Tony Pulis. There I said it. I know George hates it when we use foul language on his blog. There are outlets which won’t promote Positively Arsenal if it employs such revolting epithets and we are all about the numbers here as you well know. The advertising revenue alone keeps us in swimming pools and pearls and we must not piss off our sponsors.
However there comes a time when difficult issues must be faced and the Pulis is one of those issues. It wasn’t always so. Back in his playing days he was part of the Bristol Rovers golden generation along with ‘Jockey’ Wilson, Devon White and Ian Holloway and I applauded like a Stoke fan every crunching tackle, every score settled.
Of course he blotted his copy book by going on to manage at Ashton Gate, a move which ensured he was despised by both the blue and red halves of the city. After a long and celebrated stint in the Potteries he has now wound up at West Bromwich Albion and thither the mighty Arsenal must travel today and secure a much needed three points.
You might recall I mentioned a young man of my acquaintance who travelled up to London town for the recent FA Cup tie. I saw him last night and asked about his Emirates experience and his face split into a huge grin as he recalled a wonderful day out. He showed me his latest Arsenal shirt and then we got down to the nitty gritty. ‘How was the match?’ I enquired. His answer, refreshing in its honesty, neatly summed up much of our season, ‘We were rubbish in the first half’ he replied ‘but then we were great and won five nil’.
Not so complicated this football lark, is it?
The problem we often experience when anticipating a match is not knowing which version of Arsène Wenger’s project will show up on the day. The tentative, nervous, pass it about at the back under ever increasing pressure until they give up and let the keeper hoof it forward edition, or the free flowing, inventive, confident, improvisational theatre of full blooded Wengerball. Sometimes we even get both in the same game.
People say it’s infuriating, I see it as an intriguing example of the huge role mental confidence and relaxation plays at the highest level in any sport. Andy Murray gave an interview where he said that losing in the Wimbledon final to Federer was the ultimate piece in his jigsaw to becoming a top player. Defeat in the game he’d always seen as the pinnacle of potential achievement meant he’d experienced the worst. With that out of the way there was nothing left to fear, and he could play with a freedom from which he’d previously been inhibited. He wasn’t a better or worse player he just got his head right.
You could see in Aaron’s finish last weekend how important it was for him to find the net. A couple of chances had gone awry, the kind of chances he was dispatching with aplomb in his best season for us, and even though his goal was essentially a tap in he really needed it and whacked the ball into the net with a cathartic flourish. Will it open the floodgates? Time will tell.
Aaron, like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain cannot be judged on this or recent seasons because both players are endlessly coming back from injuries. That or just about to get injured. It has been a frustrating time for them and I’m sure we all wish them a long sustained spell of good health and a proper chance to show what they are capable of.
Let’s hope Pulis and his boys don’t set out to further the injury woes of any of our players. It would be nice to see a sporting contest. The casual observer might deduce from our recent results that Arsenal is there for the taking, and this could, I suppose encourage in West Brom an adventurous spirit. I’d welcome this as the old attritional warfare against deep set defensive tactics is never easy on the eye. In any sport you cannot attack without creating vulnerabilities in defence so it might open the game up were they to sense blood.
I don’t actually believe Mr P will make the mistake of taking our results at face value. There has been some wonderful football among the dross and he will know that on our day we can demolish any side. The question he’ll be asking is very similar to the one I posed earlier. Which Arsenal side will show up at the Hawthorns today? Don’t be surprised if it’s a mix of both. To achieve one of the three hallowed places beneath champions elect Chelsea will call for some determined hard work as much as for fast moving, eye catching football. I’ll take a one nil win and some backs to the wall defending if it sets us on the right track for the run in. Of course I have the advantage of not travelling all the way to B71 and forking out for match tickets so I can be a little more relaxed about the nature of the performance.
