Arsenal should have been out of sight at the break after a host of first half chances, but had only Bukayo Saka’s 34th minute strike to their name when the teams went in for half-time.
Monaco were far better in the second period, with some dangerous moments, but late goals from Saka again and Kai Havertz gave us the cushion and three important Champions League points to keep us well up the elongated table.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Arsenal 3-0 Monaco match report and see the goals here
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I thought Trossard a bit better than 6.5. Certainly more effective than Martinelli was
if you’d look at public votes, Trossard has 6.58 while Martinelli – 6,48. I understand that blogs’s rating has a huge amount of influence to people’s opinion but still..
What about that hanging on to the ball not playing ode, who was unmarked, in earlier then hitting the pass straight at the defender when he did finally pass. I actually wd have marked him 6. Harsh maybe but that really annoyed me.
Will love Saka for the rest of my life!
The last time I love a player this much, he ended up going to Barcelona then Chelsea.
Not buying Cesc back is probably the thing I was most angry at Arsene for in all his time at Arsenal. Still can’t comprehend it. And I fucking love Arsene Wenger.
Stubborn as a goat. I can only assume Wenger took it personally when cesc left, and was not willing to forgive and forget. I don’t judge wenger for this – if I was a manager (in any profession) and an employee who I’d dedicated a lot of time money and effort into decided to leave because they felt they could do better elsewhere, I’d take a certain kind of joy in telling them that I no longer needed them (even if I did and I was cutting my nose off to spite my face, which Wenger love him almost certainly… Read more »
We’d just bought Ozil. Wenger probably figured he didn’t need two #10s at those prices.
Sad. Cesc was a great player. I wish Wenger had welcomed him back
It was definitely not about Ozil. Wenger was the one manager that found ways to fit in as much as 4 number 10’s in a starting 11 at some point.
Without the heartbreaking history. Wenger 100% buys a player of Fabregas quality when available and interested in joining.
It was an angry spiteful decision not to bring him back
it wasn’t just Ozil…we also had Santi, Ramsey, Rosicky, Wilshire, Arteta all as creative midfielders on the books, so it is reasonable to say that we may not have needed another player of that type, even if Wenger was being stubborn or spiteful. As with many things, it was likely a little from column A and a little from column B.
But, two great midfielders can’t be in the same team? And the idea that an older, formerly attacking player, could take a deeper role with great effect? Not a new idea, and one whoever the fuck Chelsea’s manager at that time sorted out pretty quickly. I agree with the commenter above that it was stubbornness and personality. Ozil’s mental fragility might have played a part as well. And lastly, Cesc was mid range priced for that time and that kind of player. Would have been a bargain, and would have salved our souls instead of sticking a fucking stake into… Read more »
We didn’t just have two – Santi, Rosicky, Jack, Ramsey… even Arteta as the deeper option.
It’s probably the second biggest mistake of his reign. The biggest was not signing Alonso because it would have “killed” Diaby and Denilson, which funnily enough seemed to precipitate Fabregas’ exit.
Where’d you see that? I could’ve sworn we were fully in for Alonso but he backed out then went to Madrid the following summer..?
“I have been criticised for not hiring Xabi Alonso or Gareth Barry. But if I signed them, I would have killed Song, Diaby and Denilson,”
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/wenger-why-i-snubbed-barry-alonso
Wengie was huge for our club but sometimes he made the strangest of decisions. Cygan being one.
But other than cesc and all the shut cbs my biggest frustration was Podolski. I loved hammer – foot Pods and he was never given a string of games up front. Totally wasted.
Cygan became an invincible
I loved podolski too, but he was way past it to carry out a full 90 in the premier league…. too slow for our style
Players that are good and leave, I have no love for them namely Cesc and Van Persie. Players that leave because they need playing time, like ESR. I will take them back again if they are more experienced.
That’s harsh on Cesc and I reckon most fans wouldn’t agree with you. He only left for his boyhood club, to join possibly the greatest club team of all time, and wanted to rejoin us but Wenger decided against it.
RvP, you can have.
Henry???
I, too, loved Aubameyang like he was my mother
City losing just really never gets old. It warms the cockles everytime.
