Bloody hell it’s Fat Sam again. Time to get out the very big bus park.

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Four of the last seven games at the Ems between Arsenal and Sunderland have been 0-0.  Bus parking anyone?

 

By Bulldog Drummond

Watching the Norwich game on TV I was amazed first at how flippant the commentary was about Alexis Sánchez being pushed into the TV camera pit and then amazed at myself at being amazed.  After all you would not expect the TV coverage of an incident caused by the TV companies to be even-handed.

My view was that Ryan Bennett should not only have been sent off but also banned from football for life and Norwich ground closed until it is made safe.  So I was glad to see Arsène Wenger said that the push “could have killed”  Alexis.  A horrific thought but it needs to be said.  It brings back memories of Marko Arnautovic pushing Mathieu Debuchy and taking him out of the game for months, and suggests that lower level teams have found a new tactic to get a player seriously injured with no action from the ref.

The problem being of course, the ref takes note of the foul, not the outcome of the foul.

What makes me more convinced of the view that this sort of thing is now deliberate and a central part of the game is that Mesut Özil nearly fell into the photographers’ pit behind the goal and Aaron Ramsey went into the hoardings.   Grounds do have regulations about the amount of space needed between the pitch and spectators, but I suspect these are being circumvented, and even when the distance is being maintained players are easily able to push the opposition deliberately to seriously injured them.

Mr Wenger also added another perspective:  “Every injury gives you a bigger chance to be injured again.  That’s the biggest problem in our sport. You lose confidence in your body. I had players who, after two or three injuries, refused to sprint. Subconsciously their body tells them to be careful and they don’t even notice. For a while Cesc Fàbregas was like that because he had a few hamstring problems.”

Of course PGMO, which could instruct refs to take the most serious action against players using artifacts around the pitch to cause injury and the FA which could also do it, but they do utterly nothing.  It is a sign of the way the game in England is run.

So with all the talk all the time still about injuries, here’s a possible team

Cech

Bellerin Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal

Flamini Ramsey

The Ox  Ozil  Campbell

Giroud

Incidentally VF Sam spoke a bit about Mr Wengerr and said, “I might have wound him up a time or two, but never disrespected him.”  If ever there was a statement that was laughable it is that.

So to the match statistics…

Sunderland have never won at Arsenal in the Premier League and their last away win chez nous was  November 1983.   Indeed home and away they haven’t beaten us in 11.  But, four of the last seven games at the Ems have been 0-0.  Bus parking anyone?

It is also time for us to get some home goals – just eight in six so far this season so we need a moment when everything starts to flow.  On the other hand Olivier Giroud has three goals and two assists in five games against Sunderland.

Sunderland have lost five of their last seven away league games getting four points out of 21 and the Very Fat One has lost seven League games in a row against us.  Costel Pantilimon however makes lots of saves – 59 so far this season – the top amount.

We are undefeated in 35 of the last 38, have let in precisely zero in the last seven against Sunderland.

Finally, I was thinking back to past encounters with the Enormously Large Beast and remembered Arsenal 2 Bolton 2, 18 September 2004.   It was the match that ended our 100% start to the season and ended with boos all round Highbury for the Bolton manager.

Henry and Pires scored but Bolton pulled everyone, and I mean everyone back, waiting for the occasional chance to break while focussing on every chance to stop us playing fluent football.  At that time Bolton also had a keeper who was expert in the making of unexpected saves (just as now) Jussi Jaaskelainen.

The thing I particularly remember was the way Bolton used their subs to make themselves even more aggressive, and nick the game near the end.  Just goes to show how careful we need to be against this fella.

For old times sake I looked up the team for that day…

Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Cygan, Cole, Ljungberg, Vieira, Silva (Edu 67), Pires (Clichy 82), Reyes (Bergkamp 70), Henry.

Subs Not Used: Hoyte, Almunia.

Ah memories, memories….

