Sawatdii Postitive Arsenal fans,
Well that was quite an evening wasn’t it ? The ffffuuuullll range of fan experience over exactly 96 minutes, from mild discomfort, to eye rolling pain, abject horror, to fluttering but faint hope, and capped by monstrous relief at a finale in which we gained a point and retrieved our reputation as a tough team to beat. Exhausting.
Of the game itself I find myself struggling to order my thoughts even twelve hours later. In spite of what I have heard from AW we actually started the game, for the opening five minutes, really well and pinged the ball about in the Cherries’ half with them barely able to touch it.
Thereafter, and not surprisingly with the home side so willing to run and fight for the ball, the pendulum swung to even the contest, with possession shared with the home side and both teams on the front foot. It was a very fast game in the sense that players had very little time to dwell on the ball and both sides moved it quickly from end to end.
Then came the Bournemouth opener ! Not exactly out of the blue but the manner in which Hector was undone was slightly embarrassing, most uncharacteristic for the player. Whether he was a) tired b) unwell/unfit or c) he, Mustafi and Ramsey were on totally different pages of the defensive playbook at the time or d) a combination of a)+b)+c) I don’t know. Nice finish by Daniels nevertheless.
Like me I am sure you thought “no bother”, a goal down, a mere blip on the road to final victory. You could sense however we were a little stunned by the setback. Players looking a one another, shouting, shrugging, pointing. Not a good picture as the home crowd roared their approval of our obvious discomfort.
Then we had a bit of a second “cock-up”, to use the technical sporting term, with an attack broken down, Le Coq’s professional foul ignored/waived on by Oliver and Xhaka clumping Fraser. The evening took on a darker hue. I pondered whether my singling out of Granit and Bellerin for their good contribution against Palace had cursed them this evening ! Its all about me – dyasee!
After that second goal the dissent among Arsenal players rose to fever pitch, Sanchez was shouting at everyone, Ramsey shouted at Alexis, Larry was waving like a windmill in frustration, everyone was shouting at Iwobi, Mustafi was shouting at Hector, Hector was sheepish and staring off into space et cetera. This was not “pashun” this was just bloody unprofessional.
The outcome of this abominable mass toddler tantrum was that for the remainder of the first half we played very little football, passes went astray, our use of the dead ball was excruciating and we looked at no time like testing Boruc with an actual “shot” or a “header”.
The THIRD GOAL for the home side was an event of such exquisite torture I have no words to describe it – I shall move on.
And yet the third goal, finally, managed raise something in us. Was it pride ? Suddenly the spaces we could play in got a little wider, the passes were clipped a little quicker to feet. The Ox’s suddenly seemed to have the measure of Fraser and Perez’s introduction gave out attach a sharpness in contrast to the earlier dull thud. Did our opponents foolishly switch off thinking the job done ? Did our opponents themselves run out of energy having torn into us throughout the contest ?
I dunno – From the 70th minute and that first goal however I was certain we would get something out of the game and so it proved. The petulance among the players was replaced by smooth passing and movement, that second goal from Perez was a superb strike. Arsenal football team were back inaction, not 11 individuals, each with his own agenda. And that man Larry ……… probably his scruffiest goal in a long time but my goodness did it raise my spirits. The job was done, the point gathered. A draw snatched in unlikely circumstances against difficult opponents. Not exactly the result we wanted, and perhaps needed, but a lesson learned by the players.
I shall leave it there – enjoy your lengthy break until Proud Preston.
Positively Arsenal 
Drogba first 5 seasons:
134 apps 55 goals
Goal every 2.44 games
Giroud first 4 seasons:
135 apps 57 goals
Goal every 2.37 games
One is a legend
The other is just not good enough.
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WWB
I don’t know where he is!
Never trust a person who has a Blofeld obsession with cats, that’s what some say.
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If I remember Chelsea wanted to buy Giroud but we beat them to one for a changr
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I feel deeply troubled when I see so many joyous Spud faces….yuk!
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Hang On.
Did the panto clowns of the twitterati amidst their hapless flailing fail to notice that Gabriel attempted to pull Giroud back before giving up and bundling into the jumping Arsenal fans even though Giroud had turned back by that point to go the the halfway line?
This entire incident was comedy gold with Gabriel the lead comedian but it appears as if the joyful Experts missed it. Ah well.
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Gazcorp are awful at corners!
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Do Chelsea have an Arsenal quality comeback in them ?
We shall see
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Mario @Limpar33 3m3 minutes ago
Why isn’t Conte jumping up and down and screaming to motivate his players? #ConteOut
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Positively Arsenal @Blackburngeorge 2m2 minutes ago
Why has Conte not made 3 subs? That’s what “modern managers” do isn’t it?
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so does this mean conte will have chelsea playing two at the back,
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Hope the WOB remember what we did to Chelsea …..by half time….during their lillywhite love in ….
