A guest post from our resident roving reported Andrew @anicoll5
Chances are you saw the game, you have seen the headlines and digested the words of the learned and not so learned pundits in the 17 hours since referee Pawson blew the final whistle. You will have the warm glow following a contest deservedly won by the far, far superior football team.
Like me I suspect you will have wow’ed and coo’ed at the energy of Sanchez, his physical strength, his unquenchable “GIVE-ME-THE-BALL-NOW” approach for 93 minutes. Unlike me you may have known the name of referee Pawson without having to look it up in the paper a few moments ago, surely the mark of good game management by the officials, in PGMOL-ese, at least.
Of the day itself Tim (@foreverheady ) and I met and we supped in the George, penned inside the pub because Islington have temporarily withdrawn permission for customers on matchdays to drink outside. We bellowed at one another for an hour in an effort to rise above the din. I am relieved the pub has just one more game of the ban to serve before it will be business as usual.
Of the game itself the first half I thought the football was good. Fair play to the Lancastrians, no recognised names in their side, no PL form to give them any confidence of nicking even a point but organised, sensible, no risks taken and difficult to get through. We played well but did not quite ‘click’ in the opening 45. Moves broke down around the edge of the box when a Burnley boot got in the way, passes were just not precise enough, a little slow to move the ball, if Welbeck ran right, Sanchez knocked the ball left. I don’t know if it was shown on the box but about 20 minutes into the match our Chilean and the boy from Longsight M16 had a noisy shouting and pointing stand off after yet another breakdown.
Second half we notched up a gear in the quality of our passing and the speed of movement. The opposition started to show signs of fraying, with missed tackles, clumsy half clearances, corner after corner, and the clearest indication that they were about to crack……
And so they did, Sanchez leaping like an angry salmon between two large haddock to put away one of the best crosses of the afternoon.
And with blood in the water ( I shall stay with the fishy theme) we circled and struck again at the helpless victim, and again………., and but for an exceptional save from Heaton and the intercession of frame of the goal our German Shark would have pushed the score line towards the 5-0 result that reflected the disparity between the teams on and the clubs off the pitch. Still that would be greedy and it does not harm to throw the little ones back. ( OK that’s it, no more fish)
The reception that Theo received was good to hear and I got the impression he was genuinely touched by it. The game was won but he ran around with confidence and a bit of style. Good to see. No other injuries I saw yesterday although Mikel looked a bit tired and stiff as he went off.
Good support from the visitors who spent most of the afternoon singing “In our Lancashire Homes”. George Formby had a better song for Arsenal fans yesterday though “It’s Turned Out Nice Again”.
Toodle Pip
Positively Arsenal 
Thank Cod for Alexis. Sorry. I popped in The George after the game Andrew,is that a toilet or a corridor with a wet wall they’ve got in there?
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Thanks Andrew.
I agree with everything you’ve written, bar the fishy puns. This is not the plaice for them. On the TV it looked like Burnley were making a right go of trying to catch us on counterattacks a few times in then first half. They had a couple of half chances themselves, which got several replays.
Once Arsenal broke them, it was open season. A score line of 5 or 6 would not have flattered us at the end. That handball was missed, however there had been other teams doing the exact same thing at the Ems in the recent past.
There are still a few more un-used gears this team have yet to reach with their potential, when they do hit top form – it will be devastating for any opposition. You could even say we will be Turbot charged. Geddit?
Chelsea have a tricky Wednesday night CL away game in Slovenia, and then the early kick off at Anfield on Saturday. The mickymousers need to raise their game, but Fulham Gazprom Inc. should be vulnerable.
For now, Arsenal need to be looking at reeling back in City and Southampton.
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We saw a bit of a stand off between Wellbeck and Sanchez on the box Andrew. Hope there isn’t a serious rift between them; as good as the wonder boy is it’s team spirit and team play that won the game yesterday.
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Stew, I agree and have a blog in mind on that very subject. It might not go down well.
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Simple thing is all great teams have one or two truly great players, but an average team with a great player will still be an average team.
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Tuesday beckons – I hope to see Poldi start as he is too good a player to settle for a spot on the bench. Looking at the options AW has now you wonder how he fits it all together as there are so many bits of jigsaw in the puzzle
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Watching the match again now and we were far from poor in the first half. very very far from poor. Some really lovely moves and two handballs, both penalties, one blocking a certain goal went unnoticed by the officials. I suspect those saying we were shit in the first half were too emotionally wrapped up in the occasion and were just so desperate not to be ahead at half time.
