Well what a dreary game of football that turned out to be. I think if we had scraped a 1-0 then that would have been a better reflection of the game. It was painful watching.
Let’s start with a positive though, the back four looked solid. Mustafi was excellent in his defensive duties, Chambers decent, but their passing, particularly Mustafi early doors, was poor. Monreal was his usual solid self, but it concerns me when Hector gets the ball in tight spaces, he often loses it and puts us on the back foot.
Ok on to the not so positive, the midfield. I thought Jack had a stinker. His passing was off and he seemed to slow our play down needlessly. ElNeny, although not letting the side down, also didn’t add much to our dynamism. Aaron was good enough but looked to be blowing a bit from early on. All in all the midfield was at best sluggish, at worst ineffective.
Up front Danny gave his critics plenty of ammunition and was lucky not to get hooked a lot earlier than he was. Mesut was on an off day for him and Aubameyang had little service to make anything of.
Still, once the penalty went in , Xhaka ,Lacazette and Mkhitaryan were introduced, we looked a much better outfit. It seems to me that Xhaka is becoming the heartbeat of the team. I also think Lacazette is a much more than just a goal scorer, I really like his game.
So that’s it, sorry about the gloomy, but let’s be honest, it was a very forgettable game of kick ball.
Positively Arsenal 
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Jeorge Bird
@jeorgebird
49m49 minutes ago
Arsenal U19 team to face Tigres in Dallas Cup final
Okonkwo
Daley Campbell-Olowu-Ballard-Thompson
M. Smith-Benson
Olayinka-Burton-Coyle
Balogun
Subs: Barden, Beckford, Clarke, McGuinness, Omole, Saka, Swanson.
Looks like Saka is set for role of supersub again.
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Eduardo, don’t suppose you’ve found a stream for it, have you?
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try this on rich
http://www.fulltvhd.li/univision-deportes-network-en-vivo-por-internet/
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Wahey, I’m in.
Cheers.
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Damn it. They’d looked good technically and that was a nice goal for them.
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Arsenal losing 1-0
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Wasn’t great, but totally echo your opinions on Xhaka, he is going to be a very important player for us. wenger is adding a different dimension to him, as he often does, this takes time but the rewards will become clear.
If we are unfortunate enough to lose Jack and heaven forbid, Ramsey, who knows, one day could Xhaka be captain, as he was in Germany?
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Horribly efficient at small fouls this lot. At least ref is giving them
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HT: Arsenal 0-1 Tigres
been a bit of a struggle, lots of niggly little fouls stopping our flow
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we have a bit of a home town ref here
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not to be for the arsenal youths, hit the post in the last minute, but game ends 1-0 to tigres
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Ah well, came up a bit short but good effort. Unlucky at end with one against the post.
Felt that the ref was good with spotting fouls, but in end he let fouling pay for them by not using cards to make them think twice about all the cynical little fouls they made to halt us at start of moves.
Don’t know about home town, Ed, but he sure did look like he might be a bit Mexican. 3 mins at end was poor given subs, few injuries and some very slow restarts
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Hope Ballard’s alright. Like him as a player. Brave as, yep, a lion and seems a proper good old fashioned centre back to me.
Far as I know he’s not signed on pro terms. Really hope he gets contract and will be a bit miffed if he doesn’t. He’s been improving all the while and I’ve no doubt he’d be very handy in u23’s next couple of years.
Good sign to me that we did that well in tournament without a number of best eligible players.
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MOTD pundits furious that AFC given the penalty, usual old bull that as defender touched the ball it can’t be a penalty, yes he touched the ball but he also tripped Ozil, its a foul, plain and simple
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rich just a bit on Ballard, when he was in his last year as an U16 he was actually initially not given a scholarship, but he stuck at it, and after an impressive end to season the club gave him his 2 year deal. Maybe he will have a repeat in that so he can get a pro deal here.
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It’s laughable the effort these wankers put in to disputing the pens we get yet nothing when ludicrous calls are repeatedly made against us. Joke
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now Markyb we can’t be having AFC getting penalties, its just not on, now is it.
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Ed
I hope so. Feel club very reluctant to give contracts at 18 or over unless they have real belief player can make it with us. Obviously a very tall order, maybe even more so for a centre back.
