I watched the game from the discomfort of my armchair and believed I had watched a good hard fought sporting encounter between two teams ,although quite a bit below their best, providing a decent game. Little did I know that I should have been booing and cursing at the manager and the players.

I have to admit that I enjoyed it. I don’t think we played anything like our best, but it was a real fight.It was entertaining because it was a contrast of styles. Arsenal had most of the ball and controlled the game on the whole. There was a real lack of quality in the final third though. Sanchez was poor, at best. Its clear why Arsene so quickly gave up om him a a lone central striker. The Ox looked dangerous running with the ball , but ultimately the runs led to nothing. Of the three strikers I thought Theo looked most likely to make a breakthrough. In fact I felt Theo did himself a few favours overall.

Santi seems to be at his creative best when playing deeper and was not anywhere near his magic best in the number 10 role.

However, the back four ,and Cech, all had solid games with Le Coq and Xhaka doing a fine job and anchoring and controlling the midfield

So in summary, back good, front bad.

If I was being balanced I would say Francis should have been dismissed and Hector was lucky not to give away a penalty. But there were enough occasions when Mark didn’t book LCFC players when he could have, and there is an argument to say their player deliberately stuck out a leg (Vardy like). So bollocks to being balanced.

I saw enough from Holding to think he is the bargain of the summer. Or perhaps the ElNeny of this window, if you like?

So that’s about it. I think a draw was a fair result, and I am happy enough with it.

Sorry it’s me this morning instead of the usual treat of Andy Nic. Hopefully everyone will be back to full fitness next week and our stars will return refreshed .

доброе утро Positivistas,

For those of you keenly anticipating the wit and wisdom of young Stew this morning after the Summer break you may be dismayed to discover a change of plan. As someone who was also looking forward to the morning musings of our resident quill-meister I am among you.

Normal service will be resumed in the near future. As Arsene says it is essential that top performers enjoy a proper break to recover mentally and physically from a the heavy 55 game 2015/2016 season, and prepare properly for the long contest ahead.

On to the football match and if I were choosing a game to preview then probably Leicester at the King Power would be around or at the top of the list.

The two top sides in the PL last season, both sides backed by excellent keepers, crammed with attractive ball players, and you just know both sides will score goals today. There is always noise at Leicester’s stadium. The home crowd is always frantic and a small pitch ensures that all the action is condensed. Despite watching the game on the TV I find in smaller, noisier grounds I am much more off my seat and in and out of the domestic technical area.

The Fates have even graced us with Mr Clattenburg so we have the best the footballing authorities can supply in terms of a match official. I hope we shall hear no more of Mr C for the whole weekend, though that rather depends on the players. Dissent ? I may have been watching the wrong games last week but my impression was that ( almost all) players were more cautious, a smidgeon more restrained in their contact with the referees and the linos. We shall see if the behavioural modification lasts.

Of our opponents it is still a bit strange, this Leicester City ‘phenomenon’. Until last season LCFC were, not to be too unkind, a bit of a joke, a bit of a ‘guaranteed six points’. Always had been a soft touch, either skilful dandies but with no bite, or rough and with no footballing brain. Either way easy meat for Arsenal season in, season out.

Both our games in 2015/2016 showed the formidable change in the Foxes, 7-3 on aggregate. LCFC over 38 games an example, in a week of transfer hysteria, that football is a team game and a players combined, thinking, moving, organising on the pitch together, who are determined will always achieve more than 11 individuals no matter their price and/or the size of their wage. That we managed to inflict two of only three league defeats on Ranieri’s side was very much to our credit last season, that only one other club managed to best them is very much to theirs.

Both clubs started the campaign with a blip last weekend and there were the inevitable references to an “ashen-faced” Claudio Ranieri and an “ashen-faced” Arsene Wenger this week “under pressure” and this evening’s designated a “must win” game for both.

Let’s get it clear shall we. Win, draw or lose today any dancing in the streets would be premature. 36 games to go. I know some Arsenal fans by Monday last had given up on the PL. For them the trophy, even any thought we might challenge for the trophy, was gone. I think they are foolish. I trust by about 7.20 tonight they will also feel they were a little foolish.

Of the prospective line-ups I see Huth is back in the centre of the Leicester defence and I assume that will improve on their shakey back 4 display against Hull. Other than Musa I think we know all just about all their players and I expect no surprises. We know what they ‘do’, they know what we ‘do’.

