Good morning Positivistas and a glowing Summer morning up here in Norfolk.
A fine game yesterday between what the succession of televised games over the weekend showed were clearly the two superior footballing sides in the EPL at the present time. Both demonstrated a quality of football and of purpose that the Citehs, Yooniteds, and Spuds and Saints are deficient in at the present time. And therefore while the result disappointed me as I would have preferred the flame to flicker a little longer in the season, the football I thought was pretty damn good.
And to the grit of the game itself which I had the opportunity to view from on very high indeed, and again on the TV last night ?
Our starting line up, no significant changes though with Bellerin back into after his Wembley break – it seems Arsene has decided who is our first choice right back and after the young Spaniard’s careful patrol of Hazard all afternoon, and some striking runs forward, who is to argue ?
My first ‘surprise’ was Chelsea’s decision to start with no recognised striker, even allowing for the attraction of them leaving with a point that seemed an odd one. Not so and in the first half I thought the visitors looked more dangerous, their best chances of the game from Oscar and Ramires. When Droggie came on at HT the attacking threat faded, with the poor old Ivorian reduced to shouting, waving and pointing after Michael Oliver in desperation. Should I feel pity to see a former footballing nemesis reduced to a toothless, dribbling old crone ? Probably, but it make take a year or two yet.
Overall though a very good defensive performance from all our back five. And did you see the number of cards we picked up in the last few minutes as we pressed and Chelsea threatened to cause problems with a breakaway ? Does that tell us we have players who have learned ? Yes it does.
Two midfield units worked hard throughout the 90 minutes and effectively battled each other to a standstill. There was very little time for any player to take a touch or look up to choose a pass and even Ozil, generally a man who can find space inside a telephone box, saw his usual poise hustled and harried. Coquelin and Matic tackled the heavy work, Santi and Ramires picked up the scraps and tried to create something with them. Aaron, like Hazard, found it difficult to get anything going on the flank against the capable Azplicueta.
My only criticism of our creative engine was that until the last 15 minutes or so we did not seem to move the ball through midfield fast enough, there was an extra touch, a half turn, that just allowed the defenders to regroup. That change may have had to do with Danny’s introduction, it may have had to do with slightly tiring legs. It did seem to me that last ten minutes that we were at our best, and they, blowing hard, leaning on the ropes.
But we all know it is goals that win matches and we have two of the best goalscorers in the PL.
Sanchez and Ivanovic was a chess match, the Chilean leading the large Balkan on, pushing the ball inside, down the line, at him. But never quite breaking young Branislav, though his late yellow card following a frustrated lunge at Alexis indicated that he understood the game that was in progress. For all his cruel taunting of the Serb however Alexis could not break open the Chelsea lock.
And up front Olivier ran, he hustled, he charged, he darted and flicked but against the double coverage of the ever popular Mr Terry and his sidekick Cahill he was always going to struggle. And Giroud did, but he was game to his final kick, he will have easier afternoons and more profitable ones.
So a good game, a timely reminder we have still work to do, and peaks to attack and conquer.
Enjoy your week.
Positively Arsenal 
lacazette a tasty striker? not so sure.
i’m very hopeful about next season. that said, i i’m convinced wehave the best squad in theleague, we were only undone by injuries. we have lots of players who will only improve next season. that is including cazorla who i expect to master his new position better next season.
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I admit I did not hear Thierry yesterday, not a bad presentation to miss from the response his comments have generated in most Arsenal quarters. Timing is everything in many fields, even football punditry, and it may be his timing was poor.
With regard to the general point of Arsene trying to strengthen the squad over the Summer I do not believe that is in much doubt.
The requirement for a new keeper and new centre back I doubt are in Arsene’s mind but brining in a strong, tall midfielder to share the work with Coquelin and a further striker seem very much on target.
Foreach of the past two Summers we have bought well, and bought at least one really good player for ££££. This Summer will be the same.
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When were pundits ever supposed to be neutral our legend in the sky should be totally ARSENAL biased just like the rest of the ex’s are.
Next subject “the boss” surely that’s Kos or am I getting mixed up.
