I was very pleased with the resilience because it shows qualities that are important such as solidarity.
Arsène Wenger
In a game of two halves, Arsenal emerged victorious 2-1 but the game was far from the relatively easy nature that some people would have you believe with the pre-match hype about how we were going to batter a depleted Newcastle side.
The second half in itself was torture and not a good show for those who have a weak heart.
Arsenal began the game with the following team….
Ospina, Chambers, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Alexis, Cazorla, Welbeck, Giroud.
Mertesacker gave way for Gabriel (who needs to get into match practice besides being good for rotation), Ozil was down with some bug while Bellerin was rested.
Right from the off it was noticeable that this was not going to be an easy affair. It was a game which screamed out for TR07 and his top notch ability to read the game while playing short passes and good movement. However Tomas was kept on the bench.
A lot of us were also surprised to see Alexis begin the match as he is in the red zone and needs a breather.
Newcastle looked very suspect at the back, especially in the centre with a makeshift defence. However, the Arsenal team contrived to play into Newcastle’s hands by playing over the defence or long balls from the back for Giroud to run on to.
Yesterday’s match was a match tailor made for tippy tappy short passing movements in which Giroud should should have been the main man where balls had to be played to his feet and he would have brought the others like Danny, Alexis, Santi and Aaron into scoring positions, not for him to run after the ball or knock it down.
I am lucky to have great players around me who know me very well, so I try to put it in the net and that’s all I want. – Olivier Giroud
Anyway, in a short three minute burst Oliver scored twice, his 15th and 16th goals in a season in which he missed well over two months. Both goals came from set pieces, the first one from a free-kick while the second from a corner. Giroud is proving to be for Arsenal what Drogba used to be for Chelsea.
In the first half alone we should have easily been four goals ahead had we taken our chances. Half time came and many of us expected Newcastle to tire out and Arsenal have it more easy.
We couldn’t have been more wrong.
The second half began, and while in the first half Arsenal were Dr Jekyll, it soon became apparent that Mr Hyde had taken over….
Newcastle began putting us under a lot of pressure and some last ditch tackling, lady luck, bodies, legs and what not, contrived to keep Newcastle at bay.
However, the Arsenal team managed to fluff up what on paper should have been a clean sheet by being all at sea to allow Newcastle to score a goal which in essence should not have been allowed.
Soon it was evident that the team was tiring after their midweek excursions.
Chambers and Ramsey were not their usual selves as both got caught out and lost the ball too many times and Alexis seemed to grow tired with every minute that passed.
In my opinion, Arsene Wenger should have made the subs earlier instead of sitting there while Newcastle were carving us up.
It was evident that Alexis needed to be taken off while Santi was also having less influence upon the match.
Flamini and Rosicky were both introduced and they quickly got stuck in. However, while Tomas made a good contribution with his presence, Flamini, who was told to sit beside Coquelin and protect the back four failed to make a good impact. Twice at least he committed errors which on another day could have easily been punished. Luckily we were not as the game petered out.
Late in the game Arsene Wenger made another substitution which in my opinion should have been done earlier. Bellerin came on for Danny Welbeck and immediately helped Chambers on the right. AW should note that while Bellerin is being groomed as a full back, both he and Gibbs can be used as wingers seeing that they like to hog the touchline a lot. Plus their speed can help protect the full backs. Better than those who pretend they need bigger contracts to spend the game moaning and doing nothing.
Man of the match was given to Giroud, but it could have easily been given to Ospina or Coquelin. All three were immense yesterday. And they gave Arsenal a good spine to keep marching on.
Written by Devilgunner.
Good read Devil.
Just about to watch the game on Motd… Well, three minutes. 😉
Morning again all…
Good read Devil.
Another win, another 3 points and maybe the interlull is coming at the right time for a change.
Maybe.
Morning all.
Nice one Mr Dev..
Morning Rico, Dev and all
Just a shame most of ours play for their country Scott..
Morning Ts..
Rico, hence the “maybe” lol.
I hope they are used sparingly.
You just know they’ll all play both games Scott…
Thanks mates.
I am just wondering what could have been had Ollie not missed the best part of the first half of the season.
I am also sure that Theo knows that his time is up……both at AFC and in the English national team. And the reason is that his work rate is non existent when compared to Danny’s and Alexis. Is it a coincidence that Danny and Alexis are both first teamers. Even the Ox has leaped ahead of him.
