Good Morning Positive Arsenal fans,
Another morning, another inquest into an away defeat against an ‘Ammers side who I anticipated would be put away with a little bit to spare. The aim was to be back on level points with Chelsea by 3pm, even in we knew the chance of Newcastle getting anything at the Bridge was remote.
We started well, had control of midfield and possession in the Ammers’ half, opened them up in the first twenty odd minutes on two occasions, but fluffed our lines. The home side got back into the contest, managed a couple of half chances themselves with Anderson v lively, and young Rice misdirecting a header from one of their many corners. The first half ended a respectable 0-0. No worries.
We switched off at the start of the second half and were punished. A poor clearance, Anderson and Nasri combine to clip the ball into the Arsenal box. Rice in three clear yards of space. No second reprieve. I hope Granit reflects carefully on his part in what proved to be the turning point of the game.
Within 30 seconds of the restart Laca bearing down on the goal only to put in another underpowered strike. And so it went on really. 40+ minutes of us trying to break into the Ammers box, with a change of personnel, with Aaron and Lucas on, and a change of formation. To be fair, for about 10 minutes of the 40 , we showed a real sense of urgency in our play to recover the deficit. After that flurry though the final 30 minutes the Ammers held us off with some ease. 2 shots on target all afternoon. Really not good enough. Of our players who emerge with a scintilla credit on a grey afternoon I would give Alex Iwobi a pat on the back as when the ball was at his feet he put the opposition on the back foot. Kolasinac did OK in working the flanks, and Leno did nothing wrong all afternoon. Ironically Leno had a quiet afternoon by our standards, away from home.
So another week off and then the mighty Chelsea roll into town. They have the advantage of being able to play for the draw and maintain their comfortable six point lead. If they were to win then six would become nine points and I suspect that the finance bods in Highbury House could start budgeting for another Europa League bonanza for the 2019-2020 season. If we were to win however the route to 4th reopens.
KBO.
Positively Arsenal 
Good morning Andy. Many thanks for your report on yesterdays non- starter.
Keep Positive everyone as much as you can, the John Hawley days were much worse and dont let the shits at Le Git (and all the other blogs)deceive you, the GG days were pretty grim. Bit like how you feel now.
Getting booted out of the FAC by York was much worse than this. No help Im sure. But-what does PA stand for? Should its manifesto be changed and take its place alongside the other blogs? Is PA still PA?
Speculating about this or that leads us down the rabbit hole of lost life? Who knows what really going on at the club? Lets be level headed and keep and eye on things.
What would your old friend gf60 says at such times? Keep the faith. Its all we can do. He knew AFC is a rollercoaster of a club.Its ok to be positive and get behind the team even if its feel difficult. Sure aint over yet.
Keep the faith and stay Positively Arsenal. Your club needs you.
COYG!
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Thanks Andy, thanks everyone. I suspect we will be scrapping for 6th rather than challenging for 4th if the manager maintains (or is required to maintain) his current selection policy.
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Then the experience of supporting a football club that is “scrapping for 6th” will be a valuable learning experience for many PA readers FH. Embrace the opportunity.
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There are indeed worse things to scrap for.
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yes andy Rice had yards of free space to pick his spot, this despite us having 8 players in our area, more marking space than actually marking anyone.
some suggest that Xhaka was actually trying to cushion a header to a team mate, I’m not so sure, I think he just could not garner power on the header as it was too low, he nearly should have been taking it on the chest.
Don’t know it this is correct but I seen somewhere that we actually did not have a shot at goal from the 64th minute on, if that is correct then it really suggests major problems, cos if you can’t muster even a shot towards goal for the best part of 30 minutes and you a goal down, it really is a sub par performance.
Sadly yesterday we really lacked tempo, and whenever anyone of our players actually put some speed into our play, he would end up field isolated, PEA and Lacca both making the same run, either both running away from the ball carrier, or coming towards him. Too often that second and third touch was taken when a first time ball was needed and even on, the ball would be passed right when left was the better option, and visa versa, and the number of times our through ball was woefully over hit was a hard watch.