Us ? Arsene was particularly gnomic in the press conference on Thursday. Rob Holding, who I am sure will play alongside Chambers again, will enjoy and learn from the experience over 90 minutes far more than he would from second string action of watching from the bench. I expect Xhaka, Elneny and Le Coq all to get on the pitch today. I fancy the Ox to make his mark today as an attacking force.

Enjoy the game and we shall speak later.

Good Morning Positivistas,

Having looked forward to the opening fixture since the game was announced in mid June the afternoon did not disappoint and will certainly be one of the ‘opening days’ that are carved in the memory of games worth watching.

Clearly to be on the wrong side of a seven goal contest, and to drop three points that I fancied we should collect before the kick off, is a disappointment. A few hours reflection, sober and at times less sober, has however brought that disappointment into perspective, and allowed a drawing apart of the footballing strands of the afternoon.

Of the game itself both Arsenal and Liverpool struck me as rusty in the first half, with passes being hit a little aimlessly and no fluidity our movement compared to our Maytime/end of season smooth run through the gears. Liverpool were scrappy in front of the nervy Mignolet. Holding and Chambers looked fine. Monreal spent the first half hour leaping as high than an elephant’s eye, given any opportunity!   A goal I sensed was coming from an error and, lo and behold, it was provided by the ridiculously top-knotted Albert Moreno.

First, his clumsy penalty challenge, then a charge up field to leave Theo unmarked who coolly slotted home our opener. “Theo, Theo, Theo”. A considerable relief for our new right winger and we were on a roll, surely ?

(I do not know if you were watching on Sky like me but the word “assassination’ was used by Neville to describe his own comments on the young Spanish wing back – for once Gary had exactly the right word).

Moving swiftly on however, as we all saw, having forced ourselves in front we did not follow up on the advantage. The Scousers managed to get a foot in the game and took advantage of a soft free kick award to slot an unstoppable rocket into Cech’s corner pocket. Bloody hell.

And then, and then, and then ….. the first fifteen minutes of the second half.

We stumbled out after half time as though under the influence of a mighty jab of dental pain killer. Our minds were as numb as our bodies, we did not appear to know how to keep the ball, or have the individual or collective wit to resist. I have no idea where it came from. I have seen it before, at Stamford Bridge, at Anfield, at the Etihad, even St Marys. One goal deficit becomes two, becomes three, becomes four etcetera. It was not, in my opinion, the second goal that rocked us on our heels. We were already stunned before that went in. But after that excellent finish by Lallana, and it was a very good finish btw, we had ten minutes of team wide, hollow eyed confusion. I have no idea why during this period of confusion in the game two players went down injured, and both had to leave the field ? Cause and effect perhaps.

We suffer from a collective mental malaise. It is not down to individual players, to signings, or to injuries. It is not even down to dodgy refereeing and Oliver was excellent yesterday, imo. We require composure when a game turns against us, and when we look in the basket we have none.

Can I explain why experienced, reliable players, suddenly switch off ? No I can’t. No doubt the experts will have a ‘000 plausible ideas. I shall however call what I cannot explain the meringue.

Much focus in the media, mainstream and social, has been in Chambers and Holding and the ‘weakness’ that they created at the heart of the AFC defence. I am not convinced, not remotely convinced. For goals two and three we were undone by very slick, fast passing and good finishing. Hector was taken out in the move for the second Liverpool goal, Nacho beaten by an excellent Clyne cross for the third. I doubt very much Kosc, Per or Gabby, or the unnamed and newly signed ANOther would had done any better. They certainly did not at Stamford Bridge, Anfield and the Etihad etc.

As Mane’s fourth went in I admit I was heading for the metaphorical exit on my armchair as I stared toward what appeared to be turning into rout. Jurgen Klopp, foolish man, celebrated with his players. Nevertheless that strike proved the difference in the end between the teams.

And then, somehow and against my and Jurgen’s expectations, the Ox twisted his way toward Mignolet who duly obliged with a howler to allow the shot to squirm in. Chambo’s glancing header brought us to within touching distance with about 20 minutes to go ……….

Could we ? Would we ? Should we ?

Well after those excruciating minutes Mr Oliver put us out of our misery, we never really looked like we would grab that fourth and probably did not deserve it. No clear chances created. The nearest we got was Theo standing on the ball on the 92^nd minute. During that final phase Le Coq was fortunate to stay in the pitch, as I said the referee was in a forgiving frame of mind. LFC were better than us on the day, creating chances and tucking those chances away. Hard work required. I shall welcome Giroud back like along lost son.

So off we go, sunshine bus loaded, destination Leicester.

