Gunners comeback from two goals down at West Brom
|Arsenal produced a second-half fightback to snatch a 2-2 draw at West Brom, but they lost ground on Premier League leaders Manchester United.
The Gunners were huge favourites before kick-off to take all three points but it was the hosts who took the lead when Chris Brunt’s corner was met by Steven Reid, who scored his first goal for nearly five years to give West Brom the lead after just three minutes.
Arsene Wenger’s side failed to respond well to falling behind, performing under-par far until the game reached the half-hour mark.
Arsenal almost drew level when Robin van Persie hit the woodwork from Gael Clichy’s cross, with Scott Carson saving well from the rebound when Aaron Ramsey followed the Dutchman’s effort up.
The Gunners dominated the final stages of the first half but for all their possession were failing to create many chances in front of goal as they trailed at half-time.
Wenger introduced Marouane Chamakh at half-time for the largely anonymous Denilson as they looked to get back into the game.
The substitute had a half chance minutes before the Baggies had the chance to make it 2-0 when a superb move ended with Marek Cech crossing for Chris Brunt, who slid in to meet the ball by narrowly prodded the ball wide.
But the hosts did make it 2-0 after 58 minutes when Peter Odemwingie took advantage of a terrible decision by goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, who came out of his goal to try and clear Youssef Mulumbu’s ball over the top, only to allow the striker to put the ball into the open goal from 25 yards out.
Arsenal pulled one back after 70 minutes through Andrey Arshavin when the forward – who had been disappointed throughout the game – combined with Chamakh before firing into the top corner.
The in the 78th minutes, Robin van Persie put Abdoulaye Meite under pressure as the West Brom player put the ball into his own net to give the Gunners an equaliser.
A late push forward from the Gunners in the final minutes but were forced to settle for a point as they saw the gap to leaders Manchester United increase after the leaders won 1-0 at home to Bolton.
Player ratings: Almunia 3; Sagna 5, Squillaci 5, Koscielny 6, Clichy 6; Denílson 4 (Chamakh ht 6), Wilshere 7, Nasri 7, Ramsey 6 (Bendtner 57 5), Arshavin 6; Van Persie 6
Joke defending. Joke team. Biggest joke wenger. I just have to laugh. Ive been saying it for a while now. Wenger out.
Almunia and Denilson should only be wearing an Arsenal shirt bought from the shop they are a disgrace to Arsenal Football club.
I now really hate AFC and everything they put me through.
I can no longer take anymore of this heartache and ridicule Wenger and his team put me through. Never did I think I’d be jealous of Spurs. At least they meet their goals and not fall short of them time and time again. I am not a glory hunting supporter. I’ve been a season ticket holder for 32 years now and I’ve seen some crap. Incompetence by poor payers I can handle, but incompetence due to lack of care drives me crazy. That lot cpjl not be
Bothered today. Totally unacceptable. Wenger just f@!ck off and die.
@Kevin: I’ll give you 500 pounds if you kill Almunia for me.. I just don’t want to go to prison..
DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY IDEA OF HOW MANY ARSENAL FANS OUT THERE WATCHING TODAY?
its an absolute joke that almunia and denilson played.. i can’t believe wenger still plays them as he is one of the most clever men I know.
Fans cried about getting a new goalkeeper and defence before the start of the season, our manager ignored, now we are being punished. I guess we the fans are “stupid”. With such a crap defence and weak goalkeeper then im sorry we dont deserve to win the premiership.
All I am asking for is for AW to spend on an established goalkeeper, a commanding centre half, and a holding midfielder. Sell Nicklas and get a new striker. I dont think its too much to ask for
im sick of arsenal falling short because of shit goalkeepers!!! i havent felt this deflated about arsenal in a long time! almunia can just fuck off!!
Shame on you Wenger!!!! Shame on the Arsenal players, you lost everything just have premier league to concentrate and you guys almost lost today???? What is the game plan? and what is the season’s plan? The board should take into consideration how frustrated we fan’s are!!!! Wenger gives you board directors enough money… if we fans don’t pay you dont get the money… this is the last season!!!! Beware!!!
I made comments during both trasfers windows that if Wenger failed to buy a keeper and a quality defender it would be pure negligence.
And so it has proven this man has to go
what a joke, why is it that we the fans can see ALL the flaws that are in this squad, but AW can’t?? Why do we still carry the “dead wood” that we have, why?? Being an Arse fan since 1979 I’ve seen some pretty crappy Arsenal sides, but there is one thing I can say about those sides, they tried, this lot could care less, oh they care about picking up their checks every week, GARBAGE!!!
