Today’s piece is penned by our very own @anicoll5.
In line with house policy I shall not recite the events of Sunday afternoon on the pitch as you have seen it, or heard it, or followed it on Twitter, or missed it. If the latter, my poor expression would be inadequate to describe an excellent game.
As for the result the words ‘fair’ and ‘result’ were used in 24,727 social media references to the game on the period between 6pm and midnight GMT last night. The people have spoken and, I admit gentle reader, I was one of those statistics. For either club to have gone away pointless would have been injustice.
Were we expecting much different? Not me and I suspect I was not the only one on PA. The three points would have been a good prize but in recent seasons EFC have proved a difficult, awkward side to beat at home. I recall peering at the game through a snow storm two seasons ago when the home side, Tomas I think, snaffled a late equalizer. And they have a little more football quality now and are less reliant on the boot and fist that Fellaini personified.
Some Arsenal fans were relying on that old leveller ‘fatigue’ to kick in, with Everton having won late at Trafford Park on Wednesday. By the last 20 minutes they would be knackered. Well as we saw on Saturday, and have seen quite often this season, a win against ManYoo away is not deserving of the accolades what it was. As for ‘fatigue’ – Pah! Arsenal had played 23 club games this season going into Sunday’s game, Everton just 16. Add in our Champions League traveling and our player’s international football commitments, then why the visitors should feel tired is a mystery.
So a good result and one that gently extended our lead on Chelsea and did not diminish the gap with Citeh. No more injuries, and no one banned for that 5th yellow card. We sail on toward the City of Manchester stadium with a strong wind in our favour.
I see Howard Webb came in for some criticism for not picking up fouls and taking more robust, card-type action, but I did not think he had a bad game. I have noticed that referees are much more willing to wave play on when a player goes down this season. While errors are being made – and will be made – I prefer a system where referees give a foul if they see a real actual foul, not just in response to a theatrical scream and tumble.
The man from Blackburn was on form last night, baiting the mob and their efforts to find the guilty man, or men, responsible for the Everton goal. The pitchfork wielding rabble rampaged through the cyber streets and alleys in search first of Szcz, then Gibbs, then Arteta, even Rambo was accused by the vengeance seeking multitude. They were stopped in their tracks however by the revelation – it was Bendtner wot done it.
Hoot hoot
Positively Arsenal 
arse_or_brain C/f from yesterdays blog
webb was awful yesterday, everton should of had five players on bookings by half time. Having failed to stamp authority on the game he then tried to let play go where he should have brought it back ( or went back when play had broken down and booked players ) or he would stop play when he could of continued momentum, truly awful.
As for the media and our own fickle fans, many of whom think were in a relegation scrap by their comments, they need to watch the game again. Evertons first shot on target was not until the 54th minute and that was from outside the box, as many of their shots were, and most of their possession was in non-dangerous areas so lets put to bed the myth they dominated the 1st half.
As far as I remember their goal was their first shot inside the box, very well taken and caught everyone by surprise but more about individual brilliance than team play, especially when you consider lukcrapu was offside in the build up and fouled the boss as well (kos not Arsene).
I think everton are a good side and played well but lets get real a lot of fans worry so much about the ball crossing the half way line they forget how much play and chances we create. I really wasn’t worried until we scored and I think that was more just anxiety.
hopefully yesterday dispelled the other myth that lukcrapu is better than Giroud because at the moment Oliver is in a different league.
And while I am having a moan I have to say something about the support. it is embarrassing the roar and noise and singing after we score but for the rest of the game its just left to a few pockets of supporters. Its not the pictures and if you just want to sit and watch and have no participation apart from moaning then watch it the large amount of streams that are available or on motd. Also wives and girlfriends, or should I say partners not interested in football, leave them at home they really do not need to be there and trying to impress them with your knowledge (or criticism ) should be banned.
Bags, rucksacks , briefcases and in one instance a suitcase should also be banned there is no reason for them to be inside the stadium and even if the club have to put lockers outside they have to go.
lastly to the little fat bloke who sat behind me yesterday in block 12 and whinged, got up went to the piss, come back whinged ,went to the piss then whinged again only to leave early, firstly get your prostate sorted ( and actually you deserve a finger up your arse ) and secondly its a waste you being there so just fuck off.
there rant finished I might suggest some of my thoughts to A.I.S.A for their next meeting with ARSENAL .
oh and the F.A. cup draw was rigged.
