Good morning all.

Later this afternoon we play Bate in a far flung freezing land. Perhaps not the most skillful of opponents, but certainly testing conditions. It will be something of a shock if we don’t return to London with three points in the bag.

After the result pulled off by our nearest, but far from dearest, neighbours last night ,against stellar opponents it would be nice if we impressed ourselves. This competition is Mr. Emery’s specialist subject, so there is zero chance of him allowing complacency.

Quite what sort of a team we will go with is beyond my powers of deduction, but I would guess it will be fairly strong. Of course we wont see Ozil or Ramsey, but we are used to that now and after the weekend I think we can be confident that Iwobi and Mkhitaryan won’t let anyone down.

I would expect Papastathopoulos (I had to google that spelling) to get some sort of a run out but whether that means starting is less certain.

This competition is our last hope of silverware this season and although it may be very much a second tier competition, it would be great to win it. Especially as I feel it is also our best hope of Champions League qualification.

So come on Unai and the boys. we are all behind you. Give us a treat.

When Arsene announced he would be stepping down I felt a little sad but mainly relieved. The infighting and media hounding had worn me down, I was glad it was over. However much I thought of him as a man and a manager I felt the time was right.

I thought we had a great squad of players and an outstanding first eleven when fit,  Ozil, Ramsey, King Koss, Santi, Hector, Lacazette, Xhaka, Monreal were all, for me, top quality and some of them exceptional. There were areas that needed to be strengthened and when Leno, Torreira and Papa tipped up it seemed to me we had done just that, and in fairness to them they have improved our strength in their positions, so we should be better.

Ivan was in the driver’s seat, Sven was going to unearth diamonds for us and we had new experts in contracts and negotiations. The future looked very bright,

Emery was appointed and immediately impressed. He said all the right things and his supreme efforts to master English endeared him to us further.

I was fully onboard with him and everything going on, Arsene had gone and we were set to build and improve.

Personally I felt I had supported Arsene to the end, through thick and thin,and I fully expected to carry on and do the same for Emery. At that moment I believed I would be as much behind Emery as I had been behind Wenger.

Here is where the problem starts, because now I don’t. I find myself questioning everything he and the club is doing and has done since the Summer. Quite frankly, I find myself up the moral shit-creek with without a paddle.

I certainly don’t want to be critical, but that’s where I find myself. I am now on the horns of a dilemma, do I feign faux positivity, or do I speak my mind? Do I risk being an enormous hypocrite or am I honest about my current feelings?

I listen to all the reasons why we should be patient,accept the logic of them and yet find myself drawing negative conclusions about the direction the club is going in.

We were told that Emey would build on what we had, not dismantle it and start afresh.

We were told the team would be built around Ramsey and Ozil, this couldn’t have been farther from the truth,

We were told we would play attacking adventurous football. How is that working out?

We were told we would play out from the back and dominate games! Is that right?

Ivan has gone and Sven right behind him. We now have a bunch of strangers running the club. Which is fine, if they had given reasons to think they were on a par with what went before,but they have not. Well, at least to me they have not.

I feel there are many like me that want to be fully supportive and positive but can’t reconcile that with how they actually feel.

Now I find myself making the choice of being a massive hypocrite or being honest. So I’m afraid I have to bite the bullet and accept that I can’t do that which I boldly claimed I would do, namely back every manager through thick and thin.

The next question is where now for this blog? It was set up as an oasis for people wanting to avoid negative people, so I certainly don’t want to be the captain that steers us into those troubled waters. So it’s up to the readers and the people who comment to set the tone. Ultimately you will be the ones in control of the conversation and direction.

I honestly feel I have let people down now. I’m sorry I feel this way and I don’t like it one little bit. Unfortunately that is where I am.

Well we won, 3 points away from home. That keeps our interest in the top 4 for now.

I thought Lacazette played well and Mkhitaryan did well to say he has just missed 10 games. Iwobi was dangerous going forward but very disappointing once he got near the box. Koscielny was also very good and Monreal did little wrong.

Given our long injury list and those that we are told have been struck down with a bug I suppose a win is all that matters!

Or is it?

I mean seriously, is it really?

I’m sorry, but the football was horrid.

