What we learnt from the weekend

August 27, 2018

At home

Unai Emery’s new Arsenal team is a work in progress being only marginally better than Pellegrini’s hammers.

After much analysis from AA’s reservoir of keen students of the game, it has become clear that the Arsenal right side needs some work. The first and third goals against West Ham came from Bellerin providing width down the flank. Arnautovic’s lucky scuffer from the edge of the box resulted from Anderson being given the freedom of Islington on Arsenal’s right.

Thanks to eagle-eyed observation from fgg, we saw that Xhaka and Douzi both wanted to play left side in the double pivot. (Maybe they assumed Mesut was going to be there). Lucas Torreira provided much better balance and stability when he emerged from the bench. Perhaps Cardiff will see his first full Premier League game?

Our new centre-back combo are like chalk and chalk. Both a little lacking in pace and seeming not to possess any Beckenbauer-like sweeping abilities. But it’s still early days and any long-term relationship needs plenty of effort to drag it through the dodgy times.

Up front, Auba needs a goal and Micki is looking to be settling into a floating attacking role in Emery’s new Arsenal.

Elsewhere

Three teams are still on maximum points. The chavs had a late and spawny victory up in the North East. The scousers made hard work of Brighton – Klopp trying to convince himself that he wasn’t worried because everyone could see Liverpool were the better team. Watford won again, which is odd but Brighton, Burnley, Palace as opponents goes some way to explaining it.

The sugar-coated, Amazon documentary-producing, oil wealth-exploiting boys in sky blue could only draw at Wolves which brought a warm fuzzy feeling to most who might have been watching. Well that’s two points off the guaranteed 114 they were predicted to get at the start of the season. 🙂

Anyone who chose Burnley defenders as good picks in their fantasy team, with Dyche’s team low on goals both scored and conceded last season, will be puzzled by them shipping 7 already and having just one point to show for their efforts. Their European tour might be having negative effects even at this early stage.

Palace losing to Watford yesterday meant that we crept above them into tenth spot and the top half of the table. Not what the media was hoping for at all!

Tonight

Possibly the two most unlikeable teams in the Prem face off at the Old Cowshed this evening. If the spuds win, we can console ourselves with Maureen’s impression of a disconsolate floor mop. If the mancs win, we will see my favourite result from any game involving our execrable neighbours.

But as usual perhaps the best result would be a draw, with a 23 man brawl, points deductions, player suspensions and the odd long-term visit to a sickbay thrown in for good measure. 🙂

chas 

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Slightly less pants than West Ham – Player Ratings

August 26, 2018

And we’re off. Arsenal’s season is up and running with a 3-1 win over West Ham. Not one for the purists, names like Bergkamp, Pires and Henry will not be needed to describe this one; live long in the memory it will not, if it makes it past Tuesday it would have done well. But a win, is a win is a win and those important three points will stay with us for the whole season.

Goodness only knows what style of play Emery is trying to create; I guess we are going to have to wait a bit longer to see how that one unfolds. As for the system; he employed a 4-2-3-1 which sort of made sense. Our Basque manager is obviously getting closer to what he wants. I was particularly impressed with his substitutions and his taking advantage of the change in the FA rules that must now say that it is permissible to make changes at half time, I am guessing that it is a new directive because I have never seen such a thing in all my time of watching Arsenal, well certainly not for the last 22 years.

Iwobi you are not cutting it – off. Guendouzi: a few too many loose passes – off and Aubameyang: feeling a bit under the weather – off. The substitutions were decisive — you under perform and you are off. I like it.

As for the game, West Ham went ahead after more Keystone defending which allowed Arnautovic to rifle a low shot past Cech’s out flung right hand.

“We’re winning away, we’re winning away how (awful) must you be, if we’re winning away.”

Monreal put them back in their place, with superbly controlled effort that fell kindly to him after some kind of shananigans, I can’t remember exactly; I was just too relieved that it went into the back of the net.

Half time arrived and on came Lacazette who gave us a lot more thrust upfront. We were always in control it’s just that until you get the second goal there is always that nagging doubt that it might not happen and I have to write something on the lines of at least we didn’t lose. But not this time, Lacazette put us ahead after he spun, fired the ball into Aubameyang’s chest and into the goal. The man obviously plays snooker as he knew exactly where PEA was and the exact angle he needed to hit him in order for the ball to go into the pocket.

