Arsenal Serge to the Top.

September 29, 2013

Who would have guessed that not so long ago this game would have been thought of as one for the purists? Not me. But that was how it was billed and rightly so as Swansea are a fine footballing team, this generous complement only works, of course, because Arsenal are an even better footballing team.

That said, we had to go through the ringer to prove it because that was one of the most nail biting games I have had to suffer in a while, but win we did, and three valuable points were brought back to North London and if that wasn’t good enough, results around us couldn’t have gone better if we had fixed them the night before: Manu and City losing, spuds and chavs drawing, what, somebody pinch me?

Onto the game, we were poor, well more precisely the attacking part of our game in the first half was poor; Swansea looked far more threatening going forward and I will stick my neck out and say that they had better quality attackers than we did. Michu, Dyer and Routledge are better than Giroud, Wilshere and Gnabry. Fortunately our defensive unit was in superb form and dealt with everything that Swansea threw at us.

We were getting nowhere fast, gone were those beautiful passes by Ozil into space for players to run onto when he first arrived; the kind he played week in and week out to Ronaldo at Real, these gems had to be abandoned as none of our attackers were capable of making the runs or in Giroud’s case, capable of controlling the ball well enough, this forced Ozil to have to try and beat more men than I am sure he would have liked which often led to him being tackled and losing possession. Some have criticised him, not realising, in my opinion, that circumstances forced him to play that way.

And then, just before half time, it happened, like a shaft of bright light shining through a thundery sky, Gnabry, clearly fed up being on the wing, answered the question of where he plays by making a powerful run through the middle, passing at least three men before laying of a perfect ball for Giroud — who wasted it. This was it, Gnabry had arrived, he is not a winger he is an Aaron Ramsey; people used to refer to this kind of player as a Steven Gerrard but that seems soooo passé now.

gnabry scores

Gnabry started the second half with a new found confidence; he never got chastised for moving into the middle so he tried it again a few times and it worked, he also impressively started tracking back and then to make his day just about as perfect as it could get he scored his first goal for the Good Guys. It was pretty much the only way we were going to score: a slow build up made up of accurate passes, enabling us to find a way around the Swansea defence to set up someone with a goal scoring chance; on this occasion it fell to the young German .

Serge took his chance well. With a goal to the good it forced Swansea to take more risks in their pursuit of equalising which in turn gave us a lot more space and the possibility of hitting them on the break, which is exactly what we did. Within five minutes of going ahead we had a golden opportunity to score again through Ozil, unfortunately he missed but that just set the scene for Ramsey to save the day again. I have run out of meaningful superlatives and it isn’t even Christmas. The man is a goal scoring machine. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

rambo v swansea

The game looked like it was just going to peter out with Arsenal cruising to the finishing line but a well worked goal from Swansea put pay to that, it was up off the sofa, pacing in front of the telly time.

We got there of course and with hind sight I can now see how well Wenger managed to deploy his limited resources. Wilshere and Gnabry are not wingers and that is why I was so bold above to suggest that Swansea had a better quality attack. But needs must as they say; would this game have been the same with a fit Arteta, Cazorla and Walcott available? No it wouldn’t — we would have crushed them.

Lastly, I would like to show some respect where respect is due: after the Aston Villa opening game debacle, when many Arsenal supporters including some on this site where still questioning such things as the harmony between the management and the board; Wenger’s ability or inability to sign big money players and the most hennas, “spud envy” pointing far too respectfully at all the new signings being made in N17. Well, while this sea of excrement was going on one loyal blogger on this site stood firm and put his money where his mouth was and bet that Arsenal would be top of the League on October 1st.

26 May 1989…….I salute you.

Because we are top of the league, say we are top of the league.

Quick player ratings.

Szczesny: top game, plucked everything out of the air and did well when needed to get down. There was an incident in the first half but look at the back pass and you will see who is really to blame. 8

Sagna: Wenger must have promised him big things as he is playing better than he ever has. 8

Mertesacker: So, so good, so calm, so commanding I really want to give him the MOTM but for their goal. 8

Koscielny: Another solid display from the other half of our amazing centre-back pairing 8

Gibbs: disciplined performance from England’s future LB. 8

Ramsey: I can’t think of anything else to say, MOTM. 10

Flamini: hands up all those who thought he would be able to keep Arteta out of the starting line up when he was re-signed? Not me. He is getting better and better every week. 8

Wilshere: playing wide left is obviously not ideal but he did what he could. 7

Gnabry: I thought he was a waste of space, it was if Arsenal were playing with a man short – and then he made that run. Things will never be the same. 7

Giroud: a difficult day for Ollie, his inability to hold the ball and beat a man will lead to a “Super Quality” signing coming in and ultimately taking his place. 7

Ozil. The honeymoon period is still in full swing. I just can’t wait until Cazorla returns. 7

Written by LB

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Posted by LB

A challenging evening ahead ……..

