Thursday, April 26, 2018

Arsenal 1 - 1 Atletico Madrid

What a fucking disaster.  Ironically, I thought we looked better 11 vs 11 in the first ten minutes than we did with the man advantage.  1-1 would have been a terrible result for us had Atletico played full strength; a man down, it was catastrophic.  Don't ask me what Kos was thinking when he tried to hook the ball back up field rather than simply clearing it.  Griezmann's chance here, made easier by Mustafi's going to ground, wasn't their only one in the game either.  We tested Oblak but outside of a late fingertip save off a Ramsey header he didn't have to do anything particularly special.

We played well, I thought.  The sad truth is that Atletico is the better team, especially their defense.  They spotted us a man for 85 minutes (yes, those were both deserved yellows) and still drew.  We can definitely win the game next week, but we'll need something more than we got this game.  Will Mikhi be back?  I thought everyone had a pretty good game, though both our CBs looked shaky at times.  No blame can be attached to Ospina, who saved every shot he could and whose distribution was really good.  I am going to complain about Xhaka repeatedly shooting from 35 yards, though.  He was nowhere near the goal, and Oblak is not going to be beaten from distance.

No neutral is going to give us much chance to progress after this.  I can't blame them.  This leg was almost Spursian in its futility.  But there's another leg next week.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Arsenal Alums Come Good, and Anticipating Tomorrow's Clash with Atletico

I'll start with the bad news:  Ox's awful-looking injury yesterday early in Liverpool's demolition of Roma.  I read that he's going to miss the World Cup (where he might well have started) but be fit for the start of next season.  AOC was a popular figure at Arsenal, for good reason, and I've always liked him a lot.  He was having a really good season at Liverpool and this is a real blow for him (and England and the Reds).

Giroud is Chelsea's latest hero, after coming in late and turning a 0-2 loss into a 3-2 win in the EPL against Southampton, then beating the same opponents in the FA Cup semifinal with this brilliant goal, one of the FA Cup's finest ever.  I love Olivier and am happy for him.  I hope he repeats his heroics against Man U in the final to keep them at 12 Cups (to our 13).

I don't love Alexis and wasn't sorry to see him start slowly at United, but he's gotten hot recently and won their FA Cup semi for them against Spuds.  Good for him.

Finally, Theo Walcott is doing what Big Sam wants and influencing games for Everton.  He won their league clash against Newcastle with the only goal of the game.  He's playing more defense, though he's not great at it, and doing his usual thing making good runs, putting in excellent crosses, and getting called offside.  He deserves to start regularly somewhere, and Everton is a good club.  Ox's injury may leave a seat open on the plane to Russia for a right winger.

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I don't know what to expect tomorrow at the Emirates.  I can see us winning 4-1 or losing 0-2.  The freak injury to Elneny is rough on him and on Arsenal, but word is that he should be OK for the World Cup, where he'll be crucial to Egypt's success.  But we're in trouble in midfield, without much cover for our obvious Ozil-Ramsey-Xhaka starting triangle.  Jack just doesn't look effective lately, and throwing Maitland-Niles in there could be a disaster (though he's my first choice should we lose a starter).  Nelson and Willock just aren't ready, and I don't see Iwobi as a credible central midfielder.

A lot depends on Welbeck rising to the occasion.  You know Lacazette will keep the Atletico CBs busy with his energetic movement.  I don't expect Mkhitaryan back so soon, so I guess it's Iwobi out wide right; he's a weak point the way he's playing recently.  Our defenders are going to need some cover.  I have no idea what's wrong with Kolasinac, but at this point he's unlikely to be thrown into an important game no matter how healthy he is.  I suppose he might be a late defensive replacement if we've got a lead we want to protect.  If Kos isn't 100%, I'd rather see Holding in there, but a healthy Kos is still our best and smartest defender.

Hoping for the best!

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Arsenal 4 - 1 West Ham

During the first half, I was expecting the Hammers to pot the first goal on one of those long balls, and they nearly did a couple of times.  We looked fairly abject.  We started strongly after the break and got the go-ahead goal, but when West Ham put Lanzini and Hernandez in, they piled on the pressure and got a deserved goal.  Replacing Iwobi with Aubameyang had an almost magical effect, considering how poorly Alex played.  We dominated after that and I'm surprised it took until the last ten minutes to get the winner.  Truth be told, two of our goals were partly the result of defensive howlers--on the corner they had a guy on the post who made no effort to keep Nacho's shot out, and their CB ducked under Ramsey's cross, fooling everyone and leaving Auba and Hart watching it bounce into the goal. 

