Hello Positives.
A good win and more importantly, a decent performance against Brentford has lifted the spirits and keeps us in contention for the top 4 trophy. Sadly Spurs and United also won, so the status quo is maintained. In this podcast we admire how the 3 sections of the team, Defence, Midfield and attack are functioning well as units, but the team play overall is still lagging behind.
The role of the much maligned Lacazette is considered and we discuss how we should not be doing anything as a fanbase, to make the job more difficult for Arteta of any of the players.
Pedantic George.
Positively Arsenal 
Just listened to the new podcast because I do things the wrong way round and again I thought it was very good.
I agree with George that Wolves out of the next three games will be the most difficult because their style means they will be more dangerous at our place than at theirs. However beat them and that should be enough of a gap to ensure we finish above them.
I think the hammers have shot their bolt and when Europe restarts that will only make things even more difficult for their relatively small squad.
So beat Wolves and we have to be favourites for a minimum of a top six finish.
The race for fourth is a lottery a the moment because none of the three clubs are better than each other, whoever hits a good run will claim the prize.
Manure have the biggest squad and probably the potential for the biggest improvement, the spuds have a manager who has just started to improve them but is still finding it difficult a we have a manager and a team that might get better next season but also have a massive fragility within the squad.
The comments about Cedric are right he’s not a bad back up but is that enough (even forgetting he should of been sent off in the last two of games). That actually is indicative of the squad as a whole as most of the back are not bad but mostly are way off the original. Big Bob, ESR and Eddie are the only three straight replacements (and possibly Elneney for Partey).
As the season draws to a close the team that he as the best back ups or keeps the first eleven fit will come fourth.
I’m not sure it will be a roller coaster or more like a running track where you cannot see the leader until the stagger unfolds.
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PGMOL have rolled out their big gun for the Wolves game, Martin Atkinson
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HT: Leicester City U23’s 1-1 Arsenal U23’s
Hutchinson with our goal to draw us level shortly before half time after LCFC had taken the lead from a penalty early on
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FT: 1-1
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Omar seems to be doing really well and is obviously close to the first team. Unless we have lots of injuries this season will be to soon for him but next year with the chance of early Europa and league cup games to play he could have some opportunities.
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“Omar coming”
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15 games to go this season, and for me the biggest worry is that a lack of goals will cost us dearly. How many people here would bet on AFC scoring even 20 goals in our remaining games, we have scored only 36 in our 23 games to this point, and in our remaining games we face among others Liverpool, Chelsea Man Utd, Spurs, West Ham, Wolves and southampton. Our two main strikers Lacazette (3) and Nketiah (0) are not what you call full of goals. ESR is our leading scoring with 9 goals, Saka has 7, with Odegaard and Martinelli with 4 each. The departed Aubameyang scored 4 too. The rest of the squad has scored a combined 5 goals, with Gabriel getting 3 of them. Pepe, Xhaka, White, Elneny, Tomi, Tavares and Sambi have not registered a goal for us this season.
For me it is not a player quality failing, but a system failure. And I think it will cost us a top 4 slot. Under Arteta we have seldom looked like we will hammer anyone, or bang in a lot of goals, and despite at times looking like we can play great football, and scoring some high quality goals, we just don’t look like we will score many.
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reports that Arsenal are set to give Arteta a new 3 year contract worth £25M
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RTÉ to screen Liverpool-Arsenal Women’s FA Cup tie
Updated / Tuesday, 22 Feb 2022 23:10
Arsenal’s Katie McCabe
Arsenal’s Katie McCabe
The meeting of Liverpool and Arsenal in the fifth round of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup will be broadcast live on RTÉ News Channel on Sunday next.
In what is a first for RTÉ Sport, Irish internationals Megan Campbell, Niamh Fahey and Leanne Kiernan could all feature for Liverpool while Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe is a key player for Women’s Super League table-toppers Arsenal side.
The match kicks off at 12 noon, with coverage, also on the RTÉ Player, beginning at 11.55am. Darragh Moloney and Lisa Fallon will be on commentary.
The RTÉ News Channel is available on:
Saorview – Channel 21,
Virgin Media – Channel 200
Sky – Channel 521
Eir – Channel 517
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Ed, while I totally agree with your well made points on goals I do think we do need to consider that Eddie cannot be counted as he has never been given a chance. Ronaldo, arguably the best striker in the world, has recently gone several hours of football without scoring and yet Eddie hasn’t even been given that time in playing total.
