Four at the back with Mustafi and Kolasinac moving to the bench. Our strongest double pivot and wing attackers who will be required to add to the midfield too. Mesut sat in behind Laca. Sounds a promising line up from Senor Emery.
First Half
We had three times the amount of possession and passes of Wolves but they scored the three goals.
Second Half
We had a couple of decent chances before Papa scored a close range header from a corner. The 4th goal from 4 efforts on target in the whole game.
AP
Conclusion
More garbage. Palace gave us a clue what to expect.
I blame Venga for instilling a culture of possession for its own sake. (This is meant to be irony)
Heaven knows how we can turn this around for the Europa semi?
Maybe beat Leicester on Sunday?
Ratings
Can’t be arsed – 5 for everyone including subs and manager?
OK, maybe too generous – all 4s or all 3s?
What do you think?
Maybe a 1 for the manager who has singularly failed to improve both the defence and our away form from last season.
p.s. an extra point or two for Nketiah who at least looked like he had some spark when he came on for the last twenty.
Ref
Stuart Attwell – can’t even blame that knobhead for this one.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club was founded in 1877 as St Luke’s F.C. by John Baynton and John Brodie, two pupils of St Luke’s Church School in Blakenhall, who had been presented with a football by their headmaster Harry Barcroft. The team played its first-ever game on 13 January 1877 against a reserve side from Stafford Road, later merging with the football section of a local cricket club called Blakenhall Wanderers to form Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 1879.
Having initially played on two different strips of land in the town, they relocated to a more substantial venue on Dudley Road in 1881, before lifting their first trophy in 1884 when they won the Wrekin Cup, during a season in which they played their first-ever FA Cup tie. Having become professional, the club were nominated to become one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888, in which they played the first Football League match ever staged (against Aston Villa).
Molineux – Proper old football ground
They ended the inaugural season in third place, as well as reaching their first FA Cup Final, losing 0–3 to the first “Double” winners, Preston North End. At the conclusion of the campaign the club relocated for a final time when they moved to Molineux, then a pleasure park known as the Molineux Grounds. They have played at Molineux Stadium, capacity 32,050, since 1889.
In 1953, Wolves was one of the first British clubs to install floodlights, taking part in televised “floodlit friendlies” against leading overseas club sides between 1953 and 1956 before the creation of the European Cup in 1955. Wolves’ traditional kit consists of gold shirts and black shorts and the club badge one or more wolves. Wolves have long-standing rivalries with other West Midlands clubs, the main one being with West Bromwich Albion, against whom they contest the Black Country derby.
Major Frank Buckley
With Major Frank Buckley (1927-1944) at the helm the team became established as one of the leading club sides in England in the years leading up to the Second World War, as they finished runners-up in the league twice in succession (1937–38 & 1938–39), as well as reaching the last pre-war FA Cup Final, in which they suffered a shock defeat to Portsmouth. In 1937–38 Wolves came within a whisker of winning the club’s first English league title: a win in the side’s last game away to Sunderland would have clinched things, but in the event Wolves lost 0–1 and thus ended the campaign one point behind the eventual champions, Arsenal.
One of the things Major Buckley and his Wolves side attracted a lot of attention for in the last two full seasons prior to the outbreak of the Second World War was Buckley’s insistence that his players be injected with monkey gland extract to enhance their stamina and performance, a practice that the Football League elected not to sanction.
Still couldn’t beat Arsenal to the Title in 1937/8
Club Honours
Football League First Division:
Champions (3): 1953–54, 1957–58, 1958–59
EFL Championship/Football League Second Division (1892–1992)
Champions (4): 1931–32, 1976–77, 2008–09, 2017–18
EFL League One/Football League Third Division (Tier 3)
Jack Kelsey gets the ball before Roy Swinbourne – Molineux 1955
Chamakh opens the scoring in the first minute – 10th November 2010 – Associated Press
In the Premier League we have a perfect away record against Wolves; however since the arrival of their current manager, Nuno Espírito Santo in May 2017, they are a very different proposition and I expect that it will be a difficult game.
It seemed a strange team selection which smacked of gross underestimation of the opposition. Jenkinson, Elneny and Guendouzi in tandem through the centre plus twin strikers for a must win game at home. Hmmmm.
On the positive side, pre-match drinks with the boys and Peaches were excellent listening to updates from Goodison, just a shame they proved to be the high point of a day that slipped thereafter.
