Arsenal 0 – 2 Aston Villa
15 November 2008
Match pictures are in latest photos and a match report and manager quotes can be viewed here. It was a bad day for Arsenal. An own goal from Gael Clichy and another from Gabriel Agbonlahor, which came when Aston Villa countered swiftly after Arsenal were wrongly denied a free-kick, handed us our fourth league defeat of the season and inflicted a damaging blow to our title race aspirations.
Almunia did well to make a penalty save in the first half which kept Arsenal in it, but it just wasn’t our day with Aston Villa’s goal keeper having an even better day at the other end. He made several good saves from the few chances we created, two of his best stops were forced by Cesc Fabregas.
Overall the team did not play well and will be disappointed in themselves. This is a young team and they have shown they have talent and potential but they are inconsistent providing us with the best and the worst of performances only days apart. It seems almost as if they have not really gelled as a team this season, since the changes in the Summer. Let’s keep the faith.
Cesc received a yellow card, his fifth of the season and will miss Arsenal’s next match against Manchester City.
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Sorry for taking so long to answer George. I’ve been busy. A guy asking a girl her opinion on a football matter? Sweetheart I think their are rules against that
Truthfully, I don’t have a clue. I really don’t know. I know that we miss Hleb, Flamini and Rosicky. I can see we have weaknesses on set pieces. There are certain things you can point too in specific games as having been weaknesses but overall, I don’t know enough about the realities inside the club to have an opinion.
I have faith in Arsene I believe he will fix things if it is within his power to do so. I have faith in Cesc, I know he is giving his all, I know he is really capable and very intelligent, he will be trying to work better with those around him and he’ll be trying to improve his own game.
There’s been a bit of a “full-moon” effect operating since the loss to Aston Villa people have gone a bit hysterical. I think rumors of the clubs demise have been a bit exaggerated and in time things will calm down.
Bendtner as lone striker worked ok against Manchester United, it was just the wrong tactic for Aston Villa. As Manchester United attacked and that meant there was space and Bendtner didn’t do a bad job of leading the line but against Villas tactics of sitting back, Bendy didn’t have the speed to make runs and cause them any problems.
Myles Palmer is a drama ‘queen’ mj so I wouldn’t put Cesc on ’suicide watch’ just yet. Still it’s very clear that he is being put in a very difficult position and that mentally and physically it will be taking a toll. I can’t believe Arsene would have let it come to this. I guess he didn’t mean to, I don’t think he would have failed the team knowingly. I guess when certain transfers didn’t come off and he couldn’t get who he wanted, he just hoped they’d be able to find a way to make things work and he hasn’t been able too and of course the whole team suffers. Fab takes a little more heat, ‘the star’ does and at 21, it’s just ugly. Watching angry fans taking out their frustration on guys this young… makes the fans look pretty bad too.
That article is pretty bleak mj. Feck.
I think Cesc will be alright. I wouldn’t worry. He’s shown he can handle pressure and hes got great talent,,, so he will come through this. It can’t be a lotta fun for him right now but even if he is bowed he won’t be beaten. Never fear.
The question fans should be asking instead of criticizing Cesc and others in our midfield is how did we, Arsenal, a top four team, a big club that is supposedly, whilst not owned by billionaires, on an even financial keel, end up putting this much pressure, expectation and the clubs star player mantle on a player who is 21,,, still developing, still learning his game and who has been overplayed since the age of 17? In terms of what would have been medically recommended Fab has been massively overplayed. I mean he would always want to play, any young bloke between 17 and 21 would, but there is only so many games these fellas are supposed to see and Fab always played a hell of lot more than recommended.
Look at Arsene and what he has said about Wilshere, saying that the youngsters can’t be over-played but that THE EXCEPTION was Fabregas. That he had a mature game. but did he have a mature physiology and psychology to go with the fact his talent was advanced? I mean Cesc was injured at the end of last season, went to the Euros, came back and was injured again. Is his hamstring 100% has his body ever gotten back to 100% this year?