On came Danny to enthusiastic singing from the crowd; do you realise that Welbeck is the only player with a song. Think about it, what a sad indictment, there is only one player in the squad who is deemed worthy to have his name sung – having his own song. And long may it continue, I have a soft spot for Welbeck, I still think there is time for him to turn into one of the absolute best strikers in the EPL. What a cool finish; gather ball, back to goal, spin and blast past keeper. 3-1, and we all sighed a huge sigh of relief, no one more than Unai Emery.

Cech: great keeping, kept us in the game again, have you noticed how immediately after the break when there is a goalkick, Cech plays the ball out at a 90 degree angle and then, out of panic, because no one is quite sure what they are supposed to do, it is passed back and we all start feeling really nervous, this must be on half time managerial instructions. My point is that I liked it when Cech clearly thought that this is nonsense and reverted to clearing the ball like normal teams. 8

Bellerin: someone suggested that he must be playing as high as he does on instructions, there can’t be any other answer because again we were getting slaughtered down the right flank when we lost possession. Still, good going forward as usual. 5

Mustafi: I don’t know what to say, is it all his fault? Does he really know what is expected of him? Who knows? 4

GB: played one superb long diagonal pass that I was impressed with – slowly finding his feet. 4

Monreal: Excellent goal, still our number one left back choice, I do like Nacho. 7

Guendouzi: probably guilty of trying a bit too hard and not keeping enough of an eye on the basics; should be interesting what UE does with him next. 5

Xhaka: a workman like performance, not a DM and not a goal scorer. Imagine Torriera as the DM and Ramsey next to him, you have a genuine DM and a genuine attacking midfielder who scores goals. 5

Ramsey: well he got to play his supposedly favourite position, mah, it was ok. Now about that leaving Ozil in his ‘sickbed’  malarkey, hmmm. 6

Mkhitaryan: he was better today, tracking back and all, his place is secure because no one else can play on the right. 7

Aubameyang: come on PEA, we need a hero, someone worthy of a new song; it’s been so long since a player had his own shiny new song. 6

Favourite comment:

Aaron says:
August 25, 2018 at 4:43 pm
Did I just see the Arsenal slow up a counter? My goodness



Written by LB

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Fundamentals of Football – How hard can it be?

August 24, 2018

Looking at stats behind the scenes, this post seems to be read on a daily basis, 3 today, 10 yesterday and 17 on Tuesday etc etc. Written in June 2012, I was wondering what is its specific appeal.

Does it come out on top from search engine enquiries?  What, if anything, would you wish to add? A simple game complicated by fools?

I have decided to write this piece in a bid to react to what really makes a good football player (Reactionary to “is this the time to sell Walcott?”) particularly when it comes to delivering in the required playing position. I believe the knowledge of the facts of an issue will result in better formulation of opinions.

The fundamentals of football relates to the following:

1. The Player

2. The Team

3. The Formation

4. The Positions

So we will consider the fundamentals of football within the spectrum of these four key aspects

1. The Player

There are basic requirements needed for an individual to qualify as a football player.

a. Ball Control:

Ball control is primarily the ability to position a ball such that it favours the overall objective of getting a goal. In other words, to get a goal, a player must be able to receive a pass, make a pass and shoot at goal. Basic skills needed here are Foot Control of Ball, Chesting, Heading (Nodding), Kicking (Shooting), and Movement (Running, Jumping, and Sweeping)

b. Ball Possession:

In the event where the opposition has the ball, a player is required to possess the basic ability:  technical or physical or both to dispossess the opponent of the ball for the purpose of gaining or regaining possession. For example Marking and Tackling

c. Team Play:

When it is a game, it only means there is more than one. There is no such game with only one person involved. At least there must be the player and the coach, and in this discourse, there are more than one and thus the necessity for Team play.

d. Knowledge of the rules.

2. The Team

The Team that will play football and win will have the following basic requirements

a. Desire to win: Since football is a game, it is just thus a fact that if there is no desire to win, there is no need to play. Of course somebody will say you can play for pleasure, but I dare ask ‘is there any pleasure in Losing?’ Desire to win or lose will be betrayed by Urgency, Grit, Determination, Belief etc.

b. Tactics: There must be the development of a tactic to overcome the opposition.

c. Tactical discipline: The ability to see out a game according to tactics must be present in a team

d. Knowledge of the rules.

3. The formation

The fundamental requirements of any formation are

a. Departments: Ranging from Defence, to Midfield, to Attack; a formation must possess those three. Each of these three may be sub-divided to accommodate details (Positions).

b. Balance: To assist in the overall objective of overcoming the opposition, the team must be able to achieve result without any department faltering.

