Starting XI: Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ozil, Welbeck, Alexis, Giroud
Subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Ramsey, Walcott, Chambers, Flamini, Gabriel
Glorious failure was the name of the game for Arsenal yet again in the Champions League as Arsene Wenger’s men beat Monaco 2-0 at the Stade Louis II, only to exit on a 3-3 aggregate defeat thanks to the away goals rule.
Olivier Giroud put the Gunners ahead in the first half and Aaron Ramsey came off the bench to put a miraculous result within touching distance, but with the clock ticking and legs tiring the Emirates outfit couldn’t find the third goal that would have secured progress to the quarter-finals.
Pre-game
Arsene Wenger made three changes from the side that started against West Ham on Saturday with Hector Bellerin replacing Calum Chambers at right-back and Santi Cazorla and Danny Welbeck replacing Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott. Gabriel, back from a hamstring problem, replaced Chuba Akpom on the bench.
First Half
All the attention was on Arsenal to make a fast start, but it was Monaco who started with a swagger, knocking the ball around before Joao Moutinho found room to fire over on 3 minutes.
It didn’t take long for the home side to start slowing the match down at every opportunity. Players stayed down a little longer than necessary and re-starts were dawdled over.
As was the case in the first-leg, Monaco were more than happy to let Coquelin have the ball, but as soon as an Arsenal player in a more advanced position took possession, the challenges snapped in. They looked disciplined and eager, but eventually the doubts crept in and Leonardo Jardim’s side edged deeper into their own half.
Arsenal began to create chances. On 14 minutes, Ozil and Sanchez freed Bellerin whose cross was headed wide by Giroud. The Frenchman held his head in his hands knowing he should have done better.
Not long after Cazorla had a volley blocked at close quarters by Kurzawa and then Koscielny, albeit with a flag signalling him offside, crashed against the bar from a couple of yards after a set piece from the left wing fell to him.
More good build up play down the right saw Bellerin whip in a cross to the back post where Welbeck cushioned a header to Giroud. The striker, increasingly frustrated by the attentions of Tunisian centre-back Abdennour, battled for the ball but it just wouldn’t drop for him.
On 35 minutes our striker finally found the breakthrough. After a delicate through pass by Welbeck – found by Cazorla after a great steal by Alexis – the HFB found himself one-on-one with keeper Subasic, He tried to lift the ball, but it was half blocked and bounced back to him. At the second time, following a balletic pirouette, he picked his spot and rifled into the roof of the net. It was a fine finish given two Monaco players were on the line. (1-0)
The Gunners injected with confidence picked up the pace and two minutes later could have had a second. Abdennour fielded a long ball with his head to the edge of the box where Welbeck stood waiting. The England man made a sweet connection but his fizzing effort deflected off the floored Tunisian and just wide. It’s fair to say the defender knew little about it.
Arsenal continued to tighten the screw. A coming together between Alexis and Monaco’s Nabil Dirar sent the Chilean sprawling on the edge of the box. He cried for a penalty, but instead was booked for diving. It would have been a generous.
Welbeck was having a great great and his pace caused no end of problems. Twice in first half stoppage time our hero of Old Trafford raced through the inside channel to fire dangerous balls across the six-yard box. The first hit Giroud and was grabbed by keeper Subasic, the second fell straight to him.
Second Half
The Gunners kept up the high tempo as they went in search of a second early in the second period. Giroud snatched at an early effort and Ozil tested Subasic with a free-kick that was heading into the top corner.
Monaco fought back with a ten minute spell of pressure, then called time on their push by replacing Anthony Martial with Yannick Ferreira Carrasco; the scorer of their third goal at the Emirates.
Chasing two goals in the final half hour, Arsene Wenger sent on Aaron Ramsey in place of Francis Coquelin. The Welshman’s first action was a typical dynamic push down the right that ended with an Ozil shot flashing just wide.
The absence of Coquelin’s calming influence the game became a more frantic end-to-end affair. Berbatov went off to be replaced by Bernardo Silva, Walcott then came on for Welbeck.
