I was a young football mad Gooner in 1970, a home and away supporter, overcoming the vagaries of British Rail and the highly unpleasant attacks of Northern football hooligans to watch my heroes. Stoke away was one such journey and will remain with me for a long time.
Most people think of the season 70/71 as a stroll to the Double (the first after the ’61 Spuds wonder team), but I can assure you it wasn’t. The drama went right to the wire and Stoke played a major role. The lowpoint of our season was a 5-0 drubbing for the lads at the Potteries, resulting in a severe dressing down of the team by McLintock, Howe and Mee, which set us on the road to Silverware.
In addition it was Stoke with the great Gordon Banks who would oppose us in the FAC Semi Final. We drew the first game at Hillsborough with Peter Storey scoring a 90th minute penalty against Banks. I stood there praying that he would score but convinced Banks would save it. Banksy failed and we went onto the replay which we won 2-0 at a canter, sending us to Wembley and the historic double winning victory over the Dippers.
To bring us up to date, last November we smashed Stoke (2-0!) at the Emirates with Sorensen playing his usual inspired game, and Fab missing a penalty. Stoke go into the game on the back of an 11 game unbeaten run and unbeaten in 2010. They have just beaten City in the Cup, and Arsenal have yet to beat them at the Britannia. That said, we are learning to play the more physical teams and have a decent record ‘Up North’ this season. One advantage could be the referee, Peter Walton, Stoke have never won with him officiating! Surprisingly (at least to me) Stoke have garnered 12 points from their last 6 games and will go into the match very confident of continuing their fine run.
Tactically it will be the same old same old with Stoke. Big men trying to kick lumps out of our frail, waspy wonders. The Towel and Delap. A highly charged and aggressive midfield. Fuller on the breakaway, and lots of long ball over our midfield. The fact that Robert Huth is Stoke’s top goalscorer tells us all we need to know about Stoke’s tactics!
I dismiss our 3-1 defeat in the FAC. We played with half a team which was reflected in our performance.
We are missing Diaby, Gallas and Arshavin, but welcome back Eduardo. I believe Bendtner will have a big game, though he will be up against Shawcross and Huth, both very tough CB’s. This is Theo’s type of game IF we can entice Stoke to get forward and leave spaces for him to run into. Please Arsene play Sol in place of Silvestre at CB, he is such a strong presence in the box, and will be vital against the long throw. I prefer Eboue to Ramsey or Denilson, purely for his height and pace, but we will need a disciplined performance from him.
My team would be:
A Goalkeeper
Sagna Campbell TV Clichy
Eboue Song Cesc Nasri
Walcott Bendtner
Subs Gk, Ramsey, Rosicky, Vela, Silvestre, Eduardo
Nigel Winterburn says, “You know what you are going to get at Stoke, there will be no time to get the ball down and play as Arsenal like to do. But they HAVE to get that passing game going”. I agree with him, if we can hold onto possession and play pass and run, we will exhaust a team that went 120 minutes at full throttle on Wednesday night. This is a very important game for us, perhaps not a must-win, but very close to it. It would be wonderful to see us score early, a gambit we seem to have lost the ability to perform. I go for a hard won 3 points.
Stoke, is famous for it’s potteries – Wedgwood, Spode, Royal Doulton and Minton. Wedgwood was the favourite china of Elvis Presley, who as we all know was a renowned Gooner 😉
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Pulis has said that due to the exhaustion of his team he will “shuffle the pack” today -)
Super article by Henry Winter:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/7326648/Arsene-Wengers-revival-at-Arsenal-will-take-time.html?
Morning Raddy,
Top drawer article 😉 Strangely, no-one’s focusing too much on delap/long throws. It’s a shame Diaby is missing. I still think with Sol in the defence, we can play our football and beat them without having to focus on their strengths.
Great reading BR, I’d forgotten about the Stoke semi-final in ’71.
Re the Telegraph article, the Arsenal in the Community work is always worth highlighting, quite moving.
I’m not sure I’m enlightened by AWs comments though. “We fight Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Aston Villa. They are not all Usain Bolt but they are all good teams. And we are not Usain Bolt.”
The conclusion I draw from this is that Usain Bolt is not a top 6 football club. 😕
Does that mean we can beat Stoke though? Try to make sure we keep posession (we are good at that), score when we get the chance (actually not bad at that either), avoid giving away throws in our half (OK) and HEAD THE BALL TO THE HALF WAY LINE WHEN IT COMES INTO THE 6 YARD BOX ( 🙄 ).
3-1 to us, Theo scores.
Morning Raddy – you’ve given us a great read this morning.
I’m really looking forward to the football today. Theo to get in behind and score or win a penalty at the very least.
I am looking forward to an afternoon on the sofa, bedecked with my lucky socks sweatshirt and AFC scarf.
However, I fear for a jittery 2 hours. I have a feeling many beers will be drunk in order to remain calm!
Maybe we should be Usain Bolt!!
Morning all
You have got these pre-match posts down to a fine art, great read BR.
My Dad took me to the Stoke semi, I can still see George’s first in my mind’s eye but unfortunately my Dad, thinking all was lost, decided to leave five minutes before the end to beat the traffic so I missed the penalty; Peter Storey went into Arsenal folk law history for that goal…..nowadays, and probably unsurprisingly, I always stay until the final whistle.
mmmmmmmmm……..
