Arsenal Forced To Settle For A Desmond
Jan 28th, 2014 by 'holic
The late arrival of the away team coach, caused only by the volume of traffic one hopes, set the tone for the opening half. The passengers on that vehicle failed to get into gear in the opening half.
Credit is due to Southampton who pressed, passed, and quite simply outplayed the Premier League leaders. In the opening twenty minutes we somehow managed to keep them at bay, but efforts from Lallana, Gallagher (twice), and Schneiderlin should have served as warning shots across the bow. We failed to react and were behind when Fonte out-muscled Nacho Monreal at the far post and Wojciech Szczesny appeared to get his angles wrong with the attempted save behind the line.
Four minutes from half-time we had a huge let-off when Premier League debutant Gallagher prodded the ball wide of the goal from close range as Szczesny closed him down quickly, and at the cost of a painful blow to the orchestras. To this point our only real hope had come from what appeared to be a Fonte handball in the box, but no penalty was given. Then as the half drew to a close a near post corner routine ended with the otherwise redundant Boruc saving superbly to deny Laurent Koscielny an equaliser from Per Mertesacker’s flick on. It would have been cruel on the hosts had it gone in.
Given how awful we had been before the break the immediate turnaround in fortunes at the start of the second-half was astonishing. Whatever was said during the interval had us restart with the infamous handbrake well and truly off. Less than three minutes in and Olivier Giroud’s exquisite backheeled glance from Bacary Sagna’s driven cross had us on level terms. Four minutes later we were ahead, Santi Cazorla drilling one home from the edge of the penalty area having been set up by Mesut Ozil.
At this point you might have been forgiven for thinking we had got away with a lazy start to the game and were once again about to snatch the points. We have seen it before this season. Perhaps we hadn’t allowed for the resilience this young Southampton side displays. You could have forgiven them for crumbling, instead just a minute after going behind they were level. Rodriguez got in behind Sagna and cut the ball back for Lallana, ahead of his marker, MikelArteta, to finish unchallenged.
With three points necessary to ensure we reached the weekend in pole position it was heartening to see Ozil try to take the game by the scruff of the neck. One astonishing mazy dribble at pace ended with his deflected effort bouncing off the crossbar with Boruc a spectator. The half was going to be played at his tempo he had clearly decided, and yet Southampton would not lay down.
Possibly the deciding moment came when Matthieu Flamini went in two footed on Schneiderlin in front of the benches. We could argue he got the ball, and that his studs were facing down, both of which were true. It was however reckless and away from home with Lee Mason in charge it was a serious misjudgement. No complaints about the red card for we would have screamed for one had it been a Southampton player. A three game ban may hurt him more than us, given the options available to us in midfield. It should be noted this was his first red card in an Arsenal shirt, and allowances made as a result.
Even down to ten men, we traded attacks with the home side in a nerve-wracking finish, but the points were shared. We didn’t deserve more, probably. If you take your rose tinteds off for a second then it is easy to see the match as a wonderful spectacle. Frustrating for us, yes, but the second-half at least passed apace.
Just as concerning as the dropped points were the post match reports that Aaron Ramsey will be ruled out for a further period with a recurrence of the injury that we thought he had recovered from. He was destined for player of the season plaudits, but now faces a battle to get back when we will need to have a squad capable of seeing out a serious assault on the major prizes. Good luck Aaron.
Bring on Palace. We may not make the weekend on top, but with all of the top sides still to play our destiny is still very much in our own hands.
546 Responses to “Arsenal Forced To Settle For A Desmond”
Champions!!!
tutu…brilliant
CL spot?
Hate being fourth
Fair report Holic old chap, still hoping we get some nice shiny new players to complement the side a little more.
Cheers, ‘holic, forever the voice of reason.
Good stuff from Ttg at the end of the last drinks.
Fair summary ‘h.
A mediocre performance but not a defeat. An encouraging point when previously would’ve got nothing from such a match. All still to play for but must make an attack-minded signing in the next 72 hours for the run-in! Too many massive and unbelievably tough matches this coming month and a lift from a true striking alternative will be a great shot in the arm. For me, a Central partnership of Arteta and Flamini doesn’t work. A direct and penetrative partner is always needed to complement either.
Spuds to stalemate with the Mercenaries and the Chavs to narrowly win but remain second on goals-scored amorrow! COYBG!
well said, holic.
gotta think desmond was still putting on his pretty face for the first half…
it’s a rumble, now.
A measured report ‘Holic, unlucky about the pound.
Don’t mention the pound Wind, I thought it was landed again 😉
Very sensible report Holic. One gets caught up in the tension of a match but we really aren’t going to win every game. This might be the point that wins us the title !
Cheers Holic – haven’t seen anything yet so much appreciated. 😉
From yours and TV reports it sounded as though our first half was blighted by either lethargy or the handbrake, and we never really got playing. That is hard to understand from a team that is now vastly experienced. Surely a group of players like this should not need wake up calls and half time hairdryers.
Good that we at least responded, but maybe Southampton had acquired a confidence that they would not have, had we gone at them from the off.
And so we’re left hoping for a Spuds win tonorrow 🙁
Well written ‘Holic. Not sure that the Flamini’s red was the deciding moment in the match though. For me, it was not subbing him at the hour mark.
Just read that Arsene said: “I hope we have something to tell you (on signings by Friday)”
Before the Tots game I was quite happy with the squad we had. But then we’ve lost Walcott, our only outlet bar Ramsey when teams are pressing us like Soton did tonight. Imagine what an impact Walcott could have in a game like this. Surely Shaw would not have been so offensive.
And now Ramsey is out for couple of weeks.
So, it is fair to say that we could do with couple of additions in the squad. I don’t want any stars, couple of in form squad players, one mobile defensive midfielder and a pacey forward should do just fine.
Speaking of which, I would be extremely happy to see Schneiderlin and Rodriguez in our shirt. Any price between 25-30M, considering today’s market and based on what I saw tonight is a bargain.
Pure speculation and wishful thinking of course, because I really don’t expect to see anyone coming this January. If something happens I will consider it as a big bonus.
Got away with a point, it could have been much worse. Chesney and Ozil did their best in the second half to save our top spot but looks as though we will be 3rd tomorrow night.
Flamini was an idiot, going in 2 footed is always going to be a red card. We need every one to be available and don’t need self inflicted absences.
Worried to hear news on Rambo, lets hope LJW is available against Palace who had a great win against Hull. They will be hard to break down on Sunday.
Disappointed but not depressed!
COYRs
Trev – look at Man City last weekend, very sloppy first half performances are immensely irritating, but they can happen to even the top teams sometimes. This result isn’t terrible but does put even more pressure on the games over the next month – we might well have to try and aim to win every league/FA Cup game between now and that Spuds/Chelsea/Man City run in March.
Evening all, can I just echo Trev’s wish for tomorrow!! I think we will give them a closer game than the one before Christmas but that’s my only prediction.
Lurky @ 14: To go along with your speculative thinking, I think Schneiderlin could be a decent enough deep lying midfielder in our squad, but to stake claims for starting role definitely his passing would need to improve, as our passing angles and patterns tend to require more precision and tempo. But I fully agree that we do need one more defensive minded midfielder very soon. We may be able to get by this season if Jack-Rambo-TR7 all say fit given the defensive work-rate they are all capable of, but a quality alternative to Arteta if available now would be a very good addition. Someone who can focus on the defensive side but once winning possession back can quickly spring forward and start an attack. Flamini is very good at covering for the full backs and tracking and tackling, but turning defense into attack is not his forte.
Unlike you I think we will see one new face in January to bolster the attacking options. Who that is I have no clue but there is a need for one more body and some variation.
I thought Giroud’s finish was fantastic. We actually under-utilize this aspect of our potential — cut backs and across the goal-mouth crosses for Giroud to attack.
And BTW, despite Ozil’s excellent second half performance — he showed sides of his game that we haven’t yet seen from him in Arsenal shirt — though Kos was our MOTM. Szczesny made some good saves but Kos read and intercepted and started forward moves impeccably all throughout the match.
A disappointing performance in which a draw was as much we could expect to achieve in the end. Our relatively diminutive midfield seems to struggle against teams that manage to operate a successful high pressing game. We could really do with a beast of a MF who is also a baller – simples Arsene 😉
There will always be results where we expected better but that’s football, it applies to all teams, not just us. We are still top of the league
( well until tomorrow evening ), a position few thought we would be at after our first league game. Enjoy the ride!
Sometimes you have to tip your hat to the opposition. There pressing was exemplary and their ball retention and creativity was excellent. Giroud was bullied by the excellent Fonte in the first half and they closed down our options when played into the big fella.
‘If you can’t win then you must not lose’ Wenger said earlier in the season after the Dortmund game.
Maybe we are beginning to learn our lessons.
Possible explanation on poor first half.
“Arsenal requested a 15 min KO delay so players could have full warm-up after traffic issue… Mason rejected it.”
Wayne Veysey who is usually spot on re Arsenal matters just tweeted
“As flagged up on Sunday, told Arsenal delegation in Germany right now negotiating to sign Julian Draxler. No breakthrough quite yet.”
Huge prospect as he is I am still not sure if Draxler is what we need at the moment. As I’ve said before, I would prefer a mobile DM and a pacey striker.
But, what do I know anyway, I am sure Arsene that has a big cunning plan as always.
Night all.
Just home from the game. Credit to Southampton, there was only one team in this game in the first half. Hard to explain why we were so poor but we didn’t seem to settle (or be allowed to settle) until a few minutes before half time. Though their goal was a clear foul, it seemed on the cards that they would score and they might have scored another in that first half.
We showed a lot of spirit early in the second and scored two great goals but were sloppy letting them back in so quickly with the equaliser. I still thought we might win it until Flamini’s dive in for a red. In the end a point each was the fair result.
Sounds like bad news on Rambo. He would have been useful in that scrap tonight and in this testing period ahead. I hope Tom and LJW bounce back quickly.
On to Palace. COYG.
Nice match report, H.
Interesting possible explanation of our extreme first half lethargy Lurky @22.
Outstanding Holic. The voice of reason as always.
Evening all. I did not get to see the game live but listened to the radio commentary and have just watched the extended highlights on Sky. I think your assessment holic is spot on. Bath nails it as well.
First half was as poor as I can remember. Sloppy, slow and just poor. I don’t buy all this coach stick in traffic rubbish. So what. As Trev said, these are professionals and should be able to deal with that. The second half was a marked improvement but that still does not excuse the first half display. Two well taken goals should have been enough. But yet again we fell asleep and allowed them back in it. Sadly the defending today was the Arsenal of the last few seasons, especially at set pieces. Let’s hope that this was just a bad day at the office.
At least we have learned from the mistakes we made against Dortmund. As Arsene said after that night, “if you can’t win the game, don’t lose it.”
No complaints with the Flamini red apart from with Flamini. He knows that he should not be making challenges like that. Any two footed tackle is a red card. We all know that if AW is really not sure then he needs to make sure he does bloody know. I hope his post match interview was just a way of deflecting some of the negativity away from his player. Can you imagine the reaction if someone had clattered Jack or anyone else for that matter in that manner and only received a yellow???
I think again we suffered from having no real quality attacking option on the bench. I know Poldi was there but he is not the quick penetrating striker that I believe we need. With no Theo we lack that real pace going forward at times. I think that in tight games it can make us much easier to defend against.
3 days left in this transfer window. Like everyone else I hope that we can do something to make the squad stronger. I must say that I know very little about Draxler apart from what I have read and the odd clip that has been shown with every news clip. If AW feels he can be as good as RVP or Henry then that is good enough for me. Will it happen???? Who knows??? One thing I would say is that there are a number of short term striking options that may well be available that I think will add something to the squad. I don’t know about everyone else but when we are chasing a game seeing the likes of Bendtner or Park on the bench does not fill me with massive amounts of confidence. In fact, the thought that both still collect their wages form the club is something that I struggle to deal with.
One final matter. There are rumours circulating in Germany that Toni Kroos may be allowed to leave Bayern??? If there is any truth in that then we might well want to get on the phone to Pep and the gang? That, or perhaps we should role out an extra special red carpet for both Kroos and Mandzukic when they arrive with Bayern in a few weeks time.
Just saying like. 😀
Sorry, one final point. Luke Shaw may well be someone worth looking at in the summer? He wont be cheap but I am sure we have a good relationship with Southampton??
At Steve T …. We missed the boat on Shaw I’m afraid. Rumor was not too long ago that Shitty are in with a £30 million bid. That along with the ridiculous wages they have on offer means we are out of luck
AG. I must say that I am not a massive fan of rumours. We are The Arsenal. I know we have Gibbs and Nacho but Shaw looked class tonight and played with a maturity beyond his tender years.
If FFP is ever to kick in then Citeh will not be paying 30 million for a left back.
No doubt he is class. However, Shitty live in a different world. They can pay £180K a week to Adebayor then loan him out, cover wages and not think twice. We both know Arsene isn’t paying anywhere close to that money for a 19 year old left back.
Lol at Greco. Ok, mate. Last season we were 22 points back at this stage and the only thing we added is Özil. Now we’re top. I must say some of the reactions to this draw are over the top. Get a grip. I’d love to talk more but I’m due back on planet Earth.
Don’t feed the troll Arsegonian.
As a semi-religious person I find it hard to say harsh words about Saints so I will just say that I’m disappointed we couldn’t hold on the lead, but with 10 men down and the way Southampton played, a draw was probably a fair result.
It’s going to get turbulent from now on so pick up your implements of war and get ready for some epic footballing battles! 😀
CoR knows.
BMBD
You’re right CoR … My fault.
Plus he can’t even link a website properly.
All in all you have to look at this game as one point gained after the terrible start we had in the 1st half.Southampton were superb in their pressing and passing.Just made me realise that if things turned out differently they’d be having Bale and Theo in their ranks.As for Draxler we do need some cover for Theo but more urgently we need some backup for Giroud considering the fact that Poldi doesn’t seem favoured at that position
After getting a chance to properly absorb the match a second time a couple random thoughts. ( check my site for more later ) Monreal did have a shocker but Gibbs is just back from injury and played Friday so what was Arsene to do? Nacho has been good up to this point. Pass given. The Arteta – Flamini is an away to Bayern type of combo where we don’t have much of the ball to a great side. No forward thrust. I predicted on my site Flamini – Ox but maybe same deal as with Gibbs, Arsene didn’t want to play Ox twice in 3 days. Given the late news about Rambo I guess Arsene didn’t have much choice other than one of Arteta / Flamini with Tomas. Another pass.
One pass I won’t be giving is Arsene’s substitutions. If he was going to sub Serge and looking for a 3-2 win, he should have subbed in Poldi on the left, flipped Santi to the other side and kept Giroud on. And he should have done that well before the red card. The winning goal wasn’t coming from Ox I’m quite certain. I’ll forgive Arsene in the morning 🙂
Pathetic. We looked good for only about 20 minutes in the entire game, and were sucker-punched when we undeservedly managed to hit the lead.
How many times do you have to tell professional footballers that you’re at your most vulnerable immediately after scoring? If they’d thought a bit less about celebrating – sometimes you’d think they’d never scored before, or even expected to – and concentrated on retaining that lead, things could have been different. Instead we lost the lead as quickly as we’d gained it.
Where was TR7 today? We badly missed his ability to take a game by the scruff and charge forward. As it was there was a huge void between defence and OG where no attacking midfielder was to be seen. Without both Jack and Tomas Santi could have filled the bill, but stuck too rigidly to his wing. Özilla worked hard again, but he needs to get himself into the area and use his shooting boots more.
