Character building, yes, character building is the way I would describe that win and probably the best preparation for Sunday we could have had. What, I hear you say; surely another six-nil win would have been better giving us the chance to rest Ozil and Sanchez after seventy minutes? Not necessarily, there is no way it is going to be a stroll in the park on Sunday and if we go a goal behind we will have had very recent experience in knowing how to put it right. The same goes for if we are two down but I don’t want to dwell on that possibility for too long. What I am saying is that we are in good shape and are now completely prepared to face the knuckle draggers.
Ludogorets looked pretty good in the first twenty minutes at the Emirates and if it wasn’t for a couple of fine saves from Ospina we could have just as easily have been two down inside the first twenty minutes then. Things didn’t fall inch perfect for them in that game but they did last night and they also had luck on their side: the ball was drilled at speed towards Xhaka who no more than turned away but the referee who was poor all night wrongly gave a free kick from which they scored; our defending wasn’t at its best, but it was one hell of a good cross. Shortly after, Gibbs was given a Brazilian by one of their nippy players who played a slide rule pass into our box for another one of their nippy players to slot home. Don’t ask me their names I don’t know and I don’t care.
Two down, things weren’t going to plan and we were looking rattled which showed in our hurried passing and unnecessary loss of possession; still, we do not sing that “we are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen” for nothing.
The fight back was on.
Özil of course was involved it was his cross from the byline that was missed by several players in the penalty area before falling invitingly to Xhaka who guided it home and brought us back into the game. The goal steadied the nerves, confidence returned and with it the accuracy of the passing. We were the better team overall but they were still looking dangerous on the break.
Enter our two returnees.
Ramsey was everywhere or so it seemed; a tireless engine, superb vision and my man of the match, it was his pinpoint cross that enabled Giroud to bring us back on terms: a well-taken header from the man who seems to push himself just that much more when he perceives his starting place is under threat. Do you remember the last time he was out for a while and Theo seemed to have taken his place? When the FFP did start again he scored something like four goals in four games. Two on Sunday, Ollie, and the world will be a wonderful place.
Chances fell to both teams in the second half and the game could have gone either way, I had resigned myself to a draw and had already persuaded myself that two-two was not a bad result away from home and all that. But Mesut Ozil had different ideas which leaves me in the really bad situation of having to try and put that goal into words; save from a long list of superlatives, I can’t.
Goal of the season, yes, one of the best Arsenal goals I have ever seen, yes, I am trying to stop myself from gushing ahhhhh, I can’t, it was fantastic, brilliant, breathtaking, sheer class from the best player I have ever seen play for Arsenal. There I said it; forgive me Dennis, I couldn’t stop myself. lol
Nothing left now but to watch that goal over and over again and purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Written by LB
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Now THAT is a headline.
And some.
Back to read shortly
Thanks Ant, good pics.
This is the one we need, can someone open this up and post it so everyone can easily watch and while I am at can anyone tell me aho made the tackle that allowed Elneny to send that brilliant pass that put Ozil through?
http://arsenalist.com/f/2016-17/ludogorets-vs-arsenal/goaaal-mesut-ozil-2-3-let-the-bodies-hit-the-floor.html
It was the lumbersexual, LB.
That Arsenalist clip is designed so that you can’t watch it inline.
It’s his way of getting people to visit his site and increase his ad revenue.
Gotta make a living, I suppose.
I had a go at saving it and uploading to youtube.
Watch it will you can as someone will probably stop it due to a copyright claim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPvrRQ823xo
LB
I believe that male peak creativity comes before the age of 30. From then on, wisdom and experience can add polish but no more.
Your post writing is an exception. You really do get better and better in every department.
Thank you.
Now LB 🙂
Collectively the defence had a stinker at the beginning, but here’s where I really disagree, Ramsey.
For me, he was our weakest link because we lost all balance and attacking threat with his drifting all over the place. You’re right about the cross for Ollie, of course, but that was when he was doing what he should have been doing.
There is simply no comparison to having him start over Theo, or Iwobi for that matter. Or Ox 🙂
I go hide
Yes, truly excellent match report, LB.
So much fun in your writing.
