Good Afternoon Fellow Positives,
If you like your action end to end and of about 96 minutes duration you will have enjoyed that game as much as did. It is good to squirm on the edge of my seat, in a nice way, until Mr Marriner thankfully put an even contest beyond doubt.
Of our brave lads it is a while since he has earned the accolade, or deserved the award to be honest, but Danny was on top form today and his three key interventions ensured we took the thee points. His downward clip to PEA for the opener was exquisite, a fortnight ago Danny would not have managed it. It has been a slow process returning from injury to recover that extra half yard of pace and split second of mental sharpness. Trying to find game time in such a talented squad must be frustrating, but today the Mancunian was very, very good.
Of our other lads Xhaka and Mo worked well in midfield, tidy and combative. Cech chipped in with a couple of decisive 2nd half saves, and Hector and Reiss Nelson worked well together to stymie Tadic and Bertrand. I would have liked to see Reiss be a bit braver in taking open the opposition with the ball at his feet but a good hour nevertheless. Rob Holding came off the bench and contributed a useful 20 minutes at a time we were wobbling. The young defender is not averse to hoofing the ball hard and a long way – Shkodran please note.
For the Saints I thought James Ward-Prowse and Holberg stood out. If their current employers do suffer relegation I cannot see either of them will be playing Championship football next season. If Saints had managed to get a point this afternoon it would have been deserved – but keep that quiet – strictly between us.
High jinks at the end. I thought Stephens unlucky to get a straight red. No idea what Mo’s card was for, according to the commentator “raising his hands” (?)
The bigger picture is of course that apart from an enjoyable run out against the Saints we rested a few key players, and set out for Moscow with a run of 6 straight wins which does no-one’s confidence any harm. Life is too long to say anything definitely; always say perhaps.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Positively Arsenal 
That was well enjoyed. 3 – 2.
I really liked the fight we put up.
MoNeny & Xhaka kept the wheels spinning.
Nelson, Welbeck, Auba & Iwobi caught on and never looked back.
The Saints are definitely low on confidence ’cause they couldn’t capitalize on the free bits we presented them with. Can’t pretend I don’t enjoy socking it to Sparky.
Hope they don’t go down though. Class organization.
But it was great to see us do well without Mesut.
Become too dependent on his sorcery, we have.
Bellerin might need a haircut, some de-styling, to air out his game.
A fit & confident Danny makes for a rather enjoyable watch.
He wanted it. He got it. Iwobi assisted…we won.
We march on….to Moscow.
COYG!
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Mo’Neny’s red card needs to be reviewed ’cause it was no more than a yellow.
Lets hope they rescind it.
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Very harsh having seen it again – maybe Mo’s hand touched the opponent’s face but the prospect of a three game ban is out of proportion. Did the lino get involved btw – I thought he was the one who called Marriner over but the film does not show that?
https://twitter.com/c11davison/status/983006054635200513
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from football.london
Wenger on the win
We want to continue to win our games. I waste dot rate a bit because we play so many games.
I wanted to pick a team that had a chance to win the game.
We showed great spirit and won the game, even if at the end it was a bit hectic.
On Elneny’s red card
I was a bit surprised that he was sent off, because he was a fair player.
Has he touched the player in the face? I don’t know.
Will Arsenal appeal the red card?
We will look at it tomorrow to see if we have grounds for an appeal.
Wenger on Welbeck
Danny has been looking sharper. He is coming back to his best. I’m happy and pleased for him. He deserves everything he gets.
He also saved some great headers on the near post toda
Wenger on defensive issues
We have an offensive team. That means as well the defenders are not in the bit possible conditions to defend.
Thursday night physically it was at a high level. players like Belerin, Mustafi looked a bit heavy legged.
Wenger on Arsenal’s recovery
I’m very proud. We have gone through a difficult patch.
To recover from that you need solidarity which they have shown.
On Mkhitaryan’s injury
Mkhitaryan has a medial knee ligament damage, He will not be available for Thursday, or Newcastle or the week after.
He could still play at the end of the season.
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mark hughes whinging that Jack Wilshere was not sent off, say Jack used his knee on the southampton player
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Pretty sure Marriner was all set to restart game and then someone got in his ear.
