One question before the match was whether Antoine Semenyo would start for Bournemouth? He did. Had Arsenal made a cheeky bid, bearing in mind Mikel Arteta’s comments about watching the transfer market “and its timings carefully” and Semenyo declaring himself an Arsenal fan? I guess that is now highly unlikely as he started against us but you never know …..
The team lined up as: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hinkapié; Ødegaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Gyökeres, Martinelli.
So Declan Rice was passed fit despite his demonstrating a huge swelling on his knee to Morgan Rogers on Tuesday evening. Unless he was indicating the swelling his wife is experiencing as she is apparently expecting triplets if social media are to be believed. The swelling appeared to be down around the knees though. Poor lady, if so! In any event, his fitness was a surprise to me as the likely causes of such a swelling would be soft tissue damage, cartilage damage or an inflamed bursa, all likely to require time to settle. Anyway, let’s not question it too much when we finally get one bit of good injury news.
Our bench looked as strong as I can remember with Kepa, White, Lewis-Skelly, Nørgaard, Merino, Eze, Saka, Trossard and Jesùs. No place in the squad for Nwaneri or Havertz whose exclusion was for management reasons rather than any new injury worries.
The match
Bournemouth made a very energetic start and forced two early corners before Arsenal were able to settle into their more familiar pattern of passing and control which culminated in Ødegaard unfortunately shooting high and wide into the crowd. Madueke then shot similarly after an impressive dribble through the left side of the Bournemouth defence.
With just 10 minutes on the clock, Gabriel received the ball from a throw on and, under no pressure, made a completely uncharacteristic mistake in passing straight to Evanilson who was standing unmarked in the middle of the 18 yard line. The latter gratefully accepted his surprise, late Christmas gift and passed into the far corner of the net leaving Raya with no chance.
Bournemouth 1-0 Arsenal
It took the King of Brazil a mere 5 minutes to atone for his error with not a header, but a shot fired home with a striker’s aplomb after great approach work by Madueke.
Bournemouth 1-1 Arsenal
Zubimendi was next to give away possession which led to a dangerous passage of play that thankfully ended with no further damage. Whatever transfer thoughts were in Semenyo’s head, he was definitely not going easy on us and he earned himself a yellow card for a foul at the midpoint of the half.
A supposedly depleted Bournemouth side were busy, pressing quickly and aggressively, and clearly well coached and organised by Andoni Iraola. Arsenal, for their part, we’re finding it difficult to get control of a lively, bouncing ball – was that really an FA approved model? – that seemed to ricochet it’s way round the pitch. In truth it was because Bournemouth do not allow you a single kick without a challenge of some kind or other. Fair play to them but it made for a scrappy game, doubtless exactly as they would have wished.
Referee Kavanagh was, by now, up to his usual tricks, this time picking on Victor Gyökeres instead of Declan Rice, with some strange decisions. Declan was finding it hard to disguise his bewilderment. The Sky commentary team of Bill Lesley and the rather stupid, obviously anti-Arsenal Don Goodman were, however, delighted. Where do they manage to find these prats week after week? “Brilliant defensive work by Semenyo, nothin’ in it ….” claimed Goodman as the Bournemouth man ran, holding Rice’s arm back for ten yards. When Semenyo then shot 20 feet over the bar, “the intent was really good though …” said Goodman, failing to hide his disappointment.
Overall, a frustrating half after the brilliance of the second half against Aston Villa. Too much possession was given away – a point emphasised by Arteta after the game – against a hard working Bournemouth. I think the team still looks unsure of quite how to attack and get Gyökeres into the game. Long early balls do not come naturally to this Arteta drilled formation. They are what Gyökeres needs and he failed to make any kind of impact again in this first half.
HT Bournemouth 1-1 Arsenal
There were no changes in personnel at the beginning of the second half. Arsenal were exerting better control and on 53 minutes Gyökeres fought for possession in the box. The ball was worked to Ødegaard on the edge of the area and his clever lay off invited Rice to fire home from 17 yards.
Bournemouth 1-2 Arsenal
Despite Bournemouth’s continued harrying, the Arsenal now looked fairly comfortable, although the improved control was failing to increase our slender one goal lead. I really don’t want to pick on Gyökeres but I found myself getting more and more frustrated with him. Too often he was walking around, failing to even jump for high balls and he was doing nothing to affect the game at all. CER made a great comparison a short while ago when he said his defensive work reminds him of Theo Walcott – slowing down as he chases an opponent so as to not quite make the challenge.
