We were humiliated in Munich. Did OK in the first half and got smashed in the second.
Will AW give it full gas against BM at home? He tried it at Liverpool and despite a second half revival we got sucker-punched. Or should AW batten down the hatches and hope for a morale boosting draw or even a narrow victory?
No Ozil, though he was conspicuously absent in Munich, so his input will hardly be missed. Sanchez is likely to start if only to shut up the media.
My Team:
Ospina
Bellerin BFG Koscielny Monreal
Ramsey Xhaka Iwobi
Ox Sanchez Welbeck
Walcott is so out of form he surely cannot start but perhaps AW will give him some pitch time in a no pressure game. I would drop Coquelin, he just isn’t good enough to compete at the highest level.
I would like to see BFG return to the side and add some calm to a nervous defence
I am sick and tired of my friends ribbing me about Arsenal following the BM game. Given the milliions spent on the squad we should be able to compete. We are good enough to do so but have lost our way in recent weeks.
100% application and pride in the shirt is all I ask.
COYRRG
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Thank you Erik
100% application and pride in the shirt is all I ask
Agree with that. Regarding the team, I’d like to see Perez start however unlikely that may be.
Cheers, BR.
As you say, nowt to lose, a little pride plus some form to gain for the big game at the weekend. 🙂
Thanks for your work, Big Raddy.
Hope you’re right as regards Ramsey playing.
We need his 100% work ethic for this “miracle” to come off.
Walcott is a better finisher by far than Ox, and seeing as today we need GOALS, I expect Theo to start.
We need bags of DESIRE in this game although it seems like an impossibility I always hold out hope for our team – BUT they need to puff out their chests and give everything they have.
If we get a couple of quick goals it will knock some of that cockiness out of Bayer.
Lets hope that the elusive 12th man shows up to fully support the team.
Big Al, with all due respect Theo has simply not turned up for a long time I would far sooner see Perez given a start – he has shown that he has a lethal left foot.
Thanks Raddy – it’s always good to know that on game day’s we have two things to look forward to – the game and your posts.
I like the idea of letting BFG have a game.
Micky, I’ve been on many canoe trips, mostly in Ontario and British Columbia but also in Washington State and Idaho.
A few years back I posted an accounting of one of my trips on the Groundhog River in Northern Ontario and Chas found a You Tube video of another persons trip on the same river. You should google it as it’s very typical of the conditions we met on our trip.
I prefer canoeing on rivers rather than lakes because even though I’ve been on countless trips I’m scared stiff of water. It makes me feel a little safer if I can see the banks whereas many of our lakes are akin to being in the ocean.
In
Hi Fred.
Cheers Raddy. The game this Saturday (and unfortunately last Saturdays one as well) is more important now. I would like to give a good account of ourselves purely from a confidence aspect but would also look at tonight as a freeby that Arsene can experiment with.
We cannot realistically fully turn this around and can lose to Munich heavily again just by Arsene playing the traditional team he would favour, so why not use it as an opportunity to experiment with something different.
Our results against the top EPL and CL teams have been poor for a few years anyway with set ups he has thought were best at that time, so what have we got to lose. He may just stumble on something that could create an epiphany and bring fresh hope and impetus. I don’t expect him to do it but I wish he would.
For me it is 2 choices. Either keep the same system and change the player combinations, in which case I prefer Micky’s suggestion, or secondly, my preference, completely change the system as well and try something new.
Not that I am infatuated with it but Conte showed how a change of system (to a back 3) is sometimes the way to go to get the best from your current squad. We have no Ozil and I am all for trying something a bit different to Le Coq as well and would like to see the following :
I would switch to a back 3 of Koscielny, Mustaffi and Holding. I would like to try a slightly left field option of Gibbs sitting in front of these 3 as a holding midfielder. Then have Ramsey and Elneny playing in CM with Gibbs but with more freedom alternating in who goes and who stays. Ox gets left wing back / winger position. Bellerin gets right wing back / winger position. Up top it is Sanchez and Danny as 2 mobile strikers working off each other.
A solid back 3 with a solid defensive shield in front, 2 other CM’s to control and dictate play, pace on the flanks and our 2 best strikers up top. I think there is more chance of Chas drinking sherry on the train on Saturday rather than beer than this happening but one can but hope 🙂
You’re hoping I drink sherry rather than beer on the train on Saturday?
It could make you more debonnaire Chas 🙂
GN5
I remember very well your canoeing comment. Bears, guns, trout. Superb. Would love to do it myself.
Chas
I forgot to comment on your sherry reference. Of course, a velvet smoking jacket would help.
