Montpellier 1 - 2 Arsenal: Just about escaped with a smash and grab victory

guys.. most of you agree that we were fatigued and planning to see out the game.. but still we didnt use our sustitutes well in such game.. dont u think that was pretty poor management ?

Benry wrote:

We need Szczensy back on Sunday, Mannone is nowhere near his level.

you really think so ?

Wilson37 wrote:guys.. most of you agree that we were fatigued and planning to see out the game.. but still we didnt use our sustitutes well in such game.. dont u think that was pretty poor management ?

Yes, I do think it was down right poor on their part.

Why did Walcott come one so late? I was hoping to see him come on earlier for Groud.

Wilson37 wrote:guys.. most of you agree that we were fatigued and planning to see out the game.. but still we didnt use our sustitutes well in such game.. dont u think that was pretty poor management ?

For sure, we were so lost in the game and why on earth we waited so long to bring on subs. Is Wenger suspended for 2 more games?

Will be a tough game vs City.

Podolski's goal came after a sequence of 19 passes from Arsenal.

Big 3 points, arguably the hardest game of the group stage, but we pulled through.

I thought Giroud was okay, a bit shat at times, but brought down some longballs and provided a gorgeous assist to Poldi.

There was one opportunity where he had some space and could have turned and shot, but quickly elected for a flick. His confidence is only going to get lower and lower till he gets that crucial first goal.

Raptorgunner wrote:Why did Walcott come one so late? I was hoping to see him come on earlier for Groud.

He is being ostracized

gunnerlistick wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:Why did Walcott come one so late? I was hoping to see him come on earlier for Groud.

He is being ostracized

Now is the best time to make him happy start him up front, cant do any worse than the other strikers.

Yeah mate I really do. Tonight showed this.

Every pro goalkeeper is a good shot stopper, but so many do not keep or command their area, and influence beyond the 18 yard box. I see Woj do this every game he's always screaming at the defence, authorortative in the air.

Mannone performance was very timid, he has no spatial awareness at all Cabella's lob embarrassed him. He has nowhere near the presence of Woj they both stand over 6 foot but one of them carries this. His save from Belhanda was hilarious he closed his eyes when he made it what's that all about?

Szczensy made a terrible mistake and was punished, Mannone made a mistake against Liverpool and Vermaelen bailed him out. Every Arsenal fan would be begging it for Woj to come back.

Man City would want to face Mannone everyday of the year than Woj.

I Agree.

Just disappointed with how Szczesny has been for past few months. He is pretty low on confidence as well tbf

Szczesny can be a bit prone to errors, but he still instils me with confidence when he plays. More so than Mannone, who's just not as assertive.

I don't think Mannone will be any more than a reliable and solid backup while Szczesny regains form and fitness.

Further up the pitch, I like that three of Podolski, Cazorla and Gervinho, mostly because it's proving to be quite productive currently. I think that if Gervinho can keep up his current form, he can be our main right forward this year.

The real issue at the moment is that central striker's role. I got faith that Giroud will come good, but his inability to hold the ball up recently is indicative of his low confidence at the moment and it's a bit worrying.

Should be scouting for a keeper to be honest, i don't think Flappers or Vito are good enough to be here

Bound to happen though. He's a young player, they all go through it. They have a rebound performance and pick up where they left off, hopefully Woj will have one on Sunday.

Plus there is no real competition for him, until Martinez gets drafted in.

I thought Vito did OK. If all he conceded was a PK, I don't see much to flap about. (Will be glad when WS gets back, but VM is doing a great job... as a backup keeper.)

Not a good match and we were lucky to win this match. Poor display from our midfield. We gave away ball very cheaply and couldnt hold to the ball in second half. I am happy with a win but we have to do better than this if were to get anything from match against City.

uefa site shows 57% possession for us
yet all 3 of our midfielders had to cover more than 11 Kms
Arteta 11225 m
Diaby 11468 m
Santi 11076
indicative that we werent in control

for example song in his MOTM performance vs BVB covered less than 10 Kms

hope it doesnt affect us that much with fatigue

No chalkboards For CL it seems

gunnerlistick wrote:Should be scouting for a keeper to be honest, i don't think Flappers or Vito are good enough to be here

We bought one in transfer window Macedonian Wonderkid!!!
He didn't get a work permit though

On Sunday Walcott or Podolski should start up front. I would bring Grioud on in the second half. We made too many mistakes that could have turned ugly for us and vs City we will pay for it.

