Battling Saints End Gunners Run
Dec 16th, 2018 by 'holic
Unai Emery opted to partner Laurent Koscielny with Stephan Lichsteiner and Granit Xhaka in a three at the back at Southampton. Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal flanked Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi in midfield. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi lined up alongside lone striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Once again Alexandre Lacazette started on the bench alongside Ozil and Ramsey.
A slow burner ignited in the sixth minute when Guendouzi split the Saints back line but Aubameyang’s effort was clawed away by McCarthy for an unproductive corner. A minute later Aubameyang sent Mkhitaryan scuttling clear but his shot was blocked as Bellerin tore up unmarked in the inside right channel.
The Saints were permitted to get away with some early agricultural challenges on Guendouzi, Torreira, and Koscielny. Yellow cards would have been generous. No punishment at all gave them licence to continue digging in. Their first effort on target, an Armstrong shot from outside the box, was comfortably saved. A minute later they had the lead when Koscielny went for a high cross from the left with a foot instead of his head and Ings headed home from point-blank range.
Southampton 1-0 The Arsenal
We controlled the ball for a while after that and and in the 28th minute we were level. Iwobi sent Monreal racing clear on the left flank and his wonderful cross was steered into the net by the head of Mkhitaryan.
Southampton 1-1 The Arsenal
The Arsenal were in full flow and next Guendouzi and Torreira all but found Aubameyang in front of the target. A last gasp interception maintained the status quo. Romeu’s assault on Torreira earned no more than a free-kick. One began to wonder if the referee, one Mr Chris Kavanagh, had remembered his cards at all.
As the half drew to a close a rare Bellerin burst down the right, cross, and McCarthy made a last gasp grab to prevent Aubameyang from heading home. There was time enough left for Ings to get a second goal against our wobbling defence when he judged a right wing cross better than Koscielny and Lichsteiner. Perhaps Leno will also look at whether he could have made more of an effort to change direction having been wrong-footed. Perhaps that may be a little harsh?
Southampton 2-1 The Arsenal
Those anticipating a change at half-time by Emery were not to be disappointed, but this was enforced. Hector Bellerin was not fit enough to continue. Lichsteiner switched to the left of a flat back four, and at long last Lacazette was introduced to the action.
We immediately had the chance to level but Aubameyang, struggling in front of goal, was denied once more. Bednarek’s hack through the back of Lacazette finally drew the first long overdue card of the contest.
The Arsenal equalised when Romeu was robbed by Lacazette and he fed Mkhitaryan for a deflected shot, off Vestergaard, into the middle of the goal with McCarthy committed to his left. The Armenian was justifying his inclusion.
Southampton 2-2 The Arsenal
Iwobi blazed over as the match turned into an end to end game. Koscielny saw yellow for his first foul and in the light of what had been allowed in the first-half that was surprising. The skipper himself headed the ensuing free-kick clear. Then he was in the wars again when taken out by Lichsteiner!
McCarthy was the focus of attention for a crazy moment when he was dispossessed by Lacazette but Aubameyang couldn’t get a shot away under pressure and the ‘keeper then plunged at Aubameyang’s feet to smother Iwobi’s cross. It was Iwobi’s last contribution as he was replaced by Ozil. The Saints responded by sending on Austin for a tiring Ings.
Armstrong was next into the book for a scissor tackle and Xhaka was fortunate not to follow him for ‘welcoming’ Austin to the match. Our final throw of the dice was again enforced when Ainsley Maitland-Niles came on for the hobbling Lichsteiner.
Shane Long, on for Redmond, put the ball into the net but was rightly flagged for offside. There was a collective sigh of relief from those in mint green. Xhaka sent Aubameyang clear on the left but his cross was intercepted as Lacazette closed in on it. A break out from a Saints corner ended with Guendouzi’s deflected shot not quite falling to the unfortunate Aubameyang.
“Come on Arsenal” pleaded the travelling faithful, sensing a disappointing loss of points on the south coast. They had a sixth sense, it would seem. Long broke, crossed to the unmarked Austin at the far post. Leno came and missed it. Austin didn’t, as he never does against the Arsenal.
