Result: Wolves 2-1 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 2 February 2020
Venue: Molineux Stadium
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Luiz, Cedric, Partey, Xhaka, Smith Rowe, Pepe, Martinelli, Lacazette
Subs: Runarsson, Gabriel, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Willock, Odegaard, Willian, Nketiah
David Luiz and Bernd Leno were both sent off as Wolves came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 at Molineux.
The Gunners took a deserved lead through Nicolas Pepe’s fine curled strike but what should have been a routine victory against a side thin on confidence quickly turned into a disaster.
First Luiz conceded a penalty on the stroke of half time after clipping the ankles of Willian Jose. To compound his misery he received a red card and Neves levelled from the spot.
The home side completed the turnaround on 48 minutes when Joao Moutinho hammered home from long range and any hopes of rescuing something from the game disappeared when Leno was sent for an early bath for handling outside his box.
Pre-game
Mikel Arteta made one change from the side that drew 0-0 with Manchester United at the weekend. Bukayo Saka came in for Gabriel Martinelli and took up his recent favoured position on the right side of the attack. Pepe switched to the left with Lacazette continuing to lead the line. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was a welcome sight on the bench after a short spell in quarantine.
First Half
Like at Southampton a week ago, the Gunners had a fine chance to open the scoring inside the opening minute. Partey played a fine long ball over the Wolves defence and Saka, darting behind his man, collected with his thigh before unleashing a rising shot that hit the post. The England international had a second opportunity three minutes later, this time testing Rui Patricio at his near post after decent work down the left by Cedric.
When a third opportunity fell his way on 9 minutes, he found the back of the net with a fine right-foot finish from the edge of the box. Unfortunately, Lacazette who’d teed him up, had strayed fractionally offside in the build-up and, after a VAR review, the goal was disallowed.
Kilman’s header over the bar saw Wolves threaten from a corner on 11 minutes, but that aside, it was an incredibly one-sided affair. At the 20 minute mark, we’d had 71% possession.
In the pouring rain, Semedo forced Leno to parry before Holding mopped up, before we again cranked up the pressure. Brilliant Arsenal play down the left saw Smith Rowe lay off to Pepe who crashed a shot goalwards that Patricio finger-tipped onto the bar. The shot was so fierce, the ball went out for a throw-in on the other side of the pitch.
On 32 minutes, our pressure finally paid dividends. Pepe won the ball in the Wolves half, played a one-two with Lacazette and then went toe-to-toe with Semedo. He left the former Barcelona man on his arse, flicked the ball, somewhat luckily through Neves’ legs and suddenly found himself with room to shoot. The Ivorian didn’t hesitate, curling a fine effort with his weaker right foot past Patricio. (1-0)
There were chances to double the lead. A lightning break after Leno claimed a Wolves corner ended with Pepe getting the ball stuck under his feet just as he was looking to shoot. Moments later, nobody gambled on a Smith Rowe cross that was rolled across the six-yard box.
Deep into two minutes of stoppage time. Disaster. A simple ball split our defence releasing Wolves new boy Willian Jose to charge at goal. Behind him David Luiz seemed to stumble and when he clipped his compatriot’s ankles referee Craig Pawson was only ever going to point to the spot. He was quick to flash a red card as well, which seemed harsh given our centre-back didn’t seem in control of his body. VAR stuck by the man in black and Luiz trudged off disconsolate. To rub salt in our wounds, Neves casually stuck the ball in the top corner. It was the last kick of the half. (1-1)
Second Half
Gabriel was sent on to partner Rob Holding as Mikel Arteta sacrificed Alex Lacazette to reinforce the defence. Unsurprisingly, Wolves came racing out of the traps and not long after they took the lead.
There didn’t look to be much on when Moutinho picked up the ball 35-yards out but under little pressure, he let fly with a right-foot effort that flew past Leno and found the net off the inside of the post. It was an infuriatingly good finish. Suddenly we had a mountain to climb. (2-1)
A desperate challenge by Gabriel denied Neto a clear shot at goal as the home side looked to extend their advantage. Our main tactic was to try and hit back on the break. We looked a bit ragged when we lost the ball but going forward there was enough to give you the hope of an equaliser. All the more so when Aubameyang was sent on for Pepe.
Wolves did their best to make things niggly for 10 minutes or so before we shot ourselves in the foot again in truly bizarre fashion. Racing out of his box to mop up a long ball, Leno misjudged the bounce off the wet turf, realised he was in trouble and used his arms to punch the ball out of play. The Wolves players appealed straight away and Pawson went to his pocket. Another red card. Leno didn’t complain too much.
Arteta looked like someone had taken a cricket bat to his head. He couldn’t quite believe his eyes. With our final substitution of the night, he took off Partey and sent on Runarsson for his Premier League debut. To be fair to the Iceland international he made a couple of smart saves almost immediately.
