Greetings Positives,
Despite repeated claims to the contrary, it is remarkable how football reflects real life. This may be shocking to those who see football as some form of escape from the every-day challenges of our human existence; stuff like work, home, family, politics, economics, you name it. The harsh reality, however, is professional football has become big business and like all big business it is institutionalized with various stakeholders fighting tooth and nail for their respective self-interests.
As in the broader society there are various ideological points of view; in football there is a desperate need to avoid anything political so we are left with the highfalutin concept of “football-philosophy”. Most of this so-called philosophy is deceptive, at least when it comes to the Premier League. Making money is the primary goal and the standard of football is secondary. In contrast to the PL, the German Bundesliga has a mandate to improve domestic football. So while commercially inferior to the PL, it produces more world class footballers and arguably the world’s best national football team.
Fact is the Premier League is driven by the need to maintain its commercial domination of the international tv market which is a multi-billion pound source of revenue. They care very little about improving the standard of domestic English football or even the standard of refereeing for that matter. I will get to the latter in a moment. The dominant narrative in the PL is money; super-transfer fees, super-salaries; super-managers, super-agents, super-owners, super-stadiums, you name it.
With the fantastic amounts of money going in and out of PL clubs, it is certainly a tempting attraction for international money launderers acting on behalf of the various oligarchs, despots and carpetbaggers who automatically enjoy the protection of the Her Majesty’s government once they become an owner of a premier league club. In the world of international finance London is one of the major money centers and the PL is a significant player. No wonder it is so important to protect the PL narrative and to punish those who may upset the apple cart. I am absolutely positive this reality is not lost on Arsene Wenger and Arsenal Football Club.
To convince the masses worldwide, that they have the best show in town, the PL has the mainstream media, both home and abroad, in their pocket. There is clearly an unwritten rule in both the English and American media; never broadcast or print anything that shows the dirty underbelly of the league. It is a known fact that those media, with rights to broadcast PL football, have a contractual obligation to not broadcast anything that brings the league in disrepute, no matter how true or factual. From the many reports online and the little I have seen of BBC’s flagship football program, Match-Of-The Day, they conceal and and edit most of the egregious refereeing decisions. As in Orwell’s “1984”, news reports are consistently rewritten and edited to sanitize the product; controversies conveniently disappear down the “memory hole”. In the words of that great Nobel Laureate and English playwright, the late Harold Pinter, describing the manipulation of public discourse by the mainstream media:
It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest.
This to me is symptomatic of what is currently happening with respect to the diabolical standards of refereeing in the premier league. Again readers must be reminded that the refereeing organization, the PGMOL, is a body bought and paid–for by the PL. It is currently headed by Mike Riley, who was the official-in-charge of the greatest match-fix any of us have ever witnessed in modern PL history in October 2004, i.e. Arsenal’s Game-50 versus Manchester United. In front of a worldwide audience, with the almost absolute complicity of the broadcasters and the football establishment, Riley did everything to enure a victory for United. According to Wikipedia:
The match saw a series of unprofessional fouls that were overlooked by referee Mike Riley, such as Rio Ferdinand on Fredrik Ljungberg in the 19th minute and striker Ruud van Nistelrooy’s studs-up challenge on Ashley Cole. Arsenal dictated much of the early play and created several openings, but as the game progressed Manchester United threatened. The home team were awarded a controversial penalty in the 73rd minute, as Wayne Rooney allegedly tumbled over Sol Campbell’s outstretched leg. Van Nistelrooy converted the penalty kick and late in the game Rooney scored for 2–0. The result ended Arsenal’s record-breaking 49-match unbeaten run. Many Arsenal fans were disgruntled, as they believed Rooney had dived and the penalty should not have been given.
[As always the above report fails to mention Riley’s “carte blanche” to the Neville brothers to kick Arsenal’s then in-form striker, Jose Antonio Reyes, out of the game without fear of penalization.]
Is it any wonder that the one top club in England that refuses to join the premier league merry-go-round; not over-spending, not paying the highest transfer fees, not paying the highest salaries, not firing managers at will, not engaging super-agents, is not the preferred club by Riley and the PGMOL and by default, not preferred by the PL. This is despite the fact this club has long played the most, modern progressive football which the media now suddenly discovers to be worth fawning over Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. This is despite being the first PL club to build a brand new modern stadium out of its own pocket and still retain its top-4 status for 20 years. Not preferred, despite developing an academy which constantly produces top English talent who regularly represent the club as well as appear in English national colors. Etc, etc, etc.
