Olympique de Marseille 0 - 1 Arsenal: Bringing back "one-nil to the Arsenal"... one night only

Open first half, few chances
Two teams with frail defence and toothless attacks combined to create a scrappy game of football in the first half. Neither side could keep the ball for long, and whenever both teams did get forward the other's defence didn't do particular great.

Marseille had the better of what opportunities there were. They focused their attacks mainly down the flanks, where Andre Santos was particular vunerable. It was an attack down that side that created the best opportunity of the half; Valbuena's early cross found Lucho Gonzalez unmarked in the Arsenal area, but he failed to get significant contact on the ball to trouble Szczesny.

Arsenal failed to create a chance of that ilk, but did cause a couple of problems from corners by doing something they don't usually do: putting a player on the goalkeeper. Walcott stood near Mandanda and was a pest as the ball came in. Arsenal's best chance came from a corner, when van Persie's header threatened to loop in but was cleared off the line.

Despite how poor the half was, the score could've easily been 1-1 since both sides should've had penalties for handball. Alas, neither were given.

Sturdy Arsenal nick last minute winner
The second half carried in the same way, except Arsenal were more solid at the back and kept the ball better. Neither side could create any chances, and both suffered from the same problem: static midfielders and isolated forwards. Both midfields were set-up deep to keep their respective teams tight, which worked, but this resulted in very little going forward.

The game was looking like it was going to end 0-0 and that would've been a fair result on the night, until our make-shift right back took a chance with an ambitous cross. The ball managed to find Aaron Ramsey, who had popped up out of nowhere, and he finished well to win the game in the 92nd minute.

Arsenal top group after very good win
Tonight, a point would have been acceptable. Marseille is always a tough game away from home and with our form not being great, a point would've been good.

So to actually win the game, in the end, is fantastic. The clean sheet is the icing on the cake. With two wins under our belt now, hopefully the side will play with more belief and confidence against the Orc Army on Sunday.

Player Ratings
Wojceich Szczesny - 6. Hardly had anything to do all game.

Per Mertesacker - 6. Was very steady, although he was beaten very easily on two ocassions. One-on-one defending against a pacey player is not his forte, it seems.

Laurent Koscielny - 8. A very good display and easily Arsenal's best player on the night. Further evidence that Koscielny is better suited to European games.

Carl Jenkinson - 6. Performed well tonight and his injury is a shame. Hopefully it's not too serious.

Andre Santos - 6. Had a poor first half, but had a decent second half.

Alex Song - 7. After picking up a yellow card in just three minutes, I thought Song would struggle. He proved me wrong though by putting in a good showing. However, it wasn't without the odd hairy moment. That seems to be Song's way.

Mikel Arteta - 6. Not great as a creative force, but worked hard and did a lot of good defensive work.

Tomas Rosicky - 6. Was decent, but like Arteta, not great going forward. Surprised he lasted the whole game.

Theo Walcott - 5. Pretty poor overall. Got himself into good positions but failed to produce anything of real quality.

Andrey Arshavin - 5. Was anonymous throughout the whole game.

Robin van Persie - 6. Was starved of service the whole game, but was still intelligent with his movement and got the odd chance here and there.

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Johan Djourou - 7. Was surprisingly good at right back, defending well and getting forward well. That cross was also of surprising quality. Might find himself at right back against Stoke if Jenkinson is out.

Aaron Ramsey - 7. Came on, scored the winner. Not a bad night's work.

Gervinho - 6. Was lively and looked to make things happen. A positive showing.

HELLZ YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

SURPRISE... Arsenal stealing Injury time Winner..!!
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a very boring game.. Both teams didnt do much..
Having trouble picking and analysing todays performance.. The whole team was poor...
May be only Rosicky and Kos were above average.. Sczeny didnt have much to do.. All others were average or below.. Gervinho is now the only player in our team who atleast looks to pierce the defense.. And thanks to Ramsey for scoring the surprise winner...
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RAAAAAMSEEEEEEEY.

only play ramsey in CL matches plz.


great to get another win but we have absolutely NO creativity.

Arsenal's clean sheet ended a run of 17 games away in the Champions League without a shut out since AC Milan in March 2008.

Tough win like this makes it much more satisfying. Defense, we were beast, once again shows that our CB pairs are tailored for CL football, Santos was good going forward & Jenk though struggling a bit, shown heart and determination. The game was quite balance but I think Chesny didn't have to make a single save as opposed to several by Marseille goalie.