“So what have the Romans ever done for us ?”

Well for much of Arsenal blog world in recent days that should read

“What has Ivan ever done for us (that we don’t take offence to)”

Seriously, what on earth has Ivan said that could possibly offend these great minds and leaders of opinion, or the sheep that accept their agenda driven bullshit?

In case you missed it, Arsenal CEO, Ivan Gazidis, gave his usual pre-season interview to some media outlet or other, this time ESPN. I’m sure many on here could, without seeing it or reading it,give a good guess at what he had to say. Now that is not, like the malcontents claim, because we are some sort of cult, inducted into the mantra of Stan’s(or should that be Arsene’s) mouthpiece, and we lap up and repeat addendum. No its because most of us know the history of our club, not just the Wenger era, or the GG era, I go back to the Mee era, and by saying we know the history of this club, i’m referring to not just what goes on on the pitch, but in fact how the club we support, is actually run, and has been run in the vast majority, if not all its, long history. Arsenal is run, and has been as long as I’ve been a Gooner (almost 50 years), as a self sustaining club, that, does not do panic, that by and large, sticks by its managers, its players, and does not let the media influence or disrupt our plans, long or short term plans.

We would have expected Ivan to tell us that Arsenal are

behind our manager
still believe in him
believe in him, not for his history, but cos we know the work he is doing for us now, and that he still has the vision, the drive, the talent and the forsight that is good for the club,
disappointed that we did not win the league last season
top 4 is not good enough and we want to win the league
are continually upgrading all aspects of the club, not just the team/squad, but also analytical, medical, training, infrastructure, you name it, we are trying to improve it
we have, or to be more precise, we are working, to a long term plan
this long term plan is reviewed and amended where needed continually
we have lots of money
but others have more
we can not spend £100M on one player
so we have to spend our money intelligently
getting the right player, is more important than getting the most expensive player
just because a player is highly talented, it does not mean he is suited to our style of play or would improve us,
it’s getting the player that fits,
we buy big too,(Xhaka remains the most expensive player bought by a BPL club so far this summer) but we also believe in promoting from within
Leicester showed that there are more ways than one to skin a cat, and we should copy the best bits from them, just as we copy bits from other clubs as we see fit.

Guess what? Ivan did tell us all of it, – AGAIN, Ivan with the same as he said last year, and the year before, they say, totally missing the point, that we, just as he told them, again, this year, and last year and the year before, are working to a plan, a short term one, and a long term one. So why the feck would we abandon the path we believe in, we believe is right, believe is TRUE, to the ethos of the club?

Now a certain section of the fan base is up in arms, in fact they tell us they are offended, by Ivan’s words. These are the sort of people that like to tell us that Arsenal embarrass them, that they are ashamed to support the club, and on that note, many of them seem to have a very loose definition of what support is, as they never have a good word to say about anything AFC, they say they do not spend on merchandise, and loads of them (almost as many as claim to have been at WHL last game of 71 season, or to be more relevant to most of them, maybe I should say, almost as many as claim to have been at the league winning game at Anfield, in their favorite managers era, yes bung-meister himself George Graham) claim to have given up their season ticket(no wonder there is so much room for the “tourists”).

So the embarrassed and offended fans, don’t have a good word to say about Arsenal, don’t spend any money on it, and don’t go to games, but it’s the fans who back the club, the manager, the players, and agree with the club being run along the lines it has always been, are the ones holding the club back. Well, that is, after Wenger, Ivan, Stan, Per, Ramsey, Giroud, Walcott.

So I say to the offended, go on, be offended, that is your right, its also your problem, and yours alone, if you need Arsenal to help you in some playground dick swinging contest, and Arsenal are not interested, and this offends you, maybe you should have a good long look at yourself, and your reasons for being an Arsenal fan, and maybe, just maybe, it’s not Arsenal, but you, yourself, that the offence originates in, and yes, you should be ashamed, and offended, and don’t ask what has the Ivan ever did for us.

Thanks to Eduardo for today’s post

So ,Arsene Wenger is proven right once again – nothing new there says you ?

