I don’t know where to start, so this might be quite a disjointed ramble. It’s supposed to be the season of goodwill, but I’m not feeling it. Not one little bit.
Once again I don’t intend to give a detailed account of a game you have all seen and who all know enough to form your own opinions of what went right or indeed wrong. So I’ll just give you a feel of how I felt.
Before kickoff I had some good news, Tomas Rosicky was to start. Now, anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge for of the little Mozart. Well he didn’t let me down. He was my man of the match. I thought he and Santi were subline.
Sanchez got MOTM from Alan Smith and at times was unplayable. At other times he was annoying and wasteful. It was clear that Santi was the designated penalty taker and that Alexis pushed him into the shadows and stepped into the limelight. He them proceeded to do an impersonation of Mesut Ozil taking a penalty and rolled the ball to Green. He and Ozil might be our best two players, but neither should be allowed near a penalty kick again. Frankly, it was a pathetic attempt.
Had we gone one up in 7 minutes , the way we were playing, I am convinced the floodgates would have opened and Arsene would have been in a position to make early substitutions and saved some legs for West Ham.
Instead, with only a one goal lead at half time, a moment of utter stupidity in the second minute of the second half, saw Giroud leave the field and the game changed. Now it became more of an even contest and we ended up working hard to the very end.
However, despite the incompetence of the referee in giving a penalty against Debuchy for making an excellent tackle, we won. With 10 men for half the game and some third choice players on the pitch.
Once again despite winning, the usual twitter experts when into meltdown. Moaning that we should have scored double figures and talking bollocks about “in-game management” and poor substitutions.
The thing is that had it been me, I would have left Debuchy at right-back and had Chambers sit slightly in front with Flamini. But that does not mean I think that is what should have been done, I just think thats what I would have done.
It seem to me that no matter what Arsene does, these know-it-alls say he got it wrong. Even if he does what they would have done, they claim he should have done something else.
The bottom line is WE WON. And I cant think of a single player who had a bad game.
Its our job to support the team, not manage it.
Positively Arsenal 
Sanchez due a breather at some point in this game?
Could be subbed off for a fresh Walcott!
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Schneiderlan now missed the game v Arsenal on Thursday, win today and win that game and we will be no worse than 4th.
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Mertesacker with beat clearance!
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Bollocks
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poor defending and it a goal for west ham, we need to bring on Gibbs at left back.
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cazorla should have scored there
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Amazing move between involving Chamberlain. Close!
Come on Arsenal! Debuchy just over nearly compensating for that unlucky deflection.
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Burnley have just had a leveling goal disallowed at city
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Man City 2-2 Burnley, City were 2 up
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6 minutes plus stoppage time to go, Gibbs on for Welbeck
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that should have been a penalty to Arsenal for a foul on the ox
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Reid now booked, he should have got one for the penalty too,
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Chambers on for OX with a few minutes to go, for me it should have been Theo on, we are getting at them on the break, bringing on Chambers means we lack speed
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5 minutes of injury time to be played
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szczesny came and missed the ball, bit of panic in our defense at the moment
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3 minutes left
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Monreal taken out of it, but not even a free given
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come on you gooners, FT: West Ham 1-2 Arsenal
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So Tony Gale is formerly of West Ham, and played the last time they finished above us. That explains it all.
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Tonly Gale has always been very anti Arsenal, always going to be even worse with West Ham our opponents.
Man City let a two goal lead slip to finish 2-2 at home to Burnley.
Arsenal 5th, level on points with Southampton and only 3 points off Man Utd in 3rd
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Tony Gale said Oxlade-Chamberlain was having a shit game and the very next minute he lauds him for having a fantastic night.
Santi and Szcz were the two best.
Le Coq was magisterial in the middle.
What a difference having our first choice defence makes, huh?
I’m liking Debuchy more and more. He’s miles better than Sagna as far as I’m concerned. Well done Arsene.
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What will make this win even better is going to be the whinging from big fat sam, cry me a river.
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That’ll do nicely, thank you. Yes, Sam, we’re dodgy in defence but not as dodgy as you are. And where did the ref get 5 minutes to add on and why did he play 6?
Great all round performance. Coquelin has had the best game I can remember him having in an Arsenal shirt. Great running from all of our front three – maybe Alexis is worn out but he still doesn’t stop running.
Good to see Kos back – let’s hope he can make it two in a row on Thursday. We look much more stable with him there.
But my MoM is Santi again. He’s playing tremendoud football at the moment. No more injuries now, please God.
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2-1 to the football team.
For a squad ravaged by injuries that’s an impressive three points.
Cazorla? Different class today though he could’ve buried that chance and also fouled the crosser for a yellow in the build up to their goal, but I don’t really care to groan! The third goal just wouldn’t come, but you can see these players are starting to work it out. Great attacks, just missing Walcott or Plodders to finish haha!
Sometimes Sanchez doesn’t realise he has a mini-me alongside him in Chambo, but it’s coming.
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tremendous football, even.
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all above us dropping points… seriously nice!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Fuck yeah!!!!!!! Fuck you fat Sam for resting those players against Chelsea and fuck you for running your fat gob all week long.
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So happy for that result – so many had written us off and I confess I was worried. But I’m really glad Fat Sam’s gamble didn’t pay off – he should have just gone for it against chelski he could have got something from that game given that he and mourinho are kindred spirits in their love of 18th century football.
