Gunners Edge A Five Goal Thriller At The Palace
Dec 28th, 2017 by 'holic
Arsene Wenger reverted to a back three for the trip to Selhurst Park. For the first time we were treated to the combination of Laurent Koscielny, Skhodran Mustafi, and Calum Chambers, in a competitive fixture. Sead Kolasinac was recalled as left wing-back, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Alex Iwobi returned to the bench.
The opening phases of play were familiar to most of us. Possession a plenty with no clear-cut opportunities forthcoming. The first shot of the evening, a speculative long range effort by Cabaye in the eleventh minute, was sliced hopelessly wide of the mark. Palace also earned the first corner of the evening three minutes later, and Petr Cech did well to punch clear under pressure as the hosts battalion of giants occupied the box.
Cabaye’s second sighter was much closer than his first effort, perhaps a foot wide of the post. Finally the Arsenal responded, but both Jack Wilshere and Alexis Sanchez saw their shots blocked by the massed ranks of red and blue. In the twentieth minute Alexis and Mesut Ozil created a shooting opportunity, this time for Granit Xhaka and again Palace got the block in. Then another Wilshere strike brought the first save out of Speroni. The visitors were warming to their task.
So much so that when Speroni parried Alexandre Lacazette’s left foot strike the ball fell to the advanced Mustafi lurking beyond the far post and he applied a calm side footed finish to put the Gunners ahead. “We’re winning away, how shit must you be?” echoed around a corner South London from the self-deprecating travelling faithful.
Crystal Palace 0-1 The Arsenal
Calum Chambers was first into Michael Oliver’s book for pulling back Zaha as the latter attempted to break from the centre circle against a retreating defence. The Gunners powered forward again and from an Alexis pass Ozil drew an excellent left-handed save from Speroni. The Palace ‘keeper was called upon again on the half hour to make a straightforward save from an Alexis free-kick. At the other end Zaha’s weaving run ended with a shot curled wide of the far post.
Tomkins interception prevented Hector Bellerin’s cross from reaching Alexis on the penalty spot. The half, a slow burner to begin with, was turning into a very good watch. Lacazette wriggled his way past three defenders on the edge of the box and got off a strike just wide of the near post. Then a wonderful counter-attack ended with another Xhaka strike bringing a diving save out of the busy Speroni.
An out of control Zaha found himself the second entrant in Oliver’s notebook after losing his cool with the official. Zaha had somewhat petulantly tripped Jack Wilshere after losing possession on the left edge of the Gunners area.
The visitors would not have wanted to hear the half-time whistle and must have wondered how they were just one goal to the good. However, we started the second-half on the front foot and Alexis gifted an opportunity to Bellerin. His first touch wasn’t the best and Speroni threw himself at the Spaniard’s feet to snuff out the danger. He would regret the miss.
Palace, we should have reminded ourselves at half-time, were not undefeated in eight for no reason. Before we were five minutes into the half Zaha had Bellerin on toast and crossed for the previously anonymous Townsend to crash the ball home unmarked with Koscielny, Mustafi, and Kolasinac all frozen within touching distance in the middle of the area.
Crystal Palace 1-1 The Arsenal
The return of our defensive frailties gave the hosts a clear lift and they enjoyed a purple patch with Zaha prominent. With Wilshere and Xhaka just trotting back in a parallel line Schlupp ventured unchallenged to the edge of the box and curled one just wide of the far post.
The Gunners seemed to regroup on the hour and a period of pressure ensued as the visitors reclaimed the territorial advantage. Deservedly the lead was regained when Lacazette teed up Alexis and the Chilean’s hammer of a drive nutmegged Tomkins and beat the fingertips of Speroni at his near post.
Crystal Palace 1-2 The Arsenal
Within minutes Wilshere’s wonderful Flighted ball sent Alexis scampering clear and he slipped the ball beyond Speroni and inside that same post. This was just wonderful football from the Arsenal.
Crystal Palace 1-3 The Arsenal
For the second match running we were enjoying a spell of lethal attacking football in the second-half. The difference being that this was the icing on a very fine cake of a performance.
