Good afternoon Positives,
A disappointing way for our 22 game run to end. On a horrible, wet afternoon on the South coast, we were knocked about and put out of our stride by the home side who set out to do exactly that. Nevertheless for long periods of the second half the game was in our grasp. The points were ours for the taking. Then Bernd, who moments before had pulled off a ‘worldie’ from a bullet Yoshida header, forgot where he was, flapped a hand out into space, and Austin buried the header.
It was as long ago as the 18th August since you and I last supped at the well of footballing misery. To go down to a late home winner, against the run of play, and the result of a goalkeeping error is just about the 1-2-3 of footballing misfortune. But there you go, the run had to end one day.
Of the game itself ? We made a number of errors that were punished and our usual ability to drag ourselves back into the game deserted us in the final ten minutes. As I say it was a contest we wee shading until calamity struck so the Saints can take some pleasure in their fighting performance and three badly needed points.
For us we saw Kosc and Nacho return after injury. The Spaniard looked fine. The club captain looked like a man playing his first game for eight months. We had no real alternatives to putting Kosc in. He did his best.
Guendouzi and Torreira I think put in their usual hard work. Two goals for Mkhi, the first a cleverly directed header, will have cheered up the Armenian after a couple of frustrating starts. Laca and PEA put us up two gears after half time and while both had additional chances to kill off the home side I thought both did well.
For Emery the game will have been a useful experience. Our coach will have a chance, over the next few days, to look at what went wrong and what went right. With no unbeaten record to confuse matters he can sort though his options.
Totties up next, and before that perhaps a little ritual humiliation on Merseyside for the Special One.
Positively Arsenal 
since we last tasted defeat we have seen it followed with 7 league wins in a row, which in turn has seen only 3 wins in next 8, and four draws, we really need to get another run of 7 league wins in a row if we are to keep pace with the leading teams, another run of 13pts from next 8 games will see us drop way off the pace for even a top 4 finish.
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Nuts whole hazelnuts…..
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Work to do then eddy – I’d say within these various sequences over the 22 though we have had wins that could have been draws and vice versa. We have ridden our luck and got some good breaks. Today was bound to happen. What however is v important is what happens next and how the players, individually and collectively, respond. The leaders need to stand up. For Emery he needs to, and I am sure he knows, sort out the ridiculous ‘first half’ situation whereby we go into every second half without a single game under control. Wtf is going on ?
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Feel I should behave and just move on from that one without much moaning, given wretched misfortune of three current 1st choice co’s out, plus Kola, and two right backs going off injured.
That’s what I should do.
But, ah, catharsis of the moan is too strong for me.
The unanswerable question is how much of what feels to me excessive defensive vulnerability relative to rivals is, pure and simple, a product of…how much I don’t want us to concede, plus some sort of faint-heartedness- or negativity at least- on my part.
I really can’t tell. Know those things are a factor, know we’re definitely not the best around defensively, in part because of our attacking approach, but also just feel this horrible vulnerability exists with us. Little build up, so to speak, doing ok, and then in a flash teams in at the heart of us for what seem such simple goals.
So there, probably shouldn’t have but i had me moan
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Aggression definitely up against us by the way, and officials seemingly unable to counteract it at all.
Don’t know about Bellerin, but that’s two defenders done by forward challenges in ten days (3 if Hector was caused by opponent).
Normally there’s an asymmetry where defenders much more likely to hurt attackers than vice versa but that can change depending on how much defenders play ball and how primed attackers are to press and leave foot in.
Anyway, it’s unsustainable to be getting injured by opponents at that rate, is almost certainly a result of there increased aggression of recent weeks and, alas, won’t stop soon unless there’s an unignorably bad one as a result of very serious foul play.
Hopefully Licht not a bad one but his leg looked properly trapped with force going through knee.
