Well that was disappointing, to say the least.
I can’t think of a single player (with the exception of Bendtner of all people) who did themselves justice.
Theo took his goals well, but did little else. He was by no means on his own.
City set off like a runaway train but I felt that after ten minutes we were their equals.
The sad truth is you can’t defend like we did and hope to win, you just can’t.
I thought the midfield went missing in action and the back four were terribly exposed. It was shocking at times, it really was.
There is no point slating individual players, it would take me all day. Almost to a man they were below par.
On the bright side we scored 5 goals away at City.
FIVE!!!! I hear you say? Well yes, the three that stood and the two perfectly good ones ruled out by phantom off-side decisions.
We had a clear penalty turned down and they got awarded one for a Tom Daley moment produced by Milner.
So with the correct calls we may well have won 5 – 6 and that is a fact.
I just hope we can put it down to fatigue, but even I can’t imagine how those who didn’t play in Napoli could be offered that excuse.
I can’t bring myself to write any more, I’m sounding like someone I despise.
Anyway, we are still top and look like a team that can go on to better things.
Lets hope we do!
PS. Having reflected on it, it must be pointed out that the awful officiating at the most crucial part of the game, when we were fighting back and matching them, may just have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Positively Arsenal 
DC
I hoped for a draw too. The tinies were hopeless.
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Hello Positive Gooners,
If you thought that Giroud getting scapegoated yesterday was excessive you may want to check out http://www.goonertastic.com for a nice little article. I also apologise for shamelessly linking my own blog :p
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I think Spuds were understandably fatigued after playing on Thursday night in Europe
And that sending off ?
Mahahahhhhhhhhhhhawwwwwaaahhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
St Totteringham’s Day beckons
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Here is a post done by the guy I am currently trying to poach http://wp.me/3KK20
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Damn ,he beat me to it.
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Thanks George. Thought I’d find some sensible characters here who shared my views on him being unjustly criticised.
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didnt see this until now. if pundits and journos get relegated, this man is definately on a relegation form
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-fans-must-wishing-tottenham-2242845
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didnt want to comment on our game yesterday as i’m still angry with the officiating.
george, the topic is definately what transpired in the game. nice job.
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Great to see you here Dyllan, welcome to the team!
It’s good to see PG has spent some fackin money and added to the squad here.
listens to the fans, does our George.
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Thanks DC. I’ll be doing an article when time and studies allow. Until its done you can get me on my blog or twitter @goonerdyllan :p
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Yes I agree the officiating was poor but not as poor as us. We did have moments of great football however as George said the defense was completely exposed. I was angry watching the game unfold, seeing so many mistakes in one game was hard to watch.
I was left slackjawed watching Monreal doubled up on and having to marshal a quarter of the pitch on his own, while Jack went sight seeing somewhere in Manchester. Jack was negligent in his performance yesterday, it was abysmal.
But were still top because we have done much more correctly this season than wrong. The players will be hurt by yesterday and i’m expecting a response and win against the Chavs.
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the bigest loser this weekend are manure. how would they get to top four with teams above them geting 3 points. playing thursday night football next season will make it even more difficult for them to get back among elite clubs. as spurs found out every season. last season when our players were celebrating finishing fourth some manure fans were mocking us. today we have ozil and are top of the league despite the best effort of some referees to frustrate us.
the only option for them is drop out entirely from europe like liverpool who play once a week.
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With just 2.5 days between trips to Napoli and Man City I feared we could get beaten convincingly. I didn’t think we were nervous or simply outclassed, we gifted them at least 4 goals through errors we have very rarely made this season which I put down to fatigue, which is as mental as much as it is physical. A lot of people will play down any talk of tiredness but it’s proven that when teams have 72 hours or less between games the probability of a win plummets.
It also doesn’t help when so many tight decisions go against you. I thought the Bendtner ‘goal’ was correctly called offside and Giroud’s ‘goal’ only goes in because the defenders stopped playing, but the Zabaleta handball was a stonewall penalty. And more of a penalty than Milner’s, which is the kind of penalty that I hate. When the attacking player starts to dive and drags his feet to manufacture a slight contact, but somehow the vast majority of them are given. Plus Toure’s studs up tackle which went unpunished, and the two offsides in the first half when we were building momentum. Both could have led to big chances.
