FROM THE SHED. Fred Paxford, Gunner aged 82.
Afternoon! I just got back from a spot of fishing, caught me a small Trout, and a Perch,but I put them back though, having been through them war years as a nipper, I like see things alive not dead. But that’s my business even if you thinks Im a queer sort.
Anyway, I like to come up here to me shed and have a good ruminate away from this noisy world of ours and open up me flask and have a cuppa and a couple o shortbread biscuits. My nephew has one of them computers like you lot, and he showed me what all you have a chat about at PA. I used to like a drop of IPA, but after the Cup Final 1950 I jacked it in.I put me lawn mower over the front room carpet I was so drunk!Mugs game. Although I still have an Arsenal mug, while we’re on the subject-so to speak. But I like having a read of what you’ve got to say,or my nephew reads it out mostly of an evening when he drops by or sometimes on a Saturday lunch.
Anyway, I fancied chewing the fat with you about these here AAA. Daft as a brush some of them! Now what would you say if you saw me in me braces shouting up at the clouds on a rainy day flapping me arms and legs and cursing to the heavens asking wheres the Sun? He’s mad Im? Well thats what I think of that lot.Once the games over, there’s no need to get all hot and bothered under the collar,there’s nothing you can change is there? Anyone can look back in hindsight and be an expert. Life barmy, that’s the way it is.And if youre barmy too then you can get up to all sorts of tricks and thats no good is it? Things are always a changing,you only need to look to the weather to understand that!But this lot, well they moan themselves potty after a game.As if they could do any better! I met Cliff Holton twice, and that Jimmy Logie, but I knew I could never do what they did.Cor, what players thems were. But I would never have told em how to play. They would have boxed me ears!
Perhaps Im getting a bit soft in me older years, but I always thought being supporter was to cheer the lads on? Mind you its nothing new. There’s always been the moaning types. Moaning their boats races off as if we all want to hear!
If I were cussing at me taters like this here AAA lot do at the lads, me taters would never want to grow,let alone come out of the earth.You see, I water and look after me taters, and me flowers and give em a bit o encouragement.You should see my greenhouse. If you come around next summer, I’ll give you a few tomatoes,won a few prizes in me time.But do you get what Im saying?Not rocket science is it!?
But these Anti lot seem a bit wet behind the ears. Expecting fireworks every weekend, I mean the other side wants to win too! Cor, bit of s shock them boys from Leicester aint it! And Im not too happy about Spurs, but weve seen em fade away plenty of times havent we?
My nephew said that Ozil has been getting a lot of stick and the Welsh lad,Aaron. I suppose the Anti lot wouldn’t know a great player even if they dropped in their laps! Shame her Majesty cant sort it out,her being Queen and all and a Gunner to boot.Mind you I voted Socialist myself back in the old days, but that Thatcher started all this here greed and them fly by nights Blair and Brown, they finished off Socialism and finished off what Thatcher started. None of em care about gardens much,car parks more like.What a shame!
But that Ozil, hes bloody marvellous. Dont you just love watching him play? I like all the lads,but that Joel Campbell hes one to watch too.Old Wenger hes done a good job, going to be tough one to follow! And that spanking new stadium. I’ve never been me self, as I live out of town now, but I certainly went to Highbury more times than I can recall.In the end I got fed up of getting soaked down the Clock End and went up into the West stand, which is funny, as it was standing in those days.I enjoyed all me games. Wasn’t all roses thats for sure. We had it made in many respects since Wenger came along.
Do you think these anti brigade blokes actually like the game?
Mind you, them newspaper fellas, they like stirring up a heap of trouble dont they? Some of em dont like our club for sure!And some of them silly celebrities. Thems not my cuppa you know. My nephew likes to keep me informed of them silly sods and I think he tries to wind me up! Load of old codswallop!
Well looks like it might rain, and Ive kept you long enough and I’d better get on me bike and get home. Im reading a good book at the minute by JPG Lewis,” the complete illustrated history of concrete”. But if you fancy another chat,just give me a shout, Im often up at me shed hiding from all this here ‘much ado about nothing’ thats in the world today and sometimes it can get a bit lonely.But Ive enjoyed me chat with you.
