Good Morning Positive Arsenal fans,

A fine Sunday morning here, windy but bright Autumnal sunshine and mellow fruitfulness.

Of yesterday’s contest as expected a well drilled Swansea defensive side posed a number of problems for the first 45 before cracking and allowing us to pocket the three points, as expected.

Some comments I see have been made about our “laboured” first half performance, not least by the manager. I did not think we were poor, but as in previous home games despite 80%+ control of the ball we got no further than the final third and never really opened up a clear chance. Clearly compared to our ripping-Everton-a-new-one of six days before any performance was likely to be “laboured”. It may however be worth reflecting however that the Swansea were no Everton. They sat deep, had three solid centre back who Lacazette had to battled with on his own, and a screen of midfielders who dropped back to soak up and disrupt. Having gifted them a silly opener they dug in ferociously and denied us space and time in the final third. On another day that might have been enough for the Swans, as in previous painful encounters (!).

We are an older team now, more mature, and with better players. I doubt the teacups flew at half-time in the home dressing room. I suspect the message was more a reminder to the players that we had to use every inch of the pitch to stretch Swansea, and that it is important for players to be dynamic and quick in creating space for themselves to receive a pass.

If that was the message then within 11 minutes the scoreboard had been corrected and the wining goal despatched by Aaron. “Tidy” as they say in the valleys. Sead’s rocket for the first and involvement in the second earned him the man of the match.

The left hand side of our football team I thought stood out yesterday. Nacho, Sead and Alexis click together like the passenger door on a Mercedes-Benz, solid, dependable but with the potential to go very, very fast when required.

Good performances from Granit, Aaron, Lacazette and Ozil and they’d get a 7/10. The right hand side of our side ? Hector and Laurent are not quite in tune and the Frenchman has looked out of sorts since the start of the season. It may be he is playing out of position in the ‘three’ or playing while injured. His slip yesterday was uncharacteristic and just last week he was caught in a similar moment late at Goodison when picked up a deserved yellow card. He is a fine player but has just passed his 32^nd birthday. It may be he needs a few games officially injured to rest and recuperate as he has played a lot of football.

Of the opposition as I said yesterday Fernandez seems a capable centre back. At 28 years old he is no spring chicken but he knows his trade. And (inevitably) one top, top class save from Fabianski. Good to see his career has led to football every week, which his talent deserved.

As a general point, having watched Kosc and later Per slip and slide on what seems to me a perfect grass surface, would the club PLEASE STOP watering the f******* pitch obsessively before the game and at half time. The grass won’t die if you leave it alone, trust me.

So onward to the Etihad and a very different challenge next Sunday. In the interim I’d guess we can expect the B team to give Red Star a sound bashing on Thursday.

Enjoy your Sunday.

A guest post for Double Canister 

“Until Edward Nketiah came on we lacked ideas and creativity” said Arsene Wenger in the post-match interview, and who am I to disagree? The match line-up was predictably predicted in advance by most pundits, including our own Pedantic George and this is now clearly seen as Arsenal’s cup team for the foreseeable future, injuries depending for a few defensive slots.

The starting line-up was:

Macey;

Debuchy, El Neny, Holding;

Maitland-Niles, Coquelin, Wilshere, Nelson;

Walcott, Iwobi, Giroud.

Subs: Akpom 70’, Nketiah 85’, Da Silva 105’, Willock 114’.

This team was expected to give Norwich a right old thumping, but the Canaries had other plans, plans that nearly paid-off as they provided 120 minutes of hard work, defensive organisation and not a little skill to make a very competitive 4^th Round Carabao League Cup game go all the way to the final whistle. Giroud may have been feeling the effects of a late-night party after receiving the Puskas award for his wonder goal against Crystal Palace last season, he was not so effective last night. Certainly, many Norwich players were keen to give him several big hugs inside their penalty box, all of which Andy Madley chose not to see to clearly- a bit like Debuchy’s extra time incident – which for me was no penalty as there was not enough real contact with the player, but the less said about Madley the better. The miserabilists will all say that breaking down such a resolved defensive set up as Norwich created was all to do with Arsenal’s commonly perceived (you know: by the media and twitter and Troy Deeney) weaknesses, but please give to credit to Falke’s men who worked their yellow socks off and might feel they could and should have had more than Josh Murphy’s single well-taken chip shot from Maddison’s defence splitting pass. Oliveira, Murphy and Vrancic all missed chances to ensure Norwich were in tonight’s 5^th Round draw. They are 6^th in the Championship and showed they are an in-form team, and they were fresh from beating local rivals Ipswich Town in the Old Farm derby last weekend. As for some alleged controversial incidents – El Neny was rightly yellow carded for taking down a man, but in no-way was he last man back, so unless there is a new FA rule – he stays on the pitch, and thankfully he was – to provide the ball to the hero of the night.

