Morning all.
Having been battered by Bayern just a few days ago, a tired and quite underwhelming performance followed…
Spurz were up for the match, that’s for sure. Our boys probably were too but from the off, they looked a very tired bunch of men. The most noticeable was Santi Cazorla. The little Spaniard, so usually effervescent, looked subdued and not in the game. When Arsene Wenger replaced him with Flamini at half-time, I was far from surprised. Well, apart from wondering why he’d not been replaced sooner… Arsene Wenger confirmed after the game that the Santi was suffering spells of dizziness. Hopefully he’ll stay at home now instead of heading off to join his international team-mates.
Spurz were knocking on the door in the first half and when Harry Kane’s shot found the back of the net, it was no great surprise.
Flamini replaced Cazorla after the break and we looked a bit better. The Frenchman knows what a derby is about and he certainly got stuck in!
During the second half, Spurz missed a few chances with Alderweireld, Kane and Eriksen either testing Cech or firing wide. Cech made a top top save to keep out Alderweireld’s header on seventy minutes. Joel Campbell went close too but Lloris saved.
Then came another change with Gibbs replacing Campbell and it wasn’t long before the move paid off. Ozil with the cross, Gibbs with the finish. 1-1 and from then on, we looked like we could get all three points – we certainly had the chances before and after our goal but couldn’t take them.
A well earned point, or two points dropped?
I thought we were out muscled for most of the game, outplayed too I’d say, certainly during the first half which wasn’t surprising really considering we were effectively playing with ten men. Spurz were strong physically, sometimes a bit too strong imo but clearly not in Atkinson’s. Our passing was all over the place too which was so unlike us.
Once Flamini came onto the pitch, we looked slightly better and as the match closed out, we had enough chances to win the game. Spurz will no doubt feel they were the better team and on the day, perhaps they were but regardless, wouldn’t it have felt great to have robbed them of all three points at the death….
Thank goodness Gibbs popped up at the right time to grab a point and yes, it was that man Mesut Ozil again who provided the ball. That’s the first time in Premier League history that a player has provided assists in six straight games.
Two weeks break now before we face West Brom away and as much as international football is boring, at least a few players will get a bit of a rest and when Arsenal return, so should a few of the walking wounded. Fingers crossed the international managers don’t select our players for both matches…
That’s it for today, have a good one….
A succint post…;
Yes considering it is the sperds we played against we should have smashed them all over but we haven’t done a double over them for a long time now…
As Kev has alluded to previously, I would prefer us to be in touching distance than sitting at the summit as we are less likely to fold from that position if history is to repeat itself…
Shitty will drop points in February and April. We get back on form in Apri, May and Sanchez if fit gets back in form around that time. As long as we are no more than 4 points behind the leaders we will be fine…
Ordinary performance.
The result was Just a pass mark, all things considered.
Ginge, on Rogic…..he’s getting good reports here in Oz, but I’m wondering if they’re overstating how well he’s going.
The talent is there.
Sooner the West Brom game comes the better….
Scott- on another of my sleepless nights I will see if I can get a few clips of celtic. 😉
His left foot reminds me of a younger Matic when he was an attacking midfielder and not a CDM
Rico, our midfielders need to score; without Theo if OG12 is not scoring we look devoided of finishers…
Scott- I saw bits of Celtic vs Molde and I thought Celtic was poor to lose to Molde of Norway in the UEFA cup.
Thanks Ginge.
We’ve been saying that for a while Ts.. I think a lot of the problem is Santi playing deeper and Ramsey missing..
The board, under Kroenke, are the custodians of the future of the club. That should be a concern to all. Arsenal cannot stand still, especially in the light of what Man City, Utd and Chelsea are liable to do. We don’t have a dodgy character in the shape of a Beckenbauer or a Platini or indeed any of the other sharks that populate football either. We have an old Etonian ex-director of the Bank Of England and a number of hangers-on. With some huge, huge decisions looming, I hope they are on top of where the club is heading.
As with most businesses, who is asking “What happens next?”
Watching a Sports news show and they showed the goal Rogic scored on the weekend….absolutely belter.
Anyway, I’m off guys.
Not often we enjoy or even tolerate an Interlull, but this one presents a great chance for some of our guys to get back on the pitch, so being it on.
Night all.
Do you think they are on top of things Adam, or asking the question, ‘what happens next’?
