Let’s start with the team selection:
Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song, Arteta, Rosicky, Ramsey, Walcott, Van Persie.
Substitutes: Fabianski, Djourou, Santos, Benayoun, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Chamakh.
Arsenal kicked off with Mike Dean refereeing the game, both teams made their intention clear from the start.
The home team were clearly trying to impose an ‘in your face’ physical style, threatening to get at Arsenal players but the Gunners responded well by dishing out some of their ownstrong challenges. In fact at the end of the first half Arsenal had more fouls against than in their favour, the majority of which came from play on Arsenal’s left hand side.
QPR were targeting clearly targeting Gibbs throughout the game.
Arsenal’s intention was clear from the start, attack from the right, using Theo’s pace and Sagna’s overlapping runs. In fact Arsenal were targeting Taiwo and based their game on Walcott’s speed and the majority of the play was down that right hand side. Any ball on the left was immediately switched to the centre and then out to the right. Sagna kept the inside while Walcott hugged the touch-line.
There was double pressure from all QPR players whenever any of the Arsenal forwards or advanced midfielders had the ball, however they always allowed the Arsenal defenders to keep all the possession they wanted.
In the 7th minute Walcott was fouled, RVP took the free kick, a grounder which the goalkeeper failed to hold but there was no one near him for the follow-up.
Up till the 11th minute the game saw a good amount of pressure from the QPR team in the Arsenal half, with free kicks and corners and in the 13th minute a free kick was awarded to QPR , from which they had a headed chance which went over the bar.
Zamora was not getting any breathing space, although he made himself a nuisance to the centre backs while Rosicky and Ramsey were exchanging places especially when Gibbs went forward.
Theo was attacking the channel between the full back and centre back time and again alternating between staying outside hugging the touch-line and cutting in.
QPR opted for high balls in the penalty area and were testing Chesney with high balls and shots from the distance. It was evident that QPR were clearly trying to ruffle Arsenal feathers and were intent on not letting AFC impose their passing game.
Taarabt shot from long-range and made it 1-0 around 21st minute after turning TV inside out. He had received a long pass from the back which no one in defensive midfield position managed to pick out. Taarabt was playing on the left but when he cut into the centre, no one picked him out.
The Gunners’ players sprung into action and upped a gear. They started going at the QPR defence through the centre but QPR played a half-moon formation in midfield with five strung in the middle. Their physical style was threatening to get at AFC players but the AFC players responded well by dishing out some strong challenges.
Arsenal where playing a high line and this meant that, more often than not, Zamora and Mackie were usually offside as Taarabt was cutting in. Zamora was proving to be an effective target man, holding the ball well to give the others chance to move into good positions.
We were good in the transition phase, getting the ball from the opponents, however RVP was flooded in the centre often having two or three players marking him and various times crosses and passes to him were intercepted.
Arsenal continued with their passing game, which many times was too predictable.
On the 36th minute Theo scored..
He drifted from the right to the centre and then again to the left while Aaron Ramsey went to the right. His first shot hit the post however, the ball went back to him and he fired home. Theo did what Taarabt did and QPR repeated the same Arsenal mistake, no one was marking him.
This tactical switch confused the QPR defenders and it nearly did again when Theo went to the right.
Rosicky, Arteta and Song were working their socks off however TR07 was having a quieter game than the last few games.
Mackie was proving a nuisance on Arsenal’s left side and in the first half alone he won 3 fouls. Gibbs was keeping him quiet and was not allowing him to cut outside. Every time he was fouled he was always cutting inside.
The 1st half came to a close, who would come out the better team mentally and physically?
The 2nd half saw QPR kick off.
Immediately Mackie cut inside and went through the middle before auditioning himself for the Olympic diving team in the penalty area. No contact was made and Gibbs broke forward and nearly scored with a downward header but missed narrowly.. The play shifted from the right to the left constantly and both Rosicky and Arteta made themselves more available however Song was not protecting the defence, which put more pressure on both centre backs, leaving gaps behind him which no one was picking up, except the QPR players.
Arsenal players were spreading out and making the pitch wider, instead of playing a narrow formation.
In the 51st minute Arteta was fouled approx 10 metres outside the penalty area and the usual suspects lined up to take the free kick. Like many other free kicks these last few years, it failed to come to fruition.
It seemed that Arsenal had found their rhythmical passing and were pinging the ball around the pitch often diagonally instead of the crab like sideways passing. They were starting to exert their influence and more often than not matching their opponents’ physical style and speed which seemed to tire the QPR players who were chasing balls and shadows.
This meant that the opponents were usually late and committed unnecessary fouls near the penalty area. Arsenal where mixing long and short passes between direct and diagonal passing. In the 58th minute RVP managed to stay onside and his shot produced a good save to deny the Dutchman..
Another corner was procured and this was cleared by the QPR defence using high hoofed balls. Slightly different from the one touch passing Arsenal style pinging the ball around.
TommyV and Mackie went head to head and Mike Dean mistook him for Gibbs who clearly mouthed a “Why me”. Mike Dean changed his mind and booked Tommy for his pains. Then Song was booked for giving Barton a dose of his own medicine when he clearly fouled him.
