Morning all.
Happy birthday to Santi Cazorla who is 31 years old today. What happened to the over 30’s policy at Arsenal……
During the pre-match chat yesterday, David Moyes spouted ‘the jury is still out on Mesut Ozil’, so it’s no wonder he’s out of a job. I don’t know one person who loves football, who doesn’t think the German is simply wonderful to watch….
Idiot! But then this is the guy who said Utd didn’t need such a player during his managerial time there…..
Anyway, as the game went on, I wonder if he was feeling a bit of a twit as Ozil yet again, turned on the style….
The first half of the game was pretty good on the eye wasn’t it? I know Villa aren’t the best side we’ll face, far from it but after a Champions League midweek fixture, one never knows which Arsenal will turn up, especially at 1.30pm.
The penalty decision was all a bit odd. Hutton clearly grabbed Theo with two hands, dragging him to the ground yet Kevin Friend gave nothing to start with but after a few seconds, he blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. Guzan had obviously watched Ollie’s penalty kick on Wednesday and decided to dive the same way. Ollie was too smart and went the other way with his kick. 1-0 and no more than we deserved. That goal was Ollie’s 50th for his club, a landmark which came quicker than all Arsenal goal scorers barring Thierry Henry and Ian Wright. Says a lot really.. 😉
Our second was simply stunning.
Seven minutes before the break, Ramsey made a good tackle to get the ball off of Gana just outside our own area and off we went on a great counter-attack. Ramsey to Giroud, Giroud to Ozil, Ozil to Walcott, who then played a great ball back to the German. Mesut then brushed past Lescott with the greatest of ease, looked up and there was the man who started the move off, just waiting for the ball to be rolled to him. Ozil obliged, Ramsey scored…..
That’s 13 Premier League assists for our number 11 now and no doubt he’ll be aiming to beat Thierry Henry’s record of 20 set in 2004-05.
Half-time came and went, Villa looked a little better but I think we dropped down a gear and just concentrated on not conceding – the boys were saving their energy after the trip to Greece. We didn’t concede of course, which Petr Cech would have been very happy about as he’s now equalled David James record of 169 clean sheets.
Another great weekend for Arsenal as Utd and Spurz both lost and Liverpool dropped a couple of points too. Next up is City at home a week today, a game in which we’ll see where Arsenal truly are. I’d imagine we’ll see something similar to the performance we witnessed against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, although without Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin, that might be tricky to emulate.
The Champions League draw takes place today so we’ll find who we face in the knock-out stage. Zenit would be nice, Wolfsburg even but I strongly suspect we’ll get one of the big guns but who cares really… The matches aren’t played until February and we could have a much strong looking squad by then.
That’s it for today, have a great Monday and enjoy the match tonight. A draw would suit us but if any team has to win, I hope it’s the home one….
PS – The Metro reckon Arsenal have sealed a £4.3m deal for Aleksandr Kokorin and he’ll join up with the squad as soon as the transfer window opens…..
Morning Rico and all,
where is everone today?
Great post, but I disagree with one comment.
It wasn’t a good tackle from Ramsey, it was a great one 🙂 🙂 🙂
Ozil…..jury out……id change bloody juries lol.
Morning all.
It indeed was a good match. Especially the first half. Second half we did what was necessary and never looked that things would go sideways. The quicker substitution by le prof accounts to that I believe.
I have been reading up for quite some time but decided to start commenting too.
Great crowd and articles. Good job 🙂
Trust you Scott. I had to change the great though in order to avoid two ‘greats’ in one sentence so Ramsey suffered… 😉
Onya Rico hahahaha
But I couldn’t leave the ‘great’ out for the pass to Ozil Scott… 😉
nice one…all heal our new inspired stars..i have this feeling that we might surprise the world with our EpL AND UCL TROPHY….Its 14DEC 2015.
Welcome John, all heal our injured too… 😉
Great post Rico…
A very important win yesterday…they won the three points with minimal efforts…coming off a mid-week CL clanger, who’d blame them for playing with ‘handbrakes’ in the second half. Job was already clinically done in the first.
Welcome alwaysagooner..
Thanks re HH etc, what took you so long to join in…?
Good Morning to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
Good summary of the match Rico. Arsene seems to be continuing his switch to pragmatism as, with the match won, he replaced some of our top players with some who were in need of some game time.