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Thanks Anicoll ,just the job that,magic in fact.
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thanks George, for putting that up. I woke up angry and was moaning so much I didn’t notice the new post going up.
Thanks to @anicoll5 for cheering me up with that new post interesting funny and with a Steww like calmness I wish I possessed.
As you can see from my post I didn’t agree with it all but great post anyway A5
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I think Webb brings out the raw edge in all of us AoB – he has a look about him that you just want to slap. When he hands in his cards he will have a great future career as a Panto villain in front of him.
To be fair to the shaven headed whistler (and I might be wrong) but in the past nine games he has referred for us we have won eight and drawn yesterday.
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I have seen him have good games, however recently he struggles in big games. I know many see him as a big game ref but ive always thought you can judge his performance very early. Yesterday from the first foul I by the dugout in knew he was going to have a mare. persistent rotational fouling is not a new thing its been around for years even in this league its about time ref recognised it early and dealt with it.
also his team were poor yesterday the Kos/lukcrapu incident happened right in front of the lino but amazingly he missed it even though most off the 60000 crowd see it, and no mention in the press funny that!
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Lovely stuff Coll, I have to say Everton are a class act,from their new manager to their fantastic away support you have to give it to em. I was at the game & thought it was a fantastic spectacle and a fair result,it’s gonna be interesting to see how AW rotates now-Rambo definetly looked leggy and in need of a rest.
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Anicoll – Excellent 1st effort. You have set yourself a high bar.
My only difference with you is thinking you are being a little naive about the tactical fouling by Everton in the 1st half. I remarked on it at half-time so it is not a post-game whinge. In retrospect it reminded me of some cynical tactics our opponents have inflicted in the past to stop us playing; Manchester United in the infamous 50th game, Bolton, Blackburn, Birmingham and Stoke. Eduardo, Ramsey, and Diaby have paid a heavy price because the referees refuse to tamp down on this tactic early. If Mr Webb, England’s finest, takes 40 minutes to blow his whistle, what can we expect from those who aspire to his lofty status. Yet we are well aware Mr Webb will cut the crap early when in the presence of Red Nose ferguson, seemingly well aware of how not to have a career derailed. No wonder all the so-called physical teams played like pussy cats at Old Trafford.
I think we need to be more pre-emptive as fans before other teams and refs feel it is fair game when playing Arsenal to “get into them” and “let them feel it up em”. It cost us heavy in 2008.
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yeah that’s what I was trying to say shotta only you are far more eloquent
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Good stuff ‘Coll.
I agree with Mel.
It would be churlish to deny Everton the point, they were worth the draw, although I will say that for all the drooling elsewhere over their domination in the first half an hour so, if memory serves they didn’t draw a single solitary save out of Sir Chesney. Once we got into our stride we looked a far greater threat, and a few chances went begging to be fair. We weren’t at our best, or anywhere near, and we still got a decent draw.
I think their approach was overtly cynical, for my liking, which has been somewhat overlooked in the apparent haste to praise them as a “passing team”. Took Webb a while to show yellow to that barn door Barry, but he it deserved for that nasty little stamp on Ozil, but overall I thought we dealt with all that shit pretty well. As we do these days. That’s why I’m not unduly worried. If we’d been at our best we’d have beat them anyway, we nearly did in fact.
Good on Everton, he’s a canny manager is Martinez, and I hope they nab that CL spot ahead of any of that other lot.
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The Napoli and City games get interesting, mainly as both are usually exceptional at home, especially City. I don’t see major issues rotating and resting Aaron midweek, there is such depth now. It would seem to me that Flamini, Jack and Tomas might start, with Theo and Mesut; but AW unusually might start Nacho on the left of midfield, in a 4-5-1 style. We need a draw, although we can’t play “for a draw” obviously, that’s playing with fire. Still, what’s crucial is that we do not concede at all, and still have attacking threat throughout, and that’s where I see Tomas, so good at that particular game. Theo too has both threat and decent defensive play to his repertoire, as does Giroud.