Arsenal hesitated a bit at the back with TommyV, Kozzer and Chesney getting muddled up, but this time Kozzer was sure not to repeat his league cup nightmare and hoofed the ball. Had Chesney called for the ball and kept it he would have surely avoided QPR going ahead because from the throw in the ball was worked to Arsenal’s left and when TommyV slipped he allowed the QPR winger to square to Diakite who rifled the ball home.
Gervinho prepared to come on for Aaron Ramsey and this meant that Arsenal where going to keep the pitch wide on the flanks.
However the players still tried to pass the ball through the channels when they should have kept the width of the pitch.
Arsenal were clearly still trying to play the ball behind the defence but this seemed to work in favour of the home defence who massed the centre in the penalty area and did not allow the Gunners any space. QPR were clearly allowing the Gunners all the ball possession they wanted and seemed content to hit them on the break and there were a couple of scary moments.
Arsenal had to regroup and recover again. Gibbs sent over a whipped cross but QPR managed to clear it out. The game continued in the same pattern, Arsenal possession and QPR hoofing the ball out and trying to break out hoping they get the odd corner and maybe a goal. When they lost possession they retreated back into their shell to defend their fort.
With ten minutes to go RVP linked to a corner by Arteta but his header was well wide.
The game was clearly crying for the OX and Arsene clearly noticed this and sent him on for Arteta when it should have been Rosicky who should have been subbed. At the same time Chamakh came on for Gibbs as Arsenal decided to have more presence up front. Song dropped in defence to retain a four man defence when a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3 should have been more appropriate.
Chesney produced an outstanding save after Mackie managed to beat the offside trap. With the game heading towards the end QPR were clearly the better team and had Arsenal ruffled who were all at sea but lately Arsenal have rediscovered a newly found resilience to keep going right till the very end. They kept up the pressure on a QPR team who were clearly relishing another 3 points in their quest for survival.
4 minutes were added to normal time. While City where drawing 3-3 and Chelsea were winning 3-2 Arsenal had only four minutes to take advantage. Kenny was taking full advantage by taking his time to give his goal kicks and QPR resorted to fouling to mass their penalty area. The OX was fouled twice within 30 metres of goal and even Chesney went up for a free-kick
This was to no avail.
Mike Dean whistled and the game was over. Hughes, limited manager that he is regarding tactics and coaching methods, had managed to outwit Arsenal once again.
Will Arsenal fans be sorry to see Hughes and QPR go down? I am not going to ask for a poll as I already know the answer to that.
Before I end this report I would like to congratulate my youngest cousin who at the tender age of 15 years has been selected for the senior National Women’s Handball team of my country. I very proud of this and look forward to seeing her making her debut.
Written by DevilGunner
Plan b, where was our plan b??
Morning all,
Congrats to your cousin devil, a very young age to be selected for her country, some good news…
Fine post too, shame it’s not a winning one…
Hi Rico and all. Well done to your cousin Devil
Was Podolski ever on?
morning rico,,,
our plan B centres on chamack and he is not cutting it out…..im not too ad about the defeat….hope we bounce back
Hi alan,
it’s an April fool, trying to inject a bit of humour this morning, but it’s not working…
It’s believed to be on, the clubs have agreed not to announce anything until the season is over… FC Koln don’t want their fans upset…
Hi kc,
What a difference between two moroccans on the pitch yesterday, i’d rather chamakh wasn’t even in the squad!
Truly hope the PSG rumours about him are real…
im not a moaner but why keep chamack and loan pingboot
What Nik?
No idea, it shows how desperate we are when we are even asking that question, but at least Nik is scoring for Sunderland now…
rico…..is it true that we scouted Chamack for three seasons
What was Song up to yesterday??
Shocking, maybe Chamberlain shouldn’t have made the comments about him being like Cesc, Wenger or Rice should have got him back protecting the back four…
Hi Rico AH I’m slow. yes April 1. I forgot. Someone gets me every year 😀
kc, feel free to be a moaner. You will be in good and distinguished company, such as myself
Don’t think so, one maybe…
i think the loss will make the game against ssshiittyy a cracker……is walcot really steping up….or the need to go to euro
I’d have forgotten too alan, had i not seen the date at the last minute….
We have to hope swansea do us a favour today, but Dirtys Arry’s lot will be up for their game later, unlike we were yesterday…
Wenger says we were complacent?? Why, How can that be allowed to be the case?
Walcott got a bit of a bashing again on here after the game…
He’ll relish being up against Clichy i’m sure, they leaked a few goals yesterday, and if Sunderland can get three, we should be able to get more 😉
alanbstdmp……..at least wenger gave a good post match conference……i dont question his tactics…i question his team selection…..gerv, benayoun and the ox were at bench….why play ramsey
Sadly Ol AW is an enigma
rico……..manshitni will definitely play kolarov or zabeleta…….swansea you can do it
Morning Rico. I was at the game yesterday in a glass fronted box about 10 yards from the pitch. The food and the company were good but that’s as far as it went really. The decision to play Ramsay wide was bizarre on a tight pitch, uncut and over- watered. It should have been Ox or Gerv to give a bit of width. Hughes wanted to funnel the play down a congested middle and we fell into that trap far too easily. TV was strangely uncomposed but QPR just bashed one long ball after another down the defence’s throats. Everyone was slipping over all game and the ball was bouncing about on the long wet grass. I could go into more detail but see little point. We were poor, let’s move on to Man City at home and get back on track. The only positive spin I can make is that this loss might have come at the right time and serve to refocus the team and remind them of how painful football can be.