Cheerioh!
Positively Arsenal 
TEAM NEWS: PER, GABRIEL AND RAMSEY
Arsène Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Watford:
on the team news…
From the Hull game we lost Ramsey. Gabriel and Mertesacker came off injured but should be available. Koscielny is not far. Will I risk him or not? There is a little medical risk but I have not made a decision yet. Coquelin is coming back from suspension and Bellerin was not in the squad. He is now available.
on if Mertesacker and Gabriel have been training…
Gabriel no, Mertesacker yes. I don’t think they have lost too much fitness. We will see. I will make a decision tomorrow. My gut feeling is that Gabriel will join in tomorrow and be available.
on Ramsey…
I don’t believe that [he will be out for the season]. At the moment his clinical signs are quite positive. I would say four weeks.
on Laurent Koscielny…
He has to join in normal training tomorrow and then it is for me to [decide whether] take a gamble on a guy that has had one training session with the group or not.
on Cech, Wilshere, Cazorla…
They are all progressing nicely, but this week and next week they have no chance.
Copyright 2016 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/20160310/team-news-per-gabriel-and-ramsey#xWi6xvDmXXx2eTGt.99
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From the Park Lane Hotel, Kenneth John Friar, on the 9th of May 1991, declared that the directors had passed a special resolution that the company should be re-registered as a public company!
No director, since Sir Henry Norris, has put a penny into the running expenses of the Arsenal!. From what I can garner from the information that I have.
In 1974, only 3 employees earned between £10,001 and £12,000 per annum. I deduce the 3 were, W.R.Wall, General Manager, Ken Friar, Secretary and Bertie Mee, the Manager.
The Directors, had no remuneration, nary a one!
The Arsenal was run as a self-financing company. Financed by the supporters!
THAT WAS the WAY forward, but no longer.
How useful, a potting shed is.
COTG
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As all weeks/games are going to be important from now until the end of the season however for momentum, keeping our fingers on the silverware and the doomers down this week will be intense. While most people consider the CL to be the most important of the important we are in the strange position of having a game either side of a match verses Barca that both in their own right are collusal.
The fact we have three major players back after this fixture is typical of our fortune as is the TV alternative fixture list which sees us go away to the best team in the world on Wednesday and then go away to the more footballing side of scouseland on Saturday midday.
Personally I would like to see Ben Sheaf, McGuane, KK Hinds and company take on messi’s maestro’s in their own back yard with the intrustion to just enjoy yourselves and don’t worry about the score. Obviously it will never happen but hey!
I also think we should withdraw all players from the international break and pay any fines due to the bent governing body of world football who will be willing to accept a little bunce.
Whoever manages to pull on famous red and white in these three and remaining games will need the best support all who follow can muster. No agenda’s just support COY GLORIOUS GUNNER’S
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is it true that the FA Cup game on Sunday v Watford is sold out, this AST, BlackScarf, GoonerFanzine, RedAction boycott could be a major success after all, only those supporting the team will be there.
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afcstuff @afcstuff 7h7 hours ago
Expected returns
16 March: Koscielny
2 April: Cech, Cazorla, Wilshere
17 April: Ramsey
24 April: Chamberlain
May: Rosicky
[physioroom]
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attendances at Arsenal games home and away 30 years ago was pretty dire, is this what the boycotters mean when they say “I want my Arsenal back”
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I went to plenty of those games Eddy,and have often thought about those attendances when the WOB get on one and in some of the years prior to that.
Wengers still to this day,easily the best manger we’ve had, and one who changed the club for the better and raised the bar for all things AFC.
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Wenger is just the sponge that soaks up their toxicity as they rail against their own inevitable descent from bristling youth to someone they no longer recognise.
Their beauty has thickened.
Something is pushing them
To the side of their own lives.
