Morning all.
Do yourselves a favour and don’t bother reading the back pages, they’ll only cheese you off. Welbeck dived according to them and bearing in mind just a week ago the same pundits suggested that an AC Milan player was too honest for staying on his feet when minimal contact should have sent him tumbling to the ground in the box. Talk about running with the fox and the hounds eh. Their agenda is anti Arsenal and I refuse to join them over this penalty decision. Yes, it was soft but so what? How many times have we seen other players from other clubs win a soft decision? How many times have we been on the end of a wrong penalty decision? Too many to mention I’d say so last night evened things up a bit although there’s a long way to go before we can say we’re even. If anyone is to blame for us getting that penalty decision, blame the guy stood right next to the incident, the one dressed in yellow after all, he’s the one who deemed Danny Welbeck had been fouled. The fact that Welbeck got up, took the penalty and brought the scores level on the night is more important I think. I’m not bothering to mention the defensive work or rather lack of it for AC Milan’s opening goal because there’s little point as it’s all been said before.
Instead of crumbling though after going behind which we’ve been known to do all too often, I thought our game improved, just as it did again after we drew level. We had plenty of chances to put the game to bed, not that you’d have thought so listening to the pundits. All they wanted to do was talk about the opposition and how they could so easily have made a comeback. I suspect deep down that’s exactly what they wanted to happen too. Tough eh!
We lived dangerously at times, I’ll give them that but to win a game, you need goals and we scored more than them, it’s as simple as that. Welbeck got a second and Xhaka too got on the score-sheet as we ran out 5-1 winners over the two legs. Into the quarterfinal draw we go which should please most, certainly Arsene Wenger and the players although Mesut Ozil looked as miserable as sin after he was substituted. Poor game from him I thought whereas Chambers, who had replaced the injured Koscielny, looked quite assured alongside Mustafi with the latter having a decent game too.
At times we looked pretty good I thought, quick pass and movement as we broke forward but more often than not, all the good work was undone by the attempted extra pass when a shot was on, a pass which frequently went astray or was intercepted by an AC Milan player. Both Hakan Calhanoglu and Granit Xhaka proved what can happen when you take a chance and Arsenal need to do just that more often. As said, we got the job done and at this stage of the season and this competition, that’s what mattered most.
I thought the AC Milan fans were brilliant. With their drums beating, a conductor too, they were in full voice. The Arsenal fans were too for much of the time and I bet the atmosphere inside The Emirates was as good as it’s been for a while. Probably since we played the neighbours. For chunks of the ninety minutes, the game was pretty entertaining too with some end to end football, a far cry from the dross a certain Portuguese midget served up the previous evening.
Now there’s just three English teams competing in Europe, Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal and we’ll find out later today who we’ll face in the next round. I’ve got a sneaky feeling we’ll get drawn against CSKA Moscow.
Morning Rico and all.
Another good performance from our team. That’s 3 on the trot. Is this the second coming? What has changed the pattern of failure and defeat? Has Wenger finally ‘woken up’ after his winter hibernation? Or has he realised that he has to DO something on the training field instead of standing around watching his squad kicking balls at each other and then having a bit of a game before a nice warm refreshing shower? Who know but, the team certainly looks revitalised. About time too.
With this kind of form we can rest assured that sixth place is guaranteed. Thank goodness. Sixth is the new fourth in this ever chaotic world.
Moscow in the next round? I hope not. The Russians will remove all our English players and bang them in the Lubianka, never to be seen again!
Still we’ll see.
Lovely sunny day here. Snow tomorrow?
Morning Rico and all..
Good win last night. .only saw the highlights. .
Athletico are the favourite to win it ..and to be honest I would rather face them now than later..
if we can beat them great, if not ..then we have plenty of time for wenger out ?
Great points Rico.
I couldn’t find the Arsenal game anywhere yesterday, not on 5Live or 5Live Extra, it was rugby on there, Talk Bollocks 2 had darts, fcuking darts! Talk Bollocks had a group of talking heads ruminating over the days events, and you could hear the glee in their voices when Milan scored.