Southampton 3-2 The Arsenal
So, we didn’t make it to twenty-three undefeated. We face some tough matches in the coming weeks and need to build momentum again starting against the Middlesex Nomads on Wednesday. We’ll be back to a more solid back four on Wednesday, hopefully.
94 Responses to “Battling Saints End Gunners Run”
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Quicker than the Arsenal again ‘Holic.
Not for the first time Leno looks very shaky on crosses.
Amazing Holic your instant report.
Sad way to loose our unbeaten run but our dodgy defence gave away 3 dodgy goals. Let’s move on quickly and sort ourselves out before Wednesday.
Saints were the better team and deserved the win. A very difficult day for Kos to return. Three headed goals by a team that hasn’t scored from a header since…………’quick call to my friend Ned to supply this missing data point’.
Not for the first time :
If you can’t win it ; don’t lose it !
Given the reduced squad etc all the other teams in the top 5 – even City – would have taken the point and got out of Dodge.
Onwards and Upwards.
Our defensive issues proved costly today, not helped by dodgy goalkeeping, poor finishing, and general lack of urgency in attack.
We’ve been getting away with it for far too long and Mr Emery must find a solution asap or we face another year of mickey mouse Thursday football
Thanks H. That’s what I watched.
It looks to me like we got what we paid for with Leno. He’s a good keeper. But Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea all paid out top dollar and they all have much better keepers. The sort who pull a save out of the bag, rather than give away a cheap goal just when it will hurt us the most. We really should have been the team pressuring (and scoring) the late winner.
Still, CB issues were our undoing. Injuries and suspensions were cruel. That Mustafi yellow, which I thought was harsh at the time, looked even harsher today (and it comes to something when you think the defence would look better with him in it!) Kos needs match sharpness. In a month he heads away the cross for the first goal no problems. Xhaka is obviously no CB. Nor Lich. That’s what cost us.
It really sucks to concede those 3 goals. Combined with a few chances that didn’t quite land for us or that we didn’t catch properly that was enough to hand us a loss that we’ve probably had coming for a while.
Fair play to Southampton. Is it just me or are we regularly one of the first teams that anyone with a new manager seems to play? I would have much rather played the Hughes version of this team. The lot we played today worked bloody hard and deserved at least a point. I’m finding it hard to grudge them all 3.
As long as we come back stronger (and buy a CB) then we’ll be fine.
UTA
Ref was as poor as us, as usual
Allison with a howler, guess they all make mistakes
Speedy and accurate report as ever, Guvna.
The game unravelled much as I feared it would. That defence constructed of toilet rolls, string, sticky backed plastic and Squeezee bottles unsurprisingly turned out to be neither strong nor stable.
We can’t blame any of the stand-ins: Kos (first real game in eight months – and it was despicable how the ‘Saints’ forwards kept leaving a foot in on him and the referee kept ignoring it), Lichtsteiner (a superannuated RB) or Xhaka (not remotely a CB). However our full backs and covering wide players should do better at stopping crosses (as ever), our keeper really should have done better on their third.
Good call, Guvna that the referee was somewhat permissive about extremely nasty challenges from the home team. In contrast he was a tad niggly about any Arsenal attempt to be half as robust.
But what is it about St Mary’s that saps our energy, blunts our incision and erodes our confidence?
As Delia says, move on. Bring back the real CBs and ease Kos back gently. Sadly Hector is now out for ‘ few weeks’, so our first choice defence remains out of reach but we have several options at RB.
However we do need to buy a good CB in January as our best (RH) is out for the season.
Thanks for that super quick report Holic. We need to put this defeat behind ourselves just as quickly.
The injuries are piling up for us – just when we seemed to be settling into a system of three at the back with Bellerin & Kolasinac providing pace and bite from wingback positions, we have both of them injured at the same time. One hopes that their injuries are minor and they make it back to full fitness very soon. Xhaka and Torriera are our best midfield combo, Guendouzi has filled in well but the quicker we can field those two together the better – without them we are not controlling games and our forwards are having to drop very deep instead of playing on the shoulder of the defenders. Mustafi and Sokratis returning should help matters – it is no surprise that the three goals we conceded today were all headers. The make shift defense was too much patchwork for a team that was showing signs of wear and tear in the last two league games.
If there’s anything that should fire up the squad – it is a game against the tiny tots. It would be an auspicious start for another long unbeaten run.