Got a feeling they showed pic at time of linesman- same one who said jack shit about Tadic challenge on Nelson when should surely have said booking needed- Marriner listening, then going over and showing red.
Those interventions, with similar methodology to VAR, should only happen when official feels very certain they have seen a red.
Laughable. Made Marriner look like a total fool when quite likely nothing to do with him.
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Hughes would make a good politician. Dissembling comes as easily to him as breathing. So glad we beat them.
Hopefully we get the dream trio of Stoke, Saints, West Brom. Koeman set in motion them becoming an unlikable team
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Should’ve added even Stephens quite unlucky to see red. What Jack did extremely annoying- any pull tends to be, and that was a mega pull- and not sure his push was above chest. Looked more aggressive than most pushes so maybe that swung it.
Elneny’s though…my word.
Someone on twitter mentioned Costa’s antics against us, that painful day when I thought – surely, surely- we were actually going to see opponent sent off early in big game.
He scratched Kos face off ball, pushed him to ground; then pushed Gabriel, with another face scratch thrown in, a number of times, while ref was trying to sort it out. A yellow.
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afcstuff
@afcstuff
44m44 minutes ago
Today’s win was Arsenal 150th league win at the Emirates Stadium, becoming the first PL team to win 150 or more games at two different stadiums (Emirates Stadium & Highbury). [@ThrowbackAFC] #afc
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holy fuck, 3 of the AFTV idiots have got their own football show on CH4, starting later his month.
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Cannot fault the character, there were some decent performances.
Sounds like elneny was very unlucky, but if Arsenal do appeal, I do not hold out much hope against the powers that be. When you see what some get away with, galling to see the kind of dismissals we saw today.
Now on a good run.
I know Arsene Wenger isn’t going to change at this stage of his life and career, but really wish someone could get to him on defending. Other teams are still offensive but maintain varying degrees of solidity in defence. Some of our defending makes life very difficult, our goals against does not make good reading. I know a coach at a fairly decent amateur level, he is convinced Wenger shies away from defensive organisation so as not to give the team a comfort blanket via the defence, he wants them to stick to attack, and possession partly in fear should they stop doing so. A solid defence to fall back on perhaps making them more complacent at other aspects of the game. No idea as to the validity,of this, but an interesting theory. Whatever the reason, Wenger seems to be moving increasingly away from the defensive side of the game as he progresses, something I think his eventual successor will work to put right at haste.
Still, no lack of entertainment, and good character shown today.
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Thank you Andrew.
Bertrand has been England’s best LB (not sure of his current form), I guess he was not an easy opponent on debut for Nelson.
I hope that he signs that contract soon. I hope his agent was not paying attention at the lack of protection given to his exciting young meal ticket following that clear ankle rake. You can rake an opponent as blatantly as you can and not get a card, but if you’re an Arsenal player you’ll get sent off for the kind of thing seen with Elneny today and Xhaka previously. It is: what it is. Bells and whistles and all.
With our three best players given a rest, adding the context from Young Pep on how important good players are (who would’ve thought! Aguero would be a miss for any team…) that was a good result.
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Eds
It’s Reality TV football for the (end of) Boris Johnson era.
They’re the inverse opposite of the people who set up FC Utd (who are not far away from the football league).
Lucky us eh? Can’t understand why none of the other starving bloodsucking arses ever call this mob out on their podcasts sponsored by Ladbrokes etc.
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C’mon the Irons
1-1
Twenty mins to go
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“Exciting” Chelsea didn’t have a midweek game.
Not sure their GD is much better then AFCs?
Or greatly different?
I don’t this is because Conte has given up or decided to not coach “defence”.
That would be implausible.
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Arsenal on a run of 6 wins in a row, last 5 have all been at home, but despite this, some who have already paid for their tickets can’t be arsed to go to the game. I bet lots of them ramble on about the most expensive tickets etc.
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Good save from Hart!
Credit where it is due.
Hopefully the hammers can hold out, but Chelsea didn’t play midweek and I don’t see them flagging, probably the opposite.
