Result: Arsenal 1-1 Wolves
Competition: Premier League
Date: 11th November 2018
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Torreira, Ozil, Iwobi, Aubameyang, Lacazette
Subs: Cech, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Ramsey, Mkhitaryan, Nketiah
Arsenal drew with Wolves 1-1 in a game that had a below-par Gunners lucky to have earned a point in the race to keep pace with the league’s top 4.
Unai Emery made wholesale changes from the game against Sporting Lisbon with only the in-form duo of Rob Holding and Alex Iwobi keeping their places in the starting line-up.
The match started with Arsenal keeping possession of the ball patiently in a bid to break down an organized Wolves side. Aubameyang started on the left but could have been seen making regular incursions into the forward areas to support Lacazette in the early stages of the match.
It wasn’t until the 6th minute where we saw the first flash point of the game. Iwobi’s dribble into the box was stopped by a body check by a Wolves defender. The force of the knock saw the Nigerian hit the ground but calls for a penalty were waved away by the referee.
However, it was an error from Xhaka that led to Wolves scoring the first goal of the game. In what looked like a lapse in concentration, Xhaka let the ball roll past him when he should have received the ball to feet. Cavaleiro stole the ball, played a one-two with his teammate and ghosted past Xhaka to tap in from close range. 0-1 to Wolves.
Arsenal upped the tempo in search for the equalizer but couldn’t find the composure to put together a series of passes to penetrate the deep Wolves defence.
On the 21st minute, fans were treated to end-to-end action in both halves. Ozil received the ball on the left side of a crowded Wolves penalty box to cut back to Lacazette who showed great composure to shift the ball past his marker. His follow up shot was unfortunately blocked by a defender before multiple deflections had the ball at Iwobi’s feet outside the box. Iwobi’s effort from the edge of the box was duly blocked by another defender.
That was immediately followed up by a quick counter by Wolves. Costa cut in from the right wing to shoot but Leno covered his angle well to meet the ball with a strong palm. He saved the rebound before Jimenez could pounce on it.
Leno had to be alert again in the 26th minute as Costa struck well from outside the box towards the far post which saw the goalkeeper palm it past the post. Wolves looked sharp on the counter, pouncing on the space given up by Arsenal who were in pursuit of a goal.
A marauding run by Bellerin past the fullback on the 39th minute produced one of the best opportunities of the evening as he raced clear of his defender, only for his wayward cutback to hit the side netting – encapsulating a half by Arsenal that showed effort but little cutting edge.
Emery wasted no time in changing his tactics by putting on Matteo Guendouzi on for Alex Iwobi at the start of the second half. The team’s shape looked like a 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond consisting of Xhaka playing at the base with Guendouzi and Torreira flanking him and Ozil at the tip of the shape.
The change seemed to spur Arsenal into action as it gave more opportunities to the full backs to start higher up the pitch with numerical overloads in the half spaces.
Guendouzi showed his enterprise on the ball with a speculative shot on goal on the 49th minute from the left side of the box but it was comfortably collected by the goalkeeper. Torreira then had a sensational strike from outside the box saved 10 minutes later.
Despite the increased pressure, Wolves still looked relatively comfortable defending deep and countering with pace. It was on one of these counters where Wolves almost got a second from a dangerous cutback only for Mustafi to make a crucial interception on 62 minutes to prevent a tap in.
Some good passing exchanges on the left saw Xhaka crossing low into the box. The ball whizzed past everyone and landed on Bellerin’s left foot which drove the ball just over the bar.
Arsenal went close to an equalizer on the 72nd minute as Aubameyang’s effort hit the post – the result of a good cross-field pass from Xhaka to Torreira who teed the ball off for an onrushing Bellerin to pass to the Gabonese striker. Unlucky.
Emery called on his last two substitutes in the 74th minute as Ramsey and Mhkitaryan came on for Ozil and Kolasinac in search for a goal.
