Morning all.
“I’m a manager who likes to go forward but we have to find that balance between offense and defence, and that’s maybe where the future of this season lies.” – Arsène Wenger
Results yesterday really went in our favour. City and the Totts drew, Utd dropped two points at Stoke and the biggest one was Liverpool getting thrashed at home by Swansea. Chelsea play Hull City later this afternoon in a game you’d expect them to win but before then, we take on a Burnley side who are strong at home but not quite as good on the road having won just a single point from a possible 27 so far and they’ve only scored three goals.
We simply have to win.
In seasons gone by, Arsenal have often shot themselves in the foot when the opportunity to take advantage of other results has arisen but not today, they can’t afford to. Already too many points behind Chelsea than we’d all hoped for, Arsenal need to make that second spot theirs, stay in touch with the top and hope Chelsea suffer a few losses of their own.
Arsene Wenger has said that his side face a few months of ‘Cup Finals’ – well send the team out believing they are 2-0 down from the start and we might just see the real Arsenal. Whatever the real Arsenal is these days….
We haven’t really seen a good display of football since we battered Chelsea with speed, width, snappy passing and three good goals but at some stage this season, one would like to think there’s a few more similar performances to be witnessed by the Arsenal fans. Burnley will try and make it difficult by defending in numbers no doubt but we’ve faced that tactical set up many times before and it’s down to us to beat it.
We’ve got a great squad of players, players who on their day can beat any side but they have to be together, work for each other with one common goal, to win and win well.
Who starts this match I don’t know but the good news is that Hector Bellerin, Francis Coquelin and Olivier Giroud have all recovered from injury. Danny Welbeck is back too which is a big boost. Per Mertesacker, Theo Walcott, Mathieu Debuchy and Santi Cazorla are our only injured players and apart from Santi, the others are due back in the next few weeks which makes a refreshing change at this time of the season.
Other clubs this weekend have let us put a toe back in the Premier League door, it’s down to Arsene Wenger and his team to walk right through it in style….
Let’s hope it’s a good day for The Arsenal guys and gals….
That excellent post has made me really look forward to going this afternoon Rico.
Good Adam.. 🙂
morning all!
I really hope so!
Fire them up, Adam!!
Morning all.
Nice call to arms, Rico.
Let’s hope it does some good Scott..
Tired of watching this lot under perform, Wenger needs to stick a rocket up their backsides…
Yes he does, and they must show some fight, no matter where the inspiration comes from.
He won’t though…
Good morning Rico and all. A stirring match day post. Excellent.
Let’s hope our team read HH because I can’t see the old campaigner stirring up our troops with such passion!
The Arsenal should win today and win comfortably, but we all know that when we have a chance to show the other teams our behinds we tend to fail miserably! Not today please! Burnley are a well organised team. They follow tactical orders and cover for each other etc. What they don’t have is a little bit of star dust amongst their number. Good players, yes, great players no. We are better equipped in every position and so should win this particular battle. They can come and park their double decker bus, our job is to reduce it to no more than a chassis!
Let’s hope we win well today, as going forward it will do the team and the supporters a power of good. Sod the owner. I don’t think he could care less, although I think he’ll look to see how much the receipts made him, to add to the mountain of shekels he has already extracted from north London!
Catch you all later, after the game, out for the rest of the day. Let’s hope it’s a happy one!
Good morning Rico and all….
As you mention yesterday results went in our favour …… Arsene never capitalise on it …..hence we win nothing.
The norm is to expect a good draw or a miserable defeat .So nothing surprises if i have to be honest.
By the way everyone thinks Burnley will shut shop……hmmmm why ……Monreal is there for a take these days
I will bit more positive if Ramsey is not in the bench.
Predict win for us by a goal sometimes around the 70 min
Cheeeers
Morning Wavy, good comment and thanks re the post. You sum it all up quite well, we should win because we have a far better squad, but Burnley will fight tooth and nail to get something.
Will Arsenal though….?
Morning Alex.