I found myself yearning for Jesùs just as he appeared on the touch line with the manager. Was this another miracle or just coincidence? Whichever it was, our little Gabi was introduced on 65 minutes together with Bukayo Saka and Leo Trossard as Gyökeres, Madueke and Martinelli made way. It actually reminded me of a game at Watford in the Arsene Wenger era when Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires emerged from the dugout in the second half. Graham Taylor, Watford manager at the time, looked across at Arsene and said “you used to bring on decent subs!”
Five minutes later quality told. Saka and Ødegaard exchanged passes and Rice netted his second of the evening from Bukayo’s cut back.
Bournemouth 1-3 Arsenal
Madueke did well today on the whole but he does not have Saka’s end product. Very, very few do but Saka is so calm in possession, rarely gives it up and has unfailing end product. I hope they’re not, but if Miles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri are getting frustrated at their lack of game time, it’s worth remembering that at their age Saka was still playing at left back. Patience lads – your time awaits.
Bournemouth brought on three substitutes of their own on 74 minutes to try to improve their lot and one of them, Junior Kroupi, did just that, firing home a terrific rising drive from 25 yards.
Bournemouth 2-3 Arsenal
The goal inspired Bournemouth to scrap even harder, and the commentary team to get even more excited. The Bournemouth scorer was carded for a cynical foul on Trossard and Mikel Merino replaced Martin Ødegaard in midfield.
“Excellent refereeing!” shouted the idiotic Goodman as Saliba was kicked in the Achilles and Kavanagh took the play back to award Bournemouth a free kick. On 86 minutes, Trossard won a corner. With no discernible delay, I thought, Goodman opined that the referee was allowing Arsenal “way, way too long” to take it. A Bournemouth defender then clung on to Jesùs’ leg, and another gathered the ball with his hands into his fallen body on the ground. Free kick to Bournemouth was Kavanagh’s decision!
Six minutes of added time were indicated by the fourth official. Adli – the misspelt supermarket from Bournemouth – bent to head Gabriel’s elbow, threw himself on the floor and tried to claim a penalty. A claim shown by video replay to be entirely ridiculous. Even Kavanagh agreed. He then did something quite strange and equally ridiculous. He allowed Semenyo to launch one last long throw, bang on 96 minutes. Yikes, no! Why? I thought. He then blew the final whistle as soon as the throw had been headed away which enraged the Bournemouth faithful and allowed one final carp from Goodman – “why would he blow up then?” he posed, uselessly.
FT Bournemouth 2-3 Arsenal
Last season, TTG became so incensed by Sky’s commentary and punditry that he wrote to the broadcaster in protest at their anti-Arsenal bias. Of course, he got nothing of substance in return. In fairness to Kavanagh, despite some odd decisions, I think he got the major decisions around the penalty areas right today. It was the commentary surrounding them that really riled me. Yes, I am in a heightened state of anxiety after three seasons of near misses, not to miss out on the title again. Yes, I am biased but hopefully not stupid. But these clowns employed by Sky week after week are really ruining any pleasure in watching the televised games. The one week recently we were treated to Martin Keown on co-comms, there were comments in the studio calling him out for his bias. The kick back continued into Monday morning when TalkSport ran a whole debate on national radio as to whether he had been too biased with his comments!
I guess I should try to ignore it but the nonsense is relentless. All the sweeter when we finally win the thing, I know. On that note, Merse said after today’s game, “Arsenal didn’t play well and scored three goals. That tells you something.”
It is the beginning of January. We are top of the Premier League. We are top of the Champions League. We are in the semi final of the Carabao Cup. This team is showing a remarkable maturity and resilience. They are mentally tough. There are leaders and warriors all round the team. We have an elite manager. We are seven points clear of Manchester City.
Let the commentators carp. I’ll take it !
Excellent report, Trev and many thanks
Nice one Trev. I thoroughly enjoyed that report. I didn’t hear the Sky commentary yesterday but I’ve heard enough of it in the past to be unsurprised by its tone and I couldn’t agree more how much it can detract from watching the match. Such a shame, but not something I expect to change any time soon. As you say, the beat way to respond is to keep getting results. Another valuable 3 points and we just need to keep going.
