1-3, Premier League, Emirates Stadium, 17.08.13
Giroud 6
The feeling of unbridled excitement ahead of the start of the season couldn't have ended worse, leaving a sour taste in the mouth. Not only did we lose at home against Aston Villa, one of our centre-halves received a red card and our two starting full-backs picked up injuries, forcing them off the field.
The game could not have started better, though, as Olivier Giroud gave us the lead after merely six minutes! Oxlade-Chamberlain provided a great cross as he was released down the left-hand side by Rosicky. The French striker then just steered the ball into the back of the net, granting us that (usually) important early lead. He has been great during pre-season, scoring loads of goals, and hopefully there are plenty more to come during this season of competitive football!
Unfortunately it all went to shit after that, Oxlade-Chamberlain had a shot blocked and Giroud headed the ball wide, but one could tell that we were not in as much control of the ball as we usually are. This was most likely down to the physical play that Villa showed up with, which eventually resulted in a couple of injuries on our players. As the defence lost track of Agbonlahor in the box, Szczesny was forced to go out and brought the striker down. Our Polish 'keeper then saved the penalty, only to have the rebound headed into the back of the net by Benteke.
Mere minutes later Gibbs clashed heads with Weimann of Aston Villa and was left bleeding from the head, unable to continue the game (possibly due to fear of a concussion). Jenkinson was brought on, taking place on the right-hand side while Sagna was moved to the left.
Approximately half an hour into the game Walcott did great to interfere between Villa defender Luna and 'keeper Guzan and win the ball, the pass did not reach a fellow team-mate, though. Unfortunately this was pretty much as good as it got for Walcott this afternoon, he has showed great skill in the pre-season games, so it is naturally disappointing not to see him work wonders when it truly matters. Hopefully that will change before long!
Szczesny gave us all a bit of a fright towards the end of the half as he left the 18-yard box for quite a while to keep the ball from a couple of Villa players, fortunately he found his way back to the goal in time to keep Westwood's shot out.
For the second half Oxlade-Chamberlain (who had had a decent first half) was replaced by Cazorla, and we had a promising start. Giroud got a good opportunity to score as Walcott provided a great pass, but Guzan made the save as two defenders disturbed the Frenchman. The following minute Rosicky fired wide, having been played in beautifully.
Aston Villa had a good chance in the early stages of the half as well, with Delph hitting the post. Then disaster struck for us, as Koscielny made a perfectly good tackle where he clearly reached the ball before the player, yet for some reason the ref decided to award Villa with a penalty and book Koscielny. Benteke scored for the second time from the penalty spot. I would like to take this time to thank the referees for using the new video technology in making important decisions in the box (apparently it only covers the goal-line, which is complete bullshit!).
We got more or less desperate after that, and our cause was not helped as the ref decided to give Koscielny a second yellow with twenty minutes to go, showing him off the field. I am aware that blaming a defeat on a referee never is valid, but there were quite a few dubious decisions by referee Taylor this afternoon and as I just mentioned, they did not help our cause.
The remainder of the game was a roller-coaster of chances. Walcott fired a free-kick wide, shortly after Rosicky made his way through the entire defence, only to have his shot stopped by Guzan. Then Cazorla had a shot deflected by Guzan to hit the bar! With five minutes to go the game was killed. Through a counter attack following one of our corners Villa sealed the game with a third goal by Luna.
As if things couldn't get worse, Sagna had a terrifying fall, landing on his neck, in the final minutes. Fortunately his neck did not break, he remained conscious and able to walk off the pitch. Podolski was brought on in his place for the final couple of minutes.
I was about to write that on a positive note, things couldn't get much worse from this point. Of course that is never true in football. The only thing we can do is move on and be sure to win the Champions League qualification clash on Wednesday against Fenerbahce.
Injury Update:
- From this game, the following players are dubious for the game against Fenerbahce on Wednesday: Sagna, Gibbs, Ramsey (kick on ankle) and Rosicky.
- Vermaelen is out for an undetermined amount of time, same goes for Arteta.
- Monreal will soon return to training, so he is not that far away from making a return to the first team.
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