Dortmund Klopp The Backlash
Nov 6th, 2013 by 'holic
It never gets boring. Juventus. AC Milan. Real Madrid. Bayern Munich. Now Borussia Dortmund (in the Champions League, thank you Lurky). Arsenal love being the first English club to win away at the big hitters.
This was classic Arsenal this season. A lively start, matched by the hosts, and so as the first half progressed we retreated into the ropes and took the best they could hit us with. There was little doubt the best opportunities of the opening 45 minutes fell the way of the hosts.
Two in particular could have transformed the evening, but Wojciech Szczesny was left breathing a sigh of relief as first Subotic, and later Mkhitaryan, fired wide with the ‘keeper beaten. For the main part though the ever impressive partnership of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker kept the much vaunted Dortmund attack quiet. Mertesacker in particular was as immense as any big flipping German in familiar surroundings.
Another well used to Dortmund is Tomas Rosicky. He returned to torment his former employers with an astonishing display at the heart of the Gunners attacking midfield, ably supported by who else but Aaron Ramsey. After Dortmund had opened the second-half with two offside efforts in the Gunners net ‘the little Mozart’ combined with Rambo, via Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud, for the decisive moment of the game. Even in this, his most productive season, Aaron would not have anticipated scoring a bit of a scrappy one with his head.
The traveling Gooners started to win their own battle of noise as on the pitch Arsenal set about wresting control of the midfield. If there were a surprise in the final half an hour it was that the visitors did not extend their advantage. Rambo again, the hardworking Giroud, and the big flipping German all had good opportunities to seal the points as Dortmund’s goal led a charmed life.
Those who read the preview here will know this particular scribe was eventually grateful for our failure to lower everyones blood pressure. One nil to the Arsenal has been a favourite song since the European Cup Winners Cup campaign of 1993/94, when it was adopted. Tonight it was a very profitable scoreline indeed.
Arsene summed up the performance perfectly afterwards.
“It was a question of being focused and intelligent, not to make the first mistake, to wait for the moment where we could create openings in their defence. We did that.”
So having claimed another extremely impressive scalp in Europe we return to yet another huge domestic contest at the weekend with confidence surely as high as it could be. It is a while since we have made the journey to Old Trafford in such good shape. Let’s hope we have picked up no further knocks tonight though.
The trilogy of games that would show us where this Arsenal team are could not have started better. Liverpool. Borussia Dortmund. Now for Manchester United off the back of two cracking victories.
One nil to the Arsenal.
Love it.
308 Responses to “Dortmund Klopp The Backlash”
Never in any doubt 🙂
Championship!
You lie like Shrek, CoR!
BMBD
The Dortmund slot…..
fantastic atmosphere in the previous drinks matched only by arsenals effort on the field.
well done to all at arsenal, a big result for many reasons
A supersize Stein of homebrewed German tears it is for me.
Great write up. Spot on as usual.
For me it was a performance of great maturity. We now seem to have a team with far more leaders on the pitch than we have had in recent years. Big Per has to be the most underrated player in Europe at the moment. In about 10 games time someone will turn and beat him for pace. Then those in the know will no doubt be jumping up and down saying how crap they think he is???? Uneducated twats.
A great performance and a great result. Guildford will be full of people soiling their undercrackers just at the thought of Sunday.
Timmy Taylor Landlord for me. I am going to enjoy the rest of tonight.
A supersize Stein of homebrewed German tears it is for me.
Great write up. Spot on as usual.
For me it was a performance of great maturity. We now seem to have a team with far more leaders on the pitch than we have had in recent years. Big Per has to be the most underrated player in Europe at the moment. In about 10 games time someone will turn and beat him for pace. Then those in the know will no doubt be jumping up and down saying how crap they think he is???? Uneducated twats.
A great performance and a great result. Guildford will be full of people soiling their undercrackers just at the thought of Sunday.
Timmy Taylor Landlord for me. I am going to enjoy the rest of tonight.
Yes! Good to see you Saturday, Sir. UTA.
enthralling previous drinks matched only be the arsenal away fans noise and the arsenal players effort on the pitch.
a massive win for many reasons
Great write up. Spot on as usual.
For me it was a performance of great maturity. We now seem to have a team with far more leaders on the pitch than we have had in recent years. Big Per has to be the most underrated player in Europe at the moment. In about 10 games time someone will turn and beat him for pace. Then those in the know will no doubt be jumping up and down saying how crap they think he is???? Uneducated twats.
A great performance and a great result. Guildford will be full of people soiling their undercrackers just at the thought of Sunday.
Timmy Taylor Landlord for me. I am going to enjoy the rest of tonight.
Yes! Good to see you Saturday, Sir. UTA.
enthralling previous drinks matched only by the arsenal away fans noise and the arsenal players effort on the pitch.
a massive win for many reasons
Well in Cannons.
Evening LG and Steve.
Enjoyed that 😉
Evening Aussie, Reaper, and not a c from PB 😉
Evening.
No idea why that post has appeared 3 times???? Perhaps we really were THAT good???
😀
Evening Holic, those tasty dollars in the account as well Sir!
Holy Recurring Posts Batman!
Lonestar, every time I predict a draw we win so that’s gotta be something innit? 8)
brilliant, ‘holic. short and sweet, much like that 1-0 scoreline.
if we can carry this form to sunday, and the string of results continues, the international break will be one for celebrating, and for our stars to rest (damn the french NT, though).
Great win though it has to be remembered it was ‘only’ Dortmund – we are yet to face a ‘world class team’ yet this season
I thought the defensive display was exceedingly poor to allow Dortmund only one effort on target!
All joking aside, the way we failed to press Dortmund when they took goal-kicks and throw-ins was very slack and needs to be improved when facing sterner opponents!
I think the thing that impressed me most was the period after we scored. As I said in the previous drinks, I would not have been unhappy with a point. You get the elation of going one up and then even more when we controlled the game. I just could not see them scoring.
Mightily impressive.
This current Arsenal are now a team with plenty of bottle – Holic will be a man with plenty of bottles after his punt on 1-0. Congratulations to both.
It was a performance of resolve and focus – just what the Doctors ordered !
‘Atmosphere’ my arse
steve t’s now had three pints of timothy taylor, and aussiegooner is thoroughly enthralled. let’s work the idea of threes into three straight victories come sunday.
From an antipodean Gooner, there are few things that make a day better than getting up early (especially later in the season-4:30 AM starts), watching us win, and going to work on a cloud.
What a result!
Watched first 20 minutes on ESPN here in Aussie, then managed to keep I phone on ‘aresblog’ match report for remainder of match.
Will watch again with a nice glass of merlot tonight.
For some reason feel we might get a result at salford on sunday,(which is am monday here!) .
Even my wife is now watching and giving her post match appaisal.
on wards and upwards
keep smiling gooners from down under
I’m loving that idea Scruz.
Immense win, didn’t dare dream of it, never thought it could happen pre-match. The defensive stability was outstanding…mind-blowingly impressive.
Cheers, ‘Guv…excellent write-up.
It has been quite some time since you’ve been able to put together such a significant string of positive missives…long may it continue.
I can’t wait to see the game, not likely to be tonight, though. From what I have read, the travelling Gooners deserve a huge tip of the cap.
Now, then. More please…recuperate, then win the next match.
CoR – methinks you predict a draw for Sunday, no?
BMBD
Agree with Steve T, all three times.
Big Per is the cornerstone on which this team is built. He is the single player I think we can least afford to lose, ahead even of the HFB, because he is a leader and because he transmits calm throughout the side.
In the pre match build up Mertesacker was identified by Jamie Redknapp as “the weak link” in this Arsenal Team. He should be sacked as he quite clearly knows nothing whatsoever about the game – utterly laughable analysis from someone who obviously made up his mind about the BFG two years ago and hasn’t watched him properly since.
Haven’t quite come down from the result yet. Jesus wept. All pressure on Utd now; we’ve answered our critics, they’ve done nothing as yet to silence theirs. Get a result at the theatre of easily lost footing and we can drive a dagger through their hearts. Please god let it happen – it feels like years since we’ve gone there and done them.
Was thinking back earlier to the pivotal moments in the development of this current side and realised that one of the key decisions made by the manager (which I didn’t agree with at the time) has proved to be the sale of Alex Song. Looks obvious in retrospect; made room for Rambo and Song never had the work ethic or diligence to be part of the current project, but it was a really brave move at the time – particularly having just sold the Dutchman. One of many recent gambles by AW that have well and truly paid off.
Hats off to the manager. What a hero that man is – someone get him signed up for god’s sake. No one in Europe will want to draw us now – two legged knockout tie against a side who’ve not lost away in 16 games?
One Arsene Wenger.
David! Good to see you back here.
My mind is similarly blown; trying to pull it all together: did that really just happen?!
Fine account h.
Only one thing to add:
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO2b
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO2b
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO2b
a
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
NAH
!
n7, you’re so right about song. he was the last of the “i play when i want to” folk who were starting, and the last of the wantaways. i wonder how much of a gamble aw really thought it was; getting arteta stopped the gap, and now that rambo is on song (heh) he’s so far out of mind that i forgot i ever missed him, for all of a month or so.
well in, david, with your good cheer and blown mind.
Thanks for the review ‘holic.
I caught what I could of the match, sneaking a peak at the laptop stragically positioned on the end of the bar at every chance, but I only really saw the last 20mins.
A major achievement to go there and take all the points home, absolutly briliant, the only downside I can see is that all the so called experts might actually start to take us serious, I personaly prefer it when they are writing us off, it makes victory all the more sweeter.
They hate us because they are not us.
UTA!
Splendid. 8)
Scruz
That’s exactly it – the “play when I want” thing.
There didn’t seem at the time to be outright footballing reasons to sell him; I think he’d lead the squad for assists the previous season. It was clearly partly about clearing space for JW and AR (which, at the time, seemed much less certain a bet than it looks now) and mainly about the character of the squad.
I cannot tell you how much I prefer watching this Arsenal to, say, the Arsenal of late 2010/early 2011, who played some wonderful stuff but who were congenitally gutless and had no fight for one another.
Before I forget: Bac Sagna, absolutely huge tonight (again). One of the few members of that 2010/11 squad who always had the necessary bollocks.
Roll on Sunday. Let’s see what the muggy Mancs have got. As ever, with this team, I predict the first goal will be vital.
COYG
Lochgelly here we come! 😀
Theatre of easily lost footing. Heh.
We do have at least one media ex pro who seems to be singing our praises. I spent a lot of time in the car today and had a bit of talk shite on. Dietmar Hamann was on. One of the questions he was asked, as was everyone else on the show was which player will regret making a move. He came up with RVP. His explanation was that he might well have won a title but where would you rather be now? The other was when asked what game he would watch and said ours. Why , because the two most entertaining teams in Europe were playing.