Another dangerous counter attack by Wolves in the 84th minute almost doubled their lead. They made it a 3-on-2 situation as Arsenal committed too many men forward. The Gunners had Leno to thank for keeping them in the game.
And kept in the game they did. Mhkitaryan’s cross shot, just minutes later, fooled the keeper as he expected his defenders to head it clear. The ball averted all players on the way to the far post as it floated in for the goal. 1-1 and the Emirates goes wild.
As Arsenal poured forward for the winner in injury time, Adama Traore surged forward after Wolves cleared the ball from an Arsenal corner. He showed electric pace to run past Holding and go one on one with Leno who again bailed the Gunners out with a save.
The last big moment of the game involved another Wolves breakaway in which Traore laid the ball off for his teammate whose shot rocked the crossbar.
Overall a poor day out for the Arsenal players who seemed out of sync with one another and needed a few important saves by Leno who made sure the Gunners ended the game with a point at home.
Grade A time wasting from Wolves. Absolutely disgraceful.
5 minutes of added time was a disgrace.
Showing 5 minutes when a player was on the deck still getting treatment seemed weird. Surely you wait until he’s up and play restarted to make it 6 minutes (albeit I think 7/8 was appropriate)
True. However, I only saw the last 10 mins and Wolves should have scored at least 1 and could have scored 3. 3 points out of 9 when Palace and Wolves are two of the teams played is not good enough.
Not that we weren’t awful or that it necessarily changed the result, but if there was a trophy for time wasting, Wolves would have it in the bag.
To be fair Wolves did what they had to do. The officials giving only 5 mins was the bloody joke. The fucker even took more than a minute figuring out how to work the substitution panel, yet only clocked in 5 mins extra?
Tactically, grinding out a win by wasting as much time as possible was probably the right thing for them to do, but at the end of the day football is about entertainment. People go out and spend a lot of money to watch sport for fun so when a team decides it doesn’t really want to play the entire 2nd half of a match and instead relies on theoretically cheating the game clock to get to the end, then frankly it is an insult not only to football itself, but also to the fans who have made the effort to… Read more »
I’d say Arsenal’s poor performance cheated more fans, than anything else.
It’s not like we rolled out this afternoon and said “alright guys, let’s play some really trash football today.” It was more the case that nothing was really coming off. There’s a considerable difference between that and deliberately wasting time when you should be playing.
In the end, the referee gave more than six minutes. Enough of this already. Wolves waiting time was not the fucking problem today.
From a winning streak to a drawing streak…
Very disappointing performance but Leno was fucking outstanding today
Was at the game today. My take homes were that it wasn’t clicking for Iwobi, kept making a poor final pass, two to Bellerin in good positions stood out and we looked better when he was hooked at half time. Mustafi was making the crowd constantly groan, he seemed to go to ground way too often and looked worried when he received the ball a lot and was making situations dangerous when they didn’t need to be, holding looked class, can’t wait for Kos to come back. Was excited to watch Ozil and his passing and movement, watching him avidly… Read more »
Big wake up call for the team today
I feel like I’ve seen this game before. We really need to just whip some balls up to the strikers or into the box right away. We take far too long building up…that was Wenger-ball out there.
Still unbeaten, so that’s nice.
Exactly right – always looking for the perfect goal, trying to walk it into the net. We should have just been letting it rip from outside the box all game, it would have been far more effective than all the time we wasted passing it around aimlessly before eventually giving them the ball.
Not sure about letting rip from outside the box, but the endless flicks and passes inside instead of into someone’s run are frustratingly familiar.
Having said all that, we actually did create a couple of very good opportunities to score. It was at the other end that had me worried. Wolves were able to create so many opportunities just by 1/2 passes upfield.