Rico, yes how can they allowed to be complacent. Exactly
alan, you still want AW gone in the summer?
Morning Adam, i did wonder how your day went…
The pitch was awful and no doubt all done on purpose to stop us playing, it worked, but should it be allowed??
I hope that is just what this loss does, hoof them up the bum and go on a winning run until the end….
the boys should put the defeat behind them…….shity should never do a treble against us……
Thankfully Kos didn’t get booked during the game..
Hi Rico. It was strange being that close to the action but they were pumping literally thousands of gallons of water down the middle of the pitch well before the start and in the warm up you could see that every Arsenal player needed two touches to get control of the ball. This wasn’t the first time we have seen pitch preparation for our visit and it won’t be the last. But, nothing can disguise the fact that we didn’t play well. But, if someone had said, eight games ago, that we would get 21 points from the next 24 I think we would have said yes please. The most important thing is Man City next Sunday. We simply must put yesterday behind us. The best thing about the game for me was the passion fruit cheesecake and meeting someone who can swing me some Olympic tickets. Networking eh? Can’t beat it.
Rico, did you just remove silenstan’s comment?!
Morning all by the way! Great post Devil.
And I thought there was a water shortage Adam 😉
They can’t dwell on it though, hopefully they will learn from it as we have a few other tricky away fixtures to face yet….
😆 re the cheesecake and tickets….
Podolski has a capital letter if we wish to be picky .
Lacklustre yesterday ,too many players believing their own hype.Games like that are about concentration , we lacked that clearly. The City match now takes on cup final proportions and we will need everyone to be up for it. No room for slip ups now we have to win all of our home matches and must not lose away. If you can’t win the away matches make sure you don’t lose them.
Morning rocky, yes i did, it’s very easy for some to come onto blogs and slate a post… haven’t got time for that today and it’s totally unjustified….
I agree, great post….
Oh, and had SS actually read the post, he would have seen the Podolski is an Arpril Fool, some people do lack a sense of humour don’t they 😉
And someone else wanted to come on and call us all ‘w*****s’ – needless to say, he/she went in the trash… 😉
Haha! I had the below reply all written out for him…. Ipod was acting up so copied it before it was lost… Logged on again, and hid post was gone!!
“Silenstan…. How are your posts coming along? Not done any? Then don’t slag other people’s off. Oh, and if you slag off people’s grammar and mistakes, make sure you don’t put in errors yourself…. Makes you look stupid! I guess you meant ‘I’ and not i?? Grow up.”
Evening all.
There is no possible way the win streak would go on forever,and.it doesn’t matter if Chelski,Citeh or QPR ended it.
The fact remains we were ordinary,and anyone blaming team selections,timing of substitutes or anything else involving Wenger is clutching at straws.
RVP was terrible compared to his normal standards.
Theo was a non-event.
Ramsey…as above.
Song….fair dinkum,he’s still trying a bloody chip pass as we speak,and its still going to an opponent……..simple pass,Alex,simple pass.
Arteta…played well.
Rosicky…….was he even out there?
The backline did well.
TV5….one goal was 100% offside,the other he slipped over at the wrong time.
He’s an easy and obvious target,yet there were at least 20 other occasions where players slipped over.
Why did we lose???
Well its simple….it was time.
You can dissect the game all you like and still not find an answer.
We were unlucky,QPR were luck…..end of section.
One loss in our last 8 games!!!
It’s not a drama,its a glitch.
Talk to us this time next week if we lose….
Morning Potter, but it has, in the post 😉
We also now have to hope others drop points, the Chav game is a vital one for us too, and we df need to win it, ‘6 pointer’ as they say….
😆 rocky….
Hi gooners, a bad day at the office or complacency…..oh TV5 why oh why
Come on swansea
Podoski a done deal for a month now eh
Morning Scott,
It did in 2004 😉
Seriously,watch a replay,and anyone blaming Vermaelen is kidding themselves.
Plenty are saying don’t blame Deans,yet his linesman missed the offside.
Plenty say don’t blame the pitch,yet Vermaelen was one of plenty to slip over.
It’s funny……the last two or three Yeats,we’ve blamed our defenders for a lack of success.
How many actually realise we had more shots than QPR???
How,many choose to blame RVP and co?????
Yep,thought there’d be none.
Come on guys…watch the game.
Good morning Guys and Chicks of the Everincreasing Gunners’ Faith.
Thanks for your compliments. They are really appreciated. I did the post throughout the game itself and then took around 45 minutes more to check before I sent it. That is why I was quiet throughout the game.
Ozzy was blooming RIGHT. Taarabt was around a yard offside the moment that the ball was passed. I saw it more than five times this morning before the training session. The disgraceful thing was that no one picked that 50 metre pass. That it passed through a host of players and no one was there to pick it or at least attempted to pick it was disgraceful beyond comprehension.
Diaby
Morning Erick, are those two both from you 😉
Very bad day at the office….
Scott From Oz says:
April 1, 2012 at 10:37 am
100% ABSOLUTELY RIGHT IN YOUR COMMENTS.
Its going to be a fight to the finish……hope the lads are ready.
Diaby almost back…….. 😉
Rico,it didn’t go forever….nearly,but not quite.
