Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Coquelin, Rosicky, Cazorla, Walcott, Campbell, Alexis
Subs: Martinez, Debuchy, Koscielny, Zelalem, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Maitland-Niles, Akpom
—
Arsenal had Per Mertesacker and Alexis to thank as they broke Hull hearts again with a 2-0 win in the FA Cup at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsene Wenger made a number of changes to his team, handing starts to David Ospina, Hector Bellerin, Calum Chambers, Nacho Monreal, Theo Walcott and Joel Campbell following the 2-0 defeat to Southampton on New Year’s Day.
At home, Arsenal had lots of early possession and should have taken a 5th minute lead through Joel Campbell. The Costa Rican made a run in from the left, played a one two with Alexis, and with just the keeper to beat he was thwarted by Harper’s right foot.
The game became a bit more even after that with both sides probing, but again it was Arsenal who threatened. Alexis won the ball back in midfield, fed Walcott who returned the ball in the box and the former Barcelona man saw his shot blocked by Maguire. He then tried to chip it to the far post but was too close to goal to make it work.
There was a warning sign from the visitors when Tom Ince’s run saw him get into the Arsenal box but his left footed shot fizzed wide. Paul McShane head a header easily saved by Ospina, before Arsneal took the lead in the 20th minute.
After a great Bellerin cross resulted in a corner, Alexis whipped the ball in and Per Mertesacker rise highest to nod home from close range to make it 1-0. It was the German’s first goal of the season and his first since the Wigan semi-final.
Less than a minute later it was almost two. Tomas Rosicky brilliantly ran at the Hull defence, played in Alexis who rounded the keeper but McShane cleared brilliantly off the line. It was, to give him credit, fantastic defending. From the resulting corner Nacho Monreal’s stooping header was saved, again by the legs of Harper.
Theo Walcott combined with Cazorla whose beautifully cushioned pass fashioned a chance which again saw the keeper make a save, while at the other end Harry Maguire’s header from a Hull corner went through a sea of legs and forced Ospina into a save.
Walcott had another effort blocked on the edge of the box, Campbell curled an effort wide via the head of a Hull defender, and Arsenal wasted some good set-piece opportunities to put Steve Bruce’s side under more pressure before the half-time break.
Arsenal had the first attempt of the second period when Alexis drove into the box but his shot was easy for Harper, but the visitors began the half better with much more of the ball. At times Arsenal couldn’t get near it but a storming run from Rosicky was halted only by a last ditch tackle and when the ball fell to Campbell on the edge of the Hull box he dragged his shot wide when he really should have done better.
Despite Hull’s continued domination of the ball, Arsenal should have been further ahead when Thei Walcott spurned a glorious chance. Played in by Cazorla the England winger showed all the signs ofa man who has spent 12 months out of the game as he dinked the shot over the keeper but wide of the post.
There were further signs of his rustiness when he failed to collect a fantastic Coquelin pass, again while clean through, and it was no surprise when he was replaced on 76 minutes by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The Ox almost had an immediate impact when an Alexis cutback found him in the box but it hit his rear end and bounced away from goal, but in the 82nd minute the second goal finally came. Arsenal worked the ball well through midfield, Cazorla picked it up, fed the Chilean who turned and curled the ball beautifully into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.
That was his last involvement as he was replaced by Chuba Akpom, while Francis Coquelin picked up a yellow for a leaping lunge of a tackle in which he was lucky not to make real contact with the opponent.
There was time for a late FA Cup debut for Ainsley Maitland-Niles as he replaced Joel Campbell and in the end the Gunners saw off last year’s finalists to go through to the 4th round of the competition.
Yes to Coquelin diving in two-footed then telling their melt to ‘shut the fuck up’ when he tried to have a word today, love that, plenty of time for that. Classic hard Coq getting my cock hard.
Double standards much?
We’ve seen plenty of our own players decimated because of such challenges.
The game holds no place for such challenges be it us dishing it out or on the receiving end.
Though not really tested, Ospina seems to have some calmness about him, especially while passing and distributing the ball.
Very relevant to the comment you were replying to, and for the record his distribution was pretty poor, he booted it to their back four quite a few times.
Unsurprising when the 3 strikers we had on are all about 5″5′.
He looks a lot like George Costanza sometimes. What’s not to like?