Scott – Are you enjoying summer Down Under while most of the rest of of battle the wind, rain and/or snow?
Great post Rico.
You’ll be there in spirit Scott. 🙂
I don’t blame them either Tai, bearing in mind it was the same team which played just a few days ago..
Now a good rest before Monday and hopefully Alexis will be fit, healthy and ready to batter City…
Hi Rico and all, nice game it was yesterday. I live for such counter attacks!
Moyes is auditioning for being a pundit. And being a pundit you have to be dumb af and hate Ozil, SS will be contacting him shortly.
Morning Cg.
I loved the look n Ozil’s face as he went off. Miserable looking old sod… 😉
Adam, literally I think where Scott’s concerned… 😆
Morning Marshall. That counter attack reminded me of when Paddy used to win the ball back near our own box, turn the move into attack and then wham, goal….
Not all sides will be so open at the back but when they are, there’s nothing sweeter to watch than moves like that one yesterday…
Rico. That’s what they say about him in The Gunners. 🙂
He made an impression for sure.
We have a crowd gathering at our Arsenal Australia home sports bar for the Citeh game.
Best thing is, being a 7am (our time) kick off, I can take Sean, and a few dads are taking their boys, so we will have a great time.
Rico, you’re forgiven….every bit of that goal was great.
Hi CG, not to rub noses in it, but the weather here is spectacular at present.
28 degrees today, and not a cloud in the sky.
Hope it holds up for Friday when I have a work harbour cruise in Sydney…not a bad way to spend an evening, I must say.
Stay warm, champion 🙂
🙂 Adam, I’m sure he did….
Adam, I’m always there in spirit lol.
The Gunners pub profits soared for two weeks due to an unknown phenomenon in 2014.
CL draw in a minute, well, a while after all the faffing around has been done. Who do we want to draw?
True Scott. Their takings peaked around that time too. 🙂
I don’t know who’s in it Rico. I am still in bed eating an egg.
And so did Kevs alcohol level…well, for one night Hahahahahahaha
Rico, let’s go the big guns…Zenit?
PSG v Chelsea again..
Arsenal v Barcelona
🙁
Great draw.
Bet it’s not as good as the ones from our girls Adam… lol
Barca….
It is Adam, we’ll win of course…..
Rico, if we are going out, it may as well be to the best.
Quick and painless lol.
Concentrate on the League, as well as the Cup defence.
We had an’easy’ draw last year.
Is Ray Wilkins out prison then?
Barcelona!
My thoughts too Scott, get out and get on with the PL challenge…
If by chance we beat them, then worry about that when/if it happens…
Barca! They’re having a mini crisis of their own, just now. Still they’ll be back in full flow by February! Two more CL games to go. Or will we win it?
Ah, football! It’s a beautiful game and, not always predictable!
Lol it was good as it lasted. Greece was a great experience though 🙂
Champions of England, then worry about being Champions of Europe.
morning Rico and the house
Ginge,
Munich v Juventus
i remember us having a little friendly argument over who’s the better team
are you still confident?
Rico. You’re right. That was nowhere near as good as the eggs you gave me. Different yolk colour completely.
we want big nights at the Emirates
they dont get any bigger than Barcelona
Barcelona eh, well that’s great, two big games to look forward to, enjoy, forget, then onwards to the Double next May…
Barca are not invincible in La Liga they have lost to Sevilla and Celta Vigo and drawn with Valencia and Deportivo , they went out of a cup competition over 2 legs against Atletico Bilbao. However Messi is back and it has to be said that they tend to turn up for the big matches , just ask Benitez..
Still looks like I might be visiting friends sometime in March (8/9 or 15/16 ) as group winners get the home tie second I believe..
Morning All
Morning Rico
What a great weekend, both personally and the Gunners…
You couldn’t ask for more…
Morning. Forgot all about CL draw till reading post! Oh, well…
rico, when Ozil went off the Ref was trying to talk to him, loved to have known what he was saying?
Not enough tlc given Adam… 😉
Morning Mg & Kev..
Andrew, I suspect the ref was telling him to walk a bit quicker… lol
Bollocks, Barca again. I guess we will have to settle for another double then.
Scott – I think you meant, you are always there in spiritS (preferably an ale or two or more).
Here we go again hot balls dodgey refs in favour of Barcelona I just love cl football. ?
But as Rico says put it away till the end of February when we might even have some injured players back.
rico, no wonder he was pretending to not understand or hear!!
