By Walter Broeckx
Only a few changes to the starting XI for this match after the midweek match against PSG.
One of them being Cech back in goal and in attack we had Theo taking the place from The Ox who dropped to the bench. No place for Giroud who had a little problem that was mentioned by Wenger and I wonder if Wenger wasn’t too pleased with the double yellow card he got at PSG. But that is just my opinion and how I would react to getting send off in a rather stupid way.
Team at the start in full: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Cazorla, Coquelin, Walcott, Ozil, Iwobi, Alexis.
On the beach: Ospina, Holding, Gibbs, Elneny, Xhaka, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lucas.
A rather instable stream so lots of stops and go on my side of the cable and it looked liked that in the opening minutes on the field also like that. Neither team creating any clear cut chances. Cech racing out of his penalty area to clear a ball behind the Arsenal defence after 10 minutes was the first thing that looked a bit dangerous to me. Theo with a low pass to Alexis but he couldn’t keep his effort from around the penalty spot down and the ball flew over. No score and nothing real to mention from the opening 15 minutes.
My stream going down and when I found another one Arsenal was 0-1 in front! GOAL! Have yet to find out who scored and how. The match commentator probably saying who but my Russian isn’t that good to be honest…
Özil with a low cross to Theo but his shot was straight at the keeper. Arsenal in control and then a blurred replay showing that Theo first hit the keeper with a shot-cross and then Iwobi turning the ball in for Arsenal for the first goal. Another great attack on the right flank this time with a low cross to Iwobi but a great save from the keeper and Özil misses the rebound and shoots over. A clash of heads between Mustafi and a Hull player results in a short stoppage but both players can continue with half an hour played.
Cazorla getting in the book for a needless challenge on the side line in the Hull half. No need to go in like that over there. Hull with a dangerous looking attack that ends with a low shot from Snoddgrass but Cech can stop the ball in two times. Hull looking a bit more going forward now. Theo with a low ball to Coquelin whose shot was going in but Livermore stuck out his hand and Arsenal got the penalty and Livermore a red card. Alexis with a low shot but the keeper saved it. Why not Santi people will ask. So do I to be honest. But then again Alexis won a Coppa America with taking the ultimate penalty for Chili so he knows how to take one.
From the resulting corner Arsenal almost score but the keeper again with a great save and then in the follow up another shot from Iwobi is blocked. Very open play in the last minutes but Alexis just couldn’t beat the last defender after Hull got a corner. Cazorla then being punished after playing the ball and a Hull player running up against him… the Hull crowd even calling for a yellow card… not much people who know the laws in the crowd. 0-1 for Arsenal at half time but it should have been more.
Mustafie with an excellent tackle winning the ball back when Hull looked to be able to break as Arsenal was a bit caught in two minds it looked: go full for the second goal or stay calm and composed. Some wasteful passing in attack when in promising position but then finally a good ball. Walcott getting the ball in the middle playing the ball to Iwobi who backheeled it to Theo who lobbed it past the keeper. GOAL! 0-2 to The Arsenal after 55 minutes. A defender was on the ball when it went over the line but it would have gone in anyway so I give the goal to Theo. It will probably go down as an own goal from Maguire for the PL but who cares. But what a backheel pass from Iwobi…
Cazorla with a low shot but he dragged it wide. Theo almost feeding it to Özil on the break but a Hull defender could get in the way. Hull with a dangerous attack then but Mustafi with a good clearing header. Then Hull got a free kick when Maguire just fell over but luckily the wall blocked the ref’s present and in the follow up they hit the crossbar but being meters offside.
After 65 minutes the already booked Santi left the field and Xhaka came on. Arsenal playing the ball around but a bit too careless and losing it on the halfway line and almost gifting Hull with a lifeline. Lucky Kos could make up for his earlier error. But for the rest it was Arsenal keeping the ball around the Hull penalty area. Iwobi to Özil but his shot was blocked by a Hull defender and then Theo in the follow up but over. Arsenal still 0-2 up going in to the final 15 minutes.