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the thing is ian, unless others get injured Eddie is not going to be given much game time, plus he hasn’t scored a league goal this season in his limited minutes, the points made still stand, where are the goals going to come from, some reports today that ESR missed training, and my main point is that none of the players we have seem very likely to score many goals for the rest of the season, be that they either don’t suit the football being played, or that artetaball means that no players could possibly suit it re goals. For me we need a target man striker, who can not only take but make goals, one with speed and great work rate, now where the fuck are we going to get one of them and how can we persuade him to pick us over more successful clubs. But my point still stands about needing a target man striker, and until we try that I don’t think we have much chance of goals flowing for us.
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FT: Burnley 1-0 Spurs
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So so Spursy. Let’s hope we can make it count but as others have commented this is the most difficult of the 3 games ahead. COYG.
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Like I said I agree with your main point Ed but Eddie could be the Answer. His link up play is good and he very rarely loses the ball and he is a natural goalscorer certainly more than Laca.
We have a small squad so Mikel must use other players to solve problems if the ones he’s picking aren’t working.
The problem is with all those around us refusing to take fourth by the scruff of the neck then Mikel thinks he’s ok.
Although all games from here on in are important tonights one is especially so to make sure we are not letting another team into the race. I think Wolves will be better than they were at home so it’s result, result, result for us tonight.
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I don’t normally watch the presser because there normally generic and so it was Mikel like his football is very drab.
How I miss the interesting and insightful presser’s Arsene used to give, each one entertaining and informative like going into your favourite professor’s lecture.
Let’s hope the team produce better tonight.
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Ramsdale, Cedric Soares, White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Lacazette.
Subs: Leno, Holding, Pepe, Tavares, Lokonga, Elneny, Nketiah, Swanson, Hutchinson.
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Jose Sa, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Semedo, Moutinho, Neves, Ait-Nouri, Hwang, Podence, Jimenez.
Subs: Ruddy, Marcal, Neto, Trincao, Silva, Jonny, Toti, Dendoncker, Cundle
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Arsenal@Arsenal·52m🚨 Smith Rowe (sickness, not Covid) and Tomiyasu (calf) both miss tonight’s squad
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Sam Dean
@SamJDean
·
26m
Understand that the PGMOL, English football’s refereeing body, have accepted a formal request for a meeting with Arsenal. It comes a few weeks after Mikel Arteta demanded “explanations” following Gabriel Martinelli’s red card at Wolves.
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wolves take the lead
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saka booked
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HT: Arsenal 0-1 Wolves
jittery at the back, lacking creativity in midfield, and not sharp up front, where are we going to get the goals needed to win this, this is the problem when you set up to try and win 1-0 and it don’t go to plan, a big big improvement is needed in the second half
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70 minutes gone, and its not really getting any better,pepe on
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nketian on for cedric
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Pepeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 1-1, set up by Eddie, great finish
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8 minutes plus what should be about ten minutes of added time after all the time wasting, but it will likely be 3
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6 minutes added on time
tavares on for tierney who got injured
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Lacazetteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee or maybe odegaard but who the fuck cares its 2-1 to the Arsenal
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seems its an OG by the wolves keeper, ha ha ha
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FT: Arsenal 2-1 Wolves
Pepe and an OG give AFC the win, and up to 5th a point off 4th with 2 games in hand
it certainly wasn’t pretty, but fuck wolves and their time wasting, and fuck martin atkinson
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Serious character, and an abundance of team spirit
Well done to the lot of them
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I’ve always disliked Wolves ever since Jonathan Hayward, heir to the pickle fortune, failed to pick me up from Haywards Heath Station (as he’d been asked to do) on the way to an Under 19 match way back in the 70s.
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Arsenal had 26 shots today, only 5 on target, Pepe helped make us more potent, and Nketiah was good when he came on too.
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our next games is not till Sunday March 6th, away to Watford
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then somehow despite being out of all the cups we play 3 games in 6 days, LCFC at 4.30pm on Sunday 13th, then Liverpool on Wednesday 16th at 8.15pm, followed by Aston Villa on Saturday 19th at 12.30pm. Liverpool who are in all the cups somehow at the same time get 8 days to play 3 games.
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Mikel Arteta was a happy man after we turned round a half-time deficit to beat Wolves and close the gap to the top four.
Afterwards, the boss faced the media to discuss the win, Lacazette’s late winner, the team’s celebrations and more.
