A guest post for Double Canister
“Until Edward Nketiah came on we lacked ideas and creativity” said Arsene Wenger in the post-match interview, and who am I to disagree? The match line-up was predictably predicted in advance by most pundits, including our own Pedantic George and this is now clearly seen as Arsenal’s cup team for the foreseeable future, injuries depending for a few defensive slots.
The starting line-up was:
Macey;
Debuchy, El Neny, Holding;
Maitland-Niles, Coquelin, Wilshere, Nelson;
Walcott, Iwobi, Giroud.
Subs: Akpom 70’, Nketiah 85’, Da Silva 105’, Willock 114’.
This team was expected to give Norwich a right old thumping, but the Canaries had other plans, plans that nearly paid-off as they provided 120 minutes of hard work, defensive organisation and not a little skill to make a very competitive 4th Round Carabao League Cup game go all the way to the final whistle. Giroud may have been feeling the effects of a late-night party after receiving the Puskas award for his wonder goal against Crystal Palace last season, he was not so effective last night. Certainly, many Norwich players were keen to give him several big hugs inside their penalty box, all of which Andy Madley chose not to see to clearly- a bit like Debuchy’s extra time incident – which for me was no penalty as there was not enough real contact with the player, but the less said about Madley the better. The miserabilists will all say that breaking down such a resolved defensive set up as Norwich created was all to do with Arsenal’s commonly perceived (you know: by the media and twitter and Troy Deeney) weaknesses, but please give to credit to Falke’s men who worked their yellow socks off and might feel they could and should have had more than Josh Murphy’s single well-taken chip shot from Maddison’s defence splitting pass. Oliveira, Murphy and Vrancic all missed chances to ensure Norwich were in tonight’s 5th Round draw. They are 6th in the Championship and showed they are an in-form team, and they were fresh from beating local rivals Ipswich Town in the Old Farm derby last weekend. As for some alleged controversial incidents – El Neny was rightly yellow carded for taking down a man, but in no-way was he last man back, so unless there is a new FA rule – he stays on the pitch, and thankfully he was – to provide the ball to the hero of the night.
Step forward Edward Nketiah, who took all of 15 seconds to make an impact. Another tactical masterclass move by the boss? “I brought him on because we needed to score goals and he can score goals. In the end we had eight strikers on the pitch,” said Wenger, in truth I had forgotten about the multiple substitution rules in this cup competition. The news is today full of ‘experts’ who always knew about this kid and that he is going to be the new Henry or Messi, well I didn’t. Eddie played for our U23’s for the last few years, amassing a substantial goal tally and was brought on for his debut away at Bate Borisov in the 89th minute. Last night he made his real introduction with not one, but two headers , both from set-pieces no less. Nketiah is just 18 years old and is an England U19, and somehow, he managed to escape the abyss of Chelsea’s all devouring youth system at 14 before he joined Arsenal. I hope he has a bright future.
As for less impressive performances from Arsenal players last night , all I can say as the BBC and the gutter press are livid with Arsenal’s eventual triumph over the plucky Canaries, so compare the narratives with the BBC’s headline about how Manchester City ‘heroically’ defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers in a penalty shootout, (because they only managed 0-0 in regulation time), and which needed the services of Sane, de Bruyne and Aguero to ensure passage to the 5th round. Playing your best, but highly fragile striker for 120 minutes against Wolves must be one of those ‘genius’ things Pep does that a mere layman like me can’t see. Every single Premier League team fielded weakened teams in this competition last night, and even most of the championship teams did as well. Nevertheless, the second sting selection from Wenger presented some conundrums, Coq and Wilshere were not working as an effective unit in midfield, the defensive line appeared to have no pace at all and the back 3 did not seem to know their positions, and the youngsters seemed to drift in and out of concentration on the pitch. Despite all these concerns, as the game went on and as Norwich did not go on to get a vital (for their hopes) second goal it did look as though Arsenal’s growing nous, guile, call it what you want and overall better football talent would eventually pay off. From what I could see on the telly -credit also to the Arsenal supporters who actually stayed and cheered on the team to the end, rather than join the mile-long queue for a tube home after 70 minutes. And for Theo – he meets lines men every single week who regard him being in-line with the last defender as an offence, have the rules changed again?
The draw for the quarter-finals will take place at 16:00 BST on Wednesday, 25 October.
Positively Arsenal 
Blimey just watching the full Norwich game, seems people commenting about Theo getting offside seems to have convinced linos that level is always offside.
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I’ve been very busy all day and have only seen little comments about the AGM, can anyone tell me what exactly did Sir Chips say or do that has the ASB so offended. Also did Silent Stan surprise the dim crowd of AST by actually staying silent. I wonder how did he get that nickname.