It was great to see Lacazette rewarded for his industry, and I hope he's fresh enough to run like that on Thursday.  No Mikhi, no Elneny, and maybe no Ozil or Wilshere means tough sledding against Atletico.  They lost 0-3 on Saturday; did they rest starters?  They will be fresher and they will be going for away goals.  Our starters will all be on four days' rest and we'll be missing some important guys.  Hmmm.

AMN did well enough in midfield, but he wasn't under tremendous pressure.  Our center mid options are extremely limited, especially if Ozil is unavailable.  Danny looked pretty good, I thought.  Aaron was great. 

Friday, April 20, 2018

Wenger Out. Really.

In typically classy fashion, Stan Kroenke and the Arsenal board is reacting with gratitude and sorrow to Wenger's announcement that he'll be leaving this summer.  I suppose he may have come to this conclusion himself, but I don't think so.  He does deserve for it to play out this way.  It's not a bad time to make this announcement:  all the potential candidates for his job (more on that later) now know it'll be open, we need some shaking up, and everyone will still be motivated to finish strongly in Europa League.

While I have been hoping for this day for years, like nearly all Arsenal supporters I'm deeply grateful to Arsene.  His flaws were easily forgivable (except for the not winning trophies for nine years part) because it was evident that he loved the club and his players, and nearly all of them loved him too.  There will never be another Sir Alex, but M. Wenger is at least in that conversation.  He's one of the greats.

As for replacements, I'd like to see Monaco's Leonardo Jardim chosen, but Thomas Tuchel or Luis Enrique would be interesting.  I don't want Low and definitely don't want Brendan fucking Rodgers.  Tuchel would have a huge issue with our new head of recruitment Mislintat unless they could manage to act maturely enough to get past their bust-up at Dortmund.  I used to think Simeone was in the running, but I don't see his name in the odds sheets now.  PSG or Chelsea may outbid us for our first choice.  But if you were a big time manager, the prospect of working for an organization that likes to give its manager lots of power and time might be a big draw.  We aren't a Mourinho organization, the way I see it, willing to break the bank for a year on top and then wave bye-bye to the manager after a disappointing followup.  We want a long term relationship now.  I'd definitely take three League championships and seven FA Cups in the next 22 years.

But with Arsenal, who knows?  It could be Eddie Howe or Patrick Vieira.  Would you really be surprised?

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Newcastle 2 - 1 Arsenal

I doubt there was any Arsenal supporter who did not see this coming.  The Magpies are in great form, our away form is awful (we set a Premier League record for us for consecutive away losses, and we're the only EPL team not to get any points away in 2018).  The lineup was puzzling to say the least.  I get why Ozil, Bellerin, Ramsey, et al were left in London.  But if we were going to play like this with a high back line, why the glacial Chambers at right back instead of Maitland-Niles?  A back three would have been better, with AMN at right fullback and no Willock.  Joe Willock is a nice prospect, but playing him as a #10 today was just stupid.  And of all the players not to rest today, why Mustafi?  I think he was partially at fault for both Toon goals, and did little to justify his presence on the field.  I'm not saying Holding looked good either, but Shkodran is dreadful.  The worst part is when he points at everyone else after a goal, when he's usually the guy most at fault.  Steve Bould must get no respect from our defenders if he can't break Mustafi of this terrible habit. 

Our front line did fine, for the most part.  The midfield was just OK.  Our defending was bad.  The tactics were abysmal.  This is another exhibit for the prosecution in the Trial of Arsene Wenger.  I don't know if seventh is "good enough" to get a Europa League slot this season, but that's where we're going to end up if Burnley keeps playing well.  I'm dreading seeing Antoine Griezman dribbling at Mustafi.

An afternoon to forget, for sure.  I'm starting now.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

CSKA 2 - 2 Arsenal (3-6 aggregate)

I was thinking 1-1 before a ball was kicked.  I just didn't see CSKA getting three goals, even at home.  The first half hour convinced me that these two teams could play ten hours and not score.  Cue the defensive errors.  Nacho should not have been beaten so easily for the header that Cech's rebound save of was deposited in his goal.  And Mustafi was asleep AGAIN as his mark ghosted past him.  Why would he just stand there and not run to goal, or put a body on his man, or something?  He was quick enough to raise his arm for offsides (though he kept the scorer well onside).  I don't really fault Cech on the first goal, but on the second, he should have done much better.  If he's going to punch it, punch it up and away.  Or catch the damned thing.  It was a hard shot and I'm sure it was moving, but that goal was a gift.

In general, I thought we made it too easy for CSKA.  The referee was keeping his cards in his pocket, as both teams got a little physical.  There were a lot of stoppages for what looked like real injury worries.  We misplaced a lot of passes.  Our periods of pressure seldom led to anything threatening.  Then assist king-for-a-day Elneny took over, slipping Welbeck in on the keeper, and Danny finished as well as any striker in the world could have, hard and high inside the far post, at 75'.  That took the starch out of CSKA, who until then looked as though they believed they were going through.  Elneny sent a through-ball to Aaron for the icing on this moderately tasty cake with less than a minute to go in stoppage time.