CG, spot on 🙂
And a couple of signings Joe…
Can’t blame him Andrew…
Catch up later guys, off out with the woofa and then shopping…
have a good afternoon….
Barca, so what who cares…….. it is what it is and as already said throw it away and worry about it at the end of Feb…!
If they have their normal travelling officials it actually won’t matter how we play or who is fit we all know we get stitched up.
Concentrate on the league anything else is a bonus.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Aston Villa offer short-term deal for Roma flop Ashley Cole
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/626534/Aston-Villa-Roma-Ashley-Cole-Transfer-News-Gossip
CG, they might grab RVP as well lol
Anything in this transfer rumor? All I can find on him is he’s scored 22 in 57 appearances since 2013, so he seems to have some idea where the goal is. It would be nice to have some back up for Theo’s next spell on the treatment table, but I hate to take any of these rumors seriously.
What a player…….
http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/13/arsenals-aaron-ramsey-ran-further-than-any-player-this-season-against-aston-villa-5563230/
What player is that Allan?
Do you mean the Russian guy?
Dates for our Barcelona games the 23rd of February and return leg on the 16th March
Rico. It was me being lazy 🙂
Barca draw. Woot. Will be one or two hell of a match. If we do win that will be great. But I wouldn’t mind the result whichever way it goes.
Barcelona again!
On paper, Arsenal have just two more CL games this season but for a good number of times…football results tear well-crafted pundits’ scripts to shreds.
Two matches…luck of injuries, officiating and bounce of the ball and any team, Barca and Messi inclusive, kiss dust.
Last time we played them, it took the ref’s idiotic sending off of RVP and Bendtner’s naivety in closing minutes to send Barca through…and we didn’t even have Cech, Sanchez and Ozil…
I’m an optimist…I never give up, even when I’m down…until those two matches, I believe Arsenal will play in the quarter-final.
Is barca midfield that much better than ours? Get wanyamma and players back.. I say game on. .
Yeah C.G It’s always sad to see a former hero drop through the leagues as he gets past his best. I know mant Arsenal fans have nothing but bile to spout at him but it doesn’t take much between the lines reading to see that there were faults on both sides of the argument . Sure his agent used underhand tactics but I firmly believe that Dein’s promise was undermined by Fiszman and the board which gave him the excuse to jump ship netting the club Gallas and more importantly in their eyes 5 1/2 million quid..
Potter, it was political and more to do with the power struggle/ego of Fiszman vs Dein…
It was a pathetic decision by the Board and cost us a world class left back…
Stupidity in the extreme…
Gordon Bennett ! Barca again, never saw that coming !!!
The significance of our game against Manchester Cuty is at a much higher level
Last year, almost the same period, an away game against Manchester city, gave us the confidence and laid the road for our success in the beginning of 2015…
If we do well against our upcoming match and take a Win out of it, then it could do the same this year…
*city
Evening guys and gals…
Have we signed anyone yet…? 😉
I see Klippety has met the charming Pubis of Stoke palace Albion! Were I him I wouldn’t want to touch any part of the Pubis anatomy, so Klopp has saved himself from some contact disease. Win, win!
Wenger is the way! He was first with the Sloan Pygmy! Did Wenger ever not touch the Pubis? I can’t remember?
Funny how Klopp celebrated their draw like a win too. When we’ve done that in the past, we’ve been laughed at….
Rico. Having seen Walcott’s offside goal just before half time I do believe it was wrongly penalised.
Could it be that he has only been at the Dippers for less than a month, with a squad he inherited and hasn’t built a squad of his own yet?
Barca have never won at the Emirates and Arsenal have never won at Camp Nou…..
Time flies, should be “a couple of months”…lol
Rico, I think Klopp was acknowledging the kop for turning up other than celebrate the draw.
Lee, then lets beat them with a big margin and draw or loose 1-0 at the camp.
Sadly the officials/Eufa won’t see us worthy of advancing at their beloved barca’s expense.
Adam, I too thought it was a great goal…
Bt, will be interesting to see who he signs in the summer…
Trouble is Lee, they score more at home than we do, and they don’t concede many…
It was Rico. Quite Henry-esque.
You might have a point Marshall, especially having criticised the fans for leaving early a few weeks ago…
Good to see him looking a lot stronger Adam, last season he wouldn’t have battled for the penalty and certainly wouldn’t have turned the defender before shooting…
Just need him to stay fit….
