Merry Christmas And QPR Up Next
Dec 25th, 2014 by 'holic
So the human alarm clocks, aka the grand’holics, started sounding off at around seven o’clock, which was a veritable lie-in for a Christmas morning. Should we survive the day of over-indulgence (the first four bottles of champers are already history) then tomorrow it will be a case of finding a stream that doesn’t buffer like crazy in the back of beyond.
The visit of Queens Park Rangers offers an oportunity to start a crucial festive period of fixtures with three much-needed points. We are getting ever closer to the pointed end of the season when the prizes and places will be decided.
We reach the halfway point of the season at West Ham on Sunday before traveling to Southampton on New Year’s Day. Both teams are currently above us so rarely will two consecutive away wins have been more desirable. Arsene was clear on their importance in his presser on Tuesday.
“There are three games in a very short period of time and we can make points. Our opponents will think that as well, but let’s just put the performances in and capitalise on it. The consistency in that period is what will matter.”
The team news, as of Tuesday, was a little vague. Tomas Rosicky, Yaya Sanogo, and David Ospina are fit to return to the squad. Hector Bellerin and Theo Walcott may or may not make it. Laurent Koscielny may make Sunday but not Boxing Day. The midfield remains decimated with Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil, and Abou Diaby all out.
On paper the home match against the team from the Bush looks the easiest of the three. They go into the game just two points above the relegation zone but have taken maximum points from four of their last five home fixtures, as well as holding Manchester City to a draw in the other. On the road, perhaps more significantly, they have taken zero points this season. The closest they came to breaking their duck came at table-topping Chelsea, where they were pipped by the odd goal in three by a late Hazard penalty.
So on what do we lump the yuletide pound? I should say did. I liked the look of Paddy Power’s 8/1 against 3-0 to the Arsenal before setting off yesterday so had an extra few Christmas coppers on it. I might also have a whimsical punt on Per Mertesacker to score at anytime, but will wait to see what the odds are just before kick-off.
Now if you will excuse me I have to lend a hand in the kitchen. Those champagne bottles are heavy, and need to be emptied as fast as possible to lighten the load on the fridge.
Have a great rest of holiday, all of you, and thanks for dropping by.
156 Responses to “Merry Christmas And QPR Up Next”
Merry Christmas to all and hope the game tomorrow will bring in more cheers. It has been a while since Sanchez scored, time for a hattrick Alexis????
UP THE ARSE!
🙂
… oh and did i mention .. Merry Christmas to one and all too!
😀
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to everyone and to our Arsenal .
Arsenal in our heart forever !
Merry Christmas, ‘holic, and lovely jubbly and all that. 🙂
Good to hear you and the automated wake up units are in such good spirits. 🙂
Also that the legendary pound hath been laid. 🙂
Thursday nights for me then.
I hope you are all having a great day.
Merry Christmas one and all. Let’s see that twitch.
COYG
An ode to ‘Arry’s Twitch : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkQ1XeTrLvI
🙂
Season greetings to all Holics and Gooners globally! Big respect to you, Guv and this fine establishment. This place is like an oasis in the desert and I hope you keep it going for a very long time Guv.
Happy Holidays to all. Let’s go Gunners. We need to go on a long winning run, starting tomorrow. COYG!!
A Very Merry Christmas to one and all.
Trust everyone has been enjoying a really Merry Christmas. Take care on the roads tomorrow those of you travelling to the game.
Should Cockfosters tube car park be full can anyone help with an alternative suggestion?
COYRs
A few bottles down but still standing here. 🙂
Let’s sort those hoops out.
COYGs
P.S. Delia, when I used to drive up regularly I used to park in Crouch End and walk down through Stroud Green and Finsbury Park. A bit of a walk (esp on the way back up Crouch Hill) tho there is a bus that goes down to Finsbury Park and possibly even down past the Tollie tho not certain about the latter.
And nice preview H. Hope your 3-0 punt yields thousands, nay millions.
Merry Christmas to all gooners and The Arsenal!
Someone is getting a real pounding tomorrow!!
7-1 to the boys in Red & White!!
Cheers!!
Quantifiably Pisspoor & Rotten FC?
.
fuck qpr !
it’s what the baby jesus would have wanted
.
now
hard liquor all round
cheers all
🙂
Hope you all have had a good day with family and loved ones.
Not going to look too far ahead, any game we play now we more or less have to play to win. Up the Arse!
Amen cba!!
A Kool Yule to one and Ule, if it’s not too late to say so. Spent yesterday on my own (chorus of ‘awww’s please). Just me and the dog, having celebrated with the family (one married daughter) previous to her offing to Christmas with her friends in the NZ holiday mecca of Mt Maunganui.
That left me to lie around all day doing diddly squat but eat, drink and over-eat and drink watching awful TV highlighted by the Queen’s speech (chorus of ‘omg’s in order here).
Still, there are worse ways to pass the time than with champagne cocktails followed by a freshly roasted Peking duck delivered to the door by taxi, followed by an oversize Pavlova topped with fresh cream and blueberries prepared the day before by my own Escoffier skills.