Well played Southampton, your speed, your pressing and your boundless enthusiasm deserved better. Although I am of course delighted we stole a point from you. 😉
Öskar
Steve T
Thought the same about Kroos.
Not sure where he’d fit into our system, but he’s one of the most talented midfielders in Europe, he’s versatile and his contact is winding down, so he’ll apparently go for the proverbial “as little as £25m”.
I do hope we’re keeping an eye on the situation.
Fuck the scummer cunts, fucking hate the scabby bastards.
And there’s nothing wrong with a Desmond. I settled for one in 1981, and did n’t regret a single second of the three years that led up to it.
Morning Esso.
Morning all.
Just a quick stop in the bar before I start working, had not had time to back-drink so apologies if I repeat what has already been said.
The first half was by far the worst we’ve played this season. No movement other than from whoever happened to have the ball, sloppy defending and careless passing. Southampton should have gone for tea at least two up. No complaints about Flamini, he is prone to the occasional brain fart and I really don’t know what he was thinking going into that tackle like that. He’ll have to sit out the next four matches of course and I’m quite sure he’ll be most upset with himself for that. We had to hang on for the last few minutes and
BUT…
We did pull our collective shit together in the second half and the last 45 minutes were much better than the first. We could even have won it and the fact that we can even say that after those first 45 minutes is, for me, a huge silver lining to this particular cloud. Several players were totally off the boil but to come out of a shit game in which we fell behind with one point and enough chances to have given us the chance for all three points is far from a disaster. And remember, one crap game says nothing about a team – it’s how you follow up on that crap game that does and so far this season we have done well in that respect and quite frankly anything but a win on Sunday will have me very, very disappointed.
Having said all this, take nothing away from Southampton for a very fine display. Let us not forget that they also held Man City to a draw at home, and their recent run of bad form had a lot to do with injuries to key players (Boruc injured himself in the game after they had played us at the Emirates and has only just come back and wasn’t Shaw also out for something like six weeks?) and they have shown time and again that they are no mugs and know a thing or two about playing football.
Oh well, time to get some work done.
What happened there? “hang on for the last few minutes and Szczesny saved us from losing all three points”, it should have said.
We didn’t track back. We have become increasingly lazy at pressing ourselves and managed to blag it for a while. Finally a decent attacking side with a sustained work rate showed us up. More graft required in midfield. The title does not come easy like some pre ordained blessing. You gotta work and work.
At 2-1 I felt confident that the points were in the bag and on their way back to London with the Holic pound enjoying another great night out. Credit to Saints, they played very well. On top of the loss of Theo, the Ramsey news is a scanner.
An (unsurprisingly) good take on things from Arseblog this morning
Okay in case anybody doesn’t know, my sense of humour is dry.
So seasons over, sack Wenger and spend money was nit serious.
But what I am about to say is:
Professor Wenger,
Please stay away from the bullshit with Mourinho. He has been acting like a fucking git being backed by a Billionaire. You on the other hand have acted with a decent level of class and dignity this season. It has got us this far and if we do not maintain our stance it could work against us.
That’s it!
I know you’re only human but looking at things with a fresh pair of eyes, Lets not make things difficult for ourselves. Everybody wants drama with the top if the brass right now. So let’s just stay focused and show them how it’s done.
Victoria Concordia Creset
Oh predictor was off a little with the ‘of’s’ and ‘if’s’.
Don’t understand why but I’m sure somebody out there does
Thanks for the report ‘Holic.
One point gained or two points dropped? Both. Could have won, should have lost.
Abysmal in the first half, I really do hope that Arsene no longer persists with the Arteta/Flamini combo. Whilst injuries made the initial selection understandable, the failure to change either at ht or on the hour was less excusable. The Napoli home game blinds many to the number of games since where it has patently not worked – West Brom, Yanited, Napoli away. There were options – a straight swap for the Ox, or Poldi on the left with Santi inside.
Too static, too deep, we couldn’t get out of our own half in the first half, and were lucky Soton hadn’t put the game to bed.
Hilarious half time intervention from David last night slagging off Ozil. Couldn’t have been better timed. The Fishgod was absolutely magnificent in the second half. Much of it was understated. Always available, never gave the ball away, he bought our severely tested defence time again and again with his exquisite ability to retain possession in the tightest of corners. Most of our goal threat originated from himand on the one occasion he was able to put the burners on he might have won the game himself. And yet people still slate him? Put your clown shoes on.
Having turned the game round, it was a kick in the nuts to squander our lead so quickly and hand the momentum back to Southampton so quickly. Heh ho. Southampton deserved a point, and Flamini’s idiocy ensured that it was they who posed the greater threat in the closing stages.
On to Palace.
Spot on tabs. All of it.
N7 Gooner knows 😉
Tabs…with you all the way on the “Fishgod”. Not only are his stats outstanding, when you see him live in a stadium, you can appreciate his control, vision and effortless placing of perfect passes. If we had more runners into offensive positions ( unfortunately Theo & Rambo have been injured of late), there is no doubt even more assists will arise. Often he can only see HFB ahead surrounded by opposition CBs which limits his options.
On the transfer front hopefully Dick will be kept busy over the next few days and rises to the occasion ( behave yourself Wolfie ! ). A pacey striker and physical midfielder would add options to the current squad – who is available though and who Arsene fanciesis another matter entirely.
Brilliant stuff tabs couldn’t agree more. The biggest thing for me last night was Ozil’s face as he pumped his fists and celebrated with the crowd after Santi scored. There is a man who has bought into this club and played like it.
David has promised (!) to return to explain his premise in detail. Normally I wouldn’t be able to wait for these pearls of wisdom but I have to clean out the hamster and buy some digestives so I will pass on this opportunity to educate myself on how one of the world’s best midfielders can do better!
TaBS @ 50, fully agree on Flamteta in the middle. Too flat in all senses of the word. I was calling for the very same possible sub options at HT. As it was we fired up for 5 minutes but HFB was far too isolated far too often. The silver lining for me was the blossoming of Ozil – even in the first half his tracking back and defensive work should have made him above criticism but his second half work was exemplary and that long cross field dribble and shot deserved a goal.
Upset about the result today, but what is most irritating, in my opinion, is not the first half lethargy (ManC took 60 mins to score against Watford after all, happens to any team) but the conceding right after going into a winning position (the Everton game all over again) If we can sort that out then we are good…maybe take a leaf out of Maureen’s book…don’t let them score, score on the break, don’t let them score (Chelsea huffed and puffed against a sorry Stoke but most importantly, did not allow them to score…whenever Stoke were in their half there was suddenly a sea of blue shirts…boring stuff but they got the win)
Maybe I’m being pessimistic but somehow last nights result seems a game changer regarding a title push…we have put ourselves in the position to give away the le
Fockity fock! That was a close game!
I am almost certain now that wenger will get someone in before the dateline. The number of key players that we have out is increasing by the minute!
We’ll just have to show how resilience and resolve by beating the top four! Onwards to the next game!
🙂
sorry, pressed ‘enter’ too soon…:)
have put ourselves in the position to give away the lead which is difficult to take back…
By the way, seems Luke Shaw is not moving anywhere now, as he is saving himself for Chelsea in the summer, how romantic! at least according to the Beeb red button Wednesday gossip column ( best companion to morning coffee and a digestive! ) 🙂
That Özil is a right bore – just one flaming assist after another. And as for that assist for Santi last night, well, you didn’t even know he was going to hit the pass, so unspectacularly did he just stroke the ball to the Spaniards feet. Meh !
ttg@54. Heh.
Good match review, ‘holic (sorry about the pound).
Fine drinks everyone else.
Hope there’s some action before Friday.
Nothing more to add.
Too right Trev. Seems some people don’t recognise class without a fanfare and bells and whistles with a bit of huff and puff.
Goonertown @48: yes, I agree, why is Le Boss even crediting Maureen’s mind games with a response? Mourinho is like a child with a rich daddy, constantly moaning…not worth even noticing, but seems Wenger plays in to him…can’t understand why
Oscar: grumpy Oscar? but often talks sense 🙂 would be great if the scoring was celebrated with a quick high five or something then get on with the scoring…afterwards they can dance around as much as they want (as long as it is not that Sturridge act!! lol)
must be grumpy Peter this morning 🙂
Cheers N7, Up.
Up -AW making positive noises re the transfer market so we’ll see what transpires. Still think Draxler might be on his way, and he would be a magnificent addition.
Ttg – Cheers and i think I’ll join you in the hamster cleaning duties as and when that occurs 😉
Bath – Couldn’t agree more. Quite happy to swap a bit of creativity if Arteta/Flamini offered us more defensive solidity. Last night showed that it doesn’t. Worst of both worlds imo. We sit too deep and invite sides on whilst OG and Mesut become isolated up front.
When our purple patch after ht was shown to be just that rather than a sustained wresting of midfield control, changes could and should have been made imo. The game was there to be won at that stage.
Both Poldi (after his brace against Leeds) and the Ox (returning to his former Club) would have been chomping at the bit to impress. Must admit I didn’t really understand how Arsene played it last night.
Also thought it was one game too many for Gnabry, impressive though he has been. His technical maturity and physique make people forget that he is still just a kid. He’s played a lot recently, and it’s asking a lot of an 18 year old to perform at the highest level twice a week. He looked knackered to me and needs a rest.
Trev – 🙂
Whilst I respect the positive comments on this performance, This was simply a piss poor effort all round. Let’s be honest.
The team had a severe case of heavy legs as if arsene had the team running laps of the oval before the match.
We did not look like a champion team desperate to hold onto the top spot and we didn’t look too interested. That is the real concern beyond the poor technical performance.
Why should we have to rescue a match v a mid table team in the 2nd half after such an ordinary first half performance. In a lot of sporting circles this first half performance would be called “choking”. I can’t see any reason for not attacking the shit out of a team like Southampton who have been struggling of late.
Why let them even get into the match.
The poor first half performance should not happen in the first place.
If anything Southampton looked more like the top team and applied the effort of the top side in this fixture.
The lack of pressure on Southampton was disgraceful, Southampton were simply allowed to walk the ball into our defensive 3rd time and time again.
Why should we have to show such a pathetic first half display to see how we respond next match to such a pathetic display.
We have too high a level of aspirations this season to put in a display like that.
I don’t agree with the philosophy that This draw should be accepted as two points saved or 1 point gained.
it was simply 3 points lost, nothing more nothing less for a team and club of our level of expectation.
Three points lost?!
Blimey.
Tabs – “it’s asking a lot of an 18 year old to perform at the highest level twice a week.”
Not according to my mate’s ex-wife ………. 😉
Wolfie is going hamster cleaning ….. ?
There’s a euphonium if ever I heard one. 😉
Measured report as always guv’.
Some good drinks above, once again I feel tabs has pretty much nailed it.
We were always going to drop points sooner or later, unfortunatly it came yesterday in a game many thought was a banker. For the record, I was expecting a difficult game, but hadn’t factored in that we would give them a 45 minute, come and do to us what you will, head start.
As bad as we were in the first half, we were still in it going into the break and it was good to see us come out fighting. Maybe our lead was undeserved (on the whole), but it was our lead and I was gutted that we squandered it so quickly, I still thought we would go on and snatch it though, but it wasn’t to be. There was a lot of negatives, but also a few positives. All in all, we came up against a very well organised, and up for it, Southampton team, who, performance wise were good value for, at the very least, the point that they got. Credit is definetly due there.
Dissapointing as the result and performance may of been, I can simply not fathom the reaction of some of the so called fans, to read some of the reactions elsewhere you wouldn’t be far pushed to believe that we had our arse handed to us by The Dog and Duck’s Sunday XI B team. Disgraceful behaviour. That we find ourselves on top of the league at this moment in the season is due to the fact that this team has performed briliantly and defied all reason and logic, yet one draw away, against a decent team and all of a sudden we’ll be lucky to get 4th!?!?! WTF!?
More knee jerking then a friggin’ Can Can line. Behave yourselves, man the fuck up and grow a pair.
Also, a pleasure, to see some of those who have remained absent while we were winning return, to adorn and bless us with their wisdom and how they told us so, about this, that and the over. Somehow we managed to get along without you, so if, and this just a friendly suggestion, you wouldn’t mind taking your thought provoking and well laid out analysis and shoving it up your well laid anal passage, then that would be fine by us.
So whats wrong with our little Mozart does anybody know?
The reliable Twitter source (“Geoff Arsenal”) confirms we are indeed working on Draxler for this month, with an unspecified plan B in case it doesn’t work.
Aussie,
No fan will tolerate a lack of application from players however good they are. I have only heard reports of last night’s game so far and seen brief highlights, mainly of the goals.
As such, I can’t comment too much, but from previous occasions when Flamini and Arteta have played together in midfield I think Tabs has got it right in his @63 above.
The two of them together do create a gap between the defensive and attacking areas of the team. Maybe, at 30 and 32 they do not have the youthful energy to press higher up the pitch and defend in front of the back four. Who knows ? Teams who do press relentlessly though, like Borussia Dortmund, do do it with a lot of young players.
Where I would agree with you is that it drives me mad when we sit deep and allow teams on to us. We are not designed to do that and although the defence has improved hugely, it always seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
Attack is the best form of defence for us – even with our improved ability to defend – and it is frustrating when we don’t do it. That said, our old frailties were not going to win trophies either, but two defensive midfielders, for us, is one too many.
3 points lost, though ? Got to part company with you there. Firstly, on your maths and, second, because Southampton at (almost) full strength are a very decent side.
H2H – fine work, mate.
Trev – Haha 🙂
H2H @67: “more knee-jerking than a friggin’ Can-Can line” !!
How on earth did you come up with that line? Its perfect!! I can just imagine 🙂
H2H – Terrific stuff.
Trev – Agree mate. It’s ok sitting back I think, but with Flamini and Arteta in the side we appear unable to break with pace, and end up trying to play in our own half. Amount of times last night in the first half that we got caught dilly-dallying on the ball in dangerous areas was unreal.
We did allow them way too much space in the first half and we looked like we were chasing shadows. They passed the ball like we usually do, no excuses we were dire and lucky not to be further behind at ht. Agree with everyone re Flamster and Arteta they can’t play together but also their second came in after confusion between Sangna and BFG, that was really awful to watch. I know we will make mistakes it’s part of football but by our standards I thought we learned from last seasons as we use to leak goals from counter attacks all the time. When they scored their equaliser we again sat back and allowed to play ball. Biggest regret I have is loosing the lead so quickly and being dure in the first half. I believe we over estimated them, and we got caught sleeping and ball watching.
We all know we can’t win them all but I agree If you can’t win don’t loose the game moto is very important here.
On the hand Mason didn’t do us any favours but Flamster needs to take a chill pill.
Bring on Palace and hopefully just hopefully some results will also go our way tonight.
COME ON RIP ROARING NEVER FREE SCORING NEVER BORING (Apart from that first half yesterday) GOONERS! 🙂
I think one thing being overlooked in all the garment-rending elsewhere; whatever our faults, Saints were very, very good on the day.
Cheers gents.
Arteta and Flamini were also just returning, it maybe wasn’t the best idea to start them both in the same game.
