What happened there? One moment, we’re up 3-0 and look to be cruising to the knock-out stage. Arteta got his first goal from the penalty-spot in the 25th minute, Alexis added a spot- free kick goal (volleying the rebound when his kick was blocked), and Ox barreled down the left to curl it around the keeper. We were flying high, and I was even dreaming of cutting into Dortmund’s goal-differential. I must have jinxed it, because moments later, Anderlecht had its first goal. So the guy was offsides. By three yards. We had been playing lazy defense the whole time and paid for it. A Monreal take-down in the box, and Anderlecht has their penalty to make it 3-2. Mitrovic was in the box before Vanden Borre shot, but whatever. We again paid the price. All that was missing was a Szczesnian screw-up and—yup. On a well-struck cross. Szcz half-charged off his line, got caught in no-man’s land, and was all but helpless as Mitrovic headed home. Feh. For as dominant as we looked early, we let this one slip right through our fingers. Watch highlights below if you can stomach them…
Woolwich 1886, an Arsenal site
A life-long Arsenal fan shares from his limited store of insight, humour, and wisdom…
Well he was 3 yards offside following the laws of the game that changed about 20 years ago. Using the current laws he was level or maybe a few inches off. Also, I have no recollection of Sanchez's spot kick
he went into an offsides position, never got back onside, and the ball was played into him. what is the current rule?
My mistake; Alexis scored from a free-kick just outside the area. I'll stand by my claim that Vanden Borre was offsides by any standard. Handbags. We just conceded three goals to a side that has scored only two in the group-stage, and the details around how we conceded matter far less than the fact that we did. Slapstick all around.
He was marginally offside. He just wasn't 3 yards offside. I still haven't seen a line drawn across and it could just be the crosser was level in which case he would be onside. Henry was the master of this and the fact that no one seemed to even notice him there was pathetic. As was Monreal playing rugby; as was Mertesacker's attempt to mark; sa was the joker in goal being caught off his line. I have a feeling that Wenger will be going 'the first goal was offside' as if that is an excuse. All 3 goals were pathetic defending irrespective of whether he was a few inches offside.
A few points: it's 'offside' not 'offsides'; not sure what you saw for the Sanchez goal; we don't say 'take down' in England (whatever that means); Dortmund's goal difference is irrelevant – if Arsenal end level and have a better head to head against Dortmund Arsenal goal through even if Dortmund's goal difference is 100 better. Not sure why you mentioned handbags in the middle of your article. We use the phrase 'handbags' when there has been a bit of pushing and shoving. But you are right on one thing – the defender was absolutely pathetic, but if Wenger doesn't buy a goalkeeper or centre half this is what happens.
Nothing’s changed in the bigger picture. Arsenal proved last night why they are not equipped for another trophy winning season, unless they are very fortunate in the FA Cup draw. The manager cannot address situations on the field during the course of play, and failed to address the weaknesses in the squad during the summer. The chickens came home to roost against Anderlecht, and the manager can thank his lucky stars that his team somehow pulled off a win in Brussels, as right now, their prospects of progression would be looking decidedly dodgy without that. Current group leaders that Arsenal could face in the last 16 are as follows… Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, Porto. Arsene will be hoping that in the words of the Daft Punk hit, he gets lucky in the 15th December draw, assuming his team don’t blow second place as effectively as they did three points last night
sounds like I should work on my British, among other issues. Thanks for the feedback. The handbags reference, for instance, came from my understanding that it refers to a pointless argument (physical or verbal) when there are bigger issues at stake, whether it's the players we have available, their performance, tactics, etc.
Arsene Wenger; “we cannot influence the first goal. When the goalscorers are one yard offside, we cannot influence that.”