On a frigid night in Russia, Arsenal played well enough for the draw, and almost pulled it out. However, they got jobbed by a particularly crap handball call by the ref three minutes from time, which has been disproved by every possible camera angle.
Can’t take anything away from CSKA, they played positive attacking football, making the most of the weather and pitch conditions. The atmosphere sounded incredible.
In stoppage time, Jens Lehmann came up during a corner, and almost connected with Cesc’s cross to direct it into the net.
After the match, Mad Jens and Titi ripped into the ref, and I’m sure that the Gunners will be looking for some revenge when the Russians visit the Grove in just over a fortnight.
BTW, if anyone is watching the replay later on Setanta, keep an eye out for the Arsenal America banner. Word is you can see it clearly sometime around the 67th minute!
CTPA submitted some thoughts, which I’ll add after the break…
(btw - sorry Stag, I didn’t see your submission until after the match - damn meetings!)
I was disappointed with Arsenal’s performance in this game. They regressed to their pass, pass walk it into the goal style for the most part. CSKA took a paged from an EPL team’s play book in that they sat back and packed their box then tried to make something happen on the break. Arsenal had no pace in attack. Henry was either an interested observer or offside. RVP was a nonentity. Rosicky spent to much time coming inside and no attacking moves were generated with width. Passing in the first half was surprisingly poor on Arsenal’s part. The pitch was comparable to Chelsea’s pitch for their Barcelona clash last year-poor. Both teams had problems with their footing in the early going. Fabregas could not open up CSKA with his passing. Gilberto was caught in possesion on two successive plays by the same player (Dudu) which led to Arsenal giving away corners.
As I had warned before, the man for CSKA would be Carvahlo who unleashed a blistering FK to score in the 24″. The FK was given away Djourou at the top of the box. It happens. Lehman’s wall was poorly positioned with at least 2 men outside his (L) post. For a FK that was practically straight on, this was a bad mistake. If those 2 men had been inside the (L) post edge then that goal would have been blocked.
We made 3 subs in the second half-Adebayor, Clichy, and Walcott. They did not contribute anything.
Henry DID score in a moment of pure brilliance late in the second half. The goal was disallowed for ‘handball’ and Henry was given a yellow card for the effort. There was no appeals for handball from the 4 CSKA players who were beaten on the play. There was no consultation with the assistant. The only person who saw the allege handball was the referee and he was BEHIND Henry. I’m sure this a*****e will offer up some pathetic mea culpa about his incompetence.
39 Responses to “CSKA 1 - 0 Arsenal”
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October 17th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Van Persie should never have started. We needed to have Abedeyor up front especially when we were facing the Russian national teams back four.
We had a few bad calls but over all we never looked like we were in the game. I don't think we should underestimate the circumstances; played three days ago, traveled to Russia, and it was cold.
A few good things from the match are Clichy looked good. I think it would've been much more demoralising if we didn't have that bad call.
The bad was Fabergas never got in the game, Van Persie was out of it, and our back four looked more unstable than usual.
I just hope we can get this sorted out before we make all of our trips up north to the likes of Bolton and Wigan.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
We always heard ppl saying don’t make the referee as an excuse. But tell this to the players who played in a freezing condition, worked hard for 90 minutes, only to see their effort got wiped out because of a mistake by the referee… Tell this to the fans who spent a fortune, travelled all the way to Russia, cheered for their team for 90 minutes, endured the frustration of seeing our team fallen behind, then when the moment came which should have got them jumping up and down feeling thrilled of the late equalizer… only for the man in black to spoil their night.. OUT OF NOTHING.
I would feel more peaceful that Henry never got into that position to SCORE THAT GOAL.
No doubt CSKA deserved something from their performance. But that’s not the point. The point is WE WERE ROBBED, by the REFEREE.
And guess what will happen to the man who made a costly mistake (costly to us)? NOTHING. Exactly NOTHING. You will soon see him refereeing another match. That’s what p*ss me most more than anything else.
The refereeing system is the WORST in the world sports. I dare anyone to point out one single sports which has a worse refereeing system than football. Any sports.
