Morning all.
What a game that was. It had pretty much everything from a good penalty shout from Arsenal turned down, a dubious one given to Leicester and a few strong challenges passing by Martin Atkinson as usual. Two cracking goals in the second half, with one right at the death…
An early foul by Danny Simpson kind of set the tone really, the visitors were going to be strong in the challenge and they were just that and that’s fine, as long as it’s fair. Simpson’s wasn’t but there’s little chance of a ref, certainly Atkinson, dishing out an early booking and he didn’t.
Nine minutes in and Atkinson had his first big moment and I reckon he fluffed it big time. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fired a ball across the area, Kante blocked it with his arm. The way he moved his body was deliberate, Atkinson and his linesman said no.
Alexis had a half chance but couldn’t quite get his head on the ball and minutes later, Ozil played a good ball through for Ramsey to run onto but Kasper was quick out of his goal to clear.
Vardy went close after out jumping Bellerin but he’s got to do better than that to beat Petr Cech. The big fella was called into action again too, this time it was Kante denied from giving Leicester the lead.
Coquelin was the first to be booked as he broke up a Leicester attack with a cynical foul. Taking one for the team I think it’s called. Lol
Just before half-time, Mesut Ozil was clearly fouled outside the Leicester penalty area, no foul says Atkinson as Leicester went on the break and soon after, won a penalty. A penalty which replays showed him to be a conman. Yes Monreal stuck his foot in but no contact whatsoever but the Englishman conned the ref after running into Monreal and taking a tumble. Atkinson doesn’t take much conning, not where we are involved.
Koscielny was judged to have committed a foul in the build up, one which earned him a booking. Ramsey too just moments later.
1-0 at half-time and as much as we’d had chances, Kasper wasn’t really tested. Too much tippy tippy stuff again was letting us down.
Three bookings and dodgy penalty. Thanks Atkinson.
When Calum Chambers appeared instead of Koscielny after the break, I thought ‘gawd help us’ but I thought he did really well. He looked calm, assured and I don’t recall him putting a foot wrong.
Much to the home fans delight, a yellow card was finally shown to a Leicester player. Simpson was the first, Fuchs followed soon after, and not before time either. Simpson didn’t take heed from his booking and just minutes later, after tugging Giroud’s shirt, off he went.
Kante soon followed his mates into the book – what had come over Martin Atkinson… I’m actually surprised he didn’t give Coquelin a second yellow for shoving Simpson towards the tunnel..
1-0 down and just after the hour mark, Arsene Wenger made his first change, an earlier one than usual too. Off went Coquelin, on came Theo Walcott. Risky move or a shrew tactical one, knowing full well this team simply had to win? I’d say the latter.
Ten minutes later, the move paid off. Ollie nodded the ball down in the area, Walcott blasted it past Kasper. 1-1
The visitors should have been down to nine men when Drinkwater made a dreadful tackle on Aaron Ramsey. It really was a bad one which could so easily broke the Welshman’s leg. Nothing given by Atkinson but I’m sure the FA will be taking another look at the incident.
Against ten men, surely we’d get the winner in the twenty minutes left.
Well we made a right old job of it didn’t we? We had enough chances to win the game but sloppy finishing was again to blame. Both Merts and Alexis had great opportunities as did Giroud who was only denied a goal by Kasper’s good save. It looked like Leicester would hold on for a point and make a huge dent in our league title hopes.
That was until the final throw of the dice was made by Arsene Wenger. The man who had played in nine months came off the bench and I thought, he couldn’t, could he?
With minutes, maybe seconds left on the clock, another foul, another booking, this time for Wasilewski. Up stepped Mesut Ozil, Mr King of assists. He delivered the perfect ball into the box, Danny Welbeck delivered the sucker punch and a super header it was too. 2-1. What a way to say ‘I’m back’!
No sooner had the game restarted, the final whistle blew…
I know we talk about the referee’s most weekends and that’s normally down to them being totally incompetent, and again yesterday, Atkinson had a shocker.