Aaah, the beauty of hindsight. 😉
Howdy ‘hol and all
Hope yer all fine and dandy
N7 Gooner: Yes, I think in our rush of emotions we overlook that part…Saints were good yesterday…after all the 2 goals at the Ems were from Boruc’s silly dancing and a penalty…we got nothing from open play really which should have kept us on alert yesterday…
on another note…earlier in the season wasn’t all the talk about Arteta/Flamini being a great combo? its just that now everyone is calling it the kiss of death!
Top o’ the afternoon to ya cba.
Cheers. H2H
tis a glorious day
for a jar
so it’s a jar
i’m gonna bloody well have
slainte everyone
UP THE ARSE
Heh Arthur 🙂
Howdy cba. How goes it in the Emerald Isle?
Peter – Just my view but I think that the Napoli home game was the only one where they have looked impressive as a pair.
Hello there tabs
How the divil are ye ?
Tis wet and miserable here
but the forecast is for
moderate inebriation shortly
yum
Haha Cba, enjoy Sir 🙂
All fine and dandy thank you, though the rain kept me in the pub last night, with the inevitable consequences 😉
Very level-headed, ‘Holic. The truth is that all the top clubs will drop unexpected points in the run-in. I would have preferred us not to do so while there is still two-fifths of the league games to go, however. What is it about Arsenal that makes them so antipathetic to margins of comfort?
Fair play to Soton. They put in a shift and played a game, not park a bus.
Well said, H@H@67.
Rosicky is still getting his nose back in joint, so to speak, atg.
Rumours that Holtby is in Germany to finalise a move to Schalke, which will in turn open the door for Draxler to come to us.
Sounds far too utterly perfect to be true, doesn’t it? Even chimps learn from their mistakes.
er…H2H. Damn you shift key…
So adept are the neighbours in the transfer market, N7G, that fraudsters are lining them up as a easy mark:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25944354
Ned, that’s just 50 plus years of defrauding their fans coming home to roost. Funny they are such an easy mark, given how good they’ve been at the practice!
speaking of illegal acts and the spurs, the non-football story at the bottom of today’s mediawatch explains a lot.
And for the record, when players start throwing their hands up “appealing” for the ref to make a call – fooking irritates me to NO END. That to me says ZERO sportsmanship.
When I refed, if any player had the nerve to get in my fact even once i booked them straight away. Every time. And then they stop immediately. Shuts their coach up too. (tho, that was in the 1980s ….)
Sure, Flamster’s “tackle” was idiotic and a red was the right result – no question. But I hate that Barca-moan-us whinney shit. Those arrogant Barca twats have ruined the game. That’s harsh, and opologies to any offended, but there it is.
And I wonder if AFC was on 11 men if that match ends differently.
SCG: 🙂
Coming to a Ticket Exchange near us soon, no doubt:
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment Partners with Evento to Maximize Fan Engagement over Social Media
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140128005258/en#.Uukctv2i5Zg
Who needs social media when we’ve got this bar…
Well I didn’t see or hear one minute of that one so ignore everything I have to say about it, apart from this: we’re top of the goddamn league (ok we may not still be tomorrow but are Shitty guaranteed to beat the little club up the road? No, but you can bet that after a run of good results those plucky mid-tablers will revert to their crappy selves as long as losing could benefit us!), we’re playing some of the best footie in the land, and in case the dummy-spitting, toy-throwing babies hadn’t noticed, we did actually gain 1 point last night!
For my advice to the whingers, I borrow from the fine H2H as I simply couldn’t put it better:
“Behave yourselves, man the fuck up and grow a pair!”
Haha outstanding sentence!
Onwards and upwards lads. It’s the sharp end of the wedge from here on in, and those who lack the stomach for the fight, the door is over there and you’re welcome to make use of it.
@67 Geoff Arsenal is part of le grove if I’m not mistaken . Reliable isn’t the word I usually associate with that lot
@91 you must adore Barcelona then homer
@ 94
You’re thinking of a different Geoff.
The Geoff on Le Grove is (in common with most who contribute to that travesty of a site) a spluttering, indignant, Arsene-aht bellowing oxygen thief.
The “Geoff Arsenal” on Twitter is resolutely positive about the club, and also appears to have a reliable inside line, having correctly called most of our recent transfer activity ahead of the papers, including Ozil and Monreal most recently.
He’s not saying Draxler is done, by the way. He’s just saying the club are pushing hard to make it happen this week, and that they have alternatives lined up if the deal falls through.
Espn says Holtby has a medical at Dortmund. Not sure what to believe. I’ll wait for Arsene.
“Holtby is in Germany ……… ”
it would be most unlike supreme negotiator and way-over-the-top-price payer Daniel Levy to permit that to happen with over 48 hours to go before the window SLAMS shut ….. surely.
What could Holtby possibly have done to force Levy’s hand and stop him from stuffing up another Arsenal deal ?
Maybe he threatened to actually play a game for them or something !
Ahh, Lewis Holtby – another stunning, well planned piece of Totteringham transfer business. 😉
Arsey,
think the medical might need to be at Schalke to influence any Draxler deal.
Shoots
Well in N7
Well in N7
I get that Trev but espn has other ideas …
09.29 GMT: According to a tweet from Sat1, Lewis Holtby is for a medical at Borussia Dortmund today. The Tottenham midfielder has struggled for game time this season, and Spurs boss Tim Sherwood said he will let certain players leave due to a plethora of options in Holtby’s preferred positions.
Interne Quelle: #Holtby entgegen anders lautender Medienberichten zum #Medizincheck in #Dortmund angemeldet. #bvb #sat1nrw #tottenham
Best possible result favors the neighbors today. Tottenham 4 Man City 3.
Cheers all.
Dortmund is the other mooted destination for Holtby, although there was some suggestion yesterday that the deal had collapsed.
Interesting 48 hours or so ahead.
Personally, I take some comfort that we do at least appear to be trying to bring in one of Europe’s most talented young players.
Makes a nice change from yer Chamakhs.
Re: NBN @88. Excellent and very telling link. If I were a career criminal looking for an easy mark, who else would I pick? 😉
We shoulda started cba on the left flank.
Maybe on the left flask?
Thank you to a number of drinkers above for saving me time and effort.
I was quite annoyed last night but always felt that it was a point gained – if we put out a first half performance like that against, say, Bayern, then we are losing by a cricket score. Fortunately, for them, I expect us to be at it from the get-go.
But how do we continually explain this low-key start to so many games AND if we have so many so-called “leaders” why does it take till half time to sort it out?
Serious question.
Fortunately, against them, I meant…. 😳
To be fair to Southampton, from their perspective they too would feel two points dropped as well based on their performance. That was really very good. High-energy pressing game by players well capable of close controls and passing in neat triangles and most importantly confident about their technical abilities. They don’t have enough quality all over the pitch and enough depth to perform like that consistently but against the big teams when they raise their game they really are very very good. Good to see teams like that, and good to see clubs like that who put so much focus on developing players. Should be hailed as a model to other smaller clubs.
Szczesny should probably share a bit of responsibility for their first goal as he got his angles wrong on the cross, but otherwise this was another impressive performance by him.
Koscielny was excellent. Not only he intercepted, anticipated, blocked as impeccably as he does nowadays, he also took the initiative to start some counter-attacks by bringing the ball forward quickly, which was needed given the rustiness on display by Arteta-Flamini. Just like TV5, Kos is also rather good at bombing forward (though he doesn’t have our captain’s left-footed finish), but his discipline and maturity in choosing the right matches and the right moments to do so over the season has been exemplary.
That suddenly accelerated run by Ozil past a crew of Saints’ defenders and midfielders to take him into the penalty box and find an angle to shoot was one of the best moments for me in that match. As many astute fans have been observing here, he can be deceptively quick over a small distance, which is all that you need in terms of pace for a no. 10.
While most people will suggest that a point at Southampton is a reasonable result considering we didn’t turn up for the first 45mins, I am nevertheless disappointed and consider it 2 points dropped.
The reality is that if we can’t capitalise against a team like Southampton when we’ve had adequate time to rest and bring some players back from injury, how are we realistically going to fare when the games against the big teams come thick and fast over the next few months, especially when more players are now getting injured?
With that in mind, I fear we need at least TWO players before Fridays deadline. Apart from cover for Giroud /Theo, we’re also going to need a link player in midfield to come in for Rambo as I don’t think Jack can be relied upon to provide consistent cover given his own injury record and while Arteta can do a job, I just can’t see Arteta having the stamina to play 2 let alone 3 games in a week.
When we dropped points before Xmas, it was generally because we had to play 3 games over a short period of time. Chelski and Citeh have far bigger squads and teams like Liverpool don’t have the problem of having to worry about CL footie. From the way they dismantled Everton yesterday, you can be sure that its not going to be the same ‘Pool we saw at the Ems last November.
Joe @ 113: The way I see it, we will not be able to buy our way into squad-depth equations with the financially doped clubs. Some appropriate expenditure a la Ozil (“big”) or before that Monreal (“clever”) , some youth promoting a la Gnabry, team chemistry (no mercurial implosions but strong cohesive bond) and then equally importantly staying injury free.
Staying injury free. Something really needs to happen in that regard. Yes the awfulness of our injury record is most likely exaggerated to a certain extent in our mind, but even to a neutral observer it would seem excessive especially for a club where modern technology and efficiency form the basis of the way we approach the season. It can’t just be bad luck. Maybe we need to become more conservative — just a little short of paranoid — about the fabled red zone, or perform multiple 3rd party reviews of our training regimen or medical practices. But if we are to complete on multiple fronts our injury record must get better.
@ 114 … “…if we are to compete…” 🙂
Adebayor last minute winner to be followed by a 90 yard dash to celebrate in front of the Man City fans?
Liverpool might have stuffed Everton last night, but prior to that they were lucky not to lose at home to Villa (Ok I know how we fared at home to Villa, but that was a very different time). They’re still a team as likely to lose to Hull as they are to beat the top teams. I don’t think they’re better now than the Liverpool we beat (and effectively shut down) in November, so it’s a case of us aiming to match that performance.
N7 @86. Oh man let it be so! Though Holtby would hardly be the loss to Spurs Bale was. Has he even played? Pffffft
Man oh man. Transfer window stress. Haven’t missed this feeling.
Ohmmmmmm. Ohmmmmmm.
Time for this squad to dig deep and show their mettle, whatever the window does or doesn’t bring.
Our second half of the season can be better than the first. COYG.
City and Chelski to drop points later.. you heard it here first! 😀
A friend (and fantastic gooner) told me last week, “I think we have to pretty much win out to win the title.” I mean I appreciate that there’s not much room for error, but the idea that City and Chelsea are these terrifying unbeatable juggernauts is I think based in insecurity as much as anything else. Of course it was disappointing and costly to drop points yesterday, but they were the first points we’d dropped since Christmas Eve.
I get the temptation to hyperbolize and sensationalize, but let’s all try and avoid it. We’re a good team and we’re in this. Let’s enjoy the ride and support the hell out this team. After all, this is what it’s all about right?
Just back from work, so no time for back-drinking, sorry if it is already mentioned.
It looks like in the club are confident about signing Draxler.
There are some noises about Lars Bender. Not CL available and his club is not willing to sell him this winter, but you never know.
If true that means either that Ramsey injury is really a bad one, Wilshere’s ankle is maybe more serious than we are told, and/or Arsene is not fully satisfied in Flamini and Arteta form.
Bender should be a great signing, considering that Arteta is 32. He still has good couple of years in front of him, but I am not sure that he is going to be able to play 90 minutes in 30+ games next season.
We need to buy holding midfielder in the summer no matter what. I can’t escape the feeling that Arsene always considered Flamini as a temporary solution. He trusts him and all that and Flamini is a good and grateful player, but I think that Arsene wants something different from a player in that position.
So, if Bender was on the cards in the summer, when we were in a far worse position than we are now, I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t been considered at the moment when we are in good run and lot of players in that position are out injured.
Anyway, I have already lowered my expectations during this winter so I won’t be disappointed if we don’t sign anyone. Anything else will be a bonus.
Another target rumour:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2548183/Arsenal-plot-Matuidi-midfield-crisis-deepens-Flamini-red-card.html
Mandzukic not starting for Bayern tonight for what, I think, is the second game running. Could mean something, could mean nothing.
If we don’t get anyone in, my fear is that we will ultimately concede the title challenge due to our not so unsubstantial lack of depth because of injuries to our already mature and brilliant squad.
Having said that, i am 99.99% sure someone will arrive, in the next couple of days….!
Hey, zico – you’re either for them or against them. 😉
Dr Faustus. – “be deceptively quick over a small distance, which is all that you need in terms of pace for a no. 10.”
That’s often all you need for a No. 2. 😉
Well, BB – it’s too late for Father Christmas so who could it be ….. ? 😉
Doctor Faustus @114,
I’m trying to get a “piece” finished on our injury record but I only seem to get a few minutes at a time to do it.
I do think, though, that it has a lot to do with age and maturity, and issues concerning those things that are peculiar to Arsenal.
We have moved up the “physioroom.com” injury league table today as we now have 6 injured players. Of those, Diaby is a ‘special’ case, while Rosicky is the only other one who would not still be regarded as a young player.
Will try to get close to finishing it tonight and tomorrow. It will, of course, only be my opinion though.
Matuidi rumor is directly connected with PSG signing Cabaye and Matuidi feeling unsettled and … boring.
I don’t think there is anything in it, except lazy journalism.
Quite a few sensible posts above. All teams will drop points, except Cuntski. The jammy cunts
Hope we get Draxler, our midfield is starting to look thin and that’s Arsenal’s strength
Trev, Faustus,
I was going to respond to Faustus and specifically defer the matter to someone more knowledgable in this field like your good self Trev.
Just as an outside observer, I’ve always felt that some of the injuries were avoidable and possibly down to our over reliance on keys players due to the small squad size. Other’s were unavoidable due to the lack of protection we got from Referees / bad tackles.
However could I be wrong in thinking that a sizeable amount of our injuries might just be down to bad luck too? I played sports in my hey day (albeit at an amateur level) and some players were just more susceptible to injury than others and some were just unfortunate and maybe slipped or lost their footing down to ground / weather conditions.
I look forward to your piece Trev.
Heh, I’ll just as happily hide my eyes if you’re showing your piece, Trev. 😉
3 types of lies? Lies? Damn lies? and…
http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/01/29/jl-arsenal-target-in-talks-is-better-than-messi-and-suarez/
Joe @113.
I’m afraid I will have to respectfully disagree with a number of points in your post.
The reality is, that a team like Man City also failed to capitalise against Southampton (1-1 draw), that result nor ours will have any bearing on how we fare against each other or any of the top teams. Southampton came away from the Old Toilet with a point more then we managed, what does this mean? Absolutly nothing!
The same logic applies to our meetings with the Mickeys, we have no idea if we can dominate them or not like we did earlier in the season, yet I seem to remember they came to us pretty much on a high at the time. Yes, they played well against their local rivals yesterday, but again, this means nothing, they’ve been pretty poo against other teams and their squad is a lot thinner then ours.
I however must state that I was also dissapointed about last nights result and also would like to see some new blood coming in, unfortunatly it all looks mostly slim pickings and I don’t want players brought in just to make up the numbers.
If we do some business now it should be bringing in long term targets early. If that means overpaying then I think we just might have the appetite. For me Draxler is a must now and Bender too. Go to it Dicky boy.
I’m also looking forward to Trev’s injury post. I guess what bothers me the most are the players that come back into training and then reinjure themselves in training, e.g. Walcott and Ramsey this season. This suggests to me that either the injury wasn’t completely healed and they were brought back into training too early, or the training they were doing was inappropriate for someone coming off an injury (btw, I’m in the school of doing both, which is why I have a lot in common with Diaby (other than the skill of course)).
