Good Evening Positive AFC fans,
The first game of the 2018/2019 season under the belt, so to speak, and I feel a lot better with that opening obstacle concluded. A real thumping would have cast a pall over my week and I could not have that. Not the result we hoped for but a team performance that I thought was good overall.
Of the parts that impressed me most our teenage debutante Guendouzi stood out, and he earns his first MoTM award. Matteo was able to cope with the physical demands of the game, tackle cleanly, and showed himself able to control the ball with no time or space. There was some pre-match discussion on SKY about the speed/pace of the English PL game troubling foreign players. He had no obvious problem I saw. For the young Frenchman to put in the full 94 minutes with no obvious slacking toward the end also suggests good stamina. Lichtsteiner’s introduction at left back, although the circumstances of it were unfortunate, showed us what the highly experienced Swiss can do. He reads the game well and has that edge of cunning that we need in a cruel, cruel football world. In Michel Oliver’s face, pointing, shouting, even tearing a strip off Mesut at one point. On another day his goading of Aymeric would have seen the opponent on his way back to the dressing room with a red card for his cranial lunge. I like him.
I thought Petr pulled off a string of good saves today, and for a period in the First Half kept us in the game.. The notion that he should have done better on the Sterling goal is bollocks. The kicking out or passing out from the back though between Cech/Matteo/Sokratis/Skhodran ? THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES!! Sort it out Mr Emery.
Of things we could have done better ? We created a number of half chances and potentially useful positions on the Citeh final third that we did not exploit. We looked rusty. At the key moment the pass to an Arsenal attacker went astray, too long, too short, Auba went left as the ball went right et cetera.At 0-1 we all know a goal for us would have left Pep’s boys reeling. Against good teams like Citeh we can expect only limited possessions around the opposition box and I felt today it was not used as it could/should have been. Scoring goals eh ? That is a thing.
I would also like to see more of Mkhi on the ball and challenging in midfield and that it was Aaron who got the hook first and the Armenian playing the full match was a surprise. He did OK but in the first 35 minutes he did not provide AMN with enough support. He worked better with Hector after the changeover but even then he had a air of Theo at times, always available but never involved.
Onwards to the Bridge next week to meet the currently table-topping Chelsea. Probably a busy week at Colney, identifying the parts of the machine that need to be sharpened, tightened and oiled.
Enjoy your week.
Positively Arsenal 
Rich at 10.26 am:
“Just remembered I was 14 last time there was a process of new manager in charge, so in a way, given my memory and whatnot, it’s a bit like watching it for the first time.”
I had a quiet laugh as read time. But just because I thought you to be 10-15 years older and here we are the same age. Lol. This definitely been a first managerial change for me just like with you.
I think Unai have so many quality attacking players that he doesn’t yet know where to fit all in, or whether to be 433 or 4231. He would’ve worked out his formula by end of this month though.
Fkn Sam’s comments right? The nerve!
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Shotts and Andy,
Actually (As in most debates) there’s been a little miscommunication. Firstly it was Layksite who first attributed the non use of VAR to England rather than the chairman from around the world who voted on it. I don’t think there was any intent at a nationality thing more as a location as it is called the English PL, maybe it was a poor choice of words I don’t know.
While I disagree with Andy’s defence of refs (and he knows that) I get where he’s coming from and sometimes use him as a restraint when I’m particularly angry at refs.
Now that we have less wobs to attack it is important on here we keep the disagreements civil and certainly not go into silent protest to make our points.
I think your both wrong and should have your heads banged together until you verbally shake hands (in writing of course)
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Extends hand …..
I don’t want to spend my entire f……. life arguing (believe it or not). We have much to look forward to in the new season, wherever we end up, and I intend to enjoy it.
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Put up your dukes, come on, I’ll marmalise you, put ’em up !
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Of course VAR has only been delayed (by PL clubs vote), and will be in use this season during domestic cup matches. I think the main issue has been communication, with the fans not knowing what’s going on. Best to get these little problems sorted, we’ve been without it since the beginning of time, so a little longer won’t make a lot of difference.
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ACL Soccer
@ACL_Soccer
14m14 minutes ago
Joel Campbell has been omitted from #AFC’s Premier League squad
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LaboGoon
It’s been a hard life!
