Good morning Positively Arsenal,
A genuinely good contest last night, which is unusual for Monday night. Very much the “game-of-two-halves” for Arsenal.
The first 45 we played in patches and, for my second surprise of the evening, the visitors set about us with a bit of quality. For various reasons that were debated to death last night we may have been slightly lucky to go in with a 1-0 lead at half time. “I’ve seen ’em given Ron, I’ve see ‘em given” et cetera. If it had been Deano rather than Bobby Madeley last night the penalty count might have been 4-2 (to the Arsenal obviously). If I was looking for a decisive moment in the half it was Nacho’s kung fu clearance from Rodriguez’s header. If the Baggies had gone level at that point, and they were playing well, it would have rocked us hard.
The second half there were no patches in the Arsenal display. Cech barely touched the ball and Mustafi and Kosc had a leisurely time at the back. We controlled the ball and pinned the Baggies back. The second goal seemed a long time coming despite our dominance and until it arrived the visitors were still in with a slight chance. From the 67th minute however the points were assured. I was hoping for one more but we slightly eased off the tempo, perhaps with Thursday night in mind.
For us as has been said elsewhere on here Nacho was in his element last night. Decisive in defensive and on two occasions he could have scored, with only a bobbling ball and the grasp of Nyon defeating him. His left side partner Kolasinac also had another good evening, an uncompromising physical first half and a much more fluid attacking second. And finally on the podium this week I place Alexander Lacazette. Two chances, two goals. The first a classic ‘predator’ six yard line finisher goal. If you look at his penalty thought it was even better. Foster dived the correct way and any less power or careful placement of the shot he would have had a hand on it. An important penalty, and they all count.
For West Brom I was impressed with Krychowiak and Rodriguez. Both were at the heart of the expansive first half effort were they attacked us hard and in numbers. It is interesting that the Baggies have the profile to attract a player as good as the Pole on loan, and Rodriguez I have always liked. Nice to see Kieran get in 90 minutes last night too. Good lad. Whether it is the influence of the new Chinese owners or Pulis has seen the light I don’t know. Watching two quality ball players must be a tonic for the Hawthorn’s regulars though who for years have had to put up with some dull stuff. I can see a top eight finish for WBA if that progress continues.
Anyway that is me done this morning. I will be missing on Thursday evening, and on my way to Wroclaw (Ryanair permitting), but back on Sunday so if anyone fancies a little post match delight from Byelorussia speak now !!
Enjoy your Tuesday.
Positively Arsenal 
As you say Andy, penalty count could have been well in our favour but I’ll happily accept the ‘non-penalty’ that went our way. It could have been very worrying at the time when WB were surprising us all. But calmness restored and the second half was a doddle…we should have had more and quite how WB saw no red cards was beyond me. That’s more like the Pulis teams we love to hate. Nacho deserved his MOM, not least for that amazing clearance.
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Great second half performance from us. Saw a stat that WBA averaged a foul every 5 minutes and Ramsey’s ankles took quite a beating. So best his next game is only Sunday.
And that kung fu clearance from Nacho, was just as iconic as Henry’s celebration at WHL. The Emirates can commission the statue so long. His importance to Arsenal can’t be stated enough.
And just like Monreal, I love how Arsenal flies below the radar thus far this season. 1 point behind Spurs and Liverpool and no one hardly notice.
Top stuff Andrew. I know a lot has been made about the short turn around between last night’s game and Thursday, but we’ll see many changes, so the lads do get ample rest which can’t be frowned upon.
Roll on Thursday
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4 Debuts for Arsenal U23’s, including 16 year old Balogun, as regulars rested for Europa League game.
Report – McGuane hits brace and four make debuts as Arsenal U23s lose to Everton
Premier League 2
Everton 4 (Donkor 49, Evans 73, 83, Henen 90) Arsenal 2 (McGuane 10, 77 (pen)
Marcus McGuane scored his first goals for Arsenal U23s but it wasn’t enough to prevent a much changed side from losing 4-2 away to Everton tonight in a dramatic encounter.
Arsenal, who were without many regulars, finished the game with ten men following the dismissal of debutant Charlie Gilmour for two bookable offences.