Let’s make on bones about it, Huddersfield are rooted at the bottom for a very good reason, they are a very poor PL team. Yet the had more shots. more shots on target and more possession. The only time we looked half decent was when the front three were breaking from our own half, with ball at feet. Our passing and decision making was woeful. I’ve not seen anyone mention it, but I thought Guendouzi had an absolute mare. AMN went from being a danger to them, to a danger to us at times.

Seriously, is a backs against the wall performance against Huddersfield where we are at now? Even taking all the absentees into account? Perhaps it is and I am just a curmudgeon.

The words of Jack Nicholson keep coming to me “what if this is as good as it gets?”

But hey, we won ! Imagine what I would be like if we had played like that and lost?

Good morning people.

You might note that I said “people”,  and I haven’t used the normal “good  morning positive people”.

I revisited the ABOUT US on the site and  immediately felt glum.

“If you are a fan of the club who needs to vent their frustration by denouncing players who are “Notfittoweartheshirt”, or who delights disparaging the efforts of the club’s former or current coaches then the site is probably not for you. If you are an expert in the football transfer market, in sports medicine, in the mechanics of running a £1.5 billion sports business etcetera then it may be that PA is an insufficient platform for that abundance of your accumulated knowledge. There are many other blogs on which you will be much, much more at home.

To enjoy supporting Arsenal is a choice. Choose wisely.”

I have to ask myself , is that still us?

Now here is the problem for me, I have been as responsible as anyone for the current mood. I certainly can’t be casting the first stone. I have somehow allowed myself to compartmentalise the club and take sides. I have sided with players I like against the other parts that I have imagined are against them.

The rule was that once we were in Positively Arsenal, we were free to say as we liked, to who we liked, as long as it wasn’t aggressive. So I am not telling anyone how to behave , think or act, I’m simply reminding everyone , not least myself, what the essence of the site is.

Miraculously we find ourselves in 4th place this morning, and it’s a reminder that there is still plenty to play for and look forward to. Again, I’m not trying to do anything other than remind myself, what the site is for.

I will try harder, I hope you will too, let’s not become that which we once detested.

@LaboGoon says …..

Good day one and all.

Arsenal host Cardiff at the Emirates Stadium in a match that will have huge implications at both ends of the Premier League table; while the Gunners hope to maintain a push for Champion League qualification, the Bluebirds are aiming to move clear of the relegation trapdoor.

When these teams met earlier this season Arsenal won 3-2 in a game, it has to be said, we hung on for large parts as Cardiff threw everything at us trying to at least take a point. I’m not too sure though if that is going to provide the away fans any comforts because the Bluebirds’ form on their travels are nothing to put on a postcard and write home about. From 11 away games they took back to the Welsh capital just 5 points, which compounded by the fact that Arsenal have won 14 of their last 17 home PL matches… can I just say I do hope they enjoy the sights and sounds of London.

Now does that mean I think the match will be cakewalk for the Gunners, not at all but I do think we will find a way to get a result even if we have to drag ourselves over the line – especially considering our home form against teams outside the top-six.

The FA Cup defeat to Manutd in front of the Emirates faithful may have knocked the wind from some of our sails, but Unai Emery always seem to put a team out that gets a result when our backs are up against the wall following a poor result. Anything but will be if the players go in with their heads elsewhere. Thus they need to be focused, not get ahead of themselves and be careful not to be caught out from a counter-attack… again. Let the Emirates crowds’ confidence carry them.

There’s no need for apprehension ahead of the game, Cardiff haven’t exactly been slaying dragons. They have lost each of the seven game against the top-six opposite thus far, conceding 25 goals in the process. In their 11 games on the road they average one goals scored every two games and two goals conceded each game.

Arsenal go in the match a bit thin at the back due to injury. So we might see young Mavropanos selected tonight – be it as a starter or the bench remain to be seen. In the few games we saw of him toward the end of last season it looks as if there’s a good defender in there that can’t wait to pop out. Mesut Özil too may get a rare start if he is part of the plans to outsmart Pep Guardiola’s Mancity team this coming weekend. The team selected tonight may give us an idea on whom will start at the Etihad.