We had no corners the first half, and our only corner I can remember in the second half was Kolasinac putting it straight out of play.
Fabianski will seldom get an easier clean sheet.
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To be strictly accurate as we were 6th last season it is not an entirely new experience. We may in years to come however come to look on it as a trophy.
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64th minute onwards ? Could well be right – West Ham did not need to turn to the rough stuff or hurl their bodies in to block what should have been a final 10 minute battering. The longer the game went on the less likely it looked to me we would score. It was only 1-0 ffs but we seemed to think it was 3-0. Too many heads went down. I sensed the players had lost their confidence.
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Yes Heady there are indeed worse things than 6th place to scrap for, but I think that much of the moaning has stemmed from the Clubs PR earlier in the season, so many bought into it,
new this, new that, better better better, a Head Coach who during his interview for the job blew them away with how much he knew about every player at the club, even many of the youths, a man who knew all the players strengths and indeed their weaknesses, and whats more he knew how to harness their strengths and how to lessen their weaknesses,
he and the club assured us that key to the progress would be the 5 captain, the Club captain Koscielny when he got back from injury, Cech, Xhaka, Ozil and Ramsey, Think about that for a second and assess the roles of those five now only half way through the season.
Then there was the big claim that attacking football would be our staple diet, remember “I would rather win 5-4 than 1-0”,
Reality has bitten quite a number in the fan base that fell for the PR.
I said during the 22 game unbeaten run that the main thing that had changed at the club was the PR. Unbeaten runs help promote what ever PR the club wants, but only 5 wins and 3 defeats in our last 13 games has meant no one is listening to the PR or are at the very least, now questioning it, and they don’t like the answers they are coming up with.
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At the risk of sounding pessimistic, maybe downright depressing, I believe Emery will ultimately revert to a more Seville type and play a much more pragmatic, maybe complex, pressing counter attacking style than we, and more importantly, most of the players are used to.
I would love to be proved wrong, but just cannot see the fantasy element of Wengerball surviving this change, a couple final flourishes last autumn and early winter perhaps, but maybe now , we can see a more conservative brand of the game creeping in, albeit a brand that really isn’t working at the moment.
This season will maybe continue to see this adjustment, disjointed performances, confused players, warts and all, some players will make the adjustment, others won’t. The lack of funding might not help, though bringing in an AM Emery seems to trust might.
There may be some improvements as this season goes on and hopefully, injuries abate, fate may even smile on us in the Europa, but not expecting real improvements, nor a true vision of UEs plans until next season, when we are told, funds will be available and he can sort the players he wants to keep, and hand pick new players.
Emery is in the job, but it is not yet truly his time at this club. A difficult second half of the season most likely awaits, anyone expecting too much could be left disappointed/ depressed/ reaching for the gin.
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It is that loss of confidence that brings me back to something I mentioned before. The atmosphere and sense of purpose in the Leicester game was then bettered (I think) by the battling home draw against Liverpool and then the 4-2 local derby. We seem a pale shadow of the sides that competed then and I would love to understand the reaons for the falling off.
Yesterday seemed spiritless and tame – very similar to the Brighton game I felt. A similar pattern to last season seems to be emerging: quite reasonable until Christmas, but poor away from home in the New Year.
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yeah andy after the initial improvement when Ramsey came on, we just fizzelled out and didn’t look like we had the guile, energy or even confidence that we could get a goal.
I asked the question yesterday, has all this changing of formation both from game to game and from half to half, left the players confused about what we are trying to do, and so cost them to lose confidence.
I actually think that some of them are doubting the manager due to the lack of use of Ramsey and Ozil, I would say our players rate these two guys big time, and so doubt team selection is right when they are not in it, and when they begin to doubt one aspect of Emery’s decisions, doubts crop up over his other decisions. Of course these doubts come quicker when results are not great.