  • 5 December 1886: A likely date either for the setting up of Dial Square FC or a practice match ahead of the first game, or possibly both.
  • 5 December 1904: Woolwich Arsenal 26 Parisian XI 1; one of Arsenal’s largest wins.  It is reported that the French team were a man short and used an Arsenal reserve to make up the numbers.
  • 5 December 1921 the FA cited opinions about football’s unsuitability for females and called on clubs belonging to the associations “to refuse the use of their grounds for such matches”. The ban destroyed women’s football and was not lifted until 1971.  Even to this day, the FA has never apologised.

Latest from the Arsenal History Society

 

65 Replies to “Bloody hell it’s Fat Sam again. Time to get out the very big bus park.”

  1. You know how much words can cause a person to be off their game, this is why this is part of the game, much like boxing pre-shows 🙂

    Anyway, i think he will instruct his players to pressure Arsenal and break up their play to try to make them frustrated. I mean he will tell them to “get stuck in” rather than relying only on the “bus”.
    I hope our players are sharp and quick today, if we take too much time on the ball there will be tackles. Depending on ref, this may be stopped early with a few yellow cards or allowed to continue.

    We are aware of all these tactics, and should be able to adjust on field depending on the tactics used. This is one of the short comings of our team, to adjust themselves mid game, as sometimes waiting until half time can be disastrous.

    But we have a slightly changed midfield so lets see how the lads perform. Surely they know it’s a must win.
    COYG.

  2. PS
    All of us born in NOV need to start now to mentally project next season’s November as a success. Feel free those born in the other months to join in. 🙂

  3. The refs are letting a lot go this season, and not just with us, though what we are regularly on the end of , our execs should be looking into. Our lawyers should be looking into what happened at Norwich.
    But sadly, the scene is set, lesser teams know what they can get away with and they are using it. This game will be no different.
    Not sure what the answer is, Wenger refers to it, that’s all he can do, but surely our CEO should be doing more, think Dein would certainly not take this treatment passively.
    A possible answer…..recruit a psycho in Jan so there is comeback of our players are targeted, know that is wrong…..but is it not getting to that? Yes, he would take a few reds, but may…or may not help stem the constant tide of injuries.
    As for our set up, think we might revert to a more high risk attacking unit with the players we have available….in short, a bit of a roller coaster ride.

  4. Sunderland were shipping goals until Fat Sam arrived, and they suddenly have 3 clean sheets in a row! We can win this one if the boys come our full force.

  5. Jeff Reine-Adelaide played last night in the FA Youth Cop, scored a goal but then needed stitches for a nasty head wound and was substituted so won’t be on the bench at the Ems this afternoon. Good reports on the game on both Arsenal.com and Jeorge Bird’s Arsenal Youth site.

  6. Unfortunately this has goalless draw written all over it. Or perhaps Giroud will nick one from 3 yards at 85 minutes after relentless pressure and about 20 shots. Need a win of any sort, and no injuries.

  7. Had a weird moment last night when I suddenly became furious again about that Mcnair challenge on Wilshere.

    Much as we go on about how angry we are over those things here, I think we still underestimate them (maybe we have to or we’ll be too pissed off to keep watching), or at least that was what occurred to me yesterday. My thinking was simple : what would happen in Spain if some young defender took one of the ten or so opportunities in a game to butcher Messi’s exposed ankle like that, long after the ball has gone, with no hope of winning it, resulting in Messi missing half a season?

    Uproar wouldn’t cover it. It would be worldwide fury from football lovers, and the Spanish FA would surely come down like a ton of bricks on the offender *. Clearly, Messi is a very special case, and Wilshere, good as he is, is no Messi, but the principles would still be exactly the same : a lousy cowardly tackle, when the player can’t think he can get the ball (or if he did he needs some time on the sidelines to re-assess his judgement), causing a serious injury which keeps a top player out for half a year.

    Instead of condemnation and a long ban for the player, over hear we got mockery of Wilshere’s injury record and…fuck all else.

