Morning all.
‘In the last 25 years I’ve always finished in the top three four and that consistency has given me belief and confidence to continuing to manage at the highest level. I’m as committed as I’ve ever been to deliver success to this team.’ – Arsene Wenger.
Well we are heading in the right direction and that’s up the league table. It’s all a bit of a yo yo right now, 4th to 3rd and back again should we slip up. Now we sit just four points off of second place and if we keep on winning, second can be a reality come the end of May.
After Wednesday night, we really needed a win but from the off, it was clear that the Emirates crowd and the Arsenal players were nervous. It was all a bit slow, our passing went a bit wayward and Everton had most of the possession but being a club who aren’t high on confidence, they didn’t really cause our defence too many problems.
Lukaku was quite lively but Ospina denied him with a big hand followed by a perfectly timed tackle during the first half. And late on in the same half, Gabriel made a crucial, perfectly timed tackle to keep the Belgian from heading through on goal. The ball ended up at the other end of the pitch and we had a corner.
Ozil took it, Giroud finished it!
Captain Santi nearly doubled our lead with a stunning strike from the edge of the box….
1-0 and half-time.
Everton started the second half well and it was all a bit too close for comfort. We needed a second from somewhere, anywhere.
Ospina made a wonderful fingertip save to again deny Lukaku, our keeper was having a very good game as was Coquelin in midfield. He was stunned a bit when Ollie decided to head-but him! After a bit of treatment, up he got and carried on….
Lennon was the next to threaten our slender lead but again, Ospina came to the rescue with a fine save. Everton were pressing forward in search of a goal which was playing into our hands and but for a save from Howard, Ozil would have made it 2-0.
Rosicky finally sealed the points after a shot from the edge of the box. Ok, it took a big deflection on it’s way but who cares. 2-0, game over and back up to 3rd.
Coquelin finally had to admit defeat and leave the pitch after getting hit in the face again, this time by the ball and Arsene Wenger confirmed after the game that his nose had been broken and he may need surgery. I hope he doesn’t and he’s back on Wednesday night, even if it means wearing a funny face mask. Somehow I doubt he’ll play though, despite showing yesterday he won’t give up easily….
It wasn’t pretty football and we still lacked the pace and width we talk about after many games but we got the victory and there was a few really solid performances out there yesterday. Gabriel grew as the game went on and he’s certainly a strong defender. I like him but I bet Mertesacker doesn’t.
Ospina too had a very solid game and for once, we saw a keeper rush off his line and get things very right.
Santi too had a very good game, for a man so under tall, he’s strong and doesn’t let go of the ball very easily. He was unlucky not to have grabbed a goal or two and Tomas Rosicky – what a player he is. He makes a huge difference to our side and it’s hard to believe he’s 34 years old. I hope he starts on Wednesday night against Qpr.
All in all, a good day at the office even though it wasn’t always pleasing on the eye.
After the game, Mesut Ozil tweeted:
A hard-fought victory – it was even more important looking at the standings now.
He’s right, but Qpr will be even harder……
That’s it for Monday, have a good day folks….
Good win right! Hard fought, and deserved on the balance of things. Everton caused some problems but generally did well (first 15 minutes not included). Ospina was very good I thought, and across the team there were no passengers, even if there were no real standouts either. Giroud did well to score and shouldve had more, but at least he gets in the positions… far more often than our other strikers do when Oli is out. I like Gabriel for his pace and willingness to get stuck in there. He made a few errors which he will need to iron out of his game, but I see potential there, and Im confident we havent bought a Sébastien Squillaci!
Good read rico..
Re. Cech is it the same Mauren-ho who said Ba was free to join any club he wanted but forgot to say the small print was not any club managed by AW…lol
Agree Roger re Gabriel.
When rumours came out that we were after him, my concerns was that he was not strong in the air and hated playing on the rhs of central defence. Watching him yesterday did not quench that fear…
I still worry that he is another TV or Kosser rather than a player like Reid who would have complemented Kosser. He tends to react to proceedings rather than read the game; nonetheless a very good addition; hope fans don’t turn on him if he makes a bad mistake.
On a brighter spark note on his 2 outings he has played on the rhs and done very well; none of his errors have led to a goal being conceded so it will be a boost to his confidence.
Watch I liked after watching him yesterday was that he was not ball watching unlike Le Squid; he was always away of who was around him; something I believe distinguishes top players from good players
Roger/Ts let’s not forget it’s very early days for Gabriel, he’ll grow the more he gets used to his team-mates…
And once he’s speaks English 🙂
If I remember correctly everyone thought Vidic was a complete yard dog for the first 12 months at the Mancs…!
