Arsenal v Norwich. Billy the Dog ventures forth.

Posted on by Billy The Dog

By Billy The Dog McGraw

Now in theory I am going to the Arsenal with our chum Drew – he of the occasional comment and upstanding member of the Arsenal History Society and AISA committee, is having his birthday party tonight – fancy dress and all – and that may make getting up in the morning a little difficult.

Tony is also going so it may be a day of limited activity from Untold and then after the game, assuming he and Drew (whose birthday it is, and whose birthday bash was last night) return in one piece, Tony’s off to a dance (did you know he is a really smooth wizard at the jive and spends all his spare time when not contemplating Arsenal, at jive clubs?).  Meanwhile Walter will be at the game, meeting and greeting the Arsenal team as they arrive at the stadium (I kid you not).  It is a big day for Untold.

The news is that Wilshere and Walcott are 90 percent available, which means we will have Wilsher in midfield and Walcot in the front line.  Both will be taken off with 30 minutes to go to have their names repaired.  In that wild and wonderful language of the journalist, both players are “set” to return.  Set???  WTF does that mean you bunch of mindless drongos!

Tomas Rosicky who has recovered all his form is an irritating hamstring.  I think all hamstrings are irritating.  Per Mert is out with a red thing.

Norwich must be safe from relegation to the outer reaches of civilisation

P W D L F A Pts
12
West Ham
31
10
7
14
35
44
37
13
Newcastle
32
10
6
16
42
56
36
14
Norwich City
32
7
14
11
30
49
35
15
Stoke City
32
7
13
12
28
39
34
16
Aston Villa
32
8
9
15
35
59
33
17
Sunderland
32
7
10
15
34
45
31
18
Wigan Athletic
31
8
7
16
37
57
31
19
QP Rangers
32
4
12
16
29
52
24
20
Reading
32
5
8
19
36
63
23

so although their manager will keep telling them to win win win or whatever it is that managers do, they won’t be over exercised about getting a point at Arsenal, when there is a chance of a pint down the pub instead.  Their keeper has a groin problem so Lee Camp might play.

A few more draws and Norwich will be safe.  And they have games against Reading, Stoke and Aston Villa so that should help. For us it is easy: win and we go into a CL qualification place.  Quite how Tottenham will react to going out of the E League is unclear – deep depression or renewed enthusiasm.  But what, I wonder was Mr Adebayor doing on Thursday.  His penalty was…. well maybe I could have done better.  Or Tony who is 250 years old.  Well done Mr Ade.  Didn’t know you still had a soft spot in your heart for us.

The Referee if you would like to know, is Mike Jones

So a team, I hear you cry, do we have a team?

Fabianski

Sagna Kos Vermaelen Monreal

Arteta Wilshire Ramsey

Walcott Giroud Cazorla

Subs: Szczesny, Rosicky, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Yennaris, Coquelin, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Podolski  (Exactly how many subs are we allowed – Ed)

Arsenal’s disciplinary record is 33 yellows and four reds.  As compared with Norwich the Dirty who have 50 yes fifty yellows and one red.

And do you know who our leading goalscorer is?  It is Cazorla with 12.  He will play his 31st game of the season this weekend and what an astounding amazing buy this man has been.  He cost us 33p from a bankrupt club and he is amazing amazing amazing.  (Did I say he was amazing?)

Some teams like to catch us on the hop.  I remember Bristol City beating us in their first game in the top flight for 260 years in 1976 I think – I was there indeed.  They actually did the double over us that season, and we were not a bad team with Macdonald and Brady et al.  Anyway Norwich won 4-2 against us in their first PL game.  Apparently only four other teams have scored four in our PL days against us at our home ground.  None have scored more.

But the memories of Bristol City (whose manager of the day I later ended up being on the same board in a company we ran) can be set aside with thoughts of 1989.  Most of the players played with their handbags at 20 paces (the journos of the day called it a brawl – if that was a brawl you have not been down my pub – The Toppled Bollard – on a Tuesday night).  We got a second penalty but Norwich were winning 3-2 with about five minutes to go and we won 4-3

Norwich have won one of their last 15 league games.  Oh and they have the foul king – Grant Holt who scored against us back in October when life was dull and full of doom.  More fouls than any other player in the universe, or at least in the PL.  But they have only got 12 away goals this season, so all should be well.

