Pep Talk To Inspire Gunners Fight?
Oct 19th, 2015 by 'holic
It’s all about me, me, me. No, that’s inaccurate. It’s all about us, us, us. A generation or two of Gooners who have watched us lift every trophy the game has to offer English club teams bar the holy grail that is big ears. So when we hear suggestions that it might be better if we go out of this season’s Champions League and concentrate on the Premier League challenge we scratch our heads, or stamp our feet and scream “NO!”. We want the full set before four darkly clad ageless jockeys come to spirit us off to whatever happens next.
Bayern Munich are in town and will be our opponents home and away in our next two European matches. We have met them four times home and away in recent years and our record reads the same in London and in Munich. Won 1, Drawn 1, Lost 2. Ironically that is also our record in our last four home matches in the Champions League. Therefore in some quarters there is an understandable air of pessimism about the upcoming matches, particularly in the light of our two defeats against the supposed lesser lights of the group.
It is time for Arsenal to put in the sort of performance that has yielded eleven goals and nine points in the last three Premier League fixtures, not the inability to turn possession into goals and points against Olympiakos and Dynamo Zagreb. A point also voiced by Arsene Wenger ahead of the match.
“Maybe subconsciously we thought ‘anyway we will win these’. Now to correct that we need a great performance. What we want to do is play up to our level. That will be needed because we play against a big team.”
We are boosted by the return of Gabriel, but he is the only addition to the squad that was on duty at Watford on Saturday evening. There must be a temptation to start the Brazilian ahead of Per Mertesacker, but the skipper’s familiarity with the visitors may be regarded as an asset. Other than that it is unlikely that we will see any other changes from Saturday’s starting line-up. Olivier Giroud has a strong case for a recall, but Theo Walcott’s performance against Manchester United in our last big home match has surely earned him the chance to prove that was not a one-off.
Bayern arrive with a one hundred percent record domestically and in Europe. Perhaps that makes them due a defeat, or two! To insert a smattering of perspective at this point, against the two sides who have already beaten us Bayern scored eight goals without response. Despite this Pep Guardiola has been making the case for not dismissing the challenge of Arsenal lightly.
“They have an advantage because they have to win. When that happens with these kind of players, and the history of this club, they are going to make the best performance possible. I don’t expect anything other than a fight for the 90 minutes. I can imagine the mentality of my team. We would be an animal, because it is our last chance. You give everything and that will happen with Arsenal so you have to be prepared.”
We don’t expect anything other than that either Pep, but what we expect and what we get in Europe these days can be very different things. The ‘holic pound, You won’t be surprised to read, is based on the belief we will see the Arsenal respond positively. It could be surrendered very quickly, but I am drawn to that old European favourite, one-nil to the Arsenal. There is a reason you can get up to 16/1 against that scoreline. Indeed the bookies have Arsenal rank outsiders at 3/1. At home, that is almost unbelievable, but sadly a reflection of how we are viewed in the Champions League right now.
It’s time to start changing those perceptions. Nobody believes for a moment that it will be easy, but it is most certainly possible. Let’s not tamely surrender a shot at big ears, for our sake. We are not in a position where we can turn our backs on a major trophy in the misplaced belief it would guarantee another. That way lies more bitterness and rancour.
200 Responses to “Pep Talk To Inspire Gunners Fight?”
Forgot to mention, I will be at the match so a report isn’t likely until Wednesday evening.
Cheers all. 🙂
I’m guessing this is the real first then????
Jockeys!?!?!?***¥¥¥¥¥¥!!! 😀
Cheers H! Hope you have a blast tomorrow, and see you on Saturday? Hopefully.
Or put it another way – the visitors familiarity with Mertesacker could be regarded as an asset….
Gabriel and Kos please…..
Holic is right, give it everything we’ve got. It’s in our DNA 🙂
Looking forward to seeing Arsene and Pep shake hands, too.
A real sense of occasion for me! ♥
Nice one, Guvna.
Start our best 11 please.
100% effort. No errors.
Go win, Arsenal.
BMMBD
Horsemen of the apocalypse, bt8. 😉
Yes, Steve. Real first!
It’ll be great to see you on Saturday, Esso. 🙂
Oh ye of little faith, Dr z!
Shake hands they will, abb. Mutual respect between those two. 🙂
Agreed bath. See you tomorrow. 🙂
Anyone aware of a beef between Alexis and Pep? Was alluded to on Twitter but no explanation. If true, might play to our advantage. 😉
Horsemen of the Apocalypse always make me think of this. Sadly the actual video is blocked by Channel Four, the massive Khants. It’s 99.9% of the fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPoreDpqlik
Can we summon the spirit of our win over Barca at the Ems a few seasons ago. ?
That truly was an epic electrifying night.
We were rank outsiders then as well.
Bayern are in a one horse race in the Bundesliga,a lot of soft easy wins.
Not battle hardened like us,even this early in the season.
I venture they haven’t been attacked the way we took it to Utd.
Hit them hard any early,take our chances,and a famous victory could be ours.
What is that sodding row, Cynic? 😉
Need an haircut and a good wash, the lot of ’em.!
I am channelling my inner grandad. 🙂
We would not be Arsenal if we concentrated on another comp while playing at home against the kind of quality we aspire to. No, make that the kind of quality we are the equal of.
And nothing wrong with that preposition position, Trev. 😉 That you shouldn’t end a sentence with one was just one of the many prescriptive shibboleths we owe to the 18th-century English bishop Robert Lowth who based his English rules on Latin, a language which doesn’t have prepostions and with which English has precious little else in common apart from word roots.