September 28, 2013

Big game for both teams. Swansea need to push ahead with their recent run of results – beating Palace, Valencia, WBA and drawing with Liverpool is proof that last season’s surprise package are still a very good team. They have had a very difficult opening fixture list already played MU, ‘Pool and Spurs.

There is a growing belief that this Arsenal team have potential to do very well and a win at the Liberty Stadium would heighten expectation even further.

Swansea: I watched the draw with Liverpool and it was a very entertaining game which Swansea would have won but for some inexplicable play from Jonjo Shelvey. Hard to believe but Shelvey is a decent player away from the Anfield hell-hole.

There is quality throughout the Swansea team. At the back there is the (supposed) AW target of Ashley Williams, and he is just the type of player we like; strong in the tackle, good in the air, a natural leader and the beating heart of the Swans. Upfront the much admired Michu and the record signing Bony, who has scored 6 goals in 7 starts.

There is pace down the flanks with the spoilt brat Dyer and Routledge. An enduring memory of last season was Dyer’s tantrum after not being allowed to take a penalty at Wembley – a perfect example of the Me generation. Hard workers in midfield and a quality keeper make Swansea a tough prospect, especially at home.

Michael Laudrup seems to be a spiky personality with there being press-talk of his problems with the Swansea BoD, but he certainly knows how to create a football team. Anyone (even Evonne) could go to Old Trafford and get into the top 4 but what makes a great manager is the ability to build a team. SAF did it many times as has AW., Laudrup appears to made of the same stuff. As he remains loved at both RM and Barca, his future is assured. Future Arsenal manager? Possibly.

Arsenal: We are so blighted with injury in the forward areas that Mr Wenger will be forced to play Mr Giroud upfront on his own. Yes – the Christmas tree formation, with Özil , Jack and Ramsey running hard to create a forward line. It has worked before and we have enough attacking talent in midfield for this to be a successful tactic.

Theo’s absence allows Arteta to come back into the team and The Flamster to stay rooted as DM. I look forward to seeing how Arteta performs further forward. Of course, this assumes that neither Gnabry nor Bendtner start the game and given they both played the full 120+ mins at WBA, it seems a reasonable assumption.. My hope is that both sit on the bench until required and we play a slightly defensive game. The surprising possession stats. against Stoke show that we can sit back and attack on the break.

My team:

swans v arse

Problems arise due to the absence of Rosicky and in particular Cazorla who could really make this formation work.

We are on a remarkable run of form. 8 winning away games on the bounce and just the one stupid referee induced loss in a very long time (can’t be bothered to check the stat). Can this Arsenal team really be this good or is it purely that we haven’t played any quality opposition? Today is yet another test.

With confidence high and both teams committed to attacking football the prospect of an exciting game lies ahead.

COYRRG

written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Arsenal Arsenal’s Friday News Round-Up.

September 27, 2013

Friday can often be a bit of a dead day for Arsenal related news at least until the Manager’s press conference in the late afternoon. Much of the news has been touched upon over the course of the last several days in the various excellent posts and the myriad comments by AA regulars and others. Just in case you missed the major news items of the week, here’s a round-up of some of them.

Sunday. Arsenal went back to the top of the Premier League with a handsome 3-1 win against Stoke City at Emirates. Mesut Ozil supplied all three assists in a demonstration of just why Arsene shelled out £40.2 million for him. Goals by Aaron Ramsey after just five minutes, Mertesacker on thirty six, to restore the lead after Cameron had equalised for Stoke on twenty six minutes, and a rare headed goal by Bacari Sagna wrapped it up on seventy two minutes.

Monday saw the publication of Arsenal’s Statement of Accounts and Annual Report 2012/2013, a fairly healthy set of figures despite a fall in pre-tax profit to £6.7 million from £36.6 million in the previous year. The club have no short term debt and a cash reserve of £119.7 million, of course these figures do not include the summer transfer dealings, so at least £42.2 million must be deducted due to the purchase of Mersut Ozil.

Commenting on the results for the year the Club’s Chairman, Sir Chips Keswick, said:

“It is my job to ensure we steer further along the course we have set. We must continue to grow commercially to provide the Club with the best opportunity to achieve success and we must do this in a way which remains true to our values and which ensures and protects the long-term sustainability of the Club”.

It was later revealed that Theo Walcott would be out for some weeks after requiring surgery on a groin and pelvic injury.

Wednesday’s Capital One Cup brought yet another away win, to add to the fine run of form, a mostly young side gaining a win on penalties after a 1 – 1 stalemate against West Brom. There is no need for me to add to the excellent match report posted by 26may89 yesterday. Our reward for the win is a juicy home tie with Chelsea in the next round.

Thursday brought the news that Mikel Arteta was subbed on Wednesday not through injury but merely cramp. For which we are all mightily relieved.

Friday. Read all about it!! Long interview with Stan Kroenke in this morning’s Telegraph Sport Section. Kroenke is in for the long haul, there’s money in the kitty Oh! And Arsene is staying!