GB
Definitely agree on a great opportunity to experiment. Better to do it against a good team as prep. for our league games v City, Utd and Them.
3-5-2 yes. It’s also an especially good time as mesut is sick
We should have kept Matthieu
Who put up the bee pic on the right. Nice touch
Very nice pre-match Raddy, I’m hoping to see a bit of passion tonight even Theo squaring up to massive German will make me cheer. Him scoring a couple of goals would be good too. A couple for Sanchez and one for Danny and we’re through 🙂
Hmmmnnn just have to remember to defend easy peasy:)
Dave Seager..beer…oik
Chas…sherry…dandy
Steady on Peaches, that’s five goals. We only need four 🙂
Why not. Keep it tight. Silence the crowd ( 🙂 ), 1-0 at half time…..
Really Micky??????? That’s not like you 😉 ok I’ll go with your plan as long as Danny scores the first goal.
This’ll be me, chas and ant then
And our old friend Ms Irishgunner has spent her hard earned cash on a trip to London for this game. We’re going to get tipsy together with chas and ant 🙂
That’ll be one glass of champagne, one gaga cocktail, a pint of anything and a dry sherry, please
Oooooh do you think they sell champagne at the FFB?
No peaches of course not.
Where is LB I wonder?
Thanks Raddy, that PM represents the best we can hope for in the circumstances … all we ask is for the same from the team and everyone involved this evening … not a time for banners or protests.
I’d like to see Perez start, but I think your team is a good shout.
I wish I could join the folks at the FFB, but too late for a ticket now. I shall go on Saturday ….. with a sense of nostalgia ….
Hi G5 how have you been hopefully not Dear like me
Fred, what do you mean?
Fred . What do you mean by Dear?
BTW today is my birthday so I am hopeful of a victory tonight (in some form)
Many Happy Returns … and a 4:0 win … to you Raddy 🙂
Happy Birthday Erik
May all your dreams come true
Team news: Alexis starts against Bayern
Alexis returns to the starting lineup as one of four changes for tonight’s meeting with Bayern Munich.
David Ospina starts in goal, with Aaron Ramsey stepping in to partner Granit Xhaka in central midfield.
Theo Walcott also returns to the starting line up, with Alexis leading our attack.
Elsewhere, Mesut Ozil has recovered from illness to replace Alex Iwobi (illness) on the bench.
Arsenal XI: Ospina, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Ramsey, Ox, Walcott, Welbeck, Alexis
Subs: Cech, Gibbs, Gabriel, Lucas, Ozil, Giroud, Coquelin
Copyright 2017 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170307/team-news-alexis-starts-against-bayern#Utubr5ybkp2Z98Rx.99
Ospina, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Ramsey, Xhaka, Walcott, Oxalde-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Sanchez.
Subs: Cech, Gibbs, Gabriel, Coquelin, Ozil, Perez, Giroud
Arsene smells goals. Me too 🙂
Strong bench.
Sorry GN5
Takes me a while copy and pasting 🙂
Bath, then back to watch us spank the sausage men
Birthday greetings Raddy, lets hope the gunners make it a joyous one.
If you’re weak, then do not read the sour cabbage munchers line up:
Neuer, Rafinha, Martinez, Hummels, Alaba, Thiago, Alonso, Robben, Vidal, Ribery, Lewandowski
Not an issue Micky.
Wow that line up really amplifies the effect of money – I wonder how much that squad cost?
How can any Gunner right now not be thinking “Maybe, just maybe. Hell, why not?”
Come on you Gunnnnnnners
Oh nooooo, where’s Danny?
Right now, I genuinely love Ollie and Aaron
Funny old thing being a fan 🙂
Theeeeeeooooooooooooooooooooo
we only need 3 more
Eddieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
You can tell Theo’s up for it as he didn’t have that job done look he sometimes has after scoring.
Xhaka does have a superb left peg
ffs, that was a pen all day long
With a striker like Diego Fooking Costa we would be 3 nil up by now
My God we’re getting the chances
Damn we weren’t given the pen, but still good.
ffs
Terrible referee. Really awful.
It’s the other official with the wire that’s the complete and utter 🙂
Randy, this looks corrupt, not just terrible.
Brilliant goal by Costa
Let’s definitely run with the corrupt narrative
Quality work GB 🙂
Vidal clearly offside. What is happening?
Terrible from Mustafi though
peaches – now you know what you dream meant – our team might as well not come out for the second half. What’s the point of our lads playing great footy when some bloody ref wants us to lose.