A serious injury to Everton’s Gethin Jones, who appeared to suffer a broken leg, meant that there were nine minutes of stoppage time at the end of the second half, with the hosts finding the net in the closing stages to cap off their victory.
McGuane and Jordi Osei-Tutu were the only Arsenal players to retain their places in the starting line-up from the previous game against Leicester City.
Arsenal were without Julio Pleguezuelo and Jeff Reine-Adelaide through injury. Meanwhile, with Thursday’s Europa League encounter against BATE Borisov in mind, Chuba Akpom, Matt Macey, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock and Josh Dasilva were all rested.
Gilmour and Zech Medley came in for their U23 debuts, while Tafari Moore and Aaron Eyoma, who both had loan spells last season, featured for the first time this campaign.
There were also starts for Ryan Huddart, Tolaji Bola, Joseph Olowu, Vlad Dragomir and Emile Smith Rowe.
On the bench U18 players Folarin Balogun, Josh Benson, James Olayinka and Tobi Omole were all called up for the first time.
Huddart
Osei Tutu-Medley-Olowu
Moore-McGuane-Gilmour-T. Bola
Eyoma-Smith Rowe
Dragomir
Subs: Balogun (for Moore, 88), Benson (for McGuane, 92). Not used: Virginia, Olayinka, Omole.
Despite fielding an unfamiliar line-up, Arsenal started impressively and took the lead in the tenth minute when McGuane finished well following good work from Eyoma.
Everton then sprung into life, with Harry Charsley’s effort striking the side-netting before Arsenal goalkeeper Ryan Huddart did well to thwart Dennis Adeniran’s effort.
Gilmour and Vlad Dragomir had attempts for Arsenal and, although Everton threatened at the other end, the young Gunners went into the break with their lead intact.
In the second-half, though, Everton started to seize control of proceedings and they equalised just four minutes after the restart courtesy of substitute Anton Donkor, whose effort got the better of Huddart.
The injury to Jones caused a lengthy delay but once play resumed Everton continued to dominate, with Luke Garbutt’s corner deflecting in off Olowu, although Everton’s Anthony Evans may well claim the goal.
Everton’s lead didn’t last long as Dragomir was fouled by Donkor in the box and McGuane, seizing responsibility, equalised from the penalty spot.
There were further twists and turns to come, however, with Everton making it 3-2 when Evans scored following an impressive run.
Arsenal were reduced to ten men when Gilmour was sent off, although on a more positive note Balogun and Benson were brought on for their U23 debuts in the closing stages.
There was still time, though, for Everton to get another goal, with Henen adding further gloss to the scoreline for the Toffees.
Overall, the result may have been disappointing but this was certainly a rich learning curve for Arsenal’s inexperienced side, with four debuts being made.
Posted in Uncategorized on September 25, 2017 by Jeorge Bird
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So after a completely different second half performance we see the wind put the telescope to their blind eyes and shout I see no ships Wengarr doesn’t do tactics he just sets up and leaves the team to cope itself. Really are they sure, that game was a brilliant illustration of how slight tactical changes can totally change a game. Maybe I’m doing them a favour suggesting their only blind in one eye.
Your dead right about the pen count shame those highly paid pundits didn’t see it and those highly paid hacks didn’t remind that highly paid twat pullis that the rules have changed and because of double jeopardy a player can’t be sent off in those circumstances.
I really don’t understand how managers,
journos and pundits who are paid to know the rules just don’t.
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Thanks Andy!
Labo calls it as many saw it, Pulis has better players at his disposal now and a bigger budget, but he squandered their talents on clogging (& he “squandered” someone else’s moolah on Robson hehe)
As someone else remarked:
“It was fitting that the first AFC goal came from a free kick, and the second from a pelanty.” My heart bleeds for Pooolis.
Given the footballers at Poooolis’ disposal the Brummies may have been able the give the Gunners an even better game if they’d been allowed to play some football – that was the opinion of a neutral and impartial observer and it’s hard to argue against,
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Nice work done last night by the team, Andy calls it spot on.
If the Mustafi incident was ‘stone-wall’, then Arsenal were due more than one penalty kick themselves. For once the ref was even handed to both sides but he failed to do enough about rotational fouling on Alexis, who managed to get a yellow card himself for complaining about it.
