Bonjour mes Positivistas,
A slightly rocky path in our Premier League form safely negotiated yesterday, and three points safely in the basket. My impression was of a thorough performance by us, plenty of sweat and concentration on our part. There was the occasional flash of quality, such as Mesut’s through ball to Joel to tidily finish*, but we did not run through our full repertoire. Could it be perhaps, with a big game not far away on Wednesday, we played just a notch down from top gear in order to preserve a little energy ? Perhaps the final half an hour in Piraeus will provide the answer to that !
Who done well ?
Mesut ran the show and while watching from Row 2 by the edge of the corner box I could see nothing of the ‘big picture’ of the match it did give me the chance to see how skilful the player is, how difficult to dispossess, even along the very narrow edge of the pitch. Time and again the German would wriggle through and away from the opposition, retain the ball and place the pass. I thought Nacho had a good game and in the past few games has much more of an attacking threat, with no obvious decline in his defensive concentration. Flamini I thought did well in the middle alongside Aaron, and allowed the Welshman free rein in the final third. Aaron slightly unlucky to get only one goal yesterday. Another day it could have been three.
And no match review would be complete without a word for the Arsenal fans “go-to scapegoat” (I stole that in case you wondered) Olivier Giroud. Against three centre backs Olivier was in for a hard afternoon. He’s up, he’s down, but he never hides.
On other against a Sunlun side that had come with a BIG GREEN bus plan, and to be fair to whose plan worked pretty well. They came for a point, the extent of Fat Sam’s horizon. Fair enough they are never going to out-football us at the Ems or at the SoL. Five at the back, four across midfield backed up by a 7’ goal keepers was always going to pose us problems but we negotiated the obstacles well. What the hour long TV replay I watched last night on Sky did not show was the long periods when we retained the ball and pulled the visitors backwards and forwards. I heard some total nonsense about “Sunderland were superb”. No they weren’t. “Superb” in the context of Sunderland’s possible performance yesterday would have been clinging on to the 89th minute at 0-0, and then scoring a breakaway goal. They had a plan, tried to execute it. It did not work.
Now, you know me. You know I am not a man ever given to exaggeration or hyperbole. But in the course of yesterday I was part of, indeed fully experienced, what it must be like to suffer from the psychological condition I often natter on about “dysphoria”. You may recall that is a condition in which the sufferer feels a constant state of dissatisfaction, irritability and disappointment, irrespective of the objective circumstances they may find themselves in. I have also highlighted the probability that professional football, and club teams, provided a focus for people of this type to congregate, physically and through social media. Well yesterday, at the front of Block 4 at the Ems I found myself immersed in what appeared to be a mass rally of committed of dysphorics !
I have sat next to and around some shite Arsenal fans. At one of the scale there are a small minority who appear off their heads with their abuse of our players and manager. They suffer from acute and possible incurable dysphoria. At the other end there are the “tutters”, the “groaners”, the “off-for-an-early-half-time-drink-with-30-minutes-gone” brigade. These are milder cases, treatable in most cases but dangerous if allowed to cross contaminate and develop new strains of pessimism and collective misery.
Well the front few rows of Block Four is, without any doubt on my part, the worse epidemic of the condition I have come across. Not one good word to say all afternoon, not one positive syllable.
So Block Four at the Emirates I award you the Joel Campbell Trophy for your Outstanding Contribution to Football Supporting in 2015. Wear it with Pride.
Enjoy your Sunday !
* the header photo courtesy of the Independent of Joel’s composed finish.
Positively Arsenal 
Morning Andy.
I see many of our brethren must of have had a late Saturday,
I certainly did after staying in the Pub long enough to revel in Jose’s latest misfortune.
Arsenal played some lovely stuff – albeit in patches – yesterday.
Aaron’s ball control and dribble through the entire Sunlun’ defense – right in front of the aforementioned Block 4 – was a particular highlight.
If our fans can’t enjoy a hard fought 3-1win at home against a team of cloggers with a an old rival manager then Gawd help them. The same score line away in Greece would be just dandy as well.
I suggest they can stick one of Joel’s doodoos up their Jaxies.
