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GSD Pulls The Short Straw This Week

Jan 12th, 2019 by 'holic

I owe our very own GSD a huge debt of gratitude, and a glass or two of something strong, for picking up the baton and writing the review of our defeat at West Ham. I hope you enjoy his style as much as I do.

Wifi difficulties had ensured that I had seen none of the pre-match talk for this one. Tuning in before kickoff I was pleased to discover that we had some available defenders.

I had a moment of worry when I could not see Laca in the tunnel, but he sprinted out last to take his place with Iwobi and Auba in our attack. Torreira was on the bench. West Ham fielded Samir Nasri. Meh.

Bubbles rang out at kickoff and the home fans sounded in good voice. 31 seconds into the match and some door salesman rang my doorbell. I was appalled at his timing and could not get rid of him fast enough. The Mustafi of door to door sales.

The match started off at a decent pace, both sides looking up for the encounter. We looked the more threatening but neither team was incisive in the last third.

Iwobi drove us forwards early but could not fashion a chance. Anderson showed his pace, Nasri had a few decent touches and looked to get involved against his old employers. We were, as ever, weak down our left flank. Kola was caught high up the pitch a couple of times.

It looks to me like Xhaka, since his few games at left back, now tries to cover that space a little more. Guendouzi had a lot of midfield to cover as Xhaka seemed to have one of those games where he was always a few steps from where he would have liked to have been.

Laca was defintiely our busiest player up top. He made some good runs and dropped deep to get involved in the play. A couple of times he was unlucky not to receive or thread the final pass. We were struggling to get the ball through midfield but the front three looked in good form when we shifted it to them and things looked encouraging enough for the opening twenty minutes and beyond.

Then West Ham began to get a bit more possession and a measure of assurance with it. They continued pressing down our left, found more space running from midfield and although they had been working hard throughout they looked to have added real intent to put our goal under threat.

Anderson shot wide from a Nasri layoff when he was in far too much space on the edge of our box. We were lucky he did not find a finish to test Leno. Before half time there was a chance for the impressive Declan Rice to beat Mustafi to a corner but he could not test the Keeper either.

The half was winding down as it had been played, with plenty of effort but not much real quality. When half time arrived, it gifted the two managers an opportunity to give their teams something of a rallying cry for the second half.

I am not sure it was as a direct results of the ministrations of his manager that Mustafi managed a yellow card for a late tackle in the first minute of the second half. Neither am I convinced that Pellegrini screamed from the touchline “Oi, Ricey, ‘Ave It!” But ‘have it’ is exactly what the young lad did. The ball was rolled to him (after Laca did not stop the cross and then Xhaka defended the cross with a header that does not really belong in the same sentence as the word defended). Kola left Nasri alone in the box and he hit it hard and cleanly past Leno. One nil to The Irons.

We now needed a reply. I was wondering how it was going to go. Were we going to lose limply? Or come back for a morale-boosting win? I don’t know this team well enough to know what to expect.

Initially they did not respond with much. Guendouzi was working hard but he was having a tough game. Midfield was still very tight and it looked like we needed a shift from a back five to a back four. The boss gave the nod for this change just before the hour. He brought on Torreira and Ramsey for Xhaka and Mustafi, neither of whom had had one of their better days.

The positional shift did not see instant dividends either. Kola got a yellow, panicking when he realised that he would now have to track midfield runs. It took ten more minutes of midfield slugging before our changes in personel and system finally showed some signs of making any headway.

Ramsey was tenacious, crossing for Auba to miss the kind of chance he regularly fails to get on target. He is doing well- and there is more in the tank from him too. As the game entered its last quarter we were back in the ascendancy and having another period of pressure, unfortunately with still not enough to show at the end of it.

Bellerin came on. So did Andy Carroll and the big man up top gave West Ham someone to lump it at anytime they fancied a change from holding their positions and passing the ball around tidily.We had the ball in the net but the marauding Kola was feet offside.

West Ham then proved themselves masters of the modern art of Game Management. They pretty much held us at arm’s length to see the game out and we never really looked dangerous enough to break them down. That is the key thing for me today. We played against a well-organised team that worked hard and attacked reasonably well. And that was enough to beat us. That is where we are.

West Ham were good and did lots of good stuff today and they deserve credit. But if that is what it takes to beat us then we will not be challenging for the top prizes.

