Good morning to you all aboard the Positive Arsenal bus,
We stride serenely on to the quarter finals of the League Cup having disposed of Reading last night and tonight’s games take on that much more interest to spot out next opponents.
I admit that looking at the team sheet I was a little nervous. As well all knew from his announcement the day before there would be young players brought in, Jeff, AMN and that Carl would almost certain be back. Six Arsenal players under 20 I am told by those who know. Even those older players, Gabby, Perez, Elneny, Emmy, Alex Iwobi and Rob Holding had played no more than a handful of games between them. ( I guess 50 starts (?) between the six of them) The Ox was the only really experienced man in a red shirt. What I did not expect was that on the bench we would go with what another selection of youth players, barring Olivier. This was Cup football with no safety net, one slip from the high wire and the chances were the plunge would be fatal.
I recognise my foolishness now. Arsene knows these players and works with them every day. He trusted his players and on the night and they performed well, not brilliantly, not perfectly, but professionally and took their chance to show him, and us, what they can do.
Stand out for us I thought was the Ox who was the most influential player on the pitch. I use influential because if you score the two goals that win your team the game clearly your contribution has to be recognised. I mean it also in the sense that most of our attacking impetus came through him and was directed by him. He put the occasional foot wrong, misplaced a pass and/or blazed shot high and wide, but where in previous games that setback would have distracted him for the next ten minutes last night he just got on with his job. He seemed to me a lot more confident and understood how important he was, as senior man.
Of the returners I was pleased to see Carl Jenkinson look so fit and that he managed 90 minutes with no obvious drop of energy is much to his credit. I have no idea where Matt Debuchy might be but I presume that the Corporal will be back up for Hector, and pressing the Spaniard, over the next few weeks. Giroud’s 25 minutes showed he is fit and firing. I suspect Sunlun may find the Frenchman breathing down their necks on Saturday lunchtime.
Of the youngsters AMN I thought did well and looked as though he is next to step up to the PL/CL. We are not short in central midfield but we have a lot of football to play in the next few weeks. Jeff I thought looked less assured and he looks to me like the next candidate for a loan to allow him to get some football experience against experienced opposition under his elegant belt.
The only weakness last night was the final pass around the box and the finishing. The final pass will improve when Perez has more experience of playing with Iwobi and the Ox ( and the rest of the AFC midfield) , and vice versa. Finishing needs working on and Alex Iwobi will no doubt be reflecting on this today.
Of our opponents ? The fans enjoyed their evening, their players tried to keep the ball on the ground and play football. They were better than Chelsea.
Onwards and upwards to the Stadium of Light mes amis.
( in case you are wondering our friend at the top is a Berkshire Old Spot)
Positively Arsenal 
Thanks A5 for a fine summing up of a highly enjoyable night last night, here on PA and watching the Gunners.Hope Perez was Ok though..?
Onward to the Mackems,like.
Cheers!
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The old fart’s thoughts
An assured performance from what was effectively our second squad, several players advancing their claims for regular first team status. Plus a welcome re-appearance of Jenks who put in a very good stint.
The real stand out was the Ox, whose all-round display plus both our goals, made him very much the leading light of our attack. Ainsley Maitland-Niles with a fine first half performance, Emiliano Martinez, Kieran Gibbs and Rob Holding weren’t all that far behind him. Surely Rob and Shkodran Mustafi represent the best value central defender signings of the season? Emiliano didn’t have all that much to do but when he did, it was to make saves that both Petr and Oosp would have been proud of.
Reading tried hard and played some tidy football and some of their one wing to the other passing might have reminded really older readers of the Hancocks-Mullen play of Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1950s. But overall they just didn’t have sufficient penetrative power on a consistent basis.
Now for Sunderland. Hopefully we’ll do better than we did against their near neighbours . Keep the faith.
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A concise pointed summary. No doubt about the most influential man on the night but honorable mention must go to Noddy Holding. For a senile old fart, who lucked out by inheriting George Graham’s defenders, Wenger must be top candidate to win Wheel of Fortune; £5 million for a scrawny French defender from the lower reaches of Ligue Une and £2 million for a bloke from the championship. No wonder the bloggers who spouted the end of an era nonsense can barely acknowledge that the old man is like fine wine, getting better with age.
I have one problem with A5. Given Steww’s annointment of the Ox as Le Bouef or Beefy, surely that picture of you Berkshire Old Spot should be replaced by one of the finest English bull.
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When and where did anyone get to see the match?