Night Scott….
night Scott
Rico. I dunno. 🙂
Ginge
Zelalem playing well for Rangers is a step up from U21 football, that’s for certain, but it won’t prepare him for the Arsenal senior squad. That lad has a long way to go imo…
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they take the easy option Adam….
Agreed Kev- with the likes of Dan Brown kicking anyone showing any bit of skill… no wonder Scottish football is as it it…
Adam, 11.38
The only time out BoD have been proactive, is when David Dein was on the Board.
He was the driving force behind recruiting George Graham and Arsend Wenger…
Hill-Wood and his ilk were reactive, and somehow blundered through, more through luck than judgement….
I have high hopes in the common sense and knowledge of Gazides..,
If it was left to Kroenke we’d probably end up with a manager from the NBA….
Me neither Rico. But if Arsene wins the PL then surely he will deserve a new contract and/or a medal. Then again, the chance to leave on a high might also be attractive. I see him as the head of a new World football organisation. Perhaps.
Afternoon! Wenger made me laugh in his post match interview. He said two weeks now for his 10 injured players to get treatment. He forgot Ospina, Kos and Arteta had returned!!
Unless we have another three injured players he hasn’t told us about …
Wenger, head of FIFA…?
Now that would be interesting….
Lata
Wenger as the head of ‘NWFO’. That has a nice ring to it…; it will be the socialist version of FIFA. lol
I think Kroenke will offer him a new contract regardless of whether we win the league Adam..
Whether he accepts the offer or not is another matter I guess..
Maybe he’s talking Debuchy, Santi and…. Ok, just the nine then Andrew… Lol
Afternoon All…
Good post Rico.
Last night, or early this morning to be precise, Nigeria’s U-17 team, christened the Golden Eaglets, won the FIFA World Cup for the fifth time in Sanchez’s country, Chile.
Twenty-two years ago, a certain Nwankwo Kanu was one of the pillars of our U-17 side that won in Japan for Nigeria’s second time. In that tournament, Kanu won the silver ball.
Early today, besides winning the trophy, Nigeria’s young captain, Kelechi Nwakali won the golden ball as the player of the tournament as well as the bronze shoe as third highest goalscorer. Also Victor Osimehn, Nigeria’s towering no 9, won the golden shoe as top scorer with record-setting 10 goals as well as silver ball as second best player behind his captain.
The last edition’s best player, also Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho, is already playing in the EPL for Man City. Why shouldn’t Wenger look in the direction of the latest conquerors in Chile? I’m sure both Nwakali and Osimehn have great future in the game. It’s been too long Nigerian Arsenal fans had their own to support in Arsenal, even though Alex Iwobi is now showing some hope.
In Chile, Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets played a new brand of football not quite known to their other conquering compatriots – tactically astute. They do not lack techniques but they surprised me with their tactical discipline and sticking to instructions to beat Mali 2 – 0 in that all-African final.
On the game yesterday, I already made my feelings known overleaf. We survived a great Spurs performance…it could have been worse.
I repeat, I’m happy with the result regarding the circumstances. Spurs were in great form and it’s only one who hadn’t been watching their matches would have expected an easier match yesterday. The fact that we lacked quality on the bench worried me most. How Wenger managed to psyche Gibbs up for his game-changing role still surprises me.
Talk of what injuries do to teams, Bellerin would have raced to stop Kane from or at least disrupt his composure to pick the perfect spot to beat Cech with that break.
Honestly, I prefer it we’re just there with City topping until February…we’ve all known what the pressure of being top does to us. So fingers crossed, we’re very much in it.
Deserved to win yesterday imo, well on the back of the second half’s performance.
Cazorla really dictates how we play, he was off beat yesterday and so were we for most of the game.
Wenger blaming injuries makes me laugh, you put faith in these fragile players so you fucking take the rough with the smooth! He needs to be more ruthless with this squad going forward, he really does.
Why would anyone watch pub football (Scotish) well unless you can’t sleep at night?
Good day all,
I’d say we blagged it last night, very tired and disjointed performance but like someone has already said, half our first team was missing and the spuds still couldn’t beat us. Hahahahaha.
Same old glaring holes in the squad but we’ve all discussed that til we’re blue in the face. Merts looks very poor at the moment.
for once the interlul is doing us a favour! Please someone tell me Alexis is NOT travelling half way round the world to play an international. He looks ruined.
Not that I give a toot about City, but has Pellegrini blamed injuries for their draw with Villa?
Sorry Lewis, but he’s probably mid air as we speak….
I’ve seen milk turn quicker than Mertsacker….
