Time To Pick Off The Cherries
Jan 2nd, 2017 by 'holic
We played yesterday, and we play tomorrow. Chelsea and Tottenham are not being similarly tested, but hey, television is allowed to dictate such things. All we can do is knuckle down, rotate a little maybe, and dig out a result at Bournemouth.
The potential effects of playing twice in 48 hours could be seen at Sunderland today where Liverpool were held to a draw. We should draw motivation instead from the wins for Manchester City and United, and be grateful that Mike Dean is not refereeing.
In the absence of solid team news we have to make some assumptions about the likely starting eleven. A single change to the back five looks possible, with Shkodran Mustafi ready to step up for a first appearance after injury. Hopefully Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal will have fully recovered from their attacking performances against Palace.
We have to make a change ahead of them as Mohamed Elneny has departed for the African Cup of Nations. Francis Coquelin is likely to be preferred?
What of the front four? Alexis looked on his knees at the end of the Palace game. Lucas could switch to the left with Aaron Ramsey or the Ox getting a start on the right? The Welshman may also come in for Alex Iwobi if Mesut Ozil is still suffering from the effects of flu. Olivier Giroud will want to make a third consecutive goalscoring start, and deserves to.
Bournemouth are no pushovers at their own compact ground. In their last three home games they came from behind to stun Liverpool 4-3 and defeated champions Leicester 1-0 before suffering defeat to Southampton in the local derby.
There is no doubt they will miss our very own Jack Wilshere who I’m told has been in excellent form for them. It is important to remember that five weeks ago without him at our place they produced a very robust display and it was only with virtually the last kick that we finished them off 3-1.
The ‘holic pound
I have to believe we will put out an eleven that will be both fit enough and technically superior to the hosts. That said a war of attrition seems a real possibility and I am tempted by the 8/1 offered against a good old “one nil to the Arsenal“.
The bookies disagree, and have a 1-1 draw as favourite. If that happens let’s hope it is not the result of a refereeing blunder such as that which gave Bournemouth their penalty at the Grove.
The time has surely come to consider using the money that funds PGMOL and the current group of professional officials and divert it into technological assistance for a new group of younger referees and assistants alongside Michael Oliver, the only one worth keeping in the Premier League? Ironically Oliver is in charge for this one. Don’t prove me wrong, please!
Rant over. Have a good one, ‘holics.
131 Responses to “Time To Pick Off The Cherries”
Evening H
Football is so unpredictable,always has been.
Sunderland were so dire at the w/end,even the Ramblers could have beaten them.
Then they come out tonight and take a point of high flying Pool.
So no idea what will happen at the seaside tomorrow night.
3pts is all that matters,so get them anyway we can.
GET IN!
Just win it!
😀
Nice preview Guvna. I hope the legs of the chosen ones aren’t too bruised and sknackered for us to get all three points tomorrow evening. I don’t think this will be a walk on the beach. We are going to have to work for a win and another piece of magic from one of our magicians would be helpful.
Good suggestion on funding some technology to prevent further calumny from the likes of Dean.
Good preview, Guv’nor. Three points anyway is what’s needed. Looking very tight between positions two and six.
Catching up from the previous drinks, Peter Marinello went to Portsmouth after failing to make a go of it with us, then Scotland, Australia and the USA ending up for a season with Patrick Thistle before retiring in 1984. He went bankrupt in the mid-1990s having lived by an measure a troubled life. He now lives in Bournemouth. But forever immortalized as the model for Private Eye’s troubled Neasden FC prima dona Bert O’Relli.
So we have the only ref worth paying tomorrow, hopefully that will guarantee a fair contest. Even so we’ll need everything going well, the Cherries currently ninth and playing some decent football, and with an extra day’s rest.
Good point about Xhaka in the last drinks, Trev. One of things frustrating me over the last decade is the decline in positive (or even accurate) passing – getting the ball to another player quickly, playing it ahead of him to run on to, rather than directly to him so he has to wait for it, etc etc – and Xhaka’s passing reminds me of the very best old days when we could shift the ball from our goal-line into the opposition’s area with defenders unable to keep up with the play. Those were the days, aye.
