Good morning my positive friends.
When Andy Nic. and I arranged a job swap for this game, I have to admit I thought I might have gotten the shitty end of the stick. But no, not at all. I sit here in my bed in Blackburn (I’ll get up soon, I promise), with a smile on my face and an easy task.
We sent out the same team as we did vs Palace. No doubt hoping for a similar early display, champagne football , but no, Chelsea were all over us, pushing us back, forcing errors and rushed clearances, controlling the game and frankly making us look distinctly ordinary. They quickly worked a great goal, and i feared the worst.
Then we went to plan B. Dig in. Refuses to panic , roll up the sleeves and work harder on being solid. Monreal attacked the ball and fired a header goalward , It took two ricochets and ended up in the net . 1-1 . Better. For the rest of the first half it was more of an even game, but a fair man would still say Chelsea were shading it.
Then half time ,and the chance for Arsene to reorganise, plan C emerged . It appeared to me (I say “appeared” because I am far for a tactical expert) that we went to some sort hybrid system between 5 2 3 , 3 4 3 and 4 3 3 . The player dictating the changes was ElNeny.
He seemed to be playing as a CDM when we had the ball and a CB when they had the ball. Our wingbacks were more fullbacks off the ball than usual too.
There were odd moments of free flowing football,as you would expect, but this was a more grit,determination and sheer force of will performance . The winning goal was all about effort over excellence from both Lacazette and Xhaka, fortunate, but earned.
Monreal was exceptional, ElNeny outstanding and young Iwobi worked harder to contain them than we could have expected, and of course Mesut was glorious.
It was a fantastic effort from everyone involved. Working together as a team, fighting tooth and nail, just what the “experts” constantly suggest we cant do.
So we find ourselves looking for a 10th consecutive Wembley win against The UAE FC . I cant wait.
We can all enjoy this for a few days. and then a few days more.
Pedantic George ( @Arseblagger ) @arseblagger
Positively Arsenal 
I had to stop what I was doing here at work and navigate to PA whilst I sip my tea!
Great write up George, thanks!
Early on I thought Iwobi was struggling to cope with Moses. I thought AMN would have done better as he had Moses in his pocket during the first leg. But, yes, the lads didn’t panic but worked hard to stabilise the game and build on to a slightly deserved victory.
Know what was that I was doing before my tea break?
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All i can say is Lets win it now. I predicted a tough 2-1 win and thank goodness I was right. Slow out of the blocks but strong to the finish and as I pointed out to my Chav mate who i was having some solid but enjoyable banter with throughout. The ball in the back of the net is all that counts. You don’t get additional points for style.
Lets move on and build a run now🙏🙏
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don’t we play spurs at wembley in the league before then, so it might be 11 wins in row we are going for in the final
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The Independent Sport
Jonathan Liew Chief Sports Writer
Wenger, for his part, refers to Monreal as a “silent leader”: an exemplar, the sort of player who gets unfussily on with business and yet inspires others to emulate him. “The world of silent leaders,” he explained, “is when people come, they perform, they don’t talk, they go home, and they come in the next morning, train well, and then the next day they do it again. They are the real leaders.”
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Another game at Wembley. Another chance for Arsene to do his water bottle tactics and destroy Pep.
Unlike some on here, I am not as firmly on the Alexis hate train, but I did see, especially this season, how much he slows us down and that he was in fact something of a liability.
Even if the clear cut chances were missing, I was reveling with the precision of our passing, how comfortable we looked on the ball as a team, zipping it all over the pitch. So much pace and urgency in the passing, so much composure on the ball.
Our defenders were absolutely imperious. Elneny tremendous. Mesut otherworldly.
Mkhi and Auba in – and we are comfortably the second best team in the league again.
COYG!
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Sip your tea Georgaki? Must be some kind of homage to Ozil or Freudian slip. I love that.
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WWWB: Monreal = Technical Leader. You called it. I had to big you up on twitter.
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So according to PG, our own Arseblagger, the “senile, egotistic dictator” made at least three (3) tactical adjustments in this game. F*ck my old boots and i thought it was the “End Of An Era” blah, blah, blah.
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Alexis
Was bought to sit outside of the main structure of the team, almost a plan ‘B’ that started the game.
