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Arsenal – We are so very ‘umble

G’day Positivistas,

The result we all hoped for last night with our light blue opponents pushed firmly back toward the pack, and us neatly tucked in behind the Foxes and we move into the Christmas bend.

Dare I say what I suspect a couple of you are thinking, but feel a little shy about sharing …….. Hmmmm??

Dammit I shall – Last night we played well enough to see off Citeh but it was a routine performance. We did not extend ourselves to our very best because we were not required to. Arsenal was efficient. It was, in the end, “expected”. Our defence was very solid, our midfield matched theirs. I was very impressed with the Flamster last night who I barely noticed as he ate up ground, pushed Citeh players out wide and backwards, put in tackles, and generally disrupted the life out of the opposition without anyone noticing. He must be a very difficult man to play against. He is now entirely match fit, a regular starter and 90 minute player. Brains with a steel core.

The one significant difference between the sides was the killing use we made of our two first half chances. After a super, and unexpected, strike from Theo rocked the visitors on their heels, Olivier followed it up through Joe Hart’s legs. Two chances, two goals. Bingo. And that was just about that. It would not matter of Citeh had been a very good side they wee not going to come back from that decisive One-Two.

The second half, up to the 76th minute, was a little dull with us doing enough to keep Citeh off. Apart from a couple of misdirected headers from Aguero they never looked like recovering the initiative in the game. Only Hart’s outstretched leg, from Campbell, and his moon face, from Aaron, saved the Manchester club from embarrassment.

With Mesut’s departure we dropped a gear and allowed them back into the game with a well taken goal from YaYa Toure. Why YaYa played the remainder of the game like a man pushing a fully laden wheelbarrow around the pitch in front of him I do not know. His best years are quite definitely behind him. I could well say the same about Sterling, but that would be ungenerous.

Even with the match at 2-1 however the revival never looked on. The visitors lacked that final burst that could have given them an entirely undeserved point. Unfortunately for Pellegrini that absence of late night fire will be blamed on him rather than his players. The merry-go-round shall spin again.

I thought Hector played well last night but looked a little tired. I would not be at all sorry to see Debuchy given a run out over the next couple of games. There is plenty of football to be played in the next six months so a little rotation will surely be a wise investment. Joel earned some deserved praise on social media last night. How times change !

My one disappointment last night, as those who follow my line on Twitter may have spotted during the game, was the booing of Bacary Sagna. WTF was that all about? I despair of ( some) of my fellow Arsenal supporters sometimes, I really do.

So there we are – the final match review before Christmas, Arsenal poised beautifully as we go into the holiday and with a season of goodwill and three points to be collected beginning at St Mary’s on Saturday. I have thoroughly enjoyed knocking out these match write ups and the benefit of your informative, wise and measured responses.

And for our Scarfist viewers ?

12_scrooge

 

 

Happy Christmas one and all.

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71 comments on “Arsenal – We are so very ‘umble

  1. Top draw match review as ever A5. And merry Christmas to you and all the other Positivists, especially PG, get well soon!
    Merry Christmas !
    COYG!

    Liked by 4 people

  2. Top stuff as every Andy.
    We were very good value for the 3 points without playing at our best.
    Flamini was great.

    Liked by 5 people

  3. Full Agree Andrew
    In one word – Professional.
    The Flamster didn’t even need to put in his normal yellow card rated tackles.
    His positioning allowed our Prince of Wales to do as he liked up front.
    On a more fruitful night our Boyo could have got a hat trick.

    Liked by 6 people

  4. Hey
    I was kissing Flamini’s ass BEFORE he became a Billionaire, you know!

    Liked by 3 people

  5. Hö Hö Hö.

    What a win, and a stunning one at that. 2 of the best teams in the PL when it comes to tiki-tactics. Though I must say Mancity veered into the dark arts when they saw our boys choking them for space. It provided some light entertainment for a while as it was embarrassing. Auditioning for José perhaps?

    Mertesacker played like a man possessed. He had the vision of Özil to find himself at the right position at the right time. Between him, Kosc and Flamimi – they made Agüero and David Silva looked impotent. What the fuck happened to YYT. He looked like he couldn’t give a damn anymore. Or did Arsenal just had them at the ropes at HT and everything else that followed was just them blowing hot air.

    I saw the transcript of Arsène Wenger’s post match earlier, what stood out for me: “in the team there is real togetherness and real solidarity, so lets take care of that”. Many underestimate the value of continuity and cohesion in a squad, esp when you lose some big players through injury.

