Mystic Ned’s predicted team in the San Siro was spot on and saw us kick off with Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Partey, Merino, Trossard; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli. Amongst others, Ødegaard returned to the bench with Nwaneri, Jorginho and Jesús, but still no sign of Calafiori. Rice, of course, was out with his foot injury incurred at Newcastle.
Twenty one years after our famous 5-1 victory in the San Siro our own ClockEndRider and son, 21CenturyGooner were among the travelling faithful and were completing a heroic trio of attendances in the last eight days in Preston, Newcastle and Milan. Watch out for their on the spot, atmospheric report in the drinks once they’ve had time to get body and soul back together – more likely in a pub than their recently under utilised beds! They reportedly went for dinner in a Milanese restaurant before the game, They were warned by the manager to “choose carefully from the menu because the waiters have hidden bombs in tins of Alphabet Spaghetti. If they go off, it could spell disaster.”
First half impressions ………….
The first half started alarmingly when, from the first Inter attack, Denzel Dumfries crashed a shot against the crossbar after 1’ 45” with Raya rooted to the spot. Arsenal struggled to get hold of the ball for the first ten to fifteen minutes but then gradually took control and dominated possession for the remainder of the half. Too much of that possession though went backwards and forwards round the U-bend of Despair and progress forwards was far too slow.
We had a series of corners from the right hand side which were delivered well by Saka but none of our usual set piece attackers could carve a clear opening. Gabriel and his marker were both yellow carded after some pushing and shoving when the Inter defender decided to end round one by having a sit on the floor and looking very offended by his rough treatment. We did manage to knock Dumfries into the Inter net but he had unfortunately omitted to take the ball with him.
From one nice move across the pitch Martinelli crossed towards Merino who was cleaned out by a double punch to the head by Inter goalkeeper Sommer. There was a check for a possible penalty but this is Arsenal so no penalty awarded. However, the same player, Mikel Merino, was the victim of a shocking penalty decision against him as the half drew to a close. As another Inter player fell too easily to the ground, the Romanian referee awarded him a free kick. As the ball was swung into our penalty area, the forward in front of Merino stretched a leg upwards and deflected the ball into what I thought was the perfectly normally positioned arm of Merino as he moved to balance himself behind the attacker. The ball travelled at speed all of two feet into Merino’s hand and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. After a negative check for a possible offside the penalty was confirmed and Çalhanoglu scored straight down the middle as Raya dove to his left.
Half time: inter 1 – 0 Arsenal
The second half saw the immediate introduction of Gabriel Jesús for Mikel Merino. It was clear that we were trying to up the tempo of our play as Martinelli shot into the side netting, shortly before sending over yet another corner which only found Saliba’s back as it glanced wide of the post. Saka continued to probe, Havertz curled a lovely shot towards the top corner which was just palmed clear by Sommer but generally the pattern of the game was set.
Arsenal dominated possession and continually found their way into the Inter area but just couldn’t create the clear chance they needed. Inter brought on Thuram, Barella and Mikhitaryan on the hour it it wasn’t until 81 minutes that Arteta sent on Zinchenko and Nwaneri for Timber and Trossard. Nwaneri was busy and looked to carry the ball well and very much in the style of his mentor, Ødegaard who made his own long awaited return on 89 minutes after Kai Havertz was forced off with a bloodied face following a clash of heads with Bissek. Nwaneri made a lovely turn past his marker on 96 minutes only to shoot high over the bar. A shame for the 17 year old on his Champions League debut, but even at his young age he does provide drive and impetus through the middle which we have been sadly lacking. Jesús tried a nice run and shot on 98 minutes which was blocked and greeted the referees final whistle.
And so …….
And so our first defeat in this season’s Champions League sees us drop to 12th place in the table. Hard to say what that means at this stage of the new format. Time will obviously tell. Tonight we got plenty of balls out to our wide men but too many deliveries were hopeful rather than incisive. There was less than no room in front of Inter’s goal to be honest but our forwards seem to have lost confidence in front of goal. We are anything but clinical at the moment but hopefully the return of Ben White and, above all, Martin Ødegaard will restore some fluency to our right hand side and Timber, if he’s going to play on the left, will establish a similar understanding with Merino and Martinelli.
Availability and clever rotation are going to be needed to get the season back on track. Better understanding will improve the quality of our play and that will hopefully restore the confidence to attack in numbers that we seem to have lost.
And finally ….
We have seen some excellent refereeing performances so far in this season’s Champions League. Sadly tonight’s was not one of them. The Romanian official allowed Inter to steal 10 yards at least at every throw on; he fell for it every time one of them fell over and gave them another free kick; almost every 50-50 decision went to the home side, and the penalty decision was plain awful. Yet another dreadful, game-deciding decision goes against us. Suffice to say Mikel Arteta was not amused in his post match interview.