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BTW
In case other people haven’t noticed, Arsenal have played 8 away games and 7 home games. So naturally our next League game is at home to redress the balance?
Is it heck – it’s away to Villa.
We don’t get a double set of home games until the end of January /beginning of February.
Our potential league position is being artificially (and of course oh so accidentally) distorted downwards.
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Anyone that claims to be a supporter, and cannot enjoy a hard fought win born out of a degree of adversity caused by injuries, resultant formation tinkering and a stubborn opponent, that cannot enjoy a day where the specialist in eye gouging can be officially designated as …..floundering, a day where we sit two points off the top, surpassed currently only by a team that deserves our respect, but for us, will eventually be there for the taking……..
not sure if these people deserve help or sympathy , or just a desire for them to abandon the Emirates for good to spend their existence in a fetid pit of self made misery, their own personal Groundhog Day, endlessly reminding themselves of a quote wrongly attributed to Einstein about some definition of insanity, longing for a more certain , a happier time in their minds when Wenger was never going to win a trophy again, when Ramsey was crap, Ozil was stealing a living , Spurs were going to shift some balance of power, and Jose was a “winner”
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Many thanks A5, a great write-up as always. As for the “block-heads”, I wonder how they would have coped with AFC circa 1985? Im sure they wouldnt have been one of the 20,000 that braved those days at Highbury.
Even more funny would be to send them out on the pitch see how they get on, and watch them wheeze and collapse and listen to the rest of us calling them XYZ!
Im with dc on where to ram the JC prize.
COYG!
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Ramsey had a 92% pass completion rate yesterday but the lad can’t pass
Ramsey had an assist yesterday, but he has no vision and is greedy,
Ramsey all season has played out of position for the benefit of the team but he is Hollywood and only plays for himself
Giroud can’t score, but yesterday he scored his 10th goal of the season and is our top scorer for the season so far
Ozil got his 12th assist in the BPL and he has 2 goals too in the 14 games he has played, but he is a coward who goes missing, oh and he is lazy
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WENGER – THIS WAS A PIVOTAL VICTORY
By Lloyd Webb
Arsène Wenger believes Arsenal’s 3-1 victory against a robust Sunderland side will be “pivotal” to their season.
Joel Campbell, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey were all on target in a convincing display at Emirates Stadium, as the Gunners ended their run of three games without a win in the Premier League.
It’s been a good day for us, because we have won the game and that helps us prepare for Olympiacos
Wenger admits he was “nervous” before kick-off, but he is pleased with Arsenal’s performance and says the victory will give his side confidence going into Wednesday’s Champions League decider at Olympiacos.
“In my mind I was a little bit more nervous than usual because I felt it was a pivotal game,” he told Arsenal Player. “It was our first game without the injured players and we absolutely had to win.
“We played against a difficult team who were well organised and good on the break, so all the ingredients were there for a disappointing result. Because we hadn’t won for three games people would have said we were in a crisis, so it was important to get the win.
“We were a bit edgy, a bit nervous, in the first half but in the second half we played with more freedom, fluency and incisiveness which is how we won the game. It was a tough one and if you look at the results in the Premier League it was like that.
“It’s been a good day for us, because we have won the game and that makes helps us prepare for Olympiacos. Secondly it puts us in an interesting position again and that’s all positive. The squad that was out there for Sunderland – the good news is that we won and that we don’t have any injuries. It makes it obvious for the media to guess who will go to Olympiacos.”
Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20151205/wenger-this-was-a-pivotal-victory#SUeQCaHHx1OgEKtS.99
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I hope this works
from twitter, it’s a vine of Ramsey’s dribble
Yeah, Aaron Ramsey can be frustrating at times, but in form, he’s a thing of beauty… 😊 #Arsenal vine.co/v/hpiaUgFUXeA
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Nice write up. Not quite as infected where I sit a couple blocks to your left and back a bit but I did hear a few “boos” at the half from around where you sat.
At the end of the game I’m fairly certain there’d have been some of the earlier booers joining in with the cheering. This should be a crime worth at least a one match ban. Boo the team and lose your cheering privileges.
Never have and never will boo the team however despondent (which is never going to be very) I get.
