Our Countryman’s Reflections From Row 9 North Bank
Sep 25th, 2019 by 'holic
|
I know it was only Forest reserves. At home. But boy oh boy that was an evening brimming with positives. As always for the league cup it was a very different atmosphere at the Grove last night. Season tickets don’t apply, there were none of my the usual regulars around me. Tickets are very cheap, so there was a decent crowd (haven’t seen any numbers but I’ll guess at 45k to 50k). There was a lot of kids with their parents so in the North Bank we had the highly unusual experience of sitting down, so as to not block the view of the small ones behind us. Parents ferried a constant stream of crisps, pizza and coke (of the cola variety) to their kids. They didn’t know any songs except the ones about Tottenham. The language was notably cleaner than usual. But oh how those young faces shone as we stuck five past Forest in front of them. Forest brought 8000 fans and they comprehensively outsung us all game. Well played. So where to begin? I’ve been saying for some time that those doubting Emery have to wait until the first choice defence is available. Well last night we saw Holding, a point of calm serenity at the centre of defence, chipping in with a set piece goal. Emery’s strategy (or so we are told) depends on top full backs overlapping. Well, in sequence rather than parallel we saw Tierney and then Hector. I liked what we saw. Tierney bombs on, tracks back, has a real engine and, unlike Kola, has a set of golf clubs on his left foot. How Willock missed the pinpoint cross from him with the goal gaping at the back post nobody , least of all Willock, knows. Hector, greeted like a God on his return, took only a couple of minutes to lay on a goal for Willock to atone. Everything Hector does is so much faster than our alternatives at right back. Holding, Hector and Tierney in the starting line up at Old Trafford? I do hope so but after the inter lull all three will be first choice and we will be a much better team for it. Big shout out for a good performance from Calum as well with two assists and playing both left and right full back but I still think he is too slow to play full back in the PL. However a good choice at centre back, or maybe DM. Moving forward, the Xhaka less midfield, anchored by Torreira, seemed considerably quicker than at the weekend. To be fair there was a complete lack of pressing from Forest. But Willock continued his Ramsey impression and looks first team ready. Ozil was disappointing again. Some good passes, some rubbish ones, but he slows down the play so much. Second half he got to the edge of the area, had a clear shooting chance, but hesitated and got robbed. I think we’ve seen the best of him. Certainly we looked better when Ceballos replaced him. Moving to the forwards, Reiss did well without pulling up any trees. As did Smith Rowe before he went off concussed after a brave header. But Martinelli did really well leading the line. I’m not sure if he’s a 9 or a wide man, but his first goal was a real striker’s effort. Reacting really quickly from Calum’s volleyed cross he forced his way between two centre backs to bullet home a header. In injury time he picked up the ball in midfield, ran at the defence and curled in a lovely shot in the top corner. A very good performance. Saka, when he replaced Smith Rowe just carried on his recent form. A threat every time he gets the ball at his twinkling feet. Towards the end (bearing in mind we kicked off late) a sudden excited buzz all around me brought the news that Spurs had succumbed to Colchester. Perry Groves would be so proud. A very good night. Well worth the £20 I paid for two tickets and the true shape of things to come for this team. |
83 Responses to “Our Countryman’s Reflections From Row 9 North Bank”
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Excellent report, C100. Sounds as if a good evening was had by all.
Except for Forest fans, of course.
And good to hear that Tierney lived up to his billing.
Forest tried to invade the Grove.but couldn’t alder expectations or even get a beech head as yew might have thought.
Great report, C100. The kids appear to be more than alright. Also, a club is a healthy club when it takes the League Cup dead seriously.
That’s great Professor Countryman. Enjoyed your report and we saw exactly the same game.
I was puzzled by the late kick-off (no commentary on my excellent stream at that stage) and I was treated to 15 minutes of only one Arsenal player on the field for the first 15 minutes and he was three up on his own in that time. Marvellous. He was green so I thought it might be Tierney but it turned out it was only GSD 🙂
I’d give Ozil more plaudits than you did based on last night, but to your point, he is nowhere close to his peak (he has always been reticent to shoot, preferring to look for the perfect assist much to Wenger’s chagrin). I didn’t understand why he was withdrawn.