October 17th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
Why would Adebayor start up front because it’s the russian national teams back four? What has that got to do with it? anyway, Russia are shite and didn’t even make the world cup. Simple fact is that CSKA could have played their under 19’s and still won because they are flucky bastards who know before the game they will have all the luck in the world. Adebayor didn’t win one header when he came on anyway.
Watch our last five games in Russia and Ukraine and then you will see that is completely pointless to take anything out of them for future reference because the cards are stacked up so high against us before the games. Crap pitch, bent officials, and fluky home team. Can’t do anything about it.
Fabregas was awesome in the last 25 minutes. He needed some help from Hleb and Rosicky tonight.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
I haven’t watched the game yet, so I can’t really comment on whether the ref made a bad call or not, but remember that it goes both ways. The Arsenal have gotten calls from the ref that were bad but went their way (Eboue in the CL final for instance or Gallas’ uncalled handball a few games ago for instance). It is, unfortunately, part of the game.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
I listened to the first half on the radio and the second live on ITV4. They said that in the first half Moscow had a goal disallowed for offside when it wasn’t. Sure the Henry decision looks to have been plain wrong, but Wenger has been selective in his criticism - as you might expect.
The fact is, Arsenal did not play very well and the main culprits were Gilberto and Hleb who worked tirelessly at giving the ball away every opportunity they had.
As for the pitch. Russia is not the sunniest of countries and it is well into October. It would take a genius of a groundsmen to make a nice lush surface in that climate - so I’m afraid this is bollocks.
I thought Moscow looked a really good side, and the best team won. They worked harder for a start and Arsenal hardly had any attempts on goal to speak of. For me Arsenal will not win anything this year, maybe next year. We have too many players bedding in and think we’ll suffer more draws and losses than Chelsea. In the Champions League we have a chance of course, but I still don’t admire Wenger’s tacticts. I didn’t think 4-5-1 was suitable tonight, you don’t have to use it in EVERY away match.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Dare accepted & beaten- NCAA Football (American college). They have a video replay review system for questionable calls & they still get tons of calls wrong.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
Andez, I don't think you can blame the ref……refs are people and they make mistakes too….it would be very big of him to come out and accept that he made the wrong decision (not that he has or will). I will have to say that a draw would have been fair but over the 94 minutes they were somewhat better than us. They were organized and took their chance when they had it……We have to admit we created less chances than we do in most games and it is all down to us to create and score, and not the ref. We had TWO (yes only TWO) clear chances on goal; the Henry goal (which was perfectly legal) and vPersie's first half chance which I can't believe he didn't shoot in that position. I was screaming at him….he should have scored and he knows it by the expression on his face as he was leaving the pitch.
October 17th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
Replays showed that the refs did get it right on Love’s goal being called back for offsides– as they apparently did when they called back Toure’s header for offsides– it’s only the Henry goal that looks to be the wrong decision… so we did get less than we deserved.
October 17th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
The bright side of this handball incident is - I expect Titi will be FIRED up when CSKA comes to town, and I KNOW HE WILL.
Henry at times p*ss me off with his laziness on the pitch, but when he feels he has a point to prove, he usually PROVED IT.
October 17th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
You don’t have to look any further than the Oregon v. Oklahoma game where the refs blew it numerous times even with replay.
October 17th, 2006 at 8:17 pm
He would start because he is good in the air and knocked down balls for Henry and drew defenders to him. Van Persie didn't do anything of the sort. He just made a horrible decision hanging o?n to the ball when he could've scored.
My point being VP is a finesse player and the Russian defenders can easily cope with him. O?nce Ade was o?n we cause more problems for them. I think it was a terrible mistake to start VP.
Also no o?ne ran off the ball. We would get possesion and just wait till some o?ne was in passing position which was too late because they had time to regroup and pressure us off the ball.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Time to move on. As I’ve said in the past, you have to WIN the game to eliminate the “s**t happens” factor.
We all know that a day of reckoning will be at hand for CSKA.
Let Reading be the first to feel our vengeful wraith come Sunday.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Danny,
the second goal WAS in fact offsides…the replay clearly confirms it. But the better team won…..let’s get over it and look ahead.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
How could any true Gunner (football fan) blame the referee, I am not sure. Yes, it was a wrong call and it should have cancelled out the CSKA’s opener. However that would have meant we robbed 2 points from them and what a robbery that could have been.