Can’t judge the player on two games nor on performances in another league. The bloke is good in the tackle reads the game well is quick and will only improve so lets not get carried away on how good or bad he may or may not be. Based purely on yesterday he did very well.
Next game……………!
Exactly Wath.
Rico, you’re post pretty much sums up the match……
Have we finally found a ‘proper defender’ ? let’s hope so, i like what i’ve seen of Gabby so far.
Let’s hope he continues to progress in the same manner.
Did you see the rumour of a Technical Director?
Morning all.
The Arsenal captain’s curse…. Santi captain on Sunday, he’ll be off then!
Morning all,
Good post, Rico.
My eyes, like many, were all on Gabriel. Unfortunately I wasn’t at the Emirates to watch him without the ball.
I never liked players that start on a flyer…like Asharvin. I prefer them to slowly come into it. But I think Gabriel gives more confidence than Mertesacker. Like Ts noted…he’s more like Koscielny. I hope Wenger turns him into a calmer, game-reader than an all-action battler.
About the game, I’ve never enjoyed a better three points all season – puts us back in third and just four points off second. Let’s continue winning!
What’s that about Technical director Bt?
He’s been captain before Lee, I’m hoping the captain off is Merts..
I know he has Rico but look at the long list of previous captains….. the majority did the off!
Thanks Tai..
Lee, all since Adams isn’t it? Perhaps it’ll be a record this summer, captain and vice… Lol
Kondogbia Wednesday ,Tomas yesterday . both entered the raffle and won. So they took deflections , so what , had neither of them shot neither would have scored . It’s the Lampard way.
Yesterday was not an all action end to end match and it gave an opportunity to study players and look at the so called problems certain players are having. Ozil is an extremely efficient player , he does not waste energy on pointless chasing , this is why he is branded lazy. He likes runners in front of him to make his passes often from his wrong foot in a strange manner often out of stride pattern with a kind of prod rather than a traditional side foot /instep pass. He drifts a lot looking for space but suffers in this team with Sanchez , Cazorla , The ox all liking the ball to feet to run at players and Giroud not having the pace to capitalize on his probing . Walcott has the pace but despite his protestations is not the predatory forward he would like to be . At best he is a Freddie to Bergkamp but he doesn’t have the natural poachers reactions for the half chance as he is frequently caught on his heels .
I watched a video of Lacazette last night and thought he could do the job only to wake this morning to see that Liverpool and Spurs have sent scouts to watch him . Time to wheel the Grimster out and persuade him to look at us first.
Good post rico, morning.
At least we have centre-backs to talk about. If we had had four from the off, I think we would be higher placed in the league this season.
Rico, Sporting Director maybe the proper title of the role. Fabio Paraciti fills the role at Juve and it’s rumoured that Arsenal want to bring him to the Emms in the summer..
Agree on the shooting potter, I wish we’d take more shots – Santi does it as does Tomas but a few more need to try it.
Spot on Potter, think at some point on here over the years we have all said half of Lampards goals were deflected but if you don’t shoot you don’t score simple as that and again we’ve all said we don’t shoot enough as we to busy trying to walk the ball into the net..!
Thanks Andrew. Four CB’s has been long overdue, like you say, shame we haven’t had them since last summer. Big mistake…
Bt, Arsene won’t like that will he if a new man does transfer dealings…
If we looking at Paraciti, Does it mean the end of Dick Law that’s the question…!?!?!
Paraciti…. fairly apt name!
Perhaps Dickie missed out on a few signings in the summer.
Nice Potter- ditto your point above re Ozil.
Is Ozil rubbish. Hell no! but he is lethargic.
Lacazette I was against last summer but he has now been consistent for 3 seasons now so is worth a try. He isn’t a Trezeguet or Papin though.. lol
🙂 Lee.
Perhaps Dickie will work under Paraciti, and he in turn under a new manager…lol
Afternoon All
Afternoon Rico, that was a very good post, a nice read…
Saw MotD last night, and was very impressed with Bellerin, he really has done nothing to suggest that he may lose his place when Debuchy is fit imo….
Really liked the proactive approach of Ospina and Gabriel. Not traditional English goalkeeping, but effective by Ospina.
Totally agree re; Cech, Rico. Could be another Pat Jennings type signing if it comes to pass…
I really enjoyed Gabriel’s performance against M’Boro in the FACup. He just looks a proper defender, and yesterday again, there was nothing flashy in his performance, but effective…
Rosicky is great, but at 34 he needs to be managed properly.