Tomkins took the ball off the toe of Lacazette as we attempted to kill off the ‘holic pound. Nervous checks were made on the cashout situation. We were looking likely to add to our tally. The Frenchman again found himself substituted with sixteen minutes remaining. The sight of Francis Coquelin coming on suggested we were looking to strengthen the area in from to our rearguard, and not surprisingly.
Alexis overhit a through ball to Bellerin, Cech grabbed a harmless looking cross. Another look at cashout. Was the game petering out? Fingers and toes were being crossed. Bellerin’s thumping volley from a tight angle was just about kept out by a Speroni parry. Cashout ticked over a significant psychological barrier, and I took a mighty healthy profit early.
The late Palace pressure passed me by in a haze. Zaha was on a one man mission to get Palace back in the game but the visitors defence held firm. Sakho set himself up with a handball and blazed over the top. Then the moment that made the cashout a joyous decision. Tomkins headed a corner beyond Cech who seemed to be trying to save the ball behind the line.
Crystal Palace 2-3 The Arsenal
An immensely enjoyable evening reached a crescendo and was ended with a trio of shrill blasts of Michael Oliver’s whistle.
Never in doubt.
95 Responses to “Gunners Edge A Five Goal Thriller At The Palace”
Lightening quick, even by your standards, Guv’nor.
Milky bars are on you!
I’ll take the cotton’ pickin’ points.
Oh my word. That third goal. Another great game.
But three points and a cash-out, so all’s good.
Never in doubt.
I want to thank you ‘Holic for keeping the blog going through the years. Was a couple of seasons ago I stopped being a regular here, of no fault of yours or the clientele in the bar. Things just got in the way. Things happen. But the point is, I, and perhaps others, might not be as active here as we were, or as we want to be. But there are few, if any, that can match your certain blend of history, penmanship, perspective, respect and knowledge. You are still read by me, even if I don’t give as much back as I used to. Not that I’ve ever had that much of worth to give, but still. Anyway. Just wanted to give you a shout out in the middle of what must be a hectic festive period. I am thankful for your service, to us and the team.
What Toby said!
Thank you Toby. That means a lot.
Hear! hear!
Bang! Get-in there! Drinks are on ‘h! ? ??
A mighty enjoyable away-game at Palace that! Always love going down to Selhurt Park, and especially when a performance is put in and we invariably win!
Mistakes at the back aplenty by both sides, but a thrilling Arse going forward – Just how it used to be with Wenger-ball!
Wilshere MoTM for me. Assured, matured and a fighting Gunner through and through! World Class talent that’s still very much there within his DNA!
Regarding Alexis Sanchez; well that’s what a “proven” £100+ Million attacker tends to do for you, Arsene et al! And he’s just about to feck-off elsewhere in the next 1-6 months for nuffink! ?
Joint 5th with the LWCs. Bring on the Baggies @ the not so “enjoyable” Pubic-less Hawthorns! ?
UTAAD&AN!
AFCOF!
Well played, Holic !
And another “hear, hear” to Toby ??
Another three goals. Another three points. Pity about the HP though.
Thanks for the report guvnor
and congrats on the cash out!
Plenty of stick for Alexis
recently (including from me)
so well done on the class
finishing today.
Me and my monkey didn’t chicken, sorry cash, out 🙁
Nice report Guvna and deft decision-making on the cash-out.
I thought Jack had his best match so far and is close to his best.
Alexis put in the first decent performance in ages both in possession with excellent finishes and a lower turnover rate and out of possession with excellent tracking back though his lack of defensive experience makes him terrifying if he regains possession deep in our half!
For me, Mustafi’s sweet strike was the goal of the game.
However our failure to track Townsend’s run was criminal and the discontinuation of our former approach to putting a man on at least the far post at corners led to the second goal which added unnecessary pressure at the end and almost took the ‘bread’ from the Guvna’s grip had he not deftly taken action.
Nonetheless the first half was our best away performance in a while and should have seen us out of sight but for some good defending and luck for Palace. We had a rocky 5-10 minutes after their goal but recovered our nerve and took back control until the substitutions.
Lacazette looked upset to be hauled off but in truth with two more games in 5 days, the last thing we need at 3-1 up was an unnecessary hamstring on a cold night or an unnecessary grudge challenge from an opponent to our only goalscoring centre forward.
