabregas ones used to find their mark, Mustafi’s go out for goalkicks.
I also like that Mustafi stayed home more this game. He drives me nuts sometimes getting caught way upfield when we lose the ball. His forward passing wasn’t brilliant, but he was excellent maintaining possession when Milan tried to press. He kept things together defensively after Kos went off. I don’t fault him for the aerial duels; he can’t mark everyone.
I think a bit harsh on Ospina, in my opinion. It was a great shot, he did react well to the shot but just out of reach.
It was not that strong shot and it was from a great distance. He should have made a step into the left and then dive. He had time. Also his small height makes tougher for him to save those shots. If Cech concede that kind of goal you would be all over him.
No, that was really bad from Ospina. If Cech had let that in people would be going on about how he’s too old and needs to be replaced. Not a strong shot and his reaction to it was so slow
Did make a fantastic over-the-bar fingertip save from Chambers later on … Ooooooooospina a great shot stopper but we need an upgrade like Butland if Stoke go down? or F. Forster? … anyway well done lads, bit flattering cos they went close twice at 1-1.
Tough run from now on tho but we are flying. COYG
I.m guessing you havn.t seen much of F Forster this season
We don’t need another But(t)land in our ‘Arse’nal and FF’S (pun intended) been bad too!
‘Move your feet man’, really?
Not sure anyone would’ve saved that.
Thought Welbeck was quality again tonight, even without the goals. And I don’t know what’s happened to Xhaka, but I like it.
Agree with you. That’s Calhanoglu for you. His shots swerve a lot and therefore it was difficult for Ospina to predict the trajectory of the ball.
Calhanoglu made look top keepers look stupid before. Wouldn’t fault Ospina either
Agree. I thought it was a very good strike by the Italian
He’s Turkish, though. But yes, very decent strike indeed.
Got the job done professionally and pretty comfortably. On to the next round!!
Epic bonus rating.
Team looks far more balanced- really digging the midfield. What might have been if Rambo and Jack had stayed free of injury..
All those years…I’m really hoping Wilshere + Ramsey go from strength to strength. Anyone’s who saying they’re not complementary can piss off!
Why is Hector trying to look like Kylo Ren? We have to deal with this issue.
Threaten to sell him to Darth Walrus if he doesn’t cut it out, that should sort things right out.
We already gave him sanchez
Very generous grades for a not too convincing performance. Wonder if we’ll have to extend the scale if we start to really play.
It could have been worse. We could have played like United did against Sevilla for example.
Still enjoying that…had a good old watch of the pundits savaging United and that wanker mourinho again this morning. It doesn.t get old. Hahahahahahahahajahahaja
Spurs did better against Juve except for the minor detail of losing. Tough luck, we enjoyed your pluckiness.
5-1 aggregate; 3-1 on the night.
At 1-1, instead of going all fretful and timid we went up a gear and pretty-much stayed there for the rest of the match.
If we were not too convincing, I don’t think you can be convinced.
Good win in a situation that had Arsenal possibly Arsenaling it again written all over it. Embarrassing dive from Wellbeck, he must be getting desperate. It is painful to watch him play, never in the right place, never attacking the right spaces and not good enough for Arsenal.
2 goals , worked hard to press their defence , kept their defence totally occupied , helped the team win … not good enough ???
Not really unless a striker scoring a career average one goal every five games is now a good thing. By all the downvotes I guess people are now settling for celebrating mediocrity?
You do realise that he is our third choice striker? but hey, we can ask Higuain if he is willing to do that …
The dive was pretty bad, but it worked, so blame the officials for it. My problem with Welbeck is that he doesn’t win enough headers for a guy his size. It’s like he’s unwilling to mix it up with center backs. I guess Giroud has spoiled us in that department; he’d fight to get on the end of every long outlet or cross. Danny barely makes an effort to get a knockdown to a midfielder or power a corner towards the goal. His footwork is pretty good, though, except for the finishing part, which is why he’s up there. Maybe… Read more »
10/10 for Ramsey’s first 30 mins. He was flawless. Seriously watch the game again. Helping Xhaka at DM, springing forward to combine perfectly with Bellerin, switching play with cross-field passes, and he threw in a couple of beautiful Tomas Rosicky outside-of-the-foot passes as well.
Assisted Xhaka and had the initial header that lead to Wele’s 2nd goal. Shades of Vintage Rambo. And shoutout to Chambers stepping in for Kos, very good game from him.
Agreed. And, in pointing out another positive for our defense, I did like how they worked together for the offside trap. Caught them five times!
Who would have thought, playing in a midfield 3 has given him more freedom..
Rambo and Jack are two of my favourite players to watch when they’re on form
It’s really weird how Xhaka is turning into the kind of player we want to buy to replace him this summer, but I’ll bloody take it. Also shouts out to Mkhi for showing way more ferocity tracking back then I could have imagined.