As it happens, I’ve read back my stuff many times and thought ‘jeez, that doesn’t sound like my conversation voice at all’
Not read Big Sam’s comments and think I’ll give them a miss but I can guess from little I’ve heard what they’ll be like. Crap.
He’s had two big opportunities, at Newcastle and particularly Everton to see if he can operate at a slightly higher level, with more dough, and he’s flunked both completely.
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Eduardo
You mentioned yesterday or day before not much coverage at all of academy this summer- no highlights yet of weekend action.
Normally go up on the monday. Hopefully they will later. Would be a real shame to lose that. I look forward to it a lot.
Just the 17 goals, in 2 games, to catch up on!
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Arsenal covered 118kms yesterday against City, more than any other side in the PL this week
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yeah Rich, still a complete blackout of all things academy on Arsenal.com, hopefully they will soon put up some footage, but they done none for any of the friendlies this summer, have not done an article on the new intake of scholars, little from per or freddie either.
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Didn’t notice it in game so don’t know if pic is misleading but could well be Spurs first let-off of season already. So many over recent years.
If it was a proper stamp, in so far as Song’s those years back at Newc was considered a stamp, i.e low force but definitely a choice to step on someone… what can you say about Atkinson claiming to have seen it but decided nowt in it…
Such a crap rule that one. Wouldn’t mind knowing if other leagues are same, or if they put consistency ahead of the dreaded ‘re-reffereeing’ of incidents.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6055187/Tottenham-star-Moussa-Sissoko-avoids-FA-charge-Kenedy-stamp.html
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Chelsea v Arsenal
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistants: Lee Betts, Stephen Child
Fourth official: Jonathan Moss
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Swiftly withdraws his hand
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Rich 4:15pm
That Sissoko stamp on Kenedy immediately looked bad and would’ve been a 3 match ban had the ref not seen it. Indicating how deeply flawed this system is if players can escape retrospective punishment just because the onfield refs “saw” it.
While the FA’s reasoning make somewhat sense that it was spotted by the and dealt with using his prerogative, it still leaves the door open for refs to undermine the rules by dealing with incidents as they see fit. And getting away with such violent conduct by using a ‘loophole’ in the system makes certain things a joke.
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I am afraid the door remains wide open anyway Labo – having watched the Jagielka sending off from three angles and eight times I am still not sure Pawson got it right – or it was even a foul – and then of course there was the decision in the World Cup final ….
Shudders
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At least Jakielka still has the option to appeal the prerogative of the onfield ref’s decision, Sissoko has been “dealt with” the prerogative of the onfield ref’s decision.
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There is definitely something wrong with me. I’m feeling rather positive after yesterday’s performance. I think we are going to get a lot better….
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Pull yourself together GP
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I am just catching up with posts since my last. I note Seebs concern about avoiding divisions in the fanbase especially on this board. That by the way is why I initially refrained from publicly stating my objections to Andy’s use of nationalism to defend the pristine valor of the PGMOL referees. If it was confined to twitter I would never have mentioned it. After all there are several things I post on twitter which I never post here because they are divisive.
But I always felt we were free to discuss footballing matters on this board even though we do not always agree. Many of us frequently use the “Like” button to show their support of a certain pov but rarely until recently has anyone had their views disparaged especially on the grounds it is an affront to England and English football. In fact I found my English cohorts the biggest critic of the FA and the English set up. So why should anyone from America, Jamaica, Ireland, India, Malaysia, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Russia (those are the nationalities I know of on this board) feel intimidated and afraid to make a criticism of the PGMOL when as referees they are the ones making biased, incompetent decisions against Arsenal football Club. According to one recent study involving an analysis by former PGMOL referee Peter Walton in 17-18 Arsenal was the second most unluckiest club in the PL. You could knock me down with a feather.
Next to the financial handicap, the PGMOL is, in my opinion, the biggest obstacle to Arsenal getting a better rub of the green in the PL. They have shown no public interest in incorporating technology to improve their decision-making. I am not alone in this view. It is that of Wenger, Ferguson and to a certain extent the opinion of Mark Halsey in his tell-all book “Added Time” (hat tip to Rich). If we are not free to criticize the PGMOL and demand improvements in officiating then what is the point of this blog.