Redknapp choking on a lot of humble pie at the end.
n7, completely agree.
bac has always been billy big balls. remember his header against spurs, when he charged in, banged it home, grabbed the ball from the net and yelled “come on”? that’s his spirit.
half the time with song i couldn’t tell if he was going to run or just stand there looking perplexed. he had some brilliant games, but he also had outright stinkers. i think there are only a couple in this team that get near to starting that are even remotely mercurial (theo, poldi), and even they have the grinta to make it count when needed.
i agree with you about which team to watch is better: this one. they all *want* to be here, are gelling, and the play shows the togetherness. it’s not since before eduardo/brum that we’ve seen this.
Noo steadya on tha mun – you’ve not playad anywoon yet !
Good for Hamann.
I would love to know what RVP is thinking. The plain fact is that he will never be a Utd legend. He played for us too long and will have too little time with them.
He had the opportunity to be an Arsenal legend and he passed on it. Frankly, I am glad (quality as he is) and think that his departure may have done more good than harm – among the last to leave of the players who thought they were too good for us (and god knows there were a few at one stage).
It makes It all the sweeter that we now know Ferguson promised him he wouldn’t retire.
Ain’t poetic justice grand?
Nice one, Holic, and congrats on the win. 😉
That’ll larn the bookies to offer 20-1 against 1-0 the Arsenal!
I reckon that nicely balances the result a fortnight ago, both teams very even and luck decided both, imo. Our defence was very good today, no red cards (I was worried about Mikel who didn’t have his best game and looked like he could do something daft at any time) and no injuries, YAAAAY!!
Didn’t expect to see you, David, congratulations on your #28!
On to OT, to give Rooney something to chew on. He’s got more to worry about than where WE will be in March, I’m thinking. Unless he wants to join us in January of course … I wish (providing he takes a 50% wage cut).
Öskar
Thanks Trev. Nice big punt too 😉
You are spot on N7. He could have stayed and become an Arsenal God. But he didn’t and I hope we give them a right old shoeing on Sunday.
“and it was the same approach here. Grosskreutz again played an advanced role, taking advantage of Santi Cazorla’s lack of defensive discipline”
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/nov/06/arsenal-borussia-dortumund-analysis
Is it only me that thinks he’s way out of line. Cazorla might be the hardest working winger tracking back we have on the team right now. And I didn’t see him take the walk home at any point today(. Only when he lost possession.
In fact the whole team did well in tracking back today. Even Özil took long defensive runs, which were pointed out several times by the swedish expert.
Good times to be a gooner.
Well in ‘holic.
20’s against a 1-0 to the Arsenal….
Must of been a new guy. 😉
……He’ll be sacked in the morning.
That is also the most patient game i have seen arsene and arsenal play for a long time.
Hopefully arsene reminds klippety klopp that sometimes classical music conducted well is enough to win.
Nice conducting arsene/maestro
Great result and very smart game play by us! Rosicky, BFG and Gibbs for me today and good to see arteta keep his cool after his early booking. Only Dennis knows how Reus didn’t get a card 5 minutes later. With Flamini hopefully back for Sunday I wonder if he needs to play both arteta and Flamini? Would be unfair to drop Tomas at the moment and Santi needs the game time. At least the bench will be stronger! 1-3 to the arse on Sunday!!
First.
Wenger out.
Arsene Wenger doesn’t do tactics.
One of the real bonuses for me was than when called upon, Nicky B managed to run for almost 5 minutes at the end……
😀
Heh
He was much better tonight, Steve – never touched the ball ! 😉
Get ready for the gunners to be kicked at OT with the ref taking no action to help the bulldog and company to win.I have absolutely no doubt the ref was responsible for their win 2005 of the 50 th match. Reyes was kicked repeatedly by the Neville bros and the bald eagle did not take action until late in the game.
To compound the wounds, Campbell was adjudged to have tripped the bd and a spot kick was given. The tackle was outside the box.
If Arsenal can win ,it will be massive but only if the ref is impartial. As I have said the guys in black cannot be trusted . They have been helping one rf to win all the time.
He did try once Trev. In the. 91st minute I swear I saw him break into a jog.
William. I honestly don’t believe that we need worry about the ref on Sunday. The mancs have a quality strike pairing in shrek and RVP. Our midfield should tear theirs to shreds and their back 4 is more than vulnerable. I would suggest that for the first time in years they will be scared stuff of us on Sunday. Especially if we come out firing. They just won’t know how to cope.
steve t, i look to the liverpool game as a template. they too have a good strike pairing, and we shut down their service. if we can keep that going, even if the skunk and his shrek come back to get the ball it plays into our hands… my only worry is that moyes learned that maybe kagawa should be played centrally, he’s quality and could be a problem. but it’s moyes, and he has barely learned that, yet, so…
I am sure of one thing and that’s this. The mancs will not be looking forward to us turning up on Sunday one bit. We have just won two games that we would obviously struggle in??? 2 nil on Saturday quite frankly flattered Liverpool. Tonight we have beaten one of the best teams in Europe on their own dung heap. Trust me, they won’t be looking forward to it one bit.
Nice write up ‘Holic. I want to suggest correction to the following:
“Now Borussia Dortmund. Arsenal love being the first English club to win away at the big hitters.”
Arsenal are the first English club to win at Dortmund in CL, but they are not the first English club to win at Dortmund. Manchester United are, in 1964.
http://www.eurocupshistory.com/match/history_land/538-ENG/borussia_dortmund_against_english_clubs
Not that I want to be pedantic, nor that I could not care less, but fact is a fact and we should be careful with facts. Cheers
I have no clue how my laptop showed no comments.
So not first, not even close to being first.
LOL.
You’re still top-notch, Snir.
BMBD
It’s Michael Oliver with the whistle on Sunday. The same Michael Oliver who handed that dodgy penalty to Spurs vs. Hull….
N7 @ 30: “Was thinking back earlier to the pivotal moments in the development of this current side and realised that one of the key decisions made by the manager (which I didn’t agree with at the time) has proved to be the sale of Alex Song. Looks obvious in retrospect; made room for Rambo and Song never had the work ethic or diligence to be part of the current project, but it was a really brave move at the time – particularly having just sold the Dutchman. One of many recent gambles by AW that have well and truly paid off.”
I was equally vexed and perplexed when Song was let go because I thought Song-Arteta was building up a good axis and Song having some really excellent performances, but of course Arsene saw something lacking that he decided would be detrimental to the kind of team he was trying to build. Maybe something was missing attitude-wise among many of the youngsters who joined Arsenal in the glory days — Djourou also comes to mind — but themselves failed to make that next step forward, maybe excessive complacency mixed with a lack of fortitude…
Rambo attitude wise has been just extraordinary. I am sure he will achieve greater and greater heights and would then rightly be hailed as one of Arsene’s best in terms of building a player’s career.
N7, agree on Song. At the time I also felt that it was a big mistake to sell him.
As for RvP and whatever the little boy inside him thinks at the moment, I feel totally indifferent. For me, he is always going to be a synonym of Arsenal unsuccessful era.
When I look at him at the moment it’s like I look at Aliadiere or Vela, or any attacker or player who haven’t managed to do what he was supposed to do for and with Arsenal. Lead us to the title.
He might even score a hat-trick on Sunday, want us to lose on Sunday, or he might even still have soft spot for us, he might even like us. Could not care less. Not one of us, never was, never going to be.
Just another player from another club that is not the Arsenal.
Nice to have a great team again isn’t it ? We have never had a bad team in the last few years but this team has character, organisation and experience ,qualities which the others lacked.
For me Sunday is about avenging just about the worst moment in my supporting life. It may have been a blessing in disguise because immediately after we signed BFG and Arteta who have been immense for us.
We used to go to OT and play them in a way no one else could. Over mars,Wiltord, Edu, Beckham getting a boot in the mosh and Cesc running the midfield when we outplayed them with a team of kids. I don’t agree that the ref is irrelevant. Look at the history of this fixture and see how many penalties they get awarded. Almost one a game there .This team is good enough to outplay them especially if Flamini and Walcott are fit to play some part. If we lacked anything tonight it was pace on the break but we had enough heart and sheer authentic bollocks not to let anything stop us. Many people are starting to believe.
Absolutely fantatic result. Just one thing you missed out though. I’m pretty sure we also were the first English club to beat Inter on their own ground (5-1) ! I’m not worried about sundays game with utd, i’m more worried about southampton. We should (on current form) blow utd away. If we can beat Dortmund, there’s no way utd can stop us, as Dortmund are three times the team utd are. I normally worry about our games with utd as they constantly get help from the ref to beat us, but this time around, they have to try and get the ball off of us which, for their slow, average midfield will be virtually impossible. 3-1 to the MIGHTY GOONERS.
TTG @ 67: Referee is always relevant when you are playing against that lot. Even in recent memory there was a match where Arshavin gave us a lead and then the fatman rolled around for a penalty.
I started supporting Arsenal at the beginning of this century and ManU remains in my mind our truest — and in a certain way, vilest — competitor, not only on the football pitch but also for the hearts and minds of followers of PL around the world.
I fucking hate ManU.
Nothing will bring me greater pleasure than destroying them this weekend.
Still think it might be a draw though 😉
the way arsenal played tonight was all the best parts of the good arsenal team we have seen every so often but minus the small mistakes our worst performances have included.
better overall defence
better patience
not constant bombing forward when leading
better ball control in the right part of the field
not sitting back too deep when leading
execute first scoring opportunity and hold on
clean sheet
very nice work
Ahhh, good man CoR. Good man.
BMBD
This is our most important game for ages. It’s not about announcing or selves and all that media bullshit. It about putting the last nail in their coffen. I know the lousy media will say they are the Champions and still we are only on 11 Games. But losing to us will finish their league season. Not only 11 points behind us. But they will be way behind even the likes of Chelsea and man city. This loss will make them suffer for top 4 finish. I want revenge for all the hurt I have. I admit I cried on the day we lost by 8. Even last year game I was so passed we lost 2-1 because simply our team didn’t show up. I want my revenge. ARSENSL owe me that!!
I will be so hurt if the players under perform. They should know how important this game is for us. I want to gloat on Monday morning when I go to work. It’s been 8 years of suffering and pay back time is upon us. I want to see the van pussy face after losing & the bulldog rooney.
COYG make us proud
let’s do the mancs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIKL2yJ_Nx8
Letting Song go is doubly interesting. AW persisted with him for so long when others thought him a lost cause. He saw something in the young Song others didn’t, but then obviously saw something lacking in the older Song that persuaded him to change his mind.
The RvP departure, I think, has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Giroud is a “back-to-goal” striker in the way the Dutchman never was. His play is integral to the midfield we now have because he is its pivot. He lets Ozil in particular operate between the lines, where the German is most dangerous. That just wasn’t RvP’s game.
Anyone who thinks our BFG is a weak link is in serious need of treatment. You don’t win more than 80 German caps if you are a hopeless hoofer. AW said recently that Per is the best centre back in Europe at the moment. And he is not wrong. There can’t be too many better CB pairings than him and Kos right now.
Beating the Mancs will lay our last ghost to rest. A victory will be the surest sign yet that this team really is mentally tough enough to go the distance this season.
I hope that some Man U player will ask for Ozil’s jersey at half time !!!