Well played the Arsenal and the Guvna.
What Toby said @6.
“The sight of Francis Coquelin coming on suggested we were looking to strengthen”
The sight of Le Coq coming on usually prefaces either a red card or the opposition scoring, imo. In this case the latter, and a player with two assists in the game no longer available should they score a third.
This side going defensive when leading always brings on the angst. Thankfully we got away with it this time (thanks to Jack).
Just back from a cold Selhurstvand a long, cautious drive home to Kent. Always ice to win away from home but we made it much harder than it should have been. We gave two goals away to a pretty poor Palace team that we should have beaten much more easily.
My friend who accompanied me tonight is not an Arsenal fan although he is fond of the club and he thought we were better than I did . I was very impressed by Wilshere and Sanchez who worked really hard tonight. My mate was amazed busy how hard Ozil worked between the lines. Mustafi took his goal brilliantly. I was just behind it and it was a terrific finish.
But Cech wasn’t commanding enough. We didn’t close Zaha down effectively although he is a super player ( one who would serve us well), the second goal would have been kicked off the line if we put someone on the post and we look like conceding too often because we don’t have tge commanding midfield player to snuff ou5 attacks. Coquelin coming on had bugger all effect.
But that’s carping a lot. We played some lovely football on a cold night against a physical team in a hostile atmosphere. But can we do it on a warm afternoon in Bournemouth! ?
Some people just want the absolutely impossible – a typo free post from TTG ?
Trev
I claim frostbite combined with incompetence ?
What in July ? ?
It’s July where you are, Trev? Are you 6 months ahead of us or 6 months behind?
I’ve seen Zaha 4 or 5 times this
season and he’s been very difficult
to defend every time.
Wouldn’t mind him at but he did
have a woeful spell at Old Toilet.
Exactly why Toby said @6 couldn’t agree more!
Zaha would benefit us in a much better way than at Old Toilet because its our style of football, little passes the skill to go past defenders, this is someone would would give us a lot of goals and assists me thinks.
Great win despite some frozen bits and pieces in between.
Win the next one!
ATG,
Earlier in his career Zaha’s goals
and assists were low but he’s
improved a lot in this area the
last season and a half.
Gives the ball away quite a lot,
but we’re used to that.
Zaha’s Premier League stats:
2013/14 14 games, 0 goals, 1 assist, 1 yellow card
2014/15 31 games, 4 goals, 2 assists, 1 yellow card
2015/16 34 games, 2 goals, 5 assists, 5 yellow cards
2016/17 35 games, 7 goals, 11 assists, 8 yellow cards
2017/18 (to date) 14 games, 4 goals, 2 assists, 3 yellow cards
Thanks Ned !
We should forward to AW 🙂
He seems to be around a goal or
assist every 2 games nowadays.
I wouldn’t mind but he wouldn’t
be at Sanchez level.
Happy with the points and also to see players playing in natural positions – Kola back on the left had a solid game.
I watched some Italian football highlights yesterday and wondered why there aren’t more Italian defenders in English clubs – they put most of ours to shame. I know our last foray into that market was not happy but given our CB and DFM needs I reckon we could do worse than try again.
UTA.
I don’t remember our last Italian
defender!
Matt,
Selective amnesia can do that.
UTA.
Actually it’s my bad – I was thinking of Squillaci who is of course French.
However, my question about absent Italians still stands.
UTA.
Zaha is a highly erratic player and gives the ball away way too much. We sort of tried that with Gervinho and that’s not a road I would like to see us go down again. I would much rather prefer Draxler for our left wing hopefully next summer after Alexis has run down his contract. For January though, I would much rather prefer we sold Theo (apologies Chris) and went all in for Mahrez. We don’t have any natural attacking player for the right wing apart from Theo and if he’s not a part of the manager’s plans, we ought to strengthen in this area. Mahrez and Draxler on both wings with Lacazette as the centre forward with Ozil playing just behind him (hoping Ozil will sign a new contract of course) would be a very potent attack. It would offset the departure of Alexis to a great extent.
Noosa,
I thought you were thinking of
Mancini of Camden & Ireland 🙂
desi,
Apart from one great season
Mahrez doesn’t seem any better
to me, although I haven’t watched
him recently to be honest.