After a prolonged period of possession we found a timely second on 79 minutes. After Walcott hit the post following a fine Monreal cutback, Monaco’s defence failed to clear the ball and Ramsey took one touch before despatching the ball into the back of the net. (2-0)
In a final throw of the dice Kieran Gibbs came on for Nacho Monreal. As the left-back made his way onto the pitch Cazorla tossed in a free-kick that both Giroud and Sanchez made contact with at the back post. It took a diving save from Subasic to deny the duo. From some angles, it even looked over the line.
It was the closest Arsenal came to securing a miracle result. Five minutes of injury time proved incredibly frustrating as ball after ball was cleared from the box by Monaco’s defence.
Despite a fantastic performance on the night we were, as so many feared, felled by our disastrous first-leg performance at the Emirates. We really need to learn not to assume two-leg ties need to be won in the opening 90 minutes. It would save us all a lot of stress and bother.
That sucker goal in the last minute of the first leg has come back to haunt us. Monaco were lucky. Couldn’t ask for anymore from any of the players though, except theo. Special mention, though, for our little magician Mr. Santi Cazorla! What a player! Absolute class with everything he does. As much as I’m gutted, I’m proud too. Well done boys.
Okay. What’s happened to Sanchez. Been pretty bad recently and today was no different. Anyway,I think we all scripted this shit at the start of the season. Honestly whey does it take so long for the penny to drop about how the first leg should be approached. Making the same mistake Three years in a row is incompetence.
I don’t think Sanchez is playing that much different from the start of the year, he’s been guilty of giving away possession alot since day one. He was scoring vital goals for us though earlier in the season and thank fuck he was here to score them because they came at a time when we weren’t playing pretty. With Ozil, Giroud and Ramsey coming back though our game has vastly improved, and we are no longer reliant on a Sanchez solo effort to get us goals. Which means that he is having to adapt to that and start operating as… Read more »
Cazorla gave away a lot of possession today as well.
He stopped giving it away as much if I remember correctly. It’s not that I’m complaining about, it’s his sudden lack of goal threat. The man used to score for fun, now it looks like defenders have got his number. Maybe he’s being marked out of it or something. We missed oxlade chamberlain today
I just think he looks tired. I don’t think he was given enough rest after his hamstring injury and I’ve thought he’s looked tired since then.
Granted, I only caught the 2nd half but he seemed to be taking a beating today. Refs need to do a better job protecting him… Or we need flamini to have a few words with the opposing team
Sanchez was our down fall tonight. Its a difficult thing to say about one our best players but if Wenger had any common sense he would have taking him off. But what does he do, take Coquelin off instead. Same suicidal tactics as last time, I’m just surprised we haven’t conceded tbh. I have been a staunch supporter of Wenger for 16 years and have always defended him in every argument I’ve had about our problems. I can finally see what everyone could see for the last five years. He is playing blackjack and saying hit me every time expecting… Read more »
Wenger got his tactics spot on tonight and the players have got to take the blame for the first leg when we created countless chances but didn’t finish them. What do you want him to do? Jump through hoops?
Alexis was a passenger who completely stifled our rhythm and never really threatened, yet wenger took welbeck off because welbeck isn’t the 40 million signing from Barcelona. And you say his tactics were ‘spot on.’ So deluded
World class ability > world class attitude my friend. I love wellbeck but I’m not deluded. If I was putting money on one of the the two to do something magical I know who I would be betting on. Don’t forget he almost scored but for some decent giroud defending
spot on is when you win the tie mate. Last 25 min was like the last 25 from the first leg except they didn’t take advantage and score.
Sanchez with a broken knee would offer more goal threat than Coquelin – maybe not but I guess you know what I am trying to say. At that stage of the game, scoring the 2nd goal has obviously become the main objective. Even if we did concede, we still need to score more. What effect and message will it send out to the team if you decide to take off Sanchez (who undoubtedly is viewed as the one of the main goal threat amongst the players) at the hour mark. He didnt have a good game tonight, in fact for… Read more »
We are not talking about the Sanchez of a couple of months ago. I’m talking about this game specifically. He gave the ball away every time, didn’t even attempt to create anything or run in behind the defenders. He is allowed to have a bad game or run just like all the other players. But its Arsene’s job to see that and take him off to replace him with someone who will make an impact in a crucial game. Its common sense, he took Giroud off last time which didn’t mean that he blamed him or anything.
