I didn’t watch the game and at the time of writing this, I haven’t seen any highlights either but from what I’ve read, David Wagner opted for the José Mourinho style of football. Time wasting and fouling. Another injury for us. Having been without Koscielny so far this season, we’ve since lost Mavropanos, Holding and now Mustafi. Oh, and Sokratis because he’s notched up five bookings so will miss the trip to Southampton. Mustafi also reached five bookings so regardless of whether or not he makes an unexpected return to fitness, he’ll miss the trip to the south coast.
Regardless of all of that, we got the victory late in the game and by the sounds of it, it was no more than both teams deserved. If that’s the way Wagner chooses to play the game then I hope he and his team stay exactly where they are now until May 2019.
We had chances to score long before we did. Lacazette did but an offside call, a debatable one apparently, meant we went into the break all square. Bookings galore in the game, four a piece with three of ours for simulation according to Le Tiss on Sky Sports. Not good if true, leave that kind of stuff to others. Good though to see Nachol Monreal back playing.
Anyway, here’s Unai Emery’s view on a few things.
The win…
“Good evening. I think today was a very important result. We wanted to win this way playing with a bigger rhythm over 90 minutes, but they stopped our rhythm a lot over 90 minutes. There were also a lot of yellow cards, fouls and time wasting. We needed patience and to win by waiting for our moment. In the first half we had chances and maybe a goal, and in the second half it was the same. The goal came later but it’s given us a good result in the end.”
Lucas Torreira’s goal…
“Last week he scored and today he scored again. He has quality and his interpretation of the pitch tactically, and his perception in attacking moments and defensive moments. He’s very fast in his mind and his feet too. He can do very good work in defensive moments and, like today and last week, he can also get into the box and score like today.”
Whether he’s exceeded his expectations…
“We want to break every expectation with all players. He’s improving and working hard every day with a very big commitment, very good behaviour. He also has the commitment every day to learn English. I meet him every day in the dressing room and the first thing I notice is his commitment, his behaviour, and then he has quality and personality too.”
How worried he is about injuries…
“We need to finish this week by winning today. We’ve spoken about this and having respect for Huddersfield. We were fine individually and collectively because we did that. We are happy for the three points, to continue in a good position in the table now. The injuries and yellow cards are coming with the matches. The important thing now is two days off for the players now, for us also, then coming back and thinking about Thursday and the Europa League, and for Southampton. The players will be OK and we will prepare for the game with the players to find the same spirit level as today so that every player can help us.”
Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi now being suspended for Southampton…
“I need for my mind to take two days off!”
on whether Mustafi’s injury was a hamstring…
“Yes but I think he will be OK.”
Whether Laurent Koscielny will be ready for next week…
“Now, I don’t know how we are going to play next week, but we have players. Stephan played at centre back today and had a good performance in Manchester with good commitment. Koscielny is also coming back, Nacho Monreal too. We’ll have players.”
Those headlines…
“Maybe you are speaking about problems outside here, but in the club we’ve been speaking about that. There are no distractions, I don’t want distractions. Today every player had their focus on the match, and it was a tough match. It had a slow rhythm but we won and we deserved to win.”
Having three players booked for simulation…
“I don’t want simulation from our players, I want more rhythm in the match. The opposition can decide what the rhythm is when they have the ball, and they wanted to play like that. It’s a tough match for that because of the opposition, because they were stopping the play by fouling us in the circumstances. These yellow cards are good because the referee has been able to take the decision.”
Can tell us what he said to the players about this week’s headlines…
“No.”
How’s all that for honesty then? Especially the bit about the fouls and time wasting. No moaning about the referee, or how his players need protection etc, just telling it as it is about Huddersfield’s sorry style of football. A style which I don’t think belongs in the Premier League.
A week of well earned rest is in order I’d think. Gentle training and preparation for next Sunday’s match. Play all the fringe and academy players on Thursday and let them enjoy the occasion.
Have a good Sunday guys..
Bloody diving.
It’s a disgrace to the game and if guilty, I’m glad players were booked, though it needs to happen more often as certain players and teams do it in every game and get away with it.
Torreira-there’s isn’t much more anyone can say about the guy, he’s just outstanding.
