Chapter 1: What was the outcome of the Arsenal vs. West Brom match?
So, Arsenal beating West Brom 2-0 tonight at the Emirates. Big game tomorrow night in the Championship. Cardiff against Leeds, the tabletoppers from 7.30 on Sky Sports Football. Some big talking points, no doubt, as ever, on the debate when that returns as well. 10 o'clock, Sky Sports Premier League.
Seasons 1 to 7 of The Walking Dead available right now with Sky Box sets ahead of the return of the new series coming to Fox in October. So 2-0 victory, comfortable in the end. Thoughts of Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher with us tonight in just a moment. Before then, let's head straight to the Emirates where Aaron Ramsey is waiting to speak to us. Congratulations, Aaron.
Can you put that into context for us? How impressed were you with your team tonight?
Hi, guys. Yeah, it was a fantastic performance from us tonight. I thought, you know, after all the results, none of them went our way on the weekend, so we had to take full advantage of the fact that we're at home and we managed to do that.
That's interesting, Aaron. Were you watching very closely as Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs all won?
Yeah, of course, you know, you're hoping one or two of them might drop points, but, you know, they're very strong this season, so it's going to be a tough year. There's a lot of quality from all them teams, so, yeah, it was important for us to get the win tonight.
How tough did West Brom make it for you, Aaron, particularly in that first half?
Of course, we know all about their teams. They're very well organised. They get plenty of players behind the ball. It's just a case of being patient, being alert to the counter-attack and trying to break them down. We managed to do that in the end, so we always know it's going to be difficult against them.
Aaron, the role you played tonight is something similar that you played for Wales in that system we've seen in the past with Gareth Bale. What are the differences between playing there as a semi-number 10 or a central midfield player?
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Chapter 2: What are Aaron Ramsey's thoughts on the team's performance?
I'm not sure... if that was worth it in the end for them. But I think in those situations, if you play advantage, the penalty is over then.
Adam, we've been quite critical of Arsenal, I'm sure you're aware of, maybe the last couple of years in certain games. What do you think this season could be different to go closer to winning the title or challenging for that title?
Yeah, we want to make... The Emirates, the Fortress, we've had three wins here now, so hopefully we can build on that. We know how important that's going to be in the title run. And playing away against the top teams, we've seen against Chelsea that we're a lot more organised, everybody was aware of what we had to do defensively, and we perhaps could have nicked it at the end as well.
So that's the type of performances that we need away from home against the top teams, and it's chalk and cheese to the Liverpool game.
Aaron, good night. You're talking about making it a fortress at home, but you know fully that also to win the league you need to be able to make those performances away from home. What do you think was the difference the other day against Chelsea away?
I just think that we were a lot more organised. The distances between the units were a lot smaller. It was harder for Chelsea to play throughout the lines. Against Liverpool, our distances were too big and the gaps between the midfield and the defence were massive for them to just gallop into. That was the biggest difference and everybody was fighting hard for each other.
And, yeah, ultimately we got the draw there. We wanted to go there and get the win, but we were happy with the performance that we've shown.
Just clear up the other incident tonight. Aaron, you were judged to have been fouled by Alan Yeom. What was your view of that incident? What did you think at the time? Did you think a penalty?
Yeah, I thought I took it around him and he pushed me out of the way. So, yeah, I thought I got the other side of him. So, I think it was a penalty, yeah.
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Chapter 3: How did West Brom challenge Arsenal during the match?
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Can he be proud of his performance tonight in a different role?
He ran 12 kilometres further than anyone else on the pitch this evening. You're going to get that from Aaron Ramsey. I think the question was always, when he played as a holding midfielder, and that's the question mark that they rectified against Chelsea the other day.
Like you said, the distances were tighter, they were more organised, and so we want to see that more often than not when they're going to play away from home. But today, what was interesting, sorry, that Mesut Ozil didn't play, so he could play higher.
So at times when Mesut Ozil is going to come back, or not, or whatever it's going to be, I don't know, because the boss has to make the decision, he's going to have to be in that situation where he's going to have to keep it tight, the winger's going to have to tuck in. How they're going to tuck in the same way that it will be in a well-baked DDG over there, that is the thing.
But he talked about an important thing there, consistency. That's what that team is missing at times, especially away from home.
Listen, me personally, ourselves, we were critical of Adam Ramsey in that Liverpool game. But Adam Ramsey should always be in that Arsenal team because he's one of the best players. He scored two winners in Cup finals. But does that role suit him of central midfield in a two? He's not actually, when he plays that role, doing anything different that we don't see Adam Ramsey do.