Also, I didn’t get into the last bar in time to thank Ned for an excellent preview, but it was very fine – many thanks.
Nice report Trev. I saw rthe same game as you. I was not as irritated by the Sky pundits as you clearly have been as I have passed through that fire, now expect extreme and flagrant anti-Arsenal bias at every turn and find it predictable, simplistic and amusing. They are twats, not worth your reaction and as Seneca would advise, must be ignored. BtM will advise you to listen to the dot.com commentary instead but while it clearly contains no ridiculous anti-Arsenal bias, I found the asynchrony with events on the screen more irritating than predicting and laughing at the biased commentaries from the Sky teams. Adopt the mantra of Gorgeous George. Everyone hates us. That’s ok. We’re clearly doing something good. Or words to that effect.
There you are chaps, two great philosophers cited in one Drink. You’d think it was Dr F writing!
Thanks Trev for an excellent report. I completely agree with your comments on the odious Goodman (who he anyway?). I thought I was inured to anti Arsenal bias on the tv but he pissed me off mightily to the extent that my son complained I was chuntering more about the commentator than the football!
We were put on the back foot by Gabi’s cockup but once again class told with three great goals. What more can you say about Declan Rice? Noni looked good in the first half. On we go. Liverpool next.
Love the new Declan Rice chant BTW.
Interesting table of G/A
https://x.com/afc_monty_/status/2007537570616365245?s=61&t=cVFjCyGkt4y-Ne45LtfqkQ
Thanks Trev, an enjoyable report of a game was probably tougher than I expected given Bournemouth’s recent struggles. They aren’t a bad side really and it was a good 3 points.
On we go.
Clean sheets are old hat. I can only assume Big Gabby caught sight of Evanilson in his peripheral vision and thought he was one of us.
For some reason, this one goal margin did not feel as nervy as some of the others. It seemed like we could step up a gear if need be. Will Eze ever play again?
Next up on the revenge tour, L’pool.
I know it’s premature but circle April 18 on the calendar when we visit Man C. That could well be the season defining match.
A very fair summary, Trev, of a scrappy game in which Bournemouth harried and pressed but were, in the end, outclassed in the key moments.
Also, credit where credit is due, Peter Drury and Graeme Le Saux, the commentators for NBC on the US broadcast, should get a mention in dispatches for their even-handed — and even-toned — work. They called the Semenyo tug back on Rice and the leg-pull of Jesus (and not in an amusing way) as fouls that the ref should have blown for, for example, and did so in a very matter-of-fact way. Le Saux also answered Drury’s inevitable question about Gyökeres, arfully framed in terms of whether any striker in the mould of the Swede can fit Arsenal’s technical style of play, with nuance that wouldn’t be out of place in this fine establishment.
One of Le Saux’s points about Gyökeres was that Ødegaard (or any left-footed ten operating mainly on the right-hand side) is not the optimal supplier of passes to a nine who thrives on early through balls into the left-hand channel to run onto. I’m not sure that there is an easy solution to that.
I still think that Gyökeres brings a lot of attributes that we don’t have in any other player, and my patience may be longer than Trev’s, but my two cents of concern over two of his obvious shortcomings (Gyökeres’s, not Trev’s, obviously) are that while gym work can make him stronger to deal with the physicality of PL defenders, I don’t know whether his lack of electrifying pace to deal with their speed can be remedied.
That’s a really excellent report Trev touching on the key issues, one of which was the co- commentary by Don ( no relation to Bennie or Len) Goodman, who is now in my book a Badman . Sky seem to be comfortable that their commentators follow a narrative that is far from even- handed . I don’t like it at all . Right at the end Junior Kroupi who had been booked threw a ball in Saliba’s face. No mention of it . He’d just scored a cracker and that didn’t suit their narrative
On the Gyokeres issue I’ve stated my position already . I’ve watched a lot of football and a lot of great strikers , including some great Arsenal strikers . He is nowhere near them.He has very indifferent control, doesn’t press well, can’t hold off Premier League defenders
as he did those in Portugal, is not dominant in the air and has very little impact in build- up play. I wouldn’t pass early to him because he would probably lose it . Gabriel Jesus , Havertz and Merino are all way better .
The win was terrific and we didn’t get Rice half- price. It was a much better deal than that!
Cheers Trev.
I am loving that title. Before loving other Titles hopefully.
Hopefully Rice is still fine after the match.
