Morning all.
Still smiling? Me too and why not?
Performances like Sunday’s have been few and far between, especially against Utd, who were at the time sitting pretty at the top of the league.. The standard of football has been set now and the players have no excuse for not putting in the same work ethic every game from now until the end of the season
People can dismiss the victory with ease by suggesting that Utd were all over the place and they were, there’s no denying that from me but that was down to the way we played. Instead of a slow tippy tappy start, we got at them and put them on the back foot from the off and that’s the way it has to always be, especially at home. Give any side the chance to settle and they will, then the pressure builds, defences are harder to break down and we struggle.
Sunday was pretty much perfect, apart from the scoreline as it should have been a lot bigger. 6-0 would have been a romp!
Theo Walcott said after the game that the players had a chat, a group hug, a few man hugs and decided that they really need to be doing a lot more. Santi Cazorla alluded to the fact that sometimes they underestimate the opposition. Scandalous really as one should have respect for every side they face, not too much of course, but just be switched on enough to know why they are playing them and that’s because they have worked hard to get where they are, regardless of what competition. They are all a threat, they can all win any game against us if we are not up for the challenge.
But it does explain why sides like Zagreb, Olympiacos, West Ham etc etc etc have beaten us. Not only have the players been over confident but Arsene Wenger too and that’s not good. It’s his job to ensure such complacency creeps into the players as individuals, or the squad as a group.
But it’s out there now, Santi has spilled the beans, the boys need to change their approach, as does the manager.
We can’t change things that have gone by, no more than the club, the players or Arsene Wenger can but what they and we can all do is look to the future and hope the performance against Utd was and is a turning point. A time when players finally took responsibility for themselves and worked a darn sight harder than they have in a while, the manager finally got his message across to the players and it all clicked into place.
That’s the bench mark and it’s been set high and let’s not take another bashing only to read/hear the words ‘we need to bounce back quickly’ again.
Of course there’s a good chance we might get beat or draw a couple of games as the season goes on but as long as this team fights all the way and does their all to ensure that doesn’t happen too often in our domestic campaign, then I’m sure we Arsenal fans will be pretty happy…
Watford next, imagine they are top of the league and then tear them apart!!
Before then though we’ve got to get through a boring eleven days of international football. If anyone has an idea for a post up their sleeve then please email me and I’ll post it….
Have a good Tuesday guys…
Does the coach give the players too much confidence or self belief? Maybe there have been led to believe they are very special?
Rico- re. how can any player be in the red? ‘googled’ the number of weeks AS17 has been off or had a rest in the last 63 weeks.
Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.
The sun is shining Rico. It reflects in your post and in the league table.
Seeing Crystal Palace in fourth place and the chavs 5 th from bottom is great in itself.
And hearing Hosay More in Yo whine and bleat is simply awesome.
the league table makes for good viewing. And the best thing is???? IT CAN GET BETTER.
No-one knows the answer for sure Ts… But I suspect there’s a bit of both going on..
Things are certainly bright Devil…. lol
But it has to e just the start, one great performance means little if we go to Watford thinking they’ll be a walkover…
Morning all.
Who’s smiling?
I am.
How what a beautiful mooooooorning, oh what a beautiful daaaay.
Mancs fans have been absolutely silent, and that silence is golden.
We destroyed them, and on the day, we’d have beaten any side in the world.
More please.
What irks me is it shouldn’t take a poor performance/result in the CL to get this team going. Why on earth haven’t the players stepped up before? Why has the manager allowed complacency in the squad to drift on…?
What happened between losing to the Greeks to playing Utd should have taken place long before now.
Why has Theo just realised it’s ok to defend?
Why have players just realised that if you shoot, you’ll score?
Why when we move with pace and be decisive, have they not realised before that that’s when Ozil will shine?
It sure frustrates the heck out of me….
It frustrates us all, Rico.
Theo said in his post match Sky interview that the players had a separate meeting after the car crash against the Greeks!
Like you Rico, it really fucks me off this team’s inconsistency!
We need to start putting performances like Sunday’s in every time we play….
Do that and we’ll win the league this season or be very fucking close!
Morning all. I’m still feeling warm all over!
Yes, yes Rico you are right and Santiago is honest, but it has been obvious for a long time that this team, when playing sides that they believe are poor, just simply don’t put in the effort or application to win games, nor do they deserve to! The tricky bit is that, when they play as they did on Sunday why can’t they turn games round when they ‘have not turned up’? Always they return to position tippy tappy sideways, backwards, upside down football! With the quality these players have they should be able to up their game at any time during 90 minutes and rip the opposition apart! But far too often, they don’t!