First Half
Mesut should have scored early on but for someone whose passing is so good, his shooting is abysmal.
Palace scored from a free kick which looked miles offside in the ground but probably wasn’t. (just looked at the goal and Jenko played Benteke onside – as you all would have known already)
The team seemed unbalanced and toothless, changes were required.
Second Half
Team selection mistakes were half rectified at the interval. Iwobi for Jenks excellent. Taking Mavropanos off when he had been one of our best players in the first half seemed weird. I suppose hindsight is a wonderful thing – if only one of our other centre backs had got the hook!
Superb start with Mesut scoring straight away.Iwobi on the left and Ainsley on the right were suddenly causing Palace problems on the flanks. It was surely only a matter of time before we scored a second.
Then things took a plunge. Mustafi gave the freedom of Islington to the Palace striker, Zaha and then seemed aggrieved at what? – Who knows? 2-1 down to a poor team but with lots of time to rectify the situation.
Getty Images
More shocking defending from a corner and we were 3-1 with little hope of a positive result all of a sudden. Auba played a one two off a defender and gave us some false hope. Alex Iwobi fluffed a great chance at an equaliser from a cut back but virtually passed to the keeper.
Conclusion
Bang goes fortress Emirates. A combination of poor team selection, dreadful defending and the lack of any real plan up front contributed to our own downfall.
Such a great opportunity to strengthen our claim for a top four place squandered. We’re still in 4th spot – well, until the chavs play Burnley tonight, that is.
Wolves at Molineux next up.
Ratings
Leno – kept us in with a shout with a great save just before half time … 6
Jenkinson – not much to say … 3
Mavropanos – no idea why he was subbed off – yellow card? … 6
Koscielny – struggled to make up for the deficiencies of those around him … 6
Mustafi – some around me in the ground were booing him touching the ball in the second half – inexplicable defending at times – thick as pig excrement unfortunately – the nadir of his performance was getting booked for diving … 1
Kolasinac – drove me bananas in the first half just passing the ball back from where it came – we could have kept Theo Walcott if we needed someone who could only do that … 3
Elneny – nah … 3
Guendouzi – yet again given too much to do with the lack of decent senior partner … 5
Ozil – a game tailor-made for him to dominate and he wasn’t up to it – a fine goal though… 5
Aubameyang – out of position and it showed … 5
Lacazette – huffed a puffed with little service … 5
Subs
Iwobi – had an immediate impact – should have been playing from the start … 6
Maitland-Niles – added much on the right flank but just couldn’t make that crucial difference at the end of the day … 6
Torreira – another who should have started if he was fit enough to be on the bench … 6
Managers
Emery – bound to have an off day every now and again – just a shame I had to witness it in person … 3
Wagnerson – must be so pleased we put up such a poor fight … 6
Referee
Moss – as dreadful a performance as Arsenal’s – just appalling … 2
A must win game especially with the spuds just losing the hardest of their remaining five fixtures. It’s given us the chance to go two points ahead if we can win and give them some cause for concern, while also giving us extra hope of seeing out these tricky aways we face on Wednesday and Sunday. After such a fine performance against Napoli, the lads should be feeling full of confidence – let’s forget the Watford match!
Laca wonders where the intimidating atmosphere of the San Paolo stadium has gone
Team news
Big Sok is serving the second game of his 2 match ban for being Greek. So, let’s put our hands together for squad player Shkodran. Three or four at the back? Three plus wingbacks would seem the best chance of providing the width necessary to get round the bus.
Granit is being assessed but maybe might not be risked if Matteo and the Terrier are both ready to go. So the midfield is sorted, with Guendouzi playing more in a deep Ramsey role with licence to roam forward a little, allowing the Terrier to excel at what he’s best at. (Update: it would appear from Jeorge Bird on twitter that both Granit and the Terrier were in full training yesterday 🙂 )
Rambo is definitely out for an unspecified period. Home against Palace is, perhaps, the perfect scenario for Mesut, so he’ll probably start. Back at home we need the variety that the left and right side wing forwards Iwobi and Mkhitaryan bring, so maybe that’s the way to go. However, with Mesut to definitely start, means him playing central midfielder which is unlikely (assuming a centre forward is chosen to play).