I still can’t believe the Bournemouth attacker swooping THAT low (in every way) getting his head to Gabriel’s elbow. What was he thinking?
Has he forgotten about VAR? However shit it may be, there was no way it would have confirmed that penalty if given, even against Arsenal.
Next big game on Thursday, and somehow I suspect we’ll find it easier. Though I’ll take another scrappy win. Or 19 if it is what it takes.
Gykores might be this generations Lee Chapman
If you are right, U4GN, we are DOOMED!. DOOMED, I tell you!
As many would already agree my opinions are worthless. I left Igor Thiago and Declan Rice on my bench this week in the Fantasy League! I’m doomed I tell you
Thanks, all for the kind words.
I was a bit worried my complaints about the commentators and Goodman in particular might bore or irritate some folks. That’s what I thought though and it seems I wasn’t alone.
What a great ending at the Emptihad ! That’s four points dropped in two games by C115y – the relentless ones .
Mosquera and Hincapie have done so well I seem to have forgotten who our third and fourth choice central defenders were last season. It could be partly due to the lengthiness of the injuries to Saliba and Gabriel which allowed both players a lengthy enough run in the team to feel comfortable but in reality both players hit the ground running when called upon, and in Hincapie’s case it has also been at left back during which time we have not dropped a point whilst extending our Premier League lead. They can be depended on if needed (that is, we won’t see a repetition of Holding or the like trying to contain Haaland) during our stretch run even if I hope Saliba and Gabriel are back in place for the duration.
TTG @16
They don’t like it up ‘em sah!
The GHF Predictathon Matchweek 20 leaderboard has been posted. Some rollercoaster rides this week. The form guide looks like candy-coloured spaghetti, with only four players in unchanged positions. You know where to find it…
huzzah, trev! no complaints about your commentator complaints. i’ve watched far too many games on mute for those reasons…
brilliant set of results to round out the weekend.
Good to see C130y looking gutted, 6 point lead
after the Cheaty derby draw.
Thanks for the predictathon update Ned👍
OM@21: The Boston Boy Wonder continues to lead us all a merry dance.
Many thanks Trev for a spot on review. We seem to find The Cherries a hard nut to crack on their own patch so to come away with all 3 points was very welcome.
I’m at the stage where I find the majority of commentary and punditry abysmal so I turn the sound down enough so I cannot hear what they say but still pick up the background atmosphere ( my age declining hearing assists with this as well ).
The results over the weekend were extremely favourable – there is much to,look forward to over the coming weeks.
Also thanks to Ned for updating the Predictathon so quickly after each match day – it comes thick and fast at this time of year.
@23 yeah, abysmal seem about right Uply. It should come with a health warning “viewer discretion advised: the utter tosh our pundits churn out may result in a serious adverse event”
@22 as do you Ned in the RopeyLeague! Could both our prestigious awards be heading across the pond this year?
Excellent win (aren’t they all?) against a very impressive Cherries team. Coupled with some excellent results elsewhere, it left the PL table looking much better (from my point of view) from the Predictathon Table.
Very nice summary, Trev. It is many a long year since I listened to a SKY commentary. Not good for the blood pressure.
I thought Madueke played well. Although his defending wasn’t perfect, there were signs that Gabriel Heinze has had a word in his ear. He could well become a real talent.
Nice report , Trev, of the game I saw and commentary Inwas force to endure. Like Uply, I try to set the volume at a level whereby I don’t really hear the in ance, vacuous, partial commentary and just hear the crowd. Unfortunately Sky make it very difficult and Don Goodman, the eejit’s eejit, kept on invading my consciousness. Ah well, at least he went home unhappy, so all is good with the world.
As set out in Ned’s preview, Bournemouth made it very difficult, although perhaps not as difficult as we made it by giving them their first goal. At the same time, of the 15 shots they had (apparently), only 3 were in target, of which only 1 was recorded as a “Big Chance”. That was the goal we gifted them. Absent that blip, it was actually a lot more comfortable than the jittery among us, of whom I am affirmed member, remember.
In ance? Inane….
Thanks Trev
Bournemouth players and commentators alike have questioned why the final whistle was blown when it was.
As far as I am aware, the game finishes when all time added on is up, irrespective of where the ball is or what the state of play is. It could be in play, it could be waiting for a throw or a corner to be taken etc. Have I missed a change in the rules or something?