The big positive to take from it is Theo. He looks very fit and sharp and will be a constant outlet for our creative players. This midfield can put Theo through 1-on-1 with the ‘keeper two or three times every game, he can get a lot of goals. With Podolski also “fully available” we now have two fresh, potent goalscorers back in the squad. 9 days rest should see us perform at our best against Chelsea and that makes me very confident of a win. After Chelsea we have a run of 6 or 7 very winnable league games where we can once again open up the gap between ourselves and the rest.
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Nevermind,
City, Chavski and the red scallies have to play each other over the holidays.
Let’s hope they cancel each other out.
As for tomorrow’s draw I wouldn’t mind either Atletico Madrid or PSG, for the selfish reason I hope to get a ticket and these are great cities to visit, also we have played these guys in ages and I’m fed up with the other 3 teams, the arrogant wankers that they are.
If UEFA cup draw is tomorrow too, let’s hope the tinies get someone nasty.
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After Chelsea:
West ham (a), Newcastle (a), Cardiff (h), Aston Villa (a), Fulham (h), Southampton (a), Palace (h)
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Take a look at the shit I have to read through ,that I spare you good folk from.
“Naive manager, no tactical nouse, highest paid in the world, how many years without a trophy do we have to go before he’s replaced? 13?..14?…15? Wenger out!”
Why do these cunts have to breath our air?
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Leo.Bendtner was on side. Level is on.
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I saw that comment too, George. Needless to say he was mocked.
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I’ve just read a few comments over at the other place and those that have a tendency to be gloomy have started using terms such as ‘papering over the cracks’ etc. However, I still see positives in yesterday’s defeat. I really do believe the extra day rest does makes a difference when two teams of similar quality go head to head. I’m optimistic. I expect us to beat Chelsea.
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goonerdyllan at 6:31 pm
Read your blog. Worth every ounce of self-promotion. I see George is trying to seduce you with fine words since he has no “farking money”. But this is a fine site with several loyal readers and commentators. Looking forward to your contribution.
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What Dylan said:
“Following our defeat against Man City, the fickle horde that forms part of the Arsenal fanbase instantly started to search for a scapegoat. They ignored Ramsey, for fear he would make them look foolish again, overlooked the terrible performance of Wilshere, for he is of Arsenal youth, and then settled on Giroud.”
– Gospel.
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Up tomorrow Georgaki
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PG
That means you enjoyed it. Many thanks.
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And he is a fucking student Shotta! Can you believe that? There is hope.!!!
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I did indeed,please thank him for me.
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Thank you for your kind words and also to those that commented on my blog. If you check further back on the site there are a few you may enjoy that are still relevant such as http://goonertastic.com/2013/10/24/the-crazy-world-of-being-a-gooner/
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Hi guys, not hiding, but I’ve been away this weekend so didn’t see the horror show unfold, but heard the score with utter disbelief. It was always going to be difficult so soon after Napoli, but sounds like it just wasn’t our day and everything that could go wrong, did. Great to hear that Theo is back. I’m sure the usual suspects will be out in force blaming left right and centre, but hopefully the players will be able to put this out of their minds and focus on getting the 3 points off chelski. I’ll be there to do my bit to cheer them onto victory.
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Passeral
Don’t believe any of the bullshit on the bbc, sky or the other media about the game.
Arsenal had the measure of City yesterday.
And that’s admitting that most of our midfield were not at their normal level, Arsenal created more scoring chances. The ref and 2 linesmen were Mike Reilly specials.
When we play them again, they will get beaten.
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I have coursework to be getting on with so leave you with an interesting article from the summer http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/jul/30/manchester-city-human-rights-accusations
Nice to remember that City only last as long as the ruling family is in power and with protests and revolution common in Middle East nowadays they may be gone in a couple of years.
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As Shotta said, I see Arseblog has finally had to put manners on the trolls and haters.
About time.
I borrowed this from elsewhere, thanks to N7 ‘Holic.
https://mobile.twitter.com/paulleafs/status/412326449371430912?screen_name=paulleafs
Sshhhsh! No one tell him, ok!
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RIP PETER O.TOOLE. one of the masters. In every role. Credit to his profession.
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By and by, watch the replay on shitties second goal and tell me negrado wasn’t at least one yard offside. Shit, they blow as many as five calls maybe more.
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Goodnight Goonerkam, I’ll pass over the graveyard shift to you.