The final 12 minutes were all about damage control. We sat deep in two banks of four to soak up pressure, however, rather than go for the jugular, Wolves slowed the game to a walking pace. They were happy with their lead and didn’t want to take any risks.
Aubameyang did have a half-chance to grab an unlikely leveller in the final minute but his shot on the turn was blocked at close-quarters by Boly.
After a very decent 46 minutes, arguably one of our slickest attacking performances of the season, the way we self-destructed was almost comical. We can only hope the players are able to compartmentalise the disappointment and move on quickly.
Dear David Luiz: You’ve let the whole club down. Really.
didn’t tho did he
He wasn’t horribly out of position then sprinting back to make up for it? Odd
So what if he was out of position, still not a red, you can’t say that because he is out of position he deserves a red.
Getting caught out and then clumsily positioning himself to clip the player and getting himself sent off in the process. A justifiable red and giving away yet another penalty. I think it fair to say yes – he has let the club down. I don’t like it, but it was a red card offence by the letter of the law. People can bitch about the ref as much as they like, but if Luiz hadn’t been so naively out of position we go in at halftime 1-0 up or at worst 1-1 with eleven players on the pitch. He’s passed… Read more »
He does that running across the back of the attacker thing all the time. He’s asking for trouble. Just let the bloke have a shot – there was still the 2nd half to go and we were well on top apart from 10 seconds at the end of the half.
Even with 10, then 9, men, Wolves created barely anything and scored from a wonder goal.
What Leno was doing, I’m not sure. Maybe he caught a case of the shit-for-brains from Luiz.
Have you watched it back though? He didn’t run across him at all, just chased after him. I know the sly ones you mean, where the defender tries to make a coming together look accidental. This wasn’t that. Yeah, maybe he was out of position, but he was at least disciplined enough not to compound that error by making a challenge when he had no chance of getting the ball, yet he still got sent off anyway. What is VAR even for if not this?
Exactly. What happened to the double jeopardy rule whereby if it’s a pen it isn’t a red unless serious foul play?
Yes he obviously did, another individual lapse that cost us three points
Look closely. The only contact is the wolves player’s backlift catching David Luiz’s knee. How is that even a foul?
Again.
I hope Arteta realizes we aren’t doing ourselves any favor by extending Luiz’s contract. He is way past his prime.He shouldn’t be playing .
Look his previous red cards are shambles and shite but this one was just shit refereeing. Their player literally kicked out at him while running, David Luiz trips, doesn’t make contact, and gets sent off?!!? Theres a case to be made that that wasn’t even a penalty for Christ’s sake – but that aside, how is that ever a sending off? VAR checked it for exactly 5 seconds?? Fucking ridiculous
Ref went by the book. unfortunately for us, they don’t decide by emotion. If he goes by the book, its a red card.
Running alongside someone is now a red card offense. Ok. Just shows how brainless the Premier League referees are. Didn’t attempt to play the ball because he didn’t do anything. It’s not like he wiped the man out with no chance of getting the ball.
He is an experienced defender. He should have known better to avoid the touch.
How
Looks like Luiz didn’t know it either.. Guess what? it cost us the game.
It was clearly accidental. Running at full speed, there’s no way he would have been able to intentionally use his knee (of all places) to clip Willian Jose on the tip of his toe.
He wasn’t exactly alongside. He clipped when Luiz changed direction to cross behind. It was shown in half-time analysis
No one is saying it was deliberate. Just that he shouldn’t have been in the position to accidentally knock him in the first place. They weren’t running side by side. He’s come in from behind. What was the point of that? Was never going to get the ball or get a tackle in.
As an experienced player he should know better. Harsh decision certainly- but wrong. I don’t think so.
It’s crap what happened, that a touch like that could alter the course of the game when maybe Luiz didn’t intend to do it. According to the FA rules It’s a red card offence to deny a player a goalscoring opportunity by “carelessly/ recklessly, tripping them”. The referee’s job is to apply the rules. I think he’s well within the rules to say Luiz was careless and Wolves player would have had a shot on goal if Luiz hadn’t come into contact with him. The onus is on Luiz to be careful and although it’s extremely difficult to be, he… Read more »
The only contact was the Wolves player’s back-lift contacting Luiz’s knee – absolutely NOT Luiz contacting the striker. A penalty is extremely harsh, the sending off totally ridiculous. This will be appealed, and overturned, but we won’t get this result back. Travesty.
Alongside? He was behind him and had very small chance to do anything with the ball
That’s nonsense. He did not go by the book. Have a look at this tweet from @adrianjclarke showing Luiz was just running and the Wolves player lifts his foot up, feels contact with Luiz’s knee, and goes over.
https://twitter.com/adrianjclarke/status/1356683521620926471?s=20
If that’s a red card, then so is pulling an attacker’s shirt in the box as they try to head the ball goalwards, which would mean 6 penalties a game.