I would bring him on in almost every game as he has the intelligence to fill in several roles and can always be relied on to give a solid performance…
Qpr will be harder because they didn’t play this weekend,they are a good team and because his position on the table.
Potter if you compare Lacazette 21 goals to Gignac or even Zlatan who have scored 15/11 goals thus far it makes you wonder if he is an unpolished gem…
Note Lyon’s Jean Aulas has some beef with AW so we won’t be doing business with them…me think;
Us sniffing around Gourchuff in the past has not helped. Plus recently Grenier.
One player I rate at Lyon is Gonalons… a cheaper Morgan if you like…
That’s a fair point JM, Arsenal will have played twice since QPR last played a game…
How are your sardines btw? 🙂
Agree with you JM on QPR. Fer and Isla will be very dangerous; lucky we have Joey out…
– do you think William Carvalho has improved/ I think he is now very average. What do you think of Adrien Silva?
Ts, what ever happened to Finnbogasson (spelling), i know he moved to Spain,i think?
Kevin Band will be calling ’50 shades of Harry’ to plot our downfall… lol
Bt my bud; Finnbogasson is at Real Soceidad; he is struggling with form leaving Eredivisie. He is very young for a striker so he has time imo…
Good Afternoon Lovelies and Hunkies.
a good match report.
But what everyone is not commenting about is how compact we were. Zonal marking was nowhere to be seen yesterday. At one moment I counted 9 AFC bodies (keeper inc) against 7 during a corner. That helped. And no one was ball watching but rather taking care of the attackers. And the defenders attacked the ball not space. That is very important in defending set pieces.
With regards Cech I am in a dilemma. Yes he is a great keeper, But instead of getting him and letting Ches go why not fire the goalkeeping coach and get a top one? Ospina is performing well so far and he might have made the no1 spot his own, but we surely need another good keeper who instils confidence.
Ospina has already kept 4 clean sheets in the EPL since the Southampton horror show by Ches.
Indeed dev. Ospina looks very promising. I agree maybe a different coach will help him adjust quicker to the toils of the EPL’s aerial bombardment…
Reading from a pro coach like yourself that we played a flat back 4 system reassured me as well, as I posted within 3 minutes of kick off that we were set-up a bit more ‘conservative’ at the back…
Has anyone seen the Nabil Fekir news.. re. his fathers distaste in the young boy’s agent opting to deal with Man city instead of poor old Arsenal? lol
The new Nasri apparently…
I was beginning to like the boy’s father until I realised his father considered our team weak enough for his son to walk into instead of Man city… 😮
“Nabil would like to finish first or second [in Ligue 1] and play Champions League football with Lyon,” he told Le Parisien, as ESPN FC reported. “If he leaves, it will be for Arsenal. It is the only club that can enable him to progress, with Arsene Wenger. He will not go to Manchester City to sit on the bench.”
Here’s one for all your Spanish footie experts out there… Would you want us to buy Varane from RM…?
Here is one for you WATH. Yes I would like us to buy Varane.He can play multiple positions at the back. And I know his UNCLE.
Strange but true. His uncle used to teach me at University. He is married to Raphael’s aunt who is french. The poor old sod does not like football and has the opportunity to watch Real when he wants and he gets free tickets. some guys have all the luck and kick it in the ass.
Afternoon all…
Kev ( Afternoon) & Dev – thanks..
I spotted the absence of zonal marking too yesterday and commented at the time, get me Mrs know it all eh….. 😛
if we win against Utd then the FAcup will be within reach of being defended. However nothing should be taken for granted although the competition will be easier then.
2nd place is within reach now and only a few points seperate Shitty and Arsenal. Consistency is the key here and if the whole team plays well and puts in a shift it may mean a possible full points from the remaining 11 games. difficult I know…..but not impossible.
Devil, on paper we should get maximum points from now until the end, well, apart from the Dippers and Mancs, although there is no reason why we can’t beat those two…
Retaining the FAcup and finishing 2nd is good progress over last season. 1st is slightly impossible. 2nd is reachable imo
I’d be quite happy with 2nd and the FA Cup, however… 😉
Afternoon all
Can’t beat a bit of ambition on the supporters’ part. Second and win the FA Cup! Wow!
I wonder if the coaching staff are up for it, indeed up to it! Well I wish for these two ‘cups’ to add to our overflowing silver hoard. Magnificant.