Sorry Öskar, all far too rich for you mate, and you have weight to lose remember! And no point woofing ‘so do you’ either. Okay, a bit of duck…
I reckon tomorrow’s (today’s? tonight’s? whatever) game is critical. Yes it looks like an easy win, but we cannot risk dropping points. That would give the following two matches an altogether more worrying look. So please AW send ’em out with a plan, preferably to get on top early and win the game by half-time. Then make sure they do the right thing in part 2.
I mean give us all a break AW, and look like a top 4 team should for a whole game, just for a change.
Öskar
Great preview holic and and some exciting football to come in close succession.
“The midfield remains decimated” is well…..exactly what it is….and yet we still should be too strong for this lot. The start of a big week for the arsenal..
The traditional boxing day test at the MCG just beginning here in Aus then followed by the arse later tonight.
A big 24 hours of wall to wall sport begins…..
COYR
Good preview Holic!
Glad you’re grand kinds are keeping you busy and that is exactly what they are there for! 🙂
Merry Xmas to all as per my previous drink in earlier post they seem to be flying in quicker than anticipated for my liking.
Lovely evening today with friends from Czech republic. They don’t take interest in football in any way so it makes a nice change not to talk football all evening 🙂
Off to the game tomorrow so making it at early night I will be driving to the game so if anyone wants a lift on the way back then let me know.
Other than that I hope West Ham will do some damage in the early kick off tomorrow and play really badly against us! That is my Arsenal Xmas pressie!
Cheers Holics – Na zdrowie!
Lift only offered if it’s towards the The West country that is 🙂
Enjoying my Arsenal Christmas read,
” little bit silverware” by @wengerknowsbest.
Quote:
“The transfer market is a little bit slow. Apart from all the players that have moved and been signed by others, there is nothing happening”.
Merry Christmas, all. dinner finished, ready for fire and the twinkly tree. And Arsenal to beat QPR.
Hi Aussie, can you ask Steve Smith to get out once atleast please without scoring a century. We here are fed up with playing so well.
The scheduled return dates of most of our first timers seem to be just after this run in. Maybe Theo will be the exception but i am praying Kos is fit for the westham game. It is a tough run in but for once can we get maximum points, that may just be the spring board to sort the season.
Hey Alexis, remember the hattrick today.
Thanks Bg. Weather forecast for this evening not great. Relying on the A10 and Gooner Kevin’s trusty steed to get us all home to W.Norfolk before breakfast. Tomorrow is my turn to do the entertaining!
Here’s to a real Christmas treat from the boys, we deserve one.
COYRs
Will do Vinay…not sure he will listen…..
Another quality cricket prodigy to come off the New South Wales cricket production line.
India had a pretty good day today against a good aussie batting side and bowled much better..
Cheers, Holic,
You’ll be well set for Sunday’s game should you still be downing bubbles by then.
Delia,
If the car park at Cockfosters is full turn left by the big office block next to it into Westpole Avenue. You will find a space somewhere down there, or in one of it’s side roads.
If you have to go a really long way down Westpole Ave, turn left at the end of it and you’ll find Oakwood station on your right – that’s the next stop down the line.
As Bath said, there is a bus from Crouch End – the 29 I think – I used with my Emirates neighbour once when I was on crutches. You can catch it on Crouch Hill and it stops right outside The Tollie.
QPR, QPR, QPR, QPR-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAA ! 🙂
Favourite old chant from the North Bank, Neal, if you’re still there from the last post.
Good one, by the way. 😉
And a happy Boxing 3 points in the bag day to all…
It is getting beyond ridiculous how the squad is still decimated by injuries. It’s been nearly a full year since Theo did his, while Koscienly may never be fully recovered from his achilles thingy. The massive gaping hole in the centre of our midfield remains my biggest concern (along with Per’s shite form), which won’t be eased when we play West Ham and see how hard working, disciplined and tough tackling Song has become since he returned on loan. I would never in a million years, taken him back, as I thought he was a liability towrds the latter part of his stay at Arsenal, but he is precisely the player we are lacking and have been for effing ages.
Signings should be just around the corner (I do hope we don’t leave it till 11.57pm on January 31st, Before putting in a derisory bid for Curtis Davies only for it to be knocked back, leaving us with no option but to go for a loan signing of Frank Sinclair, if we are lucky).
Up the Arse!
Signings? You know not to expect anything. If we do sign anyone it probably won’t be of required quality or in the required position. Look at any signing we get as a bonus and you won’t be disappointed.Not speaking for the collective but our deficiencies on the pitch do seem obvious to all. Just as we/I have complained about the same general tactical, physical and mental problems in our game for the past eight years as well as the same lack of a high quality GK, DM, CB and striker with one or two additions depending on the year, so will we keep complaining for some time to come. We are not going to suddenly develop a strategy to clearly identify deficiencies in the first team and aggressively pursue high/great quality to fit those needs. We won’t suddenly get management drilling players over and over until they can effectively execute tactics on the pitch and switch said tactics fluidly and without breaking stride if option 1 isn’t working. We are still going to wince when we see our best players not playing in their best positions even when they aren’t compelled to by injuries, especially frustrating if a lot of money was spent on them. And our frankly embarassing and increasingly terrible record against the best teams in the league is not just going to disappear if the above don’t change.