Have a good weekend all.

 Written by Norfolk Gooner

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

The kids did us proud – Match report

September 26, 2013

What can I tell you about our League Cup game against West Brom? Not a lot, just a few comments based on the seven microseconds of coverage the BBC made available, the Radio 5 commentary and a few bits and bobs from the tinternet.

But I can tell you that:

1. We won;

2. The first half was crap;

3. With a squad shredded by injuries, the kids from the Academy Squad featured heavily; and

4. The Arsenal fans were in great voice.

Taken from the away end by chas

Taken from the away end by chas

OK, there are a few other things to say. The most important bit was how the game was won with the kids holding their nerve to prevail in a penalty shoot-out, against more experienced opponents and on their ground. The performance may not have been a slick classic, but winning in those circumstances could be the making of some of those youngsters.

Nicklas Bendtner made his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt in over two years. His reputation amongst fans has gone from bad to worse in that time, so it was sensible for a bit of humble pie to be eaten in the run-up to the game. And from what I saw, while he was certainly no world-beater last night, he was committed to the cause. His reaction when the winning penalty went in confirmed that. And he also made the goal we scored, when he received the ball from Gnabry, turned, paused while Eisfeld’s run opened up a chance and then played in the other young German with a perfect through ball. Well done to Eisfeld for slotting it home, but the goal was the creation of the big Dane.

He should have had one himself in extra time, when Gnabry played him through for what should have been a one-on-one but Bendtner took an age to compose himself for his shot, perhaps thinking the defenders were further back than they were. Unfortunately West Brom’s Dawson was able to catch Bendtner and dispossess him before he could get his shot away. The absence of preseason matches was there on display.

There will be plenty who will take a pop at Bendtner, and God knows he deserves it plenty of the time, but I thought he showed a real determination to contribute. It’s no minor thing that he took the first penalty in the shoot-out, that is taking responsibility.

Another serial under-achiever, Fabianski, had a pretty busy night and did well, making a number of good saves. He couldn’t stop Berahino equalizing ten minutes after we’d taken the lead, but that had more to do with our defenders leaving Berahino too much space when a recycled clearance from a corner was lobbed back into the box.

It was disappointing to hear relatively little being created by Arsenal in open play, though it did sound like things picked up significantly in the latter stages, in particular with the appearance of Olsson, Bellerin and Akpom from the substitutes’ bench. The 17-year old Akpom got especially positive reactions from the Radio 5 commentary team – I’ll definitely look out for that performance once I can see some proper coverage of the game.

A penalty shoot-out felt inevitable from a long way out, not that that alleviated the sense of dread about how the kids would do. That pessimism seemed well-founded, when Serge Gnabry missed our second penalty and the more experienced West Brom players (Reid, Rosenberg and Morrison) confidently despatched their first three spot-kicks. An early exit seemed very much on the cards, with West Brom on the verge of victory. Then Kris Olsson stepped up and scored (just about, the keeper was close), to make it 3-2. West Brom’s fourth penalty taker, Craig Dawson, bottled it, and put his kick well wide. The scores were level and the momentum was suddenly with us.

Next up: Chuba Akpom. The talented lad from Newham, who wasn’t even a year old when Arsène Wenger became Arsenal manager, held his nerve and put his kick away, the scores were level and we were in sudden death mode; the next miss would likely be terminal for that team’s continuation in the competition. And so it was: West Brom cracked again, when Morgan Amalfitano also blazed his kick wide, and now it was us about to kick for the win. We’ve seen plenty of failures in penalty shoot-outs down the years, but it was something of a relief to see an older head for the final kick: Nacho Monreal put his one away without undue fuss, and was rapidly bundled by some very enthusiastic young Arsenal players who’d sprinted form the centre circle.

Celebrations at wba

So there you go, our winning away record was extended to 11 competitive games in all competitions and our winning sequence is now eight games. We are into the next round, and once again we have a tough draw: we will play Chelsea at Ashburton Grove on 29 or 30 October, days before we begin a rapid sequence of games against Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United in the space of eight days. I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing to get tough draws in cup competitions, but we’re on a roll, with draws against Fenerbahce, Napoli, Dortmund, Marseille, West Brom and now Chelsea. Still, it’s better than facing Bradford and Blackburn…..

The Arsenal away contingent at the Hawthorns were fantastic last night, they were the loudest bunch in the house throughout. The Radio 5 bods were impressed at their old school refusal to sit down and the fact they had turned out in such numbers for a midweek League Cup game in another part of the country. Well done to Chas & Co, they remained in fine voice in what was, other than the shoot-out, largely a forgettable game and one in which our opponents were often on top.

There may be questions about what the presence in the squad of so many callow members of the Academy squad, and a couple of players most of us expected to have left by now. There may also be questions about first teamers like Mertesacker and Arteta being asked to play up to 120 minutes when we have an important and demanding run of two league games and a Champions’ League game coming up. This fear was made worse when Arteta was substituted, possibly as the result of an injury. Hopefully, that won’t turn out to be true. And fair play to the kids, they did us proud.