It seems to me that when Alexis plays central, Monreal doesn’t get as much support so he’s a good player to target. They need to work as a team and not let certain players exposed should Burnley see much of the ball..
Good post, morning.
I’m amongst those who would have loved Klopp as Manager replacing a tired Wenger. But we beat the Swans 4-0 away and ‘Pool lose the following week at home to them 🙂 Pause for thought!
Thanks Andrew, let’s hope Liverpools loss just wasn’t a blip. Don’t think they have won a league game this year yet they are still above us….
Rico, they wont be above us after an early goal today settles the team, and they actually go on and show what they can do. My belief is based on the fact with a handful of players coming back, and Perez looking promising, no one should rest on their laurels. Hope I’m not regretting writing this at 16.00! Not usually so upbeat, LOL.
Andrew, let’s hope you are right. We are well overdue a great performance. As you say, early goal to bring Burnley out and then batter them… lol
It’s hard to feel confident in any game. You just know Manure will scrape something even when undeserved, but look at Liverpool yesterday. Playing a bottom of the league side should have been a sure three pointer, but no.
No wonder Pep looks so bewildered, every single game is a battle here. In Spain and Germany, his teams had the luxury of very few tough fixtures. Along with mid season breaks!
I just hope our lot can get their act together, I’m not sure my heart can stand the strain!
Afternoon Rico and the House
Todays Team
Cech, Gabby, Mustafi, Kossy Monreal, Ramsey, Granite, Alexis, Ozil, Iwobi, Giroud.
Same team, but string subs bench. Fair enough, after a 4-0 away win. Maybe Bellerin for Gabriel though?
*strong not string 🙂
Subs Ospina, Bellerin, Gibbs, Coq, The Ox Wellbeck Lucas.
Afternoon Rico, great post, thanks for all you do…
We really all appreciate it, even if some of us are as miserable as Wath.
Afternoon All…
God it was freezing when I got in, early hours, this morning…
It’s fresh out there now, but clear and sunny, perfect weather for football…
I guess today will be difficult, we can all foresee how Burnley will approach the game and who can blame them on their resources.
It’s up to Arsenal to show their pedigree and play like contenders.
Catching Chelsea is probably beyond us, but there’s no excuse for not trying because you never know?
A couple of draws and suddenly Chelsea are within touching distance.
I liked Wengers ‘every game from now is a cup final’ comment this week. It shouldn’t really need saying, especially to our millionaire performers, that’s if they have any pride in themselves, but it’s part of the psychological game that managers must play, in order to get their teams of very wealthy young men to do themselves and us justice.
I hope it elicits the right response…
Just had a butchers on NewsNow and there was the usual utter rot on there regarding Sanchez…
I was listening to the radio yesterday and some guy was talking about click-bait sites in general…
He mentioned some political site where this guy spent 15 minutes typing, then posting a complete loads of lies and fabrication, and it earned him £5,000 in advertising.
Now I’m not saying all click-bait sites earn that amount or anything near it, otherwise I’d be doing it, but it shows what can be earned for posting a croc of shit.
Great post Rico.
Odd how Ranieri has not changed anything but it’s not going as well for him.
He has actually added to his squad.
I guess it shows it’s harder to be consistent contrary to what is demanded by sections of fans…
All those all talking expects on tv should go and manage a team.
Andrew your comment about klopp is spot on…
Some bvb09 fans will ditto that.
Unlucky og12
Good read Rico. Just a thought. Imagine a frontline of Alexis, Perez and Welbeck. Seamlessly intetchanging….all have good work rate, with above average football interlligence and unselfish. Then you can play Ozil or Iwobi as a #10. With that, teams can park the bus all they want. We would have speed, strength and the work rate that is needed. AW has to freshen things up. At any rate, we will win easily today. And again in the immortal words of Sir Alex, “if you are in the top four and haven’t lost 5 games yet, you are in the hunt “. We are in the hunt.
TS did u see how Freiburg threw the game away against BM?
I was so disappointed obi.