Settle in lads, watch and support our boys without any expectations and enjoy the wins when they occur. We can’t change anything anyway why worry ourselves eh?
Christmas treat? That would be unexpected. Certainly not unwelcome of course. Come on Arsenal. A good attitude can go a long way.
Arsenal XI: Szczesny, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs, Flamini, Cazorla, Rosicky, Alexis, Giroud, Welbeck.
Come on Tomas be our spark!
Come on, lets score a bunch!
Better looking defence, not keen on Rosicky playing. Sorry, Tomas fans.
TR7!!
Heck yeah. Glad to see him back on the pitch.
COME ONNNNN!!!
Fuck.
Weakly taken.
Alexis needs a break.
oh no!
Almost alexis.. after winning that penno!
COME ON!!!!!
Am back after self-imposed media break.
Any improvement over the last month?
Arsenal need 3 points here.
Home = Homer.
Darn iphone.
Argh.. Alexis limping!
Rosicky and Gibbs ..excellent so far!!
COME ON~!
Gaping hole in arsenal midfield. Again.
Do we even practice corners? The delivery in latest matches has been abysmal.
Alexis!!!!!!’
Merry christmas.
Finally!
So… it seems HE can score with his head as well!
😀
GOAL ALEXIS!!!!!!
We need to build on the goal difference in this one…!
COME ON!
stop half assing those throw ins lads.
well..QPR are bereft any attacking intent or belief so far, if we are going to be more ruthless we could really rack up some GD in this one, just full focus, no complacency.
Cynic. Rosicky was our best player.
Lets see arsenal keep focused and knock in 3 more goals.
Qpr – charlie austin is hot and if they let him back in the game it could go sideways.
Thick twat Giroud. Stupid stupid stupid.
oh ffs OG
Onouha took a fall but what a bell.
Wtf giroud?
Idiotic.
is that a three match ban for OG now?..silly 🙁
comical…!
How stupid can you be Giroud ?
That oen miss.
Gonna haunt the gunners now.
And with another match sunday.
40 mns a man down. Fucking perfect.
This result seriously in doubt.
Yes Eandy. Misses West Ham, Southampton and Hull in the Cup.
Well if it’s any consolation.. looks like Theo can walk in the team now for the next 3 games… 🙁
COME ON!!!!!
Obviously my comment before kick off was designed to allow Tomas to score 😉
GET IN TR!
ALEXIS TO TOMAS!
COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ROSICKY WILL HAVE TO PLAY NOW for the next few games!
🙂
ALEXIS ..if he has to play on the wings… is much better on the Left!
COME ON!
😀
TR7 is back!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well played cynic!
BOLLOCKS PENALTY!
F the REF!
HOW??? NEVER
What a shit ref.
Nah. He missed the ball and tripped him.
Man down taking its toll.
We should be up 2 or 3 now. Our own fault. Again.
Bring on some changes please.
Hope we don’t mess up this game now, damn.
He got the ball.. even the normally substandard commentators mentioned that.. BOLLOCK REF!
COME ON!
Pass it to Alexis!
Sorry but chambers is not a RB.
Welbeck looks a bit off..
..and off he goes too!
COQ on!
COme ON!
BB.
He didnt touch the ball. Clearas crystal on replay.
Arsenal in a scrape – their own doing again.
We should be up 2 goals anyway.
Le coq!!
Pls don’t throw this game away.
There we go.
Fucking terrible decision to award that first QPR penalty, but that kind of made up for it.
Thank the maker!
Made hard work of it.
never make it easy for ourselves
@Homer
We’ll have to disagree on that, he got a touch from the replay i saw!
3 points.. happy days!
Right, one penalty a piece, and a few good shouts for a few more for both teams, a silly red, a goal for a favorit returned, and a hard fought win.
Boxing day football!
Happy enough. Cheers you miserable lot. Have a few strong ones on me. Love you all, ‘holics!
Cynic.
No no. Youre right. My bad.
Not a foul by debuchy on holliet. Not a pen.
Correction.
BB – my mistake. Youre right.
Not a foul or a pen.
Win the next two games against the hammers and saints.. (coincidentally placed above us in that order) and we go into 4th!
Can we do it?! 🙂
Shame about Giroud… but I guess there’s no better time for Theo to come in.. hope he’s ready for the hammers!
UP THE ARSE!
😀
now two six pointers ahead, win both and we are well on course to more positive second half of a season…I will not think about any other alternative.
Giroud a numptie.
Referee a disgrace – how Ferdinand stayed on is beyond me and that was never a penalty in a million years. Both decisions under his nose.
He turned an extremely one sided game into a proper scrap. Cheers.
Alexis superb, and also a word for Monreal, who was excellent at CB again. I actually think he may be better there than at left back.
Result was the main thing here. Would now take a point at Wet Spam.