Don’t lose faith after one loss guys.
Morning Gooners.
Morning Rico.
Damned fine post there Coach. Really enjoyed it.
As for the dirty unwashed trolls. Suck it up tossers’…
Hi Scott. Our defence is a million times better than they have been. It’s just annoying that a gew of our goals lately have come from poorly timed slips. The away match against AC Milan immediately springs to mind.
Rico yes two of me he he wordpress keep asking me for my password
How are the HH’s lol
Scott, i believe you re the offside but we can’t change that now..
I actually blame the pitch and yet again the officials, but we should still have that plan b, take the pitch out of the game, if the hoof ball was working for them, why not try that ourselves when we need to?
Plan b has all too often cost us….
Apparently TV5 had new boots no pink like Nikky……the pitch wasn’t the best though
Mental strength needed until end of season
Barton you mug
Morning devil,
Maybe yesterday was a day for Song to be Song and not Songinho??
All good thanks Erick, you??
Morning AK, spot on re the trolls, we don’t want or need them….
Devil….apologies….great post.
Vermaelen did one thing wrong…he didn’t play to the whistle.
It happens 20 times a game….players standing with an arm in the air claiming a freekick.
Why???
Let the officials do their job,and if they don’t,be in a position to resolve the situation!!!!!
Few*
We can’t blame players for slipping though, and we can’t blame the pitch – only Barcelona are permitted to do that with any kind of justification!
I am not blaming the pitch or officials,but I’m not blaming Vermaelen,either.
It just wasnt our day,so I don’t take it hard.
7 in a row guys……
They all need to get boots with longer studs, maybe spikes for when we next come up against Barton and his lot 😉
Kos was solid though
fine thank you Rico……Dean’s stats against us are mind blowing
Out of 34 he has been in charge we have won 14
That annoys the shit out of me Scott. One of the first things I was told when I joined my first football team when I was 6 was “play to the whistle”. I still remember that. Why do pro footballers continually forget that golden rule?
Some reports suggest that Gibbs was the one who played Taarabt onside…
Scott yesterdays game might be the difference between us playing CL or not
Arsenal main undoing is lossing games we should be winning hasn’t changed eh
Was Gibbs even in the game Rico 🙂
Bad game
That’s also something that annoys me too, in every sport it’s the same, individuals don’t decide when to stop playing, the ref/umpire does…
Simples…
http://arsenalist.com/video/?id=xptc48
watch carefully at the 36th second. Taarabt is offside the moment the ball is played. TommyV was not aware that he was behind him. Taarabt surprised him and by the time he had realised it was one on one. The only mistake TommyV did was that he allowed Taarabt to turn and face the goal. He should have been on his back immediately. Otherwise the only two mistakes where done by the lino who did not flag for offside and by the entire midfield who allowed a 50 yard pass without picking it.
We certainly should have beaten QPR Erick, but this time of the season, when teams are fighting for PL survival, funny things can happen…
Morning all…..
DEVILGUNNER!!!.you scared the ‘ell out of moi with that “POLDOLSKI’S DEAL OFF”..*#$%^&*@
Nice one.. 😆
rico says:
April 1, 2012 at 10:52 am
Some reports suggest that Gibbs was the one who played Taarabt onside…
Rico….the posts who reported that are just wasting their time or blankly being idiots. Gibbs was in line with TommyV and even Mackie was behind Gibbs. Thus even Mackie was offside.
Erick, I do not agree with you. Gibbs did not have a poor game. Neither did he have a great one. He simply did the basics right. And he was not beaten once through positional play. He did not set any houses on fire but just kept his place. Had Clichy been there yesterday we would have been murdered on that side. As it is Mackie had to drift inside to have any space.
Merlin the post was mine……the April’s fool was Rico’s job.
Erick,this game has little to do with qualifying for CL.
We’ve lost a lot of games before this one,so each one is a contributing factor.
Devil….ive jumped on a dozen or so other forums,and until now,I’m the only person to even mention the offside….incredible.
Again,its not the single reason we lost,but its a factor.
Ahh, it was Rico’s doing was it?! Rico, you wily minx you!!! I’d creditited the Podolski thing to Devil too!! (although looking again, I can see it’s written after Devil’s sign off)
Devil…..I heard a rumour thay you’d signed Podolski!!!!
Gooner my arse lol!!!
Rico,you should know better than listen to reports!!!
TBH mate…..I saw it after I read your comments in yesterday’s post early this morning. And you are 100% absolutely right Ozzy.
Water beneath the bridge.
Let’s do the hard way..by beating Abu Dhabi City and Chelski.
Ta D_G..
I am always fall for a pretty face…..:mrgreen:
“Men play the game; women know the score.”
Devil,I saw it straight away,but that could be due to.the coverage we get on Oz….
Not one commentator,nor one fan even saw it.
Again,Vermaelen should’ve played on,but that’s the way football is these days.
Hi Merlin…
devil, i know, just passing it on 😉
In fact,Vermaelen stepped forward to play Taraabt offside,imo,so he did well……..until then!!!
You kno me rocky 😉
Scott, it was a fans view, rather than the dodgy media…
Indeed I do Rico!
Right, I’m off out for a bit. Off round my nans to cook her a bit of lunch
Catch you all later
Have a good day rocky….
Rico,they were wrong,seriously wrong.
