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Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Gibbs, Alexis, Ozil, Giroud
Subs: Ospina, Debuchy, Arteta, Flamini, Campbell, Gabriel, The Jeff
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Arsenal were masters of their own downfall, defending poorly, scoring an own goal, and missing a penalty which could have saved a point, as they lost 2-1 to West Brom at the Hawthorns today. The Gunners welcomed back Hector Bellerin to the starting line-up with Kieran Gibbs selected on the left hand side, with Alexis moving over to the right.
There was plenty of possession for us in the opening stages but West Brom sat off and sat deep to deny us space in the final third. The game was just 11 minutes old when Arsenal’s injury problems got worse. Francis Coquelin jarred his knee in a 50-50 with Claudio Jacob, and was unable to continue. He was replaced by Mikel Arteta.
Alexis Sanchez was the first man to test the West Brom keeper, curling a nice free kick over the wall but Boaz Myhill made a solid save to deny the Chilean. The home side got offside a lot, Arsenal probed and pressed but found it hard to make the right pass in the final third.
However, in the 28th minute the deadlock was broken from a set-piece. Alexis was fouled 30 yards from goal, on the right hand side of the West Brom box from an attacking point of view, set up perfectly for the left foot of Mesut Ozil.
The German curled in the free kick, Giroud timed his run really well and flicked a header past the keeper from close range. 1-0. Another goal for the Frenchman, and yet another assist for Ozil. That was followed by Kieran Gibbs curling a shot over the bar, and Sessegnon hitting the Arsenal wall from a free kick in a dangerous position.
The Baggies were level in the 36th minute after being awarded a very soft free kick in midfield. It was curled into our box, towards the back post, James Morrisson got the wrong side of Bellerin and dinked a lovely finish over Cech into the net. 1-1. The defending was poor, true of both goals.
It got better for Tony Pulis’ side a few minutes later. After Ozil was robbed in the West Brom half, they broke down the left, McClean fizzed a cross in, Cech missed it, it hit off Arteta’s hand then his knee, and into the net. 1-2.
The score remained the same at the break, leaving the Gunners with a lot to do in the second period.
They started brightly with Alexis winning a free kick, and Ozil hitting the post with the keeper well beaten. However, there was more injury woe when Mikel Arteta, having come on for Coquelin in the first half, had to go off with a calf problem and was replaced by Mathieu Flamini.
Olivier Giroud wanted a penalty for this (but didn’t get one), and splendid work in the box from Alexis set up Gibbs who saw his shot blocked. At the other end Rondon fired over from a good position when he could have punished Arsenal further, while Petr Cech had to make a good save to deny McClean who had beaten the Arsenal offside trap.
A beautifully disguised Ozil pass almost put Flamini through on goal but Johnny Evans got back to deny the Frenchman a shot, before Arsene Wenger made his final change bringing on Joel Campbell for Gibbs in the 63rd minute.
The Costa Rican had a glorious chance to equalise just moments later but fluffed his lines in a big way. Cazorla found him at the back post, his run was excellent but he mis-kicked it and it dribbled to safety from West Brom’s point of view.
A Chris Brunt corner caused all kinds of problems in the Arsenal area, the ball headed onto the bar and down, but the referee awarded an Arsenal free kick for offside. At the business end, Arsenal pressed and looked to create openings, an Ozil cross was headed away, and the ball almost fell for Alexis in the box but his touch let him down allowing Myhill to take the ball.
The home side worked like terriers to deny Arsenal any time or space, but there was a lifeline when Alexis was hauled down in the box with just 6 minutes to go. Santi Cazorla stepped up to take the penalty, but slipped just as he kicked it and sent the ball over the bar.
It was hard not to think that was the chance Arsenal needed to get something out of the game. Giroud saw an attempt blocked at the near post, Koscielny had a late volley routinely saved, and that was that.
A poor performance coupled with costly mistakes saw us lose for the first time since the Chelsea game, and with more injuries, it was a day that couldn’t have been much worse.
What a terrible match, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
Coquelin injured, 2 super soft goals conceded, penalty miss, Arteta at fault for two goals (he wasn’t even watching for the first), Pulis. Even Chelsea won.
I hope that is a one-off, a day to forget.