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Zelalem came on for a faultless cameo. That’s all I have to add. Otherwise a fair summary.
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I thought both the Alex ‘s were very influential. Gibbo is a great captain and it was good to see all the youngsters getting a chance. It was also nice to see so many youngsters in the crowd due to ARSENALS ticketing policy.
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The venerable Sage of Dublin has been pontoficating on AOC for a while now. Drip dripping negativity and further gibberish.
The only concern with AOC, one of England’s best young footballers and hopefully much more, validated by any quick glance at the funny papers of late, is that he has the same agent as Raheem Sterling. Yikes! The concern being that in meaningful games for country and club (especially prior to big injury) he has performed better then the aforementioned Sterling. Double yikes!
With friends like the Sage*…
*…just another hack who takes the occasional commission from Special Agents? The predictability is tedious, is it not?
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I watched it on Mahmad GP and the coverage was ok – it is a long way from good though
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A5, are you implying that AW has converted a pig’s ear, into a silk purse?
I must admit I was interested in how Corporal Jenks, had progressed at West Ham. It would seem that in the first year of exile, Jenks was a revelation and highly thought of! Unfortunately, young Jenks signed a new contract with the Arsenal and West Ham, with a new manager, were not impressed. So, at £2 millions (?), Jenks was sidelined and against Man City made a mistake and suffered an injury, resulting in a return to London Colney with insurance paying his uplifted salary.
The 2 owners of West Ham, with one of them with a young son, are very verbal!!
A very good report Andy, especially with the wobbly, jerky and generally frustrating pirate viewing.
A week’s rest, so COTG. November, is the time that with the number of games to be played, one or two bodies begin to feel the strain.
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Thank you Andy. I relived the match through your words and it was almost as good as the first time.
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glad to see that you all seen the same game as i did, where we were good, very good at times, jenks, and holding very good, gabriel and gibbs solid too, martinez commanding and made one outstanding save, AMN very promising, elneny was elneny, ox the match winner, lucas and iwobi dangerous without end product on the night. That was the game I seen, as it seems did you all, but the malcontents actually seen another game, where Reading did not bother their arses, where our defense was awful, where AMN showed he has no future at AFC, where iwobi and lucas showed they are not ready or was that not good enough. Oh yes and the game was as boring as fuck.
one defeat and three draws in 14 games this season, which I think makes it one defeat in 27 games, and the malcontents are not happy bunnies, and they can not help but keep the negative bullshit going.
I think its 8 clean sheets in last 9 games,(dare I say as good a run as any we ever had with the “famous back four”, but you would never know it, as all I see from many of our fan base, week after week, game after game is
“our defense was all over the place, a better team would have destroyed us”
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Marc Bola @MarcBola27 4h4 hours ago
Great Experience, Good To Be Involved✌🏾️📸 #MB38
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Jenks is very much more the solid tackling defensive right back NOTH – and has the advantage of being relatively tall. He is very different from Hector but if he can demonstrate he has an expertise in timing (and positionimg) rather than the foot speed the Spaniard had then who knows?
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you know we are getting west ham in the next round of the eflc, we play them away in the bpl the following weekend,
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I couldn’t see the “strong” ManCity squad that had the EPL sown up and I don’t see it now.
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At this rate they’ll be locked in the dressing room until about 3 a.m.
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Schneiderlein the answer to our midfield deficiencies is on
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Southampton 1 – 0 Sunderland
West Ham United 2 – 1 Chelsea
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#PepOut
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utd 1-0 city
that is 6 games without a win for city, including 3 defeats, not great from the new invincibles and the manager that reinvented football
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What’s happened to our very own double canister? He’s been quiet lately
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Teams in the next round of the EFLC
Arsenal
Hull City
Leeds
Liverpool
Newcastle
Southampton
West Ham
Man Utd
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Home tie – I’ve had worse – great stuff
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Arsenal v Southampton
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Arsenal vs Southampton
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Liverpool v Leeds
Hull v Newcastle
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man u v west ham
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David Wall@1DavidWall
It’s been 32 days since Man City led in a football game.
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⚪️ Jahan Miah ⚪️ 🔴 @AllAboutTheAFC 5h5 hours ago
Fouls by Koscielny in 2016/17:
0 v Leicester
0 v Watford
0 v Southampton
0 v Hull
2 v Chelsea (Costa)
0 v Burnley
0 v Swansea
0 v Boro #AFC
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StatCity @StatCity 2h2 hours ago
6 – This is the first time #MCFC have gone 6 games in all competitions without a win since December 2008. Bleak.
