Good morning,
I am almost embarrassed to write a review of yesterday’s game as it was one which every reader will have watched, re-watched, read what the media have to say and for those of a robust constitution have probed the deep recesses of social media, Twitter and blog wise. I can tell you little more than you eyes saw and your ears heard. But I shall try.
I had hoped to inset a 13 second clip of my view during the game above but technology has robbed me of that pleasure, for the moment. My back row spot perhaps in visual terms less was less than than perfect and we had to bend double to see the replays of the first two goals on the screens before we could settle on who had put the ball in the back of the net. There was no doubt about the third though, we were right in line, the finger was raised, pandemonium X3 and a formidable sense of relief that we were going to crush the Northern monkeys. I have two new best friends, Steve and Steve. Neither had an actual seat and they just bowled up to stand in a convenient gap between the rows. As everyone stood up all game it was no inconvenience. I had the opportunity to see the goals again on the box last night properly and they were superb, the first two the root of the title. I see LvG appears to blame his defenders for those goals. Listen son, no team anywhere will resist the accurate passing, quick player movement and exact finishing that we saw in those 74 seconds. Don’t beat yourself or your players up about it Louis. Move on.
My substantial advantage of watching from the North Bank in the first half is that I was able to see close up how much good work, invaluable exertion, that Gabriel and Per put in to keep the visitors at bay. Santi put in a remarkable shift in front of the back four and alongside Coquelin. That save from Cech from Martial just before half time was important. I see the young Frenchman’s shot hit Petr’s legs and could have gone anywhere. As important a moment in the game as any goal though, in my opinion. Cech was in command all afternoon, a man thoroughly at ease with his responsibilities.
I have no intention of naming names among our attacking and other midfield players. A magnificent team performance from every man. The most satisfactory way to move into the international break and, for Arsene at least, to plan for Watford in a fortnight. I have not consulted the history books but a very long time since we lost to the Hertfordshire Hornets. It serves no purpose in hammering the red side of Manchester only to trip up at Vicarage Road so I imagine our manager’s brow will be carefully furrowed over the next ten days.
As I mentioned yesterday the next two rounds of round of games brings the Manchester derby, the Red Mancs travel to Goodison, and among our chasing pack Palace play Leicester and the ‘Ammers, the ‘Ammers are at home to Chelsea etcetera. If the cards fall right it could be a very important two weekends after the international break.
A word for the Mancs ? In spite of myself I was impressed with Martial, very strong and confident for a youngster. We shall have to watch him.
A final off topic observation about yesterday. I have been going to Mancs games at Highbury and the Ems for six decades, a high spot of the calendar and I can remember 63,000 in the ground back when safety regulations did not apply to football. Yesterday is the first time I can ever remember that there were no police anywhere in attendance I could see, no banks of plod massed around the tube or railway stations or packed in carriers in side streets, visors up and shields at the ready, no police horses traipsing backwards and forward, up and down Hornsey Road or the helicopter hovering beady-eyed over proceedings. I From what I read Ken Bates (of all people) won a case against West Yorkshire Police that clubs only have to pay for Police inside their grounds or on their land. If the police want to impose martial law and draft hundreds of officers into an area then they can pick up the tab themselves. Oddly enough they don’t. A significant improvement I think.
And with that I shall leave you to glow through Monday and into a promising week.
Positively Arsenal 
When I said for the moment I meant it
Clever this technology stuff
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Lovely stuff Andy.
As they say in the media – good news is hard to sell!
I’m doubly delighted – with the 3-0 firstly and foremost , and the egg on so many morons faces. Hope everyone else is feeling just as happy as us and a bit groggy this morning.
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Nice one Andrew,how good were we yesterday mate?,what with the chaos going on at the bus stop in Fulham and Rodgers going at Liverpool,oh yeah-and that Harry Kane own goal,it was quite a weekend.
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The blooms are out in our little oasis .
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Well done Andrew and some vey wise words. No use stuffing the Mancs and slipping up vs Watford.
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The temptation was there to go for the early train after 20 minutes !
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A brief word about those filthy northerners at the Watford gap:
They will have two uninterrupted weeks of bus park training, it’s going to be no picking going oop norf.
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Ahem, I’m sure George’s personal hygiene is impeccable; *coughs.
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Just the job Andy Nic. Its just such a shame we don’t have a striker. We’d have probably won 3-0 if we did.
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amazingly, or maybe not so amazinlgy knowing what sort of idiots they are, Ramsey is still a target for the scapegoaters (yeah don’t have to lose for them to target a guy), these numbskulls must ignore everything good he does(like his heavy involvement in 2 of the 3 goals – assist to the assister – his endless work, his tackles, his defensive work, and how close he came to scoring) and they just see the couple of times he lost the ball, one of which Bellerin should never have passed to him in the first place, as he was not looking for it or expecting it.
the fact that after what was probably one of, if not the best, performances of recent years, this lot still whinge, bitch and target our players, shows that there is no hope of ever changing their mentality.