Step forward Edward Nketiah, who took all of 15 seconds to make an impact. Another tactical masterclass move by the boss? “I brought him on because we needed to score goals and he can score goals. In the end we had eight strikers on the pitch,” said Wenger, in truth I had forgotten about the multiple substitution rules in this cup competition. The news is today full of ‘experts’ who always knew about this kid and that he is going to be the new Henry or Messi, well I didn’t. Eddie played for our U23’s for the last few years, amassing a substantial goal tally and was brought on for his debut away at Bate Borisov in the 89^th minute. Last night he made his real introduction with not one, but two headers , both from set-pieces no less. Nketiah is just 18 years old and is an England U19, and somehow, he managed to escape the abyss of Chelsea’s all devouring youth system at 14 before he joined Arsenal. I hope he has a bright future.

As for less impressive performances from Arsenal players last night , all I can say as the BBC and the gutter press are livid with Arsenal’s eventual triumph over the plucky Canaries, so compare the narratives with the BBC’s headline about how Manchester City ‘heroically’ defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers in a penalty shootout, (because they only managed 0-0 in regulation time), and which needed the services of Sane, de Bruyne and Aguero to ensure passage to the 5^th round. Playing your best, but highly fragile striker for 120 minutes against Wolves must be one of those ‘genius’ things Pep does that a mere layman like me can’t see. Every single Premier League team fielded weakened teams in this competition last night, and even most of the championship teams did as well. Nevertheless, the second sting selection from Wenger presented some conundrums, Coq and Wilshere were not working as an effective unit in midfield, the defensive line appeared to have no pace at all and the back 3 did not seem to know their positions, and the youngsters seemed to drift in and out of concentration on the pitch. Despite all these concerns, as the game went on and as Norwich did not go on to get a vital (for their hopes) second goal it did look as though Arsenal’s growing nous, guile, call it what you want and overall better football talent would eventually pay off. From what I could see on the telly -credit also to the Arsenal supporters who actually stayed and cheered on the team to the end, rather than join the mile-long queue for a tube home after 70 minutes. And for Theo – he meets lines men every single week who regard him being in-line with the last defender as an offence, have the rules changed again?

The draw for the quarter-finals will take place at 16:00 BST on Wednesday, 25 October.

Good morning friends.

Macey

Nelson Debuchy ElNeny Holding AMN

Coquelin Jack

Theo Giroud Iwobi

Would be my best guess for the starting eleven.

Norwich City F.C. seem to be on a bit of a high, but perhaps they might play a changed team ,as their priority will be the league, and they played a big derby game against Ipswich on Sunday afternoon.

The Giroud /Wilshere combination that gave is this

will be doing their best to do similar. Its not like they don’t make a habit of it

The game isn’t on TV , so good luck finding a stream. We might all be on Arsenal Player though as streams are hard to come by this season.

Enjoy your day and enjoy the game.

Good morning Positives,

A sumptuous Sunday lunch served up for Arsene’s birthday by the players yesterday and enjoyed by all who attended. I think that sums up our collective experience of the game yesterday – what say you ? Even those home supporters who had the mental strength to stay to the end will have seen football played with a quality and at a speed they have not seen in their ground before. It may have been an unpleasant experience for them, but The School of Science will have picked up the lesson.

The four horsemen of the Evertonian apocalypse were Sanchez, Lacazette, Aaron and, standing tall in the saddle, Mesut Ozil. The point is made that this is the first League game that Arsene has been genuinely able to call on all our best players and start them on the pitch together, unimpeded by injury or fatigue. The first thing I noticed was that ball was moved forward much faster yesterday, and the players were moving faster, to my eye at least. The second thing I noticed was that there was always a player open to take a pass in the final third of the pitch because of that sharper movement, and because the home side had a second less to set their defence in place and ensure their lines were fixed. Lacazette’s movement and ability to find a yard in the box stood out, Alexis and Rambo were both on the front foot and one or the other offering themselves to the passer. Mesut was the puppet master of the ensemble. He rarely wasted possession of the ball. Each pass was picked with a purpose. The only mis-controlled pass he made all afternoon was when he had slipped over.

Elsewhere on the pitch Sead and Hector were rampant. Absolute corker of a goal from Nacho – and I admit until it went in I was a bit nervy. I was delighted that Granit did not let the setback of the first Everton goal put him off his game and he dominated the centre of the park. Did you notice he stayed on his feet for every tackle yesterday ? And for an old guy who already has said he intends to stop playing in May Per put in a hell of a good performance.

Best goal of the afternoon ? Mesut’s header. Ticked all the boxes.