Arsenal Is #1 In The Top-6 Table
Is it any wonder the PGMOL referees, reflecting the outlook of their paymasters, the Premier League, have made Arsenal, over the past 10-years, the most penalized club in the top-six League in terms of Penalties-Against. As always, the unbiased data tells the truth despite the attempts of many to bluntly reject any information that does not fit the narrative, peddled by the mainstream media, of a poor beleaguered PGMOL desperately trying to do a fair and unbiased job among a mass of cheating players. Apparently the recent video of referee Moss and his assistant making a penalty decision in favor of Tottenham despite being uncertain of a prior offside and the fact the ref is heard to ask something along the lines of “what do the tv people say”, is for some not convincing enough evidence that the refs have other motivations apart from what happens on the field when they make their decisions.
| Pens Against | Goals Against | PA vs GA | Correlation | |
| Arsenal | 58 | 423 | 14% | 77% |
| Chelsea | 32 | 369 | 9% | 50% |
| Man City | 38 | 443 | 9% | 32% |
| Tottenham | 47 | 499 | 9% | 22% |
| Liverpool | 45 | 428 | 11% | 22% |
| Man Utd | 35 | 358 | 10% | 1% |
Primary stand out from the data:
- Arsenal has the highest correlation by far, i.e. 77%, of Penalties Against vs Goals Against of all the traditional top-6 clubs. In other words, as far as the PGMOL is concerned, in the case of Arsenal, the greater the goals-against the more likelihood of a greater number of penalties.
VS:
- Clubs like Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool who have conceded more goals than Arsenal but have a far lower correlation of PAs vs GAs. It is as low as 22% in the case of both Tottenham and Liverpool and no higher than 32% for City. How do the PGMOL and its apologists explain this blatant disparity?
Secondary stand out:
- Manchester United may have 10% of PAs vs GAs but there is almost no relation between the two variables, only a 1% correlation. It leads me to the conclusion United must be the greatest defensive team on earth despite the likes of Rojo, Vidic and Smalling who routinely foul their opponents in the box.
As I have often emphasized in the past, like the mainstream media, almost none of the big accounts in the Arsenal blogsphere, on twitter and on podcasts want to engage the PGMOL and the PL in these glaring statistical disparities. They are either intimidated or corrupted by the mainstream media (from whom many hope to one day get a gig) that truth-seeking is forbidden, a clear example of self-censorship. Meanwhile the club they claim to love and support is being screwed over year-in, year out. First it was the Riley fix, then the kicking and physical intimidation of Arsenal players that lead to Ramsey and Diaby being literally broken in two and Diaby’s ankle destroyed, rotational fouling, the penalty embargo after spurious allegations that Eduard dived and this year a rash of phantom penalties-against.
(PS: In 2017 I did a major study covering 20 years of PL data showing that the PGMOL was able to significantly victimize Arsenal with Penalties-Against; a 120% growth which far exceeded any of the traditional top six clubs many of whom had an inferior average league position.)
Already I have warned that the arrival of Aubameyang will result in the offside flag being used to sabotage his runs off the shoulder of the last defender. Based on the history of biased PGMOL officiating when it comes to Arsenal, the odds of my prediction coming true is as certain as night follows day.
Rather than a campaign against PGMOL bias and for a robust, transparent Video Assistant Ref (VAR) outside of secretive PGMOL control, many it seems default to the typical PL solution; have the current boss fired and employ a super-manager who sees football as a defensive war of attrition. Only a coward who has been corrupted by the money and the resulting negative football on show most weeks would welcome such a fate for Arsenal Football Club.
To all my fellow positives and especially my English friends, the words of Pinter is inspirational:
Truth in drama is forever elusive. You never quite find it but the search for it is compulsive. The search is clearly what drives the endeavour. The search is your task. More often than not you stumble upon the truth in the dark, colliding with it or just glimpsing an image or a shape which seems to correspond to the truth, often without realising that you have done so. But the real truth is that there never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic art. There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, are blind to each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost.
Extracting truth from the unbiased data and its dissemination to our fellow gooners and the football public at large is our duty.
Positively Arsenal 
FT: 1-2,
4-2 on agg
awful, woeful, pathetic, players arrogantly going through the motions, not good enough. Attitude stinked, not for the first time.
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Elneny the only decent player in the pitch. If we are gonna play with Welbeck we might as well play with 10 men. Iwobi needs to release the ball sooner. Hogs it and breaks down the move.