Perhaps Auba or Laca will be given some pine time – Auba would be the popular choice. If he is, he’ll be itching to come on for a cameo 30 minutes and score a couple.
Our home record against Palace is pretty good but nothing can be taken for granted at this stage of the season. Townsend always plays better against us and Zaha, Benteke, Wickham and Batshitcrazy are all useful on their day.
Roy Wagnerson usually likes his teams to play some football so Palace may not be the most adept at parking the bus which might produce a game of decent football at the Emirates today.
Getty Images
Ant and me will be suitably enthusiastic about the match by the time our train gets into St Pancras (bang on time, hopefully) soon after 12.30pm.
Heaven knows how we’ll entertain ourselves at Finsbury Park in the intervening period before setting off for the ground!
COYRRG
chas
p.s. Let’s hope Everton are up for the game against the red mancs
A very interesting team selection – a back four with Mavro partnering Kos and Shkodran and Nacho full backs. Heavy duty midfield with Xhaka fit, Torreira back from the sin bin , Rambo, Wobbly and Micki. Will Unai have got the balance right to see us do better away from home?
First Half
What a peculiar half of football! Watford set off all guns blazing, right up for it to the point where they were always going to tempt the ref into how much rough stuff he was going to allow. I suppose they thought that at home they might get away with a bit more than elsewhere.
After a fiery start full of Watford bluster, Auba was so rapid closing down Foster, the keeper was unaware of the danger of his clearance being blocked. One nil and the simplest goal you’ll ever see. A definite contender for Goal of the Month.
Mr Troy Weiner’s moment of extreme stupidity came moments later. Obviously still smarting from going behind, he swung an elbow at a much smaller man and had to see red. ‘But ref, we’re allowed to rough up Arsenal, every other team gets away with it.’ Both the Watford crowd and their players’ attempts to then paint Arsenal and Lucas Torreira as the villains of the piece from that moment onwards were laughable in the extreme.
To give their team credit, they made light work of the man disadvantage, still pressing for all they were worth and even had a scent of goal. Arsenal should have scored a second and third but couldn’t quite make the man advantage tell.
Second Half
Ozil for Torreira as a sub made sense in two respects – don’t give the ref a chance to even up the sides and let Mesut pick apart the team with a man short. Hmmmm. That was the plan?
To begin with the second period appeared to be a showcase for Mkhitaryan to illustrate how many ways he could screw up decent chances. The one on one with Foster was the worst – just take a touch and the keeper’s out of the picture.
Other chances came and went and Arsenal failed abysmally to make having the extra man pay. Mavro was obviously match rusty, though replacing him with Guendouzi and going three at the back without wing backs was off the wall management. It didn’t work as Watford hit the bar amonfst other chances and eventually Maitland-Niles was brought on to give us a back four – Rambo getting a breather before Thursday.
Watford looked the most likely to score in the later stages which gives them great credit playing for so long understaffed. Thankfully we hung on to majestically cruise to victory with the early Auba screamer.
Conclusion
A pretty poor performance against a team which fought for its life. Still, there isn’t a Gooner in the world who wouldn’t accept the present of the 3 points from Misters Foster and Deeney. Up to fourth, what’s not to like and hopefully the away curse is broken!
Hopefully we’re saving better form and game management for Thursday.