Without Koscielny, ten men, no chance. I am furious and blame Farage. Not joking, in Europe they love to hate the British now, we wanted Brexit, there you are, out of Europe
Anyone know where the 4th official lives?
Another offside goal. Completely shit refereeing.
Sorry it wasn’t supposed to be Randy. Bloody predictive text. I meant to say Randy. See what I mean raddy ☺
peaches – on a night like this some pricks are waving anti Wenger posters. they are in front rows, go in there luv and punch the cretins in the head, from me.
Oh well, in parts we were good. Our sole focus now has to be to make top 4. Ref was unbelievably poor, but we still fell apart under pressure.
Full credit to the Ox for clapping the fans … I hope we can keep him, he has heart.
Agree with that Eddie
The players gave 100% for sure
Rasp,
He’s also getting better since moving deeper
Nite all and have an extra large nightcap Erik
When does the shit end!? Even when we look like earning some respect and getting some confidence back, we get kicked in the teeth.
It feels like an age ago that we had the long unbeaten run after the Liverpool defeat first game of the season. A run which included draws with PSG, Spurs and United. For me, it all goes back to the Everton game. Since then our results have been:
Defeats
Everton
City
Watford
Chelsea
Bayern
Liverpool
Bayern
Wins
West Brom
Palace
Preston
Swansea
Burnley
Southampton
Hull
Sutton
Draw
Bournemouth
We can’t seem to beat anyone of note and are just not good enough on the big occasion. We were good enough earlier in the season, so what the f*** has gone wrong? It’s not like we’ve had crazy injuries this season. Can it be pinpointed to just one game or was a loss of confidence over a series of poor results? Where has the team gone that we were watching pre-December?
Yes I agree Micky, the Ox deserves to keep that position for the rest of the season
We actually played pretty well up until the red card. Poor decision from the officials, and actually even if we had finished the chances we had previously we probably would only have won 3-0 with the same end result. Onwards and upwards
In over 70 years of playing, coaching, managing and even refereeing football I cannot remember ever seeing a referee change his decision – has anyone else?
That single decision changed the direction of the game WTF!!!
Fantastic first half, if only we’d put a couple more chances away, the team were really up for it until Koscielny’s red card.
Irish was sat on the side where the dodgy lino was and she said that Bayern were offside in the build up to their 2nd goal
Chas
Did you say “outdoor” pool?
Morning all.
Morning All.
I think chas did. Mrs Randy goes year round outdoor sea swimming, she says it is physically and mentally cleansing.
After recent results perhaps Chas ….
Ah Erik, what a pleasant surprise
What temperature is the Baltic in winter and how long does she stay in before she normally dies?
Bloody hell/. Just looked up Copenhagen sea temp and stuff
Jan low 2.3 C
Aug high 17.8
Also interesting are tidal means max spring/neep variation about 1.5M
Here on west coast atlantic
Jan low 8
Sept high 18
Tide max var about 8M!
The Baltic is basically a pond therefore
Exactly. The Baltic and therefore CPH has hardly any tide much like the Med.
She goes to one of those bizarre Scandi places which has a sauna attached. Immersion is usually less than 5 minutes followed by whatever people do in a sauna
Yuk
To think Eddie was going on about various flotsam and jetsam in Chas’ pool, the mind boggles at the thought of Mrs E in a small sauna with scandivanian cultists
I’m going for a swim.
Shame seems to be a popular word in the Arsenal press this morning. They are sticking the knife in a bit now. For all the talk of dressing room unrest and not playing for the manager, Wenger certainly seemed to get a response last night but what happened after the sending off will have dented confidence again. We badly need a couple of easy games but with Lincoln, West Brom and Man City up next I’m not sure we will get them.
You don’t consider Lincoln and West Brom easy games?
sauna is ok, providing you have your own towel and there is ‘no nudity please’ rule
pay no attention to me anyway, I am terribly Squamish, it hampers my life
Funnily enough on the Speed awareness course the trainer said he drives everywhere because he cannot stand people touching and brushing against him on trains. I remember commuting to work and getting on and off trains because of that.
FGG. Much easier for the journo’s to look at the scoreline rather than the refereeing which was scandalous.
As I keep saying, they want AW out
Eddie
Counterbalance that with people like Erik. He goes to busy place to BE touched. Swings and things
I see about 50 revolting oiks took to the Ems last night. Blimey, I could organise a bigger demo demanding “sign Pele or we quit”.
