Lacazette Sees Red As Gunners Are Embarrassed
Feb 14th, 2019 by 'holic
Unai Emery opted to start with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi rather than Denis Suarez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as predicted here in the preview.
We came so close to taking a second minute lead when Sead Kolasinac was played in on the left flank and from his cross Mkhitaryan could only find the chest of the onrushing goalkeeper. Three minutes later a Shkodran Mustafi header drifted past Laurent Koscielny and, sadly, the far post.
Granit Xhaka was the early recipient of a yellow card for pulling back Skavysh on eight minutes. That left a lot of time for him to have to be careful in the tackle. The productive Kolasinac supplied another cross for Iwobi but once more Scherbitski in the Bate goal was able to save at the expense of a corner.
The game settled into a pattern with The Arsenal largely dominating. Matteo Guendouzi screamed for a penalty when his cross was blocked by what appeared to be a trailing arm, then Alexandre Lacazette headed an Iwobi cross over the bar at the far post. The striker was then sent racing clear by Guendouzi but his first touch wasn’t up to his usual standard and the chance was gone.
We had a warning shot across the bows when Skavysh left Guendouzi for dead on the goal-line and crossed for Milic to flick against the near post. We had to withstand a spell of pressure from the hosts before almost striking back with a Kolasinac header that was blocked to safety. Mkhitaryan then wriggled into the box but his cross was behind Lacazette. Another opportunity fell to Kolasinac but his volley from an acute angle sliced wide of the target.
We paid for our inability to finish with the last meaningful action of the first-half. Dragun escaped his marker Kolasinac, to flick a header home from a Stasevich free-kick. We had only ourselves to blame.
As in the first-half we started the second on the front foot. Mustafi saw his tame effort on the turn easily blocked before Alex Iwobi fired a cross a fraction too high for Lacazette. Bate appeared to be happy to sit bodies deep and starve us the space to exploit. We thought we had a 56th minute equaliser but Lacazette’s joy at finishing was cut short by the raised offside flag of the assistant referee.
Alex Hleb, anonymous throughout, was replaced by Berezkin as Bate looked to strengthen their midfield resistance. He had not lasted an hour but avoided a booking that would have ruled him out of the second leg next week. On a rare break Stasevich attempted a finish from distance which Petr Cech parried out in front of goal but fortunately no other Bate players had joined the break. Encouraged they attacked again and Koscielny hard to dive at full stretch to clear from Milic.
The overdue introduction of Aubameyang and Lucas Torreira for Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Xhaka arrived with a little over twenty minutes remaining. Bate sent on Dubajic for Milic and his first ‘challenge’ on Koscielny earned him a deserved yellow card.
Kolasinac found himself with another opportunity to blast a volley at goal but as earlier he missed the target and found himself replaced by Suarez. Unai Emery had used his three substitutions. The poor quality of corner kicks were not helping our cause. For all that were were dominating possession we were not fashioning any clear chances and a somewhat embarrassing defeat was looming ever closer.
A bad night turned disastrous when Lacazette retaliated to a foul and was sent off for elbowing Filipovic, himself the recipient of a yellow for the original challenge. It was a moment that ended any realistic hope we had of levelling the match.
This was as poor a performance as we have seen under Unai Emery. Can he continue to ignore his key playmaker for much longer? It’s a situation that cannot be allowed to fester.
103 Responses to “Lacazette Sees Red As Gunners Are Embarrassed”
Good honest report. Very poor stuff from Arsenal.
Bloody awful. Mid 80’s standard AFC.
Couldn’t watch and from the description glad I didn’t.
Play some kids next week. They can’t be worse than this lot.
Rubbish performance. Good report.
I’m not worried about us going out after the home fixture… but there are some things/players that need to change.
I cannot bear to waste many words expressing how low my opinion of Stewart Robson as a commentator is, but I will say that he is so disgracefully, despicably poor that
Your ability to remain sensible and measured in your analysis is worthy of enormous praise Holic. That was as dispiriting and downright poor a performance as I have ever seen from an Arsenal side in that second half. My only point by way of excuse was that the pitch was awful and they are much better adjusted to it. But to put it in perspective Tottenham would have won that 4-0.