Leno – a great save from a Capoue free kick – thank heaven he stopped that ‘Jens shoving the striker’ bowlocks before he was penalised by the ref – gets an extra point for a clean sheet away from home which had become as rare as rocking horse excrement … 8
Mustafi – regardless of what any fan thinks of Shkodran, Unai kept him on the pitch in a variety of roles and he didn’t let us down in any of them … 7
Koscielny – battered once again but such class … 7
Mavropanos – a few nervy moments which was understandable – he’ll get better with game time … 6
Monreal – like Mustafi, he was asked to play a number of roles and his covering is often superb – almost like a sweeper … 7
Xhaka – it was surprising that Granit couldn’t impose himself more on that depleted Watford side, though he wasn’t the only one … 6
Torreira – made some fine challenges after the elbow from Deeney, but taking him out of the danger zone at half time was a good move … 6
Ramsey – further forward in this game, Aaron was less effective strangely – it seemed as if the whole team had one foot on the plane to Italy … 6
Iwobi – Alex is so skilful he sometimes tricks himself – shame one of his many good runs couldn’t result in that crucial second goal … 7
Mkhitaryan – anonymous in the first half and then star of a poor finishing show in the second – I’d move him on in the summer if there are any takers … 4
Aubameyang – magnificent desire to block Foster’s clearance and then he spent the other 80 minutes trying to get on the end of a second – save one for Napoli, Pierre – that’s the ticket … 7
Subs
Ozil – didn’t really do what he was sent on the pitch to do … 6
Guendouzi – where was he playing? – I’ve really no idea, one moment in front of the back four then seconds later on the right wing? … 6
Maitland-Niles – added stability to the right flank but worrying that he thought he was a wing back – was he, wasn’t he? Who knows? … 7
Managers
Unai Emery – I wish I’d known about his crushing superiority (hex) over Gracia before – 6 wins and a draw out of 7 previous match ups. Substitutions were interesting to say the least – you can’t sniff at 3 points, a clean sheet and an away win though … 8
Javi Wagner – set his team up as far too aggressive and paid for it – bet they don’t think they can clatter into City at Wembley and get away with it … 4
Ref
Pawson – removed Deeney and then spent the rest of the game trying to appease Mike Riley by giving Watford a succession of unwarranted free kicks … 6
Our competition for a top 4 spot is a Chelsea team who want their manager sacked, a giant portrait of Alex Ferguson with some candles beneath it and (lads, it's) Tottenham, and yet still we manage to look that unconvincing with 6 games to go.
In Greek mythology, Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen of Sparta (who was already married) and it all kicked off. Ten years of war later, a trick involving a massive wooden horse full of soldiers finally ended the siege of Troy, amid scenes of ransacking, pillaging and destruction. Wouldn’t it be great if that was the match report for tonight’s game!
Monday Night Football – what joy!
After a weekend which saw …..
the spud reserves beat Huddersfield (who haven’t won a game on a Saturday for a whole year)
Man U undeservedly beat West Ham at the Old Cowshed (2 penalties, one which was completely ludicrous and a Hammers goal incorrectly ruled out for offside)
the chavs expectedly lost at Anfield – the Salah goal a thing of rare beauty
….. and following our dreadful performance up in Liverpool last weekend, tonight’s game assumes even more significance in our attempts at CL qualification through League position.
Who’s available for the trip to Hertfordshire?
As far as team news goes, Papa is definitely out for tonight and also for Palace at home next weekend after picking up his 10th yellow of the season in the game at Goodison. At the opposite end of the suspension spectrum, Lucas Torreira can say hello again to his Premier League boots after finally finishing his 3 match ban for a supposedly dangerous tackle against the spuds in early March. Well, that’s if his slight niggle picked up against Napoli doesn’t mean he’s given extra recovery time before Thursday’s return leg in Italy, that is.
Xhaka is still being hampered by a troublesome groin (aren’t we all 🙂 ), but aside from that, team selection will see more juggling of squad members in an attempt to gain maximum advantage in both competitions. Our newly double-decaded Matteo Guendouzi may well start and should be raring to go.
Kos might need a rest if he’s to feature on Thursday, so Shkodran may come in as his replacement. Will Mesut and Aaron be rested also? It all depends on how Unai sees the big picture. Arsene was always slated when he fielded more squad players and results suffered but it really must be a tricky job to get the right balance. The manager will always field a team he believes is good enough to win if he can.
Mesut celebrates his goal in our 3-1 win at Vicarage Road in August 2016
As for Watford, maybe their eyes might be slightly distracted from the task in hand by the glittering prize of a Wembley appearance. No player ever wants to miss out and their mid-table League position is as secure as can be, though they are still in the hunt for 7th in the Prem and a possible Europa League spot.
The whole Deeney cojones thing is unhelpful in these circumstances because it seems to fire the opposition up in much the same way that the whole Stoke/Ramsey scenario often left us on the back foot.
Having said that, when Troy missed that penalty at the Emirates last season, it was definitely one of my mini highlights of last season. 🙂
Wagner has got the Hornets playing well, especially at Vicarage Road, so we will definitely have a game on our hands. In fact, they now seem like a side which has truly cemented its place in the Premier League. The first step towards greater achievements was the club reaching this season’s FA Cup Final. Who knows, they may well pull off a shock against the light blue Oilers – Wigan did.