The tin hat is strapped tightly on. Awaiting in-coming
ramsey motm? u must be on drugs. Other than the cross he provided under no pressure.. he misplaced so many passes.
easy fella. put your cock back in your pants. that’s hell of a big statement……………………memories are short. i loved the bird man but…………i don’t know. we are in the same ball park though! COYG
ha ha ha ha. brilliant, LB. 🙂
warm glow. 🙂 🙂 🙂
their defence was very good, and ours was porous on the night. but we have the wizard. 🙂 🙂 🙂 good hard earned victory. cannot complain. onwards and upwards.
the only downside was people at the local pub preferred to watch the Shitty-Bacra game. cannot blame them, but had to resort to dodgy streams. not brilliant.
loved Micky’s escort experiences. 🙂
Great read LB. I echo Micky’s 9.26.
Not sure I would agree with your MotM which surely should be Mesut.
As you say, the match was perfect ahead of the NLD. I have concerns about our defence and in particular the amount of goals we concede from the left side of the pitch.
Into the next round with two interesting games still to come, a long unbeaten run, life is good.
Great gushing report LB.
I’ve learnt 2 new things about you …. you’re on drugs and you’re hanging loose – who’d have thought it 🙂
It was a vital win and although I was unhappy we conceded a second so easily and so soon after the first, I felt we would always take the points.
Ospina could have come out to claim the ball for the first goal and Gibbs should have done better to prevent the cross for the second, but our class shone through and we deserved the win.
…. and what a goal it was! My favourite ever Ozil goal … but probably not in the top 6 of my all-time favourite Arsenal goals.
Didn’t get to watch the first half. Watched 30 minutes of the second. Left because absolutely nothing was happening.
For those 30 minutes we were dire. DIRE. We looked like we thot we could show up and just throw our jersey’s on the field. On that basis we’re still not a championship team. But there’s time to fix it yet.
That is a sweet goal. A very sweet goal!
Really looking forward to the weekend’s match. Could be a barn-barner.
oooohhhh, Ozil is better than Bergkamp…I am still not convinced.
Fantastic match report, Özzing with joy, nice one 🙂
Just trying to add to the discussion. 🙂
Here is Ramsey’s pass map.
88% accuracy (which, as it so happens, was also the whole team’s) tends to belie the impression that he misplaced so many passes. The failed passes (in red) tend to be nearly all forward and nearly all into the attacking third of the pitch.
The positions he passed from support the ‘drifting all over the place’ theory. I wonder if AW thinks this is a good or bad thing?
So, LB is on drugs, Wally needs some. 🙂
Ah, the youtube vid has been taken down already.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv2JVEAWRRs
What’s wrong with being on drugs?
Oops. Perhaps I shouldn’t have made that comment 😱
What really adds our third goal and makes it really special is the run back and tackle from OG and the brilliant, truly exceptional pass from Elneny. Had he delayed just a fraction Ozil would have been offside, as it was he timed his run to perfection to meet the pass.
It was uncanny understanding between the two..
New speak……..
Vicar:
“I now pronounce you man and wife, and you may now update your facebook status”
I will have to read LB’s match report again before I comment – at first glance it looks like he may have committed a great sin against God.
Wife: “You told me that you would spend your whole life making me happy”
Husband: ” I had no idea it would take this long”
Price sticker on egg counter.
Boneless chicken – $2:00 a dozen.
Alcohol may not solve your problems – but neither will milk or water!
Sign over bar:
Buy any two bottled beers and pay for them both!
Sign on door of bank.
Premises guarded by armed guards three nights a week.
Your guess which three!
LB,
You did commit a sin against the Arsenal God but I will forgive that slip up as you write such an entertaining post match –
“Shortly after, Gibbs was given a Brazilian by one of their nippy players ”
– still brings a smile to my face, great start to my day – thanks.
Mesut Ozil proved me wrong with Arsenal winner, says Arsene Wenger
………………………………………………………………………………
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger thought Mesut Ozil had made a mistake by trying to outfox the Ludogorets defence before scoring a superb winner on Tuesday.
Ozil scored the Gunners’ third as they came from two goals down to win 3-2 and reach the Champions League last 16.