I notice all the Manc c$nts are coming out in the press with interviews.
Do you think they’re actually worried or trying some sort of puerile mindgame?
I hope our players keep quiet and continue to do their talking on the pitch.
Morning all,
Hope you are all well and lifted by that?
Great write up Holic and congrats on the Holic pound. I’d say something about Aaron Ramsey but I’ve run out of words.
Hello.
Interesting scenario here.
This is in case Dortmund beat Napoli 1-0 and we lose 1-0:
Arsenal – Napoli 2-0
Arsenal – Dortmund 1-2
Dortmund – Arsenal 0-1
Napoli – Arsenal 1-0
Napoli – Dortmund 2-1
Arsenal – Napoli 2-0
Dortmund – Napoli 1-0
Napoli – Arsenal 1-0
Napoli – Dortmund 2-1
Arsenal – Dortmund 1-2
Dortmund – Arsenal 0-1
Dortmund – Napoli 1-0
Arsenal 6 4-3 +1
Napoli 6 3-4 -1
Dortmund 6 4-4 0
We can lose by two goals to Napoli, finish top and eliminate BVB.
We can also finish top even if Dortmund beat Napoli 2-0 by losing 3-2.
This is quite fascinating.
Finish 2 goals having scored of course.
The tiebreaker is:
Points head to head.
GD head to head.
Goals scored head to head.
Away goals head to head.
If two are still tied –
Head to head.
Goals difference group.
Goals scored group.
Coefficient.
I heard the ‘holic pound has had off spring a plenty so I raise my glass to them all. Cheers.
And Dortmund should be above Napoli in that little table.
It should read
Arsenal 6 4-3 +1
Dortmund 6 4-4 0
Napoli 6 3-4 -1
Actually Napoli won’t be above Dortmund because of their away goal in Italy.
Ok, so if they beat us 3-1 they’ll have Napoli 6 5-5 0.
Meaning they’re Above Dortmund on goals scored.
This is fascinating.
And we’ll also have 5-5 but will be above Napoli on away goals scored.
I’m loving this!
Cheers H! Great punt as well! Had some entertaining texts back from the scene of victory.
How bout we just win our next game lol
Duttlenheim – I’d be beyond shocked if we don’t beat Marseilles at home.
I’ll use the phrase I coined (noticed by TS 🙂 ) – I’m not worried about complacency at all with this group 🙂
Say (or sing) what you like about Song, but he’d have been more than useful standing in for Flam in at least some of the recent games. Mikel has done a great job but I think the pressure is starting to tell on him, especially with Rambo spending more and more time upfield. I was worried he’d do something silly before he was, wisely imo, replaced.
You wouldn’t read about it. NZ’s national TV has selected Chelsea v WBA as their match of the round this weekend. Meaning I have to wait until 12hours after the game before it gets broadcast here. By which time everything worth saying will already have been posted here … 🙁
1-3 to us anyway.
Öskar
SNAIL! Great to see you Mollusc. Hope the family are well. Come and see us soon.
Morning Esso. Great punt indeed 😉
Hmmm. Let’s just win both remaining CL games and not give a cuss who else qualifies.
Öskar
Or, put another way … Take it easy, guys, but take it!
Öskar
How about, take it easy. And if it’s easy take it twice?
Here’s an article about someone who’s not taking it easy…
Not quite “unsung” as we have a song for him (and most gooners already appreciate him quite a lot!) but I found it a good read.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/10430173/Forget-Aaron-Ramsey-and-Mesut-Ozil-Olivier-Giroud-is-Arsenals-unsung-hero-as-they-top-the-Premier-League.html
Oskar – I have to disagree.
If we can knock off a contender for the title we have to do it!
I know that we’re capable of progressing against Dortmund but I’d prefer it if they won’t be an option come the knockout stages.
I don’t believe in this “you have to play the big teams to win it” shite. I believe in you have to play the group stages, then the first knockout, then the quarter final, then the semi final, then the final.
I want to win it, and would very much prefer to face Olympiacos in the Quarters and not Dortmund (if we do qualify for the quarters).
This to me is just like hoping the big teams get eliminated from the FA cup so that we’ll have an easier path to Wembley.
Morning all. Interesting stuff re Song. Personally I had no problem with him going. I was never a massive fan. He seemed to switch off in certain games and lacked discipline. I did have a problem in the fact that we did not replace him.
Great stuff Snir although I am very much with a few others. Let’s win the next two games and not even worry about the maths.
@ Oskar
Erm, Arteta wasn’t subbed.
And I disagree with most of everything else in your post. Arteta did very well to stay disciplined, especially with Lewandowski going down more frequently than a hooker’s knickers……
Perfect write up ‘Holic, thank you. Be sure to spend your winnings on anything but a misunderstanding of how many days played there have been in an upcoming Ashes test match ;-).
Boom?
Bang….
At work. Still buzzing. Got about five hours sleep, but don’t feel tired at all. That win was so much more than just three points for me, it was about the way we won it too. Disciplined and hard-working, but when the chance presented itself we took advantage. And this is also where we see the difference a player like Özil can make, he really only needs one opportunity to create something that changes the game. That cross for Giroud that led to the goal was inch-perfect.
Chuffed for the Holic pound as well, this one must mean you are in profit for the season? 🙂
If anyone by any chance remembers me being on the lookout for a spare for Southampton on behalf of a friend in the last session, then you can now safely forget it because I managed to secure one through Ticket Exchange just before I got to bed last night.
Got quite a lot of stuff to do now so better get on with it, back later for a couple of drinks!
Best thing done in last 2 years for me was punting Song out the door. Removed the cancer that was Darren Dein from the club and we aint looked back since. People can say what they like about this summer’s transfer management, but for me was an unqualified success, as for the first time in many a year, we only lost those we wanted shot of. Except TGSTEL of course.
If you’re on twitter, enjoy:
https://twitter.com/matthewfpcole/status/398298241017868288
That’s a cracker!
Tabsed it.
Well in CoR.
Not on twitter but managed to watch that Zico. Priceless.
Is it really only just over two years since the 8-2 game?
Feels a lifetime ago. Agree with whoever said it above; the worst moment if my sporting life. Worse than Nayim, worse than the CL final, worse than the Newcastle 4-4, worse than the carling cup final of 2011. Felt physically sick for days afterwards.
Please, please, please take revenge lads. That lot really, really deserve it.
COYG
By the way, Blogs reckons that gif is from the CL final, not last night.
Thank you for reminding me P 😉
Morning Happy Campers,
Still buzzing loved the spirit shown last night, Anyone else think Bouldys been drilling the back four the offside trap is working a treat at the mo as all 4 know when to come out in a line and wave their hands in the air like they are at an 80s rave – Loving the throwback 🙂
Good morning, all. Excellent write-up, Holic and congratulations on the punt.
@Bath – maybe we should go for the double and add in Kelty? Or, perish the thought, go for the holy trinity of Lochgelly, Kelty and Lumfinnans?
Couldn’t have done it without you Steve!
Not really a betting man but that sounds like a nice little scoop Holic. Well done.
Lochgelly, Kelty and Lumfinnans?????
Sounds like some hippy trio from the late 60’s
Ze smash und ze grab
Two things almost for certain-
1.Its going to rain in manchester,
2.Moyes will be fired on monday morning
Two things almost for certain-
1.Its going to rain in manchester,
2.Moyes will be fired on monday morning
almost certain!
Nice one ‘holic!
That was such a gutsy performance. Make no mistake, Dortmund are at the highest level in European football currently and we went there and played like champs
Fucking awesome
Oh and nice work on the ‘pound holic
Cheers
If BVB and Arsenal are of the same point , does it mean we will sit below them because of 2-1, 1-0 (they score more away goal?)
Still buzzing here….bring on Moyes’ manky Manc mingers.
@BtM – never been to any of those resorts.
Podolski sat with the traveling Gooners last night …. Legend!!
Hah Per, that guy is scary :O so glad he plays for us ..also notice “BFG” in official picture name ..looks like .com uses that name for him aswell 😀 http://www.arsenal.com/assets/_files/scaled/805×1000/nov_13/zp_20_BFG-1_2350.jpg
Morning all.
Still buzzing here, me.
I can’t even begin to explain what that win meant to me, but the crux of it all is that I felt winning that game will go a long way in instilling the believe that we can win anywhere deep in the minds of our players. I feel the same way(even more) about the weekend game, I think if we fail to win some of the boys might begin to feel they just can’t win against Manure even when we are in our best form. I don’t care how the media spin it, I just want us to win and break a few psychological barriers. I know we can do it. I believe we will do it.
I think the game at OT will be similar to yesterday – very tight and decided by the finest margin. Mustn’t forget how many divers they have – Young, RvP, Rooney, Valencia to name but four.
Either that or we’ll blow them off the park.
Cent knows.
So does dk.
Really Vile Person will be regretting his one medal by the turn of the century when we have done the treble for three years on the spin 😛
Looking forward to and not dreading a game with Man U for the first time in absolutely ages, was a bloody gutsy performance last night with an indifferent referee and an appalling diving got of a man trying to get a fellow pro sent off.
Delighted to win, but not surprised that we did.
got = git LOL
Top write up ‘H, cheers mate.
Oh what a night! The Away juicer of choice was absolutely bouncing so goodness knows what it must have been like for the travelling faithful who were out there.
At HT I have to say that I felt pretty confident. Yes Dortmund had had the better of it and had spurned a couple of chances, (they are a good side and to restrict them to nothing at all was I suggest an unrealistic proposition), but I felt that we had actually defended very well, with Kos and especially the Bfg (love that man) to the fore, and that if we could just nick a goal from somewhere in the second half, there was a real chance of doing something special.
And so it proved. A nervy first ten minutes of the second half was seen out, and when the opportunity finally came, it was grasped with both hands by our mercurial Welshman.
The final 30 minutes was as good as anything I’ve seen from an Arsenal side in many a year. We took the game to a very good side on their own patch, and could easily have added 2 or 3 more goals to our tally. At the other end, I thought we were calm, disciplined and resolute, and though I did catch myself chewing my collar at some point in the last 10 minutes, that said more about me and the nerves that engulf when we are only one goal to the good, rather than anything about our defensive performance. I’m pretty sure that a neutral watching the same game would not have felt the threat to our goal as I did.
A word too about Tomas Rosicky. Man of the match by a country mile imo, he was superb in every facet of the game for the whole of the 90. I don’t know why I should feel surprised given the contributions he has made in the last 2 seasons, but nevertheless I often am. To come out of what basically amounted to a 2 year hiatus in his career and sustain that level of performance is truly amazing. What a player to have in your squad. Hats off Tomas!
So we haven’t played anyone eh? That is an accusation that can no longer be leveled at us. Make no mistake, last night’s result is the sort of complete performance that can lead to great things. It may do that, or it may ultimately all fizzle out, who can really say at this early stage? Whatever. If you can’t enjoy what this team is doing right now, and all the hope and dreams that come with it without ifs buts and maybes then I would suggest that any enjoyment you derive from Arsenal will be sporadic at best.
