I was about to rack my brains and come up with an article about yesterdays game, full in the knowledge that most will have seen it and read about it already. However, I saw the post by Zim Paul and thought “that’s what I should be writing” So here it is .
“Sometimes a game is truly decided by a goal, bigger than the game as it were, and so deserves such accolade. This was not one of those. It was of course a goal of the season contender. But it was a defensive performance of heroic proportions against a Spurs side that needed this win, and whatever it took to do it. Make no mistake this was Spurs actual cup final, a do or die affair and they played accordingly; we have a few more, oh 11 more “cup finals” all told, I believe.
The Arsenal team itself (if the Ox interview is any reflection, and he is such a straight talking bloke I think it was) was disappointed with the level they played and mistakes they made, but did not find the result lucky or incongruous. Now that’s worth everything! Because that says more about this team than anything else.
Last time we had a “definitive” run of matches, which was like yesterday (Feb), we started badly, had some outrageous bad luck, then picked ourselves up, then stumbled. This time we have a definitive tricky run, now half way through, we remain unbeaten (H A A and have conjured 6 for and 2 against). As Frank says, everyone and their dog under-estimates our side and its combination of crisp creativity and bloody resilience, and that’s exactly the way we like it. Look at Liverpool! Look at City! And everyone’s money is on Chelsea anyway. This is a very, very good sign. Hope it continues.”
I would just like to add that its beyond annoying that when other teams play as we did yesterday , we are told “when you can play like that and win ,it means you can win the title”
Yet when Arsenal do just that its “you cant play like that and win the title”.
Odd, very odd.
I’m such a lazy fucker I’m surprised you lot tolerate it
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Worth mentioning that if the result was the other way round, Sherwood would have been lauded for his tactical acuity and the Spurs team praised for their dogged determination and bulldog spirit in the face of a toothless foreign attack (the Ox would probably be forgotten about…).
Now we get a weeks rest, and some preparation time for Chelski; let’s see what we can do.
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Very odd indeed, George. Until you factor in dickheadedness, and then it all makes sense
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You did it PG, and very well did ’twas. (Dats Norf Westun dialogue, innit).
Fill yer boots:
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An excellent defensive performance with Tottingham not able to create any real clear goal scoring chance over the 90 minutes (not to mention the two previous 90 minute encounters this season).
The longer the game went on the more dominant our defensive grip became with the introduction of Tommy, Nacho and Flamini – what we have we hold, and they say Arsene does not do tactics.
One further comment on yesterday’s game it was played in the right spirit – no obvious diving, pleading for cards or cheating by either side. Well done the players.
The Notorious Mr D took a firm grip and it was clear after a few minutes that falling over and waving your arms would get no sympathy. Bravo you bald headed whistler. Pity he ended up doling out eight cards in a game in which there were no bad fouls I can recall but I guess even Dean has his targets to hit.
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Still under the radar, still getting no credit and still right up their with a chance, get through the next four games still on the coat tail of those at the top and its on
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TR v DR
https://o.twimg.com/2/proxy.jpg?t=HBhAaHR0cHM6Ly9mYXJtMy5zdGF0aWNmbGlja3IuY29tLzI3MjIvMTMyMDI1NzQxNzNfZDdkNTA0OWJlZV96LmpwZxSAChSeBwAWABIA&s=A0K0rIDWWvZ0f9Px1fNXCmiTXlIaWvET4Fac8q63GrA
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Gooner-Gunner or what?
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I must confess I saw Zim’s piece earlier and postponed any response to yesterday’s in the hope that PG would get his post up before I head off for work. It was well worth the wait.
A couple of points about the game are worth observing. It is noticeable that this team has a default mode since January 2013 which is to get ahead early and defend the lead like it is the Alamo. After that Sherwood sideline rant, it became obvious 30 minutes into 1st half that the Spuds defense had sussed out those dangerous runs from deep by the Ox who earlier had two gilt-edged chances to kill off the game. Anyone who has followed this team closely, especially in that historic run to 4th after Munich last year, wouldn’t be surprised that we would rely on our defense to win the game. As recent as last August we defeated the Spuds 1-0 at home with similar tactics. Remember then, AVB critcized Arsene for having five defenders on the field in the last 5 minutes to secure the victory. Who is surprised we had a similar number of defenders this time around!