Going for a lie down now, and will later throw darts at a picture of Martin Atkinson’s face.
COYG
@Homer
No apologies needed! An important win today! Since all our main rivals won! Have a drink on me!
Congrats to Arsene 400th PL win!
and ALEXIS.. WHAT A PLAYER!
MOTM!
😀
Oh – and Rosicky: well played son.
Cheers BB!
Evergreen TR7 remains one of the best MF player in our style of play. Everything about our game improves whenever he is involved as he moves the ball quicker, presses high, passes accurately and has great positional discipline and intelligence.
Hopefully no more injuries for him for the rest of the season.
Stupid by Giroud, even if it was a push on the back by Onuoha. BTW, why did Rio not even get booked for his hands on Giroud’s neck? In that infamous 4-4 away at Newcastle Diaby got a red for doing something similar…
Danny should have had a penalty as Onouha dragged him in the penalty box, and the penalty we conceded was not a foul.
Butthead Blues.
No supper for OG.
N7@ 92: Monreal is looking more and more natural on the left sides CB position. And Per looks so much more comfortable on the right side.
I am guessing after the extraordinarily hardworking performance today Alexis would need to take a break against WHU. We will probably start with Poldi and Theo flanking Danny.
Three points, but at what cost? Idiot Giroud. Report to follow tomorrow evening when I get home.
Have a lovely Saturday all.
Does anyone if Ox is out or was he just rested (not even on the bench) given the upcoming games?
@ Dr F
Ox injured. Not sure if he can play the next one.
The reason there was no punishment for Ferdinand was that he was already on a booking and the ref is a THUNDERCUNT.
Keeping fingers crossed that we WIN our next two games!
That would set us up nicely for the run in.. !
And for Theo to come back as well as Rosicky, we’re going to need ALEXIS fit for the whole season by the looks of it if we’re going to keep on losing players to injuries and suspensions.
Giroud needs some proper competition at CF, not sure if Welbeck is up to it currently BUT he’s got 3 games to get some goals and prove me wrong!
Up The Arse!
😀
@DocFaust
Per website :
Rosicky was handed his first start of the Premier League season after recovering from a thigh injury; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, nursing a slight groin problem, made way.
——-
Probably a precaution, he could be back against west ham, crucial player that he is and well on form too.
No no no no no no no, no no no no Giroud!
Well done the rest…
Öskar
Thanks N7 & BB: hopefully Ox is back at least against the Saints. Would have been better to have him on 28th with his direct runs at what would be a relatively tired defense.
Rio might have left Man U, but Man U hasn’t left him. Always despicable. 🙂
BB: I agree with your assessment of Welbeck. However I don’t think Giroud’s red mist had anything to do with complacency, rather one of those cases when the player just loses it. He realized immediately the mistake. It was indefensible. However he gets very little protection from the referees while he is hacked around. Unlike the likes of Drogba he is not in habit of rolling around every time he is touched, and that “honesty” is exploited cynically by opposition defenders.
Poldi likes to play against the hammers. I think a goal and an assist are on the cards on Sunday. 🙂
The previous posters have said it all. Giroud is a twat of the highest order , Alexis is a genius but might not shade even Ozil in a penalty taking contest and huge props to Rosicky and Monreal who did very well. I like Tommy because he is so positive . Each time he gets the ball he tries to make something happen and given he must have been off the pace today he did very well. Nacho is a much better CB option than Chambers because he plays on the left side and BFG is hugely better on the right side.
The absence of Giroud for the next three games will stretch resources . Theo and Podolski who has a soft spot for West Ham should enable us to get through but it may tempt Arsene to overplay Alexis .
Still it was three points on a day when a lot of those around us won and Spurs are still behind us and have United up on Sunday
More from Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky, speaking to Match of the Day: “It was my first start of the season and I wanted to show the boss he can use me more. For every player it’s difficult when you don’t play for a while and then suddenly you get called up, but you have to be prepared to be called in to action at short notice, so I work incredibly hard in training. This is a special time of year for supporters, when the whole world is watching the Premier League. It’s tough for us as players, but you have to embrace it.”
——
What commitment! Go Tomas! True Professional!
BB@107: He is one of the best we have ever had in recent times: quality, attitude and intelligence. Sad that injuries took out so much of his Arsenal career.
BFG is probably going to collect a month of Giroud’s salary for some charity. 🙂
Time for Welbeck to show his CF credentials and make a case for himself. He gets into a lot of good positions but unless the opposition is defending high-up he rarely scores.
@DocFaust
Not saying Giroud is complacent, but the out and out striker position just needs more competition in my opinion. Augurs well too that in case we lose someone, another of equal calibre can take his place. Hope Welbeck can step up to the plate, because if we have our full complement of players… don’t think Welbeck will get a start on the wings, thus he’s got to be competing for the CF role, similar stature to Giroud just not as strong and aggressive …yet!
Hope Tomas and Poldi get a start and Theo to come back in our next games!
🙂
PL refereeing standard though has become a joke. Just like English football improved by importing managers and players from the outside world, FA’s turn to do the same with referees.