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Good write up Andrew.
I would not get too worked up about the little altercation between Alexis and Welbeck. These things happen all the time between team mates, especially when they desperately want to win, like the top competitors do. We have to remember there is the language difference and lack of familiarity with each others games that is still being worked through. But they have shown that they can link up well as both have scored and assisted each other previously. Personally I love that Sanchez will step up and try to make something happen. He’s not afraid to take a chance as he has not yet been beaten down by the whinging home crowd like some of our other players.
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It makes a difference if the ref shows an early yellow when due. So props for that particular call, we’ve seen them not given!
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Well, I was trying to convince some during the summer that Sanchez would ( ok, could) prove to be better for the Arsenal then any old Suarez, and I’m not changing my tune now haha!
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Sanchez’s old team in Bunga Bunga Land were not good enough to win the league when put them a goal up in that title play off against A.Madrid. And what a goal that was!
He’s in the right place now.
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Great teams are not composed of identikit clones but of different personalities etc.
I for one would like to see how these different characters/players, Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott, The BFG, Debuchy and the all the rest get on.
Ja Gunners, Ja!
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surely sanchez was telling welbeck he came too much to the left?..it was welbecks fault and sanchez called it out..it happens in every single match and in every single team.
i would be concerned if players feel upset at losing out on making a good angled pass or carve open the defenses with help from some simple movement from team mates.
the strikers from south america seem to exhibit “purer” love for the game imho.
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heh i meant if the players do not get upset*
http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2014/11/02/5724791/walcott-alexis-needs-to-chill-out?ICID=HP_BN_5
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Hope Andrew and Tim had a good day aside from some good football at the Arsenal. I managed to blag a late ticket but had an appointment to meet some friends and a very tasty burger at a burger stall. Next time…
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Bloody odd Manchester derby
Citeh lost their mind for the final 15 minutes and for no obvious reason
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The Abu Dhabians surrendered a two goal lead and had a defeat in their last two results:
even champions can get nervous?
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I thought we played really well yesterday. Sanchez is getting all the plaudits and well donw to him. He has settled in amazingly well. I don’t think I have been as excited about a signing since Bergkamp!
Having Theo back is brilliant news and hopefully we can get all our other injured back and keep the rest fit!
Good write up Ani, thanks.
Seeing our blatant penalties not given yet again compared with how easily the officials fall over themselves to give the chavs pens is getting on my tits. Looks like they were the highest bidder in the pre-season PGMOL closed auction.
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We are getting there. A really good win.
Monreal is impressing the heck out of me.
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I wonder if Sagna is enjoying life on the plush well padded heated Citeh bench?
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Young Chambers is a beast also.
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Another thing, A crying shame that Poldi didn’t score. Two ferocious efforts.
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It was great to see my boy Theo back in the mix. He looked up for it. That was nice to see after being out for so long.
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Of course we weren’t as bad in the first half as the carping fans would have it. Main thing is that the team is starting to gel. A bit of shouting is a good sign. A bit, mind.
United losing Rojo weakens their defence further. Racing car in front, Messerschmidt three-wheeler in the back. Should be an enjoyable game on the 22nd.
I must say I enjoy watching Adebayor play for Tottenham. What an aholehole (aka flagtail).
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Theeeeeeeeee-O!
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Oh bollocks. Very harsh red for Villa. Referee didn’t even see the incident. So tired of bad refereeing deciding games.
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When the dude raised his handled the ball on that cross, a Burnley player was appealing for a handball. How no official saw that is baffling.
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I agree Finn. It was a slight mush in the face, that after some aggressive tussling and tackling. A yellow at most.
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Dex, did Sagna play in the cup thingy?
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Yeah I think he did Paul… Still sad to see him on their bench and not playing for us.
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Great write up Andy, and how good it was to meet up with you beforehand. Pity I couldn’t hear a world you were saying…..
We did indeed play well, and were inches wide on two occasions, had two obvious penalty shouts turned down for handball (one which was goalward bound) and saw the hero of the hour miss a golden chance in a first half of convincing superiority. Mind you, that didn’t stop someone behind me (quite a posh-looking and sounding bloke) say loudly that we were poor and that he wished we had come fifth last year so that the club would shake things up and spend some money). I told him not to be so stupid, and then enjoyed reminding him in the second half that our goals came from two players we had been able to afford (probably because we had finished fourth).