It’s hard to understand having Ozil and Sanchez in the team our penalty taker is a guy who hasn’t scored in almost a year.
It adds unnecessary pressure to a crucial penalty.
Cazorla choked. Bottled it. Oh well. Us Being behind Manchester Utd at this stage of the season is seriously stupid. They’ll win the league again before we do.
Are you sure? Man U looked crap as usual today…and celebrating a win against Watford like the FA Cup final!
That’s the worry, they play poorly and get 3 points, we play poorly and get nothing!
I’m not saying ManU are going to win it this but the usual issues like injuries and getting physiologically important results (a win against the Tots or today would have taken us top atleast briefly)!
At least they had something to celebrate…
Here we go again. Buckle up fellow Gooners. This season could be the most painful one yet.
Well, both Ozil and Sanchez missed the last penalty that they took for us. Cazorla is definitely the number 1 penalty taker. Shit happens. Hopefully Coq’s injury isn’t serious.
Agreed that Santi is our number 1 penalty taker. But still, in a game that everything is going against us, I would put goalscoring form above penalty duties. It is one thing to take a penalty when you are winning or level in the first half than in the middle of a shit performance losing in the 87th minute.
Well Santi did score for Spain and if we really looking at goal scoring form then i guess it would be Giroud!
He slid and it happens. We move on to the next game, recover and beat the stuffing out of some team. COYG!!!
first penalty this year and I think santi was somewhat overconfident like he scored already 4-5 penalties and he tried to chip it in the middle and with his foot little movements he slipped, if he gone for placement he would scored and not slipped whit the one foot would be strong standing on the ground, but it’s hopeless to talk now what if, for this game like someone said everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and it it’s just a blip. For the next weekend we will have couple of players back and will push it, anyone… Read more »
Unfortunately Cow’s injury appeared to be a ligament. If so he is out for months. Still don’t know why none of the injured were ready after the interlull.Today has been a “Black Saturday.” All we needed is for a black cat to run across the pitch. I’m sick right now. We need to get healthy and get healthy quick or we are going to fade from the pack at top.
Its hard to argue with cazorlas penalty record. If you look at alexis and mesuts they aint great either. There was something in the air tonight that made all gunners sit there thinking santis gonnna miss this one.
Fuck.
Had Ozil or Alexis missed the PK, people would have said, Cazorla should have played it.
I’m a big believer in strikers taking them .
Bad day at the office . Still . City are 2-0 down to the mug smashers
3 goals for Spain in 2015, but don’t let facts bother you.
Guess what. We’re fourth. Lolzzz
Which is what Wenger is aiming at – so job done if we can hold it.
Oh look, one shit day and all the retards show up
ONE shit day?Do you suffer from AmnesiaOlympiacos,Zagreb,Sheiffeld,Bayern we had enough shit days already to last the season and are out of two competitions in November,with the league looking increasingly distant by the day.Unless we win the FA cup again and finish at-least second,this season would be worse than the previous one.This after our manager CHOSE not to buy any outield player in the summer
2 points off top hardly looking distant. Are Leicester going to win the league then? Long way to go.
Yup, year after year it’s the same story lines. Change some of the teams around that we lose to. Various players with injuries. Various players filing in for others in various positions. Then rely on players that you don’t have confidence in from the start because they don’t play much (Campbell, arteta, bendter , and various others over the years). Then those players make mistakes because they’re off the pace and not used to playing day after day.
Seems Wenger doesn’t manage to keep the benchers sharp. Does he let them play monopoly while starting XI are training ? We cannot win all games but nothing stop us from throwing away games that could have been easy.
Don’t approve of your turn of phrase, but do agree with the sentiment.
Its been a shit ten years mate…With a few bright sports very recently thrown in.
Watch your offensive language
We have lost 3 of our last 5 games winning 1. So already it is not a once off defeat.
Aye, it’s a worry. And more worrying than the result was the performance and attitude. It was so clear from the beginning that we hadn’t shown up, Sanchez aside.
Shake my head.
Everyone but Sanchez, who can operate the reel-player, should be forced to watched this monogrammed nightmare unfold over and over Clockwork Orange style.
We’ve experienced many one-offs already,this season.
Does anyone know our own goal stats? It seems like we lose as many games from own goals as man u win, benefitting from own goals.
