Match Report: Middlesbrough 1-1 Arsenal
Anything was possible going into today’s game at Middlesbrough. Both sides have had inconsistent runs of form recently, and with Boro’s superb record against Arsenal, a tough game was on the cards for Arsene Wenger’s young men.
French tactician Wenger welcomed back five senior players, two of whom included Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor. The latter scored the only goal during Arsenal’s league encounter with Wigan last week.
Middlesbrough Starting XI
Turnbull
McMahon – Huth – Riggott – Pogatetz (c)
A Johnson – Arca – Digard – Downing
Aliadiere – Tuncay
Arsenal Starting XI
Almunia
Sagna – Djourou – Gallas – Clichy
Denilson – Fabregas (c) – Song – Diaby
Adebayor – van Persie
First Half
Difficult conditions managed to strengthen Boro’s position during the opening stages. Fullback Tony McMahon showed some energetic running down the right hand flank, but it was an expertly-weighted ball from Julio Arca which fell for Stewart Downing that was the pick of the early moves.
England winger Downing won a corner from the move and Emmanuel Adebayor headed on to the roof of his own net giving Boro a second corner in quick succession, Johnson lofting a volley well over the bar from the edge of the six-yard box after a decent left-wing delivery.
It was Arsenal who settled to created two chances in five minutes.
Arsenal’s Stamford Bridge hero Robin van Persie edged a low shot just wide from 12 yards, before Adebayor set up Abou Diaby who brought a fine save from Ross Turnbull at his near post.
Wet conditions at the Riverside weren’t going to dampen Arsenal’s spirits though, a vital moment was set to come within seconds of Diaby’s shot.
The save from Turnbull brought a corner from which the Gunners took the lead as Cesc Fabregas delivered from the left and Emmanuel Adebayor was left with a free header on the edge of the six-yard box with just over 16 minutes played.
Goal: Emmanuel Adebayor (16) – Middlesbrough 0-1 Arsenal
As Boro tried to get back in the game McMahon picked out Aliadiere on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area, a sharp turn gave him space to shoot, but he sliced wide of Manuel Almunia’s right-hand post.
Tuncay was off balance when he shot tamely at Almunia from the edge of the penalty area minutes later, while it took smart goalkeeping from Turnbull to grab a low Diaby drive from deep inside the Boro box.
But with 28 minutes played the equaliser Boro’s play deserved arrived with their first headed goal of the season as Tuncay smashed in a cross from the left-hand edge of the Arsenal box and Jeremie Aliadiere flung himself ahead of the central defenders on the edge of the six-yard box.
Goal: Jeremie Aliadiere (28) – Middlesbrough 1-1 Arsenal
Boro had genuine claims for a penalty turned down when Gael Clichy caught Johnson, but vehement appeals went unheeded.
Back came Arsenal and Adebayor crossed low from the right, picking out van Persie unmarked seven yards from goal, but he went for the kind of finish which looks great when it comes off, but in attempting a flash backheel he missed the ball completely and the Boro fans were laughing for a little while after.
Denilson was next to threaten, though his approach was spoiled by the finish which took the ball well over the bar from 22 yards.
Second Half
Gareth Southgate’s side came straight out of the blocks after a subdued start to the second half from both respective teams.
Rock solid German international Robert Huth displayed nimble footwork on the halfway line, turning away from two yellow shirts to play a delicate ball over the top which just outran Aliadiere.
Tuncay was next to give Arsenal cause for concern but was just crowded out.
A long ball over the top saw Downing outpace Bacary Sagna and bring a smart save at his near post from Almunia who reacted well to a low drive.
As the game swung to the other end and the Gunners began to apply pressure, Diaby set up Van Persie who rolled a low shot across the face of goal and just wide.
The visitors began to step it up and Turnbull did well to hold on to a low 20-yard drive from Diaby.
But Boro dug deep and took the game back to a side attempting to go third in the table. Eye-catching approach work though didn’t render too many chances, but the same applied at the other end.