Not sure I’d let Theo go in January
either. I think he could come in handy
2nd half the season.
OsakaMatt, agree that Theo could come up with some vital performances in the second half of the season, especially in the cup games. But at the moment, Theo seems to be out of the manager’s first team plans with even Iwobi ahead of him in the pecking order. With Bellerin having a poor season so far and no natural wing play ahead of him, our right wing has looked rather toothless this season. I haven’t seen too many of Leicester’s games this season, but from whatever I have seen, Mahrez played rather well in all of them. The main advantage he has over Theo is that he can beat a couple of players with a neat dribble and also attract defenders towards him vacating space for others up front. More importantly when opposition teams defend deep Mahrez can contribute significantly with his dribbles and ball control unlike Theo who comes into his own against teams who play a higher defensive line. We face the former far more than the latter.
On a side note, Lacazette’s hold up play yesterday and in general has been exemplary. Also his ability to twist and turn when he is tightly marked by two or three defenders is impressive. It just seems he will score a lot of goals for us and has been a very important signing.
Today’s Times raises a point I’ve been pondering recently. Forgetting the media hype about how great the Premier League is , the reality is that the majority of teams in the League are mundane and largely useless. The league consists of the Big Six
A few others like Burnley, Everton and Leicester who on their day can produce strong performances
And the rest who are fighting to stay in the division. Palace set up at home to get all eleven players behind the ball, Newcastle continued to play ultra- defensively even after going behind against Citeh and a large number of games are like attack v defence. The games between the big six have generally been excellent . My sense is TV will want to move to a Super League with more clashes at the top level . That might embrace Celtic and Rangers , a European Super League or a smaller league with the top sides playing each other more often . I don’t think the EPL will survive in its present form beyond another five years . TV won’t want to pay silly money to Mickey Mouse teams
Designer Gooner
Great post. Mahrez looks excellent at present and Lacazette is a great buy. As for Theo I think for his sake he needs to move but I don’t think it will happen until the summer. Alarmingly Reiss Nelson is stalling on a contract extension so we are clearly vulnerable to losing our best talent because of a perceived lack of ambition- perceived by agents , media and ultimately players. It’s a big challenge we have to confront
Finally a win and we should have won the game in the first half if Mesut had his scoring boots on, both the chances he had would have been dream goals if scored.
Alexis has close to 127 goals/assists in 160 odd games for us, what more can we expect from a man who is not a striker. He has been immense for us and unless we replace him with close enough quality, we should not let him go and try to convince him to stay on. He is class and forgive his petulance for most south american footballers are.
Jack had the pass of the game, Mustafi finished like a striker and defended like a school boy for townsend’s goal, he could/should have cleared the ball easily and instead was hoping jack would. Kolasinac impressive again and i would have him start all premier league games without doubt. Conversely, Bellerin is having a shocker of a season, defensively woeful and cannot cross anything but streets.
On to to the baggies and expect a lot more questions against the defense again, talking of which chambers at right back is just not good enough. He can be a good Cb but no way a full back, he is clueless most times.
A win on sunday against the baggies and chavs mid week which i believe we will( chelsea no longer seem to have that air of invincibility) , the christmas period will be sweet. Come on Arsenal and congrats boss for the 810th game.
now who will beat city please.
Not seen anything of the game yet so I’m grateful for the report and comments above.
A good 3 points.
“Reiss Nelson stalling on a contract extension?!”
It never rains but pours now under Wenger! ☔️
AFCOF!
On the contracts issue, it’s interesting that Man United have 6 players in the last year of their contract. Young, Herrera, Mata, Fellaini, Blind, Shaw. Not their ‘stars’ but integral players! Hardly mentioned. Truth is more and more players do this these days.
desi @31, 34
A very well-reasoned argument I
must say, and I can see the
benefits from Mahrez if he is
playing well again.
however……
I’m not convinced that Mahrez’s ball
retention is any better. Leicester
generally counter attack and are
at less risk when Mahrez loses the
ball as they keep shape behind and
don’t over commit. Anyone who
takes players on is going to lose the
ball sometimes – if we went with a
front four of Draxler, Lacazette,
Mahrez, Ozil we would also need
to make several changes in midfield
and defence. And our attitude.