According to reports this morning, Atkinson saw the tackle on Ramsey but deemed it not to be a foul! Shocking. To award such a soft penalty was harsh and wrong, especially when he’d already denied us one after a handball incident which looked deliberate by Kante. To allow so many fouls to go unpunished, particularly on Ozil and Alexis in the first half, to then change his approach in the second was all rather odd to say the least. I’m sure we all have our own thoughts on that!
Later in the day, Clattenburg was equally as bad. Toure should have been off and Totts should never have been awarded a penalty.
This is England’s best two apparently. Consistency is all we football fans ask for from the referee’s and to be honest, that’s just what we are getting, but on the bad side.
Yesterday Atkinson’s inept showing didn’t cost us points, thankfully. Our terrible football in the final third, nearly did.
Better late than never as far as our winner goes and a massive three points on the board. Two points to chase down now but with the very noisy neighbours having a lot to chat about right now, there’s still a long way to go and there’s still plenty of room for improvement too, especially in front of goal.
Have a good Monday guys…
The problem with the Drinkwater tackle on Ramsey and others of that type is that, if Atkinson admits he didn’t see it, then he looks a mug, especially as it was ‘on’ the ball and right in front of him. If he could look any more of a mug that is.
Decisions like that, where the ref has taken no action rely on his scrupulous sense of honesty and I reckon there is little of that in the PL today so I would say and independent panel should look at them regardless. I can only assume that, if Ramsey had suffered serious injury in that incident Atkinson would still have deemed it a fair tackle because it was sheer good luck that he didn’t.
He looks more of a mug saying he did see it and thought it to be ok…
I agree Rico.
Now you know why I was excited to see Welbeck back Adam… 😉
You know, most Leicester fans are arguing that Atkinson may have well been wearing an Arsenal shirt? I thought he was particularly bad for boths teams.
Sour grapes.
MOTD 2 was a joke last night. Made it look like Leicester had been hard done by! Praised Vardy for being clever. Strange how he was being clever yet Bobby Pires has been labelled a cheat for life after doing the same thing!
They all have their own agenda, just hope we can shove it right at them and win this league…
Bradster raised a few questions on the last thread , I can’t help wondering whether the rumours of the game not finishing11 v 11 due to high betting patterns in the far east were true albeit the supposed target reported was not. The change in Atkinson’s bias was quite Lazarus like , just what the pressure was and who exerted it is the question that the media should be asking today but it isn’t and it will not be. On other things perhaps Welbeck’s return will give us the boost near goal hopefully Theo will start to make better contributions with both the confidence of a goal and the pressure for his place. Next up is a cup match , a chance to rest some and give others playing time and another week for the wounded to heal. We are in the hat for the cup and in the race for the league and we have a diificult tie to come against probably the best team in Europe , time to start making choices.
Rico. Just shows what it’s like to have some options in the squad. Fit ones at that.
Morning. Great post Rico…. mod coverage last night was terrible the way they gloss over certain incidents is shocking.
The foul on ozil by morgan which led to the pen, nah let’s not talk about that.
Leg breaker on Ramsey… drinkwater isn’t that type of player so let’s move on.
Mahrez dive, monreal a lucky boy lol. .. wtf.
I shouldn’t be surprised tho the BBC like to cover up or conveniently ignore certain things.
@BobJohn – MOTD hate Arsenal and always manage to edit so that even if we win 6-0, it looks as if we scraped it. I recall Theo scoring a hattrick against Blackpool and Hansen picked out 6 things he did wrong!
As for Atkincheat – did we expect anything else? The refereeing standards in this country are a joke. If the penalty at Etihads really was, then there is no hope.
*I slagged Theo off yesterday, and still have reservations, but have to admit he did well when he came on. Talk of the title is a little premature though, as we have mammoth games to come. Leicester have – on paper- a pretty comfortable run-in, with only one game against a top six team. The spuds worry me as they seem to get a lot of ‘decisions’ and are also the darlings of the media. Beat them at Shite Fart Stain though, and we could just do it.
Matt. Atkinson was just dreadful from start to finish…
Morning all.