    * as it happens, a precedent from long ago- Goikoetxea on Maradona- got a 16-game ban. We’d be lucky to get three for the same now. Thankfully, I’ve never seen Messi subjected to anything like that; unfortunately it’s the same old shit for our players.

    http://www.goalsoul.net/products/andoni-goikoetxea

  8. Mandy Dodd

    We’ve already got a psycho…Flamini. Remember he threatened to put someones eyes out last season.

  9. Good morning to all Untolders. Happy Saturday it shall be for us, in Jesus Christ Name. Amen!

    The Gunners MUST be devastated in their game today at the Ems and devastate the Black Cats of Big Sam Allardyce with high precision goals scoring attacking football.

    Despite the unavoidable absent of the Gunners’ Duracell Bunny, the Gunners still have some top Gunners of high markmanship in their rank and file that can successfully do the job today.

    Bulldog Drummond, that your starts for today’s clash between the Gunners vs Black Cats test of wits is the best possible starts the Boss could start for this Sunderland game. And they will perform crediblely if they are started. However, I won’t be surprised if the Boss makes 1 or 2 changes to your starts.

    Whatever be the size of the bus the Black Cats will pack today at their goalmouth, the Gunners still have the bullets that spilt open any size of packed bus and go through it neat&clear without being hindered or stopped by any inhibition. And that the bullets the Gunners will undoubted shoot today with killings intent in this encounter.

    Therefore, Big Sam Allardyce should not dream his game plan of: Pack The Bus and Counter Attack Them To Steal a Goal will be successful today at the Ems. No, it’ll not. By the way, Steal? No way. If the Black Cats does any of such funny tricks today at the Ems, the Gunners will shout, thieves! thieves!! thieves!!! and the linesman will flag off-side. Alas! The ref’ will blow the cats off-side. End of counter-attack attempts of the Black Cats to steal a goal and steal a point in this encounter of the Bullets vs the Paws.

    At the end of this duel, I can see 4 threatening&disturbing Black Cats shot down with no Gunners suffered any paws scratches. AFC 4-0 SFC @full-time 90” +.

  10. What I find more painful is that season-ending tackle Santi suffered resulted in a free kick against him.

  11. I have said it before and will now say it again …nothing will be done about the dangerous conditions around the pitch until an important England player is injured which could take him out of a tournament and if that push was done on Rooney it would be on every news channel with everyone screaming for a 10 match ban. I would love to see the risk assessment of the camera pit and who signed it off as safe (something we are entitled to) because in almost every other industry or work place it would be deemed a hazard which would have to be secured and clearly signed.

  12. Fernandinho just got away with a dangerous tackle on Afellay. It should have been a straight red card.

  13. Rich 11:48
    Interesting. Just taking a look at the few recent longterm injuries suffered by our players;

    1. Walcott’s left ankle gets trodden on by chiriches. No foul awarded, no free kick, no card of any color. Result = Walcott is out for nearly a year.

    2. Mason stamps on Ozil’s shin. No foul awarded, no free kick, no card of any color. Result = Ozil is out for 3 months.

    3. Distin’s raises a boot to block a shot from Giroud, resulting in the latter kicking the underside of the raised boot. No free kick, no foul, no card. Result = Giroud out for three months.

    4. Paddy McNair tackles Wilshere from behind with the ball long gone. No free kick, no foul, no card. Result = Wilshere out for the season.

    5. Arnautovic shoves Debuchy into the advertising boards off the pitch. No foul, no free kick, no card. Result = Debuchy out for three months.

    6. Sanchez is shoved into a camera pit by Bennett. No foul, no free kick, no card. Result = Sanchez is out for 4 weeks?

    7. Santi’s is kicked in the knee by O’Neils raised boot. There’s at least a free kick this time, BUT, it goes against the Arsenal man. No foul or card against the Norwich player obviously. Result = Santi out for the season.