Shame on you wenger and shame on you the players. Wenger had two chances to sort out problems in defence in June and then in January and he still did not. The arsenal establishment don’t care about the fans as long they are making the money. And next season prices are going up why to see this shit next year. We all fans should teach them a lesson by not
renewing the season ticket
What’s the point of a new goalkeeper, probably would’ve got injured anyway!!!
Stop complaining on all the blogs! not going to make a fking difference. the only way is to show our disappointment by emptying Emirates stadium next season. simple.
Players that have NO right being at Arsenal next season:
Almunia – has shown again he doesn’t have the temperament or the intelligence to be a Keeper in the Premier Legaue
Squillaci – Wenger won’t sell him after 1 season because he won’t admit he’s made a mistake. He is a 4th choice CB at best.
Denilson – Just shocking, the ultimate example of the failure of Wenger’s project youth. Has got progressively worse in the last 3 seasons. Technically deficient, slow, lazy, stupid, careless, not good enough for any team in the EPL.
Bendtner – No pace, no touch, no desire. He’ll be a god player one day but not for Arsenal. Just doesn’t fit into our style of play.
Rosicky – When he first arrived he looked like he could fill the big boots left by Pires but has not been anywhere near the same after his injury.
Diaby – He’s injured 80% of every season and his idiotic actions at Newcastle could prove to be the beginning of the collapse of our season.
Thinking of next season we don’t need to buy many players.
If Vermaelen recovers we have him and Djourou as a great CB partnership. We will have Frimpong as an able back-up to Song. We won’t miss Rosicky, Diaby or Bendtner as they never play and when they do they never have much of an impact.
I’d say we need to buy a pacey strong striker like West Ham’s Ba and a tricky fast winger like Eden Hazard. Oh and a f*cking Centre Half!
I was hoping we would get done 5-0 today after going 2-0 down. I am a real supporter seen them live 100 times……if we went down 5-0 it would bring matters to a head quicker and Wenger wouldnt be able to slide out of it with excuses. 2-2 means the comment is: we showed mental strength to come back to 2-2……telling us that we showed character and shifting the emphasis away from that joke of a performance
This is NOT arsenal, this is a feeble copy led by a blind incompetent economics educated idiot.We are a shambles at the back, the worst defense i have ever seen…..chuckle brothers and a clown keeper!
We are a laughing stock and now there is a new phrase in football banter “doing an arsenal”….meaning choking at the final stages of competitions (ref; ally mccoist)
just stand down and let someone with common sense run the team.
Arsenal ll continue to loss trophes as long as they let wenger run d show. D players have lost confidence in him and it shows in they character. Though Wenger knows it but too arrogant and proud 2 admit it.
Arsene’s days at Arsenal are numbered and if they are not, someone pass me a gun !
TONY I TOTALLY AGREE WITH U…WENGER HAS LOST IT..
the main problem is that wenger has trust in his players, after a shitty game they play, he doesnt yell at them, say YOU PLAYED SHIT!, he just backs them to shine again, and you cant blame him for that. guys like denilson, who has played 2-3-4 seasons in a row, should develop himself and become better and better, thats just how it should be. instead, they he lets wenger down everytime he has a chance to shine. then, we have squillaci. ok, he`s 30, experienced, has played in france and spain, at the beggining we were all excited about him. but what happens? he`s too slow, makes mistakes, cant play headers, cant defend. well, if AW realised all that, and he did realise it, squill would`ve been gone in january. but wenger says to himself OK, HE PLAYED BAD, BUT IT ONLY HAPPENED TODAY, SO I`LL GIVE HIM A CHANCE, I HAVE TRUST IN HIM! look, i dont know wenger personally, so this all is just a guess, but if i could meet him face to face i would`ve told him to be more cruel. like the game last year at liverpool, it appears that he was yelling to the players and look what happened? 1-0 down, 2-1 in the end to us.
also, i read today that we do not have a leader in the dressing room, that when we lose, everyone`s quiet. well mr wenger, you should`ve bought spahic, a player who rules around, inspires everyone and tell them to improve, lifts them up. but you didnt, so the only choice for you was to speak it up yourself. i tell you, if mourinho was in charge at arsenal, by now we would`ve been first. but hey, we are 4 points behind man u, so lets fight till the end, and hopefully next year things will change .
