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 
Passenal
U r right. How cud we stop ox if his heart was at pool. It is a, foolish thought of mine. But JW has not shown any credentials to be a, first choice for the club since a long time now.
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Good news. Elneny card rescinded on appeal.
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Good grief Rich – extraordinary times
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That’s unbelievable we never win appeals maybe that wise old sage Andy is right after all and refs really are people too!
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Rosicky, while I totally agree about Jack’s first team credentials and this season he has infuriated me many times with his lack of tracking back or not releasing the ball earlier enough he still is potentially a top class player. On current form he isn’t worth a new contract but the difficulty is which Jack plays next year if it’s the one verses Barca then we need to keep him.
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TFL, Zelalam done his cruciate and is slowly making his way back from the injury.
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Ian ta for the update
It seems Reis Nelson has signed a new contract whoop whoop
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The Football Association has issued the following statement:
“Mohamed Elneny will be available for Arsenal’s next three games after an Independent Regulatory Commission accepted that he was wrongly dismissed for violent conduct against Southampton on Sunday, April 8, 2018.”
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/fa-statement-mohamed-elneny#5vXcvDLpQB2zueEG.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/fa-statement-mohamed-elneny#vehgRrfh7UOMzIFH.99
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HT: Arsenal u23’s 2-2 Villareal U23’s
John-Jules and a Gilmour penalty had given AFC a 2-0 lead but the spaniards hit back with 2 of their own, first from an awful mistake by Illiev and the second an own goal from mavrapanos.
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jeorge Bird
@jeorgebird
3m3 minutes ago
Mavropanos makes superb block to thwart Villarreal.
Looks like Mavropanos hurt himself in the process – he goes off injured and replaced by Olowu.
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Reiss Nelson: “It is a big achievement to sign for a big club like Arsenal so I’m just delighted with the contract and hopeful that I can sign it soon,” he told Standard Sport.
“Wenger is one of the biggest [influences] for me, he keeps pushing the youngsters — me, Eddie [Nketiah] and Joe [Willock] – I think he has got a bright future planned for us.
“We just have to keep training well and he is always going to push us and will give us first-team football when the opportunities arise.”
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From Aunty Bleeb:
‘Swashbuckling’ “Liverpool look like they have no idea how to approach this game…”
Crikey.
Has Herr Klopp given up on coaching Deeeeeefence?
Has this much admired coach forgotten what tactics are.
Has his laissez faire style of allowing his players to think of themselves as grown adults and not mules compromised their ability to form a coherent game plan? Does this style not work with the younger players in his squad (I’ll just ignore his history with Goetze etc.).
Any other methane filled balloons blowing in the wind that need popping?
Liverpool’ll probably hold on for a squeaky victory and be launded for having had a great plan.
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City coming close to scoring more goals.
You can spend all the money in the world but you’ll still miss your best players when they are out. Not sure why Young Pep was risking fatigue and niggles by playing Aguero who needs resting every now and then after City formerly pushed him back far too early from a previous hammy injury, by playing Aguero in a tiny cup final when he had this tie coming up! I am not impressed hehe ok ok I admit that I’d like to have seen Aguero on the bench in that final and I don’t think I’m the only Arsenal fan who felt that way!
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Fifa considering banning all player loans, this would be a massive blow to the likes of Chelsea who stockpile young player and for last few years have been loaning out in and around 40 players a season.
might also mean problems for young lads at the big clubs, needing experience to force their way into the team, but unable to get it by not being able to go on loan.
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Encouraging news from Nelson.
Encouraging performance from Iwobi reminiscent of the form and partnership he had previously struck up with Welbeck, playing at ten in the Nou Camp.
Almost as if an observer could tell that by letting players like Ox and Walcott go, by the ages of recent big signings (including the older PEA a perfect age to steward a few of the younger talents hoping to make a breakthrough like Eddy?).
whisper it cos you ain’t gonna hear it from the copious bloggers but this transitional squad looks like it is going through some kind of harebrained planned transition.
Blimey.
Find a good brain transplant surgeon (Steve Martin?) for Mustafi and we’re laughing!
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“Fifa considering banning all player loans”..