It would be even sweeter but that Chelsea may actually be good which bothers me to no end
would have been good if it was tail end of last year
Seriously worried about Pep and the self harm factor
bonus – citeh losing again !!!
Jesus was certainly Not Bad tonight.
He usually does well in the Champions League. Pity he’s lost his shooting boots though.
Apparently he lent them to cucarella
His 2nd chance he had was well blocked, could definitely have done better with the first but a decent save.
Thought the keeper made a great saves on both of his chances…for me it was more about strong goalkeeping rather than poor finishing. The bounce of the ball on the first chance as he is running on to it doesn’t do him any favours either.
All these games are just a drag now, not exciting, not memorable. I’m just waiting for the Greedy Pointless Phase to end already. Overall we did alright though.
Oh, it’s a big improvement to be playing eight different teams. Greed got it right this time. The top eight positions are a big deal, allowing those teams to play fewer games, so there’s plenty to play for right up until the end.
Oh, and they got rid of the parachutes into the lower ranking competitions, which is also good.
The top 8 play less games? How so? I also think this new format is never ending and a complete bore-fest…
It feels almost dirty to praise the fat cats in city hall, but in this instance I agree. Although really the credit should go to the even shadier European super league cohort, as without the threat of a competitor we’d probably still be seeing the path of least resistance to greed – and at least now we’re seeing innovative greed
I second that
I actually prefer it. One table with all the teams makes it more interesting, particularly when it comes to the final game with some teams separated by a single point or goal difference. In the old format the groups were often decided one or two games in advance.
It’s also fun to see City so far down the pecking order and suddenly looking like late 90s Middlesbrough with the average age of their team being 97 and being ready for the knackers.
If we’re sitting home resting while other teams play 2 extra games you might feel differently
Seems like Jorginho is a bit underrated, considering the control he added.
control came back with kai, great player!
I know he should have scored two (one I thought was a good leg save to be fair) and the assist was nice but it was also good to see Jesus’ back working hard off the ball on defense. Maybe got a little fire back
Agree entirely. And his energy and forward movement drives the team on!
Our press is entirely at another level when both he and Ode are charging about up front – it visibly unsettled Monaco time and again. Yes, Kai made the final keeper-press to set up the goal but the nerve-jangling had already been done and dusted for the previous hour.
His 2nd big chance was well blocked by the defender to be fair. Sometime you have to credit the opposition.
Tidy work, Raya passing is different levels, Salibs and Kiwi solid , MLS and TP5 very good , loved the gelling of midfield, Merino showing his Qualiteeeee, Leo very good when came on as was Kai but star boy keeps shining
MLS is one hell of a player
So cool and talented
shhh, keep it quiet or he’s going to get called up by England and we’ll never see him healthy again.
Seriously though, I think Thomas Tuchel will be salivating thinking about having a brilliantly talented inverting full back like him in his setup. I’m not English but the thought of him and Nwaneri joining Rice and Saka there (plus imagine if he gets White back into the fold).. I might actually really enjoy watching England play for once.
Shame saka and Jesus roles were not reversed for the first goal as I thought it would have been just what GJ needed, but this was a big improvement on recent appearances so let’s hope it continues as we are going to need to utilise the whole squad over coming weeks.
KT has to get a look, doesn’t he?
I’d love to see KT play, but if the alternative is MLS I will not complain
I thought Arteta said KT would start this game so a bit disappointed he never got off the bench.
The GOLDEN RULE with football managers is to pay attention to what they do, and not to what they say.
I wonder if MA is keeping KT off the pitch so as not to get him cup tied for a January transfer? Is that still a thing? Still hope we get to see him play for Arsenal before he goes, somewhat of a cult figure.
not sure it is a thing in europe anymore, at least between competitions.
i remember after auba was cup tied in the europa league because he played in the cl for dortmund, they changed it.
Had exactly the same thought – the football Gods just won’t give Holy Gabi a simple tap-in to get him back on the horse.
Fast Gabi, on the other hand, really needs to sort his feet out – just too many sloppy finishes from good positions.