A dislike isn’t enough: you’re a fucking asshole. Alexis almost singlehandedly carried us the first part of the year. He is tired; he’s playing way too deep; he’s asked to do the work of two players by himself.
Downfall, such hyperbole.
@dabamot take sanchez off? You dont take messi or cr7 off even on “bad” day. Simply because they are messi and cr7.
Sanchez is one of 11. He has single handedly won us many games. Today he had his worse game. Take him off to get someone else in who would make an impact. Coquelin was doing the job no body wanted to do, a crucial job. When he took him off we lost our rhythm. your arguments are non nonsensical. He started the game, tried his best but was having a difficult time because he had three players surround him every time he had the ball then he tried to take them and lost the ball. Watch it back and see… Read more »
Special mention to Koscielny too. That lob and chesting the ball was awesome…
Laurent Aldinho
Great spirit, deja vu. Til next year.
Walcott came on and hid. Fucking hid inside the box. Disgrace
I agree he did nothing to justify coming on. H e hit the post when he should have scored. Ramsey scored but Theo should have in the first place. There’s only so much patience fans can have, and he’s testing it.
I thought the way he dug the shot out was pretty good
Thats why he is not playing. Just needs to get his shit together just as Ramsey did. Give the guy a break.
Amen to this remark though. Credit where credit’s due. Why is everyone jumping on theo? The poor guy has just come back from a cruciate injury. Out for am entire year! Some people either have absolutely no understanding of the impact that can have on a player or alternatively some of us are setting the bar way too high, too early. Give him a break
an*
Because most people on here just parrot what blogs says. Since he’s discounted Walcott as a vital player, fans’ attitude toward him on here as generally plummeted.
Theo’s constant reluctance to sign a contract and failure to impact games that he is being given has changed the attitude of the fans towards him, not blogs. Theo pretty much tested the patience of every Arsenal fan for the best part of 8 years with his indecision and poor reading of the game. He then went on a bit of a scoring spree and he was hitting the heights we hoped for him. Then he delays signing a contract, tells everyone how hard it has been for him and his family because he wasn’t getting £120,000 a week and… Read more »
Walcott has frequently gotten into goal-scoring positions, his problem right now is not converting them. But when you need 2 goals in 30 minutes, you have to take a chance and use his pace to your advantage. His presence led directly to the second goal, thought admittedly Walcott should’ve scored it himself.
I don’t know about his future value, but it was critical to use him in this game.
Yup, in my mind he’s done. I was never a big fan of him, maybe when he was younger, but not now. He doesn’t even try. A couple of times he was in a position to take on a player or even offer a run forward but he barely moved. Knowing we needed a goal to go through, knowing that if he doesn’t show something, he’ll probably be sold and spend the rest of the season on the bench. How much more motivation do you need?!
At this moment Ox is way ahead of Theo, sure theo can score (guess he will do once he starts finding match fitness again) but Ox is an all around better footballer. Wouldnt be surprised if Gnabry even surpass him in the pecking order. I’d say sell him abroad and try to get Reus, Draxler or someone else
We say that about Theo all the time, but Ox is nowhere better than him. We lost to Monaco because that’s what we do every season mess up in the 1st leg and try to save it in the 2nd leg. To be honest Theo is a better goal scorer than Ox or Gnabry or even Welbeck.
Theo needs to be loaned to Southampton to get his shit together like Ramsey did.
Walcott was shocking. He kept drifting inside and staying there doing nothing… inside of staying wide where there was space, and cutting inside at the right moment. I mean, the guy is reasonably fast and pretty damn good at timing his runs, yet he refuses to play to his strengths. Sell him.
I think that’s a little harsh on Theo. it doesn’t exactly play to his strengths when a team has 9 players in their penalty box.
Except Theo? He played 17 mins of normal time and hit the post. What’d you expect?
He hit the post and then dissapeared. He is at an age where he needs to take more responsibility. i expected him to be on the wing tormenting defender and whipping crosses in but he hid inside the box.