4. The Positions

Each Position in The Department, in The Formation and in The Team defines qualities that are fundamental to The Player. Therefore, taking the fundamentals required from a player and defined in the position the player must play are here listed

a. Defence: Stamina, Tackling, Vision, Swiftness, Link-up play, Game Reader

b. Mid-field: Stamina, Tackling, Vision, Swiftness, Link-up play, Hold-up play, Distribution, Dribbling, Game Reader.

c. Attack: Stamina, Tackling, Vision, Swiftness, Dribbling, Finishing,

Considering these fundamentals, to succeed at the top top level like Arsene will normally say, A player must possess all the aforementioned qualities in degrees that qualifies him as a professional and additional qualities that distinguishes him for the position, for the formation, for the team and also not forgetting for the opposition. In reacting to if Theo Walcott is a necessity or a player Arsenal should do away with, I think we need to consider what Theo has that is peculiar to him. Speed, Penetrating run, Accurate pin-pointed cross-in (Grounder or Lofted), and lately superb finishing, I think he is a player suitable for teams playing Highline or generally lack tactical and positional awareness. Also, considering he is 23 years old, I think it is only logical to allow him develop other innate skills that a player can only get as he ages and hope he turns out the kind of player that can show up for any kind of opposition.

I believe with these submissions, we can fairly assess a player and determine if he is suitable for Arsenal or not.

Thank you.

Written by Timmy

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Drop Özil for the sake of the High Press?

August 22, 2018

Below is a comment RC78 wrote on 22/5/18 in response to a question from Micky about Unai Emery’s style of play and what we can expect. RC78 was convinced Mesut would be a sacrificial lamb to Emery’s favoured high press tactic. (So far he has been right about Calum Chambers, Jack and the recruitment of the DM.)

What do you think – would benching the player who creates more chances than anyone else be crazy or make perfect sense in the new system?

Guys – I can tell you all about Emery. The guy is a football fanatic
He is so meticulous and he wants his teams to play with character and aggression. He wants the teams to play:

1. Direct football – get to the box as fast as possible

2. Fast counter attack based on placed attacks

3. High press

At PSG, his desire, attention to details and aggression were not well appreciated by some players. He loves videos and he loves tactical chats.

With him as a coach, I am worried for either Miky or Ozil because there will be space for only one of them in the team. He will move Ramsey up the pitch for sure. He will also heavily rely on Auba and I think Lacaz will have a role to play up front as well so I can see the front three to be:

Ramsey, Auba – Lacaz

He will also want 3 mids with quite an engine so I expect to see Emery keep Xhaka as a starter but in a different role and I think that he will try to recruit a DM and if he doesn’t get the one he wants, he will ask Wilshere to play there so you will have

Xhaka, RECRUIT, Miky OR Xhaka, Jack, Miky

In terms of his full-backs, he relies on attacking minded full backs so expect Bellerin and Koli to be starters

In terms of his CB, he wants 1 old school CB that is strong in the air and on the man and 1 CB that is more modern with pace, positional awareness and good passing range. Expect us to recruit another CB.

Possible team:
Cech – Bellerin, Mavropanos, RECRUIT, Koli – Xhaka, RECRUIT, Miky – Ramsey, Auba – Lacaz

That leaves Wilshere and Ozil on the bench but he will make that team work because all of them are ready to play with heart. They will give him what he wants and they will maximize their potential.

Due back in Drayton Park on Saturday

Expect players like Mustafi, Chambers, Holding, Iwobi to be sidelined.

Expect players like Ozil, Wilshere to be frustrated but to fight for their place.

Expect players like Welbeck, AMN and Nketiah to be given a chance.

The guy is a football freak but he can maximize a team’s potential. With him, I feel that Top 4 is achievable and that a Cup win is on the cards.

Can’t beat Micky in a 30 yard sprint

If our recruitment team can get him a solid CB like Koulibaly (Sokratis – ed), a solid DM like Gueye (Torreira – ed) and maybe 2 promising defenders (1 RB and 1 CB), he will deliver to meet clubs and fans expectations.

Taken from a comment written by RC78

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Gary Neville – Idiot or Savant?

August 21, 2018

Unai Emery’s Arsenal are certainly causing some debate after only 2 games played. Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher squared up on MNF over whether Unai should stick to his guns or settle for a more pragmatic approach.

Read Carragher and Neville’s contretemps in the link below, followed by FGG’s response. 