He covers the most ground in any game, so that's the type of player he is. So when you're saying holding the field player... That's the position he's playing, if you like, but he's never going to be holding a fair play. He just wants to run, he wants to get in the box.
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Chapter 4: What role did Aaron Ramsey play in the match against West Brom?
Now, he's played them in that role tonight, but going forward, he's got Ozil, he's got Sanchez. How do you get them all in? I always think Ramsey would be best, even though he's been brilliant in that role for Wales in the tournament with Gareth Bale. Actually, a role we saw Frank Lampard play for Chelsea.
where it's that three-man midfield, you'd have a sitting midfield player, maybe someone who's good on the ball, and he's the one getting box to box. Because him getting box to box, he gets goals. That's what he does. He's got the energy, he gets the goals, and it's how he's utilised in this Arsenal team with all those others attacking talent.
Do you think there might be evolution here, Thierry? Might we be seeing a change of thinking from the manager now? We saw it tonight, I know Mesut Ozil, I don't think he's at full fitness, but when Sanchez came off, that was when he came on. Could it be that it's either one or the other in this Arsenal?
Listen, there's something that I've seen that I didn't see for a very long time with that Arsenal side and Arsenal doing what they did. More often than not, when Alexis Sanchez was back, whether it was his feet or not, he plays. Ozil, whether it was his feet or not, or he trained a lot or not, he plays. And the other day, I saw something at Chelsea.
OK, he didn't start at Chelsea, but when he came on, they put him up front. because they were so well-organized, so they put him up front. Today, he comes on, Ozil lives. Then maybe we're reading a bit too much into that, but this is something that Arsenal wouldn't have done back in the days. You're back, you're the man, you play.
The other day he was like, hang on a minute, that team has been working hard, we're going to go to Chelsea like that. And now Ozil didn't start. Alex Sanchez comes on, sorry, Ozil comes on, Alex Sanchez comes off. And so there's something that I didn't see before, that now he said at the beginning of the game, the team is playing well. So he's like any other player, he has to wait a bit.
And we saw the spark as well when Sanchez did start for the first goal, Jamie, from the free kick, and have Arsenal found... A man finally to fill his boots in terms of scoring a weight of goals as well.
Well, listen, we said it before, it's exactly what you expect from your striker. Great free kick from Alexis Sanchez. He had two opportunities right before. He's there. I questioned Krikoviak at one point, not following. You expect your striker to follow. Great save from the goalkeeper, but it's an easy goal. But, hey, listen, you have to be there.
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Chapter 5: What was the controversy surrounding the penalty decisions?
And he scored. Good movement. Goalkeeper cannot do better than that, I think. And he's there scoring.
I just want to go back to... Oh, sorry, hang on. What I would just say here, I'm going to look at West Brom. What you've got in... West Brom played a back five tonight, or a swivel four, as we saw before the game. But what you've got in the wall, because it's so close...
It's difficult to get it up and down over the wall, so you put your biggest players in it and you think it's going to be difficult. So you've got Johnny Evans, Naeem, the centre-back... Agassi. Agassi, yeah. And Jey Rodriguez. And what you've got is you've got Keiran Gibbs out wide.
So what you've got then in sort of marking positions is one defender, he's at the back post, he's just out of shot, it's Dawson. So here we have centre-forward v centre-forward in Robson Karnu and Lacazette. I watched Tony Pulis do a training session about 18 months ago on wide free kicks and a little bit, not exactly like this, but blocking runners.
And it was always about getting the man in front and no one could ever run a... When you see West Brom defend set pieces, they always block the man. The space between them is so tight. And maybe just because he's an attacker or something, he just lets him get away. You just see Robson Kanu there, he just runs across him. Now listen, that is brilliant from Lacazette.
Thierry, you know better than me, the anticipation there from a centre forward.
Yeah, he did ever so well. You expect that from him, but the reaction from some of the guys of the West Brom team was a bit late. But you expect that from your striker.
Some doubt on the West Brom penalty claim in the first half. What about this? When you were in Greenmont here, weren't you?
Yeah, I was, just because of the positioning of Niom. Yeah, he's going to feel like it's not a pen. It got done here, first and foremost. Great piece of skill from Ramsey. So it's not shoulder to shoulder? No, it's not. Look, it is not. It's difficult to see there.
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Chapter 6: How did Arsenal's defense perform against West Brom?
You'll see it more from the other side. And so him being a tiny bit... You'll see it now. Yeah, now. At that particular moment here... Now, his shoulder is behind. He's pushing in from behind. It's not shoulder to shoulder anymore. Leg on legs also. There's contact also.
I think the big bit is the knee into the shot. I mean, it's a penalty. Even if it's a little bit harsh, but I think that knee there...