Bendtner could of made a name for himself if he’d latched on to that pass in Camp Nou……
What a miss that was… If only eh….
As the ball passed the post Bentner’s career went with it. Wenger NEVER forgave him and not surprisingly neither did I! And who, you may ask, has the greater clout??
Hahahahahahaha!
Nice battle going on between Costa and Morgan…. Lol
1-0 Vardy… Lol
Sit down jose and bye bye Hazard.
Getting tasty…….vardy…..lol
Can’t believe Hazard went off after that….
Looks pretty plain to me that Hazzard would rather be somewhere else. Wasn’t it him who said he would rather lose than play for Mourinho?
Was thinking the same Adam, a lot more going on behind the scenes me thinks…..
He certainly didn’t want to go back on and yes, it was him. Alledgedly…
Is Fabregas playing, I haven’t seen him yet….
Reckon you’re right BT. A very under camp… And I love it…. 🙂
Looking forward to the second half, it has all the makings of a cracker……
I’m off to watch it so night BT, Adam and all, catch up tomorrow…
Get in….lol
Chelsea… Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
This season is fcuking brilliant…. ?
Night Rico
Mahre is sensational! On january will be in other team
I want Mahrez! What a classy player! Costa will do something stupid, they’re all hoppin off him haha scumbag! Delighted for Ranieri too gettin one over that poisonous little prick!!!!!!!
Night Rico, its a cracker…
Well done Leicester…
Seems to be some kind of advert attack…
Game of Thrones, stick it up yer jacksy…
Night All…
Game of War, rather… ?
DRE4M @SocialBarca_10
Last time we faced Arsenal they didn’t have Petr Cech and Alexis Sanchez. Giroud and Ozil weren’t playing well, they are now.
12:33 PM – 14 Dec 2015
Barca’s cules don’t see things as easy for them as many of ours seem too.
Mahrez in ox out.. Easy 123 class replacing form
The bullshit that Carragher has been spouting this evening is epic. Yes, Leicester are doing really well but, to listen to that knob, you’d think they were Barcelona.
Merts against Barcas front three is giving me anxiety…..
Morning All…
Thanks Potter…for that Barca twit.
Lewis…if I was Wenger, I’d pair Koscielny and Gabriel against Barca provided both are fit.
Faced with Messi, Suarez, Neymar…Merts will be mince meat.
Morning Lewis, Tai and all…
If Gabriel is to play against Barca, he needs to start playing a lot more so he and Kos have plenty of time to form a solid pairing…
Tbh, I’d have played Gabriel long before now….
Morning Rico and all. I really look forward to the Portuguese Prick’s press conferences these days. Last night’s was great. I was wondering how he would absolve himself of any blame. It was to be the player’s betrayal, Hazzard’s fake injury and the ball-boys this time. Please keep him Roman as the sick little creep is comedy gold at the moment. Oh and last season’s title was all down to him apparently.
Morning Adam.
Me too re his press conferences, just writing my post and have mentioned how they are so very different these days. No long is he the big I am poking fun at others… I can’t see Roman standing by him for much long. Surely if nothing changes, it’s him of a few players who go…
Hazard was pathetic but if he’s trying to make a point, he certainly did. Don’t Real want Hazard?
Sunderland, Watford, Utd and Palace. That’s Chelsea’s next few matches – can’t see them winning any of those… 😉
Probably Rico. I bet he wishes he’d signed for us now after Chelsea came in with their big money offer.
Wenger must be pissing himself but would never show it as revenge is a dish best served cold. 🙂
Still time Adam… 😉
I’d so love it if Wenger could win the league this season and Jose takes his club into the Championship….
Who was it that said here that Chelsea wouldn’t get top 4? Ts?
Never would have believed it at the time but it’s sure looking likely….
I heard a funny story yesterday from a staff member at another London club.
When Mourinho and Wenger had their shoving match after Cahill’s career-threatening tackle on Sanchez last season, that little tosser Rui Faria jumped up and started giving it large. Bouldy stood up, pointed at him and said “Sit down, or I’ll put you down”.
He sat down.
I like that – good for Bould…
That tackle was a shocker…
Very, very similar to the one that effectively ended Diaby’s career.
Alexis certainly had lady luck on his side that day and a good job he’s a tough cookie…
I’ve put the new post up early….