Yeah, who knows. If City, Liverpool, Chelsea, United, Spurs….might as well keep going…Leicester, Everton, Bournemouth, Wolves, etc…if almost ANY side had 72% possession, they would have surely attempted over 20 shots, without question. We have to shoot the ball. It takes a minor miracle to pass it through 10 orange shirts for the perfect goal, and every time it fails (like it did 50 times today) the players get more frustrated and desperate. Remember Torreira’s shot, just outside the box? Why not attempt a dozen of those a game when the opposition is sitting so deep? No way the goalie… Read more »
“Remember Torreira’s shot, just outside the box? Why not attempt a dozen of those a game when the opposition is sitting so deep? No way the goalie keeps saving those. Plus, deflections, rebounds, etc.”
Fully agree. They’re not Juve or Atleti. I wonder what Emery was thinking.
Not Auba’s style, but certainly Laca’s (thought Laca had a mediocre game). Guendouzi gave it the ole college try, a weak shot, but at least something. Got the sense he and LT were among the few who got that memo, until Miki let one rip.
Today was the kind of game which was calling out for the physical presence and aerial threat of Giroud or even Welbeck in the box. They would have surely made a difference.
We’ve got our Arsenal back! Indeed!
We deserved to lose that. If there is a definition of getting away with it, that game was it. No urgency and creativity in our forward play. We have missed the intricate, quick, one-touch passing around the box this season.
I never believe in these phrases – “deserved to win/lose”. You reap what you sow. Surely we had some luck, but that evens out over a season.
Some would argue that “deserving” a thing and “reaping what you sow” are very similar.
Oh come on, Wolves had like 3 one on one chances and hit a crossbar in the last 10 minutes alone. We were shambolic.
Well that was bloody stressful.
This was far from their best performance, but I like the attitude the Gunners showed to stick to the task in the final part of the match. Leno was great!
Full marks for your positivity. I thought this game was a throwback to the last couple of years under Wenger – an arrogant team that thought it just had to turn up to win. Don’t know how Emery can eradicate that.
To be honest, I thought this was a definite 3 points in the bag. Maybe this unbeaten run has got to the players heads. I’m allowed to be complacent, I’m not out there.
Interesting, the use of the word eradicate. There is still a lot of Wenger “bad” DNA in the way this team plays. The last three league games have showed us. If we are really seeing an “evolution” of style, we can only hope this streak of performances is an aberration in the process and not a real step backwards. Feels like we are dead stop now, while our competition keeps moving up the points ladder. Emery needs a reeducation of the squad at this point. Luckily, he may have the time to do it with this interlull.
Exactly this
Ref was clearly a wolves fan.We were horrendous though. Had no idea why iwobi and not auba was substituted !
Utter crap but wow what a magical let off. Guendouzi and Leno were fantastic. Everyone else was crap. Genuinely this was probably the worst performance from our team at home this season. Something needs to be fixed ASAP…
Leno was good. Hector was mainly good. Ozil tried but seemed to find no runners to link with. Not sure Guendouzi gave us any extra cutting edge.
Credit Wolves with a great defensive performance but surely we had to be able to get by that brick sh*those Boly.
For me all of our attacking players rated 4. Lacazette was sloppy, Auba was mediocre and had to score, Iwobi and Ozil both ineffectual.
I thought Hector was really mixed. Very active and plenty of good runs but final delivery a bit poor.
playing Auba on the left is not working…. either play with only Laca or Auba… not both.
also why not bring back the 442 formation? Things doesnt seem to click in recent games. I hope that interlull wll help emery to sort things out
Not sure about 442 necessarily but I definitely question the need to play two holding midfielders at home against a team like Wolves
Their two holding midfielders may run you put of the midfield if you don’t.
I agree, man. Iwobi is kind of crap on the right but fantastic on the left. I think Emery just has to face reality and start one of Auba or Laca, and that’s that. If one of them gets upset and can’t handle it, sell him.
You’re on a roll, fully agree with that as well…. Emery is stuck, though, with the situation that he’s inheriting a hodgepodge of players, a poorly curated side, from AW, on the one hand, and on the other, Scrooge Kroenke who doesn’t want to spend money to make money to build the squad Emery might like. It’s a trouble in paradise kind of dilemma for a guy like Emery who’s clearly loving his job.
