Foy, Pullis & Shawcross. Their shocking performances couldn’t deprive us of a deserved three points…

February 3, 2013

Morning all.

Let’s open with a comment from Tony Pullis after the game:

The disappointing thing for me was the number of Arsenal players that surrounded the linesman. I thought that was something you couldn’t do. If he has given the right decision, he has given the right decision. You take it on the chin and get on with it.

I haven’t got a clue what offside is now. When the linesman gives it offside, the way that Arsenal players surround the linesman, and the referee then goes over, I thought if there were more than five players, you’re not supposed to do that. The referee has reacted after that.

Were some of his players not doing exactly the same after the goal was awarded?

Each time we play Stoke, I end up with another little reason to dislike Pullis even more and many of his players he has put together!

Call themselves a football team, what a joke and Pullis sets them up in such a way.

I’d love Arsene Wenger to sign Begovic, but after that, nothing, well maybe Sorensen….

As for Chris Foy, well he really needs to be taken to one side, shown a re-run of the game and be asked how he could allow a game to be played in such a fashion.

He really was dreadful and how Theo Walcott was not lying in a hospital bed last night with broken bones courtesy of Wilkinson to name one, I do not know.

Koscielny is another. How Shawcross remained on the pitch after his studs up tackle on our defenders ‘tackle’, well, it beggars belief really!

The fans made it clear what they thought of the Stoke man, singing:

You break peoples legs , You break peoples legs, Ryan Shawcross you break peoples legs.

And then Pullis has the audacity to moan about a strong challenge by Arteta on Michael Owen late in the game, what a cheek! A lot is being made of the so called punch thrown by Owen at our Spaniard straight after the tackle, but ‘handbags’ I say. Loved the way Wilshere was straight there to protect his captain.

As for the rest of the game, the new boy Nacho slotted in as if he’d been playing in league for years, he got into a great position down the left side on more than one occasion, we just could get the pass through to him too often. That will come.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud, Walcott, Cazorla and Kos all had chances, chances which on another day, another goalkeeper won’t keep out.

We can dissect the performance in the comments section but overall I thought we were a bit better, still much room for improvement but at least we kept a clean sheet. In fact did Ches even have a shot to save?

Everton dropped two points at home yesterday and Chelsea were beaten at Newcastle, so we have gained on both clubs.

Have a good day all…..

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Posted by rico

Diaby games? Defender could sign today, but then again, I bet one doesn’t!

January 31, 2013

Morning all,

Surprised by the omission of Diaby?

I was but I guess had Diaby started and got injured, Wenger probably knows he’d have to sign a replacement on transfer deadline day.

Or am I just being far too cynical?

We were undone. Not by skill, not by wonderful football and not by anything other than dreadful play by us.

Sound familiar?

Of course it does, we do it to ourselves time and time again and it costs points.

FOUR players made errors for their first goal, FOUR!!!

For their second, well it was another case of shocking defending. If only we had a Carragher kind of player, you know the one, he’ll lay any part of his body on the line to stop a goal.

Wenger was asked about about the dodgy display by our goalkeeper, and he said that the mistakes at the back are becoming ‘contagious’…..

How apt I thought, I will refrain from explaining why but how long will we have to wait until our defending is sorted out once and for all?

From 2-0 down, we salvaged a point, one which Giroud could have easily turned into three towards the end of the game.

Our first goal came from a free kick taken by Jack, and Giroud jumped well and fired his header home. Quality! The second was a thunderbolt from Theo which was too good for Reina.

Talking of their keeper, he made a few great saves during the game and earned his side a point. Down the other end, ours looked like he wanted to gift Liverpool all three points, some of the things he was doing was worse than Almunia ever did!

Personally, I thought our attacking play was good at times, at others it was even better but as so often happens, there were a few on the pitch who let the others down.

It’s the final day of the transfer window and Wenger has hinted that he maybe ‘active’.

We will try to be active, It won’t be easy but at the moment I have nothing to give to you unfortunately.

That has to utter poppycock, it’s the last day, not the first day! He and Gazidis or whoever, has had plenty of time to be looking at players, they have had time to be talking to other clubs. I am sure BT haven’t only installed a telephone system at the club!