No doubt about it…..when the ball was played,he was offside easily.
The fan doesn’t understand the rule in question.
Lukas Podolski: “Yes, United spoke to my agent, to be honest I don’t like their style of play. Besides, I have my heart set on another club”
Lukas Podolski: “Tottenham wanted my signature in January but I didn’t know the club existed until last years Champions League, I declined.”
😆
Love it Rico.
Goodnight all……….off to bed to dream of our Gunners winning something more than a coin toss next season.
See ya guys.
There are 7 games left. Win 6 of them and that might be enough for 3rd spot?
Morning all, fine post devil,
Anyone watch match of the day last night, me neither.
Its just a blip, we’ll bounce back against Citeh next week, we have to.
Adam, save water, drink beer.
A comparison of the Top-6 team against Bottom-13 teams with 30 games played after 31-Mar-12:
W … D … L ….. F ….. A … +/-
16 … 2 … 2 … 47 … 11 … 36 … 50 points: Manchester United
15 … 4 … 2 … 52 … 16 … 36 … 49 points: Abu Dhabi City
13 … 5 … 3 … 38 … 16 … 22 … 44 points: Chelski
13 … 4 … 1 … 38 … 13 … 25 … 43 points: Tiny Totts
13 … 4 … 4 … 44 … 20 … 24 … 43 points: Arsenal
07 … 6 … 6 … 25 … 17 … 08 … 27 points: Liverpool
This is how Arsenal season panned out after 31 games played:
First 7 games = 07 points out of 21 points;
Next 8 games = 22 points out of 24 points;
Next 7 games = 07 points out of 21 points;
Next 8 games = 22 points out of 24 points;
Next 8 games = 00 points out of 24 points.
Maximum points achievable = 58 + 21 = 79 points.
Realistic Target of 4 wins 1 draws 2 losses = 13 points.
Minimum points for 4th spot = 58 + 13 = 71 points.
_____________________________________________________
There is a real danger that we may even miss out 4th spot as Chelski is on a hot-streak and our QPR Loss revitalises Tiny Totts’ challenge for 3rd spot.
Study closely Tiny Totts performances against Bottom-13 teams…and they were awesome with only one loss, albeit they drew too many games.
Suffice to sya that statistically, Tiny Totts wil have a high probability of WINNING ALL their remaining 8 games against Bottom-13 teams.
Our only hope is that Tiny Totts wil draw at least 2 of the remaining 8 games…dropping 4 points and giving us a breathing space of losing oen game against Stoke CIty (away) or ABu Dhabi CIty.
But we must get a result against CHelski else all our wins is futile as Chelski is only 5 points behind with 7 games to play.
We can’t depend on Liverpool to beat Chelski at Anfield on 7-May. 3rd or 4th spot lies in our hands to defeat CHelski on 21-April.
Meantime, squeaky bum time against:
07-April – Arsenal vs Abu Dhabi CIty
10-April – Wolves vs Arsenal
16-April – Arsenal vs Wigan
21-April – Arsenal vs Chelski
28-April – Stoke City vs Arsenal
06-May – Arsenal vs Norwich
13-May – WBA vs Arsenal
01-April – Tiny Totts vs Swansea
08-April – Sunderland vs Tiny Totts
10-April – Tiny Totts vs Norwich
16-April – Bolton vs Tiny Totts [postpone – FA Semi]
22-April – QPR vs Tiny Totts
28-April – Tiny Totts vs Blackburn
06-May – Villa vs Tiny Totts
13-May – Tiny Totts vs Fulham
07-April – CHelski vs WIgan
10-April – Fulham vs Chelski
15-April – FA SEMI FINAL
21-April – Arsenal vs Chelski
29-April – CHelski vs QPR
02-May – Chelski vs Newcastle
06-May – Liverpool vs Chelski
13-May – Chelski vs Blackburn
There you are.
How many points will Arsenal, Tiny totts and Chelski will drop in this final striaght to 3rd and 4th spot?
Stay positive Scott, stop being negative.
I really didn’t expect us to lose yesterday, at worst i thought a draw. But that’s typical Arsenal, never make it easy if you can wind us all up first…
Night Scott…
AK, lets win all seven to be sure 😉
Hi Micko, no chance, they are nearly as bad as talks***e
Kev, can you really see Diaby making a difference with 7 games left, I think that’s what your getting at, I don’t.
Me negative Micko…..never!!!!
Third is ours.
We all forget that while we are dropping the odd point,those around us have been leaking them.
It certainly makes the Arabia game interesting.
I imagine The Grove will be rocking next weekend.
moaning HH, fine analysis coach,
rico you April fooled me!!
awful day yesterday, I would take defeat from anyone but not a team of Joey Farton and Hughes. really sickening.
another stinker from TV5, he was very uncomposed as Adams said.
This Ramsey on left wing is not working either, RVP has been off lately, hopefully he comes to life in the manshiity game.
over all reallity check needed.
I hope Merlin’s pattern of 8s and 7s not happening again.
wenger admitted it was a bad performance, one could question his selction and substitution.
again as everyone here says what the point of Chamack & Park!?
Diaby who!?
well at least Reading hammerd the hamsters.
good day all.
That was like waving a red rag at a bull scott, good on ya,
Mick. I keep losing comments i’ve written on this poxy phone.
