Weeimba gilee Positivistas,
A memorable game yesterday at the Ems against a Norwich side who showed great endeavour and considerable footballing talent over the full 94 minutes. Credit to both teams.
Unlike those of you lucky enough to see the game on the TV I had the interesting experience of watching from a seat high up above the Norwich fans and under one of the large replay screens. As a result I had an excellent view of all goings-on in the ground, of which much has been spoken, but never saw one replay or reviewed one incident during the game. By the time I got home I was too drunk tired to watch the match again. That is a task for later today however as the family assure me I have a ‘doppelganger’, a perfect facial and body facsimile elsewhere in the Emirates. I await sight of my reflection with narcissistic enthusiasm. My recollection of footballing events is therefore based on “one take”!
As is our usual style we dominated possession first half but with limited threat to the Norwich goal. When we got toward the visitors’ box we could not slot through the next ball to split the defence, with a Norwich boot or head intercepting. Olivier worked hard against their two centre backs but to no result. There was a lot of sideways Arsenal movement from Mesut, Alexis and especially Alex Iwobi (who was in front of me). The ball moved mostly East to West as the stadium lies, rather than North to South. Now lateral movement can be a great means of testing defences, or identifying and prying open that weak spot in an opponent. In itself though, and with no direct thrust to accompany the sideways movement of players and ball, it achieves little. While the memory is a little fuzzy I think the only chance we had throughout the first 45 that caused a gasp was a Kosc header on half time? Correct me if I am wrong.
For their part Norwich managed to gain control of the ball and on at least one occasion Cech was required to turn away what could very much have been the opener during what for him was an under-employed first half.
After half time I thought we set off at a brisker pace but still the Canaries managed to hold us off, although they began to sweat a little harder. Per departed with a hamstring problem, the first of the afternoon’s substitutions and soon after Danny Welbeck replaced young Iwobi. Thereafter Gabriel was very good yesterday, just the right combination of speed and steel. The latter change was greeted with some consternation but the manager’s reasoning was clear to me. Danny brought that direct “run-towards-the-goal-and-take-on-defenders” that our offensive probing had lacked for an hour.
Norwich were not really ready for that sudden adoption of the North to South movement and within a couple of minutes their defence cracked open and we took what was a deserved lead.
Thereafter the game was exciting. We had chances to increase out lead, a great shot on target from Mo, and two moves in which we opened the Norwich defence only for weak finishing or the offside flag to intervene. Norwich brought on a second striker as well as the most devious of footballers in Naismith (Boo). They huffed and they puffed but we were never ragged and the bit of luck that Palace had with their long range shot never came the Canaries way.
Referee Jones peeped his final contribution and off I went into the very pleasant North London spring evening. I read on here last night that Norwich were rough but I did not notice them being any more physical with us than we were with them. Naismith will certainly still have a bruise on his head.
I hope to see something of Jack and Santi before season end. If not then we have more than enough players to collect the points we need to ensure third place, or even better if Tottingham slip at the Bridge.
Two snaps today – the top one is the Clock End on 78 minutes. It is not a matter of what you can see, but what you cannot see.
And below we have three people who went to the game, met up with their friends, and had a good afternoon watching Arsenal Football Club, their team.
And ‘that’ is what it is all about.
Enjoy your day !!
Positively Arsenal 
well if anyone ever wanted to know why Martin Keown is not managing or coaching at a BPL club, then there was a clear indication of why, he just said on BBC that Bale is now better than Ronaldo.
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it seems the banner boys real name has been revealed and it has not gone down well with the WOB,
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Grim viewing at Carrow Road – neither side has made a worthwhile effort on goal at HT. Even a draw will see us effectively qualified for next season’s CL.
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Sure, Walcott’s been in possibly his worst form for the club these past four or five months, and the full impact of that shoulder injury upon his career became more obvious to me as he opted to avoid yet another potential dislocation the other week.
But, just imagine the bleating if he’d cost 30 Big Ones and played like Depay! I can feel the desire to hit the a4 printer welling up within. Itchy trigger finger printer syndrome.
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Poor Chambo. Hard to ignore the inference that inspite of some up and down form amidst his injuries that Chambo was in the squad to go to the Euro’s, considering that Hodgson was happy to take a completely unfit Chambo as an observer / as a reward to the last WC then there’s not much doubt about it.