You forgot to mention the FA Cup semi final in the following season 1972 when Stoke and Arsenal met again with sadly (for us) the same outcome. We luckily drew the first game at Villa Park and the were robbed by a blind linesman in the replay at Goodison when Charlie was played onside by a programme seller wearing the same colours as our team
Back to today – yes we should be tired after Wednesday though we played keep ball for the last 15 mins (and very well lol). Pulis has said he will bring in fresh players and hopefully that will include Etherington who has been injured for several weeks and who has been playing his best football
Our basic style wont vary but beware if you don’t score early. Pulis almost always throws on more footballers late on and even Wenger admitted that we are playing (some) more technical football. Witness the goals on Wednesday – one ex Rory and two class goals from Kitson and Tuncay. Kitson btw would fit very well in a Wenger team
Morning TheWiseMaster and welcome to the site. I must admit I did feel confused on first reading your comment. You must be very pleased with how your season is going – have to bring your unbeaten run to an end now though – sorry.
Morning Peaches
That was a very strange feeling, I was, like you, trying to work out what was going on. It was so polite the idea that it might be a Stoke supporter didn’t enter my head for ages. Anyway it was a good read.
Morning London
Look what I can do éèéèéè wheres the cedila?
Sorry about the random vodpod videos – alfa has asked me for a password and stuff and I don’t remember what I did to set it up ……….. 😳
Had we not played 120 minutes on Wednesday then I would be quietly confident
As it is I would be happy enough with a draw. We are beginning to play better football but without losing the physical side of our game – a good mixture at our best. The 11 match unbeaten run is no accident – we have some decent players here and the team spirit is second to none (and I attended every game this season and last)
Hopefully Pulis won’t change the team too much – he has been playing Diao who is a liability despite his goal at Pompey
I reckon it will be tight with a score draw the favourite outcome
Alt135 = ç…….Barça
Morning all.
Memories BR. I went to both games (didn’t Storey finish up in jail).
Here’s a simple idea for today’s game.Easy way to defend Stokes throw in’s. Leave 4 men up front, less bodies blocking Almunia, and Stoke would have to leave men back to defend the potential counter. Less panic, easier for our players to attack the ball surely???
Have a nice day one and all.
Morning WiseMaster,
Thank you for your informed comments – do you know of any good Stoke blogsites you can recommend for me to look at?
Peter Storey tried to rent one of my properties to use as a studio to take photos of ladies without clothing.
Hi Rasputin
There are one or two blogsites showing up on Newsnow StokeCity
I tend to only read the opposition news lol
The Henry Winter aticle has left me feeling truly humbled. Of course the thought of children damaged by Chernobyl being thrilled to wear an Arsenal shirt is an amazing thing but to hear Arsène speak of the focus needed to win trophies is also amazing. Hes trusting boys some of whom are the same age as my children to stay focussed when decisions go against them – imagine how that feels as a 22 yr old.
I wouldn’t put it past Arsène to spring some surprises with his team selection today. I just pray he plays Sol and leaves Denilson on the bench.
Henry Winter is certainly one of the best, if not THE best, football writer of his generation.
He seems to have a good relationship with le boss considering the number of exclusive interviews he has been granted over the years.
I suppose it helps that he has a modicum of intelligence and does not need to resort to gutter press hacking a lah, some of the mugs the write for the red tops.
Peaches, I’ll temporarily take off vodpod for now, will stick it back on when we get it sorted.
Wisemaster, welcome to the site.
Kelsey hi, I think Stoke would fill the box anyway – 14 goals this season just from that tactic, it’s like a penalty for them.
London, now you’ve seen the latest results and seen all the debate in other places are you going to retract any of your rebuttal of my Arsenal money post? 😉
Hi Rasp.
Henry Winter has always been my favourite football writer, I suspect he is an Arsenal fan. I know peaches prefers Martin Samuels.
Morning Alfa,
Thanks for all your help behind the scenes. We need new features to set us apart as it appears we are inspiring other sites!
Rasp, peaches normally has better taste 😆
Almunia
Sagna Sol Vermy Clichy
Fab, Song, Den
Eboue, Nik B, Nasri
—-
very rarely does the gaffer spring any major team selection surprises.. and i fully expect the team above to play.
i would prefer the following team..
Almunia
Eboue Sol Vermy Clichy
Ramsey Song Fab
Walcott Nik B Arshavin
Rasputin – the writing will always set one blog apart from any other.
new features etc are great on a new telly 😆
AA’s not fit SH, so put Nasri or Rosicky in your second team and that will do nicely 😉
did AA not make the squad?
darn.. i don’t like nasri playing up front/wing
he is far better playing deeper and running with the ball from central positions.
so if AA is out i would stick Rosicky in.
Morning SH – Eboue up front or as a Right Back – what a player 😉
Did I see kelsey pop in – are you still around, hows your mouth now?
morning peaches, i read eboue himself prefers to play as a right back, he is on fire right now, but playing him right wing when we have theo or thomas fit to play can’t be right?
can it?
I agree totally that the writing is the most important SH. We had a fairly unique idea, but it is not easy to impart the message. Itinerant bloggers have come on and assumed that a particular article represents the ethos of the site instead of understanding that they are the opinion of an individual and that we will publish any of the full spectrum of view as long as the facts are correct and it is reasonably well written.