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i must say that there was more WOB at the game than I would have expected, but it was so nice seeing them on TV stream out of the ground before the final whistle, to ignorant and thick witted to actually clap off the team they claim to support, just in case it would be seen as acknowledgment that arsene knows best. A laughable lot.
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the behaviour of supporters in the ground was exemplary yesterday as it normally is when we are playing a serious rival. I was pleased to hear Ospina’s name get a cheer and a clap when the subs were read out.
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Satish @FabulousArsenal 1h1 hour ago
Arsenal’s record against Man United, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool & Spurs in 2015(all competitions) – 10 games , 6 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses.
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Perfect.
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just had a good laugh, I seen John Cross’s player ratings for the game in the Mirror, and he gave six utd players higher marks(6) than he gave Ramsey(5), and he also gave 5 to four Utd players, by the way he also only gave Bellerin and Cazorla a 6. and he said Santi was ” Clumsy and reckless with some of his passing”
anyone who buys that idiots Wenger book needs a slap.
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The old fart’s thoughts:
Inconsistent? Arsenal? Never let it be said.
How pleasing to give MFU a tonking for a change. My only complaint is that we happily took our foot off the gas whereas we could have had a bit of revenge for the horror show of a few years back.
Keeping them to a clean sheet though was good news, though we do have Petr Cech to thank for three outstanding saves.
Our goals were poetry in motion starting with Alexis’ audacious flick from Oz’s cross. Better to come a minute later, as Alexis’ back heel to Theo left him with time and space to pick out Oz just inside the area; a finish as cool as a cucumber put us 2-0 up after only 8 minutes. We were cutting holes through their defence as though it wasn’t there but it took another 12 minutes for our third. Wonderful play from Theo and dogged determination from Alexis left De Gea clasping thin air as Alexis let fly from about 15 yards into the corner. Beautiful to watch.
That unfortunately was the end of it as after Rambo missed the chance to put us four up. Sure, we had several other opportunities late in the game, Ox hitting the bar, but we were content to sit back and let ManU have the ball to do their worst. Personally I thought this a dangerous strategy especially with MU’s few quality players around who may have upset the poise we’d shown. Our defence though was showing all the qualities so sadly missing on Tuesday and bar the three saves Petr made, in fairness he had a fairly quiet afternoon. Every man Jack of the defence was on top of their game. And the forwards were busy helping out when needed, Those with long memories may remember Bobby Pires’ sliding tackle on Patrick Vieira. As one wag termed it. A David Attenborough moment. Well we saw it again when Theo not only slid in for a tackle but also won the ball. Bliss. Despite brilliant performances from Oz, Alexis and Santi, Theo was my MOM.
A lovely day. Pity about the bloody internationals which will disperse our team around the globe no doubt. Let’s pray they all return undamaged. Keep the faith.
Footnote.
Per Mertesacker arrested at Heathrow for body smuggling.
Reuters. The Arsenal centre half was arrested at Heathrow this evening by Customs Officials for attempting to conceal a non paying passenger on his flight home to Germany for a family visit.
He was released however when he told Customs that he’d had Rooney in his pocket all afternoon and forgot to remove him.
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the bad news from yesterday was Alexis getting a groin injury, and despite this he will join up with Chile for their 2 games, and I’d fully expect him to be played in both game, especially V Brazil, we could once again pay the price for our players making injuries worse while on international duty.
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And in spite of some prematch misgivings a reasonable performance from Mr Taylor. I would probably give him six out of ten. He sorted Darmian out quickly which assisted with the full back’s removal at half time. Three yellows for them was probably a little light as Fellaini committed enough fouls in 45 minutes to earn two reds. On the plus side the big hairy Belgian is one clumsy bastard.
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World Cup qualifiers eddy – unless the Chilean manager is an idiot, which his recent Copa America win suggests he is not, do you really think he is not going to play Alexis just to suit Arsenal ?
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Glad to see that Santi got a mention. He was everywhere the whole game, winning balls, dribbling through, defending from the front. In the last five minutes I saw the little chap still running around harrying the Utd back four.
That was the team performance we’ve all been expecting to see since the splendid form pre-season. Watford have only let in 1 goal at home this season but I suspect we may make quite a hole in that record, despite all the buses they will try to park.
Let’s hope there are no serious injuries after the two week domestic break.
