Good Morning Positive Arsenal fans,
A fine Sunday morning here, windy but bright Autumnal sunshine and mellow fruitfulness.
Of yesterday’s contest as expected a well drilled Swansea defensive side posed a number of problems for the first 45 before cracking and allowing us to pocket the three points, as expected.
Some comments I see have been made about our “laboured” first half performance, not least by the manager. I did not think we were poor, but as in previous home games despite 80%+ control of the ball we got no further than the final third and never really opened up a clear chance. Clearly compared to our ripping-Everton-a-new-one of six days before any performance was likely to be “laboured”. It may however be worth reflecting however that the Swansea were no Everton. They sat deep, had three solid centre back who Lacazette had to battled with on his own, and a screen of midfielders who dropped back to soak up and disrupt. Having gifted them a silly opener they dug in ferociously and denied us space and time in the final third. On another day that might have been enough for the Swans, as in previous painful encounters (!).
We are an older team now, more mature, and with better players. I doubt the teacups flew at half-time in the home dressing room. I suspect the message was more a reminder to the players that we had to use every inch of the pitch to stretch Swansea, and that it is important for players to be dynamic and quick in creating space for themselves to receive a pass.
If that was the message then within 11 minutes the scoreboard had been corrected and the wining goal despatched by Aaron. “Tidy” as they say in the valleys. Sead’s rocket for the first and involvement in the second earned him the man of the match.
The left hand side of our football team I thought stood out yesterday. Nacho, Sead and Alexis click together like the passenger door on a Mercedes-Benz, solid, dependable but with the potential to go very, very fast when required.
Good performances from Granit, Aaron, Lacazette and Ozil and they’d get a 7/10. The right hand side of our side ? Hector and Laurent are not quite in tune and the Frenchman has looked out of sorts since the start of the season. It may be he is playing out of position in the ‘three’ or playing while injured. His slip yesterday was uncharacteristic and just last week he was caught in a similar moment late at Goodison when picked up a deserved yellow card. He is a fine player but has just passed his 32nd birthday. It may be he needs a few games officially injured to rest and recuperate as he has played a lot of football.
Of the opposition as I said yesterday Fernandez seems a capable centre back. At 28 years old he is no spring chicken but he knows his trade. And (inevitably) one top, top class save from Fabianski. Good to see his career has led to football every week, which his talent deserved.
As a general point, having watched Kosc and later Per slip and slide on what seems to me a perfect grass surface, would the club PLEASE STOP watering the f******* pitch obsessively before the game and at half time. The grass won’t die if you leave it alone, trust me.
So onward to the Etihad and a very different challenge next Sunday. In the interim I’d guess we can expect the B team to give Red Star a sound bashing on Thursday.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Positively Arsenal 
Well it took us all of 27 minutes to forget “don’t give the oppo easy goals.” Kos , maybe aided a little by Petr, helping us go 1 down. Bugger me if Per didn’t do the same not long after but this time Petr got us out of trouble.
At the other end, Flappie pulled off a great save from Alexis . Despite having most of the possession we were too slow in the build ups and turned 1-0 down.
Big difference in the second half as we changed up a gear and looked far more threatening. At last Saed‘s hammer strike brought an equalizer and then with lovely footwork he left a defender for dead and crossed for Rambo to get the winner.
A well deserved win though a few players looked out of sorts for much of the game
Next the the youngsters again I hope and progression into the next round. Keep the faith.
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Agree on watering the pitch, cannot back it up with stats, but it seems our players slip over a lot, but then again, Stevie G did it on an occasion as well.
We do have to cut out the sloppy early goals , but the fact is, or at least I read it on Twitter, our win percentage in 2017 is, according to this poster, 67.4%, the highest of any calendar year. Ok, still some more of 2017 of course and stats don’t mean everything, but you get my drift
https://mobile.twitter.com/JoshJJames78/status/923606227099308032?p=v
Still, three more points is what counts. Good turnaround, and some decent performances. Games coming up against a pretty scary team, and another much loved, especially by some of our fans , some so called Arsenal bloggers, especially one who I will not call out, an anagram will suffice( Pyles Malmer) and the media, but who have lost their last two games without their talisman striker, who I have no doubt will be available to play against us, and be afforded the customary opportunity to convert another dodgy pen. Of course two games is nothing, but wouldn’t we be branded a one man team in crisis if we were the Spuds today?
