Good morning Positive Arsenal fans,
An early evening victory over a genuinely plucky Blackpool was an easy watch. The game had a balance of decent football from both teams and was enough of a contest until our third goal to ensure that nagging doubt lurked in the back of my mind. We had seen the Seasiders at the Ems in the Autumn and they had put up a good show then so the final 60/40 possession statistics were no fluke. A certain hint of controversy for our first and second goals ? Well possibly, both tight calls and in the great scheme of football ‘things’, as I often say, swings and roundabouts, swings and roundabouts.
Of our lads Joe Willock is gathering the deserved praise for his two goals, both the result of his brain being half a second faster than the home defenders to a bouncing ball in the 6 yard box. Eddie Nketiah managed to create three chances but convert none, though Blackpool’s keeper can take credit for at least one very good save. And Alex Iwobi put on the sort of creative performance that we know he is capable of. Our young Nigerian did his work in a highly disciplined way though, rarely wasting a pass or losing possession. At the back Jenko earned praise for his hard work and concentration. After a jittery start Sokratis imposed himself on the Blackpool forward line. AMN put a solid claim in for a starting place on the right flank.
For our opponents they had their chances to score and on another evening the final score could have been closer than 3-0. I have no idea what is going on at the club between the fans and the owners, other than it has been going on for many years, with fan boycotts, court cases and much, much abuse. It resulted in an elf clambering on to our coach roof in an effort to delay the start of the game, which on the scale of bizarre protest is a 9.
Instinctively I am on the fans’ side but the thousands of empty seats at Bloomfield Road last night, did not suggest to me that either side is on the brink of whatever constitutes ‘victory’. A snapshot for Arsenal fans of what life is like on ‘the other side’.
A week off now until a Saturday lunchtime kick off at West Ham, and a little break I am looking forward to.
Have a good six days.
Positively Arsenal 
Thanks Andy Nic. Excellent use of plucky there. Was the fan trying to hitch a lift because he’d lost his Oysten Card?
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Nice one, Andy.
:rolling eye emoji: @ foreverheady’s joke. Hehe.
Had a chat to a couple of the protesters, prior to the match. They are there, outside entrance, every game. Passion is high. One of chaps I spoke to, long term season ticket holder, has not been inside the ground for 4 years! Said he went to away game recently and couldn’t name half his own team’s players.
Not sure if there’s a ‘cutting one’s nose off to spite one’s face’ element to it all but, from encounter I had, it certainly feels like neither side is planning on shifting soon.
Almost felt guilty going into ground after my chat, bought a scarf from the protesters to ease my conscience.
Enjoyed the game and, like you Andy, the third goal popped the boil of nagging doubt for me too. A slightly chilly but comfortable enough evening.
Just woke up to view of Irish Sea from hotel window… bit of a drive ahead to the warmer climes of Hertfordshire for me now. That sea looks brrrrrrrrr.
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Ta Andrew. The week off now is as good as it gets to a winter break and I’m sure the boys will enjoy it. Was very impressed w Jenko and wouldn’t mind seeing him stay beyond this season w Licht off. For all of Licht’s experience we wouldn’t be worse off with him as back-up to Bellerín and I doubt he’d mind being a squad player.
Seem like our defense will be back in full strength, bar Rob of course, after this week, so very unlikely we’ll be looking at other options after ‘missing out’ on Cahill.
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Always a real pleasure to someone like Jenks wear the shirt , and play well
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Somebody has just pointed out to me what a good goal this was, from our six yard box to the back of their net.
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Great pic of Andy doing his gardening and of course a good write up.
With every game like this it seems there are different youngsters banging on the door it seems we have a raft of young players waiting to bulge our squad even further. It is rare that more than one or two teens seriously have a chance of making a long term future at any top six club, so to see the amount of top quaility players we have that certainley have a future in the premier league and very likely at our club is truely amazing.
Behind them is large amount of talent so the future is very bright and unlike chelski and city we dont tend to sell on so the if they want the chance is definetly there.
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Andy the goal highlights something that was happening all game with Aaron dropping behind the back four and constanstly making himself available with his movement off the ball negating the high press and taking the pressure off the centre backs . With his directing the team and linking play he showed he is every inch a captain. he will be greatly missed.