I like Ceballos but he has a tendency to be cavalier. When his daring-do efforts don’t come off he can leave us exposed. I think that’s part of his game he’ll need to work on. I don’t think he’s good enough for Real Madrid. I think Willock will be – so we’ll need to work hard to keep and build the team around him.
As for Tierney, bloody brilliant. It’s no wonder that most Scots want him not Robertson at LB in the national team. He played LB, CB and LW for Celtic as well as RB for Scotland. I’m delighted he’s here.
And finally, not ONE pissy pass at the back from keeper to someone three yards away last night and what a difference that alone made. An Emery tactic I have no time for.
Thanks iBtM.
Your mention of GSD reminds me that I neglected to report on the half time penalty shoot out battle between the mascots, our very own Gunnersaurus and Forest’s Robin Hood Fox.
After going down after the first round, GS triumphed 2-1, much to the delight of the primary school contingent around me.
A wonderful victory. GS has great feet for a big guy!
Nice report, but i have to disagree re Ozil. I thought he played really well considering his lack of proper game time, and hauling him off after 70 mins served no real purpose except filling Unai’s already inflated ego.
Barack
I respect your opinion. To me the main fault with Ozil is that he slows down play – something that wasn’t true in his first two years with us. Replacing him with Dani meant that we passed the ball quicker and stretched the defence more.
When he went off we were 1-0 up. 20 minutes later it was 5-0.
But it would be a dull old world if we all agreed.
Thanks C100, an enjoyable
report.
I’ve only seen the goals so
won’t disagree with anything
you’ve written but UE did
say afterwards that Hector
won’t play at Old Toilet based
on medical advice.
Looking forward to seeing
Tierney though and hope
he plays.
top drawer as per
? thunder T
? dorset M
Good stuff as ever, Countryman.
All the best to you, Holic.
howdy trev
worst name here
fella i’d really like to talk to
ain’t gonna happen
on you girlfriend!
and
i know c100 is uncomfortable with my
woop woops
but i spent my life trying to tell people the real story
about whatever
“Eh?”
none o yer business
ya nosey cunt
.
c100 and ‘holic and so many others here
should write a book
a PROPER football book
clinical and messy
in whatever proportion
smiles dictate
(and if you find the cunts beat the fuck outta me carrying my shopping home in Plaistow – send me their names)
get back on yer good foot ‘holic
?
and
a
moooooooooooooooooooooo
Ozil actually slows down our play in the middle of the park, because he just needs more time on the ball, then what he used to. And this was a game, if he did still have the ability to impose himself on a game, that he should have truly shone. Because Forrest were not pressing or harassing our midfield at all. He had all the time in the world and still managed to lose the ball on a couple of occasions. I think project Ozil is over. Come the summer he’ll be looking for a new club. Now just to get rid of Xhaka and we might start getting somewhere. I don’t think Sideshow Bob is our biggest problem. I think paired with Holding they’d make a good partnership. It’s Sokratis who is the liability. Overrated in my opinion and bang average. If we go back four, I’d like to see Bellerin, Holding, Sideshow Bob and Tierney. If we go back three then, Chambers, Holding, Sideshow Bob. I think Chamber’s merits a run in the team at DM or box to box. He certainly should be starting ahead of Xhaka.
you paid by the word ?
numbers was down the list
Dave said crazy flamboyant would renew my contract
it appears volume is more important
*tuts*
agus
*flounces*
it’s getting to the stage
i really don’t know
why
i
bother
.
.
.
the dry abandonment of some responses
deserve kicking right square in the unecessaries
I’m sitting here
I’ve had my hair and nails done
.
how many English people do i have to boot in the throat
Only one, cba. Mad haired blonde bloke, sounds like the Queen would if she had bollocks. You know who I mean.
clearly
ALL O YE
.
(though clearly is an exaggeration. I’m 60 next year and blurry is my niddle mame)
hello cynic
it was interesting living here
it was interesting living over there
indeed my experience living over there
was dictated by my having lived over here
i’m sure
one day in the future
Irish people will be allowed to be
.
#teamboris
#hashtag
#team boris
yay
the monumental spanner
I apologise for a previous drink, where I said a certain person sounded like the Queen would if she had bollocks.
I meant to say he sounds like Jacob Rees-Mogg would if he had some.