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I’m pleased we have buried the hatchet – clearly we shall never agree on referees but hey ho.
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So here we are first game of the season and it pretty much went as we expected. It will take time for the team to come to terms with Wenger’s departure and get used to Unai.
The biggest hurdle we need to overcome is self belief. The talent is there and we do have a quality attacking side. I dont expect a result at Stanford bridge next week as even if we play well I think fortune will conspire against us. It looks to me that this team will need get worked up and with backs to the wall after the city defeat and a tough game away we should see the players responding.
There is work to be done defensively as well as the way we conceded against city showed. I am not too concerned about lack of pace at the back as long as we play a sensible balanced defensive line.
What worries me are the early injuries. This could seriously derail us.
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Stick the ball in the goal thing TFL on Saturday and even fortune will find it difficult to fuck us over
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Seems Tottenham had a very lucky day all round Rich
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Safety issues Mandy – Wembley rubbing their hands
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I bet! Doesn’t look great on Spurs though!
As for our players injuries, they are bound to happen, for the first time . They are doing double training sessions, or so some would have us believe in their attempts to discredit wenger
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Boy, the more you listen to the experts the more you realize you don’t automatically know football because you were a good or even a great footballer. The idea that there was a gulf between City and Arsenal is laughable. We were a final ball away from giving City nothing but trouble, we actually troubled them despite missing that final ball.
I’m with George, I’m feeling rather good. There was a whole lot of good yesterday, the team was impressive, especially in the 2nd half.
The biggest joke is people put it all down to coaching, when one team spend at will. Great manager my foot.
Yeh…and Ian Wright needs a kick up the backside! As my people would say -“ Yu chat tu much!”
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Amazing we covered all that ground without the front three as wright said they didn’t move and were lazy.
GP, I also think we will improve and thought we could even have won at the weekend, that was why I was so disappointed, if city had played us off the park you could of said oh well we lost to a better side but on Sunday I just didn’t think they were and in large parts were there for the taking.
I wonder how much this latest delay is costing a spud bank account already brassic.
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Tony Adams, wore the shirt with pride, and considerable success. Did some great work off the pitch , helping players. And then became a complete and utter tool .
He, of all people should know you should not make premature judgements on players, or for that matter the manager, though I concede , nobody knows more about management than he does.
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I am a Positivista after all….
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I think Adrian Clarke agrees with me….(banned smiley thing)
The final word on Unai Emery’s first game: https://player.arsenal.com/video/final-word-unai-emerys-first-game
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Anyone on here can say what they want, as long as it’s not nasty. We must remember we are all friends.
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Jagielka challenge was a ‘Tripple’ Red Card
That was a full body out fo control challenge
Where Jagielka body weight is x speed x gravity on less than an inch square on a fellow professional players ankle
That is the challenge that finished Edu and Diaby
Probably hampered Ramseys career
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Fuck “I got the ball”
or I touched the ball
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Any update on Maitland-Niles?
I couldn’t even tell what had happened at full speed, even with a replay. Suspect Walker let himself fall with aim of a freekick, though some players will take any opportunity to crash into an opponent awkwardly, after a good battle between the two, and landed on some part of ainsley when he wasn’t expecting it.
Seemed to be touching around the shin- wild be better than knee presumably- area afterwards
Hope not a bad one.
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Silence on AMN yesterday Rich but that may be to allow the injury to be assessed and swelling to go down etc. There was a petulant flick at the end of the tussle between Walker and AMN but I doubt it was the cause of his injury which seemed to be a twisted knee. I was pleased to see the youngster muscling out Walker so he was unlucky.
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Agree with you as well GP. We should have had a penalty, which may well have been given under VAR, Lacca could have scored on another day.
Yes, mistakes were made, more could be made at Chelsea, but UE has clearly set out the way he wants to play, which is not the easiest quick fix brand of football but one which will pay dividends over time, yes, time, that precious thing that was mostly afforded the likes of Pep and Klopp.
The players will adapt to UEs methods, those that cannot or will not I suspect will pay a price, but despite reports to the contrary, I didnt see any lack of effort, just a little confusion, unfamiliarity up against a team that breaks records in points, and spending. I reckon Arteta may have also played a part in our downfall, a smart , astute man, some would say, now with an axe to grind against AFC, whether true or not.