BB@109: Agreed, Welbeck simply needs to learn to use his strength and height better and not hurry the decision making so much. I don’t whether this makes sense, but sometimes he is too “quick” with his ideas and runs for his own good. A CF needs to be more sly, his frame is that of a CF but his mind still works like a flying winger’s.
No the Debuchy one wasn’t a penalty, but Zamora was later denied one that was, so no complaints there.
Well played TR7 and Nacho filling in, and Flam for 110 per cent effort, and Alexis a very clear motm despite the awful penalty. I cannot remember ever seeing a pen shot at shoulder height not score, yet 9 times out of 10 they shoot low which is much harder to get right, imo. Give me Rooney’s blasts any day.
How fit is Theo? He keeps taking a place on the bench but not on the pitch lately. He’d be my pick as CF against the Hammers at least, with Poldi and Danny on the wings and Alexis in the pocket. But what I expect to see is Danny tried yet again at CF regardless how many times he fails there…
Öskar
Really hard fought win and much needed 3 points there!! Well done to all concerned apart from Giroud obvs!
In response to Ta earlier;
Now I like a good ol moan about the deficiencies in our squad, but please do not assume I have been whining for 8 years!
In fact, I don’t get how the previous seasons get lumped into one homogenous lumpo as if they are not all individually definable, with positives, negatives and close calls. We have come close to winning things and probably should have if it wasn’t for a few random external factors, such as the over exuberance and violently flailing limbs of opponents and several players jumping ship for a cushier life and fatter pay packet.
During that time, we have bought and almost paid for a spanking new gaff, without the aid of an evil oligarch or oil soaked despot!
For all my beef with the manager and board, they handled the stadium move and subsequent financial restrictions fantastically, in my opinion. Sure they fucked up along the way, but it would be hugely disingenuous of me not to be grateful for the sterling job that has been done.
Such a sterling job, that NOW, I feel completely justified in slagging off said manager and board for not making better use of our new found and hard earned wealth! 🙂
UTA!
UTA!
@DocFaust
Agreed, not only is he sometime too ‘quick’ for his own good, jumps the gun so to speak but of late he isn’t finding space and making more intelligent runs, just seems to get into the congested areas with defenders (which is allright as long as you win the ball and score the goal. but he does neither).
Still, not to be too harsh on him, I guess he has exceeded my expectations of him when he joined. And am more than willing to give him a chance to see if he can shine. He seems to be getting enough games, so it’s up to him to improve and make him a proper contender for Giroud’s position. The wings are too crowded already! (Ozil, Alexis, Theo…!)
😀
OTD
Playing away you need a focal point upfront and I’m not sure Theo in his first game back will give us that especially in the air. I know you’re not Danny’s biggest fan but he works extraordinarily hard and created some moments of danger in the first half. He is not a frequent enough scorer to lead the attack though.
I’ve just emailed a mouthy QPR mate who is currently in Sydney . Frankly they were pathetic in the first half. Arry wrote this game off before the start and Giroud nearly handed it back to him
‘Appy ‘Arry’s got a twitch! He’s got a twitch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkQ1XeTrLvI
😀
I think having Giroud out for the next 3 games will allow Welbeck to be the main man again and he will rise to the challenge. He has shown enough to suggest he is more than capable of playing as the main central striker and with his pace, he is made for a couple of tough-ish away games.
We could do with Theo being ready for a run out in both as well. AND no more flippin injuries!
No I’m not a fan of Danny at CF Ttg, he lacks positional awareness in the box, failing either to find space or quick enough with his feet to create it. But I still see him as a useful winger using his pace to create chances for others.
I agree it’s asking a lot of Theo in his first game back, but what we saw of him in that brief cameo a few weeks ago suggested he’d relish a go and worth a try from the off until he runs out of steam. I think he’s a better option than Poldi who is at his best cutting in from the wing. I remember Poldi having his best game for Arsenal against WHU and I bet he remembers it too. But either would be instead of Danny and I expect AW to try Danny again … and probably again, because he always bought him with a view to making him a striker and you know how AW hates to be proven wrong. 🙁
Öskar
Having watched the Girouds red again, two things pop up in to my mind – as indefensible his action is, I kinda understand him, it was nasty push which could get him hurt really bad.
Second, how on earth Ferdinand remained on the pitch, if you watch the slow-mo take of OGs reaction, you can see Ferdinads face in very grotesque grimace as he is about to grap Ollie by his neck. This is very bookable offense for me and the fact that it went unpunished right under refrees nose is just laughable.
As for their pen, never even a foul, Debuchy clearly clipped the ball first.
Could someone explain why Santi, who had successfully converted the most recent PKs and was on the pitch, did not take the PK today? I wa under the impression that AW holds strictly to a PK taker hierarchy, and I would have thought, based on recent matches and in Arteta’s absence that Santi’s #1. What gives?
Bayonne – I think it was as Arséne said in his presser after game, Santi was just nice guy and let Alexis take the penalty, would not see more in that.