It seems like we have pinned way too much on a player who is 21. Maybe players should be allowed to at least grow up and hit their peak before they are asked to carry a team.
lol well I know you didn’t ask me George
but I’m going to take a leaf out of TA’s book and post what Myles Palmer at Arsenal News Review wrote because I agree with some of what he said and I am alarmed by some of what he said, he has made me feel very concerned about Cesc 
Also he talks about the whole issue of not buying experienced players because it will hurt the kids just as you did and he talks about us as a kindergarten and you called us a nursery school so I thought you would be interested to see this.
I really hope that Cesc will be ok and that this doesn’t all take to much of a toll on him and his career.
Thanks for editing my post Rose sorry to have to bother you with that but once I cooled off I wanted to tone down some of my ranting
So you think the biggest issues we face are purely the change in personnel in the midfield and the fact the players haven’t gelled or developed any effective partnerships as yet? Just curious as to what you and Sam think needs addressing?
Unbelievable defeat against Villa…The gunners were good but yet they lacked something…There was a very good save from Almunia for the penalty…As far Cesc is concerned he was good with Nasri…But i think luck was not on their side that day…Hope they catch up against the citizens but without Cesc….
I wouldn’t compare Cesc to Torres.
I mean Cesc is catching a bit of criticism at the moment but for every fan dissing him there is one defending him and given the teams results it’s not surprising… pretty much all the players and the manager in particular are catching some flak.
Cesc was player of the season the last 2 seasons. He’s enjoyed his time and his football at Arsenal for the best part of 5 years. Hes had a few good weeks this season too where he has been praised and the team has won but he’s had a few frustrating weeks and a few bad games. Still, I don’t think there’s been anything to suggest hes been suffering for a couple of years or anything.
I’d give it a bit longer to come right yet Robbie. I am certain that Cesc will.
For TA and all Arsenal faithful:
Well, I totally agree with you and unfortunately, I’m about to suggest something that will be widely criticized and ridiculed by all Arsenal fans….and probably get me “banned” from this site but, I love Arsenal and I love Cesc and well,….I think it’s time that Cesc (and this is with a heavy heart) should leave Arsenal…..now,wait….don’t judge me so quickly…..TA , your rant or posting sounds eerily familiar to another young Spaniard’s life at the club he loved …..where the pressure from the fans,team,ownership etc….was “crushing”…..where “everything” went through him….it became him and 10 other players….not the “team” that he started with….this player in question was “rescued” by leaving the club he loved and cherished to go on an flourish in a new arena….some of you may know of the Spaniard I speak , but, his name is not important….what is important is the fact that although he was “loved” by a huge number of fans and the club PR personnels wet dream (not unlike our Cesc) ….he became the “scapegoat” for all things wrong & all things right with said club…..the preverbal “cross” was too much to bear although this Spaniard did so for several years…he gallantly (for several years) suffered in silence with only his family/girlfriend knowing the truth….so I respectfully suggest our Cesc should gain his freedom by leaving the shackles of Arsenal Football Club behind…..rant over ;D
Oh, and I don’t for a moment believe Arsenal’s title chances are over….so,nenar,nenar,nenar ;D
sorry for my english
I think Cesc is just 21 and is burdened too much. I think he played well with Hleb Falmini and Rossicky and now he play with Denilson Nasri Walcott some say Cesc has changed but they are stupid is everything else that changed obvious yes.
This is a post by Simply Fabregas from Arsenal Mania I asked their permission to re-post it here because it really echoes my own thoughts at the moment and will save me a lot of typing!
Also I think if we weren’t so one dimensional in attack and had a number of players who combined well like we had last season, it would be much harder to mark us and teams couldn’t just concentrate on nullifying Cesc
Well, I’m sad with the results but as i told a friend, I’d rather lose with Arsenal than win with ManUre any day. Like you Sam, I live thousands of miles away from London, many time zones away and the match started at 11 pm our time (sometimes, Arsenal matches are at 3 am our time). But I will still support Arsenal.
