Good morning Positive Arsenal fans and welcome to the 2017/2018 season,
I trust you all thoroughly enjoyed yesterday’s game from Wembley, a contest that swayed from end to end but which I thought the deserved winners emerged? The result was not quite as comprehensive as in May but I recognise that we were without certainly 4-5, arguably 6 first team starters yesterday so we can be excused a little less than pure clockwork movement in the win.
I reckon we had about 75% control of the game. Our only dodgy phase came after Per was injured and we lost our momentum. When we were after the equaliser CFC spent long periods pinned in their final third and not able to get the ball away. Rather impressive on our part I thought.
Of our lads I thought Iwobi continued his sparkling pre season form and his tricky footwork and running AT the Chelsea back line resulted in an uncomfortable afternoon for our opponents. If you can get AT Luiz and Cahill then they will crack. Stay fit young man and you will have 40 games this season.
Granit earned the man of the match award and he and Mo moved the ball quickly and accurately. As in the Cup Final our midfield imposed control over the Blues for most of the 90 minutes.
Top prize this week goes to Nacho however for a commanding performance in the centre of the back three after Per went off. The Spaniard organised Sead and Rob efficiently, and despite the fact he is not a tall player was never, as far as I can recall, beaten in the air all afternoon. His aerial success came not by the application of brute force and flying elbows, but of reading the game and anticipating the arrival of the ball a split second earlier. Nacho really is a very good defender, and at 31 years old, ( 32 in February) he has 15 years of accumulated wisdom. He has not ever in his AFC career, been prone to fitness problems or suffered a serious injury. Moving to a centre back slot may well extend his Arsenal career by a season or two. I hope so.
The rest of our lads I thought did well, Hector still looking a little rusty, the OX good in parts and a bit clumsy at other times, Alexandre in and out of the game. Overall though I’d give them a collective 7/10.
Of our opponents ? Not very impressive. Not sure why Pedro was playing given he had his mask on to protect four facial “fractures” sustained less than three weeks ago. Are Chelsea really that short of players ? At the game it was far from clear why the Spaniard had been sent off from where I was sitting. Something was clearly “up” because Conte was yelping in the 4th officials ear to try and get him substituted ad the stretcher was brought to pitchside. Looking at it again on the box it was a straight red card and fair play to Mr Madeley. Alvaro Morata after 75 minutes ! What was that about?
And the penalties?
Ah Thibaut, Thibaut, Thibaut ….In the words of Björn the Bard
“The winner takes it all
The loser’s standing small
Beside the victory
That’s her destiny”
And finally, at the insistence of my daughter, a picture of Positively Arsenal’s newest reader, Nelson.
Enjoy your week!
Positively Arsenal 
Bravo. Well played Andy Nic. My only dissent is your failure to give just a little props to Mohammed Elneny. He was a force of nature in CM yesterday literally covering every blade of grass to harass and cover either in defence or attack. We can count on the fingers of one hand a misplaced pass. IMO it was his best ever game in an Arsenal shirt.
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I’m feeling rather positive…..
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Andy, we need to know the name of that cute little darling dog.
He should be our mascot I wouldn’t even mind a space in the header for him.
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Thanks for the review! Welcome Nelson and welcome another Trophy! every plundit claiming Arsenal wil end 5/6/7 this season, they will eat there hats next year! Depth in squad never looked so promising!
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Oh btw, what a great start to the season for both AFC and PA.
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He is Nelson – he has naval connections
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Difficult to know who to write up Shotts -Mo had a very good game and he and Granit worked well together. Both players have played a lot of pre season together and both looked our fittest players yesterday.
The other man who deserved a paragraph was Sead – Chelsea players bouncing off him – he sure plays a mean pinball
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Ideal start to the season and while some, the weirdos, diminish the status of the Community Shield, it will have our “super troopers” in high spirits and give them a spring in their step as they prepare for Friday night’s action vs Leicester.