Second and related point is the the failure of our so-called fans to realize how critical Giroud is to our current tactic. To the contrary, in tweets, blogs and newspaper message boards you have gooners engage in a hail of abuse against the Frenchman. Mainstream football journalists are reknowned for their failure to give a balanced view of Arsenal as a credible title-contender and they give credence to the drivel that Giroud is ineffective. But Sherwood and the Spuds had no such illusion as they had their two center-halfs shadow the big Frenchman all game and make it very difficult for him. In fact I read Arseblog’s By-The-Numbers report and Giroud’s stat5s stood up very well to Adebayors man-of-the-match performance for the Spuds. It was much the same last year when Giroud was our focal point up top until he was suspended for that questionable red card for an over the ball tackle. It seems these fans suffer such short-term memory loss that it will only take the risk of losing Giroud to rise them from their stupor.
PG: Your being lazy has its benefits. Very insightful there ZimP.
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Thanks George, dodging a bullet today.
Most of the longer posts here are quality enough for an article.
Arsenal’s home record against the so called big teams:
Chelsea – draw, because moe parked the bus.
Liverpool – win, and quite comfortably too.
Spuds – win, big team? Yeah right.
Everton – draw they played their best game of the season.
Utd – draw, both teams too afraid to lose the game.
City – ? Time will tell.
Of course, no way Arsenal can win the league on 59 pts but Liverpool can on 59 points.
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New screensaver Rantetta – great shot
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Shotta, the Alamo?
It was more like Stalingrad!
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I wouldn’t worry about all the pundits,experts or doomers,as Charlie Bronson once said to me on the roof at the Strangeways Riot-‘let the others bitch and moan Mel,we’re here to enjoy ourselves’…to be fair,he had just kidnapped 2 screws.
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man i got to stop doing this……george can you install some flashing light like an alert for the stupid who keep commenting in previous days posts..thanks
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yes yes yes they outplayed us … …muahahaha “lets save some face” bollocks from tim and the press…..3 points thank you.. 1,000th game coming up..players to take them out and slap them in mou’s face in front of his crowd. We need to show mou, and the and his mercenaries and the rest of the country that its jack’s aaron’s theo’s carl’s and ale’x time to rule..like it or not !
rosicky….rosicky…rosicky…rosicky….sagna…sagna…sagna…sagna…..podolski with the fans …. epic ..
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thank you rodgers…thank you stevie G…come on david moyes.. come on robin ..come on wayne..make them bitches pay…..lets go for another historical record, one which remind those whores down at the port to never ever speak again about europe
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I knew that Mike Dean knew the rules! I just knew it! Missed the barge on Arteta but…
And of course the predictable trolls do remember that we remember (with the help of some strange stats and occult numbers and other such foreign fings) that Arsenal have beaten 5pur2s in recent times with Deano in charge.
But it was the pelanties at Old Trafford that took the breath away (well, apart from Rosicky’s rocket).
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Ooops. Most of that comment above was meant for Untold, don’t want to bore on about the indefensible situation the administrators leave the officials in with no tech aids in football, the contrast this weekend between the rugby and footy spoke for itself anyway. Almost no need to make any comment!
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Rosicky:
I’m a fan. And I see the Redzone Experts are back out there desperate to draw attention to themselves.The very same experts who wanted Rozza sold. Yes. It is true. They know very little of that which they are talking about. That is not my opinion but simply an observation of the above and more.
Rosicky could once smack the ball into the goal from thirty yards. Then, as they say, his tendons got mash up. No need for tangents into speculatons when the strong evidence is there before us: It’s taken a while after he managed to return, but finally, after years, after some of us thought we’d never see such a great sight again, he unleashes two beautiful strikes within a few weeks. But they are not quite the thunderblasters of old. When he has tried those in recent times, often without much of a run up, they have tended to trickle through. But both recent goals came from incredible shots where the power was generated through the technique, yesterday using the pace of his run and getting both feet off the floor. Beautiful. Bit like a batsmen timing a shot to perfection I guess. Incredible stuff.