Not shading anyone but it’s clearer now… Arsenal need a new STRIKER in January. Last summer already was a mistake.
Don’t make thesame mistake in January and then start waiting for summer. We are not Netflix fc.. buy a striker is the only thing I think can give us a chance for a silver ware this season.
Who though, who would sell a top striker in Jan?
There’s a couple available by the sounds of it. Vlahovic is one, perhaps Evan Ferguson another. I’m not sure what we will do, but if Evan Ferguson is available on loan I’d be happy with that – not sure he’d get much more game time than he does at Brighton though. Same with any striker who arrived in January – if Kai and Jesus are fit then they won’t get a promise of regular first team football – it’s not an easy sell for a decent striker, and you won’t likely get a world class one in January – but… Read more »
Jesus should be up for sale in January…
If I’m honest I don’t particularly disagree – but it appears that MA has a vision for what the no.9 should bring, and both Kai and Jesus have those qualities.
I’ve seen is linked with Vlahovic a hundred times, but check out the comments he made this month whilst on international duty and I’m not sure we’d want him (praised his national boss in a way that was snide to his club boss – said something like ‘I cant run much and my national boss is good because he doesn’t make me run much’
Stranger things have happened. Aubameyang was a January signing after all. He didn’t do too badly.
Osihmen on loan at galatasaray
Could get a bargain on him, if that is what we are really after (striker)
which one?
The Kroenkes won’t pay over the odds for a top striker, if one is even available, unless we have a good shot at overtaking Liverpool, or if there’s danger of finishing out of the CL places. If we are eight or nine back of the Reds and six points clear of sixth (or 5th), they’ll wait for the summer.
I’d qualify that to ‘if Arteta can not sort out our finishing/taking of chances, we need to buy in a striker who can do the business, week on week’.
Man, we waste a lot of good opportunities.
On the heels of a disappointing draw that had even the most “glass-half-full” among us starting to feel uncomfortable, we get a team sheet with only one of four starting back four available. While there were a few iffy moments (primarily the start of second half), emerging with a clean sheet, 3 open play goals, and clear path to finishing in Top 8 makes for a potential reset of the narrative and a great boost heading into crowded holiday fixture list. Great stuff!
We’re now celebrating “open play goals”…geez…
I think it’s tongue in cheek because if you didn’t know better, you’d swear we’d never done it before based on some of the media guff this week
I think Martinelli could easily be sent off, what the hell he was thinking just barging into people after being booked, it was reckless and stupid of him.
Wait, you’re allowed to score from open play? Sheesh, Champions League rules are so confusing!
If only we scored from open play, I would be a happy man.
Some observations: Kiwior is a good solid centre back and would get into most starting 11s in the premier league. Because Saliba and Gabriel are often just imperious, a lot of us don’t realise how good he is. Minus those two he’s the best we’ve had since Koscielny. Jesus had a terrible game against Fulham but looked decent tonight and made a goal contribution, so there’s a sign he hasn’t completely given up. Partey did fine at right back but I’d still prefer him in midfield. We’ve been lucky with his fitness so far this season and full back is… Read more »
I don’t watch almost any football apart from Arsenal, so I wanted to ask this here where I feel that there are more knowledgeable fans: what is Merino doing for the team? I’m not getting it so far and of course I want him to be so good for us, but I’m not seeing or understanding his contribution.
I expected more. I was expecting him to hit the ground running, but if this is that, then I’m underwhelmed. Of course i want to see him succeed though.
You two fellas were, no doubt, in the ‘we can see why Madrid wanted to get rid of Odegaard’ during his loan period.
Bloke hasn’t even had a chance to find his favourite neighbourhood local yet – but looked solid last night and broke up a lot of Monaco moves before they got past our midfield.
You simply CANNOT judge any player after a few months in the squad.
Yeah, that’s my main justification, and it makes sense. Also, he came from outside the premier league.
Duels!
Headers
Thought Jesus did well and put his two good chances on goal forcing the keeper to make tough saves (better than others last night with clear chances who missed the goal). Made good runs to get and control the ball and was calm and took his chances well under pressure. Beautiful assist with his left foot that is a much tougher pass than many realize.