Hello all.
In this podcast we look back on our recent victory, forward to the Liverpool game and the rest of the season. It’s a fun time to be an Arsenal fan, at lest until tomorrow night. Make hay while the sun shines.
Pedantic George
37 comments on “Optimism As Liverpool Looms”
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Positively Arsenal 
Hello. And thanks. Not sure our love is in the pocket yet, but Im a worrying tool when it comes to the Guns. But certainly agree that we should be able to give them a game.
Thanks lads, and take care.
COYG!
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This might seriously come back on me, but for some reason, I am strangely optimistic on the Liverpool game
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“Sporting integrity and Chelsea do not belong in the same sentence. For 19 years corrupt money has fuelled Chelsea’s success.” – Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson
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utd fans taking their exit from the cl like the cunts they are
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I am very optimistic in my heart but realistically have we played well enough in any game this season to suggest we should win this game, definitely not.
There are positives though, Partey is a suddenly starting to look the part and with our Captain there is a very strong Midfield partnership developing.
MO is pulling lots of strings and Saka, Martinelli and ESR always look dangerous. Of course the biggest cause for optimism is the brilliance of Aaron who is making a ordinary defence look good.
The problem is ordinary doesn’t normally work against such brilliant teams and if Cedric is still there he will get absolutely mashed and might even finally get sent off because of surely his luck has to run out with refs at some point.
I also wonder if MO will get the space to work as he has been, I think he will find some but his time on the ball could be restricted.
When you look at the amount of possession Leicester had then it is obviously worrying what Liverpool could do. Mikel must think of this if it’s close in the latter stages when he makes substitutions because we won’t have time to indulge the likes of Pepe.
However Palace frustrated city so let’s hope Liverpool are as wasteful against us.
A draw would still be a fantastic result.
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Steve Gibson clearly knows the game and what he’s talking about .
Perfectly sums up Chelsea, if reports to be believed, even some of their fans drew the line at what they tried with the Boro game.
A truly disgusting entity and have been for some time
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With the current/recent balance in midfield not forgetting the good form it should not be as easy as it was last time out for Thiago to school the midfield.
The Emperor out (with Niles list to a bit part loan) is a huge loss but I’d rather have him back for Utd and Spurs then rushed back.
COYG!
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Arsenal: Ramsdale, Cedric Soares, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Lacazette.
Subs: Leno, Smith Rowe, Holding, Pepe, Tavares, Lokonga, Elneny, Nketiah, Swanson
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago, Diaz, Jota, Mane.
Subs: Kelleher, Konate, Keita, Firmino, Salah, Gomez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones, Minamino
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Great atmosphere, and the Guns getting under the skin of Klopp+co. Martinelli’s been exciting to watch? COYG!!!!
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liverpool 2 up, not looking like we have a way back in this one
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ESR on for Odegaard who has not been in this game
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Liverpool shift their stance at HT as explained by Winterburn
IMO Nketiah might have had more joy today.
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spurs beat brighton 2-0 to make matters worse
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pepe on for saka, who was also poor today
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all over, 2-0 loss, still a long way to go before we are title challengers
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Oh well, I was wrong, Liverpool , like City are just better than us at the moment, seemingly whatever we do judging by results against them in recent years.
But Our fate this season will be defined by lesser opponents , and think Chelsea at the moment are lesser to Liverpool, though they can be lucky with it
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It has affirmed what we really knew that we have to be the best of the rest at this present time. I agree that beating the rest is our aim. We do lack a real sharp shooter and Liverpool appear to loads to spare.
However the Guns do look like a team and Martinelli has some skills and more
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We do lack firepower compared to the very elite , making it hard to compete with a side that can bring on Salah and Firmino , and take off a player who has scored seven goals in seven games against us. But we were at least competitive until those soft goals went in. Even if things go to plan, It will take a couple seasons at least to compete against the very best teams, as pleasant as it would be to beat them just once in a while. But yes, flat track bullying will do for now
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I didnt expect to win, however like many of you guys I thought we might…and certainly gave it a good shot in the first half, old Klopp was kacking his nat wats, and if Martins shot would have been a tad higher it was going in, which would have meant another scenario, same with Martinellis late shot.
We werent that far from pulling it off, but you could feel the disappointment as the first goal went in and the second felt like the end of the road, and that attitude worries me a bit… but who knows next year? Certainly we grown and hopefully are still growing. Liverpool are the finished product, we arent, but we are looking much much better. Missed Tomi last night though
Im really interested to see how we get on in the next games.
COYG!
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Like everyone else I wasn’t expecting a win but still disappointed with the result.
We have to temper any criticism with the realization we were being measured against the best team in England right now.
Good teams create chances great teams finish them and that was difference.
When games are close as this was the officials make a difference and once again we nothing from the MIB last night.
It was interesting that after all the praise for Partey in recent weeks, rightly so, that he started well but as soon as Liverpool tightened their press it was Xhaka who took over calmed situations down, played simple as well as stylish passes and kept us ticking over. A true Captain’s performance.
I know people were blaming Aaron for the first goal but sometimes even the best keepers get beaten at the near post (Sir Bob) and there was several mistakes leading to the goal.