I’m afraid I can’t give ratings, I haven’t seen enough of the game yet to make those judgments. But it seems that Fabianski, Mertesacker, Monreal, Bendtner, Hayden, Jenkinson, Bellerin and Akpom all did well, and that Gnabry and Miyaichi had off-nights.

Written by 26may89

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal Well Placed in Wide Open Title Race

September 24, 2013

What an interesting weekend that was as far as the title race is concerned.

In addition to our game I was lucky enough to watch Chelsea against Fulham, Liverpool versus Southampton and the Manchester derby.

This feast of football left me with some very clear conclusions. Firstly, that most other teams – and their players and their fans – are humungous chuff-munchers. But then most of you knew that already.

Secondly – and more pertinently – I saw nothing to deflect me from the view that Arsenal can be serious title contenders this season.

Let’s start with the Manc derby, which pitted Arab oil money against institutionalized favouritism. In this case petro-dollars won out over patronage.

Man City, in fairness, looked good as they have done in their home games this season. The movement up front from Aguero and the Fat French Pitchwarmer in particular was first class. But away from home it’s been a different story for the Sky Blues, with defeat at Cardiff and a tame 0-0 draw with Stoke.

They will certainly be in the mix towards the end of the season – the strength of their squad almost guarantees it – but if they don’t find more consistency soon they could be playing catch-up come April.

Then there’s the Surrey half of Manchester. Frankly they were awful. Brave Sir Robin did not play (here’s hoping his “thigh injury” represents a bit of karmic payback) and the rest of the team was bereft of creativity.  The only time Rooney looked up for a fight was when Kompany knocked off his alice band. Meanwhile watching Fellaini lumber around like a deranged totem pole made me feel very pleased he did not come to The Home of Football this summer. Give me the Flamster any day.

In United’s favour, they have a lot of players in and around the squad who have won the league and who have the habit of winning. That may be enough to keep them in the race, but I have my doubts.

They were poor champions last season (no-one in years to come will be talking about the great United team of 2012-13) and without Ferguson’s influence over the match officials they have lost an advantage which must have been worth 10 points a season. (Incidentally, Mark Halsey’s memoirs have revealed that many refs had way too close a relationship with Surralex – the sort of you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours relationships that would be deemed deeply unethical in most professions. There should be an inquiry but I’m not holding my breath).

The more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that Ferguson retired last season because he did not think United would be serious contenders any more. Right now they are in danger of the sort of top six finish that David Moyes is very comfortable with.

And so to Liverpool. After their three-games-three-wins start I was reminding anyone who would listen that this is still Liverpool; that they have a prize prat for a manager and that the wheels will inevitably come off.

Two games and one point later for the Scousers, I see nothing to change my mind. Yes, they still have Suarez champing at the bit to come back – but they had him last season too and it wasn’t enough to get them into the top four.

In the West London derby the unfashionable dull team with lots of money beat the unfashionable dull team with less money. But Chelsea were a bit lucky to get the win and were unconvincing throughout.

On paper they have a creative midfield that’s almost a match for ours (in place of Ozil, Cazorla, Wilshere, Arteta. Ramsey, Rosicky read Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Willian, Lampard). But whereas our creative midfielders are playing for a manager who craves beauty and creativity the way a Spudder craves a top four finish, the Chav midfielders are under the yoke of someone who demands organization, discipline and defensive-mindedness above all else. Our square pegs are in square holes, Mourinho’s are in round holes.

I still think Chelsea will be serious title challengers, if for no other reason than Maureen has been so successful in all his jobs. But right now it looks like he has a set of players who don’t suit his style of football, so maybe it won’t be all plain sailing for the 10-year-old club

As for Arsenal, well, we put in a decent “seven out of ten” performance against Stoke. And before we get too carried away with our start to the season, someone in comments pointed out that in the equivalent five fixtures last season we took 15 points, so we’re actually three points down on last year.

But you get the feeling that something positive is brewing in N5. It started after the defeat to the Spudders last year and has gained momentum ever since. Adding a genuine superstar to the mix has given an extra psychological boost and has lifted the fans too.

Right now I don’t see any team that’s better than us, either in their current form or in the strength of their squad.

I deliberately haven’t mentioned our noisy neighbours because I did not see their game. It looked bang on for a 0-0 draw, but they snaffled a late winner – just like they did so often last year, courtesy of Ape Boy.

This time round they have no chimp, but they managed to get the result anyway. I think they will struggle to gel all their new players and I expect them to get beaten by the Chavs next weekend – but you never know: maybe this is the year when the two North London teams fight it out for the title. If so it would be tremendously exciting (not to mention nerve-wracking).

If I had to predict the end-of-season top five today it would be this:

Arsenal

Chelsea

Man City

Spuds

Man Utd

What do you think?