Super sub Giroud is about to come on yikes! Welbeck scoring great headers make me miss Giroud a little less. Great to see all the hard work and patience from player, physios and coaches finally paying off. Fingers crossed he has some better luck going forwards and regains some consistency in his technique.
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fins – “reality TV”, – what the hell have any of these caricature’s got to do with reality, its closer to acting than reality.
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Ohhh nearly from Giroud.
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Exactly Eddy
We have actors for president
We have actors as footballers (Alli L.O.L.!)
We have actors impersonating sporting official *Gollum Gollum* Andy Serkis would be jealous.
“My acting willl save the world”
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Only +5GD in Gazprom’s favour.
I really don’t think that Conte has given up on coaching defence.
But I did notice that he has had some new CBs who had zero experience in the PL this season…no one forced him to send Luiz to the reserves but I’m not going to ignore the impact that loss of experience will have upon the pitch
Luiz is the player that gives me hope that Mustafi will come good, whilst avoiding the sublime humiliation that scarred Luiz in 2014 – primarily because he plays for the same team as Mesut Ozil!
England 2010 and Brazil in 2014
Which national team will Ozil destroy and add to his collection scalp if any will Ozil add to his collection in the 2018 WC?
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< Correction: one PL inexperienced CB this season and like Mustafi Rudiger was bought in last season.
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< and selling one half of a championship winning CM whilst relying on players like Fabregas who can no longer run or complete a full season after the kicking that they received whilst at AFC, well, it's not a recipe for stability (in any) defence.
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“It’s not easy to explain, I don’t understand after we go 1-0 up why we always drop off and let our opponents come onto us
We could have done better, of course, we gave them a gift, it was the first clear chance they had and they scored.”
– Conte.
Whatever the reasons why it is not because he has decided to stop coaching “defence”.
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Is t just me, or is Xhaka , in general, getting better and better?
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Xhaka has cut out the sloppy ‘caught in possession’ moments is now able to play the referee like a violin Mandy. Work in progress.
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CFC only 3pts ahead of us now
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Xhaka’s been tremendous recently.
For me he always did far more good than bad,though, and lots of criticism was unjust or excessive.
Well in running for my favourite player. Others better at the glory stuff of goals and assists and maybe marginally better, but it’s the constant classy, intelligent presence and the toughness, I find so enjoyable to watch.
Only question I have is who would be ideal type player next to him (with Ramsey ahead in the three).
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Arsenal today won for the sixth time in a row, and the 5th home game in row, and today hit the net 3 times, meaning that this is now five home games in a row AFC have hit 3 or more goals, for the first time in 59 years, season 1958/59
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Andrew, I think you read my mind. Everything I was going to say about the game, you already said in your post! I agree that Danny was MoTM – 2 goals and an assist at one end and headed away a few dangerous balls at the other end too.
I can see why Kolasinac has not managed to nail down a starting spot on the left. He is very tentative and 9.9 times out of 10 when he receives the ball, he immediately passes it backwards. I was pleased to see him putting his foot through the ball at the end when Southampton were pushing for an equalizer though.
I’m becoming a big fan of Rob Holding. He’s a proper no nonsense defender who seems to relish getting his head to the ball or hoofing it out of play when required. But he can also pass when he needs to. Fingers crossed he continues to develop and stay with AFC.
My day was nearly spoiled by the idiot sitting behind me who started before the game had even kicked off. He must have been gutted that we won because he was full of how if we drew today this would leave us only 3 points ahead of Burnley. According to him the club winning the Europa League would be a disaster because then the manager might not leave. Also, the last 5 years (4 visits to Wembley and 3 FA cups notwithstanding!) have been the worst and a sign that change is needed. He also thought the empty seats were a sign of something – yes, I’d say they are a sign that our fanbase is infected by too many entitled, fair weather fans who can’t be bothered to brave a bit of rain if we’re not vying for the title. I really wished he hadn’t bothered to come either since he clearly wasn’t there to support the team and the abuse he directed at individual players in red and white, who weren’t playing up to his exacting standards, was something else!
P.S. does anyone know if the AFTV gang have been banned from the AFC concourse? They usually hang out around the North Bank, but I haven’t seen them at the last few home games?