Morning all.
Tonight will be tough. I would be happy with any kind of win at all. I think Alexis has to play. Then rest him for the cup game. Mustsafi may well make a welcome return to sure things up at the back. Le Coq for Elneny seems a logical change as well.
Re technology and the officials. The fact that we don’t make better use of it is simply bizarre to me. The standard of officiating varies from game to game and from official to official. However, unlike the vast majority of players, I do not think that they are dishonest. If players are still going to cheat all over the park then we either assist the officials by using the technology available, or quite simply just get on with it. For me, something needs to change.
It was interesting reading in the last set of drinks about form and how various sides have performed. If anyone is In any doubt about where we are at this current moment then check out the league table for games played in 2016. It makes interesting reading.
Any win for the Gunners please.
Clean sheet and three points please. Enjoy. Repeat.
For those in Oz, I’ve only just seen that SBS are showing our game live early tomorrow morning with a replay at lunchtime.
2-0 no problem.
UTA.
To almost echo BtM –
Three points please. Enjoy. Repeat.
COYG
I think 2-1 to the Arsenal will be the score tonight with Giroud keeping his excellent scoring run going.
For those of older vintage on this site ( and several from North of the Border) there was a nice piece in the programme on Sunday about Ian Ure. He still remains a committed Gooner and his reflections on his career ( in which he was twice been bought for a then world record fee for a defender) were interesting. He joined two teams that were far from the finished article but noted the big improvement at Highbury under Bertie Mee.
And he did win us Quiz Ball- the first national trophy I ever saw us win !
Ah, TTG, quiz ball…
For the uninitiated, this was a quiz show (no shit, Sherlock) between teams representing a football club consisting of two players, the manager (or possibly some kind of administrative bod) and a celebrity supporter. The object was to score goals by answering one very difficult question, two quite difficult questions, three easy questions or four very easy questions. These were known, respectively as routes 1-4. Unless you went route 1, the opponents could attempt to tackle you by answering a difficult question of their own. I think there was a limit on the number of tackles you could make in each program. If you got a question wrong, or the opponents got their tackle question right, possession of the ball (and the right to answer questions) passed across.
Arsenal were represented by Bertie Mee, Ian Ure, Terry Neill and I can’t remember their celeb. They were quite a bright bunch, and actually developed a strategy, which was to take route 2 until the opponents ran out of tackles and then to run the clock down by taking route 4; if trailing late in the game, we would go with the old ‘knock it into the middle and fight for it’ and take route 1.
If I remember correctly, the programme was originally hosted by David Coleman; one of the many things I will never forgive Stuart Hall for was that when he took over his contribution was limited to cries of “Oooh! Tactics!!” every time anyone went other than route 4.
“Small minded”? “Bitter”? Me? Surely not, move on please, nothing to see here.
COYG
2-1 seems just about right in what will be a tight affair. Cherries played refreshingly good football when they came home and expect the same with lot more intensity tonight. Arsenal need to start bright and this is where no one comes close to Alexis. He is brilliant and needs to play today and should be rested for the FA cup game. Expect the same team but for coq replacing elneny and maybe just maybe ox coming in for lucas. Rather have Lucas starting and ox coming on later as an impact sub which is what i feel is his best position. Gabriel will play but expect the likes of ox, mustafi and danny to start saturday. Arsene loves Aaron so he will get game time for sure. Now please win tonight and just for one day tomorrow, coys.
Quite why anyone would want Spurs to win when the chance of us battling with them for league positions is far more likely than fighting Chelsea for the title come May is baffling.
Jimmy Young was our Quizball celebrity by the way.
And David Vine was the referee, not Coleman.
22nd December 1966 – iPlayer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02mbcy7/quiz-ball-22121966#group=p02nm7g8
The puffing away on pipes in that is funny as fuck.
Cynic – I stand corrected over the quiz-show host. 50 bloody years ago I wish I could remember important stuff as well! As well as the pipe-sucking, I was amused by the high-quality set, the players in their own suits (possibly with club ties) and the shots of the audience – real Monty Python stuff.