Chambo still managed to have a better season then Sterling haha! *applying healthy does pof anti-jinx everywhere before tomorrow’s match, it’s a well rested Nasri who might be the biggest danger*
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alfie burden @ABOFLONDON 6h6 hours ago
This morning it’s retain or release meetings at Arsenal which determines if the kids get another contract or are released always very tough
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reports in Bolton suggest Arsenal have joined Everton in bidding for Bolton Wanders 20 year old defender Rob Holding. Everton are said to have had a £10M bid turned down for the Central Defender, who only made his Bolton debut at the start of the season, but has been named Bolton player of the year, as they got relegated to league one.
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Bayern Munich have won the title again in Germany, 8pts clear of Dortmund with one round of games to go.
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Red card for Terry, and a 2 match ban for the Chelsea leg-end which will finish his Premier League career in an entirely appropriate way.
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not been the best of results today from an Arsenal point of view, man utd won in the race for top 4, west ham lost, and with Sunderland winning and Newcastle drawing, it means if sunderland win midweek, the Toon will be relegated before the play spurs on the last day.
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Yes, unfair though it might seem, the bastard will even be barred from appearing at his farewell game at the Bridge
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now if only the A4 guys had this sort of imagination
Enough Of That Now @AndyGilder 7h7 hours ago
Hartlepool fans going to Plymouth as stormtroopers, in honour of their team not being able to get a shot on target
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don’t worry anicol, Terry will turn up in full LCFC kit, you know how he likes to take part in celebrations
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If Sunderland beat Everton at home on Wednesday night, Newcastle and Norwich will be relegated.
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anyone shocked to see LCFC get another dodgy penalty today,
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for good measure lcfc get a second penalty(missed this one), that is a season’s worth of Arsenal penalties, but nothing dodgy about that.
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13 BPL penalties for LCFC this season
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LCFC have got 6 penalties at home and 7 away, they have scored 10 of them.
AFC have got 0 penalties at home and 2 away, they have scored 1 of them.
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Some interesting ‘statistics’ today about how there is a conspiracy that engineered Leicester to win the league this season ( rather than AFC)
Groooooooaaaaaaaan
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http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/52463
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You are right Andy, it will all even out soon.
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Not unless we devise a reliable method of sticking the round speckled leather thing into the thing with white posts and a net thing behind it it may not.
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maitland-niles @Ains_7 47m47 minutes ago
Been such a tough season but thanks to @Official_ITFC I got through it, thanks to the fans and the players, coaching staff & the manager 🚜🚜
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Jack Wilshere @JackWilshere 22h22 hours ago
Today’s sun story is completely untrue, me spitting at an OAP? Come on….this is harmful to me and my family!!
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Arsène’s Son @hughwizzy 15m15 minutes ago
Gascoigne, Zola, Suarez, Ginola, Gullit, Drinkwater, Desailly, Bale, Gerrard.
Crazy to think only one of these has won the Premier League.
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BOSS – WHERE WE MUST IMPROVE NEXT YEAR
Arsène Wenger says Arsenal need to “be more ruthless defensively” next season.
The Gunners have only conceded 34 goals over the course of this Premier League campaign – just six more than second-placed Tottenham Hotspur – but have dropped 16 points from winning positions.
Arsenal have also conceded three or more goals on eight occasions this season, and Wenger has called for his side to “toughen up” at the back.
We have to add something defensively as a team to be more ruthless. Once you are two up at West Ham United and you finish 3-3, you question the team defensively
Arsène Wenger
“We had a problem at home and dropped too many points against teams that played deep,” the manager said. “We didn’t manage to score enough goals and our deficit is there. Our defensive record is strange because we had 15 clean sheets which is good.
“But when we conceded we really conceded. In the big games away from home we conceded three at Liverpool, three at Manchester United and three at West Ham. It was nearly always in positions where we were in the lead, which makes it difficult to win the league then.
“We have to add something defensively as a team to be more ruthless. Once you are two up at West Ham United and you finish 3-3, you question the team defensively.
“We also gave cheap goals away against Manchester United because we were not strong enough defensively and were punished for it. I don’t think we are soft but yes, we need to toughen up. In some games we were caught, but a lot of the teams have the same problem.”
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/20160507/boss-where-we-must-improve-next-year?#7AflJXUJSvcEXS4v.99
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Bolton News reporting that Jimmy Philips the Bolton manager was told by the board of directors to drop Arsenal target Rob Holding for Bolton’s last game of the season earlier today, as the young defender is set to move to a BPL club. BN understand Arsenal bid for the central defender on Friday and this forced the Bolton board to pull the lad from the team, as they could not risk him getting injured and scuppering the move. Everton are said to have had a £10M bid rejected. So it remains to be seen which team bolton’s player of the season will end up at. but Bolton news expect his destination to be revealed within days.
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by the way Holding is a right sided CB, who can also play RB.
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