We conceded a goal that was built on a series of half-chances to clear the ball. We took none of them and the other team scored. That is not unfamiliar. Unlucky? Maybe, but it is the sort of bad luck that this team just begs for. Today we did not look like a top four side. Some days we do. We will need to do so more often.

The second half of this season really could go either way. I still do not know this team well enought to predict. But I hope we see plenty of days better than today before the season is out.

Posted in Guest Tales, match review | 66 Drinks

66 Responses to “GSD Pulls The Short Straw This Week”

  1. on 12 Jan 2019 at 5:23 pm1Cynic

    I still do not know this team well enough

    I think you could safely say you know enough about Kolasinac, Xhaka and Mustafi to say they’re not good enough. You could probably put Sokratis in that category as well, although it’s hard to judge when he’s playing in a unit that is unstable and shockingly poor.

    Midfield is a bit dodgy. Torreira is very very good but will have flat spots in his first year, then we’ve got Guendouzi who is very good but raw.

    Iwobi is a squad player, Miki is not playing at the moment but hasn’t impressed and Ozil is Ozil.

    Up top we have two players who could destroy any team given the service, but they aren’t going to get it from this side and will only get it one or two games in ten if Ozil/Miki play.

    We need what we’re not going to get, in order to compete.

    Man City levels of spending.

    Although letting the manager pick his own players when it comes to transfers would help. I’m not going to say Emery is the problem when the players aren’t his and aren’t good enough.

  2. on 12 Jan 2019 at 5:36 pm2Countryman100

    Great job GSD!

  3. on 12 Jan 2019 at 5:53 pm3HellasGooner

    What happened to my first drink? suerly no minesweeping in this esteemed bar??

  4. on 12 Jan 2019 at 6:00 pm4Goonerholic

    Hellas, I thought it disrespectful to one who dug me out of a hole this week. It’s just the one post I have taken out for that reason.

  5. on 12 Jan 2019 at 6:09 pm5HellasGooner

    Noted birthday boy, hope its a good one and apologies to GSD, was a knee jerk from watching such an abject offering. I reckon GSD in his suit could have outpaced our lot today. Much as i hate Leeds, caught a bit of their game last night, the pace, commitment and dare i say it, skill on show, far exceeded anything in our game today.

  6. on 12 Jan 2019 at 6:16 pm6Goonerholic

    Thanks Hellas, having missed the game I’m not yet as frustrated as most seem to be. 🙂

  7. on 12 Jan 2019 at 6:41 pm7Dexter

    I really feel Dicks pain and frustration at not being able to strengthen the squad. Hopefully the summer will see significant funds given to the manager.

  8. on 12 Jan 2019 at 7:26 pm8TTG

    If only our performance had matched the quality of this report we would have been alright. GSD sums up our position perfectly. Anybody half decent will cause us problems and if they score first ( and a lot of sides score first against us) they will probably beat us.
    We have conceded 22 league goals away from home the third worst record in the league. We have taken two points from the last fifteen away from home.
    My sense is we are hitting a wall, maybe it is the effect of a lot of injuries, maybe it is the constant switching between a three and a four at the back but worryingly as I said during the game I can’t see any improvement at all in our defending despite our plethora of coaches. If we were to lose to Chelsea next week, we would be nine points behind them, assuming they hold on against Newcastle. We would possibly be in sixth place so it’s a very pivotal game.
    As GSD suggests we aren’t awful but we aren’t very good either and Emery has not noticeably improved any aspect of our play. We just don’t play as excitingly at home as we did last season.
    I’ve kept Thursday night free in my calendar for the last four months of the year. It’s Europa League again at best .

  9. on 12 Jan 2019 at 8:22 pm9Silly Second Yella

    “We’ve got Ozil… Mesut Ozil… I just don’t think you understand…”

  10. on 12 Jan 2019 at 10:03 pm10bt8

    If we are hitting a wall, and indeed it feels exactly like that, why are we not pulling out our fresh stock of supermen who are capable of running through walls?

  11. on 12 Jan 2019 at 10:38 pm11North Bank Ned

    Nice one, GSD, and finely judged. A glass of what you will on the bar to both toast your reporting and drown your sorrows over what you saw.

    We looked uninspired today. TTG and GSD nail it: not awful but not very good either. I thought on the whole the defending was OK, except for the goal. What did Xhaka think he was trying to do with that header?

    Not much by way of service for Laca and Auba from a midfield whose passing was a sloppy as I can remember of late, and equally unimaginative, at least until Ramsey came on. If he is off to Juventus, then either Ozil has got to be put back in the team pronto, or the cheque book got out with equal speed.