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Nice post and great win by the boys! Anything is possible……….just believe!
Rantetta, young Danny must be sick of the sight of Tommy by now. I’m sure he has grateful he doesn’t have to face him this season anymore.
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yes fins…it reminded me the kind of goals i score on wednesday nights in europe…fridays i score headers muah…muah..muuuuuuuuah
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sagna…his money…NOW! ..all of it. let the others starve i dont care…
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I could once hit shots like that Rosicky rocket too *coughs*
–
The management of Rosicky’s fitness, the resultant role he played in the last two successful run ins is a great credit to the Arsenal physios. Which of course the self-serving attention seekers will not acknowledge, alongside the astute stewardship of Chambo, Gnabbers and the new batch.
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with both feet as well and much greater frequency ..not like that loser from chekoslovakia who only does it once every 6 years ….. the ballerina…
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and well done at baldini and the rest who could sense there were some gits at totnam with money to waste and have shared it with their agent friends in italy. well played senor.
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I haven’t been able to use both feet as well since I entered the Redzone.
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Hunter
Tough times call for desperate measures! Bogus Baldini who in his spare time churned out the infamous Capello Index? He’s not hungry. Heh.
Capello, the very same chap who chose SWP over the ‘goal machine’ Walcott *heavy coughing fit*, not that I was complaining.
Fuck me. And these are the crooks the Groaners were groaning about in August because they were not being copied. Well, if that’s not evidence for unhealthy associations with R&W Holdings I don’t know what is. Because frankly there is no excuse for being that fucking stupid.
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puahahah fins you got to love all these italians and spannish portuguese whatever who come here and rip off the english clubs off their money and then wenger who keeps it safe is told to fuck off. epl = greatest show on earth …then again what english clubs…roman and the shiekhs passing on commissions for energy contracts to offshores…player sales its called nowdays…levy knows. ac milan have asked him to take over after galliani
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Santi Claws
I’ve often wished the highest embarrasment for S***s full backs when playing against us. (And their MF’s Cf’s and goaly too), but DR3 of the tinies was instrumental in smashing up Walcott, along with Chilblanette, with his deliberate vindictive and outrageous, unpunished stamp on TW14.
http://arsenalist.com/f/arsenal-vs-tottenham-fa-cup/walcott-s-foot-gets-stepped-on.html
Sagna’s tackle on DR – if studied carefully – was fair. Rose had tried to ‘put one’ on Bacary. To see his triple loopingdom was an absolute pleasure, though DR has yet to be punished, fully, for what I’ve seen of him – against us.
Finsbury
Sure, some stuff goes to Untold, but we can handle the full perspective here too. Good posts, ta.
A5
Screensaver? Poldi/fans or TR v DR?
H13
Good stuff.
Heck, all…
Loving it.
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TR v DR ! Briiliant
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Shotta, Zimpaul –
Superb.
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Yeah, A5
Eat the grass, bitch. (As TR skips and motors into the space, to be followed by… ah ah ah,
don’t stop now…
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Szczesny’s save at the end from Adebayor was straight out of Sylvester Stallone’s “Goalkeeping for Great Escapers” book.
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“You cannot influence what the people around you are saying. I mean no disrespect to you (media), but I absolutely don’t care what you are saying – don’t take it negatively, but it is like that,” Rosicky said.
In other words, Rosicky says fuck you to the media.
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I love Sagna to death. But if he doesn’t stay, I’d have no qualms over bringing in Leandro Bacuna before the likes of Chelsea or United scoop him up. He absolutely dominated Eden Hazard the other day. Kid is built like a brick shit house and isn’t bad on the ball either. And he’s just twenty two. Jenko, Bellerin and this beast all fighting for the RB spot can be nothing but good for the team. Oh, and he plays in the middle as well.
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Well done ZIMPAUL & PG too. hahaha
Its not the laziness master GEORGE. its the pedantsism. That’s not a word is it?? Me and my bloody English. .