And what happened to cautions / repercussions for players surrounding the referee to question/debate decisions as Bournemouth certainly did after the whistle was blown?
Another fail for the people who police the game.
Next they’ll fine us for winning.
UTA.
The final whistle complaint is a little strange, in the first half we were attacking and the ref blew for half-time. Nothing to see, move on.
Now Amorim has gone at Manure.
New manager bounce games upcoming in January with them and the Chavs, if they’ve appointed anyone by then I suppose.
Noosa. That whole thing was weird. Why Bournemouth complained as though the ref had just waived away a blatant penalty decision was beyond me. If he’d let them play on and they’d scored then we could just as easily argue the additional time had been unfair. They’d had 96 minutes to score against us and had managed 3 shots on target. One was a gift, which they scored from. One was a screamer, which they scored from. I couldn’t tell you the other. So, after an entire match where they didn’t threaten our goal much, quite why they thought an extra fifteen seconds would have made the difference I have no idea.
Anyway, nice to see the ref blow his whistle when he did. We take the points and move on.
For the first time I can remember since the introduction of transfer ‘windows’, Arsenal have entered one without me wishing we were going to make a signing. There is literally not a position I would want to strengthen. Sure, we could sign Mbappe to play CF, but in terms of the real world… I’m completely happy with our squad.
I’ve never been able to say that before. We’ve always had weaknesses, or places where one injury would screw us.
Don’t get me wrong, an injury to Rice or Zubi would really hurt, but there are no better backups than we already have for players that good.
For as long as I can remember, we’ve had a squad that looked between 3-6 players short, in terms of both numbers and quality. Always with Arsene we ended a window with the feeling we had needed to do a bit more, or a bit better, or both.
This year, we’ve got an amazing squad. Both in quality and quantity.
It will be a pleasure to let January pass by without any interest in the window, beyond a cursory glance at whichever pre-schoolers Chelski are signing to fifteen year contracts, and the various quality players who reject a move to Manure. Lovely stuff.
I know some Arsenal fans don’t rate Arteta. Personally, I cannot understand that viewpoint. It’s not just that I disagree with it, in the way that I disagreed that Gyokeres was a better option than Sesko this summer, even though I fully understood the opposite point of view. The choice between those players was interesting, as they were such different options, and a decent case could be made wither way. Where you ended up was just a matter of opinion.
With the people who want Arteta out, I just don’t understand what they are saying. It makes no sense to me. I think he’s probably the best manager on the planet right now. It certainly won’t surprise me if by the time he’s finished in the game he is recognised as one of the greats. Declan Rice said much the same thing in a recent interview, and his view is doubtless worth more than mine! I think it would be literally insane to get rid of him. Keep the guy at all costs.
Since he’s been at the club, everything has changed. Lots of people deserve credit for that, not just the manager, but right now everything is as good as it has been in a very long time. If we win a big trophy or two this year, then I imagine a lot of the people who don’t like Arteta will come around, at least to some degree. And those who remain against him will be viewed differently once they don’t have their one and only reasonable grievance left. All we need is major silverware and the whole club will be back on track together. That would be so sweet, and I fully expect it to happen.
So, we are in an unaccustomed position of stability and strength across the club. There is so much to like. It is indeed vital that we win the PL this year, from this position, with this squad. But we can’t do that in January, so we just have to go from match to match and see where we end up.
Meanwhile, it is quite amusing to see Chelski and Manure in such states of utter shambles. They are so, so far away from us in all of the structures that a winning team is built on. We should be challenging for another 2 years at least in this ‘cycle’ (hopefully longer but we will need to keep Arteta and rejuvenate the squad in a way that is completely unnecessary at the moment.) While they don’t look like they’ll be able to challenge us seriously for at least that long. Happy days.
GSD@32 & 33: 👏👏👏
Now Celtic has sacked Nancy. Black Monday in managerland.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/ckgk9g2500no
GSD @33
Very wise words. I fully concur.
GSD,
I am absolutely with you re Arteta . I find it very difficult to explain the negative sentiment and when I very occasionally defend him on Le Grove I get dogs abuse . I think social media has created factions in fan bases. People become wedded to their opinions and justification of their opinion becomes more important to them than the success of the club .