    It does feel like we are spinning our wheels at the moment.

  12. on 12 Jan 2019 at 11:34 pm12Silly Second Yella

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY4f6Pa3iZE

  13. on 12 Jan 2019 at 11:38 pm13Steve T

    No need for doom and gloom people. Just imagine what’s within reach when the money from the Ramsey sale is in the bank?

    Just spend it wisely people. No more stadiums or the like on the other side of the pond? I mean, perish the thought.

  14. on 12 Jan 2019 at 11:45 pm14OsakaMatt

    Thanks GSD. A very fair report of
    a frustrating game.

    We looked exactly the same as last
    January’s Arsenal.

  15. on 13 Jan 2019 at 12:14 am15TTG

    This is a great blog. Even when the maestro is absent we still get beautifully balanced reports and incisive but sensible comments.
    The next few months will be very important. We must show some progress in the form of silverware or at least a run in one of the two cups left or fourth position ( what a lot of fans used to sneer at) or at the very minimum a sense that the club is progressing. It should be progressing with a new tactician at the helm but our financial position and the sense that this is a great club that has got so many major decisions wrong is depressing and frustrating for so many supporters.
    I love this club but I don’t want to help a very rich American get even richer whilst the club goes through Groundhog season each year. What OM says is absolutely right. We are almost the same team we saw last January and that team needed to improve radically. We’ve not remotely done so.

  16. on 13 Jan 2019 at 12:51 am16Silly Second Yella

    uninspired but beautifully balanced Arsenal

    maybe…

    hello Mr. Smallweed

  17. on 13 Jan 2019 at 1:21 am17Silly Second Yella

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtKrpu-z7ns

  18. on 13 Jan 2019 at 10:23 am18bathgooner

    The match I saw. Thank you GSD. An excellent report summing up our situation nicely with your concluding observations:

    “We played against a well-organised team that worked hard and attacked reasonably well. And that was enough to beat us. That is where we are.”

    I agree with Cynic about the quality deficits in several of our players but that is the result of several windows with extremely flawed signings amd is not swiftly mended. I also agree with TTG that fourth place is rapidly receding beyond the horizon, will be an unattainable mirage if we lose to the Chavs next weekend and that winning the Europey League is our best chance of CL participation next season – but what chance of that, if this is our level of performance?

    My great hope for this new management team was that they would develop an organised defence providing a stable platform on which the creative players could weave their magic. Sadly I cannot see a clear direction of travel for this team, so far. I look back on the smooth midfield artistry of most Wenger seasons and the utilitarian solidity of the Graham years wistfully and wonder where we are heading. To paraphrase the unlamented Gazidis, surely the architect of much of the current situation, are we building an organisation to compete, not with Bayern but rather with Everton or even Villa?

  19. on 13 Jan 2019 at 10:30 am19Pijiu25

    Staying up to 1.30am to watch all of that incredibly inept performance was very very frustrating.. But.. glass half full – I still really like Hector, AMN, Torreira, Guendozi, PEA, Lacazette and maybe Iwobi. (And Nacho and Kos in their dotage). And maybe Mavraponos and certainly Holding next season. Gotta get most of those guys playing together.

    BTW, think I saw Stan in the Box watching the LA Rams win in the NFL Finals earlier today.. See he is listed as 2nd richest NFL owner..

  20. on 13 Jan 2019 at 10:32 am20Delia

    A late offer of a ticket came my way and off I went to watch what was an appallingly inept display of football by two inferior teams.

    After a whole week of having most of the players available for training Emery produced a side which had no cohesion, no ideas, no pace, no
    enthusiasm and no goals from attackers who had forgotten where the back of the net is. It was one of the most negative performances I have seen in years against a very poor side.

    The Hammers were just worthy of their victory but we will find it hard going staying in the Europa League spots if we don’t find some form particularly looking at our next group of matches. Pessimism was the mood on a very crowded train home where we had to put up with a bunch of happy Hammers.

  21. on 13 Jan 2019 at 10:33 am21Mark The Spark

    Nice write up GSD, though hopefully the Landlord isn’t looking to draw a pension just yet.
    I’m with most of the observations, from matches (say) 5 to 12 we seemed to have an impetus and a desire, but we have gone back to flat lining of late. We are losing to teams that we should be able to get points against.
    Ho hum. At least the home match day atmosphere isn’t so poisonous as recent years.

