Good Cup Final morning my fellow Gooners with a positive inclination.

This isn’t going to be easy today. I don’t mean the game, I mean typing this blog,as a 10 week old puppy is chewing my fingers as I speak.

We take on the might of  Abu Dhabi FC. and make no mistake “mighty” they are. They have made short work of winning the PL, and are gliding through to the quarter finals of the CL. The only blot on their landscape has been a FA Cup defeat to Wigan, in a game they dominated with 10 men and lost to a single shot on target. For us to triumph will take a monumental effort. Certainly a more difficult task than beating last years City team or Chelsea in the semis and final of our FACup last season.

I have no idea how we might line up. Do we stick with 433 or try the hybred 343/523/433 that has ElNeny with the task of deciding what the formation is in any given moment?

Will Ramsey be fit enough to start? Who plays with Aubameyang and Ozil up front? Is Jack and Danny well enough recovered to start?

Anyway, it looks a lovely sunny day in London and all we can do now is hope for the best. And By the way, our best will be good enough. I hope Arsenal.com  are sending out gifs of Mesut come about 6.30 PM

Good morning all Positives far and near,

A rather teeth sucking evening I admit. I had assumed the job ‘done’ at 3-0 but fair play to the Swedes who came along to their biggest game ever and gave their best, scored two and might have nicked a third.  70 seconds of poor concentration on 22/23 minutes and there was a hint of a wobble on the pitch, and the usual hysteria off it. After a few minutes of concern however the good ship Arsenal righted itself, by half time the panic was contained and we sailed on to the draw for the Round of 16 this lunchtime. Irrespective of which team we draw in the next knockout stage last night emphasised that to be sure of progressing we need to approach every game in the ‘right’ way, with no complacency that the job is already done,  with a strong team and an experienced bench.

Of our lads Sead did well, and Ospina had a good work out before Sunday. The disappointing thing was our failure to create good chances.  I am pleased that Arsene did not remove Chambers and/or Holding after their shaky first half as we had Mustafi and Nacho on the bench and it would have been an easy switch. Both our young centre backs need to  learn and they won’t learn very much if thy are substituted after 45 minutes.

I shall just call it a forgettable game and leave it there. For the visitors a marvellous night which  they thoroughly enjoyed. Was it 4,500 of their fans in the Clock End, almost a tenth of the town’s total population !?!  Oh for the simple pleasures.

Enjoy Friday !

@GoonerReverend reviews Arsenal fans far and near 

There has been a lot of recent debate about what constitutes a ‘real’ Arsenal football fan & in some cases this has led to the discounting the army of supporters that live outside the UK. The notion of a tight geographical fanbase might have been the case 30-40 years ago when football support was still traditionally based on local communities and in part where you were born and who your Grandfather and Father supported but that all changed with the advent of globalised TV coverage and then subsequently the inception of the internet and social media.

This has been highlighted even more so in recent times with a number of incidents on social media involving former players, TV pundits, high profile fans and fan platforms questioning the passion, footballing knowledge & the right to support of the overseas fans. In one particular incident one leading member of a fan platform stated that you are not a real fan of the club unless you followed the team home & away every week. This of course is a ludicrous statement and was quite rightly shouted down by many fans both in the UK and overseas for being exactly what it was an ‘attention seeking’ comment.

In another case a sometime wannnabe media personality questioned an Indian Arsenal fan online stating you don’t go to games like me so you are not a real fan & as such have no right to comment. Then of course there was the ex-player going to town on the expat Brit now living in the States & calling into question his suitability to call himself a fan. Many of these fan comments are throw away lines used to taunt someone in the heat of debate or argument but unfortunately there are those in the minority who actually believe that they are superior or the only real fans because they attend games.

The truth is that all football fans cannot dictate where they are born and in many cases it is simply not possible to get from their home to the game every week because it is logistically & financially impossible. The over used argument from some UK based fans is that they pay two thousand pounds for a season ticket which entitles them to be recognised over and above any fan living outside of the UK. The fact is that a season ticket does not make you superior nor does it entitle you to act superior over any other fan and if anything it’s a privilege and should be enjoyed as such. No one forces you to pay for a season ticket you do it because you want to and because you can and also because AFC have afforded you the right to purchase one over a long list of names waiting for the same privilege.