Only downside is that I just can’t see it actually finishing like that! Sorry to be a bit of a party pooper. I’m not convinced we will beat manure at old toilet, not that I think that they are better than us, in fact they are one of the worst United sides I can recall. Mind you 1972 side was piss useless! But they have the Indian sign over us they have become a real bogey team. But I will happily be wrong and take my resulting punishment for being so pessimistic.
City too are not what they were but I think they are just far enough ahead of us, in terms of points that we won’t catch them, quite. But we could be quite close at the finish.
The one thing I hope above all else however, is that we finish above the dippers and toilet residues. That would give me great pleasure.
We can dream Wavy……. Lol
Wavy, I too think we’ll come second up at old toilet….. love to be proved wrong though!
Don’t we still have Chelski (h) as well…?
I’d say that we have zip chance of taking maximum points from that little cracker…
Scousers (h) is a doddle in comparison…
Imo
Lee, beating them in the FA Cup up there or a win in the league up there…????? What would you choose..?
I think we’ll do the double over them at OT….
Arsenals FACup record, against the Mancs, is pretty shit.
Arsenal wins at Old Karsey are rarer than hens teeth. In the FACup they are non existent… Bar once in 2002 or 2003…
In not expecting an Arsenal win on the 9th.
But I’d love to be wrong… 😉
Anyone here know much about Bas Dost?
FA Cup game as we stand a chance of retaining it, we’re not wining the PL not under Wenger anytime soon!
BUT as Rico said the the Barney Rubble would be sweet!!
Kev, I sure hope you are wrong. We are good on Monday nights aren’t we? Got plenty of away fans going too and we’ll need them…..
Ask Kev he had a bad dose of the “Bas Dosts” last year, they gave him a cream which he swears by!
Could do with Courtinho picking up an injury soon… 😉
Ha ha, just been reading about him. He’d fit in well for us….
Injury prone?
Criminal record?
Shit striker?
Well ManUre have to give us more seats in the FACup, Rico, so I’m hoping that the extra fans will help push our boys on…
I just hope that Coquelin can play…
And that Szczesny has the game of his life.
None of the above, he can’t stop scoring. 6′ 5″ and 25 years old…
Perfect CB….. Lol
Me too Kev re Coquelin, Szczesny having the game of his life is a bit too much to ask for though…..
Coq in a mask then?
And we need a few super hero performances…..
Bas Dosts sounds like something that Adam would stir fry with broccoli and pesto.
Lee, do you mean mask or that have been, cod piece?
He can play in either, for me.
Hopefully Flamini will not be fit so another ‘new’ find can take Le Cod pieces place!
A rubber mask? 😉
I thought it sounded more like someone being illegitimate ………
With regards the facup its which team AW puts out and how much he wants it. As it stands he can give a sweet FA to the goalkeeping situation of Ches being the cup keeper and play Ospina and the same team he put out yesterday bar Ozil who should be replaced by TR07. I would also replace Danny with Theo.
However, the probability would be that Ches would be in goal while Per would be installed as the CB. Imo the FAcup and the 2nd position are far more superior to the CL atm. If we go out to the United in the FAcup then the game at Monaco will take different dimensions and AW might try and win the tie to progress.
I still would say that if AW and the team approached the remaining league games in the right way all the games are winnable. The answer lies in the grey matter between the ears that the players have.
I dont know why but Bas dost reminds me of farts
If Merts starts against the Mancs, we’ll lose.
If Gabriel and Koscielny play well at QPR, then I’d leave them in situ for the FACup…
They need to play together to improve their partnership…
Adam Johnson is in deep shit….
Joey Barton suspended this Wednesday
Evening all a quick 2 pence worth..
I agree with Rico,
We will beat the Mancs twice QPR and get a draw against the dippers.
I would settle for 3rd and the FA CUP, but I fear we will lose the final of the FA and finish 3rd by a whisker from 2nd.
As for Gabriel, he looks decent but no better than the BFG, about the same in terms of ability, one has pace and one awareness but neither has both….
Giroud is ok, , he complements the team but is not the 1st choice striker
George, I have to disagree re Gabriel, for a start he is quicker, he can tackle, and he can head a ball…. lol
the lack of awareness that Gabriel has atm stems from the fact that he has not played much with the first team, and secondly the lack of communication also hinders. Add to this the fact that the EPL is different than the spanish league and you have all the answers George.
Next season you will see a different player. He will be the defensive lynchpin I am sure. We just need another UGLY looking BRUTE like him.