Atkinson was woeful in the first half, but quite fair in the second.
It was a big swing, no question, but I’d hardly say he went out of his way to help us.
He simply started to do his job.
Of course Adam. We’ve all been saying that for goodness knows how long. For some reason and we’d all love to know why, far too often our squad is depleted through injury…
Ha ha Kel, all brushed under the carpet eh…
Iceman. Imo, bringing Walcott on changed the game.. Thought Ox did ok in midfield too after he switched…
Another thing was they made out that Simpsons yellow was harsh as if he had only made 2 fouls..
lol the cheat had been fouling in the the first half.
On Clattenberg….he makes his share of mistakes, but honestly, I’m more comfortable with him refereeing us than any other, because when he makes an error, it’s at least just an error.
How many other officials do we cringe at even before kick off???
Potter- can’t disgree with Brads point at alll.
Last wednesday, I was having a chat on here with Scott about the outcome of the game and alluded to the redcard bettinI am of teh belief that there is nothing that just happens in the EPL or the UCL.
Exactly Scott. If he had reffed properly in the first half we wouldn’t have had a problem. Nothing being said about the ‘assault’ on Monreal by Vasilewski. How was that only yellow? More akin to WWF than football!
I can’t believe that I have just read this in a British newspaper.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/not-bet-arsenal-being-galvanised-7369927 . It’s almost unbiased.
Ts I remember you saying that last wk I actually spoke about it in work with a few posties (not Sanogo tho he’s off sick) 😛
From what I have seen Michael Oliver is probably the best, in the sense of most unbiased and calm, PL ref at the moment. I don’t know whether it’s that insane new syrup that Clattenberg is wearing these days, but he is really crap. Yesterday’s penalty against Man City was criminal really. Just don’t get me started on Lee Mason. 🙂
Good Morning to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
Good summary of the game Rico.
Atkinson was bad, but he could have handed out five or six more yellow cards to our players. Another day he would have, but probably realized he had made a hash of things already. One to Coquelin for his shove on Mahrez who was taking his sweet time leaving the field and the rest to the four or five players who jumped into the stands to celebrate Welbeck’s goal.
I think he started to show the cards in the second half because the game discipline was balanced on a knife edge with both teams getting chippy and physical. Leicester because they were getting away with murder and Arsenal because they tired of Leicester throwing themselves about with relative impunity. That game could so easily have tipped over into a mass on-field punch up.
And yes!; Clattenberg was just as bad later in the day.
Oh well, our boys did dig their heels in, fought hard and did what was required to win the game the precious three points. Let’s keep the run going and beat ManUre. whether Maureen Yo is in charge or not. COYG!!!
Potter.. so according to kidd diving is a dark art not cheating.
No mention of the handball either.
And celebrating scoring the winner in injury time against the league leaders was over the top lol.
Morning Cg.
To be clear, I think Clattenberg is at least honest…though of late, awful.
Atkinson.
Dean.
Mason.
A few others…..shit, and not exactly honest, IMO.
Good call on all Oliver, Adam.
He’s one who doesn’t take shit from players or managers.
Oliver is a bit reluctant to blow his whistle too though isn’t he?
He’d have pulled the foul on Ozil, Rico 🙂
You’d like to think so Scott, but I’d have thought Atkinson would too. Just as I thought he’d have at least booked Drinkwater but as we all know, Riley has an agenda…
Yeah, I have to agree, Michael Oliver is the best of an average bunch..,
He impressed me when we knocked ManUre out of the FACup at Old Bog last season, and is imo the most unbiased of the present group…
Also agree on Clattenburg, he made a big mistake at City, but I find him honest even if a bit unreliable…
Maybe the crowd at the Emirates, has to stop being too nice, and learn a thing or two from the Scousers who make a point of heaping pressure on officials…?
Rico, I’ve not heard anything regarding the status of Hayden and Akpom…
Personally I wouldn’t want to see either of them play…
Let’s just beat Hull, put it behind us and focus on Old Bog…
I did read somewhere that Lee Mason is a great fan of the 6′ vape… ?