    Another thing I picked up from last nights comments was that Mancity was on 15 pts after 5 games, they got 17 in the next 12. I took a look at how the other teams fair in their last 12 matches and this is what it looks like. No surprises in the top 2, the rest look very interesting indeed if that is recent form:

    1. Leicester ——— 27
    2. Arsenal ———– 26
    3. Spurs ————- 23
    4. Watford ———- 22
    5. Stoke ————- 21
    6. C/Palace ——— 20
    7. Manutd ———– 19
    8. Mancity ———- 17
    9. Liverpool ——– 17
    10. West Ham —– 16
    11. Everton ——– 15
    12. Soton ———– 15
    13. WBA ———— 15
    14. Newcastle —– 15
    15. Bournemouth – 15
    16. Chelsea ——– 14
    17. Norwich ——– 10
    18. Sunderland —- 10
    19. Swansea ——- 7
    20. Villa ————- 3

    Merry xmas Andrew and everyone.

    Liked by 3 people

  6. Thanks Andy: top stuff as ever. You and Stew: you’re like book ends, the pair of you, as Tony Harrison would say. And thanks too for the title which took me back to the early 70s and a quick trip down memory lane, courtesy of You Tube: Gypsy the track and only slight embarrassment that I used to think it so special. But when it takes you all night to do what you used to do all night then its nice to recall I suppose.
    But back to the business in hand, and what a great effort last night: heroes one and all and what wouldn’t Chelsea or Man U have given for a strike partnership the equal of Walcott and Giroud this season. Theo’s goal was right up there with the best, though it is perhaps a little disingenuous to credit Mesut with the assist: to my eyes he was looking to find the overlapping Monreal, but thank goodness TW took matters into his own hands.
    And a message to George: get well soon Boss and I do indeed owe you an article, all nicely gift-wrapped for the season.

    Liked by 5 people

  7. ‘Arsenal haven’t improved, all the others have gone backwards.’
    – Jamie Carragher

    Interesting. According to the Arsenal ‘supporter’ in front of me, we won because Man City played badly! He couldn’t accept that perhaps we made them look average? Player for player, I do not see that they are significantly better than us, so why was I hopeful pre-game and he was expecting us to be soundly beaten and then could not accept that we won the match rather than Man City throwing the match away?

    Liked by 2 people

  8. Old fart’s thoughts:
    Such a professional performance and very similar to that played at Man City earlier this year. Let them have the ball, squeeze them dry, defend as though your lives depended on it and break fast. I can’t think of one member of our squad who won’t wake up cream crackered this morning. Theo, not renowned for his willingness to defend, was a revelation.
    Equally it was great seeing the Flamster and Hector turning in such impressive performances, with Hector in particular defending then going on the rampage. For this he owes a great deal to Joel who linked up so well. Joel deserved a goal but it was not to be.
    With Rambo covering every blade of grass and being disciplined at the same time, when we had the ball, space was available for Oz’s razor sharpness and whilst his ‘assist’ to Theo counted, I’m sure that even Oz couldn’t visualize his 6 yard pass being turned into a goal of some beauty and ferocity. What a lovely strike. Oz’s real assist was the exquisitely timed pass to Olly who continued his great scoring form just before half time. Perfect timing for my celebratory glass of Merlot.

    Reflecting on the state of the game it struck me that whilst City had most of the possession, only once had they come really close yet we had two chances and scored from both. Obviously they were missing Agueiro more than we missed Alexis. Oh hang about…Agueiro was playing…OK on the pitch but swamped by the KosPer Flam barrier. Lads are doing a great job.

    And so we continued in similar style. City doing much of the possession work, Gooners creating the chances. Indeed we should have been at least 3 up by the time that Toure landed that audacious goal. It was either a goal of incredible class or a goal of incredible arse. Can’t make my mind up but whatever, it gave them hope and gave us a very difficult last 10 minutes. More difficult than the previous 80 as City had the adrenalin flowing. But the good guys held out leaving us with a playing record against the top six sides as played 5 won 4 Drawn 1 F 13 A 5 . Not bad for a side that can’t do the big games! Keep the faith.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Point made Andy Nic. A great, great win but it is dangerous to get carried away. The manner in which we won was at great cost physically. On the plus side we won without Alexis, Cazorla, Coquelin and the other long term disabled but it came at great effort. For example I have never seen Giroud work so hard at both ends of the pitch, or for that matter Monreal and Bellerin. Ramsey was his usual explosive self so much so that Lee Dixon, a disciple of Graham, was on my tv feed begging and pleading for him to stay behind the ball and defend the 2:0 lead rather than go for the killer goal. I posted here and on twitter that there was an element of timidity and cowardice in not wanting us to kill them off but in truth life is not so clear cut. Going for a big win against a big team takes a lot of effort and I am fearful we don’t have a healthy enough squad to sustain this momentum. Two games in two days over the Christmas season will truly test us.