Any thoughts, Trev?
ecg @136. Shit happens mate….it is truly an inexact science. Best guess at all times, under major pressure, using experience to guide the judgement where such exists..
Sir Gooner of Bath knows.
Heh, zico – it might be a long one. 😉
I see a lot of people are hoping for a City loss tonight but I just can’t bring myself to do that. I am, however, also 100% convinced that Tottenham will win so I am not going to watch the game. Think I’ll go for Villa v West Brom instead.
Two goals in as many minutes, you choose well Lars. 😉
Good choice .. West Brom are 2 up already..!
That’s Aston Villa, two down, the same Aston Villa that were two up against Liverpool, who won 4-0 against Everton.
Relavent?
Cracking game at Villa Park, 2-1 West Brom after 11 minutes!
Citeh one up
Spot on, H2H@143.
…and 2-2 after 24 minutes at Villa Park!
Trev @70 – first off, thanks for simply not referring to me as a troll or a traitor or a non arsenal fan for simply not agreeing with many before my post who saw this match as ok and acceptable.
My comment re 3 points lost was obviously a mistake and should read 2 points lost. My error.
I Agree with your comments in reply about teams who press us hard usually come away ok. That is exactly my concern as we have some massive games coming up.
If that is the case and we are not good at sitting back I cannot for the life of me understand why arsene would set the team up as he did ?
It makes no sense for a man of his experience.
On top of that why did our players look so leg heavy and they all did..
As for Ramsey’s 3 week injury – I am not even going to go there …..
Again trev thanks for allowing my thoughts on this blog to be taken as just my thoughts. Nothing more nothing less.
I am not on the bandwagon of us out of everything and not making the top 4, it was just a very low level flat performance that does not do us any favours going forward.
3-2 Villa! Delph has now scored at both ends in this game.
3-3! Whatever game you are watching, unless it is Villa v WBA you are watching the wrong one!
Augerio, looked like his hammy twanged.
H2H,
I’ve no problems with you disagreeing with me at all mate. You always make sense in your thinking.
I take the point about Citeh only getting a draw against Southampton. But I don’t think thats relevant. Southampton represent an easier option for us to get 3 points than playing the bigger teams in close succession and we can only influence how we play and not how other teams play. We approached the game with a cavalier attitude and were completely outplayed in the first half. I cite the recent analysis by both Arseblog and 7amkickoff today who provide more detailed reasoning and thinking on this front. Its just not good enough for a team on top of the league with ambitions of winning it. In fact, its not acceptable at a club like AFC anytime irrespective of where we find ourselves in the league. I take nothing from Southampton, they’ve were brilliant and have a very good manager not to mind a player in young Morgan Schneiderlin who Id love to see at AFC.
Rose gets red.
Penalty, Citeh 2 up
PL referees are disgraceful.
Citeh 3. that’s game over. 🙁
Take the £30m for Draxler, give it to the refs and linesman.
It’s working for City. Every major game they get at least one ridiculous decision in their favour.
Still, good to see the neighbours getting fucked.
That’s pure voyeurism, N7…..
Ugly and useles. Always were, always will be.
Go Hammers.
A red rose for Tottenham ? How nice. 😉
bath @ 137 – totally agree with you. just seems that sometimes it is little more inexact at Arsenal than other teams…
N7 knows.
City always leaky at the back… problem is they always(almost) score more than their opponents…!
Caroll you fucking twat
Cheers Joe.
“…a little more inexact…”
Does that even make sense?
4-3 Villa, Benteke from the pelanty spot.
sure does ecg @163
joe, completely agree with you that Southampton results v city are not relevant to us if we have expectations to beat city and other top 4 teams.
Reports we’ve agreed a six month loan for Vucinic.
C’MON FAT SAM!!!!
Sam’s put himself on? Desperate times.
Park Sam in front of goal. Guaranteed clean sheet
true that
Not sure how I feel about this Vucinic thing if true. While I want to score goals, I really don’t want to have to see his knob each time.
Fucking spuds down 1-5. Better get AVB back.
comon Hammers do us a favour 🙂
Thirty seconds of TV commentary talking about City like they’re an unstoppable mix of 1970 Brazil, 1973 Ajax and 2011 Barcelona and I was very ready to change the channel to anything else.
Eat that you fucking cunts. Thank you West Ham
Booze & Glory blasting from me flat.
Least I can do.
Spuds are crap. Just absolutely rotten.
The Spammers hold the Chavs.
Even though bthe ref didn’t seem to want the game to finish.
Fat Sam really should be managing Real Madrid ya know
reflecting on yesterday’s game it wasn’t a bad result considering our performance – we played away and dropped 2 points Chelski played at home and dropped 2 points 🙂
Oh Maureen……GIRUY. 😎
Wonder if the Chavs fans will be in meltdown this evening?
Upside is I think Chelsea now need to go at City, draw isn’t going to cut it.
Good results for us but not those fuckers up the road!
AG @172
I take it you are referring to this –
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/04/06/article-2305158-19234E17000005DC-682_634x435.jpg
This image sponsored by Wolfie
City the team to beat… and beat them we shall !!!!!!!!!!
🙂
The spuds looked the better team until they went down to 10 men – Manshitty were lucky as it wasn’t a sending off – had it been 11 against 11 it might have been different result.
Can’t wait to hear Moaninhos’ excuse(s). Alardici did us a good turn there, remind the boys to reduce the shellacking intended for the hammers.
Well that’s a fun set of results. If Citeh were going to get all three points then might as well give the spuds a good shoeing. Then Maureen will have the right hump and start to blame everyone. No doubt it will still be our fault for tampering with the fixtures????????
@187 Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Spuds are Sh#$e.
Will the ‘new improved’ English Maureen be able to keep the act up….look forward to the weekend.
If only the Chavs had a player that could unlock tight defences………..
Maybe a player that had quite a few assists in the PL over the last few years………
Ah well, never mind, it really doesn’t mata.
Well, if we’d have won yesterday this round of results would have been almost perfect. Well, we didn’t but I must say I was certainly not expecting Hose-A and his bandits to drop points to the Walrus-looking one. In the end we only dropped one place, kept the distance to Chelsea in terms of points and extended our lead over both Everton and Spurs a little bit to ten and nine points respectively. Not too shabby after all.
Having said that, it is vital that we bounce back v Palace on Sunday. Anything but three points will be a massive disappointment.
More than a massive disappointment Lars @193.
Yeah, that was quite an understatement on my part, Bath 🙂
Heh H2H @192
The Special Cunt has spoken
Mourinho: “This is not Premier League and not the best league in the world. This is football from the 19th century
Is he fucking serious?!
I am so glad for this result. Big Sam have shown the world how to implement and upgrade Maureen’s “parking the bus” tactics. Ok, my bad, that should be “tactics”. Because every stupid twat including Pulis, can implement it.
In fact Big Sam have just shown that he is by far superior manager to Maureen, because he got a 0-0 draw against his far more expensive side away from home, playing last 5 minutes with 10 man, with a referee who had clear tendency to help Chelsky to score because he was under a huge pressure from the Maureen, who lets not forget, never moans.
Thank you and fuck you. You’ve made my day.
Some excellent posts above on the Southampton game,not much i can add,other than i was impressed with the home team.
Agree with Tabs that Flamini and Arteta do not go together from the start of a match.
It just doesn’t work,having said that,if Jack or Mozart had started,then we probably wouldn’t be talking about it.
Saints had acres of space to play in and should have taken all 3 points.
No complaints about the red card,but terrible price to pay now,with a 4 game ban meaning Flamini won’t play again until the Bayern game.
But Football is a funny old game,every man and his dog expected Chelses to beat the Hammers at home,this is the team with one of the worst away records in the league,and yet they nick a most unexpected point.
Palace will visit the Ems on Sunday with the very same game plan.
10 men behind the ball and niggle away all game.
Early goals important to make them come out,we don’t want another Cardiff on our hands.
City the only team we need to worry about,the darker blues have no quality Striker,what the Portugese Ponce would give for another Drogba right now.
Cheers
The Sweeper
Stand up if you love the Walrus (tonight only).
Looks like City will sign Fernando from Porto. Never heard of him, but that is not the point. I am not going to explain the point, though, it is evident.
Feckin’ great result! Feck off Maureen! “Pot calling the kettle black” or what! Wanker! Feck you very much fat Sam!
well in Lurky – a natural.
I really didn’t expect the Chavs to drop points against Westham. I wonder why they did, you do too? Well I think I know why and here goes;
Winning football games at every level doesn’t just require teams to have better players than their opponents, turn up with the right attitude, play with passion and give 110%, make tactical changes when things aren’t working and shooting the damn ball whenever you find yourself within 25 meters of your opponents goal. If it did the Chavs would have won against Westham by a cricket score because they did all of the above and possibly more, sometimes the opposition players just turn up and do everything right, sometimes seemingly lesser talented players turn up with a bagful of tricks you wouldn’t normally associate with them and cause an upset against players who hitherto consistently performed better than them. That is just quite plainly the way football works and I guess that’s why most of us love the game.
Yesterday we faced an opponent who we have shown so far that we posses more quality than yet we couldn’t win the game, in my opinion, it doesn’t automatically mean we turned up with the wrong attitude, underrated the opponents, were tactically poor, our players just became shit overnight or didn’t give 100%, I think it had more to do with the things Southampton did right than what our players did wrong. Sure we might have made a few mistakes but I think Southampton deserve more credit than some of us are willing to give them, they did almost everything right, almost. Good thing we didn’t allow them do everything right and for that we deserve some credit too.
Heh, bath, thanks. Didn’t even noticed it, that’s how good I’ve became.
If, the rumors of Vucinic loan are true, I’ll welcome him. Always rated him, decent finisher, he has an eye for a goal, more mobile than Giroud, good technique. Not sure (quite sceptical to be honest) of his form at the moment, because I haven’t watched him this year at all, but as an experienced player he will adapt quickly and find a required form.
Not seeing him as a long term solution at all, of course, but he comes on loan, probably relatively cheap, is an experienced footballer, who is already familiar with a backup role.
He can contribute and help.
Then in the summer if the things are going ok, we can buy ourselves that striker we are all hoping for.
Heh @192.
Well in Lurky!
Cross is reporting that Draxler is almost done.!
I’ll drink to that, Joe. Hopeful bottle of amber nectar on the bar.
I’m at a board meeting where the new board member is a Spurs season- ticket holder . He was upset about missing the game. Now he’s disconsolate because his team are so gutterly shite they ruin his life.
Let’s have a moment of compassion for Spurs because they are so shite. ….Ok I couldn’t manage it either.
The interesting thing is he is giving me all the 9 years without a f…ing trophy crap. I pointed out they haven’t won the league for 53 years. It’s like being on a pathetic and utterly pointless loop talking to Tottenham fans. They are so totally unable to make sense of the farce that Levy has visited on them they speak garbage.
Anyway on to proper teams. Vucinic sounds likely and we are trying to get Draxler. I wouldn’t disparage the Matuidi stories. I think that might happen.
But then I say why bother.? Judges as good as Hansen and Tottenham’s manager this month, Tim Sherwood say they are the best team on the planet. And they are all of one point above us.We must be the best team on Uranus which is where Hansen speaks from.
And good old Hammers. Anything that upsets Mourinho is fine by me
Vučinić rumour appears to originate from Tuttosport.
If correct, we’ll get a talented, experienced footballer who’ll probably pull a hamstring taking his shorts off while celebrating his first goal.
and here’s the link:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-transfers-julian-draxler-deal-3090314?#.UumHVyjgzgQ
Cent, I can’t recall anyone here saying that Saints are a bad team. In fact all of us were full of praise for them, before and after the game.
However, they have a relatively small squad of quality players, maybe 15 of them and yesterday their two first choice strikers, their best DM and their best CB were not playing.
Their best player is an 18 years old full back who made our fullback look like he is from Sunday League. Yes, I am that harsh on Sagna’s defensive play yesterday, not only because he was easily overrun from both Shaw and Rodriguez on both goals and couple of other occasions, but because of the quality of these Soton players.
I feel that we missed a chance yesterday. One thing that I’ve noticed about Soton this year in general is that they usually tend to start matches in higher speed than the opponent, almost always score first, but then start losing concentration, pace and strength late in the game. That was our chance, but we missed it mostly because of playing with ten players.
Vučinić – he’s also 30 years old, which means someone of my vintage should hesitate a long time before calling him old.
Yeah he’d be a great addition Bath. Apart from being tall, quick, skilful there are few other things that are very impressive about him: He doesn’t give the ball away, he can kick with both feet and he’s only 20. He really has all the ingredients to become a great player and there’s no way we’d have got near him or Ozil for that matter, were it not for Wenger.
Cristián Tello, come on, come on, let this be true.
Telegraph reports that Lukasz Fabianski may join Schalke as part of the Draxler deal.
Excellent line about Hansen, ttg. Splendid stuff.
COYG
Augero’s injury ? Nothing trivial,I hope.
Let’s all take a moment out of rending our teeth and gnashing our clothes to give it up for Giroud…really he is a beast and for all his misses, we are lucky to have such a team player on our side!
And I have to say, Ozil is a gem and I can only see his game get better and better!
So happy that Maureen got drawn at the bus stop!!
There, that’s my bit for the night 🙂
and one last thing…should have, deserved, would have…for all of Southampton’s brilliance and guile…they only got a draw…we must have done something right then!
that’s footie for you
You all have been far too harsh on Chief Superintendent Allardyce…we all know he has a glandular problem. Well done, C.S. Sam, you’ve earned your kip.
Arsenal v Merc €iteh will be for all the marbles…
BMBD
We love the walrus tonight, Lonestar.
Lurky @211, I think you misunderstood my post. I didn’t say anybody here(or elsewhere) said they are a bad team or an excellent team, I said we should give them more credit for their PERFORMANCE YESTERDAY.
As for your thoughts on Sagna, well that’s your opinion and that’s fair enough.
To wit:
http://8fb80e.medialib.glogster.com/media/2fd575f5a7fa4bb8d46ec9ce3a89c4cb1435150fba485c7bfe7fb7f89d91de95/happy-walrus.jpg
Did anyone see Fat Sam’s response to Maureen: “I don’t give a s***e, to be honest. I love to see Chelsea players moaning at the referee, trying to intimidate him, Jose jumping up and down in his technical area. It’s great to see.”
I love that guy.
@223, LOL. That was priceless, Baff. I was drinking water at the time and almost blew it all over my office.
BMBD
I enjoyed reading this http://www.gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2014/01/29/why-do-arsenal-need-julian-draxler-when-we-have-mesut-ozil-twitter-in-2003-and-why-we-can-still-achieve-something-this-season/
Look, I’m predisposed to be optimistic tonight after yesterday’s events, even optimistic to a fault. That said…
Rumors that Draxler is close, also that we might get Vucinic on loan? What a boon those two would be. Dear heavens.
And Chelsea draw at home to Allardyce’s parked bus? Mourinho blustering impotently?
I needed that today. Let’s get it done Dicky. Onwards and upwards. COYG
“Oscar: grumpy Oscar? but often talks sense” … Peter #62
——————————————————————
Gosh Peter, that’s the nicest thing said about me here. 🙂 Although not a lot of competition for it, it has to be said… 🙁
I’m not really that grumpy, I just wonder a lot how the half-empty side of my glass got that way when we have such a fine team and everything to play for. You can’t play at your best every match, but we don’t play at our best for large parts of most matches, and I expect more from those honoured to wear the Arsenal gun on their chests.
