Result: Arsenal 4 – 2 Vorskla FC
Competition: Europa League
Date: 20 September 2018
Venue: The Emirates Stadium
Arsenal began their Europa League campaign with a 4-2 win over FC Vorskla at home. Sharply taken goals by Aubameyang sandwiched a Welbeck headed goal. Ozil put the game out of reach with a fourth goal in the second half before Arsenal conceded 2 consolation strikes from Vorskla. A solid win, despite the ongoing concerns regarding Arsenal’s defensive frailties.
ARSENAL STARTING XI
The Arsenal team: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Sokratis, Monreal, Torreira, Elneny, Mhkitaryan, Iwobi, Welbeck, Aubameyang
Subs: Martinez, Bellerin, Guendouzi, Smith Rowe, Ozil, Lacazette, Nketiah
0′ – A STRONG STARTING LINE UP
Emery is taking the Europa League seriously by starting with first team players. Torreira finally starts a game for Arsenal alongside Elneny, another midfielder who has found minutes hard to come by.
1′ – THE DORTMUND CONNECTION
Mhkitaryan plays in the number 10 role to supply the ammunition for long-time strike partner, Aubameyang. The Gabon international could use a goal to boost his confidence.
4′ – METRONOMIC MIDFIELD
Elneny and Torreira keeps possession tidy in midfield, patiently probing and looking for opportunities against Volskla’s deep line.
8′ – VOLSKLA ATTEMPT ON GOAL
Kulach, Volkska’s attacking midfielder, latches onto a flick on and tries to lob Leno from outside the box. The effort would have been amazing if it was on target.
10′ – LICHTSTEINER OFFSIDE
Torreira spots a run from Lichtsteiner into the box but the right back is slightly offside. A good run by the Swiss and great vision from Torreira to spot the move and make the pass.
14′ – IWOBI’S POWERFUL RUNS
Iwobi looks like he’s put on some muscle. His incursions from the left hand side look fast and decisive. Just needs a little more luck with his cut backs for Aubameyang which has been met with blocks in the penalty box.
18′ – YELLOW CARD VORSKLA
A late challenge on Elneny sees Sharpar go into the book.
21′ – ELNENY MISSED CHANCE
Iwobi cuts in from the left and passes to Elneny who charges into the box to receive the ball. Unfortunately, Elneny couldn’t get his footwork right and loses the ball.
28′ – TORREIRA FALLS AWKWARDLY
Torreira isn’t walking properly and is hoping to run off the pain in his ankle.
31′ – ⚽ AUBAMEYANG GOAL! ARSENAL 1 – 0 VORSKLA
Mhkitaryan starts a counter from just outside the Arsenal penalty box. He charges forward and slips in Iwobi on the left. A great cross-field pass from Iwobi reaches Aubameyang who expertly evades the Volkskla defence and finishes exquisitely to the bottom corner. That was Arsenal’s first shot on goal.
37′ – TORREIRA FREE KICK
Torreira’s free kick from the right side curls close to goal but ends up hitting the side netting.
42′ – IWOBI SETS UP CHANCE
Another marauding run from deep by Iwobi sees him impressively ghost past 2 players only to have his cutback blocked again.
44′ – AUBAMEYANG HITS THE POST
An Henry-esque effort from Aubameyang sees him shoot from the inside left area outside the penalty box. The shot curls and dips only to hit the outside of the far post.
45′ – MHKITARYAN SHOT SAVED
Iwobi dispossesses the defender on the left and threads a pass to Mhkitaryan. His powerful shot is well saved by the Vorskla ‘keeper.
HALF TIME: ARSENAL 1 – 0 VORSKLA
Arsenal take the lead with their first shot on goal by Aubameyang. The Gunners have been tidy, playing in second gear but could see more opportunities on the break as Volskla chase an equalizer in the second half.
47′ – MHKITARYAN VOLLEY GOES JUST WIDE
More good play from Iwobi on the left hand side as he tees up Mhkitaryan for a volley that goes just wide.
47′ – ⚽ IT’S DAT GUY! ARSENAL 2 – 0
Mhkitaryan, with a beautiful in-swinger from the left, finds Danny Welbeck who cushions the ball in with his head.
49′ – SO CLOSE FOR WELBECK
Aubameyang races past a high Volskla line, pulling back a ball for Welbeck to tap in but the pass is intercepted by a defender. Unlucky.