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Afternoon everyone, many thanks to anicoll5 for the reportage illustrating how we overcame the Mountain Deanery and the Pooliverse. Im sure it will stay a slightly surreal moment for everyone, the protest, the empty stadium etc.
Nightmare times for Blackpool. Hope they dont go under because of all of this.
One thing thats interesting is in the twitter clip, Kolašinac gives Mo some instructions at the end of the celebration, maybe to not be playing it around at the back-depending on which mental prism you look through, it can also be seen as a bit risky?
On we go to the final. COYG!
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andy what doubts where there over the first two goals, Willock was not even close to being offside on the first, the only AFC player that might have been offside was Nketiah on the right of the goal, the ball hit the post and went central to willock
And on the second there was loads of replays and none could show that Iwobi handled the ball, any replays I seen suggested it hit his thigh
if any of our goals was dodgy it was the iwobi goal as he was offside in the buildup
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Quite right eddy – the second and third goals I was referring to. I’d say the Iwobi handball was 50/50, a c if toon a replay to spot it, the 3rd goal offside was however clear. No idea why the lino missed it – just a bit confused I suppose. Just one/two of those things that happen in a game of football.
Much cleaner game than at the Ems. Good to see.
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Arsenal Women
Verified account @ArsenalWFC
3m3 minutes ago
GET IN THERE! 🔥
@leahcwilliamson climbs high inside the box to head the ball into the top right corner 🙌
⚒ 1-1 🔴 (26)
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the iwobi offside goal for me is another one of those rules that need sorting out big time, as it stands its up to each ref/assistant to decide which phase of play it is, iwobi offside when ball played to team mate, not offside when shot rebounded off keepers save, its like the burnley and utd penalties yesterday, even with VAR they came to two different decisions, and it actually looked the got the decisions the wrong way round.
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Arsenal Women
Verified account @ArsenalWFC
3m3 minutes ago
IT’S A DEBUT GOAL FOR ARNTH 😅
@bmeado9 whipped in the corner and @JanniArnth was there to head home 💪
⚒ 1-2 🔴 (31)
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Arsenal Women
Verified account @ArsenalWFC
2m2 minutes ago
Goal for @westhamwomen. Ross races through on goal and fires into the bottom left corner.
⚒ 2-2 🔴 (43)
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Arsenal Women
Verified account @ArsenalWFC
3m3 minutes ago
Half-time: West Ham 2-2 Arsenal
Despite two fine headers from @leahcwilliamson and @JanniArnth, we’re level at the break ⛔️
Big second-half needed 💪
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Arsenal Women
Verified account @ArsenalWFC
8m8 minutes ago
FT: West Ham 2-4 Arsenal
Goals from @Leahcwilliamson, @JanniArnth and @DanielleDonk (2) help us return to winning ways in the @FAWSL ✅
That’s how you kick-off 2019 😎
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I’d love Arsenal to get drawn v Barnet at the Emirates in the next round of the FAC
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Only caught last 30 but that was a good bit of cup football in Newport game.
I do like to see countering teams come unstuck when boot on other foot and they are charged with creating.
Leicester giving quite a stark illustration of that in recent weeks. Excellent results against good teams, playing defensively and waiting for rare breaks; quite poor in other games.
Relates to our own questions of how to play, I think (but obviously doesn’t mean we can’t hope for improvements in our own defending)
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I see man city women dropped pts away to bristol city women today, after taking the lead city ended with a draw, meaning AFC women are 2pts ahead on 30pts but with a game in hand. Chelsea women won to continue their return to form, and are now 3rd on 25pts, Arsenal women face birmingham women, who are 4th and also on 25pts on wednesday and then play CFC women next sunday. So two very big games for our women in the next week.