But what I'm trying to say, Cara, is if I'm here with you and I barge you shoulder to shoulder, although there is knee against knee... That's right. Watch out for that one. It will still be we're fighting for the ball. If I'm here and pushing you from behind and I go with this also, it's definitely a clear penalty. I mean, obviously, I understand that he gets upset. They should have had one.
They're getting one against them and, yeah. You got punished.
What about the penalty itself? Lacazette, cool as a cucumber from the spot, isn't he?
Yes. Thank God he put some pace into it because I think the goalkeeper would have said that was soft. That's a great pain. 2-0. Job done.
So he's looking pretty impressive here, isn't he? He's working his way up this leaderboard in terms of best minutes per goal from the major European leagues since the start of last season. That's something to work on, isn't it? Get that a little bit higher up the list, Thierry, as the season goes on. Is he world-class?
Again?
Don't start that.
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Chapter 7: What insights did the guests share about Arsenal's title aspirations?
Could have been a very different game, though, couldn't it, tonight? Jey Rodriguez brought down in the first half. It wasn't a penalty, according to Bobby Madley. Let's hear from the player himself now, giving his reaction to Patrick Davison.
Jay, obviously quite a bit to ask you about. We'll start with that major incident right near the start of the game, the challenge from Shokodran Mustafi on you. Just tell us your perspective. What did you see? What did you feel?
For me, I felt contact. I obviously went down and I was just waiting for the foul to be given, but it weren't given. So I obviously got back up because I weren't injured, weren't hurt. I seen the chance to score and checked, made a good serve. But yeah, for me, it was a penalty, but... Like I said, you get them in, you don't, but obviously it's a bite.
I think there was an argument that you were almost too honest, you didn't stay down, you tried to score the goal, but you were kind of waiting for the penalty, were you?
Yeah, for me, obviously, I'm not going to be rolling around and trying to buy free kicks. If it's not a free kick, I think I'm honest and I think I'll always be like that. But like I said, there's a decision there to be made and it's just one of those things, it's just difficult when it's nil-nil. If we do get that and we get the goal...
We won nil up and it changed the game, but like I said, it's just one of them things. We've got to move on and look at what we did well in the game. Is it also the striker's instinct to get up and try and score? For me, yeah, of course. If I get the chance and I see the goal and I've got a good chance to score, I'm not going to stay down or I'm not going to shy away from it.
I want to score as many goals as I can. It's just disappointing for the result. I think the lads worked extremely hard. I thought we had some great chances. I think we're very disappointed.
Right, let's go back to Dermot Gallagher, who's been watching on at the Premier League Match Centre. Dermot, good evening again. Is it simple enough to say that Bobby Madley got that wrong?
Well, we said at half-time, I think it was a penalty. We all agree on that. I've explained why he might not have given a penalty, what his reasons may have been. We've been all throughout, you know, because Shelly may have blocked him off, he may have played advantage. But he didn't give advantage, did he? We didn't see any indication from the referee that he had played advantage.
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Chapter 8: What were the key moments that defined the match's outcome?
What's your advice to them? Stay down, go down?
I think he did the right thing, because he said, I was waiting for the whistle, didn't come. First rule in the game is play until they blow the whistle, right? But one thing I disagree with him is he said, I wasn't going to go down and try to buy a foul. He wasn't going to try to buy a foul. There was a foul. Do you understand what I mean? I do understand.
If he stayed down, he wasn't going to try to buy a foul. There was a foul. Do you understand what I mean? There was contact. It's not like there wasn't contact and he's trying to buy a foul. There was contact. And I understand that he saw himself in a situation to score a goal. He got up. Do you sometimes have to show the officials there has been a foul?
I suppose that's the point I'm trying to make. He didn't have to roll around, right? There was a foul. He went down. Could have stayed down. Do you understand what I mean? Yeah. And so we're talking about two things. Yes, if the referee gave a foul here, that could have closed the debate. And here too. Here too. That could have closed the debate too.
If Livermore scores, we wouldn't have talked about there was a penalty.
I know, but we're not all teary-eyed.
But, you know, you have to talk also, stay in the game at times. And look, you're not trying to buy a foul. There is a foul. He hasn't been streetwise.
We saw Elneny in the second half. What a save from Petr Cech. It's a great save, but we saw Elneny in the second half being fouled. He was on the floor, slapping the grass, making it very clear to everyone he'd been brought down.
Do we want to see that from players? Dave, there is a difference between going down and slapping the ground and everything. He just went down because there was a foul. You don't have to roll around. He could have stayed down. That's what I'm saying to you. And ask the ref a question, eh?
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