I wouldn’t have much of a problem with that..I think?
Lets get serious…
If after that they force UEFA to strictly enforce FFP I’d be over the moon.
Hope its not another “Skripal” though.
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“That Gabriel Jesus goal,” says Martin Rylance. “Has Harry Kane claimed it yet?”
hahaha..
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Jeorge Bird
@jeorgebird
33s33 seconds ago
Ft. Arsenal 2 Villarreal 2. Game goes to extra time. Arsenal have one more sub left, can Balogun be the hero again?
Attendance: 1561
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Jeorge Bird
@jeorgebird
3m3 minutes ago
Ht in extra time. Arsenal 2 Villarreal 2. Uneventful 15 minutes. Fortune looks rusty. Penalties seemingly looming.
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Roma 3-0 Barcelona
looks like a big upset on the cards
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Wow Roma what a come back
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Jeorge Bird
@jeorgebird
2m2 minutes ago
Ft. 2-2. Willock had penalty claim controversially turned down.
Penalties to follow – think it’s the first shootout at Emirates.
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Well, well, well…
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Champions of England Spain possibly Italy all out of champions league. This is Bayern’s to loose now.
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Not much happening tonight then…
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Honestly though…the thought of liverpool winning another one!
3rd favourites but they certainly have a real chance from here, especially if draw Roma in semis.
Please no
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The CL has been shite this season but the game in Rome was the bollocks – whoop whoop
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Villarreal score first penalty.
Gilmour scores. 1-1
Villarreal score. 2-1
Dasilva scores. 2-2.
Villarreal score. 3-2
Fortune scores his penalty. 3-3.
Iliev saves Villarreal’s fourth penalty. 3-3.
Willock scores. Arsenal lead 4-3.
Villarreal score. 4-4.
Medley scores. Arsenal through. 5-4
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Medley scores. Arsenal through to the final
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Great character shown by the youngsters tonight after going two up and getting pegged back then losing their best defender, they still battled through brilliant news especially as they had many players missing.
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The obvious observation is that Liverpool had the better finishes and I guess finishers in this tie. Sorry to be repetitive and to state the obvious again but Aguero a huge miss for City.
Looking forward to the future with Laca and Auba supported by Welbeck and others though Miki will be a big miss for this new Arsenal attack. The skill before the kick was positively Cazorlaesque.
Everyone would’ve enjoyed that Welbeck’s second goal against Southampton had not one but two deflections that led to the goal, the fist bouncing kindly into Welbeck’s path as he blasted his way past two or three players.
I’m looking forward to the game against CSKA and how the team get on after the loss of Miki (eg: Nelson getting his chance on the weekend?)
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Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties, after the game ended 2-2 and there was no more scores in extra time, and now face winner of Newcastle v Porto
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Funny funny old game.
City team who struggled badly at Anfield make Liverpool struggle even more for a half; unlucky not to get more than one, then game immediately feels different second half and sure enough Liverpool get their killer goal not long after.
I’m actually pleased ,and at least a little more sceptical about City taking any magic pills or suchlike, with the big energy drop 2nd half. Intensity of first looked truly unsustainable for 90 minutes and so it proved.
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One for Anicol (banned smiley) with the officials blowing that big decision tonight!
Gotta say though that Foy didn’t seem to have a clue at half time or even ten mins later when he tried again. And that was before he said ‘…stood have should. Sorry. Stood have should’ to erode the air of authority a little further.
———————————————
Pep has great form for blowing his top like that, but I wonder if it was injury time that pushed him over the edge.
Can anyone come up with a single reason why they would not add the minute or two there so blatantly was?
When a player has been down, with play stopped, for a good minute injured, and there was another 30 second job over a throw in, with players animatedly complaining, and ref gesticulating back with what can only be assurances it’ll be added on…
Not conspiracy stuff, I simply can’t think of a single reason they would knowingly and so blatantly not apply the rules.
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Great stuff from u23’s with so many missing.
If final falls on right date maybe they can have Nelson and Nketiah back and maybe even Smith-Rowe
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Couldn’t understand how or why a club with City’s resources let go a player like Dzeko, such players are so hard to replace!