🙂
Lewis, don’t rejoice yet about the interlul until our players come back from their respective international engagements…many of them are in the red…Sanchez mostly…Carzola too, Monreal…thank God Ozil is out of it.
Pellegrini was given real cash, after smashing the FFP facade, to beef up his squad and he went spending real big. He has no moral justification to blame injuries for drawing with bottom team Villa…when just Kevin De Bruyne costs more than half of entire Villa team that lined out against them.
Good Afternoon to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
Not our best game, but after what had to be a demoralizing loss midweek, we couldn’t afford a loss to the Spuds. Heads dropped after Kane scored, but our team clawed their way back into the game for a tie and to stay within striking distance of first place. Could have have been better, but also could have been much much worse.
As for the international break (interlull), I choose to look on the bright side and see it as an opportunity to get some of our walking wounded fit to play. Those that aren’t on international duty get a bit of break and those that are get a change of scenery. As long as none of those on duty get injured, it may have come at a good time for the club.
Spending some of the £200m that’s earning interest could have beefed up our squad…
Afternoon Cg.. Hopefully all will return unscathed…
Catch up later, walk time….
I see Mertesacker copping the blame again when it was Kos that kept Kane on side for their goal. Positionally he is perfect but a bit like O’Leary as he got older he relies on his partner to sweep up after he has made the first challenge. Yesterday there was no Bellerin to cover so Kos should have been closer to close Kane down rather than step up too late because he was not following the line of his centre back. Maybe TS has the stats of how many challenges he made and were successful . From where I stood I thought he had a good game.
Tai – The main problem with signing young players from outside of Europe is getting them work permits. Then you have to wait and see if they can carry their skills into the the men’s game. Many never mature emotionally, mentally and/or physically to take that step up.
Look at what our club has been through with our young recruits from South America.
CG…the most valuable player of any FIFA tournament would get express work permit as well as any tournament’s top scorer…
Africans adapt much more easily than South Americans.
Potter I agree with you…Kos kept Kane onside…even though Per was too high up the pitch when Rose sliced that pass.
The fragile players r the so call British core . the love affair of Wilshire from u fans at least Ramsey as played over ten games so far this season how much as wilshere played?
This break will do a lot for arsenal ..
Not sure what you are getting at Shanice. If you read here often enough you’d see that plenty of us have acknowledged how fragile some of the British players are….
Cg, South Americans and Europeans for me, not that I have anything against players from other countries I hasten to add! The much over-rated and expensive are the English.. imo of course. South Americans like Alexis are ideal, his commitment and energy is incredible…
Saying that, I’m with Kev, Vardy would be good for us… lol
Campbell not tracking back and Koscielny playing Kane onside resulted in their goal….. I read somewhere someone blaming Cech for their goal,FFS!!!!
Good one Tai. re Kanu..,kanu then went on to beat Ghana in the Olympics in Barcelona…
Kanu and ronaldo lining up for Ajax all those years ago…; Sir Bobby RIP…
Lee- Pub football can be fun… scottish football on the other hand is well… 🙂
corrrection Kanu vs ronaldo (Ajaz vs Psv)
Hi cg…
Arteta , Flamini , Debuchy, Ospina , Rosicky , plus Cazorla and Mertesacker will be 32 yrs old next year . Of that £200 million probably £70 was available for transfers. Possibly SCZ can come back to cover Ospina and Jenks for Debuchy , however that leaves possibly 5 places to fill and not a lot coming in for the ones going. Another £60 odd million should come from sponsors so if the boys on loan can cover 1 or 2 more places we should be able to find 3 top players for our £ 40 million each. Toral looks like he could take one of the midfield places he is getting good reviews from Bham and he has the advantage of height too , but the other loanees are not doing enough apparently. So perhaps this is why we didn’t spend for apart from saving wages it was not such an obvious financial way to go.
Or saving it for our next manager? I met a guy last night that allegedly has some inside knowledge and he told me Pep is the one the hierarchy want to take over from Arsene.
Lee, I think Henry questioned Cech for the goal by suggesting he went down too early..
And we have Iwobi and Jeff…
Lee, all things add up to Pep don’t they… His contract, lack of spending, AW’s comments about the last year of a contract means one is in no mans land etc etc….
Rico I thought that the leg dragger finished the goal really well….definitely not Cech’s fault, the point blank save he made was top drawer. Makes you wonder why the fuck we had to put up with Almunia for so long???