Nice work by shitty today, making it 11-1 against the neighbours … hahahahahahahahahahah. I just can’t believe anyone here was actually hoping for a spuds win. That’s treachery of the wettest water, imo. Great to see their goal diff dipping below zero again … hehehehehehehehehehehe.
And WD the Hammers nicking 2 points of Morewhineio, who will probably lose another 3 next Monday as well. I can see the Premiership becoming a two horse race. All we have to do is win both Mancs games at home. And develop more of a killer instinct ffs.
Öskar
Cent, fair enough, you basically say that the team that makes more things right will win the game, or at least not lose it, correct me if I am wrong. I find that appropriate, but it is worth to say that to matter how hard are you doing things right if you have more limited players than your opponent you will lose at least 7 out of 10 games.
As for Sagna, don’t get me wrong, I adore him and I understand your tendency to defend our players. His defensive performance yesterday was not what I am use to, that was not the Sagna standard and that is why I criticized him. Both goals came from his flank and there were way to many other dangerous moments coming from that flank especially from Shaw crosses. He was slow on closing his opponent, and was to high on the pitch for my liking, (to be fair that resulted with our first goal), but if Eboue was doing the same he was going to be teared into pieces by the fans.
Same goes for Monreal. Was very disappointed with both our fullback yesterday as I know they can do much better, but as you say, and I fully agree, it has a lot to do with the quality of our yesterday’s opponents.
Maureen Moaneen.
I just love it.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/chelsea-vs-west-ham-dont-3091967#.Uuma1_ldV8F
Hehs @ bath, ttg above – 🙂
And Mourinho moaning on and on and on and on and on about West Ham not playing attacking football and trying to win …………… ?
No. Words.
Oh, except one …. and it has nothing to do with Next Wednesday 😉
cent@226, top read, thanks. hilarious, at times. not as funny as those cunts up the road today, but funny!
Lurky, I said(or meant to say) That it no matter the difference in quality between teams in football there is always room for the team of lesser quality to cause an upset and when it happens to us we should see it as just that, an upset(and not that our players underestimated the opponent, aren’t good enough or didn’t give 100%). Westham and Southampton caused upsets against the Chavs and The Arsenal respectively this past matchday.
Cheers, Scruz.
Cent@226: Great read…I have been thinking the same way throughout today…all this fuss and scramble to spend millions and millions of bucks…we are not, I don’t believe, a rich man’s toy…but a football club business…to just run out and buy, buy buy is not on the cards for us…last night’s draw has so many people clamoring for more (makes me think of a painting by Ingres called ‘The Martyrdom of Saint Symphorien’) that its kinda ridiculous…as your writer says, if Giroud is so not up to the mark, then obviously an injury to him should not bother us…any yet, so many think he can’t do the job, etc, etc…well, we are now number 2 in the league, so something must be working
Oskar@228: grumpy is good, works for me 🙂
Mercenary russkies drop points. No more than they deserve. Moan and drone on Maureen. We all have better things to do than listen to you.
The Portuguese translator doesn’t do irony, does he? “Only one team trying to play”, heh. 🙂
This barrage of Man$ity superlatives from all and sundry are now entering the domain of obscene, way past mere nauseating. Hope Messi-Iniesta shake up their loose defense well and nice and then Ozil-Santi and co. with a few well-timed touches can dismantle it altogether.
Peter @ 235: Giroud has been an excellent — and I don’t use that word lightly — player for us. In terms of comparisons vis-a-vis pure technical strikers he suffers, and to fans of a club like ours that in recent time had such superlative technical strikers that lack doesn’t always sit well, but in terms of overall contribution to team’s success he has been excellent.
IMHO, he is really rather unique. You won’t find someone who is capable of the kind of technical build-up play and deft flicks and assists he does regularly, notches a good (not great, but good) amount of goals, does a tremendous job leading the line and in hold-up play to bring our true technical geniuses into the attack, hurries and presses the opposition defense, and is one of the best defenders to protect set-pieces. And I am glad he plays for us. If Giroud was playing with this level of consistency for say one of our competitors there would be an almighty clamor for Arsene to sign him.
How typical of Yanited’s season. 29 mph slower than last year. 😉
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2014/01/30/england-footballer-in-speeding-case/?
Bt8b – Manures season is a moot point since Man City have apparently won the Premier League. In fact, I’ve heard they are going to call off the remainder of season since it won’t matter. This is great because now we can focus on the FA cup and CL and won’t have to worry about squad depth.
Oops, that should be, “Manure’s…”
Probably the first time that i’ve enjoyed hearing and find myself agreeing with Fat sam’s reply to Jose’s hypocritical moaning.As for the incompetent Spuds,i was laughing at an article i read somewhere that their manager was arguing that a DMF was completely redundant.Would have lost by a lesser margin considering that their defenders had zero cover in front of them. Vucinic and Draxler would be tremendous additions. Vucinic more likely to join us with Draxler’s negotiations seemingly going nowhere
I’m not sure if it’s already been mentioned but Dick Law is in Germany trying to close the Draxler deal.
If Tello is a right sided winger we could be in for him too. Sagna was a little over stretched during Southampton, so until somebody else takes up the Mantel (ahem ox, gnab etc) a natural right sided player could help with the over laps. A player with extreme pace could help.
Mandzukic sounds feasible. Has AW written all over it, but at the same time, has vintage Mourinho snatch and grab finger prints on it too.
Must say, old Maureen is losing her touch.
COYR
Good Morning Everyone!!! And Julian Draxler WELCOME TO ARSENAL?!? Espn reporting a £36 million fee is ” provisionally ” agreed.
Arsegonian, before the i’s have been dotted and the t’s have been crossed it’s not done…
A fee providionally agreed is not a signing AG. As Arsenal fans we will all know how many times we have ” provisionally agreed” a fee according to the media and then nothing happens.
Lars knows.
Morning all. Maureen as funny as fuck. Of course, he did not bring his side to The Grove looking for a draw???
Really hope the Draxler rumours are true, He would be a perfect fit for this side and set up – He has pace in abundance, Is two footed, can shoot from either side, Is direct, Can go past people and can hit a cross, We really need some pace and directness and he would offer both, Whether he’d play a big part for the run in who knows but he has all the attributes of certain Madrid players. He’d also make Ozil even more effective as hes a forward outlet – Make it happen pleaseeeeeee 🙂
As for Mourinho and his lapdogs in the media Fuck Em !! Hopefully one of them will grow a pair and show him and his utterances up for what they are.
Up The Arse.
Just for a few seconds this morning, I felt something approaching affection for Big Sam Walrusface
“He can’t take it, can he? He can’t take it because we’ve outwitted him – he just can’t cope,” said the Hammers boss.
“He can tell me all he wants, I don’t care.
“I love to see Chelsea players moaning at the referee, trying to intimidate him, Jose jumping up and down saying we play rubbish football.
“It’s brilliant when you get a result against him. Hard luck, Jose.”
I’m feeling better now though
A Vucinic medical is being mooted. I’m not sure about this one.
Stayed tuned. We appear to be active! 😉
The 2014 Webster’s Dictionary will officially list ‘Maureen’ as an Antonym for ‘Self-awareness’
heh ‘holics…text me if we sign someone ok! thanks!!
Cynic, that’s very worrying but so did I last night.
Basically I would empathise with anyone who is having a go at, or has just stuffed Mourinho.
Ha Ha Ha, at maureen’s reaction, what a precious little biatch.
Yes, Josie, your team play the right way, never sit back and always go for the win. Your players never waste time, cheat, dive, commit fouls, fart in the presence of a lady or charge punters for stadium tours.
Message to the meedja:
Wake up you anus tongue punchers, wake up and smell the Portuguese Coffee. It reeks of self importance and hypocrisy.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/-we-are-active-but-not-close-to-a-deal-
Either Arsene’s playing mind games or he’s totally honest?
AW today : “At the moment, unfortunately, we are not signing anybody.”
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/-we-are-active-but-not-close-to-a-deal-?
Hmm..Vucinic rumours
..funny enough back in summer when we were linked with Jovetic I wrote that I would rather want another Montenegran to sign for us – Vucinic and if he is now considered as short term option as back up for Giroud…well I think he is better option than Berba..
If we end up with signing Draxler and Vucinic, I will be totally happy with our activity …but still..lets wait and see till tomorrow.
Heh ATG
Apologies for the repetition.
ATG.
A lesson in how to use words to say nothing.
bath/ATG – I suppose its Arséne playing mind games, if any deal is close he would not want to give it away by telling that we are actually close to signing anyone.
Can anyone actually remember when Arséne openly admitted that we are close to sign a player?
Good point Eandy. I tried but couldn’t confidently read the body language though there are points like the statement,
“At the moment, unfortunately, we are not signing anybody.”
when he looks at the floor rather than the interviewer.
What is close anyway?
Is negotiating close or is it when everybody sits at the table, papers in front of them and the pen in their hands?
I say sit back and wait for pics with a new player smiling and holding up our home shirt 🙂
I don’t know why we even bother with pressers anymore.
Everything that’s said is looked at from every concievable angle and twisted to whatever fits the narrative or agenda of what each and every individual wants it to be.
Nothing is taken at face value.
No worries Bath 🙂
“At the moment ……… ”
And no sooner has that phrase been completed than that moment is gone and another moment of opportunity exists – or does not.
That way lies stress and raised blood pressure.
Anyway, have we signed anyone yet ? 😉
One does have to wonder though why 90% of deals take until almost the end of the final day of each window to complete.
Could it be that agents spin out the whole thing to make their huge fees appear more credible ?
” €2,500,000 million for four weeks hard work Mr Tenpercent ? Cheap at twice the price, old chap !”
Or,
” €2,500,000 million for stopping Giuseppe Bloggo from ripping the pen out of your hand and signing in 15 seconds ? Do f*ck off !”
Nah, surely not ……… 😉
H2H @263 – Harry Redknapp is certainly not taken at face value. 😉
Heh Trev.
Good points though.
Maybe they should just have a few transfer weekends, crazy bargains, everything must go, kinda thing.
Jose Mourinho after Arsenal 0 Chelsea O on December 23:
“Boring is the team who plays at home and can’t score a goal.”
I see from AFC website that the Flamster is “only” out for 3 games (CP, MU and ‘pool), not the 4 previously mooted.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/team-news-who-is-fit-to-face-palace-?
Well we shouldn’t need two holding midfielders against Crystal Pulis 😉
Cent 227
So did I. A most excellent rant on the most irritating thing about a lot of football fans – their sheep mentality and total inability to have a single, independently-formed thought, and sadly it’s these voices that shout loudest…empty vessels, I believe they’re called!
Cynic, I know exactly what you mean. As I watched fat Sam post-match I experienced some hitherto unfamiliar sensations: ‘sympathy’ and ‘agreement’ with the Walrus Face!
Spot fucking on Jose can’t handle it. Whiny little bitch.
Finaly another site that gets it.
From this weeks 365’s winners and losers page. (Arsenal were in the winners section)
Arsenal
I don’t understand the fuss. It might be a concern that Arsenal were poor in the first half against Southampton, but the important thing is that they still came away with a point. No-one is going to win every game from now until the end of the season. City only claimed a draw at St Mary’s, while Saints also beat Liverpool at Anfield earlier in the campaign. If there is a time to panic, this isn’t it.
That the Gunners have to play every other team in the top seven in their next ten fixtures (along with Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Liverpool in the FA Cup) is obviously a huge concern. But they have thrived in make-or-break situations in the last two seasons and can do so again following their remarkable improvement this year.
Those tearing their hair out over a draw with Southampton are no better than Andre Villas-Boas stroking his chin and speaking of a ‘negative spiral’ last March. A team is never only as good as its last performance and Arsenal have proved that they can maintain their momentum and recover from setbacks. The challenge now is to assert their quality against the other big teams in the Premier League. They really have nothing to fear.
http://www.football365.com/faves/9141405/Arsenal-Still-Winners-Despite-The-Draw
@246-7 hence the ?!? …. Let’s hope the Special Cunt sets up for a draw on Monday and succeeds. Too bad about Kunt Aguero btw. Normally I’m not an injury supporter but I’ll take any advantage we can get at this point. 🙂
Is it just me who can’t quite understand why we’re trying to sign Draxler?
Apparently he can only play night games and runs away from a cross.
Signing or not, the starting line-up for the midfield and attack in the next cluster of matches would be crucial. The options are a bit limited, assuming any new signings would not immediately join the starting line-up but be available from the bench.
if TR7 becomes available, I think he would be the best choice for the box-to-box, backed by Arteta and having Santi-Ozil in front and to rotate positions in center and right. Poldi on the left, Ox/Gnabry to come from the bench.
Jack (supposedly back for Liverpool) and TR7 will need to be rotated down the middle as neither can probably play 2-3 games a week. Would be interesting if Ox is trusted with a central role in PL games at this time. He had a decent outing against Coventry but made some defensive mistakes.
Problem would be having Arteta play that many games in a week. We might see Hayden on the bench if no new DM is signed? Or TV5 to deputize in that role?
We have now truly started to miss Rambo. Hopefully a “few weeks” is really only just a few weeks.
Cynic.
we’re trying to bring in new blood?
Wenger is bats about him?
Maybe he can bring Diaby back from the dead?
We’re trying to revamp the squad?
Add a bite of bite to the midfield?
He’s a player you can Count on?
There’s so much at stake?
H2H — He will turn us into an eternal nightmare to the other teams? He will suck the lifeblood of anyone who plans to cross our path?
Hope drax matches the hype because he is been more hyped up than messi. I hope he is a smoke screen and we end up buying never know finally Gourcuff, hahahah.
Tello/Vucinic?matuidi/Rodrigo are all the names touted for today, well i still feel we need a defensive midfielder and a centre back because we seem to be cruelly exposed at times and as much as i am praying, it is just one injury away for our CB pairing.
In terms of the game though, this was 2 points dropped, saints i think model themselves on dortmund, high energy give it all for 60 min and then tire out in the end. The smart way was to hold on till 75 min and then hit them with our subs like poldi/ox. I think the boss got it wrong with his selection and timing of the subs.
Mou crying about westham is like shrek rooney saying i dont care about money, 2 big bloody hypocrites.
I see that Vuvinic has turned us down which might mean that he never agreed to come to London as much of the media had claimed. I suspect Arsene is telling the truth that at the moment we aren’t close to signing anybody and the rest of the websites and papers are recycling shite from other misinformed sources. That doesn’t mean he isn’t trying to sign someone. We got Nacho last season at short notice .
I suspect Draxler is the target but it’s hard to do. The other possibility is Matuidi. Arsene is PSG’s favourite son so he might be able to swing a deal there.
But spare a thought for Dick Law whose sole purpose in life is to do deals and who does hardly any! He. Ust feel like a spare Dick at a wedding!
TTG.
Where you getting that from?
A website in NL saying the opposite.
All rubbish ofcouse until it’s on dotcom.
Afternoon, very impressed with City last night. I agree they are the team to beat this season and its not only the flair they have, their work off the ball was immense. Spurs were horrifically naive in trying to play them at their own game when the gulf between them was as big as I can recall between sides in the top 5. However, they are truly shocking in defending set-pieces anywhere near their goal. If you have any big lumps at Arsenal then wheel them out when you play them (Bendtner anyone?). You have a terrific side this season and for me it’s a 2 horse race.