Rosicky carried his EPL form over, Arteta & Song had tidy performance but nothing special, I'm starting to question Arteta final ball. Ramsey goal assisted by Johan how often do you see that?

Theo >.< had one chance but he disappointed me great deal, so predictable, even his run was not that dangerous anymore. Our attacking was so better when Gervinho came on.

All in all, great win and more importantly put us in huge advantage before the 2nd half of group stage.

MOTM for me was Kozz or Mert.

AAAAAAAAROOOOOON RAAAAAAAAMSEEEEY!!

I'm very sad about Arteta, not just this game but he has like 0 creativity all he does is spread the ball back to Koscienly/Mertesacker or Santos/Jenkinson, even Song is more creative, that's why we need a more creative midfielder for depth.

Anyway, very happy with the result, CHL here we come

Oh also the "Wenger isn't a tactical manager" is a myth - all three substitutes contributed to the goal.

Ramsey>Rosicky and Arteta

@Twoism : Agree with you mate..

Motm had to be Koscielny for me.. There were a slip up or two by Per, but Koss was pretty damn good..

Arteta is a not a deeper playmaker.. I can't help but feel he is being played more as a link up between Song and Rosicky/Ramsey, which is a part of the reason why he isn't contributing more directly to the goals.. I think it'd be different if Ramsey played B2B and Arteta was the AM.. Ramsey did shine as a B2B before he got injured..

Good scrappy win but am worried about the lack of end product in the final third.

Distance Covered: Arteta 11455, Rosicky 10851, Song 9795, RvP 10418, Arshavin 8150, Walcott 7535

in meters

That's the reason Arteta wasn't playmaking. Check out that workrate.

We hit on Sheva for being lazy but we should be bitching on Walcott in that game

Arsenal is the only away team that won tonight.

srigooner wrote:@Twoism : Agree with you mate..

Motm had to be Koscielny for me.. There were a slip up or two by Per, but Koss was pretty damn good..

Arteta is a not a deeper playmaker.. I can't help but feel he is being played more as a link up between Song and Rosicky/Ramsey, which is a part of the reason why he isn't contributing more directly to the goals.. I think it'd be different if Ramsey played B2B and Arteta was the AM.. Ramsey did shine as a B2B before he got injured..

Agree

Per had one slip up i think, when he let Remy dribble past. He read the game well, made some interception looks so simple, meanwhile, Koz had some jaw dropping tackle.

RG distance cover stats kinda shows Arteta role like you said, that hinder our already limited creativity. Hopefully Wenger could experiment more with midfield trio.

Sushi Master wrote:That's the reason Arteta wasn't playmaking. Check out that workrate.

We hit on Sheva for being lazy but we should be bitching on Walcott in that game

Theo was poor no doubt, he was subbed early though.

Per shouldn't be left exposed against pacy players

Arteta did good defensively but he wasnt there when playmaking. Rosicky and Song had mixed game today. Arshavin was just usless today as he wasted and lost ball very cheaply. Flop of the match for me.
I dont know what has happened to Walcott cause he is like ghost for most of the game. I really miss the old Walcott. RVP didnt do anything special today but always kept trying.

Both Jenk and Santos looked steady today. I was impressed with Jenk's as he looked confident and made some good runs going forward. He will get better by the games. I hope the inury is just a minor injury and nothing serious. Our CBS were key for our victory, great job by both Kos and Per. Kos was everywhere and made some very good tackles. MOTM for me.
Szcezney didnt have much to do today.

Santos takes unnecessary risk around the box with his dribbling and i thought Clichy was worse

i love santos lol. Never seen a player like him at arsenal before.

Santos will improve with time. It's like his 3rd Arsenal game.

Yeah, he's not solid defensively but I feel he had a good 2nd half.

The Kos-Merts partnership again works out.

Merts is the muscle and Kos the silk. Kos was a total beast.

Sushi Master wrote:Santos will improve with time. It's like his 3rd Arsenal game.

Yeah, he's not solid defensively but I feel he had a good 2nd half.

The Kos-Merts partnership again works out.

Merts is the muscle and Kos the silk. Kos was a total beast.

He just needs to calm down with his dribbling around the edge of the box. the guy tries to nutmeg players around the box