OMFG! I need to find something to be angry about…. all the fucking time!!! Grrrrrr! Because I am a Twitter twatter…
Welz does drag defenders with him with his movement in/around the box. OG is better at it but welz adds that Extra dimension.
Watched with a dyed in the wool manc today. Spent 15 mins lamenting the welz xsfer. Convinced we robbed them blind and that he has 15 goals a season in him.
Lord – i hope so!! (And am not even religious!)
A boxing day win is good luck!
Up the Arsenal!!
Got back from the HOF about an hour ago stopped in London for a greasy kebab which in fairness was rather disgusting but I was starving and refused to eat a hot dog worth £3.70 in the stadium.
I’m sorry but I didn’t see any replays yet of the Giroud incident however he massively over reacted, I know it was dangerous but he should have kept his cool.
Rozza was dancing tonight with Santi and what a player Alexis is, the guy is from another planet. This is exactly why we need bolster our squad further to keep players like him in our team. He’s great to watch an absolute gem!
Three points is all that matters really. Never a penalty on the Debuchy, but overall Atkinson had a mare, I swear officiating is getting worse in the EPL! Have you seen the Sunderland vs Hull highlights wtf is going on with these Refs? We got a bit lucky towards the end Gibbs was definitely fouling Zamora.
Onto West Ham and it wont be an easy game either!
COYR!
Cheers ATG.
TR7 in the house!!!!!!!!!
Three points – thanks very much. The usual suspects all played well and a much improved performance from Mertesacker – at last.
The penalty calls all seemed debateable except for the foul on Alexis which was obvious and was given. In my opinion….
The holding on Welbeck could have been a penalty.
The foul on Mertesacker should have been a penalty.
Debuchy’s foul might have been a penalty.
The foul on Zamora was probably not a penalty.
I’m not sure if Atkinson even saw Ferdinand’s sneaky grab of the neck from behind – there was a lot going on around the incident. I’m not a big fan of Atkinson’s but, to be fair, I’ve seen him a lot worse than today.
As an ex penalty-taker, I believe that penalties should always be hit with power, wherever they may be aimed. The two that were taken today proved the point.
UTA.
A nice summary of the second half of last season (or first half of this year :- ) ): http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20141222/2014-review-month-by-month-part-one .
TR7 with a few goals of the month and a performance of the month. In the last couple of season he has been used more in the second half, partly due to injuries and partly I think is a deliberate ploy to not lose him too early and use his high-pressing and tempo-setting game more effectively when the teams open up chasing victories.
If there were two Arsene Wengers would that make the first one any less valiant?
Well, that was a much harder-earned three points than it should have been.
I am very happy we got the win, but we didn’t half make it difficult for ourselves and I hope Giroud was waiting for his team mates to apologise immediately after the final whistle. That said, those who were still out there on that pitch also made some rather daft things. I thought we went looking for that third goal a bit too much, why not just keep the ball and let QPR run about chasing it to tire them out and preserve energy for ourselves? And why oh why oh why do we push the central defenders up on corners at 2-0 up and down to ten??? Take short corners and just let the clock run down, for Dennis’ sake!
I suppose the lack of coolness is to a large extent down to not being 100% confident. Instead of trusting yourself to just run the clock down you want to add another goal and kill the game that way, and then of course when the other team gets one back you start to panic a bit. In the end we hung on though, and hopefully that will add a little confidence to the players.
That said, Martin Atkinson was utterly atrocious. I have no complaints about the red card, that was just stupid by Giroud. Buy why wasn’t Rio Ferdinand given his second yellow for grabbing Giroud’s neck? You could also argue that what Onuoha did to Giroud is also a straight red, he clearly pushed Giroud in the back which made him fall into the path of the onrushing Rob Green. It certainly carried a much, much greater risk of injury to a fellow professional (hell, not just to Giroud but also his own team mate ffs) than what Giroud did. And why is it not a penalty for Mertesacker later on? Or for Welbeck being hauled down in the first half? And why not a red for DOGSO when Debuchy ran through? He would have had a very good opportunity to shoot with only the keeper to beat. And why the ever-loving fuck is it a penalty for QPR when Debuchy clearly gets the ball? For those who may think he didn’t: watch the ball – it changes direction after Hoilett has touched it and clearly before Debuchy touches him. And Atkinson is watching from five yards away and can’t see it??? That’s just not acceptable. That Zamora was brought down by Gibbs later on is neither here nor there, becuase that situation never happens if the penalty on Debuchy isn’t given. That changed the whole flow of the game.
I will say one thing for Giroud though that I just thought of: credit to him for not making a meal of Ferdinand grabbing his neck. He just ignored it, compare that to the ridiculous theatre Onuoha made of what Giroud did (he’s actually looking at the ref as he “falls”!) just a second before. It probably wouldn’t have made any difference seeing as Atkinson was so useless, but many if not most players would have gone down clutching their neck in “pain” there.
A word also for Tomas Rosicky. Bloody hell, he barely out a foot wrong all game! He pressed high, he went deep to offer Flamini (who had a really good game, credit where it is due) an easy outlet when having won the ball, he scored a goal and generally kept us ticking over together with Santi there in central midfield.