Bvb game just finished
Replay of game I should have said
TS I am DVRing the Bvb game. BM is not as unbeatable as some Arsenal fans think. They are on Fox virtually every week here.
Afternoon Rick, Kev and all..
Thanks re the kind comments.
Just got home in time to catch the start. So much for me thinking Burnley would park the bus…
Pretty comfortable for Burnley here…. typical Arsenal no urgency.
Ancelloti’s performance is a bit surprising-Obi
At Liverpool St Stn now, listening to the game on TalkRubbish…
Obviously I haven’t seen the game, but I don’t really need to… 2nd half just started and Burnley are wasting time, nothing new there then…
TS I know. But I still thinks he’s top 3/5 in the world though. I guess Pep sensed the decline of the players which contributed to him leaving. But then again they brought in about 4 players also.
GEETTTT INNNN
Kev, it’s all pass, pass, pass…
She types as Mustafi heads our opening goal…
Much of our passing today has been either too short, too long or wayward… ?
Set up for a cameo for Welbeck perhaps…
Xhaka off, same referee…
Fooking heck, red for Xhaka…..
Ffs Xhaka again….wanker
He’s out for the Chelsea game
Silly from Xhaka but I’ve seen a lot worse go unpunished this season….
I’d like to see that one again as I’m not sure much if any contact was made…
On the radio they said it was two footed and over the top Rico…
Stupid challenge all the same…
On the centre line. How stupid. Take Ozil out and it’s yellow.
They would Kev… 😉
Double standards from Moss, no surprise…
He is a liability in every game. Has been one since start of the season.
Bellerin into CM
What a total cockup yet again!
Coquelin and moss. Unbelievab
Wenger is in trouble for pushing the 4th official… ?
And a pen for us, who will take this…
Just hope he doesn’t miss…!!
Yesssssssssssssss
Mental Strength! ?
Well well, that’s what you call a great fighting spirit… love it, now it’s over and we won… 🙂 🙂
Fcuk me, put through the wringer….
Ha ha ha, COYG
Can’t cope being an Arsenal fan, its too much!
Good to see Arsene get passionate about the game too… 🙂
Moss was a disaster today… elbows going unpunished, failed to give the pen to Arsenal earlier on the game…
As for Wenger in trouble.. lol Not to worry it’ll do him no harm to get fined or banned he does fuck all anyhow on the bench.
10 men pulling out the win deserves credit but fuck me we make teams like Burnley look like a top 6 team.
Kel, he did today when Gabriel was about to go forward for a free kick, both Wenger and Bould were out of their seat telling him to get back…. 😉
Xhaxa again! In Burley midfield !
our second goal was offside…
and perhaps we had another penalty.
It’s hard to be a Arsenal fan, moreover with those Portuguese Tv commentators always againsts us.
The English ones aren’t much better Jm…
Nasty incident at Chelsea… Bad clash of heads…
I didn’t see it Rico ??
Ha ha Kel…
Night guys, catch up tomorrow….
We can’t have a crack at Pep for underestimating the competitiveness of the League then suggest we should win these games easily 🙂 🙂
Morning all.
Heart attack stuff and hardly a confidence builder, but still, another 3 points.
Hope you had a fantastic day. LCM
Unbelievable, I woke up pissed off about dropping points (I turned everything off @ 90 minutes + 3 minutes), checked that the chavs won, then proceeded to rub my eyes in disbelief when I saw it was 2-1 to The Arsenal. Talk about Phoenix from the flames.
If The Arsenal beat the chavs, they will win the Title, that is my prediction. Anyway, the win has set up my day just nicely ?
You catch the game Scott? Emotional ride!
George, you should know, as our esteemed leader says, we are resilient!
andrew
Ha Ha, that wasn’t what I was thinking about ol’ Frenchie @ 1-1 🙂 But The Arse are back. Its games like that that can define a season!!
Nah Andrew.
Early start at work today so I’ll have to catch a replay-which I hate doing!!