Not really a fan of his but to be fair to him it seemed as if he was told to play next to Giroud as a second striker, with Ramsey being on the right. Can’t really fault him for not being on the wing, as that wasn’t what he was instructed to do.
Yeah, Theo f×××ing Walcott
I cannot think of any player that didn’t give it 100 percent.
This was the first game where I thought Welbeck played very well. I hope Monaco go on and win the champions league 😀 – these are the first goals they have conceded in the tournament.
I think Sanchez still needs to learn when to pass the ball. He tries to do too much sometimes. A couple of times this season he has lost the ball which allowed the other team to break. But he will get better.
Some beautiful play otherwise.
Guess you didn’t catch the Galatasaray game?
Or, (regardless of overall match performance) Welbz turning into the Devilslayer and knocking out Man Ure outta the FA Cup.
Except we scored in the first leg…
On your point about effort like to point out ‘lazy’ ozil busting a gut 94th minute to halt a counter, ironically a similar counter that ultimate cost us this tie in the first game. He’s turned a corner..
Were we ever NOT gonna win that 2-0 tho lol fuckin hell
All good lads, we’ll get a few Facebook/twitter/Instagram/arsenal.com posts about how the players have learnt their lesson and they’ll bounce back, and then a few games later, they’ll give us the same weak shit
I’m an özil fan but personally think it should’ve been Cazorla at no 10 and ramsey alongside coquelin. Özil is a very useful player when you’re trying to win and stay comfortable, but not necessarily when you’re chasing a big goal haul. I thought I’d made peace with going out but I was wrong. Horrible feeling.
Ozil’ spass to Monreal created the second goal.,and Monreal had a good game.
Not disputing that özil had a good game, just think given the circumstances cazorla or rosicky would’ve gotten us off to a quicker star, which is what we needed.
Slate me if you wish. But Ozil is completely overrated. Sorry but Ramsey all day
Slated.
And that’d be a copy-paste trolling right there.
One of the game’s most prolific chance creators isn’t what you want when you’re chasing a big goal haul? I’ve been looking at the world all wrong.
I don’t think that Monaco were lucky. I think Arsenal and Arsene Wenger were very complacent in the first match. They should have taken the same approach as today from the first leg.
This is what you happens when you play like shit at home.
One person to blame Wenger.
You set up your team not to fucking lose at home, but no they have to go and blow it in one fucking match.
30 years supporting them and im fucking sick of it.
Same SHIT year in year out.
Did we lose the 1st leg because of tactical mistakes or player’s performance and naivety? Blame him all you want but the fact remains that we could be very well be going through had Giroud score 1 of his countless chances in the 1st leg, or Ox not going on a high after scoring and tried too hard and unfortunately giving them their 3rd goal. Imo there was no obvious flaw in the way we set up tactically in the home game, but our response and anxiety from not able to score and then to concede was the downfall, if… Read more »
XI and AK57, guys your both right, just so fucking angry at going out to the same mistakes again and again, after cooling down a little must say that it WAS a great effort by the lads tonight.
Still pissed off btw.
Would you blame for Girouds six yard miss or our defending for third goal. Players just didn’t perform that day. It’s not always managers fault.
Except it does not help that Wenger just stated post game he underestimated them in the first leg.
Bizarre and something I wish he had not admitted.
Theo played :-)?
FUCK FUCK FUCK.
Mind reader.
It was a good effort by the lads, ultimately screwed by that last goal we conceded at home. Have to say though I was a bit disappointed of our attacks in the final few minutes(probably tired), I was expecting someone like theo to really run at them (like bolasie in that final minute against us). That’s why I miss the ox a lot, most direct player in the team. Really gutted ,feels like I’ve been here before.. Oh wait.
Missed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain big-time, I agree. He really gets how to stretch a team by using the byline and the width of the pitch and we needed that threat to create a few extra yards of space for Mesut, Santi and Alexis. The team continues to evolve though and we were really unlucky not to have at least 2 more goals tonight.