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Match report …..Viva Ramsey!

September 23, 2013

I make no apologies for saying that I dislike Stoke City. Hardly an original view from an Arsenal fan, but about the only thing I can think that commends them is the time spent in the Potteries by the great Lee Dixon and Steve Bould, before they found their way to the home of football.

That is not nearly enough to outweigh my resentment for the wilfully reckless maiming of the then teenage Aaron Ramsey, and especially the way in which the Stoke fans revelled in that incident in the years since, even baiting the young victim. Stoke’s destructive fear of real football, shown up most effectively by Swansea’s success in combining financial caution with quality football, only underlines why Stoke are a club to wish bad things for. True, Mark Hughes has brought a reintroduction of football at Stoke, but I’m not one to forgive and forget.

Arsenal came to the game on an excellent run: one defeat and two draws in 18 competitive games, two defeats and three draws in 20 PL games, a defence that has got into the habit of almost never conceding more than one goal in a game etc etc. The game was always going to be significant for two things: the Ramsey factor, given the opposition and the Welshman’s form this year; and the home debut of the refined and expensive talent that is Mesut Özil. And on both counts, things went well.

Ramsey v stoke

In the fifth minute, Jack Wilshere’s run at the Stoke defence drew a foul from the busted flush that is Charlie Adam in a perfect area. Adam’s incompetence put Özil in a position to line up a good shot on goal, one that Begovic didn’t handle well, pushing it out in front of goal and into the path of the boy wonder, Aaron Ramsey. Watching him able to lord it over the Stoke fans in his celebrations was exquisite. And that was reflected in the chants of the Arsenal fans, who loved ramming it down the Stoke fans’ throats.

We continued to control the game pretty much throughout the first half, but against the run of play Stoke produced their one moment of quality when Gibbs ceded possession on the flank and the ball broke to Steven N’Zonzi. His floated diagonal ball was perfectly weighted and was despatched early enough to deny the defence a chance to set themselves properly. When Arnautović met the ball first time, he was unlucky to hit the post, but it ricocheted into the path of one of those hardworking American players, Geoff Cameron, whose shot was carefully placed beyond Szczesny’s reach.

Sanity was restored before halftime, once again from a dead ball. The Stoke centre backs, Robert Huth and lovely Ryan Shawcross, players unable to do their jobs without cheating, were so intent on manhandling Giroud and Koscielny in the build-up that Stoke neglected to cover Mertesacker. The BFG was easily able to evade the cover assigned to him, and looped Özil’s perfect corner to the back post. With Koscielny running interference to confuse Begovic, the ball dropped into the net. Hey presto, 2-1 up.

Mert celebrates with Rambo and Ozil

The tempo dropped in the second half, which was perhaps unsurprising after the team’s wonderful efforts in Marseille. But fortunately for us, we weren’t facing a side that had the ability to exploit that. Jones was largely isolated and when Hughes subbed him, for some reason he passed over Peter Crouch, and preferred to put Mark Walters up front, which was an odd decision. But, without another goal, we remained vulnerable. That goal arrived from yet another dead ball, a free kick that was once again won by Wilshere driving at the Stoke defence, who were only able to terminate Jack’s run by taking him out. This wasn’t shooting territory for Özil but he floated a ball across the penalty area, where the goal machine that is Bacary Sagna was able to outjump his two opponents and loop a header over Begovic and into the far corner.

Sagna celebrates

And so it was that we were returned to the top of the early season league table. With Man United’s embarrassing capitulation to City, we are already five points clear of van Persie’s team, but the other good sides are clustered together. It was a shame to see Spurs win in injury time, but I do enjoy seeing the two North London clubs at the top, with the good guys in poll position.

We will see much, much better performances from Mesut Özil than yesterday’s, but, even while he’s adapting to a new team and a new league, he was able to provide three assists. It was a quiet, efficient win yesterday, but, even beyond winning three points in a game against a disliked opponent, there were numerous positive aspects for us: Arteta’s return to the fray, Gnabry’s energetic and fearless performance (which meant we were able to cope without Walcott), the solidity of the defence (after the frayed edges shown against Sunderland), selfless hard-work from Giroud and Flamini and a good performance from Wilshere. But the greatest satisfaction came from seeing Ramsey score and play well against our bêtes noires. Viva Ramsey!