Still, I went through FB and then HH so caught a glimpse of the emotion, have no fear lol
The last ten minutes notwithstanding it was a standard boring Arsenal against the world game. It really took a poor display from an incompetant referee to spark it and the crowd to life. It took a continual stream of injustices to bring things to fever pitch. On the surface the incidents that the game turned on were correct decisions . It looked like Xhaka’ s foul was dangerous , Coquelin looked to trip for the penalty but the catalyst that enraged the crowd were the things that were not punished with the same severity . Elbows flying , Ozil bought down equally as dangerously only getting a yellow and a series of off the ball collisions going unnoticed. Moss was not about to give us the winning penalty ,it was the lino that made that decision.
Up to half time most of the players and the crowd were in a comatose state, We discussed so many things on the way to the ground . Apart from the obvious squad, tactics , substitutions etc one thing that came to the fore was the crowds atmosphere ,we concluded that quite simply , they are bored.
Great post Rico.
Left at 7am in the dark and got back at 10pm in the dark and had a fantastic day.
First port of call the bagel shop at the top of Brick Lane One salt beef one for me and salmon one for Bryn (Head Chef in Charlestown……Poldark territory ) and 20 in a bag for when I got home !.
Next a pint on The Rocket and a Tony Adams for me at Piebury Corner….Bryn had a Bergkamp !
A walk around The Ems etc` and then to seats up The North Bank…………….strong line up and strong bench this is going to be a walk in the park………………..and for the first half we ended up playing like it was a walk in the park, no urgency and testimonial tempo and was surprised that we had 14 shots !
To me it was simple……Wenger wasn`t listening to my request for 4 wing backs…..we lacked speed down the flanks and I would have played Ox at RB as Gabriel was almost playing RW !
I knew that the 2nd half would be different with more urgency and within 10 mins said to Bryn it`s only a matter of time before we score , when we did I thought the flood gates would open, but then Xhaka got his deserved sending off, but still thought we would win as Burnley are just basically ….Burnley !.
Points to make before the last 10 mins…….The Reff was a (is) a wanker !……………….Burnleys goalie was just wasting time untill we scored the first !
I didn`t see the Burnley pen as I was in the heavens in block 102…….I didn`t see the Arsene incident !…..and I didn`t see Alexis`s penalty as I was too scared to watch and just erupted by the crowd reaction that he had scored !
I was moaning like everyone else about the 7 mins of injury time, but glad in the end that we got 8 mins instead and that`s because the Burnley players took over a minute to get back after they scored !……………..had they got back quicker instead of time wasting they would have got an undeserved draw !……………thoroughly deserved win for us (after halftime) and my throat is sore from singing !
Great exciting finale and was on a high all the way home even by listening to talksport !…………..I was just glad have won and savour the day out, but some fans phoning in and some of the so called experts…..well, you wouldn`t have thought we had just climbed above the spuds into 2nd place !………………….if the Spuds had won as crap as we had aparrently played and lept above us into 2nd, they would have made a DVD !…………….the experts were going on about how great a season the Spuds are having and how great Mansour City were yesterday even though they didn`t win and how Manshafter were getting their act together and how shit we were……………..not sure how much them Manc clubs have spent compared to us ?…………………………..Oh and how much Arsenal fans moan that the media have an agenda against Arsenal, but dont realise that they are always putting us down !……………………still great day out and worth every penny of the £30 🙂
Still cant stop laughing at the whistle going straight after the kick off after our winner !………….serves the northern bastards right ! 😆
LC, I’m glad you enjoyed the day, bud.
Potter, from what everyone said, I’m not sure how people could be bored with that game but I obviously wasn’t there, nor did I see it, but it seems to have been a roller coaster ride.
Maybe people’s expectations aren’t realistic.
I just saw Xhaka’s red cards
P
L
E
A
S
E
What a fekken joke.
That’s twice he’s been sent off for bullshit “offences”.
Other players/clubs would draw a free kick, let alone a yellow, but a red??
More contact in Ping Pong!!!