For those interested in the English language, as well as those who aren’t but enjoy interesting facts written with engaging style, I recommend Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue, if only for the chapters on pronunciation and spelling which may include a deal of comfort for many. While principally known as a travel writer Bryson makes everything he writes about a joy to read, as those who know his A Short History of Nearly Everything will surely agree.
Oskar
1-1 draw in a titanic match is my take. Depending on other results that could still be enough. With no Robben there is one less diver but they are an excellent team. But we’ve won at their ground and we are nearly atop the Premier League. Theo will start through the centre and they will seek to use his pace against their big central defenders.
Have a good one Holics
First I’ve heard of a Zagreb player failing a drugs test. No impact on our result, sadly, but if we can’t beat a bunch of stoners we’re doomed. 😉
Your last paragraph says it all, Holic.
Will you be in The Tollie pre-match ? Struggling with a cold and a bit tight for time but I’ll try for a medicinal dram if it all works out. I’ll spare you if the cold gets any worse.
I’ll go for a 2-1 win. Clean sheet will be difficult against that Peski Lewandowski – if we start like we did against Man Utd though ……
Play our best team one match at a time. I’m with the venerable Dr Z that’s Kos & Gab at CB. We are due a big scalp….go do it boys.
BMMBD
Sadly not Trev, but if you fancy a glass of wine on Stroud Green Road before the route march… ?
Uply cruising? Take it easy, old friend! 🙂
Definitely won’t have time for that, Holic – next time hopefully.
Have a good one tomorrow.
You too sir.
Totally with the “NO” in the preview. We’ll go all out to win this game and rightly so. As Clive said it should be electric.
3-0 for the Arsenal, Bayern won’t know what hit them and the diver is not there to get them a goal 😉
Morning all.
I guess our performance tonight will depend on which Arsenal team shows up? The Jekyll and Hyde comparison a week or so ago still tends to determine our performance. Hopefully more recent results would suggest that a strong performance is on the cards.
I do agree with others in the previous drinks about the possibility of not making the top 2. If we do not get a result and won’t qualify then the Europa is not for us. I would rather play a team made up of holics than win the lesser games and get third.
H, BTM and Bath. Apologies that I can’t join you. It would have been a fine start to the evening.
Enjoy.
COYG.
Enjoy, those lucky enough to be going. I reckon you’re in for a cracking evening of football.
Hello All. Cheers for the last couple of posts H. The ‘earned the right to play’ line was spot on in the last one.
I’m going to be at the game tonight and I am certainly hoping that we throw everything at them and come away with a famous win. The result at their place a couple of seasons ago gave us the belief to keep grinding out the wins we needed in the league. IF we could beat them again then I reckon it would do us the power of good mentally. Plus I’d have a fun night!
H and the rest- where are you going to be? Is it somewhere that admits dinosaurs? I might just swing by…
Also, on the weekend, I won a bet for a second Arsenal game in a row. A small stake admittedly but 25s on Ramsey to score anytime in a 3-0 Arsenal win is not to be sniffed at.
Olivier Giroud has a strong case for a recall, but Theo Walcott’s performance against Manchester United in our last big home match has surely earned him the chance to prove that was not a one-off.
Unfortunately that may be the way the manager is thinking too. A goal five minutes after coming doesn’t erase over a year of some pretty abject performances (some good ones too, but mainly poor ones) and if we’re ever going to turn Walcott into a proper world class striker, he has to keep playing. His strike record is excellent after all, but sadly it has seemed to be the case with him in the past that one indifferent display is enough excuse to bench him.
He’d be my first choice for the rest of the season, simply because he is the best striker we have, he scores goals, he’s a worry to the opposition in a way Giroud isn’t (ask yourself who you’d rather be up against if you were playing) and I think we generally play better with him in the side. More fluid, more pace usually, and that’s when we click.
But I think he’ll pick Giroud.
Thinking Giroud has a case for a recall I mean.
Five minutes after coming? FFS… wake up before typing…
H…Stroud Green Road ’twas where I was brung up – Red Wine eh, times have changed. The only red liquid in those days was blood 😉
No live sports on my tub but there is SSN, so will get some highlights eventually. Drinks package good value at £10 per day but only draft beers are Boddingtons or Stella. So it’s cans or house spirits / wine – will give it a good go – hopefully like the boys tonight.
GSD congrats on the win – £2.50 won’t buy you much nowadays 😉
Have a good time to all those going.
BMMBD
What a game it promises to be. Arguably the best team in the world versus us, The Arsenal. Cannot wait and cannot help but be worried as well.
It is tough to expect in a game like this. If they play well and we do as well, should be a draw or a bayern win for they are the better team overall. More proven in the UCL for sure. Yet football games are not won or lost just based on stats and names, it is won on the pitch and that should give us hope.
The other angle to this is if we lose today then is it a so called blessing in disguise? Will going away from UCL give us a clear run in the league? I for one do not think so, champions league if the biggest club tournament in the world and we need to be playing in it as much as we can than wish we go out. We should play to win tonight, nothing less.
Per has his strengths but i believe his best days are over. Gabriel and Kos please from now on, we need those 2 to jell and play together and tonight is the right game to go through the grind. It cannot get tougher than Costa/Lewandowski/Mueller. Only the trio at barca are better, slightly.
End of the day i just hope and pray we win, winning this gives the right statement that Arsenal can still cut it at the top and have it in them to beat the best. So Alexis get those scoring boots on, Mesut you will be marked but you need to deliver and theo run behind their cb’s they do not like it.Come on Arsenallllllllllllllllllllll.