Truth is: Arsenal deserved nothing from the game. In a way, I am happy that the points reflected the actual game play. The author’s sentence “Arsenal played well enough for a draw…” cannot be justified at all, at least in my opinion. We were second best in every department, except for some short passes that were going nowhere.
Wenger, I will always salute, but his justification to leave Henry & Gilberto for 90 mins, brought back memories of champions league frustration over the past years. Last year he got most of his tactics, substitutions & selections right. Of course being the legend he is, we will fondly allow such excursions now and then.
In summary, being a true football fan, I am happy that the best team won on the day and hopefully Gilberto is made to watch this match at least 15 times, before CSKA come visiting. I know it is cold weather, bad pitch etc., but a true champion survives these conditions, after all it’s only once or twice a year, you get to play in such conditions and they all should have been well prepared for this physical exertion.
Only Rosicky, Toure, Lehmann, can be proud of what they did in Russia. The rest should just put up their hands and promise fans that they will double their efforts for the return leg and beat them convincingly, thereafter making qualification a formality.
Up the Gunners! Salute thy Wenger!
October 18th, 2006 at 1:45 am
I thought we were crap for the most part. RVP and Hleb, in particular. Substitutions should have happened much sooner. Yeah, the call disallowing Henry’s call was shite, but we really didn’t earn anything.
October 18th, 2006 at 4:08 am
Arsenal should have trained on the game pitch the night before the match but chose not to. They needed to get used to that field and that weather. The decision not to train was a bit arrogant in my opinion. It took Fabregas an entire hour to get a feel for the conditions while Hleb and Gilberto never did. Rosicky was our best player by a mile and I was surprised that Wenger took him off and not Hleb.
Clichy looks ready to return. When he came on he didn’t put a foot wrong. It’s just a matter of is Clichy a better LB than Djourou is a CB. I think he’s ready. Let’s hope he stays healthy. Also, we missed the dynamic that Eboue brings.
Gotta give credit to CSKA as they were very organized in defense and stuck to their game plan. They got players behind the ball and always looked dangerous on the break. Kolo was up to the task but Vagner Love made him work hard every time. Their set piece was one of the best executed I’ve ever seen in football and Carvallo’s effort was fierce. He looks a very, good player. Arsenal never got a grip on the game and didn’t deserve to win. Credit to CSKA, now we’ve got work to do.
October 18th, 2006 at 4:12 am
Also, the ref may have gotten the hand ball wrong but he made a lot of calls for Arsenal that were very questionable. We got the run of the calls in our favor so should have no complaints about the official.
October 18th, 2006 at 6:18 am
The defending on the free kick was sad. Djourou and Fabregas turned their backs and Rosicky wasn’t quick enough. How I wish Ljunberg was there. He would have thrown himself and blocked the shot. You need to have a big heart for that. I am surprised that RvP, of all people, didn’t shoot when clear on goal, instead allowing the goalkeeper to snatch the ball away. Toure’s tackle in the second half was awesome. Gilberto was quite aweful.
I am disappointed with the result but not devastated. We must stop complaining about the “disallowed” goal and channel that frustration towards winning games, specifically the return leg. Before that, we must dispatch Reading and Everton. The Sunday game assumes more significance now. Can we bounce back from a defeat to a good team by beating another decent team? I certainly think we can. Just prove me right.
October 18th, 2006 at 7:12 am
I think some people are getting the wrong end of thr stick here.
We played average here, a few players let themselves down, we know who they are, they know who they are. They added pressure to other players, and the likes of Fabregas looked poor. Quality shone through in the end with Fabregas but the difference between a win and a loss is minimal.
If Freddie had been playing, he more than likely would have blocked the shot that lead to the goal. On a different day, the Henry goal would have stood, or Van Persie would have taken his chance.
The result stands, and now there is something to play for in this group.
The return leg at home is a must win for AFC. They can do the job, they need to make sure all of their players are playing as a team. There were too many stray passes, simple errors, that when made make the team look worse than they are.
