In this first podcast for 2020, after the gunners draw with Crystal Palace, Shotta and Blackburn George conclude that Arsenal must forget Top-4 and focus on the cups. They further argue it is best to be out of Europe next season; by having to play only one game per week it will give the club the space and time to rebuild into a top Premier League team.
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Positively Arsenal 
The reason we need to forget top 4 is because of this:
https://www.givemesport.com/1536769-how-the-201920-premier-league-table-would-look-if-every-refereeing-decision-was-correct
But most of us know it anyway.
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As someone who grew to firmly believe that under Emery, an unholy combination of managerial ineptitude, players baffled the club was allowing this to continue unabated, and fan rebellion, would have put us firmly on the path to relegation, this season.
Arteta is not the messiah, but he is a big shot in the arm for this club, and he needs time.
So have no issues with forgetting the top four this year, as long as the club are committed to moving on from this, and will back Arteta, properly.
They might also want to have a little inquest this summer, as to who wanted to give Emery a new deal last summer, who was so hell bent on keeping him on this autumn, when all was lost, and why. Perhaps with a view as to the suitability of those running the club, but that’s for another day
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Good listen fellas. Spurred (if that words not banned) plenty of thinking for me. No 1, and it came early in pod, is my old favourite- refs/officiating.
Never want to put words in peoples mouths etc, but after years on here now, think have a fair idea about where most of us stand. Those differences of opinion make a very significant difference in terms of our perceptions of where we stand, what future holds, etc.
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I can barely guess at how much harder it makes life for us, in my opinion, how many points costs per year, or what it means for how we should try counteract it. I know one prominent fan, Arsenal Geoff, said afterwards he thought we ‘bottled it’ when they got physical.
I disagree, and wonder how that could be when we ended up with more fouls and bookings (outside of that anomalous stinker from Auba)…unless at least you think reffing is off.
How do you combat a player like McCarthy for instance when a ref gives him free reign like that? And have I really not been watching closely or well enough to observe he does that regularly against other top six sides, that effectively, or tries and they nullify his impact?
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I disagree as well Rich, they might have seemed a little jaded at some points, but certainly didn’t bottle it, and went for it to the end.
As for the refereeing, I think Arteta is well aware of things, and probably already onto although, like all things at this club, it will take time. He has bought in Steve Round, who worked for Big Sams Bolton, Moyes Everton, amongst others, two very streetwise teams. Arteta I am sure will also be working on tactical and fitness issues to combat these tactics where he can.
He can only do so much under someone like Riley, but even that will presumably gradually change, there seems to be a general mood of exasperation with this PGMOL head.
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Part I enjoyed most was prob discussion of front 3/4. I think our Pepe decision may well have signalled that we hoped to do it the Liverpool way, with a quality overload up top, flying fullbacks, and workers centre mid instead of creators.
If that was the plan, we were of course unlucky to a degree with injury issues to the fullbacks, as Bellerin and Tierney were surely chosen two, but I also think it was a very poor reading of the individual and collective qualities of our front three vs theirs.
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I don’t know how much credit to give Pool for how it has worked out, and doubt they imagined the three developing as they have and working so outstandingly well together, but anyway, it could hardly have gone better. They cover virtually every quality you could want from forwards- dribbling, shooting, passing, heading, and any two of them can combine brilliantly at any moment.
How much of that is a result of a near perfect formula elsewhere in team I don’t know. Also I don’t know what player could have been added to Laca and Auba to make the best possible three. With Pepe, they each have some truly excellent qualities, are high calibre players, but…it just falls some way short of the Liverpool three’s threat.
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Heck of a show from City first half. Bit topical with yesterday’s game in mind, though, is Villa showing barely any aggression, hardly challenging, almost no dirt. Different day/ team, I know, but I doubt there’ve been five games in last ten years for us when less talented opponents have not attempted to rough us up. It’s the starting point and half the plan for playing us, basically, and works very well. So why not use it on all big clubs, especially City with all their slight technical players?
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Well we had the chances to win the game yesterday, and I thought we seemed strangely tepid after we went one up. A couple of occasions (in my memory at least) where Aubameyang received the ball wide left and chose not to drive at full speed into the box: likewise Pepe had enough of the ball in that period to have done rather more with it, and Lacazette at the end had a golden opportunity that in better form he would have lifted over the keeper rather than hitting and hoping. So very much Liverpool front 3 lite, at the moment, although who knows what might happen with more confidence and coaching and a sense of belief from the manager. And of course we are not getting much in the way of luck or decisions gong our way, but (if Mills will excuse this) the luck will turn sooner or later, even if the decisions from the men in black don’t.
Although I can understand the logic of hoping for a Europa free season in 20/21 I for one would not want to see that happen (even though now it looks as if it possibly might) as it would make keeping all squad players happy harder, and from an entirely selfish reason one of the big attractions of following Arsenal for me is getting to see more matches than just at the weekend.
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Hopefully, next season is Europa free, when we win it this season!