Back to your usual programming…
and
cynic
no
i have no intention of watching those ghoulish shows
.
as far as i can see
the only good thing
they serve i suppose
enlightening people whose government did that stuff
caused that stuff
should be accountable for that stuff
.
.
.
and
are potentially gonna
start that stuff up again
ooooooooooooooh
charlie george
wrightbus has collapsed
the notoriously sectarian
London routemaster borisbus manufacturer
who’d a thunk it
a company who sidewayed millions of pounds
to an evangelical christian church
the son of the founder
was the billy big bollocks who had
an intention
to build a new complete village
with shops Etc
for evangelical protestant people
next door to the bus manufacturing business
look at the DUP
with more caution people
yes
they are cunts
but
they are
sneaky cunts
crazy cunts
Fine report, CM100. Much as I saw it. A much more enjoyable watch than we’ve had in many a long month. Fast fluid movement of men and ball in midfield. Pacy, incisive forwards. Solid defence (albeit rather untested) but comfortable on the ball and NO pissing about at the back. I hope to see some of these players and this style of football from the first team at the Old Toilet. Perhaps not a surprise that our midfield had a more fluid appearance in the absence of a certain favouite of the manager. No names.
According to the Man from East Lower, the official attendance was 53,100. As Richie Benaud used to say “good effort that”.
C100
A really top report. Thanks
I was absent last night at a black tie dinner. Lots of plunging necklines …..and the girls were almost as bad ?
I did see the goals and was interested to read an interesting article from Jonathan Liew in the Independent
Here it is- worth a read
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/arsenal-news-nottingham-forest-result-goals-final-score-jonathan-liew-a9119721.html
Just to clarify my position.I think we have a very promising squad and rate the backroom team highly. I just don’t think Emery is a top-class coach. But Countryman makes a good point . Let’s try to get behind the team and see if our full-strength side can take us up to the Champions League . We may perform a lot better with better quality at the back.
If Boris really wants to prorogue something, why not Trump?
Good ebening.
Thanks C100, nice rpt. This is the most balanced Arsenal team I’ve seen this season. Nobody mentioned that even Mustafi improved his game yesterday. That was how good the team was. The boys weren’t afraid to put in tackles, challenge headers, take on opponents and try out whatever farts issued by their brains. Fantastic, am obviously not crediting the manager, this was absolutely the handiwork of hungry players trying to prove their mettle and they succeeded. On to the next one. OT, here we come for the blood, full pint.
c100, beauty. thanks, and for all your efforts. a pitcher on the bar for you, filled with mönchshof schwarzbier…
and now it’s liverpool in the next round. definitely going to put paid to the storyline evolving here, one way or another.
@35. Obviously.
Obviously do not credit the manager for a 5-0 victory inspired by young players and those returning from injury. It is not like he has anything to do with supporting them to play with freedom or creating an atmosphere where they are ready to take their chances. And make sure you ignore the multitude of interviews the young players give that credit him for this. Wait till we start winning Premier League games by at least ten clear goals at away grounds before you give that oaf any credit.
Just make sure you keep giving him pelters when you don’t like how he sets us up at Anfield.
Dear God. There is a lot Emery does that I disagree with. But it’s really hard to give any credence to the views of people who go out of their way to make it clear that they won’t countenance giving him credit for anything he does at all.
Can’t we recognise that he does some good things and some bad? We have a variety of opinions about how heavily he falls, and on which side, but his good stuff does not cancel out his bad stuff, nor vice versa. It is fine to recognise both. Why does everything and everyone have to be brilliant or crap?
The gaffer had a good day. Well done sir. We want another one at OT. That would mean a lot more.
Liverpool away in the League Cup- where is Julio Baptista when you need him ?
in the big dusty musty library of words
‘febrile’ must be currently combing up it’s quiff
smoking a gauloises
getting all the lady words
all the lady words
repeat
all the ladies
just
NOW
.
he’s the best word
he should
he knows all the best words
Down by the schoolyard?
A game to look forward to
– hope we play with the same
attitude as last night.
though
cos nobody will buy me a beer
i’m toking like fuck
dunno whether i need a shit or a haircut
recently
but
it softens things
.
.
.
there’s a lot going on in my head just now
and i’m not entirely sure there’s enough room
anyway
50p in the relevance meter
John Radford
.
.