I'm getting very annoyed with Mustafi.  Kos was fine but is not the force he once was.  Monreal did not have a good game, though he did manage to win some headers later in important situations.  Bellerin did pretty well, I thought.  Cech made some good saves, but those two rebounds were GK errors, no way around it.  Ramsey and Elneny did well, but the latter seemed to need some time to get into the game properly.  I loved the way both of them kept running until the end.  Mo got two assists, but what I'll remember is him running frantically in the last few minutes to pressure the ball as two CSKA men passed it back and forth, finally forcing one of them to pass it back into their own half because they couldn't pass him.  Delicious.  Ramsey may have been our best player.  Ozil did not have one of his better games.  I don't think I've ever seen a player with less interest in defending, and I watched Theo Walcott for ten years.  Welbz was very good again today.  Lacazette never really got into the game, but I think it was not his fault.  It was smart to sub him off for Iwobi late.  Speaking of Iwobi, his miss after being set up was abject.  He could have controlled it; he should at least have put it on frame if he was going to strike it. 

Wilshere was the first guy to be substituted, and none too soon for me.  I thought he was really bad.  He needs a rest.  A long rest.

I don't like Lazio (I support Roma), so I was delighted to see them crash out in spectacular fashion in Salzburg, even if Red Bull was involved.  Marseille made sure that the other Red Bull team will not be in the semis, in another thrilling game.  Atletico ground out a "just enough to win the tie" result and round out the foursome.  There are no easy games left for anyone.  I'd prefer to avoid Atletico in the semis and roll the dice against them in the final, but we'll play whoever we're drawn with.  There's no reason not to be optimistic.  Here's hoping Mikhi gets well soon--we missed him today.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Roma Ecstasy, Juve Agony

Roma knocked Barca out of Champions' League with a commanding display, and Juve reached parity at Madrid until a late late penalty set the stage for Ronaldo to send an unstoppable PK past Szczesny, who was in for Buffon, who must have pissed Michael Oliver off immensely to have earned a straight red.  A sad end to Gigi's Champions' League career.

Unfortunately, I did not get to see the Roma game, but the commentary I've seen indicates that Barca was thoroughly outplayed.  Juventus did not dominate Real while getting their three goals, and there was always a danger of a Madrid goal.  I was just hoping it didn't come too late for Juve to fight back.  I can't understand why Allegri waited to put in his last two substitutes.  Higuain was gassed, and Real was starting to wear the Italians down.  I had the feeling that extra time would be owned by Madrid, but you never know, and why wouldn't Allegri want to freshen up what was obviously a tired squad?  Dybala's lack of discipline in Turin was very costly.  They could have used him today, and of course there may not have been a third Real goal had he not been sent off.

Well, it was a valiant fightback.

Watching this game made me realize how behind the pace Arsenal is today.  We would not have competed against either team today.  They were excellent.  We've got some improvements to make for sure.  Getting past CSKA tomorrow is the task before us, though.

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Arsenal 3 - 2 Southampton

The team selection showed that Wenger did not take the Saints seriously.  The early going showed that the visitors were the more dangerous team, and it was no surprise that they scored first.  Mustafi was the most culpable, allowing Shane Long to nip in front of him to poke one past a helpless Cech, who let Shkodran know exactly what he thought of his lazy play.  Meanwhile, the Gunners' ponderous buildups resulted in no shots at all until a nifty move put the ball in front of Aubamayang, who smuggled it past the keeper to equalize at the half hour mark.  At 38', Welbeck put us ahead with some sublime control, and a hard shot that got a big deflection to take it past the keeper.

OK, it's halftime.  I don't like what I'm seeing, particularly from Iwobi and Nelson.  But with the way we're defending, we will probably need another to close this out.

Yeah, as I predicted, Arsenal gave the Saints several chances with stupid fouls and poor defending and eventually they cashed in.  It has to be said that McCarthy is having a fantastic game, making several great saves to keep his team in it.  Iwobi made our go-ahead goal with wonderful control and an excellent left footed cross that Welbeck headed perfectly past McCarthy.  (This was redemption for Danny, who'd missed a sitter minutes before.)  The game had been chippy and sloppy all through, but it got totally out of hand after Jack tore a chunk out of Stephens's shirt, who objected so violently that the referee gave him a red card.  In the aftermath, Elneny managed to get himself thrown out too, which is too bad because he had a good game and is an important player for us.

