Arsenal

[Silent Runner]

10 minutes. Just give us one chance.

[Baring]

What is Ozil playing at?

[Baring]

5 mins! Come onnnnnn

[Mars]

We're probably heading for the Champions League template for a brave away win and going out due to a pasting in the first leg.

[SeanR]

SHOOOOOOOOT!!!

[toythatkills]

It'll be like every year, we'll unexpectedly play brilliantly, go 2-0 up inside half an hour to level the tie, and then go out on away goals so the whole endeavour was pointless.

I bet half the people in this thread can quote something they said which totally saw this fucking result coming.

[SeanR]

Hope can be a dangerous thing...

[Baring]

Unlucky Gooners, that's as good of an away performance you'll see this season. Just a shame it was lost at home.

Now go get fourth and do it again.

[humdrum]

[Rev]

Meh. Fun game, but the first leg was as pathetic as they come. Very difficult to think we deserved anything from it.

[The Fox]

All those long ball deliveries and not one was any good. Ah well.

Someone on Twitter just pointed out that even though Alexis was pants, he generally had a couple of people going for him which left space for others. Fair point and may have partially explained why he was left on despite seemingly having a bit of a mare.

[toythatkills]

It's our own stupidity. We could easily have lost that first game 2-1 but we were idiots.

I don't even know how to react to this result tonight. I don't really feel bad because I'd accepted that we weren't going through. I'm basically just sitting here laughing at the absurdity of it. How can we do this every year?

[Radish]

I don't even know how to react to this result tonight. I don't really feel bad because I'd accepted that we weren't going through. I'm basically just sitting here laughing at the absurdity of it. How can we do this every year?

Frustrated.

Every. Fucking. Time.

[The Fox]

Uh...struggling for positives really. I mean we played well on the night. Özil and Ramsey were great together, again. But meh, we lost to fucking Monaco ffs.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Easily the Most Arsenal Result you could possibly expect/imagine. FFS.

[NexivRed]

Ozil was brilliant in the 2nd half. Alexis looks a bit shot, surely he needs a rest now. Next season hopefully he'll be physically more ready for it because he's tailed off badly since January. Ozil has shown a physical improvement on last season so hopefully Alexis can do the same.

[Lucky]

Amazingly so frustrating, annoying, predictable and just so unbelievably Arsenal

[Hass]

It's our own stupidity. We could easily have lost that first game 2-1 but we were idiots.

That's the takeaway for this Arsenal team. You can't win the game in the first leg but you can certainly lose it

[Larsen B]

Keeps the momentum going!

All those long ball deliveries and not one was any good. Ah well.

This was my only frustration. I know all teams do this when they need a goal with 5 minutes to go but I'd be curious to see some statistics on how effective it is.

Considering we scored 2 goals by playing it sensibly, it rankled to see us resort to desperation that isn't our standard method of play. We got the second goal because we were patient, Monreal made a good run using the width of the pitch because Monaco defended so narrowly and that got us a chance in the box.

Knocking it into the mixer from 30 yards raises the probability of the defending team getting the ball way higher than keeping it away from them.

[toythatkills]

Keeps the momentum going!

This was my only frustration. I know all teams do this when they need a goal with 5 minutes to go but I'd be curious to see some statistics on how effective it is.

It always seems quite effective against us.

[Rev]

Keeps the momentum going!

This was my only frustration. I know all teams do this when they need a goal with 5 minutes to go but I'd be curious to see some statistics on how effective it is.

Considering we scored 2 goals by playing it sensibly, it rankled to see us resort to desperation that isn't our standard method of play. We got the second goal because we were patient, Monreal made a good run using the width of the pitch because Monaco defended so narrowly and that got us a chance in the box.

Knocking it into the mixer from 30 yards raises the probability of the defending team getting the ball way higher than keeping it away from them.

You'd need some very specific statistics. It's the same as hopeful shots from distance towards the end. More goals will be scored of that ilk when you're trying it, but is it enough more?

For what it's worth I try and stop my teams doing it on Football Manager for that reason. Near-counter-attacks by bringing on pacey players are much more useful. If you're going to do that, bringing on Walcott is brilliant. If you're lumping it into the box, taking of Welbeck seems very odd.

[The Fox]

Nah Walcott is hopeless against any team that is sitting deep. Great at running in behind but if the space isn't there, he's nullified. I can see why he came on given his finishing prowess, but he was never likely to do anything against that defensive setup really.

It does kinda look like he's off in the summer at this point, doesn't it? We've allegedly offered him less money than he's on now, which to be honest isn't at all surprising.

[Baring]

My thoughts exactly Fox. When he came on I just thought Monaco are so deep he's got no where to run. He's not going to muscle his way through so I guess Wenger was hoping he could finish a chance, he was unlucky with the post.

I like Walcott but he's not consistent enough, if he leaves you where would he go? Abroad?

[pinholestar]

It does kinda look like he's off in the summer at this point, doesn't it? We've allegedly offered him less money than he's on now, which to be honest isn't at all surprising.

The writing does seem to be on the wall, doesn't it? I've got a bit of a soft spot for Theo & would be sad to see him leave, but with the arrival of Alexis & to a lesser extent Welbeck, we're not as desperate for pace in the team as we were & you have to ask yourself whether Walcott offers enough in the rest of his game to be worth paying £100k+ a week. Right now it doesn't seem like Wenger thinks so & as you say, he's quite easily nullified. I reckon we could get a pretty decent whack for him though. He'll probably tread the well-worn path & go to City for £28m, haha.

[The Fox]

Wouldn't be at all surprised to see him at Liverpool, especially if Sterling doesn't sign a new deal.

I'd like him to stay really, but when he's after £100k/week+ despite only being effective in certain conditions, I'm not sure I can see it happening. He's great in terms of end product if you give him space, and he has a good record in big games, but the flaws are obvious: useless against a parked bus, and very poor at helping his full back.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Nah Walcott is hopeless against any team that is sitting deep. Great at running in behind but if the space isn't there, he's nullified. I can see why he came on given his finishing prowess, but he was never likely to do anything against that defensive setup really.

It does kinda look like he's off in the summer at this point, doesn't it? We've allegedly offered him less money than he's on now, which to be honest isn't at all surprising.

I swear it feels like it's barely six months since everyone was urging him to sign again, even though it clearly isn't (holy fuck, time gets bizarre when you get old ). No one's gonna give a fuck this time though because he's clearly never going to amount to fuck all.

[Rev]

I'll be happy if he stays, but I won't miss him if he goes. Stats wise he's impressive, but he's the most infuriating player in the universe to watch and to be honest I quite like it when he's not in the team for that reason. He could easily get 50 goals a season if it wasn't for the fact 90% of the time he runs in the wrong direction and then falls over.

[carlito]

I have never really forgiven him for the contract saga to be honest.

[The Fox]

He had us over a barrel a bit at the time, but things are very different now. It's unfortunate that he got a serious injury obviously, but that coupled with new signings and Ox/Ramsey kicking on mean he's nowhere near as important.

I don't think he'll want to take a pay cut as he's still a very marketable player. He's English, talks very well in interviews, normally has impressive looking stats etc, but I can't see us forking out £100k/wk for a player of the standing he now seems to have.

[wev]

And yet out of everybody at the club, Theo and Diaby come across as Wengers pet projects