I am awaiting with great excitement (tempered with trepidation!) Franchises offering, as I think it will be bound to creat lively debate 🙄
I too watched The Arsenal home and away that double year with my three mates the faithful Ford escort roamed the A1 and The new M1 as we headed for towns and grounds unknown. Until we left for Stoke on that fateful day, we were batting up the M1 the temperature meter went through the roof as the head gasket blew and car ground to a halt. Having been charged a fortune to be towed off the motorway, we sat and listened to the match on the radio as we waited for a friend to come and tow us home. The only match we missed that year, how did the car know.
As for the cup semi final we were there 2 0 down before halftime Stokes centre forward bearing down on goal, whacks the ball, nutmegs Bob Wilson who falls backwards and sits on the ball. lucky Arsenal.
Full time 2 1 down ball headed for Stoke net handball penalty, chaos among the Arsenal player, hugging and laughing. Poor Storey ball on spot, Banks England’s Gk swaying from side to side, he sways right Pete goes left Goaaaaal mayhem on the huge terraces, Back to the faithful escort head for home confident we will win, we did, Happy days
Like your new avatar SH. There is a book in circulation titled something like ‘Fotballers Worst Hairstyles’ and Charlie Nicholas is in there with the likes of Chris Waddle, Barry Venison and Bobby Charlton.
Welcome dandan, nice account.
I’m feeling deprived that I didn’t witness any of those games. Football was so simple in those days. No financial worries, no foreign players (I’m not saying that is a bad thing) and you new who was the side’s best 11 and they’d prbably be playing week in, week out – injuries were a rarity.
cheers rasp…
lol, come on, we gooners loved charlie’s mullet…
whereas the mullet head from down the seven sisters… yuck.
Great story dandan – how did the car know – are you still part of the travelling band of supporters?
Thank you for your welcome, No I am 66 now live 100 odd miles from Emirates ( doesn’t have the same ring as Highbury) but with you in spirit have all the TV and computer power possible to follow the gunners, once a real gooner always a gooner.
Envy you guys the beauty of Wengerball 1 0 to the Arsenal wasn’t quite the same, be patient trophies will come, I stood for 12 years before that wild and wonderful Fairs cup night and then look what followed. I still snigger at that Monday night at White Hart Lane when the ground turned red as Rays goal hit the net.
Don’t believe either that signings will always make a difference look back at Alan Ball and the trouble that caused.
Pity the poor Portsmouth fans this morning no different to us in their love of team, but imagine the anguish they must be feeling today, would they swap the cup Arry won with imprudent signings for a safe place in the league and the financial security of an Arsenal.
Wonderful game football, marvelous club The Arsenal
Look what I found for us to put a smile on our faces
dandan,
You’re reminiscenses and take on the modern day game are very good reading. If you hadn’t realised, we offer the opportunity to bloggers to air their views by writing headline posts (see ‘Be our Guest’ above), you would be most welcome in that regard.
Nice one peaches 😛 that one must go in the Video Library. Interesting that the commentator says that “19 year old Kennedy was drafted into the side at the start of the season due to injuries to senior players” – maybe my assessment of injuries being a rarity was incorrect?
Ray Kennedy was 19, drafted in because of injuries to more experienced players – next season LJ will be 19………..
How did you do that again rasp 😉
Rasputin Thank you for your invitation will give it some thought
As far as the Kennedy inclusion was concerned, from memory it was Charlie George who was injured, certainly Ray had come to the for in the Fairs cup semi final the previous season, when we were all but out, but he came on as a late substitute to score the all important away goal.
He and Raddy would have headed canon balls if it meant a goal for the Arsenal.
We’ll soon find out ‘Will he shake or won’t he shake?’, that’ll be more interesting than the game. For the next 3 hours only, I’m a citeh fan.
There you have it dandan “He and Raddy would have headed canon balls if it meant a goal for the Arsenal.” – can you say the same about our players today? … that’ll get the keyboards rattling.
Rumour had it back then Rasputin, that Cloughy was so fed up with Raddy and Ray heading all these goals, that he was of to the South Pacific in the close season to sign a 7’2″ Tongan who would head and break coconuts as they fell from the tree. His plan to play him at centre half to stop Geordie’s crosses reaching the boys.
Cant be sure of its validity mind you. LOL
We don’t really have anyone with that do or die attitude do we – Gallas is good at going for it when needed and Cesc can turn it on if hes got the right players around him but can you see Nik, Theo or even Dudu having that much passion.
Haha dandan, our style of football has changed from all recognition since those days. I suppose Alan Shearer was the last of the ‘traditional English’ centre forwards.
i like this mancini fella
i got a feeling citeh will help our title causes today.
karma exists… terry has poured an awful lot of bad karma on this chelski side.
the soft handshake from shay given with jt just now was telling.
this is going to be a hell of a game, for many reasons.
More tittle tattle but I’ve just read that some Chelsea players have texted their support to Wayne Bridge – this might be a complete farce today, I hope Toure’s playing he likes a punch-up 😆
peaches – The Verminator certainly has a do or die attitude.
toure on the bench for them.
glad bellamy and tevez start.
so does hillarious 😆
Yep you’re right SH – forgot about the Verminator
Malouda is playing left back for chels.
trust me, this hillario chap is useless, cannot believe they don’t have a better keeper as back up.
Good post Raddy and and a pleasant and informative read for younger gooners like myself.