He was the element that would be harder to plan for by the opposition, with a few connectors i.e people who could read him, of which were
Mesut,Jack,Santi,Nacho were in synch Ramsey and Iwobi had times of understanding .
Once the Cazorla/Coq midfield was established Alexis full toolset could be utilised, sadly since Cazorla has been injured Alexis has been nothing but a burden to the team, as his frustrations with the teams malfunctioning only made them worse. The few games Alexis played well in the last year involved him being well up the pitch. For if he starts to dirft deep, there would be trouble.
The fallout has been a causation for the departure of the Coq as his skillset really is only truly effective with Santi or Jack, which would restrict his game time.
I do not normally say this but I loved the Coq, he felt like one of us, (if you make 100 league appearances for Arsenal after playing in the youth team you count as one of our own)
I called for an overhaul a while back and I am happy that Mr Wenger is making the hard calls , as much as I love some of the players that have gone in the last 6 months , it had to happen.
If there is one player that I think should have stayed but went it is The Ox, but there is no guarantee that he would convert his talent, plus the Arsenal fan base the (negative side) had got to him.
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old has been Wenger v modern new age manager Conte
P 8
W 4
D 3
L 1
who was the numpthy pundit that only this week said Arsenal should replace Wenger with Conte, that he would be perfect for us.
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wwwb the one thing that I always said was the biggest criticism of Alexis was the fact that he never built up a partnership or an understanding with Giroud. And when you add in that he failed too with Ramsey, it really did impact our team play
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shotta_gooner
Pro players notice these things
Good Managers notice these things and take advantage of them.
The team exemplifies the best qualities of it’s Technical Leader.
Yesterdays win shone the better elements of Arsenal and Nacho least spoken about, even if you are not at the very top of your game , you stick in,show your flexibility, make adjustments ,show drive ,determination and no lttle skill.
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eduardo792
I just don’t think Alexis could see footballistically (a Wenger word but you know what it means instinctively) Giroud.
Althought coming from the left on his right foot Giroud would be the ideal wall as that is Big Sexy’s forte
I suspect Alexis will find similar issues with Lukaku
But United are a fast running side so the chance to place him high up then catch him up.
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But the problem with Alexis is that he does not stay high up waiting for the ball to come to him, he keeps dropping deeper looking for the ball, which is where he would make mistakes and lose the ball in dangerous positions. Let’s see whether moaninho manages to get him to be more disciplined.
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I certainly don’t hate alexis, at the moment, but i was always a critic of a hugely frustrating player. The stats of goals and assist have never told the full picture with him and although when he was good he was good the constant losing the ball, lack of passing and running round in circles more than atom and humber chasing their tales became more and more negative to the team and our flowing football. it was definely time for him to go. He is no more and the ARSENAL goes on with two very good team wins to date and some sumbline Wengerball and gritty team displays which bode very well for the ongoing campaign.
The strange thing is that after ARSENAL reaching wembley, yet again after beating another top side, already beating manure, city, chelski, pool and the spuds on our way to our second home and collecting those silver things so many fans crave are still described as lucky and papering over the cracks.
I spoke to a mate I hadn’t seen for a while on the way to the game last night and he said we were so bad at the moment it was difficult to support. I asked him how he thought the spuds were doing at the moment and he said yeah they’ve been really good this season, I pointed out our position in this competition and that we were only three points behind them in the league. The problem as we all know is the media, ex-players etc are winning in their battle to convince the average fan were no good.
It is amazing that the morning after a brilliant win a portion of the fan base is so negative about the club I always thought supporting a team was about feeling the pain of losing with the club and absolutley enjoying the wins and good times with the club some fans are upside down, da’re crazy!
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If any player cant play with Giroud and Ramsey, they are lacking something essential in their skill set.
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it seems Ben Sheaf is set to join Stevenage for the rest of the season
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Hmm, little surprised it’s Stevenage in League 2 for Sheaf. Definitely rate him as highly as Bielek who was at championship club last year.
Anyway, main thing is to get game-time so hopefully it’ll be good for that. Be interesting to see if they use him at cb or in midfield.
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OK, watching the second half. Linos clearly the way Riley sees the way forward with cheating. Some very very dodgy calls. Several. All against us so far. When Smith Etc calls them out, well.