Happy for Gibbs, on another day he may have gone on to get the winner as well, this time last year he was the best left back in the premier league according to Arsene.
I don’t blame Cech either Lee. Like you I thought Kane finished well. A bit ‘Henryesque.’ spelling lol..
Almunia left us in 2012 the same year that Lloris joined Tottenham . I thought he played well yesterday too.
There’s our new centre forward Micko… lol
Lloris was dodgy back then, he’s certainly improved..
Tai – Even some of the players who have gotten work permits as ‘exceptional talents’ have failed to make the grade. One great tournament od great season is no guarantee of success.
Toto Schiallaci (spelling?) was the Golden Boot winner at the 1004 World Cup in Italy and did not set the world afire after that. George Graham signed John Jensen for Arsenal on the strength of his performance at the European Championships with Denmark, but he never repeated those performances for Arsenal.
As for African players adapting better/quicker than South Americans, not having seen any data on that, I’ll take that as your opinion rather than fact.
Be proud of of your young countrymen’s success, but don’t count your chickens until they are hatched. Buying any young player is a gamble.
Ginge – I am doing well. I trust you are too?
Hi rico, it’s been a big couple of weeks for Iwobi, makes his debut in the LC against Wednesday, 7 days later makes his debut in the CL against Bayern and sandwiched inbeween his debut in the league against Swansea, he’ll probably get shoved out the door next summer ! Still a great story for the grand kids.
tsb – 1994 World Cup
Canadian Gooner…………1990.
Henry’s trademark bending it around the keeper….god he’d score a hatful for us with Ozil etc supplying him!
Micko – Of course, you are correct, 1994 was in the Excited States of America.
god he’d score a hatful for us with Ozil etc supplying him!
Like he did with Bergkamp , mind you he had Ljungberg and Pires either side of him . “” Happy Days “”.
CG, it was a great WC, I only remember because I used to like David O’Dreary back then !
Micko – DO’L was a great servant for Arsenal. I remember him well. He still holds the record for the number of first team appearances for Arsenal and probably the lowest number of yellow or red cards for a defender over that many years for a top league club, a true gentleman.
A shame he didn’t make it in management. Where is he now?
Hi Micko, sad but probably true re Iwobi but I hope he makes it. Jeff too…
Henry or Kane Lee… 😉
Happy days indeed Potter! That midfield had goals in it….
Very true CG but too many digs and spats directed at us when he become a manager especially at Leeds, let himself down a bit.
I always hoped Adams would over-take him, if it wasn’t for injuries he would have run away with the record.
rico, remember when we left Highbury and auctioned everything off from the toilet seats to the turnstiles, I wonder which lucky person got “that rope” the one that used run across the back four, would be priceless these days.
Wouldn’t it just Micko, not much sign of it these days…
Lol vardy won’t get any game lol
Reading that debuchy wants to leave january he can leave in the summer ..
That’s old news Shanice.. You clearly don’t read here much… 😉
Toral came with bellerin if my memory is correct he came with a bigger reputation than bellerin .. The position he plays give him less opportunities in the first 11 I’m sure he’ll come good I hope .
Lol I read now and then lol .. Workload
Toral suffered injuries if my memory serves me well. That no doubt hindered his progress.
You must read more then… 😉
More young arsenal player need to look at coquelin they can make it with a little patience. I hope Dan Crowley makes it .. I hope he change his game a little by adding a little defensive hair to his game
Do you watch the younger players much?
CG- D’Ol took Leeds to the uCL semi’s before AW did… lol; at an expense though I must add…; he and Peter Ridale formed a mean partnership. 😉
And look what happened to them Ts… and where are they now… 😉
Afternoon Rico and the House.
Pleased to see the way the house has taken yesterdays result.
Had to laugh at the way the so called experts were calling the Spuds super fit.
Since the 24th of Oct we have played Sheff W Swansee and B/M all away , they have played Bournmouth away Villa and Anderlecht at home. They have had no travelling so should be a lot fitter then us. They will still be below us next may.
Delighted to see you and Kev are still in Isaac’s corner Rico, like you I still think he is going to make it. Hull are away to the Manc’s in the next round of the league cup and I am hoping it is on TV . He should play in that game so we should see what shape he and Akpom are in.
I see that NY have appointed Paddy as their manager on a 3year contract, Remi or Paddy
our next manager lol ?
Hi Rick, I’ll always support Hayden… 🙂 still regret Henri, Aneke and Afobe leaving….