Otherwise, 5 points is 5 points clear and where we are is what we are, no more or less, that is our consistency; a win and two draws to the good of the current chasing back.
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zp
napoli were not that great at home last weekend. and dont forget we are the best team away from home. i dont want us to lose ramsey to injury, hence we need to rest him against napoli. dortmund lost at home and also lost two key players to injury. bender and sahin. i doubt they will beat masaile with so many injuries.
what is the latest about sagna?
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To be fairly honest, I was very annoyed after the game. We should have won the game, sure Everton had possession but they had no bite. It was what the “experts” used to complain about us a few years ago. I think we deserved it more on the virtue that we created more. I was a tad disappointed with the refereeing, and a bit with Giroud. The guys class, brings a different dimension to our game, but for fucks sake lad you’re not going to get too many one on ones in a game.
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we may still have to play teams withbetter quality than everton this season, but i doubt we will play any with grit, commitment, hard working and tireless as everton. and since we have the best quality out there in the league, i dont think any team can push us like everton did last night if we play to our best.
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I don’t think they deserve the respect being amounted to them. I respect an opponent if they outplay us, and that happens once in a blue moon.
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i dont know the one vs one that giroud should have scored. the pace on the ball was much and giroud lacked a little bit of pace. sometimes we need to give credit to goalkeepers. howard was quick off his line just as he did against ramsey and sir szcz did against lukaku. the other one mention in the first half was offside anyways.
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This>
Dyllan Munro @GoonerDyllan 4m
@jodal1979 @Blackburngeorge People who expect him to hold up play,win headers, defend, score 3 each game,be as quick as messi & cure cancer.
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S’true George.
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Personally I’m also a bit miffed that he hasn’t sorted out the Middle East yet. The big French fairy.
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Panic time, lads. We’re only one more point ahead of the chasing rabble than we were at the start of the weekend. And we conceded a goal. Wenger must go.
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I didn’t think Webb had that bad a game, but I thought Barry should have seen a second yellow by the time he stamped Özil’s foot. On that same token, Martinez plays a nice brand of football, but he is no stranger to the dark arts. Wigan were always a nasty, little team to play against. If it wasn’t their lousy pitch it was Meynor Figueroa fouling the shit out of Theo, for example.
As far as our performance is concerned, I thought Ramsey and Santi may have been a bit less sharp than normal. With Santi, I thought his performance suffered thanks to how pissed he got about being held, kicked and roughed up in general. I remember him having a go at Webb and the lino a few times because he wasn’t getting the protection he out to have been given. With Ramsey, I think he may be feeling the effects of having played so many games.
With regard to Everton and fatigue, it almost played out exactly how many Arsenal fans imagined. Everton huffed and puffed for most of the first half, but had very few chances to show for it. They started to wilt at about the thirtieth minute and we got on top of them. The same thing happened in the second half. They hustled for most of the game, but didn’t really trouble Szczesny. On the other end it was us who had the most chances.
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And who was the Everton player that smashed his studs into Ramsey’s foot?
I’ll check when I re-watch.
I disagree with those saying Webb had a good game. He had his typical game against Arsenal – never mind about we’ve won “x” amount of games reffed by him recently. It’s the same old, same old; standing there like ‘whatever’, watching players kick Arsenal, and managing to keep a straight face whilst ignoring the dangerous and potentially injurious ‘tackles’. As always it’s followed by Arsenal’s ghost fouls, then it’s back to ignoring the leg-breakers. Pure bias.
Did any of you see what Everton done the last time they played at the Em’s? Of course you did. Same old shit-kicking. I guess I’m the only person that expected, prior to kick-off, that anything and everything would happen to make sure Arsenal didn’t go 7 points clear. Just imagine if Arsenal made a fraction of those so called tackles!
I’m glad to note that Arsène actually mentioned Everton’s constant fouling, unpunished:
I’m still pleased about where we are and how we’re doing, but it’s impossible for me to not worry about whose leg’ll be broken next – in the quest to stop Arsenal, at any cost.
Shotta:
Exactly!
