Sep 17
Match Report: FC Dynamo Kyiv 1-1 Arsenal
Arsenal faced a tough trip to Kiev, somewhere they have been before on many occassions yet never come out of with a win.
But with 11 goals in the Gunners last three matches the team were on a high as they kicked off their Champions League campaign.
Dinamo Kiev Starting XI
Bogush
Betao – Diakhate – Mykhalyk – Nesmachniy
Vukojevic – Yussuf – Yeremenko – Aliev
Ninkovic – Bangoura
Arsenal Starting XI
Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Walcott- Fabregas – Song – Denilson
Adebayor – van Persie
First Half
Arsenal started off where they left off at the weekend with man-of-the-moment Theo Walcott playing a neat ball through to Robin Van Persie, but the striker failed to find the net as the shot was straight at the Kiev keeper Bogush and out for a corner.
Arsenal were keeping possession well in the midfield but the Ukrainians were slowing begin to assert themselves and the possession was becoming more and more even in the centre of the park. But Arsenal still had the upper-hand. Dinamo gave the ball away cheaply at the back, but Adebayor failed to capitalise and all he could do was curl his shot wide of the post from 15 yards out. It was a guilt edged chance that the Togolese striker should have buried.
Kiev were struggling to get any clear cut chances on goal, as a free kick from 30 yards was poorly taken and Arsenal were able to counter. Adebayor was breaking, and carved up two players along the way, but a poor touch meant that the Kiev defence could clear the danger.
Bangoura’s shot flashed wide of Almunia’s goal as the home fans were beginning to find their voice and the Kiev players were responding well. The striker proved to be a threat as he saw the Arsenal keeper off his line and attempted to fool him by trying an audacious long shot. But the ball flew over the bar, much to Almunia’s relief.
Aliev managed to beat Clichy on the left but the resultant cross amounted to nothing as the game died down yet agin. A slick passing play starting at the back with Sagna and found its way to Van Persie in the area, however the Dutchman’s thunderous shot fired into the side netting, he should have done better.
On the edge of Kiev’s box, Adebayor won back the ball to float in a pinpoint cross to Van Persie on the left who pulled the ball back in one touch to Fabregas. But the talismanic Spaniard could not get a clean connection on the ball, and his shot bounced safely into the keepers hands. Another chance had gone begging as the half finished a scrappy 0-0 draw.
Second Half
Arsenal starting off play well in Kiev’s area, but the first chance fell to the Ukrainians. Walcott went down on the halfway line as Dinamo played on on the break. The defence was all over the place as Ninkovic’s low drive was tipped onto the post by Almunia.
Robin Van Persie had yet another chance with the striker blazing over from the left side of the area. Arsenal were closing down Kiev well but the Gunners failed to find the breakthrough and possession was being lost too cheaply. Kiev were beginning to attack more often as the defence finally snuffed out an attack that starting by exposing the vulnerable left flank. Another Arsenal movement saw the ball fall to Fabregas on the edge of the area, however attempt at a screamer was straight at the opposition keeper.
Gallas missed the ball and released Bangoura, the defence was incapable of stopping the cross. Sagna was then deemed to have pulled down the awaiting striker but replays showed that the attacker had twisted round and through himself to ground. Bangoura stepped up to the spot and cooly slid the ball into the bottom right hand corner as Almunia dived the wrong way.
Goal – Bangoura (61 mins)
Arsenal were slipping all over the place and and losing possession at nearly every turn. As Kiev were sending wave after wave of attack which the Gunners back four looked to be struggling with. Bendtner came on for Song as the team tried to increase their attacking threat. Bangoura had far too much space and time on the edge of the area but curled the ball over the bar and wide.
Eboue was brought on to replace Sagna as Arsenal desperately strived for an equaliser. Walcott broke away and another cynical foul was unleashed on the English man. Fabregas stepped up to whip in the free kick as the Ukrainians struggled to clear and the ball was deflected out for a corner. Van Persie’s corner was met by Adebayor but his header was easily saved by the keeper. Carlos Vela was then called on as the replacement for a lacklustre Van Persie.
A two-on-one break from Kiev should have punished Arsenal but an awful touch from Bangoura allowed Clichy to recover.
Arsenal kept the pressure on and a sublime cross from Walcott found its way through to Gallas who made no mistake in hammering it into the roof of the net. Gallas find the breakthrough again.
Goal – Gallas (88 min)
The full time whistle was then blow on a poor performance from the Gunners that saw them lucky to salvage a point from a tricky encounter in Ukraine, despite the penalty decision being highly skeptical.