One thing I don’t get is why can’t our multi million pound footballers play with both feet. So many passing angles are closed out because they only use one foot. It is ridiculous.
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Strange week though – Citeh get a good doing at the PieDrome and we get the run around against a crew of Swedes – makes Sunday a little more spicy
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I thought the refereeing was very good. Need more of that in England.
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That was so poor, in fact, pathetic, and I have said that word more times this season than any other under wengers tenure.
Some players clearly lacking sharpness and confidence, the team clearly need an Ozil, Ramsey or Cazorla to function at the most basic level, Mikha not there yet.
But, yet again, it is woeful defending that undoes us. Our defending is clearly amongst the poorest of any of the top teams. Our defenders are not bad players.
It pains me to say it, especially when there is a lot to still play for, but if Wenger cannot sort out the defending, if he will not, for whatever reason, delegate to those who can, then sadly, I sincerely hope this is his final contract, for the sake of many. Our defending is not good enough, it hasn’t been for a while, that needs to change, I wonder if Wenger , like many of us oldies is a little resistant to change that which he holds dear.
Well done the swedes, we go through, but nobody playing, managing or coaching takes one iota of credit for that aberration of all this club are supposed to be .
I hope the rest of the season is a lot better than most of what we have seen.
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That is probably the worst performance I have suffered during the Wenger years. The Swedes deserved to win. The Arsenal midfield and defence were disgraceful.
They made the most elementary mistakes that should NEVER be made by Premier League players.
The back passing was horrendous and they seemed to remain calm about it. Our players just had no awareness, no anticipation of where the ball or opposition players might go. The Swedes had all of this. Where has it gone.
Xhaka improved the midfield somewhat but not enough.
The improvements required are enormous. What can explain this appalling state of affairs?
Fuck it, I’m watching the news….
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city may have lost, but they were by far the better team, we lost and in reality deserved to lose.
once again our tempo was way way too slow, and none of the squad players done enough to suggest they should be in our best 11, some may have even put themselves further away from getting in it.
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What no “unforgivable” eddy?
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whats the point anicol, as wenger clearly forgives them no matter what. we have seen this movie too often to really be bothered that much. the team are performing many levels below what we know they can perform at, and don’t seem at all bothered by it, so really why should we.
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I thought Forest was much worse than that – probably because we lost the tie – rather than won as we did tonight.
Suit yourselves though – look on the bright side though – no penalties.
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anicol we have so many of these sort of performance to choose from its hard to pick which one was the worst.
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eddy – If you find the movie so difficult to watch then please, please don’t put yourself through it
Leave it alone – you’ve done enough, suffered enough !
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Alternatively you could kind of suck it up and accept we sometimes don’t play well – as tonight – but do enough to get through ?
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I wonder have we seen the last meaningful performance in our first team from Mertesacker, he was not even on the bench tonight, and he did suggest earlier in the season that as the season wore on he might spend more and more of his time preparing for his role as Head of the Academy
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well anicol it warms my heart that you are delighted with that performance, and are happy to see it repeated many times over the season.
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Well. All sunshine around here, I see.
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Some very decent clubs in the final 16 and a few good teams slung out at this stage
The draw next week on Monday ?
Cracking stuff
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We wait for a whole week to see Arsenal play, and we get this pathetic display. This team is seriously testing the goodwill of its fans. Like elsewhere in life, this team needs to earn the respect and support of its fans. Very, very disappointing indeed!
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We only do sunshine here K
You know us !
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Highlights for me?
The combos between Miki and Bellerin, both quality players.
Xhaka showing some strength and quality immediately after coming on, like some kind of a (more experienced AMN) CM.
And my lowlights?
Obviously the knee knack has been a big set back for Welbeck – doesn’t look the same player who arrived ATM.
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think the draw is at noon tomorrow
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< more experienced then
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The key issue, as I’m certain you’ll agree with me, is the blue kit.
I know I know l hear WHAT YOU SAY
But it is cursed !
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There are no seeds for this stage of the competition, meaning that when the draw takes place at around 12pm (UK time) and Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon, we could face any of the other 15 sides.
Possible opponents:
AC Milan (Italy)
Athletic Bilbao (Spain)
Atletico Madrid (Spain)
CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine)
Lazio (Italy)
Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia)
Lyon (France)
Marseille (France)
Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
RB Leipzig (Germany)
RB Salzburg (Austria)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Zenit Saint Petersburg (Russia)
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/who-could-we-face-europa-league-last-16#EVOSwZLBFjWtjtzI.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/who-could-we-face-europa-league-last-16#v2y4olF6tjpj38oq.99
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I will take Athletico Madrid, the best way to focus minds of the players and staff and get back in the saddle after this evenings horror show
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The blue kit! Only one option, Ackers Out!