They think it is the move to the Emirates that has caused it – and they blame Wenger for that. And every appearance on Fan TV, every banner, every tweet merely underlines their impotence and signals that the only legacy they will ever leave is the bitter pill of missed opportunity they are forcing their young to swallow.
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Interesting record Eddy – really makes you appreciate the transformative effects of the Wenger revolution.
The ‘problem’ AW now experiences after 10 years of ‘routine’ 60,000 attendances is one of expectation. It is similar to the expectations that always seem to blanket managers of newly promoted clubs unable to then push on in the EPL following that initial promotion. Ruthlessly unfair, it just seems to be the way of the world. It’s often only when these clubs are eventually relegated back down a division (or two) that the long departed manager responsible for their original promotion is better appreciated. Especially when they then spend countless seasons struggling to get promoted again.
What I find particularly unforgivable with Arsenal’s current set of Goners is their wilful disregard of the struggles every single one of Wenger’s opponents have gone through and are still going through.
In just the last 20 years, as fans of Chelsea, Man U, Leeds, Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, Blackburn, and Aston Villa (to name the most obvious examples) have found out, absolutely nothing is a given and nothing can be taken for granted.
The risks associated with managerial instability and/or financial recklessness is largely incalculable. Yet those criticising the club would have us hurl ourselves into both avenues of danger at the drop of a hat simply because they have grown used to current levels of success – as represented by our routine 60,000 sell outs – and want more, and want it now.
Well the news is – it simply isn’t going to happen any time soon. And neither should it. The gains on offer through unnecessary risk taking are sufficiently marginal to prevent that from ever happening.
The club will move on when it is ready to move on, not when a bunch of hot-headed attention seekers decide it’s time to throw their toys out of the pram.
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FH-without checking is that P.Larkin?
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Yes Mills: Afternoons. One of his sadder ones (and he wrote a few). But can you identify the author of A Tail from the Shed? I thought it was you.
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I just had a rummage and found it FH. Thats a great poem, really sad too.As soon as I re-read it all the imagery came right back to me.He did write a lot of sad poems.I like the North Ship the most these days,its not so sad.
No not me.Im sure Fred would like that poem though,seems a similar tyoe of reflection he would have. I hope he comes back again.
Glad you quoted it, very apt.
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Its Fred Paxford, I says so. That will do for me.
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FK²
@fkhanage
@touchofbergkamp It’s somewhat satisfying that those who hate Wenger will probably see out their lives with him being our greatest.
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AA it is rather funny that if anyone brings up the struggles of other big and richer clubs to explain how difficult it is for AFC, the WOB/AAA are the first to say why bring other clubs failings into it, we are talking about AFC(just cos CFC and MU are struggling this season is no excuse for AFC struggling), but they are the first to compare our results to others when they are talking about success(look at the success of CFC with all their managerial changes over the years, it shows AFC should not be afraid to sack Wenger).
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Wenger says Chris Willock is very close to getting in the first team, and that certainly next season the lad will be fighting to get in the team, he says Willock is “a natural talent”, who is very good in one v one situations, and that the only reason he has not got in the team yet is the caliber of player already in the wide positions – Alexis, Theo, OX, Welbeck, Joel.
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He is Eddy.Great young talent is Chris. All the best to the lad. Hope Jeff gets a bit of steam up too.
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Daniel Cowan
The whole every player is available at the right price argument is so mundanely stupid. Well, duh!! I’m sure Barca would sell Messi for 300m. Theoretically, yes, every player is available. In practice? No, it’s far more nuanced than that. Pretending we’re not buying players because the manager is tight is just a coping mechanism for the harsh reality. And the reality is that we’re not as attractive as Barca, Madrid, Bayern, Juve etc. We don’t have the European pedigree. Deal with it. Until you have that you’re only going to attract players from those clubs because they want to sell (MÖ) or for silly wages. The only option left is to lower your expectations. If you want Wenger to do that, fine, but be honest about what you want.