Yeh baby, We are the Arsenal, and we are the best…
Hearty congrats ‘H on the holic pound. ‘H knows!
Now to read the drinks…
Hello Gents, and a fine day it is too!
I watched the game in the middle of the beginnings of what feels like the nastiest bout of flu I have had for a while. After hopping around like a demented demon monkey at full time, I did take some medication which knocked me out like one of Iron Mike Tyson’s 50 kilo punches. As a result, the old brain is a bit muggy today, and I am pretty sure I won’t be able to get through a full day of work but we beat Dortmund so it’s an even trade as far as I’m concerned.
As for the match itself, I thought we defended as well as anyone could be expected to against a team of their quality. Sure, they had more shots than we did, and we were grateful to some wayward finishing from Mkhitariyan for keeping us level at the break, but I did get the feeling all through the game that we just needed one good chance to hurt them, and so it proved. Ramsey has grown in stature and physique over the last 6-8 months, and it showed as he was able to bull his way through Subotic’s desperate grab of his jersey and ignore the boot the defender swung at his face to knock the ball in. Such is the lad’s strength that Subotic, the hulking fellow that he is, ended up on the ground, having been jerked off his feet by Aaron.
And what can we say about Ollie Giroud? He is still derided in some quarters (by idiots, apparently) but on another night, he would have two assists. Last season, he spent more time complaining about the referee’s ignoring blatant fouls on him by defenders, and this season, he is an utter nightmare for them. His close control is improving by the day, and while he doesn’t have the explosive pace of Igwe Henry, he is proving adept at getting the ball down, moving away from his markers, and setting up chances for his teammates. He and Aaron are forging a fantastic understanding and long may it continue.
Mesut Ozil had a quiet game, but popped up in our box to make a crucial interception to preserve our lead. He worked his socks off defensively, and never let up on that side of his game. He also proved to be an extremely useful outlet for us when we had the ball, being able to pick it up in our half and go on shuffling run after shuffling run, forcing Dortmund to haul 3 or 4 players back just to chase him down. Chesney did extremely well, producing two class saves to keep us level, and the BFG was rather unfortunate not to get on the end of Santi’s cross as that would have been game over for sure. Kozzer should have had a penalty after being flattened by Wide Fella, and Mik rode his luck a bit last night but otherwise did extremely well with Dortmund’s repeated attempts to get him sent off. Kieran and Bac were their usual solid selves, and Nacho’s desire and determination mean that when he comes on, he’s immediately after the opposition, doing the hassling and harrying that allows us to get some air.
Finally, a word for our little Mozart, Tomas Rosicky. Someone needs to check his passport because I am sure that man is not 33 years old. He was everywhere last night, chasing down, slide tackling, recovering his own lost pass in the move leading up to our goal. I absolutely love the man, and we can only wonder what might have been if injuries hadn’t robbed us of so much of his playing time. New contract at the end of the season? I hope he has a medal to show for his time with us come May.
Now, we take ourselves to Old Trafford, the scene of many a disappointing defeat in yesteryear. 8-2, two years ago. Tommy gifting the Dutch skunk a goal last season. This season, we approach the game with a bit more belief and confidence, and they will as well. They are unbeaten in their last 7 games, and Moyes seems to be getting his feet under Old Red Nose’s desk more firmly now. It is going to be our biggest test of the season so far, bigger than the Mugsmashers and Dortmund. There is an incredible hunger to get one over them, and it doesn’t matter if we win by 1 goal or 10, whether the goal goes in off Bac’s arse after a scramble. We need to get this monkey off our backs once and for all. We need to show Wayne Granny Shagger Rooney that he the only reason he will need to wait until March to decide whether we are title contenders is because it will take him that long to recover from our football.
Bring on the scummy, diving, cheating, little boy screaming, ref-assisted bastards!
COYG!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/how-aaron-ramsey-become-europes-2685364
finally, a pundit!
Great stuff TaBS. A good night was had by all.
@132: Fantastic stuff MrBure!
I have this feeling if it looks like getting away from them, they will our players from pillar to post. Let’s hope the ref controls the game properly this Sunday….
Good stuff, TaBS and Mr Bure.
Heh apparently Poldi sat among the away fans at Dortmund 😀 http://instagram.com/p/gY–RSOJ8E/# that man is a nutter in the best meaning of the word 🙂
That was just the best result against Dortmund. I think Hansen must have a rethink about the defensive work by all the Gunners out there today. Santi was even seen to be defending like his life depended upon it which isn’t always his strong suit. It has been mentioned but I think success is inversely related to the goals you concede not the ones you score. Mert and Kos are exceptional defenders working together as a team. One of my favorite moments was the joy they shared after defeating the team I hate as much as the Totties and Manure and that is Liverpool. In fact, I may be sacrilegious but I hate Liverpool the most but just. I think and hope Schez is like a young Shilton. He has made some critical saves recently when very rarely troubled most of the game. It will be difficult against Manure because they have had an extra day to rest. However, their defense is vulnerable and their midfield is inferior to ours. Despite playing at the Toilet I think it will depend a lot on how Kos and Mert perform on the Granny fetish and the ex-employee. I think our boys will do their job. 1-0 to The Arsenal or 2-1 to The Arsenal! That extra day makes a likely win result a risk though. I would also like to mention like many others the privilege it has been to see the development of Giroud and Ramsey under Arsene. It will be one of the greatest things ever if Arsene is able to win the Champions League. It may not be this year but with the stabilization of our current squad and a couple of additions it will happen. There have been some bleak years recently but “quality” will rise to the top and I think we are on the verge of a golden period. The League should be the focus this year and I think Chelsea and ManCity are the only dangers. I hate Chelsea, too, of course. We are more than capable of beating both with our best – the depth of our squad and injuries are the factors which make me a little apprehensive.
Every time I read about how Arsenal’s defence “appears to have improved this season” I feel like shouting:
SECOND BEST DEFENCE IN THE COUNTRY LAST SEASON.
This small fact appears to have been missed entirely by people who are paid good money to talk and write about football for a living.
This isn’t Ozil related. It isn’t some sort of miracle. It has been coming for a while – probably since the moment Steve Bould started training the back line and (slightly later) the departure of Fatboy Santos.
Steve T / N7
Great comments last night.
Didi Hamann is a superb pundit. He has made a few appearances covering games on RTE. There is no substitute for intelligent analysis and independent thinking.
I chucked my Sky subscription because it really irked me that I was contributing to the wages of Jamie Redknapp. Even when the salesman from Sky rang me, to offer me a “6 month free subscription” to entice me to renew, I politely declined. When he wanted to know why I was turning down a free subscription in a tone of such lofty bewilderment, I just said “Jamie Redknapp” and hung up!
I am delighted with the recognition that Kos and PM are getting throughout the fanbase.
Our transformation over the past year is not down to Ozil, or the emergence of Rambo or efforts of Giroud. While they have no doubt contributed their part, the real difference is in our defence as a whole. The way we retain our shape, the intelligent way we press, the timing of our runs forward, our defence of set pieces and the solidity of having a top class Keeper – all blend to make us a far more resilient and difficult team to beat. Truth be told, we have always been good going forward but in latter years, we’ve had a propensity to concede almost as often as we scored. That has all changed from where I sit over the past 12 months. We’re playing to our strengths rather than just to an academic formation.
While it might not be the most romantic of scorelines, 1-0 to the Arsenal against the European Cup finalists shows a real sense of strength and steel. If we can retain that focus and concentration, for the first time in years, we can go to Old Trafford with a quiet sense of confidence in our own ability.
Zico!
That gif is priceless!
Great write up H! And the other too!
For those still reminiscing…
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/nov/07/arsenal-away-wins-champions-league-best
🙂 😀
Nice list BB.
I cannot personally choose any of these historic away wins from the past as individually a greater achievement than last night.
For our Scribe and his faithful followers, this is for you.
‘Everybody here is out of sight.
They don’t bark and they don’t bite.
They keep things loose, they keep it tight.
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight.’
‘We like our fun and we never fight.
You can’t dance and stay uptight.
It’s such a supernatural delight
Everybody was dancing in the moonlight.’ ~ King Harvast
Yes Bath.. agreed!
And i can’t believe i am saying this but.. Gary knows!
http://worldsoccertalk.com/2013/11/07/gary-neville-praises-arsenals-victory-against-dortmund-says-theyre-the-real-thing-video/
Can’t wait till the weekend 🙂
Nothing to add to the whoops of joy and merriment emanating from every corner of the bar (well most…), other than:
Hoorah!!! A real collector’s item of a performance, it had discipline and tackling and great counter-attacking. It will certainly go down in the annals of Arsenal history as a great European night.
Can I just sound the horn of destiny as a warning to everyone who’s predicting a cakewalk and three points in the bag on Sunday.
Guys, let’s just bring it back down to earth because Man U could easily spring us a surprise – plus all this crowing makes us sound like Spurs fans. Remember them before the 5-2 battering that started the reverse of their 10-point lead? How did that turn out eh?
wise words Porco, I expect very tough game at OT and we need to be careful.
Somehow, though, I think that this team is not going to get complacent and especially not against that lot. It is a nice change after many years to go in to this fixture with lot of feelgood factor surrounding the Club,
I do not in any way expecting battering of any sorts, as they say, these are the matches where current form does not mean that much.
However, if we are going to reproduce discipline, pressing and passing game such as we did against Lpoo and Dortmund, accompanied by the same determination, good result is very much possible.
Yep spot on Eandy, I think the players themselves have got a healthy dose of ‘feet-on-ground’ so as you say, we’re unlikely to see a complacent performance.
As far as fan attitude is concerned, I like to exercise a little humility – even when we’re doing so fabulously well. Memories of loud-mouthed, childish City fans trolling the day before a game come to mind and I never want to stoop to that puerile level.
Exactly Proco Rosso!
No need to get cocky before the job is done.
Enjoying it with real pleasure when it happens is my thing 🙂
Sorry for misspelling your name *blushing*
Short trip to SFO but back home in time to man the battlestations on Sunday. Great drinks above by Joe & N7 @ 139-140, and many others.
Datsyuk, no worries pal!
Afternoon all, great stuff above from the usual suspects. Loved the zico gif, it had me in stitches, watched a few times concentrating on a different supporter every time. Hil-ar-i-ous.
Oskar, the Chavs v Baggies is a Saturday game, we play Sunday/
Wise words indeed Porco, let’s not (as fans) set ourselves up for a fall by getting all billy big boots, those kuntz are always difficult to beat, especialy at the Old Toilet. The fear factor may have left with Fergiscum, but this is a massive game for them too, underestimate them at your own peril*.
Not that I think that our lads will be complacent, this new and improved version of Arsenal seem to have learned from the mistakes of the past, more then visable in yesterdays performance.
*It is hard not to get a little carried away though. 🙂
Too true, Porco. Good advice.
Like H2H, I think that this team has been round the block a few times now and will not fall into that trap.
It’ll be hard because Manure will fight with every sinew of their rancid reptilian bodies. This is their Waterloo (with apologies to our French fans).