Next … Are we really asking for a fox in the box again and after the falcal fiasco as proved any striker however brilliant must be able to fit in to the way the team plays and if he can’t link play like Oli then there won’t be the chances to get on the end of.
Next … Yes defending is an art but right place right time and for anyone suggesting chelski played as well or better than us should remember its easier to put eleven men behind the ball and counter and far harder to take the game to someone and force the win. That is why teams with less resources use the tactic its not rocket science or for that matter tactical genius.
Next … I can’t remember but just to say we matched chelskis disciplined defending with measured attack knowing we wanted to win but actually a point was very handy COYG always!!!
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that is the word, a DM to sharethe load with coq. and thatcan be… well another coq-like find within the club.
a new goalkeeper maybe. but a new center back? what do we do with chambers? a 19year old whom wenger bought for 16m just last season.
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i dont understand …
the OPTION to play with targetman is because we lost the directness of robin and had to reschedule our approach and have gone with that for the last 2-3 years
how about re-rescheduling the approach to include the striker approach we had from 1998 till 2012?
chambers akpom schezney…might all be real quality when theyre 28 and 29 ….do you want to wait till then?
i dont…i want to humilaite cesc and mou now. next year. in fact should have done it this year
all those who said 12 months ago that mou’s second seasons bring titles and that cesc will win it for chelsea have been proved correct and have the ammo and support of facts to mock us and laugh at us, which they are doing ….i want to die….. and ivan is doing nothing….ill go to my corner and cry…
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that DM might be isaac hayden? maitland-niles or krystyan bielik ?
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off course they could be ..but isnt that too much to ask of them so soon?
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Glad you enjoyed the match Andrew and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. The transfer bollocks you can all put where the monkey keeps his nuts though.
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we didnt actually wait for bellerin. did we? and coq was never in anyone narative in aerly november.
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if strenghtening a team automatically make a team play better, city should have won the league haven bought wilfred bony whom many argue was better than oli
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people can lick maureen’s arse all they like.but the fact is chelsea won because they were lucky with injuries and we were unlucky. it is not because of any second season nonsence.
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You know, Hunter, if you want to rant about how our players aren’t good enough, there are plenty of other places to do that besides here. But, if you insist, I’ll just go back to scrolling past your posts without reading them.
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why, where did i say our players are not good?
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is it what i say or the way i say it….damn…
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until january the name of the right back in most people’s mouth was clyne. i know some might still rate him above bellerin despite eden hazard still being in his( bellerin ) back pocket
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look i really want to talk bt im afraid im being misunderstood
bellerin is exceptional..for his age…he is not cafu yet. i hope you can understand what im trying to say, if not, god bless..roll on next year and hopefully the players find the guts/desire and attitude to reward wenger and the good fans for all the shit theyve had to put up with the last years.
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and whn i say shit i mean the shit coming from opponents and media and the trolling…..
feel i even have to explain my commas sometimes…lol…
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I dont think anyone reads them H
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“You know, Hunter, if you want to rant about how our players aren’t good enough, there are plenty of other places to do that besides here. But, if you insist, I’ll just go back to scrolling past your posts without reading them.”
You and me both! As soon as I saw that bs about the bitey racist, the scroll button came back in full effect.
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hahaa ..but its just the type of player, the attributes …dont get fixated on the name.
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or they chose what to read george…
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‘A bit tasty’?
ooops, I was channelling my inner Ray Winstone.
That’s bang out of order.
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because wenger was obviously an idiot trying to get him and the type of person who believes the media scorn and witch-hunting………
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There is noting really wrong with our defence at all, it’s just a lazy BS meme from the aaa and the media haters.
Chelsea and Southampton are lauded for having the best defences – both have conceded 26 goals so far. One is 1st, one is 7th due to goals scored.
Guess which little unloved team in North London is 2nd on goals conceded? – Yup, it’s Arsenal but you’d never believe it and all this despite having Kos & Debuchy out for months on end and the BFG looking jaded after the WC. Bellerin, Chambers and Nacho did fantastic work when called upon. Gibbs however, is still a mystery as to why he hasn’t pushed on in his development, but he still has flashes of brilliance.