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From what I can gather, Sir Chipps just asked someone to read the Telegraph if they wanted to know Stans vision for the club.
I am sure there are other things, I guess certain blogs will be full of it tomorrow.
Apparently, fans, all fans treated with contempt, as if they dont exist etc. can’t say I feel treated with contempt, but.
Not sure what they expect the board to say really, from snippets I have read, Ivan talked a lot of sense, a few hints perhaps on excessive demands when trying to keep certain players, and Wenger gave a speech that even some critical voices admired.
still, soon, the conversation will be about Ozil Alexis and Lacazette rather than Kroenke gazidis and Chipps
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Arsenal need to ban the Daily Mail and its writer Charles Sale from all AFC events, games, pressers etc, after the deplorable article they have attacking Sir Chips, disgraceful stuff from them, but what else would we expect from such a rag
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Arsenal fans have been told over and over what the vision Stand and the Board have for Arsenal, but some refuse to acknowledge this or admit it, cos they vision is not that of a club run like the sugar daddy/ state owned clubs of Man city, PSG, Chelsea, etc.
again these fans are like spoilt toddlers who throw a tantrum when told they can’t have something they want, in the hop that if they make enough of a racket then they will get what they want. Its clear that Stan’s way of dealing with tantrums is to ignore them completely, and he is 100% right in doing so.
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Here’s Arsene Wenger with the latest team news:
on the general team news…
Well, basically the squad that was available against Everton is available and, for the rest, decisions will be made if they will come in or not. I will make that decision tomorrow [Friday]. But overall everybody is available [from last weekend], and everybody who played on Tuesday night is available as well.
on the absentees…
The only players who are not completely back are Mustafi and Welbeck. Calum Chambers is back in full training on Monday and Ospina has a chance to be available against Belgrade. He will not be available for Saturday.
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/who-might-play-against-swansea-city#1IhuwLbjCzYmSOAc.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/who-might-play-against-swansea-city#foQ10irwfZfPoysm.99
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Arsenal Holdings plc (the “Company”)
Annual General Meeting
At a duly convened Annual General Meeting of the Company held today, the following resolutions were passed on a poll vote:
Resolution 4 – To re-elect as a Director Sir Chips Keswick
Votes in favour 60,487 shares (sixty thousand four hundred and eighty-seven shares), 99.7% of the votes cast.
Votes against 194 shares (one hundred and ninety-four shares), 0.3% of the votes cast.
Resolution 5 – To re-elect as a Director Josh Kroenke
Votes in favour 60,475 shares (sixty thousand four hundred and seventy-five shares), 99.65% of the votes cast.
Votes against 213 shares (two hundred and thirteen shares), 0.35% of the votes cast.
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/club-holds-agm-emirates-stadium#Pyy0gPG7AKzuTEKF.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/club-holds-agm-emirates-stadium#5Z68xT4wlGh9T6VD.99
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ha ha ha,
vote on re-election of Sir Chips
60,487 shares for – 99.7% of votes cast
194 shares against – 0.3% of votes cast
similar numbers for the re-election of Josh Kroenke
and these idiots think they are important, dim or what
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eduardo1966 @edminton1966 24s24 seconds ago
Must really piss off AST that their great white hope Usmanov voted with Kroenke on all motions at the AGM all that arse licking for nothing
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odd how a billionaire like Usmanov, although he states he has issues with Kroenke and the board of AFC, still supports the boards motions at the AGM today, and not side with the AST and the other attention seeking brigade in voting against them, its almost as if he too thinks they haven’t got a clue.
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Do owners or majority shareholders at City, Chelsea, Utd, Liverpool, Spuds, and other clubs that some admire so much have AGMs or speak at them?
Maybe they do, but cannot say I am aware of it, If they have such AGMs would imagine they have their CEO and manager speak……erm a bit like Ivan did today. But that’s not what the media will be saying tomorrow, it will be all about silent Satan Kroenke
As for the malcontents, why do they even associate themselves with a club they clearly despise have no influence over?
Life is too short, I don’t really like, and have no interest in UKIP , the EDL and illegal dog fighting ,so don’t tend to spend my time associating with these entities , why are the malcontents still getting involved emotionally with AFC? We have free will, they have the choice to FODTL , some will be much more content, and it’s not even that far for them to travel.
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Wenger on Nketiah: “He will continue to get a chance. The biggest problem in the PL is for the first time since I’m in England that we have a consistent level of results in the youth teams. That means the quality is there and the next step is to integrate them in the league.”
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no Mandy, if a club has like CFC a single owner there is no shareholders AGM, as its only him, same for City psg etc,
Also not as much detail of accounts have to be made public either.