Re never say die attitude that peaches mentioned, I don’t think it’s lack of heart but lack of the experience for the passion to show. For e.g. in showbiz the more experienced musicians are able to express themselves better and connect with their audience because they’re at ease on stage. Doesn’t mean that the younger ones are less passionate just that they’re more likely to be overawed by the situation.
Hi Mayank,
I agreee, it’s just that dandan mentioned the commitment of players of old and I thought it might be an interesting subject to explore in a future post.
The Alt thing is so cool
☺♂♀○◘•↨
How cool is Bridge just sparks JT right out with a right uppercut… at the handshake part
Hey Rasp,
I wonder if the players of yesteryear would seem at ease playing at the Emirates knowing that its being telecast all over the globe and the expectations on them.
Irish is completely out of the loop – has no internet at all and has asked me if England have another left-back to use now that Bridge has abdicated and the little shit is injured. Anyone? I heard Leighton Baines mentioned……..
Mayank – you’re right, they look cool
Very good point Mayank – you see, it is an interesting topic and does not have to be an excuse to ‘bash’ our current crop of players. I think young people in general are under a lot more pressure these days in terms of expectation, peer pressure etc etc.
lol sky not going to ad break before hand shakes 😆
missed jt out 😆
jt stuck his out
No handshake…. can’t wait for the first tackle between them….
hold your heads up high you diseased scumbag peasant chelski fans
you boo bridge?
and applaud jt?
lowest forms of pondlife.
Why are Chelsea fans booing Bridge? Thick little fuckers.
Well said Stringfellow.
karma will kill this club, and kill them fast.
As usual, the chav’s pitch is very poor – I wonder what the playing surface will be like at Stoke?
Hilario is terrified of having to attempt a long kick, every one has been short so far.
I have to admit after those two semi final defeats I along with most Stoke fans ‘hated’ lucky Arsenal and George Graham kept us topped up. That Stoke team of the early seventies was our best in living memory and all we had to show for it was a league cup win
The advent of Wenger changed my view of Arsenal, so much so that they would be mine and many others first choice for the title. It may seem strange for a Stoke fan to admire a team like Arsenal but there are various aspect to the game and Wenger builds quality football teams like no other manager. Whilst I admire Wenger I have no desire for my team to attempt to emulate their style. Like our manager Tony Pulis I believe that we have to survive for several years at this level before attempting a serious makeover. Having said that I am sure that Pulis knows that to prosper we will have to change and we are already seeing the first shoots with the signings of the likes of Etherington and Tuncay. Pulis’s big strength is team spirit and already this season he has dropped from the squad two of his strikers in Kitson and Beattie. Kitson has only just been accepted back and looks like a sinner reborn!
Interesting that Pulis said today that he admires Wenger and I am sure that he does. He will admire Wenger for sticking to what he believes. Where he may shake his head and wonder is that a manager who in the past has mixed in the likes of Viera to balance out his team, today appears to have eschewed that option? BTW Viera for Man City was a pale shadow of the player who bestrode your pitch
I have a number of gooner friends and wish you well. Who knows in ten years Pulis may have built a team to compete at your end of the table – we can dream lol
The pitch at Stoke is good though not quite at its best as the team had to train on it during the bad weather – our training ground is a work in progress
Your older fans will know how poor pitches used to be – even the poor grounds of today would look like bowling greens compared to the pitches of yesteryear. Should good players be able to play on any surface?
Thanks Wisemaster – paradoxically, there are certain aspects of Stoke’s play that are admired by some Arsenal fans even though, as you say, we are at the other end of the table.
True Rasp.
But in all honesty, how many Stoke players would get on our bench, let alone the first team?
WiseMaster. If only all opposition fans were as reasonable and erudite as you!
Seconded Raddy.
TheWiseMaster, please come on again tomorrow and give us your view of the game irrespective of the result.
Lawdy Miss Clawdy!!
SH was right about Hilario-us. The ball laughed it’s way into the Chelsea net 🙂
If I was a City fan I would be mighty unhappy with their away kit. Red, White and Black?
DanDan
Thank you for rekindling an old happy memory, I had forgotten just how red and white, White heart Lane turned when Kennedy scored, before that it was hard to tell how Many Arsenal supporters were in the ground but when we scored the place erupted: it was just incredible how much of that ground was taken up by the good guys. Happy days.
London. Hopefully we will return to the away kit of yellow shirts and blue shorts in the near future.
What about the Chav fans booing Bridge? If ever proof was needed of their moral turpitude (fine word) this is it. I look forward to their behaviour being highlighted in the press tomorrow (as if…..)
London. We could find out the date of that game and all write our reminiscences of the day, then have a combined post. At least 4 of us were there
May 3rd 1971
I believe from the noise from the manc in the other room that citeh must have scored – only problem is hes singing ‘we’re gonna win the league’ …… poor boy 😦
come on city… see this out
this is pure theatre, loving this.
karma my friends 😆
dont fuck with it
How great is this. As you say SH …. Karma
what a game we have to look forward to now… stoke is all about 3 points if we truly want this title now.
a point is not good enough now that chelski have dropped 3.
9 men 😆
filth, you deserve this utter collapse to your season you are now about to face.
i love football
i love life
🙂
That was the day there were two types of Arsenal Fans the 50.000 in the ground and the 50.000 locked out
DanDan
Oh, that comment just gave me goose bumps
Well, so far so good as far as today goes.