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I find it impossible to tell just how big an impact Arsenal being both the team I watch by far the most and the team I care about the most, to put it lightly, has on my ability to judge what I see.
For instance, it feels like we are one of the most unusual teams you will ever see in your life, and it feels, quite often, as if our defending is sensationally bad, or perhaps more like we are sensationally vulnerable.
But is it reality, or is much of it the result of watching us so much, and so much more than anyone else; and watching in such a different way, where every goal conceded registers as something between unpleasant or agonising, etc?
I’m certain of some things, such as we are the polar opposite of a defensive team, anti-catenaccio ( which, in very off periods, can look like twatenaccio); and that pretty much the only other teams, and they are few, who try to play as positively as us are giants, dominant and as rich as anyone in their leagues.
As for the rest…I don’t know exactly. I hope those two factors and maybe some others to boot sometimes mess with my judgement a heck of a lot .
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We didn’t play well, did we.
I need to blame someone. Who should I point the finger at?
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Rich, as Wenger says, our defence numbers are not good, especially this season.
Not all down to the defenders, they are often left exposed, and it is no coincidence inexperienced defenders find it so tough.
I often wonder what defensive wobbles do to the rest of the team.
I really wish Wenger would do something about it, and it baffles me he does not. But , like everything else, it would be very interesting to hear his side of the story, he may even be able to put things in a different light and perception to what we see too often, who knows.
City and Liverpool are also suspect defensively, but their attacks seem to be doing rather well. Tottenham and Utd defend well, the former has decent attackers , and a PGMOL monopoly on diving.
I just get the feeling defending isn’t wengers priority in life, despite being a defender as a player. Attack the best form of defence, which can be true, but risks serious exposure when the MF and attack do not work so well, or are predictable , which brings me back to one of my pet subjects that I really need to get over for my own sanity, Cazorla.
I suspect, the rest of wengers time here will be spent more on developing attack rather than defence, whatever that may bring, as it certainly is not the easy option when a team is in a bit of a spell.
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It was not a good performance, particularly first half, but clearly the manager took some risks with his selection tonight with half an eye on a final in 3 days time and Ostersunds took full advantage of that. What did we really expect? It’s not worth getting worked up about the performance as we did enough to qualify for the next round, which was the objective. The manager has to try his ‘B’ list players at some point and I’m sure he learned a lot about how some individuals cope under pressure. I’m happy to draw a line under this game and move on to the next challenge. Onwards and upwards, Come On You Gunners!
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“I just get the feeling defending isn’t wengers priority in life, despite being a defender as a player.”
I think this is a media generated fallacy. We may be an attacking team that is not set up to defend and counter, but to take the game to the opposition. Have you forgotten how we got to the CL final? This team is capable of defending from the front and defending as a team when they follow the manager’s instructions, we have seen it on many occasions. They have just been inconsistent and we have suffered from losing key personnel at the wrong time. There is no point crying over Santi Cazorla anymore. The one we need that makes our team complete at the moment is one Aaron Ramsey. He is the player that knits defence and attack together and is the one we miss the most when he’s not in the team.
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Wish it was just a media thing Passenal, but our defence numbers just are not good. The games is won and lost on mistakes, but taking this season alone, defensive howlers have let us down against , for starters, Liverpool home and away, Utd at home, spuds away, lower placed teams away- ok sometimes admittedly PGMOL aided, Notts Forest, this evening. Our play is very naive at the back.
In the league alone, one GD is not far shy of half that of those above us, our goals against us is the worst in the top seven and on a par with Swansea, Brighton and Newcastle.
Sorry for being negative on a positive site, and I am well aware of what arsenal sometimes face, but believe there is clearly an issue with defending as a team that has been getting steadily worse without any obvious signs of being addressed.
And it is costing, we live to fight again in the Europa league, not asking for George. Graham rope drilling or outdated Tony Adams tactics or yesteryear, but surely the coaching staff can improve on what we are seeing, and if not, bring in someone who can?
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Wenger: “It’s better not to talk too much tonight and focus on our next game.”
See, even the manager agrees with me!