Straight bat Andrew. Hope we get Moeen early when action starts shortly.
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The Chelsea team’s faces after the penalties told a real story, as indeed did their goal celebrations. Make no mistake, this game mattered to both sides, and so it should: the best side from last season against the Cup winners at the home of football. You’ve got to be in it to win it, and every other club would have wanted to be a part of it.
Elneny was outstanding and to have a player like him around takes a bit of pressure off Ramsey (in that they both do the hard yards). Xhaka continues to impress and I guess he is now starting to show why he was considered an important signing last year. Iwobi seems to have added a bit of pace (having bulked out last season) and looks a threat.
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Hello to Nelson ( lot catchier than Maitland-Niles so can see why she chose that)
Another enjoyable Wembley day then.
This one underlined for me I’ll never be able to separate performance from result fully, the game from emotions. Win or lose at pens it is the same 90 min performance but I knew the pen result would make all the difference to my mood and that this would influence how i then felt about the game.
I guess it’s a start being aware of how that goes, for me at least.
As for us vs Chelsea, I think we’re pretty evenly matched, we shaded it but it was another good competitive game. 3 out of 4 meaningful games against champions we’ve been better team. Hard to see why that shouldn’t translate to being good enough to fight for title (pgmol!!!!)
Nacho deserved to be singled out for praise again (also thought he was superb for us against Bayern pre-season). Xhaka class, Elneny with bags of energy and lots of good work, flashes of brilliance from Iwobi, super-charged Welbeck until juice ran out, promising from Lacazette, top stuff from Kolasinac.
Still share Shotta and other’s belief we need another brilliant player in midfield. With my pgmol views (5-10 % handicap for us) my take is that being as good overall as the other contenders isn’t likely to be enough for the title; and instead we need to be distinctly better. Another great midfield option (Xhaka and Ramsey class but a different skill set) would put us there I think.
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Labo Goon: Not to be argumentative but I maintain the Comm Shield is a pre-season friendly, albeit a glorified, competitive friendly. It is good to win it, but history says by September nobody gives a fack how well you did if you are struggling in the league. Worse yet, the manager is facing a pink slip if by May, we are not competing for the title.
When saying so, I am happy we did those c*nts yes and especially the fake news, bogus pundits on Fox Sports (Warren Barton/Mario Melchiot) who tried to make out the result was more important to Arsenal than Chelsea, especially if we had lost. You couldn’t be more inconsistent sitting in a dentist chair deciding whether or not to do a root canal.
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Lovely name, but perhaps Bismarck would have been more apt ?
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I can’t remember ElNeny having anything close to a poor game. He is consistently good without being outstanding. We need players like that.
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The shield is a lot more than a friendly. In fact I can’t remember there being anything “friendly” about any of them. But it is a little less than a league game.
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George: I think the reason ElNeny’s performance appeared so outstanding is because all summer the usual suspects (certain bloggers, tweeters, podcasters) have marked him down as deadwood, prime for the butcher’s block to be sold at a discount. As you say he has ben consitently good and an asset to the team when called on to do a job. These foolish “experts” evidently think it is reasonable and desirable have a squad made up of 25 outstanding players.
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Good to see yet again on recording. Esp slo-mo when BFG was injured. If Pedro was a bit unlucky with his red, Cahill was even luckier. To me, that elbow was deliberate. I’d sooner believe in the Easter Bunny and Santi Claus than that was accidental.
All round good performance and another sharp display despite the missing players.
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when pep was at barca, he was said to have won 6 trophies in a year. i dont understand how that could have been possible if a game like community shield an equivalent of super copa isnt considered a trophy. as far as i know, we have won at least a trophy every season in the last 4 and we already won one this season. so we cant go trophyless at least this season.
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Yes I thought Cahill knew exactly what he was doing too. Should be reviewed.
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Shotta… indeed the Community Shield is a pre-season curtain raiser, that both sets of teams desperately wanted to win because of the good launching pad it gives you for the first few game weeks leading up to the first international break. Come September it will be forgotten as everyone is expected being back up to speed.