Come on you rip roaring, goal scoring, glory grabbing gunners
Look at you two reminiscing 🙄
Raddy – you still reckon the chavs are a machine?
Karma is right SH – those scumbags were booing Wayne Bridge they don’t have a braincell between them, I hope they don’t win another game all season.
Well we sure need to be stoked up now.Wenger the prophet said at the start of the season that the league could be won with a much lower total than previous years.
Will the true Arsenal please stand up and take advantage of Chelsea’s loss.How much more incentive do they need. We may or may not win the title,but let’s give it a go lads.
Actually if they implode we might need them to beat the mancs 😆
kelsey, kelsey don’t run away
the mancs are a one man band, rooney wont keep going all season long.. utd will drop plenty more points.
we need utd to beat chelski to nick back those 3 points.
The media will milk this Tery/Bridge situation right up to the World Cup.In addition England’s whole attack rests on Rooney.Can he keep that up for another three months before the start of the tournament,or will he sduffer burn out.England haven’t got a decent keeper either, and however hard terry is,it is obvious he is under performing.The press will build England’s chances up and at the same time take any opportunity to create more gossip and scandal to knock the team down.
I still believe the FA made Capello drop Terry as captain,and even with Ferdinand uncertain to be fit,terry should have resigned himself .
kelsey – capello is most definately his own man, and we know from much experience that the FA are fools who lack testicles.
DanDan
I was one of the poor buggers locked out . listening to my new Pye Portable Radio, surrounded by fellow Gooners asking me what was going on !
If only I could run peaches ;). By the way I was at the Anderlecht game for the first leg of the Fairs Cup Final, and kennedy’s goal proved to be a turning point as we were 3-0 down at the time.it cost me £12.00 including ticket to fly from Luton return, and I have actively followed Arsenal for 12 years,living with hope and not a trophy in sight, and then we finally won the return leg 3-0 and a trophy at last.JACK KELSEY SAT NEXT TO ME ON THE OUTWARD JOURNEY, AND THAT WAS AN EXPERIENCE IN ITSELF.
These new age fans who have grown up and followed Arsenal only since the PL was formed,don’t know how lucky they are to have witnessed our best era ever.
Haha, I know I might not be laughing when the night is over but I don’t care. Haha.
Now for part 2 of this great evening.
Kelsey. You are right, JT should have resigned but that required some integrity ….
Kelsey. I was at Highbury for the return. Standing on the Upper North Bank – not like you in the East Stand Upper!
Watching the Bolton game. JW hasn’t touched the ball yet
Stringfellow hawke, none of us know what really went on, but why did terry try and stop the tabloids publishing the story.
Unfortunately we have too many highly paid scumbags in the Pl and the sad fact is that many are English.
Club before country every time for most of them. Money, money ,money is the only motivation for so many.
West Stand Upper, Raddy.
no kelsey we dont.
jt tried to stop the story for obvious reasons???? surely? why else would he try to stop the story?
bellamy’s interview after the game was revealing
he said ” i know jt, we all know what jt is like off the pitch…. but on it he is a great player ”
😆
Hello everyone,
What a result today then! I don’t know if anything from my post yesterday made it across to the game at Stamford Bridge, but with Bridge refusing the handshake and Hilario seemingly a blunder. It seems I might have got some sort of perspective.
We need to make use of this now. Great article today, I hope it rubs off the same way as mine did today.
Thanks Ryan. I hope so too.
SH. As you say, Bellamy’s comment was “interesting”.
I think Bellamy has just opened another can of worms…..NOTW will be out paying people for more stories…..and they will get them.
bellamy is the kind of player you love to hate as an opposing fan…
but if he played for your club.. he would certainly be a fans favourite.
he was brilliant today.. on and off the field 😆
SH. I agree, bit like Wrighty (but not as good a player)
England squad announced today. A decent game from Theo today and he will be sure to face Egypt.
I am ambivalent about it – want him to score a hatrick but don’t want him to play in a Friendly
London,
I totally agree.
not long to go… how up for the stoke game are we all now?
the first can of Genius has been cracked, poured and subsequently sunk.
i not only expect us to beat stoke, i fully expect us to put on a proper show of attacking football.
perry groves hit the nail on the head earlier this week… don’t sit back waiting for delap to get a throw in… go after the bastards from the off
if our lads dont have a rocket up their arses from the get go… they never will.
this is a proper test of their maturity.
Raddy I was in the west stand for that one, was the only time I everwent on the highbury pitch. I was astounded Geordie Armstrong had been running up and down the wing all day, yet when I stood on the pitch my shoes sunk in and the mud went over the top and gave me a bootfull. How the hell he did that I will never know
Dan Dan. Same for me! My only time on the hallowed turf.
We used to stand in the west stand, right under the TV platform with the mikes hanging over our heads, Arthur Mullard used to stand next to us.
Afternoon all,
Just been reading back through the comments – think we should rename the site U3AA 😆
Fantastic result the chavs dropping 3 points … Wayne Bridge had the last laugh. I thought it was disgraceful the way their fans booed and heckled him, particularly as he is an ex-player who served them well. Chav fans rank down there with Milwall in my book.
Dan Dan – Ajax in the semi final I first saw Johan Cruyff. It would have been in front of you that he showed us the Cruyff turn.