Finding more defenders or goal keepers is the least of the clubs’ worries this summer, In fact I don’t think the club have much to worry about at all in any department.
Keep the best players we have, give them all a lovely long summer rest and then a really good uninterrupted pre-season and it’ll all be hunky dory for August.
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Hunter:
“yes and lacazette and reus and petr cech and anyone who can boss the midfields of real.barca bayern chelsea etc etc …key word..boss them..not just play against them and compete…BOSS THEM….humiliate them…arrrggggghhhhhh”
I’m I not to interpret that to mean you think all those players are better than what we have? Therefore our players are not good enough, in your opinion? And Ivan is not doing enough to get you the better players you think you deserve? So that you can be happy when your team “humiliates” every team in the world?
If I’ve misinterpreted you, I apologize.
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“hopefully the players find the guts/desire and attitude to reward wenger…”
Implying the current players have neither guts/desire nor the proper attitude. Grrr….
*sigh*. I don’t know, Hunter, man. You just push my buttons I guess. We’ll just agree to disagree, I guess. I think deep down you mean well.
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See, I got so worked up I didn’t properly proofread before I posted. Now I’m just mad at myself for typos and poor sentence structure. #AlabamaOut
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I too would find the players wanting a couple of times this season when they let Arsene Wenger’s supreme faith in them down.
Monaco and Man Utd at home were avoidable cock-ups, (or at least could have had more damage limitation) I know luck plays a huge part but the old problem of brain-freeze took over for a while in both games. Some may say they wanted to please Wenger too much in these games and they just went for it.
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And as for DM, we still have a 33 year old Arteta who want’s to play for Arsenal next season.
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Happens to most humans, DC, at some point, doesn’t it. I don’t think its cause to question their guts or desire or attitude. Just their execution. Which I’m sure they acknowledge as well.
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If Arsenal come second after having lost Arteta for most of the season, that’ll be quite impressive considering his (ignored) importance.
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I agree Alabama, sometimes the players try too hard and it blows up in their faces. But lately I think they are learning to be a bit more cool under pressure. Sometimes things don’t work out no matter how hard you try. However, looking for an individual to blame in a team sport and thinking the answer is always buying the latest flavour of the month from another team is classic doomer behaviour.
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Thanks Andrew.
I thought the Arsenal ended the first half with a good momentum as well as the second. After the reset they came back out, as the gaffer said, perhaps a little too cautious but understandably so. Overall not astronomically different to the MAPB 0-0 last season. Arsenal were better then in the last Home game, Chelsea weren’t.
Alexis was a little bit niggled after the initial clump? I thought so, well worth a yellow! Ignoring that his passing wasn’t the best on Sunday, heh, but when he did manage to slide in Nacho the LB clumped the ball into touch! When Monreal made the cut back it was just away from Özil, Welbeck had little chance with the ricochet.
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alabamagooner
April 27, 2015 at 6:24 pm
well just an example….do you not feel one of our players should quit the passing around the box and just do the dummy and take the shot? the passing wasnt working…so where is the player’s intuition to try something else? is he waiting from arsene to tell him what to do? …just asking…
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our defending did improved this season compared to last season ond season before that. i said it earlier this season while we were letting in goals that the fault wasnt our defenders or the way we defended as the stats show that we allow fewer shots on target this season than previous seasons.
but things actually improved when oooooospinaaaa came on board.
i like gabriel a lot but he is still behind bfg and the boss. but i hope he challenge them for a spot next season. chambers will also get better as i expect him to settle and see himself a center defender rather than a right back.
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ivan is not doing enough to protect the image of the club , the manager and the players
totally different ball-game
some of those names were random but you cant convince me we have a better option for the right than say..reus… try as much as you want….
maybe ox ..who is direct and has the guts to pulverise opponents and run them down but poor boy gets injured a lot…
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When Monreal made the cut back it was just away from Özil, Welbeck had little chance with the ricochet.
fair enough but imo they should be expecting the cut back and get on it with full force…not with swings or placed shots …bang like a train taking the defender and the keeper with them inside the goal….bulldozer ..swearing at them as well and spitting on them as they try to untagle themselves from the net
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you cant have that nauseting portuguese talking like that about our club and say nothing in return….. thats how i feel about ivan…..