The weirdos I’m talking about is those Arsenal fans who can’t get themselves to say anything positive about our performance, saying Chelsea couldn’t get bothered because its “meaningless”, yet they moaned their heads off as team news broke, alleging Wenger lack ambition by choosing a “weak” 11 and resting Alexis – I know they dont give a toss that Ramsey or Özil got rested too, one is perceived deadwood, the other lazy.
The youtube channel “representing” us already got a video up of with a headline alleging there’s no confidence in Wenger’s ability to manage the Arsenal. I dont bother watching these though – such weirdos I’m talking about.
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I think not, an “accident” as far as the German is concerned;
Per Mertesacker says he is “quite well” despite the deep cut he received after a clash with Gary Cahill in the Community Shield.
The Arsenal captain had to be taken off after the incident in the 32nd minute at Wembley, but says he was soon okay after some treatment.
“I’m pretty well for that hit and for the deep cut I suffered, I feel quite well,” Mertesacker told Arsenal Player. “The result I think gives me a lift right now.
“I can remember everything [about the clash], so I think there’s no concussion or something, it was just a very, very deep cut and the doctors already said on the pitch they didn’t want to take any risk, so took me off as a precaution and I got some nice stitches.
“I’m not quite sure yet [about whether I will be fit to face Leicester]. We need to take care of this – you know how the swelling goes and if it turns into a black eye or something. It’s too early to say because health is the first thing.”
Cahill went into the Arsenal changing room after the game to apologise to Mertesacker, and the German defender hailed the Chelsea’s defender’s gesture.
“It’s great sportsmanship from him,” he said. “He is as well a champion, a decent fella, so I thanked him again for coming and taking care of that, it’s an accident, but it was a nice touch.”
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/it-was-deep-cut-i-feel-quite-well-now#mqebmEO52efi2qzR.99
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Good buildup to the league, setting the mood and bringing belief to the squad in that not only can we play better than a team like Chelsea, but we can come from a goal down. We can also match them up physically and stand up to their roughhouse tactics.
I don’t know if Cahill meant to hurt Per or not, but on their goal, when he went up to win the header on the edge of the box, even though he hit no one, I remember thinking that his jumping style is exceptionally elbowy. Just like Fellaini. That he’s allowed to get away with it is a shame, but at least their diving and their potentially dangerous tackles were suitably punished by the ref. Except for that dirtbag Alonso getting away with kicking Lacazette. But then our man Hector planted a nice little stud on his foot as a bit of payback for last season.
Meanwhile, Elneny’s performance should give us some hope, especially if just before the start of the season. we are again going to have players missing through injury (which no doubt will raise a cry of us being totally unprepared via the transfer market)
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Excellent A5, and let me say straight away I thought the ref had an excellent game, near perfect spotting stuff that the crowd, the pundits and those watching on the box all missed.
I was surprised with chelski’s lack of fluidity especially will I am who ran the show in the last game but was totally in effective this time around. Obviously this as you say was because of the industriousness of our midfield.
The only thing worrying me going forward is our lack of goals or even creative chances for that matter.
The game against Leicester will be similar to Sunday’s with them sitting deep and hiting the ball long and so breaking them down and keeping tight at the back with still several players missing will not be easy.
Oh and on Nelson he is small, cute and I’am glad he got his first medal.
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You are right about Cahill’s jumping style Shard – there was justice imposed later on as he and Luiz managed to lay each other out (banned smiley)
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What do we think of the new penalty system? Personally, I don’t like it. I feel it’s an unnecessary complication, but if it means we win every time, I’ll be fine with it.
Also, I don’t know if it means anything, but the order of our penalty takers was right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Does that have a better chance of throwing off the opposition keeper, like apparently in cricket it affects the bowlers?