Micky,
In normal circumstances we would hammer Lincoln, but in an FA Cup QF with our current form I expect we will struggle to victory. As for West Brom away, that’s never an easy game and will probably be a struggle aswell.
what is Wenger thinking? No doubt he is saddened by the fans’ reaction. Surprised? Probably not, vast majority of fans wouldn’t know how to spell trigonometry, let alone use it. Will the morons have impact on his decision, I mean major impact? Don’t know
When you see the likes of Charlie Nicholas and Neil Lennon having a go then you know it’s time for media lockdown!
Puglett climbing up a ladder 🙂 amazing dogs 🙂
Eddie,
If there is one man who trusts his own thoughts and doesn’t worry about the outside influences then it’s Arsene Wenger. He will do what he feels is right for the club and if he 100% believes that he’s the man to take us forward then he will sign. If he wasn’t 100% then as a fan you wouldn’t want him anyway. The problem is that even if he’s convinced, many people aren’t and maybe that’s where the club should step in and make the decision for him.
Who knows, he may still take us forward in the long run. Personally, I doubt it.
It is easy to be swayed by the media pressure and Nicholas is hardly a rocket scientist (unlike Eddie). If the narrative is AW has lost the dressing room and is tactically out of date, then some will choose to follow the narrative.
I prefer the independant thinking of those on AA
fattie – I doubt it too. And I truly cannot see him suffering the indignity of current Emirates climate.
I think I will write to him and apologise for other fans
FGG
I’m sure Arsene believes he can take Arsenal forwards, but there is no evidence to suggest this is possible, and he may well be the only person who believes it.
However, while the board may recognise that, they may also believe staying the same is ok and a whole lot better than regressing. They may believe being a top four’ish prem club is ok, and being a top 16’ish European side is also ok.
50 revolting oiks won’t change anyone’s mind.
If anyone holds the balance of power, then it could be the players.
the players? you might be on to something. There was lots of hand shaking and smiling going on lately. Is that an indication that Wenger is trying to be nice to them, to sooth some pain?
No Eddie
All of that crap is for the Twitterati
Eddie
The big deception at the moment is the belief of pea brained idiots that somehow having access to the internet empowers them.
Media, journos, hacks, twitterers, blogists have enormous egos but zero power.
Look at the US. Clinton had the full backing of Wall Street, Google and every media outlet including TV as well as Rags. She lost.
There is zero chance anything at Arsenal changes as a result of all that crap. Key decisions are made exclusively by the owner, board, manager and players, and out of those, I’d say ultimate power is shared between the owner and players.
Morning each, and particularly you MickyDelicious! 😉
Micky, it is so refreshing to hear someone speaking/writing straightforward common sense, instead of the appalling and idiotic rubbish spouted by so many bloggers, pundits and ex-players.
Micky. 9.47. Couldn’t be more correct.
Thanks RA und Erik
Erik
Put a title on it like The Real Power at Arsenal
post it and let’s send a message to people who are now really pissing me off
Eddie @ 8:46 am
How do you spell trggynomtry and wot does it mean?
zed – it was you with a flyer ‘Wenger out’ last night!!! I knew it
BR @ 7:24
The use of a wonderful relaxing sauna was once a delight for me, but after reading, last week, how much urine is in the recirculated water I thought …. yuk.
The sauna normally followed a good long swim in the hotel pool, but apparently urine is rampant there too. [rampant urine? maybe not].
What’s going on? Can’t people pee first then go in the pool/sauna? Or do they prefer have a quiet zizz while chatting to a friend, and having a glass of something alcoholic at the same time.
And they are not even bitching Arsenal fans perpetrating this reprehensible habit.
Yes, Eddie,
I had two ‘flyers’, one saying ‘Arsene Out’ and the other saying ‘Arsene In’ – I like going prepared for all eventualities! 🙂
In- Out, In-Out shake it all about!!
I dont believe attacking Mr Wenger or all this hatred and disgusting name calling that goes on is right at all.
I do believe he deserves some respect,but so do we as fans.
Mr Wenger has to now admit that what is going on at this great club is just not good enough. Forget wining trophies, champions leagues and the like, the performances over the last 3 to 4 months have been shambolic and amateurish, we don’t even look like we can compete with any decent team.
It took a young man like Hector Bellarin to apologise to the fans who would have been happy with any type of result or performance to restore some pride.
It should have been Mr Wenger admitting that was not good enough instead of just blaming officials (who were bad !) he is the manager and must start being honest and realise that he and some of the team are no longer at the level to take this great club forward.
Like I said earlier forget winning things for the moment, we just need to be taken seriously again and maybe give the fans something to be excited or proud to have just watched after spending money a lot of us can just about afford.
Alfy – attacking the officials and passing the blame are bad signs showing that Wenger is losing it, slightly out of control.