To me one of the most depressing things is leaving out Ozil and bringing into the club a player like Suarez who is Meh to the power of N on his performances so far . The tactics, the courage and the quality were absent. Cech spilt a routine shot ten yards in the second half . If that had gone to a Bate player ( none were in the area) they would have had a two-nil lead and with no away goal and no Laca I really would doubt that we could turn it around.
I’m giving Emery a free pass this season but he doesn’t have to stretch my indulgence this far!
Not seen any of the game I’m sitting on a plane just about to take off for our holiday, sounds like we were really bad from this account probably good thing I didn’t watch it.
‘Meh to the power of N’ says it well TTG. Pretty obvious why he couldn’t get a game at the Nou Camp.
But he shows promise. The promise to lace Mesut’s boots. 🙂
Keep your chin up. Holic will make the next win sound like the second coming of Arsene Wenger and the Holic Pound will stroll home rejoicing.
I think we’ll beat them comfortably at the Emirates, but for goodness sake Unai put your ego aside and bring back Mesut.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Mkhitaryan, and a more charming and affable man you couldn’t wish to meet. That may be his problem. He needs a bit more bastard in him.
That meant this evening we were reliant on Iwobi and Guendouzi for the creativity. Two young prospects. Mesut left at home for what? To force him out? Nobody will pay him what he earns now and his international career is in tatters.
Wake up and smell the coffee Unai. You’re paying him, so use him. The rest of the squad absolutely adore him. I’ve seen that at first hand too. You are in danger of not getting the three years you deserve to fix things if you cock this up now.
Believe it or not that was apparently the 100th game Ozil has missed, for whatever reason, which is a third of the games we’ve played since he signed.
Whether it’s injury, “illness” or a manager not fancying him, that’s quite some record of absence.
Giving him that contract was suicidal and I don’t really care if the squad adore him, it’s the manager who matters. Unless we’re looking at becoming another Chelsea, or United, where the players decide everything.
Oh well.
I had just heard the above stat quoted by Cynic. Out of 314 games that Ozil could have played in, he has now missed 100 of them. Whatever the next merits reasons are, it’s just not good enough. If they are not going to play him then he shouldn’t be at the club. It’s probably the most decisive element at the club at the moment.
I’ve not seen much of the game but listened to the radio commentary. It just sounded total garbage. Shit pitch, shit performance and nothing really positive to take from the game bar the fact that we can still win the tie.
Emery has a very tough task ahead. I would suggest that what we actually see on the pitch is just the tip of the chaotic iceberg that is Arsenal Football Club. I think we may well have to continue taking a few steps backwards before we start taking steps forward.
Time to buckle up. It’s going to continue to be a bumpy ride.
I’m totally with Holic. Emery is cutting off his nose to spite his face. He’s brought in Suarez who is so underwhelming and doesn’t start him either but we have an extraordinary talent unused. I’d like to see Ozil next week and we don’t need two holding midfielders to play BATE either.
Guendouzi will be a wonderful player but I’m not sure it’s fair to burden him with a role as pivotal as he had tonight and as for Xhaka what did he contribute tonight.
Ask Auba who he wants on the pitch to create for him next week
It’s the manager who matters? Maybe we need a special one……or is that too common a theme?
Thanks TTG. Auba would go with Mkhitaryan, they have history. You are bang on about Guendouzi being effectively a box to box man tonight.
I accept we cannot start our most creative player if we go with a back three. We don’t need a back three at home to Bate fucking Borisov. Apologies for the invective.
Next week we have Auba up front who cannot play with his back to goal. We therefore have to drive at them from midfield and feed him. Iwobi and Guendouzi are great at playing in wing backs to cross, but we need Mesut to play in Auba, or Rambo to join in the box if we use width.
Big decision next week for the new head coach.
