I wrote in the pre-match that we needed a strong referee. A forlorn hope at Old Trafford.

Moaninho is nothing if not pragmatic and he knows his football history. Under SAF when United were under threat of defeat they took advantage of lilly-livered refereeing and started to maim the opposition. This was a tactic. Shit-housery everywhere; rotational fouling, underhand violence, shirt tugging, hair pulling, leaving a boot in after a sliding tackle – anything was acceptable. Last night we saw it again.

Holding smashed out of the game in a horribly late tackle by Rashford which was not even punished. Ramsey crocked, Terrier kicked repeatedly, Curly the subject of a red card tackle and then having his hair pulled by Fellaini. The list is very long. Oh and an offside goal given to Utd. Quelle surprise. Marriner was pathetic – only Mike Dean could have been worse.

Yet despite this shocking show of both weak refereeing and violent tactics, I feel disappointed that we dropped two points.  We were the better side throughout and with clinical finishing would have won comfortably.

Player Ratings:

Leno: Two mistakes cost us dearly.  6

Bellerin. As ever an energetic display, Even got stuck in a couple of times   7

Mustafi. Soild. Scored.   8

Sokratis. Not one to shirk away from a challenge   8

Kolasinac. So much better in attack than in defence.  Created many chances. 7

Holding. Was doing well until kicked out of the game. Hope he is not too crocked.   8

Terrier. Must be used to this type of game in Uruguay. Our Duracell bunny   8

Douzi. Amazing maturity for a teenager. Never shirked   8

Ramsey,  He was superb before being kicked out the game   8

Iwobi.  Not really his sort of game.   6

Auba.  Had chances, didn’t put them away.   6

Subs:

Licht. A game made for our master of the dark arts.   7

Laca. Scored (of course he did).  Energetic   7

Mhiki. Missed a sitter.  6

written by BR.

A very long trip for a game which MAY go ahead. Let’s assume it will.

The problems in Ukraine have resulted in AFC not needing to take a 400 mile round trip to somewhere out in the frozen wastes, this has to be a positive. Also, it means that it will be an away fixture for FC Vorskla.

Ahead of Sunday’s game against the chaps from Harrow, Emery will be selecting a team filled with B players and youth, though to consider Ramsey a B player could be construed as an insult (same could be said of Holding, Mhiki etc).

Strange that we are taking only one CB with any first team experience, I wonder why Pleguezuelo is not in the squad as he did well against B’pool in the Carabao. Instead we have Medley who is just 18. Could Elneny play at CB or Licht?

My Team:

Helmet

Licht    Holding    Elneny    Corporal

Curly    Ramsey   M-N (Cons)

Mhiki   Smith Rowe (Lab)

Eddie

Perhaps this team is a bit attack orientated and Willock may get a start or M-N (Cons) will operate in the same manner as Wardrobe last Sunday. Given Mhiki’s dreadful performance at B’mouth he needs to find form and playing time is the only solution. Playing Henrik €250k p.w. is excessive given his AFC performances and it is easy to understand why Ramsey, who has consistently done well for us, considers he should earn commensurately.

There is an interesting article on Arseblog (written by Tim Stillman) on the need for Arsenal’s youth academy to deliver first team players. We have seen Bellerin and Iwobi come through, bought some fine kids (Curly and Terrier), now we need to see if Eddie, M-N and Smith Rowe can make that huge step up from being excellent in the Academy to being reliable first team squad members.  I expect many player sales in summer which will give opportunities to those with the talent and tenacity to take them.

Those on the fringes should read this article about one of our shining lights in the Academy over the past decade.    https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/chuba-akpom-exclusive-interview-chelsea-paok-arsenal-europa-league-a8657206.html

We saw that Vorskla are a limited team who gave us few problems at THOF but tonight they will be playing a weaker AFC team and we can expect a tough fixture. A draw would be good, a win better.

COYRRG

Have you ever been to Bournemouth? Lovely place and a very pleasant drive (off motorway) from North London. I have never had the pleasure of going to Dean Park but I am told it is a cosy stadium.

If you want evidence that AFC Bournemouth are punching above their weight it is that Dean Court holds under 12,000 fans! Their journey in the last 10 years has been the stuff of fairy tales; to go from Div 3 (Div 4 in Old Money) and administration to be a Top 10 side in the PL is astonishing.

Proof of their improvement is that so many Gooners would take a draw from this afternoon.

How can it be that a side whose total cost is less than our front three are such strong opponents? Teamwork, organisation, very hard work, fine managership and belief. Last season Bournemouth were that hardest working team in the PL, this season it is Arsenal (I think).

Bournemouth have International players in their squad and not just chaps who represent Uzbekistan or Nepal, they have blokes who have caps for England, France, Scotland etc. They are a young team, a team to admire.

But we can beat them.

We got turned over at Dean Court last season in a topsy-turvy game we should have won. 2 goals conceded in 4 minutes did for us after Wobbly had set up Catwalk for our goal.

Defensive discipline is the order of the afternoon as B’mouth are excellent on the counter attack with speed being their chief weapon,

Much has been written about Eddie Howe, probably deservedly. He seem like a nice boy.  It will be interesting which big club takes him and which club will be first to lose their high profile manager; Klopp, Sarri, Emery, Guardiola, Poch – one of them will be on their way to Spain/France.

Arsenal go into the game on a series of draws, costly in terms of points but good for confidence. Many pundits say we are over-achieving  but if one looks at the squad I think the opposite, we are under-achieving. Bournemouth away should be a regulation 3 points, just as S’ton away was.

The recurrence of Monreal’s injury is worrying given his age, we need better cover than Kolasinac, especially against a counter-attacking team.

Post Interlull some players could be rested following draining long distance travel, Iwobi being the chap with the most airmiles.

My Team:

Bent

Catwalk    Mustafi    Greek Bloke   Wardrobe

Terrier   Xhaka

Mhiki    Mesut

Laca   PEA

Did you know that 42% of AFC attacks come from the left wing? This imbalance is worrying when one has a hefty left FB who is required to work in defence as well as overlap the left- sided MF.

Transition is a much used term about our team and there is no question we have yet to see a true Emery team. As we enter a very difficult run of PL games his main area of concern will be our defence ,especially on the counter. Let’s hope Umai has spent the Interlull working with our back 5.

Win this and we are well set up for the Miscreants from London HA9  😀

COYRRG

When we signed him I was excited. We needed a left side back up to Nacho and Kolsianc fitted the bill precisely.

Able to play in midfield but a specialist full back, voted into the Bundesliga Team of the Season,signing on a free – it seemed to good to be true and on current form it was TGTBT.

He started well, setting up a couple of goals and working well defensively. I thought he would be taking the shirt from Nacho but injury has ruined his AFC career. It was the same at Schalke where he missed time with knee knack. Sead appears to be lacking in confidence and direction. Against Wolves he was dreadful.

Good young LB’s are in much demand, there are few around, hence the stupid money talked about for the Chilwell etc. The demands of the position have developed to the point where one has be blessed with the lungs of a marathon runner, the strength of a boxer and the crossing ability of Georgie Armstrong.

Nicknamed the Wardrobe, I was hoping for something from Heals, I would have accepted a top of the range one from IKEA but instead it appears we have have a chipboard self-assembly from Homebase.

Either Sead must improve or he will be skipped.

written by Big Raddy