ON that note, I’d been thinking Santi’s new hairstyle looks a bit like Kramer’s.
I’m a football fan, double standards sort of comes with the territory.
I was gonna say that.
Mind you, I’m still buzzing from that Grimandi red card against Pep Guardiola millennium so there you go.
*last millennium
That hole is getting deeper…
Man I loved that millennium. It had everything. Gilles Grimandi, The Battle of Hastings, everything.
He didn’t touch him, stop the “what if” talk.
Yes but he was out of control. That he didn’t touch him was just luck.
Which incidentally is the reason you can’t tackle two footed: because you arn’t in control so it’s always a “what if.”
Yes we have, and that is the point. What happened to Paddy F…… Mc Nair for crutching wilshere? Or Diaby, or Eduardo or Csec (at the time) or Ramsey or Walcott etc. NOTHING. So we might as well have one who breakes legs the other way if you ask me. Do I enjoy those horrible tackles from coc today? No. Would i rather see Sanchez been taken out by Quinn? NO!!!!
I know correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation, but post-George Graham The Arsenal won tons of silverware all the time we had Patrick Vieira. We won an FA Cup with his last kick and then nothing else for ten years. Can we really say we’ve had an intimidating player since? No. How many big injuries have we picked up every season since? Fucking loads. Let me ask this, if your kid comes home from school black and blue every day and the teachers are regularly failing to protect him from bullies, are you going to tell him to carry on doing… Read more »
Unfortunately if we carried on the storey about your son and his name was arsenal, the day he retaliated would be the day he was suspended from school and the bullied were treated like victims.
PV would have to be much more subtle to survive in the modern game (like Matic).
Aggression, yes.
Potentially career-ending, and perpetrator-suspending challenges? No.
Hahaha yeah that’s true! Suspended and made to write out sixty five million lines on his return. In his own blood. In a dungeon. With Jessie J songs playing on repeat. And yes you’re right, the game has evolved, Paddy would have to be more subtle to survive these days. But as dangerous as that Coquelin tackle looked though, that’s seriously not how you break someone’s legs, he came in from the side, starting from about six or seven yards away and in the eyeline of the player. It’s a lot less forceful than it looks because there was no… Read more »
Summary
Sanchez is class
Cazorla is the man
Campbell needs more matches
Merty is on his way back
The Coq is still rising
He misplaced/ over hit a couple of passes and was a little reckless with a couple of challenges. That’s clutching at straws really. For a squad ” no future here “player to deliver these performances is excellent. His positioning was good and he seems quite intelligent. Unusual for a Coq that.
Looking forward to the player review followed by the obligatory “has no future here”.
That last tackle was horrendous, no excuse. And some of his passes were lacking, but I love that he attempted to make things from a deeper position. You’d never get Flamini making that pass that he made to Theo.
Good win, but Coq was lucky to be on the field for the full 90.
He didn’t get booked for a challenge in the first half, which was sort of Scott Danish and which we keep complaining about often. He went full Flamini 2 footed for a yellow in the second.
Lucky he is.
Are you complaining that a 50-50 decision went our way? I agree it was a yellow card earlier but I doubt he’d have made the second challenge if he was on one.
It wasn’t a 50-50 decision that went our way, it was a 100% red card that we were fortunate to avoid. While I’m pleased that we got lucky and finished the match with 11 men, it was a disgusting challenge, a fully two-footed straight-leg off-the-ground lunge with studs showing, with a high likelihood of causing injury – all five key points for a red card satisfied. That it was only a yellow was astonishing good luck, especially considering he should already have been on a yellow from the first half. That said, the horror tackle aside, I thought Coquelin was… Read more »
I think the issue is less that we got on the right side of a 50/50 decision, but a ref looked at a situation and decided in our favour at all. You don’t need to go far back to see the opposite: We may have lost at Southampton anyway, but if the ref gives the clear red card to Gardos for the last-man challenge, the last 30 minutes or so could have been very different. At Newcastle, not only is a goal disallowed, but Tiote kicks Alexis in the chest, missed by the ref; another straight red. Even at United,… Read more »
Plenty of players r lucky to stay on the pitch when they play us !