So i send a short one first, to see if this idiot Samsung shit phone is working.
Diaby is for JM. He loves him… Almost as much as he loves the ladies! 🙂
Ooops, it must be a man crush thing i guess, each to their own.
Hi Rokabox, the Reading win was the only highlight, glad the April fooled you 😉
Talking of which, I best remove it now before midday strikes more back luck on us Gooners 😉
Micko,do you think RVP will ever complete a full season????
Did you think after Old Trafford we’d get to third spot?
Stranger things of happened.
I’m off out for a couple of hours with Fido….
Chat later guys and gals….
I had you covered Micko….April fools day and all.
AK….get an HTC…..best phones around.
Scott, if we beat Abu Dhabi City and CHelski, then we are confirmed 3rd.
Loss or draw against Abu Dhabi CIty and Chelski, we may even ended up 5th!
All Tiny Totts need to do is to win all their remaining 8 games, and Chelski win their remaining 7 games, to be 3rd and 4th respectively!
We will know by tonight!
cheers all, I am off for my SUnday rest!
I’m really going now guys..til next time,stay anti Alan!!!!!!
Wenger has to stop using Rosicky or Ramsey as wingers. Ramsey (Is a central midfielder anyway) not good enough to play on the wings and Rosicky has not got the pace anymore to play on the wings. Arsenal resurgence in the last months has been down to pace, pace down the wings. Take the Spurs and Milan game as the example. Yes, we had Benayoun against Spurs but he has not lost as much pace as Rosicky has due to injury but Rosicky is the better footballer. Why did he not start Gervinho, Benayoun, Chamberlain or at least Santos because these are natural wingers and compliment RVP and Walcott. Yes Wenger can question the players attitude on the day but he has to stop making these silly and unnecessary changes to the team line up. Due the results this weekend, next week is now just as big of a game for us as for Man City to win. It has let Chelsea back into the race for third and fourth place.
Scott, even when rvp was only playing half a season he was still up there behind Henry on the goal scoring charts for us, I always hoped he would, I still cringe now when i see him go down, I’ll never knock him.
As for 3rd spot, don’t think anybody did, Arsenal have got us all excited about finishing in the top 4 again, I really fancied us for the FA Cup this year, blind faith maybe.
NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. YOU CAN’T FIX STUPID AT THE END OF THE MONTH. I AM THIRD GENERATION DON’T GIVE A F*CK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFSkmfYWjx4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Chelsea have the harder run in out of the three teams, away against us and going to Anfield. Ours is the most complicated out of the three because yes we have City & Chelsea but both are at the Emirates and we still have to go to Stoke which is going to be difficult. If Spurs don’t reach top four this season, they will never reach top four again and if they don’t finish in front of us this season, they will never finish in front of us again because bar Sunderland away they do play nobody good until end of the season.
Happy April foolsday Gooners,
Devil mighty fine post. Enough layers to discuss. Congrats to your cousin. Being selected at a young age can put desire and drive in place to pursue a professional sport career. Cheers.
Ohhh and it was offside but when the ball has the traveling time of a London tube there’s really no excuse. End of.
Yesterday the pitch was narrow anyway. So the need to play Aaron on the left was unnecessary. We should have started the OX or Gervinho on the left. Imo it should have been Gervinho. In that way we would have had two outlets one on the left and the other on the right. By the time Gervinho came on RVP was nullified. It should also have meant that Rosicky should have been rested and Aaron put behind the striker.
Personally I think it would have been better had Santos played on the left with the Ox on the right at around the 60th minute. My substitutions would have been Theo, Aaron, Thomas out and in their place I would have put the Santos on the left, Ox in the middle and Gervinho on the right. On that way I would have kept them penned back in their own half by a 4-2-3-1 formation and also kept the width.
Arteta’s substitution was a mistake imo. If he was injured than yes, by all means, but it should have been Theo and Thomas who should have been rested.
Our freekicks and corners are a joke. No inventiveness and nothing new. Its just put it in and hope for the best. This is playing in the oppositions hands, especially if they happen to have tall players. And when Robin hit a grounder, why was there no one for the second ball? The goalkeeper had dropped it and he had no one near him to challenge him.
DG10 thanks for both compliments.
We are all chuffed to bits with my cousin. She has been playing handball for the past three years, starting at school, then she went to a club and voila….her rise has been nothing short of astounding. We thought that her parents were winding us up, but when I saw her name on those selected I was amazed. Hope she does well and will not be broken by the senior ones.
Did you see my comment about no one picking up the 50 something yard pass to Taarabt??? That was disgraceful. Songinho should have been there, yet no one was covering for him. Our players should have come to expect Song metamorphosing into Songinho and going on a galivanting run upfield so why no one covers for him?? Where the F**K is Gilberto???
Devil there’s no question about it,we do the simple things not so well.
Look at our through balls and passes…..our midfielders,especially Song,kep trying the impossible.
I’m seriously,honestly off now.
Night all.
Gotta say that i thought the line~up looked ok before kick~off.
Just think that too many had an off~day.
Maybe Arsene could have made different substitutions?
Maybe he should have made changes earlier?
Maybe the linesman should have been doing his job for the first goal?
Maybe TV5 should get different boots?
Maybe Adam should have had the steak and not the chicken for lunch?
Maybe Lee should have bought his missrs some flowers [ It works for me]..?