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Squawka Football @Squawka 13h13 hours ago
Most passes completed in the Premier League today
Aaron Ramsey (112)
Mathieu Flamini (102)
Mesut Özil (82)
Nacho Monreal (77)
All Arsenal.
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Old fart’s thoughts
Olly’s recent goal shortage took a turn for the better…pity that his first equalized Joel’s opener! What a pass Joel received from Oz and how well he took the opportunity. With our injury position as it is, he just might be staking a claim to a permanent place in the squad. For sure he’s not scared of hard work. It was also good to see the Ox, Rambo and Theo back in action. More than a bit of ring rust with Ox, as was the case with Rambo but the latter compensated by covering almost every blade of grass, assisting Olly to our second goal, generally making a nuisance of himself and finally scrambling a goal in the last minute or so. He and the Flamster both worked hard but have to settle down with their defensive obligations
Having said that, it was not really a game for the memory bank. Indeed if Petr had not, once again been in superb form, the unwillingness of Sunderland to lay down and die could have been very embarrassing. There were several occasions when defensive laxity allowed them chances in both halves. Having said that, I must exempt Nacho from that criticism. He was very solid throughout I thought and continues to be a Mr Relable.
Far more of a worry at the moment is young Hector. Perhaps the absence of Le Coq is weighing on him more than others? For sure he seems diffident in attack these days and hasn’t the same savior faire he had when Le Coq was there to sweep up. This may explain why most opposition attacks are coming down our right flank.
Overall though, the win was more than welcome and courtesy of other results, gets us back to second place.
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I at the time thought Monreal had a fine game, but having watched the game again, it seemed like all of Sunderland’s scoring chances came from players getting in behind him
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Thanks Eddy!
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Past three games in the PL Hector has faced Watmore, Brady and MacLean Gf and it is fair to say each has given him problems – however in each contest each of those players has performed well for their club and, certainly with Brady and MacLean stood out for me amongst the opposition. It won’t do Hector any harm to get a few good chasings. I can’t see Debuchy would have done any better. Yesterday Watmore and Toivonen I thought stood out. Watmore could have caused a lot more havoc if playing against a slower full back.
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I recall there was another Ramsey dribble that was even better.
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Wonderful job A5. Sorry you had to sit among those dysphorics who must have ruined what was otherwise a triumphant afternoon. After practically 11 years of pounding this beat none of this surprises me. We live in a world where the mainstream media in particular fosters a climate of negativity and unrealistic expectations. Despite evidence to the contrary, Arsenal is supposed to obliterate all rivals in the transfer market and steam roll all opposition in the Premier League, Champions League just like errr, United, City and Chelsea. Given their bipolar mindset, should such patently unrealistic ambitions be realized they would just be as unhappy. How else would ArsenalFan TV and Le Grove thrive? As for us at PA, we steam on despite the barnacles trying to drag the ship down.
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Odd thing about Jose DC/Mandy is how his and Chelsea’s floundering have gone from a source of headlines in the media (and welcome hilarity on my part) to page four small/item ( I expected that )
Travelled yesterday morning with two Chels fans who aimed to get spectacularly drunk before the game at the Bridge and who were 50/50 about Bournemouth causing an upset. Neither really cared whether Jose stayed or left. Total collapse in morale.
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RIP Ernie Crouch, didn’t know him but clearly a proper fan, of 80 years. Puts a few modern day fans to shame
http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/06/ernie-crouch-tributes-paid-as-legendary-arsenal-fan-dies-on-way-to-emirates-stadium-5547382/
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gf60 – I noticed that about Hector as well – since coming back from his recent injury he is not really himself. I hope he shakes it off soon, or maybe it’s a chance for Dubuchy to have a little run as Hector is quite young to be playing regularly at the level of intensity required.
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10 of Mesut Özil’s 12 BPL assists this season have come from open play
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anicoll as you say CFC’s defeats are now no longer headline news, and you are not surprised by it, do you think that if AFC was in that run of form it would have been shunted to page 4 status. I think it would have four pages of coverage every defeat
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The answer to your question is an obvious no, eduardo. There would be pages of “time for Wenger to go” articles accompanied by quote after quote from the WOB cheerleaders. The media scum would be having a field day. First they could tear him down and then speculate about his replacement followed by the articles about his legacy and how it all went wrong. They could live on that for many a month. It would be manna from heaven for them.
