Arsenal Football Club: Montpellier

Montpellier review – Arsenal finally learn to win ugly

Posted on September 19, 2012 by admin

Montpellier 1 – 2 Arsenal, A undeserved win is the best of them all! by KJ

Our first Champions League game was never going to be an easy fixture. Even with a bad run, Montpellier are always going to cause any team a problem. They have players like Belhanda and Cabella who can make a difference.

The game started off quite sloppy for the Gunners. They seemed to misplay passes that they really shouldn’t against lower opposition. I must admit that Montpellier’s pressure was immense in the opening 10 minutes and there was very little space to pass but Arsenal should be able to get out of those situations with ease. It’s our bread and butter.

Eventually, Montpellier’s pressure in the first 10 minutes paid off when Belhanda had the ball just inside the box before Vermaelan rashly tackled him. I thought the decision was harsh but ultimately, correct. Belhanda took the penalty with such ease as he chipped it over Mannone. 1-0 to Montpellier.

This really rattled our cages and long before you knew it, Podolski was through and side-footed the ball into the net. It was a sublime pass from Giroud under so much pressure to get Podolski onside. 1-1.

Then immediately after, Gervinho scored our second to put us in front. It was some good work from the Ivorian initially. He passed it to Giroud who under immense pressure managed to get it to Jenkinson on the wings. He manages to cross it Gervinho who has an easy side foot. 2-1 to Arsenal.

During the second half, there really wasn’t much to be said about the Gunners. It was all Montpellier. They completely dominated us and we were lucky to not concede. We just sat back and absorbed pressure. Diaby was extremely poor at distributing the ball and Cazorla was misplacing passes that he normally would make all the time. There was no outlet and hence we just invited pressure.

We were fortunate to win but there were elements of good defending. It was an ugly win but a win nonetheless. It’s always important to see how a team cope when they are tired, not at their best. Arsenal managed to get the win.

It will build their confidence for the Man City game. The Blues managed to lose against Madrid in the worst way possible after being 2-1 up. Their morale should be low and Arsenal can exploit that. On to the Etihad!

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Montpellier v Arsenal Analysis – A little lucky but winning teams NEED luck

Montpellier Analysis and Aftermath: by SV

So, that’s three points on the board for the Arsenal then. Not the cleanest of wins by any means but a win is a win nonetheless. There were ample positives and negatives to be taken from the game, but I’ll start with the former.

Some of our play in the first half was truly superb. Besides that early slip up from the Verminator – who has, by the way, been both an outstanding CB and captain so far this term – Arsenal were firmly on top. We scored two clinical team goals of a very high quality and, in general, dominated Montpellier completely. Lukas Podolski and Gervinho, particularly, sparkled in the first half and it is clear that, when they hit their stride, any defence is going to struggle to contain them. Both got goals, which makes it 3 goals in 3 games for both of them, and we have good reason to hope that their form will continue against City.

However, it must be noted that it was not all positives. During the second half, it was Montpellier that dominated us. And, though it’s easy to say we defended resolutely, it may not be true. Though our good defending, no doubt, played a part in keeping them out, they still had plenty of chances to draw and perhaps even win the game. I have always said that good defending is not preventing your opponents from scoring, but preventing them from having chances to score. Once you let them have that chance, the rest is luck. This is what I say to every annoying Chelsea fan that I meet; they got lucky in the UCL last year, both Barca and Bayern had plenty of opportunities to beat them, but missed their chances. Ergo, Chelsea got lucky. And, though we did deserve something out of Tuesday’s game, we must realise that we have been very fortunate to come away with all three points.

But come away with three points we have, which is more that can be said for Manchester City, who suffered a comical loss to Real Madrid, after leading 2-1 with very little left on the clock. It would be dangerous to assume that they will lie down to us after such a disappointment, but I think we can safely say that they will not have fully recovered from such a dramatic and draining defeat.

We ourselves will also be tired, however, with many of our starting XI playing the full ninety against both Montpellier and Sunderland. I’m not sure who I expect to start, but have no doubt that Wenger has a plan…the man always does.
Till tomorrow.

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Montpellier boss rues mad five minutes despite dominating Arsenal

Posted on September 19, 2012 by admin

Arsenal could consider themselves lucky to come away from Montpellier with all three points last night after the French side launched a second hlaf onslaught on Vito Mannone’s goal, especially when Younes Belhanda, who had early scored a cool penalty, froze with the ball at his feet just two yards from the goal-line.

The Gunners may have had 57% possession (mostly in an impressive first half) but the home side had 18 attempts on goal to Arsenal’s six, and with ten shots on target had double Arsenal’s total.

Rene Girard, the Montpellier boss, saw his side take the early lead but then saw Arsenal bounce back with two quick goals. Girard puts that down to a lack of concentration by his side. He said: “We should be disappointed with how things went. We lost our concentration for five minutes against a team like Arsenal and we were punished. In the second half I saw my team playing as I like them to, with a lot of desire and motivation and creating chances. However, you need to convert them.

“Unfortunately we paid for a lack of conviction in the first half. I also think the lads were not relaxed – they were worrying about how to play and how our opponents could counterattack us. There were five minutes when we conceded two goals and against such a team that is not allowed. This is a high level and we have much to learn.”

But Arsenal came away with the three points and remain unbeaten, and can now prepare confidently for Sundays game against Man City. If the Gunners still have their unbeaten run going after that game then Gooners everywhere can really start believing we are in with a chance of winning the title….

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