With Gibbs now likely to be out for three weeks at least, and having seen Santos perform like the rear end of a horse in panto, Wenger hinted that he might try and sign someone today:

Yes. That’s how quickly football changes. Three days ago people told me we need strikers. Now, this time, we’re speaking about defenders. We’ll see what we can do. 

I guess we will all see what he can do too but my hopes aren’t up too high….

He also said:

I cannot promise you any transfers. We work on it. We want an official extension of the window for one week.

Dear oh dear! Truth is, he could have another month and it wouldn’t make any difference!!

Have a good day all….

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Posted by rico

Wenger to Madrid? Diame confirms he’s ready to join us & into the next round of the FA Cup, just!

January 27, 2013

Morning all…..

We were good in patches and were pretty awful in patches too.

Our defending was shocking as usual. Santos is just a walking liability and should never be allowed anywhere near an Arsenal shirt again. He is like a cart horse and every attack down their right caused us problems. He was either out of position or just to slow to catch his man.

Their first goal game from his side, poor defending led to a corner which we failed clear and Szczesny was guilty of waiting for the ball instead of attacking it.

This came after we had opened the scoring with some good counter attacking football, which was rounded off with a good finish from Giroud, but we were not moving off the ball like we did against West Ham game so we looked slower in the build up play.

Our general play was not incisive enough apart from the goals.

Ramsey had a decent game but far to many times when he received the ball, there were very few options for him to make a pass. Oxlade-Chamberlain had a poor game  and Jenkinson looked rusty but grew as the game went on to be fair to him.

Our second goal was class, great movement, a very good pass from Diaby and Giroud took the ball down one touch them smashed it into the back of the net for his second of the day…! Superb.

Again awful defending followed which allowed Brighton back into the game. Santos was miles from his winger who had ages to pick out his cross. Mertesacker was the wrong side of his man and Ulloa headed home from just six yards. Pathetic.

Giroud nearly got his 3rd, only a good save from the keeper prevented it. He had another chance a bit later but his standing leg slipped just as he went to shoot. He then was unlucky again with a bicycle kick which resulted in a corner, from which we would finally seal victory.

Brighton’s keeper punched away the corner kick but it went straight to Walcott on the edge of the box, he lobbed the ball straight back towards the goal and their keeper could only help it into the back of the net.

All in all, we just about deserved to win but only just and as for the defending… shambolic is being polite.

After the game:

‘We did our job but had to fight to the end’ 

Brighton are a good team. They made it very difficult for us. We had a little bit of a slow start. They were sharper than us in the first half. In the second half, we were much more in the game and created chances. They [Brighton] play a game that is a very positive, technical game and they had a great spirit today. On their right flank, they gave us many problems. In the end, we’ve got that extra bit of quality that got us through. It’s a cup game – you need to go through and that’s what we did. We did our job but we needed to fight until the end.

On the team’s character…

We needed to score a third goal but they twice came back and you have to give them credit for that. They play great football and played a great game today. You could see why they knocked Newcastle out.

On Giroud…

It’s good for his confidence [that he scored twice]. He’s scored four goals this week and he had a few more chances today. He gets there. He has a presence in the box, he’s dangerous and his physical presence was very important today.

On if he needs a new striker ..

Quality-wise no, number-wise, we could be a bit short maybe. Gervinho is not here at the moment. We have Walcott, who can play through the middle and then of course Giroud.

On if he’ll try to sign a new striker…

You do not find them in the street, the strikers that can play for us and strengthen our team. It’s difficult in January.

On if he’s made an offer or enquiry for Stevan Jovetic

No!!

On if he’s confident of signing a midfielder…

I cannot tell you that. In this kind of job it is realism that is important. Realistically I cannot tell you I will sign anyone tomorrow, or Tuesday, as we are not close to doing it.

Forgive me if I don’t get euphoric after beating Brighton but as much as the result was great for OUR club, we showed too many moments of rubbish to get too too excited.

On the positive, we won and we are in the pot for the next round draw which takes place later today.

Sometimes, especially when it comes to the FA Cup, that’s all that matters….

Onto the gossip:

Diame is reported to have had a bust up with his current manager and has told friends he wants to join us. All it takes is a call from Wenger.

