Happy new year you wonderful people.
In our first podcast of the year we look at the robbery against City. Surprisingly upbeat given we lost.
Let us know what you think in the comments and tell us what improvements could be made. And don’t say “you stop going on it”.
Pedantic George
Positively Arsenal 
Great positive start to 2022. Thank you guys although I’m guessing Arteta will not be on your dinner guest list anytime soon.
So frustrating that Partey had the game of his life in an Arsenal shirt when it could be hung up for a month.
Pulsating game at the bridge.
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It was a fantastic performance and showed we could live with anyone including the best which is what we wanted all season.
As a club and as a team there are improvements still to be made but hey today we are in a much better place than before the game and this is all we can ask.
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Quite a game between Chelsea and Liverpool. At 2-0 I thought Chelsea were toast. Then Liverpool lost their mojo and two goals in succession, they were on the ropes.
It looks Liverpool are tired and didn’t have enough in the tank second half. Their defence also looks increasingly error prone. White Van man doesn’t seem to be back to his monster best. And on the flanks Chelsea had a lot of joy.
The Ox came on but he just can’t seem to get into games. He has all the attributes to be a top player but just seems to fall short. Maybe the injuries have taken their toll.
Following the City game and watching Liverpool today I am now more optimistic that we can beat them over the two legs. Especially with Mane and Salah gone.
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its a good job Mane doesn’t play for Arsenal or he wouldn’t be classed as “not that kind of player”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1477680200263639042
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Yeah officials on and off the pitch getting another clear decision absolutely wrong at least their incompetence is consistent.
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11 red cards for Arsenal under Arteta, never realized we were such a dirty team. Oh wait, its naive, isn’t that the cover up phrase used to explain bias referees.
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The worst red card ever was the David Luiz one against Wolves. How anyone with a sane mind can judge that to be a red card just beggars belief.
The refereeing standards in the PL are below mediocre to the point where there is no doubt it is deliberately engineered to be as such. Just excusing such decisions as poor judgement or mistake by the ref doesn’t cut it any more.
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reports that Harry Clarke who is on loan at Ross County, is set to be sold by Arsenal to Hibernian
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ACL Soccer
@ACL_Soccer
Arsenal have confirmed that goalkeeper, Karl Hein, has signed a new long-term contract with the club.
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reports that Eddie Nketiah is in talks with Bayer Leverkusen over signing a pre contract agreement to move to them in the summer when his AFC contract expires
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Yes, 11 red cards under Arteta, guess how many Liverpool and Utd had during the same time, clue, it’s not very many
Also, now the first club to reach 100 red cards in the Premier League era, are Arsenal really the dirtiest team in EPL history ?
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Hopefully this link works,or will come out on here, but if it does, shows Ben White less than impressed with the cheating officials after the game, good on him I say , though not sure It was the linesman’s fault
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Ed, I had a look yesterday at red card records going back to 12-13. Liverpool have 20 less than us in prem in that time, 14 to our 34.
Was surprised to be honest that the other figures were a bit more normal looking, with City, Utd, Spurs, Chelsea all between 20 and 23 I think. Not that normal but I didn’t think they’d be that high, especially Utd/Spurs. Utd experienced a big jump by looks of it for a few years after Ferguson went but in recent years have gone back to low levels.
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For us, meanwhile, well, it looks like VAR may have made things distinctly worse. They’re not going to overturn any once given- using not clear and obvious as justification, if have to (and don’t really)- but now have the option, which think have used 2-3 times (Eddie, Auba maybe), for a second bite.
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Too laborious even for me to work out times of sendings off but I know when did something like it a few year back it was pretty stark. Just in games with us, our double yellows were on average about 67 min mark and opponents only had one before 87th min.
I know Liverpool’s two against us -Can and think it was Joe Allen- were in time added on. So that’s two of their massive fourteen in a decade that would have very little impact.
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We get ridiculous cards that others do not! Mane in particular gets away with a lot of staff. In that City game, They did not get a card until end of the game! We are not in charge of the refs but really we are certainly not the most dirty team just that the Harry Maguires and kanes of the world get away with nonsense
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I will say it until I am blue in the face , or in my grave, but our club need to take this on, especially if they want ECL football, which I am convinced vested interests will prevent, using the refs amongst other means, if they can.
There must be a huge dossier by now.
I have no idea how they do it, but I am sure they could employ lawyers that do
The board must be aware of what’s going on, Wenger certainly was, as Arteta is .
Unless they want a world in which Utd , City, Liverpool and eventually Newcastle, but for now, Chelsea and the odd token plucky which won’t be us take the top 4 places.
Wenger said 4th was a trophy, or at least they say he did, under Mike Riley, Arsenal finishing fourth amounted to a lot more than that
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Yes Mandy I was glad to hear Mike Riley had retired… Alas his well trained lackeys were well a place a well oiled machine. Once they Pick the winner of the PL for the year, they start backing them with these rubbish calls. Painful aspect is that they don’t even need it they are good enough to do it themselves over 48 games, why not allow those that work hard against them win on their day.