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either he is injured or he is not, and if injured he should not be played, I fully expect Chile to play him injured or not. That is the gripe I would have. If he is not injured then no problem. Its AFC who pay him his £6M a year, and so the least we should expect is him not to play if injured.
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a piece about Mourinho from the times
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lazy Ozil
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I entirely agree with Eduardo re Alexis. If he isn’t fit he should not be allowed to be selected by a manager whether for a charity fun run or a world cup match. Does the Chilean national team pay his wages? No. Then they should fuck off and leave him alone. Whether their manager wants to or would be an idiot not to play him simply should not be part of the equation.
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Great write up Andrew, spot on.
A near perfect double Master Class from Arsenal over 90 minutes – an attacking one first half, and a second half shutting up of the shop to ensure the clean sheet and no unnecessary risks. Even then, we still had chances to score and the mythological Arsenal Bus (rarely spoken about, even more rarely seen) did its job superbly well, as we all saw.
We’ve mentioned it before but the emergence of a back five comprising Cech, Bellerin, Kos, Gab, Monreal, Per and Coq is of as much significance and excitement as the attacking forward line we now possess. And all this despite having bought just the one player this summer. Who’d have thought this could be possible?! Well Arsene Wenger, for one.
Also of interest was how two players we supposedly missed out on in the summer failed to make any kind of impact on the game – Schweinsteiger and the sub Schneiderlin were conspicuous by their absence/ineffectiveness. Martial, a huge prospect for the future, presented only the occasional challenge to our defence.
Yes, it’s still only three points but it was worth so much more by way of a statement of intent to the rest of the league.
Dropping down to the Europa, if it happens (or out of Euro competition altogether) can only work in our favour. Few will forget how close Rodgers’ Europe-free Liverpool came to winning the league with Suarez still on board and what a great opportunity for our U21s/squad players to have a taste of Europe at a lower level than in the grown-up version.
Who knows, we may yet escape the group but I genuinely think we will be winners regardless of outcome.
And I’m certain this is our best opportunity to win the EPL for more than ten years.
Personally, I think we will do it.
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Absent police may be good for now but wait until certain crowds start kicking off and people and property is damaged. Also the clubs with the worst fans should pick up the bill rather than locals or indeed the rest of us.
Back to the game, strange that the, only Leicester media, forgot just how effective our one touch passing came be.
We were so good poor old Ed didn’t have a save to make, just busied himself with picking the ball out the net.
Without six players and especially the influential Kos, in the past we might have struggled. Instead we looked strong in every area if we can do this consistently the skys the limit.
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Problem is Stew Alexis actually does give a fuck about playing for the national side – we may pay his wages but we don’t own his soul – he’s not English or Welsh after all !
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Excellent stuff, Anicoll. I was not able to watch the match yesterday as I attended a baptism. I was following the game on my mobile and at 4:08 pm I was quite content to be in church. This has never happened before….
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I’m not afraid to admit that i may have clucked when thinking about how big a loss Koscielny would be with his experience and authority. But this CB that AFC signed from Pellegrini’s* old team when everyone was moaning about not signing a CB, he looks to be quite a good CB!
Reminds a little bit of that fun time when all the meedjah were trolling people into groaning about AFC not signing a striker. Groundhog Day innit?
*How did AFC get the drop on City and Pellegrini here? We’ll never know, but perhaps some of the transfer experts out there could give some credit where it is due? Step forward Mr.Law haha!
They all played well at the back, but special mention to the hudred cap world cup winning German legend we had there leading the side. What a performance!
What a player he’s been for AFC. From the first minute he stepped onto the pitch alongside Arteta he breathed new life into this squad.
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From what I recall AoB the Turks of Galatasary did kick off last season and despite 100’s of police on hand nothing was done either in or outside the stadium, same with the damage Spuds caused in the ground.
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http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/ken-early-mourinho-may-already-have-lost-the-chelsea-dressing-room-1.2378239#.VhITrSKOvNM.twitter
“The last time Chelsea sacked Mourinho they had to pay him a reported £18 million in compensation. He’s currently two months into a four-year contract.
It’s just as well we know the great football men are not motivated by money. Otherwise people might be looking at the curious incentive structure of football management, where the fastest way to make a gigantic fortune is often to lose your job, and draw all the wrong conclusions.”
BOOM! What a shot. Back of the net and still rising.
Still, my best guess is that the Specialist is going to becasue he can’t have many options left elsewhere?