Arteta was man of the match
Won’t be a popular opinion with anyone on here. But ozil will never be a player who will ever produce when it’s tough. Plays well when the team plays well. Fucking useless when we’re struggling. Waste of money
Despite another assist to make it 7 matches in a row? His PL record…
Ozil is not to blame. No one is really!! Not even Cazorla. It was just a shitty day.
Had an assist (7th straight game in PL) today. Have your vision checked or get a new TV.
How is this Ozil’s fault? He picked up some good passes throughout the game. He did struggle in the second half but to blame Ozil for today’s loss makes no sense at all.
Not sure which game you watched but Ozil was, bar Alexis and Flamini (when he came on), were the standouts of this game.
Things didn’t go well but following the media lemmings is kinda lazy.
A truly crass comment. As soon as things don’t go our way, some people just can’t wait to get the “everything is shiiiiit” bandwagon rolling. Is this the way you people treat every setback in your own lives?
I truly pity your families. If they haven’t already disowned you.
No need to get all deep mate. Never said anything about ” everything is shit”. Still love the arsenal, still love AW, still love all our players. Just pointing out something which i have noticed. Look over the games ozil has shone in in his arsenal career and you’ll realise most of the them have been games that the whole team has played awesome in. all i said is that he isn’t a guy to really get you out of trouble when you’re having a shit game. no bandwagons, nothing to do with the media. My family have not disowned… Read more »
Not concerned. Just surprised. Honestly, sometimes you just need to stop and think before writing. It helps to find perspective. As you grow up you’ll learn this. There we are, free advice. Your lucky day.
cheers for the life lessons.
The point is Ozil doesn’t perform against class opposition or when we’re in a hole. I tend to agree
West Brom isn’t class opposition. Man U are and Ozil was great in that game.
You are WRONG about the wizard mate!
Don’t you think that they might be having an awesome day because the assist king is having a good one. Google correlation it may come handy in your next assessment of Ozil.
Are you Paul Scholes in disguise?
this comment is so perfect. People were actually saying ‘this is why we should have bought a better no.9″ i don’t think i remember a team that went and won every game. even barcelona have slip ups.
What the fuck are you smoking?
Short memory Aussie gooner. Only have to go back one league game ffs.
That’s BS
Ozil , bellerin and cech have been our best players all season
One of the stupidest comments I have ever seen on this forum. SMH, just smh
Agree that Ozil was never in it today, very poor by his standards, but no way has he been or will he be a waste of money. He’s world class and sometimes the others around him need to do their bit too.
1 win, 3 defeats now in our last 5 games. Really really poor performance. Far to flat, very disappointed.
I defeat vs Sheff Wed in a competition that even Tottenham try not to take seriously. One to Bayern Munich who, and I may be alone here, I hi I are actually quite good at football.
Suddenly the cold hard stats just don’t tell the whole story.
When you go out of competitions, no matter how small. Or when you get beaten heavily by a team it affects confidence and moral, of the team as a whole, i think you seen that in our performance today. If you are willing to accept that a 5-1 defeat no matter who youre are playing, then so be it! But i dont accept it! We should have played like we did at home! We then narrowly drew against Spurs. And we lost today, Suddenly the stats kind of do tell the whole story.
And still were well placed in the table. Yeah, maybe the stats do tell the whole story. I just can’t understand he attitude which moans and whines as soon as anything bad happens. Sometimes you just have to suck it up.
arteta. useless.
I love me some Santi but I honestly think Giroud should have taken that penalty. Santi hadn’t scored in 34 games. Didn’t seem confident at all.
One of those games…
Sad to see a player as intelligent as Cazorla being beaten in mind games. Could the other players have done more in the situation? No one except Giroud seemed to object. :/
Well that was awful. When did Arteta become an egg?
Poster 1: This is Wenger’s fault for not signing any outfield player in the summer – a ridiculous decision. Poster 2: What exactly are the medical staff doing? Someone needs to perform a thorough investigation into our constantly recurring injuries. I’m so tired of it. Poster 3: So dejected right now. And made even worse by the fact that Chelsea and Man U won. Poster 4: It’s the players’ fault and not Wenger’s. How is Wenger meant to stop so many missed chances? There is no fight in the team. *Cue argument several posts long* Poster 5: We need to… Read more »
We dont hear from you when we’re winning games
And that folks is why we won’t win the league
Hold on, City are losing 3-0 to Liverpool, heh.