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would you not love a person in the club that would turn and say
‘oh ten years without the title boring?? try 50….’
‘well we cant all have russian crooks bankrolling us….some of us do care about the game’
is it so difficult? tell us ivan….whats stopping you? weher is old pete when you need him?
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Hunter might write to much in his rants but its always worth getting the gist because he sometimes makes very good points. Actually Hunter having seen ARSENAL win everything (except the CL and we was close) including going a season unbeaten if I had to wait for youth players to mature then so be it, seeing them mature is one of the few great pleasures I have left in this plastic football world.
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Will someone shout in Henry’s ear what Steww said, to paraphrase; stick his transfer talk where the monkeys keep their nutsacks. The damage he has done to the morale of players, many of whom look up to him, as well as to Wenger, whom he claims to be so indebted, is incalculable. Just driving, I was listening to Durham on Talkspite and he was gleefully using the quote to continue his incessant trolling of the club and to further the narrative that somehow Arsenal is falling behind because Wenger won’t overspend on transfers. Durham and his ilk perpetuate the conventional wisdom that clubs can spend their way to success without the risks of going bust despite the tombstones that litter the landscape especially Leeds, Portsmouth and Blackburn. Even if Manchester United and Liverpool don’t go bust the ridiculous sums they spent last summer, to barely make the top 4 in the case of the former and to fail miserably in the case of the latter should give fans pause. But even at PA, there are some who are so impatient for success, they fail to recognize Wenger is slowly building a championship winning team with a smart combination of signing good players and developing talent in-house. It is worth remembering that the summer before the Invincible season the only major signing was Lehman despite coming 2nd the previous year. Something like that could well happen again next season. That is how good the current squad can be.
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someoneneed totell thierry that given the same condition, that is the current teams inthe top six, the injuries and the and the squad rules, it will be nearly inpossible for the invinsible of 2003/2004 to finish were this current arsenal teams will let alone winning the league.
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with the home grown rule, injuries to sol campbell, playing cashley cole instead in central defence, losing lauren for seven months, losing henry and bergkamp at the same time for three and half months missing freddie for a long period. having to play kanu in the midfield or ray palour on the wing for most of the season. where does henry think his team would have finish on the table?
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oops *invincibles*
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the invincibles were just as lucky with injuries as this chelsea team.i wonder how they would have coped having hazard terry and ivanovic out for a long spell this season. we all see how useless they newest toy cuadrado is since his arrival in january.
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ian : getting the gist
thank you and apologies to the rest for not having a phd like steww…we cant all be top writers…distribution of workforce
no shoitta..not impatient for success…but certainly want to get the upper hand against disgraceful provocative bastards like jose and his shit teams…..
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no layksite ..someone tell henry : you coward you couldnt finish when we needed you the most and then you left with a letter to fans via the sun….lol….. so that messi wins it for you
same thing last year = doomer
how narratives can change huh?
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Hunter,
I would imagine said player, whomever you mean, is using his training, experience, instinct and on pitch vision to make an instantaneous decision about what to do. Sometimes it’s the wrong decision. But it’s a damn sight better than any decision you or I would ever make. I see that, I’m not sure you do.
As for the list of players quote, you asked when you ever said our players weren’t good enough. I was just reminding you, as your memory seemed a bit short.
And as for Ivan responding to Mourinho, good god, man you can’t be serious? No organization or person with any class responds to baiting like that. In fact, I’m now asking myself why I’m responding to this…
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My sincere apologies, George. I was off work today, and obviously had too much time on my hands. I’ll leave it now.
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no you dont need to apologise lol..were just talking…… but please show me where i said they arent good?
the ‘enough’ is just added from you ….
and ‘enough’ for what ? what is enough for you and what is enough for me?
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