Talking of the manager, Real Madrid are hoping that they can convince Wenger that he is the man to take over from Jose in the summer.

That’s about it for today, have a good one…..

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Posted by rico

Edinson Cavani linked as Arsenal reported to be set to break the bank……

January 17, 2013

Morning all,

According to the author of Ashburton Grove, two things are set to take place real soon. The first is the conclusion to the Theo Walcott deal and it’s expected he will commit to Arsenal for a few years and the second is that the club are about to make a signing. It must be a good one too as the amount we are reported to be paying will break any previous record in spending.

I think the Walcott one is probably true, the record signing, well if that comes true then it will quite interesting to see who this guy is. Edinson Cavani is the favourite on the ‘Rumour site’.

Whoever he turns out to be if anyone does sign, I hope he’s got as much passion as this little fella……..

Passion!!

Passion!!

That’s the face of a man who cares about Arsenal…….

Last night, especially in the second half, he was everywhere and involved in everything good about the way we played.

He was simply on fire and boy are we lucky that he’s a Gooner through and through. If ever a player deserved a goal it was him and what a stunning finish it was too. Cazorla to Giroud, Giroud to Jack and wallop, no messing with his left foot. What a beauty!!

To be fair, both Walcott and Giroud deserved goals too. Not for the same reason as Jack but they both got themselves in the right place on a number of occasions but neither could make them count. In fact Theo’s finishing last night was atrocious! How he didn’t score with his head I just don’t know, that cross only needed the faintest of touches but he couldn’t even manage that.

He did see another hit the post though towards the end so it’s not afraid to muck up his hair!

We looked better though didn’t we. From the off we were defending from the front, even Walcott did a bit of defending which is so unlike him! We were closing Swansea down a bit quicker, we looked like we wanted to win and that’s something which has been missing of late.

The unexpected start of Coquelin and Diaby looked good at times but what a difference Capoue or someone similar in there would make. We know we can’t rely on Diaby.

Sagna and Gibbs looked a lot more assured and Thomas Vermaelen looked happier with Mertesacker back by his side.

Arsene Wenger after the game:

On the performance…

We had a better team balance tonight and created chance after chance, especially in the second half but even in the first half we created chances. It was unbelievable that we couldn’t score, but we got it in the end. We persevered and were rewarded and we had a good performance. It gives you a lot of regrets that we played with 10 men on Sunday when you see our second half and our game tonight. It is important that we continue to develop like that as a team.

On Jack Wilshere…

Yes, he was outstanding tonight. I felt many players played well. As a team we played well and he was in a different position, he was high up and it suits him well. I have no experience of player being out for 17 months in my whole career, but honestly I always said that if we got Jack on January 1, then we would have done well. But he is ahead of what I could imagine.

On whether he considered taking him off…

No, I did not envisage that at all. I would love to have done it, but I was never in a position to do it because you could feel he was a threat. Even as a left winger he was a threat. We combined well, Gibbs had a great second half on the left side, also on the right side – we were dangerous everywhere.

On whether No 10 is his true position…

He is at the complete midfielder, he can play anywhere. He is a guy who can dribble and give a final ball, so the closer he is to goal, the better it is. He has quality and enthusiasm, and love for the game. That is the most important thing to me.

On Coquelin and Diaby…

We try to put a but more power in to defend better and it looked tonight  like it worked well. Diaby responded well, I should maybe have taken him off a bit earlier but he looked alright.

Good ending to the night and an away trip to Brighton in the next round is our reward.

Now that will be even tougher that last night……..

For now though, it’s back to the Premier League and a trip to Chelsea on Sunday……

Have a good day all….

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Posted by rico

Arsenal living up to expectations…..

January 14, 2013

Morning Gooners,

Last nights game lived up to my expectations!

Visitors Manchester City turned up with what can only be called a depleted team, many of their star players were either injured, suspended or away on International duty.

Apart from Rosicky and Koscielny, we were at full strength.

Many thought that Arsenal being at home and playing a side who have struggled here in the past, was an ideal opportunity to pick up a few valuable points. I on the other hand did not, not for one minute.

I have watched every game we have played this season and I am not convinced that we have the quality to challenge the better teams in the league. I was going to write a post depicting the game from start to finish, but why write about what you have just witnessed.