As for wanting the Spu*s to win (@14 above), I don’t actually want them to win; I don’t give them the head space required to care what they do, I do want Chel$ki to lose.
I am generally cynical too about these things, but have come to appreciate that I can do nothing to influence T*ttenh*m’s results, all I can do is influence how they affect me. What seems to work really well for me is to adopt an attitude of near total indifference. I’d like them to take points off teams that I believe we are competing with, or will be come the end of the season; if that involves them securing some morale-boosting victories against also-rans, then so be it.
COYG
I remember the field of play on Quizball being like an over sized Subbuteo pitch between the desks, but that probably came later on.
Pardon-moi l’interruption des Quizball reminiscences.
Skybet offering 125/1 odds against Xhaka scoring first and Arsenal to win. Almost counting my cash now. To see if I can afford to bet, that is. 😉
Arsenal to win 2-1
You left that bit out!
The heart sinks as the name Ramsey is on the team sheet.
Cheers H! Just win. That is all.
Except, who remembers The Indoor League, introduced by Fred I’ll sithee Trueman?
Dean would have given a penalty and sent off Cech!
COME ONNN!
Bournemouth 1-0. Shit.
They deserve that goal… !
Rubbish from Bellerin but who’s the lazy bone idle sod playing right midfield, who didn’t track back?
Bar billiards, Esso.
Definite penalty. What the fuck is going on.
It is becoming worse, Xhaka in a moment of madness concedes a penalty and it is 2-0. Kiss the title tilt goodbye.
We are shit that’s what’s happening
Shellshocked… !
Ref got it right too.
They are arguing ffs
We’re gonna win 4-2.
🙁
We are in very big trouble here.
There’s a saying about not fancying it at Stoke on a cold January evening. Add Bournemouth to that.
Naive play by Xhaka and when will Cech get near a penalty? He gets enough practice as Arsenal keeper
I had a wager on a 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2 win so…
No fucking chance.
Shocking is an understatement we just don’t want it enough!
Be lucky to get a draw out of this….
Come on!
Coq has done his hammy happy days
Coq down and Ox readies to come on. COYG.
Another hamstring?
It’s about time somebody was held to account for all this soft tissue injury shit we keep having, no other team is as prone to this shit as we are. We never seem to get many impact injuries, it’s all calf strains and hamstrings.
Dodgy training methods?
We’ll still win this.
But Xhaka, I’ve now established that he’s a fucking idiot, without doubt.
Couldn’t agree more about Xhaka, TERS. Hope you are right about the result.
Bellerin is having a bad day.
You definitely have a point Cynic. It’s a regular problem we never seem to eradicate.
This will tell Wenger and all of us about the character in our side . At the moment Bournemouth are quicker and want it more. First goal came when Iwobi let Daniels go completely . Second when Xhaka lost his head and his bearings.
Poor defensive discipline
Still want Spurs to win, chaps?
Oh dear.
We look second best to every ball there is no plan by the looks of things
Need to pull one back before half time….!
COME ON!
Did Bellerin forget how to run with the ball?
Poor at the back and too many slow, lazy bastards in midfield.
Every team attacks us down the right nowadays ( they’ve done it on both sides to be fair) . It looks as if Nacho is getting targeted
The whole team is rubbish we are spineless yet again we can’t play simple football!
So the green fields turn to brown…like paper in fire…
Bournemouth definitely the better side in the first half but all their running and pressing will take a toll. But are we in a position to take advantage of that as we look more tired and lethargic than them.
Need to improve massively in the second half to salvage anything from this match.
Absolute gash half of football. We could not have played worse.
I was out of town so missed last year’s 0-4 defeat to Southampton but that first half today was dire. An invitation for Bournemouth to play as they wished.
Bellerin needs to get rid of his 70’s lesbian tennis player haircut. He’s been shit since he started sporting that look.
Especially as he’s chosen to try to grow a sort of bum fluff moustache at the same time, which completes the look.