Luiz has pulled shirts in the box and been sent off. Against Liverpool.
Well if that’s the law, the law is an ass -and the ref, I might add, is a cunt…
Now all strikers have to do is extend their back leg and try to get clipped by defender. Penalty and a red card for defender. Sets an horrible precedence.
Vardy and Kane are masters of the art and they win penalties all the time. No point discussing its a penalty or not once it’s given. Not getting yourselves into that sort of situation is something that the defender should think of.
The point in discussing it is in reference to the post saying Luiz let the team down in this instance. He has before, but he didn’t tonight. The ref let Luiz’s current reputation make the decision.
Vardy made a career of this
Wrong, he was inadvertently tripped when Luiz was caught sprinting back from being horribly out of position.
It’s a foul, it’s a goal scoring opportunity. Take off those rose tinted lenses and be real.
This is almost word for word what I was going to write. Perfect explanation, hands down.
Why didn’t they check the Saka penalty claim too? Red for Luiz was a terrible call and ruined a great game. Check out the Man U Southampton game to see a real red card.
You clearly don’t understand the rules because if it’s a penalty it is a red card.
And it was both. But that’s arguably, I suppose, debatable. The fact that it’s either a penalty and a red card, or neither, is not.
Reading that made my head hurt.
It’s ‘laws’ of the game – not ‘rules’.
Most ridiculous red card I’ve seen all season. Got a red because he didn’t play the ball? He didn’t do anything. Willian Jose’s foot connected with Luiz’s knee when running full pelt towards our goal and this is malicious how????
We fell asleep. Literally the last seconds–actually, beyond the two minutes–and Wolves easily waltz straight down the middle past everybody. Arteta should be furious with every defender and midfielder. Wolves would have dragged someone down and taken a yellow. Us? We hit the snooze button.
Luiz went too far forward– no need to do that with seconds to go in the half. If he maintains his position, they don’t get a break in at all and we go in at halftime up 1-0 with all 11 players still on the pitch.
Apparently he should have booted him up in the air and probably would have got a yellow. Laughable!
Walton wants go to to bed.
This is what fucked me off. At half time they were saying he should have kicked out as he would have been deemed trying to get the ball.
I bet you if next time, Luiz kicks out in that situation he gets a straight red. Bullshit.
Intent isn’t a factor? Bullshit – it’s taken into account all the time.
Difference then is 3 game ban instead of 1
He was soooooo slow to track back on the player…
For real though, the “VAR is ruining the game” thing is getting tired, video reviewing in sports is inevitable given growing technology, but jesus christ they are so inconsistent in the prem?! It’s ridiculous, if you’re going to review something, do it properly! Surely a red card + penalty warrants more than a few seconds of reviewing? And how about some transparency with regards to referees decisions? If we could at least hear their reasoning/conversations with one another there would be some clarity. But nope. The same amount of contact on one end is a goal kick (saka a few… Read more »
Oh come on he’s clumsy but that’s never a red and not a penalty either. He’s kicking Luiz on the knee and falls as soon as he feel the touch.
On the other hand it’s not surprising that it is Luiz it’s happening to…
I never want to see Luiz in an Arsenal shirt again. This game was there for us to win. Not that sure Luiz touched the Wolves guy who looked like he’d tripped over his own boot but he’s slow and he’s got previous and refs are quick to judge. I know this sounds weird but I didn’t want Luiz to play because of the damage he did in his clash of heads with Ximenez. It was bad karma and that game felt cursed. Having said that Luiz is an idiot and why didn’t Gabriel start ahead of him? And as… Read more »
Not really… it’s the coach who picks him has let the whole club down. 27 million man warming the bench up ???
Arteta picked the guy who was Man Of The Match in our last game. What on earth was he thinking!
Calling out ex Chelsea players in the squad to score brownie points is absolutely lame. He’s hardly at fault for the red card, ref and VAR are just fraudulent. Nothing more.
Mr Trump, there you are!
Think back to the Man Utd game. Fernandes rakes his studs down the back of Xhaka’s leg (was that an attempt to play the ball, seriously?) and that’s not a red or a yellow. But this accidental foot to knee contact is worthy of red? Absolute idiocy.
That Fernandes challenge should definitely have been a red. Doesn’t mean the Luiz one wasn’t though.
If you looked at that Luiz incident tonight and thought that was a red card, then no one should take your football opinions seriously. Seriously.
I am absolutely fuming because that twat, Craig Pawson, and his partner at the VAR post just cost us a game with their gross incompetence and idiocy. Don’t add to my anger.
Did he though? Don’t you need to foul a player in order to commit a foul?
