We Do What We Have To On A Strange Day
Oct 1st, 2017 by 'holic
A very unusual day, from the absurdly early departure to catch a coach because in the 21st century we cannot get a train from Swindon to London before lunchtime, to the equally tortuous journey home down the M4. What happened in between, footballistically and socially, was extremely enjoyable. The only downer on the best parts of the day being the reports and videos of the Spanish police brutality against people they insist are their own.
I digress, perhaps, and should concern myself only things Arsenal? I’ll try. In my preview I wondered if we might be missing the busy Shkodran Mustafi for the visit of Brighton but he played, and credit to the manager for selecting Rob Holding to replace the injured Laurent Koscielny. The young man needs his confidence rebuilding and will be feeling better about his game, and life, tonight.
Alex Iwobi got the nod to deputise for Mesut Ozil again, and that was another sound decision. The youngster is bulking up, gaining in strength and stamina. It was needed to be fair. He would have enjoyed the moment he put an end to the Seagulls chances of upsetting the odds at the Grove with a superb second goal for the Gunners. It was an end to end move reminiscent of the best days of Wengerball and the set-up from Alexis will be worth watching over and over.
We had taken the lead through another unlikely source, but how Nacho Monreal deserves that strike after fellow defenders Mustafi and Hector Bellerin saw their goal-bound efforts blocked. Add that to a sumptuous Alexandre Lacazette strike which came back off the inside of the post and you might have the impression that Brighton were cannon fodder. Anything but.
The visitors too had a spectacular effort, from March, thump into a goalpost as they showed a willingness to drive forward when allowed. Sitting behind their manager, Chris Hughton, on a relatively quiet Emirates lunchtime his every instruction could be heard. He wanted his charges on the front foot, and for long spells they were.
In the end Arsenal were like that very intelligent pupil who does just what he needs to do to achieve the result he wants. This was not an exam we approached with determination, despite answering the early questions with ease and no little panache.
There is something that stops this team from ruthlessly routing the lesser lights. In his first decade the manager had teams who would frankly have ripped Brighton a new one today. Flat track bullies they were called. Utter nonsense. They were winners who wanted to assert themselves on all. The current incarnation will bust a gut for matches when most needed. To perform as they did at Chelsea after the Anfield debacle was admirable. This was one level of desire and determination lower. I say that as an observation, not a condemnation.
Anyway, the final whistle brought an unusual stroll back to an old haunt from the 70s so I could be closer to Finsbury Park Station, and thereafter Victoria. I don’t drink enough with Moggy and Sonia, and I’m sorry I was so easily distracted by Ted on ‘his’ stool!
And as I wind this piece up the news has started. The scenes I am seeing in Barcelona make me seethe. The grandchildren are growing up in a world that would be much better were Trump not effectively in charge of the free world, and if another European conflict was not a real possibility. Perhaps I had best leave it there.
43 Responses to “We Do What We Have To On A Strange Day”
…back heel
Whack, 2-0!
Nice report Holic. I found myself with a streaming cold, sore throats and headache . Years ago, wild horses wouldn’t have kept me from the Arsenal possibly because I couldn’t see the game any other way. I watched this one on BT Sport and suffered the observations of Savage and Owen to stay in the comfort and warmth of my home.
You possibly gave Brighton a bit too much credit. I think they like Brighton will be fighting hard against relegation but even so the Murray header at the end was too close for comfort. I thought the most encouraging thing was that Sanchez and Lacazette look able to play fruitfully together . So until Christmas we may see some great stuff. After that we need to sell Sanchez and Ozil .
Whatever you say about Wenger he always get reactions from his teams in crisis. We’ve only played one decent team but the team has rebuilt its confidence. It happens every season and then after Christmas we know the script. Can’t see it being any different this season but I pray I’m wrong.
Sorry-I meant: they like Bournemouth. I can’t distinguish between them.
..and the celebration. It’s 01-10-02017 by the way.
…..from off the inside post, LacaThump is gunning for glory. Disappointed he didn’t get a goal today but of even more disappointment is the decision not to give JW some game time today.
I don’t really bother how long Özil stays out, it appears we’re just grinding out the result, which is what really matters anyways.
How we ingested 4 at the hands of ‘Pool is still magical madness to me. The only way to clear the air is by handing them a 5-0 padding when they come visiting.
You’re right not to measure ourselves against Brighton or Bournemouth, TTG. Perhaps against Pool who thrashed us would be better? A team who couldn’t beat Newcastle…
The Barca game was pretty weird today, played in an empty stadium. Another double for Messi was a pleasure to watch though, both of them gems. Very sad what was going on elsewhere in one of my fav Euro cities.
