Morning all.
We controlled the game from the first to the last minute. They had one chance at the end from a header, but overall I’m pleased with the way we attacked, the way we defended and with the way we played together with a good focus for 90 minutes. That’s basically it. – Arsène Wenger
I think he’s spot on and I was quite surprised how easy that game was for us yesterday. I was sure Boro would give us a tough time but we were totally in control from start to finish and utterly deserved our victory.
Loved listening to Arsene Wenger after the game when asked about Ollie not given the time to get his hat-trick and the manager simply replied that the big Frenchman had already had 80 minutes!
No doubt someone somewhere will throw the ‘it’s only Boro’ into the ring but this is a side who beat Man City at The Etihad so let’s not take anything away from how well our boys played. The only thing I would say is we should have beaten them by a bigger scoreline and had our final ball been a tad more accurate and their keeper hadn’t had such a good game, maybe we would have but the most important thing is to be in the pot for tonight’s draw and we are. Fingers crossed we get Preston at home… lol
Ollie scored two good goals, the latter was a superb finish from a Sanchez corner. Ok the defender went a wandering but he still had to put the ball in the net and he did with a precise volley. The first was a perfect team goal.
New boy Gabriel was solid at the back and the more he trains and plays, the better he’ll get – I’m looking forward to seeing him play against the so called bigger and better sides as he might just turn out to be one of the better defender signings Arsene Wenger has made of late. And all for just £11 million. Early days I know but Arsene too was pretty impressed:
It was interesting to observe Gabriel today because he played his first game in a cup game that we absolutely had to win. He has shown three important qualities – great concentration levels, great urgency to defend and good pace, especially on the recovery tackle he made in the box. On the other hand, he played a little bit with the handbrake on because he did not want to make a mistake. From what I’ve seen there’s a lot to come from him because technically he is good at passing as well.
Handbrake on just very disciplined?
Chambers and Gibbs both had really good games yesterday, mind you, at times they both looked like wingers rather than full backs but yesterday that was ok because the game allowed it but on other days and against other sides, they’ll need to wind their forward runs in. Or perhaps that’s why the manager sticks with Monreal and Bellerin for those kind of fixtures.
Santi (captain for the day) and Mesut played with freedom and a smile on their face and even though Welbeck couldn’t find the back of the net, his work rate was immense as always. Alexis was just himself, he usually is.
All in all, a very good afternoon for Arsenal and certainly for the fans. A nice week of rest for the players now ahead of little trip across London to face Crystal Palace…
Have a good Monday guys and gals…
Tsgh just a thought on something you posted on the last tread sometimes 2-0 is putting a team to the sword
Great result, good professional performance. Morning all.
Morning all. As usual I can only dip in and out today but my absolute favourite moment of the game was when Gabriel took the Boro player out rather than let him run through. Exactly the sort of thing our players don’t do and other teams especially the Chavs have done for years. Imagine if that had been Costa running through!!!!!
Morning all, good report rico. But, if we draw Preston or Man U at 7.35, before tonight’s game, I’m blaming you!!
Could have been 5-0 Joe..
Sure was Syg..
Bob – you and me both re that incident, shame someone once didn’t do that to Giggs…
Good summary of yesterday’s game, Rico. Couldn’t have written it better myself! Couldn’t have written it, period!!
So, i consequentially, I have just read the following on the BBC Gossip we. Site:
Gunners winger Theo Walcott has suffered a blow with training drills proving that defender Hector Bellerin, 19, is now the fastest player at the club.
I knew Walnut was missing something!
Morning.
Good read.
I think it was a professional performance;
You have a point joe; seeing as I know you are consistent in your views/assessment of the team;
Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if our performance is ‘not up to scratch’ as per the spuddies and Foxes game? 😉
Should have read “inconsequentially” not what the iPad wrote!