I miss Hleb and Flamini.
Most of the sites/forums that I visit have been busier since the loss and were quiet after we beat Manchester United. There are a lot of fans who love to bitch. There are also fans who would rather boo than cheer the team.
These guys live a life that brings out a lot of envy and jealousy makes people ugly.
Don’t let it get you down mj
It makes me sick to hear about fans acting like that during the match. Especially when win lose or draw I’d give my right arm to see my team play live. I live 12,000 miles from the Emirates. The games start at 4am my time. I get up in the middle of the night every week to watch the team however they play. Mostly we get the games live on HDTV but some weeks we are stuck with a crappy online feed until we can download the game in HD after it’s finished. These people who can see the team play live during the afternoon, no sleep deprivation involved and can’t even show the team any support, really they are beyond pathetic, spoilt brats.
I’m done thinking about this it’s not like we can change anything or fix anything.
I’ve seen people blaming, Gallas, Almunia, Clichy, Walcott, Denilson, Fabregas, Nasri, Diaby, Bendtner and Wenger. So there’s a good wide range of scapegoats available depending on your point of view and who you liked least before the game.
You would think based on what I had read that there had been 10 different versions of the one match yesterday. Everyone is convinced everyone else is wrong except for them, well that goes without saying. I have to say I hate the way some football fans behave after (hell sometimes even during! how bad is that!) a loss.
This team doesn’t really receive very good support and that is something the fans could actually change. You could barely hear the support on the television against Aston Villa but it was deafening against Manchester United. Do our fans only turn it on for the big games?
some fans are rude! The supporters must support and encourage the team these players are young and is bad to hurt their confidence and make things harder.
gunner4life!!
Sad. But there is Champion League so we must try for that!!
hei nzgooner!!
are da ’so-called’ fans really Gunners fans?? we as true fans dun taunt or jeer our players cuz we koe how tough it is to play against teams week in & week out..
yes, we played badly last nite but dun give up on our Boys.. they need our support now!!
I can’t believe so called ‘fans’ would taunt our own players during a match. How stupid and clueless is that.
Here was an interesting quote from Arsene given what you and George had to say
On the side’s inexperience costing them…
“Maybe I don’t know. At the back it could be explained but upfront a little bit less.
“Yes we had a very young midfield but we played against more experienced midfielders. Any midfield in the league is more experienced than ours but it doesn’t stop us from dominating them.â€
The thing is Arsene says our biggest issue is inconsistency and people – right or wrong – think inconsistency is a by-product of youth and inexperience.
Yep he wasn’t the only player getting a hard time. A bloke in our section was abusing Bendtner and loud enough that I’m pretty certain he heard it. Most of those kinds of fans left long before the end though so there wasn’t much booing at the end.
Hi Kat
the FA has a new rule players used to be able to wear rings so long as they covered them with tape, now there is an absolutely no jewellery rule. So Cesc can’t wear the ring during the game.
I don’t know nzgooner. You may be right. We certainly had trouble breaking them down and penetrating yesterday. Our midfield seemed disconnected with Denilson very deep, Diaby in the hole and Cesc isolated in the middle a lot with Barry, Sidwell and Petrov.
When you say you agree the midfield is our biggest problem are you agreeing with me? lol Because I don’t think the midfield is our biggest problem. I still think our defensive frailties are numero uno problemo lol although the two are connected of course.
Were the fans really giving Cesc stick during the actual match? That’s terrible
i noticed at the game cesc wasnt wearin the ring his girlfriend gave him have they broke up or something
You’ve got a point nzgooner we do seem very static
Arsene will probably play Denilson and Song in the middle next week. I don’t think Wenger would start Ramsey there as yet he could come on as a sub. We should be ok, Cesc needs to be rested from time to time anyway and we played WBA at the beginning of the season without Cesc and won.
Man, nzgooner that stuff about the fans at the match really annoys me. They’re an embarrassment.