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It is not often that a match report is more beautifully constructed than an Arsenal win, so it’s double joy this morning and enough excuse to enjoy the last oozings of the cider press before lunch I think. How strange some of these Arsenal fans are, locked into their doom-laden worlds and quite unable to enjoy another crisp performance that sees us putting together a decent enough challenge.
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The problem ‘Overwatering ‘ would be if everyone was slipping over all the time, most of the times players slip is footwork faults or bad choice of footwear.
To get ‘Wengerball’ you need short specifically prepared grass with specific amount of water to aid the speed and consistency of passing.
I cant tell the amount of water added to the pitch at all times is regualted to the litre and dependent on weather conditions.
Do not blame the groundsmen or the pitch.
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I can remember seeing the ball stop dead in a spray of water inside our penalty area against Sunlun, much to everyone’s mystification Wwwb so I remain in the switch it off camp.
I can understand cutting the grass short would speed up the movement of the ball, physics-wise I can’t see why soaking the pitch would be helpful to Wengerball – water is more resistant than air ?
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Great stuff A5. Sead has been our stand out player and Ramsey wasn’t too far behind. Very happy for him and his ability to drown out the noise.
I was very nervous that first half but it was one way traffic in the second. Pity we couldn’t get more but no sweat as we got the 3 points.
Swansea held that “world class” outfit Spurs to a 0-0 draw at Wembley a month ago. May that continue their good defensive run and hopefully get spared the chop. Decent football team. Fall didn’t embarrass himself and his outstanding performance is testament to them not leaking many goals.
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** FLAPPY didn’t embarrass himself… (Damn auto text)
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anicoll5
“I can remember seeing the ball stop dead in a spray of water inside our penalty area against Sunlun, much to everyone’s mystification”
With all due respect that was an anomaly.
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Hiya Anicoll,
A very nice and thoughtful Post, thank you.
If I can with some temerity add my pennyworth to the reasons for watering the pitch, it may show there is more than one affect of watering.
Leaving aside the obvious reason for watering — maintenance of the pitch, and providing a surface less likely to cause injury to the players in the event of them falling, there is a reason which, of course, Mr Wenger would be aware of.
It is well accepted in ball sports, that the amount of water on the surface of a pitch can change the way a team plays their football/rugby/hockey etc, and so managers and groundsmen can take advantage of this to suit their style and take advantage.
There is a delicate balance as to how much water you should sprinkle on a pitch. Add too much and it becomes water logged spray-fest, causing the ball to get caught up in the puddles and maybe even forcing the match officials to consider whether a game can take place. With the fantastic top flight pitches and their state of the art drainage systems this is really unlikely to be a problem, and the special hybrid grass/plastic turf used at the Emirates wouldn’t permit this anyway.
By experience and with the use of a physics calculation, groundsmen will provide a surface and a well-watered pitch that will allow for slick and fast passing in the Arsenal mode. It is a fact that the correct amount of water on any given turf will encourage true and speedy movement of the ball.
On the other hand, a dry and bumpy pitch will slow the ball down and cause players to struggle to get a good passing game going, and could cause the players unnecessary injuries.
AW never does anything without researching his options – and he was unsurprisingly the first manager in the Premiership to do this just before a game, because fast paced, smooth passing is the epitome of WengerBall.
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“AW never does anything without researching his options”
Other than Laurent and Per slipping yesterday I am sure he has researched each and every option Henry. ( banned smiley)
As for the physics of a heavily watered grass surface v a dry/drier grass surface and the motion of a football I shall sit under the apple tree and muse on the notion of fluid or rolling friction.
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I should complain about the sprinklers as from my perch a very gentle breeze facilites a light shower for my neighbours and myself (Price to pay for sitting amongst the un washed)
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What I have not heard today from any source, mainstream or social, is any comment on Arsene’s 800th PL milestone and the potential for him to manage the club for 1,000 League games. Let me open the debate – assuming that it will stay at 38 games per season he will require 5.26 years to complete the millenium, so roughly February 2023.
Surely even he cannot have that in mind – but who would bet against him ?
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That is the sort of thoughtless contempt for supporters that Kroenke and his regime of capitalist cowboys are well known for Wwwb
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Anicoll,
Try and strike a bet with someone about watering a pitch, and back me — you will not regret it.