The German chipped the ball over the keeper before beating two defenders and slotting the ball into the empty net.
“To me it didn’t look like the optimal solution, but when the ball was in the net I thought it was,” said Wenger.
“The great players make the right decisions in the game situations they face. They always make the optimal solution.
“You wanted him to take maybe his chance earlier, but at the end he had enough skill to prove that he was right.”
Arsenal top Group A with 10 points, the same number as Paris St-Germain, and nine ahead of both Ludogorets and Basel with two games remaining.
They were trailing the Bulgarian side 2-0 after just 15 minutes on Tuesday but drew level before half-time through goals from Granit Xhaka and Olivier Giroud.
Ozil, 28, scored the winner in the 87th minute – his fourth goal against Ludogorets in two matches.
The Gunners host French champions PSG on 23 November before travelling to Switzerland to face Basel in their final group game on 6 December.
Is Barcelona trying to finish the group second in hopes of getting us next round
No
Ooops, done it again. Should have read
No 🙂
Chas
Re your Aaron positional graphic. I think he believes he’s Bryan Robson. Honestly.
If you thought Halloween was scary just wait until November 8th in the U.S.
Micky
Here’s a combined Coq, Xhaka and Ramsey pass map for comparison.
I think it looks fairly well balanced.
Presumably the lack of a left wing presence is made up for by Gibbs and, of course, the combination of Alexis and Ozil.
Do you think Ramsey is going against instruction?
Micky
Haha, I found this quite surprising, Coquelin’s pass map.
Who do you think he thinks he is? 😆
Last one before I go off and watch Netflix. (bored, laid up with my knee)
Here’s Arsenal’s pass map from last night.
The location of the dots indicate average position.
The size of the dots indicate importance in terms of number of passes.
The thickness of adjoining lines indicates the volume of passes between two players.
I know it’s only some abstract construct, but it looks to me like Ramsey was very important in last night’s team performance passing-wise. 🙂
Brilliant research and argumentation, Chas. 🙂
Hope your knee heels soon.
The title made me laugh. If Bergkamp is John O’Groats to Lands End, then Ozil is not even in Inverness. 🙂 At least it had no insults in it.
Great recovery by the team and a truly wonderful goal by MO11.
I am trying to work out why I am supposed to be on drugs……
Prey explain.
🙂
LB
I presume Rasp was referring to……
meaner at 9.42 with the ‘u must be on drugs’ suggestion for picking Ramsey as MOTM and……..
dogbreath at 9.50 who was suggesting you were ‘hanging loose’ (‘put your cock back in your pants’)
🙂
Right, back to American Horror Story.
Chas
You’re trying to graph me aren’t you? 🙂
Back to your 10:16 graph map as it’s the only one really relevant to my point, I’d be genuinely interested to compare it to a Theo-on-the-right graph map.
Having said that, Theo is much, much better on the right than Aaron wherever his dots and lines appear.
I don’t want to slag Ramsey off, because he tries hard and is ok, my thinking is simply he’s about third choice right side, and in fact, second choice at best in any position.
I do think he’s an excellent multi-functional squad player.
Micky
As you can see he didn’t play in vaguely the same position as Theo.
Theo plays as part of a front three on the right, with Alexis centre and Iwobi left.
Last night, we had three players in front of Ramsey, i.e. Mesut, Alexis and Giroud.
Therefore, to me, comparing Theo and Aaron on the right doesn’t make sense.
I thought my composite graph map of Coq, Xhaka and Ramsey made this pretty clear. Obviously not.
I pop out for five minutes and people are blaspheming against God?
What is the world coming to?
No it didn’t 🙂
“Last night, we had three players in front of Ramsey, i.e. Mesut, Alexis and Giroud.”
Well, if that’s true, then it’s an utter shambles 🙂
Mesut is King and controls everything from the middle’ish, while Coq and Elneny control the back-middle. Aaron running around willy nilly is not very helpful and it’s quite irrelevant how many times he touches the ball.
I think
Anyway, I’m 100% convinced LB only made the Aaron MOTM comment to wind ME up
Six minutes, at least, Rocky
Bloody nice to hear from you. Stop being so damn busy
Yayyyyyy Rocky
Long time, stop being a stranger.