An old fashioned 1-0 will do very nicely thank you sir, Looking forward to a great night out and feeling confident.
Uply- Heh!
Neither will the £12.50 I actually won. Still, it should get me to the game and back tonight. By which time my next bet will, of course, have sailed home…
@ Vinay
I hope we win the match. But if we lose, and result from the other match don’t go our way am not going to go crazy. I just feel this is our greatest shot of winning the PL for a while now. Even if we qualify as second its still a long shot winning the CL. We have a better shot at winning the league than the CL. I want us to play our ass out tonight, don’t get me wrong but if we lose i just don’t want the fans to go all crazy and start acting like its the end of the world.
Sadly SAG, there are a significant number of excessively vocal fans who will certainly act as if it’s the end of the world at any opportunity.
Fortunately they don’t visit the bar very often.
GSD, you have mail! 🙂
Hear, hear, ‘Holic. If we enter the competition, we should try to win it until we can’t, and especially the CL, the missing trophy. We want — and need — the dazzling Arsenal with the core of steel to turn up against Bayern in both games. If it does, I suspect it will score more than one goal at the Ems followed by a backs-to-the wall one-nil win in Munich.
Whatever the outcome, these are the matches you want — going toe to toe with the best teams on the planet. Hope all those lucky enough to be there have a cracking evening, and, even more so, a victorious one.
Otd@14. Before Bill Bryson was Bill Bryson, so to speak, he was a sub-editor on the business pages of the Times newspaper in London so he should know the language.
And while we are speaking of language, the prohibition on stranding a preposition predates Lowth, a Johnny-come-lately 18th century Latinist. John Dryden criticised Ben Jonson for the practice in 1672. In fact, Lowth referred to it as ‘Dryden’s rule’. You are right to call it a shibboleth. Fowler called it a fetish. Put the preposition where it sounds natural in speech. Otherwise you end up with contorted sentences of the ‘up with which I will not put’ type.
Bathgoner- I hear you. That’s the world we live in now.
bathgooner.. crazy computer
These are the games you want to win but also say it is not calamitous if we dont. I want us to win no doubt about it, yet if someone tells me you will win the next 4 premier league games but will lose tonight, i would take it. Oh this dilemma, why cant we win all????
Oskar and Ned. Don’t want to digress too far from football into the murky depths of etymology and classical languages, but I loved your posts. Bryson’s book on the origins of the English language was an absolute cracker, there’s also a work by Melvyn Bragg on this which I haven’t read yet but comes highly recommended by my mother (a fellow wordsmith).
In it he deconstructs Churchill’s ‘Fight them on the beaches’ speech, pointing out (to corroborate OTD’s assertion) that it only contained one Latin root word (surrender), and the rest were deliberately Anglo Saxon. Apparently this speaks to Brits on a level which elicits a more emotional response. Who knew!
One point of information if I may briefly raise the spectre of pedantry. Latin does have prepositions, e.g. ‘ad’ meaning to, towards and ‘de’ meaning down from, about – to name 2.
Meanwhile, to use a well known anglicism; get f*@÷d Pep, we will fight your namby pamby pass-and-dive style on the terraces. 2-0 please lads.
Mutilated centipede or perturbed puma?
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/34128978
SAG @33. Playing our ass out. A laxative could help with that, surely. 😉
Just repeat what the young guns did this afternoon and all’s good 🙂
bt8… I know lol!!
If a pre-apocalyptic pessimistic prediction could prevent the ride of the four horsemen i would take a healthy punt on Bayern now maestro. 😀
Nice one Guv’!
3 – 1 (Feo x2 & Alexis)
Up the Arse! COYBG!
Not to disrespect other tournaments, CL is IT for me. Nothing beats the excitement of the CL anthem before kick off in the final, experienced that in Paris ’06. We are well due another appearance, this team has the
Porco Rosso@40: No sure this is appropriate for your mother, but there is a joke about stranded prepositions. (Warning: grammarians’ humour):
A snobbish English teacher was sitting in an Atlanta airport coffee shop waiting for her flight back to Connecticut, when a friendly Southern belle sat down next to her.
‘Where y’all goin’ to?’ asked the Southern belle.
Turning her nose in the air, the snob replied ‘I don’t answer people who end their sentences with prepositions’.
The Southern belle thought a moment, and tried again. ‘Where y’all goin’ to, bitch?’
Sorry about that.
……his team has the quality to compete and should therefore give it their all. Pity we don’t have another “striker” but Theo and OG otherwise I would start both with Theo on the right. It gives us the surprise factor and best chance of getting a goal or 2. After that we call on Rambo off the bench to close shop. He has the biggest engine in the team to contribute at either end.
Good luck Arsenal and Arsene, make us proud.
Sorry about that.
……this team has the quality to compete and should therefore give it their all. Pity we don’t have another “striker” but Theo and OG, otherwise I would start both with Theo on the right. It gives us the surprise factor and best chance of getting a goal or 2. After that we call on Rambo off the bench to close shop. He has the biggest engine in the team to contribute at either end.
Good luck Arsenal and Arsene, make us proud.
We are not betting folk at Castle Ned, but we would hazard that 2-1 at 13s looks a better bet than 1-0 at the same price. Odds of 32-1 are being offered on Dapper Dan’s 3-0, which would be a very tasty outcome all-round.
Team.
Cech; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Cazorla, Coquelin, Ramsey, Özil, Alexis; Walcott
Natalie Wood and Pep Wouldn’t.