Shocking decision by the ref, simply ludicrous from VAR
Only positive from this, is Gabriel will probably win his place back and that could be the end of Luiz being a regular
David Luiz should be played in the midfield, he too clumsy for a defender considering the number of penalties and red cards he costs the team…
I get the penalty, but Jose’s boot kicked Luiz. It did stop a goalscoring chance, but not an attempt from David to stop him.
VAR were quick to stop Saka’s goal, but did nothing to stop this injustice.
I really hope it doesn’t dent confidence.
):
Total fiasco. The less said the better…
Villa away on Saturday. Emi starts. Oh wait..
Let’s not go through this again, esp today
Emi can fuck off too
No, the idiots who are wanking to his name can fuck off. They are no fans of this club.
Are we not allowed to appreciate the talents of a keeper who played a big part in us winning the fa cup last season.
personally i think leno has done fine this season but he does have the odd clanger in him.
martinez is a better all round keeper. if you cant handle other peoples opinions a football forum probably isnt for you.
….says the man who repeatedly can’t handle other people’s opinions.
6 Red Cards since 19/20 season. Then there are talks of Luiz being given a contract extension! FFS
1 disallowed goal
2 against the woodwork
1 debatable penalty
all this in 30 mins.
We have lost becuase of one mistake by a clown racing to make challenge when he knew he couldn’t.
On the brighter side, counted 20 + stepovers against Man U from Pepe.
Is Pepe worth 70 mil? As long as he puts in a shift as today. For sure.
We came out looking stupid in that game because
– Luiz, obviously
– We let our competition gain form and confidence from dumps, at our expense
– Leno, what was he thinking
– Lacazette didn’t look across the line although he can see the whole line
– Arteta going for experience and erratic over young and keen
Luiz is not going to learn. Hope Arteta does.
We need to get our confidence and sense back.
Don’t what Pepe did to upset you man.
Wolves had their moments in the first half, but Arsenal were playing some good stuff, were unlucky, wasteful too. But overall I felt comfortable.
This one hurts
Pepe was awesome.
Arteta’s subs made no sense to me. I would have just dropped Xhaka back in the D and not changed anything. If anything, Gabriel for ESR.
The subs were all wrong
In the end, he saved Pepe and Partey for the Villa game. Odegaard will come in for ESR.
Fuck that ref.
For following the rules of the game?
Fuck him and the twat that was on VAR duties. They are both wanksters.
wanksters looooool
Do Schalke want to buy David Luiz?
For free, or we can crowdfund the fee for them.
Let’s just go to bed and then maybe when we get up in the morning, this would all have been just a bad dream.
That way we’d all wake up in 2019
Nope. Didn’t happen. Disliking my own comment for false hope.
This is peak arsenal lmao
The absolute state of the commentary on BT Sport, spending a whole half of football praising how amazing Wolves were playing against a 10 man (and then 9 man) Arsenal. Of course Traore was full of confidence, they’ve literally got a 2 man advantage. Fact of the matter is we would’ve won this game by at least 2-0 had Luiz not been sent off
No doubt that we would have won this. Not knocking the quality of wolves, they are a good side, but we were head and shoulders above them tonight.
Until that cunt ref decided to prove what a cunt he is. Mike Dean’s heir.
Fully agree we’d easily win if it wasn’t for that red card, whether it was naive from Luiz or crap refereeing doesn’t really matter I suppose. And to be fair it took a wonder goal to win it.
Martin Keown makes a judgement about the whole game up to that point based on the previous 10 seconds of play.
Would’ve..
Could’ve..
Should’ve..
Fact is we lost the game, because our MOST EXPERIENCED player had a brain fart.
First of all, he was caught off position and ball watching.
Secondly, he found himself in a position to entice the referee into making a decision (poor judgement).
We just got rid of Mustafi, for exactly these sort of brain fart moments, and how we celebrated that.
We’ll build nothing concrete by replying on such error prone players – 6 red cards in a period spanning no more than 2 years?? He should know better!
Experience my a*se.
We were good first half.
Luiz should not be offered a new deal, he needs to be part of the clear out. Good one day, clumsy red card the next. Give Saliba a chance.
He definitely should not be starting if Gabriel or Chambers is fit. Its possible Gabriel makes mistakes, but its better he makes mistakes this season and corrects them. We cant just buy players and hide them. This season is a total write off, lets just use it get the team and the system we want to play going forward.
I don’t think it’s a right off. The season is only half way done and we aren’t that far off the teams above us. We started this game very well and we’re looking good. There will be many twists and we just need to be consistent, teams around us will drop points too.
True, but this was 3 points thrown in the bin
I remember Koscielny having an absolutely terrible first 1.5 seasons. Look how that turned out.
My point is, giving Gabriel or Saliba a chance to learn and settle in, even if they make mistakes, is probably the best plan long-term. Didn’t really make that clear.