Özil with a fine ball to Theo but the angle was too difficult for a lob and the ball went over. After 76 minutes Iwobi went off and Elneny came on. Mbokani who had just came on went over Cech and the ref pointed to the penalty spot. He didn’t get to the ball so I can live with that decision. Hull scored from the penalty kick. 1-2 after 79 minutes.
Sanchez then won the ball back for Arsenal, gave it to Theo who tried to beat the keeper but the keeper parried his effort but Alexis had followed up the attack and smashed the ball in under the crossbar. GOAL!! 1-3 to The Arsenal after 83 minutes.
Hull tried to do something back but Monreal cleared the cross well. Alexis at the other end with a low shot but a good save from the keeper. Cech had to be attentive on a low cross but smothered the ball well. Coquelin at the other end with a wild shot with his left foot that ended up in the stands. Lucas Perez came on with a few minutes to go for Walcott.
And right when I started to type my final conclusion of the match Xhaka got the ball halfway the Hull half, wasn’t attacked and from some 25 meters out he blasted it in right under the crossbar! GOAL!!! And what a goal! 1-4 to the Arsenal after 92 minutes.
That was the final moment and what a great moment it was of the match. Arsenal won but should have won it by a bigger margin if Alexis would have scored his penalty to make it 0-2 in the first half. Now we just played the ball around and waited for the chances and kept our composure to prevent a Hull counter. In the end a good win after a tricky away tie in the Champions League in midweek against a team that had the same number of points as Arsenal had before kick off.
Xhaka can boom Xhaka lala..
Welcome back Walter. Find any good sausage on vacation? There could be wurst ways to come back from vacation?
Walter,
The first goal was scored by a combination of Iwobi who’s shot was going in ans Alexis who got a toe on it. Assist given to Iwobi and goal to Alexis.
Thanks Walter.
Congratulations to the Arsenal family worldwide.
The most cohesive performance of the season so far.
Not getting carried away. I appreciate it was Hull away with 10 men for a lot of the match, but even before that we where playing very well.
Then we basically strolled to a 4 – 1 win.
Have to agree about Iwobi, he really does look the real deal. But hey, he didn’t cost a Kings ransom so that cant be true.
The Arsenal is now armed and awake. Good game boys. Let us keep it going at the next Chelsea test.
@Jambug
Yep. Like I wrote after his backheel assist, he was some 30 million pounds purchase, wasn’t he? 😉
The Arsenal is armed and awake. Good game boys and keep your feet on the gas pedal for the Chelsea test next week.
Welcome back Walter !
Top game today could have been easily 6 or 7 goals today, but still very goood.
And as for the media and people who are complaining about Arsenal getting too many penalties let me remind every one of them that EVERY SINGLE one of the 4 penalties we have got so far this season has been a crystal clear penalty.
And also as for the people that laugh at our review of last season that Arsenal should have been awarded 26-30 penalties last season. I will make a video including every single one that we were denied last season, not now but soon enough in the coming months. Us getting a CORRECT penalty nearly every game so far backs up our review of penalties last season.
Finally… “Let’s get to the Tooooopp!!!” 😀
Yes Jambug. I agree with you about Iwobi but now that we agree, we can discountenance the aaa blogists and journalists.
The thing that struck me immediately was the speed at which we passed the ball. That was key in opening up the passes up the middle. Walcott’s crosses were generally pretty good. He got his head up and was looking for Alexis in front of the Hull defence. I love that Xhaka is unafraid to have a go from distance from time to time. This will force other teams to respect his shot and come out toward him. This will open up space in the middle both in front and behind the defence. This was a well played match…Up the Guns!
It may only be Hull but the media darlings Manure only scraped a win there in injury time and were lauded as potential champions.
Welcome back Walter. Hope you had a great holiday & refreshed your batteries.
It is a wonderful result to restart your reports.
Josif
Indeed you did.
graham
Yes they did. Not only that but I understand they celebrated as if they’d won the title.
I hope the pundits took the piss out of them for that as they surely would of us had we acted in a similar fashion.
