I think today we got a glimpse of pure Emeryball, effort and commitment first, artistry and style second,or even third. We will have to get used to it and in fairness, if we get three points, that won’t be a chore. For those that think winning is everything, Yipee, we one. Now you can stop reading.
Emery had a clear game plan, the players executed it and we got all three point. That in itself is great. We started well and United started very sluggishly. However, we could have been one down very early if Lukaku had not done an Ozil bounce ,onto the bar, when he should have been sliding it home.
We then got a gift when David de Gea stood and watched Xhaka’s strike go in the middle of the goal. It may have looked like a terrible error from the United stopper but in fairness to him I think it was just a freak shot. Xhaka struck the ball well from about 35 yards, The ball was flying straight ,and him being a left footer, de Gea would have expected any swerve to go to his left. However, Granit had struck across the ball and it veered violently to his right at the death, leaving the keeper flat footed and looking rather silly. Unlucky for him, but great for us. As in some 80% of PL games, the first goal defines the outcome and this proved to be the case.
For the last hour of the game it was and even game but with United having most of the big chances, fortunately , they missed them. After halftime I thought we were organized and solid and Emery had great tactics in that he left 3 up front, which kept them honest and left us with a threat. Our manager has to be complimented for this as it would have been easy to introduce a defensive minded midfielder and try to shut the game down. But he didn’t and it was a brave for the second time today, the first time being when he started both Ozil and Ramsey. They both had very good games by the way.
Now, for the penalty. Many say it was soft,but given how Lacazette does everything to stay on his feet, even when he should go down, I’m in no doubt it was a penalty. Lacazette won the penalty and was down to take penalties, but he gave it to his friend and strike partner , Aubameyang, who dispatched it. A great bit of class from Lacazette but I’m not sure how well it would have gone down if Aubameyang had missed.
This was a fine result and sets up up well for the run in. But it was hardly us battering them. We could just of easily have lost, given the chances both team created. It was workman like with fine individual performances from many players,Xhaka, Ramsey, Ozil and Lacazette all did very well. Oh , and Leno, he had a stormer.
Perhaps United were a bit off their game? Or perhaps we were good enough to knock them off their game? It’s always a good idea to look at the overall performance and seperate it from the score.
All that said, Emery got just about everything right today and we got 3 points against the runaway train.
Enjoy the win and the rest of the week.
Positively Arsenal 
Aah ed.. You think this club will still speak in one voice. They couldn’t even speak in one voice on what happened with the Ramsey deal. Officially Raul said the club withdrew the offer. Unofficially all the narrative was about him refusing to sign and being greedy.
I’m considering this an announcement for all intents and purposes, even as they pay lip service to doing things the right way. If the response to this news is favourable, they may even have a transcript or video out on the official site.
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Btw..Successful appeal of a ban on Lacazette. That is what Raul Sanllehi was brought in to do. An attack dog. Not the top dog.
(Unnecessary Disclaimer: All of this is of course only my opinion)
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While I’m chuffed at Laca being available for Thursday, I think it’s a crazy decision. He may have been provoked but his actions were dangerous and reckless. How can someone deliberately elbowing someone in the face be anything other than a three game ban. I also suspect this may not of happened had we won the first leg. I hope we haven’t done anything dogey but it stinks to be honest.
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Shard
It makes every sense to make to make such an announcement if your effort to freeze Ozil out the squad has failed and your next attempt to drive him out the club is planned for the summer.
But even then your gonna need to cough up and pay the Clownz and the gang for some favourable “Sports Communications” for that is, in light of the poverty and irrelevance of their football plunditry, what it is.
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Eds
The shower of hacks described their PR briefing from Raul as a “meeting with fans” on Sunday.
a nasty pattern has been set since Ivan ran off.
Raul unlike the Hill Woods or the previous people running the club, values or something like that, Raul can’t be arsed to communicate to us plebs through interviews etc.
He just gives briefings to his lackeys sorry I mean Sports Communications consultants.
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What Pochettino said – Mike Dean’s report in full
“At the conclusion of the game I was approached on the field of play by the Tottenham Hotspur head coach Mauricio Pochettino and some members of his coaching staff, including first-team coach Jesus Perez.
“Mr Pochettino acted in a very irresponsible and aggressive manner. He wouldn’t stop saying ‘you know what you are, you know what you are”‘. I asked him to explain and he repeated ‘you know what you are’.
“I then said on numerous occasions to go away at least 10 times and he wouldn’t get out of my personal space and then aggressively pointed his finger just a few inches from my face, again saying ‘you know what you are’.
“Mr Pochettino then left me alone and left the field of play. When I reached the tunnel he was waiting at the top of the stairs again saying ‘you know what you are’ and had to be escorted to the dressing room by security staff from Burnley.”
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fins it was a fans forum, something that happens and has been happening several times a season for many a long year at Arsenal. The media reports are all based on tweets by some of those fans who attended. Redaction and AST just some of the groups who had members at the fans forum
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I thought I was being too cynical when discussing last season the Blaggers, the lesser AFTV Media, ignoring the smaller squad and the concerns at CB.
But I’m now glad I made those observations about the weird, inaccurate & misleading reports (‘defensive coaching’) at that time.
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Thanks ed.
So they did speak to the plebs. Yippeee!
I’ll look out for what the reliable & not discredited AISA and Ian’s friends there have to report.
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It’s normal for an under pressure manager to crack and rant at an official.
It’s not normal for a manager to carry on like that in a game where the 4th official was their ball boy
*scratches chin*
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Did Simeone grab his crotch tonight then.
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Hi Positives. Our boy, Rich, did a massive job analyzing PGMOL refereeing and their plans for no pitchside monitor when they implement VAR over at UniteForVAR. I encourage you to read and spread the word. Comments are always welcome. https://uniteforvar.com/?p=1830
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Miki back in training, Torreira available, chances are we’ll see a different eleven tomorrow.
It’d be nice to see a change of just Torreira coming in for a CB and I guess Miki if fit for one of Ramsey or Ozil given that the Arsenal might need to score 3/4 goals on the night. I don’t expect to start with a three (I hope not for this game but was happy to see a three against the in form Utd) – if they do go for the three it will only be a plan for the first half.
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Following the stinging attack on my pre match works of art, does anyone want to have a go?
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New post is up
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