Wolves deserved 3 point with a good score.
What a joke of a game.
Rubbish today, especially our attack. The terrier and Leno were good.
Not wanting to have a go at him, but on a few occasions (including the goal – look at the angle from behind the goal) Torreira didn’t seem to be bothered about tracking back when Wolves were on a break.
You mean Xhaka not Torreria
no point…watching him run back with his legs whirring, while not making up ground is the funniest thing ever.
Drawing games which we could easily of lost is a positive.
Terrifying to see we didn’t learn from Palace and looked even less inventive today. Need different ideas when short passes don’t work against tight marking. Switch it up and create problems for the defense. Also corners. Why even bother with them at this point?
Because we got a goal out of one of them?
Just flat today, think the Liverpool match took a lot out of us. International break welcome for a change. Then back on the horse for the next matches.
That’s a bad excuse. Most of the team that played Liverpool had a week’s rest.
I could barely watch, we looked so bland and flat. It almost feels like we are worse when we AREN’T dealing with a high press. Wolves outshot Arsenal with 28% possession, that’s just not right. What does it take to break down a team with 10 people behind the ball, because we don’t seem like we know how to deal with it. That’s two games in a row where we looked out of ideas. Grateful for a point, though disappointed to drop points at home against a bottom-half squad.
Leno was magnificent!
Quick thoughts on the game: – The whole team just looked out of sync and lacked fluency in possession. – If not for Leno, who saved a few attempts by Wolves, I think the scoreline would have been embarrassing for us. – I liked the switch to the diamond formation to push the full backs higher but ultimately it wasn’t an issue of formation but overall quality of the Arsenal players on the ball. – Lacazette looks to have lost some of his sharpness that knitted play well earlier in the season. Perhaps Unai could try resting him for a… Read more »
Agree he had a Laca-luster performance, and Auba needs some time front and center with A-team service.
Take the point, move on, and never speak of this match again.
November says hello to mr. Emery
I’m glad the International break is here. Those legs and minds need some refreshing. We need to get over that 4games draws streak in our heads. Hopefully Emery can improve even more, those who aren’t traveling. Looking forward to a fresher team, because we will need it
Another slow start. What is going on with the mentality and intensity of this team? We showed Wolves a total lack of respect and were very fortunate to get a point. We’ve gone backwards these last few games, but Emery has to figure out how to get this team motoring from the off. Shit performance today, don’t want a reoccurance of this.
It was bad the whole game, not just the start. I think saying it was down to ‘not turning up’ is letting the players and manager off the hook.
On a positive note, that was a hell of a shot from Micki
Oh, I’m guessing some folk think he didn’t intend the shot then ?
It was a cross for sure
Hatta, I think you’re being very generous to call the missed chance on 72 minutes “Unlucky”. It was an atrocious miss.
Am gonna need a second look at it again when Arsenalist posts the highlights. Maybe I’m just an optimist. ?
Crash is right, it was an attrocious miss.
United have been a laughing stock this season and they’re only 4 points behind us.
We’ve been playing poorly and after a few draws we get to realize that our results haven’t been brilliant either.
Not quite working (understatement). Our most dangerous players are Özil, Lacazette & Aubameyang. And we struggle to give them the ball in and around the box. Barring individual brilliance or when our passing game clicks. We are too easily rendered impotent. And worse still, look super susceptible to any counter attack.
Very fortunate today, but that doesn’t negate the poor officiating. Time wasting is very effective against us because it breaks our flow. But we can and should be better than that. Damn interlull.
COYG
Do we finally have a keeper who can win us points we don’t deserve?
I wasn’t surprised by today’s performance and result.
Yet again we failed to keep a clean sheet, conceding a bad goal with pathetic defending. Then, yet again, we didn’t do enough up front to win it, with no real creativity. We were lucky with the equaliser. And we could have easily lost it at the end.