G5 sometimes my phone auto correct words that why my sentence made no sense
Zed – you missed a few days of blogging and only have yourself to blame for not attending the trigonometry lessons.
Rasp was priceless – he went to the best secondary in North London and complained about ambitious curriculum!! Ffs. If he wanted to learn how to steal or to sell drugs, or even to reproduce at an early age then he should have gone to St Ignatius or Broomfield, not to Latymer
Mind you, I think he had a couple of semesters at Broomfield 🙂 🙂
Eddie – totally agree but I think he is completely out of control.
He is a very intelligent man and if he loves the club, which I think he does, he should take steps now to salvage some pride. His loyalty to his players is admirable but excuses are looking desperate now.
No wonder Kos was pissed off.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/mar/08/stan-bowles-qpr-alzheimers-memories
lewandowski is a typical eastern European scumbag. I hate him
11.28 is precisely why we have to have video refereeing.
11.30. That was a worrying read
Morning all, I think I played rugby or football against Latymer back in the day.
I have no doubt last night’s game was individually decided by the officiating. As I said that refereeing was bordering on a level that can’t just be looked at as poor officiating. It almost looked deliberate and premeditated and if there is anything about UEFA they will investigate…….so that will be nothing done then.
Having said that it still unfortunately once again exposed one of our long term unaddressed weaknesses. The manner in which we capitulated is an indication of a team that is too weak to compete for the serious prizes, and unfortunately this is not new news. While I predominantly point the finger at the ref and his assistants I don’t think we can be completely exonerated.
I have always felt there is a degree of anti Arsenal bias in the media at large, but always want to be careful that I din’t take it to levels that may be considered slight paranoid or hypocritical. Personally I am not too sure that there is a specific prejudiced media mandate that is exclusive to Arsene and no-one else.
I think the media will take whatever looks like the biggest drama or disaster at any given time and then massively elaborate on it to make it look more dramatic. I am not sure they specifically want Arsene out, just they want to squeeze the life out of the current unrest, because it is a good story for them, and then make it seem to be more than it is because it gets hits and sells newspapers.
They went quite hard at Mourinho as well when the wheels were coming off at Chelsea, and we of course all lapped that up, and I am sure Spuds fans are doing the same with us now. There are other examples I am sure. If things start to go badly wrong for Guardiola at City then my guess is the knives will be sharpened for him as well.
I wonder if we feel the bias is worse just because it is aimed at us currently, and we are part of it. We are inside this period of pain, not standing outside it looking in.
Behind the media narrative there is often a degree of truth. The baseline of the story is often correct to some degree and I feel that is also the case here. They will just run with whatever is giving them the most ammunition in any given period and unfortunately our club and Arsene have provided them that ammunition.
Many fans may have their opinion swayed by the media but I still think taking this line is an injustice and incorrect insult on the intelligence of a large body of fans. Much of the stuff they are saying currently holds a degree of truth to me but I just see it in a far more watered down version than the media portrays.
They haven’t made my mind up, I have over the course of the last few years and I am sure many other fans are the same. If a fan has a degree of agreement with the media and certain pundits it doesn’t mean they have been brainwashed by them into those opinions. If the knives are out for Arsene currently it is because he has put some knives in their hands. I don’t like witnessing it and it saddens me.
“If the knives are out for Arsene currently it is because he has put some knives in their hands. I don’t like witnessing it and it saddens me”
GB if you really believe your final sentence then it can only mean that you hold Arsene responsible for everything that has happened to cause Arsenal not to ever win the CL and miss out in the PL since 2003/4.
I can list dozens of countering reasons and situations that were/are beyond his control – but I can’t be bothered.
………………………………………………………………………………………
Can anybody give me a response to this question that I raised at 10:31 last night?
GunnerN5 says:
March 7, 2017 at 10:31 pm
In over 70 years of playing, coaching, managing and even refereeing football I cannot remember ever seeing a referee change his decision – has anyone else?
That single decision changed the direction of the game WTF!!!
GB – I think Rasp played guitar, not rugby or footy
A friend sent me an article about Syrian refugees trying to prove a point that nobody should help them. The article was written by some young woman and published in some ridiculous publication. Yet my friend thought it was more important or valid that my views, he thought I could learn something from reading that shit just because it was black on white, had to be true.
As I said earlier on – majority of people do not know how to spell trigonometry let alone be rocket scientists 🙂
Who cares what the media said?? They cannot even get the flipping weather forecasts right
Thank you for posting that clip. It looks to me, firstly that Lewandowski is the one doing the pushing, not Kos, as I can see no push from Kos, on the contrary, he is being pushed away, but I can see one by Lewandowski, secondly he looks to me to be diving.