Let’s ‘ave it!
afternoon (shortly) everyone.
if aaron has on his shooting boots, let’s see another one or two of those lovely alexis passes over the top to volley home…
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
Have arrived at the ground to learn the referee is Cuneyt Cakir! The referees a …..?
macey is our backup keeper? stay well, mr. cech.
COME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNN!
Let’s do this, c’mon boys!
great break, good save by neuer.
great save cech…
Heart attack!!
We’re playing too deep…!
The gran says BM are basically running riot. Arsenal getting demolished in all but the score line.
How’s it look really?
they look like us against a team that’s ceding possession… we’re definitely trying to hit them on the break, so we’re giving them the ball.
theo just missed on a beautiful pass and move with ozil, and we’ve had a couple decent chances. but they’ve definitely been putting the screws to us, and if cech doesn’t make three good or better saves, we’d be done.
alexis just skied a half-volley into row z, one that should have been put on frame, from a corner.
they also keep taking the ball from us when we’re trying to hold it up, in part because we’re not moving as well as we should be from defense to attack.
Walcott and Alexis missed their chance… albeit under pressure!
COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are u kidding me
and, but for a brilliant neuer save, we’d be up 1-0.
Neuer save of the season.. that’s it… he’s used up all his luck!
COME ON !!!!
we’re finally beginning to flow, a bit. too many offsides, though.
Only a matter of time before we score now…
theo could have put that six inches wider, and it would have gone in.
god-damn great ball from santi to theo, theo couldn’t convert. munich having to take a little more care than they’ve been taking…if we can keep up our energies into the second half, munich might be ripe for the picking.
Walcott needs to be able to beat a player one on one ..cause his runs a fantastic!
Then he’ll get goals!
COME ON!!
well, that was a pretty exciting half. they had the better of the chances, but we didn’t do too shabbily, neuer had to make the better save…
Great first half. It is great we have a great keeper.
amen, bt…
scruz wasn’t that nacho sending in that ball?
i was talking about the ball from just inside the defensive half, out to the left top of the box, that theo ran into traffic. should have been more clear… i do believe the header was supplied by nacho.
Nomad World pub in minneapolis. A place to be even if it is a Spurs bar. I have never seen one here and the bartender supports Man Citibank. I mean, city. 🙂
Space opening up if we can keep our shape this could be a very interesting half. Bayern supporters are correct. Football is not worth this much. Except, when it is. 😉
Send them back to deutschland unhappy?
Sorry but Gunners playing Hackney Marshes football. Lots of ball watching then passing with no target in mind. Getting a little bit better as half ends. Needs an adult to get m.ore unity in midfield
I remember the ball you mean scruz. A beauty.
i’m expecting a tight first twenty minutes, then hell’s going to break loose. let’s hope it’s going to send them home unhappy…
aaron has to do better in possession.
shit, now aaron is hurt. looks like a hammy. ox on?
NO!!!!!!!!!
Ramsey is out!
ok, alox, time to show what you can do. be sure not to forget about your defensive duties…
Crocked!!
ooooh, coq just missed that, top right corner.
Wake up Arsenal their passing is putting out lads to sleep ?
bayern playing safe?
time for OG?
Too weak Theo
hey, arthur! a couple of shots of wisniowka on the bar for your troubles 🙂
praise god for cech. and kozzer.
yesssssssssssOOOOOGOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Oh Giroud u beauty
now bayern will bring the pressure. way to go, olivier. man, just wow…
Giroud!
😀
Get in there
Hand me Giroud!
Love it.
Oh come on. Cheesy goal. Ollie not even lookingr at ball. But it counts despite accidental handball.
jesus, pierre, you’d think you want us to lose.
petr cech, man of the match. without question.
COME ON, GUNNERS… WIN THIS!
fuck me how’d we miss that? what just happened? goal line tech for ozil!!!
WE DID IT!!!
Love the counter
Blimey.. Neuer tried to pull off that world cup trick again!!!! Not this time!
Bellerin Brilliant!
Ozil GOOOOOAAAALLLL!
Let’s do this again in Munich!!!!!!!!
😀
UP THE ARSE!!
sorry about the holic pound, but DAMN, what a game. they owned the ball, and we won. after so many times we’ve gone the other way with that, and lost, we definitely deserve to have won that.
let’s do it again the next three group games, the winning, anyways.
What can I say Belerin has just outclassed Gibbs 10,000 times
Fuckin yeeeaahh!!!
What. A. Fucking. Performance.
COYG
Naaaa naanna Nanana Belerin
Get the Fuckerty Fuck in – Stick that in the Rein and jump in it, Take a bow Mr Can’t Do Tactics and all 14 that Can’t defend for Shit – Makeit 12/13 Wins now hey Bayern and billy big bollock Journos like Howard can crawl back under his stone for a week or two.
Up The Arse 🙂
Holy crap!!
lol, chippy. damn straight.
Woawoawoawoa!!!!!!!
Yeah!!!!! What a player Bellerin is. Hats off to the team for showing how good they can be. If only they had got been as defensively as disciplined and savvy against OlympIacos/Zagreb we would have almost qualified for the next round.
No goal line tech.
First time I’ve seen the official behind the post make a right crucial call.
We were brilliant all around, Walcott should start and Giroud come on as a sub… it seems to work for us of late!
The Treble is still on then!
😀
What a team performance, what a game! Breathless on the couch
Waaay out of body experience….incredible how we won that game. The makings of a super-sub in giroud,eh?? If we perform the same in Munich we back in it…
Yesssssss
Little bit reminiscent of the 2-1 against Barca, no? Resolute defense, tactically organized and late counters.