My birthday today. Not a good present after racing my hopes with a great first half until a crap VAR decision (Mike Dean surely…). Could have gone above Sp*rs and now have to do without Leno…
Happy birthday! Sorry about the result though.
Happy Birthday anyway, we will recover from this…
John Moss, but that cunt couldn’t make a right call we’re his life at stake
Were*… And happy birthday buddy!
Happy Birthday mate. Wishing you a great year ahead.
Happy birthday bruv.
Happy Birthday Buddy… Wishing you a prosperous new year in Jesus Name
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Can’t really make a case for being angry at David Luiz. I mean I am – him being David Luiz doesn’t help – but I’m doing my best talking myself out of it because he’s really, really unlucky there.
What I don’t understand is why our players don’t go absolutely f*cking ballistic and don’t circle the ref. Don’t give him time to listen to VAR. Create doubt. Make him go to the monitor.
Same thing with Xhaka not milking Fernandes’ foul on him at all. Imagine being it the other way around: Xhaka is likely off there. Maybe this is the way Arteta acts them to act. On one hand, I love it, it’s classy and it’d be great if that’d be a standard. On the other hand, if we’re the only upholding such behaviour, we only get bullied.
100%.
Absolutely. In fact, Luiz not arguing made me doubt the ref had got it wrong. He should have been shouting at him ‘I didnt touch him’ ‘check VAR’ but his body language was ‘shit, I fucked up’.
Weak reaction from him and so frustrating.
Oh wait, you’re right, that makes me angry at David Luiz!
He knows he barely touched him (or actually, the opponent touches him), but maybe he’s like ‘but then again I’m David Luiz, so what do I know’ and simply gives up.
I think his reputation played a huge part in the red. Which is wrong on so many levels.
Pain FC
In the Villa game that defender literally saves a goal with his hand and gets away with it. Leno handballs it outside his area and it’s a straight red.
Crooked.
The level of PL refereeing is shocking – in particular how wildly inconsistent they are. Luiz accidentally touches a player who is in the box – red card. Kane jumps two footed studs up into another player – no card b/c he’s England’s captain and not that type of player.
should have bounced it off his thigh first, apparently that makes it ok
That’s the rule though, goalkeepers can’t handle the ball outside the box. Truth be told, can’t complain about that. But the referee was shite all night, and the decision to send off Luiz after spending about 3 seconds reviewing it makes absolutely no sense.
Leno stopped a goal scoring opportunity
that was hardly a clear goalscoring opportunity
Researching it, that ball was moving at speed – not definite that he would have got to that at all for me. Let alone then be able to score.
Leno’s goal was a justified red. I doubt Luiz’s was even a penalty
Handball* not goal
Does Leno get 1 or 3 games? Does Luiz get 1? Can Luiz serve Leno’s suspension if he gets three please?
What a performance from the team tonight….
I have never felt so confidence in an away match like tonight but d ref makes a whole lot of effort to ruin a beautiful nite of victory…
We move… COYG
No one to blame
Never going to win a game with 9 men. Very disappointing we couldn’t put away some of the earlier chances which allowed them back in with very questionable red card. That said even though the table is so tight & there’s a lot of games to go – really increasingly seems like Europa League is going to be our best shot at the CL which is really where we need to get to. The positive thing about this year will be the development of some of the younger players – in particular ESR. The big concern really is still some… Read more »
Luiz yes. But, what did Xhaka do wrong?
Told the fans to fuck off?
He’s blown hot and cold for years. He’s just not good enough for a team with top 4 ambitions
A new level or Arsenal-ing
Well if you’re going to fubar a situation you might as well do it spectacularly.
Thrown away some games this season. Not the first time we’ve looked in control and then had a sending off throwing away the points.
One of the best 1st half performances I’ve been for year’s. Then the Luiz incident..i still can’t see it’s a penalty. I just can’t see that he touched him
Absolute shame as we were playing some brilliant stuff.
leno had a brain fart, simple as that.
Onwards. I’m going with the 1at half and so much good to build on.
https://twitter.com/adrianjclarke/status/1356683521620926471?s=20
the tweet above shows the “contact”. If that’s deliberate then god help football.
From the book: Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offending player is cautioned unless: • The offence is holding, pulling or pushing or • The offending player does not attempt to play the ball or there is no possibility for the player making the challenge to play the ball or • The offence is one which is punishable by a red card wherever it occurs on the field of play (e.g. serious foul play, violent conduct… Read more »
One offence: carelessly tripping someone up. The intent is irrelevant however sympathetic one might be to Luiz.
Correct. Sadly that particular rule is meant for shirt pulling, intentional cheeky fouls however this incident will fall under that.
Like when Luis got sent off vs liverpool tugging Salah back if I am not mistaken. That’s blatant and a fair sending off.