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I find it a bit odd that teams such as Leicester put out a rotated team in the fac, just as they did v city in the CC, they have no chance of getting top 4, and are not near a relegation fight, so surely the cups should be their main targets, especially for LCFC more than others, seeing as its just a couple of years ago they won the league, wouldn’t winning one of the cups be a great way for them to progress and keep themselves in the limelight. surely a cup final at the cost of say dropping from 7th to 10th or 11th would be worth it.
journos often say the top sides are devaluing the cups, but the top sides are winning the cups to go with titles or at least top 4 places, while the mid table sides are the ones abandoning the cups, but for what.
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i see real madrid lost at home to Real Sociedad and are now 5th in la liga, a full 10pts behind leaders Barcelona
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Ed
Good points about cup last night. Agree it’s very hard to see why Leicester wouldn’t go for it in cups.
Sadly, I can see why teams with merest hint of relegation threat do it. Prem money is simply too much to risk.
Wigan’s incredible win, in year they were relegated, probably looms large in many minds.
As for Leicester, could their calculation be based on trying to secure a Europa place through league? I don’t know how realistic that is but am stumped otherwise.
All in all, it might say more about what the league and the money in it means to clubs than even league games do.
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I watched the final half hour of Newport Leicester eddy and there were plenty of names/faces of Leicester players I recognised so I reckon Puel sent out a job that really should have done the job against Newport. The PL team had enough possession but great credit to the Welsh side for a very organised defence that held the opposition off for a final desperate 10 minutes. The Albrighton penalty was crazy. What was in his head !!
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Picking up on Real Madrid- 30,000 empty seats apparently last night.
I’m not sure they reflect wider football trends or anything, but it still seems pretty amazing when you’re talking about them winning three champions league’s in a row. Nobody had even won two in modern era.
I don’t know where their fans are at with the team at the moment (apart from not in the stadium for some of them) but if three CL’s don’t buy you at least a season of serious goodwill…yikes.
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As Hand ball now has to be deliberate it can’t be 50/50. The third goal really didn’t have a second phase so yes Alex was a mile offside.
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Anyone one seen the pen that was against Oldham, that VAR also said was a pen? Personally it didnt look like one to me.
A5- too true about Albrighton! Weirdest moment in his career!
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ianspace2014
Mo Salah scored a similar goal recently which was allowed to stand, he scored from an initial offside position after the goalkeeper made the save but parried the ball to him. The expert ex referee on duty at the studio said that the goalkeeper effectively started a second phase of play when he made the save so the goal was legitimate. Nonsense in my opinion but I am not a ref, however if that was considered a fair goal by an ex premier league ref then Iwobi’s should be deemed OK too.
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I don’t think anyone has ever explained what a ‘phase of play’ is. One ref’s two phases or play are the next official’s single and continuous sequence. Random outcomes.
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Dave, the VAR as presently operated in England is just to validate whatever the referees do either right or wrong. The other thing is to favor their favorite clubs in case any decision go against them. Any VAR that doesn’t allow the referees to have a second look at their calls but gives a different person who sometimes is 100s of km away from the venue is a fraud. VAR will certainly not eliminate all errors but any attempt to insulate the match referee from any responsibility and transferring it to an official who isn’t on the venue is a shame.
The only time the match officials can be taken to task about their own decision is when they have second chance of seeing those calls. The pgmol understand this and the reason they won’t allow the FIFA version in England.
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A5 it is true but the question is why. Why can’t the rules be very simple and explicit. But no they won’t do that so that they can be allowed to manipulate the game as they please. Like lawmakers who draft constitution making it very unclear so that brilliant lawyers can make money.
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layksite- good points.
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Well as I recall the changes to the offside rule was brought in to encourage attacking football and to stop needless offsides being given when an opposition player was absolutely not interfering with play and twenty yards away. In fact where a player is clearly NOT interfering with play and mils away from the action then that part of the plan has worked well.
Unfortunately, in spite of that positive initiative, there is a complicated issue as to what constitutes a) a phase of lay and b) if a player is clearly in the vicinity of the action whether he is ‘interfering’ with play. Each incident is decided on its merits or demerits with, as you say, howls of protest from the aggrieved party ( though not very often when their team is the beneficiary.
You ask why is it not “very simple and explicit” ? The answer is because a) and b) are not clearly defined.
It could be simple and explicit if there was either a much more precise measure of what is a “phase” and what is “interfering”.
