Finally, after another seemingly interminable international break to play games the point of which nobody gets, proper football returned yesterday with Arsenal rolling into Bournemouth. We have the aforementioned games to thank for the fact that Ødegaard and Saka were unavailable and Martinelli on the bench. Pre-match talk was that it was better for both Saka and Martinelli to be saved for Liverpool next week if there were any doubts. Subsequent events were to make that game even more important. Merino was to make his full debut and Arteta, who apparently doesn’t do enough to give opportunities to the Academy, named 3 kids on the bench in Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri and Kabia.
Things started slowly with both sides looking rusty and the game being played at a curiously slow pace. Unfortunately for Arsenal this malaise was set to continue for pretty much the whole match. Rice was seemingly in double pivot with Partey with Merino playing a bit further forward.
Five minutes in, a soft free kick for Bournemouth was given by the referee in line with 18 yards line on left when the home player, realising that he was entirely without support while taking the ball forward, flopped over on the slightest contact from White. This was played to the back post and required an excellent defensive header by Calafiori to see off the danger. Good pressure was being applied by Bournemouthin the opening 10 minutes and they seemed first to second balls on every occasion.
The pressure was temporarily alleviated when Arsenal made an excellent fast break from a Bournemouth corner resulting in Sterling putting in Trossard to win a corner.
With neither side particularly willing to press the goalkeeper, there were some slow periods, but Raya was the first to crack with a terrible pass out which went straight to a home player, I couldn’t even say it was intercepted, so little did he have to do to receive the ball, resulting fortunately in a shot just wide.
Then on 27 minutes, the match was seemingly decided when a shockingly poor pass from Trossard from the Bournemouth half, under no great duress, left Saliba isolated and the wrong side of Evanilson. Saliba made contact with the home player and he flopped over, just yards inside the Arsenal half. The referee decided it was a yellow, perhaps thinking that a foot race over 40 yards between this second rate Richarlison tribute act and one of the quickest defenders in Europe might not be a wholly foregone conclusion, with Ben White also in a position to potentially close down the attacker.
However VAR decided to intervene, which must mean that it was a clear and obvious mistake by the referee, mustn’t it? Strange, because the interweb was full of examples after the game of reds not being given for fouls which had occurred 10-20 yards closer to goal. Howard Webb, overseer of the shady PGMOL was shown tapping away on his phone while clearly listening to the VAR audio feed. Which apparently can’t be broadcast in real time to us mere mortals just like it is in sports which seek to include the paying public as opposed to treating them like mindless cattle ready to be milked. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, VAR invited the referee to review the incident, which as you know means to change his decision, which he duly did and Saliba was off. I have no argument with the decision. On the proviso that all decisions are treated the same. Somehow I can’t see Walker or Dias being sent off for the same offence, can you?
At this point, I still believed that Arsenal could win, given that we hadn’t lost on the 2 other occasions this season when VAR/referees have curiously intervened to give us red cards.
On 34 minutes, Merino had a shot which was deflected narrowly wide with no resulting corner. A couple of minutes later, Sterling, who had been less than impressive again, was subbed for Kiwior in an attempt to ensure defensive stability. More on which later. Arsenal then worked hard to ensure we reached half time level. In truth we had been consistently sloppy and off the pace for much of the 45 minutes and only a good save from Raya had kept the score level.
Half time – Bournemouth 0 Arsenal 0
Straight away in the second half it became clear that the sluggish start was not to be shaken off, with an unmarked Semenyo blazing over from 8 yards after several half-hearted challenges from Arsenal players had eventually resulted in yards being gained by Bournemouth and a cross pumped into the Arsenal box.
The pressure continued to build with Arsenal unable to maintain possession and keep Bournemouth out of our half, with Havertz manfully attempting to operate on his own and largely unaided up top.
On 62 minutes Iraiola made a triple substitution bringing on Sinisterra, Kluivert and Christie for Tavernier, Ouattara and Scott. The latter two subs would ultimately decide the game. This was answered by Arteta bringing on Martinelli for Trossard. And Martinelli very nearly added the directness and pace which Arsenal had so sorely lacked when after only 6 minutes on the pitch he was put through inside the box by Merino after the keeper passed the ball directly to him, Sadly Martinelli could only draw a save from the keeper, when he ought to have done better. It might have changed the game as in truth up until this point, Bournemouth hadn’t done a lot to test the Arsenal goal.