Cheers Dave.
Thought your lads were pretty hard done by to tell the truth.
Once again a ref decision in a big game going for the Citeh, hmmmmm, conspiricy theory anyone?
You are right though, they do look, offencivly a cut above the rest, but that’s only to be expected after splashing out a billion quid or so. I’ve said it before though and will say it again, their shody defending will come back to bite them in the jaxxy sooner rather then later, the only question is… against who?
H2H
Several Italian based websites are stating that Vucinic wants to stay at Juve. Since then Schalke have continued to be very dismissive of any potential Draxler deal . So I think we have to believe Arsene!
OK TTG.
I always believe Arsene. 😉
Re: Cynic @275. Supremely effective smokescreen?
Someone should have informed Dick Law & Order that wolfsbane repels vampires…guaranteed to stall/paralyze negotiations.
BMBD
Heh, H2H on a role 277-283.
Sounds like we are staying vamp free though and Vucinic prefers Turin to norff Lundin.
However Arsene says we are still active in the market – banana anyone?
bath – I am strong believer in reverse psychology when it comes to Arsenal transfers, both sides claiming that there is absolutely nothing going on for me means that we are trying really hard to get Drax in:P …I am probably going to be dissapointed but I strongly believe we will sign him.
If he will move now or in summer, is different thing.
Eandy @295 – I do so hope that you are 100% correct.
There is only one positive thing about Klose joining us.
He is couple of months older than me, so the way I see it, there is still possibility of me joining Arsenal in the summer.
Heh @ Lurky. We need you NOW.
Dinks ball towards the box.
kills it and lays it off towards the penalty spot..
SHOOTS
Great goal Bath!
Goal.com have surprisingly got some stuff right recently , most notably details of Ramsey’s setback . They are linking us with alternative deals for Klose and Morata. My spendthrift ways would have us look at signing both given the games we have coming up. I still shudder that we have recently had Park on the bench and TGSTEL on the pitch.
I presume Klose could play against Bayern but Morata is Cup- tied.
Well in Bath!
Great strike Bath. Eandy well assisted.
Well into the bath Bath. Why not scrape behind your ears while you are in there? 😉
In other news, two of the coolest names in football are joining up with each other. temporarily at least. Afobe to Wednesday. A match made in the section of heaven where they assign cool names?
http://news.arseblog.com/2014/01/afobe-loaned-to-sheffield-wednesday/
Dick Law is not particularly dignified if you ask me. Hopefully more effective however than Richard Law would be.
Park is close leaving the club. Afobe went on loan.
The way I see it, we are Klose to signing new striker.
Hilarious comment on Arseblog. Worth sharing
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfP34HGCQAA_5JW.jpg:large
Holtby to Fulham.
Forget about the other German.
Arsene said we’re not Klose to a signing.
Coat please.
Darts and excessive drink night for me. 😎
Ah, it’s Thursday today of course – happy drinking, H2H!
Cheers Lars mate.
Seems like we would have a better chance of getting our transfer business done if Snir were only around here to report on it. Just sayin’ but bejesus, WHERE IS HE WHEN WE NEED HIM??????
Wouldn’t it be amazing if one year as soon as the transfer window opened we announced all our signings? I’m getting carpal tunnel hitting the refresh button.
Aha @300 – bath taps in. 😉
Hehs @the H2H pun frenzy. 🙂
I was working and then swimming. 🙁
I think Wolfie would like to sign Count Draxler.
He heard he was from Transylvestia. 😉
But AG what would we do for the rest of the transfer window?
hahaha behind @312
I actually checked Snirs facebook recently and he had one of the statuses “Draxler!” in recent days…and if Snir says so…:D
David Ornstein from BBC tweeted that Arsene won’t meet the price on Draxler. Rumor is Schalke is asking over his release clause. C’mon Draxler pull an RVC!!! Just kidding ( sort of )
Espn says Schalke want everything up front. Arsenal want add ons / installments. Guess we will have to wait it out …. :/
Arsegonian – did not they say that there is no release clause just recently? How could they ask above it then?
Damn, no I have to restrain myself from getting worked up about transfers 😀
I thought it was a done deal AG
😀
My guess is that Draxler is great on the ground but hates crosses.
One more thing. Is is me or do we have a knack of making almost every transfer we are involved in one massive saga??? Why is it that with us everything always seems so protracted????? I accept these things can be complex at times but we seem to abuse the privilege.
Last I heard was that Schalke are saying that Draxler is going nowhere in this window and the release clause will be £45 million in the summer.
Arsenal, not altogether surprisingly, are refusing to pay that much.
Make of it what you will – most likely virtual bin linings.
One has to doubt the quality of transfer reporting. Last week we were told the clubs had agreed a fee . John Cross the so called man in the know has been reporting very optimistically for a while that the clubs are locked in discussions when I have to doubt if they were in much contact at all.I think we have been fed a lot of recycled shite.
Schalke are clearly and understandably playing reports down . They suggest that if he has a good World Cup and more clubs come into the picture( and we can guess who they might be) the price will rise considerably. If Arsenal are to sign him it will probably have to be now. But this is a huge price for a kid with nowhere near Ozil’s record of achievement. He has to be an extraordinary player to be worth that fee.
I would not be surprised if we signed no one in this window.
But can someone explain to me why we always seem to leave this to last knockings???? Why was this not sorted 2 weeks ago???? Or 3 weeks ago for that matter?????
It’s the Arsenal way Steve T. Except for Giroud and Podolski who were announced really early, before the summer window opened if I’m not mistaken. I don’t recall a single player the last 8-9 years that has come without a saga. I wish we’d take a look at Andre Ayew, son of Abedi Pele. Fantastic player, pacey and amazing in the air. He said he wants to come to England. He has Arsenal all over him.
So we have struggled to conclude any major deal since David Dein left??????
If it waits until summer with Draxler Arsenal will have to be his first choice because anybody can meet the clause. Now is / was the time to do it.
We signed Yaya Banana, Gourcuff, Kalou and M’Villa yet?
Giroud having Dinner yesterday http://31.media.tumblr.com/21c11222f55bd81bd1d27aa636749594/tumblr_n0731yKAYW1sisr9ho1_500.gif
AG – we signed Sanago on the first day of last summer’s transfer window…
Cent – that is beautiful!
So, It looks like we are not going to see new faces in Arsenal shirt this season. Maybe some striker on loan, but I don’t expect anything spectacular.
However, I back Arsene up if he refuses to pay 43M on Draxler. He is good but not 43M good, imho. If Arsene refused to pay over 40M for Suarez than I don’t see any logic why he should do that for Draxler.
Like him or not, Suarez would have really strengthen us and I can’t help but to think that we might have been 6-7 points clear on top if he would have joined us.
I am not so sure that Draxler would have such an impact on this season like Suarez might have.
It’s not my money, but I think that with 43M we are going to buy 2-3 quality players in the summer.
For example, Fulham got Mitroglou for 13M, Chelsea got Zouma for 12M. Both of them quite decent players that I would not mind seeing at Arsenal. Add to that Coleman for similar price and we are covered in every position for 40M.
Porto have accepted a €42m offer from Manchester City for Eliaquim Mangala
Let me write that again. €42m on Mangala. Have Pellegrini ever watched him play live or just on youtube? One of the most over-hyped players in the world at the moment. Big money wasted. But, it is evident that they are working on strengthening their defense.
Zouma for 12M is the real deal. Maureen is a tit but he knows to pick a player.
Ah, but Lurky, it’s no use saying Fulham got X, Chelsea got Y – we’re only going for TOP TOP players – none of that cheap shite.
We’ll know where we stand in 24 hours.
Everything else is just guesswork. Sit back, put your feet up and remind yourself of how much better shape we’re in than when everyone was stressing during the last transfer window.
Cheers all.
More proof Mourinho is a nit as the academic historians prove he is factually wrong. BBC headline:
“Mourinho is Wrong. Football Was Exciting in the 1800s.”
Zouma is bit of a nutter. Think he has a big suspension in France.
@338 … The thing is Mourinho is wrong. In the 19th century they played formations like 1-1-8. That’s attacking football!!!!
If Boss is not willing to pay the 37Million for Drax then I believe it is the right decision…that much money on a 20 year old is insane…let Chelsea pay 30 Million on the 18yr old Luke Shaw…he’s 18 for goodness sake!
Just not Arsene’s way
Dkg, if Arsene only goes for a top, top quality and not that cheap shite, we would have never bought Koscielny.
Zouma is not cheap, nor shit, believe me.
Mitroglou is a decent striker, with power, technique and pace. Perfect Giroud backup. I’ve just read that West Ham are trying to hijack the deal from Fulham. Just a reminder, Mitroglou had his medical done at Fulham this afternoon.
I am not even going to comment on Coleman. The best RB in the league at the moment by a mile.
Anyway, why don’t we try to bring Andross Townsend as Walcott replacement?
I know many will laugh and tell that he is shyt, just because he is Tots player, but I am serious, that fella is a good footballer.
If we are going to bring in a loanee striker for the purpose of helping us win the league I don’t see the point of young players like Tello and Morata, good as they may be, if the rumors are true about Klose also being available. Tried, tested and successful at the highest level and one more German cog to give us a full deck.
So, here we are again, last day of the window and no business to report. Anyone else having déjà vu?
I don’t believe we’re desperate to do business mind you, but it does appear we’ve been trying. Why are we so often last cab of the rank? I really do believe it comes down to the last few pounds every time with AW. Couldn’t we have a whip round?
And please don’t mention Sanogone, I haven’t seen him kick a ball yet and won’t believe he’s a gunner till he does.
Öskar
Bt8 – and he!s 35 and won’t want to play second fiddle to Giroud with a World Cup chance in the balance.
Damn, this transfer malarky is hard, innit ? 😉
Yes, Oskar – I’m having deja vu all over again (D Coleman). 😉
Klose would be a wonderful acquisition. Another BFG who can dominate in the air and quick with his shooting boots as well.
Öskar
You’ll see it when you believe it, Trev, trust me.
Öskar
Lurky, Townsend had a good two weeks now we’re buying him? No thanks overhyped , overrated , overpriced
I’m younger than Miroslav Klose. He’s decent but nothing more than from now until May. If we buy, I’d still like to see a building block type come in. We aren’t the finished article.
I too hate to admit admiring Townsend. I don’t see him as a striker though, just a very good winger who can provide assists.
Klose might be old, but he’s a quality striker on his day and very similar type to OG. He’s also played regularly with Poldi, Per and probably Özilla with the German national team, so should fit in smoothly. As cover for just a few months he’d be ideal, imo.
Öskar
OtG @ 345,
Last time I partipated in a whip round, I was in for $100 and the “entertainment” was walking out the bar with another dude…whip rounds – no thanks!
Relax gents, we have enough mental/physical strength to get us to the promised land this year without January reinforcements. You just have to believe.
JKW / BMBD
I wish we made a legit run at Morata. 21, 6’3″ , skilled and not off the charts expensive.
I’m with you Lonestar. But it’s a time honored tradition to freak out every window 🙂
Trev. Klose is younger than Thierry Henry by 10 months. It could make the difference. 😉
Afobe to Sheffield Wed on loan. Who says we can’t do January deals.
Transfer windows are so tedious.
Think I’ll use the internet only for looking at cat pics over the next 24 hours…
Townsend is extremely shit.
Runs around a lot, but no end product at all. How many assists does he have this season? From memory: zero.
Gnabry is already a more effective player.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists they remain active in the January transfer window, telling Arsenal Player: “Are we active? Yes. Are we close to signing anybody? No. There is not long now, that is true.
I am genuinely not sure what to make of all of that. Is it all a smoke screen or have we really turned another transfer window into a monumental clusterfuck??? I guess we will find out in the next 16 hours.
Happy SDD everybody.
the suspense is killing me…
N7 knows @359.
I think Klose can do a job for us.
Ooooooohhhhhhhhmmmmmmm…Ooooooohhhhhhmmmmmmmm
Goonertown sources understands that the sticking point between Schalke and Arsenal, is the value of Count Drax in his current fitness state. Will he be ready in 7 days or 7 months?
Tis iz ze queztion!
Loan signings are valuing or basing their players either too high or dependent upon replacements ( that old chestnut).
Have we learnt or are we new to the big money transfer market?
I would say we are learning.
Stay tuned!!
One of these clubs may fold or fuck up!
At least we’ve managed to keep hold of our players. That always fukcing helps!
Have we signed anyone yet? Thought I’d check just in case you know.
Rambo will be back soon (like a new signing) 🙂
Now can someone please tell WTF is Diaby? And why do we waste our money trying mend someone who will fall apart everytime he runs out on the pitch.
I do feel sorry for the fella but business is business!
The transfer window closes in 13 hours 35 minutes. Only 13 hours and 40 minutes to wait for various life-forms to emerge from the window telling us how they would have handled it differently or better. I can hardly wait.
COYG
Hey fellas…
Let’s start shall we :)?
I thought that most of us here agreed when discusing Ozil contribution this year that stats don’t always matter and do not show the whole picture.
But then Townsend is extremely shit because he has no assists and only one goal in the league.
What makes Draxler worth 40m then? Four assists and ONE goal in the Bundes league this season having played far more games than Townsend.
So, four assist more is the difference between extremely shit player and 40m player.
Not saying that Townsend is better footballer than Draxler, he is not, but to claim that he is extremely shit and back that only with stats is unbalanced and ignorant.
ATG – because the faith in long-term injured ones paid off for Arséne in the end in the form of Tomas and Aaron? And of course Jack.
Abou is one of the most talented players of his generation who was very unlucky that some cunt snapped his ankle in half.
Watch Liverpool away from last season, watch how Abou played and that is why Arséne keeps faith in him.
@JamesOlley: Wenger: “We are short and I am confident we will bring someone in today. It is 80-20 (likely).” #afc
@Arsenal: Wenger: “The Draxler situation has been created by the newspapers, not by me. He will stay at Schalke” #AFCvCPFC http://t.co/m6MX2b8ITd
The midfielder is probably Kim Kallstrom
Rambo off for 4-6 weeks….
@MailSport: BREAKING: Arsenal are currently in talks to bring in Kim Kallstrom from Spartak Moscow #afc #DeadlineDay
Snir – what do you make of Arsénes comments about Draxler? Smokescreen or we are really not in for him?
@ Eändy
I have seen the game and yes you’re right great talent I don’t doubt it but something tells me he will never recover in time.
Looks we in for midfielder now.
Eandy – no clue.
As for the midfielder – name cropping up is Kim Kallstrom.
But…
@Sport_Witness: Javier Pastore appears to be available.
@JWTelegraph: Kim Kallstrom definitely a deal Arsenal are working on…seen as someone with experience who can provide short-term solution #afc
Don’t rate him, but ask Lars.. He’s not happy with this… He’s not rated in Sweden.
@SkySportsPeteO: Barnsley are poised to sign Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong. #AFC #barnsleyfc #skydeadlineday
Hey Snir – good to see you. 😉
Didn’t Arsene said that we are short on midfielders about half an hour ago? Now, he is letting Frimpong go?
Didn’t saw Frimpong as a solution, but Kim Kallstrom on loan is not one either.
@m_christenson: Kim Källström’s dad tells @fotbollskanal he’s unaware of any #Arsenal move for the mf.’He’s in Abu Dhabi with Spartak as far as I know’ #afc
Let me just say I’d be extremely surprised if we signed Källström.
Anyone know when the FA cup tickets go on sale?