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just see the goals from today, I wonder why are some Arsenal fans saying Iwobi only had 1 assist today, he clearly had 2.
on their opener, for me Cech is the one that fucked up, more so than Mustafi, Cech clearly starts to go for the cross, Mustafi sees that and stops to let Cech collect it, only for Cech to have changed his mind and stepped back, which also meant that Cech could not make any kind of real effort to save what was a slow enough shot.
Must say Jack is a bit of a prat, he so often starts aggro when he is having a poor game
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seemingly Wenger made some comments today after the game along the lines that he would not be looking to bring in a striker this summer as he feels he has enough quality in Aubameyang and Lacazette, not to mention Welbeck, and that these are good enoug to fire us to the title.
Now I assume that most of you will have taken the same from that as me, namely that Wenger is clearly saying he will be manager here next season.
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Haven’t seen AFTV there the last couple of times I have attended either.
Quite a few of them don’t want us to win the Europa league as they believe it will either lead to Wenger staying, or worse for them, getting another two year contract from this summer. Nobody knows what the club or manager will do in the future, but he has another year on his contract after this season, so unless told otherwise, the malcontents might as well just do themselves a favour and live with it. That said, pretty sure the only way the manager is leaving this summer is if he decides to for his own reasons, and if that were to be the case, I doubt if the Europa league will play any part in it, but here I am speculating like the rest of em.
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Rich, “Only question I have is who would be ideal type player next to him (with Ramsey ahead in the three).”
I’d go for Fabinho, Ndidi or Rabiot. Our defense would be like a brick wall. Would even allow Shkodran to overlap at will every 4 games!
eduardo792,
@ Cech’s age sometimes the muscles feign movement before the mind is informed. Mustafi should still have cleared the ball…that was a standard Shane Long goal.
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Foolishness from Jack – another day and with another referee he and Stephens would have both gone.
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Eduardo correct Iwobi had two assists and some good efforts on goal.
Wenger will be manager next season and I agree a striker is not the priority gives a chance for once to focus on the defence and midfield.
There will be departures though and Jack could be one. Ospina will leave.
With the likes of reiss nketia Niles stepping hopefully we can really build a team that has strength indepth.
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I also thought Cech was more at fault for that first goal. He seems reluctant to come off his line and be proactive in those situations, so the least he could have done would be to give Mustafi a shout. I’m not sure if he’ll still be our number 1 next season as I’m seeing more and more signs of a decline in his performances. I think we need a more vocal sweeper-keeper to play behind our kamikaze defence. He makes me feel nervous and I wonder if his nervousness infects the players ahead of him?
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We need Szcz but unfortunately ain’t going to get him.
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Chesny had to leave for his own sake. And it has work for him as he has improved and once he gets the Juventus No1 he will get even better. He was not ready to step up with us and the pressure of the PL media AFTV fans would have been too much.
I would rather he genuinely develops at Juventus for a few years and then maybe we see if we can entice him back
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I don’t mind that from Jack. How about we annoy the opposition for a change? Shirt pulling is a yellow card. Why would he be sent off? (presuming a competent and fair referee. Poor Elneny) That said, I think Jack is gonzo. He seems to be in perpetual bad form and mood.
I don’t think Cech should be our No. 1 but come on, unless the keeper gives a call to say I’m coming for the ball, no way should Mustafi just stand there and wait. Totally on him (and on Kola(?) for letting the cross come in)
Our CBs were quite disastrous today. Such stupid errors, poor passing, and stray clearances, bringing pressure on themselves. Holding did well though. Xhaka was very good, and so was Elneny. Iwobi did well too.
Danny Welbeck is a good squad player. Hard working, decent skill and strong. I’ve given up hope of him being a great goal scorer, but good that he can also contribute some goals. Especially from headers now that Giroud is blue (sad face)
So our B team beat Southampton. I like that we seem able to score goals now. The defense still needs work though. Southampton caused us too much trouble. Neither Shane Long nor Charlie Austin are great players, but they always seem to cause us bother.
I think the summer transfer window will go some way towards addressing that with a CM, CB and a GK.
