Nothing can dampen the elation of Shotta and Blackburn George after Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat of Manchester United on Sunday. While the duo were concerned about the cautious approach by the Gunners for most of the game, the dramatic manner in which Arsenal scored the winning goals was cause for much celebration. They concur with Declan Rice, arguably the Man Of The Match, who noted that even at this stage of the season Arsenal could ill afford to fall five (5) pts behind behind Manchester City who are already setting a blistering pace. Mention was made of the return of Gabriel Magalhães in central defense and Zinchenko as an inverted full-back, which made Arsenal a more balanced team than in previous games. There was however continuing concern with the performance of Kai Havertz who seems shot of confidence. Shotta is @shotta_gooner on Twitter and blogs at http://www.uncensoredarsenal.com Blackburn George is @arseblagger on Twitter.
35 comments on “Arsenal’s Spirit Wins The Day.”
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Positively Arsenal 
Akinola, Alebiosu, Flores and Pepe all leaving Arsenal for foreign shores, barely a fee among them
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So the Pepe debacle finally comes to an end.
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I almost felt sorry for Pepe making his debut at the same time as Saka, as anyone could tell that the rookie debutant was a better footballer then the record signing.
When I say anyone I don’t include the arseblaggers.
who were lauding the “change” that they could believe in at that time, praising all and sundry for the spend spend spend. Interestingly enough these same people even now think the squad has improved with Xhaka leaving. If you ever needed a definition of hubris we have a good one!
Thanks for keeping this sane blog going.
Shotta your comments on VAR were spot on, the most interesting and relevant on this topic out there.
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Just like noticing things the second time you watch a match, I thought I would give this a second listen.
Excellent points brought up amongst some humorous moments as always and Shotta’s description of the Liverpool manager as “old what’s his face,” was a brilliant way to truly describe the mad German and a meme of that moment should be put on all Liverpool accounts as it would definitely enrage them
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I too thought we were over cautious in our approach to this game. I do understand some of the reasons why we might have started that way.
Our midfield is not as stable as last seasons, without Xhaka, who seemed to be able to adapt to any variation or position any manager wanted him to play (something else his distractors couldn’t understand) and with Declan and Kai adapting to new positions less quickly we are definitely more vulnerable from the counter.
Manure even though they are certainly not the best team that has represented their club are still really quick on the counter and Mikel was concerned about this.
If you add the fact that Zinchenko, although brilliant in midfield and driving us forward, is now showing more and more cracks in his defensive duties.
As Rice mentioned this was a must win game and so I think Mikel started out making sure there was less chance of them hurting us knowing we had the ability to hurt them.
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On Kai, his most successful period at Bayer was when he was arriving late into or around the box assisting and scoring.
This is why we brought him, however he is not Xhaka or indeed Rambo so his worth will be shown in final third of the pitch not elsewhere like a box to box player. Obviously if he’s not doing that he will be critiziced and quite rightly. The question is should he fit in on the training field and earn his place in the side and let ESR, Trossard stake their claim.
As far as never seeing a headless chicken arriving at a club and turning into a stone cold killer I would say remember TH14 who you were never confident if he was one on one with the keeper when he first turned up.
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Personally I didn’t think Bukayo had a good game. Not because he was bad but he is so consistently good that if he is not brilliant your disappointed.
He was up against a makeshift fullback that wanted him to come in on the inside. Whether it was team tactics or personal decision making Saka obliged all through the game and whereas Martinelli was enjoying success by taking on the full back , even when not getting past him getting corners on most occasions.
Ben White overlapped Bukayo but only received the ball once or twice instead the act of our number 7 going inside that normally bears fruit with MO produced almost nothing in this game.
When I see manures team sheet I expected Saka to have a field day unfortunately that never happened.