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well anicol the 7 game winning run was
west ham 3-1
cardiff 3-2
newcastle 2-1
everton 2-0
watford 2-0
fulham 5-1
leicester 3-1
6 goals conceded, two clean sheets
the 8 games since
crystal palace 2-2
liverpool 1-1
wolves 1-1
bournemouth 2-1
spurs 4-2
man utd 2-2
huddersfield 1-0
southampton 2-3
12 goals conceded, one clean sheet
we have 3 clean sheets in our 17 games, and think that suggests where the problem lies, we have failed to score in only one of the 17
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Not only the officials Rich, we don’t seem to be able to anything about getting knocked about ourselves at all.
Are we the only ream who gets the physical treatment ?
For example today – Danny Ings – player who in recent years has had two very serious knee injuries, one each knee. WTF was Ings not writhing on the ground clutching his knee at any point today ?
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maybe anicil cos our players know we get yellow cards for the least number of fouls, and are afraid to see more suspensions and sending offs
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“we have 3 clean sheets in our 17 games, and think that suggests where the problem lies, we have failed to score in only one of the 17”
It might
On the other hand if we had scored the same 20 goals we did in our opening 7 games in our most recent sequence, rather than the 15 we actually did score, then we would be 6-7 more points and easily back in the Top Four.
So it may not be quite so easy to know where the problem lies.
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Pfft – why was Mustafi missing today ?
Diving
Why are we worried about Torreira and his next booking ?
He took his shirt off.
It is a great pity if our players intend to get a yellow card it is not for kicking the shit out of an opponent. Today that could have been Ings.
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“Was you watching the same game”
No.
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anicoll
That’s the interesting question. Think the vast majority of football people will end up opting to fight fire with fire on that front.
If we do so, it will likely be through the type of players we bring in from hereon in.
I figure the signings this summer point to a change of approach- 4 of the 5 all tenacious types who might not need much encouragement to bring a cynical edge.
I know you won’t agree but believe reffing of us makes it so much harder to go down that route.
I can’t imagine anything more bewildering or difficult for a player than feeling unprotected and as though opposition permitted a huge amount of fair and foul aggression while you tend to get dealt with more harshly for fouls.
Xhaka the ultimate example. He absolutely had to change approach and not dare make an amber challenge. Someone like Rojo meanwhile. Probably foul stone cold reds for dangerous fouls he has got away with.
We’ll see. So far not seen any criticism from Emery of refs nor of excessive aggression. What he really feels or what ideas he has to try combat it, who knows. Time, and maybe especially who we bring in next couple of years, will tell.
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My impression of Litchsteiner at Juventus was that he was more cunning and deadly than a basketful of spitting cobras. I had hoped to see just a little more of that infused into our approach.
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Thanks anicoll5, not a pleasant task, and quite rightly you didnt have a kip on it.
F*ck it. We lost. Hands up who had it in the back of their minds?Team selection didnt work, the Sotonists put their spell on us, has often been a cauldron of a bogey ground,and Christmas pasts have yielded similar presents.Even the Dell was a tough place. I expect us to thrash them at our backyard in Feb though.
Wreck- it Ralph has his moment. Enjoy the Championship later.
Mikster was back on form, and the scapegoat baton went to somebody( I havent checked AFTV media, nor will, I but Im sure the forked tongues are out already), I stand by Leno though, he might not have much of an understanding with Kos yet? We might have grabbed the game, but they did. Would Ramsey have been a better impact player in this one? Who knows? F*ck it. Better to forget it? Dwelling on this one will hatch a bad egg, and now we face the creatures from the Coop again, and as we know they are. Got to get up and on one. We can do it.
A few days to lick our wounds( the mind boggles on that one) and time to gun down the pullet.
Thanks again.
May the force please be with us.
COYG!
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Bellerin to be out for “some weeks”
What’s the latest news on Hector Bellerin’s fitness?
Our right back limped off at the end of the first half in our 3-2 defeat to Southampton on Sunday and Unai Emery provided an update to the media.
“We are going to wait tomorrow and Tuesday, and Wednesday we are going play, and then Saturday also,” our head coach said.