Motd2? Ffs! They employ 2 yes 2 ex-spud players to comment on 6 teams one of which the turnips had both played for, one of which had managed 2 of the teams on show, unsuccessfully. Etc etc you can hardly expect an unbiased account of the goings on both on the pitch and off it! To extol the wonders that have become Spurs and denigrate their near north London neighbours was an accident that was intended to happen. And it did! Danny the scally has not, so far as I can recall, ever had a good word to say about the Arsenal. Deep seated blind prejudice is hard to eradicate, and he doesn’t have the wit or intelligence to compare and contrast and basic sixteen year old’s skill required to pass English GCSE and get a grade ‘C’ . Thick twat!
As for Tim of Spurswood, a self-proclaimed junior Arsenal fan, he should know better, but his impartial assessment of the goings on in both games reminded me of a similar lack of bias by Referee Riley when he used to officiate Arsenal games!
As for their take on the shite hart lane slum dwellers imo they were not even in the game second half. How they won Lord knows? The head or is it chief Rabbi must have put in a few shekels to pay for a few results this year, to Riley and his minions!
Anyway it will turn out as the EPL decrees and no amount of bellyaching from me and others will change the order of that decree. It’s already in the tablet of stone!
Lovely day here cold but clear and bright……just like me,?
Mike Dean at the Slum on March 5th has a classic Rileyesque feel about it…
Kev, I used to have time for Clattenburg but yesterday he was awful. Toure got away with so much, too much for their not be something odd going on. Maybe that’s why he gave Totts a pen…
Me neither re the Hull two…
Laters, walk in the sunshine calls…
Jonathan Moss is statistically the referee who favours Arsenal the most…
He is also the referee who favours the Scum the least…
So maybe getting him at the Slum, on the 5th March would be positive..,
Afternoon, i,d say it,s much easier to write up a post with a victory behind us Rico, and I have to say your comments during the game,
your 1.44 Welbeck on. He couldn’t could he??
Followed by your 1.56 He only bloody well did!! Danny boy….
Was gold. Lol.
Bob john spot on re Pires,who got an awful time from the media and pundits for his dive, yet Vardy is called clever by sherwood, ridiculous.
I did get manage to get past all the dodgy decisions, and keep calm as it gets us nowhere and knew once, as CG, said
our boys did dig their heels in, fought hard and did what was required to win the game and the precious three points. we,d get our just rewards.
If Dean is the ref at the shit hole, you might as well scrap it now. This is the prick who has been seen celebrating a spud goal against us twice! He hates our guts and fawns all over the shit stains. Like I have said before – they are everyone’s favourite team, the best team ever who cannot do any wrong. Chuck Dean into the mix and you have abject disaster for every Gooner.
Hi All,
nice to come away from one of those games with a win.
So glad they gave us space and time to play our game, teams that press us are the ones we struggle against and teams have cottoned onto it.
Southampton, Liverpool and to an extent Swansea have found us out like that with a bit of rough niggling tackles included.
Luckily Liverpool was mostly shite as we could’ve got a thumping instead of a draw to them.
Good Afternoon Lovelies and Hunkies.
Today was a great day at work place. wide smile. Springy step.
Great report boss.
This ………………
is equivalent to this……
make no mistake…..they carry the same magnitude.
My team for the game vs Hull……
Ospina (I prefer Cech)
Bellerin Gabriel, Chambers, Gibbs
Flamini,Aaron
Theo, Chamberlain, Cambell
Welbeck
Just read that Gabriel is ruled out for two weeks. lol
That’s a good team Coach, but I’d give Elneny a run out…
Iwobi could get another run out?
Resting Bellerin could be a problem…
Gabriel should be ready for ManUre then?
Oh shit…..forgot Elneny. I agree……resting Brellerin would be a problem now.
Iwobi could play for the Ox imo. I just put OX there because he needs all the game time he can get.
Afternoon all. What a beautiful day it’s been here in the uk….