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Lovely comments all round. You guys help my growing cynicism about the club’s management and the way they manipulate fans loyalty to the football club as much as there are many among us who cynically go along with the program for profit and their own personal aggrandizement. So many examples:
(1) The wasteful and gluttonous spending Arsenal have embarked on the minute they shoved Wenger out the door. Four (4) years later, all there is to show is one FA cup. Pepe was our biggest ever signing when he was bought to the club and gone for less than “a picked egg and a bag of crisps” according to george
(2) Hyping of players in line with their price tag and then turning on them when they predictably fail (Pepe again and I predict this will be the fate of Haevertz).
(3) Destroying the reputation of out-of-favor players who indisputably brought glory to the club. Ozil and Aubameyang come to mind; the first broke our 14 year trophy drought and the latter’s goals won us our last FA cup.
I can’t express how disappointed I am in what our club has become but then I shouldn’t be surprised. The signs were always there.
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The Pepe issue is made worse by the success of Joe Willock and his rising value, which is now said to be higher than Partey.
To let another academy player go and keep Pepe was an absolute travesty and a massive cost to the club.
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Pepe was let go for free
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Shotta
We can appreciate the good football and signings in recent period & also consider that the former highly respected physios might’ve done a better job with the new signing in the first day of this season.
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Big goal for Zinchenko tonight.
Looks like he started from midfield for his national team.
Tierney is playing for a great team in Spain and also in the CL. If Saka is not going to get any rest, he should come off the bench after the internationals, then I’d rather see Saka start at LB then one of the CBs with Trossard Nelson ESR all available up top.
But that’s just me heh.
The Home crowd very vocal about wanting to see Viera at 8 (at Home I hope) odds are they will be happy with another Willian playing for months in this mood.
First game is Away at Everton followed by home games against PSV & the NLD. I am not too fussed about who starts just simply hoping for a little bit rotation.
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< will not be happy
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I know we are but armchair commentators but it strikes me as crazy that well respected managers, who’s teams are struggling in matches, will sit there and ignore an absolute onion bag striker
Eddie scores goals, he has done at every international level apart from full of which he hasn’t had a chance. He is the sort of player who will score more goals the more minutes he gets.
I think his career has already been stalled by lack of minutes and to have to go through that again for England would be a nightmare for him.
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with Pepe leaving it means all 11 starters of our 2020 FA Cup final win are no longer at the club, and only Eddie Nketiah of the subs who came on that day is here, Saka and Nelson are the only ones of the unused subs still here, so 17 of the 20 no longer at AFC
also not going to play for us this season are Arteta signings, Willian, Mari, Tavares, Lokonga, Trusty, Marquinhos, Runarsson, Turner, Ryan(loan), Ceballos(loan)
that is one hell of a turn over of players in such a short period of time, buy buy buy, and if that don’t work buy buy buy some more, oh and give away anyone you don’t like or want
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ah Ian its clear you don’t understand modern football, strikers scoring goals is old hat, its now all about duals won (ha ha ha), tackles made, possession, etc etc, and doing what the manager tells him to do, goals are so over rated, ha ha ha.
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marcelo flores has been sold to Mexican club Tigers
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I think the club are approaching a bit of a crossroads in the way we operate and how we achieve advancement going forward.
After decades of success with a manager who was allowed to spend nothing and a net spend every season of either the lowest or one of the lowest in the division we have now found ourselves operating for five seasons with heavy spends either top or near top of the division.
The reigns were taken away from Arsene in his last couple of seasons and the atmosphere was so toxic the home players were booed before even starting the match. Despite these handicaps he still achieved creditable 5th and 6th places
In his final two seasons.
We have since seen a car crash of mistakes from appointments and sackings at the top of the club to an array of bad signings bad sales and lessons on how not to get rid of players and go through transition of both club and squad.
We have seen the great ARSENAL giveaway in which contracts are simply ripped up, players frozen out until their value has decreased to zero and perhaps the biggest crime of all the waste of young talent. Not only for the usefulness they could of made to the squad but again the sheer amount of money the club has lost.
However after the cavalcade of mistakes we have now seen the club finish 5th/8th/8th/5th and 2nd. This resulting in the club finally returning to the CL, a feat of which wasn’t deemed to be particularly good to all those toxic fans of just a few years ago.