And finally, finally ….
One of the highlights of a pretty unenjoyable game had to come from Ally McCoist on co-comms. Discussing the snacks in the commentary box, “my nuts have taken an absolute battering” he exclaimed with huge innuendo – which I believe is Italian for ‘suppository’.
I’ll bid you Good Night !
Thanks for the report Trev on yet another game this season that I did not see. My interest and/or my cable package must be waning. I especially liked your withering review of the referee’s PGMOL-style performance. He must want to audition soon, even as he is Romanian, and (presumably) ineligible. Maybe he can tell them that Bucarest is just the other side of Bolton?
As for your title, I do of course wish the US election had failed equally as Arsenal to come up Trumps.
Excellent read, Trev, with a couple of primo puns to lift flagging spirits, to boot. I agree that the penalty was harsh and that the referee’s overall performance was underwhelming. We deserved at least a point.
That was a great read. I didn’t see the game but it sounds like it was a frustrating evening. Sterling seems a bit of a last minute, do something, anything pointless signing. He obviously isn’t impressing anyone in training. What is it with players that are given a second chance? I thought he’d really want to show Chelsea what they’re missing. Obviously not.
Excellent report, Trev. Exactly the game I saw from high up in the gods at the San Siro.
It was another long day as we started with a cab to the airport ( thanks Dad!) at 5.15 am. It is nice to fly from London City airport and not be treated like cattle during the whole baggage and check in process. I can recommend ITA airways too.
We landed in Milan in fog so dense that the pilot set the controls to auto landing. In fact so dense was the fog that we only saw the ground seconds before touching down. An easy journey by Metro to our apartment just outside the centre was followed by a brisk walk to look around. The Duomo and City centre are beautiful. Around 4.30 pm we headed off to meet the Italian Gooners who had managed to secure a bar outside the prefect of police’s alcohol ban. I had no idea there are so many Italian Arsenal fans and they were in great form, many having travelled from all over the country. Thanks for your warm welcome, Guys.
Off to the ground and the interminable walk up, up, always up to take our position in the gods. C100, this walk made Newcastle’s 14 flights to the away end look like a doddle! The game was exactly as Trev reported, with the referee putting in a performance which made me think that he was trying to impersonate Mike Dean. Free kicks for Inter every time they flopped over. The whistle blew at the end and we clapped our players off. The performance was a much, much better one than Newcastle on Saturday and frankly we dominated them, apart from the ludicrous penalty. I see the Italian press this morning claiming that Inter chose to give up the ball. Which is somewhat at odds with the team they put out and covers up the fact that they couldn’t get it back for large swathes of the game. They looked knackered at the end, and I hope they get battered by Napoli at the weekend. Bitter? Moi?
We were kept in the ground for an hour afterwards, bearing in mind that the game started at 9 pm local time, with the incessant Euro pop garbage being blared out constantly in the rather too loud PA system. I am considering suing under the Human Rights Act, so awful was the experience. Then another 25 minutes to come back within the earth’s gravitational field, walking round the endless loops of the approach buildings before being confronted with masses of armed riot police and Carabinieri. I presume someone high up wanted to make sure his men got plenty of overtime this month. Hugely unnecessary and pointless, but hey, I’m not paying the bill.
We eventually got back to our flat at 1 am – no post match beers for us- and collapsed into our beds. Glad we came.
The pun title had me suspect we were in for a Trevt.
Cheers Trev!
Apart from the more than dubious penalty decisions (I was not shocked theirs was awarded though, however absurd(though I didn’t think it was a foul for the free-kick), but was rather more dismayed we didn’t get the other one before), a much much improved performance, and with the return of Martin, I hope things can start looking up again. Sunday is looming large already.
(although Tonight we got plenty of balls out to our wide men but too many deliveries were hopeful rather than incisive. yeah, that still causes me concerns, a lot of the crosses were just like getting rid of the ball).
(one possibly worrying personal thing, is I didn’t get angry at any refereeing decisions, I was just resigned)
Cheers Trev. You’ve caught the game very well there.
I still don’t know what the rules are anymore but it seems to me there is something wrong if Sommer’s double fisted punch into Merino’s head is not considered an offence while the ball hitting Merino’s arm after a two foot deflection is.
Anyway, I’m not worried about this result. We played well. Perhaps we weren’t as incisive as we could have been but they know how to defend and cramp the passing lanes. The penalty they scored was their only shot on target. We dominated the game, created far better opportunities and all the luck was against us. It happens.