Written by 26may

Player ratings by LB

Szezcney: I have never played goalkeeper and because of that I have never professed to know too much about that position but every part of me shouts that this keeper is the real deal; another good game. 8

Sagna: definitely one of his better games, back to where he plays best with the BFG next to him. Patrolled the line well and scored a goal to boot. 8

Mertasacker: Captain on the day, steered the ship from the back with calmness and authority. 8

Koscielny: these two CBs remind me of Adams and Bould, the BFG being the former. On the rare occasions that Adams didn’t play you got to see the actual ability of Bould and realised then just how good Adams made Bould look. Laurent had a perfectly good game but a BFG he is not. (yet) 7

Gibbs: Ramsey may rightfully be the player who has received all the accolades for being the most improved player this season but there is no doubt that the second most improved is Kieran Gibbs; that said, yesterday was not one of his better days. In the first half he was a bit too slack at times. 6

Ramsey: how is it possible to praise him anymore, he was by some distance the best player on the pitch for the first 45 minutes, scoring yet another goal, and celebrating in front of the Stoke fans. He faded a tad in the second half which is the reason I have not given him the MOTM but still another great day at the office. 8

Flamini: after watching him three times on TV I was close to concluding that our second most important signing was no more than a 2013 version of Giles Grimandi: a jobbing utility player; well, yesterday I saw him in the flesh for the first time and realised I was wrong. His passing, his positioning, his tackling were superb; none of them world class; but, a bit like his career path; he really knows how to make the most out of the limited ability that he has. A very impressive game and a worthy MOTM. 9

Wilshere: one step forward, two steps back; he was not at his best yesterday, I got the feeling that he was filling in because others were injured, had Rosicky or Cazorla been fit, Jack would have certainly been on the bench; still, what he lacked in fitness he made up for in a determination. 7

Gnabry: I was going to tear into the young German but having read a few comments from some of the more esteemed regulars on here, arguing that he is not a winger, maybe I should hold fire. Nevertheless, he was poor in the first half, he slowed the play down almost every time he got the ball, when a simple pass was possible he tried to show off. It is, of course, early days, but this is a match report on yesterday’s game and yesterday, in my opinion, he was not very good. 5

Giroud: his passing is improving, his control is improving and his positioning is improving, he always works like a Trojan and yesterday was no exception. 8

Ozil: Three assists on his home debut. Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I went with my Mrs who asked when he ran close to us to take a corner: why are they all standing and clapping before he has even taken the kick, to which I replied — for just being. 8

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Posted by LB

From Orcs to Swans?

September 22, 2013

Stoke City, 9 letters . Mark Hughes, 9 letters. One would think a match made in heaven. What is the significance of the number 9? According to Chinese belief the number 9 represents attainment and success; on a personal level it signifies leadership.

Only …. as the eagle eyed geniuses who read AA will have spotted Mark Hughes has 10 letters and the number 10 signifies a cheating, spiteful, ignorant, charmless man (thank you, Morrissey)

Those who regularly read my posts will know my feeling towards both these entities – I have written many Stoke PM’s and all have the same theme. Why? Because whereas I dislike Tottenham due to an accident of geography, my dislike of Stoke has developed thanks to it being an execrable club and town.

My first visit to the Potteries scarred me for life – a 5-0 loss.  A horrible town, a horrible game and a depressing drive South.  All in all, enough to elevate Stoke into the heady realms of the Premier League of my most detested teams, where they have stayed ever since.

Eventually Pulis arrived and they became Orcs. Now, the marriage with the odious Sparky Hughes – it could only get worse.

Or can it?

The rumours are that Stoke are playing football!! Can this possibly be true? Can a man whose football philosophy is entrenched in kick-the-man-not-the-ball really encourage the Beautiful Game? The stats suggest that this is so – an average of almost 400 passes per game, a massive reduction in crosses and long balls and a 79% passing accuracy . A footballing victory at WHU and a draw vs Man City show this is a team in form.

But are they really turning from ugly ducklings into swans? (source: Hans Christian Anderson 1861).  Is this the Shawcross Redemption? (too corny for a headline 🙂 )

A  positive stat is that The Odious One (henceforth TOO) has visited the Emirates as a manager of 5 different teams and has yet to win. Some record. How the hell does this bloke get a job? He has destroyed every team he has managed and been sacked on all but one occasion – the other being when he left a team in the lurch to go in search of “success” prior to being binned from City. TOO was sacked by relegated QPR last season and yet picked up another PL job!  And he has an OBE – certainly not for services to football!!

Arsenal:  Not much to write as the team almost picks itself. The injury list will ease over the next couple of weeks and we will finally see who Mr Wenger has in mind for his starting 11 –  I have no idea, but it is a luxury problem. We have quality throughout the squad.

My Team:

arse v orcs

How will TWOO (The Wizard of Ozil) cope with the kicking he will undoubtedly receive this afternoon? We have no Stevie Bould or TA6 to “remind” Stoke to behave. As such a strong referee is essential and today we have Mike Dean – not my favourite but highly experienced and fully aware of Stoke’s intimidating tactics. Let us hope he has a good game.

What I would like to see this afternoon is TWOO score his first Emirates goals (on his home debut)  and for TOO to spend the game cursing his players, cursing the referee, cursing Mr Wenger, cursing the very handsome Arsenal centre forward, cursing the gods and driving back on the coach cursing his own players. and in particular cursing the chief Orc, Ryan Shacwross.

Now that would go some way to redeeming Stoke City.