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He is a great representative of the club and of football. However I see Arsene thinks the referee had a good game 2:40
(the plum)
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Its alright
Martin Aktinson with the whistle on Saturday lunchtime – his two most recent games in charge of AFC had him send Paolo Di Canio off ( he asked for it – no, he really did ask for it) and preside over the doing of Liverpool at the Ems
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An entertaining and very readable Post, Anicoll, and if it is your debut then more credit to you, sir.
I am fairly phlegmatic about referees in that I do not believe that they are anymore incompetent than any other group of individuals, and anyway there is another blogsite dedicated to refereeing conspiracies and malpractice of one sort or the other for those interested in such things.
For me Webb was OK. He booked 4 of their players so he did not give them licence to openly cheat, although some of the old soldiers like Barry ‘push the envelope’ so to speak. I would never want to be a ref – you cannot win. 🙂
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I just want us to do the best we can. If I said I was a tad disappointed with him, it means I think he’s capable of more clinical finishing. If it’s moaners you want to nail, you’ll find them on twitter aplenty.
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And the thing with Howard Webb is, he’s highly inconsistent. He swings like a pendulum! If you want to let the game play on, do it both ways. Many a times he punished our boys, and let THOSE numpties get away with it.
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help me..ive tried it all..im still suffering. …everton was good deserved their point ….nahnahnahnah….fuck them…..bring on napoli and then city and then chelsea…a drw at italy and two victories …thats all i ask…..fuck world peace, fuck health, fuck poverty or riches..all i want for xmas is 6 points. there are more important things in life than football. not for me. mourinho you cunt smilling with your easy to catch arsenal nearly hitting you in the face with 7! ..you got away with it……arghhh
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At times I felt like we were the away team, up against a referee who gets influenced by the home crowd.
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Enjoyed the article Coll but agree with a_or_b and Shotta etc.
I’ve not seen the sanitised Match of the Day version, only the view I had from the front row in the Clock End and I all I could see was Everton getting away with murder. Over and over and over.
I won’t go on about it further, others have made the point but my only additional comment is that the big problem for us is that Everton have now shown the way to stop Arsenal which is to pressure high up and foul, rotationally, should that fail.
The danger to our prospects this year – and not least the health and well-being of our players – is self-evident and it is for this reason Webb should not be praised for his handling of the match.
Not even half-way through the game I thought to myself Webb was not bothering to ‘referee’ the game in the conventional fashion, electing instead to ‘manage’ it. An approach I detest because it allows teams to establish the agenda and nature of the game, leaving the referee to do his best to keep all 22 players on the pitch. He can then be said to have ‘controlled’ the game. This is how the orcs of Stoke can get away with their physical game time and again while teams like Arsenal get jumped on by the ref when they occasionally misjudge a tackle or interception.
My only suggestion to the side is to go down and stay down and for the remaining players to go absolutely nuts with the referee the moment it starts happening. As someone said above (Shotta), there is no way this style of football would have been tolerated against Manure (at Old Toilet or anywhere else) and there is no way we should accept it happening to us.
Had Flamini been on from the start I suspect things WOULD have been different; certainly Santi was pig-sick at the rough house tactics and the abject failure of any one of the officials to do their job.
He wasn’t the only one.
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I came across this.Its very good.I like this chap a lot.
I am going to try and poach him.
https://archive.org/details/Movie_201312/Movie.wmv
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Nice piece A5….. You know who I blame for Everton’s second goal? Deulofeu…. Hahaha!
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yes im thinking the same. in games where we want the three..flamini and rocisky and sagna to always start if fit and available. aretta is fine and all but is a bit of a kitten when it comes to urgency and intensity. in games where we need to sit and wait and play calmly then yes arteta can start. i wanted to see the hull/marseille urgency last night. games liek these you have to finnish them with three if you want to be champion, especially after the gifts of saturday. i hope arsene tore them a new one after game
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ok not arsene, but certainly steve 🙂
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“a massive shitfest of wankerdom”
He really does have a lovely turn of phrase – treacly smooth
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And thank you to all for your kind comments today
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PG, Sign him up!
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Enjoyed your post Anicoll. You should continue writing for us.