Quite understandable, and arguably fair to players, but when it’s someone who can, first, help the youth/u23 team well in the battle side of the game, and seems to play with that extra bit of commitment and be a leader, I think there’s a good case for keeping the player.
We’ll see. Don’t for a moment want us to be like Chelsea, who give contracts to people at 20/21 who will clearly never play for them (or even later : saw one, Kane, I think, who I vaguely remember form their youth teams years ago, and is still a Chelsea player, on loan, at 24/25. Potty)
Have skipped Motd as no interest in seeing them drool over Spurs nor obsess over our first pen.
Hilarious though that Murphy, who loathes VAR and just this week was over every platform available banging on about refs first judgement, leave it to man closest to action, etc, has quite clearly formed a judgement based on numerous replays.
Kinda like…well, a VAR official could but a VARless ref can’t possibly do.
Imagine a world where he could be called out for that on the telly as he should be, instead of them all being pals who would obviously never do that.
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rich what makes murphy’s stance more laughable is that he is on the dive panel.
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Yep. They may as well get Micky Hazard, Pleat, Pochettino and Alli on the panel and be done with it
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Controversial and unsubstiated source, but football is fixed has a lot to say about Danny Murphy and alleged relationships with agents and bookies , I have no idea if they are correct, but what I see and hear from Murphy makes me wonder
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Looking around this morning, I see huge praise for a team who are not top, but again in the champions league places for the third year running, punching above their weight in terms f money spent, a veritable media love in.
What has arsene Wenger done to avoid such accolades over a period of twenty years, and in a manner whereby he didn’t have to resort to cheating to instruction either?
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There is a lot of stuff goes on associated with them that smells iffy. The fire and 30 mil from the council for one and massive double standards from press and assorted media. Kanes injury healed up rather quick and Mr Erikson seems to get faster fitter and able to press for ninety minutes, remarkable, must have asked Pep about his methods
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That’s hundred years in the top flight for AFC, been in the top division for as long as the RAF have been in existence
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Mandy, I’m not sold on that FootballisFixed site at all.
Their approach seems to be suspiciously scattergun- nearly any accusation of wrongdoing out there seems to be picked up by them and is, apparently, true.
Also they just don’t pass the smell test for me. Small , but telling for me, example from the other day was them trumpeting something about Leicester and TeamSky doctors ‘collaborating extensively’, or something even more hyperbolic, year Leicester won league, then posting, as proof, a link with Sky’s infamous head honcho detailing some meetings between two parties.
Basically, they’d met up twice, with first meeting about six weeks before end of season. Not what the link billed it as and, for me, that’s not behaviour of someone/ a group with knowledge of not just one or a few instances of corruption or the like but of near endless knowledge, as though they are damn near omnipotent. If you knew a quarter of what they allege to be true as true, there’d be no need to overstretch things as they do.
Still, I do think it’s possible they occasionally talk about areas of wrongdoing. I’m just not sure they even know which ones are really true.
Think they are probably right that there are some very dodgy happenings with managers signing players represented by the same agency as the manager himself is.
Konchesky to Liverpool was mentioned the other day. Certainly an odd judgement for a manager of Hodgson’s calibre, and them being represented by same agency does seem fishy.
I’d never have entertained thoughts of Hodgson being dodgy without the idea being planted there,though, and would think of him as one of the managers least likely to go in for that.
Mind, he was apparently influential (Ferguson crowed about it in book and think I heard it elsewhere) in persuading Smalling to choose Utd over us, which pissed me off a bit at time and seemed bizarre.
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West Bromwich Albion
Verified account @WBA
3h3 hours ago
West Bromwich Albion and Alan Pardew have agreed to mutually part company following discussions between both parties.
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I have seen some journos and oddly enough Arsenal fans saying Conte wasn’t backed last summer or the january transfer windows by CFC.
Lets just look at who they signed and at what cost:
Morata £60M
Bakayoko £36M
Drinkwater £35M
Rudiger £31.5M
Zappacosta £22.5M
Emerson £18M
Giroud £18m
Barkley £15M
Just the £236 Million.
now if only blue roman would back his manger properly. and to think we have journos and arsenal fans saying Conte is the man to win the title for Arsenal, what with the massive budget we have more than CFC.
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Hi Positives. Been MIA due to some pressing domestic issues. Hope to be back soon but can’t say when.