The other well-worn cliché is that these foreign fans who may attend a game once or twice a year are nothing more than tourists and dilute the fan base and the atmosphere at the ground. On a recent trip back to London to watch a game an Asian friend of mine spent £1,300 and took 3 days away from work just to attend the Everton game. When I asked him if the trip was worth the money he said it was the most magical moment of his football supporting life & he will do it again in September. That is an awful lot of money to spend on one game of football as well as being away from work for 3 days but yet he said it was all worth it without question. On my recent business trip back to London I was in a pub listening to an Arsenal fan complaining to his mates about Asian fans taking pictures of themselves in the Emirates before kick-off then he proceeded to show a picture of them taking their picture on his mobile phone. When I pointed out to him that he was equally guilty of the same thing he was accusing them off he merely shrugged & said they are only tourists aren’t they. I am an expat Englishman from Fortis Green, Muswell Hill in North London. I grew up a Gooner thanks to my Grandad and Dad as was lucky enough to attend many games both home and away for many years as part of our family group. I was lucky enough to be born in the district in the UK to Arsenal loving parents and I was lucky enough to be able to attend games on a regular basis. Many fans I meet as I travel around the world have never seen Arsenal play live as distance and cost make it difficult for them to get to games in the UK yet they follow Arsenal week in week out. Some can only see Arsenal when they make one of their overseas tours which have become all the rage in recent years. In 2015 Arsenal played Everton at the Singapore National Stadium on their Asian tour and over 50,000 fans crammed in to watch their team play. The atmosphere was electric and the fans sang their hearts out for the entire evening & the place sounded like an English football ground. Many had waited years for this moment and when it finally arrived demand for tickets over the 2 days of games was frenetic with demand far outstripping supply.

In 2016 Arsenal travelled to Australia on another overseas tour and in the game my son attended there were over 70,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium to watch Arsenal take on Sydney FC. Again tickets were snapped up by the football loving public hungry to see their PL team in Action proving that Arsenal could sell out any stadium outside of the UK such is the following and appetite for the club by foreign fans… Football is such a global game these days and teams like Arsenal are global brands so these tours and games are essential for the clubs to stay in touch with their ever increasing global fan base.

When Arsenal are playing in the mid-week European competition many fans around the world have to set their alarm clocks to get up at a ridiculous hour on a work day to watch the game. Social media and more specifically twitter has given us the ability to communicate directly with each other at stupid o clock and very often laugh at each other circumstance online. In my mind this is absolute support from the many fans who live in the far flung corners of the world where the Arsenal and its stars are idolised. They don’t have to get out of bed to watch the game before getting ready for a full day’s work but they do because of their love and absolute commitment to their team.

The days of Arsenal being a local North London club solely supported by local North London fans is well and truly over. Those days ended with my Grandfather & Fathers era. Many of the fans calling out overseas fans as tourists and not real Arsenal fans are not from North London either so it’s all a bit hypocritical as well as being completely unnecessary. Arsenal have over 12 million fans on the social media platform twitter and the majority of them live outside the UK. If you are one of the fans lucky enough to be able to attend Arsenal games regularly then you should count yourself lucky that you are able to attend in person because you were fortunate enough to be born in the UK. In my 20 years of traveling the world for business I have met Arsenal fans from all walks of life from all corners of the globe and I have found them to be as passionate, loyal and knowledgeable as any Arsenal fan in the UK and to brand them as no-knowledge tourists who don’t understand the game is insulting, inaccurate and ignorant. Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium has a capacity of just over 60,000 & and getting a seat at a game is only available to the very few… Just because one person lives in Manila in the Philippines it doesn’t make them any less of an Arsenal Fan than the person living in Islington or Haringey.

Overseas Arsenal fans deserve admiration and respect because they literally have to go that extra mile to support the team many of us take for granted.

Hear endeth the first lesson 

Good morning Positives,

A trip to Ostersunds the most mysterious of mystery trips. The home side with a very respectable set of results in Europe, a sub zero night, a plastic pitch, our not-quite first team on display. What would the evening hold ??

For those who saw the game a professional performance  from our lads against opponents who, for the opening 25 minutes ,appeared totally bemused by the event, like a bear woken unexpectedly from hibernation. From what  ( little) I understand about Swedish football they never play competitive games in February so their lethargy when suddenly confronted with a fully firing Gunner battery was understandable. At 2-0 even I was hoping the home side might pull themselves together and make  a game of it.

And having roused themselves Ostersunds did make a better contest of the next hour, drawing a couple of sharp saves from Ospina as well as as his confident penalty stop, and ensuring AMN, Mo and Ozil had a good run round in midfield. For me our best players on the night were Mhki and Hector, the young Spaniard seems to have recovered his spark for the game in recent weeks. And

Danny did OK, worked hard, made space but needed to be  a bit more decisive in front of goal i.e. greedy. Next Thursday he should get a second bite of the cherry and add to his goals scored tally.

I am pleased we got the third, an important psychological marker. Admittedly 3-0 is not quite the “tie totally put to bed” score Arsene was probably hoping for, but the job is done.

And on a final point, what a ‘liberal’ referee ! He gave almost nothing by way of fouls for either side, and not a card all evening. I checked out the Soccerbase statistics for Senor David José Fernández Borbalán. He is a highly experienced Spanish referee who domestically,  in CL and Europa League games, flashes yellow and red cards like a traffic light – Perhaps the cold got to him ?

Enjoy Friday.