This is what he said:
on the win…
Well it was a great one. Winning at the end against a really good team, who – once they are ahead – are extremely difficult to beat them. I think they haven’t lost a game after going ahead since 2018, but we kept pushing. I think the attitude, the spirit, the quality the energy that the players put in, in the second-half again. To fight, to go and win the match was phenomenal. It created a great atmosphere and synergy with our fans, and it was great to win it that way.
on Lacazette’s late winner…
That’s what we need as a team, and now we are building a team with a lot of young talent and a lot of new players, they live those experiences. I said to them at half-time: “If you want to be at the top by the end of May, we are going to have to overturn results maybe two, three or four more times, and today is an opportunity.” I am especially happy when a player individually makes an error that costs a goal, that then the team can put that aside and win the match, and never even talk about it.
on the players’ celebrations…
And I encouraged them to celebrate every victory. Because you can tell how difficult it is in this game to win football matches. Our supporters are the same, every time we win we should celebrate because when you lose or draw you know the faces are always (sad).
on Tomiyasu’s injury…
Yes, it was the other calf. So he came back and he was completely fine, and in training he felt the other calf. So this in an issue because he’s a professional, who is giving absolutely everything to help us, and in the last few months he’s not been fit.
on our top four hopes…
It pulled us a little bit closer. One game less and three points. 13 games to go, and now it’s about Watford. I think it’s about belief, that we should keep playing the way that we are playing – and keep insisting – and have that resilience and that capacity to dominate matches like we are doing right now…and then that’s the energy and (synergy) with our fans to create a special atmosphere. Where people don’t want to come and play against Arsenal.
on whether these kind of nights can be defining…
Well against the opponents that are up there in the table, it’s really, really important to win those matches, because at the end of the day it’s a six-point match. We’ve done it against them twice in the last 13 or 14 days and it is really important. This race is going to be a long one, and we should know that we have to be conscious of that. Now we have to prepare again, forget what we’ve done and start training and focus on Watford now.
on the importance of this result for getting in the top four…
We don’t know because we are not there yet. When we are there I will tell you how important it is. Today what is important is that we focus on playing better, maintain that capacity as a team to dominate and take the game where we want, and that’s what I want from everybody involved, especially the subs because today I think they were magnificent. There are some good examples for them to use tomorrow and we will keep going.
on Nicolas Pepe’s impact…
I told you last week, I see a different Nico. I don’t know, it’s his energy, his happiness, his all-round play, how he’s training, I was convinced that he could come in and do something for the team.
on Lacazette’s performance…
When I see our striker in the 85th minute, chasing a full-back in the corner flag, winning the ball back, playing, going, fighting, missing one chance, missing two chances, going again. What can I do? I can only praise him and try to help him as much as possible and give him support. At the end he got the reward. For me, it’s Lacazette’s goal.
on where our current resilience is coming from…
I think for the environment and the chemistry and the trust that they have between them, they believe in themselves, they believe in their teammates, the staff, the coaching and the club. When that happens they know, and they try to find a way always to look forward in a positive way to het the outcome that they want and this is what it’s all about.
on whether the current situation in Ukraine made it hard to focus on football…
That was difficult, to be fair. I spoke to the players about that before the game. Life changes in a moment and you don’t expect anything. It can affect you, it can affect your family and it can affect anyone in this world. We are extremely lucky to do what we do, but we don’t know when, so we have to go out there and play like tomorrow we maybe don’t have it. That uncertainty has to give us an understanding of how lucky we are to do what we do.
on whether it’s time for Pepe to step up and become a regular…
He’s on the right path and when you’re able to do that and contribute to the team, you’re going to get more minutes. The more minutes you have, you need to make the most out of them in training every single day and show what you can do. He has the ability to do it, that’s for sure.
Copyright 2022 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
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I quite liked the Wolves in the ‘Take away army’ time and onto ex -Arsenal John Barnwell period. The LC of 80 was pretty exciting game, even if the football isnt as excellent as these days, it was the sort of gripping tense match I miss in finals. Plus they had guys like Peter Daniel who looked hard as nails, that guy scared the poop out of me as a kid.
I liked the ball they had in those LC games, with the red stripe around it.
Wolves have an ‘orrible badge though…
Sure glad we won though! Its not the old days, and expectations are low, however…
COYG!
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It was the Derek Dougan side for me way back in the day they could play.
Right let’s get this straight Pepe’s turn and finish was very good but he certainly didn’t make us more potent when he came on in fact he lost the ball with his first touch and lost it a further 5 or 6 times at a time when possession was critical.
It wasn’t until Eddie came on that the Wolves back line became stretched. Eddie showing all the attributes of a front man coming short to pick up balls and then that lovely shoulder drop in the centre circle to completely lose his man. It was Eddie again who made the run beyond the back line to collect and then drag the ball back for Pepe to score.
Laca, Saka and Martinelli had failed to do that all game and indeed were selfish on lots of occasions.
I like Laca he always gives and plays at 100% but he gives lots of free kicks away and he hasn’t the finese to create consistently for others. Several times he tried to turn and shoot when players were better positioned behind him.