@MailSport: BREAKING: Dimitar Berbatov is set to join Monaco today #ffc #DeadlineDay
@JWTelegraph: Expectation is that Kim Kallstrom will be only Arsenal arrival today. Situation could, of course, change but seeming unlikely #afc
Underwhelming to say the least if that turns out to be true.
SKY SPORTS NEWS:
Footage of Jamie Redknapp having a cup of tea in the Sky canteen getting ready to talk about transfers later !!!
Seriously – there was.
@bbcsport_david: Arsenal working to sign Sweden midfielder Kim Kallstrom (31) on loan to end of season from Spartak Moscow. Should get done #afc #bbcfootball
Why do we need so many midfielders when we only have one fit central striker?
There’s some bloke doing keepy-uppies up and down flights of steps and jumping on harbour walls for a Sure deodorant advert. He looks BRILLIANT. Can’t we get him ? Must be able to pay him more than Sure.
you ‘holics are too much lol…think i’m out for the day! 🙂
@JWTelegraph: Arsenal priority now is as much in midfield as striker after Ramsey injury/Flamini ban. Hard also to count on Ox/Wilshere given recent probs
there is a pic on Sky sports of Boss signing 2 young players – a mid-fielder and a striker I think
We’re up to third in the injury league table:
Wilshere, Rosicky – back Feb 14th
Walcott, Diaby – no return date
Ramsey – out for up to 6 weeks
And Flamini suspended for 3 games.
All calm here then …………. 😉
Well if it is to be KK, on the plus side he does bring some height to our diminutive midfield. On the other hand although he has plenty of international experience, none of it is in the Premier a League and there will not be much time to adjust. He is another left footer and we will become even more left foot lop-sided. Possible just a cover in case of further injuries rather than a solution. A bit of a meh!
So, it looks like that’s it.
Arsene has spoken
“We have Park as well, his adaptation period is over, we will see more of him as well.”
He basically said that we were very active in the transfer market and we bring you Kallstrom. So, Silvestre was not available then?
It looks like we don’t need any further refreshments in the squad despite Walcott, Ramsey, Diaby long term injuries, Flamini’s three game ban and no real backup striker.
No matter what, I am not bitterly disappointed as I expected this. Was hopping for a surprise though and it looks like I will get one in Kallstrom.
Anyway, Arsene knows best and I choose to believe his judgement as always.
Off to work, will not bother with transfer deadline day anymore today.
Bring on Palace.
Why did we even bother buying Park in the first place?
So there you have it.
Julian Draxler will remain at Schalke this window!
I think AW is still counting on Bendtner and I believe this is a smart move no point dishing out 37 mil. I know Bendtner is not as good and he has a bit of history behind him but we need to get behind him for the reminder of the season.
As for the KK guy I don’t know anything about him and I hope it’s not him.
Let’s forget about Julian Draxler in summer we wont be able to afford him 🙂
Well in ATG
Just spoken to Mrs. Lurky on the telephone and she said that should Arsene give her three years adaptation period, she would also be ready for Arsenal shirt at some point.
Can someone enlighten me. Who the fuck is Kim Kallstrom????????
I think he was a considered option Trev but apparently he tweaked is ankle on his show stopping finale and is out for 3 weeks?? Well, 3 weeksish…….
Anyway, I’m told his real sport is basketball and he is hoping for a contract with the Lakers as their new Right Guard???
I’ll get me coat.
😀
Heh @ Lurky @ 402
Steve @ 403, from Pontus on the arses:
KK
Good at: Shooting, losing the ball, being slow, long pases, looking like he’s trying when he really isn’t, getting robbed, being old, being benched.
Bad at: Being good enough.
It seems we are on an alphabet theme this window:
Kallstrom, Klose and Kalou being linked,
next it will be Korky the Kat
Thanks Bath. I now feel totally inspired and proud of the fact that the increase in my season ticket cost has not gone to waste?????
@Sport_Witness: Sweden’s Aftonbladet still laughing about Kim Kallstrom to Arsenal. Asking when Real Madrid will move for Johan Elmander.
@Sport_Witness: Le10 saying Arsenal deal for Salomon Kalou still possible today. Explain he’s not Wenger’s first choice but time running out.
Good in the dressing room apparently. At what, I don’t know.
Steve @ 403,
Hes the 2014 version of one, Mikel Silvestre ! It Truly sums up our Transfer policy, farcical. One minute we are linked with buying a truly promising world class talent the next we end up loaning a player that’s so far past his best hed be shot if he was a racehorse ! Such a shame the club have reverted to type when we are finally in a position to have a go at winning something.
What a waste 🙁
Come on Arsene, get your finger out fella!
Knowing you could have done something better before the fatal event is serious negligence.
Don’t through away this silverware winning opportunity after so long without a strong fight!
The human body’s recovery-period from injury, as I’m sure you now know very well from your many years of personal experience at the helm, can never be fully assured in high-level sport so make your contingency arrangements now before it’s too late. COYBG!
Time running out Snir???? These transfer windows are so unfair. I mean, it is just so wrong that they are so short and sprung on us with absolutely no notice???? How are we meant to conclude a deal unless they give us notice and at least a month to get it all sorted??
Oh yeah……
@johncrossmirror: Kim Kallstrom has arrived at Arsenal training ground to complete talks, medical and loan deal. Could poss play Sunday. More on live blog
I agree Chippy. If Draxler really was a target and there were complications over the deal why on earth were we not attempting to sort them 4 weeks ago????? Why leave it to the last minute???? If we can’t agree a fee etc then find out early, not hours before it all closes.
Sometimes it would appear that th
Best news I heard all morning….
http://footylatest.com/arsenal-flop-could-be-on-his-way-to-france-in-bid-to-rebuild-career/53339?
I agree Chippy. If Draxler really was a target and there were complications over the deal why on earth were we not attempting to sort them 4 weeks ago????? Why leave it to the last minute???? If we can’t agree a fee etc then find out early, not hours before it all closes.
Sometimes it would appear that those in charge of this club rewrite the definition of buffoonery.
Steve,
Id imagine the only complications were we wouldn’t pay the required fee, Arsenal were probably hoping Schalke would blink first when Draxler made it known hed like the move, saving a million or two. Such a Shame but as you say not unusual when it comes to us.
After all this id be amazed if we even signed him in the summer,
And as for the Striker situation they’ve had 12 months to sort that 🙂
Very cunning plan.
Use Draxler as a smoke screen so we could snap up Kim Kallstrom without competition.
Could have done exactly the same thing without involving Draxler at all.
Even more cunning plan ‘cos the press would have been wondering why we weren’t interested in Draxler.
See, this kind of planning takes, oh, about four weeks I guess. 😉
If Kallström comes, we get another umlaut. 🙂
Apparently Kallstrom can’t even get a game at Spartak?????? I’m feeling more inspired by the minute.
Trev,
You could be on to something 🙂
You know its bad when Swedish Arsenal Fans are letting out a groan over his signing 🙂
Must remember not to shout “Whooooooooo?” when the stadium announcer says “Kim Kallstrom”.
” We’re by far the greatest collection of umlauts
The world has ever seen”
Steve,
Good side Spartak, Have a Squad only equalled by Man City, so not surprised he struggles to get a game 😉
Nothing at all to do with him being pony haha
Kim Kallström?! The signing I’ve been waiting for all transfer window!
From the man who gave you Ju-Young Park.
And Mesut Özil.
Sometimes AW reminds me of those conjurers and their card tricks:
“Pick a card – any card.”
You never know whether you’re going to get an ace, a king – or a deuce.
But he still has a smile on his face.
I’m with you chippy.
Trev, are you that confident he will get a game??? Perhaps we are after him because he is best of buddies with Vivianno, or whatever his name is?? Perhaps he is there to keep him company???
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/transfer-zone/2014/01/31/4584241/arsenal-in-talks-to-sign-klose-and-kallstrom
Please Klose.
You must admit tho it takes some serious scouting to pick up a player from Spartaks Reserves – I bet City and Chelsea are shaking in disbelief at how weve managed to pull this coup of in January 🙂 All hail the scouting network 🙂 !!
Källström was part of a pretty good Lyon side some years ago. But not the 2 or 3 years 3, more like the years when he played with Juninho and co.
Lost track of him about 3 or 4 years ago. If my mind serves right that was a time when he also struggled with injuries.
“not the 2 or 3 last years” that sould be 🙂
Silvestre was part of a very good Man Utd side a few years ago too 🙂
Sorry it just stinks of penny pinching and a lack of ambition !
Surely we could buy a player using Dickie Laws Air miles – Hes been all over Europe in the past couple of days 😉
I must say, I’m rather looking forward to the next transfer window.
This is nothing to do with Arsena;’s transfer policy, but the hope that IT WON’T BLOODY WELL RAIN ALL THE WAY THROUGH IT.
Thank you for reading. Carry on.
COYG
Pangloss@434. Best to get used to the rain – there’s going to be lots more of it. Global warming, you see. More evaporation=more condensation=more precipitation.
Pangloss too right ha ha
Bloody hell everyone, untwist your knickers. Maybe we’ll get someone in (until it’s on .com it’s not done) and I still seriously doubt the Källström rumours. Yeah, he’s supposedly having a medical but so was Draxler last week. Or M’Vila in 2012. Or… well you get the drift.
By 11PM GMT tonight we’ll know and there’s absolutely fuck-all reason to be upset before we know the end result.
I think I would prefer we were loaning Kim Basinger – more than 9 1/2 weeks here. Could be just as effective on the pitch and sure worth looking at in an Arsenal kit. In fact her distraction of opposition players and officials could be an added bonus. 😉
Although I give as much leeway as possible to Arsene’s judgement, surely with all the players who may realistically be available, this is not the best option that’s available. We need a bit of muscle in the midfield and we also could do with another option in the striking dept. The HFB does a brilliant job for us furrowing a lone passage up front but there are times when an alternative option with pace could be an effective ploy.
Is this really the best we can be? Let’s hope there is a pleasant surprise by 2300 tonight.
dkg@427: töö funny lol 🙂
Lars,
Was about to say the same. John Cross claiming Kallstrom is our target means nothing. Wasn’t it he who said the Draxler deal was nearly done ?
One thing is guaranteed: if AW hasn’t signed a player, he will not have identified him as a target.
*Boilk.
So, here it is again, Tedium Deadline Day. The culmination and (anti) climax of a month of lies, speculation, misinformation, rumours, pants wetting and knicker twisting.
Bring it on. 😉
Like any other day around your bar then H2H ? 😉
Lars. I disagree. There is every reason to be pissed. We are 10 hours away from what should have been one of the most important transfer windows in this clubs history and we are only 80/20 to bringing in a signing which at this late stage I would suggest is only because we have hit the panic button????? I sincerely hope that by 2300 hrs I am proved wrong but at the moment at least there would appear to be little sign that I am.
Pangloss. In the next transfer window there will be a hosepipe ban…
Frimmy gone to Barnsley on a permanent deal.
Frimmy to Barnsley – Afobe to Wednesday.
On Saturday they play each other – derby match.
Can’t believe Afobe’s only 20. He must have started going out on loan when he was 4.
Peter@439 – thanks – good to know I’m not the only weirdo in this bar.
Steve T. There is always a reason to be pissed off. But it’s still a choice.
Dan Boateng to Hibs on loan.
Rebus will be pleased.
DK. You will read from the above that I have hopefully weighed up all of the facts and made an informed decision. It’s not like we have never travelled down this path, is it???
Heh Trev.
@LanaDawood: Swedish Expressen reports that Kim Källström is now an Arsenal player.
My English expression reads WTF 🙂
Of course – it’s Källström – two umlauts! Value for money.
I suppose the test of the window, and our business in it, is whether anyone has yet moved who plays in a position that we need, for a price we can afford. And who would be an improvement on what we already have.
All very obvious stuff, but at the moment the answer is probably no.
Despite our new found wealth there is no point doing a Tottnum and buying for the sake of it, only to have to sell players on at a big loss. The Spuds have now sold or loaned “wonderkid” Lewis Holtby and Capoue, who they only bought in August.
We have a youth system for a reason and despite the mounting injuries we do have Gnabry and The Ox waiting for a chance.
A risk for sure, and some will clearly not want to take it. AW himself has apparently said today that he wants to bring in “at least” one or two more. It does smack a little bit of panic at this stage but maybe the ones he really wants are just not available.
At least we know, after the acquisition of Ozil in the summer, that if ‘it’ can be done it will be done.
We could be Spuds right now, trying to offload £110 million of rubbish bought six months ago.
Interesting interview with Holtby, basically he was desperate to return to the bundersliga but Tottenham flat out refused it – Wonder if his destination would have been Schalke which would have allowed Draxler to leave !
dkgooner. – “Of course – it’s Källström ”
Whoooooooo ? Oops, sorry. 😉
Chippy – i would guess you’re spot on.
All very valid points Trev. I take it that if we are relying on our youth system from now on that they will be halving the season ticket prices????? Oh well.
I fully accept the value for money argument but what is value for money? If we had signed players that had contributed to us winning the title then unless they were at bonkers rates then is that value for money? Especially if it is within our budget???
One final point, what does our scouting network actually do if we have not identified one single player???
Wise words from Trev.
I personally expected nothing to be done during this window. The 40plus mill for the Drax kid just never seemed to make much sense to me. But the story took on a life of it’s own, inspite of all parties denying any form of contact, agreement, intrest in buying or selling, it just kept on chugging on. Delegations were sent, clauses were met, he was literaly our player….
Until he wasn’t.
Trev
I don’t think Arsenal fans want Arsene to go on a spending spree that though in itself scares the living shit out of me and to be honest we would have never gone about our business the way LWC’s have.
Arsene knows where the weak points are he knows his team better than anyone else.
What we want to see is those weak points addressed midfield and a striker that is all I think that is required. It’s very true there are no great players available but the transfer window has been open since the beginning of the month and suddenly we are active on the last fe days. I know we like a bargain too but come on I thought our scouting folks need to try harder.
438 Uply
Just took my mind off the unremitting boredom that is TDD. Kim Basinger in an Arsenal shirt…and little else.
Wise words indeed Trev…!
Chippy @433
I wasn’t trying to rate or even sell him to anybody. Just some info that came right to my mind.
We may would have got a pretty good player in him if we bought him 10 years ago.
Today? I don’t know and rather tend to think “meehh”.
Delighted Frimpong has gone. A catchphrase in search of a career. Good luck to him, just glad he’s not wasting his and our time any more.
Chippy @455
Very good point.
There was talk of Holtby being a replacement for Draxler. I believe our intentions were to see if we could negotiate a deal with Schalke and not buyout his contract, which in fact kicks in this summer. Being crocked he would not have been snatched up by anybody for over his fee, which is what Schalke indicated at the start of the window. Negotiation meant two different things to each club. In conclusion not a good deal. Just buyout his contract on the 1st July and he is ours subject to fitness.
Afterall, would he not have failed our medical?
Just think the £40 + 1 clause but without the rudeness from the selling club.
Just saying.
As underwhelming as Kallstrom loan signing might be, as a stop gap measure even if enjoys the kind of moderate success in limited opportunities that say Benayoun did it would be worth it. One can only hope.
I am sure there is some master plan by Arsene around the defensive midfield position — all pretenders are being cast aside one after another: Song, Coq, Frimmy if he ever was one — because in the next season we will really really need a new one.