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/11477992/gary-neville-and-jamie-carraghers-heated-debate-over-unai-emerys-arsenal

I couldn’t agree more with Neville. This is a season for Emery to look at the players and see which ones he can rely on to implement his game plan. I don’t really care where we finish as long as the team play in a way that gives optimism for the future. It will take a few windows and some very astute signings for us to get anywhere near the top 4 next season. You only have to look at the money United have spent and the poor transfer decisions they have made to see how easy it is to slip backwards. Fortunately, I feel the club have put in place a very strong transfer structure with the recent hiring of Mislintat, Sanllehi and Fahmy and that’s something that will give us an advantage moving forward and hopefully allow us to avoid the mistakes United have made.

As for the team right now, I feel Ramsey should be a guaranteed starter and I’m shocked that people leave him out of suggested line ups. I really want to see him play as a 10 on a consistent basis and I feel he has the sort of workrate that Emery would love. He just needs a manager like Emery to focus his runs at the right moments rather than the headless chicken routine he sometimes has. A midfield 3 of Torreira/Geundouzi/Ramsey would be my preferred choice right now with 3 from Özil/Iwobi/Mkhitaryan/Lacazette/Aubameyang playing in front. At home I would be tempted to drop one of Torreira/Geundouzi and play Özil as the 10 and Ramsey deeper.

With the defence, I also have to agree with Neville in that the system is fine, it’s just the application isn’t there sometimes with these players. They’ve shown in the past a tendency to switch off and I think we are seeing some costly mistakes at the moment. The Morata goal was a prime example with the midfield allowing Chelsea far too much space and the defenders not recognising that the ball wasn’t being pressed. I do worry about the football intelligence of some of our players and feel they struggle to read situations for themselves. Hopefully Emery can drill some tactical nous into some of the players, and the ones he can’t, I expect won’t be at the club too long.

Taken from a comment by fatgingergooner

 

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Failing the Football Proficiency Test

August 20, 2018

At age 11, a young lad from Edmonton was selected for a boys district XI. Well when I say selected to play, he was actually used as the substitute partly due to physique and partly because of a chronic lack of pace. Anyway enough of a failed footballing ‘career’.

The real reason for mentioning this schoolboy honour was that it enabled the lad to gain something he did not earn. Right, the truth will out, I failed my Football Proficiency Test. Yes, I know that sounds a bit odd but in those days, just like the Cycling Proficiency Test there was also a football equivalent.

The bit I couldn’t manage on the day was playing the ball into the net from around the penalty spot from a pass coming directly from the side. Blaming the pitch because it was lumpy, bumpy and encrusted with footmarks, just wouldn’t wash. I was given several attempts but failed on each occasion, the ball skewing wide off various parts of my shin, ankle and occasionally boot.

Because of participation in the above squad, a pass certificate was granted nonetheless. A fact that still winds me up today.

Back to The Arsenal.

Aubameyang’s worst miss on Saturday brought failed Football Proficiency tests back into my mind. In slow motion you can see the ball lift slightly off the floor just as he’s about to hit it. He’s concentrating so hard on which defenders he has to avoid to put the ball in the net, that the 100% concentration required to get his head over the ball, strike it cleanly and down underneath the crossbar is missing. Result, ball ends up in row X and the Gabonese looks an idiot. (I’m sure he calls himself a ‘twat’ as he turns around!)

https://twitter.com/ArsenalEdits___/status/1030859605621055489?s=19

In contrast Micki’s beautiful left footed strike was all about him concentrating on getting the contact correct on his weaker foot. The beautiful placement was, perhaps, a fortunate by-product of such perfect technique.

Some days they go in off your shin or backside, other days you can’t buy a goal. I’m sure Auba will start hitting the back of the net soon. 🙂

chas

 

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Arsenal: We’ve Got Our Bottle Back?

August 17, 2018

On the eve of our Saturday tea time visit to Stamford Bridge, perhaps it would be enjoyable to remember a fine performance away at the bus stop in Fulham. Victories when they come at unexpected moments are often the most pleasurable. With our new manager and signings already showing hints of more steel and determination, could we start to believe The Arsenal have begun to rediscover our bottle. Cheers, Rocky.

How are you feeling this morning?

Still glowing?

Yeah, me too.

We have kind of forgotten what it’s like to enjoy a BIG win; a meaningful win; a surprise win against the odds.

Most of our surprises in the last six months have been nasty ones – the kind Mrs Gary Neville has every morning when she wakes up and sees who’s beside her.