Had a chance to watch us play yesterday and while I agree with PG that it was uninspiring for the 1st 70 minutes, once we brought on the big guns it was a different game; Wengeball. To be honest I worry for the future of Jack; is he up to the standard as #10 or a deep-lying midfielder? I will give him the benefit of the doubt until end of season.
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Having decided to prioritise, quite rightly, the game on Thursday, is it that surprising that, what was really, a makeshift team, did not play that well. especially after an international beak.?
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break, not beak
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jack’s best position is a deep lying midfield. i thing wenger is still standing by his earlier claim when hugson was playing him deep that jack is best at number 10. that shape of his leg and the fact he uses only the left foot doesnt allow him to pass well and accurately. he’s best at running into space from the deep. that said, i’m all for the manager to find the best solution for the benefit of the team. if he had to find a better player from elsewhere, i’m all for it. it is the manager who gets the blame.
the players were generally poor yesterday. giving the ball away and misplacing simple passes. mustafi especially was poor and at times simply stupid.
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I was told today that there is a big possibility of changes to the Arsenal Board this summer. With at least one change very likely and a chance there will be two new members brought in. With the club open to the possibility of bringing in the much called for diversity, namely in a younger,age bracket than most of the current board a woman or a black person or both.
I’m told that Ken Friar (83) has had some health issues this season and that he may step back from his role at the club and that Lord Harris’s position on the board is in doubt. Likely candidates to replace both guys are being looked at and sounded out.
Was told that Harris might be replaced by a former player, with a couple of ex players sounded out to see if they are interested. If Friar is replaced it would be with someone more qualified as unlike Harris’s role, Friar’s is a full time job with the club.
Oh and just one other thing, no matter how many changes there may be to the board, Tim “not so nice but still dim” Payton will not be getting a place on the board.
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Ken Friar, what a servant to the club he has been. Any reason given on Lord Harris departing?
Ex players, read somewhere Overmars was linked with some sort of position, then the Chairman Josh rumours? Wenger has pretty much ruled himself out of a move upstairs at this stage, hopefully he has a good few more years at the coal face at Arsenal, or elsewhere.
Rich, who knows with FIF. He claims to be some sort of freelance consultant, so will not reveal all the info he claims to have, his sources, nor will he substantiate it. He also claims knowledge of illegal betting dark pools as I believe he terms them.
Must admit ,I don’t believe everything he writes, if I did I doubt if I could even bring myself to watch the game, but he is pretty consistent on some things, amongst them Arsenal are getting screwed over for a number of reasons, certain names that keep coming up, and certain agents, including a top agent who is linked with a notorious crime syndicate, think the latter has been pretty much substantiated. Not sure what it all means though
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all i was told on lord harris is that if he leaves it would be his choice, he is not being pushed out. His role is nothing major anyway, Friar is the one with a full time role at the club, he and Ivan, I think, are they only two board members will full time jobs at the club.
the Josh for chairman, for me is a matter of when and not if.
One thing I find odd is the usmanov thing, he openly opposes the Board and how the club is run, yet he votes with them on all motions. I was told last year that AST members and others who voted against Josh and Sir Chips at the AGM, actually thought, or had been led to believe that AU would be voting with them, but he had given his 30% of shares backing to the Boards motions.
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ken friar is 71 years working for AFC, he began part time when he was 12.
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71 years, beats the queen, and Ken F is in a more important role!
Just hope, and I am sure they will, get in the best they can get. Times change, new blood can be a good thing.
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the truth is Mandy, that most of our board members, like those at a lot of the big clubs, actually are only there to make up the numbers, AFC like lots of big clubs have a majority shareholder and regardless of what the rest of the board think or want, its his wishes and decisions that count. Chelsea have a board, does anyone think that they can do anything against RA’s wishes, or that that the city board can overrule the sheiks, or the utd board overrule the Glaziers, or spurs board overrule the Enic boys, or that liverpool board can overrule the fenway boys
the majority shareholders at any club or business decide whats to be done, the CEO oversees the process.
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Don’t doubt you on that Eduardo, but I don’t think football knowledge is always the strong point of some f these owners or majority shareholders.