I know someone who regularly makes money from a system of betting on football, he has a few rules, one of them, he doesnt bet on our league before the start of November when he believes things just start to settle
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I think Tony Adams piping up so soon suggests that he never had a particular agenda against AW; rather it tells us that he wants the job, which makes me feel a bit sad. It sounds silly but there might be a bit of that behind Allardyce’s comments too, although he’ll also have it in for Emery just for being foreign.
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anicol
Heard someone else mention flick/kick out but I struggled to see what happened myself.
If Walker did make contact I’m pretty sure it would have had direct impact on the injury. Both were running flat out and I expect there’d been a bit of contact along way and Ainsley was trying to slow down and regain balance, so any more unexpected contact could cause a problem.
Demba Ba’s horrible injury a good example of that- jostled off balance in a sprint, lands on one foot, twisted, with lot of force going forward, just before he can move to right himself a kick to calf and…phhh.
Anyway, hope it’s not serious. Hate injuries at all times but when someone hasn’t yet fully established themselves might be worse of all. Kolasinac timing was a sickener. Nowt to do but wait.
As with Rose, a spud being involved in incident would rankle a bit more
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Reports Usmanov ready to invest in Everton, if so,that will make at least 5 we will not be able to compete with financially, let alone strange things happening at newly promoted clubs spending a fortune
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Thats assuming he is not already investing in Everton of course
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Walker always been a nasty snide piece of work. Sneaky nasty ones, feigning injury, diving, he has the lot. Would not surprise me if deliberate.
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from the short fuse
Arsenal Supporters’ Trust to reject Stan Kroenke’s purchase offer
7 comments
It’s their last stand, and it won’t matter in the least.
By pdb@misterpdb Aug 14, 2018, 11:33am EDT
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Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images for ICC
Last week, Alisher Usmanov agreed to sell his stake in Arsenal to Stan Kroenke, making him the single largest shareholder in the club, owning 97% of all outstanding shares. Under British securities law, Kroenke is now permitted to execute a mandatory purchase of all outstanding shares, which will, of course, give him 100% of the club, and allow him to take it private.
A lot of people fear what this means for the club, but that’s a topic for another day. Today, I’d like to talk about the 3% of outstanding shares, who owns them, and what it means. There may still be some single shares in some individual hands, but most of that 3% ownership is in the hands of the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, the official supporters trust of Arsenal. In the words of Supporters Direct, the umbrella group that acts as the administration for all ST’s, a supporters trust is a group, recognized by the club its supporters back, that works “to help supporters gain influence in the running and ownership of their club”.
The one notable thing that the AST has done in its existence was pretty notable indeed. Arsenal shares typically traded in the £32-35,000 range, so the AST, with the backing of Ivan Gazidis, created a Fan Share scheme in 2010, which enabled us proles to buy fractions of shares in the club, which carried all the rights and privileges that full shareholders enjoyed for as little as a £100 investment. The idea was you’d invest that money regularly, building up your fraction, until ultimately you owned a full share in the club.
The main benefit of this scheme, of course, was that more people would have access to Arsenal’s annual general meeting, and at that meeting, would be able to voice their concerns over the state and direction of the club. The scheme proved popular, but not so much that it still exists; it was wound down in February 2015, with no further investment allowed at that point but with fans still in possession of their fractional shares.
Other than that, the AST doesn’t appear, from the outside, to do much. They’re active on social media, and they have done a good job of reporting what happens at every AGM, but beyond that, they seem to stand for something that doesn’t exist – namely, the concept of billion-dollar business as community trust which needs to be responsive to its community first and its business imperatives second.
That’s a nice, romantic ideal, and sure, it’d be nice if Arsenal asked me what I thought about signings and formations and whatnot, but they don’t, because you know what? I’m nobody. Even when I band together with 20 of my friends and watch a game together at a bar, we’re nobody distinct; we’re part of that group known as “fans”, and we’re basically background noise to the club.
I don’t say that disparagingly; at the most elite level, sports is very much a one-way relationship. I know the deal, and I’m OK with it. If I want community engagement, I’ll follow a small local club – hell, even the Timbers, at the top level of the sport in the US, shop at the same grocery store as me and eat at the same restaurants occasionally (Hi Zarek!). But when I lived in Seattle, I never expected to see Ken Griffey Jr at my neighborhood teriyaki place, because that’s not how super-rich athletes live.