Clichy needs to play to add a double threat on the left wing. Rosicky needs to play in front of him. The midfield three needs to be sorted if Freddie is out. Gilberto, yes, Fabregas yes, and one other, maybe Baptista when he comes back, Diaby in a few more weeks but we need a box to box player.
Hleb did make a few mistakes and he needed to support Hoyte more. With Eboue there is more of an attacking threat.
We are nearly there to a perfect team, all this talk of 3 5 2 being better than 4 5 1 or 4 1 4 1 is rubbish, to beat a 3 5 2, you need width.
October 18th, 2006 at 10:34 am
Dont underestimate the fact that Arsenal players has been playing 2 games a week for the last several weeks. Not just home games, but with their national teams, then Arsenal, home and away spending hours in the plane or on the road.
Arsenal were slower and did not look like Arsenal that defeated Man U, Hamburg, Porto, … Which is understandable. Not worried about the score as much as I am worried about Arsenal hype that we have been seeing lately. If we keep the winning run in the EPL, I would accpet a defeat away in Russia in the group stages.
I am looking forward to beating them in London and putting the gunner on the edge of qualifaying. Looks like Porto joined the race !!
October 18th, 2006 at 11:08 am
It kind of makes me think back on the Holland Portugal match at the World Cup, not so much the match but the headlines in the Papers the next day “Russian Referee named Man of the Match”.
Sad part of any game is when the Referees so determine the outcome of a match the actual game seems tainted and played by the ref.
For the Moscow coach to come out and say they deserved to win and that they had beaten one of the best teams in the world might be a little over the top.
October 18th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
The ref let CSKA play on after the foul and take a shot. Only after they missed did he call a foul. Exactly how many chances was he going to give them to score? It should have been either call a foul or play on.
October 18th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the horrible call against Djorou. He never touched the CSKA player and was called for a foul which led to the opening goal.
Towards the end of the game he made another call which turned the game.
The official cost us the game. We cannot expect the team to perform at the top level each and every game. There will be blips. For those days, the officiating must not be called into question on such a degree. The ref was a waste.
Doesn’t Abromovich own/sponsor CSKA?
October 18th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
You get bad refs from time to time. The thing here is you have to adapt with it and play your game. If any simple issue affects the team, then it will be easy to beat Arsenal. I always tell the kids I coach, dont let the ref control ur game, u control the game by playing hard and putting all what you. Get over the bad calls and dont let it ruin your game.
Holland Vs. Portugal .. the bad calls has turned around and kicked an unexperienced Dutch out of the tounry. Arsenal, did not play their game. I would complain if this happened Vs. Chelsea and we lost 1-0.. But against CSKA, Arsenal should be better than a bad call that caused them to score, or a last minute goal that was denied. Arsenal should have been mentaly stronger, should have done better job after they conceded the goal. We had 70-75 to tie it … but we waited till the last 5 minutes. Goals cant come by itself.
Thank god it came in the group stages. We better learn from this, and win our next game this weekend, and the home game vs. CSKA.
Corruption is all over and Ibrahomvic is everywhere to reuin us, but we need to be stronger and better at the pitch.
GO GUNNERS.
October 18th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Ok, Radio 5 said it was offside after they saw a replay - so I believed them. In that case, a little hard done by.
October 18th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
He also took off Rosicky who was FAR better than Hleb on the day. That also meant Walcott had to play left wing when he’s better on the right wing.
October 18th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
Would Ljungberg have even been in the wall? You usually put tall players in a wall, not short ones - how do you know he would have rushed out and blocked it? Pure speculation.
Not that impressed with Hleb since hes’ been at Arsenal, a few good games but there’s no consistency. If you want to win things you need consitency from a winger who plays so many games.
October 18th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
Arsenal deserved a draw. End of. All CSKA did was close down(which they did well to be fair) and feed off the errors caused by the bad pitch. Hardly tactical genius.
Taking into consideration all the factors, of which there were many, I thought our last 25 minutes was fantastic. Fabregas went even further up in my estimation. Unbelievable mentality the lad has.
The arsenal team of two years ago would have had half the team sent off. Vieira and Cole being prime candidates.