Now I hear we have the most red cards, or first to reach 100 or something like that? some of those cards are so annoying and its even more annoying cos of these rubbish records they end up reeling out
I was really shocked to see City did not get any cards till Either the goal celebration or there about at the end of the match
Rashford and Mane against us spring to mind on several occasions
Yet Saka and Gabriel get booked for dissent.
Under AW it was so bad At times I wondered if some players left cos of this. Hleb being frustrated in one game and actually lashing out is somewhere in my memory
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Just been reading Richard Keys most recent blog, he has been outing Riley and his faults for ages, though he does say our refs are clean. Doesnt always look that way to me. I personally don’t think you have to be taking dodgy money from some mafia to be an “ unclean” ref, to me , regularly and excessively protecting say Harry Kane , Mane, or Man Utd to the point where it influences results firmly sits on the spectrum of match fixing , but others may disagree, it seems the UK media and even clubs have a tolerance to this.
But Keys puts the whole blame for the current situation firmly on Riley, bringing up a generation of refs lacking confidence, courage clout and ability, and people in the VAR room without the clout or courage to over rule the big name refs on the pitch, whatever they see
Richard Keys isn’t loved by all by any means but think he talks a lot of sense about the refs, and in particular, Mike Riley and has done so for quite some time
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Certainly clearer to me now the top 4 finishes for so long were a hell of an achievement. I believed that before anyway, and for mostly same reason as now- ie a top four finish in spite of refereeing relative to rivals which gives a large, incalculable (10-15?) swing in points each year- but it wasn’t all reconciled consistently in my head. (Had those beliefs but also plenty of thoughts about ‘monster’ dm’s and the like.)
Close to zero mercy reffing for us (now with added 2nd bite of cherry), vs plenty of mercy for opponents, and our rivals also consistently getting lots of mercy reffing…how do you go about estimating the impact of that?
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Some alternate world where Maguire, if playing exactly the same, has 4-5 reds at Utd, 4-5 pens ,too, with the suspensions, the dropped points, the hammer blows to confidence, fan slaughtering. Rudiger, Kane, Mane, plenty of others the same. Imagination literally can’t take you there as it’s so obviously an impossibility it- reffing them as they do us, or just normally- could occur. Unless of course we ever get a Luiz situation again to demonstrate exactly how it goes.
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I’d say a big canary in the mine or similar is thinking of Sergio Ramos. There’ve been plenty of complaints in Spain over years of Madrid enjoying preferable ref treatment, too many pens etc, yet I’m pretty sure about 10 or more of his record breaking 20 red card haul would have been in league.
Here, what doesn’t feel that long ago, though I guess is, a player in that mould for Utd could still pick up 5 or so reds in their career, but that changed somewhere in the early days of new millennium, as Fergie got a firm grip, tv money exploded and we got our professional ref era. Rooney was very much one of them, and probably got two or three tops, leaving about 5 straight reds out there and goodness knows how many double yellows.
Now it would be near impossible for any of that kind of player at Utd, Pool, Spurs to pick up 5 reds in a 10-15 year career at those clubs.
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I feel the biggest mistake Arsenal have made this season was not kicking up a massive stink over the non red card, think it was actually no card at all for the mcarthur kick on Saka, if I remember right it was Mike Dean, and VAR did not review it. Arteta should have gone ape shit in the after match interview, but he was way too diplomatic, and we still see Saka getting kicked game after game. Are we waiting for him or ESR to get a broken leg before we highlight the bullshit that is going on
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FT: Man Utd 0-1 Wolves
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Cheryl Stephensön Flag of JamaicaFlag of United Kingdom
@Chezzygooner
·
20h
PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREES AND WHERE THEY’RE FROM:
DURHAM.
Oliver.
MANCHESTER
Tierney
Taylor
Moss
Mason
Kavanagh
MERSEYSIDE
Dean
Banks
Jones
WEST YORKSHIRE
HEAD OF REFEREES ( PGMOL)
Mike Riley
Atkinson
Darren England
Coote
Madeley
Pawson
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Jonathan Dinzeyi and Nikolaj Moller have been recalled from their loan spells, its rumored that Arsenal are setting up new loan deals for them, in the hope they get ore game time than they got in the first half of the season
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If it’s true Isak is coming in and Eddies going out I can’t see much of an upgrade there especially as Auba and Laca may be gone by the summer as well.
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Ian I would say Isak from what little I’ve seen of him, is a completely different style of forward to Eddie, and indeed Lacca and Auba too.
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you know who might be worth a punt on signing, Marcus Rashford
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Edouardo I would not touch Rashford with a barge pole. He’s another Walcott, flatters to deceive, occasionally scores a great goal but then goes missing for huge stretches of the season. The infamous phrase, lacking a football brain comes to mind. And he does not put in a defensive shift. This season he’s been pretty rubbish.
Ian te Isak v Nketia. I think Isak is definitely an upgrade on Nketia. He’s more skillful on the ball and more physical a striker than Eddie. Much taller as well so would offer a threat in the air. And he has had better experience both at club and international level. So if we loose Eddie and get Isak I will be fine.