I remember trying so hard to master it, but to no avail!
Lower than Millwall. At least their fans are not glory hunters.
Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Vermaelen, Campbell, Clichy, Eboue, Fabregas, Song, Ramsey, Nasri, Bendtner. Subs: Fabianski, Rosicky, Eduardo, Vela, Walcott, Silvestre, Traore.
Stoke: Sorensen, Huth, Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye, Wilkinson, Delap, Whelan, Whitehead, Pugh, Sidibe, Fuller. Subs: Begovic, Lawrence, Beattie, Kitson, Diao, Tuncay, Collins.
Excellent team selection – well done Arsène!!
I phoned Wenger and stressed the importance of playing Eboue….he thought I was right and gave him the nod 😉
He told me London, I was already talking to him on the other line 😛
Only one attacker? We should go for the throat.
Mistake No.1 from Clichy …. why the hell doesn’t he just clear it when under pressure ….
FFS
We’ll never learn. Song kicked it off instead of allowing a corner, didn’t they discuss that throw-ins are more of a problem than corners?
What have we been training at all week, no-one on the back post for a long throw???????
Hard to believe
3 games on the trot, do we never learn,and we again have come out of the box on the back foot.How much insetive do we need.
Have we been out of our half yet, unbelievable,it can only get better, I hope.
Come on you Gunners…..
The only thing worse than their throws, is our throws ins – no-one shows for the ball.
All the talk of putting Delap off when he makes his throw is rather silly as the trajectory is gigantic…..
HI rasp 🙂
We aren’t performing anywhere on the pitch. I can see no tactics as yet.
Has Nasri touched the ball?
the first 25 minutes i can’t believe i am watching arsenal.nervous,no composure no real fight. at least cesc had a pot shot just now.it;s a greasy pitch it must be worth a try to test sorensen who is no great shakes either.
Stoke are committed to fighting for every ball…..
Oh wow……..
Get in there.
Super header from Nik
Come on you rip roaring Gunners
The striking Viking…..
Great header 😆 Come on gunners
Why can’t our FB’s be taught to cross the ball?
Fab and Nasri are up for a tussle.
Really poor crossing is one of our trade-marks Raddy ……
take ramsey off imo.stoke will get tired. great header by nicci.
cesc is only one booking away from a suspension i believe. feel more positive now.
Ramsey needs to pull the trigger, still trying to make one pass too many.
snap, rasp
😛 kelsey. They are showing signs of tiring already. The stage is set for Theo in the last 20.
We’ve definitely got back into this game, hope we kick on in the second half. Beer anyone?
I thought Ramsey was having a very good game. Covers the centre well and has been unlucky with the 1-2’s.
Nasri when he came into the game looked good. As aways, Fab is superb, and it was a marvellous cross and header for the goal.
But we are creating nothing from the right – Theo on after 70 mins
If only we can stop these stupid mistakes from throw-ins
stoke are going to tire badly in the 2nd half
they played 120 just the other day
and came out at 200mph today… they were shattered after 40 mins
we could really tear them apart in the 2nd half if we can get the 2nd before the hour mark
i can see a 4-1 FT coming up
ramsey started poorly, but his slick running and releasing a pass game got going later on.
Hope so SH !
I still feel we need another striker on the pitch
And Eboue? Is the experiment working?
the ball seems to be sticking to eboue… but theo will need to come on.. i concur with that.
I’m not sure if Eboue works – he doesn’t stay focussed and hes wandering…….but, he’s passionate, gung ho and will probably terrify the Stoke defence in the 2nd half ………….. come on Eboue
Danish TV showed about 20 repeats of the goal at half time !!
if niki b had just a yard more pace, he would be next level.
You see Eboue just stood still aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhh
Clear penalty !
Why was that not a penalty!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another EE dive.
His first name must be Embarassing !
we are purring here
matter of time
Stoke look shot. They are backing off all the time. The game is ours to be won. We should run them ragged.
Except when the towel appears
Delap timewasting on the throw ins. The ref has to add extra time for the throws otherwise it’s an unfair advantage.
EE candidate for MoM for the second game running.
Come on boys. They are folding…..
Great shot from Eboue oooooooooooooooooooooooh
The stage is set for Theo
Walton is having a nightmare
The ref is a total F*****g t**** – Song misses the nexrt 2 games
thats fine, he wont miss any important games
we needed him out asap so as not to be banned for spuds or city
Good news is – it’s Burnley and Hull
he has been teetering on that 9 bookings thing for a while
he will be super fresh for porto
Broken leg for Ramsey????????????????
Ramsey broken leg – end of a career – end of our chances this season
omg 😦
We’ll never recover from this. The game should be stopped. This is far more important than football.
Look at them they’re all gutted for him 😦
The Stoke fans are disgusting… if I was there I’d want to get amongst them ….scum
Disgraceful tackle. Shawcross should get a 3 month ban – minimum.
So bad that the TV aren’t showing any re-runs
i am fucking fuming
is this a coincidence?
no it fucking aint, we dont get protected!
Their fans are singing “you’re f***ked and you know you are”
Ramsey is young, he will come back…..
