Napoli seems aggrieved by every decision, but I just don't see the justification. That last challenge by Kolasinac that Callejon wanted a foul/probably red for was caused by Callejon hooking his arm around Kolasinac. Never a foul for me. There's going to be a red in the second half because of some hot-headed Napoli player lunging into a two-footed challenge.
What's really shocked me about Mkhitaryan the past few months has been how poor his simple passes have been
That's why I was aksing. I'm in a public hearing and have no video feed. Glad it didn't seem too egregious.
Honestly they've had three or four really good chances and have just finished terribly. It wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibility for them to pull this out earlier in the match
From your lips... Hopefully they can take advantage of Citeh and Spuds battling to exhaustion to maintain their place in the CL over the weekend.
Yeah, remember those seasons under AW that Arsenal played teams out of the park...but still lost 1-0 or 2-1? Good times.
Against a team like this, sometimes it's better to let them beat themselves. In the past two weeks, they've lost to Empoli, tied Genoa, lost away to us, only beating dead-last-by-a-huge-margin Chievo last weekend. That's some awful form, and you can tell they were frustrated from the kickoff of Leg 1. So, catch them offside a few times, force them into long shots, build that frustration more. It wasn't pretty tonight, but it was effective. That's now three consecutive clean sheets (6 in the last 7), two of them away, and we're into the semis. That all sounds really good to me.
Ugly, ugly, ugly. 30% possession. Maybe Emery's tactics were "smart", but it was the kind of performance that deserves to lose the tie, and they might have if Napoli weren't the gang that couldn't shoot straight. Any sign a coherent attack in the run of play disappeared after Ramsey left the field. The pass completion rate was in the mid 60s and I wouldn't be surprised if it was less than 60% after Ramsey went off. Ramsey and Ozil are important because they knit the midfield together. Ozil in particular is important because he not only finds space to receive a pass, he finds players in space, giving them more time on the ball. I only took three positives out of that performance, Lacazette should take more of the free kicks near the top of the box, the boss is in form, and Maitland-Niles had another decent game.
You must be great at parties. We have been terrible on the road all season and we increased a 2 goal lead with a cleansheet. It's the part of the tournament where advancing is the only important part. We did that without looking troubled for the entire match. Hopefully we don't lose Ramsey too long, but he's had a pretty healthy year so far (by his standards) so he is about due for a hammy or calf. Torreria went down for a bit the 2nd half and didn't seem to have the same step after. Hopefully he was simply tired. To the semis.
He lunged for a ball at about waist level, got fouled (slightly) and immediately grabbed the back of his hamstring and sat down before doing the universal index finger twirling for "sub." I'd be surprised if it's less than a month out.
Me too! But I guess we should take solace that it hasn't cursed us. But I'd rather not see that again for the rest of my life!
That sucks, and it'll probably have a big effect on our EL cup & Top 4 aspirations, if you're right. But seriously did you not see this coming? I've been expecting some soft-tissue injury to Aaron for a few weeks now. Edit: I have NOT watched the game yet. Won't be able to watch the whole thing for days. So take my comments with a grain of salt? Or LMK what the actual news is on him? p.s. Sad if that was the last Arsenal match he ever plays.