Don’t blame the players. Blame Wenger. They seem to be in a similar position to us whereas they have been continually conned. They actually believe they are world class players. Just Look at bendtner. Wenger is hyping them up and making them believe they are better than they are. Almunia,Denilson,Rosicky,Bendtner,Eboue,Squilacci are obviously not the type of players arsenal should have, but rather than wenger admitting he was wrong and selling them he continually gives these players chances to prove themselves.
When fans of other clubs are saying what the problems are, that says it all.
Any more droped points and we can kiss the epl bye for now
Arsene Wenger is the most overrated coach in history. His greatness is based on inheriting a good defense and the leadership of Tony Adams. How many trophies has he won in 13 years? I feel sorry for Arsenal supporters that actual believe the club will win another trophy with Wenger at the Helm. Arsenal will lose to ManU, the resurgent Liverpool and Spurs. They will probably drop points against lower teams due to the porous defense. The season is over!!. If Wenger is still in charge, next season will be the same story, injuries and comical defending. It’s tough to be an Arsenal supporter, especially due to the Arsene Supporters who always show up at the Emirates with the Arsene Knows and In Arsene We Trust garbage. My prayer is the club does not qualify for Europe, that is the only way the mercenaries who own the club would fire Wenger!!
@realistic tony: You are corect Tony, I was also hoping for a seriouse beating yesterday, cause then wenger would have been sacked at six o`clock last evening. Also this is just wenger isn`t it, its like he planned to draw this game, so that we are still in it. I wish next season that wenger just admitt from the get go that we woun`t win a thing, then I will avoide the disapointment that is just around the corner. Being an Arsenal fan is like song from the 60`s “You just keep me hanging on” 😉
P.S: Lets see if wenger has learned anything from this game, because I`m sure most of you fans have, we can`t play with a five man midfield when Cesc dosn`t play. When Cesc dosn`t play we have to go to 4-4-2, please wenger show me that we saw the same game yesterday.
Also I’m sorry but during the invincibles season players like Keown,Parlour,Kanu,Wiltord and Edu worked their ass of even though they weren’t really first team players and look what happenened we won the league yet the first four were released and Edu left a year later. Whilst Denilson now walks around the pitch and makes half hearted tackles. This year we have to get shot of him even if it’s for free. I feel sorry for Lansbury he has to go on loan to Watford,Scunthorpe and Norwich whilst this waste of a player is still here.
Also i’m sorry if I sound like i’m exaggerating but Almunia is the worst Arsenal keeper i’ve seen and Denilson is the worst midfielder i’ve seen so why are they still here.
@Kevin: almunia is a good keeper, the main problem with him is that he is not consistent. you`ve got matches like barcelona, manchester where he makes such good saves, and you got the match yesterday where he totaly loses it. his comunication with the players also is a problem,i bet that if chesney was playing yesterday, we wouldnt have conceded that goal.imo almunia is too old to change all of his negatives, so being a second or thrid choice is exactly what he should be, if he`s not sold
Yeah GunnerMKD your right I overeacted when I said he’s the worst goalkeeper I’ve seen but sometimes his decison making is terrible but as for Denilson their is no hope of him becoming st least a decent midfielder for Arsenal.
How is it that chelsea can buy a sensational back like Luiz? The Gunners ignored him, they bring in Laurent who can be good, bt Squillaci was just a cheap buy, like most of Wengers buys. He got value in Vermaelen, and Arshavin, but will no longer spend. His reserves are totally inconsistent, and there is a huge dropoff when his first team is out. Bendtner has no touch, Vela is lighwieght, Rosicky could not hit the side of a barn door, Denilson is a second division player, Eboue a cheerleader, and yet the gaffer will not add to the squad. He needs a man like Dein to come back and make decesions for him because he has not developed the talent he thought he had. Either buy next year, or face not being in Europe. The league is catching up to the Big Four and right now Arsenal does not have the talent, nor the fire in the belly to win big things. That applies to the first team as well.
the arsenal fans in AUSTRALIA do not even want to talk about arsenal, i have said to my friends please do not speak about arsenal till the season is over.
and yeah almunia is a joke, lehmann in.
Just picture this everyone…. 2005 Arsenal sign shay Given, He doesn’t get beaten at his near post TWICE and the gooners win champs league final. Almunia costs us around 20 – 25 points a season let alone cup games rember man city last season or utd game when he brought down Rooney who was running AWAY from goal… these examples are at the top of my head but there are so many more. Get Rob Green, Carson, Foster, Gordon, even the spuds back up cudicini is BETTER than Almunia. WENGER LISTEN PLEASE!!!