.
dear sweet mother of god
robert peston interviewing boris johnson
must surely be stretching some time space continuum
with
the gargantuan display of
unconsidered MASSIVELY considered
communication affectations
.
.
.
and i have a Jalfrezi and you don’t
(me , not them . That pair o cunts can get to buggery)
The Scousers away in the next round. Time to make a statement.
cba: good health to you. You, too, Guv’nor.
@45 Ned
I hope it’s a different statement
from the one last month 🙂
I looked at the Liverpoo team
last night and they are playing
the kids too bar an experienced
midfield of Keita, Lallana, Ox.
Give me a win at OT Monday and i will take a hard-fought loss against pool in the mickey mouse cup any day. This may be our realistic chance of winning a trophy this season but a top-four is a lifeline for more reasons than one.
Chits being raised to pick who will be our next captain? please Unai, name whoever you want to, the club is too great to have such petty things to come out in open, you decide, they follow, end off
I think there are other managers/
clubs that give players input on
the captain to be fair.
It’s taken far too long though as we’ve
already had 8 first team games, just
proves there’s no outstanding choice.
Or we could look at it optimistically
and say there are so many good
leaders it’s difficult to choose
It strikes me that British football believes captaincy is a much more significant element in achieving success than most Continentals do.
I think a great skipper – in our case Mclintock, Vieira and Adams -is hugely important in that they bring out the best in their teammates , often by cajoling even bullying and they make teams more resilient and effective. Ask any member of the 71 Double side if they think they would have won it if Frank hadn’t been such a great captain . The answer would be unanimous yet at times by his own admission he was a bit of a bastard to some of the team…for their own good.
Wenger got the captaincy issue wrong after Adams and Vieira left. Making Gallas captain affected morale enormously. Emery with his stupid five captains idea makes a farce of the role as does giving it to Xhaka who apparently is red hot on fining people late for training or using phones inappropriately. Pity he isn’t as vigilant on the field.
The captain is the heartbeat of the side . Not sure Xhaka has a heart.
Holding did speak about how good Xhaka is as a captain off the pitch, but it’s on the pitch where we need it!
Well, Xhaka as club captain
then. Hopefully, someone
can explain that club captain
means you don’t actually play
that often.
And then the players can
choose the captain in the
finest traditions of British
democracy.
Chavs and Spuds have quite
straightforward home games
this weekend (on paper). If they
win and we lose it’ll be a mediocre
11 points all round and rumblings
of discontent.
Win of course and it’ll be a whole
new world, burblings of content
echoing through the windy halls
of blogdom etc etc
We threw away the 3 points at
home to Spuds and bottled the
3 points at Watford, it’d be a big
boost to win at Old Toilet. And
an away monkey off our back
for a while. Agree with Vinay I’d
take the 3 points in exchange for
going out the League Cup anytime.
TTG,
Couldn’t agree more on Xhaka being a captain, doesn’t Unai realises the guy is not good enough on the pitch?
Most of all a captain should be a guy others look up to and Xhaka is not that person. He’s clueless at times and very error prone. It’s a clueless decision by the manager if true.
Xhaka is one of the first names on the team sheet for Emery as he was for AW, and his teammates have elected him their captain. They must all see something in him that we are missing, though I’m at a loss to know what it is.
I like OM’s suggestion that Xhaka should be a non-playing captain.
I’ve a good mind to buy a season ticket, just so I can tear it up in outrage.
Only Laca and ESR unavailable.
I guess UE’s side will be
Leno
Calum Papa Luiz Kola
Xhaka Guendouzi
Pepe Ceballos Willock
Auba
Personally I wouldn’t pick
Papa, Kola, Xhaka or
Ceballos but I guess UE will.
I hope he surprises me
OM
I think Tierney may start if they feel he came through ok on Tuesday and I suspect Willock may play the 10 role. It wouldn’t surprise me to see either Saka or Kola in the wide left role
Hope you’re right TTG.
Manure don’t really have a
CF just now and I think they’ll
attack from wide.
Kola’s defending and Calum’s
pace are both concerns.
Pepe and Saka in the wide
roles won’t provide a lot of
support and although I haven’t
seen much of him I can’t
imagine Tierney is a worse
defender than Kola.
Auba, Laca, Hector & Ozil
are the other captains.