Of our opponent’s then Pickford flung himself around with commendable effort to ensure the thrashing did not move into the territory of total humiliation. Sunlun last season, the Toffees this season. He does like a goalkeeping challenge that lad! I rather liked young Vlacic as well, but I cant really explain why (?)

No complaints on Pawson and a reasonably clean game. Gueye was never going to last another hour after his first card and I think even he knew that.

So with that gushing waterfall of clichéd and purloined prose I shall bid you auf wiedersehen for the week as I head up to Windermere.

Nelson has brought his lead  so I shall not be too lonely wandering as a cloud.

Enjoy your week.

Good Morning Positives Arsenal,

A satisfactory result and, I thought, a good display last night from a line –up formed from returning casualties and youngsters, with just a hint of je ne sais quoi with the surprise insertion of Mo Elneny into the centre of the back three.

Of the game itself I admit just 14 hours on the details are fading and thee was not a lot of high quality football. My abiding impression of the evening is the crowd rocking noisily  from the appearance of the teams to the final whistle, all except one moment that is. On the pitch I have flashes of Jack surging forward with the ball at his feet, Francis crashing in and out of tackles, and Reiss Nelson always available and in space to deliver a series of good crosses. Petr Cech was the busier first half goal keeper and he was very much in charge at the back last night, shouting and pointing at his makeshift defence with gusto. For a long period each time Matt Debuchy touched the ball I crossed my fingers but for a man who has played no first team football for a season he looked genuinely sharp and fit. He has come a long and no doubt very frustrating road. His return does however open the options up for Arsene to rest Hector, if required.

If the game of a swirling mist of half images then it is illuminated by one shaft of light, a few seconds of footballing quality that will remain in the memory long after the 2017/2018 Europa League campaign is consigned to historical record.

The neat and speedy build up to create the chance for Giroud was good by Jack and Theo, but Olivier’s finish with his back to goal, surrounded by defenders and with a gently looping ball was superb. There was no luck, no random chance in his careful guiding of the ball into the corner of the Belgrade net. For at least five seconds even the Red Star hordes were silenced. I have stolen this from elsewhere this morning but the line “he may not be a world class striker by the conventional measure, but he scores plenty of world class goals” sums up our Frenchman perfectly. It was a night on which, until the 86^th minute not a lot had gone right for him, with much sweat but no reward, but he persevered. He who endures conquers. When the season is over that goal is still likely to be among my best moments.

The only disappointment I had last night was the red card for the Rodic which I thought was a little harsh and Francis’ involvement in the player’s second yellow regrettable.

So off to Goodison on Sunday. I watched the closing few minutes of their game against Lyon last night. Dead man walking Ronald, dead man walking. Needless to say we shall have probably ten different starters at kick off time but, as Arsene made clear in his pre and post match, Jack is not that far away from the Premier League start he craves. The momentum is positive.

Enjoy your Friday.

Dobar Dan Positive Arsenal fans,

My apologies on behalf of the Board that we have been lax in failing to produce a proper pre game review for the  tie in Belgrade a little later but I trust you will find the evening nonetheless enjoyable.

Red Star are tucked into 2nd place in the Europa group and at home, in front of 50,000+ excited locals, they have to fancy their chances of nicking at least a point. Our last Champions League evening in nearby Zagreb was a little aggravating, if you remember. Red Star have not lost in Europe this season, are top of the Serbian Super League  and their home form has always been the foundation of their success. Given the largely comfortable results this week in the CL from English clubs my heart says be bullish, my head says we should be controlled and  wait our chance. No gung-ho, no charging in. A French referee and linos which may assist us. Let us take the points, which would pretty much guarantee progression to the next stage, and get back home.

Clearly we shall see a much changed Arsenal side from the starting line up at Vicarage Road and Jack appears to be champing at the bit to get at the Serbs. Olly is surely to lead the line and is it time to give Theo his chance?  There is one player who has no risk of fatigue depriving us of his talents this season. And the is a rumour of Matt Debuchy starting !!!!

For those of you with an eye for coincidence it appears that Dusan Savic,  who scored the winner in our only other game against to Serbs, has a son playing tonight. Listen to the strangest commentary from way back when. Nice goal though.

Kick of at 6pm UK – enjoy the game.

https://twitter.com/arseblog/status/919480110880903168

Fortunately for me, I’ve been stuck in the wilderness with no internet.This seems to have been a blessing in disguise, as the usual melt down occurred  with the normal lack of perspective. From what I can gather, the game changed when Watford were brought back into the game with a phantom penalty? Correct me if I’m wrong ? After that it seems a panic set in and the team did not perform well in the final knockings of the game.