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Can’t I have my cake and eat it, Dave?
In all seriousness, grim as that game was it shouldn’t be enough to obliterate my thinking that it’s only fair to wait until end of season before making any big judgements.
That’s what I intended, and my reasoning for it hasn’t altered, nor are circumstances enough to make me abandon it.
Plus, there really is a part of me this year which is cooler in bad moments- wait and see, this is interesting at least; what happens from here; where we headed, etc.
But…there are other parts,too, and even though that cooler part has logic, fairness,etc, on its side…well
I guess I want my cake and eat it or something.
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The PR angle interests me, because whatever the party line the club felt it was pursuing, it was surely shot to pieces by Emery’s “no money for new players” line, which immediately opened up a lot of anti-Stan sentiment. So was he fed that line, or did he do it on purpose?
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Difficult game to review. Thanks Andrew.
Yesterday felt like a throat punch for me. The first time this season Emery had the opportunity to select his best starting X1, build some momentum, cohesion, familiarity and other stuff like that ahead of a tricky run of fixtures… but alas.
Hopefully everybody learnt some valuable lessons, including one Mr Unai Emery.
Roll on Chelsea!
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Just get the feeling he did it on purpose FH, the CEO recently alluded to as much in carefully chosen words, but UE was much more blunt.
Perhaps difficulty expressing himself in English, maybe sulking over Benega, maybe a cry of desperation, or just being honest and tempering expectations. Hopefully, UE was fully aware of all when signing up, unless Ivan leaving altered something, or something we don’t know about has turned up.
Still , if he cannot sign, all the more reason to make good on what he already has
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ha ha ha, the LA Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL play offs last night and for some strange reason this has really upset a lot of Gooners, seemingly big bad silent Stan actually celebrated his team winning and this was the last straw for them. Hopefully the Rams will go on and win the Super Bowl this season, I would love the meltdown.
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I know this is entirely my fault in that I have the choice how to react, but one of the disappointing aspects of this season for me has been the way Guendouzi has been used. I ought to be delighting in all he does, proud of his youthful exuberance and undoubted talent, looking forward to the full-flowering of an exceptional player. As it is, I now feel disappointed when he starts, because I feel he is being asked to carry an unreasonable burden, and it isn ‘t doing him any favours. H. e tried a couple of shots yesterday (and was right to do so) , but they didn’t carry much conviction: he probably won’t bother next time. He ought to be coming on after 60 minutes or so when Ramsey, Torreira, Xhaka and Ozil have already bossed the midfield.
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foreverheady I see you have fallen into the same trap many a Gooner has in recent days, Emery never said “no money for new players”, what he actually said was “We cannot sign permanently. We can only loan players. Only loan players.”, its an assumption that we don’t have money to sign new players, of course people are assuming cos as far as I know, not one single journo actually bothered to ask Emery for the reasons why “We cannot sign permanently. We can only loan players. Only loan players.” But despite no follow up question on it, so many of the journos pushed the “no money” angle
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It is a cultural thing. The only thing the mainstream media want to talk about, the only thing they are able to talk about apparently, every January is transfers and “who are you buying”. It was exactly the same with AW.
Accordig to the media, and the pundits sniffing after them, the answer to every football problem in the PL, and every other English league no doubt, is buy more players, buy more players, buy more players.
And they are wrong.
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big blow to the Arsenal Women as Danielle van de Donk is out with a thigh muscle injury
Arsenal WomenVerified account @ArsenalWFC
📝 The teams are in! Here’s how we line up against @ChelseaFCW…
XI | Peyraud-Magnin; Williamson, Quinn, Arnth, McCabe; Bloodworth, Walti, Little; Evans, Miedema, Mead
SUBS | van Veenendaal, Mitchell, Kuyken, Veje
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Are win in a dead zone? Poor Andy had to put pen to paper and we have all lost our tongues.
Thanks Andy, that was a good assessment of a disappointing day.