The Hull lad had surgery and is battling.
Fingers crossed he recovers and once again we are reminded-it’s just a game.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2016-17/arsenal-vs-burnley/straight-red-card-granit-xhaka.html
BOTH feet are on the deck before any contact is made.
Bullshit call and to think Arsenal fans are ripping into the guy.
Morning Scott and all.
I didn’t think it deserved a red card but why go to ground in the first place…
Morning all.
Whoa! what a game it was yesterday! I was still shaking with adrenaline in the final whistle. It’s shameful how the referees are ruining games as they please. Even our gentleman Wenger was animated! Love we got away with the three points. Pile pressure on the leaders.
Rico, I get your point, but it doesn’t make it a red.
Shocking call.
Marshall, the old boy was certainly fired up 🙂
Morning all.
Last gasp penalty just deserts Marshall, Moss was shocking…
I didn’t say it did Scott but Xhaka should have learned from his previous soft red. Don’t give these useless PL officials something to do…
About the match, we really never make things easy for ourselves do we? We couldn’t shoot in h first half and Ramsey has really turned hopeless – he’s obsessed with flicks and looking cute. Even squandered our best chance for a goal trying fancy stuff. Heavens help us as we are stuck with him.
The defence did well, not that Burnley asked much of them anyway. I just wish Perez would get more game time. Welbeck too.
On Xhaka, we knew he was coming with a bag of red cards. I think the officials are already prejudiced against him. It was a foul yes, but a straight red card? fts! Well, Coq did clip the Burnley player (imo) who was almost inviting the contact and made a meal of it. Kos was offside for the foul that lead to our penalty but it’s the linesman who advised on Xhaka’s red – he owed us.
I hope we successfully appeal the red card. I have no confidence in Ramsey-Coq pairing at the chavs.
Scott, it’s good to see Wenger fighting for the team against those incompetent baboons, loved it.
Rico, oh and how Sanchez took it. It was a peach! Ice cold calmness.
7.13 Marshall.
Couldn’t have put it better myself…
I feared Alexis was going to miss, but wow, cool as a cucumber….
Lovely finish from Alexis, and the passion the entire team showed was fantastic.
Dare we believe?
Are we slowly building?
Who knows, but let’s hope so 🙂
Not me, the last ten mins was the only highlight…
Am hopeful Scott, we are always building…slowly 🙂
We don’t do anything quickly, Marshall lol
Rico, 3 points ya miserable bugger 🙂
As someone wiser than me recently said-Spuds are having a whale of a season, and playing sensational football, while we are struggled and playing poorly, yet you look at the ladder and start to wonder 🙂
Happy with the three points Scott but we have to play a lot better if we are to catch Chelsea..
Yes we do, but they need to play better than recently, as well 🙂
We will smash them.
Morning Rico. Another highly disappointing performance at a chilly Emirates yesterday. Some dirty tricks from Burnley who are a rather horrible team with a mono-tactical approach of booting it high and often into their opponents half. Xhaka was stupid and reckless and whether his tackle deserved a red or not, he has quickly become a liability. I wish Wenger good luck sorting him out because he never seems to learn and he will cost the team big-time soon. I despair of this season tbh as we are full of players stuck in a never-ending trough of mediocrity who never seem to climb out of it and it is just too easy to single them out. The team, the supporters and likely the club are scraping along the bottom at the moment and can only ever muster one decent half or even the occasional 15 minutes. How on earth we are second in the league remains a mystery. To me anyway.
Think you are dreaming Scott.. 😉
Morning Adam.
I’d say he already has cost the team. A four match ban when we already have Santi and Elneny missing.
Coquelin and Ramsey against Chelsea worries me big time…
Always, Rico, and proud of it 🙂
Adam, we are second because the other clubs aren’t that great, no matter how much we tell each other they are 🙂 🙂
Rico. You are probably right. His tackle happened in front of me and was the result of sheer frustration at having given the ball away although he had attempted a weird version earlier when he was very late, but the Burnley player jumped over him. He wasn’t the only one guilty of passing to opponents either. This team is way too brittle.