I’ve read today that Xhaka had a poor game? Didn’t see it that way last night watching on the box.
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Glad for the win, also for the clean sheets.. can only do the teams confidence a world of good
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I may have my red tinted glasses but the 1st half I saw was pulsating: Arsenal attacking, West Brom countering. As AW said they were very physical and prevented us from building up so we had to go longer than we wished with the predictable loss of possession and dangerous counters. But they were always going to run out of steam and with the foul count mounting West Brom had to be more conservative in the 2nd half. The only other tactical adjustment I saw in the 2nd half were our full backs not pressing as high and becoming more involved in the build up from the back. With Elneny buzzing around in the middle and always being available they just had no answer to our passing it around and totally bossing the game in the 2nd half.
IMO, if Manchester City, Liverpool or Spurs played as we did, the pundits would be praising them to high heavens. But our fans seem to get caught up in the b.s. punditry that we get from the English feed (Danny Higginbottom, ex-Stoke) and the just as biased and arguably equally stupid team of Robbie Earle and Kyle Martino on my American side of the pond. No mention of at least 2 clear penalty calls for Arsenal waived off by the ref or the failure to cite Dawson for a 2nd yellow after an out of control, forceful tackle from behind. The mainstream media has long ceased being unbiased. We need to ignore them totally.
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Shotts the paying punters who were livelier and more positive then usual were in no doubt about the clear and simple second yellow for going through someone with a tackle from behind.
Let’s be fair: The official bottled that one.
He was panting and the wrong side of the halfway line (more or less) for the Brummies pelanty shout. Not sure if he’s fit for the job in either sense of the word but clearly he’s not as flagrant and shameless and most importantly as predictable a crook as some others that I don’t care to mention *gollum gollum*.
Ignoring those predictable ones it is still reasonable to concur that the pgMOB is a shambolic SHAMBLES
(If I repeat myself enough times will you all begin to repeat after me like a toddler watching their favourite cartoon? How many advertising clicks can i snag in this anthropological study?)
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Welcome to Belarus, Andrew.
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Shakhtar Dhonetsk are an impressive team so far. Feisty and lively. Will they keep it up?
Owen Hargreaves just described the growth of Man City over the last 19 years as impressive. What did he mean? If 2billion was invested in me I’d become Thierry Henry overnight!
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liverpool have now gone 7 CL games without a win, 4 draws and 3 defeats, imagine the number of articles if Arsenal had a record like that, don’t hold your breath waiting for any about LFC
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Agree Shotta, we need to ignore the MSM completely,if anyone doubts there is a media agenda Arsenal the reporting of this game and the various incidents that took place within it should confirm all. How many blatant pens have we been denied,with little mention in the media, including at least one and maybe two last night, but all we read about is what West Brom were apparently denied. Little mention of shirt tugs, or a player being let off a second booking.
The malcontents on the forums claim they no longer attend games in some sort of protest, many are clearly as good as their word, their posts on the usual sites reflect a regurgitation of the media, their comments show they didn’t see this game.
The truth, at least as I saw it, with my tinted specs maybe, West Brom probably should have had a penalty, could well have scored in a decent spell, but we could and should have had one, probably two more pens than we were awarded. West Brom should have had at least one red card, and probably more if the letter of the laws were applied, there were ample claims for further bookings with tackles from behind, tackles where feet were left in, shirt tugs, holding at corners, targeting Sanchez,general rotational fouls,and bizarrely in the circumstances, time wasting.
If the officials had seen everything and acted, and they had their scoring boots on, I estimate we would have won about 6-2
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Wenger says he will field a senior team with young subs against Bate on Thursday, as we have a BPL game on Sunday morning
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DC @2.34 pm, I also thought Xhaka was off his game last night. He made quite a few basic passing errors especially in the first half that you would not normally expect from him. However, he did seem to settle down as the game wore on and fortunately was well supported by his team mates when his errors put us on the back foot. I think having Elneny as the extra midfielder helped a lot.