The concern of course remains replacing Theo for the rest of the season, in terms of the goal scoring as well as the extra dimension of fast counter attack avenues. That is why — even if loan — signing of Tello or Pedro sounded like a good idea. Maybe we will still see someone joining in for that position. When Arsene says “not looking for anyone in forward position” he most likely has exactly a striker lined up… again, one can only hope. 🙂
Cynic @ 464: That is a bit harsh. He was promising in the youth set-up and many insiders thought he will make it. Maybe that went to his head. Injuries out on loan didn’t help. Wish him the best. Enough time for him to be able to resurrect his career if he works hard.
@GraemeBailey: Spartak Moscow confirm that Kim Kallstrom can leave and join Arsenal on loan.
I think some perspective is needed.
The most important transfer window in recent history? Has there been a single transfer window in the last three years where those words haven’t graced this bar? They can’t all be the most important ever.
I see it this way; asked on 1 September what I was looking for from the season I said I wanted to see us show signs of progress; finish well clear of fifth (no last day dramas), a big statement signing to demonstrate that we’re out of the woods financially, continue to improve on the pitch.
We’ve done two of the above and we’re well ahead of schedule for the third. Very few in this bar thought we’d challenge for the title when the season kicked off and yet here we are. I think that over-performance should buy a little goodwill.
If we don’t spend today, we’ll spend in the summer. If Arsene doesn’t want to spend £40m on a 20 year old then we should respect that – and I say this as someone who thinks Draxler will go on to be world class.
We have no idea what the strategy was this January, what caused deals to collapse or what the plan is for the summer. Yet we’re FURIOUS on partial information, or because the AST bellend on Twitter keeps banging on about the tens of millions he just knows we have sat waiting to be spent.
Fuck that.
Wenger has performed great this season. The players have performed great. The club have shown signs of a really sound strategy.
Good enough for me, the sucker that I am. Life’s too short to spend it in a state of enraged disappointment.
Roll on the weekend, and thank god football is still played on grass, rather than on Sky Sports News.
COYG
N7 KNOWS.
DF@467, Beat me to it, Two Cruciate Injuries are pretty much game over ask Essien, Shame but that’s football I guess. Thought his Cameo against Liverpool showed so much promise then he got struck down again.
Good luck to the lad.
N7 knows 🙂
Faustus – exactly, if he is going to have same kind of impact Bennygoon had, I will be pleased.
Looks like my faith in the fact that we are close to signing Draxler based on Arsenes body language and various reports appears to be false, only shows how much do I know in regard of transfers – fuck all.
I said it few weeks ago that I am not going to be surprised if we sign no-one in January. Still, few hours to go and maybe some surprise will surface hehe.
N7 @ 469: “Good enough for me, the sucker that I am. Life’s too short to spend it in a state of enraged disappointment.” Except for the sucker part, agree absolutely! 🙂
Arsene has the best intentions, he is thousand times more qualified than all of us put together about player valuation and judging how to strengthen his squad, and I am fine with whatever strategy he takes for strengthening his squad now or later. To us fans some shortcomings in the side seem too obvious, but that is just a combination of passion and paranoia typical of a fan…Arsene and his team need to take distance from it and be more objective and efficient.
The concerted amplification of expectation/fear is indeed a product of the media, which is in turn manipulated by agents. At the end of the day it is a sport (entertainment + aesthetics + sense of community) and I personally find there are many more deserved recipients of my “enraged disappointments” in the world … just my personal perspective.
I agree with a lot of that N7.
I don’t buy into the deals colapsed theory, as I don’t believe that there was a deal of any sorts in the first place. Wenger has stated that the Draxler situation was borne of the press and I tend to believe him.
Chippy @ 467: Yes, shame really. He did show some promise in that ‘Pool match.
Another thing I find a bit strange is how ferociously we often criticize these young players for their immaturities in social media/public life. These are 20 odd year old kids and I think given the somewhat high pressure career they have chosen most of the Arsenal kids behave and speak rather well. Because by the time they turn 16-17 the enjoyment alone doesn’t do it, you need to take it as seriously as a career and make great sacrifices to pursue it. So what he had an inane catchphrase that he was way too fond of.
Prodigies in academics, and music, and art at the age of 20 can really let themselves go occasionally, can experiment with experiences … none of those outlets are open to these kids. I think we do underestimate the hard work and the self-discipline they put themselves through.
H2H. I’m with you on that. If the media has been pumping a particular line and it doesn’t happen, they then have two choices: (a) we were making it all up; (b) the deal collapsed.
Even Sky Bet were allegedly offering 1/8 on the Draxler deal. But you never know with Arsene.
Interesting though that, when asked if Draxler would go somewhere else or stay at Schalke, he replied, “He will stay at Schalke.”
If there hadn’t been anything going on at all, he would have said, “I have no idea.”
Arsene is just saying that he didn’t say it, which he didn’t.
N7 knows
I have no doubts whatsoever that we have been in talks with both Draxler and Shalke. The extent of those talks is a matter of debate.
Steve T@480: Agree with first sentence. Pass on second.
Only five hours of excitement to go. 🙂
Shit – 6 hours.
Lol
@Gibney_A: Lille rejecting a bid for Salomon Kalou from Arsenal. If they’d come in last week, something could have been done. Not on deadline day #LOSC
Please no Solomon “Hasn’t gotta” Kalou.
@StanCollymore: Arsenal.
“Going back to Madrid to try one last time for Morata “.
Please!!!
Anyone but Bendtner!
Is Desmond our new signing?
Arsenal deal for Klose is off the table. Player was keen but #AFC could not reach an agreement with Lazio.
Kallstrom has completed #AFC medical. Loan move from Spartak Moscow should go through before the deadline.
Rumor has it Arsene has been watching a lot of cricket matches in the last few hours with the intention of converting a bowler into a striker. But I don’t expect the signing to bowl me over, or strike me as a great piece of business. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised? Oh, fuggetaboutit. 🙁 while reserving the right to convert that to a 🙂 if things change soon.
Quagliarella or Moratta.
Will Arsene sign the lucky 500th drinker and convert him or her to be Giroud’s partner in strike?
It is no luck, it is all hard work
Quaglia? He might be a decent signing and appears to be 31 years old so should have some oomph left in him. It’s hard work coming up with a modicum of cleverness let alone football knowledge over here, Lurky. 🙂
Still younger that Klose, 8ball 🙂
Hoping for Moratta or Tello. Come on, it cannot end like this, we need a runner up front.
Panic panic panic panic panic.
Looks like we are hitting that panic button really hard??????
😀
Have we got shot of Park yet ????? I can’t see any point in keeping him. I would rather play with 10.
Think we need to sign an astronaut as he has to get from whichever cou try he is in at the moment, all the way to London and complete a medical in the next 5 1/4 hours.
Mind you an astronaut won’t need a medical.
Is it even possible to fail an Arsenal medical ?
Dunno – ask Sanogo. 😉
The last few windows, Mesut Ozil notwithstanding shows that we need a red hot negotiator – where is Herbert Chapman when you need him?
Ping.
JKW – BMBD
Bang !!!
Damn ! Played LG. 😉
Well in Lonestar
and LWCMBD too.
Congrats on a fully qualifying tabs position too Trev.
Cheers, bath. 😉
Hope you enjoyed the ” bath taps in ” yesterday. 😉
Trev. I reckon that even in your current condition you would pass the medical. And, you are more likely to be back playing before both Diaby and Sanogo.
I did indeed Trev. You didn’t need to faucet.
Lille have knocked back a loan bid for Kalou.
We are really K-obssessed aren’t we? (and barrel scraping).
Cheers Trev and Bath. Well TaBS’d, Trev.
8ball – Sign me up. I’m ready. I’m ready to serve for the boys. (We’d be better served to sign Baby Lady Gooner.)
Bet of luck to Frimmers, I hope he puts his head down and gets back to work.
JKW – BMBD
We apparently made an unsuccessful loan bid to sign Solomon Kalou today!
I thought we only needed to have the paperwork of intent to sign a player before the deadline with deal conditional on a medical that can take place later. Not that it is likely to make a difference…
Deadline day is so much prettier when snow is falling. 🙂
Well in Lonestar for the 500 and Trev for the TaBs glory position
( doesn’t bear thinking about what the Wolfie glory position might be;-)
Trev 505… getting another plug in 😉
Bath / Goonertown…we are truly pushing the panic button if we did indeed approach Lille over Solomon Kalou! That’s at least 1 bulletin we have dodged.
Trev, I think Arteta never had a medical due to the on/off/on timing late on deadline day.
I heard that Fat Sam is sending his new signings to a weeks course at London Transport so they can learn how to park the bus 😉
I think the lack of activity in this window probably underlines the fact that it was Wenger and not the Board who restricted our spending in the last few years. Contrast that with Harry Redknapp who has run several of his clubs into dire financial straits or almost any other manager.
While I think he is wrong not to invest in a striker and our last minute trolley dash is a misguided tactic I respect his wish not to waste the club’s money or at least pay what he considers unrealistic valuations. We would probably all like a more adventurous manager and recent events possibly confirm something I heard at the AST reception at Christmas that Ozil’s signing was effectively masterminded by Gazidis to head off fan resistance. That’s not to say Wenger didn’t rate him,he obviously did but he couldn’t bring himself to pay that much for a player -as our previous transfer activity indicates.
What I don’t understand is that even with Ramsey, Wilshere and Diaby struggling and Flamini suspended we still have more midfield options than we have striking ones!
Just thought I’d throw out something while we all wait for the big signings. I think the first of the FFP reviews is scheduled to come out in April. I’m wondering if Wenger is assuming that a number of teams (i.e. most teams in Spain and Italy) will be unable to comply with FFP and we will see a summer of fire sales (I think I might have even read this somewhere). Wenger has said you have to find teams that need money to make good deals, and maybe he is saving his pennies for the summer.
Any opinions?
Klose?
TTG, in fact, number wise we are covered in the striker department. We have 5 senior strikers Giroud, Bendtner, Poldi, Park and Sanogo.
Problem is that with the exception of Giroud, neither of them has the required level to lead the attacking line by himself on a highest level.
BBC Sport’s David Ornstein
“Kallstrom medical and terms all sorted at Arsenal – on loan to end of season. Deal being processed as we speak, confirmation to follow.”
We could not pull off a deal for Solomon Kalou????? If that is true then we really have plummeted to new depths. I so hope that isn’t true.
You can hear it now. 55,000 Gooners on Sunday rise in unison to sing…
You sold Bale,
We signed Kimmy Kallstrom, Kimmy kallstrom, Kimmy Kallstrom…
It just rolls off the tongue.
Kallstrom????? can we have a storm now and take me away, he cant run, he cant pass, he is not even on the bench for Spartak Moscow and now we will have him turn our saviour????? God no please no, this was our season, dont ruin it, Boss dont ruin it please, i beg you
Vinay – what would you say about Flamini deal before he turned out pretty well?
I will save my judgement about Kallstrom until I see him play in our shirt. Boss clearly sees him as other option to use as difficult fixtures mount. He is not supposed to be our saviour, just another option.
If we manage to sign a backup striker to OG before the window closes I will be pretty ok with our activity. Draxler would have been an amazing signing yes, but not for stupid amount of money.
Eandy knows.
We are in second place only one point behind Shitty. There is a good chance that we will back in first place by the end of Monday with us playing CP and Shitty playing the Blue Russians. Both teams have tough schedules except Shitty has to play Arsenal at the Emirates.
We have a few players out with injuries but we’ve gotten other players back. We will rally and find a way to win matches with the players we got because we are The Arsenal.
COYG!
Eandy knows.
Steve T, there is no panic, ffs. If we were panicky we sure as heck wouldn’t be going for Kim Kallstrom. We’d be splashing big cash on a bigger-name signing instead of “dancing with who brung us.”
Look, Arsene is being Arsene, and Arsenal is being Arsenal. Rather than pay stupid money for a young unproven player, he’s going to add a little depth in midfield (in the absence of Flamini, Ramsey) and trust the team that got him here. In case you’d forgotten, that team is PRETTY DAMN GOOD.
Sure we’d have loved to see Draxler, but I completely understand the boss’ reticence to spend that much money on a 20 year old. Would’ve been the second-biggest signing in premier league history I believe.
And the window’s still not closed. We could still bring in a little back up for Giroud. Though anyone expecting an Ozil-type signing will be disappointed.
A reading of the headlines at Arseblog News confirms it. Arsene says we are 80% likely to make a signing but we are not likely to make a signing.
How does that work exactly?
Källström – the diacritic/diaeresis/umlaut is important for the pronunciation.
Over to you Lars.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/72686000/jpg/_72686390_6c996756-3d5f-4337-9ae7-62fc439fb52e.jpg
Apparently Kallstrom can’t do any better than the first free kick into the top corner against Holland. Not saying such a thing can be done, mind you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ESE_N10zIc
Both highlight reels I watched put it first, anyways.
KK signing apparently on .con.
Apparently the AFC website doesn’t even have the respect for its players to spell their names correctly.
foreign innit, dk! lots of squiggles ‘n dots.
Kalou? Come on. There are two things you know will happen twice every year – adjusting the clocks and Solomon Kalou being rumoured as an Arsenal signing. And only adjusting the clocks ever actually happen.
Källström is pretty obviously only brought in as a short-term emergency backup. And as such I think we could have done worse. He’s experienced (he has a respectable number of CL games and played for Lyon when they beat Real home and away the other year) and will be well up for this. He won’t play many games, he won’t cost us any significant money and has no bearing on getting in a striker or not.
I will admit to not knowing much about Kallstrom. However I thought I remember him as more of an attacking midfielder from his UCL days at Lyon. Hopefully he’s done an Arteta and become proficient as a holder in his later years.
Lars knows @533. Shrewd bit of business…..probably.
I’ll take Lars opinion as gold here. Afterall he tweets in Swedish. 🙂
Definitely nice to get experienced cover otherwise Gideon is getting thrown in the deep water with no life preserver.
Kallstrom interview on Player if anyone is interested
Arsegonian
If AW gets him to perform the way he did 6-8 years ago we got us a proper backup in midfield. Like said before, he would not have been my first choice, but he, the boss knows 😉
Agreed … AKB
I also read he hasn’t played a league match in 80+ days. Hey at least he’s fresh
I’m afraid he won’t be up to the fitness level the first 2 weeks and some Swedish commentators doubt that he has the pace for the PL.
Wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t even play a game.
‘holic’s headline is looking prophetic.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Datsyuk@ 539: As Lurky and I were discussing earlier, even a Benayoun-esque impact of nicely fitting in and contributing whenever needed would serve us well. Can cover for Arteta/Flamini, can come in from the bench to provide solidity when we are protecting a lead, maybe can even score a few goals from free-kicks. A good enough stop-gap for the midfield.
ecg @ 514: Here goes a rather dark-tinted view of the FFP: it might be a failure to a great extent. Two of the biggest culprits of excessive spending that they don’t earn are untouchables, nothing will happen to them. Even if Spanish economy goes down the drain there will always be banks propping them up. The nouveau riche would cook books. We are in the age of virtual and virtualized economy. Corporations do it, Banks do it…football clubs with deep pocket will hire experts to do it for them. Then they will if necessary bribe the auditors. A few mid-level clubs here and there trying to spend their way up would be stopped in their tracks and would be displayed as the great success of the FFP. There it will end.
There is a parallel shadowy economy now built around the player transfers, which benefits many well-connected people, which is used as an outlet of bringing questionable money into the market, and forgive me if I don’t have any faith in sudden turns to clarity and transparency of these practices.
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