I’m not sure how much impact theo has in a game like this. If it’s stretched, he’s amazing at exposing space but when we need to be direct against a team parking the bus, his game is unsuitable. Really wanted bodies and balls into the box after Rambos goal not attempts to play through them. Proud but utterly disappointed and so so disappointed to concede that late goal at our place.
For the most part I agree, but he positioned well when he hit the post leading to Ramsey’s goal, and when on is a good finisher. He didn’t contribute in the middle of the pitch, but the good positional attacking sense and finishing might have been what was desired. He was a body in the box, just not big.
So totally, horrifically, painfully, predictably Arsenal.
Premier League title will have to do.
Big shame, that last goal at home…
Well done the lads anyway, so close.
Monaco have conceded two goals in their previous 7 CL games. Puts our efforts in perspective, we did great.
“We did great.”
No, we went out. It’s two legs and we put ourselves in a huge hole. It’s the 4th straight time we’ve ‘won’ the away leg and still gone out of the competition in this round. I’m kind of over the “heroic effort” exit.
Did you watch Chelsea last week?
I’d rather a heroic effort than a laughable one.
Strongly agreed. The fact that you’re getting downvoted by many aptly shows the cyclical nature of the Arseblog comments section – after a win all negative comments are downvoted and after a loss all positive comments are downvoted, irregardless of the actual content of the comment. I’d take the stale, simple aggregate victory than the “heroic victory” after fucking up comically in the first leg any day of the week. The fact is that the boys themselves dug their own grave and they were 100% responsible for pulling us out, which they failed to do.
While I think we’d all prefer the stale victory, isn’t it self-evident that people are going to be a bit more upbeat after a win and a good performance, regardless of the context?
They will go far imo especially against Barca but ofc all with a bit of luck in not conceding first. All they need is one of the CBs of the opposition to barge forward.
Makes you wonder for that sucker punch goal couldnt have someone just stopped the fella from scoring. Jump on his back, take him out, anything. Keep score at 2-1 and take one for the team Then we would have had a chance today.
That said we can win the pl with this momentum coyg
Fuck it lets win the league
Steady on.
Fuck it. Let’s do the double!!
Before the game I’ve always felt its a tad too far to get the result required but at the same time I was sure we were going to win and getting through was to be huge bonus. All of the players ran themselves ragged and never gave up, Ozil tracking back and making the challenge at the last minute says it all. Shame that we didnt go through but I think theres such a different mood amongst the players and supporters this season compared to seasons before. Everyone was so positive and optimistic of our chances in this tie, we’re… Read more »
Doubt we can win the league but 2nd is a real possibility. Maybe we really can kick on and challenge further next year in Champions League. We’ve got to kick the habit of being nearly men
Let’s qualify for the Champions League in the league. If you didn’t notice we are 10 points away from Chelsea with 9 matches to go. Good with some optimism as long as it doesn’t get ridiculous. Which it does in this case. The league is over, we are yet again battling for 4th place.
What’s ridiculous is that despite our form in 2015, it’s obvious we’re battling for 2nd, not 4th.
Effort worthy of a standing ovation, great performance by our boys. Now focus on FA cup and chasing City in PL.
Good game from the lads at least they’ve tried and given everything. It’s the first leg that killed us
ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH……
Sanchez off the line.
Welbeck off the line.
A cunt referee.
Unlucky, but what a spirited performance by the guys, its 6 wins in a row, COYG!
Great performance, Ozil had his best game in Arsenal colors today, showed real heart, for the first time it seems. As an arsenal fan, I think we were due a heartbreak. Only imagine what the players must be feeling. Gutted, but Lets push on on two fronts, and show that cunt Mourinho what momentum we have. COYG!
Yeah last ten minutes Ozil was all-action trying to force the issue.
You wouldn’t think it if you listened to Scholes. So tired of all the Ozil-bashing at every opportunity. He was great tonight.
Özil was a beast today. Too bad Alexis is the one wearing the wellies now
Ozil and Cazorla, very intelligent. Just thought we should have kept on with our passing game till the last minute we would have got a goal instead of hounding long ones into the area. Thats when we were most effective and with added pressure i feel monaco would have crumbled. Maybe thats just me.