Although the game was won by then (and it was a really good goal from Alexis) it was really notable how much the pace and threat increased when Theo came on. We were irresistible once he joined the fray.
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True dat, Dex. He is too good of a player to barely get a game.
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we seem to have an unbelievable amount of spoiled Gooners across the web, their spouting of self entitlement is amazing. They see it as their right that Arsenal beat the likes of Burnley and Sunderland and even a hell of a lot better teams, without any trouble, we should be winning by 7, 8 or more, according to them. when we are not 3 up by half time they can’t cope. Its the wrong selection, the wrong tactics, the wrong formation, the wrong players, the wrong manager.
The mind set of these idiots is revealed when they describe the likes of Anderlecht and even Burnley/Sunderland, as pub teams. So if we do not steam roll the opposition then its all moan, whine and throw their toys out of the pram. Even once a victory is attained they have to save face by continuing their tirade of abuse at the manager, the club, some of the players, whoever.
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What has happened to this comments section? Has everyone found a new blog? If so where is it, I could do with a chat.
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Stew, im glad you called it right about the first half ive been shouting about it since 3:45 on saturday. 13 shot 4 on target 7 corners deneid pens and a keeper playing out of his skin is not a poor half especially when you consider 1st halves are normally for softening up the entrenched opposition anyway.
I always go in the kings head before games where the tv is always on with the sound down so apart from the cheering when the scoucers or simler conceed talking is auldible.
Got to say the crowd were funny again apparently we were shit up until 70 minutes and then all of a sudden we were 2-0 up and even the misplaced passes were being lorded with shouts of unlucky son well tried, fair wheather fans in the space of ten minutes a new record!
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George: I think Hunter used to provide many of the comments in the comments section and he seems to be on a sabbatical (or locked out of his flat again).
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Guilty George, in my defence I randomly bumped into someone from another blog on Saturday.
–
I enjoyed the volume of the celebration for Sanchez’s opener. It was the second half opener after a first half with good chances, and the sight of Sanchez leaping betwixt the CBs was very cool, and people enjoyed it!
Was there something different in the passing of Ramsey and Walcott, I haven’t watched the game again but that was an impression. They’ve had a lot of experience in working their way around teams set up to hold out and counter, although they are coming back from injury both have been key to the first team of late. Hard to tell because the tempo was already rising when they both came. Another late goal in the game too.
Some people wondered why both older CMs started but it could only be because there are three games this week, players are coming back, and the next two games are also important. Swansea away will be a game.
Thoughts on the formation? Haven’t been able to tell what the formation going forwards has been for ages now. Clueless. Vaguely I can have an idea, a striker, Chamberlain right, Cazorla left on Saturday but then they can swap. In order to confuse me, and probably the opposition too? This season people have been talking about a 4141 thing. But for a while now, maybe a couple of seasons or longer, it’s been possible to freeze the match footage when watching the Arsenal defend, and they have often been lined up 4141. There on the screen. So it’s not entirely something new, whatever it is.
Also it’s probably been a bonus that Monreal and the BFG had the last break off to train at the club, and it’ll be helpful in the next one too, if Nacho’s minutes have not earned him a recall to Spain.
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Amidst a wonderful report by our permanent ambassador to the Emirates, Andrew Nicoll, where are our eagle-eyed proof readers?
*roving reportED in our sub-heading
Mel caught the disease early; thank Cod, whomever that is.
An enjoyable read nonetheless.
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Sanchez is a decisive player who makes a difference when it’s deadlocked. I saw a great stat that 7-10 goals have put Arsenal ahead in the match.
Hull was a bad hiccup–a good set of fixtures and Rambo and Theo returns set us up well for MU and a good run of results to Christmas. Hopefully we’ll see Arsrnsl climb up to 2-3 and be within reach of Chelsea when we play them at home next to give us a chance to compete for the PL in the second half. 9 seems like a lot to make up, so it is understandable to feel it isn ‘t likely but things are looking up.
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Good write up… glad the team is settling down… the doubters will eventually applaud… it is their usual pattern
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New post is up and about.
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