Said the same yesterday Adam. Our passing was woeful at times, too many times…
I’d rather be a realist Scott. We’ll soon come crashing back down to earth when we head to Stamford Bridge, if not in the next match against another tough opponent. And they are only tough opponents because we allow them to be…
Two dropped points by the Totts doesn’t convince me that they’re a poor side, same with Liverpool, Utd and City. The latter three might be struggling a bit, but Arsenal have been struggling for ten years or more….
Someone mentioned Iwobi and Ramsey shouldn’t play in the same team. Sanchez is guilty of loosing possession easily too. They are sloppy and having four such players would get us in trouble against a clinical team.
I dislike the lack of positional discipline by our attackers, it’s ok when they inter-change but so many instances yesterday you’d see two-three players standing in the same spot. Making it easy for Burnley to defend against them. Spread! There was an instance where Cech couldn’t kick the ball ahead as Ozil, Iwobi, Giroud and Ramsey were all on the right side, so were the half of Burnley team. Such tacts imo make us easy to defend.
Rico, I never said Spuds are poor, but if we are in font of them, an their so good, how bad can we really be?
Plenty will have us believe that eere bedttr than us last season which is complete rubbish.
We had very little to right for us an still beat them home.
Anyway, they’re not our problem, an nor are Chelski, we are.
Ramsey shouldn’t play in the team full stop Marshall… 😉
I didn’t suggest you did Scott…
Can’t work out the rest of your comment though…
Lol, sorry Rico.
iPad has a crack in it which means I can check and double check a comment, and it still turns to jibberish lol.
Rico 9:01, my sentiments exactly.
Theo says of all the players he’s played with, Mertesacker would be his tip at making a great manager.
Merts could make a great coach.
A 42 seater?? 😉
Morning all.
70% Possession
24 shots
10 corners
And we won…….I`ll take that every week whilst playing shit !. 🙂
Also listened to Chav game on way back and they were woefull according to the commentators, but also won !……I`m not scared of them, they will be hesitant against us and if a rubbish 12 man Burnley nearly got a point against 10 men Arsenal, then we have a chance. 🙂
I thought Xhaka was Ok untill the sending off, he`s very calm on the ball and spreads it about well …..I like him and he will sort himself out eventually.
Still on the same wavelength as Scott in that Spuds are having their greatest season since `61 and a shit Arsenal team are above them…………….cant help but find that rib aching funny !
Son`s had half my 20 bagels and I have 7 left and about to dig into them again !
Wenger wont be missed for the ban…………I could easily sit up in the north bank heavens and relay messages to Bouldy on how to play !……….bring on the 4 wing backs ! 🙂
Bagel time !.
Scott , my point about boredom is that despite the finish to the game it took the officials to liven the crowd up. Nothing the team did. I defy anyone in the crowd to say that they were enthralled by the first half. 14 shots 3 on target , we were pedestrian at best and totally ineffective . There were murmurs of discontent but it was the sending off that bought the sense of injustice out..Once we were down to 10 with the referee giving everything their way the crowd , the manager and the team began to lose it. Yes the last few minutes were fantastic and yes we left as Marshall said shaking with the adrenaline pumping but once we were back in the car and discussing the game and looking at the whole thing , it wasn’t the greatest performance.
The crowd of regular match going supporters of which probably there are 35000 that go week in week out have reached the point that when we start matches with the pass , pass routine they feel that they have seen it all before and nothing much stirs them and this is the cause of the lack of atmosphere . However I wonder how the crowd outside Arsenal station felt as they queued up with 10 minutes to go when they got out at their destinations and heard what had happened.
Fair enough Potter and as I said, I obviously wasn’t there, so just based it on comments.
LC, as always, it depends which Arsenal show up.
Let’s hope it’s the boys that cut them to ribbons earlier in the season.
I bet those fans at the station are gutted this morning Potter…
New post up now..