The truth is we are just not good enough.

I am not going to point the finger at anybody as I’m fully aware we all have our own opinions as to who or why we are where we are but ultimately it surely comes down to the players on the pitch. We may have one or two talented players, we also have one or two hard grafters but it’s quite evident that we don’t have ‘teamwork’.

When I say teamwork, I mean from owner down to the last player. Everybody is involved but where some are doing their bit others are just going with the flow. The game last night epitomised what I am saying, eleven players walked out at the start, and straight away playing at home you would naturally fancy us for a win or at worst a draw but last night I didn’t.

Then that eleven became ten.

Arsenal football team is not what is used to be, far from it in fact.

Only a couple of seasons ago we had players who would fit into any team in this league and make them better and that has proved to be the case we have sold off most of them. Those who we have replaced them with are not of the same quality. Maybe some will surprise me in the future but until then we will be on the end of results such as like last night.

I cannot see this team ever picking up a trophy in fact I don’t even believe they are capable of  seriously challenging for one either.

Arsene Wenger must see more in this team than I can, he being the expert so I just hope I’m wrong but all I see is calamities all over the field.

A goalkeeper that has trouble catching, kicking and with his positioning, I thought he would learn as he goes along but so far he hasn’t.

We have defenders who persist with zonal marking  which so often is our downfall.

In Midfield I see a group of players who like to work in the centre of the park and are not ambitious enough to go forward and prefer to pass backwards.

Our forwards prefer to do most of their work outside the box and they very rarely shoot. When they do it’s rarely on target or just dribbles to their keeper.

We have a manager and his staff who just seem to sit on the bench looking at their watches, waiting for 70 minutes to have been played so we can make a couple of changes and usually that results in taking off the only couple of players who are having a good day and then a limp handshake at the end with the opposing manager before heading off to the make-up to prepare for his post-match interview.

The two talking points of this game were the sending offs.

Koscielny’s rugby style tackle on Dzeko on ten minutes and Kompany’s alleged two footed tackle on Wilshere.

Dean had little choice but to award a penalty for the first one as Koscielny had his arms all over Dzeko, and the red card was inevitable.

Dzeko missed the resulting spot kick, a bit of good fortune and woodwork saw the ball land safely in Szczesny’s hands.

The second tough was debatable, Wilshere had let the ball get away from him and although Kompany’s foot was off the ground before they collided, it was down before contact and the trailing leg came after first contact.

I felt that was a harsh decision but by that time we were 2 -0 down and had played with ten men most of the game.

I would say that the referee was trying to balance up the game but by then our tired players were well beaten.

And beaten we were……

Written by Steve Palmer

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Posted by rico

Just give Theo Walcott what he wants, before someone else does……..

December 30, 2012

Morning Gooners.

A 7-3 victory but there’s still cause for concern.

Would we have still turned on the style at the end had Newcastle been a team without so many injuries, or one who had more strength on the bench or indeed one who had not played just a few days before?

Sounds like us on another day doesn’t it?

We’ll never know now but as long as Arsene Wenger looks at the defensive frailties on display yesterday and takes them to the training ground to resolve, then ok. If he and Bould were watching the space gifted to Newcastle in the midfield and rectifies this by signing a DM in January, then ok  but if these two problems on the pitch continue, other sides will tear us apart.

Those gaping errors gifted Newcastle their three goals.

However….

We could only play against what/who we were up against and getting seven goals in the fashion we did in the end was a joy to behold..

All too often recently, the team have given us reason to moan,  moan and moan and as already said, they did it again yesterday at times but the difference was, they gave us a lot more to cheer about. The way we scored goals and finished the game off in so much style was simply stunning.

We scored seven goals and not one was a fluke…….

The first goal came after good work from Podolski on the left in our own area, he played a super ball down the left hand side into space, space  which Walcott was running in to. Theo then picked the ball up, ran on into the penalty area and curled his shot past Krul and inside the far post…

All done in front of the man he wants to emulate, Thierry Henry. Well that wasn’t a bad start!