“We need every player. Bellerin has a small injury – he is going to be some weeks off I think.
“Sokratis is coming back and we will see how Mustafi and Kolasinac are, and it is good news Koscielny can be with us for the next matches. It is not a good result but it was important for us [to have them back].”
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.
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It really irks that Unai don’t have a go at refs when we’ve seen few others not holding back anything in their criticism. It comes off as we are accepting of this indifferent treatment which in turn have the likes of José hv to gall to state publicly they want their players all over ours like a pack of wild dogs.
To the post: Agree with A5, this result has been in the making with our inexplicable first half performances. One can’t quite put a finger on it but usually plan A doesn’t quite come off in first halves, then we start second halves on the back foot and are forced to throw anything at the opposition which has been our saving grace. When players are a bit tired, be it because of congested fixtures or not yet at full match fitness after long lay offs, it become a real battle.
Probably right result at the moment for Emery to have a rethink as A5 said. Agree with other posters on previous thread that Iwobi and Mkhi aren’t exactly pulling up trees to make Ramsey nothing more than a bit part player. If Ramsey’s talents will be with us till end of the season we would be better off making use of it.
We roll on.
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Well, my non-bet bet utd would get a red at Anfield not looking good at all.
Cut way down on the filth from when we played them.
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Liverpool ahead on a deflection off Young, and now 3-1 up with a deflection off Bailly.
A penny for your thoughts José ?
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Annoying, frustrating, and just a little wasteful.
Root causes might include, as mentioned, our slow starts, and some very rusty and out of position defenders, that and an unfortunate keeper error.
These things happen, but unfortunately, they happen less to our rivals who tend to have more stable setups especially in defence compared to what we had today, and they also tend to give away less goals than us.
Their unpunished fouling is annoying, think we missed the guile of someone like Sokratis there, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we soon add some nasty grizzled veteran during Jan, our defenders are dropping at a rate, not helped by refs letting repeated fouls go unpunished , at least in the first half. This is so frequent, it can only come from above.
I also feel immense frustration at seeing Rambo on the bench in a game likely made for him. I hope his situation is resolved soon one way or another, he is being wasted , our MF was not great today, a player like that could have made a serious difference. I don’t understand why he is not being picked unless he is off for a fee or swap in Jan.
All things come to an end, but please Unai, stop this decade or longer habit of being undone by the likes of Charlie Austin, Shane Long, and any other number of cloggers. I dont have the stats to hand, but I doubt these players get the same joy against other top four rivals, except maybe Utd on a bad day, indeed, I doubt if these journeymen even play that much, if other teams can stop the force of nature that is Charlie Fuckin Austin, so should we. These players have done us serious damage , especially in the last couple of years. Food for thought after a very decent run and good start Mr Emery!
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Labo, if the club believe we are not on a level playing field with referees and fouling, I would say the likes of Raul S should be having a word, never mind Emery.
As someone who believed Wenger got far from the rub of the green from issues that went back to Fergies influence on refs and others during their intense rivalry, always frustrated me that Ivan Gazidis, who sat on every committee going, appeared at least to just go along with it, leaving Wenger to take the flak. But guess that’s what good politicians do, or is that unfair?
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Looks like Mou is the real Specialist in Failure?
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utd now 11pts off 4th placed cfc, that means they will have to get 4 wins more than cfc over the course of the next 21 games.
we really missed a trick today, a win would have seen us open up an 11pt gap on utd too.
on our CB situation, we are being heavily linked with Gary Cahill, maybe even on a loan, not sure I see any legs in that one.
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I’m quite glad the unbeaten run is over as it was almost beginning to get in the way. I also hope we sell Ozil and Ramsey in January as there is fuck all point having two great players on the bench when their places on the pitch are occupied by those not fit to tie their boots. A policy which is on a par with the UK’s decision to leave the EU as an act of monstrous and incomprehensible self-harm.