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Ian: Glad am not the only one who noticed we created few clear cut chances. Am waiting for the data to confirm or deny. Not that I am a pessimist but we need to be objective about our strengths and weknesses going forward.
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We were playing Chelsea with their first choice back 6 (as they play) so clear cut chances were always going to be hard to come by.
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Winning the Community Shield normally means a top three finish in the League
by Tony Attwood
http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/63489
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I so love Nacho Monreal
Yeah I said it!
I just can’t help it
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For the Moses goal , Cahill jumpsand lands the same way on Saed,with elbows flying
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wwwb
That’s impossible. I didn’t see Cahill bounce up again.
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yes shotta we were in control of the game without actually creating clear cut chances, lots of good tempo, energy and intent, but few shots, few really good chances. Of course we faced 3 cb and an out and out dm,
For me the CS is a friendly, but to see Conte going ape shit on the sidelines showed it was a friendly that CFC really wanted to win.
I do think the CS suffers badly due to poor perception, they changed the name of it from Charity Shield to the Community Shield, when it really needed to copy other nations and call it something like the Super Cup, the Kings/Queens Cup, something to give it a bit of grandeur, its as if the FA have learned nothing from the rebranding of our leagues over the years, A name means a lot when it comes to making the most of a product.
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I am no great fan of penalties Shard but the ABBA system seemed a bit more even handed with less advantage to the team going first. Despite that the players have to do their job and Courtois and Alvaro did not do theirs. Having a penalty saved is a misfortune, missing the target completely is an embarrassment.
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Given that the football authorities, their and our sponsors and the broadcasters seem determined to screw the very last penny out of the fans I am not too bothered if we stick to the community shield eddy – every single mention by the announcer at the stadium yesterday “The Community Shield SPONSORED BY MACDONALDS”
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On the midfield unless some ready made top top quality is on the market ( not that I’ve noticed) I’d guess Arsene will stick with the current options and try to develop more creative work out of Xhaka, Ramsey, Iwobi and Ozil. Given Alex Iwobi’s form I wonder whether even Ozil can be certain of his starting place over the next few weeks.
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would say that alex iwobi despite his impressive form in preseason, still lacks actual end product, he does some wonderful things, but final ball or shot far too often not up to standard, he is very much like Oxlade-Chamberlain, looks like he is producing more than he actually is.
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reports that Lucas Perez is at the Fenerbahçe stadium finalizing his transfer.
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He needs to sort his feet out in the penalty box eddy – unfortunately the only place to learn to sort your feet out in the penalty box is in the penalty box
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practice/training helps too.
He is a little hesitant still, and that split second delay sees him then have to rush his shot or panic a little and scuff it, same with crosses and final passes, he still gets a bit over excited and it means its not a smooth action. talent is clearly there, we wait to see if he can bring it all together. if he does then he moves up to a totally new level.
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PGMOL did not like what they seen in Community Shield, and have taken action
Mike Dean appointed ref for Arsenal v Leicester City
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Shard
double lol
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Giroud “I feel very well in body and mind, I’m an Arsenal player, I still have two years left on my contract, at least two years.
I’m focused on the team and what I have to do when the coach calls on me.”
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funny seeing Arsenal fans go into meltdown cos Virgil van djik has handed in a transfer request at Southampton
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Full flow
(Good to see Conte shouting for the foul)
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Probably being slow here but why might an Arsenal supporter be upset about a Saint asking for a transfer.
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@Anicol Andy your 12.52. But Cahill’s elbows weren’t in action?
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Definitely a foul but I can see why Per was not too angry Ian – BFG can sort it out later in the season if he still feels aggrieved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYuCPLNFOOY
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foreverheady its cos they believe AFC badly need him but that Liverpool or Chelsea will sign him if/when saints decide to sell him, that wenger is too tight to pay the £60M or whatever it would take
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We have just won the F.A. Cup and C shield without a multitude of CB’s and still managing to use three of them in our system and they want more CB’s who are they george graham
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