Why does anyone give a shit anymore if Chelsea wins? They’re not even close to top 10 anymore, their season is “being fucked.” (I love that quote.) We’re still 2 points of the top, no one else in the top half of the table is really miles better than we are, and we have a lot of players coming back. Today we were shit, but the weird thing about this year is that we might be able to get away with it every once in a while. Only real worry is the Coq injury. Looks like no more Ramsey on… Read more »
Bellerin looked very ineffective, let their left winger breach through a number of times. I don’t think he trusts his own crossing either.
How many other teams have to substitute their substitutes because of injury? Only at Arsenal…
Lol….and surprisingly, its happened a few times too..
Another bad day in the office, but eh, shit happens. Feels a bit better now that i know that man city lost………at least we didnt get walloped 4 1 at home!
This seems like it was one of those days where nothing went right, two injuries, an own goal and a missed penalty, no doubt we didn’t get any luck at all. It’s also not the end of the world, because we’re only two points off the top, max 3 if City win if expected. HOWEVER Some serious concerns. The injury situation is frankly ludicrous – must be sorted out ASAP. I thought we’d fixed it last season, but clearly there are still issues. The squad looks severely stretched. I like to think I am quite forgiving and patient to our… Read more »
Exactly!! There’s simply no excuse for losing this game. Manure had injury problems and somehow managed to beat a better team in Watford.
We just don’t have the mentality to win the league.
Will be interesting to see what the Arteta apologists come up with now…..
Even Zidane scored own goals.
Yeah. …In between scoring winning goals v in world cup and champions league finals…
Lets have a pop at Mick shall we?…
Time to react now on Tuesday. Fingers crossed for Coq, we need Ramsey back ASAP. Desperately missing his energy
We miss his energy, but we miss his skill and intelligence even more, I think.
It’s what happens if you don’t strengthen the squad as Wenger should have.
Did the £70 million not come rushing on with 5 minutes to go to score a Messi type hat trick ? No….?….Not really surprising is it ? But the Wenger is infallible – at least according to more than half the posters on here he is – and the world will end if and when he leaves.
So I guess we’ve got plenty more of the same to come ?
sometimes clubs don’t win football matches. At least that’s been my experience. It seems that many others haven’t had that experience. I wish I could live in that world. I’ll just have to stick with reality instead. What a downer.
None of which addresses the central – and obvious – point that I made.
Your reply was rather like Campbell’s effort – a tad wide of the post.
Oh god , another one.
We have, what is it, 10 players out injured. How big a squad do you think we should have? And when they’re all fit, what do you do?
Prior to today we were joint top of the league in points. I fail to see just how losing today is quite as apocalyptic as you do.
Oh, and as I write, Citeh are losing 2-0. See, doesn’t matter how much money you spend, sometimesyou still lose matches.
Hope this helps you to understand a little better.
The man target is fourth sat to him by the board. With this squad he dam sure will achieve it, why spend 70 million to creat depth and have no injuries exucses to use and won’t be able to answer the board after spending this money why he could not won the league.
Different year to be exact 5th and still ……
Arsene IS the problem even if his cult in this site will tell us otherwise.
So lets once again attack Henry for saying we needed at least two more additions, cover for coq and a striker, just cause everyone else is also saying what our legend said doesnt mean its wrong. It was simply “obvious”. No one said this team isnt good, what they all said was Arsenal are “couple of players” short to be up there… If only our owners bank accounts would win us those couple of matches that wins you the league… Pppffff
So im in holiday in fiji, in the back of my mind not telling my mrs the most thing im excited for is watching the gunners play on Saturday with a sleep in on Sunday and smacking the mini bar. Wow, what a fucking let down. Mini bars gone, United top of the league, and we missed a penalty.
Oh to be a gooner.
At least it’s Leicester top, for the moment.
It’s November.
We defend badly on too many occasions to be serious title contenders. And I have finally made my mind up on that this season having flirted with the idea that we were going to win the league this season.
Simple fact is we are too easily beaten to be consistent enough to be champions.
