By Tony Attwood
Well that was fun. BT Sport behaved in the way that one would expect a mainstream station to behave and the AAA were not to be heard.
I can only hope Arsenal have saved a few goals for me to see on Sunday.
So what happened? It would be pretentious to suggest that Untold’s protests had an impact on BT Sport’s behaviour.,.. Maybe Arsenal had a word with them. Maybe they noticed the unsubscribes from their service. But whatever the cause, none of the rampant sarcasm and cynicism of the Ems tourney last year was to be heard. Indeed I think they mentioned the fact that you get a point for a goal about 20 times without making any fuss.
The nearest they came to criticism was saying that because Arsenal has 8 points means the competition is all over!
And as I mentioned in the comments during the game they also picked up on the story about Koscielny and accordions which was covered some months ago on Untold. Of course that was not exclusively covered on Untold – but its mention was added to the change of heart by BT and with the endless comments about the points system and how innovative and good it is, it does make me think, just maybe this is another one of those occasions when Untold has played its part.
Whatever has caused BT’s turn around, we clearly did no harm.
As for the team – Campbell and Sanogo looked great, Ramsey is Ramsey, and the makeshift defence held out. Martinez was superb in goal especially with the saves in the last 15 minutes.
And what about Bellerin? As Walter has been telling us, an utterly amazing player.
And we have got a whole team sitting on the bench.
But there is one other thing I have not resolved for myself – but I am sure you can. How many spaces do we still have in the squad for all these future transfers that people say we are still going to make.
Taking the post earlier today in which I tried to put down the whole squad listed, I thought,,, who are the non-home-grown players in the squad. We are allowed 17 under Premier League regs. I’ve removed Campbell from my earlier list… accepting that he is home grown.
Now I have also removed Miquel who joined on his 16th birthday. Toral joined us in 2011 so he looks home grown to me. Martinez is also home grown I believe.
I have also taken out all of the under 21s who don’t count.
The numbering is just the order I wrote them down in, there’s no significance in them.
- Arteta
- Debuchy
- Diaby
- Flamini,
- Giroud
- Koscielny
- Monreal,
- Rosicky,
- Sanogo
- Sanchez
- Santi Cazorla,
- Podolski
- Ozil s
- Ospina
- Mertersacker
- Vermaelen
So if Vermaelen stays we have one place for a non-home-grown player over 21. If he leaves that is two.
Mr Wenger said, “We are not close to signing anybody”
A great day, and I’m really looking forward to being at the Emirates tomorrow.
The books
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal
Great game
Very enjoyable.
I too will be there tomorrow.
Cant wait
A very enjoyable game, great attacking moves and good performances all round, but most noticeably from the young players.
Didn’t think too much of the ref – he missed a few decisions, but BT were certainly much improved.
@jambug
I am envious! I had hoped to be there tomorrow, but other circumstances intervened. But – have a great day!!
I hate to be picnicky but Sanogo at 21 can still be included on our u21 list which frees up at least another space for another year.
I would note the very positive game of Coquelin. If he could stay with us this season, we might not have to splash cash for a “Defensive” midfielder 🙂
Do you think Koscielny/Debuchy/Giroud/Szczesny will play tomorrow?
Take Sanogo out of that list, as he has one more season as an under 21, as does the Ox. However, Campbell has to go back in as the time he spent abroad does not count as homegrown periods. So, yes, your final calculation is right, one plus one for Vermaelen. We also have eight over 21 homegrown already, which includes Miquel, Coquelin and Martinez. The rule is for this season is being born on or after 1/1/93 to be classed as under 21. Which, of course means that Myaichi is both over 21 and overseas (joined us after his 18th birthday), so he is highly unlikely to get near the squad.
jambug, Tony (and every other Untolder going tomorrow),
I will be there too with my girls. I will love to meet you guys. Where can we meet and at what time before the games around the Emirates.
I am not an Emirates regular and because I usually go with my family, I am not familiar with the pubs and joints around the stadium. We just get inside the stadium and leave immediately after the games. I saw Edda last year and I am hoping to see a lot more of my favourite Untolders this time.
Tony, please take charge and choose a place and time for us to meet. I am so looking forward to meet you guys.
certainly good to be back in business!… have a good one Jambug!
Aha and Amen!
bjtgooner
Sorry to hear you have to miss tomorrow.
Sadly due to work it is very difficult for me to get to the Em’s. A combination of availability, cost, and my shift patterns make going during the season almost impossible.
I’ve been lucky with the Emirates Cup and been a few times with Mrs Jambug and we love it.
So excited.
bjtgooner,
Too bad but there will be other opportunities in future. I would most definitely like to meet you in person. If you ever get the chance to go in future, please let me know and I’ll do my best to find a ticket and go too.
All the best in the new season!
@Bootoomee
It will be a pleasure, I don’t know if you take a drink or if you are tt – either way the first one is on me!
bjtgooner
What’s a tt?
Is it some sort of motor Cycle race ? 🙂
Great game today. We could all see how bad a player Sonogo is, scoring only 4 goals… 😉
jambug,
tt means t total as in someone who does not drink alchohol
bjtgooner,
I am teetotal but I’ll take you up on coke 🙂
If Arsene even considers for a moment to send Campbell and Sanogo, out on loan, there will be riots at the Emirates.