I’ve always thought Ozil is the most technically adept and spatially aware player we’ve had since God. But he does tackle and track back like Walcott light. And I do see him running around and covering space, but that’s where he reminds me of Walcott- even when he’s in position I don’t expect him to do anything beyond cut off a passing lane. Making an actual tackle is just so rare.
Why can’t we have a best of both worlds situation? If Ozil put in the effort off the ball then Emery would have him in the team quick as a flash. No one loses face. Ozil has demonstrably done what the manager asked and, lo and behold, become a far more effective player. If Ozil had Ray Parlour’s work ethic…
That’s what the boss wants. I really rate Ozil. But I also see that it is up to him to put the effort in or simply expect his natural talent to excuse him from the work the boss expects of every player.
What does Emery do? Give up and try to organise a ten man defence? We’re bad enough with eleven!
H.
I’d love to see us settle on a partnership for central defence and just play a back four. The back three was an unexpected pre Christmas twist and it’s only purpose has been to bail out our not-to-be-trusted defenders. Then we could play the extra man where we clearly and desperately need him. Getting the ball from our defence to our attack.
I’ve heard a rumour that Disney are looking to boost sales in the German market and have enquired about a swap deal. Mustafi for Mufasa.
Insiders say that Josh Kroenke is keen, and Mislintat was pushed out due to his reaction to the proposed move. Apparently Sven told the board it was madness. He questioned the sanity of anyone who thought that a fictional cartoon lion (dead, but perhaps able to animate in cloud form) could possibly defend better than any actual living, breathing human being. Let alone a German international.
It is true that Josh knows very little about football but he has seen Mustafi play and has formed a clear idea about his merits as a defender (or a fictional cartoon lion, but that is soon to be Disney’s problem, the suckers). By the time he factored in the projected sales in Japan for ‘Mufasa 20’ shirts he had already made up his mind.
Upon hearing Sven’s outburst he concluded that the time had come to let go off this overrated killjoy, hampering our transfer activity with his statistics and planning.
The good news is that Pocahontas has sworn a blood feud with all those of Sven’s bloodline. Now he is out of the picture we are close to arranging a deal for her to replace Petr Cech as our number two keeper next summer. On loan, naturally.
Missed the whole match due to a class in Oxford. ‘Anglosaxon metalworking’ if you must know. Not entirely rivetting ?.
I saw the final score before driving home. I’m grateful for the Guvna’s excellent report. That’s as close to the game as I’m going to go. I think the class was the better deal.
I share Steve T’s judgement that our fecklessness on the field is just the tip of the iceberg that is the off-field shambles that this great club has become. Strap yourselves in fellas, this could get quite ugly.
Has there been a reason given as to why Ozil was not in the squad? Not something I’ve seen.
The bizarre thing is that when Emery plays him, he makes him captain?
I would like to add just one other thing. Whilst the Ozil debate will continue to rumble on and on, this is just one small cog in an entire machine that has considerable faults.
thanks for the drink in the last
comments bt8 – I need it this
morning
fell asleep before the 3AM kick
off and missed the game. Started
watching the recording without
knowing the result and thoroughly
enjoyed the first two minutes.
The next 88 were just grim.
Amazing the statistical bollocks
people come up with about Ozil.
According to UE before the game,
Ozil and Papa were not ready for
the Bate match.
Thanks for the report Guv, very
fair as always but I think Bath hit
the nail on the head @18 1st para.
bath@18, absolutely riveting, certainly more interesting than the game. we forged ahead, but chased them after the goal. laca couldn’t hit it into the net tonight if it were put on a plate, and no one in the arsenal side stamped their authority on it, showed their mettle.
and bath, i say that as an amateur blacksmith…
Just about laughing off my chair at GSD @17. 😀 😀 😀
Keown is also on a roll tonight. This is what he has to say about Ozil:
“Is he injured? Is he ill? One thing as a player you’ve got to be is available for selection and you want to give consistency. He hasn’t been able to give either of those.
He’s got to work to get back into the team. That is what the manager is asking for, that is what he has to do.”
I didn’t see the game but based on everybody’s descriptions do not plan on it any time soon. On further reflection, maybe Ozil is exactly what we need against BATE, thinking back on his exploits against Ludogorets. It seems to be exactly the level that make him thrive.