Feel free to get the ball rolling.
The other alternative is to go back to the old system where when you are offside you are offside, no phases, no interfering or not interfering, End Of Story.
It is tempting.
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I am strictly agnostic on which form of VAR is used in the PL. Both approaches; of the monitor on the side of the pitch which a ref can review his decision v all decisions come from Stockley Park have their strengths and weaknesses.
Stockley Park provides a single, uniform, technology and clear decision making. The referee makes a “clear and obvious error” and only for goals, red cards, penalties and mistaken identity. He is told as quickly as possible he has made that error. The correct decision is given to him. If he has made no errors then he will not hear from Stockley Park. As you say though, far away and faceless.
The pitchside monitor requires Stockley Park to tell the official about an error in his decision on an important, but then allows him to review the incident again to see if he agrees that an error has been made or whether he sticks by his original whistle. If he agrees wit the VAR official then great, no problem. If he disagrees then we gave two referees taking a different decision on the same incident. Tricky.
In theory it may be that both systems could run alongside each other, but I can se that causing even more arguments than it solves.
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Think I thought I understood offside properly until that Kane goal at Liverpool.
Genuinely may have blown a fuse in my noggin that day, as i haven’t felt so clear about it since and haven’t really tried to.
As for the prem only VAR it now seems sure they have in mind…phhhh. * Nobody ever imagined it that way far as i know, and there was never a call to, effectively, cut on-pitch ref out entirely of huge decisions.
Their way will result in situations where a ref is advised or even told red by VAR for something they have missed entirely or had a different view on, before watching it later on and concluding they would not have opted for a red. Plus, logically, the reverse.
It sure led to the correct result with that early Grimsby red, but apparently Atkinson was set to wave play on (even though he was, I think, close by, without obstruction).
So, a 100% deserved red, based entirely on VAR official. Cool. But won’t be cool should it be a much more subjective call which is 100% VAR made.
Apologies for going on about it again, but it just looks certain to me in advance, and i can’t see any justification for it. We could basically have a retired Dean, or anyone, in ultimate control of plenty of our matches for years after their on field retirement!
* I was gonna leave it a t ‘phhhh’ but couldn’t resist.
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The Förward Öbserver
@LennyPetsPuppys
Jan 6
British club footy fans are funny. Their dream ownership scenario typically is fan ownership of clubs, and yet they’re constantly critical of money not being essentially gifted to the club by billionaire owners, which would NEVER happen with fan ownership.
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Bout 80-90 per cent sure i saw VAR used in Germany a couple of months back in a different way again.
There was a foul, either elbow or high foot I think, which left a player in a crumpled heap after a hefty whack to face. Think ref was fairly close.
Anyway, seemed to have no thought about producing card until they had discussed it with VAR officials. Did so, went to monitor, then produced a red card.
I like it a lot for ones that from the off look like a strong yellow, amber, or even a red. Any where there is an above decent chance of a red, basically.
The German players were quite well behaved, and it would surely have been more difficult if they weren’t, but it looked to me like perfect use of the technology in order to try and reach the best possible decision.
You had the ref’s original viewpoint, supplemented by the extra officials who had viewed it from various angles, then communicated their thoughts to ref. On pitch ref then gets to view it himself again few times, while talking it through with colleagues.
As it happens, I thought the decision was maybe on the harsh side (though that may just be prem eyes), but it still looked absolutely the best process for trying to reach a good decision.
Think how much harder it is to justify a crap decision like letting Rojo stay on for that ridiculous lunge at Gunedouzi, which could so easily have broken his ankle, when using that process. With our VAR you can expect the yellow to be flashed just as quickly, and VAR to do nowt as it will not meet their threshold of being an obviously wrong decision.
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The latest edition of my Yorkie Show, and Dave you get a mention
https://www.spreaker.com/user/cavanonlineradio/the-yorkie-show-7th-january-2019_1
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Arsenal Academy
Verified account @ArsenalAcademy
1h1 hour ago
📝 The teams are in! Here’s how #AFCU23 line up against @OfficialBHAFC this evening…
Starting XI: Iliev; Olowu, Pleguezuelo, Medley, Thompson; Gilmour, Sheaf, Burton; Amaechi, John-Jules, Saka
Bench: Okonkwo, Bola, Omole, Zelalem, Coyle
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Cheers, Ed!