  22. on 13 Jan 2019 at 10:36 am22Mark The Spark

    Delia, do you think we was worse yesterday, than at Saints away?

  23. on 13 Jan 2019 at 10:58 am23Delia

    Mark, I didn’t get to the Southampton game which may have coloured my view. Yesterday there were other options on the bench and the dreaded Ozil situation still prevails.

    We desperately need a skillful midfielder in this team to provide the pass to our strikers who did have chances yesterday but once again fluffed their lines.

    If Ozil isn’t worthy of a place in this team then we must get rid of him and find someone who can do the job Emery is looking for.

    We need the back room boys to find us a replacement but the supposed lack of funds in this window will hamper our efforts. Sorry but I don’t know where we are going and I doubt if Emery knows either.

  24. on 13 Jan 2019 at 12:27 pm24North Bank Ned

    Not to underestate our shortcomings yesterday but West Ham are not a poor side. Pellegrini has turned them into a top half of the table but not top four team. Unfortunately, so are we at present.

    The glass half full view is that we are starting to defend better with an ageing defence desperately short of depth at full back and whose rebuilding has been wrecked by injury, we’ve found the long-needed DM in Torreira, unearthed some raw talent in Guendouzi, got quality strikers in Laca and Auba, and talent coming up the ranks in Holding, Mavropanos, AMN, ESR, Nelson, Willock, Nketiah, Saka and others. What we haven’t got is an attacking midfield to tie it together or the money, apparently, to fill the gaps in the short-term. We have also got into an absurd situation where we pay but don’t play our best player, and are about to let one of our other talented assets walk out the door for, at best, a song. I also fear we lack sufficient ‘winning mentality’. I was reading an interview with Michael Carrick about how Fergie relentlessly drilled that into every ManU player, however talented, and it showed.

  25. on 13 Jan 2019 at 4:01 pm25Mark The Spark

    Thanks Delia. I agree.
    Letting Ramsey go is a mystery to me, especially since there would be no signing on fee to retain him.
    I wouldn’t have been averse to taking Cesc back on loan either, for the reasons you’ve outlined clearly. The proverbial missing link in my book.

  26. on 13 Jan 2019 at 5:46 pm26Countryman100

    Fantastic Arseblog today. Sums up the whole situation really well.

  27. on 13 Jan 2019 at 6:08 pm27HellasGooner

    Delia @20 Spot on. A more detailed version of my mineswept first drink. We saw the same game.

  28. on 13 Jan 2019 at 6:36 pm28ksn

    Manure have the momentum and looks like they will finish ahead of us, unfortunately. Spuds unravelling as usual.
    Great goalkeeping by de Gea, saved almost five almost certain goals.

    We have fallen off after a good run. Emery not playing Ozil is baffling. He is our one creative mid fielder and it is the manager’s job to get the best out of him in which he has failed. Ozil’s treatment has the risk of creating divisions in the team. UE has to sort this out fast.

  29. on 13 Jan 2019 at 6:41 pm29North Bank Ned

    C100@26: Copy that.

    It pulls together a lot of what has been said at this bar of late.

    ksn@28: Back of an envelope calculation is that de Gea is worth a dozen points a season for United.

  30. on 13 Jan 2019 at 8:17 pm30Gunnersaurus Stunt Double

    Ned. Are you letting the monks receive post? Shirley Knott? (As my old head chef used to say)

    I assume that you gave them the back of an old envelope as acceptable material to use to mess around with Manure stats on.

    Cheers for the nice comments from the drinkers As ever, if the Boss is busy then it is a privilege to fill in, and I do not expect to hit his heights, or speeds!

    I do have such a high opinion of this bar and its drinkers that it’s always a pleasure to be involved in any way. It’s better when we win though..

  31. on 13 Jan 2019 at 8:29 pm31TTG

    May I echo Countryman and Ned.
    Arseblog is spot on today. He might have been reading Goonerholic for the last fortnight and I don’t mean that flippantly. I’ve spoken to four or five mates who are all season-ticket holders at the Grove over the last 24 hours and there is a massive level of agreement about what are the main problems and a general feeling that we aren’t much further forward .
    As Arseblog says , Europa League aside , our season could be all but over by the spend of the month and then we go to play Citeh where a similar experience to our recent Anfield mauling lies in store.
    Were that gloomy prognostication to actually become reality , Emery will face a crisis barely six months into his tenure. We would be back in that toxic environment that spoilt the last few years of Wenger’s reign.