Anyway here’s one more, the Ems has seen 59 goals this season.  Not bad eh?  Best in the League in fact.

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50 Replies to “Arsenal v Norwich. Billy the Dog ventures forth.”

  2. Podolski will start – whenever the dotcom do a spin on a player ahead of a match you know already. I’m guessing Wilshere isn’t ready to start, so Cazorla will move into the middle. Or perhaps Giroud will get a break and our man Lukas will play up front. Or maybe Gervinho will play up front?

    Personally I’m looking forward to seeing Monreal get more involved in our attack. I don’t think we’ve seen “Spain international” class from him yet.

  3. Our last 3 home games against Norwich is amazing, 3-3, 4-1 and 5-1.

    So, 4-0? 4-1?

  6. I think, if you have weak heart, better not support Arsenal. At least don’t watch live game!

    It’s over! 3-1, damn, I bet 4-0 and 4-1

  7. Great fightback, well done! Now spuds’ turn to play catch-up.

    Suspect we may have heard the last from Rupert for the day since the scores changed from being 0-1 down.

  8. Al, in fairness to Rupert, his comment was pretty spot on; bringing on Podolski and Theo livened up our attack a lot. But I suspect you are right that the negativistas will be hiding after a comeback like that 😉

  9. Oh| What a game. I can relax now. Well done Gunners!
    How did the ref do?
    To many decisions going the Norwich way, a bit unbalanced.
    Their goal was from a non-foul.

  10. Sam,
    You’re absolutely right about the subs changing the game; Podolski deserved to be on the scoresheet especially after that rocket came back off the bar. Really pleased for him.

    The negativistas (lol) will retreat back into their shells, and to borrow whats fast becoming my favorite expression on this blog; this place will be smelling like heaven for the next few days.

  11. Good win for the team and another valuable three points. The team fought to the end and got the result they deserve. Well done guys.

    Looks like the Rupert (depressive AAA sewer rat) made his snide comment a little too soon – its never over until the fat rat sings! He must have been hovering the last few weeks hoping we would lose so that he could unleash his sarcasm.

  12. The announcer should’nt have been asking why the linesman gave it, but why the ref didn’t. I know the ref didn’t have a great angle, but the announcer’s insistence to question the call even though he admitted it’s a foul, is bad commentary.

  13. if you sensed it, podolski was not on top form, maybe he cant go for full game, specially knowing the operation he has to take in the summer, so dont blame Wenger for that.

    We were the better team except when Jones decided to blow us up, Really? Rupert? instead of becoming angry of the referee, you blame our team as always, penalty not given for the handball, counter attack after a foul on Ramsey not given, a no foul on Gibbs leading to their goal after second attempt in the game, man what kind of a FAN are you? manchester united fans became angry for the nani deserved red card, and you blame the team out of a sudden, that is not to forget the penalty on Walcott, before that, and he even our penalty he did not want to give for us until the assistant interfered, Jones was nearer about 4 meter far from incident and still didnt want to give it.

    Wenger substitute were fantastic so lets blame him for the starting eleven he deployed, that is a subject to moan about, OH COME ON, STOP IT FOR ONCE, GIVE HIM CREDIT FOR ONCE…..

  15. Wow!
    What a great hunt for 3 points, what a exciting finish!
    What was mr Jones doing today is slighty beyond me. We got one penalty, when the linesman help him but where is the penalty foul pushing out Walcott? That time the linesman stood calm Defender did not touched the ball, just took him out..
    Why the yellow card were not shown for the sliding tackles fouls in the first half?
    Why the linesman did not call the offside by Theo? Third goal for us should not stand…
    Why, for the next game running, that cunt Holt not got what he deserved?

  16. Interesting that Garth Crooks on BBC Final Score, backed by Warnock, made a big fuss about the linesman spotting the foul on Giroud. (Remind me who did Crooks play for?)

    Never mind that no other questionable decisions against us ever attract comments, or that in other circumstances the commentators complain when the referee’s assistant doesn’t draw attention to fouls.

  17. amazing all people on all channels complaining about it as if it wasn`t a penalty, WHAT IS WRONG WITH SANE PEOPLE? ARE THEY GONE?
    even here on Arab channel (Although to be fair the main man and David James fairly said it was an obvious penalty, but the other dude……….ARGHHHHH.