Otherwise, we will still be wide open
on quick counters.
Although, come to think of it I’m
not against those changes, it’s just
that I don’t think they will happen.
Agree on Laca, I like him and think
he can be a 20 goal a season striker
for us.
Kroenke and Arsenal
It is clear that football is entering, or has entered, an era where the finances involved have exploded out of all recognition. Stan Kroenke has so far refused to join in – leaving Arsenal to stand or fall on its own earnings. The sheer scale of finances emerging now though, may force him to change policy or sell up.
The philosophy in American sport is to get your franchise in there and enjoy the taking part – and the financial benefits that come with it. There is no relegation, so your future and your earnings from television coverage and now broadband rights, are assured. Even, worryingly for Arsenal fans, to the extent that should you fancy moving your St Louis Rams to California, you just go right ahead and do it. – which is exactly what Mr Kroenke has done.
There is no having to fight your way back up through the league structure, as with Wimbledon AFC following their split from the MK Dons. You can’t actually fight your way back up because there is no relegation to make room for you !
And so, there is no need to spend money in order to actually win things – your future is assured regardless.
Football, however, is now watched on a global scale, with the likes of the USA, China, India and the Far East adding huge markets to the agenda. They have everything except the top players. So what to do ?
The foreign owners of our Premier League clubs will want to be involved in the very top echelons of football in return for the millions, or billions, they have invested.
The answer could well be to incorporate their clubs into wider reaching competitions and markets that do include the top players. The idea of a pan-European league could well develop into a global league, as the owners of Europe’s biggest clubs come from all of those countries.
If he wants to own a club earning huge media rights from such a league, Mr Kroenke is going to have to ensure that he gets an invite. That is, he will have to be the owner of a club successful enough to be wanted in such a league. That will not be us if we have slipped into mid-table and are out of Europe’s biggest competition.
On a positive note, we can hope that our two new recruits to the back room staff, on the contracts and scouting fronts, have been brought in to do some serious business in order to get us back where we want to be.
Have so many players been allowed to run down their contracts to facilitate a huge clear out and regeneration ?
Yes, it would have been better to sell them earlier and make some money, but maybe we couldn’t move them on their current wages. Maybe this theoretical crunch point hadn’t been reached.
One way or another, the club has to decide. A huge upgrade in squad quality or settle for second division local football.
Just my opinion, of course.
Congratulations ‘holic on your wise decision to opt for the early cashout.
And given the Arsenal’s penchant for giving supporters needless bouts of soiled undergarments through the inability to close out a match comfortably, shouldn’t that be standard operating procedure for you ?
Trev,
More or less agree but ownership
is not quite as assured – the owner
of the Carolina Panthers had been
forced into selling the franchise
after being investigated for racial
and sexual misconduct.
I’m not sure if it’s morally
reprehensible to hope Stan
misconducts himself on some
unfortunate person.
If you’re right about the future
trend toward European and
Global leagues, and I think you
are, then we will not really be
The Arsenal any more. I hope
it doesn’t happen in my lifetime
to be honest. Nicking a win away
at the Tokyo Tornadoes or the
Buenos Aires Bears will mean fuck
all to me.
Me too, Matt,
The scale of finances and the practical ending of fair competition has already lowered my hopes (not ‘expectation’) and dampened my ardour – Matron !?
and osaka M
think of Delia’s away day return train journey
she’s already fighting plenty the good fight
I did cba I did but then I thought
TTG can purchase a jet and the
away holics won’t have to bother
with pesky trains anymore?✈️✈️
In fact the away support is a tricky
one – I was one of them for years and
loved it.
But it’s also true we have a lot of
fans around the world who might
get a chance to see the team in a
competitive game.
It wouldn’t be the same as going
away regularly but it would be
something i guess.
OM@28: Vito Mannone (if keepers count as defenders). Other Italians to have passed through our books in recent years, albeit fleetingly, are Emilano Viviano, also a goalkeeper and who made one U-23 appearance, and Arturo Lupoli, a striker who played six times for the first team, once in the Premiership, one FA Cup game and four League Cup ties.