So immediately, following a desperate wait of 7 games, the good and the great of Arsenal bloggers, tweeters and podcasters,were able to rush for their cyber tools, and launch headlong into their tried and tested attack on the manager, players, board and assorted scapegoats.

Well then, here is my opinion of what the headlines for these turgid efforts should read

“A BLOG IN THE PERFECT IMAGE OF ITS AUTHOR”

Every defeat is evidence of incompetence and every victory is evidence of the opponents’ incompetence.

Here is the thing, we are all disappointed following  a defeat. We all get annoyed by the mistakes made by footballers and the perceived mistakes made by management, but we don’t all behave like demented toddlers that have had their ice-cream taken from them. We don’t all have to break our necks, rushing to our phones or laptops, to take to Twitter and blogs in an attempt to be the leading prick on the internet.

You can be critical of Mesut Ozil for missing a golden opportunity, but can also see that he set up 3 decent chances in his cameo. You can be critical of Xhaka for not doing enough to stop the goal, but realise that after 2 international games and 90 minutes of PL action, he could be tired both mentally and physically. You can think that Jack should have been subbed on, but accept that because of an injury to out best CB, that wasn’t an option. In other words “be fair”.

We were basically cheated out of the points, as we were at Stoke, that’s 6 points. SIX POINTS.add them to the total and things would look a lot different. If you’ve been burgled, perhaps you could have bought a guard dog, or a better alarm system, but the fact remains, is not your fault that a ne’er-do-well broke into you home. Be disappointed with the performance of the team if you must, but at least be outraged at the dreadful officiating.

Good morning Positive Arsenal fans,

I thought I would feel better in the morning after yesterday evening’s disappointment, and I do. The elixir of rest and time passing. It must be magic.

Part of the improvement in my mood comes from the realisation that our casting away three points that I had assumed that all we had to do was collect at the gate has not done us much material harm in the Premier League. With Chelsea losing we effectively where we were in the table among the big boys in the competition. A chance to make progress spurned. Citeh’s demolition of Stoke an unwelcome reminder of goal scoring at its best. What we must do is ensure that when Mansour and his 40 thieves stumble, as they surely will, we are close enough to take advantage.

Of yesterday’s game ? A fairly even first half with us just shading possession and ahead through the most unlikely of scorers. They all count etc. and Per absolutely hammered the ball with the force and direction that left Gomes static. My feeling at the time was that there was a lot of possession, but much to much sideways passing. The only real creative effort came from Alex Iwobi who took the opposition on with the ball at his feet. Or young dynamo even managed to stamp on Richarlison’s hand – pity it had not been his head but hindsight is a great thing.

Our second half display to the 71^st minute carried on in the same vein, keeping ahead in the possession statistic and ensuring that when Watford crossed the half way line with intent then were forced to play in long speculative balls or try to shoot from way out. With Mesut’s arrival we opened the Hornet’s defence up twice and but for some good wok from Gomes would have had at least a decisive 2^nd goal.

And then the PENALTY (see previous post for details and discussion).

Now with 20+ minutes left and having created a couple of highly score-able opportunities in the preceding few minutes before the setback my assumption was that we had more than enough time, and certainly the playing resources to put things right. We had not lost at Watford for 30+ years for goodness sake.

But No. Now since 7.24 last night I have seen and read the full range of accusations against individual Arsenal players individually, and I have seen then harangued collectively, Arsene, Bouldy and Vick Akers have been in the arrested and charged for their criminal incompetence.

It seemed to me, reflecting and rerunning that final phase of the game in my head in slow motion we could not decide what to do. In terms of attacking or “chances” the assault I anticipated on the Watford goal never even started. Our game without-the-ball disintegrated. We could not get control of the damn thing for more than one or two passes. When Watford had the ball then it seemed they had time and space to ass and open colleagues to choose from. For us we scuffled, seemed to have no time and picked the wrong pass. We found ourselves pinned back for long periods and when our defence managed to clear the ball it would come straight back with menaces. Under this barrage I make no complaints against the back three (including the surprised Rob Holding) or Cech, or even Hector or Kolasinac. The defence battled manfully as wave after wave battered our defensive wall. Eventually though the weak point was located, the sea rushed through.

We slunk away in defeat. While the devious penalty earned by the young Brazilian was responsible for us not earning at least a point it was the final 20 minutes that defined our evening.

Anyway we move onward to Red Star and thence to Goodison on next Sunday lunchtime. I shall make no predictions though Everton away has been a happy ground for us for most of Wenger’s rein. We could certainly do with one of our strikers scoring away from home, and I don’t care who. I shall keep my eye on the game from the Amex with more interest this afternoon as Koeman’s number may be up.

It is Mesut’s 29^th birthday today so I trust he will enjoy his day, a I do all of you this sunny Sunday morning up in Norfolk.