52′ – AUBAMEYANG VOLLEY
Aubemeyang receives a lobbed cross from a lively Iwobi. He tries to peddle back to meet the cross but can only get his foot under the ball and shoots it high.
55′ – ⚽ AUBAMEYANG GOAL, ARSENAL 3 – 0 VORSKLA
Aubameyang, from outside the penalty box, strikes the ball sweetly past the ‘keeper at his near post. Absolute class. He’s got his mojo back.
56′ – ARSENAL SUBSTITUTIONS
Ozil and Guendouzi come on for Torreira and Aubameyang.
62′ – IWOBI SHOT BLOCKED
Some good interplay by Elneny and Iwobi on the edge of the box. The Egyptian lays off to Iwobi only to see his shot blocked by a wall of defenders. Arsenal has been bossing the second half.
68′ – ARSENAL SUBSTITUTION
Emile Smith Rowe comes on for Iwobi. The Nigerian has bossed the left wing today. Smith Rowe’s first touch is a defensive header, covering for his defenders from a Volkskla break.
73′ – ⚽ OZIL GOAL! ARSENAL 4 – 0 VORSKLA
A good run from Lichtsteiner on the right sees him receive the ball deep in the Volskla penalty box. He lifts the ball high, past the onrushing keeper to find Ozil for a simple tap in.
76′ – ⚽ VORSKLA GOAL, 4-1
Lichtsteiner can’t get the ball out of his feet when defending a free kick. The Vorskla striker nips the ball off him and strikes the ball past Leno. And the wait for a clean sheet continues….
80′ – SMITH ROWE’S QUICK FEET
The teenager skips past Volksla’s defenders effortlessly to set up Welbeck on goal. The ball is just a little too heavy for the striker to latch on to but it’s good to see Smith Rowe expressing himself creatively.
90 +2′ – ⚽ VORSKLA GOAL
Arsenal let their guard down with the final kick of the game by letting Volskla find their way into the box. A brilliant strike by Volskla but poor defending by Arsenal.
FULL-TIME: ARSENAL 4 – 1 VORSKLA
Arsenal upped the ante in the second half to roar to a 4 goal lead courtesy of goals from Aubameyang, Welbeck and Ozil. Frustratingly, Arsenal could not keep a clean sheet as they conceded consolation goals in the 76th minute and injury time.
I was totally expecting us to not keep a clean sheet before the match kicked off but to concede 2 is just irritating given how useless the oppo were
They scored good goals to be fair, plus we were coasting a bit at that point
The player on the wing was clearly offside for their 2nd goal
Yeah we could have defended better on both occasions. I hope Emery drills this into the team and we improve on our defensive focus as the season progresses.
I’m hoping for a better defensive performance. The attackers too must be consistent in scoring.
Not too shabby
2 shots 2 goals; Cech need not fret, Leno’s performance was very underwhelming. Cech would have saved both goals
To be fair, both strikes were excellent. It was our team’s defending which was a let down as we gave them the chance to make those shots.
It looked to me that Dino Zoff would not have saved either.
Pat Jennings yes, Dino Zoff no.
Jury def out on Leno … needs a a few more games at higher level like the Milk Cup.
Cech still in front.
*Pat J would have saved. Sorry God.
Typical goals for Arsenal to concede. The jury still out on Leno. Cech would have stop one of those shots at least. My take.
Nobody could have saved that first one! Neither were Leno’s fault, and it was a breath of fresh air seeing somebody capable with the ball at his feet in our net. I’d play him over Cech every game.
Quite frankly, both viewpoints are bonkers. Leno had no chance on either of the goals, but aside from those two shots he had nothing to do, and was under no pressure any time he had to do anything. There’s nothing in this performance that indicates whether he’d be a better option than Cech or not.
100% Crash. Opinions being aired purely for the sake of it.
The Europa league group stages are frankly rubbish. Keep using them to give players valuable minutes. Biggest plus was Auba among the goals as he needed a confidence boost.
To quote Blogs’ brilliant opening lines this morning: “There’s nothing quite like the glamour of European football. And Arsenal v FC Vorskla is, genuinely, nothing like the glamour of European football.”
Nail on the head.