KS @ 8. That’s always going to be true. But I know which I’d rather have.
I’m not knocking Leno. He’s good. He’s just not top bracket. And we would have got a point today and had a few minutes of pressure to go for all 3 if he hadn’t flapped and missed a ball that we should never concede from. It’s a shame that made the difference on a tough day in terms of available defenders to chose from.
GSD, watching Manure vs Scousers where Allison just contributed a howler to bring Mourinho level.
All keepers will give ’em up every so often. The issue we see with Leno is on crosses, where indecision to stay or go, coupled with inability to deal with it when correct decision is made, is worrisome.
Gets caught in no man’s land too often, and flaps as much as early Fabianski.
Thanks for the report Guvnor.
Nothing to add to a lot of fair
comments already on today’s
game. Roll on the next game.
I just have the feeling Auba misses a lot of easy chances, Laca as well; they can score some crackers but they still miss a lot, more than we can afford.
Very fair report as always from the Guvnor.
We were awful at the back today but there were reasons. Leno is poor on crosses , not many modern goalkeepers are anywhere as good as a Jennings, Wilson etc at this aspect of play because the ball moves so much nowadays but we were defensively open every time they attacked. We looked dangerous too but Emery was left a much better attack than a defence when he arrived .
I’m not sure whether the return of Sokratis , decent though he is will be enough to compensate for the possible/ probable absence of Bellerin, Lichsteiner, Kolasinac, Holding, Mustafi et al against The Swampies.
We are in danger of overplaying Koscielny out of necessity when he needs to be nursed back and my suggestion is that we look seriously at the very promising Zech Medley against Burnley and try to get a decent Centre back option in very early in the window. I trust Sven is on it.
We were bad but Manure were abject. We could have beaten them but for not taking our chances.
Coming to our match, the absence of our regular defenders let us down badly as the replacements, Kos and Monreal, were both still not fully fit, a slow Xhaka didn’t help and Bellerin’s injury completed the picture. Hope we shore up our defence duri g the Jan window.
The Liverpool owners saw potential in the way Klopp was developing the team and have backed him massively with funds in the past year. Arsenal will have to spend well if not the same amounts if we are to constantly be on the heels of Liverpool and City who have had three seasons now under good contemporary managers. Emery seems like someone who can match up to them tactically and preparing his players but he will need full backing from the owners – starting with a centre back signing early in January.
Man United on the other hand showing how money spent by the wrong manager on the wrong players can create a real mess of an expensive squad. It has indeed been ironic to hear Mourinho moan about Financial FairPlay and spending in the past few weeks. He seems to be in the final part of his managerial career at a top club. He is well past his sell bye date and managing a national team seems to be the way out for him.
We lost tonight because of bad defending and mismatch players at the back but that does not worry me much. Until we have our defender back or we buy a new defender, there’s not much we can do about it.
The thing that makes me worry is how the way we perform in the last few games. We don’t play with the same speed, tenacity, determination and drive as we usually play. We look jaded. Could it be because of Emery’s high intensity and demanding game plan takes toll on the team and makes the team already run out of steam midway through the season?
If that is the case then Emery needs to rotates the player more often otherwise it only a matter if time until the team become completely in halt.
Or is it the complacency of being unbeaten, playing bad but somehow still get away with it? If yes, then hopefully tonight’s lost will fire them up and keep them on their toe again.
Ambydex, I agree we have looked jaded over the last few games but don’t Emery needs to rotate more because he has been rotating so much every 45 minutes. A string of injuries is taking its toll but the squad is not so good that we should expect to be much higher than where we are in the table. Aubameyang and Lacazette have stopped scoring which is a worry, and we have looked less confident. Now would be a great time for the infusion of a committed talent, and a brute defender.
Now will be a good time to assess what sort of owner we have. Over the last few years we have debated here about the drawback of having a ‘sustainable financial model ‘ financed by an American with no previous connection to the club who has become ( on paper) vastly richer without putting a penny of his money into the club.