    They should say that the referee is biased for not giving it and the assistant should be valued as one of the best for spotting it…but no this is Arsenal, they should always be on the other side of justice……

    Now really that is enough, fooling us fans with these utter crap, still some will defend the referee and blame Wenger for any reason he might imagine, fantasy imagination,…..

  18. BTW Giroud the new Ramsey now for the fan on other sites, today, he was really crap that he won us a penalty, a goal, and a header for walcot starting the third goal, really crap player he is ha?

    MAN OF THE MATCH or maybe MAN OF THE MONTH, i believe it is Aaron Ramsey, what a player and what a spirit, I love that man, not worth to wear a shirt they say, then those are not worth to watch him wearing it i say, absolutely amazing, if he and Gervinho have got the assistant and cheering of the fans, we could have been in a better place this year and year before, maybe winning some cup or something….

  20. I looked at 20 summaries of the game from Google News. 18 just reported observations, including in some cases that there was some controversy in the awarding of the penalty. One summary sort of said the penalty should not be given. And one site clearly said that it was a penalty.

  21. Wasn’t the penalty on Turner?…the same guy that hauled down (Giroud?) on a cross in the first half?

  22. I think that it was Tony Gale who was the co commentator for the match. I don’t know which idiots selected him but you can’t expect anything reasonable from a murdoch company.

  23. How dare they say it wasn`t a penalty, why treat Arsenal that way for God sake, just why?
    Why would they hate Arsenal that much?

  24. Haha. Nice one Tasos.

    This bodes well for the team. That’s two weeks in a row where although the ref stats will record it as wins under certain refs, we actually overcame some crappy ref performances to win those same games. Mike Jones was assisting in Norwich’s game plan of fouling to slow the game down (no yellow cards till so late), pushing (and elbowing) Arsenal players without any fouls being called, diving to win free kicks in dangerous areas, and time wasting. They didn’t count on a linesman doing his job properly to give a penalty the referee seemed reluctant to give. The pathetic media spin of why the linesman made the call and not the referee is just more proof that Arsenal are hated, and that the right decision being made doesn’t matter to them one bit.

    Although, Theo was offside for the 3rd goal. But he should have had another penalty, Norwich shouldn’t have had the free kick which led to their goal, and Norwich should have been much more heavily punished with cards. The deserving team won, and the pathetic cheats got just what they deserved. Until the next match of course.

  25. Still find it amazing that you lot can watch the match abroad but I have to wait till now to watch the whole game re-run on sky (moan over).

    Anyway, Mind WHAT gap?

  26. Funny enough that third goal is what takes our goal difference to 29, one above Chelsea. And as they’re playing ManCity tomorrow, with a draw seemingly the most likely result (as I believe Mr. Atkinson will skip this one), that third goal will have lifted us in the third place:)

  27. Florian that game is an FA cup semi-final. Man city’s next prem game is against Wigan on Wednesday, might be a mock final.

  28. Yassin and Shard have the most blinkered views of any football fans I have ever come across. Ever. Your views on the game, the officiating and Norwich’s tactics are so far-fetched that I doubt it’s worth even trying to reason with either of you.
    If I may be honest, it is comments such as yours that make me dislike “big” clubs like Arsenal even though you have plenty of reasonable fans. This vendetta against Arsenal that you perceive is so childish, please grow up.
    Oh my personal favourite line from these comments is “Why the yellow card were not shown for the sliding tackles fouls in the first half?”! Comedy gold lads, keep it up.

    I said I wouldn’t bother but I’ll keep it brief:
    1) we have to play defensively or else you will crush us
    2) you pay your players far more than we can hence they are better; this does not mean we should roll over or that you have a divine right to beat us
    3) no mention of Sagna putting Johnson on crutches (kind of ironic after last year, I suppose)
    4) NEVER EVER a corner which lead to the penalty. Do you not wander how the lino can give a penalty 50 yards away but not give a goalkick 5 yards away?
    5) A soft penalty at best. Both players are holding each other. Don’t believe me then look at this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BHvyVgjCcAETWcx.jpg:large
    6) Your 3rd goal is offside
    7) Slide tackles are part of the game; they are not yellow card offences
    8) Of course we are going to time waste. We fight for every precious point in this league. Other teams time waste against us when they are winning. Arsenal also time waste when they are winning. Every team does. Deal with it.

    Thanks for reading.