Special mention to cunt ref.
Epitomised by him sprinting back about 30 yards to chase their right winger in the 89th minute, win the ball and take the game back to Monaco. More of that please mesut!
The same old away goal rule. Some serious lessons to be learnt.
Now focus on the domestic challenge.
Actually, it seems we haven’t learned that lesson because we did it to ourselves again.
“To be” implies future tense. He has not said they have learned their lesson yet, but that they should or will.
You know what people on the Internet love? Grammar comments. But since you initiated it… The simple future of ‘to be’ is ‘will’, while ‘learnt’ is the past participle (here used with the infinitive, which could just as easily imply present tense). However, since you’re all imply-ish, given the preceding statement—”The same old away goals rule.”—the author of the comment is implying this seems to have happened before. And it’s actual fact that it has happened before, quite recently no less (Bayern). So regardless of what tense you think his second sentence might have been implying, he was recognizing this… Read more »
I’d rather share a beer with Daniel and SB to be honest, you sound like a right bore, taking out your frustration on others.
Well if you’re really going to get into it, ‘to be learnt’ is not a simple future. It is a future perfect, which means it refers to the future, not the present or past. It has not been learned, but the statement says it will (may) be in the future, regardless of the tense of learnt.
The previous sentence has no bearing because one would not combine conflicting tenses in this way for a Lit paper.
Thankfully this is the comment section of a football blog, not a lit paper.
How did we go out to this shower of shite?
Quel surprise – the plucky 2-0 win I predicted. Still, plenty to play for. Come on you gunners!!!
Absolutely gutted, but proud of our boys, we gave our all. I love this fucking team. Lets settle for the league and FA cup. COYG!!
Such heartbreak of a match.. How much of cunt was that ref tho!!
ref wasn’t perfect but he was better than what we get 9 times out of 10 in England
Great effort by the team, but I really didn’t expect us to go through. Now let us win the FA cup and finish second in the league.
I am so so so proud of the manager and the players. There is no two ways about it Monaco were so fucking lucky.
There CB on the floor just blocking the ball… Hitting the post twice. There keeper being in a lucky position and blocking that Sanchez/giroud header.
Ozil/Ramsey/giroud missing chances which were so so so so so so close.
I love you arsenal.
It was good positoning by the keeper. Not luck.
Hi mate, must be new. Welcome to Arsenal !!
I know there will be a lot of comments on the naivety of the 3rd goal in the first leg, and many more criticising the profligacy of Giroud and moaning that we should now be through, we’ve made the same mistake over and over, etc… But a salute to the boys is the order of the day I reckon. Giroud with a phoenix like performance, what a way to stick it up the arses of all those haters for him. And Ozil has no legs? The 95th minute and he was the one that followed Carasco all the way down.… Read more »
Right on with the phoenix-like performance! Even more for Laurent Koscielny he was a killer tonight. They crapped themselves tonight – they knew by the end of that match that they weren’t as good as us. Great team performance and victory.
And when we fight a whole 38-game season to qualify for this competition, win or lose we’ve earned the right to hold our heads up high. Fuck any naysayers & media jazzholes and their negativity on how we performed in it. We are The Arsenal.
Another glorious failure. Oh well we won I guess…
Oh do fuck off
You’re well named, except for the “W”.
Its always nearly with us and lets face it that Fa cup could have been another nearly had it not been for a gibbs halfway line clearance. We haven’t seen the last 8 of this competition in over 5 years. We haven’t looked like serious title contenders for what? 5, 6 , 7 years? This is so frustrating its unbelievable. Now a top 4 place and an Fa cup to round off another nearly season. Expect more in the CL, league & transfer window next season.
Have we ever gone through on away goals!!!!????
Deja vu 🙁
The performance was great but it doesn’t change the fact that we have exited Europe in the 8th Final once more. Another “Glorified exit from Europe”
Let me share a proverb from my country: ” The wife and children of the Hunter who ALMOST killed an elephant will sleep with their stomachs empty.”
This calls for some serious soul searching.
We won the battle but lost the war, the boys can take heart from this performance and crush reading en route to retaining the FA Cup while believing in the impossible in the league.
