By Tony Attwood, sitting by the swimming pool in Spain, as the rain patters down
Watching Sky’s overseas service (Bein Sports) with the awful Richard Keys and Andy Grey is a very dispiriting experience. They as their independent commentator in the studio Clive Allen – obviously a very balanced middle of the road man when it comes to commentary on Arsenal.
Arsenal will, it seems, never change ever. That’s really all you need to know.
Cech
Debuchy Mustafi Koscielny Monreal
Elneny Xhaka
Walcott Ozil The Ox
Alexis
Beached
Oooooooooooooospina,
Gibbs Gabriel Coquelin, Ramsey, Iwobi, Giroud
A lot of TV chat about how wonderful it is to see an English manager in the league – Bein Sports TV channel doing its bit for narrow nationalistic tendencies of some Brits who have chosen to live overseas.
The Telegraph gave Arsenal a 5-0 win before the game. We shall see. Sky saying this is the absolute key game. They have to win this one. Otherwise that’s it.
Arsenal attacking the Clock End and we’re off. Ten seconds in, and Bournemouth commit a nasty foul on the back of Kos. Lovely 1-2 with Debuchy, great move with Ozil nearly scoring in the first minute.
Bournemouth attacking but as soon as Arsenal get the ball there are more fouls, all excused by the Sky commentators including dreadful foul on Alexis. “These Arsenal fans want to be entertained” says some prat.
Writing this as the match goes on I have never realised what gibberish there is on TV during commentaries. This commentary is Bournemouth all the way.
Yet another and another foul, finally a dreadful crude foul on the Ox as he was cutting in and at last a yellow card. Brilliant tactic of leaving the ball, gets the ball to Elneny but the shot is blocked. And suddenly the TV channel picks up Mad Maria with her one woman chant. I’d forgotten about her.
10 minutes and it is all Arsenal. Bournemouth’s contributions mostly illegal. Walcott through after a 1-2 but the spin of the ball stops him but as the keeper bowls the ball out the defenders gives it back a bit short and Alexis gets it puts it perfectly under the keeper . GOAL.
From the kick off it is all Arsenal still. TV says “nightmare for Eddie Howe” but it is anything but. Alexis brought down in the area and the ref says nothing – in terms of refereeing it is all going Bournemouth’s way. TV replay of Alexis shows two fouls against him at once.
Debuchy down with a hamstring and he goes up after 15 minutes, Gabriel on. And it is raining again and I have to move back under cover for the sake of the computer. Bournemouth now having an attack, the ball goes out for a corner and Sky says it “canons round dangerously” which is wildly misleading gibberish of the first order.
Another superb attack involving Theo (who TV tells me has become a father for the second time), but an offside stops it.
Bournemouth has a corner. Much enthusiasm. Talk of an equaliser but after another foul and another foul a Bournemouth attack gets a penalty. Bournemouth get their first league goal against Arsenal. Sky goes bonkers.
Instantly from kick off Bournemouth get ball and ref gives a free kick to Bournemouth. “The goal has rattled Arsenal”. Alan Smith gets a free header, on TV it looks offside, but it sails harmlessly over the goal.
Ake fouls yet again to give Arsenal a free kick just outside the area but it comes to nothing. Even with the censored sound recording we can hear that the crowd is quite clear that the referee has the most limited grasp on reality when it comes to football. Sky says Bournemouth now has total control of the game. Oh blimey, amazing, Sky has now said that they understand Arsenal’s frustration about the penalty.
Ref gives a lecture to Koscielny, probably saying “look the match is fixed, you know it, I know it, but if you keep on protesting I’ll send all of you us.”
Another Arsenal attack, Xhaka getting involved on the left. From the TV pics it looks as if Ozil needs to find a way into the game – but of course TV often doesn’t give the full picture. But they are now saying Bournemouth should be ahead. They certainly are on dubious decisions.
Another Arsenal attack breaks down for Arsenal but they get the ball back immediately.
35 minutes gone and Arsenal look as if they are trying to find a way to beat the referee and Bournemouth at the same time, and it is tricky. Bournemouth looking very confident, as so they should.
Arsenal breaking and get the ball into the area but Alexis loses the ball, Elneny gets it back but the ball goes over. The Ox on the wing, the ball bounces around Alexis to Ozil who knocks it down and Alexis gets it back and shoots just over.
Arsenal now attacking and attacking, just won’t work. But now as the first half comes to the last five minutes Arsenal have been in the ascendancy. Then amazing moment, ref gives a foul against Bournemouth and the crowd gives a huge cheer, but TV has to ignore it of course.
