Rennes: I know nothing about them. Does anyone apart from a French football enthusiast? Apart from Ben Arfa I know none of their players. Do you? Do you want to know? If so, look elsewhere as it’s a special day for Big Raddy and he is not in research mode.
Even GN5 struggled to pad out a post!
I could just write … We are playing Rennes in the Europa, they are in 10 place in La Ligue. We should beat them over two legs. End. It’s a wrap but having left clicked your mouse to AA you probably expect more.
Arsenal. We travel with as full a strength squad as possible. With a big game on the weekend I expect UE to rest a few chaps – Mhki, Kos etc.
My Team:
Cech
AMN (Cons) Mustafi Sokratis Monreal
Terrier Xhaka Wardrobe
Ozil Iwobi
Aubameyang
No Douzi in my line up so it is certain to be wrong.
We are on a fine run, let’s keep it going.
COYRRG
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Erik
Can we assume your special day is the birthing one?
If so, then have a great day, and you’re excused watching us play a pointless team from a pointless City
Actually, re-wind, it’s probably a town rather than city 🙄
Let’s hope we beat them and move on to better things asap
BR
You should have said, I would have done it.
Not that it isn’t a fine piece of work just as it is.
Happy Birthday.
The life and times of BG.
Writes a nice pre-match, after going to Sweden to buy a plant, and then a secret, ‘something special’ day — so I will be keeping a keen eye on Buck Palace and maybe it is going to be ‘arise Sir Raddy”? 😀
Darn it. — having finger problems — BG = BR.
So solly. 🤪
How lucky can Manure get?
Great GK spills an easy ‘collect’, and then the ref goes all idiotic. Player turns his back — gets hit by the ball — penalty — obviously.
Thanks Raddy for another year of unrivalled pre- matches, and trust your family will treat you like the leg end you truely are!
What a mixture of characters with Birthdays today. Apart from our own Big Raddy, the smiling funniest footballer ever to play for The Arsenal, the Romford Pele, the great Sir Vivian Richards, the most grumpy tennis player of all time, Ivan Lendl, and Hatem Ben Arfa, playing against us tonight. Wish all, except Hatem, a happy day!.
https://twitter.com/AFCFixtureNews/status/1103596656736509952
Hi Raddy, Thanks for your post.
Does your special day mean that “Today’s the Day”!!
Happy birthday BR
Let’s hope arsenal give u a win for your birthday
Arsenal always seem to give me a lost any time it my big day the worse being Carling cup finals lose to Birmingham grrrt
I told you VAR is crap
I always thought a hand ball has to be intentional, guess I was wrong
Chas 8.37
Managed to play this now!
Sounds like the two of them need much more roughage in their diet!!
Thanks Raddy …
……en meget glad fødselsdag til dig
From what I’m hearing, Rennes could be a tougher prospect than some are assuming. Apparently they’re on an unbeaten run and have a couple of players keen to put themselves in the shop window for a big move. A 1 nil loss wouldn’t be a disaster for us tonight.. The main thing is we have to put out our strongest side against manu at the weekend.
9 out of 11 for the birthday boy
Thank you kind friends for the b’day wishes.
Ozil playing an away fixture – that’s a novel idea
Is the Valpolicella open yet?
Roma manager sacked after loss to Porto. Monchi even more likely to arrive at the Emirates, perhaps even before the end of season. Perhaps he can prepare for Summer transfers.
Raddy, all the very best on your birthday and many thanks for the extraordinary effort you put in writing so many PM’s and fill in posts.
Yourself and Chas make meaningful and important contributions that keep us all involved in AA.
Cheers.
It should be a bottle of single malt Chas.
That’s a good strong team. We are still waiting to see what Suarez is all about … how will we know whether he’s worth buying unless we see him play?
Rasp
I’m guessing Unai has watched him practicing and thought “ooops”
my boy 🙂
Hi Fred,
You are correct — a handball must be deemed to be deliberate for a penalty to be awarded in the penalty area. That PSG defender was treated badly against Manure.
Crikey — Alex has scored from a pass!!! 0 : 1 to the Gunners.
Back to the Laws of football, Fred — there are changes to a number of current Laws, that will take effect next season — among them the “deliberate’ part of handball.
It will no longer be necessary to be sure that stopping the ball with the hand was deliberate — to be honest, how anyone could read a player’s mind to be certain it was deliberate, or not, was always weird, but them were the rules.
The ref just have got confused (cheated) by using next season’s rules this year.
Thank God for Nacho.
Mustafi is not a full back, (or a centre back for that matter).
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Auba is a big disappointment for a multi-million pound sterling player at the moment.
Given my ruthers — I would rather have young Nketiah in his place.
What a lot of damned cheating by Rennes.
Dive, Dive, Dive.
That ref will be gulled into a terrible decision at some stage — not in Arsenal’s favour.
Om the rum, could get messy
Too true, LBG. Mustafi is simply not the right calibre, as either a CB or a RB — hopefully he will go next summer.
Just missed a great chance, as I type.
Özil is playing very well on the other hand!