Hey Syg my man… how’s the ferret? 🙂
Ditto 10:47
I am not trying to be a kill joy but how many times have we played the likes of Southampton/Yanited or Stoke, missed chances like Giroud and Theo missed and then 60 secs later conceded another goal at the other end?
I take nothing away from their goalie or defenders at all btw..
We are becoming a half a job team imho…
precedent set by Ferdinand on Freddie in that ill fated game when Riley laid his cards on the table.
Morning all BTW. A warm glow this morning.
Yesterday’s performance was far better than was dreamt of in my philosophy!
I feared the worse, a banana skin waiting to be slipped on, but the team performed magnificently. At no point were we notin in control, except maybe in the 93rd minute.
Middlesbrough didn’t really turn up and we did! The team looked like the Arsenal of 10 years ago. Can we repeat the performance in our next games? I really, really hope so.
Thanks Ts & Wavy..
Thoroughly enjoyed that game – makes a nice change .. 😉
Potter, did you go yesterday?
I said after the game yesterday about the Boro manager, what a guy he must be to face the cameras and pundits after his side lost…
Wavy, I don’t think we allowed them to turn up. We were out of the blocks early and took hold of the game….
It was asking about you Ginge …… Hope you are doing good my mate?
Morning all.
MOTM…..bloody opposition keeper saved his side from a 5-0 caning.
Super performance.
The save from Alexis header one of the best Scott.. Although Theo will probably beg to differ.. 😉
Morning Potter…
Very good point Wavy- Lets hope we can maintain consistency for more than 5 games in a roll…
No matter how we look at it, M’boro are 16 or so places behind us and so we should be doing the job on them.. albeit ‘professionally’;
Imho M’boro allowed us to play and we know from history that any team including the likes of Barca or Bayern that allows us to play end up losing against us…
What I am pleased about is AW giving Gabriel his debut against a team who do not pose any aerial dominance as I alluded to last week…
Secondly, we had a whole week to prepare for this game and started with almost a full starting XI…
We have AS Monaco soon and we still have this patched up midfield; can Ozil and SC19 alone handle the physicality of Toulalon, Moutinho, Kondogbia etc?
Maybe I would be more tried if I had not heard squad have a few days off…
C,mon Scott, what about Chesney? He made one save, missed the cross when they hit the bar, had one roll of toilet paper, for emergencies but, kept a clean sheet! Boom boom.
Cazorla for me. He controlled the game from start to finish, just like Cesc used to do! I think that was the best game he’s ever played for us. Long may he continue!
Ts, you’re only bitter because Ramsey wasn’t in the midfield…. 😉
Wavy -just watched Motd, Trevor Sinclair said Santi is so good he could play football in a post box… He was superb again, the ball to Gibbs for the first goal was pure perfection…
Good Post, Rico, 🙂
I have seen many games over the years and experienced a lot of rubbish, and some fantastic games too.
With ‘dire’ being represented as ‘0’ on the scale, and brilliant being ’10’, I would say that was a comfortable ‘7’, and the only reason that score is not higher is because beating a good Championship team like Boro was almost to be expected.
The only vagary was that it was a Cup match and anything can happen in a one off like that.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and for the first time in a long while it was a pleasure to see the lads run thru their repertoires and demonstrate their skills.
The undoubted impression was that they could have gone up through the gears if they needed to, and when you factor in the fact that it was yet another ‘makey-up’ team, with 7 changes from the previous game, it shows what a good performance that was, and how strong our squad has become.
Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.
Good report boss.
Finally we have a defender who can be nasty and streetwise.
Shades of Lucio???
I saw only the 2nd half. But from what I saw Gabriel kept reminding me of Lucio. Technical, streetwise and nasty.
The missus told me he reminded her of Lurch from the Addams family
And life seems better without Aaron and Jack in the middle
I was impressed with Gabriel on his debut, and he did well in the air, except when between them, he, Kozzer and Flamini made a pig’s ear of a ball into the box that resulted in Kike getting to it and heading against the post and rebounding out.