If you are going I hope you enjoy a sizzling treat of speedy, confident Arsenal at its best and a result to match. If like me you will be at work from this morning right through to tomorrow lunchtime then I hope you avoid hearing the score and somehow navigate to the match on Arsenal Player without their giving the game away. They love to do that to us. Pages of headlines telling what happened before actually arriving at the match highlights and even then the video itself often displays a still clip from late in the game with the score clearly visible next to the time. It grinds my gears I don’t mind telling you.
See? Who says we’re afraid to criticise the club?
Positively Arsenal 
anicol all game long, and for much of the season, we have lots of bodies back defending, but no one actually defending, make it look like they are doing the hard yards, but in reality they are hiding
looks like the assault on alexis in the first half did the trick, he has been very poor the second half and has now been taken off, iwobi on.
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we could be as low as 7th by end of this weekends play.
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Shotta
I can’t get any picture so i was listening on ArsPlaya. Even they’re talking about rotational fouling.
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10 minutes left and even a draw looks beyond us today, awful second half performance, lots of possession for possessions sake, but far too slow in our play, and too passive in both defense and attack.
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Rantetta there was lots of rotational fouling in the first half, not so much in the second
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If, as it appears inescapable, we are going to get fuck all out of the game could someone please send James fucking McLean to the fucking A&E please
Just for me eh ?
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our players looked knackered
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The decisive strike from Robson-Kanu – a player with no club last Summer having been “let go” by Reading. Shake my head
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6 defeats in last 9 games, and 2 of our 3 wins have been against non league teams. Hull the other win.
its an awful run of results we are on, 21 goals conceded in those 6 defeats.
our last seven away BPL games has seen us
Win 1
Draw 1
Lose 5
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What a load of old shit.
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FT: west brom 3-1 arsenal
good in the first half, let in soft goal, hit back within 3 minutes,
possession for possessions sake in the second half,
then let in another two soft goals
both of the headed goals today we had loads of players back but they still got two free headers, and not only that but they scorer got a free run in to make the header.
played out rest of game like it did not matter. worst run of form/results that I can recall under wenger.
not sure what can be done to change things around, we now have an international break, usually that is a bad thing, but with current run of form, it may be a blessing this time around. Man city await on our return.
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Difficult to explain, difficult to excuse. Very sad. The morale in the camp is low.
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what happened to us in the second half… really thought we were out of this et piece goals?
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Im totally baffled by whats going on? Come back Per? And its like the teams mojo has sneaked off and gone over to the banner dweebs. See them gloating at the end?
Wengers going to get fried again, and even more so for Sanchez coming off. Time to pray for St.Totteringham to come and help?
Utterly baffling.
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Well I’m feeling heartbroken. No idea what would have happened if fouls had been fouls first half and bookings bookings, but it’s the norm for the season and it’s too big an obstacle without a truly fantastic team.
I look at West Brom, so little football compared to our efforts, but so successful on the day, and can’t help feeling apocalyptic. Is there any point continuing to try and play and play and play?
The refs will fuck us, the media will be pricks, many of our fans are dickheads, and the vast majority of the league are overtly cynical defensive pragmatic fucks.
I don’t mind a booting from you lot for these thoughts but I’m totally sick of it.
It’s not impossible that Arsene could hold on and sign on this year, pull off the couple of miraculous signings we need to become a footballing team who can triumph despite abysmal refereeing against them, but it’s surely unlikely.
Football and no doubt this league really does deserve us to become one more cynical bunch of bastards and, shame on me no doubt, I’m up for it.
I’d like Arsene to find a team where he can be staggered by how beneficial normal refereeing can be, and where his commitment to great football can be properly rewarded.