In the national team Welbeck begins, while Rooney is a certain starter. Add Kane to the mix and the Ox as well and suddenly it looks very grim.
Ask all the supporters who they would like to see in the AFC team as a beginner…..Theo or Danny???
no need to give a million dollar prize for it.
Good write up Dev now on the substitutions it’s just the way things are with Wenger he doesn’t make the changes as quickly as some fans want but he’s not going to change.
Hi Devil.
Could say the same about so many of ours who have been missing through injury. But Ollie’s goals have been a huge miss…
Well Rico did you enjoy motd I watched it last night now was it just me I felt that they skipped over the first half very quickly and concentrated mostly on the 2nd half of the game.
Morning All…
Morning Rico.
Morning Adam, Scott et al…
And Morning you Lovely, Hunky Coach 😉
The game started, on MOTD at the 23rd minute, just before Ollie scored, further 30 seconds divided the goals and then it was half time. Yes you are right, they concentrated solely on the second half! Why was that?
Morning all. Three more points in the bag.
Note of caution how many fit first teamers will we have available after the Bore Fest Break? Well there’s always Theo as he wont get on the the pitch!
Aye joe…..I noticed that on the clips I saw as well. 20% on the first half….80% on the second. lol
Joe, just watched it and thought exactly the same… Buffoons aren’t they…
Morning Kev/Wavy..
I reckon Theo will play for England, I hope he does as we don’t want DW to play both..
Don’t worry they have just done the same on goals on Sunday maybe it’s that we have no idea what makes good tv.
imo Ollie is now worth more than Benzema and the chav geezer.
Hiya Kev. i am still a hunk mate. All 1.65mtres of me. 😉
Of course Theo will play for England he needs to and he will come back injured it’s like night follows day.
as long as he stays away from the team and gets sold to the highest bidder in summer he can play all he wants for England.
yes…..even if he scores the goals that clinch the FAcup and maybe the EPL title when he comes on as a sub. I will still want him off…….and someone better coming in.
He doesn’t get injured with England Joe, just with us… 😉
Devil, if Theo goes, I doubt he’ll be replaced. OC, DW, Gnabry and maybe a under 21 player will no doubt be seen as being enough…
Isn’t Jon Toral a right winger/midfielder? At 20 years old, his time can’t be far away…
Gnarby already at the club if we sell Walcott I hope we spend the money on a world class goalkeeper.
I think I owe Sanchez an apology he played well yesterday and made alot of chances in the first half and faded like everyone else in the 2nd half.
Rico as usual you beat me to it on Gnarby. 😉
Dev highest bidder except Liverpool.
Morning all
Giroud was the man of the match with merit.
Chambers played a level under 0; Ramsey almost the some.
🙂 Joe…
Can’t see TW leaving England so my guess is if he goes, it will be to a rival in the PL. I think he’ll stay though…
I would like to see Walcott start in both England games.
Play the full 90 minutes in both, he needs minutes on the pitch.
And score a hat trick in each game.
Then his transfer value will rocket…
Personally, if we sell, or when we sell, Walcott, I would prefer to see him move abroad. Although I’m not sure that he’d want to chance his arm on the Continent…
We’d probably get a bigger fee from an EPL club as he is English…
Sell him to ManUre, City, but certainly not to the Scousers…
I wouldn’t wanna do any business with them under any circumstances…
Or he brings that form back to Arsenal Kev, bangs in a few hat-tricks and signs a new contract.. 🙂
Beautiful day here so I’m off to do some gardening….
Coach, that was a good post btw…
I would prefer it if he goes to shitty. we will get a lot of money. he will sit on the bench doing FA.
everyone would be happy.
That is another option Rico…
Enjoy the garden… 🙂
Yeah Coach, City would be my preferred choice if we sold him domestically…
City seem to be in a state of near meltdown as it is. Theo would fit in nicely…
Sagna already wants to leave. He is tired of splinters in his backside.
Theo will stick their though. Shitty have to sell and it looks like Nasri will be one of them. They will
have to balance with finances and also homegrown players.
Arsenal have a plethora of home grown players. so no problems there. Even Gnabry, Coquelin etc are homegrown.
I am wondering which team the PMGO wants to win the match between Liverpool v Manu.
I want a draw.
Manure in front.