Yet another Arsenal attack, Gabriel and Walcott and Alexis it goes for a corner. Arsenal all attack. Bounemouth break Arsenal get it back and another foul this from Smith. That must be foul number 8,947 by them this match. Ozil a wonderful disguised pas to Walcott and it goes out off a Bournemouth player and TV denies reality.
Awful awful foul by Bournemouth defender but ref just gives a free kick. If you want to see biased and bent refereeing just watch that moment just before half time.
Alexis across the pitch to Elneny. Another multiple player move ends with a sensational Alexis shot which hits the bar with great force. All Arsenal now but Arsenal really holding back for fear of what the ref might do. Huge levels of booing from crowd as ref goes off for half time.
The co-commentator is Jim Beglin – I wondered who it was. Into the second half now, Arsenal attacking the north bank. Theo immediately fouled, so second half starts as the first. Free kick for Arsenal but Ozil’s kick goes through and out.
Bournemouth get a curious looking corner but Arsenal break away. Now the commentary is all about other matches commentators have seen. All Arsenal for the moment in the early moments of second half. Arsenal have clearly been lectured on the referee by Mr Wenger, not going for tackles. Giroud warming up on 51 minutes.
Bournemouth fighting back now on the break but it is mostly Arsenal, with Ozil getting more of the ball, and eventually it goes to Monreal who passes to Theo who heads it in and dedicates the goal to his new baby. GOAL.
Sky suggesting Arsenal only ahead because Bournemouth have not taken opportunities – presumably those given by the ref.
Wonderful cross by the Ox, but no one there to take the ball. Crowd making more noise. I hope you are using my seat to good effect Walter.
Beautiful pass pass pass pass from Arsenal in their own half allows Arsenal to build another attack. Bournemouth get the ball back but are kept in their own half and they are more and more using the long ball tactic. The Ox looks to be a little tired; Bournemouth get the ball back and get a corner. Arsenal break but the Ox’s centre isn’t good. Mr Wenger looks annoyed.
Xhaka: a perfect pass to Alexis to Ozil, almost a goal. That is what we know Xhaka can do – a great sign for the future. Now Arsenal again, Ox shoots and is blocked but ref helps Bournemouth by giving a free kick. Alexis gets a yellow after a tackle on Arter – that is right for once, and Alexis doesn’t protest. A forward’s tackle.
Just seen a replay of the second goal – Monreal brilliant in his pass for the goal.
Benik Afobe on for Bournemouth. Wonderful from Sky, “a bit of psychology there”. So what bit of life is not psychology? We think, we behave. It is psychology.
Arsenal back in the game, thr0ugh hard work and the awareness that they are playing 12. Bournemouth clearances not getting out of their own half. Arsenal slowing the game down. Mr Wenger has a frown. Bournemouth attacking, but Gabriel brilliant as has Kos been throughout.
Crowd keeping the noise up, Gabriel excellent again. Bournemouth forced back to the keeper from the half way line. Everyone pushing forwards. Monreal playing a superb game but then Xhaka takes a shot and it goes horribly wild. Maybe that will stop people shouting SHOOT every time he gets the ball. Bournemouth player down injured.
Kos yet another fine interception but Bournemouth get a corner. Arsenal clear, Walcott has a chance after a pass from Ozil but it goes astray. Bournemouth claim a handball for a hand in the natural position and ref actually gives Bournemouth a card for dissent. Seems to say “I have given you every chance and you have blown it you can’t have that.”
As suggested the Ox is going off and Giroud and Ramsey are on. Theo off. Can’t see who else went off, sorry. Bournemouth straight on the attack, corner, and Cechj a brilliant save from Afobe.
Arsenal pushing forwards again but Bournemouth keep trying the counter mixed with horrible fouls, but it is Elneny who is punished but defence is strong. And at last a Bournemouth yellow for Brad Smith as Ozil is utterly and totally taken out. Appalling, disgraceful, disgusting. Smith wisely removed by his manager.
Arsenal continuing to attack with under 10 minutes to go. Alexis on the wing now onto Giroud who of course is pulled all over the place and of course nothing is given. Bournemouth have nothing to lose so throw everything through but defence is solid. In Spain it is cold and wet. In London the crowd is making the point about Bournemouth’s approach to this game.
Mustafi brilliant in clearing. Ozil full of life and Alexis and Ozil looking bright. Ball down other end and Alexis turns up tackling to break up attack.