Sorry for bringing my negativity to a place built expressly to combat it but damn I’m feeling low (and drunk)
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really annoyed to see the performance of so many of our players today, especially the second half, looked like many of them just going through the motions. as I said before, too many of our players are just too optimistic, they play like they think “ah it will be all right, someone else will make the tackle, or challenge, or cover the run, or do something to win us this game”.
a simple question
who of our players today played at their full capability
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dont think the problem with our defending is mainly with our defenders, its the midfielders which seem to losing players. The second goal (although there was a push on Hector and offside) was caused by six players in a line marking three attackers leaving a player on the edge of the area with time to have a cup of tea before playing the ball. Going forward our play was far to slow, this is not about skill but confidence and decision making and not always taking the safe,easy option.
We have left ourselves a mountain to climb considering the fixtues we have left and the timescales, sqeezing three fixtures in between tough games. We have done it before however I dont think us in such a poor run of form in previous seasons, the interlul needs to change our season.
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on my last post, let me explain my annoyance, i’m annoyed that our players seemingly don’t care enough to repay Wenger for all the trust and time he has put into them, in all of Wenger’s time here, he has never more needed the players to stand up and be counted, and once again we get 45 mintues of decent football from them, then pah, a team of strangers looking at other. No wonder the pundits can so easily say we lack leaders.
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a_o_b, with our defending I get the impression, both on the two headed goals and on the second goal, that once again, our players hide in a crowd. someone said on here we had 8 players in our six yard box, and yet it was still a free header, coming from a free run too, that is the biggest sign of hiding in a crowd. In attack we had players making the easy option run, back from goal, out to the wings, out to midfield, no boots flying there, no pressure to make a telling pass, no pressure to make something happen. an old coach of mine used to call it moral cowardice.
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Eduardo. I’m not in a good position to comment- as, like too often lately, I drank too much too fast while watching- but did you happen to think the refereeing was awful that first half?
Everything for me, my opinion, what happened, rides on whether it was or not. I thought we were looking so good and purposeful in attack and then there were 4 or 5 calls where I felt completely certain the ref would have done something completely different were it us making the same fouls/ challenges.
Certain bookings for us not called for them; leading directly, quite likely, to a very poor challenge on Sanchez, outstanding first half, which may well have injured him and which was at least as bad as Xhaka’s two red cards.
My head totally went, to be honest. I accelerated my drinking and barely took in any of the second half.
So again I ask, did you see it as I did from the ref first half? If so, what the fuck is going on? How can it be explained or excused if any referee will fiddle a game like that?
Afterwards, I hardly care. If it’s as I see it, the bias or whatever it is has lost us around ten points this year and is simply too much for us to overcome, and leaves me feeling sick
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Very poor challenge on Sanchez and it could easily have been a red card and no doubt a million tweets said “if that had been Xhaka …etc”. After that Sanchez was nowhere near as effective.
However it wasn’t a red and though Sanchez was playing well we have 10 other talented players plus the subs available to step up. And I am afraid none of them really did.
It’s me I feel sorry for though – writing the post match – lucky I have mental strength.
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Remaining fixtures
April
2nd Man city (H)
5th West Ham (H)
10th Crystal Palace (A)
17th Middlesbrough (A)
23rd Man City (N) – FA Cup semi final
30th Spurs (A)
May
6th Man Utd (H)
13th Stoke (A)
21st Everton (H)
27th Possible FA Cup final
still to be fitted in
Southampton (A)
Leicester (H)
Sunderland (H)
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we have not given man utd the chance to finally get out of 6th
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yes Rich, the ref was awful in the first half, the left the foot in, and he let it go, he was described as SwaPRICK, and I would agree with this. But as you say, we get this every game to an extent, but should we excuse our awful defending on all 3 goals cos of a bad ref,
it does seem wenger does not allow our players to feign injury or roll around trying to get players booked, and he does not allow them to cheat, but we should not be doing this if we are not going to complain and complain loudly in each and every game where opponents do it, or where refs allow black arts to be indulged against us, This silent protest is getting us no where.