Our second:

Sagna had pushed up and from just outside the penalty area, he played the ball to Podolski who was central and just outside the box. Podolski pushed the ball out left to Gibbs who crossed into the penalty area. Podolski totally goofed the return ball which then went onto Theo who had his back towards goal. A little turn, a little control followed by a placed shot into the roof of the net resulted in his second of the match!

Theo’s third was made of stuff which only pundits would brag about if scored by the Mancs or Chelsea… It really was stunning.

The last few days the world of football has had cause to question players attitudes, managers attitudes and cheats who try and earn penalties. (Bale tried again yesterday and got booked).

Walcott showed the better side of the game to grab his third and as Keegan said, ‘it was a combination of strictly come dancing and holiday on ice’. He did go on to say it was very good.

We had a free kick down the left, he played a quick one-two with Jack and with a defender left and right of him he drove through the middle, a sneaky tackle from behind floored him but he rode it well with a knee slide, got straight back onto his feet passed two more Newcastle players and chipped the ball passed Krul into the back of the net!!

Cant finish, isn’t a striker??

He also turned provider for Giroud with a wonderful cross at great pace from the right. The big Frenchman got himself into the right place, the Englishman supplied the right in-swinging ball..

Sublime…..

As was the strike from Oxlade-Chamberlain, a super struck shot into the corner of the net and to be honest, he’d not had the best of games but a goal will keep his confidence high.

Then of course there was the goal which Jack created from nothing really. Our loyal number ten burst through the final centre of the pitch after a ball played to him by Podolski. As he went into the penalty area, it looked like he’d lost his chance to cross but just before the ball looked likely to go out after pressure from a Newcastle defender, Jack whipped in a left footed cross right in front of the keeper. Coloccinii tried to clear it but his header hit the top of the bar and rebounded to Podolski who was there to head the rebound home…..

Giroud scored another for his second, another great finish and annoyingly for him, the woodwork stood between him and and his hat-trick..

We missed a few, we could, maybe even should have scored eleven but is anyone going to complain about that?

I didn’t think so.

What a way for the boys to end 2012 at The Emirates….

Much will be made of Theo’s celebration after the game and the way he thanked all the fans with the match ball in hand but ever since our young Englishman has been with the club, he’s always shown great appreciation for the fans, so yesterday was probably no different. If his contract renewal is being stalled just because he wants an extra £5,000 a week, surely it’s time for the club to give in and agree.

Sure as heck some other club will, especially after yesterday….

Now it’s over to the January transfer window….

Have a good day all…..

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Posted by rico

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way…….

December 18, 2012

‘Oh what fun it is to see, Arsenal win away………’

That’s what the Arsenal fans were merrily singing as the game came to an end last night. They were superb yet again, they didn’t give up for the entire match…

The night belonged to Santi Cazorla who bagged his first hat-trick for Arsenal. Lukas Podolski gave us the lead with a rocket of a strike, this was followed by three from the Spaniard and the goal scoring frenzy was complete when Walcott finally found the net before the end.

There were three changes from the team knocked out of the Capital One Cup last week, Mikel Arteta and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaced Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey respectively and Walcott returned in place of Gervinho.

Within the first couple of minutes, Oxlade-Chamberlain nicked the ball from Cazorla forced a good save from the Reading keeper, Adam Federici. Reading went straight onto the attack through Pavel Pogrebnyak who got having passed Kieran Gibbs, cut his cross back to Jay Tabb who shot wide.

Reading’s Noel Hunt then had a chance from a corner but his header went wide..

On the quarter of an hour mark, Gibbs, who was having so much freedom and space down the left, crossed to Podolski at the near post. The German stopped the ball with his right foot then fired home with his left. Stunning finish!

We should have gone two up, Cazorla split the Reading defence with a fine ball to Gibbs on the left who was clear but his shot was blocked. The Spaniard teed up Walcott next, the perfect ball, the perfectly timed run but the Reading keeper denied our central striker.

Wilshere was the next to see a chance go begging, his volley was palmed away by the keeper and then  Gibbs and Podolski had chances blocked by the Reading defence.

Up the other end, Thomas Vermaelen made a good tackle to prevent Kebe from making it 1-1.