How must Eduardo have felt watching that. He’ll be out for the best part of a year.
i am so angry, this ref should be sued
he encouraged that by not protecting us
wenger is going to go mental about this
They’re now singing “There’s only one Ryan Shawcross”
ffs killed our ryhtmn
We’re just fair game aren’t we, thats what everyone thinks its disgusting
only way to beat arsenal is to break legs.. and dont worry the ref has your back.
just go for them
Get Theo on and shut the mouths of those ignorant bastards.
Good call London – I’m glad Arsène listened to you, Eboue had a good game
Walton cannot walk away blameless. He refused to punish some of Stoke’s dreadful tackles, missed a clear penalty and has never had control of the game.
My thoughts are for AR. What a terrible thing to happen.
Plus we have completely lost momentum since the injury
Come on, we can still do this. Focus……
It should be written in the stars for Dudu to score the winner today
Insult to extreme injury – Delap MoM FFS, do they have no concept of justice?
Come on
missed the rest of my comment
Penalty
Karma – what incredible bottle needed to score this.
YYYeeeessssssss…..
Fantastic – I love you Cesc
Get in there you beauty
Did I really just say that 😆
That’s a definite second pen..
Fantastic …………… look at them now
I love our away fans – “There’s only one Aaron Ramsey” .. hope you’re listening Stoke fans. The decent amongst you (and apologies to TheWiseMaster) must be embarassed.
Have a look at the top of the page …..
F*** off fortunate at the time we’ve met this Stoke team – thats what the commentator just said.
Never any credit – they’ve just seen one of their talented mates with an horrific injury and they’ve gone on to win the game.
What a player Fabregas is. If he stays at AFC he will be among the best ever
A goal and 2 assists. And a real Captain’s performance. Brilliant
what a horrible man that pulis is
title is ours… the title is now ours.
i have not a doubt.
Jesus,
I haven’t seen any footage but I reckon Lineker and the gang will beat any ratings war tonight, i’m watching MOTD.
Well done Arsenal, I think it answers the critics saying we haven’t developed since 2 years ago, now that we bounced back to beat Stoke.
Rasputin what a fantastic header – you are a star
Nice banner at the top of the page, befitting, it reminds me of having the flag at halfway. Stay strong Aaron
Cesc – you are a star too. Of course you all need protecting
well said captain
diaby, eduardo and now ramsey inside 4 years
no fucking coincidence
arsenal need to step up legal action, this is not acceptable anymore.
Evening all
Wot a rollercoaster of a game that was.
Feel so so sorry for Ramsey, he was having a stormer.
We showdd real fight and belief today, fantastic.
Great header from Super Nik, and a brilliant performance from the worlds best player !!!
Will the next article submitted include a photo of the injury? I am asking out of fear, not interest.
Nice touch on the banner. Very nice !
ryan – come on, do you need to ask?
I refer you to 9.25am comment today, my first and probably only prediction to be right, OK Theo didn’t score.
Would swap the prediction and the result for poor Aaron not to have been injured.
Such a mixture of emotions attached to this match…
I for one thought we’d lost this, the title and our brightest talent. Hope I’m wrong on all 3 accounts.
Those who justify and even glorify this kind of play (not the tackle but rough-housing in general) in the name of English football should be shot in both knees.
We look to have learned from when it happened to Dudu against Birmingham … we won’t fold this time … we will be stronger …. we’re gonna win it for Ramsey.
No pics of broken legs … we’re not broken by this!
I hope we never get to see the injury again – why give other teams the chance to see how its done……..
We have a team, fellow gooners this season they can do it for Aaron
How freaky…. how ferking freaky
Eduardo… got his leg smashed.. in 2008, the day before the Carling Cup final.
Fair enough. All I’ll say is I haven’t even seen the footage of Eduardo’s, I just don’t want to see things like that, none of us do.
Perhaps Shawcross can visit Ramsey at hospital like Martin Taylor did with Eduardo. i think the guardian did an article on it. I forgave him once he did that.
London – are you happy to do a match report?
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger:
“I’m very proud of our game – it was an unbelievable battle from the first minute until the last. We needed to be tough, patient and resilient to come back from the injury. I am very proud and sad because of what happened to Aaron Ramsey. We know it’s bad. We need to transfer him to London to see if he needs emergency surgery. We don’t know exactly how long he will be out yet, but it’s certainly long term.”
“I am not very happy with the tackle. We know what to expect from other teams but we have now lost three players in five years to horrendous tackles. I refuse to believe it’s coincidence when you’re hit as many times as we are. We know teams want to be physical against Arsenal – this is the result. When you see how Aaron got injured today in the way that he did, it is not acceptable. I don’t accept that. We could see the team was shocked, but we go until the end because we are strong mentally and united. We will do it for Ramsey as well because he deserves it. From a mathematical side of the game it was a good day for us. But we cannot really enjoy it.”
I am still high from the game.
I love football.
I hear ya…I could barely watch Fabs pen. And when it looked like TS nearly had it I nearly died.
Days like today can only make us stronger.
All the best to Rambo
The players faces said it all. Hopefully for Ramsey it’s a clean break.He had a police escort to the hospital.Just seen a replay his ankle is hanging off.
Most vital 3 points of the season, though I have to say that cesc,vermaelen and sol. were immense.
Why was eboue subbed for theo,who again showed nothing.
What a game – Irish just texted me to find out what happened – hard to tell her by text.
I’ll never forget Ramseys face as he realised and told the bench that it was really serious 😦
Yeah Sol has deffo brought something to us, he’s doing very very well.