Today’s performance and the overall events were another classic example of an oh so typical Arsenal performance, where we simply cannot get the job done against hugely inferior opposition.
My posts keep going into moderation and coming out hours after.,,,,,so you will probably never read this, but my view on the game is, it’s one of those games, but I am getting really pissed about our injuries!
Industrial player or two required.
Absolutely shit. Injuries. Shit goals. Confidence sapping.
I like Arteta as a person and even as a player, but the fact that he can’t play half a game without an injury is now becoming a joke, and frankly, a liability.
Totally unacceptable result today.As usual when a team stands up to us were clueless and spineless.cazorla not only missed the pen but went missing all game and what the fuk was Gibbs playing for instead of Campbell unbelievable team selection.This is the kind of result that shows why we won’t win the league
Would have prefered for Gibbs to stay on & for Campbell to stay on the bench to be honest. The look on the managers face when Campbell fluffed his chance…Can see Campbell being shipped out first day of the next window.
Um, Gibbs was one of our best players, and when Campbell replaced him, he missed a sitter, so I doubt Arsene choosing Gibbs over Campbell in this game will be a defining factor on whether we win the league.
This is all too familiar.
You do not win titles when you defend like that. So many careless mistakes.
Campbell oh campbell
After that “Gervinho vs. Bradford” moment, I think Joel’s off in either of the next two windows. Abject all around, though.
We signed Arteta to a 1 year contract hopefully this is the last season of him and the proper replacement comes in.
Coq big injury, that’s it then…ffs!
Only glad were not playing villa next week so we can avoid more embarrassment
Let’s not overreact… should have won, injuries are becoming a joke as usual but thus is still a very very good team. The best team we’ve had in recent times. Stay positive gooners and carry on getting behind the team. As long as we are still hot on the heels of the top teams come the new year we have a very very good chance of winning the league
I admire your optimism very very much 🙂
As do I
The performance wasn’t terrible, in fact some of our play in the final third was decent, especially the supposedly jaded Alexis, who was the only one who seemed to be able to make a difference. No, this defeat was down to several bad decisions: 1. Bringing on Arteta for Coquelin was a big, big mistake. He is not at the races these days sadly. He may be, as Wenger puts it a good figure in the changing room and he frequently bigs up our own players, which is nice. But he offers nothing at all on the pitch. He is… Read more »
And who’s to blame for all this?
Wenger. Others will blame the players for not performing, but Wenger picks the team, sorts the tactics, probably with little input from his coaches I imagine. Then sticks by them and wears them down until they get injured. I know we’re only in November, but we’ve already had about 20 injuries, some of them are out until the new year. Who is to say Alexis, Ozil, Cazorla or others will get injured, because I can tell you what. The returning players will get injured again and again. They always do.
I’ve been a reader and poster on this site for several years. I have been called maccarules, rich, some variation on santi cazorla’s name etc etc. Point is, chuffy has made some bang on points here, Fat Gooner is right to ask whose door the blame lays at (Wenger’s), and the down voting is weak and misjudged. Other facts: I am eating peri peri chicken and cous cous. It’s nice. 1)There is a certain lethargy about Wenger’s recent arsenal sides, that you do not see in other premier league teams. 2) There is a certain apparent mental and physical weakness… Read more »
The tragicomedy continues. Sunday league defending, Sunday league penalty taking.
1) This sucks.. Like all Arsenal losses.. More so because we were the masters of our downfall. 2) Let’s face it.. Our policy regarding sending our bright young talents on loan and then not adding to our outfield is going to hurt us over the next month. 3) Our squad depth is only on paper.. Because as it is half of those injured are always injured.. Every year.. 4) Manure is top.. That shows how sucky we are.. Coz they are super-sucky.. 5) Fuuuuuccckkkkkkkkkkkk 6) Please don’t play Campbell again.. He doesn’t cross, he doesn’t score and he doesn’t create..… Read more »
And this is why we’re not going to win the title this season. Why wenger thought it was smart to bring in Arteta instead of Flamini i’ll never understand. Dumb subs like this cost us points and the eventually the title. As for Arteta, the less said the better. Anyone who defends him after this is just being a “lego haired” fan. He is past it; simple as that. No excuse for him to still be with us. Put him in the coaching staff if you love the sight of his hair sooo bad. Campbell is doing himself no favors.… Read more »
Some knee jerk reactions: 1. I love Mikel, but it looks like it’s over for him, which is a damn shame. It’s telling that Flamini has overtaken him in the pecking order. Hope we can retain the FA Cup again to give El Capitan a deserving send off. 2. Joel Campbell provides absolutely nothing in the final third: can’t dribble, can’t pass forward, can’t beat defenders with pace, can’t last 90 minutes. All he ever does is pass sideways/back. In short: not good enough. 3. Injuries are killing us. And what’s making it worse is the non starting 11 (Ox,… Read more »
Have you been drinking gooooooner ??