It was one of the rare occasions things evened out a bit. Sanchez gets kicked all over the pitch but picks up a yellow for a ‘nothing’ clash whilst their young CB hacks at him from behind (by the book a red card offence) and only gets a talking to. Then Coq goes 2 footed (by the book red) but gets away with a yellow as there’s little to no contact made.
“Morning, what can I get for you?”
“A couple of sausage rolls and a Scott Danish please”
methinks we should offer him (francis) a contract.
good as a squad player.
i would have loved to see chuks aneke too man…
Offer him a new contract then we don’t have to bother signing that defensive midfielder we have been crying out for. Strange how Arsene was bigging him up just as the window opens. Guess we’ll save some cash there then.
On a bright side thought Santi was quality today and as usual Alexis was different class. Really enjoy watching him play!!
If he is playing like the DM people have been calling out for then why would we buy one?
Why were we calling him back from Charlton? I agree I’d have him infront of Flamini but to say he solves all our problems and we don’t need a solid defensive midfielder is comical. We have the shieks away in a couple of weeks lets judge him then.
Easy enough. Only thing bugged me, did Sanchez really have to start the game? I know he can run for hours, but he could have used some rest, I hope this does not get back to haunt us in the near future.
If we had got a second goal sooner, he could have been taken off sooner.
So reliant are we on Alexis to deliver that he is not allowed to leave the pitch until he’s secured the game. Therefore it’s his own fault as he didn’t score earlier! (I’m joking but a little bit it is true non?)
Apparently he was told he would be rested but he said he wanted to play…thank God he did
Aparently he was offered the day off but insisted he wanted to play!! As much as I agree it would have been an ideal opportunity for him, and also BFG, to have a breather I love how much again this shows about his personality!
4 matches in the next 4 weeks, time to rest and get some injuries sorted.
When Walcott is ready we’ll have so much mores of a threat. I was pleased with Cambell. Should have had a goal for his efforts. Bit concerned that at we don’t try t stop crosses coming into our box much.
Campbell deserves props for working his socks off tonight – though he didn’t get a goal, he really bossed their right channel in terms of closing them down repeatedly. His distribution wasn’t bad either save a few ambitious passes that went awry. Theo on the other hand… I know he’s been out since Ma caught her tits in the mangle but some disturbing hints of the bad old days coming back: first touch letting him down; poor distribution; zero tracking back to speak of…. and did anyone see him make a tackle? let’s hope it’s not a sign of things… Read more »
Agreed with your notion on Coq but totally disagree with u on Theo, he missed some good chances, yes but the fact that he was making those runs and making himself available for those passes is a positive, the Walcott i knew would have scord a braze today and he’s comming to that level at the right time
Campbell* my bad
I think Coq should stay in the starting XI, certainly more effective than Flamini. Nice to see some real steel in the midfield.
I think we should buy that mythical DM.
It’s good to have him back – with Kos injured and Giroud in and out we’ve been nowhere near French enough. Probably the source of all our problems.
And TR7’s getting younger
Hope theo enjoyed his stroll!
Theo could have had a hat trick today if he was 100% fit. Good to see him back and can’t wait to see him hit form. 🙂
It was good to see him back and I was being a tad flippant about him strolling. Only a tad mind.
100% fit? He has been in training for weeks! No excuse for missing those chances, none.
Being out for as long as he is, it’s not just health that matters, he needs some time to readjust to playing.
It looks like you’ve never played regular football!
Good win by the Arsenal! I was really impressed by Campbell and Coquelin! And what a turn and shot by that man, Alexis! Thumbs up if you saw Our Coq tell Quinn to “Shut the fuck up!”, haha!
Absolutely loved the coqs performance
That slide tackle that got called for a foul at 50 mins was a thing of beauty.
Agreed! Its a dying art, that inch-perfect slide tackle.
Great speed blogs!
Very impressed by Campbell’s workrate, deserves more game time to show the manager what he’s got
Work rate, fine. End product, not so good. Does he really have the quality to make it here? I’m not convinced.
He hasn’t been given a run of games to get into any kind of form, not saying he’s the answer to any of our problems, but today he looked like he was trying too hard to impress, like he knew he was gonna be benched for the next 10 games only to come on for a few minutes at the end…. I wonder why he feels that way
We talking about Campbell, Welbeck or both?
Sanchez beats toothless Tigers.