Monday night football always makes it seem as though we’ve had a football-less weekend. The Newcastle home game 2 weeks ago went smoothly enough, as we might have expected with our excellent home form. But we really need to see something different in both tonight’s game and at Leicester away on Monday 29th April.
Things will seem a whole lot better if we can produce a performance worthy of the Club and banish our away day blues this season for good.
COYRRG
chas (BR is currently sipping Chianti in the cypress groves of Northern Italy)
The beginnings of the club can be traced back to 1881, when Watford Rovers was formed by Henry Grover and a group of fellow teenagers who had been given permission by the Earl of Essex to kick a football around in Cassiobury Park. Friendly matches began in 1882, with various sites in the town being used for matches. The first competitive game was an FA Cup tie against Swindon Town in 1886. In 1890 West Herts Club and Ground was set up in Cassio Road (where it remains to this day) and Watford Rovers moved in as the football section, changing name to West Herts in 1893.
Watford joined the Football League in 1920. The club played at several grounds in its early history, before moving to a permanent location at Vicarage Road in 1922, where it remains.
Vicarage Road 1932
One of the most successful periods for the club was when they were managed by ex England manager Graham Taylor who took charge of Watford in 1977. He led the club to promotion to the Third Division in 1978, the Second Division in 1979, and the First Division for the first time in Watford’s history in 1982. After a second-placed finish in the First Division in 1983, Watford competed in European competition for the first time in 1983–84, as well as reaching the 1984 FA Cup final.
Taylor left the club at the end of 1986–87. Under the six subsequent permanent managers Watford slid from 9th in the top tier in 1987, to 13th in the third tier in 1997. Taylor returned as manager for the start of the 1997–98 season. He led the club to consecutive promotions, but could not prevent relegation from the Premier League in 1999–2000. Since Taylor’s retirement in 2001, Watford has had sixteen different managers. The current manager is Javi Gracia he was hired in 2018 and has a contract until 2023.
Watford is owned by the Pozzo family, which also owns Udinese Calcio in Italy and previously Granada CF in Spain. Sir Elton John, who owned Watford during both of Graham Taylor’s successful periods as manager, served alongside Taylor as the club’s joint Honorary Life President until 2008, only to later resume the role he shared alongside Graham Taylor until Taylor’s death. Sir Elton John’s seven year old son Zachary signed up for the academy team at Watford Football Club in 2018.
This was always going to be a difficult away game but Watford will be flying high after their amazing comeback in the FA Cup semi final so it will now be even tougher.
Here are our away game statistics against Watford.
Getty Images
We need a positive result but will our team be up to the task?
Torreira banned, Xhaka not quite ready plus Rambo eased back slowly (perhaps because he’s in the red zone) means that Elneny and Guendouzi got the gig in centre midfield. Mkhitaryan there to help and with the wingbacks we should have enough in midfield? Kos is still out so the back three is as against Newcastle but will surely face greater pressure than on Monday night.
First Half
The start to the game tended to suggest which way the game might head. After a couple of minutes Laca was completely cleared out by Zouma with a late, sliding, reckless challenge in the penalty area which the ref completely ignored. A penalty and caution were obvious, but no, it was Guendouzi who received the first yellow with a silly follow through a couple of minutes later.
Action Images via Reuters
The goal when it came was typical Arsenal, back to those away days at Stoke when Delap used to terrorise us with his trebuchet. The throw was legal as Digne’s heel was on the touchline contrary to a huge outcry on twitter. The 50/50 header wasn’t read by the Arsenal defence and the follow up header hit Kolasinac on the foot, deflected 90 degrees straight to Jagielka who hadn’t been down to play until a half hour before kick off. He hadn’t scored since the 20th century. Classic Arsenal concession.
Not too much happened goalmouth-wise for the rest of the first half. There were, however, a series of nasty challenges. We’ve been kicked off the park at Goodison before but it never gets any easier to watch.
Only one effort from Arsenal in that 45, zero on target, not good enough. Mesut was swamped every time he touched the ball. Pre-match doubts about the Guendouzi/Elneny partnership were completely justified in that first half. The only way to match them in the second half would be to match their intensity or completely change formation.
Second Half
The necessary change in personnel with Ramsey and Auba replacing Elneny and Wardrobe appeared to have an immediate positive effect, but illustrated the absolute poverty of that first half performance and team selection.