It’s all IF’s and Maybe’s…
I wonder, does anybody out there think that Wenger is deliberately holding back AOC, in order that he isn’t chosen for the Euro’s..?
wenger don,t put ramsey again becoz is a bad boy he don t know any thing put gervinho or chamberlin or benayoun in number 11 up gunner!
Afternoon all
AK, if that blip yesterday turns out to be our only one for the rest of the season, we’ll be ok…
But, they have to pick themselves up pretty darn sharpish ….
Chamberlain will get picked for the Euros, regardless of whether Wenger selects him or not, as will Jack be….
All quiet here so i’m off out into the garden….
I’m of the opinion we brought our intentions to their doorstep like a salesman. They already owned a fully charged dustbuster and gave us a 90 minutes demonstration. Right in their kitchen. You don’t blame the pitch in such case for not closing the deal. You’re up against a side that strengthens its believes by proving their need for limited functionality.
Arsenal failed to challenge Rangers to do construction work leaving a bigger mess to clean up, instead of only breadcrumbs and sprinkle chocolate.
The OX is not played more for two reasons….one physical the other financial. The first one is that the OX is still a developing body. So being 18 years means that his hone mass is still weak and his muscles are not yet fully developed. Secondly there is a clause in his contract which says that every certain amount of games he plays AFC must pay a certain amount of money. So, AW is already planning to use the OX in a certain amount of games so that the amount is reached next season in order for him to pay the money next season after the results of the present financial year have been published. In that way, when he gets rid of some or all the dross we have, he can quietly insert the amount of money paid to SFC for the amount of games that the OX has played. In this way 1 or 2 milion will be shown on the next financial year.
Hope I have communicated it correctly.
devil if money is the cause of not playing the ox is true, then wenger and AFC should be ashamed, what a rotten thing to do.
mind you when the european charge came on I thought he was more furious about the fine than the 3 games ban!
Devil I read your comment on the 50 yard pass. Agree, indeed where is Gilberto. That’s why I’m in favour purchasing M’Villa even if Song signs an extension. Song is developing an itch to leave his domain, a tandem of 2 holding midfielders with one more naturally claiming defense chorus would shore up our fragilities.
Francis Coquelin must be close to full fitnesss.
Fresh legs in midfield won’t do any harm.
Poor old Dippers eh 😉
Coq was ready for yesterday AK, according to one report i read…
How rude of me, afternoon all and i’m still naffed off!!
Come on you Swans….
Good afternoon mates. Just popped in for a bit. Went out with the little for a biking/jogging trip and now helping the lady with the house.
Still naffed off Rico?? Why? Ok we lost yesterday but there are still around 7 games left. The pressure is on the others to catch up. If by the end of today we are still third then we will have a small reason to smile. They might win, draw or loose but its the placing at the end of the year which counts. There are still more twists and turns. The only thing I am fretting about is that we could have decreased Shitty’s advantage to ten points. But considering all factors from this year we are doing very well. We need to be a wee bit better though because I am sure that we have more in our locker then the fare we showed yesterday.
bollox, DVD makes it 1-0…….
Personally I still think that come the summer, both RVP and Theo will be sold (although I do want them to stay). Song will be retained though. In will come Podolski and Giroud with Campbell, the OX, Miyachi and Gervinho making up the attack. From your comments above and from my knowledge this is the first full season in RVP’s career. Had he been 22 years old then I would have been angry that he had been allowed to run down his conract. But with him being 29 next season then I feel that it is the right time to maybe let him go…..especially if he fetches 25 to 35 million. With Liverpool, Chavs and the Scum dwellers from the scummy slum vying for him he might also fetch the same amount. So two players out for a combined 50 to 70 million. Plus the dross that we need to clear out.
Again I reitairate……I do want them to stay.
I am always naffed on when we lose devil, especially when we lose to teams like QPR and in the way we lost…..
Swansea City have not won any of their 13 league visits to Spurs, drawing two. The last was a 1-1 draw in November 1930.”
Swansea do get behind the Spurs defence this time, and they have a decent shout for a penalty. Neil Taylor bursts down the left and into the area, and zooms past William Gallas, who drags him back as he makes for goal. Taylor stays on his feet, though and Gallas recovers.
Your comment has somewhat shocked me devil, but i can see why you say that..
Also, if someone offers £25million for RvP, would the club consider it bearing in mind he may not have another full season of staying fit….
But, I think he’ll stay and i believe Theo will too….
After yesterday, we definately need M’Vila and Vertonghen…..
Righto….off for a bit to continue helping the lady of the house. Be back soon
C’mon Swansea!!! Beat the bog peat.
Hi DG, they could easily have been given a penalty and was it Bale who took a dive for the swampies down the right??
He should have been booked….
Having watched that game again, well, as much as i could stomach, why oh why did Wenger start with Ramsey on the left??
On the bench was Gervinho, Yossi, Chamberlain and Santos….
Any one of them should have started on the left….
For Sail (translated Van Der Vaart 😛 ) scored. Grrrr
Bale finds too many coins on the pitch, it should be prohibited for chalkline drawers to carry pocket change. 😉
I’m with devil re rvp, he could put all the speculation to bed by signing a contract extension but for reasons unknown still hasn’t done so, this happens to us every summer.