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Oops, seems my laptop had a glitch. Sorry folks
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yes anicol, the media love a transfer story, but shouldn’t that mean that when UE made his comments on transfers on Thursday, that they would be duty bound to ask follow up questions, get the reasons or the reasoning behind it, but no they take it and run with their opinions of what he meant, is that cultural too, and if so then what sort of culture is that.
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They want clicks and “Stan is a greedy bastard sobs angry Emery” is exactly what gets them.
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Eddie at 11:47am.
Seems we are taking ‘a game of two halves’ to new levels.
FH at 11:50am
The comments on Özil too post match. Instead of saying something arbitrary, Emery gave journos a soundbite to support their “rift between Emery and Özil” nonsense. “tactical reasons” leaves so much open to the imagination.
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*Cake-Eating time*
So did anyone pick up on a change Hammers made after 20-25 mins?
We’d been decent up to then. Movement and link up of front three promising, chance to get down sides, if I remember right…then it just died off…and aside from that initial lift when Ramsey came on, there was pretty much nothing from then on.
I thought they probably changed something but couldn’t pick anything out.
Later on they dropped back more to protect lead of course.
One of the only other things that has come back to me, on reflection, is that we used quite a lot of wall passes in that better first quarter. Nice to watch when it comes off and a good way of moving upfield.
Might be wrong but think those passes were a huge part of Sarri-ball at Napoli, so are they also something Emery wants to use a lot? Or maybe just a lot in attacking third.
Anyway, they tailed off, and later on there were probably too many passes upfield into feet to a player under pressure with a low probability of initiating a good move.
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Arsenal Women
Verified account @ArsenalWFC
1m1 minute ago
Goal for @ChelseaFCW. Cuthbert climbs high inside the box and heads the ball into the top left corner.
🔴 0-1 🔵 (26)
#WeAreTheArsenal
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Arsenal Women
Verified account @ArsenalWFC
3m3 minutes ago
Half-time: Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea
Cuthbert’s header is the difference at the break…
Big second-half needed 💪
#WeAreTheArsenal
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Ed
Bloody hell they let some stuff go in women’s football. That challenge by their left back early 2nd half. Thought it might have been bad injury.
Chelsea definitely the more aggressive/dirty team
Oh well- it’s 2 and that’s prob that for this one.
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Rich CFC kicked our players round the place in the first meeting this season, put Kim Little out with a broken leg, and not a card to be seen.
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with Nobbs outs for the season, the loss of van de Donk today was a massive blow.
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Moment of top quality there from Little. That cross was perfect. knew exactly what she had to do.
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Arsenal Women
Verified account @ArsenalWFC
52s53 seconds ago
Little raced down the right wing and picked out @VivianneMiedema inside the box, who made no mistake with the finish 👊
COME ON YOU GUNNERS 💪
🔴 1-2 🔵 (80)
#WeAreTheArsenal
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Really good fightback from them last ten or so but not to be.
Clear foul in box late on but player stayed on feet and got shot away. Almost never given when that happens.
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Arsenal Women
Verified account @ArsenalWFC
3m3 minutes ago
Full-time: Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
Cuthbert’s double seals all three points for the visitors, despite a late goal from @VivianneMidema 😞
#WeAreTheArsenal
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Well done Andy, a great performance after the the teams bad one yesterday morning. That’s what it was a bad performance, nothing to do with money, available players, team selection or formation just a bad performance. As Arsene used to say “The team out there was good enough to collect the three points”.
Sometimes as players you should know about safety first from balls chucked in the box or moving the ball quickly because the other team are throwing everyone behind the ball and are coping well with your tempo.
I think we lost because of consistent bad decision making by most of the team yesterday. AMN was in oceans of space time and time again but was either totally ignored or by the time he got the ball players had got to him. The full backs, including Hector, were given the ball to deep so they couldn’t make headway and no one was overlapping them and they couldn’t make the runs in behind. The one time Sead did get behind he chose the wrong option and pulled the ball back rather than firing it along the six yard box.