Arsenal fan base get more interaction with the CEO than any other top club in England, but instead of appreciating this, all they do is disrespect him and other board members. Jumped up shower of cunts.
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As George said on Twitter, it’s the fans, and not the manager or board that are embarrassing the club. You have the chance to meet the CEO, the board Chairman, and the major shareholder and all you can do is attack them? And then when they refuse to be disrespected you’re then offended? Really?
Think of all the good that could come from a healthy relationship between the board and the fans; I don’t think we would still be having certain issues especially regarding tv schedules for games, fanshare and ticket prices. But a few attention seekers especially those clowns at the AST have decided they will simply soil the club’s name with bad press and lies, undermine and disrespect board members, cause chaos at fan meets among other things that bring negative and damaging press. And then the same people turn round and complain that the club is alienating itself from them.
As George said at twitter, the fans* are a bigger embarrassment to the club than the manager and the board.
*Some fans particularly the noisy minority.
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My feeling is that the tweets of one of the journalists present told me all I need to know.
He claimed board showed extraordinary and almost unprecedented arrogance, yet of his ten or so tweets the majority were of a board member/ Gazidis, etc saying something and getting heckled, including when they asked for reasonable behaviour
The only example he gave of supposed arrogance or rudeness from the club’s side was the Telegraph comment.
Now there was a guy claiming the club behaved badly, while making no judgements of the other sides behaviour, yet everything he documented showed the reverse.
Did he simply lack the journalistic skills to capture the club’s arrogance and misdeeds, or despite his determination to do so, was it not really there?
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You know who is arrogant? The AST and other ‘shareholders’ who believe they represent the fans. How many millions is it that they have appropriated the right to speak for?
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Jeri, Rich and Shard, great comments,
of course many of the media run with articles after the AGM attacking the board despite the actual content of the meeting and the behavior of some those on the floor, after all the same media ran articles before the AGM attacking the board on behest of some of those on the floor.
Must say the daily mail article attacking Sir Chips brought the level of attack to a new all time low, if AFC don’t ban the cunts then its a disgrace on their part. I’m thinking of writing to the club to find out what they intend to do about it.
Must also say that the same media have been running articles attacking Arsenal for years and years.
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eduardo
What did the Mail say now? If you have the article open in a window maybe you could paste it here. I don’t want to give them the clicks.
On Sir Chips. It’s hilariously like Peter Hill-Wood. These malcontents complain about Gazidis’ ‘spin’ whenever he speaks, but they also don’t like the plain speak that PHW and it seems Sir Chips let loose on them. (Still in an understated old fashioned style)
Just saw a headline saying Arsenal ‘broken to the core’ says Supporters Trust.. Some supporters eh?
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Jeff Powell Head sports writer of the Daily Nazi is a lifelong Tiny Totts supporter so no bitterness there then.
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AST went into the meeting with an agenda to cause as much damage to the club as possible, in front of a bunch of journos and tv stations all too gear to lap it up.
If anything, Sir Chips held back from the baseball batting I would have dished out to them.
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Did any of these knowledgable writers, the aspiring Henry Winter and the lesser Partdrige etc penning their wisdom whilst they had their snouts deep in the AGM trough courtesy of the club of course, did anyone comment upon the deathbed haggle and how it was that Kronke became the owner (more or less), how the only time aw nearly quit was at that moment etc. Ever?
It is a strange omission from their narrative. Given the effort and the “pashun” being put into this infinitely boring topic it is remarkable conduct:
So forgive me if I can’t help but remark upon it.
Not only have these dickheads, pardon me, blown it for a supporters trust at AFC but they’ve messed it up elsewhere as surely no other big club would ever consider letting any “fans” into the conference room given the carry on from these blowhards after they were given money by the club!
When you compare these idiots to the people behind FC Utd it’s hard to believe that they are honest in their concerns. Perhaps some of them are unwell.
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Perhaps the repetive propaganda telling them that corporate welfare is the only way forward in this world has been very effective! Blimey. There’s a thought.
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How many years have the AST been banging their drum of failure?
In spite of their support from fine gentlemen like Henry Winter *coughs* to me it feels like they’ve, how do you say, blown their top.
It feels like the end of an era if I’m being honest (don’t laugh I’m trying to be very very serious here). The era where they had any credibility or relevance.
Isn’t it time for some new blood? A self-promoting spokesman or woman who is more relevant to these modern times?
EIE.