  30. Yassin, they are all programmed to the same Hymn-sheet.

    Attacking the penalty decision (which was brave and correct), because it is somewhat controversial and goes Arsenal’s way, is far better than pointing out that Kamara tripped over his own feet to win the freekick from which they scored.

    Perhaps they could have ranted about the clear penalty that Walcott seems to have earned, but that again does not fit the agenda.

    @Adam, yes it is funny that you cannot broadcast a live game here at 3pm Saturday (though I understand the reasons). Of course it would be highly wrong to suggest alternative ways of watching games live….

    Florian — While goal difference is nice, we are actually a point clear of Chelsea (for now).

    MOTD starts in a few minutes and we are on first, really looking forwards to the analysis on this one. Wonder if they can spin it to show we should have lost….

  32. Strange comment from Al. Why would you say something so stupid?

    Anyway a game we should have killed off in the first 45 minutes became a real slog. Some bizarre decisions from officials. Norwich got a free kick when their player tripped over himself. We got a corner when it should have been a goal kick which then led to a penalty decided by a linesman about 50 yards away. Penalty was a little suspect but then we probably deserved one when Walcott was shoved in the box.

    It’s up for grabs now, to quote a certain commentator from some years back.

  33. @Tasos, what are you inferring mate? FYI I want Arsenal to finish as high as possible. Do I care if the by product of that is a CL place? No, couldn’t care less. Unless we buy players that are good enough to ensure we win it the competition means little to me. It doesn’t mean a lot to me anyway as I believe only league champions should participate. But if we’re in it we may as well buy the players necessary to win it.

  34. @Tasos, what are you inferring mate? FYI I want Arsenal to finish as high as possible. Do I care if the by product of that is a CL place? No, couldn’t care less. Unless we buy players that are good enough to ensure we win it the competition means little to me. It doesn’t mean a lot to me anyway as I believe only league champions should participate. But if we’re in it we may as well buy the players necessary to win it.

  35. @Yassin, what are you moaning about? You seem to conclude an awful lot from about five words. Did I say we didn’t deserve to be in front? We should have been about three goals up at half time. Before you decide what others think perhaps you should ask them first.

  36. Also Yassin, just because someone doesn’t think Arsenal should have had a penalty it doesn’t mean they hate Arsenal. Personally I’m not sure it was a penalty but we should have had one when Walcott was shoved in the box, so this time it did even itself out.

  39. Watching MOTD just makes me wonder why I bother sometimes (bit of a vent, sorry). 5 incidents I wanted them to look at:

    1). The handball/possible penalty towards the start of the second half– mentioned in commentary and dismissed; no analysis after. Seems to be correct.

    2). The foul leading to Norwich’s goal. Replay clearly shows Kamara clipping himself. No analysis at all.

    3). Theo’s penalty shout. Not shown in highlights, but turns up in some unrelated analysis. Still looks like a penalty, but no analysis made.

    4). The corner/Giroud’s penalty. The main analysis. Keown runs this bit. He believes it was not a corner, but admits he cannot prove it. Then goes on to show that it is a penalty. All of the other presenters, disagree and muddy the waters.

    5). Poldi’s goal. Analysis pretty much shows Giroud committed a foul, and Walcott was offside.

    So what did we get?
    One decision accepted as correct
    One decision benefiting Arsenal proven wrong.
    One decision benefiting Arsenal left open, with strong hints it was wrong.
    Two decisions benefiting Norwich ignored; both look wrong.

    So in their fair and impartial way, MOTD successfully prove Arsenal did not deserve to win today.

  41. Sportal (Australia) goofs.

    Headline is: Late Show Moves Everton Third – http://www.sportal.com.au/football-news-display/late-show-moves-everton-third-230414

    As Chelsea and Tottenham didn’t play today, if Everton had of momentarily been third, and passed when Arsenal won late against Norwich, Everton should be 4th. Someone at Sportal has the Everton and Arsenal games confused in part.

    I do agree that Everton winning today is applying extra pressure to Chelsea (a bit) and Tottenham (more). Tottenham are now behind Arsenal with a much worse goal difference (and no game in hand). And Everton are only 3 points behind Tottenham.

    I won’t hazard a guess at likelihood, but it is possible for Tottenham to finish 6th quite easily.

    And it was wonderful to see ‘Arry lead QPR to another loss. ‘Arry supposedly will not be sacked at the end of the season, or during the summer, but maybe he gets sacked at the end of the first game (in the Championship) next year? I still wonder how much his dog was paid for all those transfers QPR did mid-season.