I think if it was up to him him, Alexis would even wrestle with live, full-teethed Tigers like Russle Crowe did in ‘Gladiator’
Theo needs more matches and then he will be deadly, few neat runs.
Great tackling and interception by the Coq but he needs to be a better passers, but that awesome ball to Theo though <3
Great night Gunners!
Surprisingly simple
Joel Campbell: Given a start, ran himself into the ground for the team. Well done lad, that’s how to grab a start with both hands. And that’s why poldi plays for inter Milan now. Hull would have had a lot more joy down that left side had he been there.
Agree on work rate and tackling, he was good. Not so great in attack though, Poldi would have got a goal from the chances Campbell had. Still early days for him, will have to see once he has played a few matches.
Why would you take a swing at prince poldi.. He doesn’t deserve it. You may find flaws in his game. But he was always a gooner and a gentleman too. We’ll just remember him for the nice memories he gave us and of course his sweet left foot..!
In part its a reaction to a lot of uproar about his departure. What campbell delivered today poldi never will. And i don’t believe campbell had any real clear cut chances, so dont think poldi would’ve contributed goals, overall Hull defended well. words of Podolski’s former coach, Berti Vogts, while he was at Köln: “I am happy that Podolski has left Cologne,” Vogts said. “He had too many friends in the city. He got praised as a great runner if he ever got back to defend three times in a game. “He got an easy ride and he believed his… Read more »
Apart from the clean through on goal one and a couple of harder ones.
Yes mate forgot about the 1 on 1. Would poldi have been the one bursting into the box to get on that position on the first place though? The only other chance of note was the curling left footer from outside the box. Tough to say wether poldi would have necessarily done better there though. I guess though what Campbell delivered today was way more important than the goal poldi *might* have scored in his place.
I’d say you just validated Shere Willpower’s point.
Oooooooooooooooooospina!!!!
I think there’s a reason why Poldi and Campbell have struggled to get games this season. In Podolski’s case I just don’t think he fits very well in the team, and Campbell is just not good enough to be an Arsenal player in his position the way I see it. He showed some desire today, but I don’t think he had a good game overall.
Campbell is still a young man. Lots of potential which will hopefully come to fruition next season.
Our Coq was firm and hard.
Theo playing with the handbreak, Understably so. Chambo a real beast even with only afew minutes on. Sanchez is too much. He needs a REST lol nah
Ospina did nothing wrong and kept a clean sheet. Deserves to keep his place in the team.
Alexis was class as per usual.
I want better than 4th place so change of manager at the end of the season please.
I’d say start Ospina, Campbell, Theo and Coq in the next game v. the scum of Mordor.
Giroud will be back.
Ospina wasn’t tested much really. Can’t judge him because he hardly had anything to do. He was solid when called upon. Would like to see his sweeping ability and if he can make good decisions for when to come off his line.
Ospina wasn’t tested today, just because he didn’t make a mistake doesn’t mean he should start ahead of szczesny, all the good work The pole does seems to be forgotten after that Southampton nightmare
A game without mini heart attacks? Which team was I watching? Surely this can’t be Arsenal.
Please. Don’t be injured Ox. Please…..
That is the worst part about our situation right now, being so happy with a good performance and a win, but having to watch with such nervousness hoping that we don’t see someone else go down….
Good effort by all, now for a deserved and needed week to recover.
nc.
All I wanted for my birthday was an Arsenal win :).
That’s all I got too.
Nothing for your birthday Moonie? I’m choking up here.
Aww
Comfortable win, shame we couldn’t have gotten that 2nd goal earlier so as to rest Alexis and Santi though. Another tigerish midfield performance from Coquelin though some of his passing was a little wayward at times.. That lunge was dumb too, lucky to stay on in my opinion. Hoping ox was just a knee clash and finally, great to see Theo back. I can relate to the fear of that first game back after ACL surgery.. It really takes a couple of months for you to mentally believe your knee isn’t going to give way again. Couple of times the… Read more »
Our Coq got a little out of control at the end there with that tackle
Campbell should start in next game. Great work rate from him, he just needs more games to get better.
Not quite sure if we need a DM even more or rather not, now we know Le Coq is having Flamini as mentor. If he works on the timing of his tackle, I’d think we should keep him and look for that magic DM in the summer instead of getting mugged off in the winter.