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Emery when asked if Arsenal may need to invest in new defenders in the January transfer window, said: “I don’t know now because we don’t have a lot of possibilities in January. Maybe we can think of something to sign to help us, but only if we think the other players can’t help us with their performance. The club is working for this transfer in January. But we are in our way, our progress with young players and we are giving them chances.
“It’s not easy. I don’t believe a lot in this transfer window because it’s not a very big possibility with the players. The club is working only if some player can help us with a high level or [can be] better [than we have] within.”
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foreverheady I sort of agree about the unbeaten run, its only in the cups that you have to remain unbeaten, in the league its about pts, over the last 8 games we have drawn 4, we’d be better off winning two of them and losing two of them, its why I would always advocate taking the risk of going for the win.
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so guys should we be going full strength v spurs on wednesday or full on rotation
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Eddy, we can play our best players as they don’t seem to play in the PL.
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The rate we are losing players, I would play the under 18s against Spurs, but expecting a strongish side, with hopefully Ramsey and Ozil amongst others
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oddly enough george that was in my thoughts too when I posted the comment, Ozil, Ramsey, Lacazette can all start, Sokratis too and if fit Kolasinac and Mustafi, that is half a team
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Cech needs a game – I’d expect Eddie Nketiah to start with Laca.
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OptaJoe
Verified account @OptaJoe
2h2 hours ago
26 – Manchester United have picked up 26 points after their first 17 Premier League games; their worst points haul in the top-flight at this stage since 1990-91 (also 26 points). Dip.
Man Utd have conceded 29 goals in 17 BPL games this season, they conceded 28 in total last season
Mourinho: “Players make teams play a certain way. In inter, I had Lucio, Córdoba, Samuel, Materazzi … you play 5 hours and don’t concede. I cannot change the qualities of the Man Utd players.”
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is it true that LFC had 36 shots at goal today and utd had 6
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In that 22 game unbeaten run it was never really about clean sheets but outscoring the other sides, mainly in the second half. We have had some lucky victories in that time especially early on so actually the luck today maybe was due.
The performance today was good, we created chances we didnt give them many oppertunities and we battled well all over the pitch even though the ref again looked like he had forgotten his cards.
Football is all about partnerships whether is full backs and wide midfielders, attacking partnerships or indeed the gollden triangle of CB’s and keeper. Today the triangle failed and made three dispicaple errors at key times in the game which finally made our unbeaten plane disapear. With five CB’s out Unai didnt take his own advice and play players who have always played that position and the unfamilerarity spread uncertainess to allpoints of the threesome. Would Xhaka have played better next to two CBs who had been playing next to each other for a few months? Probably and that goes for Kos and Stephan as well. Had the first two cock ups not happened would Leno come for that third one Probably not. Knowing the triangle problem I’m sure the team were told to stop crosses and accept corners and throws especially after the first goal but hey as Arsene would say goals are usually conceeded by several errors not just one.
The positive is these errors can be cut out, our CBs will come back,the boss will get better, Leno will get more confident and commanding and Auba will up his conversion rate. Also the spuds cant end our unbeaten run and beat them on Wednesday and we can roll onto the next few games in super positive mood.
People who commentate on the result and not the game will say we played badly but actually there wasnt a great deal wrong and we still have a very good squad.
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Jebus its happened agin
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George/Andy my fist comment seems to get lost everytime its a bit weird
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Yes Ian, It is, it goes into Spam.
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I see Henry is still finding it more difficult to manage in real life than to talk about it on a studio panel for sky
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Ramsey, yes, but don’t think today a good day to be angry about Ozil not starting.
To me it is a genuinely close and tricky call over starting him in very physical away games with prem refs (Europe another matter).
The case for is the skill, the wonderful skill, the technique, vision, the final pass, the moments of genius, the magisterial ability if we have a team on the rack.
Against includes moments like that fateful decision to dummy it in bad spot today when it never even looked on. I think that was done because he is extremely wary of getting clattered from behind.
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Unai Emery was in philosophical mood after our unbeaten run came to an end with a 3-2 defeat at Southampton on Sunday.