Iwobi took his chance well, well one of them well anyway. Nacho got the other. I guess it doesn’t matter who gets them, but disappointing our ‘strikers’ couldn’t get one between them against very poor opposition. Very poor except the last 15 minutes when we did our best to outpoor them.
Will this interlull never end? 🙁
Speedy and excellent write up H especially with your hours spent travelling. Much the same game I saw. I have to confess to experiencing a certain flatness and boredom during and after the game as we toiled to break down the well-drilled and determined Brighton defence and a longing for the verve and style of yesteryear. However we did, as pointed out to me by Snir (much missed in this bar), open them up regularly but simply failed by dint of bad luck and goal-line clearances to achieve the score line we merited. An important three points to help us climb the table but not a barometer of out title pretensions.
Extra credit today to Hector for running all day, Holding for recapturing his nerve, Mustafi for a second game in three days and Monreal for being our most reliable defender and an able adjunct in attack.
Drinks on the bar to help us get through the Interlull.
Like Bush was better then Trump
Fucking nazi W but nobody said a word then and NOW Donald is a threat
get a grip fella
First Bush, now Trump? hmmm.
https://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/sites/default/files/styles/product_detail/public/images/products/cards/C991-in-germany_0.jpg?itok=JjrJq5Fq
Thanks for the match review Guvna.
Pretty much as I saw it.
Stupid interlull now. So far 12/13
points at home. 1 point and no
goals away. After the interlull 3/4
PL games are away before the
next break – it will be a good test
of our potential for this season.
NObody expects the Spanish Inquisition…… But in this case..
😀
Whatever you say about Wenger he always get reactions from his teams in crisis.
IF he is responsible, it would be nice if he could get them playing in the first place to avoid the crisis. I think it is far more likely that they rouse themselves from whatever slumber they go into in the first place, which speaks volumes about the mentality of this group IMO.
I’ve not seen any of the game as I was out and returned to find myself with an exploded tv.
? Gooneeholic!
3 points and another clean-sheet, is all that mattered!
Get ahead of, or right-alongside, Abu Dhabi Cite$h by January, Alexis will consider waiting till the end of the season to talk about re-signing in May in order to build on his fledgling new partnership with the always impressive, and very intelligent, Lacazzete; and with a Thomas Lemar bought in for a by then dispensed with Fish-God.
Finish above Cite$h by May and win the Premier League, welcome to that 4 more years at £300k+/wk Alexis. ?
Trump isn’t the problem globally – alot of this shit was there already with Obama and before Brexit! It’s all about the socio-economic disenfranchisement felt by majority globally as a consequence of capitalism’s failure. The young are being let down by the old (leaving University with at least £20,000 in debt and no guarantee of a job); and people like Trump, Farage, etc. are simply picking up the inequality baton (whether that be rightly or wrongly) to them do their own “divide and attempt to dictate and rule” thingy.
Apathy and appeasement from majority of moderates globally, partly driven by a loss of genuine “community-caring” for their unknown brothers and sisters wherever they are (and beyond one’s kith and kin or “inner-circle”), is everyone’s own cross to now have to bear. ?
When a 64 year old “white man” commits the biggest mass-shooting killing in US History, at least 50 people killed with 200 injured (14 of which are critical) at a Country & Western Music Concert in Las Vegas, what does that tell us all? ?
Football’s own mongrelisation and disenfranchisement of its self driven by personal and corporate greed and avarice, is a equally pertinent reflection of what’s happening outside in the “real world”. Sport is not immune from politics and from what is taking place in society, far from it in fact. And for one and all, and especially for our kids and grand-kids, we should be worried about what one’s apathy is heading towards. Compelling stuff and compelling times for all; and that’s beyond the bubble of The Arsenal on home and away match-days! ?
UTAAD&AN, & With a Tight As Fuck Defence Always!
Re: Dapper Dan, You asked what the Las Vegas killings signify in a broad sense. I can only think the answer is the decline and fall of just about everything except for the stock price of American gun manufacturers, which as I heard are up sharply today on the news. The news from Barcelona, what with the Castillian clampdown, is just as scary and as a devout hermit I hope someone will notify me when things have calmed a bit.
Cheers H! Glad you managed to have a good day out mate.
Alright Esso. ?? That I did thanks mate.
Sad sad day. Many cut down by souped up semi-automatic fire in Las Vegas. And RIP Tom Petty.