COYG
Can you not do all this nonsense tomorrow and just give the boys some praise. I really am sick to death of types like you, seriously you’re not needed, do us all a favour and take your ‘support’ elsewhere.
Unbelievably harsh. Did you bother reading his last sentence?
Does everyone have to play by your rules? Read the comments policy for this site, and please kindly point out which one of those rules he breaks.
Ozil MOTM for us tonight. He tried his best, and nobody can say he is lazy or uninterested or that he doesn’t fight enough on the pitch.
Well…nobody safe that Scholes cunt, who looked offended by a jersey swapped at HT. Such a minimum brain would think it was the reason why Gunners didn’t go ahead in UCL…
But why would anyone want to kill or eat an elephant? Just saying… lol. Just support your team and don’t eat elephants.
WTF are you killing Elephants for! Fucking right they should go hungry, go kill something not endangered haha
I felt that it was wrong to substitute Coquelin. I think Ramsey would had had much more freedom if Coq stayed on. But that is becoming frustrating, we really don’t have any luck like Monaco had, or Bayern… If something goes wrong it always goes against us.
So close and yet so far! Unlikely, and yet so very predictable…
Well done lads, good effort, but its all a bit deja vue again isn’t it?
Yeah, well done. BLAH BLAH. Same shit different year. Last 20 minutes lumping the ball into the box without any real idea. No, we didn’t do enough. No, this wasn’t our best. It wasn’t helped by the ref either, allowing Monaco players to systematically foul us throughout the game. Yes, I am disappointed and angry. Let’s just win the FA Cup and hope that next season we don’t fuck everything up by October.
If you think this win will help the players’ confidence you are dead wrong. This will probably bring us down even more. The fact that they barely touched the ball and had no shots on target (probably 4 throughout the tie) and we didn’t qualify will probably raise some doubts. I hope this is not the case.
I was going to constructively criticise your comment but its not worth it. The thumbs will tell you how wrong you are
The thumbs will tell me how many people have a different opinion to mine.
so near and yet so far….we were woeful in the first leg…we had a really good chance to progress to later stages of UCL this season…tactics and preparation wise, we are better than the most but are way behind Europe’s best…someone like Pep and Simeone would definitely have worked wonders with the same set of players…but hey, we will still finish 4th and board will not hold any one accountable again…yayyyyyyyy
That result just goes to show that we should have put Monaco comfortably to the sword over two legs, but yet again we panicked prematurely in the first leg. Great performance though. MOTM between Kos, Per, Montreal, Coq, Santi, Ozil or Giroud for me.
That was the tragedy of this match; either the team was terrible again and gave us fresh reason to be frustrated, or they played well and still lost, giving us the chance to recycle those old feelings of frustration we all thought we’d gotten over by now.
The Champions League knockout stage is just a sick opportunity to make a convincing and dominant win against established opposition feel like someone’s cut the top of your head off.
Yep, Monaco are crap if you ask me – was a total travesty to lose to them in the first leg.
If only one of the chances Giroud had would have gone in. I’m sure the team wouldn’t have got so desperate to score. Having said that, they should have realised that there was plenty of time left in the tie – even a 0-1 at home wouldn’t have been bad against that opposition.
No they are not crap. They have one of the best defenses in Europe.
That’s part of the problem, Arsenal unerestimating them from the first leg.
So near so far, de ja vu, groundhog day etc etc blah blah
Well, at least our exit was less embarrassing than Chelsea’s.
i can’t feel my head anymore, anyone there to help me verify if it’s still on my neck?
That last goal. That last goal.. Am gonna throw-up
Paul Scholes’ vendetta against Ozil is utterly boring. Total gobshite.
He’s really boring and miserable isn’t he?
It annoys me how people (primarily the TV companies employing them) think players’ opinions are worth more than anyone else’s because they played once upon a time, or that because they were a ‘great’ player that means their opinion counts more than someone who wasn’t as good.
His opinions are pretty much the same as a bloke down the pub, but somehow we’re supposed to drink them in like they’re ambrosia (not the custard).
Steady on! Robbie Savage was never a great player…
Hats off to the ref, really good use of the magic eight ball when making decisions.