I’d rather Kozzer be brought along slowly, but maybe he will get his chance to show what he’s still capable of before January, and stop any talk of him being sold off.
Morning all.
Did they dive though? Having not watched the game I’ve no idea.
I reckon Kos will play on Thursday. Emery has hinted so I think.
Having seen the incidents on Sky and MOTD I would say that two of the simulations were debatable . Mustafi `got a kick but was it enough ? and Guendouzi had a push in the back of his buttocks with a thigh but the going down ruined his case. However the next MOTD game featured Southampton who had two penalty claims turned away both as tenuous as ours but no cards . I would say that we copped a young referee that was over officious and a little overawed by the stadium and the occasion.
It was a scrappy game and Adam who was there will be able to tell the bits we didn’t see on TV in a way that doesn’t have to toe the line of media not being able to criticise officials . Lacazette fractionally offside in the first phase but Huddersfield had the ball and played it back to the keeper and he was not offside then . A perfect example of how the offside rule is open to debate and needs to be cleared up .
Inconsistency has to be the biggest problem with the officiating. It’s costing clubs points and longer term, money…
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico
Lacazette was offside imo, it just grates that we’ve been on the end of three off side decisions in the last three games and come out second best in all of them.
I thought that the game was too big for the referee yesterday, he failed to really clamp down on Huddersfield’s rough house tactics but punished our players when they started going down easily because he was failing to act on the Town foul play. It’s obvious, if you’re going to get kicked and fouled and the referee ignores it, you simulate to protect yourself or exaggerate the foul to force the referee to act. Unfortunately on three occasions we suffered.
Morning Kev. You could say the same about a number of officials in England..
Perhaps the offside calls need to be addressed by the coaches. Aubameyang is often getting caught out..
It was great to see Nacho back on the pitch and didn’t he just fit in seamlessly, as if he’d never been away.
We’re going to need Nacho, big time, over the rest of this month as our centre backs are going down like flies.
Mavropanos is the mystery to me, what is wrong with him, a groin strain isn’t it..?
But since last season…
I mean a groin strain is what, 3 to 6 weeks, not 6 months?!!!
I wonder if Chambers would have gone out on loan if the club had thought that Mavropanos would still be injured in December?
Is Mavropanos actually going to be fit at all this season?
At this rate we’ll have Carl Jenkinson at centre back when we go to Anfield… 😐
Hi Rico, yes I didn’t recognise the referee yesterday, nobody knew who he was and nobody, it seems, gets a programme anymore, so he was Mr X and he was out of his depth. I guess that to Riley &Co Arsenal vs Town isn’t a high profile EPL game and an easy was to give the ref experience- and referees have to start somewhere, at least we won.
The game at that level is played on the edge isn’t it Rico, fine margains between on and off side, between a foul or not, the coaches can try to work on things and our forwards are all experienced internationals, it’s seems easy to see across the line of defence but they get it wrong all the time, or do they?
Maybe they get it right most of the time, but we just don’t notice?
The linesman certainly doesn’t, well not at Old Trafford for sure…
Nacho back is a huge boost to the squad Kev, Koscielny might be too. If he plays the same as he did, then were in trouble but he’s had time with the new team now so perhaps he’ll be stronger.
I’d never heard of him Kev..
Surely though, as a player it’s their responsibility to stay onside. It’s hard for the officials because of the pace of the game but just stay onside for gawds sake.
VAR will sort the offside out, as for the fouls, well that’ll remain as it is I guess unless it’s called out by those watching the game.. not sure how that’ll work.
Once VAR is in Rico and it’s seen to be beneficial, then we might see it gradually expand to cover other aspects of the game like simulation and general foul play?
It’s certainly been beneficial to rugby and cricket and is now a part of the show…
I think his name is Paul Tierney, my guess is he’s another northerner.
I think so too Kev and just hope people give var time. It’s bound to have a few teething errors but it’s long overdue.
Morning Rico. I don’t think that Mustafi dived. He was caught by a raised boot as he kicked through the ball with a lot more impact than Son earned a penalty with last week. Who knows if Lacazette was offside? I have lost touch with the latest interpretations.