As for theo i’m confident he’ll sign up and the same goes for song, why would he wanna leave, he’s never had it so cushy and he knows it, we’ll stuck with him and his ponsey bonce.
I think many of us were a bit baffled. Not the game you expect such experiments imho.
Tiny tots leading the swans by a goal
Any chance the swans equalise and even win?
I still have my reservation about Ramsey,
He takes the sting off our team.
Micko you mean ‘the Fonzie bunch’ Hey keep it cool. *pulls a fishbone through hair*
Ramsey is a good player. End off
He is simply used in the wrong way by AW. A square peg in a round hole. He needs to be used only on the right or in the middle only. Any other position is bollox.
Shades of Arsavin, etc. So Andrei should have been a second striker but was wrongly used on the left while Aaron is a midfielder and is used on the left when as Rico said we had a plethora of players who can feel adequately at home on the left.
Can we give AW a couple of whackings on his arse???? To stop him fiddling about??? He is fast turning into Mr Tinkerman Ranieri.
Micko, I think they will all stay, but yes, they could have ended all this media crap ages ago….
devil, Ramsey is a very good player, i’m not suggesting otherwise, but totally agree, he’s not a player to be used on the left of a 433….
1-1….
1-1
How many times have we said this about Wenger??
Look at what Nik is now doing for Sunderland??
Wenger stuck him on the left, now’s he’s playing central and has settled, he’s scoring, and creating goals…..
Rico……AW is obsessed with the fecking total football teams, He believes that he wants 5 advanced players and five defensive minded players. That is why he plays so many players out of position. This destroys them.
DG, i agree, why not stick with what has been working?
When it’s not broken…..
upgunners, 1-1 now
Sometimes devil,
AW is his own worst enemy, he tries to change players natural game and all it does is fecks the players confidence and fecks up the team as we don’t get the best from the player…
Pisses me off, big time…..
I respect your opinion devil(Re:ramsey)I guess its wenger experimenting as always.
Off for some more work. That Sigurdsson fella aint half good. And he is on loan from Hoffenheim who want Bendy. Now why dont we do the deal ourselves???
Benoit Assou-Ekotto dives in two footed on Wayne Routledge but it is the Tottenham defender who is injured, after falling awkwardly on his shoulder.
He should have been given a straight red.
Off to help the lady.
Bloody Lardy 2-1 to the swampies!
Hooray!! Hooray!!
I’m dyslexic or presumptuous engineered I read Swansea. LoL.
Dutch, did you hear about the dyslexic pimp, he bought a warehouse, and then there was the dyslexic drugs dealer, he bought some heron.
Micko 😛 😛 😛
That’s it then, level again with the swampies!
We fecked up yesterday, big time!
Penalty missed by the ref for the Swans, a Swampie sending off not given, and we wonder why we think the FA is corrupt…
3rd, we are kidding ourselves….
Rico make profanity remarks straightforward it confuses. 😉
Sorry DG 😉
Oyyyyy DG. What’s going on here??? Hooraying after the scum have scored!!!! Are you Diaby in disguise????
devil, DG was hooraying the swansea equaliser, not the swampies goal….
Nah Rico…….he was hooraying after it became 2-1 to the swampies….. 😉
Delayed reaction devion, delayed reaction 😉
Seriously Devil I had a blind spot. Wishful reading. Damn that was woefully wrong. *puts up Le Cock Sportif hoodie in shame* LoL.
off to down some soup.
dinner calls me too…
Hmmmmmm. That was good.
Soon off to bed now. Its been quite a long day.
Nighty devil, i’m heading off for the day too….
Nighty all
Not the best weekend to be a gooner…..
Night Devil and Rico. Remember the best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.
A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.
A very fine Post Devil, the sun came out first thing this morning and the golf course beckond so a bit late reading your post shame as one or two others have said that we never won. Not a great display by our team and now with the spuds tight on our arse we have let them back in. Almost suicide when we were in good position maybe this shows why we always come up short, we have the players but they never came up to scratch when it really matters
Steve,the players did get us from 17th to 3rd…..I reckon you’re being harsh.
Beautiful,sunny morning down under.
Arsenal have repeatedly come unstuck in games which could have significant ramifications in the past and yesterday.I am afraid Wenger is to blame. Managers have studied the gunners and have found ways to neutralise them ie give them plenty of possession but stifle them near the goalmouth. and hit on the break.
Lose the game against MC and the gunners could see their 3rd team slot taken by Spurs assuming the latter can beat QPR.Nothing is guaranteed in soccer and if the gunners win five of their reamining games they could seal third place.
But first take care of MC.The Blues have the players to hurt the gunners and if Wenger insists on all out attack,city will have the players to ram home the goals.
Fair play Scott, your right in you diognostics we have done well i agree, and i was expecting a couple of misshaps, I keep forgetting that we have a vulnerable side to our play it just gets annoying that its the lower teams that get at us quite easily, i know people are saying bad pitch or some other excuse but at the level we try to acheive we do get turned over a tadge to easy for me.
Make the most of the weather Scott, as we have snow on the way i envy you for your great weather but i’ll suffer that to live in the home of football 🙂
Steve,next year I want to endure the snow just to watch the Arsenal live…..cannot wait.
A HH get together could be on the cards!!!!
Morning all, New Post up
Not if it’s snowing Scott 😉
See you on the new one