Yeah, a draw would be good Coach…
Mancs winning…
Interesting dynamic to the game now that the Mancs are ahead…
Would love to see Hull cause an upset.
Unlikely, but we can hope…
A few red cards and bone shaking tackles would be very welcome at Bullshitfield.
If Manu win Liverpool will be 6 points plus 15 goals worse than Arsenal.
Manu seem to be knocking teams out of the top 4 race one at a time if the result stands.
A draw would be great with a lot of red cards
Steven Gerrard out of the game at the Grove…
Stevie G 😆
Another 2 or 3 red cards if you please Mr Atkinson…
wow. he had been less than two minutes.
another red card……hopefully it will be Allen this time.
I saw a serious assault on Lallana’s hipster beard in the first half.
i did not see the actions mates….can you help???
why did Lallana get subbed??? injury or what???
why did Gerrard get sent off???
2-0 yanited of Manure
that, imo, means that the top 4 can be now sealed and packed. its the order which is to be determined.
the rest will fight it out for 5th place and Thursday football.
dippers pull one back
Gerrard stamped on a Manu player the kind of thing he would have got away with when he was England captain. 😉
funny how Wooney is celebrating the idea of finishing 4th… lol
Afternoon all…
Darn I hoped they’d draw….
But it’s not a trophy tsgh
But it means because of the goal difference Liverpool have to make up 7 points and come to us in the next match.
Sp*rs have to make up 8 points on us.
Good read Dev…. … Oli has been playing really really well since he came back…. Chambers was a worry though
Come on Hull… 🙂
Oh hell
Not the best start by Hull…
Oh well back to the garden Rico
Oh hull
yes… shite chavs
Rico come back from the garden
Bloomin heck only popped off to have a shower…
Come on Hull…
🙂 Joe…
commentator not questioning mental strength yet.. lol
lol… Rico. stay with the chickens so Hull can win. 😉
🙂 Ts, I wasn’t with the chickens….
Maybe you should head back to the shower
I’d be even more wrinkly then Joe 😉
Richard III is being buried today…
COYTigers
My bad Rico.
Rip Richard III
R.I.P*
Where is Bt… RM vs Barca tonite…
Ok
Cesc is looking like he is playing next to Denilson. lol
Cesc looks like he is Denilson…. 😉
Chav keeper having a stormer… They’d be well beaten without him….
Rico some of the nicest fruit is wrinkly 😉
lol Joe…
very harsh Rico re. Cesc. 😛
2 caused them the 2nd goal though…
He*
oh no… 🙁
Bugger
🙂 Joe/Ts..
Darn it! Jammy devils…
almost 2 weeks for preparing next match.
We can try to reach the 75 points 😉
Jamie Gallagher sounds quite down beat after the lose…
Arsenal hang on to win 2-1 at Newcastle and Wenger has lost the plot…
Chelsea snatch a 3-2 win at Hull after leading 2-0, and Mourinho is a genius…
Lol Kev… I just understood the post at 5:02…
Some things never change Kev!
Come on Ginge, keep up…
There was a time, when Jamie Sanderson was the go to geezer for news on the Arsenal Academy…
His Young Guns blog was easily the best out there and one of the first sites I logged into every day…
He had, it seemed, all the contacts and had a certain credit ability in the blog world that only a few had… (Like Rico 😉 )
The present day Jamie Sanderson, the Metro Jamie Sanderson, has no creditability at all…
The current day Jamie Sanderson had ‘sold out’ to the Dark Side. And writes absolute garbage in his on line column…
Everybody had to earn a living, but you don’t have to sell your soul at the same time…
Everybody *has* to….
Bloody s and d….
Funny how Jamie has changed Kev, I guess that’s what a high profile job does… 😉
Oh, and 🙂 Kev… If only eh…..
Good Evening Lovelies and Hunkies.
We used to sell our captains. Make someone a captain. Then sell him the year after.
Now it seems that the trend is changing………we say someone will be our future captain and then sell them.
Take a look at this……..Arsenal look like they’ll be selling another star to Manchester City – with the Premier League champions after Jack Wilshere.
City are preparing a huge bid for the Arsenal product as they look to increase their home-grown contingent to adhere to Champions League regulations, the Sunday Times report.
They’re no strangers to pinching Arsenal’s top players after previously snapping up the likes of Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Adebayor and Gael Clichy.