Lest we forget there was huge toxicity among our fanbase in the last years of Wenger, and several of us , while enormously fond of Arsene could see that he was never going to deliver another league title to us and gradually we would slip out of Champions League qualification contention . I was quite heavily criticised for being anti-Wenger on here and we also had strong opinions expressed when Emery was fired ( something I was very happy much in favour of) . It’s a very unpleasant time when a manager is failing ( or fading) but I think fans who are ( or should be) the lifeblood of the club have the right to raise concerns when things aren’t working . Deciding when change is necessary is a very key skill in running a football club . Opposing negative fan sentiment isn’t easy but sometimes fans aren’t wrong and loyalty to Wenger affected the club adversely in his final years .
I think to the credit of most posters on here Arteta has enjoyed general and unwavering support even when he suffered his blip in his second season . I think he is an extraordinary manager and I credit KSE with having the good sense to support him during his tough times . We can see what he has achieved and can achieve in the future .it’s personally impossible for me to think of anyone in the football firmament who I’d prefer in charge. I think he will eventually occupy a place in the pantheon of Arsenal managers that is even higher than Wenger and Chapman. High status indeed
Much wisdom there GSD @32 & 33 and TTG @37. I concur with nearly every word though, well placed as we currently are, there’s many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip and I do not demand that MA8 MUST win the league this season.
Baff. To be clear, I’d keep Arteta even if we don’t win the PL this season. Like TTG, I can’t imagine anyone I’d prefer. But it is hard to see how we’d pick ourselves up off the canvas after a fourth straight failure to win it from a strong position. This year is the first time we’ve actually had the best team and squad though, so hopefully we get the win and it’s a moot point. That is what I expect to happen.
Well said GSD, TTG, Bath 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Mikel Arteta has transformed the club from the shambles he took over from Emery, Sanllehi, Joorabchian – who was effectively running recruitment – and owners who we suspected at the time were only interested in the real estate value it represented. I remember dreading watching another game and another unnecessary, embarrassing defeat.
Arteta has transformed the team, the squad, the support from the crowd and, whether by demanding or instilling pride and ambition, the involvement and backing of the owners.
He is clearly a highly intelligent, elite thinking coach and, like TTG, I can’t think of anyone else I would rather have.
If we win any of the major trophies it will be the icing on the cake. Would I want him replaced if we don’t ? Not for a single second. So many things can affect those outcomes – players health and refereeing decisions to name but two – it would be madness to get rid of a manager who has performed miracles to even nake us genuine, regular contenders.
Win or lose, I am proud of my club again. I see every single player giving 100% every time they are on the pitch. That will do for me.
Trev how long does a tibial fracture take to heal? Asking for Guardiol at City
Ages …. 🤣
Seriously, it depends on the severity, where it is etc
He is having surgery apparently, so one could assume it needs stabilising – plating, screwing, possibly a rod inserted. I didn’t see it happen – but that wouldn’t have helped much anyway.
For a “normal” person you would be looking at a basic 8 weeks for healing. Back to fitness for a Premier League footballer clearly takes far longer. He won’t play again this season.
C100 – I’ve just seen the incident on Sky Sports News. There was no direct impact with the other player but Gvardiol went sprawling forwards taking several heavy, very awkward landings. From that my guess might be a fracture of the tibial condyle – also known as a fracture of the tibial plateau – in this case caused by the head of the femur hitting the head of the tibia a bit like a hammer.
The assumptions on recovery remain unchanged. Normally 3-6 months. PL footballer – at least that. I would guess 9-10 months back to fitness.
Thanks Trev. Now watch City go after Guehi.
Ya gotta respect Trev’s expertise when it comes to stuff like this. Gvardiol is well and truly f*cked.
Thanks Trev @42/43
Very unfortunate for Gvardiol, probably out of the World Cup too if
Trev’s expert assumptions are right. Guehi will be much in demand!
Looks like a run to the half-ton in the making…
…so hits a long, flat ball from the back to…
me, running on the wing with the speed of a tortoise on a vespa, whereby i first-time a cross just outside the penalty spot to…
A stunning volley from Oz
UTA
Well in for the half-ton, NG. Down under but up and in.
Fab finish for the hlf-ton, Noosa.
Well in Noosa, facilitated by Ned’s Ødegaard-like buildup fluorishes.
well in, noosa. wizard of øz…
Always great to see a fast break completed by a clinical finish! Nice half ton, Noosa.