Problem is his current form in terms of goal scoring is not great but that could linked to the way the team is performing at the moment. Secondly he would cost a stupid amount of money and for the price being bandied about I would rather push the boat out and go Vlahovich.
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we are being linked with a loan to buy move for PSG midfielder Gini Wijnaldum who has not settled well with PSG since his Bosman move from Liverpool last summer
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I wonder how Daniel Ek’s takeover of Arsenal is going, ha ha ha.
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I know Isak is 6’4 and is different to Eddie and that’s why I can’t help thinking who is he supposed to be replacing. If Eddie goes we are losing 3 strikers in two windows four if Pepe goes as well.
It just seems strange for continuity sake promising Eddie more minutes then letting him go.
As far as experience goes Eddie has been to tournaments all round the world and scored goals everywhere.
If Eddie was Swedish and had started in the German or Spanish leagues I think his record would have been much better than Isaks.
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Ornstein reports that Arsenal and Roma have agreed a loan deal till the end of the season for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, no purchase option included so far, but talks still on going on that aspect of the move, but that the loan deal will go through even if no agreement is reached on a purchase option
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several journos reporting that Liverpool are trying to get the CC semi final first leg game on Thursday called off, the odd thing is they are reporting that if it is postponed then we would play the away leg next Thursday first and the original first leg at home would become the second leg.
it really should have been one leg semi finals with all that was going on with Covid
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well Ian if I’m not mistaken Isak was a winger who has only in recent seasons been converted to a main striker.
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Liverpool FC
@LFC
· 1h
We can confirm an application has been submitted for the postponement of Thursday’s Carabao Cup semi-final, first-leg tie with Arsenal due to an escalating number of suspected positive COVID-19 cases and player availability
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wednesday 19th january looks to be the only possible alternate date for our home leg if its called off this thursday
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Craig Pawson has been appointed referee for #Arsenal’s FA Cup third round tie against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
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Think with striker we can be more confident than usual the general rumour – we are after a top main striker, and they’ll be expensive- is true. Would be very surprised if Auba returns to fold and also seems likely Laca will leave when contract runs out.
Not a clue who. Would love them to be good in air for one, and for me good hold up and link play pretty much essential to maximise strengths of Smith Rowe, Saka, Ode and Martinelli.
Not sure Isak looks right type for that. looks very talented skilful player, excellent dribbler for size and elegant with it but from little seen can’t recall much link play nor successful battling with cb’s. Also checked and while seems to have 3 headed goals in career they were all featured on his highlights vid and all pretty much open goals from close range.
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I really think Vlahovich ticks all the boxes we want and is just suited to the Premier league. I really don’t care if he costs 70 or 80 million. Thats small change to the Kroenkes. And we didn’t Fiorentina want Torreira which is an added bonus. So I say get the deal done. And possibly get a midfielder on loan. Wynaldum would be perfect with his top flight Premier league experience. We have a golden chance to get top four. Why waste it? And players like Vlahovich will not get any cheaper, if anything the way he is playing he’s likely to be scoring more with his value rocketing.
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The difficulty I see with playing the ties the other way around means we lose home advantage for the second leg would be switched is that something the league are prepared to sanction.
While I know they don’t give a shot about us it will leave them wide open if something similar happens again.
The more I hear about Isak the more he looks like a third choice striker and so getting rid of Eddie looks more and more ridiculous.
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It’s confirmed as off now with the games either side of the spuds game but we retain home advantage in the second leg.
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Why do so feel that a Covid postponement suits Klopp only too well. I feel that this is just another way some clubs can manipulate the system.
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Courtinio would seem strange seeing as we have M.O. and ESR unless the ESR rumours were true or Mikel wants to play one of them further forward.
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Yet another deliberate dirty and malicious challenge by captain Kane where he targets Harvetz and leaves him with a head injury, has not been able to continue.
No comments from the commentators, nothing from the ref.
Dirty Kane on the lose again!
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Well poor old Auba has Covid things are going bad to worse for him, hope he recovers soon.
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Noticed Kane’s dirt that Tfl mentioned immediately last night- followed ball but in peripheral vision was sure I’d seen him clout opponent from behind.
Sure enough was easy to spot yet another bit of thoroughly dirty play- made determined sprint from behind when almost certain couldn’t reach ball, and showed no sign of actually wanting ball, but instead caught opponent from behind/side with upper body/arm when they were in vulnerable half-stopped position after releasing long pass- when rewound it and watched that part of screen.
Dirty Harry indeed
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Amazing thing, while there was break in play to treat groggy prone player, they showed no replay of what did it, no close ups, no analysis. I know there’s only so many people I can accuse of being biased, but how the hell else do you explain that one?
Have only a rough idea of how it works with televised sport/football. Believe there’s some sort of director in front of screens, communicating with camera men, selecting angles ,replays, etc. Seems no chance therefore that they didn’t look to see what happened, nor have camera which was trained on it at the right moment for close up (I’m sure there’s never a point in game when multiple cameras aren’t where ball is), so who makes the call?
Presumably they are in-house personnel with Sky or of sort of external they supply exactly what Sky ask for. Sure is aggravating to know they pull that shit. Troubling to think where else they withhold replays to protect players/teams or similar.
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