Let’s not get too excited about being awarded penalties. I say this for many reasons. 1. Man IOU don’t seem to concede penalties at home even if they hack a man down in the box. 2. Chelski can earn penalties at will, thanks to the expert coaching of Maureen. They fall down and follow it up with a triple salko every time they come in to contact with an opponent. 3. If an Arsenal player gets fouled in the opponents penalty area and a certain referee is officiating, they won’t get the spot-kick. However, if the opposing attacker man-handles one of the Arsenal players in their penalty area, they will be guaranteed a penalty. Oh and Arsenal will be guaranteed a red card to a bemused player who has just been fouled.
However, the referee in question usually gets the big Arsenal games ( Chelski, Man IOU and Nanchester Airport. So he can say he is not biased, it’s just that Arsenal don’t do very well against these teams (when the head if Faculty is officiating).
Hopefully one day we can have an honest competition.
Usama, was the Hull penalty clear cut as well?
Andy Mack,
Not completely sure, but Cech missed the ball and his momentum brought down Mbokani. I don’t know for sure whether Mbokani got to the ball before Cech or he missed the ball himself completely. But looking at it at live with first replay… Penalty.
Julianm,
Well its nice to see correct decisions going our way… but the we have not yet faced the worst refs in EPL possible (Taylor, Dean, Atkinson, Moss) and given their dark history against us, we can only hope for the best for Arsenal.
Usama and Andy,
I was listening to the game on the Arsenal player (no picture). The commentators said that East initially waved away the penalty but gave it a few moments later when, presumably, one of the other officials had a word in his ear. The commentators also said that they thought it was a penalty. Cech came but didn’t get the ball. There was contact with Mbokani. It sounded like a foul but not serious foul play so the yellow card and penalty were the right decisions.
Andrew,
Yes the ref initially waved no penalty but 5-6 seconds later he changed his decision. There has been rule changes at the start of the season by the IFAB, that includes a change about refs changing deicision.
05.2 Page 111
“The referee may not change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or on the advice of another match official if play has restarted or the referee has signalled the end of the first or second half (including extra time) and left the field of play or terminated the match. ”
I will look at that minute in the match and comment later.
Good win against a weak and later on depleted side.
Xhaka goal, priceless, and Alexis could have given it(that goal) to Iwobi. 🙂
Another 3 points.
Just can’t understand why some people just want to be miserable no matter what is happening around them. How can so called Arsenal fans moan despite the comfortable win. Yes, the final score was not 10 – nil but this is not rugby or cricket.
Some fans in you know site can’t help themselves into finding something wrong with the performance and calling out players to blame. Even the daily mail could not help themselves and continue to troll Arsenal with this article claiming “Wenger’s men are flat-track bullies.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3794279/Arsenal-cruise-emphatic-4-1-victory-Hull-Arsene-Wenger-s-pick-consecutive-Premier-League-win.html
ok, just seen that penalty incident again… the ref waved no penalty…. the ball was still in play….there was no restart of play (as in freekick, goal kick, offside, throw-in)…. the ref took 3-4 seconds and changed the decision…. Hence with the new rule mentioned in my comment above, the ref made the correct decision to change his decision.
Some miscellaneous statistics (only 1, got to run):
Walcott gets his 100th career goal
—
The person at Arsenal.com needs to find a different word. Polls are not a good description.
The Hull penalty should not have even been considered if the assistant realised that Mbokani was offside when the ball was played forward. The ball was played sideways & the player runs into the Goalkeeper. This seems to be happening often & seems to be unsporting & cheating the officials. If the player does not follow the ball, there should be a foul against the player that runs into the ‘Keeper. Deliberately running into an opponent is a foul.
Getting a bite to eat.
After the Champion’s League game, it was difficult to find media articles at Google News other than UK or a couple of USA sites. Today, I am seeing news from NZ, India, …. I had read the interview stuff at Arsenal.com from Wenger, and now I am looking at other news. First one I see, the supposed quote at the media site, is different from what was written at Arsenal.com. And the difference gives a difference in meaning. Why do that? Why twist something that should be a public record?
Just watched motd guess what they only showed two Arsenal goals and the Hull goal in the summary.
No Xhaka goal or Sanchez’s oh and according the them the ref had a bad game.
The commentator on Hendersons goal for Liverpool should see Xhaka’s goal. The superlatives would need to be doubled.