But we defended much better compared to that match, Lewandowski-Muller almost never getting into the dangerous territories. Monreal-Bellerin are one of the best fullback pairings. Keeping this Bayern team scoreless is no mean achievement. Some superb saves by Cech, but Neuer’s against Theo would remain in memory for long.
Santi-to-Giroud combination in free-kicks has given us some important goals. This probably is the least attractive of the lot, but may turn out to be the most crucial. 🙂
Intelligent, committed, clever football by us.
Fantastic win. On the boards but still a ton of work to do. It could all come down to having to win away at Olympiakos in the last game of the group to squeeze through on goal difference.
It’s our best back five in what…a decade? It all starts with that….
What a game!
WE ARE THE ARSENAL
HEar Hear! @CBA!!!
😀
We are ARSENAL
NBN @ 126: If we can manage to win against Bayern away and then Zagreb at home, and Zagreb can manage a draw against Olympiacos on the road, a draw could be enough in the final match.
The only negative from this is Ramsey’s injury,any news on it? Sure hope he can shake it off fast…how long hammy take…3weeks..no?
WE ARE THE BEST
Tim @ 127: Our best back six — including both Cech and Coquelin — in a decade. Bellerin’s progress in one short year has been tremendous.
Game back on, but unfortunate that Greeks picked up 3 points away.
Put in a good performance at Munich, and even if lose, make sure you don’t lose by a lot. Also, Bayern will have to put up a big effort vs. Olympiakos at home.
This could come down to GD. Put up a cricket score at the Emirates against Zagreb, then win in Piraeus, and should go through.
going to be buzzing about this one for the rest of the week, easy.
Mourinho compares ref Damir Skomina to Craig Joubert. “One mistake cost Scotland at the rugby. Here one mistake cost Chelsea.”
Message to the moaning one : https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRygfpfXAAE0ha3.jpg
😀
Any Holics still with reservations about our summer purchase of the keeper with the funny headgear. ??
Pat Jennings incarnate.
Blast my eyes. I had to go out and missed the game *angst*
And I hate watching recordings as when the opposition have the ball the temptation to hit the 30 second advance is impossible to resist, so end up missing half the game anyway.
Just watched the game in about 55 minutes. No fun but had to be done.
What a result.
By the way, the most grateful player on the pitch has to be the Ox. If on Ozil’s goal, the goal line official did what all of those officials typically do — that is, nothing — you could not overlook that truly awful miss on the follow up.
pat jennings clive?
pat jennings??
are yer stirring wi sppons
as wooden as great pats hair?
cheeky rambler!
Excellent comparison Clive. Pat the Cat reborn in Petr the Panther.
Just 27% possession? At home? How AW’s tactics have changed.
One in the eye for the doomsayers wanting us to lose so we don’t finish third. Woebetide Zag and Oly in the second legs, you’re playing for the Uefalaugh spot now, guys.
Oskar
Respect when its due Bellerin the best winger in the EPL……!!!!!!
Ecstatic end of the game. At the beginning I was a bit scared by Bayern’s domination until I realized it was part of the game plan. Guardiola is touted as the master strategist but I find tiki-taka is his systematic choice against his most challenging opponents and kudos goes to Arsene for anticipating it and have us play a solid patient counter-attacking game which the players did very well to stick to. The back 6 in particular was stellar and totally deserved the clean sheet.
Hopefully Rambo won’t be out too long but the timing is probably right for him with his first child due very soon and also for Ox who needs to rebuild his self-belief with some game time. Still we will need some knees to mend themselves sooner than later.
Well said Clive my thoughts exactly.
What a player Cech is and any doubts beforehand must surely be expelled now. There was no rationale to leaving him out previously. And young Bellerin has seriously announced himself on the world stage tonight – real killer instinct to intercept that pass and lay on the assist for Ozil.
Fabulous result and brings us back into the group.
Just in from the game. Got work early so I’ll post something more thought-out tomorrow. For now I’ll just say:
YES! YEESSS! GET IN! GO ON YOU BEAUTIES! GET THE HELL IN THERE! HAVE SOME OF THAT! YEEESSSSSS!
WE ARE THE ARSENAL.
THE ARSENAL.
OOH. OOH. OOH TO BE. OOH TO BE A GOONER!
@Clive: I confess I was not fully sold on Cech, having concerns about his age and his true level with him having played behind a parked bus most of his career. I am now 🙂
eff off oskar
😉
big pat
hatless head an shoulders
above admittedly functional chav
naw
can’t even do that
sorry for
as its called
“trolling”
even obvious silly
on purpose
did you know cba???
i think you’ll find?
this is how you should!
anyhoo
must split some infinitives
” .’til. “the cows come home
😉
howdy oskar
i have know all spellings
🙂
big pat – a star
NBN @51. That is the odds on nearly every possible score bar the one that came in. Oh well. 😉
And for those who maintain that AW does not provide in-match tactical direction, here’s his answer in the post-match press conference on the Giroud goal:
“I saw that our players wanted to play it short and I thought that with Giroud on the pitch, Mertesacker and Koscielny and they were playing quite a high line on the free-kick we had a very good chance to score there. We had to win the game so we had to take a gamble on that.”
Just home. Brilliant night out. Arsene Wenger tactical masterclass. Period.
Agreed – Tactics were spot on tonight.
Dapper Dan. 3-0 would have been on the cards if only Theo had managed to direct his header a wee bit farther to the right. Rum punch is on the bar for you.