  42. Poor Rupert….the butt of so many Gooners’ ire and mocking rants….but every court needs its jesters. Apparently Arsenal were in limbo until the 85th minute….which tells me that they were trying too hard and when they burst the canaries’ bubble, the party really got started.
    Whether we win it in the first 10 minutes or the last 9, it is 3 more points toward a CL place and a top 4 finish. We all know supporting this team means flirting with serious cardio-vascular risks and constant changes of diapers (depending on your age)as well as the sensation that you never quite finished the roller-coaster ride you were on when you were 8!
    But this is a freely chosen torture, like asking the HS homecoming queen out to the prom and occasionally getting a yes!!!

  44. Well, fortune favors the brave.
    I thought we really missed Rosicky today and Jack wasnt at the races at all. His subs did the trick for sure in what was a pretty average game for us. It was looking like the same old same old arsenal that has loads of possession and still loses the game.
    In fact when we lose I am more worried about what the ppl will say in their usual crap about Wenger or Ramsey – who had a great game and been improving so much.
    Anyway the ref didn’t want to give it but thank god the linesmen did. Well done Arteta that is nerves under control for sure.
    That game was almost opposite to last weeks. We were excellent for 70min last week, this week we were crap for 78min…
    But I will take 3points anyday regardless of how we played. Norwich were so bad today that to lose to them would have been terrible!!!

  45. Just want to add that I didn’t think Rupert said anything bad about us in his comments, we were not good today, but a great team pulls 3 points from the bag when it looks like going against you. UTD have played terrible in many if their games this year but have enough to win it in the end. Can’t wait for next season.
    One more thing: as usual the commentators were harking on about the dodgy penalty until one if then stuffed up by saying something Like this (in similar context/words)
    ‘these fouls happen a lot but are not given, so why give it?’ the reply from his cohort is ‘ well if they are not given, then should they be if it is a foul by the book?’.
    So it seems that they think it was a foul but as it happens frequently, many are not given, then many decisions are incorrect which shows in the ref reports. They contradicted their own argument! Did I tell you that I mute the tele so much thesedays, until we score of course. And being oversees has one good point and that is that I can record the game and watch whenever I want…

  46. Great win! Couple of things…
    1. How did Snotgrass end up playing till the end? Any Arsenal player doing a tenth of the ‘talking’ to the refs would find himself sent off with 2 yellows!
    2. Thank God to the lineman. Maybe we should watch if the linesman gets relegated for giving a correct decision to Arsenal! (See how he was talking agitatedly over his microphone for a long time after the penalty decision – even when ref was not talking. So, who was he talking to?)

  47. Is it only me,

    -Ramsey got elbowed on the face, in the box by Turner (in the first half), intentionally, and no red (atleast yellow). And I thought we were playing football.
    -Ramsey elbowed by Kamara (or who ever) in the build up to Norwich goal, not spotted again. Well, no wonder the Theo offside (very very close one at that) was not spotted which lead to the 3rd goal.
    -Ironically, it was Ramsey who forced the mythical corner, which lead to the penalty.
    -I thought the penalty was given for the two fouls committed during that corner, first the pull down on Ramsey and then a pull down on Giroud.

    Well, even without my Arsenal colored glasses I can see the shitcrap going on to bring us down.

    And that funny commentators…….hahaha, the people in the know, PUNDITs…..sic IDIOTS. They think the linesman is a show material running up and down the pitch. I bet they dont know the meaning of the word ‘ASSIST’.

  48. @Rufusstan, I wouldn’t let it worry you. MOTD hardly analyze any games that thoroughly. I think the overall consensus was we deserved to win. And yes ARSENAL 13 Ramsey did get elbowed and yet another foul was missed. This game was probably the worst officiated this season. Anyway nothing is bringing us down is it? We’ve had a very good run and our next few games our officiated by decent officials according to this site so let’s rein in the paranoia.

    @elkieno, thanks, I suppose the minute people see my posts they assume I’m going to direct a broadside at everything Arsenal do.

  49. According to anyone who watched football, the pen shouldn’t of been given regardless it was a foul!

  50. Yesterday’s result made Tony Gale the twat absolutely livid and i loved it. How the idiot still calls our matches is baffling as he has a personal vendetta against us same as Adrian Durham… Twat

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