There is good reading in Dylan’s blog, and Pozan has some really good recent blogs too.
Oh, and Let’s All Laugh at Tottenham.
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LOL. Lets do. Something very dysfunctional in that house mate. 6-0 and now 5-0. Maybe I was wrong about AVB. seems that most of the 105 million was spent on players that don’t fit the team nor the EPL. last time he said they should all be ashamed. I wonder what he will say now. Will give dylons blog a read later. Hopefully he is a good writer and informative. Poznan? Hell , he is exceptional.
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GK
whilst not defending the defending that let in City’s first goal, it was never a corner to City.
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It sure makes life more interesting. I thought the attacking qualities of both teams was generally excellent by the way, but I did not like the way we hurried, rather than calmed. That plus tired legs makes for passing mistakes, that lead to further punishment. We are having a minor slump, I hope we realize. It’s very common, a bit like the common cold, and not at all to worry over. In football it goes like that, you trend up, you trip up, you struggle a bit, you get up, you just keep going, and up up and away again. Or something. But I tell you what, this team will get up because that was so well learned from last season, and we know how the story goes. I have no worry. Moreover, our little slumpertiness phase has not hurt us decisively and that, my friends, is the wonderful part. We have survived. Theo is back. Lukas is back. Sagna. Kos will be back. Bendtner got a goal. We scored 3 or 5 at Eastlands. We will get going again. The mental part begins now, as it always does, and I so prefer the underdog mantle. A little pain never hurt anyone going for their furthest aspirations. All is as it should be.
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Haven’t had chance to watch the game yet but letting in six goals is really disappointing. Thought we had left that kind of score line behind us by now. Good to know Theo got a couple thou, always scores in big games. Makes me think of Ljungberg, always Arsenes first pick in big games.
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Form, Storm, Reform
I thought the linesman was as much of a problem as the ref, but maybe we have to learn not to hope that tight 50/50s don’t go against us, as they always seem to. The timing of the game (three in slightly less than six days) didn’t help either, nor the fact that that they were a team of fully mature internationals on a home roll. But whichever way you look at it, we still lost and it ended up as a bit of a lesson.
Most successful teams (either sporting or commercial) tend to go through a form, storm, reform process, and I hope that we will do just this. The team that began to be formed last season and which was then almost fully formed by 02.09.13 has done very nicely. It has come through some difficult moments, it has been tested, and it has risen to the top of the League and qualified for the last 16. I suspect many involved with the club (players, coaches, investors and supporters) would have settled for that 03.03.13: I suspect even more strongly that any of our current darling pundits would have laughed such a suggestion out of court.
But, the fact remains that we have just come up short against Everton, Napoli and Manchester City. I think we also saw some tensions between the players emerge, and we also saw the manager openly dismayed and angered by some of the misses and some of the defending. I suspect that the dressing room was an interesting place to be after the game – and I very much hope that the training ground is an even more interesting place over the next few days. Players need to ask questions of each other, just as they need to ask questions of the manager and he of them. They need to feel happy that everyone is pulling their weight and that everyone is fully committed to the project. There needs to be a proper storm, because if there isn’t then we will all know that we are happy to be very, very good, but not world-class.
But out of that storm will come a much stronger team (as I suspect happened in the aftermath of 03.03.13) because the players that are with the project will step up again. They will demand more of their team mates, and crucially they will demand more of themselves, if they truly want to reach the summit. My money is on them to do just that, but only if they realise that they are not there yet. I have a horrible feeling that they had begun to believe the hype, but Everton, Napoli and City provided timely reminders that the hype was just that. We will look back on this last week with real gratitude over the next five years as this squad go on to show just what they can really do.
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Well, blow me down. Some really wise words have been said, here.
Thanks ZimPaul and foreverheady.
Can someone pin them up at London Colney.
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AVB sacked
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25397167
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How brutal is our luck? It would have been amazing to meet Bayern in the final. However, we have the ability to turn them over. Come on Arsenal!
AVB sacked?! I know he was our pseudo-rival manager, but this is just madness. He is certainly a decent bloke. Might not be a genius, but much better than Mourinho, Big Sam, etc. Steve Clarke too seemed like a decent guy. If you think fans are impatient, it looks like chairmen behave like Abrahmovich these days! It was obvious to everyone that the team needed to gel. Who are they going to bring in now?
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