Arsenal 0 – 2 Manchester City
0 – 1 Milner (21)
0 – 2 Dzeko (32)
Koscielny sent off (10)
Szczesny saved penalty (11)
Arsenal’s ability to self-destruct never ceases to amaze. Ten minutes into the game and Laurent Koscielny was correctly dismissed from the field of play for a professional foul. It was a moment of rank stupidity which made an already difficult fixture, extraordinarily hard. It was an utterly incomprehensible decision by the defender; why would he grapple with the forward that close to goal? He has not done so in the past to prevent goals, why choose such an important match to act so rashly? As it was Szczesny saw the gods smile on him, deflecting the ball onto the post and then having the quick wits to grasp it as it rolled along the goal-line.
With Arsenal down to ten men, the pretence of a contest disappeared. Within twenty minutes, the contest was over as slack marking by Vermaelen allowed Milner the time to lash home a superb shot across Szczesny. Mitigating circumstances of the dismissal and a need to regroup there might have been but when the freekick was quickly taken, no Arsenal midfielder reacted nor did the Belgian stay close enough to his opponent. It was a bad afternoon all round for the Belgian national team in their defensive duties.
Surprisingly Arsène opted for Koscielny and Vermaelen at the back when all season, Mertesacker has been the stable influence. That backfired with the dismissal but even stranger was the choice of Diaby for the injured Arteta. I know that the manager has great faith in the abilities of his midfielder but having missed so much football in recent years, it was folly to include him from the start, especially with more viable alternatives on the bench. Ramsey is by no means popular but is considerably better than he is given credit for and also match fit. Diaby’s touch in those circumstances was wayward and he looked off the pace at times. All of those things are entirely understandable, which is more than can be said for the decision to start him.
Matters got worse with half an hour played, Zabaletta proved stronger than Gibbs initially and from then on the defence was stretched. Szczesny did well to parry Tevez’s close range effort but if fell to the unmarked Dzeko, who atoned for his penalty miss by scoring. Wilshere subsequently cleared off the line with the interval approaching. Although the match was over in terms of the result before half-time, it is to the credit of those who remained on the pitch that the second half offered hope of salvaging a point.
The introduction of Giroud offered a different type of threat up front from Walcott. The younger of the pair had been isolated through circumstance and tactics employed but the Frenchman had the first genuine opportunity to reduce the deficit with a header from cl0se range. The miss extinguished hope of a tremendous fight back. That may have happened moments earlier but for Szczesny’s decision to dive at the feet of Tevez, preventing what seemed a certain third. The Pole played well in spite of the defeat.
With fifteen minutes to go, Kompany jumped into the tackle with both feet off the ground. It was correctly called as a straight red card. It doesn’t matter if he wins the ball, the action in itself is deemed to be dangerous. Like Koscielny’s dismissal, there can be no complaints. Where referees are open to criticism is on consistency. Kompany made a worse challenge at Carrow Road and play continued with a goal resulting. Why was that not deemed a foul when yesterday’s was? Fifa were heavily criticised for removing the element of interpretation from refereeing decisions some years ago. It was, the critics claimed, taking away commonsense but it also tried to introduce consistency. This is the root of poor officiating; it always has been, it always will be.
Post-match, the manager observed that Arteta would be out for three weeks which is an obvious blow. The sands of the transfer market requirements are shifting, time is running out for action. The problem is finding people of quality, the manager is right to observe that men of Arteta’s knowledge and ability are few and far between. But he shouldn’t be looking for them in January, there is enough time outside of the transfer window to put deals in place before it opens. The limitations have not suddenly been exposed, they have been apparent for some time now. I know that he is managing expectations but it is not working.
The inactivity is not being seen as unfortunate, there are no credible excuses offered in that respect. It is being seen as incompetence and that is genuinely worrying. The man deserves better than that but obtuse statements to the media do not help. Once more, PR is proving to be a weak spot and one he seems disinclined to do anything about.
’til Tomorrow.
RVP has a similar moment of stupidity in a game against Southampon going way back if my memory serves me right.
I think an older head does not behave like that.
Pistol Fish
January 14, 2013 at 11:27 pm
twat? nah look closer to the mirror or the family photos the tall fella holding you in his laps.
have i swore at you or anyone ? have i insulted you in any form? why do you do it then?
i responded to all of yogi’s points and in any case yogi aint the subject, arsenal is and wenger and some of our classless fans with their ridiculous and disgraceful behaviour towards him.
i only ask how come people who should know better promote and endorse such ways of thinking about our manager
@pedantic george aka Blackburngeorge
You are spot on.
This year we’ve beeten the Tots so far. Do we count them as a big team?
we have a good bunch of players. we should be doing alot better. too many mistakes, bad tactics,playing players out of positions by wenger and his reluctance to replace song.
Koser ,they will bait you until you retaliate ,the call foul.
Ignore them .They are much to stupid to understand.