Oh dear Hector where were you, and it got worse Granit was an idiot, his opponent was going away from goal. Help, we are just not at the races and this could get much worse!
Arsene sort it out but it’s not going to be easy. Suggest bringing in Perez & moving Alexis to CF.
COYRs
What a poor corner by Xhaka
Fuck sake wake up!
Well that sums it all up!
It is over as Bournemouth score the third.
Look, if Wenger whinges and tells everybody we’re tired before kick off and that we’ll try to hang on tonight and the fixture list is so unfair, what can we expect ? Top 4 gone, we look decidedly 6 th. Safe on 40 points at least….So sad, a fine squad with some superb players. Mismanaged. Simple as.
Clear foul for the third goal
Well..ref missed that push on Bellerin…
Same old shit…
Guys stop making excuses for these bunch.. led by Mr. wenger himself. Title my ass.
TTG
Let’s not start all the excuses now the ref the fixtures next everyone is the same boat.
If anyone has not noticed we are being outplayed by Bournemouth!
So is Koscielny injured now?
Bellerin was fouled on way to their third goal. It is so easy to cut us open that it is not funny. The worst performance from Arsenal in a long time.
Kos is also off, I don’t know what is ailing him.
If we don’t improve we can kiss the fourth spot good bye.
The only defence for this pathetic display is that they have had an extra day’s rest.
To predictable but hey we scored one ☝️
Get In! Alexis!
Sanchez, get in finally!!! Playing for pride now.
Our first shot on goal
At least the boss can concentrate on Preston now and his beloved F*ck All Cup. Jesus, give us strength.
Playing for pride ksn? There’s 20 mins still to play ffs come on Arsenal!
Get in Perez
Perez!!!! 3-2.
Perez….GET IN!!!
ATG
I think the push on Belmerin looks more significant now!
Well now..it gets real interesting!
Bellerin was clearly fouled for their third goal.
Bellerin wasn’t strong enough
Perez should be playing regularly…!
The foul on Bellerin was similar to the one by Xhaka but that is the only contentious decision by the ref who has otherwise has been very good.
6 minutes added on
About time Pete Cech saves a damn penalty. I don’t think he has saved any for us
If we get a third we can win it…!
COMEEE ONNNNNN!
3-3 Giroud!!!!!
3-3 yea yea.. what the fuck
HAHAHAH…Giroud pirouetting…scorpion king it is!
LET”S GET THEM!!!!
COMEEEEEEEEEEEE ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!
Come on don’t fuck this up now!
If we only play like this to start the game and not last 30 minutes
Good comeback.. just needed a minute more.. ah well.
Will take this draw anyday after the 3-0.
😀
Some of you might be very pissed off that we can equalized…
We left it too late and drop two precious points.
Proud of their second half performance but in the first half they played like school boys.
Brilliant comeback on a night where we played poorly.
Bucket loads of bile above from all of the usual suspects I see. Very predictable.
Kudos to Delia! Perez did the trick, made a huge difference with his energy and industry.
The point we saved under the circumstances does not console me.
WIth Mustafi on the field, it was a given that we wouldn’t lose. 😉
Enough with the scorpion pirouette OG! There was still a game to win!
No bile BTM, just regret that we played poorly.
Great fight back.
Lucas made a big difference and needs to start and Ox was excellent and Sanchez never let up.He should be the captain of this team. In the end the push on Belkerin cost us the game but that would have been tough on Bournemouth who were excellent until their legs went. But we played a day later!
@ 95 Happy that they equalized. But don’t act like we didn’t make a hard work of the match. Scoring 3 goals would have been a winning performance for a team with a title ambition.. COYG..
Perez should get to start a few games. Be interesting to see how that turns out.
With the injuries mounting, it does look likely that he’ll get his chance.
And it’s amazing what can happen when you actually take shots on goal.
@ 97 I dont know who your comment was meant for but No Bile shit.. I comment as I see it..
@101 TTG – spot on. No question it was a push and a foul but you’re quite correct, Bournemouth deserved that draw.