Re the above from GSD @32 & 33 and follow ups from several of m’learned friends- I wholeheartedly agree. While we haven’t played free flowing football this season, that has largely been due to injuries. We are top, even so. The questions I tend to ask the very few Arsenal fans I meet who want Arteta out- let’s call them The Hard-of-Thinking- are:
1. How long do you think it would take for Arteta to be called and reappear at one of the genuine elite clubs – Real, Barca, Juve etc?
2. Does that tell you anything?
3. Who could have done and could continue to do a better job than Arteta at Arsenal given where we were in 2019?
These tend to elicit the kind of coughing, spluttering, umming and arring that would put any senior politician or indeed other would-be commentator rabbit-caught-in-the headlights to shame. Because to answer them in any other way than : Not very; He’s a top manager; and I can’t think of anyone is at best the height of disingenuousness. I’m afraid that most people – and I really don’t like to say it but it’s true – haven’t been taught how to think for themselves and so simply parrot what they see on social media written and spoken largely by bad actors with a superior command of language, unable to deconstruct the litany of straw men and false premisses contained. I say this fully aware that I’m hardly a mensch. I just try to see things for how they are, as opposed to how I want them to be, or how someone tells me they are.
Rant for the day over. I promise.
Because I fancied a little light entertainment, I have just had a look a Auntie’s coverage of Manchester United 463rd chase for a replacement for Ole Purple Nose at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c5yv8v7eqq8o Anyone who retains any lingering respect for meeja pundits may care to note that the three or four rent-a-quote merchants they quote at the start of the article come up with, count them, zero suggestions.
Every word, Trev @40 & CER @55, every single word!
I find many things that people say and do in today’s world hard to comprehend but Arsenal ‘fans’ who want Arteta replaced are utterly incomprehensible.
Well in for the half ton, Noosa.
Well in Noosa. Fifties are quite easy to come by against English bowling
Pangloss@58
Any reticence on the BBC report is more than made up for by the combined efforts of TalkSport and Sky who have given the issue wall to wall coverage and come up with plenty of suggestions- Glasner, Maresca , Iraiola and Pochettino among them.
I think the Beeb may not wish to parrot the views of the leading Sky pundits – hence the slightly anodyne comments attributed to Neville and Carragher .
How fast is a tortoise on a Vespa? That is the only question of the day.
Pep confirms Trev’s diagnosis of Gvardiol @42: ‘He is out for a long time.’
Pangloss@56 & TTG@59: The BBC’s football coverage has become dire, especially since BBC Sport moved to Manchester.
Ned – The cause of the decline you imply is quite possible. It might also be an inevitable decline in journalistic quality brought about by underinvestment.
Gentlemen please. Surely you cannot intend to cast aspersions upon the talents of
Carragher, Deeney, Sutton, Neville and the incomparable McNutty?
We shall not see their like again.
I don’t know, Ned. How fast is a tortoise on a Vespa? How fast is a three toad sloth in the back seat of a Rolls Royce?
Matt – I will admit that my original intention might not have been to laud the talents of Neville (and Lineker); but upon closer inspection of the linked article, I see that it is possible that the pundits did in fact make some suggestions which the journalist chose not to pass on. Any aspersions I might have wished to cast might possibly have been better propelled in the direction of Adwaidh Rajan; the editor who signed-off on the article; and whatever entity laid down the rules in compliance with which that editor authorised publication.
(I am spent after the effort required to navigate the labyrinthine grammar of the previous paragraph, and I will now let this matter drop.)
Manchester City have suffered two very serious blows with injuries to Guardiol ( a tibial fracture) and Dias ( hamstring). John Stones rarely stays fit for long and Ake has struggled with injury .
Their obvious solution is to splash the cash on Guehi but a lot of my Palace mates suggest there is a gentleman’s agreement with Glasner that he will stay until the summer and leave on a free. That is a lot of money for Palace to turn their backs on but Guehi seems content to see out his contract . Certainly C115 y will need to bring in someone of substance because they won’t have an experienced central defence for the best part of two months and there must be doubt that Guardiol will play much for the rest of the season . Maybe the solution is the brilliantly named Maldini Kacurri who we are apparently allowing to leave .A very big unit – I wish him well.
