Good morning + people,

Well the six game winning streak came to an end yesterday evening as we all saw, the defeat more of a breathy whimper on our part than the blood soaked orgy of violence that I have come to expect at the Britannia. As recently as the 13^th May we had thumped the same opponents on the same ground, so there you go. Football eh.

This morning I see the experts are out in mainstream media and on social media with 101 theories to explain Arsenal’s oh-so-obvious deficiencies; the players chosen and not chosen, the positions they played in and did not play in, players bought and sold -v- not bought and not sold, the tactics, the strategy, the team psychology, the physiology, the medical team, and don’t imagine you are off the hook for your part in this “debacle” Vic f******* Akers. Oh yes there is nothing like a 0-1 defeat at Stoke to stir the juices of discontent.

I admit I don’t think we played as well as we can. Stoke did not match our football yet when they had one half chance, caused by our defensive hesitation, they scored. Ironically against our usual bête-noire in against the Orcs – the long high ball – we coped almost perfectly all game. When we were firmly in charge of the ball, as we were for long periods before half time and for the final half hour ( when my guess is the possession percentages must have been 90/10 to us) we did not score. We created but no egg hatched. The longer the game went on it seemed to me the less likely it was that we would crack the home sides defence and earn at least what would have been a respectable point.

Of our players I thought Hector and the Ox were excellent in their wing back roles. As we all saw, though Mr Marriner did not, Hector’s bursting run could have been the key we needed to turn the Stoke lock. I thought Granit and Aaron controlled midfield all afternoon and quelled the usually lively Orc toilers, Fletcher and Allen. Alexander Lacazette I thought had his best game for us so far. Yes I know he did not “score” but he ever so nearly did, and no doubt some will say the goal should have stood. Strikers have many facets to their game, of movement, imagination and anticipation, and he demonstrated them throughout the game. On a side note unlike many French players who have joined us over the years Alexander looks very fit and well able to last 90 minutes.

Of our opponents I would have to pick out Jack Butland who looked highly competent. He has a fine future, somewhere and in the meantime will get loads of goalkeeping practice under Mark Hughes.

Where are we then – two games in ? I think in receipt of a sobering slap to wake us up to the realities of League football. Despite our excellent form and Stoke’s poor recent results nothing can be taken for granted. I have no doubt we shall be working hard in training all week on the art of converting overwhelming possession into strikes on goal.

Onwards to Anfield next week and I see a 4pm Sunday kick off which gives us a few days of reflection on yesterday, and on or recent performances, and to identify what we are doing well, and where improvement is required. I do not expect any radical alteration to our set up or our approach to the Liverpool game. I anticipate Kosc will be back on duty which will make us a little steadier at the back but I warn you – it will be goals goals goals !!