IT is interesting that after Kos was sent off, AW did not send on a defender, but directed Dzakha to become a CB.
I suspect that the players felt so deflated that they had one of 2 choices, either sit back and let Bayern come to them, in which case chances are the same would have happened, or to go down fighting and they chose the latter. Frankly I don’t blame them. With a little more luck and none seems to have been coming in our direction last night, they could have scored a couple.
it is amazing that in both legs virtually the same thing happened. We wewre holding our own pretty well until Kos went off and then disaster.
Eddie,
The refugee situation is simply heartbreaking, when I watch videos of Syrian families cowering in fright as fighting ravages their neighborhoods it’s reminiscent of my own childhood years in Islington.
My own grandchildren would not have been born if it were not for Canada opening it’s arms to welcome refugees into the country.
Their mother was 2 years old when her mother escaped in a boat from Vietnam, after spending 4 years in a refugee camp they were granted permission to come to Canada and the family have thrived and now own their own business. So I know first hand what it means to be welcoming.
GN5
When you asked the question about a ref changing his mind about a decision, I had a tickle inmy mind that it had happened in one of our games before.
I think this was it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3649156.stm
Snowing here 😦
chas. You have a fine memory. Clearly not suffering from “wet brain” as yet
I played football and represented the school at high jump and cross country as well as playing the guitar Eddie 🙂
Rasp – do you want a medal?
Jjgsol,
I have to say that I think you are very brave for standing up to some pretty strong comments on another blog-site.
There are some bloggers on there whom I like, and who are usually pretty decent, but somehow the group mentality takes over and they all take leave of their senses, and it seems some of them would happily form a lynch mob for AW if they could. [An exaggeration — but it has become pretty grim].
Anyways, to add to the Lewandovski penalty debate, if you ignore the mutual pushing, and watch his feet, they suddenly are brought together and without Kozzer tripping him, L/ski goes into a swallow dive and the novice ref is kidded into awarding a penalty and a game changing red card. A double whammy and a disgrace on a number of layers.
Simulation and a red card — for Levandovski!!!
Hi GN5,
I have seen referees change their mind, not about yellow/red cards but on a factual basis, in that a goal has been awarded and then overturned when a linesman has signalled offside.
Not quite the same.
I also saw a video of the England v Germany game in 1966, in a TV quiz show, I think, and altho I had heard about the drama of the Russian linesman etc, changing the game result, it was only seeing the clip of the Geof Hurst (?) shot coming down off the bar and the ref not awarding the kick, and then being attracted by the Lino who said it had crossed the line that he changed his mind and England won.
Again — not exactly what you were asking – but similar in principle.
Chas really does have an astounding memory! 🙂
The yellow card rule is usually that when the Ref gives it, not even the FA can change it. If he gives a red card, it can be overturned — after the game by a tribunal. Presumably UEFA could do the same – but they never would — and after game would be too late anyway.
With regard to your story of Canada’s generosity, that is heart warming, but in many ways, the refugee crisis does bring out the best and worst in people.
The world is changing and there is mass movement of displaced people everywhere like never before. And it will continue.
I have killed the blog again — so laters. 🙂
🙂 🙂
Hi Zed, nice to hear from you.
I thought that I was the blog killer – maybe there are two of us?
The refugee crisis has certainly changed since the 60’s but even so countries that have adequate vetting can still be open, generous and welcoming. Prime minister Trudeau personally welcomed the first refugee family from Syria and then followed up by meeting them again one year later – not too difficult if you care.
Without saying I meant has anybody seen a referee change his mind on a yellow or red card. But I certainly remember the goal decision that decided the 1966 World Cup.
On another subject I’m now concerned that the critical minority may have finally got to Arsene – I sure hope that I’m wrong.
Hi Fred, I’m one of the few people around that don’t use a phone to post.
Wow Chas you have a great memory I must have watched that game against Fulham but I have absolutely no recollection of that decision.
GN5
It will be Arsene and/or the dressing room that determine the manager’s future, and nothing whatsoever to do with 50 odd people mincing about the streets of Islington or waving pieces of paper
The owner and board will want him to stay for sure
Chas/Raddy, two of my best friends were afflicted with severe cases of Alzheimer’s Disease and it was simply terrible to witness their demise.
One was also a football player who played for Liverpool and Tottenham in the 40’s and 50’s. He was great friends with Bill Kenwight the Everton Chairman and traveled with the him on the team train to London for the 1995 FA Cup Final against Man U.