Laca and MO dropped off to far, Ben got pulled inside instead of handing the man over and Cedric made the biggest mistake ball watching and getting caught absolutely cold.
Fins you are absolutely right about Eddie, for all Lacas battling abilities he is just to slow and Mikel always leaves him on to long so he is absolutely treading water by the time he comes off.
There were many instances last night where he was just to slow and Eddie would have taken better advantage.
Our main solace we can take from last night was we did play well overall and that is the best team out of the way. I do think we will lose to chelski as well but if we beat everyone else were fourth
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There are often comments on this sight regarding Arteta’s likeability. The whole post match interview thing is tough as emotions are high and yet you are judged on every word spoken. However I find myself switching off when Arteta and Pep are rolled out. The latest whinge about fixture congestion when we cancelled the original games just seems bound to cause controversy. We all know the influences that come to play when fixtures are decided. The Team are playing with more freedom and seem a happy unit so I can only assume that Arteta lightens up behind closed doors unless you cross him of course. I do agree with George that it is hard to like the man but good things are starting to happen and great to see 4 gunners in the England squad.
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Aaron and Gab M out that’s not good, let’s see how the squad copes COYG.
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Villa 0 Arsenal 2,000
Xhaka would have been off for that?
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Oh yes indeed. Mings did that deliberately leaving his foot in to catch Saka. The players all knw what he did by their reaction.
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Xhaka on a yellow, soon to be red? 2-1 on said Moss.
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Phew. That I’ll do nicely though. COYG!
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1 nil to the Arsenal!
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COYG!
This squad had the grit and luck to pull in the points in the autumn when the football was desperately shite and chances were as rare as an apology from Boris. And it was a big ask to hope for 10 plus goals from Saka and Rowe.
Thanks Ian for the feedback, Nketiah had a good game against Liverpool last season as did Nelson, my instinct is that younger/quicker legs can beat this Liverpool team.
most hoped for this as salvation when Auba was lost as the potential was there. And it is great to see.
Saka bouncing back after the Euros like this, hitting new levels as he grows, it is a fine example for all.
A Little bit off rotation to rest some of those bruised limbs when required will be one of Arteta’s biggest tests ahead the encouraging thing is he is slowly gently getting better at managing the legs (legs can’t hear you shout…).
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Great result but not good for the question Fins posed. Pepe is just not good enough especially when you want to hold onto possession in the last twenty minutes when you’re coming under pressure away from home. The fact that the manager keeps putting him on in that situation is a major worry not just for the rest of this season but in his judgement of players going forward.
Again this game proved that Leno is a very good back up keeper and affirmed his ability as an excellent shot stopper and is very brave, as was seen when catching cleanly over the top of Gabriel especially in the light of the Brighton incident. However his command of his area and his tendency to keep rooted to his line when crosses are coming in makes him a liability and we will need Aaron to attend all of the rest of the games this season.
Cedric is another who is vulnerable against fast wingers and the timing of his tackles can be awful.
Once again Mikel left Laca on to long and again he was to slow in key moments and cannot keep his workrate and the high press going much past 60 minutes.
At the moment when we have our first eleven fit we are a good side (but no better than that) but outside that only ESR, Eddie and possibly Elneney are decent replacements.
For weeks Ive been saying our run in is really hard and the spuds have to be favourites for fourth and this game just emphasized that.
We desperately need the Happy Hammers to take something from the game tomorrow because after that the spuds only have us and Liverpool to play of any note whereas most of our games looks difficult.
The result today was absolutely vital and when the international break is over we need a fully fit side for the remaining weeks and see if we can become more solid and more clinical. We will also need others around us to drop points.
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Good result today, and some pleasing aspects to the performance.
Yet again, a referee seemingly on a Mike Riley bonus for carding certain Arsenal players
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Have a look at the last free kick again, G6 ‘seems’ (does) to pull Young to the ground-looks more like NFL! Good job all eyes were on Leno! We got away with that one.
Nice to see the big smile on Lenos face and the lads supporting him.
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An echo of a ‘Dont look up’ moment at Everton when all they were telling the kid to fk off for at that moment ruining the game?
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Mills, there were no stoppages in the four minutes of extra time and so as the free kick was taken the whistle should have immediately gone just like ref Thomas did in the world cup, no foul, no save, the ball wouldn’t even have got into the box end of game.
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You and Ed are right Ian.
Im not looking for a scrap but I still wanted to reply. What played out wasnt that even if it should have been: there was a foul, a free kick and Coutinho takes the kick after the whistle blows to restart the game,and the the game lasts another five seconds perhaps less. Gabriel pulls Young down in that time and it should have been a pen to Villa.If Coutinho would have got the ball in the net it would have counted, and so strictly should it have been a pen to Villa.
However it wasnt. And we won, and thats that.
Many times that sort of holding goes against us ( Kos etc) so to me from my perspective we got away with that one.
Tbh, I only wrote it as the blog is often so silent these days, and it seemed an interesting incident. But as I said you were right. Trouble is ‘should’ doesnt often play out in life?
Nice to see Aaron congratulating Leno too, team camaraderie is great to see. Could have really been horrible to think if they had scored it was their only shot on target.
Anyway, glad we won and the win will do the lads the world of good for their confidence after the Livercrutches game.
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New post is up
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