Bournemouth resorting to shirt pulling at every chance. Arsenal playing it cool, taking their time, and Giroud almost gets his statutory goal. Arsenal attack and attack, Ramsey nearly gets there but it goes for a corner. It is all Arsenal and Gosling is yellow carded for another awful awful foul. Five yellows for Bournemouth, should have been far far more.
Ozil free kick, another attack breaks down. Lots of what radio reporters used to call argy bargy.
Bournemouth try to push forwards but again Arsenal intercept and try a quick counter. Bournemouth try one attack, the final header goes about five yards wide. Bournemouth then break again, it is still frantic. Arsenal break on the counter and yes yes yes yes it is all over. The attack starts in the Arsenal half and Giroud provides the last pass for Alexis to get his second. All the disgraceful fouling in the world has not stopped Arsenal. GOAL. 3-1.
Five weeks of stoppage time. Well that is what it should be given the way Bournemouth has played. But it is five minutes.
Gabriel gets a yellow, as is ordained in PGMO rules. Bournemouth trying via a long throw and keeping going but the fouling has declined and with that their major weapon has gone. Ramsey to Alexis back to the centre but it breaks down, and Bournemouth counter. Ref has given up too – a ball over the goal line results in an Arsenal goal kick. Earlier it would have been a corner.
And that’s it. 3-1. That will do.
Now you know what it would be like to sit next to me in the stadium. Now I know how difficult it is to write a report of the match while it is on. Don’t know how you do it Walter. Safe journey back to Antwerp. I’m off for a meal in the hotel, and then another dance.
Southampton 1 Man U 0 after 50 seconds!!
Sorry Everton not Man U.
You had me worried Mick, as I was blabbering about State Aid on the other thread.
So, what’s the bias number for this game report when it comes out? 85% 90% ?
That awful USA stream forwarded by TSN showed Mustafi getting away with a push in the back. The TV idiots didn’t seem to do much to try and find examples of Bournemouth doing things wrong. Or, maybe they just timed their replays when I was away from the TV?
See what we cable subscribers have to put up with every game , Tony ? Sometimes I think that the incidents I see , and that those clowns see are so poles apart . It must be those special tinted glasses they are ‘forced’ to put on !
Guess you also got taken by those ,’ The rain in Spain mainly falls in the plains ‘ , advertising crap ? Or it could just be the effects of global warming !
Cheers , Tony !
Not much “news” about Debuchy, other than hamstring.
Some medja site thought Alexis was exhausted. Wait 5 seconds, he’ll be back to 100%. Another medja site noticed that Bournemouth played the rough game.
Daily Star claims they learned something. Hmmm? How to tie their own shoelaces? How to do colour by number colouring books with crayons?
Wonderful Moss sent the M to the stands. Books Pogba for a blatant dive & the pundits mourning because their god is made to ascend!!! What an absolute laugh!!
Horrible refereeing on display today, this will do nicely for a template on how to ruin an entertaining match… These guys in the middle are killing English football.
Worst non call: Ozil mugged by two Cherries on the touchline immediately before the penalty. Should have been Arsenal free kick. Should have been 3-0. Quite a few through balls and balls over the top today. Oh, forgot, can’t say that – Arsenal never change.
This B’mouth fouling (it was bad) could be a sign of things to come for Arsenal should Eddie Howe become our manager as expected by many.
Al – these are a select group of Match officials!! You should know what select means. It is how the judiciary & the 2nd house gets populated. The standard is similar except the 2nd house is now broadcast, unlike the comms between the match officials.
Tony,
My heartfelt apologies to you for watching the game on the Bein Sports English Channel (with the utterly awful Keys and Grey) 😀 . Thankfully Bein Sports provides variety with superb coverage in Arabic and French, each with their own respective studios. My advice to anyone, if you have a option for Bein Sports Arabic or French or even Spanish, then watch the game on that (even if you don’t understand, because its a thousand times better than listening to the absolute rubbish you get to listen on the English channel).
Very good performance by us, even though Bournemouth looked good.
Debuchy apparently thinks this is a severe injury. Arsenal medical staff haven’t had enough time to say.
Giroud apparently has a hamstring injury as well. I thought it was a head clash, but didn’t see it well on TV (I was in kitchen).
They certainly don’t appear to be chosen on merit, Menace, what a dreadful bunch. Atrocious.
Cue the Dutch Bloke spouting on about training methods etc etc etc
OT.