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I just let it go that their goal looked offside when replay flashed on screen yesterday but looking at pic of it on twitter it looks off, and, at very best, one so close it could only be established as onside after that (normally lengthy) calibration process.
If said process happened yesterday, why not show images of it onscreen as they normally do? Doesn’t make much sense if they arbitrarily pick and choose when to show that. What’s more, was revealed only week or so ago that commentators get to listen to VAR feed, so you’d really expect them to mention that it was being checked.
Sure hope it’s sort of thing club enquire about.
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well rich an interesting aside to the commentators being able to listen to the VAR discussion, there is no good reason why those viewing on TV can’t also listen in, it is done in Rubgy and has helped to actually educate many on the actual rules of the game. Maybe that is what they are afraid of in football.
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Deyan Iliev looks set to join Polish team Jagiellonia Bialystok on loan
Dino Mavropanos is expected to join Nurnberg
Shkodran Mustafi’s reps are in talks with Galatasaray over a loan move with a view to a permanent deal in the summer
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We must be buying a CB then if that’s the case
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Ed. Heard a rugby league ref discussing introduction of video replays for them years ago. He reckoned the audio being heard was very beneficial to their standards, which makes complete sense of course. During their communications they regularly have to show their grasp of the laws, what exactly they believe they’ve seen, how they are applying laws to situation, etc. It all has to be clear and understandable. Occasionally it throws up irritating scenarios such as a ref not really wanting to go with video officials judgement, or vice versa, but mostly it works extremely well
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The only argument against it in football is that fans are not grown up enough for it, would pounce on anything resembling an error, etc. It’s a strong argument, but I think the case for is even better.
As for Sat’s game. I’m pretty confident if rewatched it again the commentator’s would not give any indication the offside was being checked, which makes me think it wasn’t, or at least not with the full line/calibration treatment. I think it’s near automatic reflex for them to say something as soon as they hear of a check taking place.
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Final point on issue. Sort of thing I’d like club to do to try at least put a little squeeze on pgmol is to request audio for some incidents. Dress it up as wanting to educate ourselves on process if necessary, or be more direct and say they want to know what was said after, say, Mclean on Guendouzi, to try understand why treated differently than Auba for instance.
My guess is pgmol would refuse, but at least it applies some pressure. Then bring it up at meetings of clubs and try to get some others onboard, presenting it as something that can educate and improve VAR use or something of that ilk.. Got to be better than just sitting back and taking it, year after year.
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ESPN’s resident VAR expert claims offside didn’t look close call from images he saw, and for that reason they would probably have checked it using only the 2D lines, ie uncalibrated.
I only saw one image and don’t know how you could say it didn’t look close enough for full check.
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FC Nurnberg have confirmed the loan signing of Dino Mavropanos
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with Dino leaving on loan, and Chambers injured for rest of the season, we have gone down to 4 CB’s with first team experience available, Sokratis, David Luiz, Holding and Mustafi.
And there are many rumors that Mustafi is off this window too, if he does leave I would expect we would bring in a new CB this window.
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Arsenal Academy
@ArsenalAcademy
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35s
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Here’s how #AFCU23 lineup this evening against @EvertonAcademy
XI: Macey, Swanson, Olowu, Medley, Bola, Smith, Burton (C), McEneff, Tormey. Balogun, Olayinka
Substitutes: Hillson, Greenwood, Omole, Cottrell, Oyegoke
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Arsenal Academy
@ArsenalAcademy
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10m
GOOOOAAAALLLLLL! OLOWU GIVES US THE LEAD!
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0-1
🔴
(17) | #PL2
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Arsenal Academy
@ArsenalAcademy
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17m
Goal for @EvertonAcademy
. Simms is the scorer
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1-1
🔴
(35) | #PL2
Arsenal Academy
@ArsenalAcademy
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16m
Goal for @EvertonAcademy
. Simms scores again
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2-1
🔴
(36) | #PL2
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Arsenal Academy
@ArsenalAcademy
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9m
GET IN! WE’RE LEVEL THANKS TO OLAYINKA
🙌
🔵 2-2 🔴(43) | #PL2
HALF-TIME: @EvertonAcademy
2-2 #AFCU23
An eventful first-half sees four goals shared at the break
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Arsenal Academy
@ArsenalAcademy
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13m
Goal for the hosts. Gibson is the scorer
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3-2
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(73) | #PL2
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Arsenal Academy
@ArsenalAcademy
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8m
GOAL! MATT SMITH SCORES TO LEVEL ONCE AGAIN
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3-3
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(78) | #PL2
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Arsenal Academy
@ArsenalAcademy
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3m
FULL-TIME: @EvertonAcademy
3-3 #AFCU23
An eventful match at Southport FC sees six goals and the points shared
👊
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Fair play, our u23’s keep going this season. Lot of score draws for them, normally 2-2. Plenty of players I quite like look of but maybe no one standing out nor obvious candidates for first team chance. Bits and pieces from Smith, Burton, Olayinka, Swanson and Balogun have caught eye last couple years though.