    7 nasty tackles and/or fouls against our players in the last two seasons resulting in longterm absentees for us. None of the perpetrators punished, all offences not even deemed worthy of a free kick. There’s only one common denominator in all this; Wenger somehow ended up getting the blame each of these injuries above. Xenophobic perhaps? I don’t know, but this is staggering.

    One could add incidents such as the ramires foul on Coq or the cowardly tackle against Diaby but that would just muddy the waters.

  14. Looks like a loss for City. I would expect Utd to win today, and Leicester to get at least a draw, but don’t suppose Riley will want to leave anything to chance, he will be watching our ref today no doubt

  15. 91 mins and Stoke still attacking at 2-0 up, they surely wanted to win. Manc was completely unprepared for Stoke today.

    Let’s hope Arsenal are well “prepared” for Sunderland and not thinking of CL in any way.

    Who’s ref today?

  16. Flamini needs to be careful, he is likely to get a yellow, then he is on edge. Seems like Arsenal are on edge anyway. City lost so we tend not to win when they slip up, prob a draw 🙁 Hope not 🙂

  17. para, no doubt Flamini will get a card soon, but Toivonen should really have had one already…. What are the odds he ends the game without a card.

  18. @Andy Mack:
    No doubt.

    We need to sharpen up, really too casual and not defending with wisdom, making silly mistakes will cost us the game and make things harder for ourselves.

    Does Bellerin look out of sorts? He looks this for the last 3-4 games. He looks tired and does not make the runs forward like before, he is always passing back.

  19. So that was not a penalty, but their freekick was a foul?
    Again, and again, and again….. The ref decides the score
    Yes, we are deluded here… Lets not blame the ref

  20. Leicester lead by two goals, their second goal from a yard offside. Remember the table by the sun which said we should be top if refs got things right, Leicester would be down 5 points… I don’t really have a problem with Leicester but can’t help feel this vardy thing is getting the refs lend a helping hand to Leicester.

  21. Para
    No disrespect but I think you tend to be waaaay too critical. That was just unlucky from Giroud to turn it into his own net, nothing to do with our defence. Shouldn’t have been a freekick in all honesty…

  22. We should be killing this game, again we give unnecessary free kick in dangerous position, and again unlucky own goal. Our passing is good but can’t put the ball in the net. Frustrating match. Hope we win this match. Leicester currently top of league amazing.

  23. Who scored? Babysitting, and chose the wrong moment to go and check if everyone still had their limbs upstairs…. 🙂

  24. Al
    It wasnt against Giroud. But we are to panicky a.t.m.
    Now we have a 2nd goal, we should be sharpening up with the confidence.

  25. ?Mesut ozil…..he’s nicking a living!
    Mesut Ozil…..always taking not giving!?

  26. Ramsey had to get one, those sitters he missed might have been a little damaging for his confidence..

  27. Well done Arsenal. Some strange calls by the ref… Second in the league, while missing 10 first teamers.. not bad.

    Vardys run came to an end. Let’s hope the refs don’t feel compelled to help Leicester anymore (Although I’d very much like them to stay in the pl as their Stadium is only 22m from my house :)) as they should merit their position.

  28. Onward and upward, wasn’t the best performance but we finally have a win. Next Olympiacos and I hope we will get the same score line.

  29. Al,
    Your 2:06 pm post is a little loose on facts.

    Do you honestly believe that the O’ Neill tackle on Cazorla was malicious? To even suggest that O neil kicked Cazorla is a bit like suggesting the car crash was caused by the tree veering towards the car. (Btw I am not implying that Cazorla was the car either). It would also mean that the ‘kick’ came from the back of O neil’s leg or thigh.
    Distin raised a boot to Giroud’s shot? Please decide from the following link if that’s the case:
    http://www.caughtoffside.com/2014/08/27/gif-the-moment-arsenals-olivier-giroud-broke-his-ankle-when-the-ball-was-kicked-at-him/

    Of course, among the rest, the link between the “result” and each of the seven incidents is plausible and is definitely true in the case of Wilshere-McNair and Debuchy-Arnautovic. Beyond that, well….
    Walcott had an ACL injury and the ACL is a ligament in the knee- and that’s one whole leg away from his ankle.
    Mason stamped Ozil but he played against Galatasaray and Chelsea afterwards. Of course, the injury could possibly have been aggravated by the subsequent matches- but there is a good element of doubt there and that’s far from the certainty that your statement seemed to indicate.
    Bennett-Sanchez: That certainly was an act that should have been punished by the referee- but it is quite unclear if his lay-off was due to that.