Referee Jonathan Moss sending Jose Mourinho to the stands looked harsh to me after seen how he has protested to himself on the touch line on my TV screen for the ref booking Paul Pogba for diving.
Could it be the 4th official or one of the referee assistants has drawn the attention of Mr Moss on what Mourinho might have said that is considered to be offensive language against the ref? Otherwise, can’t a manager express his frustration or anger to himself in the dugout or on the touch line?
From Arsenal perspectives, I want the match to end in a draw so that Man U will be 8 points behind us in the table.
The Mail awarded referee Mike Jones four. How bad must you be to get a four?
I think we picked up two or three injuries: Debuchy, Walcott & Giroud. Hope they’re not too bad.
Al, It’s the ‘talking to’ thing. Usually several until oe of ours makes a foul then,it’s in the book.
markyb
Yeah, lost count of how many warnings Bournemouth players were given warnings before getting carded….
Samuel,
Not sure why you bother trying to understand why the odious one was sent off, just enjoy the moment..
sad for Debuchy, he was having a good game
once again disappointed by Elneny, Arsene trying to find a position for him, gave him Santis role vs MU and Coquelins today, but he can’t seem to be able to do any
Alexis best man on the pitch again, and Mesut seemed back to his best, great game by Xhaka and Ox
the usual stinker by the ref
subway fire near Wenger Stadium
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/565629/Tube-station-evacuated-train-catches-fire-Highbury-Islington-station-TFL-transport-London
does anyone know what happened to Jenko?
Sorry about the rain, Tony. My part of Spain is also wet and cold at the mo. But the food is always good – providing you don’t go to places catering to Brit tourists – and orujo (pronounced orukho) will warm you up. Try it with café solo or café bombon.
Must admire your fortitude Tony, putting up with Thicko Gray and Hairy Keys, probably the two most ignorant self-styled football “experts” of yesteryear.
If they occur again, remember the value of the mute button. 😉
A very good win today against the idiot from the PGMO aided by Bournemouth.
Our guys played well overall against a very agressive team, one that was allowed to bend the rules by a bent bandit in black. But our team showed courage, energy, stuck at it & class came through in the end.
Sanchez seemed back to his best – good to see – he had looked a bit jaded in his previous two matches – not surprising after his trip to Chile.
Lets hope Debuchy is not too bad.
Well done the team.
Today referee Jon Moss issued a yellow card to a West Ham player for a cynical hack from behind on a Man U player to stop a breakaway attack.
It was a very similar foul to the one committed by Xhaka in the Swansea match for which Moss issued a straight red.
Where is your consistency Moss?
Mourinho imploding again today. Sent off second time in a month. Had a weird rant against Wenger last week when Arsenal was playing some other team! At this rate I fear he would be in bedlam by New Year!
Mustafi, Elneny, Xhaka, each impresssed me today. They played with skill and fire for the team. They didn’t shirk, they didn’t hide, each can play with the ball.
Dreadful about Debuchy. Hopefully he’ll get through this. Cruel luck.
Back home safe in Antwerp. Been up for just under 24 hours now and have been driving for some 10 hours in total. But around 2 hours of almost standing still in London when going home….
Off to bed now.
Arsenal lets other teams control the game too much, especially at home, but they rectified that 2nd half(tactics?).
We need to get back our quick passing movements(this seems to depend on who is playing) to avoid tackles, in fact we really do not need to really tackle outside our half, just to close down and block the attack is usually enough, but if that fails then a tackle is caused for.
All in all a win, and thats what we needed.
Meant to mention “Kodi” for streams of any type. Takes a little patience but full HD football and other streams, plenty of alternative streams if one goes (rarely happens). Plenty of help on the web to get it going.
All in all a good piece of software, enjoy till the dictators find some way of silencing it.
Great to see ManU drop some more points! And, with Mourinho sent off, too…Confusion to our enemies!
Kodi is an OpenSource PVR type thing which grew out of Xbox. It used to be called XBMC (I think). It is available for multiple architectures, which nominally means Windows, Mac and Linux. It is possible it runs on *BSD and other UN*X.
You can get plugins for it. I believe the URL below (it insists javascript be enabled, so I was reading the GoogleCache) does talk about football plugins (called soccer in North America).
http://bestforkodi.com/best-free-sports-addons-kodi-part-1/
Wikipedia has a write up on Kodi.
@Mick
Came here to comment on that incident. For me, Cresswell deserved to be sent off but Moss is dross. If he had been sent off, he wouldn’t have played against us. Funny.