Milan lacked the ability to press and play with pace, but there isn’t a damn bad thing to say about our performance. We were down in the dumps two weeks ago, but now were a few results away from a European trophy – and we can trot out a Mkhi-Lacazette-Ozil frontline soon. Giggity.
No he’s not. Still a liability defensively, ball watches too much and lets people run past him into the box, then doesn’t have the pace to recover even if he realises which he usually doesn’t. Can’t believe that happens at this level…
A DM should top of our shopping list for the summer, GX isn’t one and never will be.
from what i saw, he made several excellent last-second interventions in our box tonight that he wasn’t even in the neighborhood for earlier in the year. but still contributed at the other end too. you can’t honestly expect him to get back and personally defend every single enemy excursion into our box, right? even kante doesn’t do that, and everyone on these forums seems to have ordained him the greatest DM that ever lived!
Kante is pretty damn good, would welcome him to Arsenal with open arms
For me Welbeck is a joy to watch when he is in form. I wanted from him to step up against Milan and he did. It was never a penalty but I don’t think it was a dive either. He was just clumsy again. He likes to fell over himself a lot. But if he dived then of course I will condemn it. The narrative against us is clear again. When Alli, Kane, Vardy… dive they even encourage them to. Now one of ours did and I quote “he hurt English football’s reputation”. Milan players were diving (especially Suso) through… Read more »
It was a blatant dive. He felt the contact and went down. If that penalty was given against Arsenal then everyone would be justifiably furious. Pardon me for being logical and reasonable though…
Finally someone.
We heavily critise the Kanes, Allis, Youngs, etc when they dive but simply turn a blind eye when one of bus does it!? It’s a shame, call it what it is!
I know this won’t be popular and I am not trying to pick on Xhaka, but there was a counterattack in the 2nd half where a nice ball was played into the box, and for whatever reason Xhaka and Bellerin were the only 2 back, and the Milan player headed it tamely to Ospina. That guy should have done better. AND it was Xhaka who was [not] marking that guy
A dive against a Serie A team? My stars! That must have been unprecedented for Milan to see that.
Ashley Young, Wayne Rooney and Dele Alli dive six times a game and it’s sportsmanship. Shows how much they care. An Arsenal player takes a dive and it’s worse than when Cantona kicked that fan in the face. Preposterous.
Rooney doesn’t dive anymore. Too much effort to get up afterwards.
10/10 for the Milan bloke who said Arsenal would have loved to be in the competition blah blah or something
agreed. i said that in the comments after the first game, but i substituted “douche” for “bloke”
Fuck the media with this slamming Danny Welbeck. It was soft absolutely, but there was still contact! Even the slap on the shoulder is still contact.
For me it’s not a dive nor a penalty. There are 3 officials all with different angles on it before the call was made. So have a go at them before saying Danny is a disgrace to English football. It’s still 5-1 on aggregate.
For me it’s about time we were on the right side of a soft call from a EUFA referee.
Minus infinity/10: blogs Sead pun
Heatmap like the sun.
Ramsey II, pharaoh of Egypt.
Not his biggest fan but thought this was harsh on Ospina, the goal was a worldie. Also shout out to Mkhitaryan who I wasn’t really convinced by when he signed. Keeps it simple, works hard for the team, all round solid tonight.
cech would have saved that, down season or not. ospina just doesn’t have the length that the top keepers have, that would have allowed him to get to it
Xhaka played well overall but still has a tendency to not pick up runners into the box – which has happened multiple times this season and cost us. When the ball is wide he gets caught ball watching and literally stops, opposition players just ghost past him into the box. Happened twice in the first half and we were lucky not to be punished for it tonight because Suso can’t cross to save his life (he’s really bad). It’s such a basic awareness thing, and for a deep lying midfielder (defensive or not) it shouldn’t happened so regularly at this… Read more »
I’m perfectly fine with being considered the underdog. Bring on athleti… We all know how we love to give supposed weaker teams a head start by shooting ourselves on the foot.
No team will want to draw out Arsenal in the next round, not even Atletico.
Blog saying “being nice” is the same as “not diving blatantly like Harry Kane”. You know, blog, that was really sad. Last time I checked, we were not cheering diving cunts, “class is permanent” and all that. The diving was disgraceful; it was nice that we put some more past them so it didn’t define a thing. But still, that’s so not you.
Thought Özil bossed it, actually. Such a joy to watch.
In addition to his indifference towards playing defense, Ozil several times acted disgusted when a teammate didn’t find him with a long pass. That’s no way to encourage them to try again. Usually, guys give a thumbs up for the effort, even when it’s bad. I love how he makes space for himself, makes the easy pass when a killer pass isn’t on, and generally controls things. But this was not one of his better games. PS It was 100% the right thing to do to replace a defensive passenger like Ozil with a defender like Kolasinac in a game… Read more »
Özil = 6 shot assists. Passenger.