When I heard Wagner talk about being more aggressive against Arsenal earlier in the week I feared the worst. I was right to do so as his side were bordering on the violent yesterday. It started soon after the kick-off and that twat of a ref just let it go. Scything tackles from behind. Over the top assaults, pushing, shirt grabbing. They were all there and Torreira had clearly been targeted. The good thing was that we responded. Too vigorously really as we lost focus on our game amid the aggression. Emery clearly refocused the team at half time and we completely outplayed them in the second half. They are a horrible team who have mistaken violence with physical competitiveness. They aren’t the first
G’day to you all, I’ve just watched Sky’s highlight programme and only two moments were actually “highlights”, the first clearly showed that the Lacazette “goal” was wrongly ruled out for offside. Initially Lacazette was in an offside position but not interfering with play. The defender then got possession of the ball and passed it back towards his ‘keeper thus playing Lacazette onside so he quite legitimately scored a goal.
The second highlight has to be our own terrier scoring a spectacular winner against The Terriers.
If referees are going to penalise players for simulation, and I sincerely hope they do, then they have to be consistent. Towards the end of the game a Huddersfield forward went down in the box under the slightest of challenges by Sokratis, the referee refused his pleas for a penalty yet failed to book him. despite having previously cautioned Guendouzi for a similar offence. Nothing is more calculated to rile a player than the perceived unfairness of decisions like these two.
In the present state of the game if every instance of simulation, wherever on the pitch it occurred, resulted in a caution then the teams would soon be down to playing short-handed. For offences outside of the penalty box I think a warning from the referee should suffice, with a second offence by the same player resulting in a caution. Simulation inside the penalty area where the award of a penalty is at stake should punished with a yellow card.
Morning Adam, pleased to hear that. I’m going to watch the game shortly. Huddersfield sound like a ghastly team who have taken Stokes approach to the game. Still, we have bite in us now…
Falling in the area is no simulation because it may not be a penalty either. Football is a game of contact. In any pitch zone there may be contacts and no missed fault. This does not prevent that there are no complaints from the players.
Sometimes when it happens in an area, you’ll soon be talking about simulation. In disputed balls, the border of the simulation is very tenuous. There are frequent imbalances.
As for the canceled goal, it depends on when the referee whistled (although the current rules of conduct are very debatable). Lacazette was offside. No longer because the defender made a poor delay for the goalkeeper. The referee whistled before? If he whistled, the defender should not have thrown the ball (subject to disciplinary punishment). Did he ignore the offside if he was flagged? If it was, it must mark offside, because Lacazette benefits from the irregular position in which it was. Did he ever score out of the game (usually by referee sign) and scored (?) When the player was correctly in play? Referee error.
JM, Eu acredito que seus comentários perdem algo na tradução. As leis do jogo são bastante significativas para serem entendidas em qualquer idioma. Por favor, continue tentando, visto que vistas de fora da Inglaterra são bem-vindas, pois elas fornecem uma perspectiva diferente.
Where’s the translator 🤣
In the cupboard labelled Google Rico. 😉
rico this is a translation
JM, I believe his comments lose something in the translation. The laws of the game are significant enough to be understood in any language. Please, keep trying, as seen from outside England are welcomed, as they provide a different perspective
Reg, We Aussies always set you lot straight hahahaha
Rico, I didn’t see the game either so am not sure on the incidents, so was careful to say “if guilty”.
It’s one thing I’d love to see wiped out of the game, but there is no question that some players get away with it, others do not.
Should I say some “teams” do, and others do not lol
Paul Tierney aged 37 born Wigan.
Potter, another biased Northerner then.
Certainly another Riley appointment.
It’s quite revealing that the info on the referees among the group 2 who officiate in the championship and will be, or many of them, the refs who’ll move up to be regulars in the EPL decline to tell us where most of them come from, is that because they’re all northerners as well?
Doesn’t anybody referee in London or Essex or Kent or East Anglia or Surrey or Dorset or Gloucester anymore?
🙂 Ciero.
Thanks Reg.. So true though, I think Jm leaves some really good comments although I have to read them a few times to get them. But that’s no-one’s fault, after all, JM’s English is far superior to my Portuguese…
New post up now