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so a point gained on chelsea over the christmas period
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If my brain is working (don’t laugh) then this means that Tottenham FC have helped to maintain AFCs now joint record with the petro club.
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according to irish radio the arsenal record is 14 wins in a row, across two seasons, and that chelsea were looking to equal that tonight,
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Orbinho @Orbinho 33m33 minutes ago
Arsenal hold the record for the most consecutive victories in English top flight history – 14 – still.
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fins I think the 13 wins in a row for chelsea this season equals arsenal’s 13 in a row in the same season, but we had a win in our last game of the previous season, and that is how we have 14
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what a story this could be, Cohen Bramall is on the verge of joining Arsenal, after earlier this season losing his job in a Bentley factory. Just think, if he breaks through at Arsenal, he could be able to afford to buy a Bentley for himself, before the first anniversary of him losing his job at their factory.
From losing Bentley factory job to sensational Arsenal transfer: Cohen Bramall’s incredible journey to the Emirates
The 20-year-old left-back is expected to sign in the coming days after a remarkable rise
BY ADAM JONES
15:31, 4 JAN 2017UPDATED15:56, 4 JAN 2017
Cohen Bramall will join Arsenal months after being made redundant from a full-time job in a Bentley factory.
The 20-year-old left-back is set to become Arsene Wenger’s first signing of the January transfer window after impressing scouts in recent weeks.
And Bramall, who has been training with the Arsenal first team, is now gearing up for a life-changing move to the Emirates.
“It sounds crass to say this is a dream come true for Cohen but it clearly is,” Bramall’s agent Dan Chapman told football.london.
“We love playing a part in helping a young man, who was working full-time in the Bentley factory until made redundant recently, whilst playing for Hednesford as well, become a professional footballer and now have – if he grabs his opportunity – a fabulous career ahead of him.”
READ MORE
Revealed: Why Arsenal moved quickly to sign former athlete Cohen Bramall
Football.London revealed on Tuesday that both Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday had been keeping tabs on Bramall over the last few months, but Chapman confirmed that only Arsenal agreed terms with Hednesford.
“Many clubs watched him and one or two had advanced levels of interest in him. But only Arsenal agreed terms with Hednesford that led to us and the player being granted permission to explore the move.
“We are a way down the line and hope to have matters concluded this week but you never know in football.
“We saw him playing very early in the season at Hednesford – as we do an awful lot of non-league recruitment – and his attributes and potential stood out.
“We took him on as a client and then started marketing him wherever we could – a good example would be his Rabona assist which ended up on Soccer AM!”
Bramall is expected to be allowed time to develop at Colney, with the 20-year-old likely to appear for the U23 side.
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The stats that prove just how good Lucas Perez was against Bournemouth
“He has been training with the Arsenal first team while this move has been under consideration, so he is definitely going there with the intent on breaking through eventually.
“Obviously he has a huge amount of development and work to do. Any player moving from part-time to professional football takes a while to adapt but in this case the jump in levels is so high. Realistically we can expect Cohen to cut his teeth in U23 football but we are confident he will break through at senior level in good time.”
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by the way I’ve seen several gooners today say Preston v Arsenal game is on Sunday, but in fact it is at 17.30 on Saturday. Wenger has his press call around 9am tomorrow.
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SlovenianGooner @slovenianGooner 10h10 hours ago
I’m proud of Arsenal fans. Not some, all of them. Those dickheads that enjoy abusing the players and the club are not fans. Simple.
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This wasn’t a master class by Pochettino, he merely neutralized Alonso and Moses and let Dembele dance around the very limited N’Golo Kante.
David Luiz at fault for both goals. He got sucked in by Harry Kane both times and both times Spuds took advantage of the mismatch at the back post.
Next time we play them we should play a 4-4-2 consisting of Gibbs and Bellerin out on the wings, a back four consisting of Monreal, Koscielny, Mustafi and Gabriel, with Ramsey and Coq in the middle and Alexis and Ozil up front.
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Orbinho @Orbinho 2h2 hours ago
Next 3 games before playing Chelsea
Arsenal play Swansea (a) Burnley (h) & Watford (h)
Chelsea play Leicester (a) Hull (h) Liverpool (a)
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That @positivelyarsenal bloke that Eddy keeps posting tweets from, Is a right fucking smart arse, I don’t like him a bit. If its a him.
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So Spurs are now deemed genuine challengers, but are only a point ahead of The Arsenal with a goal difference better by two. Needless to say The Arsenal are not considered genuine challengers. Funny that. The extended absence of Mesut Ozil makes me suspect that all was not well with him in the games just before Christmas, where he certainly didn’t play with his normal precision. I just.hope it is nothing serious as I feel he is much more important to the side than many realise.
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With all the top sides to play each other again, with FA cup runs, Champions League and the Europa, and also the Milk Cup (can’t even remember who is involved in that) to be factored in much will come down to luck with scheduling and injuries. And red cards and penalties for and against.
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New post up
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