    Note to my good friend PG: I see you may have had a little setback. Please follow your doctor’s orders and don’t overdo it. You assembled a great team at PA, don’t worry your blog is in good hands.

    Liked by 6 people

  10. Fear not Shotta. the other teams also play 2 in 2. And they have injuries too.

    Liked by 2 people

  11. the only things from last night that annoyed me was how the officials allowed, and the pundits ignored, the rotational fouling by City and the amount of dives by city. Can only imagine the uproar if AFC players were diving like that.

    As for the first goal not being an ozil assist, do me a favor, when someone lumps in a cross blindly, or pumps in a corner or freekick into the mixer to no one in particular, or when a mishit shot lands at a team mates feet to score, they are all assists, does anyone thing that all of Henry’s 20 assists in his record season were intended as assists. What is it with Arsenal fans having to discredit our own players. Its especially galling when its Ozil, when you consider all the bullshit he has had to endure in his time at Arsenal, “stealing a living”, even last night Carragher said “Ozil is good but Silva is another level”, now we all know that Silva’s level is one below Ozil’s but that was not JC’s meaning.

    I have seen guys who claim to be Arsenal fans, today try to discredit Ozil(not an assit for theo), Ramsey(hollywood, greedy, glory hunter, ignored his defensive duties) and Giroud(Hart error for the goal, and we really need a top class striker), as Passenal pointed out, we actually have so called fans who are not best pleased that AFC are winning games, I can only assume they are mostly WOB, who are so afraid to lose face over their anti wenger stance that they would rather Arsenal fail and have them able to say “I told you so”, than to actually want Arsenal to win and them have to admit they were oh so wrong.

    Liked by 3 people

  12. The Twelfth Man ‏@_The12thMan 12m12 minutes ago
    I don’t get it, David Silva is a cut above Ozil, but Ozil matches his entire best season’s output in just 16 games? @Carra23, explain?

    The Twelfth Man ‏@_The12thMan 11m11 minutes ago
    On top of that, Silva is passing the ball to Aguero, who you call the best striker in the league. While Ozil has Giroud, “the class below”?

    The Twelfth Man ‏@_The12thMan 11m11 minutes ago
    It just doesn’t make sense @Carra23! I need your help to understand this!

    Like

  13. Thank you for bringing me fully up to date with the WOB News this morning Eddy.

    What would I do without you ?

    I thought Mariner was OK last night, six/seven out of ten. 2 yellow cards was about right. I thought both sets of players were a bit too eager to hit the deck early on – its called cheating – but after a while the calmed down. On another day Giroud’s tackle on Otamendi might have been more harshly dealt with but with the pattern of previous Citeh diving Marriner waved it away.

    The only exception to the general improvement in the player’s behaviour as the match went on was Sterling whose efforts to fling himself into the box for a penalty were truly pathetic. I have no respect for that young man. He is riding for a fall.

    Like

  14. Eduardo

    Hi. I’m not a regular here, though I used to be on Untold, but I am 100% in agreement with the ethos of the site. Always have been.

    I’m one of those who said Ozil doesn’t deserve an assist for Theo’ goal. This is not to discredit Ozil, but to point out a problem in the method of counting assists. I do this with other players and assists too. I don’t need Ozil to break records to know and say how amazing he is. I don’t need some stats to confirm that. Whether that was an assist or not doesn’t take anything away, nor add anything, to Mesut’s fantastic performance. Which is what it was. Not everybody who says such things means it as an attack on our own players.

    Giroud’s goal though. That was a great finish. Anybody who says otherwise is either an idiot or pursuing an agenda, probably both.