Actually, on my tour/visit to the Ems, both the pitch and the special lamps were working at different ends of the pitch, and I engaged the groundsman on the reasons for the pre-match and half-time usage of the sprinklers, and he gave me chapter and verse.
So sleep under the old apple tree, if you will, and muse on the matter of fluid dynamics, and in doing so also doubt our venerable boss — but don’t doubt me, I knows everry zink! lol
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Aniolcol,
There is a nice article on Page 5 of the Sunday Times, Sports Section on the game and AW’s landmark, and the much nearer landmark of beating Ferguson’s record after 10 more Premier League games in charge.
Who’d a thunk that, back in the dim and distant 90s? lol
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They only chuck us the tiniest of bones , never a soup one
#Kroenke and his regime of capitalist cowboys OUT
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I watched the game in full this morning, I thought we played well. Don’t understand the criticism
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Nicely balanced post match report Andrew.
I agree with George, the team didn’t play badly as such. Credit to Swansea, they defended well especially after getting that early gift and we struggled to break them down because our tempo was not quick enough to get through the massed ranks in black. I think after the sparkling football against Everton a lot of people were expecting the team to just pick up where they left off. But the reality is every game/opponent is different and requires different tactics to come away with the points. I also wonder what game some of Arsenal twitter were watching, but apparently Xhaka was ‘poor’ as usual?
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Nice one. Really enjoyed the first half.
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Thanks Andy
I haven’t seen much of the game, just a very small snippet on MOTD.
Delighted Ramsey has reached the 50 goal milestone, imagine how many he’d have if he hadn’t been out injured for so long?
Big Kola looks like a genius signing.
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And Everton in the bottom 3 now, Rooney being subbed off after spending much of the match snarling and kicking people. Bless.
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xhaka is a class player asked to play a very very difficult role, he gets fouled, usually with impunity, but if he fouls players, well we know.
Excellent reader of the game and passer, he is not just some wanyama destroyer type, much much more to his game.
Can think of one pass this weekend that had the desired effect.
Been a good weekend, autumnal sunshine, Arsenal win, seen Chic and Xhaka Khan in concert, and looking forward to hearing what the Everton media love in boys have to say tomorrow
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on the subject of watering the pitch, many of the lesser sides do not water their pitch when facing AFC to slow the ball down, Stoke, WBA, Blackburn, Sunderland are just some of the teams that do or used to do it.
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The question is, are Real all that these days?
http://www.skysports.com/football/girona-vs-r-madrid/report/382648
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Mandy, Real Madrid clearly need a Director of Football, something they do not have, and a change of manger would help, and if their owners would give them billions to spend that would be the icing on the cake
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Real Madrid obviously lack ‘cojones’ as they lost from a winning position!
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Real can’t fuck up at Wembley, we’ll never hear the end of it otherwise.
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Yes, Real could do with Tony Adams drilling their defence, and need to be more direct as well.
Hope their fans voice their displeasure at their AGM, if they have one that is
Cannot have them losing their title , and maybe other trophies to Barca, especially as things are
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Real need their true fans to boo them off at half time, to give them a kick up the backside, seeing as Zidane won’t do it.
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Wonder if Real fans are taking to their forums in masochistic, self flagellatory, but absolute praise of how brilliantly world class their rivals are , and how they wish their team could be more like their Catalan opponents and Athletico, in every way possible .
Do Real have ex players from the 80s and 90s, most not a patch on the current squad, ut desperate for punditry and willing to stick the knife in?
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Bumped into a gooner whilst visiting Lumsdale Mill in the Peak District (well worth a visit, it’s a beautiful and historic spot). He launched into a negative account of the game he didn’t see. “I heard we were lucky again, we went one down again, it’s fuckin’ ridiculous”. I won’t bore you with the usual “it’s about trophies not money, yards, yardy yah!” I had to listen too before I managed to get away…..this negativity is bizarre!
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I’ve had a chance to watch the Arsenal vs Swansea game in full on Arsenal.com,
If anyone can criticise Ramsey-Xhaka’s General midfield play they need their head examined.
Özil and Sead were also outstanding.
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Those that are critical of xhaka and Ramsey after yesterday’s performances, do so from a preset view on both or either player. One missed placed pass by Granit is seen as “gives away the ball a lot”, the same people never see Alexis give away the ball, they never see Ozil’s work rate, etc etc.