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best laugh I’ve had in days, the guy promoting this poster/banner
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ccz6rnwWIAAjmnn.jpg:thumb
when called on the “no silverware” part of it, despite his header being photo from last seasons FA Cup final, claims the FA Cup is not silverware. But it is all explained by this tweet
Tucker23 @Tucker23 41m41 minutes ago
Fact of the matter is, Ian Wright doesn’t pay to the see the club and put up with Chelsea fans BS on a weekly basis in a working environment
the poor little lad can’t deal with childish taunts from CFC fans in the playground. So of course he is completely right to blame Keswick, Kroenke, Gazidis, Wenger, for his lack of maturity and life issues.
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You know all of us here on PA, might have a completely different view of Arsenal and Wenger if we would only look at it as “2 trophies in 11 years”, and not “2 trophies in the last 2 years”, and we certainly should not look at it as “9 trophies in 19 years”, in fact we would all feel so differently if we looked at is as “no meaningful trophy in 12 years”
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Why is the Everton V Chelsea game today (2 days after CFC v PSG game) and why is the Arsenal v Watford game tomorrow (2 days before AFC v Barca game) Why not other way around?
Its almost like the FA want to make it hard for their CL clubs. We now have Monday night BPL football and Friday night BPL football is coming, but the FA have already said that they will not be reserving these games for the CL clubs, like happens in Germany, Spain, Italy and France. Its almost as if the FA wants the BPL to lose one of its CL places, and weaken the league even more. Odd behavior, isn’t it.
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What’s all this Larkin about?
I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t stop. I’ll get me coat…
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Why does Chelsea play today (2 days after PSG game) and why does Arsenal play tomorrow (2 days before Barca game)? Why not other way around?
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Mel O’Reilly @MelOreilly1970 15h15 hours ago
@arseblog @arsenalvision there’s a good chance that the lack of self importance in the stadium on Sunday might make for a better atmosphere.
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an article about the comments Kroenke made at a conference titled, Evolution of Ownership, that so many of the AAA/WOB jumped upon, doing what they usually do, and taking part quotes, or quoting out of context, to try and slant what was actually said, to suit their agendas
Stan Kroenke lifts lid on why Arsenal prioritise business foundations over spending big on transfers
12 March 2016 11:53am
by Joe Hall
Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has lifted the lid on his approach to ownership – but risked invoking the wrath of fans by claiming “if you want to win Championships then you would never get involved”.
The American real estate magnate discussed his belief in prioritising the building of a sports team’s business foundations in a rare public airing of his thoughts at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston.
Kroenke, who has earned the nickname “Silent Stan” from Arsenal after keeping schtum at recent AGMs, also discussed the importance of statistical analysis at the Premier League club.
Some Arsenal fans have recently expressed exasperation over the team’s loss of form in the league and the club’s supposed reluctance to spend big on players despite having cash reserves of £160m.
Billionaire-bankrolled Chelsea and Manchester City have won the Premier League six times between them since Arsenal last lifted the trophy in 2004, but Kroenke warned against a model that relied on a wealthy benefactor to spend big.
On a panel entitled Evolution of Ownership, Kroenke said: “For me, being an individual owner, I have to have some sort of reality involved.
“If you want to win championships then you would never get involved. I think the best owners in sports are the guys that sort of watch both sides a bit. If you don’t have a good business then you can’t really afford to go out and get the best players unless you just want to rely on other sources of income.
“Over there [in the UK] it was sort of like ‘well, we’ve got guys from the Middle East, the oil price is over $100, they can spend anything they want’.
“But the problem I saw with all of that; those people can lose interest. It doesn’t mean that they will, but I sort of threw that out there: ‘What happens when the Middle Eastern family, this thing’s costing a lot of money and they decide to go home?’ I said what really happens in those situations is the fans get hurt because the players get picked up and paid if they’re good, the front office gets other jobs.”
Kroenke said he has long been a fan of the moneyball approach first popularised in baseball by manager Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s who interrogated statistics to find undervalued players.
His belief in the power of analytics motivated Arsenal’s purchase of Chicago-based analytics company StatDNA for £2.2m in 2012.