Frankly it is impossible to compete with the strongest teams in our league and in European football without the financial support of an owner who opportunistically finances the team to provide a squad that can compete with the best. In other words for us to succeed it is vital that the owner has to be in it for more than the money. Liverpool are not financed by the same sort of owner as Kroenke but they have competed by selling wisely and pumping more than the money they receive back into the team. They are run by a sporting enterprise that understands how to be successful. The mega-rich owners that run Citeh and Chelsea and the financial muscle of Manchester United make it extraordinarily difficult to win the Premier League especially if the owners wish to record significant profits every year.
Clubs like Dortmund and Atletico Madrid compete at European level with teams with greater resources and occasionally prosper in their domestic league and we have clearly decided that the Dortmund model has much to commend it but we will need significant ( and very intelligent) investment to catch the likes of Citeh . The purchase of Van Dijk has been transformative for Liverpool. If we had a chance to sign say Varane or Pavord would that be sanctioned by Silent Stan or is his main preoccupation the LA Rams or his other franchises? How excited woukd he be to win rather than merely compete respectably in the Premier or Champions League?
My sense is that however good our coaching or recruitment there will be a ceiling on our future achievement with Kroenke in charge. I hope Unai Emery can prove me wrong and he has made an admirable start but my sense is that we may be consigned to a limboland of Europa League Football with such a conservative owner in charge.
Not a new argument but one that kept coming into my mind as I watched our defensive struggles today
TTG @20, a depressing but no doubt accurate observation. I expect nothing more.
I hope Mrs TTG continues to make good progress to full fitness.
Stanley has made it very clear from minute one of his stewardship, TTG, that the club would be run on a self-sustaining basis. I wouldn’t hold my breath for more than a micro-second expecting a change. And I have to say that I don’t want to see Arsenal become a Chel$ki, a City or a PSG.
The club now realises ~£460M per year and the managers have authority delegated to them to spend every single penny of that (but not one more, no tipping into red numbers) to win stuff. Nothing too conservative in that unless you’re a Russian Oligarch or an Arab nation.
It was pretty obvious to anyone with half an eye that VVD was an outstanding prospect when he was at Celtic and could have been bought for under £10M. I suspect Kronke will expect that Arsenal will become shrewder in acquiring nascent talent. (I would if I was him). Guendouzi, Holding and Torreira are three good indicators of progress in this area.
Through nurturing exciting emerging academy talent and being willing to spend ‘big’ on the likes of Auba and Laca (but not piss money down the gurgler on the likes of Pogba), there’s no reason to pine for a handout from Kronke.
More adroit management of situations like Ramsey’s (where £40M, nearly 10% of annual realisation, is being allowed to walk out of the door) will make us stronger and better. Getting that management in place and holding their feet to the fire IS what we should expect from the Silent One.
BtM@3: August 28. Austin at Brighton.
Good report, ‘Holic. We saw the same game.
Leno should have done better with Austin’s goal. But he never got himself in the right starting position to deal with the cross. It is one of the problems that sweeper-keepers will always have.
Kos looked understandably rusty. I was surprised there was no CB on the bench, so Emery either intended for him to play the full 90, or Kolsineac’s last-minute injury meant Monreal had to play a full game at wing-back and couldn’t move to CB during the game.
That’s an impressive book of facts, Ned! 🙂
TTG and BtM @20 and 22, Glass half empty and glass half full but both on the mark. Guendouzi, Holding and Torreira have been excellent signings, and I am hoping we will be able to put Mavropanos into the same category because he showed us real signs of it last Spring. Those players could be the nucleus of a new great team but in the best case scenario we would have to keep them together, avoid injuries, and supplement them with more big time signings than we are accustomed to seeing.
We should certainly not be relying on the hope that Mavropanos quickly develops into a great defender. All of these defensive injuries are virtually tantamount to a divine order for Arsenal (Yo Stan, are you listening?) to get the f*ck out of the chair and sign a world class defender or three.
What of Bielik, Pleguezuelo or Medley? Any of those CBs good enough to break into the first team? AMN excepted, the Academy seems better at developing attacking midfielders, wingers and strikers than it does defenders.
Europa League draw today.
Missed the game as I was out, only just seen he goals.
First goal was pure Koscielny, rust or no rust. Head the thing ffs.
I don’t blame Leno too much for the third, as if he hadn’t gone for the cross Austin would still have had a free header at the back stick.
It would have been more difficult to score, but he probably still would have done.