    United’s transformation shows how quickly things can change in football. Remember the tired mob who we should have beaten at Old Toilet if we could defend? Contrast them with the motivated , energetic team that disposed of the Totts today ( owing much to De Gea).We need a similarly positive turnaround . But Solskjaer’s new United is a much more radical unit than Emery’s Arsenal which is Wenger’s lot with knobs on and without Ozil .

    That is the task facing Emery and I wish him huge success. I know there are one or two in the bar who are uncomfortable at what I sense they feel is constant criticism of our club. I see it as the realistic assessment of knowledgeable Gooners who want the club to regain some of its former glory . I’d love to be euphoric about our prospects and optimistic about the future but I think like many others here we are cursed with understanding our current predicament too well!

  32. on 13 Jan 2019 at 10:10 pm32iBtM

    An excellent report, GSD and some great builds from our drinkers. Difficult days.

  33. on 13 Jan 2019 at 10:19 pm33Tapera Doma

    My own layman’s observation is, we are not even playing as “well” as we did the beginning of the season. Remember how we played Chelsea on the 2nd game of the season? We are not playing anywhere near how we played them back then. If you look @ West Ham game, were there any build ups from the back? We were just heaving the ball up field, maybe because Kos is not accustomed to it yet. Slow build-ups and slow passing.
    And why on earth did Ramsey or Ozil not start the game?

  34. on 13 Jan 2019 at 10:24 pm34Tapera Doma

    Pijiu25 @19.
    There is was NO NFL Final on Saturday night. LA Rams played and won a play-off game. The NFL Final, which is known as the Super Bowl (the highest watched sporting event in America) is on February 3rd.

    If you are interested in understanding the NFL post-season, try this

    http://www.nfl.com/playoffs/playoff-picture

  35. on 13 Jan 2019 at 11:10 pm35TTG

    Tapera
    Thankyou for the update. Would I be right in thinking Kroenke is very unpopular in America because of moving the franchise from St. Louis to LA?
    I would imagine every Gooner in the world wants them to lose asap. I know I do!

  36. on 13 Jan 2019 at 11:42 pm36TTG

    This article, although long explains the arcane financial rules which are hamstringing us and chronicles very clearly the utter mismanagement of the Gazidis era. That man has so much to answer for. No wonder he pissed off to Milan.
    http://dailycannon.com/2019/01/arsenal-dropped-the-ball-at-the-wrong-time-why-they-have-no-money/9/

  37. on 14 Jan 2019 at 12:19 am37Tapera Doma

    Hello TTG.
    Unfortunately you are NOT correct.

    St Louis is just a very small piece of the big big America.
    Metro St Louis population is about 2.8 Million.
    Metro Los Angeles is about 13.1 million.
    NFL teams are known to relocate. When Stan’s team relocated from St Louis, they relocated with another team from Sab Diego, California. Both teams will be sharing the new stadium. In 2020 another NFL team will be relocating from Oakland, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.

    Typically the relocation is driven by stadium age/revenue profile. A majority of the NFL stadiums are jointly owned by the local government (city, county or state) and the team. The local government typically owns the bigger share.
    https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/goodell-st-louis-stadium-proposal-inadequate/article_88e558e6-610d-5061-a366-ab26cdad1dbf.html

    The NFL itself (32 teams) has an unwritten preference to have teams located in the 32 most populated metro areas of the US. A majority of NFL revenue is derived from TV Rights. A typical NFL game, which is 60 minutes of actual playing time lasts about 4 hours on TV. TV companies advertise in and around the game. The game stops for ads.
    https://qz.com/1192015/super-bowl-lii-how-the-price-of-an-ad-climbed-to-5-milion-in-2018/

    As an example, here is the stadium financing for the NFL team in Atlanta:
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/sep/29/why-are-georgia-taxpayers-paying-700m-for-a-new-nfl-stadium

    I hope this helps, otherwise I will be writing forever.

  38. on 14 Jan 2019 at 3:12 am38Tapera Doma

    I guess my response to TTG on # 35 misses the posting guidelines. It is not posted. What are the posting guidelines?

  39. on 14 Jan 2019 at 4:30 am39OsakaMatt

    I thought the posting guidelines
    were just not to be offensive.
    Sometimes in the past my post
    was delayed because I typed in
    the name or e-mail address wrongly.