But Saturday was different. We went to one of the bookies’ favourites for the title and gave them a spanking in their own back yard. And just because it’s a Chav back yard full of old piss-stained mattresses and wrecked cars, that doesn’t make the win any less sweet.

Make no mistake, Chelsea were seen by many as the real dark horses (whoops, sorry JT, I meant pale horses) in the championship race. Even in defeat to QPR last week they earned plaudits for almost nicking a result with only nine men.

But in the second half of Saturday’s fine win we completely dominated them, winning the half 4-1, taking a stranglehold on midfield and defending well (we only conceded because the ref missed a blatant foul on Santos).

The first half was a different story, with both teams attacking like panthers and defending like pandas, but enough has been said about that in all the match reports.

The point is, we found ourselves in a game that, several times, could have gone away from us – at 2-1 and at 3-3 in particular. But we refused to allow it to do so.

Having hauled ourselves level at 1-1, then gone in one down at half time thanks to another soft goal conceded from a set piece, heads could easily have dropped.

If this had been last year’s Arsenal team, with the homesick Spaniard and the fat French trouble-maker, I think that’s exactly what would have happened. Our heads would have gone down faster than Dani Alves on ice.

But this is a different group of players with a much better mix of vim and experience. It’s interesting that our best performers on the day (with the exception of Prince Robin) were the younger ones: Koscielny, Ramsey, Gervinho and Walcott.

But I have no doubt that they felt enabled to play their best game by the presence of older heads like Arteta, Mertesacker and Santos (as well as Rosicky when he came on), all of whom added an air of stability to the team.

We now have players who do not panic when we’re leading with 10 minutes to go. Indeed, against a dangerous Chavski side we looked very solid in the final stages (the BFG making up for a poor first half by dominating the box in the closing minutes).

We were calm enough and confident enough to see the game out – and bold enough to take our chance to really kill it off when it arrived.

Someone has clearly been to Lost and Found and reclaimed something we mislaid about two years ago: our bottle.

No-one really knew where it had gone. Pat Rice went all up and down the Holloway Road stapling little notices to trees and lamp posts saying “Missing: Our Bottle: Answers to the name Vieira or Adams. Reward if found.”

There were no takers, but now it has turned up of its own accord, just when we needed it most after the most disastrous start to a season for 58 years.

There is still everything to play for this season. The Mancunian lottery winners may be streets ahead at the top of the table but there is a long way to go and anything can happen.

Next up for us in the league are West Brom (H), Norwich (A) and Fulham (H). With the players we have, and with the fact that we now have our bottle again after such a long time, everything is possible.

Keep believing fellow Gunners.

Written by RockyLives

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Welcome to a state of the art Cockspur Up

August 16, 2018

So it looks like the crews of Arsenal supporting contractors are doing a fine job at the new Sh*thole. 🙂

Spuds fans are revolting (fuming), travel plans are in disarray and the tawdry N17 club is at the mercy of the FA and UEFA in terms of being allowed to rearrange fixture venues – possibly right up until the end of the year!

It would seem that the aforementioned ‘safety certificate concerns’ are doublespeak for ‘half-finished’.

Apparently Twickenham was in the running for hosting the spuds home game against Man City at the end of October, but Twickers refused as they said that the bill for post-match fumigation was likely to be prohibitively large.

Oh well, let’s hope it all gets sorted really soon!

 

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How Did you Rate our Debutants?

August 15, 2018

How would you rate our summer signings in their first appearance?
This is meant to be a bit of fun; mainly for Eddie who loves a poll!
It’s obviously too early to make any decisions about our new signings but first impressions often linger.

 

Sokratis Papastathopolous – looked a wee bit slow in pre-season but seemed more commanding in his first competitive game – Cretan rock face.

 

Stephan Lichtsteiner – adapted well (as the seasoned pro he is) to making his debut at left back rather than in his natural position – not short of cojones.

 

Matteo Guendouzi – a little shaky to start and then he seemed to realise he could play at Prem level – “I am not calling another man Matteo. Ever.”.

 

Lucas Torreira – only had 20 minutes or so but seemed to have an immediate impact on our midfield shape – terrier or pit bull.

 

chas

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Same Old Arsenal, Always Cheating

August 14, 2018

An interesting discussion between Rasp and Aaron about Man City’s use of  persistent foul tackles to disrupt counter attacks and their use as part of the high press tactic, highlights how this original piece from Rocky is still relevant. The high press fails, someone get a boot in quick before the counter exposes the inevitable lack of numbers behind. Does Unai already know this?