The club has learnt that, like any good right wing propaganda agent, you must learn to sell a piece of shit as a pot of gold. Had we had this ability under Arsene instead of blaming everything on him the club would be much further advanced now whether he was in the dugout or not.
The spend has meant the squad has , on paper, got better every season and with the crowbar finally wedging Pepe out the door the transformation of the squad has reached a new faze.
The biggest achievement seems to be a togetherness of all the players in both first team squads and the removal of all the toxic fans and the replacements being nice and friendly and just wanting to support the club just it used to be before we fucked off the media by winning the league with a foreign manager and then having the ordascity to go and win the thing going unbeaten all season (what a cheeky fucker)
We have a brilliant squad and we are tipped by many to push city all the way this season even more than last but there are some differences.
The last two seasons has seen us have very poor run ins and a third would put massive question mark on the ability on the squad and the coaching staff to ever get us over the line, whatever the target.
The big teams that failed so badly last season are showing signs of kicking again.
There are a group of teams Newcastle, Brighton and Villa who are improving fast and are just waiting for the big teams to slip up.
The cash that has slipped from the hands of the Kronkes in recent seasons won’t keep coming without any return.
Recent seasons have seen low expectations but that is just not the case anymore.
If we do underperform how long will our fickle crowd (yes we know it’s still there) be so harmonious and how much will that effect a happy squad.
Basically will the board and management team kick on and provide a stable platform for the future or will we see some of the calamitous mistakes of recent seasons come back to bite us on the arse.
Or am I just a miserable barstard and we should just enjoy each game as it comes
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I agree Ian, the fake feel good mood will soon turn toxic if results don’t match what many feel the club is promising them. the very least that will be needed to keep the mob at bay will be getting a CL place again, as you say have another poor run, and if this was to cost us a CL spot then the happy clappers will soon remind everyone what sort of cunts they were to wenger for so many years.
Being in the title race last season has made a rod for our own backs, anything less will be seen as clear failure, the media will have a field day, and the fuckwits in the fanbase will lap it up. For God’s sake they have already started on Havertz
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Vinai Venkatesham will leave the club in the summer 2024
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Any one remember when the media ran the Arsenal mugging of the fans narrative by charging the highest ticket prices while not winning for so many years?
“
Behind Fulham sit Spurs (£2,025), Arsenal (£1,895), West Ham (£1,620), Newcastle (£1,055) and Manchester City (£1,030), four pounds higher than Bournemouth for the most expensive tickets available, according to data ”
So spurs have the 2nd highest ticket prices and have not one a jot in 15yrs and 198 days.
Spurs seem to be immune to such narratives.
Can’t help but still see the difference (after all these years) in treatment between the 2 clubs by pundits and jurnos who ran propaganda campaigns late into Arsenes reign.
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Get out whilst you still can Vinai.
A golden handshake for the amazing Pepe deal?
Thanks George & Shotta for providing a space where football fans could discuss these topics in advance of the Football Leaks scandal without being gaslight by the blaggers & Friends of the Agents.
No alarms & no surprises to see the Portugeezah links with the Football Leaks story. You heard it from lots of places not including the broadcasters first.
Fingers crossed Wil-I-am will not be repeated. Too many times.
Re-hiring propa physios would be a good start. Following on from Gee it is strange how the crowd who spent a decade attacking the club especially the goalkeeping coach who coached the World Cup winning goalkeeper are shtum over the running Runnarson gags amongst the more open minded fan base. I mean, it’s easy money! Literally!! Heh
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I hope the positive atmosphere continues for as long as possible.
Some of it comes from the post lockdown period where people were just happy to go to any football match nevermind the result.
Add some good football and most crowds will be happy.
Man City are a ridiculous club & have been from the beginning and are in ridiculously good form. a big win for them today, no reasonable football fan can consider Arsenal favourites.
to be fair in Pelegrínni & Pep & unlike Mourinho after spending silly money they have played good football.
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Raya and Vieira start in place of Aaron and Kai.
Again a difficult test at a place we have made a bit of bogey ground because of poor performances rather than good toffee sides.