Older ‘holics may remember Peter Marinello, ‘the new George Best’, from the early 1970s. Scottish-Italian rather than Italian, and the model for Neasden FC’s troubled prima donna, Bert O’Relli.
OM
Just haggling over details on the Airbus as I write. Always pleased to help out fellow Holics
Interesting to see that Kroenke’s Rams are having a great season for once in the NFL. Maybe the mean , toupeed bastard isn’t completely jinxed?
May as well
“Take the 50” I was going to say
but the new jet owning TTG
pipped me neatly.
Meanly, I of course hope the Rams
lose 🙂
Zaha spent almost the entire game yesterday begging the ref for free kicks. He can fuck off.
Thanks Ned – I remember all of
them although I didn’t see Viviano
play of course.
Noosa was right in our case, we
certainly haven’t made any great
signing from Italy.
Cynic,
Apart from that bit where he skinned
Calum and set up their first goal?
No Zaha, he is over rated one trick pony,gervinho types but has played enough PL to be a bit better than him. Draxler, Pulisic or Lemar please if Alexis is leaving which looks likely.
first dibs on flying the airbus , thunder T
i mean , how hard could it be ?
.
chin-chin
?
Cynic,
Your point about Zaha is the key one . He is a show-pony who looks , often successfully, for penalties . My mate , who supports Millwall and has been watching Football longer than I have, said to me midway through the first half ‘ Imagine how good Zaha would be in this Arsenal team’ but also made the point that he failed at Man Utd.
I think there are a number of people worth trying to sign if we can offload Sanchez- but not in January. Last night apart, Sanchez is not playing so well that he is irreplaceable and he is clearly not a major hit with his team- mates.
Zaha won’t leave Palace mid- season and possibly only Mahrez or Draxler is obtainable in January. Wenger and Gazidis really messed up with the way they handled his transfer. They decided to sell him on the last day of the window. We should have sorted out a deal earlier.
We can’t let £30 million go to waste. If PSG want him now and we could get Draxler I’d fly him to Paris in my new Airbus.
Sanllehi doesn’t join until February more’s the pity but hopefully his common sense will come to bear in this window.
CBA
I’m very happy to let you have a go but no stunt flying and no harassing the stewardesses. That’s my job
aye aye , cap’n
Aha, that makes more sense – we recruit a contracts wizard who starts just after the transfer window closes.
Is anyone, at all, actually flying this fecking Airbus ….. ?
@59 – * recalls old Groucho Marx joke ?
Trev
The pilot is joining the flight three hours after take- off . ?
Like Clockwork the return of Trev has made the bar as cheery as the day before the day before New Year’s Eve. 😉
Zaha’s stats look no better than Welbeck’s, so hardly the answer to the hole Alexis will leave. Griezmann perhaps, or Lucas Moura maybe, or even a properly coached and encouraged Theo would be better bets.
Although Theo would be better advised to leave and regather himself, especially if the Saints want him.
I’m finding it harder and harder to retain much enthusiasm for the club I’ve supported for 57 years. I’m reminded of the great David Jones book In Parenthesis … as WW1 was, in Jones own words, ‘a turning aside from the regularity of one’s ordinary business’, so this current period of Arsenal history is looking increasingly like a pause between Wenger c1996-04 and whoever finally replaces him. Please wake me up when that happens.
I suppose some recognition is due AW for his 810-match Prem record, although with the qualification that it is only a Prem record and he still needs around 300 games more to top Fergie’s total at Manure. God help us if he has his eyes on that…
I also read somewhere that he’ll have to be around well into his 90s to match whoever holds the managerial longevity record. Aaaaaaagh!
And what Toby said @6, it is great to see you back in the drinks too.
Cheers H.
Nice one Toby.
And the rest.
I got engaged. She is Spanish.
I’m in a Spoons at Stansted. Pint of cider, serious hiccups, off to see my woman and eat a large amount of dead pig.
COYG
Happy new year, GSD, and have mercy on the cochinito. What’s more, have mercy on the señorita, and congratulations to the lovely couple. 😀
OM @ 32
Thanks for reminding me of “Henry” Mancini – just goes to show that Arsenal managers made some strange signings even before AW.