Now, West Ham coming up in not very much more than 30 hours. They will have had a few hours more of resting which may sound insignificant but with so little time between matches then three more hours may very well make a difference in the last 15 or so minutes of the game. And of course us having to play with ten for about 40 minutes wasn’t exactly what we needed either. We’ll see, but I doubt we will see a sparkling display from our boys so let’s hope we can grind something out of the game. Last night I said I’d take a draw if offered it now, but I have changed my mind. We really do need the wins to keep building confidence – not to mention to keep ourselves in the fight for a top four spot. We will inevitably see some changes, I expect Welbeck to move into the middle with Poldi out wide and I doubt Rosicky can handle playing twice in 48 hours but we would really need him.
Right, I feel like I’ve waffled on for quite a bit now. Time to let someone else have a go 🙂
Barkeep: morning tea and coffe for everyone on my tab, please. And of course beers for those who’d rather have that!
I’ll have a coffee on Lars’ tab, and then agree with pretty much all he said. Especially that Flam had a good game, since last time around I was critical (but of course in a kind and loving way) to the old Flamster. Or rather, that we rely too much on a man that never was the best footballer in the first case. Always liked him, always will, still think we should be looking for options for the future, but as Lars said – credit where it is due. Well played.
And my good, I am so much in love with Rosicky’s style of play. When he finally hangs up his boots, I’ll be very proud he has spent so many years with us. Not a big name in world football, but a perfect fit for us.
Just read through what I wrote and the phrase “and I hope Giroud was waiting for his team mates to apologise immediately after the final whistle” sounds as if the team should apologise to Giroud and not the other way around 🙂 That’s of course not what I meant…
Toby: I hope Rosicky stays for one more season after this and is then given a testimonial.
TR7 is an absolute Triumph!
That’s a cracker.
Great review Lars.
Couldn’t agree more about the refereeing. I think at this stage its almost expected : Martin Atkinson, Anthony Taylor (singularly the worst referee I’ve ever seen), Lee Mason, Mike Jones and of course, the inimitable Mike Dean are all very poor referee’s. And there could be arguments for Lee Probert and Phil Dowd too. For me Mark Clattenburg is by far the best referee in the PL.
I think Big Sam will make sure it’ll be very physical tomorrow and we lack physical power all over the field.
I just think we’ve been having a very poor year this season and its not all down to injuries from where I sit. Our midfield was very poor even before we lost so many players. Our defence has been found wanting all season long and surely we can’t sit here and think its all down to Kos being missing? And up front, I am of the opinion that we need a top class centre forward who will score efficiently. Yesterday for example, we were extremely profligate and really should have been out of sight by half time given the possession we had and the chances we created. Yet of course, we ended up almost shitting ourselves against the worst team in the league to close out the game.
We are now 15 points off Chelsea. Injuries and lack of cover do not in themselves explain our defensive indiscipline, our reckless complacency at times and our continuing mental brittleness. For all that Wenger has done, (and he has been brilliant for the club) these are issues that have to be addressed to foster confidence.
Three points.
Harder to win than they should have been primarily because HFB was such a stupid twat.
Credits to Monreal, Rosicky, Santi, Flamini and Alexis for stepping up to the mark.
Frankly it’s just as well QPR were so awful.
Two very big games ahead that are going to be very tough to win.
Wake up Arsenal!
They say many people start new careers in fields they where they have a distinct and particular personal need. For that very reason and in light of Atkinson’s atrocious serial misinterpretation of events that occurred RIGHT BEFORE HIS VERY EYES maybe he should retire immediately from refereeing football and open an optometrist’s shop.
Debuchy nonpenalty being one in a series of prima facie cases of professional incompetence leaving me to write the above about Atkinson. Nice enough bloke, just completely incompetent. Most of his faculties seem to still be there, just not his eyesight.
Crystal Palace sack Warnock. No surprise there. One of the betting sites lists Warnock’s successor, whoever it may be, as the 7th most likely manager to be the next one sacked in the Premier League.
Good stuff, Lars, @129. Agree with it all (maybe that is what makes it so good :)). West Ham and Soton are must wins. We don’t want to be sharing points at this stage with any direct rivals for top-four places.
AW on his 400th Premier League win:
“I’m happy I could win 400 and it’s not as easy as it looks. The next 400 will be much more difficult.”
8 ball: the refereeing cockups we’ve seen this season make me more convinced than ever that it’s time to introduce a second referee. Nevermind those useless refs behind the goal line, we need two refs on the pitch working together. Yes, there would be situations where they would make contradictory calls but it would be very easy to minimise the risk. You simply have one ref in each half of the pitch, and you make the calls in your own half. If the situation is on the halfway line and you can’t realy tell which half the foul occured, then the ref in the half where the ball currently is overrules the other ref or something along those lines or possibly have one ref who always has the last word regardless, just like the refs have today when a lino indicate a foul.