COYRRG

written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Time to forgive, Arsenalistically

September 21, 2013

During the summer, before the last act twist of the transfer window, the sentiments in the picture below were in my mind, as they were in the minds of other gooners. I tweeted this with the question, was it time for me to move on from that view or not?

BTYqyybCEAE4RFp.jpg large

The answers I got were as polarised as you’d expect on twitter with the answers being either: ”of course it is, stop being negative and get behind the club” or “it’s only a one off bit of spending, the club will be soon back to its normal stingy ways in January”.

As ever how I felt falls somewhere between the two stools however it did occur to me that maybe my (not so) private slating of Wenger/the board/Gazidis was a bit unwarranted in hindsight. A bit of perspective between the events and when you look at their context will give you some chance of a less emotional valuation of a situation, even if following a team is, by it’s nature, full of emotive subjectivity. That and being relentlessly bombarded lame media’s need to cause outrage amongst a fanbase by being “less than truthful” with facts in its reporting.

Similarly my reaction to Flamini’s use of our training facilities to get fit a month ago seemed like being overly helpful to someone who left us in the lurch after promising to sign a new contract all season long.

Admittedly it is early days but he has done a job so far that, given Arteta’s absence, cannot be undervalued. Again, was I too quick to turn on the venom? By May next year we’ll know how useful an acquisition of this Marseille man with the Corsican ancestry will turn out to be.

In time I’ve learnt to forgive Cesc, to a degree, for how he left us as he hasn’t denigrated the club and always spoken well of it but his behaviour has seemed better in comparison to that Cutch Dunt who is now residing in Salford playing for a wrinkly faced Gollum who as shown below is out of his depth. Needless to say St Nick will be commuting to work on skis before I forgive that Dutchman.

funny-david-moyes-man-utd-meme

So, how forgiving are you, who of our ex players will get the hate and who will get the adulation that you previously thought you wouldn’t give?

By ChärybdÏß1966

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Posted by ChärybdÏß1966

Dear Arsène: “My Arsenal as well you know”.

September 20, 2013

Dear Arsène,

DidIt here again. Couple of things.

Now I realize that you and I are not natural Bedfellows, what with my rather gung-ho and somewhat cavalier attitude to life, but nevertheless, I still feel that you may enjoy more of my footballing analysis and insight.

Thing is this, and my first topic for today, your positional awareness with regards to the left side attacking slot leaves quite a lot to be desired. It is, Arsène, this habit of yours in sticking the wrong players out there. Having discussed this issue with you before, I was going to let things lie. That was, Arsène , until you dropped your most recent bomb.

You crack open the kitty, and splash out 40 Million pounds on Mesut Ozil. Great so far. Then the bomb. You stick the poor fellow out wide. Not 4 million, Arsene, 40 million, and you play him out of position! 40 Mill may be sloshing about your petty cash tin, but to us normal folk, that’s a lot of milk. Let’s get some perspective on that, shall we? It’s the equivalent of about 1,000 pints of milk for every day of an eighty year life! “Respect Value”, I say, or have you completely lost the plot, Arsène ?

You see, it’s not the first time you’ve done this, is it, Arsène? No, it isn’t. Bendy, Chamakh, Podolski, Ramsey, and now Ozil. Are you mad? What’s going on?

You know what, I’ve had a thought and there’s sod all you can do about it. Very soon, both Santi and Mesut are going to be up for selection at the same time, and you know damn well that they both start.

Here’s the really funny bit, Arsène, you can’t stick both out wide. Ha ha ha. So what’s the plan then?

Even that Lunatic LB had a brilliant idea yesterday, and that was sticking Mesut centre top. Lateral thinking. Lateral thinking. This idea of his ties in nicely with the second point I wanted us to discuss with you, Arsène.

Nicholas Bendtner. Name ring a bell?

We really do need to consider our options in terms of protecting Big ‘Ol, and I cannot help thinking that our Nic is the most similar kind of player that would bring as little disruption to our style as possible. Never really gave him much time through the middle, did we? Just as I kept saying last term regarding Big ‘Ol: “Along the ground. Ball to feet”. He may be better than we think.

Thing is ,Arsène , what are we going to do about his fitness and more importantly, his attitude?

Bribery springs to mind. He’s one of those poofy sorts of blokes that like jewellery, so there’s an option right there. Perhaps a more ruthless approach, like the use of electricity, I don’t know, but I’d certainly like to hear your thoughts.

My biggest single problem with you, Arsène , is that while I feel perfectly qualified to share advice on tactics and whatnot with you, I do have to take into account your recent bloody results:

WWWWWDWDWWWLWWWWW and bloody W again!

Let’s be clear about one thing, the sooner you start listening to Bedfellows like me and actually take on board our advice, the better, and then together we can eliminate these draws and losses forever.

Sagely words I’m sure you’d agree. Perhaps send that Gazidis bloke down to Smiths and buy a new folder. You could then put a sticky label on it and ink words like “DidIt Do’s and DidIt Do Not’s” or something.