Yes, he looks disgusted in those moments. But if you look a bit closer, he looks EXACTLY the same when he misplaces a pass himself. That’s just his slightly unfortunate demeanour when he reacts to a missed opportunity, I’m pretty sure his team mates have worked that out after all these years.
I thought Ozil looked most disgusted when Danny stopped his run into the box and Ozil’s cross-pitch pass landed harmlessly near no one. My theory on his coming off scowling: if you walk as slowly as he did while smiling, you risk a yellow for time-wasting. If you look unhappy, you get away with it. Brilliant time-wasting by Ozil. Maybe.
two points: 1. i think the wilshere rating is generous. i didn’t see a ton from him tonight. sure, he can skip by the first opponent that challenges him every time he receives the ball, but can you honestly tell me anything he did other than that? rarely – if ever – beat the second, and we slag any player (elneny, etc.) who has a tendency to play it safe but wilshere seemed to do the same all night and he gets a pass because he’s english? great, he took two shots from 30 yards that had some pace, but… Read more »
also, it’s very clear to me that the slope of xhaka’s improvement curve is increasing, which is nothing but good for us. i do think there’s (potentially) a very good player in there, hindered by his understanding of our game and his role in it. seems to me that he’s starting to figure that out, which could be a good thing in the future
Im not a fan of Ozils body language, no not the “work rate”, but the pissed off attitude when his passes werent receive by teammates, or when teammates overpass the ball. Such a negative attitude.
It seems like something is up with Mesut and the dressing room
false. i think what you’re seeing is just him expecting perfection every time he does something and being disappointed when it doesn’t work out perfectly
It’s time to stop scrutinizing a player you’ve known for 5 years now, no? He created 6 shot assists. I’d be fed up that none of them find the net too. He did his job and brilliantly.
Ah, I just wrote this reply a couple of comments earlier:
Yes, he looks disgusted in those moments. But if you look a bit closer, he looks EXACTLY the same when he misplaces a pass himself. That’s just his slightly unfortunate demeanour when he reacts to a missed opportunity, I’m pretty sure his team mates have worked that out after all these years.
Was not expecting us to get through this round. Now the possibility of going all the way has increased greatly, with the exits of BVB and Lyon. If we avoid Atl. Madrid until the final anything could happen. But I would REALLY like to know if this push in EL is to let AW go on a high, or yet another 12th round rising from dead Rocky Balboa strike from Wenger to save his job.
I am digging Elneny. He’s starting to add some incisive forward passing to his regular Arteta-esque distribution. Plus he works his balls off. An Egyptian Ray Parlour??
This guy can not only pass a ball, but spot the ball that splits defences.
If he were in every starting line-up right now I wouldn’t mind the least.
I agree, I also think a player gains a lot in starting regularly, not only for their own confidence, but also for building those famous “automatons” understanding with the other players.
10/10 for the ref..he was our best player tonite. But anyway..well done lads. It.s nice to win games. Thought the Calhanoglu goal was class btw..wudn.t blame Dave for that one
Harsh on Mustafi again as per usual.
Several great pieces of defending today and you nit pick over headers. Those ball should not be coming in in the first place and others could do better too.
The ratings are so ridiculous. Welbeck played well, got involved but hardly an 8. He lacks anticipation. Often he moves only after a ball is executed into the box. Ramsey took too many touches. I thought Mhki relished these europa nights and was good again, not sure why he was hauled off early. Ozil created 6 goals scoring chances. Mustafi was solid. Granit I have been mentioning for sometime now has been improving even during the two defeats against City. You really ought to watch the game again away from emotions. This is the problem with most people, they already… Read more »
I am glad that none of these pre-judgment problems affects you.
Ospina might have been unsighted by Mustafi in front of him for their goal. He only starts to move after the ball has travelled half the distance, but looks like Mustafi was blocking the view of its flight for the first 10-15 yards.
Part of the reason Xhaka looks better is that playing a back four means an extra body in midfield to help him out. There’s always an option for an easier pass if he needs it. With the back five, Ramsey/Wilshire were often in the attacking third, leaving him isolated in the middle. He’d then hold on to the ball too long or attempt Hollywood passes and lose possession. He was also a bit unlucky as he went through a spell where each time he did lose possession, the opposition seemed to score. He just needs a run as part of… Read more »
Agree with this 100%. Xhaka’s not a DM, more a deep-lying playmaker. He gets caught out when relied on to be that shield in front of the defence, but his passing is excellent. If we’re playing a 3-man midfield, I wouldn’t complain too much about it being Xhaka, Elneny and Ramsey/Wilshire. Elneny has come along well this season but there’s still a chance we need an upgrade in that position next season
Apparently cheaters do prosper after all. Nice one Danny.
Apart from Xhaka, I think Mustafi has also stepped up his game tremendously
Let’s face it, we look like far better when ‘young and promising’ Iwobi is NOT on the pitch.
10/10 the mocking/appropriation of the Milan’s fan’s “ooh AC Milan” chant into “Ooooooospinaaa, Ooooooospinaaa”