MiLa
Hleb did want to go but a lot of people believe, I don’t know if this is true, but they believe that if we had paid Flamini 10k more a week he’d have stayed and if that is true then I think most gooners at this point would consider it a bargain.
nah rummba.. u’re not da only one; i’m also wondering how will Arsenal cope wif-out our wonderkid.. :p
maybe Wenger will put in Ramsey or maybe even Toure (he seems to be able to play in any positions)..
but given Sagna’s injury; he’ll play at da back wif Gallas, Clichy & Silvestre.. so; dat’s leave Ramsey to partner wif Denilson..
if only Flamini & Hleb would stay at Arsenal for another season; we wouldnt be like tis.. but; we cant help it if players wanna leave da club..
I agree that our main problem is our midfield. Although it’s got pretty big competition from our defence.
Hleb and Flamini were two players who thrived under our pass and move football and now we have players in our midfield who are talented players but who are not actually as strong at ‘Wengerball’
You know space and goal chances don’t magically appear just by passing the ball back and forth enough. A bunch of meaningless and sideways passes don’t do sh*t.
Our first team offer a very static, possession-based football where all of our players think they are supposed to pass the ball to the next player, and if there is a huge gap and there is a running player, they make a through ball.
The problem starts: nobody makes runs except for Theo and he is heavily marked, everybody just stands, or walks, thus the opps can easily recover and mark us. We (a lot of the time this will be Fab) can’t find openings, so we cross or we try to find a gap or a marked player like Theo. End result: many times there is nobody in the box, because the strikers also try to create, and they wait for the ball at the edge of the box ->we lose the ball. The opposition gets to the gap before one of our players do -> we lose the ball. The player marking say Theo intercepts -> we lose the ball. We blame the last person who had the ball and give them tonnes of stick for being ’sloppy’ because they had the audacity to try and find some method, hell any method, of attacking. Rinse and repeat.
Team problem but those players tasked with the job of creating attacks for the team will receive almost all of the blame for a collective failure.
Can you imagine how frustrating it must be? You try and you try and it’s not happening and you are giving up possession and in the case of Fab you are actually yelling out at players and waving your arms as if you are directing traffic, trying to get players to move, to co-ordinate attacks, you pass and make a quick sprint into space yourself, you want the ball back and you are yelling for the next guy to be ready but the ball never comes back to you.
On top of all the on field frustration you have a bunch of incredibly ignorant fans blaming you for the team. You even have fans yelling abuse at you during the games, loud enough to make sure that you hear.
Imagine you are giving it everything you’ve got and you make a bad pass. Sidwell is on you, you only just offload but not well and all you can hear is your own home support groaning at how you are playing. Fabregas turned to those vocally letting him know they weren’t happy with his game and encouraged the fans to sing up, it was a classy response but also made it clear that the message had been received and understood.
I wouldn’t blame Fabregas if he left.
Sigh. Agree with all. Absolutely gutted man. Srsly. Aston Villa deserved the win, because Arsenal just looked really like shite.
Totally agree that we’re really missing on the Cesc, Flamini, Hlab and Rosicky action from last season. The current midfield just isn’t there at all. And it was so obvious in the match. I feel bad for Cesc. He has such faith and puts so much into Arsenal but he doesn’t seem to get anything from it.
I was really hoping the United win would give them a boost of confidence, but now I just don’t know. Damn.
And Cesc’ll be out of the Man City match. Am I the only one who’s wondering how Arsenal will cope?