However in this case the wolves player was pegging his leg back to shoot and felt the slightest of contact on his boot and went over. A harsh pen and a ridiculous red. That’s barely a foul outside the box.
I would blame Luis for straying out of the backline needlessly and allowing that situation to develop.
What’s the hang up on whether it’s deliberate or not? It has no bearing on it at all. He got into a shit position behind the opposing player and contact was made. Player goes over. Penalty. Luiz totally to blame. Accidental or not.
No one is really arguing about the pen. It’s the red card.
It’s because it’s a grey area. If it was intentional then red. If it was a freak accident then it shouldn’t warrant the same double layer punishment?
Because the rules don’t help here. If it’s a deliberate attempt at wining the ball, it’s just a caution. If it’s anything else then it’s a red. However that’s aimed at blatant pulling or blatant trips (professional fouls).
We always shoot ourselves in the foot. Could all have been avoided if a 35 yr old slow David Luiz wasn’t allowed to play 2 games in 4 days and he had played Gabriel instead. Sad really to lose a game we started so well.
Poor positioning from the entire defense. Last seconds of the half. DON’T LET THEM DRIBBLE STRAIGHT UP THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK. Our guys were thinking about the halftime talk. Okay, extremely soft red card. I didn’t even see the contact. I thought they weren’t going to award a PK and show a red on the same play, especially such a doubtful one. But we did this to ourselves. Wolves played 48 minutes before the break, we played 46. Professionals. OK.
Maybe this just had to happen for a good reason
I’ve often been quick to have a go at Luiz but I feel for him here…he was running to cover and the guys leg coming back hit his knee….I mean it was an utter fluke, he didn’t do anything more rash than get caught up field and try to get back.
I’m fuming with Leno, that was actually mental (and I love Leno). What a god awful mess of a game.
The clock was 46:50 seconds, less than 10 seconds to HT. I told myself let’s go grab something to eat since it’s pretty much it, it’s HT that’s it. I turned my head around, took few steps, then I heard the commotion. Seconds. That’s how long it took for one brain fart to undo 11 man’s great work for 45 seconds. If we are serious about moving forward, we definitely cannot have brain farter’s, especially in a leadership role, especially in defence. I really thought we have cleared out our back line brain farters but looks like we forgot one… Read more »
Minutes* not seconds
Just think, literally doing anything else in those few seconds would’ve taken us to half time. If Leno plays out from the back, or if he kicks the ball to the right hand side of the pitch. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though
And ten men’s great work, not eleven.
Honestly, I’m not even going to spend time thinking about Luiz, 5-second VAR “decisions”, or Leno forgetting the difference between an arm and a leg. Everything went comically wrong, let’s just flush it and move on.
On the other side, huge credit to the 8 outfield players who stayed on – they worked their tails off and even created a decent chance or two.
I’m with you, let’s look ahead to the next game. Sometimes in football the ball just doesn’t go in.
They took a whole 2 minutes to check if Laca was a tad bit off side and 5-second for a penalty? The whole referee team is shite.
VAR is shite. it’s just incompetent, football is better off without VAR.
VAR is shite? It’s just a tool, how is it shite?
It’s being used by morons, that’s the problem…
VAR takes away all of their excuses but then they’re allowed to invent a new one (clear and obvious) to spare their incompetence…
They really gave it a go. I’m proud of them for that.
Even though Cedric had a bad game today against Traore and in terms of his passing. At least none of the goals came from his side of the pitch
You’re right. I’ve been sitting here posting angry for the last half hour, surely picking up loads of down votes. Credit to the 8 boys who kept going. Runnarson was alright too.
On to the next game where hopefully the team can give us something positive to post about!
Luiz unlucky there for me – Leno god knows – but the arsenal player who once again makes my blood boil mostly is Martin Keown – the man is so full of it it is unreal
I want Arteta to be right out and say it “That was Luiz’s last game for the club, he’ll never play for my side again”. Obviously it’ll never happen but that’s how livid I feel at his haplessness!
MA is very patient with these over seasoned players from chelsea. I wonder what Saliba is thinking
Stupid individual error from Leno, can see that he tried to kick it, fd up and just had an automatic hand movement brain fart as he panicked trying to deal with it. He is forgiven, he has saved us many points before, he will be missed. David Luiz – it looked like such a light touch and I don’t know how p’d off to be with him. If you’re in that situation, you have to be careful and so many times he has shown poor judgement in those scenarios. It’s clear despite his occasionally brilliant performances that he’s a liability… Read more »
This feels like a robbery. Don’t understand how that was a penalty and a red. 2nd half was lost already before it was kicked off. Don’t really blame Luiz, but the ref. Saka and Pepe was great. 1st half was joyful.
Goodness me. This is probably the fourth time Luiz has found himself in a situation. Sending off followed by a penalty.