Afterwards our head coach faced the media and discussed the performance, Hector Bellerin’s fitness and more.
Read on for a full transcript:
on the unbeaten run coming to an end…
We could lose and we lost. In the 90 minutes we had different issues in the first and the second half. In the second half we were better with control in the game and creating more chances than them, controlling the transitions. But with a very small action they scored the goal. Also they deserve it. They played with very big motivation, with the supporters pushing. Our game today was very similar to how we have played before, but the result is different.
on defensive shortages…
But I think they worked very well. It was very good news for Koscielny, a very good performance over 90 minutes. Physically, he could play the 90 minutes. Other players, like Xhaka played very well, and Lichtsteiner also. We conceded not many chances for them, but their efficiency was good. We also had chances to score more than the two goals but we didn’t score. Maybe the difference is this. The control in the game over 90 minutes is more for us than them. We need to continue improving details, because three times we conceded chances.
on Bellerin’s injury…
We are going to wait tomorrow and Tuesday, and Wednesday we are going play, and then Saturday also. We need every player. Bellerin has a small injury – he is going to be some weeks off I think. Sokratis is coming back and we will see how Mustafi and Kolasinac are, and it is good news Koscielny can be with us for the next matches. It is not a good result but it was important for us [to have them back].
on whether he could make signings in January…
I don’t know now, because we don’t have a lot of possibility in January but if we can [we will find] someone to help us. But only if we think they are the player than can help us with good performance. January is not good for this reason, but we are going to look and the club is working for this in January. Our progress is also with young players and we need to give them more chances to play and show us their progress. But also for our big demands, we need a high level on the pitch and in the squad.
on if money is available…
It is not easy, I don’t believe a lot in this transfer window because it is not a very big possibility with the players. The club is working only if some players can help us with a high level or better than [what we have].
on the three goals conceded…
It’s true we need to improve and concede less chances to the opposition. Only when we analyse this match can we take a more real opinion about the goals we conceded. One reality is we need to improve and concede less. We are scoring a lot, we are second in the table for goals scored, but we have also conceded a lot – at least more than we want for our objective.
on bouncing back quickly after defeat…
Our demands are very big and the level is very high with other teams. If we don’t win, like today, we cannot be in the top four. But other teams are winning. We need to do our way and build up the team in one process. The objective is the top four, but we know it’s not easy as the other teams are at a high level. We need to be very demanding of ourselves, as we are. After 22 matches unbeaten, we didn’t lose but were only in fifth position in the table, because other teams are doing very well.
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.
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Trying to give the new gaffer the benefit of the doubt, I really am. But why in the hell he keeps playing Guendouzi ahead of Ramsey in midfield I will never, ever understand. Matteo is a good player, I think he has the potential to be great. But he is a teenager. You have a midfielder on the bench who has a DECADE of PL experience under his belt. You’re paying him, why in the hell wouldn’t you use him? It boggles the mind. Yes, I know he’s leaving (so they say) but he’s still here now.
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So a bad day at the office. Was expecting the 3 points as Soton has, been so poor lately.
Personally I think UE got it wrong although he has proven me wrong every time as his selected players came out with flying colors.
To start with Leno. I think Leno has now what 3 errors in 3 games? IMHO cech should be starting the PL as he is experienced and his understanding with Kos and Mustafi should be better as they are playing together for a good 2 years now. Leno should play in cups.
With few CBs options and Xhaka as makeshift UE could be pardoned for the defencive errors this time.
For The CAM & attack I fail to understand why UE did not start with Ozil. N Ramsey.Having world class players on the bench in a, crucial Epl tie is mind boggling.
Also Lacazette and Auba playing in tandem has always provided better results IMHO.
As I mentioned a lot of times that we tend to suffer with injuries and harsh winters it seems the same is happening again.
May God help the Arsenal.
The WOBs desire to win the league with their cruel agenda will haunt them big time for sure.