Our best period of the game was the ten minutes after half time. There were a few good chances but none looked remotely like being taken.
The rest of the second period was Arsenal pressing but Everton looking more likely to score on the break.
In summary, we were garbage and made an average Everton side look quite good.
What has become a somewhat predictable away performance from Arsenal. Few chances created but plenty of opposition chances allowed. We probably could have played for another hour and not scored. Beaten by a really poxy set piece calamity of a goal.
So, we’re back behind the spuds and those 4 away games left look dangerous unless there’s some sort of change in mentality.
Getty Images
Ratings
Leno – nowt much do again, a good block from Sigurdsson in the second half and a fine block when Bernard was through – when the keeper is MOTM and you’ve lost, you know it’s been a shite performance from the team … 7
Mustafi – a pretty standard performance from the German – some good challenges mixed in with some garbage … 5
Sokratis – too often left exposed by our weakness on the flanks – his booking means he misses our next two matches against Watford and Palace … 5
Monreal – struggled manfully as usual but received no cover from the wing back or central midfield … 5
Maitland-Niles – seemed confused by Everton’s intensity – mind you, he wasn’t the only one … 3
Kolasinac – pretty clueless – no help to Monreal and he passes backwards if he’s not barrelling toward the byline, which he never was … 4
Guendouzi – felt sorry for him – a 19 year old shouldn’t be placed under that much pressure and responsibility … 5
Elneny – a squad player at best – a chance to shine and he was barely noticeable in that first half … 3
Mkhitaryan – lightweight and not what was required for a battle at Goodison … 5
Ozil – captain? do me a favour – not very good leadership either by command or by example … 4
Lacazette – not one of his best days – almost our best move/chance and Laca could only fall over when a simple pass to Aubameyang was on … 4
Subs
Ramsey – raised the level of Arsenal’s performance from the depths – but couldn’t engineer a goal … 6
Aubameyang – another who perhaps should have been on from the start – it would have been nice to see him double-teaming with Laca, especially near the end when we needed a goal … 5
Iwobi – had an excellent little test of his dribbling skills for 15 minutes – perhaps unlucky not to achieve more … 6
Managers
Emery – he’s still not cracked the away form weakness – let’s hope inspiration comes before Watford … 5
Marco Wagner – set his team up to steamroller the Southern softies into submission and it worked – 3 points reduction for beating us … 4
Ref
Kevin Friend of Everton – a penalty and a yellow for Zouma in the first few minutes and it’s a different game – allowed far too much niggly foul play from the Toffees … 3
Everton was founded in 1878 by the St Domingo Methodist New Connexion Chapel in Breckfield Road North; it was named St Domingo FC and was created so that members of the congregation could play football as well as cricket. The club was renamed Everton in November 1879 to allow people outside of the congregation to participate.
The lock up tower featured on Everton’s club crest
On April 17, 1888 Everton became a founding member of the Football League.
Representatives of the Blues along with Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers met at the Royal Hotel in Manchester.
The move followed concerns that too many friendly games were being cancelled thereby depriving the clubs of gate money, and playing a set number of matches home and away should offset any losses derived from losing friendly matches.
Membership was set at £2 2s a year.
Everton’s nickname “The Toffees” or “The Toffeemen”, came about after Everton moved to Goodison. One of the possible reasons for the nickname was that there was a business in Everton village, named Mother Noblett’s, it was a toffee shop that sold sweets including the Everton Mint. It was also located opposite the lock up which Everton’s club crest is based on. The Toffee Lady tradition in which a girl walks around the perimeter of the pitch before the start of a game tossing free Everton Mints into the crowd symbolises the connection. Another possible reason is that there was a house named Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House in nearby Village Street, Everton, run by Ma Bushell. The toffee house was located near the Queen’s Head hotel in which early club meetings took place
Goodison Park clock 1970s
(Joe Mercer was born in Ellesmere Port in 1914. He joined Everton as a youngster and forced himself into the first team on a regular basis in 1935. Developing quickly, he became England’s left-half. The Second World War came and went and Sergeant Major Mercer, captain of his country, returned to Goodison Park having won 26 wartime caps. When he returned Everton had both a captain and a manager and Mercer, no longer a figure of responsibility became disconsolate. Arsenal heard about his disenchantment and signed him in late 1946 for £7,000. )
In 1925 they signed Dixie Dean from Tranmere Rovers.