Unfortunately, this miss only sp*rred Bournemouth into action and from a corner a minute later they broke the deadlock from an excellently worked, and clearly pre-planned corner, with substitute Christie hammering home. The biter well and truly bitten.
On 76 minutes the game was wrapped up. A place kick from Raya was delivered well into the Bournemouth half but yet again we were well second in terms of dealing with it and the loose ball was pumped forward over our high defensive line for the evanescent Evanilson to chase. Kiwior was first to the ball, but his limp back pass was well short enabling the Brazilian to push the ball past the oncoming Raya and seeing Gabriel might cut off the ball run into the keeper. There was minimal contact and I would be surprised to get a penalty for Arsenal for the same but we know the rules. The substitute Kluivert stroked home and the game was over.
Full Time Bournemouth 2 Arsenal 0
We have now had three sendings off this season which can only be described as contentious. Not one for a bad foul. We have taken the physical approach out of our game almost completely and make very few actual tackles and yet we still attract to my mind a disproportionate number of cards, particularly red. I invite readers to engage on why this should be and what, if anything we can do about it.
I congratulate you CER for having the fortitude to write this up. I am so glad it wasn’t my turn. A fair report as well. I am now in my usual post defeat “don’t wanna talk about it” stage, from which I will emerge in time for Shaktar Donetz on Tuesday evening.
Only the hard of thinking will panic about this bad day at the office. We move on.
Thanks, C100. It was a report I endured, rather than enjoyed, putting together….
Cheers CER! Nothing to add, I don’t feel like engaging on the topic raised at the end. 😬 Enjoy the rest of the weekend all. Until next time.
Cheers CER. Tough report, tough match.
We didn’t play fluently at any point, and Arteta will rightly focus on that with the team. He will make sure we work on the stuff we can control.
The red card was costly. I don’t really understand the rules, but assuming the red card is correct (or, more likely, justifiable, even if plenty of similar incidents have not and will not receive the same outcome) then I must disagree with the rule. A red card is not a fair punishment for that offence.
A while back, it was felt that if a last defender cynically hacked at a player through on goal (especially one who had not reached the box and so would not be awarded a penalty) then a yellow card and a free kick was too soft a punishment. Broadly, I think most people agreed with this assessment. So, the ‘last defender’ red card rule was brought in. This overcorrection has led to far too harsh a punishment being given for incidents that the referees can claim to fit the criteria.
Of course, there is no consistency as to when the rule is applied, with little discernable pattern to judgments about when a player is too far from goal, whether he has any sort of control of the ball, how fast the players involved are, where a second defender can be positioned to be considered a ‘covering’ defender etc.
Ultimately, we rely on the refs to use some common sense. To be fair, Rob Jones did this. He was 10 yards away, with a clear view of the incident, and he gave a yellow.
VAR then did specifically what it has always been claimed it is not supposed to do; it re-refereed an incident clearly seen and dealt with by the on-field official. Once Jones is sent to look at the screen, how can he justify (under the letter of the law) not giving a red card? We know refs are always telling each other to ‘look after yourself’.
It is claimed on-field refs are in charge, but the process makes it otherwise.
I watched the replays showed to Rob Jones and I cannot see what the offence is for. It looks like the players tangle and there is contact. But is it a pull with the hand? Or a clip of heels? Is it deliberate? Or clumsy? I found it impossible to see from the two angles shown (one of which is a camera view that only encompasses the two players half-way through the incident) and I find it hard to reconcile the decision to upgrade a yellow to a red with the lack of certainty that such unclear replays must have created.
If the replay clearly showed a deliberate pull by Saliba, then fine. Perhaps it does? I watched it repeatedly and I could not be sure.
Webb texting on his phone whilst listening to the VAR discussions looks bent. Let’s be clear, he is texting someone about the VAR deliberations he is listening to in his earpiece. He is at the game in a professional capacity and he is listening to a crucial moment in how the game is refereed. He is not texting a courier service to re-arrange a delivery. Quite why he is texting someone at that moment is unclear. I have no idea. As ever though, it looks like he is interfering with the decision. The fact that it looks dodgy is problem enough.