In fairness to Chezzor, who some would have blamed if it had gone in, he had no chance to save that, unless he had 8 foot extending arms – maybe he should have had some fitted. 🙂
Devil, he’s a bastard, but he’s our bastard 🙂
Thanks Hb..
Exactly why I’d rate that result higher – it’s the FA Cup and sides from lower leagues cause all sorts of upsets. Had we not played as well as we did, we could have been another scalp. I loved it, although 5-0 would have been better… lol
Thanks Devil – really impressed with Gabriel too…
Lol Rico.. just maybe…
Do true Devil…
Note, lucio was not always like taht… it was Jose who turned him into a professional man maker…
He was a ball playing CB before that; who even Aw flirted with prior to his move to Bayern and also to Inter…
Syg, I am good mate… Are you back to the UK?
Maybe AW should look more for the Kos and Gabriel types. I am sure that there are at least two or three more like them in Spain or France or Brazil or argentin.
Good Morning to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
Rico – A nice concise report on the game. As has already been noted by a few others, a good professional effort by all the team.
Devil – Lurch was better looking.
Afternoon Cg, thanks..
Harsh on Gabriel Cg, but you have a point… lol
This fixation on looks is starting to worry me as a member of the non-oil painting fraternity. 🙁
Rico – That should have been Good Afternoon. I wasn’t watching the clock.
We’ve had more than a few ‘pretty’ players who couldn’t or, in the case of Arshavin, wouldn’t play. So, I’ll be happy to cheer for Gabriel if he continues to play well. He seems to be in the Martin Keown mold.
Joe – You’ve never redecorated a room in your life? Also, it is a little bit early to be talking about fixation, other than chronic under performance (i.e. our beloved team) for the last decade.
Ha ha Cg, time flies I guess…
Cg not to pl standard paint goes everywhere except where it was ment to go.
Rico – Time flies when you’re having fun.
The form of the team is improving, even when we have so many players returning from long term injuries. The score could have been higher, but they did what was necessary to win the game.
Sure does Cg and days like yesterday were just that… lol
I’m in the UK until after Everton match Ginge.
SYG – Is your book available outside the UK?
Cg, try Amazon maybe?
Tevez is worse than Gabriel CG.
I would like to see Gabriel against Stoke. That is the barometer with which he can be measured. I have no doubt that he will have the upper hand on people like Costa, Falcao and even RVP/Rooney. But its against the rugged style of Stoke I would like to see him. Yes he is in the mould of MK but he is more skilful. A cross between the finesse of O’Leary and the steely side of MK. That is why Lucio springs to mind.
Not this season though Devil… 🙂
Afternoon All,
Good all round performance,from a balanced
team selection…….Well done Arsene
Chambers and Gibbs looked as if the
rest had done them good.
Gabrial to look at is no oil painting,
but as a player,could turnout to be beauty.
What surprised me on that performance,
How the f#ck did they beat Shi#y
Fred, we are clearly much better than City…. 😉
So Fred, in your opinion Gabriel is the equivalent of the Mona lisa.
I saw their game vs Shitty. The latter literally bombarded the Boro goal but did not take their chances. Boro did. And in football its not possession or shots, but how many balls cross the line.
A few days ago someone made a sort of positional comparison between Gabriel and TommyV. They are so far apart that TommyV will need a binoculars to see Gabriel. Its so ironic that TommyV was sold without us getting a replacement, and when we got him months later Gabriel made his debut before TommyV.
We still need another defender. Either a right back so that Chambers can be the reserve CB, or else we buy a CB and Chambers can remain as a right back. But I do not agree on two 19 year olds filling the same position. There is no experience there. Even though Debuchy is injured, he can still offer Bellerin advice. And we must remember that both Per and Kos will soon both be 30+.
Have a think back devil,
you corrected me that getting
rid of tommy was good business
in hindsight you were maybe right,
has it has turned out.
His no bowl of fruit is he….devil.
Are we rico?