Agree with scruz, we lacked a
spark, and not to put too fine
a point on it, we just played sheet.
Unai is making further evidence that he still doesn’t know what to do with these players.
We seem to be relaying on the overlapping runs from Kolasinac and no plan B when things go south. We start with back three then switch to back four then back to back three again. What on earth is he doing? Too many changes week in week out.
Our players don’t seem to know what to do with the ball and this Ozil issue is frankly just beyond silly now!
Bumpy ride ahead indeed, however if he really wants to prove a point he needs to start showing that he is capable of finding the best with what he has at his disposal that means preparing and mentoring these players and using your highly paid ones too as you pay them silly money for a bloody reason!
When Unai came I was really upbeat but I’m struggling to see anything positive at the current state of affairs.
scruz @22, ?
I do think we need to steel ourselves for the train-wreck to come. Emery has to iron out flaws all over the pitch starting off with a copper-bottomed defence. Our early hopes are foundering and I know some are already brassed off with his selections and beginning to slag him off. I certainly can not see us winning any silverware any time soon.
OK, I’ll get my chain-mail.
It’s the manager who matters?
IF and I say IF, a scenario develops where it’s a manager vs a player yes. Unless you want to become the kind of club that wins the league one season then sacks the manager a year later because the players no longer fancy playing for him that is.
A lot has been said about this Emery/Ozil situation, but you can’t deny Ozil was awful when he was playing (apart from the odd game, but that’s the story of his time here in a nutshell) and he was dropped for footballing reasons.
It’s not a Mourinho situation and hopefully our board will 100% back the manager and find Ozil another club in the summer as their first priority.
I understand it is the first season and mistakes are bound to happen and he has been left a very poor defensive squad but boy we aren’t even talking of defense, we cannot score against a team who haven’t played in 2 months and their only recognizable player is our former player. I am sorry Unai even the last 2 seasons which were among our most disheartening one did not see us play like this and no it’s not got to do with points acquired etc, it is just been excrutiating to see us play the way we are. What is the use of having possession when we have absolutely no end product, you are running a kid to the ground playing him every game and expecting him to do everything, Iwobi just does not have a brain and I am not sure who got the worse deal, united or us with mhki and alexis. Ok we probably got a little better but mhki has been disappointing, to say the least considering we were really hopeful.
Simply saying this is the first season and he has a free pass is not right, we cannot have that in today’s competitive world, no one gets free lunch for long. I am not saying this because of any agenda against him, he will always be my manager but frankly, it is disappointing to see his persistence or stubbornness, i am not saying only he has it and not others but it is not helping the cause and it is very annoying, rant over.
Interesting historical perspective here. Ever heard of Winterslag?
https://shewore.com/2019/02/15/who-are-winterslag/
At least we can take some positives from last night’s debacle.
We’re 1/7 to win the return leg, and 1/3 to qualify for the next round.
Hurrah for Emery giving us a game with some meaning to it next week during our “FA Cup interlull” week!
Some very good drinks here over the last few hours and no hysteria. Looking for positives after a performance that poor is impossible unless you are smoking something wacky or you have partaken of a large amount of alcohol-very large in this case.
My only semi-excuse is that the pitch was awful and extremely slippery and it was a pretty alien set of conditions for our lads to face . But it ends there , we were embarrassingly poor and Emery made little sense after the match even making allowances for his lack of English
Holic summed up the issues facing Emery tactically next week very well. Laca will be a miss and Dorset Mick’s odds are not to me a reflection of the real situation. We are in big trouble if they score. I didn’t think they could last night and look what happened.
Bath and co are also right about the chaos at the club. Kroenke is presiding over a car crash of a club but looking at the bottom line wouldn’t indicate that to him . Gazidis bequeathed the sort of legacy that Cameron gave to May but with Stan in charge hers looks easier to sort out?