  40. on 14 Jan 2019 at 5:18 am40OsakaMatt

    TTG@36
    Thanks for the link, it was an
    interesting view of our current
    situation and I agreed with quite
    a lot of it.
    The problem with Ivan, to me,
    was that he simply wasn’t a
    football guy and I wasn’t happy
    with him having any input into
    transfer decisions. He may or may
    not be good financially, I just
    don’t know, but I couldn’t see how
    he could understand the value of
    a player to our team in the moment
    or in the future. It’s a difficult call
    to make even when you do have
    the career experience and technical
    understanding. Anyway, he’s gone
    and we seem to be trying to correct
    the situation so I’m not too gloomy
    about the mid term situation- the
    short term on the other hand may be
    a bit grim unless UE can make a
    feast out of some bread and fish.

  41. on 14 Jan 2019 at 7:30 am41North Bank Ned

    TTG@36: Interesting link and broadly correct in its assessment, but also a reminder to fans that clubs can’t just go out and buy new players when they need them as if they were nipping down to the supermarket when they run out of sugar.

    GSD: We are nothing if not frugal at Castle Ned.

  42. on 14 Jan 2019 at 9:42 am42bathgooner

    TTG@36, Thanks for that link. That really is a must read unless one has a tendency to ‘the Black Dog’. This certainly does seem to explain what’s been going on behind the scenes and why we are where we are, why we withdrew the contract for Rambo, why Gazidis got his jotters and why we can only take players on loan this window. Unau Emery has a hell of a task. I even begin to empathise with the owner not wanting to give his own money to Wenger/Gazidis. This transition is going to be hell. It will take a number of years to return to the pinnacle of English football, if we ever do. Very depressing.

  43. on 14 Jan 2019 at 10:29 am43Goonerholic

    TD, any post that has greater than two links is held pending approval by the spam filter. I have approved your post manually.

  44. on 14 Jan 2019 at 1:46 pm44OsakaMatt

    TD,

    Sorry, my advice on posting was
    useless – still live and learn and
    all that 🙂

    Did your post mean that American
    Football used to take less than 4
    hours for a game? I’d always
    assumed that there were so many
    ads because the game had so many
    breaks. But the TV tail actually wags
    the dog?

  45. on 14 Jan 2019 at 3:02 pm45TTG

    Tapera,
    That was most instructive and helpful. Thankyou
    It is a hugely different philosophy to English football which was a working-class, urban pursuit and in some areas like the North- West there were teams in neighbouring towns eg, Burnley , Bolton, Blackburn.
    Clubs just grew up and people from the local community supported them ( or otherwise) London has lots of clubs…and Tottenham ?
    As TV tries to re-engineer the format and programme during the season a lot of traditions come under pressure, although we still have the Christmas programme – after a fashion.
    My question about Kroenke came after posters here ( I think) told me of his general unpopularity and especially his unpopularity in Missouri. Interestingly I heard he is the second richest owner in the NFL. He certainly isn’t in the Premier League , I would have thought.
    Anyway whatever his status I hope forlornly that he pisses off asap.

  46. on 14 Jan 2019 at 4:01 pm46Tapera Doma

    Thank you Landlord on #43.

  47. on 14 Jan 2019 at 4:22 pm47bt8

    OM.

    Tail wag the dog?? I have heard it is not supposed to work that way. 😉

    Indeed, NFL games did not used to take anywhere close to 4 hours ut in the near future I would not be at all surprised to hear they are lasting 5 hours or more. Cricket length, even.

  48. on 14 Jan 2019 at 7:51 pm48bt8

    I have heard of Leonel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo but WTF is Telmo Zarra?

    https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46858269

  49. on 14 Jan 2019 at 7:54 pm49bt8

    Whoops, it looks like I spelled Messi’s first name wrong. My embarrassment.

    Has cba suffered enough penance yet? Will he have us back?

  50. on 14 Jan 2019 at 9:56 pm50North Bank Ned

    bt8b@48:Telmo Zarra? Fill your boots: https://youtu.be/TiHHdGprOsk

  51. on 14 Jan 2019 at 11:23 pm51North Bank Ned

    At least someone thinks we are doing better than expected:

    http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2018/246/en/

  52. on 14 Jan 2019 at 11:34 pm52bt8

    Ned, That was before my time but I am glad to hear Tello was a mattress maker and not the alternative. Nice clip too. 🙂

  53. on 15 Jan 2019 at 12:10 am53bt8

    Our defence was shit last season. In their heart of hearts I don’t think anybody expected the signings of Sokratis and Lichtsteiner to be major improvements. Hoped, maybe but expected, no. Holding’s performance before getting injured was a major plus and must be our biggest source of optimism at this point that our defence can improve next season. As for the rest of this season the only thing I can see improving our defence is smoke and mirrors. Maybe an all expenses paid vacation for Mustafi couldn’t hurt.