The other was a female lawyer who spent time in China and Russia with her father who was a British diplomat. She lived with us in the final years of her life and she got so bad that she imagined that her reflection in the mirror was her friend Betty and she insisted that we set a place for Betty at the dinner table, It got a lot worse but I won’t go into that………..
I’m with you on that Micky but the anti’s are becoming abhorrent and it must have an effect on him. The levels of negativity certainly affects the players – although I must say I was impressed by our crowd in the 1st half against Bayern.
It’s soooo time for some smut on here
Well that or something incredibly silly
GN5
I really don’t see it that way. As long as you avoid the other blogs, twitter and all that, it really is ok in the ground (from the armchair)
As you said, the crowd were excellent 1st half, and a understandably a bit miserable 2nd, but I didn’t detect anything bad
Eddie …. yes!
Let’s remember, even being down1-5 from the first leg, it must have been way over 50,000 who still turned up.
I was very surprised at the large numbers who came out.
Chas
Apart from the dick five seats to your life, what was the atmosphere like?
Chas
What was the atmosphere like?
Rasp 🙂 tell me, how someone who graduated from the Latymer is not a rocket scientist?
chas – where did you go? Did you go to Latymer too?
oops cancel 6:24
Pretty good, though the Bayern fans below were noisy (and bloody annoying with those ticker tape thingies.
I got the impression everyone was more or less past the moaning stage of the tie.
Just cheer a bit if we did something good, seemed to be the attitude.
Mind you the first half performance being decent, there were things to cheer about.
Doesn’t sound too toxic. Glass of sherry and a pleasant evening
You know full well where I went.
One of those places where you can learn how to steal, sell drugs or reproduce at an early age.
Yeah, right, the latter sounds a great description of an all boys school.
st Ignatius? 🙂 🙂 I am so sorry, I really am sorry, I had no idea!! I only asked because your grammar and spelling are exceptionally good so I thought you went to some great school. Please forgive me 🙂 I am such an idiot 🙂
I thought it was both funny and deliberate.
not deliberate, I promise. Plus I assume the schools have changed since you attended. My son is semi literate and his friend posted on FB a photo of his kids with a caption ‘my baby’s’ 🙂
My money is on PSG to win tonight … hopefully 4:0 😕
What telly is it on Rasp?
Next season, all CL games are on BT Sport which is a result for me as we’ve just got super fast stuff and BT Sport.
Last night I watched Arsenal on the big screen for the first time in probably ten years. No buffering. Superb it was.
Chas
The Wilko Johnson vid is very cool indeed
Here’s another from the chaps
Very good album that Chas. Very old school bluesy with a modern rock emphasis. Someone recommended it to me who has something to do with the music business and he said they got together because Wilko had a nasty illness that was potentially terminal and the 2 of them wanted to do something together just in case. As it turns out it seems Wilko has beaten his illness.
GN5, me holding Arsene responsible for everything that has not allowed us to win a CL or (recently) EPL? That is a big assumption based on my comment and I would have to say an incorrect assumption.
I think there are a variety of reasons, some within our control and some without, that are affecting us and would also look at Kroenke and the board as being part of it. I do however feel that many of the problems lie with Arsene and his ways and there are a few factors all combining in terms of how he is shaping this modern Arsenal, and as such we are not progressing.
Further I feel that these factors are not being addressed so the faults seem to always be the same and I think it is the consistent similar failings that provide the media with the ammunition, because a manager at a big club that is not attempting to change things that are not working will give them the resources to chase him down.
It saddens me not on a basis of my own self gratification with Arsenals success or lack of it, but because I don’t like watching Arsene look so lost and being hounded by the media and banner waving fans, and just looking like he doesn’t have the answers. You want him to stay, but I don’t want to see him go through worse than this next year which is what I think will happen.
All good things come to an end and Arsene has been more than brilliant for us but it is the time to make that change for me and rebuild things. I don’t think he will change his ways, and these are ways that are now largely not working in the modern game, even if they once did for him. Without that change we will see the same type of season unfold next year and I think the fan backlash will be like now but magnified by 10, unfortunately.
Zed
Thanks for your comments.
I have now given up on that blogg. I have cancelled the subscription and am happy to let them all moan and groan to each other.
I agree there were some really good aspects there, but too often what started out as good discussion and banter has turned into something rather nasty.
The bloggist himself writes really good articles most days, but as he is now well entrenched in the” Wenger is the cause of all our problems” camp, I decided enough is enough.
By the way, why has the video of the dive been taken down?
I would like to recommend some of my fellow supporters to look at it so that they can see what really happened.