Sure is Dublin, even though Atkinson ruined it… Glad you liked my two comments, it was written in the stars lol
Actually Dublin, glad someone read them too.. 😉
Kev, I hope it’s Moss then… 😉
Brad, I thought Leicester pressed us, too hard sometimes…
Think I’ve caught up now 🙂
5live Monday night club fawning all over the Spuds. Only mentioned us to slag us for celebrating too much! Last week it was the Leicester love in so they must be well gutted!
Why do you put yourself through it Bob? Lol
Evening Rico and the HouseI
Its H/T in the youth cup at Coventry and 1-1
Some good football being played by both teams and at the moment a close game.
Nelson and Willick in good form
More later
Evening Rick…
I’m off guys,natch you tomorrow…
Night all.
1-1 full time Extra Time being played
Penalties at Coventry.
Going to Pens.
Malan scored to make it 2-1 then Coventry done a Welbeck to score in last min of extra time
Rick, this is some shoot out…
Through to the next round, away to the dippers.
We win 7-6 Fantastic shoot out.
Now at home to the dippers game to be played at the Emms.
BT my source is telling me this was one hell of a game (his words)
Looking forward to seeing the highlights.
BT it is at home.
Rick, caught the tale end of the match on the Coventry City site, they were going bonkers…lol
That’s were i read the winners were away….
It was certainly dramatic from what i could see on their site, Jeff hit the post in the sudden death, and Sheaf missed a pen,,,,i think, it was all a bit hectic on there.
From what I hear young Nelson was the first one up to take a pen the youngest player in the side. This schoolboy is one of the best I have seen for a very long time.
The O/F is at the Ems Bt and if we win we play Man C or Norwich in the Semi.final
With Sheaf and Hinds now fit it is looking a lot better.
Nelson did take the first Rick..their keeper took one, Bola, Bielik,Malen,Willock,Bennacer,Sheaf,Jeff
Arsenal U18s secured their place in the Quarter-Finals of the FA Youth Cup in dramatic fashion as Hugo Keto saved three penalties in a shoot out success away to Coventry City tonight.
After an enthralling 120 minutes Arsenal prevailed on penalties, but they were taken all the way by a Coventry side that caused them a multitude of problems.
Coventry took the lead courtesy of Jak Hickman, but Arsenal levelled through Tyrell Robinson. Substitute Donyell Malen looked to have won it in extra-time as he maintained his record of scoring in every game Arsenal have played in this competition this season, but Bassala Sambou struck a late leveller for Coventry to send the game to penalties.
Keto made a trio of saves and, despite Jeff Reine-Adelaide missing his spot kick, Arsenal managed to progress.
The young Gunners will now host Liverpool at Emirates Stadium in the last eight- the first time they have met in this competition since the 2009 Final.
Arsenal were given a significant boost before the game, with Ben Sheaf and Kaylen Hinds returning from injury to make the bench.
Chiori Johnson was given his first start in the competition this season, whilst Reiss Nelson was selected on the right wing ahead of Malen.
Keto
Johnson-Bielik-M. Bola-Robinson
McGuane-Bennacer
Nelson-Reine Adelaide-C. Willock
Mavididi
Subs: Da Graca (for Robinson, 51), Malen (for Mavididi, 75), Sheaf (for McGuane, 105).
Not used: Phillips, Hinds.
Arsenal and Coventry met in the FA Youth Cup Final in 2000, when a Gunners side containing players such as Jerome Thomas, Steve Sidwell and Jay Bothroyd ran out 5-1 winners on aggregate.
On this occasion it was Coventry who started the brightest, with winger Hickman cutting infield before shooting over the crossbar as he squandered the first opportunity of the game.
Thereafter Arsenal saw much of the ball, with the midfield triumvirate of Nelson, Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Chris Willock all trying their utmost to unlock the Coventry defence.
It was the hosts, however, who would create the next clear-cut chance, with Keto saving to deny Jay Albini.
At the opposite end former Gunner Corey Addai remained relatively untroubled. Keto, meanwhile, had his work cut out, with the Finnish goalkeeper then having to make an intelligent stop to thwart Chris Camwell.