No-one has been involved in goals in the last 10 minutes of games this season more than Boro (15), though Arsenal are not far behind with 12, so it was no surprise that nerves on both sides were stretched – as were defences.
A wicked right-wing corner from Van Persie caused problems, while Turnbull made an excellent stop to prevent the lime green booted substitute Nicklas Bendtner from cracking in at the near post.
It would have been rough justice on a Boro side which arguably deserved at least a point. Arsenal’s problems continue to mount though, their is some good news coming up this Monday, Eduardo will make his return from injury in a Reserve game against Portsmouth.
Gooner Talk’s Man of the Match: Emmanuel Adebayor – The Togolese frontman showed exactly why Arsenal need him. With 11 goals this season, more is expected of the 25-year-old who you can guarantee will be linked with a whole host of European clubs in January.
Pathetic, to many average players in the midfield, how many times song gave the ball away or played a sloppy pass i lost count of, denilson shouldnt be on the wing, diaby should have started right sided, vela left. denilson and fab in the middle, i cant wait until January.
we’re not very good, we’re not very good, we’re not very, we’re not very…
WE’RE NOT VERY GOOD!!!!!!
i am ever so slightly dissilusioned and dont believe AW will sign anyone in Jan.
we are rubbish.
Time for Wenger to go now. He’s lost the plot. He played 4 CM’s today, when we had Vela and Wilshire on the bench.
Title’s gone, thank you for another successful season Mr. Wenger!!!
i seriously think at the moment we are going to strugle to finish 4th, dont know what is going on at the club, but finishing out side of the top 4, would be a disaster. apart from the chelsea and man utd games, when was the last good performace in teh league?
I think next week in arse.com Wenger will say he will totally support diaby again, as same as before for Denilson, Song, Bendtner,Eboue….
the worst arsenal in wenger 12 yeas.
all grow up , or all fall down day by day?
This is getting boring. Same old poor performances week in week out. No strength in depth at all. No-one will come in January. Even if they do it would be too late. And what decent player is going to want to come and play for us ! Ive always kept the faith in Wenger and i do believe that he is the manager to get us out of the mess that he has seemingly created but these players are too young and inexperienced. I feel sorry for denilson aswell, because this is his first full season of playing regularly, and he gets played out of position, Wenger threw him straight in the deep end. Also, Song is a liability. Send all the slackers out in January, they’re simply not good enough. Diaby doesnt know himself what position he plays, what a joke ! Clichy is the best left winger to ever play left back and ive lost all hope of Bendtner becoming an average player.
Sort it Wenger!
i am wondering if wenger has any clue at all about how many fans have become disillusioned by him and this average arsenal team…there is such a high level of negativity now and i blame wenger for persisting with many awful players..i for one have had enough now but sacking wenger is not the answer. i have no idea what is though, does anyone…
you just knew this would be the result tbh!
i dont have any answers wha so ever!
i feel obliged to now say we are now an average side
anyone can play arsenal and get something! ANYBODY!
that is how bad we have become
fuck song, denilson, bendtner and the rest of the less than average players! but wil this happen? NO
bcoz he has faith! is he the only one who does?
We have the players like simpson and vela wiltshire etc. wegner just doesent no how to select then plays them out of position anyway–we need a new manager and board members and dont blame the credit crises these problems started 3 years ago but were never fixed we bought on the cheap.
…yes buying some decent players and getting rid of the bad eggs. It’s best not to continue to naming names after all the shit thats happened but as we have said time and time again – Wenger knows! We all know the vast majority of them are capable of performing when they’re on form. Seems to me somethings disrupting their confidence. Come ON Wenger – actually DO something about it for a change. Theres only so much patience we Arsenal fans have.
Everyone knows which players in particular need to go and which ones could just plain do with some more experience.