Just past the half-hour mark, we made it 2-0. Podolski chipped the ball into the six-yard box from the left and somehow, the smallest player on the pitch doubled our lead with a diving header. Minutes later he grabbed another, Gibbs again was the provider.

Walcott should have made it four but he fired a shot wide from range.

3-0 became 4-0 on the hour, Podolski got free on the left and unselfishly squared the ball for Cazorla to fire home his hat-trick.

Reading then hit us twice from nowhere, Le Fondre got the first and after some good play by Robson-Kanu, Kebe got the second.

The Reading fans woke up and Arsenal players and fans seemed nervous just for a while.

Theo Walcott put pay to any Reading hopes though when he finally grabbed himself a goal. Cazorla’s  saw a long range shot was saved  by Federici and then the same player turned provider for Walcott to plant in the back of the net….

Two comments came from behind me during the game and don’t forget, I was forced to sit with the Reading fans.

‘This will kick start Arsenal’s season’ and ‘they have brought on Ramsey, good, he’s s**t……’

One comment I hope comes true of course…

Three points needed, three points we got and right now, that’s the main thing…

That’s it from me, I’ll leave you to chew the game over in the comments….

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Posted by rico

Most Arsenal fans got what they wanted last night. Embarrassing? No, more like humiliating…..

December 12, 2012

Many Arsenal fans, myself in included, wanted Arsene Wenger to take the Capital One Cup seriously and he did.

Could he really have fielded a much stronger starting eleven? (on paper and injuries allowing)

Maybe a few of us would say Arteta should have started, or Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right instead of Ramsey and maybe then Ramsey instead of Coquelin but that’s maybe more down to personal choice rather than form.  But come on, fixtures like last nights give rotation a chance.

Gervinho is the one I dread seeing on the team-sheet but maybe Wenger thought last night’s match would be good for him and he’d build up a bit of confidence and start scoring against a division two side. Well he should have done but instead he just continued to exhibit just how poor he is in front of goal.

I really can’t be bothered to go through the game as watching it was bad enough but we can all dissect it in the comments, if we can be bothered!

Last was embarrassing, not just because we lost side in the second division but how we performed against them. We never really started did we?

Had we been truly up for last nights fixture, the players would have been out of the blocks quicker that Usain Bolt and battered the Bradford goal but no, it was the home side who clearly wanted to start well.

Much later, after extra time and penalties we were out but as always, Wenger protected his players:

I cannot fault the players’ effort, they gave absolutely everything over 120 minutes,

We created a lot of situations, a lot of opportunities, we just didn’t convert our chances. You have to congratulate and give credit to Bradford, they defended very well. It was a typical English Cup game on a difficult but playable pitch, they started better than us and then they defended very well in their own half.

They dropped deep and there was no room. We played [selected] a very offensive team, but you have to say [Bradford] defended very well. I feel the team did fight. You feel embarrassed when you don’t give everything. I feel they will be more frustrated and disappointed [than embarrassed].

How do we recover? We focus on our next game and try to win that. Sport is about that.

Sorry but I think losing the way we did is more than embarrassing, and I don’t think we created that many chances either, especially in the first ninety minutes. It took us sixty-nine minutes to trouble their goalkeeper and that alone is simply shocking!

Sport is not about brushing such performances under the carpet and look to the next and ‘try to win’ it’s about looking at where things are going wrong and putting them right pretty sharpish and for a long time now, we haven’t done that.

All the time we have players who either can’t motivate themselves enough for a cold night in Bradford, or who are clearly not good enough to do the job for which they are being paid, night’s like last night will continue…

All the time we have an owner/board and a manager who continues to sign that kind of player, night’s like last night will continue…

Something seriously has to change for Arsenal FC to get back to where its history suggests it should be.

Was last night embarrassing? Maybe not…

How about humiliating?

Maybe that’s more like it……

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Posted by rico

Huntelaar close to agreeing personal terms with Arsenal? Gustavo linked & Charity begins at home…..

December 9, 2012

Morning all,

Snippets first up:

According to The Daily Mirror, Arsene Wenger has added midfielder Luis Gustavo to his wanted list for next month’s transfer window. The 6′ 2″ Brazilian defensive midfielder/centre back is reported to be anxious for a move away from Bayern Munich. He only joined them in 2011 so unless he’s really unhappy, I can’t see there being much truth in this. £10 million is the suggested price tag.