TTG there may well be not a lot of hysteria here but there does seem to be a lot of gallows humour. It has been years since I got excited and nervous before a game. A bumpy and long ride together with apathy from the fans and we will be a mid table team before long. And with Stan or Mrs May at the helm we’ll have little chance of playing catch up.
Emery out.
May in.
We made a mistake giving Emery the job,now its time to get rid off him before he can any more damage to the club and player moral.
The U23s are playing the Totts at their place tonight.
Clive and I keep a close eye on the youngsters. We are playing three at the back tonight . I’m very interested in the two wing backs Osei- Tutu ( who I’ve only seen on film) and Thompson who I have seen because they both might have a chance of breaking through. But the really interesting part of the team is the front three ( supported from behind by Joe Willock) Amaechi , Nketiah and Saka are all very exciting and I would like to see Eddie start next Thursday with Auba wide and Saka on the bench. Willock has impressed me enormously and would have made more impact yesterday than Suarez, Xhaka or Mkhitaryan. I’m interested if Emery has a plan for these boys as I would be much more tolerant of them representing us than some of the high-priced underachievers we have at the moment . There could be a class of 92 developing with ESR, Reiss Nelson and Medley coming through as well and if we fast-tracked some of these boys I believe the fans would be much more patient if there was a clear direction of travel
And after 24 minutes we are 2-0 up at their place ( Willock and Gilmour Pen)!
TTG
I have refrained from comment on the ” we only have to turn up to win ”
attitude of our squad against Bate,undone again by a team with meagre
possession and quality,but with great passion and wholehearted effort,which often triumphs despite the odds.
Much more interesting w/end ahead,with under 23’s tonight and the Ladies with a humdinger of an FA Cup tie at Chelsea on Sunday.
In truth our under 23’s are not having a good season,mainly due to injuries and a lot of the better youngsters have been in the first team squad for the Group stages of EL and in the squad for several league games.
We currently sit 8th in a league of 12,with 20pts from 15 games.
Scored 30,and surprise surprise,conceding 33.
The Spuds aren’t faring much better,they are on 18pts having played a game more.
So with a strong team out tonight i would expect us to win.
The Ladies are playing really well,are 2nd in the league behind Man City,but with 2 games in hand,and i suspect the Title could well come down to the last game of the season at home to City.
They also have a League Cup final to play against City next w/end.
4-0 to the Arsenal at full time with two for Willock and one for Nketiah. Let’s hope we repeat that at Wembley in a couple of weeks !
Feel compelled to intervene after my townsman’s (or townswoman’s) contribution @ 35, Dub you are clearly aged 22 or much, much younger. Sticking with a parochial flavour, let’s all be hugely encouraged that Dundalk up the road here reversed 0-1 away to beat Bate 3-0 at home in 2016 ! Let’s also be encouraged we didn’t get any broken ankles on that joke of a pitch. And poor Emery, all the abuse he’s getting, I mean, what does it say about the Bate coach when his lads play out of their skins and they haven’t even seen their coach for two months ! Papa Sokratis will make a massive difference in the second leg. I don’t actually blame Emery for playing 3 CB’s without the Greek, Holding and Bellerin. The clear evidence – and he knows it – is we’re way more productive up front with 4 at the back and also that our blip here started with Holding’s loss combined with Sokratis being in and out. So congrats to all for the humorous contributions above, it keeps it in perspective and I just hope the crowd get behind the team next week, I’m sure they will, it’s a big European night after all. COYG, less bate baiting please and let’s all beat, nay batter, bate together.
cheers, baff@27, and much clapping in your direction too.
just to say, that was a sharp response, ground to a fine point. 🙂
is it really that hard to consider us moving on in the europa league after next thursday? all we have to do is master bate…
i’ll get me coat.
Nice to batter spuds 4-0 at anything
really. Be even nicer if a couple of
the young lads come through next
season – we’ve certainly got plenty
of spots in the squad coming open.
Back-up keeper, places across the
defence, CM, RM or RW. In fact,
unluckily for Eddie, CF seems the
only spot with 2 top class options
assuming Auba and Laca stay this
summer.