We are desperately in need of some strong reliable cover. Now we’re having to worry about maintaining our Champions League spot against Hull and Villa. The results today did us NO favours.
liverpool drew…
so not the end of the world..
we get yet another chance next week against the pool to get ourselves back into it…
Keep the faith..
Gooner4lyf
@Chris wonderful statement that sacking Wenger is not the answer yes you are correct…since the mess is too much to entrust to another manager without warning.
I believe the board should give him till the end of the season and just start looking for another manager before then.
Its obvious even to a blind man that Arsene no longer knows how to win ANY competition.
He seems to be more concerned about his principles than about the reputation of Arsenal as a club.
I have been saying it before and I would say it again…fans need to boycott at least one home match…so that Wenger and the Board would get the message loud and clear.
@Billygallas….i disagree with your comparison.
Liverpool with all due respect to them were never really a title contender…instead liverpool of this season are just pretenders…its obvious that they don’t really have the ability to sustain a title challenge over the course of the season.
Benitez was just being honest when he said the only way liverpool would win is if Chelsea and Manchester United throw away the title themselves.
So whether or not liverpool drew their game does not really matter…what matters is that this team is not good enough to win any competition right now.
The earlier fans show their dissent to the board about Wenger and the team, the better.
If wenger don’t buy winger in January we are fucked walcott is injured 2 months rosicky till march nasri had injuries almost every week and maybe is to late if we bye players in January but don’t forget that we play champions league and we need winger badly, we need two wingers not just one,please wenger buy one winger please I can’t stand anymore watching denilosn on right side or diaby on left.
i definately agree that we need to show our anger at the board and wenger for their continuous lack of spending and faith in this blatantly below average squad…i am sitting here seriously worried about our 4th spot and i cannot imagine why it has come to this……
If this continues until the end of the season then we are really into a lot of painful suffering…
watching the spud vs united game, not sure what to hope for.. i hate spuds with a passion but as well i hate united, its a hard one..perhaps a draw would be nice?
16 out of 16 of you are sore losers, we’re not even in the better half of the season, a 7 game winning streak and we are certainly in contention, its not over yet, c#nts, if you’ve got a problem with the team then support the scum, we don’t need you f#ckers
can you imagine the only winger we have fit is wilshere, a sixteen year old! Apart from him and walcot do we have another winger? nasri is an AM n dont count rosicky. In our current squad bentley would start every week!!
Wenger should do a Roy Keane and resign, he has lost his touch as an elite manager. We were crap apart for about 15 minutes in the first half. How many times did Song give the ball away!! Should have played Wilshire on the left Diaby on the right. Why does he keep playing 4 central midfielders and two out of position. why not play five in midfield and play Wilshire if he has not enough wing players!!! No unerstanding between Ade and RVP, like they were playing their own game. Diaby was awfull. What a bad team we have become and its Wengers fault for not strenghtening in the summer
Levy, 7 game unbeaten run!!!!! We can only manage two!!!! Be happy if we get champions league place the way we are going
We play Liverpool next and then Villa, and we lose or draw these two, 4th place is going to be a battle
We are crap, Riochs team was better then this team before he got sacked
Worst team since Grahams last season when we had the like of Chris Kiwomya and John Hartson. We have as much attacking capablities as that team at the moment
I’m not so sure about that mate. We look completely different to last season though – I agree, and I was predicting that we would improve. :S
We have never really had wingers but we always had good attacking players, Lberg, Pires, Hleb, Rosicky, Overmars, even Wiltord did the job. Problem is their is no link up play betwwen the forwards and midfield. No understanding, no fluency, no runs off the ball into gaps. RVP and Ade are playing like strangers. Diaby trys to take on players becuase no movement. We resort to plying long balls. What happened to the two touch passing bettween the attacking midfielders and the runs off the ball from the fwds. Why??? Because our fwds dont know what the midfielders are doing and the attacking midfielders dont know what the fwds are doing. Are our attacking midfielders capable of linking play??? I beleive our fwds are good enough but not our midfielders
i just really am hoping for a couple of decent signings please arsene..they dont have to be particularly expensive we just need a couple of 25+ year olds, a DM WHO CAN ACTUALLY RUN AND CHANGE DIRECTION and another winger as we have 2 sicknotes and then walcott
Spurs almost take the lead against United…
Gooner Chris, maybe i am exagerating but we have beaten Man U and Chelsea, both games should have got us going but it has not happened, we have obvious flaw in the team, that is they are not good enough. We payed well against Man U but the let us paly and we let them play, they could have finished us off in the first half but they were wastefull. We caught Chelsea on a bad day, we were not that great either bt if our team were great, those two games should have kick started any confidence issues. We are a top ten team not a big 4 anymre
we must win against Liverpool next week..