Hi just a little note, but if you want to comment here and you are all very welcome. Can you please write your own comments. If your comment is just a cut and paste of a post from a blog can you clearly indicate it’s a quote – as I read a lot of Arsenal sites and if you send in a comment and I’ve already read it elsewhere and know it’s someone elses words I won’t post it as a comment here sorry.
lol thanks for pulling me up on leaving out Tomas miLa. I hope we see him back soon.
yeah Rose..
i agree wif u on dat partnership of Cesc, Rosicky (not forgetting him), Hleb & Flamini.. da current midfield is not working in union; seems like to each of their own playing style now.. maybe Cesc & Nasri are working on it but we dun know.. :{
sometimes u can see dat Cesc really tries very hard to pass da ball forward for da teammates but he simply couldnt get da return ball from them as they dun pass it back to him or watsoever.. they dun have dat understanding wif one another yet; unlike wif Rosicky, Hleb & Flamini..
sometimes; i really miss dat midfield partnership between them.. i’m waiting for Rosicky’s return so dat Cesc & him can have a lil’ game of their own..
The team wasn’t up for it. After Manchester United you’d think they’d have had a week off and have been raring to go but they went missing again. It was like they got themselves psyched up for Manchester United and went out and fought for it but this week they didn’t. As a fan, I can’t help but ask, “why not?” Aston Villa are fifth they weren’t going to be easy. So where does this complacency come from? I put some of the other results down to youth and lack of confidence but you’d have to put this one down to lack of concentration and lack of drive. I don’t know.
It’s only natural to be disappointed George and I agree with some of what you said. I do think our squad is weaker overall than it was a couple of years ago and competition for starting places is always a good thing.
Still Gallas is 31, Silvestre is 31, Clichy is 23, Sagna is 25, Almunia is 31, Adebayor is 24, Toure is 27 – so it’s not as if the whole team is under 23 and it is not as if the older players performed well and it was only youth that let us down.
I am not sure if the age is so important it’s hard to tell because our midfield isn’t working so well and I don’t know if that’s because the individual players don’t click or whether it’s age and experience related. Either way the three amigos Flamini, Hleb and Cesc were much greater than the sum of their parts because they complemented each other so well. People weren’t prepared for how big a loss it would be because people only notice who scores goals and Hleb and Flamini didn’t.
Bottom-line I don’t know whether Arsene gambled as you put it, out of choice or necessity. I know he has certainly made it sound like a choice but there were also signs that he did try to get someone in the transfer window and no one outside of the club knows the details of why we didn’t.
BTW Bacary is going to be out a few weeks, so that’s a bummer. Hopefully that’s a worse case scenario time-frame and hes back sooner.
wow George things must be bad when you start ranting because you never do! *hugs* It won’t feel so bad tomorrow. The team will probably win next week and then we’ll be back to being world beaters lol well at least for a week.
< rant >
I know some may not agree with me but I think Arsene must take a lot of the responsibility here. He has taken gambles and he didn’t,,,in his own words,,,re-inforce in the Summer because “it would stop the development of a young player”.
Well they haven’t all developed as far and as fast as he planned. Some of them are still inconsistent, and they don’t have older world class players to train with and compete with as they should. Those kinds of players don’t have to just be a road block they can be a helping hand through transition.
When Cesc came he was training with Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira, who are the youngsters training with now? Arsene falls too in love with promise and Arsenal has become the club of hope. Soon, next year, tomorrow, but never now. We are told this player or that player will be the perfect partner for Cesc in a couple of years (yes once they start shaving they just might be) and on and on. I AM SICK OF THIS.
Who even has competition for a spot in our team? Arsene seems to subscribe to the view that “If you buy a Ronaldo it stops a Walcott from developing?” Does it? Really? If you have what it takes to make it, if you are really going to be good enough, to take the pressure and the sh*t and deliver week in and week out, you are going to find a way to establish yourself no matter how many Ronaldos stand in your way. If you aren’t better than Ronaldo then maybe you will have to go to another club but as a fan I don’t really care because I just want the best players in the starting 11. I don’t want to have to do without a Ronaldo so someone who may ’some day’ be ‘almost that good’ (although no one can say for certain) can play. On what planet does Wenger think fans would want that?
It seems to be a policy of “the young ones should not have to compete to make it.” Make them fight for their chance, the cream always rises. Competing for a place will help them develop the mental toughness they will need for matches.