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Very very poor, as has been most of 2017 for this team. We are now losing to the big boys and lesser lights it seems. It is reported Wenger wants to stay and the board want him to stay, but surely he has to turn this around to be able to stay on with the credibility such a man deserves.
some very poor defending as a team, one paced, looked lethargic ,many worst of all, unstructured at times.
If these players are playing for their manager, they do not always show it. Of course there are mitigating factors, the ref let a lot go in the first half, and we were missing our two play makers, but Wenger teams past have overcome in a way this team are not.
When a keeper goes off injured, so much, some of it self inflicted seems to be going against this team, I just wonder if the vultures of fate are circling.
I back Wenger to turn this around, but fear that may require something that could rate amongst his finer achievements.
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Think they could do with being a bit more streetwise, as Wengers previous teams most certainly were. Not sure why he has changed this, it certainly is not working in our favour
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Wenger: I know what I will do in my future, you will soon know.
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Mostly agree Eduardo, but I’ll never stop being driven to the brink and beyond by it.
It’s why, for a while now, despite all my back and fore, ‘fuck it’ has been my dominant feeling.
We need/ed, I think, phenomenally good signings, Klopp’s golden run at Dortmund- Lewa, Hummels, Kagawa, Pischeck (wrong spelling I know), Reus, Gundogan- plus a couple of youth gems to build a team good enough to beat cash behemoths and appalling refereeing both, while playing remarkably positive, uncynical football.
Serious overachievement, in other words. That hasn’t happened, and it may be the team has a set of faults which can be blamed on no one but themselves and the manager, but I can’t look past that fucking terrible refereeing, without which I don’t know how we’d have fared but certainly better, maybe a lot better (it’s impossible to imagine)
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There’s too many of our most vocal supporters at the stadium that has gone a bit quiet of late. Leaving our boys to fend for themselves for most of time.
The hatred some of these boys get from ppl who @ them their social media feeds, and they aren’t pretty at all, will get to the strongest of hearts.
And that some feel the need to actually charter a plane to display a positive banner to try give our boys a boost is an indictment on just how toxic the anti support have become.
Thanks to all the die-hearts on here who refuse to abandon ship. We all know all the boys need is a bit of love because we know the value in that.
COYG
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So Wenger said in his presser he has made a decision on his future, so can we expect it to be made public in the coming days.
journos say he said his decision is made, but he has yet to tell AFC, but that we will all know his decision soon.
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I’m sad. It’s time now for Arsene to say what he’s going to do, I think. The boys are all out of sorts; this mess is clearly affecting them. Whatever you’re going to do now, just do it.
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arsenal dont need to turn it around. what we need is overhaul. a lot need to be changed and a lot need to change. can arsene do the overhauling? i think so. but i’m afraid he is too good and kind to do it.
we need a new goalkeeper (i like to see shezzer back) a new leftback (every game monreal is presented with great room to create oppurtunity but he never). a new DM (xhaka is not the answer and he is not a top class box to box) coq is average without cazorla. we may need to move on wothout sanchez, he distrupts as much as he carry the team. if he cant do it with messi, iniesta and neymar, how can he do it with walcott giroud and ozil?
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think we need a decision…..or more the players do….convinced instability is one of several issues. Some may be less inclined to put themselves on the block against physical teams with “lenient ” referees if they don’t really have an idea of the future….this could like to some of the lack of aggression exhibited by our players recently.
I really hope he stays, for a number of reasons , but if he does, he will need to be ready to rebuild , perhaps freshen a few things up behind the scenes and change a few approaches If he wants this team to challenge again. By no means beyond the man, but these are very uncertain times
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Rich I’ve nearly walked away a few times this season due to the reffing, but today, despite the allowing of rotational fouling, I feel our players cost us, not the ref, at best we were half way off our best, Danny and Theo both left out of England squad midweek, and if anything they showed it was the right decision, our defending was just downright awful. How many of them actually give a fuck, or at the very least play like the give a fuck. Now if it is that the care so much that it affects them too much, then sorry, but we will go nowhere with them. Arsenal this season hired a leading sports psychologist to help the players cope with pressure, and its worst they are getting.