Now these are the same type of guys who love to tell you how naive players are for not going down and that they’re not street wise, that they can’t manage a game. Obviously all this doesn’t apply to Arsenal and when Welbeck went down they were absolutely outraged – no doubt because an Arsenal equaliser ruined their Arsenal in crisis narrative for the rest of the evening.
Their depression only increased as more Arsenal goals went in, and Andy Goldstein who does the following programme was almost suicidal when he popped on and saw his Wenger Out themed slot disappear. Goldstein usually does the graveyard slot as he is basically a fcuking useless presenter and has to be good mates with somebody at the radio station, how tossers like him are on the airways never fails to amaze me.
Man City vs Liverpool – stitch up?
We’re gonna get CSKA Moscow, another stitch up…
Best not to listen to those dickheads. The very same people who lambasted the AC Milan player who didn’t dive last week (despite being untouched) were, last night criticising Welbeck. The AC Milan player was honest but ir was even suggested that his team mates would be angry with him because he didn’t cheat. The previous evening I watched Suarez dive and dive and dive. Messi did too. Owen, Delle Alli, Rooney, Gerard and ‘Arry Kane have forged a formidable living from cheating and diving with minimal or no contact. I don’t give a toss whether Danny dived or not.
Moscow it is home first
Afternoon Wavy, Kk, Adam, Kev, Potter and anyone else who knows me… 😉
I just had a feeling it would be Moscow.
Thanks Kev…
Adam, neither do I. At least there was some kind of contact, albeit minimal…
Still, I’m sure there’s fans out there who would want him banned for twelve games or more… lol
Cska novichok? Just the place for the away fans.A warm up for the world cup.
Home first so a good lead necessary although April in Moscow the pitch should be playable.
Let’s hope the officials haven’t been handed a few nice bulky brown envelopes…
I’ve heard that Vladimir Putin will referee the 2nd leg.
🙂 Kev.
Rico, I think you put the ‘fix’ in. Moscow in springtime with a new reaffirmed Putin in charge. It sounds idyllic!
Do think Wenger will use the word nervous in his pre match conference before the second leg? I think travelling to Moscow just at the moment should be discouraged, for all manner of reasons. Don’t think even Boris would go just now.
Anyway, it is what it is. The way Arsenal are playing at the moment should see them go on to the semis, or am I being too complacent? It could have been worse.
Wavy, it was written in my tea leaves, honest…
I actually think we’ll go out but not because of the Wenger or the way we play. Unless we can get a good lead from the first leg, the second might throw up a few interesting decisions from the officials.
I certainly wouldn’t travel there to watch that second leg either..
rico, what’s the numbers for this weekend’s lotto!? ? cheers
Ha ha Kk, I wish I knew them. I’d share them of course…. 😉
Hi everyone. Beautiful sunny day here in the SE. Agree with all your points in your opening post Rico.
I annoys me that a lad like Danny is being crucified for a first ‘offence’, when with so many others it is the norm. As I said before, swings and roundabouts.
I do actually think there was contact, but he didn’t go straight down. Just shows he hasn’t perfected cheating, unlike so many others. The official stood right there, saw it. That should be good enough. We’ve had to accept it many a time.
Well, we certainly haven’t become world beaters, but I saw signs of the real Arsenal in fits and starts last night. Still want to pass their way into the goal though, instead of rifling off a few shots.
I think it might come to it that British fans are told not to travel for cu games and especially the World Cup. I was concerned before all this hooha, now even more so.
Those Russians are hard bastards at normal times, but once we are in another ‘cold war’ with them they will be murderous.
So racist too. Our players will be targeted.
Let’s hope our players can relplicatebthis form in the rest of our games.
Surprising when Deli Alli gets a penalty according to the pundits it’s a case of “well there was contact but he went down a bit easy”. When it is Welbeck they all shout in unison “DIVE”. Funny that!
Morning Rico and all. Blanketed with snow here.
Morning Adam and all.
We’ve got the snow too, really heavy at the moment..
New post up now
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/interview-with-mertesacker-about-exit-from-arsenal-football-a-1198260.html
Just goes to show that footballers are human….