“I was always interested in Moneyball,” said Kroenke. “Billy Beane, one of his heroes happened to be our manager at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger. Arsene has an undergraduate degree in economics and has always had that analytical thing going on.
“When we acquired a controlling interest in Arsenal in 2011, after that we started pushing pretty hard because it seemed to me that there were some people who were a bit more advanced in that area and so we were fortunate in that we acquired StatDNA. They gave us a big lift in the soccer business.”
Kroenke, who owns NHL franchise Colorado Avalanche, MLS team Colorado Rapids, NBA franchise the Denver Nuggets and NFL franchise the Los Angeles Rams as well as Arsenal explained that his various sports franchises learn from each other in the fields of marketing, finance and player analytics.
“Are you sacrificing anything by working on multiple teams? I don’t think so,” argued the multi-billionaire.
“Because I feel like when I work on things at Arsenal I learn things that I can bring back here. I feel like when I work on things here I learn things that I can take back there.
“Player analytics is something that goes across these different teams, but our marketing people talk to each other, our finance people talk to each other. You’re benchmarking and you’re trying to find best practise in the middle of it.”
On what he’d learned from the Premier League in particular, Kroenke talked about the power of a club’s “brand” to hold customer loyalty and generate revenue – something which could irk Arsenal fans charged with the most expensive season tickets in Europe.
“What did I learn specifically [from England]? You learn very quickly what that brand means,” said Kroenke.
“We have a gentleman who comes to Arsenal games, he flies his helicopter from South Africa, Cape Town to London quite often [to watch Arsenal]. It’s just an example of what a brand can mean, and what we can do in sports.
“We’re all working on that and that’s the big opportunity. Michael Jordan showed it – you can get paid a whole lot more if you can extend your brand. Manchester United showed it. They established benchmarks that people had thought heretofore unattainable, but their brand extension made people want to pay for it.”
Kroenke also revealed he was approached to buy an Indian cricket team around a decade ago but declined – something he conceded may have been a mistake – and that Arsenal would play and train in Southern California this summer in a bid to raise their profile in the US.
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The home game against hull game was a little tepid but then again there were many empty seats.
Of more concern to is the loss of two of the top if not the top (alongside their team-mate St.Jack ) British talents from the squad just as they were both re-finding some goal scoring form and confidence.
But there is back up in the form of Campbell and Elneny. Not too shabby.
Even with Koscielny out there’s a good choice at the back. I think all football fans would want to see Gabby vs. the Watford forwards hehe but if he’s not fit it will be a good test for Chambers who is in form.
If Santi and Jack and Rozza *sobs* were fit the loss of those two stellar midfield talents would barely be noticed.
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Livers Delivers @Sir_Livers 14h14 hours ago Camberwell, England
20 years prior to Wenger ruining our club. Arsenal FC not Arsene FC
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Desperately not raising my hopes that Norwich will get anything out of this game. 20 mins to go.
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Top effort Shotts: now that’s what I call proper managerial pacing of the technical area.
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norwich 0-0 man city
that is city’s game in hand used up
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Sam @samuelJayC 2h2 hours ago
Mertesacker, Gabriel, Bellerin, Coquelin, Arteta & Koscielny all in training this morning
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Well that was a really satisfying draw between Norwich and City. Kept my nerve. Never threw my remote at the tv. Unlike the Gabbidon fellow doing punditry on my feed, never flip-flopped about Norwich’s tactics; two banks of four, hold shape, dont get too tight and be rolled, be opportunistic and spring a counter-attack when able.
All that money spent by City and can’t breakdown a mass defence. How this managing malarkey is so easy!
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Thanks Heady. Can I take my experience to top flight football?
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What game is Mason watching? Red for a flailing arm in the back of a player. The refereeing in the Prem has reached a new low.
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Lukaku has his FA Cup Danny Welbeck Moment™, fantastic goal.
Pedro the Spanish Theo true to form so far, slightly better on the ball but without the goals or assists of a fit and in reasonable form Walcott.