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Alabama, perfectly articulated.
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THOSE SET PIECE GOALS? CANT GET MY head around them!
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Well seeing as Wenger said today that his decision is made, then he needs to tell the Board what his decision is, and then tell the players, and then tell the fans and the world.
If he is staying then get on with it, let the players know they are playing for their futures here for the rest of the season. Anyone not 100% committed, can fuck off, and that either way, there will be incoming this summer, big time, and that no one can take their place for granted.
If he is leaving, ask for one final push from the team, to get top 4 and win the cup. Point out to the players that they can impress the new manager, whoever he will be, by driving the team up the table and to cup win.
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Charles WattsVerified account @charles_watts
Wenger says Alexis’ ankle is ‘in an absolutely terrible state’ #afc
but arsenal away fans sang “you don’t know what you are doing” when he took alexis off
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Agree, whatever his decision, he can use it as a motivating tool.
I find it a bit ominous he has said this after that performance, but who knows.
But the fact is, the focus needs to be on the team and not so much the manager in the coming weeks
Where’s your money Ed?
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OptaJoeVerified account @OptaJoe
4 – Arsenal have lost 4 out of 5 Premier League games for the first time since April 1995 (under Stewart Houston). Problem.
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Mandy my money would be on him leaving, I really can’t see how could feel anything other than utterly let down by the players, and he knows he will not be given the money to make wholesale changes to the squad, so for the betterment of Arsenal he will leave.
The number of times this season that Wenger has said pre-game that we have worked on x,y and z that we know our opponents are good at or will come at us with, or that he has told the players they have to be up for it etc, and then like today, wba best in league for deadball goals, and we let in two free headers from 3 yards out, v watford, aw said pre-game the players were massively up for the game, and ready for the intense battle the hornets would bring, then after the game, “we were surprised, and not up for the battle”. The players have let him down, over and over, this season, and I just think Wenger will go, heartbroken.
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Richard @R_GOONER 2h2 hours ago
We’ve been poor in the air today
Between 6-8 feet and 1000 feet
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I don’t understand why keepers don’t get fouls for being blocked off. Its an awful side of the game and should be a foul.
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Hard to disagree Ed, breaks my heart even thinking about it, but whatever he does do, it will be what he believes best for the club.
My heart says he will stay, head says go, but if it’s the former, he may need to make changes that he has not made before and he may find a bit unpalatable.
If he goes, it is up to the players to ensure he goes on a high, through fighting for their careers, I think that, should he go, some could be in for a bit of a shock, unless they want the modern day repetitive micro drilling type coaching that it is reported Wenger resists.
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http://arsenalist.com/f/2016-17/wba-vs-arsenal/arsene-wenger-presser-i-will-annnounce-my-future-soon.html
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Very true, Mandy!!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PoTj7oXl-I
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU_sTu8TgMw
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Alabama, @3:29
You are not just smart you are sensible too — and this uncertainty with Arsene needs to be resolved – one way or the other – and he has now promised to let us know ‘very soon’.
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Eddy @4.00pm. Im with you I think he will also leave now.
I hope that out of this, the oddest, most toxic time in all my years supporting the club, (as it must be for most of us)that its over soon and we can all move on ( although the banner absolutists aren’t sure of anything,where is the guarantee of jam tomorrow?- -and that kind of mind will soon find its next target to blame for their own feelings of lack),it tough not to also feel a lot of anger towards the banner brigade and their five minutes of fame ranting on AFTV.They too (as are LG and the others) are part of the whole picture of whats happened this season, but they are too driven, too blind to see the consequences of their actions.They don’t put the team or club first.
I hope the team can find the inner courage to play their Arsenals off and win the FAC and at least send him off in style.
I also hope that the lure of CL football still means something to them, in that they can dig in and make top four.
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