Man, we’re cruising 4-0 at home, completely in control. Can these fucking guys just show a little character and mental toughness and see the clean sheet out in a calm manner? Totally soured the win for me. It’s completely ridiculous that we have to let every single team we play score on us. Show some backbone and class and keep the ball out of your own net, FFS.
Unrelated, Laca’s body language on the bench was hilarious. He wanted everybody to know how irritated he was obviously.
must be american
really hard to make a judgement on leno given both of the goals were pretty tough to stop (maybe could have gotten the 2nd but not sure cech would have either). really like torreria – need to start him but not sure at who’s expense
Looked to me like both goals could have been saved by Leno. It looks like he doesn’t have good leaping ability. He seemed like gravity was overwhelming him. I believe Cech would have saved both shots. Certainly, Szczesny would have. MSAGA “Make Szczesny an Arsenal Goalie Again.” I wonder if all that could fit on a hat. At least the MSAGA should.
I hate to be that guy but Wojtek did save a pen yesterday.
I like Cech but do not think you can blame Leno for either goal.
Iwobi looked a different animal today! Definitely deserved a goal!?!
Guendouzi is the real find this transfer window. In a year, looks like he would be a main stray in the midfield.
***BREAKING NEWS***
Defensive error leads to opposition goal. Riveting stuff
French commentary on the goal clips make everything better
Those goals conceded are annoying because i though Sokratis and the Licht had exceptional games up to that point. I think Torreira s ability to stop attacks at source and actually contend for the ball in the middle is going to be priceless. Pleased for Iwobi who had a very effective game.. Still not too impressed with Mhki. Has alot of talent but like Ramsey( who gets alot of criticism ) he spends alot of time trying stuff that does not come off ang giving the ball away too easily..But then delivers a great ball for Welbz. Frustrating watching us… Read more »
How odd that our “defensively focused” Head Coach, who spent the entire summer working on the defence, and focusing on the defending, is yet to oversee a single clean sheet. ????
Good God–we win easily. It’s 4-0 at 75 minutes, and 4-1 in injury time, and all anyone can talk about is the meaningless goals we conceded. I wish we hadn’t, but so what? When it was France 4-Croatia 2, why was no one in the entire country of France complaining about the goals conceded?
Because Croatia were a decent team and France won the World Cup. We’re playing against a team that nobody in this country’s heard of in the Europa League and we haven’t kept a clean sheet this season
The exact result we would have had with Arsene last season. Not saying we’re not making progress at the back, but it’s been torpid so far.
It’s been poor defensively so far no doubt….but we (as well as being poor defensively) were really bloody boring going forward too in Arsene’s last two seasons too which a lot of people have forgotten. We have decinitely been better to watch so far in attack (particularly away) so there has been improvement…just not maybe where most expected the most immediate improvements.
What’s with the miki hate? He was key in the first 3 goals, what more do you want
Because even though the team had a win, there are some who cant focus on the psoitives and only want to find negatives.
What’s with the ‘What’s with the miki hate?’ ?
Not one comment above you that’s even close to ‘hate’.
Side show bob, again, failing to close down for 2nd goal, enough.
God job done. But our defenders must be very careful. We can’t continue conceding in every game.
I don’t mean to sound nasty, but these kind of “reports” are unreadable. I’m not suggesting I could do much better, but isn’t there a call for full prose reporting?
We used to do that, we changed this season to see how people responded and they’ve been very popular.
Personally, I feel like this is probably better for the people who didn’t see the match to get a minute-by-minute feel of what happened as if they were reading a live blog or something. If I watch the game, however, I find myself skipping most of it to see the comments instead, as I’d rather read something a little more fluid than just the bullet points. Just my two cents.
Cheers for the response, blogs, completely understand.
Sorry to say that I’ll have to take my traffic elsewhere, but wish you luck with this! 🙂
Observation on Miki. He’s a very influential attacking player, more influential than Ozil. He has an infectious personality on the ball (great! We’re using Emery buzz words now eh. Una-isms? Emerisms?) the way he moves with the ball, his dribbling style, how he whips his shots, long balls and crosses with pace and precision etc. When he’s in the mood, the entire attack churns and functions like a unit, when he’s not, it’s so obvious cos he’s such a noticeable player. He really made impact at important points of the match last night, all he needs is consistency and we… Read more »
its the guendozi curse.
without him – 3:0
with him – 1:2