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My favorite thing on Twitter today is seeing someone complain loudly about how dismissive and rude Sir Chips was, and then behaving precisely the same way toward someone who dared disagree with them (yes, in a heckling manner, much as some of those at the AGM did with Chips). When I pointed out that they could have just not reacted, they unsurprisingly totally missed the irony. Apparently not responding rudely to heckling from the “peasants” is not a standard to which they wish to be held, only the Board is expected to do that.
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Jeorge Bird @jeorgebird 6h6 hours ago
Nelson and Macey trained with the first-team. Chambers back in light training. Nketiah +Akpom didn’t train with first-team.Could play for U23s v Chelsea tomorrow but will almost certainly be in squad v Red Star Belgrade
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its clear from the reactions on line after the AGM yesterday that the only real problems the ASB have with Stan Kroenke are two fold
1. He gave Arsene Wenger a new 2 year deal
2. He does not give Arsenal his own money to spend in an attempt to win BPL or CL
thy crux of the matter is they want Arsenal to be a sugar daddy club and they want a new manager every 2 years. You know the Arsenal way, as its always been.
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“we have £200M in the bank, why don’t we spend it on buying players”
“we have a yearly wage bill of £200M to pay, before even considering all the other bills”
“but we have £200M in the bank, why don’t we spend it on buying players”
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this is the sort of idiot fans who whinge and bitch, really who do these sort of people actually cope with their day to day costs of living etc, really.
Samden @sam_henley04 5m5 minutes ago
How could we be in debt with £200 million cash reserves ….jog on mate your argument is null and void ……have a good night 👍
it seems they don’t like it explained that us having £180.1M in the bank, but owing £230.5M does mean we are in debt, in fact £47.4M in debt
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Andy Kelly @Gooner_AK Oct 26
Report of stormy Arsenal AGM as smaller shareholders’ voices are ignored and renowned shareholder is not happy….in 1932!
#AFC #AGM #AFCAGM
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From the 1932 AGM
“The Arsenal management invite criticism, but agitation without constructive proposals is of no value to the club and indeed would be harmful if it found its way to the dressing room”
I want my Arsenal back
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If I was fortunate enough to be a shareholder of this club for any time, I would be pretty pleased with the board regarding the share price at least, if the malcontent shareholders want to protest that much, as is their right, cash in the shares, have nothing to do with the club and give the likely substantial profits to charity.
The fact is, Arsenal are a very well run club, with class , values, support for the community, and support many very worthy causes,as well as consistent success on the field beaten only by those with more resources, as Wenger reminds us, substantially more resources.
There a bunch of mid aged guys who cannot accept Highbury and George Graham are never coming back, who long for the days when you could have a few pints with the players in Franks pub. They want stout yeomen in defence, you know the types that would see us finish most games with about eight players. Then there are a bunch of young guys who want to be the angriest on their TV channels.
The world has moved on, the game has moved on, Stan is just an investor, i have no idea how much he does or doesn’t care for the success of the club, and unless he diverts money out, I am not really sure it even matters. We will only know the true quality and ambition of those running the club when Wenger goes, I sometimes wonder if that day might come sooner than people think with all this BS, interesting how he was at pains to mention there would be a review of his performance end of season, I’m the past , it was always he has a contract and sticks to it, end of.
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Mandy wasn’t wenger’s review at the end of the season comments in response to questions about not letting his contract situation affect the team, and if so, could just as easily mean he will sign a contract extension next summer, now wouldn’t that boil the piss of the ASB
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also Mandy, it really makes me laugh when “a Shareholder” whinges about the ticket prices, them sitting on a meaningless share(you know what I mean), that is worth around 20 years worth of a good season ticket. Think about that.
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Hope so Eduardo, but I wonder how much of this shit a manager even as dedicated as Wenger is willing to take. But he certainly hasn’t been a quitter, that’s for sure.
Hopefully, have a good season and he does sign an extension,.
Season tickets, they don’t have to buy them. I just don’t get them, if I felt as negatively about something as some of them do about the club, I would put that source of negativity out of my life, for physical and mental health reasons for starters. These guys must either enjoy the drama, or perhaps they are genuine masochists. They will be middle aged, plus, surely a time of life when you set out to enjoy every day you can, rather than dissecting the comments of Sir Chipps.
These people came in with narrow agenda loaded questions designed to embarrass those on stage, if those answering were in anyway less than pleased, who can blame them?
Loved the question along the lines of having the right independent governance to do the best for the club and therefore shareholders being a legal requirement or something along those lines, just wish Ivan had allowed that question to be tabled and asked the person posing the question how much their shares had gone up since buying them.
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With Koeman sacked i am thinking what will be the malcontents at legroan and online gooner etc will be upto.As Koeman was there top man to replace Wenger.
What a bunch of deluded so callef Arsenal fans.
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