  54. on 15 Jan 2019 at 1:35 am54ecg

    bt8, let me know where to send the check…

  55. on 15 Jan 2019 at 2:53 am55OsakaMatt

    I thought Mustafi was already on an all
    expenses paid vacation. 😉

    @47 bt8
    I thought TV was too powerful in
    the UK – I should stop complaining
    about them. I won’t of course.

    I saw some cricket purists moaning
    the other day that too many test
    matches are finished in only 3 days
    recently
    🙂

  56. on 15 Jan 2019 at 6:55 am56North Bank Ned

    Ozil, Hazard and De Bruyne: none can get a regular start with their clubs. What does that say about English football?

  57. on 15 Jan 2019 at 7:11 am57North Bank Ned

    OM@55: US TV broadcasts 134,000 hours of sports a year (2017 figure, the latest the monks can find) — more than twice as many as ten years ago.

  58. on 15 Jan 2019 at 9:30 am58Vinay Prabhakar

    The point of wanting a change was for changes to be visible right, after 6 months under Emery i cannot point out one thing that has improved. yes, he inherited a squad which may not be to his liking but can he explain what is the shape of the team and more importantly can he say what is the style of play? I am not being critical of him but i am not even sure what are we trying to do. Initially, it was playing from the back, then it became a counter attack, now sidewards passing and keeping possession? Frankly, nothing is working.

    Ther personnel are average, we just have 2 good finishers, lacazette our best player of the season so far, we dont play our best creative midfielder and we are selling our box to box engine. Xhaka is exasperating, Torreira needs time and Guendouzi worries me, he has already been overplayed and we all know what happened when something similar happened to a certain jack Wilshere. The defense is poor, no 2 words about it and instead of replacing, we are trying to extend contracts here ( Monreal, although he has been good but done). Everytime spendng loads of money is not the answer, smart loan deals, plucking unknowns and trusting them is the need of the hour.
    Go for it Unai, no one really expects miracles from you, what all expect is be competitive and for that to happen, we need to have an identity to our play.

  59. on 15 Jan 2019 at 11:10 am59TTG

    Petr Cech has just announced he will retire at the end of the season.
    Good luck to him in the future

  60. on 15 Jan 2019 at 12:19 pm60OsakaMatt

    As TTG said the best of luck to
    Cech. I hope he finishes his career
    with a cup medal.

    Ned – thank you to the monks for
    that TV info. It says something
    about us as a species but I’m
    not sure what. Perhaps I don’t
    know because I’m parked in
    front of the telly instead of
    doing any thinking ?

  61. on 15 Jan 2019 at 2:29 pm61Countryman100

    Strong rumours flying around that Sven Mislintat is leaving.

    It’s all going rather well isn’t it?

  62. on 15 Jan 2019 at 2:38 pm62TTG

    C100
    I’m hearing this all over the place too. It appears to be fact but why is it happening? The answer could be very instructive. On the face of it this is more very bad news

  63. on 15 Jan 2019 at 4:23 pm63Goonerholic

    That rumour has been doing the rounds for a couple of days, but nobody is confirming it. Until there is an announcement let’s stay calm. ☺️

  64. on 15 Jan 2019 at 5:57 pm64bt8

    Calm but not silent here.

    Svexit schmexit.

  65. on 15 Jan 2019 at 8:04 pm65Goonerholic

    Surprise Tuesday! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  66. on 18 Feb 2019 at 4:50 am66Michaelsware

    [b]How the Ukrainian clinic BioTexCom deceived its clients[/b]

    Hi anyone. The team of columnists found many clients, which BioTexCom deceived. We managed to find dissatisfied clients. We are deceived clients of BioTexCom organization of reproductive medicine. When was the renewed occasion with them, when BioTexCom deceived them, we want to write as much reviews as it feasible and to support them. We did a splendid operation and search many of incidents of negative feedback of clinic BioTexCom. All of them you could find in Internet on request “biotexcom critiques”. We want to lend a hand them and help them. With our journalist help, fewer people will turn to tricksters.

    Below you could search information from people who have fallen in atmosphere, which were combined with BioTexCom services.

    They asked columnists to assistance them. Oliver and Jane help our team and in team we are finding data and reviewed it. With suggest columnist help they compose this article. Thanks for the support Oliver and Jane.

