A captains performance? Three goals, a clean sheet and even Ozil is smiling but it’s far too late….

Morning all.

What a pleasant change, three points, three goals, a clean sheet and up the table we go. All’s now well in the Arsenal world eh..

I’ve only seen the bitesize highlights on the official site so I’ve no idea really how the match really played out but I did notice plenty of empty seats, certainly at the start.

One good result though doesn’t suddenly turn this season or the last 6/7 into something they haven’t been.

The highlights I caught showed captain for the night Theo Walcott defending, Mesut Ozil smiling, Mustafi and Gabriel getting stuck into Carroll and Martinez making a couple of decent saves which considering he didn’t have a lot to do all night, was reassuring. Must have been hard for him to keep his concentration but clearly, he did.

How bad was Martin Atkinson? I saw three penalty decisions waved away, two of which looked stone wall but nothing given. The last one on Nacho Monreal was nasty and I suspect he’ll have a very sore foot this morning having had it stamped on.

A 3-0 victory is nothing more than you’d expect though when facing a West Ham team who can’t buy a win, who are sitting 15th in the league and totally out of form, in fact the scoreline should have been more. Danny Welbeck should have been on the score-sheet as should Hector Bellerin whose shot went inches wide after Alexis Sanchez produced some wonderful ball control followed by a pin point pass into the Spaniard’s path. Ozil and Walcott should have nabbed more than just the one too but last night it didn’t matter as three were enough and there was no signs of a comeback from the visitors.

If Arsenal win the two games in hand over Liverpool, a top four place is still a possibility but winning those two games is something which is a forgone conclusion. Last night we won but with this team who knows what’ll happen when we take the short trip to Crystal Palace on Monday night or the following Monday when we head to Middlesbrough? Both teams are fighting for their league survival although the latter club looks like it’s heading south into the Championship.

On the 3rd December 2016 this Arsenal team beat West Ham 5-1 away from home. We were second in the table, behind Chelsea with just three points between the two teams yet here we are now, 18 points behind the league leaders which is really embarrassing.

As much as I’d love this team to push on now until the end of the season and climb the table, to see them win at WHL, to beat Utd at The Emirates and of course win the FA Cup, it doesn’t mean Arsene Wenger has an excuse to stay.

It’s too late for that, much too late…

50 thoughts on “A captains performance? Three goals, a clean sheet and even Ozil is smiling but it’s far too late….

  1. Joaquim Moreira says:

    Good morning.
    I’ve watched the game.
    Was ok but we must be more united and not commited so many mistakes.
    I posted 2-3 months ago: Ozil and Iwoby can’t play at the same time.
    I’m 3 months ahead AW….

  2. frednerk says:

    Morning Rico and All

    Definitely something missing,not sure what it was though.
    Was it we played great
    Was it Wet-spam were Wet-spam
    Was it The Players Know(Arsexit)
    Was it Most want to go.
    The performances differ so much.
    Even Bouldy got off his Arris.

    I never went………..streamed instead.
    Looking at the crowd,it seemed most stayed in the bar
    till someone shouted:
    “The Team are Having a Go Its Ok to Sit Down Now”

  3. potter says:

    I saw the last post on the previous thread and it made me think of a radio show I heard the other day. A caller phoned in to say that he was an Arsenal supporter that had only known Wenger as manager and that Arsenal was Wenger and Wenger was Arsenal and that he can’t imagine Arsenal without him. He used words like tragedy, disaster, uncertainty , he was pouring out his heart . This is the problem there are still too many scared to take the step , they have no real concept of what the club is .Only one man has always been there and they are scared of what the future might hold.

  4. frednerk says:

    We now know for sure: Ozils injury?

    No injury..He was upset going out of the Champions League.

    After Me..Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

  5. Le Coq Monster says:

    Thanks Rico.

    Aparrently last night we became the first club to score a hundred (101) goals in all competitions this season !………………….shame about our defense then ! 🙂

  6. Le Coq Monster says:

    61 Rico !……………only Chavs(62) and Bindippers(66) have scorede more and we have a game in hand over Chavs and 2 over Bindippers !………………………..looks good on paper ! hahaha

    Dont forget Spuds have played in an extra competition aswell ! hahaha

  7. Le Coq Monster says:

    Exactly Rico !………………………I thought everyone knew that to win a title you need to be first hard to beat with a strong disciplined and organised defense and that includes the midfield protection !………………………..Chavs and Spuds less than a goal per game conceded !……………………..Manshafter the same but cant score in a brothel !.

  8. Le Coq Monster says:

    Didn`t know the transfer window was open !!!………………………..quick get the Arsenal supporting Mbappe in ! 🙂

  9. rico says:

    Agree, it’s not just the defenders who ‘failing’ it’s those ahead of them. Attack from the back and defend from the front….