15 PL league games left and one get the feeling each one is ‘must-win’ for the Arsenal.

Tick this one off tonight and we are still at the races for top-four. If not and we are in danger of being overtaken by Manutd and any top-four hopes out of our hands.

Here I am again, happy as can be.

Well that was a desperately disappointing night, wasn’t it positives?

Simply put , for most of the game  we looked the better team, but we were not. If that makes any sense?

Until they scored, bloody Sanchez of all the devils it could have been, with a decent bit of skill, and their first shot on goal, we looked the most likely to be the ones going ahead. A couple of minutes latter  after some typically horrendous defending.

Ramsey looked most likely to be the one providing a spark, and he did just that, setting up, via a slight deflection, a tap in for Aubameyang.

In all honesty, I never thought we would pull it back, and in  the second half, that proved to be the case.

To make it worse it looks like Papa and Kos could be crocked  quite badly.

Going out of both cups is bad enough, but when it’s to first Spurs and then United, it’s a bitter pill to swallow.

Not sure I can see any light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s safe to say the tunnel is a dark place.

Still, it’s only a game? So on we go.

We face a Utd team buoyed by seven victories from seven under their new manager, with 19 goals scored and 4 conceded in that run. A number of players, notably Pogba and Rashford, have been thriving since Mourinho’s exit and ,presumably, enter the match with sky high confidence.

However, it cannot be ignored that the fixture list, or maybe mr Woodward, has been kind to Ole in this early stage of his tenure : only one of the games has been against a *spits* top club, and the rest have been against more modest opposition, with all 5 league opponents coming from bottom 9 teams in league currently, including 3 of current bottom 4, and 3 of those fixtures at home for them.

But *spits* Spurs, in what was billed as their first big test, they passed, with all three points. if memory serves correctly it was a good open game for much of first half, with Utd possessing a huge countering threat and the extra boldness, freedom and decisiveness Solskjaer has given to the team’s attacking players. In Rashford, Pogba and Martial in particular they possess serious speed, athleticism and quality for exploiting spaces, turnovers and any lack of numbers in defence. Gulp.

The timing of our game with them is interesting because they have not yet been made to pay for their new more adventurous approach : Mourinho may have failed miserably there, but he had not suddenly become an idiot. He was too cautious, certainly, for both lovers of the real beautiful game, and considering the options at his disposal. His caution and all the manifestations of it were not detached from reality, though. ‘Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you’ applies to all known formations and philosophies within football. Someone is going to exploit Ole’s style soon, quite possibly forcing a reaction, and hopefully that can be us.

Now then- how will we play? My first two thoughts were ‘don’t play into their hands by allowing them huge space to counter in’ and ‘we’d probably better go at them’. Not quite a massive contradiction, but pretty close, and a hint why the management lark isn’t easy. I guess I stand by the first thought more than the second : I believe we have to go at them; but I also believe we really have to try not to play into the hands of a team with such countering weapons. I’d be happy to feel the game out for at least 15 mins and be very focused on not allowing an early break.

So that’s how, sort of, and now to who. Not a clue. I suspect Ozil will start, and think he might just be perfect for exploiting this new, as-yet-unconquered Utd system, supposing they don’t add an extras hustling type in centre mid or sit much deeper. Safe to say, there aren’t many like Ozil, and so this Utd have not faced his kind, and it seems possible he is precisely the type of player the new set up may be vulnerable to. Fingers crossed.

Elsewhere…it all seems hard to predict for me. Unlike with his predecessor, I am not sure where Emery stands in terms of prioritising competitions. If this is our 3rd priority, will the lineup reflect this, or does he more or less pick a team without consideration for what follows? I’ll guess it’s somewhere in between. In which case, maybe rests for both Kos and Kola, with an outside chance of Mavropanos coming in.

Anyway, formations schmations, it’s Utd at home in the cup. We will find out almost instantly if Ole is a true Ferguson man. A fairish ferocious contest, or pure filth. If he brings our friend Rojo- who must have played about 10% of his Utd total against us- in from the cold we have our answer before kick off.

I’m excited and don’t have a clue how it is likely to go. If I try overcome my lily-livered pre game pessimism then that leaves me with a still nervous 50: 50 feeling, same as before Chelsea, and West Ham.

COYG

Rich @Whatsinaname81