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Well the journos have had nineteen long, frustrating, years to prepare for it Pass, each season as disappointingly far away from “Wenger Sacked” headlines as the last. Nothing but “New face at the Lane ” tidbits to keep the hunger at bay.
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Lovely stuff Andrew,the beauty of having a silver or red membership is,as you know mate,you don’t have to sit next to the same person every home game,which is a relief if it’s where you were yesterday. Anyone got any news on our friend George?
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Another great review of our game A5,
Unfortunately we have so many fans and not many supporters nowadays. I hear many people describe themselves as passionate ARSENAL supporters but as soon as you delve abit deeper you find that its actually more of a badge of honour than a reality.
I have to say just before Mezuts “how can I assist you” moment for Joal, Oliver’s control and lay off which drew two centre backs and created the space was superb.
Yesterday wasn’t easy and was extremely important, a great win which many will just take for granted and in doing so miss so many points.
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Good to the point write-up and a nice touch shouting out those in cuckoo land Andrew. Where would Arsenal be without them, esp with Arsène dragging the team further away from them getting their Arsenal back. We know how they love crediting themselves for Arsenal’s boys showing mental fortitude in times of adversity. Yet they remain unhappy through it all. Odd.
3 points earned the hard way are always welcomed to me. It should keep the boys on their toes for the Greeks as the last thing we should be expecting is a freebie. I like to think we’ll slowly get our mojo back as we build up to the xmas period too.
Lastly – thanks to the universe for smiling down upon Arsenal and correcting past wrongs. Arsenal is sitting pretty on the log and who wouldn’t be happy about that? Except those not getting any help nor sympathy (ta Mandy) from me.
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Thanks Andy nice to have your perspective what a shame you were surrounded by ingrates.
Some talk of our defenders here I see. I thought Koscielny was ridiculously good certainly in the first half when we might have expected a few wobbles what with a new line up and all. Hector was due an indifferent run of form, happens to everyone.
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Very strange, our media. Chelsea is a real story by any standards.
I also know a Chelsea fan, he too seems unconcerned about Jose’s future, and believes he will be sacked if they go out of the ECL. Just bizarre. A lot of myths about Jose being a tactical genius are being exploded forever.
That is a serious fall of grace from winning the league
Chelsea are just a point ahead of Swansea, and Monk is widely reported to be next in the sack race, however harsh that would be should it happen
Maybe Chelsea will sack Jose and reappoint the ever classy Ranieri should CR be persuaded to go to a club that will finish outside the top four!
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Whoever reading this blog and is in contact with George, let him know we are concerned that he isn’t well based on what he wrote here last time he posted, and we wish him a speedy recovery. Whatever it is that has knocked him down, we need him to fight it with that defiant, unrelenting spirit we all know and love.
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Good point Shotta. I did not expect George to be MIA this long so I’m starting to worry now too.
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Thanks Andy, and sorry to have missed you yesterday in or outside The George. I was there for about 40 minutes but it was quite crowded. What amused and saddened me yesterday was sitting next to a lad of about 18/19 (guessing that as he was talking about how living in Halls was only an option for about 30% of students). He kept up a constant stream of negativity, mainly directed at Campbell but plenty more besides: they were slow, couldn’t pass, were lazy and it did occur to me that this was a little rich coming from an unprepossessing youth who didn’t glow with the kind of fitness that you might expect from such an expert on the game. It was probably just as well I didn’t stay longer in the pub as after his umpteenth moan I was sorely tempted to have words.
I am biased, of course, but I rather like young Campbell, and I like him especially when he ends up on that left hand side. He took his goal very well, and ran his socks off: he likes a tackle, and tries to go past people. Stuff seems to happen when he is around and I hope he gets better and better and stays with us for a while.
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Sorry I missed you FH – I got there earlier than I intended and it was packed. I could not even stand still without being constantly moving this way and that. I pushed off after a pint.