We did have a good spell when the subs came on and that was because Aaron and Lucas split the CBs by collecting the ball deep when they stopped doing that and relied on the CBs to bring the ball out we became stale and predictable.
Looking at our next few fixtures and judging them on this performance it does look bleak however as Dave said we have won with John Hawley in the side, we have come through a bad time while Don Howe was trying to bring loads of youngsters through and that morphed into GGs title winning side and we have won the league with Gus Caeser (as the song goes)
On our day we can beat anyone we just need to find our day.
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Hi Andy have I got another comment in spam again
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This is getting ridiculous – a collision apparently – game abandoned
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The Feast of St Totteringham may yet be celebrated this Spring.
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utd now only goal difference behind us, and spurs have now lost six games, while we have lost five, but we are 7pts behind them, due to our five draws, while they have no draws
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I am trying not to get negged out because I don’t know what purpose that serves. Not a solid stance, unfortunately, until we start playing with our most talented players.
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anicol this from Charlton
CLUB STATEMENT | Charlotte Kerr
Report by CAFCWomen
Page last updated at 5:30PM GMT, Sunday, 13 January 2019
CLUB STATEMENT | Charlotte Kerr
Today’s Charlton Athletic Women’s fixture against Manchester United Women was abandoned after a collision left Charlotte Kerr requiring serious medical attention.
Charlotte Kerr was transferred to a local hospital by ambulance and her condition has improved. The club will not know the full extent of the injury until a full scan has been completed.
The club would like to send it’s sincere thanks to Manchester United and their staff for their assistance in treating the injury.
The club will provide a further update on Charlotte Kerr’s condition in due course.
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Looks like Harry Kane could be injured, Poch being quoted as concerned…..could be a big problem.
Which means he will be magically be back for the next key game.
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As far as Kane is concerned all that chucking himself on the deck and making no effort to break his fall a serious injury was inevitable.
As for yet another serious injury in women’s football – and this looks a serious injury – it should not be happening. Players and officials need to think about this carefully or someone will really will be killed.
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well anicol just from watching Arsenal Women’s games, I think that a lot of the refs seem to think, its only women so they can’t do real damage, some of the awful tackles that don’t even get a booking really shames the game.
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Have always wondered about these divers injuring themselves, some clearly spend a lot of game time, and practice time hitting the deck. They make themselves incredibly rigid in mid air, always thought you were supposed to relax into a fall if possible, though stand to be corrected by martial artists in here.
If Kane is indeed out for any time, with Son at the Asian games, a little respite for the refs although I am sure Sterling, Salah and Alli will keep them busy on the diving front.
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Was how Guendouzi hurt his shoulder yesterday- being fouled from behind but the subsequent fall to ground looked like probably not result of force applied to him by opponent.
Landing went a bit wrong with arm not in right position to support weight.
I didn’t notice what happened with Kane, but was noticeable that officials were sharp * and even today. Spurs lads with Kane in particular moaned furiously about that a few times, even though replays conformed they were nearly all sound calls.
*made a series of really good offside decisions which, ah, you know, seemed to stick out in contrast to the ‘close? on’ and converse policy which feels like norm at times with top six rivals.
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If you trip, stumble or even if you get a shove you put your arms out in an effort to break your fall. It is a physiological mechanism bred over millions of years to keep us as intact as possible because gravity and hard surfaces are dangerous.
No one, anywhere, throws their arms out sideways to avoid making any effort to break their impact, unless they choose to.
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Good advice on arms and falls , that I confess I have heeded a few times.
As for Charlotte Kerr, the mail saying it was a “ horror rib injury” but that her condition had improved, hope she will be ok.
Didn’t see the Kane injury either, sounds like Jones caught him
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Players loosing possession statistics- it was a major issue a year or two ago but I can’t find the up to date statistics- can anyone steer me in the right direction ?
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