Just what Wath said earlier Devil. Don’t judge Gabriel after a couple if games, he looks good already but the more he gets used to his team mates and learns the English language, he’ll only improve….
And he’s not bad to start with…
I would not be surprised if he ends up being the captain Rico. But we will need to wait for around two more seasons for that.
I have seen enough in two games imo. And that tackle on Lukaku was simply superb. Against Everton he grew in the role. And the more he grew the more the team responded. So now we have ……Ospina, Gabriel, Kos, Coquelin…..Giroud as a strong spine. We need to improve on that but its a big change from having Almunia, Silvestre, Song, RVP as the spine.
RVP vs OG
Who would you have now as CF??
imo……..Giroud by a mile.
Wonder who is gonna be given the Coquelin role at QPR tomorrow?
Wednesday rather…,
Can’t see him as captain devil, think jack will get that real soon…
Chambers I think Kev..
Jack captain???
I honestly hope not.
It will be a bad decision.
In the same manner that appointing TH14 as a manager.
I’m gone guys..
Night all…
Agree on both devil, but I bet jack gets the nod…
Nighty..
Good night Lady.
Good night Lovelies and Hunkies.
Bas Dost was linked to us around the time we got Giroud.
He’s improved but is big and slow……probably along the lines of Peter Crouch.
Morning all.
Chambers, yeah I suppose that he is one option Rico, but isn’t Ramsey and Flamini back to full training?
Rambo will save us and we will go on to win the league Kev 🙂
definitely Rambo to save the day; his injuries has saved us from a bid from Barca or FC Hollywood…
Morning Rico and all fellow HHers…
If he scores the winner at Wembley again in May, I’ll be quite happy Scott…
Only 2 games and Gabriel is a captain material already? lol
Per’s experience can’t just be discarded in a flash…Although we know his best days are most probably behind him.
Per’s form can be blamed on AW allowing TV5, Sagna and Jenkinson out in the summer and getting only Chambers in, who was not even a CB in the first place. As a result, Mertesacker had to be rushed back and play ALL the matches since the start of the season, right after Germany’s victorious WC. This was further compounded by the fact that his regular partner, Kos, has been in and out for most of the first half of this season. The fact that he had to hold together a defensive line with 2 rookies(Bellerin/Chambers) and a backup (Monreal) is commendable imo…
Not forgetting Debuchy who has been nothing short of mediocre with his suspensions and injuries and the lack of tactical awareness…
I know TV5 has not played for Barca but we all know 1 area on the pitch that needs continuity is defence. Aw &the board shattered our best defence in 5 years in a flash so they can save money. If we can kept Sagna and CJ25 we might have at least 5 points more on the board…
We can’t slate AW for getting rid of all the seniors after 2007, which went on to affect the likes of Denilson and co. not to have anyone to learn from and then ask AW to get rid of senior players like MA08 and Per for being over 30 and slow.
In my view Per, MA08 and TR07 are amongst 3 of our top 5 players at the club.
If anything we should learn from Fergie; He never got rid of his better players just for the sack of it…
Get rid of any 2 of those 3 and we have a team of Ox, JW who are law of their own imho…
If Le Coq is to push on he needs to be training with someone like MA08 in training and learn positional awareness; something I attest he still LACKS considerable.
Imo Per still has ‘legs’ in him; He is still the vice-capito.
Le Squid was voted into la liga’s team of the season next to Puyol before he joined usbtw…
he was also a French international and multiple Ligue 1 winner.
History repeats itself because at one point in 2011, after Le Squid had played 4 or 5 games fans were calling for Djourou and Le Squid partnership ahead of Kosser and TV5…
sake* of it…
May I also add.. not sure we can compare earlier part of Vidic’s Yanited career to Gabriel’s.
Vidic was well known in top football before he joined Yanited as he was part of the “Famous Four” Serbian national team defence that conceded just one goal during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.
AW even showed interest in him but we were concerned about work permit then. Vidic also won a title in his first season albeit he gave one of his medals to Rossi helped Yanited in the first rounds of the League cup when Yanited were struggling.
The only reason he was not a starter then was because of O’shea and Wes Brown ‘upping’ their game all of a sudden. And unlike AW, Fergie use to blend/introduce his CB’s into the fray slowing…
Morning Kev, Scott, Ts and all….
C&P again Ts… 😉
Morning Rico.
SC19 is rumoured to be weighing up his options. He is concerned he will be discarded as an over 30…
Barca vice was seen with Amadeo Rengel
Indeed Rico… lol
Brudder…
Morning Adam..
New post up now..