My overriding feeling is one of resignation. As CER notes, we aren’t a dirty side, yet we’ve now been given 3 red cards for, cumulatively, very little. In each instance it is possible to say the decisions are correct, but do we want to watch a game where players are getting sent off for these sort of things? I don’t. I think refs should try to keep 11 players on the pitch and only send players off if unavoidable. Yesterday, Rob Jones did try to do that, but VAR robbed him of his discretion and the rest of us of a fair contest.
As CER again pointed out, the same incident will happen again this season and a red card won’t be forthcoming. However you take individual decisions, we are currently in a run of extremely harsh decisions going against us that won’t be replicated or evened out over the course of the season.
I’d just like to see us play our best 11 against the opposition best 11 and see who wins. The less that happens, the less interest I have in the whole bloody enterprise.
Commiserations CER, you had the unfortunate task of chronicling an evening that had little to enthuse about if you are a Gooner .
There were two aspects to this match . Firstly the refereeing controversy as this decided the game beyond doubt . Rob Jones from the Wirral was prompted by Merseyside’s Jarred Gillett to give a red card overseen by Howard Webb a Yorkshireman who always seemed hand in glove with Man United. PLreferees are an incestuous society of indifferent officials who conduct their business behind a screen of secrecy. Conflicts of interest abound and inconsistency is inevitable . How we enjoyed the brilliant Slovenian referee at the PSG game recently. The contrast was unbelievable .
To the football. It doesn’t really feel like the season, and our play has any flow to it yet . We’ve had tough away games and relatively easy home games but have only really played a normal, high-quality match in the PSG game because of sending-offs and injuries . We had little of either last season and it’s hurting us this .
I agree Nwaneri should have been on earlier and Kiwior should never be on at all . But let’s not overreact. It’s one game , there is a long run to the next interlull and our missing players will return. Let’s beat Liverpool and really upset Jarred Gillett !
I need to watch some Stella Street to block out all football.
The short straw resolutely grasped, CER. Well played.
It was a disjointed performance, as others note. Bournemouth’s pressing was a big part of that, but so was sloppiness in our passing, which has been creeping into our game more and more. We badly missed Saka, too.
As for Saliba’s sending-off, I’m with Dino. There was no need for VAR to re-referee a competent piece of officiating.
bored boring bourgie BS soccaH pseud blowhards – blowhard … as per …
We appear to have annoyed someone. Damn facts getting in the way.
That Stones goal has to be offside.
Different rules north of that line between the Wash and the Severn, SP.
It’s been a very disappointing weekend. It seems every game is being decided by VAR and PGMOL. Surely this can’t go on?
Football as melodrama. Discuss.
A tough gig, resolutely delivered, CER, with your customary balance and good humour. We were sloppy in possession from the outset, low in energy throughout and subject to yet another PGMOL idiosyncrasy that you will never see again. However, we did not do enough to win this game and Bournemouth’s vigorous 90 minutes and clever corner routine earned them a deserved 3 points.
It was clear that the absence of both Ødegaard and Saka left us bereft of any spark of creativity until Martinelli and Nwaneri joined the fray, changes which really should have been made earlier. Havertz deserves praise for his largely unproductive, isolated exertions but precious few others get pass marks. The midfield trio huffed and puffed, occasionally recycled the ball quite well but lacked any sparkle at all – frankly it looked very journeyman and resembled a late GG era midfield – the kind that Seaman and the back four were directed always to punt the ball over.
Hopefully, it’s an isolated bad day at the office but we had a few too many of those last season which proved fatal to our title challenge in the end. Shake ’em up, Mikel and while you’re at it, give yourself a shake too.
Fair points, well made, Bath….
Thanks CER. We got the shitty end of the stick as you say, I have nothing to add to the various other comments on Webb/ PGMOL and lean to the corrupt rather than incompetent conclusion these days. Agree with Bath on the midfield trio, but any team will miss Ode and Saka.
A good read, but a poor game.
Your text appears to have made smuggy’s brain cell overheat though.
Cheers Gents,
BtM – Mission accomplished.
Cheers CER!
Mike McDonald has another piece to read about the Boscombe match.
>>>>>>>