Emery has so much work to do to turn us into a top-four side. We need to spend.
The two players in that front four who don’t gel the team together are auba and iwobi. Iwobi’s instincts are all wrong playing from the right cos he’s not a by-line winger, he wants to dribble infield towards the goal. Auba doesn’t contribute much to the build up so the combination of the two on the flanks really took the edge off our game. Auba can play from the left ghosting in if we have a better threat opposite, Iwobi on the left helps our build up and control of the game. It has to be one or the other.
Get Reiss Nelson back!
Xhaka’s fault? Maybe, but heck, the weight of that pass, you might excuse him for thinking it wasn’t meant for him. Not saying he’s not to blame at all, but that pass was straight horrible.
Anyone who thinks we are a better team now than last few years needs their heads examined. 40 + years watching I have never been so disgusted. Nothing created, we have been so lucky with results. Play out from the back ( what to the middle then what fck all) tap it sideways, forwards get no service. Wenger out brigade hope you’re happy
I understand the frustration but we have to be patient. This is only Emerys’ 4th month with us. It’s going to take maybe 2 seasons to get back into fighting for the top 4. I say we must keep supporting them the best we can
2 seasons to get back into the top four? Why? What do the likes of Spuds and Chelsea have that we don’t? We need to stop with the “give it time” attitude. I’m OK with it if we lose against city, but there’s no excuse for drawing with palace and wolves with such lacklustre performances. None whatsoever.
We can’t compare our club with theirs. We had the same manager with the same philosophies for 22 years. Those clubs are used to manager changes. Also, remember Pep’s first season with Man City? It took him two seasons to make the title contenders. If we want this club competing for the title it’ll take some time.
It doesn’t matter how many years you give Emery. Guardiola had hundreds of millions to spend and Emery wont get anything close to such. He would face same constraints as Wenger but he’s no genius like Wenger. Arsenal has been less dominant than last season. We’ve failed to lead a game at halftime and been outplayed by the likes of Everton, Watford and Wolves at home. Last season Arsenal beat all teams outside of top 5 plus Spurs at home. We’ve been scrappy in midfield but it’s been masked by fulltime results.
Agree. “Gaining” a tie at home against the 15th placed team that has been on a bad run is the sign of an unfocused team. Isn’t a top four finish a goal of Emery’s?
Hopefully it will give those who had a false sense of confidence over our winning run (against minor teams) a reality check.
Spurs were awful under Pochettino in his first season, probably only saved from the sack by the miraculous emergence of Kane. Klopp got to the Europa League final in his first season but it was Liverpool’s joint worst league finish since the 1960s I think. It takes time for players to adjust to new systems and to bring in players to fit the system.
Yawn
and this same mob was calling top4/finishing above spurs/winning FA cup as a nothing achievement, and ridiculing Arsenal for failing to “challenge for the CL and League”
I agree the results haven’t been the best but you really think a team could adapt to a play style from a new manager within 3-4 months? I mean I can still see obvious improvement but its going to take a couple of transfer windows for Emery to get to where he wants us to be.
Really rough patch at the moment. Too many draws. That’s 6 points dropped in last 3 league games. Granted Granit made a mistake which led to the goal, he was decent the rest of the game. BUT we never really got going in attack. And that would be the main concern. Lady luck scored for us in the end but we didn’t seem to find the right solution to pass through their very tight lines. AGAIN goes down to lack of right assets at the moment. Iwobi one and only player to engage and draw out opponents but deployed Rwing,… Read more »
Every time Mikhi scores or assists Alexis’ value drops.
deary, derry me, what can you say, blogs tried to gloss over our performance, but which ever way you look at it, we were crap, ( even though wolves are a good team ), boy are we riding our luck, we was luck against Leicester, Liverpool and now wolves, one day our luck will run out, fans will have to realise this team is just not good enough, ozil, Mkhitaryan, MUST be dropped from the team for our next game, and we MUST buy in January to improve the team