Oh well. The silver lining part is we didn’t lose to them when Mark bloody Hughes was still manager.
I’ll do a Southampton report later but just seen that our last 32 Europa game will kick off on a Wednesday (Feb 20) at 5pm. 5pm! Even if people can go it’ll be chaos on the tube.
For the third goal one of our
defenders could have come round
to block the Austin header and
also the angle would have been
difficult to beat Leno.
It was a split second decision for
Leno and I don’t mind he chose
the aggressive option but he
didn’t make it and the goal is
down to him – just my 2p worth.
Medley travelled to Southampton
but didn’t make the bench so I
guess UE sees him more as a last
resort rather than a genuine
option. Though he seems to be
in front of Plez. Bielik is off on
loan at Charlton – I suppose it
worked ok last time we brought
someone back from Charlton in
an emergency.
I hope we can find a class CB in
January but I’m not hopeful.
Even a short-term stop-gap would
do really.
Ned,
Hopefully Per will prove better at
developing defenders but he’ll need
a year or two
8am on a pellucid morning in Cambridgeshire as we hit the road for an Arsenal away day, on the south coast at Southampton. A great journey, broken by tea, toast, bacon and eggs at Fleet services and a really easy run of about 3 hours including a break.
We parked at our JustPark booked slot, a driveway just the other side of the Itchen Bridge, and had about a 25 minute walk over the bridge to St Mary’s. It’s in a really odd place, on the riverside, but in a run down industrial estate. The grand entrance to the ground, for guests, press and Directors, which we walked past on our way to the visiting supporters entrance is opposite a really old, run down cement works. Very strange. No menace at all in the atmosphere, very family friendly.
Into the stadium. Although it doesn’t look bad from the outside, with its lattice like white iron work above it, inside, St Mary’s is a classic identikit bowl. We were about 10 rows back by the corner flag, right by the loudest group of home fans. Unfortunately you couldn’t get any atmosphere going because, like Wembley, they insist on playing very loud music (techno house according to my son, I wouldn’t know) interspersed with an inane announcer. Do they have a production line somewhere? They’re all the same (apart from Diddy David Hamilton at Fulham – is he still going?).
Our landlord has described the game well. I really can’t say that Southampton didn’t deserve to win because they did. I thought Xhaka was a double negative, not good as a left sided centreback and badly missed in midfield. The way that Redmond (I thought their best player, always direct and threatening) was able to run through our midfield multiple times was a crime. Clearly poor old Kos is still a couple of weeks away from full match fitness, as is Nacho (we badly missed Kola going forward even though Nacho made the first goal). Iwobi appears to have lost all confidence. Auba teed him up for a great opportunity in the second half but he leaned back and blazed it over. Mkhi scored twice but really didn’t contribute apart from that. It’s really time to bin off the Iwobi/Auba/Mkhi front three. We have better options.
The banter with the Saints fans was good fun. It’s always interesting to see local rivalries that mean nothing to us. Their chants reflect it.
“If you are a Pompey fan, surrender or you’ll die”
“Charlie Austin’s red and white
Red and white
Red and white
Charlie Austin’s red and white
He hates Pompey!”
Apart from that, once they woke up to the fact they might win they were quite loud and cheeky
He left ‘cos you’re shit
He left ‘cos you’re shit
Arsene Wenger
He left ‘cos you’re shit
Replied to immediately by
He’s won more than you
He’s won more than you
Arsene Wenger
He won more than you
And similar, good clean fun!
Our supporters, spread behind the goal, were in fine voice. The Torriera song is now the firm favourite, though we ran through all our favourite hits. Didn’t hear anything new. Didn’t hear any overt negativity, even when we lost.
A word on the subs. Laca came on for Hector and we went to four at the back. Laca, as always, immediately made a difference going forward and linked well with Auba. We must find a way of starting him most games. AMN came on for the injured Lichsteiner. Even though this is the third position he has played in (LB, CM and RB) he was calm and excellent. I think I have seen him at RB before – in a cup game against Preston two years ago? He has come on so much in that time and never lets us down. I would have preferred to see him start at LB with Xhaka in midfield and Nacho at CB. Finally Ozil. He came on. His first touch came on the right wing, from a good cross field ball leaving him in lots of space. His first touch was dire. His second touch was dire. By then the defender had caught up with him, Mesut fouled him. He had a chance to lay in Laca. Couldn’t find the pass. Tried a dummy in the centre circle. Gave away the ball and they scored their winner. Ozil’s game yesterday? Meh.