Ned @ 49
“He’s a lucky fellow, Peter Marinello”. Arse’s first six figure signing, scored on his debut at Old Trafford and then …..
Time for some more proper Italians I reckon.
UTA.
Hey GSD,
I left my Spanish girlfriend as she was trying to make me eat too much dead pig.
Her name was Iona Burgabar ?
Congratulations, by the way.
Sorry, very rude of me not to do that bit first.
A Spanish fiance for a man who knows his onions ?
off to see my woman and eat a large amount of dead pig.
That’s usually the sort of thing you say ten years AFTER you’ve married her!
Seriously … Congrats GSD.
@70
Well, Marinello did last longer than
our first seven figure signing…..
Now we’re approaching our first
nine figure signing, my mind is
properly boggled and not just
with holiday booze for a change
GSD
Felicidades por tu compromiso
Excellent news. If you need any tips on the naughty bits CBA is your man
That’ll be moosic to his ears …..
Where is cba anyway ?
I heard he popped out for a breath of fresh Ayrshire. I hope he put his Christmas Jersey on ‘cos it’s absolutely Fresian cold.
The Shorthorn always suffers in the Fresian cold ?
CBA??? He was in the udder day.
Not for long though.
The man moooves so fast he just flies straight pasteurise.
I am cowed once moore by your punning expertise, Trev.
awright awright !
keep it down, lads !
they herd ya over in tottenham !
.
.
congratulations on yer engagement dino
may she bring you happiness
and a consistent yield
Just filling in, bath, until the transfer tittle-cattle begins ?
Congratulations GSD. Best wishes for future happiness.
@82, ?
Afternoon everyone, travel on Thursday night turned out much better than we expected. We arrived at Norwood Junction in good time to find our way to the Prince William for a pre match pint ( not a patch on the Hemmingford) and for a cup of tea in the away supporter’s bar area which I managed to spill over my right hand ,ouch!
Our seats were in the 3rd row from the front and not being very tall, I had a very poor view of the far end left corner and had no idea who scored our first goal. We had the 3 aisle seats and I was concerned that the stewards allowed dozens of youngish Gooners to stand in the gangway. You can imagine the pandemonium when we scored , people falling over one another and over us and the folks in the surrounding rows. I am not a novice away fan but this is a situation that could have lead to some nasty injuries and in spite of protests from people in front of us with young children, the stewards made no attempt to get fans back to their seats. I don’t think there were sufficient stewards on duty to cope with the situation.
We played some wonderful football in the first half and should have made more of our dominance by way of goals, we certainly deserved to be more than one to the good at half time. Hearts sank when Palace equalised, another of our lapses but the Alexis double saw us home even if the Palace second gave us a few heart stopping moments before the final whistle. Jack was superb and Alexis had his best game of the season.
Unexpectedly we caught the 10.05 train to London Bridge and found ourselves at Kings Cross in time to catch the 23.14 Kings Lynn train. The car was at Cambridge but Kevin got us back home only 30mins after the train.
We met up with the Cambridge Gooners for the “89” film yesterday afternoon at the Arts Picture house. There was a great turn out and not a dry eye in the house by the end.
A couple of hectic days in the company of lovely friends, nothing better. I expect a few changes for the WBA game, Kos in particular needs a rest IMHO.
Have a great New Year, let’s hope the Gunners gets it off to a great start.
COYR
Delia,
“You can imagine the pandemonium when we scored , people falling over one another and over us and the folks in the surrounding rows. ”
There were large black and white Chinese bears complaining too –
it was panda-moanium ?
*likes above post*
Cheers H! and everyone else of course.
Being shoved ten rows down the terraces used to be par for the course when we scored at the (very) old Highbury.
Seats ..,, ?
If you like Barney Ronan this is the sort of thing you will like
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/dec/29/arsene-wenger-arsenal-record-games-in-charge-alex-ferguson
A retrospective on Wenger that like most of the stuff he writes leaves you wondering where he stands
Sorry Ronay!
God, you really milked those puns earlier.
Total borefest at Old Toilet.
boring boring mario dos santos
Cynic@91 – A bit late to horn in on the punfest, surely?
The last preview of 2017. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>