I still expect us to finish in the top 8. That was our toughest game on paper and we were unlucky not to get at least a point.
Trev
Great report on a personally chaotic day.
I began it in hospital and ended at home watching rather sleepily and in some discomfort . I was very proud of the team and Inzaghi’s comments are fair and flattering. TNT’s, Keown aside we’re less so. Inter got very lucky with a ridiculous penalty and defended well but were outplayed in the second half and were we more confident and had Odegaard ( and maybe invested in that striker?) we would have at least got back on terms and may have won. I was very encouraged on a dark day for humankind . Footbsll will need to be a welcome distraction for the next four years
In the PL, players aren’t allowed to make the card gesture to referees to show they think an opposition player should be booked. I assume it is allowed in Europe as Martinez (their captain) did it blatantly last night when already on a yellow (for some handbags that both he and Gabriel were ludicrously booked for).
Am I right that it isn’t an offence in Europe?
If it is, then he should have been sent off. In the PL, we’d be sent off for that before you could blink.
If it isn’t, then it rather shows the different approaches to the game. Trying to get opponents booked or sent off by influencing the referee is not something I’m ever gonna be on board with. Although I suppose I am used to referees who are perfectly capable of sanctioning our players without any additional encouragement.
Get Well Soon, TTG.
I was very encouraged too. Sure we weren’t incisive and there was frustration at so many aimless crosses, but after Saturday it felt like a big step back up in terms of performance. The result wasn’t there, but at this stage of the new format-CL, it is not critical for us.
A mood-lifting match report as ever, Trev from the very title onwards. This certainly was a better performance than Saturday’s and we deserved to take at least a point from that game.
The lack of guile, pace and urgency in midfield in the absence of Ødegaard persists and his brief cameo was welcome. I thought Nwaneri showed what ‘might have been’ had he been used earlier in proceedings or indeed used more over the last two months. As Ødegaard plays his way back to full match fitness, we could do worse than bring Nwaneri on when he begins to tire.
Onwards.
GSD@9: The laws are universal, but not their interpretation, which is competition-specific.
TTG@8: Hope all is well. Get better soon.
CER@4: Sounds a splendid away day, pace the result.
Cheers Trev!
Get well soon TTG.
Thanks Trev for your express(o) report, enhanced with your sprinkling of puns – we saw the same game. After a shaky start we grew into the mstch and dominated the 2cnd half without any reward – we just can’t buy a goal at the moment.
The referee appears to have read the Mike Dean instruction book as he certainly wanted to be the centre of attraction. Supposedly in European competitions the type of handball against the unfortunate Merino is always given – we shall see! It also appears goalkeepers missing a cross and punching the attacker in the head is also allowed. The bottom line of course is that you need to score goals in order to win matches – something we need to address.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery TTG and a big well done to our Winchmore Hill massive for completing the Preston-Newcastle-Milan round trip unscathed ( but no doubt a little lighter in the pocket ).
Thanks all for your kind remarks.
Match reports are quite good fun it turns out. I don’t do many. More pressure than a preview but on the other hand you can’t really spend several days preparing it.
Hopefully our fluency and scoring problems will improve as both wings of the team become more settled as the injury situation improves – assuming it does.
Can’t help thinking it would be fun to see Odegaard and Nwaneri tearing it up in tandem …
Another tough watch. Very tiresome to see those Italian chappies tumbling over any time an opposing player went near them. Even more tiresome to see the referee being fooled by their antics and awarding a series of fouls that were not. Most noticeably, the tackle that eventually resulted in the nonsensical penalty award was one in which the ball was won, and fairly.
It was pleasing to see both Odegaard and Nwaneri on the field, albeit for an extremely brief period. Signs of Spring in Autumn. I completely understand MA8’s reticence on over-burdening Ethan, but I would have liked to see him enter the contest much earlier. He looked bright and, more importantly, was willing to run at the Inter defence (and make progress) in a way that appeared beyond the willingness/capability of his more senior colleagues. More of the same and earlier please, Mikel.
We were the better team, but absent a lethal header of the ball, the high balls into the box tactic never really looked likely to bring the outcome we craved.
Onward.
Talking of aerial prowess, what happened to our famed corner-taking? We had 13 on Wednesday evening, but I can remember only one that threatened to deliver a goal.
I know that it is actual goals, not expected goals, that count, but our non-penalty XG was 2.1 against Inter’s 0.4, i.e. we should have won 2-0. We, indeed, can not buy a goal at the moment.