Don’t look now but in Ligue Un the only thing that matters is the race for second spot, and a CL place, and Lille are 6 points ahead of Lyon.
Vieira has lifted Nice up to 7th while the sacking of TH14 has done nothing to lift Monaco above 18th spot. If they hold that position to the end of the season they would have to go into a playoff with the 3rd place club in Ligue 2 to keep their first division status. French football looking more interesting with Arsenal mired in the doldrums.
Wanger Out, Emery : Dick.
I’m done with so-called managers & their so-called systems.
Stick a bin on the pitch pre-match stuffed with raffle tickets with the squad numbers on ’em, and get some thing like the fattest fan of the day to run on (that’ll give us all a giggle to begin with), dip in the bin, and the first 11 numbers he/she (hey, i’m not sexiest) pulls out is that day’s team.
Can’t be any worse than it already is, can it?
UTA!
An added bonus will be that the fattest fan of the day will give us that extra width that Steve has been calling out for since we signed Theo with his 22 inch waistline.
LeG knows 🙂
The monks should be interested:
Elise Mertens, the 23 year old winner of the Qatar Open tennis tournament, lives in the Belgian town that is home to this Trappist abbey:
The Trappist Abbey of Achel or Saint Benedictus-Abbey or also Achelse Kluis (which means hermitage of Achel), which belongs to the Cistercians of Strict Observance, is located in Achel in the Campine region of the province of Limburg (Flanders, Belgium). The abbey is famous for its spiritual life and its brewery, which is one of few Trappist beer breweries in the world. Life in the abbey is characterised by prayer, reading and manual work, the three basic elements of Trappist life.
Evening all. taking a break here until probably Wednesday.Had a rough couple of days. Turned out to be pneumonia. I wouldn’t recommend it although tonight I am mercifully better than 24 hours ago.
Sorry to hear that H
mind you, the turgid fare on offer on the footy front today would be enough to give anyone a bad turn.
get well soon.
Holic
Very best wishes for a quick recovery. I had pneumonia once ( the symptoms came on while standing on the way back from Hillsborough after a semi final) and it knackers you. Take very good care of yourself and avoid shocks or stress ie under no circumstances watch Lichsteiner or Mustafi in action!
Thank you both. I really thought last night would be my last. Just had a quick look in Twitter and realised it is not a good place to be, even on what I thought was a carefully selected timeline. That can wait until I am much better.
Apparently what I went through to start last night is called the rigors. I have never heard of this before, but I won’t forget it. I should have dialled 999 straight away, and one of ours who is the expert did tell me.
It got worse. Thank goodness I went today. I am rattling with antibiotics and paracetamol and two types of puffer. I am Lemsipped to the max. A nightcap clearly aids at least some sleep.
But I am breathing. Something that scarily seemed to be slipping away 24 hours ago.
Discovered that BBC R2 is an improvement on the tv on non-Arsenal weekends. ?
Get well soon, ‘holic! So glad to hear you are on the mend.
Take it easy Guvnor, I hope you’ll
be fighting fit again soon!
Thanks bt8.I hope it’s all clear for next Sunday. ??
Thanks Matt. That’s the plan.
Wow H. Just seen the updates. Pneumonia is seriously scary.
I’m so glad you’re out of the woods and sending all my love.
We’ll try to behave ourselves until Wednesday. ?
Take it easy H and get well soon. I think that next Sunday is coming round a little too soon for you to be ‘match fit’ after a bout of pneumonia, mate. And I’m talking about simply attending at prevailing temperatures let alone bringing your boots along.
I fear you may be right, bath. I certainly couldn’t go today. This certainly tests one’s bellows.
Get well G-man, the team’s ward is full as it is, no need for more ?
Hope you are back on the mend, ‘Holic. Nasty business, pnuemonia, and there seems to be a bit of it about in the UK right now. Rest up until you are fit again. As GSD says, we’ll try to behave ourselves.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2OmVYzcBJDc
All the best H, pneumonia is a bitch. Even worse than oldmonia…
Get well very soon.