Now I don’t want Arsene sacked or anything knee-jerk he has earnt and dserves respect. I just want us to go back to being a football club not a sodding nursey school. I want him to go back to managing our football team with the aim of winning something before Jack Wilshere is in his twenties. Because I am sick of our promise, I am fed up to the back teeth with our potential. I’d like to see us deliver.
< /rant >
edited: 3:01
Sorry gals just a bit gutted here. Though I know you are too so thanks for doing everything.
This loss hurts a lot worse than the others…I guess after the win over Manchester United I thought we’d find some form build from there…
Well Chelsea won of course. And while mathematically of course we are not out of things, I guess it’s a real long shot now.
I hope Sagna is ok.
It’s a pity that Cesc didn’t get the 5th yellow against Manchester United so his suspension would have been served during the Carling cup match. The card he got against Bolton was a joke as was the one against Stoke so he really should only be on 3. Still, I agree with Sam that this is probably the only way he is going to actually get rotated so there’s your silver-lining.
Cesc will take some criticism for this match and that’s fair up to a point – but he was frequently double marked with Barry and Sidwell combining to give him zero time. You are right TA – O’Neill had good tactics. Cesc made more passes with greater accuracy this week with 71 passes and 84% accuracy. Still he didn’t play so well and he had plenty of company. Bottom line, the team didn’t bring their A game.
Beating Manchester United had to be a confidence boost so to be honest I really don’t know why the team has this Dr Jekyll – Mr Hyde thing going on.
Should have said before but too gutted, Aston Villa were good they deserved the win. They had their tactics perfect
Too disappointed to be gutted….I’ve moved on to numb….I just feel numb…can’t even muster a rant …sniffle,sniffle…numb…gunna listen to some retro Floyd “the wall”….that should help – push me over the edge :’)
I don’t blame player for me this club/manager decisions
I’m trying to keep the faith but the team are testing me
I’ll do the photos Sam. Life goes on even on bad days, we have to keep supporting. Rose and I will do the match report. Yours is “succinct” I’ll give you that.
I don’t know whether we are out of it or not tbh
I’ll tell you around 7pm as if we are 9 points behind Chelsea then yep Chelsea have way too much depth for us to make that up so we need a miracle from WBA and I doubt it. Even if we beat Chelsea home and away we couldn’t overhaul them.
I’m an optimist too but Chelsea were going to be difficult to beat no matter what, Scolari is a good manager and with dropping 16 points now… this early… no even an optimist like me can see we have created mission impossible for ourselves if Chelsea win tonight.
If only Liverpool are 9 points clear we could still have a slim chance as the wheels could come off for Liverpool they are that kind of team but Chelsea have a huge squad, phenomenal strength in depth in every position and Scolari is a winner, I don’t like him especially but you have to respect his credentials.
Such a bummer
I’m really sad especially after we came so close last season 
i dun know abt dat Sam..
maybe we’re STILL in da race; juz dat we’re having a slow start to da season..
u can call me silly but i like to be OPTIMISTIC abt tis.. hehe..
Cesc will be rest which is a good thing for him cuz i tink he’s shouldering heavy responsibilities for tis team & he’s only 21..
i dun know whether izzit only me or da whole team performance was pretty off today as compared to last week?? hopefully tis woulndt carry on till next game..
bloody hell, at the rate we are playing i hope we can even finish fourth this season…….
I’ll write more but I needed a drink first. And photos? do we want a pictorial reminder of that? Or do we all just want to pretend this never happened?
That’s right he’ll miss a game but that’s not really a problem. I think he needs a breather and Wenger will never rest him, sub him or rotate him for a second so at least this makes it happen and we are out of the race now anyway.
Cesc wouldnt be playing against Man City next week cuz he was suspended after getting his 5th yellow card..
someone wake me up from this nightmare and tell me we didn’t just waste last weeks result.
can’t figure out how we could be so shite.
gutted!! totally gutted by Gunners’ performance!!
what a letdown!!
i’ve got nothing to say!!
that about it says it all. too disappointed to even rant and rave.