Same old shit. Fuck the positives.
Football must be shit when you hate your own team…
EVERYTHING IS SHIT!
I don’t hate Arsenal. I hate losing against a team we should be beating over two legs. I went to the home leg and it was a joke. Not giving Monaco respect was a danger and we paid the price. I go to every home game and have been since the Emirates was built. So my emotions run high and low with the results of the team. And this one hurts more than most!
wenger got his tactics spot on today. got the balance between defending well and going for it correct, and this was backed up by splendid performances all round the field- from kos bossing the defence all night like a lion and mertersecker making dozens of interceptions to giroud battling like a ram and Ramsey coming on to make a difference, this was a great showing. However, walcott’s performance is really questionable. granted he didnt have much time to make an impact, but the way he was happy to just jog around and be a passenger is really getting frustrating. he… Read more »
I blame the blue kit.
well…not much to say i guess, we should be known as the “almost did it” team, is kinda our motto. So mad we threw this away in the first leg against freaking monaco lol. Im not Welbeck biggest fan but why Arsene took him for Walcott? Welbeck at least was trying to do something. Infuriated because again we do the same, as every fkin year lately we give away the first leg, but oh well. Lets get that FA cup at least
Loved Paul Scholes as a player despite his cuntish team. As a pundit he is an absolute fucking arsehole.
Ozil was our best player by a mile tonight yet all this cunt and these other idiots, dixon and manu included are waffling pre rehearsed bullshit about how poor he has been,
Thumbed you down for your first sentence, despite agreeing with everything else you said in spades. Paul Scholes was an utter cunt of a player, one of the dirtiest tacklers in the game, and football became better when he left.
The away goals rule needs to die.
Damn heroic idiots
That ref looked like a proper cunt in the stadium. It made me and Bob cry.
Merte – “The better team qualified”. Maybe defensively since you messed us up in the first leg for all three goals!
Errr yeah, it was definitely all Per’s fault…
He definetly had a part in it.
It was a good performance from him today, but I’m afraid the reason we conceded three goals against a team that hasn’t scored much this season was because of Per bumming forward. They could have easily fucked us the same way as a fortnight ago today because you just cant rely on fricking offside traps. Not scoring great chances happen every game mate but conceding three like that cant be excused.
Also, fuck the away goals rule.
Unless it is our team who go through by it? C’mon. We deserved to go out after that first shit performance at the Emirates. It was embarrassing.
Granted I’m annoyed because it affected us, but I agree with this, whoever it affects.
Take the Chelsea game last week for example. As much as I found it hilarious that they went out, why does the away team get 30 mins more to score an away goal in the second leg?
I don’t think it makes for good TV any more (as it was intended to do when it was introduced) because teams are scared to concede at home, and it renders the 2nd leg meaningless in most ties.
Fucking proud of every single player out there today, gave it their all and delivered a performance we can be happy with. Its the disaster at the Emirates that killed us.
Two things though:
I do kind of wish Rambo started, looked really good when he came on and got us within touching distance of the miracle.
and
I don’t really understand why Theo replaced Welbeck, probably should have been Alexis given the way they were playing?
Wow, did Alexis dump the Ref before the match… Clearly something was going on there.
Good performance, but I’m still really dissapointed. Newcastle, you’re next!
This is the best i’ve seen Oezil play for a long time now. If only he did this more often, i would’ve made a telling difference to our league position.
He has been doing this since he came back… from the injury/rest… that kept him out of league games… that you are blaming him for not making a difference in…
Cunt of a rule is away goals
Özil was incredible.
And everybody else too (maybe just except TW). Tonight was a great game but unfortunately the first leg score proved too difficult to overcome. Also credit to Monaco for defending very well
Also props to Ozil, I thought that was one of the best games he’s played for us. He was tracking back and putting a foot in even in the 95th minute…
History repeats. Sigh. At least we made them sweat. Maybe next year guys! (lol)
Not a popular view but we were never going to win it so its best to try and enjoy the ride. Tonight was fun and if never lying down is ‘typical arsenal’ then im proud to be a goon.