Speaking of Romanians being presumably ineligible to referee in the Premier League, is there any clarification available as to why an Australian (Gillett, I believe) has been allowed? The last I heard, Australia was outside the geographical confines of Merry Olde England.
Ned. I suppose their must be enough ambiguity in the wording to allow referees not to give a yellow card for blatant, persistent waving of imaginary cards. Either that or the ref just ignored the rule and Inter were lucky to have 10 men on the pitch.
Thanks Trev
As for Australian referees, unfortunately they are all a bit crap.
We’re not getting our fair share of luck lately but I’m optimistic that will change soon.
UTA
Interesting(?) insight into the Tottnumb mindset: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/nov/07/hugo-lloris-watch-spurs-daniel-levy-champions-league-final?CMP=share_btn_url
Oops. Before editing, I had included this link to an exhibition about the history of the Tube map:
https://www.themaphouse.com/exhibitions/57-mapping-the-tube-1863-2023/
If you ask me nicely, I won’t post a review.
Pangloss, I will respectfully decline your invitation to read the first of your links. That’s a mindset in which I have no interest whatsoever and without which I can happily live.
I may return to your second link in an idle moment.
Several names are being bandied around to replace Edu, who if I understand it , has already left. These include promoting Jason Ayto, his assistant, Per Mertesacker who impresses me every time I hear him speak , Tomas Rosicky and even the West Ham Technical Director ,Tim Steidten , who was linked with the job yesterday in the Telegraph. The article was not very convincing and appeared to be a kite-flying exercise by Jason Burt who had spoken to a contact at the London Stadium. Steidten brought in some good players in the summer but largely they’ve bombed so far and his credentials seem tenuous.
One interesting name I haven’t seen linked is the old Dortmund Technical Director Michael Zorc, who retired after an incredibly successful career in which he made a huge amount of money for Dortmund while they were simultaneously becoming increasingly successful on the pitch. He is a very big-hitter
He is much older than the other candidates . I like the thought of people who have an affinity with the club taking the role and so Per and Tomas would be credible candidates but I hope Rosicky ,if successful, might be fit for action a bit more regularly than he was as a player !
What exactly is the remit of a sporting director at a club like Arsenal? I have no idea. It seems quite well paid and I only wish I’d known more about it before seeking careers advice at 6th form college.
GSD@19: There is no offence of waving an imaginary yellow card. It would fall under the catchall of unsporting behaviour. UEFA’s Referees Committee issues some interpretations of the laws, but much is left to individual leagues and competitions to establish their norms or guidance. My understanding is that waving an imaginary card is commonplace in continental Europe, unlike in England where any smidgin of disrespect for the imperial authority of the PGMOL must be squashed.
TTG@23: My understanding is that Edu is on the six-month gardening leave that now seems compulsory for departing sporting directors. I am not sure what the job spec of the new sporting director will be under the evolving Garlick-Lewis regime. Still, my gut says that having an ex-player, and especially an ex-Arsenal player, in that role would be invaluable for the balance of the senior management team, albeit that is not the only qualification the successful candidate should have.
Pangloss@21: While you are not reviewing the Tube Map exhibition, you can also ignore this modern alternative tube map:
http://www.tubemapcentral.com/webshop/webshopposters/london_circles_v2.jpg
Cheers for the clarification, Ned.
I think you make an excellent point that PGMOL punish card waving because they see it is as questioning the decision of the referee, not because it is unsporting towards opposition players (or fans, or the game in general).
SP
When I left school they were just about inventing electric lighting so there was no such job available to me or I would have been a shoo in !
My sense is that he oversees football matters not relating to team performance so he oversees purchases, sales and contracts ( where Edu has done particularly well imo ). Knowing how strong Arteta is I suspect he ultimately chooses players( particularly the big signings ) possibly from a list provided by the Technical Director . Edu had responsibility for the ladies team as well.
From my recollection of All or Nothing , when we were shipping out Aubameyang, the actual negotiation was done by Richard Garlick so this suggested that Edu was more strategic and also did a lot of player persuading although I think Arteta gets involved in enthusing new signings .
He also has a lot of upmarket barbecues in North London. No doubt CER is on the guest list .
Thanks TTG. So I guess it benefits to be a football person rather than an unknown.
The Edu barbecue may be repurposed as a chestnut roaster in Nottingham market. Hope he has a pair of Ugg boots to keep his feet warm.
One quick point – regarding away games in Italy, we were told we would need to show our passports as part of entrance to the ground. We thought that might have been a bit of PR overkill to prevent touting. No. We had to match our tickets to our passports a quarter mile from the ground in Milan, before the quarter mile vertical climb to our seats.
Be advised.
>>>>>>>