Kozer
It has been spelt out for you numerous times bye different posters including Yogi and you still dont get it. Why should I waste my time ?
I actually read the comments and think about what people say, you ? Well not so much.
Like I say I can understand peoples concerns even if i dont share them.
Never have I ever said Wenger out,, but neither have i said he is unfallable, because every one is.
Yes Duke .you know best.
I always admired your tactical nous and analytically brilliance.
Good post YW
very depressed after the this last result. as much as I love the guy KOSHER was very naive to think think particular referee was going to let him get away with what he did.
Teams efforts were commendable when we went down one man.
Two points:
The board need to approach the FA regarding the rotational fouling on JACK AND SANTI.
also no one referee should be allowed to get our games more than twice a season. There are three of the top of my head that keep doing a nasty job for us and I for one can’t stand it anymore.
This dick dean. Wanker web.
And the fat bastard.
yes we are fans we all know whats best! its the easiest thing in the world to be a critique!.
In moderation Yogi? Your playground chief but I play nice no? I don’t think I’ve been offensive and debate reasnobly. If its regarding someone I’ve been discussing I stand over every single letter.
and what will they do once i retaliate? run to daddy and tell him to punish me?
and i agree, they are too stupid to understand but yogi aint.
Any way Kozer you still avoiding my question I see,,, dont bother Im off to a Chill Peppers concert. Any way I know what the answer would have been regardless…
BRF have you tried to post some links? that puts you into moderation
im moderated aswell?? all i done was call george a c*** !!
And I am one Duke ,we all know that .
Pistol Fish
January 14, 2013 at 11:36 pm
what has been spelled out man?
do you see me calling wenger a god or something? or that he hasnt made mistakes? just a bit of respect for what he is doing for us instead of suggesting he has lost it and should go.
do you not find it insulting to use such words and expressions for THIS manager? i do.
i refuse to blame the manager for arsenal;s inability as an organisation to go kick the arse of united chelsea madrid barcelona and the likes.
night george. keep up the good fight.
and my dear pistol fish, ambition comes from the top of management, not the employees.
if kroenke wants the titles he will call arsene and the rest and tell them:
“right i want the same thing roman got last year, here’s 200million”
when that happens i.e there is a clear directive by OWNERS to go for titles and wenger still fails, thats the only time you or anyone else can critisise him.
since the priority and objcet all these past 7 years has been champions league participation and the money it brings NOONE can turn to wneger and say he has failled.
Apologies Yogster. Yes PG I was posting links and it was to the heil, so I deserve a bit of moderation lol.
On an even finally playing field ( and I don’t mean. Spending absurd amounts like the doped clubs) AW would take 98% of managerial in EPL and worldwide to school.
not many come even close.
HUNTER 13 good to see you back mate.
wise words goonerkam
i feel exaclty the same, in fact i would love to see the special one (-16 degrees…my oh my so chilly down there) take on a club which has just built a stadium and has to play with 17 year olds gibbs who slips, 20y.o clichy who forgets the offside and ramsey who delays on the ball and with a budget of 15million per summer and compete against ferguson spending 34 for nani and anderson 32 for rooney 30 for ferdinand or chelsea and a collection of drogbas maloudas crespos essiens torres. do you reckon the special one would be as brave to do such a thing in a league as the premiership?
actually what you say about wenger schooling the rest has been proven. he was voted as the undisputed king when it comes to a money spent/positions gained ratio for the previous decade. i would say that such a stat would be to determine …..efficiency?
arsenal has perhaps the most efficient manager in the game….and some fans want to sack him you see..not very clever. are they?
what is even more shocking is to read in these pages good words for the ref who did this to our manager
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/6112139/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger-due-an-apology-after-Old-Trafford-sending-off.html
Have we been going over the same ground all day? Good heavens. See you all on Wednesday.
Kozer 11.51,
I have to agree with your comment, that if Wenger achieves the goals/targets set by the owner and Board than he hasn’t failed.
Even our move and transition period is taking a lot less time than I originally thought it would. And during all this time we strive to still finish in top five.
he is not perfect AW but as close to that as we possibly can hope.
Sack him??? Blasphemy
Give the guy a break not a heart attack ffs,,,
Yes bill hippos are by some distance the most dangerous large animal in the bush, followed by buffalo. Hippos head for deeper water when fleeing and most are killed getting between a hippo and deeper water. A hippo can quite easily chomp a typical canoe in two and in breeding season and with young will attack. But hippos are fairly easy to avoid unless walking under the water on the riverbed and you in the canoe above them, oblivious. Buffalo are more dangerous walking in the bush. I once had a couple of young males 300 meters away turn around and come at me at a fast trot, followed by a full blown charge. Crocs are the worst fishing on rivers.
“I think Kozer gave Yogi a real good run for his
money tonight. Well done Kozer. ”
Bias is a motherfucking compelling force, either that or some people just don’t get logic.
Good grief? Really? *shakes head in disbelief*
http://www.aclfarsenal.co.uk/?p=10402