The AST, though, think for some reason that Arsenal should be running itself like it were the 1950’s again, and that Arsenal need to take the input of the fans into account when they do their business. In case you didn’t pick up on this earlier, I can’t disagree with that sentiment strongly enough.
That’s kinda the role AST sees itself in – the guardian of a tradition of supporter involvement in the running of the club that has arguably never existed in the past, at least in the way they’re imagining it, that they want to see continue into the future.
I mean, put that “we demand input and say” thought into literally any other context and it’s utterly ludicrous, right? Imagine going to your doctor, getting a diagnosis, and then demanding that your doc take your alternative diagnosis, one that you figured out from watching a shit-ton of Chicago Hope and a few episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, under advisement as the way forward instead, because you’ve seen it before, and because the course of treatment you saw worked out on TV.
It’s in that spirit that the AST today has announced they’re exploring legal options to resist or decline Kroenke’s compulsory purchase order, because apparently the word “compulsory” didn’t register when they read the letter they got from Stan’s people. The trust themselves admit that it’s a “futile last stand”, but they’re hoping to force KSE to hold one last AGM before going fully private.
Which, yay? I guess? I have no idea what that last AGM would accomplish – it’s clear that Kroenke doesn’t want the input of, well, anyone any more, which is why he’s taking the club private. So even if the AST succeeds, they’re basically doing this for themselves – they want to be the person at the city council meeting who steps up for their three minutes of free speech and rants about how the Illuminati are fluoridating the water supply in order to achieve mind control and pave the way for the black helicopters.
There’s something to be said for accepting defeat with dignity, and AST are basically doing the exact opposite of that. I get that there’s reservations about Kroenke as sole owner, and I get that a lack of visibility is a step back for the club (even if that “visibility” wasn’t really all that great in the first place).
What I don’t get is how the AST pitching a fit now helps any of that. All it’s doing is making them look like cranky toddlers.
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i’m sorry for my choice of word on the VAR thing especilly to my friend A5. But i find it rather hard to divorce the successes and failures of the PL and pgmol from the country. but all the same i appologise.
the fact is there would have been no way a dark horse like croatia would have made the final of he world cup if VAR had not been given a chance. and i expect everyone who wanted the corruption in this present system to continue to do all they can to discredit the VAR as too slow, takes the passion away, the human part is taken away, etc. i also expect evry arsenal fan to line up behind the use of VAR conidering the open hatred and bias of the pgmol against our club.
if we consider the way pundits in england (there i mention it again) criticise every error however minor, noticed last season when VAR was being tested, you will realise they do not want the system to succeed.
let me also add that VAR wont solve all the corruption in football expecially when the rules are not clear and simple but it is a step in the right direction. and like wenger said, we are a decade late in the use of VAR.
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markyb
August 14, 2018 at 3:50 pm
Walker is an ex-spud, their manager proudly boasts of how he coaches them in the dark arts. We’ve seen them get away with it time after time, even when they move on from that club so it’s no surprise at all.
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That is a good piece on AST – I have never warmed to them. One minor point though when Stan bought his majority stake in 2011 the club were worth about £750 million. The Club is now worth £1.9 billion. A share has therefore increased in value massively over that period for those lucky enough to hold a certificate. I am sure the few actual fans among the 3% will get over it.
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but anicol money can’t buy tim payton his 15 minutes of fame, or give him, just like fellow dickhead, piers morgan, the chance to claim to be a better level of supporter cos they own shares in the club.
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I do laugh when I see members of the AST claim that they are just ordinary working class people, who barely can afford to buy a ticket for games, but somehow can afford to sit on a share that would give them around £30K, or to put it another way, a share that would buy them 30 years of season tickets.
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Joel Campbell set to sign for Italian side Frosinone
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seemingly AFC failed to sell out their allocation for the CFC game and have returned tickets to CFC.
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Goals galore,folks. Smith-Rowe and Amaechi looking good.
Pretty evident youth team instructed to play from back more than previously (they did quite a lot anyway) and in same manner as first team
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2018/august/man-city-eds-v-arsenal-match-highlights
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