If they do put ex players in, it is either a PR thing, or maybe Stan will value their advice once Wenger has gone, remains to be seen, as you say, Stan has the final word. Wenger reportedly has more influence than most managers in overseeing the club, but when he has gone, I hope they have some proper football people on that level and they listen to them, that will be the key to a post Wenger future. Stan puts a lot of faith in one man, not sure he will be initially at least, able to be so trusting in his successor, although he now has others on board.
Bring in Usmanov,and bring back David Dein and GG, and Tony Adams as director of defence, will keep the malcontents ecstatically and deleriously happy, possibly for eternity.
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but here is the rub Mandy, a football club does not need its board to have a strong football knowledge, and that is why they hire people to look after the actual football side of things, like CEO’s and managers and coaches and chief scouts and sporting directors etc etc. you know people who football is their strong point
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and Mandy on the subject of football knowledge, I would suggest that a hell of a lot of people who work in football and even played the game to a very high level, have sweet fuck all actual football knowledge, look at the pundits, the journos who have little idea of the actual rules of the game. And how many ex players flop big time as managers or coaches, just look at the pundits alone and its littered with managerial failures. Football knowledge my arse, its one of those silly soundbites put out there by people who think they are football experts and have answers for every clubs ills. Its more generation FM nonsense.
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Fooballers on board? Sure, why not? It works for Bayern Munich, and in Italy you have Pavel Nedved at Juventus and now Totti at Roma. Zidane was Sporting director at Real Madrid too before he came in to coach, took over the reserves and then the first team.
I reckon Arsenal could look to a few ex-players who know the job and also know the culture of the club. Overmars is one. Edu is another. I think Pires will be the likely candidate though. He said he wants to do a similar job and help in building the team, he’s already involved at the club as an ambassador, and he’s a regular in training. Plus he’s a gentleman and has stayed away from the trappings of being a wob.
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Well if there is to be a player on the board , there are not many English\British ex-players who can actually sit on and actively participate in board activities. Of the ones who might be capable, they seem to be happily ensconced in cumfy chair media jobs where they can lash and slash with no consequence.
I have ofthen asked which board in football would the malcontents like Arsenal to model.
Has anyone given the answer to anyone else?,
Because I have never recieved an answer.
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‘Acc to ex referee dermot gallagher, it wasn’t a penalty so the ref guessed which he shouldn’t do, end of,’
Think that little comment, from under an article about pen, nicely illustrates impact of Gallagher, Murphy and co.
People, football fans especially ,maybe, will generally believe what they want, and support those who tell them what they want to hear; but what you don’t get with other clubs is the strong systematic response against anything in our favour.
They make it easy to hate us and the only way your average opposition fan would be able to resist is if they were unusually independent in their thinking.
As for how Gallagher is allowed to present himself ubiquitously as a disinterested ex-ref, when in fact, I’m about 99% sure, he is still very much a major pgmol employee…jeez.
Why he would want to and why pgmol’s media partners would facilitate it is the interesting question. Completely disingenuous and what good reason could there be for it?
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quote WwwB
“Well if there is to be a player on the board , there are not many English\British ex-players who can actually sit on and actively participate in board activities. Of the ones who might be capable, they seem to be happily ensconced in cumfy chair media jobs”
WwwB do you not know April Fool’s day is long over, I for the life of me can not think of one ex Arsenal player who is now a pundit who could even be considered for a place on the Arsenal board,
wright who only this weekend celebrated spurs scoring, adding to a long list of stupid stuff
dixon who for a fee was willing to say what the AST wanted him to say
keown who claims Ramsey is not a midfielder at all, just one of his many stupid digs at AFC
Henry – do me a favor, if he would not take a coaching role he is unlikely to take a position that pays even less and would mean he’d have to keep info to himself, how would he take AST voting against his appointment at an AGM
Campbell, the guy who thinks DT is a great chap, now we are getting silly
Smith, have you listened to his non stop downplaying of Arsenal
Robson, oh boy
Nicholas, now believe it or not for me he comes the closest to being someone who could get the job.
Have I missed anyone else, or who where you thinking of WwwB
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https://www.arsenal.com/news/how-laca-and-micki-helped-change-game
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Andre Marriner has been appointed the referee for Sundays Home match against Southampton.
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Oh for fuck sake, I’ve just reread the blog and it was full of typos, and not a one of you pointed them out.
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george
Typo alert!!
It should be Oh for Fuck’s sake.
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