Glad you’re feeling better Holic, take care…
A (very poor) effort to lift your spirits. Just consider Piacenza’s improvement in the 2nd half, when they only conceded four of the twenty goals. ?
Forza!!!
holic, sorry to hear you’ve been so under the weather. don’t mess with pneumonia, it can come back with a vengance, even in people of our youngish years.
get well soon!
you’re important ‘holic
very important
sort yerself out ya cunt
A bridge too far for the Arse ladies yesterday, going down 3 zip away at Chelsea in an FA cup match.
Not unexpected after a tough physical midweek league cup semi final against Man Utd ladies.
But the league is the holy grail with top 2 getting entry to Ladies Champions league next season.
Wishing you a speedy recovery, ‘holic! And I can safely speak for all of the other lurkers here.
Sorry to read that you’ve been under the weather ‘H. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
COYG
Having back-drunk thoroughly, I find my references to being “under the weather” were a massive understatement. Apologies. Get well soon.
COYG
The most hopeful part of arsenal.com’s match report on Tottenham 0-4 Arsenal: “Dinos Mavropanos provided a calming presence at the heart of our defence.”
The preceding was the U-23s game of a couple of days ago.
Thank you all, for your kind words, especially you, ya special cunt. On the upside I am no worse so stability has been established although still with an awful assortment of symptoms. I’ll be gradually getting there for three weeks, I’m told.
You lot are always there. Thank you.??
Sorry to hear that you have picked up a nasty one. Hope you get fully well soon.
Sounds promising Holic .
But pneumonia is a slow job as Bath counselled. I’d see you back in training for the United game . Sadly they are going to win easily tonight but happily Chelsea are going to lose. I’d prefer the BBC not to appoint United fans on commentary. This bloke creamed himself on both goals which were ‘ quite quite brilliant ‘. One was a close range header the other a goalkeeping error.
The Chavs are arguably worse defensively than us and have Jorginho in midfield who only needs a calendar to time his 100 yard dash . But I’d give that Hazard a game
Higuain looking as sharp as an eraser for Chel$ki.
Thank you both. I’m watching the football. Off Twitter since the ‘incident’ as advised not to engage in anything stressful. Wise decision, particularly on the day my step-grandson learned his first decent job is going back to Japan. Thousands of skilled and semi-skilled engineers plus all of the associated component suppliers chucked on the scrap heap. No wait, they could go to Dyson. What? Oh, that Brexit cunt has taken his operations to Asia too. But it’s nothing to do with Brexit say some clowns I have read on the BBC today. Sorry. I’ll try to calm down again.
Fact is, ‘holic, we are always here because you are always here.
Excepting when you’re not of course, but you always seem to come back eventually. 😉
What bt8b said @78, especially the first sentence.
Staying off Twitter is probably generally good for your heath, like taking long walks and maintaining a balanced diet.
But glad to hear you are through the worst of it and starting to recover.
Sorry, though, to hear of your step-grandson getting Brexited. The long-term damage to the UK from Brexit will be that it will not get the new investment that companies like Honda and, even closer to home, Airbus, will be making in the coming years. Slow death by a thousand job cuts. The UK may be the world’s eighth largest manufacturing nation but UK manufacturing is more than three-fifths foreign owned. Foreign owners, like Honda, are not in the UK to sell to the UK market but the much bigger EU one. If they don’t have frictionless access to that, most of the other advantages of being in the UK (skilled workforce, business-friendly government, lightly regulated economy, everyone’s second language) count for naught. It is perfectly legitimate for the the UK to choose to value sovereignty over economic well-being, but it needs to be honest to itself that that is the choice it is has made, and that the loss of jobs like your step-grandson’s will be the consequence. If it is any consolation, if Brexit didn’t get him, then AI and robotics probably would.
I can’t believe after twelve years in this place that we are having this type of non-football discussion, Ned. Airbus are frantically making steps behind the scenes to withdraw from the UK. Personally this may well work out very well for a 62 year old reliant upon them for his pay. A lot of my younger colleagues are far more concerned about that, especially after Honda joined Dyson in devastating a county. It might not be the best of ideas for a handful of far right tossers in safety vests to show their faces around this county for a bit, unless they are fond of plastic enemas.