Prior to the final game of the 1927-28 season Dean had been injured but was declared fit to play just before the kick off; the game was at home to Herbert Chapman’s legendary Arsenal side, he needed to get a hat-trick for the league scoring record. The Gunners had the famous Charles Buchan playing his final match before retirement in their defence and he was eager to ensure Everton’s young upstart didn’t steal his show. It was, however, undeniably Dean’s day. He scored the third goal of his hat trick and the record 60th of the season in the 85th minute. His record stands to this day.
A reporter wrote – “You talk about explosions, and loud applause; we have heard many explosions, and much applause in our long pilgrimage, but, believe us, we have never heard such a prolonged roar of thundering, congratulatory applause before as to that which ascended to heaven when Dixie broke the record.”
He scored 37 hat tricks for Everton – First: 17/10/1925, Last: 7/11/1936.
(Tommy Lawton one of the greatest goal scorers of his or any age began his career with Burnley and moved to Everton for £6,500, as an eventual replacement for Dixie Dean, in March 1937. He helped the club win the League title in 1939. In November 1953, Lawton was traded to First Division champions Arsenal for £7,500.)
Thirty one games played and we are down to our final seven games of the season; Sunday will be the first of the five away games we have to play and none of them will be easy.
If we win all seven games we will be guaranteed both third place and a place in the 2019-20 Champions League.
My breath is bated and I await the games with a great deal of nervous anticipation.
One of the topics of discussion from the Arsenal Toon game was Matteo Guendouzi and how different spectators see different things when watching his performances. This brings me to ‘confirmation bias’. Basically we choose what we want to see and, one would imagine that in terms of football fans, this phenomenon is positively viral in its contagion.
Here’s the Wiki definition of the term …..
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses. It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic error of inductive reasoning. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs.
Back to some specific examples. Mattteo Guendouzi is still ten days away from not being a teenager anymore. Before coming to Arsenal he played a handful of games for Lorient in his debut season of 2016/17 (Lorient were relegated). He featured 21 times in the following season in the French second tier and Lorient finished 7th. So far this season he has made 34 (23 League) appearances across all competitions for a top 6 EPL side. This is just background and may or may not be of any significance.
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
What do you think the answer to the question is, ‘Does Guendouzi get caught in possession more times on average than Granit Xhaka or than Lucas Torreira?’ The answer is probably that for central midfielders, they all get caught a similar number of times – it’s the nature of the position to a certain extent, especially as the high press is the current fashion for every Klopp, Pep and Wagner.
How about ‘Does Guendouzi make more misplaced passes than the other two?’ Their pass accuracy percentages are 87.7, 87.6 and 85.2. Matteo top, then Lucas followed by Granit. Granit plays twice as many long balls per game which probably accounts for part of this difference.
Is Mesut lazy? If so, why does he clock up so many k’s over a season. (2016/7 season figures given just because they were handy)
2016/7 season
Is Shkodran Mustafi an accident waiting to happen? Does he launch into ‘flat on his a*se’ tackles at every available opportunity? If this is the case, why does he top the stats for tackles for the whole Arsenal squad?
It’s not so very far back that Aaron Ramsey was always slated on Arsenal blogs across the world for slowing the game down, being ponderous on the ball and indecisive when it came to the crunch. Now that he’s leaving, he’s suddenly become the best player since Zidane and absolutely crucial to Arsenal’s team play. Where does the truth lie? Somewhere in the middle, maybe?
Many Arsenal fans (well, it’s probably true for all fans of other teams, too) like to have their favourite players and also the ones they just can’t bear to see on the teamsheet. AdeBarnDoor was a prime example, Walcott another. What I find difficult to understand is that if you make up your mind that a particular player is pants, what do you do when they have a good game? Do you celebrate any goals they might score?
My particular strongest confirmation bias is against refs. Why are they all against us? Don’t they like the red and white shirts? Are they all from the North West? (Most are, as it happens 🙂 ). I realise that a lot of the time it’s irrational, but hell, I’m blowed if I’m going to stop doing it. I love it.
Anyway, enough of this waffle. All I’m saying is that we all see what we want to see and have our own multitudinous confirmation biases going on in our heads every time we watch a game.
After all, that’s where varying opinions come from and is partly what makes blogging or shooting the breeze in the pub so popular.
Posted by Bongo 
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 