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said it last night, but I’m still not convinced that Mustafi fouled the WBA player, he slid in and then pulled his leg back, it looked to me that there was no contact, and no replays I’ve seen shows clear contact
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September 25, 2013: Hector Bellerin makes his debut… against West Brom
September 25, 2017: Hector Bellerin makes appearance No 1️23 against West Brom
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Now you mention it Ed, I haven’t seen conclusive proof either. Mustafi certainly went to ground, and with his momentum got caught by Rodriguez change of direction, if he caught him, and I thought he did, it certainly wasn’t intentional, but guess intent doesn’t always define a penalty.
But I fear the reporting of this injustice, real, or perceived, will cost is further down the line ,,I am sure the pgmol have their agenda, but even if they do not, refs are only human,and are surely influenced by the media, especially if one of their numbers are thrown under a media bus for the crime of supposedly giving Arsenal a favourable decision.
Passenal. Agree not one of Xhakas best games , guess I would say he was working with a relatively unfamiliar partner, and they were crowding some of the areas where he operates. make no mistake, they were very clever in the way they disrupted our play, until they ran out of a bit of steam. Class player though, as Chelsea have found out
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BATE have lost just 1 of their last 12 home games in all Euro competition (vs Barca in October 15) & are unbeaten in their last 7 (W3 D4).
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Xhaka had a 92% passing stat
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I’m surprised at that stat George. It certainly didn’t look like that during the game
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I remember only only one blatantly misdirected pass by Xhaka during the game. It caused an audible groan from the stands on my tv. After that he was more disciplined except for deep in the 2nd half when he made an outrageous attempt to curve one with the outside of the boot up in the air to switch the play. Lucky for West Brom it hit the bonce of one of their players. People would still be drooling about that pass for days, weeks, months and maybe years.
Btw Elneny was the perfect partner to Xhaka. The Egyptian was busy giving him a passing option and generally hunting and fetching when out of possession, something Xhaka does not have the foot speed to accomplish.
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Will Wenger play Özil and Wilshere tomorrow? I think he just might.
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Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva
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Bill EdgarVerified account @BillEdgarTimes Sep 26
Most top-flight league apps:
Shilton 848,
Hollins 714,
Clemence 710,
Jennings 709,
Peters 688,
Giggs 672,
Mills 660,
Barry 633,
Matthews/Ball 632
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I expect lots of changes to the starting 11 tomorrow, the big questions are who plays the wingback roles and who the central defenders will be. It seems Coqeulin and Chambers are injured, so that really restricts our options.
Can we risk Nelson at RWB or even AMN at LWB, Bate have an impressive home record in Europe, they might be no pushovers.
Wenger suggest a strong starting team – “senior” team starting, – with the youths on the bench.
Normally when rotating big time we start the 7 subs from the previous game so that would mean Ozil starting, along with Ospina, Mertesacker, AMN, Wilshere, Walcott, Giroud, that leaves 4 spots to fill, Iwobi surely comes in, and Holding too, that leaves two spots, although if we field all of Ozil, Iwobi, Walcott, and Giroud, it means Iwobi likely to start in central midfield, how would a 2 of him and Wilshere work in CM. It would also mean AMN in one of the Wingback spots. giving us one CB and RWB or LWB to fill. Might we see DaSilva at LWB or at CB, for me if he plays its more likely at LWB with AMN on the right. Wenger is inclined to go with strong CB’s so maybe one of the starting 3 from Monday will start again, or even Kolasinac will be used at CB.
As I said above, Coquelin and Chambers being injured leaves us short of experienced options, also Debuchy is reported to be unfit too, so we are a bit hamstrung for the wingback and CB spots.
Reports suggest that these are some of the experienced players who were in training today Mertesacker, Elneny, Xhaka, Wilshere, Mustafi, Holding, Lacazette, Walcott, Monreal, Bellerin and Sanchez. The younger lads involved too were Nelson, Dasilva, Willock, McGuane, Dragomir, Gilmour, Nketiah, Akpom and Maitland-Niles.
So if all or most of those senior players are in the squad we might see
Ospina
Holding Per Mustafi
Bellerin Wilshere Xhaka Monreal
Walcott Giroud Iwobi
subs Macey, DaSilva, AMN, Elneny, Willcok, Nketiah, Akpom
But really till we hear who is in the traveling squad we are only wildly guessing at possible starting 11’s
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Reports that Alex Iwobi missed training today due to injury. and that Laurent Koscielny, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil were rested from the session, suggesting that none will be in the squad tomorrow. Cech training today so might be sub tomorrow.