Given Welbeck’s stature etc. he completes a versatile trio along with the other two senior strikers.
Not bad for a shambles.
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I was at the under 23’s game tonight and very enjoyable it was too. It was nice to see two footballing teams passing the ball well and not trying to stop each other with rotational fouling. I thought our young goalkeeper was doing well until the slip that let Villarreal in for the first goal. I liked that he was very vocal with his defenders and I was particularly pleased for him that he saved a penalty to help the team win in the end. I also thought Mavropanos played really well until the injury, and it was a shame that he scored the own goal for the second one for Villarreal. Hopefully it was not too serious and the win will cheer him up during his recovery.
I had hoped to escape the usual toxic BS that you get at first team games, but somehow I managed to sit next to a pair who were going over every game where they could have done better or the manager got his selection or tactics wrong. I lost the will to live when they started with the “Steve Bould is not allowed to coach the defenders” myth. do they not realise how insulting that is to a man of his stature? If he’s not coaching the defenders, do they really think he would be satisfied to just sit there twiddling his thumbs?
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Seems like City were on the wrong end of an offside decision this evening from some reports I have read.
If city matches against Arsenal in recent years are anything to go by, I don’t think Pep should be complaining too much on this issue.
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Passenal the defensive coach is Neil Banfield, and now Mad Jens is helping with it too, of course Bould and others do bits with them too. But as we know in the Arsenal fanbase the old adage that if you tell a lie often enough it becomes accepted as a truth. Sadly AFTV and many AFC blogs go out of their way to repeat lies, knowing full well they are lies.
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Poor Pep they say
Remember Arsenal, I say
Van Persie @ the Nou Camp, I say
3 La Liga teams somehow evaded playing against each other while the 2 English teams had to play each other. Luck of the draw they say
Welcome to Brexit Pep, I say..
Carles Puigdemont, I dare say.
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corr: Carles Puigdemont, you dare say?
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Everytime I hear and see Trump say ‘It’s a disgrace’ he reminds me of this guy, but way,way,less justification
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMyAh-8XtR8
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Arsenal held their final training session today before tomorrow’s Europa League quarter-final, second leg clash away to CSKA Moscow, with several youngsters in attendance.
Reiss Nelson, who made his first Premier League start last weekend, trained with the squad and travelled to Moscow along with goalkeeper Matt Macey.
Eddie Nketiah, Robbie Burton, Trae Coyle and Matt Smith also trained with the first-team.
As far as senior players are concerned, Granit Xhaka wasn’t involved in the session, while Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, David Ospina and Santi Cazorla remain injured. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang isn’t eligible to feature in the Europa League.
Defender Per Mertesacker, who hasn’t played since January, made the trip to Moscow.
On Wed, Apr 11, 2018, 4:59 PM Jeorge Bird:
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ha ha ha, FA have actually awarded the goal to Kane, they must not want to upset their England striker
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Eduardo there was a whole article written saying that by claiming the goal shows that Kane is simply demonstrating his world class tenancious qualities!
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xhaka out of the cska game, he has flu
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Not sure there’s a better encapsulation of Mark Hughes the manager than wasting his time moaning about Elneny’s red being overturned and Wilshere not being punished more, beyond what the rules permit.
His club are deep in the dangerous doo; our results between now and season’s end can only impact Saints if we play other relegation threatened teams, where our winning could help Southampton.
If it was for a dangerous foul, it would make sense. But no one in their right mind could say it was dangerous.
You wouldn’t think he or Saints would want to waste the minutest portion of energy on anything which doesn’t concern their fight to survive.
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Not pleased to hear Xhaka’s out. Reached the stage where team doesn’t look quite right to me without his presence.
Likely Jack, Ramsey, Elneny, then. With Ozil and… probably Welbeck over Iwobi?
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Watching Bayern – a club with exceptionally talented players, Rich, trophy after trophy, huge record of success – every box ticked
And yet they cheat and cheat and cheat – every chance, every opportunity, dive, try to get the opposition booked, every throw in they will claim despite the player KNOWING it came off him.
Professional football ? Fucking sickening
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