Player Ratings
Almunia – 6.5: Not much to do, but solid but called upon, especially when he tipped the ball onto the post
Clichy – 7.5: Probably the best player on the pitch, had to cover on the left due to Wenger’s tactical failure, and covered well in two-on-one situation
Gallas – 6.5: Failed to create solid back four and lead team, but the goal was vital, and he is beginning to establish a knack for them
Toure – 7: Made some superb saving tackles but he gave the ball away for too often
Sagna – 6.5: Lost the ball too easily, but the decision against him for the penalty was very harsh
Denilson – 5: Was mystifyingly played on the left and thus failed to make and impact and left the left side exposed
Fabregas – 4: Completely out of sorts, failed to impose himself of the game and made little impact
Song – 5: Lack of match practice showed as he gave possession away too often and couldn’t consistently set up passing moves
Walcott – 7: Worked tirelessly and was the victim of many a rough tackle, but provided a beautiful assist
Van Persie – 5: Should have done better with the chances he was providided
Adebayor – 7.5: Should have scored with guilt edged chance, but worked harder than anyone else and was highly involved in goal
Subs:
Bendtner – 3: Poor touches when on and made no impact
Eboue – 5: Sufficient cover at right back
Vela – N/A: On for too little time
Man of the Match: Emmanuel Adebayor – worked tirelessly and was always at the heart of every Arsenal chance, atoning for his missed sitter.
Tags: Adebayor, arsenal, bangoura, Champions League, denilson, Fabregas, Gallas, group stage, kiev, penalty, song, toure, van Persie, Wenger
when wenger said he would be happy with a point i reckon that was very stupid..it put the players in a mindset that a point would be good enough and as a result they played poorly..still though…yet another crappy penalty decision
writing is a little dodgy, looks patched up
yeah, sorry, writing quality so as good as could have, had about 20 people shouting at me about what to say.
* not as good as could have been
Great report, so glad we got the draw in the end..
I think it's pretty brilliant tbh. Constructive criticism is welcome of course though.
A draws not bad but whats with denilson on the left??? When is ro-sicky comming back??
we are desperately short on wingers..rosicky is ALWAYS out and never seems to come bak, nasri seems a bit injury prone aswell although too early to tell yet, walcott is only real winger left…eboue is just shite as everyone knows and any other wingers are far too young
Adebayor man of the match?? Fuck off you cunt. He was shit. Crap passing in the final third, crap shooting as usual. 7.5?? Go fuck yourself you prat and your stupid website full of shit.
Song was very good for being so out of match practice at the top level. Poor rating in my opinion for rating him at a 5. He won the ball back many times which Denilson never would of done. Our defense looked horrible for the first five minutes that he was taken off for. That period showed how valuable he had been.
You are joking right? Fabregas a 4? Bendtner a 3? Adebayor MOTM? I'm sorry but completely wrong.
fucking woeful. play like that in turkey or portugal and we won't make it through the group. we went there for a draw and were bloody lucky to escape with one.
Is it just me or does Fabregas look fat? Pass two games he has done nothing, very worrying!
what about fabregas s body language !,not good
it has to be said the front two were so poor, Chris i can't believe u have made Adebayor man of the match i honestly think he was one of our worst players on the field plus he missed a great chance in the first half but that isn't really surprising coming from Adebayor he has got to get dropped in my opinion but Walcot is impressing me more and more each time i see him on the field his all round game has improved he hardly lost the ball tonight which was good and i noticed a bit of fire in him tonight definitely one of our best players tonight he didn't give up on the fight i really think he needs to get his chance as a strikers role
Good player rating.Fab was average today.
good result in the end tbh, Cesc wasn't as good as he normally is but oh well every1 has an off day, Walcott was again gr8 on the right hnd side looked dangerous everytime he had the ball.
cesc is a little bit lost without alex and tomas.
Shouldn't that be threw himself to ground and not through
Disagree about Song- thought he was good and when he went off we completely lost our shap and were over-ran in midfield. Cesc and Denilson were woeful. Adebayor & Van Persie poor- no interaction whatsoever. Overall if we had taken our chances in the first half it would have been a different story. second half we got out of jail.
very strange ratings……… denilson definately deserved more than a 5 and so did song …… adebayor did work hard but he missed a very easy chance in the 1st half which he should be scoring so a 7.5 is way too high. the only player that didnt play that well was fabregas but the rest were all ok
Although it was bad defending from Sagna, should have positioned in front of the atacker, it wasn't a penalty!!
We needed to play 4-4-2 we played with a redundant midfield, van Persie on the left is not his best position, the 4-5-1 showed scaryness that wasn't needed because we could have finished them of with a 4-4-2 with 3 or three fresh players in the team…
I'm glad we saved a point and I hope the players can recover for Bolton!
Song and Walcott was are best players Frabagas cant play with Denilson Wenger go and fucking get Appiah
lmao
I'm very worried about the way we get pass around in midfield there is know midfield dominance Blackburn done it to us on the weekend in the first half. it really worries me
It definately wasn't a penalty. Sagna touches him (like every defender does at least 5 times per game), but the Kyiv player doesn't even try to go for the ball, instead he goes downwards immediately and actually lands on his back meaning that he did a 180 degree fall á la Ronaldo thus looking for the referee even before he hit the ground.