Apparently performance will
decide who plays and not
being captain.
I’m guessing my assumption
that Xhaka won’t play this
weekend in that case isn’t
what UE meant by that
though.
It was clearly Emery’s decision to appoint Xhaka because it’s not a decision I think Sanllehi or Edu would make because they are far too focused and streetwise. If there is a player in the Premier League that I’d hate to rely on its Xhaka. Remember in the past four home games he has given away two absolutely stupid penalties and his error rate is one of the highest in the Premier League. And he is now the club captain of Arsenal .
Crowds do pick on players unfairly eg Jon Sammels and in my opinion Eboue . I’ve never booed an Arsenal player in my life and never will but present day crowds work differently and our crowd have little respect for him.
I hope he works out , I’m sure we all do but it’s a very flawed decision and reduces our chances of real success this year.
OM, Tierney is a much better defender than Kolasinac. The latter isn’t a defender. He has no positioning sense, is regularly way out of position thinking he’s really a left winger, and shows no real interest in getting back when he’s left a vacancy in the LB hole.
I think and hope Tierney will start next Monday. There is no question of superior talent, there may be around match fitness but all reports suggest he’s tearing it up in training and he had a great run out against Forest.
He’s a dangerous attacker as well, can beat an opponent with more than speed alone and his range of crosses and their accuracy surpass the tank’s.
TTG, I’m not greatly fussed that Xhaka is captain. I am concerned that a regular brain fade merchant, who can’t tackle, slows the midfield and can’t track back competently is likely to feature at Old Trafford next Monday.
Guardian says Xhaka was the players’ choice in a vote:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/sep/27/granit-xhaka-player-vote-arsenal-captain
Auba came second followed by Hector, Laca and Ozil in that order, which is interesting in itself.
Forest beat Stoke 3-2 tonight. So glad we agreed to giving them an extra day to prepare. Puts them top of the Championship. Should take the sting out of the 5-0.
If Huddersfield beat Millwall
today Stoke will be bottom.
I don’t want to be vindictive
(lie) but hahahahaha.
Hope they go down followed
by financial irregularities and
bankruptcy. And I hope Luton
go down with them.
OM – I’m with you on that. My only disappointment is Tony Pubis isn’t captain of that sinking ship. I hope they get relegated and we get to play them in the league cup next year, so we can use the chant, “Aaron Ramsey may walk with a limp, but at least he’s not playing in League One!”
It would be absolutely beautiful if Liverpool were kicked out of the Carabao Cup.
Saka promoted to first team squad and will wear number 7. Deserved reward for terrific recent performances.
Sorry guys, should have checked. Don’t think this is legit.
Bellerin and Mavropanos played for the U23s today but Tierney and Hokding didn’t. That doesn’t put them into the team at OT but they will certainly be in the squad
Theo Walcott finally broke into the Everton team today. He replaced Iwobi. He departed the game after five minutes on a stretcher having been hit by the ball. It somehow sums up poor old Theo in so many ways. Unlucky and fragile . His luck hasn’t turned at Everton
Must have been concussed as he’s gone à l’hôpital.
His replacement, Iwobi, has now been subbed. Which is unfortunate for him.
Iwobi on as sub and subbed off for Kean. One feels we’ve taken £50 m from them on false pretences for Theo and him.Great stuff?
Well
if Theo is in France now it must be a serious injury
IMO
and BOL
TU too
and in the distance i can hear Xhaka shouting
I’M a MADE GUY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXi_wjyY3k0
So all our rivals won. Not a great weekend but hopefully tomorrow ebening our situation won’t be worse.
Monday ebening either.
Yeah, I had some hope for
Soton after the idiot Aurier
was sent off but they were
too woeful.
@73
North of 50m TTG
Nicking money off scousers
??
No time to be resting on our
laurels though. Who can we
sell them in January for
another 30m?
Interesting article on Serge Gnabry currently rated at £80M.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/serge-gnabry-tony-pulis-felt-i-wasnt-premier-league-level-wj6vdt9q2
iBtM
Very interesting article. So Tony Pubis is a prick. Who knew?
Just think if we’d realised 25% of his now value, and not pratted around with Ramsey and Sanchez. We might be £130 m better off! Just with proper financial oversight. Don’t think Josh Kroenke can be very impressed
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>