Well that headline worked better than I expected.
LB
The headline was a stonker, the Aaron MOTM observation genius 🙂
I’ll accept that Mr Ozil is working his way up the celestial ladder, but it’s a bit early to have him usurping the one true God.
Notwithstanding the odd bit of heresy, it was a very nice read LB…
And a truly great goal from Mesut (though not quite as good as God’s away at Newcastle)
Hi Rocky, don’t worry, Denis is still god. Ozil is currently on Gabriel status and rising 🙂
🙂 you beat me to it Rocky … just like always 🙂
Micky
Elneny wasn’t playing until the 87th minute.
Did you wake up at that time and think he’d been on all game. 😆
Rasp
Nice. Angel status
Hey, Rocky, LB’s headline dragged you out of hiding.
Superb.
Oh Chas, the other bloke then. Same positional role 🙂
You can be quite difficult at times 🙂
That honestly wasn’t meant to be a wind up. Ramsey had Coquelin and Xhaka behind him which gave him a licence to roam, same as Sanchez and Ozil really, I mean what position were those two playing especially Sanchez, talk about being all over the place…….
The defense may have been a bit of a shambles in the first twenty minutes but that had nothing to do with Ramsey, his job was to keep pushing things forward which I thought he did really well.
I knew there was a reason I didn’t get into talking about all this tactical bollix stuff.
Apologies for ruining Rocky’s return.
Nice to be chatting again Gents (and Ladies? and Self-Identifying Others? – one never knows what might have changed when one’s been away).
I agree with everyone!
Agreeing with everyone is very provocative……….. 🙂
Dinner making calls.
I’ll tell you what’s changed Rocky, that Eddie has set her sights on Erik, would you believe.
Only obstacle appears to be her no touch rule, although we may be on the cusp of a breakthrough, despite Erik’s commitment to the hands on approach.
She’s agreed to a ride with Erik on the condition he gets hold of a Ford Escort.
Stick around, could be hat time soon
Rocky. Great to see you. Hope all is well.
Seriously cold here as Leicester play FCK. No short sleeve shirts tonight ☃⛄️
Micky 😄😳
Lovely stuff LB. I admire how like I, you can openly adresss your admiration for Mesut without fear of slander or denigration.
We should both take this opportunity to celebrate the 1975 Sexual Discrimination Act.
Better than God. No ones better than Brady mate. Liam was everything a man should be. Namely an Irish Fairy.
His magical left foot inspired the folklore of leprechauns and getting pissed up on Guinness. Besides, I once saw him at Winchmore Hill train station, and as our eyes locked knew in that moment exactly what Trevor Howard thought when he spotted Celia Johnson in that film Brief Encounter? Basicly, “Thank God I’m not a big Jessie like Mancini”.
One day I will write a book about my brief encounter with the magical Chippy. Probably use the title ” The day our eyes locked, and realised the 1975 Sexual Discrimination Act was excellent”
hi Rocky, glad to hear from you 🙂
I am with you on the Divine subject – You shall have no other gods before Dennis;
You shall not make Ozils;
You shall not take the name of Dennis your God in vain
Mesut is terrific, but not holly yet
Great stuff Terry
Thanks for the comment.
https://twitter.com/UberAFC/status/793793712543367168
Not at all LB, always a joy to respond to one of your fine posts.
Watching the Totnumb game and the mugs have been complete crap. We should thrash them Sunday.
They’ve been so shit that when Dembele went off with an injury I lip read Pochitino asking him what was wrong and he replied “I’m not enjoying it, so have come off with lack of a groin strain”
Boos ringing round Wembley. 🙂
Obviously this means nothing as far as Sunday goes…..
Evening all, got to say tonight’s result has made yesterday better 😄
Lovely report LB, I think what’s interesting about Aaron is that he divides opinion on his ability and his best position. I think Chas’s pass graphic has one interesting feature, look on the left and see how much closer Gibbs was to Alexis than Jenkinson was to Ramsey, meaning Aaron probably had fewer safe options, also Chas’s other graphic showing the misplaced Rambo passes is really necessary reading for any football fan. I never want a midfielder to come off the pitch with 100% pass completion, especially not an attacking midfielder, remember Denilson? How he visibly shrank in confidence in his time with the first team, going from a player who could score goals from distance and running past forwards, to a player that only ever passed sideways.