I feel very, very strongly about Brexit and it has caused massive schisms with good friends who describe all of this as Project Fear. I suggest they ought to be extremely scared.
Wenger wins the Laureus Sports Award for Lifetime Achievement for the year.
Sony
Dyson
Panasonic
Lloyds
Unilever
Goldman Sachs
Barclays
Airbus
Companies leaving the UK or closing because of Brexit
Clearly fake news!
Flybmi
P&O
HSBC
JP Morgan
UBS
Ford
Hitachi
Toshiba
AXA
Honda
Moneygram
Philips
Panasonic
European Banking Authority
European Medicines Agency
Bank of America
TTG, I am sure our president would build a wall for you to confirm your return to the dark ages. There might be a hidden tax rise in it, though.
I am sure he could get Mexico to pay for that one, too.
Re: Laughing at Spu*s.
Drinkers may wish to check out this cartoon on the Grauniad website.
COYG
? ‘hol
.
heartfelt jubilatin’ shall abound
on yer fightin’ fit return
.
.
thunder T’s de-rusting his Partyseven
in preparedness
.
.
.
take it easy big man
(see – i can post without dirty words / offensive doings)
Pangloss. Well linked. ?
Bayern have got this superb young winger SergebGnabry who is cutting even the excellent Robertson a new one. If only we could get a winger like that ..,,you say what , we sold him for £5m . Ye Gods he is worth £60 m now
Great link, Pangloss@86.
A bonus return:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2019/jan/23/david-squires-on-mesut-ozil-and-unai-emerys-relationship
Scary part is, even I could see how good Gnabry was on the few occasions he was allowed to play for Arsenal. Flabbergasted he was not given more of an opportunity.
TTG
I note the under 18’s had a good 5 nil win away at Leicester this evening.
Only the bare details available so far.
Puts us a point clear of our neighbors although they do have a game in hand.
Clive,
Yes they are in contention for their league with the Totts. John-Jules notched a hat-trick on his return from injury .
I wonder if Emery will start with Nketiah on Thursday? I doubt it but he must be on the bench
TTG
I have a feeling Eddie may well have to go out on loan next season,he is clearly too good for the reserves,and needs regular football at a higher more competitive level.
His opportunities will be very limited in the near term,so i would say a European adventure for him is on the cards.
Although that is no guarantee of regular football,but he will certainly get more game time than he is now.
Reiss – Nelson never seems to start a game for Hoffenheim,generally coming on as 2nd half sub,and ESR has not yet appeared for Leipzig since his Jan loan move.
But from a technical viewpoint even the training regime,the experience will be invaluable.
On the Serge Gnabry subject,i don’t think you can blame the Club,we were only ever a stop gap in his development,his parents and his hearts were always set on playing for Bayern from the get go.
So i don’t class him as ” one that got away “
It seems a long wait for the game.
Guvnor
Hope you’re recovery is going well,
but if you need someone to pen
the Bate preview I’ll be happy to
volunteer
Taking the long view, OM?
But good man for stepping forward.
Thanks for the offer OM, I suspect I have missed the opportunity courtesy of the time difference. I’ll have to do it though so that everyone knows what score to avoid on their bet!
Don’t mind if you do.
The century, that is.
I’ll steal the ton and happily leave
the preview to you Guvnor
🙂
5:55pm kickoff time has been arranged for the benefit of whom?
Interesting on the ticket front. I can’t make it tomorrow, but hadn’t bothered to put my two tix on ticket exchange thinking no point. Then, just before 5pm, Tim Stillman tweeted about friends of his that had sold their tix on exchange in ten minutes. He also pointed out that for those with children, a cheap game at 6pm during half term was perfect. So at 5.10 I posted my two tic. At 5.42 I got the confirmation email to say they were sold.
Interesting.
Anyway I’ll be watching on TV. COYG. I’m glad my seats are filled.
cba, thank you. I’m happy to continue as we are. You’re a top man.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>