Still not downhearted. The injuries and suspensions finally came home to roost and, if truth we told, we could have lost a number of games in the last few weeks. We go again.
Of course true to form when we lose, about 15 minutes from time it started to rain. It got heavier and heavier and colder and colder. Walking back across the bridge, we got absolutely soaked. Into the car with sodden jeans and trainers. A dreadful journey home of 4.5 hours (no break) including an hour to get out of Southampton (it’s always a problem) and then a big jam on the M25.
As away days go, the game, the result, the rain and the journey combined to make it not one of the best. Still I only get to four or five away games per year, so every one is precious and enjoyable in its own way.
Now bring on the Spuds on Wednesday ….
It’s Bate in the Europa League
Re having to play a match in Belarus mid February: I won’t minsk words.
Coat please !
Despite our “not losing” run some of the same old traits are starting to recur and questions are looming.
Shit defending, too much fannying around across the backline and bullied all over the park.
One of our players laying injured and Southampton go on the attack – one of theirs lays injured and we put the ball out of play. FFS – let the referee decide if play needs to be stopped. Do we want a fair play award?
Arsene never let Laca play a full game. Now Emery seems not to want to start him. Why? He is our best forward – end of. Play him.
Mkhi – two goals, well done, but what is Armenian for defending?
Our defending hasn’t improved under Emery. I don’t know the answer but has he ever coached a really good defence at any of his clubs?
Losses against shit teams will never see us back in the top four and I already hate the Europa league. Despite our injuries this was a reality check which we failed. Incoming against Spuds and Pool is starting to look ugly.
UTA.
Not really sure why anyone would want to minsk words, Bayonne, but i hope we don’t gett brrrrrrsitis. 😉
Thanks c100 – I enjoyed your report much
more than I did the game!
Nice one Countryman. Cheers.
Countryman
Great report as ever. It always rains when you lose. Perhaps you don’t notice it when you win! For info Diddy David has hung up his mike ( and hopefully his toupee)
The Bate game has been moved back to Thursday but with a 5.55 kick off still. The rush hour will start early in North London and we won’t get the post 6pm Car park concessionary charge at Ebbsfleet station.
I hate to burden Ned but wonder if we had conceded more goals last season at tge same stage as this .
Emery not only has to fix a pretty dire defence he also needs to fix our woeful displays in the first half of games
Cheers H!
Great day out until kick off.
Afterwards get fucking drenched walking back to Station. Fucking engineering works and bus replacement all the way back to Havant. Sat on a poxy bus in soaking wet clobber, listening to a bunch of no marks (no idea why the cunts bother going) slagging off every one of their own players.
I’ve had better days. But like I said to Pat, you have to do these days son, all part of a real Arsenal fan’s apprenticeship.
Lovely stuff, Countryman. Almost like being there. Thanks!
I like your Xhaka double negative. Totally agree. A competent defender he ain’t. However, the arrival of Torreira and their midfield partnership has elevated Xhaka’s game considerably versus previous seasons. Hopefully AMN will now get a run at RB or LB in Hector’s absence. (Not The Jenk, please Emery).
Although I hear constantly that we now play a pressing game under Emery, we were outpressed-squared by Saints. Their pressers actually press and then try to win the ball. Ours run up like puppy dogs, wag their tails, say ‘Woof’ but never actually challenge for the ball (Yep, I mean you Auba, Mesut, Iwobi, Mkhi and Kolasinac), preferring to step aside and let the opposition play on.
Will we field our strongest possible team against Spurs? I wonder.
Very good point re the press IBtM . We only do it well against the good teams….in the second half.
As for our best team. Does Emery know what it is? Torreira plus ten others?