I think it was quite soft but of course the match commentators and pundits are gaslighting Arsenal supporters that it was a clear penalty.
I’d rather lose 3-1 than Leno handle the ball for a sending off. Very big blow
Next we face the team that landed us our heaviest defeat in the league this season. Good luck boys and put this travesty of a match behind you.
Let’s just forget this ever happened.
But no new contract for David Luiz.
Any doubt i had about the referees being biased and have a different set of rules for Arsenal is now well and truly gone. I was hoping that VAR would be a benefit for us but I forgot that it’s manned by the same twats that referees the games.
It’s a fucking disgrace and I hope Arsenal takes a stand now because this can’t go on. Arsenal needs to adress this and question the competence of the English referees. If you have the best players you should have the best refs and the English ones are rubbish beyond comparison.
Let me remind you that David Luiz is playing at EPL
Ladies and gentlemen:
Normal service has been resumed
Always our shit manager, only him can make a sub like that. He would have substituted ESR, by removing Laca the team lost a reference forward.
It’s something without any sense, with 4-2-3-1 all the managers leave the striker in the pitch and take off the creative midfielder
We need to stop taking the piss and trying to beat teams with 9 men… 🙂 Both reds were harsh but Luiz (albeit accidently) clipped him and Leno prevented a clear opportunity by using his paw outside the box. I hate to say it but the Ref made the right call. Crazy because we could have been up 3-0. Saka was playing terrific. Now we have to deal with no Leno for 3 games – scary prospect unless our Aussie friend Mat Ryan recovers quickly? 9 red cards since Arteta took over- next nearest team is on 3 – we… Read more »
It’s only going to be a single game ban for denying a goal scoring opportunity
This stat to me is shocking: 9 red cards since Arteta took over- next nearest team is on 3 .
Luiz was hapless. I mean, wtf dude. Harsh, maybe. Unfair, no. If one of their portugese thugs did that to Saka in their box, we’d be screaming penalty all day long.
Good players don’t put themselves in these situation. Luiz is a disaster.
And this calamity happened just after Mustafi left!
Was it some kind of homage to him?? 🙂
Blogs it’s evident you don’t like Luiz but you cannot say he “clipped ” the heels of another player when he evidently did not! The wolves player’s heel kicked Luiz’s knee and he went down like he was shot!
Frankly, I blame Mike Dean.
For as long as you have a snidey little weasel like him in a senior position in the refereeing federation, some refs will feel obligated to act like billy big twats.
I bizarre night.
We were totally in control of that game for the first half hour and and then were robbed by that ridiculous decision just before half-time. David Luis did absolutely nothing wrong: he was clipped by the Wolves forward. Fuck what BT Sport says THAT WAS NOT A FOUL! NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!!
Then Leno has his moment of madness and we’re stuffed. Great winning goal, you have to say.
I just hope that Ryan is fit for Villa or we could be in real trouble.
Football is crazy, isn’t it?
The prescribed two minutes stoppage time had elapsed and Leno’s goal kick cleared halfway before the Wolves move that lead to the penalty and the red card ….
Aaaaa that explains why our well paid CB that takes Gabriel’s and Saliba’s minutes, was roaming in the middle of the park !
This is an absolutely disingenuous comment to make. You either offer an explanation or save us your opinionated dislike for the manager.
Yep. and the ref actually looked at his watch at exactly 46m58s but decided to let Wolves attacking move play out. Fucking crooked and blatant as they come.
First half great, should have been 2-0 up. Then the Luiz incident. If that is a red I don’t understand the rules. This is actually the first time ever that I don’t blame us for losing. That decision killed the game that was ours.
If the red was correct, can someone explain how?
The problem to me isn’t the red card but the fact that it wasn’t a foul as Willian Jose dives. But if the ref gives the foul the red card is automatic because it is a clear chance on goal
Clear chance on goal by itself isn’t a red these days, as I understand it. It must be clearly intentional. And surely the luiz challenge was accidental.
If you foul without trying to play the ball it’s a red, if it’s an attempt to play the ball then yellow. I don’t think it was a penalty but if it is given as such then it has to be red.😔
David Luiz is a fucking liability. How on earth is he a leader? I never want to see him in an Arsenal shirt again, he’s always a disaster waiting to happen, two good games to lull everyone into a false sense of security and then another red card for being a clumsy brain fart. As soon as everyone starts saying how fantastic Leno is and how we sold the right keeper and how Leno is going to be world class for years he goes and does that. What an idiot. There’s no way a manager can be held responsible for… Read more »
Yes, Luiz has been a liability before but in all fairness today he did not deserve a red card.
He’s a clumsy liability with a reputation, he shouldn’t get into those situations but he does all the time. Everyone knows refs hate Arsenal, he should know better than to give them anything to penalise. He’s supposed to be an experienced senior player.