October 18th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
A few decisions didn’t go our way, but that doesn’t mean we forget the basics and don’t defend a free kick properly. That seems to be a problem with the current team. If we feel some injustice has been done, we just cry and cry about it. Why don’t we do something about it on the pitch instead? Their goal wasn’t scored in the 85th min. Ours was, but it was disallowed. So for 85 mins, we didn’t do anything. That’s the true story of the game. Let’s just get on with it.
October 19th, 2006 at 12:20 am
Well said.
October 19th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
That call was sh*t, it robbed us a point and the top spot in the group (obviously that will eventually be resolved) but the fact is, Russia is a gigantic sh*thole, and the fact that Arsenal travelled all the way over there in sub-zero weather to get robbed of an equalizer is BS.
I am a referee, and we are not supposed to make calls unless we are absolutely sure that it is the case. On top of the disallowed goal, Henry was cautioned. CAUTIONED? For what? Intentional handball? It states in the rulebook that a player needn’t be cautioned for a handball, as for it to be called a handball, it must be intentional ANYWAY. Obviously referees take liberties on this fact usually, for instance if a player’s hand is out to his side and it blocks a ball, but the only handball that should be card-worthy is one which stops a momentous rush up the pitch or blocks a goal, which is sending off.
As for the goal, since it was an incorrect call, he certainly could not have been absolutely sure, thus it was ridiculous.
October 19th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
That call was sh*t, it robbed us a point and the top spot in the group (obviously that will eventually be resolved) but the fact is, Russia is a gigantic sh*thole, and the fact that Arsenal travelled all the way over there in sub-zero weather to get robbed of an equalizer is BS.
I am a referee, and we are not supposed to make calls unless we are absolutely sure that it is the case. On top of the disallowed goal, Henry was cautioned. CAUTIONED? For what? Intentional handball? It states in the rulebook that a player needn’t be cautioned for a handball, as for it to be called a handball, it must be intentional ANYWAY. Obviously referees take liberties on this fact usually, for instance if a player’s hand is out to his side and it blocks a ball, but the only handball that should be card-worthy is one which stops a momentous rush up the pitch or blocks a goal, which is sending off.
As for the goal, since it was an incorrect call, he certainly could not have been absolutely sure, thus it was ridiculous.
October 19th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
I agree with you about TH. Sometimes he can be frustrating to watch, and then he does something brilliant.
Gallas is definitely not lazy and is proving to be a great addtion. I remember a play towards the end of the first half. CSKA had a corner, and RVP gets the ball and starts to head to the CSKA goal. Who was it that busted a gut to catch up with him and give him someone to pass to, Gallas. He sprinted about 3/4 of the field
October 19th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
I think it was one of the worst performances from Gilberto that I have seen.
October 19th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
I totally agree (see my earlier post about some calls going our way and some no - it happens). I was just pointing out that it was a crappy call in addition to the poor defending although I don’t think I stated taht very clearly.
October 19th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Nobody commenting on Fabregas signing a new eight-year contract. As important as the Henry signing. He was slow to get going on Tuesday night but by the end he was spraying long-range passes all over the pitch. Not the complete player as he needs to spot the need to play the long ball on poor pitches. Beckham had one trick - long balls (often crosses). Fabregas matched that skill during the last twenty minutes on Tuesday but he has so much more.
We are talking in another post about Henry and World Player of the Year but is there any other candidate for Young Player of the Season in England. He should have got it last year but this year there is no argument (so far).
October 20th, 2006 at 4:48 am
Cool.
October 20th, 2006 at 4:52 am
Funnily, Fabregas is my main worry for this season for two reasons
1. At the rate he is playing games (every minute of every league game) I fear he may burn out or get injured.
2. The way CSKA put people around him and literally choked us. We must have alternate avenues for creating play.
I want Wenger to try out Rosicky (can’t think of anyone else) in Fab’s position. It’s worth a try.
October 20th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
He is still a kid so your worries about the number of games may turn out to be right. Hopefully not as he is now a key player.
I am not so worried about your second point. Yes, it took him time to adjust to the marking and to the bad pitch, but when he did, in the last twenty minutes, he was spraying balls all over the place, creating chances, space etc. A good test for him. Losing the game may mean a lesson well learnt.