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That seems like a really strange move he is way above anyone at Stevenage and there are alot of clodhoppers in that division.
Many loanees from other clubs are in the prem and I wonder why many of our players go to poor leagues or divisions.
I can’t see what he will learn at Stevenage.
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Looks a classy player Sheaf. Maybe regular football in a specific position. Sometimes good to give them a dose of where they might end up if they don’t have the right attitude, who knows
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Good evening all, what a pleasing day. I still feel we were a bit lucky last night, although it was long, long overdue. As for our opponents I felt I wonder where this drift is going ? Is it possible the lover affair over between Roman and his bonnie blues ?
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didn’t Chelsea spend about £200M last summer, that don’t sound like the end of roman’s love affair, the question is who decided to let top scorer costa go to replace him with no score morata, who let matic go to replace with drinkwater, what does babayoko bring to their midfield, is luiz not better than the CB’s they are playing,
would say that watching them last night I got the feeling that Hazard is pissed off with them and just might soon be off to Real Madrid or the like
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League champions last season – Morata bought but no – they are drifting along – buying the Barkleys and the Drinkwaters for no apparent reason, and Bamayoko ? Very odd.
I don’t for a split second know what is in Abramovich’s mind, never have. He’s an older man now, probably wiser, a man who finally seems to have got some progress on the development of the Bridge. Is he a bit bored ?
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Roman is a mafia man who had buy things in the west to get his money washed and cleaned.
That’s why the academy just makes money not players and their use of the loan system provides the same end product.
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what this about Usmanov going to be put on a blacklist by the USA, business friend of Putin or some thing like that. Reports suggest if he is put on it, he will lose tens of millions or more
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Stan will be happy if that’s the case with AU, maybe he has snitched on his rival.
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reports from France that Chelsea are trying to sign Giroud on loan for the rest of the season
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suggestion that they are offering AFC David Luiz on loan
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seemingly Giroud ruled out any chance of moving to CFC straight away
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Andy
Chelsea,bought Drinkwater and Barkley because they count as homegrown. Also explains the amusing rumours around Carroll and Crouch.
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ed
Didn’t Giroud turn down Chelsea to sign for us in the first place? I remember it was reported once, but it doesn’t get said enough because you know, players all turn down Arsenal to sign for their rivals has to be the story.
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That must be it Shard as names that are being put up as Chelsea ‘targets’ are incredible. It may be that Roman and Antonio have decided already to amicably(ish) part ways at the end of the season and the Russian is keeping his roubles in his pocket for a new manager.
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Team News
Giroud is back, but Welbeck still out
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Wenger on Aubameyang
nothing to announce today, if no one comes in no ones goes out, apart from some young players on loan.
want to keep Giroud, and he will not leave unless player comes in
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Wenger On Ozil’s future
Our intention is to keep Ozil at the club, hopefully we will do that very soon.
On whether Ozil will sign
Not close enough to be optimistic and not far enough to be pessimistic.
The vibes I get from his commitment, his focus, his desire – he behaves like someone who is ready to commit. But after that negotiations are what they are. We are not close enough to tell you yes, he will do it.
On Cazorla
he will only get a new contract if the medical people say he is fit and healthy
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Wenger clarified that he never mentioned any club let alone spurs, his view was that the media keep Arsenal in the spot light, and he stands by what he said on that. It was nothing to do with any other club, it was about Arsenal and the media
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Wenger on Mourinho’s ‘fantastic club’ comment: “You’d have to ask him about that. Can you be fantastic without being giant? Yes. Can you be giant without being fantastic? Yes. I think the two clubs have made a good deal, yes.”
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Andy, how do I get my new @ on the site without changing my old Email??
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reports from the midlands that Arsenal have offered £10M + Debuchy to WBA for Johnny Evans. Some £ extras too
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Alexis will enjoy fouls being called when someone gets him at a headlock or pushes him into a pit with both hands (not asking for a card, but a foul would be a nice award from the shameless crooks), or stamps down upon his shin within spitting distance of the lino, all instances that would’ve had him on the blower to his agent, it’s really not a big leap, but I note that now of the blinking Denialists can even bring them to this simple and obvious consideration.
Jack Wilshere C2010:
When you play for the Arsenal you’re going to get kicked
I.e.: no relative protection compared to his peers.