Good performance today. Can’t really complain, Theo looked rusty but that’s justifies Wenger’s reluctance in the last few games of playing him. He needs some matches under his belt to get back to his form.
Well done lads!
Loving the fact Pers header had a touch of the chamakhs about it.
How can you fault Sanchez? Standing ovation thoroughly deserved!
joel, learn to use your outside foot if ye dont wanna use the right……great teacher in tr7
alexis alexis alexis alexis
Most fatigued players with the goods today. Mert and Alexes surely will need a breather at some point. Otherwise the 3 points today are quite welcome.
I am not sure we are gonna get ‘points’ for today’s game. 😛
soo happy not even gonna bother to correct you
3 points in a cup game? lol
Oooops! My bad. Good times these!
Just to correct the equation:
(Arsenal much) > T*ttenham = Arsene
But f*ck maths anyway because it’s b*llocks.
Thumbs down for your stupid name, let alone the stupidity of your post.
I am not under any obligation to be smart. What I post is my opinion based on my understanding, scale of familiarity with the game and level of IQ. Thumb me down but stupidity reference is quite over the line. I am not a professional fan. I am not a nomenclature guru and neither did I hire one to devise for me an Arseblog username. Thats me as I am. As of now. I may get better and smarter with time or not. But that does not certify me stupid.
Our Coq was getting a little cockey today!
The Coq of hard knocks 😉
Sanchez is a great player, no doubt about it and his overall game is awesome.. but i seriously feel that Arsenal are missing the crisp passing of Özil in and around the box. Some of the final ball in and around the box and the decision making in the final third from Arsenal has been pretty frustrating today..
Great win nonetheless.. COYG.. 🙂
Give Rozza more game time and we’ll have that slickness. Always better with him in the team.
Never drop rosicky wenger! That run and pass for alexis was class.
Alexis Coq <3
Don’t know if you could see on tv but Chamberlain should have been taken off immediately after that heavy knock on the edge of the area. He was limping really badly during the last few minutes. Shades of Walcott last season ? I bloody hope not !
I said this on my twitter page a couple of minutes ago and I’ll say it again, football never lies, no matter how long you’re away, that bit of quality that makes you a top footballer will always always show. Theo has been out for an entire year, if I recall correctly he got injured at exactly this time last year, and could have easily gotten a hat-trick if he was just a tad sharper. Rosicky has had just two starts all season and you can see his productivity and drive on and off the ball. Coqueline on the other… Read more »
well played boys,alexis was amazing #COYG
Coquelin > Flamini.
Coquelin was quite impressive tonight. Positioning was astute and won nearly all of his 50/50 challenges and got his most of his tackles spot on. And despite missing some of his passes he displayed quite a wide range of passing for a DM. I can see potential in our Coq if given the chance. Alexis as usual was just brilliant to watch. Cant wait for Theo to get back to full fitness and for Ozil to return! And a final note on Campbell. Its great that he works hard for the team and should be valued but his decision making… Read more »
Not so sure whether we can afford loaning a forward out at this moment in time. Otherwise agree with your post.
Agreed. And we are unlikely to sign a replacement either. I m just saying that if it came to it, it would make much more sense to loan Campbell instead of Podolski.
While this is certainly true in tems of goal scoring ability, Campbell showed agreat work rate and imposed himself in a way that Poldi tended not to do. I think one could see today that the problem was not Poldi, but that he didn’t fit into the current first team set up. Best of luck to him in Milan, and for us some midfield fire eater like Alexis 🙂
Just one game a week for the next 5 weeks. Theo back, ozil, welbeck, giroud due back, Ramsey and arteta must be closing in. We could really start to click now.
Another good win too bad it was only Hull, would be nice if they could do same vs some bigger clubs, but we all know how that goes don’t we!
nice stroll. alexis class as usual. the coq was good and campbell did show some flahes of skills.theo was rusty. and the ox need to calm down when he hit a ball , he will be an oustanding player if does. and teh back four was a bit strange for me but they did ok. special mention to chambers , the kid being overplayed in almost all positions… considering he is 20 years old and new in the team. he ‘s mentally solid and under a lot of criticism, today he had a decent game.COYG
Nice result and we looked surprisingly comfortable.