    When young families haven’t chances to have babies, they approach to the surrogacy offices. Many of them are located in Eastern Europe. One of the famous reproductive medicine clinic is BioTexCom. There are a lot of people in Germany, who use cater for of them. If to get biotexcom researches, is it probable to find a lot of privative researches.

    Last time this clinic became famous cause of they don’t utilize DNA one of parents. This clinic makes a lot of operation without necessary conditions. A lot of humans from Italy, Estonia, Romania are visit Ukraine and pick up babies.

    You could view reviews from Cecilia Rizzika, who is Italian advocate. He told that at first his customers in 2010 get to BioTexCom and visit clinics. At firm specialists provided a surrogate mom, who will impregnate with the cum of the future parent, but cum wasn’t comprised. About situation future mother and father get evidence after DNA test. Cost of procedure was 30.000 euros.

    [url=http://namba.kz/blogs/post.php?id=788391]Source [/url] or [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69oZmCt0l9w]watch video[/url]

    Likewise one of the circumstance consisted in baby who were taken to Poland and Romania. In Ukraine a criminal point has been public for the clinic. Also was founded information that a lot of children were conceived from invalid mothers who obtain a diagnostic of “infertility 1 degree”.

    According to the attorney General’s Office of Ukraine BioTexCom is functioning in 2 big cities of Ukraine. They find some persons who need coins and propose them. A lot of managers of office are working in the capital of Ukraine in Kirovograd. The second city is one of the most oppressive areas all over the country. But criminal group, organized by a townsman of Moldova and Germany didn’t defray money duties a lot of years. In Italy any of people know BioTexCom very good. This organization is being dispute at forums. More information you should however find about this furnishings at link here [url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-06-29/ukraine-surrogacy-legal-some-ask-if-its-exploitation] BioTexCom Clinic Reviews [/url].

    Firm however use terrible conditions. In 2012 Maria from Ukraine proposed for the program of surrogacy and became badly with hepatitis B. As she displayed, every day she asked about remuneration and under the contact organization should to pay her 200 EUR every month for livelihood, vitamine, medical supplies. For every trimester of gestation, she should to obtain 1200 euros. All this cash young Maria didn’t take. When later Italian parents come to young woman, specialists said that she has problems with pregnancy and it is necessary to pay 8000 euros and to make pattern. Also, how later Maria found out, this kind of explore wasn’t necessary to do. Then this in 24 weeks young mom have other issues with her heartiness. Woman narrate: “I come to medics in infirmary and doctors said that I have illness”. About this story you can however read more at [url=https://surrogacy.ru/en/news/human-trafficking-and-forgery-of-documents-the-police-accused-the-largest-surrogate-motherhood-clinic-in-ukraine/]Biotex com Review [/url].

    Now some of people all over the world know that they mustn’t give credence to the BioTexCom clinic. Many clients who used services of this company don’t advice to use services of BioTexCom. In firm are working scoundrels. Our estimate of firm job – 1/10 points. Some humans must be sure, that this company works as inequitable company. You need also to know that in clinic are working a lot of technical specialists who deleted any withdrawals. We desire to provide you advice. Never use services of BioTexCom if you don’t want to be connected with criminal or other issues.

    Now this company is one of the biggest private firms. Virtually, small clinics in Ukraine don’t admit to do the same things. The basic argue – they assessmented of their reputation and don’t want minus it.

    Also we advise to explore and research items in european media, which we are searching. There you should search judgments and fault from Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and opinions from other individuals about this organization.

    Also we are finding reviews from managers who were worked in BioTexCom. We are searching medics who were arranged in clinic. Doctors confirm that BioTexCom use other ways to fool man all over the world. They also said that doctors don’t care about clients health.

    1. Medical staff is not officially employed. Actually they asked specialists from other hospitals to do the procedure.
    2. This clinic doesn’t have enough medical facilities. Some doctors need to do operations by their arms. It’s unusual.
    3. Maintain which value is $39.000 doesn’t define the sex of the child. However other clinics do it for free and could say needful data.
    4. In films which are shown for clients BioTexCom folk could see elite apartments. It’s not true.
    5. Also specialists of BioTexCom said they are whole maternity clinic. In fact, they are renting 4 improved wards in the city enterprise Kyiv Maternity Hospital №3. And in the film they exaggerate and show this state agency as their clinic.

    [url=http://zamestvashtomaichinstvo.com/] BioTexCom Scam [/url]

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