    These three (Chiriches-Walcott, Mason-Ozil and Bennett-Sanchez) are examples of the “post hoc ergo propter hoc” fallacy. Simply put, just because A happened before B does not mean that A caused B. This is Wikipedia’s example:
    The rooster crows immediately before sunrise; therefore the rooster causes the sun to rise.

  30. Hrishi,

    If you do have a video of that kick from Chichires on Walcott you should look at it and look at hos his knee “folded” when he got kicked.

  31. Beside Arsenal to win the league title I don’t mind Leicester to win it. From relegation potential to league winning potential in a space of a season is amazing. Most people know they will fade away come second half of season but it is a funny season so far so who knows.

  32. Hrishi
    I reread my post again and nowhere did I use the word malicious. Where did u get that? Been listening to too much neville and caragher? They seem to be the ones who think a foul is only a foul if there was any malice in it. Even then they also seem to be able to somehow defy logic and be able to tell moments where there’s malice and others where there’s none…

    Anyway, my point is Santi was not aware of the player behind him, while O’Neil was fully aware of where Santi was. O’Neil goes in with his boot raised too high, even though he was the one who had a view of where the other player was. Santi did not do anything to cause, nor could he have done anything, to avoid the impact, but O’Neil could have avoided the clash by pulling out of the tackle as he was aware of where Santi was. It might have been a coming together, as I said already on a different thread, but if any player was aware of a potential clash it was O’Neil and not Santi. So if anyone is to blame, forget who was right or wrong, it’d have to be him. I also did say on another thread his boot was raised too high, and even though he was well within his rights to challenge for the ball, it could be deemed dangerous play.

    I don’t get your analogy of a car versus the tree; coz clearly one thing will always be stationary in that case. I’ll give you a question of mine though; if you’re a driver who sees another driver encroaching on your lane, perhaps because their brakes failed or something that’s not their fault, would you still say I’m going to hold my ground even if we crash as I’m right? Isn’t it logical to take evasive action so noone gets hurt? I’m not in any way suggesting Santi was to blame, just trying to say O’Neil was the one who could and should have pulled out of that clash. To punish Santi by awarding a free kick against him was rubbing salt into injury. O’Neil did not deserve to be awarded that freekick, on this planet or anywhere else.

    Regarding distin and Giroud, I might have described the moment incorrectly but there was definitely contact, however minimal, between the two players. Your link doesn’t show much. From a different angle you could see distin’s boot make contact.

    As for the other incidents, I am dumbfounded that you even try to defend them. Ok, let’s suppose Ozil suffered zero damage in that tackle by mason, are you suggesting that should not have been a freekick and some kind of caution against Mason? Ditto the stamp on Walcott by chiriches? I’m struggling to get your logic here.
    And while you can’t say whether the lay offs stemmed from those incidents, you can’t also dismiss them as not having caused those injuries.

  33. Al
    You could also add Wilsheres broken foot sustained whilst he was playing for England due to a high tackle from Liverpools Daniel Aggar. There were 5 Liverpool players playing for England that day and 1 Arsenal player, amazing it just happened to be Wilshere who was ‘done’ by Aggar.

  34. Serge
    And what exactly should I be convinced about? That the refs somehow issued invisible red cards against the offenders in the incidents I mention? If you say so, and cab find somewhere where those cards were logged, coz I didn’t see any issued when the incidents occurred, and I know we lost each player to a minimum of 3 months.