Was that view shown on BT or is Wenger bashing more important to get the punters in?
jjgsol
I can still see it.
Here it is again
anyone watching
I’m playing “two players to make this Arsenal side great again”
I’m after a striker and a midfield monster
How come G5
Kos got sent off for less
jjgsol
Not asking the name of the site, but how does a subscription work?
oohh, that’s harsh “Tyrone Mings: Bournemouth defender to serve five-match ban”
Barca 2-0 Paris
Exciting game
Chas
Thanks. I could see it on my office computer, but not on my home one. The office one is newer, so perhaps it has the right software. I am going to try it on my laptop.
Mickydidit89
It is simply a matter fo clicking on something and the blogg gets sent to my email address every day.
I did the same with this one as well.
Clicking on something
Sorry, you’ve lost me there 🙂
I can see it on my laptop so it is the computer.
How many PSG players will have to be sent off to get Barca through?
Mickydidit89
On the blogg there is somewhere where it says that, if you want to subscribe, ie get the blogg to your email address every day, you just click on a particular icon.
Well, remember we had the massive advantage of the away goal from Munich 🙂
PSG get one, and it’s all over red rover
O
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
3-0
Bottom right hand corner when you scroll “Follow”
The power in these CL ties is clearly with the 4th official ie he’s the one to buy the new swimming pool for
3-0 damn is it still first half
59 mins
3-1
Barca now need 3
I just turned it on and PSG scored.
Top quality level of appalling diving from Suarez
Perhaps if I switch off it’ll stop being a shit-housing affair
Yeah, it has died since you arrived 🙂
ooooo 5-1
6-1!!!!!!!!!!
bloody hell, what a game
One has to remember that Bayern and Barca players are allowed to dive.
Which is worse, our collapse yesterday or PSG’s. They let in 3 goals in the last 5 minutes.
wow exhausted after that
Unreal
It was all over at 3-1
then three goals from the 88th minute
nite all
don’t want to doom jjgsol but Paris lost 6-5
we didn’t
anyway, great evening. must go sleep
Neymar superb … Suarez, diving cheat
Yes but they had the tie in the bag and blew it by conceeding 3 goals in the last 5 minutes
Somewhat different from our situatio
Well, that worked!
With apols to RC78….
Sky Sports reporting that Ox wants to leave and is unlikely to sign a new deal. He has the same length of time left as Özil and Sanchez amongst others. Wenger has previously talked about leaving the club in a good position when he leaves, at this rate he will be leaving half a squad for the next man.
http://www.skysports.com/share/10795181
Peaches
The City draw news thing is very good. Great night to bury bad news and all that
motning all
Good morning men (and Eddie).
I want to be mean to Barca, and their diving, cheating mentality, and to be very sniffy about the ‘generous’ refereeing, but I did actually enjoy the game, in large part because of the sheer excitement of the crowd.
The world is going crazy so maybe that is why I am ignoring all the dodgy refereeing and the poor refereeing decisions, and the stinky personal morals of so many cheating players last night – but there it is.
Morning All,
Can’t believe it. I turned off the Barca game in the 80th minute 😦
I missed the end, too, BR.
Zed
That’s precisely why I can be very sniffy about the dubious nature of the refereeing and the hideous shit-housing. 🙂
I bought the Wilko/Daltrey album when it came out but not seen the Going Back vid. Really enjoyable.
fattie – they all want to go, but where? Ozil and Sanchez to China, terrific, the shittiest place on the planet and no prospect of glory. And Ox? Not exactly world class, who would want him? some lower team, no way the big clubs would come fighting for him
Unfortunately the players start hinting when they already have a deal agreed somewhere
It is a bad season this year, the next one could be far worse. So much dooming to do 🙂
Eddie, Dear Eddie
If Sanchez and Mesut leave, then I agree there will be a long re-building period and things will get far worse before they get better.
Our job is to make the dooming as enjoyable and civilized as possible. I’m thinking dress code, bar, leather wing backs and smoking, of course.
you don’t smoke, remember?
ok. I will do the smoking for all of you slackers
The prospect of Wenger, best players and lots of fringe players is daunting. How will we survive? The obvious answer is to keep Wenger for 2 more years and my guess is that is what the board are trying to secure. Perhaps there is some merit in it…
But if Wenger stays and all others leave he will be crucified by the twats and the media (or is it the same mob?). Is he prepared to take it on?
Yes, I can see full swing booming coming our way soon
dress code – all black with an Arsenal scarf maybe, just to show we are in mourning?
the prospect of xyz leaving.
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