Wenger has many other midfield options at his disposal and may be willing to part with the Englishman if they are offered a good price.
Whether Wilshere, who has been described as a FUTURE ARSENAL CAPTAIN, wants to leave remains to be seen.
Can we say that Diaby should be a future Arsenal Captain??? Or Theo???
Top player JW??? lol. He reminds me of the old Goverment workers……1 hour work, 8 hours rest.
yes he has undoubted skill. but its the technical nous which lies in the grey matter between his ears which is suspect.
Theo as well.
I still remember once, during a game, Arteta gave an order to Jack to sit back and the latter did not give a F**k but went rampaging forward.
That is what holds him back. Then again……AW should make sure like he is doing now with Theo that team orders are to be obeyed and no one is above the team.
As an old government worker what’s wrong with that work system. 😉
OLD=those who used to work between the wars mate.
work for a quarter of an hour……then take an hour and a half rest.
lol
lol Dev… you are on form.
Joe you a government worker? 😉
Come on Rakitic… Kroos
i have some spare time these days mate. Work does leave its toll on me, especially having to follow and care for lots of kids with problems. Plus the family as well.
So when I have time for me….its bang on here mate
rico, any chance of an alarm call for the Scousers game !
Have you folks read about the incident in Stamford hill?
Khedira not even making bench?
Wilshere to City?? No chance…
Sure thing Micko, email me you mobile number – and the Arsenal players whilst you’re at it….
night All
Have you checked the side bar, just worried tsgh will go into over-drive !
Good Evening Rico and All.
Good read Devil.
I still love JW. He’s the only one that stand up to bullies in an Arsenal’ shirt. He still has that British spirit “No matter what you do to me, I’ll never give up”.
I have but can’t change it. 10.45 ko for our lot would be a nightmare Micko…. 🙂
Have you read the occurrence in Stamford hill?
Evening Ng. I’m hoping Jack comes back with a point to prove, and makes it!
i am like you in that regard Rico.
But I am still waiting for the real Jack to stand up and be counted. And prove that he is a team man.
How long do I have to wait??? I do not know.
Million dollar question Devil……
Jack is down now but, he’ll rise again… I do believe him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP_pCG9Cmio
Nite tsgh.
Nash, he’s not half as bad as some would have you believe, Arsene doesn’t know how to get the best out of him where as Roy Hodgson blindingly does.
Night Ts..
Roy Micko, you mean the same man who told Arsene to sign Danny boy?
My pillow needs a bit of company so I’m off for the day…
Night all and thanks again for the post Devil…
He must have caught Arsene on a good day if that’s the case, he doesn’t listen to nobody ! We do have a nice little contingent in the National team these days rico !
Nite Gooners, all in all another good weekend.
The next match against Pool will be crucial for reds. Lose and they could be further behind if not out of the race for 4th spot.I believe they will be fired up. I just hope Giroud will score again .If not we have other gunners capable of scoring.
The gunners have won six/seven games on the trot.By the law of averages the gunners could lose /draw. Liverpool were unbeaten in 2015 and have just lost. Me thinks if Wenger wants to finish
in the top 4,the gunners have to carry on winning.
Stop dithering around the box. Swift passing is the name of the game and a sudden defence splitting pass or strike will do the job.
I think that Lee is responsible for that Jack Wiltshire rumour…
Looks like Skrtle should get a ban before our 10.45 ko on the Easter weekend…
Is Gerrard and Skrtle out of the FACup semi-final as well?
Frankly Rico, the Metro prints some of the biggest old tosh on NewsNow, and considering the shed load of shite on there, that’s saying something….
But Sanderson is the King of Bollocks, even on that outrageously nonsensical website…
Any story with Sandersons name attached is gonna be a pack of lies and horseshit…
It seems that the Wilshere story is appearing, in none other, than the Metro…
That makes it obviously a pack of lies…
So forget all that crapola then…
What happened in Stamford Hill?
Morning Rico and all.
Potter, it was an anti-Semitic attack on a synagogue by some drunks.
Morning Adam/Potter.
Morning Potter, Adam, Scott and all….
The start of a boring two weeks….
Morning all..
apparently Big Grimandi was watching Caen. Apparently we are keeping an eye on N’Golo Kante…
New post up now…
Rico. Football-free but hardly boring. 🙂
I meant football wise Adam, my life will be hectic and exciting… 😉
As always Rico. 🙂