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is going to stay at Gazprom…
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Eddy has rightfully called out John Cross for his continued myopic, one-sided assessments of Aaron Ramsey. I wrote the following on Rambo’s performance for our friend Mean Lean’s blog which is a follow-up to a point I made on PA:
“There are a few remaining members of the cult of “Ramsey must play in the middle”. This they suggest would allow the OX to play as a wide forward. That idea is now totally discredited based on recent performances by the Englishman. Others of that cult have gone further and suggest that Rambo should play centrally instead of Santi. The idea that we not play our most technically proficient central-midfielder so as to shoehorn the Welshman in his favored position is so preposterous as to defy discussion. But after today’s performance, as well as the games vs Leicester and Olympiacos, the cult has been dealt some fatal blows. With Ramsey playing nominally as a wide midfielder but the freedom to to tuck in centrally or to double up on the flanks with Bellerin he helped us to dominate the ageing Carrick and Schweinsteiger in midfield and to totally frustrate Ashley Young on the flanks forcing United to substitute him at half-time. Only injuries or the need for rotation will make a difference to our starting XI in the near future.”
It is embarrassing that so-called football experts need amateurs like us to point out the blindingly obvious.
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There is a simple solution to the Ramsey question which Arsene has achieved -and as Eddy had noted in the blog before:
We have two brilliant overlapping fullbacks who provide the width needed in midfield.
Therefore Rambo drifts in, overloads the midfield with so many talented Arsenal ball players (Santi-Rambo-Ozil-Alexis) and BANG! – a devastating assist/pass or a goal shot ensures within nanoseconds.
It works – why bother tinkering with it?
The Ox, Jackie, Arteta, Flamini or Welbeck all can provide alternatives after an hour’s work if the former pattern of play isn’t producing the expected results.
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Shotta
Even Bleacher Report can understand it, why can’t our own fans?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2453787-breaking-down-aaron-ramseys-performance-in-arsenals-game-vs-hull-city
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Lovely write up anicol.
Very interesting observation about the policing, I thought.
Ta again to Steww for the preview. If only he could provide me with at 55″ telly and unlimited Sky/BT-ness, it’d have been perfecto.
Effin’ staccato streams.
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Well done Arsenal.
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The FA have been silent today when I expected Jose’s post Saints rant to have attracted their attention. Accusing a referee of cheating is generally regarded as worthy of action. Perhaps they are leaving it to see if he is still there next week?
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He’s been charged Andrew.
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FA statement: “Jose Mourinho has been charged for misconduct in relation to media comments he made following Chelsea’s game against Southampton on Saturday 3 October 2015.
“It is alleged his remarks constitute improper conduct in that they allege and/or imply bias on the part of a match official or match officials and/or bring the game into disrepute.
“He has until 6pm on Thursday 8 October 2015 to respond to the charge.”
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and I missed that ……! Good I am pleased – ridiculous abuse of the referee on the day
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Cheating?!!
The ref was bending over backwards to help out Chelsea against the Saints.
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Falcao and Mane both obsessive divers if subject to any contact in the box DC
The referee assumed they were cheating – the rogue
Would you give either of them the benefit of the doubt ?
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Jeorge Bird says Mikel Arteta was at hale end today coaching the U16s. He is obviously going to be a big part of a club for a long time.
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I was very pleased to see Rooney actually get booked for that ridiculous shove on Ozil, which was borne out of sheer frustration. Mr Taylor may get a call from Mr Riley about that one!
Also, whilst I agree that Martial is dangerously promising, he was fortunate that the dive he executed was not rewarded by a deserved yellow card – he’s obviously learning the manure way very quickly. Fortunately, we kept Young and Rooney out of the box so they had no chance to attempt their patented go to move when things aren’t going their way.
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That’s a very revealing note from Jeorge Bird, aob. That is a sign of the culture that Wenger has created at Arsenal – that the club captain spends the international break helping the youngsters. What a contrast to what the Times journalist said about Mourinho in that piece eduardo posted earlier.
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What is José on about? His players lose motivation because they fail to get a penalty call? What about the Southampton players whose response to TWO denied penalty calls is to try even harder? Can his team only play if they get opposition players sent off?
Pass the sick bucket.
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Shotta it was the RB tormented by Alexis and Walcott (on the second) who got the hook at HT.
Memphis’ inability to help his midfield and Young cope with Rambo’s influence (wonderful stuff for the first and third goals) was probably one reason which led to his replacement along with Darmian for the elbows of Fellaini?
–
Haven’t seen the match again, Ramsey looked possibly a little fatigued (you can understand why!) or niggled for a short spell during the second half? Another one I confess I’ll be fretting over during the interlull. Hopefully an inspired Wales will win early and not have an intense game.
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Fins, I knew that Fellaini’s elbows were going to come into play second half after we raced into a 3 goal lead, but even they could not prevent us getting the deserved victory! When the opposition attempt to play football and the referee calls the game fairly, we are always in with a good chance of winning.
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