Last season the malcontents took umbridge when AW said, when discussing how LCFC were able to sign the likes of Mahrez and Kante, despite the big clubs having the exact same scouting info on both players, that a section of Arsenal fans would react negatively if AFC bought a player for £400k, that they did not want to see an unknown signed.
The malcontents told us this was bollocks, yet look at the reaction of the malcontents to the signing of Takuma Asano.
Not only is there negative hysteria from them, its xenophobic, and in some cases downright racist. We also have the brainless soundbite that its a “commercial” signing, or a “shirt sales” signing.
One of the most laughable reasons (should that not be excuses, as I know they like to use that term, when it suits them), for their over the top reaction to this signing, is that it is “all Arsenal FC’s fault”, as they should know better than to announce his signing when Utd have announced Mkhitaryan and Zlatan. They say AFC should have waited till we had a big name(money) signing done and slip in the news about Asano, with it.
So to compound their initial attacks on both AFC and Asano, they have totally disrespected the player again.
Does Takuma Asano not deserve respect, is he not a full International, is he not likely to be playing at the Olympics, did he not have up to 200 scouts running the rule over him at the Toulon U21 tournament in the summer, is he not a big star in his home country, is he not young player of the year in his homeland(their Dele Alli per say, but without the hype)?

Does he not deserve the chance in his last couple of game for them, to say goodbye to his club, their fans, his team mates?

Arsenal announced the deal, cos the story had broken in Japan, Asano was already getting asked lots of questions about it, and he had admitted the move was happening, he even said that the only thing to be decided was if he would join up directly with AFC, or go on loan to get used to European football.

A post stolen from the comments section by eduardo792

There’s a priceless piece of dialogue from the pen of the wonderful David Nobbs on a subject which has, just this morning, provided the sand in my emotional Vaseline. His character, known to us only by his initials CJ, is expounding upon the theme of trite, stereotyped phraseology of the kind employed by lazy minds to express popular or common thoughts and ideas. Phrases entirely lacking in originality, ingenuity, and, thanks to their chronic overexposure, expressions which are so devoid of impact as to be utterly pointless.

The speech went something like this:

“Mrs C.J. and I have always avoided clichés like the plague. A cliché to me is like a red rag to a bull. However, it’s the exception that proves the rule, as they say, and there is one cliché that fits my situation like a glove: Necessity is the mother of intention.”

All writers slide into cliché, even humble part time amateur bloggers such as myself are no exception. The trick isn’t never to fall foul of the hackneyed phrase, it is rather to do one’s darnedest to avoid it wherever one can. Where the use of cliché is utterly beyond the pale isn’t when it is used as seasoning in an otherwise ordinary piece of prose. It seems to me to achieve its nadir of useless, shallow emptiness when employed as the central thrust of somebody’s argument.

Today, like birdsong, flowers and late sunsets, that hardy annual of the Transfer window has arrived right on cue to ruffle my feathers and send me running for the Anderson Shelter. Today for the first time this summer, I read the expression ‘to show intent’ in regard to the buying of players to augment our squad.

Arsène (or Wenger as he is invariably and rudely referred to by his own supporters. Or at least people who claim to support the club and therefore ought to be his supporters) needs to spend a lot of money or buy a lot of players or less players but players of the highest calibre because then he will be showing intent.

Now I’m no saint. Like you, I suspect, I’ve typed more than a few shallow, ill conceived lines and bunged them up on the internet in a thoughtless moment. So I don’t condemn everyone who uses this ridiculous phrase. Maybe they intended something else and didn’t get up today with the single intention of driving a splintered length of four by two up my backside.

But come on. Expend upon it the briefest moment of thought and really, what on earth is it supposed to mean? Transfers are complex and difficult to conclude. Expensive, drawn out and fraught with any number of complexities, of which you and I can know very little. What we can know with great certainty is that they serve one of two very simple purposes. To replace players who have left the club and to improve upon those already in the squad. That’s it. You do not engage the services of a highly paid professional footballer to send out a message of intent.

Arsène Wenger’s intentions are crystal clear. He wants to win as many games and competitions as he can. There is no doubt about this, it isn’t up for debate. Were he to buy someone simply to convey some sort of message, I ask you, who would this message be for? His rivals? The media? The fans?

His rivals already know he is serious about his job, if they don’t they’re idiots and need to look for alternative employment. The media have their own agenda and will stick slavishly to it regardless of what he does or doesn’t do. As a fan I don’t want him to spend a fortune of the club’s hard earned just to send me a message. That would be ridiculous.

So please do not repeat this awful phrase. Arsène doesn’t need to show anyone ‘intent’. His intentions are not and have never been in question. Why not watch the remaining matches of the European championships, then when they’re over have a little rest from football. Leave the professionals to do their jobs and buy the players they are able to buy and when the new season starts just try to enjoy it regardless of who did and didn’t sign in  this wretched window.

Oh, and leave the clichés to those without your wit and imagination. You know you can do better.