So, in the meantime, I say, “Sod it, over to you, Arsène ”.

I remain, you obedient servant.

DidIt, M.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Marseille 1 Arsenal 2 : Breaking records again

September 19, 2013

M. Wenger must have breathed a sigh of relief that last night we were at least adding to the team that started against Sunderland rather than having another injury/sickness to deal with. For many of us watching it was a great relief to see Mertesacker return to the starting line up, and Sagna moving back to his more familiar full back role, this is nothing against the young man Jenkinson replaced but more to do with the calmness and organisation Mertesacker gives the team. The midfield and attack presently picks itself with so many regulars injured.

The Marseille home following were certainly keen to create an oppressive atmosphere and in the first half their team responded for them, it was uncomfortable viewing for most of it, passes going astray for us, and pressed at every opportunity when we looked to have few options, when we look back at the stats though it becomes clear that this is more about our expectations than the team performing too badly, we were pretty equal with Marseille in terms of possession and passing.

We were allowing them to play rather than stamping our authority on the game and we were giving them encouragement to continue their game plan with some wasteful use of the ball in and around the half way line. Thankfully for us they were not making the most of their pressure in the final third a free header sent wide with Szczesny stranded and later a useful clearance from BFG with the striker behind him, we were equally toothless and apart from Theo’s early effort (when he was probably being fouled) struggled to find a way through the Marseille defensive line.

The second half was a more open affair, Marseille struggled to press us as effectively as they tired and we started to play the channels more and have more of the game, Marseille also kept probing and Szczesny was called upon several times to show good handling and deal with shots from distance.

With fifteen minutes of the second half gone it could have easily been a different story, a hopeful cross from our right had BFG swinging a right leg as Szczesny came to claim, the ball looped over the latter but thankfully Gibbs reacted to head the ball off the line and back into Szczesny’s hands.

Five minutes later saw us take the lead, another overlapping run by Gibbs saw him deliver a good cross into a threatening area, Marseille’s left back made a hash of the clearance and the ball looped up towards Theo, who waited for what seemed an eternity before smashing a volley into the net. This was such a good finish, anyone who has played football will know what it is like waiting for the ball to drop, how many times do you see players snatch at it thinking they have less time and failing to make good contact, Theo set himself kept his eyes on the ball and cracked it home.

Theo like Thierry

Half chances came and went at either end, Szczesny dealing with everything coming his way and us nearly finding a way through for the second.

The second goal came from our man of the moment Aaron Ramsey, receiving the ball from Gibbs and with white shirts in attendance he spun and drove into the box before finishing into the bottom corner (with the aid of a little deflection). Watch this goal again if you don’t believe me but Giroud was key to this goal, his run took two defenders away and Ramsey had the room to burst into.

Gibbs and Rambo v Marseille

Unfortunately we blotted our copybook at the very end by giving away a sloppy penalty, tired legs from Ramsey (its about time he looked a little leggy given the yards he puts in) saw him take a heavy touch and was adjudged to have fouled the forward as he tried to recover. Szczesny could do nothing about the penalty but thankfully there was not long left so we didn’t have to sweat on the result for long.

10 away games won on the trot a new club record and much deserved for this group of players that are really starting to repay the belief the manager has placed in them.

Win the three home games and we will see the knockout round.

Ratings:

Szczesny – 8 A solid display from the young Pole, great handling and comfortable shot stopping all night. Didn’t actually have to make any worldies and you would be disappointed if he had conceded any of the shots on target.

Sagna – 7 Not his most prolific display but did the important stuff well

Mertesacker – 7 Minor blip with the Gibbs goalline clearance, but otherwise the usual reliability we have come to expect.

Koscielny – 8 A solid commanding performance, constantly pressures the forwards high up the pitch gives them little space and competes for everything.

Gibbs – 9 MOTM Two assists, goalline clearance, he has come a long way from the player I used to get frustrated with turning inside whenever he received possession, has grown in stature immeasurably over last two seasons.

Flamini – 7 Bit of a struggle in the first half as the others in midfield left him a little exposed, looked more comfortable when we had better shape in the second half.

Ramsey – 8 Very nearly another man of the match performance. Cracking goal, fantastic tackling back he really is an all action midfielder the kind we haven’t had for a while.

Wilshere – 7 Another game under the belt, he is getting better and is moving more confidently with the ball, unlucky with a half volley at the far post.

Özil – 7 Quiet first half as we struggled to get the ball to him, came into the game in the second half and was unlucky not to have a couple of assists to his name by the end of the night.

Walcott – 8 Exceptional volley to give us the lead, could have had another couple but did well all night to provide a threat.

Giroud – 8 His silent assist for Ramsey’s goal sums up this lad, constantly willing to work for his team mates, could do with a rest soon!

Subs:

Monreal, Miyaichi – No real time to judge.n

Written by

Gööner in Exile

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Posted by Gööner In Exile

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