COYG
Manure, Old Toilet and Water-loo…
I see a certain theme here. 😉
porco, dead straight. i’m excited for sunday, but not certain. this team looks like it can take anyone on any day, and should do mancs just as easily as pool, or norwich even, but history, refereeing, and the psychology of playing mancs at old trafford will always come into play.
heh@155, i am flushed with anticipation, personally. i think we’ll wipe them up.
Good stuff from Tabs and Mr Bure.
Esso, good point about Song / Dein / the other Deinites who deserted.
Apart from reportedly being disruptive, Song was a large part of our defensive problems. He lacked the discipline to really “hold” defensively causing great gaps to open up in front of our back four.
On the plus side he did create a lot of chances going forwards, but defensively his positioning was poor and he did give away a lot of stupid free kicks in dangerous areas.
And while he was very strong on the ball, he was pretty slow at getting on the ball, never possessing the urgency of Arteta or Flamini.
Mentally, too, he was found wanting, as in retrospect most of Dein’s Deserters were. While they were capable of being exceptional when things were going well, they were prone to collapsing mentally when things didn’t run so smoothly.
Spot on Trev @ 157.
God, that team were frustrating to watch.
Re: Sunday – it’s going to be war. They need the win, even more than we do, and they will fight like the swamp beasts they are for those three points.
There is no way we will be allowed to waltz in and out of that stadium with three points. I hope the players have their tin hats on and are ready for flying tackles, cheating refs and a certain left winger who wears roller skates instead of football boots.
God, I hope we beat them.
COYG
Lads, I know that Dortmund fans’ gif is quality, but its from CL final at Wembley in May, not last night.
It truly was quality, Esso. Loved it anyway.
My main concern for Sunday is not Moyes,
or which Ref Utd have picked,
or their need for points,
or Van Stapleton,
or the forces of gravity being defied in the penalty box
No.
My main concern is how to explain to Roxette the lock-in that follows a victory at Old Trafford.
Amnesia?
Esso, boo.
Are you telling me that it didn’t happen last night as well?
Prove it! : razz:
Another thing I’ve been meaning to get off my chest.
Watched this Reus kid over both games.
Yeah, he’s all right but can’t quite see what the fuss is all about. I mean £30-£40m chat? Seriously?
And his haircut is honking. 8)
So when are you setting up a Gooner pubcrawl in Lochgelly, z?
I think he’s pretty good myself – would thrive alongside Mesut and HFB.
Dr Z, Reus has all the raw materials needed to be a world-class game winner but he is not the finished product yet, I think half of the quoted/estimated price for him is based on what he is capable of becoming and not really what he is at the moment.
Talking of big money moves, I think if we have £40million pounds to spend on a star striker then we should be trying for Aguero and NOT the bitey racist. I reckon Kun is as good as, if not better than, the bitey racist.
You are on yer own there mate @ 164. Like BtM include me out.
Context : the local cheerleaders have beards. 😯
Reus is worth £40m.
Wasn’t great last night (largely because he was well marshaled), but was one of the best players on show in the Champs League semis and final last season.
The haircut is rotten though.
The haircut is rotten but the player is quality.
cent, completely agree on aguero. i focused on watching him best i could for city vs. chel$ki in the league, and his first goal was perfect movement and striking. given our quality in midfield, he’d be at a buffet table of potential goalscoring opportunities.
his only goal, i should have said.
The victorious armies are back.
I hear the ‘holicpound made another killing too.
Cheers.
Good time I take it, Ollie?
We could hear y’all in the last 30 minutes.
‘Where’s your famous atmosphere?’. They were still noisy but I was more impressed first time around. Chanting during and especially after the game was brilliant.
We’re gonna clean the old toilet once and for all.
The smell goes all the way to Peking. Poor people can’t breathe.
We’ll make a New Toilet. The grass grows much faster soaked with Dutch tears.
It was long overdue.
Silly 2Y. Please make it so.
What’s all this about Reus and his agent, Herr Cut.
10% normally. 😉
I hope going forward the players remember to let their on pitch form speak for them rather than their arsenal player intervviews.
Amazing how szcezneys recent form comes off the back off being under the microscope.
Same can be said for ramsey and arteta, mert and kos also.
Our team has knuckled down when the critics were harsh, now they need to knuckle down whilst the world applauds them.
I heard a comment the other night from a media person that szcezney makes more mistakes when his confidence/ ego is at its highest.
Mets hope arsene keeps the boys minds in check
Afraid I’m with Zico on the Reus front.
The Price of so many players are inflated. Its not very often you can look at a transfer like Ozil and be absolutely certain that not only was he worth every penny we spent on him, but we’d most likely recoup that fee again if we ever sold him.
Trev. That was just… Wow.
Sadly while I agree Aguero is brilliant we have no chance of getting him. He won’t move to another English club because I think he will return to Spain unless Citeh throw more petrodollars at him.
Reus is a slightly different type of player to anyone we have at present, certainly different to Giroud.As we get more successful I suspect deals for people like Ba are very unlikely as rivals will be even more reluctant to fill a gap in our squad. A Reus type is probably where Wenger would most like to invest . We need to find someone who could understudy or replace Giroud and also supplement him in a tight game where we need more attacking threat. We also need him on January 1st not the 31st so that Hiroud is not run into the ground . We also need somebody prepared to bide his time behind Giroud. That’s a tricky combination of elements. It might also help if he was available for the Champions League.
It rules out Suarez, Ba, Hernandez, Dzeko in England.
The possibilities are Benzema ( not keen) Benteke , Llorente ( ruled out today?) ,our mate Reus, Gomez and the wild card which is Berahino. The last named is cheap, on a very steep ascent in terms of achievement and can play wide or through the middle.But he isn’t big like Giroud but is a super finisher. He is very inexperienced but Wenger signs this sort of player . He might be additional to a more experienced striker but I think there is a very strong chance of Wenger going for him.
Briefly saw the LWCs playing a Mickey Mouse team from somewhere in Eastern Europe . The difference between that game and ours last night was quite remarkable and made me realise we must never take for granted what AW has done I qualifying us for the Champions League.
Ttg,
I think we’ve been looking for a right footed striker with pace who can also play on the right wing. Higuain and Suarez both fit that bill. The most likely other target of the players you mention is probably Benzema with us financing a move for his replacement. Benzema is ambidextrous. And a player who may also be in the same consideration is Diego Costa. (Have a look at Atletico Madrid in the CL this year. I think they’re going to surprise a few people.)
I honestly don’t think Benteke is an option. If we really wanted him, or rated him as highly as as Villa do, then we would have signed him already.
Of course, you could also look towards a more traditional back up, in the line of a Llorente and bolster the wing with a separate signing. With the exception of Theo, we really have no other wide players (on the right wing) who can penetrate on the wings as effectively as say Bayern use both Robben and Ribery for example. Those two players were instrumental in winning the CL last year.
I think Giroud has been magnificent. I would still prefer to have a pacey centre forward who can change games at the highest level. There is room for both in the squad and the money is there too. What made last nights result even more extraordinary, is that we really couldn’t play a counter attacking game properly because there was absolutely no pace in the team. The lads who add pace (Oxlade & Theo) were out! Whether its a winger, a striker or both – I think we need more pace.
…and I think there’s a very good chance of Wenger not going for anyone in January, or, if he does go for someone, not getting him.
…and if that happens, I think there’s a very good chance that all hell will break loose, particularly when (yes, “when” not “if”) someone gets injured.
Please, let’s enjoy the ride and pray that it continues and not set ourselves up for a holy war if it doesn’t.
I’d be delighted if we sign someone on January 1. I’d be almost as delighted if we sign someone on January 31. I’d be just as delighted if we don’t sign anyone.
I recognise my limitations as a football manager and trust the man we have in charge, and the men we have in charge of choosing the man in charge. He’s not infallible, and they’re not infallible but they are a hell of a lot better at it than I am. I suspect that they’re better than many of the other people who contribute to the website.
On a positive note, even an Arsenal physiotherapist’s three weeks doesn’t last for ever. We have several players out injured at present who could play up top. None of them is exactly like Giroud and all of them offer something different to our attacking threat. Our midfielders are all hugely talented and intelligent players who will be able to adapt to the different opportunities the Podolski, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sanogo offer.
We really don’t need a new signing in January. If we make one, great. If not, then we have enough to get by.
COYG
Arsene ought to get the whole team together with some popcorn to watch the infamous 8-2, followed by last year’s anemic 2-1. That ought to take care of any motivation problems.
In truth though, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble being up for this one emotionally. I do worry about our fitness levels. After their exertions against Liverpool and Dortmund, the fellas are bound to be weary. Make mistake, those big games are more grueling than the ones against the bottom of the table…I thought Giroud and Ozil in particular looked leggy yesterday, and it showed in the quality off their passing.
Ollie!!!
Why didn’t you draw with Apoel :/?
Don’t want to sound like a LWC but a gold Premier League badge would look good on this innit? 😉
http://straightalkingooners.com/leaked-pictures-of-golden-201415-arsenal-away-kit/15595/
Kidding aside though, I am literally turgid with anticipation of the match at Old Toilet. The Manure fans I know are bricking it too…
I’d like to say there will be fireworks but surely a match that’s as built up as this one is destined to end 0-0????
Sunday it is indeed, H2H, but Monday here in NZ and I get a bit confused with the time diff. And sometimes a bit confused generally … as Zico pointed out Arteta wasn’t subbed on Wednesday as I averred in an earlier post! That was probably me wanting AW to get him off before he did something silly.
But sorry, Zico, I have to disagree about Rolls (made in Germany) Reus who I believe is on a par with Özilla the Hun and a snip at 40mil.
Apparantly Cavani is unhappy at PSG and could be looking for a move. Not worth the 50mil PSG paid for him, but an ideal partner/sub for OG. And way way way better than Chicharito as suggested elsewhere.
Öskar
does anyone know when Podolski, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain will be back?
Nov 10 Flamini
Nov 23 Walcott
Nov 30 Podolski
No return date: Wilshere, Sanogo, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Diaby
CoR, you just keep with that “top” draw mentality.
Just joined Twitter…still feel old and unhip. What to do now?
BMBD
I joined Twitter ages ago, Lonestar. None of my friends are in it, and everything I tweeted was pretty much ignored. So I gave up. Same with Facebook. No-one I know belongs to that either – except for younger family members and their friends.
But beware posting on your kids pages, it simply isn’t cool. Unless you really want to embarrass them. 😉
I guess it’s an age thing and if I hadn’t spent 20 years with IBM I would likely have been as technologically illiterate as most of my contemporaries and never bothered. Even so I am now rapidly falling behind the younger generations who use these new technologies regularly, and they have no pity trust me.
I also hate not being hip and up to speed, but being a grumpy old git beholden to no-one does have its compensations. 🙂
Öskar
Follow me Lonestar and check out my real drawing skills!