My suggested team is
Cech
AMN. Sokratis Koscielny Monreal Kolasinac
Torreira Xhaka
Ramsey
Lacazette Aubameyang
well in, holic. pretty much it, though, despite a screen size that rivals those used by late, lamented down-underers, the 5:30 wakeup call was really resistant to coffee…i can barely remember the game.
countryman, nice summary. sorry for your discomfort on the ride home, sounds like it sucked. at least we w…oh, erm.
i saw this from a different direction, have a look at the first picture here. arsenal till she dies. https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/12/17/lens/17Starkey1/17Starkey1-superJumbo-v2.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp
i don’t know about anyone else, but i don’t have that sinking feeling after the loss that i had after damn near every loss last year. first year of emery giving me a lift? well, i never…
TTG@41:
20 conceded after 17 games last season, 30 scored and 30 points. In seventh place
This season: 23 conceded after 17 games, 37 scored and 34 points. In fifth place.
C100@34: Pellucid prose. A delight to read, especially in the dry.
“(He’s a) left footed central defender who has played since a young age in La Liga on the biggest stages.
“He’s strong in the air, good quality with the pass.
“He is experienced, fast and he has the skills we need.
“He is the perfect age, 23-years-old…
The player we are about to sign? I wish, but these were the quotes from Pep Guardiola upon signing Laporte in January. I bring it up just in case Sven wants to make sure to check of all these attributes. 😉
ha cynic
couldn’t agree more
?
.
boring bollocks indeed
but
say it to thunder T
(profession not politics)
business man
cross border
who’s finkin
.
d’ye know what ?
ornamental FAAAAAAACKKKKK
.
.
.
.
.
so
i appreciate i twaddle heroic scale but
in my defence
fuck off
.
.
.
.
twas
an egomaniacal vote
treated with long felt har de har hars
.
ja ?
Here’s one for you, cba
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6siGKxcKol0
and baff
of course yer right
‘holic’s isn’t the place
BUT!!!
if i can’t sling off my creepers
take off half of my handsome
leave the rest for the fans
what sorta shithole tinpot banana republic
would we rather live in
8ball
never do da brudders
fail to enrich
.
top man
.
.
3 chords
4 leather jackets
.
.
is there a better band ?
but
OF COURSE
other people’s opinions matter
.
either very
or little
but
mostly both
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVphe18ZlWY
but what do i know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X16lG18xVuc
.
.
.
and
c100 away days reports
.
(on or about the beano and/or sparky and possibly long measurements by short measurements)
.
.
fuckin love em
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F1IXgGzD80
an
ESSO
yer a cunt n all ?
.
.
.
.
.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUKku3MhCPs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoYWalppGEo
as baff
would say
i’m sure i say
ehhh
Ulster eh
ehhhh ?
WHAAAAAAA ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Umqm5ebYU
.
.
sorry
cynic
baff
started it
.
.
never called myself an “ulsterman”
–
tis a phrase given i’m sure
to me here
by a dandy who shall remain anonymous
who was drowning
in not paying attention
.
whilst i do come from Ulster
i don’t come from Ulster
it’s simple
keep up
.
the deeyoupees in the detail
.
.
.
sorry cynic
but
next year
you wish you’d listened
when you’ve the decision to make
“which life raft do i swim to”
when
Europe has got its foot on whitehalls head
and
i am selling leaky pedalos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki8o29kIzWc
.
.
.
ya big grumpy lump
.
.
i’m starting to feel that heartfelt lies
honestly manufactured here
are thrown away
like tottenham dvds
.
.
.
.
.
i’m sorry
.
.
this is a very difficult time
this is how i imagine the Monks of Ned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Agrr2qC78
so
as Chas Hodges
who played on Joe Meek sessions
woulda said
hadn’t he died
.
.
.
matchday fighters
stop fighting about nonsense
you pathetic pair o sides o fuckin black eyes only daisys
.
.
.
.
IF YOU WANNA FIGHT FOR SOMETHING
FIGHT FOR IT
IF YOU DON’T WANNA THINK ITS LESS THAN FUCKIN STUPID IN THE CONTEXT OF ACTUAL REAL FIGHTS
DONT ASK THE THE OPINION OF AN IRISH PERSON
kewpie doll
for the the incorrectionatinin’
total eyeball
speaking of eyeballs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcI5rNR5TGM
who was ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ1XaXbvdVc
cos
that’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYuGlD3XSOw
I could be a soldier
Go out there and fight to save this land
Be a people’s soldier
Paramilitary gun in hand
I won’t be a soldier
I won’t take no orders from no-one
Stuff their fucking armies
Killing isn’t my idea of fun
(Chorus)
They wanna waste my life
They wanna waste my time
They wanna waste my life
And they’ve stolen it away
I could be a hero
Live and die for their ‘important’ cause
A united nation
Or an independent state with laws
And rules and regulations
That merely cause disturbances and wars
That is what I’ve got now
All thanks to the freedom-seeking hordes
#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeG5Pl-5e1Q
.
if knowing the hackneyed tripe lyrics
doesn’t make people laugh out loud
i dunno
.