That extra days rest definitely played a part in terms of the intensity… hope KOS is not out for too long.
When’s Welbeck due back?
😀
Great come back but a little late yet again! Two points dropped!
BTM
Nothing wrong with wanting to win a bloody game and being passionate about it if you ask me.
Wenger’s at 110% fault for setting his troops like that in the first half.
Might be not popular, but I really wish Spu*s can beat Chelsea. The chance of Spu*s bottle it at the end is way bigger than Chelsea
Perez knows exactly how to make those runs that open up defence lines please play him more often Mr Wenger I hope you can see it too?
Amazing offensive play and comeback. But what’s new there ? Probably just shows how hard it will be to retain our best attackers when the vultures come and we’re still underperforming. The rest was shambolic and a 0-0 would have been better for making us look truly competitive and in any way defensively competent. Not bile, maybe a bit glass half empty but just frustration, deja vu and heartache. COYG.
Good shout Barack @76
Yes we made amends in the second half but WHY did we make such a hash of the first? Glad Perez scored such a well taken goal. Hector will want to forget this one!
Looking forward to Holic’s thoughts.
You’re right Ambydex
-we need Chelsea’s momentum to be spiked. How about Costa gets sent off and chins the ref and Harry Kane does his hammy scoring the winner!
Very impressed with the way Eddie Howe set Bournemouth up . He worked our legs off at the start. A day and a half difference at that level is enormous physically . But that doesn’t excuse poor work by Bellerin, Iwobi and Xhaka for their goals.
Ref was good but was inconsistent on the pushes and the sending off was harsh if understandable. But I’d not like to referee under the scrutiny they have to ref under.
That would be perfect TTG!
Emotionally drained. Football, fucking football.
Definitely a night when a draw feels like a win. 15 minutes to go 3-0 down, draw 3-3.
Giroud – an all time Arsenal legend.
Lucas – what a tryer, what an impact.
Wow, just wow. What a fucking game of football.
Clear foul on Hector for their third but their red harsh.
Otherwise thought ref had a good game. Penalty spot on.
More brandy please.
One last thing before I’m off, a little shout to Wenger….
“Arsene, I don’t mind with you play Ramsey in the middle but please, don’t play him As a winger.
First, he is not a winger.
Second, it disrupts the attacking fluency from our wing.
Third, we all know he doesn’t even like to play as a winger.
Fourth, you have Lucas Perez”
Well, wasn’t that fun?!
Some Gooners appear to already be saying “great comeback lads”. Well, it would have been if we’d won it with still 5 minutes left and against ten tiring Bournemouthers that had just been pegged back from being 3 – 0 up! Some of our lads started ?ing after equalising as if it was all over and we’d already taken a quite undeserved lead on the balance of play, if one is honest! Quite bizarre! Still clearly “that” mentality thing. As already alluded to, Alexis, Lucas and the Ox were mighty impressive and new the need for urgency, hence they were visibly pissed-off at the final whistle Arsene Wenger was too and just walked straight down the tunnel after shaking ?s with the ever increasingly impressive Eddie Howe. Bellerin chose the wrong night to have an absolute shocker.
So, two more much-needed points dropped for nothing other than our now entrenched characteristics of complacency and fickleness. Who’s still to blame for that? One thing’s for sure; Conte, Klopp, Guardiola, Pochettino, and that cunt Mourinho, wouldn’t have tolerated OG’s ? kick over-celebration before it had reached 4 – 3! Quite laughably naive, if one remains a sober realist.
AFCOF!
Laptop ran out of juice at HT.
Thoughts – That was absolute shit, despite the comeback. A point away at Bournemouth is not the stuff of a title winning side.
Bellerin may have been fouled for the third but he was weak all night and for that third goal, had two or three yards start on his opponent and was caught. Not so fast after all then…
Lucas was really good when he came on and showed the fight we need.
Alexis body language was worrying throughout, but his team mates deserved his ire. The only player we had (until Lucas came on) who wanted it.
So fucking annoying, this team.