Speaking of… A bit off-topic. Borussia Dortmund’s captain Schmelzer made an outrageous protest against the referee Wolfgang Stark at the very end of their game against Eintracht (Eintracht won 2:1). Schmelzer pushed the referee and deserved (in my book) a red card. Stark only gave him a yellow. Not so “stark” (= means “strong” on German) decision by the ref, me thinks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdu_fvCc3Es (at 9:45)
What would have made it more funnier is if Moanin’inho had actually kicked those bottles !
Instead he faked it too , just like the world’s most expensive player .
Tony , be on the look out for restaurants that serve this unique delicacy . But it may not be for the squeamish !
A man travels to Spain and goes to a restaurant near the bull arena for a late dinner. He orders the house special and he is brought a plate with potatoes, corn, and two large meaty objects.
“What’s this?” he asks?
“The Matador Special, Senor,” the waiter replies.
“What meat is it?” the man asks.
“Cojones,” the waiter explains, “They, are the testicles of the bull who lost at the arena this afternoon.”
At first the man is disgusted; but being the adventurous type, he decides to try this local delicacy. To his amazement, it is quite delicious. In fact, it is so good that he decides to come back again the next night and order it again.
This time, the waiter brings out the plate, but the meaty objects are much smaller.
“What’s this?” he asks the waiter.
“The Matador Special, senor,” the waiter replies.
“No, no,” the man objects, “I had the Matador Special yesterday and it was much bigger than this.”
“Senor,” the waiter explains, “the bull does not always lose.”
To be fair you win was totally deserved although their given penalty was very soft and the one not given was probably the right descion although based on many on here’s view on very similar incidents of the past will think it. Should have been awarded
One point I will be interested in is the way in which your players reacted to the awarding of the penalty now I didn’t see a lot in it but if you look at the incident you will see 4 or possibly even 5 players getting involve in objecting to the decision.
I make that 3penalties conceded in the last four games, some very dodgy pens at that.
A statistical blip…..or going for some kind of record?
The above post referring to EPL games
I am curious at the review of this g
ame to come.
The gifs will plainly show that:
Alexis pen call
The defender stepped on Alexis’ foot stopping him in his run. Definately a penalty. Watch the replay, note they only shown it once.
The other one (that was given)
The attacker barged into Monreal and as Monreal moved away from the momentum he fell down. Definately not a penalty. In contrast the replay was shown more than once.
Good result for the Gunners. Yeah!!!
Performance was not great but at least we collected all 3 points.
Ref was terrible.
I have to say, I thought Kos was very lucky not to get a card. I would have been extremely upset if we’d have suffered the type of challenge he got way with. My immediate reaction was that if the ref says he didn’t see it properly, Kos will immediately get charged.
Mick Hazel – that yellow was certainly double standards compared to the Xhaka red. I was just amazed at his two faced performance. That is the PIGMOB for you.
Mike T – the players that approached the ref were complaining about the foul before the ball got to the box. There was a foul that Jones ignored on the touchline. But then again you didn’t see it either. Watch them point toward the area where the incident occurred. Not all of them got booked because Jones proved he has selective vision.
Menace.
Stop jumping to conclusions as to what or what I didn’t see.as it happens I agree that there was a foul but that’s totally irrelevant as you are not allowed to group round the referee irrespective of what has gone on before .
Adrian Clarke has an excellent review of the match and especially the ElNeny/Coquelin midfield combo, which he says was a perfect choice for this type of match. Overall it seemed that the Arsenal came out with confidence and strength, knowing that a goal would force Bournemouth to open up. The penalty seemed to disconcert the Arsenal a bit but once Walcott did his thing, we took over the game and Bournemouth’s feeble defending did the rest along with Alexis’ killer instincts.
As far as the penalty call against AFC, Nacho had his arm in his opponent’s face and the ref probably considered that sufficient to award a penalty. those of us who officiate(d) know that such calls depend upon what the referee saw and felt happened so it is always a 50-50 call, unless it is so obvious that a blind mouse could make the call.
Alexis may or may not have had a valid complaint about the penalty but Ozil was definitely manhandled by at least one player and the referee really missed that one, as did the linesman.
The referee was trying to be even-handed for a little while but his PIGMOB DNA took over fairly early on and he had a poor match overall. It is hard to believe that these guys are on the FIFA list and that they are paid a full-time salary to do what some of them do every week.
I love the fact that Cech is saving us points every week and that we got him despite the Moaning one’s opposition…….there is some justice in the world afterall!