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Bit weird that Bola got straight red late on given they complained about challenge from him last year or year before up there which injured one of theirs. Not looked a dirty player at all when I’ve seen him. Wouldn’t surprise me if they remembered that other time and targeted him tonight, and he responded to it.
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rich is amazing the amount of reds our youths get, especially when you see the challenges that thier opponents get away with
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I sincerely hope we are signing a defender if Mustafi is off, with the loss of Dino and Callum’s injury.
We lost too much in defence last summer, destablizing the team, hope they don’t repeat this.
Holding is not fully fit, we will need more cover, especially with the amount of cards our players are picking up
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well Dino not really a loss as he played one game for us this season, and in truth he has barely played for us at all, a total of 9 games since he joined us 2 years ago, and we still don’t know if the lad is any good or not.
If Mustafi goes, then its an experienced player gone, and would leave us with only Sokratis, David Luiz and Holding, so would certainly suggest we would need to sign a CB this month. In fact even if Mustafi stays, we could do with a CB of quality coming in, but can we actually get one.
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If Ballard is returning to fitness soon would be happy with him to take up Mavropanos role and maybe get a shot somewhere in cups, ready to come in if get couple of injuries. No idea if he’s close to return though.
Mustafi goes and it would be downright negligible not to bring in another defender given fact Holding’s comeback hasn’t been that smooth, as they rarely are with cruciates, where it normally seems to take at least 6 months after first returning before a player is close to their old self again. Ings – flying now- just latest to follow that pattern, and it may even be two years since his last one.
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we are being linked with a loan move for Man City’s John Stones
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Stones! Bloody hell, That would be interesting!. Decent player, needs mending, Arteta reputedly good with one to one development
Think we will certainly need someone without Mustafi, fighting on several fronts
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As xhaka and ozil remain the central figures in Arteta team sheet how are the idiot fans of AFTV gunnerblog Legroan and Twitter think of there footballing knowledge?
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rosicky you can be sure they all still think they know more than the head coach and the others running the club.
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One celeb on twitter claims Granit is the worst player he’s seen at Arsenal.
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Mike Dean will Ref his 500th EPL game on Saturday, a massive milestone, so which game do you think he was given by the PGMOL, thats right Arsenal v Sheffield Utd.
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markyb I bet the same idiot claims Xhaka gets sent off all the time and gives away penalties game after game too.
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so guys do you think there is anything in the John Stones rumors, is it a case of just picking a player who Arteta has worked with, or a case of agent talk to try and get city to give him more game time or to flush out interested clubs, after all he has only played 6 EPL games this season, 9 in all competitions.
For me Stones is not an outstanding defender, but is very much a ball playing CB, we seen v Crystal Palace that our game plan had David Luiz starting many of our attacks, and once CP closed him down and left that duty to Sokratis we were very stunted in our play, so a player with John Stones passing ability could work very well for us.
If we did sign him, might it mean a return to the 3 CB formation. or would Stones/David Luiz CB partnership be a revelation.
Arteta has made it clear that he believes that the way out of any full on press by opposition is for our players to run with the ball, that it only takes the beating of one man to open up the pathway out from the back, that can be done easier with the likes of Stones than it can with the likes of Sokratis or Mustafi. With the loss of Chambers, who was comfortable enough on the ball to do it, we might very well be improved with the signing of John Stones. After all its not every day that you get to sign a £50M CB on loan.
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So how many times will Dean have reffed us this season? 4, 5?
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It is a joke isn’t it. It is 500th game too so he’ll want to do something to steal the limelight for sure
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Atkinson is the VAR official too so Riley going for broke
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Youth player Stan Flaherty has left Arsenal, he has been on trial at a couple of clubs lately, rumor is he is set to sign for Newcastle
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Eduardo, with chambers injury, Arteta then saying they need to look into the jan market, if further compounded by Dino and Mustafi heading out, I would be amazed if the club do not bring someone in, indeed, I would go as far as questioning how far Arteta is being backed, which could ultimately prove dangerous of Arteta is as special as some of us, and indeed the club profess to believe
Whether they can get stones is another matter, the press love saying we constantly piss City off!
Luiz, Sok, and a semi fit Holding is not sufficient if we are trying to get into EL via the league, win the EL, and go on a FA cup run.
Last summer, we lost Kos and Montreal, it showed, emery could not cope with this loss, and other self inflicted losses. It seems emery couldn’t cope with very much.
A repeated weakening of the defence would be nothing sort of negligent, just hope it does not happen, let’s hope the football brains rule other types of interests, whether it be stones or someone else
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Rumor that Atletico Madrid will swap Thomas Lemar for Alexander Lacazette and that Arsenal will bring in Napoli forward Dries Mertens as a replacement for Lacca,
Dries Mertens is out of contract in the summer so a small fee should get him
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Swap a 24 yo for a 29 yo that cost half as much? Wow!
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Never going to happen, swap deals a really quite rare in any case.
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I fear we wont be able to get defensive cover at this stage, no matter what happens to Mustafi, but we shall see
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