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Passenal, agree on your points on SC and Ramsey btw, would add Ozil to that, they weren’t helped by a lack of creativity, Mikha is too new to the side, and Jack was too advanced, he needs to play deeper .
but Santi,of all players, including DB, Bobby, Cesc, I think he epitomised Wengers vision on the pitch
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wise words from Wenger, if they switch the defence on, they can win on Sunday, a tough task, both teams wounded, but form is with us on such occasions, we have beaten every top team in the country in the last few years in cup games.
Hopefully Ozil , Ramsey playing. And Santi smiling.
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Mandy, the point is that defensive errors or getting caught out of position is down to what happens on the pitch. It’s a stretch to then conclude that the manager does not care about defence, when we have seen him coach his teams to strong defensive performances on numerous occasions. He clearly does not have all the defensive options he would want as he said after the transfer window closed that that was one area where they failed to get in the additional cover they were looking for. I think the players are letting him down with some serious lapses of concentration and inconsistent performances. We were also impacted by having to play such a young pair at the back tonight, which meant the organisation and leadership was lacking. Chambers and Holding are both promising players, but they need an experienced head next to them to ‘coach’ them during the game about their positioning. The way they kept playing the ball back to Ospina, putting him under unnecessary pressure was a sign of the lack of game awareness and fearfulness on their part. I think there is a serious confidence issue with this team and too many players are playing in fear of doing something wrong, which then leads to mistakes.
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Fair points Passenal, think confidence is an issue, hence , tonite excluded, better performances at home than away. I also believe that refereeing decisions play a part, those guys must now be frightened to put in a tackle in the area, especially away.
I believe we can switch on defensively and maintain our defenders are good players, there was the Barca away when we were extremely unlucky, the run to the CL final run, the famous win at City away, and more recently, take your pick on games against Chelsea, but when we face Stoke, Watford, Bournemouth, west brom, Swansea, tonite,we see a very different picture. Is good defending something should be switched on and off according to the opposition, in this day and age, I am not so sure.
I just get a horrible feeling things are coming to some sort of closure and Wenger is trying to revert to his last fantasy vision of the game before he departs, as opposed to times past, and if he is, or for that matter, even if he isn’t, there is still time, but things just don’t seem to be working this season.
But, hopefully Sunday will bring something much better, and even if it does t, a better performance
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Not our best performance, and i am being polite. But I think the over the top bashing is totally unnessacary. The purpose was to win the tie and come out of it in good health.
We got 3 games coming up over 8 days, so with that in mind, the job got done last night. It’s also not as if that very same 11 will take the field in any of the upcoming 3 games.
As FH said Mkhi and Bellerín got another chance to work on their partnership… and do so in a game of less importance. Welbeck had a another chance to work on his match fitness, sharpness… and Arsenal future.
Bellerín, Mkhi and Xhaka (coming on 2nd half only) can only do so much with the quality, or lack thereof, around them. In the end whatever we did was well enough to see us safely through to the next round.
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I think the way to fix issues can sometimes be counter-intuitive. Like I happen to think the real problem with our play is that our attack simply doesn’t work right now. We just don’t seem to have the quick passing and movement to even regularly threaten, let alone score. And this is despite the talent advantage we enjoy over most teams. I know it is tougher in the P(gmo)L, but it is still true we’re better than the majority of teams. I think the defensive lapses are always going to be a feature of Wengerball because it is highly demanding of the defenders. With fullbacks going high up to attack, and no true DM to fill in as a rule. But you expect this to at least reap rewards at the other end, and usually our defenders also play better, with more confidence and decisiveness when the midfield and the guys up top are playing well. Ideally you also want to be able to switch to a more conservative outlook when required but I’m not sure we switch to that just because plan A(ttack) isn’t working, especially because we’re not built for it.
This has been a season of large upheaval. First with Ox vs Liverpool, then the constant Alexis saga, and finally we should be getting more settled but it seems like the players just want to move on from this season as early as they can. I don’t see that as an excuse by the way. It doesn’t matter what the backstage drama is, once you get on you are expected to perform.
We really do need to do something different to get the players to snap out of this funk. Last time this happened Wenger switched to a back 3 and suggested that the major benefit was that the players refocused. I’m not sure that will be enough this time, but maybe as Auba and Miki get more integrated, they can spark our attack. Maybe Auba and Laca should play together up top in either a 352 or a 442. Go all out attack and hope it works? Yes, it’s desperate but desperate times and all that.
And yes, I’m aware we’re through to the next round.