Rambo was having a storming game today.
Fabregas – no better player in world football !!
kelsey it was 1-1 when Eboue went off – it wssn’t a bad sub, we should expect Theo to come on and cause problems for a tiring defence
Shawcross has previous.
He broke jeffers ankle with a lunge some years back.
A good day spoilt, lets hope we get good news tomorrow, he is being flown back to London right now to see a specialist at least with Wenger he will see the best,
Incidentally Shawcross has just been named in the England squad for Egypt
Little calmer now.
Very unhappy about the referee today. Walton had a stinker. To miss 2 penalties is very poor, in particular the second on Bendtner, it would be hard to see a more blatant pen this season. And where was the linesman?
Lots of good performances today,
Cesc, absolutely superb.so were Sol, and TV.
The 120 minutes against MC cost Stoke in the end, as predicted they ran out of steam and 3-1 did not flatter us.
Theo in the England squad and after the poor season he has had!
Capello must be desperate or has Theo become indispensable?
i think capello, along with wenger… have seen enough of theo’s talent in training to warrant an unwavering persistence with him.
he will come good, a injury free season and we will finally see what they have seen in training.
Wenger said: “This is the third player – Eduardo, Diaby and now Ramsey – we’ve lost to tackles that are unacceptable, and spare me the articles tomorrow about how nice Shawcross is because we had all that with Eduardo.”
—
how comes not one report has picked up shawcross busting jeffers ankle?
Or his tackle on one of our players after the ball and man were both already off the pitch !!!
Peaches
I am fairly certain I will have something for tomorrow if you need it, if not no probs I will just post it as a general comment.
the tackle that broke jeffers ankle was 100% malicous
and remember he got sent off at old trafford last season?
he is a thug, no crocodile tears will change that.
stoke should be sued.
London
I love your post match posts.
Special mention should be made of Nik and Eboue who were the only one’s who had the compassion to stay with Ramsey throughout his ordeal. Top blokes.
The press are saying it was a 50/50 tackle. What dross.
London – will you put it in drafts………
Earlier today I said that none of the Stoke team would get in the Arsenal first team…… I forgot Sorenson, who once again was very good
It doesn’t work like that Peaches as I think I have said before I will have to get up at seven to write it.
Of course, sorry London, catch up with you in the morning then……. 😉
Nite all
WiseMaster, come back on if you are still tuning in here, be great to hear your thoughts about the match.
Kelsey, pretty much agree with your individual assessments but as a team performance I thought this was pretty good, even before the injury. Playing like this as a team for me is the difference between winners and losers and can overcome individual mistakes or poor form.
Morning everyone,
I’m on my way to work. I have removed the line about Stoke from the banner. I shall save my comments for London’s post and would like to thank him for having the character to put his feelings into words under such dificult – yet strangely inspiring, circumstances.
Morning pre posters
Agree with Kelsey, bit weird this morning, bitter sweet. But I think this time inspiration will come out of it.
New Post
Not such a good morning…..
Sadly it is the injury which will have dominated the headlines. My own view was restricted as the incident occured near to the half way line and there were players around the ball. It seemed to me that Shawcross lost control of the ball and then lunged in. Match of the day confirmed my thoughts that the challenge was at worst reckless and was not ‘over the top’. This makes no difference of course to Ramsey who has a very srious injury. We can only hope that the break is clean and above the ankle. Our very best wishes to the lad for a speedy recovery
As to the game we started brightly and of course scored via Delap’s throw. Arsenal recovered their game after some 20 minutes and thereafter we were out of the game. We were attempting to play a containing game with some success but severely limiting our own opportunities
Excellent goal from Bendtner from a quick throw and cross. Down to ten men Stoke just didn’t have the legs to continue the containment and to their credit Arsenal eventually recovered their composure to win quite comfortabley
I genuinely hope that Arsenal now go on to win the title
WiseMaster, thanks for coming on with your thoughts. I’ll see whether we can copy your comment onto the new post as well if you don’t mind, to get a wider readership.
In the heat of the moment many things are said,and name me any one manager who would not have been upset /incensed by the horrendous injury sustained by Ramsey, if it was their player.I genuinely believe there was no malice intended and hopefully it is not a career ending injury for the young Ramsey.I support my club first and foremost, and under the direction of Wenger we have become a quick intricate passing team and logically many teams will use a physical approach to break up our game and sometimes that can be effective.I believe it was a must win game for Arsenal,and a lot of character was shown to eventually get the required result,which realistically puts us right back in the title race.A team such as Stoke one could argue are more difficult to beat with 10 men behind the ball then with a full compliment of 11.Yet again for the third time we fell behind to the Delap throw in, and in all honesty for the first 25 minutes we were at sixes and sevens.Bedntner header was exquisite,and a special mention to Fabregas,Vermaelen and Campbell who were immense in our fight back.There is a thin line between being over physical and outright dangerous play, yet all in all it wasn’t a dirty game.The game will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, which of course is a shame.
On individual performances I felt most of the team if one has to be critical didn’t have a great game,but the above mentioned three turned out to be real leaders in a desperate time during the game.
Walcott continues to disappoint, Eduardo just isn’t the same player and Nasri definitely plays better at home.Rosicky is not the same player he was, or maybe he has changed his game.If we had made the 3 signings we needed we would walk this league.