Enjoy your Sunday…

A bonus blog from  arse_or_brain

I’ve just watched the entirety of the game  for the first time after I’ve heard all the comments from the twitteraty and uber bloggers, its a new and interesting experience for me. I was told the defending was comical, Holding was awful and is just not ready, Sead was perfect and can do no wrong, Nacho will never make a CB as long as he has a hole up his arse, Mesut was invisible, Cech was finished two years ago, Xhaka and Mo are the worst CM pairing ever and never play the ball forward, it’s a fact that the Ox is a better WB than Hector and basically we got out of jail and were very lucky.
Well all this and much more was bollocks on a large scale.
Let’s take these assumptions (taken on emotion from an a very emotional game) one by one.
There were errors in the build up two all three goals and the whole team and coaches will be very disappointed with aspects of all of them, however if you take the defending overall and put it in perspective for the 95 minutes the defending wasn’t that bad. Leicester win the ball back and launch it forward supporting in numbers very quickly, maybe the quickest in the league at this and they won it using just that system beating everyone except us. For the most part we stopped them doing this winning the ball back as soon as we had lost it or intercepting the balls forward to eliminate danger. Many of the players highlighted for having bad games were actually very good at this. Leicester cross first time and we did struggle stopping them doing this however only for two crosses in the whole game did they cause trouble again hardly comical.
Young Holding didn’t have his best game but he did well in lots of areas and is as good if not better than the young Stones and Cahill when their good performances also came with mistakes. Arsene has already said he accepts that playing young players will come with mistakes and that is part of their progress and will help them develop into brilliant players as he will take the gamble.
Sead had a great game, he is a beast aggressive, fast, direct and loves to be involved. However the uber bloggers need to watch the game again if they think he is untouchable. He made several errors (like Holding) and in both halves he tried to play the ball from the centre of his own box, giving the ball away in a dangerous area, the second one led to the corner that we conceded the third goal from. Yes we should have defended the corner better but we also shouldn’t be giving away needless corners.
Like I said Leicester style means they will always do well away from home because of their lightning counters, this means the middle pin of the three CBs has to be on his game at all times. If you look at the way we conceded the goals only the second could be possibly levelled at Nacho and overall I thought he had a good game. When you take this in conjunction with some of his other displays, saying he is not a CB is lunacy.
Mesut was quite and struggled early on when leicester harassed us quickly. This may have been due to his knock in midweek and in hindsight (which managers don’t have) maybe Iwobi might have been the better starter. As the game went on and the opposition tired and paid for their style and effort in the first half the mystro started waving his magic wand. invisible my arse.
Like Holding Cech didn’t have one of his better games and thought he could of done better with the first two goals, however these mistakes were exaggerated by the fact that leicester only had three shots on target and he had no chance for redemption. Although sometimes I’am concerned about his distribution and his tendency to be static on crosses how can anyone say he is finished when when at times last season he was simply outstanding. I think fans say players are finished because if they say it long enough eventually they will be correct, unfortunately for these idiots it can take years.
The midfield pairing were very effective in this game, stopping endless counters, keeping the tempo up all game and I lost count of the amount of diagonal balls played to the wide front men or our wing backs. They did lose the ball sometimes when the understanding wasn’t quite there but this was the first game and that will be eliminated.Overall they took control of the game and limited leicester to small pickings.
The Ox is a very good player and going forward he can be devastating but he quite often loses concentration and lets players slip in behind (like the first goal). Like Shotts has highlighted many times people who present their opinions as facts are actually foolish.
Now for the getting out of jail bit. I have long said that pundits, journos and fans comment on the score and not on the game and this is the case for this game. Overall we played very well keeping the tempo up throughout and totally exhausting our opponents. The mistakes made by the whole side and not just the defence kept leicester in the game (who took their chances excellently by the way). If you look at the amount of times the ball bounced around their box falling to their players more by luck than judgement you can see they were hanging on by a thread and this was the first half not just the last twenty minutes. So they were lucky to come off at half time at 2-2 and although they again went to the lead they were retreating deeper and deeper and looking more and more exhausted. So in the end it wasn’t a matter of getting out of jail but Justice being served (as was the suspected handballs for both sides which ol mikey got correct on both occasions).
The errors can be cut out and when Arsene watches this back he will pleased with flow of play this early in the season, a positive the uber bloggers could well do to note. I say to them all watch the game not the result.

Good morning Positive friends,

The roar was truly ripped in last night’s contest. If Friday night football is like this then I want more of it. I cannot remember opening league game that has had as much action, so much DRAMA, as we endured enjoyed in the course of collecting our three points against the Foxes. Much is often made in the Mainstream media of players somehow not being quite fit or ready for the start of the PL season. Last night I thought the game started at 100 miles and hour and rarely slackened off. A real ‘edge-of-the-seat’ performance the moment Lacazette headed his tidy opener after a minute to the final shrill of Deano’s whistle 94 minutes later.

Why was the action so electric ? Did anyone here really expect quite such a struggle against a Leicester side who last season scuffled away from relegation only in the final weeks of the season ? Not me.

Let me examine what happened.

• After the hour had passed, and when we were 2-3 behind, we tore the arse out of Leicester ( to use the technical coaching term). From the 60th minute on we passed with precision and moved with speed. The visitors finally could not cope and cracked, twice in the final eight minutes. Ignominiously falling behind for the second time in the evening we needed to switch to Wengerball and my goodness when the lever was pulled we had the players to put it into action. I thought until that point Mesut had been peripheral. In the final 20-30 minutes the German moved from the edge of the engagement to the pivot of all that decisive in our play. Aaron’s swift control and accurate finish levelled it, Larry’s strength finished the battle off. That final half hour was very, very good and no team in the PL, perhaps none but two or three in Europe, could have lived with us. It was not just that substitutions were made. The power was turned up, in my opinion. The performance bodes well.