@Jetlifari is me tagname like 🙂
Pangloss
I can see where you are going in that we need to avoid meltdown in January if we are not as active as some would like us to be. But you could also look at past seasons and suggest that a bit more ambition and foresight in January might have brought us success.As someone who watches 30 plus games live a season with the consequent expense I think I’ve earned the right to chip in the odd opinion to help our French supremo.
It would frankly be irresponsible to not sign back up for Giroud because even if the poor guy isn’t injured we will run him into the ground and he will lose his effectiveness. It’s as simple and clearcut as this.
I have enormous admiration for what Wenger and Bould have achieved thus far but to shrug your shoulders and say what will be will be isn’t necessarily the right stance for supporters. I think we all have strong opinions on this site and frankly while Wenger is umpteen times better than any of us as a manager I often agree with posters rather than him when they take issue with him. I guess you always will do because he has a very hard job ,has to take lots of crucial decisions and ultimately the buck rests with him and he is right a lot more often than we are.
But Re Giroud its fair to say that it would be irresponsible not to sign backup and I suspect most Holics would agree. So I can’t be ‘ almost as delighted’ if we sign no one in January.
On another note I think Gooners everywhere should congratulate one of our own,AP McCoy on an enormous achievement . Looks like Sports Personality will be fought between two Gooners- Murray and McCoy although Aaron Ramsey is making a late run on the rails!!
Signing ‘back-up’ for Giroud will be problematic in January, as those of requisite quality will almost certainly be CL cup tied. I know some people on here don’t regard that as an issue, but Wenger does, and has said so in the past. I am interested to see what will happen.
CoR@187: bloody hell, that is one ugly shirt. Hope it’s fake, but unfortunately it probably isn’t.
Esso: he may have said so, but he didn’t mind when signing Arshavin. And wasn’t Adebayor also tied when we got him in 2006? I’d say the problem with getting CL-tied players of the right calibre isn’t that they are CL-tied per se, the problem is that they usually aren’t interested in leaving their clubs in January because they are in the knock-out stages of the CL anyway and most often also fighting at the top end of their respective league tables.
Also, let us not forget that we have Podolski and Theo who can both play up top if needed. Sure, not like Giroud but I think there are very few players who can replace Giroud like for like and I’d suspect even fewer who are available.
Can I get a…
…cross for the far post…
BOOM!!!!!
Cheers Lars – much obliged sir!
OK the more I read about Sunday, the more nervous I get. This from ‘Big Weekend’ on f365:
“Win, and in my opinion they should immediately be installed as title favourites, because they will have no more psychological hoops to jump through.”
This from Ramsey:
“Hopefully now we can go to Old Trafford and finish the job off.”
When we demolished Spurs (the first 5-2, not the second one!), they were all saying it’s the perfect time to play us, we were ripe for the picking etc. Things haven’t looked this good for years but now I’m putting my fingers in my ears to everyone’s comments about the game…
*lalalalalalalalalalalala I can’t hear you lalalalalalala*
Well in Porco and nice assist Lars.
Proper team goal, that! Nice finish, Porco.
Good points about the comparisons to our first 5-2 (having to qualify which 5-2 you are talking about is still really funny…) where the respective teams were in not too dissimilar positions relative to each other to where we and ManU are now. Like I have said before I certainly don’t expect them to roll over and have their bellies tickled and anyone who at this stage disregards them as title challengers is doing so at their own peril. It will be one hell of a tough game on Sunday, make no mistakes about that. They aren’t as good as they were last season, but as long as they have Rooney and van Persie you can never count them out. We have more than enough to beat them, but the slightest lack of focus will see them punish us.
Porco and Lars both know (again).
It’s going to be blood and guts on Sunday. They will see this as their opportunity to assert their dominance ….over Arsenal and over the Premiership in general.
Expect them to use every trick in the book. Expect Evra to clatter Mesut early and nastily. Expect Anderson or Cleverly to clatter Santi.
We will have to be strong, focused and work every bit as hard as we did against Liverpoo and Dortmund. If we do and we get the rub of the green and a fair ref then we can beat them. But it ain’t going to be a cakewalk.
….and well in Porco, nicely worked gents.
@ 201 Porco Rosso, I fully agree.
Confidence is a good thing of course, but overconfidence is the worst thing that could happen to the Arsenal, fans included.
It was not that long ago when we played some of the most beautiful football in the world, but we were extremely overconfident, particularly against weaker opponents.
You quoted Ramsey. I think that he, in particular must not get overexcited and overconfident, because he is still a young and inexperienced player, in extraordinary form though. On Sunday he needs to keep things simple, stay calm, don’t rush and complicate things all in order to avoid situations like that one against Dortmund at home, when they’ve scored after his mistake.
As for the fans, I see lots of confident fans on the net, which is not a bad thing. The bad thing is some of them act like we already won against United. It could be really nasty for them if we loose.
While I urge caution I will like to point out that the main reason it seems our players are talking to the press a lot these days is NOT because the players feel like bragging or something of that nature, it is rather a result of what we are doing on the pitch. The press(including our own official club website) need to get hits on their websites and fill column inches so naturally they talk, mostly, to the players/teams doing well on the pitch because they’re the ones the fans want to hear from.
In the case of our own official press, I believe the commercial department would have told them to take advantage of our current run of relative success by conducting as many interview as possible so as to improve the image of our players and make them more marketable. Just my two cents.
Porco, Lars,
That Jack-Giroudesque effort may be goal of the season. 😉
CoR – that is a shockingly bad shirt @187. Please let that be a fake.
Morning all. Lots of interesting stuff as usual.
My take on January is that I will be very surprised if we don’t strengthen. We have started the season on fire. The whole team has matured and grown. Leaders have emerged and there seems a great deal of unity. I think there are several factors for that improvement. The loss of certain high profile players has allowed others to flourish. It is not that long ago that we would win the ball and look for Cesc. Others have since stepped up to the plate. Individuals have continued to develop and the team as a whole has evolved as a result. We actually now have what I call Arsenal players. Players that don’t just turn up but players who are now part of the club as a whole.
The feel good factor was missing at the start of the season. The Villa game did nothing to bring it back. Subsequent results set about to change that. Then came the signing of Özil. That along with improved performances gave the whole club a buzz. It lifted everyone. The Grove has come alive again. Fans walk about with a smile on their face again. The whole atmosphere changed.
But among the new found optimism there is a sense of realism. As wonderful as we have played we all know we are short in certain areas. The form of Flamini has not only been a major plus but it has highlighted areas where we were lacking. We are also desperately short up front. Ollie G has soldiered above and beyond what should be required of him. I still can not understand why the Higuain deal fell through. Perhaps we moved over to Suarez in the false belief that there was a release clause. For me that is such a shame. Can you imagine being top of the league with the squad we have plus Higuain???? That is why I honestly feel we need to push the boat out in January. Money spent on a top quality striker would add to what we have built already. I have said this before but the Özil signing just has to be the start.
I would hope that by this stage that we have the wheels well and truly in motion. I would hope that we are ready to pounce. Get to January still top of the league and in the champs lge. Then, bring in another bit of top quality and the whole football world will sit up and take notice. And who knows, get it right and we all might just start dreaming of what might be????
As for the Mancs??? Quite simply bollocks to them. Let them worry about us rather than us worrying about them.
Bring it on.
Steve T
Very well summed up– totally agree. Walcott and Podolski (who lest we forget have played about 8 games between them this season) are not able to replace Giroud. It would weaken and unbalance the team too much. Not signing anybody is NOT an option if the double negative doesn’t confuse!!
van Persie kakkerlakken.
Thanks all, some cracking reading again.
Quick update. Will be doing a preview for SWOL later and the preview on here will follow at some stage of tomorrow.
Have a cracking Friday and an even better weekend.
ttg, I’m happy to acknowledge that as you see more live games than me (far more, sadly from my pioint of view) you are much better placed to from an opinion about how the team is playing, and the desirability of new signings. I must also admit that I don’t know what I meant when I said above that I’d be equally delight to see signings or not in January.
The point that I keep banging on about is that impressions count and choice of words is important. Please try to be a little less strident, less of the “Failure to … is not an option” and more of the “We should …”.
When the wheels start to wobble, our friends in the meeja won’t be slow to encourage the knives to come out again, please let’s not do their jobs for them.
COYG
Cheers, ‘holic.
Pangloss Knows.
Rooney trying to wind up the defence by saying we must be sick of the sight of him, surely the entire world has reached that point by now 😛
Afternoon all, top stuff above, again.
Massive heh @ Trev’s Herr Cut, is he also the agent of Dimitri Barbertov?
211, Inderdaad Snir, gesproken als en echt Ajaceid.
Heh @ depressed.
ps, I doubted that Gif was from Wednesday due to all the wembley shirts, however, I’d like to think that Aaron’s goal had the exact same effect. I still think it’s hilarious.
Cent knows who knows.
Depressed speaks for many.
Cheers H2H, and Toby,
Glad to see my old nonsense raises the odd chuckle.
I believe Barbertov’s agent is Herr Dresser though. 😉
I don’t really pay too much attention to all the transfer gossip, especially when the transfer window’s not even open, but it sells papers and garnishes hits so the whole circus rolls on throughout the year.
Our squad depth seems to be the subject de jour, especialy up front, so ofcourse we are going to be linked with everyone and anyone who’s ever had a shot on target. I’d advise not to get too excited about it all as 98.7% of it is probably bollox, and I think I’m being kind there.
I agree with TTG and Steve T that we need to strengthen, I don’t think we need to bring in a back up to Giroud, I’d prefer we get someone who will challenge for his spot, we’ve had our fair share of passengers in the squad over the years, we’ve made great strides at weeding them out, so why bring in more? This will make the transfer dealings a lot more difficult.
Who is available? Wants to move(World Cup year)? Plus, are their clubs willing to sell? Would said individual be able to fit within what looks like a close knit squad?
With those questions in mind, plus many others, I can understand the point, I believe, Pangloss is trying to make. It is going to be harded then ever to sign what we need or expect, so let’s try to not let the meeja, as is their wont, drive a wedge between the fanbase and the club. I’m almost sure (I haven’t been in the past) that those behind the scenes tasked to make transfers happen are working 24/7 on solutions, so as hard as it may be, I think we need to show a little patience during this window.
For the record, I don’t think we are in as bad a shape as many would have you believe, in fact, I don’t think there are many clubs that could of coped with the personal losses that we suffered and still manage to top two leagues. Ofcourse there’s always room for improvement, but let’s not get too carried away about whats being printed in the rags or spewed by the so called experts.
Steve T, I too was disapointed at missing out on Higuan, but I think that miss led us to the signature of Ozil, every cloud has a silver lining and all that. I definetly don’t think we would have got both and can you imagine GH having the same impact on the club as a whole as MO?
This is genius!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zvwcG1bfBI&feature=youtu.be
Enjoy (especially Snir!!) 😉
Ha Ha. 😆
I must say H2H, I don’t see any reason why we could not have got both.
Just my humble opinion of course.
Didn’t they offer us first crack at Ozil because they played silly buggers about Higuan.