RIP Tom Petty. Very sad to hear he his gone.
Bt8- it was a heartbreaker all right. Another talented musician lost .
The Las Vegas shooting was absolutely horrific but it won’t change the stance on guns because Trump is close to the NRA
Trump may not be the problem globally, Dan, but he’s atypical of the policies which cause capitalism to ‘fail’, although I would view ‘fail’ with a pinch of salt. I wonder where Hong Kong would be had capitalism not flourished there for a hundred years. Like the rest of China, presumably.
What Trump symbolises is capitalism gone asset stripping rampant … setting up businesses to fail, leaving suppliers unpaid and going bankrupt to avoid paying taxes. He’s been at it most of his life, a business failing here, another one set up there like some crazy ponzi dance. Too many people working similar capitalist agendas is the major problem we see today, with limited private investment in capitalist ventures that could actually succeed to balance the books. All helped along by a subservient Congress in capitalism’s capital, America, and successive presidents prepared to impose military solutions to suit their own twisted capitalist agendas.
It is a fact that all American presidents have to have (or at least believe they have to have) their own war IF they are to win a second term. A war against a nation with no chance of winning, of course. And while Trump so far is all words no action it seems he’s picked his victim. I’m just not so sure he’ll go through with it. He’d be better off picking up browny points with his Mexico wall and fake news.
As for the latest shooting tragedy I have always said that Americans can’t be trusted with guns. Heck, not even the US police and military can be trusted with guns.
Not so fast there on Tom Petty I guess. Very serious heart attack, on life support, may have been taken off life support, all kinds of conflicting reports. Hopefully he will recover, so we can say we will back down.
RIP Tom Petty. I hope he’s Learning To Fly into The Great Wide Yonder and not Free Fallin’ and Straight Into Darkness.
Just to say I got my 3 passengers to Ely and back safely on Sunday. None of us were enthralled with what we saw at the Ems but 3 points is 3 points. Twenty minutes from Jack would have raised the spirits but we suffered a dire affair until the bitter end.
My thoughts are with those suffering in Barcelona and Las Vegas . I don’t pretend to understand those who caused such dreadful misery.
Politics = Divide And Conquer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4KiQ6_FMoY
Alas, finally RIP Tom Petty. The third member of Traveling Wilburys to reach the end of the line.
ThanksNDR.
Haven’t heard them before and
liked that one.
Do lyrics really matter in a heavy metal song? Really?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y
Landmark performance. Thank you, BB.
ugh.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/03/stan-kroenke-makes-525-offer-usmanov-arsenal-shares?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
good news out of this is there have been some other groups trying to get usmanov’s shares. maybe that will lead to something good down the line if kroenke doesn’t get them.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/03/stan-kroenke-makes-525-offer-usmanov-arsenal-shares
Got to buy the lottery…!
😀
Can’t help thinking we’d be better off with Usmanov. Or put it another way, we’d be better without Kroenke. Or better still if AW and DD could get some mates together and buy them both out.
Did you spot my airborne sus domesticus?
Why am I not surprised … https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/alexis-sanchez-and-mesut-ozil-have-infuriated-arsenal-teammates-by-missing-a-club-engagement-a3649356.html
…and, thanks to mismanagement, when they’re sold we’ll be lucky to get a third what RM are reportedly offering for Harry Kane for the pair of them.
Nacho deservedly leading in the player of the month voting at the dot.con …
Not much else is going on …
I don’t expect us to sell Sanchez
or Ozil in January unless we can
buy replacements then. Why would
we? I think we’ve already written
off the money.
And why would they move? I
imagine they can negotiate better
terms with any other team at
the end of the season.
Just a guess of course.
#28 – ???
Husker Du were not Heavy Metal in any shape or form.
Noise-y though I’ll grant ya !
Sanchez will leave at the drop of a hat if Citeh want him and there might be a market in January if PSG decide to move but nobody bit when Ozil was made available in the summer. Ozil has obviously been tapped up by United and will resist all offers including ours so that he can move for nothing although he will struggle to get into a Mourinho team at the moment.
We will find it very hard to sign replacements in January, another indication of how flawed our planning has been . We could be writing off £100 million of assets next summer. Not many businesses do / withstand that !
Ttg, You wrote your last two sentences in the only language Kroenke understands.
We missed out while he was at Bologna, but how much would Napoli want for Amadou Diawara? Looks to me a developing Kante/Seri hybrid.
From the Fail… : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4948892/Alisher-Usmanov-denies-set-sell-Arsenal-shares.html
😀
Which leads nicely into… >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>