This is a nice balanced team although we will see today whether Vieira has learnt to stand up to the physical aspects of the game.
COYG.
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1-0 Trossarddddddddddddddddddddddddd
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FT: Everton 0-1 Arsenal
Trossard with a brilliant finish to give us the three points and move us up to 4th in the table
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To the neutral this might have seemed like an average ARSENAL performance but in truth it was a really good all round offering.
We controlled the game, looked bright around the box and if we had been a bit more clinical we would of made the scoreline more reflective of what we deserved.
Of course pigmol were out in force allowing a cavalcade of elbows and hands to heads and trying to ignore Everton fowling in general. Ashley Young fully sycethed through the back without touching the ball but no red card was shown.
Later Saka had his shins marked by high late studs and that was ok too.
Then we had the typical only to be seen at ARSENAL moment when, just like Martinelli’s double booking, there was a decision you will never see again in football.
Gabriel playing a sideways/ backwards pass only for Eddie to be deemed offside.
I always believed offside only related to forward passes but with ARSENAL the rules are bent and like I say you will never see this again.
With all the negatives gravel throat and Pigmol could throw at us this was indeed a good win but expect more shithousery next week against the spuds.
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Still can’t shake the idea that Rice is actually a once-in-a-generation defender. In Italy he’d be Bonucci’s successor, I’m certain of it. Time will tell if he becomes the kind of midfielder we need most.
He has sensational technique and composure, and reads the game at a crazy level, especially considering his age. But as of now, he is not an intuitive passer of the ball.
It shows that we’re statistically as good as we were last season with him anchoring midfield, only a lot less fun. Already the top two for expected points is us and City, same goes for expected goals against.
We are waaay down for expected goals though.
With Rice as our protagonist we’re great at trapping teams in their half or keeping them at arm’s length in ours, but we’re not making enough of our superiority. Dozens of corners in this and the last game speak to that.
Still, the structure is kind of satisfying to watch, and great how we finally capitalised on a dead ball.
Maybe if players got punished for kicking Saka we might have a bit more freedom—that’s a factor too.
As for CL, genuinely think we can rotate a lot. Good teams, but two of the three are weaker than they were last season. Lens dramatically.
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Ianspace ,couldn’t agree more. Did very well to get a win out of that fixture despite the huge gulf in quality between the teams.
The PGMOL continue to embarrass themselves in the refereeing of this club, they must have had access to an army of lawyers, Google researchers and Gary Neville to find a way to disallow that goal . Have never seen an offside call like that but as we know, the refs stretch the boundaries with this club. Another goal disallowed under a scenario we shall never see again unless AFC are to be on the receiving end.
But a well deserved win snd maybe a nail in the coffin of a very badly run and unpleasant team
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Gary Neville trying to snitch on Arsenal for taking 26 seconds for a corner!
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@birdkamp
Rice is doing well, think he can get better with more time with lads and understanding what Arteta wants from him. His passing needs to be a bit more progressive and cute but I think his best attribute is his mentality.
Looks like he is strong willed, wants to improve and get better and is prepared to put in the work.
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I think we need to remember Rice has played the last two games in his West Ham position because of Parteys injury.
If Partey comes back into midfield and Rice is again asked to play the 8 role again we may see him need to make an adjustment.
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Will be interesting to see how the football evolves around the good/decent new signings.
If Rice had good coaches as a kid then as we saw with Parlour his technique can improve in his mid twenties.
The goal will have been a big boost for him to commit to a box to box game.
Kante was a different style of player to the D**Mers from the Noughties, more flair. Some would say that is why he was on the losing side in two cup finals opposite the other peak all rounder midfielder from recent times the Expert arseblaggers’ pet hate figure: Xhaka. Hehe.
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I’d like to throw things at the physio who advised that the forward as opposed to centre back who played for Brazil not Belgium should start this game.
the finish from Martinelli was just a tasty as that from Trossard.
As you all know I’m a Trossard & Nelson & Rowe fan and enjoy their football
This injury doesn’t kill the squad but when you have such a squad why start him after the internationals doh!
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New post is up
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