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So should yo SA
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Thanks PG. Will do, whenever I come up with something half readable. I am hoping to read some posts from Gains, DC, Shotta, Rantetta, Zimpaul and others in the future. Having said that, their comments add up to good posts everyday.
Off to bed. Have a good evening fellas.
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I wonder if there is a blog somewhere on which referees hand out the goods on their own and fellow performers good and many, many bad points.
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i like flamini, but we play everton. there is no way arteta would not play. ex players are always inspired against their former club. i have always championed a course that only one of arteta and flamini should start our league games, so why should i blame wenger if he did same.
as for other teams taking inspiration from everton, i dont think so. everton has always played like this against us. even this one was even better than the past. plus other teams dont have strong players as everton.
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Everton hardly outplayed Arsenal. What they did though was not get steamrolled.
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Anicoll5 @ 3:58 pm
“However I see Arsene thinks the referee had a good game 2:40”
But we all know he never criticizes the referees publicly. In fact Arsene is fond of saying he knows “how it is” in this country i.e. England. Criticize the refs and you not only get portrayed in the press as a whinger and a moaner but also pay dearly at the hands of the referee cabal e.g the penalty embargo on Arsenal for one year after the Eduardo was convicted in a kangaroo court for diving at the beginning 2009-10 .
Anyway, my goal is not to suggest that my opinion is superior to Anicoll, whom I respect dearly, but to urge us as supporters to be vigilant at the next attempt to prevent us from playing by kicking us without fear of retribution due to the complicity of the refs.
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I’d add that the best place for in-depth chitter chatter on any refereeing or as Arsene would describe, “Special Circumstances”, is over on Untold.
The FB who kicked JWs ankle early on did so on purpose. A clear and easy yellow. If the ref misses one of those, that is OK. If he misses a number of similar challenges upon one team in 45 minutes, that is not OK. It’s a fairly simple equation for me! I don’t need to mention any bruised bones.
No need to comment on the domino news stories coming out this past week. In spite of the best efforts to use AWs quotes to apply a balm to the initial story, it is clear and undeniable now that PL games have been affected. Hardly a surprise. To anyone with two football brain cells to rub together. or as we were told elsehere: “England is not like Italy!!!” i.e. it could never happen here.
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I thought a point was a far result but I reject the idea that Everton ‘outplayed’ us. They did no such thing, what they did was contain us and, particularly for the first 30 minutes, they did so very well. After watching the MotD highlights I felt slightly rueful about our point as it became more apparent how many more quality chances we created than they did; the two one-v-ones at the end of the first half, Ramsey’s far-post volley that Howard acrobatically palmed away, Gibbs just failing to connect with a cross, Flamini’s shanked volley with his weaker foot, Giroud’s 93rd minute howitzer onto the post/bar. Apart from their goal Everton had just one good chance I can remember, when Szczesny rushed out to save at Lukaku’s feet. The rest were shots from distance which were either off target or straight at Woj.
As for Webb, I’m with ArsenalAndrew on this one. There’s a fine line between letting the game flow and simply neglecting your job and I thought Webb was often doing the latter, perhaps so as not to bring too much attention to himself, and this gave Everton a helping hand in the spells they found themselves under pressure.
I also wasn’t very happy with Wilshere getting two hard kicks to his ankle within a minute of each other. His ankle problems are well documented and it looked like more than a simple accident. I don’t believe Martinez is “that type of manager”, just a case of frustrated players having a sly kick at an opponent.
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The fouls were just soft enough and distributed equally around the team as to not warrant a yellow card for either persistent fouling or nasty challenges. Gareth Barry’s lunge on Ozil early in the first half being the only exception, in my opinion. He should have already been in the book for that foul and received a second for stamping on Ozil’s toes later on. Other than that, I thought Webb did well.
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Martinez is that type of manager. Arsenal used to get kicked to bits against Wigan.
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By doing well, I meant Webb didn’t completely cock up the game by giving a phantom peno.
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Niggling little fouls, break up the game, stop the opposition getting any rhythm – it is a tactic that we may not like but one we have to overcome because it works
Chelsea did it in both games last season, Milan did it
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We usually overcome it by passing the ball around so quickly that the opposition is left chasing shadows.
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