@Nonny We can only beat who is in front of us. The Daily Mail calling us flat track bullies doesn’t bother me. I would rather them doubt us now and have us prove them wrong in the long run than have them go bipolar and go over the top the other way. The truth is we had a bit of a dodgy outing against Liverpool and only drew against Leicester and have been on the up since then. We will learn more about our squad in 6 days against Chelsea.
Finally watched the entire game and here are my impressions:
1) Wenger has setup his team to play opponents using the parked bus style and it focuses on patience, rapid movement in the last third of the opponent’s end and a mix of short and medium range shots.
2) Cazorla was off his game a bit today but Coquelin was harassing the Hull players and made a big difference in midfield.
3) Iwobi has a real talent but needs to up his defensive game a bit as he gets lost in thought on occasion and forgets to cover defensively…… but when he’s on, he’s really on.
4) Cech and Ospina are among the two best keepers in the league.
5) The ref had a strange game today, being very forgiving, especially to Cazorla and giving the Hull penalty on the advice of his assistant, despite him being closer to the event.
6) Hull exploited some issues down the right side with Monreal and Iwobi being out of sync a few times. This has to be worked on sooner than later.
7) Wenger has his two fullbacks playing like wingers and this exposes a lot of space for opponents who can counterattack quickly and effectively but it also offers AFC numerical superiority in the opponent’s half..
8) Mustafi is the real thing and works very well with Kos, but you can clearly see that they need to improve their collaboration even further. There were a few long balls that Hull tried that caused us some worries but other than that the defensive pairing was nice to watch.
9) IF Lucas ever rises to the level of Alexis, we can expect a fantastic attack with Giroud, Welbeck, Iwobi and Ozil adding steel and precision to a deadly forward line. Walcott looked very good today despite losing possession a few times.
10) Xhaka is a player who is unpredictable but offers great variety and is dangerous in the opponent’s half. El Neny is a very solid performer and never slacks off, just like Xhaka.
11) Where is Ramsey going to fit in when he returns in a week or so?
In accordance with a generally valid principle, criticism from the Daily Mail is preferable to approval from that source.
Only watched the second half of the game , and other than that penalty , Hull were not in it at all . Probably should have scored more , but am not complaining .
And welcome back Walter .
WOO HOO , HOO !
Up the Gunners !
I was discussing with a fellow gunner during the game and it occurred to us that Ramsey is not even missed in the team. The Squad is so packed with options currently that only a few players will be missed if injured or rested.
Arsenal can play so many options now in midfield and attack that it keeps the opposition guessing how the team will be set up. In the last few matches, even the fans can not predict accurately the starting 11.
As a side issue, I would expect Arsene to have a quiet word with Alexis about his usurpation of Santi as penalty taker.
It mustn’t happen again. 😉
Belated congratulations to Blacksheep, I was out of town yesterday and missed the match and also Bulldog’s report.
I have not sen the match yet – looking forward to it!
omgarsenal
You make some great points and I’d like to comment on a couple.
1) Wenger has setup his team to play opponents using the parked bus style and it focuses on patience, rapid movement in the last third of the opponent’s end and a mix of short and medium range shots.
-Spot on. This is exactly how possession football has to be played. The key, as you say, is ‘rapid movement in the last third of the opponent’s end and a mix of short and medium range shots.’ It’s no good just pass pass pass, getting to the box and failing to get some kind of effort off at goal, or at least creating a chance/half chance.
Just recycling it again and again then losing possession gets you nowhere. Moving our football from this to the later is the key to our season and it will come with time as the team get going and get to know each other better.
If we can do this against Chelsea next week it will be a big step forward for the team and will I’m sure get us a win.
5) The ref had a strange game today, being very forgiving, especially to Cazorla and giving the Hull penalty on the advice of his assistant, despite him being closer to the event.
-In respect to how we are used to being refereed, yes the ref was forgiving towards Cazorla, but was he in reality ? I’m not so sure. I think a second Yellow for either of the 2 incidents following the yellow would of been very very harsh. There is of course the possibility of a yellow for persistent fouling but he correctly got punished with a yellow for his first foul so do the 2 more minor fouls constitute ‘persistent fouling’ ? I didn’t think so but someone may know different.