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Ramsey said in his interview after the game Iwobi was due to play against Albion but got a knock in training
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Charlie Gilmour in the traveling squad, he is a Scottish Youth International, he is a midfielder
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these young lads all made the traveling squad, Charlie Gilmour, Marcus McGuane, Vlad Dragomir, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock, Matt Macey, Chuba Akpom, and Josh Dasilva
also in the squad are Rob Holding, Jack Wilshere, Mohamed Elneny, Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, David Ospina, Shkodran Mustafi
have not seen yet who else made the trip.
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Maitland-Niles and Mertesacker expected to have been in the squad too.
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Two blogs about how organising the F.C koeln fans went wrong.
http://www.fsf.org.uk/blog/view/fc-koeln-in-london-did-the-media-get-it-wrong
http://www.fsf.org.uk/blog/view/arsenal-vs-fc-koeln-warning-signs-not-heeded-says-fsf-faircop
Ed, Although Charlie is Scottish he has been with the youth set up along time and doesn’t have a scottish accent, I think he must be associated with Scotland through family.
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yeah a_o_b, Gilmour actually played schoolboy for England as well as Scotland, but has gone for Scotland in the higher age groups. His Dad is scottish, and played for Motherwell, and is a coach. Charlie missed a lot of last season with injury
some suggestions that its between him and Dragomir for the final subs spot tomorrow.
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wenger has said again this evening that he will field an experienced team with young subs
AW on Maitland-Niles
“His best position is central defensive midfielder. He has great quality, he can steal the ball without making fouls. I believe he is ready to play. He has a great future”
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Wenger: It’s an important game, only one or two young players will start.
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Per on young players
“We see a lot of young players training with us. The have a good future here. To get an opportunity to play is big for a young group.
It’s a really good test to see who is willing to learn.
Ainsley is a prospect, but there is a lot of hard work to come “
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just a reminder guys that the kick off tomorrow is at 6pm uk time
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Aido @HandofHenry 1h1 hour ago
Arsenal are the only Europa team in the entire competition to have played on Monday. Wenger has a point. Schedule is “cruel”.
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I notice there was another ‘Brawl’ involving the Tiny Totts this weekend, given that they have plenty of previous should not the FA look at a points deduction?
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7amkickoff @7amkickoff 13m13 minutes ago
HA! Same old Arsenal.. this from 1996 – infighting, fan unrest, no signings, weird firings, and fans thinking we were going to get Rui Costa
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seemingly SKY want to move the Arsenal v Liverpool game from Saturday December 23rd to Sunday 24th.
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So what can Arsène Wenger tell us about those young players?
“Gilmour is a defender or central midfielder,” the boss said. “McGuane is a defensive midfielder, and overall he can play as a wing-back or even a centre back in training. Josh Dasilva is a left wing-back or a left-centre back. Vlad Dragomir is a Romanian boy, he was with us for a few years, he’s a No 10, Wilshere-style, left-footed, a creative player.”
Copyright 2017 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 https://www.arsenal.com/news/wenger-dragomir-gilmour-mcguane-dasilva#ylJkMjP24K6Z0ldG.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/wenger-dragomir-gilmour-mcguane-dasilva#oJpIBBeUwxysMHYq.99
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so far we do not have a cup match the Tuesday following?
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what TS
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the Tuesday following the move to Sunday 24th…
surely that is Christmas fixtures… risky to move any match round there
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we are due to play Crystal Palace away on Tuesday 26th
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Kylian Mbappé
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Ed, I knew there had to be a reason apart from being on TV, they were moving us to Sunday. LOL
So, why must we move to Sunday and then play on Tuesday? well at east Crystal palace is in London so it is not a far away
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Wenger: “Brighton/Newcastle could have played [on Monday] and we could have played then [on Sunday]. So for us the time is very short.”
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TS, so far its the police that are refusing to allow it to be moved, SKY now have offered to have kick off at 12 noon
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