With this system, not only would the refs almost always be much closer to the action but they would (and this is probably the most crucial part) have to run far, far shorter distances and very rarely at full pelt meaning they would be far less tired and consequently also meaning they would have less adrenaline rushing through their veins and it would be easier to keep a cool head.
Joe: “Injuries and lack of cover do not in themselves explain our defensive indiscipline, our reckless complacency at times and our continuing mental brittleness.”
Amen to that. Injuries go a long way to explaining our season, but definitely not all the way.
Oh, and another advantage to the two-ref system is that with the diminished physical demands you could have refs who are much older and have far more experience than the case is today. The group of potential refs would also be much greater as you could look more at people who have the requisite leadership abilities (because that is to a large extent what being a ref is about, you must be a leader on the pitch and not let players bully you) instead of one of the most important criteria being that you must be able to run like the clappers to keep up with ultra fit players.
Lars, I think your idea has merit. Two equally authoritative referees in charge of each half of the field could not be worse than the current system, and probably would be considerably better. The players could adjust to any inconsistencies between the two as the game goes along, and any direct disagreements between the two referees would be limited to near the halfway line which is area of the pitch where less critical decisions are typically made. But surely video evidence should be consulted for decisions as major as the awarding of a penalty?
The first two angles I saw on TV showed clearly that Debuchy got the ball first. Only when they showed the third angle, which was more or less Atkinson’s angle, could the viewer not see that Debuchy won the ball. Based on this one instance alone therefore, Atkinson therefore may not have as bad eyesight as previously suggested. Doesn’t mean he’s not guilty in all other cases. 😉
Let’s get some momentum going, west ham next!
How close is the technology to allowing a robot ‘second ref’? We already have the cameras filming the game from all angles (see bt8b’s @143). Is the AI good enough yet to permit real-time analysis of such incidents?
Fine post @129 there Lars. I now have the energy and control of focus to read it. Agree with all that.
Not very often Goonerholic singles out one of our players, in such a fashion. So you know, it must be deserved! I hope Arsene gave Giroud an earful in English, as French is just too pretty … 😉
Who else cried tears of joy, when TR scored. It’s moments like that, that will stay with us. What a guy, what a player. xx
Alexis MOTM. Monreal saved us big time in the last 10 torturous minutes. Flamster wears his heart on his sleeve ♥
Lars & 8ball, interesting idea about having 2 Refs. Worth looking into, as long as it doesn’t inhibit the flow of the game!
Final tidbit. Chelsea are a good team, but they sure play boring footie.
I’m going to miss AW, our style of play. It’s lovely to watch.
It’s time to have faith in our lads. The next two games will be tough but we are capable of getting good results in them both. Hopefully Koscielny will be back tomorrow and Ramsey on Thursday. Theo and Zpodolski love playing against the Hammers .
Joe. Michael Oliver is a shockingly bad referee. I think he warrants inclusion in all future lists. Personally, I have seen enough truly abysmal performances from Clattenburg to consider him poor. The idea that he is best of the current (disgracefully bad) crop is not one I can agree with.
And whoever is the best of the current referees is still rubbish. If I had a staff member of that quality in my business I would simply fire them and start again. You cannot polish a turd.
Lars knows. In all posts and every time. Thank you, sir. I tremendously enjoy your posts.
GSD, those are very kind words for which I am truly grateful!
Bit tied up with family Christmassy stuff for a few days and no time for a proper back drink. However, two observations _
Heh! @ Esso and TR7 🙂 and,
GSD,
Lars knows nothing – he’s just Like A Real Smartass ! 😉
And before Lars answers, I have a beast to take for a walk in what has just turned into proper snow 🙁
GSD,
Well, I’m grateful for the fact that I don’t work for you otherwise I might be fired too. Maybe you should just employ Lars..!
🙂
Heh! Joe,
GSD and Lars would appear to be unavailable for comment. 😉
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“the refereeing cockups we’ve seen this season make me more convinced than ever that it’s time to introduce a second referee.”
I find it very interesting when you read do many critics of referees in the bar. The range from shocking, atrocious to my personal favourite, Thundercunt. Referees make mistakes. They are no different to you, I or anyone who took the field in that respect. However, one thing that seems to go a miss these days is the game they are sent to preside over. The fact is that their job is now a lot tougher. It is scrutinised for weeks on end via all sources of the media. However, what makes their job harder than ever is the fact that every single player that takes the field is prepared to cheat or con the red if he thinks it will gain their side an advantage. That can stretch from deliberate infringements, to diving, to feigning injury, to punching 5 yards at a throw in or claiming a corner when you know it’s a goal kick. It’s all genuinely pathetic in my book.
Anyone that watched MOTD last night will have seen more blatant dives and acts of cheating. They would then have been treated to Phil Neville coming out with the line, “of course he’s entitled to go down, he’s trying to win his side a penalty.”
Perhaps, rather than two refs we should try and get managers and players to show just a fraction of integrity on the pitch. Then, the criticism of the officials may have just a tad more substance.
Hard work but 3 points is 3 points. Dare I say it but tougher tests await us in the next few days?