    Liked by 3 people

  15. in recent weeks AFC has been linked with defensive midfielder, Xhaka of Monchengladbach, and I seen in the Bundesliga highlights on ITV4 last night, the lad got himself sent off for the 5th time in just 95 games, and it was a mindless kick out in an off the ball incident. does that sound like an afc target

    Like

  16. Another short excerpt from Henry Winter’s Ozil interview yesterday;

    “He nods appreciatively at the mention of his reputation as an honest player. “It makes me happy to hear that. That’s the way I am,” he says. “I grew up like that. I play always honestly. I won’t change. I don’t dive. I can’t dive. I just can’t do that. I grew up playing on that hard surface, and I couldn’t dive on it as I’d hurt my legs. There were stones on it.
    “That’s why we never tried to dive, so we never learnt diving. We didn’t have the pitch for diving. Even on the grass pitch here, I try not to fall down.”
    He stays on his feet and remains sanguine. “In the youth teams in Germany I was always tackled hard but I never, ever got angry,” he says. “Playing in that No 10 position, I was used to those tackles. I knew the tackles would happen. It is better for me to beat the tackler with my creative abilities, not showing aggression or being angry against them. That’s a waste of time. I focus on the game.”

    Liked by 6 people

  17. The bit from Carragher about Arsenal not having improved rather everyone else has declined, is such a pathetic interpretation to throw on the fact that Arsenal are,at the moment, showing they are the best (yes I know, Leicester)

    The English league is stronger than ever, which makes it tougher to compete in every game, and in the cl (no winter break, no easy games, league cup, style and standard of refereeing) To say that the league is weaker is a falsehood. And to try to damn Arsenal for the failings of other clubs with greater resources and lesser injuries is pretty stupid.

    Btw, I haven’t heard any media outlet ever try to discredit jose’s first cl win by saying all the big teams had dropped out, and that they beat ManU with an offside goal anyway. Nor that Porto was spending beyond its means through third party ownership, and Jose’s convenient relationship with the super agent Mendes.

    Still… the best way to answer that is for Arsenal to keep winning.

    Liked by 7 people

  18. Trust A5 to tell Sterling some hard truths. I know diving is not an entirely English thing; I recall Yaya Toure taking a theatrical tumble over (Meresackers?) an imaginary leg. But there is Young, Rooney, Ablongbahor and a host of others who have made olympic diving a fine art.

    Liked by 3 people

  19. Toure’s dive was probably worse than Sterling’s Shotts but I give the old boy some slack as he is on his last legs.

    I see we have Jonny Moss with the whistle at St Mary’s – could be a bit of a tasty encounter as Koeman launched a rocket up his own side after their tame defeat to Spuds.

    Liked by 2 people

  20. I know it’s a bit early, but my humble suggestion to Mr. Wenger is to play the best available team vs. Southampton – i.e. same as last night.
    There is plenty of scope to make changers for AF Bournemouth 2 days later.
    Ospina
    Debuchy-Kos-Gabby-Giggs
    Chambers-Crowley
    Ox-Jeff
    Iwobi

    Many of these could get a run out.

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  21. for a minute there DC I thought you were suggesting that for the team v AFCB, but I would agree that we could give one or two of them a game

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  22. Thanks Andy.

    Fine margins.
    The only error before Toure’s goal on the night from the left side of AFCs defence, and KDB screws it wide by this “!” much. A minute later and Walcott cuts in from the left side, polishes his little panini sticker of Alexis he wears in that locket around his necks an curls in a beauty.
    Unlike his last outrageous finish against City (B.A.: Before Alexis) the team made this one count.

    They didn’t hit the highs of the Utd home game but they were not far off.

    2 games in 2 days = rotation. Opportunity for Chambers but the front three must be exhausted after that game. Chamberlain for one, For sure, but the rest is a little tricky with Rosicky Welbeck etc. Unavailable.

    Was Debuchy on the bench?
    If not I would guess that it’s an indication he’ll be moving?

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  23. Gareth Stringer ‏@Gareth_Stringer 6h6 hours ago
    Arsenal’s starting XI last night – £105.3 million. City bench – £111 million. City starting line-up – £270 million @GeoffArsenal

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  24. fins, Debuchy was not a sub last night, but that might have been tactical, after all chambers covers RB as well as CB and DM, and we had Gibbs and Gabriel on bench too, so putting a 4th defender on the bench might have been considered a bit of overkill.

    there are some rumors that AFC are to sign 33 year old right back Srna from Shakhtar Donetsk, with Debuchy going to WBA in January.

    Like

  25. Arsenal are being linked with singing 15 year old Manchester City starlet Tyrese Campbell,

    The striker is the son of former Gunners star Kevin Campbell. He scored 49 goals for City’s under-16 side last season, and reports suggest AFC are trying to sign him before he turns 16, as its much easier to do that, than it is after he turns 16 and the compo deal would be easily sorted.