Random notes:

I apologize for my criticism of Iwobi.  He came good and was solid for us in the end.

Jack embarrassed himself and was no improvement over a tired Reiss Nelson, who he was subbed in for.  Dumb move, Arsene.  At this rate, Wilshere may have trouble finding a club who'll take him for free.  If I were on Arsenal's board, I'd consider reducing the offer on the table.  If I were Jack, I'd sign that contract as soon as I was out of the shower--maybe before I went in.  He was just plain awful.  Southgate would be crazy to give him a roster spot in Russia.

Welbeck went a long way towards putting himself in our first team rotation, with an assist and two goals, and a spirited defensive effort.  MOTM.

Mustafi is a puzzle.  He was crap today.  Chambers looked like the better center back, and when that happens, Mustafi is really poor.  (Calum did make some fine passes.)

Both keepers get a gold star.  Too many free shots were given up by the two sides, but they stopped the ones they could.

Hector was taken off in the second half.  I'm not sure what that was about; he's probably carrying a problem.  He did look off the pace today.

Kolasinac is not the player he looked to be early in the season.  He needs to round into form if he wants to remain part of Arsenal's plans.

We definitely missed Ozil and Ramsey.

Anyway, three points and a much-needed confidence boost for Danny, as well as a continuation of Auba's flying start for us.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Arsenal 4 - 1 CSKA

We should have had a couple more goals, but this should be enough to see us through, barring an all-too-believable collapse in Moscow, perhaps induced by a chemical attack on our players.  Still, it's probably a safer trip than City had to Liverpool.

Ramsey and Lacazette deserved their braces, and it bodes well to see them perform like this.  Our central defenders were less impressive.  Jack looked off again, and Xhakelneny did enough.  Our fullbacks were excellent, and the front three were superb.

Please, guys, don't let Southampton off easy.  Get sharper and take care of business with maximum efficiency.  Wrap up sixth place at a canter.

I'd love for us to win Europa League, but I am afraid of Atletico Madrid.  I can see us beating anyone else, though Lazio is looking pretty good.  We'll need to be stronger in the middle of defense.  Kos looks a shadow of his former self.  Holding and Chambers may be called on in this campaign.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Juve Implodes, DC United Fizzles

Defensive errors, and superb finishing from Ronaldo, has done for Juventus already in their quarterfinal tie.  Madrid really managed the game well.  Juve looked dangerous for long stretches, but just couldn't seal the deal, despite going close a few times.  I'm not going to relive the goals; just ask CR7 how great he was and he'll tell you himself.  It was dumb errors that did Juve in, though.  The less said about Dybala's poor judgment, the better.  Any chance we had in the second leg disappeared after he got a stupid second yellow (the first was for diving) and got sent off.  The third goal followed, and of course he's not going to play the next game. 

I wasn't tremendously confident, having seen Tottenham outplay the Old Lady 150 out of the 180 minutes, but damn, Juve actually looked good today.  Real was simply better.

My home town team, DC United, is poor again this year.  If MLS relegated teams, United would have gone down years ago.  We were just about the worst in the league last season too.  I don't think it's the coach; Ben Olsen has the players' respect and is getting what pretty much any manager would get out of this crew.  We're just not one of the league's good teams anymore.  It hurts, because we used to be the best:  four MLS Cups, Supporters' Shields, US Open Cups...but those days are gone (though there was that surprise US Open cup a few years ago).  We're 0-2-3 now.  Two points in five games.  They're building a new stadium; I'll check it out.  But season tickets seem like a bad idea.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Arsenal 3 - 0 Stoke

I'm starting this as the second half begins.  The first was horrible, like a poor MLS game.  Auba must be wondering why we bought him.  Clearly, we've forgotten he's out there.  Stoke gets a few free kick opportunities which they waste.  Back later...

At about the 70th minute, a football game started.  Shaqiri almost got a goal Olympico from a corner, then Arsenal started piling on the pressure.  The breakthrough came when Ozil was tripped from behind for a penalty (clear cut for me, but the commentators didn't like the call).  Auba put it away in the 75th, then a few minutes later he volleyed smartly past Butland off a corner.  Lacazette, who came on late, finished things off by tucking away a PK he won by being shoved to the turf from behind--stupid.  Stoke looked like a relegation team, but then so did we until the last 15 minutes.

There were just too damned many misplaced passes.  Had we been playing Swansea or Leicester, we'd have been punished.  But Stoke was really bad, and eventually also really tired.  They made mistakes and that was that.

CSKA should not be afraid, on today's evidence.  But Lacazette seemed pretty sharp to me and Mikhi looks ready to pick up where he left off in Europa League.  We'll have Koscielny in the back, which is always good.  Fingers crossed for Thursday.