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By the numbers v sperz, inc. Giroud v Ade:
http://news.arseblog.com/2014/03/spurts-0-1-arsenal-by-the-numbers/
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Sensational Arsenal
March 17, 2014 at 3:45 pm
you didnt hear it all ..he added this in the end :
“ill be sitting there with my cock out if you want to come have a look at it”
pepper!!!!!!
terrible form hunter…stop it..think of the ladies
nah they all have one thing on their mind..doctor yacub told me in 1988 the hardest operation in medicine is removing the penis from the female brain.
unlike the male brain who thinks things over , analyses and acts with reason, compassion and dignity, the metal forged by centuries of civilised survival and fair trade. long live the dollar……
stan pay bac..yeeha .
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Hunter, I love how Rosicky basically goes, “no disrespect, but fuck you. dont take this negatively. by the way, fuck you”
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I posted on the wrong article again bloody phone doh !
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SA, when did Rosicky say that about the media? (Damned ocean/time difference. I’m always missing good stuff.). I thought I loved him before, but that is just beautiful. What a hero.
By the way, PG, I don’t think you’re being lazy. Sometimes we don’t need a long post, all we need is a something to start the ball rolling. Today, for instance, I think you could have just posted “S***s 0-1 Arsenal. Discuss.” But thanks to ZimPaul for a good post, anyway.
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After a big win like Sunday I start to get withdrawal symptoms very quickly, thank god the youngsters are playing tomorrow. it might be good for the players to have a week off but selfishly I want them to play everyday
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alabamagooner@ 6:11pm
Here is the interview with our prince, our Mozart, Tomas Rosicky:
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/arsenals-tomas-rosicky-we-dont-care-if-critics-dismiss-our-title-hopes-9197101.html
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What a strike by Tomas though, I mean quite a few footballers can smack a ball, but this was cartoon-stuff, THWACK! SWOOSH! KAZAAM! It wasn’t just the manner of the striking that produced the gasp but its ridiculous daredevil spontaneity, a momentary run into space with half a dozen options, a second later the football was still rising as it blew a balloon in top left netting (from Tomas’ angle), the keeper had barely moved. A true striker’s goal as they say or as we say at Arsenal, a gifted midfielder’s goal.
Such an epic win. Plundits barely know what to say, conveniently forgetting Spurs had every motivation plus the home derby advantage, while Arsenal, off the back of two sapping encounters and injuries, and that off the back of a difficult run of matches anyway, had the chances to wrap up before such memorable team defensive discipline.
A fair result Spurs would agree if and when they ever get over it.
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arse_or_brain March 17, 2014 at 6:08 pm
thank you !!! i am not alone… george.. its official …we are stupid and need an alert system so that we stop posting on the wrong days…… talk to your people george….guide us
gains give us the manuscript..9 games..9 victories..what happens then? have we warned the fire brigade and hospitals ? what about the military? will the nation cope? has boris thought off the children gains?
dc ..whats the status…the harrowitz falcon XN 2.95 ….do they still have it in stock…when shall we expect delivery ? i have completed all aerial challenges in grand theft auto 5 and feel confident.
zimpaul … a 5000 word thesis on “Putin gives title to Arsenal” , and how italian farmers rip off high class business gurus in that area of east london where they grow cockerels on volleyballs
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Zim:
The pundits knew that Chelsea would beat Aston Villa and that we would struggle to get a point: this weekend was the weekend when the four became three. Except, of course, it didn’t work out like that. There is an old adage in horse racing that you should back the horse the bookies want to win, and looking at their prices right now they will have taken lots of money on Chelsea, Man City and, recently Liverpool. Their big pay day is The Arsenal winning the League – and I think it will be ours too. I think what I am suggesting is that the bookmakers not only know the odds against anything happening, but they also understand the psychology of punters – who tend to be influenced by idiotic pundits (who are, more often than not, failed wannabees.)
The more I think about yesterday’s game the better pleased I am.
In fact, it was absofuckinglutely delicious.
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Talk sport doing a tribute to Arsene on his 1000th game, Ray Parlour and Nigel Winterburn giving the insight
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thks for the tip arse or brain …… crying with kolo tackles
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Talksport ?
I would rather push broken glass in my ear
Well actually I would not but the idea of listening to Talksport on Wenger is repulsive
I might listen to the execution of Adrian Durham – if it was quick
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