    Like

  26. Georgaki-pyrovolitis's avatar

    Top write up Anicoll

    I was back in London on a business trip yesterday. I decided to stay overnight at my mother’s place which meant I went home via Finsbury Park at around 6pm. The fans were starting to arrive. I directed some lost Sh**ty fans toward the Grove and then started to get nervous.

    I watched the game on my iPad and must say I thought we were overall the better team. I am more hopeful now about our prospects of winning the EPL. We have navigated some tough fixtures with a midfield that needed time to adapt and adjust. And they have done just that. They are not as creative as the Le Coq and Santi duo but are becoming effective in their own way.

    The pundits and still clinging to their initial predictions with some reluctant concessions. Carragher should suffer the same level of derision that was directed at Moyes and his “jury is still out” comment. At least they are finally asking the obvious question about the availability of striker i.e., there are NONE available that could be justified ahead of Giroud. At least Carragher made a reasonable comment with his ” is it worth paying £50m+ for a striker who will return perhaps 10 more goals a season that Giroud?”. We shall see at the end of the season. Right now we are in a very strong position with another deadly striker due back in a few weeks.

    I say I’m going to have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

    Like

  27. Actually £50 m for an extra 10 goals might be value.

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  28. @georgerodger and G-P: United will eventually spend £50m on Martial and on present form he will never get close to Giroud’s productivity. 10 more goals my foot.

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  29. Thats a different matter Shotta, I mean if we got a player that did score an extra 10 goals, Not some fucker that simply cost £50 m.

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  30. Martial has 4 goals in 12 PL games so far so there is every chance he will get to 10 goals by the end of the season – does this help ?

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  31. @ Andrew… YOU ARE FUNNY! iTS 10 PLUS HWATEVER gIROUD’S NUMBER IS So, nope that doesnt help. LOL

    Liked by 2 people

  32. I liked Walcott’s goal if it helps?

    Danny Mills the poor blighted plundit and Arse bandit was running down the Arsenal players in comparison to Mahrez (goals and assists).
    But as all keen followers of AFC know Walcott was the last PL player to bag twenty plus goals and ten plus assists in a season. Which is the sign of a very good player. One who doesn’t crap himself in front of goal like all the “Shit Theo Walcott”‘s out there I mention no names like Lennon, Navad, Pedro (no shit but not prolific) and probably Aturling (the agent snagged him the big bucks and the move but I don’t think the will to be a top level athlete is there)

    Listening to the radio coverage of the game at work (some people play Xmas songs…) and after screaming out “what a goal” to Walcott’s strike the petty plundit danny mills spent the rest of the half trying to think of a better goal this season (easy contender Sanchez against Utd? And to be fair Toure’s strike last night was sublime).

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  33. < Stirling…+ A.Johnson (haha) and all the other fake Theo's. Wearing their Theo Walcott masks. They're not fooling anyone. Well, possibly a few bile filled AFC fans who like to abuse their own, to applaud the F word whilst booing Sagna *facepalm*

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  34. Steww are you on ze radio tonight?

    Like

  35. Thanks an5 for a fine review. Especially for picking out Flamini’s contribution – I remember thinking during the match, Why were we all dreading the loss of Coquelin? Matty has matured a bit this season; goes about his work much more subtly and often pops up by the side of which ever full back needs help as well as covering that middle area.
    YYT did look a bit laboured but so did quite a few of his team so I suspect the wheelbarrow contained bits and pieces of them. He’s not the power he once was, but certainly a sublime goal – he didn’t give any sign that he was going to shoot.
    I also felt Marriner had a good game – unobtrusive and not falling for any of the cheating, especially in the second half when they needed a goal to change the complexion of the game. I thought in the first half that City had a lot of the ball but most of the time it was just going sideways and backwards. In the second half, all we had to do was contain and hopefully get another on the break which we threatened to do several times. All-in-all a great game plan which makes nonsense of possession percentages. Mind you, the last 12/13 minutes was a bit nervy but we kept focused – no silly mistakes.
    A good night’s work and another confidence boost (for the players especially but for us too).
    And thanks to eddy for those financial stats – very revealing. Won’t make any difference of course to the idiots wanting AW to waste money in the same way.

    Liked by 2 people

  36. A very concise report on last night’s endeavours, thanks to Andy Nic.

    PG, do not let the buggers get you down!. Medics or undesirable Arsenal followers!

    Off topic.

    I have downloaded KPMG :LLP’s letter dated 15th December 2015, submitted to the London Borough of Haringey and copied to GLA. Supporting the financial emplications of the White Hart lane Stadium re-build.

    The club estimates the stadium development to cost £675-750 millions.