Just arrived home, very proud and deeply touched by one of the great nights at this stadium. Up there with the Barca result. Wenger set the side up quite brilliantly. Cech and the whole defence were superb. Have you ever seen Muller and Lewandoski so well contained? Bellerin was against the most impressive winger I have seen this season in Costa- no not that one! Monreal is probably the best left back in the Premier League at present. Koscielny is real quality. The substitution of Theo was well timed and the only sad note was the Ramsey injury. Probably six to eight weeks so he can be home for the birth of the baby.
We are starting to look thin in midfield. Walcott and the Ox will be injured soon so we need Jack back asap .
But it’s a night to enjoy being a Gooner.
Even the curmudgeons on my train home who want Wenger to be sacked and presumably then hung , drawn and quartered were joyous tonight. Let’s enjoy a memorable performance.
Defo no report until tomorrow night. In the meantime an interim update.
A few pints in the Pins. Delicious.
One more in the Worlds End for old times sake. Expensive.
Montepulciano D’Abruzzo, huge prawns, amazing pasta with sausage, faux dinosaur and four real dinosaurs for company (jestin’)
Give my cousins the ball for nearly 80 minutes. Score goal. Wonder how to spend winnings on 1-0 bet. Fish God makes it 2-0.
Pint of Pride at Paddington. Guinness and two whiskies on the train home.
Loves fellow Gooners. G’night yous lot…
Drunk as a….
Evening all.
Well, that was fun. I will admit that I was not brimming with confidence when I got to the ground this evening. I mood did not change when I got to my seat and discovered a white carrier bag. Not only was I meant to felt privileged to own such an item but I was also expected to wave it as a sign of support??? A white carrier bag? Surely we are above that?
I’m sure most have watched the match by now. Cech was immense and demonstrated that leaving him out of the first two games was just one massive error. The difference a world class keeper makes is that the whole side looks more reassured. Many have mentioned various members of the defence but I would like to single out Big Per. He has often been the target for many in the media but I have always felt that we just look far more organised with him in the back four. He rarely gets the credit he deserves but equally as rare are his mistakes.
I felt Bayern at times were more than happy to play for a point. Alonso wanted to run the midfield. A player that we should have pulled out all the stops to sign several years ago.
The fact is that Bayern were very Arsenal like. Loads of possession but despite their wonderful set of forwards I just did not see them scoring. Per and Petr seemed to have it all under control.
Our first seemed to ignite a spark in Bayern however it was more of a damp squib. From then on I always felt that we could get a second.
The Grove rocked tonight. The place was jumping. Unfortunately I left straight at the final whistle to head into work to complete a night shift. The only downside to an otherwise splendid evening. I might raise a glass and watch the highlights at 7am. It would seem rude not to.
Onwards and upwards.
Was it ever in doubt holics? I don’t think so! Very professional performance by the lads and tactically perfect by Arsene! The stuff of contenders! “Cech” for the time being with “Mate” now awaiting after the return rubber!
Earned a nice few quid at 2 – 0 although that cat Neur spoilt the 3-zip windfall! Next time mein Munchens! Next time!
Bt8 @153, cheers mate! Don’t mind if I do! Barkeep! Give that fella a double of my usual! He looks man-enough to keep it down!
Up the Arse all day and all night! COYBG!
Dr F@131: indeed, but that is putting a lot of faith in Zagreb. A point for us in Munich would make things much more comfortable, but I wouldn’t count on it regardless of tonight’s result.
Very sleepy morning for me, ‘holics. So glad I woke up to watch the game.
Pity about your holic pound, ‘olic. But I very much believe you wouldn’t mind it at all.
Anticipating your post match post.
NBN@159: Agreed. The away match at Bayern would be fascinating. Would Arsene repeat his tactics today? I guess counter-attacking is really the only way we can get something at Munich, but would be interesting to see if we will start cautiously or put some early pressure on.
If Rambo is not fit by then playing Giroud down the middle as an outlet against what would likely be more relentless attack could work in our favor, him bringing Alexis and Theo quickly into counter attack.
Anyway, one of the best European performances at Emirates. The defensive quality and discipline to keep Muller-Lewandowski so quiet for majority of the game cannot be praised high enough.
Sad for Rambo but an opportunity, perhaps, to play Theo on the wing with OG at CF. Who knows, we may find the Rambo cloud has a red and white lining.
But Ox on the wing wouldn’t be the worst. Or even Belle with Deb at RB. How’s that for outside the box?
Oskar
Some useless stats :-
We have stopped Bayern from scoring, despite them having on average 3 goals per match for their last 12 matches.
Giroud has had his last four goals all after coming on from the bench.
The last time Bayern failed to score in CL group stages was in 2011.
Arsene has beaten Pep’s Barca and Bayern teams in the CL (so much for not having the ability… we just need the ConsistencY!)
🙂
That was fuckin’ excellent!
Hands up! I was one who was seriously underwhelmed by the signing of an aging, no longer #1 keeper, with a dodgy titfer.
I was wrong. He is immense; far and away best option we’ve had in nets since Mad Jens.
My love for Ozil is expanding exponentially.
Up The Arse!
Only had time for a very cursory backdrink, so I will probably repeat points already made 🙂
First of all, just four words:
GET
THE
FUCK
IN!
We are getting better and better at playing a counter-attacking game. For all the possession Bayern had, we restricted them to only two really good chances and overall we had the better chances. Arsene got the tactics 100% right. Sit deep and conserve energy while they roll the ball around and then go full speed ahead on the counters. Bayern are a bloody good side and to restrict them to so few chances is very well done. At least now we have given ourselves a glimmer of hope of progressing, but it’s still not in our own hands. We need Bayern to beat Olympiakos which they should of course do but you never know.