Haven’t we kept quite a lot of clean sheets lately with Luiz in defence?
Well said. Luiz isn’t my favourite player by any stretch, but that was never a penalty or a red.
Luiz wasnt at fault what so ever, the luiz bashing by people who dont watch match or even replay is funny
Perfect assessment of the game We were still the better team with 10 men and Leno goes and does that.What a fuck-wit.
I thought we played really well. We probably should have been 3 nil up in the first half. The Luiz incident had me raging, I’m not even sure it’s a foul, its accidental at worst. Leno was clear though, just misjudged the ball.
Clear this up for me; is it a requirement to be an inbred degenerate to be a referee in England?
Bad desicion with the pen but with ten men I thourt we could still do it untill auba came on slowed the game right down, so slow in moving to the ball we looked OK on the break untill then and feel we could of nicked a draw
Not a red. Fantastic fotball in 47 minutes.
Everybody worked their asses off with 10 and 9 men. We tried all the way.
Despite we did a clusterf*ck of epic dimensions I think we are developing as a team
Arsenal did an Arsenal. Luiz did a Luiz.
Not tonight mate. Wolves were handed the game by VAR and an absolute cunt of a ref, who must piss neat vitamin C, he loves Oranges so much.
In order to stay sane I just have to put this game down to pure and utter madness. Nothing makes sense anymore……… It’s just such a shame because for 45 mins we looked like a side that was going to continue the run and potentially save the season. Now it just feels shit again. Bollocks
I can’t believe people on here are pointing fingers at Luiz. FFS. He’s made mistakes before but tonight we got shafted. I’m not going to into why it’s not a penalty or a red card – if you think it is, watch it again. And then again if you have to. It’s just not, there is no debate. VAR reviewing for 5 seconds and still allowed it smacks of corruption, not incompetence. Nobody with a sane or fair mind allows that. Everything which happened afterwards was because of this moment. We were in complete control.
It isn’t beyond debate. The rules include the offence of carelessly or recklessly tripping someone. If you commit an offence that denies a clear goal scoring opportunity, it’s a red card. Running behind some so closely that they end up tripping them could definitely be classed careless. It doesn’t matter how hard it is to avoid or whether there is intent.
The result is hard to stomach and you could say Luiz, although culpable, was really unlucky. My opinion is that given Luiz’s pattern of penalty area mistakes and what you should expect of an experienced cb, he’s consistently careless.
Mate watch it again. He didn’t trip him. The wolves player’s foot makes contact with Luiz’s knee while running. It wasn’t Luiz who was tripped. Not a penalty, not a red card. I’m sorry but if you are honestly telling me that’s a fair outcome then it somehow must have been the outcome you wanted. I don’t have an issue with playing well and being unlucky, or even being beaten by the better team. I have an issue with being cheated.
Top post, well said.
Wolves were shit, especially in the first half and had we enjoyed half the luck they had tonight, we would have had the game sewn up by half time.
Wait. Lemme see if I got this right. An experienced CB, thats played on title winning teams in multiple countries, in Champions League finals, and in world cups for Brazil (a perenial footballing powerhouse), gets his legs mixed up with (that’s being kind) an onrushing striker that HE lost site of, clatters into, and causing a fall resulting foul + pen + red b/c in the box. And that is NOT the player’s fault? What?? I watched the replay. Luiz has noone to blame here but himself. Is it bad luck that it happened in our box? Yes. Is that… Read more »
Wolves are good but we played better than them and we would have had them if it weren’t for that cunt ref sending off Luiz. Not sure who he is but he must be the contender for Mike Dean’s crown when he retires.
What went through Leno’s head.
All in all we actually played well regardless what happened. But yeah, for fucks sake!
That’s a fair analysis though referees just like everyone else should be scrutinised especially after such a pathetic arbitration of the game! The red card on Luiz is one in a million! It is a penalty yes but not a red card. VAR is useless!
Amazing the fans who have no idea how the rules of the game have to be upheld. If a player is through on goal and is tripped by a player BEHIND him, even if it is more of a coming together, it is a foul. If it is a goal scoring opportunity, it’s a red.
I always complain on a Sunday when it happens and gets called but the reality is it is a foul.
Was only a matter of time before Luiz was caught napping.
But Luiz DIDN’T trip Jose. It was Jose’s backswing that connected with Luiz – and a player can’t be penalised for the actions of another player.
I think the argument here isn’t the application of the rules but it is the rule itself. The intention of the rule is for professional fouls, bastardly behavior taking a player out when through on goal. Not for a freak accident like this because now it is just too advantageous for the opposing player to play for a foul that results in a Pen+sending off. You want to see red cards and suspensions for cheating, not for a defender chasing back trying to DEFEND. I think the penalty is fair even though it is soft. But to send a player… Read more »