Ramsey got our winner yesterday and I seen lots of idiots say he needs to stop being so attack minded, and stay back and defend, There actual understanding or knowledge of the game is virtually nil.
Its proven by their view that Ramsey keeps getting picked, “cos he is a Wenger favorite”, despite them having the view that he is ignoring Wenger’s instructions to stay back and defend, in his own hunt for personal glory and goals. So not only is Ramsey ignoring Wenger, he is a Wenger favorite for doing so. Why they have decided to ignore the more logical notion, that Ramsey is a Wenger favorite cos he is doing exactly what Wenger has asked him to do, that is be a goal scoring midfielder who overloads opposing defenses by joining our attack as often as he can.
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The reason Xhaka was considered to have a bad game is because very early on the commentators started picking on him. It’s true he had a sequence of 2 bad (overhit) short passes in a row. But the commentary team were saying how bad he is ‘at this level’ from before that. Once when Arsenal could have had a counter attack and Xhaka made the right choice and the right pass, only for it to go a little behind play because it ended up hitting Ramsey’s (I think) heel as he was running across. The commentators again said ‘at this level that isn’t good enough’.
People will deny it because they are all smart knowledgeable folk in their head, but they are just following the media line.
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Glad to see Xhaka getting praise here. Only saw Motd highlights but thought pass for goal was stupendous.
Very few capable of that sort of thing on a regular basis but he is one of them, and has played that sort of pass from right/ centre to left to open packed defence plenty of times already. Also played delicious pass in other direction for Ramsey’s crucial goal vs Leicester.
Quite simply, you have to be daft and easily led, or riddled with bias not to see a top player there. Or in some cases -Piers M, ‘how bad is Xhaka!’- both.
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Shard, Good Morning from here, (or good afternoon to you),
All players aspire to be the best they can be, and the very best of them achieve that more often than the others, but equally all players (and for that read ‘all humans’) occasionally fail to achieve their best on any given day.
It does not require a commentator to point out, in their subjective opinion, that a player is playing well, or badly, and neither do fans have to take their cue from these same commentators to arrive at an opinion, as the majority of fans are smarter than that, and in any case, opinions are usually ephemeral, and a new one will not be far behind.
Many TV presenters are ex-players, and get those jobs because of that ‘quality’, but sadly many of them are not employed for their brain power, and when they pick on just one particular player for one or two less than perfect incidents, without balancing that with giving credit for classy incidents is evidence of that and something we all have to suffer when our players are involved, and generally choose to ignore it, if it is the players in another team.
The solution? Just ignore them, the world is full of such people, and you will never change them.
Good to see you.
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The knives were out for Xhaka from the start. Seen by many as a purchase to add class, skill and, in particular, strength and physicality, to the Arsenal midfield the word to the referees was soon out to emasculate him by harshly penalising any physicality from him. As well as adapting to a new country and culture he has also had to adapt his game – in effect to learn a new way of playing – while all the time the insidious whispering of press and pundit builds a narrative of his inadequacy.
I reckon he is quietly establishing himself as a pretty useful player.
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Xhaka is class.
I know this as when he was bought by Arsenal, I watched him play in a match at the Euro’s, during which a co-plundit told me how Xhaka is ‘not up to much’ & ‘can’t see how he’s worth that money. (During that match I could see why he was bought).
Once at Arsenal, Xhaka’s given the maltreatment that some new players get when they first play in the Prem (but EVERY Ars player), where they’re kicked and derided.
There was an incident at an airport, remember? He’s been sent off twice by the same ref, for stuff that’d be yellow carded for others (unless the offence is made on an Ars player).
It’s all part of the ongoing crap. Smash our midfielders (Denilson comes to mind) & smash anyone Arsenal. Anyone remember one of Laurent Kos’s first games – where Kevin bass-turd (Bolton or similar) looked directly at Kos and headbutted him, unpunished of course. (I’m not sure if that was when the commentator said ‘welcome to the premier league’). Gervinho’s sending off at Newcastle. That was his first game wasn’t it?
Well done for highlighting it Mandy, and for perspective, HenryB.
May I send particularly good wishes to Shotta & Steww.
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Tut. I needn’t have bothered. As soon as I post, I see FH has said what was in my mind with succinct-icity.