Last night was also a prime example of what confidence means and how quickly it can disappear. Before we scored, Bayern barely made any technical errors at all. They always looked relaxed and never stressed, but as soon as we scored they started rushing things, overhitting passes and generally losing the ball in ways they didn’t at 0-0.
Bellerin struggled to contain Costa initially but he really grew into the game and his awareness to intercept the pass before we scored our second was fantastic. And to run at that speed with that much control over the ball in the 94th minutes… Please Ivan and Arsene, give him a ten-year contract with a blank line and the words “Fill in what we shall pay you on the line above” underneath it!
The whole team played really well, and apparently no team has had this many attempts on target against a Pep-led Bayern in the CL. Not a stat to place too much importance on I suppose, but still.
The one dark cloud though is the Ramsey injury. That did not look good at all. It is a slim hope, but still a hope that he felt something and didn’t want to risk anything but he looked really, really uncomfortable walking off the pitch. I am bracing myself for it being at least six weeks out.
Right, got to do this “work” thing now. Drinks on the bar for everyone!
Oh, and just one more thing: that Neuer save from Walcott’s header was one of the best saves I have ever seen. Yes, Walcott should ideally have headed the ball further away from him but I really can’t fault him for that. Neuer reacted incredibly quickly and not just stopped the ball, he also pushed it to the side. Almost as good as David Seaman against Peschisolido (really not sure of the spelling there!) in that cup game some 12-13 years ago or whatever it was.
Basking.
https://twitter.com/ZPAFC/status/656463580599046144/video/1
Let’s hold on to this chap!
😀
as a rugby mad country a couple of years ago my team were lucky enough to win the ranferly shield some thing I didn’t think we would do in our lifetime.once more I was one of a few hundred that travelled to witness it have the scars or my boy does because he has bottled by the home fans something we rectified at that moment.so I as a follower of Arsenal from the 70,s agree whole heartly yes the full set and nothing but the set in my lifetime PLEASE!
The main thing was that Lewandowski was kept quiet all evening and as Steve T has pointed out there is a big difference between Ospina and Petr Czech!
That steal from Bellerin was awesome too….
Morning All
What a night for Gooners. Tactics were a carbon copy of our great win at Citi last season and didn’t we keep our cool under tremendous pressure.
Cech was amazing, keeping us in the game in the first half but the whole of the team put in a terrific shift and we can only hope there will not be any adverse reaction, the Everton game on Saturday is equally important.
Ironic that the best keeper in the world made the same error as Cech made at the West Ham game. The lovely Hector had a very shaky first half but was thrilled with his last minute interception and brilliant cross for Ozil’s goal, the cherry on top of a very tasty cake.
By the way I’m taking my plastic bags to Tescos tomorrow!
COYRs
Last night I was amazed at the constant drift of Arsenal fans out of the stadium with seven minutes to go. If you can’t stay to watch a match like that I pity you. I don’t accept the train argument.
On nights like last night, paying what you do to watch football at our place just stay.
As ever they missed the denouement. And they deserved to.
@172 TTG – spot on. Annoys me as they brush through my line of vision.
Almost as peculiar as the 5 minute delayed entry by the majority of the Bayern squareheads. Reducing the value (or increasing the cost) of each ticket by 5/90 in a meaningless protest could only come from the land of dodgy diesel emissions from their primary benefactor VW-Audi.
@165 – Get Fucking IN indeed! Great stuff.
Nice comments Lars.
Whatever about the result last night – you have to admire Pep Guardiola and the way in which he sets his teams up to play the game. Like ourselves they actually want to play and entertain. It was a fabulous spectacle. I’d love to see Pep at Arsenal someday. He’s probably the most suitable replacement for Wenger. He’s classy too in how he holds himself – always speaks respectfully about the opposite team and gracious in defeat.
A very cursory back drink for now but –
YES – Lars, Esso, TTG,
Cech – quite superb.
Bellerin – Wow! What a player we have there and incredible fitness.
Early leavers – had a proper go at one last night who arrived late, walked straight into my legs ‘cos he couldn’t be bothered to wait for people to even stand up to let him in, and left early. Same idiot does it every single game.
As he left I made an airbag out of my complimentary carrier bag and beat it next to his ear as we were all singing and clapping.
A fantastic atmosphere in the ground last night and people still walked out with seven or eight minutes to go. Amazing.
BtM @173,
“….a meaningless protest could only come from the land of dodgy diesel emissions from their primary benefactor VW-Audi.” Hee! Hee! 🙂
Slight correct me laddie; I think Wolfburg is VW-Audi’s main beneficiary and not Munchen!
Joe,
Have to agree I absolutely LOVE Guardiola in defeat. ?
Know what you mean though and, yes, he would seem the natural successor to Arsene – if we could keep him away from Man $ity. I think he might just be a bit more of a traditionalist though so maybe we could.
By the way, that was the first time Bayern failed to score in a Champs League game since 2011.
#wengerdoesntdotactics
Did anyone else note that the Special Twat was moaning about the referee in Kiev last night.
At his sulkiest, most miserable, he quite deliberately used Arsene’s exact words, “weak and naive” to describe the referee, who clearly denied his poxy little Chelsea yet another ‘deserved’ victory – doubtless trying to provoke the authorities into punishing him, so that he can take the whole sorry issue back to the FA.
What a pathetic little turd.
I bet every time he closes his eyes to sleep he sees Arsene Wenger’s face laughing at him in the dark. His Wenger obsession is slowly buggering his whole season.
Love. It.
Briliant performance and result!!