That was a great set play
Good to see you enjoying the game, or the rum, or both Raddy — that’s the way to celebrate a B’Day. 😋
Thist is infuriating. Both the antics of Rennes and The poor finishing of Mustafi
😂 Micky, you may be right …. but he’s worked with Suarez before
Bugger. Well done Cech baby — I thought the free kick was going to be bent to his left (our right) when it snuck thru the ‘wall’ to his right and he saved well.
Happy Birthday Big Raddy 💋💋💋
Who was it that thought Mustafi was worth £35m? …. I’d pick Stepanovs ahead of Mustafi 😂
tech’s kicks upfield are …….. ummm …….. crap!
Composure when Rennes attack. Stupidity!
Stupid of Sokratis. Really stupid
I told you that ref would cause us a big problem!!
Bowlocks!!!
Bum
60 seconds of ridiculous stupidity!
RC was right about Rennes, they are a good young team and will give us problems in the second half.
Auba seems to have lost confidence and is taking too many touches. Needs a goal.
Two clear yellow cards for the Greek Bloke. Even he knew
Happy Birthday BR
Of course VAR is rubbish, just look at the WC final and the penalty decision
RA
I think Auba is a player who thrives on the counter, which isn’t something we do often. That style suits his pace, awareness, positioning and shooting
love living here, half time advert Arsenal vs Manure live 3:30am Monday
VP
Plus you have that horrible weather. Every time I see your island on the news, the wretched place is on fire 🙂
Ben Arsole must be one of the most unpleasant players I have seen. No wonder the Newcies hated him. The wink at Sokratis after his red was deserving of a slap
Can Arsenal play 45 mins with a disciplined 441 shape?
Maybe you are right, Micky, possibly our attacking strategy does not suit him — but really quality players seem to adapt whatever the circumstances — and we paid a huge amount of dosh for him.
I know money – quality are not the sake thing. but …..
No idea how that did not go in for Rennes.
The sheer pace of Sarri (?) burned Monreal but no-one could put a toe on it as it bobbled thru the goal area.
Rennes are dirty diving bastards. The ref is being swayed by the crowd.
We should really have subbed Ozil, he acts like a baby when he gets tackled
Been coming. We have played terribly since the break.
Could easily get worse
Middle four dropping too deep. Danger is coming from wide. Close with two on each player wide.
Why can other teams do what we can see? Discipline is what this squad lacks.
We are seeing the advantage of a winger with pace. Montreal just cannot keep up
Cech’s shot stopping has been excellent
We often struggle to defend with 11 so should I be shocked that it’s an absolute shambles with 10!? 😂
Some of the clearances…🤦🏼♂️
This is becoming a nightmare.
Those bloody 1 and 2 metre passes in our own penalty area are rubbish.
No more from me tonight — I am becoming too negative — apologies.
Hmmm, Monreal is showing his age … wing backs must have pace these days and he’s being left standing in the one on ones.
Xhaka will be sent off before the end.
Third goal beyond stupid. Why did we have so many players forward? To get caught on the counter with 10 men is so naive.
Be tough to come back from this
100% Monreal’s fault that goal. Not only did he give the ball away with a sloppy pass but then he acted like a child and walked away throwing his arms in the air. If he’d have run back to get in position he could have prevented that goal
That was very very poor behaviour by several experienced players who should have known better. Sokratis and Monreal should be ashamed
Rennes were by far the better team and deserved the win.
We were rubbish with only Cech and perhaps Kos getting more than 5/10
We were in control at 1-0 so no doubt that the turning point was the red card. However, the last 2 goals we conceded were easily avoidable.
I think they will score on the counter at the Ems but I also think we are more than capable of scoring 3 or 4. They are quite open and like to attack so hopefully our class will shine through.
I would’ve been happy with 2-1 but that third goal really puts the pressure on for a big home performance.
We were rubbish with 10 men. Before that I thought we were well in control.
Hopefully the away goal will mean something and 2-0 to the good guys
Demolish the rest of the rum, Erik 🙂
I can’t wait until we sign some intelligent players. It seems years since we had a team that wasn’t thick as pig shit! Either that or we get players who are so good that it doesn’t matter how little they understand the game!
Yep arsenal FC does there very best to F up people birthday smh
So next season handball rules is what exactly RA ?
I find the first yellow on Sokratis was harsh
So make it worse it can flow yet another sloppy pass
VP penalty all day , then again I like France
Is Sokratis available for home leg
No Fred. He is not. . I agree that the first yellow was soft but why is Sokratis so stupid that he gives the attacker the opportunity to fall over and get him sent off? For an experienced International it was totally unprofessional and could well cost me a trip abroad.
Cheer up everyone..we’re still in it. They were shit until we had a player sent off. Bring them on at our home ground with 11 men!
Apols for any inaccuracies or harshness as this was written immediately after the game.
Still, no-one will want to read anything about that match this morning, so I might get away with it. 🙂
NEW POST
Ok
U men 10.25 men since I don’t count mustafi as a whole footballer any more