Coventry were relentless in their approach, though, and they were rewarded for their efforts when Hickman finished adroitly in the 24th minute to put them 1-0 up.
It was Nelson who immediately sought to get Arsenal back level, with the schoolboy winger assuming responsibility and shooting just wide.
Soon Arsenal would equalise, and the goal was an impressive one, with Robinson bursting forwards from left-back before sending his effort beyond the reach of Addai.
That goal appeared to provide the young Gunners with an injection of confidence, with Willock then shooting just wide.
The first-half ended 1-1. In contrast to the opening period, it was Arsenal who started the second-half in the ascendancy, with Nelson racing downfield before shooting over.
Kristopher Da Graca entered the fray in place of Robinson, but that did little to dispel Arsenal’s momentum, with Reine-Adelaide then seeing an effort frantically scrambled away off the line.
Hickman then forced Keto into a good save as Coventry provided Arsenal with a reminder of their own attacking prowess.
The Sky Blues had another opportunity to regain the lead, with substitute Dan Smith shooting wide.
The next chance fell to an Arsenal replacement, but Malen couldn’t find the net on this occasion.
Both sides tried their utmost to score a late winner, with Sambou and Nelson coming close for their respective teams, but neither could find the net and the game went to extra-time.
Arsenal started well in extra-time, with Willock sending an effort wide, but they still couldn’t find a second goal.
As the first-half of extra-time wore on players from both sides started to struggle with cramp, with the game becoming a test of endurance as well as ability.
Arsenal almost found the net in spectacular fashion, but Reine-Adelaide’s acrobatic effort was held by Addai, and the scoreline remained level going into the second period of extra-time.
Sheaf entered the fray in place of McGuane at the start of the second-half, but it was an earlier substitute, Malen, who would steal the limelight.
The Dutch forward was perhaps a little unfortunate not to start the game, but he showed terrific composure to finish well from close range and put Arsenal ahead.
From there on in it was a backs to the wall job for Arsenal, with Keto having to make another excellent save before Krystian Bielik made a heroic block. Keto, who has been in excellent form recently, then made another crucial intervention to keep the opposition at bay.
It looked as if Arsenal had managed to get themselves over the line, but Coventry refused to give in, with Sambou finding the net very late on to force penalties.
Nelson took Arsenal’s first penalty and scored, with Darragh Leahy then levelling for Coventry. Malen was next up for the Gunners and scored, but Keto did extremely well to thwart Smith.
The drama was unrelenting, however, as Sheaf then sent his spot kick wide of the post and Jordan Shipley converted to draw Coventry level.
Bennacer, Camwell, Willock, Sambou, Bielik and Finn all scored from the spot, with sudden death ensuing.
Then came an agonising moment as Reine-Adelaide struck the post, but the Frenchman’s blushes were spared as Keto made another stop.
Johnson made it 6-5, with Addai, rather surprisingly, taking Coventry’s next penalty and scoring.
Marc Bola scored Arsenal’s next spot kick and then Keto emerged as the hero by saving yet another penalty.
I took this from Jeorge Birds excellent Arsenal Youth website…
http://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/2016/02/jack-wilshere-treats-five-year-old-to-unforgettable-arsenal-day/
Morning…
Morning all.
Quiet morning Scott, they all are these days unless we are playing, or moaning afterwards… 😉
That’s true lol.
We have little to be upset over ATM 🙂
You sure? 😉
Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.
You think we are quiet boss??? ah well….check your inbox for some noisy hints. 😛
Nothing in there Devil.
Nice to hear Schwartzer acknowledge that even the Leicester camp knew that their goal and the bookings were wrong because of the foul on Ozil . He also said that he warned the players at half time that the ref would try to even things up in the 2nd half. He also said that the ref was inconsistent. It was nice to hear a little honesty on the subject although it won’t make a difference.
Morning all.
Goodness, a bit of honesty. How refreshing is that Potter.
New post up now..
its sent Rico……on the Yahoo account. is that account a good one??