*pulls up a chair next to Dr Z*
*basks*
Guardiola is a class act! No better successor to Le Prof anywhere in the world!
He’ll be at Arsenal soon enough. Barcelona-Munich-Manchester doesn’t sound quite as appealing as Barcelona-Munich-London! Ask Alexis about choosing between the North West of England or London!
Neuer is vulnerable and not just because he inexplicably went walkabout for Giroud’s goal. Have the commentators who say that was his only blunder last night completely forgotten about his first half pass, under little pressure, that went directly out of bounds conceding a corner? I doubt they would have forgotten about it if we had scored from the corner, but you never know these days.
Well that settled it, we can match the best and in fact beat them.
The first half had to be the best football we have seen at the grove in a long time. It did remind of the barca games we have had here, the 2-2, 2-1 games. Bayern at times were electric and Douglas Costa and Alacantra were brilliant. Yet for all their possession we had the clear cut chances, the Ozil shot and then that wonder save of theo did show why Neur is the second best GK in the world( Buffone for me is the best). Cech also proved why he is among the best in the world to. He is such an assurance that the odd opps moment is always forgotten or conveniently ignored.
The superlatives can over flow on the performances of the players but the defense can hold their head high. Each one of them were outstanding.
Ramsey’s hamstring did dampen the night and reports are he may be out 4-6 weeks, thats terrible. Time for Ox to show his consistency for he will get a run in.
Last but not the least there was something written on the social media which typified us- 90th min the rb of Arsenal is in the opposition box, will he take the ball to the corner, hell no, he runs past the defender and crosses, that is Arsenal for you.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained? Bellerin would have been caught out if he had not won that ball, but he also had 90 minutes to compare his pace and quickness to the Bayern player’s, and he rightly judged that he could beat him to the ball. If AOC can show anywhere near that kind of nous in his defensive play he will be able to step into Ramsey’s shoes for the next few weeks with success.
But Ox on the wing wouldn’t be the worst. Or even Belle with Deb at RB. How’s that for outside the box?
I don’t know about “outside the box” but it’s certainly in the category of “fucking up the team for no reason”.
Trev. The special twat is precisely that. A special twat. It’s almost as if he is crying out to be sacked. There are even CSKA Fulham fans that have had enough of him now. His constant bitching is just laughable. If he does piss Roman off enough that he sacks him then I would guess it’s fizzy pop and battenburg all round.
Bring it on.
Steve T@187: If Abramovich does sack him, I would guess that it would be fat pay-offs, and not all round.
BB@168: Iwobi is a great prospect. Given he went on the first-team’s pre-season tour and Akpom and Sanogo are out on loan, I suspect he might get some PL bench time or even a few minutes this season.
What Lars said about Bellarin @165. He has an Arsenal contract until 2019 but the way he has been playing for us and now that he has broken into Spain’s U-21s, he will attract some big-money attention, possibly from his native Catalonia. Barca’s right back, Dani Alves, is 32. Barca bought 25-year-old Aleix Vidal from Seville in the summer as a possible long-term replacement, but Vidal also played a lot for Seville as a midfielder, so they might still be looking.
A famous victory on a fine evening in north London.
Heroes all of them.
Just basking along with Dr Z.
I’ll be basking for some time after this.
Either that or I’m a bit wrecked.
Ned: I never stop worrying that the lovely Hector might be spirited back to Barca. His comments in last night’s programme that he hates London’s winter weather do nothing to allay my fears.
Great counter-attacking performance and great result – but I can’t help but be a little sad when we play a Bayern or a Barca that we are obliged to resort to these tactics, giving up the lion’s share of possession.
In practice it feels like Arsene putting his primary philosophy in the drawer for the evening. Yes I know on this occasion it was the most realistic approach . But I’d like to think with the resources we have available we can aspire to take on any team playing our game…
Delia- Don’t worry . I hate London’s winter weather but I refuse to sign for Barcelona whatever they offer. I’m sure Hector’s the same.
Trev- did you have a quick and dirty assessment of the Ramsey injury.? I tried lip reading him and failed but from his body language he knew the seriousness immediately( he’s obviously had it before) , he didn’t try to play on but it seemed like a hamstring tear. Is my amateur diagnosis likely to be correct? If it is a hamstring tear will he be plagued with these throughout his career ? It seems his progress will be limited by his vulnerability to injuries like this.
Last night makes our team for the Wednesday game next week definitely likely to be a shadow squad. Ned and I picked it a couple of days ago but may have left out Campbell. I had forgotten he still played for us!
Revised team for Capital One Cup tie
Ospina / Macey
Debuchy Chambers Gabriel Gibbs
Arteta Flamini
Campbell Iwobi Reine Adelaide
Giroud
Bench
Macey/ Huddart
Pleguezelo. O’ Connor
Sheaf Kamara
Willock
Malen Bennacer
The Youth team beat Bayern 2-0 last night with two goals from Iwobi. They have won three out of three in their version of our group.
Interesting last night that he could only bring two players on from our bench who could alter the game – and he did both ( Ox and Giroud)
But without Rosicky, Wilshere and Welbeck( and now Ramsey) we are running short of quality resource. So let’s see what we have in reserve. I for one won’t be lambasting him if a weakened side goes out next week .
Good read from Amy, about the U19’s and the effect a certain Monsieur Henry is having;
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/oct/21/arsenal-under-19s-thierry-henry-andries-jonker
Delia – We’re supposedly going to have a bitterly cold winter with loads of snow. On the positive side, the airport will be closed so he can’t leave anyway 🙂
Better late than never….I hope 🙂 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Leaves one for the goal hanging bastards…
Why not???????