Arsenal 3 - 1 Shrewsbury Town: Comfortable win after first half scare

Before anyone asks: no, I did not have a live stream. The game was not live anywhere, so I, and many others, had to settle with Arsenal Player's audio commentary.

Since I couldn't watch the game, I can only give a few points.

The first half was poor. Despite starting quite brightly, Arsenal's defenisve woes continued when Shrewsbury took a shock lead through Collins. The ball was played into the box and Djourou misjudged the flight of the ball, resulting in Collins having a free header from six yards.

That goal gave them confidence and belief and the League 2 side were actually on top for a good portion of the first half. Arsenal struggled to put anything together going forward and were poor defensively. Shrewsbury could have quite easily score one or two more goals.

The equaliser was pretty timely, though. Jenkinson's cross in was met by Gibbs, who headed in his first Arsenal goal. The sides went in tied at half-time, with Arsenal favourites to overcome a tiring Shrewsbury side.

And that was probably the difference. Shrewsbury put everything they had into that first half and were deservedly winning, but a mixture of conceding and fatigue contributed towards Arsenal's better second half performance.

It sounded like it was all Arsenal in the second half. The defence played a bit better, and the attack was being driven forward by Coquelin and Chamberlain. Chamberlain put Arsenal ahead with a stunner from distance, and Benayoun rounded the game off after a cross from Ozyakup.

Even though the second half was much better, amd even though this was a relatively young side, I can't be all that pleased overall. Having to come from behind is not good enough. Being put under pressure and almost conceding more against a League 2 side is downright embarrassing. I mean no disrespect to Shrewsbury, but the side we put out there had enough talent to sweep this lot aside with ease.

So while I'm happy we won and that the young players did well, I can't be too thrilled that the game was harder than it should have been.

In any case, a win is a win and we're through to the next round.

I obviously can't do player ratings, so I suppose our next task is to find highlights of the game.

Me like arsenal win!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Always a good moment when our youngsters do us proud

future is bright.

So Jay, you gonna do player ratings?

KMD wrote:

Party pooper

Don't ruin the moment KMD

cmon, who is he to kiss the badge? gotta prove himself... but we are all delighted for him

No you don't have to prove yourself. If you love the club than you can do it. If i played for Arsenal i'd be kissing that badge everytime i score

Never kiss the badge.

But a good win.

Heard good things about Chamberlain, Jenkison, Coquelin tonight.

Spurs out, lost 7-6 on pens to stoke.

looooooooool

LOL thats good for us.

I actually wanted Stoke to go out. Would hate for us to have to play Stoke away more than once this season.

Another blown clean sheet...jus sayin'.

Also Djourou with another mistake? Can his confidence take any more hits?

But, I'm obviously glad we made it through. The more wins, the more belief these gusy will have in themselves, even if its against lowly Shrewsbury.

Obviously i didnt see the game but as it sounds our future is BRIGHT with talents.

Ozyakup is my favorite player at reserves.

Found Gibbs' goal:



Trying to find the other two right now

Edit:

back from the Emirates and my unbeaten run whilst watching Arsenal continues

goal.com rating

Lukasz Fabianski
Goalkeeper 6.0

Carl Jenkinson
Defender 6.0

Ignasi Miquel
Defender 7.0

Johan Djourou
Defender6.0

Kieran Gibbs
Defender7.5

Francis Coquelin
Midfielder 6.0

Yossi Benayoun
Midfielder 6.5

Emmanuel Frimpong
Midfielder6.5

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Striker 8.5

Chu-Young Park
Striker 6.0

Marouane Chamakh
Striker
5.5

on getting the win against a decent side…
It was a bit nervy because we played against a good side. I said before the game that the lower divisions have improved in the last five years and you could see that. They were direct but not without technique. They had a direct game but they played it with intelligence and efficiency. They had a few dangerous situations in the first half, even after they scored. So 1-1 was not too bad for us at half time and in the second half we took over, they dropped physically and we played in one half after that.

on whether he was calm at half time…
Yes, I was very calm at half time because panic doesn’t help. I felt that if we maintained the pace in the game we had a good chance to win the game.

on whether Shrewsbury ‘dominated’ the first half…
I’m not sure they dominated the first half, if you look at the numbers again you will see they didn’t dominate the game. They created dangerous situations. It’s always difficult to beat a football team, no matter what division they play in. They knocked Swansea and Derby out and you can see why. They are top of their league.

on whether some of his players are playing with fear…
We played a young team with a mixture of young players and experienced players. We took a gamble and it worked because you could see some players, who we haven’t seen so much of like Oxlade-Chamberlain and Coquelin, have done extremely well and that is positive for the future.

on how to get belief back in the squad…
In the last four games, we have had three good results and the one game we didn’t was Blackburn and that, for me, was a miracle. Look at the numbers; we had 62 per cent of the possession and had 16 shots on goal and we lost 4-3.

on Oxlade-Chamberlain and Coquelin’s performances…
Oxlade-Chamberlain grew through the game and became stronger and stronger. In the first half he was a bit timid and suddenly he grew in stature in the second half. It was unbelievable. What came out, you didn’t expect it after the first half. He became stronger and stronger.

on whether he has staked a claim for a place in the first team…
You could see that he will be a first-team player here, that is for sure. He still has things to work on but, very quickly, he will be knocking on the door.

on Djourou’s performance…
He was very good in the second half. In the first half, he was surprised on the goal. In the second half, he had a good performance.

on whether he will bring in a defensive coach…
I just completed 32 years of coaching. I do not want to answer these types of questions.

On Ryo’s performance…
He did well when he came on. My regret tonight is that he didn’t play long enough to show what he is capable of doing. He will get more opportunities.

on speculation regarding his future…
Whether I work here for the next 10 years or the next day here, I will give my maximum for the Club. I will let other people assess the situation. I focus on doing well for this club, that is all. I am not bothered at all by all this speculation.

I am completely focused on doing well. I can understand that people are unhappy and criticise but people are very quick to go overboard. I accept critics and I don’t say it doesn’t matter. I prefer it if people say I am good but I cannot complain when we lose a game and you are criticised. When we do well, we take all the plaudits so we have to take the blame when it doesn’t go well. But we have, on both sides, to take a little bit of distance.

I completely missed the game but it wasnt on any channels or stream so guess i havnt missed anything. Good that we won though.

Coquelin a 6.0? He was our second best player on the night, only bested by Chamberlain who didn't shine until the second half.

Who does these ratings? Really wonder if they actually watch the games or just breif highlights.

GoonerJay29 wrote:Coquelin a 6.0? He was our second best player on the night, only bested by Chamberlain who didn't shine until the second half.

Who does these ratings? Really wonder if they actually watch the games or just breif highlights.

LOl, this is what the guy who did the rating said
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Top of the Match
Struggled to get going in the first half, but looked like a man possessed in the second, taking on players for fun and rifling his shot into the bottom corner.

Francis Coquelin
6.0

A quiet game for the midfielder, and though he took a knock late in the first half he recovered speedily.