We were at The Etihad Fred lol
(Cue cheesy music)
Hello there all you good folk out in HH Land.
And here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for…….
(Cue more cheesy music)
Yes HH’ers it’s your Comment of the Day…
We’ve had some ones, but there’s one that stands out, and it’s from one of our favourite contributors….
Yes, it’s, Frednerk with that good old
“How the f#ck, did they beat S#itty”…
(Cue some really jazzy, cheesy music)
I don’t know about you guys, but that had me in stitches 😀
I like cheese Kev… Lol
Good point Kev. Fred’s comment should be the quote of the day. 😀
How are you habib???
What do you think of yesterday??? and about Gabriel??
And my observation on Aaron and Jack??
I would like to add another thought.
How about giving the captain’s armband to Cazorla and keep him in the side. I was impressed by his leadership. It reminded me of the days of when Cesc was controlling midfield. However what Cazorla brings to the team that Cesc did not lies in the fact that he is vocal with the team and directs those around him by being positive. Cesc used to sulk….something which Cazorla does not do. Plus I think he is more tactically aware than Cesc.
I should have added Rico, that my comment was in a cheesy American accent 😉
Hi Coach, it’s piddling down in London Town and I’m waiting for the cup draw…
How are you btw…
I am ok Kev.
Back from a 6k run. Here the weather is perfect…..my favourite. A bit cold, no wind and sometimes drizzling a bit.
At what time will the cup draw be held???
Coach I was very impressed with Gabriel.
There was just the way he went about what he had to do that impressed me…
He was efficient, economical and intelligent.
A proper defender…
As far as Santi is concerned, he’s a genius…
Nuff said… 😉
🙂 Kev, a cheesy wig….
I’m off guys, Indian summers needs me to press ‘play’..
Night all…
Hi from New Zealand
Just had to join in. Great game, great blog and love the banter. Key point for me was stated earlier: No Jack or Aaron.
Gd nite Lady.
Did he remind you of Lucio Kev?? I was stuck by many similiarities.
Actually, I want to see who we draw first.. 😉
Coach, there are definately similarities with Lucio, who was another proper defender…
Home draw please
Crap draw
Night All….
Rico, you see my 10.47 post?
Preston it is then 🙂
WTF…..away against Manure/Preston.
The harder they get ……the stronger we will become.
I think we will win against them.
Welcome kiwibob…..
Oops Andrew, just seen it…
I’m in the dog house… Come on Preston!! Lol
ah ffs another beating in old trafford to look forward to .. Last time we had a result up there we had Baptista ffs…
I just had a text message Kev. you sent it earlier but I got it now.
Cheers mate. I am happy.
Everything ok????
I bet you are thrilled to bits mate.
Half time between PNE and Yanited. The heat map shows that the latter have more of the ball but when it comes to direct football and counter attacks PNE are proving equal if not slightly better than United. PNE had 2 shots on goal and 2 off while United had 3 shots off target. to be fair United have had more dangerous attacks but PNE are matching them with quick counter punches.
PNE go 1-0 up.
Preston 1 up
The FA make me laugh, they know we’re the Arsenal, they know we’re the cup holders, they know we only do home draws yet they give us a little tricky tie against Preston away, naughty naughty.
Good point KiwiBob…
Yep, all good thanks Coach… 🙂
bollox……1-1
Rooney offside
Bugger it’s off to old toilet
seems like we are going to get Manure after all
2-1 up now
I trip to Old Toilet on the cards .
BT…..you are tripping on the cards??? LOLLLLL
Pen for manure
Living in a very religious country myself I have a lot of time for Fellaini, the bigger the hair the closer to God as they say , can totally understand that.
Should we have anything to fear going to manUre……..I think not ! Bring em on.
Rooney had to score!!!!
We would never get that penalty
Rooney dives to make sure , we can sympathise with Preston after all it not as if he’s never done it before.