Do you think we would have splashed so much on what might of been seen as a luxury player (we of course know better now) having already landed our prime target?
I’m not so sure, but again it’s all speculation on my part.
H2H, Pangloss et al
Thanks for your very sensible views. I tend to get very passionate about Arsenal because I have lived through some periods (some overseen by AW) where wrong decisions have been made, often in January, which have probably cost us success. Usually they come when we don’t buy but occasionally when we do.
Interesting point that H2H makes about Ozil/Higuain . We made two additions of note in the summer and both have had major impacts -Ozil who cost £42 million and Flamini who cost nothing! I don’t think we necessarily need to spend an enormous amount of money and Wenger is often very creative (like with Flamini) at identifying very cost-effective options. So a loan might be the answer or a surprise addition that is not mainstream. We certainly don’t have to splash the cash unless we find a real top quality option like Ozil was.
I would say very softly from inside a wardrobe and out of earshot of any of the media that we MUST do this because otherwise the team will suffer when Giroud breaks down as he assuredly will if we run him into the ground. Wenger must know this so I hope we can rest assured that he will fix it.
David Moyes: “By the end of the season you play every team twice and that’s when really things are decided and sorted out so that’s really the only time when you can truly see who’s been the best team.”
You can see why he got the job.
How about this song:
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/awesome-song-its-not-gay-if-its-with-aaron-ramsey/?
And as Christmas is coming:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kjQt0HabURA
The University of Manchester will be offering all at Old Toilet Honoury Degrees in The Bleedin Obvious.
Loving all these songs.
Man U at OT is no walk in the park, even with their current squad of geezers.
VanPayme and Shrek are both dangerous. Kagawa is quality. Will be hard fought this one.
I don’t think a Higuain deal would have made any difference to the signing of Özil.
AW said that he had tried to sign Özil before he went to Madrid and had maintained contact with him. He was clearly someone AW wanted for a long time, and just as he did with Tomas Rosicky, he eventually got his man. I don’t see that signing Higuain would have precluded an Özil deal provided that the money was there, which it was.
It’s interesting to speculate on what might have happened in relation to Giroud had we signed Higuain. Giroud gives the team so much more than ‘just’ goals. His link up play in the box is brilliant and his work rate is phenomenal. His defensive contribution, particularly at set pieces, is huge too.
But he does need someone over a season to share the load with. He looked absolutely knackered by the end of Wednesday’s game and it will be interesting to see what sort of recovery he can make by Sunday.
It would be Akpom on the bench for me after another brain achingly poor five minutes of strolling around from Bendtner on Wednesday. You would think the sheer guts of all the other players would have shamed him into some kind of effort but, hey, he’s irrevocably Bendtner.
No effort at all – and he can still afford to drive a Bendtley. 😉
dkg @225, holy shit, the man’s a genius.
Why is it our manager never says anything like that ? Oh yes …… 😉
Steve @ 222: Two reasons: (a) I don’t think we would have taken the risk of spending 70+ million pounds in a single transfer window, we still need to be careful about how much we spend. (b) I don’t think Perez would have sanctioned selling two his better players to the same club, notwithstanding his apparent good relationship with Arsene.
As H2H mentioned we got Ozil because we didn’t get Higuain.
Also, I don’t think having both Giroud and Higuain would have necessarily meant a better start. For one there would have been immense pressure for Arsene to start Higuain, and Giroud’s quite unique and consistent contribution would have been lost as he would have played under huge pressure. Lot of his improvements this season has been psychological as he doesn’t hurry as much, and he is quietly confident about his role in the team’s play. I am sure eventually we would have settled on a comfortable dynamics between Giroud-Higuain but this flying start may have not happened. Higuain would have taken time to settle and he is nowhere the workhorse Giroud is or would have contributed to defense the way Giroud does. A more quality player in teh final third, a better goal scorer but the team would have to be formed differently.
The problem really is in January to find someone of quality who won’t mind being Giroud’s understudy or play in two distinctly different formation: one that uses Giroud as a pivot for midfield hold-up play and the other that uses up-the-pitch pressing and quick counter attacks from deep. The former would see Ozil and Rambo more advanced and the latter would rely heavily on wingers.
That is why I think another genuine goalscoring winger may be more on the cards than Giroud-II in January.
Heh ! @the Christmas tale, dkg. 😉
Dr Faustus,
“As H2H mentioned we got Ozil because we didn’t get Higuain.”
How do you know that ?
Trev @ 234: Guess. Conjecture. Shooting the breeze. Wild speculation. 🙂
Like everyone else … except insiders like you, of course. 🙂
Dr F knows @232.
He does, Trev.
I don’t think the Higuain and Özil deals are linked in anyway. Madrid chose to sell both. I don’t see any reason why both could not have ended up with us. I also don’t think money had anything to do with it. If we had spent money on a striker and Özil became available then I’m sure we would have still gone for it.
Me too, Steve.
I don’t follow the logic of the mutually exclusive argument.
If folks think that AW will be prepared to spend on a quality striker in January, if one is available, why would he not have spent on one in August, given that he clearly thought we needed one.
Özil is a deal he would have moved heaven and earth for, regardless of whether we had already bought a striker.
Hate to play the contrarian, though I will!:
Dunno about a new striker.
With a fit Poldi and a fit Walcot, and a fit Ox – depending how you look at it – about to be back and playing are:
2 strikers, 1 winger; or
1 striker, 2 wingers; or
3 wingers one of which has a murderous left foot and is striker-like.
This also ignores Sonogo, who is in all likelihood an OG understudy, though not yet the finished article. Ganbry is nearly having a breakout year.
Despite the MO buy, this is Arsene Wenger we’re talking about. We’re not suddenly City itching to spend 100m. Odds of him buying another very good (i.e. expensive player like a game-changing striker) in January, I’d put very low.
I figure we’re done buying players this campaign, but maybe will be pleasantly surprised. Intersting comments above though. Generally, agree with Trev.
I don’t think we’ll buy a striker in January, simply because I can’t see anyone good enough being available. The only one who could possibly, possibly be available is Lewandowski if Dortmund want to cash in what little money they can get but all signs (ok then, rumours) point to him being Bayern-bound in the summer.
And with that said I shall try to stay away from transfer speculations until January 🙂
All valid points Homer. All great players. Not one is what I would class as a top drawer striker though. All are good attacking options but I still think we need a top class striker. Whether it happens in January or not I guess we will all have to wait and see.
I agree with Lars@241 – last sentence. February 1st to be precise.
I for one, couldn’t agree more with Faustus and H2H in relation to Ozil.
He was put on a plate for us because RM knew they screwed us on the GH deal.
Of course, nobody at the bar was close to the deal, so its just a question of interpreting what you believe happened by reading between the lines.
But I would ask you to kindly look at it from RM perspective:
They sold Higuain to Napoli. A team that poses no threat on the European front. They sold him for 50% more money than Wenger agreed to pay and maximised the return.
The then sold Ozil to Arsenal for top dollar. Again to a team, that they would regard as posing little threat to them on a European front.
Do you seriously think it was a fluke that these players were not offered to clubs that could pose a direct threat to RM European ambitions? Clubs that could easily match and exceed what both Napoli and AFC could offer?
I wholeheartedly agree with the point Esso makes in relation to January. It not about spending money, its about getting the right talent at the right price and in general, none of the bug players are available in January.
So the point that Faustus makes about the goalscoring winger being a more viable option, makes complete sense to me as well.
Good points there, Joe.
Ofcourse the Ozil signing was seen as a major coup, it came completly out of the blue, taking everybody by surprise. There was no weeks of speculation leading up to it, it was just, bamm, done.
Look at our transfer history over the last few years, as soon as the meedja get an inkling that we have a target, it’s splashed across the red tops only for us to be gazumped by one of the financialy doped.
As you correctly point out, none of us are really privy to our summer dealings, but if I had to speculate, I’d put that one down to a one in a million chance, the stars alligned and all the pieces fell into place, resulting in us landing one of the worlds most exciting players, more by chance then any great design.
Not that I give a hoot, cos we got Oz!!!!
Couldn’t agree more H2H.
We spent the entire summer trying to sign a striker and then we end up signing an attacking midfielder! It made no sense at all, until you realised just who we’d signed.
Ozil falls into that category of player that you just sign, without any questions or thinking, if you have the money and he becomes available. I think Fabregas is in that space too. I honestly believe, despite all the wonderful midfielders we have, that if Cesc became available in the summer and wanted a return to London, Wenger would sign him in a heartbeat.
Some people think that its just about offering money. While money is important, there are so many other factors that come into the equation when you try to sign players of this calibre. Just ask Moyesy..!
I don’t buy the idea that we god Ozil because we didn’t get Higuain, based on the premise that Madrid would not sell two quality players to the same team.
They’ve sold not two but three players to Napoli this summer.
Someone can say that Calejon and Albiol are not in the same quality level as Higuain, but they were Madrid players and that speaks volumes.
We didn’t get Higuain simply because we moved the goalposts and Arsene went in for another player, in my opinion a better player, Suarez.
Joe, I disagree about Madrid’s policy not to sell their players to clubs that could pose a direct threat to RM European ambitions.
Wesley Sneijder was sold to Inter who were CL Champions next year.
Robben, was sold to Bayern couple of years ago. I am sure that Bayern are considered direct threat to anyone European ambitions.
We can only hope that they’ve made the same mistake with Ozil.
Agreed Lurky.
AW said in an interview that he knew there was a chance of Özil quite some while before it happened, but it was all held up by Levy delaying the sale of Bale to RM right until the last possible day.
Despite that, he was still making a real attempt to sign Suarez, and while waiting to see if that would happen, Napoli jumped in with their Cavani money and made RM an offer they couldn’t refuse for Higuain, knowing that he was available.
So, rather than we only got Özil because we didn’t get Higuain, we could possibly have finished up with Özil and Suarez.
Almost unbelievable it may be, but I am told it is true.
I have to say I’m also quite happy with what we have anyway.
Dr Faustus,
“Like everyone else … except insiders like you, of course. ”
And Joe,
Feel free to write off my ‘knowledge’ of events, but I do have two sources of information who are right at the heart of the club.
Well we’d better win the CL this season or next, as it looks like BT have done a deal for exclusive rights from 2015.
I’m with Trev, Lurky and a few others. Özil is a world class player. From memory we tried to sign him when he was at Bremen before he opted for Madrid. Özil became surplus to requirements at Madrid because they signed Bale. Someone had to give and for reasons only they will know it was Özil that they decided to let go. How grateful we all are for that.
I don’t for one second see how we were done over by Madrid with Higuain? We had obviously agreed nothing. We waited and waited. Napoli came in with an offer that Madrid accepted. We decided not to match it. Down to us really, no one else. If the roles were reversed then I would expect us to act no differently.
The difference between a coach and a tactical imbecile is Celtic who have on more than one occasion visited the Nou Camp and come away with a narrow defeat whereas Arsenal have on several occasions visited the Nou Camp and have routinely been slaughtered. But then I really am a pathetic fucking cunt.
salami,
you silly sausage.