25 attempts say the stats but alot of those were a bit of a cheek calling them attempts. Parteys shots were more likely to endanger the kebab shop down Avenall Road than the goal.
Wolves on the other hand missed three very good chances to score and when you put that with the extremely fortunate OG we got away with one last night. However I said before the game this was all about the result and the fact we kept going and going gives us tremendous credit.
One last word for the ref, another diabolical display resulting in both sets of players and coaches complaining about how shit he was but as my boy said at least he was consistently shit throughout the game.
Going forward we have to be favourites for fourth now even if we lose against chelski and Liverpool.
The chase is on!
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I was driving back from a work event yesterday evening so listened to the first half commentary on Talk Sport, brought to me by Sam Matterface and Dean Ashton. It was almost unbearably biased, prasing Wolves for everything, sly little digs at Arsenal at every opportunity. They really don’t like us, do they? It felt for all the world that we were headng for a 0-2 home defeat, but how good to see the team dig deep and not only salvage the point but go to claim all three. I haven’t seen the game yet, but from a short compilation I saw on twitter this morning it looked as if Partey had a good game. He played pretty well in the Brentford match too, so I feel I owe him a bit of an apology as I have been quite critical of him in the past.
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Did anyone call on Team Spirit. LOL
So happy for the win!
More of this… 1 Nil to the Arsenal till end of season!
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Now only three games outside London for the remainder of the season.
Unfortunately that means five London derbies as well from the last fourteen.
Six games at home and eight away.
Seven games against current top ten teams seven against teams from the bottom.
82 points absolute maximum our rivals could get (manure)
38 points to guarantee us top four from possible 42
(As Ed points out that would be less if we beat our rivals)
All things considered certainly doable if we can keep the main players fit and do well in the games against manure, spuds and the hammers.
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Azeez got a straight red card for the U23’s tonight in their loss to LFC, once again an AFC player getting a red much easier than any opponents do
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sorry it was not azeez, but salah-eddine that got the straight red
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Quite thankful we have the owners we have, rather than one or two I can think of that some have wished for
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Report – Mathaeus Roberts hits brace and Ethan Nwaneri impresses as Arsenal U18s beat Reading
by jeorge bird
U18 Premier League
Arsenal 4 (Roberts 9, 29, Foran 62, Edwards 84) Reading 2 (Ehibhatiomhan 44, Vickers 90)
Mathaeus Roberts seized his opportunity to impress, with the midfielder scoring a brace as Arsenal U18s returned to winning ways with a 4-2 victory at home to Reading.
Roberts has had to be patient for playing time in his first season as a scholar, but he started today, with both of his goals being assisted by highly rated 14-year-old Ethan Nwaneri.
Bradley Ibrahim and Lino Sousa started after coming on for the U23s last night, with the latter captaining the U18s today.
Schoolboys Brian Okonkwo and Omari Benjamin were named amongst the substitutes, with Charles Sagoe Jr and Billy Vigar dropping to the bench.
Kovacevic
Foran-Ibrahim-Sousa
Robinson-Sweet-Bandeira-Quesada Thorn
Roberts-Nwaneri
Edwards
Subs: Vigar (for Roberts, 75), Gower (for Nwaneri, 85), Sagoe Jr (for Ibrahim, 85). Not used: B. Okonkwo, Benjamin.
Arsenal took the lead after just nine minutes with Nwaneri setting up Roberts, who opened the scoring with a header.
The same duo then combined again in the 29th minute as Roberts got his second goal of the game.
Reading reduced the deficit before half time as Princewill Ehibhatiomhan scored.
In the second half Taylor Foran scored his first goal at this level to make it 3-1 to Arsenal and the prolific Khayon Edwards added a fourth after good work from substitute Vigar.
Reading got a goal back late on through Caylan Vickers, but it didn’t take the shine off an impressive victory for Arsenal, who are sixth in the table.
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Well Wolves were briefly in the race for fourth and now their out again leaving just the four teams left.
manure have probably the most difficult run in having to play city this weekend and Liverpool, chelski, spuds, west ham and of course us
spuds have it realitively easy.
Of course all run ins are difficult to judge because alot of the teams down the bottom will hit different patches of form and so they will take points from teams from the top.
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ha ha ha, Arsenal just posted an after tax loss of over £107m and the AST are whinging about a first season ticket price hike in 7 years, 4% increase. Amazingly how their tune has changed in just a month, only weeks ago the club cutting the wage bill was genius, as it needs to save as much money as possible, but when fans asked for a modest increase in ticket price, (seen several say its about £1.50 per game) its the club should swallow the losses. Entitled little pricks.
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