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Arsenal Academy
Verified account @ArsenalAcademy
5m5 minutes ago
GET IN THERE! 🙌
@BukayoSaka87 runs from the halfway line to the Brighton area and tees up @XavierAmaechi, who makes no mistake with the finish 🎯
🔵 0-1 🔴 (43)
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Arsenal Academy
Verified account @ArsenalAcademy
2m2 minutes ago
Half-time: @OfficialBHAFC 0-1 #AFCU23
@XavierAmaechi’s late strike is the difference at the break 👊
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EXCLUSIVE: Knapper promoted to Arsenal’s first Loans Manager
Articles / Leadership/ Arsenal
Knapper joined Arsenal in 2010
Knapper joined Arsenal in 2010
Written by Simon Austin — January 7, 2019
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LEAD analyst Ben Knapper has been promoted to the new role of Loans Manager by Arsenal.
This position has become increasingly prevalent in the Premier League in recent seasons due to the number of players that clubs have out on loan.
Chelsea, who currently have 39 players out on loan, actually have TWO loan bosses – former players Tore Andre Flo and Paulo Ferreira.
Arsenal have a more modest seven out on loan at the moment – David Ospina (Napoli), Reiss Nelson (Hoffenheim), Kelechi Nwakali (Porto B), Calum Chambers (Fulham), Matt Macey (Plymouth), Takuma Asano (Hannover 96) and Krystian Bielik (Charlton).
Knapper will oversee the process for deciding which players should go out on loan and where; and will then monitoring how they are doing once away from the club. He will work closely with manager Unai Emery, Head of Football Relations Raul Sanllehi and Academy Manager Per Mertesacker.
READ MORE: Remote development – how Liverpool manage loans
Knapper joined Arsenal from Prozone in July 2010 and was promoted to Lead Football Analyst in July 2015. The Gunners are currently advertising for his replacement in his former role, with applications required to be in by Wednesday.
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Arsenal Academy
Verified account @ArsenalAcademy
3m3 minutes ago
Goal for @OfficialBHAFC. Dreyer cuts in on his left foot and finds the bottom corner from close range.
🔵 1-1 🔴 (56)
#AFCU23
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Arsenal Academy
Verified account @ArsenalAcademy
6m6 minutes ago
Goal for @OfficialBHAFC. Dreyer runs from the halfway line and fires into the bottom corner.
🔵 2-1 🔴 (73)
#AFCU23
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Arsenal Academy
Verified account @ArsenalAcademy
9m9 minutes ago
ZELALEM WITH THE EQUALISER! 🔥
@XavierAmaechi delivers a dangerous ball into the box and Zelalem is there to finish from close range 👊
🔵 2-2 🔴 (86)
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Arsenal Academy
Verified account @ArsenalAcademy
3m3 minutes ago
Full-time: @OfficialBHAFC 2-2 #AFCU23
Despite two fine goals from @XavierAmaechi and Gedion Zelalem, we’re forced to settle for a draw in the #PL2 ⛔️
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Good to see Gideon amongst the goals, everyone knows he has the potential to be a top player. Staying injury free will obviously be one part of that and working on all areas for continuous improvement. His vision is Cesc like I hope he can make it.
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Ed, I’m now seeing reports Trae Colye scored the second goal can you confirm this
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FA Cup 4th round draw
Swansea City v Gillingham
Wimbledon v West Ham
Shrewsbury or Stoke v Wolves
Millwall v Everton
Brighton v West Brom
Bristol City v Bolton
Acrington Stanley v Derby or Southampton
Doncaster v oldham
Chelsea v sheffield wed or luton
Newcastle or blackburn v Watford
Middlesboro v Newport
Man City v Burnley
Barnet v Brentford
Portsmouth v QPR
Arsenal v Man Utd
Crystal Palace v Spurs
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ian I’ve only seen the Arsenal Academy twitter give Zelalem as our second scorer
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