Any news on Chamakh? I would not mind him starting now.

I expected more in the 2nd half, instead they underestimated Montpellier and almost paid the price for it.

The biggest issue was midfield and attack.

For some reason, Cazorla and Podolski never pass the ball to Giroud.

I felt really bad for Giroud because he won every single aerial battle but never received a pass from our midfielders and his partners in attack.

So, that made it difficult for us to play the ball in final third.

When your attacking players dont communicate well, midfield will be in trouble because they dont know where to pass the ball.

We were lucky to win that match and big credit to Montpellier, one of the best organized teams i ever seen.

I hope Wenger sorts this 'miscommunication' between Podolski and Giroud.

Ok. First of all, we were playing the French champions away from home in their first ever Champions League game. This, after their coach Girard asked for their players to make it "hell" for us.

Seems to me like some were expecting a 5-0 win or a cruise. Bonkers.

We went 1-0 down away from home in Europe in first ten minutes, yet come back to win, again showing our great mentality and spirit, as well as our quality.

The penalty incident was clear, Vermaelen brought down the player and it was a good decision from the linesman/ref no matter how long they took to make the decision. 0-1.

Podolski's goal was fantastic play, I read a 19-pass move on twitter. Diaby to Cazorla to Giroud to Podolski, goal. Perfect. 1-1.

Then, Gervinho's great run, a pass to Giroud, the defender clears it to Jenkinson who crosses perfectly for Gervinho to finish the move. 2-1.

We played very well in the first half, Arteta again one of our best players.

The second half was difficult. You could see Girard 'got into them' at half-time and anyhow they couldn't have been any worse.

We struggled to deal with Cabella and Belhanda at times, they hit the bar, and shot straight at Mannone. Diaby was fortunate not to concede a penalty in injury time too, that looked a stonewall.

I was disappointed that Bould refused to make subs. Ramsey came on for Giroud but he waited until the 88th min to bring on Walcott and Coquelin, when we were clearly tiring. Diaby and Gervinho looked knackered.

I was so confused with Bould's decisions, but, ultimately, the big man's defensive training (and some luck) helped us win the game.

Overall, another win, 3 wins from 5 games in all comps, 3 clean sheets, 3rd in the league, we'd have took this.

Rat: Mannone 7; Jenkinson 7 Mertesacker 6 Vermaelen 6 Gibbs 7; Arteta 7 Diaby 6.5; Gervinho 7.5 Cazorla 6.5 Podolski 7.5; Giroud 6.5



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P.S: Yanga-Mbiwa was class.

Positive:

- Victory, it's 3 points after all.
- 1st half come back which show mental strength
- Great interplay from our attack
- Podolski & Gervinho great form. It's weird but I don't think Gerv strong point right now is dribble instead it's his off ball movement to the box, very unpredictable.
- Arteta ! Enough said.
- Solid defense again.
- Vito did his job, it would be unfair if Wenger drop young Italian for Chesny.
- Morale boost, we heading to the weekend with a win while City lost.

Negative:

- Fatigue in 2nd half. We play full 1st team players which is needed since I don't think our bench players could make this win but lots of tiring legs ahead. Hopefully the team recovers in time.
- Gibbs & to lesser extent Jenk poor positional sense, both will get punished against better wing players.
- Giroud confidence, his body language is not so great.

All in all, I'm satisfied with a win.

We became complacent in the 2nd half. Could see that we were playing it cautious when we kept passing the ball backwards despite being in advanced positions up top. Add to that, the fact that everyone was lightyears apart from the nearest team-mate meant we were incredibly lucky to escape with all 3 points

We were much the better team in the first half, thats where we won the game. Second half was poor going forward, but apart from some bad defending by diaby we did what we had to to win the game.
Bould was clearly scared to make subs in case he got them wrong, if wenger was there id expect us to have been better in the second half with the correct subs