In the ground I did my best to drag the misery mob along, giving loud praise to anything we did well, and “OH UNLUCKY” when we lost the ball or a pass went astray. I was on my feet every chance. The wailing and gnashing of teeth subsided for a little while and a lady behind me even said to her chap ” I am going to try to be more positive in the second half”.
Sadly her resolution only lasted about 30 seconds.
There is much work to do in the community.
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I read that Liverpool have had a goal disallowed for offside.
Well, that makes up for the one Benteke “scored” against Bournemouth.
C’est la vie.
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“Liverpool’s title hopes in tatters!”
A headline we probably won’t see tomorrow, but just as ridiculous as the ones after the freak defeat of So’ton.
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The Geordies are on the March – Chelsea look out
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did liverpool losing at Newcastle see them get docked 3 points, as this morning on match of the day I’m sure they said LFC were title contenders and maybe favorites cos they were only 6 points off top, but I now see that they are 9 off top.
by the way, does anyone know how many points off top were lfc when klopp took over from rodgers.
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Moreno goal wrongly offside just like Aaron Ramsey. All evens out in the end eh #Liverpool fans. Karma is such a bitch.
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In fact looking carefully at the fixtures and the tables next weekend because Chelsea do not play Leicester until Monday week it is conceivable, unlikely but possible, that Jose and his Blues will go into the game in the bottom three.
I know, I know.
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Our friend Leo, @_LS87_, posted the following on Twitter:
“Liverpool cheated by a wrong offside call? My heart bleeds…
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVj04V5WUAAm0hX.jpg”
Loserpool fans are not amused in the least.
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you know all this Klopp love by the media and the lfc fans, well LFC had 12 pts from 8 BPL games before Klopp, and they have 11 pts from 7 BPL games under Klopp
what a transformation
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when klopp became LFC manager they were 6pts off the top spot, and 3pts off top 4, they are now 7 games later, 9pts off top spot and 6pts off top 4
the Liverpool media hype machine is in full swing
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Liverpool have just lost to a team down near the bottom, a team lacking in confidence, with a manager reportedly on the brink, and a team who I think have even more injuries than we do.
Klopp is charismatic, a decent manager with a track record, and he is certainly good in press conferences, but he isn’t God/Superman/Dennis
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Brendan was missing Strurridge and Henderson for much of this season, and was forced to sell Sterling. Klopp doesn’t have the same problems.
Dortmund don’t seem to have missed his influence that much since he ran away.
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Wenger: Iwobi has been doing well in central midfield lately. Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Chris Willock have looked very good in training.
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Dortmund are second in Germany, 5pts behind Bayern Munich, Thomas Tuchel is their new managerial hero, with a 76% win rate in his 25 games so far, 19 wins.
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Shötta @shotta_gooner 2h2 hours ago
Compared to #Giroud the Bentekes and Bonys of the PL are highly paid frauds protected by a friendly, indulgent media.
I add in Lukaku too, they only thing any of them has over giroud, is they might be slightly faster over ten yards.
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Arsenal are going to be wearing their 3rd “cup” kit in the match against Olympiacos on Wednesday.
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This:
“In fact looking carefully at the fixtures and the tables next weekend because Chelsea do not play Leicester until Monday week it is conceivable, unlikely but possible, that Jose and his Blues will go into the game in the bottom three.”
Hope springs eternal.
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Giroud….as you say, lacks a bit of starting pace, but has been extremely effective for us. He is judged more on what he cannot do, rather than what he can. A good finisher, good in the air, physical, a team player, never hides even after an unfortunate og yesterday, and always happy to help out with the defence. His goal tally this season stacks up very well with some media darlings, including a decent enough neighbouring striker who commonly has the word unstoppable printed next to his name. Then, Rooney, Costa, RVP, Falcao, as mentioned Bony……
Over recent years, giroud has often been our only fit striker, he has at times carried our attack, he has done, and continues to do immense things for this club, an absolute bargain at 12mil as well.
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Apologies, I am a bit of an ageing Luddite Technophobe, and cannot seem to like people on here….and there is a lot to like, can anyone provide assistance?
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