Gabriel / Lucas/ Ox/ Sanchez/ Giroud/ – great character
Mustafi still hasn’t lost in an Arsenal shirt but was erratic.
Bellerin / Nacho/ Cech/ Ramsey/ Iwobi have all had better nights.
But that point might kickstart our title run
Apologies all, new computer being set up tonight so no report until tomorrow night. I wish I had taken tomorrow off. ☹ Love to you all.
What’s this one going to be called?
Not Aaron I hope 🙂
I’ll wait until I see how the fucker works, Cynic 🙂
Reality check @119
We are not a Title winning side,we are,with Utd getting harder to beat under Maureen,a top 6 side battling it out for 1 of the 3 remaining CL spots.
Just as well I wasn’t watching live or I might have been quite rude.
Some points in retrospect:
1. AW outtacticked by Howe, who had a very fair audition for the former’s job.
2. Sanchez’s petulance is becoming a bore. Yes, Alexis, we know you’ve played with much better at Camp Nou. Yes, it’s not the same without your German playmate. But no, you can’t always be centre of attention in the middle, OG at CF and you on the wing (where you were at Barca) gives us better balance.
3. Can’t blame the ref, the only thing I could criticise Oliver for was the red card. Yellow would have been more appropriate. No Belle wasn’t pushed, he just wasn’t strong enough.
4. Nice goal by Lucas, but there were several times when he was too slow to be as dangerous as Theo would have been. But he certainly gets the RW start for me ahead of Iwobes, Ox and Ranbo. Although playing Belle at RW with Debauchery at RB is still an option I would like to see tried sometime.
5. Rambo has to be the best option currently fit enough to fill Mesut’s 10 spot.
6. Too little too late. The idea we were handicapped by 24 less hours rest hardly stands up when we can finish that strongly. Stamina wasn’t the problem, starting was. And starting is when you’re at your strongest surely.
If it’s perfection the only name for it would be …. Theo 😉
I honestly think Theo wouldn’t do any better then Perez those runs he made opened up their defence so close but yet so far! Night all!
One point is better than none, but it was still two points dropped when others around us are dropping precious few. One point out of nine in our past three away games isn’t title-winning form.
Ned,
see my post at 124.
Also for those vilifying the players in the bar last night,worth noting that there was a flu bug doing the rounds which was bad eough to keep Mesut out for both games,Hector was also carrying a knock he picked up on Sunday,and Kos was so crippled by leg cramps,he had to be subbed with still half an hour to play.
Also worth noting, of all the teams that played at home on Saturday and backed up on Monday,only 1 of them managed to garner all 3 pts,and that was Utd,against a team that played for 75 mins with 10 men.
Of the 3 teams that played on Sunday,and backed up on Tuesday,the only one to pick up so much as a single point was us.
That shows you how hard it was to back up in such a ridiculously short space of time.
Eddie Howe knew we would be leggy after playing on a heavy pitch on Sunday,and he picked a side and a strategy that worked perfectly till the red card.
I thought the ref had a very good game,and having seen their 3rd goal,he got that decision right as well.
Hector was desperately trying to shepherd the ball out of play,and it was a clear shoulder to shoulder,and note not one of our players protested.
I was myself,like everyone else,convinced at 3 nil,that we were up the creek not only without a paddle,but a rapidly sinking canoe to boot.!!
So for me,kudos for the players to keep fighting until the end and grab an unlikely point.
In my opinion we were never a title winning squad at the start of the season,and we are not now,so whether this point ends up nabbing us one of the 3 CL spots won’t be known till much later in the season.
Also worth pointing out that the 3 managers in the top 6,that seem to pay lip service to teaching defence ,have all conceded the most goals so far.
The other 3 are much more frugal,and if you are not conceding at your end,you only need 1 goal at the other end to pick up the points.
But then how boring would that be,and watching the Arse wouldn’t be half the fun/grief and heart attack material that it is.
From Arseblog:
Nothing else to add really and I still believe Sp*rs need to win tonight even though they will go in front. We have ourselves to blame no one else because 1 point from three away games is not good enough.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>