8) Mustafi is the real thing and works very well with Kos, but you can clearly see that they need to improve their collaboration even further. There were a few long balls that Hull tried that caused us some worries but other than that the defensive pairing was nice to watch.
-I thought that too. My favourite Defensive pairing of all time was Keown and Adams. They had an almost telepathic relationship. The key I think was how one attacked the ball, whilst the other watched and anticipated the flick, if indeed it came, and covered the player/space accordingly. As simple as this sounds, it can go wrong, and if you do get it wrong, as our current pairing still do on occasion, it can be a disaster.
Against the likes of Hull you may get away with it as often as not. We even got away with it at PSG thanks to some woeful finishing, but against the likes of Costa next week and some of the other deadly strikers we are yet to face, not getting it right could be very costly. BUT, as you rightly say, the signs are very much there that these 2 are gradually, and lets not forget it is very early days in there relationship, getting it together.
Nonny
“Even the daily mail could not help themselves and continue to troll Arsenal with this article claiming “Wenger’s men are flat-track bullies.”
This is absolute bulls shit and whoever wrote it knows that.
It’s just another case of the ‘Truths and Myths’ that was recently debated here on UA, that are relentlessly peddled by the media in order to create an alternative reality.
The alternative reality they create gives them latitude to continue there relentless criticism of Arsenal no matter what, and in doing this they deliberately feed into the aaa’s agenda of discrediting anything Arsenal and Wenger do.
This is the reality of the last 2 seasons against the ‘big boys’
First off, who are the ‘big boys’?
Obviously we have to include Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea.
Then just outside the top 4 we usually have Liverpool and Spurs.
And because of last year we have to include Leicester City.
So what do we have. Well that’s 24 games Home and Away.
Our record is.
Man City 2 wins 2 draws.
Man Utd 1 win 1 draw 2 loses
So a combined effort against 2 of the top 3 we have:
3 wins 3 draws and just 2 losses.
Hardly what you’d expect from ‘flat track bullies’ I would suggest.
Then unfortunately, and given the up und coming fixture, I would say worryingly, we have our Nemesis Chelsea.
The last 2 seasons do not read well, but as we all know we have had some officiating anomalies in these fixtures which have lead to us ending up playing them on a 10 v 11 basis on more than one occasion. Anyway these are the uninspiring statistics from the 4 meetings.
Chelsea Drawn 1, lost 3.
Then as a whole the other 4 read:
Played 12, won 4, drew 7, lost 1.
Again, although not particular spectacular with regards to wins, they are hardly the statistics you would expect from a flat track bully are they.
So overall against the top sides I’ve cited that’s:
Played 24, Won 7, Drew 11 and lost just 6.
Also in the last 2 years we have met each of the top 3 in what are now the NON Trophies, namely the FA Cup and Charity Shield, and won all three, so really the final figure for our flat track bullies regarding the 3 biggest Clubs in the Country, nay World is:
Played 15
Won 6
Drew 5
Lost 4
and against all the top teams mentioned:
Played 27
Won 10
Drew 11
Lost 6
Flat track bullies? What an absolute crock.
In fact, as I think most of you will agree, our Achilles heel these last few years has been the complete opposite, in so much as it’s been our inability to break down the ‘bus parkers’ that has cost us dear.
Still why bother with research, or them pesky facts and figures, when you can just trot out the same old rubbish day after day, especially when you have the numbskull aaa types lapping it up like titty milk. (That’s one for the much missed, at least by myself and Mrs Jambug, BILL FROM MANAHATTEN. Where are you Bill?).
‘Truths and Myths’ indeed.
Nonny
“Arsenal can play so many options now in midfield and attack that it keeps the opposition guessing how the team will be set up. In the last few matches, even the fans can not predict accurately the starting 11.”
Very true.
Also no Welbeck, BFG or Gabriel as well.
As I and a few others have said, this is easily the best Arsenal SQUAD I have ever witnessed, even in Wengers reign.
It’s not the best starting 11 no matter who we play, at least not yet. But in all honesty that is a tough ask, but you never know.
PS. UA, why is my last post in moderation?
Out of ‘moderation’ Thanks lads.