It’s hubris, arrogance, they are far too superior! They suffer from a form of football snobbery and opponents find them out! That was surely the reason they lost to both Dinamo and Olympiacos. They thought, as a team they only had to turn up and the win was theirs. It wasn’t was it? What’s more they couldn’t lift themselves during the game to the dizzy heights of Sunday!
Will they take the opposition for granted again? Of course they will, it’s in their DNA! Although I should be very happy if we see Sunday’s style repeated game after game! Very happy indeed!
I know Scott but AW is meant to be a top class manager, the players are meant to be top class international footballers.
We could/can all see it, why couldn’t they…
Position should be playing, at least that’s what I typed but the iPad God knows best! As we all know!
Lee, I heard him too, shame that talk didn’t take place after the West Ham game..
I agree too, play like Sunday or thereabouts for the rest of the season, we won’t be far off…
Exactly Wavy…
Catch up later guys…
No idea, Rico…none at all.
To see them on Sunday…well, it asks more questions than it answers lol
Great post… The performance on Sunday was unreal it reminded me of how Liverpool were playing when they almost won the league with Suarez, sturr, Sterling that high intensity pacey football.
I’m not sure of the stats but that season Liverpool went 1 or 2 up in the first 20 mins in a hell of a lot games , which lead to 100+ goals being scored Rodgers failed to sort the defence out which is what cost them.
Arsenal imo have the same type of players atm Alexis, Theo, Ox, welbeck.. All very fast and if they want to can easily produce that high intensity performance this team is built for it imo and then we really will see the best of Ozil.
Have a good day guys..
Imagine if they didn’t have all the overconfidence against westham, had we won against Liverpool(disallowed goal) and the ugly sh*t at the bridge didn’t happen. We’d be sitting pretty 5-7points ahead….imagine.
I hope the players are ruing that too and feeling our sentiments and not let that slip up personality grab them again.
Kel quite right. Ozil needs movement alongside and in front of him. Theo, Sanchez and the Ox allow him to provide the service he gave Ronaldo at Madrid. Remember how pissed he was when they sold him.
Bit like me when Silvestre left…
Evening…
Catch up tomorrow….
Night night..
Evening Rico do think I should ground my daughter for telling me to shut up because I was enjoying the goals Sanchez was scoring.
Joe just grin and bear it man grin and bear it 😀 that ll torture her more than grounding her 😀 evening fine folks. The grass is green the leaves waving gaily at me. The sun overhead feels wonderful. It’s paradise anytime we whup the tar out if manure 😀
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Jurgen Klopp has the most impressive set of hampsteads in football…
She’d ignore me anyway Goonster 🙂
The wife told me to be nice to her it’s just not fair I have not been able to enjoy the win in my own house. 😉
Yes Kev, but are they his own?
Or are they like the stars? They only come out at night, and shine brightly in the glass?
Morning all.
Morning Scotty and all…..
So Ozil has provided the most key passes, more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues…..imagine if we had a top drawer striker to put some of these away?
Do you think Wenger will dip his toe in the transfer market in January? If he gets the right player it could give us more impetus and lead us to the title?
Come on Arsene do the right thing!!
Morning Scott, Lee and all…
Nipping out this morning so the new post is scheduled for 11am, catch up in a bit…
Morning Rico and all..
The Brenda apologist are still getting sound bites everywhere.
No one is asking them how a manger who spent £292m in less than 5 years could not foresee the impact the loss of Stevie G and Suarez would have on the team…
Still AW gets slated daily for not spending for the sake of it… lol
Hi guys.
Lee, if we are near the leaders, he could make a good thing of the title by buying the right striker, though if Theo performs like he did on the weekend more regularly, do we need one?
Damn he was impressive, and his work rate made all the difference.
Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.
I have a suggestion Rico….I hope you would be kind to include it in a post.
As Arsenal supporters we should vote for Harry Kane’s own goal vs Swansea if it is a contender for the goal of the season.
At least Harry Kane will win something this season.
Go on. be a sport and press like. You know you want to.
I mean….how many outrageous goals such as this will you see in your entire life????
Devil, it was a bloody clean strike!!
Wavy, that was almost poetic…
I blame Lloris .A keeper should not get beaten on his near post.
Lol Potter.
You’re a hard marking bastard hahahahahaha hahahahaha
Classic call.
Not quite poetry but it be part of a pop song lyric! Perhaps it could be added to the anfield anthem? I mean their attack is pretty toothless!
Morning all.
But it could be……it should’ve read. Not an iPad error all my own fault!
Kane is a gunner in disguise. lol