The Huntelaar rumour wont go away either, in fact now it’s ‘hotted up’ a bit. The Sunday version of L’Equipe, the same source which started the Cazorla and Giroud rumours back in the summer, has suggested that personal terms are close to being agreed with Arsenal.

Lukas Podolski and the boys decided to pound the streets of London last week in order to raise cash for Arsenal and before any jokes, the cash being raised was for charity not players. On top of any money they managed to raise, the players were donating a day’s wage to The Arsenal Foundation, which funds education and sports projects to transform young people’s lives.

Arsenal also dedicated yesterdays match against West Brom to the same charity and Podolski said:

As players, we know we are in a privileged position and can help people who are less fortunate than us.

To donate a day’s wage is an easy choice to make.

Hopefully the club will raise more money on Saturday than I managed when I walked around Hampstead.

Good on them all I say, mind you, just a day’s wage. Bit tight aren’t they?

Talking of charity, yesterdays referee Mike Jones was full of goodwill for us wasn’t he?

Neither penalty should have been given. The first was a big piece of ‘Swan Lake’ performed by Santi Cazorla and, although the actual decision was spot on for the second, there was a foul in the build up. However, we have had plenty given against us when one of our players has been fouled during the build up, so tough, blame the ref!

Nice to see Mikel Arteta step up and bury both….

Maybe we needed a bit of good fortune to give us a kick-start and that came on 26 minutes through the first spot kick.

Team line up and substitutions:

Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Coquelin – 77′ ) Cazorla (Podolski – 87′ )  Giroud, Gervinho (Rosicky – 81′ )

Back to the game, one that we should have taken the lead much earlier in. Cazorla curled one chance wide of the post and volleyed another  over the bar. The latter would have been quite spectacular had it been on target.

Oxlade-Chamberlain had a shot blocked and then we nearly got caught out when Mulumbu won the ball just outside our penalty area, fed Brunt who fired a shot just wide of the top corner.

Then, that moment came.

Olivier Giroud found Santi Cazorla on the left side of the penalty area and as he tried to take the ball on towards the goal, Steven Reid tried to nick the ball away from him. Cazorla went over, not sure why as there was no contact whatsoever!

Referee Mike Jones pointed to the spot and up stepped Arteta to make the penalty count.

It was the first spot-kick we had converted at The Emirates since Robin van Persie’s against Liverpool in April 2011!

Jack Wilshere almost made it 2-0 before half-time but that would be one of a number of chances that went begging. Gervinho was the next, his shot was saved well by Myhill.

West Brom then had a penalty appeal of their own turned down when Per Mertesacker got his hand in the way of the ball but just prior to that, out big fella had been tugged back by Jonas Olsson. Phew!

Just before the half-time whistle Oxlade-Chamberlain put one over the bar.

Hal-time came and went and second half started as the first one ended and that was with an Oxlade-Chamberlain chance. This was from a tight angle and his shot got the slightest touch on the bar. Gibbs fed Wilshere into the left-side of the penalty area and the latter played in a good cross to Gervinho, who somehow managed to send his header wide! Centre Forward? I don’t think so!

Within minutes, Gervinho missed another chance, this time he totally miss kicked his shot.

Chances were coming and going and despite the one goal lead, it was never going to be enough to satisfy or settle the home fans, or the fans sat at home….

On 64 minutes, we got our second. As said earlier, the penalty was clear-cut when Oxlade-Chamberlain burst into the box with the ball but was sent all ends up by Brunt. Blame the referee for missing the push on West Broms Popov in the build up, not our young Englishman.

Arteta stepped up again and got the same result.

2-0 and to be honest, the way West Brom were playing, that looked to be enough, even for a shaky side like ours….

We had a few more chances, we missed a few more chances – Podolski being the worst offender. He had time to pick his spot from close distance, but yesterday that was row z behind the goal!

West Brom also had a couple of chances before the final whistle, but like us, they missed theirs too.

That was pretty much it, we finally stopped our rot with a victory at The Emirates. It was hardly a convincing display but as I was reminded yesterday, we did create chances.

But we can create as many chances as we like, if we don’t take them, what’s the point? We have to start making our chances count.