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alabama you might be interested in this little stat – Matteo Guendouzi starting at central midfield in the league: ManCity (L) Chelsea (L) Palace (D) ManUtd (D) Southampton (L)
I too am at a loss as to why Ramsey is being overlooked so freely, not only for a CM spot, but for the role Mkhitaryan has, I’d even have him in the side ahead of Iwobi too. Can it really be that the club is trying to convince him to leave in January so AFC get a fee for him
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our next run of fixtures
Wed – Spurs (H)
Sat – Burnley (A)
Wed – Brighton (A)
Sat – Liverpool (A)
Tue – Fulham (H)
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Having all of our injuries/suspensions in one area of the pitch is the problem. If only one of Holding/Mustafi/Sokratis had been available yesterday it would have enabled the midfield to remain as before and a better balance achieved all round.
We famously had nine different left backs (most right footed) in the season when we got to the Champions League final without conceding a goal but the key was most other positions remained unchanged.
Yesterday there was just too many differences in too many parts of the pitch and against a Southampton side with men coming back from injury and with a ‘new manager bounce’ on their side it just proved too much.
In a generally poor performance Southampton got three key passes inch perfect and each led to a goal against our sellotape and string defence.
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Early Europa League kick-off for Arsenal
BBC Sport
Something that has slipped slightly under the radar ahead of the Europa League draw at lunchtime.
Because Arsenal and Chelsea are both seeded and so play the second leg of their last-32 tie at home, one has to switch as two teams from the same city are not allowed to play on the same day.
So, Arsenal are moving to Wednesday 20 February, with a 17:00 GMT kick-off to avoid a clash with the Champions League games taking place the same night.
A 5pm kick off for a home game ?? I will have to get the early train.
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Ramsey is certainly a conundrum. Just keep wondering if something will happen in Jan to make things slightly clearer, maybe a swap with a player Emery has worked well with in the past, who really knows, but just don’t get why the best players wouldn’t be picked. I cannot think of many teams who would leave Ramsey on the bench. Ok he or his people may have asked for a lot of money, but reason not to play him?
Only an opinion, but wonder of Emery is engaging in a medium to long term project which will see more change in players and the way we play than some of us may be expecting, and that Ramsey and perhaps others of shining brilliance might be casualties. Perhaps a manager not wanting to change too much too quickly, but an increasingly gradual move away from wengerball, of which the likes of Ramsey and Ozil are hugely associated. Not saying he won’t play attacking football, I am sure he will, but a different form of attacking football, maybe with less frills and possibly less risk that seems fashionable with one or two rivals.
Might be talking bollox of course but just trying to make sense of the Ramsey situation, and maybe other situations.
On another note, dofferent staff, but same injury curse.
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Checking the PL stats Aaron has started seven games this season and been sub in eight (presumably) he has been injured for the other two. His most recent start was at OT so that hardly suggests he had been cast into the outer darkness. I imagine who starts is to do with the way UE sees the game going and what midfield combination will suit us best. Our first half displays with or without AR have been pretty grim so the problem needs sorting out.
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Of the 17 PL games Ramsey started just 7 may not raise your brows A5 but when compared to Iwobi who started 10, Mkhi’s 10 and Douzi’s 9 it do suggest he slipped down the pecking order for reasons which couldn’t be on talent.
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Yes, Andy, he’s started 7 games. But six of those were in August and September. His last start prior to United was Watford at the end of Septenmer. So those stats aren’t as balanced as they sound, although I think Europa has a lot to do with that. But my question wasn’t why doesn’t he start in general, it was why doesn’t he start even ahead of Guendouzi in CM. My heavens, Unai played Xhaka as a CB. It can’t be that far afield to play Aaron in CM. It just makes no sense to me at all.
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Let me be clear, IF Ramsey has been marginalised because Emery thinks he isn’t good enough or doesn’t suit his “system” then he is a fucking idiot. I REALLY hope he’s not that. But the team selections have done nothing to reassure me.
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