Wasteful Arsenal are forced to pay penalty
By RIATH AL-SAMARRAI
COLOGNE have a goat for a mascot and two players named Horn, so it was quite apt they pulled off a ram raid on Arsenal last night.
How they did it is anyone’s guess. This was a display so unambitious that it was something of a shock to see Sehrou Guirassy go for goal after winning a soft penalty on 62 minutes.
Yet shoot he did and Arsenal’s unbeaten run in this competition came to an end. They still progress as Group H winners courtesy of Red Star’s draw at BATE Borisov last night, impressive enough when you consider the fringe men, academy boys and recovering souls fielded by Arsene Wenger.
But there will be disappointment they were so helpless here in the face of a Cologne team who defended for their lives while spying for scraps that might justify crossing the halfway line.
Four shots the home side had in all, and just 33-per-cent possession, but somehow it was enough to beat Arsenal, who got forward at every opportunity but found only lead in their boots and static in their brains.
‘We had a lot of possession and we lose a game where Cologne had one shot on goal,’ lamented Wenger. ‘And it was not a penalty at all. We just missed a little bit in the final third, we missed always a little something to finish our chances.’
There was a return from injury for Danny Welbeck as one of 11 changes to the side that beat Tottenham at the weekend, but even that lasted only 45 minutes, during which he was ineffective.
The only moment of attacking intent from Cologne came in the first five minutes when Jhon Cordoba drew a save from David Ospina.
In response, Ainsley Maitland-Niles had a shot diverted for a corner and Francis Coquelin cracked another wide. Coquelin then went even closer when his shot clipped the post.
Beyond that, Arsenal just could not hold possession long enough. Wenger swapped Welbeck for Alex Iwobi to no avail.
Cologne engineered one chance out of Arsenal’s complacency around the hour, with Guirassy side-footing rather meekly to Ospina, before he won the penalty.
It looked harsh, given it was an easy tumble after a gentle collision with Mathieu Debuchy, but the call was made and Guirassy put his kick straight down the middle.