Yes you are, aren’t you.
Where did you hear the cynic???
Evening H. Got a nice drop of Pedigree here. There is a slightly chilled one sat here with your name on. Enjoy.
Send a salami to your boy in the army.
With the right brooklyn accent, it rhymes.
Higuain is a fine player. He score goals. But he doesnt make all of Napoli better.
He doesnt work the space and angles. And he simply doesnt do windows. Or defense.
I thank my personal gods we go MO.
Only one AW.
Trev @ 248: I actually was giving credence to the possibility that you have insider’s knowledge, albeit in a slightly joking manner I agree. I have none (I live across the pond), and my talks about transfers are purely speculations, as I would be the first one to accept. And that is why I don’t like to talk about transfers …
Nonetheless, proximity to an event doesn’t necessarily make one an impartial analyst of how and why it unfolded 🙂
About the starting line-up, if Flamini is available I am guessing him and Arteta both would start. That means one of Santi-Rambo-TR7 to be on the bench, if that is the case it may just be TR7 because despite the energy-charged performances he is 33 years old after all, and three consecutive starts within eight days may be too much.
On the other hand starting with him will give us that additional energy in the midfield and the high-tempo pressing to begin with which can force the slowish ManU defense to make early mistakes for us to exploit.
Start the game blisteringly, take control, slow down the pace, make them chase and run, and attack in small bursts. Play intelligently but not showing too much respect.
Nearly ten years we have last won in league at that shit-hole, about time. Please.
When I said nearly ten, I meant seven years after all. Still, way too long …
I am absolutely certain AW will sign a top player in January … IF he can get the right one/s to join. Assuming we are still in the CL and strongly contending the EPL we will not have looked so attractive to potential recruits since 2005. Plus they will see more chance of regular playing time with us than with the oligarab all-stars.
Gundogan, Reus, Lemonsquashki, Suarez, Cavani, Costa, Rooney etc etc … you name ’em, there’s no reson why they wouldn’t see us as a good bet. If we get the chance to snap up another world class player we definitely should.
Öskar
Having spent the last 30 hours in California I can report it is still here. Leaving in the morning.
Oskar, You’re not kidding about the positive side of being a grumpy old git beholden to no-one. 🙂
Higuain, like all players has his faults. But he is a proven goal scorer of some pedigree. If you need any more convincing look at the bench on Wednesday night. Now imagine it with a Higuain or a player of similar quality. You can’t tell me that does not strengthen the side? If we are chasing the game who would you rather see warming up? Bendtner? Jenkinson, Hayden or someone of Higuain’s class?
That is why we need to do our utmost to continue the progress we have made and try to bring someone of real quality in this January.
Trev,
I haven’t knocked your sources at all nor have i alluded to that either. I would be the first to welcome inside knowledge of any type. Nor am I disagreeing with you on the possibility of signing suarez and ozil – we were clearly in for both. But I do believe that RM reneged on the higuain deal and to appease matters they fast tracked the ozil deal. And I don’t think it was any coincidence that those two players went to Napoli and afc.
More likely that we may be needing a striker to share the load with Giroud come January. What AW will do,however is anybody’s guess. For all I know he may go out and sign a right back and by the end of May we will have seen that he made the right decision.
@254 – It was on The Times and Telegraph websites late last night and is on BBC today. £900m for a three year deal, thought to be exclusive. No more Sky multi screen, no more terrestrial Champions League.
Morning all. This may be of interest to some – DB’s autobiography “Stillness and Speed” can be purchased for just £0.49 – yes 49p from Amazon for Kindle. You can get a kindle app for iPads/iPhones from the App Store free of charge. You will need to download the app first. This was first posted on the “arses” yesterday afternoon.
Cynic 267. I thought uefa forced sky to split some coverage of the champions league with terrestrial tv in order to avoid a monopolistic situation. Guess we will have to see that knob Platini’s explanation / justification first of all if it does return to a monopoly.
Morning all. Building up to a massive weekend here.
Rambo 29/10 to score at any time in the game looks tempting even to a non-betting man like me.
COYG.
Cynic, this is from the BBC article:
As part of the deal, BT has assured Uefa it will make a wide range of matches free to air.
If they pay all that money, they are not going to hide the games and if they have any sense they’ll offer pay-per-view or online subscription. They may also very well sell some games on to other broadcasters (it is increasingly common in the TV world that rights holders sub-license part of their rights to competitors for the simple reason that they can’t sell enough advertising and/or subscriptions to cover the rights fee on their own), but in any case I doubt it will be too difficult for you to get the games even after BT have taken over.
Joe. I’m interested. Why and how did Madrid renege on any Higuain deal?
@ Steve
I’ve no inside info on Higuain, but just to note (as this came up a lot in the summer); in virtually any deal there is a gap between commercial terms being agreed in principle and contracts being signed.
Suspect, based on reports, that the Higuain deal fell apart in this gap.
Technically, Madrid were free to court better offers, but it is poor form. In essence, it appears we were gazumped.
Steve T,
You had it right @250. While we chased Suarez, Napoli jumped in with a big offer for Higuain – no more complicated than that.
Dr Faustus, Joe,
I don’t mean to mention my contacts as some sort of jumped up ITK, but any information I divulge in the bar is as reliable as it could possibly be.
I do NOT get names of transfer targets while negotiations are going on, and I would never mention one if I did.
Again, I will not say here who those contacts are but I trust them completely.
Coffee for me please, Guv, and whatever Faustus and Joe are having.
Lars’ tab, naturally. 😉
Could not disagree more. Football is a business. If we have no agreement signed, sealed and on place then there is no deal. My guess, and that is all it is that we had our head turned by Suarez. I am convinced that we would have had the word from his agent and would have been told that they had a 40 million buy out clause. I am sure that Suarez will have given the nod that he was happy to come. The rest is history. I would suggest that in the interim Napoli have come in with their offer. We have then decided that the fee was too much and we refused to match it. I personally don’t blame Madrid in the slightest. If we had not chased Suarez then I think there is every possibility that Higuain would be an Arsenal player. If that had been the case then I see no reason why that would have had any affect on the Özil deal.
As I said. Just my humble opinion, and just why I think we are still in the market for a top striker.
Trev knows….
Beat me to it.
Steve T and Trev knows.
I for one read a lot about Arsenal. That’s the way I try to compensate for never seen Arsenal in flesh. That’s the way I came to Holic’s blog years ago, after some long journeys and visiting many places, some scary and strange, I’ve decided that this place with all its warmth, delightful host and amazing residents could be my Arsenal home.
Don’t have any personal info, but I know where to find the ones who have, on the net. And if someone thinks people who have some info don’t exist or are fake, is terribly wrong.
From what I’ve read so far I am sure that we let Higuain go. It was our choice. He wanted to come, his father wanted for him to come, even the fee was agreed.
Arsene was then given chance to go for a bigger catch. He decided to take a risk a accept the challenge. Suarez was his choice.
Similar thing happened with Ozil deal. Try to remember that we were in for Di Maria, who in all fairness, didn’t want to come, but Real wanted to sell him because they needed money. Di Maria decided to play like a lunatic and fight for his place, he was determined to stay in Madrid.
Arsene was again given chance from Perez and Ancelotti to go for a bigger catch. He risked a lot with going for Ozil, because he was once being refused by the player and knew many teams ware after him. The risk in Ozil’s case payed off in the end, just like it didn’t payed in Suarez’s.
All this may be a speculation and all that, but like I said, I have checked under many rocks and I find it true.
Truth is, only a select few really know.
The rest is just speculation, gossip, hearsay, conjecture, extrapulation, whatever.
Passes the time though. 😉
We got 24 players more talented than janu-jizz and he’s their hope!
All rather nostalgic with Arsène not pulling any punches in his press conference and Manyoo players being quoted all over the press giving it large abou not being underdogs etc. etc.
Frankly I’m beginning to get a little scared of how much I want this one.
COYG
Prediction:
Chelsea 1 WBA 3
Amen to that, 8ball!
Hope you have a great crystal ball bt8b!
Fulham just gifted Liverpool the lead. They are awful, Liverpool are in cruise control and yet they completely dominate the game. It’s only 1-0 (own goal from Fulham)… hang on, make that 2-0 (corner)… and Fulham are looking more and more like a real relegation candidate. I don’t think Jol is still there after the international break, they are in total disarray.
I see I got sidetracked by the second goal – I was going to say that the lead should have been more than one goal but then again by the time I got that far in the scentence it also was 🙂
I am a tedious obsessed cunt who won’t go to see his doctor.
I see Dortmund lost again.
And 8ball is on track.
Hahhh, WBA is leading
Dirty diving Chelsea cunts
Andre marriner will be picking up his blue envelope full of cash at the bus stop in fulham. ridiculous call.
Dreadful, dreadful penalty awarded by Andre Marriner at the bus stop.
That’s the kind of thing that can happen at the toilet. Worrying…..
Mariner awarded Chelski a last ditch penalty that wasnt a penalty at all, he should be ashamed of himself!
completely agree, Bayonne. my biggest worry, aside from any complacency.
Cuntski got away with a draw. West Brom should have made it 3-1 just before though.
Still, despicable cheating cunts sometimes prosper after all. Well, they didn’t win at least.
Who is up for the 3 ton?
agree Scroz. maybe not so much complacency, but fatigue. definitely share concern over ever-present crap/non-penalty call. Especially at OT.
However, Ashley Young is well-known and reputed cheat. He’ll get little sympathy. There is no Sir Purplenose to threaten the officials, and Fergie Time is dead.
I too am leary of ManIOU, but Ryan Giggs is a past-it, arrogant shit. And I hope we stuff them 4-0.
I was just waiting for that penalty, the only surprise was that it came so late.
The final whistle just went at Selhurst Park, Palace 0 – 0 Everton so dropped points for them as well. I know we are aiming higher than to be above Everton, but the more teams we can pull ahead of with a bit of margin the better.
Cross-field pass to…
Assist?
Win tomorrow
Well in, Ollie, and Amen to that.
Not just Giggs. Rooney. Delusional. Evra … Ferdinand. Jaysus, what a long list!
No shortage of misplaced arrogance over there. Really looking forward to Sunday.
I’d like to see 4-0 to good guys from North London but I think more like 2-0 is likely. OG gonna show VanPaymee a thing or two about leading an attack.
Cheers Cent, double-assist a little too easy 😉
Interested to see Gazidis,interviewed by L’Equipe confirm that Arsenal intend to buy a striker in the transfer window. The man must consult Goonerholic!
Chelsea were lucky but I’d have seetled for that result before the match. More sickening was the one eyed interview given by Mourinho after the game. Is there a more odious person in football?…oh yes John Terry.
Don’t waste any energy on Mourinho, he’s not worth it. In fact, the worst thing you could do to him is to not ask him for his opinion. That would probably cause him to self-combust.
TTG – expect to see someone remind you what Gazidis said in May. Don’t get your hopes up too high.
Cheeky bid for Bale in January? 🙂
COYG
Yes it will be much easier to sign Bale now he plays for our feeder club!
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