    Even if you take the maybe debatable Giroud and Santi incidents out of the 7 listed above, you are still left with 5 career threatening tackles or fouls that noone got punished for. Isn’t that too much for you? Just to clarify, are you an Arsenal supporter? Coz I might be arguing with a spud or fan of another team, of which there wouldn’t be much point. But I would be ashamed of myself if I called myself an Arsenal supporter, and thought everything was ok if 5 key members of my club were unfairly and illegally taken out of the game for long periods, and nothing was done to the offenders.

  35. Hrishi-nice boy serge likes you. The Giroud leg break was caused by contact with Distin’s boot. Not a deliberate block or tackle – just unfortunate. Your gif is bollocks!

    The push of Sanchez was malicious. The H/S injury was caused by a knee in the back of his thigh in the WBA game.

    Your finger is a whole body away from your brain yet it types from thought. The Walcott knee injury was because of a trapped foot causing the leg to twist awkwardly. I can refer you to a whole anatopmy lesson on how knee injuries occur. Diagnosis of injury cause is another matter.

    However, the planks that PGMO send to officiate must come from the same tree that caused your car crash.

  36. Walter,

    I can’t seem to find a clip of Chiriches kicking Walcott on the ankle. Whenever that happened, the event that caused the ACL is very likely to be his own missed tackle on Danny Rose. And there was no ankle trodding by Rose then. Walcott’s knee landed all wrong then. This is a very common cause of ACL tears among footballers.
    Yes, sudden impact on the ankle can cause ACL tears at times. But Chiriches’ kick, if it happened at all, was not the cause of Walcott’s ACL injury.
    But then again if it does not fit well with the idea of a referee conspiracy against Arsenal, why bother with the facts? Because, even if there is a conspiracy, bogus reasoning can only affect the credibility of any attempt to fight it.

  37. “How has hughes managed to bring players such as Bojan,affelay and shaqiri to stoke??”

    Al

    He paid the asking price.

    When Arsenal do this, they get Ozil and Sanchez.

    Also , so now it was a tackle that caused Cazorla injury.

    Do you even know what a tackle is?

    At this rate, Santi’s injury soon will be described as caused by a two footed, knee high, studs up lounge off the ball 🙂

  38. Al
    Yes it easy to leave some out.
    Like the Sagna broken leg when he was taken out by Assou-Ekotto whilst in mid air. And when Sagna came back it was re-broken by the thug Johnson who deliberately stamped on it whilst Sagna was flat on the ground. Both attacks were unpunished.

  39. I’ve called it a coming together, a clash, pulling out of a tackle… But only the word ‘tackle’ sticks in some people’s minds. Anyway, should we be debating the technicalities of which word means what, or what caused Santi’s injury here.

    Anyhow, what’s with you lot, that you fail to see how our players get taken out illegally season after season with no protection whatsoever from the refs? Anyway, in my initial post I wondered what sort of people could blame Wenger for injuries that arise out of incidents like these, now I have a pretty idea who such people may be.

  40. Mick
    Ahh… Now, that list could be very long. Hope someone finds the time to go through each longterm injury suffered by an Arsenal player in the last 5 to 10 yrs, noting who caused it, and what was done to the offender. I’m sure that’d be an interesting article.

  41. Al

    “You lot” ? 🙂

    Arsenal get more than their fair share of injuries from illegal challenges but to lump all injuries in the same category is not only short sided, but also counterproductive, if the end game for all Arsenal fans is to bring into focus the raw deal Arsenal get often times from the refs and opposition.

    You recite that list of Arsenal injuries and what caused them on any other pro Wenger blog , and chances are, you will get laughed at of town.

    On here , though , you are sure to get all the thumbs up 🙂

  42. I suppose you mean on any other “pro” Wenger blog such as le grove?

    And who was the ref in that Everton game btw, ordering a stricken Giroud off the pitch? Disgraceful.

  43. Al
    Arseblog or 7amkickoff are but two pro Wenger sites that remain positive without resorting to making things up.