Should've been 2-0 up in half time. Wenger did the right choice with his 4-5-1 formation seeing as Kyiv didn't create a single chance in the first half while we created 3-4 good goalscoring opportunities that normally would've materialized. A combination of bad finishing and the referee made us draw, in my opinion. 1-1 away to Kyiv is not a bad result at all though.
did any one else notice david villa playing tonight in cescs shirt!
Don't agree. I think AW said he would be happy with a point to emphasize the message to the players that Kyiv should not be taken lightly.
The players were not sharp today, that's for sure. Song, despite his obvious rust, was an imposing player in midfield and was a true enforcer. His tough tackling was very much needed today.
Ade was a mixed bag of poor first touches, poor finishing, and hard work. He delights and frustrates in equal measure. I thought Walcott had good moments, including the assist, but he still made a lot of frustratingly bad decisions.
Kyiv should also be given credit for harrassing our players in midfield. Notice that our passing is not nearly as sharp as it can be when the opposition is energetic and closes down our players quickly (Fulham, Kyiv). When our players are given space (Newcastle, Twente, Blackburn), we dominate the game.
I thought song played well in that game won the ball back alot which we need, thought it was a very tight game and no space in midfield. Denlison was ok but is to similar to Cesc who was ok not a 4 thou. At the end of the day we got a point and didnt play well 2nd half why all the neagitive points on here. Sure we didnt win but got a point and if we win all 3 home games we in the next round. Cheer ip.
clichy for me was awful. all their attack came through the right.It wasnt a case of dynamo being defensive or anything i thought arsenal were too complacent in the match.Denilson is not consistent enough.Him and cesc in the middle of the park just wont work.I know some have been saying that cesc hasnt been playing well.I disagree.Cesc is spending too much time defending cos he knws denilson isnt gonna exactly protect our back four.I will rather have alex song play as a dm which will enable cesc too go more forward.
Another thing that really pissed me off were wenger's substitutions.His substitutions were good but just too late.Giving vela and eboue 10 minutes on the pitch really doesnt help.Should have made them a lot earlier
Arsenal was chaotic in the midfield, complete chaos (ok, you could expect some of that from a hard away CL game)
We need more intelligence in the midfield, Denilson out for Ramsey . Denilson especially has no discipline in defense nor in attack.
There is a difference between beeing disciplined but creative and chaotic.
We are barely recognizeable at the moment, it seems Fabregas lack of partners is taming his own ambitions and abilities.
I think we need more discipline and intelligence in there, Ramsey has got to be the answer
fuckin nobs. you call yourself arsenal fans!? after backburn you we're all raving but after a draw away your back to “we're shit, we need to sign someone.”
the first half we were by far the better team! cesc wasn't at his best tonight, but he did miss pre season and is still playing catch up.
unfortunately thwey got a stupid penalty which forced wenger to take off song, which then left the midfield wide open and streched the game, making denilson and cesc look shit. but they werent.
Kiev away may well be the hardest game in the group and we came away with a draw and could've got more!
get behind your team
We certainly lacked some discipline and stength in the middle of the park. The singers, when given the chance from fluent play, did their jobs well, but no back up from the midfield to flood the box for a cross. I think we missed Nasri :s
The penalty decision was a disgrace but what can you do. We shouldnt have found ourselves going 1-0 down at that stage of the game. I think Cesc was playing too high up the pitch at times. We lacked his vision coming from the center circle. Of course Nasri was a big loss. Theo was tearing it up, always great to see. Denilson was Denilson. I think although Song didn't have a great game, he did ok. The biggest problem for me is when ur looking to win a game, Eboue and Bendtner wouldn't be what I'd bring off the bench.
2 points lost?
I guess we'll really know the answer to that when the group stages finish. If we finish top, I for one won't be too worried about a draw in Kyiv.
Look on the bright side.
If arsenal get all their krap refereeing decisions in the CL out of the way now, they wont occur when we are challenging for the title. Having said that I dont understand how refs can be pulled into one of those decision by the ref. Why would Sagna want to push him over in the box like that?
So we beat Blackburn (a good side) away from home 4-0 then get a draw which satisifed Wenger and still there are the doom sayers around. Who are you to tell Sagna how to defend. If he had of been in front and the ball had been put long, then what? Stop being so negative just because we didnt win the game. We can't and will not win every game and given we still have Rosicky, Nasri, Diaby and Eduardo out, were still in very good shape
Nasri, come back, you need us!
well,i didn't get to see the game but reading your report doesn't feel good.
no hopes lost yet i hope!
You're a f*cking nob, you moron! Just because I have made a cold assessment which happens to include criticism doesn't mean (1) I think we're shit, (2) I think we need to sign someone, or (3) I don't support the team. I am one of the few fans who always thought our squad was good enough to compete for domestic and European honors this season. Does that mean I think the team is perfect? No!!!
People here have been to harsh. They didn't watch the match they were probably watching the man u game as they thought we were villarreal. Fabregas tried to make things happen but there was no apparent link from midfield and attack as denilson was missing for too long though when he got the ball showed nice touches. It is not good always to have two players who like to have the ball all the time playing together i.e. Fab and Deni. Overall decent result but we were not outplayed.