i agree that AW should start playing Vela on wing & play Wilshere as sub to add more energy in the final 3rd..
the league title still on sight when Liverpool & Man United only manage to grab a draw..
Vela on the left, what play another play out of posn
Arsene is now bringing down Arsenal to its knees. All these players are not fit to play for the club because they’re average.
1. Almunia-not good as No.1. Arsene should’ve swallowed his pride and retain Jens for 2 more years after all Van de Saar is almost 40 and being kept in the post.
2. Denilson-not yet good for the first team
3. Eboue-very average not Arsenal quality
4. Song-not Arsenal quality
5. Bendtner-not ready
6. Diaby-not good enough
7. Senderos-not good; now rejected by Milan should not be brought back.
Arsene has made a major mistake letting all these English chaps go. Upson, Sidwell and Bentley.
The so called foreign quality brought in are all average.
Wenger is now failing big time and I can see him in dilema, not knowing what to do now.
Small round hard stones click
under my heels,
seeding grasses thrust
bearded seeds
into trouser cuffs, cans,
trodden on, crunch
in tall, purple-flowering,
amiable weeds.
District Six.
No board says it is:
but my feet know,
and my hands,
and the skin about my bones,
and the soft labouring of my lungs,
and the hot, white, inwards turning
anger of my eyes.
Brash with glass,
name flaring like a flag,
it squats
in the grass and weeds,
incipient Port Jackson trees:
new, up-market, haute cuisine,
guard at the gatepost,
whites only inn.
No sign says it is:
but we know where we belong.
I press my nose
to the clear panes, know,
before I see them, there will be
crushed ice white glass,
linen falls,
the single rose.
Down the road,
working man’s cafe sells
bunny chows.
Take it with you, eat
it at a plastic table’s top,
wipe your fingers on your jeans,
spit a little on the floor:
it’s in the bone.
I back from the
glass,
boy again,
leaving small mean O
of small mean mouth.
Hands burn
for a stone, a bomb,
to shiver down the glass.
NOTHING’S CHANGED.
Wenger is the man to get us out of this mess, but he is very VERY!!!!!! STUBBORN!!! We need a DM, CB, RW,LW.FW so without naming names certain palyers in those positions need to know their number is up. How did it come to this??? Lost ONLY 3 Games last season & let’s be realistic, it’s Uefa cup football next season. I do support the team & do get behind the players, but when you have to swallow the CRAP being dished out week in week out by certain players who basically don’t care!!! We, as fans hav EVERY RIGHT!!!! to vent our frustation. Players talk about putting on a show for the fans so they can go to work the following week happy!!! Well I ain’t effin HAPPY!!! I’m tired of listening to crap from other fans of other teams, who normally would’nt dare say anything about us. Wenger the Board… bring back David Dein so SOMEBODY will do the ‘BIG’ deals for us. If I hear about another player who goes on to become ‘world class’ that we COULD HAVE got I gonna go mad!!!!! Coulda, Woulda,Shoulda I am SICK of it!!! Wenger YOU OWE IT TO THE FANS!!!! Get us out of this mess & have the strength to drop players who are CLEARLY!!! not performing.