This site was set up not for me, or the other blog post authors, to impress people with their knowledge (or lack thereof ),but for intelligent positive fans for discuss The Arsenal free from the pollution of most comments sections in Arsenal blogs. Every once and a while a comment is so well constructed  that I just have to publish it as a blog. Below is one such post.

Pedantic George @arseblagger.

Good afternoon Positive Arsenal fans,

A fine game of football between two high quality sides, both sets of players underlining the professional  aspect of their trade, with a display of concentration and controlled physical aggression over 94 minutes. Clearly defeat at the end of the contest is a sour result but I’ve no serious complaint. 1-0 did not flatter them.

Of our brave lads I thought it was an excellent defensive display. Admittedly we  were clinging on at times as the Totties cut into us,  ragged in the opening ten minutes of the second half which cost us, and Cech made 2-3 good stops. Some of Petr’s footwork was a little alarming today but nothing the matter with his positioning , handling or shot stopping. Bloody hell that 200th clean sheet is proving an albatross for our stopper though. Our defensive unit of Kosc, Shkodran, and Nacho gave  110% and Hector, in my opinion,  was our best player.

Further forward was probably the difference between the teams today. It was always likely to be difficult to control the ball, hence our set up in the first half to hit them on the breakaway. But we just did not make enough of the possession we had. It was c. 70 minutes until our first shot or header on goal I think ? That is just not us !

Of the midfield personnel Jack was our most creative player, Granit dependable and did not waste the ball, and Mo made 50 blocks, tackles, half tackles, nudges etc.   I thought Mesut had a poor game today by his formidable standards, though he had little time or space to work in as a white swarm settled on him.

The last fifteen minutes  we just began to get a modicum of control, and for the first time in the match seemed to have more possession At last we huffed and we puffed a little. But even then the home’s side seemed steady, and held us at arm’s length.

I had probably settled for the defeat by the 90th minute, to everyone’s surprise the 4th official popped up 4 additional minutes. And being football of course we then created two clear cut chances, both of which certainly should at least have drawn a  same from Lloris, but neither of which were on target. What a  different mood I would be in if either strike from the Frenchman had gone where they should have. I suspect Lacazette feels worse than I do about those two disappointing efforts, but he is a hard man to read, facially speaking.

So there we go – gritted teeth – beaten on the day by the ………….bbbb…  bbbbeee….

No I just can’t do it.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Morning Positive Goons,

Another thumping home victory on a Saturday, wholly deserved, and an appropriate conclusion to the 31 days of media fuelled hysteria we have recently passed through. Goodness me it seemed a long month, traumatic at times*. Amidst the noisy transfer turmoil  some old playing components, some much loved, others less so,  had been replaced by AW. We were hopeful  that the apparent ‘upgrade’ would enhance our footballing performance quickly and decisively, but with Arsenal you just never, ever know.

In Everton we had opponent’s holding a respectable league position but suffering a shaky recent run. Historically the Toffee’s are easy meat (ouch), but historical record exists to be torn up and refashioned. They too had been adding quality. Even in this usually severe PA forum Mr Allardyce’s warm, reviving embrace of Theo raised a favourable murmur of approval. Aye it was an interesting prospect as the players emerged into the early evening downpour, for so many reasons.

The answer was almost immediate.  The Arsenal engine purred into life in about three minutes from Mr Swarbrick’s opening whistle. We tore into the hapless blue crowd who were unlucky enough to find themselves in our way. Iwobi, Ozil and Mhki picked passes, moved and shimmied across the glistening turf, PEA lurked threateningly on the shoulder of the EFC back three. The first goal was pure Wengerball, triangle, triangle, triangle, side-foot, goal. The second was goal from the corner again demonstrated what precision delivery of the dead ball and hard work on the training ground can achieve. Our third, and the boy from Caerphilly’s second was what happens if you pin opposition in their box and keep battering them. Our fourth a combination of a tricky through ball, sharp £56 million worth of movement over 3 meters and poor eyesight. Setting aside the defective vision of the lino the chip over Pickford was excellent from Aubameyang.

The goals in the first half were the main course yesterday. Second half we clearly had eased off, and Fat Sam jiggled his resources a bit more effectively. I think we probably eased off a notch too much. Everton could have had 2-3 goals yesterday and I would not overlook both our centre backs who put in a hard afternoon. For the first game in a while I thought Hector was excellent yesterday, particularly in the first half, constantly available on the right hand side and when he had the ball using it early and accurately. Nacho off early again – “ill” I hear ? Nothing serious I trust.

Just as we had settled for another 4-1 however up stepped Aaron to snap up the Man of the Match award. How could it be otherwise ?

An interesting contest  had turned into a very satisfactory result. We remain a little off the CL places but with every reason to be confident of making up ground over the next 2-3 weeks. And our Welshmanlikes Wembley.

Enjoy Sunday.

*I may have a touch of “Fenestraphobia” by the way, a morbid fear of windows, or possibly defenestraphobia, a fear of falling out of windows. (I thought you’d want to know).