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I was also thinking yesterday, that though of course we are nowhere near the team we were during the invincibles or even many of the years after, I tend to enjoy the game less now because I’m now more attuned to thinking about the game intellectually rather than as tribe-based entertainment. Understanding something seems to take away some of the magic, and maybe that’s part of the reason why we tend to get disillusioned more easily.
Wenger’s not lost his magic hat, we just understand that the rabbit needs to be bought in preparation for the act. A meerkat just doesn’t do it. (Banned smileys!)
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Feeling i’ve had recently is that we only tend to look good when playing in a style which isn’t sustainable for a full game.
A style -full throttle attack- which it doesn’t make that much sense to play should it have brought you a big lead already, which, effectively, was where we started from yesterday.
A style also which you can’t really play against the best teams. or you can, from off at 0-0, but which could quickly lead to being behind- they will be set and ready for that possibility, and looking to exploit it on counter- leaving you with a very hard task.
We’ve had the two stunning opening salvos to get big leads in home games, and purple patches in games vs Pool and Chelsea where the score meant we had to go all out, and that aside there’s been a bit of decent, some okay, and quite a lot of bad.
This full throttle attack- meaning primarily numbers forward, doing things at speed, and everyone committed to the same attacking idea- relies heavily on the full backs for width. When we were cutting them up a lot second half it was most often through Kolasinac and Bellerin.
But it doesn’t make sense at times, and at certain scores, to have your full backs that advanced, certainly not in a four.
I suppose much of that is saying we are struggling for control in games, the ability to set tempo other than all out. Which is mostly a midfield and Santi thing.
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passenal I would say it bollocks to say that it was down to the age of chambers(23) and holding(21) for them playing the ball back to ospina, we see it week in week out with mustafi and koscielny or who ever is our CB’s,
once again we have Wenger and our captain for the night, Wilshere, admitting that the team lacked the proper attitude, that they under estimated the opponents, lacked focus, lacked concentration, they felt the tie was over.
We hear this way too often. We started with 9 full internationals and 2 u21’s, we have a cup final on Sunday, this was a great chance for some of them to force their way into the reckoning, maybe just the sub bench even, but can we really say anyone done anything like enough to make a case for inclusion on Sunday.
Do the players feel that they are either sure to play no matter what, or feel that regardless of how they play, they won’t dislodge a regular starter. As that is what it looks like to me. I have seen both scenarios in my own playing days, and both totally destroyed seasons. All levels drop,
Simple question, has Wenger actually “dropped” a player(first choice) this season, a first choice player not injured, other than when we changed formation. Has anyone been dropped for poor performance. Honestly I can’t at the moment think of it happening once this season. And yesterday was our 11th defeat in just 41 games.
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team news for the cup final
Ramsey trained well yesterday and a final decision will be made tomorrow on his inclusion.
Ozil trained well too, and should be ok
only minor doubt is Iwobi, but he should be ok as it looked like only cramp.
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Arsenal have a minimum of 14 games left this season and a maximum of 19 if we reach the EL final.
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It was cold.
Very cold.
That was a problem. The club have underfloor heating for the pitch but what about under the seats? Don’t they care about the fans? Modern Football? meh. Give me scarf not in club colours, access to social media, to broadcast a wank club with my middle aged mates. I apologise for such foul language. But that is, what it is. Possibly understandable if they were thirteen and auditioning for The Inbetweeners movie, otherwise I’m not so sure…
And that is how the back slapping podcastateers have come to the loud conclusion that a club that just spent £30M on Moussa Sissoko is a much better run club/team.
The kind of club that get penalty’s when “running at pace”, you know that would make Walcott blush though if we are indeed being fair the we can admit that in AFC colours this non-diving forward didn’t get much joy did he, especially against Chelsea with chumps yes chumps like Dean ignoring obvious fouls – but the same official can make up Chambers’ handball, or whatever it was he wrote in his report about Gabriel etc…
People believe what they want to.
The Swedes have a good record according to the data (information) regarding their previous results in this football competition against good football teams. They were not amongst the poorest clubs in this round based upon this season’s record (that can also be called data!) fortunately they were coming off a mid-winter break last week and were even more off the pace then Wilshere after his mini lay off, and that previous result allowed a decent amount of rotation for the first eleven three days before what may be the most important game of the season against the Champions Elect.
Job.
Done.
Come on you Gunners.
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New post up
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Iwobi:
Not his best game of football.
But the impact of social media in the stands i not really something I’m a fan of.
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