Yesterday we were fortunate that a Premier League referee favoured us for the two penalties and trust me, that won’t happen again this season. To be fair though, Jones was poor full stop. Poor old Mertesacker found himself in the book after a perfectly well-timed tackle on one of the West Brom players. Not sure exactly what Giroud did to deserve his yellow card either.

Inevitably, Arsene Wenger was asked about the penalty incident and he confirmed he’d spoken to Santi Cazorla because he knew that the topic would be raised:

Santi told me there was contact. I have not seen the replay, but if it shows there was no contact, I will speak to him after I have seen the ­replay. I will look at it, don’t worry.

If it shows he was not touched, I’ll say to him I don’t want to see that.

Well trust me Arsene, none of us want to see that….

Don’t mind seeing a few more clean sheets though, wonder if Steve Bould been allowed back onto the training field?

All in all it was better performance yesterday, the game was played at a much higher tempo, the players gave more and we created chances. Now to start taking them as I said before.

Next up is Bradford City in the Carling Cup, a huge game and a victory would take us a step closer to Wembley…..

That’s it from me

 

186 Comments | Match review | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by rico

Slipping down the table as Wenger targets home form to save us….

November 29, 2012

Morning all

Here’s the team line up, including the timing of substitutions.

Wojciech Szczesny, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny (Kieran Gibbs, 4), Aaron Ramsey (Gervinho, 80), Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta, Theo Walcott, Santiago Cazorla (Francis Coquelin, 91), Olivier Giroud

Surprisingly, Wenger favoured Vermaelen at left back than Gibbs for this fixture, whether that was down to fitness or not, I don’t know.

We got off to the perfect start within the opening minute of the game, Walcott collected the ball just inside the Everton half, dodged a tackle from Jagielka, laid the ball off to Ramsey and continued his run on the left. The Welshman, returned a good ball back to Walcott who curled a right-footed shot into the far, top corner. A great goal, and who cares if it took a slight deflection?

Minutes later, Laurent Koscielny suffered what appeared to be a groin injury, so that’s him out for a few weeks now. He was replaced by Kieran Gibbs.

I don’t know whether the injury to Koscielny disrupted us but it certainly seem to lift Everton, even though it was so so early in the game. Slowly the home side raised their game, our right hand side was the target.

Just before the half an hour mark, Szczesny was called into action and any danger seemed to be gone but then Sagna played a dangerous ball to Arteta, causing him problems. Pienaar took advantage and the ball broke away into the path of Fellaini who shot past  Szczesny from around twenty five yards.

Should our Pole done better? I think so!

It was a funny old game after that really, we as usual saw a lot of the ball, but up front we were very tame. Whereas Everton often looked dangerous and on another day, would have buried the chances they created.

Jelavic missed a golden opportunity and Pienaar should have been awarded a penalty after being pulled over by Arteta.

It stayed at 1-1, another three points missed out on and with it, we dropped another place down the Premier League table.

A few pointers:

Cazorla was again too easily nullified

Arteta is clearly being wasted playing as a ‘defensive midfielder’ although he does a good job.

We seriously lack width apart from Walcott who could soon be heading off anyway.

We lack a cutting edge and we offered no real threat going forward.

We defended reasonably well apart for their goal and definitely got a way with a penalty!

Did Howard have a decent save to make the whole game..?

Wilshere had another good game. He tried hard to create but we just lack something as a unit…!

After the game, David Moyes said:

It was a certain penalty. We played against a really good Arsenal team and referees’ decisions often decide big games like this but we got nothing tonight. The players had to earn everything because we were never getting a jot from him.

Arsene Wenger said:

I thought 1-1 was a fair result and it is a good point here. The game was played with remarkable intensity and we had to show good spirit to get away with a point because Everton were really up for it. I am pleased with the spirit we showed.

We have played eight of our 14 league games away from home now – against both Manchester and Liverpool clubs – and if we play well at home we have the chance to come back. 

We had a few more chances on the counter-attack but we didn’t do well with the final ball. We could have been more clinical.

Where have we heard that before…….?

That’s it for today, home fixture up next so no excuses eh!

101 Comments | Match review | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by rico

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