After a fine win and an excellent performance on Saturday you would have to be of a churlish disposition to find any negatives.

So here I am, Churl-in-chief, primed and ready for a bit of top churling.

It amounts to this: I have one complaint about our lads.

It’s not the wayward finishing (although if some of our forwards were tasked with clubbing baby seals, my money would be on the cuddly little blubber-buckets to emerge injury-free).

Nor is it the tendency to always look like we might give the opposition a chance to get back in the game no matter how much we’re battering them.

No, my beef is with our players’ behaviour when they foul and are fouled.

We’re all familiar with the moronic baying of ‘same old Arsenal, always cheating’ whenever one of our team goes down under an attempted leg-breaker or, conversely, whenever an opponent is left on the floor after an Arsenal tackle.

Make no mistake, the label has stuck.

From the Mensa-dodging nouveaux-riches of West London to the barcoded disappointment-junkies of the far North East; from the Unconvincibles of Old Toilet to the Inconsequentials of N17 there is a veritable chavscape of received opinion that Arsenal players really do cheat.

But it’s clear from recent games that the problem with our team is that THEY DO NOT CHEAT ENOUGH.

That is the great irony: the team reviled the length and breadth of the land as cheats is actually more honest than just about any of its opponents.

There was a classic example in the Wolves game. The Mighty Zubar (I’m sure he used to be a character in Dan Dare when I was a kid) executed a studs-up challenge into Robin van Persie’s knee. I happen to think it wasn’t particularly malicious but was, rather, a cack-handed attempt to get the ball. However, it was rash and dangerous and certainly deserving of a yellow.

On impact, Robin was spun in the air and crumpled to the ground. And here’s where Zubar was clever. Knowing that he had just made a cert yellow card tackle (and possibly even a red card one) he crumpled to the ground too, mysteriously clutching his shoulder. It was enough to confuse the referee, Chris Foy, who did not penalise Zubar.

We saw the same thing the week before at Newcastle. Joey Barton, one of the modern game’s most noted thugs, turned out to have a brilliant line in rolling around on the floor whenever he went in for tackle with one of our players. From macho man to milkshake man in a heartbeat.

In that game the truly awful Phil Dowd bought it every time. Probably the worst example was the free kick given against Rosicky that led (indirectly) to Newcastle’s fourth goal. He and Barton jumped together half-heartedly, neither really touching the other. Rosicky stayed on his feet but Barton went to ground. Cue the man from Dowd Cuckoo Land: free kick, goal, two points lost.

Similar examples were littered throughout that entire game, particularly in the second half.

And during Saturday’s Wolves game there were several occasions where we were penalised for fairly winning tackles, just because the opponent went to ground and feigned injury.

Foy’s criterion for giving a free kick seemed to be no more sophisticated than “he fell over, must have been a foul.”

At the same time there were other moments where our players took whacks to the head or boots to the calf but did not collapse in agony. Our lot seldom do that – if anything they simply tend to stay on their feet and look a bit affronted.

Many people observed that against Newcastle, if Diaby had rolled around in agony after the Barton challenge he would probably have got the little toe-rag a yellow. But Abou didn’t do that because, although he knew the tackle had been a potential leg breaker, he wasn’t actually that badly hurt. He was too honest to pretend he was in severe pain. Instead he got up, tickled Barton’s neck and the rest is history.

Earlier in the same game, Arshavin also hopped straight up after another appalling Barton challenge from behind. (Mind you, Arshavin never shows he’s hurt: that tiny frame carries all the suffering of Mother Russia in its soul, so the odd smack in the mouth or boot up the arse is neither here nor there).

On one level I applaud our players for their honesty. One demented Ivorian aside, I can’t think of any Arsenal player who regularly feigns injury, whereas our opponents are doing it in every game and are winning free kicks for it, as well as getting our players carded.

Maybe it’s time we dished out a bit of their own medicine to them. I don’t mean we should pretend to be fouled when there’s been no contact, but when there is a bad challenge we should stay down and make it clear to the ref that it was dangerous. It won’t always work (Robin was clearly hurt by Zubar but Foy missed it) but if it works half the time that’s more free kicks for us and fewer for whomever we’re playing.

And when our players mistime their challenges and catch the opponent instead, let’s take a leaf out of Zubar’s book and go down as well.

The sad truth is that, with the standard of officiating in the EPL today, playing fair just gets you shafted.

That’s it. Churling over.

Now let’s go and win the League (and if, to do so, we have to sometimes be less than angels, that’s OK with me).

Written by RockyLives

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