Martinez played magnificently, like all goalies seem to do when new stoppers are about to arrive.
And Bellerin is turning out to be the gem that Walter has raved about for some time.
@jambug
Sorry for the confusion – I meant tt in the teetotal or abstinence from alcohol sense.
If we meet up sometime the same offer is open to you!
@Bootoomee
Agreed!
I rarely have a drink and not when traveling, but like to celebrate beating the spuds etc with a wee dram of scotch – when safely home!
I have a ticket for tomorrow for sale:
Upper Tier, Block 111, Good view. Price – £35 (actual price from Arsenal)
Please contact Tony if you are interested and he will get in touch with me.
Sorry lads I was being ironic as I am rather partial to a beer or three %)
I’m in Block 113
Probably at the bar 😉
Well that was an enjoyable afternoon. Just great to see Sanogo on the scoresheet ….and how! He is raw, but puts himself about, and gets in positions. Our movement and pace looked good from where I was sitting, especially in the first half…..thing we could easily have doubled that score had we really gone for it.Campbell was also excellent, a very well taken goal. Bellerin was superb, really hope we get to see a lot more of him this year, him and a few others we saw today. We would be mad to let Campbell go on the evidence of this. As for Sanchez, a brief appearance, but looks very dangerous. Superb enjoyment and entertainment aside, hard to read too much into today, this was a nice afternoon sunny stroll, not sunderland away in January with a ref letting them kick lumps out of us, …..not sure how representative this was of Benfica in terms of players or performances, but on the evidence of today, we have some great new players, some great players already here, and a very nicely evolving squad that will allow us to rotate this season. Very well done all concerned this afternoon
Great Game!
Initially, I was relieved for Sanogo. Finally, a goal in Arsenal shirt; even if it is “only” in the Emirates Cup. Then came 2, 3 and 4! Now, that is what I call an embarrassment of goals and an emphatic statement to Wenger and the new and old boys that he is here and knocking hard to be given games too.
I also thought that Chambers, Ballerin and Ox were calm and sharp…
An interesting season is shaping up wherein the competition for shirts will be intense and will be good both for the club game-after-game as well as if/when injuries strike.
BT Sport
I must admit my hopes weren’t high but credit where credit is due. Much much better.
If they continue in this vein, fair, balanced, reasonably informative, I will be happy.
For those that suggest otherwise, my gripes, along with others, have nothing to do with imagination or paranoia and everything to due with knowing a load of old bollocks when I’m listening to it.
But conversely, like today, I know when I’m listening to balanced opinion and I am never afraid to admit I was wrong, as I was today when I predicted the same old, same old.
Well done BT. Long may it continue.
Come on Tony, don’t be so English.”That was fun”. Really? You are a master of understatements. Can’t recall the last time our team played very very well. I kept thinking that its a matter of time: we gonna lose possession or just f… up. Didn’t happen, instead the opposite happened. We run at them breaking them at will. Happy days.
Greedy Sanogo. Hope his injury is not too serious.
Competetion among our players this season will be great motivation for great performances. We may not see a ‘weak’ Arsenal line up this season; not even in the C1C because everywhere you look in this team there are quality and quantity + versatility.
Great job Arsene as Arsenal launch into the ‘harvest’ season.
COYG
A great spectacle to watch. It was a great ‘fix’, after a football desert of a summer. Long may it continue.*
The real – manure match was shown live where I am and manure were good. If they play in the league the way they played in this game they will be in the top 4 come next May.
* Is it because I am English I don’t rate the World Cup as ‘real footy’?
Well i did not expect 5, but thanks that Sanogo got started, and all the youngsters look good so it’s hard to pick one out.
I do like Bellerin, and cannot wait to see him in Arsenal team alongside all the others.
I suppose there is going to be much fight for places now, which is good for Arsenal, hope the players are satisfied to do that, as this brings more ability to rest players.
The ones coming back from WC are having to sit up and take notice of the youth, should make for a very very strong team this season.
We are on our way, and as Damilare says, on to the “harvest”.
Goonerbeall – it is about my only really English feature… the understatement.
Sometimes
Happy that you all found it a pleasant BT Sport experience. I watched on a Dutch stream which was pretty stable, so will try for the same one later. Don’t go to live games anymore since my season ticket expired after the third Emirates season. Too expensive for me.
The easy way to check the squad details is to look on the official Premier League website:
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/clubs/profile.squads.html/arsenal
Of course a very pleasing result yesterday. Although let’s not get carried away after one pre-season friendly. The youngsters all played well. Some lovely combinations among groups of players, like Bellerin, Ramsey, Campbell and Sanogo; Sánchez and Cazorla, etc.
Many of their attacks seemed to come down our left flank, though. Probably because we had Monreal at LCB and Gibbs at LB. Even Coquelin came in and looked pretty good. Martinez looks more than capable to be our 3rd choice, etc. Many good things to come out of that game, I just hope that it’s a very small injury for SanoGOALS.