Not a worse draw we could have had, even if we play ok, I’m sure first foul will be a booking, we will have a sending off, penalty against. I’m getting paranoid already at the thought of it!
Push in the back and a dive leads to two goals for man utd and Rooney stopped the goalkeeper from diving for the first goal.
Andrewh 1313
Welcome to the club I have an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach after this draw.
Yeh, but Rooney was, “using his professionalism” ie cheat and you shall be rewarded! He’s done it all his career.
Wonder who Riley is cooking up for the trip oop north.
Old but….
Bless him…..
Morning Lee and all….
Morning All
Morning Rico/Lee
Andrew Taylor for the game at Old Karsey, I predict…
Morning Kev..
Or Martin Atkinson – one thing we do know, it won’t be Mark Clattenburg….
Morning Rico, et al, 🙂
I have been reading about the president of Palermo is ‘flying in’ to talk about selling Dybala to Arsenal, and agreeing a deal ahead of the summer window.
Sounds like hoop-la to me. The transfer window is becoming a year round event nowadays. Bugger.
Seems to be more and more nonsense flying around concerning Cazorla joining Atletico next summer…
Agent spin prior to contract talks?
You know what Rico, all this transfer speculation is a total bore…
Most of us get sucked in, but 95% of it is complete merde…
I mean, Wenger has finally put together a decent squad, that can compete, and our players are seemingly being cherry-picked.
The Press just can’t leave it alone.
Morning Hb, just read that too…. 🙂
That’s just it Kev, the press don’t like the fact that we have a decent squad, so they try and stir things up….
That’s what I thought Rico….
I was reading about our record at old shithole…..it’s absolutely appalling! Last win in 2006!
Morning all, not happy with the draw more worried about Riley’s henchmen than this current man utd team after all it took man utd plus the pmgo to get by a 3rd tier side.
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/features/man-utd-v-arsenal-old-trafford-review.html
Morning all.
Shit draw. As someone mentioned we shouldn’t fear this Utd team one bit coz they are pony, but with the refs in their pocket I don’t see us winning this game. Sad state of affairs.
Arsene needs to start giving it the old “the refs need to be strong and unbiased” chat in his interviews.
That record has to change sometime Lee, it might just be in March…. Utd are cack…
Morning Joe, Lewis…
I think AW will start the talk about the ref before the game. Good to see Collymore (spelling) batter Rooney for diving last night…
Morning all..
I was expecting a lucky Preston NE trip but hey…
Yanited are as suspect as we are but LvG is another manager Aw has never beaten- barca, Bayern and yanited recently…
Hopefully, AW can do one over him this time.
Lee Mason and a 12.45 kick off…. I bet.
Yeah the wife beater gave it to Roy Hodgson too… “Disgrace. Arsehole fell out. Embarrassing”
So true Rico. re 12:45
Hi Ts..
What did he say to Roy Hodgson Lee, not seen that…
Woy basically defended Wooney and Stan said the above…..
Just seen the Rooney dive, the more I watch Utd games the more I feel the refs are corrupt.
The refusal to use more technology to make the game fair shows how corrupt it all is.
Woy is a total cretin
How could anyone defend Rooney for last night? I bet if he wasn’t English he’d be crucified….
Technology had to be the way forward.. When does Riley retire?
Morning all.
We should not blame referees for any results.
Hey, it goes both ways, surely 🙂
As for the draw, well we need to beat the best of what’s left at some point so let’s knock them out.
Hi Scott, just why I wanted Preston… lol
well said Scott
I wonder if riley is still based in Yorkshire? We may have to get Syg to pay him a visit.. 🙂
I know I like my conspiracies but I wonder why the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB) which riley heads, is a Limited Liability Company?
Is that not the clearest indicator of dodginess?
Why is it not part of the National refereees board?
We cop the raw end of the deal far, far , far too often to be merely coincidental.
Look at it this way if football was using technology man utd would be out of the FA cup the refs and the FA couldn’t have that.
New post up now..