Thankfully Aaron is made of sterner stuff and constantly tries to force the game forward, as do Ozil and Alexis, you can’t expect them to keep the ball all the time.
As for the Lumbersexual, well that’s his 85th goal in 194 appearances. Which is not a bad return from a hold up one dimensional centre forward. 🙃
Spuds. ha ha ha ha ha. 🙂
“You shall have no other gods before Dennis”. fare enuff. but what about “after Dennis”, a decade after Dennis? 🙂
LB. I doubted it at the time I read. but in hindsight, fair call about Rambo I think. even if I do not personally hold the same view.
https://twitter.com/CuteEmergency/status/793987308542394368
https://twitter.com/Highbury_74/status/793955377545170944
Morning
Such a terrific night at Wembley 🙂
Chas,
Are you going to game on Sunday (knee) and what is the way forwards in terms of recovery/fixing?
Going back to that still mesut pic in LB’s post
While it might be a fabulous goal, that pic is so so good. One beaten stranded keeper jogging back, two upended defenders facing opposite directions
Exile
That’s a great point about Aaron and the possession stats in particular
It has been one of the big differences this season in that the attack gang take more risks, and when it goes wrong, fight harder to win it back
Micky
Yes, going on Sunday.
The way forward is probably what I’ve done since I was 15 when it first happened, i.e. doing absolutely nothing.
It hasn’t gone for the last 15 years. Maybe just hope that it doesn’t go for another 15. That should see me out. 🙂
Mesut liked that photo……
I’m not sure what he meant by #FirstNeverFollows ??????
Are you pretending you’re 30, or are you saying it only goes wonky every 15 yrs 🙂
Either way….shitballs maximus
One of BR’s old pick up motors.
https://twitter.com/FacesPics/status/794004258425372672
This from your article at 6:51
Spurs have not finished above Arsenal since 1995 and wasted a golden opportunity last season when they needed only to draw their last match against relegated Newcastle United but lost 5-1
Arsenal lives would be so much poorer without our hopeless neighbours 🙂
knitting cowboy, yukkie!
Did you know that most cowboys were black? I haven’t seen many movies featuring black cowboys, have you?
Spurs 1 nil loss is not that bad, considering strong form of the opposition, but it seriously damages their chances of qualifying ha ha ha 🙂 I wonder if Peaches’ protégée played last night?
Unused sub
this could be exciting:
The High Court is to rule on whether the government can begin the formal process of leaving the European Union without consulting Parliament.
Senior judges heard a challenge last month from campaigners who argue Prime Minister Theresa May does not have the power to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty without MPs’ approval.
he must be have been disappointed. And Peaches watched Spurs again in vain ha ha ha:)
Morning All,
Love the cowboy. The VW is also a lovely car but doesn’t have the magnetism of an Escort. Does it?
Spurs: Thursday nights.
The back seat in a VW just isn’t big enough.
Wonderful memories in that 11 minutes, only ruined by awful music
BR
Whenever there’s shite music on a video, I always mute it, open another tab and put on something I like.
What would you choose to go with the Wrighty video?
For some reason, I’ve been listening to this in the last few days. Never really listened to it before as a whole album.
Ian Wright was definitely a Rock n Roll Star. 🙂
motning all. nice batner 🙂
Nothing by Tina Turner, Queen or Bonnie Tyler, what about this
Morning Arnie
I love Oasis, always have
arnie, arnie, arnie – gods are eternal. Gods don’t have a sell by date.
Funky stuff, BR, I like it.
Can you play guitar like that?
Morning, Arnie. 🙂
morning Raddy.
happy birthday Wrighty
chas. Not my style and I don’t have the rhythm but I know the chords 😀
ha ha ha Evonne 🙂
hi Chas. nice batner. 🙂
As you’ve cleared everyone out with that, Arnie 🙂
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