@ omg,
‘Hull exploited some issues down the right side with Monreal and Iwobi being out of sync a few times. This has to be worked on sooner than later.’
Totally agree, I see many of the opponents attacks have been on Monreal’s side in the past few games, and they have breached the defense. Need to fix it.
Jambug/Nonny
I too read that Mail “flat track bullies’ article and in scanning the comments below it came across this gem: “Mike Keegan….are you Adrian Durham in disguise?”
Looks like they’ve got their Durham replacement at last.
Watching watford vs Manu and watford missed a sitter within 17 minutes. They had a few clear scoring opportunities, come on Watford.
Leon
RE: Durham
Can I take it from your comment that Durham no longer spews his bile at the Mail ?
I stopped listening to him on the radio many years ago. I always suspected, no that’s wrong, I always knew that his warped, obsessive, anti Arsenal views where never as universally embraced as the selected fawning guests and filtered phone-ins would have us believe. Basically we where supposed to believe that everyone was 100 % behind his anti Arsenal rantings and if you wasn’t you got pretty short shrift and a mouthful of insults.
So with that in mind, when he first went to the Mail I thought I’d see if this accord continued in the comments.
Did he hell, even with the filtering that I have no doubt goes on there it was unusual if 10% of the posts agreed with anything he said.
Now I know he’s ‘click bait’ and as such it’s his job to be contentious. I don’t necessarily have an issue with ‘contentious’ per say, what I do have an issue with is lies, bias and agenda driven commentary against individuals and teams, and what we get from him at Talkshite is bucket loads of all 3.
What his time at the Mail proved is just how ‘manipulated’ his out put at Talkshite, and the reaction to it is.
But alas, even if he has gone it seems it hasn’t taken the Mail long to replace him.
Moderation again.
Is it just me or is there a problem this morning ?
Not that I’m ‘paranoid’ or anything of course.
Jambug – I am not sure why you are in moderation – I’ve been away so not sure what the issue is but I will have a look.
Very annoying that Match of the Day failed to show Xhaka’s great goal in the pundits’ run down. They’ll probably somehow manage to keep it out of Goal of the Month as well.
Does anybody else get the feeling that someone has had a word with the English refs this season? From superficial observation I would say so far the refereeing is nearer to the rules of the game than it once was.
Tony
Thanks. I’m not in it for long so no real issue, it just seemed a bit odd.
Very embarrassing on this site as hardly any regular posters ever go to games. Perhaps you could do a survey to see who has seen Arsenal and how many times. I first watched them in 1963 and regularly upto the move as I also moved at the same time. Still get to some away games but would be good to hear of fans who actually go to the games. Reportage via streaming is plain boring. As McCluhan once said ‘the medium is the message …’
Pat
Yep, I have to agree regarding the referees.
Although we have had a couple, I don’t think we are getting many blatant decisions that we shouldn’t.
Conversely I don’t think there has been many blatant mistakes made against us either.
As you say, on a superficial level, just watching casually, it feels like we are getting a much fairer deal with the big calls.
But I think the big thing is the 50 50’s. To me, we seem definitely to be getting our 50% of those, which makes a huge huge difference.
Lets not forget though that this isn’t bias in our favour. This isn’t something we shouldn’t expect every single time we enter the field of play.
It’s a sad indictment of what has been going on that we sort of see this ‘fairness’ as something to celebrate.
The question now is, will it continue.
I suppose our next game will be a real litmus test as to whether perhaps things really have changed or this, what we are seeing at the moment, is just an anomaly ?
All we can do is keep our fingers crossed and wait and see.
engram
Can I suggest YOU tell us which posters go to matches and which don’t as the embarrassing, ignorant nature of our posts would surely give us away.
NB: I say we, because I have attested on many occasions that I cant attend many matches for personal reasons, not that it’s any business of yours, and by definition that obviously makes my views worthless ramblings in your opinion.
Oh well, I cant please everyone I suppose.
engram
As confucius once said:
‘Disciples who philosophise that attending matches makes them wiser men must suffer the pain of there own misguided wisdom’
Or something like that.
Hahahahahahaha….hose and his untidy
Watford 3 Manu 1 and the media saying Manu going to win the league.
Wow! Watford 3: Man Utd 1.