Article should start out with “Arsene Wenger was the master of our downfall”
The only real worry I can take away from this match is the extent of Coq’s injury. We missed him after he was replaced by Arteta, who with little match practice and persistent injuries, is past his best. I think for a lot of us, it would have been the only area of the pitch where we may have questioned the quality of the squad depth at the beginning of the season. Aside from all else, yes it was poor/unlucky but with Rambo and the Ox back next week, plus Theo the week after, I am really not that fussed.… Read more »
And that’s why:
1) Campbell doesn’t start
2) This should be Arteta’s last season with the club
Don’t know why so many people are reacting so badly, as fans we’re well used to it at this stage. How many seasons have we had countless stupid losses to the likes of West Brom. We’ve a lot of injuries, which happens every season and no team can cope with so many injuries. Unfortunately until the injuries get sorted out we’re going to lose games like this. Even the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich can struggle and lose games when they’ve many injuries. We had Kieran Gibbs playing as a winger, just let that sink in. Although… Read more »
Over 70% possession 11 chances and 1 goal. That’s why we won’t win the league. We can moan all we like about an injury list that we get every year but we needed and still need a world class striker and an additional holding midfielder to compete with and challenge the coq. We got neither and it will end up the same as it always does. Fucking sad really
This was like one of those games you play on FIFA where nothing you do, including cheating, goes well for you.
This match highlighted how vital Coq has been for us. I am sure we would not have conceded more than one if he had played the entire match. Arteta is sadly a liability now. As bad as this defeat may feel, there’s no reason to be pessimistic, because there are still a lot of matches to be played and we’re right there in the mix. Defeats such as this one will happen in the course of a season. What matters is how quickly we can recover from it. We need the fresh legs of Ramsey and Theo to come back… Read more »
City losing 2-0. We should be distancing ourselves instead we are sitting around ripping on our team. Get it together Arsene. Buy some gritty players We need another CDM and a striker. Could be 6 points ahead already
When the pressures on we crumble all the time we have a blip now till Xmas then Wenger will say we got as good as 3 new signings in welbeck Walcott and Wilshire so don’t needs to add then we have a nice 3 or 4 months un beaten to finish in top 4 again ?
Another chance to be 1st, another chance wasted. Arsenal, what else?
Wish we had klopp
Me too. On the Saturday when Klopp already begins to show his outstanding abilities, our tired old manager puts out a side which was uninspiring and insipid.
What was worse than the defeat was the worrying injury to Le Coq. A long-tern lay-off of the Frenchman could devastate our season. By refusing to address our deficiencies in that position last summer Wenger was criminally negligent. And what was Campbell doing on the pitch? He contributed nothing and missed a sitter. He’s an average player.
But don’t worry: we’re still in the top four – and that’s all that matters.
November, one point off our main rivals for the title and two off the surprise leaders.
Le Coq is worrying though we have three ‘easy’ league games coming up. Let’s see how we are placed for the City match and if he is back then, we have a month before that home game.
I don’t usually comment on here but the outpouring of “fans” when our beloved club have an off day/lose a game is staggering. After the atrocities of Paris which unsettled so many players, Kos in particular, players returning from injury, some 8-9 first team players out is it surprising we didn’t play at our fluent best. We’ll lose games this season, as will others around us. Reaching for the “spend money card” – £££ Man C are currently losing 3-0 to Liverpool – or, the “Wenger out” card is just too easy. The season is long and there’ll be many… Read more »
I’ve read some of the comments here. It seems all the moaners have come to out to play once again. You never hear from them when we’re doing well.