    The club’s financial advisor, Rothschild, approached three banks in Q2, 2015, and each indicated willingness to provide financing of circa £350 millions.

    To bridge the funding gap between £675-759 millions and £350 millions, the club has spent £100 millions on land purchases etc. Front-loaded naming rights, sponsorship etc. etc., for the balance.

    Seating capacity 61,080.

    Like the Arsenal, the move to the new stadium will generate £70 millions less £40 millions extra costs due to the expansion, leaving £30 millions to service the debt..

    In light of the Arsenal wish to increase the number of concerts from 3 to 6 (not approved), Spurs propose to Conditions relating to the Stadium:-

    No more than 16 major non-association football events (greater than 10,000 visitors) shall be held per annum in the stadium of which no more than 6 shall be music concerts.

    Come on Ivan, you know your local MP for the stadium, is a certain well-kent figure now. Twist his arm, to ensure the London Borough of Islington is brought to account, for the refusal to allow 6 concerts.

    Ivan, just ask PG to ask me for the documents. You know it makes sense?

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  37. My error. implications.

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  38. Great review A5, great win even though we looked dead on our feet for the last twenty and just pumped the ball long instead of trying to keep possession a bit more.
    On the ref debate I don’t think it’s so much the stuff he misses but the stuff he quite plainly sees and choses to ignore. On several of our early breakaways we were deliberately and cynically hacked down. Deliberate fouls are straight bookings yet we were only given the free kick. Yaya’s triple berani with half twist was just ignored instead of punished. There were many tackles just after the ball had gone and advantage played but no punishment when the play had finished. This encourages more late tackles and leads to injuries. So at first look when the ref appears to have control of the game when you look deeper you can appreciate just how limp his display was.
    The fact we can overcome so many hurdles to win big games shows what a special squad this is.

    Liked by 2 people

  39. The difficulty is Ian that in the first 30 minutes and before our opener Aguerro was knocked over a few times and every single time was whingeing at the referee for a foul to be given and cards to be shown. Without any justification he was claiming that sneaky blocks and barges were going in and stopping the attacking momentum of the visitors.
    Now of course we know that no Arsenal player would ever do that and try to con a referee* – but it is very difficult for an official.

    * particularly not Joel or Olivier in the first half last night – indeed Campbell efforts to back into Otamendi were worthy of Strictly Come Dancing

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  40. The referee starts pulling out early yellow cards it encourages the cheating rather than discouraging the fouling

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  41. Skrtel is out of action for next six weeks, a big loss to LFC

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  42. You’ve captured a little bit Arsenal’s “spirit” in that piece. Thanks A5.

    I wrote a long reply this morning, but I’m glad I Saved rather than Sent. What I had to say was too negative.
    I think the ref was pretty awful (through both as-live views). I’m only now saying it on here due to seeing ianspace’s post. I agree entirely.

    I hate the message that’s being sent to our opponents. Pulis Arsenal at will, or the remarkably inventive: KTSOOA! (Kick the shit of of Arsenal). (That really caught on over at UA, didn’t it rants?)
    I mean, is it a regular thing for them to dive and cheat? To play Pulis stylee?
    Aw, I’ll shut up.

    Well done Arsenal.

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  43. Andy Nic – thank you for another wonderful literary post coital hug, I look forward to the rest of the season in anticipation of many more victorious write ups. Writes up. Whatever, you get the idea.

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  44. Since I posted awhile ago, my thoughts have turned to the way Arsenal played their game last night.

    Theo killed a pacy ball in the middle, up field. There were no Arsplayers around him. He jinked to go one way -turned back the other, and I think there were 4 Mancs around him. The way he stabbed and rolled the ball – with one hand stretched behind to keep someone away whilst keeping his balance, then still getting the ball to Hector?

    Laurent pacily sauntering through the midfield, half-checks, then either puts on the afterburners or spanks a ball to someone on the line 40 yards away.

    BFG just stands there and intercepts the ball. That’s if he isn’t heading it away, and I just love his passing. Those long legs serenely sweeping the ball crops field or to the line.

    A fraction of the game going through my mind. So, sorry about the direness of my earlier contribution.

    I think I’ll have a third watch.

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  45. Ranty: That is a man who earns the right to be called a BALLER!

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  46. afcstuff ‏@afcstuff 11h11 hours ago
    Arsenal after 17 PL games
    Dec 2014:
    7 wins
    6 draws
    4 losses
    27 points

    Dec 2015:
    11 wins
    3 draws
    3 losses
    36 points

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