For all their possession in the second half, they rarely got behind us, and we looked dangerous every time we broke forwards.
Nice to see Theo back, even if he was rustier than the rustiest man in rusty-town.
By the way, I heard somewhere on the commentary (maybe about 375 times), that Hull were playing a weakened side due to injuries.
It must suck to be in that position…….
Haha exactly mate. Even right at the end again. Hull hit by injuries. I think the most credit we got in that department was their admission that Theo “isn’t 100% match fit”.
Is the Coq the new Penis of William Gallas?
Kudus to Joel now those bashers can see that his 3 loan spells were worth the wait…Wegner should play with his Coq more..
Dunno to like to thumb down your post. Agree with Coq on getting more games, but not with Campbell. If anything else, this match would serve to show that he isn’t quite Arsenal material. Yes he is hardworking and did well to close down players, but his contribution in the final third were frankly poor. Compared to players who weren’t playing for almost as long as he did, Walcott, Rosicky comes to mind, they played so much better even when they have not played as often as he had.
Keep Ospina in.
Monreal did well too.
Clever game from Campbell showing Wenger his work rate post Poldi.
Tomas is great.
Sanchez is God.
COYG!
Sanchez is Dennis??????
Ospina didn’t have much to do but he did it well, I thought his distribution was good and more importantly quick. Both he and all of the defence had an assured quality that I’ve not seen for a very long time. Coq played a great role in midfield and did the job of breaking up play well. I’d much rather he kept his distribution simple short term though. Theo was knackered at half time and I felt he was kept on for too long. Hopefully no niggles emerge due to the extra 15 minutes. Campbell could’ve been man of the… Read more »
This goal will make a world of good for Per. Still think he should be replaced and benched though… And yes, good solid win, missed a shitload of chances but won nonetheless. However this doesn’t change anything for me. Thank you Wenger, but I still think it’s time for you to go.
He needs a rest, very different to being replaced and benched.
Hull had Coq in their faces all day.
Like in an 80’s dark room 😉
I always get thumbed down every time I suggest this, but I really do think Sanchez as a false-9 (which I think was Wenger’s original plan) flanked by Walcott and Ox/Santi with Ozil behind with Ramsey is our ideal starting attack.
The sheer movement, trickery and finishing.
Granted lacks a direct target, but Giroud has been shown to always do well coming off the bench.
It works against some teams, but needs to be used in moderation as a focal point works so well for our swarm of midfielders.
I thought Coq was immense this afternoon (bar the 2 footer, but in some respects I quite liked seeing the, ‘I don’t give a fuck who you are I’m still going to lay one on you’ attitude). Broke down the play so well and even tried some Wilsheresque little chips over the top. As much as I loved Podolski I think we’ve seen today why he has been allowed to leave. Campbell worked really hard and I remember him making at least 2 sliding tackles in the left back position and coming away with the ball. The reason he may… Read more »
There are rumors that we will offer him a new contract, and after that maybe another loan spell, but now when we let podoslki leave i can see campbell get more minutes, he was working hard all game and had chances to score but he didn’t and i think that is because of not playing.
Theo tends to take a while to find form after injury, but was excellent to see him getting in good positions. The Coq, as others have said, looked decent apart from that tackle at the end (the gasp from the entire emirates was telling…) but there’s still that question of whether he can do it against more penetrating opposition fnarrr
Oooooooooooooooooooospina!!!!
Need a proper song for Alexis. Not sure about the ‘Alexis Sanchez baby’ song. Lame.
Talk about not learning from his mistakes. Arsene just can’t seem to solve the problem of zipping up his coat, how can we expect him to fix the recurring defensive problems?
About the Sanchez false 9 suggestion, I think the only delay to its actualization has been this incessant injuries to all of the players mentioned ozil, giroud, walcot, etc, except and perhaps luckily, Sanchez himself
Better balance today. We needed the added pace in tandem with Alexis to provide threat from both flanks against Southampton. As is, Wenger elected to have a three prong approach with Campbell getting good minutes under the belt and a decent performance too. Also far better with Rosicky beside Coquelin who had another good showing. This is certainly encouraging both for his career with us and bc we are out of DMs with Flamini and Arteta out. He is certainly not for trying in making a case for himself and we should afford him every opportunity. Bc we were so… Read more »