Jambug
Haven’t seen Durham in the Mail for months. Like you say, clickbait.
I think the Mail genuinely hates Arsenal, while the Guardian likes us and even gets a bit affectionate towards Wenger sometimes, but sees us as underachivers. Got no problems with then to be honest.
‘with them……
Watford 3 – 1 Man Utd
Our performance at Watford doesn’t look too shabby now does it?
Given Liverpools performances since our defeat against them, especially given the team we had to put out, doesn’t look quite so bad now does it.
Given how Leicester have picked up, a draw up there is going to end up looking a decent result.
Given Hull haven’t started too shabbily either, yesterdays result is at the very lest decent.
Southampton are a good side and will be at least top 10. Beating them whilst not at our best is something I’d take any day of the week.
Similarly a draw at PSG, irrespective of the performance, is a top result.
3rd in the table (at least for a while). A good result away in the CL. Only in Arsenal land would there be certain factions calling for the managers head.
Laughable. Simply laughable.
Scholes
Talking about whinging Maureen.
“I’m sure if he can bring the right players in he will get it right”
Exactly how much money does this ‘genius’ need to put a boring team together.
I don’t know why he doesn’t just buy himself a ‘Routemaster’ and be done with it !
engram – you embarrassed? I think you are shameless coming to this site & criticising our regulars. You are welcome to depart to more comfortable blogs anytime.
Watford 3 & Jose 1, with all his best midfield player & expenditure taking Man U into the red (financial loss). United will realise their mistake paying an idiot a fortune to manage a club with a dope in the 10 shirt. I just love reality biting pride in the arse.
Hahahahahahahaha…
Some one spent 160 million to whine…
3-1 ? Three losses in a row ? Losing after spending a fucking ton of money and also on the world’s most expansive player ?
Well , well ….well , this is sacking the clueless manager talk !
Just catching up with all things Untold after a busy couple of days, but congratulations to Blacksheep …..and the team.
Still not at our very best but starting to get there after a difficult start. Some decent performances yesterday and a good result. Iwobi really is developing into something. But of course the moaners still look for something to be unhappy about.
As for Utd, Untolders of all people know not to write a team off after so few games, and the same applies to Utd…..but an amusing week, and hopefully, the sickening media hype over Utd and their team will abate a little. Some have stated ” Utd smashed the transfer window” the jury is still out on that one….clearly some decent players, but let’s wait and see if the manager can get the best out of them, especially those with mates in the Chelsea dressing room.
@Jambug
Paul Scholes made a comment a few days ago that should be put in every textbook used in football academies in England so that coaches who want to become managers in England one day know why English football has sucked in the last two decades.
Scholes – who was an over-rated player and extremely over-rated pundit – said something like: “Paul Pogba needs Kroos/Modrić to get the best out of him.”
Now, take a look at that statement and you will see everything that is wrong with English football:
A former player – which other recent statements indicate he is not happy with the fact his club Manchester United haven’t offered him a job yet – is paid to make a decent analysis of current affairs in his former club but his best response is they need to buy a 50 million pound midfielder to complement an 89 million pound one.
He makes a statement that is as shallow as Thierry Henry’s “Arsenal need a WC goalkeeper, a WC defender, a WC midfielder and a WC striker to win the league” statement in 2015.
Nobody from the media or from the football world comes out and say: “You idiot, that’s something ANYONE can suggest. You are supposed to give a more intelligent answer!”
I used a word “shallow” and I don’t think that The Fair of Shallowness also known as the English football will change any time soon.
We know the so called “big” teams will fight to beat Arsenal, so we should make sure of winning all the so called “lesser” games while being well prepared and not being too over-confident.
Nicky:
AW did say he was “surprised when he saw Alexis taking it(penalty), and he said he will have to speak to them” or something along those lines.
Jambug:
Looks like Untold has made them(refs) take a look at their performances.
I am surprised at many of the decisions for Arsenal already with only a few games into the season. We know that many of them(decidions) in the last seasons will not have benefitted Arsenal, so lets wish it continues.
So the cup with changing names has arrived. Hope the youth get a bigger run out in those games. It would be nice for them to win it, while the others take PL and CL 🙂