Anyway, I love our players. Putting up with all the crap and always trying to do their best. They don’t cheat. When they kick someone they apologise. When they’re cheated (every fkng match), they try and get on with it.
Loved what Hector said the other day.
COYG
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Sage advice HenryB. Honestly, I don’t keep track of the Arsenal ‘grapevine’ too much anymore. It was news to me that it was being said that Xhaka had a poor game, and I remarked upon it because I had noted the weird commentary at the time.
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The poverty of TV punditry has always struck me as ex players not knowing what they are doing, and lacking either the brains or the energy to equip themselves to do the job properly.
Should we be surprised ? Not really. Footballers are brought up to be told what to do by coaches, by managers, physios etc day in and day out. The player’s every move is analysed, their output on the field reviewed and they are told what to do to improve. And if they don’t do exactly as they are told by the coaches/manager, to match a rigorously imposed standard of performance, then they will be slung out.
Little wonder when they find themselves in the TV studio with no one to measure their output, or tell them wha they need to do, or encourage them to improve week by week, they are more often than not f****** hopeless.
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On plundits:
Graeme Souness played in an older era where he wasn’t so mollycoddled. Can I say the same era as Michael Holding. I think so.
One, you could listen to at any time, any place, upon any topic but especially when discussing competing at sport at the highest level.
The other? The less said the better.
Football plundits have become even more comical/risable since Steve Coogan unleashed his Alan Partdrige character in the early nineties. Blue dildos and all!
But fair play to the Arsenal, they have more class then most, including me. Rolling out the heavy gunner, the Great Bob, to present Motson the commentator with a silver cannon on the weekend was another touch of class from the only football club at the top of the game that acts like a football club. Shambolic eh? Lucky for us that it is so!
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–
Shard is correct. People can be observed to enjoy regurgitating what they are fed.
Eg. Harry Kane. A topical and timely reference.
When Tottenham supporting colleagues and friends get super excited whilst repeating what they’ve heard in the funny papers about Kane, in order to change the subject as efficiently as possible I reply:
“If he goes on to have as good a career as Teddy Sheringham I’ll be impressed”
This comment usually ends the “world class” “debate” with a chuckle from all and a blissful change in the subject.*
*he might well do! But not yet…I don’t think even the most sentimental Utd fan (forget about Tottenham!) would attempt to argue that Sheringham was ever “world class”.
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The interesting thing is that when a pundit does make an effort to provide something that shows they have dome a bit of work, for example when Gary Neville started on Sky, they are greeted as exceptionally talented.
What finally killed me on pundit as years back, the 2006 World Cup, and a game between Croatia and Brazil. ‘Lawro’ and ‘Motty’ clearly did not have a clue who any of the Croatian players were, or who they played for. They made no attempt to hide their ignorance, in fact they revelled in it. Just picking up a match programme would have given them at least a basic grasp on who was who but no – instead we had 95 minutes of amateur, schoolboy giggling.
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Andrew, that is pathetic. Please name me one other profession where ignorance and unpreparedness is seen as a virtue?
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Passenal, President of the United States, apparently. (Banned crying emoji).
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Hi Alabama,
The crying emoji was not necessary — you brought a tear to my eye just by reading your comment. The world is going to hell in a basket. Trust me — that is not fake news — and I am not lying — nor am I going to have a lewd locker room chat about women — unlike ‘you know who’. (banned despairing emoji)
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Hi Passenal,
I understand your outrage — tho’, I do not think that TV presenting qualifies as a profession.
Regrettably, not one of these people has bothered to buy themselves a copy of FIFA’s ‘Laws of the Game’. There are only 17 Laws — so not too many, even for …… no, I must not get judgemental …… but if they bought a copy and had it to hand it would improve their knowledge 100%.
As to ‘how do they get away with it’ — well the sad fact is, that it seems to me (subjectively, not objectively) that 99% of the fans watching TV have not bought or read the Laws of the Game either. Truly, a case of the blind leading the deaf, following the dumb!
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“Andrew, that is pathetic. Please name me one other profession where ignorance and unpreparedness is seen as a virtue?”
I was going to refer you to the current occupants of the House of Commons. Honourable members indeed !
But someone beat me to it
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AFCs biggest cup victory in my lifetime was only a few months ago.
Shamtastic innit.
Saint and Greavsie were better and more interesting and more fun (!) then any of the clowns on the footy box these days? Surely?
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