He said it, not me. And he had been shown to be correct in that assessment, and then some. It is: what it is. Please don’t shoot the messenger!
The pattern of the blaggers’ back slapping plundit approval seeking expertise over the seasons has been set and can be quantified thus: as a complete irrelevance,
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with Mkhitaryan added to the squad and Giroud now fit again I would expect that these two will come into the 18 man squad v Swansea in place of Nelson and Nketiah
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Think that quote was from a bit later on, around 2012/3.
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Wasn’t Evans the best of the young CBs that Slurgus tried to bring through in the second half of his stint at Utd? It’s not easy bringing through young CBs especially in a league where 9/10 clubs can’t or wouldn’t dare to do so save for the HG quota requirement.
Only Jones is an absolute no no, though there were rumours that AFC were once after him: I’d prefer to watch a rookie Holding over a more experienced Jones all day every day. Smalling has had some good performances in N5. But I don’t really know what I am talking about here.
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The problem taking CBs from clubs down the league is of course they will look good when a large part of the time their team sits back and defends with two banks of four or five. It’s easy to defend and you have greater protection, try to then defend when your sitting on the half way line or deeper and your defending breaks with players running at you and your running back towards your own goal it becomes alot harder.
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I am not sure how to create an automatic link George @arseblagger although I can cut and paste the link from Twitter on to the bottom of the blog – the Catch us on Twitter page wont pick it up as a live link either
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reports that Arsenal goalkeeper Deyan Iliev is in talks to join Premier League rivals Swansea City, he is out of contract in the summer, and has missed most of the last two seasons with injury. It is said that Swansea’s goalkeeing coach tony roberts is the man behind the move, he was formerly AFC reserve goalkeeping coach
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I see a glut of news reports, including words on Arseblog, to suggest that Ivan Gazidis’ reputation is at stake over the Auba transfer. Keen to push the idea that Gazidis and co. (Mislintat and Fahmy) were photographed in Germany as a PR move to show that they, and NOT Arsene Wenger, now control the club’s transfers.
I know people are addicted to Game of Thrones but do they really need to call shenanigans and power plays, every time someone does….shock & horror……..THEIR job?!
But of course, if we can’t now blame Wenger for it we must push the idea that Arsenal are a shambles some other way, ie if they don’t buy the player they identified in the first place.
Coming away with no deal is better than coming away with a bad deal. I would think that is self evident, but it will make no difference to those that play the Game of Groans.
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the Attention Seeking Brigade are even complaining about this from Arsenal
Ticket and membership prices held next season
26 Jan 2018
image: https://www.arsenal.com/sites/default/files/styles/large_16x9/public/images/EMS.jpg?itok=9XdXu680
image: https://www.arsenal.com/sites/default/files/styles/large_16x9/public/images/EMS.jpg?itok=9XdXu680
We are freezing our prices on all general admission, club level season tickets and memberships next season.*
It will be the fourth season in a row with no rise in general admission ticket prices and means there have been no increases in nine out of 13 seasons here at Emirates Stadium.
We will continue to offer around 26,000 tickets from £10 for each Carabao Cup home game and recognise the fantastic support of our travelling fans by ensuring they never pay more than £26 for an away game in the Premier League. This is £4 less than the league-wide £30 price.
Membership fees also remain unchanged.
* All prices on GA and Club Level were discounted this season as a result of our participation in the Europa League. UEFA Champions League qualification would mean this discount would no longer apply.
Copyright 2018 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/ticket-and-membership-prices-held-next-season#mrlzwQMdJTPoM0WS.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/ticket-and-membership-prices-held-next-season#yFAyy18dETacGm5S.99
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Young defender Ben Sheaf has joined League Two side Stevenage on loan for the remainder of the season.
Ben, who is a mainstay of our under-23s, made his first team debut in the 1-0 victory away to Red Star Belgrade last October. The 19 year-old has also featured in our League Cup win over West Ham this term.
He joins Stevenage for the chance to gain additional first team experience.
We’d like to wish him well for the rest of the campaign.
Copyright 2018 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/ben-sheaf-joins-stevenage-loan#uQbbawvxEcZ5mj3P.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/ben-sheaf-joins-stevenage-loan#cc11dH0sVw7JUBuW.99
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