Chelsea going out, nutmeg on the keeper from Lukaku this time. And just to complete the contrast Costalot off. Mourinho does not know.
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So many teams in the PL play so well on the counter regardless of their style, even if they prefer to have more possession.
This evening at home Everton who at a guess have struggled against defensive countering opponents in the league not always able to control this game perhaps as much as they’d like against strong opponents find the goals through Lukaku.
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Eduardo, I am surprised you did not spot the “errors”?
“On what he’d learned from the Premier League in particular, Kroenke talked about the power of a club’s “brand” to hold customer loyalty and generate revenue – something which could irk Arsenal fans charged with the most expensive season tickets in Europe.”
Cough, cough!
“We have a gentleman who comes to Arsenal games, he flies his helicopter from South Africa, Cape Town to London quite often [to watch Arsenal]. It’s just an example of what a brand can mean, and what we can do in sports.”
Really? How many refuelling stops?
The reporter is responsible for the first misrepresentation.
A correction for the second “error”,
“The American recounted the story of a South African Arsenal fan who flies from Cape Town to London via helicopter on regular business trips, and makes friends along the way by handing out Arsenal shirts when he stops to refuel.”
COTG
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So chelskis’s season is over at the start of march, however lose all three games this week and ours will be as well.
It underlines the importance of the games before the interlul.
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wasn’t it funny to see chelsea with a CB playing striker after Costa was sent off, and the striker the special one could not wait to sell, Lukaku, doing the damage to them.
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For the detached follower –
Custom opposition analysis or player evaluation
Since we know or data better than anyone, we can do the analysis for you and deliver you insights that help you understand your opponents better. We can also use our advanced statistics to help you better assess the value of possible transfer candidates and chose the right one.
Do the Arsenal players have an overload of tactical information?
We know the scribblers, lack the StatDNA data!
Come on the Gunners, play the game “off the cuff”. You know it works.
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MrPaulRobinson @MrPaulRobinson 2h2 hours ago
Lineker says Diego Costa is ‘quite a character’. Next up, why Peter Sutcliffe is ‘a bit of a rascal’.
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Matt Law @Matt_Law_DT 44m44 minutes ago
Guus Hiddink evidently thinks John Terry is a better striker than Alexandre Pato. What a joke that signing has been.
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Everton Fans @Everton_Fans 34m34 minutes ago
The red card for Costa now means he will miss the Semi Final along with the rest of his teammates #efc
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Garden State Gooners @GardenStGooners 3h3 hours ago East Brunswick, NJ
For all his mentions of Arsenal seemingly having blown the title, not once in “Fever Pitch” did Paul demand that George Graham be sacked.
Ryan Tomes @RyanTomes 5h5 hours ago
Why do people make more of a thing out of Arsenal going 10yrs with no league title when Liverpool have gone 25 & the media don’t really care
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Aitor Karanka’s future at Middlesbrough in doubt. He stormed out of team meeting and told players he didn’t want to manage them, Boro are currently 2nd, 7pts off top, but with two games in hand. It seems Aitor is very much in the mold of his good friend and mentor, Jose Mourinho, what a knob.
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the agent of 19 year old, six foot six inch, Nigerian striker, Sadiq Umar, of Serie B side Spezia Calcio, but on loan at Serie A side Roma, this season, says that Arsenal are interested in signing the lad.
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Arsene’s Chilean @ArsenesChilean 56m56 minutes ago
@JMcCarthy_16
Says no to racism
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how the fuck is this moron employed as a pundit
BBC 606Verified account
@bbc606
.@RobbieSavage8 says Diego Costa deserves credit for the restraint he showed by not biting Gareth Barry. Agree?
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Wenger on Jack Wilshere: “He is doing well. He was out running on Friday and he is very positive – his power is back.”
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John Cross @johncrossmirror 5 Aug 2015
Random predictions… Aguero to be top scorer, Oxlade-Chamberlain young player of the year, Terry player of the year, Schweinsteiger big hit
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