• Leicester were a dangerous opponent. Fair play to them and the sharpness of Vardy and Okazaki stood out every time during that first hour. What possession they had going forward they used well and forced Cech to save and our defenders to scurry. Four chances, three goals. I salute Leicester for their contribution to the evening’s entertainment.

• Much has been made, by me among others, about the strength of our squad this season which is the best for many years, and I stand by the analysis. Nevertheless fate had conspired to forced us to take our first PL steps with not quote the first 11 we would have chosen, and with a back three made up of our new Bosnian tank, Nacho in the middle, and young Rob on the right side. To lose three goals at home is more than misfortune. Their lack of experience of playing together I am afraid caused the first Leicester goal. The second Vardy goal I thought was taken well so I will accept that. The third Leicester goal the defending was execrable ( a much under-used word I am trying to push back into circulation). Vardy had a free header, not an red shirt in five paces of him. Now I do not blame only the three central defenders for that abomination as I saw almost the same against West Brom in February. But if we want challenge for the PLM then ‘it’ needs sorting out.

That will do me nicely this Saturday morning. Enjoy your weekend one and all.

Good morning Positive Arsenal fans and welcome to the 2017/2018 season,

I trust you all thoroughly enjoyed yesterday’s game from Wembley, a contest that swayed from end to end but which I thought the deserved winners emerged?  The result was not quite as comprehensive as in May but I recognise that we were without certainly 4-5, arguably 6 first team starters yesterday so we can be excused a little less than pure clockwork movement in the win.

I reckon we had about 75% control of the game. Our only dodgy phase came after Per was injured and we lost our momentum. When we were after the equaliser CFC spent long periods pinned in their final third and not able to get the ball away. Rather impressive on our part I thought.

Of our lads I thought Iwobi continued his sparkling pre season form and his tricky footwork and running AT the Chelsea back line resulted in an uncomfortable afternoon for our opponents. If you can get AT Luiz and Cahill then they will crack. Stay fit young man and you will have 40 games this season.

Granit earned the man of the match award and he and Mo moved the ball quickly and accurately. As in the Cup Final our midfield imposed control over the Blues for most of the 90 minutes.

Top prize this week goes to Nacho however for a commanding performance in the centre of the back three after Per went off. The Spaniard organised Sead and Rob efficiently, and despite the fact he is not a tall player was never, as far as I can recall, beaten in the air all afternoon. His aerial success came not by the application of brute force and flying elbows, but of reading the game and anticipating the arrival of the ball a split second earlier. Nacho really is a very good defender, and at 31 years old, ( 32 in February) he has 15 years of accumulated wisdom. He has not ever in his AFC career, been prone to fitness problems or suffered a serious injury. Moving to a centre back slot may well extend his Arsenal career by a season or two. I hope so.

The rest of our lads I thought did well, Hector still looking a little rusty, the OX good in parts and a bit clumsy at other times, Alexandre in and out of the game. Overall though I’d give them a collective 7/10.

Of our opponents ? Not very impressive. Not sure why Pedro was playing given he had his mask on to protect four facial “fractures” sustained less than three weeks ago. Are Chelsea really that short of players ? At the game it was far from clear why the Spaniard had been sent off from where I was sitting. Something was clearly “up” because Conte was yelping in the 4^th officials ear to try and get him substituted ad the stretcher was brought to pitchside. Looking at it again on the box it was a straight red card and fair play to Mr Madeley. Alvaro Morata after 75 minutes ! What was that about?

And the penalties?

Ah Thibaut, Thibaut, Thibaut ….In the words of Björn the Bard

“The winner takes it all
The loser’s standing small
Beside the victory
That’s her destiny”

And finally, at the insistence of my daughter, a picture of Positively Arsenal’s newest reader, Nelson.

Enjoy your week!