  10. Le Coq Monster says:

    Your on the ball today Rico ! 🙂

    Do you remember Rico when Ian Rush was known as Bindippers first line of defense ?…………….they now call it organised pressing…..nothing new, but Wenger prefers tippy tappy pretty stuff ! …………………………….Adams would have sorted them out ! 🙂

  11. allezkev says:

    I was very impressed with Martinez, he’s a big lad and confident with it. Didn’t miss Ospina or Cech…

    I wouldn’t mind seeing him keep his place for the Palace game, may as well if Ospina has agreed to leave…

    We should be thinking about next season not being kind to Ospina…

  12. Le Coq Monster says:

    Just watched the highlights again and it is very pleasing on the eye when we play shit teams, some great flicks and tricks from Alexis, I will be very sorry to see him move across London !…………I wont be sorry in torturing the bastard who authorises it !……………….I will enjoy it ! hahaha

  13. Joaquim Moreira says:

    I think we have at this season the same points, the same victoryes and lost we had last year

  14. kelsey says:

    Rico,,This is my take on things.

    think it’s reasonable to expect many of us to be ultra critical at the moment considering our ratio of wins against games played sinceadful slump started, and also generally the laclustre approach in so many games by many players and others completely out of form and without adding a conspiracy theory the expression on some players faces shows there could be unrest in the dressing room for various reasons.We again had a change of personel on the field for the umpteenth time and depending on your point of view, that is to move forward long term, finishing fourth or fifth,sixth or seventh may or may not see a change in policy by the Board.3 points made it more feasable to get top four again, but to me and others it is no longer an achievement.Beating a really poor West Ham who have lost 5 on a spin doesn’t really tell us anything and it would be unwise to judge certain players on one game against such opposition.
    Consistency and this, will he wont he sign a new contract causes a huge split amongst the fanbase.We can all see it, the media see it, practically every ex player can see it including the mellow gentlemen Bob Wilson, yet I find it hard to believe that Wenger can think he can recreate himself.
    I try and objectively try and weigh up the pros and cons of him staying and even if we plummet for a while the answer to me is that he should do the honourable thing and walk away at the end of the season with some respect left.
    We all know he is intelligent speaks 8 languages but it’s all become about him, his arrogance, his stubborness and his predictably and it’s obvious to practically everyone the time has come to say goodbye, but he is only answerable to himself.Sheer utter madness.
    My gut feeling is he will stay regardless as Kroenke knows the revenue will continue to come in at least short term, but surely he should know a better team with a proactive manager might just win real trophies.However he doesn’t as he isn’t a winner in a sporting sense.
    It’s a frustrating time being a lifelong supporter of our club.People are fighting each other, many just can’t be bothered to go anymore, and others are just losing interest.
    This should never have been allowed to happen, the warning signs were there years ago.

  15. Herb's Army says:

    Hi Rico and HH.

    A gift from the football God’s for Wenger, a team much worse than ours.
    These are the games that players like Ozil and Walcott shine because of the quality of opposition they’re up against.
    Suddenly after one game everyone at Arsenal has their mojo back???
    Any victory is always welcome, but let’s wait until we play someone significant before all this self-congratulary nonsense.
    I wonder if Ozil was as traumatised by Real Madrid’s capitulation against Dortmund in 2013, or whether it’s something he reserves just for Arsenal to excuse him for going missing when it really matters. There are West Ham’s littered all over Europe (Ludogorets), if he turns in those sort of performances against those around and above us, then he’ll earn my respect.
    Just as City allowed us a point at the weekend, so West Ham didn’t have the nous or the fight to put us to the sword and cause us any heart-in-the-mouth moments.
    Well done to Emiliano Martinez and Gabriel Paulista, it was a good time for them to play, I hope both get a little more game time.

    Hi Cornwall, I know mate, I only left a comment there as a tester to see if I went into moderation as my comments on here do. But it didn’t, so now I’m just as baffled.

  16. rico says:

    Kelsey, it matters not to me about last nights results or any other victory we might achieve before the season ends. He has to go. It seems there is a bit of a tussle going on within the board as to whether he’ll stay or not because otherwise, surely we’d have been told….

  17. kelsey says:

    Hi Herb

    I really rate Martinez having followed him when on loan.

    I agree with everything you say and let’s see how we perform in a true test.

  18. rico says:

    Hi Herb.

    Arsene had his his mojo back after a 3-0 win over a terrible West Ham. Who on earth has suggested that, give them a paracetamol to get over their illness… ?

    That’s odd re not going into moderation on AA but you are here…

    Have you tried logging in with your new WordPress account? It appears that you are still using your old one….

  19. Herb's Army says:

    Hi Kelsey, always nice to see you blogging.

    The players all seem to want to congratulate themselves if the NN headlines are to be believed Rico.
    I’ll be honest Rico, I don’t know how to do any of that stuff.

  20. Le Coq Monster says:

    Just had to go to Sports Direct and get a pair of astro turf trainers as I think the dog chewed my lovely comfortable old ones !…………….I wont tell him off as he probably did it because he loves the smell of my feet ! hahaha

    I saw these bright yellow one`s going cheap at 26 squid !……………. they were exactly the same as the orange and blue one`s in every detail apart from the colour, just 10 squid cheaper !……result !…………known as the Messi of Launceston !……….due to my dribbling ability all over my top when watching the tennis girls when I`m in goal ! hahaha

  21. Le Coq Monster says:

    Never smoked or taken drugs or drink alcohol Rico, I`m naturally nutty ! …………and if I did, I`m not telling that lot over at Liverpooolwhat it is !. hahaha

    Absolute scorcher today and night, great start to the little footy season !.

  22. Mabo says:

    I certainly hope for a change and a splash in the transfer market. Imagine having an Arsenal that challenges from the start of the season till the end

  23. rico says:

    I didn’t read much into it really as the reporter was jut trying to catch him out. He did say it would be the club who make any announcement over his future and not him.

    He laughed about the 3 protesters who turned up at LC..

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