Monaco 0-2 Arsenal
Normally a 2-0 away win in the
Champions League, against a side that has a European home record second only to
Real Madrid, would be celebrated with great joy. Unfortunately, when such a
result comes after a 3-1 home defeat in the first leg, it stands for nothing.
For the fifth year in succession,
Arsenal’s players were made to rue their mistakes in the first leg,
with their
heroics in the second game seeing them come so close to qualifying for the
quarter finals, but yet so far. Ultimately, this 180 minute tie was won and lost
in the final two minutes of the first leg.
Once Oxlade-Chamberlain had reduced
the arrears to one goal, the Gunners should have shown the maturity and game
management to shut up shop and ensure they did not concede again. Had they done
so, the 2-0 win away to Monaco last night would have seen them progress into
the last eight of the competition. As it was, the required 3-0 victory was just
beyond them.
Arsenal came into the second leg
in fine form, having won all their games since that disastrous first leg and
were full of optimism. An early goal would have really put the cat amongst the
pigeons, but unfortunately, the Gunners were unable to breach the tight Monaco
defence until just before halftime.
Arsene Wenger’s former side were
able to play to their strengths in this game, sitting deep, with two banks of
four, suffocating the midfield area and breaking up the play. The fact that every
time Monaco won the ball back, they had no out ball and ended up giving
possession back to the Gunners, did not make much difference, after all, they effectively
had a three goal lead and it was down to Arsenal to try and break them down.
For the first ten minutes, the visitors
seemed to struggle to come to terms with their task, but as the first half wore
on they soon began to dominate. Unfortunately, lady luck did not appear to be
on their side with the ball just not sitting right for them or rolling away
from the players at the crucial moment.
Giroud saw a header sail wide of
goal after 14 minutes, following a fine cross from Bellerin, but Arsenal were
struggling to get in behind the Monaco defence and create goal scoring
opportunities as the home side had no reason to leave their defensive positions
by committing players forward and leaving space in behind for Arsenal to
exploit.
On the one occasion they did do
this, the Gunners took advantage. As the Monaco right back attempted to carry
the ball forward, he was robbed of possession and suddenly there was a gaping
hole in the Monaco defence. The ball was quickly played to Welbeck, whose pass
in to Giroud appeared to be just beyond the Frenchman. As Subasic came rushing
off his line, Giroud just got there first, but his shot struck the goalkeeper.
However the ball looped up and the Arsenal striker turned quickly, before
firing a shot into the roof of the net, continuing his recent fine form and
giving the Gunners the lead on the night. Arsenal could have had a second soon
after, but Welbeck’s shot was blocked by Abdennour, wrong footing the
goalkeeper by flying just wide of goal.
Following the half time break, the
Gunners needed to maintain their momentum and a minute into the second half;
Giroud scuffed an effort wide of goal, before Ozil forced Subasic into a
fingertip save from a free kick. However midway through the second period,
Arsenal appeared to lose their impetus and Monaco started to come into the game
more.
A change was needed and Wenger
decided to go for broke, taking off the defensive security of Coquelin and replacing
him with Ramsey. While this move did make sense in that Ramsey is always likely
to score a goal and with the tie stood as it was, Arsenal essentially had
nothing to lose, the later decision to then replace Welbeck with Walcott, was
rather perplexing in hindsight.
It is understandable that Wenger
wanted to maintain superior numbers in midfield in an attempt to ensure his
side kept control of the game, but as the game wore on, Monaco were sitting
deeper and deeper, with no real intention of attacking the Gunners.
Furthermore, with no space available in and around the box, Arsenal were being
forced out wide and crossing the ball into the area, where they only had Giroud
capable of winning a header against Monaco’s two towering central defenders.
Surely then Wenger should have decided to match Monaco’s 4-4-2 formation,
moving Welbeck into the centre forward role alongside Giroud, bringing on Walcott
for the largely ineffective Ozil and having the Englishman use his pace on the
wing to fashion space and deliver crosses for Giroud and Welbeck to attack,
with Cazorla or Ramsey ready to pounce on any knock downs.
With twelve minutes remaining,
Arsenal managed to score a second, getting themselves within touching distance
of qualification. Monreal was released inside the box and his cutback found Walcott,
whose effort struck the post. Fortunately the Monaco clearance was abysmal and
fell straight to Ramsey, who steadied himself and fired a low shot, across goal
and into the bottom corner.
Unfortunately, although Arsenal
had time to fashion a third, the closest they came was from a Giroud header,
following an Ozil free kick, which was well saved by Subasic. After this
chance, the Gunners resorted to crosses into the box, which ultimately played
into Monaco’s hands, as their two central defenders were more than capable of
dealing with deliveries aimed at one man.
At the final whistle, it was a
case of deja vu for the Gunners as once again they came so close to overturning
a disastrous first leg defeat, but just could not get the job done. The players
can be proud of their performance last night, they gave everything for the
cause, but at this level you just cannot play as they did in the first game and
hope to get away with it. Arsenal must now pick themselves up for the next match
away to Newcastle on Saturday, as they cannot afford to slip up in the league
with the top four race closer than ever this season.
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