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not just fat sam but the maureen as well crying like a little girl what an excellent end to the year just hope he slips on some strategically placed pizza to finish it off
hope fatsam watches the game back and sends the ref a big bowl of fruit for keeping his team in at and all his players on the park upton or otherwise.
three games leading going into the last 15 defences subs made in all three when most of us have been shouting for attack to take the pressure off, Arsene leading 2-1 at the moment but oh my heart.
Also when we are breaking in the last moments why cant we either score or waste ten minutes by the corner flag just to give me a breather
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Calm down, gains. He just can’t do it any other way. Just laugh at him.
Song still looks quite classy, I think. But there was a lot of bad feeling about the way he left for Barca, so he has no hope of CL football again.
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With all the pundits in an unseemyly haste to reflect some of Alexis Sanchez’s glory, they completely ignore the twinkle-toed genius we have in midfield, the magician Santi Cazorla, my Man of the Match. Without him we could never have coped with all the injuries we have had this last 3 months..
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aob – me too – I don’t think I breathed for the last ten minutes.
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Yes, shotta – Man of the Season so far. So great to see his mojo’s working again.
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ywah… so glad santi is finding his form again… class remain the permanent thing.
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As you people say in England, buzzing!
Very gritty play from Arsenal combined with lethal counter-attacking. We were good defensively from the front. It is mind-boggling how Cazorla tip-toes his way out of being closely marked by 2-3 players. In the past few games, Cazorla has been receiving the ball deep when we are under pressure and quickly wriggles away from the opposition pressing, thus quickly turning defense into attack.
I swear I saw on TV, “Billy The greatest Arsenal fan” abuse Wellbeck when he blazed one over. Some fucking supporter.
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Oh, Burnley. I think we can go on a bit of a run.
Now let’s see what the moaners say.
Le Coq is a project youth player. You may want to remind the tossers who like to use that as an insult.
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Szczesny 8 – commanding performance, caught so many high balls today, relieved pressure off the defense
Debuchy 6.5 – solid and dogged performance
Mertesacker 6 – solid game, battled well
Koscielny 6 – great to have him back, we are so much better with him
Monreal 6 – played very close to Kos most of the game, must have been tactical, but he left a lot of space on the left for them to attack from till Gibbs came on.
Flamini 6 – battled well
Coquelin 7.5 – staked a claim for a regular starting spot, all action performance
Oxlade-chamberlain 6.5 – ran himself into the ground, should have done better on couple of the breaks and should have had a penalty to go with his assist.
Cazorla 8 – he is playing well at the moment, and he always enjoys playing West Ham.
Alexis 7 – worked his socks off
Welbeck 6 – got the winner, worked hard, but still finding it difficult to get into our style
subs
Gibbs 5 – helped shore up our left side
Chambers n/a – only on a few minutes
Once again must mention the poor standard of reffing, apart from the Song goal incident he favored West Ham entire game, Carroll got frees for nothing, AFC players booked for little, some WHU players had free pass all game.
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I actually missed the Song goal so can anyone tell me was it rightly or wrongly ruled out, was the WHU players blocking Szczesny’s view of the shot
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It turns out it’s Oscar, not Cesc, who is the best player at Chelsea. They looked downright shit against Southampton without him linking the midfield with the forward line and making those little darting runs between the lines. I can’t wait to see us at full strength against those Chav bastards.
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Thoughts on Coq. today? Watching the game on a stream, it’s hard to see!
–
I guess the Groaners won’t give credit where it is due: a smart loan to get some game time at Charlton, get him sharp if required in case there was a cluster of injuries in midfield to add to those in defence.
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Coquelin was very good today, but I’ve already seen several of the moaners totally downgrade his performance, as him playing well would not fit with the agenda
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I’m one my brand spanking new lap top. I think I’ll call him HAL or Dennis. what do you think?
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eduardo, the ref had to right the wrong of giving us a penalty. It was so obviously a pen that he had to give it. But he let the crowd intimidate him and he overcompensated in favor of West Ham. O’Brien should have been sent off for a studs up tackle on Alexis and Carroll should have been double booked for throwing more elbows than an amateur wrestler. Soft underbelly my wrinkled friends.
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Call him Le Coq in honor of Flamini’s heir apparent.
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Surely the laptop has to be called:
Electric Sanchez?
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With a bit of luck someone will write the match report ? Please Pretty please?
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Arsene on Le Coq:
“He played very well, especially in the first half. He was very influential and then in the second half he fatigued a bit in the last 20 minutes, but he had a very good performance not only defensively but he also passed quickly, sharply and through the lines. Overall he had a convincing performance.”
Love, love that fucking player. He’s an academy player who has been on loan in loads of teams and still has the motivation to come out and have a monster performance.
Look at the assholery from some of our support:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/arsenal-fans-react-midfield-partnership-4884375
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No CLlew
@NoCLlew
Quality defensive numbers from Francis Coquelin: 4 tackles, 5 interceptions, 7 clearances, 2 aerial duels won, 77% pass accuracy.
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Whoever does it should perhaps mention the fact that we were written off by every Arsehole in the world.
That’s a good name for the doomers, Arseholes.
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Trust the WOBs to never learn. All their favorites to replace continue to prove they are no match for the professor, who proves his mettle time after time, especially in the crunch. According to reports, Klopp has resigned from BVB by mutual consent. Then to cap it all Everon continue to leak goals in Wiganesque fashion. I am afraid Martinez this is guilt by association.
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