Any C115y cash splodge must raise concerns about whether they should really be in a financial position to do it given the number and range of charges against them
Harry Maguire could be svailable if al-Citeh are truly desperate . 😀
I have a feeling that the public wasn’t supposed to find out about the PGMOL’s 5cm of error rule on offside calls, but somebody leaked the story about its existence. Another example of the arrogance that guides that organization.
bt8@64: I think only Scruz@49 knows.
Pangloss@65: I am astounded by your revelation that there is editing. I see precious little evidence whenever I look.
bt8@68: The 5cm margin of error is old news. Here is an ESPN story from 2021 that mentions it.
https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/37575726/the-ultimate-guide-var-premier-league-all-your-questions-answered#offside
Old news? Well then I demand (and thank you, Ned) yo br brought into the loop retrospectively. I do wonder why there has not been more discussion of it yet n the meedja before this week but I bow to your evidence of it not being new.
Ned,
Thanks for the link on the offside rule. The approximate 5cm thing is ok with me if it is applied to everyone though I don’t like approximate in general in these situations. I think the claim that other major leagues use this margin of error is out of date now that the newer technology is in place. But I may be wrong there?
Still too slow for me, I don’t see why offside decisions with the new system can’t be as quick as goal line decisions.
@66 TTG,
I am very doubtful that any of the Palace leadership fulfil the first
criteria for being able to make a “gentleman’s agreement” !!
Glasner seemed much more accepting of the financial need to sell Guehi
now in his latest presser. Perhaps he is reassured an acceptable replacement
is lined up? Overall, I think prefer Palace to sell to Liverpool than C130Y.
ned@60, about fast enough to cover 40-some meters in 30-some minutes…
Scruz@74: You need a better Vespa, or tortoise, but I always had you pegged for more of a Harley Hydra-Glide man.
TTG@66: I assume the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ was that he would stay for this season, with Palace in Europe, and then leave this coming summer. My guess is that the calculation on Palace’s part was that they’d earn more from a season of European football and the possibility of another one next season by keeping him, even if he then left on a free, than they would have got from selling him at the end of last season. Given — how can I put this delicately? — that Guehi’s and Glasner’s contracts both expire this coming summer, perhaps it was an agreement that suited Glasner just fine. And Guehi, come to that: he gets a guaranteed starting place at Palace in a World Cup year and leaving on a free means his next club can pay him higher wages as they won’t have to pay a transfer fee.
OM@72: I hope the technology has improved with time. You may recall a decade ago, in cricket, the South African batsman de Villiers got clean bowled in a game against Australia, but the Hawk-Eye tracking technology had the ball going over the top of the stumps. Oops!
https://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/shock-drs-howler-questions-accuracy-of-hawkeye-technology/news-story/3878095d2386cd9e8192a4ccbf523f83
ned@75, perfect speed vespa for a tortoise. haven’t you seen “creature comforts”?
and if im anything it’s a 1938 indian chief with the v-twin.
Scruz@78: Classic choice.
Trossard named Arsenal’s December player of the month with a large percentage of the votes and Rice in second place. I’m not saying Trossard is a bad choice, but who is it that grts to vote on this award. If it’s the players then I bow to their expertise of course.
Of course, looking at it objectively, I really ought to bow to the expertise of anybody other than myself, especially if they watched all of our games in December which I did not.
I only watched the second half of our game against Aston Villa for instance, which, if you could choose only one half to watch, really would have been the half to pick, and Trossard did magnificently that half including on his goal and on his assist for Gabriel Jesus’s great goal. But I do have the impression that Rice was very influential throughout the month.
Later I watched a recording of our first half against Villa, which had been described by some reports as completely controlled by Villa but was actually pretty even except for one 5 minute stretch. Our makeshift defence deserves a lot oof credit for bridging the gap intil the return of Galiba.
On another topic, will the hilarity at Manchester United never end?
I guess you could call it a case of them getting their just desserts.
But with a new coach jumping out of the top of the cake every five seconds. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I thought it was the supporters bt8….or the members anyway who choose
I vaguely remember voting in the past
I suppose it was the goals that got it for Leo as Declan didn’t score until
the Bournemouth double game in January
I thought Hincapie had a good month too all things considered
Raya did too come to think of it
I thought Hincapie had a great December too Matt, as did Raya. 👍🏼
>>>>>>>
As for Unai Emery’s supposed “tactical genius “ recently vited by Ollie Watkins, I would simply recall my instructions to my dog as repeated in my best Unai Emery accent in Spanglish: “Traiga el estick.”