.
“And rules and regulations
That merely cause disturbances and wars”
.
indeed my description
a few lines up
could fit in too
.
.
jeez
i spoof in cod journo-speak here
waiting for precisely that expose
obviously
“Merely”
was missing
.
.
.
the shitty journalist
who wrote their lyrics
wrote for
the daily express
sweet mother of god
.
.
people will lap up anything
.
?
anyhoo
swift snooze
before 10
cba@67: not even close.
https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi1.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FXc_toI7oMJY%2Fmqdefault.jpg&f=1
Thanks Ned!
Confirmation- we are defending even worse than we did last year .
Thankfully we are attacking better
And getting a few more points.
I’m hoping we’re more resilient too.
Games coming soon so we’ll find
out quickly if it’s same old or not.
Beat those nomads back and
smash the scousers and it’ll be a
happy new year.
Holics, did Mourinho just quit or got fired??
Goodbye to Maureen then.
I hope whoever comes next
does a Maureen Moyes type
job – I’ve enjoyed the subdued
nature of my Manure supporting
mates for a while now
Oh the irony if they appointed Wenger!
Sky Sports News are saying he got the tin tack.
So he is sacked as expected, wonder who will take over although intermittent will be Carrick I think, where does it leave alexis/pogba?/ Would we want either of them here, of course, wages reduced drastically? I don’t mind Alexis, not the sulking one though.
Our defeat was coming, we were riding our luck in terms of defense and it was scripted quite literally the moment long/austin came on, we don’t learn, we don’t want to learn I presume because it is so elementary and yet not solved.
I really like Emery but he had to address the one issue Arsene left us with- DEFENSE, I am not going to agree to we are in transition as a reason for that, he should have insisted that he needs a cb and a lb as a priority, the ones we currently have are either not good or on borrowed time( Kos/Monreal).
I understand it spurs midweek but I rather wanted the 3 points on Sunday than a midweek win, I see neither happening, I don’t care about midweek but the defeat was self-constructed/inflicted albeit first one in 4 months.
Vinay @86. This is such an interesting debate. Some very influential Arsenal commentators like Tim Stillman and Arseblog are saying the game on Wednesday is of much lower priority than the game against Burnley at the weekend. But I think Arseblog puts his finger on it when he says we would all be much less concerned about it if the opposition wasn’t Spurs. We all want to beat Spurs again, we all want to put a stop to the momentum they are building. I think Emery will play the strongest team he can, given the injuries.
VP@86: I thought that we had been looking for a CB for a while but couldn’t find anything better than Johnny Evans, so if Emery nixed that, he gets my vote. I know you need squad depth, but of our five first-team squad CBs on Sunday, two were suspended, two were crocked and the other one was coming back from long-term injury, as is the emergency back-up, Nacho. That smacks more of ill-fortune than transfer market shortcomings. If we are to buy for that position, we need to be buying an upgrade, not just cover. I suspect also that AMN’s early-season injury disrupted the left-back cover plans. There is real talent in the Academy at that position in Osei-Tutu and Thompson.
Damn, I really hate Liverpool even more now!
@87 c100
Mus and Kola are likely out tomorrow
and I’m curious too which way UE
will go with team selection. Quite
a big risk to play Kos or Nacho.
I’m fairly sure Cech, AMN, Jenks,
and Ramsey will play but I really
don’t know for the rest……
‘sake..
Time for a Grexit.
A NLD cannot be underestimated. It’s only the Carrybag Cup but it’s the Marshdwellers and we can I’ll afford a second consecutive defeat. Don’t disrespect it. Go win. Grab a SF place. COYGs
Aberdeen v Dundee
orange marmalade showdown?
Agreed Bath, but… >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>