I’m off for the day, night all…
Spot on Rico . I don’t know how Chuck is doing but must say I was gutted when he left.
He could have been the muscle our midfield is missing,
Irrespective of what others are saying some of our loan players are now beginning to raise their games. The manager of Brum said Toral was by far the best player on the pitch on Sat
and Niles is in great form. The only one not stepping up is Serge and it is all down to him.
I hope he is not another Frimpon
Yeah CG, who could ever forget the 1004 World Cup…
Ethelred the Red was manager back then if I recall…
Things were never the same after those bloody Normans…
It seems that Aneke is currently playing in Belgium for Waregem. So far this season they have played 15 games and he has appeared in 9 of them , scored 2 goals with 1 yellow card .
The Normans played with an arrow formation and were especially difficult when they played at “Eyebury ”
I’ve found my coat , see you all in the morning.
Shanice, your 4.37 is quite interesting…
Do you actually think, with our current injuries for example, that if we had Jamie Vardy in our squad, that he wouldn’t get a game????
What makes you think that if Vardy was in our squad that Wenger would play Campbell in front of him or might bring on Gibbs instead of him, as was the case on Sunday????
If Vardy was, say French or Spanish, would your opinion of him be different…???
Did some-one mention Dench !
Adam, The Emirates 2006, a brand new stadium, the scum turn up and smash the toilets to smithereens, seems to have become a tradition down the years, no point in installing camera’s as the Old Bill wouldn’t be able to identify all the little knobs anyway !
It has to be said it’s tit for tat as we did re-arrange The Lane when we spanked them back in September.
Not something to brag about but used to play in the same football team as one of the Tottenham hench boys, never missed an England game in 20 years and could walk around Highbury on a matchday without any retribution as he knew all of the top Gooners from International duty.
Always drank in the same bar before the game, never any aggro, surrounded by a small hardcore of Gooners……………hard to believe but true.
Not really Micko , my school in Kentish Town was 40/40 Arsenal – Spurs the rest were QPR or Orient . No Chelsea. In those days the early 60’s Spurs were good , we were rubbish and we all went to WHL one week and Highbury the next as away travel was impossible for us.
Interesting to see Cliff Jones on Sunday , he was a bit of a player in his day.
Ginge, the stat man…..is it true Arsenal have never lost a League game at The Emirates when Flamini plays?
Morning all.
It is Scott..
Morning to you and all…
RIP Pat Eddery….
50 games…..incredible record.
Rico, is that the ex jockey??
The name rings a bell…..
It is Scott, only 63….
Too young, as is so often is the case.
RIP.
Yes, far too young….
Sad that Pat Eddery has died far too young. What a jockey!
Drugs, (no connection to above) the scandal that is athletics and those using and abusing substances to improve their performance are by any stretch of the imagination, cheats.
It may well stretch to other sports, so the report suggests. We have been on the receiving end of a tested drug cheat, when we played Dianamo in the CL earlier this season. No action taken because the rules state that 2 players have to test positive after the game and only 2 players are ever tested! Odds are pretty well designed to favour the cheats! But you have to wonder how many players actually use banned substances, well masked of course, plus a bit of judicial money swapping between the trusted testers, makes you think, doesn’t it?
Where you have weak administrators you have a perfect stage for gross bending of the rules, imo. And I would suggest the over waged, mentally challenged burghers who control football across Europe and the rest of the world are typical of the ‘blind’ controllers who do nothing about most of these sort of misdemeanours! Especially if there is a “golden payoff” at the end.
Or have I got it completely wrong and football is a completely clean sport. Oh with the obvious exception of the Coke snorters who are instantly banned and offered rehabilitation! Is Coke performance enhancing? Easy call on those weak druggies, eh? But what is done with the ‘rest’?
The Rooney WWF stuff is rather pathetic….
Scott spot on re. flamini- and flamster has not lost a NLD either…
Before he re-signed for us I mentioned that as one example why we should have signed him before we lost to AV 3-1 at home when JW and AR16 played as the pivot..
Morning Rico and all btw…
Hi Wavy. Football isn’t clean, just look at Zagreb… lol
New post up now..
Wavy- we are less than 5 years away from a major EPL relevation apparently…
A few weeks ago it was mentioned on here with regards to how FIFA could learn a thing a or 2 from the Athletics governing bodies…
It is well known amongst some quarters that athletics is very murky…; wit states providing attachees to facilitate the execution of orders and images if you get my drift.. 😉