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Aman
He’ll only cost arond 15 millon euro
He’s cheap it would rustle the malcontents
This guy to play with and inplace of GK
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shard the thing is from the replays you can see Mustafi clearly sees Cech take a step out to go for the cross, SM then stops and tries to shield the ball for Cech to take it, but PC stopped and in fact took a step back meaning he was off balance and could not dive for the tame shot that beat him
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ed
Step =/= shout.
Maybe they don’t work on their communication enough because there should be no confusion there.
Also, even if Cech was stepping towards the ball, Mustafi should also move towards the ball and be ready to pull out of a clearance if indeed Cech manages to get there.
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I mean if you’re going to shield the ball, at least do that.
Mustafi had a very poor game today. He’s so weird. Sometimes he looks like a world beater, and other times he looks like he can’t do the basics. Often in the same game. He’s still young so I have hope that he can come good, but such inconsistent performances don’t indicate a great defender in the making.
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I like the cut of this Tanguy fellow he seems to have the rugged finesse and athleticism that reminds me Diabby and more recently Dembele at spurs.
It looks like Lyon have an option on him after the loan and he’s played 41 games for them already. I think you will need to triple the 15 mil option if they sign him plus another 20 per cent for sweeteners
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Tfl, maybe, can see why he left, but Chezzer still a bit of a mystery to me.
Read a few things he was less than complimentary about one of our gk coaches, he certainly went on record praising Tony Roberts before went to Swansea and Jens when he was doing his badges , but maybe he left someone out of his praise list ,but have never seen anything to completely substantiate that. But if he did, Wenger is reportedly very loyal to his staff.
Whatever the reason, I suspect he will be a top keeper, and probably our loss.
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Mandy when Fabianski had his rise in form here, after being out injured for some time, he credited Tony Roberts with his improvement, and Fabs was the one who recommended Roberts to Swansea for the goalkeeper coaching role.
I was told that after Fabs improvement, Jens when here doing his coaching badges told Szczesny that he needed to get the same coaching from Roberts if he was to take the next step up in his career and become world class, and that Szczesny went to Wenger, but it did not go down very well. It was made clear that Gerry Payton was the keeper coach. Szcsesny got dropped . Although he eventually got his place back, once he had the fall out at Southampton that was it for him as our No.1 keeper.
Now as much as I like Szczesny, and I do think he should have been our No.1 this season, the fact remains that he has been unable to outs 40 year old Buffon as first choice at Juve, and from what I’ve seen from Buffon this season, he is a long way back from what he was even 2 years ago. Reminds me of the last couple of years of David Seaman, some wonder saves, but overall not at the level needed.
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Yes Eduardo, I read similar, basically suggesting a Gerry Peyton defence force from above kicking in, which had implications for both Polish keepers.chez has also said he learned more in Italy than he did at Arsenal, though he has never to my knowledge slagged Wenger, but perhaps indirectly his gk coach.
As we know’ Wenger is very loyal, even with Jens there now, he is not the gk coach….yet….and when shad and Burgess came in, Wenger refused to dispense of Tony Colbert, when Sven M came in, Steve rowley kept on as a consultant.
Wish I had a boss like Wenger!
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And not only Chez and Fab were fans of Tony Roberts
https://mobile.twitter.com/thedavidseaman/status/611554166209691648
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Just watched replay of their first a few times on slow-mo and looks like Mustafi was one who decides Cech should come for it.
Soon as Saints player connects with cross, Mustafi, with Cech at least in peripheral vision, seems to decide he isn’t attacking it; turns head, looks at, and visibly implores Cech to come for it; Cech then twitches and takes half step forward before deciding no. Lightening fast keeper may have been able to get there, but probably not
Can only see that being on Cech if he gave call to Mustafi before defender decided not to attack/defend it. Don’t think so.
Also just watched aftermath and normally placid Cech having a real go at Mustafi, who tries to argue but then seems to concede point.
Anyway, we can all agree it was not a good goal to concede.
One more watch and I’m now less sure. Mustafi’s decision Cech should come is made just at instant he sees Cech take the half step. Bad luck?
Still, though, that’s not enough unless there was a call. What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.
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