StatCity @StatCity 2h2 hours ago
0 – This is the first time that #MCFC have failed to record a single shot on target since April 2012 (v Arsenal). Blunt.
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we’ve rode our luck a bit, but then it’s good we’re up there. just have to keep it together and do it over November. I think we can,we can beat Ludogrets, Spurs, and man united.
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well Southampton will not be easy in the next round, but then again I’m sure they will not be thinking Arsenal away is a good draw for them.
It’s about a month away, barring suspensions or new injuries, we should have a stronger starting line up than Tuesday’s, without having to play anyone who starts in our BPL games before or after the QF, what with Giroud, Ramsey and Cazorla all expected to be fully fit, and Xhaka back from suspension
how the squad could look for starting 11
Cech, Ospina, Martinez
Bellerin, Jenkinson
Monreal, Gibbs
Mustafi, Koscielny, Gabriel, Holding
Coquelin, Cazorla, Xhaka, Elneny
Ozil, Ramsey,
Lucas, Walcott, Iwobi, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Alexis, Giroud
with any amount of youths as subs for eflc
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If the Gunners could win the domestic treble that would be something,and would fry a lot of people minds.Is it really so difficult?
Theres something in this squad thats hungry. They must feel they can do it.
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@Mills Lets just win the next one first, as it’s the biggest game of the season.
Sunderland away is a massive game.
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When you introduce a new style of play things will take time, I still think city will win the league. If you gonna go six games without a win its better in October than in April or May.
As for the draw Southampton will be difficult they are a good side and it will be difficult to decide what level of side we put out against them. Had we drawn manure or pool then I think we may have played our strongest possible side and I know the quarter final will need more 1st teamers but how many is the question.
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…fair enough.Just having a quick dream. I get the feeling every game is now a massive game what with the pressure thats on everyone now.
Mind you no dreaming- no manifestation.
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I expect Southampton to put out a strong side as they must see the League Cup as their most realistic, winnable trophy. They will be a tough nut to crack.
One odd thing is, assuming we play them on Tuesday the 29th November as planned
(according to Sky) both sides play on the Sunday, us at home to Bournemouth and them at home to Everton.
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@Mills Just dream about the next game
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I’ll do what I like.
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Lucas out for five to six weeks with ankle ligament damage after the Reading player stood on his ankle, without even getting a booking.
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Arsenal Bulgaria @arsenalbulgaria 6h6 hours ago
9mX15m flag that will be unveiled in the 20th min in the away end for Ludogorets in honour of AW! Join us to mark the achievement! #LUDvsARS
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Just watched the Second half v Reading. Iwobi oozed authority….
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Jenks was very good. We have great cover at right back, left back, central defence, midfield…..and Giroud…the best target man I have seen. No player holds up play and links up with his team mates as well as he does….
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“Lucas out for five to six weeks with ankle ligament damage after the Reading player stood on his ankle, without even getting a booking.”
I was there – North bank. The crowd were quiet enough that I could be heard shouting, “Don’t talk to him, talk to the player that kicked him”. The ref saw what happened and ignored it, as he’d allowed Reading to do all night, when they felt like it.
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I was very angry when I watched that. Big lump had no chance to get the ball. An absolute certain yellow card just ignored by the inept Ref. Even more angry now he is out for six weeks.
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markyb
Share your anger. That foul as your first contribution to the game, a minute after coming on, suggests a player instructed to give someone a whack. Refs should know the game inside out and have seen it many times before.
A very obvious booking; and that sight we see so often in that case- a ref opting of a bit of soft love for the fouler in the shape of an almost tender talking to, before wandering over for a few words with the fouled/injured player (‘i saw it mate; don’t worry, if he does that again..’?)
Speaking after the game, Stam said he made the switch because the defender wasn’t being aggressive with the winger and sometimes you need to be aggressive with the winger. At least he now knows his man is good at following instructions.
This might be what Webb was referring to when he called us naive and easy to referee- where was the squeal and the roll from Perez? Why weren’t we in the ref’s face? As Webb suggests, these are the things a good ref appreciates and rewards.
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Team news – Lucas out, Monreal, Walcott and Cazorla will all have fitness tests today. Giroud is fit, and Ramsey will be back in the match day squad too.
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Wenger say Lucas facing up to 8 weeks out.
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So Perez has his Diaby welcome to the league. Lets hope it is only 8 weeks.
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