  44. Al,
    Where do you get the idea that I am trying to defend Mason’s tackle on Ozil? Yes, I can’t conclusively prove that his subsequent injury was not because of the tackle and I said so myself in my earlier post. However, the fact that he played two games after that would mean that the burden of proof is on you to prove it happened because of the tackle.
    Distin and Giroud: The ball that he kicked met Giroud’s ankle quite early- and that is more likely to be the cause of the injury. Distin is to blame there- had he not kicked the ball, Giroud would not have been injured- but would you card him for that?
    Refer to my second post for Walcott-Chiriches.

    Car and tree: Yes, both Santi and O Neil were moving and in the case of the car and the tree, only the car is. The contact on the knee did not come from O Neil’s boot. Consider the ‘kick’ from O Neil’s perspective: why should he be blamed for Santi’s knee coming in contact with the back of his leg. And please do explain how it is O Neil’s responsibility alone to move out of the way.

    And no, Al, I am not the ‘sort’ which blames Wenger or his training methods or the Emirates pitch for all the injuries. Of course, cause and effect are funny things, if Mason’s tackle can be the cause for Ozil’s injury two games later, our injuries may well be because of one those three factors 😉 . But, to me, the burden of proof is on the people who are trying to claim it is because of them. Football being a contact sport will result in a lot of injuries. Some of them are deliberate on the part of the perpetrator and some are not. Your post put all those injuries in the same basket- when they were not. And that was my point of contention.
    I have been an Untold regular for the support that they give the manager and that you get to see aspects of the game not covered by the mainstream media. However, when it comes to the issue of the referees or the media, there seems to be a siege mentality among many people here- and I do not agree with that.
    As Tom suggested, being positive about the club and the manager, is not unique to Untold. And not a lot of them go with the same narratives.

  45. Tom
    If there’s a group that’ll laugh me out of town for calling for punishment for those who shoved players like Debuchy, Sanchez off the pitch or took Wilshere and Walcott out of the game for many months then I more than happy not to be part of that crowd.

    Hrishi,
    I need to let this rest. I did explain that out of the two O’Neil could see where Santi was and movement he was making, therefore he only could move to avoid the clash. I also didn’t realise that Santi’s knee connected with the back of O’Neils leg, maybe I have to view that again.

    Now, if you don’t mind, will you two please excuse me while I watch Gary neville’s chastising…

  46. Al – your comment is spot on. No cards for the guys who cause havoc in the Arsenal squad. They probably get a Brucie bonus for successfully taking out a good footballer.

  47. @Hrishi-nice boy serge

    There’s so much evidence in various archives and it’s clear you’ll not bother to look for it.
    But in case you’re willing, here’s a tip for tracking down Walcott’s injury:

    Facup Ars v Totty Jan 2014 Game time 54:00m
    This game is on the Arsenal Player (which doesn’t need to be signed into this weekend), and you can also find the full game via youtube).
    Then, prior to Theo’s attempt to tackle Rose, check what Rose does to Walcott at the other end of the pitch.

    Now, in view of the tone of stuff I see from you on here, you’ll either look up the tips I’ve given you – and concede (at least to Al) that you’ve missed the particular assaults on Theo

    OR

    You will expose yourself as being what I suspect you are!

  48. To suggest that all our injuries are a result of tackles,kicks an pushes is plain stupid just the same as when some people say its down to us having soft players.A lot of i think comes down to squad rotation or rather lack of it.If we had adequate back up players for cazorla and sanchez who could be rotated they might still be fit but playing them game after game when everyone can see what is going to happen is not right.Coquelan played game after game without a break because the replacements in Arteta and Flamini could not be used because they arent good enough.We dont want players to come in and be a back up and sit on the bench we want competion for places,this is what brings the best out of players.Watch Giroud now Walcott is back.He know that when he plays he has to be at his best or be on the bench.
    One or two quality players in january and we will have the best chance in years of winning the title,lets hope Wenger gets the additions we need and hopefully its not another Kallstrom.

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